My semi-living works of art...

My cats are not stressed...



In fact, they often remind me of the art of Salvador Dali...

Sorry, not much to say lately...

and no new art to post, around the second half of the summer there will probably be more from the drawing class I'll be taking. I just haven't been in the mood lately.

I do have some images in my head that I want to put down on paper but I'm still mentally working on how I want to lay them out. Writers make an outline of how they want a story to go before writing it out (at least I think they do), musicians plan their arrangements first, and artists do the same by deciding how to design the image, what medium to use, color palette to show the mood, etc. And you know, all the famous artists made sketches to decide how to lay their artwork out, how objects/bodies looked from different angles, proportions, movements, lots and lots of sketches. Leonardo daVinci for example...

But I'm bad about not doing sketches. When I have an idea in my head I don't want to waste my time with sketches... like I expect it to just come out and be a grand work of art... and yet it doesn't come out that way... I know it would come out better if I would sketch and plot it out first. But at the same time, in the past the one or two occassions I did do a small sketch first it seemed like the sketch came out better than the actual work I was planning... as if I drew it best the first time it came out and so then the second time for the actual artwork it was spent... no longer a fresh idea, after I did it once the thrill was gone. Do you all even know what I mean by that? Am I only making sense to myself? I'm not the best writer in the world...

So these images I have in my head that I want to draw, it poses another problem for me that they are in fact coming from my mind... you may think this unusual for an "artist" to say, but I've never really felt creative. Oh sure, I can look at a photo and recreate it, as if I'm a copy machine. I'm very visual, and can plot out and measure with my eyes to draw something I see, like with the still-lifes. However, if it's only an image in my mind it's a different matter... parts of it are obscure and fuzzy, like a photo not quite in focus, so trying to plan out how to arrange it and lay it out for a physical piece of artwork isn't easy for me.

I should probably sketch more.

War with Web Worms, part II...

At least I'm not the only one who's frustrated with battling the insurgence of the fuzzy green caterpillars from hell. Home Depot actually sold out of the spray you use to kill them. And sure enough, there's a Dallas Morning News article about the problematic bugs (to which they're saying "no problem!").

Tree owners tangle with webworms

"Shooting fleas with a rifle"... har har very funny. *Sigh*

I say, more insecticides!

Today I'm spraying my 3rd bottle of poison. I like to hope I'm at least reducing the population... but then I'm probably also reducing the population of fish in the lake next to my house.

According to the article I guess I'll also be going around with a long stick poking holes in the webs... where the heck am I going to get a stick long enough for that?? Hmmm...

The war's not over yet...

Die you furry green worms...

I'm waging war on webworms.

They're everywhere. Our one big beautiful tree in our front yard started getting those ugly webs on the branches, and now the caterpillars have busted out and invaded.


They're falling out of the tree like rain

climbing back up the trunk

eating the leaves bare

eating our other bushes

all over the lawn

eating my potted plants

all over our front porch, eaves of the house, EVERYWHERE!

At night you can actually hear them munching the leaves of my tree.

Die you furry vermin from the pits of hell! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!

So I'm staging an all-out attack in defense of my home. A few days ago I sprayed the yard, bushes, and lower limbs with insecticide... which worked to kill the ones I hit but then we had that big rain that night and washed all the poison away.

As a more economical approach from buying pesticides a couple neighbors told us to use a mixture of laundry detergent & water to spray on them.

They haven't quite died from it... but hey they're CLEAN caterpillars now. I'm sure they appreciated the soapy shower.

Another neighbor told us to make holes in the webs before they come out, so the birds will eat them all.... okay one problem, the birds don't come around our house due to our colony of CATS.

Tomorrow I'll be buying more insecticide spray... hope I don't kill my lawn in the process...

Rain rain go away...

We got 4.5" of rain overnight. This pic I took at 2:30am, to show how the "Pearl River runneth". (Quality sucks I know, I doctored the lighting as best I could in Photoshop... but you get the idea) Our Pearl Street normally turns into a river whenever it rains, but last night it was the highest I've ever seen, from midway up our neighbor's driveway across the roadway to halfway up into our yard, nothing but a deep swift river, strong enough to sweep away a neighbor's basketball goal.

Everyone's toilets on our block were backing up flooding their houses, but it wasn't as bad for us. Otherwise, just a pain having so much rain lately.

Up north of us, they had 8 inches, they were rescuing folks off rooftops and closing highway I-35. So it could have been worse here.

Last day...

So yesterday for my last day the people in my department took me out to lunch at Mercado Juarez (if you're ever in the area and want a good Mexican restaurant they are the best in town... and I'm refering to the original one off I-35 and Northside Dr, not the other chains popping up around town). Afterward I walked through the warehouse saying goodbyes, and then went into HR to turn in my badge, do exit paperwork etc.

So then I was still standing around in HR talking to folks when one of them made a joke about calling security because I wasn't wearing a badge anymore. Obviously one person realized that could be a serious matter, so they actually called security in to escort me while in the building. Give me a break. What did they think I would do, scoop up staplers and ballpoint pens and run out the door? But luckily the security guard that was with me was a friend of mine, so she was cool about it and just chatted right along the whole time I talked with everyone else.

Anyway, perfect ending for my prison sentence of working there. You know how it feels when you leave a job, you're like "I'm FREE! I'm FREE!" as the shackles of corporate stress fall off.

Then the next day reality hits and you're thinking Oh god, oh god, oh god, what did I do???

But I think we'll be okay. We always manage to survive. Hubby has his battery business going again (he found a new supplier for the cells) so it looks like he'll be able to support us with that. I can just go to school and try to develop my art skills a little more, Lord knows I have a lot to cultivate still.

Wish us luck!

Adiós New Breed Logistics...

I haven't mentioned here yet that I finally quit my job. I started there 2 years ago, and when I first started I only planned on being there a few weeks to catch us up on some bills, but it turned into years. I started out working on the production line but then was promoted a couple times, and I stayed to see what direction the horse I was riding was heading to. When I realized the horse was wandering aimlessly through a forest of chaos I decided to get off. So, my last day is tomorrow.

I decided to do it the "right way" and submitted a formal 2-weeks notice. But that means the last 2 weeks have been like peeling off a band-aid really slowly... every person who walks by stops to ask what company I'm moving to, when the last day is, will I stop by and say goodbye on my last day, will I keep in touch, etc. Then they want to swap e-mail addresses and phone numbers... and you know damn well you're never going to hear from them again but you go through the routine anyway. But it's nice to know they care enough to go through the trouble of asking.

More painful has been management's reaction. I have to mention here, that more often than not when a person submits notice one of the managers winds up walking the person out the door that same day "on suspension". They seem to look for a reason to suspend the person when they're quitting, usually giving an excuse like "unexcused absences" or "did not meet production goals". Even though I don't think I've given any reason for them to walk me out I've still been a bit paranoid, which I know makes no sense if I'm quitting anyway. Pride I guess.

However, I've received the opposite reaction from managers... every one of them has approached me and said, "I hear you're leaving? Can I ask why? Is there something we can do so you'll stay?" (I explain I want to focus more on school for the time being) They then ask "Can we work out some PART TIME hours with you?" Now let me tell you what an unusual request that is- NOBODY works part-time at our facilities. Even corporate upper managers who rarely speak to me have stopped to ask me to stay and at least work part-time. So over and over I keep having to explain that it's time to move on, don't bother making any concessions for me to stay, I'm leaving and that's that.

Makes me wonder if I should have just ripped the band-aid off in one quick motion... I could have turned in my resignation and walked out that very day... but I just couldn't do it that way. Dang it, I'm just too damn responsible sometimes...

Blog glitches...

Just FYI, the blogsite seems to be having technical difficulties... posts and comments aren't showing up for several hours. Other people apparently are having the same issues. So if you post a comment and it doesn't show up, it's not just YOU not posting right... it'll show up a few hours later or possibly the next day.

For instance, the pic of the cake didn't show up until about 6 hours after I posted it...

Happy Whatever?...

This is what I came home to yesterday. No, he didn't forget what the occassion was, actually this cake had to celebrate several things... my birthday last April (which I screwed up so he wasn't able to make a cake that day), then our anniversary, and next Hubby's birthday is Sunday. So this was a multi-purpose carrot cake with a message covering all the bases.

Then there's the chrysanthemum behind it, the next victim of my black thumb...

And counting...

Happy Anniversary to us.

We've made it 5 years now. It was a long 10 year road before getting to the point of saying "I Do" (and harder for me was the phrase "I promise to OBEY", and yes he did make me say that, haha), but I certainly think it was worth it and hope he does too. I couldn't be happier. Although I'm still not very good at obeying him.

Okay okay, anyway I'll refrain from getting sappy and mushy here on my blog.

I'll simply say, I love you Sweetie.

Explain this one...

Playing Word Whomp on the Pogo.com site I came to find out they consider "zonked" to be a legitimate word, but not "zonk".

You're probably thinking only a dork would let something like that nag at them enough to look it up.

Okay so I'm a dork. The online Merriam-Webster dictionary shows "zonk" to be a verb and every bit as much a real word as the adjective "zonked".

Only a dork would send an email to Pogo about it...

Memorial Day...

Alright I'm finally getting around to posting about Memorial Day, sorry but I've been slightly busy this week! Lone Star Park was having their annual "Lone Star Millions" day, their biggest day of the year with $1,000,000 in purses. Jaydee and his friend Karen were going to be out there so I went out to meet up with them.

First, here's me & Jaydee

Then here's me & Karen (I was leaning over because I didn't think I was going to be in this photo, Jaydee you stinker!) Karen is going through chemo right now, but seemed to be doing okay. (We hope for the best for you Karen!)

We were up in the restaurant "Silks" and lo and behold who did Karen spot sitting at the table in front of us? Babe Laufenberg. She was thrilled to get her picture taken with him, and he was very friendly to oblige.

Later when I called Hubby to tell him that we were talking to Babe, Hubby replied "So what? He was THIRD STRING!" (What else would you expect from a Denver Broncos fanatic? haha) But in Babe's defense, he did START 5 games for the San Diego Chargers... and won a couple...

Anyway, Jaydee told Babe I had worked for Asmussen, so he started talking to me about Curlin etc. I figured he was just being polite, that he probably had people bug him a lot since he's a commentator on a local sports tv show here in town, so I was trying to leave him alone. However, later in the day when I went outside to the rail to watch the races Babe and his family came up behind me and started talking again. I was rather surprised how FRIENDLY he and his wife were, extremely nice people.

On to the next subject... I went out to the paddock area to watch the bigger races of the day. The next photo amused me, this is Darren doing a double-take upon seeing me. Darren is Asmussen's assistant trainer for this track, and I worked with him 5 years ago... but I've hardly been out there in a while, hence the double-take look of recognizing me and then he waved.

Next is photos of the big race of the day, the Lone Star Park Handicap.

Here's the horse Bob and John, a Bob Baffert trained entry.

And no, Baffert opted not to show up for this one. Pity. Baffert's name is posted in huge letters as a permanent display in the paddock since he was one of the founding parties for opening this track 10 years ago, and yet he didn't even make an appearance. Figures. Oh yeah, and his horse won.

Next photo is Jonesboro being saddled.
(Came in 3rd place)

And lastly is a pic of Sweetnorthernsaint.
(2nd place)

So in all it was a fun day. The track was muddy as hell and the horses were practically swimming to the finish, but it was worthwhile to spend the day with Jaydee & Karen.

One last thing, as Jaydee said in his comment on the next post they didn't have any bread pudding in Silks... but the buffet was wonderful as always and I think I made up for the lack of bread pudding by eating everything else in sight, haha. It was one of those days that I should be thankful that I can't gain a pound to save my life. I imagine Jaydee and Karen were probably saying "She went back for more food AGAIN???" lol

Thanks again Jaydee for lunch and inviting me out with you & Karen. :)