Enough of Hurricane Ike!!!

I'm not even going to talk about it... sick and tired of Hurricane Ike. Let's just say we are all safe and sound and don't ever want to have to go through that again.

Went to Corpus Christi for the first time this past weekend. Wasn't terribly impressed but I did get my camera out and go take some cool pics!

Artsy, Fartsy Fridays

I was beginning to wonder if Miss Priss had her Nonna's creative genes and then today she said, "I think I want to paint!" Cool! So paint she did. When I was getting her set up with paint, etc. she kept swiveling in her chair. I said, "Rule #1 in painting is no swiveling in your chair." To which she replied, "What's Rule #2?"

Miss Priss's First Week of Kindergarten

WHEW! What a week! This week my granddaughter started kindergarten. She was so excited and her Dad kept saying, "If you don't want to go, then just say the word and we'll turn right back around!" I think Mom and Dad were more upset about her going than she was. On the way to school we heard on the radio that one elementary had a crying room set up... a crying room for the parents!

I dropped her and her Mom and Dad off at the front door and waited outside with her baby sister.

She quickly found her place and probably wouldn't have noticed if Mom and Dad left without saying, "Good bye!"

Her caring nature quickly kicked in when this little girl could not stop crying (she was holding a picture of her Mom and Dad over her face!)

On the second day we had a conversation that went like this:

Miss Priss: "Nonna, look what I got!" (she showed me a stamp on her hand)
Nonna: "Wow, that's cool... what did you get that for?"
Miss Priss: "Because I had to borrow some money."
Nonna: "Oh, your Mom didn't give you enough money?"
Miss Priss: "No, I let my friend Shelby borrow some because she didn't have enough." (that's Shelby in the pink)
Nonna: "That was really sweet of you but if you let someone borrow money then you don't have enough for lunch. So next time just tell them that the school will let them borrow money."
Miss Priss: "Oh... ok"

Tom-A-to, Tom-a-to!

Several weeks ago Mr. P decided to buy a cherry tomato plant at Walmart. So far it has produced one lonely tomato... we had to split the tiny thing for our salads!! I think I may need my nephew to ship me some of his "Miracle Compost".

My New Cadi!

What I wouldn't do for a man that brings home a Cadillac as a surprise... I LOVE HIM!!!

We thought this was funny... cuz luxury car owners shouldn't get their hands dirty.

Artsy, Fartsy Fridays

Well, I mistakenly thought it would be easy to write a blog entry EVERY day... after all, my life is soooo interesting. Not! I haven't been able to think of anything to write about but after seeing my sister's most recent blog entry which was basically just pictures of her desk area at work... maybe I can come up with something more often.

Any hoo! Since it is "Artsy, Fartsy Friday" I am putting up pictures of some chairs I redid a while back. These chairs belonged to my mother and my grandmother before her. Some years ago, after a trip to Mexico, my mother came home and painted each of her 4 dining room chairs a different color and then placed an embroidered Mexican pillow in each seat (pillows not shown in pic). After she passed away I took 2 of them and stripped the paint off of them, restained them and then covered them with cow hides. I hope Mom likes them and isn't looking down going, "What have you done to my chairs!!"

Where is Your Treasure?

Ok. I just don't know what to say about this. This was on the bathroom wall at my local Hobby Lobby. Just doesn't seem right. What's your take on it?

Surviving Another Storm

Very much like Hurricane Rita, Tropical Storm Edouard has blown just to the east of us. Right now it is raining but nothing major. All this storm talk reminds me of something funny. When Hurricane Rita came in on the tail of the infamous Hurricane Katrina, my sister kept insisting that we get in our car and make the trek to Dallas. Mr. P said that was ridiculous. Turns out he was right and saved us a 25 hour drive to Dallas... it normally takes 4 hours. All we got was light rain and strong winds. At the time we were living downtown in a loft and when we saw how little damage we were going to get it gave us an idea. We took our camera and tripod down to the street. As I mentioned, the rain was light but it was blowing sideways. The plan was that I was going to hold on to one of the small trees that the city has planted along the sidewalk, Mr. P was going to set up the tripod/camera and then he was going to come lift my feet up off the ground so that we would get a picture that looked like the wind was so strong it was blowing me sideways. As Mr. P set up the camera I was checking out the tree. The trunk was about 4 inches thick... just enough to get your hands around. However, I noticed that there were no knobs or branches... you know, that would keep my hands from sliding all the way down the tree. I asked Mr. P, "What is going to keep me from sliding all the way down the tree?" to which he replied, "I won't let you fall." Ok. Great! He gets the camera set up and says, "Ok, ok!!" He runs over, lifts my feet off the ground and instantly I feel my hands sliding down the rough bark of the tree. Mr. P doesn't save me, as promised. He continues to hold my feet, waiting for the camera to click. Fortunately I had enough forethought to lift my head up so that I didn't slam my chin into the pavement. You may be wondering why I don't have a picture here to show you. The darn camera never went off!! But you get the picture!

NiceCritic.com

Mondays are usually a drag for most so here's a fun website to cheer you up. Nice Critic is a way of communicating difficult thoughts comfortably (and anonymously). It is a free service that gives users the ability to say something to someone that has been on their minds in a safe, non-embarrassing environment. They simply visit the site, pick a statement from a wide variety of pre-written “thought bubbles,” and send that message to a coworker, friend, acquaintance, or relative’s email address. This site is meant to be a constructive critic on a wide variety of potentially-uncomfortable issues. The person being “NiceCritic’d” then has the opportunity to reflect on the message received, choosing to take the suggestion or dismiss it. Now this might make your Monday more fun but not so much for our coworkers!

Nothing is AWESOME but God

Ok. This would fall under the “loathe” part of my blog. Well, it’s really just something that bugs me. People are using the word AWESOME in excess and where it doesn’t really apply. I believe this started with the growing popularity of the Christian song, “Awesome God”. And I suggest that is where it should remain. The word AWESOME is a derivative of the word AWE. So what does AWE mean? The Webster dictionary says this… an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime. So I ask you… is it really AWESOME when Johnny jumps over the curb with his skateboard? No. God is AWESOME… Johnny’s skateboard skills are not!

PS - If you leave a comment that says, "That's Awesome!" I'm going to delete it. :)

Turning into our parents!!

I knew we had officially turned into our parents when Mr. P set-up a birdfeeder in the back yard. I explained this to him… to no avail. I can remember teasing my Dad as a teenager when I would find him with binoculars drawn and diligently looking out the back door at the birds. Sunday my daughter came over and saw the birdfeeder and said, “I can’t believe you’re watching birds, you’re so old!!” (see I told you Mr. P!!!) What goes around comes around I guess… “Sorry Dad!” Well, in case you’re interested (or just old), our birdfeeder has had its fair share of visitors. So far we’ve seen cardinals, blue jays, sparrows, doves, wrens… and of course, the uninvited squirrels, raccoons and RATS!!! I couldn’t grab my camera fast enough to catch this little guy on his hind legs at the feeder.

Artsy, Fartsy Fridays

I love mediocre deed restrictions. When Mr. P and I moved into our 1965 home a few months ago, we wondered about the deed restrictions. Having lived in the suburbs previously, where every house had to be some form of beige and having lived where ANYTHING GOES, it was of interest to us. We got a copy of the deed restrictions (which we believe have not been edited since the 60’s) and we were surprised to find that they were pretty relaxed. The neighborhood is beautiful with large old trees and well maintained yards… but we’re artists and we didn’t want to be too restricted. Soooo… we took a drive around the neighborhood. As we rounded one corner the heavens opened up and the hallelujah chorus could be heard for miles. Here is what we found!! It’s made out of blue bottles, plates, glasses, birds, swans, stars, vases, decanters, candle sticks, hands and even a head on the top!!