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?

APRIL FOOLS!

Tomorrow is April Fool's Day. Ever pulled a good gag? I can't say I've pulled any really memorable pranks. Although a couple years ago, when the kids came in for MMARS on Friday, we gave them old socks and told them we'd be polishing all the scuffs off the gym floor. They started working and I think they were actually disappointed a few minutes later when we told them it was a gag.

One of the best April Fools "pranks" was actually an unplanned thing. Some of my girlfriends from church and I had planned to go to "First Fridays", an evening when many studios in the art district are open to the public. Three of the group backed out. The Extreme Makeover, Home Edition was in KC and they were big fans of Ty. So they planned to get up at 3 or 4 am and go over to the site. Instead of going out with us, they stayed home and made T-shirts and hardhats.

We had a good time at the art walk (though it was too crowded for my taste). Afterwards, I suggested we go to Figlio's, one of my favorite Italian places on the Country Club Plaza. It was about 9 or 10 pm by then, so the place was almost empty. There was one other large party in the corner and a couple of other tables full, but that was it. Suddenly, as they were getting up to leave, I realized the large party was the cast of the Makeover show. I whispered to my girlfriends. They're a tad more excitable than I am, so they gasped and suddenly had to make a trip to the restroom to get a closer look. I sat alone at the table while the food came. When they returned, they said they had to call the other girls. With it being April Fool's Day, they didn't believe us at first. To think they stayed home when they could have had an up close and personal encounter with the cast, including Ty! I wonder if a scene would have been caused if they had been there. It was neat we got to see some famous people, but my philosophy is that they're just people. I don't want to follow them around with a camera and autograph book as if they are more important than everyone else in the restaurant..... So that was my accidental, not really a gag, April Fool's Day story.

Seems like all I've posted about this week is how tired I've been. I did enjoy sleeping in today very much. Got some errands done around the house, including the first mow of the season. Seems like I was just shoveling snow.

Getting in my ZZZZZZs

My goodness, I've been so tired this week people have been asking if I'm OK. That's always great when you look how you feel. It was one of those days that I almost went and took a nap on the teacher's lounge sofa after school so I could make it home. Instead, I opted for a Pibb Zero. It's a 40 minute drive home, but on nights (like tonight) when I have something going on at the church building (20 minutes from home and on the way from work) I try to kill time in the area to avoid the excess driving and the whole "get home, relax a bit, and turn around and come right back". Unfortunately, with the 2 hours I have to kill, it's really convenient to shop at the Michael's or Target, or one of the other 40 million stores in the area. Today, I opted to take my to-go dinner to the park, sit in one of those really comfortable lawn chairs I happened to have in my trunk and enjoy the weather. The plan was to eat, read for my usual 10 minutes and then get in a serious nap. It was just a bit too chilly though, so I ended up sleeping in my car with the windows partly down. After about an hour of that and a serious neck kink, I started up the car and as I did, 2 teenage heads popped up in the car just a few feet away. I think they thought they were alone.

Someone needs to start a business where you can rent out a quiet room for about an hour if you're in need of a nap. (And I'm not talking about those sleazy hotels you can rent by the hour.) There's just not a good place. I think sleeping in the library or at a coffee shop would be frowned upon. Monday I did sneak into the church building early and slept on the couch in the foyer. Ooohhhh, just had a brainstorm. I could go to a matinee and sleep through it. I'd have to pick something a bit boring, that doesn't appeal to kids, and with no bright flashy action scenes to wake me.

Whew. Someday I'll get my sleep schedule back to normal. Spring break threw me for a loop.

By the way, I haven't forgotten about the painting I need to post here in the next few days. I have been busy with a secret project that I won't be able to post, but I will try to get something up. Unfortunately, it may have to be a piece that someone commissioned me to do. A co-worker is paying me to paint her son's leather breach cloth. It's for some organization related to Boy Scouts. I'll be painting a White Buffalo, as that's his Native American name. I have never had a more unique painting request. Well, actually, I take that back. Once someone paid me to paint a large angel on a window shade so that her 90 year-old mother would have a comforting sight each evening as she pulled the shade.

Hormones: Those Insidious, Pesky Little Swingers!

It's been a busy week so far. Monday I barely functioned at work, as you can imagine from my last post about procrastinating my bed time. To compound the issue, shortly after I went to bed, my hormones decided it would be a great time for a good cry. No reason at all really. There was no fighting it either, so I got up and went ahead with it. (My theory is that must be the body's way of getting rid of the 5 pounds of bloating.) I read a little more and finally got to sleep after 2:00. I was so groggy the next day anyway, but then I had the "after you cried your eyes out" feeling in my eyes which just made it worse. Then I swear I had a few hot flashes that morning. I had to step outside for a moment, while my 50-something co-worker kept snickering and saying I was much too young for that. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and was just wet with sweat, despite the window being open. What is the deal? When I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism a few years ago, I learned just how much of your physiology hormones control, or at least affect. They're such powerful little suckers they could proclaim a mutiny against the rest of the body and probably win. But I guess I can't complain too much. I guess they could swing the other way and I could start getting chest hair and singing bass. I think I'd much rather be a weepy, bloated puddle of sweat.

Sleepy Thoughts

Here I am, Sunday night after 11, grasping at the last few moments of my Spring Break as they slip away from me. After nearly a week of following my biological clock (no, I'm not talking about the baby one!) and staying up until 2 or 3 every night, I'm resisting bedtime tonight. Actually, I always resist. Seems like there's always more things I wanna do before bed. Tonight it's just as difficult, though I do have the fact that I am dead tired playing in my favor. A few pages of the book I'm reading and I'll be out like a light. It's not that the book is boring, that's just what happens when I read. About 10 minutes in and I'm a goner. Makes reading a book a very slow process. So I apologize to any of you that I've ever borrowed a book from. How in the world did I ever make it through grad school?!?

Artistic Inspirations

I don't know if you few faithful readers have checked out my links, but at the very least, go to "artistic Inspirations" and click on the last one, Akiane. This is the site of a child prodigy. Her work is amazing, and she could probably outpaint most of my non-artist friends, even when she was 4. She could probably outpaint most of my artist friends now at the age of 12.

The other amazing thing about her is that despite having atheistic parents, she attributes her gift to God and is very purposeful in wanting to express His love through her work. Go to her site and you will truly see that there is something supernatural at work there!

Also, under artistic inspirations I have links to other artists who paint quite regularly. I especially like M. Collier. Some of the sites even have videos where you can watch in fast forward as a painting comes to life. I know it's inspiring to me. I hope you will find it to be entertaining at the very least.

Spring Break Update

Well the week has flown by. It's been a week of fun and relaxation and yes, a little productivity. I can't say today has been extremely productive, but I do have a nice new look to my blog. It's quite different, huh? I spent an insane amount of time looking for just the right one and then doctoring it up a little. I'm quite proud of myself, as I knew absolutely nothing about html codes, but managed to teach myself so that I could make some changes to the template.

Let me catch you up on my visit with Niki. As you know, she flew in Monday evening from Colorado. We had a great time. As I mentioned, we went to Bo Ling's that night and then browsed the Barnes and Noble. By the time we got home and did some more catching up, it was time for bed.

Tuesday was a very relaxing day. Niki wasn't feeling up to par, and I welcomed the chance to sit around and veg. I guess that's how you know you're really good friends....you don't have to be doing anything tremendously exciting to have relish the time together. We both slept in, then sat in the living room and talked for most of the morning. It was so nice not to have the phone and 500 miles between us. I made some lunch and then we settled into our Grey's Anatomy marathon.

Let me go off on a tangent here for a moment......It's weird how we both got hooked on this show independently of each other. I like to get TV series from Netflix to watch while I'm exercising or scrapbooking. Recently I started Grey's Anatomy after getting several recommendations from friends. One Sunday, I watched 4 or 5 in a row while I scrapbooked. The funny thing was, later when Niki and I talked, we discovered she had done the very same thing. She was sick on the couch and watched a bunch back to back on the very same day. How weird is that? Anyway, we were both ready to start season 2, so she brought it along.

Now I'm not kidding when I say a marathon. The show is so engaging, it really did not seem like we watched over 8.5 hours straight of it. Yep! We were up until about 3 watching the first 13 episodes. Neither of us have the luxury of doing that normally. I stay pretty busy, and she has 3 small children (need I say more).

Wednesday, we slept in and then headed to Union Station for the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. That really was amazing. It was very interesting to see the artifacts found in the ruins of a community near the caves that housed the scrolls. The scrolls themselves were much tinier than I expected. I'm not sure how much of that was due to shrinkage, but it had to be quite a bit, because they were only about 3 inches tall.

For lunch, we headed over to Crown Center and ate at "Steetcar Named Desire". Then we spent the rest of the afternoon stamping/scrapbooking. Cinzetti's is "our restaurant". Ironically, they only have one in KC and Denver and we always make it a point to go in whichever city we are in at the time. We love Italian and it did not disappoint. After church, we headed home where I plugged in the Karaoke machine. Niki is fairly new to karaoke, but she has a beautiful voice and was a natural. We topped off the evening -actually wee early morning hours - with a couple more episodes of Grey's Anatomy. As it is, I don't watch the current episodes, because I'm afraid I'll miss too much of the story. At this rate, I'll soon be tuning in to the current shows.

Niki's flight back was Thursday afternoon. So after sleeping in, and getting packed up, we headed back to Bo Ling's. When she found out it was only a KC thing (and Florida, which doesn't help) she suggested we go back. I of course did not complain.

The time flew by so quickly. I'm so glad she got to come out. By the way, she'll be blogging about the visit too, and she will probably be more detailed in her account (J that she is and writer that she is), so visit her blog for more. Speaking of J's, Niki is very organized, to the point I think she could work as a professional organizer. Just for all you J's out there, I'll have you know that she said my house (including my stamp area) was very organized! So there you have it, proof that we P's are not complete slobs! If you have no idea what I'm talking about with all the J and P stuff, go back and read the February blog entitled "The Battle Between Js and Ps".

As for the rest of my break.....today I was lazybones. Tomorrow I'm going to work on some scrapbooking and get ready for a stamp class I have coming up on Tuesday night. I'm lamenting the fact that Spring Break is almost over! How could that be? Just a weekend left, and those fly by.