Finally, I have finished some of the picture frames

I am loving how these turned out. 

I’m back….

I was completely anti-computer for a few days. No internet, no facebook (okay, there were a couple of facebook posts) and no computer.  Why? I needed a break. Actually, I was toiling away in the project room finishing up some projects.

I trust that everyone had a very Merry Christmas.  Chris and I spent the day catching up on movies. We watched Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, which was hilarious. I don’t particularly care for Ben Stiller, but I enjoyed it, spite of him. Also, we watched Terminator Salvation, War, and Wolverine.  It was a great day to cuddle on the couch.  There was no getting out, since Oklahoma was hit by a blizzard the night before. I think we got 6 to 8 inches of snow.

Yesterday, Chris braved the horrible roads to go see his boys.  They had a great time snowboarding and sledding down a rather large hill and building a very large snow fort.

Tomorrow, we are heading to Wally World to go grocery shopping. That should be an adventure. Hopefully, the snow plows have been out on the main roads. I know they sure haven’t in the neighborhoods.

Chris and I are off work until January 4th. I have really been enjoying the past few days of sleeping in and taking naps. I could totally get use to that.  But back to reality on the 4th.  But until then, I am going to completely take advantage of as much sleep as possible.

So what is everyone’s plans for the New Years? Chris and I will be ringing in the New Year asleep, most likely.  However, New Years Day, WhatchaMaDoodles.com finally goes live on the internet. I can’t wait.  Let’s just hope that my limited website building knowledge pays off!

It’s almost here….

I can’t believe that Christmas is almost here. Is it just me, or has this year just zipped on by? My mom always said that the older you get the quicker the years pass on by. I must be getting really old, because this year zoomed passed. I don’t particularly like that….getting older. But that’s another rant for another day!

I am ready for the holidays to get over. I have seen more acts of road rage just in the past couple of weeks than I have in the entire year.  There is two areas of Tulsa, that I avoid like the plague during this time of the year….71st and Memorial, which we call “The Black Hole” and 41st and Yale, “The Little Black Hole”.  People lose their minds in those areas.  I guess it’s because of the two large malls and countless retail stores.  I am sorry, but no sale is so important to completely abandon all sense of common courtesy.

Silly me was over in “The Little Black Hole” one day. I ran into Barnes and Noble. Well, when I was leaving, I was backing out of the parking place and some idiot in a very large SUV basically boxed me in, while I was trying to back out. I couldn’t move because she had basically pulled up to my front bumper while I was pulled across the lane blocking traffic from coming down that isle of parking. She wouldn’t back up and I couldn’t back up because I was bumper to bumper with the car behind me and she was bumper to bumper with me. And she started cussing me out.  She wasn’t even driving down that parking lot isle until after I had completely pulled out of the parking spot.  But I am the one being cussed out. I honestly hope that it wasn’t her child she was talking to on her cell phone, because she didn’t bother to hang up her stinking cell phone to yell at me. I was about 2 seconds from going into full blown parking lot rage when I finally was able to wiggle my truck out of there and get the heck out of her way.  I thought she was just being impatient to get my parking spot.  But no, she sped past me and turned down another isle.  What happened to common courtesy? Is that a thing of the past or only something you find in VERY small towns where large parking lots and malls don’t exist?

Oh well, the silly season will be over with soon. Maybe the stress levels will also lessen for those who are too tightly wound.  Honestly, I think people really need to sit back and think about what Christmas is all about. It’s not cussing out a person in a parking lot because you couldn’t wait to get down the isle.

On to something happier.  Doesn’t these just put a smile on your face? I know they do mine!!

Inspiration is everywhere…even in my closet

Yesterday, I was working in the project room on some candlesticks. As usual, the Three Stoogettes were running amok around the house. I heard an unusual thud coming from our closet.  So off to check out to see what the Stoogettes had done.  Typical, they knocked one of my canvas totes full of sweaters off of the shelf. I picked them up and was heading back out of the closet when I glanced up, for no particular reason, and caught site of this hat that I have had for several years.  It was a light bulb moment.

I had been drawing a blank on what to do with a couple of smaller boxes and some picture frames.  This hat became my inspiration!
These pieces are not completely done.  They need a good clear coating.  Hopefully today the weather will cooperate.

I love finding inspiration in the most unlikely of places!

Desk DoDad stuff…..

 

 

Funnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!

A whirlwind week and we are only half way through..

….This has been the longest week EVER! I think I have been aware of every minute of every day of this week.  And let me tell you….that sucks! I can almost hear the clock ticking each and every second….it’s been a long week! And it’s only Wednesday!! Call me a Waaaaambulance!

Yesterday was a particularly difficult day.  A friend of mine, who turned 30 in September died on Saturday morning. Her funeral was yesterday. It was such a sad day. It’s been a very sad few days.  I will never forget her, her wonderful friendship and that beautiful smile of hers! Rest in Peace my dear Casey!

I really need to get my tookus into the project room and finish up some projects, but it will wait until Friday.  I need a break, I need some brainless downtime.  So this week is just that….brainless downtime!

Here is another 4 drawer mini chest that I did over the weekend. This one is so much fun with all of the different colors. The pictures really don’t do it justice.

More checkerboard overload

……. I really love how this box turned out.  The knobs, inside of the drawers and sides of the drawers are painted Black Cherry…which is my current favorite paint color!

Right now, drawing and painting checkerboards makes me happy! It’s not as hard as it might look.  But trust me, under all of that paint are a lot of eraser marks!

I can’t get over the fact that Christmas is almost here.  I am not sure if you have noticed, but there is a lack of Christmas decoration pictures on my blog.  Typically, my house would look like a Winter Wonderland. And I would bore you to tears with picture after picture of my decorations (like I have done on Christmas’ past).  However, since the Three Stoogettes have come into our lives, we have not been able to decorate.  I value my vast collection of cool Christmas ornaments.  And until those three calm the heck down, which will probably be 10 years from now, putting up a Christmas tree is not an option.  Chris and I refer to it as “ba-hum-bugging it”!  So this is year two of our “ba-hum-bugging it”. Lets hope for not so many more!

The end of the weekend….

I just hate to see the weekend end.  I was able to knock out 3 things on the weekend To Do List. Which is not bad, but my list has about 20 things on it. Oh well, there is always next weekend to finish off that list!

I did finish up two 4 drawer mini chests.  They are just waiting for their clear coat bath.  Hopefully, I will be able to show them off sometime next week.  But what I can show you today are some plaques that I actually finished a couple of weeks ago, but finally got around to taking pictures of them. This is my “snarky” line!

Wish Upon A Star….

I think we should all stop, look up into the heavens and make a wish on a star! :)

Don’t adjust your screens….

……it’s checkerboard overload!

And I have solved problem #3458! I am going to make my own! heehee! This should be interesting!

Problem #3458

….I have a problem. Okay, I have several problems, but I am going to just focus in on this particular one today.

I have a problem with calendars. My problem is that I can’t seem to find that ‘perfect’ calendar. I have tried them all, paper, electronic, Franklin Covey, Google, MS Office, hand drawn, cheapo from Wally World, expensive ones from Office Depot. You get the point.  Currently, I am back to using Google Calendars, 5 of them to be exact and they all are combined on my CalenGoo ap on Iphone. It’s handy, but….there is always a but. 

There is something to be said about using the traditional paper calendar. I love to write things down, I love being able to look back and see my chicken scratch all over the pages.  But….there is always a but….

I am hopeless. Is there a point to the post? Not really, I am just having one of those moments in my world where I am stressing out about what kind of calendar to use.

Any suggestions?  Do you have a ‘perfect’ calendar that you use year after year without losing interest or longing for more?

Believe Box

Here is one of the boxes I completed yesterday. It still needs another shot of clear coat, but I couldn’t wait to take pictures and show you guys!

I used black cherry and black paint and a checker board pattern. I also used gold metallic paint for the dots. The pictures don’t give it justice. I turned out so good.

I want Nibby’s Life….

I wish I had a house cat’s life! Get to lounge around, sleep all day, play all night, don’t have to worry with work, bills, or cooking EVER! However, I do think I would completely protest that whole dry sticky cat food thing! Ewwwww. I think I would be demanding hamburgers! Wait, if I was a cat, then I wouldn’t be able to eat chocolate. Okay, never mind…I don’t want to be a cat.

You have to admit, Nibby’s got it pretty good!

I did get a lot accomplished Friday and Saturday. I didn’t get anything “completed”, but I have 4 boxes ALMOST finished. Three are just waiting for some clear coat and one is waiting for some legs and clear coat. I really wish that we could get one day that is sunny and no wind. I think I am going to have to have Chris build a small paint booth so I won’t have to wait on the weather. Hmmm, #198 on my  Chris’ to do list!

I am still stuck in the 70’s

I am having fun looking up fun facts of the 1970’s.  Movies have always been a huge part of my life. I love movies. I loved them as a kid and I love them just as much or more now! However, looking at this list that I got off of the internet, I realize that I haven’t seen 1/2 of these movies. I did notice that there are some great movies of the 70’s that is not on this particular list. Where is Godfather part II, American Graffiti, Apocalypse Now, The Clockwork Orange, The Deer Hunter, The French Connection, M*A*S*H*, Taxi Driver, Young Frankenstein and we can not forget those great John Wayne Movies: Big Jake (my personal favorite), Rooster Cogburn, and The Shootist?  I guess it just all depends on who is making the list.

Top  Movies of the 1970’s

1) Star Wars

2) Jaws

3) The Exorcist

4) Grease

5) The Sting

6) Saturday Night Fever

7) Animal House

8) Rocky Horror Picture Show

9) The Godfather

10) Superman

And: Rocky, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien, The Towering Inferno, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

So what are your favorite movies from the 1970’s?

My favorites are: Godfather, Godfather Part II, Big Jake, Jaws, The Towering Inferno, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Animal House.  Of this list, I have them all on DVD except One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.  Hmmm, I think I am going to have to add that to my Santa List!

Let's take a walk through the 1970's

I am feeling rather nostalgic.  What happened in the 1970's? What was going on in this world of ours, when I was busy playing with my tinker toys and driving my parents crazy with my wild imagination?

In my little corner of the world, I don't remember too much of the early 70's. I was more focused on learning how to talk, walk, tie my shoes, learning my ABC's and just being that cute little blond headed girl with a billion questions. I do remember living in Abilene, Texas and then moving to Hamby, Texas (out in the country) and I loved it. Big yard, dirt roads, cows across the road and my dog Dummy! There were tree houses and forts to build, learning to ride a bike without training wheels, family vacations to California. Watching daddy drive his stock car at the local race track, causing mom to take countless phone calls from my elementary principal because I was in the "office" again. Snow ball fights with my sister and watching one of the only 3 channels we got on our tv. I loved being a kid in West Texas. So much adventure, so little time!

Here is a 1970's timeline of World Events of the 70's. It's a little long, but fun to read. I do love the internet and all of the useful and useless information you can find! :)

Timeline of the 1970’s

1970:
I was born (after putting her mother through a few false labors and a hard delivery that I am still hearing about!)

Invention of floppy discs.

Introduction of bar codes.

Breakup of the Beatles.

Completion of World Trade Center.

The FDA (Food and Drugs Administration) approved Lithium to treat manic-depressives.

Earthquake in Peru Killed 72,200 people.

China became the fifth nation to put a satellite into orbit.

American soldiers blamed for murdering entire town of Vietnamese civilians.

1971:

Chris was born!

The Soviet Union and NASA sent probes to Mars.

The microprocessor was introduced which was the foundation of all computers.

Bangladesh was created from East Pakistan.

China joined the United Nations.

The US and South Vietnam invaded Laos.

Introduction of CAT scanning (Computerized Axial Tomography) which was the most important medical breakthrough since the X-ray.

Invention of cellular phone battery.

Opening of Disney World.

A new stock market index called the Nasdaq was introduced.

The country United Arab Emirates was created.

1972:

United States president Nixon went to China on a landmark visit.

Ugandan president Idi Amin expelled all asians.

Terrorist attack at the Munich Olympic Games.

Marks Spitz won 7 gold medals at the Munich Olympic Games.

E-mail was invented by Ray Tomlinson.

Eugene Cernan became the last man to walk on the moon.

Beginning of Watergate scandal.

Introduction of pocket calculators.

Bobby Fishcher beat Boris Spassky in chess.

1973:

Opening of Sydney opera house.

The world’s largest buliding the Sears Tower in Chicago was completed.

The end of the Vietnam war.

Abortion was legalized in the United States.

Paul Getty was kidnapped.

OPEC doubled the price of oil which led to the gas crisis of the 1970’s.

The US vice-president resigned.

The Bahamas become independent.

Egypt and Syria attacked Israel.

1974:

Stephen Hawking proposed new Black Hole theory which ran counter to Einstein’s theory.

US president Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal.

India conducts its first nuclear test.

Mikhail Baryshnikov defected from the Soviet Union to Canada.

Ethopian Emperor Haile Selassie dethroned after a famine, which killed over 200,000 people and had seen no help from the government.

US president Gerald Ford pardoned ex-president Nixon.

The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) kidnapped Patricia Hearst.

1975:

Microsoft was founded.

Disposable razors were introduced in the market.

Arthur Ashe of US became the first black man to win Wimbledon.

Lyme disease was first discovered.

Lebanon civil war began which was sparked by Christians who killed a busload of Palestinians and other Muslims.

The first home computer the Altair was launched.

The first joint US-USSR space mission.

Attempt to assassinate serving US president Gerald Ford.

Catalytic convertors are inroduced in cars.

Pol Pot became the dictator of Cambodia.

1976:

First artificial gene created in a test tube.

First Cray Supercomputer launched.

The Viking Probe lands on Mars and sends back pictures of rocky terrain.

Israeli commandos storm hijacked Air France plane in Uganda's Entebbe Airport anf released 103 hostages held by a pro-Palestinian terrorist group.

Mao Tse-tung the communist leader of China died in 1976 after over 25 years of rule.

Nadia Comaneci Given Seven Perfect Tens at the Olympics.

Tangshan Earthquake Kills Over 240,000 people.

1977:

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was first used to map the brain and other parts of the body.

Janelle Commissiong of Trinidad & Tobago became the first black woman in history to win the Miss Universe crown.

Elvis Presley dies.

Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat was the first Arab leader to visit Israel and acknowledge Israel's right to exist.

The Alaskan pipeline was completed.

The release of Star Wars movie.

The Nuclear-Proliferation Pact was signed by 15 countries, including the United States and the USSR, which was to "curb" the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

In the worst air disaster in history. Two 747's collide at airport in Tenerife, Canary Islands killing nearly 600 people.

1978:

First test tube baby was born using in vitro fertilization.

John Paul II became the Pope.

Ultrasound was first used.

The Camp David Accords were signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat.

Cartoon character Garfield the cat was syndicated.

In the Jonestown massacre there was the suicide and murder of 900 people who drank cyanide in fruit-flavored drink and the leader shot himself.

1979:

Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister.

In Iran the Shah was deposed and Ayatollah Khomeini became the leader.

Iranian students stormed the US embassy and held 52 of the 66 people in the embassy hostage for 444 days.

The Japanese company Sony introduced the walkman.

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

There was a nuclear accident at Three Mile island in US.

Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel peace prize.

ESPN began broadcasting