Amazing!

I received the Honest Scrap Award from the fabulous Julie-Ann Bowden. You must visit her blog and see her art. Amazing and beautiful and awe-inspiring! Just to give you some idea of how I feel about her art!! Any who; she bestowed this upon me and I feel so honored,
Now I have to list ten things that I have not written about before. So here it goes:

1. Before I leave this world, I want to design and decorate a store-front window in NY or Chicago for the Christmas season!

2. I had gastric-by-pass surgery in Feb. of this year and so far have lost 105 lbs.

3. I collect Gene dolls and my granddaughters can't wait to get their hands on them.

4. I am a clutter bug. Every place I go, I leave a pile of stuff. Usually art projects but still...I am just saying....!

5. I haven't worn high heels in over 12 years! And this New Years' eve I will be putting a pair on! Yikes!! Can we say...fall on my face!!

6. I love football and baseball and watch the games all the time. I love the Browns, the Bears, the Cowboys, the Vikings, and the Colts! The Indians and the Red Soxs also have my interest!

7. Magazines and books! I have a huge collection of them and am always fighting to find time to read. I just finished the Twilight series and loved them.

8. I thought I was 5' 5" but was recently measured and I am really 5'3"!!! What's up with that?

9. Can you say, "well endowed"? That's me and I am constantly tripping over my feet because I can't see where my feet are going! Really!!

10. I was diagnosed bi-polar about 6 years ago. Sure helped me make sense of the ups and downs in my life. Medication and counseling has made a huge difference in my life. For the good I might add!

Well there is more about me that you probably wanted to know! LOL! No I need to give this award to 10 bloggers that I admire and follow. I would just like to give it to all of you. I feel like saying, "Everyone, grab this award and run with it!" But I will do my best here and chose 10.

1. Debrina Pratt of Spark your imagination. Amazing works of art!

2. insomniac Ellen of this bittersweet symphony. Wonderful story teller!

3. Eleni of La Femme Readers A true bookaholic!!!

4, Cindy of 12 Tribes A wonderful and refreshing blogger!

5. Kat of 3 Bedroom Bungalow. Pure delight to read!

6. Lyn of Actual Scale. Taking charge of her weight and sharing her journey!!

7. Pam of Art at the Speed of Life. Wonderful artist and working on her first book!!!!!

8. Beth at Be Yourself...Everyone else is Taken. Amazing photographer and writer!

9. Denise of Bella Dreams. Lover of vintage style and flea markets. Great blog!

10. Alix at Casa Hice. Alix is a wonderful teller of tales. Refreshing blogger.

Woohoo! I did it! But like I said earlier, so many bloggers out there who all deserve awards!!

Thanksgiving is officially over! But the leftovers continue. Ah! The curse of them! But now the Christmas season begins and I hit the ground running this year. I did all my shopping on line. Would you believe...I am done! You heard it right...DONE!! I brow beat my grand kids in visiting their favorite on line stores and making a wish list. Then I just shopped from their lists. It was so easy! I had already purchased a special gift for my son and my daughter-in-law. So all gifts are obtained. The only other person I worry about {buy for} is my mom. And I have her taken care of as well.
Then I went and bought some really cool gift bags from Oriental Trading Place; so I am ready to go when the gifts begin to arrive. My biggest task now will be making the gift tags! But that is always fun and I just use my computer.
So, the tree is up in the living room and all gifts are purchased. The Christmas cards are ordered and I even made up matching stamps at Zazzle.com. All I have left to do is make my Christmas vignette in the dining room and put up my pink tree in my bedroom. I know...I said PINK!! With light green ornaments. The tree in my living room is black and I have black, white and silver ornaments for this one. Very cool!
Well, I am off to start my day. Hope you have a magical one!
Hugging you
SueAnn

Gorgeous!!!

Another fabulous sunrise in New Mexico!!
Enjoy and have a magical day!
Hugs
SueAnn

It's official!

Thanksgiving has come and gone and copious quantities of food have been consumed! For those who don't know; this holiday is totally about food! How it looks; how it tastes; how it smells; how long it took to prepare; how many mouths it fed; how big the turkey was/is; etc, etc, etc.
So I thought I would give you the down and dirty version.
Turkey still in roasting pan....
Table set up in construction zone!!.....On the left, is my granddaughter Georgia who is 14! Center is my son, Lee Sr.; and right is my granddaughter, Lisa who is home from college!!
The turkey weighed in at 26.9 ozs. The meal fed 10 people, with enough left over for 10 more!! We had sweet potato casserole with marshmallows. Stuffing and mashed potatoes. A pickle plate and whole cranberry sauce! Turkey (of course) and pasta salad with balsamic dressing. A red wine that was $14.00 for 64 ozs. {giggling here} And fresh hot rolls!
And the table was set by my 11 year old grandson who is 11. Here he is in his tree house/fort!
Here I am with my granddaughter Lisa (on the right), sharing college stories and waiting for dinner.As for china and glassware; we used paper plates with a Christmas motif and paper cups! We did use regular silverware though. So dishes where not circumvented entirely. Sigh!
So that was my Thanksgiving day menu with guests included. I would like to add that my daughter-in-law, and three of my granddaughters were sick and did their best to be part of the festivities. Ginger {DIL} braved the kitchen and put together a wonderful feast. She was assisted by everyone and we were thrilled with the outcome. The day before, there was talk of McDonald's!
I was just thrilled to be able to spend two days with my wonderful family. Then, to add spice to the day, I told all the grand kids I wanted their Christmas wish lists and mad writing and dream-shopping commenced!
Black Friday came and went and I attended no malls or shopping centers. No! I shopped on line and had a ball. Got some good deals too! Now most of my Christmas shopping is done. I only have one more granddaughter to buy for!! WooHoo! Don't you just love a good deal? I sure do!
Hope your feasts were fabulous?
Have a magical and dreamy weekend!
Hugging you all,
SueAnn

I can feel it!!

It is beginning to look {I hate to say this out loud} like Christmas! I have been decorating already and having a blast! I know. I am pathetic!! LOL! But I love this holiday! Just like Halloween...it is a time to make believe..to create spaces that emote magic and dreams!!!!!Ahh! The wonder in a child's eyes! Makes all the work worth while. This is Joy and she is one of my reborn baby dolls. Isn't she the cutiest!! She loves taking the decorations off the tree. Little bugger!This is one of my paintings...."Catch a Falling Star"! And of course if you catch the star; you should put it into your pocket.

As you can see I used handmade paper; buttons; stars cut out of vintage book and a vintage map. Just to name of few of the components of this painting! I love the feel of this piece. Hope you enjoy it.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I will be spending the holiday with my son and his wife and my five grandchildren. I am so looking forward to it. They live in Gallup, NM which is about a three hour drive....west of us! Got a book on tape..so we are ready to go.
I purchased a 26 lb. turkey, two large pumpkin pies; whipped cream, of course, and sushi!! We all love sushi so I thought that would be a great appetizer!
Here is a pic of my son, Lee Sr. His wife, Ginger {in the middle} and my oldest granddaughter, Lisa. She is attending New Mexico State University in Las Cruses, NM.

Hope you all have a wonderful time with family and friends. May it be magical and the best day ever!!
Hugging you all
SueAnn

Next one!

Couldn't leave out my next granddaughter. She loves to pose for the camera. This is Emma...she is 16!!! The other post has Cassie on it and she is 17. This is Cassie's senior year and she is having a blast. In fact, she is having so much fun...she is grounded! Oops!! LOL!!
Another pic of Cassie!
I have two more granddaughters: Lisa who is 20 and Georgia who is 14! I will have to find some pics of them too. Then there is the baby...Lee, Jr. He is 10!!! And his sisters' adore him. And yes, he is spoiled. But in a good way! Of course, he is a genius!!!!!Hope you all have a wonderful and magical day!
Hugging you
SueAnn

Do you ever???

Wake up in the morning and feel like you have nothing to say? Nothing to add to someone's day? I am having one of those days.
I have said it all and I don't want to add anything else to it right now. I have the right!! I mean...why do I have to do all the thinking here? All the planning?
You come up with something for a change!
I read other blogs and they are all so interesting! I look at mine and it is so "average". I need to come up with some "zing and pizazz". A unique approach or timely comments.
I am putting my thinking cap on and see what I can come up with. But right now; I have nothing to say. Oh! I already said that!!! And it is true! At least, not today!
To all who visit me...thanks so much! I truly appreciate it and in the future I will try to make your visit more entertaining! The operative word here is "TRY"!
Have a magical and wonderful day
Hugging you all
SueAnn
PS The pic is of one of my granddaughters'.

Success!

The show was successful in so many ways. Tons of people stopped by my booth and took cards and brochures before they left.
Many questions were asked and answered. My granddaughters looked beautiful and answered questions like pros! My Daughter-in-law is lovely and looked incredible! Her help was invaluable!
My grandson, son and husband helped with carting all the dolls and such in and out. Couldn't have done it without them. Everyone helped me set up the booth!! It looked incredible!
Oh! I sold one doll!! That made everyone's day. And the new "mommie" was ecstatic about her newest little one. Hopefully, she will want more.
The doll show was fabulous! So many dolls; so little time!
All in all a good day and now I am blissfully tired!
I took many more pics; but I didn't want to over load you with all the images. LOL! So I am just sharing these few.
Thanks for going to the show with me today! Hope you enjoyed your visit?
Have a magical and wonderful day
Hugging you
SueAnn

Preview!!

Well the second doll show is fast approaching! This coming Saturday to be exact. I am just about ready. Only one more doll to put some hair into and put her together. She is quite the cutie too! I took a shot of some of the girls waiting to go to the show. Three are sleeping but one is wide awake with wonder....or is that trepidation??? LOL!!

Sorry! I couldn't resist another sunrise picture! It is always with such joy that I see these. There was a day when I feared I was seeing my last sunrises. Joyfully, I am well and blessed with eagerness for each day!!!!
Think of me prayerfully on Saturday!
Have a magical and miraculous day!
Hugs
SueAnn

Softly emmerging!

Sunrise...sunset! Sunrise!! The sun was gently rising and from my window it was so soft and comforting. And I needed that at 5AM!! Out came the camera and the rest is history. I am also playing with my html and see if I can manipulate the pics on here! So here we go!
Hey!!! It worked!! I am woman!!!!! Hear me roar!!! LOL!! Take that blogger....I have a new weapon. On to bigger and better things now.
Enjoy this sunrise...it softness and how it surrounds you with it's comfort! This is my backyard by the way. It is truly a desert landscape around my home. Here is a pic of one of my "weeds". Isn't it beautiful!?Well enough playing around here. I just wanted to share and do that photo experiment. Now I feel I can tackle the day!! I learned this from Ruby Lane Photography. She has a photo blog as well as a regular blog!
Smart lady....thanks so much!!
Hugs to all and have a magical and special day!
SueAnn

Recovering!

Yes! That is what I am doing! Recovering from the flu and the show. And I guess I am whining a bit too! Feeling sorry for myself because I am so dang tired! I need my "get up and go" for the next show which is this coming Saturday!!!! Oh boy!!
On a positive note! I have a new customer coming over shortly to pick out her new baby and decide what clothing she wants to use. This is one of the custom orders I received last Saturday. She wants her baby to be a facsimile of Santa when he was a baby!! I am looking forward to working on this one. It will be fun. I will definitely post pics when I finish.
This is what greeted me this morning after I had been up awhile. I opened the windows just in time. I love early mornings! It is so quiet and no one is up! I love it!! Definitely "me" time!! I usually hop onto the computer and check emails and see what is happening in 'puter world. My sweetie gets up about an hour later and starts the coffee. Am I spoiled or what?! LOL!! Works for me!!!!!
Well off to get this day started...so nice of you to stop by. I even saved some coffee for you.
Have a wonderful and magical day!
Hugs
SueAnn

I made it!!!!

I was able to get up early and get things done. I made it to the Craft show!! woohoo!!!! Thought I would share some pics of my booth.I was able to overcome that nasty ole flu bug! With the help of all your prayers and rest the days before.
My darling husband (who is the best-est ever) helped me a great deal! He loaded and unloaded the van. That takes alot of effort and he was up to the task. Bless his heart!!!
The show went very well too! I had a ton of people coming up and commenting on how real the babies looked. Some were freaked out by the realism. LOL!! I told them all that is was a great compliment to my skills as an artist.
I received two custom orders and that made my day. Both require research and skill. So I feel I am up to the challenge.
Thank you all for your well wishes and prayers!
Have a magical day!
Hugs
SueAnn

What is a girl to do??

I am all jazzed about the upcoming doll show (this Saturday!). And lo and behold....I come down with the flu!! ACK!! And I do feel miserable. Fever, headache, can't eat...etc...etc...etc...!!!I want to be this fairy and change things right now!! Or fly away from this sickness!! I am so upset.
And I have been so good and careful...I thought. Well....
Lots of chicken soup today and I am going to tell myself that I am well 1,000 times and do my best to kill this virus!!
Prayers for me please??!!
Hugs and hope you all miss this flu!
SueAnn

Doll Show Number One is fast approaching!!

Yikes!!! November 7th is almost upon me!! This will be doll show number one! The next show is November 14th. I know!! I am totally out of my mind!
Just wanted to share another little one. Her name is Courtney! She is 21 inches long and weighs about 4 pounds.
She is sporting a onesie made by Diane Waters and I think it is adorable. This next pic is what she will be wearing at the show. Yep!! She is beautiful!

Thanks for stopping by! I will be showing more later this week.
Have a wonderful magical day!
Hugging you all!
SueAnn