Sidetracked Artist

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. Melody Beattie Wishing everyone a blessed and joy filled Thanksgiving. Cindy

This video is amazing, and not just for the information being conveyed. I'm impressed with the way in which it was all put together.

It has been said that “time flies”, and that has certainly been the case for me this week. I usually begin each week with a list of what I hope to accomplish. This week’s list includes: knitting Christmas gifts, (Shhh...don't tell!) developing recipes for my other blog, grocery shopping for the week and for Thanksgiving dinner, photo source making a Kindle case to fill an Etsy order, stopping at the feed store for chicken feed, and making covers for the cushions on the hope chest in our living room, something like these. photo source photo source I’ve been tired this week, as usual, and everything has required that I push myself to keep going, to do just one more thing. The alternative would have been accomplishing nothing at all, and that just doesn’t work for me. I have to accomplish something, anything, even small things. I got the groceries with Laura’s help, I started the gift knitting and began the Kindle case. I worked on gluten free recipes, but n...

Do you use Pinterest ? When I first heard of Pinterest , my first thought was, “Now we all have another way to waste time on the internet”. After spending time there, I’ve found Pinterest to be beneficial. First, for those who aren’t familiar with Pinterest , it’s sort of a virtual pinboard. It’s a place to find inspiration and ideas. Pinterest is a virtual smorgasbord of visual appeal that includes home decor, fashion, art, food and more. Click here to see Pinterest’s explanation of what they are about. I like using Pinterest for saving and organizing things I see on the web so that I can easily find them later. I like seeing what other people are “pinning” onto their “pinboards”. I also enjoy taking a few minutes to relax and take in all the lovely images on Pinterest . It’s free to register and use Pinterest, but you need an invitation to get started. If anyone would like me to send them an invitation, please let me know. Cindy

Chickens need a little extra care to survive cold weather. Their coop needs to be waterproof but still provide some ventilation.  A heat lamp will help keep them warm, and can increase their egg production.  As always, they need good food and fresh water, and the water needs to be kept from freezing. We have a small chicken coop, about 4 feet by 4 feet by 4 feet tall. There’s a hole in the floor just big enough for a chicken to access the ramp that leads down into the enclosed area under the coop and the attached chicken run.  There is a wire covered vent near the roof on the side opposite the hole in the floor.  During the night, the hole is covered with a heavy piece of wood to keep out predators and also to help the hens stay warm.  Pine shavings cover the floor and line the nest (the plastic basket to the left of the door). During the colder months, we add a little warmth to the hen house with two heat lamps placed inside the coop just below the ...

I harvested the last of this year’s vegetables from the garden last weekend. This final harvest consisted of a couple of overgrown scallions and a patch of lettuce, all of which has been cleaned and stored in the refrigerator. The last of the tomatoes are ripening on the vines hanging in the garage . The previous summer’s vegetable garden was kind of pathetic. The area had been covered with grass when we bought the property in November 2009. It was spring before we were able to work in the yard and prepare a small garden plot by removing the sod and working a little compost into our poor quality soil. Ideally, raised beds filled with good garden soil would have been a better choice to produce a higher yield of vegetables, but I wasn’t willing to spend that much money. We had some nice spring salads, a few tomatoes, and a handful of zucchini. Since our chickens reside in a moveable coop, they were moved around the garden area all winter. We were also able to easily expand the...

Today is National Digital Scrapbook Day!  I've created this  Autumn Digital Scrapbooking Mini-Kit  of five 12x12 inch digital papers and sixteen digital elements using public domain images and some of my original images.  I had fun creating this Autumn digital scrapbooking mini-kit, and I hope you enjoy using it. Cindy Please visit this week's Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now for more fun ideas.

If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.                                               Rabindranath Tagore Yesterday was one of those days. You know, a day when things aren't going the way you think they should. Nothing really tragic or earth shattering was happening, and I recognized that fact, but little irritations were getting the best of me. To begin with, I wasn't feeling very well. I have this inner ear thing that sometimes causes dizziness when I move. There were things I wanted to do and places to go, so I did them anyway, weaving around and trying to keep my balance as I went. And there were little things that felt like they mattered more than they did. My attitude wasn't at it's best, ...