Dead Pumpkins, Ruffles and Ravens

Good Morning All!
Hope you have been well and productive!

Well, here we are again. It's been 2 weeks. Man, time just flies by!
It's been a good two weeks though. Been busy with my art, my dolls, my costume and of course my Halloween goodies. :)

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about DragonCon. She had to remind me that it was less than four weeks away. FOUR WEEKS! I swear it was just yesterday that I had months...
So of course, panic set in when I realized I was no where near ready. However, I have managed to get the majority of pieces pulled together. I've been working on my hat. I have the brim and the crown cut, stamped and ready to be sewn together. The crown is currently drying. I have to wait until it's dry so it will hold the shape while I sew it together. Then it can be dyed and adorned. I have the final idea for the vest/jerkin firmly in mind now. I just need to get it cut out and put together. Sometime in the next week. So hopefully I will have some photos to show you soon(ish). Here's some more bits and pieces......

this wig - it's 100cm long!

this shirt - only in black

Sally's last trip to the doctor went well. She's seems to be healing fine. She has been trying to use her foot more and has had a great deal of success. She can now get a shoe on and walk without the crutches. Her foot still swells up by the end of the day though. Depending on how much she walks on it. She's dying to go back to work....she is bored out of her mind. I won't let her drive yet, I think the 'pressure' that you have to use for braking would hurt her. Later this week we're gonna try driving around our subdivision. Let her get used to driving again. At least it's not hurting anymore. That's a good sign!

Let's see....week before last I had a crazy experience at work. I was relocating an old printer. It had to be moved from one building over to my work area so that it could be safely disposed of. Well, half way across the parking lot, unknown to me, it decided it should 'pee' all over me. By the time I got to my office and put it down, I was covered in printer ink. Yes, black ink all down the front of my jeans and all over my shoes. Needless to say I was not a happy camper. Now of course my coworkers thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen. What a mess this thing made. It was all over the sidewalk, the reception area and the hallway. Wouldn't you know that I couldn't find a mop to save my life! It took me 20 minutes to find one. All I could think about was 'someone is going to walk this all over the place'. But I got it cleaned up before anyone could spread it around. Now my jeans and shoes, well, that's a whole different story. They are both shot!

attack of the printer!

the mess that was me!

Last weekend was Sally's birthday. We had some people over and my daughter made dinner and a cake. It turned out really nicely and Sally had a great time. I think she was just happy to have company. :)  

BC & P Update:
Sad news on the broom corn and pumpkin front....the heat and lack of rain has all but killed them off. :(
I have a few stems poking up from the pumpkins and the broom corn looks like dried up weeds. I'm really bummed cause there's no time to start another batch. It really makes me crazy to spend all the time (and money) trying to get these to grow and not get anything out of it. BUMMER!!!

what's left of my pumpkins and broomcorn

Yesterday we went to visit some friends that we haven't seen in 5 1/2 years. I can't believe it's been that long. They live about an hour and twenty minutes away. We talk through Facebook and the phone but haven't gotten together in forever! It was great seeing them again. They are the type of friends that no matter how long you've been separated you just pick up where you left off. It was like 5 years never passed! We always have a great time visiting Yvonne and Eddie! We went to the Woodstock Antique Market while we were there, great place. They have some wonderful things throughout the store. Not your typical junk that most places have. Sally found some old, heavy spoons that we are going to use to make plant hangers out of. I found a couple of clear glass doorknobs that I'm going to use to make the head of a walking stick. Can't wait to see how it turns out. There's another surprise but it has to wait until my daughter gets back (don't want to spoil it in case she sees this before she gets home). Afterwards Eddie made dinner. OMG! He made Pico de Gallo and Black bean dip, with jalapenos and mexican cheese to start with. It was so good! Then he made Chicken Quesadilla's. Man, he can cook! Sally kept trying to talk him into opening a restaurant. The food was fabulous - you know I ate wwwaaaaayyyyyyy too much. Fortunately this is a once in a while thing - or I'd weigh 800 pounds. :)  I am really glad we got to see them both though!!

I've been working on a new piece in between all the other projects I have going as well. It popped into my head and I just had to get it out. It's a new painting. A vision of Huginn and Munnin. They are Odin's ravens. One is thought and one is memory. They would travel the world and then report all they had seen back to Odin. Odin's biggest fear was that they would never return. I guess that's something we all worry about at one point or another, don't you think? Here's a sneak peak....it's not quite done so I don't want to spoil it.

SNEAK PEAK - I see you!

My carefully laid plans to not start on the doll Moxie kinda fell through. They never stood a chance - but then I think we all knew that as soon as it left my mouth (or my fingers since I actually typed it) LOL. I did some testing with my crackle. Who knew this stuff was such a pain? Why didn't anyone tell me this? I finally got through it and got the results I wanted. At first I couldn't get the crackle medium to do anything I wanted so I tried a different method....watered down glue. I never knew about 'cracking' things this way. It worked fairly well but I think it would be more suited to larger things, not small dolls.

testing the crackle medium and glue

one thing i did discover is that you MUST seal the

undercoat or it doesn't crack

Moxie - the undercoat

Moxie - cracked and waiting for more...

More? Uuuummm, let's see....

Last weekend we went to The Mill and they had a Comedy Special instead of a concert. It was pretty good. I think they had their comedians in the wrong order though. The first guy was on for about 20 minutes or so. He was freaking hilarious. The second guy was a waste of time. He wasn't funny at all. The last guy was 'the headliner' and he was ok but he came across as 'full of himself'. I think they should have let the opener be the closer. He introduced the other two as well. I think they should stick with the music at The Mill. Last night they had a fairly well known blue-grass band playing but we were visiting with friends so I have no review of that show. :)

What else? hhhhmmmmmm.....

Oh, I know! I ordered some new music for Halloween! I got a compilation from Midnight Syndicate - they do spooky ambient background music! And I got Kristen Lawrence's new album! She's amazing. I used her music last year and the year before for my Halloween. She's an organist and she creates music for Halloween that isn't your run of the mill stuff. You should give her a listen - you're sure to love it!! Here's a link to the video of the "The Raven" - her newest music.

My son and his wife are expecting! Again! This will make four children. They found out this past week that it's a boy. That makes 3 boys and a girl. Maybe I need to sit down and have the 'birds and bees' talk with him...again. LOL!

Well, I do believe that's all for this post. I hope you all have a fantastic week!

til next time....

Be Good, Be Safe, Be Happy!!

TTFN

Halloween's a-comin! Really freakin' fast!!