Oey, What A Week I've Had!!

Good morning, my bloggy pals. Just a short one today to let you know I'm still here and doing fine. Hopefully, I 'll post pics of my new stuff Friday, if not, Sat. or maybe Sunday...ok, whenever I get around to taking pics!! LOL

Hope all is well and you're enjoying your summer. It's friggin' hot here and so dry....parched!! So for those of you who are getting hammered with rain, please send some my way!! Peace out.

And the Weener Is?????

Ooooohhhh, it's so early!! I have been awake since 6:30 and that's the second day for me to just wake up out of the blue at that hour. I usually get up at 7:30 during the week and much later during the weekends, but today, I have to be at the airport by 9:30 to pick up DH. He's flying in from Houston and thought it would be nice to start his Father's Day early...uuuhhhh, no!! Oh well, I'm up, so I decided to collect all the names from my blog giveaway and throw them into the ol' number generator, so without further ado, I shall announce the winner...drum roll please.....the the weener is....Gloria of http://glorv1.blogspot.com/. Congratulations Gloria on winning my Frida sketch book....hope you enjoy and will use it!! I will need your address, so drop me an email. I also will be mailing out this week Anne's figurine and the shrine that was sold over at the auction for the Oaxaca street children's fund. It's going to AR! I'm so happy it found a good home, as all my offerings will.

Well, it is early so I'm going to get in gear and get ready. I'm planning on taking DH and Ian to Franky's for brunch. It's a great Mexican restaurant and around her, there is a plethora of Mexican restaurants and lots of good ones too. I haven't been to Franky's in years, well, ever since I moved to the west side of town, but the proximity to the airport is so close, going to return after 11 years. Speaking of Mexican restaurants, due to all the cartel violence just across the river from me, many wealthier Mexicans have come over here to set up home, hearth and shop. So many great restaurants are opening up as result, many that were successful and had a large following back before the cartels and anarchy took over Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua, Mex. Now these aren't your enchilada and taco plate special kind of eateries, but more gourmet, regional foods from Mexico....will have to try them one at at time!!

This week is going to be a full one. My daughter, Andria, and my 4th grandie, Sammy, are flying in from Austin for a visit. My daughter gets 2 weekends during the summer visitation while the boys are here with their father, so she will be exercising that this week, meaning, I will have all 4 boys + pregger daughter+ youngest son and then add to the mix, DH and me!! So ya think I'll need to lock myself in the closet with my bottle of Svetka and limes???!!?? LOL This is a reference from one of my recent blogs!! She's planning on picking up the boys at 6ish on Friday, riding with her BFF, Rodrigo or Rod, and they will all go to Chicos Tacos for dinner. I don't know if any of you have ever heard of these tacos or seen them on the Food Network channel, but they are these little rolled tacos, swimming in a puddle of tomato sauce, sprinkled with some cheese. I don't understand the cult behind this little bowl, or bowel, of mush, but it's very popular and many people who have left El Paso and moved on, lucky twits, always return to Chicos....in fact for many, it's the first thing they do when they drive in to town or get off a plane. I just don't understand it...they suck, as far as I'm concerned. My tacos are by far better, filled with roast beef, not hamburger, avocados, lettuce, tomato, cheese and homemade pico de gallo, not watery tomato sauce...bleh!! Well, to each his own and I'm sticking to my own!

I had a great time with my boys the other day. I took them out to lunch to Pizza Hut, thanks to my niece who sent them a gift certificate for there. I wanted to get a Papa Burger, but I was out voted...darn! We then returned home and they changed into their new clothes and off to the Lynx museum for their exhitibion. I was a bit disappointed since their past exhibitions have been wonderful, but they had more artsy-craftsty stuff at the work tables than hands on sort of stuff. They did have this great sound room, actually a closet, that was completely insulated for the occupant's screaming pleasure. They had a monitor outside of it to watch and somewhat listen to the scream while it measured the decibels. I really could have used one of those when I was a young mother!! Then they had this other station where you could listen to pitch of sound. Unfortunately, I have the pitch of a friggin' frog!! I'm not kidding, I maxed out to the frog's highest mean...they must be deafer than a door knob then!! While Ian and the boys were in a simulator, I don't do well in those things, I talked to the young man that was taking care of the little fine art space. I also bought a necklace while I was there. I met this young woman in November at Las Artistas Art Faire, the best one in town as far as I'm concerned. She was with the metal students from UTEP and I fell in love with her work, but I had also run out of checks. She had a display in that little museum and I had to get one of her necklaces, which was very reasonably priced. I know her family, from Chihuahua Mexico, and the guy at the museum told me she had just moved to NYC since many of her clients are from there, so I'm sure I won't be seeing her jewelry at such reasonable prices ever again!! In talking with the kid, I told him I had been making Dia de los Muertos stuff since before he was born and I know he must be younger than my older 2 kids. He said a lot of visitors come in and ask for it, but no one in their small group of arteests make anything like that, remember, it's fine arte!! Whatever!!! So he told me to contact the lady in charge, gave me both his and her card, so if I get a chance this week, I'll be emailing her a letter of interest, plus, photos of my work. Will then wait and see.

Damn, I'm getting hungry, wonder why?? Again congrats to Gloria for being the big weener!! Well, my friends, I doubt I will be doing any blogging this week and if you don't see any comments left on your blogs, well, you'll understand...please pray for me!!!!! Peace out.

Sign Up. Giveaway

Good morning folks, this is just a reminder about signing up for my latest giveaway. See blog below for details. Today's a short one because in an hour I have to be at the salon and get my head sheared! Another words, I need a haircut and style.

Then I'm returning home, picking up Ian and then heading out to pick up my 3 little guys. They've been here spending time with their father and stepmother and getting acquainted with their new baby brother. My ex son-in-law "allows" me a few hours per visit, so today, I've got them from 11-7. Going to take them to "Papa Burger" for a scrumptious old fashion hamburger, then back here where I they'll change into their new outfits I purchased for them yesterday....didn't know Walmart had such cute kid's clothes, even in the boy's department and so reasonably priced too!!! Then we're off to the local science museum. The exhibition is about sound and noise...hopefully my deafness will tune out some of the "experiments!" If not, I always carry my MP3 player!!

Have a great day, my blogger buddies and again, don't forget to sign up for my giveaway. Peace out.

IT'S A GIVEAWAY & Other Stuff

Good morning, my lovely blogger buddies. It's been a while since my last really big ass rant, but I said over at Anne's blog, sometimes my brain is like molasses, slow to get the words and ideas out of it. I've been busy making stuff for the gallery in AZ and for my Etsy shop. I will admit, I'm great at getting out the work, but just not to quick getting it listed in my shop. Remember the "Bird Is A Word," dolls I made?? Will, they're still sitting on my Pop's old office desk in my studio, waiting for me to take pics of the ones that I haven't sold yet...have 2 that are leaving me soon...one to AZ and the other to Austin.

I've been inspired as of late...oh yea, who hasn't among all you of you talented and creative types, but again, m-o-l-a-s-s-e-s!! LOL I got this hair brain idea, or was it a hair ball?? Anyway, I was looking at a little figurine I've had forever. Actually, I bought it in Tucson, AZ many years ago when I went to the Frida Kahlo exhibition at their art museum. Got to see many of Ms. Frida's paintings and it was wonderful. Of course, I had to indulge myself in the museum shop and have a look-see. I can't remember everything I got, but this little lady was one of them. Ok, I'm too lazy to take her pic and show it, but it's a little sculpture of a Mexican lady, wearing a typical white shirt and red skirt, on her knees crushing the corn on her metate to make corn meal. Here is something that's been right in front of my face and I was never hit with inspiration till now...oey!! So I pulled out my books on Mexican pottery, as a potter back in my college days, I collected many pottery books, and found this great book about the potters in Oaxaca, a state in Mexico. Oh well, here is a small sample of what I've been doing in the laboratory...eerrr, studio. I made small Trees of Life and am going to sell them as Christmas ornaments. I'm also going to make others, but those are my firsts.



As for Oaxaca, I personally never have traveled there, but I recall my mother and dad travelling there and the Yucatan many years ago and came back with some wonderful folk art....even back as a kid, I collected it. I remember my mother telling my grandmother that she really needed to stop telling people we were descended from Mayan royalty, because she said the Mayans of today looked like "sapos," frogs!! LOL I really don't know where my grandmother came up with that since her father was from Spain and her mother was a second gen Mexican, family from Spain. But I guess it made for a good story and could my Machita to some great word spinning...maybe that's who I inherited from...not the Mayan royalty thing!! LOL She used to tell us jokes, a bit off-coloured for that time, and we'd happily go to school and tell the same jokes to our friends, till my mother got phone calls from their mother's!! hahahahaha!

That reminds me of a story I told my grandson, Sean, when he was in first grade, my guy is now 11 and entering middle school....told him the day he turns 13 he'll develop immediate brain damage...happens to all of us!! They were studying dragons. I told him how archeologists think the myth of the dragon came about....Google it, folks if your interested. Anyway, as always, our conversation turned to all things of human bodily sounds!! Hey, he was 7 and a guy, what can I say?? I told him that fire also came out their butts! He was intrigued, hence, the gateway for a very good spin of my own. I told him that dragons have very bad allergies and as a result, they sneeze a lot, so every time they sneeze, fire blows out of their butts!! So we discussed, he made those farty sounds and then back to the original dragon slayer story for his class book report. So about 2 days later, I get a call from my daughter, asking me what in the hell did I tell Sean about dragon butts and farts and fire! Apparently, my sweet grandson went up to the front of the classroom and gave his book report, mentioning the allergies and the sneezing and you can imagine the rest. Of course, it's a classroom of about 25 seven through eight year old's, all falling out of their little seats, they don't use desks at that age anymore, so it's those little seats that make it impossible for adults, even with small derrieres to actually sit and be serious during conference time...sorry, I digress. The teacher called my daughter and said it was some of the funniest stuff she'd ever heard, but honestly, she said that she had to squelch the allergy story and who the hell is this "Meema," because he swore up and down, his Meema knew everything!!!!! My daughter explained to her who the "Meema" was and would talk to me about putting my own spin on stories. My Gawd, it was about dragons...really???? How did I know he was going to include that in his report....tells ya something!!

Speaking of Ms. Frida, this allows me to segway into my blog giveaway. I had to go back and see when I wrote my first blog and it was back in 2008. For some reason, I thought I've been blogging longer, but time flies when you have lots to bitch about!!! LOL So, my dear friends, here is my offering for all the rants you have endured from this blog.

I found this sketch pad the other day in the bargain area of Barnes & Nobles and thought to myself, "Myself, I think I could do something rather nice with this," thus, began my journey into some kind of 2 dimensional mixed media. I have many buddies who do wonderful mixed media work on a one plane surface and my work isn't anywhere near the caliber of work they do, but then, that's not my thing...I'm a maker of dolls and other stuff...I'm a 3-D-er! But I did have a good time making this and it can be yours. All you have to do is leave a comment, that's it. Now, if you're feeling especially sweet and nice, you can mention this giveaway on your next posts....that would be very nice. But if your feeling your usual grouchy self, just leave a comment!! I'll draw the names ...let's see, what's a good time....ok, how about next weekend...Sunday, yea, that's a good day. So the drawing will be Sunday, June 18th, 2011...sometime in the late morning or early afternoon...depends how my Saturday night goes!! Ok, what did I do with those coloured post-its to remind myself????!!??


The other day we went over to a good pals house for a cookout. I married into these friends and they are one of a kind....good people all around!! Stevie is always stopping by local produce stores and farms and buys from them, oh, he's also a big Costco fanatic. He'll bring all this stuff home, not knowing his lovely wife, Carol, has done some of her own shopping so, their kids and us get the over-flow. Last week they gave us a dozen fresh farm eggs. I'm a city girl, born and bred and my local grocery store is as farm fresh as I get. So they gave us this carton of eggs and told us that the shells were harder, yolks brighter and sometimes, have a vein or two in them...oh, yuck!! What really caught my eye is the colour of these beautiful eggs. I didn't know they came in such a variety of colours. Stevie told us they give the chickens some type of feed, something like lay-o-lot (hehehehehehehehe) which gives them those beautiful pastel shades.

The eggs are really delicious and thick. However, this morning, I cracked one into the pan and there lay a leetle chickie, well, the beginnings of a leetle chickie and I just couldn't. I ended up scrambling it and feeding them to my doggies....they were very happy little Chihuahuas!! I think I'll just stick to the farm fresh store bought brands!

Many of you are fans of Anne Huskey-Lockard at http://elmilagrostudio.blogspot.com/
Anne and I have been bloggy pals from the start of my blogging. I had to go back and see when she first commented on my blog...sheesh...that took a while too. Anyway, I don't remember if I found Anne over at a mutual friend's blog, Bernadette who no longer is part of our blogging family, but I stay in contact with her through FB and emails, or it could have been Tristan, he's back in school so we don't get many posts except during breaks...miss his Pink Friday posts. Anyway, we've been corresponding and chatting on the phone for some time now. The other day she posted about her little birdie, Sweet Pea. Now Anne is a big bird lover and bless her heart, she still loves me regardless of how I feel about birds...that left for another blog or maybe I already did...Swiss cheese brain!! Anyway, she inspired me. I call it "The Bird Lady Of Peeeroooo!"


Anne, I tried to get the right hair colour, but I don't think I had quite the right colours of Sculpey III for the mix....here's a pic of trying to get that combination....just purchased an Amaco Pasta Machine...I'm so in love!!

Well, I did my best and your budgies are not quite their natural colours but I managed to add a bit of detail. Anne sent me pics of her little chirpie darlings...didn't ask why, but like a typical mother, she just had to show them off for the asking!! LOL And if you will notice, I also gave Anne a big ass-rack!! LOLOLOL Call it artistic prerogative!!! LOLOLOLOL Anyway, Anne, this is for you.

So my friends, don't forget to comment for the drawing of the sketch pad and again, if anyone is interested in my little figurines or Christmas ornaments, just drop me an email. I already have 7 figurines on order for Christmas gifts, so keep me busy and out of trouble. Also, my new slogan is "Buy my stuff, it's cheaper than a tank of gas!" Peace out.

Auction's Open

http://corazon.typepad.com/recuerda_mi_corazon/2011/06/oaxaca-streetchildren-grassroots-shrine-auction-opens-today.html

Don't forget to drop by our auction which opened yesterday. There are some wonderful pieces of art work and your participation will be greatly appreciated. Thank you and peace out.

I For See a Future Giveaway & Stuff

For so many of you youngsters and grandparents, it's the start of summer and you're lovelies are home for the next several weeks. How I remember dreading this time of year when I was a young mommy. I recall this woman in our group of school volunteers was one of the types that loved having her children home from school. One day as I was preparing the teacher's lounge during "Teacher Appreciation Week," which I was the chairbitch, I was putting muffins, coffee cakes, donuts and other homemade goodies my committee peoples made, we were discussing what we were planning to do during the summer. I told her we were planning a trip to Florida, Destin Beach to be exact, and visit my (ex) hubby's family along the way, the Hatfields and McCoys!

Before I go into that conversation, let me tell you what it was like traveling with the ex and 3 kids, one of which is autistic and at the time, very hyperactive (he's 25 now and a total slug), it was HELL, SHEAR HELL!!! I always felt that I was the proverbial mediator during these long stretches of road between El Paso, TX, LA, MS, TN, GA, FL, if I missed a state in there, forgive my geographical mistake!!! Crossing Texas alone took 2 friggin' days!! My kids, well, were just kids and the hubster just didn't quite like the idea of them acting, well, like kids, so it was a constant scream and swat fest. Every year, I swore I would never go on a family vacation again, they could all go without me and God help them!! Now I loved the traveling aspect of it, all that green, something we don't see out here in the Chihuahuan Desert.

The Smoky Mountains in TN were fantastic and everyone along the way were just wonderfully friendly, except for a woman in AR, oh yea, forgot we went through there too, who had an adorable little quilt shop. It was during that country cutsie decor and she had all kinds of cutsie things. We began talking and she was just as sweet and friendly and then asked me where I was from and I told her, El Paso, TX. She said she'd never been there and didn't want to because she didn't like "mesicans." I know, I could have entered into a really swell debate with her, but what's the point? I politely put down the items I was going to purchase and began towards the door and she asked me if I was going to buy them and I replied that I didn't think she wanted to do business with a "mesican." I walked out. I had dealt with bigotry before while living in Dallas back in the early to mid 70's. I had never experienced it before here at home and it was quite a shock for me to be judged for the location my grandparents were from. But as I've always felt for many years, I just consider the source..."your problem sweetie, not mine, you moron!!"

So back to that conversation in the teacher's lounge, as we were speaking other volunteers came in and listened. She told me she loved having her kids home because she got to love on them all day instead just a few hours!!!!!!!!! As she said that, a friend of mine standing behind her, signaled with the index finger down her throat and I my bladder was bursting due to my withholding much needed laughter, among other things. I excused myself, went to the teacher's potty and there was a big bang on the door, it was my fellow B.S. Crime Fighter!! We made such a rucous in the teacher's bathroom, we got another knock at the door, it was the principal! I opened it and as soon as she saw us both, she closed the door behind her and had to know what was so funny, like I said, she already knew what Terry and I were all about. Well, imagine 3 women in this small space with toilet and sink taking up most of it, all in total hysterics!!

So several years have passed and my little chickies have flown the coop, one in Houston, the girl in Austin, and the other son, living here with his father. Starting today, I'll have him for the month, until July 5th. And what do you think happened to that lovely lady who just loved on her kids all day, everyday during the summer, her eldest, a son, became a teacher, went to CA and is now serving time in prison for child pornography and the daughter, well they sent her to some drug rehab up in UT, she's apparently a heroin addict and was into prostitution. Yes, this is very sad and I feel so badly for that mother who loved her children so much, and I assume still does, but there's something to say about the mommy who wants to lock herself up in the closet with a big bottle of vodka and limes during the summer...gratefully my children, not perfect by no stretch of the imagination, are not doing time nor turning tricks.

I've decided I'm going to have a giveaway in the next couple of weeks. I noticed I've surpassed 200 posts, so there's something to say about that...that I need a life!!??!??!? So stay tuned, my bloggie buddies for the big announcement. Also, I want to show you the stuff I've made in the last couple of weeks:
From left to right, Shelli Bird, Frida Bird and the last one is my sister's order, so she'll name her.



And here we have Jackie Bird and Sissy Bird. I'll have them up on my Etsy shop by the end of this week, for the exception of ? Bird.

Here is my daughter and son-in-laws wedding gift. I had so much fun making them, I think I'm going to make some more, plus cake toppers....whatcha think?? Well, it's time for me to get back into the studio and work on my giveaway surprise...I used this time for them to dry. Oh before I forget, I have to show you what I got in the mail the other day.



While I was making the Calaca bride and groom, I was having a time trying to knead the clay. I noticed that some of the packages had these little dry lines on the edges and I had just purchased them, so WTF??? I got so frustrated, I went to the Polyform site, the company that makes Sculpey, and found that my clay was already "conditioned" meaning, it was useless to use it. Ya think I was a bit perturbed, your damn right....I had invested in a boat load of this stuff and most of it had gone tits-up somewhere in between the company and my studio!! So I wrote the company that afternoon, explained what was wrong with my clay and asked if there was anything I could do to re-condition. I received a very nice reply the next morning from Pat Colella. She told me it was virtually impossible to do anything with the clay, but to send her the lot # on the side of the packages, and they would either replace them or reimburse me for what I paid, after I give them the info as to where I purchased them. I emailed her back with the list of lot #'s and the amount of packages I needed. There ya go, a company that stands by their products and customer service...talking about keeping their customers happy!!! So I'm plugging Sculpey and will as long as it's around...great product and great company to do business. Peace out. forsee