September: Just Around The Corner

Good morning!

I'm back.

While today is the LAST DAY OF AUGUST, September is just around the corner!

I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to cooler temperatures during the day and especially at night. The kind where you can open your windows and let the fresh air in.

This creation has been several days in the making.

I started off with this little guy.

In my folder for him, all his parts are movable. He has no clothes, shoes, or facial expressions. He has no hair or ears. I could use this pose again for another character. I can make him taller or shorter and fatter.

I am really trying to work on my hands. The right hand could be a little smaller. The left hand took a lot of time to get it the way I wanted it.

All in all, I am pleased with him.

Friday!!! What a fantastic day! While I am working today, and our staffing will be lower, it will be a fast day. I will work 6 am to 1 pm, skipping lunch. That makes 7 hours, and, of course, we get two 15-minute breaks, which are paid. From 1 to 2 pm, I get paid leave.

I am still getting a four-day weekend because I am taking this Tuesday off. I love getting what feels like almost a week of vacation using only 1 day of leave. It is one of the many perks working for my employer.

I hope you all have some exciting plans for the holiday.

I will have more time to draw which is fun; and, I hope, I will get to play with My Sims a little, too.

Have a great Friday! See you tomorrow!

Happy Birthday For a Boy

Good morning,

This post is for Thursday.

Unfortunately, we had had a storm during the night, and when I woke up, I had no internet connection. While I don't remember having or hearing a storm, we did have a little rain, so it must have effected our service.

It was back up before I left, but it was too close to leaving to get posted. So, here it is.

This was just a little something I put together since I'd done one for girls. I thought it would be appropriate to post something for boys.

I submitted leave for Tuesday since our company is offering a free paid hour today. I didn't want to lose it by taking off on Friday although many will take today off. We will be a little short-handed, but heck! It is on a Friday -- so it can't be all bad.

Hope your Thursday was teeee-rific!

Back in a minute.

Little Girls Loves a Princess

Good morning!

Well, well. We've made it to the middle of the week again! Great!

This creation was one that happened by accident, as many do.

I had done a kalei of an item, the bow in her hair. It looked a lot like the wings of an angel and thought I'd do an angel. But I didn't want the dress to be the same design. So using my selection tool and point-to-point, I did an outline over the dress and color filled it. Then I added some noise as I wanted it to be glitter-filled. When I was done with that, it looked more like the top of a hair-do to me, and then decided to make a girl. And this is the finished project.

It's something my granddaughter would like. All little girls loves a princess.

The outside border circle is a kalei that I enlarged and put around her.

And there you have it.

I have special training at 10 am today at work. We are learning to use a new system, although I have been using it for several months. They will teach everyone in our department to use it, but it will eventually just be one the regionals use, for the most part. Unless they change the way we do things currently.

I am looking forward to any tricks I don't currently know.

I am picking up my granddaughter after work today. She will come home with me for the evening. Her mom will pick her up, but probably after we go to bed. She has a Bible study group and dinner to go to with her boyfriend.

I hope you all have a terrific Wednesday.

Be back to post tomorrow!

Create with Kaleis

Good morning!

Okay! After having a few problems getting my animation to place right in my blog, I've finally found success.

The animation shows five different kaleis that were all created from the little colored block that I made. The yellow one on the olive green background has several rings around the center. These can be useful as circular borders.

Monday is over, and what a crazy Monday it was. We were short-handed at work yesterday, so my phone rang off the hook. One of my co-workers is always out on Monday as she works her 40 hours from Tuesday to Friday. Two others were out sick. So, I came home exhausted from talking to customers all day. I hope we have a full staff today.

We are counting down this week to the big holiday coming up: Labor Day. Many are taking off on Friday. Personally, I think I'll work Friday, but tack on Tuesday to make a longer weekend.

My dear husband is taking all next week off as a vacation. I've only used one vacation day since I've started, so mine is building up. He also has a week off coming at Thanksgiving and one at Christmas, and still has another week to try to work in.

I am able to build "comp" time as well as "credit" hours, so I've been using those.

Hope you all have a great Tuesday.

Back tomorrow!

Kalei Art Can Be Creative

Good Monday Morning to All,

I started this creation by making the colored box on the far left. And then I did many, many kaleis from it, as it kalei'd very well.

I also played with my special effects on it, and that went even better.

These were just a few kaleis that were produced that I really liked.

I made creations through Wednesday, so I know I will be posting each morning. That means I can get to work now for the one I need on Thursday.

And actually, I have another that I haven't really assigned a day to, so I have an extra for that "uncreative" morning.

We all head back to work this morning, and the week will begin unfolding once again.

Tomorrow's creation is an animation of 4 or 5 different kaleis.

Have a "fine" Monday! I'll be back tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Taylor!

Good morning!

This is NOT a picture of Taylor or a rendition of her. But, she's blonde and young ... and a girl!

I was unable to post on Thursday, August 23rd, so I thought I'd do a little "catching up" today. Hope it was happy, sweetie!

I am not totally happy with the hair on this one. Blonde hair is very hard to do.

Taylor started first grade on Wednesday. On her birthday, her mother allowed her to bring cookies to share. I called her at 7 a.m. on her birthday, but she was at her grandpa's, where she had spent the night. They called me back at 7:30 am, as she has to be to school soon after that. She is enjoying school this year.

She loves her new home, as does her mom. I also like it! It's much bigger, and I love the layout.

Papaw and I went yesterday to "celebrate" her 7th year in this challenging life. Due to the fact that they do not eat wheat or gluten -- most of the time -- we had two Suzie Q's (split in two) with ice cream. We went for a nice walk around the apartment complex, and later, a quick walk to the mailbox to retrieve the mail.

We bought Taylor a Playstation 2. That's what she wanted. Her other grandparents bought her some games for it, as did her uncle, Christian. Her Uncle John and Hillary got her a charger and extra remote for it.

Her favorite game seems to be Spyro. She played, mom play, papaw played, and, well ... I tried to play, but I stink at these things. All in all, we spent about 4 hours there. It was great fun!

Around 5 pm, we decided it was time to head home. The sirens had gone off, and my daughter and granddaughter got ready to head to grandpa's, as he has a basement.

We still headed home with the sirens blaring everywhere, and the car radio urging people to take cover. There was a tornado warning out, and the skies where definitely lively, although we saw NO swirling clouds. I've seen a tornado form before, so I know from experience what to look for. We hit one area that was bursting with heavy wind, but by the time we arrived home, it was pretty much all over.

I bought a book from an infomercial I saw on tv. I'm sure you've seen it. It is on curing weight loss. CURING is the key word here. The author is usually the host of many infomercials, but this time, he was the guest. He says this cure can be achieved easily, and is inexpensive. I figured for about $14.95, it was worth my time to invest in such a miracle. He also says you do not need to exercise. (What sounds too good to be true ... usually is just that!)

Of course, when I called, they wanted to sell me multiple books. I bought 2. It came with two of his other books for free. They then tried to sell me magazines -- they credit your card automatically (you need to call to NOT get more after the initial free magazines). I do not buy anything where I have to call to not have my card charged!

And then they offered me a FREE trip to FL -- which I quickly said no to. You know nothing is free.

I ordered a quick smoking CD which I am interested in.

All in all, I spent some money on these things. I even went for the extra speedy shipping, "get your item in 3-5 days instead of 4-6 weeks". When it didn't come by the 5th day, I remained patient, but upset.

I never received my email regarding shipping detail or total on order from them. When I called the infomercial number to inquire as to my package, it was 9 days later. I was given a "customer service" number, and told their hours were 8 to 5:30 and to please only call during the hours provided. Since it was 5:35, I did not call.

The next morning--the 10th day--, I called at around 9 am, and was left TERMINALLY on hold with music after going through a phone tree. Being as I was using my cell phone, I didn't want to eat up the minutes waiting, so I hung up. Later that evening, at home, I called at 4:50, only to hear a recording saying that their offices were closed, and to please try another time. Great! Not even any hours given to call.

On the 12th day, I came home from work to see that my prized books had finally arrived. Everything was there, and I quickly began reading.

I have my package now; and I've read most of it. Hmmmm. Sounds expensive ... and there is exercise.

(Side note: upon examining my billing notice inside my package, the price was lower than I expected. While I was charged for express shipping, my total shipping only was $29.85. My total bill was just a little less than $85. I also received a free newsletter.)

So. There you have it! Some of the things that were said in the book, I already knew. I've gotten bits and pieces of info from different sources over the years. But, here, a lot of the bits and pieces are all together.

All I can say is that when you order something off an infomercial, you are usually left with disappointment in some area. While this method may offer a cure, you must be willing to do some very different things that will cost you money. And exercise.

So that's it for today. I will be back tomorrow.

TGIF - Hooray!

Good morning,

A very quick post this morning.

This creation is something I played with this morning for TGIF.

I know everyone will have a great day today. How can you NOT? It's Friday!

Make it count! Back tomorrow.

PSP - Complex or Simple

Good morning!

It's a lucky Wednesday for me! It falls between August 21st (yesterday) and September 20th! You know what I'm talking about if you've been reading this blog.

Today's creation is why I like psp so much. The shapes you make can be complex ... or they can be very simple. You are only hampered by lack of imagination or play.

Psp makes creating so simple.

I hope it is a very good Wednesday for all of you. Enjoy.

See you tomorrow!

August Tuesday

Good morning,

A quick creation today.

August is hot! And this August appears to be wet.

We had a lot of rain yesterday, and I guess we are now looking at a week of rain.

The storm hit yesterday as I was leaving work. About an exit away from where I got on the freeway, it was as dry as a bone. And then on the slope coming down to my exit about 15 miles away, it was storming again.

I guess that's what spotted thunder showers are.

This creation started with the kalei of the star flower. I then did a drop shadow on it's own layer and swirled it. I then duplicated the shadow several times and changed each layers hue/color. I texturized each layer, and erased any tails on the swirl that went outside the main swirl because I reduced each layer to fit inside the main swirl. I finished it up with a shadow on the main swirl.

I then did two frames around it. After the first frame, I duplicated it, changed it's brightness and contrast and then texturized it. I moved the darker frame inside the textured frame and applied two sets of shadows to it.

And this is the finished creation. I like it.

Have a great Tuesday. If you're in Columbus, try to stay dry today!

See you tomorrow.

It's Monday again!

Good morning!

Every week, it rolls around again. Hopefully, your weekend has left you rested and fullfilled. Is anyone EVER READY for Monday morning?

Ah yes! I just heard it again. Thunder! It's going to be a wet Monday morning as well. And there it is ... raindrops! Yep! It's wet out there.

I was reading a quick article this morning in a popular woman's magazine. It said if you were born on the 5th, 14th, or 23rd, that you're intuitive! I am inquistive and go with my gut, but I can't say I'm adventurous usually.

It also says my luckiest days of each year are Wednesdays and Fridays between May 21st and June 20th ... and again between August 21st and September 20th. Hmmm.

My granddaughter also shares the 23rd as her birth DAY with me. She will be 7 on Thursday this week. Now she is inquisitive, goes with her gut, adventurous, reads people well, is convincing, and can persuade anyone to do what she wants. Almost anyone. Moms are a different breed. (They know us so well!)

I have to admit, I've always liked Wednesday, and if you follow this blog, you know that Friday's are my favorite day. Wednesday would be second.

Since Monday is NOT in this category, I'd like to either head back to bed or stay right here at my computer, being adventurous only in art.

But, the minutes are ticking away. The rain has stopped. And it is time to make my lunch and get ready for Monday -- again!

If you're one of the lucky ones that have Monday off, (by working 40 hours Tuesday through Friday), then enjoy this day to the fullest.

Until tomorrow -- try to make it a great day!

Back To School Time

Good morning!

I didn't post the last couple of days. I just got so busy, I didn't have any time to play in my programs.

But after having my granddaughter Friday after work, Friday night, and all day Saturday, I am aware that it's "back to school" time again.

Taylor will be in first grade. And since they just moved this weekend, she will be starting first grade at a brand new school.

They've moved into a neighborhood filled with kids, and while her mom was moving in, she had many ask about Taylor. For the first time in her life really, Taylor may actually have some "at home" friends to play with. How wonderful.

Now the question is, "How much freedom does her mom want to give her?" It's a question every mom has to ask herself with her first child. Somehow, the children that come after the first don't go through as many deliberations since you've covered that ground with the first.

Today's creation is in honor of the upcoming week's event! A blessing to most moms, an exhilerating yet somber time for most kids, and so it comes every year with mixed emotions!

When I was a kid, and when my kids were kids, school always ended on Memorial Day, and began right after Labor Day. Today, it ends later, and begins earlier.

My daughter has a nice new, and larger, apartment. It's closer to her dad's house which is good for her, since she works for her dad, and Taylor has been going to work with her for about half of this last year. Taylor spends a little more time at their house throughout the week, and usually sees me on weekends, although my daughter and granddaughter also attend church with her dad and his wife.

So to all you kids who are starting school this week, I hope it's an event you're looking forward to. Do well, and try to enjoy your time this year.

And to all you parents who are breathing a sigh of relief that you'll have a little more free time during your days, enjoy!

Hopefully, I will post something each day this week.

Have a wonderful, and blessed, Sunday.

Take care.

Fun Designs

Good morning,

This is for Wednesday, which I missed.

Whether I get to my post today or not remains to be seen.

Wednesday was a busy start.

This creation was based around the kalei. I did some special effects to it several times, and ended up with this.

Doing effects is fun and easy in psp. This was 5 layers counting a shadow layer on the second effect.

Hope your Wednesday was a good day.

Hopefully, back in a minute. If not, I'll be back tomorrow.

Tuesday's Flower

Good morning,

A simple flower design for this morning.

Again, they are kaleis.

This will be a short post for today, so just enjoy your day.

See you tomorrow.

Little Red Bee

Good morning!

Whoa! I am running behind today. I would normally have been at work for almost thirty minutes. I just didn't want to get out of bed this morning -- and I have a sore throat.

But, I wanted to post this little creation that I worked on yesterday. The inspiration for him came from a kalei, which I did not show here. It was very, very small, but I could see this face in it. So I just took that idea and ended up with my little red bee.

Have a really great Monday.

See you tomorrow.

Cosmic Blob Gangster

Good morning!

It's a beautiful Sunday morning.

For this wonderfully gorgeous day, I've created a character partially done in Cosmic Blobs (the face and head) with some smoothing and adjustments done in psp. The body and the rest of the creation was done in psp.

The background is a kalei done from the purple bar at the bottom.

When this gangster wants the dance floor to himself, everybody better move it -- MOVE IT OFF THE FLOOR!

This creation was a whole lot of fun. I was able to take my time with it. Only took about 4 hours.

My granddaughter is back home with her mom after her time in Dollywood. Unfortunately, there appears to have been a sudden change of plans (hmmmm), and her dad did not show up. Upon coming home, she was sick for several hours and ended up throwing up to get relief.

She is on a wheat-free, gluten-free diet most of the time, but you can't get her dad's family to understand that allowing her to eat these foods causes her be sick. You see, the stepmom says she's a dietician, and that she doesn't consider this regulated diet to be healthy, although the pedictrician has said that this diet is perfectly fine for her, since it is nutrious AND HEALTHY. So, my granddaughter suffers the consequences, and usually comes home sick.

Since my daughter also has developed an allergy to wheat and gluten (like her dad), she follows this same diet. Although no one has been tested to prove they are allergic to these foods, they've found that following the diet produces relief to the pain experienced from eating the foods.

And while my daughter has not had her tested either due to the fact that she must be on wheat and gluten for awhile, and that it involves BLOOD TESTS, which is scary for most adults, you can imagine the hysteria that results when we consider getting her tested. So, we deal with it.

I played with my SIMS yesterday. Had quite a good time with it. Very addicting little game. I am still learning.

I am NOT able to register in with the website, as it says my registration number has already been registered or is NOT good. Funny! I bought this package at Walmart just last weekend -- for $40 -- so what's up with that?

I have a lot to do today, so I'd better get started. Have a really terrific Sunday.

Back tomorrow.

From Inspiration to Finished Creation

Good morning!

It's Saturday again, and time for a new creation.

The creation process is often the hardest part to come up with, especially when I am trying to post something new every day.

Today, my creation came from a kalei. Again, if you've been following this blog, this is no surprise to you. I love kaleis. I am hopelessly addicted to them, and use them always.

There are times I just see a picture or have an idea, and set about trying to achieve what I see before me. But sometimes, my mind is completely dry when it comes to a subject.

That's when kaleis are helpful. The first picture is a kalei that inspired the idea for this little fantasy house. (I also like fantasy.)

With fantasy, there is no right or wrong. It's just whatever comes into being.

The flowers are from a kalei. The design over the door and the heart-shape on the door are from kaleis. The grass is a kalei. The little butterfly to the left of the house and flowers is also a kalei.

The roof started with one brick that I made. I used special effect > cutout to get some tones in it. And then, I set about duplicating and merging them together. I had to go back and cutout bricks that overlapped outside the house, but that's no problem.

This was a fun project. It is also one of the reasons I love weekends. I have more time to spend on just one creation instead of being rushed as I am most week day mornings.

Have a really terrific Saturday. Our weather is cooling down for a few days, and the weekend promises to be beautiful.

See you tomorrow. (I'm off to try my hand at my "Sims" game again.)

Catepillars Like Art

Good morning!

This creation started with the kalei art. It was pretty, but I needed a character or something appreciating it -- so -- here he is!

We had rain again last night, so we're looking at another hot, muggy day. Ahhh! August. You gotta love it.

It IS Friday! One last day of the week to jam as much work into before letting loose for the weekend.

Whatever your weekend holds, I hope you all have fun.

Have a great Friday. Till tomorrow!

Today Creation

Good morning!

Today is here! It's Thursday, and only 2 days left to trek to the office before the weekend.

Today, we are expecting rain. The week has been very hot and humid. The fog hangs in the air this morning.

My creation today is simple. It's bright. It was easy and fun.

Hope your part of the world offers you the best today has to give. Be happy!

See you tomorrow.

Flower Pot

Good morning!

Oh my -- the heat of the summer is upon us! Yesterday with the heat index, they said it would feel like 100-105 degrees out there. The humidity feels thick enough to cut with a knife.

I created this little flower pot for today.

The minutes are ticking away, so off I go to make my lunch for today with some wonderful tomatoes from my garden.

Have a great Wednesday. I'll be back tomorrow.

Tuesday Designs

Good Morning,

This design was produced from a kalei.

The end result was the black flower to the left and bottom. Sometimes you are not able to colorize a black and white design. They just don't always work.

In this instance, I was able to colorize it. But before colorizing, I adjusted its brightness and contrast to lighten it. And then I colorized it.

We are in the "dog days of summer" now. It's hot! August is the hottest month in Columbus. We had rain yesterday, meaning I was extra careful, on all entry floors at work.

I am wondering why they don't just carpet the first floor of our building. That would prevent future mishaps for all workers. I'm sure they have a number of injuries from slips and falls.

Columbus is also celebrating its Ohio State Fair during this time. I went several times when my kids were young. But now, it's just too hot and crowded for me. Think I'll leave it for the young.

My granddaughter should be enjoying Dollywood this week. I am thinking about her, and hoping she's having a wonderful time.

I hope you all have a great day. I'll be back tomorrow.

Flowers in Frames

Good morning, again!

Another frame for Monday.

This frame would be pretty for a picture or used as a card.

The original I had done was a little different, but I played around with it a little this morning. I liked this result the best.

It would look nice as a Mother's Day card or introducing Spring.

Have a terrific Monday, even if you had to return to the office. Pace yourself for the week.

I'll be back tomorrow.

Framed for Sunday

Good morning,

I missed my post yesterday.

But, I have this pretty "needlepoint-looking" frame in my frames folder, and thought it would be a nice post. The nice thing about frames is that you can leave them in layers when saving them, and later insert any picture inside you'd like.

I bought a game yesterday. I wasn't sure what it was about, so need to do some research on it. I did spend the day playing it instead of creating.

It's called "The SIMS Complete Collection". It started off giving me a small home and two people: Bob and Betty.

It says: Includes the original version of the SIMS and all seven expansion packs. So far, I've only met Bob and Betty. At one point, they had a baby, but I lost that pretty quick.

I managed to get them both a job. A car picks them up at their appointed times each morning. The only other people that I've seen come around is the paper girl and the social services lady.

You choose activities for them to perform throughout their day and night. At first, they could not sleep in their bed, but eventually they could. As you buy new things, you are able to interactive the people with those activities. And then new things appear.

It is still pretty much of a mystery, but life was busier by the end of my playing. I tired out about 7:00 pm, and my husband gave it a try. He found that they could plan a party with one object. I was trying to figure out how to "make friends" for them as they couldn't use the phone because they had no one to call. They cannot interact, as of yet, with the paper girl.

I've seen this game many times while shopping. I'm usually looking for some new software for creating purposes, but it's almost impossible to find new things in the stores. I went to Best Buy a few weekends ago, and they had less than Walmart.

It appears that the best things I find today are on the internet.

It is fascinating.

I hope your Sunday was good. See you again shortly.

Relaxing Saturdays are for Creating

Good morning!

Did you sleep in this morning? While I was up at 2 a.m., my granddaughter managed to stay asleep till almost 8:30 a.m. What a surprise! I don't think she's ever slept that late at my house.

The picture this morning is for this beautiful Saturday. The sun is shining, and it promises to be a hot day.

I played with some circles and lines this morning using different colors and did many kaleis. And then I settled on a blue color I liked and did some shading in it. And then I kalei'd it, and this is one of the items I came up with. It is 2 kalei together, and I loved the lavendar in it. That's what prompted this creation.

I've been catching up on my mutitude of emails in my Outlook express. There is so much junk coming in everyday. It's amazing how much junk email you get from complete strangers. I just delete them out at this point without reading or even opening it. If I don't know who it's from -- out it goes.

Hope you have a really terrific Saturday. See you tomorrow!

Friday Rocks!

Good morning!

It's Friiiii-day!

There are two creations for today. One just for Friday, and another fantasy creature.

Taylor comes tonight, and is spending the night. Her mom will be here early tomorrow to spend the day with us, as Taylor's dad picks her up tomorrow evening. They leave for Dollywood early on Sunday morning. Oh what fun she'll have. Oh! How much I willl miss her!

This will be the first long trip that she can remember away from home. Other than driving to Indiana to visit some relatives.

I know they will take pictures, and my daughter will receive some I'm sure, which means they will filter back to me.

At work, I'm cleaning off my desk and taking care of things that have been sitting there forever. While two of our techs are finishing up their jobs for August, it gives the rest of us time to tidy up records and other necessities.

But when we roll our month over, we will be slammed with the days of August that have passed so far. Hopefully, they will not be jam-packed right away.

On Friday's, almost everyone comes in early so they can leave early.

I cleaned out my customer files yesterday, so now am down to just the last three months in my file cabinet. Plenty of room to add new ones. The ones removed are in my overhead, and will be kept until the next cleaning. Then they will be shredded, while the ones removed will go in their place and everything starts again.

I am gradually getting the old files of the region I was inputting off my desk. The month of August will bring some changes in the way we get some of our records, so there will be some minor training in that area.

I hope you all have a productive day at work. And that it's a good Friday for you.

See you tomorrow!

Glamour Shot of Taylor

Good morning,

This is Taylor or, Tay, for short. She's always been a real beauty from day one!

She is full of energy, which many call "hyper", and while she has plenty, she's still just a sweet girl.

Back when I was a young girl, people thought it was normal to be full of energy. I ran, played, danced, batted, kicked and skated my days away.

It was also a much safer world back then. We left our doors and windows open all day and late into the night. We didn't have air-conditioning, so it was a must during summers.

We moved from the time we got up to the time we settled back into bed that evening. A cool bath before bed not only cleaned the dirt from playing all day, but cooled and relaxed us. Due to playing hard, we fell asleep quickly, and usually slept all night.

Today, we have them play on the computer. It's safer. We involve them in playgroups. It's safer. We fence our back yards to keep them in, and others out. It's safer. We all watch more tv because that's safer too.

It's hard to be a kid today. Where are they suppose to spend all that energy? Tay did gymnastics. Now she's into tumbling. She's done piano. She's done dance. It's definitely more expensive raising a child today.

This picture is from July 22nd. Tay loves makeup (being a real girly girl at times). And when she comes over, she wants to play in Mamaw's makeup. I let her. She did her own dark lipstick in this picture. Pretty good for almost seven. We usually steer her to light pink, but this day, she really, really, really wanted to wear the HOT color.

Thanks to a cousin in Missouri, Tay has had some fantastic dress-up costumes. In this one, she is sporting some of those items. She plays dressup all the time. (I remember doing the same thing when I was a child. We had old prom dresses and evening gowns that our older sister's or moms no longer wore. It was great fun!)

The picture was fuzzy. I did my best to sharpen and duplicate, smoothing and merging down each layer. It's not as crisp as I would like it. But, it's a sweet pose. I just had to do something with it.

Have a really great Thursday.

See you tomorrow.

Good morning!

Two pictures this morning.

The first is to welcome the month of August. It is two kaleis put together.

The kaleis came from Monday's creation.

The second picture is one of the kittens that "wild" mama kitten had this spring. I've talked about the kittens and mama, who I call Sweetie, that come and go from my yard.

I haven't seen all of the kittens together since last weekend. They wander more and more and now.

The black kittens are still very small.

Out of the four, there are 2 black, and 2 striped. Actually, one of the striped is kind of "mottled". Those two have grown so much that is it hard to tell that they are still babies.

Mama kitty is on the small side, so when those two babies are near her, at first glance, it's easy to get mama mixed up with either of them. But looking at the faces and tail helps pinpoint her.

She has a very sweet, feminine-looking face and a beauty all her own. She has exquisite, beautifully colored eyes that seem to shine, and a generous, almost "bushy" tail. Often is is tangled looking because she is wild and outside all the time.

Last weekend, on Saturday, Taylor was here. She was surprised to spy one of the little black kittens high up in our tree. We could see it from the kitchen window. The main living space of our house is on the second floor. The main door brings you inside the entry-way to steps that go downstairs to the basement/garage level or upstairs to the main living area.

Taylor spied that kitten and said, "Oh mamaw! The black kitty's in the tree. We have to get it down!"

"No, we don't", I said. "It got up there by itself, and it can get down by itself."

She insisted that we open the windows. Sweetie was lying in the front yard with one of the striped kitties next to her. I told Taylor that opening the window would alert them to our presence, and that would cause them to scatter away. I suggested watching through the window.

Nope! She opened the window anyway, and off they all went. To my great surprise, and Tay's, the black kitten in the tree had NO TROUBLE coming down that tree and taking refugee somewhere out of sight!

Next Sunday, Taylor will be going on a trip to Dollywood with her dad and his family.

My daughter will be Taylor-free for one whole week. This is a first for her: both hard and welcome at the same time. She will miss her immensely, I'm sure.

It worked out well though, as she is moving next weekend. This will give her time to paint two rooms in her old apartment, and get everything boxed up. She will move next weekend, so when Taylor returns, it will be to a new home.

Have a really great Wednesday. It's good old hump day, and we're almost halfway through the week.

See you tomorrow.