What do you wish to accomplish?

It's Wishcasting Wednesday!
Question: What do I wish to accomplish?

Wow, that's a big question, my mind started with all the many many answers that I have. How could I narrow down such a list. There are so many things for my home and family, so many things for my art, hobbies and spirit, so many things for my dog training. Hmmmm... what to pick.

Then it came to me.... what I need is to accomplish is a plan. A personal calendar that has more then just my outside appointments, but a calendar for myself, where I can prioritize and block out time for those things I wish to accomplish.

So my wish this week is that I accomplish either finding or creating an inspiring calendar for my appointments with myself.

What do you wish to accomplish? Check out Jamie Ridler Studios' Wishcasting Wednesday


Monkey from my garden. Isn't he a cutie pie?

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Who's in my back yard? Squirrels

I adore the squirrels that come to my feeders. I know some people try to keep them away and I do see why. They completely ate through the ropes and destroyed the hammock my husband and daughter got me for Mother's day. However, I have to admit I enjoyed watching them turn my hammock into nesting material just as much as I enjoyed laying in the hammock. I think the squirrels that visit me are grey squirrels.



I brought in some wisteria that is blooming outside, it smells so pretty!

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WIP and The Thirteeth Tale

Still working on the faerie on the toadstool. I'm thrilled with how the toadstool came out. And I'm starting to get some ideas of what she is going to wear and how to do her hair. I'm thinking right now about sculpting the top part of her outfit right onto her body.



I also wanted to give my thumbs up to the the book The Thirteenth Tale. I'm a big fan of gothic novels and loved this book. If you liked Jane Eyre and other gothics with those dark family secrets give this book a try. For me it started out just a we bit slow, but in no time at all I had to know what was happening next. And best of all each time I tried to guess what was going to happen, I was wrong, there are lots of twist and turns and unexpecteds.

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Follow blogs?

..... and use Firefox?

I just discovered Firefox's Feedly! I love it! It feeds all my rss feeds, blogs, twitter etc. to one place and displays them in a pretty magazine format. And the best thing was that it was easy.

If you're looking for a way to read your blogs and such in a easier pretty way check it out. http://www.feedly.com/

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Starting a new faerie

I've gotten started on a new faerie. So far I only have the head done minus the ears and got started on a toadstool for her to sit on. I found these wood spindles and thought they may look cool as a mushroom base. So far I like it.




As for the faerie, I haven't entirely decided which way I'm going to go with her. I'm thinking about making a woolly caterpillar to go with her. But I'm not sure if I can get it to look right. I think before I finish sculpting her, I'll try making a caterpillar and see if that's going to work.

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Construction zone

Well it took me nearly a year, but I finally started working on my 4 story doll house. I had gotten it on Craigs list and the family that made it did a wonderful job, it's built out of heavy plywood and is a tank. At first I was going to add on to it because I was afraid I would fill it up to fast and not have any rooms left to play in. But houses are multiplying around here and now I have three houses to finish so that fear is no longer there.



Plus, I recently inherited some really pretty miniatures for the yard so I decided instead to build up the gardens. So on the side of the house where there was a window, I got a framed glass door that will lead out to some stairs down onto a patio.



One of the reasons I had hesitated so on working on the house was a fear that I would mess it up when I cut into it because it. But I got out my saw and decided to go for it. After all if I messed it up, I could just fix it, right?



And look I did it!!!! I have to admit that I was proud of myself. The door actually fit properly in the hole I cut! I did some damage to the siding but I'll deal with that little detail later.



Next step, making stairs and doing some shopping for some lattice and porch railing.

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Easter Giveaway by Magical Holiday Artists on Etsy

Check out this terrific giveaway that the Magical Holiday Artists on Etsy are doing. Just look at all those cute things. I'm entering to try to win, come and join me :-)

Here's the blog address:

http://magicalholidayartists.blogspot.com/2010/03/mha-spring-easter-basket-giveaway.html

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The flowers are comin'

Yay, I'm loving that spring is here! My pear trees look so pretty and I know the rest of the flowers are going to be coming soon!

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Colors

I found a website that I have to share. If you love colors and not only what "in" but what will be "in" in the future, you should check the Fashion trendsetter - color trends website.

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What's for dinner

Am I the only one who struggles with "What's for Dinner?" The question is in my head from the moment I get up in the morning until I've come up with an answer. All to often I give up and we go out to eat, which of course simply changes the question to "Where should we go?"

So I'm determined to make it easier - have a plan.So I actually made a list this past week and made only 1 trip to the grocery store, which is huge, I usually run there every day or two.

I actually love to cook and like my food better than most restaurants. However, I love to do lots of things so I don't always have the time or energy for much cooking so most nights I want something fast. My family is mostly vegetarian (not vegan) (hubby = meat eater). We eat fairly healthy, but not super healthy.

Anyway, here's the list I made for the week, just in case you need some dinner ideas, maybe there is something that there that sounds good to you and it can ease some of your burden by answering that elusive "What's for Dinner?" question.

* BLTs (Made with Morning Star bacon), chips and fruit

* Black beans and rice, plantains, and Avocado Salad

Used lots of Goya products here. To make the black beans, I just heat and stir
in Goya Sofrito, used the frozen Goya plantains, Avocado Salad: Avacado,
tomato, lime juice, salt, pepper, parsley (or cilantro)

* Pasta salad and fruit

Pasta Salad, add whatever you want to the pasta, veggies, nuts, cheese, toss
with a store bought salad dressing or something homemade like some olive oil,
red wine vinegar and salt and pepper.

* French Onion Soup with the toasted french bread and swiss cheese, and salad

I use the Lipton Beefy Onion Mix Soup Mix. Did you know there was no "beefy"
in beefy onion soup?

* Veggie fried noodles, fried tempeh, salad with Ginger Dressing

Since I already had rice planned this week I decided to fry vermacelli noodles
instead. I use peanut oil, fry and chop up some egg, fry some chopped up
veggies (I used red pepper, snow peas, and carrots) add in the cooked noodles
and I like to fry them until there are crispy area, add in some soy sauce and
a splash of cooking wine.

* Pierogies and salad

I was going through some of the recipes my grandma had saved and noticed she
had saved a lot of pierogi recipes so I decided to give one a try. The one we
tried was filled with cabbage and cream cheese. They came out good and
everyone liked them. These did take a long time to make and made a big mess
in the kitchen, but it was fun to try something new from scratch.

Now I'm off to make my list for next week and go to the grocery store - my reward - going out to dinner at Iron Cactus :-) (I have a Groupon)

I didn't take any pictures of food, so I'll post a picture of a doll I found at the Austin Antique Mall this past week.

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Essie's dolls

I am so fortunate to be friends and team members with so many amazing doll, miniature, and other artists that I decided to share some of their incredible work with you.

I'm starting with Vanessie because I was looking at her dolls this morning and there is something about them that makes me want to keep looking. I'm not sure what that something is, but I'm fascinated. Not only are they beautifully created but each has an untold story that one can see at first glance.

See more of Essie dolls on her website.

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The General Store

Long time no bloggin' for me. Things have been a hopping around here with our family activities and my parents coming to visit for awhile, but now I'm getting back to business.



When my parents drove down from Indiana they brought with them a 1:12th scale General Store that is being passed to me from another family member. She had done an amazing job collecting zillions of little items for the store, those are all boxed up and it's going to take some time for me to get that all sorted through.



The store is in wonderful shape, really sturdy and strong, it needs a few minor repairs, like the front doors have come off their hinges. And it needs some cleaning up from being in storage, but that's it.



The doll of the elderly gentleman that I just made looks so cute with the General Store, I think he is going to have to stay at my house and run it. I'm thinking of making him a wife and letting her have an area of the store for her own shop.

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