patinamarie

Monday, May 3, 2010

Out for a Sunday Drive....

A couple of weekends ago - pre-sick weekend to be exact...Phillip, Darrin and I went on a Sunday drive to the Oregon Coast to show him around.

It's a very beautiful drive West on the Redwood Hwy.

We stopped along the way to take in the very beautiful river views.

Looking Left.

Just look at how clear and refreshing that water looks. If only it were Summer....

(That's floating weather, folks!)

Looking Right.

Then we proceeded to the Coastline. Harris Beach to be exact.

These are just some random shots.

NOT a tropical beach, but oh, so beautiful no-the-less....

The day was super clear, but still very windy.

Fresh but chilly!

This guy didn't seem to mind.

Neither did his pal. See him way up there? To the right of the mountain. Just a little blip in the sky.

On the path up that hill, were a ton of peanut shells.

Despite the signs.

I think this little guy is trying to tell us otherwise.

It's okay to feed me. Really. It's okay....!!! I promise....

and I think this little guy had his fill for the day.

But, not his friend. The one with almost no tail.

It was crazy how close they would come to you.

I confess...as I was walking back down the path, one ran at me so fast, I took off running down the dirt path.

All I could visualize was it jumping in my hair, like in Christmas Vacation.

And this one is saying, "as I lay my hand upon you...."

See all those peanut shells????

Brave little souls, I tell you.

Little Rascals.

Edited to add:

A few days later, while the girlfriends and I were in Jacksonville for the day, I saw these in a store.

Aren't these the CUTEST Tighty-Whitey's you've ever seen?

Wonder what those little rascals at the beach would have to say about that!?

The End

Saturday, May 1, 2010

I want to go back to 41.....

You guessed it! This picture is worth 1000 words.

Turned 42 last Friday.

Gardened in the yard all day Saturday.

metal sunflower sculpture in Jacksonville, Oregon

Woke up at about 3 a.m. having a bad dream of swallowing razor blades.

Wasn't a bad dream. It was real!!! (well, I didn't have actual razors in there) But man, oh, man my throat was in bad shape.

Why is it that germs always attack at night, while you sleep?

Bank - Jacksonville, Oregon

Haven't had a really bad sore throat since I was a kid. Used to get them ALL the time. I missed so much grade school, I'm surprised I'm learnt. LOL

My mom took me to what seemed like all the doctors in town to try and convince one of them to remove my tonsils. They would get so red and inflamed all the time. They were HUGE!

Finally, after the final straw of not being able to hardly swallow, she found one. Dr. Mills, I think it was.

I was 12. We were living in Ridgecrest, CA (little military town in the middle of the Mojave desert).

I remember everyone telling me how much Jell-O and Ice Cream I was going to get to eat.

Yeah, maybe that's how they convince the little 5 and 6-year olds that surgery isn't scary.

Little kids bronze sculpture - Jacksonville, Oregon

Let me tell you, the surgery was a cake-walk. It was the "after-surgery" part that was a nightmare!!!

I remember puking up blood once I woke up. (sorry, but just in case you ever have to have this type of surgery, I just want you to be prepared. No one told me. I wasn't prepared. As a matter of fact, it scared the hell out of me!!!)

Once the anesthesia wore off, I was in so much pain.

I couldn't even swallow a sip of water, it hurt SO bad. For days!!!

Drinking Fountain - Jacksonville, Oregon

My mom commented to me, "Tina Marie, if you can't even handle this little bit of pain, how in the world will you ever birth kids? You have NO pain tolerance!"

(Well, three natural childbirths later, I'm here to tell you, I'd rather birth kids!)

Pre-surgery. Age 12. 118 pounds. (Yeah, and I thought I was fat!!!)

FATSO wood burning stove display - Jacksonville, Oregon

TWO weeks, post-surgery. 108 pounds. (Yeah, I was skinny enough to wear a hot pink summer jumper. Man, was I the bomb in that little hand-me-down jumper that I could never fit into before then. Yeah, I was real attractive - my stomach was sunk-in and my hip bones stuck out! The bomb, I tell you! ICK!)

I finally healed and learned to eat again. I got back up to 118. Got married. (wait that was 5 years later!)

Birthed those three boys of mine.

Gained some more....

Old-Fashion Scale - Jacksonville, Oregon

Now, I'm 42 and I've been under-the-weather for a week.

Sore throat.

Sneezing.

Runny nose.

Cough.

Chest cold.

Head cold.

Head aches.

Lost my voice for a couple of days.

(no comments from the Peanut Gallery, please.....)

Been drinking a TON of water and tea with honey.

Bee molded soap

Finally got a prescription yesterday.

Side effects are:

Jitters.

Restlessness.

Sleeplessness.

May make you more hungry than usual.

Harris Beach - Oregon Coast

GREAT!!! More pounds.

I want to go back to being 41.

The day before my birthday celebrating with friends - Jacksonville, Oregon

So far 42 hasn't been so good!!!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

The Incredible Shrinking Webster....

The other day I purchased a HUGE Webster's Dictionary.

I see them in antiques and collectibles stores everywhere. They are usually either in too nice of condition or too expensive to use for crafting purposes.

Last week, I found this one for the low-down bargain price of $2.00. Two whole bucks!!!

Two!

The red embossed cover is beautiful, but the binding is duck taped and nailed together, so it's fair game for re-purposing.

I have two walls of masonry block in my craft room downstairs. They are currently painted creamy white. Very boring, if you ask me. Not because they are creamy white, but they are painted block. UGLY! And very cold - even in the Summer.

If I paint them a dark color, it'll just make the daylight basement even darker. What to do???

Well, for two bucks, I'll be experimenting with covering the blocks with dictionary pages. Then layering up with the shelves, frames, etc... that make a craft room, well, a craft room.

I've seen the pages applied with full strength liquid starch to various substrates, like wood, so this will be an experiment at best. I've never used starch before. If that doesn't work, I can always resort to Mod Podge or White Glue. Any words of advice are welcome at this point....:)

Moving on.

A woman told me the other day that words, like wren and beaver, are being replaced in student dictionaries with words like texts and email. How can that be? I guess, the BIG dictionaries are too expensive to print.

What would Noah Webster say about this?

This picture is from the front of the large dictionary.

It makes me wonder what words have been replaced and/or removed altogether since this HUGE dictionary was printed.

Take a look at this little Webster Handy Dictionary. What words were left out? Several, I'd say.

A.J. gifted me this little one a couple of years ago. He's a boy on the same page (no pun intended) as me. He knows how much I like old books and pages for crafting.

This is the writing on the inside leaf. Mary Alice Joyce from Forty Fort, PA.

Do you know who this is???? Your aunt, sister, mother, grandmother, niece???

Neighbor? Friend?

One word I hope NEVER gets removed from the dictionary - student or otherwise - is FRIEND.

A true friend cannot be replaced!!!

If you are visiting from Treasures from the Heart. Welcome to my blog.
Barbara Jean and I have never met in person, but it's only a matter of time before that happens, as she only lives up the road a couple of hours. I can't wait to stop by her new store for some Tea and Treats!!!