HERE IT IS BLOGETTES

This is where I keep my artwork, Port Aransas. Bam Bam Ar wares in Port Aransas has been selling my artwork since this past February. Flora and her husband John Scott own the shop and it is so cute. John Scott is in charge of the bicycles and Flora has the creative side. That's where I fit in although if wouldn't mind riding one of those bicycles with the giant tires. They truly are the nicest couple and have a lovely baby. Flora has been selling my art like you wouldn't believe and it makes my heart sing. If you ever get the chance you should stop by the shop, they have a lot of creative things. I have been going over alot lately with any excuse I can come up with just so I can go to Port Aransas. You get on the ferry and leave all your troubles behind. I have found a wonderful restaurant so I'm good to go for the rest of the summer. I am soooooo HAPPY. Go to PORT ARANSAS and get happy.

WHAT A MESS!

I have been blogged down in my studio with this MESS. I thought I would do a little clean-up after the 4Th of July and it turned into a complete reorganization. What was I thinking? I don't think my brain was firing at all. So now I'm into it and there is no backing out. The only thing I have completely finished are the windows. I'm in the middle of shredding old papers that are no longer needed and will free up some space. There is alot of stuff that is going to the Castaways. That wasn't a hard decision to make since I didn't even know what some of the junk was, at all. I haven't cleaned like this in the studio, EVER! I've been there for about seven years so I think it is time. I've been at this slave-o-rama detail for about three days and it sure looks like it will be three more. Ugh! My thoughts to you dear blogettes is to really ponder the cleaning thing before attempting.

FOURTH OF JULY WEEK-END 2011

This is it, 4Th of July, in small-town Texas. A view of downtown, sign of gallery where I showed(Estelle Stair Gallery), my joyful orange wall, and the newest (Over the Moon Happy). It was hotter than hot but we saw a lot of nice people that came to town for Independence Day. This is the biggest holiday in our town and it can get really crazy(I think it's the HEAT)! People dress in wack-a-doodle outfits and they are great. We have the Art Festival, a Parade downtown, a Night Boat Parade, and wonderful fireworks over the water. My A/C went out in the middle of the hoop-la and I did wring my hands and panic a little. I finished at the Gallery yesterday and today my A/C is fixed, I am cool, in bed with ice cream, and loving it. My wild standard poodle is driving me crazy with his restlessness and I have told him to buck-up tomorrow will be better for him. Happy 4Th of July Blogettes.

WHAT'S HAPPENING?

What's Happening on your Thursday? Here's what's happening here in my little coastal town. Everybody is starting to get the 4Th of July is coming ITIS. Case in point. The front of my house had hail/sleet damage in March. I didn't see the paint peal until April, how observant am I? Anyway I called for the painters. They gave me an estimate and said they would be right back. It is now the middle of June no paint. I called them the other day and left this message. I need the house done before the 4Th of July. They showed right away and it is done. I have really cute awnings on my front windows and they need replacing. People came to measure and I asked when will they be ready? We can't have them ready until after the 4Th of July. So, we're gearing up for the big day and it will not get any better for at least ten days to two weeks after the Big Bang! You ask why? Everybody disappears afterwards and who knows where they go. It is the strangest thing but the 4Th of July just seems to take the wind out of everybodys sails. I'm sure you are wondering what this painting has to do with my story. This is a work in progress, sneak peek, of a canvas I'm trying to get ready for what? THE FOURTH OF JULY! I'm a true native and get the ITIS big time just like everybody else. So get going it's Thursday and almost the 4Th of July!

RIBBONS

My beautiful ribbons! Have you ever seen anything more delicious? I needed some ribbon the other day and lo and behold there I was standing in the midst of a 50% off sale. Lucky me. There were two racks as high as my head full of every color and design. I almost wet my pants. It was yippee-ka-yeah time. I have started offering my cards in boxed sets. Well, if you are going to have a box it just screams for ribbon. That is my excuse and I'm sticking with it. Hope you enjoy seeing my beautiful ribbon.

LITTLE BITS OF HAPPINESS

The last couple of years we have all gone through alot of hard times. Some more than others. I was contemplating my(very small) problems yesterday when my daughter(not involved in my dark thoughts) pointed out the window and told me how lovely my flowerbed looked. My brain screeched to a stop, I looked out the window, and there were my LITTLE BITS OF HAPPINESS. I took these pictures this morning and worked two hours to get them on the computer to share with you my dear Blogettes. sooooo, my little problems can be overcome with LITTLE BITS OF HAPPINESS. It is getting close to lunch time and I have made brisket cheeseburgers. This is beyond BITS. This is OVER THE MOON HAPPINESS!

My Dear Blogettes,
Well, I have been sick, Sally has been sick and is still sick. I clorox the doorknob every time she comes through the house. So now we get to Monday and I decided to wash all my outside windows. I've never in my life washed outside windows, but was determined. I did make a deal with myself that I would only do one side a day. As I begin on the backside I realized the walls were dirty and so I ended up washing the whole backside of the house. But I only did the windows on that side. Hence the picture. This is the view from my bedroom and I think it is looking pretty shiny. Yeah me! Now, I am suppose to be painting wonderful things for FOURTH OF JULY but, but, but, I have no excuses except for the dirty windows. I do have a thought or two in my head and a little bit down on paper SO it's a start. See you in the funny papers.

HANDS OUT

Dear Blogettes,
The blogosphere has been down and that's my excuse for not writing. But I do have something relative on my mind.
I'm sure you have seen, T.V., the woman from Libya screaming her head off after being raped, beaten, and ostracized by the thugs in her country. She just will not shut up, how brave is that? Over the top brave, and yes she has finally been sent to Romania and probably will get to America. That brings me to the United States of America and our problem. I feel we need to all put our HANDS OUT to our sister women. We all know someone who has been abused, mentally or physically or both. Abuse is abuse and there is no difference between the two forms. When you have heard or know of someone this has happened to what have you done? Have you put your HANDS OUT to help? This does not mean it has to be monetary. These abused women need someone they can trust. Their abuser has more than likely isolated them from family and friends. They live in fear every single moment of the day and night. They cannot speak freely in their homes because they know the wrong move or word and the abuser will start THE RANT. These women will make plans to leave but at the last minute just can't make the BIG ESCAPE. It has to be their time and each one is different. It doesn't matter just be there with your HANDS OUT.
The Libyan woman got out with the help of friends from all over the world. If you hear your friend screaming, listen carefully for it is silent, put your HANDS OUT and let her know you are there! For heaven sake WE ARE SISTER WOMEN OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

MR. & MRS. TOAD

The funniest thing I have seen in a very long time and it came from nature. You have to look really close to see there are two toads poking up from the dirt. I was setting out the sprinkler and out of the corner of my eye I saw something move. I saw Mr. Toad first and then I saw this flower moving and underneath was Mrs. Toad. It is setting right on the top of her head like a little fascinater. I think she must have gotten wind of the new hat craze in England. Is this not the cutest thing you have ever seen? They stayed in this position for about 15minutes. Finally Mr. Toad got tired and went back to bed, but Mrs. Toad stayed. She knew it was her moment in the sun. A picture worth a thousand words!

THE CELEBRATATION!

You say what, Celebration! What are we celebrating? It's not hard to think of something to celebrate at this time of year. Summer has begun and Memorial Day was the kick-off party. When you live in a coastal tourist town there is always a BIG WHO going down every single day during the summer. We had so many people on the beach this week-end the flies couldn't even find a place to land. By FOURTH OF JULY everybody is so cranked up that on the FIFTH you can hear the whole town deflating all the way to DALLAS. That's when it is Sooooo over. But then, from somewhere, everybody gets there second wind and we really finish with LABOR DAY WEEK-END! TA-DA! That is really really IT. So celebrate whatever and look for my cards coming soon.

SNEEK PEEK

I have been gone for a couple of days. I don't mean out of town but out of my mind. It seems when I get a lot on my plate I can't focus and therefore; no thoughts for the blog. I think I am back, although many things still flying around in my head and my life. So, back to business. Here is my new endeavor, THE SWEET BY AND BY. This came about because of my mother. She played the piano in church as a girl and had a hymnal from church that I inherited when she died. I have always loved the old songs and find myself humming them during the day. This one is always stuck in my mind and since I live near the water, HERE IT IS! I think it is one of my favorites, of course I say that about each and every one, and it will be turned into note cards in the very near future. SO stay tuned. Got to go there is whirling starting in my head, the day awaits.

WELCOME TO MY LITTLE CORNER

Dear Blogettes,
It has only taken me one hour this time to bring to you these two pictures. It was another miracle! My only doubt is the size. Just get out your magnifier and hold close. Sorry, I'll get the hang of this soon, I know I will. So, to my story for the day. The bottom photo is the entrance to my studio(THE MILLY). The whole floor is painted with these wonderful roses, and no I didn't do it. My whole house was being renovated at the time and I was having heart palpitations (literally). I had seen another artist studio that had her name on the door and my thought, "how clever is that". The top picture is my new creation in progress. What a mess you say, looks like it. No excuses, IT is! But hold on to your margarita, when I finish with this painting I WILL clean the boards. I have to keep everything out that I use so I won't forget what all goes into the BIG PICTURE. I hope you liked this little peek into my corner.

CREATIVITY

Creativity comes in all forms. I have finally been able to get back to the paints, but before that happened it started with KETCHUP of all things. I saw Giada, the beautiful Italian cook from food network, on the Today Show make ketchup with her little girl. She said she makes her own because there are things in the good ole bottled kind that aren't too good. So to me this was a challenge and some creativity. It takes a little simmering and BOOM, there it is, all done. You can go to the Food Network to get the recipe. I always create a new recipe as it is written and work from there. The one thing I would change is the amount of sugar and salt. A little less sugar and a little more salt. Yes, I would do it again and No I haven't figured out the cost ratio to bottled. The good thing about this whole ketchup scenario is, I AM PAINTING AGAIN!

THE RAIN

This, my dear Bloggettes is the rain falling from the sky onto my backyard. On May 12, 2011, that would be yesterday, it rained, stormed, lightened and just carried on in our little town. Everybody on the south Texas Gulf Coast was grinning from ear to ear. There was so much grinning you could hear it. We have been in such a drought that the population of our town was a little grinchy. No more! We are very happy campers, if my rain gauge had not been broken I would tell you the exact amount we received. A couple of whirls and twirls and a break-out song on "Oh Happy Days", you get the picture. Thank-you from above!

THE MAXER

Here he is, the man in my life. This is Maxwell, The Maxer, Poopy and much more. When my partner,The Maxer, and I are not in the house, or in the yard, we are in THE MILLY(aka: my studio). The giant poodle does have a nice cozy bed in The Milly, but when it is hot he wants the cement floor. He will lay there for awhile, but the first squirrel, bird, or next-door-neighbor and he's out the door. There are glass doors and he hears and sees all from his perch. Max does not cooperate often for a photo and for him to smile, well this is worth a thousand words. So Max says, "Howdy Doody to all and to all a good-bye".

I DID IT!

Here it is! I did it, I did it! I got really brave and I did it! This is the gardenia bush. I might have another picture any minute. I just have to go look at my blog and see if this really happened or not. I have a really good one of My Dog Max. Oh, gosh I'm so excited. Check me out! A real blogger!

The Gardenia

Dear Bloggettes,
I made the mistake of saying I was going to work on putting pictures on the blog. Well, I really am it is just taking longer than I thought. I did however take a picture of my beautiful gardenia bush this week. It is in full bloom and looking right good I might add. Anyway I am now trying to put it on this page, but so far none of the wires seem to match the holes on my computer. I have to dig deeper and put the instruction cd on and learn some more. I have been reading, reading, reading about all the electronic stuff this past week and there is a huge learning curve for me. I am not giving up but will forge ahead, I promise. As for artwork, there is nothing happening at the moment. I have laid down my paints, colors, glue, and glitter so I might focus on the business end of The Milly tra la la. I now know this is as important as the creative part. What all this really means is I Am Taking Control of Stuff. No more burying my head in the sand. I Will Be Brave and Learn and Do New Things. Love to all, Milly

Easter Hurrah!

Happy Easter to one and all. He has risen and finally I have too! It was a wild and wooly Easter and I believe I can finally be called Church Lady. I was at the church so much I began to look around to see if there was a place I could rent. After Sunday services we let it rip. We had family, friends, beautiful children, food, drink, confetti eggs, drink, sugar, drink, and lots of laughing and fun. After it was all said and done I shook the confetti out of my panties, went to bed and did not get up for 24 hours. Christmas has nothing on Easter. It is one of my favorite times of the year. All that laughter and children shining in the great outdoors. What a Day! If I can ever figure out how to put pictures on this blog thing I will. We had the best looking children in the whole world in my back-yard. So, Happy Easter to all and remember it is celebrated for 50 days, keep it in your heart.

Saved, Saved at Last

I have taken care of business. The password dilemma is finally over, thanks to one of my daughters. I have started writing down all passwords. How intelligent is that? I even added a new picture to my face book and am now trying to add photos to the blog. A little victory. On to the business news. I am waiting for envelopes for the new thank-you notes and then they are good to go. I am having some trouble with printing and two notes cards will have to be reprinted. It seems the more I do (many time the wrong do) the more I learn from my mistakes. I think I have heard that phrase before. I have been working on the yard and am getting close to hiring a somebody to mow and weed eat. That is really big for me. I have so much on my plate and can't seem to get to everything. I never thought I would give up the Big Mow, but never say never. I think I have heard that phrase before. Must get busy, Good-bye Blogettes. Milly

passwords

I have almost lost my mind as of yesterday and of course the trial and tribulations of today. I am not an organized person and therefore, have an extremely hard time finding my passwords for various and sundry things. I have tired very hard to keep the password thing to one universal word but people say that isn't safe. Well, how do you remember fifteen thousand different codes? I have not been able to get onto my website, face-book, and my blog all morning. Yesterday I couldn't find the title for my car. Some would say I should start organizing myself. Ta- Da, they never sent the title to my car, I paid it off two years ago. This password thing I don't know how to get that together. I have passwords written all over my house and by the time I find the right one I have already reset and can't remember that word. I so want to get into this internet frenzy, but it seems I can create my own. I know things will be better tommorrow. I still don't know how I finally got on this blog. Milly

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone and anyone out there. I am home now and ready to start getting my new year together. I did go walking today and it was not easy, but by weeks end maybe I won't have to work so hard to get down the beach. I think my first big thing is to take Christmas stuff down and then start plotting out work stuff. I do know I have two more paintings ahead of me and then off to the photographer and yeah new note cards. Soooo I better get going and love to all. Milly