NFC Western Division Champions

This is unbelievable! The Arizona Cardinals are NFC West Champs.

I've lived in Arizona my whole life. I remember when the Cards came to town, I was still in high school.

I became a fan immediately and have been ever since. This doesn't sound like a big deal but it is.

In a city that has hated the team over the years I was the reject. The goofball that would always look forward to next season.

Of course there was 1998. Jake got us into the playoffs with an 8-8 record. We went to Dallas and beat the hated Cowboys in Texas Stadium. Not much could be sweeter.

That year is the best record I can remember the Cardinals having over the last 20 years. We were thrilled to be .500 in 1998.

For once we didn't finish with a losing record.

Those of you who have been there with me know what I'm talking about. Our typical record is 4-12 or something very similar. Put it this way, when we get a 5 or 6 win season we are ecstatic.

I have actually gone to Cardinals games at Sun Devil Stadium and been given free parking because I was the 1st person the attendant saw who was wearing the home team's jersey and hat.

I have been in the stands and been ridiculed by the opposing teams fans. All of which live in Arizona by the way.

I have been at home games and had peanuts and popcorn thrown at me because I was the only one wearing red.

The only time we would get to see the Cardinals on TV was when they were on the road or when they were playing the hated Cowboys. Most of the time there were only 30,000 people in a stadium that holds over 70,000

What's different now? Well for starters University Of Phoenix Stadium.

Now we really have a home field advantage. Every game since the new stadium opened has been on TV.

Another thing is that Mr. Bidwell has passed control of the team on to his son Michael. He seems to be on the right track.

Ken Wizenhunt is also a huge factor. He has brought a system and a

coaching style that the players have bought into. He makes roster moves for football reasons and that is rare with football coaches.

The biggest difference? Attitude! Attitude is everything.

Charles Swindoll said "life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it.

We aren't losers anymore. We are winners. Every time the team takes the field they plan to win the game.

Those of you from cities where winning is a tradition won't understand this. When you lose for over 20 years you can't help but carry a losing attitude. You buy into the losing.

You expect to lose. You to think of it as acceptable.

Not anymore!

We are winners now!

We are the NFC West Champs!

And guess what. It's not good enough. I want more. More regular season wins.

Playoff wins.

Superbowl titles.

I want what all those other cities have had before. I want it now!

Will I get it now or ever? Who knows.

That's why they play the game.

Note: The bottom picture is my daughter getting an autograph from DE Antonio Smith.

Crossroads

Crossroads. I painted this but didn't really have a plan in mind. The only thing I knew that I wanted in this picture is the color blends in the background.

I used Blue, Red, and Yellow. Next I blended them into each other to make the greens and oranges.

I planned on putting something in the foreground using black or white. I first used black to make a few flower stems with plans to top them with white flowers.

For some reason I turned the picture sideways (the way you see it now) and decided to carry the black lines all the way across the canvas.

It didn't have any depth so I layed black over the white on several lines and reached the finished product shown below.

Crossroads

An email from Mary at Phoenix Children's Project

----- Original Message -----
From: Mary Frieling
To: helpingkids@phoenixchildren.org
Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 8:06 AM
Subject: FYI Christmas Program

There are still 69 kids that do not have a sponsor for Christmas. If you are thinking about helping a needy child living in poverty (in our own community) adopting/sponsoring a child this Christmas means you will provide a new:

Pair of pants
Shirt
Pair of shoes
Package of socks
Package of underwear
One or two toys (from child’s wish list)

OR, you can send us $60+ and we will shop for you! We don’t have until Christmas to get sponsors, I need gifts by Dec 11 so we can sort and organize over 4,000 for distribution. I know we are all hurting this year, but please don’t forget these children who live like this all year long since the day they were born.

Thank you to all for your generous support in whatever whys you help us!! THANK YOU and Happy Thanksgiving!! Mary
Mary
Phoenix Children's Project

Mary Frieling
http://www.phoenixchildren.org/

(602) 955-2228 message phone
(602) 224-0547 fax
(602) 290-2828 direct (cell)

mailing address:
3219 E. Camelback Road, #228
Phoenix, Arizona 85018


All gifts are 100% tax deductible. We are a 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit organization.

Phoenix Children's Project

As many of you know, I am the leader of a Girl Scout Brownie troop. My husband thought I was crazy to do it, but so far it has not been to bad. We are finally getting the hang of how things work.

Well, to teach the girls about giving back to others our troop decided to sponsor a needy girl for Christmas. When I found out that our girl, Anna, had 2 little sister, Jasmine and Adrianna...well I got a BIG surprise!!!.... James talked to people at his office and they decided to sponsor the 2 sisters! YEAH!!!! I am sooo excited! It is wonderful to see that there are people left in the world that actually care about others...even people they dont know.

I have already received some of the items and look forward to being able to deliver them to the family! Our deadline is December 5th ....the troop is going to wrap anything that needs wrapping at our meeting on December 7th.

If you are interested in helping out another child or know someone that might be interested in helping out please pass the following information on so they can participate too:

Phoenix Children's Project, is a 100% NON PROFIT local group that helps LOCAL families. They do not not keep any money for administration etc it ALL 100% goes to the kids and families in need. I especially like that it helps local families...we often think bad things don't happen in our town....but we have a lot of needy families that are struggling right her in our area!

If you want to get additional information on this organization please go to their website: http://www.phoenixchildren.org/

They need help all year long and it does not have to cost a thing...you can donate time as well. I know many of the families that receive aid volunteer time as a way of showing their appreciation for services they receive.

I want to give special thanks to all the girls in my troop and especially to Yulanda, Julie, ML, Rebecca, Carolyn, Keane, Deitra, Steve, James and Cathy at Progressive for taking the ball and running with it to support the other two girls! Together we are going to really make the holidays special for this family. THANKS EVERYONE!!!

Burst

This is called Burst.

I painted the first layer in black. Next I laid out several layers of red and yellow. Where those two colors mixed I got shades of orange. I used a compass to draw the two large circles and outlined the circles with shiny black puff paint. Before the black dried I used a brush to pull it outwards from the circle.

I really like the puff paint. My wife told me about it. She has used it to make Christmas stockings. I tried it and it's really cool. It creates a definite raised area that stays shiny.

I had planned on adding shades of blues to the circles but when I got to this point I decided it was good as is.

Sheboss is in love with this and had me hang it in the living room.

Burst

Finally!

Election day is finally here. I'm glad to see it end. Every election cycle I get worn out by all the advertising. You can't watch TV or listen to radio without hearing or seeing some type of election ad.

I also hate all the little signs posted all over town. They don't always go around and pick up their political signage after the election is over. Some of those will be out there for months.

Not only that, much of the advertising is negative. None of us like to hear negative ads whether we support that view or not. The problem is that negative campaining works so it will always be a staple of campains.

I also will be happy to be done with all the political tension everywhere. Some people get real crazy about it. After Clinton was re-elected I learned that this stuff is not life or death. The globe will keep spinning and the birds will keep singing no matter who gets elected president.

After today we'll all get along again...so long as McCain wins.

Calm Dragonfly

Calm Dragonfly is my most recent painting.

I started by creating an abstract background that I felt could stand alone as a painting and then added the dragonfly. After I painted the wings with a pink/metallic silver color I rubbed the paint off so only slight traces remain.

I'm liking these types of paintings. What do you think, should I do more like this?

Calm Dragonfly

Election Talk

Wow,

I have a Facebook account. I notice all my Facebook friends have been going off for weeks about Obama in Facebook It's a total love fest and it scares me. I usually try to avoid polictical talk at work, home, or anywhere because I am passionate about it. In this case I felt all the comments were so one sided that I had to comment.

I posted a Facebook status that said "I am worried about next Tuesday because I don't want the terrorist collaborator to win." Only stating facts.

Suddenly I get ganged up on. Everyone is responding to the post like I'm some kind of radical.
Why is it that I could say anything negative about McCain or Palin and people cheer. Whatever you do, don't take the newly annointed Lord of America's name in vain.

Honestly I am truly concerned about having a goverment completely controlled by any one party. Who's going to keep the Congress in check if not the President and vica versa.

Black Butterfly

This one is called Black Butterfly.

This is way outside my norm. All this color is not my style but I wanted to try something a little different. I am trying very hard to push my comfort zone but it is difficult.

I started by layering the colors. I tried three or four different patterns before I settled on these arcs. Then I created the semi-transparent black boarder. I taped out and painted the transparent white box in the middle. Finally, I searched the internet for a good butterfly picture. This is a swallowtail. I freehanded the butterfly in pencil and then filled it in with the black.

The goal for for the strong contrast. The normally very colorful butterfly is black and the background is instead very bright.

I like it quite a lot and hope you do too.

Black Butterfly

Red

I decide to paint Red when I was watching TV. I was watching some show and the characters were getting on an elevator. The back wall of the elevator was painted in various shades of red. I thought it would make a good painting so here it is.

RED