Freezin my Brain on Memorial Day Weekend!

I hope you all had, or I guess I should say, are having, a great holiday weekend! I don't prefer all the holiday rush rush and crowds, so we did our camping trip during the week last week at Lathrop State Park here in southern Colorado. Above you can see one of our Spanish Peaks to the south...I am normally looking a the other side of them from the porch here at the house. It was a really fun trip~ the children are already out of school for the summer, and the weather was fairly warm, in the 80s I guess, but a bit windy

Josh and I walked the Hogaback trail several times, and each time we saw different things. I thought this tree particularly stately looking...like a picture postcard

Up at the top of the rock dike, they have done core samples on the cedars, and some are over 400 years old! Here is my Josh in front of one of them, all twisted and gnarly....fitting for being that old Id say. He is really loving his 'cut' Dad gave him.....before we left, they locked themselves in our bathroom, and WHAT a ruccus! I knew they were up to something with all the giggling....and out Josh popped with all his hair gone for the summer. He really likes not having to comb it :)

We saw some huge white pelicans, a couple of bunnies, 2 white tail deer does....a bull snake, lots of birds~ here are some of the new fuzzy little geese babies~ so much fun to watch. I took this picture on a walk with Pip to go to the Ranger station for an ice cream... which brings me to the whole 'Brain Freeze' comment before.............nope~ I didn't have any ice cream!

There is a wonderful yarn store in Walsenburg, on the way to the park, and my oldest crochets, so we stopped in and both decided we wanted to knit stockings.....(yes~ can you believe it Ma?) I have never E*V*E*R done a thing with yarn, and let me tell you, I would have to seriously second guess anyone who ever says knitting is 'ohhh so relaxing'!!!! This weekend I have taught myself to knit, and above is my very first ever knitting, and seriously people, I have to concentrate so hard it really makes my brain hurt! Heck I probably have my tongue out and everything~ purling is so difficult for me....but I am getting it. I bought two skeins of this fabulously soft striped wool~ I think I will try and make a dolly blanket out of this...no stockings yet!

Welcome Summer!

And the Winner of the little Marie Pincushion IS.............

dadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadada........(can you hear the drums?).............

Congratulations Janice! post me a comment with your mailing address, and Marie will be on her way! (Your comment will be emailed to me and I wont publish it online) T*H*A*N*K*Y*O*U* to all who commented and sent me emails to share your own stories~ we are all inspiration for each other! Many of you asked me how I lost my weight~ alot of WORK! That's how! Truthfully, YOU are the ONLY person who can motivate YOURSELF to loose weight. There is no trick. There is no pill that you can take and the next day you wake up fit and trim....that's all a bunch of malarkey~ POOEY! I have had two back surgeries, and have degenerative disk disease....and the blasted doctors would always say, YOU WOULD FEEL ALOT BETTER if you will loose weight......and I would always say, How exactly am I sposed to loose weight if I cant move to begin with? Well they never would answer me....and I found the answer for myself. """I"""" decided I was going to loose weight, and everyone knows there is only one way to loose weight naturally~ which is to burn more calories than we take in. So simply put, I got my big tuccas moving. very slow at first. We bought me a treadmill, and my goal at first was do walk a single lap (1/4 mile) a day. I was very slow, 1 mph I think...and you know, sometimes I couldn't even walk a single lap. But I kept at it, and did as much as my body would let me. As time went on, and I have got more fit, I am now walking my 2 miles a day, which is 8 laps on the treadmill...takes around 30 minutes, and I walk first thing in the morning~ and YES, I have sweat dripping off my nose by the time I get done, and am too winded to talk....but that lasts just a little, in a few minutes Ive caught my breath back, and guess what, I am energized and really feeling good the rest of the day! So my simple advise to anyone wanting to loose weight is this: GET MOVING!! Its O.k. to be a little selfish, and take 30 minutes for yourself each morning....and don't say you don't have time.........make it!

OMG OMG OMG !!! & A Give-away to Celebrate!

I am so absolutely thrilled, over something so silly, BUT.... its my silliness, and I am just exploding at the seams about it! Most of my readers know that last year was a turning point for me in my life.... I was told that I could have ovarian cancer, and that all needed to be removed el mui pronto.....I was on my way down to Houston to see my quilt at the big International Quilt Festival, so as soon as I got back, I had my surgery. I was in so much pain, I had really large 'cysts' that had been bothering me, and it wasn't until after the surgery that I learned that the largest, an actual tumor, had attached itself to my bowel and was blocking it (now you know Mom why I never wanted to eat on our trip!)...I was extremely worried, scared to my wits end actually, that I would go to sleep for the surgery and just never wake up. But as you can tell, I DID, and all is well. There have always been things in my life I have wanted to accomplish, and last year, I said pooey to waiting for them to just happen, and started working towards making them happen myself.....and one of the silliest I guess, is being able to do a pull up. I was in weights in high school, and could never ever do one, I couldn't even ever do the 'hang' that us girls were taxed with doing, instead of the actual pull ups the boys had to do....then I went into the Navy, was one of the first female aircrewman....was the fittest of my life, but nope, I still could never do a pull up. I told myself last Nov, that I WILL do one this year, and guess what???? Not only did I do one yesterday, or two...but HELLO! I DID THREE PULL-UPS at the gym! And if that wasn't sweet enough, while talking to my Mom on the tele this morning, I realized, that I have lost an even 60 pounds. WOO HOO! I am so happy I just cant even describe it, and so I'm giving away a little pincushion dollye to celebrate my Triumph! Just leave me a comment here this week, I will hold a drawing on the 17th and Mifs Marie could come to your house for a bit of good energy for YOU to fulfill one of your own goals this year :)

Museum 2011 Fundraiser & Drawing~

Not only is it that time of year, its past that time of year, I'm just slow at getting the new thermometer up! You will see it in the sidebar on the right, and has been tallied retro-actively. When we reach the top, I will hold the drawing, and this year, the premium will be a 12" Queen Anne type dollye of the winners choice~ as in, YES, a custom sculpted dollye just for them :)

Keeping my things here in tip top shape and stored properly is a difficult, and expensive task. Proper storage is just as important, if not more so, than display, in order to keep our precious bits of history around for future generations to study and learn from. Isn't the photo above captivating? This is the eye of one of my most coveted early wooden dolls here at the Museum~ she is a very early 18th century, possibly late 17th century, wooden fashion mannequin, sometimes referred to as the all elusive "Pandora Doll". Wooden dolls are extremely environmentally sensitive, as the wood, tho very old, still will expand and contract with changes in temperature & humidity. This year I am aiming high for a new climate control unit from Micro Climate Technologies in Toronto, the MCG4. I will be able to install this unit in my large glass display case, which will be the new permanent home for the early wooden above, as well as several others.

You can help bring a new MCG4 unit to the gallery by making any Diamond K Folk Art purchase, or by clicking the donate button in the sidebar~ please, please, do consider it. Every 25.00 in donation or purchase will earn one entry into the giveaway drawing. Words cannot express my gratitude to my readers, patrons and visitors. I am blessed, humbled and honored to care and share whatever I can, of our heritage with anyone who wishes to learn & be inspired.

5 New Dollies Tonight on the TDIPT Mercantile

If you have a moment, I hope you will stop by and say hello, 7 pm CST :)

And then there were.....SEVEN! Spring is here, officially at our little farm. Mamma Meisie popped out twins last evening at 7.30...I had been out sitting with the girls alot yesterday, and we talked about this.....and of coarse, the second I come in to get supper on, a neighbor driving up the canyon stops to say "uh.....do you know you have twins?". typical. They are big and healthy

2 boys. hopping and jumping around like popcorn this morning.

Mamma Kate, my sweetie, has been so uncomfortable as of late, could hardly get up or down, stumping around so stiff....reminded me of right before I had Pip...she started at 10pm, and around 1am we had triplets. Of coarse, this time, things didn't go so smooth, and I had to help, but the end result was all for good~ and Tressa was so excited

First we had just a hoof, just one, not two, and as much as I could feel, I felt no head, no other leg...just SO much parts and pieces all in there tied in a big knot. We had one hoof for just about 2 hours, when Kate was in much distress, as was I, I felt the baby had to have been dead, and so out she pushed & I pulled, SIDEWAYS, bent in a U...and that little bugger got straight up and is just as healthy as her brother & sister~ GOD BLESS!

Directly after, out came 2 hoofs and a head, except when it too became stuck and wouldn't budge, I realized that it was a front leg, and a back leg, so back in they went, and as soon as I straightened them out, out they came, well...not exactly as quick as a rocket, but pretty close. And in just a few minutes, we had 3 screaming little kids, small, but all happy and really mobile... they were up and about alot quicker than Meisie's were.

Here she is, the 'Sidewinder' I have named her....as all of Kate's family are named after movie stars, and all that kept coming to mind was Gene Wilder in the Frisco Kid, with his 'Sidewinder'.....

And here are our anxious onlookers~ been sitting here plastered to the fence all night, wanting to know whats going on! Lumpy, little Dixie, Yetti and his boy 'Jack'....who is almost as big as his Mamma Blanket who is out of the picture.

~ ~Welcome Welcome little Strangers~

La Petit Courier Des Dames, 1 April, 1836~

"There is, perhaps, nothing more difficult of attainment than the art of dressing well. The graceful adjustment of drapery, the perfect harmony of colors, the correct adaptation of the coiffure to the countenance; even the choice of the slipper and neatly-fitting glove, require a degree of taste and judgement that would surprise the un-initiated......

An eye as accurate as that which guides the painter in his task, a fancy as brilliant as that which inspires the delicate visions of the poet, are required to perfect that most fascinating of all earthly objects-- an elegant and well dressed woman. "

*Little Merrit Alsop would be pleased to meet your acquaintance at the TDIPT Mercantile, along with Mirwana, Bagg, Livy & Holley, at 7pm CST , April 14, 2011.