Art Club

I'm watching my niece Abbey tonight. She's 9. We took Sasha to the park where they have an off leash area and she ran free for awhile. On the way home, Abbey decided that we need to have an Art Club. So she and I are sitting here now and I'll be typing the minutes as we have our meeting. By the way, the name of our club is "Transforming Artists".

First, we are going to set some ground rules:
1. No fighting.
2. No painting on each other.
3. No laughing at other people's artwork unless it is supposed to be funny.
4. Say something nice or don't say anything at all.
5. HAVE FUN!!!!

Purpose of our club: Havning fun and getting better at art. Abbey will be drawing a picture of her baby sister. And I have no earthly idea. I'm just going to get out the paints and see what inspiration hits. Here we go......We'll check back with our results later.

Cruisin'

I have to pace myself here. I've been gone over half of the month of May and I am not nearly ambitious enough to write about all my adventures at one sitting. So tonight, you'll just get the highlights of the cruise I took a couple of weeks ago.

First off, I must tell you how this cruise fell in my lap thanks to the generosity of a Christian sister. CJ goes to my church, and on a trip to Nashville for a worship conference last fall, we got to talking about her job as a travel agent. She's also a single lady and I was curious who she traveled with. When I asked, she said that she often earns free cruises and asked if I would like to go. I'm sure at that point my jaw hit the floor. When we got back from Nashville she emailed me and got it all set up. I was excited that we were going to Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia, as it held more appeal for me than even the Caribbean. In the midst of planning this trip, 2 of my girlfriends from the singles' group decided to come along too, so there were 4 of us happy cruisers. Here's a picture of us all....Kristen, CJ, Tekia, and myself.

This was my first experience with cruising and let me tell you, it was a treat. And cruising with a travel agent friend who has platinum benefits is even better. While hoards of people waited in line to board, we just glided on up to the front of the platinum members line and were on board in no time. The ship itself was huge. I don't think you have a concept of how big those ships really are until the airport shuttle drives you up to it and it feels like you are approaching a gigantic stadium of some sort. Here's a pic of our boat, "Sapphire Princess" taken in Vancouver.

Now writing this in narrative form could get very long and tedious, so I've decided instead to resort to a list (gasp!). But you know me.....there will be pictures.

Top 10 Reasons to Take a Cruise

10. The luxurious accommodations. OK.....maybe that's a bit of a stretch. The cabins weren't exactly grandiose in size, but they were nice and suited our purposes quite well. And I don't care how many stars they have, no hotel I know of offers both the splendid view and the gentle rocking motion that lulls you to sleep.

9. The entertainment. It really is true that the ship is like a floating city. There are things to do all throughout the day. Even if you had no ports of call, you could still have a great vacation on the ship. We saw a movie each day we were at sea. And we watched grown men play with their food. I know, sounds weird, but check out the awesome works of art they produced. (Secretly I can't wait to have a get together so I have an excuse to play with my food).

In the evenings after dinner, there was always a show. The first night, the longest reigning champ of "Star Search" sang. We knew we were in trouble when he came out in coral lame pants and coordinating sequin shirt. He had a good voice, but we all thought he was too much of a lounge lizard. The old people on the ship loved him, incidentally. When he sang "Butterfly Kisses" and started doing cheesy hand motions, I struggled to keep my composure as the tears formed. I must clarify, those were tears of hilarity not of sentimentality. Finally we got up and left. Yes, we missed out on some of the show, but he provided us with some lasting entertainment of our own as we mimicked his act on more than one occasion.

The second night, we watched a juggler/comedian who was pretty entertaining. He wrapped up his show with some juggling in the dark. He had invented some sort of laser gloves and had glow in the dark balls to juggle so the effect was quite stunning.

The third night featured a variety show by the ships' singers and dancers. While it was a chance to actually see people our own age on board the ship, the talent was mediocre. The crew is international, which afforded us the very unique opportunity to hear Billie Joel sung with a Slavic accent (a first for me). Sven (as I nicknamed him) sang "In Ze Mittle uhf Ze Night" in a most unforgettable way. If nothing else, it gave me the confidence that if my Art Therapy job ever falls through, I can always go to sea as a cruise ship singer! (And now I know what Simon means when he tells the American Idol rejects that they sound like cruise ship singers!)

8. The wildlife. I'm a true fan of wildlife. Here's a seal begging for fish at the harbor in Victoria. And Darth Vader eeking out a living. Guess they ran out of Star Wars movies and he's resorted to fiddling.

7. The Food. While there was so much food it could actually be classified as entertainment, I've given it its own category. The food was delectable and plentiful. You really could eat 24 hours a day....and it's all payed for. When else can you open your menu, order 2 appetizers, as many entrees as you want, salad, dessert, and fruit and not even worry about the cost? It's all included! Not real conducive to dieting, but if that's your concern, better go to a spa instead. When else do you have the opportunity to try things like roasted rabbit with pasta? Or a delicious white and dark chocolate mousse?

6. The service. From our cute little Romanian steward, Sebastian Lucian who entered our room and said, "I'm here to grant your every wish" to the waiters who did everything but wipe your mouth for you, I have to admit it was really nice to be waited on hand and foot. It's rare that I go to restaurants where there is a maitre de and waiters who put the napkin on your lap for you. Four single women, delicious food and men with interesting accents waiting on us hand and foot....can't get much better than that. (Technically it could.....if the men waiting on us weren't getting paid to do so).

5. Beautiful vistas.....I love the ocean and I don't think I could get tired of looking at it.

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4. Charming Victoria. I loved Victoria and have already decided I need to go back. One day was not nearly enough to explore this quaint city by the sea. I could live there. We took the hop on and off bus tour around town, stopping at Craigdorroch Castle and the Fisherman's Wharf for some fish and chips. The city was bursting with flowers. The houses were cute and homey with wonderful views of the ocean.

3. Cosmopolitan Vancouver. I didn't really know what to expect of this city, but it seemed like a great place to explore. Our time was even more limited here, so we had time to visit old gas town and eat at a restaurant recommended by the locals. The girls did some shopping and I went up in the observatory, which offered great views of the city from about 50 stories up. Here's a pic of our ship in the harbor and an example of the beautiful backdrop the city provides.

2. Meeting people from all over the world. Yes I've already mentioned Sven and his buddies. These four ladies are from CA. They sat near us at dinner one night and commented that they are 4 close friends from college and they have taken a trip together every year for 40 years. They encouraged us to do the same. Interestingly enough, we ran into them at dinner the next night too. And incredibly, after we disembarked and began exploring Vancouver, we ran into them again at the restaurant someone had recommended. There they were and we ended up getting seated right behind them.

1. Good friends. It was great to spend time with some girlfriends. No worries about work or bills, just good conversation and lots of laughs. Here we are dressed up for formal night and having fun on deck.

So the cruise was a blast. I highly recommend it. It was truly relaxing and never boring.

CATCHING UP

OK, OK.....I should be in the other room unpacking from my 10 day trek across country. I should be cleaning up 10 days worth of dog hair (for that sweater I'm going to knit). I should actually go get my bags out of the car since I got home yesterday at 7:30 am. But no, here I am at this stinkin' computer. It holds such appeal when there are things to be done. Like yesterday when I thought I'd just jump on for a few minutes and find a new blogskin. Several hours later, I had found a site that enables you to design your own without having to know html codes and all that fancy stuff. So as you can see, that's what I did in the wee hours of last night. There's a link to the site over on the yellow sidebar....look for PsycHo....... I do have lots of catching up to do on this blog. I was gone more than half of May on 2 separate vacations, so I have much to tell. But priority wise, taking a shower has got to come first. SO I bid you adieu for now.

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMMM........

Well there have been a few things lately that have boggled my mind. They have ranged from frivolous and silly to seriously frustrating. Here are a few....

1. The Applebee's saga continues. Well, if you've followed my blog, you know that there is a certain manager that over the past few months has been flirtatious with me. I offered my number and never heard from him, yet he continued to flirt. Friday I went in with my regular group. Even though there was a waitress standing right there by the menus, he rushed over to seat us. As he grabbed the menus, I noticed a big gold wedding band (never been there before). That would explain a lot. However, through the course of the meal, as he walked by, I noticed that he no longer was wearing said ring. Hmmmm. At any rate, I tried not to make eye contact.

2. As I was searching for a doggie picture for one of the kids at work, I ran across this book....HMMMMmmmmm......Now as you'll recall, my house is rife with resources for the would-be canine knitter. See below picture to refresh your memory... I wonder if I could start a new E-bay business....Fido Fluff by the pound. Or I could buy the book and produce many pieces of apparel. I'll start taking orders from all of you who have enemies with dog allergies. Would you prefer the Samoyed legwarmers for the more subtle affront to the sinuses or the Sammy scarf for a direct attack? Remember, better a sweater from a dog you know and love than from a sheep you'll never meet, or (gasp) some synthetic material that was never even part of an animal's hide.

3. I recently went to the doctor for all my hormone problems. My number one complaint was that despite serious diet and 6 days-a-week exercise for 3 months, I failed to loose one lousy pound. The other complaints were things like extreme fatigue, moodiness, etc. After putting me through some invasive tests, the doctor's nurse calls back with something like, "Well, I know you've had a hard time losing weight. But sometimes when your body is not used to being a certain size, it doesn't function as well. If you could even lose 10 pounds, you'd feel a lot better." I wanted to scream. (There I go being moody again.) If I would just get on the ball and lose those 10 pounds all my problems would be solved! And to think I paid them for that piece of sound advice! According to that theory, all my skinny friends would never be tired or moody. Any of you petites wanna vouch for that?

4. A funny from work. This is from the 16 or 17 year old girl who is the source of most of my funny stories. She has a job in the community at a fast food place. A vocational trainer goes with her and she does cleaning type tasks. Thursday, 2 highway patrolmen walked in. Our girl, who shall remain anonymous, walked right up to them, got right up close and said, "Excuse me officers, what seems to be the problem?". Can't tell me that girl doesn't watch a bit of TV. My oh my, maybe you have to know the girl, but I chuckle every time I picture that scene.

5. Same girl a couple of weeks ago.......We had Cinco de Mayo MMARS on Friday the 4th. One of the games entailed the kids donning a sombrero and dodging a huge ball that the other kids rolled at them. This was our version of bullfighting. I had demonstrated, improvising with a red athletic penny as my cape. At the end of MMARS, that girl (I'll have to make up a fictitious name....any suggestions?) usually hollers something like, "Bye, Beth. Thanks for a good MMARS" or "Bye Mary Jane. Thanks for the farm MMARS." Well on this particular day she hollered, "Bye Tawnya. Thanks for being a good Mexican!"

6. I'm going on a cruise tomorrow!!!! What am I doing online? Gotta pack!

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.