Just for fun, I thought I’d go over with you some of the things people (you?) look for when you land here. For the month of June, these are my most interesting keyword searches:
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Life, Love, and Critters – of course!
Top Keywords – June
July
5
2005
Cat Portrait Sketch : Lucy
July
5
2005
This is Lucy, a custom cat portrait I’ll be working on over the next week or so. She’ll be done on a 10×10 gallerywrap canvas in oil, and as you can see from my reference photo she is an absolutely stunning Tortie kitty. Her mom picked out the most beautiful shade of green (matching her eyes) for her background color, and that will be the first work in progress shot you’ll be seeing of her.
The Bombs Bursting In Air
July
5
2005
What a display. We’ve gone to this spot for around 6 years now I think, and it gets better and better every year. I promised that I would do my best with these photos, and out of 100+ pics, these are my postworthy shots. The grand finale can be detected by it’s sheer brightness, explosion on top of explosion until it was so bright you could see the green of the trees below.
I had hoped to see a yellow ribbon firework, and I was not disappointed. On a more grandeur scale, I will forever look to my husband as one of the thousands of prominent reasons why we will continue to enjoy such beautiful fireworks, and freedom in this Country. I’m proud to have such a tangible and meaningful reminder of that in my life every day.
For those of you who may be overseas right now and linked here through Mudville, I did record last year’s fireworks on our camcorder for my hubby while he was in Iraq. You are more than welcome to view that live show here! (note: long load time, full 19 minutes or so video.)
Click “read more” for more pics of this year’s show!
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Elvis – Singin’ in the Rayne!
July
2
2005
Haha! Corny joke I know. Today is my neice Rayne’s 4th Birthday. So pat mom on the back cause her baby is growing up fast, and let’s all sing the along with Elvis and wish Rayne a very Happy tater-tot b-day!!!
“Happy BIRTHday TOOOO youuuuu…
HapPY BIRTHday TOOOOOOOO youuuuuuuuuuu….
HaPPY BIRTHday dear RAYYYYNNNEEEE…
HAPpy BIRTHday to YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!”
Share the cake with brudder, ya little goober! 😉
Squishes from Auntie Leanne & Clan!
Paper Shoes
July
1
2005
My daughter, the papercrafter. Lastnight she amazed and astonished me with her latest paper creation, sandals. She made them for the Chickeymonkey out of one single piece of paper. Neat, huh?
Yes, there are some slight manufacturing problems that need to be overcome, but what do you think? Have I got myself a future shoe designer or what? She can make paper patterns of her shoes, and sell the designs, and be rich and famous by the time she’s 15.
My head is just spinning right now, I’ve got a ton of thoughts and ideas swirling in my mind about my blog, website, marketing, custom portraits, pricing etc. I’m feeling like I need to make some major changes, but I’m still trying to pinpoint what those are. I also need to get my floral piece finished!
The last few weeks have been pretty strange for me, if you didn’t notice. I’ve gone from painting every single day to wanting to paint, but feeling like if I do I am neglecting my kids. So I make plans with them and we do things and have fun, since it is summer vacation. I’m venturing into photography more than I thought I would be, which I am really enjoying. It feels like a very natural thing for me to do, and doesn’t even make me feel guilty! (You guys aren’t used to that though huh? You miss my painting updates, I can tell.)
I could take the whole summer off, and thinking about that makes me envision my whole painting career being slowly gulped down by a huge toilet. I’m at a bit of a crossroads, wishing there was enough time in the day to do it all, to be everything I want to be (when I grow up), and being realistic. It seems like every day I wake up and have a plan, and by 10AM I’ve changed it a thousand times over!
I hate when that happens.
So I’m trying to chill out a bit. To just go with the flow, not worry about things, not stress that I haven’t painted so much lately. Not stress when the girls are off playing “Let’s make paper shoes” for a few hours, because they really are having a good time. Not worry that since it’s been a week, I’ve probably completely forgotten how to paint.
See? (Care you’re right!) It seems my head likes to make stuff up to worry about. I’ve been working on that. Just breathe deeply, eat right, and enjoy every moment with whatever it brings.
Mark and I are going to do some business brainstorming tonight though. It’s going to be an interesting evening, and hopefully a very productive one. 🙂
HEY, do you wanna help? Name THREE reasons why you come to my blog/gallery. (I hope you can come up with three?) Conversely, you can also name any reasons why you wouldn’t come back daily. (I’m okay with constructive criticism!)
That would be super helpful in deciding what changes I need to make. THANKS!
I Went Away
June
28
2005
Did you notice? I went away!
I packed up the girls and headed north for the weekend, where a few interesting things occurred. But first, a pic of the view where we stayed, a place called Lake Lawn Resort. I have to go back to this place some day. With a fishing pole, and a boat!
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Hey Elvis! We’re Four!
June
23
2005
Today marks the 4th year of my second attempt at understanding my husband. My first attempt lasted approximately 7 years, then they came and took me away (ha ha hee hee ho ho)! All in all, I’ve loved the big doofus since I met him back in 1989. That’d be 16 years for those of you without a calculator handy! I think about 2 weeks into dating I scared the goobers out of him when I said “I’ve got a feeling I’ll be spending the rest of my life with you”.
He should have bolted then, when he had the chance.
Oh. Wait. Yeah, he did try to do that. Muaahaaaaahahaaa!
Anyhoo, Happy Anniversary to my dear old aging bifocal wearing gray overtaking the hairs left on his head husband, who just gets better and better with age. Because if you can tolerate me for this long, you’ve gotta be good/special/brilliant/insane.
Preservative Junkies R Us
June
21
2005
Those of you who know me well know a couple of things. First, I don’t ever, ever get a single cheeseburger when I get one. (Moo.) Okay I can pack it away, most often eating just one meal a day. I’m a carb-o-holic, bakery goods are my friend. A few things have happened over the last week or so, I’m working toward an even healthier version of me. It’s been over a year since I started this whole thing, dropping over 50 pounds since I began, my heart valves which were deteriorating are actually healing as a result of being more physically active. I also had a major surgery that has more than positively impacted my health.
Nearly a week ago now, I quit smoking. Yep, I smoked, yick huh? Yeah. Well don’t crucify or even applaud me yet, because it’s only been a week. I quit cold turkey, haven’t had any withdrawls or anything, except for the expulsion of crud that’s been building up in my lungs for 15 years or so. I quit when I was pregnant with both the girls, we also never ever smoked in the house. Mark is also quitting (right, honey!?), we’re both trying to extend our lives a little bit, cause, as you all know, ’tis a great planet we have here. (hahaha!) We just want to see our kids grow up and have kids, that’s all. BTW, I’ m not a believer in cigs as an addiction. I’ve told a lot of people that, and a lot of them think I’m nuts, but I truly believe that your body doesn’t crave, your mind does. and I believe that we have control over our own minds, so if we want something bad enough, to break bad habits etc., we have the power to do it within ourselves, we just might not have the strength or desire. Just my opinion on the matter, of course.
One thing I learned quickly this past week though, it’s not a good idea to try to quit preservatives in the same week. No. Don’t do that. Saturday was miserable here, we ate non-stop, but what we ate was all healthy stuff and by the end of the day all we wanted was McDonald’s. Everything on the menu would have been nice!
I decided to transition a little slower, making baby steps toward my new goal. I concocted this healthy lunch today and had to share, because this sammich rocks. You have to try it and tell me how you like it okay? I think I could eat this for breakfast lunch AND dinner. It’s that good.
1/2 Avocado, mashed (60 cals)
2 slices honey wheat bread (140 cals)
Broc sprouts (10 cals)
Thin slice o’ Tomato (4 cals)
2 bread & butter pickle slices (30 cals)
6 slices smoked turkey breast (50 cals)
1-2 pieces of lettuce (4 cals)
Nummy good sammich
Total calories: 298
Basically you take 1/2 the avocado and mash it, and spread it on the bread in place of butter/mayo. Then put sprouts on one side and lettuce on the other (the avocado’ll help it stick, that’s my logic. I hate it when my stuff falls all over the floor while I’m pacing.), then just randomly stack everything else. Really, it doesn’t have to be in any particular order. You could even toss it from across the room, grab yourself a scorecard and see how it goes. Lunchtime fun, yea? Ok.
You guys have probably all tried this before right? I’m the last person on the face of the planet to try to eat healthy stuff? I bet I am. I thought I was being original, if that counts?
Happy Father’s Day
June
19
2005
To all the dads out there today who interact with their kids, who are there to guide them and nurture them and give their kids the fatherly love and attention that every kid needs and deserves, who reacted to their thoughtful Father’s Day cards with tears welling up in their eyes; to the dads who are missing their kids today because they’re defending our Country, I would just like to recognize you guys and say “Happy Father’s Day”, and thanks.
To all the moms out there who act as mother and father in your household, I commend you and wish you a Happy Father’s Day, too. ‘Cause if you do both jobs, you should get two days of special recognition every year.
😀
