Face Painting

Several years ago when I moved to California to help Laura and Jeff with their party renal business Laura asked me if I would like to learn to do children's face painting. I said "NO... how can you expect me to paint faces when I can't even draw stick people?" ( I really can not draw, not anything...it ends up looking like a 5 year old did it!)
So she asked me to come along and "help" when she had a gig at a local Elks Club function. The were having an Easter party for the children and Laura was to do the face painting (so I thought). We get there, she gets out her face painting kit and her balloons, she does balloon twisting also.
When we got inside I asked her how she was going to do both balloon twisting and face painting? Her answer, "Mom...YOU are going to do the face painting". Ok..so now I'm on the spot...200 little kids in line and I've never painted a single face in my life!! Laura had a book with pictures of what she had painted and told me to just "look at the pictures and paint that". So that is what I TRIED to do...but to me they were all ugly when I finished painting them. But the odd thing was...the kids LOVED them! They didnt' care if it wasn't perfect, they just loved that they had something painted on their faces.
That was 7 years ago, and I've been painting faces ever since. I've gotten much better at it and actully enjoy it now. For the first year I did it just because Laura wanted me to, but after that I started to enjoy it.
When I began doing paper piecings and learning to shade and highlight it passed over into my face painting. I love it when the parents tell me how good I am, makes me feel like yes...I'm doing a good job. The best part is the smiles I get when I hold the mirror up for the kids to see what I've done! Even the grumpiest child will grin when they look at thier face, it's amazing.

I did a face painting gig yesterday at a park for a company function and took my camera along to snap a few pics.

Getting started...

Hold still please...lol I've learned to paint a moving canvas!

Add the glitter and there's that smile!

I paint more of these horses than I like to remember, it's a favorite amoung little girls.

Girls and Moms love the flower vines I do.

My very first dolphin! I was afraid to try to paint this one, but she told me "I don't care what it looks like"...so I gave it a try. I thought it turned out pretty good.

Bubba Buzz turns 3!

My youngest grandson turned 3 yesterday! I sure miss being there with him to help celebrate his special day. Ever since I got him the movie Toy Story 2 he has loved Buzz Lightyear. They had Toy Story 1, but he was afraid of the movie for some reason. When I was there last November I got him the 2nd movie and he wanted to watch it EVERY DAY, and we did! LOL Since his birthday is so close to Halloween I thought he would like to have a Buzz costume as his birthday present. I started looking months ago on eBay and was able to find one in excellent shape fairly cheap. I sent it to them last August with stict instructions that he not have it before his birthday. I'm guessing they gave it to him the morning before his party, since he is wearing in every picture they sent me of his party! LOL


My little Bubba Buzz (my nick name for him)

Blowing out the candles on
his Buzz Lightyear cake.

My daughter in law also sent me these pictures of the twins on their first visit to a pumpkin farm. Savannah is on the left, Suzanne on the right.


Suzanne & Savannah ....you'd never know they were twins they look soooo different. Suzanne favors my side of the family and Savanah favors the latino in her mom's family. I use to think that Suzanne looked like her grandma vicki...but now she reminds me so much of my son as a baby. They change from month to month...wonder who they will look like next month? LOL

The Woods

We live in the hills of Tennessee...Literally. We have about an acre behind the house that is mostly woods, lots of trees and little animals. I've seen opossum, skunks, squirrels and even some deer.
Last week I was able to get a picture of one of the deer, I believe it's the "mama". I've seen her before, with her three offspring. They are so cute to watch, but I have to watch from inside the house. As soon as I open the back door they bolt and run away.

Here's the pic I was able to get. I think she knows I'm there! ha ha


I snapped this one just a sec too late to catch the little ones with Mama. They ran up over the hill just as I raised the camera. I was taking pictures of my cat outside when I happened to turn around and there were all four deer, looking at me.

As you can see... the leaves were just starting to change. One week has made a big difference. The trees and shrubs are all so many beautiful colors now.
The air is crisp today and the temp is suppose to drop tonight! I love it...Fall is definately here.

Jeff, my son in law, told me hunting season starts soon. How anyone could kill such a beautiful animal as a deer is beyond me.

Wednesdays are for Shopping!

Every Wednesday Laura and I go shopping at the thrift stores. We have a couple of different ones we like. I found a new one a couple of weeks ago when I was doing a Face Painting gig out in Old Hickory. It's a Goodwill store and they have lots of very nice clothing.

Ever notice how some thirft stores smell? Musty... that's the only word I can come up with. The Goodwill we went to in Old Hickory doesn't have that smell... and neither do the clothes.

Laura goes to find bargins for ebay (Wednesday is $.99 day) and I go to look for clothes for me since I've lost weight and all my winter clothes are way too big for me. Last week she got a dress by LL Bean for .99 and she put it on ebay. It sold for $42.00!! Well that sold me on the idea.

So this week I was looking for name brands and for clothes for me. I found a great outfit for myself, cost me a whole $1.98. Black velour pants and jacket. I just love it and am tickled I got such a bargin!
Laura beat me to some of the better finds...lol She found several pairs of pants with the tags still on them. She also knows what books to look for and found some great deals on them too. So it was a good day of bargin hunting for both of us.

On the way home we both were "starving"...so we stopped at Taco Bell and got a taco to tide us over. Not exactly on my diet, but I've been fudging a bit here and there lateley.

To date I've lost exactly 51lbs. I still have that much and more to go to reach my goal weight of 140lbs. Right now I'm just trying to reach my goal of 199 lbs by my birthday. (Nov 17th) I have just a little over a month to loose 9 lbs. I really want to be able to say I'm "under 200" on my birthday.

1st Post...New Blog

Ok...so I had a nice little blog going. I got a new computer a month ago and errased all the files on the old one so I could send it to my daughter in CA. But... I forgot the user name and password to my blog! DUH...

So... here is my NEW blog.
A little about me. I'm almost 56 (in Nov) I have three kids, Laura, Bob and Stephanie. Bob and Stef live in CA, Laura lives in TN. Laura has 3 girls, Sarah 18, Becky 16 and Rachel 13.
Bob has 3 children, Austin 3, and twins Suzanne & Savanah almost 1. He also has a step daughter, Samantha 6.
Stef has 4 kids, Shawn 14, Melissa Sue 11, Ashley 10, and Tommy 9.
Add them all up and I have 11 grandchildren!

Untill about a year ago, I lived in CA (as did Laura) She and Jeff, her hubby, sold their business and we all moved here to TN. I have worked for them for the past 7 years and when they moved I decided to go where my job was.

Last April I saw and expierenced my first Tornado. It was something I hope I don't experience again. No amount of TV coverage can show the real devestation and sorrow people go through.....it's a horrible thing to see in person.

My day to day life is a bit boring at times, but I'm happy for the most part here. I live with Laura & Jeff, it's just easier for me. I suffer from anxiety attacks periodically and they can put me in the "dumps" for days. Living with them I seem to have fewer & less intense attacks. Sometimes I miss having my own place, but for the most part it works.