we are getting there

short and sweet this post will be to avoid rambling in a rather unorganized fashion as seen in my previous post.

my mind is officially boggled and blown as i have started the process of adding items to our accessory 2 fashion etsy shop.

my desire is for a much...hmmmm....how do i say it properly....uh, is for  a higher level of sophistication of sorts for the etsy shop for the pieces that demand it, than what my previous etsy shop held.  so, i have become great buddies with 'the saurus' online.  still not happy with all of the photos, but i have got to press forward and once all is added to our shops the maybe i can revisit some of the pieces and create photos i am a bit more happy with.

yesterday i struggled to keep myself from ending up in the fetal position in tears as i discovered photos snapped, altered, and edited for our nest feathers and twine shop were not going to be without challenges.
it is a long story and at just the thought of explaining, well lets just say i feel my body involuntarily heading toward the fetal position.

 a sampling of what i was able to print out yesterday....i so wanted to print out 1 of everything but trying to conserve on the ink for the moment.  i found for some silly reason all i had was glossy photo paper, i always have steered clear of glossy, so why that is what was stocked in my studio cabinets i will never know. 

off to add some more luvlies to our etsy shop.  you are officially invited to come visit by clicking the link on the right hand side of the screen.

check back soon.....until then lots of love to you.  xoxoxo

sunday drive

today we headed out to hannibal.  exploring.  excited....wondering just what we would find. 

i found my brain bounced from thought to thought with each observation.

many miles of our drive revealed that there were great distances between homes.

....mmmmm...peaceful, quiet, slow........ i thought as i watch 2 horses grazing, looking so graceful, so at peace, in their fenced in portion of land as their owner tended to quite a large bon fire meant for disposing of unwanted brush, furniture.....no marshmallows being roasted there.   miles later another piece of land fenced off by it's owner. 

i have always wanted to live out in the country...many of our sunday drives i fall in love with a landscape dotted with old farm houses, old barnes, just far enough apart, but not too far.  where summers were spent drinking lemon-aid and eating apple pie under an equally aged oak tree.

today what i saw seemed lonely, cold, unfriendly, and so very lonely.

after what seemed like hours we reached civilization

we spent the afternoon stopping here and there so steph and i could sieze some pretty awesome photographic opportunities and i am so grateful to

for another wonderful day spent with the one's i oh-so-love and adore.  although we were down one peep today, as sam decided to stay over at a friends house.

 (bill and max setting up my tripod, little did they know that i could have had it set up myself in an nth of the time, but they were so sweet, how could i say anything)

(steph capturing her own photos at a scenic look out point)

for our safe arrival back home.

for the chance to see such beautiful scenery, and for the oh-so-neat photos i was able to capture, that i can not wait to edit and share with you.

as i was photographing an old building, something caught my eye and made me come take a closer look

someone, who shares the same shortened version of my name, had left their calling card.


i have come to find i have a facination with photographing old buildings, long ago occupied, windows, and bridges.

can not wait to play show-n-tell, but this arty girl is finding herself pooped from a long weekend spent in a nasty-bad battle with the beast, vertigo, on saturday and today's exciting travels. 

i am off to tuck myself snuggly in to bed for a night of oh-so-sweet dreams, and it is my wish that you too have dreams fill with sweetness.

smooches to you all.

fall....glorious fall

...don't you just love the smell.....wet decomposing earth.  the weight of the atmosphere around you feels lighter, and the colors changing everywhere around you. the sun almost seems to have a 1960's photo affect.   (can ya tell this arty girl has been editing photos out the wah-zoo?)

we have been busy, still.  last week the boys were on fall break....didn't we just get over summer break?
the first 2 days left me feeling as though i needed to be wearing a black and white striped shirt and a whistle around my neck.

 momma doesn't see the computer much during break. at times i stepped in and took my beloved piece of technological wonder back, but by the time i seized control of it i was too pooped to even think of hitting the blog or facebook.

 the computer, first thing in the morning while i am waiting for my meds to kick in, is like some peeps cuppa joe. 

we have taken several out - of - the - blue - got - nothing - else - to - do - drives to here, there, and the middle of no-where lately and steph and i have captured some fan-tab-u-lous photos.

(the photo of the cow....got that as the hubs was driving 60 mph down the road.)

the fan-tab-u-lous photos still have to have the watermarks added to keep the not-so-honest folks from right clicking......but you will be able to view them soon here and for sale on our etsy shop.  this weekend we will start the long process of adding them on. 
i have spent the last couple of days cropping and editing. 

today, during lunch,  edited the smooshed headless raccoon out of a scenic bridge photo.  mmmm... yummy.

if you have been reading my posts recently.....you will understand this photo (below)

last nights surprise when we opened a box of store brand fish.

i tried out the panoramic feature on my 2 year old camera for the first time finally this past weekend...

note to self:  next time bring the tri-pod!


by this time next week the etsy shop should be up and going.  we have hundreds of items to add, so once we get it going you will have to stop by often to see all that we have added. 

hoping this weekend to get our hands on some more lightweight cotton and dye to make more scarves and such....brrrrrr....those buckets of dye and  water are going to be chilly compared to what it was a few weeks ago.

i am off to edit more photos..........talk to you soon....smooches.

pennies from heaven, a follow up story

yesterday, as soon as i hit the publish button i headed off to do some housework.

yesterday i had walked the path between the kitchen and the bedrooms more times than i cared to count, but this time on the way back to the kitchen something caught my eye.

underneath the antique sidetable in the foyer.

a penny. 

i could not believe it.

i let out a high pitched  'look what i just found guys' to my kids, who knew i had just published a post on my blog about pennies from heaven.

grinning ear to ear, giggly, and with an extra bounce in my step despite the gut wrenching cramps, i took the penny to join the others on the penny altar in my bedroom.

i headed back to the kitchen and began to tidy up. 

i found a folded up piece of paper.

curious as to what may be written on the neatly folded paper, i picked it up.

see what was lying underneath.....

again i squealed with excitement for the kids to come see what i had found.

never had i found this many pennies, this close together.

i have sat here now for several minutes trying to find the right words to let you know just how incredible of an experience this was so that you truly not just understand, but so that you feel what i felt.

what a gift these pennies were to me.

i feel so very blessed.

i am so grateful.


this girl is off to make sure her youngest is all packed up for a weekend camping adventure with friends.

talk to you soon.

mwah.