A journal page and 'stuff'

Here is a journal page I created at Bible Study on Tuesday.

Today, I have to take Chuck for another injection in his neck for pain due to degenerating discs in his neck. I have to pick up a babysitter this morning and also gather some things to keep me busy for a couple of hours worth of sitting.

The boys and I are really wanting to see "Prince Caspian" so maybe Chuck will feel like going with us later today. I really want to do the matinee due to the ridiculously high prices for movie tickets these days. It's insane!

Yesterday, I picked up a couple of pieces of poster board to make large calendars for June/July. The boys and I have already listed things we want to do for the summer and now, we are putting things on a calendar. I got the "list" idea from Joanna over at http://thesimplewife.blogspot.com. However, her poster is a cuter version. For me, I need a calendar! I have hopes that summer won't feel as crazy with things scheduled instead of making it up as I go and we'll be able to see what's coming up so I can plan as well as see what we did at the end of summer. I also want to start the boys on a "gratitude calendar". I've printed out a calendar for each of them and would like to end each day with them being able to tell me one thing they are thankful for that day to write on their calendar. I'm also planning to somewhat structure parts of our days at home as well. I have lots of good intention... let's see how it goes.

Inspire Me Thursday challenge

Purple and Orange is the challenge theme for this weeks "Inspire me Thursday". This photo I took on vacation a couple of weeks ago falls right into the theme. I've always loved Birds of Paradise!

New stuff for Hannah Grey

I created this really tiny mini mono album for the Hannah Grey Design Team using images from one of their skinny mini collage sheets titled "Abandoned items" by Jo McQueen.  I LOVE these images.  To see the contents inside, head over to my flickr site.   http://www.flickr.com/photos/artvisionz/sets/72157604698362845/

Inchies

In my Christian Paper Arts group, I signed up for an alphabet inchie swap.  I have the letter "t".  We were to depict something from the Bible that starts with our assigned letter... rather, chosen letter.  I did "t" for thorns.  I used one of my close-up cactus photos, did sewing around the edges, stamped my letter on mica, and adhered it.  I am done!  I had wanted to dangle my letter from my inchie but found out that was sorta' "against the rules" for this particular swap so they needed to stay fairly flat and no danglies.  

Yesterday after church, we went out to our friends hotel to spend the day with them.  They are staying in a gorgeous hotel/casino way out on the Gila Indian Reservation.  The boys got to swim and play on the water slide at the hotel.  We then went to a wonderful dinner.    We had such a  great time hanging out with these guys this week.  Since Karen's son, Mike, is moving out here, we know we'll get to see each other more often.  We're counting on Mark and Karen to retire out here!    Here are a couple pictures of the boys:

Catch up

Well, I'm just now finding time to sit down and write a bit of 'catch up'. We had a wonderful time in Oceanside, as always. Our condo was on the second floor, directly on the beach, so close that when the tide started coming in at night, it looked like the waves were coming right on into our room! I LOVED being able to hear the waves crashing all day and night. And water running over the rocks have a magical tinkle that is just a delight to my heart. It was a perfect time to go since school isn't out yet. Most mornings, I was the only person on the beach or almost! What a treat! It was pretty cool so I had to bundle up, which is how I like the beach. I'm not a swimmer so I never go to the beach to swim or lay out. I go to walk. I'm a treasure hunter and I found much. I still have to go through my huge pile of treasures I brought home! Morning beach walks alone were my trips highlight.

We didn't "do" a lot on this trip. No major running around, etc.. We did go to Legoland one day and it was really nice and relaxing. After we got back, I even took the boys out to walk the beach for a long time!

The trip wasn't quite as relaxing for Chuck. He's never able to totally leave work behind and forget about it. I don't think he would even know how. So, he did make phone calls and do work on the computer every day. That was a bummer. I always wonder what it's like for families whose husband/dad, has a regular type job so that when they take vacation, he's truly on one. Oh well, this is our life and part of our vacation too. :(

When I go on vacation, I get there and IMMEDIATELY forget everything about real life. Truly, I do. It's always a shocker coming back into it!

Now that I'm back home, I've gotten back into the routine of school, life, etc... but realized that by next week, that nice routine will be blown out of the water as school gets out for the summer.

This week, Chuck's friend of about 40 years, has been in town with his wife. (Hi Karen!) I had briefly met Mark a few times but this was my first time meeting Karen. Karen has been reading my blog so she had an unfair advantage to our meeting! She knew all about me and my life but I knew very, very little about her! Chuck just kept saying, "You really like her, trust me. Oh, and she's a redhead too." Like her hair makes a difference?! He kept trying to reassure me because, unfortunately, I'm not one of those people who likes to meet new people, sit around getting to know people, or attend anything that resembles a party.... However, as much as I hate saying these words to my husband, I said them... "Honey, you were right." I was drawn to Karen right away, felt completely comfortable with her as if I've always known her. She has a rare gift of making people feel totally as ease. She was very easy to talk to, loves to laugh, and is a really sweet person. Mark chose well. We had a wonderful dinner Wednesday night and they will be coming for dinner again tomorrow evening. And, the shocker is, I'm actually, truthfully, really looking forward to it. As much as I hate to admit it, I can't always say that. I may not even put on makeup! Now THAT's comfortable for company coming for dinner! LOL!

Well, I'm going to work on my owl painting a bit while I'm waiting for a friend to come over to look at some of my handmade books.

Work in progress

Today I went over to be with my bestest friend, Fran, since her health has just been the pits lately. We got to have hours of catch up time, yet it's never enough, no matter how long we are together. I came home shortly before picking boys up from school and then sat to work on a painting. I actually started the drawing months ago and have worked on it here and there. Today I started painting it. It's in progress. When the owl is finished, I'll do the tree separately, cut out the hole which the owl will be peeking out of. I'll then collage the two paintings together. So, I still have a ways to go... This owl looks really freaky with white eyeballs, at this stage, doesn't it? Ewwww!

Well, I'm dead tired and heading to bed. I was waken 3 different times in the middle of the night last night so I pray for a solid nights sleep tonight!

Show me Wednesday

OK, so it's no longer Wednesday BUT, I just found this sight where a weekly topic is posted for your participation. This week's theme is "Your every day dishes". Here are mine, plain, restaurant style. We like them because they show off the food since they are plain. I do have china from when we got married over 22 years ago... still in the box in the storage shed! Anyway, these are my daily dishes. Now, while my dishes are very plain jane, I do have some fun glasses! ;) If you want to see other posts for this, go here:
http://hazelruthes.blogspot.com/ and see what is happening for Show Me Wednesday's. Linda T., if you are reading this, next week is right up your alley so mozey on over and check it out.