well here we are, not january anymore, just the opposite, hot hot hot...summer as been here for several months now..just a little relief now and then..with practically no rain...going to be hard on food prices later on...
taking care of my little grandbaby has been a challenge this year with knees and back ailing...(frown face) but he is a love! big brother is a help when he is here...
Can't wait to take joannas classes..birdie and clay doll faces...happy times!

time for another quick post..have you discovered Pinterest yet? i am sure i could spend all day decorating at least three homes entirely in the course of a day....all with the click of my mouse...the book case is finished for now and have moved on to my bowed window, hope to show you pictures later this week..hope your weather is sunny like ours!

journals of the Romantic Heart: pinning is oh such fun

journals of the Romantic Heart: pinning is oh such fun: hello to anyone out there who may accidentally find my blog, Pinterest is the newest way to find people who love the same things you do, fin...

almost done

all we need to add now are the upper shelves and the trim, keep watching!

Two grandsons

pictured above is my one and only grandson at the moment, we are "bonded in love" and have had great fabulouso times in these last almost 10 years, but are both looking forward to a new addition to our family!

where have all my pics gone?

tried unsuccessfully to load pics yesterday for the before and after with the picture goblin stealing them all, try try again~~

more pics

forgot to post earlier pictures, this wall adjoins faux brick wall, is now stained and ready for shelves to be stained also

brick wall is taking shape

after taking a day off in favor of naps while recuperating yesterday, i'm making brick magic with earth and clay tones, a few at a time..very labor intensive...as most of you know that have tried "break-away brick technique" know..but very rewarding..hubby says no one will see the wall since it will be one of the bookshelf walls, but I will know its there, and parts of it will indeed show~ can't wait to get

project done soon, shelves to be stained soon by hubby partner, the stain we chose turned out darker than i expected, but after the trim goes on i think it will look ok..you can see that i decided to add a bit more bricking on top left to complete the look, also added a bit of plaster around the old maps, what do you think? the bricks look pretty new, next stage is to age them a bit, more tomorrow!

glad its over

injections are no fun, especially spinal facet injections..glad its all over for this time, the cortizone will hopefully hold me over for another year, thanks to modern medicine and all its fluroscopic glories~~

almost finished for now

the actual wall is done, you can see the unfinished edges, i need a taller ladder to actual finish by the ceiling trim, i used a double roller and am not quite sure about the way it turned out..probably won't matter too much since it will house the back of the shelving, just a bit more on the overhang and i am calling it quits for today, see all those books??? just begging for shelves!!

i enabled the new editor!

hey i just read one my favorite blogs..'Counting your Blessings" , found out that the new editor option works so much better, i just converted and also think this is going to be great! can't wait to upload pics showing you my latest project, faux painting the downstairs wall in a leather finish with my WallMagic double roller to be the intended background for my "private library"~~i have tons of books that need to be shown off, not to mention organize, etc...if i get the wall done today i might actually be able to get bookshelves tomorrow~~~we'll see, the posted picture is the wall going downstairs..that one has the "old world plaster look with 'exposed brick' with shutters strategically placed so as to resemble a garret or some other private place..

late christmas trimmings

better late than never! now that that the 12 days of Christmas have passed, i still want to show you some of the holiday vingettes i created..hanging vintage transom window, rustic chandelier..lots of outdoors brought indoors...i added real pine and cedar boughs from the yard to the chandelier hanging in the front window, tiny lights and mercury balls...i have since taken the greens down and replaced with vines..and replaced mercury balls with vintage lamp crystal prisms...still magic! i love the country french look and finally found the right place for my oak (heavy!) corbels, they are now very heavy creamy white, can't decide if i should rub a bit off and antique...i also created shelf above, using ordinary lumber and adding some ornate trim...makes great place for Dickens Village to light up the night...except now of course a couple lites have gone out and i will again have to fetch the ladder~~

late greetings

our only grandson loves to spend time at our house and we enjoy having him ~~ he request to "cut out" cookies was granted and we had fun making up shapes for the season..seems his mom had borrowed most of the gingerbread cutters, so we were being creative with different kitchen tools...anyway we shared frosting then eating them ~ ! this season has been different for me, not having my son home this year was disappointing, but he does plan to return home for the birth of his new niece(we hope) or nephew this spring. Also had to cut back on some of the Christmas activities and creative gift making, due to both knees acting up again, so thankful for cortizone..wish it had lasted longer this time..plan to take some pics of the holiday decorations and vingettes i did manage to create..

the long and the short of it all

nothing not quite like growing your hair from short to almost shoulder-length in a year, then having to cut it back to about an inch all over! long sad story of a chemical reaction from perm.. yikes, crispy fritters all over! will try to post pics later so you can see..in the end, a master stylist and her excellent advice made this story end on a good note~~
played easter bunny with mom saturday, visited one of her old friends in nursing home..i had made up a huge basket with goodies that i thought she would enjoy..mom later said she was blessed as well as the recipient..that was an answer to prayer!

innocence tickled

i forgot to add to picture of ethan that this from about 4 yrs ago..daughter lisa and now hubby mac carlson decided to get ethan a couple of easter chicks..guess who ended up keeping and feeding them...ethan loved them even when they were tickling him..but after a few months they grew to be big enough to intimidate him..so we had to find a farm for them..they wanted their own room from what i heard .....

i believe spring may be around the corner

i almost forgot the inner workings of blogging..plus i can't seem to spell this am, only had one cuppa coffee...that must be why...i have decided to share this blog with my family and friends on facebook..i have especially picked music to nurture my soul and some of the stuff is kinda artsy so not everyone will appreciate that part..let me know if you like the music i've chosen...

warm weather is back for a day

haven't written in my blog-journal for some time i see..been too busy with family and facebook i guess! promise to update soon with more pictures and projects~~

seasons changing

the season continues to change, and somehow there seems to be other subtle changes as well with family matters, inevitable emotions that arise knowing the familiar will not always be there to greet us, reminding us of our own frailties...we know all too well the changes found in ourselves, sometimes good ones and sometimes the not-so-good, we would deny some of the lesser..and all the while trying to keep focused on the positive..would you like to see pictures of the good things in my life?

where did the summer go?

True summer seems to have arrived late here in our part of the country, so many times it was too chilly to swim, or at least it was cool to the point of being cold if you got out of the pool! lots of nice weather though, even though it never officially reached 100 degrees here in rapid city..that was a first for our area i think..but now every day the sun is so nice and warm..perfect days for the pool, only now it is closed...but some of the leaves are starting to turn and am reminded of the wonderful days of autumn, i am still missing some shelves from my junk/studio room and so it is not so organized yet. Think i will make time to just install them myself...DH is working this weekend and will have lots of free time to myself. Am seriously thinking of listing lots of great fun stuff on etsy or either ebay as far as supplies go, if you could only see what i have stashed away! i have also decided to use this blog that probably no one else sees for a journal of sorts..my mom just turned 83 this month and seems to be in early stages of dementia..she wants to be done with this life and is eager for the next..so hard for me to accept that..anyone else dealing with this now?

Creative Souls and Blogging

i recently joined a group known as "creative souls" and it promises to be fun, i plan to become more involved with the "blogging" art community as i have time, think it will be a great connection with artists and craftswomen~~

continuing to remember joanna and ron pieretti, from moss hill studios...ron goes in for surgery tomorrow am, praying the angels surround and that God will guide the surgeons hands, providing wisdom and fortitude~~~~ for this is a particularly long surgery~~~