How Do You Define "Success?"

Thought I'd show off what I've been up to the last couple of weeks. Topping the page are another group of my "Can-Do Doll" series. I had these little paper mache eggs that I painted earlier in the year and just hadn't been inspired how to use them, but as you can see, my muses put me to work and I came up with these little guys. And how do you like my Easter Egg ornies? I posted both on my Facebook page and have to say I got a great response to everything. Sold two of my little eggs and one of my dolls....thanks Letty, Flora and Sandy. I contacted my gallery in Phoenix, AZ and they want them all, so I made another trip to Hobby Lobby yesterday to buy some more of those paper mache eggs and will be making more bunny skellies for the gallery. I haven't updated my Etsy page, so if any of you are interested in any of these, please let me know so I can put them aside for you or replicate the ones that have sold....just email me at the email listed on my Blogger profile.

The other evening my mother and I attended the rosary of a very dear lady who passed away after being ill for about 6 months. She and her husband were dear friends of my parents; "the judge" and my Pop go back to their days in the 'hood. It was quite disconcerting to see many of these old friends I last saw back in November at my uncle's 90th birthday bash; some were now using walkers, canes, in wheel chairs, carrying portable oxygen tanks. There were obvious absences due to the fact others were just too frail to attend or have died within that time period. Of course, all these people are now in their late 80's to early 90's, including my mother who is 88. How I recall parties at our house when I was a kid, all these people were young, many professionals, some not, but the one thing they all had in common and ultimately bound them, was most of them grew up in the 'hood and remained friends no matter where life took them. They were of the high-ball and martini crowd, a generation that resulted from WWII and Korea.

I'm honoured to have known such wonderful people and they were part of my childhood memories, as is many of their children now...I have friends I don't recall when we met, they were just always at our parties and visa-versa..."In-Utero friends," I call them!! LOL I told my SM that I would be attending many of these requiem rituals with my mother for the next few years, and perhaps after my mother's death, if any of them are still around. It's all so sad, but that's the cycle of life.

Recently, someone that was once very close to me criticized me for being, well, being "me." Of course this person told someone else and it got back to me, as gossip usually travels that way. I have "nothing" according these individuals, not the big house, cars, etc. What makes a person successful...is it money, fame, brains, etc.? I married into my honey's house, which is about 50 years old and needs lots of work, and that's coming along, slowly, but coming along, I drive my Pop's '99 Intreped...gave it to me in '05 when he became blind. My hubby drives the company pick-up, is a very hard working, honest man (more than I can say for this person) and toils hard for his paycheck. Let's face it, folks, we are not rolling in the money, honey!! But does that minimize our success'? Many years ago this woman told me that success is the best revenge and I agree somewhat. Success is the best revenge if it matters to you; it matters not to me anymore...revenge, that is. I look at what I've done in the last 15 years: survived a terrible divorce, during that horrific period of time, I decided to get a job, then return to school, completed school, married one of the most wonderful human beings I've ever known, have a wonderful circle of friends, both old and new, here and abroad and of course, you, my bloggy buddies, love my job, which is playing in my studio, have a gallery that represents my work and people who appreciate it, and the love and respect from my children, grandchildren and of course, my extended family. Hell, I'm the luckiest girl if I do say so myself.

These people gauge success with the "stuff" that they surround themselves in....a big house (mortgage to go with it), 2 luxury cars (car payments to match the mortgage), designer clothes (especially that little polo player), etc. I always felt that after a certain age, people who felt it was important, stop climbing that social ladder...you will fall and break your neck!! Well, in this case, Karma caught up with them!! After my conversation with this friend who spoke to these people, I realized, as she did, that they're jealous...OF ME!!!!???!! I had the opportunity to travel back when I worked for a foundation under Johns Hopkins...visiting the cities we tested at was great fun, however, the work was brain sucking! I have also traveled with my SM to various places, some close by, others a bit further in distance, but nothing lavish or exotic...we don't hang that way. Also, I'm just a really happy person, finally. I've always been of the "live and let live" kind of attitude or "till you've walked in my, his, hers, their moccasins...." But growing up in a negative and judgemental environment then marrying into it, made it a bit difficult being me sometimes. But after several years of deciding to stop and smell the roses, I love who I am and what I do. Sure, there's always room for improvement...we should never stop evolving, but that's the problem these people have, they're stuck, stuck in their own set of inflexible rules, they can't see the hypocrisy and lies they live. So for these people, I leave them to heaven.

So as far as I'm concerned, happiness and contentment don't have a price tag on them, it's up to you to make it so. There's nothing wrong with owning the big house, the luxury cars, designer clothes, etc., I have friends and family who have fared quite well in this economy and are very grateful they are fiscally blessed, but they also know, things could happen in a matter of seconds, lives could change drastically, that's why they count other blessings, family, friends, sense of humour, goals, etc. I'd like to think most people think that way, but am I kidding myself, am I just a really big optimist?!?!? Brings me to a question a philosophy prof once brought up, "Is man basically good or evil?" Well, my answer is "a little from column A and a little from column B." Ambiguous? Probably, but then that's being human. All I'm saying, my friends, is to count your blessings outside the realm of the material. Stuff is nice to have, but there's nothing like family, friends and even strangers helping and guiding you along your path. "Don't worry, be happy!" Ok, you can shoot me now!! Peace out.

Returning Is Such Sweet Sorrow Or Something Like That

I have returned from my little vacae to Austin, TX...our state capital, headed by Hair God Perry...bleh!!! I don't know how that guy keeps getting elected!! Ok, am shifting away from my political views and on to other matters, rants, and memories.



As you can see, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...we have entirely too much fun when we're together! She's getting married, finally...Michael has proposed and making an honest woman out of her. My mother's reacation was typical of her generation, "But she has 4 children, one of which was born out-of -wedlock!" My mother would be the lady behind the counter at the birth certificate section of records, in charge of happily stamping "Illegitimate" on them! That happened to a friend of mine many years ago in Mexico...her son's birth certificate was boldly stamped with the above word in red ink!! Anywhoo, the top pic was taken at one of my favorite stores on S. Congress Street, "Tesoros." They sell folk art from around the globe, especially Mexico. Considering the problems across the river, buying them are now impossible for me unless I want to risk a stray bullet or just because someone wants to shoot someone else, so I must depend on what I can get here, for exorbitant prices too. The second photo was taken in the $ section of Target...love that section!! Oh speaking of Gov. Perry, he said Ciudad Juarez is the most dangerous city in America!! Did he mean the "Americas" or "America?" Nah, he's an idiot...he meant "America!" "Gov. Perry, I hate to break it to ya, but that would be in Mexico..get a map!!" I'm sorry, I just couldn't help myself.



These are my little "gibbons" literally climbing the walls in their house. Sunday night, after returning from our S. Congress excursion, Michael got right into the kitchen to make one of his more popular dishes, his fried chicken fingers ( I didn't know chickens had fingers, but they are delicious!!) and Andria and I sat on our gazornies and just watched the show unfold. My oldest, Joel, drove down from Big D (Dallas) to spend the weekend with us and after a tumbler full of vodka and my diet Cranberry juice ( he drank it all!!) he was feeling no pain and prompted Zachary and Ryan to do their climbing act...that's the top of Joel's head. Zachary was begging us to hurry up and take the picture, hence that frantic look on his face. All the while, I'm yelling "Get the baby!" because little Sammy was underneath them. Zach finally fell, the baby was swooped up before any mishap could occur, but unfortunately for Ryan, his uncle Joel fell on him!! Have you ever been gripped by laughter that you're paralyzed by it? Yea, me too!!! After an "I'm alright" cry from Ryan, Joel still hadn't ascended! Andria and I couldn't stop laughing, then I called out to Joel, "Son, are you alright?" and then came a very slurred "I'm alright, Mom!" Again, Andria and I were paralyzed!! I know, I'm a terrible mother and they know that they have a very quirky mother...explains the way they are. After that, I advised Joel to steer clear from more imbibing and he did...paid dearly for it the following day and he had to drive back too!! Oey!! All in all, I had a great time and hated to say goodbye to my little guys...missed them the minute we drove out of the driveway to take me to the airport.


Here's one of my Box-0-Dolls. I have a few more in the works plus my Can-Do dolls to finish. I'm getting ready for my Easter, so I'm making some little paper mache eggs for my Easter Bush. When I lived in Germany, I got into some of their traditions, one of them is decorating what we call here, an Indian Brush bush, with it's blossoms and hang tiny ornies on them. I collected many of them while I lived there and deocorated the bush with them when my kids were little. Well, I decided to buy a small Christmas tree and spray paint it white for Easter. Needless to say, painting one black for Halloween turned out way better...the white has a greeny look to it!! LOL Oh well, I'll use it this year and when Christmas rolls around, I'll head to Target and buy one of those little trees in white....like Anne's red tree if any of you saw her Christmas blog.

Well, it's Saturday and my honey, Ian and I are going to go over to friends for dinner...better make my Lemon bars for dessert early before it gets too hot. Also, have many projects ready for completion in the studio...yay, my happy place!! Before I forget, my SM is doing fine and has completely recovered from pneumonia. He will be under a cardiologist care for a while...found a strange little blip on his EKG, so he and I are going to relearn how to eat the good stuff, ya know, the healthy stuff and get healthy!! It was a wake up call for both of us...damn, this growing old is a real bummer sometimes, but I wouldn't trade my life right now for anything, except a membership to a gym and more green leafy vegetables...that's doable!! Have a great weekend, my friends, and take care. Peace out.

Go, Going, Gone!

Good morning, my bloggy pals. I haven't been around for a little bit because I've been hitting the carpet since early Sunday morning.

Long story short, my honey was hospitalized early Sunday morning after I dragged his rear to the ER. What's with men??? Testosterone is definitely the cause of their brain damage!! He's been sick for about 4 weeks, even though he went to see his "quack" about 3 weeks ago. He'd been coughing for at least that long, which is usual during this time of year due to the warmer weather, dust storms (had 66/hr winds here yesterday..major real estate exchange going on), but he was always tired to the point he'd come home from work and pass out on the couch before dinner....not a good thing. He had an appointment with his doc on the 23rd of Feb. and he told her how he was feeling. She gave him a prescription of steroids and sent him on his merry way. No blood work, no chest X-ray, no nothing. This is the same moron who sent him a prescription when he had the Swine flu. I told him that by law, she had to check him and then report any cases of it, as told by my physician when I went in to see him after being symptomatic of it, but she didn't want him coming into her office and spreading it to her diabetic patients.

She used to be a G.P. till she was certified or whatever, to become a diabetic specialist, but she held on to a few of her regular patients from her old G.P. days, I think in hopes that they would find someone else later since she doesn't give them the time of day nor does she treat them as she should and I mean not only medically treat them, but treats them like they're something she scraped off the bottom of her shoes. I have a friend who was sent to her by her G.P. because she developed Type 2 diabetes and she told me every time she left that woman's office, she left in tears, needless to say, she no longer sees that quack!

All last week he was so tired and weak and by the weekend, he was down and out, again, not like him. He had the shivers and shakes all day, coughing up what seemed to be his spleen and just plain sick! I kept "asking" him if he wanted to go to the ER or an emergency clinic and kept refusing me...was going to wait till Monday to call the quack. By Saturday late evening, about 11:45, I took an Advil P.M. since I hadn't slept in quite a while due to his coughing, got into bed and it was soggy!! He was breaking yet another fever and now the "sweat" had found it's way to my side of the bed and we have a king size and he was way over huddled on his side. I then got up, told him to get up and get dressed, we were going to the ER! He kept refusing and I finally told him this was not a democracy, but a dictatorship and he was to get his sorry ass out of bed and get dressed...NOW!!!! If not, I would do it for him, after all, I'm a mother and have dressed children on numerous occasions! He got up, reluctantly got dressed and we left, by now after midnight. Also, keep in mind, I have night blindness and I took an Advil P.M.!!!!!!!!

I'll shorten the story now by saying, he was seen by a real physician, who ordered the appropriate tests for his described symptoms and within 2 hours of arriving, he was sent upstairs for observation because he had a mean case of pneumonia!! After all this, his quack never came to see him, but someone on call...he told my honey he didn't know where she was but was told to take over this case! So now you know why I'm so pissed off. I spoke with his eldest son who lives in Houston. I love that guy because he so much like his dad!! He told me he didn't like that doc either and had gone to see her one time and that's all it took. We both agree the only reason he continues to see her is because he can just call up her office, describe his symptoms, and a prescription is waiting for him at our pharmacy!!

He doesn't like doctors, but who the hell does???!!! Now I love mine, he's a sweetheart and a good guy, but I still don't like taking the time to see him, but I do. My gyn-o is a nice woman, never like my old gyn-o, he was a sweetie too and always refereed to my youngest as "the baby," even though Ian hasn't been a baby for quite a while...he delivered him. He retired and passed away about 2 years ago. Anyway, I gave my sweetheart hubby a little talk about what he and his oldest had discussed and I don't know if I convinced him. The original doc released him from the hospital last night...the quack never showed up. Again, I think this speaks volumes, don't you think??? So this morning he's sleeping in, said he hadn't slept this well in a couple of nights...should have just woken him and pretended to take his blood pressure!! LOL Nah, I slept well too....had my honey lying next to me.

Now for the next round. Yesterday, I received a text from oldest grandson, almost 11 year old Sean. He asked me if I was still coming to Austin due to the fact Andria, my daughter, severely hurt her ankle and foot on Sunday and she too went to the ER thinking she had broken it. I told him that I would be there the 17th of March. He then texted me back and told me I was due to come in THIS Thursday!! So I texted my daughter since I wasn't sure if she was teaching her morning class or was on break. She called me up and told me it was THIS Thursday!! I went to my email account where my reservations are and low and behold, I'm scheduled to leave this Thursday, the 10th, not the 17th. I called my buddy who I had given her the wrong date, and explained to her what was going on and how confused I was, which is pretty much my state of mind most of the time!! She told me not to worry, it's called a Senior moment!!! LOL

So folks, I'm off to Austin this Thursday and will return the following Tuesday. I'm still in a state of "WTF," and have much to do till my departure, so if you don't see any of my comments on blogs, emails, forwards, etc., that's because Georgina is running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. I shall return next week, ready to finally join the gym, get going on my can-do dolls, set up my" Doll Town" account and just plain have more fun in my studio. I completed my shrine for the Oaxaca Street Children campaign, but more on that later.

Have a great week, stay warm, dry, cool or out of the dust, which ever your Spring climate brings. Peace out.

Big Wins and Stuff

I'm slowly recuperating from my Vegas trip and my ear drums are now at peace with me. They're letting my amp up the volume on my stereo in the studio. Hey, I can't dance to Lady Gaga, The Dave Matthews Band, Santana, etc. at whisper volume...needs to have my tunes loud in there!!

Speaking of trips, I got a call from my daughter Monday that she was sending me a ticket to come play in Austin during Spring break. I haven't seen my little guys since October and I'm really missing them. Besides, now I don't have to ship them their M&M dispenser and all the neat-o coloured M&M's I got them in Sin City at the M&M store. Speaking of which, I told the attendant who was pushing my mother's wheel chair at the Vegas airport I would never return...hate Vegas. She smugly said I'd be back, ala, A-nold!! I made it quite clear that the only way I'd be back is if someone were to bring back my ashes and spread them in the M&M store!!

I'm just now getting around to showing off my lovely wins from a contest and OWOH blog-0-thon. That was so much fun and I made some great new friends. The first photos are of a little contest Pam Smallcomb had over at her place, http://yoborobo.blogspot.com.

The lovely Carmen!

And a copy of her book.

The book is just too adorable and if you have little ones or have little grandies, I highly recommend you get a copy of her book. I ordered one from Pam with the names of my grandsons so she could personalize it and the boys think Meema is sooo cool, since she had the "author" autograph their copy...Meema thinks the "author" is just too cool too, thanks Pam!

I have a new buddy I met over at OWOH. Her name is Elena Cabral at
elena-myquest.blogspot.com. According to Elena, she's a newby at this and and still is unsure of her artist spirit. After seeing her work, I think her soul is soaring!

Well, good morning my friends. Took a little break, like overnight, to return to this blog. Have you ever noticed that certain foods can induce certain types of dreams? Last night I got a late start with dinner, not serving till after 8:00. Last evening I made cabbage rolls. Now I love cabbage rolls and they normally like me, but not after 8ish in the evening!! So last night I had some really funky dreams. The one I most remember, I was with my ex and our children were still little kiddos. I was feverishly looking for some clothes to pack for my daughter because we were "escaping" to Afghanistan to live with a bunch of goats!! Yes, folks, goats. Now some of you know my thing for goats, the name is just funny....g-o-a-t-s!! While traveling in the Austin area, we encountered many ranches that have free-range goats...what the hell is that all about. So my daughter and I became fascinated with the little beasties. Every time I go visit, we both yell out "goats" when we see a herd of them, or do they come in pods, or perhaps, gaggle...oh well, anyway, goats have always been a source of comedy for us. So for me to dream about us going to, of all places, Afghanistan to live among the goats was just too bizarre, even for me!! I can just see my ex living among the goats, Mr. designer shirt man!! If it doesn't have a polo player or Tommy logo on the shirt, he won't even consider it...however, I've read that Lacosta is coming back...let's hear it for that leetle croc or is it a 'gator???!!

The second dream was not bad at all. I dreamed of my cousin, Paul, working in the kitchen store I used to work at many years ago. He was young, mobile and was laughing his wonderful, infectious laugh!! Paul has been suffering from a condition brought on by a cancer treatment he had over 30 years ago. He was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor at the age of 21, he's now 62. He can no longer walk, feed himself, dress, bathe, well you get the idea. He's dependent on others to help him. He was told some years back by the neurosurgeons that they had good news and bad news about his condition; the bad news was that everyone who had the same treatment for that particular tumor were now deceased, the good news, he's the sole survivor, if you want to call it that. Basically, his brain is calcifying and he hasn't lived a quality of life in many years. He and I were very close as teenagers and young adults...people used to tell us to be careful because we could get emotionally attached, being first cousins and all. We were emotionally close, like brother and sister, that's it! He was tall, blond, good-looking, had this great laugh and had the kindest heart and soul.

In this dream he was taking care of customers, being the sweetheart he always was and the whole experience felt so natural and normal, except for the fact he never worked in that store, but did date the owner back in the day!! LOL I wondered why I dreamed of Paul and I'm almost afraid to think what this could mean, or is it just a dream.

Anyway, my advise is not to eat late, especially cabbage rolls because you could dream of goats and ex's!! It's time I get myself back into the studio and work on my shrine for the Oaxaca fundraiser. Yesterday, I spent 1 hour looking for some metal foil squares I know I had purchased prior to last Christmas. I cleaned my studio in January and it's been a bitch trying find thing, even though I labeled all the containers....must have been on crack the day I did the labeling! So instead of spending more time looking for them, I returned to Hobby Lobby today to buy 2 more packages, ouch!! Have a great weekend and hope many of you are experiencing a Spring thaw. Peace out.