NOT ONE MORE DAY!
Those are the words that ring through my head everytime I decide that I
just have to CHANGE something and I cannot go one more day without changing
them. Now, sometimes I revert back to old habits (like with my eating) but I
have found in my almost 40 years of life that if my head doesn't say these words
I don't actually get it changed! Usually it is just one thing like when I decided that
I would not go another day drinking diet coke - I really do MISS it! but I feel so much
better not drinking it and am thankful that I stopped.
Yesterday, several things came to mind as I was regrouping and trying to start my
week of organizing things before my sweet boys go back to school. It's been a busy
busy summer and with vacations, trips to the pool, paint classes, etc. I have made
very little time for some things that really needed to be done.

1. I have neglected my personal time in the morning praying, reading my bible and
having my alone time with God. Why, because one of my biggest downfalls is that I'm
a bit lazy sometimes and sleeping in til 7a.m. really appeals to me. Well, getting my
day started right in the Lord sets my day up for wonderful things to happen and I've
been neglecting that all summer long. So, change number one was to get up this morning
and have my alone time and I did. Which lead to my second change...

2. For 2 weeks now since getting our precious dogs we have put them to bed in their
kennel at night but when they get up in the morning we've brought them back into bed
with us. Not a good idea I know and this morning that had to change. It was 4:15a.m. and
I looked at my husband and said "this is the day we leave them in the florida room
after they come in" and we did. They whined a bit but finally caught on that we weren't
going to bring them in our room. We have a 2 week habit to break and I know it's gonna
be hard but this morning was the first day for a new habit!

3. My morning routine this summer has been to get up get my coffee and hit the
computer. I SO LOVE reading my favorite blogs but sometimes I go to their favorites
and before I know it it is 9:30a.m. and I'm on my 3rd cup of coffee - which isn't good
since I'm trying not to have caffeine. I know they make decaf ~ but I don't like it ~
there is a difference in taste to me.
SO, my third change is that after I have my alone time and get my children off to
school I will log on and pick my top 5 blogs to read in the morning and rotate them everyday and update mine if need be and get on with my day. As time permits throughout the day I will give myself time to read some more. My husband has already asked if there was a "Bloggers Anonymous" because I do spend so much time in blogland! It's fun, it's enjoyable but if it takes time from my family that isn't a good thing at all!

4. And finally, yesterday was my 1,010,100.00 day of waking up and saying that I'm
going to eat right. I'm 39 years old and there are days that I wonder how I'm going to
eat that day...low carb, count points, count calories, eat sensibly and it will all come off, go vegetarian, back to no carbs, ~ seriously I cannot count the days that I do that because
it is way too many!
SO, instead of beating myself up I prayed about it and could really hear God telling me to grow up! I need to be a grown up and stop "thinking" that I had to eat those donuts on the counter because they just look so yummy but decide is that going to help me in the long run with where
I want to be when I'm 40 - which is 4 months away? No, so that is the question I have
decided to start asking myself each time I "think" I have to have something I know
isn't good for my hips!


Yesterday I also decided that I needed to get my workspace/studio/diningroom in order.


It still needs some work but at least I got it started!

We have a large eat in section in our kitchen so decided when we moved in that this would be my work space but I still needed to have an area for guests and family to eat when we had more than just our family around (usually Thanksgiving time) so there is a table in the middle of the room for that.

And my puppies ~ aren't they growing! We've had them for 2 weeks now and love them more and more each day. It was nice not having them in bed with us this morning. My husband usually leaves around 5a.m. to go to the gym before work and today he reset his alarm and slept in with me until 6:45a.m. The dogs started whining and with no accidents in the room (yippee) I took them out and my hubby went and made me a cup of coffee!

Posh

Becks
















Would have loved to have had my camera on the other side of them so that you could see their sweet faces. They were watching the fence for the big huge hound on the other side that likes to run across his yard and slam into our fence. Hope he doesn't come through it one day!









Posh & Becks sure do love to wrestle as well and I'm sure their birth mom would know how to settle them down. They get downright mean sometimes with each other and I just hand one to one child and the other dog to another child and have them take them off to play apart from each other.


















Hope you have a great day! I have great hopes for my "NOT ANOTHER DAY" decisions above but know that I cannot beat myself up one more day either if I stumble and fall flat on my face. I know that the Lord is in my corner cheering me on and wanting the absolute BEST for me and I have to want that for myself as well!

Monday Magnolia paint class~

Had a wonderful morning with these wonderful ladies. We painted magnolias and I figured out the troubles we were having at Saturdays class and corrected them before class this morning and it ran so smoothly. Everyone did such a beautiful job!



Alice






Mary



















Bobby




















Mary Jane
















Nicole


Nicole also won the drawing and took my painting home although I'll admit hers was prettier than mine! No lie!












This was my last class for July. I had 10 painting classes this month and so enjoyed all of them. I am looking forward to the next week preparing my boys for the 8th, 7th, and 5th grade. Then getting ready for my August classes. I have 13 classes in August and at least half of them are full or overbooked. We're painting things like orchids, tiger lillies, calalillies, another landscape and a few other things. I'm also getting ready for my "holiday class projects" - Autumn, Winter, Halloween, Christmas ~ with an emphasis this year on making our gifts for our loved ones and friends!

TODAY IS my NON CELEBRATED ANNIVERSARY ~

17 years ago today my husband and I were officially married. We got married in Okinawa, Japan. When you live in Oki and get married you actually have to go to an Okinawan office and get married. I remember them calling me up and they used my maiden name, they took my passport and we waited. About 20 minutes later they called me by my new name and I just sat there for a minute and thought "Oh, that is me" looked at my DH and said well, I guess we're officially married now. Our original marriage certificate is in Japanese and then we had to go to another building to have it translated into english. That took forever! The main reason we went ahead with the official ceremony so early is because my DH could sign up for housing and all the other benefits that come along with having a dependent. We were married at Chapel 1 on Kadena AFB on September 1st and that is the date we celebrate.

Hope you have an outstanding week. I'm getting off this computer for the day and cleaning my house!

Fully Recovered ~
Whew! What a FUN Saturday I had. I taught three painting classes and it was a fun but exhausting day. I was gone from 9a.m. - 7p.m. and got home, ate a small bite, had a good soak in the tub and off to bed at 9p.m. My hubby was too sweet and took the dogs out this a.m. at 4:15a.m. and came out to the couch with the doggies instead of putting them in bed with us so that I could sleep. HOW SWEET is he?!?!?! He woke me up with a kiss on my check and a nice hot cup of coffee on my nightstand. I had about 35 minutes to get ready and get out the door for church. We made it early actually. Came home, had lunch and up to the outlet stores to return the TWO left shoes that we purchased at the NIKE store last weekend. No rocks hitting the windshield this time and I had a wonderful, entertaining time with my youngest! He is our family comedian.

My first class Texas Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush and all of the students really seemed to love this project.




Alice H.
















CeeAnn ~ she sent me a picture she had taken earlier when it TX of a scene very similiar to our landscape.


















Kim ~



















Alice


















Connie

















Stephanie



















Megan

















Judy
















My second class was an Urn & Topiary Tree.



Sharlee

















Lisa


















Kim



















Stephanie














My last class of the day was the Magnolia class on the RED canvas. We had such a time with "dryness" in the classroom for this class and these ladies (and younglady Hallie) did an amazing job to tackle the issue you have when it's too dry in the room. They all did a fabulous job and I'm hoping the room is not as hot tomorrow - plus, I'm gonna change my canvas prep just a bit to see if I can remedy the problem beforehand.



Stephanie
















Kim





















Hallie





Barbara and her granddaughter (Hallie)



Sharon
missed her mom Faye at class ~ hope you are doing well!

















Kristi

(She is my sons Gifted teacher at school)

















I also got home to a wonderfully smelling home ~ my hubby made the apple crisp with the mix I got from Sandi over at the Whistlestop Cafe and let me just say it was the perfect~YUMMY~ end to a wonderful day. I had a small bowl with some cool whip on it and YUM!






I have another Magnolia class tomorrow a.m. and then will spend the week getting my kiddos ready for school. I cannot believe how much they grow in such a short amount of time. My oldest is now way taller than me and wears a size 10 shoe! When did that happen?

Cannot believe July is gone almost. Just 5 more months til Christmas ~ YIKES ~ Bet if I start now I can get my cards done so that they are not late again!

I hope you have a wonderful week! Take time for yourself. Kiss your kids and let them know how much they mean to you! Don't forget to DREAM, take a little time to CREATE and I hope you either INSPIRE or are INSPIRED by something or someone.

Puppy Update ~ (sleeping as usual)

Posh & Becks are doing so well! They are getting the hang of the not going potty in the house ~ but are still a bit too small do go down the stairs outside so we have to pick them up and take them out. We have had a few accidents but certainly nothing like I remember all the ones our other pets had. They have not once gone in their kennel which is awesome ~ that is where they sleep at night.


This a.m. they decided to get up at 5a.m. and DH took them out but when he put them back in bed with us they jumped right on my head and started kissing away ~ have I mentioned I don't like puppy breath? I know some of you think it's cute but it makes me almost throw up ~ yuk.
Anyway, they finally calmed down and fell back asleep and got me up at 6:55 a.m. having a good playfight in the middle of my bed. Just like newborns they love to eat, sleep and play. They truly are the cutest and although a bit much at times I am so glad that we got two at the same time. They love to play and cuddle like in the doggy bed above. I've been able to leave them in the Florida room when we go places and they've not had an accident yet (plus the floor is all tile so if they did it wouldn't be that hard to clean up)

Posh ************************** Becks











They've also grown so much that they've graduated to a bigger bed. They are too funny and like to shove themselves in the smaller one still. They also like to jump from one to the other ~ reminds me of my sisters and I jumping from one twin bed to another when we were younger.









Busy weekend coming up with 3 paint classes tomorrow ~ gotta get my canvas projects faux finished before tomorrow and have decided to GO WITH THE RED for the magnolias ~ thanks for your comments! I love the RED TOO and think the students will as well.

Today is a day with my boys out for some FUN ~ we're going bowling, having lunch , getting haircuts, they are begging to go to starbucks for a frappuccino ~ non-caffenated of course! and then home. They are homebodies like their mom! I used to GO GO GO and in the last few years have learned that I don't always have to GO GO GO!

For those of you that like soccer or your kiddos do ~ you can go to http://www.davidbeckham.com/ and register to win a signed LA Galaxy jersey - won't let you put childrens names under 13 in. Of course, I entered myself! Would so get it framed and put it in my middle sons room.

I thought it would be cute to find a stuffed high heel toy for POSH and a stuffed soccer ball for BECKS ~ when/if I find them one I'll post their pics with em.

Didn't make the apple crisp last night. All we had in the fruit bowl was delicious red apples and my husband insisted that a crisp tastes better with granny smiths ~ so I'll get those today and have some crisp for dessert tonight - after our usual friday night PIZZA!



So before I even finished my post Posh & Becks were up and ready to go outside

Becks












Posh














Posh








Becks



Hope you have a great weekend! I'll share pics of my weekend painting classes with you after church on Sunday!

I need your opinion ~ Please!
Magnolias with red background?















Magnolias with creamy,pinkish background?















Thanks Nicole for your suggestion ~ got to me to thinking and I wanted to see what they'd look like with a RED background.
So leave me a comment if you would and let me know what you think ~ light or dark?

INCREDIBLY THOUGHTFUL PEOPLE &
Wednesday Paint Class ~

Let me first start by saying a HUGE thank you to Sandi over at the Whistlestop Cafe for sending me these fabulous items. Sandi was one of my blogiversary winners and I sent her the ROOSTER painting. Her sending me thankyou gifts was completely unnecessary and just goes to show the generosity of these people in BLOGLAND that I've have met.
I'm making the Apple Crisp today for dessert after dinner ~ which might be from a recipe in the book ~ have to see if I have the ingredients. (Don't know how many ww points that will be yet) but am going to treat myself to a small bowl of it.
You can visit their website at http://www.whistlestopcafe.com/.

Thank you again Sandi!

Wednesday p.m. paint class ~
In my landscape classes I'm really trying to teach these ladies how to learn the techniques and start painting murals. They learned how to paint a Sky, clouds, mountains, trees, shrubs, vineyards, as well as depth and perception in a painting.

Connie


Stephanie


Megan






Kim




Dee



Lisa




Christy















Too much painting and not enough house work ~ that is how I woke up feeling this morning. My house desperately needs to be dusted and vaccumed and well I wish I could be Barbara Eden for about an hour and fold my arms, blink my eyes and have it all done ~ especially my studio that is in a shambles. Lately when I've tried to organize it I've just found myself moving stuff from one table or drawer to another and getting no where with it.
So, I've just finished my second cup of coffee and have read quite a few of my favorite blogs and now it's off to being a full time HOUSEWIFE today. Nothing desperate about me but I cannot say the same for my house at the moment. Have a wonderfully PRODUCTIVE day!

COLOR INSPIRATION ~
Let me first start by saying that I DO not know how to sew! I tried when I was younger and it was a disaster. I'll tell a couple stories below but wanted to SHARE these NEW FABRIC lines with you that are truly inspirational! I got to see them up close and personal in June when I went down to my convention in Orlando, Fla. There are so many that I'd love to have bags, purses made out of. You can go here to see the selection and order. Scroll down and you'll see a section in the middle of the page with the fabric swatches. Hope these colors inspire you today!

After I graduated from HS my mom, dad, and younger sister moved to Okinawa, Japan (a military move) and my older sister and I stayed with some family friends. The lady of the house sewed her families clothes and they were beautiful. I asked her to show me how and well, the only dress that I made was cute but didn't last long. My sister wore it to work one day - pulled a string on the sleeve and the entire sleeve slid down her arm ~ I was mortified when she told me.

When I lived in Okinawa, Japan a group of us ladies that had no kids decided that we were all going to get sewing machines and make valances and pillows. How hard could that be huh?

Well, it really wasn't hard to make them but about the 3rd time I used mine ~ the bobbin got stuck in the machine and I'm embarassed to say that it's still stuck and in it's original box for 16 years now!

This fabric has inspired me to get it out of the box ~ actually I'll let hubby do it cause it's been a box so long I'm not sure if there is anything dead (like a dead spider) in it. I know it would be dead but a spider is a spider in my mind that is terrified of them!

Hope you have a great WEDNESDAY!