Argh! Ho,ho, ho!!!

No time for art (booooooo!) decorating, giving Dudley pills, making coffee, washing, buying food, decorating, giving Dudley pills, feeding the Canine Messiah, washing, cooking, running errands, making coffee, resting aching bod, holding Dudley, washing, checking on the old golden retriever (Bubba), and so on, and so on........miss blogging!!!! Will post photos when finished decorating! Probably not making the open house was hoping to attend tomorrow (waaaaah!) But - I have a new cellphone!!!!!!!!!!!!! Photos one and two were taken with it. That is my four year old nephew in the first photo, came over while we were setting up outside decorations, he was so excited. Hope to catch up with everyone soon, maybe later in the evening, right now, gonna put on chicken for stew to take to in-laws, my MIL is having knee surgery today....Big Boy has been away on his first job trip to Oklahouma, he is enroute home now and the fat one (not me) will be sooooo happy!!!! Love and good health to all for now!

Bountiful Blessings

Cooking away, no time to sketch, so posting a sketch from a few years ago. It really doesn't have to be a holiday for me to be thankful to all my friends in the blog world but you are most appreciated and enjoyed. Wishing each and everyone of you a very safe, blessed and Happy Thanksgiving! (even if your country doesn't celebrate it...have an awesome week!)

Ramblings of a Boring Artist

I'm craving art.....hopefully I will do some soon! Right now, it's been catch up with house chores, blech! I was really under the weather all week and worse Saturday and Sunday. Today, I am better. Though now, it has begun. Cue scary music.....VOLLEYBALL TASKS! Yes, it officially started today with the team hosting two sessions of camp for younger girls. They have an afternoon and evening session and parents provide food for them in between the sessions. I washed a couple of pounds of grapes and strawberries for the food table and took the second shift for registering campers. They host another next month, go to the gym at 7 a.m. a couple of mornings and my favorite................ SELLING $600 WORTH OF PROGRAM ADS! VolleyGirl will be helping of course. This morning I sent out the first emails, gonna have to start making the rounds, they are due in a couple of weeks. This process of practice, gym, camp at a university and fundraising will continue until school starts. Later in August the matches will start, then it is really a whirlwind until it ends sometime in October. I enjoy it, but right now, not really feeling it, but it is the very last season of sports after going through all the years with the two kids, so I will do my best to squeeze every drop of enjoyment and memories I can.

Changing the subject, went for a second opinion on my knee today. Verdict is the same, nothing further can be done, get a new model. Sooooooo, hopefully it will be scheduled before long so as to take advantage of BigBoy being home. Work tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday.

The photo above was taken before chopping them up for a recipe of sausage, peppers, onion, creole seasoning, crushed tomatoes, garlic and penne pasta. Thought I might like to sketch or paint them once upon a time............

SkyWatch Friday!

Here are two photos I took today with my trusty cellphone. Please check out

http://skyley.blogspot.com/ for more eyes on the skies!

I am sorry that I have not left many comments lately. Whatever is going on with me has me feeling exhausted all the time. I have been just keeping up with my cooking and washing, 14 loads this week. To be fair, one load was sheets and one load was royal towels from His 'Hine'ness' bath. I had to go give more blood at the lab today, she poked my vein and lint came out.............ha! Get this, the Dr. wants to totally rule out mono........now where on earth would I get that......I do not believe it will be that at all. Anyhow, this is why I have been very lean on comments....all I want to do is lie(sp?) down. Don't everyone forget and give up on my site.......just temporary! Happy Skywatch Friday!

Tribute to Mom

It has been seven years since I celebrated Mother's Day with my mom and though my brain knows to move along, my heart doesn't seem to get the message. Hardly a day passes that I don't think of her in some way. She wasn't especially extraordinary in a particular way, as all of us are, she lacked perfection. She was one of the older siblings in a family of ten children so at a very early age cooking, sewing and taking care of the younger ones was part of her life. She knew hard work early on with the help she provided and picking cotton. The countless stories I have heard, her life was a bit challenging. Canning, freezing, picking wild blackberries, tending to her flowers, hanging clothes on the line were things I always remember her doing. She crocheted afghans, made quilts, candlewicking and sewed. I never had a store bought dress until I was in high school. I have countless memories of time spent in the fabric store looking at patterns and material. Suits, blouses, skirts, long dresses for piano recitals. She even made one of her younger sisters wedding gown. The light blue dress with lace was one made for me to wear in a school pageant, she also made my senior prom dress. She made me some dresses when I was pregnant with my son and I have some dresses she made my daughter. The photo where she is holding BigBoy, she made that outfit. Okay, the point is she had a lot of talent. Later in years as she saw quilts that were being made and displayed, she felt like her work was really not that great. She didn't make them for show, though they were carefully planned and were made very well, they were functional. All of our family has some of her quilts.

The countless times we had family, a whole lot of family, over for meals at the house. So many of my cousins that were close to mama, she was easy to talk to, shared her opinion and helped however she could. The many weddings she helped with food. The hours she spent with the grandchildren. They loved to go to my parents house to spend the night. Baking cookies, big country breakfasts. She was funny, blunt, kind and stubborn. Always having our favorite food cooked on the weekends that we came home from school. The times that she showed up at my door to help when BigBoy and VolleyGirl were babies, arriving early Christmas morning to watch the kids see their gifts. The many times that I met her at the craft shows or the shopping center to spend time together. Talks on the phone, every day, about current events, family, news from extended family. Discussing everyone after the family get together was over. I would always get a report after she went somewhere- who was there, how they were, what was said. I recall, weird as it sounds, after she died, thinking that she was somewhere new, experiencing and seeing things new.....and I wasn't going to hear her tell me about it. She always said that it didn't matter where we lived, as long as we were happy, she would be fine with it. One of my brothers lives in Louisiana and I know she missed not having him close but there never was any pressure on him, as long as he was happy. Words do not adequately describe what an important person in our family she was or what a massive void her passing has left in my life, and others. I was honored and pleased to care for her in the months before her death, it was just a droplet of what all she had done for me and for once I could be there when she needed help. Thanks mom, for all you were and for the priceless lessons and memories, you are missed as much as you were loved......

Award Winning Weekend.........

He seemed to look at me as if I was a foreign object.

He was beginning to relax and accept my prescence.

It was a fairly busy weekend around the house for me this past weekend. I kept thinking that I would get a little art accomplished, if I did, it was in the form of cooking and baking. I baked cookies, banana bread, made pizzas, homemade buttermilk biscuits and a wonderful pasta. Yeah, must have used up all the 'conversational veggies' last week! BigBoy was home from school and that usually keeps me hopping in the food department! I had wash to do and also took VolleyGirl to practice.

Last night I watched the Academy Awards, I like to see the fashion, the hair, the characters......I've only seen one of the nominated movies but have heard much about most of them. Being a bit of a newshound, whether it be politics, entertainment, music, world news.....or just call it nosey, I like to be up on it somewhat. I went to the recreation room where VolleyGirl was doing homework. She had the big screen tv on the awards. Dudley was a bit relunctant to share 'his' couch with me. Obviously, he managed to let go and relax a bit!

I do have an image in my head that hopefully will appear on paper before the day is over today. My thoughts drifted to Mim a couple of times yesterday and a softer, more peaceful image has come to mind.