Do You Know Me?

Wow - last night I'm like trying to sleep, it's around 3:30 a.m. and the dogs start whooping, stomping on me, the whole bit and then I hear some hooting back. I look out and here is this little tiny dog. Of course I go out and call him, he comes running up to me. Poor little man was all muddy and thirsty. He is feisty though - got Hank to back the eff up immediately. But between us, Hank is kind of a wussy, especially for a Rottweiler. Zeke is unimpressed with the new foster dog - especially I think because he's so small and more of a "baby" and Zeke is totally the baby of the family.

So anyway, this morning I took this picture - by myself! You can see my hand in the picture, yes I was holding the dog and held the camera in my other hand. He's too bouncy otherwise and I kept getting pictures of his butt and whiskers only. While cute, they probably won't help identify him to his parents. I'm pretty sure he's lost and not dumped as he has had a haircut recently. So hey if you're in the Kansas City area and know this dog - leave me a message! You all know I don't need another dog! I just found a home for Fiona!

I decided for lack of a better idea to call him Tommy. Tommy and I went for a walk and posted flyers around the neighborhood and then stopped off at Benetti's Coffee Experience which is close by and had a great vanilla latte and a cinnamon roll as big as my head - seriously! Oddly, I could not finish more than half of it and had to have Ben wrap up the rest for a treat later. I am really, horribly embarrassed to admit this is only my second visit to Benetti's - definitely will not be my last, especially since they have expanded their hours.

I'm off to continue my fabulous Independence Day celebration my way - by getting a massage at Solaris Massage! I cannot wait! More later, Cheeka

Happy Independence Day Eve!

Wow is it really July? Freaks me out! So far this holiday weekend is awesome! I got off work at noon (thanks Boss-Man!) and went directly to Road Princess's house. We ran off to have some Chinese food at Panda Express (okay not the epitome of authentic Chinese cuisine, but quick, good and no eyeballs or nothin weird in it). I'm weird about Chinese food - I don't like a lot of odd veggies. Like, the other day I went to a drive-thru Chinese restaurant and got Mongolian Beef which I really wanted to get from Bo Ling's but I was too lazy to park the car and walk all that way and I was about late to get back to work. For some reason I am always optimistic about drive-thru Chinese. I have yet to get something edible from any of the many drive-thru Chinese restaurants, but I perservere. I was encouraged by the large crowd of people there. Trust me, it was SO NOT WORTH IT. Horrible! First of all, I loathe bamboo shoots - hey I am not Yule Gibbons and I don't eat bark. I mean, seriously, we don't have to eat stuff like that for real anymore so why bother? Like, I would never eat a barbequed squirrel unless I was like starving and that's all I could get and well I probably wouldn't because I would be all grossed out from skinning the squirrel. Anyway! I get this purported Mongolian Beef back to the office and open it up and seriously, there was approximately one cup of bamboo shoots in the mess. I know this because I picked every single one out, trying to find something edible. I also picked out the horrible chunks of onion. Now when it comes to onions, I am not a hater. Onions and I are friends. But really, does it have to be a big chunk? You know, have some pride in a job well done! Just because you're a big loser working in a big loser yucky Chinese drive-thru restaurant, can't you bloom where you're planted and cut the stuff small like God intended it to be? Sigh. So where was I going with this?

Oh yeah, my day! Road Princess and I tried to hook up her sporty new router and failed. So instead we went outside on the porch and talked and enjoyed the day. On the way back I not only found Archiver's by myself (I didn't want to be an enabler and it was a whim when I left her house) but then topped it off by a small side-trip to Urban Arts & Crafts. I think I will have to go back on my slimming hot dog and boloney diet now till next payday. You didn't know Cheeka's secret to a beautiful curvaceous body, did you? Hot dogs and boloney. Seriously. Ice cream helps too, if you can afford it. Also lunch many times is Cheetos and an ice cream cone - wonderful stuff!

More ATCs follow - these are for the Recycle It swap on (guess where - duh) http://www.atcsforall.com. Take an old greeting card, postcard, calendar, whatever and make it into a brand-spanking new ATC. I am getting caught up on my swaps! Next up is Holy Cats! I will try to work on those tonight.

Shoes ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~* Sing Praise

Recalcitrant Mermaid ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~* Butterfly Dreams


Why Santa Chose Elves series:


Dwarfs ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~* Gnomes



Flying Monkeys ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Trolls

Happy almost Fourth-of-July! Till next time, Cheeka.

It's Good To Be A Princess!

So what have I been doing you ask? Well since recovering from Rain Garden Day which made me late to work on Monday - I decided to really whoop it up and give both the dogs baths on Sunday so by Monday I could barely move. However, my unmoving self did get some art done on the weekend so it's all good!

First up are some picture profiles I did for a couple of chicks on atcsforall.com . One had asked that I portray either my favorite flower, bird or animal in the profile - and it must be 4 x 6 so it fits in a standard photo album. Well, y'all know how I feel about birds - and if you don't, well I'm terrified of the creatures - especially if they take a notion to touch me with their freaky little bird hands. It's been suggested that's why I loathe the winged children phase some people are into with their art.

In case anyone missed the tiara on my head - and if so, just know I am getting a bigger one! and a sceptor (sp?) - I make sure i write "I am a princess" on every card. Being a princess is way better than being a queen - less responsibility and you don't get your head chopped off often.

Then I HAD to finish some ATCs for the Grimm's Fairy Tales Swap on atcsforall.com. Silly Cheeka had written down August 8 for the due date and on Friday I noticed it was JULY 1. Crap!

These were to depict the real Grimm's stories - not that namby-pamby Disney pack of lies! If only I could have done The Juniper Tree (linked for your reading pleasure!). There's so many ways to go with this, from the evil stepmother chopping off the kid's head, to cooking him up into a pudding to his dad chowing the pudding like he was starving to....wow! I'm not sure what lesson was being learned by the kids hearing that beauty - perhaps it was a warning to stepmothers! Anyway, as much as I wanted to depict that one in an ATC, I had to fall back on some old standbys. Each story is linked in the title of the ATC.

Cinderella

Donkey Cabbages

One-Eye, Two-Eyes & Three-Eyes

If you're ever having trouble sleeping, these stories should ummm, keep you from sleeping at all! Grimm's ROCK.

Till next time, Cheeka

Cheeka In The Garden

So today was a workday at church in our rain garden. Boy did it look sad when we got there! Today's task was weed eating (well really weed chopping as we had pizza for lunch, not weeds - I even stayed away from the salad - bad memories), weed pulling and mulch spreading. It was VERY MUDDY! I had taken a sweat towel which quickly became my situpon - remember those from girl scouts? A BIG FAT SPIDER CRAWLED OVER ME. So that ended my weed pulling sojurn.

I turned my attention to mulch spreading - that is hard work! By the time I left I had a blister which had popped and is probably getting infected as I type, scratches, bugs had been biting me and I was hurting all over. I'm sure at some point I was unconscious and someone rolled over me with a wheelbarrow. Can you tell I'm not exactly the outdoorsy type? MW was there which made it all worth it. Oh and when I got home my tired self fell up the stairs and cracked my leg just for good measure. I'm sure my whole body will be one big bruise when I get to church tomorrow. Very attractive.

Okay enough of the whining - although I do enjoy it! For your viewing pleasure I submit four ATCs I made the other night. . .

Radiance

Transform Yourself

Longing

Sweet Dreams

(starring Zeke)

I've made a bunch of cards, etc., for swaps but they are drying right now so you'll have to wait till tomorrow. That's of course, if I am alive by then.

Till next time! Cheeka

Artist Trading Card Ideas

Just a quick post to pat myself on the back for being the Artist Trading Card of the Day on the Artist Trading Card Ideas website for this card. How cool is that? And to my winners - getting the goodie bags out this weekend! Well except for Mary's as I've never heard back from her - Mary, where are you?

Cheeka Revealed!

Okay we have two winners! Carolyn & Mary both gave it a go and although Carolyn was 100% correct - Mary was very close. Plus, as she pointed out, I did kind of cheat by saying I was wearing a sleeveless shirt. Well I was, under my cassock! And ya know, before the service and all. Yes, I am one of the robed beings. I am privileged to be an acolyte in my church. Kinda like an altar boy except well I'm a girl and it's been awhile since childhood. So thanks for playing, thanks for reading and I'll get your goodie bags out to you toot sweet!

I have been having so much fun trading ATC's, I haven't had much time for ART. That needs to change because I am almost out of stuff to trade! Nothing new to post today, but hopefully I'll get busy tonight.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Wow what a weekend! First off, I had a meeting at church for the Cursillo coming up in November! If you don't know what Cursillo is, feel free to ask me! Basically, it is a movement in the Episcopal Church to prepare us to be apostles and leaders in the church - which is scary to think of me that way!

Anyway, I left the meeting early to go have an art play date with Road Princess. She made me the bestest birthday lunch ever - meatloaf, au gratin potatoes (from a box - that is important! none of that nasty homemade stuff for me - I want the dish to be made the way God intended - dehydrated potatoes, powdered cheese and water), black cherry jello with no lumpy stuff in it, biscuits and chocolate cake for dessert. Also from a box. I can appreciate a home made cake, but hey, Betty Crocker and the Fatboy have been perfecting these things for years and can make a mean cake.

Okay so I'll admit it - we didn't get any art done, but we did head over to Archiver's because they don't have one in my neighborhood. OMG!!! What a cool place! And how come nobody's told me about Stickles before? Seriously!

So that was a great time - I didn't want to leave (the guest from HELL). We brainstormed and shared and talked about our lives with Christ - it was a glorious day!

Sunday the Bishop was at church. Here's a picture of him and his wife, Mrs. Bishop, getting food at the brunch before the service - they look like ordinary people, right? The amazing thing is, I didn't do or say anything particularly stupid! Awesome! I didn't drop an F-Bomb, I didn't trip in the middle of the floor and maybe hit the Bish with my overflowing pile of bacon, nothing! Mother Pat I'm sure is proud. Although I was wearing a sleeveless shirt and everyone could see my tattoos. I always wonder if I should cover everything up when the Bishop is here, but then I figure he has worse things to worry about than my body art. All sorts of important Bishop stuff.

So the next picture is me and the Bishop, chilling at the altar - okay there are some more people, but I am in the picture (the only one of the MANY that my friend took with MY camera and they are mostly of some stinky kids getting baptized. HELLO???? My camera! Like I need all those pictures of children? Giggle - hey we had 3 baptisms - Thanks be to God! New children in Christ's kingdom! Right on! So the first person who posts a comment and correctly identifies ME (and no fair if you already know me - you can't play this game) will receive a goodie bag of groovy stuff off one of my work tables - you've all seen the pictures and know that's a veritable treasure trove!

Finally, a picture of the Bishop leading the service. Check out that hat! I wish I had one! I asked him if I could hold his big hook thing for him, he said no. Probably would have burned my sinful self anyway. Hmmm.
























So like I said in the last post, this week was another collage-a-thon. My muse was taking a nap this weekend - she might have been a little hungover too, I'm not sure what she was doing most of the weekend. But the hateful B was not there when I needed her, and did not show up till about 10:00 on Sunday - then I didn't want to go to bed, I couldn't stop creating! Most of these are traded!

Till next time! Cheeka