clear it out!

We have got to empty out the rented storage shed. i don't know how many times i have told bill that. I have now started to empty out all my stuff. If he wants to keep his junk in there than he can pay the monthly payment.I'm OUT. it finally hit me one day while writing out that check for 47.00. What am i doing this for and add up what we had spent so far. my jaw dropped when i read 7000.00. Let me tell you, there is absolutely nothing in there that's worth over 300.00 and most of it worth less than 50.00. so every day for a week I've been finding new places for my half of the junk. 3 piles, throw out, sell, keep and find a new place. So far I've done pretty good. Bill has a big job ahead of him. Get this, he has not 1 but 2 operating room lights, you know those great big round heavy things. Why would he have 2 of those? i have NO IDEA!!!! There is also about 10-15 50 gallon plastic barrels, empty of course. They were originally meant to be used to float a dock out on a friends lake. Help!!!!!Bill is a real pack rat. He's finding it very hard.

magnolia pearl in all her glory

New Book!!

I am soooo excited about this new book i picked up. "A bit of velvet and a dash of lace" by robin brown of magnolia pearl i'm not even thru it and I'm ready to carpet my walls and tile my ceilings with old tin. and layer layer layer with fringed velvets and old salvaged lace. I can't wait to go scrounging. Some people just have that knack. Not only is the book a great visual ,but her story is a real treat.It makes me wish i knew her she sounds like a wonderful person to be around. Don't walk but, run to your nearest book store. and pick it up.

New favorite shows

Mad Men has been a favorite for 2 seasons now. Gotta love it.It captures the time period to a "T". The clothes the attitudes toward women. I was only in grade school during the 60's. But, i remember it well. My mom always wore a girdle, Oh, how awful that must have been. Wigs were a big thing. Big wigs. The show is great, it makes you glad that we've come along way baby.The other show that has me pleasantly surprised is HBO'S TRUE BLOOD. I love alan ball's work. SIX FEET UNDER. This is going to be a watcher. I'm hooked only after 3 episodes. Ole bill compton drives me wild.

recent art

Nothing special, just fun to do.

collage of bill in europe

I like to take travel pictures and use them in collages.In this one i used a caulking transfer method of a castle over a collage of maps and painted surface and added a picture of bill on a stone wall in Germany. and did alittle paint over.

recent collage

I really have been neglecting my blog. sorry, but, I've been so busy with the yard and getting in lots of bike rides. I've got to get them in while i can. I went to the big fall event at sister's in kalona. She really can put on a great sale. It was stuffed with great antiques and fall harvests of gourds and huge mums. I have never seen so many mums. i didn't find any thing i needed, things i wanted, but, no room in my house.I have been puttering in my little studio, i made afew collages.I experimented with the paint over method. I read about it in somerset studio 's workshop issue. Where you take a picture of choice and glue it down and paint over it.
i can't draw well, so this is great. my 1st one of my mom at 17 with her dog "lady" is Little heavy handed. Oh, well it's my first attempt. hopefully I'll get better. But, it is fun to do.I took a picture of her and tore around it, then tore a picture of a doorway out of a garden magazine and blended the two together.

"be responsible"

Okay everybody, every person out there reading this can do 2 things to help this world to a road to recovery. Start with these 2 things. just the dishwashing liquid alone-- if every person in the u.s. replaced just one bottle of 25 oz. petroleum based dishwashing liquid with 1 bottle of vegetable based product. we could save 81,000 barrels of oil, enough to heat and cool 4,600 u.s. homes for a year. i use it and find NO difference. It's fabulous darling. Then get rid of plastic and paper bags. I started using these recycled bags and they ARE fabulous. i bought 15 of them for 99 cents apiece. i keep some in my car and bills truck and in the house. They hold more and easy to carry. But, yet when i go to the grocery store I'm the only one that i can see with recycled bags. C"MON PEOPLE get with it. If i can you can!!!!!Start with this

fall flowers

All the colors of the flowers and foliage seem to get so deep and rich. the coleus seems to jump right out at me. The hydrangeas are in there full glory and my passion flower finally bloomed. my hoya has been full of blooms all month. Summers last hurrah. I'm really not ready to haul everything back in the house. I still haven't seen any sign of my friend the "praying mantis".I've been trimming away in the flower border but no sign of him.