Our baby has graduated!

Dumm da da da dummm dummm,---come on sing with me! Graduation has come and gone once more---Monday was the big night---high school graduation then some family photo time ending with an all night party with both local high schools participating. Brad and I headed over at 12:30 am to put in our parent volunteer time---we dealt blackjack in the "casino" for two hours! Such fun at 1:00-3:00 am... I'm still recovering from the lack of sleep that night---yesterday was a bit of a blur as I tried to just get thru the day, barely able to make it 'til time to crawl back into bed!

Here she is---Graduation 2007!

She did it!

This past year my oldest daughter has lived with two other roommates in a duplex after living at home for 22 years. She has had a great year, learning to live on her own, but has come to the conclusion once their lease was up she wanted to live without roommates next. Part of the issue was that the other two girls had lived together previously (tho not at this place) so they had living arrangements worked out between them. Mariah was invited to live with them and she happily moved in last year. Because most of the furniture was theirs, she never felt 100% like it was also her home---she spent a lot of her time in her bedroom except when they went away on weekends.

The past couple of months we've been keeping our eyes open, looking for rental signs as the college school year comes to an end and have found several possibilities for her to look into. Last Friday she was out scouting after work, looking at an apt. complex she's always admired when a fella walked by saying the place he lived in had an apt. opening up---just across the street in the same block. She was able to see the studio apartment in this real cool fourplex and made a partial commitment that day! Yesterday (Monday) she met up with the landlady who lives across the street and invited me to join her, hoping to get another tour of the place. Unfortunately the landlady wasn't able to contact the tenant so after visiting with her a while & discovering she knew my aunt and uncle (small town) we asked permission to go see the back yard. We were also allowed to go inside to see the layout of the home & while upstairs the tenant appeared & let us inside to see her apt. again! Funky, but very livable---maybe a bit hot in the summer, but Mariah might be able to work with that---if anything she could always invest in a small a/c unit. We're so excited for her---it's just a block away from the library, close to downtown, 7 blocks from work, and in a nice little neighborhood!

Her apartment is in the back quarter of the upstairs---no windows visible from this photo, but isn't this the cutest house/4plex??? Yay Mariah!!

Illustration Friday---Your Paradise

When I thought about this topic initially I was leaning towards something tropical---but then I began to think about what is paradise, where do I feel like MY paradise is, and I realized it's where I live---in the banana belt of Oregon!

This was painted outside of town, en plein air---"a French expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting in the outside environment rather than indoors (such as in a studio)."---wikipedia


The Convergence
pastel
21x28
$380

Studio Friday---May studio treat

This week's topic:
"Treat yourself to something your heart desires... a nice little something (no spending of a fortune involved). Celebrate yourself !!"

A few weeks ago, sadly one of my favorite stores went out of business. However their sale did offer the chance to purchase some of these paints I've been admiring for a few years now---I love the colors, the design of the bottles, and have wanted to get some, but could never justify the expense since I already had many tubes of acrylics. Not sure if I'll ever use these on canvas, but hope to play with them on paper sometime soon. In the meantime I just enjoy displaying them in my studio.

Painting amongst the flowers!

Yesterday we spent the morning painting at Schreiner's Iris Gardens---what's fun is they're way more than just irises! I love Dutch Iris, and Japanese Iris, but the bearded iris just don't thrill me---a bit too frilly for me maybe? Not a problem at this garden tho---they have so many other flowers along with the irises you can find inspiration everywhere! The different colors and the constant fragrant aroma just amazes me!! The plants also seem to be on steroids---poppies that are dinner plate size, peony blooms the size of your head, whatever they use as fertilizer is truly powerful. Here are some of my favorite pics from the day:


Here's a size comparison of the peonies at Schreiner's---a friend's hand (and she's quite tall---not at all petite!)


Inside that massive peony!



Coral Poppies.


My favorite red poppies with a riot of color behind them.

After our noon critique, we headed across the freeway and north a little ways to see a peony garden nearby. These photos below were taken at that garden---the lighting wasn't quite as dramatic as it was earlier in the morning, but the flowers were still breathtaking! I'll show the little pastel I painted in a new post soon :).

Mmmm, I love RED!

This amazing poppy is the perfect red---just stunning! Saw it when out painting at Shreiner's Iris garden several years ago, then discovered I too could be the happy owner of this gorgeous poppy, so bought a plant, brought it home, then let it sit for a year in its pot before finally planting it last summer. I was happy to see it return this spring, and it's now sporting two beautiful blossoms---not the dinner plate sizes that the Iris garden boasts, but a large tea cup size is just as amazing to me since they're my favorite RED! My daughter and I know what the perfect red is, and often point out a "good red" to each other when we see one together... This is a good red---wishing you a glimpse of a good red today!

Illustration Friday---Citrus

Orange Spice
original watercolor
7x12 inches image size
14x17 inches framed
$140.00
shipping extra

Haircut time!

It's always interesting after a new haircut to see what you look like the next morning...especially if it's short hair! What looked good the night before can often be a bit shocking the next morning---YIKES!



Luckily with a bit of water, everything can be restored to it's somewhat original look---however it doesn't seem to matter how simple the hair stylist does your hair, it never looks like how she did it--fortunately I really like this cut---it's quite versatile and can be worn multiple ways---spiky, fluffy, or smooth---although one morning I woke up with my hair looking way too smooth---can you say light bulb head? Quick, where's the spray bottle?! Then there's the Julie Andrews look---nah---think I'll pass on that one too... Here's today's version---what I'd consider a good hair day.



Hope you too are having a good hair day!

What a night!!

Saturday evening was the big final pageant that 9 boys and 13 girls have been working on since the first of the year---earlier for some (like Eliza and her co-head coordinator)... These high school seniors were hand picked by fellow students and their teachers to participate in the big pageant---spending all their spare time organizing 10 different major fundraising events and multiple smaller fundraisers, ranging from a fashion show, rock concert, dances for middle school students, all day car-wash to doing yard work for businesses and private homes---one Saturday they were hired to move 45 yards of "nasty, disgusting, gross dirt" up a long driveway---in the pouring rain!! 15-17 of them worked from 9-3, and still had to go back the next day to finish---45 yards of dirt is about 15 regular-sized pick-up truck loads... The money raised was going to go to the neo-natal unit at our local hospital and the Mario Pastega house---a home for people to stay at that have loved ones in the hospital.

Besides those events, the boys had to learn a choreographed dance, create a skit or talent to perform at the pageant plus create a clever video shown on an earlier night. Each boy had a girl paired up with them helping to keep them on task, working with them on their productions etc. Overseeing everything were the head coordinators---they went to most dance practices, filling in when boys were absent, wrote the script for the MC's on pageant night, picked out the MC's, created agendas for meetings twice a week, organized schedules for events, procured the choreographer, the photographer, the costumes, tuxes, etc... Eliza was asked by one of the fellas to participate in his skit, which meant she had to memorize some lines and perform on the stage with him---basically wearing 2 hats that night---one as a cop, the other as coordinator! Below is a shot I took of her doing the skit...



One segment of the program had each boy paired up with a little kid---both in costume---this little fella was a favorite of Eliza's...



This shows Eliza introducing the girls during the pageant.



Here she is with her head-coordinator pal & the boys doing an unscheduled group sing-along---"My Girl".





Last year they raised about $32,000 so this year they were hoping to beat that number, and also their rival high school which brought in $35,000 at their pageant. Most were guessing they might have raised a total of $36,000---so you can probably imagine their surprise and shock when the check was revealed with a total showing over $47,000!!! Also, if they made their goal of $30,000 they were to receive an extra $15,000 from Mario Pastega!

It was a great group of kids, great cause, fabulous entertaining evening, and truly an amazing experience for everyone involved (Brad and I even!)

Illustration Friday---Remember

I remember when she'd settle in for an afternoon with a good book on a lazy summer afternoon....now she's 22, and a preschool teacher... One of my favorite watercolors---it was painted as a "generic" kid, but then my inlaws said if I painted on her red glasses, they'd buy it---who can refuse that?! So happy I get to visit this when I go see them :).

Our Ghetto Car...

Ok, so we need to use duct tape to hold on our passenger side mirror, but really, do we need the spray painted graffiti?! Isn't the duct tape enough?

The other night, after a study group over at a friend's house, Eliza returned home to discover our car had been spray painted by some local hoodlum! She'd parked across the street from this house, so when she got into the car from the driver's side she had no clue she was parading thru town with a tagged car! It wasn't until she turned around after coming inside our house to turn off the driveway light she noticed the word WONKA plastered across the side!! She was stunned---stood there for a minute blinking, to make sure what she was seeing was reality before calling out to us to come see too! We could not believe it either! Especially since where she'd been is considered a "nice part of town", away from the college---not like our neighborhood, blocks from the college where something like this would be much less of a surprise. My first thought was at least it's not a foul word---but then I wanted to know what Wonka meant---or possibly was there a car that was parked behind hers that is now sporting Willy? A quick google search turned up nothing nasty (a music connection site, of course lots of Willy Wonka sites and even a link to an apple computer insider story on a new building being developed in Australia!)

Brad's theory is that it's someone's tag-name---and to support that theory Eliza saw an electrical box with the same thing written upon it a couple of days after. Luckily for us, Brad has an arsenal of paint removers he was able to pull out the next morning, easily removing the word without damaging the cars finish. There are still bits of paint puffs that show on the black rubber areas between the body of the car and the attached rubber, but unless you know to look, it's not noticeable at all.

So, what's new with you?!

Mud spattered...

Who wants to go biking with him? This was the second weekend in row he's returned from his mt. bike ride looking like this... guess what he bought today? Yep, fenders---guess he's tired of looking like this! Didn't help that both mornings he went riding it poured on and off... Did I go with him? Heck no!

Bun bun Bunnies!

Well after seeing the cutest photo of bunny breads (thanks Michelle!!) I just couldn't make boring rolls for Easter this year... so once the dough was all made, I cut a small piece off and formed a practice baby bunny Sat. night. (suggested by Eliza---she knew it might get a tad distorted once it was finished rising & cooking!) I did leave the practice loaf to rise a bit longer than I should have which made for a chubby bunny with barely any leg "definition". Lesson learned. Below are pics of the practice bunny---Eliza was out for the evening & made a photo request (happy to oblige!)





Easter Sunday, Eliza put together the two big bunny loaves to cook up for dinner---they were a hit! The nose fell off of one bunny even though I shoved it in pretty firmly (learned from the practice loaf eyes & noses pop out as the bread rises...) but it left a nice purple circle that looked nose-like instead! So, what's the next holiday we get to cook bread for? Not sure I can just make regular loaves anymore now that I've discovered creature loaves!!

We like shoes!

Well, you'd think we'd taked off for Spring Break, what with the lull in this blog...but nope, just hanging out relaxing at home was the spring break thing this year. This week we're all back at it...working, framing, painting, school stuff, the usual.

So, what's new? Eliza is now a member of the Doc Martin club! Yep, her Dad has two pairs (I thought he only had one, so was surprised to remember he had a second pair---his "good" shoes, so that's why I never see them...!) and mine came several years ago while we were in between soccer games browsing shops in Coos Bay. Brad discovered these cool boots 50% off & happily they fit me! One thing about Doc Martin's is they have zip for arch support, so once I slipped in a cheapo pair of arch supports, I've loved mine ever since! Over spring break, Brad again was checking out a shoe store near where we'd been shopping & hauled Eliza over to see if she liked any there. She'd been in the market ever since her latest sturdy shoes developed a leak & obnoxious squeek... Happily she found a pair---here's a shot of our Doc's...

They're a little bit bigger, but not much yet!

We went out to visit the kittens again last night, this time my Mom came too! They're still out in the barn, but in a different location than last time. Much more mobile, but pretty wobbly still---they don't like wandering at all really, and 3 don't like us much either---lots of sqawking (mew, mew, mew...) on and off by a couple in particular!! The other 3 seemed more mellow, happy to curl up and go back to sleep, or just hunker down and tolerate our lovin'!








This last photo shows Pete the horse trying to check out these babies---he was real curious! Only problem when the kitties would suddenly see his big head (or nostrils) looming towards them they let out the silliest hiss-spit! A couple would do the silent hiss treatment! The "hiss-spit" sounded like a hiss-sneeze---pretty comical! (no we didn't torture the kittens, we were just walking over to say "hi" to Pete when we discovered his curiosity and their animosity!)

homemade costumes....

Well, my daughter did it again---there was a dance last Friday, theme Disney, weeks and weeks to prepare, and what does she do? Thursday afternoon, ask to go costume shopping...yeah, Pocahontas costumes are everywhere, dime a dozen---NOT! First stop was the local costume/party shop---just dreaming how easy life would be if they had one---affordable too! Nope, just a "sexy squaw" costume, XL which my daughter happily said no to. Next the tee-shirt shop, thinking we might find a xl tan tee-shirt we could chop up into a costume with minor alterations! Oh, they don't have any tan tees in stock...of course. KMart? Nope, so it was off to JoAnne's, the fabric store---"Let's just make it Mom, Ok?" Ugh---I have very little sewing experience, and as mentioned months ago probably in a previous post, really don't like sewing a lot, and especially WITHOUT A PATTERN! Not an issue with my daughter whom has had zero sewing lessons, no home-ec, just "knows" what she wants so "hey Mom, let's just make it!"

Instead of the super stretchy fabric she'd picked out we settled on a less expensive one-way stretch fabric & bought 2 yards for good measure...I think it even said it was 100% cotton on the bolt (tho we both wondered what supplied the stretch since it didn't look like a knit...). Throw in some thread and then a zipper my daughter insisted on purchasing, even tho the last dress she made with a zipper she sewed it in totally crooked & completely missed the seam at the bottom! I was pushing for no zipper (like I even know where my zipper foot is?!) but purchased it for her anyway---since supposedly she was going to sew it again! We brought everything home and then she took off for the evening, not returning 'til after 10:00 pm! Time to make the costume!! (I was ready for bed... *yawn...) There was no chance to make this the next day since we were off to tour a college campus all afternoon, and then one of the fellas she was going to the dance with offered to cook dinner for her and two other friends, so this evening was the only time left!

Setting up in the dining room, I curled up on the futon with a good magazine, and offered to play sewing coach & chief measurer. First thing we did was soooooo smart---we figured out which way the stretch went, and then made sure it went around her body, not the other way! Yes, we're learning!! Of course it was the width of the fabric, which meant we had a lot of extra fabric... better than not enough! Next we measured the fabric around her body, using her hips as the widest point & I had her sew a seam to make a tube. She then tried that on & we began to taper the tube in from her hips up. I'd pin where she needed to go in, then she'd sew the tapered seam up from that spot. We did this once more to make sure the tube fit tight at the top, and she then folded the top down to make into the fringe. I next marked the pointed hem, which she then cut and again left as raw fabric for more fringe. It was totally painless (aside from being almost midnight) and so much easier than previous dresses she's designed from scratch!

The next day on our way to the college she took an old teal tee shirt, and cut a long strip of fabric to make into a necklace, wrapping the fabric with brown yarn & stuffing marbles in to look bead-like. I guess necklaces like this are usually sewn into a tube first, but she didn't remember that fact until we were already on the road. I suggested twisting & that seemed to work just jolly fine with the yarn wrapped tightly around. With a drawn on tattoo on her arm, she was basically dressed as Disney's Pocahontas!

Sadly, the only pics we have are those taken at midnight after she finished making the dress---she was so busy the night of the dance none of her pals got photos taken! I'm hoping to have them all over soon for a photo shoot, but we'll see....

Meanwhile, here are a couple of shots of the finished dress---another fabulous success!!

Illustration Friday---Wired

A watercolor painted several years ago that I thought fit the Wired theme this week. You can visit the site and see even more entries that fit this theme. (http://www.illustrationfriday.com/entry_p.php)

CUTE!!!!!

What's more cute than week old kittens??? My daughter's friend has 6 barn kittens discovered under some bales of hay. She and 2 other girlfriends and I went out to visit last night and for over an hour we stood around cuddling these babies with her friend Josh and his Mom---they're so used to barn kittens it was fun for them to have these girls out just loving their kitties! They too had to snuggle one---luckily there were 6, enough for each of us! Was a good time to visit, since they're still way to young to leave their mama---will have to ban Eliza from going out there in a few weeks.... not the best time for her to get a new cat since she's hoping to be off to college in the fall! Told her she could get one if she lived at home and went to the university just blocks away.... Like that's going to happen! But ya never know...!

Latest favorites

These were taken with my new camera---finally got out during a break in the rain to go for a walk...sadly the dang sprained ankle was fat for a couple of days after, but it was worth it being able to get out and find some nifty textures in the old neighborhood!