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I am living in "the little house of horrors" for Self-Portrait Tuesday
November roof leak, and subsequent removal and installation of a new wall.
The vacuum keeps coming to and from Sears repair, the furnace had problems (now fixed). I also got a new programmable thermstat. How did I live without that before?
I have not cleaned up the backyard since the big windstorm. Tree trimming crew here yesterday, but have a maple in trouble, so more pruning in store. I have been trying my best to prune the hydrangeas and find that is a very painful procedure.
Pull string on the blinds in the master bedroom has broken so many times, the cost of repairing them would have purchased a new set of blinds. The last time one broke, back in October, I left it thinking we would eventually order new ones. Which we finally did last month. And that wasn't cheap ;(
The french doors we installed more than 10 years ago have been rotting the last couple of years. I have been worried and finally ordered a new, water-resistant one. Of course, that is a "custom" size. Today was the "anticipated installation day", but with the removal of said rotten door, we found problems on the sub-flooring which led to a frantic phone call to my contractor begging him to rush over and take a peek before installation. The conclusion was to let the wood dry out for a couple of days, cover the gapping hole and let Rick (my trusted contractor) come do his magic later.
All of this does not include the running list in my head of other maintenance items that need to be done. In short, homeowning = poverty.
Really want to buy carved wood deer heads for D for his birthday. Or any of the exqusite things I found in the following websites.
Oh, yeah, my kind of stuff, just not my kind of prices at Cowhide Western Furniture Co. Life-Size Fallow Deer Bronze With Real Antlers or Hand-carved stags.
John Gallis Furniture, The Arrangement - The Best of the New West Home Interiors, Cowboy Living, Ritual Decor, Anteks Homes. Old sage from Legacy Gallery. Tepee nightstand and other wonderful furniture at Pendelton homes.
If you buy those sofas you must wear clothes from DD Ranch Wear or Montana Dream Wear or here and have at least one pair of these from Back at the Ranch boots and have one of these on your wrist! I would really like to be carrying one of these on my shoulder.
All of these links come from the most wonderful Cowboys & Indians Magazine and they have some great links here.
American Nature Book 2 by Celeste Sotola and Cowboy Pop. Jewelry by Designs by Kara and Julio Pagliani.
Western Vintage Posters or a buy them on a cd? And the cutest vintage Cowboy & Indian Cake Topper Candle Holders
Alex Sepkus jewelry has a Gustav Klimt feel to it.
Eleanor Glover sculpture. Betye Saar, House of Ancient Memory and Life Is a Collage for Artist Betye Saar on NPR. Deborah Butterfield Sculptures at the The Greg Kucera Gallery.
Haven't we all lusted after tables made by Sticks. Floyd Gompf's Pencil Box. Dust Furniture.
My friend Faith said she laughed so hard she snorted when she read Dave Barry's The Year in Review. More here at the Miami Herald. And of course Dave Barry site.
FractArt with great music by Indra electric music.
Tune in to some sound bytes samples. If you are working at your computer, put on your headphones and just listen to all of the samples. I am not sure why I like this electronic music so much. It feels very soothing.
Isao Tomita
Heard this on kuow.org this morning on the way to work - Christopher Janney, Sculpting Sound, Sonic Forest, sample his sound as a visual medium. Read about him hear (pardon the pun) and New York’s subway station at 34th Street.
Ned Kahn, captures wonder of natural phenomena -- creates installations for fog, water, fire/light, wind and sand. Go to the video gallery and be amazed. My favorites magnetic field stone, tornado, wind leaves.
Hot rocks bird bath and lamps. Stone Forest garden collection.
Come soon, cherry blossoms bloom in DC.
I have not participated in Illustration Friday in a long time. I recycling some archived art and dedicating this to my friend Katie, who is having a baby. I have been giving her alot of grief about sellling her sexy, high-heeled snake-skin boots now because your feet grow at least a size and trading them in for some Dexters. I have stopped that now because I remember when someone told me I wouldn't care about a clean house after birth that I was horrified and said, I will always have a clean house. And eat those words now. Clean house, shoes, new clothes, no sleep ... all of that takes a backseat when you are "communicating" with your baby! Before and after birth. Of course, "communication" takes on a whole new meaning when your baby turns 15, but I will tell her those horror stories about that later. ;) Looking back, I can say it is all fun, Katie, enjoy the moment, each one!
Mapping out something to wear by Elisabeth Lecourt via Ma Roulotte via Camilla. Make your own paper dress here and here. You can match your wallpaper. The Souper Dress.
Flora Danica Dresses are two genuine copies of historical dresses from the nineteenth century made out of paper, with prints of the beautiful Flora Danica service motifs, a collaboration between Annette Meyer and Royal Copenhagen. Isabelle de Borchgrave (this is a must see, example below) and Rita Brown have re-created some of the historical costumes in paper.
How did I miss this? 2006 Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest, please pray for no rain. Anneliese Dekiere's paper wedding dress. Bjork got into paper I love this - "Wordrobe", Thoughts on words on clothes. Mara Johnson's Bustier.
Paper Quilt!, wish I had taken part of that challenge. Some wrapping ideas.
Seattle PI has a beta version of MySeattlePix, a free photosharing service for seattlepi.com readers. I uploaded my violas the other day for fun.
I am also on Twitter now and might need to sign up for this.
{later} I found (again) Tracey Bush was a link on art for housewives ... everything fun lives there ;)
I am so in love with The Carrot Box. I wore my big Green Ringa today and gave another away to a friend. I just want to make more and more of them! I need MORE TIME to make these fun, useless things! Bling glass ring, via Sub-Studio Design Blog, love them. Ozzi Oswald's square love found on Karin's Style Blog.
Also called Liz in a panic about charms we are suppose to be making for ArtFest. When I talk to Liz, it feels like no time has passed since we talked last, a very strange and soothing connection.
So I made a few charms tonight ... but I wanted to make my Ringas! Maybe I can get a few made before the end of March. Also have started a great little project for the 8x8 art piece for ArtFest and it involves a butterfly punch ;)
I carry several Thumb Drives in my coat pocket (along with pieces of paper, lighter, notes, money, keycard, car keys, pennies I find on the pavement, other coins, receipts, and a bunch of other stuff I have no idea what it is). They are always there, my security blanket. I should add that to the 6 weird things about me. I need my Thumb Drives. I used to carry a couple of zip disks in my purse. And before that I had at least two xacto knives in my purse. I need my tools with me. When I purchased a gig Thumb Drive last year I felt I had reached the pinnacle of all that was of technology that I needed to be. I had the same feeling when I purchased my gig card for the digital camera. But to own a 8 gig Thumb Drive, well, where would my head be then? 23 Things to Do With a Thumb Drive. This reminds me of a conversation I had with a very wonderful friend 20+ years ago in a newspaper graphics art department. We both agreed that we won the lottery that we would not buy cars or furs, we would purchase a color copier to have right in our homes!
D is really, really wanting of these, mimobot designer character Thumb Drives from mimoco, and they are the most fun thing I have seen in awhile. Found this delicious link via Yatzer, Design to Share.
I want Imation's USB bracelet that I could have and wear. SB Sound Flash Drive packs integrated speaker. Yeah! Real Thumb Drive. D also wants this Swiss Army knife combo.
Rubber Duck. How to make our own Lego Thumb Drive and it's own blog. Pez memory sticks. Yum on a stick. Thumb Drive on a landyard. And the ultimate, having my own Thumb Drive with my logo on it or better yet, why don't our companies give these for Christmas presents?
Something is happening inside of me. Significant changes, Make beautiful things and fun objects, not be the object of ridicule. Opportunities are opening up and it makes me very hopeful for my future. Take one small step at a time towards my incredible future!
This is me, in black and white, wearing my spring for Self-Portrait Tuesday.
I am adding another because I like it ;)
I was going to step away from the computer until my incredibly talented friend Curt sent me mail about origami artist Robert J. Lang. I want the moose or elk! No, I am not saying I could make them, I am not that talented or patient, I am just saying I want them. (I will blame Curt when I get nothing done today, my day off!)
Last Sunday was a beautiful Sunday, indeed. Window cleaners visited my house and even cleaned the skylights.
This is such a visually rich passage from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, read the entire book here. More Oscar Wilde's works here. Gosh, I wish I had this while I was in school! Brilliant!
"The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.
From the corner of the divan of Persian saddle-bags on which he was lying, smoking, as was his custom, innumerable cigarettes, Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-coloured blossoms of a laburnum, whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flamelike as theirs; and now and then the fantastic shadows of birds in flight flitted across the long tussore-silk curtains that were stretched in front of the huge window, producing a kind of momentary Japanese effect, and making him think of those pallid, jade-faced painters of Tokyo who, through the medium of an art that is necessarily immobile, seek to convey the sense of swiftness and motion.
The sullen murmur of the bees shouldering their way through the long unmown grass, or circling with monotonous insistence round the dusty gilt horns of the straggling woodbine, seemed to make the stillness more oppressive. The dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ."
I found this very interesting - Visualizing an online conversation, found on MIT's OpenCourseWare, a free and open educational resource (OER) for educators, students, and self-learners around the world, here's more about it.
This Chow Babe's theme was "crock pot" with a red factor. We were requested to wear red (reason to be revealed at the gathering) in celebration of our host passing through menopause.
Here are two that are sure to delight, with ease and taste. There were so many good ones; my favorite was the macaroni and cheese.
Do you have any good crock-pot recipes? Tell me and I will add them to our many on Chow Babes ... as we said today, the unsung-hero-appliance of the kitchen. The conversation quickly deteriorated to the subject of Britney's hair and Anna Nicole's baby father ... after we had eaten, of course. (My co-author-Chow-Babe- hates that this a orange type, but I know you know, if you want to print it out in black, copy it over to word, or email and copy from there in black;)
And one of our Chow Babes is having her own babe!
Pork Thai Stew
2 lbs. Pork tenderloin cut into 1-in chunks
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups sliced red bell pepper
2 Tbs. White wine vinegar or rice vinegar
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
cooked rice
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
Put tenderloin, garlic, bell pepper, vinegar, teriyaki sauce and red pepper into slow cooker. Cook on low 8 hours.
Remove meat from pot and shred. Add peanut butter to pot. Add meat. Cook for another 30 minutes. Serve over cooked rice, topped with green onions and chopped peanuts. Makes 6 servings.
Chocolate Mousse
1 package chocolate cake mix
1 pint sour cream
1 (3.4-ounce) package chocolate pudding mix
6 ounces chocolate chips
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
1 cup water
Spray slow-cooker with nonstick spray. Mix all ingredients until smooth. Pour into cooker. Cook on love 6 to 8 hours. Serve in a bowl with vanilla ice cream. Makes 6 to 8 servings.
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The Majestic Sombrero Galaxy on the Hubble site and image gallery and the Mars movie.
I love a good scary movie and hoping this will be one. It is pretty scary that I find this all very entertaining via my friend Elizabeth. Very scary. But nothing gets scarier than this and the attention we pay to complete white trash news. Walk away from your TV or this could be you!
It is such fun to get packages from friends. Jill sent me wonderful cards that she has made and that she bought. And a "peony pen". Much enjoyed, thank you!
Sometimes I feel like I don't belong in my surroundings. I feel out of place, too friendly, too loud, too silly, too honest. My Texan drawl makes me stick out like a sore thumb. I want to see and smell big green horse pastures. I love the smell cow manure, dirt filled arenas. I long to see highways that seem endless or smell an approaching thunderstorm. Soak up an endless star-studded, horizon-to-horizon sky. I always feel like I can breath when I look out to a flat blue sky. I remember driving from Dallas to San Angelo and stopping on the side of the highway, the only car there and laying the the hood of my car to watch the night sky. I would do that just about every trip. Sometimes, I feel lost. Sometimes, I miss home.
Me in black and white, against my painting of a Texas thunderstorm for a Self-Portrait Tuesday. Running a little late this week.
