here's to 2007

JANUARY... I am training to work at the HOME DEPOT. its very very intensive computer training. A big departure from subbing and being around kids all day. I am feeling like it will be awhile before I can let my guard down.

NEW YEAR ART - 2007!

Here's to 2007. I did these over the Christmas holdidays....

2006 weirdness

1) "Bag Bonnet" - The most "ghetto ass" thing I saw on 2006 - while leaving this library - is woman emerging from her car with a bonnet made out of a walmart bag. Actually I admire this kind of creativity. And have done many ghetto ass things myself - to save $. Just look at my car :)
2) "Avian Surgery" - The weirdest thing I did in 2006 was with Truvey. My dog attacked my favorite chicken, Meredith. She left a deep ragged hole in poor Meredith's neck. Truvey and I saved the bird by CRAZY GLUING the skin around the wound.... This took about an hour of touch and go as the wound re-opened in several areas. 2 months later, (after isolation and antibiotics) Meredith joined her coop mates and is doing very well.
3) "Poverty Survival techiniques" - Sometimes you have to do desperate things to "get by". I was injured 2 X this year along with very little income. For 8 months I took baths by microwaving 3 spaghetti pots of water...that is how I kept clean. Considered "shocking" in North America but this is quite common in Alaska and in many countries. WE ARE SPOILED!
4) POWER OF PERSISTANCE - This year I had several meltdowns as I tried to hang on to my house. I paid every mortgage on time - somehow - but I went bankrupt & have lost my credit; I played roulette with my utility bills and saved $ by keeping my house at 80 f. all summer. In Texas you can keep your property in bankruptsy. On the good side, I am healthy and my animals are well and my friends are awesome. I have come though a tough time and more than ready for my new job that starts Jan 2.
5) YOGA ! - IT WORKS! I have scoliosis which seems to leave my back in knots. A little calm stretching goes a long way. I follow a VHS tape....and it feels GOOD!
6) REALIZATION - AMERICA really really has to do something about our awful health care system. I have lived on both sides. I know. Last night I watched a documentary on how more and more Americans in need of surgery are going overseas to get it more cheaply. I HOPE HILARY CLINTON GETS THE PRESIDENCY!

SUNDAY ART by Nina

tremendous relief

oh WOW. Its been a year of OH WOE! I got a decent job. Better than the job I held down for 3 yrs as a teachers aide. Better than subbing!
Big co........great benefits... respect. Mid management at home depot. start dec 26. Only a 2 mile commute!
WHAT A YEAR. Injuries, lack of work, horrible anxiety, car problems, bankruptsy. A one time criminal record hitting me hard: one case of police brutality that occured on one night in 1998 when my Mom was dying. I freaked out, long story. Its the past. I paid my dues according to Texas law.
Good friends have been wonderful.
I can't wait to be part of the work force again. Now I can get back to having hot water (buy a new water heater) and HOME INTERNET! I am still blogging from the local library.
Love to all at CHRISTMAS! Finally - some great news on this end. I'll post more art soon! BIG SMILE !

SUNDAY ART by Nina

its all about trees!

AGE 5

This was 43 years ago.
HAPPY birthday ME!

my finches

AWWWWWWWWWW
my mom and dad finch had babies. These 2 babies are about 2 weeks old and will leave the security of the nest in about a week.

Nina Sunday Art (just a little late!)

Hi, gang, it's Truvey, Nina's friend, and Nina asked me to post her Sunday art. I almost forgot, hence the delay...

The most humbling thing I ever saw...

The show "BODY WORKS" came to Houston earlier this year.
The most beautiful and humbling vision I ever saw was in this amazing show. It is the figure of a kneeling, praying man. He is stripped of all skin, hair, race and color. The figure is so human, so basic, so fundementally moving - that I was moved to tears.

HAPPY Amercian THANKGIVING

hola.. here I am at the county library.
At home I have a pile of cookie dough which I concocted this morning. Gonna make MOMS secret recipe... or rather, my personal interpretation of it. Mom died over 8 yrs ago and never wrote it down. So Dad created his 'adaption' of the cookie recipe and thank God he wrote it down before he died in 2002. The cookies never had a NAME so I calling them SPICY PECAN cookies.
The recipe is primarily pecans, (Mom used walnuts) graham cracker crumbs, flour and sugar... a little egg, milk and melted butter. YUM. What is so cool is that my eggs are organic, and my pecans are home grown! I will be making over 150 cookies tonight and send them to my brothers in Alaska (for Thankgiving), my daughter (in Houston) and friends here and around.
Have a wonderful cookie filled Thanksgiving. May the turkey be juicy :) CHRISTMAS is coming. My spirit is good! I see Thankgiving as the ADVENT for the wonder of Christmas.
I will try to post ART this weekend.
Love Nina

i miss blogging!

well
I am off my internet these days (and slightly off my rocker) so I hope to be posting more art ASAP.
Thanks for keeping up with me....

WEEKEND ART by Nina

SUNDAY ART by Nina

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

My lifes AIM. words I live by these days

Life is a sheet of paper white
Whereon each one of us may write
His word or two, and then comes night.
Greatly begin!
Though thou have time
But for a line, be that sublime,
Not failure, but low aim, is crime.
_________________________________________

Seeking the higher ground and the nobler cause is life's purpose. Trust and integrity are basic. Hard work and loyalty play their part. Above all, there's the value of visualizing the potential of a project--to foresee just how brilliant might be the outcome--to try to be the best, to outdistance previous skirmishes, and even at the expense of possible disappointment, to aim for the stars.

SUNDAY ART by Nina

More of my halloweenish fantasy type art ! e n j o y !!

a l m o s t i d y l l i c ....

Well, apart from some unknown asshole calling last night at 1 am AND ringing my doorbell... (I love my sleep and NO one must disturb me at night unless someone is dying or hurting) THEN my car not starting this morning AND I missed work... Apart from these things, this morning has been idyllic. I cut up a pecan branch that fell down in my back yard. I fired up the burn barrel. I scooped up some pecans and sat on the swing with a cup of tea. LOVELY perfect weather, (65 f) and I cracked pecans while the dogs mosied around, and the hens clucked.


If I hadn't missed work today and my money problems weren't so severe... it would have been a near perfect morning.
Sarah is supposed to come over later and we
will go chow down to celebrate her birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH October 20

My only child and wonderful daughter is 20. Sarah was born in St Albert, Alberta Canada on Oct. 20 1986 after I had been married about a year. We lived in Alberta until we moved to Texas in 1997 after my divorce.
Sarah graduated highschool at age 16 and is currently in her 3 rd year of college at St. Thomas University in Houston Tx. She earned a 3 year scholarship there! She is heading toward medical career, either in research or as a doctor.
Sarah has her own apartment in Houston Tx. and lives in the real world: Pays rent and works at Baylor in a laboratory as well as tutoring Freshman. She plans to transfer to USC and take it easier for a year, since she is ahead in her studies. Maybe she'll take some liberal arts classes and enjoy life in California~
I miss her... I am into my 3 rd year of "empty nest".
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!

SUNDAY ART By Nina (early!)

(hey - its October so enjoy my weird art)

my first haiku

Succulent plants grow


within a lush green garden


in a stone circle

SUNDAY ART by Nina

happy October, may good spirits come alive.