It must be a full moon

My husband and I went to dinner at Texas Station Casino tonight with friends. As I was waiting for him to return from the restroom as we were leaving, I had time to stop and really look around and listen. I smiled as I noticed all the different sounds that you hear in a casino. There was the lounge singer, all the people talking, the sounds of all the bells and noises of the slot machines. The sound of coins being paid out....but of course in Vegas...it's fake. The slots don't give you real money anymore. Just little paper tickets. What an atmosphere! There are little kids everywhere because they have the bowling alley and the movie theater in the casinos as I mention in a previous post. They are fascinated by all the sounds and colors. What a world we live in. As my husband and I are walking to the parking garage, I look at all the people sticking their money in the machines, hoping, praying for that big win. On the progressive machines, the numbers keep going up and up. I start to believe that saying...money is the root of all evil. As we drive home, I say to my husband that it must be a full moon out because this week has just been NUTS! And just before we get home, I see it. I was right! After my horrible day at work on Wednesday, things just went downhill from there. My payroll employee ended up in the hospital. I had told her to go to the Dr., because she looked horrible. On Thursday morning I called her to make sure she was alright and she was on her way to the Dr. A few hours later, she called and said they were taking her to the emergency room by ambulance. She finally got put into a room at about 5:30pm. She has no family here in Las Vegas. I feel for her. My husband and I went to the hospital and got her car keys from her and went to her Dr. Office and picked up her car and drove it home for her. She is still in there tonight. I have been talking with her and making sure she is OK. When they release her, I will be picking her up and bringing her to her house. I don't want her to feel like she is all alone in this. Then, today at lunch, Jen got a call from her mother. her father has taken a turn for the worse and is asking to see his kids because he feels like he is not going to live. She is on her way to Albuquerque to be with her father. Please keep her and her family in your prayers. I am taking care of her kitties while she is gone. Anybody who knows Jen, knows that I have been entrusted with a great responsibility as those are her sweet peas. I feel like the mother hen of the office, taking care of all the little chicks. I don't think I can handle anymore heartbreak this week. Please Lord, keep everybody safe and sound! Well I had better rest up this weekend because next week will be rough without those 2 ladies at work....It's Month end and Quarter End...and just little 'ol me... I will be busy!

P.S. Just wanted to say thank you to all the people who comment on my blog. It's nice to know that I have support! Thanks!

2 Posts in One Day!!!

This is my second post. I decided that I would not leave all that negativity out there without posting some positive to counteract! :) Here are some drawings of things I did when I was 12 or 13. Please ignore the pen marks that have been drawn thru and around them. When my son was 5 he found my sketch book and decided to add his own art. So here they are. The early works of Cindy Dean:
Comments? I am going to bed as I am exhausted from today....TTFN

Jen FINALLY has a blog

Today, for the 50 millionth time, Jen said, "I need to start a blog." So....I said come here and sat her down next to me and we created it! Art Jewels & Treasures by Jen She has no more excuses now! LOL Not that there is a post on it yet, but at least it is there. So when she does her first post, please drop by and give her a comment. You will make her day, week, month, year.

We went shopping at the bead store again at lunch time. I bought a bunch of stuff. LOL I have ideas this time I swear! I shall be making a couple of necklaces. One will be called "Sweet as Honey" and the other will be called "Grow Where You Are Planted". That is all I can say about them. You shall see the end results sometime next week. So stay tuned. That is all for today. I am just trying to catch up on housework etc. TTFN (Ta Ta For Now)

Art Nest Part 2

So last night I was just so exhausted from all the creating and driving...I hate driving, that I didn't tell about more than one day! Our next class was Sally Jeans Gothic Pendent necklace. She taught us a little about how she creates the collage and then we started creating our pieces. Since I had her Soldering for Virgins class last month, I already knew the basics of soldering and I already knew what I wanted to do on my piece, so I went to town. I wanted it to be a mother/daughter thing. I took 2 pictures, one of me and one of Megan when we were around the same age. I screwed up my picture when I accidentally wiped it with a baby wipe. I wanted to scream, but I had to move on. Our birthdays are the same day, so I added some of my pieces to reflect that. Plus I added our initials to it. I love how it turned out. My first try at wire wrapping was kind of clumsy but I like it just the same.

OK...now about the experience. Have you ever felt like something is just supposed to be. That things happen in your life at just the right time? That is the way I felt about this trip. I felt a sense of connection to all these women. Each person there had something different to offer. I felt a little under accomplished with all the talent that was surrounding me. Besides the teachers, Sherri Haab & Lisa Call who are also teachers at Art & Soul were there. Most of the woman there make their living doing art. But as we all talked, they made me feel much more confident that I could do this too. They offered their wisdom and spirit and I took it all in gladly. I miss all the people there. It was so wonderful and I know that we will all keep in touch and cheer each other on. And I can't say enough about Candice and Julie. If it weren't for them, none of this would have happened. If they ever decide to do another Art Nest and you have the opportunity to go, I say do it. You will never regret it.

This retreat also brought me closer to Jen. We work together everyday, all day, and then we just spent 5 days with each other and still we did not tire of being around each other. Except when she told me to stop crying! LOL Just kidding! On the way back home during our LONG 6-1/2 hour drive, did I mention I hate driving?) we talked almost the whole time about our experience and what we are going to do next.

My only regret is that my sister Lynn could not join me. I know she would have loved it too. But she had just moved into her new house and is still unpacking and of course moving is EXPENSIVE. No extra bucks for playing right now. I am hoping that she will go to Art Fest with me next year. We shall see as we are also going to Italy & Turkey in September 2008 for our sister reunion. I know, a weird combination but we really want to see Italy because we have never been there, and we also just LOVED our trip to Turkey on the cruise. So we decided to do both. I better get to selling so I can make enough money to go!

The Art Nest June 2007

What an AMAZING 4 days. I don't know if I can describe in words how wonderful it was, but I am going to try.

Jen and I took off from Las Vegas around noon, and did not arrive at the cabin till almost 8pm their time. We had a bit of a hard time in the mountains of Utah...kinda got lost. So much for a navigation system. It does not work off the main roads! Next time I will follow directions! We did a little off roading but made it just fine! When we arrived we were greeted by everyone so warmly. Every body was sitting around getting to know one another. You could feel the excitement in the air. We had dinner on the deck. It was fabulous. Candice and Julie, our hosts had thought of everything.

Isn't the view from the deck WONDERFUL???

We had to share rooms and beds with fellow Nester's and it was great. Angel Chiasson was our suite mate and we stayed up late talking and getting to know each other. She has a piece of art in the Jul/Aug 2007 edition of Somerset Studio magazine. Of course I made her sign it!

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast, which of course was fabulous. Then we took Misty Mawn's class. What a great teacher she is. So giving of herself. I got to know her over the weekend and admire her even more. So sweet... BUT not as innocent as she seems! LOL She can let out some zingers every once in awhile. I just love her spirit! Her and Jen have that sweet and innocence thing going for them...

Here are some pictures from her class

Deb, showing her piece and explaining what she did.

Angel showing her piece.

Jen, Misty and me.



My paintings I did. of course Misty helped with the faces because I don't have the hang of that yet! I could go on more, but I am tooooooo tired. That was our first day of creating. I will post more tomorrow.

I have been interviewed! Check it out

I was interviewed for Create a Connection website. I think I did a pretty good job with the questions. Let me know what you think!

I am tired!

I did ALOT of rearranging on Saturday, but I did not get done! My room is still a mess but I do have a space to work in. Yeah! The spare bedroom is STILL full of stuff. My poor son has to live in the living room because we haven't gotten to that room yet. I tried on Saturday, and I thought I had taken a whole BUNCH of stuff out but it still looks full. :( I need to PURGE! But I did not have time. Towards the afternoon, my daughter and her boyfriend or ex or whatever he is, were fighting. I felt bad for her because she was supposed to go over there but since they were arguing, I told her to stay home and we would have a mommy daughter night. And we did. We went to Texas Station Casino and saw the movie "Knocked Up". We pigged out on popcorn and candy. Then we went to the Oyster Bar and had steamed clams for dinner. After that we went bowling. Texas Station has it all! If you are not from Vegas, than I am sure you are asking why we went to a casino. Well here in Las Vegas, the movie theaters are in the casinos. So are the bowling alleys. I think there may be one or two movie theaters not connected to a casino. So anyways, we had fun. I beat her on both games, the last one barely. Her nails kept getting caught on the ball. After bowling we were both tired and it was about 10:30pm, so home we went.



Today I spent all day creating my package/trade for ArtNest. I decided I would create a charm that said ArtNest June 2007, and then make a little ephemera box. I call it an Ice Pack. In Creative Emergency. Isn't that soooooo cute! Of course it looks much cuter in person!



I hope everyone likes it. I am so excited about going. Only a few more days and then Jen and I hit the road! I only finished one 100%. The other 21, I have to finished tomorrow night. I only have to solder on the jump rings to the charms and attach to the boxes. I hate doing jump rings. I so SUCK at attaching those little suckers! But, the more I do, the better I get.

Cleaning & Organizing.

If you look at the first few posts on my blog, which wasn't that long ago, you will see a nice neat organized space. Sigh....that is no longer the case. Right now, I have a walking path to my desk. That is it. All kinds of crap on the floors...All over my desk, and my workspace...probably a 6" x 6" clear spot on it. Arrrggggghhhhh! SoooooOOOOoooooo, That is what I will be doing today. Cleaning and organizing my room AGAIN, so I can work in it! I only have 5 days till I go to ArtNest and I can't even make anything because when I look at my mess I get overwhelmed! Crazy. I am rearranging too, so this is a major project. The way I had it set up just wasn't working for me. I am tweaking and adjusting.

Tomorrow I will be creating! I am making my trades that I will be taking with me. I have an idea, but I will have to see if it works first. I will be taking pictures and posting of course!

TTFN-(Ta Ta For Now) as Tigger would say. I am off to cleaning and organizing...my first chore? To cut out the rubber stamps I put on foam the other day and never finished and put them away in their books!

Not much to say today

Kinda unusual for me...not much to say. Mellow day. For me anyways. All kinds of drama at work but I just didn't get involved. I must be in la la land, cause I always have an opinion. LOL. Not today....Nighty night...

I need ART!

My sister Lynn and I were talking the other day about moving, because she just bought a new house and moved in after Memorial Day weekend. She is still unpacking and feels like it's never ending. I told her that I have been in this house almost a year now and I am still not totally unpacked! I also told her I would take pictures of the painting job that we did and I am just getting to them now! As I was taking the pictures, I noticed how empty my walls were. Sad sad state of affairs! Not that I have much wall space in the living room and dining room on the lower end of the walls, but the upper parts need desperate help!

See my kitty Mister laying at his vantage point? He looks out the window by the front door and views the world as it goes by.

See my problem? All these empty spaces! I have the big niche above the dining area that sits empty, waiting for some wonderful pieces to be placed into it's cove. I bought the globe to go in here as I think I am going to make it like a travel vignette. I have old suitcases and such, but I just haven't found the right stuff to put it all together. See the black spot in the middle of the picture? That is my cat Sammy, laying on his vantage spot, overseeing all.

Here is one of my lonely little spots of decorating.
So dear sister, I think that you shall be done putting your house together before me! I am moving slow, maybe because I just got tired. Tired of unpacking boxes for the umpteenth time. 3 moves, 1st moving to Kentucky, then moving back to Las Vegas, and then moving into this house 6 months after we got here, in a year and a half about killed me. I really do need to finish unpacking. But, I would rather spend my time creating...that is why my spare room is FULL of boxes! What hidden treasures await to be unpacked? I have no idea what is in the boxes anymore!

7 more days till ArtNest

I am very excited. 7 more days until ArtNest. I am so looking forward to getting away for the weekend and also the classes I get to take. It is going to be such a wonderful time! I already know! Only a few more supplies to get. I have most everything, so it won't be as bad as going to Art & Soul money wise. I am trying to think of what I want to make for trades. There will be 22 people including the teachers. So not too many to make. I just am stumped at what to do. I keep thinking of different things but nothing has said "Do That!" Help! I want it to fun and original. Of course I will have to make 23 because even though my sister Lynn is not there with me, I was told when we were at Art & Soul that I must create one of everything for her too! LOL Maybe I will dream of my project tonight...wish me sweet dreams!

I have been tagged!

I've been tagged. The tagging thing is this...you post 7 random facts/habits about yourself to your blog or my space then you choose 7 other people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment/or email them to tell them they have been tagged and to read your blog.Here are my seven random things that you may or may not know about me:

1. One of my favorite movies is Caveman with Ringo Starr! LOL..I know I know, I just can't help it!
2. I won a writing contest in 2nd grade and got to go to Cape Canaveral to see a rocket blast off in the early 70's
3. I failed my driving test because I hit a bumper that was sticking way out on a truck and scrapped my car. LOL...That was along time ago and I don't EVER parallel park anywhere because I suck at it!
4. I love all things Halloween.
5. I could live on Steamed Clams and melted butter.
6. I used to collect teddy bears and I have over 200 of them packed away in boxes in the closet.
7. I lived in my car for about a week when my son was a baby until I broke down and went back to my husband at the time because I just couldn't make it on my own. Sad I know, but I would not trade my past for it is what has made me who I am now.

I tag the following artists:
Paula Scinto An English Girl in the USA
Belinda - Altered belly
Tracy Roos
Elizabeth of Enchanted Art
Rella - Faerieluna
Deryn Mentock
Nina Bagley

Happening's in Cindy's Life

Friday, the company I work for held our annual Golf Tournament, our third. This year we picked Juvenile diabetes as our cause. I am pretty sure we raised over $23,000.00 for them. I just have to go and figure out the amount this coming week. It was a great day. Just the right weather for it. A picture perfect day.

My daughter always helps with the event. She likes to dive the golf cart around the course with the water and Gatorade. So her and Stephanie, one of the girls at work, spent the day driving around and handing out the drinks. Some of the guys made them take some shots for them. Here they are:

On Saturday, I went to the antique store. I bought an old globe. I love it. I like that it has a black ocean.

I also bought some old journals to use in my art. I also bought a book to alter for my journal on my trip to Turkey. It has a pretty cool cover so I won't do too much altering to that, but I am excited about starting on it. I also bought some old sheet music.

Other than that, my weekend was very unproductive. I should have been cleaning my art space. It is totally a mess. I have been trying to organize it for the past couple of weeks. Ever since I came back from Art & Soul it's been a mess. I guess I have done a few things. I had a whole bunch of rubber stamps that needed to be cut down and put on the foam, so I did that. My hand hurt after cutting them down, so now they are sitting on the foam sheets waiting to be cut out on those!

Roller Coaster Day

Today was one of those roller coaster emotional days. This week has been especially hard. My mood swings go from up to down. I am struggling at work to find a balance of caring to much or not enough. As my boss sometimes says jokingly, "It's a mans world and you are just living in it." Sometimes I resent it, other times I just deal with it. I feel like I have too many hats to wear. As I said today in strategic planning when the facilitator needed something copied, they all looked at me, and being the only woman in the group assumed I was going to make them. So I grabbed the papers and said "Give it to Cindy, she'll do it, she does everything." as I walked out of the room. That set the tone for my mood in the meeting. As I was taking notes, again as the women folk must do, Bruce our facilitator asked if I was OK and was I getting this down. I gave him the evil eye of Cindy and all the guys started laughing and warning Bruce because they know when I am in that kind of mood to stay away and be very nice. LOL It did make me laugh, but it's just so frustrating to be on that kind of level but still be viewed as subservient. Arrggghhhhhh.

Then there are the bright spots in my day. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. See the temperature gage in my car? Only 84 degrees! There was a cold front that came thru and cooled the valley down. This is why I love Las Vegas. Days like these.
As I drive home every day, I get to see this big flag at the new Chevron station, waving in the wind. I love this flag. Especially when it was brand new. The colors were so bright and crisp against faded mountains and blue sky that surround the valley. The flag has been broken in by the winds of the last few days and now has frayed edges, but it is still a beautiful reminder of what a great country we live in. My heart fills with pride when I see it waving in the breeze. It also reminds me to pray for those that are fighting in the war, doing their selfless duty, while we enjoy our freedom here. That is when I start to feel grateful for the little things. Reading Nina Bagley's blog today made me pay attention to the things I normally don't notice. I do have some green in my life. Like my little patch of grass outside my front door.

Or the purple flowers that have started to bloom on the shrub that separates my yard from the neighbors driveway.

Or this one little lonely bloom from a flowering plant that has been trying to come out for weeks but seems stuck, like a chick hatching from it's egg. Not quite strong enough to push it's way thru.These are the things that make life just a little easier to bear.

Bead Shopping & Creating

I went to a new bead store in town today. They had all kinds of different things there. It's funny how each store in town is different. I guess that is a good thing, because you know you can find different things at different stores. I bought some beads of course. I can't go in without buying something. That would be unCindy like. I found some Delica seed beads I liked. Not in my usual colors but I had to have them. I had an idea about some earrings to make and here they are with my lovely daughter modeling them.Here is a close up of the earrings. Kinda blurry cause my camera sucks. But it will do. The earring wires are gunmetal color. I love this color for wire. Then the circles are washers that I distressed with inks. and of course the Delica beads and the stone at the bottom. I really like them. I was laying in bed last night and this idea came to me. LOL. I told my daughter that she is going to be my sales person. I am making her wear them out and about and when people ask where she got them, she will say, my mom made them. I am pimping out my daughter! LOL She actually likes these. I guess if my teenager likes them I am doing pretty good.

Hibernation

I decided today that it is time to go into Summer Hibernation! Damn it's hot! We had a career fair at work today...don't ask...and they (the powers that be) decided that it was a good idea to have a tent set up in the parking lot. Thank God that it was semi overcast today. It was HOT. So when I got done at 1pm and got into my car to go home and looked at the temperature gage and it said 111 degrees, I knew that the summer hibernation period starts now! I hate going out when it is that hot. I was going to stop by Michaels on the way home but decided I didn't want to go anywhere and I headed straight home, changed into shorts and relaxed. I did venture out at 7:30 pm when the sun was down. It's bareable then. Went to Michaels and got more beads containers to finish my organizing. So much to do....so little time.

It's Friday and the 1st of June!

Today was a pretty good day except for the morning time. I was extremely crabby. All the women will understand. Anyways, the company that I work for had a topping out party at a job of ours. If you want to know what Top Out is read on;

“No one seems to know exactly
when or how it started, but the tradition
of ‘Topping Out’ has become a
cherished custom of Iron workers
whenever the skeleton of a bridge or
building is completed. Topping Out is
a signal that the uppermost steel
member is going into place, that the
structure has reached its height. As
that final beam is hoisted, an evergreen
tree or a flag or both are
attached to it as it ascends."

So now you know what it means. Aren't you glad you asked?

We got the cute little coin pictured above and got to leave work early. LOL It was HOT in there. We are in a concrete building with NO AIR CONDITIONING and it's over 100 degrees in Las Vegas. What was I thinking? We had a good time.

The best part of the day was when Jen came running into my office and said to check my email. She said that Antiques Roadshow had sent emails to those who had signed up to be in the ticket lottery and had gotten them. She is such a fanatic of the show that she made all the girls in the office sign up to receive tickets. Well I received an email that I should be receiving 2 tickets in the mail and so did Donna, another woman in our office. The funny part is, is that Jen didn't get picked! LOL She made us sign up to better her chances of going. I guess it worked cause I am taking her with me. I would have never signed up if it wasn't for her forcing me too! Plus it's her Birthday that day, so I guess I HAVE to take her. LOL I told her if she brought big furniture that I am not helping her carry it so she had better bring something small to have appraised! So on August 18th, I shall be standing in line with Jen, in the 115 degree heat, waiting like fools to get in the doors to Antiques Roadshow.

P.S. Jen...you get to pay for parking! Just kidding.