Boy I tell you what though, if the next 348 days 7 hours 45 minutes and 14 seconds are anything like the last few days, I’m not sure exactly what I’ll get accomplished if anything.

Thank you all again for your prayers and continued thoughts and support for Mark and his guys. I can’t tell you how much they are truly appreciated. Please keep them coming. Been spending a lot of time thinking about things, being a little sullen, and still recovering from this cold which is kicking my butt.

I hope to get caught up with everyone tomorrow.

Love you guys.
xoxoxo

Mark called this morning. Thank God. And thank you for all of your prayers, they are indeed working. There was an incident on Saturday that I won’t go into here, I will say that he thanked us for praying that Hedge of Protection around him and that at that moment he said he felt it, and that it’s some pretty strong stuff. He asked that we keep praying for him, for his guys, to keep them safe so that if another similar situation occurs they are again able to walk away unharmed.

Every letter that Caitlin writes to him she tells him that she prays for a Head of Pertishin around him every night. Last Tuesday when we talked he said he wasn’t sure what that was, and it took him a half hour to sound it out and know what she meant. Well, be it a Head of Pertishin or a Hedge of Protection, we’re pretty certain our guy’s head and hedge alike are glowing in the desert over there. (This is the story I tell Caitlin to make her feel better about him not getting hurt.)

He’s going to try to call again tonight or tomorrow. The line was a thousand men long. Wives and families across the country jumping to answer the phone today just like I did.

Took my lemon into the shop this morning to get a leak checked, and I decided to nurse it along for a while. We also went to the post office and got his first 2 packages off in the mail to him (if you can add a little ditty to God about they’re safe and speedy arrival too, that would be great!). One of the packages has a beautiful patriotic oil painting by Erika included in it. I can’t wait for him to get that hung in his trailer. I know it’ll be the talk of the camp! 🙂

That’s all for now. I haven’t worked on anything except a few small wooden bird houses with Caitlin. We went down to Dick Blick and picked up some things (including a few new tubes of oils) when I spotted the little bird house kits. We have some beautiful Purple Finches’ around who I’m hoping take to one of these little homes. I will post pics when we get them painted.

Gotta work on a few things tonight, banner, return e-mail, etc. I am behind, and still feeling stuffy and headachey from this cold!

Thanks again everyone for your prayers!!
xoxoxo

“May we indeed inculculate in the lives of others that like the rose, that like the baby breath, like every flower that blooms. For it does its best with what has been given it by man, to glorify its Maker with all its beauty, its color, with all of its love for the appreciation of spring, of the rain, the sunshine, the shadows. And so the man in like manner, with the worries, the troubles, heartaches, the disappointments, may draw closer and closer to God, knowing that this may be done as in the Son. He gave Himself that man might know that appreciation, that love, and how that in meting it to others we come to learn, to know the meaning of disappointments, of little hates, little jealousies, and of how they may grow by entertaining them; but more importantly how the joys may grow also just by entertaining them, as do the beautiful flowers that God hath given, that man might see His face in them.”

More later. Just had to share this from a mail I received from my bestest buddy this morning. Absolutely inspiring isn’t it?

Here’s more! I just finished the design and shading on the bowl. You might be able to guess by now where the baby possum is going to be sitting in the bowl. I am very excited for these layers to dry so I can rock & roll on the little critter! His tail is going to wrap around the side of the canvas a bit.

Still, no progress on the weight loss today. It’s frustrating! But I am not giving up! If I am not gaining, and not losing, then I am still on the right track. This will be a year of constantly battling my body to do what I need it to do! Walked over 2 miles on the treadmill yesterday, and so far today have just over a mile in. It is getting easier to walk a mile at a quick pace and get it done in under 20 minutes, so we’ve been keeping it at 30 minutes and ending wherever we end.

No other news to report today, woke up, cleaned up, treadmilled, painted. Nice relaxed life I lead, huh? Not sure what I’m going to futz with this afternoon, maybe some website changes, maybe try to sketch out a blueprint for the changes I’d like to make to the playroom. (Turning it back into a family room!)

Aaah decisions, decisions. 😉

Have a great afternoon!
xoxoxo

Woah can you see the possum? No? Hm.. I’ll have to fix that! 😉

Seriously, This is my progress for the day. Oils. Gotta let ’em dry. So today, the base coat for the bowl. Tomorrow, the bowl design. Thursday, the possum. Then on to the auction block!

I spent a good portion of the day making very cool labels for the CD’s I mixed for Mark! They’re so cool! Have a look! It took me hours to put them together. I love the one on the top left, that was taken on our (second) wedding day. It really shows how much I love him. Yep. It does. And I do. That much. He called today too. In the middle of the day even! There was a little skirmish today. They’re all ok. Thank God.

No Weight Loss progress to report today! Same same, a day later. I guess you’ll have days like that! Foo on days like that though! Foo I say!

I shipped out my Macaw study today, as well as a print of Possy 2 to the very wonderful owner of the reference photo. Of course all of my reference photo providers and copyrighter-givver-uppers get a free print of the painting if I use their photo. How fun is that! Almost like a free portrait, eh? It’s the least I can do. 🙂

I think I’ll be getting back on the treadmill in a bit. Gotsta stay motivated!

Happy Tuesday all!
xoxoxo

Looks like a table, yea? It better! 😉

This is the beginning of what I’m working on now. There will be a baby possum sitting in a dish on this table. It’ll be so cute! (it’s actually 6×6 – 1 1/2″ gallery wrapped canvas, hehe!)

Not much to report yet today. The weather is gorgeous, nearly 60 degrees, bright bright sun, green green grass – I love spring & summer! I’ve got to get some yardwork done, too! My father in law has a rototiller that I need to borrow to break up some ground and get our patio blocks back in place from the studio construction upheaval.

WEIGHT LOSS PROGRESS: still 20.5 lbs., 59 days! already walked a mile this morning, shy of 30 minutes but my leggies were rubber from yesterday’s near 3-mile walking!

3:15pm CST: I’ve got 3 paintings going at once now! 😀

Catch ya later, have a great day!!
xoxoxo

The picture of the day! Jayden and Caitlin wearing Daddy’s spare hats. Awwww!!

Yes can you tell I am a smidge wired? You can call it excited, too. Here’s why!

WEIGHT LOSS PROGRESS: Down 20.5 lbs. in 58 Days!!!!!!!>I am now under goal for the week, and 9.5 lbs. from my goal for the end of April! Go me!

In addition, I’ve been SO motivated, today alone I’ve walked over 2 3/4 miles. Sorry, Paige – I walked more after our morning walk! After burning 5 new CD’s for Mark lastnight, I just had to test ’em out. 🙂

You guys are all so great, making me feel warm and fuzzy when I check in and while I’m thinking of my next entry. Thank you. For reading, for chattin’ back with me – I appreciate it! {{{huggles and snuggles for all}}}

My next artistic project is a baby POSSUM! Yep. A possum. Those little critters are just the cutest things! I’ve started prepping the piece and will get to painting here after I rid myself of the post-workout um…yiky smell! LOL

I hope you are all having THE BEST weekend!

Happy Thursday everyone!

First I want to share with you this wonderful concoction I put together lastnight! I’ve made it quite a few times, and love it. I don’t even have a name for it, so you can make one up for me. It’s really easy, very light, low cal, and yummilicious!

Things you’ll need:
Tri Color Rotini
1 Can of Del Monte Italian style diced tomatoes
Grated cheese blend (the good stuff that melts a bit!)
Steamed zucchini slices (get these ready before hand, I use a tupperware steamer with a smidge of water in the microwave for 10 minutes.)

Boil the pasta, drain, dump in the tomatoes, mix in the zucchini, sprinkle with desired amount of grated cheese and blend it all together. Voila!

Hope you like my quick mom-on-the-go-painting-in-every-spare-moment recipe!

I will be heading down to test a print of my Macaw painting. Keep your fingers crossed, I am hoping for a fabulous print! It’s tough to scan larger pieces in sections, and I found a place that has a large enough flatbed to capture all but about 1/4″ of the edges on that painting. YAY!

I painted more on the kitty yesterday, but had to wait for it to dry enough overnight to put the lettering on the cookbook. I painted his sweet nose. I couldn’t resist. But since there’s not a lot *more* progress, I will refrain from another WIP until I at least have the lettering painted. 🙂

Weight loss progress: down 18 lbs in 55 days!

HAPPY HAPPY! Have a good one, I’ll be back later today!

5:50 PM (CST) UPDATE
Welp, folks, It’s official. I’ve got prints of Alex, the Macaw! I am really excited! I put a lot of work into getting them just perfect. Color correcting, trimming, adhering to foam core, they look great! Here’s a shot of my very first Limited Edition (of 5), sitting right beside the painting. You like?

Ran errands doing this today and picking up groceries. I had a huge order arrive today from Dick Blick with 2- 18×24 canvas (one is for my remake of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring), 2-16×20’s and 3-12×16’s. They have modified their 1-1/2″ deep gallery wrap canvas and it’s PERFECT! Also picked up a few new colors in oil; Renaissance Gold, Transparent White, Winsor Yellow and Flesh Tint. I bought those with the Vermeer piece and the new (additional) portrait of Mark I’ll be doing in mind.

I haven’t had time yet today to work on the kitty painting. I would like to do that here in a little while. I will definitely have it finished tomorrow!

Have a great evening!

xoxoxxo

6:00 AM CST, 3:00 PM Baghdad time today, Mark called from his destination in/near Baghdad. It’s been a week since I’ve talked to him and was GREAT to hear his voice. He sounds so good! He said to tell everyone “don’t believe what you see on the news, it is nothing like they make it sound”. Thank God.

I will probably add to this entry later on today, I am going to paint!

Do you like the changes I made here lastnight? Just trying to spiff the place up a bit!

Weight loss progress: down 17.5 lbs. in 54 days.

3:14 PM CST UPDATE
I’ve been painting today, and BOY does it feel good to paint. Between hearing from Mark this morning, getting our first letters from him today, finding a place that might be able to capture a good image to make prints of Alex (the macaw), and diving into oils – It has been a most excellent day! And to top it off, it’s around 67 degrees! 😀

As usual, I will share my work in progress photos of what I’m painting. I love how this cat is coming along, and have spent quite a few hours on it already. View the work in progress: Catnipnap I haven’t decided on the title yet to this piece! That one I just made up to amuse Caitlin. She giggled. 😉

Back later with more!
Hope you’re having a great day, too!

Ssssh, Jay is sleeping. Don’t you love how she set up her bear-bears beside her on her hugs pillow (I won that from a vending machine at Denny’s!), and then wrapped herself up in her bear-bear blankie for her nappie? And see her pink nikkernaiws? She twirls her haircut as she falls asleep. Well, she twirls it all the time, but I think it’s precious that she does it as she falls asleep, and even while she’s sleeping if you watch close. (p.s. nikkernaiws = fingernails, and haircut = ponytail)

Caitlin’s nappie and bedtime habit includes pulling the tickles off of her fleece fuzzy blankie that she stole from me as a toddler. She either makes a wish and blows them into the air, or tickles her nose with them as she falls asleep. I remember one time she had a sinus infection, she was blowing blue tickles out of her nose. LOL (p.s. tickles = the fuzzy stuff on fleece blankies)

I hope you are all having a good day! I’ve prepared my next painting and will start it in a little while. One of my wonderful clients/friends has sent me at least a dozen beautiful photos of her kitties (she has 25 –last I knew!!), one of them is curled up napping on a cookbook. It is precious, and that’s what I’m working on next. 🙂