Candice Windham Design Studio

..and I can't sleep. Those moments of creativity that hit me in the middle of the night are becoming more frequent. I've been dreaming of making art, taking photos, writing instructions...and when I don't go to bed before 1 a.m. and then wake up, wide-eyed, at 5, that's not good. I laid there until almost 6, gave up on more rest and got up to make coffee. I'm still wrestling with my post-CHA mess in my studio, so I decided that was the best place to start. When I opened the door, yesterday's 45° high hit me in the face. My studio is an enclosed patio room we added to the house. It's air-conditioned, but we just leave the door open for heat, since we don't have harsh winters here, only steaming hot summers. Someone shut the door last night and this morning, you could hang meat in there. Since there are only two people who live here, and I know it wasn't me, I can only assume that Larry did it or one of the dogs used the thumbs he only grows when need...

Forgot to post our photo. This is Roxi, Ronnie and me at Disneyland. Our knees were jammed so tight in the center! You'd think we would have gotten a bigger teacup!

...it wouldn't have made any difference. My Tigers lost anyway, but they're still #1 in my heart. I am skipping church this morning in the interest of public health. I surely do not want to share this crud with my church family. It's been 10 days and shows no signs of subsiding. Every time I think I'm better, I get a coughing attack that leaves me breathless. Enough of this Oh-Me-Poor-Me mentality. More CHA info... I purchased a new Pazzles Inspiration at the CHA convention and am so excited. This thing cuts all types of materials including paper, fabric, cling vinyl, rubber stamp material and a host of other items. It also embosses, distresses, engraves and hasa pen tool that will hold any regular sized pen or marker. It's no bigger than an all-in-one printer. It cuts paper up to 12" wide, and I think the paper length is unlimited, but not sure and too lazy this morning to get up and hunt through my bag o'crappage from the convention to find the brochure...

I am so glad to be home. We drove more than 4,000 miles and saw a lot of wide open spaces. Lots and lots of wide open spaces. Trust me. Southern Texas is not pretty in February. Now, I don't want all you Texans to get upset. I lived in San Antonio, one of the prettiest cities on earth, when I was a teen. It was one of the highlights of our trip this time, but that stretch from just west of San Antonio to El Paso is downright dull. Just sand and cactus, as far as the eye can see. I'm sure that when the light hits it just right, it's really pretty, but in the words of Dudley Moore from Arthur, "You can't always depend on that light." And the wind! We were hauling an rv and when we stopped Saturday night in El Paso, the wind got so bad that we were afraid to open the door of the camper, for fear it would be ripped off the hinges and a wind gust would come through and overturn the whole rig. We're very thankful God got us through that one safely! We went to Di...

We had a great time this weekend at the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA) - boy, that's a mouthful! -convention in Nashville. We got to catch up with old friends and made some new ones. When we weren't pickin' and grinnin', we were visiting with our friends, some who we only see at this convention every year. I think we got about 8 hours of sleep from Friday morning until Sunday night. These bodies are getting too mature for that kids' stuff, but we really had fun. Wayne and Janet Southards were so nice to open their bed and breakfast to us. I don't know what we would do without the wonderful friends God has allowed us to have. We're off to CA for the CHA convention this morning, and I don't now when I'll get to update this hit-or-miss blog again. I'll post when I get the opportunity. I do know that by Friday night, I will have been to Disneyland!