October Already

Last weekend was the Ukiah Pumpkin Fest.  I shared a booth with Tami, and we both did very well.  Most of my things were Halloween related; books, dominoes, wands, banners, etc.  I sold 4 albums, not a single altered cork, but got 4 new album related orders.  Also made contact with 3 ladies who would like to get together to scrap, or make albums.  So that was nice.

I painted this window for the fair.  It did not sell, I think because it was priced too high for this area.  I lowered the price substantially on Sunday, but Sunday was basically a no sale day all the way around.  Only sold 2 dominoes on Sunday.  But it is a great event.  Joel and Allison came up on Saturday, and after it closed at 6 we all went to Appleby's for dinner.  Nettie and the girls joined us, and we had a great time visiting.

I have 4 other windows to paint.  Nettie took me to a store that was closing after 37 years, and I got the windows for $5 each.  Great deal, so now hopefully they will sell.  I need to decide what to paint on the other windows; I'm thinking another pumpkin one (different though), and 3 Christmas ones.  I also need to make some Christmas ornaments, and maybe some wooden items.  I have until November 9th to get things done, so that gives me 22 days.  Hope to get much accomplished by then!

Nettie and Aria showed up Saturday morning to help us set up.  They were so supportive all weekend, it was just awesome.  Aria stayed with me most of the day, helping me and Tami do things, pass out free tattoos to the kids that came by, and free candy (who says no to that).  Then all the kids came by on Sunday, and they went to do the rock climbing, arcade games, etc.  Had fun, then Nettie and Aria helped us break down also.  They were such a big help, and very much appreciated.  Loves me some girls!

The weather has still been quite warm, 87 both days this past weekend.  Quite warm, and still in the 80's this week.  But I love this time of year.  Cool in the a.m. and p.m., getting darker days, sun shining during the day, clear and beautiful.  Time to start fall cleaning, decorate for Halloween/fall, and begin making soups and homey things.  Always lots to do and so little time.  My days still fly by, and I'm not sure where all the times goes, but it does.  Maybe some day I can figure that one out!

Happy Fall Ya'll

Here we are already in October...the year has flown by so fast, I can't believe it.  We had our first rain yesterday and overnight and woke up to a bit this morning.  Nothing heavy, pretty light most of the time, but at least it's wet.  Nice to see.  As well, the leaves have begun to change, and fall.  There are tons of leaves in the back yard from the grapefruit tree!  And guess who gets to rake them up?

I've been getting ready for my next craft show, Pumpkin Fest, here in Ukiah on Oct. 13/14.  It's a 2-day fair, and Tami will be joining me in the booth.  Joel will probably come one day, and hopefully Allison will also (if she is back from her overseas work travel).  Here's a couple of pictures of some new ideas I'm planning on having in the booth.  I hope they are popular, they were certainly fun to make.

I'm hoping little packages of things will sell well, and hope they are popular.  I've made a couple more Halloween albums.  I still need to work on more altered dominoes and more altered corks.  They are a small and popular item; oh, and more Halloween wands.  Oh, and more cards, mostly Halloween themed.  Nettie asked me to cut some out, some that she and Aria can glue for me at their house.  I only have 11 days to finish preparing for this show, so I've got lots to do. 

I also have 5 old windows that I'd like to at least try to get 1-2 painted and try to sell those.  So much to do still.  Wish I had two "me's" to work faster and get more accomplished.  Oh well, I can only get done what I get done...and hope for the best.

I will have 2 more shows to do after this.  One in Fresno with Tami (Vintage Shabby Chic type show), and one in Sonoma, at the Women's Club and it will be Christmas themed.  I'm hoping for some good sales from these three shows.  Keeping the fingers crossed.

Art In The Park

Art In The Park craft fair was yesterday in Martinez, and I did pretty good.  Tami and I shared a booth, we were booth #3 right on Susanna Street, different from last year, but a great location.  The day was perfect...I arrived around 7 a.m., got my space assignment then unloaded.  Tami showed up right about then, and unloaded her car and we got our booth set up.  It started at 10 a.m.  I used both 6' tables for my stuff, and Tami hung all her stuff from the opposite side.  Last Thursday I put a reminder on Facebook for everyone to come by the booth, I'd love to see everyone and give them a hug.  Well, here's the entourage that passed through...Gail and Steve Milina (haven't seen in probably 6 years or so), Bill Scramstad (OMG he surprised me coming by...we hugged and teared up, it was so good to see him), Peggy Kamberg and Denise, I saw Angelo Costanza and chatted with him, saw Harriett Burt and said hello, Rick/Jacki, Ron/Tresa, Ray/Celia Lawson, Brandee and hubby, Jeanne Hobson, and of course my goddess sidekicks Joel and Allison.  It was a busy but successful day, thank you Jesus!

The weather was perfect, a little breezy, probably around 80, sunny, just a tad smokey.  The day before I came down to do the Martinez Peddler's Fair with the Morses and Skrehots (Judy/Chuck, Rick/Jackie, Ron/Tresa), then lunch at Creek Monkey, then to Rick and Jackie's to spend the night.  You could not even see Mt. Diablo from Rick's, there was so much smoke.  We ended up going to La Primavera for dinner, then back to Rick's for beddie bye.  I slept on top of the bed so as not to have to wash sheets, and it was so warm I didn't need covers all night.  Got up at 6:30, left at 7 and went to set up.

After the fair, we broke everything down and put all into our cars then met at Cinco de Mayo for dinner and more chatting.  Then stopped by Ron's as Tresa had a couple old books for me, then I headed home.  Got home at 9:10 p.m. Good drive both ways, no traffic.

I sold a Nature album and a couple smaller ones, dominos and corks.  The corks were a first at this fair, and people seemed to like them, so I think I'll make more.  Nettie was surprised I sold so many, because I priced them at $15, which she thought was too high. When people see something they really like, price is not usually a turnoff.  My Square Reader worked just fine, about 5 people used their charge cards, and the reader worked fine.

So now it is on to getting ready for Pumpkin Fest here in October...

Safe From The Fires / Getting Ready for Next Craft Show

So there are like 17 different wildfires here in California at the moment, and two of them are here in Mendocino county.  One is the Ranch Fire off Highway 20 near Potter Valley and Blue Lakes, and the second is the River Fire which started between Ukiah and Hopland on Old River Road south of Talmage.  They "were" approximately 30 miles apart, but they are now being called the Complex fire, as they are burning towards each other.  Lakeport and Kelseyville have been evacuated...very scary.  Janet is safe in Upper Lake, and the Branson's are farther down the lake from it, so they should remain safe.  There's also a HUGE fire near Redding, 1100 homes lost, good Lord!  Fire danger is very high this year, prayers for everyone involved.  We are safe here in Ukiah so far, but the winds have been gusty every day since these started and there's no telling where they may end up.  Prayers flying...

Finished an "Olde Curiosities Shoppe" mini album for sale at my next show (Art In The Park, 8/19 in Martinez, CA).  Below are a few pictures of it.  Come on out if you want to purchase it, it will be available.

I'm working on getting maybe 2 more albums completed, some tin Christmas ornaments, more Halloween Wants, more altered dominos...so much to be done, and I only have 17 days left before the event.  So I've got lots to do.  Be back soon.

Finished Gourd and Next Craft Show

So I finally finished Maryanne's gourd and got it mailed to her...she loved it.  It only took two and a half years to figure out what to put on it, but it got completed.  So glad it is completed and she was happy with the outcome.  Here are a few shots of how it turned out...

I really like how it turned out.  At least I can check it off the list as "Completed".  Thank goodness.

We just got back from a week in Yosemite.  We left at 4 a.m. on Friday, July 13.  We left in the dark because Zoe absolutely hates being in the car, so we figured if she slept in the dark it would make traveling that much easier, and it did.  Because we left so early, we stopped in Groveland for breakfast, then played at the park for awhile before continuing to the park.  We arrived at our campsite at 11:30 and it was vacant, so we set up camp.  Headed to the river after lunch.  Then later that day, people were coming in saying it took them forever to get into the park because they had closed Hwy 140 due to a fire.  So the next morning when we woke up, the valley was full of smoke from that fire (Ferguson Fire).  It continued that way for the next 6 days.  It cleared out some at night, but way too smoky during the day.  And it was awfully humid as well.  Ron and Jarrod's family arrived at the park on Saturday, as they had a site for a week also, just a day after ours.  Ron had flown Wes down from Spokane so he could join everyone at Yosemite as well, so Aria had a blast all week playing with her cousins, Wes, Gavin, Braden and Rylynn.  Then on Tuesday, Scott's birthday, Scott climbed Half Dome for the first time.  He had an easy climb, but when he got to the top, of course because of the smoke, he couldn't see very far.  He took what pictures he could but was very disappointed.  Thursday, Brian and Keith joined us.  It was nice to see them both.  So we put up with the smoke until Thursday evening, then packed up and headed home.  But it was so nice to be able to spend time in that cold Merced River, as always.  I love that river.

So we left the park around 8 on Thursday...we would have left Friday by noon anyway.  So we get about 1 hour outside of the park, and the truck engine light went on and we broke down.  The power steering pump broke, and a belt came off.  Scott tried to fix things for about 45 minutes (in the total dark), to no avail.  Not one car stopped to help us, so Nettie walked down the hill with a flashlight in the dark, and when she came back told us down at the bottom of the hill was a Cal Fire station.  So we coasted down there and pulled onto that road.  Just as Nettie and Scott were walking toward the building we saw a car was coming out.  It was the last 2 guys heading home for the day, so we were thankful/lucky that we caught them.  They let Scott use their land line and he called a taxi and a tow truck.  Finally the tow truck came, put the truck onto the bed, and took us all into Groveland, dropped us at the Groveland Motel for the night, and took the truck to their repair yard in Big Oak Flat, just down the road.  Scott was told the truck would be ready on Tuesday.  We ended up staying at the motel for 2 nights.  Saturday morning when Ron and Wes drove out of Yosemite, Ron stopped at the motel and picked up Scott and drove him to Manteca to get a rental car.  He then came back and picked us all up and we headed home.  It was so good to get home, we were all exhausted on Sunday, but have recouped in the meantime.  Then on Tuesday, Scott had work training in Murphy's, caught a ride with Steve, and Steve drove Scott to Big Oak Flat to pick up the truck.  Then Scott stayed in Murphy's for training, and came home today.

Now I'm getting ready for my next craft show in Martinez, so I have posted a picture of a mini photo album I have started working on.  I have lots to do before August 19, so it's time to get off of here and back to work...hope you like what you see.  I'll post the final when complete.

So that't it for now...be back soon.                                                                                                            

A Month Later

So I've been out of hospital over a month now, and am not still fully back to normal...I'd say 95%.  I can finally catch a full breath, sleep in my bed all night, my feet have gone back to normal (no more swelling)...the only thing not back to normal is endurance in walking or climbing stairs.  I went to a graduation party yesterday in Ft. Bragg and had to climb about 10 steps, and found that harder than normal.  I just need to get on my treadmill every day and walk and that should take care of it pretty much.  I need to start doing that, because a couple of vacations are coming up.

At the end of June the kids are going back to Serene Lakes with the Branson's and Wes, Tara, Kenny and Stockton are coming down for that week.  I've been invited to spend as much time there that week as I'd like, but I'll just go for a couple of days I think.  I don't want Nettie fretting about me when all they need to do is enjoy family and have fun.  Then middle of July we go to Yosemite for a week.  So I need to start exercising/walking so that I won't have any issues with walking to go swimming, either at Serene Lakes or Yosemite.  The Branson's are going to join us in Yosemite this year, so it should be fun.  Nettie and I need to start planning our menu, and make sure all the equipment is in working order.

In the meantime, I have started working on MaryAnn's gourd that she gave me to "transform" for her 2.5 years ago when we were in Albuquerque for the Balloon Festival in 2015.  I feel bad that it has taken me this long to get started on it, but it hasn't "spoken" to me since recently.  MaryAnn gave me full reign on the gourd, do whatever I wanted.  But every time I look at that thing it reminds me of a goose...what do you think?  A goose, right?

But I think I've decided to do some southwestern indian design, with a gecko (tail backing up on the neck there).  I've been looking at videos and gourd tutorials, trying to get a good idea of what I want to put on it, and I think I've got a pretty good idea.  So tomorrow I will take it out back and sand it down, cut into the bottom of the gourd and clean out the inside, and get started on the design. I will woodburn all the design, then use my dremel to drill holes throughout the design.  I also have some gourd inks to paint with, so I'll post a picture when it is complete.  I told MaryAnn to expect it by end June, so I've got to get busy.

I just finished a "music" themed photo album for Kathy Angley (Ukiah COC)...she came to the Pumpkin Fest last year and said she wanted one for her daughter who was graduating this week.  So I got it completed and took it to the graduation party she had yesterday in Ft. Bragg.  She asked me what the cost was, and I told her we could discuss it later (not at the party), so today in church she came and asked me again what the price was and I told her this one was on the house.  She was very grateful...I told her I had all the supplies and didn't have to buy anything.  She just hugged me and said thanks...I told her the next one would not be free, and we just laughed.

So now I can just start doing more things for Art In The Park in August...have plenty of time.  Then the one after that will be in November in Fresno with Tami.  So time to get more things done.  The one in Fresno is a Shabby Chic atmosphere, so I'm trying to get things ready for that that are cutsey and chic.  I want to get some of those "tin" ornaments done, maybe more wooden houses...not sure, but there's time to plan.

Scott and Nettie have been looking quite a bit lately at open houses.  They are anxious to buy something.  They started off wanting to "flip" something, then they weren't too picky about fixing while living in the place, maybe someplace with land.  But they've been looking at more "move in ready" houses, so they aren't sure what to do.  He's approved for $450K, so they are having fun looking at open houses and checking Zillow for homes for sale.  They want some land, a place for garden(s), a place for dogs, at least 3 bedroom/2 bath.  Hopefully they can find the perfect first time house and love it.

Aria's last day of school was this past Thursday, June 7, so she's got the summer off.  Going to be a fun summer, lots to do.

Good To Be Home

It started with a slight sore throat for about a day, followed by fits of coughing, then couldn't sleep laying down, and could not catch my breath.  This lasted 2 days, and finally on April 23 Nettie drove me to Santa Rosa Kaiser for a doctor visit.  I got in to see the doctor quickly, she checked me out and took me for a short walk down the hall, brought me back and said I was being admitted.  I spent the next 3 hours or so in emergency, they trying to find my veins, get in some iv's.  Finally made it up to a room (311) where I stayed for 13 days with double pneumonia and fluid on one lung.  It took them a week to finally decide to put a chest tube into the lung to draw out all the fluid.  In the end, it took out 1600 ml of fluid, more than 2 bottles of wine.

Being in hospital is not a fun event.  You are tortured by nurses and everyone, don't get much sleep, are in pain, have nothing to do but lay there.  I was able to use the bathroom myself the whole time, so it got me up and down all the time.  My feet swelled to ungodly proportions, they felt like they were going to burst.  My veins wouldn't cooperate, so they eventually had to find a vein via ultra sound.  At one point, the ct scan/chest xray showed there was not one place the fluid was, but in modules that had to be broken up.  So for 3 days they came in and injected enzymes into the chest tube to break up the fluid sacs, and those injections wiped me out.  I felt like I'd been sucker punched, painful, no energy, totally zapped.  The first time they did it, I asked for pain meds twice, and the second time the nurse (male) said once they closed the valve the pressure would ease and I would feel better.  For whatever reason, a nurse leader came in and asked me how it was going, and I complained about not getting meds.  Well, suffice to say, minutes later I had my pain medication, and over the next couple nights when they did the following injections, I was well taken care of.  I was still zapped of energy, but the pain was handled immediately.  Gotta love those nurse leaders!

After the injections, the next morning I would wake up with no pain; they would come in and do a chest xray and the doctor would show up later and we would discuss.  Finally after the 3 injections they said overnight they were looking for less than 100 ml to come through the tube, and if so it would probably come out the following day.  Well only 10 ml came out, so they took out the tube on Friday.  They watched me another 24 hours, and finally on Saturday, May 5 (Cinco de Mayo), they released me and I got to go home.

So now I'm home recouperating, taking it easy.  I've tried sleeping in my bed the past 2 nights, and can do so for only about 2 hours, then I have to be up and sleep in my recliner.  I know I'll be back to normal eventually, but that's all I can do for now.

I am so blessed by all the phone calls, prayers, and visits everyone made.  Nettie was a trouper, bringing me items I needed, rubbing my feet and legs to ease the swelling.  I love that girl so much.  I have got the most wonderful, caring daughter ever, and I am so proud of her.  She is the best daughter and mom!

So taking it day by day, getting stronger and back to normal the best I can.  I was supposed to be in Clovis/Fresno this coming weekend (May 12) for a vintage fair with Tami, but my health wouldn't allow it, as well, her husband (Les) passed away and she won't be doing it either.  Life is short, I know.  I am blessed by God, protected by His love and grace, and am thankful for every day I get up to breathe.

Friday The 13th and Easter

Here we are in April already...where does the time go.  It doesn't seem like I've been in Ukiah for almost a year and a half already.  I just did a craft show in Martinez (SWAN Day) and it was a successful one-day event.  The best part was I got to see three of my close friends, Joel, Allison and Tami.  We spent the weekend at Allison's house.  She is the most generous and giving hostess one could ever ask for.  We all brought food for Friday night, as well as some she had available.  We talked, laughed, caught up with each other.  Then Saturday, Tami and I got up early to go set up our booths.  We let Joel and Allison sleep in, as they are the working girls of this group.  They came out and met us in the early afternoon.

SWAN Day is a yearly event that the Martinez Arts Association puts on.  It's a one-day event, the booths are free, and it's held in the parking lot by the old train station.  I think Tami and I did well and we both enjoy this event.  Of course, my family usually always shows up at this event, so Rick, Jackie, Ron and Tresa all dropped by.  My friend, Rhonda, also dropped by (I hadn't seen her in more than a year, so it was nice to hug her neck).  We had a bit of light rain in the morning (I ended up attaching my rain flap), clouds for the rest of the day, and quite windy and cold in the afternoon.  I need to invest in some weights for my easy-up, it almost blew away a few times.  Ended up taking it down around 3 pm or so, so that it wouldn't blow away.

After we packed up, Joel and Allison stopped by Cinco de Mayo (one of the best Mexican restaurants ever) and picked up dinner for us all.  Then we headed back to Allison's for another night of laughs, talking and sharing.  Allison had put some margarita mix in the freezer for us to imbibe in, so we had some extra laughs.  Sunday morning we got up and Allison just wanted to stay home as she had some chores to take care of, so Joel, Tami and I went to The Original Pancake House for breakfast before all heading home.  Oh my, I had a Dutch Baby Pancake...absolutely the best.  It's a fluffy, egg based, pancake that when it was served was warm; you put some butter on it to melt, dust it with powdered sugar and drizzle lemon juice on it.  Scrumptious!  It is huge, so I ended up taking half of it home for dinner, since I hardly ever eat breakfast I was stuffed.  I enjoyed that tremendously.

Then we all said our goodbyes, and I headed home via Hwy 29 through Napa and up Hwy 128.  I love that drive, it was a nice, sunny day for it.  I ended up getting home around 4.  Didn't even bother unpacking the car until the next day or so, as I was pooped by the time I got home.  But for dinner, I had the leftover Dutch Baby, and was completely happy.  It was a gread weekend with great friends.

Since then, I've ordered all the prints to make our Savannah albums.  I'm making 5 of them, one for each of us that was on our girl's weekend trip.  I'm also making a baby album for Katie, who had Anna Rose a few weeks earlier than expected.  They are enjoying their baby girl, she is a cutie pie!  And of course, spending time with Nettie and her family.  Aria spends usually one night a week with me, and I see her/them a couple more times during the week.  Aria has lost 4 teeth already, and is such a cutie.  Zoe smiles almost constantly, is beginning to say Mama and Dada, claps, scoots herself around in a circle, and is just a joy to be around.

I had the kids and Branson's over for Easter dinner.  We ate out on the picnic table, but had dessert inside as it got a little too windy.  Aria came over the day before and we made her first ever cake.  She chose to make a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  I got a Paula Deen recipe and we made it together.  Aria did a spectacular job!  We've been watching some cooking/baking shows, and she's been dying to bake something.  She loves watching those shows and I think has quite a grasp on them already.

She ended up spending the night, and I had only bought her a hollow chocolate easter bunny, and the next morning she got up, looked out my bedroom window into the back yard and said "I don't see any Easter eggs out there", so she went looking around the rest of the house (where of course I had nothing for her because mom said she would take care of it all), so when I saw her next, she had a little tear running down her cheek cause the Easter bunny had left nothing at all for her.  Oh my, did I feel like a bad grandma!  So said that the bunny probably left everything at her house, and she seemed appeased for the moment.  We then got ready and she went to church with me, and I dropped her at home afterwards so she could see what all the Easter bunny left for her.  She was perfectly happy when they came over for dinner later.  I certainly won't forget next year!  I felt awful!

Now it's time to finish my taxes and send them off...I think I get a refund!  Woot, Woot!!!

Aria's Sixth Birthday

Oh, my gosh, how the time flies.  Aria is already 6 and celebrating her birthday today.  Nettie set everything up for Todd Grove Park, and the theme is Survivor.  Aria has been watching that on television, so decided that was what her them this year would be.  Nettie set up an obstacle course for the kids to crawl under the ropes, jump through the hoops, crawl through the tunnels, then run.  She also made paper cups that die to tops of kids feet, then they are filled with popcorn (popped, of course), then the child has to walk them over, without spilling, and empty them into a paper bag.  That was so much fun.  She also had a table set up where kids could color/embellish their own rocks.  Pizza, fruit salad and naapa cabbage salad for lunch, along with drink box, then ice cream for dessert.  The kids had a blast.  Looks like about 10 kids came out of about 20 invited.  Aria's best friend, Sepi, and her mom Alexis, drove up from Concord, so she was totally excited about that.  It was a sunny day, but cold and windy at times, but the kids had a ball.  By the time it was to leave, we were all exhausted.  Zoe did well most of the day, but was a little grumpy.  That's okay, cause she's only 7 months old now.  We got to the park at 11:15 and left at 3:15...long, busy day.

And you can see Miss Zoe had a good time in the basket.

Now, last week I was in Savannah with my sister, Judy, her daughter, Beth, her daughter Katie, and my niece Kris.  They all talked about a girl's weekend quite awhile back, and were nice enough to invite me.  We had a ball.  Stayed at The Wedding Cake Mansion, ate at Paula Deen's The Lady and Sons, as well as The Wilkes House...fabulous dining all around.

We walked, and walked, and walked around town all over the place, took a horse drawn carriage ride for an hour, walked down by the river, went to Leopold's Ice Cream Parlor, and all had the time of our lives.  Thanks to Kris for setting it all up...we might make this a regular thing for us to do.  I also got to see my sweet friend, Mary Trusdell.  Judy and I borrowed Beth's car and drove to Spartanburg, where she lives, and met her at her house for a tour of her beautiful home, a visit with hubby, Tracy, then to lunch.  It was so good to see her again, my sweet Mary!

Home again, home again...

Welcome 2018

Here we are already in 2018.  Last year went by so quickly, I cannot believe I've been up here in Ukiah almost a year already.  Time flies so fast when you are retired, believe me.  My goals this year are to work on my health, get on my treadmill MUCH MORE, get my diabetes in control, and work on my art a lot more.  I joined LifeBook 2018 with Tamara Laport again (didn't do it last year, but the year before in 2016) this year, and am looking forward to that, as well as Wanderlust2018, again this year.  I am bound and determined to do more art, do my craft shows and be more artsy this year.  With that in mind, before any of my classes began, I had the task of clearing off my workbench.  It looked like a war zone before I did anything.  I had stuff everywhere, too many things at once, so the need to purge the desk...there's the dining room table at the end of this desk, covered with "stuff" also...

Got it all cleared off, then started my classes.  My first week of LB lessons produced this first piece

as well as this piece, my garden fairy...

Aria was over one day and wanted to be creative, so she produced her own garden fairy, and did a fabulous job!  I posted them both on the LB facebook page, and Tamara made a comment and said Aria did a beautiful job!

Then for my first Wanderlust class, Jamie gave a lesson on Roads and Paths, and this was my take on it...

I have also decided that once a week I will post my art journey here on this blog.  I need to follow through this year on many levels, so posting to my blog regularly is one of my goals.  Doing the weekly classes for Wanderlust and Life Book are my goals.  More reading is my goal.  Lots of thoughts, desires, wants for the year, and I am determined this year will be much more rewarding for and to me.  On to a wonderul 2018!