Needleroozer's Blog

Update coming soon.

2008-08-27T07:44:00.000-07:00

Hey! I am here, but very busy.

Go here to see what I have been up to.

I promise a post later today, with regular posts coming again soon.
LB

Thursday tidbits.

2008-07-10T09:43:00.001-07:00

It's 9:43 am. Girl is grumpy, Boy is a noisemaker. But at least he has a willing heart. I can put up with the noise for that.

10:41 am The kitchen is clean, and the living room picked up. Three loads of wash are out on the lines, and all that can be folded and put away is. Bacon has been had by all, and soon I will be hearing scales on the piano.

3:36 pm. The kids have both done a bit of work, the transcripts are stuck in my computer until Papa gets home, but they are done. I did a bit of work in the studio, and more tidying up. Everyone had lunch, and all is well.
LB

tidbits tuesday: chronological style

2008-07-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

2:30 pm.
I am procrastinating on the transcripts. R is working on his reading lists for the last two years. He is definitely getting a credit for literature. I have done a bunch of AFF work between assigning him tasks. This transcript writing is tough work! I am using the model Jean put on her blog. Wish us luck.
4:30 pm
Getting ready to take E to swimming lessons. I have this to peruse, between watching and occasionally waving to the Girl, going over literature with the boy, and encouraging him to watch the Girl for swimming techniques he can coach her on this week. There is also another Mama there who visits a bit with me as well. It can be warm, but it is also enjoyable.
6:00 pm While R was waiting for E in side, I got the air conditioning going while I touched base with the Dude by phone, as he is away tonight.
6:30 pm Stopped at a fast food place, even though I said I wouldn't. Tasted good and made life easier.
9:00 pm Neighbor Girls heading home, R is cleaning up a nasty hairball incident, and then we are gonna head into the studio for an hour or so. The kids can paint papers for me while I tidy up, and then we will experiment with my new adirondak dabbers, and various spray inks. I have become addicted to these two products (I will let you find those for yourself at Joggles.) I have samples to make! And kids are great assistants in the studio. They inspire me.
10:30 pm I tell the kids to head upstairs. E painted a picture with oil pastels, R worked on a giant Lego guy, and I got all the table tops to a visible state. I changed the black plastic on my paint table, and installed a tall shelf (that we got free off the side of the road one day when we were running errands with Gramma) at the end of my paint table. It holds a lot, looks good, and is a nice room divider between the studio and the basement door/ mudroom/ laundryroom areas.
11:10 I dragged R's sorry tush out of the steamy (no fan again, sigh) bathroom, and tucked the kids into bed. I don't feel the least bit sleepy, and now that I have found the tables, want to play a bit. Do I sleep or make art?

See you later, Alligator,
See you soon you big Baboon.
Oops. Did I say that out loud?
Off to the Studio Depths of TurtleWorks,
LB

LB

Hi! I fell off the panet again,

2008-07-08T11:24:00.001-07:00

but I am back in the blogosphere again.

I am so remiss in the care and feeding of this little bloggy. I have been spending much of my time working on the Art For Food blog and google group (link on the blog in sidebar), and taking action in that project. I would love it if you took a gander and let me know what you think. It could use some comments to liven it up!

Other snatches of my time are being spent here, writing transcripts for both kids, and working to meet a Friday deadline of turning them in to the online high school they both want to attend in September. I will be done teaching in two months! I will still supervise and support, but no longer will I be responsible for creating courses, shopping for textbooks, scheduling, planning and executing their schoolwork! And someone else can write their bloody transcripts for the next few years!

I can go back to just being Mom, and spend several hours a day at TurtleWorks. Do you know how exciting all of this is?

Oh- I forgot to tell you. Piano Girl will be skipping 8th grade and going straight into ninth. How cool is that? I am really proud of her.

To have that time to really devote to and really focus on my art. Happy sigh. A dream come true. A miracle I cannot wait to experience. I have to admit to being envious to many of the artists whose blogs are in my sidebar. They have concentrated chunks of time they can work in, and actually finish what they start! They are real artists, and this is another step on my path to being a full-time working artist, and being a contribution to my family through my art. Woot!!

Talk soon,
LB

Art for Food.

2008-07-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks!

One of the reasons posting has been a bit sporadic lately is that I am working on something. Something big, and very important. It is just getting rolling, and we still have details to put in place, but I want to go ahead and tell you about it now.

So (insert big, long drumroll here), come on over here and find out what Art for Food is, and how you can play with me in this big game called making a difference.

LB

Soap Talk, episode 1

2008-06-23T20:36:00.001-07:00

For a long time now, I have been wanting to tell you about my favorite soapmaker in the whole world. Her name is Amy, and her company is The Foil Hat. Amy is one of the most generous and kind people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. She is also one of the few people who can really make me laugh. I mean full belly laugh. In addition to being an all-around talented and sweet person, she also makes the best soaps on the planet. Really. They are the best!

I have talked a bit about her wonderful soaps in passing, but I want to do a whole post just on them. I have used FH soaps for over two years now, and have become one of Amy's official soap testers. I think I have tried every single product and scent that she makes. I love the range of scents, too. Not overpowering at all (most commercial soaps really make me sneeze), and there is a scent for everyone.

What do I love about Foil Hat products ?
1. I have extremely sensitive skin, and usually break out from bath soaps. This has not been the case with FH soaps. If anything, my skin has gotten softer and smoother with the consistent use of FH soaps and scrubs.
2. The site is orderly and easy to navigate. Amy's sense of humour permeates the whole site, and makes shopping fun. Her consistent references to herself in the third person used to freak me out a bit and remind me of Smeegul from the Hobbit books, but I am used to it now.
3. The range of scents (or flavours, as we call them in this house) and the fact that the soaps are pretty. As I said above, Amy has a wide range of scents, from manly to feminine, scents that Gramma adores, and fun scents for the kids. The soaps are so very pretty, too.
4. The lather factor. My Mama is getting older, and in addition to not seeing, her nose doesn't work as well as it used to, so for her, the scents of the soaps are not very important. She thinks they all smell good. What she absolutely loves is the lather of Amy's soaps. They lather up rich and thick, whether your water is hard or soft. I always love a lathery soap- makes me feel like I am getting cleaner, I guess. And it is fun to see how big of a soap bubble I can make.

Okay, now that I have told you why I like these soaps, let's talk about specific products and scents. First of all, I do have some favorites.
The salt scrub is amazing. I use this about 3 times a week, and it makes my skin feel soft.

The sugar scrub is really helpful in the fight against teenage acne, especially around the hairline.

The liquid soap is a miracle. It is great in the kitchen, both for hands and for the countertops. It is also very good for cleaning paint brushes. I have tried other soaps on the brushes, and they just didn't do a good job of getting the paint out of the bristles. FH liquid soap really cleans the bristles well, and leaves them soft, not stiff.

I also really love the shea butter. Mmmmmm. This stuff is so good for those of us with rough skin. Amy will make this in any scent you wish, but my fave is patchouli lime. Wonderful.

There are so many different scents, I will have to do a whole post on them, but for now, if I am just going to recommend two:
Alpine Spring: This scent is hard to describe, but it brings to mind images of a field of daffodils, blowing in a gentle spring wind. I love, love, love this scent.

Herbal Citrus Sorbet: This scent is described as "Fresh, clean with hints of basil, citrus and a cool breeze." I think that says it very well. This is one of my hands down favorite scents. When I am unsure of a scent to suggest for a friend, this is always the one that wins out.

If you have never ordered from Amy, you should do it today! Try a scrub and soap combo- it is so much fun to have matching scents.

That's it for this issue of Soap Talk. Visit Amy today, and tell her LB sent ya'!
LB

Linky-loo

2008-06-23T13:57:00.001-07:00

I haven't been journaling as much as I would like. Here is some inspiration for all of us.

Here are some tips on collaging in your art journal.

I want this book. It has come up on websites, and in conversation 3 different times in the last week. Must mean I need it.
LB

Tidbit: Angst

2008-06-23T13:53:00.001-07:00

I am so fighting mother angst right now. Why is it that it just doesn't seem to matter how much I accomplish or how positive I have worked to be- there is always something very important I didn't get done, one more nice thing I could have said, etc.

Monday Musings and Weekend Catchup

2008-06-23T09:26:00.000-07:00

Howdy Folks, and welcome to Monday and the weekend catchup.

Just after I finished blogging on Friday, I had this weird feeling- I had to get to Joann Fabrics NOW- something I just had to have was waiting for me. Ask Gramma- this 6th sense kinda thing happens sometimes, and when it does, you ignore it to your pocketbook's peril. So off we went. I was rewarded in the fabric paint department. You know how I said I needed some Lumiere paint? Well, this particular Joann's was having a closeout on certain colors, and they were available not for their normal retail price of $4 to $4.99, but for .25 or .50 or .99 each! I had the Girl do the math, and she came up with these figures: We bought 17 jars of paint, for less than $11. that was worth $58. How fun is that! There weren't a ton of colors left to choose from, but I got several I use often, and a few I hadn't tried yet. No citron, but that's okay. I will use them and be very happy about this bargain.

Saturday morning I lost one man at the airport, and picked up another in his stead. Meaning the Dude left for Hawaii at 9:30 am, and the Fine Young Man flew in at 9:30. We picked him up, and headed to Applebee's (I have to say that I actually think Denny's does a better job and a cheap, yet hearty breakfast.) for brekky, where we sat for over an hour, sipping orange juice and bottomless lemonade while listening to his adventures in Las Vegas at Nationals. At one point, he had us laughing so hard we were trying not to pee our pants. He had a fabu time, learned a lot from watching others, made new friends, and strengthened relationships. After that, we drove to two different Joann's, hoping to find more paints on sale. No such luck, but we had a wonderful time together.

I have heard from my Dude several times. He made it safely to Heelo, but it took all day Saturday to get there. He has been so sweet, sharing this adventure with me over the phone. He had Sunday to play and sightsee a bit before he starts working today. So far, he has let me listen to birds and frogs over the phone, taken me hiking to a volcano, shared his dinner with me a couple of times, and (the best part) showed me a wonderful hawksbill turtle in a tidepool, waiting for the tide to take her back out to sea. We have looked at the beautiful green water, watched sunrises together (He is 3 hours behind us instead of the usual 3 hours ahead when he travels.), and have enjoyed people watching. Isn't it amazing how much can be done over a cell phone? Seriously, his open sharing about how amazing a place Hawaii is has made it much easier to be gracious about not being able to share it in real life with him.

Sunday was spent at Unity, and then with Gramma. Man do I feel blessed that she is here to enjoy several times a week. She makes my day whenever I am lucky enough to be with her.

I had a hard time sleeping last night, so we got up on the late side this morning. I am just getting ready to make a do list for this week. There are errands to run, meals to cook, chores to be done, gardens to weed, bills to pay, kids to teach, and art to make. The usual.

Kids are out on the back deck, grilling a steak. The Boy is very confused by the fact that I asked him to grill a steak for brekky- I guess he hasn't tried steak and eggs before. The steak was starting to go, and this way we can nibble on it here and there. After brekky, I will hang out the wash to dry, and weed the blueberry bed. I also have a zillion phone calls to make.

Talk soon.
LB

Shopping list with a bit of product review

2008-06-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

I guess I have been doing a fair bit of work in the studio, otherwise, I wouldn't be out of or running low on so many things! I know some folks don't like reading blogs with lists, but too bad- this is what is on my mind today.

1. More soy silk roving. For now, I will content myself with someone else's dye choices. Here is what I am looking at- one of every color she has- I wish!

2. Dye-na-flow paints. The last time I bought these, I did so in the 2.25 oz. size, as I hadn't used them much and I wanted to sample the bright colors. The next time I order, it will be in the 8 oz. size at the smallest. I need more bright greens and more blues. These have proven to be a very versatile paint, that works well on silk, cottons, and the good-quality homemade papers.

3. Lumiere Paint in Citron. I use this color more than any other. (Side note: If anyone had told me 20 years ago that I would fall in love with the lime green color family, I would have laughed in their face. I used to be so married to blues, and told myself I hated greens. Now not only do I love lime green, but there really isn't a color I would label as ugly- not one.) I also love the Halo colors- blue gold, pink-gold, and violet-gold. I was recently introduced to Stewart Gill paints- specifically the Byzantia and Metamica lines, and told they compared to Lumiere. I bought a couple colors of each line and have been playing with them a bit. They are nice-very rich colors in a thick paint, but the colors are very similar, so for the price, I think Lumiere is the best deal.

4. What I do want to try from Stewart Gill are their Bijoux Blends and Fresco Flakes. I think these would be fun to experiment with, on some of the big panels I want to do. These are pricey too, but I think they might be worth it. I will let you know if I get some.

5. Another thing I need in larger quantities are some gel mediums. I am very disappointed in Michael's. They stopped carrying all Golden products in favor of the Liquitex brand. I am not nearly as satisfied with Liquitex- it is cheaper (which was Michael's excuse for carrying it versus Golden), but it shows. The quality is just not near what Golden's is. To be honest, I could have been getting my gels and mediums online at cheaper prices for some time, but I was being nice by buying locally from Michael's. Not anymore. Funny thing is, the day I went in, the man who helped me said that I was the THIRD person that day to ask what happened to the Golden products. I think they may seriously regret the decision to not carry them. Rant over.

I need fine garnet gel (I can't wait to try this!), more fine and coarse pumice gels, and some Micaceous iron oxide, which I hear is fabu to use with water pastels and crayons. I really want to try this, as I have discovered that they don't work too well with gesso. I also need some self-leveling clear gel, and some more molding paste, both of which you can read about here. These last two items are used with the acrylic paints I love so much, mostly for collage techniques.

6. Some other things I need but am not sure where to get them are good quality (but not too expensive) stencil brushes and also some stencils and stamps. I really, really love the inexpensive abstract (a pattern, but not a duck or a star) foam stamps you can get at Joanne's and Michael's, but have all the ones they sell already. I am thinking of checking out the dollar stores.

7. Another type of product I have tried recently and fallen in love with are the color wash sprays. These are wonderful ways to add color to the fabric paper I have been making.

I have tried the Radiant Rain misters by Luminarte, which are bright and very sparkly, but have a distinct and icky odor that lasts after it has dried. Luminarte is the company that makes the fabu Twinkling H2O's that I love so much, so I was surprised how unimpressed I was with the misters.

Another color wash spray I tried recently is the Adirondack color wash spray. The colors are interesting on these, but the sprayer doesn't work well, and I keep ending up with drips and dribbles instead of a nice even spray. I put some into a cheap spray bottle, but if I am going to spend money on these, I think they should come in a better quality spray bottle.

I have also tried the Tattered Angels Glimmer mists. I really love the colors on these, and want more. The coverage was great, the colors bright, and no yucky smell when using them. I want many more of these colors. They are a bit pricey, but the colors are amazing, the bottles large and the sprayers are good quality.

When I was in Alabama visiting Dy, we went to a HobbyLobby store, where I convinced her to spend a lot more money on art supplies for the kids than was probably necessary, but you know already what an enabler I am when it comes to kids and art, right? Anyhow, while there I came across a Memories Mist spray in a lovely blue, that was almost half off the price. I should have grabbed them all. This has become one of my faves, and I want to order some more colors of it too. The only even slightly negative thing about these is that the mist area is quite small. That you can control it that much is good for some applications, but it made it hard to cover a large area of paper or fabric without using a lot of spray.

That is all I can think of for now. I have been researching online and looking for the best prices. I wish there was one store that had everything for the lowest prices. Joggles has almost everything I need as well as exquisite service, but their prices are not low. Dick Blick and Jerry's run head to head on prices, varying only a few cents from product to product, but Dick Blick is more likely to have the larger sizes. Jerry's sends out email coupons all the time, but you usually have to spend a minimum of $85. to use them. Dharma Trading company has the best prices on the fabric paints, but you have to order in quantities of ten or more to get those good prices. Not always worth it, and not always possible to do when each container of paint costs $10. or more.

So in order to get everything I need at the best prices, I will most likely have to do 4 or 5 orders. This will take me some time. I think it is time to start a price book for art supplies. To keep track of who has what for the best price. Like I don't have enough to do!

Talk soon,
LB

Question of the Day:

2008-06-20T09:20:00.000-07:00

So, speaking of learning to dye fibers, does anyone know how to dye soy silk roving? Are there any tutorials online that anyone knows of? This is one thing I have come to love, and would be willing to learn to dye myself. It is so much cheaper to purchase it in it's natural state, and I am using a ton of it.
Thanks,
LB

Updated to add some info (gotta love Google).
Here is a blog article with some instructions on dyeing soy silk.

Wow! Where did that week go?

2008-06-20T08:11:00.000-07:00

Uh oh. It has been almost a week since I posted again. Where did this week go? Life has been so very full and busy, and we have done lots of good stuff, but it is hard to remember it all. In no particular order, just to catch you up a bit, since last Saturday:

We have seen Gramma twice- On Sunday the Girl mowed her lawn while I pulled weeds and talked to my big sister, and the Dude walked around the yard with Gramma, trimming this, and cutting that. On Wed, we took her shopping and visited a bit.

We had an enjoyable visit with the B family and our group of friends there Sunday evening. Ribs and salmon, and chocolate cake (Pamela- yes, it was the same cake we made for your hunny oh so long ago- the Choc. Town Special.) were had by all. I even let myself have a Mike's.

The Girl has been catching up on her Latin and Math, and she met two new neighbor girls, with whom she has been riding bikes in the evening, while I walked around the neighborhood with the Dude. My goal (one of the many!) is to really dig in and start exercising daily. It has been nice to just have the Girl around, focusing on her, and spending time with her. She is growing up so fast, and is really showing signs of being a teenager.

I did some studio work this week. I completed all of the lessons in the online classes I was taking that involved techniques I hadn't done before. Several of the techniques in the class were not new to me, so I chose to focus on the ones that were new to me. I have also been working with silk fusion a bunch, and have started my first long panel of that. I will take pictures once it is completely dry. I made a couple of silk hankie bowls, but am not really happy with them- they just aren't appealing to me, took a lot of silk paint (need to order more Dye-na-flow paint), and just aren't very interesting or practical once finished. But I learned a lot from doing them, and that is what counts.

I have always said that I didn't want to learn to dye my own fabrics- too much effort, time and money spent- that I would rather spend time working with predyed fabrics instead, but I have been dabbling a bit with dyes and paints in these classes, on silk, and on paper. I have had a really enjoyable time painting (dyeing) the papers. One of the goals for this summer is to build up a stockpile of many surfaces- paper, fabric, lutradur, dyed paper towels, etc. that I can use this winter when I am stuck outside. I am slowly transforming the back deck into an outdoor studio- the plastic picnic table is great for dyeing, and painting; and the clothesline and water faucet are both very close to the basement/studio door.

In other studio news, I am working hard at building up a bunch of stuff to post in the Etsy shop. I met a wonderful woman last week who gave me a bunch of tips on using Etsy effectively, so I am following her advice on that. So far, I am finishing up several UFOs and getting several small projects finished. My goal is to have a bunch of stuff ready to go into the shop by the end of June. So far so good on that plan.

Speaking of the clothesline, when I got back from one of my recent travels, I discovered the kids and the Dude had rehung my clotheslines, and added more, so that I had 6 of them! I was very happy with this surprise. But the clotheslines keep falling down, so we need to get them restrung, and done stronger so that I can use them.

The Boy hasn't been in contact much this week, but I have talked to him a couple of times. Although he did not make the first cut at Nationals, he is having a good time. He is learning a great deal from watching rounds in other events. He comes home tomorrow morning, and it will be good to have him home and hear all about his trip.

The Dude and the Boy will literally be passing each other at the airport. The Boy comes in and the Dude leaves, both in the nine o'clock hour Saturday. The Dude is headed for two different island of Hawaii and will be gone all week. He is very excited (and I for him) to get to see this part of the world, and all its flora and fauna for the first time. I am only a bit nervous at the thought of parenting alone all week.

That is it for now- I need to get the Girl up and moving, and I want to do a bit of gardening before it gets too hot out (supposed to actually get into the 70's today!!), and then get some work done in the studio. I am not sure what I will work on- I need to make a list I guess.

I do just want to say that I am sorry I am not blogging regularly- I know I keep saying that, but honestly, I still haven't figured out how to get the balance right. I am no longer wasting all day away at the computer doing nothing- my house is (fairly) picked up, I am in integrity with the laundry, and I am in the studio several hours a day. So I am living life fully, and it seems I haven't figured out yet how to work the daily blogging (with photos, sigh) into that equation. But I will.

Okay, really signing off now- create a great day for yourselves!
LB

Tidbits: short and sweet

2008-06-14T12:15:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks!
I am busy again, so here are just a few tidbits for you- link away!
1. The Fine Young Man is here. Think First Place Thoughts! And no, I am not locked up. I have come so far from when my baby girl traveled a year ago.
2. This is what Piano Girl and I did last night. We had a blast, and met lots of fun new folks.
3. This is my new phone, with which I am becoming acquainted today. This was my old phone. Quite a difference, hmm?

Okay, off to plant seeds, do laundry, program my phone, and make art.
TTFN,
LB

Random tidbits.

2008-06-13T13:38:00.000-07:00

I am here, busy excrutiatingly busy. In no particular order, I am charging my new cell phone (old one died this week), trying to get more work done on my online classes, washing laundry, helping the Boy to pack, ferrying kids to this and to that, buying chicken food, picking up the Boy's suit from being altered, folding laundry, paying bills, running downstairs to add another log to the fire, or to add a fresh layer of paint, running errands to the post office, and the grocery, supervising piano practice, doing dishes, copying cake recipes for friends, ordering high school transcripts, blah blah la la la la la.

What else? I have created my Etsy shop, and am taking photos of items ready to add. It should be up by Sunday. The only things left to plant in the garden are carrots, beets, and radishes. Hopefully do that tomorrow. The Boy leaves at 6 am tomorrow morning. I don't want to talk about it. I plan on doing as much art as possible while he is gone, to use my time well, and to keep my mind off the fact he is in Las Vegas, trying to be first in the nation in Humorous Interp.
We are supposed to go to the B family's on Sunday, after visiting Gramma, for one of our barbecues. I will try to update soon.
LB
I have been taking photos, will hopefully post them this weekend. Lots to do, lots to do.

Tidbit: Weird weather

2008-06-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

Dy is gonna hate me for this post, poor thing. It has been normal weather for her- hot and humid, with an extra side of hot. I so wish she could be here for some of this wonderful, yet weird for this time of year weather.

Here in the pacific northwest, it has been very strange. In the mornings, it is 45 to 50 degrees out. It sometimes gets up into the mid 60's during the day, and then heads back down at night. It has been raining, raining, raining. Raining the way most folks think it does on a normal basis here, but really doesn't. Usually, living in this luscious temperate rain forest, we get rain spray, or when someone asks if it is raining, we can say, "Nope, it's just spittin' at us.". Usually, we don't really need an umbrella. But lately, the rain has been those big fat drops that mean business. And the wind! It has been so very windy here that Papa had to tie down the baby fruit trees! It blew so hard yesterday, the power was actually out a few hours. And there was snow in the pass yesterday! They were expecting a foot of snow. Can you believe it?

For some folks, this would be cause to complain. They are missing our normally sunny weather. But not me. I am loving it. The sun will come eventually, and I will be hot and uncomfortable, and wish for the wind and the rain. So for now, I am enjoying this for all it is worth. I have chili cooking on the stove, and a fire going in the woodstove in the basement. I am wearing a sweater and thick socks. I love it. Sorry Dy. You remember that commercial where Brooke Shields says, "Don't hate me because I am beautiful."? Well, don't hate me because it's only 55 degrees here.

Cooly yours,
LB

Tidbit: Enjoy it while you can.

2008-06-10T10:24:00.000-07:00

I have been doing my very best to be in bed by 10 pm, so I can be rested and up at 7, getting the kids up at 8, and being intentional with my time, so they get their schoolwork done, I get household chores done, and then can feel free to be in the studio. Except for today.

Last night, when I went to bed at 10:30, the Dude was already asleep- in the middle of the bed, stretched out in an X shape, so that with his arms and legs stretched out he was taking up the entire bed, and was doing that snoring/apnea thing where he snores and then doesn't breathe for a second. It freaks me out, and I worry about him, but he refuses to do anything about it. Anyhow, it was very hard to find a little spot to curl up in, and I really didn't want to curl up, so I went down and slept on the futon couch in the living room. The things we do for love, hmm?

Aaahhh. It felt good to stretch out with the cats, and it was nice to make my multiple middle of the night potty runs without having to blindly negotiate the stairwell. I actually slept very well, and woke up at 7, and was checking my email and blog-cruising. Until my dd got up a bit later, complaining of stomach cramps. She crawled onto the futon, laid her head on my lap, and crashed. I sat there, reading blogs for a bit, stroking her hair, and then it just hit me- how big they both are, and how they aren't little babies who want to be cuddled any more. So, I did what any mother would do, given this chance. I put the laptop down, skooched her over a bit, and laid down with her cradled in my arms; listening to her breathe, I conked out happily for an hour. Now it is past 10 am, and we are a couple hours behind our normal routine, but I am very happy to have been able to be with her like that. Happy mama sigh.

Off to cook bacon,
LB

Paper quilts lesson 3

2008-06-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

And here are some finished (and almost) finished projects from Lesson 3.

In this lesson, we used a stiff interfacing (I used Stiffy, and yes that is the brand name, and no, you cannot make off-color jokes about it.), Misty-fuse, and commercial scrap-booking papers to make an interesting surface.

For the first one, I tore 1 inch pieces of the papers. I was supposed to make a triangular vase, but could not get into the idea of that, so I procrastinated for a week, going back and looking at the surface every now and again, and then I decided to make a bowl.

Here is a 5 X 7 piece of the surface. I can turn this into a card later. You can get an idea of the colors and stitching on this piece.

Here is the bowl. This photos shows the inside surface.

Here is the bottom of the bowl. When I make these out of fabric, they are reversible, but the paper surface made this very stiff, so it is not reversible.
Here is my Fine Young Man, taking a break from his studies to hold the bowl for me so you could see it in scale. It is twelve inches square. Isn't my Boy handsome? I am working on not hugging him constantly in anticipation of his being gone all next week at Nationals.
Here is the other surface I made for this lesson. For this one, instead of squares, I ripped strips of paper, and then Misty-fused them to the Stiffy. Stop that. I heard you giggling. Then I stitched it down, and stamped it up a bit. This is supposed to be a kleenex box cover, but I think I will turn it into a box.

That is all for now. In order to post more, I need to get my bum down to the studio depths and do some more work. You have no idea how messy it is down there right now- when I am working hard, the floor is just covered with threads, paper bits, etc. Guess a messy, creative studio is better than a clean, empty one, hmm?

TTFN,
LB

Photo update: Paper Quilts lessons 1 &2

2008-06-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from my Paper Quilts class. Here are my finished assignments from lesson one and two. The first thing we did was to make some fabric paper. I had made this before (see this post, and this post.), so was familiar with the technique. This time, I wanted to make a rainbow of colors of fabric paper to have on hand to use. I used both the wet technique of putting dyes, inks, and color sprays on the wet fabric paper; and the dry technique, where I painted the white paper once it was dry, with watercolor crayons, and twinkling H2O's. I really like the results I got using the last method- the colors seemed brighter and more intense.

Here is the pile of fabric paper in a rainbow of colors:

In lesson one and also in lesson two, we were supposed to make a little paper quilt of tulips. Instead, I made 3 birthday cards, which I needed to get done by Saturday. Sorta killed two birds with one stone in that I needed to make cards, and each one has fabric paper in it. I attached the 5 X 7 paper quilt to canvas cards. Simple beauty.

The first one is so shiny and glimmery- I love the color variation on the tulip and the leaf.
This next one did not photograph well, but uses green and purple fabric paper, Angelina fibers, and a scrap motif of a paper fan in the shape of a peacock.
This one is a bit different, and you have to look sideways. This is a batik fabric frog patch, surrounded by strip piecing of more batiks, that I had in my UFO drawer. The dark purple border around the edges is fabric paper.
There is one more project I was supposed to accomplish in lesson 2- when I get it finished I will post it.
TTFN,
LB

Yay! Art Content! One Assignment complete!

2008-06-04T09:32:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks! I actually have accomplished something in my online art classes! I have several sheets of fabric paper, and other surfaces completed, and now I am working on turning those surfaces into actual things. One of the assignments was to make a triangular vase from 3 long rectangles out of a fabric-paper surface. I wasn't inspired by this vase at all, and kept putting off it's assembly until it hit me- I could use the surface to make something else! So, I made a bowl. I love how easy to assemble these bowls are, and they are simply elegant. (Note: Blogger is not cooperating at the moment, so I will post a photo as soon as it will let me.)

Today is East Side day- Youth group at 6 pm, and taking Gramma shopping before that, as well as making sure school work gets done this morning, but I am hoping to squeeze in a bit of studio time before we leave. I have already washed, dried, and folded 3 loads of laundry (I am telling you- it is so much easier to be integrity with the laundry when I am only responsible for the Dude's and my clothes, plus the linens!) this morning, the dishes are done, and the kitchen has been swept. I was actually okay with the moms coming into my living room during art playdate on Monday. I like having a bit of order in the house.

About that studio time I mentioned above- I am working hard at being intentional in my studio time, and finishing some projects that have been sitting unfinished for close to a year now, so I can put them into an Etsy shop. This is another step towards being a "real" working artist, rather than a wanna-be artist who never finishes anything. I am focusing on being intentional, and being committed to my art as a career (in addition to being good therapy as well) from which I can be contributing to my family.

And a note about homeschooling- I have been homeschooling the kids formally for over 10 years now. Those who know me in real life know that over the last several years, this has become less enjoyable for me, and a great deal harder as the kids have become teenagers with attitudes, and as their work has gotten harder. I have decided that I will not be schooling them next year. We are looking into several online highschool/homeschool programs, and my role will become that of supervisor/cheerleader, instead of planner, executor, and administrator- in other words, I am giving them much more control of their education, so that I can focus more on the things that are meaningful to me. This should give me much more time to dedicate to my art. I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about this new change- don't get me wrong- I still believe in home education in a classical manner, but it just hasn't been working well for us lately, and I am just so ready to be done, and on to new things in my life. I have been putting the needs of my children before mine for the last 17 years, and I need to be able to focus on my own life without feeling guilty or selfish about it. Congratulate me and the children as we begin this new adventure! Of course, we will be schooling hard this summer to finish this year's work.

Well, that is all for now. I am going to head into the studio, and see if I can finish something else, and then when Blogger lets me upload photos, I will have a few for you.
T.T.F.N.
L.B.

2 word meme

2008-06-03T00:36:00.000-07:00

What the heck- I have nothing better to do and I am awake. Got this one from Miz Booshay over at Quiet Life.

Two-Word Meme

1. Where is your cell phone? charging, table
2. Where is your significant other? snoring, bed
3. Your hair? ultra short
4. Your mother? loving, intelligent
5. Your father? no contact
6. Your favorite thing? smiles, hugs
7. Your dream last night? Jungle Book
8. Your favorite drink? pomagranite juice
9. Your dream/goal? successful artist
11. Your hobby? reading, blogging
12. Your fear? armed break-in
13. Where you want to be in 6 years? successful artist
14. Where were you last night? at home
15. What you're not? thin, patient
16. Muffins? cinnamon rolls
17. One of your wish list items? art supplies
18. Where you grew up? Oregon, WA
20. What are you wearing? bath robe
21. Your TV? no cable
22. Your pets? 3 cats
23. Your computer? broken, overused
24. Your life? busy, blessed
25. Your mood? insomnia-laced
26. Missing someone? Dy, Mom-Bob
27. Your car? Manly Mazda
28. Something you're not wearing? hair bands ;-)
29. Favorite store? art supply
30. Your summer? garden, art
31. Like someone? every one
32. Your favorite color? all colors
33. When is the last time you laughed? just today
34. Last time you cried? during headache

Midnight tidbit from the studio depths

2008-06-03T00:21:00.000-07:00

Howdy. I want to be asleep, but am wide awake. I slept soundly from 10:30 to midnight, then woke right up. Happens sometimes. Doesn't help when the queen size bed seems to shrink- what with the 6 ft. tall Dude sleeping in the middle, the two cats occupying the bottom, and these pesky hot flashes, the bed seems much smaller than it is. So I am down here in the basement depths, in the dark, hoping to get sleepy again soon. Seven am is going to be here before I know it!
G'night!
LB

Monday Tidbits

2008-06-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

This weekend was full but good. On Friday, the kids cleaned (I supervised and cleaned the pantry/laundry room some more) the living room, kitchen, and bathroom in participation of having a little party for on of the Boy's Debate team members (I have written about her before) who was turning sixteen and hadn't ever had a party. She ended up coming over by herself on Saturday, and we ate fruit and chips, and gifted her with a ginormous chocolate cake, and a promise of a "real" party next year. And boy, did my living room just shine, it was so clean! Loved that I didn't have to do it, but wish it would get done with less constant supervision (Notice I didn't say "nagging".)

Early Saturday morning, the Dude and I headed for our local nursery, and got some more tomato plants, for a grand total of 38 plants this year. Less than we have had in the past, but they are in a smaller bed, and it is just crammed full! I also bought 2 peppers (which still have to go in the ground), two kinds of lettuces, bok choy, and some chard and kale starts. Those are all in the big bed now. All I have left is to plant some seeds: carrots, beets, radishes, and beans. Our friend from the debate team helped plant and did some weed-wacking with us. This most definitely is a young person I enjoy and would love to have hang around with me this summer.

I got a little bit of art done this weekend. Still plugging away at the lessons in the two online classes I am in. One of them has ended, the last lesson is delivered today on the other one. I still have four weeks to get stuff done for both of these classes before the yahoo groups are finished. I am making headway, but need to really push myself if I am to get the work done this month. Whose big idea was it for me to take these classes during a month when I was going to be traveling?!

Sunday I woke with a big headache that just got bigger and bigger as the day went on. I did do some studio work through it, but not as much as I would have liked. I didn't get over to see Gramma, either, which saddened me, but I will try to fit an extra visit in this week. I ended up sleeping much of the day, which was the right thing to do, as I awoke this morning feeling wiped, but not as headachey.

Today we have our art playdate, and are hopefully finishing up our fabric journals. After this, the girls want to start on sewing doll quilts, and doing some clay work for the summer. That should be fun! This has been a nice, low-key way to spend some time with three of my fave teen girls, and still do a bit of teaching.

TTFN,
LB

Cleaning up.

2008-05-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks.
I didn't update last night, so here is one for you. After piano, the kids and I headed over to the East Side, took Gramma shopping, and then after we dropped the kids off at youth group, we went back to her house and packed up a few things so she could come spend the night last night. We got home at 8:30, and I was in bed asleep by 9. Up early this morning to get the Boy off to classes, and then we three women hit the house. We hung about 6 loads of laundry out on the new clotheslines, and then we hit the laundry room. We pulled out the washer and dryer, cleaned them inside and out, dusting, vacuuming, and cleaning. It looks so much better in there. I realized as we were cleaning that one of the reasons this particular room is so dirty is that it is used for so many things: laundry room, pantry, kitchen, mudroom, and entryway. No wonder it was so messy!

Good news is that Gramma is going to come down again this weekend and help clean. We were trying to come up with a way to have a family beach weekend, but it didn't work out, and now I am glad, as my Mom is so good at this cleaning thing, and it really makes it more fun to do this deep cleaning when you have good company- someone to laugh at you when you fall through the trap door that you didn't know was under your dryer because of all the crap and crud covering it! Found many lost socks- I just hope we still have their mates.

Other plans for this weekend include more gardening, and some art time.

Gotta go- I have been so very tired lately- the Boy just informed me he has a band concert tonight (Why does he always wait till the last minute to tell me these things!!), so I think I am going to take a bit of a nap so I don't experience narcalepsy (sp?) during the concert.

TTFN,
LB

Tidbit: Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

2008-05-28T07:43:00.000-07:00

I'm here! I made it home Tuesday (stayed an extra day!), with the help of Dy to keep me awake on the long car ride home. Got to do something about the narcaleptic car rides though- I was nodding off and had to pull over way too many times. Sleep-reading is one thing, but sleep-driving isn't working for me.

I slept hard last night, and am well this morning. We have a piano day today instead of tomorrow. I will update again tonight. Hope all is well with everyone.
TTFN,
LB

Tidbit: On the road again..........

2008-05-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks!
So, it is 8:30, and I am just now leaving, 2 hours later than I had planned. But it was probably better that I got 7 hours of sleep last night, rather than fall asleep on the road, hmm? I have my flutes, art supplies, and walking stick packed, but still cannot find my camera. Sigh.

I will be back late Monday. I may blog from my sister's, but may not. My goal is to be support, however she needs it, so blogging may not fit in. But I will try to make some art while there, and will take pics with the Boy's camera on return. I so have a hankering to use my fun watercolor paints on an Oregon sunset. I am not happy about the reason for my trip to the ocean, but my soul will rejoice in going home to my birthplace, I know.

TTFN,
LB

Tidbits: Gardens, art, laundry, and support

2008-05-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks! I am here, keeping myself so busy I have little time for blogging. I miss blogging, but I am getting stuff done in my life, and that is worth it.

Mr. B. came over on Friday and tilled both my big garden beds. The Dude bought me 20 bags of steer doo, which I need to get into the bigger of the two beds this week. Once that is done, I will need to plant it. We went to the glorious garden party on Saturday. As a result, I have 24 tomato plants in the ground, but I still need to buy about that many more to have enough to can and donate. I have several squash and cuke plants to still get in before this weekend.

On the art front, I spent all last week working down in the studio, getting it organized and cleaned up. I am currently enrolled in two online mixed media surface courses, so I got started on the first lessons in each of those. I don't have anything finished to take photos of yet, but I am planning on working daily, so hopefully will have photos soon.

I am officially on laundry strike: I am only doing the household laundry (kitchen and bath towels and our bed linens), and the Dude's and my clothes. It is still a lot of laundry, but I am making headway. Not worrying at all about the kids' laundry is very freeing.

My oldest sister lost her mama (we share our father, but not our moms) on Sunday morning, and is doing about as well as you would expect, and needs some lovin', so I will be leaving Friday morning to drive down to the Oregon Coast (my birthplace, and one of my fave places in the whole world) and spend the weekend with her. I may go down again next weekend for the memorial if she needs me to. I plan on taking art supplies, but will do whatever she needs me to do.

That is it for now. I am headed to the laundryroom to put another load in, will fold a bit, and then down to the studio for a bit.
T.T.F.N.
LB

new coop part 2

2008-05-14T14:42:00.000-07:00

Here is the inside of the new coop. So far, there is this one rimmed shelf running all around the edges. We can add more shelves above or below this one as we get more chickens. See? They like it. Today was the first day one of them actually laid an egg in the new coop!
Here is Lucy, mad as heck that she is on the inside when there are bugs to eat (I was weeding- she loves to follow me around and eat the slugs off my garden gloves), trying to peck Winnie, who seems fascinated by the big lady-birds. The white bits on the ground are shredded paper bits the Girl had used when we were out of cedar shavings.
Here is Piano Girl, holding one of the new babes. Again- except for Winnie, they all look the same to me, so who knows which one she has! Look how grownup and serious my Girly looks!
Here is the Boy, sitting in the bed he is supposed to be weeding, taking a wee break with one of the babes. I think this was Sweetie. Look how long my Boy's hair was. It was all poking out in all directions from his head. I say was, because we shaved it all off for him this morning, just about a half hour after this was taken. He looks very handsome. And serious.
That's it for chicken photos for now. Thanks for visiting the homestead. Amy, are you hyperventilating at all the bird photos? I promise I make the kids wash very good with your soap when they are done holding the birds.
LB

New Coop part 1

2008-05-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks! How 'bout a chicken update? Before I show and tell the new coop and the new babies, I would like to let you know that we lost the Girl's favorite pet chicken, Goldie, while I was in AL. She got sick, seemed to get better, and then I got the fateful phone call from a teary Girl, all in the space of a few days. We don't know what was wrong, but none of the other chickens are sick, so that is good. My Girly handled it all by herself, with her usual grace and strength, prying the dead chicken's cold feet off the perch, wrapping her in an old towel, digging the grave, and giving Goldie a nice prayer and a few kind words, before burying her next to her chicken-sisters' graves. Only at this point did she let herself shed a few tears. I was so sad for her, and so proud of her. Rest in peace, Goldie, you were a great chicken, and a good pet to the Girl.

(Click to enlarge the photos, if desired.) Here is the part of the chicken yard where the coops and runs are. On the left, is the little coop where the 8 new babies are staying. Then you see the run next to it, where the old girls are for now. When the babies get a wee bit bigger, we will move them into the run, and the old girls will go into the little coop at night. Inside is the old rabbit hutch that came with the chickens we rescued 2 years ago. The boxes poking out from the sides of the hutch open up, as does the top of the hutch itself, for easy egg gathering and cleaning. If you click on the photo, you can see six of the new little girls exploring the yard.

Sorry about the chicken wire, but that is the way it goes. Here is a good shot of the remaining three old girls- Annabelle is the Rhode Island Red in the hutch, and Chickie-Boo (the Golden) and Lucy (the silver one), the Wyandottes are on the ground inside the run, trying to peck the littles on the outside there. The little white one is Winnie the Peep, and I have no idea which one is with her- they all look alike to me. Look how big they are getting though! For the record, the new babies' names are as follows: Annie, Clarabelle, Henrietta (these three are all inspired from Thomas the Tank Engine stories, in honor of our two-yr old friends), Dottie, Hannah, Sally, Sweetie, and Winnie.

Here is the door to the run, and the new coop.
Sigh. I took these on the Boy's camera, and don't know how to make the photos go right side up, but will post it anyhow. Here is the new coop. It butts up against the shed. That is Lucy in front, and Annabelle's behind there to the left of the door opening.
See the next post for more coop photos.

Tidbits: Self-pitty in the past and garden time.

2008-05-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

Howdy! I am here, and done feeling sorry for myself. That is pretty much how I spent the whole day yesterday, and it felt so wasted, and I felt very isolated. Enough of that!

Today, we are schooling, and working on clearing the garden beds. I also have some bills to pay.

Our dear friend Mr. B. is going to bring his tiller over on Friday and help till my garden, so we must get it ready! The kids are already outside, so I must get out there. PG has her baby chickens out- I will try to find my camera (I *THINK* I brought it home from Dy's, but cannot find it anywhere!) and take some photos of them and the new coop- they have really grown!

That is it for now- I will post more later, just wanted you to know I am here and done with yesterday's pity party.
Hugs,
LB

Aarrgghh!!

2008-05-13T09:17:00.000-07:00

I started a post for you way back on Saturday, but just haven't had the heart to finish it. I have been cleaning, reorganizing, decluttering, teaching, and sleeping, in that order, since I got home, and it seems to be taking all my time and energy, so when I get to the computer, I just don't have the interest or fortitude to blog. At least that's what I have been telling myself. Sigh. I need to work on my attitude, don't I?

My mom was going to come down and help me with this house today, and she just called and canceled at the last minute, and now I am starting to go into overwhelm. I need to get a handle on this house, the messy, unused studio, and these disobedient, unruly kids. I will try to get to the blog later today, but can't make any promises.

Sigh. I wish I was still on vacation at Dy's house. I miss her and we made a really good team. Two mamas make dealing with everything all at the same time so much easier, and so much more fun!
LB

Tidbits: Blogging from Dy's, part 2

2008-05-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks!

I am having such a fantastic vacation here! I am not sure I have ever been made to feel so welcome and so much a part of the family when visiting. Alabama is beautiful (except for the ticks- I have now witnessed the removal of two of them, and the scorpions-ewww), the birds are singing all the time, the trees blowing in gentle breezes (and it isn't too hot- we timed this visit beautifully), and I am being so well fed and regularly loved on by babies and big kids- how could I not be having a wonderful time?

yesterday I held the wee babe for 3 hours straight- what bliss!!! And the children and I made art out under the trees for several hour, too. This is better (and cheaper) than therapy.
Friday is going to come way too fast.

Dy took a mess of photos and posted them today. Go here to check them out.
Love and hugs,
LB

Tidbits: Blogging from Dy's, part 1

2008-05-03T07:38:00.000-07:00

Happy squeal! I am here and doing fine! So far I have seen a cardinal, and heard unfamiliar birdsongs, experienced a thumderstorm (all we got of the tornadoes), had blackeyed peas and roasted chicken, kissed and cuddled a sweet little mouse of a babe, shared my tea with toddlers, and listened to kids play Ode to Joy on the keyboard. Happy sigh!

It is beautiful country here, and I have been made to feel so welcome. Dy and Zorak have done such an amazing job on this house, and the children are just about the most well-behaved kids I have ever met. Very sweet and affectionate.

Tat's it for now,
LB

Hi! Did you think I fell off the edge of the planet?

2008-05-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

I didn't (the earth is ROUND, ya' know!), but it has been a crazy-busy time here lately. We got in from our conference trip about 2 am Monday last week, and hit the ground running. I was single parenting, and managing all our commitments, and trying to get well, and just couldn't make myself care about blogging. You know I still love and appreciate you even when I don't blog right? I have to admit, being away from the computer has been a great thing, and I am doing so much more in my real life.

Yesterday was my baby Boy's birthday. He isn't a baby or a boy any more. He is a tall, kind 16 yr old. Happy Birthday to the Fine Young Man! We spent the day at the zoo and had a wonderful time. One thing we reall love is to go into the day/night exhibit and having close encounters with the animals there- yesterday it was a slow loris, Edward the armadillo, and a tawny frogmouth. We also got to visit up close with a siamang. Love the zoo. What a fun way to celebrate.

Today I am desperately trying to get into integrity before I leave for Alabama tomorrow. This means advance prepping for my S.E.L.P. class tonight, running errands, packing, finishing up unit study plans so the Dude can easily monitor the kids and they can teach themselves (lots of websites, reading, and narrating back to him), etc.

I will try to blog from Dy's and I know she will take lots of photos and blog my visit, too. Have a safe weekend and next week, and I will see you all soon.

Tidbits: Freeform to do list

2008-04-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

Okay. It is Wed at 11 am. Freeform is all I have in me.

I rose at 6 to wake the boy, had him to school by 7. Enjoyed a good morning call from my Man.
Head pounding, back to bed till 9:30. I slept right through the alarm I never sleep through.

GodFather's peptalk, Excedrine, and a loooonnngg hot shower have me feeling human again.
Today's aromatherapy: The Foil Hat's Green Tea and Linden soap. Her Sinus soap (can't remember the catchy name with my head like this.) would have been perfect.

The luggage is on one couch, laundry on the other.
Off to run yesterday's errands, love on Gramma, and buy a bunch of meds.
Deliver chicks to our chicken-sitters, and be chicken-sitters ourselves.

Race to pick the Boy up on time, and get ready for our weekend adventure.
Will pack art journaling supplies, tarot cards, and my sunhat.
Some C.S. Lewis, and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, too.

Thanks for the thoughts, I am ever manifesting my healthy, joyful self.
Hugs, and I will talk to you on Monday. And I will be healthy and happy.
LB

Tidbits: In no particular order.

2008-04-15T18:24:00.000-07:00

Tidbits- In no particular order:

You may have noticed an absence of your favorite turtle fan. I seem to be taking a blog break due to being sicker than a dawg, and sounding like one too. My aim is to be well enough to fly to Los Angeles and the end of the week so the kids and I can represent UnityBellevue at the AGAPE conference there this weekend. Yes I will blog about it when we get back, and yes I will pack my camera, and the Boy's replacement camera came in the mail today, so he can shoot movies and learn how to post them for me. And I will be sure to put the pics on my camera onto the computer, so I can take lots more this weekend.

There is a pool at our hotel so Girly can practice her swimming- at 13, she is finally taking lessons. I know, she is old to not know how to swim, but we have let her take her time on this, and not being able to go into the water at all at Interlochen because she didn't swim was a bit of an inducement for her to overcome her childhood fears and start swimming. We all have new swimsuits (even me, sigh) , and new dress clothes we got at Value Village. They grow so fast!

A friend took the kids swimming for me tonight so I will fold laundry now and we will be in bed early tonight. The FYM has to be at the high school at 7 am for WASL testing. Errand running tomorrow- We get to be with Gramma, pick up her scripts and do a grocery run. Then check on the chickens we are sitting. Head back to the west side of the lake, finish delivering the bills and pick up my scripts. Come home, eat easy but healthy dinner and start packing. Kids each took on several household chores and washing my car (thanks for the suggestion Amy in O.

My Dude called and talked to us while we were in Value Village. He is so sweet. Even though he is on a business trip, he is keeping his promise to go swimming with the Fine Young Man tonight. He bought a swimsuit and is swimming laps at his hotel while the Boy is swimming them here at the community center. What a Papa. Smooches.

Here is a true tidbit for you- an interesting fact about the women in my family. For many generations, we have developed a fear of heights and claustrophobia usually beginning in our late 20's to early 30's. Piano Girl was hit early and was born with severe claustrophobia, agoraphobia, and aquaphobia. In her short 13 years, she has come an incredible distance! (Ask me to tell you her story some day- you can be sure her bathtimes weren't a ton of fun. ;-)

And (not quite) last but not least, a thank you to all y'all my invisible friends for your fun comments and kind words and well-wishes. I really soaked those up and and sending hugs back to you. If I had a voice more than a whisper right now, I'd sing to you. I'm proud of you.
(No really, ask them- I would. :-)

Speaking of singing, it makes me smile when my son hits his low notes. For a skinny Boy, he has a rich, deep voice.

Okay, going to rest while folding laundry eating a salad and strawberries, and watching Dancing With the Stars on YouTube. I know, I know. The dancing is just so beautiful and poetic. It reminds me of the fact that I wanted to be a gazelle when I was a girl. I loved to practice my leaping in the back yard.
Hugs to all y'all.
LB

Tidbits: various

2008-04-12T11:12:00.001-07:00

The whole family is sick with a really bad cold- green guckies, hacking coughs, bad headaches all around. It is after 11 am and I am the only one awake. We all feel really yucky.

We went to the Seattle Art Museum (google it please, I am too tired to link today) and saw the Roman Art from the Louvre exhibit last night. It was well worth the effort and was fantastic. If you live locally, you should really try to go. Having studied history with the kids made it so much more enjoyable.

I am going to try to be a weekend warrior even being sick, and
1. get the front section of fence weeded and my vines planted.
2. I also want to keep going on the decluttering of the studio project.
3. I have a slew of photos to upload, with lots of studio and baby chick photos.

Not sure when things will be up, but will try. Sorry the blogging has been so boring and sporadic lately.
LB

Tidbit: It's Thursday again

2008-04-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

Uugghh. Again. Headache still hovering. I am wondering if it is pollen or sinus related. It is wearing me down, though. On top of that, we're all coldy- coughing, runny noses, really sore throats. Sigh. That just happened overnight- the kids were fine last night. We are up early anyhow, getting ready to head for piano lessons. I won't let the kids breathe on the toddler, and we may duck out early. I am doing my very best to not be discouraged about how prone we are right now to get laid out flat by every little virus and cold bug that we encounter.

I will update later today. I hope this doesn't come off as too whiny, because I honestly am feeling grateful that other than a cold and a headache that we are all alive and well, and that our lives are full and filled with love. So many folks I know are going through so much worse right now.

Hanging in there, and hoping you are too.
LB

Tidbits: Uggh.

2008-04-08T22:48:00.000-07:00

Another migraine. I am so tired of this- the last month has been really bad, and today's was the worst of them- I haven't had this many migraines since I first started this blog 2.5 years ago. I was fine today, until about an hour after lunch (It was a wonderfully fun lunch with the Godparents.), during which I ate a large quantity of corn chips. I think tomorrow I will start eliminating corn, and the following week, take away wheat. It is a start. Something has to give here- I want to be fit and strong, not chubby and migraine-laden.

The Boy is coming down with something too- he is snarfing, snuffling, and coughing- again. I thought Spring meant being healthier- what am I missing here?!

Gramma forgot she was supposed to fast, and had coffee with cream this morning, so we didn't do the blood draw, which means I will get to see her several times this week: tomorrow night I will take her grocery shopping after dropping the kids at youth group, and then we will do the blood draw Friday morning.

Things will be better tomorrow, right? Off to bed with me now- I promise, promise, promise to put photos up tomorrow.

Tidbits: As the white rabbit would say........

2008-04-08T07:37:00.000-07:00

I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date! Can't say hello, goodbye. I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!

Thank goodness the Dude called this morning, or I would have slept straight through! I didn't completely set my alarm last night, and had taken a benedryl so I would rest, and I did- a good seven hours. Way better than my usual 3 or 4 when the Dude is traveling.

We now have to leave in 30 minutes, in order to take Gramma to the Dr.'s to have her blood draw (just routine for her thyroid & cholesterol levels, no worries).

Yesterday was good- hectic but good. I am very amazed that we progressed as far as we did on our fabric journal-making project. I had a total of four kids, and they all were helpful, patient, and just delightful as they learned how to safely irons, rotary cutters, and my sewing machine. It was crazy-busy, but really good.

I didn't do much in the studio regarding my week-long warrior project, but I did rearrange the tables- we shall see if that helps some.

I did take lots of photos, but need to get dressed and ready and out the door now, so I will do my best to post them later today. Meant to get some up last night, but Blogger was being poopy.

Hugs,
LB

Weekend Warrior: Another "during" update

2008-04-06T21:31:00.000-07:00

Hi! Thanks for all your kind comments and support so far. I am still working down here. This is quite a task! I have been taking photos as I go, and will post some tomorrow. I got through a lot of boxes and piles, only to fill other boxes and make more piles. I am keeping sight of my goal though, no matter how long this takes. Dy helped me a great deal by reminding me to think about the kind of art I want to make down here, and to really just keep the materials that will be used for that kind of art. A great deal of the stuff I have been tossing has been in our art cupboards for 5 to 10 years! I have to admit- I still have concerns about getting rid of some of it- spools and spools of ribbons, skeins of acrylic yarns by the boxful, piles of felt squares, etc. But if we haven't used it in 5 years, I am not goin gto miss it right? Right? I saved it for the kids, but that isn't the stuff they use- as long as I have tons of paints, papers, and sculpey, they are happy, so why is it so hard to give up the huge box of ribbon bits and bobs?!

The other thing I have to do is think about how I want my space arranged (thinking of moving the tables around to make more usable space), and how to best store the supplies I really do use often: fabric, paint, collage materials, fibers, paper, etc. The Dude came with me to the hardware store tonight, and I got some ideas, and he is going to help me come up with some storage solutions for the things I use the most. This is where the Studios magazine is both helping and harming- I will be happy if my after photos look as good as the before photos in the mag, lol. But the mag had lots of low-budget ideas for storing and organizing, and I do have a lot of options already.

One thing I have decided, with help from Dy, is that I want to put some of my fabric on the shelves behind the design wall. Mostly the stuff I love the most (batiks, japanese, bright colors, etc.) and want to be using for fabric collage. The unusual fabrics will still live in the plastic bins on the fabric wall, as well as some other supplies. I am not sure where I will store my books and bead boxes, but will figure that out this week.

The Dude is going to help me fix my wire baskets (I have some that don't have the side rails, that I got for free.) so I can put them under my paint table, and that will get rid of a lot of my paint table mess.

My paper cupboard is much more useable, but the little paper drawers need to be re-sorted and labeled. This is where my embellishments, and little doodads live, but they are a mess because I just throw stuff into any drawer after I use it- lots of that problem down here- little tubs and boxes with misc. stuff from a finished or set-aside project. Gotta get a handle on that.

Funny thing- it is hard to do this organizing and live my regular life too! As for what happened today that didn't involve the studio: I worshiped at the church of flannel sheets again this morning- sigh- this is getting to be a habit as I haven't been in 6 weeks, but I only got about 4 hours of sleep last night, being wide awake until 4 am.

After a nice brekky of avacado and bacon on toast, and a hot bath, I fetched Mama and she folded an entire couchful of laundry (I really should have taken a before photo of THAT!), helped with the dishes, and scrubbing of the kitchen, kept Piano Girl company while she baked bread and banana bread, and chatted with me while I made homemade chicken rice soup. We sent her home with two tupperwares of soup, half a loaf of bread, and lots of kisses.

The Dude and the Boy started the patio project, too. I will get photos of that tomorrow. I also owe the ladies on the WTM boards a photo of what I see from my front door. I better go charge my camera battery.

That's all for now- the Dude leaves for a trip tomorrow, so I want to go snuggle with him while I can, and get some rest tonight. See you tomorrow with photos. Not sure when I will post, as the Girls come for art playdate at 1 pm, I still have to get the studio ready for our big project, and I do want the kids to do some school tomorrow- it is Spring break at the high school, so the Boy will be able to focus on Green Dragon classes for a while.

TTFN,
LB

Weekend Warrior: A "during" update

2008-04-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I am pooping out, and don't feel like I got half as much done down here as I would have liked. I filled 3 boxes and a black garbage bag with stuff to donate, and half a black plastic bag with garbage. I cleared out many rubbermaid tubs, large and small, and decluttered the storage shelves in the little pantry under the stairs. I put supplies I don't use often but don't want to get rid of in those shelves, and labeled as I went. I cleaned up the paper cupboard, and there is room now to put other papers as I come across them.

I also made supper- we had roasted chicken, rice, green and yellow beans and carrots, and baked squash. I think part of my being tired is that there were various bouts of yelling and frustration on all parts, as the Dude and I tried to do our own projects in addition to supervising (read nagging) the kids getting last month's jobs done- The Boy finished up his wood stacking/chopping chore, and cleaned the moss off the roof and cleaned the gutters; the Girl got her baby chickens moved to the garage, and then cleaned up from them being in her room- all floors mopped, doorknobs sanitized, room aired out, etc.

I am tired, my feet really hurt, and my heart is heavy, but I guess it is some progress after all. I think I will keep going a little bit here- at least take some photos to post tomorrow.

Weekend Warriors: before pics part 2

2008-04-05T12:19:00.000-07:00

More before pics. Scroll down to the post before this one if you don't know to what I am referring. Much of the problem is how much stuff I am trying to store, and the fact that like items are not being stored with like items. Lack of labels is another issue I will try to deal with this weekend. Can you tell I was also inspired by the special issue of Studios magazine?

Weekend Warrior: before pics part 1

2008-04-05T12:12:00.000-07:00

Okay folks, both Miz Booshay, and Amy (there is a link to Weekend Warriors at Amy's blog) are participating in Weekend Warriors this weekend, and they both inspired me to take up the challenge. This was on my to do list anyhow, as I am supposed to be teaching a class in the studio on Monday, and it is horridly scary down here!

I am not going to comment on the individual photos right now, just going to post them, and then get to work. I will add comments above the photos later- if I spend time doing it now, I will never get to the hard work and there won't be after photos. I cannot believe I am saying this, but if you dare, you can click on the photos to enlarge and see all the mess, sigh.

Friday Feast

2008-04-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

I occasionally partake in Miz Booshay's weekly tradition of serving up a wonderful Friday Feast for her blog readers. I found today's questions particularly inspiring. I thought that I would post my answers here in addition to the comments section on her blog. Feel free to join me in the comments section with your answers.

Appetizer

Invent a new flower; give it a name and describe it.

Soup

Name someone whom you think has a wonderful voice.

Salad

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how clean do you keep your car?

Main Course

How do you feel about poetry?

Dessert

What was the last person/place/thing you took a picture of?

My answers:
Appetizer
Hmmm, it would be a rich lime green color with some bright lemon yellow highlights, have lots of beautiful long wide petals, like a daisy or a zinnia, and bloom prolifically on long stems so I could cut lots to bring into the house. I could call it "Bright Sunshine" or the "Glowflower".

Soup
There were some great voices listed at Miz B's blog- Patrick Stewart, Julie Andrews, Sam Neill, etc. This is a bit weird, but one voice I love is Dy's husband Zorak- he has the deepest, richest voice- I love it when he answers the phone. Don't worry, Dy knows I love her hubby's voice already, lol. But really, in all honesty, I love my children's voices the best- they took voice lessons this last summer, and they both sing beautifully. The lessons strengthened my Girl's voice, and smoothed the rough edges of my Boy's low deep voice, and it just makes me smile whenever they sing.

Salad
This last car has been kept the cleanest so far- it is about a 6 or 7, but I plan on making it a 9 this weekend.

Main Course
I love it! I love basic, children's poetry that is easy to remember and quote. I love Margaret Wise Brown's poems for children. I love to compose simple poetry to make kids laugh, or to put in a love note. My dh has written several poems- the ones I love the best are the birth story poems he wrote for each child.

I also adore A.A. Milne's poems-
The more it snows, tiddly pom,
the more it goes, tiddly pom,
the more it goes tiddly pom,
on snowing.
And nobody knows, tiddly pom,
how cold my toes, tiddly pom,
how cold my toes tiddly pom,
are growing.

Luckily, my kids like poetry too, and still remember many of the poems I had them memorize when they were little. They say them to our borrowed kids now and make them laugh. What a wonderful tradition!

Dessert
My Girl reading to our borrowed toddler, and the model of DNA my kids made out of K'nex. I hope to take some today of my new shoes.

See you in the comments!
LB

Wordless Wednesday

2008-04-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

Easter Egg decorating:

And the long-awaited new haircut (and double-duty gratuitous kitty) photo. We used the 1-inch blade on the electric clippers.

T.T.F.N.

A Tidbit- For all of you..........

2008-03-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

Hi there guys.
Howdy ladies.
Just a tidbit for my pals and my blog buddies.
A simple poem is all I can muster-
Guess I am a feather duster.
Headache and spelling quells not my mood,
with 8 windows open, vicadin and dwts- I'm doin' good.*
Therapy and love from blogs and boards- real or real not they may be.
But they are swell for chicks like you and little round turtles like me.

........for all you are to me.

*And I do have a migraine- all y'all know you wouldn't have passed up the chance to use the verb quell.
Insert Smilies and Hugs,
LB
aka Needleroozer

Monday checkin

2008-03-31T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hi. It's Monday, and I am down with some sort of flu yet again. This time it is body aches, a migraine-type headache, and severe dizziness. The Boy has the same symptoms. I will try to post later- it is hard to think enough to write at the moment. This has been a hard winter for me physically and I am looking forward to the warmth and health of spring.

I can tell you that the Girl did amazingly well at her adjudication on Thursday, and her Piano Teacher was just gushing with pride at Piano Girl's progress and her performance. Good stuff.

As Tigger says in the adulterated Disney versions of Pooh,
T.T.F.N.
LB

Tidbit: SNOW in March!

2008-03-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

Oh. My. Goodness. It is SNOWING!!! At the end of March!! The latest snow I can remember was in 1989, when it snowed on my birthday in early March. This has got to be some kind of a NW record! I will let you know if it is still here in the morning. I hope it doesn't stick, as Piano Girl has her last adjudication of the season tomorrow. Good thing we put the chicks in her room instead of the garage! Way too cold for 2 day old baby peeps.
T.T.F.N.
LB
Edited at 7 am to say that although the snow was particularly beautiful last night- big fat flakes falling in the dark, it thankfully did not stick. So we can safely get to piano lessons and adjudications today.
Phew!
LB

Wordless Wednesday- Bonus round

2008-03-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

Tidbit: Oh man! It's lost! And then found!

2008-03-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

I cannot find my camera anywhere. I am pretty sure I had it after the tournament on Saturday- I remember it being in my coat pocket. Only I think I took it out as soon as we got home, and now I can't remember where I put it. Story of my life. Sigh. I just hope I am remembering correctly, and it is in this house somewhere! I have something very cool to take a picture of to show you, not to mention my new haircut, and of course I have misplaced my camera. I will keep looking.

Updated to say I found it, sitting on a chair in the living room- Yeah. Right where I left it! Pictures are being taken as we speak!
LB

Wordless Wednesday

2008-03-26T08:11:00.000-07:00

Snowshoeing cousins

Happy Tidbit: She had the baby!!!

2008-03-24T23:31:00.000-07:00

Dy had a beautiful baby boy yesterday, on Easter! His name is Jason Thomas. He weighed in at 7lbs 4 oz, and was 22 inches long. And in less than 6 weeks, I will be able to hold and cuddle him, and smell his sweet baby head! I am so excited!

Go to Classic Adventures and scroll down a bit to see amazing photos of each of Dy and Zorak's big kids lovin' on their new baby brother. And while you are at it, say a little prayer, and wish them well, because when I talked to her earlier tonight, the big kids were all barfy and sick.

That's all I got. I am off to bed.
T.T. F. N.
LB

Just a note:

2008-03-24T19:41:00.000-07:00

To the young man from out of town who rang our doorbell 4 times last night beginning at 11:50 p.m.: I am glad you picked our house with the porch light on instead of the one belonging to our gun-toting neighbor. You must have been very tired and a bit scared to be lost in a strange city at that time of night after riding the Greyhound all day. I am also glad that all you wanted was to find your mama's house, and not to hurt anyone in ours. I hope you found your Mama's house.

But you should know that you did freak us out, and make me glad you rang our doorbell on a night when my Man was home- if he hadn't been, I would have had to call the police instead of answering the door to you. You should also know my Man was holding a huge walking stick with a metal cap behind his back, and was prepared to beat you to a bloody pulp if necessary. After you left, it took us quite a while to get to sleep, and it is going to be hard for me to go to sleep tonight, when my Man *is* away.

And I have a tip for you- in this city, it is probably best not to tell folks to call the police to help you if they are a tad reluctant to help, because the police may not have given you the type of help you were asking for- I'm just sayin'. I am also sorry that our world is such that we had to think twice (thrice, actually) before we opened the door to you.

But ultimately, I am glad you rang our bell- at that precise moment, both my Man and I needed a reminder of what truly is important in our lives, and how important we each are to each other, and you provided us with just that reminder when you scared the crap out of us by ringing our bell 4 times! Thank you, young man.

Sincerely,
The lady willing to let her Man open the door to you.

Tidbits: Life is good.

2008-03-23T00:21:00.000-07:00

Well, the Boy took 3rd in Washington state! He took 1st, 1st, and then 2nd in his 3 rounds, then took 3rd in finals! Woot! Woot!

Other amazing things for today:

I am very proud of all our kids- In addition to my Boy's 3rd place in H.I., we had a first in state for dramatic interp., and 3 finalists in H.I., as well as one in duo. 6 out of 7 of our kids went to finals.

I stretched myself and judged a humorous interp round, and a duo round- my first time judging. A bit stressful, but good to learn a new skill. His coach has been wanting me to judge for 2 yrs and I am glad I finally gave in.

I have to acknowledge my Fine Young Man here- I was sort of grumbling inwardly to myself that I thought he should have at least gotten second place, and was not feeling very gracious about the girl who took first place. I asked Boy what he thought about taking third, and he said he was so glad that the girl got first, as she is a senior and has really worked hard to improve her piece. He was so gracious it made me get off it fast and realize that he was right- she has really come far since the beginning of the year, and her piece really was very good. Is he not a Fine Young Man? He is actually capable of thinking of someone other than himself! He does listen, and I am not a lousy mother.

Another good thing: The High School Principal showed up for the final H.I. round, and stayed for the final ceremonies. The reason this is good? We are in danger of having the S & D program either cut completely, or the funds for it cut drastically next year. He was very impressed with the caliber of competition, the comraderie of the kids from different schools (very different than how competitor schools are treated in sports programs), and the commitment of the parents and teachers. This bodes well for the program continuing next fall.

I drove a total of 4 kids today, and one of them confided in me, and asked my if I would be her "mother figure". She and her brother lost her mother to a combo of MS and suicide when they were 10 and 12, and their dad is, well, tough. She has asked if she can come over and play in the studio with me. It made me feel good that I could be of service to her by simply listening.

All in all, a good day, but I am pooped. I think I may attend the church of the warm flannel sheets in the morning- I know it is Easter, but I am so tuckered!

Thanks for reading, and letting me brag on my Boy, and all my S & D kids and their coach- now we all get a break until it is time to start preparing for Nationals in June.

Happy Easter!
LB

Tidbit: Clutter and cleaning

2008-03-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

I just clicked to enlarge the photo of my cluttered kitchen table in the last post- don't look too closely folks- you can see my recycling that needs to go out, bags of groceries that still need to be put away, piles of school books, and clutter, clutter, and more clutter. Sigh. My whole house looks this way. I just realized that this week I have been focused on resting and being good to the kids, but none of us has focused on the house much. Why does it always seem that if we have schooled well, then the house is a pit? Meaning I can get some of it doen, but I never seem to get all of it done. It's okay, I won't panic, but it is frustrating.

So for today, we will get chicken feed, then come home, put the never-ending laundry around, and start on the living room. If the living room is tidied, and I can get my bed changed (yes, with help from the kids), I will call that good. My Man won't mind, as long as the kids are still alive.

I have some more photos to get up, too.
LB

Various tidbits

2008-03-20T23:35:00.000-07:00

Happy First Day of Spring! It was really a lovely day. It was supposed to rain, but barely did, and not till this evening. My neck was hurting badly last night, and then again this morning, but it is much better now. We had our usual toddler/piano day, got quite a bit of school in (We are doing well with that this week!), played the Dragonology game, listened to music, and started reading aloud the Easter Story in our worn copy of the New Testament. I had them in bed by ten pm, and you know what? The Boy actually went right to sleep! Yay! I have been sitting at the kitchen table working in my art journal, getting photos on the computer, and checking blogs.

The Dude called tonight and is very sick. Nothing like having the flu in a hotel room hundreds of miles from home. He should be home tomorrow night, late. I am actually pretty pleased with how the kids and I did while he was away this week. It has been a challenge, what with my sore neck and all the raging hormones, but all in all, we worked together well, the kids have been integrity with their schoolwork, and I haven't killed anyone or said anything nasty that I would later sorely regret. As Dy says, it's good stuff.

Speaking of Dy, she is in labor and has been for over 24 hours. It's moving slowly but she is hanging in. Think good thoughts. I cannot wait to meet this little person, and all her other little people in a few weeks! I am so very excited to get to finally meet her in person after talking on the phone almost daily for the last 6 years.

The Boy (and I, sigh) has the WA State Speech and Debate championships this Saturday. I am planning on packing lots of art supplies to keep myself busy, as we are pretty much gone from 6 am to midnight. Wish him luck, and me patience. Actually, this really is a fine group of kids, and they seem to have made me their honorary S & D Mom, so it's all good. After that, he will just be preparing for Nationals, which are in Las Vegas (Whose idea was it to let a bunch of teenagers loose in a city like Las Vegas- I need to ask if they need another chaperone!) at the beginning of June.

The Girl found out today that she received a gold seal and an SMTA musical excellence reward at her adjudications 2 weeks ago! This is pretty cool, and means that she is already accepted into the Octoberfest recital later this year, so won't have to audition for that. TBPTOTP was doing a happy dance in excitement that one of her students got a seal. Very cool. We have just one more adjudication for her a week from today, and then a recital in May. Then the season is over for a while- whew! I can use the break! Having the S & D and piano seasons at the same time was a bit stressful and tiring to me. Now that I know to expect this, it will be easier next year.

Tomorrow will be errand day as we are out of both chicken feed and cat litter. I also need to thoroughly clean the house. And especially the kitchen table- we have been having issues with people being on the computer in the kitchen supposedly to do their online writing class, and then playing online games instead of working, so today I worked at the kitchen table. It was messy, but fun.

Gotta clean and tidy up, have the kids help me change my bed linens (Nothing says "Welcome home, Dude, like clean sheets, but my neck is still to sore to do it myself, sigh.), etc.

Talk soon,
LB

toddler love

2008-03-20T23:23:00.000-07:00

Here is my borrowed toddler, Abe. Look how big he is getting! He is two and a half now, and is becoming such a little boy! Now before I show you these pics, you have to promise me that you will picture him saying "CHEESE!" every time I aim the camera at him, lol. Here he is doing a puzzle. Here we are talking and singing in the big blue chair. We spend a great deal of time here, reading, reading, reading; singing, singing, singing; and talking, talking, talking. And yes, I am wearing my Dude's tie-died shirt while he is out of town- who cares if it is flattering or not, it smells like him!
When PianoGirl heads down to the studio to practice, Abe likes to go with. We bump down the stairs on our bottoms, and he dances around the studio while PG plays. Today he sat on her lap and played for almost half and hour. I must have taken 30 photos just of the two of them playing.
He really got into it today, and PianoGirl was so very patient with him.
And even though this isn't the best quality photo because the sun was shining in the window right behind us, I love it. Abe had just given me the biggest open-mouthed toddler kiss, and was really enjoying being snuggled. He has been so very affectionate lately, wanting me to "carry you" and "hold you" much of the time. I am not complaining!
Abe is now tall enough to stand on a stool in the kitchen and "help" me make our lunches, and load the dishwasher. Sniff. Where did this little boy come from and where did our little baby go?!

Hope you enjoyed the Babyfix photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.
LB

Wordless Wednesday Medley

2008-03-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

Had a hard time picking just one today, so I didn't. These photos were taken just over a year ago, on a nature study group field trip I led at the Volunteer Park Conservatory. One of my favorite places to take photos and draw.
LB

Backyard layout

2008-03-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

So, in order to show you some of what we have been doing (ok, what Papa Dude and the kids have been doing) in the backyard, I thought we should start with some shots just to show you the whole backyard, so you can see how it is laid out. I took all these shots from the back deck of the farmhouse. (Feel free to enlarge the pics by clicking, Auntie P) We will start with the far left (south) side of the yard. You can see the cedar tree (the treehouse tree) branches at the left top, and part of the play structure in front of our NDN's (Next-Door Neighbor's) fence. You can see how we are trying to do a curved terrace here, following the lay of the land. Down in the curve, there are some stumps and rounds from where we took down the old plum tree (don't worry- we have about 6 more in there), but we are hoping to add more fruit trees here and make this part of the yard the orchard. So far, we have several plums, green and Italian, 2 apples (though not very healthy or of a good variety), and a peach tree. In the bottom right of the photo (where the round sled thing is), you can see just the corner of my biggest garden bed.
So here is the rest of the big garden bed; you can see that I am keeping it real by showing you that I never even pulled out all the dead tomato plants from last year. There are three little green plum trees that we took as starts from the old green plum tree at my mom's before we cut it down 10 yrs ago. They are finally settling in and doing well. You can see piles of wood yet to be stacked, and our interesting industrial view. In the summer, all we see is green trees, and then in the winter, we have this view. I actually enjoy watching the activity down there. You can see barges, and hear train whistles, etc. Along the little wooden fence are several honeysuckle plants that are just beautiful and smelly-good in the summer.

We have just a half acre here, but not all of it is usable. Where the trees start in the back there, the yard slopes down to a major road, and then the Interstate is right behind that. We are slowly terracing this hillside, there are trails down about halfway, and over the last 5 yrs, the Dude has cut out many dead trees, which the three of us then hauled up the steep hillside. We figure we have gleaned over 4 cords of wood from the hill behind our and the NDN's houses.
Then we have the chicken yard (with a very huge, old apple tree), what is left of my clothesline, and the shed, with a smaller garden bed in front. You can't see my asparagus bed well, but it is there, too. And yes, that is my dead water heater in the bottom corner. Just keeping it real folks.
Here is the blueberry bed, the old birch stumps, the herb beds, pear tree, etc. The white tripod is where my grapes are- they have done horribly the last 4 years, and I am worried about them. The sidewalk there at the edge of the house leads to the basement door and my studio.
Okay. Whew! Look for more backyard photos in the next post.

Yay! Art Content! Assignment complete, and ATC's

2008-03-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

I wrote in this post, about a journaling assignment (watch the video) from SuziBlu, wherein we were to draw our "power animal" in the Mola style. It only took me two weeks, but I finally finished one of the two turtle pieces I am doing for this assignment.

This piece is done with my koh-i-noor woodless colored pencils, which are very different from my Prismacolors or the watercolor pencils. Both the background and the base of the turtle were done with Twinkling H2O's. I like the combination of these two mediums. They kind of make the design look like it is glowing. Very cool. This (of course) looks much brighter in person. I am doing an ATC swap with Tami over at 101 Fairy Lane. I took these photos and will post them, but I would rather you went and looked at them at her blog, because her photos are so much better than mine! They show the colors so much better. Here are the ones I made for Tami. Our theme for this month was a tribute to Lemons and Lemondrop's world, so the one on left is for that. I also sent her a belated Valentine- on the right.

Here is the one Tami sent me, of a sweet lemonhead girl in pretty purples. Really- go look at these at Fairy Lane, ok? I am not sure why mine came out so blurry.
And just because she hasn't had hers taken in a while, a photo of Sparrow, our other kitty-toddler.
That's it for now.
LB

Tidbits: New Car, Hens, and Self-portrait-Before

2008-03-17T18:37:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, How was your Monday? Hope it went well.

I have been asked for photos of my new (to me) car. Here he is, in all his glory. His name is Almanzo, and I call him Manny and Manly for nicknames. Y'all know how much I like nicknames. And yes, it is straight out of the Little House books. You can see the old van in the background. I need to get it ready to be sold. Sigh. Something else on my to-do list today. (I did make my to do list for the week, and it is long!!)Here I am, posing. This is it- if you want a sexy, leggy blond slung over the hood of a car, you will have to look elsewhere.
And here is a closeup- consider it my before photo. I am keeping it real here folks, thus the bags under the eyes, the little mustache I have going, brows that need to be plucked (unless you like the Freida look), and that hair- oh the hair. It is so long! It is starting to curl up over my collar in the back, and is starting to bug me around the ears. And those dutch-boy bangs. Ick. Like I said though, this is the before photo- not sure what the new haircut will look like- I am at the point where I just may take the scissors to it myself, or hand the clippers to a kid. But by the end of this week, it will be short again- the way I like it! One thing I do like about this photo is that it shows my thinner neck and my lack of a double chin. Losing that 20 pounds really shows in my face (before the camera puts the weight back on). I am starting to look more like myself. Now if I can just lose another 20 pounds before my vacation in May.
And this next photo has nothing to do with cars or makeovers. Our version of The Chicken Sisters were apparently starving this afternoon, and were following me around as I was taking photos outside. I gave them some feed and then snapped this photo. From left to right, we have Chickie-Boo, Goldie, and Lucy. Annabelle, our adopted red hen, was in the coop at the time.
There ya' go- photos and everything!
LB

Tidbits: Feeling Better, Traveling Dude

2008-03-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday, and Happy St. Patrick's Day. I am feeling much better today, thank you. I don't have much strength in my right arm, and will have to keep my neck and back warm today, but I am definitely on the mend. I need to make a to-do list today, and just slowly work through it this week.

The Dude left yesterday evening for a week-long training session in Colorado, so I am going it alone in the parenting world this week. Wish me patience and grace. I am gonna need it.

Will try to post photos later today, gotta go teach the kids a bit, get the Boy to classes, and then start on that to-do list.

T.T.F.N.
L.B.

Tidbit: Ouchie-boo-boo Entertainment

2008-03-15T09:07:00.000-07:00

Well invisible friends, I almost made it through the winter without my neck/back going out. Those who know me know I have a 20+ yr old whiplash injury plus the injury from our hit-and-run almost 2 yrs ago. The scar tissue from the old injury really affected the healing of the newer one, and it took over a year of physical therapy this last time around just to have full mobility of my right arm and my neck. Because of these injuries, it is really important that I keep my neck warm and not catch any drafts over my shoulders during the winter.

Yesterday morning when I first bundled up on the couch, I wasn't wearing a sweater, and caught a chill. I can tell because at 5 am today, I woke up with terrible spasms in my right shoulder. So now after resting for two days, I get to rest again. I am dosed up on Ibuprofin, have a water pitcher nearby, and my failthful heating pad on my neck as we speak. Over the years I have learned how to manage this pain, and that if I take care of myself properly as soon as it starts, how to make it last as short of a time as possible. So I will get off this thing in a minute and go back to sleep if I can. If not, maybe my phone will ring, and I can spend some time chatting with one invisible friend or another.

To keep you entertained while I am away, here are a few links. First off, is a wonderful lesson on drawing with pastels from Lisa at PercyTruffle's Place. Lisa has a wonderful blog with lots of wonderful art to look at. She does double duty as a homeschool mama as well, so there is fun stuff to read about that topic as well. Search for Pysansky eggs on her blog, or look at the polymer chess set her son created. Pretty and inspiring.

Next up is the Quilting Arts Blog. QA is one of my two fave magazines, and always has pages of interesting things I want to try. The blog is just as interesting. I really want to order the first season of the QA tv show. See if it is available to watch on your PBS station.

And, because it is starting to be warmer and I can see the buds popping from my bedroom window, here are some wonderful ideas on how to incorporate Nature Study into your life. Many of these ideas seem like they are just for mothers of small children, but honestly, any human being on this planet can benefit from being out of doors and being in nature. Enjoy.

For your viewing pleasure, I give you two art journal technique videos, both from Millande. The first one is how to make different backgrounds for journaling, and the second one is journaling with circles. I had a lot of fun working with circles in my journal this week, maybe you will too.

Last but not least, is one of my fave inspirational blogs, Shades of White. The pictures alone are worth the trip (click).

Have a great weekend, and I will do my best to take care of myself. Give me a call if you get bored- you know where I will be- and I will most likely be bored.
Hugs,
LB

Tidbit: Fairy Name

2008-03-14T21:59:00.000-07:00

Your fairy is called Bramble Rainbowglitter

She is a fortune bringer.

She lives in leafy dells and bluebell glades.

She is only seen in the light of a shooting star.

She wears bluebell-blue dresses. She has multicoloured wings like a butterfly.

Get your free fairy name here!

I found this over at 101 Fairy Lane.

I am feeling a bit better, my muscles are still tight and sore, like I had been exercising hard or something, but I feel better than yesterday. Still seem to have the fever though. No art happened today, just rested on the couch with the laptop on my lap.

Gotta get to bed- Piano Girl has a group voice lesson tomorrow at the studio of TBPTOTP (The Best Piano Teacher On The Planet).

Tidbits: Sick Me, Toddler-Boy, and Mola Assignment

2008-03-14T08:54:00.001-07:00

I have been under quite a bit of family-related stress this week, and it seems to have caught up with me. (I won't go into details about the specific issues, but have you noticed how stress can do this??) I noticed Thursday morning when I awoke that I was a bit sore in my lower back and hips, and my joints felt a bit stiff. This achy feeling grew through the day, as I carried, lifted, cuddled, chased, sang to, and played with my toddler buddy Abe. (I will talk more about Abe in a minute.) I stopped by the grocery on our way home to pick up a pizza or three so I wouldn't have to cook, and it was all I could do to walk through the store, and I was so C-O-L-D in the freezer isle!! By the time we were home, it was all I could do to move, and I was so exhaused I was yawning constantly. Being with a toddler is not usually this physically draining for me, so I knew something was up. So I have been laying in bed, or on the couch, with a heating pad on my lower back, wrapped up in all the afghans and quilts I can find, trying to rest, and directing the kids from here. We watched "For Your Eyes Only" last night, and then I actually got 9 hours of sleep.

My goal today is to only get up to go to the bathroom, which I plan to do often as I am going to drink so much water my eyes float- gonna flush out the toxins that are causing me such achiness. I have my art journal stuff still packed from yesterday, so I may work on that for a bit to keep from getting bored or getting too sucked into the internet. I will have to take the Boy to the High School, but other than that, they can take care of themselves and me today.

I did have fun with my sweet toddler-boy yesterday. When we started this relationship with the BPTOTP (Best Piano Teacher On The Planet), I had no idea that one of the perks for me was going to be having a special relationship with her baby. I love being "Nanny" again, and teaching, learning with, and loving this special little fella. Abe is getting so big now, and doing so much more fun stuff. He is now tall enough to stand on a stool in the kitchen beside me (instead of on the counter with my arm on his chubby leg, making sure he doesn't topple off) as I make our lunch, recognizing letter sounds and shapes ("Nanny, draw a diamond for Abe."), etc. His language abilities have really grown in this last month, and he has grown so tall and thin I can't believe it! He is becoming a little boy now, leaving so much of the toddler traits behind, although he still has those wonderfully chubby toddler hands and feet (I still love to nibble on his toes and hear his little giggle.). He referred to himself as "I" yesterday instead of "Abe" several times. Abe is also so very 2.5 lately. He is discovering whining, hitting, demanding, and the word "NO!". It is good that he keeps my inner preschool-teacher on her toes! I do love Thursdays with Abe.

In the art area, I haven't been doing much, but I have been working in my art journal. I will take photos of my journal work when complete- I am working on a specific asignment, one I got from SuziBlu. Her work is a very different style than mine, but her video challenges are very inspiring. This assignment is to do a journal entry on your"power animal", mola style. I am working on two different renderings of my totem animal. Bet you can guess what animal I am working with. Bet you can. I have actually been quite inspired by a number of artists doing YouTube videos on art journaling- not all of them are as wacky and fun as Suzi, but inspiring none-the-less.

Okay, off to get a handful of Ibuprofin, a pitcher of water, and maybe another quilt.
Hugs,
LB

Picture of the day: Pyramids for PercyT.

2008-03-12T15:38:00.000-07:00

Okay. This photo is for Lisa, over at PercyTruffle's Place. Lisa, other than the fact that there are three pyramids in each of our photos, there really aren't too many other similarities to them after all. Your photo is much more artistic, with the beautiful water in the background, and lack of feet in the background. But, I did find it!

I took this one when we were camping with another family late last summer. It was a lovely day. Makes me wish it were much warmer than it is right now, so we could go play on the beach. Soon, soon, soon.
LB

Bye-Bye Birch Tree

2008-03-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

During our first winter in the farmhouse, a severe storm took down several branches from the big birch tree just behind the house, near my blueberry and herb beds. Papa Dude topped it, knowing that it would probably have to come down soon, but we both love birches so much we tried to save it. Well, my little pear tree, which is behind the birch, and had produced a bumper crop of pears our first year here, has done very badly the last two years, producing a total of 3 pears in that time. So we decided to take the birch down. Here is the Dude, taking off all the big branches before cutting the trunks. (As usual, feel free to click on the photos to enlarge.)
Here is what was left when he finished. He is planning on building a table-top on top of the birch stumps, and enlarging the little deck. The bridge, on the right in the photo, is broken (a branch landed on it, and it was breaking up anyhow) will be removed. The white tripod is where my grapes are planted. I am hoping they do better with more sun this year. To the left of the little deck is my blueberry bed. No blueberry bushes were harmed in the dropping of the tree, but my clothesline is toast. I do hope the blueberries do well this year. I am going to have to fence in my entire garden area this spring so the darn chickens don't eat my sprouts- if they eat my blueberry flowers this year, they will end up as Sunday dinner! (Probably not, but it really made me mad when they did this last year- you know how I love my blueberries!)
Here is a view from as close to the back door as I could get. You have a better view of the stumps, and the broken bridge. So the deck will come around where the bridge is now. See that apple tree directly behind the stumps, down in the chicken yard? It is very tall, very old, and the few apples it produces are not very good. We are trying to decide if it will come down, or if it will be pruned severely and turned into a treehouse tree.
Here is my sweet baby pear tree. It is just starting to bud, and looks so pretty. I am really hoping that sacrificing the birch will have been worth it, and that it will be covered in big green pears this summer. That is the neighbor's garage behind it.
This is my herb garden. It needs a lot of work. This is basically a "before" photo for you- I plan on building some raised beds, and putting in some raspberry canes behind the pear tree there. And yes, that big pile of brush from the one day I weeded the herb bed is still there.
We would like to get another birch, and find a good place for it, but for now, we are content with having an extra bit of sun here. Wish my pear tree luck.
LB

Random photo catch-up

2008-03-11T21:33:00.000-07:00

How about some random photo miscellany tonight? I have a bunch of photos that don't really go together, so will put them all in this post.

This is one of my favorite photos of the Girl, with a trumpet flower for a hat, taken at the Volunteer Park Conservatory, last year. I have about 200 photos I took this day- I guess I need to learn how to use PhotoBucket so I can put more than 5 photos in a post!

I was fortunate to be visited by my Fairy Cardmother last month. This is the pile I am still sorting through. Lots of art materials and inspiration in these ten boxes, which are now stacked up against the design wall- the theory being that I will find spots for them in order to use the design wall. It has been 3 weeks and the boxes are still in front of it. Sigh. Is there a prize for procrastinator of the month? If so, it's mine- hands down.
The Boy, the day after he got home from his Stanford tournament. He looks so serious here- well after all, he is the King.
This is the Girl, doing this thing she does where she moves her eyes independently. I hate it when she does it, it makes my eyes hurt to just look at, and I worry that it is bad for her eyes. Of course, this just makes her do it all the more! Sigh. Teenagers!
And last but not least, this is Catkin playing with some plastic flowers a friend brought over yesterday. Is he not the most precious thing?! I don't have favorites when it comes to the cat-toddlers, but this guy is really the sweetest cat I have had in a very long time. Me loves him.
That's it for this post. How is that for random?
LB

Tidbits: Art Playdates, Graffiti, and the WASL

2008-03-10T17:45:00.001-07:00

Hi all,
It was a low-key weekend here at the Homestead. I got to spend time with the Dude, which was nice, even if all we did was go to the market together (and of course spend waaay more money than I would have alone), and head to Target to return some Christmas gifts that didn't fit.

I rested a lot, and we cooked a lot. Not much yard work, or studio time, or housecleaning- just some good family time.

Today, two of my former Nature Study students along with Piano Girl and I, had our first Art Playdate. It isn't really a class, more of an excuse for the Girly and I to see two of our fave kids every two weeks. Keeps my foot in the door, so to speak, when it comes to teaching, too, but in a nice, low-key way. Today we started making stuffed fabric beads. This involved all three girls using my sewing machine for the first time. They all did great, and are looking forward to our next get-together. We also talked about what things they might like to work on in the future. They want to draw, paint, collage, work with polymer clay, and sew doll clothes and quilts. Works for me.

My dear, dear son did something very weird today- he spray-painted a design on my bedroom door with olive oil cooking spray. Sigh. He isn't four, he will be 16 in 6 weeks. Go ahead and laugh at my son painting graffiti on my door. I will join you in that hearty guffah maybe tomorrow. Tonight, however, I am still being just floored that a child of this age could be so unthinking! Of course when I was his age, I was responsible, and would NEVER have done something so stoopid- nope, not me. Anyhow, I have a feeling he isn't likely to do something like this again, once he repaints the door (Which will involve taking it off the hinges, and won't be easy as it is a bi-fold door.) Unless of course you can think of something that will clean the oil up- Mr. Clean Magic Erasers didn't even touch it. Sigh.

Speaking of the Boy, he is partaking in the WASL testing at the high school this year. I have never made him take it before, but for a myriad of reasons, he is this year. He has to be at the school at 7:20 every day this week, as well as a couple of days next week, and two weeks in April. He is getting a taste of how early he would have to wake daily if he were in public school full time. This is good, and I hope will help him to appreciate how good he has it at home.

The Dude just walked in, so I will go now. More later,
LB

Tidbit: Happy Thursday!

2008-03-06T07:46:00.000-08:00

It is one of our early Thursdays. The Dude left before 5, I ran the Boy to the high school by 7 am (as he had some basketball championship at which the band is playing), and we leave for Piano Lessons at 8 am. Piano Girl has adjudications today, after her lesson and a quick lunch. Of course I am content just knowing I get some toddler time today. The kids and I apparently left my camera in the Dude's work car, which is sitting down at the airport, as the Dude is in Boise today, so I can't take photos of PG in her finery, or of Abe, who has lost so many of his baby-like qualities, and is getting to be such a little boy.

Ok, that's all I have time for, but wanted to update a tidbit or two. I have been in the studio a tiny bit, and will update (minus photos, I guess) on that soon.
T.T.F.N.,
L.B.

Tidbits: Birthday update, tournament news, housework,

2008-03-03T12:37:00.000-08:00

Hi! I have so much to tell you! First off, The Fine Young Man came in in the top two at his debate on Saturday, and will be going to Nationals in Las Vegas in June! Yay!

Second, thank you for all the birthday wishes! I had a wonderful birthday yesterday. First off, when the Boy and I got home late Saturday night, waiting for me was a huge lemon meringue pie the Papa and Girl had made while we were at the tournament on Saturday.

On Sunday morning, I woke up before 8, lay in bed for a little bit, then headed down stairs. I was treated to breakfast in the bath, and took a nice long soak. The kids gave me my gifts, and then we headed to the East side. First stop- Gramma's, to share a lunch the Dude packed of ham, fresh homemade bread, bean salad, and pie. Delicious, tart, sweet, lemon pie. Mmmmm.

We then headed to the nursery, where we picked up some seeds (vines for the picket fence), some little plants to put in an old jar we have (it's terrarium time again), a hanging jasmine plant, and a beautiful miniature weeping willow tree. This is the first year in 5 years I haven't received blueberry plants for my birthday- I have been eyeing these little willows for a while now, so it is a wonderful gift!

We headed home, and Papa Dude packed- he had to drive down to Oregon Sunday night for work. Once we had kissed him goodbye, we put in a movie, and the kids and I folded laundry. I was in bed by 10 p.m., but it took me almost 2 hours to get to sleep. So hard to sleep when my Dude isn't snoring beside me and stealing the covers.

This morning, I got up early, and had my morning phone call with Papa, and a nice hot bath before I got the kids up, also early. We cleaned the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. By the time my doorbell rang at 11:00, my house was nicely clean- including mopping of floors (Thanks, Girl.), scrubbing of toilets (Thanks, Boy.), and sorting of much laundry. My sister had stopped by and picked up Mama, and brought her down to see me. She brought a beautiful homemade gift- it is a gorgeous piece of needle-felting. We four Girls (I dropped the Boy off for his classes) sat around the kitchen table, drinking tea and eating (more) lemon pie, and talking about art. It was wonderful.

The kids and I are going to work on the terrarium tonight, after they do a bit of school work. I plan on getting down to the studio tonight as well (as I most likely won't sleep well with the Dude gone) and am hoping to have some photos up soon.
T. T. F. N.
LB

This morning.

Update: tournaments, trees down, and spring fever win out over screen time.

2008-02-27T08:39:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are- another week gone by with no blogging. I have to say, I don't even have any excuses this time. So what did I do last week? Piano Girl had her first piano competition, the Simon Fiset, last weekend. She didn't place, but enjoyed the experience, and learned a great deal. She is working up a description of her experience to post. I also was very sick last Friday- I won't go into details, but it was thyroid-related. I did a tiny bit of gardening, and some garden planning. I chopped and stacked wood till the cows came home, and supported the Dude while he chopped down the birch tree and our oldest plum tree. I have been cleaning the house, and doing more decluttering, slowly. We got some schooling in last week, too, but not as much as I would have liked. I have even been sleeping. That's been nice.

My break from the internet (I am really fighting an addiction, here folks. Sigh.) made for boring blogging, but it was nice to be a part of the world and get away from the screen to breathe fresh air, and engage in hard labor, and wear freshly-laundered pants and sweaters.

Our up and coming rest of the week: The kids don't get to go to Youth Group tonight, as the Boy has a band concert. Piano lessons all day Thursday, and then I have a Mom's Night Out Thursday night. Looking forward to that. The Boy has his National Qualifiers on Sat. It looks like I will end up driving, and being there all day, even though the Boy's events aren't until the afternoon. I seem to have become a speech-team-mom-lady. I do love the Coach, and this fine bunch of kids. ( I am finding that winter is extremely busy to keep up with all the kids events in the winter. Speech and piano competitions both happen during Feb and March.) My birthday is Sunday. Not sure what plans are for that day. I think it might rain. We shall see. A visit to Gramma at the very least.

I haven't been doing any art- I go and sit down there, but nothing is happening right now. I feel a bit pressured to create, and feel the "blockage" of all the creative ideas floating in my head, but not coming out of my hands. There are so many areas of my life I am trying to pull together right now, all the juggling of dirty floors, and dirty clothes, dirty dishes, food to cook, gardens to plan, kids to teach, etc. It is so easy for me to jump into the "I'm overwhelmed" story, and to just get locked up. Winter is not a great time of year for me.

I have been experiencing a bit of Spring Fever lately. The kids played outside a great deal last week- I felt bad that we weren't schooling, but they had such a great time running, playing, using their imagination- up in the treehouse, out in the back yard........ You know- these are teens I am talking about, still actively playing. How cool is that? Gotta make time for that.

I do have some photos to post, but gotta get going right now. Kids are still sleeping, sigh. They'd sleep till noon if'n I didn't wake them.
LB

Tidbit: Aarrgghh! Can't find it!

2008-02-12T01:13:00.000-08:00

Don'tcha just hate it when you can't find something?!?!?! The Boy is home, safely tucked into his bed, and all is well, but I am wide awake, obsessing because I have misplaced something. This adorable ATC, to be exact. My invisible friend Tami gave it to me, and it is very special to me. It is the very first ATC I ever received (I have a grand total of 3 now), and I love Tami's orchard characters very much. I think I might be Lemondrop's biggest fan, to be honest. I have recommended her blog before.

Tami and I are doing a monthly ATC swap this year, so I was getting together the cards I have received from her so far, so I could show them to you in an upcoming post, and I. can't. find. this. one. anywhere. Sigh. I have tidied the studio, and looked just about everywhere down here. And I am obsessing and can't sleep. Phooey!

I did find a few things I had been missing, and I came across a bunch of art materials that I haven't used/tried/played with yet, so all is not totally lost, but I do find myself in quite a dither over this tiny, flat, sweet little card. Well, I will try to look again tomorrow. I know it is here somewhere, but an ATC is only 2.5 X 3.5, so it could be anywhere. I will post the other ATC from Tami, as well as the one I am working on for our first swap soon.

Guess I will head up to kiss the kids on their (hopefully) sleeping heads, and crawl into bed. After all, it will be time to get up in only about 5 hours.

(Edited later Tuesday morning to add the song that kept going around in my head while I wasn't sleeping.)

Oh where, Oh where has my Lemondrop gone?
Oh Where, Oh where can she be?
I have looked high and low
In my wee studio,
Oh where, Oh where can she be?
TTFN,
LB

Tidbit: Update from Stanford

2008-02-10T22:04:00.000-08:00

I just talked to the Boy's S & D Coach, and she said he made it to the semi-finals, which means he was in the top 14, but he didn't make it to the finals. I cannot begin to tell you how proud we are of him- he had some really tough competition, and did really well. From what I hear, he was competing against college-aged "experts. I wasn't able to talk to the Boy himself, as Coach said his stomach wasn't feeling well, and he had gone straight to bed. I am sure he will call us tomorrow after he has had some rest. I wish Coach well, as she will have 6 kids to keep busy tomorrow until they fly home.
TTFN,
LB, aka Proud Mama

Birthday Wishes!

2008-02-09T01:03:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday to the best Godmother my kids could ever have, and a dear friend to the Dude and I.

You give them such unconditional love and are their biggest fan. You teach them manners, and listen intently when they talk to you.

You also do an amazing job of picking out the best clothing gifts for them of anyone we have ever known. Yours are always instant wardrobe favorites.

You have been an amazing friend and support to me as I have navigated the joys and trials of parenthood.

You are one of the most loving, patient, and forgiving persons I have ever had the fortune to know.

You can find something wonderful to say about any human being you meet.

You have an infectious laugh, and a beautiful smile.

You are a joy to cook for, and your cooking always has the special ingredient of love added. I know- I can taste it!

You live your spirituality, and are such an amazing example for me- reminding me of the good that is available to me if I only choose it.

You are the most regular commenter of all my blog readers.

I am blessed daily by your friendship.

May your birthday be as special and wonderful as you are.

Happy Birthday, Auntie P!

With much love from the clan.

Tidbit: Getting my baby ready for a plane ride

2008-02-08T15:41:00.000-08:00

I really hate it when my kids fly, or go on trips without me. I get all locked up, and cannot seem to accomplish anything except sit on the couch and surf the internet. But not today. There is too much to do. We are washing clothes, having teachers sign permission slips so the Boy can miss school on Monday, getting cash for spending money, ironing dress shirts, shining shoes, tying ties loosely enough that they can be slipped over a head, packing bow ties and undershirts and black socks, etc. All to get the Fine Young Man ready to go to the airport at 7 p.m. tonight to leave for his trip to Stanford, for the special competition this weekend.

There are 6 kids from the Boy's S & D team going, as well as many kids from other local high schools. They will be competing against college kids, so it will be tough competition, and a great learning opportunity. And I am not nervous about my not-yet 16 yr old being on his own with a bunch of other high schoolers at all. Nuh uh. Not me. Not a bit. Nope. Sigh. Yes I am. But I will hide it. I need to let go, and trust that he has really heard all the lectures and safety lessons, and that he is the amazing Young Man I have raised him to be. His planes will travel safely, and his Coach will take good care of him. He will learn lots that will help him to win at State Championships in a few weeks. All will be well.

Off to check the dryer, and to teach the Boy how to iron his shirts.
T.T.F.N.
L.B.

Update: It is midnight, I was just starting to really freak out, and was just typing how he hadn't called me yet, when the Boy called me. He is at the hotel. They have a meeting at 8:30 tomorrow a.m., and his first round is at 10:30. I told him to go right to sleep! And that is what I shall do now that I know he is safely ensconced in the hotel. Whew.
Nighty-night.
LB

Tidbits: art is energizing, Valentines finished

2008-02-07T21:10:00.000-08:00

Well, I said I was all tuckered out, but it was too early to sleep, and I didn't want to watch a movie (too soon after a migraine-type headache for that), so I begged the Girl to come down to the studio with me. I had to ask her repeatedly, as she was feeling tired too (Piano Lesson Days can be long and taxing for her, but today was shortened due to illness in TBPTOTP's family.), but once we both got down there, we just had a really fun time together. We listened to music, and got a fire roaring, and played. It was very energizing and enjoyable to spend that time together. We are both glad I forced us to come down!

The Girly tried out the new waterbrush we recently purchased, and played with the new colors of Twinkling H2O's. She added to my palette (so I don't buy duplicate colors) and then painted two pictures, exploring how the waterbrush works, and what you can do with different brushstrokes, and wet watercolor paper versus dry. I could probably count it as homeschooling! Here she is, completely absorbed in her work/play. (Click to enlarge as usual.)
I got the Valentines all cut out, and even wrote on some of them. Here is a photo of the card pyramid I made so you could see them all. I figured, as there is only a week till Valentine's Day, I would just send them all out, not putting any in the soon-to-be etsy shop. The bottom three are 5 X 7, and the top six are 4 x 6- postcard size. I also have enough scraps left over to make 2 ATC's and a few bookmarks. I am very, very pleased with how these came out. They are very classic and romantic. I would like to make some that had more of a modern feel, with paint, stamps, etc. but that isn't a priority at the moment.
Okay, the Dude should be home in about an hour, so I will crank the tunes, stock the stove, and work on more of the little rough paintings (like this one, but even better) till he gets home. Or maybe I will be done for tonight and crawl into bed with a book. We shall see.
T.T.F. N.
L.B.

Tidbit: Toddler quote

2008-02-07T17:47:00.000-08:00

Cute toddler quote of the day: While playing with his mama's vintage Fisher-Price camera (kinda like this one, only older and cuter), Abe says, "I take-a smile, Abe?" Very cute. I will miss this third-person toddler talk.

And the fact that TBPTOTP (The Best Piano Teacher On The Planet) is the only other person I know of besides myself who saved her vintage (funny- they are only as old as we are- does that make *us* vintage, too?) Fisher-Price toys for her kids is another reason I love her so.

I cannot believe how much this little guy has grown in just a week! I swear he is 3 inches taller than he was last Thursday.

That is all I have right now. I am plum tuckered out.
T.T.F.N.
L.B.

Unfinished business

2008-02-06T23:05:00.000-08:00

Before I get to the unfinished business, here is a picture of the Fine Young Man for Dy (one of his biggest fans!), at last week's tournament. Isn't he dapper? All the other boys wore black suits until FYM appeared on the scene in this snazzy number. Now we have one guy in a light blue suit, and another whose suit is black, but has snazzy red stripes. I like to think my youngin' started the trend when he insisted on picking this fine dandy at Value Village, almost a year ago, when it was way too big on him. He really has grown so much in the last year! Here is my current work-in-progress. (Click to enlarge) This is the Valentine collage. It is a 14" X 22.5" piece of Arches watercolor paper that I received for free in an art supply order. It has about 3 layers of paper- beginning with some patterned papers from Paper Zone, and then a layer of images cut out from the cards that a friend of mine gives me. She is a gift rep, and gets tons of samples which she usually recycles, unless I relieve her of said cards. We have a deal- I can have them if I don't just use them plain- I need to make art out of them. Twist my arm!! Third layer is some vintage and reproduction scrap, and a few more card images. I used Yes! paste to glue the images, and it is all covered with 2 coats of gloss gel medium.

So now, I just have to cut it into post cards. I will do some 4 X 6, and send them as postcards, and the others I think I will cut to 5 X 7 and use with envelopes, and just write on the back. I may sell these and make some more- I would like to do another collage that had stamps and paints on it as the fourth layer. I meant to add those to this, and forgot until I was on my second coat of gel medium. Still looks good, so no worries. I feel like I should sell these and not use them myself. Trying to get some stuff together to put in the etsy shop.
Okay, these next two photos are for my gorgeous, highly inteligent, soap-making friend Amy. She happens to love to quilt and hate piecing, and I happen to love the top-making, but not the quilting. It is a beautiful relationship. Here is a top I will be sending her this weekend. It was one of the first tops I ever made. I made this one in a 24 hour period about 8 to 9 years ago, and it could be a small lap quilt, wall hanging, or a crib quilt. I named it "Hands-on Habitat". This one is not basted yet, just the top.
This one was supposed to be the first birthday gift for a little boy who will be turning 7 or 8 in April, sigh. It is much smaller, less than a yard square. This one is basted, and you can see the background fabric on the right, there. It is un-named, and is quite bright.
When you click to enlarge these, don't mind the wrinkles- I just pulled them out of a drawer to photograph them. And please remember, these are two of my very first quilts! Exact color matching was soooo important to me back then. I am really much more "free", for lack of a better word, with my colors these days. And I rarely make any quilts with actual blocks.

Ok, so. An amazing Young Man, a work in progress, and two unfinished, and hopefully soon to be finished (Thanks to Amy) projects.
TTFN,
LB

Tidbits: Acrylic recommendations, car-naming, and hot water

2008-02-04T17:12:00.000-08:00

First, Melissa mentioned that her daughter is teaching herself painting with acrylics. I promised her a couple of book recommendations.

The first book I will recommend is Acrylic Revolution (AR) by Nancy Reyner.

The second book is a DK book titled Acrylic Workshop. (AW)

These are both technique books, both of them useful. They both go over basic techniques, covering everything from simple differences in brush strokes, to using gels and mediums to add texture and depth to your painting. One of the best and most simple things I got from AR is that it covers the set-up of your painting area, so that you learn how to effectively use your paint, and make as little mess as possible. If forced to choose between the two, I would probably choose AR, but I do get a lot of information from AW, so would highly recommend both of them.

As for the car naming, I haven't got very far. Sometimes it takes a little while to get to know the car first.

And we have a functioning water heater! The water isn't nearly as hot as it was on our dying heater, but that's ok. It took the Dude and the Girl until midnight to get it installed, and apparently everything that could have gone wrong did, but they were triumphant, and we now have hot water again. Bless them. I did, as I had just my nose sticking out from a nice bath yesterday morning.

I am coping with a migraine that started yesterday, but am trying my best to ignore it. The house is really in disarray- laundry and dishes from Monday night, sigh. The Boy had his last state-qualifying tournament yesterday. I drove and took kids with me, and chaperoned at the tourney. He and several of his teammates did qualify for state, and are all very excited. The Boy leaves for Stanford on Friday night, for a college-level tournament he will be competing in. I am curious how that will go. He is growing up so fast, sigh.

Okay, back to the house. I do have a lot of work to do. I also want to finish my Valentines. I cot the collage finished and put several coats of gel medium over it yesterday, so today it is ready for a photograph and to be cut into smaller cards.

Have a great one, and I hope to post some photos soon. But first on to the dishes. Or maybe a nap on the couch. No. Dishes. Nap. Dishes. Maybe both.
LB

Tidbits: Slumber parties are fun, dead water heaters are not.

2008-02-04T10:50:00.000-08:00

The sleepover went well. We only had 4 girls instead of five, and it was a good number. They ate pizza, watched Ratatoulle, and engaged in lots of girl talk. These are the Girl's closest friends, and they are all very wonderful kids. I really enjoyed having them. Some of them clean up after themselves better than others, but that is to be expected. It was really fun to listen in on their conversations when they thought I wasn't listening, and they proved to me that tween-aged girls can eat just as much as tween-aged boys! We went through a lot of food! The other thing is, I sometimes hear how different and weird it is to have a gaggle of boys, but I have to say, it was just as weird to have a group of girls around. I think we need to do sleepovers more often. (Did I just say that??)

The art part went ok, and the girls enjoyed it, but it didn't go the way I wanted it to. I had to fetch the Dude from the airport while they were in the middle of art (I should have had them just play while I was gone.), so the specific collage project I had in mind kind of turned into them just exploring and having fun, which was super, don't get me wrong, it just wasn't collaged Valentines, which is what I wanted. I learned several things from this besides being there- namely having a sample of each stage of the project, so that your pupils can see exactly what you are talking about. Another thing is to allow some time for free exploration of materials, but not so long that they get bored and just want to be done with it.

I got a lot of work done on my Valentines collage yesterday, and hope to get a bit more added to it today, but I do have to be in the kitchen baking, and we have plans this evening, so I am not sure how much I will get done.

I think the hot water heater is dying, too. I have no hot water. Why is it that things like this don't die in a timely fashion? I just forked out a wad of money for my new car, and not even sure how much a water heater costs. Sigh.

I do love my new car. It's a 99 Mazda Protege', and it is so nice to not have to plan ahead before I get into the car. No more 5 am trips to the airport, no more waiting till the Dude gets home to go to the store, and the Boy doesn't have to take the Metro bus any more, which means he regains about 2 hours of study time daily. Yay! Now to come up with a name for the new car.

Sleepover Preparations

2008-02-01T09:29:00.001-08:00

The big party/sleepover is today. I got to bed before midnight last night, which is early when my Dude is away at night, and woke up about 10 minutes before he called me this morning. We had a nice, quick chat, and then I got dressed super quick, and snuck out to the grocery store and back before the kids were even up. I got lots of party food, that was all on sale- hot dogs, burgers, and pizzas- even the dairy-free pizza was on sale. Gotta love that.

The only things I didn't buy were fruits and veggies, as I usually get them at the fruit stand, but it was closed, and their new location isn't open yet. So when I pop out to take the Boy to the high school, I will have to stop somewhere and pay full price (sigh) for some fruit and veggies. The Girls will need them to balance out all the sweets and meats this weekend.

Now the Girl will tidy the house a bit, while I head down to the studio to start pulling out everything Valentine's day related. I did this will all the Christmas stuff, and put it all in one big basket, and it really helps to be able to just pull one box out, rather than to have to make a huge heap of piles by pulling out this paper, and that stamp, and that roll of pink hearts wrapping paper, etc. We will make Valentine's as our main craft today, with lots of stamping and painting.

After I drop the Boy off, I will be surrounded by 5 lovely young ladies ready to make art, bake a cake, eat, and maybe watch a movie, before they all take over my living room. I may let the Boy go across the street and play video games with our neighbors- three men, aged 10, 35, and 70. All that testosterone will help keep him sane. It will be fun to watch him, though- he has a bit of a crush on one of the girls, and they are all very nice kids.

Okay, gotta get going- I will take photos (better make sure my camera is charged!).
Have a great day!

It's the little things.......

2008-01-31T19:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, here's the set-up: Yesterday was my oldest sister's birthday, and I had that little rough painting to give her, and she only lives about 15 blocks away from Piano Girl's teacher, so I stopped by there this afternoon and put her gift on her front porch.

I had just got back in the car and buckled my seatbelt, when who should pull up but my nephew, S (until I come up with a cool blog nickname for him). He had just come from getting new brakes and tires on his old car (my soon-to-be new car), and had stopped by to see if his mom was home and could drive him to the car repair place to get his new car (his brother, C's car). She wasn't, but I was. So we followed him home where he dropped off his old car, got to have a tour of his house, and then dropped him off at the car repair place so he could get his new car. It was perfect timing and I was glad to see him and glad to be of service. And what happened next is what has had me smiling the entire evening.

As he was saying goodbye, he kissed me. Just like he always did when we said goodbye when he was a kid (We have always been a kissy family.). Such a small gesture, but so very special. You know how with some people, you can go for a long time without seeing them, but when you do, it is like you have only been apart a week? It has been like that with S, and I just feel so blessed to be a part of his life again. He is an amazing, inteligent young man, who is a joy to be around. It makes me happy just to be spending time with him. It is wonderful to share in his life, and have him be active in his cousins' lives again- my kids adore him, and he and the Boy have a great deal in common. I think S may be the mentor/friend we have been seeking for the Boy for so long.

I think there may be another benefit here too- the grief we all feel as we deal with C's death is still painfully real and constant, but I think (hope?) it will help to be coping with it together as a family. Being able to talk to S, and to hear how he is feeling has been so helpful with coping with my own feelings, and being supportive of his parents.

That's it. Thought I would share with you. Amazing how so small a thing can put an old auntie on cloud nine.
Ta Ta For Now
LB

Another Thursday

2008-01-31T06:06:00.000-08:00

Well, as usual, I wasn't in the studio as long as I would have liked yesterday, but I did get a bit of work done prepping substrates last night. I am working on a series of the little "rough" paintings to put in a soon-to-be-open etsy shop, I am trying to keep track of how much time I spend and how much money on supplies for each piece, but it is not easy! We shall see how much work I am able to get done on these this weekend. The Girl is having a birthday/slumber party Friday- 5 girls from 11 to 16 will descend on my studio space. We will make Valentines, and do a couple of art projects (guess I should be planning those, hmm?), and then head upstairs for food (pizza?) and a movie, and they will camp out in the living room. Then I will have to get up early, and take the boy to his tournament on Saturday. The girls will go home by noon, and I will head to the tournament to watch the Boy's rounds (usually don't start till 2 pm). Sunday will bring a trip to the East Side to visit Mama, and head to Unity if I am not too tired, and a friend wants to have coffee in the afternoon on Sunday. Man, to be honest, I am tired just thinking about it. I may decide to commune with God in my dreams Sunday morning.

I have been up since 4:30, getting the Dude off to the airport. It will be so nice when we have two cars (this weekend or early next week, I hope!), so I won't have to run him to the airport anymore! I am headed to the tub here, and then we will all be getting ready for our long Thursday.

I won't see the Boy all day- he has a basketball game to play at tonight, so will just stay at the high school, and get some of his school work done there, as well as practice his HI.

The Girl and I will be heading for all day piano lessons (only 2 weeks till the Simon Fizet competition!), and I am looking forward to my toddler time. Abe is getting so big, and so vocal. He talks the entire time we are together, except when I am reading- we read for several hours every Thursday. He himself is getting closer to reading, starting to make the connection that the words on the page (that he follows with his chubby little fingers) are connected to the letter sounds he is learning. He is an amazingly bright little fellow, reminding me so much of my own Boy, who began sounding out words and reading at this age.

Okay, off we go! Enjoy your day today.
LB

UFOs

2008-01-29T15:18:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of finished projects- UFO no more! As usual, you can click to enlarge.

Here is a little 4 x 6 acrylic painting I did that I will be giving my sis for her birthday tomorrow. I used coarse pumice gel on gessoed canvas to give it the bumpy texture. I am hoping to do several more of these on gatorboard to put in the etsy shop. Sorry the photo is fuzzy. And here are the last of my Christmas Thank you cards. I couldn't get the camera to not flash, so sorry about the glare. The last time I posted about these, I was still adding layers.
This abstract is still a UFO, but I wanted to post it anyhow. It is acrylic on canvas. I am now adding details. Working title: The Shape of Things. Have I told you how much I love my easel, sitting down here by the fire, and painting? It doesn't even matter that I have no idea what I am doing- it is relaxing and fun.

And this may not be exciting to you, but just looking at this photo makes me smile! This is a box of leftover gatorboard, from Crissy. In her family's business, they use a ton of gatorboard, and generate a lot of scraps, and in my art, I use a lot of substrate, but canvas is so pricey, and much of my work is experimental. So, if I can use their scraps, everyone is happy. "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle" in action!

I now need to spend some time cutting these into smaller pieces, and applying gesso, coarse and fine pumice gels, and such to get these ready to use. Fun!
That is all for now- I have about another hour to work down here, so it is time to get off this thing, stuff the woodstove, crank the tunes, and get going!
TTFN
LB

Tag! I'm it.

2008-01-29T11:20:00.000-08:00

Chris over at Twilight and Sunrise tagged me for this Book Meme. Here is my task:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people.

1. Okay, so I am down in the studio, and the nearest book to me is The New Creative Artist: A guide to Developing your Creative Spirit. By Nita Leland. Were you hoping for Dumas or Shakespeare? Come on, you had to know it would be an art book, lol!

2. The title on this page is Bend Reality by Changing the Rules, and is talking about creating abstractions in your art by using design to alter a literal image.

3. There are only 5 sentences total on this page, the rest being technical instructions, so I will work with what are here. The 2nd sentence is: "With every design change, the image moves further from the illusion of reality."

4. The next 3 sentences are: "The more altered the image, the more abstract the art. Eventually, it may become pure abstraction, revealing no apparent connection with the original subject. Intelligent use of design makes such a transformation work." Gosh I hope this isn't boring to you! But this is the stuff I read, and it was this or a book on acrylic techniques, and I think that would have bored you more.

5. Pick 5 folks, hmmm. Let's see how eclectic a list of folks I can come up with. The more diverse and unusual books and answers, the better! Okay.
How 'bout Mama P, Pamela (in the comments, no blog), Crissy @ Soliloquy, PattyMomBobJoanna @ WPMS, and WTMCassandra @ Lutradur & Lace Adventures. Honestly, I could think of 20 people to tag, so if you want to do this, I would love to see it. Just let me know you did it or put it in the comment section if you don't have a blog.

Okay, off to finish some UFOs. My oldest sister has a birthday tomorrow, I owe Amy a fabric post card, and I have some art that I can tidy up and photograph so I have some pieces with which to stock an Etsy shop of my very own.

And an update about the videos for up and coming talky blogs: I accidentally dropped and broke the Boy's camera when he left it laying somewhere it didn't belong, so we don't have any yet, but are working on it. Gotta get his camera repaired first.

Tidbit: Phooey on me

2008-01-28T21:30:00.000-08:00

Aarrgghh. I am sorry, I keep making blog promises- art content, photos, birthday girl stories, the works, and then I don't deliver. Not that you want or need stories or excuses, but I am really struggling with several areas of real life right now, and am not giving myself the time I need to make art and blog. Darn me. I am not living into my possibilities. Phooey. Phooey I say. I don't need to struggle if I don't want to. I can surrender to my creativity, regardless of how stressed I am at the moment, right? And then I will be less stressed due to having released some creative energy into my world, right? Sigh.
I am an artist, not a wannabe artist. I need to be the actions behind the words.
TTFN,
LB

Tidbits: Being Grateful for Birthday Girls & Nephews

2008-01-24T21:24:00.000-08:00

I am in such a great mood right now! I just spent a very enjoyable evening with my nephew (I will have to come up with a good nickname for him.) tonight. He took the Dude and me out to test drive his car that we are buying (Yay! Finally a car for me!!), and then I took him out for teriyaki. We visited and chatted, and it was wonderful. Very wonderful.

The other thing that is amazing is that I now am the proud mama of two teenagers! Piano Girl is now 13 years old! I will do a whole post about her tomorrow, but we had a really nice birthday with her yesterday. I am so amazed and proud of my kids. More wonders.

That is all for now, I am working hard at getting up and to bed early.
T.T.F.N.
L.B.

Mostly accurate

2008-01-23T01:34:00.000-08:00

Your Personality is Very Rare (INFP)

Your personality type is dreamy, romantic, elegant, and expressive.

Only about 5% of all people have your personality, including 6% of all women and 4% of all men
You are Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

Some may disagree with the introverted part, but I am much more so now than I have ever been.
LB

Tidbit: Cats

2008-01-18T13:49:00.001-08:00

Just posting this here for my own sake- I know I won't get it on the calendar, and I won't remember the date next month when it is time to do it again (Which explains why the poor dears keep having to go two months instead of one for their flea stuff, sigh.). Let it be known that all three toddler-cats had their flea treatment today- two of them aren't speaking to me, but that's okay.
LB

Talking about the Talky Blog

2008-01-18T10:04:00.000-08:00

Well, The Fine Young Man wasn't able to get the video uploaded at his Computer Graphics class at the High School yesterday, but has promised me he will be able to today. So no talky yet.

I am feeling anxious about posting it. The way I felt when I put up my first photos on the blog. So many times, when I watch others' talkies, they badmouth the talky as they are filming it: This is boring, I don't have anything to tell you, etc. Well, I am determined not to do that-I think it really takes away from their videos. So, I will tell you my silly concerns now, and get them out of the way, so I will be free to create fun, enlivening, and encouraging talkies, without all the extraneous garbage.

My concerns (before I let them all go), from the voice in my head that I struggle with daily: I am worried about what all y'all will think- What if those of you who are artists will go, yeah, we knew that already? What if those of you who aren't artists could give a rip and think it's boring? Why am I doing this? People who film talkies have something to say, some knowledge to impart, etc. Who am I? A person who still has a hard time uttering the words "artist" and "I am" in the same sentence! Definitely on the learning curve. Hmm. What if they think I have no talent, or think I am fat, or stutter or say "umm" and "ya' know" too much? What will they think of my messy studio, or my cluttered, unfinished basement?

Okay, now we have heard my silly inner voice telling it's concerns. Let's hear from the creative, artist, inner vision me: I have a lot of invisible friends, with whom I would love to sit by the wood stove, share a Mike's, and create art together. I can't do that, but I can share my time in the studio with them this way. And if my journey as a newbie artist can help someone to decide to go for it in the creative area of their choice, then so much the better. I will totally be myself- stuttering, chubby, and forgetful, and know that the folks that watch these love me for who I am, and will enjoy spending time with me this way.

How about that? The Fine Young Man says he will text me as soon as he gets the video loaded, so I can work on it immediately. If all goes well, it will be up by late tonight. I am surrendering to my creativity, and will post it. Y'all be nice, now, okay? If you think it sucks, lie to me. Kidding. Kidding. Sorta.
TTFN,
LB

update ar 4:30 pm: The Boy is not able to do this at the school after all, so he and I are going to have to figure out how to upload these at home and get them up ourselves. Wish us luck!

Phooey. I goofed.

2008-01-16T20:48:00.000-08:00

My son and I just spent the last hour filming a talky blog for you, using his new movie camera, and then I went and deleted it on accident. I will see if I can get him to help me film another one right now. But I am a bit disappointed. I guess the positive spin on it is that I will really have my "lines" down now for this fourth try!
Wish us luck! Hopefully I will have it up by Friday.
TTFN,
LB

More toddler fun, and a WIP.

2008-01-15T16:54:00.000-08:00

Can you have such a thing as too many toddler photos? I thought not. This is my other fave toddler, the baby sister of Pony Girl. I don't have a blog nickname for her yet. Hmmm. Here she is, getting ready to "read to you".Here she is again, telling me not to pull the kitty's tail. Love that toddler-speak. Her mama needed some last minute toddler care, so I lucked out, had a fantastic evening with her, and got a nice baby fix.
And here is my latest work in progress: Thank you cards. The kids' cards are all complete, and half of them went out in today's mail. I of course, am still working on mine. How many layers of paint is too many?!?!
That is all for now, hope it keeps you busy for a bit!
LB

3/4's of our new white picket fence part 2

2008-01-15T16:19:00.001-08:00

This is a great view to show you where the roses will go. See that bit of grass? This is the only grass left in the front yard, and it will soon be replaced by lovely roses. Aahhh. Won't that be nice?Here is a shot of the front fence line. You can see that in this photo, the right side of the fence isn't up yet. It is almost all the way up now, only one more panel to go. The Dude has been traveling so much lately, he has to work on this is fits and starts, but I had to show you what wonderful work he has done so far.
Here is the driveway side. I am not sure if you can see parts of the treehouse if you enlarge this shot or not- let me know.

This is the front of the house, under the kids windows and showing off the window boxes the Dude built last year. They are a part of the library area of the basement, are carpeted, and lit. The kids have each claimed one of these, and have decorated them and filled them with books. You can also see the work he has done on the drains, and such, in order to help the water situation in the basement. I am proud to say, that although we did have minor flooding issues in the last storm, there was NO leakage on this part of the house! Yay!

Just because I needed one more photo for this post, here is my icky front porch. One thing we want to do this year, is to frame it in, lose the window to the Girl's room, and build a coat closet on the end. The new front door will be just to the left of the post.
Ok, there you have it!
LB

3/4's of our new white picket fence, part 1

2008-01-15T16:02:00.000-08:00

This post is inspired by Dy's finished projects posts.
Last November (2006), a drunk driver crashed into our chain-link fence and drove through the Dude's cottage garden, luckily missing the house, and giving us an excuse to finally replace the old, icky chain-link with a white picket fence, that would match the house better, and be a better frame around the cottage garden.

This photo was taken in May. The tree to the left of the house is where the tree house is. See the area behind the dogwood, between the house and the garage? Hopefully, I will be showing you photos of a new patio there later this spring. But for now, back to the fence. You can see where the chain-link ends, there in the middle of the yard.
Here are the Papa Dude, and Piano Girl, starting on the assembly of the fence panels. We used wooden posts, and plastic fence panels. The kids painted all the posts for us. Notice the roses lining the driveway- I will address them in a minute.
Here they have just discovered that the fence panels are NOT the length they say they are- there is too much space between the posts! But have no fear, PG, and the PD know what they are doing- this is just a hiccup in their plans........
I took this photo from the front porch. Look how nice this looks! And you can see that once the Dude moves the roses to the inside of the fence, we will have 4 extra feet of driveway. This will be so nice! As it is now, the driver has to step out onto wet, muddy grass. Icky.
Stay tuned for part two!
LB

Catching up on photos

2008-01-15T15:55:00.000-08:00

I will try to catch up on photos a bit in the next few posts. It really has become a trial to post photos lately as it involves a very slow computer, my laptop, and a great deal of patience- so I know you will appreciate the effort! Feel free to click and enlarge.

Here are my Fine Young Man, aka the Boy, and Piano Girl, reading to Abe, my adorable borrowed toddler, just a few days before Christmas. I love that my teens adore him, and think it is a treat to be able to spend time with him!Here is our lovely tree on Christmas morning. Looky looky at all those gifts! We were very spoiled this year, and it was lots of fun.
Here is Piano Girl, with another of our family friends, Pony Girl. Pony Girl came over several times in Nov. and Dec. to work in the studio with me- she did two oilstick paintings that she gave to her cousins for Christmas gifts. She is an excellent student, and is also becoming an amazing artist in her own right.
Here are the Boy and Girl, in early November, just as they were getting started on Christmas gifts this year. I love having them in the studio. We jam to tunes, and no one treats me like a "Mom", ya' know?

LB and the Bad Feeling Fairy.

2008-01-15T08:33:00.000-08:00

I was planning on blogging yesterday, but it just didn't come. It was one of those days.
I woke up at 4 am with such a feeling of impending doom- you know, where you just can feel it in your bones- something B. A. D. is going to happen, but you don't know exactly what or to whom. I have had this sixth sense my whole life, but it was hard to ignore, or identify today. And then to complicate matters, my Girly was flying home from a weekend visit with our dear friends, the G family. Mr. G. is a flight attendant (bless him) and makes sure the Girlies get to spend as much time together as possible. He flies up and back, and then up and back again, to deliver one girl or another so the two best friends can spend a few weekends a year together. I love him for this.

*But* I was locked up all morning, until my Girl was home. I guess we are all coping with my nephew's death fairly well, but one thing that has happened is that I have a very hard time surrendering my kids to other folks- putting their safety and well-being in the hands of another adult- the Boy rides home with someone from his weekly seminar, the Girl on the plane, etc. I called Dy twice yesterday, being reassured that this was a little silly, but normal under the circumstances, and did my best to let go.

I thought the feelings would let up once the Girl was home, but they didn't. Instead, the Boy and I had a stoopid ugly fight. It wasn't just a disagreement, or an argument, it became a fight. You know, the kind you can NEVER win with a teenager- you ask, they resist, you insist, they resist harder, you demand and persist, they resist, then rebel. It sucks. It really sucks. We were finally able to regroup, acknowledge how each of us were being that kept the fight going, the yucky impact of that behaviour on each and all of us, we apologized, and everything, but. But I even had a lovely phone conversation with the Traveling Dude, where he reaffirmed how close and loving our family is. But even after watching Ratatoulle with the Girl, I still couldn't pull it out. It was the whole dark cloud thing all over again.

And I seem to have woken up with it still hanging over my head. How do you regroup and reaffirm when you have had a bad day the day before? How do you successfully let it go?

Here is my plan: I journaled last night for the first time all year. (Again, not very successful yet with my goals.) I think I will journal again today, and see if anything left over from yesterday needs to bubble up and out, and then maybe I can create something amazing for this day.

I have made a healthy breakfast, I will move my body today, I will do laundry, and make art. It will all be okay. Hopefully even better than okay. Thanks for listening.
LB

Just a little update.

2008-01-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

Hey all,
Thanks for the input on the Priveledge survey. I thought it was fun and interesting. Feel free to do this if you haven't already.

I meant to post last night, but I was so very tired. I got up at 5 yesterday, to take the Dude to the airport, and then hit the grocery store just as it opened. Got home, fed the kids, and kissed the Boy goodbye. The Girl and I headed for piano lessons and my toddler fix. Oh. My. Goodness! Has my little friend Abe grown in 3 weeks! He talks a mile a minute, and is doing that fun toddler thing where he speaks in third person, and ends his sentences with his name, as if you had spoken, and not him. "Do you want to play trains, Abe?" "Here is a cheerio, Abe." It has always cracked me up that toddlers do this.

We left early, so Abe's mama, TBPTONP (The Best Piano Teacher On The Planet), could nap with him today, stopped off and picked the Boy up from school, and then hit the feed store for chicken food, went to a curriculum store to pick up WASL prep materials (I don't wanna talk about it!), grabbed some dinner, and then picked the Dude up at the airport. By the time we got home, it was all I could do to take the kids down to the studio to work on their thank you cards some more. I was in bed by 8, and asleep before 9.

Today, I have to face the laundry mountain, help the Girl get packed for her weekend trip to visit the G family in CA, and try to put a futon frame together, which I am not looking forward to. I may skip that and head to the studio to work on my thank you cards.

That's about it for now- I still need to get some photos up. I know I procrastinate on this, but it isn't easy- I end up having to use two different computers, one that holds the photos, and is so SLOW, and my laptop to do the rest of the post. It takes patience and time.

T.T.F. N.
LB

Rant: Identigene

2008-01-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

(Please wait for a moment while I pull my soapbox out from under the bed, and get up on it. Okay, I am ready.)

You are not going to believe what I heard on the radio: An advertisement for this. No kidding. You can buy it at Rite-Aid. The Ad campaign just cracked me up in a very surreal uncomfortable way. I am a station flipper in the car, so this is where we came in: "My husband had doubts and was quite upset. We used the kit, sent in for the results, and 3 weeks later, my dh is satisfied and content, knowing our child is his." I kid you not. Does this not strike anyone else as just totally weird and strange? That a DNA kit would be marketed to the general public? And with a marketing/media campaign like this? Look how giddy the three women are, all sitting around the laptop, happy and congratulatory that their friend knows just who is her baby's daddy? Sheesh. If you know me in real life, you can ask me sometime about my little family's experience with DNA testing. But however you look at it, I think this says a great deal about our current societal values, morals, and maybe lack thereof.
(Ahem. Stepping off the soapbox, and skooching it back under the bed.)
T.T.F.N.
LB

Priviledge

2008-01-08T16:31:00.000-08:00

Priviledge

I got this from Zoo Full of Boys.

Bold the ones that are true for you.
The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate in this blog game, you acknowledge their copyright.

If you post this in your blog, please leave a comment on this post. To participate in this blog game, copy and paste the above list into your blog, and bold the items that are true for you. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to post your responses in the comments.

Father went to college
Father finished college (I am guessing here. I am not certain whether he finished, and when he was in the Navy.)
Mother went to college
Mother finished college
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers (What do they mean here?)
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
Were read children’s books by a parent (Once or twice by my dad, and by older siblings)
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively.
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school (I went to a private SDA school for grades 1 to 10, then public high for last two years.
Went to summer camp
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels-I remember Disneyland twice.
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down
There was original art in your house when you were a child- my mother's.
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18
You and your family lived in a single family house- all 8 of us at one point.
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
You had your own room as a child Only after all older sibs moved out- I think I was 11 when I got my own room.
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
Had your own TV in your room in High School
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16 - Disneyland
Went on a cruise with your family
Went on more than one cruise with your family
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up- nope, but my big sister did.
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

Now to answer for my kids. Some answers are predcitions
Father went to college
Father finished college
Mother went to college
Mother finished college
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor- one deceased uncle on their father's side was a college professor.
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers since we homeschool. ;)
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
Were read children’s books by a parent
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively-I hope so.
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs. Sigh. I am encouraging them to get great scholarships.
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school
Went to summer camp
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels- occasionally
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down
There was original art in your house when you were a child
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18- no, but they each have cell phone for safety.
You and your family lived in a single family house
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
You had your own room as a child- they do now, but shared before puberty hit.
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
Had your own TV in your room in High School
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
Went on a cruise with your family
Went on more than one cruise with your family
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

Very interesting. I hope you take part in this. I found it interesting that there were no statements about being on welfare, or having experienced periods of job loss, etc.
LB