my first free clinic visit and some bit and pieces of neato art

so i have been m.i.a. since wednesday. 

wowzer what a day that was.  since the hubby is still 'officially' unemployed, he is working with a temp agency, and we are without insurance i had what i hope to be a first and last experience with a local free clinic.   i needed a refill on a medicine that keeps my heart rate and rhythm in check.

first of all let me just say God bless those people.  they are volunteering their time. 

second of all...i will be applying to our local large well known hospital for future care.

this free clinic is located in the basement of the salvation army....behind the soup kitchen....and it looked just like it was out of a t.v. show, and worse than what you are imagining!

all of the nurses and doctors are, and i kid you not, 70+ years old.   the doctor i saw said he was a youngin' and he was in his 70's.   he was a big wig at our local large well known hospital until heart surgery forced him to cut back on office hours.  he was the kindest man, but forgetful as could be.  he said my heart sounded great.....and that always makes me feel relieved...i just hope  he remembered what a great sounding heart sounds like.

one female doctor had to use a cane, it took her about 15 minutes to make it to the bathroom, which was about 25 feet from her office.  one of the nurses had to ask her if she needed help.  as she approached i notice the white-see-through-sweater-wearing-cane-toting-woman-doctor  did not have a bra on.  it was a bit chilly in the room.  and oh-my-lawd  i could see her....areolas.  uh...according to google plural would be areolae.   i suddenly turned in to a teen-age boy and had to hold back a bout of hysterical, i can not believe i am seeing this, giggles.   i then asked God to forgive me, as i am doing now, and then prayed that she would not be my doctor. 



there were no computers, calculators.....the nurses station i was at had one of those clip on auto lamps....my nurse was so sweet and was just as deaf as i am!  *snort*  thank God my daughter was there to translate for the both of us!   it did not help that my tinnitus was roaring so loud i could not hear, and to top it off my hearing aid battery died and i was out of new ones. 

the free clinic had just the group of people you would expect...your average person who you can tell works for a living but does not have insurance, and then couple on meth....or some form of drug, the gansta, a poor woman who had a stroke in january...she broke my heart.  it was her first visit there as well.

the doctor wanted blood work done to check on my anemia, which was life threatening a few years ago.  he took me to this room with a woman that i swear was about 90 and there was a place to rest your arm....an old wooden t.v. tray.  i have had my blood drawn so many times over the years that i have track marks and look like a druggie so it does not bother me.....but,  oh holy crap there was no way this woman was going at me with a needle while my arm was on a germy tv tray.....but thank God this was the medicine room.  she could arrange for financial aid on presciptions if we could not afford them.   thankfully my meds are only 12 bucks.

ok....so now on to happy schtuff......

ohhhh.....forgot to upload photos....hold on......

oh, as a treat for being a good girl at the doctor my daughter took me for some froyo at my new favorite place.  orange leaf. 

coffee, chocolate, and cheese cake frozen yogurt topped with mini chocolate chips, mini caramel turtles and reeses pieces.....i just know this is what heaven tastes like!

this one was steph's

so on the way home from our treat we were stuck in after school and construction traffic.  i was thinking to my self how sad i was that i had not seen a sysco truck.  the hubby and kids see them all the time, and since it is a rare treat lately for me to get out of the house i was sure hoping to see one.  my dad was working for sysco when he passed away almost 8 years ago.  it has always been taken as a hello from my dad since then.   right as i began to then tell my daughter that i was sad i just happened to look up and see a tree in the shape of a heart.  i reached for my camera, but was too late to snap a photo as traffic began to move.  

my daughter and i caught the attention of several young hunky construction dudes....they waved as we drove by.   that makes a girl feel good!

we decided to pull back around and sit in traffic again so that i could take a photo to add to my collection of hearts from heaven....and great,  now the construction dudes are going to think we are out to pick them up....*snort*

on the way back we noticed the tree did not look at all like a heart from the back.  as we approached the tree from the other direction it was not looking hearty in the very least and if my daughter had not also witnessed this i would have thought i was losing my mind.  now i was really sad that i missed the photo op for this.  then traffic began to move again and there must have been the slightest breeze and it looked like a heart again!  i was able to snap a blurry photo of it.  not quite as hearty as the first time we saw it, but hearty it was.

this project originally started as a necklace.  wellllll....i decided mid construction to turn it in to a bracelet. 

the top reliquary has a bird skull i sculpted out of polymer.  the bottom and smaller reliquary has a coyote toe bone.  (i bought the bones from a fellow etsy seller who promised the coyote was road kill and not just killed for the bones, just in case you wondered about such things)

when i first told my daughter she said 'you know that is huge mom' and i told her not much huge-er than some of the chunky bracelets girls were wearing lately. 

ok...i am just way out of the box.....like i can not even see the box i am so out of it!    i spent way to many years stuffed and crammed in the box.....i am now allergic to boxes. 

so here we have the bracelet put together....but if you notice the end pieces....i had to remove the jump rings and re-solder them on a bit different to get the 'clasp' i chose to work.

this is a tim holtz doo-hicky.  i believe it is a pocket watch fob. 

and here are the jump ring do overs

and all patina-ed and the clasp attached.

and pics of the bracelet on in the studio and kitchen....

today was a wee bit of a nutty day.  oh....but last night this night owl fell asleep at just a bit after 11 pm the night before and woke up without the aid of an alarm at 9ish!  ....come to think of it, maybe that is why it was wonky?! 

i have been looking on the internet for a tute on how to texturize solder.  at least 2 years ago, maybe a wee bit longer,  i have had a few bird nest reliquaries ready to solder, but i wanted the solder to look like tree bark.  

today i found several photos of what i wanted but not a tute to be found for free that is....then it hit me.  i know this look...i did it to my bathroom a few years ago.  our bathroom paint kept chipping and for some reasone i got this idea to schmere the walls with joint compound and then give them texture with a wadded up plastic bag.  the paint no longer chips!

well, i could not use a wadded up plastic bag on hot smoldering liquidy solder, so i used a paper towel...that was not quite it...then i added water to the paper towel and wah-freaking-lah!  squeeeeee!

there was still condensation on the inside....the ants in my pants could not wait for the photo op.

now i liked this....but not quite what i wanted....

a few hours later i realized that i wanted the high spots to look more shiny, as though time had rubbed off the patina.

i wanted to use steele wool, but we had not a bit of it and the budget did not allow for a run to the hardware store....thankfully i had some bazillion grit wet/dry sand paper used in auto detailing that i used for the time being.

now this is just how i pictured it looking!  like a dork i keep looking at it with the biggest grin on my face that i figured out how to do this technique, and for free even!

today, the 22nd, i get to share my birthday with earth day.   according to the calendar i am 47.  my mind begs to differ.  it feels more like 20something.  

i received this in the mail from someone i feared i might never get to talk to or see again and that made me happy beyond words, and that is a pretty difficult thing to cause when it comes to me....to be beyond words. 

i have also received some of the sweetest and kindest and most unexpected birthday wishes.  i believe this arty girl's smiley face might just get stuck this way....just like my mom always told me! 

much love to you all.   big sloppy smooches and squishy hugs.

a box of curiosity and a pinterest diy win

i am so happy that this weekend has ended better than it started, and for that i am so grateful.

at the end of my last post i predicted the pms would most likely leaving me sobbing in a corner for no real reason, saturday i was a doing just that, but mostly because the beast (meniere's) was really, really being naughty in a bad way.  just an hour in to my day i was not able to walk by myself, it messed with my ability to swallow and read and hold things, reading a book or text on the computer was not happening. 

most days we joke and make fun of the beast and how sometimes, when i get spinny i can look like a bobble head, according to my youngest.  when i lose my balance i tend to throw my arms in some goofy direction trying to catch myself and who ever might be in the room does it too.  we are a bunch of goof balls....probably funnier to be here.  

the only days the beast can bully me to tears is on days like saturday...and that was not even what one of my more challenging days can be like....without my guest, pms, i can usually shut the bathroom door so no one has to see my give in and cry....but the pms enhanced the boo-hoo process and i fell apart in the kitchen in front of everyone.....i hate that. 

today started off better.  i am not back to my normal less spinny self, but i am better and was bound and determined to make art....the soldering bug has bit me something awful this past week and that is what i did.

it has been a couple of years since i have done a reliquary and i started playing around with ideas last week using a match box, some very old watch maker vials, vintage beads, fish bone, coyote toe bones, and peridot chips....oh and vintage german book text in the background. 


i used double sided tape to secure the vintage book text down, but later you will will not enough. 

you can also see  that i have a wire running through the box....i have wanted to do this for a long time.....and

it was a good excuse to play with this....squeeeeeeeee!

at first i was going for the abacus look with some vintage trade beads....nah.....not how i pictured it.

like a dork i double stick taped the vials to the inside of the box....the beast causes me a little air headed at times, not like i don't already have that problem anyway!  i had to yank the bottles out and that caused the paper to be ripped to shreds so i had to cut a new lining out.

now that is more like it.

uh boy.  i got this all taped up and if you look at the left hand corner....part of the vintage book text is haning down.  i did not tape it corner to corner, just a bit in the middle and somewhere in the process of putting the foil/tape down for soldering i jarred the corner loose. 

so, i can just leave it...who will notice...does not matter.  i will know. 

i took just the top bit off and adjusted the paper the best i could with an exacto knife and sealed it back up. 

it was a pain in the butt, but worth it.

i use a bone folder to make sure the edges are smooth and all sealed up.

wah-laa.  ready to solder.  here is where i realize i did not plug in the soldering iron and decide to take a potty break upstairs and check in on all the peeps to kill time to let it heat up.

notice the vial on the left of the screen, the little one.  see how the cork is in nice and tight....just wait.

here it is all soldered up. 

i have mentioned in previous posts that i have decided i might just not be one of those pretty, super smooth solderererers....that i have decided to call this my 'style'

this evening i decided why not give it a bit more of that ancient dig site, or antique look and make it look as though it has been sealed or nailed or screwed shut.

it took a good hour experimenting, and inhaling lots of steamy stinky flux, not sure if that is a good thing, and found that if you make a dot and really really really quickly move the soldering iron and shove a bamboo skewer in the center and push down you get that sealed, nailed, screwed shut look! 

did i mention the beast was still being naughty....and that my sense of aim was a bit off?!?!  so this was pretty darn good.  not that i got it 'right' on the first try for each one, but i did it!

i am so happy!  squeeeeeee!

here is the back.  i experimented with another process for large areas like this and i almost have it figured out and when i do i will play show and tell.

when i told my hubby that i made this from a match box he was blown away.  he thought i used one of my vintage metal boxes.  he is my biggest supporter and without him i would have never gone as far or done as much as i have.   i am a lucky girl.  he thinks i am a genius....

remember a bit earlier i said to look at the bottle on the left of the screen....see what happened to the cork....it is no longer snug as a bug on the tiny vial.  during the soldering process condensation built up on the inside and it must have loosened it.   note to self:  secure the corks in the next on i do.

i was hoping that once it dried out a bit the cork would stay stuck, but no such luck.  thankfully the bar of beads are keeping the cork from coming all the way out and the contents of the tiny vial from spilling all over. 


on a different note....PINTEREST....my addiction.  there are so many neat ideas, arty, household, cleaning, holiday....the list goes on and on and on and i have become, like so many others a pin hoarder.  i decided i was going to try some of the diy/tutorials i was pinning.  i have tried a ton of them and figured i would share my personal experiences on posts here and there.

the first one i will share with you, but not the first i have done, is the milk jug watering can.


i have several vintage ones that i don't use, and i also always seem to have at least one empty milk jug a day.  

on the pin it showed the watering can with holes in the LID.   when i first saw this i thought what total genius, and then realized at some point you would need to turn the jug almost completely upside down to get the water out.  so......................

i pokes them here, and it works great.  now i just need some plants that need to be gently watered. 

it is only midnight and i am a bit pooped, thanks to the beast, so i am going to say nighty-night for now and see if i can settle down. 

hope you had a beautiful weekend.  smooches to you.