Monday, October 22, 2012

Monday-10am

We did see sun this weekend.
I have proof. 
I even moved Karma's bed over by the porch door... 
...so she could catch some rays in comfort on the chilly morning. 
(Next time she's complaining about how mean and cruel I am, I'm going to show her these pictures.)
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What a nice weekend.  
Besides seeing the sun for the first time since Tuesday and finally feeling more human, I got more fun mail!!  Erin over at The Bright Owl (she has the weekly zendala dare template challenge) had a giveaway of two Zentangle Zendala tile kits to celebrate reaching 200 followers...and I was one of the winners!!  Do you believe how blessed I have been lately!?  :):)  
When I first opened them up I thought they were all blank...  
...but they have very faint hand drawn designs on them. 
Two each of nine designs plus three blanks.  Twenty-one tiles to play with.  They appear to be printed on some pretty decent drawing paper.  Thanks for having the giveaway, Erin!  And congrats on the 200 followers--whoohoo!!   
Okay...when I used the Ink Drop ink samples like watercolors for the artwork last month I kind of ruined them for fountain pen use with the wet brushes.  I didn't want to ruin any more ink samples and remembered I have these skinny syringes (no needles).  I seem to remember they were for pet medication?  Maybe for Dagan and Leah's Sammy?  (The curse of fibro-fog...maybe by now with a dash of Alzheimer's thrown in for good measure!)  I tossed them on the craft table to show you...  
...but my OCD tendencies didn't leave them like that for long--LOL!  Anyways, I could gather up a few drops from each of the five sample vials without polluting them...and was able to drip them with precision...one drop at a time...one color at a time...onto the mixed media journal... 
...and then blow them all over the paper with the air can!!  This was waaaay too much fun!!!  (Not that Karma would agree with me.) 
I searched all over for glossy paper...thought I had just a few sheets left somewhere (even though I never ran across them cleaning I didn't go through every sheet of paper I have and it just seems like something I shouldn't be out of).  I thought the ink would maybe slide better on glossy.  Couldn't find any sheets but I found some store-bought, pre-made glossy cards...spread one out...and had a blast!!  The colors stayed more true, I think.  I turned this in for the October Ink Drop Art contest at Goulet Pens.  Has a kind of spidery look for Halloween, I think.  ;) 
Was a hazy, sun-peeking weekend.  The geese are already making their way south.  If you click on the picture you can see better all the geese that landed over where there used to be a swampy pond and a wild field of prairie grass.
Some of them still stop...even though men spent a couple years filling in the natural pond/swampy area that they loved.  They used to come and stay for a few days.  The place was a concert of crickets and frogs back then.  Now they are only here for less than an hour.  No longer a motel and restaurant.  Just one of those rest stops on the highway with a half-empty candy machine and no water fountain.
****
I actually did something else extra over the weekend as long as I was finally feeling better after almost two weeks...look familiar? 
I went through the tangle pics and wrote the names in pencil on the backs.  Had a few random ones left over that I will have to track down...but this step is basically done.  TaDa!!
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I guess I spent a few too many sessions doing that over the weekend.  I thought I was doing fine, but it's not always easy to judge.  Last night I couldn't sleep for the sharp pain in my back and shoulders.  I finally got up and took a pain pill and was able to sleep after while...and why I didn't wake up till 9:30 this morning.  There are times I am so grateful for pharmaceuticals!  ;)
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The next step is to start gluing them all onto the binder pages and labeling them.  I will have to wait a couple days, but I hope to start this week.  :):)
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Let's see, what else?  Oh, Karma seems to really like the Felidae canned cat food so far.  (Let's not tell her that this is also diet food.)  I didn't totally catch up on emails this weekend, but I did read blogs.  Didn't comment as much as usual.  Really can't when I am that far behind, but I am caught up with you all--whoohoo!  :)  
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I forgot to tell you that last week when I went to walk the old phones (saving as backup) out to the garage my automatic garage door key didn't work.  Dead.  Long story short...back when they switched garages for me years ago (I needed one with a garage door opener because I couldn't always manage to manually open the door with my bum arm and not all of them have openers) they forgot to also switch the electricity in the basement someplace.  So I have been paying for 202's garage electricity all these years and they've been paying for mine.  If they happen to be people who plugged in their car in the winter or something like that...maybe my bill will go down?  But most people don't plug in their cars in or spend time in their garages, so probably won't go down much.  Anyways, I learned I have a switch for the garage in my breaker box in the hallway.  ;)
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Well, that's it from Fargo for today.
I plan to find some time to play this week.  
Be healthy, safe, and happy!  
Keep smiling!
****
"Focus on the journey, not the destination.  Joy is found not in finishing an activity, but in doing it."
Greg Anderson

28 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

that electrical bill switch is interesting! i hope that means yours will go down!

i like your ink squids. :)

and karma. what can i say? what a life...

Beth said...

Karma is beautiful!!! And I am so glad you are finally feeling better.

Anonymous said...

You sure get a lot done for a lady who's hurting!!

Janie Junebug said...

Karma looks so happy in her sunbeam. Thank you for straightening out the syringes. They upset me when they were messy.

Love,
Janie

Akannie said...

HI sweetie! Glad you're feeling better and hope that Karma is appropriately grateful. lol (Kidding of course--cats are not grateful creatures, in general). lol

Nice job on the wins. I am frantically behind on everything, so I shall not even bother to apologize. lol

We are having a bleak rainy day here, even though the temps are stupidly high for this time of year. I'm, going to make some polenta for supper and have a little comfort food.

Felicia said...

Seriously I kid you not I am coming back as your cat lolol (terrified now aren't you hahaha) Look at her just working those angles lol Love it!

*squeaks with joy* CONGRATS on winning goodies!! That is awesome! What cool stuff too!

OK now I so have a use for all the syringes I had left after Bear was gone. COOL! I don't feel bad now either as I would have HAD to straighten them too!

Aw you have sunshine! We aren't expecting to see sunshine again here till April roflmao

Hope you have a simply wonderful week!
*hugs*
=0)

Catherine said...

Cats + Sun = Happy

carol l mckenna said...

Wow! Sunning Karma ~ a joy and a doll! Lovely post and congrats on winning the zendala ~ more creative stuff! Wow! glad you are doing well and sending lots of hugs to you and Karma ~ You are blessed ~ (A Creative Harbor) ^_^

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous shots of Karma!

betty said...

Congrats on winning that giveaway, Rita! Definitely something you'll enjoy being creative with! Weird with the electric bill; it is good they didn't have some type of business in there that used a lot of electricity; what a big bill that could have been!

betty

Carolyn Dube said...

Congrats on your fabulous prize! What awesome little syringes! Your blown ink blots are addictive looking- so much fun and such a great result!

Gwen said...

Lucky you having sun. I bet secretly you are Karma's favourite human:)
x

Vicki Holdwick said...

Man, Rita, you do keep busy. I am worn out just from reading about it. I'm so glad to see you are feeling better. Love the ink on glossy. And love how you find a way to use everyday objects in your art.

xoxo

DJan said...

OCD people are all the same! (me too!) And those pictures of Karma are really good. We have had intermittent sun mixed with clouds, wind, and rain. A bit of everything. Congratulations on your win, BTW! Thanks for the fun comments you have left for me, and I am glad you got some good sleep, however you got it! :-)

Dee said...

Dear Rita, I so like that quotation, and I so wish I could remember to do what he's suggesting.

As to your luck lately, it does seem to me that you keep winning great prizes. You must be living under the right stars in the Universe.

And as to your spidery artwork . . . well, you are just one creative, lucky, interesting, and delightful human being! Peace.

Dana said...

Cats sure love their sun. :)

Congrats on winning the giveaway!

AliceKay said...

Karma looks like she enjoyed the sunshine. :) We had sun yesterday, but today we had rain. It's been raining rather hard at times tonight.

Wow, look at all of those zendala tiles. I bet you'll have fun with those. Congrats on winning the challenge.

Love the spider look. That technique worked quite well. I can see why you might have a blast with something like that. (poor Karma...lol)

I've seen a few flocks of geese flying south. Cold weather isn't too far away now. There has been talk of some heavy wet snow heading in our direction but I hope they're wrong. I took pictures of geese on the pond at the hospital last Thursday while I was up there. I posted those pictures to a Flickr set the other day, and they can be found on the right side of my blog. :)

I'm glad you found out about the switcheroo on the garage doors. I hope it goes to your advantage. :)

Have a good rest of the week.

Queenie Jeannie said...

Hi Karma!!! Soak up that sun while you can, girl!

Love your ink splatters! Looks like fun. Congrats on your latest win! You are really on a streak lately.

Glad you are feeling better! Hugs!

Dave said...

That midea of painting using an air can is a different way to do things Rita. They do look like Halloween pictures - Dave

Darla said...

Congrats on the win. Those circles look like something you will have fun with. I like you ink drop work.

Karma has quite the life it seems to me :-)

Darla

Hilary said...

awwww ... I wanna ruffle Karma.:)

Glad to hear you're feeling a little better ... congrats on winning the giveaway ... and the spidery inkings look like neural pathways to me! LOL My geek is trying to bust out at the moment.

Jenny said...

I have Uncles that live in the Dakotas. I suspect the sunshine is totally newsworthy this time of year!

For you and for Oregon! ha!

Pretty creative paint delivery method!

Although any kind of needles make me feel a little heebie jeebie!

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

This morning my dog DC and Jessica's dog Dino are laying in front of the front slidding door in the sun but I bet they will move when it heats up it is suppose to be 36 degrees today

It would be nice if your electricty bill was to go down but at least you know it's not going to go up.....lol

VonnyK said...

Those zentangle tiles are fabulous you lucky thing. Those ink drops are so clever, I wish I could get paint to do that. I always just get a splodge. Glad the weather has brightened up a bit.
Have fun.
Von

laurak/ForestWalkArt :) said...

(sorry...i'm sooo far behind in my reading...ugh...trying to get in a little comp time this morn!!

hey rita, congrats on your zentangle win!!
karma...aaaaaah, a cat's life!
i used to do that 'blowing' thing with inks...but i used a straw. i would blow and blow...until i got light headed. i could've used those little hypodermic looking things you have there!

anyway...i hope you're feeling good! guess what? sam & i are going to ride over to the humane society this coming weekend.... =)

Far Side of Fifty said...

I was here the other day to read and then went on a Zendela look..I like yours best! I never made it back here to tell you until now!! Cold..and that wind is raw this morning..send some sun this way please..such dreary days:)

Serena Lewis said...

Cody and Karma are kindred spirits when it comes to sun-worshipping. lol

Congratulations on your win...great prize!!

Those syringes do like they would be for administering pet medication. LOL at your OCD!

I like the spidery effect!

OH, what a shame their natural ponds were filled in...kinda sad their motel/restaurant is no more.

Glad to hear Karma likes the new food.

I hope you see a drop in your electricity bill. Good that it's been fixed up now.

Love and hugs ~ xo

Arnoldo L. Romero, MLA said...

Congratulations on winning the Zendala tiles. They look like they'd be oodles of fun to play with. Blessings!