Proud to be a "Moore-on"

Moore Water Tower

I've spent the past couple of days surfing and reading comments on articles about the March 25th, 2015 tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma.  There were some very vicious words for the people who live in this "bedroom" town.

• Why do they still live there?
• Why are tax payers footing the bill for these people?
• These people are idiots for staying there!
• They shouldn't be allowed to rebuild there!
• Why aren't they required to rebuild underground homes?

I actually feel sorry for the people who makes these sort of comments.  You see, I am a proud citizen of Moore, Oklahoma.  I've lived here 42 out of my 47 years. (5 years away due to my ex being in the military and getting stationed, elsewhere.)  I feel sad that someone would be so judgmental of folks they don't know. Bless their hearts. I am sure a lot of these people live in other natural disaster prone areas. There aren't many places in the U.S. that doesn't have their yearly "weather event" or "breaking news".

Let's look at some other events that take place around the country.

• Lower East Coast / Gulf Coast - Hurricane season
• Upper East Coast - Blizzards / Hurricane / Blackouts
• Northern U.S. - Below freezing temperatures for months at a time
• Northwest U.S. - Record Rainfalls / Mudslides
• West Coast  -  Drought / Earthquakes
• Middle of the country - Drought / Fire / Floods / Tornadoes / Debilitating Snow Fall/ Record Heat Waves

These points don't even mention things such as crime rates, unemployment, cost of living, etc.
Most people from Oklahoma, are proud to say they are from here, and wouldn't want to live anywhere else.  It gets in your blood, it's in your roots.  Being from Oklahoma isn't just where you were born; it's a state of mind.  Just as Billy Joel sang "New York State of Mind", we Okies have our state of mind as well.  It's called "The Oklahoma Standard".

Some of you may remember the domestic terror committed on our own soil in 1995.  This twenty-seven year old young woman, felt the ground shake under her feet at 9:02 a.m. while standing at a copy machine, working on payroll. Approximately five miles away,  The Alfred P. Murrah Federal building was bombed. I learned that day what it was to be an Oklahoman.  Instead of people fleeing, ordinary people, not just police, EMT and firefighters rushed to the scene.  Citizens donated our time, money and resources to those in need.  We didn't wait.  It felt natural to us to help others. Our community considered everyone hurt or killed, to be ours. We were one.  We would do what ever it took to pull ourselves out of this hell.  

Fast forward four years. May 3rd, 1999.  One of the deadliest tornadoes, in history, tracked through parts of the metro, to include Bridgecreek, South OKC, Moore, Del City and Midwest City.  Once again, people rushed to the scene.  The outpouring of support was overwhelming.  People "pulled up their boot straps" and went to work.  Church and community organizers used the skills they had used just a few years prior, to help those in need.

As each year passes, the people in Moore are no different than other communities in Oklahoma. We've just had a little more bad luck with the weather that's all.  We tend to wear it as a badge of honor.  We don't look at ourselves as victims, but the contrary, people who brave the storm.  Some people do wind up leaving the area after their homes have been destroyed, to start a new life.  But most still live somewhere around Oklahoma City. So they didn't go far.  We are not moles, therefore, we do not want to live underground (not to mention the beautiful sunsets).  Yes, our insurance rates go up a little, but keep in mind, a lot of the damage is never claimed on insurance. Folks would rather just do the work themselves than pay an outrageous amount for a deductible.  You show me an Okie, and I show you someone who has put up stockade fence, cleaned up debris, or roofed at least once in their life. 

So there you have it folks.  We don't all live in trailer parks.  We don't all milk the government or insurance company because we have a few shingles missing.  We're just good ole folks who love their family and community.  Most of us have storm shelters now, or a neighbor that welcomes us with open arms into theirs.  We are working to get shelters into schools.  Some of the best emergency management people in the country live next door or down the block from us.  

I'm proud to call myself a "Moore-on".  I'm proud to be an Okie.  When the next one hits ... we'll be there to pick up the pieces. You can count on it.

Oh how I love to repurpose

I've been really busy lately! My daughter got married and boy what a task! She was beautiful, the wedding was beautiful...I was a blubbering mess!  We used vintage sheets for her wedding.  I am starting to repurpose some of them.  My mother-in-law's birthday is tomorrow, so I made her some hankies from the sheets.  They are nice and soft. Here is one of them:

My ironing board broke awhile back. I decided to get a small one instead of the large one I used to have.  I found one at the thrift store, but it didn't have a cover.  Between getting it covered and needing to iron again, I decided to go ahead and get a large one and find a way to store it better.  I took the small one, added a padding I found from the thrift store and a burlap sack I had in the shed.  I think it matches perfectly!

Now if I can just get that loveseat covered that my husband picked up for me at ...you guessed it....a thrift store! The chair and tractor tire photo is one that I took and had printed as a poster print. I've had the scale for a while. I finally found one at an antique show here in OKC.  I had been looking for one for quite awhile.  I was wanting it for baby photos.  I haven't done any since I got it, but I did take a adorable photo of my new granddaughter with it.

 Well, off to pintrest to see what I can do next. Hope I don't get addicted to browsing before I get another craft done!

I think it's pretty im"press"ive!

My newest Pintrest project complete! This is a small ironing board made from a TV tray I got at the thrift store for a couple of buck.  It is a nice one, hardly used at all.  I also bought a heavy cotton blanket and a cotton receiving blanket.  I used several layers, cut them to size, added a piece of fabric I had laying around, and had my hubby staple them to the underneath.  (Wish I could have stapled it myself, that nasty ole fibromyalgia is flaring up.  The is going to work out perfectly with all the dresses I have been sewing for my granddaughter.  Here are a few pics of the dresses :)

Of course I had to make her bestie one too!  They always wear them together. Such a blessing to have these two grow up together!

My newest jewelry experience!

I've been in love with cameos for most of my life. I love the vintage feel and there's just something about custom made jewelry that makes my heart swell. I set out to do silhouettes of my daughter and soon to be son-in-law. I bought all the necessary supplies.  After about 10 tries that looked like zombies from The Walking Dead, I caved. I bought some silicone molds from Decorate the Cake website. This is what I came up with! Considering I had never worked with Sculpey clay before, I don't think it turned out half bad.  I'd love to hear what you think!

My Baby Is All Grown Up!

A couple of days ago I was trying out some new ideas for my daughter's engagement photos I will be taking in a few weeks. I used some of her childhood photos to play around on. While I was doing my thing, it hit me ... SHE'S ALL GROWN UP NOW! I started freaking out a little. Pair this up with my 45th birthday last week and panic started to take over.  Holy cow, where did the time go.  I've been so busy trying to get my health in check for the past 5 years or so, it hadn't dawned on me just how fast time flies the older you get.

I am going to visit my son in El Paso this weekend. He is stationed there. John and I have never had the opportunity to visit him. He always comes home and I have to share my time with everyone else who loves him too.  I'm really excited to visit him in his own environment. I'm a little worried about the long drive and how my fibro will act up with that many hours in the car. But I am determined to make the best of it no matter the results. Hopefully, my new car will work with me and make it a little easier on me.  John and I really need a break from the day to day stress of owning our own business for years.

Here's to my kiddos! They will always be my babies!

Updated my house and decided to stay!!!

So it has been a while since I posted. I was going to live in the country and be a farmer. Well... things don't always work out the way you plan. We stayed where we are and decided to update instead. John and I decided to go for it and this is what the results are.We put in wood floors, took out the 1980's bookcase and installed a wood wall. I did a faux treatment on the wood.  We took out a linen closet and made a display case. My dining room now functions as storage and adds to the country feel. We also installed a storm cellar this fall and are ready to head into the spring season. This summer we will be doing some major work to the yards.

Living Room Before

Living Room After

Dining Room Before

Dining Room After

Living Room Vignette

Display Case

Come on by my store and check out the new greeting cards I have available! Here are just a few. Most cards are available for $3.00 a piece. Greeting Card Universe has specials running almost daily for great discounts! You can find cards here that you can not find in any other store. The quality is amazing. You won't be sorry!

12 Step Recovery

Happy Mother's Day Step-Mom 

Firefighter Training Graduation

Eggs

My newest creation ...  EGGS

Made this for my kitchen or dining room.

Photo Frames Redo

Being a photographer, I am drawn to frames of every type and size. The thrift store has no shortage of great finds. Here a some before and after photos of some I have found.

Great finds (Before)

Love these beauties! (Before)

My family for the perfect touch! (After)

Melba 1977

My last trip to Goodwill landed me a wonderful find! A beautiful painting by Melba, dated 1977.

This reminded me of my grandmother. Grandma painted some beautiful flowers in her day. Unfortunately, she had LOTS of kids and I never got to have one of her paintings because they were in high demand. I found it quite sad someone in Melba's family would let this go, or Melba decided it wasn't good enough to keep. I think it's absolutely beautiful and will think of Grandma every time I look at it.

I refurbished the frame. I think the painting stands out so much better!

Melba 1977 Before

Melba 1977 After

Grammy's Girl

I just want to break out in song when I talk about this sweet angel! Her name is Liberty and she is just too precious for words. Although I'm not her "official" grandma, she calls me "Grammy". Her eyes light up when she sees me and she just about knocks me over running into my arms. She's a little spit-fire! I took this photo when I first met her about a year ago. She's 3 now, but still just as adorable as the day I met her. I can't help but smile when I talk about her ... she just kinda does that to ya. I get to see her tonight. I'm beaming already!

Off to the flea market!

I went to the flea market at the county fairgrounds this last weekend. I wasn't sure what I was looking for ... but I never am! They had some really great stuff. I'm trying real hard not to buy anything big that I will have to move when we get our new house, so I had to pass up on a couple of larger items. Then I spotted them...two replicas from my childhood. Pinkie and Blue Boy, at least that's what I called them. I'm not sure the real names of the sculptures, but my mom had them sitting beneath the paintings of Pinkie and Blue Boy, so I guess I just went with that. Anyways, I practically ran toward them so I could get them before someone else. It didn't matter how much the vendor wanted for them, they were mine! Just as I picked them up an older man walked up and told me everything on the table was ONE DOLLAR!!!  I couldn't believe I was actually getting a good deal on something I wanted so much.  I also found a ceramic gentleman that would fit nicely somewhere in my house (that's what I told myself anyways). I gladly forked over the 3 bucks.

The 50 year old (1962 stamp on the back) duo needed a little work and I was all too happy to oblige.

This is them, with some great textures by Kim Klassen. I used the "not so shabby" texture and the "simplicity" texture.

Here are the before and after photos:

I had painted the pink roses before I remembered I wanted to take a photo of them before. They were both solid gold. The sculptures are 6" x 10 1/2".

Added to Texture Tuesday on 02/21/2012! 
Texture Tuesday!

Shabby Chic - My new love

My husband and I went thrift store shopping last weekend. This is one of my favorite things to do. I just love old stuff! Since we are moving to the country soon, and I get to design a new home, I've decided on a "Shabby Chic" look.  Anyways...I found this old table and couldn't wait to get it home. I carried it around the store so no one else could get their paws on this great $5 beauty.  I took some photos using it as a background. I think eventually I will hang it on the wall. Here is a photo of it and the things I photographed with it. What do you think?

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

To all of you, I wish you a joyous Christmas and Happy New Year. May your stocking be filled with everything you want and may your New Year be a safe and full of wonderful memories for years to come!

Broadening my Horizons!

I'm proud to introduce my new Zazzle store! Here you can find 24x36 poster sized prints of some of my artwork. I'm in the process of selling my home to buy a new one with a little land. I plan on getting some of these myself to make my new home uniquely mine. Hopefully you will find something you like here as well. Here is just one of my posters I have created recently.

Sisters

Me, my sister, and our families did a photo shoot last weekend. We had a good time, but in the back of our minds we knew what was missing, my baby sister Stephanie and her two adorable kiddos. I'm posting one of my favorite photos that my daughter Samantha took. I enhanced it with my touch. Hope you like it.

Oh Claire... you do inspire me!

Claire Mountain

Princess Claire

Hello September!

Oh I can't tell you how happy I am it is September! The temperature dropped about 20 degrees in one day and has been beautiful for 4 days. I went to the doc on Friday and finally got some answers. I have torn bicep tendons in both of my arms! I guess I got a little carried away working out. If I don't have them healed up in a month, I can get some shots to help speed up the recovery. I also I got some new meds for my migraines. They make things happen in slow motion a little and wear me out, but I'll take that any day compared to what I've been suffering with for years. Who knows, maybe it will make these beautiful days last longer!  I just finished a piece of art using the photograph of a beautiful orchid I took at the botanical gardens in Oklahoma City. Hope your day is a blessed one!

Sick and Tired...of being sick and tired.

Well the Oklahoma heat just got me this summer.  We had over 50 days of 100+ temperatures.  Because of health problems, I can't venture out of the cool house for more than getting in the car to go to another cool place. It's really put a damper on my usual "Out and About" photography. Everything in Oklahoma looks dead like in the middle of winter. To top it off, I messed up my shoulder several months ago and it has not healed at all, add my normal migraines and you get the picture. Being self employed has it's advantages, don't get me wrong, but with the prices of health insurance and high deductibles, (not to mention a few other snags in the road) I haven't been to the doctor. Hopefully September is the month for me!

This did open up a new venture for me with the greeting cards avenue. I have been using my creative juices in photoshop using my existing photography and art. I just purchased a new bundle of Kim Klassen textures. I'm very excited to see what I can do with all these wonder overlays! I'm looking forward to autumn like no other year. I have a few senior sessions to do and am planning on taking advantage of the brisk air.

Well, I'll stop my belly-aching for now and leave you with my newest piece of art. Hope you enjoy!

Greetings!

I was so excited to wake up this morning to find one of my greeting cards featured on the home page of Greeting Card Universe as "Design of the Day".  They have hundreds of thousands of cards on the site to chose from. It gives me a huge boost to keep up all the work I've been putting in!  Here is the card:

Can't wait for the heat to die down so I can take some more photos!