What I'm working on for the New Year

12/27/12

Well it is hard to believe that this year is just about over and a new one is to begin. It seems the older I get, the faster the years seem to go by. I also keep hoping that the new year will be a slightly bit better than the previous one. Now my family and I have had a hard few years. My health hasn't been the best, I am no longer able to work, which at first was awesome. I have to say I wish I could go back to work. I would even be happy to go back and work my least favorite job if it meant I could work again. It goes without saying always be careful what you wish for.
For those of you who have followed me since I began attempting to do the whole blogging thing almost one year ago, you know that since I can no longer work, I am trying to find solice in Art Journaling, blogging and teaching myself to draw and sketch. I absolutely love Art, and I love to read about the Famous Artist in history, I love to look at famous paintings in history and create something in my journal of the feelings invoked by that painting.
I have always at the start of a new year tried to keep a written journal of my feelings and usually do well for about 3-4 moonths and then I peter out. I am really hoping that my love of Art will inspire me to keep a long term journal.
I am usually very closed mouth about my feelings, I don't share personal parts of myself, and the "skeletons" of my past. I find it very hard to maintain friendships because I don't like to share much. 
About 12 years ago when we built our house, I slowly became friends with my neighbor. We actually became inseperable friends. Our children were more like siblings to each other than neighbors. Our husbands also became very good friends. Those years were some of the best and happiest of my life. I thought I had finally found a true and life long friend.
Then when the economy began to turn, when my back problems stole my livelihood, my friend who should have been my rock, she betrayed me in the worst way possible. She broke my heart in left it in a million broken pieces. My world felt like it was spinning out of control and I did the only thing I could control, I shut out everyone. I thought if she could do what she did to me, then those who weren't as close could do just as much harm to my heart. 
It has been about 4 years since that day my heart was broken, most of those I thought were my friends no longer keep in touch, I still have one friend from that time, and we talk as often as we can. You know life and kids keep her and I busy. She is a single mom and works, our kids as they get older actually seem to keep us busier than when they were little. 
The whole point of sharing that is more about me getting you to understand why, and what drives my need for Art and Art Journaling. I am hoping that it will sort out the pain that still resides in my heart after my friend broke it. 
It is also about the happiness that resides in my heart as well. The happiness that my husband, my kids and my granddaughter bring into my life everyday. That is what I try  to focus on, that is what I live for everyday. I also thank God everyday that I wake up to enjoy another day on this earth.
I am a survivor of childhood Cancer. I wasn't supposed to live according to the doctors, I am what they call a medical miracle. Not only was I not supposed to  survive my Cancer, I wasn't suppose to be able to have children. I have 5. I always have been one to beat to my own drum.
So as the new year approaches, I will continue to improve upon my drawing and sketching skills, I will continue to improve upon my relationship with God, I will continue to find peace within.
Well that is enough sharing for one day, it is more sharing than I have done in quite some time. I thank you for choosing to listen.
 I am also going to share with you some of what I have been working on the past few months, my attempts at ART. Hoping this finds you well.

God Bless,
Kimmie <3

My very 1st Art journal page

One of my Favorite pages I have done

Mini handmade books

My handmade paper beads

My attempt at making button rings

Another of my favorite pages

This is for the Sketchbook Project

Bookmarks for a swap

Bookmarks for a swap

Bookmarks for a swap

A tag I made, I stamped it and crotched the fringe on the bottom

For the Sketchbook Project

Also for the Sketchbook Project

My Moleskine(I LOVE this journal)
My doodle/zentagle Peacock

More doodles in my Moleskine, I call her
Millie!!

Sketches in Millie the Moleskine

Titled "Heart in Art" in my art journal

MERRY CHRISTMAS

12/25/12

Merry Christmas to all. Today is a day of leisure and family. We will have a big breakfast of Company Eggs, Carmel Bread Pudding, Carmelized Bacon, Sourdough French Toast and Beignets. The Beignets are from a mix I bought in New Orleans and have been saving them until now.
After we eat, we will lay around in our pj's all day watching movies, we will eat dinner at around 6:30, then we will go into a food COMA. As is tradition, we will go to a movie later in the evening. Tonight we will go see The Hobbit. Which I am super excited about. It is one of my favorite books. 
I hope you all have a joyous day. I'm keeping it short and sweet today!!!

God Bless,
Kimmie <3

Cooking Breakfast

Beignets

Carmelized Bacon

Company Eggs

Sourdough French Toast

Carmel Bread Pudding

Getting Ready For Christmas

12/24/12

Well tonight is the night the big Guy comes and climbs through our chimney's, eats the cookies we leave and in return leaves us some presents. My 2 1/2 yr old granddaughter has been tracking Santa on the computer most of the day with the help of my 12 yr old Bridget. Little kids make Christmas magical.
I get so excited over the holidays. I am like a big kid myself. I even had to let Kaya,(my granddaughter) open a few presents tonight. (It is tradition to open one present of each persons choosing on Christmas Eve.) Only so she could wear them tomorrow. We didn't do any baking this year, our budget didn't allow it. Baking cookies for friends and family is becoming more expensive than just buying a gift. 
Christmas Eve is also a night were my husbands family that reside in NC all get together at his brother Matt's house for dinner, and story telling, and laughter, and the White Elephant gift exchange. That is where you draw numbers and you get to pick a gift, or you can steal someone else's gift  and then they have to open another gift. The gifts are something that have a sense of humor to them.
Now we didn't go this year, because I was laid up with severe back pain and swollen legs and feet. (I couldn't get a pair of shoes on) But my older 2 sons Kyle and Jacob did go. Kyle bought a 6 pack of Snow Day beer. We crossed off the Snow and put HOLI "Day' and he removed and drank one beer, so we wrote 5 pack under the HOLI "Day". Jake didn't realize he was supposed to get a gift, so thinking quick on my feet, I grabbed a 5x7 picture of my husband off the book shelf, we took it from the frame, he autographed it we put it back in the frame and wrapped it. Now My son was not to keen on this idea. I told him to trust me, it would be the best gift of the night. I was RIGHT as I usually am. Apparently this gift was stolen 5 x's and in the end his sister Ruthie and our sister-in-law Vicki almost wrestled over it. I'm only sorry I wasn't there to see the whole thing. Now my reluctant son was claiming VICTORY for thinking up the best present of the evening. 
So now his sister Ruthie wants to start an autographed collection of all her brothers. (There are 8 in all) Yes you read that right, 8 brothers. There are also 4 girls, 12 in all. There are 6 brothers and 1 sister who live in NC, the rest are all up in NY where we are originally from.
My brother will be staying with us tonight, and my son Kyle will also spend the night, and in the morning My daughter Kady, and my granddaughter Kaya will be over for a great big breakfast which is Christmas tradition. We would usually do midnight mass, but due to my back and legs, and my daughter Kady being sick, we will stay at home tonight. I'm sure God will understand. 
I hope you all are enjoying your families this evening, and enjoying your own traditions. I would love it if you left a comment telling of some of your traditions. Wishing you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS, or HAPPY HANUKKAH, or HAPPY KWANZAA or whatever tradition you may celebrate.

God Bless,
Kimmie <3

Jacob

Michael

Bridget AKA Gidget

Me acting surprised

Jacob & Melissa(Kyle's GF)

Gidget

Lto R Kyle, Michael aka Meat, Jacob(in the back)

Kyle

Kaya openeing her early presents

Our Boxer Adella ever so watchful

OOH' & AAH's

The "Plague"

12/21/12

Well the day is about to come to end, and besides the "Plague" that has taken residence in my house, it has been an uneventful day. 
My 12 yr old was a bit on edge all day thinking that some cataclysmic event was going to happen because of all the whispers of the some horrific thing happening on this day.        
That according to the Mayan calender, the world was going to come to an end. I tried to explain that this day would go by like most others, uneventful. I told her of all the hype and fear of Y2K. That there were people who prepped themselves for a world shattering event that never happened.
Now to say my day was completely uneventful would be a lie. I have been nursing sick kids for what seems weeks on end. One gets better, another gets sick. Let me also mention that whatever this sickness is, it is horrible. My kids and my husband have been fighting this "Plague" for almost a month now. Fever, hacking, coughing, sneezing, laryngitis, earaches, stuffy noses, and the feeling of being hit by a bus. I have spent more time at the pharmacy these past weeks than I have in the past 12 months combined. The pharmacist is like"You again"? " Yup, it's me again"!! I might have to put her on my Christmas list I have spent so much time with her these past few weeks. Luckily, knock on wood, I have remained Plague free.
I have also been trying to and participating in craft swaps on swap-bot.com. If you are a grafter I highly recommend checking out the site. So while I have been waiting for prescriptions to be filled, I spent some time taking pictures to for a swap I am doing, and for a swap I just completed. I took some pictures of the town in which I live. It is a really nice community. It is a fairly small community, on the edge of a very large city. There is a great sense of community in my little town. There is always events taking place, people out and about, a place were folks still like to smile and say hello, were they will stop and have a conversation with a perfect stranger.
We also have one of the countries top private colleges in our community, Davidson College. I live in a great community. I took some pictures to share.
I will be sharing pictures with you all over the next week as part of a swap I am participating in this week. I have shared pictures on occasion, but this swap requires I share at least 2 pictures per entry over the next week. Quite frankly, I like seeing pictures when I visit others blogs, so I may share more often.
I hope this finds you all healthy, I am happy that the world continues on for all of us to appreciate and enjoy, and I hope you are all having a splendid holiday season.

God Bless,
Kimmie<3

Our Library

Local Restaurant (My son Jake works here)

New Art Sculpture by the Library

Speaks for itself :)

Another local Restuarant

Awesome Coffee house

What a bookstore should be

Davidson College

My FAVORITE place to shop

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New Orleans...The conclusion

12/19/12

Now our trip to New Orleans was especially hectic and busy the 1st few days. Not only did Gidget compete in Solo competition, she also competed in the teams competition on 12/1.  She was part of a 4 hand team. There were 62- 4 hand teams competing that day. The teams had to be down at the Ballrooms ready to go by 8 am. Now Gidget didn't have to wear her make-up(which takes about 30 minutes to put on), but she did have to wear her full wig, which takes about 30 minutes to get on because she has so much hair.
Now one thing I have learned in the 2 years we have been competing is everything moves along on "Irish Time". That means things usually are not on schedule and always running behind. The Team competition was no exception. Teams always start out with the 8- hand teams competing first. They competed one at a time, (in a regular competition they usually compete 2 at a time). The 4 hand competition started at approximately 11:30 or so. At this point we have been waiting around for 3 1/2 hours. My daughters 4 hand was one of the last teams to go on stage. Now at least they competed 2 teams on stage at a time. Her team did well, they were 2 spots out of qualifying for recall. 
I was one of the luckier parents though, some of the kids were dancing on 2 or three different teams. Next year Gidget will be dancing on more than one team as well. 
After her team was done dancing, we retreated to the quiet of our hotel room to take a nap. Though Gidget went back down to the ballrooms to watch the senior kids do their solo dances.These are the kids that range from 17-21. I did get to watch a few in earlier in the morning while waiting for Gidget's team to dance. The way the older kids dance is a sight to behold. They are unbelievably talented, and unbelievably athletic. 
Though for us, Oireachtas(ore-ock-tus) was now over. All the months of hard work, the countless hours of preperation and practice,and the anticipation and it was over. It was truly a wonderful and exciting experience. 
So now it is time for a quick breather as the kids get ready to take a 2 week break from dance for the holidays. Then they will return and it will be back to work, learning all new dances, preparing for a Feis in Stone Mnt, Ga., which is a wonderful resort, we attended last years Feis there. Although for Gidget she will practice everyday for probably 2-3 hours a day to keep her stamina up, and her muscles from going soft.
As for the remaining days of our trip in New Orleans, we did do quite a bit of sight seeing, and our last night there we went on a Haunted Tour of the French Quarter. Our Tour Guide Yvonne was not only super nice, she was extremely knowledgeable of New Orleans founding early history. She took us to some of the most haunted location not only in New Orleans, but considered the most haunted in the world. We did not see or hear any ghosts on our tour, but did get to see some of New Orleans oldest buildings, and it was a great history lesson for Gidget.
One of the stops on our tour was the Bourbon Hotel. We met an older women in the lobby who started talking to us, (she didn't know we were on a haunted tour) and she began telling us of her room being haunted and some incidents that had occurred the previous night. She said it was the ghosts of small children laughing and jumping on the bed while she was sleeping. That the incident had woke her up. Apparently there are many claims of small children being heard laughing, or running up and down the hallway. We also got to go to the ballroom which is said to have the ghost of a women from the 1800's in it, and also the ghost of a confederate soldier.
Another location was the old Yellow Fever Hospital. The building has been vacant and boarded up for at least 20+ years. The weird thing about the building was it was the only part of the street where the street light didn't work, and where the trees wouldn't grow. We also saw the 1st Pharmacy. It wasn't open, but due to the hauntings at that location, they only open 3-4 hours during daylight hours. It is a museum, and looks like it did back in the 1800's.
I would most definitely love to go back to New Orleans and go on the Staemboat, and see more of the sights. It truly is a wonderful place to visit. I recommend going if you get the chance.
I hope you enjoyed by mini series on our trip, I have a few ideas for the last few posts of the year. I hope you will join me. Until next time....

God Bless,
Kimmie

Looking out our Hotel room window

The Ballrooms for the dance Comp.

Gidget's 4 hand Team

The best Potato Chips EVER

Beautiful Architecture

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Bike Taxi's

They call him "Touch Down Jesus" in New Orleans

Gidget at The Bourbon Hotel

Me, on the Haunted tour

The Haunted Hotel Ballroom

The Haunted Ballroom

The lobby of the Bourbon Hotel

The Old Yellow Fever Hospital 

Another view of the Haunted Hospital

Our plane ride Home