Please let College Football be over!!

Let me just start with I actually like football, pro football......Die hard Bronco fan sadly. I am not however interested in the 400 and 44 thousand college bowls that are currently streaming across our TV .... it's been like 7 days of this now .
My husband has been glued to the television set since these games started. Granted television officially sucks right now, there's not a new show in sight and our weather has been horrible, but he had the nerve to question my extended time on the computer!! Ha!
Apparently his 10 hours of back to back football watching is more esteemed than my 10 hours of blog reading! Foolish man....he has no idea about the things I have learned, the creations I've viewed or the dreams I have shared with my sisters in blog world. Aw well , I will continue to ignore his queries about how I spend my free time at least till this weekend , then I retire to my studio, with new sketches in hand and begin to start my new pieces for spring. At which time he will need to start the new tile flooring in the upstairs guest bathroom. Yay! Time to go my fav show Ghost Whisperer is on, even though it's a rerun !

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 !!