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Friday, June 30, 2006

40 Hours a Week...






Here it is. The place where I spend 40 hours a week.
My desk at work....... Lovely eh?
I was recently moved, from my cozy, receptionist spot, with a view,
(well.. it was a view out the front door, and I could see the sky.) I had
more room to spread out. Now, I have a view of 3 blank walls.
The girls that sit on the left, and right of me, (seperated by a 6 1/2 ft. cubical wall,)
sometime talk to each other on speaker phone.... really.
Then, I get to hear their whole conversation in "surround sound."
As if they actually need phones. All you have to do is whisper to be heard.

I've thought of bringing in some of my artwork, and photos to
liven up the place, but then I'll just have to take it all down
when I leave. Yes... leave. It's not going so well there, and I don't expect
to be there too long. Either they will lay me off, or I'll quit. I will
miss being just 1.6 miles from home, going home for lunch everyday,
and not getting stuck in rush hour traffic. But it's time to move along.

Grrrrr! I'm sick of changing jobs... I'm sick of looking for jobs.
I thought by now, at my age, I'd be pretty set in what I was doing.
I have since realized, there is no job security anywhere, and it's a
fact of life that no one will have the same job for a long period of time,
and those rare few that do, are lucky.

Ok... yes.. I do feel better now.
Ok so, my weekend plans. Tomorrow, I have a 12:30 hair appointment.
Then I'll come home and work on the invitations for my sister's friend Lavoda.
She was at my sister Rita's 60th birthday party, and loved the invitations
I made so much, she asked me to do them for her Goddaughters mom's 60th.
I don't know how to say no. Actually, I dont' really mind. I just regret
deleting all the images I used for my sister's invite, (trying to be organized with
my online files.) Now I have to go find them all over again.
I managed to finish and mail, my daughter Allison's graduation party invitations.
I wanted to make them "fancier" but decided simple was best.



Rita's Invitation

Allison's Invitation.

She Just graduated from nursing school in May.... And she just passed her board exams today! Wayyyyyy to go ALLLLLLLISON! I'M SOOOO PROUD OF YOU!

Also... I have some friends coming in from Germany! I met them online, about 7 years ago, when Rike and her husband Matt, saw my Cleveland Indians pictures at a website. She and her husband had become HUGE Indians fans, after seeing the movie "Major League" and they love spending their vacation, in the USA, attending Indians games, here, and following them on the road! We met in person, back in 2000. And have kept in touch ever since. This is their first trip back since 2000. She was pregnant then, and they have waited till their son was a little older, before coming back. I'm so anxious to see them again, and finally meet their adorable son, Yannik, who is 5 years old now, and is also a fan of the Indians.

I have no plans for the Fourth of July. I am looking forward to more storms that have been forecast. I just LOVE watching storms, and taking pictures. I'm still not over the awesome sight last Wednesday. The clouds were amazing! especially the big scary one, that had alot of rotation!. I've always wanted to witness a Tornado... not that I want to experience one, or have anyone get hurt etc. I am just in awe of the power. So I'll be sure my camera batteries are charged this time!

Maybe I'll get to do some art this weekend too... ahh, wishful thinking.

Have a Safe and happy 4th!...Bless you!

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Wonderful Weather Day...

All this weather.. all in one day!

As an avid weather watcher, I couldn't have asked for more today! I couldn't stop watching the sky. The clouds rolled in, then sun, then more big billowing clouds. After work, I sat down to have dinner, and heard a rumbling. Thunder! I walked to the door, and whoa! awesome! When I looked to the left the sun was shining, and to the right, big black ominous clouds. It was raining, thundering, and sunny, all at once. I finished my dinner, just as the rain subsided. I went back to the door and WOW! hovering above, was were incredible wild clouds, spinning, and winding... yes.. rotation!! I snapped away, stopped only to watch the several rotations, at the edge of this massive cloud. Then my camera showed low battery!!! NOOOO!!! ... I ran into the house, and frantically searched for the back up batteries.... ahh.. back in business. Now I wish I had set my camera on movie mode, to capture the rotation in these clouds. Well, they were still wild. I went to upload my awesome cloud pics, watching out the window as I worked.. ooooh.. sun.. rain.. yesssss.. a rainbow! It was so vivid!

While I was outside snapping away again, I wondered if any of the neigbhors were watching me. There I was, in my "in the house" shorts, slippers, ratty T-shirt, no bra, and all. I don't really care.. I got really cool pictures!

Friday, June 23, 2006

Flooded Friday...

Canal road, looking west. ( I-480 bridge in the distance)
Valley View, Ohio LOOK AT MY SOGGY FOOTPRINTS!

Well, I woke up this morning, and got ready for work, just like any other day. I got to the top of Warner rd, to find the road was blocked off. A police officer was directing traffic. I figured after yesterdays heavy rains, the bottom of Warner Rd, must have flooded. I told the police officer that I worked at the bottom of the hill, and he laughed and said, "not today." I only live 1 1/2 miles from home, so I turned around, and tried to call work, no answer. So, I thought I'd try an alternate route. I headed toward Granger rd, and again, more road blocks! Ok, they can't say I didn't try to get to work! I stopped at the new Starbucks, and got myself a Cafe Mocha, my favorite! and headed to yet another route. Down Sweet Valley rd. I passed a long line of cars headed in the other direction, and realized this road was probably closed too. I made it all the way to the end, to find the road closed off, and muddy muck. I was amazed at the site. There, where the road should be, was a river of water. The canal had spilled over, and now it flooded Canal road. The water was up to the guard rails. I pulled into a muddy parking lot, and pulled out my camera, that I was so glad I remembered to grab this morning. I got out of the car, and realized it too, was nothing but mud! yuk!!

I sloshed threw the soggy grass and snapped a few pictures. Got back into the car, and crossed over to another parking lot. There were other people there, with their cell phones, snapping pictures of this amazing site.

Canal road is famous for flooding, but I had never seen it up close and personal before!

Warner Rd, and Canal Rd intersection. The Canal is almost to the top!

I took more pictures, and decided to try one last route. I wasn't really looking forward to going to work, but now my curiosity had gotten the best of me, and I wondered if our parking lot would be flooded too. I approached Granger road from another direction, and passed a few businesses with flooded parking lots. I got to work ( which runs along the canal) and found everything nice and dry. DAMN. I drove around, and saw my boss's car.. DAMN.. oh well.. it was a nice 2 hours. I went inside, and learned that they were sending everyone home! YAY! I took a few more pictures of the canal, and thought I'd treat myself to Chinese for lunch, head home and enjoy my free day!

Have a great dry weekend!

Sunday, June 18, 2006


Another sister day!
The four of us, were out this weekend, celebrating my sister Debbie's 55th birthday!
We always get together, when it's one of our birthdays. We meet early, hang out all day, have dinner, then usually stay at the birthday sister's house.
So, we met at Debbies, she lives in Brunswick, about 30 miles from Cleveland. We went to breakfast at Bob Evans, then headed Back Cleveland. A hot humid 90 degree day. There were lots of things going on in town. First, we went to a real, Native American PowWow. It was interesting to see the wonderful costumes. Some were very traditional, others, were more flashy, in bright flourescent colors, and metallic fabrics. The drums were awesome, and the children dancing was wonderful to watch.
I learned that it's not appropriate to take pictures, unless there was a performance. I learned this while attempting
to take a picture of an American Indian family, dressed in wonderful costumes. The mom, quickly said "no, no, no!" I approached her, and she politely told me I shouldn't take pictures without asking, especially of the children. I apologized, and quickly deleted the picture. I had no way of knowing. To me, I was at a public event, and thought nothing of it. Well, I guess you learn something every day. I only wish they had posted these "rules" before I started snapping away.


After the PowWow, we headed to the Galleria, a small mini mall, in downtown Cleveland. My sister Susan had 2 paintings on exhibit. The gallery was full of very interesting art, by local Cleveland artists

This stairway in the Gallery, featured an interesting multi piece artwork called "Condensation" by Kathy Skerritt.. The little Blue-Green paintings, each measuring 12 x 12 inches, lined the curvy wall, & ran up 2 levels. 300 pieces in all. The color was vivid, and highly textured. The piece was for sale I believe $35,000??...





The next picture, is of my sister Susan, standing
with her collage pieces. Don't you love them?
They're so colorful! She so talented. But all my sisters are. Rita is a wonderful floral designer, and has a flair for interior decorating. Debbie, has an eye for photography. Her nature scenes, and sunsets. are breathtaking. She does really cool digital collage as well.


We Went to the Clifton street festival, which, by the time we arrived, was just just ending.
We got some coffee at Starbucks, then headed to dinner at a local place called Players. Casual Chic dining, with a "Foo Foo"menu. I ordered Angel hair Pasta with Pesto sauce, and meatballs.. LOL.
We headed back to Brunswick and sat outside and snacked on cheese and crackers, , drinking wine, with a cozy crackle of a fire pit. We reminisced about living in the old neighborhood, trying to recall old playmates, and friends. Good times!
We were treated to an awesome country style



breakfast in the morning. Bacon, eggs, grits, and Debbie's delicious country gravy, and homemade buscuits! ahhhhhh!
I love hanging out with my sisters. I'm so lucky to have them!










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Saturday, June 10, 2006

shutter speed abstract


shutter speed abstract, originally uploaded by artkissed.

One of my original paintings. Sold on Ebay

Friday, June 09, 2006

Bye, Bye Birdies....:(

Well, after two years,
my little birdies have left the nest?...
flown the coop?

My 2 little Parakeets, Harry & Sally,
(Yellow one is Sally, Blue is Harry)
Have a new home.

By request, I got them 2 years ago, on Mothers day. I alway had a Parakeet as a child, and I thought it would be great having one again.
My kids thought 2 would be even better!
I loved them from the start, and glad they had
each other.

I kept them in my artroom, and loved listening to their chatter, well mostly Harry, Sally didn't have much to say.
I forgot just how messy birds can be, and those little puffy feathers. Birdseed somehow made its way out of the cage, dispite my best efforts to contain it.
So, I decided, to find them a new home. My daughter Allison who works at a nursing home, asked around, and they said they would take them. It would be great for the residents.
So.. today she picked them up. I sent them off with a freshly cleaned cage, 2 bags of seed, and their favorite perch. Now I really miss them. It was sad, I couldn't even hug them goodbye!
I just blew them kisses, and said "bye bye babies, I love you, be good"
I know they'll be taken care of. And all the visitors they'll have will be great. But I'm sad! more than I expected to be. Now I'm reallly all alone in this big ol' house. .. sighhh.
No more pets for me.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Follow Your Bliss...



What is wrong with me?
It's 2 am, and here I am.
It's like, When forced to go to bed, I can
think of a million things I want to do, and I actually try to do them. On the weekend, when I have 2 full days, I can't do anything!

I'm sitting here, watching PBS... they just did a piece on the Blue Man Group. They're really cool!
and they're coming to Cleveland, in October. Oh I'd love to go see them. I bet the tickets are really expensive though.

They were interviewing the guys, and they were talking about inspiration, and creativity, and quoted a guy named Joseph Campbell, who said:
"Follow Your Bliss".... I really like that! I looked Joseph Campbell up on the internet, and this is some of what I found:~~~~~~~
Campbell, Joseph (1904-1987), was a famous American authority on mythology. Campbell developed the idea that myths provide ways in which all human cultures express their ideas about themselves and about the natural and supernatural forces they cannot control. Campbell became particularly interested in the myths that tell of an individual, usually a…
more >>
~~~~ Interesting. Anyway, I just like the Idea. It's a simple concept, and one that is so simple it is overlooked.
Well, I know I should go to bed!! I just look a the time on the bottom corner of my monitor, and feel like I'm 6 again, and being told to go to bed, you have school in the morning. ... " just a few more minutes please!"
OK.. I'm going!

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

6-6-6.... yikes..... My son's Birthday!


Happy 28th Birthday Eddie!
yep, My babies birthday is 6-6.....
He was born in 1978.
Isn't he handsome?

Well, the good news is...his head didn't spin in a 360, and he didn't spit pea soup!...it's a good day.
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I'm still trying to get all my pictures off that website, I'm so afraid they're going to disappear in to oblivion, and it will be my own fault, because I had warning.
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work..... ugh.
It's crazy right now. They laid off 2 of my favorite people
on Monday. No one saw it coming. I had my turn back in January. I was laid off for six weeks, because of slow sales. To my surprise, I was called back.
Today, I changed from mild mannered receptionist, to
appointment setter, quote specialist, and complaint department. They even made me move from my lovely receptionist station, where by the way, I actually had a view out the front door, to a cramped stuffy space between two cubical walls in our new building in the back.
NO VIEW! just a big ugly off-white wall. I'm soooo bummed. I can't bear the thought of looking for a new job. I'm 1.6 miles from work, no freeway, no traffic, no ugly scary parking garages.
I just don't think this company is going to be around, or me. Do I bail? or sit tight, and enjoy the moment? even though I'm not enjoying it much. GRRRRRRRRRRRR!.
tune in next time....

Sunday, June 04, 2006

A Beautiful Evening...


Thanks to a nearby storm,
we got some incredible clouds this evening.
Big, intense, dramatic, spectacular clouds.
I love clouds! I could watch them all day. Always changing,
The colors, and movement.

I ran back and forth, from window to window, to the front porch, and out to the back yard, snapping pictures. I even managed to catch a fleeting rainbow, just before the camera batteries died!

The next door neighbor cat seemed to be enjoying the clouds too.

Well, My weekend is almost over. I didn't do much of anything. I ate, played on the computer, took cloud pictures, played on the computer, downloaded some new fonts, and did 2 loads of laundry. Oh, and watched Grey's Anatomy. I love that show! I can't wait for the next season.
















Wow, the 11 o'clock news... the day is now officially over. Time to figure out what to wear to work tomorrow. So, so long for now. have a great week!















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A Beautiful Day!


What a gorgeous day!
I didn't sleep in too late, considering I didn't go to bed till around 5:30 am!

The day is cool, and feels more like Early Autumn.
I think it rained this morning. But the skies have cleared and it's wonderful.

I'm trying to decide what to do with the rest of my Sunday. I should clean, or do some laundry, or art.

I have to work on my nephews advertising, for his business, but I'm not used to working with the Works program, so it's frustrating. I did his logo, and that was fun, but now I'm trying to figure out layouts, clip art etc..and it's not fun!
So, I have to get to it.

I also discovered that a website I used to store photos, and order prints, is shutting down, causing me to panic. A lot of my artwork images are stored there, and I'm afraid if I don't start saving the images, they'll be lost forever, and I don't have any backups of them! So I'm feverishly trying to save them to my files.
This happened to me a few years back, at another website. They just shutdown with out any notice, and all of my 600+ pictures were gone. Luckily, I had the original photographs. This company which I won't name, actually tried to charge people to get there photos on a CD, if they wanted them!!!! I'm still steaming over that!

My sisters and I, have begun organizing our family photos.
Putting names on them, and a catalog of who's who.
We'll make copies of the originals, then create new albums.
Hopefully, our children, and grandchildren will appreciate our efforts, and have a great photo history of their ancestors.
This photo is of my Maternal great grandmother.
I just saw this photograph, for the first time 2 years ago.
I fell in love with her. She's so beautiful. Her name is Nancy, and her son Vernon, was my grandfather. I look at this photo, and wonder about her. What she was like, what she did, and what her dreams were.
Some of the photographs aren't in the best shape, so I'm trying to touch them up in my photo program. So far, they're turning out pretty well.

Ok.. I have to get off this computer, and get something done!
Have a great week!

Bless you!






The Early Bird...

Well the birds have started to chirp, telling me, the sun will be up soon.
I've been up all night! I can't help it. I love staying up. It's when I'm most creative.
The bad part is, I end up sleeping in too long, when I do finally go to bed. Oh well. It's my weekend to do with, as I wish!

I went to Pat Catan's Friday after work. It's a local arts and crafts store here in Cleveland. I was in there for 3 hours! It was so nice being able to browse, and not have to hurry like I usually do, when I go on my lunch hour. I bought some new markers, called "Chalk Writers." They aren't what I expected, and I think I'll have to take them back. I bought eyelets to use in my collage projects, and hmmmm.. what else, oh and some candles. and a few other things I can't remember... ok.. I'm getting really sleepy lol.

The cats below, are my next door neighbor's. I dont' know their names.. but they're sooo cute!
especially the one with Blue eyes! I think it's part Siamese?
They were outside my window the other day, and I grabbed my camera. They were just starring back at me!

Ok... yawwwnnnning now. I guess I have to give in and go to bed.
More later then!
Good night... er.. Good morning?.. whatever... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!


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