Well it's official this storm is the worst since 1968! For those of you who have lived in Oregon you already know that the snow stays mainly in the higher elevations , but this snow has delivered approximately 24" . Even the beaches have snow! For those living in the East and Mid west this is nothing but to Oregon this is a major event!Most of the city has been shut down and the kids have a 3 week vacation instead of 2. Today is our window of opportunity to run last minute errands before Christmas as another storm is lined up to hit us tonight.
We are loving all the snow, reminds me of Christmas in Colorado, it's been years since we've lived anywhere that has had a accumulation of snow like this. Although the downside is for the people attempting to leave town. The airport has been closed since the weekend , and the highways have been impassible too.
Hopefully stranded travelers will have the opportunity to leave today, the airport has reopened and the rodes are much better today. I pray everyone arrives safe and sound to their destinations!
The new pictures are our neighborhood, and the sky is exactly the color it shows in the pictures. I thought it would be fun for you all to see what we feel is a major snow storm!
Merry Christmas to all ! Susan

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Dec. 20th Snow Storm
Winter has finally hit Salem Oregon. Normally we have gray skies and rainy weather. on rare occasions a small snow storm will wander our way and leave an inch or two of snow that quickly melts by the next day. But this week something unusual happen. The Pineapple Express [that's warm moist air from Hawaii ] met fridge cold Arctic air from Canada and decided to dance together right over Oregon. We have snow, real snow, that has been piling up since Monday. This new storm has decided to stay awhile and Oregonians all over the state are sliding across rodes in entertaining fashion. Those intrepid souls that venture out after dire warnings of black ice,slick frozen roads, and the need for chains before getting out on the highways. Now I have dealt with snow having lived in Colorado up in the mountains near Pikes Peak, and I have seen lots of strange things. People abandoning their cars in the middle of the highway, people stalling their cars when driving up the pass, which of course causes everyone to then slip and slide in the most undesirable ways, but I have never seen people slide sideways up and down the rodes quite like we Oregonians do, and to add to the mayhem are our fearless news media standing in the streets to show us all how hazardous the rodes can be . As a vehicle slides pass them slamming into the curb or guard rail, the reports are always shocked ! Really?? Do you think by standing in the middle of the street there might be ,oh I don't know, maybe cars coming down a slick hill might have an issue with reporters in the street? We live in the hills in West Salem and it's beautifully snow covered, there's about 8 " on the ground now, and it's beginning to look alot like Christmas. Everyone has their Christmas lights on, kids are sleding, inside our house is dimmly lit by sparkling tree lights ,ribbons and my favorite Santa's. Sipping on deep chocolate cocoa and freshly baked cookies, the fireplace has a nice warm fire burning and all is right with the world! Merry Christmas to one and all. May God Bless this Nation and all who believe in Him! Susan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxqVYcdFD20

Dec. 20th Snow Storm

Winter has finally hit Salem Oregon. Normally we have gray skies and rainy weather. on rare occasions a small snow storm will wander our way and leave an inch or two of snow that quickly melts by the next day.
But this week something unusual happen. The Pineapple Express [that's warm moist air from Hawaii ] met fridge cold Arctic air from Canada and decided to dance together right over Oregon. We have snow, real snow, that has been piling up since Monday. This new storm has decided to stay awhile and Oregonians all over the state are sliding across rodes in entertaining fashion.
Those intrepid souls that venture out after dire warnings of black ice,slick frozen roads, and the need for chains before getting out on the highways. Now I have dealt with snow having lived in Colorado up in the mountains near Pikes Peak, and I have seen lots of strange things. People abandoning their cars in the middle of the highway, people stalling their cars when driving up the pass, which of course causes everyone to then slip and slide in the most undesirable ways, but I have never seen people slide sideways up and down the rodes quite like we Oregonians do, and to add to the mayhem are our fearless news media standing in the streets to show us all how hazardous the rodes can be . As a vehicle slides pass them slamming into the curb or guard rail, the reports are always shocked ! Really?? Do you think by standing in the middle of the street there might be ,oh I don't know, maybe cars coming down a slick hill might have an issue with reporters in the street?
We live in the hills in West Salem and it's beautifully snow covered, there's about 8 " on the ground now, and it's beginning to look alot like Christmas. Everyone has their Christmas lights on, kids are sleding, inside our house is dimmly lit by sparkling tree lights ,ribbons and my favorite Santa's. Sipping on deep chocolate cocoa and freshly baked cookies, the fireplace has a nice warm fire burning and all is right with the world!
Merry Christmas to one and all. May God Bless this Nation and all who believe in Him! Susan

Hans Zimmer Cry (Holiday soundtrack)

It's been a long time !

Okay let's catch up, I finished all of my Halloween projects and shipped them off to their new homes. yeah!
I was already to really concentrate on my favorite things, Santa's, snowmen, tiny decorated trees and ornaments, I carefully sketched,
planned and organized all of my projects fully focused on the task ahead. yea right! I tripped other one of my dogs and broke both of my wrists!!! yea! I am not sure which one of my small doggies was the culprit, both were sitting in their beds with wide eyes and looked really guilty as we hobbled off to the hospital. I have a new appreciation for my husband who did all the cooking,cleaning laundry, and dishes! My husband has never put a dish in the dishwasher,and here he is doing it all it been heaven!
I did manage to convince my doctor that I need as much of my hands exposed, so he allowed me to have my right fingers exposed to mid palm, however the left was broken in 2 places so that one got the whole cast treatment. As I sat in my studio, I decided to try painting a completed sculpted gourd, figuring that would be an easy project to do,I am in total denial at this point , after all I have my fingers exposed! I carefully squeezed the paint on to my foam plate, took about 2 minutes because I didn't have any strenght in my fingers because well my wrists were broken. I pushed on, I fought with my brush to get it into a workable position, dipped my brush in the large pool of paint, accidently tipped it over ON TO MY LAP!! Of course I couldn't grab it because my casts wouldn't let me reach around to pick it up. Yay! That was the high point of my first day back to work in my studio.
I'd like to report things did get better, I have been able to do some sculpting keeping my projects scaled down, still have trouble keeping hold of things but all in all not too bad.
My casts came off Thursday, I have to continue to wear splints for another month,but hey is all good! AND my husband contiues to cook,clean,and wash dishes! It's a Christmas Miracle! Life is good!
Happy Thanksgiving !!

Sunday Musings

Time continues to fly by, as I work on a hundred and one projects in my studio. I have dolls waiting for arms or clothes, sculptures that are waiting to be sanded, paint waiting to be applied and the online art lesson I purchased from Marilyn Radzat to start, as I sit here typing on my blog. Every minute I sit here typing is one less minute I have to finish Halloween pieces. But it's Sunday and I feel like procrastinating, I feel like baking instead....... or maybe searching EBay for tiny treasures. I could certainly use a few warm cookies to munch while I search for treasures!
Multi tasking at it's best! Maybe peanut butter cookies and a large glass of ice water haha you thought I was going to say milk but milk fills me up leaving less room for warm cookies so water it is besides I am trying to healthy!
It's football season, my team lost, my husband snores softly from the couch and I feel like a being lazy so off I go to bake some cookies, spend some money on EBay, pretend all is well , before the Monday craziness kicks into full swing. Today is mine to spend how I choose, I choose to ignore the gas crisis,the bailout and the endless parade of snippy commericals for candidates that all seem to be self serving liars. I choose a day for me and if my husband is nice I will share my cookies with him!

Spooky Times Ahead! Beware

The winds begin blow, leaves are being to blush hinting that change is just around the corner. Days are shorter, signaling the best of holidays lay just ahead. In my studio things have taken a spooky turn. Summer has left my studio for the darker colors of Halloween. Take a peek at my spooky endeavors, they will appearing at an EBay auction near you......S

Tires of Fire

Well the drama continues for Our Oregon Crusaders they have now blown a total of 5 !! tires. All on different vehicles caravaning to their next destination Chippewa Falls WI. They have a important performance tonight GO OC!! From there they travel to McKenzie TN. for another performance on August 1. Then to Henderson Tn. Aug.2 . August 3 Dayton Ohio performance August 5 Michigan In. Then the biggies the National competitions Bloomfield IN on the 6 8th and 9th.
I'm sure the rough beginning to their trip has tired everyone out but the kids have been working up to this moment for 7 months, they are ready, they are fighters, and most of all they are talented YOUNG musicians! Thank GOD there have been no accidents, and the OC adults have planned for every possible event.
I on the other hand have spent the last 2 days cleaning my studio, when it was originally set up I thought I knew how I wanted it but for several months now I have been feeling frustrated, the room wasn't working for me and didn't make sense. I am a p-i-g- when I work so if things don't have a permanent place I have a tendency to pile things up. I finally gave everything a place, I expect to make amazing things now that I can find my things. lol the true test tomorrow morning.

Fairy names

Your fairy is called Feather Saturnglow

She is a trouble maker.

She lives in high places where the clouds meet the earth.

She is only seen in the light of a full moon.

She wears pale blue like the sky. She has delicate pale pink wings like a cicada.

Get'>http://www.emmadavies.net/fairy/default.aspx">Get your free fairy name here!

And their off!

The kids are finally starting their tour! Few oops along the way, our cook trailer hasn't made it out off the state yet it broke down in Pendleton OR. So they rented a refrigerated Uhaul moved all the cold foodon to it and started off again. Then the van had a blow out arghhh! So our little band of Drum Corp members are trudging their way to Dubuque Iowa slightly behind schedule , but troubles side, the kids got to have McDonald's twice now. Since they haven't been allowed "junk" food I am sure they didn't mind too much. We have done all we can to send them on their way with 20 prepared frozen meals that may or may not be cooked since the cook trailer is about 1700 miles away from the Corp buses and vans!
I have been working on my Halloween pieces all week and finally see some progress. Today was get out of the studio day by going out to breakfast yeah! But then over to Spencer's Alley to work on my boothes. My hubby helper came too, which was awesome because he can reach those really high places ! I rewarded him [and me too] by getting Panda Express for dinner. Yum.

I have two really awesome ways to raise money for the Oregon Crusaders that doesn't cost anyone a dime. The first is Goodsearch.com & Igive.com.
If you would like to help us raise money please use these to websites the first one is a search engine that you log on to it will ask you to type in your charity hit the verify button and start searching like normal every search you make adds money to our cause. The other is IGIVE.com you log in ,set up the charity name, verify and then pick from hundreds of stores that participate including my fav's EBay, amazon, Sears etc. every dollar you spend with these stores will donate part of the sale to the charity you choose. please choose Oregon Crusaders Drum & Bugle Corp. oregoncrusaders.org

Well it's time to transform into my nighttime persona "the couch potato" It's been a long day! Is it bedtime yet?

Another creative Day.!

WooHoo! a really good day to create. I love it when things come together. Finished a huge gourd Santa and started on a small ornament sized seahorse. I have wanting to get this piece out of my head for a while now and today was the day. It's hard to wait for things to dry when a piece comes together so easily. That doesn't happen very often as many of you may know, hopefully it will be dry by the morning and I can start the sanding process.
My hubby and I were at Lowe's yesterday and I found the most amazing clematis . It's called the little duckling and it's just as cute as it sounds. I will try to add a picture tomorrow it's sort of a small bloom with thousands of petals. I love clematis and have several around the yard but nothing like this one. I should post some of my garden as well.
Want a new delicous recipe? Try this one :
Anniversary Chicken
2 tbl oil
6 chicken breast boneless/skinless
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese or cheddar Colby jack
3 stalks green onion chopped
3 ounces of bacon bits I just used 4 strips of regular bacon cooked
oven temp 350
in large skillet heat oil over med. heat add chicken breasts and saute 4 to 5 minutes on each side until lightly brown
place browned chicken breasts in baking dish / pan Brush with teriyaki sauce then spoon on ranch dressing. sprinkle with cheese green onions and bacon bits. bake for 25 to 35 min.
yum! we like stuffed baked potatoes so I cut chicken in to bite size pieces before adding all ingredients then coat the pieces as directions indicated. bake as directed bake your favorite potatoes , slice open add sour cream and this mixture and dinner is done!
This is one of our Drum Corp. recipes.

Here are some new pictures !

Been Gone a long time!

Okay it's now mid July I have been away so long that I forgot where my actually blog was! Yikes !
I guess it's time to catch up. Summer has finally come to Oregon. We went from the low 50's to over 100 in the span of a couple of days. Needless to say that caught us all off guard. But the sky is blue again, the flowers are gorgeous , and there are hundreds of Oregonians marching around in shorts daring to show off their blinding white legs and arms, out gardening ,planting and mowing their lawns.
Oh did I mention that I live in Hobbiton? We are the lovers of trees and all manner of flora and fawna. Marionberry bushes are growing at a frantic rate, and soon will deliver the most amazing berries ever. For those who are not familiar with these berries, they are a cross between a Blackberry and a Boysenberry. They grow wild here and should be fat, plump and beautiful blue black looking fruit, the berries should be full of sweet juice because of the massive amounts of rain we had this year. I can't wait to go hunt berries with my grandson Christian.
I have been working on my commission pieces for months now, along with volunteering for the Oregon Crusaders Drum & Bugle corp. My daughter and I are the cooks for the Corp. making 400 meals a day that's breakfast lunch and dinner plus snack.
We have one more week before the kids go on tour/ competition heading to Indiana for finals. If you are not familiar with DCI [ drum corp international] check out their website its way cool . For more information on the Oregon Crusaders Drum & Bugle Corp go to oregoncrusaders.org.
I can't say enough about the great experience it is for kids that love music and marching or that are into color guard. These kids are a dedicated group!
We spent a week up in Seaside Or. cooking and playing tourist for the 4Th of July, the weather was great, the water frigid, the fireworks amazing. This little coastal town was bustling with visitors, food and fun! The beaches here in Oregon are some of the most incredible you will ever see. Remember the movie Goonies? shot here in Oregon. The Goonies house is in Astoria, it's a private home but can be seen from the main street running through the town. Fun place to stay and investigate.
Well I am really tired so nighty nighty all!

Where did February go?

February was a crummy one! I had that mysterious bronchial flu going around. I HATE being sick so accordingly I take tons of vitamins. I immediately grabbed my Zicam and starting using it. My husband also was coming down with this thing. This is important to note because a week into it HE is doing great , I, on the other hand was sliding down hill so fast I was actually thinking about crawling up the stairs! 2 weeks later I am coughing and hacking around with a head that feel like it was going to fly off my neck and go rocketing around the room like a balloon does when you let it go.my husband checked my bottle of Zicam and it had expired 4 years ago !!! He couldn't have done that ,oh say ,a week or two ago. He likes the spray . I like the swabs. ahhhhhh screwed again! Anyhow 6 weeks later finally feeling like myself. Zicam really does work ...when it's not expired!

I finally am back to work . Here are a few of my recent pieces. Some of these pieces are up for on EBAY . Please check out AHAO on EBAY.

Our grandson Britt, who is 17 yr. He is a awesome kid, he has overcome pulmonary hypertension, learning disabilities and autism to carry a 3.8 gpa, he lettered in wrestling, now on varsity, received the coaches award in wrestling!
Took our 7 yr old to return in pop cans, yuck! what a sticky smelly mess! I wish we could just turn them into the state for them to use for homeless or schools . I hate throwing them away but i is so yucky. Mr. Pooey {7 yr. old } likes to do it and he will taking the $7.00 to contribute to his school drive for leukemia cure. We had to go to Baskin Robbins to help us get over the stinky smell! Yum hot fudge sundae!
We are back to the OC this weekend with our granddaughter , lots of cooking to do, and kids to feed. The kids are sounding great can't wait to see the whole show. Oregon Crusaders is always looking for donations to pursue additional instruments , food , uniforms etc. We are a non-profit group so donations are tax deductible. If you would like to find out more please visit Oregoncrusaders.org If you have musician in your family ages 15 to 20 yrs. live in the Washington , Idaho, Oregon area please contact our director for information we have openings for trumpets and contras.

New Beginning 2008

This past year just flew by! I have been missing in action from the ornament group I am thrilled to belong to. Now that things have calmed down I am happy to start creating for EBay again. Especially for AHAO the American Holiday Artist Ornament group. Each member is a true treasure and I am so honored to belong to this group of talented artists. I am currently working on our Valentine challenge ornament as well as a commissioned order and bringing my booth spaces at Spencer's Alley up to current holiday status. I refuse to bring home any of the left over Christmas things so have rented a special booth for clearance hopefully that will finally sell and I can use the new space for my OOAK items.
We the spent last weekend cooking for the Oregon Crusaders Drum & Bugle Corp. My daughter unwitting volunteered to oversee and organize the cooking staff last year ,which turned out to be us! Neither my daughter nor I have ever cooked for more than 20 people, but we hit the ground running and now are quite comfortable cooking for the 90 plus people that belong to the OC. If you have never heard of DCI you have to check out their website DCI.org .
Our granddaughter is in the OC she plays the mellophone sort of like the french horn , the corp relies heavily on volunteers. The kids attend weekend camps once a month to learn their music. These are called move ins . We all literally move into to a school from Friday night and leave around 5PM on Sunday . During that time the kids spent somewhere between 12 to thirteen hours on Saturday and 8 hours on Sunday learning their program for the DCI competitions in August. During the move ins they develop not only their musical talents but friendships ,teamwork , they are taught be to leaders, work hard and to watch out for each other. Their ages range from 15 to 20 , they age out at 21. In the meantime we the cook staff cook over 400 meals a day . The kids devour enormous jars of peanut butter and jelly which is sort of a backup stable. We serve balanced meals , for example Italian mac & cheese , salad, fruit , veggies with dip. The kids love everything we make, but then so does the staff ! I have never met a more polite group of kids in my life. We just love them all.
Please check out the OregonCrusaders.org. Dr Phil. is our executive director, posts pictures and information on that site. There is also a little clip of the kids playing the new music from just the first camp back in November. Anyone who is intersted in more information check out the website. We have kids from not only Oregon but Washington , Idaho,last year we had one from Japan. Our next camp is Feb. can't wait!