The kids and I have had a crazy day. It began with the installation of my new stove (which I LOVE--thank you Big Daddy!!!) and ended with shooting a video of the munchkins and me glowing in our Halloween costumes. We ate at Sonic after finishing with the trick or treaters...I had a chili dog and my stomach is revolting, so off to bed I go.

Go take a peek of this silly video...what makes it cute is Miz Chloe...she absolutely refused to dress up in a glow stick costume, but big brother Cole was able to talk her into wearing a jason mask he had covered in the glow sticks for this video. All you see of her is a floating head with what looks like a hand coming out of her mouth. At one point she does this little head-move-thing that just happened to be timed perfectly to the music--it's pretty funny.

I hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween. Many thanks to all the kids that visited Magnolia Manor--we enjoyed it and hope to see you next year!

hugs, kisses and nite-nites

Miz Carla

 

 

I hadn't realized it had been 2 months since I last updated here. I've been a naughty girl...I'm *so* cheating on typepad w/ facebook...which is stupid really because facebook is free LOL. My poor blog also had a birthday while I was on hiatus...it turned 4 years old all alone w/ no fanfare, no cake, no nothing. I'm sorry bloggie blog. I LOVE you and will make it up to you I promise!

I do have a good excuse for my neglect and absence. I have had the flu not once but twice *AND* some lovely intestinal thing that lingered longer than the usual 48 hours. Luckily hazing myself and the family with Lysol helped as no one else came down with any of the cootie bugs.

One good thing did come from having the wind knocked out of my sails though...I slowed down long enough to actually read some of my favorite blogs and saw mention of an Art Retreat in Houston TX. since H-town is only a 4 hour drive for me I knew it was very do-able...so down the hall to big Daddy I ran and once he said yes ran back to the computer, printed the registration form and got myself signed up for "Adorn Me" this March!! I'm excited to finally get to meet Linda. I've known her online for a long long time, so it'll be fun to put a face to the name. If any of you are going please let me know. I'm signed up to take classes w/ Amy Hanna, Janice Berkebile, Cynthia Anderson, and my friend Deryn!! Can't wait!!!

There hasn't been a whole lot going on in the art department, but here is one of the projects I did fairly recently for P.I.D. designs.

Almost time for Project Runway (YAY)...so I gotsa go.

xoxs

Miz Carla
 

Little Ella Bella isn't so little anymore. Look at her most recent photo...awww that face is so PRECIOUS! She's turning into one of those dogs that you've got to trim the hair by their eyes.

This is Miss Gina. I don't think I've ever gotten-around to sharing her story with you. Gina is named after my brother in law Gino. Gino is a big, Italian sweetheart who just happens to be *very very* allergic to cats. I'm not talking a few sneezes I'm talking full-blown throat closes up allergic reaction. Anyhoo Gino is on his way to work one morning and he hits a traffic jam. He gets out of his car and sees a bunch of people standing around this poor little kitten who is lying still and panting really hard. The other guys thought that maybe she was just thirsty, but it turned out she'd been hit by a car. Gino puts this poor little kitten in his car (which is a Lamborghini--I swear--you couldn't make stuff like this up) and takes her to the vet. On the way to the vet he calls my sister and tells her what has happened and to meet him at the hospital (which is where he'll have to get himself ASAP). By the time my sis gets there Gino is in full blown reaction mode--poor darlin. The hospital gets him all fixed up and then he begins worrying about this little kitty cat. No one was sure she'd even make it as her injuries were pretty severe. She had a broken hip and needed surgery which Gino happily agreed to pay for. I think she was in the hospital a little over a month before she finally got strong enough to be driven from Florida to Louisiana. They weren't able to keep her because of Gino's allergy..but they knew we would take care of her, so my little sister put this cat into her car and drove her 15 hours to come live with us. We had to be really gentle and patient with her while she became adjusted to living outside of the hospital. For the first two months we had her she pretty much stayed under my bed. Slowly she began letting us love on her and roaming around the house...now days she's a normal curtain climbing wild child who loves chasing the dogs and this....

scratching on the legs of Mama's prized flea-market find bench! Bad bad kitty!

but who could stay mad at this sweet little face? Not me! That bench can be sanded and fixed :D

Lest you think we lead a charmed life where all we have to blog about is art, playing school and petting cute animals let me tell you about the latest chaos to hit casa Naron. Sunday night I was busily rearranging the furniture in the den. Now, when I clean and rearrange I really clean and rearrange..nothing gets left unturned. I had just finished up and had the sore back to prove I'd been moving furniture all day when little man tells me his head is itching so bad that it's driving him mad. I check and don't see anything, but he continues to complain so I get his hair wet and really start combing and parting his hair and guess what I found? uuuggghhhh Lice!!! Eeeepppp!! We have dodged this bullet 20+ times, but it finally got us. Chloe had it too, as did the little girl who spent the night at our house the night before. Thankfully I had the treatment stuff on hand. So I shampooed little heads, stripped beds, washed everything, remade beds and then combed and combed and combed their hair some more. Phew!! I was beat mentally and physically, but so proud of myself for not totally sqicking out...and no, thank the Good Lord above...I didn't get it, but I treated myself anyway.

I have to laugh really because the one time we catch head lice we aren't even IN school!

Speaking of school...we are loving our Calvert curriculum--it's really easy to follow. The kids are doing a lot of work, but they don't mind because it's interesting!

xoxs

C

PS: I almost forgot to mention... I'm having a little give-a-way on the P.I.D. blog (look for the entry dated Friday August 28th)... we're looking for a new home for this little gal. If you like her please stop by the blog and enter your name into the drawing--I'll pick a winner on Thursday 9/3/09

I had a great time smooshing paint around on these--there is something so liberating about painting big with only shapes and colors guiding you.

I call this one "Autumn" 16x20

and this one "Harvest" also 16x20.

Now I'm off to make some dollies--the sewing machine is calling me.

Sometimes it seems like my head'll explode if I don't get info out of it soon enough--so here we go w/ a long stream of conciousness post (God help anyone who actually tries to follow along).

Let's start with Project Runway. Oh Project Runway how I love thee--you inspire me to do things I have *NO* talent for. I find myself wanting to design clothes and trade in my jeans and tees for flowy dresses with silk rosettes with designer lables!

Please don't ever make me wait that long for a new season to begin though--sheesh it was killing me!

I have high hopes for this season...it looks like a lot of talent so far (although I think the guy who sent his model down the runway 1/2 nekkid should have went home instead of the gal that made the disco diaper). To each his own!

AND how neat is it that the models got their own show? Last night I spent 3 hours (that I'll never get back, no matter how fast I run backwards) watching all these shows back to back, and enjoyed them all immensely! Yay for having something decent (or somewhat decent anyway) to watch this fall/winter!!!

The kids of magnolia manor are now armed and dangerous with BB guns-Lord help any innocent bystanders! J/Kidding. Mr Big Daddy taught them how to practice their shooting skills responsibly, and they are both quite good shots (I've got a trashcan full of dead aluminum cans to prove it!)

Here they are in action

I've been meaning to point out to you guys my fancy little logo...My most awesome photoshop guru/bestest friend ever Marie made it for me. See it?  Isn't it pretty? She's such a sweetie. Thanks again doll-I love it!

Homeschooling is going good--we're anxiously awaiting our package from Calvert so we can get started with the nitty gritty learning stuff. It's nice to not have to worry about the little worries that came up while going to regular school, and it's nice to have the munchkins home (when they aren't fighting that is.)

In art news I've got two fairly large graphic paintings in the works and am really itching to get to the sewing machine and make some sort of funky little "stuffie" dolls. I've got ideas in my head that need to come out on paper before I get started. I've also got to go into time-management mode and carve out some alone time to create at least every other day. I've got some great assignments from PID coming up too that I'm excited to start working on.

Phew that's better. Now I have room for stuff I must remember...like making dental appointments for the kids and bill paying :D

Have a great weekend everyone!

xoxs

C

PS do you like my new blog header? That's a design from Rhonda that I purchased from the 2peas site...along w/ the little Pretty Marie made me.

I'm not sure mere words can describe the stress of this past week! Sunday (the day before school began) morning found me in the ER with J. He got tangled up with the blonde haired heathen aka Miz Maddy-the-labbie and hurt his arm. Thank goodness nothing was broken, just a sprain. All I knew is that he was hurting and I so.did.not.want.to. be that mom who sent her son to school with a broken arm!

Monday Morning--off to school. We're hoping that J has his class changed. We saw on the night of open house he was in a class with none of his friends. I spoke with the principal and asked him to please see about getting him changed into the other class, or if another kid wanted to be switched to the other class--to switch with J. We go to school thinking this has all been taken care of only to learn that not a word was mentioned about it to the teacher....so, I reluctantly  (very reluctantly) left J there and went to speak to the principal--who was not in his office so I left a note (knowing it probably would do NO GOOD). I go back home and begin the worrying--and then the phone rings...my sweet side-kick calls to let me know she just met Chloe coming out of the office with big ole tears in her eyes. Laurie asks her what's wrong and Chloe tells her she has a stomach ache (Chloe tends to have these every single day she has to go to school) so Laurie tells her it's the FIRST day and she should try to stay. By the time I hang up with Laurie I'm a wreck--all of my Mommy sensors and radars are going off. I worry and then I get the revelation (that has been popping up in my mind all summer long)... I DO NOT HAVE TO DO THIS! I do not *HAVE* to make my kids go to a place that they don't really enjoy going to. I talk about this with big Daddy and he agrees, we plan a family meeting for later that evening...we'll give the kids the option of homeschooling or staying in school when we have our talk with them.

I pick up the kids, get them home and cooled off, give 'em a snack and we start talking about school. Both quickly say they'd rather be home, although Chloe admits she'll miss her friends. I assure her that she'll still get to see them and she feels better. So...just like that despite having bought all the uniforms and back-to-school stuff my monkies quit school. Kids are happy. Mama is happy. Daddy is happy. Thank you God!!!

So, now we've got the kids enrolled in Calvert and they'll do their schoolwork, have access to teachers for help AND get their papers graded by teachers as well as receive a report card. Just like private school...but a fraction of the price and they get to be home with me all day :D  

I'll leave you with a picture of the kids on both their first and last day of school. Don't they look thrilled? LOL

xoxs

Miz C

Last Wednesday night the family and I were in New Orleans. We thought it would be fun to go on one of those haunted ghost tours, so we did. I wasn't scared at all...the tour guide mostly told us stories of ghastly events that had taken place at various locations. We arrived at a beautiful home (which is owned by Nicholas Cage--he doesn't live in this one, he uses it as office space when he's in town) and were told that a woman who used to live there had a thing for tortuing people in it--icky, scary stuff!! Anyhoo to make a long story short we were told to shoot towards the 3rd floor windows where the "Oriental" bedroom was located. I did and even though I didn't see anything with my eyes as I was shooting the minute I reviewed my photos I did see a weird green light in two of my pictures.

Camera specs for any ghost hunting expert types that might find this.

Canon Digital Rebel xsi--no flash

time: twilight approx. 8:40 pm

conditions: 85 degrees

 

In the top middle section of this photo you can see a green haze in a circle shape coming towards the building. In the following two shots there was nothing.

 

in the third shot I saw this. What in the world is it?

While tidying up the art room the other day I realized I have a "thang" for wooden bits! I buy those cute little wooden shapes by the hand-full, knowing that I can do "something" with them. In this case I popped them onto an even bigger piece of...you guessed it WOOD!

This is what I'm bringing to the Collage Cat Art Party tonight. I just hate showing up there empty handed when all the other girls are dishing out delectable eye candy!

 

Happy Weekend Everyone!

xoxs

Jeff took the kids and me to New Orleans to play for a couple of days. Here are some snaps of our beloved city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Tin Man?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Someone had drawn this on the side of a building w/ a black sharpie. I love how they spelled it just like it sounds. God Bless you indeed New Orleans!

 

 

and my personal favorite

 

'night all

xoxs

I've been wanting to do this FOREVER and finally sat down and just did it this afternoon. I love the way it turned out, but have no idea where I'll put it...for fear of kitty cat paws & claws.

Super easy--it only took about 20 minutes and I used right at 100 filters.

 

 

Now off to figure out what's for suppa!! :D