nanke's stuff

 Well, I'm still trying to draw something everyday, but I'm finding that it's so far Most days at best..  I have spent this weekend shredding.  No, not Shedding, Shredding ... as in papers.   About 12 years ago we were involved in a lawsuit dealing with insurance fraud.  In the capacity of Powers of Attorney for my parents, my sweetie and I bought a home here in Michigan for them while they made all the arrangements to move back here from Nevada.  The broker offered credit life insurance as part of the deal - my parents wanted it, so we went ahead and bought it.  To make a long story short, it was a scam.  The broker took the money in a lump sum for the insurance, never filed the paperwork with the insurance company, and when my stepfather died a few months later, they wanted to refund the premium money rather than honor the policy (no surprise, since there wasn't a policy).  A lawsuit ensued which the "enemy" lost, ending in a much larger payout than if they had just paid the face value of the policy in the first place.

Fast forward to this weekend.  As a result of having to have a new furnace installed, I had to clean out the furnace room.  There are many boxes filled with who knows what, but a prominent one contained all the paperwork from the lawsuit.  I shredded that paper all day Friday while the furnace guys were here.  I shredded most of the day yesterday.  I shredded a good part of the day today.  I filled 13 large trash bags with the shredded paper!  My sweetie walked by me yesterday while I was shredding (using a terrible shredder that kept jamming in the process) and remarked that it was like a prison sentence.  That made me feel a lot better about it.

Anyhow, a moment ago I took up my ballpoint pen, looked down and there was Abby - she's an old, faithful Springer Spaniel who only wants to be loved on and petted.  Well, she also wants cookies, but other than that, she makes no demands. And yes, she sees herself as the Queen of the Domain ... which she is.   I took a wee bit of paper (2 x 2) and did this quick sketch of her face.  It's not much, but it's what I have today.  I figure at least it's something.

Ok, so as it turns out, the mobile wasn't quite finished.  I did add more shells to it (1 on each side of the shells already there, but on shorter strings so they hang closer to the blue ring), and I also did a satin stitch across the mouth of the blowfish.   Some of you may remember that I wasn't quite satisfied with that fish, especially the mouth.  The pieces just wouldn't cooperate with me and the points of the seams near the mouth  didn't suit my fancy.  So today I did a bit more tweaking.  I satin-stitched across the mouth and went over the offending seams.  I think it's much improved - the fish likes it too, because now it has lips!

On another topic, tomorrow our dog, Abby and I are going to visit the father of my friend, Judy.  He lives in Howell Medilodge (or maybe it's called Medilodge of Howell), but either way, that's where we'll be.  We've been wanting to do this for quite some time, but for one reason or another it just hasn't happened yet.  Abby insisted on having a bath today in order to  look her very best. (Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration - what really happened is that as I was getting things ready in the bathroom, she wandered in to be with me and I shut the door behind her.  She looked horrified, suspecting what was coming, and then when I took off her collar, she just drooped and looked really, really sad.)  But she's a good old girl, behaved very nicely in the tub, and as always when I give her a bath, didn't shake until I had her out of the tub and completely covered with towels.  She sat very still while I blew her dry, then looked really happy when she got her well-deserved cookie .

I did a  quick drawing while I waited for Judy in a restaurant today, so I'll post it since I don't have any other work to show you.  So here's Abby, the fish, and the sketch.

Today is our 35th wedding anniversary! We celebrated yesterday by going to dinner to a restaurant we love in Chelsea called The Common Grill. There's nothing common about the food. I had a wonderful goat cheese ravioli with a delicious sauce with large chunks of lobster in it. My sweetie had a stuffed chicken breast that looked wonderful. We shared a dessert of some sort of warm, crispy, chocolate affair with candied pecans as a garnish.
When we came home, we sat on the porch and I did a quick sketch of Abby, our special spaniel. (She tells us constantly just how special she is). She's very sweet and laid back, great with children of all ages, and most agreeable. I love her dearly.
Soon I'll be leaving to join up with my friend Vicki, for a day of roaming around checking out second hand shops and who knows what else! It's always a fine time and we'll also have a spot of lunch somewhere. So, until the next time, I hope your day is filled with moments of pleasure, joy, and gratitude. nancy