Dance Like No One's Watching!

Home For the Holidays...

No More...

Beans...Beans...

... are good for your heart.. and art!

Jelly Beans!

I heart the art of stop motion!

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The eternal God is thy refuge,

 and underneath are the everlasting arms:

and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee;

 and shall say, Destroy them.

Deuteronomy 33:27 

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A Little Word on Wednesday

Hope...the skies the limit!
The photographs of the skies in this video is as beautiful as the song.

These skies can't be painted with a brush! They wouldn't look real!

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

  Shawnee Golf Course, Topeka, Kansas

This is Dedicated...

...to someone I love very much and YOU know who you are.

It's 3:00...

...and I'm still in my pajamas. I'm thinking of getting dressed. Later...maybe. It's so wrong it's right. hahaha

What Day Is It?!

Wow! I'm sorry it's been a week since I blogged. My computer is still acting up which makes it difficult to be on the computer for any length of time. We are now at our last option, wiping out the hard drive & if that doesn't work, new computer. I miss dropping on blogs & feel out of the loop with my favorites & Entrecard buddies.
I have been watching my little JJ for the kids while they move, so I haven't finished the Drama Queen painting or anything else on canvas. I promise I will post a pic as soon as I have it finished. Thank you all for your sweet comments. I painted over the creepy crown I had painted & I'm liking it much better. I know my paintings look easy but honestly some take days or weeks, but in this case it's just because I haven't been working on it very hard. I'm watching JJ tomorrow too. I will get to paint on Saturday while Hubby is at a Sharks game in San Jose. Go Sharks! JJ is getting quite the personality and keeps me laughing & running. I'm proud that he has such a sweet little heart. He loves to share everything. Everything is a "dog" or a "duck" too. When he was here the other day he was talking like crazy, all baby talk but truly carrying on a conversation. It was so cute & excruciating trying to hold in a belly laugh.
Saturday my son was in a Battle of the Bands at Club Retro and his band is moving up to the next battle! Hurray Even The Atlantic!
Big Thank You Shout out goes to Abbasgirl for including my Christ painting in her wonderful Etsy Treasury!

I've Got A...Pencil Full of Lead

And nothin's gonna bring me down!





Have a great weekend!

Nan Nanna Nan Nanna....

A silly page in one of my journals

My son is at the recording studio today. He was nervous because he is laying down the drum track without the entire band. He also plays the guitar & has written a beautiful song but he thinks it needs a little something. That got us talking & joking around about how many songs become hits that have "Nan Nanna Nan...", "doo doo doo" or "la la la la" in the lyrics. Everyone can sing that in the shower & it gets stuck in your head. Then I saw this video today on tv this morning. Another Nan Nanna Nan... song! The Care Bears On Fire I love how these cute baby girls used painting in their video! It was fun trying to name all the hit songs we knew with those lyrics. How many can you think of? Dang it! Now it's stuck in my head! Nan Nanna Nan Na.....

Just For Now...

Show Me Some Love

And that my family did! I had a very nice Mother's Day. My hubby made a big wonderful breakfast & tasty coffee to start my day. It was so big no one felt like dinner so I ended up eating a can of Chef Boyardee ravioli for dinner! Haven't had that for years and believe it or not it was tastier than I remember. He bought me a beautiful stalk of orchids that are white with a touch of burgundy color in them. I went outside and picked some red tips out of my yard and covered the base of the vase then added a touch of yellow broom which really set the orchids off. Martha would be proud. haha I also got a beautiful bouquet from my kids. All the flowers & being in the yard got me motivated. I transferred my seedlings that Sandypetals told me how to start in plastic zip lock bags to little pots. Yes I am patting myself on the back because my thumb is not green at all. Now all I have to do is remember to water them and re-pot them pretty soon and hopefully I'll be making some great pickles and salsa later this year. I even bought some lime green zinnias & nasturtiums to start. Woo Hoo I'm on a roll!

While on Twitter today Oliveshoot shared this new video. I love the song and doesn't Rueben look so handsome?! She has some sweet tweets.

Revamping & Hanging Out

I had an angel painting for sale and I removed the listing today. Every time I saw her she bothered me, I guess she was just telling me she wasn't really finished. She didn't like her hair and the background color. haha So I started working on her and she is turning out so much better. She's still not finished yet. I would paint a little, hang out a little, do a little something, then hang out some more, it's been one of those days.

I rearranged & revamped my dining room and can't believe I didn't have it like that before. Why didn't I? Weird I say. It's so much better and I have so much more room in there now. I could have a big party and the light fixture actually hangs properly over the center of the table. I took the leaves out of the table that had been in it since Thanksgiving. That was my big accomplishment for the day.

We watched the movie Righteous Kill tonight. I didn't really want to watch it. I don't like really violent movies and with De Niro & Pacino I knew it would no doubt be a little violent. They both make great bad guys don't they?! I watched anyway and surprisingly I liked it. It was violent but it sucked me in. I love a movie with a twist too but it's not a movie that I would watch twice. I must say that those two guys are awesome and still sexy in my book. I'm a fan of them both.

After the movie my husband was channel surfin' and stopped on Austin City Limits. This man with white hair was playing guitar and singing. When I walked into the room he asked if I knew who that was. He had a smile on his face like he knew I wasn't going to get it. I listened, I stared. The voice was so familiar but his face..... I hated to give in but I couldn't for the life of me place him. When he told me it was Nick Lowe I was flabbergasted! The first thing I said was "do we look that old and just don't know it?" and from the kitchen the kids shout out "NO!" Whew! I had to look up and see how old he is. Yes thank goodness he's way older than us. In our younger days we wore out his album that we had. He still has an amazing voice and if he came to town I would want to go see him.

I revamped my blog and removed the post from yesterday. A poem and painting that I had done. The poem was intended solely to describe how words can deeply hurt people. It took a long time to write and I was actually proud of it, however, it was dark and not a pleasant happy poem. It made people feel uncomfortable. Part of me really like that about it, but ok it wasn't my perky self. Maybe I should start another blog for those kind of post!

Tomorrow is Super Bowl and my husband is already mourning the loss of the football season. He has to work tomorrow but they have nice flat screens in his office so he'll get to watch it. I'll have it on but honestly, and this is a secret, I don't really get all the rules & technicalities. My husband lights up every time I ask him something about it. We watched a football show today (4 guys talking, I don't have a clue what the name of it is) and I have to say I thought it was really funny. They played scenes from games where guys mess up and the bit was called "C'mon Man". I laughed a lot and my husband may have had a glimmer of hope that I may start watching football with him on a regular basis. Seriously I don't think that's gonna happen. I do admire the football players, their talent, their fearlessness and all the work they go through to play. They are our gladiators. I watch sometimes but I rarely sit through an entire game. I'm looking forward to seeing all the commercials tomorrow. The one second commercials everyone is talking about seem like they would be a form of subliminal advertising to me. We'll see. If I wake up in the middle of the night wanting a Budweiser or needing to Fed Ex something I'll know it worked! haha Have a great day tomorrow!

The Queen of Soul...

was the Queen of Style today! I LOVED this hat so much! I couldn't take my eyes off of it so I didn't hear a word she sang! And the earrings were perfect, in fact they look just like the earrings I painted in Lady in Roses from my hats series! I'm no "fashionista" but she was so pretty I was compelled to post about it! It was the first thing my mother and I talked about. Actually I thought she looked just lovely all over - head to toe! I know she will probably endure some jokes about it but I say good for you Ms Franklin! You Rock My Queen! You know how much I love hats...maybe she will inspire people to pull them out of the closet!

photo courtesy of Reuters/Yahoo

I'll Might As Well Consider Myself...

... On Vacation! I haven't been painting at all, I miss it, I think about it, but I haven't made time for it lately. I have too much on my mind. It's even been hard to sleep. I have doodled some things I might like to paint and they are right on top of "My Things To Do" list. haha

Today I am tired but happy because I got a lot of shopping done. Next is the wrapping...ugh...(oh yeah I've posted about my bad wrapping) I stumbled upon this Japanese method of wrapping and found it really interesting... don't forget to pause my playlist to listen...


I have one more excursion in the morning and I'm finished! Yippee! I must sound like a Scrooge but honestly I'm not. I am just a procrastinator and overwhelm myself. Every year I say I will buy something throughout the year for someone when I think they will like it and every year I don't do it. So when I do go out I am on a mission. I pretty much know what I am getting, I get it, and get out. My husband shops the same way and he occasionally accuses me of "window shopping" but he's never been shopping with my Mom! I am not a Window Shopper!

My husband & his band made it back from Lake Tahoe safely but had to put chains on to make it home. He said that the snow was about 5 ft high and it was so dry their fingers were splitting & cracking from playing music. They went and bought Krazy Glue and glued their fingers so they could play the last night. Seriously OUCH!

A Day At The Beach

How nice would that be, a day at the sea! This is the 3rd in my "Ladies in Hats" Series and the prints are now listed on Etsy.com.

Delayed Reaction

Thank you Liquidillusions for the blog award! I have been compiling a little list of people to pass it to. Here they are:

http://time2cre8.blogspot.com/ Marylou's Art Adventure http://www.vescuderoart.blogspot.com/ A Painting A Day http://magicandmomentsfromdragonflycottage.blogspot.com/ Maitri Libellule -Always an interesting read http://pinkpigantiques.blogspot.com/ - I love looking at all the lovely things!http://www.isolatedexistence.com/ - Always interesting!http://lwgodsilsjadisjewelry.blogspot.com/ Love the quotes & thoughts

Please copy your award, post it to your blog, add a link to my blog & pass it on to others!

A big thank you shout out goes to EllieLee for featuring one of my beach angels in a beautiful Etsy Treasury the other day! Ellielee's shop is full of gorgeous photography & art prints. Be sure to check it out.

I have finished my commission paintings and will be concentrating on getting new things listed this week and working on paintings for the galleries. Also I was sent information on a show in Florida that puts the submitted artwork on billboards, so I may submit something for that as well, seems like fun!

Today I was emailed the one the funniest youtube videos I've ever seen! If you need a good belly laugh you must check this video out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4_MsrsKzMM I used to sing to chorus of Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater... "there's a bathroom on the right" hahaha I thought that's what they were saying! Of course later I find out that it's just like the title "there's a bad moon on the rise"! LOL I still get teased about that one! So when I saw this video I couldn't quit laughing! I'm still laughing !! Nice way to start the day!

If This House Is A Rockin'...Come on In

My house is like a big ole boom box this morning. I woke up the kids who were camping in my backyard. They couldn't find an open campsite and my backyard is like the wilderness so they set up tent. I told them to leave it out there a few days so I could pretend I was camping too. We have no street lights and the stars are bright. You're never too old to play! haha Our neighbors are patient people who have never complained about the outdoor speakers on the patio, the stereo, or band practices. Several are musicians themselves but we haven't met them, only hear them playing. Californians, unlike people on the east coast, live in their own fenced cocoons and rarely just drop over without calling first. Part of me loves my cocoon and the other part of me longs to have the casualness of people just dropping by because they were thinking of me, coming to see me regardless of what the house looks like, or what I look like.

I can't pull myself away from playlist.com, picking out music! My husband went to church alone and I wrote him a check for my tithe to give on my behalf. I'm bad. I have to admit that in the past when I click on a blog or site I have found it sometimes annoying to have music blaring but it's growing on me and now I gotta give it a try. I have a new appreciation for people's playlists. It's hard to pick out songs from the endless array of choices. With my eclectic appreciation for so many genres of music it's sucking up my day and driving me crazy.

I am a huge fan of Leo Kottke. I would have to say that he is at the top of my list for guitar players. So it was hard not to put a lot of his music in my list to share. In November we are going to see him again in Southern California and it will be the first time one of my best friend gets to see him live with me. He may start to recognize me. haha It was 1976 and my husband's guitar player John came over to the house, (he didn't call first) we were all talking, hanging out, having fun, a few more people popped by, then John pulled out a slide and started playing Vasaline Machine Gun and I was mesmerized & hooked. I made him play it over and over again until he refused to play it anymore. LOL John liked to drive fast and unfortunately because of this he is no longer with us. Every time I hear that song I think of his beautiful fun loving talented spirit and miss him & what could have been a long lasting friendship. He will never know how much joy he added to my life just by playing that one song for me.


I grew up with a piano in the house. My mother was a wonderful pianist, who studied for years, and taught when I was little. I married a musician and both of my sons turned out to be fantastic talents on drums & guitar. I don't play an instrument. Oh I can pick & pluck on the piano but never had the patience or will to sit and practice to become good at it. However, I can hear a mistake when it's made from a mile away. This play list I have complied is by no means all my favorite songs, favorite bands or artists, it's just a drop in the bucket and a little bit of fun. I have to get up and get on with the day besides my butt is asleep from sitting in this chair so long!

So I hope you like some of my selections and don't find my play list annoying! If so, please feel free to turn off your volume!