happy new year

I want to wish every one a happy and safe new year!

My grandson has been visiting this week so I’ve been playing lots of games and watching a few movies on TV. Lots of rest and relaxation! Just what I needed.

We plan to stay in tonight and ring in the new year at home. We bought goodies yesterday for making h’orderves. (I looked up the spelling and it still doesn’t look right!!)

We have a stack of board games and card games to play. Then we watch the ball drop in New York at midnight (well, we get a replay since we are in central time zone!!)

Again…wishing you a wonderful 2013!!

merry christmas

Just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!! The next few days are going to be busy so I’m not even going to attempt to blog.

I’ll miss you guys!!


I also want to share with you a video I saw a couple weeks ago. It’s sort of stayed with me and made me think of what I could accomplish in 30 days.

Every year, we start the year with Resolutions and such. I don’t know about you but most of mine are forgotten by February 1. If not sooner.

I’ve been trying to think of things I want to accomplish in the new year. What projects could I commit to…for 30 days.

• Write/illustrate a children’s book
• Learn a new instrument
• Take more photos
• Exercise every day
• Stop watching so much TV
• Stop eating sweets

Anyway…take a look at this video if you have time. He has tons of good ideas to get you to join the challenge.

What would you do for 30 days?

nothing much

Nothing much going on here today. Just doodling some things around the house.

Watching the weather channel now and then...hoping that the winter storm stays way to the north of me.

I do not like snow or ice or sleet or cold. The only good thing about winter is that I can hibernate ☺

Yeah, that and hot chocolate. So two good things. Stay warm!

holiday faves

It’s List it Tuesday over at Artsyville. This week’s theme is Holiday Traditions…so here goes:


My Favorite Things about the Holiday:

My mom’s gingerbread men. Oh, and she makes a mean pumpkin bread (with nuts and chocolate chips).

I love wrapping presents. Not so much the buying of. Or the paying for. But I really love the wrapping of part.

Holiday movies. Oldies like “Miracle on 34th Street” with Maureen O’Hara and Natalie Wood. And new ones like “Love Actually” with Liam Neeson (swoon) or “The Holiday” with Jude Law (double swoon).

My favorite all time Christmas movie is “It’s a Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart. I’ve seen it 50 times. And I’ve cried 50 times.


But my favorite thing about the holidays is seeing my family. We are all spread out so this is the only time of the year that we ALL get together. This year’s count is 36. About 2 years ago, we started renting a hotel meeting room…grandma’s house just got too crowded! But there is still plenty of food and gifts and talking and laughing. Lots of laughing!

That is my absolute favorite thing about the holidays.

blue monday

My heart goes out to all those parents in Connecticut who will not be dropping their children off at school today. I cannot even imagine their pain.

A friend sent out a link to this poem. It’s really beautiful. I’m no poet but this one line really speaks to me:

“More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.”

seen any good movies lately?

My work project is done. Christmas shopping done. Wrapping…almost done. My To Do list is up-to-date. So now on to the next thing….what movie to see at the theater?

There are so many good ones out this season.

I don’t go very often. I don’t like crowds so I only go to a movie theater 2 or 3 times a year.

Plus, it’s so expensive! Not just the movie but the goodies you buy to go along with it! Must have a soda, some popcorn, and my favorite….Hot Tamales!

I think I’ll go see The Hobbit. I tend to go for movies that absolutely must be seen on the Big Screen! What else sounds good this year? Any recommendations?

it's been one of those weeks...

I could use a double!

And a really, really long nap.

think pink

I had a little time to doodle last night. It’s the calm before the storm at work. I’ve been forewarned to expect a little more overtime. Hopefully it will slow down in a day or so until after the new year.

I hope.

Here’s a doodle of a zipper purse I bought a few months ago. I occasionally want to carry only my wallet, keys and phone, so this is the perfect size.

Most of the time, I carry a purse that will hold EVERYTHING! God forbid I should get a mile from my house without lipgloss or a Kleenex.

blue monday

Here’s another little bird we see a lot around our house. The Bluejay…or as my daughter was taught in school…the Sassy Bluejay! And they certainly are!

Whatever they want, they get. They are very bossy and will chase away other birds just to get the birdbath all to themselves.

i spy something red

We get hundreds of birds everyday at our feeders. I can always spot the Cardinals waiting in the bushes. It’s kind of hard to hide when you are this beautiful!

my addiction

Just a quick sketch and a confession.

I am addicted to kettle corn. It’s my daily afternoon snack!!

I have been on a kick to cut sweets (specifically chocolates!!) from my daily routine. So….I’ve found a good replacement. It’s sweet. It’s salty. It’s yummy!

my alarmcat

I haven’t talked about my little Abby cat for a while. She has been slacking lately on her duties. Very rarely does she wake me up in the mornings these days.

It’s funny that I miss her old annoying habits. Little things like:

• Sleeping on my neck and purring loudly.
• Licking my eyelids to wake me up.
• Crying that the food bowl is empty.
• Knocking stuff off my nightstand…eyeglasses, water bottles, etc., just to get my attention.
• Sleeping on my pillow and putting her furry little body right in my face.

Yeah, I miss that.

She’s getting older and more senile every day. She’s on a special diet…mostly liquids…or pureed canned food. I spend more time preparing her meals than I do my own.

Her weight has dropped the last year or so by half. She’s a little bag of bones now whereas she used to be a HUGE fat cat.

She still has the same sweet face and beautiful green-gold eyes. But her kidneys are slowing failing and her joints are getting more arthritic. She likes to sleep a good part of the day (and night)…but then she always did that!

Oh, Abby, how did we get so old? It’s hard to imagine that we’ve lived together more than 18 years. Where did the time go?

think pink!

Yesterday got a little better…before it got worse. I snuck in a nap at lunchtime. That helped.

Then I got assigned to a new project with a very short deadline, and ended up working some overtime.

That’s how it goes. I’m not complaining though. I love what I do and I love being blessed with work!!

Today’s doodle is one of my new favorite things. Well, three of them. I bought one of these lipglosses and liked it so well that I went back a few days later for another color. As luck would have it, they were on sale. Buy one, get one half off.

blue monday

It’s Monday. It’s December. Everything outside is brown and sad looking. I’m not a winter person.

I did a little Christmas shopping yesterday. I love Christmas. I hate shopping.

I had insomnia last night. I finally gave up, got up and read for a while. I’m very tired this morning. Very tired.

I painted this yesterday. It’s the view from my studio window. I was trying to paint the pretty vases that I keep in the window. Instead I kept concentrating on the drabness of the fence and the lack of leaves in the trees. No flowers in the garden.

Wow, I either need a good, long nap or an attitude adjustment!! I’ll try and do better tomorrow. I promise.