Little Victories. . .

 This Trout will be my next project, along with at least two other small projects.  My student should be coming by tomorrow so that will be great.  

I've been feeling the blah's lately and not getting enough done even tho the sun has come out and the temperature rose to the 60's for a few days!  I just couldn't shake my dulldrums.  Slowly I made some progress, and I have to say that when you tackle things that are frustrating, when you complete difficult tasks (even if they  are only difficult to YOU). . .when you get them done or even just started - wow, what a great feeling.  Each little battle is a major victory to your progress down the road to success.  In fact THAT is what success IS.  Just making progress from where you are.

Steady as she goes. . .

Now here's an interesting sight, one not to be expected for several months yet. And no this is NOT daffodills from this year (2009 - for it has not warmed up quite this much yet!)  I just thought I'd post this photo I took awhile back to start getting us looking forward again. Daffodills for Spring, and a freshly grass cut yard! I need to make some money so that this coming year, I can buy a riding lawnmower! 

I want to touch on the subject of renewal today. I am starting to feel better about life in general, because of steps that I've been taking and because of some response that I've had from other people lately. Last year was all about clearing away debts and overwhelming obligations. What I thought would take several months - turned into a drama that lasted all year and is still ongoing. I played the "game" and tried for the big brass ring - I tried to do what others expected of me in order to "succeed" in life - I thought I was doing what I WANTED TO DO, but in reality, what I did was just fall into place behind a lot of other's expectations. Suffice it to say, it didn't work out and a lot of people got hurt. I also met and helped a lot of other people. I tried for 4 years to open and run a retail store for stained glass and just became overwhelmed with the response but did not have the money to operate properly. It all came crashing down and I had to escape. So here I am, in a place that I've always wanted to be - and it happened by chance and through other people lending me a hand. I have been up at my "cave" licking my wounds and sticking my head out of the cave every so often to see what is going on but pretty much just holing up. Putting one foot in front of the other - steady as she goes is the motto.

Now I am looking for a new beginning.  I know what to do, now I just have to start DOING IT. So time to sign off here and get to it. . .

My student and I chose the window in the first picture as inspiration for his first "big" lead window project. The second picture is of my drawing for said window. Third shot is a detail of the centerpiece of the window, some colored beveled hummingbirds and of course - my young cat Jack decided to make his own introduction to the blog by stepping in to say hello!  The hummingbirds are actually drawn in a circle, but the pencil line on the (2nd) illustration doesn't show up in the pic. My student and I have been having fun working during these cold and sometimes sunless dreary days - while I, at least, am holding my breath for the inauguration of President Obama!!!!!!! I just can NOT wait to get rid of the last 8 year take over of America. Talk about regime change!!!!!

With the teaching of class, the sun coming out, and my significant beginning to start reducing clutter, by tackling the kitchen first. . .my class fees are helping me to start knocking down some bills and I feel like I am making some forward progress. . .it feels like I am getting some of my power back. Humility always needs to balance out arrogance. Somewhere inbetween those two ideas - lies CONFIDENCE. 

Keep following the blog and you will see progress on this, and other projects.  Love to hear your comments.

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"Wine-ing" is okay for this. . .

Here are two ideas for stained glass jobs that are pending. When I do a job, when I can, I give the client choices. The first idea I had is a more traditional idea for use in a demonstration wine room.  The second design (the one with a the photo of the grapes) is customizing the idea using the name of his company as if it were the label on the bottle of wine itself, plus make it into a fruity, colorful "robust" stained glass window.

How are ya'll doing out there?  Still recovering here. From what exactly I'm not sure, just hanging in there for now, cleaning the house - getting rid of unnecessary clutter still.

It is still December and today - all day - the wind has been really tearing through the landscape.  I have a shop outside under a roof, but still on a porch outside that I have "wrapped" in a tarp.  That tarp has been being buffeted about today like a ragdoll.  And making a LOT of noise doing so.  I'm glad I'm not living in a teepee today, or trying to be in the woods and light a fire with sticks in this wind.  The temperature is not too bad but the wind just cuts the warmth way down, plus there has been virtually NO sun today.

Leo the lazy. . .

This is my cat Leonardo.  I like to think of our "relationship" as friends living together, not that I OWN a cat. You never OWN a cat. They LET YOU live with THEM, ha ha ha.  Anyone who has cats in their lives will understand that. 

How are the rest of you out there with the after Christmas days?  I am just so glad it is over once again, and the world is just started to "breathe" again while feeling the relief of the afterevent. Before Christmas it always feels to me like the world is way too tense about nothing. People rushing around freaking out to meet a deadline that is unnecessary.  Anyway - I'm glad it's over, the world seems calmer now, another year has passed and now we go through a week of adjustment getting ready for 2009.  Good for us. 2009 can't get here fast enough for me. We can't inaugurate our next president fast enough, and I truly hope that the last batch get brought up on war crime charges instead of getting off with pardons. We need to get our country back and roll up our sleeves and get back to real work, get back our national pride, and reestablish ourselves - as the majority of Americans feel and act - to the world as peaceloving and decent people willing to help others.   I am glad it is over one more year, and starting in 2009 I am planning on beginning my life over again and working to being more of a success by pulling back on expenses, eliminating clutter of many kinds, establishing a better and better daily routine, and hopefully starting to make a better financial living so that I too can be a more giving and loving person.  The past 4 years trying to run a retail store was just too much pressure, even tho I did meet a lot of very nice people.  I want to slow down the hectic-ness and make some beautiful art.  Beauty being the signature of LOVE.

The Road back to the Way of the Craftsman. . .

Weird angle but still a shot of one of my recent windows done for some incredibly nice folks who built their dream home on TableRock Lake near Blue Eye.

As we get closer to 2009 I am thinking more and more about how when I think about things and how I talk about things. . .that I tell a better story.  I had a hard day today concerning money, but that is not a good story.  I learned from the proceedings of the day so it wasn't a total loss.  It was reaffirmed to me today, that I don't "fit" coming in through the front door.  I'm not saying that I'm not worthy of the front door, it's just that when I use it, it doesn't work for me.  I'm better served, I AM BETTER SERVED, observing people, not signing up for "good deals," and just slipping into the party, in the back or kitchen door.  When it comes to rules and regulations - just doesn't work for me, never really has.  

When people tell you that you NEED this or you NEED that. . .really think about what it is that you really need.  There are salesmen everywhere.  There is a place for salesmen - they keep commerce going.  But salesmen, salespeople don't make things.  They sell things.  I make things.  Quark from Deep Space Nine was a salesman and he lived for the thrill of the sales "game" and to see how much he could "get over" on people.  So QUALITY didn't enter into the equation. 

The next time I hear my brain telling me that I NEED something - think it through about what you really NEED and whether or not it is just something that you WANT, or more importantly - is it important because of the salesman who is convincing you that you NEED it?  I am so done with the rules that other people set up for YOU to jump through their hoops for. From banks to cell phone "deals" to signing your life away to someone else's idea of how to keep hours.

What I need to focus on is the Road back to the way of the Craftsman.  In the Ozarks it is important to keep your overhead down.  Get by on as little as you can, while you build up your inventory, advertise your services to other people, and build up your own reputation.  I'm looking forward to having less obligations per month, to clear out more and more clutter of objects that I truly don't NEED, and to begin 2009 to be a year when I create some wonderful new things.  I'm too good to NOT keep creating new things.  I'm a great teacher too and I do love showing adults how to become skilled enough to start creating their own masterpieces - as easily as they can.  I have been able to teach people how to cut glass and to assemble windows in such a way - that they really thank me afterwards, and during the process they have a LOT of FUN and are amazed that they can actually DO the things that I show them how to do.  THIS is a much more fun story to tell, to focus on for 2009.  

I need to paint a sign and put it in the yard, to let people know that they can call to sign up for classes. . .now THAT IS SOMETHING THAT I "NEED" TO DO, ha ha ha ha!

Later that same day. . .

. . .here is a shot of one of my windows done last year.  The client built a house that in the back yard had a cedar tree growing out of the middle of a rock cliff!  So he wanted that incorporated into his stained glass window to go into the bathroom.  I just didn't really know how to approach a cedar tree in glass, and I had several other ideas that were all a lot more complex than this idea, but once this was decided upon - "it grew on me" and now I like it a whole lot.  I'll keep searching for more shots. . .this window would look GREAT in a big log cabin house in Colorado or Montana, don't you think?

Another FROSTY DAY!

                       So out of a dead sleep this morning I woke up suddenly at - you guessed it - 10:10.  Seemed auspicious to me, altho except for being somewhat cool, I don't really have any explaination for it.  Except it did make me want to stay UP!

It is still very cold in Missouri, we are all holding our breath for Spring AND for Jan 20th!!!!! 

Last night on Coast to Coast radio show, (coasttocoastam.com) there was an interview with a guy Stephan A. Schwartz, and the very last statement of the interview I thought would be good to repeat here in my "blog" . . . he said "We are more than we think we are, we are more than animated meat, we are all interlinked, we are all in this together.  Love is the key.  Holding a compassionate life affirming attitude is the single most important thing you can do to change your life."  

As a friend of mine mentioned to me this morning. . .there are very likely souls WAITING to come into our dimension or into our reality, excited to experience life as we know it.  Who are WE, who have already achieved THAT goal - I mean - WE ARE HERE, in this time, in this moment. . .we had damn better be enjoying the experience and making the best lives and having the best experiences that we can have!  eh? 

This blogspot is becoming very fun, and it's like my old radio show in St. Louis. . .not a place to "whine" but a place for positive input.  I particularly like the visual aspect of it - and yes, soon, I need to start uploading my own images.

It's cold, so it's time to bundle up and go to the store and come home and see what I can get done today!  Another day in the Ozarks!  Enjoy! 

Organized and Lookin' Good. . .

I wanted to say that I have been using photos that I've been finding - as interesting and just incredible - on the web, on flicker photostreams.I am meaning no disrespect for the photographers, as I didn't copy their names to put them as the shooters of the pics. . .as soon as I can start to figure out how to upload my own pics of more local flaura and fauna - I will start posting my own.  I just appreciate beauty, and the photos that I've found to me are not only beautiful, but they are inspirational.  I mean look at this shot!!!!

The sun actually showed it's face today.  I'm actually getting some things accomplished today. . . .and it is time to start improving my environment WHILE I also continue to work on my jobs.  I have several items that I want to get ready to be sandblasted.  I'll be looking for a day where the outside temp is above 35 degrees!!!!  When it is sooooo very cold, it makes glass too brittle to be outside trying to sandblast it, besides the fact that that makes it too cold for flesh and bone to be trying to mess with the sandblasting equipment!  BRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This is PRECISELY why I am working toward getting a proper workshop to be able to offset the problems that Mother Nature provides.  I am sandblasting under a tarp environment, instead of walls with insolation and a gorgeous hardwood licking flamed fire - crackling in a glass front paneled wood stove!

I've been working with a list of things to do, knocking things down on the list, and starting to feel good about the future again.  This "blog" may be a good way for me to help keep my sanity by typing on it every so often.  Somehow typing helps me think.  Using the black background for the blog is keeping things simple, and also shows off the photos in such a dramatic way, it is showing me ONE ROOM or ONE AREA that is looking cool and like I would like it to look.  When you start cleaning a house, or cleaning up your life - sometimes I forget how important your environment is.  If you can create a space free of clutter, a place that is pleasant to your own senses, you have won half the battle.  Getting organized is good, but being organized and LOOKIN' GOOD is better!  

So here's to knocking down a few more items on my list, and working on that environment!

"Wouldn't it be cool if. . ."

rather than "what will make money?"  Last night I was listening to a radio interview talking about how to proceed into the future and which attitude to take.

"Wouldn't it be cool if. . ."  something to put into any conscious methodology of mental process while trying to move forward in creativity.  I.E. - if YOU like it, are passionate about it - then so will others be.

Renaissance!

Okay back to blogging.  I figured out why and how to continue to add images to the site.  duh.  Today - as to getting back to "words" and the whole "blog" thing. . .today is cold.  Winter is grey.  I need more coffee. . .be right back. . .HOT coffee in hand, I'm back.  It is indeed cold, my feet are cold, because the floor is cold because of the high wind today.  I'm watching a special on PBS about winter in Yellowstone, watching all of the beauty and the struggles that the wildlife goes through each winter season.  All of a sudden I don't feel so bad about my "cold" situation.  I don't have it that bad!  Winter gives us such an opportunity for introspection.  Still I come back to beauty.  Environment.  When my environment is organized and beautiful - I operate very well.  So as I look around my place, I realize that that department need a LOT of work!!!!!!  And it is something that I truly like to do.  Even in the cold snow, animals play!  I so much love the mountains and the beauty of the wildness of places like Colorado, Yellowstone, Montana.  I hope I get to travel there more.  THAT all depends on a more steady stream of income.  So beautification along with improved income streams - and let us add to these thoughts - more communications with people. I LOVE teaching adults how to do glass.  It is such a joy to me to see them light up and be proud of themselves when they accomplish successful glass manipulation from cutting glass to the assembly with soldering and cementing.  Adults don't often "get to do something fun, something creative" it is so much "reserved" for helping children become creative.  Adults have children and then end up their full jobs becoming "taking care of children" and all of a sudden one day they wake up and find that their own desires of creativity have died on the vines of survival needs for the kids.  I totally see the need to teach children, don't get me wrong, and there are a LOT of people focused on THAT aspect, but what about the "forgotten adults?" who are still "kids at heart?"  That is where I come in.

I have had a very rough past 4 years of getting away from focusing on the needs that I have for myself.  I have helped a LOT of people, and I am glad to have done that for each and everyone, but now it is time to get back to my own desires.  My old "story" is about trying to make "go" a retail storefront that was underfunded, and this past year to make it into the past 5-year-plan of recovery from the 4 years of attempting to succeed in retail.  The recovery year has been slow slow progress, but I believe that I am about to reach the end of that tunnel.  

I am wanting to face the future with a word.  That word is Renaissance ! If you are reading this blog, I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts about a future of renaissance for all of us.  We need - in America - to have a revival of being proud of what we create, make, invent. . .to create new things of quality.  To adopt a work phrase philosophy of "steady as she goes" and "Quality doesn't cost more, it costs less!"  (because of a lack of returning to repair the rushed first attempt).  Instead of shipping our labor needs out to foreign countries like China, India, Mexico. . .get back to the inventing and building that is part of our nature as proud Americans.  Homes full of home-made, handmade items from bread to quilts to stained glass windows, to alcohol generated power, sunlight helping to grow groceries, a place where animals AND humans thrive and embelish eachothers lives, from plants to animals including humans - all respecting eachother. . .including the Earth itself. . .that is where we need to return home TO.  Please leave any comments - someday I hope that my blog will create some iteresting discussions and exchanges of ideas for us to all ponder and expand upon. 

Exploring... is fun, is also frustrating because you don't know how to use the tools available!  I'm learning about blogging and have PLENTY to say but I want to "explore" my media first. I want to add more images, but the tool on the text bar is not allowing me to do that at this time.  drat.  This is the frustrating part.  

AHHhhhhhhh where to begin?  It's a COLD day in December. . .I've added a few images to my blog to add some beauty to the page.  I think that beauty has to be a driving force in my life.  I'm new at this blogging thing and have not quite figured out how to use it just yet, but bear with me and things will soon improve!  These pics are from "inspiration" to ideas drawn for my stained glass jobs, to completed glass projects for clients.  I'm excited to see how this will appear on my page so here goes!