Pretty Pond, Pretty Kitty

We are currently staying at Jeff's mom's house in upstate Pennsylvania.  It is a beautiful place, complete with a pond.  This was during sunset, last night, on the far side of the pond.

In addition to the pretty scenery, there is also a pretty kitty to be found here.  My beloved little "Kitten" - now dubbed Patches, by Jeff's mom and step-dad.  I was quite anxious to see if she would remember me, or hide as she has always done whenever strangers appear.

I'm very happy to report that she remembered me!  She greeted me with excited tail shaking and requests for vigorous chin scratching.  I in turn greeted her with happy tears.

We will be here for a few more days.  Tomorrow I have an exciting side trip planned.

Also tomorrow: I have a scheduled blog post full of Bo spam, from my most recent visit to see my boy.

Motivation Monday - Create a Vision

I was already way behind on blogging before this trip and spending a month on the road has left me even MORE behind.  I'm actually not struggling much with motivation these days, what I have is more a lack of time to get much done (and a limited amount of supplies *wink*).  I'm already eager to return home and get back to work, fueled by things I learned at BreyerWest (more on that in other posts coming soon) and after inspiring visits with family and friends.  In the meantime, I present a (short) edition of Motivation Monday.  As always, I hope you have a great week!

The Trip So Far

I have several more in-depth posts planned, but I thought I'd post a quick summary of the great adventure so far.

First up was BreyerWest in Albany, Oregon.  The first day was the Open Show; here's my table, complete with a display of horse-shaped-objects from Japan.

That night was the Swap Meet!  I had taken a selection of laser-cut things, along with saddle pads, CM SMs, my first ever Arabian presentation offerings, and a few other random things.

The next day was the A Good Vintage show, I entered a bunch of my oldies and won a few tiles!

After BreyerWest, I flew to Rapid City.  While there, I visited a few friends, including Paula, who has Friesians!  I watched her take a lesson on her newest horse, a Friesian cross mare named Lexi.  After the lesson, Paula asked if I'd like to ride.  Yes!

Then it was on to Aurora, where I visited my friend Heather for a couple of days and then went to see Jennifer,  That visit was filled with foal visiting:

a trail ride (!!):

and a fun day of models and tack making!:

Next up it was on over to my hometown, where I stayed with my Granny for a few days.  I also visited with my dad and Grandma (his mom).  I got to see their family cabin up in the mountains.  It is beautiful up there.

After Colorado, it was down to Arizona where I saw Bo and his friends.  This is his best friend, Houdini.

A few short days later, it was off to Texas!

There, I reunited with Jeff.  We did a bit of sightseeing in Texas and then went up to Arkansas to see my daughter.  

We had a good visit together, including a whole day spent making mosaics and going to the Little Rock Zoo.

The very next day, Jeff and I set off for Virigina.  I was feeling depressed and drained from the emotional goodbyes (again) of Granny, bo, and my daughter, all one right after another.  Jeff asked me if there was anything I'd like to do along the way to Viriginia.  I did some research on the road and decided that the Memphis Zoo sounded neat.

So, we ended up going to two zoos in two days.

We have been in Virginia for a couple of days and are already packing up to move on.  That's been the theme of this whole trip, for me anyway.  

Today we set out for Pennsylvania.


There may be a stop at Chincoteague and Assateague islands on the way...

Trip Check In

First off: Happy Easter!

I am finally stationary for more than a few hours, somewhat rested, nothing else going on for a bit, AND have Wi-Fi.  So I figured it was way past time for a quick check in.

I'm a little over halfway done with the Epic Tour of the US.  Two days ago, I reunited with Jeff in Texas and we are now in Arkansas for a couple of days.  It was good to see Jeff again after a few weeks on my own, touring the western half of the US.  It's also really nice to not be the only one doing all the driving - hence the reason I am sort of feeling rested, finally.

The great picture upload, sort, and edit has just barely begun and I wanted to share this picture first.  It's my handsome Bo boy at his vacation home in Arizona.  I took a bunch of pictures of him and also my friend took several pictures of us together on my last morning there.  Stay tuned for some Bo spam!

There is SO much that I want to share about the trip so far, and it's not even over yet.  I may have a month or more worth of blog material to wade through and compile.  For now though, I just wanted to say "hello!".

BreyerWest - I'll be there!

I've been cooking up this announcement for a little while.  


The original plan was a trip to the U.S. to visit family and friends (and Bo!!) in April.  Jeff mentioned that I might want to go a week earlier to have more time to visit.

I had already looked at the NAMHSA Live Show schedule, ya know, just to see if there might be any shows in any places I might be, in the time frame I might be there.  Much like I did when I ended up visiting Arkansas and discovering there was a live show (Mid-Ark) right there, right when I'd be there.  (yay!!)

The stars didn't seem like they would align this time.  However, I did see that BreyerWest was in Oregon, in late March.  Well, I'd be flying into Seattle, from Japan.  Hmmm.. close, but not enough.  Ah well.

Then came the idea of leaving earlier for the trip.  Hmmm..  How about if I leave a bit earlier still and...  maybe, you know... go to BreyerWest...?

So, I am!!

I've spent the last few weeks juggling dates, hotels, planes, trains, and automobiles (no, really) and as of last night, the last puzzle piece is in place and, it's official.

I'm going to BreyerWest!



Side note: I'll have some goodies to peruse in the room sales and Friday night Swap meet at the host hotel, here's one of the things I'm working on:

The Shift

I've been slacking off on posting here for a little while now, but I've been busy behind the scenes.  I've been making some things and thinking, a lot.  When my blog goes quiet, it's almost always because I'm dealing with "stuff".  Mostly mental/emotional woes.  There's been a lot of that lately.  This post has been rattling around in my head all this month, but parts of it have gone on for years.  You might want to grab a beverage and a snack before we get started...


Anyone who has read my blog for a bit probably already knows that I've been struggling with... too much stuff.  That being: material things cluttering up my studio to the point where I actually do most of my work in the living room...  Ridiculous, yes.  Though partly that is because I enjoy binge watching on our big screen, I would like to be able to create more things in my, you know, creative space.

I'm also dealing with a lot of mental clutter as well.

For a while now, I've been thinking that a big cause behind both sources of clutter is that I just have too much to do.  Or rather, too much that I want to do.  For a looong time, I've joked that I'd have to live to be 300 to do all of the things that I wanted to do, as far as creative projects.  That may not even be an exaggeration.  That may not be enough time.

For the past few years, I've ranked my creative pursuits in my head:

1 - model horses (this is still a broad category, which includes: sculpting, painting, tack making, prop building, showing..  etc, etc...  I used to think that painting and sculpting ranked over tack and props, but I'm not sure on that - this could be a post all on it's own and may be in the future)

2 - paper crafts (hence my mountain of paper, card stock, a bajillion stamps, stickers, all sorts of gadgets and gizmos and paraphernalia)

3 - everything else is lumped in here (everything else is still a lot: tatting, jewelry, home decor, and the results of random Pinterest brainstorms, things I've found on the beaches here, and so on)


I've gone around and around and around with this, for years.  I was recently talking to Jeff about all of it, again.  I told him I felt like NaMoPaiMo was an eye-opening experience.  I felt far more joy painting Antar and seeing his presentation set through to completion, than I think I've ever felt doing anything in category two or three above - or anything really, unless it be training real horses.

His response was somewhat surprising, but maybe it shouldn't have been.  He said that if he had total control, he would pull everything out of my studio room and only put the horse stuff back in there, get rid of everything else.  He's suggested for a while now that I do just that.  I thought about it and said that I'm thinking that's what I should do too.

Easier said than done, of course.

I did start on the process, not in so drastic a way, simply because I'm quite sure he doesn't want the rest of the house buried in my craft stuff while the Great Sort (number 683) occurs.  Instead, I pulled out all of my rubber stamp collection, piled it on my desks that I'd cleared off for my klast minute painting marathon on Antar, and went all KonMari on the mountain of stamps.  I considered each stamp in the pile, one at a time: "Does this spark joy?"  Yes, move to keep pile.  No, move to go away pile.

While a clean sweep does sound appealing in its own way, I don't think it's entirely realistic.  I DO have stamps and "other" craft things that spark joy.  I would still like to be able to make a greeting card or three when the mood strikes me, but I don't need enough supplies to open my own store.

Next comes the "getting rid of".  I know that I should probably just bundle it all up, drop it off at the thrift store, or put it in the front yard with a "FREE" sign (or throw it away), and be done.  That's what the experts would say.  However, that's hard for me, because I can't look at things that have value and not try to get at least some value back out of them.  Maybe it comes from growing up poor.  Maybe it comes from the fact that I don't feel secure in my life right now.  Maybe it's because some of these things (like stamps from my Granny) have sentimental value (that's the worst when it comes to getting rid of anything, I know).  Maybe it's all of it.

I was thinking that I should set a hard and fast deadline for myself.  Say, give myself a week to try and sell whatever is in the go away pile.  After that, it all gets donated or given/thrown away.

There is a deadline of sorts coming up, with scary speed.  In just over a week, I leave to go on my visit back to the U.S.  I'm trying to decide if it would be nice to come back to a cleared out studio (in other words: should I bust my butt over this next week - with all the other trip pressures looming - or not) or if it would be easier to go through it when I get back, with a fresh mind - after I've been out of THE MESS for 6 weeks or so.

I don't know.

What I do know is that a shift needs to happen and I'm feeling fully on board with it now.  This is thanks to Jennifer Buxton's idea of NaMoPaiMo and the realizations I had as a result, on what makes me happy.


I didn't really have any pictures to illustrate this post, but I think this one is appropriate.  I shared it on my Facebook page yesterday.  These little tassels make me a lot happier than a pile of rubber stamps do.

I Did It

The cry of triumph on the NaMoPaiMo Facebook group when one finishes their model is: "I did it!"  


It took me all the way up until the last day, but..  I did it!  I worked off and on at his prep work all month and painted him on..  the last day.

I'm happy, and relieved, to present Antar ("hero, strong one, warrior").  He is an "Anubis" resin, sculpted by Sheri Rhodes and painted by me.

The other thing I accomplished is a presentation set for him.  This is, officially, the very first completed piece of Arabian tack that I've done.  

I'd like to eventually do write up on here about Antar's creation; I took a bunch of pictures during the 12 hour painting session yesterday.  However, I couldn't wait to share him on here.