Some interesting things around here

Thy sky has been amazing between rains.

I love fall, the light changes here. It is very subtle to most people. Even the ones that live here.

I see the small changes that are this area’s signs of season changing.

This to me is a perfect southern California fall sky. It sparkles with clean.

We have even had rain and are expecting more this week and colder weather this year.

I also had a cactus bloom over the last couple of weeks, it is probably confused.

It looks almost female, doesn’t it? It is the cactus goddess.

And these are just because I love the way these pics turned out.

A gaggle of Greenmen Brooches.

Have a great week my friends, get to work on your Christmas presents, now, if you haven’t already.

Be thankful for everything.

Heard this on one of Oprah’s shows.

Thought for the day??

“Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could be any different”

Winner of the buttons from the African Trade bead giveaway!

Norma’s Clay

Is the winner of the buttons from giveaway 9c the fourth giveaway http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/04/african-trade-beads-part-9c-fourth.html. Thank you for the great advice about my Grand daughter. Yes, I knew it was a stage and we found out she is cutting her 2 year old molars, all at the same time, I would be crabby too. I was going through a stage too! LOL!

Thank you Norma!

CONGRATULATIONS!! Sorry didn’t mean to yell, I just get so excited. ;-D

I hope you all are having a wonderful, magical, and prosperous week. Are you remembering to breathe?

The week is almost over and the weekend is almost here.

Are you having good weather, have you been to the lake or beach yet? Are the birds in your neighborhood singing up a storm? Ours are crazy, the crows are hap hap happy! I got in the middle of a hummingbird territorial dispute this week and I was standing on the ground. They were so busy protecting their space they didn’t realise I was standing there I guess. Sounded like dive bombers around my head and they were moving so fast I didn’t know what was going on.

I am awaiting the arrival of the swallows. Messy but happy, darlings of the sky.

The gophers and squirrels and I have resumed our yearly fight over my garden if that is what I could call it. I plant things and they eat them, sometimes even before they sprout. I am just planting for the local rodents, I guess. It is very frustrating, but I do get a little exercise.

I am glad to be out there with them finally though. They have built runways into the garden from underground so they can make a fast getaway. I plug the holes with huge rocks and they hide the holes behind things. I only notice when there is huge mounds of dirt displaced.

Madi and I are growing a-matoes. She can not say the “t” yet. The girl loves them and will eat a whole one by herself. I can hardly wait to show her fresh ones right off the bush. I planted them in a bucket the first time and came back out 1/2 hour later and the seeds were gone, so I covered it with metal screen and you can see where they walked all over the top and tried to lift up the sides, LOL!!

They haven’t got in so far. Today is a new day though, I haven’t checked yet. We have small seedlings and Madi and I check them everyday. Tomatoes do really well here and the last time I grew them I had tons.

I might even attempt to can them this year, there is absolutely nothing like a home grown tomato, I probably shouldn’t count my tomatoes before they bloom though.

Have a great rest of the week you all and surprise someone with your smile and your light every chance you get.

You just never know how you could brighten some one’s day. 

Show them your stuff, baby!

The other blogger and pressie from the One world one heart event

OK. Last, but in no way least, is the bead I won from Pam Brisse from The Blue Between. or www.bluebetween.com

I adore this little guy. A sweet birdie glass bead. The hole runs vertically through the bead so this is going to make a wonderful focal bead.

he was wrapped sweetly in tissue, tied with a bow, and came with a Pam card, saying “Happy OWOH”.

Pam has a blog too you can go here or here http://bluebetween.blogspot.com/

Pam talks about her beads and jewelry, her gluten free life (I love this part), and her family.

A great blog, she is funny and the look of the blog is bright and breezy like the beach on a just right sunny afternoon.

I am really enjoying the recipes she is posting. Going to go back there again and again.

I think the gluten free Lemon Bars are calling my name, OUT LOUD!

She likes Udi’s pizza crusts, they are the best I have ever tasted so far for gluten free. It is not gluten laden thick and fluffy crust like Bruno’s in San Marcos, California, but it is good, especially when you are professed pizza-a-holic on a gluten free diet.

If you live down my way, you can eat gluten, and you are in San Marcos, go to Bruno’s and try the olive oil and garlic pizza, it makes me cry it is so good!

I can make a pretty close imitation at home on the Udi’s pizza crust.

Pam also has an Etsy store here or here http://www.etsy.com/shop/bluebetween.

Because of Pam’s work, her sunny attitude, and her gluten free diet, I will be visiting her again.  

And you should just go visit, too!!

Thank you Pam! I adore this little bird bead you have made with your own two hands and I will treasure it forever.

Who Owns Your Creativity Rights?

Lots of hearts for you!!!

 

http://toryhughes.com/2011/01/12/who-owns-yourcreativity-rights/

Who Owns Your Creativity Rights?

This is very profound.

I really loved reading it!

Please take the time to read it for you.

It is a quick read and very well written.

I think you will be pleased!

Monday Updates- How are you doing in 2011?

Me, I am gathering myself up! I feel like I am scattered from one side of the planet to the other.

I am having a hard time focusing on anything for any period of time.

We had a wonderful Christmas, it was all about Madi too! She got so many fun things to play with and some very cool clothes.



there is a very big grin on her face



I think that children make the magic of Christmas. I miss that in my life, the excitement, the belief in magic, and the law of attraction. I felt like I could wish for almost anything and get it when I was little. LOL!! Didn’t you? Why does that go away?

Madi gives that back to me and I loved it.

She loves opening presents. She will even help others open theirs. She even says cute stuff like awwwwwww! in a little munchkin voice.

I had an incredible Christmas, I have family that are very very dear to me all year long and they worked very hard to make this a wonderful Christmas for me. The thoughtful things just kept coming. It really helped to give me some hope for the New Year and a breath of light in my life. After the never ending drudge from the last few years, this was exactly what I needed to believe in magic a little again.

I need something to change the view I had been looking at for so long and that is exactly what I got. How can it get any better than that?

Now in to the 2nd week of this new year, I am feeling positive and looking forward to the miracles and grateful and know that when they come I will be able to see them!!

Thank you, all of you, I am very lucky to have you!

Happy Monday my friends, may you be luckier than me!! I wish that so much for all of you!

How are you doing in the 2nd week of 2011? Do you feel the hope?

Do not forget to enter the 18th giveaway either here http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/01/happy-new-year-and-18th-giveaway.html

Oh and thank you so so much for all your prayers, healing thoughts, and well wishes for my friend Susan, she is doing really well and has a great attitude and is trying hard to rest and take it easy. It is hard to hold that woman down.

401st post! Unknown give away! That makes the 18th

Wow, what a way to end the year. Good friends, good food, and my 400th post.

This is the 401st.

I for one, am very surprised.

I didn’t even want to do this blogging thing. I needed to find a way to promote myself and my hubby’s store without spending gobs of money. I needed to get back into the swing of things after several hits to my heart and ego. I had to find the self that I had lost and find new people to believe in and trust again. I have gained so much more.

It has been a long journey, this blogging road. It has been interesting, the people I have met are very unique and so very talented. I ended up making friends, many of them. Kindred spirits with light in their eyes and so much to share with others on the same path. It feels good. I don’t mean to get maudlin, but I need to do this, I need to see how far I have come, because to tell you the truth, when you are I am standing in the midst of your my own life, the everyday caca can sometime swamp you or I should say me. I call those Sh_t tsunamis. Standing so close to everything it is hard to see anything but a huge wave of it.

I got to have this forum on my terms, posting the things I want to post, with the products I want to use and do the projects I want to do. I did it my way ;-D, right or wrong.

All in all it has been very rewarding now that I look back at the year. I guess this why we do this at this time of year, to take stock of all the events positive and negative to see what we can keep and what we can toss, to make the next year better than the last. I am wondering if I should even label them positive or negative? Some of the things that I though were positive have turned out different and vice versa. So maybe I should just call them speed bumps or even just events and remain as detached from any outcome as I possibly can. Not to judge but to just be there for all of it.

Baring unforeseen events, I can move forward in to the rosy future.

I feel I have grown, I have been scared a lot of the time, felt that I had no net most of the time, and found out that all I need is inside. I have tools. I have learned new things, one day at a time, I am still learning and I want to keep going. This is good, this is very good!

I am so sorry if I haven’t been by, I have an almost 2 year old that runs my life now. I drop by every once in a while and read, maybe comment, but everyday I think of you and I am grateful for you. I am hoping some day I will get this kid thing all figured out, I mean after all, I did it before. I am just a lot older and she is just really smart and really busy, a good girl! She says “Hi”.

She smiles at me and says “gamma, hand” and I have to put mine in hers and go. To follow where she leads and to see the world through those bright young eyes!

I am going to have a quick giveaway before One World One heart comes at the end of this month, so if you want to win something (I haven’t decided what yet) put your name in this post.

I will get the rules up later, I just want to say thank you and Have a wonderful New Year all of you!

Know that I think you are all perfect and you have something beautiful inside of you!

Share that with those you love.

We will all be better off for it.

And please keep sharing with me. I am better because of all of you.

Thank you!

I am going to leave you with something one of my new blog friends said to me. It rocked my world.

“Create your life like you create your art – you have that power. -Donna, the Woodwife“

Monday Updates- drip drip drip

It seems as if it has been raining for days. I am a bit melancholy these holidays, I am missing parts of my family. Oh, I have my kids, my hubby, and Madi and some very dear friends, but I am missing ones that have moved and ones that have died.

Thank you all for your well wishes and kind thoughts last time I posted, it made me feel so much better.

I am trying to make my Christmas presents as fast as I can, but I feel that time is running out and I might never complete everything. My get up and go, got up, and left.

At what point should I give up?

I guess I should just keep plugging away until the final hour, the last moment, and the ending second.

I have been stitching a bit, it seems to calm me a little.

I made these sachets and stuffed them with lavender.

This is the first one I made, it is not very good, it was a trial run. It is going to stay with me now.

I used the printable cotton, some images from Dover, and some clay pieces I made, ribbon, embroidery thread, and felt.

You can sign up for free samples from Dover on that opening page down on the left a little.

This one is a color image from a Dover sample and I did a much better job on this one.

I am thoroughly enjoying how these are coming out and it is good TV sitting work.

I hope you all are doing much better than I am and if you have any ideas on how to beat the holiday blues, I would sure love to hear them.

Thursday Thankfulness, A squiggle here, a squiggle there, a thousand lines later.

My friend Ces from “Ces and her dishes” is worthy of Wednesday wonder, but since I know her personally, I thought it would be nice to say a few words.

What is it like to know someone with magic in their fingers? To have an idea of the monumental feat of pen and ink to perform something so beautiful.

All things come together to form an image of beauty, many lines, many thoughts, and many years of practice bring Ces to something that is easy for her, something of a second nature, something of play, something of beauty for the rest of us.

I appreciate this feat, I touch the paper, I see the lines, I see the play of light and dark and then my heart swells with love, love for someone who can make her thoughts come out of her hands.

The beauty that is Ces’ brain.

Isn’t that Cesalicious??? Thank you!

I am feeling very thankful for the wondrous people who I have met in my life and in the blogs that can make their visions come out of their head. Ces is only one of them. I am lucky to know so many of them.

How did I get so lucky?

This is indeed a wondrous world we live in! 

I remember this when I read a well turned phrase, a montage of color put just so, a felted flower, a poem of words and feelings, a doll of beauty and one of feeling, someplace where the artists in my life show their deepest soul and I feel it, I really feel it.

I forget this sometimes, with all of the strife and struggle, the bills to pay, the chores to do, the wounds to heal, the pain to get over, and the life to lead.

I was feeling grateful and wanted to share with you!

Show your beauty, someone like me is just waiting for the moment.

No, Donna you do not have to make another one, and more catch up

I am still having trouble with my back. My friend (sister like buddy) Meredith at MeredithArnold.wordpress.com (also comedian artist, tool junkie for people with bad hands, an amazing travel companion, artists in business advocate, and oh yea, Sharkie Sharks mom) suggested that I use ice for 15 minutes and then heat for 15 minutes.

A couple of times a day.

I had been trying both but not together in sequence. To my amazement, it is working, YAY!! Now that is a HUGE YAY!!! since I have been pretty much on my back for days. Hard to do when you have to chase a crazy and full of energy 17 month old around all day.

Not to mention that it does nothing for my I gotta make something all day long every day or go insane attitude on life. I have felt like a slovenly pig for days now.

Yesterday though, after one day with this regimen, I can move a little again and even type.

So if you have a back ache that feels like someone opened your back at the spine area and is rubbing aluminum wire (Think foil on teeth, yup, that is the feeling) over your spinal nerves and no matter what you do to get comfortable there is no position known to man that you can find to relax for more than a couple of seconds, you might want to try this.

Meredith, I love you and thank you.

It also gives me the chance to be able to connect with all of you again and even sit here and type something out. YAY Again!!! I have missed you all so much!

Able to even do a little shuffle like dance! Wooo whoooooooooo.

Life is incredibly good most of the time, isn’t it?

UPDATE!!

I traded with Donna at So Dark, so cute a unzipped bat winged girl for an orphan.

I wanted it made out of polymer clay and she willingly obliged me.

Even though, she said she couldn’t do it (HAHA!!)

I am thoroughly in love with my orphan and feel that I got the better end of this deal.

The texture and mottled look of the skin is wonderful and I adore the forlorn look on this girls face, Click on the picture for a larger view.

This is a pendant and she used my favorite colors, green, purple, and orange together.

Isn’t she charming? Pretty darn good for some one that couldn’t work with polymer clay, huh?

No, Donna you do not have to make another orphan (even though you should). I got mine. She is awesome and I LOVE her.

Donna also has a blog store on line. You want to see it, it is So Dark, So Donna Shop. Slightly macabre, slightly off center, and Oh so Donna!!

Thank you so much Donna for making my dreams come true!!

Also, I was lucky enough to win something from another wonderful blog buddy, Mother Moon.

I have traded with Mother Moon too! Her Jams and Jellies are unbelievable.

Homemade jams and jellies are something I have always wanted to do and learn.

I also enjoy them and love them, the taste is sooooo divine.

My grandmother used to do this and I love that time in my life, so it also brings warm fuzzies to my heart and mind. I would have taken a picture, lol, but those are long gone!

I love Mother Moon’s wisdom too, she is an earth mother with a planet consciousness I admire deeply and would love to emulate more fully.

I received a sand dollar, and beach in a bottle with a beautiful box with beachy things on it.

So beautifully crafted with a thoughtful feeling to it also. This giveaway was celebrating her blog being a year old. Congratulations and I wish you many many more.

I am putting this next to my computer so I can go to the beach whenever I want and smell the salt air and feel the sand between my toes.

Thanks to all of you, my dear ones, in this week of unending back pain and crabby attitude that came with it. I smiled hard when these came in the mail and email.

Have a great weekend, my pretties, go out and get a little sun and see the beauty that surrounds you, feel the love that is in your hearts, and create something with no limits.

Play, dance, and hug yourself for me.

All is well, you are perfect.

Update and apology!

I am so sorry to leave you all hanging.

I was in a creative blizzard. I could not stop making things. I adore that!

 

This is a new heart. I am deep in to this series, I call them “hearts of stone”.

I am also in to making quite a few sacred hearts right now.

I did a new steampunk unzipped heart with an angel, I absolutely love this one.

There is more too.

We were training a new employee

 

She is quite friendly.

LOL!!

And so willing to be helpful.

Training this new employee is taking up most of my time and she is very busy and wants to know everything.

The only problem is no one understands her on the phone!

I love this picture of Madi, she would rarely play with this adding machine until we plugged it in. Now she loves it.

I made a couple of trades with people and have been working on those. I can’t show you pictures because they haven’t gotten them yet.

One is another version of… HEARTS, go figure.

I don’t need to get smacked with a 2 by 4 to know I deep in to this heart thing.

I have also gotten addicted to Etsy Treasuries, I love making them. I love looking at them and I love talking to people afterwards. Who would have thunk it?

Here they are to look at.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c37362fa4088eef06ae2830/buttwait-theres-more?index=0

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c3608cf64a98eefd04ea0b2/a-talented-group?index=1

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c35edeadf336d91e60b147d/holidays-all-year-long-mha?index=2

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c35df98df336d910e31127d/frankly-my-dear?index=3

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c35013740278eef0df13bcc/orange-you-glad-i-didnt-say-banana-mha?index=4

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c34e31eda918eefcfe6316f/a-little-sacred?index=5

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c34c427da918eef7fe82c6f/slightly-off-center-mha?index=6

I really want to do this all day but I finally had to put the computer down.

There is so much talent out there and some really interesting things, it just amazes me.

I am trying to do an hour each day for clutter clearing and getting rid of things, reorganizing the house, cleaning and making things easier around home. I usually start with an hour and then find I am doing way more than that.

I have a very hard time with deciding which to let go of.

Like how many cheese graters do I really need, could I use them for an art thing, I will think of something to do with this tomorrow and then I do, my recycling heart says don’t you dare get rid of that. LOL!! you see my dilemma don’t you? And is it really clutter clearing if you move it from your house to your studio?

Life is just expanding and I have a hard time managing everything.

I am cutting back trees and bushes, trying to get rid of the extra there too. I haven’t done much gardening this year and it feels good to get outside.

We have been so very lucky here to have wonderful and mild weather and I am just loving it. I am so grateful and I hope it continues.

I have my own personal summer wherever I go, so any extra is just to much.

It is actually cool and nice. We might be the only place that is though from what I hear!

Stay cool all of you!

We do though have a mockingbird that thinks it is still night in the morning with the june and july gloom. He never shuts up. He must be exhausted.

My life has been busy, but my blog friends are never far from my mind.

I do get to stop by once in a while and sometimes even leave a brief comment, but when I look at the calender I realize I haven’t commented in a long time. I do read the blogs a lot when I have the time in the morning when Madi is down for a little nap (very little). I also have to cram so many other things in that time too.

What I want to know is “how did I do this before?”

I have finally figured out why you should not have children at this time of your life.

I was beating my self up for not reading all of the blogs and visiting, but I was also finding that I needed to sleep. Not just my usual 6 hours, but sometimes 8 or 9. I am just plain tired when I finally go to sleep and boy do I sleep well. So the sleepless nights from menopause are somewhat eliminated with watching this child.

I apologise for my absence, and thank you for sticking with me in my vacancy, I will be back!

I want to welcome all of my new followers, thank you!

Love and hugs to you all my pretties!!