Friday Night

It is Friday night and I am too tired to say much of anything, except I want to keep my promise of another wonderful Christmas image....for all you cowgirl and cowboy fans, here is a Christmas card worthy of a great big Yahooo!!!!!!! See you tomorrow!

Beautiful Christmas ATC made by my friend Trish

The lovely, Nathalie at An Artist's Legacy has started a little bit of a new Christmas tradition, a Christmas blog tour. She was kind enough to list my blog as a stop on the tour. So since I am doing minimal home decorating this year, I will be sure to have a new vintage Christmas image on my blog almost every day leading up to Christmas. Please feel free to use any images you like in your art projects. Recently I have been lucky enough to come across some great vintage Christmas cards so I will start putting those up tomorrow.

I still have my head cold so I am going to bed early again tonight, but hopefully by tomorrow I shall be all recovered!

Christmas Magic

Christmas magic has already begun for me!!! Spent the evening with my Dad who is visiting from Bainbridge Island, Washington. We went to a used bookstore and he found a rare book he had been looking for. He bought me a beautiful two volume set of Bleak House by Charles Dickens which I am really looking forward to delving into. Then we went to a beautifully decorated restaurant for dinner. Afterwards we drove around, listened to great music and looked at Christmas lights. Yipee, it was fun!

Then I came home to an early Christmas present from my friends Kim and Julie! A lot of goodies along with a ticket to fly to Ohio to hang out with them for a weekend!! Think of all the fun we will have and all the art we can create! I am telling you it is like this every Christmas, magical things just happen!!!

Christmas Images

I was trying to wait until December 1st to put up any Christmas images, but I could not resist! This is a card I recently made using a vintage Christmas card image. I am going ape over vintage cards from the 1920's to 1960's. If anyone has a stash of them and does not want them, let me know!!! My collection has been multiplying quickly on its own though....

I am looking forward to making some blog entries over the weekend, but right now I am saddled with a bad head cold. Boo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So as soon as I feel better I will return to this site and start posting.

Thanks to everyone for all their kind comments about the Christmas banner. It is delightful isn't it??

Like Christmas Morning!

I woke up this morning to see my new Christmas blog banner courtesy of Heather at Bluhm Studios! I just love it!!!!! Thank you Heather!

Thanksgiving - Famous People Edition

Happy Thanksgiving week everyone!!! Last year I did a list of things I was thankful for.....this year I will do a list of famous people I am thankful for. Thankful for their art, their music, their writing or their entertainment (since this is my own little game I decided that the people did not have to be alive).....let me know who you are thankful for okay?
Mr. Rogers
Elizabeth Berg
Tim Holtz
Fannie Flagg
Dwight Yoakam
George Lucas
Steven Spielberg
The Polyphonic Spree
The Beatles
Ella Fitzgerald
Barbara Streisand
Rosie O'Donnell
Neil Armstrong
Doris Day
Carol Shields
Princess Diana
Rohinton Mistry
Cezanne
Matisse
David Letterman
Rembrant
Guy Lombardo
Van Halen
The Who
Spinal Tap
Tina Fey
Dick Van Dyke
Julie Andrews
Carol Burnett
Walter Payton
Alex Zanardi
Mozart
Bach
Wagner
J.K. Rowling
Holly Hobbie
Rick Bragg
Ruth Reichl
Harrison Fischer
Anne Leibovitz

ADDITIONS:
Mattie J. Stepanek
Patsy Cline
Loretta Lynn
Raul Malo
Christo
Mary Engelbreit
Verdi
The Inventor of Tab

AND:
Beethoven
Charles Schultz
Queen
Renee Fleming
Johnny Cash
Kukla, Fran, and Ollie


Obviously this is not an all inclusive list...but off the top of my head, that is a pretty good start!

A Lost Art

Grandpa Bates, Christmas 1967, 14422 Michigan Avenue, Riverdale, Illinois.

Yup, that is my Grandpa. He was such a great man! Beloved by many, and you can see the evidence of that with all the Christmas cards on the walls of his home!!! Nowadays sending Christmas cards has become a lost art. I love receiving Christmas cards, but over the years the number I receive is dwindling fast!

So, on the way to work this morning I was thinking wouldn't it be fun to have a little Christmas card cheer program! Here is how it works, you sign up on the blog here and email me at duetabode@comcast.net (so I can get your home address). Then I will make a list of all who want to participate and send the addresses to each of you. The plan is to make handmade Christmas cards to send to others starting December 5th. So as not to overwhelm anyone, if more than 10 people sign up then I will have groups of ten or so.

It will be fun to anticipate some homemade Christmas cards coming to our mailboxes, right??? Hope everyone thinks this is fun!

Edited on 11/18/07: This project is now closed. It will be a nice little cozy card sending project as we only have a few people participating. But that is okay, less pressure for all of us! Participating will be: Jane, Donna, Jennifer, Karen, Lorie, Nancy, and me!!!

You Gotta Have Friends!!!

Okay, I don't want anyone to worry about me, but to tell this story correctly I have to tell you that yesterday was a day that I would not wish on anyone. Suffice it to say, I pulled a really stupid move and felt really bad about it. Bad enough to Boo-Hoo-Hoo, well, in swept my friend Jane and helped me to gain control over the situation. Then home to Mike for further help and hugs. So, everything is okay, but when I came to to work this morning Jane brought me this beautiful card and see over there, where my current book is listed, she brought me that book too!!! She knew I read about it on Lotus Reads' blog and she went and got it for me last night. I feel rescued and loved, and it is wonderful! So, thank you Jane for being sweet and such a good friend.

I am blessed to have friends like you all that visit me here!!! I am getting misty, but this is really a source of support, this blogging world! Now I am off to read my new book!

A little light housekeeping

This picture is really apropos of nothing.......I just went to Google Images and put in some key words, and this cool picture came up! How romantic! See the Harvest Moon in the backround? I don't have too much to say tonight, but felt the need to have a new entry. My thoughts tonight really relate to my drive home from work. It was the first night that it was pitch black on the way home. It was really kind of relaxing. For the first time in a long time I came home and felt like "nesting." I put away the laundry and even did the dishes after dinner!!! (Mike cooked, as usual)

Now, I am settling in for an evening of Dancing With the Stars and Heroes. I will finish my current book and just laze around! This coming Sunday I have my first book club meeting with my pals from the world of medical transcription. So I am looking forward to that. I am also going to start compiling my Top 10 reads of the year. I would love it if a bunch of us reading blogger types listed all of our fave reads of the year....(Nan, Anjali, Heather; I know you all are big readers!)......So, keep a list people and maybe in late December we can share them!

So, I am settling in for my long winter's nap and am hoping to get a little organizing/cleaning done everynight after work. That is goal #1; and if you know me, you know that is quite a lofty goal. Then I need to add the working out goal, the eating healthy goal, and the getting back to the stamping room goal. Baby steps!

ETA: New picture cause something got messed up. Thought this was funny!

Three Words

I LOVE MUMS!!!!!!!!!