Barbie Sized Bedspreads and Throwpillows

Here are the Barbie sized bedspreads and throwpillows that I make to sell. My Barbie (that I've had for at least 27 years) is kindly modeling them for me. If you'll notice, some of the pillows and throwpillows are different in each picture. I have a lot of fun working in miniature. So far, I've sold a bedspread and pillow set and two throwpillows (bedspread comes with a matching pillow, then all extra pillows and throwpillows sold separately).

These, along with a few other crafts, were what I was working on so diligently for the craft fairs.

Pink Flower

"Pink Flower" painted 9/10/08

Lots of beautiful butterflies

Butterflies were rampant in early October. There were at least one hundred of these beautiful orange mini-butterflies flying around all over landing on the sunflowers to feed. We also saw a black butterfly and a yellow butterfly, but the majority of them were the beautiful orange ones. They made such a striking contrast to the yellow flowers.

Pancake Mushrooms

We keep running across mushrooms! These look like someone made mini pancakes and tossed them outside instead of eating them. Interesting.

Happy October Birthdays!

We celebrated some birthdays at Incredible Pizza on the 5th of October. Two little boys turned 5 (one on the 2nd and one on the 7th) and a little girl turned 3 (on the 18th).

We truly had a lot of fun eating and playing together (my parents and each of my sisters with their husbands and two kids apiece were there along with Pooker and I--thought for those of you who don't know my family, you'd appreciate at least knowing who you were seeing in the pictures). Pooker and I got our hands stamped before we went outside to hug everyone good-bye. Then we went back in and sat down and ate some more before we eventually left a good hour and a half after everyone else had gone. I'd recommend an Incredible Pizza birthday party--good times!

Sunset in early October

This is a sunset I saw in early October. (Remember, I've just downloaded the last 500 pictures I took, which was all of October!) I wanted to post this two days ago, but for some reason, Blogger was not working to be able to put pictures on my posts. And since pictures are worth 1,000 words and I like showing you what I see and do, I had to wait until it was working again.

Beautiful Flowers

I know I say beautiful flowers a lot, but that is how I think of flowers. To me, they are just so beautiful. A bright spot of color and life here and there, sometimes where you least expect it. I need spots of beauty in the midst of not so beautiful things.

Our second trip to the Fair

I guess on our second trip to the Fair, I mainly took pictures of the animals. At any rate, these are all the pictures I found on my camera from our visit. I think I was tired and we had a lot going on and not enough time to really relax and enjoy. This is the placid giraffe.

The camel was in constant motion because there was a kid with a little cup of food in it and he kept feeding the camel. I couldn't wait for them to get away from the camel and for the camel to stand still, so here is the picture of the camel chewing.

I couldn't even manage to get a picture of this cute goat's face. He wouldn't look at me because I didn't have a little cup of food and he was looking for someone that did.

Even the sleeping water buffalo couldn't be bothered to open his eyes and get up. Either he'd had one too many little cups of food or he was just tired of the constant stream of staring pointing people and needed a break.

So, those were from our visit to the petting zoo (where we were in too much of a hurry and there were too many people for me to even get close enough to pet the animals (except I probably could have petted the goat, but really wanted his little eyes on me while I did the petting). This picture is from an awesome artist who painted this picture of Johnny Cash to music within seven minutes (with some dancing around included). He was truly amazing and certainly has a gift for painting faces.

Incidentally, my photographs did not place in the Fair so I probably won't bother to enter any next year (unless I take a picture of something so spectacular in the next year that it would be a crime not to enter it). I did manage to eat an Indian Taco and a Chicken Pita and some Beer Battered Fried Cheese Curds and tasted of several desserts during our two trips to the Fair. I don't think I ate as much as I normally do there, but it may have to do with the fact I had a limited amount of money to spend on food, so couldn't go as crazy as I may have wanted. It's really too bad the Fair doesn't come twice a year. I just love a good Fair.

Spaghetti in the Park

Spaghetti, anyone? Brownie and I ran across this spaghetti and spaghetti sauce in the park on one of our walks. I know this looks staged, but believe me, this is where I found it. And believe it or not, I didn't throw this leaf on the table to make it look real. Everything is exactly like we found it. Bizarre, I know, but it kind of tells you something about the people in the area we live in.

I think I'm back.....

Okay, peeps, I think I'm back. Sorry that it took me longer than I thought. I worked on getting my house cleaned up last week and I'm working on getting my part-time job done this week. I didn't download all the pictures from my camera until yesterday.

Those really aren't the only reasons, though. I've been very concerned about Grandad, whose mind still hasn't recovered. His behavior was just erratic enough that it was becoming a question of whether he could still be kept at home or not. Finally, they enrolled him in a program called "Generations" where they actually care about trying to get medications regulated to actually help the person mentally as well as physically (unlike the hospital and rehab who could have cared less about his mind, only his body). Today is his fifth day there. I don't know if they are making progress or not, but Grandma can go see him for the first time today. With him there, thankfully everyone is able to relax and try to catch up on their rest.

All that to say, this whole situation has just brought up the feelings of loss and grief that I feel from losing my Grandma earlier this year, which made the loss of a complete set and have ended traditions I've celebrated for all of my 37 years. I'm not ready to lose another grandparent at all, much less in the same year, and to have even more traditions come to an end. It's just all been too much change for me at one time and I've had a hard time coping. Blogging, while I enjoy it, was one of the last things on my mind.

All that said, let's continue on with some good stuff!