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Wednesday, January 30, 2008

A giveaway to check out


Who doesn't love a blog giveaway? Check out Nancy's Vintage Whimsy & Folk Art Originals site for a chance to win an Easter giveaway including some of her awesome artwork. You may think it's a little early to think of Easter, but check your calendar, and you'll see that this year it falls on March 23rd.

What -45 looks like


Ever wonder what -45 degree weather looks like? Now I'm talking Celcius here. -45 converts to -49 Fahrenheit! Yep, this is feeling like global warming to me, folks. We've had really icky weather for the past week and everyone's getting mighty sick of cars not running, buses arriving late and did I mention cars that won't run?
Here's a photo I took yesterday. This is as far as I went from my door. Far enough, let me tell you.
Yep, I'm ready for summer.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Who doesn't love Lawrence Welk?

We found this on YouTube tonight and laughed so hard that I thought I would share it with you. Watch this video and leave me a comment! http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ye3ecDYxOkg

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Blog Giveaway!

Everyone loves blog giveaways. Am I giving something away? Nope. My art buddy, Arlene is. She just talked me into making this altered button card so she could give it away on her blog. How do I get talked into these things? Hmm ... anyway, if you wanna try to win a couple things she's giving away, check out her blog, ART DE ME.




Lookie what I did this morning

It's my birthday today ... did I mention that before? Oh, of course I did. Anyway I decided to do a painting this morning. The first $500.00 takes this original 16x20 acrylic painting :)

I'm just practising Faux Voghish-like stuff because I'm just itching to get working on Arlene's chair. Frankly I'm surprised the she hasn't had a Diva fit wanting her chair done already! Hehee ... actually I know she's been extremely busy this week so we haven't had a chance to get together for another painting session. See the Monster Cookie here? That's what I had for lunch. Talk about a healthy lunch, eh?
This is my second post of the day. Wonder how many more I'll cram in before the end of the day.

Happy Birthday to me!

The year I was born ...
  • Canada's population was 17, 815,100.
  • Milk was 25 cents a quart & bread was 20 cents a loaf.
  • The average cost of a new car was $1,822.
  • A new home cost $12,625.
It's my birthday today people. And that's me in the photo, on my first birthday. I'm closer to 50 than 40 now. Guess that means I'm getting close to Geezerhood, eh? Wow. I still can't believe it. I don't feel that old.
Yesterday my former neighbour bought me a beautiful birthday cake. I should have taken a photo of it, but we kinda ate it too fast. It was delicious. It had kiwis, mandarins, blackberries, slivered almonds and whipped cream on it. Delicious! We devoured it while we watched an episode of American Idol auditions.
This morning Adam (the guy I work for) actually remembered it was my birthday and said he plans to take me out to brunch sometime in the next little while as a birthday gift. Think we may go to the New Asian Village (9308-34 Avenue, Edmonton) because he hasn't tried their buffet and I've been telling him about how yummy their authentic Indian cuisine is.
Well I'm off to put start a hamburger stew in the slow cooker. Then I have a couple of projects that I want to get working on for my sister's wedding which is coming up on February 16th. Yikes! It's just around the corner ~ I better get busy.



Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Valentine package ready to post



So my package of goodies is ready to mail to Debra Cooper in the Valentine Swap hosted by Lelainia. I participated in last year's swap, but this year, there's a twist. The theme is "Getting to Know You". We were asked to prepare special packages containing things that represented who we are and what we like, and then exchange them with a partner, whose name was pulled out of a hat. It was a lot of fun putting the care package together, but it was a wee bit more difficult than I thought. The parcel is ready to be posted today. I hope Debra will like the stuff.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Birthday Bashes ... photos from other years


2007 ~ International Theme


2006 ~ High Tea Party


2005 ~ Tacky Party

I should have a photo of our 1970s Party (2004). It's not on my computer though, so I can't post it right now.







I get by with a little help from my friends

Life is simply grand when one has friends that are crazy enough to show up at your house clad in the their pajamas on a Saturday morning ready to party.
Gloria and I hosted our annual birthday bash on Saturday, (the 19th). This year we decided that it would be great to invite our friends to come to a PJ Brunch.
This is the gorgeous purse that Arlene created for me. It's beautiful. Must have taken her forever to create. I love it!
And Thina says she can't draw. Anyone could tell she's drawing a skunk here during our impassioned game of Pictionary.
What a cozy way to share time with some of our favourite folks. By the way ... Gloria and I have already started to discuss next year's party theme!

Friday, January 11, 2008

Zoot's Chair

This is the story of the chair Zoot the cat sat on. It was a treasure purchased at a second hand store by my friend Diva Arlene. Here is the noble cat sitting beside his beloved chair. He has no idea what's about to happen next...

One day, Arlene had a wonderful idea. She saw a beautiful chair in a magazine, and she wanted to give Zoot's chair a face lift. So naturally, she decided it needed a fresh coat of paint.

And who, exactly, does one call when one wants to do something artsy-crazy to a cat chair? Me, of course! After some discussion, we decided that I would paint the chair "Faux Vogh".

"Starry starry night ..." We even had some musical accompaniment by Josh in the process. He is learning to play the song "Vincent" on piano. It was all very inspiring. Arlene supervised the whole thing bringing all the paints, brushes, and plastic needed to pull this thing off. She also baked up some scrumptious Pear Ginger Walnut Muffins [perhaps these should be renamed Vincent Muffins, eh?], coffee and later on, slaved over a hot stove to produce some Van Gogh Soup for the starving artist and her accompanying offspring. [I'm hoping Arlene will post the recipes on her blog]Is the chair finished? No! There's more to come, much more, so watch my blog.

Vincent
Paint your palette blue and gray
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
How you suffered for your sanity
How you tried to set them free
They would not listen they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now

Starry, starry night
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflecting Vincent's eyes of china blue
Colours changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hands

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
How you suffered for your sanity
How you tried to set them free
They would not listen they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now


For they could not love you
But still your love was true
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night
You took your life as lovers often do
But I could have told you Vincent
This world was never meant for one as
Beautiful as you


Starry, starry night
Portraits hung in empty halls
Frameless heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget
Like the strangers that you've met
The ragged men in ragged clothes
A silver thorn on a bloody rose
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow

Now I think I know
What you tried to say to me
How you suffered for your sanity
How you tried to set them free
They would not listen they're not listening still
Perhaps they never will

Note: The lyrics above, were written by Don MacLean in 1971 after he had read a book about Vincent Van Gogh. Buried in a time capsule beneath the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, is a copy of the sheet music to Vincent, along with a set of Van Gogh's paint brushes.

Monday, January 07, 2008

Happy Ukrainian Christmas!

In case you didn't know, today is Ukrainian Christmas. We don't celebrate it per se, however, when our sons were little, I decided to make them a Ukrainian Christmas stocking so they would have something a little special at the very end of the Christmas season. This way, I also had an excuse to make the holidays last that much longer. (As I write this, I'm listening to a CD playing Silent Night).



David and Zachary have enjoyed all the Christmas traditions we've kept in our family over the years and practically demand that we do each and every one of them year after year. Of course everyone receives Christmas stockings on Christmas morning, but we have quite a few important traditions of our own. Some of the other traditions include walking through the Alberta's Legislature Grounds to see the Christmas lights (if it's -30 Celcius, we're walking briskly!) followed by especially decedent hot chocolate. Another is the Christmas Pickle. The pickle-shaped ornament is hidden in the tree on Christmas Eve. Who ever finds it first on Christmas morning receives an extra little present. David found it this year and received a can of Tim Horton's hot chocolate. The last tradition I'll mention before I sign off for this morning is the reading of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. I don't recall what year we started reading it ~ sometime when the boys were in elementary school ~ but it's a great read for kids of all ages.

"Srozhdestvom Kristovym" everyone!

PHOTOS: 2008 Ukrainian Christmas stockings stuffed and ready to be opened; The Christmas Pickle; My mother-in-law in traditional Ukrainian clothing when she was a young woman