I'M GOING TO BE A GRANDMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, when Emily and Chris came home for lunch, they called Michael and me to the den, and told us that Emily was pregnant!!!!!!!! We were stunned, and delighted, and deliriously happy! ; So we will be Grandpa and Grandma. Her due date is approximately Dec. 5th. We'll know more when she has her first maternity check-up on April 28th. The doctor has already started her on vitamins and supplements. We've been making up lists - things to do, things to buy, etc etc. We're going to be grandpa and grandma. Emily and I are going to Mosaic Yarn Shop this afternoon to pick out some yarn for a baby blanket for me to make. We'll use green, yellow and ivory tones right now, until we know the sex of the baby. They haven't decided if they want to know, or want to be surprised at the birth.
With a December birth date and Emily getting 6 weeks maternity leave will give us a very happy Christmas!!!!!!!
We are so happy and so excited. I can't believe that MY BABY is having a baby! We've got a ton of things to do around here. So lists have got to be made. I'm a good list maker. And I have a ton of things to knit. That will take over right now over other crafts and art projects. I'm so glad I'm on my Parkinson's medication, so it allows me to use my hands to knit with.
Happy and Joy filled!!!!!!!!!

Music once again

Volume control is to the FAR right of the play button - it is on the far right edge and shows a vertical stick with a horizontal button you can push up and down for volume. Personally I play everything on HIGH, but that's me. You do need it on HIGH for the second song on the list - Dust in the Wind - for it recorded very softly. The rest, you can choose your volume control as you wish.

Music again

Forgot to tell you to push the big "play" button to start the music. Volume control is to the right of that.

Music

You will notice that I have added music to my blog. These are some of my favorite songs. There is something wonky happening to "Sister Morphine" and I'm trying to get it fixed. Meanwhile, enjoy the other toons!

New Paris card

I corrected my errors in the previous card - or at least some of them which you can see here. Still working on another card, with more color. My daughter is helping me. I'm glad she is taking an interest.

April Showers

Good Morning! I'm a little bleary eyed this morning. Got up too early, and then laid down on the couch and caught another 2 hours of sleep, and just now woke up. Grabbed myself a diet coke and looked outside and it is snowing - not much, but it is snowing. Pretty.
I've been working on my stamping. Got a new image to play with. Got some constructive criticism on it, so I am going to rework it today - you can see it above this post.

I'm going to re-do the whole thing, taking into consideration the criticism I got on it, and hope the next one will be much better.

This one is called Eiffel Tower/April Showers.

Sad News for me

I heard yesterday, that my first art professor at college, died yesterday. He was 72. They did not state the cause of death. Tomorrow there should be more information in the paper about the funeral, which I intend to go to. For he is the man who got me started in art school. Let me explain. His name was Derek Myers. I was a psych major, having previously being a political science major. I needed an easy "humanities" credit, so I opted for an Art Appreciation class - that sounded easy enough, so I signed up for that. Prof. Myers was teaching it. I figured it was going to be an easy A. After all, I could memorize who painted what picture, and what could be hard about that? I came to the first class, and was immediately intrigued by the slides that Prof. Myers showed us, pointing out techniques and why they were used, and who copied who. I was struck dumb and numb. I was totally taken in by what I was seeing. The sculptures I saw were incredible and made me want to stroke them each. The paintings made me want to get up nose-close to them, to see how they were done. Derek asked for helpers to hang the Robert Indiana show that had come to town, and I immediately volunteered (google Robert Indiana, and you'll remember what he did), and so I was the only one to help that Saturday, hanging the show. When we were done, Derek said to me - "What is your major?" And I said "Psych". He said "you need to be an Art Major". And I laughed at him and said I cannot even draw a straight line. He said "Nonsense! I can teach you how to draw!" So I thought about it a long time, and the next semester, I signed up for his drawing 101 class. And was given a supply list to purchase before the first class. It was fun to pick up the supplies (my most favorite thing to do nowadays!!!)
And I went to the first class, and he taught me how to do blind contour drawing, and I was shocked at how good it looked. And we went further and further into drawing. I got an A in the class, and signed up for his drawing 102 class, and learned more about drawing, and realized that I had my own "style" of drawing - that we each have our own styles. And then I changed my major to Art, and it was never the same after that. I took art courses from then on, having gotten the core curriculum done with. And I got straight A's in every art class I took. And Derek was my adviser, and helped me pick out which course to take next and next. Then he got promoted in the art dept. and had to pass me off to another art teacher for my adviser.
But the consequences of meeting Derek Myers is that he changed my life. My life now is surrounded by art, it is consumed by art in all its forms. It is what I think about every day of my life. My screen saver says "Create Something Daily" as a reminder to me to work in my studio. Never in my wildest dreams, did I ever think I would call myself an artist. Yet here I am - an artist. All thanks to Derek Myers. Who believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. Thank you Derek, you changed my life. You will always be remembered.