SUMMER IS COMING!
Next week, we'll have 4 days of triple degree temperatures here. That means 100+. Today, however, is a GORGEOUS spring day. I can feel a nice breeze, the birds are outside feeding and sipping water at the water fountain. Ahhhh....spring!
But, alas, summer IS coming. That means shutting up the house, closing the curtains, and enduring canned air while the air conditioner is running nonstop.
We ARE making plans for a trip to Arizona during the monsoon season. We've found a couple of cabins that take dogs and, with my profits from EBAY, we can pay for one of them in full up front! Ain't that grand? We better book it before it goes to someone else!
Not much else is planned here. Our youngest grandson turned 1 year old today. And, today marks my one-year anniversary retiring! I've LOVE IT and I still do! I taught for 30 years, and worked part time through college, then worked 7 years as a legal secretary. Hubby worked from the time he was 16 until he retired at 66. That's ... 50 years!
I'm enjoying my arts & crafts. It gives me a creative outlet.
Have a great day!
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Busy, busy, and MORE BUSY!!!!
I've been busy with my arts & crafts signs. I made 3 in one day. Then we visited the son's family in Temecula and last weekend hubby and I were BOTH SICK. I had a horrible, painful stomach cramp flu thing and he had the BIG D...(diarrhea). I was out of it for 3 days. Yesterday, however, I perked up, and I ran errands. Today I'm heading up to the horses because they ALL need pellets.
Anyway, I'm getting to the point that I need to do SOMETHING with all of the photos on canvas and wooden signs. I now have 5 24" wooden signs. One is going to a friend. One will stay here. It says, "Forget the dog...BEWARE of grandkids!" It isn't the greatest looking and I turned over one of my very first signs and put that on the back. I figured since it is going to be outside anyway, I wouldn't waste another of my precious boards on it! I'm going to hang it on our side fence.
I gave away one of my ocean themed 12 x 12" canvases yesterday. We had driven to a local paper outlet and the gal there was so helpful, I took 3 signs with me and let her pick one out. She chose an ocean themed one with shells on it.
I really do enjoy making these. They give me an outlet for my creative juices! Hubby can lay things out spatially, but I'm much more creative. It drives him nuts sometimes!
Here are a few photos of my recent creations:
Anyway, I'm getting to the point that I need to do SOMETHING with all of the photos on canvas and wooden signs. I now have 5 24" wooden signs. One is going to a friend. One will stay here. It says, "Forget the dog...BEWARE of grandkids!" It isn't the greatest looking and I turned over one of my very first signs and put that on the back. I figured since it is going to be outside anyway, I wouldn't waste another of my precious boards on it! I'm going to hang it on our side fence.
I gave away one of my ocean themed 12 x 12" canvases yesterday. We had driven to a local paper outlet and the gal there was so helpful, I took 3 signs with me and let her pick one out. She chose an ocean themed one with shells on it.
I really do enjoy making these. They give me an outlet for my creative juices! Hubby can lay things out spatially, but I'm much more creative. It drives him nuts sometimes!
Here are a few photos of my recent creations:
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Busy, busy, busy!
I'm just not posting much these days. I have TOO MANY other things to do!
First, babysitting...you know the story there.
Second, babysitting the HUSBAND. He tweeked his back AGAIN and now it is visiting the chiropractor 2x a week. It is a 2 hour round trip. There goes another 2 days.
Third, my arts & crafts. I've discovered putting sheet music (piano) on canvas and then decorating the canvas to match the title or mood of the piece. You can see some here: So far I only have 3 of them listed. I have 3 more to list, but not today:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DesertsandBeyond?ref=hdr_shop_menu
PLEASE do stop by and take a look. It's depressing having 1 visitor a month! :-(
Anyway, I also made 2 wooden signs. One is for a friend. Sorry about the photo. I took this with my tablet and it jiggles all the time! But, you get the idea...My friend gets the top one and I don't know what to do with the bottom one. Each one is 24" long...
First, babysitting...you know the story there.
Second, babysitting the HUSBAND. He tweeked his back AGAIN and now it is visiting the chiropractor 2x a week. It is a 2 hour round trip. There goes another 2 days.
Third, my arts & crafts. I've discovered putting sheet music (piano) on canvas and then decorating the canvas to match the title or mood of the piece. You can see some here: So far I only have 3 of them listed. I have 3 more to list, but not today:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DesertsandBeyond?ref=hdr_shop_menu
PLEASE do stop by and take a look. It's depressing having 1 visitor a month! :-(
Anyway, I also made 2 wooden signs. One is for a friend. Sorry about the photo. I took this with my tablet and it jiggles all the time! But, you get the idea...My friend gets the top one and I don't know what to do with the bottom one. Each one is 24" long...
Enjoy your Easter!
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Blooms, blooms, and more blooms!
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
A visit with the grandkids
So, we drove to Temecula yesterday. LOTS of brittlebrush up on Highway 74, marguerites, and lupine. There was some kind of purple flower ALL OVER the hills next to Highway 79 in Anza. I don't know what it was. It looked like giant lupines, but the flowers were different.
LOTS of wildflowers along 79 from Aguanga to Temecula...poppies, daisies, mustard. We still haven't made it out to Interstate 15 yet and probably won't unless I drive down to our son's next week.
Left here at 12:30, got home at 9 p.m. LONG afternoon. I am tired today. Grandpa did practice baseball with the grandson, who is a pretty darn good little baseball player! I sat at the kitchen table and drew pictures with the 28 month old...she is TALKING NONSTOP! My, my!
Later!
~Cheryl Ann~
LOTS of wildflowers along 79 from Aguanga to Temecula...poppies, daisies, mustard. We still haven't made it out to Interstate 15 yet and probably won't unless I drive down to our son's next week.
Left here at 12:30, got home at 9 p.m. LONG afternoon. I am tired today. Grandpa did practice baseball with the grandson, who is a pretty darn good little baseball player! I sat at the kitchen table and drew pictures with the 28 month old...she is TALKING NONSTOP! My, my!
Later!
~Cheryl Ann~
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
The MISADVENTURES of being a grandparent
I've already told you about how, one day, we were babysitting both kids while they were sick. Actually, it was 4 days in a row. And, how I looked up at one point and to my HORROR, the front screen door and DOOR were wide open and the BABY was sitting on the porch steps...sigh...
Well, Saturday night GRANDPA made a flying leap from his chair at the dinner table to prevent the 11 month old from falling off one of the living room chairs onto the tile floor. He banged his right arm on the floor and how has a bruise the size of Maryland! It sure looks horrible, but he did manage to save the giggling baby who apparently thought it was funny to watch Grandpa move so fast!
So, yesterday we had to babysit the 4 year old. She's had a fever for 3 days. She didn't want breakfast. She didn't want lunch. She wanted a popsicle, some Veggie straws, and some cheese. That's ALL she ate ALL DAY.
She REFUSED to take a nap, so at 2:00, her mother told me to take her into the bedroom and lie down with her. It took her... 40 MINUTES to go to sleep! She had to gather all her dolls. She had to get her blanket. She had to get HER pillow. Then, she talked to her mermaid doll for 30 minutes! OY!
Today we are driving to Temecula to visit the son and his family. This is the 27 month old who is now talking NONSTOP and the 8 year old. He has to interview a relative for a school project, so he picked me. I'm to bring along some childhood photos of myself. Yeah, right. All 3 of them...That's ALL I can find! Apparenly I somehow got left out of the family albums! WELL! As an only child, you would think my parents would have 10,000 photos of me. Nope. I can only find 3...
Oh, well...life goes on!
~Cheers~
~Cheryl Ann~
That's me on a horse up in Apple Valley, I was about 10. I could sniff out a riding stable in every town!
With my parents and future husband...
With my maternal grandparents...about 1970...
Well, Saturday night GRANDPA made a flying leap from his chair at the dinner table to prevent the 11 month old from falling off one of the living room chairs onto the tile floor. He banged his right arm on the floor and how has a bruise the size of Maryland! It sure looks horrible, but he did manage to save the giggling baby who apparently thought it was funny to watch Grandpa move so fast!
So, yesterday we had to babysit the 4 year old. She's had a fever for 3 days. She didn't want breakfast. She didn't want lunch. She wanted a popsicle, some Veggie straws, and some cheese. That's ALL she ate ALL DAY.
She REFUSED to take a nap, so at 2:00, her mother told me to take her into the bedroom and lie down with her. It took her... 40 MINUTES to go to sleep! She had to gather all her dolls. She had to get her blanket. She had to get HER pillow. Then, she talked to her mermaid doll for 30 minutes! OY!
Today we are driving to Temecula to visit the son and his family. This is the 27 month old who is now talking NONSTOP and the 8 year old. He has to interview a relative for a school project, so he picked me. I'm to bring along some childhood photos of myself. Yeah, right. All 3 of them...That's ALL I can find! Apparenly I somehow got left out of the family albums! WELL! As an only child, you would think my parents would have 10,000 photos of me. Nope. I can only find 3...
Oh, well...life goes on!
~Cheers~
~Cheryl Ann~
Sunday, April 2, 2017
WOOD signs UPDATE
Well, my 2nd attempt was a complete, utter FAILURE! I asked hubby what color to put on the wood and he suggested RED. Well, with the walnut stain on the wood, it looked... AWFUL! So, that one is going into the trash! Besides, I PAINTED my stencils on this one and they got all smeared. I read a blog post last night and the gal said to use makeup sponges and to BLOT, never stroke, with a stencil. Hmmm....I'll have to run to the Dollar Store and pick up some cheap makeup sponges! I made one with white paint that says "Vikinghaus" and it looks okay, so I'll keep that one. This is a learning stage, I know...
I took 2 of my canvas projects down to our daughter for the little ones. What is the first thing she said?
She said, "You didn't get the bottom edge even!"
OY! I wanted to pull out my hair. I TRIED to explain to her that I had to lay it basically on a GLUE background and only had once chance to do it right, so then she said, "Next time make a pencil mark on the bottom and line it up properly."
If I don't have any hair tomorrow it is because I HAVE PULLED IT ALL OUT! She's JUST like her father...SPATIAL!
OY!
Not, "Thank you, Mom, for spending HOURS of your time on these!"
Not, "Thank you, Mom, for thinking of my children!"
Not, "Thank you, Mom, for doing this for my children!"
It's hard to be a creative person in this environment. Thank GOD our son is like me! (I love her anyway...she DOES have SOME redeeming qualities!)
I'm off to Lowe's this morning to buy a new spool of plastic for the weeder. I used a whole spool yesterday on the back yard and it is only 1/3 done. I just MIGHT have to check out their lumber department! (hee, hee!)
SPARE PARTS: I am going to look for a cheap sander. I think I can find one for about $20 or $30. I realized that I was sanding those boards with my bare hands and I was lucky I didn't get nicked by a splinter of wood! Wouldn't that be GREAT? We also have a Habitat for Humanity store here in town, so I'll stop in there on Tuesday when they open again and look for one there. It just depends on what they have at any particular time. This week they had a BEAUTIFUL solid wood dining table with 2 benches. $250.00 I WANTED it, but I don't have that kind of disposable money any longer...It was GORGEOUS...nice varnish on it and 2 wooden chairs for each end of the table. If you are interested, they are behind Sam's Club in Palm Desert, across from COSTCO.
I took 2 of my canvas projects down to our daughter for the little ones. What is the first thing she said?
She said, "You didn't get the bottom edge even!"
OY! I wanted to pull out my hair. I TRIED to explain to her that I had to lay it basically on a GLUE background and only had once chance to do it right, so then she said, "Next time make a pencil mark on the bottom and line it up properly."
If I don't have any hair tomorrow it is because I HAVE PULLED IT ALL OUT! She's JUST like her father...SPATIAL!
OY!
Not, "Thank you, Mom, for spending HOURS of your time on these!"
Not, "Thank you, Mom, for thinking of my children!"
Not, "Thank you, Mom, for doing this for my children!"
It's hard to be a creative person in this environment. Thank GOD our son is like me! (I love her anyway...she DOES have SOME redeeming qualities!)
I'm off to Lowe's this morning to buy a new spool of plastic for the weeder. I used a whole spool yesterday on the back yard and it is only 1/3 done. I just MIGHT have to check out their lumber department! (hee, hee!)
SPARE PARTS: I am going to look for a cheap sander. I think I can find one for about $20 or $30. I realized that I was sanding those boards with my bare hands and I was lucky I didn't get nicked by a splinter of wood! Wouldn't that be GREAT? We also have a Habitat for Humanity store here in town, so I'll stop in there on Tuesday when they open again and look for one there. It just depends on what they have at any particular time. This week they had a BEAUTIFUL solid wood dining table with 2 benches. $250.00 I WANTED it, but I don't have that kind of disposable money any longer...It was GORGEOUS...nice varnish on it and 2 wooden chairs for each end of the table. If you are interested, they are behind Sam's Club in Palm Desert, across from COSTCO.
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