Sanford with Chuck.  It was cold and rainy.

Perfect day for a walk by the lake.

They have a memorial for wars and soldiers who

served.  I didn't know it was there.

 The main street by the courthouse.

                                  
                                   

This looks like an old train station.  I hadn't

noticed this before either but I think a building 

had been torn down close to it making

it much more visible. 

Park Avenue with Corey and Minion.

 Barnies has changed. They've

put tables and menus outside and in

the courtyard.  It was very nice.

 Santa's White Christmas coffee

is still the same - my favorite.  

 Corey's at the top of the stairs taking pictures.

Corey told me about this area I hadn't

seen before with Koi.

and a French Bakery

she treated us to a dark chocolate raspberry square,  and a raspberry macaroon, yummy                                                            

Minion looks like a toy in this picture.

There were hearts hanging everywhere.
Made me want to make and decorate.

This morning I've read so much great stuff that I wanted to share:

From: Unstoppable

Nick Vujicic

As long as you are on this earth

there is a purpose and a plan for you.  God has a plan for you.

Where I am weak God is strong, and when we put faith into action, 

we are unstoppable.   

Will I always get what I want? No! But I will always get what God wants.  The same is true for you.  Whether you are a Christian or not, you must never think that simply believing in something is enough.  You can believe in your dreams, but you have to take action to make them happen.  You can believe in your talents and have faith in your abilities, but if you don’t develop them and put them to use, what good are they?  You can believe that you are a good and caring person, but if you don’t treat others with goodness and care, where is the proof?

You have a choice.  You can believe or not believe.  But if you believe—whatever you believe—you must act upon it.  Otherwise, why believe?  You may have had challenges in your career, your relationships, or your health.  Maybe you have been mistreated, abused, or discriminated against.  All those things that have happened to you do define you or your life if you fail to take action to define yourself.  You can believe in your talents.  You can believe that you have love to give.  You can believe that you can overcome your illness or disability.  But that belief on its own won’t bring positive change in your life.

You must put it into action.  Having faith, beliefs, and convictions is a great thing, but your life is measured by the actions you take based upon them.

 I was going to share from other things I've read this morning but I think this is enough for today.

Interesting:  Guess who I am

My brother let me borrow his

tablet for drawing and he said after

installing it, "I'm never getting this

back am I?"  I said no but after a few minutes of

playing with it - he may be right.

I forgot to include this book that I read recently.

If you haven't read it I suggest you do.  It will

change your life. 

Two posts in one day, wow!   Not been a fan of Oprah's but watch this:  Oprah's life class

The last car-toon

The last car-toon's actually a can am spyder or 3 wheeled

motorcycle that Chuck's mom's fiance Frank has always wanted.

I did one with Frank driving for him and Patsy driving for her.

I can't find the photo of him driving.  I may have forgotten to 

download it.

 What I'm reading now:  One Thousand Gifts

came in the mail yesterday.  I got it for free so it

was a gift!  I've really been looking forward to

reading it.

 I'm also reading: Jesus Calling, Streams in the Desert,

Madeleine L'engle-A Circle of Quiet, In a Pit with a Lion

on a Snowy Day, and the Bible.  I want to re-read the Hobbit

because we went to see it the other day and I didn't remember

anything in the movie except for the riddle scene with Gollom (sp?).

I was reading; The Vintage Farmwife the other day

and could totally relate to "drowning in notebooks, journals

and for me - sketchbooks."  Although I can always use more

of the latter.  And where was I going with this?  

Yesterday's list was more than I could do so some of it is

moved to today.  Unfortunately, I got a late start today so

some of today's will get moved to tomorrow.  But that's ok

as long as eventually things get done.  Thankfully, Chuck

is very understanding.  He actually thinks I need to rest more

and so today I'm listening to him. 

I've been thinking about closing down this blog and starting a new one.  The main reason being I'm opening an Etsy Shop and the name is different from my blog.   Or, maybe I should just have another blog devoted to my work?  I don't know.

This virus I've had the past 2 weeks has made me so tired, confused, muddled in my thinking, and not wanting to do anything.  Today is the first, since getting sick, that I've felt like kicking things back in gear, cleaning, opening my Etsy Shop, putting some things on Craig's list, and a whole list of other things.  That leaves me feeling so overwhelmed because everything is so far behind I don't know where to start.  Sooooo.... I think I'll start with a list....

Chuck's finished

I have let this blog go for a while.  Some of the reasons:

Trip to Albuquerque to visit my brother and family (AWESOME!),

Chuck said, "this year you need to make the Christmas presents",

had Disney passes that had to be used before December 30th,

and been sick, sick, sick since Sunday before New Year's Eve.

The Dr. said, not the flu, worse a virus that's been going around

-that he had for 6 weeks.  He said it will last between 4 -6 weeks, yuck!

Hopefully the Dr. is incorrect.  

Below is what I worked on for Christmas gifts.

This is Chuck in his camaro.  I didn't take a finished photo yet so this

is just the sketch;

Mom in her cadillac; 

 Stuart in his Mitsubishi

 Trish in her cadillac

Dad in his cadillac

I have another one that I can't show yet 'cause I haven't given it.

Everybody seemed to like them.  I don't particularly like doing them

because I've never liked drawing cars or anything that required a ruler.

I'm glad they're finished.  My next art project is....hmmm haven't quite decided.

I want to do the Joy Dare this year:

Joy Dare Link

Happy January!
Dare you to make this year the year where you find Joy right where you are!
Each month's Joy Dare is like a God scavenger hunt -- 3 gifts to hunt for everyday... and by the end of the year, you've counted #1000gifts...and ...See More

         

I don't know that I'll list them here everyday, though it would be a good goal.  We'll see

www.flickr.com

Having a problem downloading photos.  These are it for right now.  

I went to visit my brother and his family as a Christmas gift from them. 

It was a great visit.  We went to a tea room (gorgeous and delicious), a drive up the mountain,

a concert, church, Fuddruckers, we had a tea party and made treats for it, 

celebrated Christopher's birthday, went to town, Hobby Lobby, Pottery

Barn, and Panera Bread (tho the name is different out there and I can't remember it, played super uno, watched movies, visited neighbors with interesting homes, painted watercolors, went to Terry's work and flew the simulator, FANTASTIC time!!!

I wanted to get a photo of the tumbleweed snowman and

was not successful so my brother took one on his way to church Sunday.

He told me everything he did to get it - sounded like a lot of work - but Thank you!

The last day I was there he took Donna and I to work and let us fly the helicopter

simulator.  It was so realistic!  It took everything in me not to get sick and I actually 

was able to fly it for a bit before it became too much and I let Donna take over.

It was awesome. Wish it didn't make me feel ill.  

I came home feeling very inspired and very blessed!!

Thank you all so much!

I said I wasn't going to say anything else about the election but then I got this email.
It is too good and it is how I feel.  Now I'm done saying anything and will be praying for this
nation, our children. and for God not to forsake us.

Well, It's Official; I Don't Know Anything!

(author unknown)

 

I thought for sure that given such a clear choice, Americans would vote for love of country over revenge.

I was wrong.

 

I thought, that just as every presidential election in my lifetime, the bad economy would be hung around the incumbent's neck, sinking him.

I was wrong.

 

I thought that even those few Americans who were fortunate enough to still be fully employed (not counting those leeching off the public system) would be cognizant of how much pain their neighbors were in and

elect someone who would at least try to make improvements.

I was wrong.

 

I thought that now that FINALLY some of the disturbing truths about our first black president had come to light, voters would reject a man so dangerously at odds with the American experience.

I was wrong.

 

I thought the 2010 elections and the Tea Party meant something. I thought the enthusiasm on display at Romney/Ryan events, contrasted with the lack of same at Obama/Biden events meant something.

I thought Americans would never sell their liberty for the sake of trinkets like cell phones or even big shiny lies like 'free health care'.

I was wrong.

 

Never in a million years would I have supposed that America would support a president who left his (our) people to die at the hands of our enemies overseas without lifting a hand to help, then lie about what he watched in real time for over two weeks, then lie about the lie for another month.

I was wrong.

 

I thought Americans could tell a hawk from a handsaw.

I was wrong.

 

We were offered the clearest choice we've has since 1980, where we had malaise and a misery index on one hand and a shining city on a hill on the other. Back then, we chose the city on the hill. This time the

choice was between a man who says 7.9% unemployment and $4.00 gas is the new normal and a guy whose entire career has been about fixing broken entities. We chose to stay broken. And Broke.

 

Maybe I'm wrong about the ramifications of this choice. Maybe the bird-killing windmills will actually turn out to be a viable energy source. Maybe America diminished will be loved overseas. Maybe a nuclear Iran won't be a threat. Maybe Israel is over-reacting. Maybe western civilization was always over- rated. Maybe life under sharia is not bad at all. Maybewhen the rest of the world realizes that we have no intention of ever paying back that $16,000,000,000,000.00(and counting) that we've borrowed from them, they won't devalue the dollar, causing hyper inflation here at home. Maybe China will just keep on giving us money and not demand our hearts, souls, national monuments and marriageable daughters as payment.

 

I've watched my candidate lose elections before but I've never felt the way I did last night when this one was called for Obama. It wasn't bitterness or sadness or even disappointment. It took me a while to figure out what it was. Then it hit me; it was horror. Pure, unadulterated horror.

 

Not because of Obama, but because of what it says about us, the American people, that we chose this.

 

It shouldn't have even been close. Faced with the choice between taking charge of our destiny and tackling our financial problems, we opted to get high and have sex. We reelected a guy who doesn't understand that a growing economy that creates more tax payers will bring in more revenue than higher taxes. A Commander in Chief who doesn't know our military still uses bayonets. A man who wants to control the economy without even knowing the difference between bankruptcy and liquidation. It was one thing to elect an unknown quantity, buying his line of 'Hope and Change'. It's something else to deliberately choose his failed policies over someone who has actually achieved success in life. I never dreamed America would do that.

 

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, Hello Idiocracy!

Goodbye, recovery.

Goodbye, energy independence.

Goodbye, religious liberty.

Goodbye, liberty and justice for all.

Goodbye, America dream.

 

It profits a man nothing to lose his soul for the whole world but we threw ours away for cell phones and birth control pills. In the twentieth century (the American Century), we stepped up to the plate three times and saved the rest of the world from fascism, nazism and communism. We were the cavalry, always riding to the rescue. Now, we've gotten rid of our horses, spent all our money on windmills, alienated our allies, bowed to our enemies, cut ourselves off from our own natural resources thrown away our children's birthright and spent

their inheritance. And we did it on purpose.

 

When the wolf is at the door (and he's coming, yelling 'Allahu Akbar') we're going to find out that there is no one out there to come to our rescue.

 

On the bright side, maybe it'll all turn out great. After all, I don't know anything

Corey going to a wedding she looks so pretty.

 We went to the Winter Springs Art Show

Saturday.  I like it because it's small and

I was able to walk around the entire show.

I didn't know they had a memorial at the park.

This morning seemed like bird city in our back yard.

This was the only photo I got.  They were moving too fast.

Chuck wanted to see this photo from our Tenn. trip.

The watermelons were 300 lbs. each.  So how much 

did the pumpkin weigh?

Winter Park Autumn Art Festival

Chuck and I went to the art festival and met my 

brother there.  I took pictures of flowers instead of art.

I always feel like I'm not supposed to photograph the art.

 The rose garden was full of blooms.

This was one of my favorites.

Chuck took the next 5 photos.

 I really like the lighting in this 

I had to take a few sit stops.  The heat really gets to me.

This was the view looking up..

The only pic of any art and you can't really tell 

much about it.  It was a good show.  Not too crowded if

you got there early.  It was nice at first  but as

it got closer to noon the heat made me feel bad and had to leave.  

And, slippery elm tea update: Yuck!