Tuesday Traditions!!!!

I was excited to wake up this morning because it was TUESDAY!!!!

After a quick cup of coffee and 20 minutes of exercise, I got dressed and headed over to Ruth Ann's house - which is just blocks away - to pick her up and start our day!

First stop - pedicures!!!

We finished in time to grab a quick lunch at Burger King!

For some reason, neither of our husbands like BK - but WE do!!

Our fifty cent movie of choice at Starplex today was Tomorrowland.

While we didn't follow it very well, it WAS a fairly good movie.

Intense enough to make me buy a Senior Combo for $5.50 which consists of a popcorn and drink.

I needed to CHOMP on something!!!

Our next stop was the Goodwill on Beltline where both of us got flirted with!!!

As we walked in, a man said, "Hello, pretty lady!" to me.....and later told me how pretty my hair was!

Ruth Ann reported he told her what a beautiful lady she was!

This guy was considerably younger than we are and he was probably a not too well adjusted  person - still! He made us smile!

I didn't find a lot there but still came home with a few treasures!

I bought this dog for my sister, Nita!

It reminds me of Susie Q - a dog from her childhood!

$0.40!

A wonderful little dish for salsa!

I washed it and used it this very evening!

We have two Campbell's soup mugs at the camper so this one will join them!

My favorite size wine glass!

If I use a small one, I can fill it up again!

LIVE  will LIVE either in the guest room or on the kitchen outside wall.

I am STILL reading the same book I started a MONTH ago!!

Hopefully this one will motivate me to read faster - once  I finish the current read.

I try to ALWAYS finish what I start!

I put out quite a spread for our Art Gathering Meal tonight!

See? I have already used the dish!! It held peach salsa.

A tin full of crackers from Trader Joe's.

Hatch Chili's Waffle Chips and assorted cheeses along with Hatch Chili Queso.

Fresh watermelon and you can see a sliver of the bowl of fresh figs.

Melon with mint.....

And a DELICIOUS home made chicken salad put together by Louis Dean!

Summer arrived first this evening and I put her down for a nap just as if she were the child I had long ago! I turned on the A/C in the bedroom, the sound machine was set to soft rain and the ceiling fan was on! A dark cold room with the sounds of nature - total BLISS!!!

She only woke up because dinner was ready and her daughter had arrived!

Rayne Pooh loved playing with the Tinker Toy Set!!

We all enjoyed a good meal together before getting down to the business of ART!

Tonight was session #1 of our 'pet paintings.'

We all chose our favorite photographs of our favorite pets.

Sabrina graciously made color copies and sketches of them made to  fit our 16 X 20 canvases.

After tracing the sketchings on - we start painting in the background.

Our goal tonight was to cover the canvas!

This is NOT the finished painting!

Just COVER the canvas!!

That's what we did!!

Step by step.

We work in oils so this canvas will stay wet for several days but will be dry by next art day when we can add details and highlights.

It is a work in progress.....

While not FINISHED - the ground work has been done!

I am LIKING it!!

We all worked on our own pets so each canvas was different.

This is our beloved Sherry!!!

She is painting her pet dog, Blue!

Sherry is an amazingly talented lady!!!

Blue is coming to life before our very eyes!

I am LOVING him!!!

Ruth Ann is painting Molly.

Molly is Blue's mother.

Ruth Ann says she is enjoying this painting even more than she thought she would!

Molly is coming into focus!

She will put in more details and depth next week.

Tonight we just wanted to 'COVER THE CANVAS!'

Now for Sabrina's!

We can't show much detail because she is painting a GIFT!

As she told me tonight, "My family reads your blog so you CAN'T show the painting!!"

And so I didn't!

It is REALLY good!!!

While I had a good night - so did Louis Dean!

I didn't get a picture of her - but his favorite musician lady friend dropped by this evening to visit a few minutes!

I think they have decided to play music next week while I have art class.

Painting with a live music background?

Win! WIN!!!!

It's later than I meant to journal but after all the ladies left - we had 10 people here tonight - 

Louis Dean and I sat out in the gazebo with a glass of wine and just talked and relaxed together.

We are just now getting back to the life we had before Amber became pregnant with the quads.

I am so grateful we were able to STOP our life and get the RV repaired and fixed up so we could move to Katy and be there after the quads were born and help until they were old enough to move up here to the Dallas area. It has been such a powerful journey - this Quad Adventure!

We would not have missed a single day of it and thank the Lord we didn't have to!

At 3 years, they are still very much a part of our lives and always will be!

While they don't need us AS MUCH as they did when they were younger - I hope they never get too old to want their Granddad and MeeMaw to do things with and for them!

Louis Dean and I feel we are entering a new stage of life together - and it is EXCITING!!!