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.

pennies from heaven, hearts of stone, and balloons all aglow....

i was told many years ago when you find money on the ground it is the angels letting you know they are around you.

i never gave it much thought back then.   probably because i never found money on the ground back then.

max, my youngest, was back then, and is to this day, always finding money, and not just the round metal variety.  when decided he wanted a watch that cost 19.00, the next day he found a $20 dollar bill.  it does not happen as often as he/we would like, but it is not a surprise when it does.  he finds money all of the time. 

for many reasons i did not feel deserving for most of my life to have such an experience.

i guess it was a couple of years ago max and i were talking after he had found a nice chunk of change once again.  i told him what i had been told years ago, and said to him in what i am sure was a defeated sounding voice that i wish i too was so lucky to receive such messages.

around that same time i expressed my desire to max to keep an eye out for heart shaped rocks when he and his buddies went exploring down by the creek by our house.  i had recently read a fellow artist's blog and had seen the beautiful addition to her heart shaped rock collection.

before long max was coming home with heart shaped rocks. 

i felt sure that the angels were guiding his steps to find these prized treasures, not for me, but for him, because he so desired it. 

we also began finding heart shaped everything.

as time went on, max found rocks that were shaped like the letters l,  u, and a v.

max also found several rocks that looked as though they were used a very long time ago to grind grain on.  (later after some research we found these rocks to be very similar to ones used by the indians at cahokia mounds)

i made an altar using the rocks, spelling out the word luv with the rocks shaped like the l, u, and v.

during this same time i started finding pennies.  every once in awhile a dime, a quarter...never nickels though. 

the pennies, they have meant so much to me for some reason i don't understand.

maybe because the first time i had found one and picked it up i thought of my dad.

a superstitious guy he was.   you were not suppose to pick up a penny if it was heads up, tails up....i can't ever seem to remember which one it is.

i always thought it was lucky no matter what side was facing up.  you found a penny.  you were wealthier than before.

2 weeks ago we went to the balloon glow at forest park

after the show was over we made the long journey back to our truck.

that journey included walking up some big hills

 and down some big hills

on slippy, dew covered grass

in the middle of that journey was a huge parking lot.

i thought to myself as we walked

through that parking lot

how great it would be to find a penny.

surely, in a parking lot of this size there has to be at least one.

i thought this thought.

i wished this wish.

i had hope.

i had faith.

i knew it was not up to me, though,

but the angels.

just then something caught my eye.

underneath a van

next to the rear tire

there it was

the penny

that i,

 in secret

wished for

i squealed with excitement

and pointed, showing  my hubby where

the penny lay, and

told him... you are not going to believe

what i just hoped for.

with that he picked it up for me.

that was quite a feat for him

seeing as earlier that day at work

he had fallen and hurt himself

and was in a lot of pain.

most times the pennies seem to show up though when i least expect them to.

like yesterday.

steph and i headed outside to do some much needed yard work

we also needed a break from all things etsy

after a couple of hours

we found ourselves

hot

sweaty

dirty

buggy

itchy

sore

 my vertigo was in full swing from the constant bending over and standing up straight.

we put our tools away

put the bags of debris where they belonged

and i began to sweep up our mess.

the last area i swept, the sidewalk,

to my surprise

had a hidden treasure.

as i swept that spot

over and over

i noticed

a round spot

that would not budge

and found

another penny from heaven.

i nearly burst into tears
there are days when i wonder
what my place here is
what is the point of all of this
am i and the world i live in the equivalent of an ant farm to some
huge, unseen being. 
that world occasionally shaken before being place back on a shelf.

yesterday was one of those days.

having faith, it is something quite new to me.
just a few years ago i figured i would give it a try.

i am so glad i did.

it is amazing the miracles you see come to pass
and experience when you believe.

when you let go.

when you have faith.

every once in awhile though
it is easy to fall back in to old patterns of thinking

i think an angel sent me a message

a message to hang in there, it is all getting better.

i held this penny in my hand and felt a calm and peace
that could only have come from an angel

i sat this penny on the bathroom counter top as i showered

i put this penny in the pocket of my shorts, reaching in every so
often to feel that it was still there.

and when my husband came home

i showed him this penny. 

i end this post waiting expectantly for future

pennies from heaven not only for me

but for you as well.

much love to you.

xo

nighty - night

how to make your cat smile, a tutorial

ok, i don't even want to look to see how long i have been gone.

this arty girl has been busy, busy, busy.....and some more busy.

did you know that taking photos for etsy makes this girl cranky?   neither did the peeps that live here with me, or myself for that matter.

thank goodness i seem to have gotten over it really quickly and today went much smoother.

i have a ton, and i am probably not exaggerating, by much, of photos and stories to tell from our trip to illinois, just a quick jaunt across the river, and the balloon glow......lots of stuff in between too. 

all of that will have to wait as i am on a mission to get the etsy shops up and going. 

i have been spending my days photographing and on the computer writing up shop policies and editing photos.

as of this moment i am in my somewhat fluffy - comfy chair in the bedroom typing this because if i spend one more minute sitting on one of our hard kitchen chairs i fear i shall sprout a flaming red baboon butt.

my eyes can no longer focus on what stares back at me from the computer screen, so this message will be short and sweet.

i would like to share something that has caused me to break out in fits of giggles several times tonight, i am sure due to being slap happy from a brain that has turned to moosh, like a bowl of cornflakes left sitting in its bowl of milk too long.

so, as the title promised i would like to present my first tutorial......

HOW TO MAKE YOUR CAT SMILE

1.  take one kitty cat that if not sleeping would most likely claw you to shreds for doing the next step.

2.  Next, do this.......

3.  wah-laaaaa....you now have made your cat smile.

i will be back soon with lots of stuff to share with y'all as soon as

this arty girl has her ducks in a row and has found all of her marbles.

until next time....smooches.....mwah.

nighty-night.