Nest Feathers and Twine - Formally Artist's Block Studio

The things that make a house a home and the stuff that holds is all together.

Years ago I started this blog with a mindset and goals that I have found have changed direction over time. I am excited to say that this blog has a new name.....Nest Feathers and Twine. I hope you come by and visit often. Feel free to get comfortable and kick off your shoes and join me on this journey of metamorphosis.

Friday, March 19, 2010

spring cleaning

yup, that is what the hubs and i have been doing this week. 

actually i have been spring cleaning for about a year and a half now.

it feels good to be getting rid of stuff.

it feels good to no longer need to keep stuff  'just in case'

it feels good to learn how to change the mindset that has held us in a 'less than' place, and to release the thoughts and beliefs that have held us down.  i am ready to receive all the good that life has in store for us.

the trash guy probably did not love us this morning.

still have quite a bit more to do. 


sam finally got his turn with the pukes.  just the way to start his spring break. 

max is going to the farm with some friends.  so glad they are not staying the night as originally planned since it is suppose to snow saturday.

steph is spending the night with a friend that is home for spring break from school.

i am almost finished with a new necklace and bracelet that will be going up for sale on our etsy shop.  pink and green.  oh so springy.   i will post pictures soon.  i am too comfy in my bedroom typing this to go downstairs and snap a photo. 

this morning i was reminded just how wonderful being hearing impaired is when the boys alarm clock went off and did not wake my youngest up, but woke me up just as i was starting to fall back to sleep after bert, the cat,  woke me up.   too cold and comfy to get out of my bed to turn off the alarm i simply rolled over and layed with my good ear on the pillow and the world was peacefully silent. 

bert has a new game.  every morning he now jumps on the bed after bill has left for work and bites or paws me, usually my feeties.  once i have woken up and called him a *&&%^$*  and thown a pillow at him, he runs off only to return to lay in bed with me and go to sleep.

speaking of the little beast, he has just come to my side of the bed, dragging his favorite blankie.  a new bedtime ritual of his.  he will knead and suck on the blankie before settling down, if only for a very brief moment before getting up to aggravate poor moan-uh. 


if you squint and turn your head sideways you can just make out bert sucking on his blankie at my feet. 
forgot to turn the flash on and the cuteness ended as soon as he realized his cuteness was being captured on digital. 

well, with my teeth brushed and those pesky upper lip hairs plucked, and my prayers said i am heading off to bed. 

i say goodnight in faith, something in which i am still a new student to, that my prayers will be answered and the miracles i have prayed for will be granted.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

all is calm here on the home front.....for now

max is back to his ultimate max-ness.  back driving his brother nuts, just in time for spring break.

sam's 'sickness' on friday happened to be more of the love sick variety.  hopefully his date this afternoon has offered him a cure, if even only temporary.

we have tried to guess-timate the incubation period from the time max's buddies came down with the pukes until the time he came down with it.  it depends on which of his buddies he picked it up from.  so we are either in the clear or we have another 4 days. 

the rest of this weekend i will be cleaning up my studio, then back to work on monday.  i can't wait to have room to spread out.  there are so many ideas in my head i am running out of storage room and may have an overload situation here real soon. 

spring came, and teased us with her sweet smells, singing birds and bright sunny skies.  she tickled us with her ever so gentle breezes this week.   today it is dark, wet, chilly......i know spring will return again soon.  she is a fickle thing she is.

friday the hubs got some good news, he may be returning to his old area at work.  this will mean more overtime.  saying many prayers for this.  he has hopes maybe this week even. 

steph and i have been working out some strategies for out etsy shops.  pretty excited.  again, saying prayers it all works the way we would like for it to, or even better.

can't leave without at least one photo. 

the story behind what this all means this week.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

in the mood for a quickie.....

tsk, tsk, tsk.......no not that silly.

don't have much time as my youngest has one fierce and ferocious case of the pukes.  he is sound asleep in bed with his daddy. 

tonight is the first night i think i could have crawled in to bed and actually have fallen alseep fairly quickly and i am sitting in the chair, bedside, until 6am when the hubs gets up to get ready for work. 

i hate being so helpless and watching one of my babies feeling so, so sick.  i hate it, i hate it , i hate it.  all
i want to do is make him feel all better.  this royaly stinks.

i  giggle when people puke and i have no idea why?  i think it is because if i did not giggle i would puke myself, i am not sure.  tonight i held it back, feeling like a jerk that a round of them nearly slipped out.

gotta go, think we are up for round 5.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

has it really been that long

ok, so i withdrawl and curl up in the fetal position mentally when it all gets to be too much, and blogging does not happen with a mind that does not feel entertaining company. 

so much has happened in the last month.  i would like to say i swear i will not stay away this long again, but no promises made mean no promises broken.

the thyroid ultrasound came back pretty much ok.  lots of nodules that we just have to keep an eye on. 

raynaud's has now claimed at least a 3rd generation.  a couple of months ago when my svt decided to scare me and send me to the e.r., one of the last straws that night was when my hands turned a horrible white, then purple, then red.  last week i finally put 2 and 2 together and realized my super sensitivity to the cold this year, despite iron levels that are on the rise, especially when cold anything touched my hands, and the frequent odd display of color changes in my hands could mean only one thing.  a quick inquiry on google confirmed it. 

so, despite the fact that i sound like a sickly, elderly mess, i am getting healthier everyday.  things are getting better.  we are just finding things that have been going on inside my body for so long now and giving these things names.  i have gone so many years with everyone but my hubby telling me it was depression and anxiety and i needed to take a pill and make it all better. 

still have to make the appointment with the neurologist.......and call the doctor with the info needed for the prescription for my forearm crutches........can you say P R O C R A S T I N A T E?????

after tonights bout of vertigo though i  need to get my butt in gear. 

my baby turned 14 last month.   he is nearly as tall as his daddy.  not a good photo of the hubs who had just been shaken back to reality from the land of dreams, i had been begging for this picture for days, following them around the house with the camera.  finally my hubby told max in his haze of drowsy-ness to just let me have the picture and then i would leave them alone.  yup, i won.  finally. 

 it is so odd and freaky to look this child of mine who still has his boyish face in the throat.  he thinks it is a riot.  my baby, my goofball, sweet, hard working, sometimes in your face a bit too much, fun, bouncy, energetic, oh-so-wise loving boy. 


our ( mine and steph's) etsy shops still have not opened.  we have both been sick twice with the respiratory crud and with news of my latest thyroid issues everything was put on hold. everything but the creativity.  we have both been busy making making making. 

as much as i am looking forward to opening these shops, it will be a couple of long weeks photographing and inputing all the details.....blech.


new pretties i have worked on recently.
these are tempory photos.  i will be photographing till my eyeballs pop out here real soon
once we have a day with good natural lighting.

hmmmmm, let see.   i know there was so much more i wanted to share.
our fine feathered friend has visited our dining facilities several times.  have several beautiful shots of the beautiful creature but they also showed some graphic views of his main course.

sam is back in track this year.  so proud of him.  last week when bill and max went to go pick him up they found a groundhog by the side of the road curled up in a ball.
it made no attempt to run.
my husband made the decision to pick up, yes i said pick up, this animal with his bare hands.
we just happened to have a puppy crate in the truck.
he slipped this guy into the crate and brought him home to show us before releasing him into a safer place.
either this thing was rabid, dazed and confused, or just coming out of hibernation.  from what i read on the internet my 3rd guess is probably the cause of his sluggish and relaxed demeanor.



bertie-bert is just as nutty as ever.  he just came out of the shower in this picture.
he does not love showers, but he likes them.
he has now learned how to open the shower door, but runs when i bend to grab him.
he is a typical boy and is a slob.  he only grooms his tail, paws, and his uh, umm fuzzie wuzzies. 
so, in order to keep him tidy he showers with me from time to time.


burt did get to experience what all the fuss was about with the snow.
steph took him outside.
he did what any boy would do, he ate some.


max found this token of love in his bag o' chicken right around valentine's day.


sam was being silly.



my stephi-poo was doing what my stephi-poo does when she is not creating fantabulousness to sell on etsy. 

so, that is pretty much it.  i plan to be back tomorrow. 


i sure missed everyone. 

nighty-night.

Quote for the moment



"Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."

Harriet Beecher Stowe

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