that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month?  Well, it IS in case you were confused.  About a week ago, I  added a new badge to my sidebar stating as such…

Breast cancer has special meaning in my life…  My mom is a survivor.  I was actually born AFTER her radical mastectomy…even more shocking was that I was born within that critical 5 year window.  My parents met AFTER mom’s cancer.

All that being said…  Be aware of your “girls”…know your body… something seems odd…get it checked!!
I had my first mammogram at age 26 as a baseline… Nothing to be afraid of. Take charge of your health, of your body…it’s the only one you have!

I will now step down off my soap box and return you to your regularly scheduled programing…thank you and good night.

I thought this was an art blog!!!  For some odd reason, I seem to be making less art than ever lately.
My time seems to be split amongst school volunteering, outside winter prep, my mother’s appts and the dreaded housework, as of late.

I SO need to be creative but the rest of it won’t wait. I’m beginning to get the shakes….

I have been working on some Miniature Terrain, which I have moved off onto a secondary page for those curious enough to venture there. Refer to tabs under title frame if interested….

The week has just slipped away… Some how I thought when the kids went back to school I’d have a ton of time to devote to art. HMMM…maybe I’m just playing catch-up with all the things I’ve put off for the majority of the summer.

I have worked on our vacation scrapbook a little but since I don’t share photos of my kids on my blog…I’m not going to share the pages….sorry.  I’ve also made a couple of birthday cards and a gift that I will share on Sunday afternoon. I know that the recipient reads my blog so I don’t dare post until then…no peeking! You know who you are!!!

Bet you never even knew I was gone! Ah, the magic of scheduled posting.

We just got back from Wisconsin Dells! It was a blast! We stayed at a resort that had 5 water parks. Of course the one we loved most was a long walk but hey…wears the kids out!!

We did the typical Dells things that you just have to do at least once if you visit…

We rode the Army Duck Boats, toured the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory, walked the tourist trap downtown area, had our picture taken at the dam and played in the water until we were very prune-like.

We also did some goofy things like stopping to take a picture of the kids in front of most any statue we could find.

It was a wonderful vacation…without having to board an airplane. :)  Jamaica, I’m sure would have been better but we can’t drive there. 

I don’t know how it happens but it seems as if I have been accomplishing absolutely nothing lately. Well, I should say art related accomplishments.  I’m starting to get very frustrated.

I have been reading, cleaning, hanging out with the kids, running errands, yard work etc.

The only remotely artsy thing I’ve done lately…and this is a real stretch… was to stain a wood project my husband has been working on. It’s not completed but needed to be stained at this stage.

I’ll leave you with the baby bird in a nest picture… It’s a wren nest in our dwarf lilac bush along the front walk. They build a nest there every year. It’s fun to see them swoop in and out feeding their fledgling.  I’m not sure if the egg along the side is the baby’s egg that it hatched from or a sibling that never hatched.

Today would have been my dad’s 83rd birthday. We brought him a card and flowers this morning.

I caught this very sweet moment where my girl lovingly touched his marker and said “Happy Birthday Grandpa”.  They always had a good connection…she’d often ask to go visit him at the nursing home.