boy it sure feels good to be back into my art- i made eleven small journals for my thursday nite metaphysical group---(pics of 3of them follow)

they were all really thrilled with them and i have to admit i was too--

they were easy to make
just take a sheet of cardstock and fold in half - decorate any way u would like- take the paper for the pages - fold it in half- (these have 20 pages) so ten sheets of paper -- and staple into book-i took the journals to Staples since they have a 12" stapler and they stapled them for me!

i have never used really good acrylics before and they really do make a difference!!

book pages were glued to cs with gel medium then yellow,orange, burnt umber acrylic painted over them-photocopy of mother and child, butterfly sticker, and gold paper ribbon

rubber stamps on white paper was used as background and i cut out the guy from a magazine

"a mother's love"photocopy of old photograph,onion skins, acrylic washes and postage stamp

to see all the journals go here
Journals


my landscape guy,robert, came today to start on the outside patio but after talking to him awhile i decided not to go with pavers but with flagstone so he didnt do anything today-- and i went shopping for the stone. i found a good deal on a pallette so bought it and had them put another one on hold as i dont think one will be enough
tax time too so have been working with my acct and trying to get everything ready for her-- i have to pay florida intangible tax this year--so there is more stuff to organize and go thru

thea's brother,john, is coming over tomorrow morning to finish some painting - my office is three quarters done and i cant reach the part that needs paint so he is going to do it and also some other "handyman" things i need done...he will be here at 730am and i need to hit the hay as i havent really slept much the last week-- not going to bed till after 3am...
so i am gonna toddle off to dreamland----

well my xmas gift from my son and family is now up and running minus a few tweeks here and there! it is great and so fast i cant believe it-- it has a 3G processor -boy computers have certainly come a long way from just a few years ago when i bought my first one!
i am not only hopelessly addicted to art and office supplies but i have to admit i am also majorly hopelessly addicted to my computer-- there is NO way i could live with out it! now i have a new machine to play with and enjoy.

today started out with a call from the insurance company--FINALLY-- i have only called and left messages cause i cant get ahold of anyone for the last two days--
i still have not settled my claim from the hurricanes... LONG STORY... and phone call was not only super maddening but frustrating and totally non productive. the person i spoke to was simply a call returner and had no power or clue what my situation was ... they guy that was handling my claim is no longer there and now it seems i have to basically start all over again and i was told to call back in ten days to see if my paperwork has been scanned into the system and if i have another claim adjuster-- I was FURIOUS and decided my only alternative was to call the Florida Insurance Commissioner and report my insurance company-- I am sick and tired of getting the run around ....


i really should have done this a long time ago but i kept hoping that things would be finalized...i should have known better..

the commissioner folks were angels and basically said they would take care of everything for me... that i had a legitimate claim against the company. i do have to get another estimate on the interior damage repair--and get that to them asap... i actually started crying on the phone as i was so relieved that this nightmare may soon be over and i have some power on my side now--

hurricane season will be here again soon and my other house is still totally unlivable... it suffered severe roof damage, the ceiling in the master bedroom totally collapsed.. and i have water damage through out the entire house which means that all walls and ceilings must come down and be replaced--

the roof was finally redone the first part of february-- so that was a relief--
trying to get a contractor to go down to give me an estimate of interior damage repair is nearly impossible-- i had to get one estimate since i disagree with the settelement the insurance company is offering -- that took weeks to find someone -- and to be honest i wasnt thrilled with him but really had no choice-

now i have to get another estimate - i called 10 contractors today but they are all too busy to do estimates anymore - i had one guy who said he would call me back but didnt - so i guess monday i will try him again ...

talk about emotional roller coaster-- i was so mad and so upset and then once i made the call to commissioner it was like heaven came down and saved me...

everyone here in melbourne is having the same problems-- its hard to believe the hurricanes were six months ago and all of us are still fighting with insurance companies, waiting for roofs to be replaced, and damage to be repaired...so many of my friends lost everything -- i have never lived thru such a nightmare and i never want to go thru anything like that again... it was terrifying and the aftereffects lingered for weeks....

i hate insurance companies- always have and always will-- they are nothing but legalized crooks as far as i am concerned--

i just want this to be over.....

Hello my name is Radclyffe and i am Hopelessly Addicted to any and all art and office supplies... i readily admit it... i l cannot control myself...

my studio is filled with every kind of paint, paint brushes, paper, rubber stamps, stamp pads, embossing inks, pearlx all colors, alchohol inks, , polymer clay which i have recently discovered, cigar boxes, clear cauking for transfering images, beads, glitter,every kind of glitter glue that is made, scissors, scotch tape, masking tape, clear packing tape,zebra tape, copper tape,solder, soldering gun, microscope slides, book matches and box matches, bottle, caps, magic markers, stencils, molds, yarn, string, reams of wrapping paper, ribbon, lace, plus tons of assorted photocopies, magazines of every kind and description, a huge box of paper scraps, dried leaves, assorted springs, electronic guts, burned soda cans ( i almost ruined my stove on that little project but they did turn out incredibly awesome), tins of all sizes, bottles, jars, waxed paper, bleach...

i am now in the process of attempting to organize my studio so i can find all these items with out spending an hour looking for them... not an easy task for sure... i would take a picture of it but it is sooooo bad right now i dont want anyone to see it... trying to navigate the floor is like trying to avoid landmines with all the storage boxes,magazines,files, papers, and who knows what waiting to find a home. Both desks are strewn with papers, paints, pens, pencils,stacks of photocopies, assorted files of just text, magazine pictures, black and white photocopies, colored photocopies, art in progress, and a bunch of stuff looking for a home....

today was a trip to the dollar store where i managed to find more stuff to add to the piles and the stacks...
my old saying is - "if ya dont have it ya cant make it"... always a good reason to purchase something new and something i might use SOMEDAY!!!

well IDOL isnt on tonite so i will go and rummage thru all the stuff and see if i can make a dent...
to see what i do with all of these supplies visit my art site ... link on left

YAHOO my landscape plans were approved by the board so that means i can begin the project-- i can have my pond and my patio plus they said they would let me put up a trellis between my neighbor and me but i have to resumit plans for it -- no problem there--

been getting back into my art and boy does it feel good- doing some bleach printing, and collage... my studio is still not fully put together but at least i can half way work in there even though i have to climb over some boxes! got some books from amazon about polymer clay so hope to try my hand at that too... i love rubber stamping, collage, havent done much digital collage lately-- havent done any art lately-- so it feels so good to be creative again and learn new things...

kitties are much better the last couple days and are jumping up on things and into things again ... i am glad they are better - i was so very worried about them ---

well its late - think i will go and read my new books-- tomorrow i plan on working in the yard and potting some new plants i got and repotting some old ones-- it was a beautiful day today and should be another one tomorrow--

my son,scott, who is a computer whiz and programmer, built a new computer for me for last christmas... its now march and i still havent gotten it up and running...but this week he came over and we were gonna set it up, transfer files etc.

the only problem that arose was that ,for some strange reason that we could NEVER figure out, the new computer had no sound... we spent hours on wednesday nite trying to solve the mystery, but to no avail. We uninstalled drivers, reinstalled drivers, uninstalled software, reinstalled software, went to forums, checked all connections, and did EVERYTHING but nothing seemed to bring music to our ears so bascially we didnt get much done. We finally gave up on the sound..scott thinks it might be a bad sound card... and that was the one thing he didnt check before giving me the computer!

we decided to transfer the Firefox profile and at least get that done so the new machine would have all my bookmarks etc. another problem... once again we tried everything but couldnt get the profile to transfer. it seemed as if the computer god was not smiling on us at all....

i figured on Thursday i could snoop around the net and find a way to transfer the profile but when i logged on my machine was slower than molasses and simply wouldnt load any sites or took hours to load them so i gave up...

i suspected the router was my problem and after a phone call to scott he agreed so the router got disconnected and my old machine was back up and running as always....

today i went to Best Buy and bought new router...

still havent figured out sound or profile problem --- and will hook up new router later tonite to see if it will work any better than the DLink that i had....

frustrating to say the least....

here is it almost midnite on sunday nite-- the weekend has slipped by--

friday nite was another belated birthday dinner with my son, his wife, my grandson, and my son's wife step mother... it was good to be together with them and the dinner was very good-- cilantro chicken on the grill, along with grilled corn on the cob, and sliced potatoes and onions, cherry tomatoes with a crumb dressing baked in the oven which wasnt great... chocolate fudge bundt cake and ice cream for dessert...

caleb my grandson was precious as usual-- its hard to believe he just turned 9...

saturday was a beautiful day and i spent it outside working with my plants ..potting new ones and repotting old ones..fertilizing my orchids, roses....it felt great to have warm weather and actually be outside in shorts and tshirt instead of sweat pants and jacket...hopefully spring is on its way...

i havent heard a word about my landscape design and am hoping this next week will bring good news and the boards stamp of approval...i will breathe a sigh of relief when that happens...

today was not too productive...got a few more plants in pots but ran out of potting soil so tomorrow will need to go and get more...worked on some art..made a couple cards... watched tv... just didnt have much drive or energy to accomplish much

tomorrow I HAVE to finish the letter to the insurance company...the hurricanes damaged my other house, which i was almost ready to sell when the roof got partially ripped off... that was in sept '04 and the insurance company still hasnt settled...

i had to get a contractor to come and give another estimate on price of interior repair since i wasnt happy with the insurance companies offer-- getting a contractor was a nightmare but i finally got one-- got the estimate -- then got sick for almost the whole month of february... so i am behind on the letter to insurance company and HAVE TO GET IT DONE NOW...

i have to admit i have been procrastinating as its just such a pain in the ass to go thru all the paperwork and the figures and organize it all... i hate this so much-- i just wish it were over and i had the money and the case was closed...

kitties are still hobblin - not as bad but not walking normally- -majik is alot better poppers is tenative when jumping or running...

kitties are some better today but still not walking normally-- jumping is the hardest thing for them to do-- if they are not better tomorrow i am calling vet...

tonite i am going to the Board Meeting to see if my landscape plans are approved-- i want to build a patio and a pond in my back yard but i have to have permission-- so i had to do a scale drawing and submit photos of the plants i want to put in --

yeah its a pain but it also keeps the neighborhood from going to hell in a handbasket when folks just do weird stuff... i have lived in places where boats, rv's, old lawnmowers-- you name it and it was piled up somewhere around... and its just not fun to look at or deal with when you are trying to keep your property half way decent--

now i am in this high class neighborhood and i can really see why folks want things to look good-- the board here ,i have heard, is pretty good about approving things-- so i am hoping that mine plan will go thru with no problems...

figure if i am at the meeting it might help .... but be sure that i am NOT making a habit of this...
gotta get a shower and get going...

kitties are still kind of out of it - sleeping alot more than usual and not as active... my guilt seems to grow with every passing minute of seeing them limping around and unable to jump up on things... what have i done?

i was really anxious to pick up the kitties this morning so i got to vets about 20 minutes early and of course they werent ready-- it was hard to wait for them but finally they appeared-- unusually quiet and subdued...
once we got home i let them out of carrier and gave them their treats-- poppers really had a hard time walking and at first i was really frightened something was terribly wrong-- majik just cried and gobbled down his treats...
i have to say that i feel horribly guilty for doing this-- they are not happy today and have alot of trouble walking - thankfully they are both sleeping alot..majik curled up on the new leather couch-- how appropriate huh? and poppers on the porch in the sun. i certainly hope by tonite they are much better--it will make my heart feel better.
my friend suzie said not to feel guilty and to stand by my convictions - easier said than done however...