It's been a great long weekend & It's NOT over! 
Today, I decided to get crafty and create a sign for the front door entrance.
I wanted to use pallets - Free wood.  
I WILL admit,  Norm did re-nail them a 'bit closer' for me, and then sanded the entire thing with an electric sander. Accomplishing in mere minutes what would take me hours. 
Storm carried it out back and I painted in the sunshine! 
Now it hangs in the front entrance and I am already working on a Christmas one!!!

Most days, it is a good thing when you must keep busy. 
I also drew the cover for the NEXT Cannabis Digest newspaper! 
You might be aware, we love Halloween.. It was so much fun.
(more on the cover - after it is published)  
It's like crack for my brain thinking of halloween!  ;) 
I can't share it - You have to wait until it hits 'news stands' like me! 

Imagine if we were all permitted to just do what we love?
Have faith! Give thanks and NEVER give up!!!

I draw everywhere. This one came out in my 'chair', where I am most relaxed.. 
It is what it is and it is how I feel.
I would be lost without cannabis. 
It brings me  calm - calm enough to create. 
I thank God daily for it.

Do you know someone on anti-depressants?  
Tell them to google the side effects. 
Then tell them to google cannabis and pray. 
It's all you can do....

40,ooo a year. from prescribed antidepressants.
0 - Cannabis - what have you got to lose?
xox <><

Amen.  

<>< 
XOX

While cleaning my office, something it badly needed done- it’s been about 5 years! 
I have been tossing old STUFF and it feel great with every rip, tear, toss or PUT it where it belongs.   It is looking good and Im feeling fresh!  Ready to draw!  
I have even turned my desk to face the sunshine (or lack of these days) and be inspired by the SKY!  I found something very precious to me.  A book Storm and I made about his special day!  I'd like to share it with you. 

The day he received  his first hearing aids, the fist day he could really HEAR!!!

I remember Mary turning them on for the first time and the LOOK of utter amazement in Storms face - He raised his head and cocked it to one side.. as if to really LISTEN. From that day forward our life changed for the better.  Time to learn how to speak. 
One of the first things he heard was a plane and asked .. "What's that?" That became his new favorite phrase... "What's that??"  When asked, you had to stop and listen to try to figure out what he was hearing.  He heard the plane but did not associate the two - we pointed to it and he was AMAZED. You see a new birth in his eyes.  
I am forever grateful. 

I wanted it to be a special day - but not a special day... I wanted Storm to be like every other child - as he is.  Hearing loss distances people from each other. Simple. 
As a child he had to learn how to speak - how do you speak when you can’t hear properly? 
It was a labour of LOVE and still is today. 
The most precious gift I have ever been given was our son. 
No diamond, no amount of $$ can compare. 

Below is the book we made. It is literally falling apart so I am glad I was able to scan it. 
What memories.  Please feel free to share with other parents of hard of hearing children. there is HOPE. It gets better.  Lot's of LOVE. 
Today  no one knows my son is even hearing impaired, that took much work on Storms part.      
 
Storm just received his new hearing aids, from Mary again! 
I hope I can get a photo of the two. That would be neat, then and now. 
Upper Canada Hearing in Newmarket Ontario has given us the best service we have ever experienced and we tried a few. More on that later. People NEED to know.  Like everything we have learned about another side to this industry.  Not so nice. 
Enjoy the book! I love my boy even more today! We are blessed to be here.


Life is what you make it. <><   xox 

Yippie! & Horay!!!

Sanity is still alive and kicking in Canada! Amen! 
A judge has ruled it is  unconstitutional to not allow edibles! 
Medibles! What ever you call them.  Cannabis infused products.
Medicated products that you eat - rather than smoke cannabis!!!

NO KIDDING! It astounded me when this case started! Really? 
No baked edibles permitted? No cookies or  brownies?

As a mother  who’s son was 14 when he first used cannabis for pain - I baked him cookies to take to school! I baked him banana bread when he was not feeling well enough to smoke. I make him medicated Toffee for the winter months!  I have super healthy date balls in the fridge that are medicated, ‘CannaTootsie’ rolls are a favorite, we have medicate cocnut oil for me, a personal favorite. I put it in my tea.

How insane that we were expected to only SMOKE it. I do smoke it still - It brings me the quickest from of instant relief.  To sleep or a busy day planned with a lot of walking, standing, medibles are a great way to keep it in your system, much like pills do I guess.
I would not have made it Saturday at the ‘Perch fest’ without my medicated capsules in the a.m. and a few tokes throughout the day.  Thank God.

It was a given! I was so happy!!!!! AM so happy! How wonderful! 
Moms can make their  severely ill children brownies, cookies - instead of fighting and forcing them - already enduring enough- to take a crappy medicine they don’t like! 
Been there! Done that!!! I know.
WE even get to throw in lots of other great ingredients! 
My banana bread is very healthy! 

So celebrate! It’s a step in the right direction!!!  
Thank you Judge with  HEART, Compassion, Empathy and UNDERSTANDING!!!

Now for the rest...   one day at a time.
Read more here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/medical-pot-cookie-prohibition-ruled-unconstitutional-1.2736526

xox 
<><

Oh, Canada!!
Canada has changed a lot in the past 10 years, but never so shockingly as it did in December, 2012. That month Canada went from 2.5 million protected lakes and rivers to 159 protected lakes and rivers. 

You need to ask, why?  This is a quote from the Huff Post, it’s a pretty good assessment.

"It means the removal of almost every lake and river we know from the Navigable Waters Protection Act. From one day to the next we went from 2.5 million protected lakes and rivers in Canada to 159 lakes and rivers protected. You name the river, you name the lake and it is no longer protected by this act, and this has nothing to do with the budget that the government rammed through, it has everything to do with pipelines, because you are able to now are able to ruin navigation and not trigger an environmental assessment."

One little tidbit they didn’t mention is the most of the protected lakes and river are in Conservative ridings. Places that have millionaires cottages perched on the shores. The rest of us can just suck it up.

I’m angry; my children will likely lose the opportunity to swim in clear clean water (unless they marry money) and the risk to the environment, just when the rest of the world is starting to clean their countries up, will have reached epic proportion in Canada. My grand children will be at risk, their health, safety, lifestyle and living environment will be negatively impacted to benefit a handful of international mining companies and their rich shareholders (who live with THEIR children beside the protected lakes.)

This just boggles my mind.. since when is one group of people more important than another? Since when has Canada been willing to sellout its citizens? There is no net benefit, no silver lining, no payoff , unless of course you’ve invested in mining companies.

We need to ask our Conservative government a few questions. First- who are you working for? Second- Why are you so willing to risk your children’s future when you have a choice not to? Third, do you know what your grandchildren will think and say about you?

We need to get angry, folks, we need to start showing an interest in what our governments, at all levels, do in our names.

CETA, the European free trade deal is set to be ratified in September. Once that’s through we can expect even more attacks on what laws we have in place provincially to protect our wild and not so wild areas. This trade deals allow corporations to sue countries who have environmental laws that might hurt their “future” profits.. nice for them, eh? We’re rapidly losing control of our laws to greedy corporations and this Conservative government is smoothing the way.

Go find a nice lake or river bank this weekend, swim.. wash your hair, take a tire tube and show the kids how to paddle around the shore looking for minnows and turtles. You better take pictures though, as this is likely the last generation who will be able to enjoy it.


*Thank You Ellen Durkee!  Terrific Guest Blog. 
I get by with a little help from my friends!  <><
Read this.. more on the topic! 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/lakes-across-canada-face-being-turned-into-mine-dump-sites-1.733972
You won't believe <>< ;( 


To see the Stephfin carper  in the flesh (yours), join me tomorrow at the Painted Perch Challenge!  I think it's going to be a lot of fun, Norm myself & Poppy! Adopting out - Zen Kitties and enjoying the day! My other artist friend Ellen Downe is also going! 
The kitties are $20 each with $5. for each purchase going to the Georgina Food pantry. 
* I figure that would cover mailing and they sell on line for $20 ;)  


I am just looking forward to the DAY!! In the park! Music! Crafts! Friends! Fun!
Come say hello, and if YOU want a free post card, just ask ;) 
xox <>< 

I am feeling a bit better rested.  Many I know are feeling under the weather. Could it be this day? Has anyone told Mother nature its AUGUST? The windows are closed and I'm very tempted to crank the heat! 
Good day to snuggle with a book in between painting.
I planning to be at the painted Perch Challenge on the weekend up @ Jackson's point.
I've got my Zen Kitties ready to go!  What does not sell I'll advertise online after! 
I had to ask people to stop purchasing them so I have enough! Thank you. LOL 

I have found a support group for people with TN, perhaps If I could find others dealing with the same, I might not feel so alienated some days.

I hope you are all keeping warm, safe and educated and medicated on this August afternoon!  ;) 
xox <>< 

I have had Great Danes, the domestic giants of the dog breeds and now a Chihuahua.. the pint size powerhouse that steals your heart like a Great Dane can.  A year old now, it has not even been a year since we had her - Poppy is one and full of fun!  She slowly now over time has also warmed up to only a select few. Norm, Storm Linda and Cathy - we are the select few to know the pleasures of poppy! LOL Bouncing off our chests to give us kisses in the ears, nostrils and where every else the big dogs might have missed.
I watch with glee to see Poppy get to them, Linda never claimed to like dogs much, let alone these small yappy ones, I can say without a doubt - her favorite small dog is Poppy ;) 
Cathy's too!  Just today, I was delighted to see Poppy demand to Cathy that she 'be picked up' and be quick about it! Yap Yap! Cathy bent down and lifted. LOL 

Poppy does seem to have a gift for getting her tongue in your ears and then in your nostril before you even know what hit you!  I love every dog kiss I get. My girls are not overly friendly with their kisses.. well Scruffy is the exception (as usual)

I am busy painting Zen Kitties, my Stephfin Carper - for the painted Perch Festival
on August 16th, just over a week away!! I hope you come out for the day and say hello.

I have had so many dogs and the names are important. 

This weather is doing a number on my head.  
The past few days I have spent more or less going from chair to bed. 
Not doing much of anything - well, I am painting  'ZenKitties' and thankful for their smiling faces.  It is hard not to smile when I see all the smiles  looking back at me.  
It is a mindless craft for me, one I still enjoy and put TLC into and it helps pass the time. I know with each kitty out will go some good vibes and it will make someone SMILE.  Simple. 

My twitch is nonstop, except for when I lie down.  During my mega twitches  it becomes the size of a finger and travels down the side of my face (can be seen in photo above) - the pain shooting right down past my breast to my mid way down my torso.  I ask myself daily, how do I live with this? 
What can I do to make it easier.  I don't know.  
Do you? LOL  
I'm open for suggestions.  I do know when in pain, we are not our nicest- it is truly a test on so many levels.  My tolerance is low. It is not a good time to push someone to their limits.  I just might not be so tolerable - and why should I?
I think too often we put up with negative stuff and  the more we put up with it the more it continues. Once you are pushed to the limit and snap and say thats it!  That's it. Let it be.
Blessings in disguise. 

I feel I need to withdraw.  Rest my brain. 
I know what is happening to me.
I know how I feel. 
It is enough to deal with. 
I don't need to be wondering/stressing how you are dealing/handling  'it'. 

I am trying to figure out how to 'not let' the constant little stuff make me angry, when I have a literal distraction physically and mentally 'be' at me,  a thousand times a day.  Beyond the point of being able to focus many days.  How not to get aggravated by continuous, thoughtless and sometimes mean comments made by some of those closest to us. 

It's enough.
xox <><

scanning new toon for tomorrow.