Unique Plaque ... Reminder of Jesus' sacrifice, beautiful, yet at a cost.

I found this plaque, a decorative feature, which, in itself, is beautiful, but decided to add a corpus that I have had here for awhile... for me, it gives it a whole new meaning.


It's hanging at the entrance into our house ... Lord, let me always be reminded of the sacrifice You gave for me.

SchoolMarm RulersHand - Kindergarten Nightmares on 5th Street

school·marm: noun \-ˌmä(r)m\

1: a woman who is a schoolteacher especially in a rural or small-town school.
2: a person who exhibits characteristics attributed to schoolteachers (as strict adherence to arbitrary rules).

Okay, before my long time school friends start getting on my case about this assemblage installation ... I don't have real bad memories at all of my grade school days... oh, well, with the exception of being afraid to get off the school bus when it was a rainy morning because the boys would dash off first to grab all the worms that gathered on the cement sidewalks after a rain, and they'd delight in throwing them at the girls as they ran into the school ... where were the teachers back then? I really was deathly afraid to get off the bus when the boys did that to the girls!! (yes, I am still scarred from it..haha! *L*)



Anyway ... I found this schoolmarm-ish lady, and the old wooden blocks at GoodWill on the same day, the old chair is from the closet at our Church, an old relic that used to be used in the Sunday School rooms, I probably sat on it as a child myself.
I had some old rulers I added to the end of the arms as hands ... remember when the punishment for bad behavior was to be smacked on the knuckles with a ruler? .. this schoolmarm is kind of like an Edward Scissorshand kind of character, I suppose ... Schoolmarm Rulershand..*L*

I remember learning my ABC's in kindergarten, now days the kids should know that BEFORE they reach kindergarten! But I recall repeating, and repeating and repeating them, over and over and over.

Despite this assemblage and what I am sharing, I had a nice school experience, for the most part, although some kids didn't. We used to have "mats" we used for nap time, I remember our teacher not allowing kids to go to the bathroom during nap time, and often there were little puddles afterward as we gathered our mats and stuffed them into our cubbyholes.

When I was older, and worked at the bank full time during the time our older son was in gradeschool, I would take my lunch hour at the same time that he needed to be picked up from kindergarten. It was probably not a usual thing to have had the same kindergarten teacher that your child had ... but it was the same teacher I had as a child. When I'd come to pick up my son, I recall one young boy sitting at a table, with his head down, crying and crying.. and it wasn't just once or twice I'd see him that way. I felt so bad for him, and wondered what had happened that made him so sad as he waited for his bus or his mom to pick him up. He was, and still is a long time friend of our son, John... wonder if Ryan recalls the incidents as something devastating still, or if it was just a worried Mom here caring for another child?

At any rate... here is a rendition of what could be called a KINDERGARTEN NIGHMARE.

(I am in a bizzare state of mind lately I think? haha!)

Chicken Noodle Vegetable Soup with No Chicken?

I have some leftover roast chicken that my family says we have "picked clean". I had hoped to have extra from it to make some soup this week. So when I heard them say that, I thought maybe I'd just make the chicken soup stock with noodles and veggies and no chicken, it would still be good.

When I pulled out the chicken carcas, I realized there was a LOT of chicken left, if one would just work for it. And as you can see from the photo, there is still much left that I imagine many would wish they had for food. What a wasteful family we are, what wasteful person "I" am often, what a wasteful nation we are too... this little bit would be a feast in the eyes of many...


Lord, help me to be mindful of the needs of others, not that these leftovers would help, but my other resources would help, and I can give up much of what we have, if only I'd be mindful ... Lord, forgive me.

Ohh the things you can pick up at Good Will!!

I am so excited... because I found some unusual items at Good Will (actually the online shop Good Will site), ...but not just because I found them and won the bid on them... but because I told my priest, Fr. Bill, that if there were any he'd like to have, I would LOVE to gift them to him, but that it wouldn't hurt my feelings if he didn't want them at all, because I'd find some use for them in an assemblage sometime down the road.

But Fr. Bill LOVED them, he called me and was just as surprised as I was that items like this could be found at GoodWill. He said he would gratefully accept them with much thanks... to me, that is such a blessing, to be able to give to someone who loves things like this as much as I do, and I am so happy he will be able to use/wear them too! *S*

Can't wait to see the first Sunday or weekday service he wears one of them... Thank you Lord for blessings that come in surprising ways at surprising places!

The 28th Anniversary of my 29th Birthday

... you do the math... *L*

Yes, I am on the downhill slide of my 50's ... but in many ways I am feeling better than I did in my upper 40's! Go figure?

Thank you to friends for their birthday greetings (esp. on FB messages which were so wonderful!). I've been gifted through family and work friends, church friends and others with being able to support the Good Will mission a LOT!! (gift cards to Good Will!)..THANK YOU soooo much!!
Love to all...xoxoxo... with grateful thanks for you ALL in my life.

Warning - Graphic War Photos

I have been scanning my father-in-laws photos from his war photo albums. They show the grim reality of war, and in these photos, of the time he was in Iwo Jima as a Marine. Out of respect for the dead, I have covered the faces of some... these are very disturbing, a sad history of the battle showing the dead on both sides, the battles in progress, searching out hidden tunnels, a church service and more.

I have also been reading more of the battles at Iwo Jima; one in three Marines at the Battle of Iwo Jima were either killed or wounded. American casualties included 6,891 dead and 18,070 wounded.
The Japanese fared much worse. Of their approximately 22,000 soldiers — only 1,083 survived.


I'll use copies of the photos in the war trunk assemblage memorial I am hoping to make.... more on this to come later.

Even though it is well after the events, my prayers still go out to all who battled, and their families, on both sides. Lord, in Your mercy... hear my prayers.

GO PACK GO!!

Hurrah!! A Packer win makes this Sunday even better!! Love the start of football season! Although they gave us a bit of a scare, they managed to pull off a win for week one... way to go PACK!!

Yummmmm .... breakfast pancake!

I don't usually make breakfast ...when the kids were little I did, but when they got out of school, it was everyone for themselves as far as doing breakfast. Usually I just have a piece of toast, or a piece of leftover pizza, if we have any, or sometimes I'll even have a hotdog with mustard for breakfast! *L*

But today I made blueberry pancakes for John, Kasey and myself. I even added some yummy embellishments to mine! DEEEELICIOUS!



Yummm, Yummm in my tum!! (John HATES when I say that..heh heh)

As We Forgive ....

This is a piece I made a couple of years ago in remembrance ....




Forgiving doesn't mean we forget those who have been killed, hurt, changed forever from horrendous events and actions of others. But it does mean a healing of the heart in ways that are beyond understanding sometimes.

Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us...

"The Yetti" Great Pumpkin

Contrary to what the photo looks like, John is NOT trying to "hatch" this pumpkin...heh heh...




Our older son, John, has been raising some GIANT pumpkins this summer. He and the grandsons have been pampering three pumpkins, trying to grow some huge ones. John had gotten some seeds from a friend who had grown a HUGE one last year, and decided to try growing some himself. (His friend entered his record 800 pound pumpkin at the Walworth County Fair this year!!).



This is one of the three, not the largest, but still mighty big!

The largest pumpkin is named "The Yetti"... the largest of the three. John noticed one of his pumpkins had rotted on the bottom, and inside too. So he decided he better cut the other two off the vines and move them so they wouldn't suffer the same fate.







He had (old) John, his dad, come over with the bobcat to help lift and move it to a trailer to be taken down to a local place to get an accurate weight on it. Here is a view of both the pumpkins they moved with the bobcat.





Lowering John's prized Yetti onto the scale, lots of help needed.... the Yetti weighed in just under 300 pounds!! WOW!! Not too bad for the first try in raising giant pumpkins! John's already making plans for a better place in the yard to grow even larger ones next year! A fun project that the whole family enjoyed!

Unique Photo Opportunities - Kasey K Photo

When I say "Kasey K Photo is available for ALL your photography ideas & events", I mean it!



Here are some unique, awesome photos by Kasey - and while it may not be for everyone BEFORE a wedding or reception, it's an incredible way to get extraordinary, one of a kind memories with your wedding dress before it heads to the cleaners & then is packed away forever.

Check out ALL Kasey's photos at the Kasey K Photo website or at her Kasey K Photo Blog or catch her on Facebook at I Support Kasey K Photo

NEW Call to Artists from ECVA

Episcopal Church and Visual Arts latest Call to Artists "Seeking and Serving".

An online exhibit for Episcopal Church & Visual Arts, Advent 2010

“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these
who are members of my family, you did it to me." ~ Matthew 25:40 ~


The Baptismal Covenant from the Book of Common Prayer concludes with five questions which draw out what it means to follow Jesus in the world today. The fourth of these questions asks:

"Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?"

The answer, as with the other questions, is "I will with God's help."

The Gospel in its most distilled form comes when Jesus teaches that we are to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. This love of neighbor Jesus illustrated beautifully in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Jesus concludes the story by asking which man who saw another injured on the road was the neighbor to him. The answer is, "The one who showed him mercy."


See more info at the link provided at ECVA, and enter soon, the deadline is November 7th.

Honored to be part of ECVA's latest Online Exhibition

I'm honored to be included in the latest call to artists from (ECVA) Episcopal Church and Visual Arts, Justice and Peace. One of my 3 entries, School Daze is included in this recent exhibit. ... check out the awesome art from artists around the country, and ponder on the meanings associated with them ... lots of great pieces here. (Look for the next call to artists coming out soon too!)

THANK YOU ECVA!!

Granddaughter Jorden and Auntie Kasey singing "Hallelujah" from the movie Shrek

Last night Jorden was wanting to see pictures and movie clips on the computer, so Kasey was searching sites for things she might enjoy... Toy Story, Disney, Sponge Bob, Shrek and more... ... There was one from the movie Shrek, that included the song "Hallelujah".. Jorden loves that movie, Kaine has it for her to watch, and she seemed to know many of the words to the song... so when she started singing it so well, I took out the camera to videotape her... it is so cute!! (*said as a proud gramma*) So here is just one of the video's I took featuring Jorden and Kasey... (I hope to get a compilation of the clips I took of her singing parts of the song into one video later).



*Note: Don't forget to turn off my playlist songs so you can hear this one better.*

Mass Birthday Celebrations...

Today my side of the family celebrated the August and September birthdays in our families. We usually host the party since all 3 of our kids have birthdays during this time, and my Mom's birthday is also in August, so we have the celebration here.




We provided spaghetti, BBQ chicken wings, texas garlic toast, salads, ice cream, cupcakes and sherbet, chips and snacks, beverages, and others brought things too. Our daughter in law, Janel, made some yummy birthday desserts - carmel apple dessert, and mint brownie cake...another sister brought some cookies, one of my sisters brought corn on the cob, a niece brought tomatoes, another sister brought veggies and dip, and we had a major feast, a fun time, and good celebration.

Here are some photos from the birthday party celebrations.






Mums for my mum(MOM).. I love this picture of my mom.. we celebrated her 79th birthday as well today.







Here are some of the August and September birthday people... others who aren't in the photo must have been off in some other part of the house or outside... too hard to keep track of everyone..*L*




Poor Jake... too many people, he had to find refuge under the church pew on the front porch.. *lol*

Spaghetti for 50 or so.... and FREE Church Pews...

Tomorrow is the mass birthday party celebration for the Aug. and Sept. birthdays on my side of the family. We are hosting everyone here, although not everyone will be coming because some are camping, some working, some have other things they had already arranged. But we will have about 50 or so people, so I made spaghetti sauce and noodles this morning ...combined them together, and will reheat them, casserole style, in my Nesco roaster tomorrow. We'll also have honey BBQ chicken wings, salads, garlic texas toast, corn on the cob, mint brownie cake and carmel apple cake (made by DIL Janel!)..and more. Jorden slept in late, but when she woke up, she had fun playing in the plastic bin of balls as I finished combining the spaghetti.. such fun!! *S*




In getting ready for tomorrow, I've decided to get rid of some things I was going to save and make into something... not sure what I was going to make those things into...but I'd been saving the large desk and radio cabinet now for over 2 years and it was just taking up space... so, with the help of son Kaine, he helped load them into my car and off to GoodWill I went with the donations.

I had a method to my madness however, and couldn't just leave a big blank space where the stuff had been before, so, since our Church is giving away FREE pews, I decided to get one. They are almost 14' long, and John had to take the trailer up to Church to haul it home... it took Kaine and me (John can't lift that much weight) to get it out of the Church, but Kaine did the most work...and it took Kasey and Kaine and me to get it into the front porch, having to lift it high above the outside railing on the porch because there was no way to make the turn from the steps.

Anyway... it's now on the porch, and makes the porch look SOOOO long, but it will offer much more seating space for large family gatherings, and so far, I like it!




If anyone would like a FREE CHURCH PEW, let me know, and I'll put you in contact with the person in charge of the distribution.

So, now off to finish doing other things since Jorden is tucked in for the night.... tomorrow the chaos will start after 1.

Jorden & Daddy (Kaine) are here!!!

Younger son and his daughter are here for the weekend... hurrah!!

We're glad to see Kaine is indeed alive and well after last week's scare (his workplace had called us - his "next of kin", to report he hadn't been heard from at work for 2 days!). It was a big mix up, Kaine WAS at work, but the one man didn't realize it, and after a few hours of madly trying to reach him by phone, calling upnorth at many people, friends, local places we'd heard him talk about, and praying a lot, some of his friends called us back and told us his car WAS at work. I called the workplace, and the person who had called us to report him missing checked it out, and did find him, and was apologizing a lot for the "inconvenience".. which almost made THIS Mom go into frantic mode, okay I DID go into frantic mode.*L*! But anyway ...glad to hug the son and have him indeed be alive and well! *S*





And GREAT to see Jorden again too.. she grows up so much in just a month or two!! They arrived late last night, but we kept her up for a few hours of fun .. here's our budding artiste as she draws and paints ... such a sweetie!! So glad to have them here for the long weekend!





She liked drawing, but when she decided to use the pen on her face, I switched to painting on the board with water... one of her paintings looks a bit like an elephant..*L*

So, after playing with the plastic balls, and getting out every toy around, it was bedtime, and Jorden was eager to sleep it seemed.. she laid her head down as soon as I laid her in bed, and sound asleep in minutes! More fun tomorrow...can't wait!

Busy and EARLY Start to this Friday ...

Up at the crack of dawn today... headed over to work by 7:30 a.m., finished what I needed to do, then off to the Milwaukee area by 8:45 to pick up the newslettter, fast trip BACK to work again, rushed to get the newsletter taped, labeled and sorted ...then off again at 10:40 to head to Clinton to pick up grandson Jeff from the bus... whew! Took along the newsletters to stamp while waiting ... and trying to shoo away some stray, very thin German Shepherd dog hanging around the house.

After getting Cooter and Buck out for a break, and Jeff arriving home, we headed to Janesville for a quick shopping trip at Woodman's, then home to eat lunch. Man, I'm tired just writing this.. ha!

After a fast lunch, we headed over to GoodWill to see the Halloween decorations that I promised Jeff we'd visit. Picked up some nifty cobweb stuff to decorate their rooms with, and halloween stickers, and we were back home to make out the payroll, throw a load of laundry in the washer, and crash for an hour or so before doing more to prepare for Jorden and Kaine's visit tonite!

I think a short power nap is in order... zzzzzzzzzz

The Start of Something .... I can feel it coming in the air tonite, O Lord..

"..I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord,
I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord.." (I love this song)

I found a really COOL old trunk at GoodWill ... and I am thinking it would be very good to use with the many "war" memories...things I have found at various places, as well as friends who have given me war stuff, and many things from my father-in-law, Paul (who was in WWII in Iwo Jima).



I've just put a few of the things out to see how they might look in this old trunk and they aren't necessarily going to be displayed in this way. I didn't, however, pull out all the old photos, like the ones in this installation piece I did of Paul's war memories... I was thinking of putting more of these old war photos as the background in the trunk, but I'm not sure if I want to permanently afix them to the trunk. (maybe I should consider getting duplicates of the photos to do things with?)




At any rate... I am hoping to be able to use this trunk in awesome ways to bring awareness of the self-sacrifice that many veterans made for ALL of us!



I wish I had Paul's uniform to use in this art assemblage installation .. but it will be in a permanent display at a VFW museum in the San Antonio/New Braunfels area, and that is an honorable place for it too.

I would love to hear any ideas, helpful suggestions, etc. as I continue to explore possibilities with this..thanks!