Little to report

I just wanted to check in to show my invisibles that I haven't disappeared. I was just uber busy this weekend with the not so stellar garage sale. I made $50 but sold almost nothing. I just sold a couple of high ticket items. Go figure right? Anyway my darling dearest has graciously agreed to let me do it another weekend with sign placement of my choosing this time instead of his. I was to busy to do it myself the first time but that will change this week as all the hard stuff has already been done. I already spent most of my gain on oodles of old lace doilies but I have a lot to show for my money spent because I won't buy them unless they're $1 or less or packaged with several of them. I look for slightly damaged ones because it won't affect what I'm going to use them for. I also got some nice vintage fabric scraps and a couple of weird cute things for the mermaid swap I'm in. Last but not least I have some pictures as usual of family and the kitchen. Its hard to describe my decorating style and so I'm just going to show you all instead. I haven't forgotten about that promise of frees stuff either but am not quite ready for it just yet. Keep watching and pass word about. Yes this is a shameless bid for readership and I'm not sorry to admit it ;) Now the pics.

the kitchen

J10 and J11

J14 holding their newest puppy while she sleeps

I've come to love these girls like the sisters I never had. J12 has been out of the picture for a while due to some bad decisions but I am happy to say that yesterday for the first time in probably more than a year she seemed like the girl I used to know and J11 and I were almost tearful to have our girl back. J10 and J11 having just shy of 2 years between them in age have always been very very close and the rift between them the last year has been hard on J11. I'm so happy to have J12 back to her self and I'm proud of her making her way back from the edge. On another celebratory note yesterday was J11's birthday so happy birthday sis.

Weekend of Blahness

Still not finding the Kodak as of earlier when I ransacked my worktable where I was sure it would be. My darling dearest just took the youngers home for the evening after we had them and my baby brother for the weekend. I am a bit drained from all this teenageriness not to mention the semi argument Jarell and I had over the message to my MIL. We're okay now because he said it was one of those days where everything was making him angry and he didn't know why. I personally do. Men PMS too. There I said it and I'm not sorry, because its true. Its either that or he's manic-depressive like the rest of his family only to a lesser extent and that is not something I really want to think about. Has anyone else ever noticed that manic-depressive people seem to be drawn to other MD's? Point in case. My parents and step-mom are all definitely in that group and my dad is finally getting some help for it. My MIL and FIL same boat and they passed it on to several of their kids. I don't know whether I inherited it or not but unfortunately my younger brother definitely did and we're not sure about the youngest. He does exhibit classic signs of it tho, ones that I saw often in my older step-brother who had actually been diagnosed. (he got it from both of His parents) This is all rather irrelevant, but it is my life and again it is my blog. The weekend improved after we got that all sorted out. We saw the new movie Superhero Movie and it wasn't too bad. Nothing to write home about, but.....
In craft related news, I bought a snap squisher thing for applying snaps the easy way instead of painstakingly sewing them on by hand, and also a scissors sharpener which was a Much needed addiction... er addition to my sewing stash. I have really nice Fiskars scissors that got waylaid in my inlaws house for a time a while back and they were used on *gasp* cardboard. Among other things. Needless to say they haven't quite been the same since, but we'll soon fix that. Along with the 5 pairs of cheepo's that I keep as back-ups. You can never have enough scissors I say. And on that note I think I shall say goodnight. I really didn't have much to say anyway so I doubt you'll miss me too much. Au revoir mes amis

one of those days

Well actually yesterday was one of those days and I just never got around to complaining about it. We did our tax thing with the CPA and for as much as we made together, we came out pretty good for the total due. Missouri is retarded tho because we actually owed more state tax than we did federal tax. Go figure right? If we'd been in California we'd have probably gotten it all back :) Its kinda like the year when I worked all year except December in California and then moved back here and made $400 bucks in Missouri. I then had a $90 dollar refund from CA and owed MO $35. All I could say was WTF and I'm working in acronyms to protect tender sensibilities. I don't use this kind of language usually but taxes and my in-laws bring out the worst and that is the other half of why yesterday sucked. My husband got a call yesterday morning from his wayward mother who is in Texas running around with his dad. She called to yell at him because he wasn't at their house taking care of the 4 youngest kids. Ages 12, two almost 15's and an almost 17. She had also, I found out later, called J11 (the almost 17) and yelled at her for the same reason. When I found all this out yesterday afternoon, I finally told her what I thought of her having the nerve to yell at them when she's the one who keeps running off and leaving them! Since July of last year either I or both my husband and I have watched the kids while his dad traveled for business and his mom tagged along because she couldn't stand to be away from his dad. Nevermind the kids. Gah! So the message I sent her went along the lines of if you want your kids taken care of you need to do it. Grrrrr! And I'm not saying we won't keep an eye on them, but we can't live at their house and it gets a little old having them here ALL the time. I love to death but my darling dearest and I need a break from all the teenagers sometimes. So then he was mad that I sent his mom that message and I felt bad for making him mad, but not for sending it. She'll just ignore it anyway and the kids are better taken care of when his parents are gone than when they're here. So I just needed to vent. It didn't help matters that I have now got a wonderful spring cold to contend with and a full house of ears for the arguments. We shouldn't have to do this all alone because there are 5 other grown children in the area capable of helping out but only one of them does. So this is a very angry post that is also very negative and I'm sorry for that. But today's another day and I'm gonna chill and try to get well.

Inspiration

I asked the other day what inspired you me to do the things that you now love to do and so now I'm going to give my answer to that question. I realized that there were many influences on my artistic side. Musically it was my parents and grandparents. To say they are musical is like saying that fire is hot-- a major understatement. There was always singing and instruments being played. On the art side, I watched my mom draw and my dad create things with his lathe and jig saw. Hanging on my living room wall is a sandblasted plaque that they made together. My maternal grandparents dumpster dived and frequented garage sales, thrift stores and people's large useable "trash." I had a child size antique doll due to a broken arm that my grandpa fixed with a very large bolt. Charlotte may have had a slight resemblence to Frankenstein, but she was beautiful to me at 5 years old. My grampa also made miniature working violins working from pictures in books. My gramma sewed beautiful quilts and dolls and many other things. My paternal grandparents had their own specialties. Gramma Betty crochets and sews dolls clothes and people clothes too. She still makes her own clothing. My grampa makes crazy quilts out of double knit polyester and does woodworking that still amazes me, making puppets and cars that rolled, furniture and so much more. My stepmom finds all sorts of unusual obects that start off separate and plain and somehow turns them into wonderful works of art or toys for her family while still managing to save money. I have taken all of these skills and woven the parts that I am good at into my own particular style. I am constantly seeking out new challenges because of the wonderful people in my life that tought me so much. And this list doesn't even begin to scrape the top of the barrel-- teachers, my brother, aunts and uncles, my husband--- I've watched them all and learned so much from them. They all have talents that I envy and I am so thankful that they have been there in my life. For those of them who read this, thank you all so very much. I would not be able to do the things that I do today without your examples.