Out with the old... In with the new...

On the day before leaving town to visit my family for Thanksgiving, I managed to total my car.  The accident was my fault and an embarrassingly stupid move on my part.  Thankfully, no one was seriously injured - it could have been so much worse - but my subcompact 2004 Hyundai Accent didn't fare too well against a Dodge Ram pickup!  I finally got out of my rental and into a new (at least new to me) car - a 2010 Hyundai Elantra with power, cruise, and lots of nice little amenities I had been doing without.  Alas, they came with a car payment attached but at least I have something nice, newer, and reliable to get around in.

On a lighter note, I had a wonderful time visiting my family in Wyoming over the Thanksgiving holiday.  I arrived just in time for the traditional dinner, sacrificed sleep for some Black Friday shopping deals, had a Harry Potter movie marathon with my nieces, went to kindergarten with my youngest niece, watched another niece perform admirably at her swim meet, helped my mom rearrange her art studio, and managed to read a novel and complete an art piece in the process.  Not a very restful vacation but definitely a fun and special one!

This is the art piece I completed on my vacation.  It was my birdhouse-themed contribution for the Fifth Anniversary swap on Paper Traders.  The couples featured are my grandparents and great aunt & uncle  =)

My New Nephew

While this is not a great picture of the new baby, this is a good picture of me - LOL! This is my brand new nephew, Nathaniel River Austin! He was born on Monday at 7:45 am and weighed 8 lbs 5.7 oz. As his big sister says, "he's noisy!" He sure was screaming at the hospital and apparently is still pretty fussy now that he's home. With two other bouncy toddlers, my sister has definitely got her hands full... but, oh, I think they're worth it!

Howdy from Western Wyoming

Okay, so Cody isn't THAT much farther west than Colorado... but it sure feels like it! Lots of cowboys and pickup trucks, rodeo every night, open plains and tall mountains all around, no really big cities anywhere near here.

After driving up to South Dakota for a family reunion last week, I traveled west to Wyoming to take care of my mom for a couple weeks while she is recovering from surgery. She is doing well, healing nicely, but will still be laid up for some time due to the size of her incision. I don't think my boss was too happy about me maxing out my vacation time all at once, but family is my priority. The hard part will not being able to take any more time off for the rest of the year - LOL!

Today I am going to take my nieces to the movies... we're going to go see the new Ice Age movie - should be fun =) I've managed to get a little bit of art done while I'm here but mostly have been doing work around the house (Mom & Dad's place is a lot bigger than my little apartment!) and I've become addicted to a new online video game: Bubble Town - what a time-waster but so much fun!

Well, that's a quick update on me. I'll post photos of my recent art as soon as it's all finished.

Wild Mustangs

This is the spread I made for Linda's "Where the Wild Things Are" round robin journal on Paper Traders. I chose to illustrate the wild mustangs from Red Canyon, Wyoming, which is just outside of Cody where Linda lives. My family also lives there and I've seen the wild horses for myself - very cool! I also made a tag to match...

Holiday Wrap Up

So, my holiday road trip was both good and bad - it was wonderful to spend time with my family who I only get to see about once or, if I'm lucky, maybe twice a year; it was disappointing that it went by too fast, though! It was nice to be able to drive there and thereby take as much stuff with me (and not be limited by airline bag restrictions) as well as bring lots of good stuff back, too.

But the drive home was NOT good, by any means... I raced a snowstorm all day long and it finally caught up with me about 30 miles from my home - and then I crawled through the worst traffic I have ever seen for another FOUR HOURS! At times, I wanted to cry from frustration and exhaustion but Mom reminded (via cellphone) that someone up ahead had probably had an accident and was having a much worse day than me! Actually there were several accidents, and stalled vehicles, and slide offs, and snow plows, and it just went on and on.

All told, I spent 12 hours in the car that day - the day after I had been been soooo sick with the stomach flu... so for two days, I ate little more than crackers and 7-Up. Needless to say, going back to work the next day was very difficult - difficulty concentrating, tired, weak - and here it is mid-week and I still can't stomach anything but the most bland food.

So, I guess I had more bad to say about my trip than good but really I don't feel that way about it... it just didn't end well and I guess the ending is what sticks with you. The fun stuff included a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, a mountain drive with my Dad, arting with my mom and sister, making gourmet candy apples, celebrating two family birthdays, playing with my little niece and nephew, taking my nieces to a movie, and of course listening to my Broncos win a terrific football game!

It's hard to accept that it's already December and I have so much to do before Christmas... I don't know where I'm going to find the time to get everything done - Yikes!

Cody Stampede Independence Day Parade

These are just a FRACTION of all that we saw in the parade on July 4th... enjoy!