Self Portrait

Blue Skies

TAKE ACTION!! SAY SOMETHING! DO SOMETHING RIGHT!

Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.
The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.

SIGN THIS PETITION

Fighting online piracy is important. The most effective way to shut down pirate websites is through targeted legislation that cuts off their funding. There’s no need to make American social networks, blogs and search engines censor the Internet or undermine the existing laws that have enabled the Web to thrive, creating millions of U.S. jobs.
Too much is at stake – please vote NO on PIPA and SOPA.


This will have a huge ripple effect for more then just the folks in the USA....it will slam all of us that have anything to do with using the internet be it a website, a blog, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and so on and so on......... do not stand by quietly and let this happen.

LEARN what SOPA and PIPA will do to the Internet and more!!!

SOPA and PIPA......not the answer to the problem!!!

Please learn about these bills and 

STOP THEM 

from being passed by Congress. 

Everything happening on the WWW

could drastically alter and stop.
Censorship is NEVER the answer

Feta Baked Chicken

You know when you are walking around the grocery store and on the shelf ,there are some times little recipe cards? This is one of those cards that I picked up years ago....and I'm talking years ago, as I was still married at the time. We made it all the time back then and have brought it back into my cooking rotation. It's super easy and beyond yummy.

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 tbsp lemon juice
1tsp dried oregano
1tbsp olive oil
4 skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 19oz can crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 clove garlic crushed
1/2 tsp cumin
3 cups cooked pasta

Mix feta cheese, lemon juice and oregano until blended. Set aside. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken pieces on both sides well and drain fat. Combine tomatoes,cornstarch,garlic and cumin. Stir into skillet and bring to boil. Spoon into shallow 9inch baking dish. Cover chicken pieces with feta mixture. Bake at 375 for about 25-30 minutes or no longer pink. Serve on top of cooked pasta of your choice.

Hard water stains and other icky stuff

We all know they are gross and we all know how difficult they can be to try and get rid of. Living at the farmhouse, we have hard water here and I am always scrubbing till my knuckles bleed it seems, trying to get things clean looking. Drives me crazy!

I thought I had tried everything possible that you could buy but over the last few weeks happened to try something different and it worked. Like worked amazingly!!!!  Made such a drastic difference that he even made a comment right away and he hardly notices anything.

I will forever swear by this stuff now......and finally have a white bathroom :)

Creatively Made Ecourse

I am not even 100% sure where to even begin telling you about this amazing ECourse.

I've taken a few different art related Ecourses before. Wanting to expand my way of expressing myself thru art. Have loved them and really liked the new accents they have brought to my work.
One of the ladies that I took a class thru, has a blog that I now follow. She happened to mention she was going to be taking this course. I clicked on the link she provided to read more about it.
A number of things caught my attention right away.

1. I had been to the blog before and really loved her work. Something very soft and subtle about her pieces. They had spoke to a different side of me then I was usually drawn towards. I instantly wanted to learn more from her

2. Santos dolls. They have been a secret obsession of mine for awhile now. It jumped right off the page at me. I may have actually let a little squeal out.

3.The price. I know it seems terrible to say but with having been laid off from my job, "extra" money really doesn't happen very easily and I have to really be sure something is going to be worth while to make the commitment on spending it. I had been looking at a number of courses that folks were talking about and just stunned by some of the prices. One was over $400! GULP

I sat down and crunched some numbers. Shifted a few things around and then signed right up for it. I learned about the class like 4 days before it was starting. I didn't have any time to really second guess my choice. I spent the next few days making a list of supplies that I most likel would be using and needing. Cleaned out a space and waited for the course to begin.

The course is 4 weeks long and full of videos and samples. There is a community group thru the course as well as a Facebook group that she started. I was asked to be friends by a number of the gals taking the course. We are learning so much.

Today was the beginning of our second week and I am blown away!!!!!!

Jeanne Oliver has somehow connected to me on a level that I didn't even know I was needing or missing in my life. She is teaching more then a few art lessons on how to create something. She is making me dig deep into my being and connect with what has been given to me as gifts. I'm sitting back with my laptop and scribbling notes galore in my journals with every sentence out of her mouth.
It never comes across preachy. She never says its her way or nothing. She just in her own special soft spoken way opens your eyes to something and you instantly feel a level of joy and happiness.

I'm looking at so many areas of my life at the moment with different eyes. I'm feeling creative.
I'm feeling brave enough to open up and share things that I've been hiding and keeping to myself.
She calls it "your gifts" and shows you how to think differently about them.

I look forward to sharing so much more with you over the next while.
If you have the chance, please go check out her blog and her class.
You will not be dissappointed. She will show you the best ways to hold your head high and open your heart to those around you.

Put another log on the fire please

I'm Canadian. I have lived thru many a cold winter season of brisk winds and piles of snow. Somehow though when making the plans to redo the old farmhouse that belonged to his parents, we forgot something. The furnace to heat the whole house is in the basement and the room we renovated as our livingroom.....is 2 flights of stairs away,on the top floor. I climb those stairs numerous times daily doing my best to keep this place warm. Since we are still right in the midst of renovations, some walls are torn down. Many are covered with nothing more then insulation and plastic. With each creaking step, up and down into the basement, I remind myself how beautiful this old farmhouse is going to end up looking when we finally get it finished

Laundry Pile

I swear it feels like I am doing laundry every day and yet the basket never stays empty. With him working outside doing cement work/construction work, there is always something that needs to be washed. I'm not really complaining per say. It's not like I'm dragging a basket of clothes down to the rivers edge and scrubbing with a rock. Just one day of not having to fight with the hose coming loose in the basement or the antique wooden rack falling down while covered with my wet clothes.....a gal can dream, right?

Only took me 40 years to start drinking Coffee

Only took me 40 years before I let coffee cross my lips.......well besides coffee crisp chocolate bars and coffee flavored ice cream. I now start my morning by drinking 2 cups and I actually love it.Always thought it smelled so bitter and I'd never like it. How wrong I was!
I take it with 2 sugar and some milk....how about you?

2012 becomes the year I add Videos!