Things that happened while I was 40-- (since I will be 41 in approximately a month)

This idea is totally stolen from Linda Woods and Karen Dinino’s blog, but why re-invent the wheel, right?? And anyway, I did want to make a list like this; I just got the push to do it after seeing it on their blog. And of course, there’s probably lots of other stuff that happened while I was 40, I just don’t remember it now, because I’m almost 41, and my memory’s not what it used to be. (it never was, though, so I can’t really blame it on my age…) Where the heck did 40 years old come from, anyway?? How did that happen?? (this is rhetorical, sort of-- it seems like just yesterday I was chasing lightning bugs in the backyard with the neighbor kids… when did we all grow up and become adults?)

Anyway, back to things that happened while I was 40:

We bought a house.

We fixed up the new house and moved into it- in July!! (we hired movers, thank goodness)

I lost my job (we all did; they closed our entire facility-okay, technically that was while I was 39, since my last day of work was 2 weeks before my birthday.)

We tried to rent out our first house- no luck.

We tried to work with the bank to modify our loan- no luck.

We went through foreclosure proceedings on the first house- then, the bank said they wanted to try and help us… a bit too late, then, isn’t it?!?

I got a new job after being unemployed for 9 months.

I visited my sister Jackie in Missouri (it was a fun time, although hot and humid… the dry heat thing isn’t just a myth, it really is true- I’m acclimated to the desert, now.)

We spent time in Illinois and Wisconsin to visit my parents and attend Tom's family reunion. (we drove straight through from AZ to IL- approximately 28 hours of driving!)

We spent approximately 3 hours in Santa Fe. (on the way to Illinois; I definitely want to go back there sometime!!)

I visited my other sister Judy in Wisconsin while we were there, which was also a fun time, hanging out and playing croquet. I miss spending time with her—she needs to come to visit me in AZ! (Jude, are you reading this??)

We drove back (straight through again!!) from Wisconsin to Arizona.

We drove to Las Vegas for Labor Day weekend—(drove there on Saturday, came home on Sunday.) A bit of a crazy plan, but after driving to and from WI, it didn’t seem so bad. Las Vegas was a huge sensory overload for me, but I'm glad we went.

I organized a garage sale to get rid of some of the extra knicknacks (including extra art suppies) around our house.

I purchased more art supplies (of course!) and knicknacks throughout the year to replace the ones I sold at the garage sale... how does that always happen?

I attended some very fun art journaling classes taught by Kelly Kilmer (one was last weekend, and I still need to take pics-- it was great: 2 whole days of cutting, pasting, and creative inspiration. But I digress...)

I had lots of fun, as always, attending our group's monthly Mixed Media art group meetings, and even led a couple of them (where I showed some of my favorite painting and stamping techniques, of course!).

I created an art piece (see it here) for the show Women for Women, which raised money for the charitable organization of the same name.

I suffered a stroke while attending the art opening of the show. (!! I did not realize I suffered a stroke till the CT scan days later confirmed it-- was I lucky, or what?!?)

I visited many doctors, specialists, and endured many tests to figure out what caused my stroke- the answer is: we don't have an answer- we don't know what caused my stroke.

I signed on for the 3-Day for the Cure, a 60-mile walk to raise money for breast cancer research.

Whenever I think "nothing ever happens to me," I need to sit down and make a list like this again, I think.

felt finger puppets

my sewing machine got sidetracked for a couple days, while I pulled out the box of felt... I have wanted to make felt finger puppets for quite a while, now (don't ask why; there isn't any reason other than they're darn stinkin' cute!) I have a stack of other patterns drawn, too- I just have to buy some additional colors of felt. The bottom left one is supposed to be a brown cow, in case you can't tell-- tell me the truth, if you don't think so-- I'm still not sure about the face, myself. but the chicken and sunflower worked great, I think! The pile of patterns I have so far include a rocket, a robot and a (cute) alien monster; a frog, a butterfly, and a ladybug; a pig, a rabbit, a kitty, a bat, a jack-o-lantern.; a Gambol's quail, a saguaro cactus... so what do I do, since that adds up to more than ten fingers??

('ll be sure to show you more cuteness when I get them completed!)

crafting crisis!

okay, so I wimped out on the Crafting marathon... I don't even remember what I was doing that weekend, but it wasn't crafting. Today, though, I have a crafting crisis. (My crisis is that I have to pick all this up before Tom gets back from his business trip tomorrow night... haha!!) I decided to see if my sewing machine still worked, and hauled it out of its cabinet a couple days ago...when I mentioned the sewing machine, Tom said, "didn't we sell that ages ago??" I guess that means it's long past due for some use, hmmm? Pandora can find a comfortable place anywhere... but why does it always have to be in the middle of my stuff?!?

the hallway between the kitchen and the laundry room is doubling as my ironing station.

I couldn't find just the right shade of green fabric, and then I opened up the pantry where I saw the set of green napkins sitting on the shelf-- unfortunately (for the napkin, anyway!) it was the perfect shade of green. (there's still three left to use-- as napkins, I mean-- or maybe for something else.) This photo of the kitchen island shows you that I follow the law of crafting physics which says "crafting supplies expand to take up all the space available."

the kitchen table: Tom says that before he left on his business trip I promised I would clean this off by the time he gets home-- I don't remember saying that at all! I probably did, though... unfortunately, my crafting inspiration didn't hit till the last possible minute-...which means my crafting has to be kicked into high gear so I can follow through on my promise by tomorrow evening.

Butters doesn't want to be left out, either... she had quite a fun time playing with all the dangly fabric threads that were flying everywhere! This photo is a sampling of proof that my sewing machine does, indeed, work! The photo colors are terrible, but the mini-quilt on the left is really a nice shade of pink. Upper right is an ATC base, and the lower-right thingamabob will hopefully turn into a sewn and embellished necklace pendant. (notice that I also sewed a couple pieces of paper into them!! Probably not the greatest for the sewing machine needle, but I wanted to sew paper, and now I can say that I have. And this won't be the last time, either-- it was pretty fun!)

This is another mini-quilt base that will eventually end up embellished with tons more paper, buttons, stitching, beads, and whatever other fun bits and pieces I can find to go with it. I saw these mini collage-quilts in the latest issue of Stampington Art Quilts magazine... (I also saw the sewn pendant in the same magazine issue). Now that I have the major machine sewing done, I need to get out my buttons, embroidery floss, ribbon, and all the cigar boxes of interesting "stuff" in my craft studio. I better pick up the kitchen table first, though. (...but before that, I think I'll sew a couple more pieces of fabric together...)

Lee, at the Do Stuff! leethal blog is talking about having a 24 hour Make-a-Long! event this Saturday... I'm not sure I'll be able to stay up for 24 hours (especially since I'll be getting up early to go to class and won't be starting my 24 hour countdown till the afternoon) but I'm definitely going to participate in some way. This will be a great way to work on some not-so-usual projects, and maybe get a few things done, even!! (that would be wonderful!) Of course, one of the things I'll have to work on beforehand is some cleaning in my art room, but that's always a given.