ut oh . . .

All this talk about the size of Bear's feet and his fluffy tail and now the very beginnings of a ruff, are sparking even more comments about being at least part Maine Coon, so what's a girl to do but google. This is the very first shot of a Maine Coon that comes up!!!!!Oh my gosh. When I said there would be more to love, I was talking more cat . . . . you could saddle this beastie. Look at him. He's the size of golden retriever!!!!! Yikes! I think we're going to need a larger pantry!!!

air bones . . .

Since the kittens are rescue animals, we have no idea exactly when they were born or under what circumstances. We are just grateful to have them. The vet is guessing Bear was born in May and Ninja in June, about a month apart. But the original thought was that Bear was much older because of his size. He has paws the envy of a small elephant. Not until they found out how many baby teeth were still intact did she tell me we had a soon to be mamouth beastie on our hands. Sounds good to me . . . more cat to love. Ninja, on the other hand, is neat and petite. Tiny squirrel feet. So why when Bear is more than double her size, does he weigh not much more??? Air Bones. He is rangy with no body mass whatsoever . . . the only possible conclusion is bones made from air. He is light as a feather. You can hear her running . . . clomping . . . down the hall, he wisps past her in single bounds . . . quiet, muffled bounds.

Digi Lesson 2 . . .

this is just crazy fun. When I think of all the hours I sat trying to teach myself PSE4 and wanted nothing more than to throw a well aimed brick through my screen . . . amazing what one can learn with a good teacher. So here is this weeks layout.

We learned how to:

work with two photos

use a digi alphabet for a title and recolor it

use multiple fonts

make bullet points and keep them constrained

add elliptical ovals as accents

load and use brushes.

OK, so we cheated again and used a preplanned background paper that included the stripes, calendar and bottom flourish but the rest is all done in steps . . . albeit it baby steps . . . they are mine and I am learning!!!! Hot diggity dog!

monkeyshines . . .

we are full of rituals here in the cave. Even the cats have rituals. Everyone gets a half a can of cat food bright and early each morning . . . to the tune of much mewing, mirrups, leg rubbings and other such goings on. But from there they differ. All Snoop wants to do is eat in peace. He is a slow eater. He will finish 2/3 of his plate, wander off to see the world and come back and eat the rest at his leisure. Unfortunately, the other beasties, Bear and Ninja, like his wet food better then theirs. Dry food is not the issue. So as soon as Snoop's breakfast plate hits the floor, three vultures attack. Two are immediately air lifted to the privacy of the bedroom to their own plate. Soon Snoop is done with his first course and meanders off asking to be let out on the pool deck for his daily patrol. The babies therefore consider leftovers as fair game.

My first attempt to protect Snoop's vittles was to stick them on top of the cubicles. They were safe there for all of two days until Ninja discovered she could climb onto the desk chair, balance on its back and leap to the top of the cubicles and chow down. Next, I slid Snoop's plate into one of the lower vertical shelves. It was safe until Ninja conned Bear, who is much bigger, into standing like a meerkat and fishing for the plate until it could be brought to the edge and dumped. The only other option was to use a higher shelf and this worked successfully for several weeks . . . until this morning.

In broad daylight right before my eyes, they planned the theft . . . could I not see from across the room??? To regress a moment, both kittens have learned that if they hop onto either desk chair with any velocity, it will scooch under their weight. Keeping this in mind, Ninja managed to move the chair, stationed away from the shelving unit, closer and closer, but being vertically challenged, she needed Bear to actually reach in and snag the object of their affection. So with the chair moved into position and Bear's longer arms, I watched the paper plate being scooched to the edge until it slipped out of place and flipped onto the floor dislodging it's contents into the waiting mouths of two miniature terrorists. Snoop was not at all happy. Nor, must I admit, was I. Now I need a new and more inventive hiding place or Snoop needs to learn to eat while the eating is good. God bless the ingenuity of kittens (and Robbie Mooney).

YAY KATIE!

day 3 of digital . . .

This is so much fun I can't stand it. Here is today's assignment ;

This layout required that we convert a photo to black and white and insert it under the premade background to peek through the window. I added the M accent from today's kit and learned how to match the journaling to the size of the lines in the journaling box. Hooray!!! But we all know I am not big on reading instructions, and so I used a photo that had already been played with, and as a result, the definition wasn't as strong. So I tried again with an untouched photo. Much better.

You might want to skip reading my blog for the next couple of weeks because I am going to be blathering mostly about this month long course. Lovin' it.

happy, happy, happy

now it's not that a lot of you didn't already know this but I am a dork . . . especially when it comes to computer programs . . . specifically PSE4. I bought the program two years ago and I still am fumbling around with it . . . countless times, I have thrown my hands in the air, screamed expletives and come milli-seconds from deleting the entire program. This compounded by a very low frustration tolerance level does not make for a good learning environment and yes, I even bought Scott Kelbey's book.

Ok, so I can fix my teeth, remove 10 years worth of wrinkles, instantly remove the gray hair, but I cannot make a digital layout. Having been a paper scrapper for years, I was curious about digital. I would settle for semi digital . . . hybrid . . a single transparent flourish . . . anything. So when I saw a plug for Jessica Sprague's digital course for beginners, I thought what the heck, what is the worst that can happen . . . can she really expel me? Could I be made to stand in the corner with a dunce cap on? Sent to the principal? I signed up.

Well, good grief . . . one lesson down and I completed a layout. Alright, I admit we started with a predone background but I actually inserted a photo, learned text, added a grunge frame . . . did I mention I love anything grunge? . . . added an element and learned to save it to the web:

Ta da!!!!

This is the coolest thing since sliced bread . . . way cooler. I am giddy . . . doing my tippy tap dance. Will I give up paper . . . no way. Will I forge ahead with digital. Absolutely.

faith . . .

Today was a day of remembrances. A day that was a testimony to one man's strength of character. A day to remind us that good men beget good children who become good friends. A day to realize that we shall all, at some point, leave our earthly bodies for those provided by our God in heaven. This morning as I sat at the funeral of my friend Jennifer's father, I could not help but remember it was only this past February that I sat in that very same chapel saying goodbye to her mother. This is a hard year for my friend, Jennifer. But I know, that her husband and boys will band together, and with her faith, as well as her father's strength which she has inherited, she will get by.

As we left to run our mundane errands, I dreaded going home where in the silence, I would remember my own father and the loss would once again flood over me. We made up more errands to run. Finally there was nothing to do but to head home. There on the doorstep was a USPS box leaning against the old screen door. Had I ordered something and forgotten?

It was from my dear friend Kelli. She is a photographer. A taker of stunning images. She captures the soul and emotion of inanimate objects and brings them to life. A couple of months back, she shared a photo with me that she had taken in Mississippi. I fell in love with it. Though it was but a single tree, it evoked a strength, a solitude, a gift from God. As I opened the box, there it was, an 8 x 10 copy of the photograph and matting. Also enclosed were a few words of explanation . . . "this photo was taken in December, 2006 while the Pinelake Choir was doing some mission work and concerts in the Bay St. Louis, Mississippi area. The area in which this tree stood was surrounded by rubble. There was a tree stump the size of a large truck that has been up rooted by the storm laying in the middle of the road. Buildings were nothing more than piles of concrete and loose wires. If you look carefully in the distance behind this tree, you can see the barges in the water to repair the bridge that had collapsed. In the midst of all the destruction of man made things, this tree, created by the Lord, survived. Looking at this tree reminds me that we, as Christians are much the same, and to keep my faith in the Lord, not in things of this earth."

. . . I thought how perfectly Kelli understood and I know in my heart that this amazing present arrived on this very day for a reason. Thank you Kelli, I will cherish it always.

For a peek at more of Kelli's work, visit her site here. Crigler Weston Photography

this gave me chills . . .

this is certainly not my genre but it is amazing!!!

if you are what you eat . . .

then today I am a friedonionringbowlofchilicrablegcornmuffinmintoreocookieblizzard! Well, I guess there are worse things in the world to be but at the moment I am contemplating worshiping the porcelain goddess. Why do I do these things? Oh yeah, because it was delicious!

stood up . . .

my one and only was planning on coming home this weekend. Not that I was ever the main attraction you understand . . . the local Catholic church sponsors this crazy Octoberfest carnival every year. . . strings of colored lights, Ferris wheel, midway, live music, lovely greasy sausage/pepper/onion hoagies, elephant ears, corn dogs, fun house . . . if the food doesn't get you, the rides ala spinning teacups will. Katie has attended almost every year since she was two . . . so she and two friends were going to head down just to get away, have some fun and get some home cooking. But alas, I just got THE call. Sorry mom, something has come up. What you ask???? How about whom? Seems I fell short . . . even at 5'8" I lost out to some tall, hunky, chiseled, good featured face. Oh and he is a camera buff. Harrumph! Have fun little girl. I love you!

just for michelle . . .

. . as soon as we arrived in town in 1974, I started working for Holiday Inn again: on the front desk. The hotel staff was mainly college-age kids and ownership and management was all one family with kids our age so things were pretty loose and we had a lot of fun on the job. Practical jokes were rampant. One morning, I snagged my last pair of pantyhose on the way into work. Already running late, I ran into Pic n Save, grabbed a new pair, dashed back into the car and running full speed through the main lobby, veered off into the ladies room to do my quick change artist routine. There to my complete surprise was a rather rotund, rather disheveled, completely naked lady, calmly washing her feet in the sink. In a panic, knowing I was late and completely unsettled by the sight, I dashed into the nearest cubicle, locked it securely and calmly freaking out, changed my stockings. Hearing no more running water, I bent down to see where her feet were now. No feet. A-ha, she must have left. I pop out of concealment only to find her sitting cross legged - still naked, mind you - on the sink counter staring quizzically at me as if I am the one off balance. Well, maybe I was. But she was slow and I was fast, and out the door I flew. Two steps out, I am greeted by gales of laughter from most of the staff, aligned at various vantage points around the lobby. How had I missed them on the way in???? Even the GM was rolling. It seems the woman in question had wandered in through the front doors hours earlier, carrying her belongings in brown paper wrapped with twine, in her birthday suit. The night auditor, too amazed or maybe too nonchalant to say anything, merely watched her meander into the powder room, figuring at some point, someone other than he would handle the situation. Of course, this was too good to keep to himself and he happily shared the event with the staff. Being off season, he could get away with this. Apparently they, knowing it was almost 7:00 a.m., and that I was soon to arrive, had plans to herd ME into the lion's den to face the woman in question. Remember, I not only headed straight for the bathroom, to their utter delight, I ran directly into it. If looks could kill, there would have been a massacre that morning. As it was, she appeared shortly thereafter, fully clothed, and departed from whence she had come. Never to be seen again.

life lists . . .

Ali Edwards posted about life lists. Lists of things you want to accomplish in your life. Being a hairs breath away from 60, I have decided to go in the opposite direction. Things I have already done in my life, people I have met, life defining moments, places I have been, remembrances. Yes, I still have things I want to do but the scales of time have tipped. I have the perfect journal for this, got it last year and tucked it away. But here are some snippets off the top of my head and in no particular order except for number one:

• Given birth to the most amazing creature with the most amazing soul
• Been yelled at in german, in germany by an irate german and have no idea why
• dumped a motorcycle
• survived college in the late 60's
• awoken in a sleeping bag covered with slugs
• stood overlooking a volcano
• been spelunking
• hitch hiked through the british isles
• made skunk cabbage bouquets for my mother
• found a dead man in a basement
• gone to boarding school
• swished down dunn's river falls
• found a giant sloth vertebrae at a dig
• gone to the men's room in holland when we couldn't find a ladies room
• walked on a glacier
• had a snow ball fight in august on the continental divide
• sailed a snark in a thunder storm . . . not the brightest thing I have ever done
• stood six feet from queen elizabeth

to be continued . . .

fascinating . . .

I found this on Blogger Play the other day. Like the dork that I am, I saved it as a copy and not a JPEG, so when I converted it to JPEG, it distorted. I don't even know to whom to give credit. But I love it. I love the male female-ness of the right hands, the original texture . . . again I apologize for mucking it up . . . the unity, it all just appeals to me.

If anyone knows how to covert it without the distortion, PLEEEEEASE let me know.