Cahaba Park Church picnic

the weather was a fabulous sunny 100 degrees with a heat index of about 111. but who noticed? NOT US CHURCH GOIN' PICNICKIN' FOLK!

first thing's first....here is our TYPICAL "church lady pastor's wife" and their youngest child. that happens to look identical to our pastor.

it's just NOT RIGHT that she is THIS fabulous!

"MURRAY, you did great today on the sermon!"

i had a GREAT idea to "pile the babies together" to photograph our youngest members

did not go so well except for baby on the left that thought the WHOLE thing was HYSTERICAL!

LOOK a our CPC children! we are full of kids at this church! what a blessing!

we heard a crash and a huge limb fell, and came about two feet from a child.

our hearts skipped a beat. LORD, thank you for the two feet that spared our little one! his daddy said to him, "that is why mommy and i pray every night for your safety".

mater (pg)

tomato! tomato? my friend kelly's three year old daughter brought in a "tomato" from the garden. she shouted, "MOM, this tomato looks like my brovers (brothers)!" well, i will just let the pictures do the talking. i titled the post "mater" cuz i saw it fitting!

hotstrings art show

i neglected to show yall my booth at the show. i was so proud of how it looked. my friend brook rocks at helping set up ANYTHING. we had fun untill a monsoon wind came and knocked the tent and i was clocked in the head bu a shutter display door. ouch. in fact a man ran up and started to touch my head, when he found the huge bald spot where the door hit me. he freaked and i assured him allopecia is not contaigeous! UNLESS you touch it directly with your fingers...just kidding i did not scare the guy to death. after all, he was being helpful and sweet. here is a photo or two of the booth!

i thought it looked good. new tent! good practice for the next show!

redneck lemonade stand

i woke up early this morning to help with a friend's yard sale. i came home with some goodies! i love starting a saturday with some good yard sale endorphins. the kids had a blast today with a lemonade stand in the back of bert's truck. how redneck is that? Spiderman was helpful to attract customers. they made $7.50. the dog would NOT get out of the truck so i feel sure that there was black hair in some of the lemonade cups. i know this to be true because i saw a man fishing one out of his Styrofoam cup. it was BLAZING hot but these entrepreneurs were busy at work. then they all left. as kids do. and i was left to clean up the mess. moss the dog.was no help and had to be lifted out of the car as usual. crunch saw a real weenie dog and fell in love with a non-biting dog. i thought that made a cute picture.
by the way, bess woke up in the middle of the night, decided to hold her hamster and it bit the STEW out of her finger. she screamed bloody murder and we were all awakened. today was a tired and hot day. i enjoyed a nap. ahhhh, bert took the kids to kmart and the dollar store. fun day. did i mention the heat?

SNAP TO IT! it's PATTI! a paying customer!

such a cute pic i could eat it!

crunch loving on a real weenie dog.

cowboy owl painting

"remember the owlamo"

strange but AWESOME

        i talk to EVERYONE. it just does not matter where i am, or who you are. i talk to EVERYONE. it is sometimes a problem for those around me. especially bert. he does not mind UNLESS we are trying to have quality time. then my talking to EVERYONE is a problem for him. i just LOVE meeting new people. i met a new friend with two adorable children and we ended up in conversation about birmingham (she is new to town) and then...her tatoos. i NEEDED to know what her wrist tattoos meant. i will share more about tatoos in a later post. but any the how, we talked forever.
        i noticed a beautiful african grandmother and her grandchildren. they were so dark skinned and had that look about them that i could just tell they, too, were new to the area.
it was so hot and sticky and with sweaty brows and hands...we shook to meet. i asked her if she spoke "swahili" and she lit up like a candle and began rattling off her language...."whoa", i said. i ONLY know JAMBO (hello) and a song "God is so good" in swahili. so we began to sing...in the middle of the park. (my other new friend i am sure thought i was a quack!)
with her granddaughter on my hip ( head on my shoulder)... my african friend and i began to sway to the imaginary piano playing the chords to "God is SO GOOOOOOD......."

(pardon all spelling for those who speak swahili!)

mungu yu mwema

mungu yu mwema

mungu yu mwema

yu mwema

quangu

with sweat from the HOT morning muggy sun we shared with each other that we were "sistas" and we ended our conversation with, "I will see you in heaven!" in broken english and sign language

but, when she said,

"JESUS IS MY LORD"

we both understood eachother perfectly.

i'm sharing with you a few paintings that i did a couple of years ago to raise money for another african friend.

rebel is at boot camp

REBEL the mixed weenie dog is pretty bad. he bites, nips, and poops in the house. i have had him this week at "doggie day care" (won in an auction) at CREATIVE DOG TRAINING in birmingham. well, his "report card" from yesterday was not so good. it was bad really. their concern is rebel being so aggressive, so YOUNG. they asked me to consider the mini BOOT CAMP. well, this service would completely transform reb into an obedient dog. i mean, MARGARET that owns the place is like CAESAR MILAN in a dress. she is amazing. rebel would spend ALL of the 7 days with her, doing extensive training. how can i resist!!!! so, HOW MUCH IS THIS??? what? i am sorry, did you say $600? oh. ok........crap.  i mean, for real. it would work, but i can't afford it. and i am stuck with CUJO the meanie weenie dog. so, my wheels started to turn. on my way out the door to take rebel for his third third day of monitored day care, it hit me. i grabbed my portfolio and a 36x36 blank canvas.
i turned on my salesman voice as rebel, crunch, and i walked into the office holding the canvas and my impressive (i must say) portfolio of pet paintings. yes, in the office of the place where rebel is known as "king of the yard" miss MARGARET walked out and i managed to negotiate a trade! yes, a BARTER. one 36" painting of her five animals for 7 days with "my biting dog" as crunch calls him. i thought it was a SLAM DUNK and i jumped up and down and hugged her (the dog whisperer) and sent rebel off for seven days at chez creative dog training. bye you little toot head, i'll see you in 7 days!

margaret and rebel's "boot camp" chart

margaret's rebel BITE from the day before! ARGGGG!

reb does not stand a CHANCE!

miss you frannie!!

example of one of my pet paintings

ciao!

my sister's beautiful children

a miracle!!!

peanut...without being asked...cleaned her room. i am floored. seriously, i am laying on the floor. i wish i had a "before" picture. here is the "after"!

teaching tiffany

this friend has never painted anything in her life! now she is an arteest!! she came over and we had a three hour lesson (total) and here is how it flowed.....

cowboy chair

I am submitting a "chair" into the auction for "Hotstrings" tomorrow (sun.) at Sloss Furnace. i was so excited to see how it would turn out. i am excited about my cowboy! i was given an old chair to use. this chair screamed total COUNTRY! so a cowboy seemed natural and of course, also a cow print!
all money from the auction of the "artists chairs" goes to The Foundry. a local drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. it is a great cause! it will be so fun to see some of the other artists designs! i will bring my camera......not to worry!

country seat.

"hey TEX! whered you park yer horse?"

boy dog for sheridan chairs

i traded a painting of my friends dog for her set of six sheridan chairs. it turned out great! i love my chairs and she loves her painting of "boy" the border collie.

other paintings for sale at the sloss show! SUNDAY!!

owl alley

MAMA!

take me away!

bedtime bath (no tears)

crazy chandelier

remember my crazy chandelier from SCAVENGERS in destin?

"what in the WORLD IS THAT, and where do you THINK you are putting it?"

-Bert

RIGHT HERE!!

isn't it FABULICIOUS?

"well, ok. um...whatever liz."

-Bert

hot strings!

art show on sunday! birmingham's sloss furnace.....it will be hot so bring your fans with the water bottles attached and your wallet to buy art! wooohoooo. here are a few to tickle your taste buds!

H bird

green eyed owl

4 owls

ballerina owls

owl will always love you too!

i just hooted.

heini owl