The First Snow

Thanksgiving week brought the first snow to Ohio's farmlands. Our new home (as of Dec. 1) got a soft little coating of fresh snow. We missed it, but my BIL kindly sent us this lovely picture. We can hardly wait. I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve. A lot of hard work is ahead, preparing our NY house to meet the winter-and the Ohio house to meet the holidays. And MOVING all the STUFF. Believe me-"stuff" is a nicer word than DH labels it! Thanks for letting me share-I'm just bubblin' over.

My Messy Life

I read an article the other day in a lady's magazine. You know the kind of magazine-it touts perfection and creativity in every aspect of your housewifely enterprises. And I was just about convinced that I could turn out a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving with little autumn leaves cut from pastry all around the crust. Yeah, I could do that while living in the motor home. Not so much. Any way, one article had a byline of "I'm thankful for my messy life". A stay at home mom/journalist who makes herself cheery by thinking that she is grateful for having to wash dishes-because it means they have enough to eat etc... I thought "Nice sentiment" and continued to consider cutting tiny oak leaves from pastry dough.

A few days later, I was-butt in the air-kneeling in the kennel-cleaning up after 4 kittens that someone had dumped off at the house we are in the process of buying. Yep-4 scraggly, sickly, starving bundles of fleas, etc..We took them in-thinking to make them healthy-then pass them off to the local shelter with a nice donation. Stop right there! All the shelters are over flowing with animals abandoned by home owners who have lost their houses, or those who can't handle additional bills in this monetary climate. So, after looking at the local bulletin boards-already plastered with pictures of kittens "Free to a good home". We decided to keep the little buggers. Now, you all know I am a dog person-my boxers really are my furbabies. And we already house a cat that is elderly, and can't follow DD2 to college, and a cat that hates me from my mother-who was placed in a home. So this Thanksgiving, finds us living in a motor home with 2 dogs and six cats. I am getting around to being grateful-just hang on! I realized as I was cleaning up a kitten mess of litter, food, vomit and little kitty deposits-that I was grateful for the kittens. To watch rescue animals slowly learn to trust, to fill out, to become fluffy little mischievous kittens is truly something to be thankful for. They love me-unconditionally. That is a really wonderful thing.... Will post kitten pictures whenever I reunite the camera with the recharger and the download cord-I think some parts are in Ohio-others in NY. But my life is MY MESS, and I am grateful for it.

Long Summer Days

Just to let you all know I am not MIA. Still living in the motor home, hoping to sell the house. It is a long and tough process in this economy. All my art supplies remain in storage. I miss playing the day to day challenges and checking everyone's blogs. But internet connection is difficult in our present position-this too shall pass. Leap-and the net will appear. Well, come on then NET!

No New Art

Sorry to have forsaken my bloggy friends, but the house is about half packed up and the realtor is coming Monday to take some pictures, and tell us how little our home of 27 years is worth. I have packed half of my studio-so art-while not impossible is not easy. It is OK, not feeling incredibly creative just now. The poor dogs are bewildered, and can't figure out why things that were previously OK-have now become punishable offenses. Keeping your house clean enough for OTHER people is back breaking work! Soon we will cruise off to spend the summer in the motor home-kind of a halfway house to the rest of our lives. What a crazy twist our lives have taken. But maybe we need the adventure to stir us up and keep us changing and growing. There just has to be a reason!

DD 1's BIrthday Gift

I have been packing up our household the last few weeks-little time for paper crafting. So I have been knitting again-and managed to finish and ship this sweater to Robyn for her 29th birthday. A little heavy for a May birthday-you might think. But she is headed to Alaska to work the cruise ships again this season. This is a Knitting Pure and Simple Neckdown Pullover Tunic, knit in Hudson Valley Sheep wool in Gunstock. It looks very light in these pics, but is really midnight with the hand dyeing adding striations to it. It is knit in a slightly scratchy Shetland wool that will withstand a lot of heavy use. I lightly felted it to create a tight weatherproof knit. I like knitting for my family-I think of them wearing the stuff I make-and imagine it is a warm mama hug -thousands of miles away.

Theme Thursday Challenge-Paris

Here is my entry for Theme Thursday Challenge- Paris. This little dollie is created from a page from a French textbook, her bodice and tower accents are sequins. Gotta love a French girl in grunge couture!

Cards for Pick a Theme

My Weekend fun. Thanks to Artchix for the images, and Tim Holtz's new mini masks.