Yes it is....it's in Anderson actually (Chruchill's). Oils except the baby/nursery painting. I did that in acrylic, but it's not something that she will use forever. Just something for now I'm sure. And my granddaughter and I did the background of that painting together one weekend, so we don't use oils when she is around. She's a bit messy...lol!
Thank you for the compliment creeser! You are very kind. :)

Sorry... got caught up in your artwork and forgot to answer you about the trees..*L*
Hobby Lobby DOES have a couple of black ones this year. One is a perfect 4 foot skinny tree. I honestly can't tell you how many trees I have at the moment. Most are smaller due to finding a place to put them. I have a 7foot "main" tree that is a slim tree with 'snow', pine cones and red berries. I decorate it all in red and most are cardinals in some form or another. I have a 5 or 6' white tree that I decorate in peppermint colors. A lot of the ornaments look like candy. I have a 4 foot silver tree that I'm still experimenting with. Last year, it was done all in Christmas fairies. I wasn't feeling it, so may go a different route this year. I have probably a half dozen more trees smaller than these and in varying colors, including a "Whoville" tree and a Charlie Brown tree.
I quit doing real trees because the stores and even the tree farms spray them with scent to get customers to buy them. That artificial scent makes me sneeze the whole time we have it up. I'll go cut pine boughs to get the real smell. *L*

Love Dali because his work is on a whole other level. *L* The melting time pieces and the crucifix are my favorite.
It's not a compliment when it's the truth. :)

Love the story behind the lady in the chair charcoal. Don't you love colorful people like that?

She was wonderful! I love her to death still. I got to see her about 2 or 3 years ago. Went out to SF for a visit and got caught up. She is a very unique lady for sure! and special. She is one of the most soft spoken people I have ever met. I'm such a loud mouth, and excitable! lol!
the Man and I went to the dali museum in st. pete FINALLY 2 springs ago. I literally cried while looking at his art. If you haven't seen it in person, GO! The large pieces are just unbelievable. I could have stayed in that gallery all day long. They have now opened the new dali museum...it was still under construction when we went, so I want to go back. Not that I care about the building that much, just the art, but I'm sure it's an interesting piece of architecture.
The trees sound awesome! I am sooo boring when it comes to lights though. My ornaments are great I think, but I always want white lights. ??? Was just discussing if we wanted to do blue lights instead this year...not sure if i can do it! on the big tree that is. The only stretch I've made really was doing some one year that looked light candlelight...they had a golden hue to them and looked very antique. very peaceful.
Oh yea, I did have to do colored lights every now and then (back in the day) for the daughter. That was always a battle every year, so we would alternate years.
Well maybe i can just bring some pine sap into the house! hahahaha! I do have a huge pine tree in the back! Gotta have the smell!

Dali scared me. He was so consumed with anxiety and had such very bizarre obsessions. Of course, I was introduced to him in a Fine Arts class in college and nothing about him was really addressed… the Masturbation piece? The Jesuits danced around that one. I was never comfortable with his works, but then I see your work, mpoulsom, and you have just introduced him to me again through your talent. Thanks. Will revisit.

Just received an e-mail that is going around (11/11) with a picture of Stalin, FDR and Churchill sitting together. Before I was born, but I could identify everyone in the pictures.

Hi, ladies, just getting a chance to join in while you are all still up. You are all making me feel totally inadequate today. mp - your artwork is just amazing, and to be able to paint faces to me is the absolute pinnacle and as for you people and your Christmas Trees ...................!!!!!!

Must be the weather, I guess there is less to do in the cold, unless you are like olldcan and shovel show all day, where here we are so out and about. I have been looking for my tree, thinking it was "lost" with all the movement here but now I have a feeling I tossed it in the last year or so. I only put it up when I know the kids are going to be here at Christmas time, I just hate taking it down and putting everything away, so am cringing at the thought of the time it takes you with so many trees and admiring your dedication. I just put some large reindeer at my front door and change out their adornment when the mood takes me or when they start to look really tatty, I have a cane tree that sits on the table at the front door that I just drape some beads around (really hard work) and put some Christmassy candles and decorations around.

I got out of the habit of the tree too when I had my cats, or should I say my daughters' cats I inherited when they moved out. One of them could not be convinced he was a cat and used to climb to the top of the tree and pretend to be the angel on top - like that works with 7kg of cat!!! I would come home to a flattened tree and decorations everywhere.

Oh, mp I know what you mean about the lady in SF. I have several friends who are really softly spoken and very genteel and ladylike, I love meeting up with them, but I always feel such a loud mouthed klutz beside them. I try really hard to emulate them but it isn't long before the lout comes out in me.

So judy, time difference lesson 1.1 - the way my daughter in LA and I work it out is that at the moment you are off daylight saving while we are on it so we are 5 hours behind but a day in front. I wondered what the difference was coast to coast, 3 hours is the same as us here. So you would therefore be 8 hours ahead of us but a day behind. It is 2.30pm Wednesday here now so that means it is 10.30pm Tuesday your time. I will wait a few hours and ring you.

Olldbob - forgot you sorry - quick fix for your dryer, try a clothes line - Aussie style. Put all the outside heat to work!!!

Hi all, sorry I was MIA yesterday, had a tough day fighting with my living room curtains.

Mendi, you art is amazing! I especially love the black and white gal.

olldroo, it's 36 F degrees here today, which is about 2 degrees C? Doubt much will dry outside!

creeser, that's a lot of trees! Where do you find the patience???

I'm going to open 11/14 and pray today goes better.

olldbob, I have the patience to put them up, but I hate, hate taking them down. But there are no tree elves to help me with that, so I have to take that into consideration when I get them out. *L* Being in a new house, it's going to be a whole different 'thing' getting decorated for Christmas this year.

Tree elves? I love that! There could be worse things lurking in your trees, think the movie "Christmas Vacation"!!! Yes, I don't like taking them down either. It's like undecorating after Halloween, kind of sad.

I'm a bit opposite. Usually, the day after Christmas, I am up at 5am taking stuff down and humming. I hate being hemmed in with too much 'stuff' and I get claustrophobic by a week before Christmas and want it all down. It's something of a family joke how I am about getting it down so fast. Just one of those Southern weirdness things that we like to trot out and show off to friends.

Actually I've been known to take a tree down Christmas night! It's because I put it up too early, the day after Thanksgiving. Before we got the fake tree I used to feel like "get that dead tree out of my house"! Do you have a Christmas item you collect over the years (besides trees, that is!). We collect nutcrackers. Not expensive ones, just cute ones under $10. Mostly we get them from the flea market.

That's why I try to wait 2 weeks before Christmas to decorate. We may go earlier this year. Our decorations are still at the old house and we need to get them moved. Might as well haul them over here and put them up.
I collect Santas and angels. Like you, nothing expensive, just finding what I like. My best friend does the nutcrackers. She thought she had lost them several years ago in their move and finally found them a few weeks ago. She was a happy woman.

Oh, good for her! I'll bet she was relieved. My mother collects angels so I stay far away from them (we don't get along, her goal in life is to outlive me). I like Santas, too, and snowmen. Also snowglobes. I have a small collection of nesters but they're so old the paint is chipping off them. And dusting around them is a royal pain so I usually don't put them out, but they're neat.

When did you move? And why?

I love reindeer although my daughter took photos of some at the LA Zoo one year - damned ugly animals, Christmas ones are so much cuter!!! What is a nester olldbob?

Damned ugly animals? Too funny! Nesters are like the Russian dolls, a little one fits inside a small one which fits inside a medium one which fits inside a large one which fits inside a huge one. I know they have a name but it escapes me right now. Again, these are not expensive (the Russian dolls can be pretty pricey).

michigammemom, I totally agree with you when I see houzzers asking for art suggestions! Art is personal, and unless I know you well, it's something you should do for yourself.

olldbob, our old house was built in what we call regionally 'low country' style. Not sure if that translates the same to everyone else. It has an above ground basement which means the entry floor was the second floor. Then there was another floor above that. I'm so *#% tired of walking up and down steps, you just can't imagine. If there had been any way to remodel the old house into a single story we would have. We have more land here and a creek, downsized and there isn't a step anywhere!

Ahhhh ................ the Matryoshka dolls, why didn't you say so. They are cute.

Couldn't agree more on the art michi, I don't think anyone could choose for me because I am so unpredictable in choice and my moods change from room to room.

Yep, I know what you mean about stairs. In NJ we had a basement and a second floor, lots of stairs but when your young it's no problem. I also lived in a split level townhouse for awhile, that was a lot of stairs especially carrying a baby or laundry.

No thanks, I'll take my perfectly boring single level California ranch anyday!

More language problems - you guys call your entry level floors the first floor - we call it the ground floor, if you go upstairs then it is a first floor.

The Matryoshka dolls, say it? I couldn't even spell it!!!

I'll confess - I Googled it!!

When my daughter first went to LA they were living in a 5 level townhouse and the baby's room was the top floor. She nearly went insane and she is young and fit. Stairs were a nightmare though when the bub started crawling.

Try saying Matryoshka with a southern accent. We add syllables where there aren't any on the simplest of words.
olldbob, exactly. I broke my foot several years back by missing the bottom step. That was 6 weeks before bridezilla got married, so hubby got to listen to me whine and fuss on so many levels. I think that was the time he decided come heck or high water, we WOULD have a single story house. *L*

We built that house when our kids were 5 and 7 and it worked with our life well back. The upstairs had a playroom in between their bedrooms that was open to the living room. I could hear everything going on up there and they never knew it. Also, being in a tree house, I could look out the windows when they were outside and see much better where they were and what they were doing. Once the kids were gone, it was just too much for us old fogies.

Yeah, you have to add "y'alls" in there don't you?

What a compassionate hubby you have creeser, between bridezilla and you it is a wonder he stayed. No wonder you got your Alaskan trip.

Y'all is a pronoun. There is 'All y'all' for a group and other variations depending on state and mood. *L* It's not the 'y'all" we add, but we draw out vowels to more than one syllable for some reason.

I think the Alaska trip was more his treat than mine, though I loved it once we got there. I hate to fly, so a 13 hour flight was not something I looked forward to. I really wanted to go lay on the beach on some deserted Caribbean island. I did notice hubby worked a lot during the wedding planning stage.. *L* I was selling real estate at the time and did my best to buffer hubby from all the wedding drama until the day someone asked about how stressful it was and he said "You know, it really isn't that bad. Everything has been real smooth and it's not nearly as expensive as what people say." I looked at him like he lost his mind because every one of my commission checks were going towards the wedding. We sat down that night and I pulled out all the bills and shared all the upcoming bills and all the comments coming from his baby girl. He was shell shocked. *L*

Off to bed again, goodnight. Nice to have caught up with you all ................ briefly.

G'night olldroo. Good to see you again. Sweet dreams!

mornin ladies! thanks for all the compliments on the art thing. and yes, art is a VERY personal choice. I do suggest some things for some people, but urge them to go out and look for themselves.

went to lowe's and home depot last night in search of lights for the tree! hahaha! yes I put it up and decorated it last night! I'm really liking it so far. got some regular white lights for the majority of the tree and then added one 150 lt strand of twinkling lights. Just enough for it to have a little action. Didn't want to over-do that....no disco tree...although i DO have 3 large disco ball ornaments. I just love the way the light hits those...they are put further back into the tree nearer to the trunk.
Hitting the hobby lobby today at lunch break to see if they have any cool beaded (?) garland.
Am going to make a wreath for the beach porch and do all natural stuff out there. Have one little strand of very delicate beaded white lights....came from some place in nj...handmade. It's battery operated, so I can use that on the wreath. I picked that up at a thrift store some time this year??? Totally forgot about it and found it last night. very pretty! I'm going to look it up today and see how much that thing really cost. I paid $1.75 for it.....think i got a dealio! ;)
i'm going to let what's-his-name do the outside decorations i guess. i'm scared! i had all these great ideas for outside but that's not going to happen. i wanted us to carve out very simple/modern, but decent sized sculptures of mary, joseph and baby jesus. Out of large tree trunks. We do not own a chainsaw yet in our plether of tools....and i couldn't convince the man to just go out and buy one. maybe i'll get him one for christmas!! lol! I just wanted them to be in front of one of our chimneys on the outside in a bed that has huge elephant ears for most of the year. They will be dead for the season in a few weeks. With spotlights on them. Very simple but very tasteful. And then maybe some lights on the trees in the front "island" bed. That's what we call it. The Island! It's closer to the road and driveway. I'm afraid i'll be coming home one night soon and the house will be flashing like a neon sign! With lit up cartoon characters all over the front yard. oh my!

creeser, you guys didn't do that paula dean alaskan cruise, did you? How's the VOLT? Do you like it at all?
bob, how's it goin? what is your curtain problem....are these the ones that are a bit too short? Or something else? I STILL have no curtains for my bedroom. It's driving me insane. I DID finally find 2 nightstands/tables for the bedroom. They look pretty cool. Got your fave friend out ( a can of spray paint) teehee! They are now metallic silver and I am going to place a mirror on top of them. I realize that I am asking for trouble (dust), but it just looks right and brings some elegance to the "masculine" bedroom I sleep in. I can't wait to show you guys pics and get your opinion. Curtains are next however. I really wanted to order some of those fauz silk panels from curtainworks, but they do not have them anymore. The color and ones I wanted. :( They were such a great price too...dang it! I've done the hard part, which is the good thing. The rods are up and ready to rock and roll, but the sheets hanging from the ring-clips...well i'm over it! lol!

No, this was just a regular cruise... can't remember which ship line... south bound. We sure ate enough for it to be a Paula Deen cruise. *L* We took the Volt back yesterday afternoon. I liked a lot about it, but don't think we'll get it. There's just no way of saying what maintenance and repair costs will be on something like that because they haven't been out long enough.
Mom in law wants to buy my current car, so we've got to find something. I hate car shopping.

i read everything on every kind of car out there when looking for new. i am a subaru woman myself. I love them.....very dependable! maintenance can be expensive IF something fails, but they are great vehicles! and will go everywhere. Like you know, we don't get much snow, but when it does snow, that car drives like it is on dry roads. It's amazing. Everytime it snows, I don't care if it starts at midnight, me and the man go out and start driving! Pick ups are in the ditches and we are cruising! :)

I'm trying to do decide on a car, too. My favorite is the VW Beetle. I had an '04 but I got busier with work and it just didn't have enough room, so I traded it in for the Passat wagon. It is the best car I have ever had (and if it's been on the road I have had one). Unfortunately the wagon's last year here in the US was 2010. I have located one with only 25,000 on it, but my own car is running so well I don't want to spend the money. In this neck of the woods, you need a front wheel drive or 4x4 and I don't want another SUV 'cause cutie pie has a Honda truck. Anyone have a favorite?

Just got my curtains back from the gal who sews for me. Bought the rod from Pottery Barn and I really like the looks. Need CP to hang it for me, but not this recovery week. Itching to see them up.

Overcast and chilly here today.

Have a recipe for you: boneless chix breasts marinated for 4 to 12 hrs in a cup
Greek plain yogurt to which you mix in Dijon mustard, black pepper, cayenne pepper, a little Kosher salt and paprika, all to taste. When ready to cook, coat well with panko crumbs. You can either fry them in a little canola oil or bake @350. Delicious and easy.

OH oh oh....one of my photographer friends just walked in to work and brought me a blk/white print that he shot of a bridge that's downtown! I am so excited and shocked! It's even framed and matted! WHAT!? And he's bringing another one that will hang with this one!

mp, I've been leaning towards the Volvo, so I will try to get over to Columbia and drive one soon. We had a Mercedes years back and loved it. Only got rid of it because of the expensive maintenance, but loved the way it drove and rode. The Volvo dealer is also a Mercedes dealer, so might test drive both. I noticed online they had a LOT of demos on the used lot. 2012s with just under 10K on them. Love that because it's just enough to get any bugs worked out of them and that sticker price down.

I started getting into photography years back and love photos of the bridges! Have you gone down to Charleston and walked the new bridge? I'm always snapping photos when we drive over it. The lines are incredible. You must've been a very good girl to get such a wonderful gift!

creeser, I have a shot of the bridge in charleston that you will like i think. One of my girlfriends and I were driving home one sunday night and I just held the camera out of the sunroof and took a shot. It turned out to be a neat shot. Cheap camera, moving vehicle and nighttime randomness. I love that bridge, but have not walked across it yet. ok..i found my bridge pic, but the gift one will not let me upload it from the website. It's william abbott photography if you get bored and wanna look it up. "Liberty Bridge" is the menu title.
p.s. I'm also including a palmetto tree that i took a pic of on that same trip. another random shot from the car! haha! I did nothing to these photographs, they just turned out like this. ?

volvos are great cars too. they are tanks. i would feel totally safe in one!
I would go with the lower sticker priced ones too. buying a brand new car off the lot is just not smart. i did it once years ago, and never again will i do it.

Thought you might like to see our newest Boston Bridge, the Zakim, with the Charles River running underneath and farther down the river, the Longfellow Bridge. New and old…love Boston.
http://www.boston.com/community/photos/raw/2008/09/boston_skyline_shots.html

Oh judyg I tried to take a pic of this bridge as well!! It is awesome! I had never been to Boston before, but got a lucky vacation offer from a friend a couple of years ago. We had so much fun. I love Boston. We only stayed there for 2 days and went to Maine for the rest of the week. I could not get a good picture of the bridge though. I think we got off the train from the hotel and emerged right beside this bridge, then walked to an italian restaurant from there. What a funny night we had. Then drove and walked all around Boston the next day, and then hung out around the Harvard area. LOVED that city with so many bridges and history!

Hi ladies, I've been staying off Houzz today cause I'm too cranky. Nothing in particular, just general pupose holidays coming no money no motivation too much to do all purpose cranky! But anyway.....

You know those wood-look ceramic tiles we talk about? There's a website called Builder's Direct where you can order up to 5 free samples, with free shipping. I ordered some yesterday, they're in Canada, and they arrived today! They're beautiful! And only $1.79/sq ft, I think that's a steal. I wonder if you can put them right on top of dog-ruined hardwood? I need to get more info because to do the living room and hallway, we're only talking $700! And they do look like real wood.

Mendi, you really are Christmas crazy! You sound so excited!

creeser, we have a Honda Element. Yes, they do look like a toaster on wheels, but they are HUGE inside, drive like a dream and we have almost 200,000 miles on it with nothing more than a tune-up, knock wood. And new tires, of course. R won't buy anything but a Honda, he's had great luck with them.

Nice bridge picture! Where is this? Pretty cool!

A dear friend had an Element olldbob and she loved it. I thought it was really cute. She had 2 small kids at the time and loved the fact the back seats fold up to the sides so they could hose down the inside. *L*
I used to get holiday crabbiness. This is the first time in almost 20 years I'm not cranky and actually excited about the holidays. I used to love them and then my brother committed suicide and it broke my heart. He loved the holidays, so they just soured for me after that. Having a grandbaby now is bringing the magic back!
What is it about bridges that so many people like? I love the old bridges, too. We looked at a piece of land once and it had the remnants of an old Civil War era bridge across the creek. Where we are now, there used to be a RR track that crossed over the creek. I'm looking for the remains of that. It's got to be something left, right? *L*
Oh!... almost forgot... we ordered some samples from Builder's Direct as well. They are really fast with those, but we ended up buying from GeorgiaCarpet.com . They are really great and we've used them several times since then on some new builds. They will send you samples as well.

mp, don't you love it when photos come out like that? I have seen a Palmetto photo similar to yours at The Market. A vendor in there has a table with nothing but photos he's taken around Chucktown and Folly Beach.

Yes! It's weird that you can hose the car out, who'd a thunk. I'm so sorry about your brother, that's just plain awful. I can surely understand why the holidays wouldn't be the same for a while, but glad your grandbaby is magical for you.

mpoulsom, you did get off the T near the bridge. My daughter looks at that bridge everyday from her condo. A trip to Beantown and then a side trip into Harvard Square is the best. So glad you enjoyed it.

olldbob, ever do your Christmas shopping on-line? It is fun, cheaper (no tax, free shipping, free returns). What does R like for a gift? We should share our finds; we don't have to worry about wearing the same sweater at the party!
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/shop/food/food-for-the-grill/?cm_type=gnav

One of these days, when we feel the economy is more stable, I want to go to Disney World the first of December. In between the holiday crowds, but after it's decorated for Christmas. I'm a huge DW fan. Turn into a big kid when we go.

judyg, online shopping is the BEST. I'm a huge point and clicker.

judyg, yep, do most of my holiday shopping online, difficult to shop when you don't drive. Unfortunately California has sales tax for online purchases, but I think only if the online store is in California. R wants a Super Spirograph - do you remember this toy? Every Christmas with him is like Christmas with an overexcited little kid, as they had no Christmas's in Mexico (no money, absolutely no money).

They're supposed to be opening a super giant Amazon warehouse near here with same day delivery!

How about your hubby? What's he asking for this year? Tell him if he doesn't quit fooling around with his heart, he's going to get coal!

bob..don't be cranky. tomorrow is another day! ;)
my prob today is that it is sooo cloudy and cold out. I want to take a nap, but i'm at work. uughh.
just stepped out to the hob lob though and got my garland for the tree. all christmas crap is 50% off! yahoo!
well ladies, another reason for the early decorations is that I think we are going to nj for christmas this year??? "J" is dying for me to see nyc at christmas. The only thing I'm dreading is that knowing me, I will feel so guilty driving past all the devastation that has recently occurred, that I will probably be out there shoveling garbage for people instead of enjoying the beautiful decorations and happenings. Oh well. I get my christmas kicks by doing weird things usually. Poor J gets dragged into it, but ends up having fun too. Last year, I made a bunch of stockings (cheap furry dollar store stockings), and filled them with misc stuff. food items, candy and practical things like hygiene items, flashlights, gloves, lots of silly stuff. And then we got in the car on christmas eve night and drove around and handed them out to people walking down the street, in a couple of lower income neighborhoods, left one on the porch of a house (grandmammy & pappy???? lol), stopped by an emergency room and handed one to a girl who had to work, went by a shelter, gave one to a guy in a convenience store. It was the most fun I have had on christmas in forever! I wanted to do it again this year, but do more. We were so poor last year christmas time that we really didn't buy a lot of family gifts and we didn't get anything for each other i don't think. But I wanted to do a million more stockings for strangers. Driving around and finding the people to give them to was an adventure in itself. And they loved them. I think I scared this one dude who was walking down the street. I started running after him....lol! And I finally caught up with him, and was trying to hand him the stocking and he put his hand out to take one thing. I was like, "NO, you get the whole stocking!" He was so excited about it. He prob thought I was going to rob him or something at first.
creeser, i'm glad you are getting the holiday spirit back too!
I love spirographs! I need to get one for my grand! she would love it. i bet they make a baby spirograph..i'll have to look that up.
it's almost 5pm here....wow...and it looks like it's getting dark ALREADY! I'm not cut out for these short daylight hours. I want my sunshine!!

mp, I love that you call it Christmas crap. I've referred to it as that for years and my daughter picked it up. After she was married, I was over at their house while they were packing up their Christmas decorations. The box was marked "B's Christmas Crap". *L*