Wind Beneath My Petals

For my Artist Date this week, I rummaged around a in cool store called 'Tuesday Morning'. I was actually looking for the elegant pair of sox or elegant pair of gloves for one of the other tasks...but instead found this really bright and cheerful windsock flower. Its currently residing in a flowerpot on my front porch...kinda clashes with the Christmas decorations - Christmas stuff will be out for a while longer - gets put away after Epiphany.

Spent yesterday afternoon with my parents - my Mom had a bunch of magazines that she was going to toss...I happily ripped into them and got some really cool pictures and sayings for my collage. I finished that this morning - its now hanging behind my desk.

Requiat in Pace, Ursus Maritimus

We laid to rest a good dog today. My DD's Champagne Lab, who was named 'Polar Bear' (Ursus Maritimus) because when we got him he looked just like a polar bear cub. He became a gentle giant of a dog. Oddly, for a purebred Labrador, he never did learn how to fetch. He will be missed. He will be waiting for my DD at the Rainbow Bridge...

Murphy's Law and the Vacation Phenomenon

Today was a day for the record-books. I started my annual year-end vacation as of 5 pm today but for most of the day it was very touch and go as to whether I would even GET to take vacation next week. I am not sure why, but Murphy's Law seems to crank into full steam whenever you get near enough to smell the start of a vacation - Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong and right before your vacation starts is the worst possible time! Systems that have been working perfectly fine for months decided yesterday that they just had to break...and of course those are the ones the bean-counter people must have working for the end of year tallying up process. But, with my nose firmly pressed to the grindstone, I was able to whack the problems down to size, at the expense of a layer or two of nose-skin. I started out the day with a fever - wasn't even sure I should get out of bed, but persistence won out, I triumphed and all is well on the western front.
Tomorrow I plan to finish off the gift-making. I'm on a roll!

Little Luxuries

Another part of this week was the exploration into authentic little luxuries.
The lady with the raspberries really resonated with me...they are one of my favorites - nothing quite compares to the delight of popping fresh raspberries into the mouth, unless its picking them fresh from the canes and eating them as fast as you fill the bucket! I bought a package of them at the store...
Another little luxury I like is Chai Spice Tea with cream...ummmm...always reminds me of the smell of Christmas...one of the coffee stations where I work has this tea frequently available and for a mere 25 cents I can revel in the taste and scent as I sip.
I saw something at one of the stores today that I think would be a great little luxury - a small rollup case with colored pencils and a small sketch pad...that would be a cool thing to carry around - making one will be vastly cheaper than what the boutique store that I was in wanted for it (it was made of purple suede!) and I can tailor it to my selection of pencils...

Artist's Way Check In - Week Six

This was a fun week. I did my morning page 6/7 days - Wednesdays are just the hardest days for me to get into them! I sewed a bunch of Christmas Gifts for my Girlfriends, went to Christmas Party with my associates - there were 6 of us at each table...the table I was at, everyone EXCEPT me got one of the door prizes...most of the prizes were dustcatchers...I ended up with a consolation prize...but really I like it better...its a dish of florescent green plastic putty that can be squeezed, molded, pinched, squished...its labeled "Positive Putty - Release Your Tension, Stretch Your Creativity, Shape Your Destiny, Sculpt Your Direction." - More up a creative person's alley than a silly old dustcatcher anyway!
I loved the tasks this week and did most of them. I consider my reunion with my long lost friend to be my artist date for the week..it sure was satisfying! Oh..and playing with the putty too!

Task 1 - found 5 interesting rocks from my gravel driveway...a chunk of granite with pyrite sparkles, some milky quartz, a piece of limestone, a smooth chunk of basalt and an interesting piece with some hematite in it..or at least thats the best I can do at identifying the rock types (Geology was a really looooonnnngggg time ago!) I washed the rocks and put them into a jam jar lid that has cute little berries printed on the edge...and put them on the ledge of my kitchen window.
Task 2 - its winter and even in So Cal, there are not too many flowers that bloom in winter, but I did find some! A bright yellow dandylion, a deep pink wildrose bloom, a tiny white rose, a spray of pepper berries and a lime blossom...put them into a pretty glass to enjoy for a few days.
Task 3 - I already cleaned out the ratty clothes a couple of weeks ago..so I cleaned out one of the kitchen drawers and tidied up the rubber bands and twist ties, restacked the kitchen towels and boxes of plastic wrap...Found a box of parchment paper I forgot I had!
Task 4 - Made a spicy chicken soup (added Pace Salsa)and a pumpkin pudding...yummm!

And...I went out this morning and did ALL the Christmas shopping except for a couple more stocking stuffers for my kids, the gift bags, and the food that will be served at the party...my credit cards are protesting, but TADA...I am done with buying things and since I knew where I was going and what I wanted, the only crowded place was Costco - but that's normally crowded on a Sunday afternoon..just have to finish the handmade gifts, get the decorations up and clean the house...and er, humpf...the Christmas Cards! This is THE earliest I have ever had this much of the shopping done!!!! (One year we were sick for Christmas, hadn't done the shopping at all! Christmas celebration was postponed til New Years, and we got all the Christmas gifts that year at the After Christmas Sales!)

Catching Up...Twenty Five Years Worth

I had dinner with my long lost friend last night. It was a wonderful, wonderful reunion! We had dinner and we talked and talked and talked...finally one of the waiters came over and said they were closing for the evening!!!We did not even realize we had talked for FIVE hours! (Nice of the restaurant not to kick us out earlier!) I think we might still be there talking if they hadn't closed.
We are going to get together again between Christmas and New Years - both of us are off work and we still have oddles to talk about! Very interestingly, our lives have taken similar paths although she still has the same attitude about quilting I did three years ago before I got quiltpox ("Why would you cut up perfectly good fabric into little pieces just to sew it back together??)...I will just have to expose her to quiltpox and hope she catches it!

Artist's Way Check In - Week Five

Chapter 5 Check In

I spent most of the week in a bit of a bad mood...I really didn't like the first of the tasks as I found it rather insulting for her to assume I don't believe in a supportive God...and my antagonism towards that task colored my perspective for the rest of them...

Task 8 - Favorite Creative Block would probably be web surfing.

1. Did pages 6/7 days. Not experiencing page and a half thing...either pages start out as a stream of conciousness and stay that way or they start out exploring an issue and I go on from there...
2. Artist Date for this week started out to be the mystery quilt and I did finish the top...but I wasn't totally satisfied with just that, so I went and bought a toy lap harp - learned to tune the instrument (takes a while!) and play a couple of songs. Its cute but it only has 8 strings so its definately just a toy...but it has me longing to get a real harp. There is a store about an hour drive away that does demo classes periodically where they teach you to play a simple song and you get to try out the different harps...That's gonna be a definate goal for an Artist Date in the near future!
3. No real synchronicity this week.
4. No burning issues...

Fly Me To The Moon!

Remember my 'Moon Jumpers' from third grade, with the block of wood and big springs??? There I was in Wal-Mart...strolling thru the toy section on my way to another department - I turned around, and lo and behold: Today's version: Moon Shoes!!! Mini-trampolines in a plastic bucket that you strap onto your feet...Artist Child almost made me buy them....

Its really a mystery...

...why I did this!!! But I finished the mystery quilt top. Its ready to be quilted to a fleece backing. Pattern is a little too close to Log Cabin for my tastes and it makes me DIZZY! Up close, I like it, but when I see it in a picture or in the mirror, its kinda weird. I think it needs some leaves or flowers or something! Picture is pretty bad...its really a cream color and a light leaf green, not olive!

What I did like about the process was the clever technique for building the strips that make up the block...

Made a big pot of turkey soup while I was stitching...umm, yum...

Artist Way Check In - Week Four

I am checking in a bit early since I am doing my Artist Date for next week tomorrow morning - gonna do my first mystery quilt...so may not have time to get on the computer except to get the clues...
Hopefully this links correctly to the Artist's Way blog...Artist Way Quilters: Chap 4 Check-in November 27, 2005

1. Did morning pages 6/7...skipped Turkey Day - I was just way too busy to sit and do pages!
2. Did my Artist Date - and yes, my artist gets to do more than rent a movie - we were somewhat creative this week and finished off some ancient UFOs
3. Well...I think getting the return email from my long lost friend and having her work in the same city as I work in is pretty much synchronistic!
4. No burning issues...

Task 8 - Out with the old, in with the new...
I started with the underwear drawer..all the ratty old undies went in the trash, along with a bunch of undies that I just never felt right wearing. Fresh new undies took their place. Then I moved on to the closet...in addition to evicting a low self worth outfit (a shorts and top outfit that every time I put it on I wondered what in the world I was thinking!! Unfortunately I loved the color...just not on me!), I did my seasonal 'move the winter stuff to the front, the summer stuff to the back' and got rid of two bags of other stuff that bugs me...I still have too much 'stuff'...I have to pare more deeply - one of these days.

Buried Dreams Exercise

Most of these were not too hard for me to do - except the things that sound fun that I would never do - now, if they really sounded fun, I might try them - but these are ones that are a little too scary for my tastes!

I couldn't keep to just 5 on the classes though...I love trying new things and would love to take more classes...just don't find enough time to actually go...

Five hobbies that sound fun: pottery, beading, scrapbooking, playing the harp, candlemaking
Five classes that sound fun: Java programming, filmography, balloon bouquets, pysanka, cake decorating and a couple extra, Japanese ink painting and cartooning
Five things I would never do that sound fun: Sky diving, hang-gliding, bobsledding, long distance swimming in the ocean, scuba diving
Five skills that would be fun to have: ice sculpting, ballroom dancing, antiques appraising, travel agenting, horse whispering
Five things I used to enjoy doing: intense following of archeology projects, ice skating, swimming, gardening, scouting
Five silly things I would like to try once: ice bathing, underwater basket weaving, grunion hunting, have a mold made of my body, get dressed to the nines and go to High Tea with the Queen of England

Angel Bear and The TopiaryTree

For my Artist's Date this week I finished off a couple of projects that have been hanging around for it seems like eons! They are at least 10 year old UFO's.
Angel Bear is made of a large brass bell with bear paws and head attached. He has gold wings in the back and is holding my favorite instrument - the harp! The bell used to bug me every time I would move the project, so one year I squirted hot glue into the bell and silenced it..did I take the time to finish the project?? NOPE..just glued that danged annoying marble.
The topiary tree is made of spanish moss and stasis, with tiny rosebuds...
Don't ask me what I am going to do with them though!

Guess what!!! The lady I emailed IS my friend that I lost contact with and she does want to get together to catch up on the last 20 or so years! Yippee!

I'll Take Three, Please

1.Three screen names that I've had: casuzen...thats it...
2. Three things I like about myself: I'm nice, I'm a good friend and I play fair
3.Three things I don't like about myself: I have a nervous breakdown playing chess, I'm only organized sometimes and I could be a better housekeeper
4.Three parts of my heritage: German, Italian, English
5. Three things that scare me: loosing my purse, nuclear holocost and taking risks
6. Three of my everyday essentials: my handpiecing bag, cellphone, comfy clothes
7. Three things I am wearing right now: sweatpants, long sleeved cotton shirt and glasses
8. Three of my favorite songs: Celebrity - Brad Paisley, Total Eclipse of The Heart - Bonnie Tyler, Thats the Way I Always Heard It Should Be - Carly Simon
9. Three things I want in a relationship: truthfulness, consistency and adventure
10. Two truths and a lie: humpf...can't stand to lie so I'm not answering this one
11. Three things I can't live without: Computer, good food, companionship
12. Three clothing fads I bought into: hip huggers, bell bottoms and jeans
13. Three things I just can't do: wear high heels, wear makeup, spend money I don't have
14. Three hairstyles I've had: long hair, long-enough-to-sit-on-it hair and Twiggy pixie cut
15. Three things I want to do before I die: Go around the world, create some pieces of art that will last past my lifetime, get really good at longarm quilting
16. Three new year's resolutions I never keep: getting and staying more organized, writing a screenplay, getting enough exercise
17. Three of my favorite musicians/singers: Clint Black, Enya, Gordon Lightfoot
18. Three physical things about the opposite sex that appeal to me: tight backside, nice smile, good hygiene
19. Three of my favorite hobbies: quilting, reading, crafts
20. Three things I really want to do badly right now: I really want to read a book (but I'm resisting...), I want to take a vacation and I want to finish reorganizing my house, including possibly adding on a room
21. Three careers I've considered: Greeting card designer, astronaut(until I found out you had to have perfect eyesight), archeologist
22. Three ways that I am stereotypically a boy: I am mechanically inclined, I'm more comfortable in jeans and I can fix almost anything
23. Three ways that you are stereotypically a girl: I wear lots of pink, I cry during chick flicks and I don't make as much money as a comparably experienced guy (bah!)
24. Three people that I would like to see post this meme: ?? and why is this called a meme??

Related posts: Rian, Pat, Sophie , Hilda , Jules , Jane Ann , Tracey and Debra

NO READING FOR A WEEK???? Splut, splut!!!

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh...I just read chapter four and she says we can't read this week(exept for the tasks for the week)...no books, no magazines, no newspaper and I guess that means no forum, no blogs, no internet news services...how about snail mail (the dang bills come due this week - or are bills not reading?) or email?? I have to read the emails for work but fortunately its only part of the week...I think this just may be THE toughest thing she's asked us to do yet...I'll definately cut down...but...I dunno...I don't think I can avoid all of it...

The Artist's Way Check In - Week Three

1. Did my morning pages 7/7 this week...
2. Artist Date - went to the hardware store yesterday for some light panels and while I was there I went out into the nursery section...I was in a rather bad mood yesterday...prickly even...so this is what I came home with (I think it suited my mood rather nicely!):

Its called a "Moon Cactus" - from little label on the pot: What looks like a colorful bloom is actually a special cactus that has had the green chlorophyll bred out of the plant...then its grafted onto the strong green upright stock. The Moon Cactus comes in a variety of colors - yellow, orange, red and pink...very cute cactuses! It's been transplanted to a green bowl that I got at Target for a buck.
3. No synchronicity that I can remember this week - have had lots of it in the past though...(by the by...any of you read "The Celestine Prophecy"? The first of the insights is 'to be aware of what seem to be coincidences'..very similar to synchronicity. DH and I like to say when it happens: "There ARE NO coincidences..")
4. No burning issues...

Task 6:
Called my best friend and chatted with her for a while. We were going to try to get together to go see Harry Potter but she's been working a lot of overtime and it just didn't work out this week. But we had a nice chat! She is very supportive - in fact, she is the one that got me into quilting in the first place!
Also...I found the email address a couple of weeks ago while doodling around in Google of what I hope will turn out to be a good friend from work that I had about 25 years ago, around the time my son was born - we lost contact when she moved to Hawaii (no email back then!)... I finally got up enough nerve this weekend to send an email to find out if its the same gal...I really hope it is!

Searching for Sherlock...

1. My favorite childhood toys were my sewing basket, the puppets my Grandfather made and the 'Moon Jumpers' my Dad drove a really long distance to find.
2. My favorite childhood game was make-believe, especially about foreign places and exotic lives.
3. The best movies I ever saw as a kid were Misty of Chincotequea and the Prince and the Pauper.
4. I don't do it ever but I enjoy ice skating.
5. If I could lighten up a little, I'd let myself spend a little more money on stuff for me instead of just the bare minimum I need.
6. If it weren't too late, I would homeschool my kids.
7. My favorite musical instrument is the harp.
8. The amount of money I spend on treating myself to entertainment each month is getting better now that the kids are grown.
9. If I weren't so stingy with my artist, I'd buy her a treadle sewing machine.
10. Taking time out for myself is fun but a bit scary.
11. I am afraid that if I start dreaming I might have to take risks.
12. I secretly enjoy reading almost anything, including computer language books.
13. If I had had a perfect childhood I'd have grown up to be just what I am...I think I had a pretty darn perfect childhood...(except for the math thing!)
14. If it didn't sound so crazy, I'd buy a yacht and sail away.
15. My parents think artists are special and a gift from God.
16. My God thinks artists are necessary.
17. What makes me feel weird about this discovery is its liberating!
18. Learning to trust myself is empowering.
19. My most cheer me up music is old fashioned downhome Country/Western - yanno, the 'twangy cheesy' stuff...with the whiney fiddle and the banjo...
20. My favorite way to dress is jeans and tees.

Re-Organizing The Office...

Well...so far the nearly manaical desire to re-arrange stuff has persisted for at least today! I managed to give the ol' heave-ho to the contents of three lateral file drawers, 15 to 20 notebooks and two drawers in one of my offices today (I have three!) This office I don't go in to very frequently (its 55 miles away from home!)...its been months since I showed up there for any significant time...but its where the majority of my older historical files live..er, used to live!! Its just so liberating tossing stuff...a couple of the guys walked by and were amazed I was humming and just having a grand time stuffing the recycle bin...
I deliberately picked a Tuesday to spend the day..."Taco Tuesday"...the chef in the cafeteria at that office makes 'THE BEST' tacos...I have been hankering for those tacos...

Yawn....

One of the odder things that has come out of writing the morning pages is a desire for more organization of my 'space'...having to organize my time to actually do the pages seems to be spilling into other areas... Now... I really don't particularly care much for 'cleaning' per se but every so often a good re-arranging is definately theraputic...So...I spent most of yesterday starting to organize the California equivalent of an attic - the 'back' room, the 'junk' room, the 'I will put X in here because I can't figure out where else to put it' room...Filled up a 33 gallon Toter with recyclables and a good part of another 33 gallon Toter with trash...the room looks better but its far from being done...I have this almost anxious desire to attack it again tonight - the trash cans are freshly emptied - but I wore myself out yesterday and after working a full day (Mondays I drive 34 miles each way to the office)...I'm just plain bone-tired. So...hopefully I still will want to work on this project in a few days..though its usually best to catch those waves when they are fresh...I will be tucking myself in shortly..Good Night All!

The Artist's Way Check In - Week Two

1. Did my pages 6 out of 7 days...missed same day this week as last week...I think there is a trend here...Wednesdays are the hardest day to get into this stuff for me...its the middle of the week, I have to get up early to get to my office...will have to try harder this next week! Still not sure I am 'getting' the morning pages but I do seem to have a bit more energy after I do them...a slightly 'virtuous' feeling too...

2. Was annoyed a bit that I didn't have the camera for my walk in the park...but other than that, the artist date was great. Went to a different dollar store too...I just love dollar stores!

3. Issues - not anything really interesting...but I have noticed I am getting more obsessed with this process...

Task 6- Imaginary Lives:
From week 1:

1. Ice Skater
2. Acrobat in the circus
3. Archaeologist
4. A good witch that can do real magic
5. Greeting card company owner

From this week:

1. Famous chef
2. Inventor
3. Writer of books like the Harry Potter series
4. Quilt pattern designer
5. Architect

What I noticed about these two lists is that week one's were things I really wanted to do in high school...week two's are more what I would want to do as an adult...though I think the greeting cards still holds a lot of promise...

Observations:

I dont' think I really know any true Crazymakers...at least not at this stage...there are people who occasionally are a bit crazy, but its not a constant thing. Scepticism is more of a barrier...I think I am just waiting for the 'magic' to happen...

Link to Debra's check-in post

A Walk in the Park

Took my artist child to the park - No..no camera and the lighting was kinda yucky (we are having a bit of liquid sunshine in So Cal), so I will have to hope you can 'see' the park through my description...

This is a smallish park but its one big drawing point is a duck pond in the middle. The main part of the park is nestled into a hollow. The duck pond is surrounded by wide concrete walkways with occasional gazebos for picnicing. At one end of the pond there is a waterfall making that lucious musical sound that waterfals make. Close to the waterfall is a series of graded 'steps' that make a wide staircase down to the edge of the water. From the parking lot, I walked down a narrow staircase that opened onto a brightly colored childrens gym. Since the park is below street level, its is mostly filled with park sounds - the waterfall, children laughing, dogs barking and the ducks quacking...There were even a couple of pairs of Canada geese walking stately around the pond. As I was walking down the stairs, a cute, fat, bright-eyed brown bunny hopped across the stairs and vanished into the undergrowth on the hillside. Since it was too darkish to take pictures even I had rememebered the camera, I decided not to do the bubbles and save them for another day. We (artist child and I) gathered a large bouquet of red, yellow, orange and green leaves...It was quite amazing the range of colors that are possible in sugar maple leaves.

When I spied that there were ducks in the park, I wanted to add this place to my list of possibles for feeding the ducks - another possible artist date...but...there in big bold letters were signs...NO FISHING ALLOWED and DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS...at least there wasn't a KEEP OFF THE GRASS sign...

OH, and the clouds broke up just a bit before sundown so the sky was all pink and blue...love that!