New Work, a Future Giveaway and Stalkers

Well, here I am again, after promising I wouldn't stay away long, but I did it again, I stayed away for a bit more time I had intended.  Actually, I've decided not to come too close to my computer since this thing can be addictive, giving me more time to do more stuff here at home and do research for new projects.

Speaking of new projects, I've started a new body of work and it's a little different from my usual "skelly" dolls and doodles.  I have this great personal library that I tap into for inspiration when I feel all dried up and it invariably works every time.  I haven't finished them yet, so no pics, but I can assure you, they're very different from what I've made in the past.  Back when I was in school, one of my art profs told me I would always do funky and whimsical stuff...why, because I'm funky and whimsical???  LOL  He said that's just my nature and thankfully, left me alone to create my own brand of work, instead of all that undergrad "ugly art."  I'm not sure if these new dolls are "whimsical" but most definitely,  funky.  Anyway, I'll post pics when I'm done.

I thought of having a small giveaway next month...sort of a celebration of Spring and all the work so many of us will be doing for the coming Halloween season.  So many of us eat, dream, breath, think Halloween year round, so this will be a little something to get everyone motivated...more later.

The other day I spent about 2 hours on the phone with my old friend, Sandie.  I've known her since 1974 when I worked at this insurance company in Dallas, during my other life.  She comes from a long line of Southern families, hailing from Atlanta, GA, and like so many fine Southern women, she has a whole set of  seasoned cast iron skillets and a quick whit to match.  She has this blog, which I can't post since she's gone "private," I learned this during our long discourse.  Anyway, she asked me if I had problems with stalkers...WHAT????   Oh yea, all the time!!!!!  She explained, "blog stalkers," not your regular, run-of-the-mill, stalkers!!  Thanked her for clearing that up...thought maybe it was a problem in GA.  So she told me her sister-in-law is a blog stalker and hence the reason she went private on her blog, she and her 4 other sisters, various cousins and other relatives.  She told me her brother's wife, who is "foreign" which in Sandie's world, could mean Catholic or from up North!!!  LOL  Actually, she is from another country, came here to this country after her grandparents, who were her caretakers, passed away before she turn 18, and attended Georgia Tech like all of Sandie's family.  There she met the brother, married and have been for many years.  This said s-i-l works as the administrative assistant to the V.P. of  a high school and according to Sandie, has too much time on her hands if she can read everyone's blog, then emails or calls the people that they're talking about!!!  Apparently, she's trying to stir the pot and create some animosity between the sibs, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc., etc., etc.

Now, I've been reading her blog for years, and she does bring up family members and speaks of their particular quirks, which are down-right hilarious, along with recipes, quotes, rants and regional goings-on.  Sandie has told me many times that all her family are "bat-sh-t crazy, but as all good Southerners, we embrace our peculiarities and even boast about them!" LOL  Anyway, fortunately, the family is aware of the s-i-l's motives and just brush it aside.  I asked her why she's doing this and Sandie feels that it somewhat empowers her to attempt to distance family members from each other since she really didn't have much of one of her own, therefore, never developed good concept as to how families function, so the family is sympathetic but mindful.  So my question to you, my bloggie buddies, have you ever encountered anything like that?  I told Sandie I didn't allow "anonymous" comments on my blog, after having to delete comments from Chinese and Korean porn sites, so who knows if I'm being stalked.  The only blogs I read are the ones I follow.  Sometimes, I'll read someone elses' blog if it's listed as a link and recommended reading  and if I like what I'm reading, I'll follow it...that's how I found so many of you in the past several years.

 Before I forget, I had my daughter, Andria, and the two younger grandies here visiting for about 4 days.  Had a great time getting reacquainted with my two little ones, 3 year old Sammy and I are buddies and 14 month old Zoe, well, let's just say, she's still a mommy's girl.  When Andria was around, I was calling her, "Evil Zoe," since she just wanted to hang on mom, literally!!  LOL  The first time Andria left me with them, I wasn't sure how Zoe was going to react when she saw my face get her up from her nap and not her mom's....I was welcomed with a huge grin!!  We had a great time until "Evil Zoe" returned once her mommy walked through the door!!  Here's a picture I took of all of them (3 older boys were visiting their dad here during Spring Break) with my 90 year old mom, grandmother and great-grandmother...she was loving it too.

I'll post pics of my new work and more details on the giveaway next time around.  Have a great weekend, my friends, and take care.  Peace out.