Wild Blue Yonder

We're off to the wild blue yonder. My three sisters and I are leaving tonight for our long awaited cruise. I know we are going to St. Thomas, San Juan Puerto Rico (I have already been to these two places) and two more stops that I do not remember the names of. I know that sounds dumb but I told them to just book it and I will be there.

The four of us have never been on a REAL trip together. This ought to be rather interesting. If you knew us you would know what I mean. Four very strong, different personalities together for a week on one boat. I am a little nervous. But as one sister said, "Debbi, it's a BIG boat. You can go to the other side."

I am most excited about Kim. She is 35 and has never been on a trip before. Let alone to a foreign country. She is so excited she is jumping out of her skin. I am going to have the most fun watching her experience different cultures. She called me last night squealing "in 29 hours we're going to be on a plane" I told her "better yet. in 47 hours your going to be in a foreign country." She about died with excitement.

So I'll see you in about 9 days. Hope to have lots of photos to share with you all. Gotta go pack.

WOO-HOO!

Inspiration

This months challenge for Challenge Club was to use and every day item for inspiration. I chose this mug from Starbucks because I love the pink and the doodling. It just makes me happy.














This is the finished project. I absolutely LOVE it. First I painted the base of the flowers. Then I doodled over it to match the mug. I am pretty proud of the way it turned out.
And this is Cookie checking herself out to make sure she doesn't look fat or that her double chin is not showing. She gave the final approval.


Have a Creative Day.

More Uglies

Lovin the new Ugly Kitty. It is supposed to be Hello Kitty but I am not sure it looks like her. I love the way she turned out. So flippin cute. This one is for Rafael. He is giving it to his niece.
And this one? Not so sure about. It was cuter in my mind. Neva requested this one for her niece. I wanted to do lavender but this is the only purple I had at the time. The dress was a pain and I did not enjoy that part. Lovin the eyelashes and the flower in her hair.

Gotta go get ready. Must be at a seminar this morning an hour earlier than I usually get to work. I hate that.

Have a creative day.

Lady Gets a Bath

Matt is dumb! We are all sitting around a couple nights ago. Matt asks "when was the last time lady got a bath?" Jen and I are thinking "are you kidding me right now. Have you met lady?" We told him "NEVER"

Lady is a cat you don't mess with. I think she is sweet but I am her mom. Honestly, she is mean to everyone. People are seriously afraid of her.
Matt being the dumb a** (said with love) throws her in the shower. All Jen and I could hear was Lady screaming her furry little mouth off. Seriously, it was the most horrible sound a cat could ever let out. Matt made me hold the shower door shut as he got in and scrubbed her up. I had to hold it shut because she kept opening it and jumping out.

As she is howling. Matt announces "she is being pretty loving right now" WHAT? Doesn't sound like love to me. But when he got out with her I could see that she really was being loving to him at that moment. Who would have thought? Hmmm?

I was sure he would come out with claw marks everywhere. But she did not hurt him. It's amazing how small she looks without all that hair everywhere.

All I know is he was crazy to attempt this in the first place. But she must really love him to have not hurt him.

Did Another One

Did another Ugly. This doll was created for Tanya. Her bedroom is black, red accents and leopard print. I hope she loves it. Gosh! I have so many more to make. I am sure I will be working on them all weekend. Or......maybe not.

I am off to court this morning. I am apparently a criminal. GREAT! My offence???????? Barking dogs. Yep, you heard me right. My dogs make me a criminal. Go figure.

I have had three complaints since September of 2006 so they are making me see the judge. I am prepared. I went to the police station and got a print out of the dates they barked. I have had no complaints since 3/15/07. So I am not too worried. I just don't want to get fined for something that happens when I am not home.

When I am home I am afraid to even open the windows for fresh air. What if they bark? I don't leave them outside. The complaints come when I am not home. They are in crates, at the opposite side of the complainers bedroom on the first floor. His bedroom is on the second floor. And all the windows and doors are shut. Soooooo, now what to do with them. Oh, and when the officer came to the door they did not bark at her. So really the neighbor is being a jerk.

I moved the crates to the 2nd floor landing. Plugged in a doggie Pheromone thing to calm them. Seems to work so far. If there are more complaints I will have to go for the bark collar. I hate to do that as I want them to bark when something is wrong. Know what I mean?

So, wish me luck this morning. I will update you on what happens.

New Fugly Friends

I am so excited about the new Fugly Friends I created. Both of these were custom orders for people at work. Lovin me some Mickey and Minnie. They both have puffy noses. Love Minnnie's dress with the tulle under the skirt. Did you notice Mickeys mouth is on his neck. Yea, I kind of had a misplacement issue but I love how it turned out. They are supposed to be Ugly right?
I had a request for a Brown Nappy haired boy. The requester is from Puerto Rico and had a baby a couple years ago. He has very nappy hair so she wanted a doll to match him. I love how the hair came out. To get it all nappy looking I had to take strands of felt and twist them before sewing each piece down. Turned out so flipping cute.

All three of these dolls are selling for $30.00 each as they are custom orders. Any free style doll sells for $20.00 as they are not as detailed and I can create what I want. Fugly Friends have really taken off and so many people want them. I take orders for anyone that wants one. They are so cute and much better in real life. No two dolls are alike. Check out previous posts for more Fugly Friends (Ugly Dolls).

Have a creative day!

So Annoying

You know......I hate it when I take a picture just to make someone happy and then I find out it could have been a really great photo if I had not of wiggled the camera. So annoying.

This is Jennifer and her boyfriend Matt. A year ago I would not have ever been able to get a photo of them at all. A year ago Matt avoided the camera all together. A year ago I felt a lot different about Matt.

Now, today, this second, I feel a whole lot better about their relationship. Today I know he loves her. I can see it in his eyes. I can see it in the way he holds her. I can see it in the way he treats her. A year ago, even 4 months ago, I did not see any of that in him. That irritated me to no end. It mad me sad, but I knew there was nothing I could do about it. I had to just wait it out. Now, I hope the changes I have seen in him continue. I hope they can make it together.

Yes, I guess I am saying I like him now. Ahhhhh.....jeez......now I have gone and said it out loud.

Moral Dilemma

The Two Peas Blog challenge for today is this:

"A homeless person asks you for money on the street. Do you give them some or not. Why or why not."

Typically no. I too have seen those shows where they expose people who make a ton of money by begging. But I do have a story of a situation in where I did give the man money.

About 4 years ago I had to spend two weeks in a hospital in San Francisco. It was the general hospital so it was very run down and shabby. San Francisco is about 45 min. from where I live, and the hospital was on the far side of town. It would take anyone about 1 1/2 hours to get there. So it was very hard for friends or family to come visit me. I could not call anyone as it was long distance. I could call my work because it was an 800 number but really that did not satisfy the loneliness I felt. It was the lowest most lonely time of my life.

About 2 weeks after being released I had to drive down to this same hospital for a follow up. As I was leaving, feeling sad and down, I passed a young man who asked me for $10.00. I gave him my usual reply of "I have no money". He looked horrible "please mam, I need to get to the clinic for my methadone treatment." Thinking "wow that's a new one," I replied "No, I am sorry I have nothing." Remember I had now been out of work for four weeks. He replied, now crying, and looking truly desperate, "please mam, there is an ATM across the street, can we go there?" I again told him I had nothing in the bank and I was not lying. For some reason I felt this man was for real and not just an everyday begger.

As I walked away from him I was feeling lower than low. I knew I had exactly $10.00 in my purse. My last $10.00 I had. There was SOMETHING about this young man that was impacting my being. I could not stop thinking about him as I walked to my car. When I got to the third level of the parking garage I was still thinking about him. I walked to the edge and watched him for awhile. Everyone that walked by was not helping him. He was looking more and more desperate as I watched. Maybe being so lonely in the hospital was making me connect with how he was feeling. I observed a woman stop, take his hands and speak to him briefly but then she walked away giving him nothing." I lowered my head, and thought, "how can I turn my back on this poor man?"

I got into my car. Drove down to where he was, pulled up and stuck my arm out the window with the $10.00 bill in my hand. As he took my money he started to seriously cry now, squatting down next to my car. He said, "you wont believe what just happened. A lady just came by that had no money but she took my hands and prayed with me. She told me God would take care of me." I assured him this woman was right. He continued, "I don't believe in god, but after her prayer, and your help, I think I should re think my beliefs." I told him he should believe and please put this $10.00 to good use. Still crying, he told me he would do just that as he thanked me.

I swear, I just wanted to put this young man in my car right then and drive him to the nearest church. As I drove away, I had this overwhelming sense of impacting someones life more than I ever could with such a simple act of kindness. This man was DIFFERENT! I still to this day truly think I helped him. I am also a firm believer in "everything happens for a reason." Maybe I was meant to go to THAT hospital, to feel the LONELINESS that I felt, just so I could help this ONE man. I KNOW I did a good thing that day.

Would I give to a homeless person so freely again? Probably not. But this man was an exception and I have never regretted helping him. I get warm fuzzies every time I tell this story. What if he was my angel testing me? Weather he is my angel or not, I will be forever thankful I got the chance to help someone so much.

About time.

OK OK I am a little behind the times. I thought it was silly until I did this. I did not realize it actually tells about you. It is pretty right on about me. Soooo fun.

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My Desk

The Two Peas challenge today: What 3 things are on your desk that should not be?

According to my boss NOTHING should be on your desk. He is a very organized man. Go figure.

The main thing that should not be on my desk is piles of files. The last week of the month and the first week of the month there are piles everywhere. It is hard to do what I do and stay CLEAN. However, I am proud to say that this month and last month the piles did not materialize. For some reason my desk stayed clean the whole time. My friend Michael came to visit me at work and he said "What happened to your desk?" I am like "What do you mean?" and he replied "It's clean." Whatever! It was a slow month so I just stayed more organized.

Sticky notes stuck to my desk probably should not be there. But they are my reminders of what I need to do. And the only other thing I can think of is hmmmmm......yea I cant think of a third thing. I told you my desk is clean. Somebodies Arse does not belong on my desk. I hate it when someone comes to talk and sits on my desk. Yea. That defiantly does not belong on my desk.

Random

Does your life ever feel like this? Random...... Sometimes I am not sure how to feel, where to go, or what to do. I just am.

When it seems as though my path is no longer a path. But a series of uncontrolled spurts that land where ever they want. Mostly coming to rest in places you do not wish for them to find.

When do you gain control? Do you gain control? And, just when you think you can control, it all seems to spurt again. What the heck?

I am not given more than I can handle. It makes me stronger. But you know what? I am tired of being strong. Seriously, how much more can I possible learn. I just want to BE!

PS.....no, I am not depressed today. Just being Random.