Department 56 Obsession!

Several years ago I got interested in the Department 56 lighted Christmas Village houses. I had seen them in a few different stores and took Robert to one of them to show him and see if he might be interested. He liked them too and I suggested that maybe we get one a year and start setting up a village for Christmas. I think that first year we bought a couple of houses. There are many less expensive village houses you can buy, but we really liked the quality and collectability of the Department 56 houses. They are so detailed and well-made. Well, it didn't take long for Robert to get obsessed with our collecting! He started getting on Ebay and buying at a discount (sometimes!) We have so many pieces now that we don't know where to put them all! I keep telling Robert that we have enough, but does he listen? No, way! It was so sad to put the Christmas houses away since we love them so much, so a few years ago we bought a few pieces of a springtime set of houses and trees so we could keep them up on the piano the rest of the year after we took down the Christmas village.

Well, this year we did what I didn't want to do-- we got into the Halloween collection! We have a few pieces that we will put on the piano. So, today I took down the Spring set and put it all away. It's always a little sad to take them down (and a whole lot of work), but it is time. As soon as I get some fabric that will look good to set it on, I will put the Halloween houses up. I have never been a real big fan of Halloween, but, for some reason this year, I thought it would be fun to have some decorations for the holiday. These are photos of our spring houses. I guess it's a good thing this series in discontinued so we can't buy any more! I'll post photos of the Halloween pieces when I get them put up!

The Magnificence of Nature

A few years ago we planted these hibiscus plants in our front garden area and they grow back big and beautiful every year. They are HUGE! We have neighbors a few blocks away who come over just to see them every summer. I'm glad the blooms last a long time. I love these flowers and I love this beautiful world that we live in. The magnificence of nature has always thrilled my soul. I love to sit on our back deck and look at the different trees and hear the birds singing and watching them fly around. A couple of days ago, Julie and I were sitting in the living room and a humming bird came right up to the window and flitted around for several seconds. It was a thrill to us. I hadn't seen a hummingbird in our yard for ages. It made us remember a few years ago at my sister, Becky's house when we stood still with our hands around the base of her hummingbird feeder and several birds came flitting around our heads and landed by our hands to drink from the feeder. That was one of the neatest experiences of my life! I love birds and because of my terrible eyesight I can't see them in detail unless they are "up close and personal". So these experiences when I can see them closely mean a lot to me!

Little Houses

I've always loved houses, windows, doors, fences, etc. in art for some reason. I decided to make a series of little house ATC's (Artist Trading Cards, which are always 2 1/2" by 3 1/2") These have been so fun to make. I'm making a whole little neighborhood of them! We are going to make one in the class I teach this Saturday morning along with several others. These are a combination of stamps, magazine cut outs, and stickers. The lined background of several of them are actually the bottom of a flip flop which has that brick pattern on it. It is inked up in an ink pad and stamped on the cardstock! I read about that idea someone had in a stamping magazine. Pretty tricky!
Well, we got the whole family room in the basement painted and the new carpeting will be installed next week. It will be nice to get our house put back together and have a nice fresh room downstairs for Danny and Courtney.

I have a little over 2 weeks left before I have to go back to work, but I have a meeting at the district office tomorrow morning and one the next week and one the week after, so I'm getting back into it gradually! All good things must come to an end! But I will definitely enjoy it while I can!

Fun with Grandsons

In the past couple of weeks I have gone to Hogle Zoo and the Ogden Dinosaur Park with Amy and her two cute little boys, Mason and Gavin. They had so much fun and it was lots of fun to watch them. It was hotter than hot at both places, but well worth it. I love those little boys so much! I dream quite often that I am holding and taking care of a baby. And they always look different. I love babies and children so much and I really miss my own 5 kids being little. My sister, Carolyn and I have often talked about this, and we decided that it's a good thing we have grandchildren to love and help take care of to help these baby cravings we have! It's very exciting that we have another grandbaby coming in October and another one in March! We know the one in October is a boy and we are hoping that the March baby will be a girl, but if it's another boy that's great too!

In the Summertime

I love summer! The biggest thrill for me is being able to open my windows and hear the birds singing, the lawnmovers, the sprinklers, and children playing in the neighborhood. I also love to hear the crickets at night. I especially love that I don't work in the summer. Being a teacher's aide at a school has lots of advantages! But now it's the middle of summer already. The summer is half gone and I haven't done near all the things I wanted to. I guess, instead, I should say I still have half the summer ahead of me to enjoy and do all that I can. Let's enjoy it while we can!

Feeling Puzzled

In a recent issue of The Stamper's Samper magazine, Carol Quance had several pieces of art made from giant puzzle pieces. These looked so fun to make, so the next time I was in a store with puzzles I looked to see if they had these giant ones, but they didn't. I thought I would probably have a very hard time finding them. A few days later I went to the DI, a local thrift store, and looked through the toys and puzzles and found a box of 48 of them! I was ecstatic! These are about 5" tall. I followed her basic directions of lightly sanding the puzzle piece, covering with gesso, painting with acrylic paints, and using stamps and clip art images, and embossing. They were so fun to do. I have other themes already in my head for more. So many fun ideas, so little time!

The Hills are Alive...

I went to see our oldest daughter, Amy perform in The Sound of Music a few days ago at a very nice ampatheater in Herriman. She played Elsa and sang two songs that are in the broadway play but not in the movie. She did wonderfully as did the whole cast. They all had amazingly wonderful voices. I was so impressed with the quality of that production for a small town. We're going to see it again next Monday night. Parents just can't get enough of watching their children perform!