Finally....I know
Thank you so much for your patience Stephanie! I finally found the photos and like I promised here they are ~ pictures of my santa & snowman posts.
I painted these in 2002/2003 for a neighbor. She found some antique posts and had bases made for them and had an example of one she saw painted. She had one painted in downtown Omaha, NE and wasn't too happy with it after the guy painted it. Her friend asked her if she knew me...long story short....we met and I painted LOTS of these for her. Wish the pictures were better but hope you can use them Steph! Let me see what you paint!























BOWLING SCORES TUESDAY ~ 105 YIKES, 201 YIPPEE, and a 124. I started not feeling so well after about the first half of the first game and still feel like I'm coming down with something. Would figure since I have lots of stuff to catch up on the next 3 days and am HOME for a change to get all of it done. Hope the germs stay away!

Home Alone
Well, my family left today and we are all home alone. My darling hubby took everyone to the airport and I went grocery shopping. Had to restock those cupboards. I'm ready for the leftovers and pies to be gone! I need to start eating right but will probably wait until Monday! hehe. Here are some last minute pics from this morning before everyone left for the airport.


My 3 boys and their great-grandma

L to R
Kendall, Holland, Austin
GGrandma











Mom and Daughter

to me

Grandma
and Mom




Gotten all my Fall stuff put away and getting ready for Christmas. I love decorating my house all new! Never like to do the same thing year after year so have gotten rid of some stuff this year and trying some new things. Will share some pics when I get them done. Want to play in my ART room and like my brother in law (Matt) pointed out to me yesterday ~ I have a lot of projects going on all at the same time! Need to get them finished :o)


HOW RUDE OF ME!!! I must apologize and THANK my good friend Terry and her mom and dad for coming over to my house and taking PHOTOS of my family!!!!! Thank you for taking time out of being together and taking photos of my family on Tuesday evening! I so appreciate it and appreicate you and thank you for your friendship! Your parents are awesome! I see where you get your outgoing, friendly, loving spirit from!!! The pumpkin cheesecake was yummy too! Thanks for sharing that!!! :o)

Happy Thanksgiving


I hope you and loved ones have a very blessed Thanksgiving!
I'm thankful for so many things.
I'm thankful for my faith in Jesus.
I'm thankful for my loving husband and healthy children.
I'm thankful for my family.
I'm thankful for my parents.
I'm thankful for my sisters.
I'm thankful for my in-laws.
I'm thankful for my husbands siblings.
I'm thankful for my nieces and nephews.
I'm thankful that I still have a grandmother living and my children know their great-grandmother.
I'm thankful for my health.
I'm thankful for my friends.
I'm thankful for the men and women that sacrifice their lives every day so that I may live the life I live today.
I'm thankful for every day!
I'm so thankful for so much that I could continue to write all day!

I'm thankful that my family was able to ALL get together this week and enjoy each others company. Here are the family pics. We had about 5 cameras going so haven't decided which one we will pick as the best to print yet.

The whole family!












Matt, Hannah, Debbie (my younger sister), Andrew




Carson, David, Linda (my older sister), Cameron, Chandler






FOUR generations ~
Linda, Me, Debbie
Grandma, Hannah and my mom Gerry





















My family
kneeling:
Austin and Kendall
Sitting:
Steven, Holland and Me

39 YEARS OLD TODAY!
My last year of being in my 30's ~ YIKES! Next year will be the BIG 40. This is a picture of me when I think I was 4 years old. Gotta love the hat. My grammy used to make my older sister and me matching outfits. We are 18 mths. apart but sometimes looked like we were twins since we do look alike and dressed alike way back when.


Had another painting class on Wednesday evening. The 4 ladies that came had to drive through some of the worst weather we've had here in middle GA in a very long time. We had torrential downpours and were under a tornado warning the entire time our class was going on. The thunder and rain pounding on the roof didn't distract these ladies one bit though! They were focused and all did such awesome jobs on their holiday sign. We painted evergree, pinecones and berries on it and they could add a saying to it if they wanted to after class.
Stephanie, Kim and Heather showing off their final pieces! Aren't they great!

HARD AT WORK!

My parents arrived safely from their drive down from Memphis on Wednesday as well - all through the same storms that were coming through that hit us later that day. Having a great visit with them and look forward to having my Grandmother join us on Tuesday (she's flying in from DC). Hubby is in Atlanta for a soccer tournament with son #2 and they just called to say they won their first game 3 - 0. No more painting classes this month~ I've gotta do some planning for December and am looking forward to a bit of a break to get all that organized. Have a great weekend.

Playing catch up....
Yesterday was bowling day as you know and we'll my scores were less than stellar! I had a 149, 163, and 138. I was not feeling too well yesterday - not to make excuses just exhausted.
Came home and got all my paperwork and folders done for my painting classes today, painted some odds and ends that needed to be finished, got the house straightened up and then the boys were home from school. Soon after that hubby surprised me and walked in at 3:45 so that I could get to the Airmen's Thanksgiving dinner at the base and then off to Basketball with my oldest and hubby took off with our middle son to soccer. Back home, more paperwork and finally I fell into bed.













Here are the happy painters in my morning class this morning. They all did such an awesome job. Alice, Chris, Carmen, Rhonda, Sherry, CeeAnn and Sierra up front. She is 10 and did such a fantastic job!!

Here are the glasses and pitcher I finished for my mom to send to her friend in Germany.

Waiting around my for my parents to drive up. They are in the thick of big storms from Memphis to Atlanta and we should be getting them here around 4p.m. - severe weather they are calling it ~ tornadoes and all.
YIKES!



HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY AWESOME FRIEND NANCY!!! (I know you'll appreciate me using this picture nancy huh?) I adore you my friend! You make me smile! I am so blessed to have a friend like you! and I get the WHOLE package with an entire family that i adore and love!! Have a great birthday and your present of course is LATE!

Busy weekend!
I survived the weekend of cleaning, playing and painting! My house was so dusty and there were plenty of places that I could have written in the dust and share that with you but HOW EMBARASSING! that my house got that dusty so I won't be sharing and didn't take pictures - too much proof! BUT...my house in glowing and CLEAN now and hopefully I won't go that long again on the dusting. I also survived staying here all by myself with hubby and kids up at the farm. I'm such a scardy (SP?) cat and have watched too many scary movies and my imagination runs wild with every little noise I hear.
Remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I went to an antique store in Harlem, GA and got an awesome deal ~ here are the pics of what I got for $12.00 - this sewing kit was loaded with so much stuff! I'm not much of a sewer but let me tell you I have enough stuff to sew for years! I am however a button fanatic. I love OLD things whether valuable or not -loved these buttons. The sewing box full of stuff was originally $24.00 and the enamel pan with buttons was $10.00 and I got them both for $12.00 - thankfully my sister in law Lynne was there to talk down the price for me - I'm not much of a bargainer but she spoke up and got me a great deal. I'm gonna but the buttons in an old green mason jar I have until I need to use them on something.














Had a great break from the cleaning on Saturday and had such a fantastic painting class at Hobby Lobby. This is Ruth and Doriann showing off their amazing trays. This was Ruth's third class and Doriann's second. Didn't they do an awesome job! You wouldn't know they were just learning how to paint would you?!?!


This is Holly and daughter Kaite. This was their second class and again - they just amazed me with their beautiful trays. Very talented! They learned the strokes and painted these gorgeous trays all in 2 hours - can you believe it?!?!








































So Friday night after cleaning, I finally sat down around midnight and started to bling out my phone. I have now covered the entire thing but the pictures are so shiny they don't show up very well. Kinda scary that my middle son called it my pimp phone - how would he know that word?? Scary what they hear about it school!
Have a busy week. Painting today, bowling tomorrow, Airmen's Thanksgiving dinner that the OSC puts on at the base Chapel, Soccer Practice, Basketball clinics, 2 painting classes Wednesday, Parents arrive Wednesday sometime, Officer's Spouse's function on Thursday and then the weekend.
HAVE A GREAT WEEK! SMILE LOTS! Be Happy! BE THANKFUL! COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS ~ you can name them one by one and write them down! Scrapbook them! Share them!

Weekend Cleaning
Okay, so my family headed up to the farm and I stayed behind to do some serious cleaning. We've all be so busy and my house is so cluttered and must be cleaned immediately! Well, the type of cleaning I'm gonna be doing can't be done immediately but will take me all weekend!

Here is what we are painting in my painting class tomorrow. That will be my only break from cleaning! I know, some of you that know my husband and what a neat freak he is and how awesome he is about cleaning around the house are saying to yourself "their house is clean" well, I can assure you that it's surface cleaned but that's about it. I cannot even remember the last time I moved things and dusted. I'm sure I'll be able to write "Sandy wuz here" in the dust in some places.
Oh well, forgot to update you with my bowling scores and since next week my body will be 39 years old and I think my brain sometimes thinks it's 93 ~ I can't remember the score from my last game?? I know that I had a 157, 168 and I think a 189 but again, won't know for sure until Tuesday when I see the sheet to remind me what I had.
My family will be here next week - looking forward to seeing everyone - my parents flew in today from Germany and picked up their car that I drove and left at the Atlanta airport for them to drive to Memphis to see my older sister and family and then they drive here next week on the day that I have 2 painting classes. Yahoo.
Let me tell you, I so wish I had had my camera on the way up to the Atlanta Airport. The leaves from Macon up to Atlanta were so gorgeous! Every shade of green, yellow, orange, and red. I love FALL! The colors are so inspiring and cheerful!
Here is what I did yesterday ~ my sister came by with some ornaments that she needed painted for a dinner party tonight! Love them. Love the PINK and BLACK combo ~ those colors remind me so much of Heidi Swapp! Love her style!
Anyway, have a great weekend. Not sure that I'll have anything to share besides maybe some "Sandy wuz here" pics in the dust.

Monday's painting class
What a fun class we had today! I just loved painting this project and my snowman just made me smile the whole time I was preparing this weekend for our class. Everyone did such a fantastic job! Some painting for the very first time and you'd never know it with these completed projects! I'm sure that is what their friends and family is telling them "you didn't paint that" but they did and I have proof! Here are some great pics from our class today. We painted our snowman on a round papermache box and painted holly and evergreen with berries around the band of the box.

From left to right - Marge, Chris, Lynn, Terry, Mauri and Nicole.

Mauri with her finished snowman!!! Don't forget Mauri - MORE PAINT on that BRUSH!! LOL


















Lynn and Terry with their finished snowmen ~ Lynn's a lefty! It's all turned around! BUT she does so much better than she gives herself credit for! =)

Terry has taken so many classes from me she just comes in and paints! LOVE IT!








Nicole ~ giving her beautiful snowman bunny rabbit ears! She is a character! What a hoot!

Marge and her finished snowman! What an awesome job!




Chris did an awesome job on her
snowman box!

GREAT JOB LADIES! I hope you had as much fun as I did teaching you all today! Don't forget to practice, practice, practice!

Remember about a month ago I mentioned that I was doing some goblets and vases for a wedding that is going to be in Texas - well, here they are finally.
The glass has such a glare and the roses look more white but are as yellow as the ones on the vase.


We painted a poinsettia plate at Convention this past summer and I hated mine so much that I put it in the dishwasher as soon as I got home and put the dish up in the cupboard. It's haunted me for months now ~ every time I went to get a plate out to set the table it's starred at me and begged to be painted ~ so here it is ~ all painted and much better than the one I painted this past summer!

Have a fantastic week!

Still Alive and Kicking!
Just a small update to let you all know that I am still alive and kicking. I'm not curled up in a fetal position suffering from any major headaches and have to say that I have gone through "diet coke" withdrawls quite well. I'm shocked. I did have one day where I had a small faint headache most of the day but it was just very faint and nothing like I had expected. My thoughts have been clear. I don't feel like I'm running around in circles trying to get stuff done.
I actually had time to paint yesterday and will get that uploaded to share later today.
Have a fantastic Sunday ~ here are some Church billboards that I saw recently that I really liked-

If you want to be in your child's memories tomorrow, be in their lives today
Don't spend so much time trying to make a living that you forget to make a life.
"Vacancies" ~ come in and check out our rooms.

Goodbye my good friend
It's time to say bye to my good friend. You have always been there for me without fail. You were always able to lift me up when nothing else could. I don't know what I'm going to do without you as my friend.You were always bubbly and I'm sure you will continue to be so for your other friends. I just can't continue to be friends with you now as I'm trying to live a healthy life. Sometimes friends can poison our lives and it's just time for me to say goodbye for good. Goodbye Mr. Diet Coke. Goodbye and thank you for being my friend.

OKAY... I know a bit melodramatic huh? This is a big deal for those of you that know me really well. I always have a diet coke in hand but with 17 days left in my 38th year of life I'm starting to think that I need to make healthier choices in my life. I was going to cut out several things today but think I should give this a week to get over the massive headache I'm sure is coming.
I picked up some caffeine free diet coke yesterday and am going to keep it to one a day~MAX. I have to drink MORE water and start thinking about hitting the big "40" next year. I have to start thinking MORE about what I put into my body ~ I'm starting to see that old phrase come to life ~ you are what you eat! YIKES!

Here are some photos of my neice and nephew Hannah and Andrew. Aren't they adorable!