Susan's Cinderella Story

Once there lived a young girl in Scotland. She lived a very simple life, and grew up facing many obstacles. Throughout her life, the girl harbored a secret dream that some day she would sing for the whole world, and for years she kept the dream inside of her. One day her chance came- and despite many who gave her a hard time , she kept going…. and sing before the world she did! And the world is glad she is sharing her beautiful voice, and will hopefully do so for years to come!

This special character is in tribute to Susan Boyle’s strong will to keep going even though many gave her a hard time for doing so. I created her in a black sequin dress, wine velvet cloak with fur trim, and a small silver crown upon her new stylish hair do. She stands a petite four and a half inches tall and is a perfect gift for the Susan Boyle fan- or as a little self reminder about what good things can happen when you keep trying!

Sometimes You're the Statue...

Have you ever heard, " Some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue"?

I guess I never thought about it, but yes, there are days that life is like that.
For some reason, those days seem to last all day, not just minutes!

Take last Wednesday. I got up, decided I would get grocery shopping done early for once. Went out to the van , and it wouldn't start. The battery was dead. Pooh! I decided to drive our other car to save waiting on charging the battery.

Drove off and look at dashboard and realize the gage says "empty". Stopped at gas station, filled it with some gas, drove off and realize that the speedometer isn't working, and in spite of filling with gas, gage still says empty.

I kept driving anyway and tried to guess for 20 miles how fast I was going by how many cornstalks I drove past within 10 seconds. (Not a great method, but I tried!)

Got groceries, came back put them away. Went to work on some things and noticed a lovely fragrance of soap in the air. "How nice, the house smells so fresh and clean, " I thought. Went to laundry room and found out a 2 gallon bottle of laundry detergent has fallen of the vibrating washing machine and the broken cap let the detergent spill out and cover the entire floor of that room...not fun to clean!

Finally, I went to the fridge and reached in to pick up a jar of Miracle Whip, one of my teens had not closed the lid and , yes- you guessed it, the lid came off and the contents of the jar hit the floor, all over my feet and clothes, and a large portion of the kitchen floor.

Well, I have to say, over all, I handled myself well...no crying, throwing of fits, or running away to Bermuda...I really did see the humor in it so I figured things would surely be better the next day- and they were.

So try to remember to keep things in perspective when you can, and laugh when those days happen. You only have a few thousand of them to go!

Susan Boyle's Interview

For those who may be interested, here is Susan's latest interview where she recieves the gift I made for her...I am so happy she got it, and seemed happily amused to get it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CcceeZhEhE






I look forward to her upcoming CD this fall!

What??

(Susan's New Look)

I have to say this week has been one full of surprises for me...I got a call from my mother in law this past Wednesday morning telling me that she had just seen my Susan Boyle miniature I had made in honor of Susan's outstanding accomplishments on a clip of the Today Show. I was shocked because I had no idea that was going to happen!

The full interview was on America's Got Talent that evening.,...and I was so happy that I got to see Meredith Viera give Susan the little miniature and that she looked happily amused by it. I love Susan Boyle, she is a lovely person and I cannot wait until her CD comes out, I will be first in line to get it if I can!

At any rate, I have enjoyed getting to watch Susan become an outstanding success- I just know she will do wonderfully in the months to come. I wish her all the best!!

Queen Mary of Scots

I haven't been on here for quite some time...shameful I reckon...but I guess like some bloggers, I have been busy with so many things, I forgot to post anything here!

Anyway, I got contacted the other day from a lady in the United Kingdom asking me if I could do a Queen Mary of Scots. Of course I could! Now the problem is which portrait did she want me to do it from? Well, I sent her three and she picked my favorite, the one in which Mary wears a red full dress encrusted with jewels and wears a hat tilted to one side with feathers on it..(My husband and I had a debate on that...he insisted that she had little puffy cotton balls on her hat in the portrait, but I insisted they were FEATHERS!-I disagreed and did what I wanted, which was to accent the hat with feathers, what else?

I completed her last night and sent her off across the ocean, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed that particular commission! I love to do something that proposes challenge...which may explain why I had four kids.....

It's Done!

Well, after 2 weeks of hard labor, hubby got the big doghouse done. He has never made one before, and I have to say, when I saw him building it in the garage, I wondered how we would EVER get it to the back yard. His solution was that all of us as a family- he, I, and the four teens we have- were going to use our mammoth strength to carry it back there. Umm, right...

Well, it didn't happen because after he finished it, he realized it was too heavy for even 6 people to carry between them. How did he do it? He and our strapping teen son rolled it back there a bit at time...go figure...I thought for sure it would fall apart, but I guess it was built way too strong and solid to do that.

Now, the dog is befuddled. He has this fabulous "mansion" and he isn't quite sure what to make of it. I don't think he realizes it is for him. I tried crawling in there and he came in for 3 seconds the first time...the second time he came to the door and looked in at me like I was a kook, then turned around and left. ( I guess I am a kook..but that's another story)....

Well, I will keep trying to convince him it is his. I sat in there today and it was so roomy that I pondered the personal use I could get out of the doghouse. It would be a good place to hide when the in-laws visit...or when I don't want to clean out the fridge... we'll see...

In the Doghouse...

We have a family mutt...he is a Humane Society special and we have had him for 8 years, since he was a pup. Buck is his name and he is part Husky and Terrier mix.

He is what you call an outdoor dog. He doesn't like staying indoors, especially during the winter- mostly because he has a fur on him so thick that you can't hardly bathe him. He knows what you mean when you say "snack", "squirrel", "kitty cat", and "go for a walk"....and he knows "sit", "stay", "lay down", "speak", "roll over", "high five", and "shake". If only I could train him to follow, "do laundry "...

My husband tries to pretend he isn't real fond of Buck...but I secretly think he is. Out of the blue a week ago, husband decided he is going to build Buck a new doghouse. The old one is a simple plastic thing he's had for years. My husband is a lot like Tim the Tool Man Taylor in Home Improvement...he does things in a BIG way.

He went to the hardware store and began off the cuff designing a dog house. This doghouse is going to be so big, I dare say husband and I could both fit in it together...not a bad idea if we need to escape from our four teens in the house...

It will have wood slatted boards covering on the outside, tiles on the roof, a built in dog house heater for the winter, a swinging door , and even a mini porch roof to insure the elements won't get in. I think when he gets it done, the neighbors are going to think my mother in law is moving in it because it almost looks like an in-law quarters...eeek!

When it is fully done, it will be stained nicely and will most likely look like a wooden cottage...I may even go in it occasionally to read a book in peace...who knows? Finished pictures to come when the finished product is outside and ready, so stay tuned! :)