The Rain, The Cards, & Other Things

Is there anyone reading this who is old enough to remember a Tweener pre-adolescent crush on the Cowsills (60's pop-singing and original 'drink milk' family that the Partridge Family tv show was 100% based on)? My blog title today draws on one of their many song hits. The Rain, The Park & Other Things. Oh man, I was eat up with them when I was 9, 10 years old (and The Monkees, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and Herman's Hermits). Next to the Beatles, those groups were my faves. (Yes, I realize the disparity in genre and quality between the Beatles and those groups, but wasn't that the way with any group compared to the Fab Four? And, I never was a Rolling Stoner, lol.) That's my Memory Walk for today.

Errands
It rained today...that's why I thought of that song. Drizzling showers, intermittant but constant, we get this great kind of rain far too little. Plus, while my eyeglasses did manage to fog up every time I ventured outdoors, the temps stayed sane and so it felt good out. I went to get my blood drawn (again) for another check on infection and thyroid levels. They have to take it out of a vein on the top of my hand and that's kind of weird icky (the lady who draws it knows all about my quirky behavior with this: she lets me spasm and emit groans while keeping the needled hand perfectly still...would probably make a great YouTube video...and she doesn't even snicker...much, LOL). I apparently have veins in my elbow that hide at the mere mention of drawing blood.

After that lovely experience, I was filled with a desire to get busy with my heretofore health maintenance procraastinations, so I called for a dentist appointment...gone for the day already, they'll call me Monday. Oh well, I tried. (I also badly need to get my eyes checked and get new glasses, but I'll have to get more inspiration at an earlier time of another day.)

Next, I had my always pleasant drive over the bridge to the grocery store I love to frequent in the next town over. Love this drive, it makes me feel free and alive being on that suspension bridge (I think it's the water below and all around since I'm a Pisces). Arriving at Kroger, Score! Lean Cuisines were 5 for $10 and I loaded up, even got some of those Panini's to try out. My fitness club girls say they're good. Oooh, and I got some Pepperidge Farms mini bagels. Love those and they're such a cute size that is a much better size for me. Only 110 calories for one, and nothing left over, since those full size ones are almost 300 calories and I always slice them in half. Now I can have an entire bagel for less calories than half a full one. Dig that.

Got home, unloaded groceries, had an afternoon green tea and answered a few emails, then got down to cooking dinner. Tried the quinoa (Keenwah)! Dude, it's tasty, a great rice or cous-cous type dish. I fized up some cornbread, some Stouffers beef stew for 2 and a romaine salad. I ladled the stew over the quinoa -- delish. Hubs liked it too, and do you know what that means? It means "approved for flight", or okay to cook from now on. LOL I researched it a few weeks ago (you may remember it's one of those Super Foods and I had to order it from amazon and it took over a week to arrive). Oh and it's super easy to cook, similar to but even easier than rice, okay? Enough said.

Frizzle My Shizzle
I do have to show you one casualty of my rainy day excursion, though and that's my hair. Frizzle my Shizzle! I flat-ironed that moptop prior to my errands, albeit lightly, and never really took a look at it while I was out and about. I almost frightened myself silly the next time I passed a mirror, LOL. The waves are totally natural. This is the first time I've ever seen the effects of my flat-ironing totally obliterated, so either I am going to have to flat-iron every inch of hair and at a higher temp (something I don't really think I should do to my menopaused tresses), or I need to use some heavy duty product on days like this. I'll be trying the latter for sure. I've quite a lot to learn about doing my own hair, something else I've procrastinated on since Missy left.

Artful Progress
I knew that as soon as I stated that I was not going to spend forever on each art journal page that I would spend a lot of time. That's just my luck. I say something, I end up doing the opposite. Oh well. So it was that the next idea I had for an art journal essay was my childhood thing about ballerinas, and a desire to play in my paints and such.

It just so happens, as I have a daughter who had her own ballerina flirtation once, that I'm left with dance embellishments among the ruins of my scraps stash: stickers, tags, collage sheet images. They've stayed in the scraps stash because of course they are long gone from the list of current "in" product, but I cannot bring myself to throw them out because to me they are very cute and some strange out-of-touch part of me keeps hoping they'll make a comeback. Well, they're only gonna do that if I force the issue, so I decided to channel the Rebel in me and create that comeback for this essay.

But, how to lessen the impact of sticker cheese? How about cool painted artsy background paper? I spent some time last night and this evening making some with junk mail paper. I didn't start with my paints, choosing instead to play with my oil pastels and my Craf-T rub-in cremes. Once I had tired of them, I moved on to my paints, applying them with a round stencil sponge dauber. I adhered some pink plastic mesh to one background with some tape runner, and then took my cheesiest ballerina image, adhered her to some cardstock, cut her out and then made several little holes in her for brads to attach her with. This is as far as I've gotten, but I ask you: try to push back your disdain or dislike for cheesy sticker shapes and just tell me you don't think she's just the cutest thing. Ah! LOL, I probably need help dealing with this sickness, I know. But hey, I am recycling and for a packrat, that's sadly as good as it gets most of the time.

Card Making, World-Style
I'll be making one tomorrow, how about you? Don't have time? Just make one, okay? You don't have to make a ton and they don't have to be brilliant. I just think the idea of card makers everywhere each commemorating the day by making a card is kind of cool. So, if you can, do. I made a pink tag just for this event from one of my cheesy dance tags last night. I painted over the text that was on it with pretty pink paint, then used my own handwriting to write the info, then added a flower, a button, some eyelets, ribbon and a staple. I liked it so much I made a smaller image to use as a sidebar ad for tomorrow. All I'm gonna say is, it's really sick how little I know about digital elements when I spend an hour making what I could have just created digitally. {Sigh} Maybe one day....

Fitness Update
Got extra walking in today, since I ran errands and walked that grocery store again. (I really ought to go there every day and buy one or two things, LOL, and don't think I won't consider that!) I was also a good girl food-wise. I slept late this morning (as usual) and then had to work at my accounting crap for a couple of hours (will have to be doing that, and more, until the 16th), but I did manage to put on my new yoga dvd just to watch while I worked. It's really cool. Can't wait to clean up a floor area somewhere in this dump so I can do some yoga! Cuz, I think this one will make me successful at being able to actually have a repetoire of positions, LOL. Based on the preview, highly recommended. A more thorough critique to come...

Feel like a Number
Well, today marked another week of viewing my TV show list. It has been difficult keeping up with everything I've wanted to see, so I added a Google calendar for them (at the very bottom of my blog page), so that when I get confused I have a place to get straightened out. Don't think I'll be adding any more shows to Sunday-Thursday, and based on tonight's viewing, I think I'll add Friday Night Lights and then I alway try to watch 20/20. FNL has always intrigued me (lovelove that Kyle Chandler!), but it has so many boring passages (part of its cinematic style and using real kids as actors, I've decided) that I'd quit watching. Now, the story line interests me again, and I'll just go tinkle or smoke during the boring parts. Sounds like a plan. But, check this out: it's on a new night (Friday), which is neat cuz it's about football, but answer me this: is the show just trying to be the most-Tivo'd show in history or something, because...helLO...doesn't the show appeal to viewers who are, I dunno, AT football games on this night? That scheduling decision just astounds me, what will they think of next? {eyeroll}

Ack, fingers sore, too much typing (and correcting my voluminous typos, hope I caught them all), so I will catch up on my blogger challenge questions tomorrow, as well as upload the card for you that I made for my nephew. Have a great Saturday, yo! ;)))