What's New

Edolie's drawings are starting to show figures, this one is of her, Ciaran, and Me as princesses.  I made the dresses:)

My ever growing air plant collection.  I started with one and now have a whole window full!

So, school has started, Ciaran is pretty happy in first grade.  He loves to read, he loves his teacher, and his two new buddies.  He even loves the class pet, a tarantula named Nell.  That makes my heart happy.  Ed and I are enjoying our time at home in the mornings and out and about.  She is now my super fun shopping, errand running companion.  When we are at home she is pretty content just drawing, painting, or playing with play dough.  We do take breaks for tea parties and fashion shows though, and occasionally a walk out to visit her scarecrow friend on the bottoms.  Other than family life, I am working my butt off to get some leathery stuff made for my shop and hopefully a couple of shows for the holidays.  I am also trying my hand at needle felting, and sewing some new clothes for myself.  I found a stash of fabric I've had for years and I am intent on using it up!  Also,  I need new clothes since it seems that one crazy effect of a bad gallbladder is some weight loss!  Not sure about the health of having a super restricted diet, but it feels good to be a couple of pounds lighter.  I don't really have my nice glass of beer or cider in the evening anymore so I've kind of gone haywire with my projects.  I can't say I'm at all unhappy about it though.  Feels nice to be creative, it really helps in every aspect of my life and I can't complain at all.  The only thing that's hard is that I just plain don't have enough room to work and keep this place tidy, I'm just a messy square I guess:)  I am off to cut out the last few wallets before gluing, sewing, etc. commence!  Wish me luck!

A New Possibility.........

I started work on this many, many months ago and needed to get it finished up for a special gift for a very wonderful friend.  Made with appliqued recycled leather pieces, copper, brass, iolite, green adventurine and amethyst.  I think it turned out pretty okey dokey and I will definitely be playing with the idea more and listing some of these eventually.  I love my copper, brass, and leather, that is for sure!

Love Notes From Louie

I think Louie knows I'm missing our tabby cat, because when I was cleaning his vivarium today, I found this.  He licked a little heart shape into his food.  I feel like it was a little love note from him to me.  I love my little gecko:) 

Yui Haas

Our very special kitty Yui passed away yesterday.  I can't say I was surprised but I was not prepared to say goodbye yet.  Yui has been through hell in his very long kitty life.  I thought we were going to lose him quite a few times along the way.  It started with a seizure disorder he developed around three years old and lasted for years!  We were lucky that it was controlled really well with medication.  He seemed to overcome his seizures a few years back and we were able to ween him off of his medication.  He did have a few other medical problems though, most of which we were able to help him through and get him back to being the big burly guy he was.   He was the biggest, sturdiest cat that I have ever met, but he was scared of his own shadow.  He was my baby before the human babies were born.  He was the sweetest, most gentle cat I have had the honor of sharing my space with and I will miss him.  Rest in peace Yui Haas, we love you, you crazy tabby cat.

44?

That's me today!  A whole year older.  I am celebrating with a play date on the plaza, a fresh veggie pizza without the goopy cheese for dinner and low fat yogurt cheesecake for dessert.  No cake and ice cream for me thanks to my stupid gallbladder.  That's how it goes around here these days:)  The gallbladders' wishes come before my own.  My 43rd year went by so darn fast that I can't remember half of it to reflect right now, but I am ready for the change and I look forward to my 44th year!

One of Those Kind of Days

Today has been one of those grumpy, can't get comfortable, can't get anything done kind of days, so I am looking at fuzzy and scaly faces to help me make it through.  Yui, our old guy is our sweetheart, he hides all day long and comes out to curl up with me on the couch in the evenings after the kiddos go to bed.  He keeps me happy and sane.  I'm so glad he's still here to curl up with at night.  The scaly wonder below is baby Tigiba the leachie.  I am so fascinated by him/her that I spend a fair amount of time just staring at her pink spots and beautiful eyes.  It feels good to have a house full of kids and critters.  I couldn't have asked for anything better.  Now I'm off to track down an envelope full of wallets that I thought were ready to sew.  I can't stand it when I know I cut out a bunch of somethings and have no idea where I put them!  So frustrating! 

Baby Tig

We got a new baby on Friday.  A 6 month old baby leachianus gecko, or leachie from a awesome guy in Tennessee!

Baby Tig in his/her travel pod:)

This critter was in the box too, I'm pretty sure we're going to keep him, he's not a reptile but he's cute:)

I haven't worked for a couple of days.  The good part of that is that I now have a hallway instead of a huge pile of ill-fitting clothes and shoes,  and a bedroom that is not a storage room! I am aching to get back to creating.........something! anything! I set up a work area in my bedroom that I will be sharing with Baby Tig( our leachie).  Tig will be hangin' out and being a gecko, and I will hopefully be doing some drawing.  I'm trying to use it as a quiet space for a bit of art therapy.  The last few years have been pretty crazy and all that craziness has somehow caught me all up in it's grip and I'm trying to get free.  I can't go in to too much detail since this all involves family and such, but it's really unhealthy stuff, and I want to free myself of that as much as possible, since there really is no hope of solving other peoples' problems.  So, I am kind of keeping to myself, playing with my kids, working on my art and designs, and hangin' out with my scaly, shelled, and fuzzy friends.  I try to stay positive and look to the adventure ahead.  That's all I can do, and for right now, it's working!