Oh Luvs, guess I didn't come on over last night. One of our friends had come down with the flu so we took dinner over to them. Other than that I cleaned and painted for a change.

Had a busy day at work which is great. Our helper had ask if she could have the day off to spend with family so we said sure. It's always busy when your short handed.LOL

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Our weather was nicer than it's been in months. I spent alittle time walking around the yard in the sunshine.

Punk

Hi! Happy Mardi Gras Day!!

We had a nice long Valentines weekend. DH and I went out on Friday night. Had a gift certificate to a new Mexican place downtown that we planned to use, but we called on the way and they said they were not open due to water pipes breaking...soooo....we ended up going to our standby favorite...Famous Daves BBQ. ha DH gave me the sweetest card. He went to a photo place and had the card made from a photo of us together, then wrote a beautiful poem for me which he hasn't done since we were dating. It was really nice.
Then Saturday after he got off work, I had made steaks, potato salad and veggies and salad for him and the kids.Then I made chocolate dipped strawberries for our dessert and we watched Journey to the Center of the Earth. We had a fun night.
Sunday, after church we just hung out together. The kids were off Monday, but DH had to work so I did a little shopping that morning and DS had a friend over until late last night. I ended up not going with DH to our finance class. We have all the classes on DVD so I didn't miss anything except meeting with the mentors afterward.

I've been paying bills and going thru my grandmothers recipes so far today. Found some good ones I want to try. Not much else. Didn't sleep well so I'm draggin booty today. I've been painting along on my project but it's coming slowly. It's not turning out as well as I would have liked. Guess that's what happens when you are out of practice. I'll try to have it finished up in a few days to share.
Talk to ya'll soon. ~Anj

Just dropped in for a second......caught a viral ear infection and feel like I have been doing a merry -go-round and Ferris wheel at the same time. Went to the DR., yesterday and he gave me some motion sickness patches to use to help with the motion, but can do nothing about the infection. The motion is better but still can't watch TV and this is killing me.......so bye for now!

Belle

Hi Everyone, Sorry I haven't made it back here until now.

Belle, so sorry you have been feeling poorly. Hope it clears up soon. I asked some questions over on your gallery post, but you can disregard them since you answered them here. Your body must be telling you to rest or something--sometimes it goes like that, just one thing after the other! Take care.

Punk, glad you had a bit of time to paint again. It is so good that your business is doing so well--and that the new helper is working out too!

Anj, so glad you and DH got to have some "personal" Valentine times together. I'm sure that is sort of hard to come by with the young ones and their activities.

Here's my latest movie review. We debated between the Valentine Day movie and the new Wolfman movie. DH decided we'd see Wolfman now and wait for the other one to come out on video. Wolfman had really good special effects as you might expect, and I always enjoy Anthony Hopkins--but this pretty much was the same old story we've heard many times before, silver bullets and all! LOL I did love the setting and the mansion and the horse drawn carriages.

I probably shouldn't tell you that we've been in the 80's the last couple of days! It's been wonderful, and I managed to get a bit more work done in the yard while it was so nice. Hear we are getting more rain by the weekend, so that will be good too.

A friend invited me to join her and a couple other friends for some TS hopping yesterday. I joined them in the afternoon when they got to this area and hit a couple of with them. I got so excited because I found a few painting books at both places--but they are not that great--maybe a project or two that I liked in each one. These may be some that I can soon list on the exchange in case they appeal to the rest of you. ;o) They were only 39 cents each so worth it just for the browsing pleasure! ;o) Punk, I also found a neat leaf dish with acorns on it--you know my "love" of acorns. It's posted over on Holidays if you want to see.

Guess it's time to pull out some Spring designs and get some things made for Spring and Easter. Can't wait to see your decorations, so please share any you've made--past or present, okay?

TTYL,

Luvs

Anj, we eat at FD several times a year. It's always good food. Awe, sounds like DH is still pretty romantic. Wonderful that he would go and get a card made out of a picture of the two of you. Love hearing about you and the family.

Luvs, did little GD enjoy her gifts from you? Our DGD was in big trouble. She wanted a backpack on wheels and after they got home she said she didn't like it. It was for a baby.

So after several hours, her parents took her back and got a different one. Later she told them she didn't like that one either. DD said she wanted to hurt her. I reassured her it would only get worse.LOL I reminded her of when I stopped buying her and DB something every time we went shopping. Raising children is not easy and I love to raz her about it. DGD is generally so shy so when she's vocal, it's hard for DD to accept. DD is a pretty tough mom so I'm sure this won't happen again very soon.

Belle, your story only sounds fun if we were heading to the fair and you felt good. I've heard of others getting a VEI and it's not a good thing.

When will you be able to watch TV again?

Punk

Not sure this is good news but we may be opening more businesses so I'm sure that will end my painting and tablescaping career here. Should know in a couple of months. Mean while lots of meetings and prep.

Punk

Hi Punk, always good to hear from you. I don't know how you can possibly do more--you are already such a busy lady--but I'm so glad your business is doing so well. You keep going Gal, you're sure doing your part to keep this economy going!

I could totally relate to your story about your little GD. Mine is pretty adamant about what she likes and what she doesn't too. Lots of weekends, I will have a craft or activity planned and she totally vetos it for what she would rather do! Certainly has a mind of her own--but we want them to be independent, right? LOL

I'm glad Anj was able to help our new poster. We sure need more members on this forum in order to keep it active. Hard to believe there are so few people painting anymore. Or maybe most would just rather have their own blogs. I know allot of people are doing more with scrapbooking papers and vinyl images and letters too. In fact, I'm wanting to try some of that too. Been looking at the Cricut machine thinking I might want one--but would I use it enough to be worth the expense? Any of you have one? Tell me what you do with it please?

I have several patterns I'd like to paint, but it's hard to find the right sized surface. And many times I need to resize the pattern for it to fit. By the time I struggle with all of that, the mood to paint has passed or I get busy with something else!

We are having some drizzle this morning and supposed to get rain tonight. It was nice having a week of 80 degree days, but we need the rains too.

Hope all of you have a great day.

Luvs

Luvs...that's exactly what happened with the project I'm working on. Got ready to paint and the pattern didn't fit! Soooo....instead of resizing I just decided to eyeball it and draw it out myself. Big mistake. ha You'll see when I'm done with it. I'm painting on a bucket so I always have the other side to do it "right" on. ha

Punk!! We don't want to lose you! I guess you better say no to the other business. ha Really...good luck with whatever ya'll decide to do.

Belle~ sure hope you are feeling better!

I'll just tell ya'll a quick story about my little 5 yr old and then I gotta vamoose. We were getting ready to go somewhere and my DS yells shotgun. 5 yr old immediately yells...machine gun!! ha Thinking maybe too many video games! ha

Sure hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We have rain/snow on and off so it's pretty dreary here. May be going over to my friends house tomorrow to help her paint her DD's room. Cya soon. ~Anj

Hi All, I will be here as much as possible but I know it's going to be crazy when the time comes. I'm going to try to get caught up on my training again. I've been a slacker on that and I know better.

You gotta love what kids say. DGD decided she loves her backpack so thats good. I believe they keep us younger so no such thing as spending to much time with them. DGD came down today so we got to play today.

I can't remember the last time I enlarged or shrinked a pattern to fit a project. I use to but any more I'm lucky to paint anything.LOL

Anj, thanks again for helping Joan through her posting issues. Have you ever thought of being a teacher? I love to teach others what I know. It's so rewarding and one never regrets helping others.

I'm going to head over to the Holiday forum and see what's new tonight. Take care and keep painting.

Punk

Believe it or not, but I've been busy in the craft room. Painted a design on a little box I had laying around. Just need to put some speckles on it and seal it then I'll post a picture. I've also been playing around with some wood blocks I cut out and base coated, then Mod Podged some scrapbooking paper on them. I plan to paint some words on them next.

I've asked for a Cricut Create for my birthday, so then I'll be able to just cut out letters for things like this. I'm hoping I'll find lots of things to use it for to justify the cost of it!

We got some nice rains and then the sun popped out today. Not very warm, a jacket feels good. I put some new soil and fertilizer in my rose planters out front. The roses I pruned back already have lots of new growth on them.

Not much else to chat about--just waiting for GD to come over and then she will keep me busy for the rest of the day! ;o)

I agree, Anj is a good teacher--very patient and explains things simply and clearly. I'm sure she puts those skills to good use everyday since she's a Mom to four younguns. ;o)

Have a great Sunday.

Luvs