A Little Bit of Ramble

Good Sunday morning.  It's been a beautiful weekend here in northeast Oklahoma.  Friday I had lunch with my siblings and then scooted off to the cabin by myself.  The Hubby and Biff went on their annual Kanokla 100 Mile Sale.  They've probably done this trek for at least 14-15 years, she even did it by herself, pregnant one time.  

The cabin grounds compound was very quiet after the Labor Day fun and it was quite welcome, but a bit lonely actually.  

I went by myself because Saturday morning I was gathering some cabin painters to have a paint day.  Sadly only one showed up but I was okay with that.  Actually she didn't show up until an hour later and I decided to go ahead and set up outside on the wigwam porch and enjoy the wonderful weather.

We're going to do it again in a couple of weeks and I'm sure more will join this time and the weather should be even better!  

I've painted this barn before but you can never paint a red barn enough and the last one sold almost immediately.  This isn't finished but will finish this week and get it varnished and take back in a couple of weeks and hopefully sell it too.

The week has been a bit slow except for a physical, time at the office and only one day at the studio.  This week should be more time at the studio, I hope, at least that is the plan and you all know my plans can be quickly changed in the blink of an eye.  

There's been a lot of stuff that has happened this week, worldwide. Today is 9/11 so that is a remembrance day for sure. The big thing this week is the passing of Queen Elizabeth and the crowning of a new King, King Charles III.  Wow, she was Queen for 70 years, amazing and amazing lady. 

Labor Day Weekend Fun

We were able to scoot off to the cabin really early Friday morning and we planned to stay Sunday night too, which we don't do often.  The drive was a drizzly nice rain all the way there but the rest of the weekend was fantastic.

Goodness it was such a  wonderful weekend on my porch and a couple of drives around he creek.  Biff and Snicklefritz came up too to share the weekend.  

Oh the deer were bountiful.

Plus the birds around my feeders.  The one downside of the weekend, Saturday to be specific (Friday too) was the constant sound of chain saws all over the property.  CONSTANT!!!  Everyone was taking out trees, good trees and dead trees.  It really was not fun on Saturday.

But I decided to just enjoy the time I had, the wonderful temps and our company.  

Patrick Saunders Workshop

What a FANTASTIC time I've had these past 3 days.  After it was canceled 2 years ago because of Covid, we FINALLY got to take Patrick Saunders workshop.  What an incredibly nice man and giving instructor he is.  He really wanted to share and help us to become better artists.  

As is usual he did a demo the first part of each day and day 1, Thursday he did that.  Watching those cows appear on the canvas was incredible.  His approach is familiar yet different and refreshing.  I was in such need of a workshop and this was the perfect one to jump start my mind again.

He even had these words to evaluate your drawing/painting process and it was great.  He then gave each of us a little business size card to keep and remember these words, again nice man.

Day 2 was florals and he is quite a master in them.  He started out his working career at Hallmark doing flowers (honestly I like these better.)

 

After each day of watching and then painting I went home absolutely exhausted, mentally mostly.  (You know I take a nap everyday and missed that!)

Day 3 was pet portraits, again he is a master.  Pet portraits and "human" portraits are basically the same process.  

My first day at the easel was a struggle to begin.  I always have that issue on the first day with a new instructor and surrounded by new people who see what I can or cannot do.  I will finish this one and yes it is quite familiar as I've painted this road several times, selling every one I have painted.

My day 2 was yet again another familiar photo that I've painted before and sold but it just spoke to me.

This one needs a bit of tweeking but I felt better painting on Day 2 and more confident.

Also Day 2 I purchased one of his paintings!  It will hang proudly on my collector wall in the dining room.  This painting is also an award winner and I'd seen it on his Facebook page loved it.

I did paint Day 3 but forgot to take a photo of it.  I'll finish and share later, it's a person.

I did finish this in the studio on Tuesday and promptly sold it!  I will probably paint it again because I love to paint roads and shadows playing on the road.

Another Update on Max

 Another update and these will be ongoing I am sure.  They had another doctors appointment yesterday and there is NO mitral valve atresia!  The problem is that there are tumors in that area, causing the issue of not enough blood flow.  Pray PRAY that they resolve themselves quickly so that that area can at least try to compensate and fix itself, if not we are probably looking at a heart transplant, IF they are different kinds of tumors.  There is so much back and forth, if and when's and it could all change and THEY COULD BE ALL WRONG too!  That is what we need to pray for.  Thanks for the prayers and keep them coming for Max.

Updated Max News - Prayers and Good Vibes Needed

This is from our youngest and the journey they going through with sweet baby Max that is due end of December.  

20 weeks today - halfway through…

The most recent pictures of our Max

We debated sharing, but have realized that we need all the prayers and support possible.

The good news first: this last week at the routine 20 week anatomy scan ultrasound, they told us that Max is a big boy in the 94th percentile for size with all limbs accounted for. That’s great news.

Then the bad news….

We discovered that he has some major issues with his heart.

We have initial diagnoses but won’t know for sure until we see a pediatric cardiologist next week.

Things we know:

We’re looking at a good chance of him having a serious genetic condition called tuberous sclerosis or TS/TSC. Evidence of rhabdomyomas (benign tumors) in his heart are present.

He has mitral valve atresia which will almost definitely need multiple staged surgeries to treat.

I was reassured that none of this has anything to do with my age or anything I did or didn’t do. It is a roll of the dice.

They want me to go as long as possible till delivering because the bigger and stronger he is, the better his heart will perform on its own once they cut the cord. And I will be delivering at the pediatric hospital in Oklahoma City at OU. My due date is the week after New Years.

As you may imagine we were shocked, deeply saddened, and are now facing the grief of what we hoped would be a “normal”, healthy pregnancy and baby.

He will most likely survive, at least that is what we know now. Things could change for better or worse with more information. Life could, and will at times, be a very challenging one for him and us.

But he is already so loved and we are going to fight with our every last fiber of being to carry him, quite literally, to the finish line.

And we need your prayers. Please put us on prayer lists, light candles, start novenas, anything you can do to storm heaven. We are praying that it’s not as serious as it seems.

How are we doing?

We are okay. Most of the time I think we’re in disbelief. Nothing that some chuckling at silly internet cat videos can’t treat. At other times I am frozen and can’t stop the tears.

Next appointment is Wednesday. Until then...

St. Maximilian Kolbe, ora pro nobis!

Prayers and Good Vibes

 I'm not going into detail, just please lots of prayers and good vibes for baby Max.  I will have more when I can.

N E G A T I V E

N E G A T I V E

Finally, I am, we are negative.  After nearly 3 weeks we are negative and I get to sleep in the same bed as my husband.  I get to see grandgirls.  I get to go out to eat.  I get to EVERYTHING!  I still have a bit of nose stuff and drainage and cough in the AM but that is just the dregs of a cold.  I am negative and I'm so happy.

Surprise

SURPRISE! Surprise lilies at the cabin, or as they are more commonly known Pink Ladies or NAKED Ladies. I forget every year that I even have any. They've been in the ground at least 20+ years as I did not plant them and we've had the cabin 20+ years now.  I've spent the second weekend in isolation, mostly on my beloved screened porch reading while The Hubby stayed inside in the cool. I can handle the heat, in fact love it. In two weeks I've read 5 books and stacks more are waiting but would really like to go to the studio and paint at some point but I want to respect the partnered space I share with Linda.  She is not there as she is in ICELAND!  She's vacationing but that doesn't mean I need to spread my cooties so I sadly stay away.  Today I'm starting week three of being Covid positive. Week one: worst sore throat of my life, Week two head cold, not too bad, Week three, loss of smell and partial taste and still stopped up. I nearly burned dinner Friday night because I couldn't smell it burning. I am so over this crap but I also recognize that if I had not been vaccinated and double boosted I might not have had this sort of "easier" case. The early part of the pandemic I was so terrified by the whole thing, honestly still am but it's a bit of relief to have had it.  I'm really tired of not seeing people, kiddos and grands especially.  I'm hoping that the middle of the week I will finally test negative.  I'm also tired of NOT having my husband sleep with me.  Because he is negative and sleeping means close quarters he chooses to sleep in the guest bedroom, going on week two now.  You know we had probably 20 tests in the cabinet we got free from the government and now we are down to 2 (2 in each box so 4).  I am not testing today as I still have stopped up symptoms and will probably wait till at least Wednesday so we can have THE WEEKEND with friends, hopefully.  Also getting really tired of eating in.  I WANT to go out to eat.  Oh DAMMIT, DAMN COVID!!!

A Masking We Will Go

Good morning.  Yes I have Covid and I am sitting at my desk at the office.  Honestly I do not feel too bad, just stuffed up nose, especially for sleeping, but all in all it's like a summer cold, this time around.  Yesterday The Hubby sat all day long at the office, not even leaving for lunch because he's waiting for UPS and a delivery of our new phones.  The email message he had was they were coming between 9-11 yesterday.  He stayed until 4 in the afternoon and then closed it down.  He was so mad you cannot believe, and I don't blame him.  Today he HAS stuff he has to do for the jobsites and can't just sit here, so that's where Carla comes in.  Carla'll do it, Carla'll do anything, Carla'll sit here all day with absolutely nothing to do but look at the windows all the while battling covid, and so I sit. It's not too bad because no one comes in here but without a television I'm just here.  I did bring my book that I will finish and then I can Netflix or Amazon Prime it in a bit.  Fun times with Covid.  Is everyone just over this damn stuff, having our lives our entire world turned upside down.  Everything is upside down.  

By the way, I just finished Ann Patchett's book The Magician's Assistant from recommendation by B.  It was a good book and I had not read any of her books in probably 20 years.  I am now reading Maya Angelou's book I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.  I had never read it and it is so good.  Also sitting around blogging and wanting to paint but all my supplies except for watercolors are at the studio and I just haven't felt like going there.  So I've been watching painting videos too.  My mind is so full it's hard to focus for too long and the sleep is limited because of the need to BREATHE THROUGH MY NOSE!  HAHAHAHA...  I was up at 2:45 this morning and went back to bed for a brief hour because my mind just wouldn't shut down to rest.  Oh well, explains why I'm sitting her blogging you to my friends.  On to brighter days.  

DAMMMIITTTT!!!!!

 Well, just F******K! Last night in the middle of the night my nose started being stuffy and by about 4:30 the sniffles started.  First thing I took another covid test and guess what, I'm in that rare group, like Biden, getting a rebound case of covid after Paxlovid.  I yet again, in quarantine.  The sucky thing about this is that the last time we had Snicklefritz spending the night/weekend and last night she was again spending the night.  She is still in bed but we will have to send her home yet again.  I think The Hubby is going to take her with him to work because her momma needs us to watch her and we can't send her to Af's because she has been exposed to me and Af is pregnant and little Min could be exposed too.  I HATE this damn virus.  It is really mucking around with life in general.  I will stay in my chair in my room today, away from the world, yet again.  I was looking forward to hanging with friends at the cabin but that is not to be.  Plus today is my Aunt Jane's celebration of life and I was looking forward to going to see family.  DAMMMIITTTT!!!!

Covid Ramifications, Family Loss

Good Monday Morning and yes it is a GOOD Monday morning!  

After a week of isolation and battling the "VID"  I have won and am testing negative and so is The Hubby.  It has not been all pleasant for me I can assure you.  The Hubby had just a little sniffle and that was about it, oh and he threw his back out leaning over in his chair one evening at dinner.  Me, well, my covid took a dark turn, I got strep throat, at least that is MY diagnosis.  My throat was so sore, so very sore I could not swallow without crying out in pain.  For nearly 3 solid days of this I contacted the doctor again and said I needed something to help, thinking it was just the virus.  They sent a prescription of liquid lidocaine, a viscous concoction that did not help at all and only made me want to throw up, which was not appealing with the throat I had!!!!  I tried, man I tried but it was not working and the throat just got worse and worse.  I slept Wednesday night with a hand towel stuffed in my mouth to catch the saliva so I didn't have to swallow, now that is pain!  The PA said wait to Friday morning and then they would call in an antibiotic if nothing had changed.  By Thursday evening I was a basket case.  I sent three messages PLEADING for help and she sent in a prescription for the antibiotic.  Today, Monday morning, there is still a tinge of sore but I can sleep, I can swallow, and I can talk without screaming and I tested NEGATIVE!  I can tell you I've had strep many times and this is the worst, absolute worst I have ever had in my life.  And honestly if I had not been vaccinated and boosted I probably would have been in the hospital because it wanted to go to my chest really bad.  I don't care what anti-vaxxer's say being vaccinated may have saved my life or at least a stay in the hospital.  On the plus side, we can get it again...ARGHHHHH!  WTF.  One of the tech's who had to come and fix our A/C that went out during this crap said he's had it three times!  WHAT!  Well, CRAP.

It's also been kind of crappy month family wise because I've lost a cousin and Saturday morning my Aunt Jane, one of my Daddy's sister's had a heart attack.  There are now only two precious aunts left.  Jerry, my cousin I used to babysit him and his little brother.  He had a heart attack too, but he had heart issues.  

Aunt Jane

Cousin Jerry in the front in the little red suit!

Positive Wins

 

Good morning...yes that is me and yes I am positive, positive of mind, positive I love my life and family, and positive with COVID!  DAMMIT!!!!!

After 3 days of testing, third time was the charm.  Did I really think living in the house with a covid person that I would not get it, I wasn't that lucky.  Honestly it feels like a viral thing I usually get in the fall, in the back of my throat kind of thing.  I sound like Froggy from The Little Rascals.  Reminds me of B&B's wedding when I couldn't speak.  I think though I did have symptoms last Thursday like The Hubby but mine were not a scratchy throat or sniffle, that came later.  Mine were diarrhea and nausea.  And in fact those continued to yesterday.  Yesterday my tummy just hurt, hurt, hurt and I wanted to go to the little girls room badly but couldn't.  My tummy roiled and roiled, over and over and HURT!  Yesterday I ate a part of a bowl of soup and crackers for lunch, that is all I could handle.  Last night about 9 pm it finally stopped and I was hungry.  I ate a spoonful of peanut butter because I knew I would wake up in the middle of the night starving.  

The Hubby and I did a video chat with the PA in our doctors office and she prescribed Paxlovid for us and we started that yesterday too.  What I have to say about that is YUCK!  It leaves a strange taste in your mouth.  She said it would be metallic but is not what I would call it.  It doesn't last long after you take the pills, I can handle it.  So 5 days of paxlovid and the weekend we will head to the cabin where we will quarantine even more, but me to my beloved screened porch in 85+ temps!!!  I have threatened to go there this week because I noticed yesterday that it was getting warm in the house.  Yup, the A/C is on the fritz.  Great, JUST GREAT!!!  Since we are in construction we know peeps and called our guy who sent someone out but the guy hardly even wanted to walk up the driveway because we have covid.  He check stuff outside and pronounced it working.  Huh, really.  Last night the thermometer started it's way up, up, up and was at 77 degrees at bedtime.  Wonderful.  The Hubby went to the garage where the inside unit sits and opened the closet, which the guy would not do and low and behold the coil is frozen.  He turned it off for awhile to let it thaw and you could hear ice falling through the vents.  Back on and I slept pretty well but it was starting the freeze thing again.  That kid will HAVE to come back and if not I'm off to the cabin, back on Thursday or Friday to do payroll and invoicing.  Perfect timing.  

Negative vs Positive

Good Monday Morning.  Am I really doing this again on a Monday morning, well, yes I am.  It has been a quiet weekend around here.  The plan on Friday was to have Snicklefritz all weekend with us as Af was having her girls weekend at the cabin.  Snicklefritz came and we had a nice Friday evening watching television and just hanging out.  Saturday morning I was up at 5 am, as is usual and I went outside to enjoy the early morning somewhat cooler temperatures.  It was honestly very pleasant even though we don't have a "screened" porch like the cabin.  I fight the mosquitos the minute I walk out the door but I have a thing called a Thermocell I light up and it certainly helps.  I told The Hubby this spring that if he wasn't willing to put in a swimming pool I would like to at least have one of those mosquito systems.  Do I have one yet, NO!  Back to what was about to happen.  As the sun rose I heard The Hubby awake inside getting his coffee and breakfast and he popped out to ask me to wake Snicklefritz so they could go to the flea market.  I got her up, fed her breakfast and dressed then I was back outside to read and journal.  She joined me waiting for him all ready to go.  All of a sudden he popped his head out the sliding door with a mask on and said, "I'm positive."  Well, just SHIT!  I immediately texted Snicklefritz's momma and said come get her.  I then went in to test myself.  Hmmm, I tested negative.  As the day ran on I stayed outside and finished my book and just enjoyed the patio while he sat inside on his laptop and watched television.  I wore my mask inside as did he and we avoided each other.  

Later in the evening I wanted to fix something different, something I've never done before.  I fixed beef short ribs.  I of course did my research on how to cook them and found you cook much like a pot roast.  OMG, so yummy!  I served them over a plate of buttered noodles and he loved it.  When done I filled his plate and he took it in the front dining room and ate and I ate in the kitchen.  He also slept in the front guest bedroom.  

Beef Short Ribs

Yesterday I again got up early and went outside to wake up with the sun.  Nothing much changed but I did fix him breakfast and I told him to just sit at the table.  We went through the day much like before.  I forgot that Saturday he did go into the office to work on invoicing because it is the end of the month and we need to get that out.  I will go in sometime this week and type, Friday is payroll.  He texted our employees and told them he would be in the office masked, but if they needed to come in to mask and just step in the door.  If they really needed him to call his cell.  As yesterday dragged on I began to feel not great.  My head was like full and felt like a head cold but I not to drippy, almost allergy feeling and I could explain that away because I've been spending so much time outside.  Yesterday afternoon I tested again and again it is negative.  This morning, I feel worse, in my head worse only.  I'm going to test again with another brand and we will see but I can almost bet it will be positive.  We'll see.

Monday Blues

Good morning all.  Monday morning and the hamster wheel never ends.  Just feels like every day, every week is the same over and over again.  I'm not sure I like routine yet here I am stuck in a routine, a RUT.  Work, paint, dishes, cook, grocery lists, laundry, same television every day, every night...I think I have Monday Blues today.

Well, Saturday, since the girls have the next two weekends at the cabin I painted.  I finished this one I started in June.  The photo I snapped isn't great, and as I look I think I'm going to fix a little problem on it even though it is signed.  It got rave reviews on FB and I may have even sold it.

"Oklahoma Sunset"

9x12 oil on linen

Friday evening was dinner with my siblings and their spouses.  It was fun but Sis, God I do love her but there is a reason I don't do this often.  She is a complainer and griper.  The food didn't taste right, it was too expensive, blah, blah, blah.  I intended to have the waiter take our photo of us all together and forgot.  Hopefully we can do it next time.  

My hit meal this past week was this shrimp dish.  It's a twist on the feta-tomato bake.  I did the usual of feta cheese, tomatoes and olive oil (I used the lemon olive oil I love), pepper and Italian seasoning.  You can use whatever seasonings you might like.  I baked it for a bit at 400 degrees to get the cheese beginning to melt then added the asparagus for a bit to get tender then the shrimp.  The shrimp doesn't take long to cook.  Once out then I stirred it up and we ate this delicious meal.  

I also had peaches and made a peach pie for The Hubby which is his favorite.  He is really ticking me off with HIS not eating carbs though and most of this pie has sat uneaten.  I know, I know, he's eating better and I am too.  I am totally good with that.

Several people are telling me I should write a cookbook and that has definitely crossed my mind on occasion.  I certainly have a lot of recipes in my head that I create and it would be fun.  Maybe I should keep a notebook in the kitchen as I create and write them down. 

It's A ..........

 It's a 

BOY!

Coming in January 2023

4th of July, Food and Babies

Lots to get to this Tuesday morning after the 4th!  First is FOOD.  This past Wednesday I was at a loss for a meal idea and started rummaging around in the deep freeze (yes that is what is was called when I was young and still is in my mind) and ran across two lobster tails purchased a few months ago on sale.   I was going to do the usual in the oven thing but started googling and found this:  

https://cafedelites.com/lobster-tails-with-bacon-cream-sauce/?fbclid=IwAR0bUGuCn25U3sby_IbbeI6yYZ4y4l4q5zwNza-et7rO9VHXRPj019Y-zz0#recipe

Of course I had to tweek it a bit with what I had on hand but OMG was it delicious, especially on the frozen spinach I had.  In fact The Hubby said a couple of days later that he was still thinking of the meal!  SCORE!  It was so incredibly easy and I think easy enough to cook for a small dinner party, plus it was fast.  

DEFINITELY going to be making these again and again.

We scooted off to the cabin for the 4th, not my favorite weekend for previous dangerous reasons.  Read one of my reasons here  https://crbh-ruminations.blogspot.com/2008/07/here-we-go.html

It was a stunning and HOT weekend but I really didn't mind too much.  I usually sit in my screened porch till I just need to go in to cool off for a bit, but I'm back out when it is tolerable again.

Hopefully I'll get a painting out of one of these photos.

We had a friend that kept hopping in during the day under the bird feeders. He was so tiny.

Then B and Snicklefritz came to visit overnight and watch the fireworks show.  She is growing up so very fast.

Plus there is grandbaby news! They are expecting in early January a new addition and we couldn't be more happy and overjoyed.

Art and the Swim

The weekend is over, the OVAC tour is done and in the books and it was a grand success.  Gosh, it was really fun to interact with all kinds of people through our studio.  

There was a steady stream of visitors both days, 52 on Saturday and 59 on Sunday.  Pretty awesome.  Who needs an official open house when you can do this. 

On the Thursday before we got to tour the other studios and that was quite interesting.  Matt Moffett's studio is 50+ year old house he and his hubby are renovating just for studio space.  Really cool.  We also went to a place called Black Moon which is where several artists are in residence.  The upstairs from them is a guy named Skip Hill...AWESOME!  Such a nice guy and his stuff is fantastic.  Plus the building is so cool.  It's an old manufacturing building that a conglomerate has purchased and is refurbishing for studio spaces.  

We also got to go to Otto Duecker's home/studio.  Wow, all I can say is WOW!  He is a hyper-realist painter.  I don't have it in me to be that much of a realist but WOW!  Super nice and funny.  His wife was fun too.  His home is up a super steep driveway and I walked up that drive and back down!  Could not have done that a year ago.  

I did finish a painting that I'd started several years ago and I think it turned out great, even with all the people walking through.

"Blue Dress"

9x12

Oh and the grands, oh the grands.  This past week our girls finally got to meet the great-niece.  Such a cutie.  Someday I will get to meet her too, hopefully soon. 

Summer for the babies...

Snicklefritz had her first swim meet last night and I went to show support.  So proud of this girl.  She got 3rd place in her age group-heat for the back-stroke!  WOW! She also got 8th, and a ribbon in the free-style (American Crawl - not called that anymore) in her age group.  She is such a strong swimmer, much like I used to be many, MANY years ago.  You go girl.  I love you to pieces.