“White Roses”

“White Roses” – Paul Militaru Photography

Pressed Flower Art – Take 5

Daisies Original Pressed Flower Art by Organic Art Wow-Etsy

 

 

Floral Collage-Etsy

Medical Exams – Take 1

White Background

MEDICAL EXAMS Doug Powell via Marsha Koenig

 

“Man comes into the ER and yells . . .’My wife’s going to have her baby in the cab.’ I grabbed my stuff, rushed out to the cab, lifted the lady’s dress and began to take off her underwear. Suddenly I noticed that there were several cabs – – – and I was in the wrong one.” ~ Submitted by Dr. Mark Mac Donald, San Francisco

“At the beginning of my shift I placed a stethoscope on an elderly and slightly deaf female patient’s anterior chest wall. ‘Big breaths,’. . I instructed. ‘Yes, they used to be,’. ..replied the patient. ” ~ Submitted by Dr. Richard Byrnes, Seattle, WA

Reading and Children Quotes – Take 4

CNN.com

 

“Fill your house with stacks of books, in all the crannies and all the nooks.” — Dr. Seuss

“I’m wondering what to read next.” — Matilda, Roald Dahl

“Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift.” — Kate DiCamillo

“Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them.” — Neil Gaiman

Beautiful Baskets- Take 17

The Home Depot

 

 

Wayfair

 

Whism – Aliexpress

Last Day of February 2018

FillMeOut-100+BestGMPics

Good Morning! I LOVE this cup and wish it were mine. Kudos to the person who created it. :0)

I’m having a quiet day today after finishing the clean out of my art room last night. There will ALWAYS be things to go through or things to tidy up, but the main job is finished. I’m able to sit down on any of three chairs or stools and work at any of 4 counters or tables! My husband’s reaction was, “You still have a lot of stuff,” obviously underwhelmed by my days of working in there.  However, “I” know what a mess things were in. I’ve made decisions on what kinds of art I’m still interested in doing and have given away a LOT of supplies to people I hope will enjoy using them.

My goal for this year is to purge  – we have over 30 years of ‘stuff’ – to make one donation to the Veterans Thrift Store in Fort Smith and one donation to our local library each month. As of this last day of February, we have made

• 2 donations to the Vets and 1 donation to the library in January
• 3 donations to the Vets and 0 donations to the library in February. (Obviously, I need to concentrate on a book donation).

I’ll see if I can get that together for later today.

We woke up to a clogged septic system this morning. Happily the man who works closely with our plumber on this type of this says he will be out later stoday to help us. He has two other to get to before us. I’m really grateful that we have such reliable people on which we depend.

The doggies have been out, the stew is in the crock pot, and “most all ” is right with the world.

I hope that YOU have a good day, too.

 

 

The Art Room Reorganization Project is Finished!

BEFORE:

To refresh your memory a bit, this what my art room looked like before the purge/clean-up/reorganizing. This had gotten to the point there was hardly anywhere to sit down and no clear surface on which to work. Finding something was an awful prospect. NINE+ 39-gallon leaf bags of donation and FIVE 39-gallon leaf bags of trash later, things look a bit better.

HALLWAY OUTSIDE ART ROOM:

The shelves on the left WERE full of art supplies – glassware, gourds….. Now this is where quilts, Afghans, comforters, etc. are stored. The super-large Ziploc bags will keep the dust off and you can see what’s what. The fabric curtain at the right of the picture keeps dust off sheets, etc.

ART ROOM CLOSET:

This is a combination gift wrapping center, some finished artwork and mainly paint. This is also the entrance to our attic; hence, the ladder.

 

 

MAIN ART ROOM:

This area is set up for drawing (I’m trying to work my way through “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”) and the use of alcohol inks – a fun, messy art form I’m really enjoying.

 

This is my drafting table that was completely buried in the before pics. I paint note cards, thank you notes, stationery, etc. here. The drafting table is protected by a sheet of black and white vinyl, and then there is a thick piece of glass on which I put the work to paint.

 

This is the area where I tie ribbon on my stationery and note cards. I also do a bit of jewelry making.

 

Paper supplies, craft envelopes, etc.

 

I HOPE that you can see a difference. It will never be completely ‘tidy,’ because this is my play room. I could stack things neatly and finally have it ready for some enterprising person to photograph it for a magazine (in my dreams) but then I wouldn’t want to go in here because I didn’t want to mess it up. :0)

Now I feel free to go up there in the next few days and get started with a new idea I have for a line of stationery, note cards, thank you notes, and greeting cards. I’ve been dreaming about it for a couple of weeks now, so I’m itching to get started!

Reading and Children Quotes – Take 3

 

Reading Rewards

 

“You may have tangible wealth untold. Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. Richer than I you can never be — I had a mother who read to me.” — Strickland Gillilan

“Oh, magic hour, when a child first knows she can read printed words!” — A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, 1943

“When I say to a parent, “read to a child”, I don’t want it to sound like medicine. I want it to sound like chocolate. ” — Mem Fox

Treasure is in the Eye of the Beholder

National Treasure Film Set-Wikipedia

Somehow the ancient, old, chaotic feel of this photo reminds me of my art room right now. I’ve pretty much finished gathering things for donation, though I’ve started another bag. I’m down to the nitty-gritty of going through things carefully, getting ruthless about whether I actually plan to USE whatever it is, and then deciding its fate.

This is harder because I’m finding lots of things, like pictures torn from magazines, that get my juices flowing. I’ve decided to pare these down to about 1/4 or less of what I currently have. I’ll make files of what I keep so that I might actually be able to find them later.

I’m finding ‘treasures’ though – things I’ve had for years that have been buried. I’m loving this – but the finding of wonderful things makes it harder to make significant progress on my efforts to purge/give away/throw away/clean and reorganize.

I did finally uncover a chair, so I can sit in the middle of the chaos and go through things. I put in two sessions yesterday and will do at least that much today. I’m hoping to be able to share pics with you soon.

In the meantime, who knows what treasures I’ll find today!

“Environmental Arrangement”

“Environmental Arrangement” – Paul Militaru Photography

“Getting old ain’t for sissies.” – Take 1

Suggest.com

“Getting old ain’t for sissies” ~ Bette Davis

Getting old sucks. There’s no getting around it.  The list of ‘what-you-can’t-do-anymore’ continues to grow as does the list of ‘what-you-can’t-eat-anymore.’  Your body goes on strike, yelling at you from one area or another. You move more slowly – and many times, stiffly – as you move through your day. Your memory begins to fail. But every once in awhile – if you can stand back and pretend you’re watching a MOVIE of an old person – you can laugh at yourself.

I did that this morning. My husband and I get up each morning groggily wandering through our list of what we need to do to get the day started, doing things out of habit, rather than having to think right after awaking. One of the things I do is wash my hair in the kitchen sink after my group of things is done and we’ve eaten breakfast. I take off my watch and put it on the counter beside the coffee thermos and my waiting coffee cup.

I had just finished washing my hair and was walking while drying it with a towel on the way to the hair dryer in the bathroom when Amber was clamoring around, wanting to go back outside – after just coming in again – and was doing her best to herd me toward the garage door. I managed to NOT fold up like a tent when our sweet 91-pound ‘puppy’ hit me in the exact right spot behind my knees that has brought me down many times.  I managed to get a gate between us. When I saw the pile of clothes and towels on the utility room floor, it reminded me that I was planning to do several loads of laundry this morning. I stopped and started a load and then dried my hair in the bathroom.

When I went back to the kitchen to pour myself some coffee, my watch wasn’t there!  I walked around, checking all the surfaces in the kitchen, on the divider between the kitchen and the dining area, the dining table, the bathroom counter, but no watch! I checked everything again – KNOWING it HAD to be SOMEWHERE, but it wasn’t.

I looked at the washer and thought, “Oh, no!” I must have scooped it up with the first load of laundry… I paused the machine, stuck both hands in and felt around in the soupy combination of clothes and soapy water. I even turned the bin several times and felt all around again. NO WATCH.

I had decided that ‘it must have been eaten by snakes” (something that happens around here all too often) and prepared to tell my husband that we needed to add getting a new watch for me onto today’s errands list. I steadied myself to look down at the clothes remaining on the floor and put my HAND on my WATCH on top of the washer!

The mystery is solved, but I guess I’ll make good use of ‘standing-back-and-watching-myself’ more and more over the coming years. I really need a good laugh now and then…

Beautiful Baskets – Take 16

Racking and Shelving Ideas

 

 

Sallie Basket – Joss and Main

 

 

teescorner.info.

Cures

Irish Proverb – Schultz – Peanuts – via Email from Bill Lites

Reading and Children Quotes – Take 2

 

Reader’s Digest

 

“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” — Emilie Buchwald

“I used to walk to school with my nose buried in a book.” — Coolio

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.” — Dr. Seuss

Thread Art – Take 11

Mary Everest Boole

 

 

saved by Meryem Demiron on Pinterest – Artist Unknown

“White Flowers”

“Tree – White Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography

Feeling Lighter

arts-kids

We just got back from taking another donation to the Veterans Thrift Store in Fort Smith. We took 9 large leaf bags, so my art room is definitely feeling lighter. It’ll feel even lighter when we take the two large bags of trash I added to our regular tonight!

Now that the decks are cleared a bit more, I can concentrate on starting to put things where they will live. I’ll probably shed more, but the majority of the give-away or throw-away portion of the purge and clean-up is done.

Yesterday I finished reorganizing the hallway outside the art room. Quilts, afghans and comforters are now all bagged up and on the shelves that formerly held art supplies. The sheets are kept behind a shower curtain across the shelves to keep the dust down.

I’m excited about finally getting to reorganize some things because that means I’m at least one day closer to being able to actually USING the art room to make something!

Beautiful Baskets – Take 15

Driven by Decor

 

 

House Beautiful

 

 

Mark and Estel

Hahahahahahahahahaha!

Garrett’s Moving & Storage

This isn’t my art room, but I guess it COULD be.  My husband came in last night, hoping to see a good amount of progress. However, this is one of those projects that looks worse until it’s completely finished.  He looked shocked, and then, trying to say something tactful, managed, “I guess it’s got to look like an explosion to show you’re doing something.” (He’s sill alive, so I guess it worked.)

I’ve centralized our quilts and comforters storage, pulling things from our bedroom, the guest room, and two cedar chests. I should finish the reorganization of my linen closet area in the hallway today. I’m reorganizing the art room closet, as well as the main room, so things that come out of there are going

• into a donation bag
• into the trash
• onto a table in the main room until I make a place to put it

I also took everything out of a drawer in the drafting table. I was looking for a key for the cedar chest under an art room table. I didn’t find one, but when things go back in the drawer, it’ll be much nicer. :0)  It turned out that I didn’t NEED the key for the cedar chest! I pulled it out laboriously (the thing really seems to weigh a TON). I found that you push IN the area of the keyhole and lift up on the lid at the same time. Wallah! It was filled with ‘stuff’ of all types. UGH. It is now empty, pushed back under the art room table, with a FEW large things that need to be flat on top – at least for the moment.

The plans are to bring the bags of trash down to be put out tomorrow night, AND to bring down the donation bags that we’re planning to take to the Veterans Thrift Store Monday or Tuesday.  Those two things will clear the decks for more rearranging of the stuff remaining in the room….

Thread Art – Take 10

Japanese Temari Thread Ball via Etsy

 

 

 

saved by Amer on Pinterest – Artist Unknown

Reading and Children Quotes – Take 1

Family Read-Shutterstock-Northern Virginia Magazine

 

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” — Frederick Douglass

“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.” — Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” — Walt Disney

 

Happy

Living With the Trees – WordPress.com

“Happy.

I don’t mean to point out the obvious, but I’m going say it: you’re not going to live forever. Neither am I.

I don’t know what makes you smile, laugh, or feel good, but you deserve to be doing more of it. A lot more. In fact, you deserve to be so giddy your cheeks hurt.

And if for some reason, you aren’t happy today, then find someone to make happy.

And you will be.”

Author Unknown

“White Ornamental Flowers”

“White Ornamental Flowers” – Paul Militaru Photography

In Case Anyone was Curious…

Sonia Rod via Nora Hall

The sun is shining! It’s not raining!

We lucked out in our area of Arkansas. My greenhouse is still standing! We’ve received about 5-1/2 inches of rain in the past 6 days. There is some bad flooding and some damage in the state, but none that I know of in west central Arkansas where we are.

I found some pictures this morning that I wanted to share –

 

Heber Springs AR-Marcy Effinger via Cindy Basnett Thurman

Heber Springs is south and east of us.

I did find some really glorious pictures of Arkansas taken after the latest – and worst – of the storms by talented people from Arkansas Pictures –

 

“God’s Rainbow Artwork after Storm” – El Paso AR – Amazing Shotz by David K. Niece – Arkansas Pictures – via Cindy Basnett Thurman

 

 

Four Winds Chapel – Conway AR – Mike Hall – Arkansas Pictures via Cindy Basnett Thurman

I Love Dogs

Laurels Pet Grooming

“You can say any fool thing to a dog, and the dog will give you this look that says, “My God, you’re right! I never would’ve thought of that!” ~ Dave Barry

 

Orvis

“A dog is one of the remaining reasons why some people can be persuaded to go for a walk.” ~ O.A. Battista

 

 

Sunny Skyz

“The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.” ~ Samuel Butler

You Can’t Cure ‘Stupid’ – Take 3

iStock-CBSNews

 

THESE ARE ACTUAL COMPLAINTS RECEIVED BY “THOMAS COOK VACATIONS” FROM DISSATISFIED CUSTOMERS:

via Doug Powell via Marsha Koenig

 

14. “The brochure stated: ‘No hairdressers at the resort.’ We’re trainee hairdressers and we think they knew this, and made us wait longer for service.”

15. “When we were in Spain, there were too many Spanish people there. The receptionist spoke Spanish, the food was Spanish. No one told us that there would be so many foreigners.”

16. “We had to line up outside to catch the boat, and there was no air-conditioning.”

17. “It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel.”

18. “I was bitten by a mosquito. The brochure did not mention mosquitoes.”

19. “My fiancée and I requested twin-beds when we booked, but instead we were placed in a room with a king bed. We now hold you responsible and want to be re-reimbursed for the fact that I became pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the room that we booked.”

“After Food”

“After Food” – Paul Militaru Photography

Special Occasion

GrowingBolder.com via Cathy Ruggiero

That Awkward Stage…

ClipGround

I have several shelves inside the art room, inside the adjoining closet, and outside the art room in the hallway completely cleared now. The result, after 8 leaf bags of donations and two of trash, is that the art room – right now – looks worse than when I started  ( if that’s possible.)  It certainly looks as if a bomb hand landed when you open the door…

I’m telling myself firmly that I AM making progress.

Today I’m going to start putting some things away in the place they’re going to live. That should clear the decks – if only a bit – to make it so I can find a chair to sit and rest on from time to time.

One weird problem I didn’t foresee – I have a cedar chest that has a cushion top that I got from my mom. It weighs a TON, more or less. I don’t want to get rid of it, so I put it under one of the tables in the art room. It eventually was buried beneath lots of wonderful sheets of posterboard, large frame mats, and other stuff over the years. I uncovered it yesterday. I then proceeded to pull it out from the wall a bit and open it. I couldn’t! It’s locked. I have no clue where a key is. I’ll look around today, but I’ve already talked to my husband, asking him to use his nefarious lock-picking skills, to open it for me. It may be completely empty OR stuffed. I don’t have any idea which. Today the mystery will hopefully be solved.

You won’t see pics until I can at least get around in there without falling on my rear. I’m still hopeful that the project will be substantially, if not completely, finished by the end of the weekend.

I Think I’ll Stop the Rain Dance…

http://www.abc.net.au

“**FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9:30AM**  (more warnings possible later Saturday)

Another round of heavy rain mixed with storms will move in during the late morning hours and last until 3-5 PM. Some storms may potentially be severe with hail being our main threat.”

I told you about our drought. In the past 6 days we’ve had rain every day or every night. As of Thursday we had already received about 4 inches of rain. The forecast was then 3 to 5 MORE inches before this ends tonight…

I wanted the rain. I’ve danced in the rain. I’ve stood in the yard, looking up at the sky and enjoyed the rain on my face while our 91 pound yellow labrador retriever ‘puppy’ , Amber, cavorted around, running like a thing possessed, back and forth across the yard and off the edge of the civilized part of the yard, down into the woodsy area and back again.

Enough is enough, though. Many parts of Arkansas are flooding now.

Durango, AR (just north and west of Little Rock)

We live in Greenwood, just southeast of Fort Smith, in west central Arkansas. We’ve been lucky. Although things are saturated now, we haven’t seen much flooding, other than the usual low-lying places that always flood in heavy rain.

I have no idea where we stand as far as the severe drought. I would THINK that this has replenished the local reservoirs so that our drinking water can get back to normal.  This is supposed to end tonight, after the worst rain and storming we’ve had in the past 6 days (including possible severe weather today) is finally past.  Right now it looks like it does right before nightfall.

I just took Amber out, and even SHE just took care of things quickly and was ready to come right back in – at least for awhile.  Molly, our white fuzzy schnauzer/cocker spaniel cross, looks like an old, dirty mop. She loves it outside, coming in drenched and dirtier each time. I’m wearing out the washing machine and dryer trying to have clean, dry towels ready to dry her as well as possible. As soon as things dry out a bit (maybe Tuesday) she’s going into the kitchen sink with lots of no tears puppy shampoo and a large brush!

Twinkies

Homemaking.com via Michael Remillard

“Tomorrow is another day,” ~ Gone With The Wind: Scarlett O’Hara