Good News

Good morning all. I'm a bit addle brained right now since I returned home from Phoenix after spending the weekend with my sis. I came from a very hot, humid climate (rained like a mother while I was there), but the indoors were beautifully air conditioned. My sister was so sweet and even lowered the temps in her house just for me!! Now that's love!!! LOL I had a wonderful time but more importantly, I rested...needed that!!

She treated me to a pedicure/manicure (can't remember the the last time I had a manicure...perhaps before I got married the first time....1972-73!!!!!) My sister lent me one of her wild colours, so my toesies and until last night, my finger nails are a dark frosty blue!!! Just love it!! I told the manicurist that I don't paint my finger nails since I work so much with my hands, but everyone there at the shop persuaded me since I was on vacation....I caved. However, last night, I removed the polish since it was already chipping and I hate chipped nail polish!!

We also were scheduled to go to a massage Sat. morning, but as we got into the car and she started up the engine, the very familiar sound of a dying battery gloomed over our plans. Apparently, batteries in S. AZ have a 3 year life span due to the extreme heat. She was furious since she was told her battery was good from the nice people at Car Fax where she purchased it back in Sept. Well a call to AAA and a rescheduled appointment for the massage, we began our Saturday a bit late. We got dressed and went out to this adorable area of Old Chandler where there are little shops and many bars and eateries.

I had emailed this one gallery earlier last week about them representing me since no one here in El Paso won't even look at me or my work unless it's on canvas or something that's better suited for your front or backyard. The individual in charge of new artists emailed me back telling me she would be there Saturday afternoon. So I went prepared with a new series of beer bottle cap earrings which turned out great and unusual (but then I'm "greatly" unusual), photos of some of my dolls and other work and my sister took her doll I made for her a couple of years ago. Well, the youngster that took care of me was very impressed and loved my work, so I will be displaying it for the Dia De Los Muertos show in Nov. I am now represented by http://xicoinc.com

It's a great little gallery and has all sorts of wonderful art pieces from Latino and American Indian artists. My sister has been after me for a while now to contact them and introduce myself, but since I don't get up to Phoenix much these days, I just never saw the point. I now have much work ahead of me and have an Oct. 30th deadline...have to have my work in by that date, so I'll be in the studio working my leetle fingers to the bone...yea!!! I even signed a contract...wow, now that's a big one for me!!

Today, I'm also getting someone to look at my air conditioner. Let's face it folks, this has been a very long, hot summer for most of us and you know how much I've complained about my house being a balmy 84 degrees in the afternoons....inside my house!!! My honey's relpy to that is that it's been very humid this summer and hot, so the swamp cooler can do so much, but I've been inside other homes who's Master Cools, like the one we have on our roof, actually work much better, soooo, I told him I was going to call American Home Shield, a wonderful service we have, and I don't care if it cost $60 for them to come out here and check it out, I'm tired of sweating and being blown away by all the oscillating fans I have surrounding me; I have them set on gale -force winds!! He asked his son, a jack of all trades and master of all of them, to come check it out with his air conditioning specialist friend this a.m., so if I find out that there's been something wrong with this machine above my head all along and something quite simple, I'm going to be pissed!!! My hubby refuses to go up on the roof and I would go if I weren't so damn afraid of heights...trust me, I've been desperate these days and a broken bone of two might have been worth it!! LOL I knew all I had to do was threaten with a $60 charge, he'd get motivated, but I was going to do it regardless.

Well, I need to get dressed and finish reading my book for book club tonight. I have less than half to go of "Little Bee" which is a wonderful read if you're interested. Take care and Peace out.

Just a Complaint

Coming out of seclusion for just a bit, but I have something to say:

IT'S FRIGGIN' HOT OUT HERE!!!!
I'M HATING THIS SUMMER!!!
I WANT SNOW...YEA, AS IF!!!
I WANT REFRIGERATED AIR!!
I WANT A BLOCK OF ICE IN MY LIVING ROOM!!!
I NEED TO BUY STOCK IN SPRITZ BOTTLES...
KILLING THE LITTLE SPRING THAT MAKES THEM SPRITZ!!!
NEED TO RUN OUT AND BUY MORE!!
I THINK I'LL LIVE IN MY CAR..IT'S COOLER IN THERE!!
CALGONE AIN'T GOING TO TAKE ME ANYWHERE!!
I'M GOING TO HEAVEN SINCE I LIVE IN HELL!!

Peace out!!

Bye Bye

Dear Friends, I'm going to take a short hiatus and will return at a later date. I'm fine, but I have a few small dragons that need to be slain and a few rats that need capturing. For those of you who have my email address, please write when the mood hits you or call...some of you have my numba!!

Have a glorious summer, or what's left of it, and I shall return before the first leaf drops, well for those of you in the Eastern part of the U.S. that might be sooner than expected...LOL. Hopefully, I will be at a better place, refreshed, regenerated and rip-raring to go!! Love ya all and as always, peace out.

Jewelry Boxes & Happy Surprises

I've finally completed the jewelry boxes for the local shop, Royally Sweet. The young woman who is running this business is renting what used to be my Pop's office. Last summer the family decided to remodel the old place and breath some new life into it. We had several people who were very interested in renting, but as soon as my bro, Fred, informed them that we would run a credit check on them, they sort of disappeared. Hey, if my bro were to run one on me, I'd run too!!! LOL Well, Desiree runs a absolutely lovely little shop. She sells all kinds of interesting and eclectic jewelry, hats, baby products and other great stuff. My brother's girlfriend, Karen, is a heck of a quilter and is selling little quilted bags there right now and apparently doing quite good, so now I'm entering the retail bidness.

I also will be selling my dolls, so hopefully I can get my work out here in the local market. It used to be that local artists and artisans had a hard time selling their work here because many of those that could afford art, would rather buy something similar in larger markets such as Santa Fe, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, etc. on the biggo cities. Due to the changes in the economy, many of these people are buying in their backyard now...good for us, but as usual, all is highly competitive. So below are my little jewelry boxes:




Tomorrow I'm off to Royally Sweet with jewelry boxes and dolls in tow, along with Ian, and will hopefully dazzle the proprietor!! As I mentioned in a past post, this is really working outside the box (hahahahaha) and it's been a while since I've really painted in this form. Years ago, in my past life, I took a folk tole painting course in Germany when I lived there, '76-'79...good times and wonderful memories and I still have contact with my friends in Germany and England. Anyway, when I returned I had to really look for supplies that were so readily available in the German market. I couldn't find liquid acrylic paint back in 1980, there was no such product, so I went back to tubes...different texture though. Slowly, the American craft business began to catch up and low and behold, we have all sorts of choices! When I returned to school my prof told me I was a folk artist...he could see it in my ceramic work and how I painted and decorated on my clay canvas. And for this I busted my hump for a B.A.???!!! Yeppers, I did and proud of it too!! LOL

Going to cut this short, but I just wanted to recommend a really cute movie. It's one of those that went straight to DVD, I'm sure, but it's a sweet movie and quite funny at times.



It has well known actors, such as, Patty Duke, son, Sean Astin, John Corbett
(hhhh-000-tttt---yyy), Marcus Thomas and Allan Corduner. It's about this young man, Marcus Thomas, who after breaking up with his girlfriend and is employed in a tiresome position in an ad agency, decides to try out for a part in a local theatre production of Cyrano de Bergerac to make new friends. Well, he does and gets lots more. Not the most thought provoking pieces of cinema, but a good flick for one of those rainy or too-hot-to-do-sh-t afternoons. I found it playing with my remote control while I had a bit of lunch and break from the studio. That's what I call a happy surprise!! Peace out.

Post Cards

I have a post card stalker!! Actually, I don't know if someone is trying to mess with this ol' post menopausal brain of mine or someone is actually being very sweet and sending me post cards from their travels to various parts of the country....well, 2 from a couple of Civil War battle fields and one from Taos, NM.

The first was sent from Maryland on June 20, the card is one from Antietam National Battlefield, in Sharpsburg, MD. Ok I remember the significance of that battle if history serves me right. Now as for the Civil War, my kinfolk weren't involved with that one...hell, they weren't even gun runners..they were in a different country having their own problems!! LOL The second post card post dated the same day and from the same place in MD, concerns the Chancellorsville campaign, again another one of those hysterical..err..historical events. Soo, fast forward to yesterday, received another one, but this one is from Taos, NM, but post marked in Albuquerque...now we're closer to my backyard! Now she signs it! Yes, it's a she...got that from the handwriting...even got a second vote from my stepson on the penmanship being of the female persuasion.

The person who signed it is "Barbara." Well, now we're getting somewhere..."Think, Georgina, how many Barbaras do you know??" ---------------------- ------------------- -------------
by the way, that's the way my brainwaves look on paper or computer screens!!! So I come up with 3 Barbaras, 2 live here in El Paso, and the other is my honey's sis who lives in Silver City, NM. I assume this Barbara doesn't live in TX or anywhere near the vicinity of it since she mentioned she thought of me as she flew over TX!!! Well, this is a big whopping state, the largest of the lower 48! But still, what a nice sentiment...but I represent the whole state...hahahaha, poor TX!! hahahahaha!! If I were Queen of TX, I'd ....oh well, won't go there.

So this lovely person sends me post cards from Civil War battle grounds and from Taos, NM. I haven't been to Taos since 1971 when my parents decided they wanted to go to the Santa Fe Fiesta in the Fall...they burn this huge effigy, Zozola or Zorzolo, name escapes me now, but then that's common these days. Anyway, we went up to Taos on this narrow 2 laner...now that was an experience!!! At the time, Taos was a haven for hippies, now retiring CEO's of major corporations (sell outs) and they had a huge commune up there. The place was full of them and their wares. I bought this neat-o macrame belt, which I still might have somewhere, that looked great on me and my jeans. We're talking friggin' 39 years ago when I was 19, gorgeous and hot, of course, back then I had no idea I was that..."ain't hindsight a b--ch??!" I recall my Pop having a heyday with all those "!Grinudos! (put the ~ over the n making the ng sound, meaning long, strangly, unkempt hair and pretend the first exclamation point is upside down...hey, I didn't write the language, I just read and write what I was taught) and "!apestosos, perezosos...! etc. Translates to , "stinky, lazy, ...! My father was just like any post WWII dad..."didn't like them long-haired, stinky, lazy, hippie dudes!" My father was intolerant of all of them. When my sister married, the first time around, her fiance had this best buddy, now one of those CEO's, who lived in his parent's garage turned- apartment (more like an orgie den, but that's another story for later) and was a struggling, cough, cough, musician...son of a wealthy physician daddy. He had these long beautiful locks and was going to be best man at my parent's big party!! hahahahaha!!! My father made such a stink about it and it was funny, even back then!! Anyway, Hair God made his debut at this El Paso wedding and was a hit with the young set and a subject of great debate to the older set...gave the society page editor something to write about!!!

Wow, did I digress or what, maybe a bit from column A and a bit from column B!! So if you know a Barbara who might be in our blog world and not from TX, and has traveled lately around the country, maybe you've been getting post cards from her too or know who she is. If it someone I know, please forgive me for not knowing who you are and if you're someone just messing around with my head, you've succeeded!! LOL

Time to play in my studio. Making those jewelry boxes for a little local shop and want to take them in next week for her display. Again, I'm doing stuff outside my usual box, no pun intended, and having fun doing it!! Will post pics next week or whenever I complete them. Have a great weekend and peace out.
P.S.

I've noticed that some of my comments are not being published even though they have been approved...pinchi Blogger!! So for those of you who are my blogger buddies and you don't see your comments there, it's because the Blogger Comment Monster ate it up!! However, know I read them, hit the "publish" box and then "poof!"

EGAG Giveaway

Just a reminder about the giveaway at EGAG, http://ehagemporium.blogspot.com . Take a look at the fantabulous prizes in store for some lucky winner. Ok, what are you waiting for...go!! Peace out.

Stuffies, CD's and Music

I know this has been out a while, but as usual, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!! LOL I want to congratulate two of my bloggie buddies Pam of yoborobo.blogspot.com and Lorri-Marie Jenkins of wingingit-wingingit.blogspot.com for show casing their stuffies in the above for-mentioned publication. Oh my, I sound so legal!! I happen to be a proud owner of their wonderful little creations and are displayed in my muses corner in my living room. They brighten up my little corner of life and are there to help me when I've reached a dead end in creativity. Ladies, I applaud you!!

Speaking of creativity, I had a near crises yesterday in my studio. I think I've mentioned my CD player in the studio was kaputz and I ended up having to listen to my cassettes and local radio stations. Well, no big deal since I was listening to music, both new and old...I was reintroduced to some of my old favorites in my cassette collection and updated on new music on the radio. My honey has this magic fix-it guy who can fix anything except plasma televisions and since we don't have one, it's moot! Anyway, he took the stereo to Daryell yesterday and I thought I had my music covered since I had 2 portable CD players. I would have to put one in my pocket since I move around a lot in my studio space, but I was willing to deal with the inconvenience just to listen to my tunes. I loaded one of them up with 2 AA batteries, inserted my CD and hit play....nothing, tried again, nothing, even blew into the little works to perhaps blow away the problem, but alas, nothing. So I had one dead soldier, so on to another. Well, without going into detail, I did the same thing with the other one and the same thing happened, nothing. I was beginning to feel desperate. Our other stereo is in the family room, far from my studio and my computer is here in my office, on opposite side of the house. The sweat began to run down my face, I was fritzing out!! I looked everywhere for something to plug into the wall, something that took batteries, anything. The last thing I wanted to hear was the sound of my own voice or worse yet, silence!!!

I was then reminded of a particular episode in one of my favorite television programs that came on late at night..."Soap." How many of you remember that show and actually watched it as an adult?? LOL
It ran from 1977 to 1981. It was terribly funny and I would love to buy the series of DVD's now being offered. Well, back to my nervous breakdown...there was this one episode where Billy Chrystal decided to mess with his brother who only communicated through a wise cracking puppet named Bob, or maybe the brother was named Bob, anyway, it happened this way. Billy Crystal hides the puppet and the brother comes downstairs for breakfast and finds Bob not at his usual place at the kitchen table, he freaks out and can't convey his desperation and frustration without the puppet. His brother tells him he's doing this for his own good and has admitted to hiding Bob. The voiceless brother begins grabbing at all kinds of fruits and vegetables and turning them into puppets, screaming and begging for Bob to appear. He grabs a banana, slits a mouth and gives him 2 eyes...the banana starts yelling at Billy Chrystal, then he gets an orange, does the same thing, the orange is yelling out his desperation for his puppet, and so on and so forth. I thought I was going to die of laughter watching that episode. Well, I was like that poor brother, trying desperately finding a source to play my music.

Then out of the heavens, a light shone on my old kitchen CD/radio player, bolted under one of the cabinets. I recall it gave up the ghost several years ago and I just never got around to unscrewing it from it's wooden grave. So I plugged it in, at this point, I didn't see I'd loose anything other than my mind. It lit up, time flashing in red, reminding me of an old, broken neon bar light. I inserted my CD, Il Divo, and hit play CD! AAAAAHHHHHHH it worked and a cacophony of beautiful voices, tenors and baritones, whatever, came out of that old CD player! It worked and no one was more pleasantly surprised than I!! So I enjoyed the remainder of my studio time, sculpting a little skelly relief for my wooden purse and singing along to the music.

Even as I sit here, I'm listening to Pandora...the voice of a very young Joni Mitchell lulls my mind and comforts my soul. I need music in my life. I can't live without it, it's my manna from heaven, my life source, medicine for my body, mind and soul. So my dear friends, when you find yourself feeling a bit down, put on some music. Put it on if your feeling great too...nothing like it in the whole world and if you can, dance. Peace out.