Faux Tomato Cage Lighted Trees

2023

• Upside down Tomato cage
• Bend over bottom wires into a top
• Tie with twine
• Wrap faux greenery around the tomato cage
• Wrap 100 count fairy lights around faux greener
• Holes in the sides of a planter
• Put twine through the holes and tie up the tree
• Wrap planter with garden burlap 
• Secure with twice to match

2022

Funny Surprise: Look What Happens

On side table

next to your favorite chair, 

empty take out coffee cup

use as mini wastebasket 

for torn up address pieces of junk mail

From your chair,

Toss the now full take out wastebasket cup 

into a real wastebasket

about 4 feet away.

The cup will go in the wastebasket,

but all the papers will not.

They will fly out as soon as you toss 

the cup towards the wastebasket.

A wheee

Fun surprise

Brushing By Progress

Depression is starting to lighten for me. First time I've picked up a brush in almost 2 weeks. 

Its only a watercolor study, no major details. 

I like the green pumpkin, but not in that setting for a painting.

The background is different than the photo I took.

The sunlight needs work, lots of work. I think I'll change the sunlight on the pumpkin so it doesn't look like it is cut open. 

Winter Cozy Porch Ambience with Beautiful Relaxing Music and Falling Sno...

A favorite video to relax by fills my monitor as I sit and write or just think. This YouTube video on the Enchanting Ember channel doesn't loop images in a way that you easily fall into the rhythm of the pattern. The music is also pleasant without being sappy. There are many others on that channel and other channels to chose from. Enjoy!

Veterans Day 2023

 God Bless America

and All Veterans 

Day 314 of Week 45 November 2023

There are 51 days left before 2023 ends and 2024 begins.

Suggestions to consider:

• Gather up the best photos, and, blog memories for each month of 2023 for a blog post this December
• Write down thoughts about what has been the best and worse times for you in the last year
• Add something good to do for yourself in 2024, something new, unusual, fun, and enriching
• Select a sports team to follow in 2024. The amount of crowd exposure, even via TV can be spirit lifting. Connections can be healthy.
• Schedule all your medical exams, shots, and such
• Find a black-eyed pea recipe for New Year's Day dinner, a Southern tradition for good luck in the new year
  
• Commit to learning at least one new thing in 2024, a language, weaving, painting, wood carving, etcetera
• Memorize a poem
• Write down your favorite 100 words to compare to a new list every 6 months
• Start a sketch pad whether you believe you can draw or not

Waldemar Tells The Story Of The Rococo | Before Bedtime (Full Series) | ...

This series of art documentaries is outstanding! I highly recommend the viewing.
Note, the video runs for 2:59:39 hours.

Ludovico Einaudi - The Water Diviner

Beautiful piece
It snowed here in Vermont an inch or so last night. Chilly, overcast and slushy day
Music time

Selecting a Holiday Theme

Blueberries

My holiday cards will be in the mail shortly after I decide what this year's motif will be. Leaning towards clean, fresh and healthy, blueberries touch my heart for a fun card design. 

I mean, how many Christmas  or holiday cards do you see where blueberries are the star of the show?

Berries, pinecones, branches and acorns are my favorite elements for motif design. Remember the dinner plate design I want to create? 

William-Sonoma has a similar (pricey) dinnerware design. I just love.
Woodland Berry Dinner Plate

Black Friday deal Walmart

Reminds me of my childhood

Old World Glass Ornament Basket of Blueberries

I make a list of things and styles I like. I draw a few sketchs. Then, I chose a font to hang on the most appealing images. Finally, I decide on the one to develop.

I prefer to use a graph paper pad to sketch designs because sizing the card is easier with grids to count out. I then use scraps of watercolor paper to make test cards that are good for changing things around if need be.

Do you select a holiday theme each year?

In the Days of Try To Do

There hasn't been much movement around here other than pushing depression out of the way. It has been a rough few weeks. Changing daily patterns builds an obstacle course for me to navigate. It works if the  path is adjusted well, much like playing a video game for the first time when the rules haven't sunk in yet. Anyway, I'm glad to say that I have more energy, feel much less pressed by feelings of dread, and overall, determination rules. 

I wrote  a blog post about anxiety and panic attacks. I deleted it because it feels too personal. At the time, it was a bridge to better. I might rewrite such a post because the information is important to share. A few days later, better has no fork in the road to frustrate me with making decisions. 

I had my first seasonal pumpkin coffee (McD). A big thanks anyway to last year's covid booster that took away my sense of taste. I did, however, taste a massive amount of sugar. I didn't finish the coffee.

As with all heavy episodes of depression, there's a ton of catch up to do. Number one, aside from laundry and dusting, is to paint. A bonus of not doing much is that my appetite is low on caring about food in real life. 

I know I love foods, but the hands on in the kitchen is not frequent. So I put a strict limit on take out. Sunday's omelet, I sauted so many vegetables, I could hardly see the egg. The baked chicken sausage (baked, not greasy) from Hannaford's is good enough to put on my regular shopping list. 

It is strange that on blogging time, life feels and looks normal, no depression, no anxiety, no dreads. At my worst, I can manage a short photo post.

I don't know what I will do today other than try to do. For now, I have to do errands. I can't make biscuits without flour.

How is  your November going?

Have You Lost a Pen Without Moving From Your Chair?

 

If the answer is yes, then you might benefit from shopping when pens are on sale. I know that I seem to buy more pens than I use. It's weird.

I hand write every day without fail. I journal, make lists, scribble down ideas, write down tidbits of information and such. I use pens regularly. My pens have their own pen-stations, near my favorite chair, on my desk, and in my purse. The drawing pens are in a case, in a bin drawer or near my chair stash (photo).

I buy handwriting pens in packs. I also seem to lose pens in packs. You'd think that when I stand up, there's pens falling all over the place, but there isn't. Have I found pens in the laundry? Yes, but not as often as I lose them.

Could it be like many other products sold in America, that pens are running out sooner because they are filled with less ink so you buy more? Or am I writing more? Maybe I'm just not a tidy pen person.