A new addiction...

...as if I needed another! How often is it that we are aware of the very moment an addiction begins? Well, it may be somewhat unfortunate that I have been gifted with this awareness. I have become a yard sale junkie! I know, I know. Not a rarity. Most everyone I know partakes of this Saturday morning ritual but I have, at least until this weekend, managed to sniff in disinterest preferring Dillards or, dare I say it, Walmart to digging through piles of castoffs. It all began innocently enough-I have started feeling the draw towards all things vintage. I perused a few of the local Antique shops and Thrift stores and found some pretty awesome goodies. We all know it was just a short step to Garage Sales. As it turns out, Michael has been home for the past 2 days and he is always game for whatever adventure I wish to pursue, so he suggested that we give it a try first thing Friday morning. We laughed as we discussed that this would most likely be the first weekend in history when there would be a shortage of sales, as this tends to happen when we get these bright ideas. If you're thinking I am feeling sorry for myself you should know that it has happened that we have arrived at one of our favorite restaurants for a much anticipated celebratory meal only to find the landlord putting new locks on the doors and NON-PAYMENT OF RENT signs on the windows. No joke! I guess we were living right this weekend as there was one yard sale. In all of Verde Valley. One.

Turns out, it was a pretty good one. That's not to say the sale itself was great, because it really wasn't. In the words of my loving Hubby and new co-thrifter, "looks like a bunch of other people's crap to me". Most of the items hadn't even been priced-is this normal? It ends up that I spent $18. But I think I may have run across something pretty cool. It is marked "Limoges Coronet France", Signed on the front, left bottom and rimmed in gold. After a little sleuthing on the internet, I think it may be quite a find. Any thoughts anyone??? Here is a picture of my entire haul from this sale. The Limoges plate, 2 crystal candy dishes, (one has a lovely heart on the handle and just needed to be in my home for Valentine's Day), a large embroidered tablecloth-not very old, but can be used for any number of things, a tin pail that I will sand and re-paint, a brand-new Chinese Calligraphy kit-(the little water and ink dishes were still wrapped in the original packing paper) and 2 books-"The Other Boleyn Sister" and one that I purchased to cut up and use in my jewelry collages. I picked it up without even looking through it because it was a romance novel and I figured it would surely have some of the words I favor in these pieces. I am not a romance reader, but I think this one might just qualify as a little more than romance, bordering on erotica. Some of the words in this book would make for some very interesting neck pieces!!! All in all, I am very happy with my finds. Not sure what I will do with each item, but I'll get better at this Yard Sale thing.

Pre-Valentine's Romance

I am feeling just a bit giddy today, as my sweet Hubby will be arriving home following a 3-week period of working away. I have said for years that a traveling Husband makes for a great marriage. Why, you ask?? It's quite simple-when he is gone for 2 or 3 weeks at a time we are so happy to see each other when we can be together. He is such a great guy anyway, telling me several times a day that he loves and misses me and never missing the opportunity to tell me I'm beautiful. I keep telling him that I hope he never gets glasses. We may be in big trouble! This marriage isn't my first, but it will be my last. I know a good thing when I find it, and he's a great thing. So, although Valentine's Day is a couple of weeks away we will be doing a little pre-celebration that begins around 8:00 this evening!

I'm not the only one who misses my Sweetie when he's gone-his sidekick, Patsy, has been jumping up eveytime a flea sneezes since I told her this morning that Daddy is coming home today. She is our little 4-legged kiddo and she is very attached to her Dad. When he is home she makes the rounds of our little town here, going anywhere Dad does. She spends a couple of days moping whenever he leaves and she is certain to let me know that, while I am not her favorite parent, she will tolerate me until Dad comes home.

A Touch Of Gold

What girl doesn't love gold? I was recently invited to join a Chunky Book Swap themed "A Touch Of Gold". I have only done one such book before this, so I was very excited to get going. I sent my pages to the host on Monday and she has them in her hot little hand already. We will be getting all 20 pages back in the mail in the next week or so. If you've never participated in a book swap, it's such fun. A theme is selected and a group of people (in this case, 20) each come up with a design, make enough for each participant, and then the pages are swapped, allowing each participant to have 20 different pages. The host also assigns the front and back covers to one person so that when you receive the book, it is all ready to be bound. I did a swap for Halloween and the pages were awesome. I am anxioius to get the new pages and get them bound. I will post some pics when I get it done and will also get the Halloween book photographed. Here is the group of pages "in progress" and the nearly finished product. Hang in there with me-I will work on my photography skills!

Empty-Nest Relief

My weekend is starting off to be a great one. My hubby and I are empty-nesters as of last January. I figured myself for one of those women who, the day her last child left home, would quietly crawl into bed under the sheets and cry until I had gotten it all out of my system. I have done rather well with the whole thing, but I still get so happy when one of the boys comes for a visit, which is the case today. My youngest son, Robert, decided to come to Mom's house for a little R&R, taking some time away form his wildly busy schedule. He is a full-time student at NAU and works at a tire shop 25 or so hours per week. Add to this his social life and you can see why I am so happy he had time to visit. We plan to catch up, watch a few movies, nosh and go to dinner. One of the things I love most about my kids is that they all have a great sense of humor. When they are here there is plenty of laughter- I will enjoy every minute.

Valentine's Day Swap

I guess I should be blogging more often-at least that's the word from my middle son, Ryan. He doesn't know this, but I am just tickled that he even looks at this! I have been busily preparing a package of goodies to send to my new friend, Monica, in Italy. I had such fun creating and shopping for her. She is a delight and I am so hoping she will like her Valentine's Day gifts. It was my first experience with mailing anything to Europe. Next time I will be a pro! The box I sent weighed 22 lbs. and I packed it to withstand an atomic blast, so hopefully all will arrive safely. We are supposed to post photos of our gifts on Flickr, but being new to this, I am not sure my photos are of the quality needed. It also happens that at around 11:30 last night, while I was getting the last of the gifts wrapped and into the shipping carton, my camera died . I figured out what was up this afternoon, but it was too late to photograph some of the items I sent. Maybe I can talk her into taking some shots when the package arrives. If you haven't seen her photographic skills, you should look here-White Bench. I am finding that there are a great many things that Miss Monica is proficient in doing.

A shout out

I wish I could articulate just how excited I am to be blogging. I am so NOT a computer person, so I am feeling pretty cocky over here! I would be doing a disservice if I didn't give a big shout out to my sweet friend, Dawn Binyon. This chick has been more inspiration to me than she will ever know. I think her art is fabuloso and her heart is even more so. I met her when I joined an ATC swap at Frenzy Stamper www.frenzystamper.com 17 months ago and I have since believed that meeting her was one of the big reasons "the powers that be" sent me to the swap. She has been so encouraging in this process. You should check her out at http://www.alteredartists.blogspot.com/ Thanks, Dawn.

Everyone should get to meet Monica...

So, I decided to join a Valentine's Day swap this year. I have always been so envious as I watched other people prepare for a mail swap and decided this was to be the one. I am a firm believer in that all things happen for a reason, and this has just affirmed that for me. My swap partner is a beautiful soul named Monica. She lives in Italy and has the most glorious blog- http://The-White-Bench.blogspot.com . We have only written a few times, but I feel such a connection with her. I just feel her heart in everything she writes and in all the lovely things she creates. I have been busily gathering and creating and will be sending her goodies in time for her to receive them for Valentine's Day. I can sense already that she will be a friend for a long time to come.

Can my son really be 29 years old????

I think it is serendipitous that today is the day I begin this journey. It was 29 years ago this day that I welcomed my precious oldest son, Jeremy, to the world. Of all the things I have experienced in my time on this earth, there has been nothing that has affected me as profoundly as the birth of my three sons. Jeremy is a unique and special gift to this world. And I say that with no small amount of gratitude. I need to be very clear in saying that he just came into this world a wise and caring soul-I can't take credit for it. Happy, Happy Birthday my sweet son.

Superman wears Tim Holtz underwear.

How fortunate am I to be posting to my blog for the first time on the week following classes with Tim Holtz? If you have somehow managed to miss him, Mr. Holtz is an absolute ICON in the world of mixed media art. I had the good luck to have met him many years ago when he was working as a buyer and instructor at Ben Franklin in Prescott, Az. I can only say that all his many and varied successes have only made him a better guy. He is fun, funny, generous, helpful, humble and, of course, amazingly talented. He taught 2 classes. The first one was the altering of a wooden bird decoy. Sound interesting? It was unbelievable, and I learned so many new techniques that I have already put into practice in some of my current projects. Here is my little bird, whom I have aptly named "Penelo-peep". I am so taken with her and I was very excited to see all the wonderful work of those in our class.

Later in the day, Tim taught another fun class. In brief, we were to make a canvas holding words that are inspirational to us. He was quite specific in suggesting that we make this project for ourselves rather than as a gift for someone else. It was interesting to see the different words that each person chose. Everything from ART to ZAMBONI. OK...no zamboni, but there were as many different themes in the chosen words as there were people in the room.