For the last several years one of my guilty pleasures has been playing Trivia Crack. The kids got me hooked on it and of course with my love of knowledge and trivia, it's been a fun and relaxing game. Early on played a game against a random person - Rick Broadhurst. From then on ended up playing only against him every time I went on Trivia Crack.
Over the years we got to know each other and became Facebook friends. We were the same age, both with birthdays in January, he lived in Oklahoma and was a nice person to chat with now and then but mainly was a worthy opponent for the trivia game.
A few months ago he said he was in the hospital. We hadn't played in quite awhile so I started a new game and have regularly been playing since then. In fact, we were playing a game last night. Unfortunately, I looked on line today and saw that he had passed away this morning at 3am - congestive heart failure. Even though we never met, he was still in my life.
Jordan and Candy swung by Saturday to pick up Jordan's final birthday gift - a psychedelic cat hoodie from Amazon, which he loved. He was even able to have a little Hostess cupcake with candle courtesy of Marie.
The creative bug bit me on Sunday. Picked up supplies from Michaels and Dollar Tree then spent the afternoon painting two large and one small canvas for Marie. Not so thrilled with them. Ran out of pour medium so struggled with the second canvas (#2 below.) Should have left more white space. Just having art hindsight 20/20 at the moment. Good news is they can be repainted! Below are pictures of the finished paintings along with close up details.
The neighbor saw me on the back patio in the midst of my painting process. She asked me if I sell my art. Been thinking about putting my painting and photography art up for sale on line. Recently downloaded an application for the local Broadway Gallery. We shall see!
Yesterday the cat Romeo, also referred to as Brutus, Beast, and Donald Trump, decided to visit my room. He spread out on my reclining chaise, laying on top of the fuzzy pink blanket as if he was King Liberace. This 20-lb hellion was right in his element.
While at the Dollar Tree, picked up three paper lanterns to hang from the light fixture in my room. Pretty pleased with the result!
Yes, I'm now the mother of a 27 year old! Wow! I remember having Jordan - 3 weeks early, 6 lbs 3 oz. And now here he is - husband, father and grandfather by marriage, student, highly intelligent, quick wit, and just an all around great guy. Happy birthday Jordan!!!
Kicked off this Memorial Day weekend by grooming and bathing Mr. Stubbs yesterday. Then this morning we visited Willow Grove. The fishermen and women were out in force although no rods were moving.
Located the lost love
of the pink flip flop
I found the other day
Yesterday took Stubbs out to our fav spot Willow Grove for some fresh air. Weather was overcast but no rain which made me happy as it cuts down on the number of visitors to my faux beach. Treasures found were fishing tackle, two weathered boards nailed together that will make a perfect shelf, and a tiny little jar which just needs the "cannabis" sticker removed.
Blue in the Clouds
The Party is Over
Based upon the positive experience of my co-worker Pam (shout out to Pam 👏 👋) picked up via Amazon a pair of blue blocking, glare protecting, headache stopping eyewear. Trying them out this week and so far so good.
Glare Be Gone!
Was so tired today took a nap after work. Woke up after a good 2 hours of hard sleep. It was one of those naps where upon waking my head was confused - is it morning? Middle of night? Where am I and who put cotton in my head?
It's almost Memorial Day which means half-day Friday starts this week. Whoop whoop!! Will become meaningful once the world opens up again.
Found out the $1 water bottle i picked up at Walmart wasn't dishwasher safe. Good thing I bought a backup!
On my way home yesterday passed by the lake and did a double take. Pulled over to get a better view of a large, long-haired greyhound who was definitely a shade of pink! Bummed my pictures aren't clear as that fuschia hound was a sight to be seen!
Set the needle felting aside and created a new project this weekend as a housewarming gift for my bestie. Was inspired by the following Youtube video on acrylic pouring:
Have done acrylic cup pours before but never with a blow dryer. Pour painting can be a highly messy craft. You are thinning out acrylic paint with a pour medium, then drizzling the color - one after another or layered in a cup - onto the canvas.
Saturday morning picked up a variety of gray, black, white, metallic, silver and gold leaf paint along with two 18 x 24 canvas via Michael's curbside pickup.
Swung by Walmart in search of a large plastic tub to hold the canvas and contain the overflow. Purchased a large plastic tub 32 x 19 3/8 - perfect fit!
Organized all the supplies to take to the back patio. Slipped the canvas into the plastic container and guess what? Did not fit!!! One thing I've learned is you must always plan for an unexpected wrench or 50 wrenches to be thrown into a project. Thankfully I had picked up two large plastic tableclothes from Dollar Tree so they would provide ground cover.
Placed the two canvas onto the tablecloth, raising each with a couple of plastic baskets to allow room for drips.
Next task was to mix the pour medium and acrylic in cups so they could easily be layered onto the canvas.
Tried to follow the blow dryer technique from the video; unfortunately, my blow dryer was not strong enough or the paint was too thick so ended up scrapping that idea and used my hands along with gravity to swirl the paint.
Have to say they turned out better than expected. Left the canvas to dry, bringing them in at night once they were set to continue drying in the warm house.
Sunday picked up frames from Michael's for each painting, eased each into the frame (with help of a rubber mallet hammer), wrapped in handy left-over red Christmas paper, then delivered to bestie. She loved them which made me breathe a sigh of relief.
Stumbled across an emoji maker so decided to have a go. Fairly entertaining creating the emoji then setting up all sorts of movements, expressions, and clothing.
Began a new craft project - needle felting. It involves stabbing wool to create animals, people, or whatever you wish. Just started it yesterday so am in the early learning phase. I say this as a warning to prepare you for the first time I post my project. Here's some Pinterest needle felted animals
Mother's Day weekend was fabulous! Received flowers from Jordan and Candy on Friday, lilacs from Marie on Saturday, then flowers from Sam as well as Jimmy and his sis Molly on Sunday. Floral overflow!! 🥰❤ Sam also picked up Stuffy's breakfast which was a real treat.
Decided that since I have four more months to spend working from home, I needed to get my butt in gear and add some exercise into my life. Only live two blocks from the lake so figured that would be the best place to start. Walked the full lake Saturday morning, walked three-quarters Sunday, then the full lake tonight. So far so good! Here's a few pics from tonight's walk.
Gonna be awhile until my hairdresser is back to work so had to break down and dye my hair. Decided to go blonder but add a smidge of pink. Mixed up the dye, saturated my hair, then waited for it to process. Was looking good but when I washed it all the pink came out along with the remaining pink from my last dye job. Aw shucks but I took it as a sign to just stay blonde.
Forgot to post some good news I received last week. My boss announced I had been selected to receive a recognition award! Quite the surprise but a welcome one. Made me feel good that my efforts were noticed.
The dog and I have really been hitting Willow Grove after work almost every day. Wednesday I hit the jackpot when we stumbled across an actual treasure buried in the sand. Saw some metal peeking out of the river bank, reached down, and pulled out a sweet heart necklace. The clasp even worked! Granted it was not some shiny piece of gold but it meant more to me than riches. You see, I was browsing through Mother's Day cards and felt a twinge of sadness that I couldn't buy a card for Mom. That little silver heart emerging from the sand was a sweet hello she had sent me. Love you Mom and thank you for the treasure! ❤
Speaking of Mother's Day, Jordan and Candy popped over this morning to surprise me with a bouquet of flowers and card. They even gifted Marie with a bouquet. So thankful to have children who love their mom. 🥰
Today was in the low 80's and - hold your hat - tomorrow is supposed to be 87 degrees! Wow! Today on my lunch break sat outside to relax and soak in the rays. Hmm looks like it's time for another round of hair dye to keep that silver halo in check!
Have been determined to increase my water intake so have made it a goal to drink one of these filled with water every day. That's 89 fluid ounces or 11 8-ounce glasses, which trumps the recommended 8-glasses a day rule. Try to lay off as evening rolls around; so far have only needed to get up once at night to hit the bathroom.
Popped into my work office yesterday to grab my flash drive. Looked the same just quiet; main sign of time passing were all the plants slowly withering with brown patches or scattered leaves forming a sad circle on the carpet below its branches. Team decided we will be returning on or about September 8 to the office - four more months. Word on the street is everyone has been super productive so working from home has been a success. I definitely enjoy it - no use of gas, get to sleep in, significant decrease in harming my hair with blow dryer or curling iron, and a more relaxed ienvironment.
To celebrate Cinco de Mayo, yesterday afternoon we had our virtual work huddle in the afternoon. Was sunny so I pulled up a patio chair in the yard and with a Bahama Mama in hand enjoyed the company of my teammates via a face-time type meeting.
Later on, drove to Don Pedro's to pick up tacos via the drive through. It was PACKED! Vehicle line was to the street! Thankfully the waitress was outside taking orders so it didn't take as long as expected. On my way back to the house drove by El Ranchero - parking lot was bursting at the seams and the line of people waiting outside curved around the building. Obviously everyone was eager to have some sort of event to break ourselves away from the routine of quarantine.
Thursday received $15 from the boss so we could get tacos to eat during our Tuesday afternoon team teleconference, which falls on Cinco de Mayo. Then Saturday received a $20 gift card for Junior's Tacos from the Longview office to get even more tacos! Going to be taco'd out by the end of next week!
The most recent work video was released last week.
Marie recently hung a birdhouse near the kitchen window. She had hammered a smaller hole plate into it as she wanted petite birds to use it. Well, come Saturday morning a pair of birds wanted to make it their home so bad they couldn't stand it. Ended up removing the small hole plate and those two birdies have now set up their humble abode. Aren't they cute struggling to get into it?
Didn't do much of anything on Saturday. Jordan and Candy stopped by and I gave them two driftwood walking sticks I had painted.
Jordan told me about an Amtgard contest that may interest me. Amtgard is a role playing game (Jordan is a member) where the participants dress in medieval type clothing, armor, shields, etc. They have a contest to come up with a design for a belt flag with the theme of "I Survived Covid 19." Of course I had to get in on the contest. Following are my three submissions:
I Beat Covid 19
2020 Survivor of Covid 19
Shows the AMA sword destroying Covid 19
Here is Jordan's awesome entry:
Actually performed productive work on this Sunday. Did two loads of laundry, cleaned my room, put away clothes, gave Stubbs a bath, hung up tiny solar lights on the front yard Japanese Maple then later, in between the rain showers, took Stubbs to Willow Grove. Doesnt he look happy?
This evening prepared Marie's taxes now I'm in bed watching "The Clock" with Judy Garland. Here's to everyone having a memorable and healthy week!
