Say hello to Bob Ross when you get to heaven

Monday begins a sad week for us that started over a year ago, but now it's real.  MiMi is sharing her last few days on earth with us now.  She hasn't eaten for 4 days, and drinks very little water.  Her brain forgot how to do everything. She sleeps now 22 hours a day, awake only here and there to smile a little and squeeze a hand.

(Mimi her daughters and ME)

I think she knows who we are, and where she is, and she is at peace.  I hope her body cooperates and lets her go in her sleep, or at least in a peaceful state.  Which she has been in for over a year since we brought her here to live with us.  What a year it's been too.

It was June of 2009 when Jim (hubby) scooped her up from the Assisted Living Facility (with no shoes on) and brought her home.

Mother's Day and Boys Birthdays

Touchdown CARDINALS !

Since then we have shared birthdays and holidays with lots of family around.   What could be a more fitting wish for a mother of 7, than to have her grown children get to know each other better during her months of life.

We've lived together through Football season, and the Olympics.

She and I watched a whole season of Rachel Ray and I became a better cook.  We discovered Bob Ross together when the television in the kitchen only got a few channels, we turned to PBS.  The rest of that story is HISTORY.

When her heart started to give out, we watched HOURS AND HOURS of Bob Ross on video in the hospital.

I don't know if she watched, but I DID.

 And now after 84+ years on this earth her days are short, and she goes to be with Dad (after 17 years of holding her own after he died) She is still a beautiful woman with a beautiful family, that I am thankful to have been a part of for over 26 years.  

Good Bye MiMi.  Tell Dad that we love him and miss him greatly.  And if you run into Bob Ross, tell him how many people still on this earth feel connected to him through his work.  Through our work.  And just like Bob, Mimi will never be forgotten.

All Creativity Counts

Famous words from my friend Karyl, who is a voracious quilter.  This woman turns out hundreds of quilts a year just to give them away. You should check her blog out at KarylsQuilts.blogspot.com

Here is my first pastel painting and I think it's done.  I put my initials on it (the first time I have EVER signed a painting) because I thought I loved it.  Now that I'm looking at it a week or so later, I'm not so sure.  But I'll share anyway, just so you all know that I am trying.

Reference Photo by Daniel Plumber -check him out

My initial sketch of the photo

The computer image was better to work from.

I might be "blending" too much ???

and YES MiMi looks on when she's awake.

Bob Ross said he was like a drug dealer

In today's episode of The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross (Saturday 7:30 am on KAET Chanel 8, in the PHX market) Bob proclaimed that they (his company?) were just like drug dealers.  They know that they get us hooked on painting, and then we will want more and more of it.


Well he couldn't have been more right.  It has been less than one year since I started painting with Bob Ross and The Joy of Painting series.  Really.  I didn't grow up with it, I discovered Bob in July 2009 when MiMi came to live with us and I looked for quiet, easy going television to entertain her.  After watching for a few months, I decided to purchase supplies and DVDs and give it a try.  That was in October of last year.


Since then I have gravitated in and out of oil, watercolor, acrylics, and now I a little hooked on pastel.  I have not been sitting idle all of these weeks, I've set up my studio(s) and pretend like I'm going to get something done. Every now and then I do, but when I sit at the computer I wonder who wants to hear about any of that.


However with the anniversary of my oil painting career coming up, I suppose I should try to GET BACK TO OIL PAINTING.  After Bob initially got me hooked,  I started out strong.  5 paintings in one week, then my first Bob Ross paint along, and then my blogging idea and here we are 5 paintings in to that project an I am getting bored with it.  I TOLD YOU this could happen.


In my defense, it is a little more than just painting.  It's video taping my painting and then editing it for YouTube and then writing about it . . and in case it wasn't exactly clear, I have a company to run, teenagers to raise, an 84yr old Mother In Law to care for, a beautiful grandson, and a couple of other blog projects in addition to this one (what was I thinking) so I could have guessed this wouldn't be easy.

Anyway, today's post is for a couple of reasons.  ONE: To invite anyone who would like to do an episode of Bob Ross' Joy of Painting (painting along) on video tape for me to highlight here, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.  I would send you a camera, I'd buy you one of those kits you see there (or send you some of my stuff) so you could give it a try.  I'll edit the video and post it (unless you are in to that sort of thing) and everything.


Number TWO reason for this post is to let people know about my other projects that you may have run in to on my YouTube channel.  A friend of mine wrote an iApp that is in the iTunes store.  In order to get people to download and use the App, we came up with a contest to give away an iPad and some other cool stuff.  It is working great.  Mostly because of my video on YouTube that I am promoting (ie: advertising) that tells about the giveaway.

A lot of folks have downloaded the App and we now have "stats" in the iTunes store that help us understand how the Apple Marketplace works . . because we have a much better App in the works that is a tie in to my charity Thank You Blue and its work with the 100 Club of Arizona.  So we need to know how iTunes store works.

In any case, I'd hate to give away an iPad without giving the followers of this blog an opportunity to get in on the giveaway.  So if you are interested visit TheTEXTupProject.com or watch this video and DON'T laugh at my voice.  It's weird, I know.