End of the Innocence - the loss of Bowie and Rickman

"But "happily ever after" fails
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales" - Don Henley

This week has been a big loss in the world of Music and Movies. First David Bowie on January 10 and then Alan Rickman on January 14. And as I think of the lines from Don Henley's End of the Innocence, these two men poisoned me with their wonderful talent and their loss is the end of my innocence. 

There was a great Twitter comment and write up about why we grieve artist's we've never met. The article and the post can be found here.

"Thinking about how we mourn artists we've never met. We don't cry because we knew them, we cry because they helped us know ourselves."

For me the loss of Bowie and Rickman is the loss of my teenage years and early twenties. 

Bowie was music that my mom and I could both share when that teenage girl really didn't think her mom was cool, but mom liked Bowie so she was cooler than most of my friend's moms. 

The Goblin King was the Bowie persona I could relate to the most as a teen. His other music grew on me and I always loved that he pushed the envelope. Blackstar - his last album - still pushed the envelope and is still something my mother and I can talk about. 

As for Rickman, he was one of my most favorite actors. I loved him in Die Hard, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, all of the Harry Potter Movies, Snow Cake and Something the Lord Made. He was the perfect villain and like Bowie, a chameleon. There were just no words to describe his ability to mesmerize you on screen. I think the most - he will always be Professor Snape for me - the villain that was a hero.  

I will not feel badly for the crying I have done at the loss of these two men. 

So for now I will pull out my videos when I feel melancholy.

I will Dance Magic Dance.

Always. 

Happy New Year 2016

Wow already 9 days into the new year. It seems that times flies so quickly. I hope you are having a great new year so far. 

Mine is going well. I have had a lot of positive things and I am hoping that it continues. 

I ended 2015 with this art - a whole diorama.

And I started the new year off with coloring - that's right - I got line art and colored with prismacolor pencils. 

I also started off the year of with my annual PAY IT FORWARD with ART

I hereby promise to make a small work of art for three people who comment on this post and say “YES, I want in.” (random drawing).

A ‘like’ alone is not enough of a commitment.

You must, in turn, post this as your status update - copy and paste DO NOT SHARE (or it will not count to receive the art) and make something for the people who comment on your status (you may choose the number of people).

The rules are simple: it has to be your work, made by you, and the recipient must receive it before 2016 ends. I will announce the winners for mine at the end of the day today (around 8 PM MST) (January 1, 2016) and throughout this year I will make art to send to the three winners. If you have played in the past (2013, 2014, or 2015) and won art from me - please let others have a chance this year. Thank you.

My Three winners were: Bonnie England, Jann Merando and Ashley Stanley. 

Through the year I will make them art and post it. 

I am hoping that 2016 will be a very eventful art year! 

Bury your poverty, dig up your wealth 2015-2016

Okay folks! It's New Year's Eve today!! And I stole this from my friend Chris Wallbruch - I tried it in 2013 and it was an OK year - I tried it again in 2014 and while it was a rough year - this DID work for me both years!!! I did this in 2015 and while the end of the year was not what I expected - it's been a very good year. 

It is time to bury your money!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this tradition, what you do is bury a dollar (or any amount above a dollar that you want) in the soil on New Year's Eve. This can be in a houseplant if the ground is frozen or inaccessible, but I like to go outside, dig a hole, and drop my dollar in. (I put it in a plastic bag). As you bury said dollar, say out loud, "I am burying my poverty!" TIP - if you do this outside, make sure you place some sort of marker where you bury your buck.

On New Year's Day, dig UP the dollar, and as you do so, say out loud, "I am unburying my wealth!" You can't spend the dollar - you can either keep it or give it away to charity. Giving it away is the best so you are less likely to spend it.

This tradition is supposed to give you an unexpected windfall of money.

I have had money come to me the 3 years I have done this - while not what I would call a windfall it helped me out of tough times so I am NOT complaining.

It is a tradition I plan on keeping every year and I thank Chris for pointing me to it!!

Secret Santa Part 3

Well it was a very good Secret Santa year for me and I am so grateful for all the gifts. This 3rd Secret Santa is from Lisa Esping from the FB Secret Santa group.

I received my box on December 24! What an awesome gift it was.

The box opened

The packages

The goodies - Wee Pads for Gabby, 2 bags of Haribo Bears, WHITE FUDGE OREOS (these are to DIE FOR), a SM American Pharoah and the Classic Breyer Dartmoor Set

Close up of SM Pharoah

Close up of Dartmoor set

Thank you to all three of my Secret Santas. I loved everything!! 

See Secret Santa 1 here and see Secret Santa 2 here

Secret Santa Part 2

My second Secret Santa was from Model Horse Blab. My Santa was Christy M. 

She sent me some really, really great things.

This was the box when I opened it. 

I love the wrapping paper and the Bull Terrier design on the one box. 

Christmas socks, 2 Flavored Chapsticks, A Donkey and Haribo Bears

Breyer Classic Haflinger, a Resin Bull Terrier that I did not have and the Breyer Stablemate Farm set. 

Lemon Ginger Tea, Peppermint Tea, FortiFlora for Gabby, Tales of Beedle the Bard and a shipping set for my Classic Breyer. 

Here is a shot of the Bull Terrier - it is SO cute.

And here is the Classic Haflinger. 

Check out Secret Santa Part 1 - here

Secret Santa Part 1

I am in 3 Model Horse groups and at first I wasn't sure I would be able to participate in anything this holiday season but I was able too. I managed to get my Secret Santa's some good stuff and I received some really good things!

First one I received was from my Only Model Horses Secret Santa - Deidre.

It was a very nice pile of presents.

With some really great horse wrapping paper! 

There was a bag for Gabby.

It contained toys a blind kitty can hear and play with. 

She did for a few minutes. 

There was a WONDERFUL horse blanket. 

And this candle makes my whole cabin smell like fresh baked sugar cookies. 

There was coca mix, a bag of various chocolate, Winter Oreos, a Horse sticker and Peppermint Bark Shower gel!

And still more: a Watch, a necklace, a horse scarf, horse socks, Flavored Chapstick, a Snowman Ornament and the Breyer 2015 Stirrup horse Ornament. 

Upclose of the stirrup Ornament.

I am so grateful for such a wonderful Secret Santa!! This was absolutely AWESOME! 

I will post from my other Secret Santa's later on!

The Art of Giving Thanks

On this day, that the calendar says is Thanksgiving, being alone and with family being 750+ miles away, I have time to ponder things. (This is ALWAYS SCARY)!

What I am pondering today is the Art of Giving Thanks. So many people just take this day (which is sadly a day celebrating the beginning of genocide for Native American peoples - but that's a whole other can of worms), just to celebrate being thankful. Just this one day - TODAY.

But there is so much to be thankful for every day. I have never understood why just this one day we celebrate being thankful. (Yes I was one of those kids that never passed the Terrible Two's  WHY? WHY? WHY?)

Why are we not thankful every single day of the year?

In 2010, after a huge upheaval in my life, I started doing daily gratefuls on my Facebook page. Posting each day what I was grateful (thankful) for. Some days, when the darkness closed in, it was very hard to come up with something. Then there were the days that I had 20 things and had to choose just a few. I still do this today, and it has changed my perspective on being thankful.

I find that being thankful is an art form. So many people do not really know HOW to be thankful for what they have. In my current situation, I am between jobs, what am I thankful for?

My mom, step-dad, my mom's friends, my friends, my landlord, my kitty Gabby, having a cabin to live in (shelter from the cold), my old truck (though the snow kicks her butt she still drives at 15 and gets me where I need to go) and so much more.

Yes, being between jobs is scary, but there is so much to be thankful for that it helps keep fear from overpowering me. I truly wish others could see this too.

So often I read on Facebook all the bad things going on in people's lives. How they don't have this or that or this happened and their life is incomplete or they are mad at this and that. It makes me sad. No, I am not saying to be jolly all the time and forget the bad things, but don't dwell on them. In my current situation, if I did that, I would be curled in a ball on the floor and catatonic.

What I am asking is that people practice the art of being thankful. So this bad thing happened, is it the end of the world - No. Does it suck for right now - Yes. Do you have something to be grateful for that can help you over that suck - Yes - you woke up today. You have another chance.

My great-grandmother and my mom taught me about being thankful for everything. Gifts (even if it's something you don't want) - send a thank you card. People's time - gift them a gift or a thank you card. Family (even if they piss you off) - be grateful for them as they were your first teachers. Friends and enemies - again, they have come and gone and some have stayed the test of time - be grateful even if you can only send them a message on Facebook and say Hi.

I have been applying for several positions and had several interviews. I have sent or given Thank You cards to everyone that has taken the time to interview me.  Some people look like I gave them a snake and others have never heard of such a thing. For me, I am thankful for their time and consideration, even if they didn't or don't hire me. They will remember me.

You might try it. A personal note of thanks, there is something about a handwritten note, could make someone else's day. While we all center on our own lives, we forget others are suffering silently too.

The holiday seasons tend to make people more emotional and it's easier to be thankful, I think. But imagine a world where we were thankful all year round and not just one day.

Perhaps if we were more thankful for what we have and not for what we think we need to have, Black Friday wouldn't exist. And perhaps we would be closer to peace. I might be a dreamer (I have been told that several times), but being thankful takes so much less energy than being unhappy. Try it everyday, not just on Thanksgiving.

For those of you that have read this whole blog. Thank you. I hope your life is filled with so much to be thankful for every day.