TAKING A BREAK

I'm feelin' a need to take a break from blogging so you won't be seeing any posts here for a bit. Heck, you really haven't seen any in a while if you check the date of my last post.

After a bit of a break, I'm sure I'll be back. No worries. It's all good.

TINA RECEIVES HER TAG "GATE"!!

Did y'all think I was ever going to get my trip to Wichita Falls posted? I declare, I always have the best intentions, but it seems like the days just fly by and before I know it, it's bedtime and another day has passed and I've left y'all in the dark about the delivery of the tag "gate" to Tina!
I simply could not let you continue to wonder how it went so I am writing this on the Tank's and my trip to the coast before my surgery this Wednesday. How about that - a working vacation. We're here for four days and will be leaving tomorrow after we visit an elderly couple that moved here to be closer to their daughter - they were members of our church and we just love Rena and Ray.
Then we'll take our "daughter", Skyler, out to lunch before we head home.

So, okay, let's get to the reason for this post!
I do tend to give entirely too much information! . . .
Below is a picture of my baby - my convertible, the trunk ready to be loaded with all I was taking to Wichita Falls to see Tina and her husband, Will.
The plan was for me to make the 6 1/2 hour drive last Monday, present the gate, get hugs, talk until we could talk no more, eat supper and then I would stay the night in a local hotel as they don't have a guest room (the second bedroom is her studio - I can't think of a better use for a second bedroom, can you??) And then Tina and I would meet for breakfast the next morning before I headed home. I had planned on the trip being a short one as I didn't want to wear her out and my plans worked out perfectly!

The trunk is packed with the tag "gate", my overnight bags and special little gifts from some of the precious tag makers. Oh, and cookies. Before I left the area, I stopped in Kerrville at the Cookie Chick's to pick up a special order I had placed for a half dozen HUGE oatmeal pecan raisin cookies and monster cookies as a special treat for Tina and Will. The Cookie Chick makes the most amazing cookies, they're honkin', AND she ships if you don't live in the area. They are the most delicious cookies and make such a special gift, don't you think? Check out the size of these cookies! They are 1/4# apiece! WOW!!
I made it to Wichita Falls about 3:30 p.m., stopped on the side of the road as I entered town and had a nice chat with a police officer about how fast my car can go *yeah* and after a delightful talk with Officer Piper I drove up at Tina's where she was waiting for me in the driveway!
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This is a picture of Rat Dog and Tina with the gate after she had studied every tag on it! She was in awe and completely overwhelmed by every one's generosity that made a tag for the "gate". You made her smile! REALLY big!!
She was blown away - no kidding. I want all of you to know that the time and effort you put into making a tag for her meant the world - and those of you that don't even know Tina, that might not even know me, those of you that made a tag because you do know me and those that made one because you know Tina - what a wonderful group of ladies.
The mixed media art community is an amazing group of women and you touched this woman (and Tina;) deeply by your kindness.

Our time together was delightful - she looked great, amazing!, felt pretty stinkin' good, too, considering she's undergoing chemo' and has Stage 4 colon cancer with a spot on her liver. . . .I give you these personal details so that you will know the severity of her cancer and if you are a believer, you will PRAY. That's what she's has asked for, what she longs for - that as many people as possible will be praying for her as she fights this battle. She would love to be added to your church's prayer list, your prayer list, your friend's prayer lists, ask prayer warriors that you know to pray for her. .. She is a strong believer and is counting on the prayer of believers to get her through this!

I thought you would enjoy seeing some pictures of us as we spent that special time together.
So, here we are. . .

Tina has changed her diet and is trying to eat healthy as much as she is able to so for dinner she prepared steamed veggies - broccoli, zucchini, squash, red peppers, onion, corn, fresh green beans, all steamed and absolutely delicious! And, feeling as good as she did, she insisted on doing all of the work while I entertained her by watching.

This picture below is a pic of Will, Tina's very silly husband! He is a hoot, entirely too much like me, and we adore each other. Well, I adore him. Surely he adores me? LOL

He is what Tina refers to as the Food Police as he watches closely what she consumes. He has researched her cancer, treatments, the chemo she is on, homeopathic medicine, everything he can get his hands on that he thinks will help his sweet wife beat this! He is an amazing husband and you can see how much he cares for Tina just by watching him with her.

Me??? Me, he teases. He's simply horrid.

He grilled pork chops for dinner and they were melt in your mouth delicious!

We had a delightful supper full of talk, teasing and a lot of laughter. It was wonderful fun and we all thoroughly enjoyed the meal and each other.

This pic below is of my dinner plate - see how yummy everything looks? And don't you just love the dinnerware?

I left Tuesday morning for home. I left a lot later than planned because Tina and I couldn't stop talking at breakfast! It was hard to leave her, but I know she's in good hands with Will and I keep up with her constantly through prayer, emails, fb and cards.

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Even though I got off late, I HAD to stop in Mineral Wells on the way home because I had spotted this antique/junk shop that needed my attention when I drove up to Tina's.

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Here are some overpriced dressers in front of the store.

Inside the junk shop it went on FOREVER. I was there for like an hour as it was and decided I will simply have to go back the next time I drive to Wichita Falls to see my new friend, Mr. Policeman.

I did manage to spend almost $40.00 on pearls, vintage Christmas, dominoes and some other things I can't remember now. *that cracks me up*

So, I leave and drive to the Dairy Queen to use the restroom before heading on and when I get back into my car *after being face to face with several of the DQ patrons* I notice that I have a vintage Christmas ornament from the junk store stuck to my hat!

It's too bad that I was alone because I laughed so hard I thought I'd pee. What a hoot! I SHOPLIFTED!! Oh, my gosh!! I'm 56 - I've never shoplifted in my life until last Tuesday!

Y'all have been so sweet to listen to me ramble on and on.

I just had to share the entire experience (okay, I forgot to take Mr. Policeman's picture, but I got most everything else:) with you so you'd feel like you were there. Most of you reading this were such a huge part of this post that I really wanted you to feel like you were by our side as we spent that time together.

And, to my other loyal, dear readers, thank you for always supporting my blog posts.

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This Wednesday I will be having surgery that will keep me off of my feet for 14 days so I'll have lots of time to post. I can catch up (I have posts that go back to July that need to be blogged! and I want to start *late* my "30 Days of Blessings" for November). So, know that I'll be on the computer filling everyone in............finally!

Have a fabulous week and know that someone loves you,

.

XOXO, Jan

IT'S A GOOD THING THAT TEAM TINA'S FIERCE BECAUSE I'M SLOWER THAN MOLASSES!

I don't know why I picked that title - I sat here for a few minutes trying to decide what to call this and "Tina's Tag Gate" just wasn't workin' for me.
But, it should have been because that's what this post is all about!
I'm going to share with you the pictures that I took that show the making and putting together of the victorian window that I got to put Tina's tags on. Now, you must understand that I am the worst of the worst when it comes to taking pictures of works in progress or events - I'm simply horrible. So, you don't get to see the window as it looked when I bought it, you don't get to see me breaking out all of the glass and not cutting myself, not even once, you don't get to see me trying to use a staple gun (did you know that it takes a strong hand to get those buggers to go into the wood and that your aim has to be really good to get your piece of wire between the two sharp points of the staple? ha!) because I forgot to take pictures, so I did the next best thing....the following pictures are self explanatory so I'll not bore you with sub-titles. What I'll do instead is let you look at the pictures while I work on the pics I took at Tina's this week when I hand delivered the gate. Good plan???

For your viewing enjoyment........................

This is Taylor, my pale pink ribbon cutting and pushing through the holes of the tags that needed length to tie on to the fencing helper. Thanks, Taylor!

"TA-DA-A-A-A-A-A!!!!"

Thank you, each of you wonderful artists, all of you members of Team Tina, that made this present for such a dear, sweet fellow mixed media artist, possible. I cannot wait to get it to her! .......Just give me some time to get all of the pics I took of the trip to Tina's fixed up and I'll get that trip posted. I'm old, I'm slow, but I eventually come through!

XOXO, Jan

ONE SMALL DOG + 7 OZ. CHOCOLATE =

Y'all remember when your kiddos would throw up wienies and red Kool-aid? It's happened to all parents. Well, I'm going to change it up a little bit. I'm blogging this mostly to pound out my frustration on the keyboard and to share a fascinating afternoon in my life, with you. . . . .my readers. You want to know the good and the bad, don't you???

Okey dokey!
Well.
This afternoon has been oh. . .so. . .pleasant.
Remember GiGi, the Bichon that we rescued the first of September? The dog that cost us $1,000.00 (emergency surgery) the first week we had her because we were "taken" by the previous owners?

The dog that has gone on to cost us a bundle because of vet visits, a steroid shot, followed a month later by prednisone pills, all because of a skin condition that she came to us with, oh, and let's not forget the when said dog, G., is on the pred pills that she can't control her bladder......I'll spare you the details.

But it's all good. She is getting, and has gotten, the medical attention that she needed and continues to need and we adore her.
Well, "we" adored her until this afternoon. . . . .

Picture, if you will......go with me in your mind's eye to my studio......

It all started with me walking through my studio to the garage to snag a diet cherry Dr. P. from the fridge out there. As I approached the studio I could see that someone, excuse me, some DOG, said dog being G., had completely destroyed a really sturdy sack that was full of gifts that I received at the Paper Whimsy retreat I went to last month. She had gone through each item in the sack to get to the bottom where there were two 3.5 oz. specialty bars of milk chocolate that I had bought as gifts.

Now, I realize that at this point I should be showing you pictures of the mess in the studio, the chewed up chocolate bar cardboard sleeves, a picture of me on the computer looking up, "small dog eats chocolate", me calling the vet's, so many photo ops. But, I couldn't/can't be bothered right now - I'm too busy pounding the keys on my laptop getting my frustrations out!

In an effort to remove myself from the situation I am going to tell the entire story in bullet form and in third person. . . . .

• small 15# dog eats 7 ounces of specialty milk chocolate
• upon discovery and being anal retentive, owner cleans up mess first, after scolding said small dog
• owner researches symptoms of "a small dog eating lots of chocolate" on the Internet
• calls vet immediately after finding out that it can be oh, so dangerous
• vet tech tells owner to get said small dog to drink Hydrogen Peroxide and then bring her to the clinic
• owner asks vet tech, "What??! Put it in a bowl and say, 'Here, G., drink this! It's good!'?"
• owner gets H.P. down said dog with a turkey baster that will make some garbage man's wife a nice stocking stuffer
• vet tech did not advise owner that it could take several minutes for the H.P. to work
• "work" meaning "make said dog throw up the chocolate"
• in a rush to get to the clinic, owner covers the bucket seat on the passenger side of owner's most loved convertible to protect the leather seat if said dog needs to spit up
• owner puts said dog on the towel on the seat in the beloved car and tells her not to spit up
• just before owner is able to start beloved car, owner's cell rings
• the vet is on the phone and starts asking questions about the incident
• at that moment, said dog has turned into the exorcist and is spewing chocolate vomit all over said beloved convertible as the vet yaps on
• not meaning to be rude but fearing that said dog's head may start turning a 360, owner yells at vet that owner will call back as owner throws down the phone
• there is vomit everywhere it could possibly be in a small, enclosed area.
• working quickly and throwing up in the back of owner's throat during the entire ordeal, owner gets beloved car cleaned up and kills said dog
• oh, alright, owner didn't kill said dog, owner called the vet back
• "She threw up that much, huh? Well, I really don't think you need to bring her in. Sounds like she's gotten most of it out. Watch for more vomiting, and, oh, she may have some diarrhea tonight."
• "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Lesley Venable will be leading a class at K.C. Willis' Studio Retreat in February '10, in Longmont, Colorado! Because K.C. is just beginning Studio Retreats I want to help spread the word!Leslie's class is an altered book class, Bound Reliquaries, which will be held in K.C.'s shop on February 4 - 6, 2010. You can find out more information by visiting K.C.'s visiting-artists-page.

I encourage you to do that because you will be blown away, not only by this one, but by all of the them that are offered!

I am personally taking a class from K.C. in April! I am PAST excited about it!!

Bound Reliquaries, is limited to 10 people. When the first 5 sign up there will be a drawing and one of those lucky artists will receive the class at 50% off the class price...
that's right, one half the cost of an already splendidly priced workshop!

But, it doesn't stop there....when the next and final 5 sign up, another drawing will be held and one of those lucky artists will receive the same 50% off discount off of this class!!

Wow. This just blows me away! If I wasn't already going to Colorado in April for K.C.'s class, I'd be sooooo tempted to take this class!

Consider yourself in the know!

XOXO, Jan

TEAM TINA IS FIERCE!!!

When my dear, sweet friend, Tina Wright, was diagnosed with colon cancer a few weeks ago (you can read more about TEAM TINA and Tina's fight by scrolling down and reading the first post about Tina's cancer) I knew that I wanted to do something to make her feel the love of the artist community that she was a part of and that she loves. That's when TEAM TINA was formed and our first outpouring of love was organized.
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that my call out for tags for a "tag gate" for Tina would produce such an outpouring of love. I have been humbled by the generosity and time that I know went into each and every tag that has been received.
I got home from my trip to Michigan and when I saw the pile of TEAM TINA mail I was filled with joy! I couldn't believe it! So many envelopes! I couldn't wait to open them all!!

It took a few days before I could get to the mail (*life got in the way*) but when I did, I just sat here in my bedroom sitting area with the envelopes piled on the floor to my right and as I opened each one I was again humbled by the notes of love that I received.

Thank you, dear ones, for your kind words. And, some of you made me a tag or enclosed a small gift. I have kept every note, every tag and gift, every sweet card...........I treasure them all.

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But, the most wonderful thing was opening the envelopes and seeing the gorgeous tags y'all made for Tina! Every envelope I opened, I would think to myself, "Oh, my gosh, I need to email *this woman* and tell her how much I love her tag!!!". And, then I'd think, okay, I'll do that at the end of opening all of these envelopes.
Well, let me tell ya - I just don't have the time to email EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU to tell you how wonderful your tags are - I'll just have to tell you here.

Honestly, and please excuse me if I sound like a broken record, y'all have touched me by the outpouring of love and support you are showing Tina through your creations. This project is going to knock her socks off!
And, I must tell you that my heart was pierced each time I would open a tag made by an artist that doesn't know Tina, but wanted to bless her. Wow.

(click on the pictures to enlarge and see the details of the tags!)

What a blessing y'all are to a woman fighting for her life.

A woman that is courageous through her faith in the Lord, is supported by those praying for her, and is supported by outpourings of love such as this TEAM TINA project.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

And, if you didn't know about this project and want to be a part of it, you still have time because I won't be traveling to Tina's until November. She and I have talked and are planning on the Tank and I making the trip the first part of November, so if you want, scroll back to the first post about Tina and simply follow the directions. There is plenty of room for a tag from you!

Okay, let me tell you - I looked in every junk shop between here and Michigan for the rusty old gate that I wanted for this project. No such gate to be found. Now, we have one here at the ranch, but it keeps the goats penned, so I had to think of something else..........I went to a salvage company in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and I bought a vintage chippy white Victorian window. Oh, my gosh, it is so cool.
I'm going to break out all of the glass and attach a sheet of (pale pink) wire on which to hang the tags. It's going to be so amazing when I put your tags on it.............Now, give me a week or two to get this done and when it's all put together and pretty, I'll blog about it! Aren't you excited???
This project is just so cool and whether you know it or not, you're a vessel of God and that is the coolest thing to me!

XOXO, Jan

P.S. TEAM TINA ISN'T FINISHED YET!
.I'VE GOT ANOTHER PROJECT UP MY GLITTERED SLEEVE AND
.I'LL BE TELLING YOU ABOUT IT IN A WHILE.....
.STAY TUNED, YOU SWEET, SWEET ARTISTS!

DON'T BLAME ME!

Maybe you remember earlier this year that I blogged about driving through Missouri.
That post was about driving through on the interstate.
This post is about driving through Missouri yesterday, but on the back roads.
The fact that I'm writing this post while amazingly tired is the same as last time, only the roads have changed.....

Missouri - now, don't get me wrong, I know that other states have the same type of towns and just because I happened to be driving through Missouri both times that I post about the oddness of a state and it happens to be Missouri, well, it's just coincidence.....

I saw three towns while driving the beautiful, very curvy, very dangerous backroads of Missouri yesterday..............

Climax.
Licky.
and Bourbon.

What is going on?
Who are these people that name these towns???
Not my relatives.
Oh, please, not my relatives.

As I drove I kept my eyes peeled for even better town names...............
I kept looking for Panties.
Can'a Whoop Ass
and Bite Me.

Never have I been so disappointed.

A POST FROM TINA, HERSELF!

Hi, y'all! I'm excited to pass on to you the fact that Tina felt good enough to post on her blog! I thought you might enjoy reading it, so, settle into your couch and head over to her blog and get the word straight from Tina!

I will continue to keep you posted whenever I have new information (about Tina and our secret Team Tina project *prior post for those not in the know that want to join in the fun*!:).

I hope you each have a fabulous day! Kudos to my faithful readers, lurkers AND COMMENTERS!

XOXO, Jan

TALKED TO TINA TODAY!

Hi, y'all! If you've been keeping up with me on fb then you know that I'm STILL in Michigan at my mom's. We've been having such a nice visit and I've really been enjoying Sophie (below).
She wanted me to tell you that I talked to Tina today and have an update for you!Tina sounded good. She did. She sounded good. She's had her first chemo session and has anti-nausea meds so that's not been a problem - praise God! I just hate to throw up, don't you?

She's tired, very lethargic, but when she can raise her head, she likes to sit in the sun. I can picture her in her yard, sunning, and it makes me smile.

I found a "gate" for the tags that are waiting for me at home (prior post if you're wanting to be in the know and you're not yet:) and I'm so excited! I found it at this salvage resale place here in Kalamazoo that I love only it's not a gate. I really had hoped to do a gate, but instead, since I couldn't find one anywhere and the only one I have access to is keeping our goats in the pasture behind our house, I bought this old, chippy white victorian window. Oh, my gosh, it's fabulous!!

I'm going to break out all of the glass and staple on wire that I'll buy and spray pale pink. Then I'm going to attach the tags with the ribbon or fibers, if they have them, by tying them on or attaching them with wee bitty clothespins that i'll stamp to make pretty. IT'S GOING TO BE SO STINKIN' CUTE!!!

I'm very excited to get home and see all y'all's tags and get the "gate" made and delivered. She's going to be so blessed that her socks are just gunna go flyin' off her feet!! Doesn't that just BLESS YOU???

Let's all stop right now and say a prayer for Tina - as you're reading this - lift her up.

I'm going to close this and visit with my sweet sisters and my wonderful mom as I scratch Sophie behind the ears. But, I'll be talkin' to you later. When I get home the end of next week and open all of the tags I want to post them so you will see their wonder.

See you then! And, as always, I simply adore my readers - you're so wonderful!

XOXO, Jan

A REALLY GREAT GIVEAWAY SOMEWHERE ELSE!

There's a great giveaway (why am I telling you this???) at http://mysocalledjunkylife.blogspot.com/.

It closes on October 10th.

Hurry over and enter my name.

XOXO, Jan

AN UPDATE ON TINA

Hey, everyone. This is going to be quick and there's not going to be any pictures to make it pretty, but, it's an important post about dear, sweet Tina.

If you're reading this and wondering what the heck I'm talking about, then scroll down to the post below this one and catch yourself up!

Okay, all of you precious Team Tina members, I have an update for you on Tina.
I haven't posted an update before now because there was a question as to how much information the family wanted made public...............Tina has colon cancer, has had surgery and one planned in the near future, will start chemo soon, is being taken care by an amazing oncologist in Dallas that she loves, and is determined to fight the fight with the help of God.
You know she has a very strong faith and I know that it is only with God that she will be able to get through the next days and the next days and the next days.

Her cancer is very serious and she needs all of the prayers you can muster up for her. Put her on your church prayer list, tell your friends that are prayer warriors, and you pray for her daily.

I still feel my world rocking every single day since I found out about her cancer. She is an amazing person and an incredible artist; someone I love dearly.

I'm in Michigan and will return home in a little over a week - I know there's going to be a ton of tags waiting for me to attach to the tag gate for Tina! I'm so excited about that - and if you haven't sent a tag yet and want to - please do!! The more tags, the more love shown and I know she is going to be SO SO blessed by your effort and time.

Thank you, y'all. You're wonderful.

(If you are a member of FaceBook, you can get updates on Tina (Tina Wright) there. Her husband, Will, is using FB to keep people updated on Tina's condition. I encourage you to check it out and to leave an encouraging note.

XOXO, Jan

A DEAR FRIEND, AN ARTIST, A BLOGGER, NEEDS OUR SUPPORT!

Hi, sweet friends! I'm so glad you're taking the time to read this post as it's vitally important. I don't know of any other group that is more supportive of those of us that are living through the hardest times of our life. Artist bloggers are such giving and caring people.
So, I'm glad to see that you're running to this post *the flamingos - running - get it?* to help one of ours who is in need of our support!
Tina Wright, child of God, wife, mother, grandmommy, artist, co-creator of the Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat, Texan and friend, has this week, been diagnosed with colon cancer.
I don't know how much information the family wants made public so will simply say that Tina needs us! She is in a place where an outpouring of love from her blogger friends, retreat friends, students and fellow artists will help lift her spirits and boost her strength!(If you don't know Tina, but still want to help with Team Tina, you are more than welcome to join in! You are so appreciated!)

Tina is caring, giving, always patient and kind, loves her family and friends and simply adores her grandkids! She is an incredible artist, specializes in soldering and soldered jewelry. She's a wonder, that's for sure, I am so blessed to call her a dear friend.

I would like for all of us to make a piece of art, a tag, and I will put all of it together for her.

I want to make her a "tag gate" and I need YOU to do it!
A tag gate is an old metal gate, or facsimile, that I will fill with tags that have been made for her using decorated clothes pins and/or ribbons to attach them - this is something that she can prop on a dresser, hang on her wall, etc. It will be approximately 2 feet square or 2' x 3', so we need lots of tags to fill it!!

If you want to be a part of the Team Tina project, make a tag, any size, any design, with your name and email address on the back and send it to me NO LATER THAN OCTOBER 2ND.

Jan Thomason
Team Tina
5720 Hwy. 27
Center Point, Texas 78010

Thanks for your support and your willingness to bring joy into the life of Tina, one amazing woman!

And, if you're a believer, and if you are, then this part is going to be the "duh" part of the post, would you please pray for Tina and Will, for their family, Tina's medical team and her friends. Get her on your church's prayer list, get her name to your friends and church members that are prayer warriors. Thank you!!

Thanks everyone! I'll post all of the tags here after the 2nd and also show you the finished project. You're a blessing and so appreciated!

XOXO, Jan