No More Salt

A home with a view.

Where do I start? We have found our new home. We purchased it and moved in. This is the view from the back deck. It is awesome! Sometimes I have to pinch myself. We are unpacking. It will take me forever, but I don't care. 

Now let me back up. This journey has not been easy. The road ahead will be even harder but I know God will take care of us. Everything will be ok. 

The very same day we closed on our new home my dear sweet man, my husband, the love of my life found out his cancer returned. YuK! I was so scared and shocked. Why right now? We thought we got it all two and half years ago! But it is back in a lymph node in his groin. We scheduled the surgery and tried to move forward after all we just bought a house. We had so many things to do. Everyone rallied and helped us move. Family and friends came together. 

WAIT....it gets worse! Three days after the move Jerry had a heart attack. I gave him an aspirin and rushed him to the ER. It took them all afternoon to figure out he indeed was having a heart attack. Poor guy. He was complaining of chest pains and indigestion but the pains were not that bad. By the end of the day he had two stints put in. It was a mild one but STILL! He will have to change his ways. He will have to start eating better. I will be in control of that. They said this was a blessing in disguise. I have to believe it. Now the surgery for the cancer will be put off for a month because of the blood thinners. Drs are better prepared for it because they now know he has a bad heart. Which will change how they do the cancer surgery. I guess it's a good thing. He could have died while during the cancer surgery of a heart attack and they would not have understood it.  OK... I believe everything happens for a reason. The power of prayer has worked. Now all we have to do is get rid of the cancer. 

A page from my art journal

January Girl

January Girl has learned so much. Some simple little truths have finally dawned on her. Little words that she knew to be true never made so much sense until now. Stop worrying about the small stuff is one that is so simple but so hard to do.  Learning to enjoy the moment instead of looking to the future and crying about the past is another. She has learned to just let it go. Most of all she has realized how controlling she has been. It feels so good to let someone else decide. She has realized she can not have faith and still be fearful.  She now understands she can not be supportive if she is always criticizing.
Night and day, light and dark can not occupy the same space at the same time. 
Simple little truths that mean so much are sometime very hard to grasp. Yea for January Girl! These things have finally dawned on her.

xoxoxo
Charlie

Apartment Life

"Hello I love You"

 I took this photo in New York last year and love how it turned out.  I love the color pop effect.  (Lyrics by the Doors, written on a stairway, leading up somewhere, maybe to someones apartment/home.) Too cool! AND I'm looking through a doorway at all of this. How neat!  I wish I could remember where I took this photo. Probably somewhere near China Town. I think we were on our way there, but not sure.

If you keep up with my blog you know I am going through some major changes. We sold our home after 25 years. We are living in an apartment and believe it or not..... I'm having fun! I feel like I'm on vacation. I have always wanted to move into a cottage by the sea for the summer, or rent a cabin for the winter, or better yet live in a teeny apartment in New York city. But who has money for that???? Only in the movies.
I've decided this is the next best thing. Having most of my stuff in storage and knowing this is temporary is very nice. Things are really simple. A little boring at times since I don't have "my stuff". I'm getting an itching to paint but oh well. I'll try to do more photoshop.
 I'm sure I'll be ready to move out soon enough, especially if and when we find a house.

 Wish us luck so that we will find the perfect home, because I don't want to live here forever. Lol!

Hugs,
Charlie

It's over! We have moved and are out of our house. We sold our house after 25 years. We are living in an apartment temporarily! The picture above is what it looks like outside of the apartment.

 I did not think I was going to make it! Seriously! I did all the packing. It took me about a month to pack all the little nik nakky stuff....(decorations, wall pictures, kitchen stuff, (which took me a week and a half all by itself), attic, garage stuff, extra bedroom and bathroom stuff, my studio and on a side note we took two flat -bed trailer loads of my yard stuff to my sister -in- laws place who lives out in the county).  I can not believe all the crap we have accumulated!

We rented a 10 x 30 storage unit for most of everything and the rest went into the apartment with us. It took the movers 12 hours to move us. In the rain... I might add. Nothing is easy! It never rains in Texas but the day I want to move it rains! We are in a 7 year drought so go figure. And it was cold too!
I'm so glad it's over. I can finally relax and enjoy Christmas.

I'm really enjoying the change. It's a small apartment but it's cozy and very pet friendly. The path way outside of the apartment is perfect for walking Max. I think he likes it too. He is old so he doesn't care to go outside that much anymore.

I'm so glad we did this move. It was a dramatic change for us but we needed it. I'm so grateful we sold our home especially in this economy, but actually San Antonio's economy is not that bad.

I think it hit me one day that I could not bare to live in the same place for the rest of my life. We had to do something now or just forget about it. We are no spring chickens and this move just about killed my back.

Most of my art supplies are in the storage unit. I tried to bring a few basic items along with me to the apartment, so I wont be doing much painting for a while....hopefully I can do journal work and quick sketches. Obviously my Etsy shop is closed because I put all of that stuff in storage.

After the first of the year I will get with my realtor and start looking for a house. I can't wait for that.
Then moving starts all over again. It may take me awhile to get back into art. I'm hoping to open another Etsy shop after I get settled or just totally revamp my currant one.

I think now that things have settled down I will be able to relax and get out the depression. I sure hope so.
Everyone have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Hugs,
Charlie

Status Update

Pumpkin Girl

Did this painting last month before the madness hit the fan.

I feel I need to explain what has been going on with me. I have been going through some crazy feelings lately. I blame it on symptoms related to menopause, but who knows :)..... I've been real emotional and crying at the drop of a hat at everything.
This summer we decided to put our house on the market. We have been considering this for a long time. It was a hard decision. We listed it the end of August and got an offer the end of October. It is under contract so nothing is set in stone.
I've been reluctant to say anything about this because I don't want to jinx anything.  I'm stressed about the move because we do not have a place to go if we sell. We will have to put everything in storage and rent until we find something else. This was our decision because we did not want to  buy until we sold the old house.
I'm basically in limbo. I can't pack or do much until I know for sure the sale will go through.  I'm excited and sad at the same time. We have a couple of hurdles to go through first. It may all fall flat and the sale may not go through. Like they say "it's not over until the fat lady sings". With all the emotions I've been going through I'm not sure I care anymore. I'm exhausted.  If it sells it sells,  if not,.... oh well. I can live here another 25 years.
This sort of explains my absence here. I'm going crazy. I hate not knowing. I'll try to keep you posted but who knows if I'll have internet.

Girl Painting

Christi Ballerina

This little girl painting is for my niece Christi. It will be her Christmas gift. I finished her a few weeks ago and I'm already on to the  next one.  The painting I'm working on now is giving me all kinds of trouble. Not sure why????? I can't draw an eye to save my soul!
Mamma said there'd be days like this.
I'm so glad the weather has changed. We had a brutal summer here in south Texas.  It is actually in the 80's right now. So perfect! I can drag my art supplies outside to work and even turn off the air and open all the windows.
The weather has also inspired me to clean out my closets. I'm in a real chunking mood. I want to get rid of everything. All of a sudden I can't stand clutter. Go figure!
Have a great October.
Hugs,
Charlie

Video of My Newest Painting

This is "Gothic Princess"

It's all about the journey!

How about my first attempt at a video on my iPhone?

I thought a video view of my new painting would be nice. Hopefully you can see all the yummy textures. Sorry for the jerkiness but iphones are pretty sensitive.....or either I'm just a terrible videographer. She will  be for sale over at Charlotte's Collection on Etsy soon. I still have a few things I ned to do to her before I can list her.

On another note I'm listing a few vintage postcards as digital downloads in my Etsy store...trying something new. Again!

I'm still missing my kitty. Thanks to all of you who commented. I appreciate it. It will take time to get over it. 

Have a great week.

In Memory of....

Tangi

I am so depressed. My sweet kitty got hit by a car last Friday morning. I got her as a kitten in January of this year. She was not quite a year old, but she touched my heart in so many ways. I miss her so much. I can't believe I'm still mourning the loss a week later.
We put flyers out around the neighborhood early Saturday morning and someone called a few hours later to say they saw a cat that looked very much like her on the side of this busy street.  The city or some good soul must have picked up her body because she was not there when we went to look.
I'm not sure how long it will take me to get out of this funk. I can hardly go outside without looking for her or thinking she is going to run past me like white greased lightning like she used to do.
It's been unbelievably hard.
:(

Summer Paper Doll

Hi everyone! How's your summer going? I'v been super busy. I finished this painting a few weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to posting her. Luck has it that Inspiration Avenue's challenge this week is Sun Kissed. I thought my girl in retro swimsuit would be a good fit. Yes her outfit is supposed to be a forty's ish swimsuit. I tried a little different approach this time. Her face is very minimal. Drawn on scrapbook paper as is the rest of her body. So much fun....I'll have to do more.

Well got to go I'm having a garage sale tomorrow and have to make the signs, get change and finish pricing. 

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Sale at Charlottes Collection Etsy shop

Super Summer Sale 

at Charlottes Collection

25% Off

Everything!

http://www.charlottescollection.etsy.com/

Use coupon code Summer11