Happy Valentines Day! Paint Party Friday

 Paint Party Friday

Finding Joy in small things.....that's me to a tee!

Except I said to the kids for Valentines day I want a million dollars 
and a coat of polish on my chipped toe nails!! Silly me! 
I was half joking.... half not...... 
Pet Peeve = Chipped nails

Valentines day is a wonderful day to commemorate love! Even though I'm  beau-less now, I sometimes celebrate  by making a special meal, going to dinner with a friend, creating  a special blog post or just buying myself a bauble or two. A few days ago I  indulged Vista print during their 50 percent off sale  to celebrate my Art.......so five days  after Valentines day I can be satisfied I will be doing a happy dance as 
I open my vista print box full of goodies!

I love anything heart shaped! I've baked so many heart shaped cakes in my day that I  wore out my heart shaped cake pan. For my sixteenth birthday I got a little heart locket that I wore for years. Later I upgraded to a bigger one.  To this day I  still seek out  jewelry with  a heart themes,  as does Cupcake.  

 So it's not surprising Cupcake is celebrating her sixth wedding anniversary on Valentines day!!  Outside of  a haircut  for Beardo and lunch later they have no plans of spending money frivolously just because it's Valentines day or their Anniversary. Instead they frugally decide as a team what they will buy whether it's a music concert down the road or a planned vacation! This little  duo is so wonderfully practical and refuse to play into the hoopla or commercialism of the day! It doesn't mean they don't LOVE Valentines day! I even heard a  little birdy might be making a nice barbeque to celebrate heart day! (We bbq in any kind of weather.)

 I truly find joy in simple things, and if I have given my daughter one gift in life it's to value a buck, and take pleasure in simple moments. I'm proud to see she doesn't  need  a specific day that everyone in the free world celebrates with overpriced flowers to feel valued or loved!  Instead she appreciates the many everyday things her man does for her. I think that's so wonderful! However.....

My argument is that many of the old school partners of my day would leave the bulk of responsibilities on the woman, so on the 14th it was the one day a year for a man to redeem himself by recognizing his partner with flowers and gifts!

How about you, do you feel a deep connection to Valentines day? Are you able to enjoy it for what it is with little to no fuss, or do you need to be acknowledged and celebrated on that one day?

I have done so many more faces for 29 faces of February challenge, but I seem to be having issues with my image host. So I'll save that for another day!

Spoonflower has postponed their free swatch day until they dig out from their snow storm, so keep your eyes peeled for this very cool opportunity to see what your art might look like on a swatch of material....all for free!!!

Also I am totally addicted to Will Terrells instructional youtube videos....They are cute, fun fascinatingly  informative! You won't be disappointed by what this artist has to share! Especially about finding your own style...he is very generous! Enjoy the video and  a few hearts of the sugary persuasion with a dash of cyber love from me this Valentines Day!!

 Happy Anniversary to my dear kids who really do marriage well!! Congratulations on your 6th year married and 12 years together!!! Love you loads! Many more happy years  of love to you!!

Paint Party Friday Remembering my Dad!

 For Paint Party Friday I'm sharing a few very basic pieces I painted then digitally played with as I was experimenting with my new android phone! 


My dad passed away on St Patrick's day 1986 twenty seven years ago, six weeks after my daughter cupcake, his  first grandchild was born.... What better way to keep his gentle spirit alive than to remember him on my blog! Dad was a menial man with a big heart!  At fifteen,  brothers by his side he kicked his father out of the house for striking their mother!

True love is Special

A bit of a wild child  dad started smoking at seven and quit school at eight! Twenty five years later he built his own house from a book!!! A very nice home it was. He  built me a  sweet little  playhouse with a dutch doors then  painted it white and pink to match our house! I was daddies girl.  I always knew he loved and understood me!

Mom, Dad and Me in the 60's

A wonderful  ballroom dancer,  Dad would serenade as he swept across the floor! Even after he died women approached me to express what a great dancer he was! There was no doubt he loved my mother, even when she was crabby he was kind.   Such a gentle spirit, his only vice was liquor. A quiet man could become argumentative and belligerent when he drank too much. It was the only time my parents  fought, still he never swore at mom. Sober he was the best guy and a great dad!

 True Love is Messy

As perfect as that all sounds there were times when liquor got in the way!! It seemed the nights mom made  the nicest dinners dad would go to the bar for a few games of shuffleboard and beer! Or if by chance she declared her love the previous night! Her ire esculated when he didn't call to warn he'd be wouldn't be home for dinner! My feisty mother would stew all evening. No measure of talking could calm her furious spirit! Instead moms little five foot frame would lunge at him as he came through the door. One time ripping the buttons right  off his shirt ! Knowing full well she'd be sewing them back the next day! Feeling no pain dad would hold up his hands to protect himself. One time she was waiting outside with the hose and soaked him from head to toe!!  It was all  pretty traumatic until years later when we all laughed about it!

Dad and I

Mom was always worrying about him driving impaired. Once she had me drive her to the bar to get his keys! She waltzed her five foot self into the bar alone, walked up to his table of three people, grabbed his keys,  knocked all the beers off the table, kicked him in the shins and  walked out!! That scene is forever in my head as I chuckle to myself!! She was so mad she couldn't even speak!!

 True Love is Passionate

 It was hard to witness as a child and I vowed to never put my cupcake through that!! Some may feel it's disloyal to expose your family on a blog. Of course ugly is only part of the story. My dad loved my mom implicitly, and he tolerated a lot too!! The moral of this story is that they loved each other deeply and we always knew it! Even though he never bought her pretty things, he did a lot of nice everyday things for her!  Mom died five  years after him at the exact same age. Even though it was cancer that took her, I'm pretty sure it was a broken heart she died of!   She was a good woman and he saw past all her faults and stuck through the tough times as did she!  They had loads in common and had lots  of fun together playing cards, golfing, bowling, gardening, dancing and  partying with family! 

Mom and Dad after 36 years of marriage. Look at her squeezing his hand!

As I watch couples have a revolving door of partners, I feel sad that they will never know the longevity  of true love in all it's messy reality! Their kids, my kid will never know the security of two parents who love and enjoy each other through all the ugly tough parts! It's a learning curve many will never experience today! True love in all it's ups and downs is complex and needs to be explained that way!!

True Love is Worth it!!

Were you able to witness or experience the longevity of true love?

Mom and Dad on his 65th birthday 16 months before he died!

 Be sure to take lots of photos of your loved ones! 

I have very few, this is the last good one of my parents together!

Years ago it was time consuming and expensive to develop photos, there is no excuse now with digital technology!

For more about my dad go here, here, and here!

Paint party friday, " Mom and the Goddesses"

 I'm a cup half full person, however I never forget where I came from, and every tough hurdle that formed who I am! Tomorrow will be the twenty first anniversary of my mothers death. We had a difficult relationship, but there were so many wonderful things she taught me. Although our personalities were completely different,  I think I understand her much better now!! 

Angel on my Shoulder acrylics in a sketchbook

So when I was picking shapes from splotches this girl with a little angel on her  shoulder appeared. It was a very intuitive piece! My daughter always feels my mothers presence when she travels alone.

 My mother died never truly knowing me. She knew I was creative, calling me a great  homemaker (because I painted furniture bright colors, decorated fun cakes, sewed and crocheted) while my cousin was the  housekeeper. I always surrounded myself in color, yet never painted a stroke on paper until I was forty seven!! She died never knowing why I was so quirky growing up!!!

Funny how life continues to teach us!  My daughter is like  mom in too many ways to mention. Her wallet is stuffed with coupons like moms was  and she has everything except the kitchen sink in her purse.  At five foot three, a whole three inches taller than mom she totes a purse heavy enough to win gold medal at the purse carrying Olympics. 

Cupcake has a gift of cooking intuitively like mom did. Even though I'm a good cook, my daughter is a step above me. She whipped up a sauce for a stir fry this week that was to die for!! I have gladly demoted myself to her sou chef!!

 My daughter makes things happen like mom did, she loves travel, needs to get away to let her hair down, and is fairly high strung...like mom!! In fact mom and I bucked heads too often. While my daughter and I  thankfully are pretty  amiable.

 Fit of Conniption Acrylics on Sketchpad

I really believe our kids are put on earth to teach us far more than we can teach them!! I used to think no one knows a child like the mother, I still believe it to be true when a child is young! However a question I've pondered of  late has been..... "do our children know us  better than we know them???"  I'd love feed back on this question...I'm fortunate that my  daughter and son-in-law know me so well!! 

On a lighter note the goddesses gathered at  Mexican restaurant and had many laughs. My one friend let her young grandson eat all the sugar he wanted and was outed when he held his head with both hands and screamed "MOMMA, I've had too much SUGAR!!!" While she tried to shush him!!  My daughter is such a germ freak I often  threaten to let her kids lick door knobs!!  She doesn't have kids yet, but I'm using reverse psychology in preparation, just in case she has notions of me baby sitting full time!!  She doesn't by the way!!

We celebrated Earth Goddesses in the blue, behind her is Faery goddess and Nature goddess, I'm the Love Goddess in the black Sombrero, Dream Goddess who made the cake is beside me!! Isn't the cake fabulous!! It was coconut pineapple cupcakes hidden in a terracotta pot. It was so incredibly delectable, gummy WORMS and all!!

 Have a great weekend!! You can visit more wonderful Artist 

at Paint Party Friday, join in if you so feel inclined!! 

 I'm not sure where "Fit of Conniption came from" but I will tell you the same day I went out with my Goddesses was the anniversary date of that fateful day 16 years ago when crash, boom, bang, my   23 year marriage ended in a very crude way!!

I'll leave you with more edits and Burny the dog.... Come on now, you know I always have a dog on the blog!!! 

 Has anyone lost their blog list normally displayed

on their side bar ???

 I'm so upset mine is gone, I'm hoping it's

a glitch and reappears!

Most women deserve purple hearts, 

we are all so brave in our own way!!