HAPPY (BELATED) NEW YEAR :)

Hi All :)

HAPPY BELATED NEW YEAR :)

Long time no see, sorry about that, I have missed so much in the blogging world but Life has been CRAZY, the kind of CRAZY, where I didn't even get to send Christmas cards out (which I have NEVER, EVER not done before in my whole life, even if I was down with bronchitis or a CFS/Fibro relapse leading up to a Christmas, NEVER!!!

The kind of CRAZY where I only managed to produce 4 blog posts in 2015, WHAT!!!!!

It's been the kind of CRAZY year that I am seriously thinking about leaving my Christmas tree in the corner where it is, all dressed up and just unplugging the lights, leaving the ornaments in place and putting a sheet over it until next year, before you all panic, it is an artificial tree, lol :)

But CRAZY nearly had me defeated at several points, not good :(

I'm not the kind of Girl to be down for the count for long and it has been a long, long time but I'm back to my beloved blog and my lovely Blogger Buddies :) 
Even if it is the beginning of February 2016 already, WHAT!!!!
(Not sure where January went) :(

 And if you are interested I will tell you the tale of my CRAZY 2015 - I will try not to bore you with too much of the dross and it will most probably be in parts (oh joy, I hear you all groan, lots of narrative, lol :)

I promise I will include some pretty photos to break the monotony of my bitching :)

If this was a Tardis (I know it is the wrong type of phone box, I am a Brit, after all, I should know, lol :) I would beam (I know, it's a different show too, lol :) myself to a land where I had a personal assistant or better still, a Fairy Godmother or both and could get on and do everything I would like to do, possibly creating artwork again, rather than the boring things I have to deal with right now :(

Now, where would that land be??? 

Well, for now I "beamed" myself back to Oregon :)

This is what I posted about the start of the adventure in January 2015 :)

2015 was very challenging. :(

As I was in Oregon most of the organisational work on our house fell to me. I am a great planner and love to be organised :) I felt confident I could get the task done. So, with my notepad in hand I got planning, scheduling, calling people, etc., But there were definitely too many people involved in this move for it to go smoothly. 

To start with it was a corporate move; we were reassured that the assigned moving co. would work with us and it would all go smoothly and we had an ever so bubbly relocation "Expert" to help us navigate any problems, unfortunately, neither the Moving Co.'s go to person nor the bubbly relocation "Expert" had any idea of what our lives were like or how my health impacts our daily lives and how this was going to be a HUGE physical challenge for me, regardless of how much I tried to explain, they feigned understanding but it was just empty words. 

Anyway, based on how the real estate market seems to operate in our part of America, we decided to put our home on the market at the beginning of the "Selling" season which is Spring time. With the first week in April as our target time to list our home. Our real estate agent brought in a "Stager" to advise on how to "stage" our house for sale. Well, I spent nearly 2 hours going around our home and her telling me that I needed to paint everything neutral, I needed to neutralise the carpets, I needed to take down all the family photos, declutter areas, lose the personal items, basically turn our home into a show home. Seriously, I'm an Artist my walls are yellow & red & blue; I have red carpet & blue carpet in places, & tons of original artwork & photography on the walls, it all seemed like a load of nonsense to me. We LIVE in our house for goodness sake. But to sell a house in America that seems to be what it takes; it would have cost a fortune to do everything she and the realtor wanted us to do. Seriously, you would think that our house was a complete messy ramshackle hut the way they were talking :(

 1st clue  that we had the wrong realtor but did we realise it at the time, NOPE. :(  

Because my health is unpredictable, at best, I really do need to be extremely careful where I use my energy everyday. With so many people involved in our relocation, even my meticulous organising went out the window in a hurry.

People would show up unannounced to give me a bid on a job (oh we were in the area, GREAT (read "great" as sarcastically as you can), people would show up, out of the blue, to do work that couldn't be done that day because someone else had to do another job the next day BEFORE these peeps could do their work. You get the picture, like the guys who were scheduled to refinish the hardwood floors wanted to go hunting or something, so were going to put the final coat of varnish on the floor the next day, I told them we had agreed to get the job done that day and it needed to be done as the painters were coming in the next day, talk about an unhappy camper, (him not me) he grumpily agreed to finish the work that day but I watched as he and his buddy just slopped the last finishing coat on to the hardwood floors that were just sanded and no completely cleared of sawdust, yet again GREAT!!!!!. He also got the jab in that I should bring a check for the full amount with me when I came back to the house. (I was staying in a nearby hotel (sounds WAY more glamorous than it was) while these "workers" were doing the jobs on our Home. 

I'm just going to say here, that if I never have to organise people to work on my home ever again it will be too soon ;(

We had decided, because of the work that needed to be done to our house, that we would move everything into storage first. A word of advice to anyone thinking of selling a house, NEVER, EVER move everything out of your house to try and sell it, people will think you are desperate and will make low ball offers and that is exactly what happened to us. :(

But I digress................. I'm thinking you guys most probably have read enough so far, so here are a few new photos in my Etsy shop for you to enjoy :)

"SUMMER CALM"

"CATHEDRAL ARCHES"

"RED, RED AUTUMN"

"MYSTICAL BLUE WINTER"

"ST. JOHN'S BRIDGE"

"CRATER LAKE"

I Hope everyone has a wonderful Weekend :)

Here's to reconnecting :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

A Few Items I Recently SOLD in my Etsy Shop :)

Hi All :)

I hope you are all doing well and having fun in the Summer Sunshine :)

WOW!!!!! I really can't believe how long it has been since I blogged :(  But I guess given everything that has been going on in my life it isn't really much of a shock that I haven't been around. I apologize for not commenting as regularly as I have in the past :( Hopefully, life will sort itself out here soon and I will be able to get back to some of the more fun things in life like blogging more regularly, YAY!!!! :)

Briefly, My Hubby and I are in the middle of a transition from Oregon to California, I would call it a move but.............well.............I think I will have to come back when I feel up to it and fill you in on all the details............................

So, in the meantime, I thought I would share with you a few of the items I have sold in my Etsy Shop recently :)

"POPPY" Throw Pillow 

"WINTER BEAUTY" Throw Pillow

"SURFER BOYS" Throw Pillow

"CALIFORNIA COAST" Throw Pillow

"TRAIN YARD" Throw Pillow

"LOVE LOCKED" This is a custom order from this listing :)

"LADY" 

I Hope you enjoyed the collection :) 

I am truly grateful that people like my work and buy it :)

I Hope your Week is off to a Great Start :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

HAPPY NEW YEAR :)

HI ALL :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR :)

Am I a little late, just a bit but life happens, so I am hoping for "better late than never, yeh!?!?" :)

I know I haven't been around much in Bloggerville the past year and I won't be around too much in the next few months either (but I promise to pop in from time to time :)

So, It isn't a terribly big mystery as to why I haven't been around but it is terribly stressful for me :(

Exactly a year ago my Hubby started another job in another State. 

It doesn't sound too dramatic really if you look at the map given that the State he got a job in is California and we are next door neighbours in Oregon. But when you look at the distance between Portland, Oregon and San Diego, California (1,000 miles) you realize that it isn't a simple commute. :(

We have been trying to bridge it for the past year with our home in Oregon and an apartment in San Diego; 1). because our Sons needed a roof over their heads and 2). we were not sure that we were one hundred percent on board with moving to California, esp. Southern California. 

I had lived in L.A. for a while in my early 20's and had absolutely HATED it. :( I was a LONDON Girl thru and thru, a BRIT thru and thru and L.A. was foreign and really weird!!! I have been back on a few occasions and my opinion really has not changed, you have to be a complete weirdo to live in L.A. lol :) 

I guess it is just one of those places you either Love it or Hate it.

But I have spent a considerable amount of time in San Diego; it is where we go every year to celebrate our Birthdays in March (esp. to get away from the cold and rainy NW.) and we have some good friends who live there too, so it is like a home away from home :)

Anyway, to cut a very long and possibly really boring story short, we have decided, lock, stock and barrel to up sticks and move to San Diego :)

So, now the real fun begins :)

All the prep to selling a house, the movers, the looking for a new home in one State while trying to sell a home in a different State; juggling all this fun to move forward is overwhelming, esp. if you are dealing with multiple chronic debilitating illnesses, yep, the joy of my life, but I try not to complain too much, although leaving our home of 18 years and our Sons behind and also my beloved Portland is gut wrenching to say the least but hopefully the benefits will eventually outweigh the negatives (I am telling myself, over and over, lol :) and so we strive forward :)

So, my Dears, if you don't see me here often know that I am busy dealing with all of the above, phew!!! :)

Oh, and I dropped my lovely camera, again, with my zoom lens attached so they are both in camera hospital getting fixed; So, no new photos yet in 2015 but as I didn't post many photos last year I will try and post a few in the next few weeks :)

Here are a few photos I took on our LONG road trip from San Diego to Portland the week before Xmas. It pretty much started raining in LA, of all places, and hasn't really stopped since :(

Hope you enjoy them :)

click on photos to see larger images :)

Beautiful moss covered rocks exposed at low tide and the start of a Sunset glistening on the water - La Jolla, California - Dec. 2014 :)

La Jolla, California - Dec. 2014 :)

Sunset at La Jolla, california - Dec. 2014 :)

Stormy clouds - Northern California, Dec 2014.

Stormy clouds - Northern California, Dec 2014.

Shot of rolling hills in the mist (Northern california) but you know this could be many other places in the world, isn't it amazing how landscapes can be so similar and so different too, just like people :)

And here we are back in our beloved Oregon - Dec. 2014 :)

We were Home for the Holidays :)

I Hope everyone has a Wonderful Weekend :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

Trying to Keep Sane :)

Hi All :)

Well, the past few weeks have been Exhausting, Confusing Frustrating and Stressful :(

Not to bore you with too many details but we have been going thru the crazy process of getting ready to move, pricing a household move (totally scary, the price not the movers, so much, LOL :) They told us it would take 3 days to pack our household belongings and 2 days to load the truck (Do ya think we should get rid of some stuff??? He! He!) 

Then Costing everything that needed to be done to our house before it was market ready (Even more scary! :) And on and on, you know all the little things that suddenly add up to a huge pile of stuff to be done when you are planning to move. We thought it would be worth the stress and a calm transition in the end.

Then it all feel apart in a hurry and now we are sitting shell shocked and baffled, trying to come to terms with what happened. :(

On top of that;

I have also had 3, yep, THREE C.T.Scans in as many weeks, multiple doctors visits and then a Spinal tap tomorrow, a Mammogram and an E.E.G. next week. I am totally exhausted and I guess this is what happens when you put off doing stuff or aren't up to doing stuff or you change Neurologists and they have a different approach on trying to work out what is causing all the symptoms I am experiencing, Oh The Joy :(

So, now you know why I haven't been around much, blogging, commenting or FB - ing (does that mean something else, He! He!)

Anyway, I have so many photos from my trip to Eastern Oregon I want to share with you but working on them right now is going to be challenging but I did want to share this one with you :)

click on photos to see larger images :)

Sunset over Mt. Hood

As my Hubby and I were driving on the East side of our beautiful state of Oregon, across high dessert, we saw this beautiful site and of course I just had to get out of the car and take some photos :)

I had never seen the Mountain from the East Side before :)

Because of all the smoke from the forest fires in Oregon and Washington State, at the time, it made for a beautiful sunset :)

I didn't want to photo - shop out the telephone wires, as for me it added to the surreal environment we found ourselves in. It was amazing, warm high desert for miles and miles, not a tree in sight, not a building for miles and a great paved roadway where few cars passed us and it was so, so, so quiet, I truly believe we would have heard a pin drop on the roadway :)

For this City Girl it was absolutely magical :)

This is our wonderful Mt. Hood, that we can see from Portland on most days :)

This is a photo I took of Mt. Hood a few years ago, on Thanksgiving Weekend, from the West Side :)

I hope you are all doing well and life is treating you kindly :)

Have a lovely Tuesday :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.