Special!

Hello Friends,

Thank you all for the well wishes. Everyone is feeling much better and I shipped them all off to school/work this morning. Sweet, sweet silence!

I am having a

POST HALLOWEEN SALE

on all of the Vintage Spoolies

in my Etsy Shop.

$5.00 Off and free shipping until Wednesday Nov. 4th.

The SALE price is already in the listing!!

Well, I'm off to clean the messy house the sick little piggies left me.

Enjoy your day!

Oh and....

GO PHILLIES!!!!!!

Hit With the HINI!

We've got the Hini!

It's really the H1N1 Virus, a.k.a. Swine Flu but my son told me the kids at school were calling it the hini. (Sounds like heeney)

I think it sounds nicer.

Yup, everyone has it but me.

How does that happen?

I've been the one giving the hugs and taking the temps and washing the laundry.

How have I escaped...so far?

I'm not complaining, I just don't get it.

Anyway, it's pretty mild. Just high fevers and achy bodies. After the 8 day stomach virus they had a couple of years ago, the Swine Flu is a piece of cake. I think Jake will be going back tomorrow, just in time to get his H1N1 vaccine. Ironic, isn't it?

****added 10/28/2009*****

I just wanted to add that a student at a local high school died of swine flu yesterday. I didn't mean to make light of the virus, it has just been mild for my family. We are very fortunate! I do think the vaccine is still a good idea to get.

I worked on these two today.

They are my "Holiday Victorian Couple" and

they will be available in my shop later this evening.

They are on 5x7 wood plaques with lovely french corners.

I'm off to tend the sick:)

New Stuff!

Hello Friends,

We have been doing as many fall activities as this crazy weather permits. Unfortunately every weekend has had rain. We're still waiting for the perfect day to do our annual hayride and pumpkin picking. Maybe tomorrow.

Last night it was raining so we made "Indoor Smores." Really just chocolate fondue with graham crackers and marshmallows. Then we watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown."

It just doesn't feel like a holiday to me until we see a Peanut's special.

Remember them when you were a kid?

That funny spinning "Special" graphic with the funky music?

That would get us so excited in my house. I think our kids miss out a lot with all of the instant gratification with DVD's. If you feel like watching it, it's at your finger tips. Boo!

I miss the element of surprise.

I added a few paintings to the shop a few minutes ago but they sold while I was typing this post.

Thanks so much!!

These are still available here.

Enjoy your weekend!!

P.S. Thanks for all of the funny comments from the last post. From what I understand, Marmite is the UK version of Australia's Vegemite.
I'm assuming it's just as gross so I won't be trying that either.

Kindness in the World of Blogging

Hello Friends,

Over the years since I've been blogging I've been lucky to make friends with the kindest people all over the world. One such friend is Micki Wilde a.k.a. The Art Hermit. You know her!

Well anyway, a little while ago I was lucky enough to win one of her paintings in a give-away she held. This is it!

She hangs proudly in my studio with a bunch of other wonderful art I've either won or purchased over the years.

One day I commented on her blog about Marmite, one of her favorite foods. (I had to Google it to see what it was.) The next thing I knew I received this mysterious package in the mail from Micki. Here is what I found inside.

"Try it!" said the note.

"Oh no!" I thought.

I have to say I was a bit nervous and I let it sit on my shelf for about a month but today was the day!

She said it was best on toast and butter sooooo...

Marmite on toast and butter.

The bite.

There is only one way to describe this stuff....

OMG, IT'S TERRIBLE!!!

I spit it in the sink and then drank water. I felt like Tom Hanks in "Big" when he used a napkin to wipe the caviar off his tongue.

I had to eat a banana to get the taste out of my mouth.

Sorry Micki but the UK will have to do with one less Marmite fan in the world.

I tried.

Thank you for trying to broaden my culinary horizons but if it's all the same to you, I'll stick to my peanut butter:)

Have a great day!

What's Going On?

Busy, busy, busy.That's what.

I've been sewing and painting my little fingers to the bone getting a batch of angels ready for a little shop in Bordentown NJ.

This is the most recent batch made this week but I also have about 10 more that I made a few weeks ago.

They are all made of canvas and painted, sanded, and painted again. They have delicate vintage bible page wings that are on a wire frame and dusted with mica flakes for shimmer.

I will have some of these available in my shop soon!

Thrift SCORE!

I was cruising my favorite thrifting haunts and I picked up a few goodies.

A big bag full of wooden treats. Only $3.00!

I know I can buy these pieces from the craft store but there's something about the challenge of putting together random pieces that I wouldn't normally have picked that I love.
I see some Christmas ornaments in there I think!

This chippy blue tray on my nightstand. We will be painting the bedroom a pale blue later this month so I think it will look great. It holds my copious collection of lip products, plus a lot of other junk that I removed for this photo;)

A nice warm wool hooked rug for my bedside. Red and birds...it was meant for me!

Two new little pieces for the shop.

ACEO size canvas paintings.

So cute!!

They will be in the shop later tonight!

Enjoy your night:)

Nature Walk

Hello Friends,

We had beautiful weather here this weekend and we did a few "fall" like things.

We attended the Witches Ball on Saturday night with my sister. There were lots of spooky costumes and fun to be had. I forgot to bring my camera so no pictures:(

Next year we're going to get dressed up too!

The boys and I spent yesterday afternoon walking through "their most favorite place ever!" the Rancocas Nature Center which is run by the NJ Audubon Society.

Here I did remember my camera...

Moss lined path.

Vine covered tree.

Can you see the face?

The local Eagle Scouts have built several "boardwalks" that make it so much nicer, especially after it rains.

A perfect little mound of moss.

Big tree, little boy.

They spent about 45 minutes just dropping stick "boats" into the water and watching them race. Boy's are so easily amused!

Pepper berries before they turn red.

Brothers.

Enjoy your day!

Autumn's Bounty

A new little Pilgrim for the shop.

Enjoy your weekend!

Go Phillies!

GO PHILLIES!!!

Thanks for a great season of baseball...keep it up!

One More Thing...

One more thing I meant to put in the post below...

I did a load of laundry on Sunday.

I opened the dryer to find a ton of little crispy brown pieces.

Upon further inspection, I realized they were dried leaf bits.

It seems Mr. Alex filled up the pockets of his cargo pants with colorful leaves and I didn't check.

So I had to use the dust buster to clean out the dryer and the lint trap.

At least it wasn't gum:)

I feel like Crazy Harry!

Crazy Harry from The Muppets

Saturday I made banana chocolate chip bread.

The batter looked kind of dry.

Not like it usually looks.

I looked around at all of the bowls to make sure I added everything.

All of the bowls were empty so I put it in the oven.

It came out dry.

Around 11:00 p.m., husband comes into bedroom to ask what this bowl of gross brown stuff is that he found sitting in the microwave.

Ummmm, that would be the banana.

So why upon eating the cake did I notice that it was dry, but not that it didn't taste like banana?

Hmmmm?

Earlier, I walked around for about 8 hours without noticing I had no battery in my right hearing aid.

It must have fallen out when I was putting it in.

What?

Sunday I spent an hour making a big pot of tomato soup so I would have something good to eat for lunch this week.

I put it into a plastic container and left it on the counter to cool.

I woke up this morning to find it still sitting on the counter.

I'm still going to eat it so if you don't hear from me it's because I'm in the hospital with some sort of stomach thing.

I went to Home Goods to walk around and relax only to find that EVERY isle I went into, there was someone talking on their cell phone.

I HATE CELL PHONES.

I don't really hate them.

They are great for emergencies and for making quick calls but I am so sick of feeling uncomfortable because I am forced to eavesdrop on a strangers conversation while looking at Christmas decorations. Really, I don't want to hear about Aunt Helen getting out of the hospital and how Uncle Bill is going to get her a wheel chair. Do you?

I wish I had a camera so I could take this picture.

I turned the corner in Home Goods to find a woman chillin' out in a comfy chair that was on display chatting it up on her phone.

What, are you at home?

Are you comfortable?

Do you need a drink?

I think I need a drink.

Want to join me?

Welcome Fall!

Hello Friends,

I finally got around to my fall decorating.

Here are a few pictures...

My little Garboodles gal

Halloween tree

The pictures aren't great because it's been cloudy here in NJ.

Starting Monday I will be back in the studio.

First I need to clean it up and get organized but then I plan on starting a few Pilgrim pieces and Christmas/winter paintings.

Enjoy your weekend!

Accidents Happen

I made this.

Then I broke it.

I was so sad.

The bottom was the most perfectly thrifted cut glass dish.

It shattered to bits.

My husband warned me to be careful of the glass.

I rolled my eyes...duh!

After I cleaned it all up, I was walking bare foot in my studio.

I got glass in my foot.

My husband said,

"I told you you so."

UGH!

The End