30 Day Notice and Disneyland

We gave our notice to the landlord today and we are so glad to be moving out. We've been here for seven years and it is definitely time for us to move on and start a new chapter in our lives. My Gorilla handed in the notice this morning and afterwards we walked to our local farmer's market. It was nice to see The Gorilla with a smile. He's usually so serious. 

Later in the day he took us to Disneyland to show us the beautiful light display on The Castle and It's a Small World. 

The photos below are my impressions of the carrousel and my Toot's point of view. 

She loved it!

We all loved it!

Thank you Daddy!

Brussel Sprouts for Thanksgiving

Isn't this a gorgeous head of brussel sprouts. This is one of the reasons I love shopping for produce at my local farmer's market. We've got a small refrigerator and I had to seriously make room for this lovely green vegetable. I was told that I could also use the leaves for a soup. I had no idea that brussel sprouts came like this. My local supermarket charges an outrageous amount for a third of these and not as fun to look at. 

I'm looking forward to making my brussel sprouts mixed with water chestnuts.

Pigeon Dude

More can be done, but I will stop here for now. It's taken me a long time to get to this point. I'll think about this one before I decide to do more. It's late and I'm going to bed.

Did it myself: Furniture Repair

I've been procrastinating to do this repair. I knew I could repair our chairs, but I kept telling myself I needed to buy a strap for holding the joints tight while the glue dried. So instead of forking out 15 dollars for a strap at Home Depot I decided to make a strap with two belts. Leather worked best. 

I could have gone and bought a better glue, but this Elmer's Wood Glue will work fine. Now we don't need to buy a new dinning room set of chairs. It felt great to make this repair and I didn't have to spend a cent. 

When we move to our new place I'm going to get out my tool box and do some more simple wood projects. I love the feeling of working with wood. Especially fixing something and saving it from the dumpster. These chairs are in perfect condition except for the glue on the joints wearing out. It's nice to know that I have this skill and can use it for everyday living. 

Electricity would be a nice thing to learn how to do. It would be great to learn how to repair electrical sockets and lamp fixtures. Solar! Green energy! The old nuts and bolts in this head are starting to move again. 

Pigeons Wait

While she sleeps I draw. This is only a start and I will continue tonight. The tapping of the keys is making her stir. My little monstrita. Whaaaaaaaa!

Joselito - Abuelita

I dedicate this video to Manglor and our Mom.

I'm a big crier when it comes to music that reminds me of my mother. This reminded me of the bond my mother and my nephew always had. He probably doesn't like hearing it, but he did have a striking resemblance to Joselito.

I've already had my good cry while I watched this video.


I get a little bluesy when the holidays come. My mother always got the whole family together for Thanksgiving and Christmas. She cooked and cooked for days because she loved cooking. She fed everyone and anyone who didn't have a place to go for the holidays. Every year I helped her with the cooking and cleaning of our home to welcome everyone. I didn't realize back then how much she was giving me. Today I can't seem to enjoy the holidays as much as I did when my mother was alive. I wish I had the room in our home to continue her gift for everyone. I have many good memories of her and I'll never forget what love is.

I love you Mom.

Finished - She's Serious

This portrait reminds me of a good friend I had when I went to art school. This is Holly. I think of her often and I hope she is well and happy. Holly is someone who left an impression in my life and I will always remember her fondly.

It's late and I must go to sleep. I had to finish this tonight and it's very late, but I am glad I've completed this portrait and now I can start something new. I'm on a roll and I'm loving it! I haven't been selling and I also haven't been promoting. I'm having so much fun painting and drawing with the little free time I have. I will think about promoting a little later. The main thing for me is to keep creating because it's what I need to do now. 

Steps 1 and 2 of " She's Serious"

She's not finished. I am working on her a little bit every day.

Since my painting table is temporarily the space for my altar, I have been painting on my computer with "Painter". This started out as a sketch and then an outline in my sketchbook. I then scanned the outline and now I'm coloring it in Painter. It's fun and since I've already done this process with two other pieces - it's getting easier to manage the different applications I need to use so I may post the process in steps. I am pleased with this one so far.

We did it!

Our 44th President, Barack Obama.

Amazing! 

I am so happy to see this day. 

The day is finally here!

Go out and VOTE!

Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama!

Update:

I have voted and I took my big sister to vote. No provisional ballots for us! We want our votes to count.

We had a little scene at my sisters polling place because they almost had her fill out a provisional ballot. She should have been directed to the next room for her voting place, but they took the easier (lazy) route by sending her to a table a few steps away to fill out a PB. On our own we found her polling place and she voted (this was in the same building). I couldn't leave until I said something to the people who told her she wasn't registered. It felt great to speak up. I usually don't like to make waves or have all eyes on me, but this time I had to say something. Especially when I saw how unprofessional and unhelpful they were to my sister. I knew there were going to be many more confused people coming in to vote and they don't deserve to be treated this way.

I'm done. I'm off my soapbox.

Dia de los Muertos

An altar for our family and friends who have left us. 

We miss you.

I made this to keep you in our memories.