It Was Raining Cats And Snakes

We finally got some much needed rain! MT and I were sitting under the garage for morning coffee, cigarettes, and couple time. I had gone in briefly to make sure the kids were getting ready when he comes running in the house urgently calling my name and telling me to come look at something.
I get outside in the garage and there was the tail of a very large snake slithering under some cardboard boxes in the corner. MT said it was between 5 and 6 feet long!

I got to work and about an hour or so into the day, I hear a kitten screaming and crying for it's mother. I found this tiny little baby ball of fur, so sweet and so adorable and as I approached it in the gentlest manner possible, talking to it in soothing tones, I extended my hand in frienship and mercy to this little lost and pitiful creature and it hissed, spit, and lunged at my hand with all the ferocity it's frightened little body could muster and I backed OFF! This was one feisty little ball of fur!

I managed at day's end to capture it and discovered that she is female. She is very pretty with beautiful blue eyes and she was so weary from her frightful adventure of the day, that she began to trust us quickly once she knew we would not hurt her. One of my co-workers took her to a friend to foster for a couple of weeks then she will be available to some lucky someone who can make her a good home. She will be a wonderful cat, I am sure.

I am still a bit out of sorts with my situation. Mama is refusing help, unless it is us, but then she will wear herself out and we have to end up there anyway. JJ and I are about ready to throw our hands up! We are between a rock and a hard place with no where to turn.

As I left to do some work that came in, Mama and Ellen confirmed that Daddy has been able to get up out of his chair on his own. We are asking HHC to come in nearly everyday and get Daddy showered and dressed and come back in the evening and get him in his jammies for bed. Yay!

Just got the news that we will be off Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving! Another Yay! Looking forward to November 11th to be off for Veteran's Day!

It Has Been A Long Month

It has been just over a month since I began work at the Licensure Board. It seems as if I have been working here for at least three. I am amazed that it has taken so long to get adjusted to a new routine. Just proves that I am not a spring chicken anymore, I guess. The upside of this is even though it may take this "old" dog a little longer to learn the new tricks, she can still learn! It has been a good experience overall. My co-workers are great people and I am happy to have the opportunity to make new friends, the job is not bad as jobs go, the pay is not bad, the time away from home stinks, but when there are three positives and one negative, I am in a pretty good situation.

October is here. My favorite month is October. The weather is gorgeous, the sky is the bluest it is all year, the holidays are just around the corner, I always feel happy in autumn even when there is so much to be unhappy about. The summer heat is oppresive and I feel oppressed when in the midst of the summer months, but autumn is so freeing. It bursts with color all over my life and then urges me to celebrate all that is good in my world. The fun festivities of Halloween, the thankfulness that is ushered in at Thanksgiving, the joy of Christmas, the feeling of new beginnings that come with January 1st each year.

In spite of all my troubles, worries, aches, and pains, October has revived me. With it comes a renewed strength and purpose to get my life back and get it in order.

Hope is overflowing in my life today. It is a good day to be alive and free and blessed.

August and September were pitiful months, indeed, but oh, how I love October!

Life Can Change In The Blink Of An Eye

Change is inevitable. Everything changes all the time. Change is as constant as the ticking away of the minutes of our lives.

Nothing remains the same. Why is that concept so difficult for humnas to grasp? Why do we resist it with such fervor?

When we know change is coming we cringe and writhe in agony over the adjustments we must make in order to continue living our lives. We weep over things that no longer fit or are feasible in our present circumstance. We stand with our fist in the air shrieking at God Himself for our miserable condition

when will this end/

I am tired of whining, tired of living in fear, tired of having to live day to day

Found Passion

Nursery silhouette for boy to be personalized


Nursery silhouette for girl can be personalized


Beach scene to be personalized


nautical piece. I have added an anchor and a ships wheel. room sign/personalized



my first silhouette



painted gourds for decoration or birdhouse



pencil cups for kids












This is a smaller canvas for boy or girl that is $20.00.


This is another that is personalized. Smaller canvas-$20.00


This is another smaller, personalized canvas that is $20.00 because of extra detailing.

Colorful canvas room sign $20.00

Animal print canvas room sign $30.00

Unisex canvas room sign $20.00

Room Sign Canvas with frog for a boy $25.00

Flowered Canvas for a girl $25.00

Animal print that is popular among the young. All these can be personalized with names or initials. $30.00

I love to paint! Seriously, I love to paint!

I knew I had some talent for it, but never let myself enjoy doing it much because unless I was making gifts, it was doing something I liked to do in place of those things I needed to do. Guilt for doing something I enjoy because I hadn't done all my chores. How screwed up and flawed can one person be?

So I hear about an established event that has happened annually for over 30 years that is adding arts and crafts to make this event a festival. I check it out and it is a feasible and inexpensive way for me to see if what I paint will resonate with people.

I am so excited and so nervous. I worry that it will be a total bust. I am hopeful that my items will sell. I am having the best time painting and it brings me peace and a sense of well-being. Painting is quite therapeutic for me and just maybe it will be profitable in other ways, as well.

Hidden Blessings in the Strangest Places

This year has been plagued with turmoil.

I admit that early on in this chaos, I lost my faith, I lost my way, I lost myself, and I lost my peace of mind. I was a mess in full, living, breathing, vivid color in every way one could possibly imagine. Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, psychologically...you name it...I was a total mess.

During this horrid, nightmarish time, I could not see an answer, a solution, or a way out. I was helpless to change my circumstance and hopeless, thinking that no one else could either. I begged God for intervention, relief, support, help, wisdom, to release me from this fear that griped my heart. Didn't happen. Nothing changed. There was no blessing tangible enough for me to grasp, nothing visible for me to see. Everyday a living nightmare from which I could not awaken.

For months this drug out and with each passing day I plunged deeper into this black pit that threatened to swallow me up, with every promise of never allowing me to return to my world, my life. I can't explain the depth of my despair or the overwhelming feeling of fear that engulfed me. Still, I could not see any blessing, grace, mercy, relief, or compassion forthcomimg from the God I had served most of my life. I felt alone, rejected, abandoned. I cried all.the.time.

Not long after this, I realized that I was not feeling anything anymore. No fear, but no exuberance. No sorrow, but no joy. No pain, but no excitement. No anger or hatred, but no love. I was numb to the situation that had persecuted me for so long. In the moment of that realization, I was most afraid. I could not bear the thought of a life that was senseless, that had no feeling, no purpose. Just existing until it all ended. Trudging through day after day of...nothing. I couldn't MAKE myself cry. There was nothing there, at least not at the surface.

I had to dig deep to get to all that I had shoved so thoroughly into myself. I had to save myself because no one else could. If I was going to be even a semblence of the person I once was or ever hoped to be, I had to do this.

It was painful, but healing. It was gruesome, but I was growing. It was torturous, but I survived it. It was anything but easy, but it was done.

My circumstances are not changed much, but I am a changed person. I am facing my fears and doing battle with them. I am looking inward to find what needs to be tweaked or repaired and it gets easier everyday. I have setbacks at times, but I know now that I have the strength to pull myself out of this thing. My God never left me, but was honing and shaping me into the person He and I, want me to be. He has my back and if the Creator of the universe and everything in it, is on my side...well, I know that with that kind of power in my corner, I can overcome it all.

I am a work in progress, but I am still here and I am better than I was before. In retrospect, I see all kinds of blessings scattered along this journey I have been traveling. I couldn't see them then, but they are big as life now. A testament to the fact, that He never once left me alone. I learned that I don't have to see the whole path that is before me in this darkness. I just have to take one step and His light will move with me to illuminate the next. If I never walk in sureness again, if I have to walk one step at a time in the dark, it will be alright. I would rather walk in darkness holding His hand, than walk in light without Him.

I can hardly wait to see what He is going to do with the rest of this messy life of mine. I know it will be good, because His specialty is making good things come out of bad situations. I have learned to look for blessings in the strangest of places. If I open my eyes and search, even in the toughest times, they are there because He is faithful, able, and He loves me too much to let me go or let me down.

Check out my blog video, God's Chisel. It is very poignant and it has brought me much comfort and understanding in this period of my life. Hope it brings you something good too!

Teaching Old Dogs, New Tricks

What we have learned in the last year is huge.

We have learned that victory is not final.

We have learned that we must plan in order to avoid failure.

We have learned that failure although painful, is not fatal.

We have learned that God is faithful. He didn't abandon us, we gave up on Him.

We have learned that we have a very strong marriage and consequently, a very strong family.

We have learned that we are resilient and even flexible when forced to be.

We have learned that we are loved beyond measure by family and friends.

We have learned that we can not only be grateful under duress for our blessings, but that we can even be thankful for the duress that shapes us into better, stronger human beings.

We have learned there is always hope and hope means the difference between success and failure, living and dying, positive and negative attitudes...hope gives life.

We have learned that much of what we thought mattered...doesn't.

We have learned that much of what we took for granted is the most important part of our lives.

We have learned to live, really live our lives. Not just exist.

We have learned to love with every fiber of our being.

We have learned that laughter truly is the best medicine.

We have learned to trust the Being that gave us life, for He is holding us in His powerful hand.

This last year has been a hard one that has changed my definition of success. Success is learning from our mistakes.

That would make this last year a huge success in my book.