Are Ya'll Even Still Speaking to Me?

I wouldn't be surprised if all of you just went pffft... the heck with her... she's never around when you need her!

I know i've been so absent.  

Honestly, I think i've just been shut down...  Do you ever get like that where everything you do just seems overwhelming, or pointless, or you feel like everything in your life is just stupid?

Well, i sure do.

I worry about my kids, money, the future, storms, asteroids hitting the earth

pretty much anything you can think of

and sometimes all of it just saps the life force right out of me

I haven't even really been able to paint in like 2 months!  Just couldn't do it... well except for one painting that i worked on intermittantly. Just today, for the first time in 2 months i felt like i could pick up the paint brush, and get it close to finished

Marian, "Miss Mustard Seed" might want it if she has a place for it, if not it will be for sale...

I'm really lucky that she likes my paintings, because people notice everything she does, and lots of people have bought my prints   because of her!  Especially "Eulalie"

Thank you Marian for making my paintings look so good with all your beautiful things !

anyway, here it is...

I don't have a name yet

but dosen't it seem like two old friends have a peaceful graze together

I had 10 days off of work, and had a list 80 miles long of all this stuff i was going to get done, and mostly i just started too many projects and made big chaotic messes everywhere, let the dogs in and out of the house 90 thousand times a day and wore myself out. 

So the dogs..............  

First one of the dogs wants out, so after a minute the other dog realizes that the first one is out, and decides she wants to go out too, but when i let her out the first dog decides to come in while the door is open -  so when i let her back in, the other one messes around in the yard a few minutes and is like crap, now i want back in too... and so it goes 90 thousand times a day...

Anyway, it is very very clear to me that  I need structure, or I will stay up until 2:00 in the morning drinking vodka and watching movies like Armageddon two nights in a row... seriously , i did that... 

Honestly, the way i talk about drinking vodka, i guess ya'll think i'm a terrible alcoholic

but i'm not a terrible alcoholic,

i'm a  perfectly good, very controlled, measured, and systematic alcoholic

i never drink before 8:00 pm

and i never get actually too very drunk... 

just perfectly buzzed

 i don't drink at parties because it makes me feel flushed and weird and stupid

In fact, i don't feel bad about drinking at all

I don't know how in the world anyone goes through life without drinking

That's insane

Ok... to change the subject to something that makes me appear more normal... and less of a substance abuser 

 the garden has been unbelievable this year. 

The snowball bush was humongous and slam full of big fluffy white balls, and roses are tumbling around the yard everywhere!  

dusk in the front yard

Rosebud cottage in the morning, a quick photo right before I leave for work...

Found a darlin little birds nest tucked into the branches of an Eden rose next to the house

see it in there?

and i finally got the window boxes planted.  It is always so fun to see them  full of pink geraniums

And i discovered an Iris i just LOVE 

It's called Champagne Elegance

Get one, you will adore it

the soft yellow and creamy white are so pretty with everything else in the garden

It's my new favorite thing....

and just look at this precious pink impatients

This little vintage cherub sits in the back yard in an old birdbath top

I hung a chandy from a tree in the front yard

it was a bargain chandy,

but it's still cute, and  i love to plug it in at night and sit outside under the tree, and have a nice little drink, watch the lightening bugs, and smell the honeysuckle

come on... what could be better than that

...and the rose i showed in the very first photo

here it is again...

it is wonderful! 

 I think it is called Peach Drift 

It has a smallish bloom and the colors are divine

all those colors are on two little rose clusters!

I did find this little desk at the thrift shop and painted it grayish with a mix of Annie Sloan paint colors, and then painted the inside pink

i love the shabby old mirror on top

I want to use it for my computer so it isn't sitting on the kitchen counter... but i need my friend Missy from "My Cottage Charm" to come over with her tools and help drill some holes in the back for computer cords!

My Friend  Karan of "Fetch Antiques" found me a an old chippy frame and it fit my print of "Good Morning Miss Daisy" perfectly!

She is 24 x 36 which is a standard size so it is not too hard to find old frames in that size at thrift shops and flea markets

I saw this print hanging  on a pink wall once at another friends shop -  Uniquitiques  - she purchased the print for herself and we tacked it up in her shop on the pink walls just to take a look at her 

she looked so damn pretty on those pink walls

that i decided to paint the inside of the frame pink

If you have a pink wall and you love shabby, cottagy stuff, and well, cows...

you should buy her -  and i'm not just saying that to make a sale

not even remotely 

she just looks so stunning on soft pink walls

in fact, if you want her, and you let me know you read about her in this blog post, i'll give you 20% off the price

cindyaustinpaintings.com

I was really tickled that she tucked right in the frame

 i secured her in there with a little duct tape since i didn't have the right canvas securing equipment thingys

Mr. Fractured would be proud, he uses duct tape for everything

but i bet his duct tape isn't pink with white polka dots like mine is

So anyway... just want to say thanks to all of you for being there, i'm not kidding... even when i miss your posts, things happen to me all the time that make me think of each and every one of you -  and i plan to spend the next week catching up on you guys...

I feel like you are not only my friends, but my social life, my support group, the people who make me laugh, and touch my heart... and let me share myself even in all my ADHD, vodka drinking, anxiety attack weirdo dysfunction

you're still there 

I tell you guys stuff that alot of people around me every day don't even know

how crazy is that

big hugs

... the end ...