Tags and Sausa - Tackle it Tuesday

The last few weeks have been super busy. In a good way, with visits from parents, fun events like the balloon festival, a ride on a ski lift (for the first time), and a lunch date with my hubby. It was wonderful, but now it is time to get some things done.
I can't seem to get ahead in any thing, but today I will tackle a new blog post (done), make cooked salsa using tomatoes from our small garden, and make lots of tags for my new etsy shop of handmade cards and gift tags. And hopefully at the end of the day I have a cleaned up dinning room.

You will have to wait for the after photos. I will post them late tonight, or early tomorrow.

For more inspiration on tackling your to do list visit 5 Minutes for Mom's Tackle it Tuesday post and list.

UPDATE!

Yea! Salsa is done. And lots of it:

The top smaller bowl is a salsa for children. I has mostly tomato in it to make it mild and is cooked so that it will not go bad and make them sick.

Next is a bowl of the salsa for children. My daughter kept running into the kitchen to see if her salsa was done yet.
Once I said yes, she dug right in. It is one great way for children to get their vegetables.
Tags and clean table to come. That is my after dinner project.

THE FINAL UPDATE!!!

Gift and Thank you tags are finish and table cleared. See post above for images and more.

A New Period in Life - Tackle It

Today I officially start a new period of my life, "Mother of a Preschooler". The beginning of rising early, packing lunches, getting dressed with a purpose, being on time. These are things that for the last 6 years of my life were reserved for special trips and events, but not a regular, everyday schedule.

I know, I've been luck to be able to work at home, then stay home with my baby, who quickly turned into a toddler. I've been luck even before that to only have one job since college that made me get up before the sun and then I had only myself to get ready, but that era has come to an end. While I'm back to working at home while my daughter is in preschool in the morning, we have to get up early to get things done, people dressed, and ready for our day. The being on time thing is something I've yet to master in my life, but this AM we were the first ones at Preschool and were 10 minutes early.


The motivation for me to get her there at the earliest possible time is so that I can go to the fitness studio afterwards and take yoga and aerobic classes. This is also a fairly new thing in my life. We haven't had a gym or fitness studio close for years, but since our move we now have one just 10 minutes from my home and I pass it each time we go to the preschool. I'm determined to get back into shape and health. I've been putting it off for years and it need to just stop (putting it off that is.) So today I took a basic yoga class that focus on correct positions (sounds easy, but you can't cheat so it is not that easy) and the second class was half aerobics and half ball. Neither was easy for this out of shape mother. I've been taking the aerobics/ ball class for a couple of weeks, but this is the first time paired with the yoga. Wow. But I'm so glad I did and I still get home in time to get some work done.

So as I see it, today I tackled more then these basic tasks, I tackled getting started on a new period of my life. And I dealt with it much better then last Friday when I was just dropping my daughter off for the first time (one day of school before the holiday weekend) and went home to cry.

For more inspirational Tackle it Tuesday post visit 5 Minutes for MoM and this weeks Tackle it Tuesday mister linky.

Ghost Towns, Landscapes, and More Now Decorate the Walls

I told you I would tackle getting things up on my walls. Finally! I just took my time today getting this post up because it is my birthday and I didn't want to work too hard.

I still have to wait for my cupcake frames from American Frame, but I've got the entry, living room, kitchen, and dinning room done for now.

Do you like it?
First I have Goldfield Garage and Goldfield Night next to my dinning room hutch (which I just love). These two ghost town photos were taken on my honeymoon road trip. Goldfield is a mining town north of Las Vegas, NV that once posted the grandest hotel in the Southwest. Today that hotel is one of the southwest's most haunted hotels and the town is slowly disappearing around it. The garage I hear is no longer there, but it was on the main highway though town. The shacks in Goldfield Night are in the back of the Santa Fe Saloon, the oldest continuously operated saloon in Nevada.
On the opposite wall in the dinning room I hung my New Mexican Church, taken in Golden New Mexico, and a photo of the Upper Colorado River, taken on our way to Moab, Utah last summer. Both these photos are available for sale, just LJDesignphoto - Choice from Shop and let me know in the notes that is the photo you would like. I have them in my LJdeisgnphoto photostream on flickr, too.
I filled the niche, for now with a star, a vase, and a matted print of Route 66 that I found on the road.
The entrance has two black and whites on each side. This one is Twisted Tree. I love this photo. I go poked by cactus and had to stand on the edge of a cliff to get it but I like the way the tree leans and the contrast and twist in the trunk. Again available for sale, just go to my etsy shop and let me know which photo you want. On the opposite wall, not pictured, is Kilns and Snow, a limited edition photo taken in Death Valley National Park.
Now in the living room I hung Anthony Foronda's Painting just where I was, just on the wall now. I also put my little Mexican hearts in a vertical row between the heating stove and window. I think they are so cute.

When I get my cupcakes and sweet little girls from ElegantSnobbery aka Marisa Hopkins framed and up I will share. Hopefully they will be here soon.

Filling Blank Walls - Tackle It!

If you have been following my blog or life at all for the past few months you know in June my family moved from Kingman, AZ to Santa Fe, NM. This move was very sudden because, after looking for three years, we finally found a house we love.

So we moved in early June and had to get lots of things right way because we didn't bring a lot of furniture with us. This was actually fun and exhausting. We were able to get some great deals via consignment shops, but we still have some things to get, like something for the TV in the Family room.

Even though we have some things to still get, I'm finally feeling like I can hang some of the artwork I've collected . I was afraid before that the spot wouldn't work with the furniture we had yet to purchase and that I would end up moving it all and putting to many holes in the loved paint job that the previous owned did.

So today my goal is to hand what I have framed and plan the framing and spots for those items I do not have framed. By the end of the day I'm hoping to no longer have artwork just sitting on the floor in my hallway, dinning room, the living room and elsewhere.

Many of the pieces I'm planing on hanging are my own, including my Goldfield Garage Photograph, with the classic truck and blue sky, but I have some lovely things by other artist too.

Anthony Foronda, a super great illustrator and artist, was a friend and co worker back in my Dali Museum days. When I graduated from college my mother commissioned him to do painting just for me (he also, as a graduation present painted my cap and gown which someday I will figure out out to fame.) This painting will donate our living room and I'm so excited to have a wonderful place to display it.

The Family room will be dominated by Marisa Hopkins of Elegant Snobbery. I have a few of her cupcakes, one an original, and these two wonderful prints. In Our Hand, with the little girl hugging the animals, will look great with the custom illustration I ordered to go with it (will have to post it when she is done). The illustration of Jimmy in Flight, the sock monkey, will be going into DD room. I ordered it because she said she loved it.

As you can see, I have a lot to get done today. The prints that need frames won't get finished today, but just deciding on and ordering the right frames is an accomplishment.

For more inspiring Tackle It Tuesday post visit Five Minutes for Mom.

And if your interested on seeing how it turns out, I will post it tomorrow. Tonight I have a date with DH for my birthday.

UPDATE:
I'm done, see Ghost Towns, Landscapes, and More Now Decorate the Walls to see how it turned out.