I knew this would happen

Today I'm recovering from a 4 hour pinterest frenzy!  I knew this would happen.  I was so excited I was just pinning and pinning thinking - I've got this in the bag this is going to be fun.

My friend Lorri called and asked "Do you realize that every time you pin something it goes to your facebook page?"  (Thank goodness she's a night owl too)

"What" I shrieked "you've got to be kidding me!"

"Nope it's all on there" she said "but at least it's late and most people are asleep so you can delete everything from your page before they see it"

Then it happened that bead of sweat formed on my upper lip.  Panic was setting in.  Can I do that, and can you imagine if she hadn't called - I'm sure people would have started unfriending me left and right thinking who is this crazy person sending me a bazillion posts!

So after a bit, all but one post was deleted and I now have the settings changed. I think I'm good to go. But you never know!

A slow starter

It's been a bit since I last posted.  September and October are my busiest months and sometimes it seems impossible to find a spare moment to even sit down and drop a line.  October is when we throw a giant fall festival and of course we have the haunted house fundraiser  for Alfresco Productions AND the conference for Alfresco's Six Mile Sculpture works iron pour.  The conference is really amazing - artist from around the country come to Granite City to make art in the industry that we're known for  - STEEL - of course you know because of my background that's right up my alley; so September is crazy trying to co-ordinate my end of the events.

I certainly don't do these events alone BUT being the director I'm expected to direct; either by designing the building out of the haunted house or acquisitions for the pour.

Sometimes the things that seems the easiest are what stop me in my tracks and I have to dip into others pool of creativity for a little inspiration. Like ideas for Spooktacular our Wizard of Oz themed event.  (The Wizard of Oz my Favorite!) You would think I could rattle ideas off like crazy - I do have several things lined up but I need a little nudge. 

Earlier today my friend Tona and I took a road trip to a winery (which by the way we were lost 3 different times), for wine bottles that she found on Craig's List for a project we're working on - she is a master at is finding things we need that others are unloading.  Craig's List another uncharted territory for me!   While we were driving past the same landmarks 4 different times looking for this place we kicked around some ideas for Spooktacular, Tona suggested  that I get on Pinterest. 

"You know" I said " That's just one more thing that don't have time for"  I know everybody and their brother has been doing it forever but I'm a bit of a slow starter. Beside when I did get on there, you had to be invited.

"Not now" she said - "get on there tonight and check it out." 

Well this may have been a mistake! As soon as I started looking up ideas one thing led to another.

WOW a person could spend hours and hours on there before you realize it.

I think I've already created 7 folders or boards or whatever they call them (You know my limitations within computer world)

I may be a slow starter but I'm already making up for lost time. I'm headed back to pin a few more things  This could be a long night!


  

Mums the Word

A friend of mine owns her own landscape and nursery business and every year about this time I pick up flowers for fall.  She, being the expert always wants me to look at something new, something that will bring a variety of texture to the garden.  And being that she is the expert I usually listen. I have put in some really unusual plants, but don't ask me the names, but every year I always pick up this certain  flower which means that she and I will have the same conversation that we always seem to have.
She will say - "Brenda, you know how I feel about mums!" Boy do I ever- How can I forget?  Every year, for years she's told me that mums are the most predictable flower for the garden and that everybody buys mums. 

"I know -I know," I'll tell her again like so many times before, "but I like mums".  She'll rolls her eyes and I'll continue to pick out the jewel toned colored mums.

I will however pick out something unusual and textural so she knows that I've been paying attention all of these years.

Just like mums this conversation about them has become a perennial favorite of mine.   

Batten down the hatches

Well it official the home repairs from that monster of a hail storm we recently had are completed.  Just in time for the high winds and 24 hour rain storm moving our way. Great! So I've started a check list to batten down the hatches.

For some reason I can never remember to take the umbrellas down from the outdoor dining tables at the tea room. I only think of them when I see them flying down the main street.  And then like a lunatic I'm running after them in the pouring rain!  So that's the first thing on my list.

Second is Daisy's medication -  you see, my dog has anxiety issues and the older she gets the worse it gets.  She is so bad that she tenses up and when a crack of thunder rumbles she jumps and shakes so hard she throws her back out.  Back issues aren't new to her; 4 years ago she had to have surgery for a ruptured disc.  This is another reason I'm not a mom to a human child I don't deal with this stuff well.

After the last storm episode that almost put Daisy in traction I took her to the vet.  "Have you tried the thunder shirt?" they asked.  Really have you seen Daisy's closet I thought we've tried everything.  So they prescribed her something for the inflammation, a muscle relaxer and Valium.  They instructed me to give her a dose in the morning and in the evening when a storm is coming through or when something like this non stop construction was going on.

So as a dutiful mother I gave her a pill in the morning and then in the evening.  Poor Daisy! She was walking (very slowly) to her water dish and in slow motion both of her hind legs slid right out from under her, as if she was on a sheet of ice.  There she was - her head in the bowl and little legs out to the side. What a site.  Wonderful now I've overdosed my dog!

One of my customers told me that their dog suffers from anxiety too but they use an herbal remedy that you either spray or put a few drops in their mouth and it calms them down right away.  Fast acting (I like that)

So I made the trek to the health food store and bought some.

I'm finishing my check list so I'm prepared for the worst but hoping for the best.  This is the one of those times that I hope the meteorologist is wrong.

All I know is - I don't want to have to go through any more construction due to storm damage; and I really - really hope this herbal remedy works for Daisy.  If not, she may have to share her Valium with me!

Time Flies

It seems like yesterday when my nieces and nephews were born.  My oldest niece now in her thirties has a daughter of her own.  My oldest nephew is in the Navy and just turned 21 - yikes! 

Where has the time gone?  I've always loved spending time with each of them but my window of opportunity was limited.  You see when they were small they could only stay with me when they could tell me what was wrong or what they needed.  I wasn't born the ESP thing that so many women have.  Some of my friends would know exactly what to do as soon as a little one started to cry.  I guess I knew....For me - it was to hand them right back to their parents.

I was the perfect aunt to take them fun places, hang out for a while and then take them home.
The bad part is that the time frame for hanging out with your aunt from the age that they can talk till the age that they think they're too big to hangout with you doesn't seem very long.

I can remember when my oldest nephew (he was 8 at the time) said, Aunt B this isn't very fun.  I was crushed I thought... this was fun 6 months ago!  But now to him he was a big boy! Wow, how time flies.

let the games begin!

Gabby

   Luckily with the girls it's a little longer of a window.  My niece and great niece still like to come over and have a sleepover from time to time. That's just what they did the other night.
While they were tie dying shirts and their finger nails (water marbling) I thought, how many more times will we get to do this?

I even said to them - "I'll hate it when you girls are too big for sleepovers."  Almost in stereo they said "That won't happen!" 




creating the marbeling effect

Emma

                        I hope that's true!

The return of the living dead!

After one whole week I'm starting to feel somewhat human again.  I've been down for the count.  It seems like for 7 days straight all I did was move from the bed to couch then back to the bed again. 

I am the worlds worst sick person.  I'm like a zombie walking through the house.  I looked, and still sort of do look, like something right out of central casting for the Night of the Living Dead; and to top it all off  I'm a big baby when it comes to taking pills.  When I'm sick I don't want to see anyone let alone talk to anyone.  Did I mention I am the worlds worst sick person?

I had to take steroids and  antibiotics so I had to try and eat something to take the pills and the only thing I could eat that didn't make me sick was bread and crackers.  CARBS - my arch demises! Carbs can put weight on me lickety split! 

Great just what I need - being sick - and sick of being sick - and now I look like the Staypuft Marshmallow Man!

Hopefully after tomorrow I should almost be as good as new - a little rounder but closer to normal!

Freaking myself out

It's that time of the year.  I'm in the planning stages for the haunted house.  As one of the annual fund raisers for Alfresco Productions we turned the old YMCA building into a multi-level fright fest.  This will be our second year.  Like anything else we always try to do it a little different and a little better than the year before. 

Since we promote artistic and cultural events in our community the theme to our haunted house is "movies"  We call it - The Cutting Room.

So, I start pulling ideas to bring to the table for our first meeting with the crew. I'm researching horror films that I think are true horror flicks

I like movies that really scary movies not just gore.  I even like some of the B movies. But it's the triple B's that I'm not a fan of.  When did it become necessary to have copious amounts of bimbos, boobs and blood?

As part of my quest for scary scenes to recreate, I'm pulling clips from you-tube.

This is what I've discovered on that quest.  I totally get spooked when there are creepy little kids - like from The Shining; or when you see a reflection in a window or mirror and then it's gone (Candy Man - Candy Man - Candy Man), or when you hear low guttural sounds as if someone is calling your name - you think you hear something maybe a whisper - then the room turns cold...

OK I think I should probably go watch an MGM musical about now cause I'm kinda freaking myself out.