Life Changes

I haven't posted on my blog since March. Life has been ever changing for my husband and I. We still live on our beautiful farm here in Tennessee, and have our little zoo, consisting of our two quarter horses, and our Lucky dog. We now have two cats and three kittens. Our Doxie Molly still keeps us laughing, she is our cuddle baby, and sometimes our little brat. We have spoiled her, but we love this little rascal.

My husband is now retired and loving it. He enjoys puttering around on our farm, and working on the house. We have a wood stove in our living room, thanks to my husbands handy work. I love the wood stove, it warms the living room quickly, and smells good. I love the smell of wood burning in it. It is so cozy! We have reduced our gas bill by 75%!

I have a new job, I work as a LPN in Clinical Trials, at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, TN. I LOVE my job, I mainly work in the lab there, doing venipunctures, Ports, PICC Lines, and IV Heplocks, for our Cancer patients. I also do EKG's and Vital signs for our Clinical Trial patients. Besides that my co-worker in Clinical Trials and I work in the Infusion Lab processing the blood test tubes for Clinical Trials.

The job keeps us very busy, but I enjoy my work and I like being busy. It is so easy to become attached to our patients. We see them almost every week, sometimes more than once during the week. We know when we are seeing someone less often, then we worry about them. It can be very emotional work, and sometimes it is hard, due to the fact that some people do die, yet it can be so rewarding. We have seen miracles happen, and that is a wonderful reward for the work that everyone in our Cancer Center does each day. I love the MIRACLES!

My Doxie puppy Molly is a small Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde (Miss Hyde?) One minute she is so sweet and cuddly, the next she is getting into trouble.

I need to clean up my studio tomorrow and put things up high enough so my puppy doesn't steal them to chew on. She actually opens my boxes and choses what she wants when my back is turned.

Doxies are an interesting dog. They are so flexible with their bodies and can get things most small dogs can't. She reminds me of a Slinky. And that's what she looks like when she goes down our stairs.

She makes us laugh more than become upset, she runs around the house with TWO puppy toys in her mouth whining, because she can't find an appropriate place to put them. I think that's why she whines... Yesterday, I caught her in the act of digging in a large flower pot of mine. The plant didn't make it. It became a part of our compost bin

Oh this is fun!!!

Oops! Mom caught me!

Sound asleep. Tired little puppy!

Life is Good!

Our pretty quarter horses, Lexy and Willy. Where is all the snow going? It snowed here in Tennessee! We woke up to a white country side this morning! Here is our puppy Doxie, Molly playing in the snow. This is her first experience with snow and she loved it!


I had an interesting and enjoyable week. The pretty wreath above sold on Wednesday. I hope Marci loves it as much as I enjoyed designing and creating it.

I also was convoed by a very nice lady in Rhode Island, who owns a handmade craft shop. She wants to buy my wreaths wholesale and sell them in her shop! She chose 5 of my wreaths, three from my shop and two I had in my studio. It was a smooth transaction and I did a Reserve listing for her in my Etsy shop. I'm so excited! Wholesale selling is fun and a great way to make money selling your crafts. I hope Dorothy and I have a Wholesaling relationship for along time. The wreath above is just one of them that she bought.
Anyway it has been a great week! Positive thinking does create wonderful experiences!

Three New Paintings

"Waiting"

5" X 7" Canvas Panel

"The Lady in Green"
5" X 5" Linen Masonite Panel

"A Pair of Pears"

5" X 5" Linen Masonite Panel

I have been painting up a storm lately since I received my new linen covered masonite panels in the mail. The painting surface is fantastic and it has made painting a joy! The Pair of Pears took one day to complete and I love how it turned out. the linen masonite panels measure 5" X 5" and I used high quality acrylic paint. I like acrylics best, because they are easy to work with, and you don't have to wait for the paint to dry ( I don't like to wait.) I seal my paintings with acrylic sealer, so if a painting gets dusty or alittle grimy, it is easy to wipe clean with a damp, dry washcloth.

The above paintings are listed in my Etsy shop, waiting to find new homes and to be enjoyed.

The first painting is of a small child waiting by a dirty window. Who is he waiting for? His Mother? Father? Why does he look so sad? Is he home alone? You can see the light on in the background. How long has he been waiting there? I love paintings where you can use your imagination, a painting that can tell a story, just by looking at it. I'm proud of my other two painting, but this one has become my favorite painting so far. I try not to have favorites, but I am human.

My New Creations

I made this little Bunny Pendant, using a silver plated pendant base, a vintage bunny picture and Diamond Glaze. The pendant measures 2 X 2.5 inches. It was alot of fun to make. I jut listed it in my Etsy shop tonight. It has a good price, $7.00, with free shipping. It would make a great gift for Easter, or just because.

I finished this Dream Button Pendant last night. I love using buttons to make jewelry, especially earrings, pins and pendants. The buttons are approximately 1 1/2 inches in diameter, the net button is an epoxy button with the words sweet, love, and a word that looks like "Ugh". LOL. Next I added the word Dream to complete the pendant. I put on a tiny gold bail, and a pretty gold chain to finish it. I haven't listed it in my Etsy shop yet, but I plan to list it tomorrow after Cardiac Rehab. Well, it's late, I have to get up early. Take care!

Our New Puppy

Introducing our new Dachshund puppy Molly. She was born the first week of December 2008 and came to live with us the middle part of January 2009. I felt that she was awfully young to be away from her Mom and siblings, but the former owner was giving the pups away due to Mom not nursing them anymore, plus the pups were eating puppy food.

The first week was hard on her, she whimpered a lot, and wanted to be held often, so now she is very spoiled! She has us wrapped around her little paw for sure! Maybe we need the "Dog Whisper." LOL. She is a little sweetie, but she does chew on her humans, due to teething. How do you get a puppy to stop chewing on my husband and I? Anyone have any ideas? She's sooo tiny, it's hard to be upset with her, but I really do need my earlobes and fingers.

Lately I have been updating and redoing my Etsy shop. Now shipping is free for everything! Most of my items are light weight so I think it is fair for me to ship for free. All I know is if I go to an Etsy shop and I see shipping is free, it delights me and I'm more prone to buy there. Many may not agree, but that's how I feel.

Do you Twitter? I have been, and I actually enjoy it. I have only been on Twitter for a short time and have 69 followers already! I haven't made any sales due to Twitter, but I'm glad I joined, because there are some really nice people on Twitter. It's a great social networking site. Check it out sometime. You may like it too!

I'm Enjoying Painting Again!

I listed several of my latest paintings in my Esty shop last night. I used high quality acrylic paint, on a wonderful canvas surface, it's an extra fine canvas, and it makes a great surface for paint. I enjoy painting small works of art.

This mini painting is on a canvas made for ACEOs, it measures 2.5" X 3.5". I love sunsets!
This painting helps to ease the winter blues, the beginning of new life. It is on a 4" X 6" extra fine canvas panel. I used acrylic paint as my medium. Actually it is my favorite medium. I haven't posted in awhile, so I just wanted to let you see why. I'm painting again! I think my creative streak is back! Yes! Have a great day!

I've Been Busy.

This is another wreath I started working on last night. I guess I'm into Spring colors lately. It's been gray, rainy and cold here, so alittle spring color always helps.

When it's done I'll post it here, before I put it in my Etsy shop. You get the chance to see it first.

I'm also working on a beautiful rustic white birdcage, I'm using cream colored dahlias, tiny yellow blossums, ivy, etc. I love the look of the bird cage. This floral arrangement will look real special.

I posted two wreaths on Etsy tonight. I may redo one, not to pleased with the pics, they look alittle washed out. I think I over did it with the bright setting on my photo editing program. Here are the two wreaths I listed:

Had a Very Good Day!

I was a good girl didn't eat anything for 14 hours as my doctor stated, for my lab work to be done. One of the lab vampires drew my blood, and it didn't hurt so bad this time. My Cardiologist said my cholesterol is now "perfect". This really made my day. My meds and the fact I'm being careful with my diet is working.

Maybe, I'll be a lucky one who doesn't end up with a second CABG due to blocked arteries. My desire is to live 45 more years. That would make me very pleased with my life. I will have to be careful, eat right, low salt and sugar intake and exercise everyday, plus take my meds, but it is so worth it. Heart surgery is a scary event, I do not want to go through that ever again. It not only scared me, but it affected my whole family. I never want to do that to them again. Thank God I had went to the doctor when I did and had a nurse who knew what she was doing.

I sold my Red Rose Valentines Day Wreath on Etsy today. I came home to this surprise, when I checked my email. The buyer paid for it immediately. What a fantastic lady! I plan to ship it out to her tomorrow, so she can get in a few days. Plus, I'm adding a little surprise gift for her, to say thank you. I hope your day was wonderful, too!

This is the wreath that sold:

These two are a part of our landscape every day of the year.

Willy and Lexy our quarter horses.

Aren't they beautiful!

I wanted to show off the beauty of this state.

To me our farm is beautiful even if it is 30 degrees and the trees are bare.

And..
Here is Tennessee in all its glory!

My husband and I went for a day trip up to the Smoky Mountains last fall.
The trees on Smokey were just turning gold and red. What a pretty day it was!


We plan to make a trip to the Smokeys again, later in 2009, but we plan to stay over for a day or two to really enjoy the fun and entertainment in Gaitlinburg.

This area is near the top of the mountain.

It was a great day!

Our Farm

My husband and I own a 7+ acre farm here in middle Tennessee. We have been here for almost two years. It will be two years in February. I love this farm! We are on a small hill, with fields surrounding us. We can see our neighbors homes, but we don't hear them.

Our neighbor across our street has cattle, which gaze in the fields nearby. I love to hear their mooing in the morning and night, when it's time for milking or if one of the men are putting down hay piles for them to enjoy.

In the morning we wake up to our rooster crowing, or Lucky our beagle/Blue Tic Hound barking at something. I can never figutre out what she is barking at. She just likes to bark, I guess. Our cats love Lucky, they cuddle up next to her when she is dozing on the front porch. Even the chickens and roosters don't show any fear of her. She loves everything and anybody. She is a joy to have and takes good care of the chickens and cats. She herds them out of the driveway, whenever anyone comes up the driveway, as if it is her job. I really love this dog!

There are draw backs to living on a farm. Minor, but they can be annoying when it happens. this morning we woke up to no water. A water main had broken, so the farms on our road had zero water. it was a small annoyance for us, but it can be a real problem for farmers who need to milk their cows and need to have drinking water for their livestock. Plus, today is the first day back to school after the Christmas break, so getting the children ready for school, without water can be a bad way to start the New Year. For us, our sons are grown, so they no longer live with us. For us it just meant going without coffee, until 10:30 am, when the water finally came back on.

It was 39 degrees this morning. The weather man said the weather will cold and wet this afternoon and tonight. I hope it doesn't snow or ice over, I have a doctors appointment tomorrow with my cardiologist. No eating after 9 pm tonight, due to labs, before the appointment. I need to behave. Bummer!

I'll Try This Again

I don't know how many blogs I have started and deleted since I started blogging about two years ago. Let's just say this time I'll try to stay away from the delete button. I was told the best way to discover what you want in life or what direction you want to go, is to write, write and write some more. So I guess this blog will be a place for me to soul search and to show the world who I am. Besides showing myself who I am.

Since my heart surgery in November 2008, I have been a confused, and frustrated person. Right now I'm not working, (I'm an LPN) and my cardiologist said I need the full three months to recuperate, so I can't work again until March 2009. I start Cardiac Rehab this month, still waiting for the actual start date. Medical Insurance is so irritating, we pay the high premiums, and still we have to wait for their okay for me to start Rehab. UGH!

Anyway, I hope my journey to finding me is a pleasant one. Maybe I will discover a new person, who not only has a healthier heart, but one with a kind heart, who can make someones day a little more pleasant. Please join in on my journey to find out who Barbara is.