Thoreau Quote

I love the way this turned out! The message is inspiring.

A Day in the Life

Who: Me
Where: Hillcrest Cottage Art Studio
What I am Creating: Paper Billfold Wallets with My Original Art
What I am Drinking: Community Coffee - Dark Roast with Lotsa Cream
What's Playing: Cold Play "The Speed of Sound" from Pandora Radio
What I am Thinking: When the nice men in white come for me I will be here next to hundreds of paper wallets...laughing...and sewing




Wallets Parts in the Machine




The Desk, The Parts, The Coffee




Colorful Clips




Lotsa Wallets For Sale




The Finished Product

Hillcrest Cottage Green

My Favorite Green Bunny Plate




My Spring Breaking Cadet Brought These Evil Cookies to Me... Almost Gone




These Green Shutters Make Me Happy




Green "Bobbsey Twins" Books from My Childhood




Green Tea Break at 4:00




Green Door on Hillcrest Cottage's Front Porch




My Husband's Fave Army Green West Point Hat

Art Studio Tour

Mac the Labradoodle will greet you at the studio's entryway.
You can read her blog at: http://macthelabradoodle.blogspot.com/





The Studio Door honors the memory of Flops the Bunny.




First wall as you walk in...the last great photo of when all my boys were still small. This was taken in an awesome spot in Alabama overlooking the gulf. It is a black and white photo, hand-colored by me.




The studio is small but mighty!




From my desk is a great view of the neighborhood with lots of natural light.




What's currently on the drawing board.




I sincerely try to stop for green tea in the afternoon...cleans out the brain.




Tools of the trade.




Need alotta storage!




Imagine...Pray...Believe...Words to live by.




The wall as you leave the studio...Hope you enjoyed the tour...Now time to finish cleaning. My two favorite college men arrive tonight!!! Yesterday was full of sheet washing (I love a fresh-smelling bed!). Today is the vacuum's turn.

Thanks for stopping by!

Midnight Snack, Anyone?

Hungry Boys with Too Much Money Buy This on Midnight Buying Frenzies



Exhibit A: Never Grocery Shop When Hungry



Exhibit B: 2 Bags Powdered Donuts, 2 Cans Spaghetti, 4-Pack Easy Mac, 4-Pack Starbucks Drinks, Bag Cheese Puffs, Bag Potato Chips, DP... 3 Teenage Boys

Dirty Laundry - Should Not Be Aired

Laundry and I have a very hostile relationship.

We should have been introduced my freshman year of college, but we were not. Keep reading, and you'll see why that introduction was delayed...for years.

In the autumn 0f '77, before Facebook, texting,and laptops, if we can go back that far, there were also no washers and dryers in the dorms (gasp). Someone who desired clean Laundry was forced to drive to the local coin operated washateria (Even the name sounds awful.) Who had time to sit still for a very long time in a very hot place...waiting...on Laundry? Not my 1977-self. I had declined a track scholarship because I had imagined my social calendar would be too heavily booked...ha.

Enter Mom, who figured out a Laundry solution that only my mom could. Here was her plan: Whenever I needed to have clean clothes, I would send dirty Laundry home to Little Rock (via anyone making the 3 hour trek). Then...she would wash Laundry and call.

"Go down to the bus stop at 5:00. Laundry will be arriving on the afternoon bus."

What college freshman would say "no" to this arrangement?

When I moved into the sorority house there were free washers and dryers (a cool perk of 70's sorority house living)...but there was still a lot of waiting. No time for that! So the bus scheme continued.

Summer '79 I was planning to spend three months living at the beach. Mother's first reaction was, "What will you do about Laundry? You don't have that much underwear!" (Clothes I had, just not that much underwear.)


"I don't know," was my reply. The beach was a good 16 hours away.Hmmm. What to do?

Enter Mom with Laundry solution #2: M.M. Cohn Department Store's bi-annual sale. (This was pre-Wal-Mart when bargain seekers were forced to anticipate the bi-annual sales.) I remember a huge table with piles of (panties...said in a whisper), and I had to paw through them to find my size. To this day I hate 'pawing' through stuff at stores. I would truly rather go naked than 'paw'.

"Sale things are all the leftovers," my grandmother would proclaimed with disdain. On that day of pawing, she was right. The (whisper...panties) were definitely the rejects. But, we had to score enough (panties) to last three months. Because...uhhh...you can't wear them twice. So, score we did because 30 X 3 = 90 divided by 2 = 45.

Now when 45 of any item is bought from the deeply discounted sale table, my grandmother's proclamation was true. Apparently, the traffic sign undies were not popular in 1979, and I went home with lots of "Dangerous Curves", "Stop", and "Caution".

At long last, Laundry and I first met at the beach that summer of '79...same summer I met my husband. But Landry and I were a drama far from "Romeo and Juliet"... more like " A Mid- Summer Night's Washateria Nightmare". Imagine using every machine at once: the quarters, vigilance, and time required!

Fast forward to marriage, our first apartment, and Laundry-For-Two. The dirty Laundry pile would fill our small walk-in closet floor -to- ceiling. I scare my 2010- self remembering it! Seriously, we lived in that apartment a year, and I only remember washing once. Our periodic trips home must have been enough to keep me away from the dreaded coin laundromat.

Fast forward to our first rental house. I welcomed my first washer and dryer, a gift from Dad (prompted by Mom). I soon became good at clean Laundry...just not the folding part. Luckily, we had a guest room.

Fast forward to children. Oh... Laundry how you grew! For years, Laundry was the first thing I greeted in the morning and the last thing I saw at night. I have to say I became quite disciplined at meeting Laundry regularly.

Fast forward to two guys in college. Wow. Laundry, where have you gone? I never thought I would ever say this, but, I rather miss your ugly face (not too much, but just a little).

Writing about you, Laundry, has really have revealed more about myself than I should have posted publically.

The End

P.S. My mom just turned 81, lives in an apartment without a washer and dryer. I now do her laundry. I think she earned this. Amen?

Smilebox - My new BFF

slideshow design created with Smilebox I discovered this on Saturday and LOVE this quick, simple application. It's mostly free, but I paid $3.99 for permission to use this song. I'm so excited about the simplicity of creating, emailing, and posting to this blog and Facebook! I just had to share.