Blog Giveaway

Jennifer is giving away a wonderful pile of goodies, so make yummy art with!

It's a big one.....go check it out~!

Clarence Banks

I love and miss you.

I can't believe you're gone.

When we laid you to rest yesterday, there was a rainbow directly above you. It was the coolest thing. The way the clouds hid portions of it, it looked like the rainbow was upside down.

It was smiling down on you. Courtney and C.J. loved it and new it was a reminder of God's promises.

Grief

My husband lost one of his closest friends Friday night. It's a sad and awful weekend. He leaves behind a wife and five children. A family we vacation with every year. A family who's kids call each other cousins. A society short, one great man.

This picture sums up the silliness that graced us every day. Peace be with you Clarence.

And the news article:

Flint police officer recalled as tough but compassionate
by Bryn Mickle The Flint Journal
Friday August 14, 2009, 4:20 PM

FLINT, Michigan -- Clarence Banks saw himself as a big brother to the bullied.
The 23-year Flint Police Department veteran balanced a hard-nosed approach with a compassion for the people he was charged to protect.
"He stepped up to take care of people's problems," said Keith Speer, a Flint police officer who spent years as Banks' partner on the beat.
Banks, 47, died of a heart attack while off duty Thursday night.
The former U.S. Army drill sergeant was a longtime member of the department's honor guard and one of the city's first K-9 handlers, said Speer, president of the Flint police officers' union.
Banks credited his police dog Midnight with saving his family's lives in 1996 when the German Shepherd awoke him in the middle of the night and alerted him to a ruptured gas line.
The pair spent several years together searching for everything from missing children to robbery suspects before Midnight's death from lupus in 2002.
Speer said Banks also worked narcotics and street patrol but in recent months had been assigned to the city impound yard.
"You couldn't ask for a better backup," said Speer.
Flint Firefighter Rico Phillips recalled an incident when he called for help with a violent patient in the back of an ambulance.
"Clarence opened the door and immediately calmed the patient down," said Phillips."He had a certain way about him."
State police K-9 handler Troy Szukhent, who served in an Army Reserve Unit with Banks, said he had a reputation as a hard worker.
"He always had a good sense of humor," said Szukhent.
Flint Mayor Dayne Walling called Banks a "great officer who served the city for many years."
"He will definitely be missed around here," said Flint police Chief Alvern Lock.
Banks is survived by his wife and four children.
Funeral arrangements by Swartz Funeral Home were incomplete Friday afternoon.

New Music Find

Maybe I'm a little behind "the times".... I don't know, but I just discovered Matt Hires music and I love him~! Thought I would share one of his videos. Don't forget to pause the music player first and enjoy~!

Adventures & Mishaps

Wow~! Has it REALLY been since April that I've posted?

No~! I think someone got in there and changed the dates on all those posts! LOL

My hubby coached my sons summer baseball team, which is now over, and Football practice has began. Summer just seems to run away from me!

Every summer for the last five years, we and two other families, rent 3 cabins on "Bass Lake" and this year we were told the cabins were not being rented this year, and possibly being put up for sale. So~! We made different plans this year and just my hubby, myself, son and his friend headed "UP NORTH", just outside Mackinaw City. We all totally enjoyed it and just got home on Saturday. So how did our week go? We had lots of fun, and lots of mishaps, too!

We left on Saturday and arrived at Paradise Lake......



The cabins were really nice....they had Pergo floors, brand new appliances in the full kitchen, two "bedrooms", TV and fresh towels every day. Outside there is a grill, picnic table, shuffle board, basketball hoop, volleyball net, two row boats with life jackets and a third row boat with a motor that we could rent. The cabins are perfectly located in between, Mackinaw City, Petoskey, and Cheboygan.





We drove about 20 minutes into Cheboygan and did some grocery shopping, and let minute supplies we had forgotten about, and the boys spent the evening hours on the lake fishing.



Sunday, friends of ours were on their way home from visiting family members in Sault Ste Marie and stopped to hang out with us for about an hour. As they travel the area often due to their family members, and are familiar with it, we asked about things to do on "the other side of the bridge", in St. Ignace. We were curious about "The Mystery Spot!" Jennifer had said her daughter has been there quite a few times, and really enjoyed it. So considering our kids are about the same age, and none of us had ever been over the Mackinaw Bridge before, we would give it a shot!


Anyone who knows me, knows I cannot be in the drivers seat over a bridge without crying and panicking, so hubby did all the driving and we headed over the bridge, for St. Ignace. What a beautiful view~! Did you know the bridge actually sways 12 feet!? Yes, TWELVE FEET! Can you believe that?






Well.... the Mystery Spot, unfortunately....was a disappointment, although I think I think its appropriately named. It consisted of three rooms, where the "gravity goes wild". Everything is built on angles, etc....and is based on all optical illusions, and really doesn't deserve much more discussion on it. But it certainly left me with a Mystery of why we spent $40.00 for a family of four, to spend an 8 minute guided tour through three rooms.





But~! We did find the very best soft serve ice cream right next door! St. Ignace is a beautiful place. It's small, and quaint, and peaceful driving along the coast and watching the boats pass by. We were "home" in plenty of time to get some more fishing in. My son's friend is a fishing maniac! He's up at 5:30 AM....waiting for my hubby to wake up (and sometimes...WAKING him up..LOL) to go out fishing. I think if all we did was fish the entire week.....Joey would be perfectly happy.

Sunday evening, our daughter called and let us know our truck was stolen. :( It's actually our truck that we were "temporarily" lending to our daughter when she started struggling after her hours being cut at work, in hopes to help her out....and someone STEALS IT!!! grrr.


Monday, we drove into Petoskey. We took the boys go-karting.... (oh! and by the way... I kicked all three of their asses~!) Woo~Hoo!





We walked along the pier at the Marina.......





Of course we needed more ice cream, and the three boys graciously indulged me in a little shopping time. All of Petoskey is just gorgeous! I would LOVE to live there. Granted...the winters are hard, and quiet when the "tourism" isn't there, but I think I would be quite happy in front of a fireplace with a book, just looking out the window at the city's beauty!

ah............. I can dream, can't I?


Tuesday, we went to Mackinaw City for Thunder Falls Waterpark. My son is a little water baby~! We were fighting off and on weather, but despite some minor misty rain...it stayed pretty warm.



Alex...the water baby.....



Joey....the fisherman....



Wednesday..... The weather very average and threatened storms all day. The boys fished a little bit and when the harder rain threatened, we headed to Mackinaw City again and went to a movie. We saw The Proposal. I was surprised the boys agreed to it, but the really liked it, too. It was a cute movie, funny, and had a great message, too.

When we came out the the theatre, the sun was attempting to shine, so we walked around the area. Stopped and listened to a live bank playing the park. I went into the Island book store and bought a new book as I was almost done with mine. I bought, Love, Eat, Pray and can't wait to start it.


Thursday.... oh Thursday. We all headed out to the lake for some fishing. The boys in the boat with a motor on it, and my hubby and I in a row boat (hubby fishing, and me mainly just getting some sun and reading). The boys of course beat us at the getting to the "good spot" and have already begun fishing by the time we row out remotely close to them.

Unfortunately, to my horror, when Joey was casting over his shoulder.... he "stuck himself" with a fish hook, in the back of the head! It actually went through his baseball hat and into his scalp. We headed off to Cheboygan (about 25 min away) to the hospital. They were able to numb his head and remove the hook, and got out of it without any stitches. Joey handled it very well! I know he was scared, and he was with "his friends parents", but he got through it like a trooper!

On the way home from the hospital, Joey bought a "lucky hook" that attaches to the bill of a baseball hat and they had decided they wanted to go go-karting and fishing again. By night fall, Joey had caught 15 bass, 4 rock bass and Alex got his first "big one".... a 30" Pike~!





Friday: Ok, seriously, don't laugh. We head out on the lake again, the boys in the boat with the motor, and hubby in I in a row boat. I dropped the anchor, sat down....... in the front of the boat. My hubby, simultaneously reaches for the tackle box.... and....
OVER WE WENT~! We were in about 10-12 feet of water and it was scary!!! Keith went under the boat, looking for me, and I, was swimming around the outer edge of the boat looking for him! The boys only panicked for a moment, until they could get over to us and make sure we were ok, then the laughter broke out! Unfortunately, we lost the cabin key and a fishing pole to the bottom of the lake. My book, the tackle box, our shoes and glasses and other misc things floated and were recovered. Keith had his wallet and cell phone (mind you...BRAND NEW....only one month old cell phone with no insurance on it) in his pocket.

We dangled from the side of the boat, trying to bail water, while the boys tried to pull us into shallow water. Half way there, Joey jumped into the water logged boat to help bail, while Alex had to row all of us in, since it was too much weight for the small trolling motor.

LOL.....Good times.

The drying goods......


In between all the fishing and the mishaps, I enjoyed my quiet time taking in the sun, the sights and natures beauty! I did a lot of relaxing and reading..




Noticing that even in such dry and wasted areas....beauty and thriving life still exists....






I went stone and rock hunting with my son.....




.....and got a good chuckle from the bird pooping all over the boat. Not that he was actually pooping all over the boat.....



but rather that he was cheeky enough to sit next to the owl intended to scare him away. He's no dummy and he's enjoying the view and much as I was!




And lastly, we arrived back home on Saturday to find that a woman had seen our truck dropped off by what looked like to her..... a "staggering drunk" ..... and after it sat for 2 days, had decided something was wrong when the "drunk" never came back, found the registration in the glove box, and drove out ot our house to let us know where the truck was.

We are truly a blessed family~!

12 x 12 Wood Mixed Media

Taking Flight has been a great book for me. I've loved the challenges in it so far, and I've completed chapter 2. The challenge was a mixed media on wood. I choose a 12x12 piece. Ok, that's sort of a lie, I found some pieces of left over wood my hubby had thrown in the garage from a previous project he had worked on, and had my Dad cut it into 12x12 squares for me. Now I have a few more left to play with, too!

First I worked on the background. A little Canary Yellow... a little raw sienna... some burnt umber, and stamped some words on the background as well. I was actually really pleased with it. It's been a long time since I could say that~!





Then I used some bubble wrap, painted with Leaf green and "stamped" circles. I also used a cap from some 35mm film, dipped in white and stamped some more circles, highlighted with a charcoal pencil.

Now it was time to play with clay! I've never used polymer clay before, and it was a lot of fun! I had no idea what i was going to use, since I didn't have any of the character constructions Kelly Rae suggests in the book, so i pulled out my stamps and just started checking them all out....thinking.... I wanted to start with a small one, being the first time using the clay, so sort of warm myself up, I guess.

I love this philosophy.... "It is not the destination....it's the journey" and I added the "Go For It!" embellishment.

The idea behind the challenge in this chapter is about Letting go of our fears. This was a part of my reasoning for the Go For It embellishment, then I decided to use a tree for the main portion of the collage. I am firmly rooted where I am today, and have an abundance of love and blessings surrounding me. There is no reason I should have any fears in trying to accomplish anything at all!

Learn to Soar - Taking Flight

So, I started to work out of Kellie Rae Roberts book, Taking Flight with the ning group. Actually, I started a couple of weeks ago, with Chapter One, learning to Soar. What a great chapter! It really got me thinking, asking all the questions about buried dreams and unearthing them. Dreams we used to have, dream we gave up on, or maybe forgot about.



I started by taking one of my son's old hard-covered school books, front and back cover, and cutting them in 1/2, leaving me with four "boards". My problems....wait....my own insecurities...lol.... started in when I begin painting faces. I had a really hard time with the face on this one. I painted her eyes twice, then decided the whole face needed redone, started over again and this is where I stopped torturing myself.



We were given suggestions for the biding to use words like ART - WHISPERS - etc...

I decided to stick with the chapter theme, SOAR... since I have no idea where this is taking me and I will just sort of SOAR through the process.











Ok, so the eyes gave me a really hard time, that just means I will be better this time, right?

WRONG~!

The next girl I started on was waaayy off!!! The idea I had in my head was a wide open mouth. I wasn't sure why I was inclined this way, but the thought process evolved into her singing and maybe some sort of bird embellishments.
Oh my word.... the mouth was AWFUL! It was more like a big 'ole gaping hole! The "inside" of the mouth was painted black, and these tiny little lips surrounding this hole.. a bright red. She looked like she was screaming at the top of her lungs and yet had no tongue or teeth or uvula.

Ok, so I try to make the lips a little larger and the hole a little smaller. WRONG AGAIN~! This whole mouth was just not conducive of the entire face and her lips now looked like some sort of cartoon character with a bad saline injection. I think she was re-painted about six times. The constant rubbing and repainting and changing also took its toll on the background paper.
Anyway, she ended up like this. I decided to put an AC/DC T-shirt on her and make her a "rebel". I guess the journaling came from the original "screaming" girl, and my frustration. lol






My third girl.... just a sweet girl holding a flower. A little better, but boy do I have still have some practice to do. I hope my hips don't look like hers any time soon. I WILL be 40 this year. :(





And finally..... this girl. I think she's my favorite, but still not what I envision myself drawing.

I still have the back cover to finish and the journaling left, but overall, I actually enjoyed it. It's funny....thinking of all the tries, re-tries and frustration... how each girl evolved. I'll never be a prized artist, but I'm sure having a lot of fun~!

Paul Colman - I love this song~!

I've been working away on my Taking Flight projects and will post some pics soon. In the meantime: Ok, don't forget to go down to my music and his pause so you can listen to this.....

I absolutely love this song! I heard it once on the Smile FM, and haven't heard it since. I have to admit, I saw the video on Paulette Insall's blog, but when I heard him make the "police reference"(as most of you know.... my hubby is a an officer.......), I loved it even more!

I hope you like it, too!

I'm on a roll~!

In the past week/10 days I've got quite a few scrap-book pages done! Woo~Hoo~

As you can see by the journaling, I'm a tad bit behind. Yes, not only am I working on last year's pages, but I'm working on 2007~!

Some beautiful, lackadaisical, Summer Days...




A graduation party of a close friend's son......




Diggin' Dirt.....

and of course, bicycle's are an intricate part of summer!




A not so good day at the hospital, getting tubes in the ears.....





A big brother's love and some home~work.....





Big brother again, working hard to make good memories...
This one is still missing a picture of the "finished project", which will be added soon.






and what better way to finish off a summer than with the Renaissance Festival?









I've mentioned before, I'm working through Kellie Rae Roberts' book, Taking Flight, with a yahoo group, and tonight, I started working on painting a wood block. My first time painting on wood. So far, I totally love it! I went a little big, the book gave a suggestion size of and 8x8 block, and my hubby had some spare wood laying around the house and some were already cut into squares, so the size I'm working on is actually a 12x12 block.

Blank space!! Oh no! What will I do with it? I'm haven't bought the polymer clay yet. That will be a first for me, too, so I'm excited about this project. I'll post pictures next time.

Mail Day~!

What a great mail day! I participated in a couple of swaps on "swap-bot" for some handmade cards and what great cards I received! I got another two envelopes of a TON of stamped images. (all of which I'm sure I will use!)





I don't know about you guys, but I have yawned and yawned all day today. I think I need a day of recuperation from all that Easter ham!

He is Risen!

Happy Easter everyone!

I look forward to the day He comes again~!

and the most beautiufl one in the "peach" is my grand-daughter, Taryn~!