I am a Southerner

I was raised by Southern parents. (VERY Southern, Front Royal, VA)

  I was brought up listening to and learning all southern ways. (think Steel Magnolias) Herein lies my dilemma.  

All of "our" ways here in the South are motivated either by teachings from Bible, or teachings from Ms. Manners.  Sometimes those seems to be conflicting, and in a big way.  I am big on manners, BIG.  And I am big on being lady like.  I had a wonderful example in my mother.  But the older I get, the more I have to sort out in this category.

For example:  there is a lesson in the Bible that says you must keep your house in order.  I'm BIG TIME paraphrasing here, but (and this is not the figuratively speaking part) it means if anyone comes to your home, it should ALWAYS be fit to receive a guest (most importantly, the preacher on Sunday should he decide to pop in for a visit).  On the Ms. Manners side of this, you should always have something to serve - sweet tea/lemonade, cookies/pie/fried food, etc.-all homemade, of course.  When you work crazy long hours like most people are forced to do these days, Sunday might actually be the ONLY day you have to tidy up your home and put it in order so that you might receive those guests.  HOWEVER, according to Southern law AND the Bible, you are not to lift a finger to work on Sunday. Although that doesn't seem to apply to Sunday lunch/dinner that the family momma is responsible for preparing.   There is even a tale my momma used to tell me that if you chose to sew on Sunday you would be forced to pick out every stitch with your nose on Monday!  I always felt like it was a hex, and I hate ripping seams out, so it was enough to keep me from sewing!! Thanks, Momma.

Anyway, most of my adult life I have been forced to clean the house on Sunday, because I've always worked a lot and spent a lot of years being a single mom.    Yesterday I realized what a confusing thing it is to be a Southerner.  (took me while ...)

So next I am trying to figure out if I am condemned to hell in a sewing basket with a vacuum cleaner or what!  Do you ever have these conundrums in your life? Tomorrow we will be back to art.  Thank goodness something I understand.

 Blessings,

Last Week

Paul and I finished this piece for my son and his family.  I  LOVE the

 way it worked out.  And Paul is so very generous with his time and help.  There is a mirror in the middle and the reflection you are seeing is my kitchen.  (Please ignore that part)!  The rocks, the tile, the gears and gadgets, the smalti glass and the cork letters and even a door knob (!) are all fun individually.  But I'm really pleased with the way it all plays together!  And they seemed to love it, so that is the deciding factor.

I took a "Ninja" trip to Atlanta because my precious daughter-in-law, Melissa was throwing a surprise party for my son Jon's 30th birthday!  So he was a pretty surprised man when he saw all of us who had traveled in his honor!  It was great fun and a very sweet reunion and celebration.  I am so lucky with my children and their hearts.

 

Crazy lighting ... but here we are, in celebration mode!  So fun!

This is what they look like with proper coloring ..

And of course, a visit to Atlanta, no matter how Ninja, is not complete without a little time spent with Christian!  We had a little "Mac" attack Friday afternoon ...

 

and Saturday I got to see him play a basketball game!

He is the one in the foreground with BOTH FEET off of the floor!  Who knew this would be a possibility for him?  We are so tickled and blessed.

And here is an "art shot" for my photography study

That's his daddy on the right in that beautiful blue shirt.  COLOR - I LOVE color!  Anyway, this was a fun shot with all the lines and angels ... whatever...

And I'm posting this from facebook for those of you who would like to advocate, please feel free to snag this and post

And because I missed my Inspiration Sunday, I wanted to make sure this got posted for your soul ... and your motivation and inspiration.  

"Whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It's your mission on earth. And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." - Paulo Coelho

Blessings,

Coming Along ...

 It's coming right along ....

Metal gears, pulleys and etc. are not in their forever place (they are being auditioned for their parts, as my friend, Patti's mother-in-law says) - but the grouting is finished and dry! YAY!  It's a true task to get stuff to dry here in the rain and snow sometimes.

Lovin' the gray grout!  And my Paul is the BEST EVER two part epoxy guy!  His rocks always just, well, rock! :-)

pardon the sideways photo --- but these rocks! Awesome!  If you have never worked with two part epoxy, be warned - it is "fiddly" as my husband says.  It dries VERY fast and requires you to be on your game.  I'm glad to have a "rock man" on my team!

And here is your reality check for the day:

I went to the post office today.  Reminder that I live in a town with a population of about 499.  I had to wait in a line of 6 people!!!!  I have NEVER SEEN more than 2 people in the post office at one time - even during the holiday rush!  I was astounded!  I also have never had to wait for more than 9 cars to pass on the Highway that I have to turn onto to go anyplace.  Even though we have gobs of tourists in the summer.  That's the truth!

Blessings!

New work and such

Working on a new piece.  It is HUGE.  Here's a little sneak peek.  It's a great fun piece because it is VERY different from anything I've done to date.  It is also intimidating for that very reason.  Anyway, it should be finished early next week.  I will keep posting progress pictures though.  I'm thinking of gray grout - medium gray, to be exact. Sometimes deciding on a grout color is harder than any other part of the piece!  In this case, I think I want it medium dark to outline some things.  What would you choose?

 

Fun, huh?

I am at the Rusted Periwinkle today, so must go attend to business.  Today I am turning some boring, hum drum furniture into MEGA exciting pieces using Chalk Paint! I will post before and afters.  You will be inspired to run out and get chalk paint to do this.  It is incredible stuff!  You can buy chalk paint at the Rusted Periwinkle, fyi ;-)  Go here to order on-line!  It's amazing stuff I tell you!

Mother Nature has blessed the High Country with a ton of snow today.  It began snowing yesterday evening, and just hasn't let up. 

It's beautiful.

  It's cold.  

It's intimidating. 

It's magical.

It's thought provoking.

  It's complicated!  

That's how I feel about snow!

I guess we are finally going to have winter.  I'm sorry for the ski slopes that it has arrived so late.  We could have used this weather in December for the holiday season.  The economy could have used the boost.  Maybe it will work out since this is Martin Luther King weekend.  Thank you, Martin Luther, for your insight, foresight and devotion to getting us to hear you!  I am grateful to have been on earth during this man's life.  Even if I can't remember all the "stuff", I can certainly remember feeling his passion when he spoke.  Such a gift!

A lot of art and motivational bloggers choose a word for the year.  If only I could whittle mine down to one word!  I'll get back to you on this.  Mostly I am leaning toward permission.  But there is action and there is passion too.  I will let you know before Mars turn retrograde.  Because by then if I don't know, it's too late to decide.

It's Friday!  Happy Friday to you all ... and a joyous weekend.

Blessings!

Monday Madness

For some reason, this Monday (which was on tap to be calm and collected) ended up being mad .... MAD!!!

I was all set to post a wonderfully relaxed and enlightening blog post ... but that just didn't happen and I've still a thousand miles to go ... so ...

I wanted to share this with you.  My sister and her husband sent this to us for Christmas and we LOVE it.  What a wonderful way to do photography and make it unique.  Also, since my husband is an iron worker by trade, it really was an especially thoughtful and perfect gift. 

Thanks Cyndie & Paul!

 Our last name is Glover - see it?

 And this is what it looks like when you walk in our front door.  I know we will raise the plaque soon so you can actually read it right away.  I hate to admit this, but we just got Christmas all put away yesterday!  We both ended up pretty sick right after Christmas and it really postponed our "bringing in the New Year".  But hey, we're here now!  The main lighting fixture is from the original household.  Sometime in the 20's or 30's.  It's beautiful, but doesn't photograph as lovely in the evening.  I will try to remember to post a day time shot soon. . . if it ever quits raining/snowing.

I managed to finish another sketch book cover for a sweet friend and wanted to share that too!  It's a woven cover.  I've learned a lot about doing these now ... I will definitely be changing my approach!  But anyway, here is the 2nd cover in my repertoire!

 Art work is by the incredible Tammy Brinkley, "Keep Calm and Carry On"

 A little rick rack for some sassy flavor

And this is the woven cover! Fun, huh?  My friend loves purple so that was the theme.  I really have found a new love.  Next on my agenda are computer sleeves. I've probably told you that already.  This aging thing makes memory interesting ... and then some ;-).

And here is my Christmas present from my sweetie.  It is in our bathroom.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!  It doesn't photograph as beautifully as it looks ... so you must stop by and look at it in person!

For those of you who have never been to our house, it was originally built in 1924 by a man named D.K. Jobe.  I am sure this room was added on in the 40's or later.  We uncovered a wonderful brick chimney.  We took out the RV shower and gross bathtub, and added a Claw foot tub (on a pedestal).  We still need to do flooring, but we have a Victorian them going now and it just looks lovely with the chandelier.  I am SO excited.

So, that's my artsy update for this Mad Monday!  Hope all of you are being super creative and having a wonderful New Year thus far!

Blessings!

Sunday Inspiration

I have never seen anything that has made me stop and say YES! quite like this did.  I hope it clicks for you, too.   Good for the New Year.

I do believe I am finally back to normal!  Our untimely and not fun illness is over, Christmas is now back in the attic, and we are reasonably caught up on all that entails.  So perhaps blogging will resume in a normal manner...finally.

Blessings!

A repost from my friend Sharon at Elizabeth and Company

"Like to Change the World"

Here's your chance to make a difference in a matter of seconds!

Today Valspar and Habitat for Humanity are unveiling their "Like to Change the World" Initiative. For every new "like" that Valspar receives on Facebook between today and January 31st, Valspar will donate $1 to Habitat for Humanity (up to $100,000) to support efforts in building safe, secure and affordable housing for families in need.

Click here to help www.Facebook.com/ValsparPaint

Valspar and Habitat for Humanity have a longstanding partnership. Valspar has already donated more than $40 million in cash and paint supplies to Habitat for Humanity.And in 2010, they celebrated the donation of the millionth gallon of paint. Just imagine a million gallons of paint!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a total repost - I cannot take the credit for this.  But I can ask you to help!!!
Habitat for Humanity is a HUGE helpful thing around these parts.  Please do this!

And by the way, Valspar is great paint!  You can get it at Lowes.

you can visit Sharon's blog here - it's great for furniture refinishing and a million decorating tips!

Happy New Year to Us All!

I know we all go into a new year with the highest of hopes, greatest of intentions and wildest of dreams!  Well, at least I do.  I am BIG goal setter.  Not so much of a goal follower!  I only hope I remember to try to follow the plan this year.  Sometimes I set goals, and then I never look at them again.  I run across the ones I've set later in the year, like around Thanksgiving, and realize I surely did meet some by plain ole dumb luck, but wasn't even on the same page as a lot of them.  So this year I hope to try a new approach and at least keep the goal list in plain site so I can remember what I'm shooting for! 

I'm a quarterly girl.  I set budgets quarterly, I plan quarterly, I think quarterly.  Something I think that might be left over from the dance performance days.  (You just can't plan a show in a month).  So I'm hoping to remember on a quarterly basis to study and update the goals along with the other stuff!  Can you teach an old dog new tricks? We'll see.

Quarter One:  I hope to begin an etsy shop shortly.  It will have my journals, notebooks and sketch pads, woven items and some easy to ship art --- maybe even photographs!  I plan on continuing the blog with a goal of at least 2 times a week.  Paul and I are in the process of updating what we do, and hope to incorporate lots of new glass work.  We have lots of ideas just dying to get out into pieces of art!  I will have to pump up my volume in a big way.  Here we go!

Meanwhile, here are a few photos of a woven Sketch book cover  I made for a friend over the holidays.  I loved making it.  I love doing "just for _____" work.  I love weaving!  Who knew?!?

 I embroidered a little bird on this cover for her because she loves them.  And I love the way it turned out.  Although the button looks a bit fluorescent in the photo, it really is not.

Crazy color in this photograph. This shot shows the book "hitched" closed.

The inside has fun fabric and is made so the sketch book can be replaced whenever need be.

Yay!  Something new and fun.

 Well, Moving forward ...

blessings to you and yours for this brand new year 2012.