November 2019 = planning and crafting for the Holiday season! I love this time of year - seems to me that people try just a little bit harder to be kinder I wish we could keep more "aware" every day...

Update 9/16/19 I'm trying to get back into "arting" ~ I've only recently lost someone, and my companion all within one week, plus I've gotten a scary heart diagnosis and was immediately placed on a blood thinner & beta blocker. So... I'm not getting any firewood in or preparing for winter ~ under doctors orders! (at least until we get my heart squared away) While it's been a difficult end to the summer, I'm trying to work at creating journals, so if anyone would like to do a private swap, I'm available! Not a lot I can physically do right now, so... Art it is!

8/8/19 ~ yesterday the large animal vet was here along with a friend with a bucket loader: I said "good-bye" to my companion dog, Ebony. She was so much more than just a pet & the silence in this house today is deafening. Just a horrible time...

I am a retired/disabled elementary reading teacher ~ I love to draw, doodle, paint, and craft.

I live alone in a log cabin in the woods with a couple of super cats. I like to read and bake, old movies are fun too! I like mysteries and novels ~ I've pretty much grown out of romance. I own quite a few DVD's too, because there are so many movies I just don't mind watching again, and yes I do have the entire Harry Potter series ~ both book and DVD :)

I have RA, so when I am able and my hands are willing, I like to draw, crochet and try all sorts of crafts. Sometimes I even finish one :) Since I live alone, it seems my whole cabin is a craft room some days! I often have 3 or 4 partially read books lying around the place and art projects in various stages of completion ...

I usually have a few mysteries in progress as well as a fiction or two ~ I'm not a fan of pure romance but humorous/comedy romance is okay! I also like inspirational, The Shack for example. It's easier to say that I dislike gory horror - I have read Stephen King, but I like his older stuff, before he began swearing every other word... I do pretty much read everything from historical fiction, general fiction and fantasy to even some self-help :)

I also used to write, so I love journals, and junque journaling ~ and art journals are just an extension of that... I've only recently been trying my hand at creating/binding art/junk journals and while it hasn't always worked as planned, it's been fun. My biggest problem right now is storing and then finding the papers, ephemera, etc I've been collecting for these journals!

I recycle, upcycle and just try to re-use everything! I use a variety of papers, from junk mail to old maps and damaged books for art & crafts. This is because I am poor and also, I'd like to be far less wasteful. I think we're becoming too much of a disposable society and that saddens me. I have actually refrained from purchasing things in the grocery store because of too much packaging. Cardboard boxes I can re-use but when an item is packaged in a huge amount of plastic I often will pass it up!

The colors I use the most are warmer earthy tones. I know neon has a place, but I find it often too glaring. Otherwise I love all colors and am not too picky in that respect :) I will admit that last summer I looked at the clothesline one day and noticed I had 7 shirts/t-shirts all in different hues of red!

I respect art of all styles, but I am not fond of dark/goth gory images. I also am not overly fond of cute "safe" rainbow type images, but I understand others are and if that is their style then so be it! I feel the same way about religious art ~ it doesn't often speak to me, but if it's your passion, then go for it! I feel that we make art for ourselves & not to please another. We can tailor our style to gift to another person, but our style just is.

Collections: I love papers and save just about every different kind of paper I come across, up to and including maps, old book pages, brochures and even takeout menus that are unique in any way. I love ocean related themes (I lived for years on a cabin cruiser), poetry, and cats & dogs. I would be so happy to receive the Cryptoquip puzzle from your daily newspaper!! I love them and sudoku puzzles. I really don't want to do the entire alphabet of likes here, but I do love crayons (plain old Crayola or the like) they're one of my favorite art tools. I love flamingos and the smell of freshly cut grass or cedar. I love a good thunderstorm and rainy days do make me blue!

As for daily likes and dislikes, I'm pretty easy going usually. I love my coffee throughout the day, hot or iced! I drink way to much of it, and in the evenings I often switch to tea! I love tea almost as much as I love coffee & I enjoy a wide variety ~ love to try new blends too!

I guess if I had to choose a motto, it would be "live and let live."

One of my pet peeves are people who always complain they are bored. I have been too tired, just not willing to do something, or run out of time, but I have never ever been bored!!

Update 6/24/18 ~ since the initial writing of this profile, I have adopted another rescue, Coco - a more lovable knucklehead you've never met! Our only issue, he and I, is his insistence that he take a dip and go for a swim every 5 minutes! Never had a dog who liked to swim so much :) He's keeping my floors and furniture damp ~ it's like living on a boat again!

Also = I live very rural and I won't mark "sent" unless I have posted an item. However, my mail carrier may or may not pick up & have the mail processed - depending on his schedule, so sometimes I realize the actual postmark may be a day off from my marking an item "sent." This is just life here :) By very rural I mean that I am right now dealing with a bear that is coming into my deck space and annoying my animals... This is besides dealing with the massive (car steering wheel size) snapping turtles crawling up from the lake to dig in my gardens and annoy the animals! Or the moose, fox, eagles and all the rest :)