Happy Halloween

Greetings, all. We got back home Thursday night and I have been spending my time, recovering from it all. DH picked up a bit of a bug on the way home and has been winding down with chicken noodle soup and Nyquil capsules. We hadn't planned on giving out candy this year, so it will be a quiet night here on the hill.

We had a nice time, doing some things that we hadn't done before and revisiting some of our favorite sites.

We started off at Tuna Harbor, taking part in the kickoff of the Tea Party Express.

Check out the giant sculpture in this shot, it is so cool.

Got settled in and had an early dinner with my sister. After winding down and getting used to being on the eleventh floor of the hotel, DH and I walked to the Ralph's supermarket about three blocks from the resort and carried tons of stuff back, using our wheeled suitcase as a shopping cart, while carrying the rest. We were staying in a room with a kitchen and had to have water, milk, coffee, fruit, peanuts, snacks...you get the picture. After we got everything put away, we sat back and enjoyed the view.



Monday morning after sending me on my way for retail therapy, DH went to take the tour on the USS Midway. I declined that little bit of sight seeing (it's a lot of climbing ladders and that's just not my thing), but he had a great time. He took a ton of pictures, but I love this one.



Tuesday we did the Historic Trolley Tour of San Diego and then went to the zoo. While the weather had been quite clear and very warm so far, we were really surprised to find the sky overcast, the temperature dropped and the wind gusting like crazy. Fortunately, we both brought hoodies and put them to good use. I usually don't ride anything that isn't on the ground, but for some reason I let DH talk me into riding the Skyfari aerial tram at the zoo. I did not like it much, but once you are in the thing, it's pretty much a done deal.



We finished up our trip by watching the sunset over the ocean, in once again, hurricane force winds.

Here I am...

..and here we are. I love the reflection of the sunset in my glasses.
The tower behind us in this shot, is where we stayed.

I took hundreds of pictures that I will be posting on my Flicker account as the days progress, so I won't torment you with those here. I did want to say that I'm so glad to be back. I always appreciate home so much when I return. I love my sister and only get to see her once a year, so this visit is often bitter sweet.

Well, that's it for now. Hope everyone had a great week and I also hope you are planning a safe and Happy Halloween. Be careful and don't get your windows soaped or your trees TP'd.

We'll talk soon.

Getting ready for next week

Yes, Miss Kristen, you are right. It is time for me to make a new post. The hubby and I are getting ready for our yearly visit to the Left Coast. My sister always gives us a trip out to see her as our Christmas gift. This year we are going to be staying in a different area, and we are looking forward to that.

One of the things we needed to do to prepare for the trip, is to make sure our outside light was working properly. It has been flickering lately and we don't want to have to ask the neighbor to come over in the yard and whack the lamp post to make it work. Of course I waited until it was already dark to ask DH to go out and work on it. He is quite capable and certainly not scared of the dark, but I still went with him to hold a flash light while he stood on the ladder and changed the bulbs. He put the first one in and since he had enough light from the bulb that was burning, I moved the flashlight. While I was watching him, I decided that maybe he did still need the flash light, so without saying anything, I swung the light back up to where DH was fiddling with the light and he thought a BAT had swooped by and started to jump and swat on the ladder. I, being the immature juvenile that I am, thought this was extremely funny. I was able to get back in the house before having a complete giggling fit. He is such a good sport. He has to be, because I'm so silly and goofy, that I have these fits quite often. Sometimes he laughs with me, sometimes he just shakes his head.

(if you know who this is, you are as nutty as I am)

So we're off to the p.o. to have our mail delivery delayed until we return and to pick up any incidentals that we may have forgotten. We are only going to be gone for 4 days, but for me it might as well be a month. I'm a home body, and not the best traveler and I can't seem to find my motion sickness bracelets. I have to wait until almost the last minute to get everything ready, because I make myself a bit too nervous otherwise. We're not leaving until Sunday morning, and I still have laundry to do and my nails to do and such. I always like to make sure the house is clean before we leave, because a clean house is so nice to come back to.

Well, I suppose that's it for today. I don't know if I will make a post while I'm gone. We are taking the laptop, but I'm not sure I know how to load pictures on it. Oh, wait...I don't really have any pictures today, either. Maybe I'll wait until we return and post all kinds of cool vacation photos, I'm sure everyone will love that. Now, I'm making just myself nervous about that. I need to regroup and calm down. It's only a five hour flight...I can do this. There will not be an earthquake, followed by a tsunami...I can do this. I'll have my DH there with me...I know I can do this.

Nervous? Who me? Just a bit. I'm usually all right once I get on the plane. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers and I'll be back soon, rested and raring to go. Have a great rest of the week. Look to the sky Sunday and give us a wave. Stay healthy and happy, warm and toasty, creative and artful and all will be just fine.

Talk to you soon.

Whew, too much cake!

The hubby had a great birthday and really enjoyed his cake. The thing is, we don't eat cake and ice cream and now he is experiencing insomnia, headaches and other symptoms. I personally think it is directly related to the sweets.

We found this advertisement in an old romance comic book and thought it was quite telling.

I think we've been searching for the secrets for quite sometime.

I guess I'm an enabler when it comes to pampering my hubby. When he asks for sweets, I indulge him. Perhaps it's time I go Jillian on him (and me) and whip us into shape.

What's your favorite way to get back on track when you have overindulged? How do you motivate yourself and your family to stay healthy when everyone wants to hibernate? If only those .25 diet books were around now, I know that would be the answer. In the meantime, sound off and let us know what is working for you.

I don't know about you but I have been a CRAB for several days (sorry, Sweetie). It's been raining here this week and I seem to want to blame the weather for my mood. I guess we should just try to hang in there, even if it means wearing a SAD visor for a boost of energy. I'm sure we'll get through these "twilight at noon" days and make the most of the health, well being and other things that have been given us.

I say let's keep our chins up, grab some fruit, (count our blessings) and watch our favorite shows tonight. I'm sure the rest will certainly fall into place.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

This and That

Hope everyone had a fun weekend. The DH and I did a bit of this and that. Saturday morning he mentioned that there was a free movie at the local art theater so we had fun seeing...

(Don't you just love to take pictures of the movie screen?)

Since I was more of a Three Stooges fan, I had never seen this film and to see it on the big screen was actually a lot of fun.

From there we went to a craft show, where there were lots of different items to be seen and purchased.

From jewelry...

(By the way, I asked permission from each vendor before taking these shots)

...to photography

with lots of stuff in between. I would have taken more pictures, but my battery conked out after three shots. I didn't find anything that really "spoke" to me, and my darling hubby was patient and even pointed out some really nice jewelry and other things.

There was another Fall festival that we were going to check out, but it got a bit overcast and I was concerned that it might rain, so we called it a day.

My DH had a birthday Sunday and wanted a cake, so we tossed the diets out the windows and enjoyed some devils food cake with chocolate icing.

Other than that, we have had a fairly quiet weekend. I did start a new project. Sort of an autobiography with cartoon like drawings and journaling. So far I'm up to age 5. Hmmm, this may take a while.

Between dental appointments, hair cuts and getting ready for vacation, my blog posting may become a bit sporadic. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere for long. This little blog is here to stay. I know that those of you who care, will put up with my little rants and raves, and I'm certain we can all stay positive through the upcoming winter months.

Some of my friends crave the sunshine and dread the overcast days. For some, winter is a time of reflection. If you do choose to hunker in during the cooler months and contemplate life, I wish you happy thoughts and sound solutions and loving friends to help you through any tough times you experience.

We are all in this together, so surround yourselves with those that will lift you up. Don't let anyone think they can tear you down, or make you feel inferior. As we know, folks that do this usually have unresolved issues. Sometimes the only way to change a situation, is to change your reaction to that situation. I know it works for me.

Enjoy your week and do something fun and artsy.

Fall challenge, artist's block and more

I may have mentioned to several friends that I am experiencing a creative block right now, so perhaps just posting some pictures and participating in a challenge will release some hidden ideas. My friend Lesley, @ the Funky Art Queen, is suggesting a fall photo challenge. I don't really have many decorations out, but I did wire together a little wreath in the traditional fall colors.

I know the silk flowers that I used aren't actual fall flowers, but the colors seemed to work.

It seems that I have done so much sewing and doll making and polymer clay creating, and jewelry making and, and, and... just so much art this spring and summer that I am just about out of steam. Perhaps I will try to post more photographs this fall while I wait for my brain to fill back up. One of my favorite blogs to visit daily is Countryfolk Keepsakes. Peanut always has art and photographs to inspire and sometimes make us giggle. Even though she is much younger than I am, I really love her and seem to have quite a bit in common with her.

In an attempt to create something, I pulled out the Clay Craft by Deco. It's the air dry clay that I make flowers out of. (See this previous post) I wanted to make something other than flowers, but while this clay is perfect for flowers, it is really just not sturdy enough to do much sculpting from, so this is what I came up with.

Yikes...yes, this is what I ended up with. I just wanted to do something a bit different. I don't get bored, ever, but I do sometimes want to do something different. In fact in my quest to do something "different" over the years I have dabbled in the following.

Macrame, flower arranging, cake decorating and cooking, belly dancing, ball room dancing and disco, altered art, collage, all kinds of jewelry techniques, including bead weaving, stringing, wire working, chaine maille, lampwork beads (making beads with a torch), pmc (precious metal clay), ceramics, pottery lessons, drawing, painting, mosiacs, melt art (includes hot glue art, melting wax and crayons for pictures),rubber stamping, craft foil embossing, wood burning, knitting, crocheting, sewing, doll making, doll altering, paper arts, including quilling, cutting and paper folding, throw in finger counting, speed writing, key punch and learning computer stuff and this is just what I can remember right now. The scary part of all of this, is that I still have the supplies and the books for all of the above mentioned crafts.

Is there anything that I haven't tried yet? I have also read thousands of books, fiction and non fiction. I have spent hours and hours watching the telly and listening to music. There must be something else. I've always wanted to do something musical, but try as I may, I have had no success with piano, recorder, spoons or tambourine. I used to want to be a singer, but when I wanted to take voice lessons at the ripe old age of 10, the local teacher said I was too young. I wanted to take ballet and tap, but never got to. I tried to teach myself to roller skate, but fell and couldn't get back up and was too embarrassed to know what to do or to ask for help. Oh, wait, I'm regressing way too much here.

I always wanted to write a book and I love to take photographs and have even helped with weddings. I helped DH with his tv show and have thought about doing youtube videos of my own, but since I got so chubby, I'm hesitant to do that.

So, sorry about the long post, but this is what you get when I'm not at the art table. Unless you want more of these rambling thoughts, you had better come up with something new for me to do. Put the old thinking caps on kids and let me know. What is your favorite thing to do and have you done many of the same things that I listed. I really would love to know.

One other thing, if you go to my other blog, you can read about my pet peeve of the day. Be warned, it's not pretty.

That's it for today. Take care and have fun.

You call that art?

This first piece just came from some emotions I was experiencing this weekend. It relates to an issue that we are currently dealing with. Mostly one that my hubby is dealing with, but when you wrong my DH you wrong me, whether you know it or not. Enough about that, here's the picture that came about from my silent musings.

After a lovely weekend with my hubby which included eating vegetable soup and watching great black and white movies, I was able to smooth out some and create a bit of seasonal art. This was based on a photo I took last year of our backyard. I'm not sure if it is completed yet. Sometimes I just have to prop a piece of art up and walk by and look at it for a while. If it pleases me, I start to ignore it. If not, eventually I will decide what I else I think it needs and go for it. Until then here it is...

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I hope you did the things you enjoy and kept the company of the ones you love best. Have a great week, take a deep breath and relax.

Becky's Challenge

Becky, from Wonders Never Cease has challenged us to post an '80's picture of ourselves. Are you up to the challenge? I thought so. I posted both of these almost one year ago, but what the hey! Looks like it's time again.

Here's what the hubby was doing in 1987...

He's the one on the right in the silver spandex!

Here I am right before the show. "That's right, I'm with the band, jealous?"

...just so you'll know, I'm 34 in this picture...

Sorry these shots aren't any better. But if you click on the picture, you can see the tear drop stickers I have on my face. Was I a hoot, or what?

Ok, Becky, there you go. Just remember...you asked for it!