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Day two of the Skull Fest brings a new challenge! How to decorate the second skull differently than the first? This isn’t going to get any easier as the others are started! Scanning through images on Google may help, but as many differences as there are, the more there are to choose from, the more […]
This gallery contains 4 photos.
Next weekend my husband Les, and I are taking a short trip to Dallas, Texas. We have family there, and one of Les’ Great Nephews is having a Bar Mitzvah. Neither Les, or myself have ever been to Texas, and I’m wondering just what kind of galleries and attractions the city may hold for us? […]
Wednesday morning is trash day around our neighborhood, and we try to walk before the trucks get really active around here. The noise, and fumes, not to mention the smell of the trash make it unpleasant to walk if they are in the immediate vicinity. As we walk around block after block, we start to look at the trash bins, and wonder if they hold anything good? Back in the day when you could put all your trash out curbside there was a much larger variety of goodies. Now all that has changed! They have big mechanical arms picking up the containers, and dumping them into the top of the truck, making it impossible to leave a table, chair or other large items out to be picked up. It wasn’t too long ago that we’d put things out to the curb knowing someone would be by about 10:30 at night to rummage through everything in hopes of finding a treasure, only to put it in a garage sale somewhere a mile away! Years ago, my mother brought home a set of four bent wood chairs she found, thinking they would be perfect with my dining room table. They did look great, and we used them for many years. Someone was just tired of the look, and left them for someone else to love, and enjoy. That would be me!
Today as I walked around eyeing all the trash bins, I don’t get the feeling that inside a bin is a treasure waiting to be found. Rarely are they stuffed to the point of being unable to close the top. Occasionally, as today there were a few with cardboard sticking out, but I’m not looking for cardboard, and digging through someones trash bin isn’t quite what makes me happy these days! Maybe all the real treasures are now in thrift shops, garage sales, consignment shops, or even swap meets if they still have those! I long for a genuine treasure that just pops out in front of me on a walk, or even a super fabulous “thing-a-ma-bob” at a garage sale that I could use in my artwork! “Thing-a-ma-bobs” are more difficult to find these days, and I wonder how many garage sales one needs to go to just to find them? Is there a better area to go to, ’cause this one isn’t cutting it!
Once upon a time we use to talk of going to the wealthier neighborhoods for the treasures no one else would find, but that was back in the day when people would put things of value out on the sidewalk so people like us, the pickers, could discover them! Where are your favorite places to find treasures? Do you have a treasure trove right in your own back yard, or do you have to drive long distances to treasure hunt?
Every time I buy new furniture, or a new lamp, I’m never happy with it! They don’t have any character, and definitely no energy from a previous lifetime to bring with it into their new home. So now my motto is to rescue things from wherever I find them !
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Two days ago I found this cool metal skull at Cost Plus, and had to have it! When it was purchased, I had ideas about what could be done with it, but didn’t know what exactly I would do! So today it will be a stenciled, sprayed through, sketched around, and some ideas that […]
This gallery contains 3 photos.
Yesterday, my husband and I started looking for rugs! In the short-term I wanted a rather small flexible throw to put over our ottoman so the animals wouldn’t leave it covered with fir, and footprints. I’m also noticing how we both seem to put our feet up, and a fabric foot stool isn’t going to last […]
How could any artist do without help of some kind? If we had to pick up our own “stuff,” or do all the gardening, or wash our own cars, it either wouldn’t get done, or we wouldn’t have time to paint, and create! I’m so grateful to have Ariceli here to clean our bathroom, kitchen, to scrub floors, and chase the herds of dust bunnies that have taken up residence on the slate floor, and under the furniture! The dust bunnies have become more elusive since we’ve had Daisy, our dog. They duck, and dart in, and out of sight, leaving me wondering if I’m seeing things! Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I was seeing things, they are called “Dust Bunnies!”
Sometimes when we are quietly enthralled in a movie, paying absolutely no attention to anything around us, out of the corner of my eye I think I see something roll by. Subconsciously it doesn’t even register until a couple of minutes later when, it dawns on me, ” What was that, a heard of mice, or dust bunnies? ” Rarely, if ever, in my life have I seen a herd of mice running through the house! So out of process of elimination, it must be a heard of “Dust Bunnies!”
Ariceli’s job has increased a little since we now have a dog, and a cat! It was bad enough to have Kramer in the house, he drags toys around, and shreds our books if we don’t put them away. We now are careful to hide reading material out of sight leaving me to wonder if Kramer is on the take, you know extorting money from Ariceli for getting us to clean up some of our own mess!
Today is the day we get help, and yes we do a little pick up prior to her arriving. Somehow, the few days before she comes, we get a bit messy, and leave things here and there. Our home is really small, and this doesn’t help, but still we continue to be messy!
After she has cleaned all the nooks, and crannies, steamed the floors, and herded all the Dust Bunnies, we always walk into the rooms with a huge sigh of satisfaction. I dread taking time to slow down while Ariceli cleans, but I love the times when we walk into our rooms and can’t see any shredded ropes, squeaky toys, leaves, or other stuff lying around. The house is fit for company, but we aren’t having any, so we’ll just sit here and enjoy the quiet, cool, of a clean house just the two of us! Ariceli is truly a “House Whisperer!”
Old as Dirt and Proud of it! 
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