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Karen Valentine

Welcome!!!

I'm so happy you stopped by to see my humble surroundings.

They may not be fancy, but I LOVE this space.

It was given to me about 3 years ago, when my sweet husband sent me packing on a weekend get away to rest and recharge. (L.O.V.E. that man)

When I came home, he had emptied this room of all his office supplies and handed it over-lock, stock and barrel to be filled with my art.

Did I mention I love this guy?

I just went through a massive clean up campaign before taking photos. I cannot show it messy two years in a row!

Many thanks to Karen Valentine for working so darn hard to make this possible.

Ready?

Come on in!!

It's amazing how much I have accumulated in three years.

This is a little spot where a small t.v. is on the opposite side of the couch. It's nice to have on once in a while, or to have one of the kids in the room while I'm working.

Of course, there is ALWAYS something waiting to be worked on, or finished...

I do love putting pretty things on my shelves, especially when made by friends or family!

Another project that began, and unfortunately, I can't find these figurines very easily. So this regal lady keeps me company.

One can never have enough scrabble tiles!

 These were a Brazilian version I found at the local Thrift store. Which explains the wonderful yellow color of the tiles.

Tools of the trade.

And never, ever enough storage!

An idea board I made when I unexpectedly found this bulletin board in a dumpster.

More storage space

More projects waiting to be worked on...

My "Spot" as declared for me by my eldest daughter, who helped my husband move his stuff out and mine in!

If it's not labeled, I can't find it. And then I still have trouble finding it.

Even if it's in clear storage.

Long-time favorites:

and memories:

Paper = love.

The traveling bag..

Take a good look, this desk won't stay clean for long!

Thank you so very much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed the tour, I sure enjoyed having you visit.

xo,

lynn

A Little Fun...

Sometimes neighbors can be very helpful.

Take mine, for instance.

Dirk and Tammy are always willing to pick up mail while we are away, watch the house, water the plants...

They are even willing to watch Miss Party, which to me is no small feat. Especially after losing their beloved Lacey.

'Cause, you know, my Miss Party is just a tad on the neurotic side.

However.

I have come to see a different side of this dog while we are away.

Don't you wonder what they do while you are gone all day? What about several days?

Dirk caught her in action and took secret pictures which he then emailed me:

Can you even believe the audacity of this dog???

Caught in the act.

I tell you what, I'm not sure I can get over this.

CHIPS in MY bed.

How did she get the fridge open to get the coke can?

Wait a minute....we don't have coke in our fridge.

Huh??

But I bet she does know where we keep the straws. 

Dang dog.

As if that's not enough, Dirk caught Miss Party and his son, Chris playing cards.

Then he tells me Miss Party cheats.

CHEATS.

See how disgusted Chris looks?

Well, wouldn't you be if you lost at cards to a dog?

I mean really. 

The humiliation of it all.

Miss Party didn't do this at while she was at my mom's. I asked.

The only thing she did there was drag out every box of cereal she could find from the cupboard and nicely distribute it all over the living room. Well, that and the bag of chocolates.

Ummmmm...and maybe mom's slippers so that mom couldn't find them for three days.

But nothing like this frivolity and mayhem.

Maybe it's being with the neighbors that she thinks she can cut loose, I don't know, what do you think?

Sigh.

lynn

Morning, friends!
I'm sitting at my most favorite place in the world, Laguna Beach. Lauren and I have a tradition of escaping here while miss Brenna is away at summer camp. This year I am so grateful to be able to continue the tradition. Especially with Lauren getting older, the time spent with her is especially sweet.

While she is meeting some friends for breakfast, I am continuing to work on the art journal I began in Pam Garrison's class.

One thing I am trying to focus on while working on this journal is having fun! Pam was so encouraging in getting us to realize that this doesn't have to be a sellable work of art. It's intention is to get us to experiment, play, discover, and create. I find my mind filled with thoughts that I want to put down on the paper. Every time I sit down with the journal I tell myself, "just put something down- just begin and see what happens. The creativity will come or it won't. If it does, be thankful and enjoy it. If it doesn't, get up and enjoy something else!"

What are you sitting down to today? Or are you getting up and enjoying something else?
Xo
Lynn

Guess what I did today?
Never mind, I'll tell you.
I was privileged to spend the day at Jenny Doh's house.
No, really!! I did!!!
I could hardly believe it myself, but there I was at 8:45 in the morning, pulling up to her house like it was something I always did.

When Jenny welcomed me into her home, I felt SO welcomed it was like I had Ben there before.
There I was with 11 other women, ready to take a class on art journaling with Pam Garrison.
I almost burst into tears when I found my spot at the table-it was thy amazing to be with so many like minded people. No PMS or anything, I promise!!!
I'm happy to report that I managed to hold it together and learn a ton and had a fabulous time.
I'm back to posting from my I-phone and I'll tell you more about that tomorrow. Since I don't know how to link this way, here are Jenny and Pam's websites:
Www.crescendoh.com. And
Pamgarrison.typepad.com
Til tomorrow!
Xo
Lynn

Back Home

We are finally HOME.

At least for a week!

The house is in summer mode, which means wet foot prints all over the floor from the pool, videos and coloring stuff, puzzles and books are mixed in as well.

Race Across America stuff has overtaken the living room and dining room in full force.

I can't remember the last time I cleaned my floors, cause I can't FIND the floors.

I love summer.

I had to show you what else was covering my living room floor.

On our journey home, there was an antique store across the street from a gas station we stopped at in Cumberland, Maryland.

The guys thought we were stopping for gas and getting lunch at Wendy's before hitting the road.

I beg to differ.

Before they could say "order to go", Lauren and I, Elizabeth, Linda and Camila were running across the street to the antique store yelling, "We'll meet you at Wendy's in fifteen minutes!"

My dream came true of finding one of these wonderful, old scales. My friend Linda, from Itsy-Bits-and-Pieces showed one of these on her blog and I fell in love.

Hard and fast.

Until I priced them out here in Sunny So. Cal.

$40-$50 for one of these beauties!!!

Not in Cumberland...

It was $15!!!

Well, the gig was up. Every time we stopped for lunch, we looked for an antique store.

We found a perfect one in Indiana.

I snapped up this gorgeous old book with the title,

Patent Office Report

1860

$3.

Just in case you needed to know about Pisciculture, it's all here.

Of course, I neeeeeeeeeeded another old dictionary.

Really, I did.

It killed me to pass up all the antique places across the country after this. I'm sure you can relate to being stuck in a moving vehicle for 10-12 hours a day, needing to cover 3,000 miles in five days.

The guys didn't stop near any more antique stores after Indiana, so I just watched them all go by in a blur out my window.

The other ladies felt bad for me.

I was pretty sorry for me as well.

But I am determined to go back and look.

Plus, I could visit so many of you along the way.

Now THAT'S the way to do a road trip in the summer!

xo

lynn

Good morning! We are leaving our final Wal Mart in Flagstaff, Arizona. Six hours until home!!!!! My bed!!! A shower!!!! My coffee pot!!
We do have a fair amount of cleaning and sorting to do with all the racer and crew's gear, but we will be doing all this in familiar territory!!
xo
Lynn

Good morning!! As surprised as I was last night to spend the night in the parking lot of a glorified truck stop, I see this morning just how providential this was.
There happened to be a large tire service across the highway and the guys decided to check the tires of one of the motor homes, as they had noticed the beginnings of some cracks. We are now the proud owners of two new tires as we say good bye to oklahoma!
More to come as we travel another 600 miles......