Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all have a great new year!

I took this picture in December last year. Yes, ALL that snow was one of our biggest snowstorms since we moved to Arizona eight years ago.

Wish List

I've added a new button to my sidebar. A blogging pal is hoping to make an ebook with everyone in the whole world's wish lists. Her name is Fadwa and you can see her blog here. This is just a bit about what she is hoping for:

"I am hoping that The World’s Longest Wish List Ebook will end-up bursting with possibilities, hope and untamed imaginings, that it will circulate wildly all over the world, that it will continue to grow fatter and fatter, that it will spread warmth and humanity, and that it will confirm that we are all the same somehow."

I hope you'll think about it, take a visit to her blog and maybe add your list. You can copy the button picture and link it to her blog and perhaps by posting it on your sidebar or making a post, she will get her wish!

Belated Easter Posting

I received a wonderful card for Easter from a blogging friend in Great Britain. Helena makes her cards and sells them so I was fortunate to get one of them. She made a very nice bookmark to go with the card. It looks a little smeary here but thats only because there is some pretty irridescent glitter on it. It was a very welcome surprise. Thankyou Helena and I am sorry it took me so long to acknowledge you.

You'll enjoy Helena's blog and she always welcomes new visitors. She is the sponsor of a card exchange I was in at Christmas time which I talk about here. You can see Helena's blog Creating a Likeness here.

The Eyes Have It?

Well, in this case the eyes don't! I had eye surgery on my left eye yesterday and thought I'd be okay to read and so on today but it's not to be. My new left eye vision doesn't go with my right eye in glasses so I'm dizzy and not focusing well. I get the other eye fixed in two weeks. Hopefully I won't be out of service that long but I am letting you know I won't be doing much in the way of artwork or blogging for at least a few days. The surgery I had was for cataracts and to put in a prescription lens so I can do away with glasses and contacts. Still hoping it's all worth it.

Weather

I've just added the weather pixie to my blog. Now you and I can see what the weather is like here where I live (like I can't look out the door- hah!). You can get one too by clicking on it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year Everyone!!

I haven't been around much lately. Been sidetracked by any number of things but I am planning to get back to blogging, beading and drawing, making inchies and perhaps some painting this year. I have seen some new goals on some of the blogs I visit and hope you all attain what you'd like to try and learn and do this new year. Ready for a toast (it's pomegranate sparkling cider in case you were wondering)? To all the world: May peace win out when we are feeling at odds with one another, may generosity win out when we see those who have little, may joy reign in spite of a dismal economy and may everyone have a wonderful new year!!!!

I'm hoping to get by to see everyone's blogs very soon. I'm back online (my daughter's modem went out while I was visiting) and the holidays are almost over so it's time to get back to my usual routine. See you soon!

Challenge

Carol of Beads and Birds issued a challenge on her blog for visitors to give a glimpse of the world around where they live. Well, I live in the desert of Kingman, Arizona. I am in the north western part of the state and live on 40 acres in pretty much the middle of nowhere.

The bunny was caught early in the morning just after the sun came up about 2 weeks ago. They are so cute but they eat everything we don't want them to including the wires in our cars. (We are getting ready to put in a garage to keep them out).

The roadrunner jumped up onto the window
air conditioner I have during the summer. I guess he was wondering what was going on. I was sitting right there working on my computer so I grabbed the camera quickly to catch him.

The next picture is of our big dog Sarah who went for a walk with my goats, my son and girlfriend and I this past summer. She runs pretty free here and will cover at least 10 miles a day chasing rabbits all over the place but this day was so hot even she was stopping for a rest in the shade.

The next picture shows the road on one side of
our property. It gets so seldom used that in the
spring, flowers grow in the road just fine. This is
a shot of another walk with the goats. As you can
see, we are pretty isolated. (Now you know why I treasure the internet and my internet friends).


The next pic shows the moon just two days ago. The sun was coming up while the moon had yet to go down over the mountains. If I knew how to use the manual stuff on my camera I'm sure I could have got a better shot but this is close enough. Sometimes it's not so nice here but at others, there is a real sense of peace and time.

The last shot is of a cow that has free range here. When we first moved here 6 years ago we found we wanted a fence around the house as the cows walked right up to it and had a snack of some palm trees we were going to plant. We figured they'd want the goat's hay too so now they have been fenced out! It's fun to watch them when they are grazing nearby and the dogs (all four of them) love to bark their heads off at them.

Well, this should give you an idea of what I see on any given morning. We are retired so there is no commute to work but it would be on a fairly
empty road for 12 miles to the edge of town.


Enjoy your day wherever it starts.

I've Been Tagged Again!

Cheryl from Scrappy Cat has tagged me. I've been tagged before and thought I'd told all my little secrets but here I go again.

The rules are as follows:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

Well, I've got one and two under control. Hmm, now number 3....weeeellll, okay here goes:

1. I was a republican all my life until after President Bush started a preemptive war. That was my last straw and I am now a full-fledged Democrat.
2. I am taking drawing classes through Jessica of Cre8it! This is a beginner's course that is online. She takes you one small step at a time and I highly recommend it if you've been too afraid to give drawing a real chance.
3. I like to knit socks. Have I mentioned this before? I don't think so as I haven't done much knitting since I started the Bead Journal Project and blogging. Oh yeah, I'm real bad about spending too much time blogging and I still don't get around to all the ones I like to keep track of! Why do we need to sleep?
4. I've written a new poem which I need to illustrate in my poem journal but since I shared that I was going to learn to write poetry I haven't posted on this blog any of the three I have come up with so I'll share one at the end of this list.
5. I've discovered Marie Callendar TV dinners. Yep, I know they've been around for years but they have always been too expensive. At today's prices for stuff though and the fact they've been on sale for $2 - 2.50 I've given them a try and found them to contain real food. Really! They have real food in them. I had to give up on Banquet and all the rest because a person can only eat so much rubber and sawdust and I was at my limit!
6. I'm lazy. That's why I like TV dinners and canned soup so much. Well, maybe I'm just lazy at cooking and housecleaning as I like to do my art stuff. Is some lazy okay? Am I chasing anyone away from my blog yet? "Aaaah, that freebird is too crazy for me, I gotta get outta here, aaaahhh"? I hope not. I really like you all to visit and leave comments - getting together modern style!

Okay, that poem I was telling you about? Well it's very simple and short but I kind of liked it. It used four key words from the book I am using to learn with. They are poetry, balcony, star and moon. So here goes:

Poetry

Poetry is some pretty elusive stuff

At least to me.

It's like leaning over a balcony reaching for the moon

But getting snagged by a star.

Ha! Who can reach the moon from a balcony anyhow?

Might as well go cook dinner and leave poetry to the dreamers.

Well, that's it. I hope to draw a picture to go with it and I will keep working on trying to write some nice poetry.

I am now supposed to tag six people --- now don't rush off everyone --- but I am not going to since I've already tagged everyone I know or those who I've tagged have tagged the ones I've missed. Instead I just want to say I hope you've enjoyed your visit here today and hope you will come back again.

Welcome to BJPers

Welcome to all the BJPers who are getting ready to start the new year. Taking on a year's commitment isn't easy - I know as I am still working on my last piece from last year. I really hope to do better this year. I hope you all have fun and find satisfaction and peace as you bead the year through.

I thought I'd start 08BJP with finding my bead name. I've even found some beads to match. What is your bead name?

My Your Beady Name is: is Chartruese Chevron Bead.
Take Your Beady Name Generator today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

Always Learning

I have finally figured out how to add links to the right hand side of my page. I've added a couple but plan to add many more. Stay tuned.

One World, One Heart

Today is Valentine's Day and I had my husband draw two names from the "hat". The first winner is Jacq who gets first choice of which pin she wants and the second winner is Robin Krieger who will receive the remaining pin. I so wish I could have offered a prize to each and every one of you. I hope to revisit all the blogs and get to know everyone a bit better. I had a good time with this event; I hope you did too.

I decided it would be fun to join in with the One World, One Heart group. For my give-away, the winner will get to choose from these two pins. One is more refined and one a little wild. I made them both; I like them both and I hope you like them too.

Now, remember to leave a comment so I can put all the names in a hat for the drawing on Feb. 14th. Good luck to everyone and I hope you all enjoy seeing new blogs and getting to know the authors through them. Note: one of the rules is that you have a blog of your own that can be visited. I left this part out before and ended up causing some confusion.

Notice!!!! I am amending my giveaway. I am giving both pins away. I will draw two names. The first will get to pick the pin they want and the second gets the other pin. So two people will get to win on my blog. This will be more fun

since there will be more winners!

Merry Christmas

I just want to wish everyone a very happy Christmas. I hope you have a wonderful year coming up. I hope you enjoy family, friends and pets and find yourself blessed through them. I know I have been blessed by all of these this past year and I am looking forward to next year.


This card is made by collaging a sheet of cardstock with old tissue paper and old gift wrap. I sponged a little gold glaze over the whole thing and then stamped stars on it with gold paint. It was then cut into card-sized pieces and glued to blank cards. I spray painted a sheet of corrugated cardboard with gold spray paint and then stamped it with black ink and images from Stampfrancisco.com. I took fibers from On the Surface that I got several years ago and strung seed beads on them. Then I cut them into segments leaving a bead on each segment which I glued with a touch of Elmer's glue.

You'll see I goofed on the font size. When you change fonts, don't just glance at it to see if it's still okay. READ it. I didn't and I left off the very last word but everyone knows what the word is. I didn't notice till all the pages were glued into the decorated cards!

I hope you enjoyed the card and I thank you for visiting.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Welcome Visitors

Please let me know you were here. Post a comment saying "I was here" if nothing more. I'd like to know I am not alone in my sky. Thanks.

Hello!

Hi! I am on my first flight with the blogging world. Joining a beading journal group got me into this. Please excuse me if I ruffle a few feathers. I would like some smooth soaring but computers are a challenge to me. Here goes.........whee!