charmed...i'm sure

I took a step of faith today....

despite a horrible car repair bill...
a leaky toilet getting fixed...
and everyday life bills....

I took a class today at Ink It!

I've wanted to take one for sooo long from super talented gal, Liz Eaton, a class on how to make soldered glass slide charms. I've been intrigued by these little gems since falling in love with Sally Jean's charms! The class was offered last month, and as tempted as I was, I just didn't feel that I could spend the money.

Today, however, I was reading Liz's blog and realized that the same class was being offered again...TODAY!!

Should I? Do I dare?? Could I swing this??

I went back and forth, so many, many times as to why I shouldn't but why I should... then my spirit fairy told me to do it, and that it would be ok to do this... So I listened to her, and I did.

Liz is a sweetheart of a gal and so good at teaching this class! We created two slides...well, we were

supposed to create two. I only made one, but I was so focused on it, I just couldn't switch my brain over to a new idea! (these are the views of the front and back) Liz showed us how to solder ... and OH MY GOSH!!!

WHY HAVE I WAITED FOR ALMOST 2 YEARS TO LEARN HOW TO DO THIS??? It is so EASY!!

Is it perfect? No.

Do I love it? Yes!

I found myself rediscovering myself...

the side of me that creates, loves, laughs and gets lost in such a wonderful swirl of creating, loving, being excited...

...a part that's been shoved to the side amid the trials and challenges of the past year and a half...

Mary Ellen at Ink It! was a sweetie to get me in at the last minute and when I walked in, there was super talented Carol Wingert! I love her talent, too! Such inspiring, talented women that are following their bliss!

What a wonderful, JOYous time I had!

Clouds in my Coffee

just take a minute and look ...

see the patterning of the clouds?

the kisses of peach on the cloud bottoms?

the promise of a pre-spring day illuminating in the background...

this is the scene that greeted us this morning as we left Starbuck's....

and it's a beauty....

I give it to you... .... my friend

when you need some eye-candy for your spirit

a promise of better days ahead

a soft, warm glow to chase the gray away

come back and see me

and rest your eyes on this

Playing Catch-Up

It feels like it's been AAA-ges since my last post. Actually, I did have a post about tossing my left-over bits of yarn out into the yard for my feathered friends, but for some unknown reason, the next day, my picture was gone and I couldn't fix it, so I just deleted it. I've tinkered around with my blog since, but I didn't have anything really worthwhile to say, so I chose to say nothing. Most of the past week was spent dealing with a broken car, a leaky toilet and possible water damage.... joy of JOYS!

Yes, I do choose JOY!

Oh, and a bout with the flu this week, too...

But ...

I CHOOSE JOY!!

other ramblings...
*what the hell was Henry Miller smoking when he wrote 'Tropic of Capricorn' ?!?!
*Oprah is on right now talking about 'the secret'... which apparently is that our thoughts attract what happens to us... apparently there is a law of the universe; what you focus on expands...
...if that's true, I'm going to quit thinking about my waist
*can you smell it ?? spring is in the air... oh yeah....
*I must say that I outdid myself with my cream pasta sauce last night...best-to-date

*Bless those poeple at DOVE who have created a new campaign about beauty...nude women over 50!! OH YEAH!! Have you see it? It's on their website...and these women are truly, truly b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l

http://www.doveproage.com/?source=dove_a
*5 things that I am grateful for tonight: my health, my children, my family of friends, my job, the ability to get up tomorrow morning and live my life one more day

what are you grateful for ... right now.... what are 5 things that you are grateful for?

hmm ?

choose joy

Finding Out What I'm Made Of

WARNING: those of you who are faint-of-heart, you might want to go check out another site right now....'cuz I'm about to get real on you...

ABSOLUTELY FACINATING!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My friend, K, and I went to the Arizona Science Center tonight... they did an absolutely fabulous thing of inviting educators to a FREE exhibition night of their newest exhibit... BodyWorlds3....

bodies which have been plasticized (the process is FACINATING!!) and posed in positions which were absolutely nothing short of graceful, awesome and so, so beautifully educational!! I have never, ever, ever in my life seen what my eyes saw tonight...and I am forever changed in how I look at this most unimaginable creation...the human body. I saw every organ, tendon, muscle, ligament... I could truly... go on and on... did you know that the average person sees 27,000 sunrises in their lifetime?? Did you know that in a 24 hour period ...

* your fingertips sweat a thimble-full of sweat?

* your hairs grow a combined length of 30 yards !?!?!

* your retina's top layer is burned off when you open your eyes in the morning and a fresh new layer of cells helps you see the new morning

Did you also know that the uterus is the size of an avocado seed? The three bones which comprise the hearing system off of the ear drum are the same size when you are an adult as they were when you were born?? Food moves through the esophogus as the rate of 2 inches a second??

Honestly, I tell you... if you have even the slightest chance to check out this amazing exhibit, you owe it to yourself to truly see what you are made of.....

Top Ten List

Let me state this right up front... I'm not lookin' for anyone... a guy, that is...

Oh sure, I think about it every so often... I've even been asked if I'm dating...

you have GOT to be kidding....

I'm just trying to find my way through this life of mine....!!!

But as I said, every so often the subject does come up.... so let's sit back and read why I'll never have a guy in my life again...

10. I refuse to spend my hard-earned money joining match.com, yahoo personals or hot4ahunk.com.
9. I've grown too acustomed to hogging my bed all to myself.
8. The thought of having to explain my idiocincrisies to someone totally overwhelms me. Besides, they wouldn't even understand my hang-up with brand new books and magazines... even my girlfriends have a hard time with it....
7. Middle-aged guys named 'Vern' with bad toupees don't interest me.
6. Let's be honest... most guys my age are really only looking for someone to take care of them in their older age (i.e. read that as either I'd be wiping their ass or their drool for them...)
5. I think I'm pretty much spent in that department... I think this is the part of my life where I am suppose to grow my arm-pit hair out, let my hair go back to it's natural gray, wear moo-moos and be known as that eccentric lady down the street with a lot of cats who has been seen sitting in her backyard at night in the moonlight with a glass of wine in the nude!
4. I'm too complicated, too complex, too everything for one guy to wrap his brain around.
3. I'd have too hard of a time looking into my dog's beautiful brown eyes of love and adoration and try to explain to him that he was no longer the 'lead dog'...
2. With boobs down to my knees, my bait is longer than any guy's worm.
1. Bob Seger and John Mellencamp are already taken.

So there we be!! This should put to rest any speculation about 'will she or won't she?' I know my ya-ya, N, is ready to drop kick me right now, tell me how I don't know what God has planned for me, YA-da, YA-da.... but I beg to differ....

went to shave my underarms this morning in the shower....

all out of razors....