Be Still, My Heart

Some folks think you can have too much of a Good Thing ...
personally I do NOT!

I absolutely adore my friend's work ...Carol Roll of Nostalgic Folk Art, (endearingly known as Jinxie by many of her close friends) has a way of creating the most precious pieces of art from a pile of paper mache! Whether a sweet little imp is licking a lollipop, or carrying a handful of balloons, or precariously poised, one footed on a building block, Carol's faces will tug at your heart and have you ooohing and aaaahing outloud.

My hubs has heard these very sounds coming from my mouth many times as I open my newest treasure from her. I wish I could buy it all - but I can't ...
and that is GREAT NEWS for you!

Carol is having a massive sale going on right now - with eye popping prices. She is getting ready to strike off in a new direction and wants to make some room in her studio for a massive show she will be attending in a few months... So get your tush over to her website and click the "Super Duper Sale Items" category on the left. If you are like me, you might just find yourself having to make some hard decisions!

PS: forgive my photo ... I know it does no justice to her work, but it's dark and rainy here today and my camera does not want to cooperate!

- Remembering the CoffeeHouse Days -

My hubs and I used to be youth leaders at our church and we had such a great group of teenagers - we would spend every weekend doing something together, whether it was hanging out in our little cramped basement - elbow to elbow playing games, watching movies and laughing till we cried- or taking trips to Canada for a weeklong fishing trip on Dog Lake with Frank and Marie Drown, our lives were enriched and full with the experiences we shared.
At least once a month, we would spend a Saturday night at the New Earth coffeehouse in Kansas City - listening to our favorite local group, WATERDEEP and jamming all night long in a cramped church basement of Pastor Sheldon - filled with incense and exceptional sounds! Waterdeep was such an awesome band, fronted by husband and wife Don and Lori Chaffer. These guys knew how to write and sing and to this day, I still love their music (which I highly recommend you buying if you like what you are hearing now). I miss those days, but hey... this is what memories are made of, right?!

♥ Priceless ♥

I am captivated by this photo and my admiration was rekindled after my brother sent it to me again this morning. I love to study the photo and make out each man. Taken in 1918, it depicts 18,000 men preparing for war in a training camp at Camp Dodge in Iowa! Imagine: 18,000 MEN SHOWING THEIR AMERICAN PRIDE & HONOR!


What a priceless gift
from our grandfathers.

±‡± The Gratitude Campaign ±‡±

I just learned about it tonight - so grab a tissue, click the link and watch the video...

This is moving - and needs much more spotlight! Feel free to snag it and put it on your blog!

♥ The Grititude Campaign ♥

~ Arte Y Pico ~

Tina / The Artful Life has humbled my heart by giving me the Arte Y Pico Award. Now, I’m not really sure how that title interprets, but I’m pretty sure it’s a good thing! :)

Rules for this award go something like this: (and if you can't adhere - it's ok... you STILL get the award!)

1)You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material and also contribution to the blogging community, not matter what language.
2)Each award has to have the name of the author and link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.
3)Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award.
4)The award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “arte y Pico” blog so everyone will know the origin to this award.

Thank you to Tina for touching my ♥!

Now, my awards go to:
Goob, Countryfolk Keepsakes - because she is always there for me
Kat, Katerpillars No More - because she can always touch my heart exactly when I need her to!
Blondie, Vintage Primitives - because she has such a gracious heart for me and a fervent love for the Lord
Janelle, Little Sisters Dolls - because she is NOT ASHAMED!
Patti, Winding Vine Wanderings - because as we have gotten to know each other a bit, I realize how much I admire her.

♥ Just wanted to share something ♥

There are times that I fall head over heels in love with a doll as I'm making them and I find myself not *really* wanting to part with them. Instead I (secretly) think about keeping them in my own little corner of the world.
And when you get an email from someone wanting to purchase that special creation that you've grown particularly fond of, you can only hope they will love the special one as much as you do.
Recently, I sold Zeb the Punkin Picker on the TDIPT Merc. I admit, I was thrilled when I read who had sent the request to purchase him - M is a repeat customer who has impressed me with both her honesty and sincerity.
I just got an email this morning from her and it touched me in such a way, I felt it was appropriate to share. It goes like this:

Zeb arrived in fine fashion this morning! He truly is wonderful and has taken up a spot on my outdoor coffee table saying something about all the potted flowers under the wrap around porch needed protecting from all the birds living in the prim birdhouses. I tried to assure him that the houses were not occupied and that he need not work until fall, however he was somewhat persistent and indicated he thought the job he was sent for started immediately and we all know you can't reason with a scarecrow!
Thank you so much Karen! Zeb is perfect!

Thank you M ... I know Zeb will have a full and fruitful life under your roof!

Meet Blair

This is my newest creation - soon to be listed on the Humble Arts marketplace.

I love everything about her ... from the tip of her old hat right down to her sweet boots :)

A weekend in Madison County

Originally, we had planned to go to Madison County, Iowa to check out the covered bridges but with all the flooding, we decided to head south to Eureka Springs.


We really did end up in Madison County - ARKANSAS and had such a great time touring the country roads -
I always enjoy the scenery and try to get shots as we are touring along.

We ran into some pretty intense storms on our way down, but when we hit the Arkansas border, it was smooth sailing for most of the weekend.


Somehow, I managed to get a shot of us in the mirror - eeek, what a sight!
This was some little spot we stopped at and it was so pretty with the stream.

Our cabin was secluded and quaint - little did I know, the owners feed the deer on a daily basis.
I didn't know that and as I was walking up for some supplies, ran into 2 deer - there was a 3rd that wanted to play a game of peek-a-boo and who can say No to that sweet face?

On our way out of town this morning, it looked like we were heading into some serious storms and we got hit with about 7 raindrops, but all of us were praying and God heard our pleas, because the sun popped out and it was sunshine all the way home!

A Lil Getaway to Arkansas

We took off early Friday morning - beating the rush hour traffic as we made our way south of Kansas City on our way to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. On the way, we stopped off and visited with Ona and Eliza. She is growing so much and her laugh is so infectious... you never want to stop loving on her! !Eliza did pretty good considering she had only been around us one time before and as she was sitting on Darrell's lap, she decided she wasnt quite sure what to think ... but after a little coaxing and playing with her, she decided everything was just fine She is the most precious baby I've ever seen - and if I could spend time with her and Ona every weekend, I would surely do it

What's on Your Cell Phone ?

Just a lil blast from the past ... one of the first posts I ever made on my Rolling River Prims blog and thought it was funny enough to share again:

This morning I started thinking about our interests in life - some years ago, my husband bought a motorcycle. I was dead-set against it and didn't hide the fact. I let him know that I wouldn't object to him buying one, but clearly stated in advance not to expect me being on the back of it too much. (( HA! )) Well, it's 2 motorcycles later and we've grown closer than ever (we've been married 28 yrs this coming weekend) and now we look forward to our getaways!
So that leads me to the title of this little excerpt - I bet you can guess what photo is stored on his cell phone, right ? uh huh....his newest "never enough chrome" Road King!
4 years ago, we rode to Yellowstone, then to Glacier Nat'l. Park in Montana and from there, to Jasper Park in Canada. We stopped at a beautiful little spot called Lake Louise, perfect for all us tourists to take gorgeous photos. My hubs said "I want a picture of my baby in front of this lake" and I proudly prominaded up to where the bike was sitting and struck a pose. He
s-l-o-w-l-y lowered the camera and in the sweetest voice he could muster, said "looks great, and after this shot I want one of just the bike, ok?"
You bet, sure Hun - anything for you! :)
Here we were last summer crusing over the Continental Divide -

Honor Among Knuckleheads

There is an unspoken code of honor among motorcycle riders - WAVING!
But it's not the madly flailing arm over your head kind of thing... but rather, a smoooooth "from the hip" type of salutation to others sporting 2 wheels. And it's not limited to makes of bikes sticking together like the HD to HD formula. We wave to everyone on the street and have found that it doesn't matter if you are on a crotch rocket, HD, Honda or any other type and style of bike... Bikers pretty much stick together on this and it's a beautiful thing.

Well... my Chey just gave me the lowdown on a similar code for Bug owners! We both are das bug-lovers, she has an awesome green one and I have a silver one. And this is what Chey spilled today:
If you drive a beetle you have to wave at other beetles passing by. And if it is the same color beetle, you have to let all inhibitions go and wave like you have never waved before. I hope by passing on this lil tidbit of info, it helps enlighten all of you other Bug owners out there!

The Grass is Always Greener...

Or so it seems....
I know the old saying doesn't really hold true, but Missouri does have some beautiful areas from the central to southern parts of the state.
A friend sent this to me - she took these photos of swamp land near Dexter, Missouri last weekend. I asked if I could post them - they are just too gorgeous NOT to share!

It's called Otter Slough (pronounced Slew) and I'm thinking a lil roadtrip is in order to experience this first-hand. Did you know Missouri not only has swamps, we grow cotton and rice too!

- Now, who'd a thunk the "Show Me State" was so diversified??