Friday, October 19, 2007
More DOGS than you can shake...oh never mind.
Ok, y'all. I love me some dogs. Maybe even more than cheese (read below) which means I love them a whole lot. I mean look around, I made a career out of my love of dogs. And that is cool. Awesome. Gives hopes to the masses that crazy ideas given enough time, energy and patience with the gas and electric company that you really will pay them SOON, you too can live your dream.
Ok, so dogs. I have my Lucy, a 90 lb yellow lab/shepherd mix. She is awesome, elegant, LISTENS to me and would rather go days without eating than to be rude and ya know, steal, or god forbid look like she is begging for food. She is just the sweetest most gentle dog. I have had her since she was 11 months old. She is 9 this month. And she will never get old and she will never die. She just won't, so shut up.
Then there is Rufus. What can I say about him? He is a giant, stocky, drooly black lab/newfie mix that is as dumb as a box of rocks. We are almost certain that his brain, while it MUST exist, is certainly smaller than normal. Cause we can hear hollowness when you knock on his head. He behaves for the most part, but will ignore you just as easily. Let's just say Rufus rides the short bus and I often imagine him saying, "Tell me about the rabbits again, Lucy." But god love him, he is the lovey-doviest, drooliest, most happy dog ya ever did meet. He just wants love and will smoosh in next to you and just look at you with those big ol' eyes and you just can't help yourself but to love the big oaf back. I have had him since 11 months old too. He is now 5. He once ate an entire couch. Stripped it to the wood. But he was a puppy then. Sure, a 100 lb puppy, but still, a puppy.
And two 100 lb dogs is a whole lotta dog. And sure, I sometimes look wistfully at the people with the yorkies and pugs and imagine my smaller dog food bill or kennel bill, but then, I can sleep with all my doors and windows open at night, cause I just DARE you to break in to THIS house. heh.
So when I met Best Boyfriend Ever, he had to be a dog person. And he is. As a matter of fact, he has his own Big Dog just like me. She is Skyler And she is sweet and pretty, and just a bit sneaky. And she has been living separate since February because my itty bitty apartment simply could not contain all the dogs and kids and adults necessary. We tried. And a bloody nose made us wait. And then came the house. I LOVES ME MY NEW HOUSE!!! (see below) So I was very excited that the new BIG house meant we could finally bring Sklyer around and hopefully all the dogs would like each other. We hired a trainer and everything. And people? It worked! And we did the whole dog whisperer thing where me and Best Boyfriend Ever are leaders of our very own dog pack y'all!
And the dogs love each other now. And play. A lot. Loudly. VERY LOUDLY. And I find myself constantly saying, "Rufus! Lucy! Sklyer! Relax!" They love to play and run and rough house and you would think they were all damn puppies. And I can't leave them alone for 5 minutes, it is like having toddlers again. Sneaky Pete, I mean, Sklyer steals stuff. She is like a ninja. She quietly sneaks up next to you and the next thing you know a sock is gone or a shoe. Or she has her nose in the trash or your food or you, well anything. She is an inquisitive dog. And I am hoping that my dogs CALM will eventually spillover to her. We are getting a fence put inthe backyard soon so that we can send them outside to play when they need to get their energy out, but right now we have to exercise them. So to keep things peaceful at night and not all Dog Fight Club 'let me see if I can hump you now, howz ya like that?' we have to walk these three a minimum of 2 miles a day, up and down hills so that they will RELAX at night.
So right now it is all calm and I am working (painting and blogging is too work!) and lookee here at all the DOG I done have me.
But moments earlier it was all, "Oh yeah? Howz about some of this beeeeatch!"
So ya know, it keeps ya on your toes, but there is no shortage of dog love here. And I have to say, I like that quite a lot.
Ok, so dogs. I have my Lucy, a 90 lb yellow lab/shepherd mix. She is awesome, elegant, LISTENS to me and would rather go days without eating than to be rude and ya know, steal, or god forbid look like she is begging for food. She is just the sweetest most gentle dog. I have had her since she was 11 months old. She is 9 this month. And she will never get old and she will never die. She just won't, so shut up.
Then there is Rufus. What can I say about him? He is a giant, stocky, drooly black lab/newfie mix that is as dumb as a box of rocks. We are almost certain that his brain, while it MUST exist, is certainly smaller than normal. Cause we can hear hollowness when you knock on his head. He behaves for the most part, but will ignore you just as easily. Let's just say Rufus rides the short bus and I often imagine him saying, "Tell me about the rabbits again, Lucy." But god love him, he is the lovey-doviest, drooliest, most happy dog ya ever did meet. He just wants love and will smoosh in next to you and just look at you with those big ol' eyes and you just can't help yourself but to love the big oaf back. I have had him since 11 months old too. He is now 5. He once ate an entire couch. Stripped it to the wood. But he was a puppy then. Sure, a 100 lb puppy, but still, a puppy.
And two 100 lb dogs is a whole lotta dog. And sure, I sometimes look wistfully at the people with the yorkies and pugs and imagine my smaller dog food bill or kennel bill, but then, I can sleep with all my doors and windows open at night, cause I just DARE you to break in to THIS house. heh.
So when I met Best Boyfriend Ever, he had to be a dog person. And he is. As a matter of fact, he has his own Big Dog just like me. She is Skyler And she is sweet and pretty, and just a bit sneaky. And she has been living separate since February because my itty bitty apartment simply could not contain all the dogs and kids and adults necessary. We tried. And a bloody nose made us wait. And then came the house. I LOVES ME MY NEW HOUSE!!! (see below) So I was very excited that the new BIG house meant we could finally bring Sklyer around and hopefully all the dogs would like each other. We hired a trainer and everything. And people? It worked! And we did the whole dog whisperer thing where me and Best Boyfriend Ever are leaders of our very own dog pack y'all!
And the dogs love each other now. And play. A lot. Loudly. VERY LOUDLY. And I find myself constantly saying, "Rufus! Lucy! Sklyer! Relax!" They love to play and run and rough house and you would think they were all damn puppies. And I can't leave them alone for 5 minutes, it is like having toddlers again. Sneaky Pete, I mean, Sklyer steals stuff. She is like a ninja. She quietly sneaks up next to you and the next thing you know a sock is gone or a shoe. Or she has her nose in the trash or your food or you, well anything. She is an inquisitive dog. And I am hoping that my dogs CALM will eventually spillover to her. We are getting a fence put inthe backyard soon so that we can send them outside to play when they need to get their energy out, but right now we have to exercise them. So to keep things peaceful at night and not all Dog Fight Club 'let me see if I can hump you now, howz ya like that?' we have to walk these three a minimum of 2 miles a day, up and down hills so that they will RELAX at night.
So right now it is all calm and I am working (painting and blogging is too work!) and lookee here at all the DOG I done have me.
But moments earlier it was all, "Oh yeah? Howz about some of this beeeeatch!"
So ya know, it keeps ya on your toes, but there is no shortage of dog love here. And I have to say, I like that quite a lot.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
More free food than you can shake a stick at!
Which makes no sense at all, cause I am pretty sure that no matter how much free food there is, if you have a stick... well. But I suppose if you were in a room and they filled up the free food all the way the corner you were standing in and you had no room to move your arms any more, you certainly would not be able to shake said stick. Ah, there you go, making the world make sense again. You can thank me by sending money.
Ok, back to FREE. FOOD. Let me start with my delectable lunch at Ted's Montana Grill yesterday. Back in August I decided to celebrate finally getting my advance check by taking the kids and Best Boyfriend Ever out to Ted's. We all love cow, particularly when it is red and juicy. Yummy! So the kids were allowed to order the filets and we all were happy and full at the end of the night. And my advance was now 4 steak dinners less. But Ted, i heart you and your acres and acres you own in the Midwest and your sensible recycling theories, cause damn man, you make some good cow! And the squash casserole ain't nothing to forget about! Ok, so how was this free? Well, it was not. BUT. I put my business card into a fishbowl that day. And ya know what? 2 months later some man from Ameriprise Financial done picked that card out of a fishbowl and called me! And said, hey lovely and talented lady (Ok, he didn't but I am taking creative license)"How would you like free lunch for you and 10 of your coworkers?" To which I immediately replied "Hells yeah!" (and I take this opportunity to tell you that I am not a fine print reading kinda gal, assume the best out of everyone and often find my self open mouthed AFTER I realize the "catch" and that the devil now owns my soul. Also read: Naive") So after imagine how popular and cool I will be after I take my whole office out to lunch and I am daydreaming about how they will cheer and carry me about on their shoulders, he does tell me that he will give a five minute talk on financial serves before we eat, then pay the bill, then leave. Which is not really a catch at all. Cause ya know what? you wanna give me free lunch at Ted's? You can follow me home and tell me all about my financial future for the rest of the day if you want. Ted's is THAT good. So free lunch was good yesterday and coworkers rejoiced. However there was no lifting me about and parading me around. that made me sad. But, ya know, I am no petite thing, I understand.
Ok, next free food. Hoo Boy! Are you people ready for this? Cause I still don't quite believe I have a freezer full of awesome and amazing meals that will last the rest of the month as each meal is six HUGE servings!! FOR FREE. how , you wonder internet did I do that? What magical powers have I wielded to get this? Well, as it turns out, writing this here blog for the past 5 years has paid off in cheese and chicken cutlets! See the National Dairy Council is promoting their 3 A Day program. In which they encourage you to each cheese, and milk and yogurt and well ALL YUMMY DAIRY PRODUCTS. Cause ain't nothing better than DAIRY in my book! But most importantly to me is CHEESE. Cause let me tell you, girlfriend can say no to cookies and chocolate all day long, but you put a block of smoked mozarella in front of me, and well, let's just say take it away at your own risk. I loves me some cheese. I love me dairy. i love milk, yogurt, sour cream, and did I mention CHEESE? So when they said, come out to Super Suppers and sample dairy based meals and drink wine and meet and talk with other Blogging Moms I was all "Sure!" But when they said and you will make a weeks worth of six portion meals to take home for free? I was all, "Please. You had me at cheese."
So yes, I am a mom who BlOGS. So when Danielle at Foodmomiac emailed and invited me I was all, "Who, me? Oh, I am, um I am not really anybody..(and then my inner bully came out to beat um my humble self and said, "SHUT THE HELL UP- FREE FOOD STUPID!") And I said, "Um, YES!!!" And so, they wanted ME!! Little old me! So last night I left Best Boyfriend Ever with the kids and homework and said, "Family, Mom is going off to cook tonite! And I will bring back meals the likes of which you have never seen, nor likely heard of before, nor likely will ever see again. So enjoy this frozen pizza tonite, because for the next week you will dine like you have a mother who COOKS!" And off I went to forage into the jungle and bring back my family the food they so richly deserve. And can enjoy for a week at which time we are back to macaroni and cheese and hot dogs. But there will be leftovers.
ok, so Super Suppers in Decatur is one of these places that you make a week or 2 weeks worth of food in about two hours and take it all home. They provide all the ingredients, easy to follow menus and everything to bring it home with and freeze. Along with the instructions how to cook it. Now, i don't know if they do that all the time, but they also gave us WINE while be made the meals. BONUS! So there I am in this wonderful little shop meeting mom bloggers from all over and talking and laughing and connecting. I particularly was fond of Sherri whom runs The Rebel Housewife and we swore we would get together again as we only love about 10 minutes apart. She even took a stack of my cards to hand out at the dog park! So after 2 and half hours we were done. With Sherri and I closing out the place because um, well, we apparently talk. A lot. So there I am with 6 huge meals for my family, plus a bag of goodies from the American Dairy Council and have met many other women, some of whom I hope to become friends with.
So I got home and the kids smelled the food and looked up at me with such pride and a glow of love that only two adoring children that want to know what real food tastes like can give and they and Best Boyfriend Ever all put me up on their shoulders and paraded me around the living room and chanted lovely things about me. No? Don't believe me? Well, ok. Sophie asked if she could have all the free stuff. Noah wanted to know if it was gross did he have to eat it and the dogs paraded behind me sniffing my jeans and licking tomato sauce off my jeans. Best Boyfriend Ever did clear space in the freezer and looked pretty excited for our Pan Fried Ravioli tonite though. And then he kissed me. Eh, who needs to be on someone's shoulders? I'd probably hit my head and fall off anyhow.
Here are other bloggers that were there. Please check them out as well as Super Suppers and The National Dairy Council. Cause they are my new bestest friends. And they encourage you to eat CHEESE!
Miss Zoot
Sophie of A Hole in the Fence
Amber of A Gypsys Musings
Lulu's Laundry
The Madame Queen
The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What to Think
Melizzard
Oh, and pics will be coming later! (They had a reporter there and a photographer and I took some, but I forgot the little cord to download, but soon! So come back and look later!)
Ok, back to FREE. FOOD. Let me start with my delectable lunch at Ted's Montana Grill yesterday. Back in August I decided to celebrate finally getting my advance check by taking the kids and Best Boyfriend Ever out to Ted's. We all love cow, particularly when it is red and juicy. Yummy! So the kids were allowed to order the filets and we all were happy and full at the end of the night. And my advance was now 4 steak dinners less. But Ted, i heart you and your acres and acres you own in the Midwest and your sensible recycling theories, cause damn man, you make some good cow! And the squash casserole ain't nothing to forget about! Ok, so how was this free? Well, it was not. BUT. I put my business card into a fishbowl that day. And ya know what? 2 months later some man from Ameriprise Financial done picked that card out of a fishbowl and called me! And said, hey lovely and talented lady (Ok, he didn't but I am taking creative license)"How would you like free lunch for you and 10 of your coworkers?" To which I immediately replied "Hells yeah!" (and I take this opportunity to tell you that I am not a fine print reading kinda gal, assume the best out of everyone and often find my self open mouthed AFTER I realize the "catch" and that the devil now owns my soul. Also read: Naive") So after imagine how popular and cool I will be after I take my whole office out to lunch and I am daydreaming about how they will cheer and carry me about on their shoulders, he does tell me that he will give a five minute talk on financial serves before we eat, then pay the bill, then leave. Which is not really a catch at all. Cause ya know what? you wanna give me free lunch at Ted's? You can follow me home and tell me all about my financial future for the rest of the day if you want. Ted's is THAT good. So free lunch was good yesterday and coworkers rejoiced. However there was no lifting me about and parading me around. that made me sad. But, ya know, I am no petite thing, I understand.
Ok, next free food. Hoo Boy! Are you people ready for this? Cause I still don't quite believe I have a freezer full of awesome and amazing meals that will last the rest of the month as each meal is six HUGE servings!! FOR FREE. how , you wonder internet did I do that? What magical powers have I wielded to get this? Well, as it turns out, writing this here blog for the past 5 years has paid off in cheese and chicken cutlets! See the National Dairy Council is promoting their 3 A Day program. In which they encourage you to each cheese, and milk and yogurt and well ALL YUMMY DAIRY PRODUCTS. Cause ain't nothing better than DAIRY in my book! But most importantly to me is CHEESE. Cause let me tell you, girlfriend can say no to cookies and chocolate all day long, but you put a block of smoked mozarella in front of me, and well, let's just say take it away at your own risk. I loves me some cheese. I love me dairy. i love milk, yogurt, sour cream, and did I mention CHEESE? So when they said, come out to Super Suppers and sample dairy based meals and drink wine and meet and talk with other Blogging Moms I was all "Sure!" But when they said and you will make a weeks worth of six portion meals to take home for free? I was all, "Please. You had me at cheese."
So yes, I am a mom who BlOGS. So when Danielle at Foodmomiac emailed and invited me I was all, "Who, me? Oh, I am, um I am not really anybody..(and then my inner bully came out to beat um my humble self and said, "SHUT THE HELL UP- FREE FOOD STUPID!") And I said, "Um, YES!!!" And so, they wanted ME!! Little old me! So last night I left Best Boyfriend Ever with the kids and homework and said, "Family, Mom is going off to cook tonite! And I will bring back meals the likes of which you have never seen, nor likely heard of before, nor likely will ever see again. So enjoy this frozen pizza tonite, because for the next week you will dine like you have a mother who COOKS!" And off I went to forage into the jungle and bring back my family the food they so richly deserve. And can enjoy for a week at which time we are back to macaroni and cheese and hot dogs. But there will be leftovers.
ok, so Super Suppers in Decatur is one of these places that you make a week or 2 weeks worth of food in about two hours and take it all home. They provide all the ingredients, easy to follow menus and everything to bring it home with and freeze. Along with the instructions how to cook it. Now, i don't know if they do that all the time, but they also gave us WINE while be made the meals. BONUS! So there I am in this wonderful little shop meeting mom bloggers from all over and talking and laughing and connecting. I particularly was fond of Sherri whom runs The Rebel Housewife and we swore we would get together again as we only love about 10 minutes apart. She even took a stack of my cards to hand out at the dog park! So after 2 and half hours we were done. With Sherri and I closing out the place because um, well, we apparently talk. A lot. So there I am with 6 huge meals for my family, plus a bag of goodies from the American Dairy Council and have met many other women, some of whom I hope to become friends with.
So I got home and the kids smelled the food and looked up at me with such pride and a glow of love that only two adoring children that want to know what real food tastes like can give and they and Best Boyfriend Ever all put me up on their shoulders and paraded me around the living room and chanted lovely things about me. No? Don't believe me? Well, ok. Sophie asked if she could have all the free stuff. Noah wanted to know if it was gross did he have to eat it and the dogs paraded behind me sniffing my jeans and licking tomato sauce off my jeans. Best Boyfriend Ever did clear space in the freezer and looked pretty excited for our Pan Fried Ravioli tonite though. And then he kissed me. Eh, who needs to be on someone's shoulders? I'd probably hit my head and fall off anyhow.
Here are other bloggers that were there. Please check them out as well as Super Suppers and The National Dairy Council. Cause they are my new bestest friends. And they encourage you to eat CHEESE!
Miss Zoot
Sophie of A Hole in the Fence
Amber of A Gypsys Musings
Lulu's Laundry
The Madame Queen
The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What to Think
Melizzard
Oh, and pics will be coming later! (They had a reporter there and a photographer and I took some, but I forgot the little cord to download, but soon! So come back and look later!)
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Feels like home
Still on a high from the festival. Yesterday morning I mailed off 4 prints that people have bought off of etsy.com. That felt really good too. I am not sure what has happened, but with that little switch of how I have been thinking, just slightly turning things in my brain, I have somehow gotten so much of me back. I feel like the girl from 5 years ago again, so excited by her art. So deliriously thrilled when someone smiles at my paintings again. It has also had the magical effect of decluttering my brain. I am not so consumed with getting the next proposal out or the next idea on paper. I am concentrating on the art that makes me happy and my family. This week I am getting back to the house. finishing up putting away boxes, unpacking the last of the knick-knacks and best of all hanging the artwork up. The walls feel naked without them.
The house we moved into, well, it has some unusual characteristics. Which I did not notice at all when I saw it, except that I absolutely fell in love with it the second I walked in. I sent out pictures to friends and family. Everyone's first response to the pictures was the same. "How did you already get to paint it???" I was all, "Huh?" "The COLORS!! All the colors! How did you get to paint it already?" they kept saying. "Oh, it was like that when we saw it." The bright red dining room, apricot upstairs landing, deep green bedroom, rose bedroom, cobolt blue bedroom, gold bathroom, sunshine yellow bathroom and lavender foyer. "Um, it was ALREADY like that?" "Yes, isn't it great?!" I wrote back. And then, "That house is so YOU." Which I guess is why I fell in love with it. And I am glad Best Boyfriend Ever did too. Or at least came around to my puppy dog eyes.
When you look at my art you can tell I am in love with color. I am no fan of tan, bisque or latte, I am no pastel pink, pale blue or butter yellow girl. Nope. Give me bold, bright, yell in your face colors that wake you up and make you smile. I love to pair them up and throw a dog on them with big smiling flowers too. And this house was already like that. Which I guess is why it feels so much like home even after just 3 weeks. It is hard to believe it has hardly been a month. It feels like home. And I love that. I will post pics soon.
The house we moved into, well, it has some unusual characteristics. Which I did not notice at all when I saw it, except that I absolutely fell in love with it the second I walked in. I sent out pictures to friends and family. Everyone's first response to the pictures was the same. "How did you already get to paint it???" I was all, "Huh?" "The COLORS!! All the colors! How did you get to paint it already?" they kept saying. "Oh, it was like that when we saw it." The bright red dining room, apricot upstairs landing, deep green bedroom, rose bedroom, cobolt blue bedroom, gold bathroom, sunshine yellow bathroom and lavender foyer. "Um, it was ALREADY like that?" "Yes, isn't it great?!" I wrote back. And then, "That house is so YOU." Which I guess is why I fell in love with it. And I am glad Best Boyfriend Ever did too. Or at least came around to my puppy dog eyes.
When you look at my art you can tell I am in love with color. I am no fan of tan, bisque or latte, I am no pastel pink, pale blue or butter yellow girl. Nope. Give me bold, bright, yell in your face colors that wake you up and make you smile. I love to pair them up and throw a dog on them with big smiling flowers too. And this house was already like that. Which I guess is why it feels so much like home even after just 3 weeks. It is hard to believe it has hardly been a month. It feels like home. And I love that. I will post pics soon.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Wonderfulness
Wow! What a weekend! I have to say that I was blown away by the response. I put up all the art from my book and color me surprised if it didn't just fly off the walls! See, I hardly ever make money the day of the festival, because usually it is all about people seeing my work, and wanting me to paint THIER dog. But I think I have managed to finally find the secret formula. I found my price point for my paintings, had little things to seel and big things for everyone. I made a very tidy sum and none of that was even including the commissions that will come in. But ya know what? I won't lie, the money is nice, but that was not my favorite part of it.
My favorite parts were when the lady from five years ago came in and asked if I remembered her. Her dogs name I asked. Teddy. Yes, the little tan poodle with the blue background and lavendar flowers. Or when the couple came in with 4 month old twins and asked if I remembered them. "Yes, 3 years ago, two black dogs one was much smaller but they had identical markings and were not related, light green background. You asked me in for water when I delivered your painting." Then there were the two boys that came back five times on their own gushing over my art and finally got their mom to come back and commission a portrait of their Otis, a black lab and they bought a little 'Rufus the Pirate' painting on an easel. Then they rushed back an hour later to get my autograph on the back of my business card cause, "You might be famous in like 50 years and it will be worth something!" hee. Then there was the little girl who stood transfixed at the colors and finally came up and asked so timidly, "if it's ok with you, can i take your card, please? I love your art! You are my second favorite artist!" "Who is your first," I asked. "My grandpa." I think I am in good company! So many people that smiled, so many people that laughed. It was pure joy. And it was that way right up until the last moment when I was packing up the car and a man stopped by and said, "Hi, I doubt you remember me, but you painted our lab mix, Sam about five years ago." "Purple background with gardenias." I said. He smiled at me remembering. (I happen to remember every dog I have painted.) "We get more compliments on that painting than any other piece of art we have ever bought."You can't beat that, can you?
It was a VERY good weekend. The money was the bonus.
