Random Thoughts Wednesday

Good morning, travelers.  Welcome to Random Thoughts.  Please wait until the bus has come to a full and complete stop before leaving your seats. 

Today's Random Thoughts gathered themselves into a little Facebook group:

1.  I think I might spend too much time on Facebook.  I find myself looking for the "Like" button in coworker emails.  When I realize where I am and that I'll have to click "reply" and write "Ha" and click "send", I'm really disappointed.

likethelikebutton.com

2.  I'm also hitting enter in my email replies like that will do something besides carriage return line feed.  Every response I write has a couple extra lines at the bottom before I figure out that's not going to send them.

word-detective.com

3.  I just went to Pinterest again to look for pictures. Someone posted some crazy-good looking cheesecake cookies and then asked, "What are graham crackers?"  Apparently there are no graham crackers in Australia.  What????!!!!  I mean, I can't feel all that sorry for them because they have kangeroos and koalas but.....no s'mores?  That's just sad.

quietbutnotstill.blogspot.com

Have a blessed day, friends!  I'm praying the Lord blesses us today with good friends, a few laughs, and sunshine (that doesn't try to bake us to a crisp) on our faces.

<3 Lori

Oh Clever!! Where are you, Clever??

Today is Monday.  For Monday blogs, I'm supposed to have some clever way to present the work I did over the weekend.  I seriously have been sitting here until I'm about to pass out and my lap is about to burst into flames.  Still no cleverness in sight.

I'll just show you what I have in the works, and then I'll go look for my long lost clever.

If any of these turn out to be presentable, I show you some afters later. :)

Now it's off to dreamland for me!

May the good Lord bless you today with ample cleverness and friends to share it with.   And if your cleverness is missing in action, may those friends be willing to stick around until it returns.

<3 Lori

Friday Favorites

Helloooooo, Friday! 

Last week on Friday Favorites, I highlighted my absolute favorite rock star blogger, creative-soul business woman.  This week I'm highlighting my absolute favorite rock star creative-soul adoptive mom. 

First lemme show you something that will help you understand why this hit number 2 on my Friday Favorites....Actually, if I'd thought of it sooner, this would have beaten Pioneer Woman's pretty hair, funny blog, and awesome girlie stand mixer by about 7713 miles (as the crow flies).

(prepare to swoon)

This little beauty is Mia.  She was adopted in Taiwan by my friends Jason and Kate. They live in Missouri with Mia, her brother Mason and sister Madison.  They love each other a lot.  Adoption rocks!  This picture cracks me up:



I followed closely the adoption story as it unfolded--document signing, approvals, home studies, more approvals, passports, checking in for flights, arrivals.  It felt like I was right there with them.  When Kate posted the pictures from the trip, I clicked through them, anticipation pushing me forward, waiting for the moment.  This moment:  



Still makes me weepy. ::sap::

Since they hit the adoption jackpot the first time around, they, understandably, want to do it again.  Kate has a lovely little boutique at Esty called The Adopt Shoppe where all the proceeds from her sales go towards their next adoption.  She makes cute tile necklaces, braided fabric bracelets, leather bracelets, necklaces created from paper beads rolled by women in Uganda...all kinds of great stuff.  You should go there and look around.  You'll find something you love!   I bought this, which I love, love, LOVE:

~~Here's the best part~~



 I BOUGHT ONE FOR ONE OF YOU, TOO!!! 

Happy Giveaway!!

You can be entered in one of two ways:

1.  You can leave a comment here on the blog (just make sure to click "follow" so that you can remember to check back later to see who won).  If you enter your comment as "anonymous", leave your name in the comment, so we'll know that you were the anonymous winner. :)  If you don't know which profile to choose, you can always use the Name/URL option.  If you don't have a website, just leave the URL part blank.

OR

2. You can comment on the post with the blog link on my Facebook page LeissnerArt

Only one comment please.  

~~BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!!~~

 You can get an extra entry if you share the Facebook post about this blog or otherwise plug the blog on your own Facebook page or on Twitter.  Just include how and where you shared in your comment, and you'll get an extra entry.  I'll draw using a random sampler on Sunday evening and post here, on Facebook and on Twitter.

Make sure you enter.  Mia wants you to win!

May the good Lord bless you today with sweet love stories and happy endings!

<3 Lori

Random Thoughts Wednesday

1.  I live out in the country.  It's probably still weird that I find myself thinking sometimes, "That would be a really good place to dump a body."

google.com

2.  Bob Hope's wife died.  I heard it on the news.  She was 102 or something.  It occured to me that when you live to be that old, people's first thought is often not, "Oh, that's too bad", it's "Dang! She was still alive?!" 



cool-smileys.com

3.  Have you noticed how many of my random thoughts are about death?  What's up with that?

4.  Today's weird results from a Pinterest search--I searched for "what?"

pleated-jeans.com

huffingtonpost.com

geekologie.com

And my personal favorite

pinterest.com

Thanks for coming along on this little crazy trip or maybe "trip to crazy" would be more accurate. 

May the good Lord bless you today with clear vision to see the blessings you already have.

<3 Lori

Getting Sketchy

Happy Monday (it is barely still Monday)!

When I decided I wanted to give art a go, I looked around a little for some classes.  I emailed someone who was giving art classes at Hobby Lobby.  She sent me a questionnaire to fill out.  She wanted to know my philosophy of art.  Um....huh?  Maybe you are supposed to have one of those.  I don't.  I like pretty things to hang on the wall or to put on a shelf when I run out of room on the walls.  And I don't really like to try to figure out what something means.  I like art that tells me what to think.  Hence my tag line:  "Art that Speaks".  If I'd ever had an art class, I might like art that keeps its trap shut. 

This is where it gets sketchy.  Having never had an art class, I mess up a lot.  And I potentially have to plan things out more than someone who's taken classes.  Or maybe not.  If I'd ever had an art class, I might know that for sure.  Anyway, I thought it might be fun to compare some of my sketches with the finished products.  Or it might not.  I've never done this before either, so we'll see.  Here goes:

This is a sketch for a collage I did and sold on Ebay to benefit Ozarks Food Harvest after the Joplin tornado (they could still use some help, by the way.  That was a devastating event.)

Here's the finished version:

This is the sketch I did for my mom's Mother Day present this year.  I was in a big off-site meeting for my real job.  I'm a good multi-tasker:

And after

And this little idea...

Became this.....

Next up:

I've never painted a face before (that I would be willing to show in public).  She's on my easel.  Maybe I'll show you next week.  Or maybe not.

Thanks for stopping by.  I'll try to make sure that next week's Monday Musings are not so close to Tuesday.  May the Lord bless you with sharp pencils in pretty colors.

<3 Lori

Friday Favorites

This is probably really silly.  Why would someone with 29 blog followers and 157 Facebook friends feature as a "Friday Favorite" someone who has 319,000 Facebook friends and has garnered 24,000 comments on a blog post? 

Because she's my favorite, that's why.

Ree Drummond is The Pioneer Woman.  She can cook.  She's hilariously funny. She's beautiful, and she's created a creative business empire all while living in some rural section of Oklahoma where going to "the Walmart" is still a big deal.  See?  She's just like me!  We're practically twins.

She's giving away this amazing mixer today here:   

Pioneer Woman on Flickr

I don't really cook, but I left a comment so I could be entered in the drawing anyway.  I mean, I think I might even be able to make something tasty with a mixer that looks like that.  Or I could just go to the bakery, bring something tasty home to a clean kitchen, and look at the beautiful mixer while I'm enjoying my tasty treat.  An "artist" should own that mixer.

Click this link to her website: The Pioneer Woman.  When she checks her stats, she'll be so impressed by the traffic I directed over there.

May the good Lord bless you today with pretty stand mixers and tasty treats.

<3 Lori

PS.  Just found the website for those mixers....why didn't I think of that?? http://www.unamorecustomshoppe.com/

Random Thoughts Wednesday

Today is Rural Day at Random Thoughts.  Get the theme song to "Green Acres" in your head, and welcome to the funny farm:

1.  This is not an unusual sight at my house:

Note to self:  Clean the windows

2.  I followed behind a tractor trailer today and was reminded of another time I was following behind a large tractor trailer.  I thought, "My word! That must have been a HUGE cup of water that trucker is pouring out."   When I started to pass it, I realized it was a cattle truck and that was NOT water.

3.  This is Sophie:

She's our watch dog.

We don't have any valuables.

Farm livin' is the life for me.  Land spreadin' out so far and wide. 

Keep Manhattan.  Just give me that countryside. 

May the Lord bless you today with sun on your faces, enough space to roam a little, and sweet doggies (or turkeys ::we are equal opportunity pet owners::) to keep you company.

<3 Lori



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