tidbits tuesday: chronological style

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

Wow! Where did that week go?

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

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.

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.

Paper quilts lesson 3

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

Tidbits: Life is good.

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

Various tidbits

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

Random photo catch-up

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

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

Tidbits: Birthday update, tournament news, housework,

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.

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: Update from Stanford

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

Tidbit: Getting my baby ready for a plane ride

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

Unfinished business

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

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

Sleepover Preparations

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!

LB and the Bad Feeling Fairy.

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

light bulb moment

Good morning invisible friends! I have figured something out (again)! To stay out of the dark places (I refuse to use the "D" word!), the two things that seem to help me most are creating every day, and eating right. If I can just get to the place where both of these are a priority, life will be so much more fun and full of light!

I am grabbing my camera and heading down to the studio depths. I was creating till 1 am, and want to do more. The kids can get their own brekky, the Girl is headed to her piano for a couple of hours, and the Boy is taking the bus to his classes, so I can go get covered with paint and it won't matter- I don't have to be anywhere until this evening, when I have to turn into the supportive mom who is helping out at the first football game.

The Fine Young Man looks so cute in his uniform- the nice black pants, the red jacket, and the oatmeal box hat with the feather plume and the chinstrap. I better pack my tissues.

I hope to be back here later with art pictures!
As Pooh says, TTFN,
LB

Bike a thon today

The Kids are participating in a unique community service project today. Usually our communtiy service is very local, but this one is a world-wide neighborhood project!

They are riding in a bike-a-thon to raise money to purchase goats through Heifer PRoject. A family in an impoverished village in (most likely) Africa is chosen to be the goat owners. They learn how to care for the goat, and when the goat has a baby, it goes to another family in the village who has been trained for the job. Buying a goat for one family helps an entire village. I am probably not explaining this well as I am in a hury, but you can read more about it at the link provided above.

The kids' goal is to ride a total of 20 miles each. If anyone wishes to pledge, shoot me an email. Otherwise, wish them good luck- it is a hot one today!

Gotta go- I need to get some zucchini muffins baked for them to have as a snack on the ride.
TTFN,
LB

I'm back!

Yes, I am here today. Thanks for all your well wishes! My neck is sore, but the swelling is down. I have learned after over 20 years with this injury, that at the first sign of pain, it is better to take a day off, drink tons of water and take tons of ibuprofin, and be in bed with the heating pad for several hours. Better than the severe pain and agony if I just try to be the mom martyr and tough it out. So I will make sure to keep my neck covered and warm, and try to stay as stress free as possible when you are parenting teenagers.

Today is music lesson day. We have piano and then voice lessons from 1 to 4 pm today. If we have to bus, we will leave the house before 11 and not be home till 6, at which time the Boy's tutor picks us up. While the Boy's tutor and he are so engaged, Mr. Tutor's wife and I walk, and talk education (she is beginning her first public school teaching job this fall).

If Papa Dude is available to be our transportation, it will shave an hour each way off our travel time. I am hoping he is available!

Ok, I promised to get some recipes up today, so I am going to get on that now, before the neck gets sore.

Updated at noon to let you know the Dude is our bus today. Yay! That gave me an extra hour to soak sore muscles in the tub. What a nice Dude I have!
LB