Keeping It All In Perspective

I love capturing these types of photos with my trusty cellphone camera.

Some of them I took just this last week.

Some were awhile back.

I know eventually I will get around to a painting that is similar to one of these.

The Little Team That Could

Here is VolleyGirl's team after coming in second place in the tournament last Saturday - out of 16 teams. The coach, on the right, in red, was very pleased. They played six matches. We were there from 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The man is the team school sponsor, he also sits on the bench and keeps stats. Another match late this afternoon.....waaaaay across town. Will not be expecting a win, the school is a 6A school compared to our little 3A, at least four times larger. Can see how well they hold their own though, coach thinks it is good for them. Doing a bit of catching up on your sites and painting some today........later!

There's Always Something

Above is the other zentangle I did sitting at the Art Festival the other week. I have painted on my washing machine themed paintings a bit........in between the 19 loads of clothes, tons of meals and running VolleyGirl to practice - then as luck would have it....

early last week BigBoy and I were downstairs and heard a fairly loud noise. 'What was that?' We checked outside around the house, yelled at VolleyGirl to see what happened, then he ran upstairs looking around and found it. The shelf/clothing rack and an additional shelf on one side of my closet had came down. Uh, um, er, well, okay, it was pretty overloaded and it was all in the floor and I could barely open the closet door. Great, that's all I needed, some big task to tackle immediately! Six large garbage bags full of clothes, shoes, purses and one bag of trash later - it is now stacked in the bedroom floor to put back in. Mr. Unplugged fixed it today...he was waaaaaay underjoyed about it....let's just leave it at that. (Mr. Fix-It is not synonymous for Mr. Unplugged...) VolleyGirl is to sand the spackled spots (don't ask), then vaccum then I will be ready to pick a bit more out that passed the first cut, organize it all, and hang the rest up. We have alot to take to our church's thrift store. Though I hated every minute of it and the timing stunk.....I WILL BE SO PROUD!!! This week: besides the wash, food, painting - hit the volleyball ad sales again, take care of Father's Day gifts with the kids and shop for VG....she turn's 16 on the 22nd!!!!!

Unbelievable......Actually Painted Today!!!!!!!

Hope you are sitting down....I actually started a painting today (sorry VolleyGirl, Maytagaramas can wait-a little). I LOVE clouds I've taken hundreds of photos. This is from one of them. It is a bit difficult to see the rays coming through at the bottom.

First Watercolor in over 25 years........

I didn't intend to attempt a real picture but I can't really play with it, I have to try to make it work and then just learn from it. I went back and forth on whether it was a serious attempt, the middle is supposed to be layers of mountains but the colors are too dark/bright for the effect it needed. I rushed the grass and left tree for sure. I was working on it yesterday morning and I bet the phone rang at least five times...always check it when you have kids at school and off at school. My husband works from home and called me downstairs twice............finally finished it last night. It is 9 by 12. I enjoyed it and think there is another brush or two that I need, will definitely do more. But I did it and you all have had a HUGE part in inspiring me!!!!!

Fall in Love

This is my latest "Maytagarama" in progress. I believe I am getting a bit faster with my work, need to. VolleyGirl said she would help me put up all of them on a slideshow here soon. Thanks for all the comments this past week....so nice to find them during the day!

Here are just a few of the photos I have taken lately. Love those turning leaves and this is why I love to paint the scenery around here. How many of you know what's in the field in the second photo?

Painting and Punkin'

My latest completed painting is a 5x7 acrylic that I donated to VolleyGirl's school fundraising gala last Saturday evening. SuperSpouse and I attended and had a great time with our friends and looking at all the silent auction items. I sold bingo cards for an hour or so and that is pretty fun as well. I am well into another "Maytagarama" and my goal is to get those out of here by Turkey Day. A friend of mine owns some laundramats and asked me to do 14 old washing machine themed paintings. It is not exactly a subject matter that does it for me but gives me some compensation!

Originally I was going to put an image of His Royal "Hine"ness, the Canine Messiah or as I call him -Fat Bastard, (Apollo the English bulldog, four-legged, mechanical-tailed ruler of our abode) on our jack-o-lantern. I did not leave myself enough time to do it after working on his heavenly image for a bit. I had to punt (yep, football term) and went with "THE" A. Then the time, actually, the sun was setting on me and I had to decide to put in the "Roll Tide" - not as perfected as I would like, but the message is clear. If only I could have added the #1 on Friday! Some of my newer blog friends, Alabama football may be foreign to you......in a nutshell, around here it is right up there with the election. (For many in this part of the country, it would be more important!) SuperSpouse attended UofA and BigBoy is there now. We're No. 1 ! Yeah!

Paint and Polish

Ta-da! Here is my latest finished painting. I have another in progress....two actually. I have yet to paint today because I have been living out another dream in my life - yeah, scrubbing toilets, washing clothes and cleaning floors. The feeling of satisfaction is somewhat lackluster upon completion of these tasks. I will admit to a slight sensation of glee, just like in the commercials when the lady stands back, leans on her mop and smiles with satisfaction. Aggravatingly I will be required to do the same exact thing over and over and over and over............ Could you imagine creating the same painting repeatedly for the remainder of your physically able lifetime? Ugh.

Leaves, football and, of course, sneezing

Photos snapped last year. Yellow tree at school, while waiting on VolleyGirl. Red trees enroute to school. Hope to use big tree in a painting I will donate to school fundraising gala and used the red tree photo for a painting that I donated to a silent auction Bookmama was organizing.


My most favorite time of year is the fall and there is a cool crispness in the air............eventually.

• Dead leaves are so lovely.
• You either are sweating in your costume or freezing, never seems to be just right.
• Growing up, homemade popcorn balls with molasses was THE best.
• Sitting in my dad's lap when the witch came on screen during the one-time Fall showing of "The Wizard of Oz!"
• The lady that always gave us a cupcake when we were trick-or-treating. How do you put THAT in your sack?
• The old man, rubbery mask that I was so afraid of it scared me even if it were lying on the couch.
• Elementary school's Halloween carnival........amazing. Dad's hamburgers there and the the fish pond....great prizes!
• Sounds and smells of the football game.

WEEKEND UPDATE: Volleyball tournament on Saturday. Arrival time: 7:50 a.m. Departure time: Approximately 5:15 p.m. Usually we pack up after lunch, not forwarding out of pool play, this time, undefeated and first in pool play. VolleyGirl was playing awesome. Result: 2nd place finish, big trophy and a butt that still flat from the bleachers.

BigBoy came home. Prepared him food. Helped him Saturday evening with an art project. Asked him last week if he wanted me to prepare him something special, like a cake. "Mom, you know I don't eat that crap" Fast-forward to Friday night after his stomach is full of shrimp, "what's for dessert?" "I thought you didn't want any." (Feeling bad, of course, as a devoted, spoil-your-college-baby-home-for-the-weekend) "Mom, you know, I want you to surprise me." Gee thanks. Lesson learned. Hmmmmm, what will I bake for the next weekend.