Christmas Card - Art

Christmas Card - 10.1 by ~JPDesignhome on deviantART

Christmas is coming! A new Christmas card by me for this 2010 holiday season.

Grape Ape and a look back at the 1970’s

Why am I thinking of the 70’s today? Maybe I miss the simple times. Maybe I need more oxygen to the brain. Do you remember where you were or what you were doing during the 70’s?

The Cartoons

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The Grape Ape was a completely mindless piece of entertainment. Back then, I loved him. Now, I think the theme song could possibly cause a brain hemorrhage.

Droopy!  A canine classic. He was the happiest dog around, right?

Fun wear from the 70’s!

This was one of my favorite Tees.

Don’t forget the shoes! 

Source:Microsoft

Platform shoes! The wearable weapons.

And the big bells!

Source: Microsoft

What about Bell Bottoms? Some were way out there!

Music! This is a TRIP!  Loving some 70’s sounds!

This post was inspired by a dented mind and the fact that I just don’t get the cartoons that my kids watch, the choices they make in the clothing department or the music they are always plugged into enjoy. And it’s ok.

I encourage their creative differences and force them to go shopping. When it comes to the ear buds we have developed a communication plan. The plan is sort of a combination of sign language, charades (airline traffic controller), and a little hand to head contact!  It works for us!

So what moves you today? What’s your flavor?

 

inthe70s.com: Slang from the day! If you’re hip you’ll check it out!

Battle of the Bulge

Gone Home - Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder





Battle of the Bulge (1944-45).  A great tribute!


More amazing photos and paintings can be found here.

Ice cream cakes are the sweetest!

Yeah! Cake! A birthday cake I made for our daughter. It was so very yummy! This recipe can be adapted to fit many dietary needs. Enjoy!

Easy as Pie Ice Cream Cake
Making an ice cream cake at home is very simple. These easy to follow directions will have you enjoying a cool and refreshing treat very soon!
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Happy September and Emma M. Nut Day!

September 1 - Today is Emma M. Nut Day (real name;couldn't have made it up. Poor child!) See for yourself. Emma was the first female telephone operator for the Bell Telephone Company. Before Nut made her first connection the lines were managed by teenage boys. We all know what has happened to our friendly and rude phone operators. -----Ring!!! What city?....What listing? I'm sorry I'm not sure I got that...What city? Automated operators and answering services DRIVE ME MAD!

September 11: Make Your Bed Day. Really! That's a relief, whew!! I'm not going to make another bed until that day. I want it to be a real special day at our house! Do they make a card for this day? Maybe a wall banner? Wait...I don't want to know.

September 30: National Mud Pack Day. Ahhh! This sounds like a nice treat. Now to decide - go to the spa or make your own. Hmm. I'd pick the spa. I do make my own facial mask occasionally. It's comes in a shell, is kept in the fridge and is always handy. A fresh egg. Beat the egg white, apply it to face and let it dry. With a warm towel wash face and enjoy! A source for make your own facials can be found here.

Note to self: Putting off making one particular bed (not calling anyone out) in this household could possibly yield the required amount of sand needed to make at least one beauty treatment! Smile, I love freebies!

September is a month to plan or tighten up plans for some. What will we do for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas? Christmas is in three months...yes, count them, WOW! Plan: Make lists.

You can countdown to Christmas here and email Santa! Fun!

Enjoy September while it last! Now, where did I put those stuffing recipes?

Peace!

A day trip to South of the Border

                            Hello Pedro

We recently visited the South of the Border (SOTB). The much advertised tourist stop located in Dillon, SC along I-95 offers services, food and entertainment. It is known as America’s favorite highway oasis and is home to Pedro. What started as a simple roadside stand selling alcohol to dry counties across the border continues to thrive with shops, cafes and more on both sides of Highway 301 North. This year they are celebrating 60 years of soothing weary drivers, entertaining bored kids and providing a temporary home with a motel and Pedro Land for campers (RV and tents).  Happy Anniversary SOTB!

The SOTB trip is just one of the day trips we took this summer. Visits to places that require one tank of gas and a picnic are one of our favorite treats. Those hokey small town festivals, crafts fairs and bazaars are other day trips I like and take drag the family along on! It’s good to spend time together as a family. I know this sounds really simple, but check your schedules and see how often that happens. I don’t think it’s often enough.

While at SOTB we roamed through the many gift shops checking out all of the border items. If you’re in need of a snazzy looking sombrero then this is the place for you. There are even matching ones for your pet! After shopping, we enjoyed some time in the arcade. We all like to play air hockey and Skee-ball and the competition gets heated at times. We then had a lovely lunch at The Sombrero Restaurant. The food was delicious with large portions and the beverages were very cool and refreshing as the temperature was close to 100 degrees on the day of our trip.

My only disappointment that day was that we did not get to ride the Sombrero Tower! This is one of the things I really like to do when we visit. There’s nothing like seeing the sun set over Pedro’s place. However, when we were ready to go up it was closed for maintenance! We needed to get back home..... so maybe with the next visit we will make it up to the top of the big hat! Oh, the hat shop was a real hoot! We had a ball trying on a lot of crazy head covers!

Now, some people that read this post and have also been to SOTB might say,”What?? Are you talking about the same old, run down, hokey place I know?” Yes, that would be one in the same! :) Over the years it did become somewhat run down, but now they are making changes and adding new stuff. Hopefully SOTB will make it another 60 years!

I have been stopping at the border since I was a little girl. We would be off on a family vacation to some NC mountain destination and as soon as we began to see the famous roadside signs we would get excited. Got to love Pedro’s signs! Begging cries would begin and soon either Daddy was aggravated enough or most likely...... uh..mm.....thirsty enough to stop. Of course, with a family of six jammed into a Volkswagen Bug it didn’t take much to get excited about being released from our tin can stretching our legs. So, the long and short of it is that I first saw the border as a little girl who was very bored, squished, hungry, rocking cause I had to pee and trapped somewhere near the floorboard. My heart was sold!

Next time we’ll check out the Reptile Lagoon and make it to the top of the big, red sombrero!

If you would like to visit South of the Border more information can be found here.

Ugly oil spill cake

                                                                   Let's eat cake!

I'm the luckiest, and at the same time the most cursed, girl for having married a man with a insatiable sweet tooth! My husband will say, "Did you know tomorrow is President's Day? Can we have cake?" or, "Did you know that five years ago we ate lunch for the first time at Fat Joe's. You were wearing your favorite color, green. Can we have cake?" So, you get the point any day is cake day in his world.

His latest request, and even this one threw me, was for an oil spill cake. A what? The husband says, "You know, a cake with oil spilling out and over the side." Sure, I reply.  I'm sure I've seen that one before! NOT! He has OD on news and information floating around on this greasy topic and that's reason enough to eat cake! Anyway, I attempted to please him, even if it was only with a box of cake mix and canned icing. He liked it. He (with the help of two greedy kids and yours truly) ate it. It's all gone.

                      Here is the photo documentation of the unfortunate but delectable OIL SPILL CAKE! 

I cut the center from the top layer, put the two layers together and iced the entire cake with canned chocolate icing.

Next, I used the center piece round taken from the top layer of the cake (cut into cubes) and a batch of homemade chocolate icing to fill in the hole and that helped to create a spill of gooey goodness.

The ugly oil spill cake.

Not always beautiful

This is the final result of the tree A project.

 Often when challenged by life we hang on to things that may not be best for us. Being unable to move forward or to make decisions hinders ones ability to function in life. As in our daily living it's best that we leave somethings unsaid and to let other things go!

Purple Leaf Smoke Tree hangs on

I bought it at a bargin for $4.00. I had my doubts that it would survive.

But with a little TLC this small tree is growing.

Sharing some plant love!

reading

Chesapeake: A Novel

Wondering what a day on the bay at the Steed Plantation would have been like. Bear grease for burns? What a distance we have come.

signature stamp

Work in progress. Making of a signature stamp.

when monkey mind meets paint

What may look like a jumbled mess to one may look like a ship with her sails in the wind to another. Life is sort of like that too. First impressions are often the only thing discovered by some about others. It's a shame we don't look closer and find the talented, funny, sad or lonely soul that hides within.

This is me playing around with color! I know many of you have colored something similar as a child. :) Well, this is just one of the ways I like to start a picture. Here, it just happens that I'm painting with my mouse! I also do this when using colored pencil and acrylics.

Here I start with a crazy paint picture! I flip it a bunch and then I find the treasure that's hidden there waiting for me to unlock it!





This is the what I found in the crazy paint picture. Can you see the vases or vessels?

                                Vessels Of Three

Vessel: a container (as a cask, bottle, kettle, cup, or bowl) for holding something .

2 Corinthians, 4:7 - But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Peace! JJ

Playing with cats - The wet ones!

                    Bath time for the felines.

This is Tiger.

Before bath. She's a happy cat!

After bath. Not so happy!

Much later. Recovered and dancing to the music!

A very happy Tiger!

This is Bus.

Before bath. She is always hungry!

After bath. Hmm..not hungry!

Clean and fed. A happy Bus!

on the road

A family. A car. A picnic. Road trip to...

                                 Georgia Guidestones

images source: Joy Peterson

 This huge granite structure is located in Elberton, Ga. in farm country! Elberton, the "Granite Capital Of The World", showcases a great example of stone works in this monument. More stimulating information on granite, it's use and history awaits at Elberton Granite Museum. Some of the oldest, largest and most amazing headstones can be found in Elberton County.The best headstone I saw was a replica of a tree.




View Larger Map

More on the guidestones can be found here
The Message of the Georgia Guidestones

just me and a tree...

Here's a peek at the latest progress of my TreeA art project. I know it may not stand out, but there has been change. I've worked on this for some time now. Little by little this tree is growing! Art is great therapy for what ails you!