Monday, June 29, 2009

We have a ball

Soooo, we're not the best team on the sand right now but we do have the best time!!!!

Here you see our fearless Captain Coach Tuesday, who tossed the ball just right for the picture to show off how truly great she is. We are all very impressed that she will be assistant coaching high school volleyball this year! Go team 4 - RAH!
Then you see Paul giving the Peace sign ( because we KNOW he wouldn't do devil horns behind me!) Then there is the rather dark masculine version of Kendra (played by George today) and then the old gal with the bad fro is me if you didn't recognize me when I'm not all covered with paint. Still not a glamor queen. sigh... but we have a blast!
We have big big plans to amaze everyone next week and sweep all 4 games easily and have plenty of time to eat pizza and drink afterwards!
Sounds like a good plan to me!
What do you think?

Friday, June 26, 2009

A table for two please

Be careful what you wish for...you just might get it.
This was one of my mother's favorite sayings and one of the few of hers I can repeat to the public.
On this occasion, which was Father's Day, my husband had been telling my for quite some time that he really does want more of my art in our home. I spend 10 hours a day working at other people's businesses and homes creating amazing wonderlands and faux worlds to enjoy with whimsical life like furniture where the legs are, well, actually LEGS with feet sometimes! But for our house...it's always on the to do list....until now!
My husband has replaced the fridge which made us change our counter which squeezed out our big kitchen table. We have been living with NO table of any kind in there and as a result our fruit and veggies have artistically been displayed...on our floor. HUH... Not so good in my view.
Now, there was no bird bashing with rocks of any kind but I did find a solution to Father's Day and food dilemma in one fell swoop.
Here is the result of my brainless storming and creative whirlwind.




Bruce and Lois Perry are amazing artists that I brow beat...I mean solicited... I mean..uuhhh...begged...pleaded...whined... to create an incredible whimsical industrial base for the bistro table top I painted. These guys are always gracious and cheery about all the demands I place on them and they really came through for me yet again. It needed to be an exact size to fit into our unusual spot and they did a fabulous job lickety split so I could surprise Tracy Father's Day morning with it.
He loves these coffee cups that he found at his addiction spot, Bed Bath and Beyond. I decided to use those colors to inspire the palette for kitchen decor. He LOVED it and has complimented me many times on the design, style and colors.

Things I love about this table:

It's the only one of it's kind.
I love the metal and wood combo.
I Love LOVE LOVE the colors of the rust that match the colors for the rest of the decor. I have sprayed the metal with a sealer so it stays at this stage and will keep it's color.
I love the gear in the middle. Bruce has an amazing eye for design with fun funky elements.
I love that my friends helped me create it.
I love that my husband loves it.
Let me know what you think.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

I know you want more...

Okay, so I can't figure out how to edit the last post so I'm just going to throw on some more pictures here to distract you.




What you've all been waiting for....






Okay, so pictures are worth a thousand words so I am hoping to cover about a million if I can just post some pics of my new murals at Auto Lane Car Dealership.
Bob Hunt was nice enough to take some GREAT pictures....but these aren't them.
If I can figure out how to do this first I will go look up the CD he gave me of some of his shots.
Otherwise go to BobHuntphotography or http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=6871
to see some of his cool work.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Volleyball-ish

This is a shout out to Team 4!! The best darn sand volleyball team ever. Okay-not necessarily in the scoring department but thanks to their quick wit and generous baking skills this is one of the most entertaining teams I have ever played on!
Thanks Gang!
ME

Friday, June 19, 2009

Pain Bryant

Here is a rant I sent to the billing department of Lane Bryant for giving me a discount for opening a credit card account with them, then taking it away AND charging finance charges on a billing statement they didn't even send until it was past due.
Am I being unreasonable? Look on line for the other 21 people who said EXACTLY the same thing happened to them. Don't let it happen to you!!!
Help me find Brian P. Woolf -President of Lane Bryant so I can discuss it with him. I'd love a home phone number and address or Email for his personal account. I would REALLY love to talk to his wife!!!!
They done picked on the wrong housewife.
June 13th, 2009


To “Ms.Disputes”
Lane Bryant Billing Department

Enclosed please find a check for the disputed amount of $62.52. This in no way is admitting I owe this amount. I am paying this on the advice of my lawyers and will pursue this matter in court if need be.
I am hoping after considering all the circumstances of the situation you will send me back my check with a written apology and formal cancellation of my account.
Your dismissive letter stating YOU are done “investigating yourself” and determined that the charge was valid only continues to add credit to my claims that you are either knowingly perpetuating a scam or unknowingly, repeatedly, irresponsibly ignoring a major issue within your company. You admit in your own handwriting that there was a miscommunication on the clerk’s part. That would be the part where she told me the total I owed on my bill, that I paid, IN FULL, to bring my accout to a zero balance, as agreed upon if I signed up for your credit card. The fact that no one was willing to take responsibility for the “Claims” you (whoever you may be) are making, by actually signing this letter, only strengthens my case that you knowingly are scamming people who are too busy or not savvy enough to fight you.
Your new threat to “report my account as delinquent” if not paid by a date you demand again shows no interest in finding the truth of the matter and I consider that statement as harassment.

Please contact your clerk and store manager at the Charming Shoppes Outlet At Castle Rock, CO, to verify that every word I am writing is the truth about the situation.

The Truth~

My daughter and I shopped in your store 3/39/09 while vacationing. The clerk asked if we had a charge card with Lane Bryant. I said no. She offered a discount because I would be a new account. I again said no, thank you. She rang the items up and then told my daughter and I the amount we would SAVE by starting an account that day.
I told her the only way I would start an account was if I could pay it off right there in the store, that day. (verbal contract).
She assured me that was no problem. She then proceeded to rering the merchandise and we chatted about what a great deal this was for us. She had trouble with the register and asked the manager of the store to help her. We stood for 45 minutes of my vacation trying to be pleasant while they worked on this. They then gave us the same total AGAIN and assured us that everything was fine and settled.
I’m sure you can see why I am so upset!!!
I don’t hear from your company again until I get a LATE notice with FINANCE CHARGES. No monthly statement was sent until you added late charges, -sure sounds like a scam to me. Furious, I check the internet and guess what. I found 21 other cases JUST LIKE MINE, all complaining of the same thing. If I took the time (and I will) to really search for all the complaints I am sure it’s 100 times that. Add in all those who just didn’t pay attention or take the time to complain and I’m sure it’s 1000 times that number.
I can only imagine how many people you have done this to but I can assure you- I AM NOT GOING TO BE ONE OF THEM.
If you choose to cash this check instead of sending it back to me with an apology and confirmation of my canceled account I will be contacting:

Trans Union Credit
Equi fax
Experian
Better Business Bureau
My friends at your local news station
Thompson & Knight Law
Attorney General’s Office


I will then use every resource I can find to make sure the public is aware of what you are doing so you can’t try to steal from them as you are trying to from me.
I would think in these trying times you would be appreciating the customers who come in to buy $400 of your merchandise instead of harassing them.
YOU made the mistakes. Why are you trying to get ME to pay for them?
I can’t get the time back that you have stolen from me by making me deal with YOUR problems but I will be charging you for every minute I spend dealing with it.

Amy Boettcher
1317 W. Columbia Ter.
Peoria, Il 61606
(309) 645-3913

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Terribilita

Terribilita-noun
Awesomeness or emotional intensity of conception and execution of an artists work. Originally attributed to the works of Micheal Angelo.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

It's a whole new world-mine!

For all of you who have heard me say-
"When I take over the world..."
Well, guess what. I have!!!
Simply Everything Boutique is up and running! Yea!!!
I am thrilled to say that we have some of the most beautiful art you are going to find anywhere and we have a lot more coming!
I've spent the last couple of days working with our artists to set up their fabulous work and painting the front windows so the public can easily find our place.
I'm heading out of town for the weekend but I'm sure the rest of the gang will be glad to show you around.

Other than that I am starting a new mural at Auto Lanes and surprise! It's NOT a golf mural!
Found a nice hypno cyber pal because of the blog so that's cool.
I'm working with artist Lois Perry to create a fabulous mirror for a client. She makes incredible over sized ceramic knobs for the Princess of Everything.
Jennifer Slater is going to create a designer baby boy's room that I'll paint some fun furniture for in her corner of the SEB store.
I'm working on a series of paintings that I will be using to support the Shake Rattle and Roll event. I'm going to auction and or sell a paintingm with all the money going to Joan Snyder to put on her event and the winner will get their choice of a second painting for FREE!
Stay tuned for that! There will be a short window to bid or buy!

Being an artist I am all about the pictures. You'll notice that they are lacking in my blogs so far.
I hope to remedy that soon! Pictures are worth a thousand words so you'll save a lot of reading my ramblings!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

You're getting sleepy....

For those of you who don't know~ I have a secret but...I'm coming out of the closet.
I've been a certified hypnotist since 1994.
There. I said it out loud.
I usually only take clients who are in great need because my art and family schedule is so unpredictable (or that's what I've been telling myself). But a friend REEEAAALLLYYYY wanted to quit smoking so.....
I happened to mention I was a hypnotist and the rest is history...smoking is history that is!

What a great experience for me! Okay-for the client too but what most people don't realize is that in order to be a successful hypnotist you have to -yourself- become hypnotized, completely involved in the process. In order to relax someone else you have to be relaxed. To focus someone else you have to be focused. How you express that comes in many forms but to make sure someone goes from "thinking about quiting" to "deciding to quit" and believing they can be successful takes determination on both people's part.
When I give suggestions to someone else about being positive and focused I am effected as well!
So thanks to my clients who put their trust in me to help them change their lives. You do the same for me!

For the last year or so I've been struggling with how to balance my art life, family life and healing interests. If you have to cancel an appointment to pick up a dresser or a birthday gift of a hand painted dresser by a week, it's not REALLY a crisis, But, if some one is in real pain, either physical or emotional, how do you tell them...uuummm....I'm going on vacation and I'll try to fit you in when it's convenient for me?

I take that responsibility very seriously. So...huh...

Am I an artist that does hypnosis? Am I a hypnotist that does art? Am I am mom, grandma, wife that networks the art world? Am I too spoiled rotten to make a commitment?
Can I really do it all or should I "focus" on one thing?
Same questions...different day.
Do you have an opinion?

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Time flies

So.... I know you are all wondering...where they heck have I been? I get ya all excited about my blog and then I go MIA.
The time flies when you are having fun and mine is zipping by at lightening speed!
This will be just a quick run down of the last couple days and I'll fill in a bit at a time when I get some extra time. (Yes, I am still working on perfecting the manufacturing of EXTRA time and Bi-locating.)
I'm living several lives at once, some of which overlap.

Suzette Boulais with Arts Partners invited me to participate in
The One State in the Arts Conference.It was amazing and as soon as I upload pictures for you to see you will have proof for yourselves. Hopefully new surprises will keep coming from this event. Did you all see they great pictures in the newspapers, TV news and private websites? Incredible. So much more to come on that.
What? Can't wait?
Well,...maybe just a few hints. Cross your fingers. You might be seeing more of our progressive 4 canvas mural and 20 ft. Yes! 20 foot mural, soon, in a very public place.
New friends, commissions, bonuses! Whew! A good time was had by all...except Kathy who came down with the plague the night before the convention!!! She was still a hoot and worked her little fingers to the bone.

Store at Grand Prairie-Simply Everything Boutique... Are you looking to sell high quality art in a great location? Contact me! Rent, consignment or Vendor Saturdays available. A lot more on that soon too.

My Studio-Something Unique- I might be willing to share with the right artist. Could you be the lucky one?


This weekend was my niece's wedding, The Kate Meismer/Zach Waggoner Wedding. Fantastic! So much fun. Family came in town from everywhere!
That means my kids and grandboy came home...yea! Except for Rachel...:( Booo-hooo), along with all the cousins, nieces, nephews....
My grandson, Alexander the Greater, is here and so darn cute I could just burst! I'll have pics to prove that too! What a dancing machine! Check out babyevansblog.blogspot.com to get caught up on the Adventures of Alex.

Chachke Designs is my daughter Sarah's blog and ETSY site that has super cool stuff. You will love her handmade gift tags. I am going to sell them at the store at Grand Pairie.

New hypnosis tips and Kinesiology Muscle Testing.

Happy Healers & Miracle Makers- It's not too late. Put your mind to creating a miracle for Dottie Weddle and family. Shane needs a job and a car. Dottie needs peace. Make it happen by concentrating on seeing it happen NOW! Thanks! She needed that:) I would like to concentrate on that one, one more time at 8:16 pm Friday. Pass the word.

Painters tips- do you know why I have Vodka?

New Mural- Stop by Auto Lanes Car Dealership. Pebble Beach meets Disney.

Junction City Art Show- Wet but amazing! What I bought and hope to buy in the future.

Okay fans- I still have one more day of Granny B-ing, so I need a couple hours of rest before Alex and I wake the sun up tomorrow mor....wait...This morning!
More details to come.
Comment so I know I'm not just talking to myself-again, or still....
I love pictures too.