One Plant.

I got this trouble spot out by the road, our bamboo line stops at the fence and try as I might the frontage is a mess. When we first landed here it was all native grasses, bluestem and baby bluestem and its was LOVELY, but I mowed it a couple of times and killed off all the native grasses ( because I was a dummy) and only the ugly encroaching grasses grew back. Ta’suck!

So I tried tearing it all out and adding wildflowers. That worked great for a couple years but ( this time it wasn’t me, I swear! LOL!) grasshoppers, drought,road construction widened the road, my neighbors being neighborly and mowing my frontage for me ( isn’t that Sweet of them, they sure didn’t mean it badly)  and bub-bye wildflowers. Well over the years I just let it become whatever it was to become and mowed it down when it got too ugly. Last year we grew birdhouse gourds out there and it was a wonderful sight! This patch was all that survived the heat and drought.

Think Think Think…That’s me thinking of something new last summer. So I decided on Jimpson Weed!!

   Its a fast growing plant that needs very little water, its tall, it stinks, its poisonous, not much out there will eat it. It puts out these wonderful white giant trumpet flowers and it has a equally giant spiked glob seed pods. Drawbacks are that its hard to start initially, don’t transplant well and will die back at the first sign of cold weather (under 40 degrees F ) but it leaves it re-seeds itself onces its established. Weeee!! 

We spread the seeds from this plant above all over the frontage area last fall. Knowing how hard they are to get started I went ahead and started 12 plants via seed last August on 4 inch pots to take in when the weather got cold. The plan was to nurse them through the winter indoors so the plants would be about 18 inches high and ready to transplant come spring. Just in case the seeds didn’t germinate or the weather cut them down in late spring. Well 6 pots did not take, and I foolishly thought okay, I’ll go with 6 plants then. I could use the extra room in the seed tray and buy a little time before transferring larger pots. I was hoping to not do that since these babies shock easy.

4 more got cut down one evening when it got too cold in the kitchen from the back door being bumped open leaving two. I guarded those two, putting them in the warmest spot in the kitchen and alternating time on the window sill on warm days.  We have had some big snow this year, record inches for Texas in some areas including ours, well I am not going to have my last African Guinea Hen, Georgiana, sitting in the snow, so we brought her inside and she roosted on the china cabinet. Tobacco Row!  LOL! Of course, her complaining all the time! HOOT! In the morning its still too cold out there, so she walks into the kitchen and freaks out when Dillon follows her into the small space and flies around cutting down plants with her wings, pulling plants into the sink with her claws, bouncing off the walls, finally setting in the middle of my tallest Jimpson Weed plant. Did I say they were a bit delicate as babies? Snap! Crackle! Pop! We get out the bamboo skewers, snip the broken parts off, tie up sad little plants and pour all the soil back in. Clean up Kitchen.  a week goes by one is toast by the last one is hanging on!!  makes it the other one is toast. Well its snowed here 5 times this winter and each time I move the last plant to a safe location, on top of the dryer, to a shelf in my bedroom, the upstairs bathtub, the refrigerator top…Each time something found it and mess with it. I threw a bag of Splenda up on top of the refrigerator to knock some leaves off myself!

*eyeroll*

But this last one managed to thrive to spite us all.

Finally I settled our lone survivor on a  beam 15 feet up that runs from our staircase to the front door. This last location was the best, the cats can’t break the leaves off rubbing up against, the plant was getting too big for the kitchen and all the other spots and its not in danger of frost because its in the warmest window. Perfect!!

No one considered Buttercup’s evil plan…

This last snow, (see Vicki’s blog. Her snow pictures look exactly like mine LOL!) in comes Georgie. She now prefers my computer desk. So when we bring her in and I knock off for the night I put away my keyboard and mouse and cover the whole thing with a large beachtowel. She sleeps there all night I wake her in the morning and if its warm enough she goes outside, if not she hangs out on my treadmill, someone should use it! LOL!

So I fixed her bed and went upstairs to watch a movie with the kids.

30 minutes in, the ruckus! Georgie is flying all over the place, and finally settles…you guessed it! In the middle of the plant on the top of the beam! Dirt everywhere, plant parts flying as she flaps for balance. I have to get the ladder to get her down and again we salvage, snip, and tie the last little bits of the last remaining plant. Why did Georgie go nuts? Well she jumped up on her beachtowel, and encountered her spot was already taken by Buttercup. G came a bit late to the party! LOL! So she disturbs the cat, who refuses to move. Georgie pitches a wing flapping fit and flying around looking for an alternate spot. Georgie’s fit scares the Poo out of Dove The Great Dane, literally.  The bird is freaking, the dog is pooping and the phone starts ringing, its Jack he is on his way home just checking in.  How are things?

Don’t come home! Click.

Get ladder. Catch bird. Clean dirt, Clean poo, Fix plant. Snip. Tie. Pray. Water plant. Check computer. A-ok. New towel, new bird food, no water this time. Hubby Home. Kiss Hubby. Point to his dinner in warmer. Grab kids. Grab Hubby. Grab Buttercup. Take upstairs. Watch Movie. BraveHeart. “Freedom!” Think of what is left of my plant. Laugh.

Hubby eats in silence. One word from him and I will tell about my day for the next 2 hours. 

He is a smart man.

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Edited: February 26th, 2010

MIA

Hey Folks sorry to have fallen off the map these last few days, I am in the laboratory cooking up styles and alphas and flourishes — Oh My! I get carried away and then its time for school to start and I have not blogged. Time just flees! LOL! I hope you all are keeping okay. Here is a peek at some of what I am up to…

Today is our day off school to do errands so I might just get a handle on this creating business and get on with other things. Its pretty fun thought, Vicki I have not forgot about those real metal styles for dudes you asked about. They are looking good! WHOO HOO! Hope to be back with you all to tell the story of the  “persevering plant” tomorrow! Until then, Happy Thursday!

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Edited: February 25th, 2010

Get Bent All Over Again!

 Giving this Style Preview a makeover seemed like a great time to add the Pink Style many received as a freebie and a new Bright Green for a nice compliment to pink. 

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Are you bent?  
16 Seamless, Metal Styles in 8 colors Bronze, Steel, Iron, Red Hot, Pewter and White Gold, Hot Pink and Bright Green. For Photoshop. Add these realistic Metal Styles to everything from frames to flowers and see how bent you can get!  
With BIG, Seamless patterns these styles have low repeat on large applications. Each color has two styles: The first one, is a standard scale of 100 for papers, backgrounds, frames…larger uses. The second in each color is specifically formulated for fonts. This font size style is scaled smaller, but its also carries a  gradient overlay, a slight bevel contour and line for slick, quick, easy to read Alpha creations. Not just for fonts, use these to add a stylized texture pattern to all your close in work or an all over subtle pattern to large pieces. Great for a tribal or tropical look.
Mix it up! Use a standard size on a frame and smaller scale on a border to pull a kit together without it looking all the same. 

Note: This set was previously sold without the Pink and Green Metal Styles under this same product title. There were only 12 styles in that run, now there are 16.

PS7, PSCS, PSCS2, PSCS3, PSCS4 and PSE compatible.

This purchase contains:

16 Photoshop Bent Metal Styles in .ASL format  
1 Text Document with Quick Tips for best use.

Commercial License Included

__________

Get Bent Bronze on a frame…

What Get Bent Styles look like used as an overlay…

How to make this overlay effect using styles.

• duplicate your greyscale image.
• apply style to duplicate.
• apply blend mode.

soft light, or hard light work best, but now and again others work nicely too. Adjust the opacity of blend mode layer till you like what you see.

Video Tips: Old preview and old store, but same great styles, now with Bright Green! Weee!

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Edited: February 23rd, 2010

Digging this song today

Its official I have reached musical middle age — The Afters are riding the CD carriage today with The Violent Femmes, Frank Zappa, The Doors, Santana, Big Country and The Skids. I was asked to put on my head phones after the second play through. Go figure!  HOOT!

Happy Sunday!

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Edited: February 21st, 2010

Good Day Sunshine!

Howdy All!

Let’s Play!

But before we do that, Funny news! Robo-Granny called from her hospital bed to chat and she sounded very good, perky even. She said she was black and blue all over. Surgery is not for sissies!  LOL! She is going home today. They wanted to release her yesterday but both her and my dad said no way. They both knew they needed another day of someone doing all the important stuff for them before they flew solo.  She said when they were granted another day she was so drugged up she just snuggled down in her bed and Dad on the cot next to her and off they went to sleep. Relieved. Well, she woke in the night and didn’t know where she was so she called for Dad. He called the nurse because he took it for a medical problem when all she needed was a little reassurance. Poor thing all wound up with concern he is hearing hoof beats and thinking zebras. The nurse came in, found it was nothing serious and tucked them BOTH back in bed like little kids and told them to stop telling stories…they slept the rest of the night. LOL! God Bless Nurses! This one was not going to let either of them give her any grief! HOOT!

Okay, Now Let’s Play!

Have you heard of Wordle?    http://www.wordle.net/

Its a free online word cloud generator, I went for a little test drive with a little part of my favorite Schoolhouse Rock song…

We hiked along without care.
Then we ran into a bear.
He was a hairy bear,
He was a scary bear,
We beat a hasty retreat from his lair.
And described him with adjectives.

I pasted the whole thing into the Create Screen 3 times and the more repeats of a word the bigger that word gets. You see BEAR was pretty popular. The best words were pulled up automatically. How Fun!

Hit the random button over and over to just zone out and look at the words and colors flash by. Or you can try the menu to specify fonts and themes. Right click a word to remove it, Right click the background for other options.

Didn’t try the print option. Not sure how great they print, but it was pretty fun just messing around on a Saturday Morning.  I thought it could be great for word art, layout firestarters, and taking a break from the grind, like I was! WEEEE!!  A great tool for the mojo impaired it really got my creative wheels turning.

Hey don’t forget about my second chance giveaway and if you do it, remember to email me when you are done so I can send your goodies! If you already did this and forgot to email me, do it now, its never too late.

Happy Saturday Chickies!

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Edited: February 20th, 2010

Robo-Granny Emerges Victorious!

Thank you all for your, warm thoughts, prayers and comfort. My mom, Jeri Ann had a long surgery, but when it was all said and done she has a new titanium shoulder joint and a whole lot of work to do to keep it. We are all relieved the surgery went so well ,especially my dad who might actually be done calling everyone on his list by now! LOL! 

Here is a link to some pictures of my mom with her quilting group.  The Out To Lunch Bunch. One of their members, Mary converted her entire house to quilting and they all go over there to do charity quilts and such. My mom will be the little squirt in pictures1, 3 and 5. Ain’t she sassy with that white hair?  She said she had it cut really short for surgery because she had to be able to do her hair with just her left arm raised.  …likes to look cute even in recovery! Go mom!

Retro Flashback

____________

I’ve shown so many pictures of my M&D I am literally running out! This one if from a school dance they chaperoned at my High School. This is SO 80’s LOL! Love it! Looks like Dad carried this one in his wallet a while before it got scanned. That is actual shabby, no photo effect here. HOOT!  

Wishing you all a happy weekend!

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Edited: February 19th, 2010

Rustic Warmth Kit

I am in LOVE with this Rustic Warmth Kit from Kim B Designs. I have men crawling all over this place and tons of pictures to scrap for them and this kit fits the bill very nicely. Its also great for pets, it got all the doggie tones I love. YUM!

Come See…Click images to go to Kim’s Store.

Get a load of this alpha! WHOO HOO!

I was so impressed with what other folks in Kim’s CT did with this Rustic Warmth Alpha, I kind of lost my groove so I barely used it ( a letter “p” laying down in Harvey’s LO below) Its an AWESOME letter collection and so creative. Now that I am blogging and not creating I can think of a dozen LO with just the alpha alone!! The elements have a handmade look and feel so cosy!! I could see this for vintage LO now too, I have tons of pretty vintage pictures going way back…lets hope I get to those! Plenty of light colored papers in this set, which I love to have around, they are so useful and these have such style!!! WHOOT!

Here is what I did with it…

Pawprint and some texture squares are mine, but the rest is all this wonderful kit! Weeeeee!!! Harvey is having a stare down with a turtle with a daisy on its head. He would lick the water, stare, lick the water, stare. He was kind of creeped out by the smiling turtle dude! LOL!

Next my men and nature…

I tried the pictures all in sepia tones, but they got lost, so added a little color back, I love Kimmies Stringy Things! They are so much more than just string!! WHOO HOO! Check out Kim’s Blog for more great LO, I am loving this one Kristine did…

Okay, back to the grind! Getting a teeth cleaning today so best get out of my slippers! Ahem! Work shoes! LOL! No news on Mom, yet. I know not to bug them — It makes more work for Dad. I am sure if something went poorly I would get a call. Thanks for all your good wishes and prayers for the Robo-Granny!

Happy Thursday!

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Edited: February 18th, 2010

Robot Princess Metal Styles

In honor of my mom,  “Robo-Granny” to my boys, who is going in to have a metal shoulder added to her collection, today ( thanks for all the prayers) she has 2 metal knees already, Lucky Girl!  CLANG!

I give you Robot Princess Metal Styles. For the girl who has everything and is slowly getting it replaced with shiny metal parts! Dad has a metal heart valve so she got to have something to match! WHOO HOO!

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And what would I be if I didn’t give my Metal Momma some shine? So I added 3 glossy styles for when a matte finish just will not do. Just duplicate the Style Layer and add the glossy style you like and BAM!! SHINY!

Think of if as lip gloss. Remember Bonnie Bell roll on lip gloss? Anyone? Mmmm! My favorite was Pecan Pralines.  How about Lip Smackers? Grape was all I wore. It smelled just like Grape Bubble Yum! I spent 1979 all glossed up for no good reason! WHOOT! Not a single kiss! LOL!

Back to present where I get plenty of Kisses as long as I DON’T wear that stuff.

Wait, one more aside, I smelled some new spray on stuff by Britney Spears I didn’t bother to remember the name of it but it was a blue ball with rhinestones on it, well its LOVE’s Baby Soft straight from the 80’s. History repeats for a whole new generation, but at twice the price! HOOT! And a few purchases back I bought dryer sheets that smelled just like LOVE’s Baby Soft. Little did we know back in the day we were walking around smelling like the dryer sheet from the future! *guffaw* As clueless then as today’s teenie-boppers!

Okay, now I am focused.

I couldn’t get all the styles on the preview and still be able to show them large enough to make me happy. So I just showed a smattering. The smooth ones are different depths of color and they still didn’t jump out that way on the preview.

Dropshadows added, not on styles.

The pearls with couching style has a brother that is just plain so you can add your own something or other or use as is and a flamboyant sister who’s Oh SO shiny!

Dropshadows added, not on styles.

And some that could use a close up just because they are cool…

Dropshadows added, not on styles.

Real quick before you go, let me show you a wire with a smooth RP metal style, the a gloss style added, then two gloss styles added.

Robot Princess Metal Styles are on sale now at Kristine’s for 50% 0ff as a PRE-Grand Opening Sale, I will have a grand opening of my Kristine’s Place when I get all the goodies submitted so shop now and save BIG!! WHOO HOO!

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Edited: February 17th, 2010

Unsinkable Jeri Ann

How my mom ever survived having a child like me is anyone’s guess. She is nearly a saint and I tried every ounce of her patience growing up and I think I still do. I stood up in the car until I was too tall which was until about 8. I pressed my head against the top to keep from flying around when the brakes were on. I dyed my hair bright colors got piercings before it was really cool, just scary for moms, and when I turned 30 got a tattoo on my face. Forever ruining family pictures.

Well, mom doesn’t ask for much from her wayward daughter, but she asked me to ask you all for prayers. My mom, Jeri Ann is having shoulder replacement surgery tomorrow. She knows what she is in for since she has had 2 knees replaced, lots of pain and 6-8 months of physical therapy…more pain. No driving. No quilting. No lifting for that time. She is used to running her own show, and at 75 she runs circles around me. She asks for prayers so she will be courageous in letting God handle what she cannot and keep on going when she
wants to give up. Please pray for her doctors, nurses and hospital staff, may they be blessed for the good work they do. And last but not least please pray my mom can be well and go back to serving the poor, sick, imprisoned, and the outcasts for that is her calling and she loves to serve God this way and has been for as long as I can remember. This is her largest worry, that she might not be able to return this work. She asks for prayers to accept whatever comes.

I will never deserve such a lovely mother, and Lord knows what I didn’t think of doing, my 5 other siblings did. So she is one tough cookie. She has a doctorate from the School of Hard Knocks. So please pray for her to whoever God is for you. And if you call God by another name all the better and if you burn sage, or make offerings, or wish to think positive thoughts,  all is appreciated. All paths lead to God who cannot be contained in just one name or just one way. 

Thank you kindly.

P.S. And while you are at it, don’t forget my dad, Bill. He goes bonkers when Mom is recovering and will have to give her shots in the belly for 10 days. May he have nerves of steel and good aim! LOL!  Aim small miss small, Daddy-O!

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Edited: February 16th, 2010

Grocery Olympics

 Yesterday, I was working diligently on some new styles and repacking some old ones for the new shops and Jack calls down from the entertainment loft ( His computer is hooked up to the big screen TV, poor baby) he says, “ Are WE planning on going to the store today since you were snowed in on Thursday?” Translation: “Hey sissy girl, who won’t drive in the snow. I am out of peanut butter and sweets, I am going to be an ass soon if I don’t get some. Go to the store.”

Now I love my husband with a great and powerful love. So I said something sweet up the stairs that easily translated to “ Blow me Evil Knevil! Unless your dressed and ready to drive me 30 minutes it ain’t gonna happen.”  In fact, that is exactly what I said. I think I even had my hand on my hip in full sass. I really would have rather stayed home and kept working.

Its not that I don’t LOVE ( not)  to skid around on the ice under the snowy roads, I surely don’t want to do it IN my precious Dana, a 1991 White Suburban with fancy turquoise pin stripping and a deluxe wood and smokie-grey interior.

She has seen a few years, but I take good care of her for someone who has no garage. She has seen ice before and she doesn’t like it. She is the only vehicle with a full size fold down seat/bed that could hold every Great Dane comfortably in a lying down position, and all three of my favorite men strapped into captains chairs, so I treat her well because someday her awesome V8 engine is going to be our ride in a kick butt survival campaign during a zombie apocalypse!!

We have made emergency Vet runs for Great Dane Rescue, transported Great Dane Rescue Dogs across a few states, and even drove one special Dane Honey out of New Orleans just after Hurricane Katrina…all in my Dana Baby.  So she doesn’t leave the pasture on icy days for a donut and peanut butter run. She could get hurt out there. So if “WE” were going it would have to be in Jack’s little Kia dragster and I don’t drive Jack’s Nikita. Well I did, once. In the test drive with the salesman in the back and Jack in the passenger side and so I drifted a bit around a corner and they nearly bricked their shorts, I just wanted to see what she could do? She drives really nice! But that is story that will have to wait for another day.

We need to get to the store.

So we were off like a herd of turtles, hunting down my favorite snow hat with the funky tassel  took a while. It snows like twice a year and never this much so I was getting some wear out of that hat! HOOT!

We get there and its like a zombie apocalypse an invasion of the slow people. Jack is fast by nature once he gets focused and now he is miffed AND focused on getting in and getting out but he doesn’t know what to do with all these slow folks and he is driving the buggy. So I take the lead and show him the path and he brings up the rear with the buggy. I get pretty far ahead so I have the Splenda and he is still way far off, so I chuck it at the cart, I went a bit long and nearly hit a blonde ladies booty, but Jack saves.

Now we are having fun! Bag of cereal, block of cheeze, cheese slices, ham slices ever so gently swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, nothing but net!

I bought the giant peanut butter so I didn’t throw that, nor the coffee…thought about coffee filters though, but we don’t get those. They would have flown nicely.

Bags of candy, a new plunger ( a bit of a tricky landing) dryer sheets that smelled like Smarties! Bam, Blink, Slam! Discus! Javelin! Hammer-throw! Now my boys will give me a bit of help and move the cart ever so slightly to help me make a basket, but not Jack. A miss is a miss! Some of those isles are 70 feet —This is Super Wal-mart, ( say like “This is Sparta!) Give a girl a break, but I did say “Blow Me” earlier, I am reminded, there will be no mercy.

When I went for coffee Jack split off and went for cat food in cans. Our old girl, Luna (17)  will only eat one kind of food and then she only really licks the juice off. So we buy a big can ( more juice) I find him in the cat food isle, plunk the coffee down and see only 6 cans. We need 16 for a week because when Luna wants food, you don’t want to be out. She has a voice to wake the dead. It sounds like 2 sailors disagreeing. So he moseys down the isle for the last of the cans and what comes flying at me…Sweet Heaven! Luckily the cans were sent Curling style, I tried to return them Soccer fashion, but Jack has perfect curling skills (never curled) and they stopped 6 inches from my foot. WHOOT! I am told I am a terrible sweeper and he could have got much more distance had I made an effort. I am pretty sure sweepers have brooms, I was surrounded by cat toys, nothing else.

I might have lost the Grocery Olympics for team Cates, but we got the shopping done quick and I got home to my Styles and a frozen pizza so I didn’t have to cook anything. Yay Me!

Sneek Peek, they are not done yet.

  Just a note: I leave the dropshadow visibility toggle off. PS users can use mine by toggling the visibility on or leave it off and add your own. PSE users, you will not have the option of using my dropshadow, you would be stuck with it if I left it visible, this way, you are free to add your own favorites!! WHOo! HOo!

Wish I could tell you when these are coming out, but I am still  fussing over what to leave in and which ones to take out. So I don’t know. I have to let them sit a while before I can see the flaws. They are all my babies but some are better than others. I can’t see that until I get some distance.

Thanks to Kim B for suggesting I do some realistic metal styles, above one isn’t very real, Whoever heard of Rainbow Metallic Diamond Plate? How fantastical is that! HOOT! but I am working on some real gold ones as well.

Happy Monday Friends!

… for those in the US Happy President’s Day!

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Edited: February 15th, 2010