Creative endeavors

It's been a productive few days for me, at least creatively. A teacher at school commissioned me to paint a white buffalo on a leather breach cloth for her son. I stayed after school Wednesday and painted it. I had never painted on leather before and it was not easy. This was the suede type of leather and it was difficult to get the paint down into the nap of the leather. It was one of those paintings that seemed like a disaster at first, but suddenly started working out pretty well. It turned out better than I expected. (I wonder if God ever thinks that about us, His living, breathing little pieces of art that sometimes seem like messes that will never amount to anything. Isn't it amazing how he can turn a disaster into a true masterpiece?) Anyway, the teacher had given me a picture to work from, so though I painted this, it is not an original composition.

Friday after work, I went with my friend Jenelle to a gem and bead show they had here in town. I've never seen so many beads in my life. It was like a huge candy store for adults. I bought several pretty beads. Saturday I went over to Jenelle's and made some jewelry. Here's my favorite piece. It's made with yellow turquoise (which I'd never even heard of).

Dog's Day out

Tonight we had a picnic with our singles' group at a park that happens to have a doggie off leash area. It was the first time I took her and she loved it. It was like doggie heaven.....lots of other dogs to sniff, room to run and people to pay attention to Sasha (her #1 priority).

I did notice that my dog is not that playful. If she were a child, she would flunk PE. All the other dogs were running and chasing each other. She went around being social, sniffing the others in that canine way. They'd start running and getting rowdy and she'd meander back my way. Then she spotted a whole gaggle of dogs being walked with their owners. She decided they were more her speed and tagged along with them. It was reminiscent of a clique in Junior High with the one straggler running along behind thinking, "please like me. I wanna be cool too.".......I don't think she had ever seen a chihuahua. She was so intrigued with that dog. She kept following it around, probably trying to see if it was a cat, as it was smaller than our cat. Her favorite dog was a cousin breed.....the husky/malamute mix. It was a beautiful dog and was almost the same shape and size. Sasha definitely wore herself out. She totally enjoyed herself. I'll have to go again.

I commented that someone with no pets could go to that park and sit and have lots of doggie time. One of my friends said, "Yeah, but I don't want to be that weird person that just hangs out at the doggie park". I can just see it, all the doggie moms and dads will keep their pups close by and whisper amongst themselves about the doggie predator that's always sitting on the bench but never seems to have a dog. Somehow Emily, you don't seem like the predator type. Here's a pic of the dog walking my friends.

THE CURE FOR INSOMNIA

Well I haven't written in awhile. Seems like life has been busy. Of course I had to do my taxes last Tuesday. I will have you know that I was actually done Sunday night but had to double check a number with our human resource person. So I totally finished Tuesday night and it wasn't even near midnight. Four hours early for your information. I had the best intentions of finishing them months early, but you know, life happens, and it's always more exciting than doing taxes. BTW, I'm very excited to be getting 3x as much as I usually get.

This weekend, I inadvertently had a 3 day weekend. I would say I woke up sick Friday morning, but that would imply that I actually slept. I rarely get insomnia. I can fall asleep within minutes and sleep like a baby any time of day or night. In fact sleepiness has been a real problem for me lately. So it was weird to hit the hay Thursday night, feel exhausted, and have my eyelids rebel. They were wide awake, as was my mind. Couldn't shut it off. It was one of those predicaments.....Do I stay here in bed in hopes that I'll finally drift off, or do I get up and do something productive? Here's what I tried...

• 15 minutes of laying awake worrying about stuff. I don't advise this.
• 20 minutes of reading my book until I felt so sleepy I couldn't stand it. Turned off light and was suddenly wide awake. Guess I should have finished the book while I was on a roll.
• 15 minutes of doing a crossword puzzle. I do love these, but I tend to do them at night when I'm sleepy and I usually can't finish one (b/c I'm sleepy, not b/c I'm stupid....though I will say I'm not at my brightest when I'm tired. It's amazing how many skipped answers I'll go back and get right off the bat when I have my full faculties). That didn't work.
• Another hour or so of laying awake, knowing that Murphy's law says that insomniacs usually fall asleep right before the alarm goes off. (Shoot. I didn't try setting my alarm for 10 minutes later....next time.) Gave myself an ultimatum. If still awake at 2:30, it's time to pull out the big guns and move to the couch.
• Moved to the couch. Watching TV when I'm sleepy always does the trick. Let's just say I finished the entire first season of Lost, using up all my Netflix discs I had intended to watch over the weekend.
• Decided around 3 that I probably would not be going to work Friday. Thought maybe with the pressure off I could get some sleep......that didn't work. As Murphy predicted, I fell asleep somewhere between 5:30 and 6. The alarm went off shortly after 6. There was no question at that point that I was unfit to drive 40 minutes in the car, let alone deal with screaming kids.

Wouldn't you know it, I slept like a baby off and on for most of the day. Turns out I think I had a bad reaction to some herbal tea.

Maybe next time I should try some reverse psychology on myself. I tried everything that usually puts me to sleep. So perhaps I should have tried everything counter-intuitive to falling asleep. I could have started with a 2 liter of Mountain Dew. I could have turned the air conditioning on full blast, started exercising, sung along with the radio and called a friend and chatted (any volunteers?....gotta be a good conversationalist so it will keep me awake). Just my luck it would work like a charm, I'd drift off into sweet slumber with nary a care, dreaming of kittens and bunnies when my bladder would wake me up screaming from all the Mt. Dew. That would be a rude awakening.

But I digress....The rest of the weekend was pretty good. I did the exciting and glamorous things that I'm sure all you married folks did when you were single and free.....You know, stuff like reorganizing your files, cleaning house, sitting around moping. Nah, I didn't really mope, but there were a few unproductive moments. Went to dinner and a movie at the cheap theater and even stayed out until 10:00! Whewee! Such a rebel.

Today after church I went over to my parents. We had my brother's 40th birthday celebration. Hard to believe he's going to be 40 within the week. That means I'm not too far behind. That just doesn't seem possible. Forty is supposed to be old. Let me tell you, it's looking younger every day. My uncle from Colorado was in town, so it was good to catch up with him. On the way home, I swung by and got my friend Michelle who was in town from Georgia. We sat and visited for a bit. (Maybe tomorrow I'll tell you her story. It's interesting and ironic all at the same time.) Spent a little time with her and then had people showing up for life group. By the time I went to dinner with a friend and wrapped up a few things here at the house, here I am wondering (as I do every Sunday night) where my weekend went.

A BUSY WEEKEND

This weekend was pretty busy. Saturday, Tracy and I had a pampering day. We went to get pedicures. She is getting to the point she can't reach her toes and I was cashing in her birthday gift to me from last fall (couldn't bring myself to waste my pedicure on winter feet that wouldn't be seen for 4 months). Then we went to her hairstylist to get hair cuts. I consider it splurging to spend more than $15 on a haircut. The stylist was very nice, but I don't really like my hair. I got bangs, which I haven't had in years. They aren't quite long enough to do much with. In fact when I woke up this morning, they were sticking straight out. Yikes. Guess I've been blessed with non-bed head for years and now it's catching up to me.

Saturday night I had game night at my house, which is always fun. We played Tribond and Scum. There's pics on our TNT blog.

Sunday my family came to my church. We had an Easter concert and I had a solo. I think it went well, but since I couldn't hear myself I had to ask my sister if my voice cracked or anything. Thankfully it didn't. After church, we all went over to Tracy and Ben's for a yummy Easter dinner. Here are some photo highlights:


Tracy, Ben and Abbey

Molly didn't like wearing her hat but agreed for one picture as long as she could wear Auntie T's slippers.


Philip on the other hand loved wearing the hat.


Molly, Abbey, Philip








Posing for "Alabammy Grammy"

PURPLE TULIPS

Well here it is, just a few days after my self-set deadline. Technically it's not a painting, it's done in colored pencil. I had cut these tulips from my yard and taken them to work. The last 2 evenings, instead of killing time near church, I stayed at work a couple of hours late and worked on this. Feels good to have something done. Now I have to work on my secret project for the next week and a half so I may be delayed in getting the next painting up. Not to mention I haven't done my taxes yet (I'm a P remember).

Tonight I got home from work and indulged in what I thought would be a quick nap. Four hours later I woke up! Wow. There went my evening. I know, I know, all you married people are so jealous of my exciting and glamorous lifestyle.

A PAINTING AS PROMISED.....

Well, I may be a little late for the end of March, which was my goal, but I just didn't have much time to paint last week. But as promised, here's just a rough little something in oil.......Hope you like it!

You may be thinking my style is like that of an artist you're familiar with. Maybe a certain John William Waterhouse? I must confess that is a Waterhouse, but it is April Fool's Day, so I had to do something prank-ish. I probably should have picked something a little more believable, but that's OK. For those of you unfamiliar with Waterhouse, here are a few of my favorites. I love the mood his paintings create.

That's all for today. I'm exhausted, and after spending all day at church, choir practice and then life group, I came home and discovered I'm wearing 2 different earrings. Wonder if people just didn't notice or just chalked it up to me being one of those "eccentric artsy" people?