PLAY DATE TODAY

I had a play date today with Patty and Linda - my scrapbooking buddies. I love these play dates and totally enjoy their company. They are both fantastic ladies and it's my privilege to call them my friends.

I actually did got some scrapbook layouts done today!! Woo HOO!! I'm about a year and half behind on my scrapbooking. It seems like journals and mixed media art take up all my time now.

Anyway, I worked on two of the JOURNAL OF DREAMS. I have Sue's here and finished hers. I also did a page for Gina even though I have not yet received her journal. Might as well get a head start right??

These are the two pages for the journals.

I also did 4 "mini cards" for a swap on The Sum of All ATCs group. They are the size of atc cards. They were quick and easy. They will be on their way to Lori on Monday.

JOURNAL PAGE FOR TRACY

Tracy and I are participating in the round robin journal JOURNAL OF DREAMS. Basically each artist makes one page in each person's handmade journal of dreams!

This is the page I made for Tracy. It's just fun and humorous and knowing Tracy she will get a kick out of it. I drew the woman ( be NICE now!! I'm NOT an artist!! LOL!!!) and used acrylic paints, sharpies, pan pastels, oil pastels and jelly roll pens on it so it was a lot of fun.

The pages is very large and didn't fit in the scanner so the bottom (which is cut off) says:

Look at it this way.... if you HAVE the chance to ride around in a new MERCEDES BENZ or your old reliable Honda...

WHAT WOULD YOU RIDE IN?

(And I'm not talking about cars!!)

The Journal will now travel to Heather in the UK!!

A blog award!

My friend Tracy gave me this award on Monday. Tracy is not only a great artist but a great friend. I meet tons and tons of people in my profession and my life. Very rarely do I "connect" with someone the way I did with Trac. Although we had been on-line buddies for a long time, we actually "met" in July at Teesha Moore's PLAY retreat. I am so glad she went. Tracy is more of a vintage/dreamy artist - Zetti is not really her thing. She went because I asked her to and I am so glad she did. From the moment we met it was like we had known each other all of our lives. She is an incredible person and you guys should stop by and "meet her" on her blog at www.tracykaufman.blogspot.com. You will love her as much as I do.

Anyway, the idea behind this award is to pass it on to five other fun blogs and to write 5 things about yourself. So here goes:

1. I am blessed with a great husband, 4 children and a beautiful granddaughter who has me wrapped around her finger. Anyone who knows me at all knows my family comes before anything.

2. I am not really an "artist". I don't have any real talent and have to work hard to accomplish what I want. I just love art and love to play. I am always amazed at the wonderful work my friends do and learn from them every day.

3. I absolutely hate pettiness, bigotry and biasness. I have absoltuely no tolerance for it.

4. I am quite outspoken when I need to be. Nobody who has any contact with me can ever say they don't know where I stand on something. I make myself pretty clear!

5. I love the ocean... being near it... looking at it... smelling it... it relaxes me and makes me feel whole... but I can't get on a boat without getting TOTALLY seasick!!!

Now to go pass this fun award to five other bloggers!!!

MY FIRST ZENTANGLES!!!

I have always been enthralled by Zentangles. They are just so very cool. Last year I ordered a Zentangle Kit to learn how to make them. Well, after a year of the kit sitting on my shelf I finally decided to try it yesterday. I wanted to do SOMETHING but wasn't feeling very artistic so figured I'd try my hand at them.

These are my very first zentangles! I loved it. It was really fun and relaxing. I wasn't sure I could do them but there you go!

THE KINDNESS AND LOVE OF MY SOUL SISTERS HUMBLES ME

I belong to several online art groups. I have enjoyed the friendships I've gained in these groups and have learned so much from all the talented women I come in contact with daily. But I am truly humbled by the love and kindness of all these women. I am amazed at the amount of "hugs" I have received from my online friends. I don't have the words to express how it has helped me in the past few weeks - and if you know me at all, you know I am never short on words.

I have had weeks to process my father's imminent death. Weeks to tamper down panic that has prevailed since my father's diagnosis on October 12th. My brother said something to me last week that really hit me. He said, "you know what we are doing right? We are already mourning him". And then it hit me. Like a truckload of concrete blocks. I am so busy mourning my father that I am losing sight of the time I have with him. Whether it's 2 months, 6 months or a year, I have made a conscience decision not to mourn him until I have to. I want to be able to use my time with him to let him know how loved he is. How proud I am to be his daughter. Time to ask him all the questions that I have never asked him before. To journal and write about all the family stories that he will take with him. I know it's easier said than done but I owe him that. I owe myself that.

And to all of you who drop by to say "hi" and to ask how he is.. thank you. Thank you so much. I have received dozens and dozens of cards, letters and emails from my "art community" family and they have made me realize that losing one single day with my dad will be such a waste.

I will also sit down in my studio this week and do what has always made me feel better... play with paper, paint, glue... well, I KNOW you guys understand me.

Hugs.

ANGELS WERE AT OUR SIDE TODAY

My father had his first chemo today. I have no words to express the fear we felt last night anticipating the worst today. They did not give him a full dose of the chemo because of the concerns they had of him not being able to tolerate it. But he did exceptionally well. He's had no negative reaction as of yet to the treatment and was talkative and in good spirits all day today.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and your prayers. I know he can't be cured of this insidious disease, but if we can just have him for a little while longer in relatively good health and quality of life we are very grateful.

Angels held his hand today and I thank God for this.

HI EVERYONE

First, thank you so very very much for all your support during this nightmare. I truly truly appreciate your prayers and thoughts.

My brothers and I received a call from my dad's doctor today. He suggested that the 3 of us be there on Monday for his first chemo treatment because he doesn't believe my father will survive it. I don't understand any of this. I just don't understand how a man can go from perfectly healthy one day to literally dying in 3 weeks. This is so unbelievable.