it has been a long couple of years, but the last 5 months have been intense to say the least. a couple of years ago i would not have made it 5 weeks in, a couple years before that i would have been lucky to make it to 5 days. this girl has been playing cheerleader to the peeps here at our home and being brave, and i think that no matter who you are and how strong you are...... there comes a point where even a brave girl has her moment where she becomes vulnerable to the blah monster...'specially when the poo hit not just 'the fan'...but a room full of them.....and there was no dodging it. so....... the blah monster got a good grip on me and held tight for a few weeks, but i broke free and i am standing in faith once again that we are going to make it through this storm and be better than we were before.....and soon. during my moment of utter and complete blah-ness i had the urge, stronger than when i was nesting during my baby making days, to clean and purge....the whole entire house. normally when stressed i clean drawers, closets, and all the hidden places and spaces of my domain. the laundry may back up, the dishes pile a mile high in the sink but this girl got clean drawers! i am sure if i were to lay back on a therapists couch i would find that this enhanced and amplified nesting is a need to take control and symbolically clean up what ever mess i felt i was in the middle of. this feels different, though, and it feels good to be getting rid of schtuff..... and the floors are mopped, toilets scrubbed, the dishes done, next weeks laundry is done..... okayyyyyyy...with the ick out of the way now i can catch up on some of what went on here the last few weeks. so, this cute little guy here, the one fast asleep with the pink veener dog toy..... uh-dorable isn't he? a couple of weeks ago i looked out in the back yard and noticed he was behaving in such a way that i knew in a mega instant that he was playing with a critter of some sort. now, it was 1 in the afternoon. i had just crawled outta bed.....this arty girl is part night owl and does not shut down until 4....5, 6, 7 in the morning. i had major bed head, blanket crinkles and drool on my face, no bra, and the beast was misbehaving so i was walking like a drunk person trying to walk across a waterbed. we have privacy fence, buuuuut the neighbors have decks and the neighbors on both sides of us were outside. lovely. just lovely. mike refused to come when i called him cuz he knew mommy was gonna take his play mate away, which meant that the mommy had to come out after him in all my fresh-out-of-the-bed-glory. again....lovely, just lovely. let the chase begin. thankfully i was able to grab michael. clenched between his teeth was a soggy, drippy, and now dead playmate. it was either a vole or baby possum. i had michael by the scruff of his neck, and gave him a few gentle tough love shakes and told him to drop it and drop it now! michael looked at me and i just knew what he was thinking....no way iz i spittn 'im out, dis bees my toy not yours. (i just know that is how he sounds...take my word for it) with that he did what the gators and crocs do on the wild life shows when eating an antelope in one swallow....he did that flick of his head thing so that the vole/possum was not laying cross ways in his little mouth any longer, but now long ways.....then he swallowed it.....whole. no way was that dog gonna lick me....evarrrr again. everyone was so worried he was not going to be able to poop it out. ewww. gross, right? the loads of dryer sheets he steals seem to have made their way out, pistchio shells, and who knows what else... everyday as everyone came home from work and school i was asked the same question......so did mike poop it out yet? really? why do even my own peeps think i have any desire, or time, to follow the dog around the backyard to see if he has pooped out his playmate. really. once my last baby was fully potty trained i gave up having to look at anyone or thing's poop. about a week later we let mike have, play with and eat part of a mini pumpkin. steph, my oldest and only daughter suddenly freaks and started to take it away from him fearing he might get sick from it.....really....he licks his butt daily and eats critters....whole. i really doubt a mini pumpkin will do any more harm than his other activities do....sheesh. halloween came and went....steph and a co-worker of hers dressed up as thing 1 and thing 2 for work and my youngest was a cowboy. i am lucky i was even able to snap a quickie photo as steph was getting ready to drive max to his girlfriends house for some halloween fun......squuueeeeee i totally forgot to mention that max has a girlfriend, didn't i. she is cute, and seems mentally well adjusted and normal....thank you Jesus for that! Lord knows we have had our run of crazy girls between the two boys. my smallest baby at birth, only 9 pounds 7 ounces, it now the biggest. he is 6'2" at the moment. next week who knows since he is in the middle of the whole puberty thing. i finished my prototype art doll and am ready to finish up another to send to a swap friend. these are quickie photos. i am so in love with this.....and excited. i am thinking about making one to sell on the nest feathers and twine shop. this is a new wire wrapping thing i tried. i had to figure it out by looking at another artists online. i am hoping someday soon i can pick up a copy of the book that this technique is in. the back is up here....and the front down there..... last night i headed back downstairs to do some more studio purging and cleaning and realized i needed my storage tubs. the storage tubs are outside awaiting a rinse down with the hose. it was 30...40 something degrees and dark and windy. the hose down is gonna have to wait until this weekend when the temps warm up a bit, so darn it i just had to play a little while doing a little tidying. i took some of the skulls i had sculpted from polymer a few weeks ago.... i added some acrylic paint to the ones on the left and right. i was going for a found on the forest floor look. this afternoon i used a combo of alcohol inks, acrylics and stamps pads to give these skull their aged and forest floor found look. i think i like 'em. i still like them bone white as well. i think i will just let each project they will be used in dictate what i do to them. i also used utee and regular embossing powder and a stamp to do this to a wooden bead that is what the stamp looked like i was using to press in to the utee while it was still warm and workable to give the bead texture. i also added a vintage stamp to a wee bottle. i did not like the 'newness' of the cork so i aged it a bit with some ink. wahlahhh....now it is ready to be used in a future assemblage/collage piece. just one of the goodies i found while cleaning the studio....it is gonna be part of a necklace someday real soon... i have been driving myself looney looking for these and found them....also to be part of a necklace soon, and a few other projects. the photo stinks, i know. i just wanted to snap a quickie to play some show-n-tell of a couple of goodies i have been working on. i am loving working with the steel wire again. i did not realized how much i missed it. beads i have gathered for another necklace i am working on. the darned big beads with what i thought were big big holes in them won't take the wire for my original idea. seems the holes are much smaller in the middle. so i am rethinking the 'stringing' process for this piece. this is the focal for the necklace. a locket that holds a toe bone from a wolf, or was it a coyote, that was hit by a car and did not survive....according to the etsy seller. i am thinking of calling the piece the sacred bone. i have used steel that i hammered and wrapped it a bit with sari silk. i think that is about it. i am sure i will think of a gazillion and a half more things i wanted to say or show-n-tell as soon as i hit the publish post button. i am off to find something of the chocolate variety...wish me luck because i don't think we have anything. maybe there will still be that swig of pumpkin spice milk. i have missed you all. big squishy hugs and sloppy kisses to you. be back soon.