Exciting Propositions

I am discovering that the more upbeat and positive my attitude becomes the more opportunities, ideas and options are available to me. Last Friday I received a call from Dr. Richards of Impact Ministries with my first assignment of editing. I had heard from his office a few weeks ago asking if I would be interested in working again on transcribing/editing/ghostwriting his old sermon series to prepare them for eBooks. I had done work similarly (sans ghostwriting) about five years ago on a volunteer basis. I am going to be paid for it this time around, and the work is a bit more extensive and will be more challenging.

He gave me some wonderful compliments that really boosted my self-esteem.

Yesterday I sent off a number of card fronts for printing to see if I can sell them in my Etsy shop. I figure even if I don't sell them, it will be fun to give them as gifts and write pen-pal letters in them.  The cards I used to make all had purchased papers and embellishments on them, so I couldn't say fully they were MY art  work, but these are fresh from my colorful mind, and all my own creations. Here are a couple of photos of  designs...

Others are on my phone, so I don't have access right now to the photos, but they are certainly new and different from my old style of cutting up scrapbook paper and adding flowers and a strip of ribbon! :)

Since I haven't been blogging, most of my art is not here, but I do frequently post on Instagram, (link on sidebar) if you would like to take a peek.

In other news, our next door neighbors appear to have finally gotten rid of the barking dogs.  A couple of weeks ago there was much hammering and yelling, and the next thing we knew, there were lots of construction vehicles and people coming and going.  They ripped out every single bit of the overgrown, weedy landscaping in the front and back, and all the garbage they had in the back yard, then piled it all in a heap in the front yard. Nice.

They got a new roof and have spent the last two weeks working on finishing out the covered patio they had poured a few months ago. The patio fills up at least 1/2 of the back yard, and the area that is left is apparently going to be a water feature of some sort according to Ornery who peeked over the fence to see what all the hoopla was about. Since they are investing so much time, money and energy on upgrading the place I am going to assume the dogs being gone is a permanent thing. Thank you Lord!!

Yesterday when he was home from lunch, one of the workers chased Ornery down and asked for the name of the paint color on our house as they intend to paint the same color. Once that is done, I am ever so hopeful that they will put in some nice landscaping.  Since we have lived here it has been a trashy mess, so even just the removal of the old is somewhat of an improvement.

Meanwhile, since we were unaware that the dogs were going away, we ordered new thermal windows for the whole house.  They should be delivered and installed somewhere around the first of May.  In addition to making the place much quieter (the house on the other side still has two little full-time-yappers!) the windows should help with the climate inside, especially on mild days when I can open ALL the windows if I want.  Even the picture window on the front and our frosted bathroom window over the tub are being replaced with double hung windows with full screens to be able to create a nice cross draft. This was one feature I have really missed since moving into this house as our other house had those windows and they were so nice and easy to clean. Because I am such a window washer.... not. :-D

Oh, and my flower beds are blooming amazing!!! Wanna see?

This is just off the back patio.  There are forget-me-nots on the lawn side of the box, which migrated from the patio side where they came up last year, they are next to the Columbine-on-steriods--the biggest one I have ever seen--and the dianthus.  At the far end of the bed (out of the photo) is another columbine that has variegated leaves and it is just now blooming as well, but not like the big guy!

This is the south end of the front bed Ornery built a couple of summers ago. It has filled in so nicely! It's a little weedy in the photo, so ignore that, but these give you some ideas of how it looks.

This is the north end of  the bed. LOVE those creeping phlox!! There are two peonies coming up that you can't really see in the pictures, and the stick bushes are crape myrtles that bloom all summer. In fact, the bed is pretty colorful from the end of February through October or the first hard freeze. It has always been a dream of mine to have a bed like that, with those creepers coming over the wall to greet passersby.

Well, I think there are other things happening, but that's probably enough excitement for one post. Hey, look at that, two posts in a week! :)