Out and About in Wausau

Had some excellent food and music over the weekend. Finally visited the RedEye brewery for dinner and beers. I'm a big Porter fan and their Wheat Porter was nummy, the spinach and artichoke dip was excellent and my dinner of ribs and carrots was very good as well. My husband's steak was cooked to perfection. The only thing lacking? Kinda thought they forgot about us a few times. But, my guess is our server was very new and only trying to survive a busy Saturday night.
Grabbed a couple beers at Marlarkey's Pub and watched a fun slide show while listening to a talented local cover Tom Petty's American Girl. The whole point of the evening was to get out and sample some new places in town so we moved on to another bar not worth mentioning. They did have an open pool table though which always makes me happy.
Sunday brunch was at the Great Dane and oh it was good! A spicy and delicious Bloody Mary with an obscene array of food (buffet style brunch). If it weren't for the family that heaped all of the berries on their plates, thus leaving me wanting, this would've been perfect. (You weren't the only ones liking the berries people!) Any ways, I am over it!
Fresh fruit and veggies got me thinking spring. I want to change up the garden this year and get some things in that I haven't done before, like parsnips. From what I've read they grow well in Wisconsin.  And I have a sketch started for either a lino print or illustration and its all about growing and gardens. I'm having an issue getting started on it though, seem to have hit a block. Hoping for a little more inspiration.

Go Packers!

Just reporting on my favorite Super Bowl commercials. . . of course I missed a lot of them as I was making taco dip and cooking dinner. . . Doritos was hilarious with the raising of the dead and I also loved the logging one with Roseann Bar, ha ha ha, but I have no clue who did it. The baby one just disturbed me, didn't like it much.
Dinner turned out great, made spaghetti with eggplant and sausage, YUM! And I've been gorging on taco dip non stop. (haven't made it in a while, its the little things).
I took a lot of photos today, don't think I'll do any editing or uploading though. Gonna wait for this neck/headache to go away. I'm excited though, I've got a cheery and bright pair of turquoise and coral earrings to list. Totally thinking spring! And a bright sunshine yellow vintage bag that I regret to admit I passed on the matching suit case. Some times I really wonder about myself.
anyways, gotta go, that taco dip is calling for me!

Saturday night at the E.D. wa hooo

So we had just gotten home from running errands and sat down to eat our Olive Garden when. . . my boy couldn't stop bouncing around on his chair. So of course I say "stop fooling around and eat your dinner" and not even 15 seconds later he tips backwards but then flies forward, meeting the edge of the chair seat in the middle. And you always know how bad it is by the scream. And I kinda knew right away we were gonna be headed back to town. ugh, and the food smelled so good too:P Hoping to eat it for lunch today.
Four stitches and four hours later we were home again. Lac. under the chin and somehow he ended up with an ice cream cone afterward.
On a creative note, I have finally figured out my camera and can now get the pictures off of it. Thought I was going to have to put more RAM in but it's just that my USB doesn't work well with the camera to transfer photos. So why I didn't buy a card reader sooner I will never know. Silly me. BUT, now I am going to work on re-taking several product pics since the other camera had no DoF. Small victories, I'll take them! 

collaborative art project

Here is the first and second steps in our collaborative art project. Me, my 3.5yo son, and 2yo daughter. With all the chaos in between it has not been finished but hoping now that holidays and bday party are done, we can finish!
We started with black markers and my little spanish porcelain bird for inspiration, then I gave my son the paint.

I wasn't totally thrilled when he painted the birds blue too, but I got over it. Will post the finished picture whenever it gets that far.

birthday party, beads, and resolutions

Tomorrow is shopping day for cake and party supplies! B's gonna be 2 on Friday and I've promised a piggy cake. i'm feeling a little pressed for time this week and will be relieved to have the holidays and birthday party behind me. can't wait for her to open her big present, dollhouse and dolls! seriously having a hard time not just giving it to her.
The New Year came in WITHOUT a bang but I do have some good resolutions to work on. and the fact that I woke up sans hangover is always special. maybe i'm learning.
TIME TO MAKE SOME CARDS, that is, if I ever find the sugar cane cards I bought recently. (might've said hemp in my last post) either way, what will it matter if I never find them! some day i will be organized.
On the jewelry front, my son swallowed a bead today. He freaked out. I freaked out. What's not to freak out about? Since it was only dime size, I guess no worries. He was sucking on his big toe later in the day and I asked him what he was doing. his reply "I'm trying to get the bead out".
that's his best phrase yet.

getting out of the house

Got out of the house today, so exciting! ha ha. In search of linoleum to carve. It's amazingly hard to find around here. But I did find some at a great little art store in downtown Oshkosh. Also picked up some blank hemp greeting cards to make Valentine's cards.
On the jewelry end of it I grabbed a few new beads and some hypo-allergenic ear wires. I don't know why I didn't do this a long time ago. My mom always had sensitivity to certain metals so it should've been on my radar. I am paying attention now!
Almost done Christmas shopping. Usually I watch the budgeting better and am maybe a bit of a scrooge. This year, however, I've really enjoyed spending money on others. AND, I bought quite a few presents off Etsy and a couple off of Ebay so I feel like I had a good start to shopping small business. I'm guilty of hitting a couple big box places but only a couple. Hope to wrap it up tomorrow!
Spent a bit too much on the kids but mostly on educational toys so all is not lost. They are spoiled but they are not assholes. umm, to elaborate. . . my Aunt says her husband always said there's a big difference between a kid being spoiled and being an asshole. enough said. 

built my 1st gingerbread house!

The kids loved it. Lil' B ate all the candy she could before we made her put it on the roof and R-dub glued walls and santa with his sleigh. We took a pic and about 10 seconds later it folded into a heap.
Lesson 1: a lot of weight on the roof can be bad for a house
Lesson 2: have your camera ready!
Lesson 3: start early so the sugar doesn't keep the kids up, sheesh, they just fell asleep.

We also started a mom and kids collaberative drawing today. Inspired by my recent find, a Spanish porcelain bird. Not a lot of info out there about it but it sure is cute!

Birds, branches, scribbles, a cat, flowers and more scribbles and marks. All in black drawing pens and markers. We'll add some color and see what happens. I'll post when its finished.
it was a good exercise in not being too attached to what you're drawing. Maybe we can make it a weekly project.
AND...I'm adding a link called Anaya Papaya, it's a great new company focused on family products. Check it out!