This is hard

Late Sunday evening --
Sorry, guys for missing my Wednesday posting day. I just haven't been feeling like sharing anything lately. Not that there's been anything really worth sharing, lol. Maybe that's it. All I can think to write about is how hot it is.

We got out this afternoon, late, 5-ish. Went down to The Boardwalk to have a birthday dinner for Missy, who turns 20 tomorrow. We tried Babin's a new seafood restaurant, but the service was so bad that Hubs insisted we leave after getting our salads. So, we went next door to Salt Grass, and had a wonderful time. Of course, I'm still stuck back there leaving a restaurant in the middle of the order, still a bit horrified, both at the audaciousness and at Hubs, who always talks about it but never does it. Till today.

After our meal, which we spent way too money on (even though it was very good), we rode the new roller coaster. Wow, that got our blood flowing! (And thankfully, no upchucking.) It was still so dang hot though, that I don't know that I'd do it again until October or November. Just standing around, with a breeze, and you feel like you've got gritty tanning oil all over you underneath your clothes. And I'd showered about an hour prior to starting out!

I'm just getting old and too fat, I guess. If I were able to cocoon in my home during the hot months down here, I could handle it alright. And that's getting more and more allowed (as in people thinking you are weird or not), what with the gas prices and the heat (cuz utility costs are rising too).

It's always funny watching a local TV news story about how to save gas, because there's really not much leeway. They shouldn't even run those kind of stories down here. Not running the a/c in your car is not an option, especially if you have children what with child endangerment and all. What else are you gonna do beside just not starting the machine up at all?

We're not speeding (anymore, hehe). We're consolidating our errands. We've forced Hubs to stop his gawd-awful grocery shopping practice of going to 3 different stores to save 5 or 10 cents on something. What made that doubly maddening once the heat set in, was that he'd poop out and not get it all bought in one outing, on account of the heat is exhausting. So, we were beginning to always be out of this or that, including stuff on my diet, which I of course have not been following religiously so I haven't lost much. Good take on that is I have not gained, either, but I digress.

Okay, well. I've been very busy mostly, back into working some on my RAK's to send out, working at finding some new yahoo groups to broaden my art horizons, and continuing to organize the snot out of my supplies. I am so slow, but I am making progress.




A couple of photos above of a 3-ring binder I re-purposed to hold empty magnetic sheets. I don't think there is anything that Crop-A-Dile can't punch through! Then, this is just like me, I decided this binder would be much more useful housing a year's worth of ATC collection when I decided to separate them by year received. So, I took that spine label and just turned it over and am now designing a title for my binder's new purpose. Oh well...and hey, shows that the label can be changed! LOL




The above photos show the other thing I've been playing with: making ring clips for my homemade clip-it-rack out of existing supplies. Again, Crop-A-Dile to the rescue! Yes, it can punch a hole in a wooden clothespin. I love the little mini ones. They're the same ones I used on my InspiraLine. Anyway, that project is going well.




I'm trying to patiently wait for the second season premiere of Mad Men on AMC, but I had to break down and rent season 1 at Blockbuster. Ahhhh! I love the over-the-top stylishness of it, like the Hollywood Rat Pack style applied to nonfamous white collar big city America. And since I know that the way they depict the sexism is pretty accurate for 1960, it blows my mind to realize how far we have come in just workplace behavior alone, not to mention marriages. The battleground for all that was the 1970's, when the nitty gritty sand lines were drawn. No wonder they were turbulent times. Geez.

Well, anyway, Mad Men's season 2 starts July 27th, and I can't wait. The season 1 finale blew me away with Peggy giving birth to a baby she didn't even know she was carrying and then refusing to take it. I'm guessing that means she wants to play with the boys and fight her way up the ladder from copywriter, and not just be a secretary. (Of course, the only chance she had back then was to be both in order to become a copywriter, but hey atleast she got that opportunity).

Journeying back...

Can't say as I'm all the way back to normal (whatz dat?), but my evil twin seems to be leaving the building lately. I actually opened up this post template and began typing like I used to do. I can't tell ya how long it has seemed like it has been since I've felt like doing that.

I finally broke down and wrote some brutally honest letters to a microscopically small handful of same-aged friends, and got it all out. That helped so so much. If we've emailed, then you know who you are and I am so not worthy...thank you to the moon. I just needed to talk it out with others my own age.

If I haven't written you back, please know I will. You're probably younger. Some of my feelings involve the younger generations and since well jeez a good many of you who read me ARE in those generations I didn't want to say anything that would personally hurt anyone's feelings. There's no snubbing or anger here. I love you all too dearly. Just needed my space in a real bad way for awhile.

You may or may not know about me that I am a fervent disciple of the Generational History theory, and 2008 has frankly blown my mind with how militant the Democrat Party has become and how they've copied both Karl Rove's and Bill Clinton's original strategies. It's happening faster than it should, too, and I don't mean to alarm, but that's exactly what happened with the Civil War crisis. I can only say, read the book. It will change your life and all the fuzzy things will turn crystal clear.

For purposes of what I'm trying to explain without producing a 23-page discertation, according to the GenHist Theory:
Silent Gen: 1925-1942 (birth years)
Boomer Gen: 1943-1960
GenX Gen: 1961-1980
Millenial Gen: 1981-??? (too early to tell yet, but probably 1998)
Homeland Gen (my nickname): probably 1998-around 2016

I'll be honest, I still have some real issues. The political primaries and the way the generations have been pitted against each other and all the respect that has been missing elder gens like we had to do when we were younger, it still causes me troubled thoughts. It's so in-your-face all of a sudden (or in MY face, anyway).

But if it were just the political expression, there would be no problem. I could handle it. What happened for me was, it was as if I awoke and everything's been shaded that way. I should qualify that. Everything in my online world almost. Nothing in my In Real Life world (except the TV). So could it be any weirder?

Being honest again, part of it is that Gen X is trying to wrestle the power away from Boomers and I don't think they are ready yet, okay? Then again, what year was the oldest Boomer at 47? Hm, 1943 + 47 = 1990. So, okay, my bad. It's just, if Bill and Dubya was all the shot we got, that sucks. Seriously.

Anyway, it's been really tough for me to accept. And then, when I look to the places art-related I hang online, it's like I'd pay money to have somewhere that wasn't so damn competetive. Everybody has a design team and everyone is workin the merchandise, on their blogs, the message boards. Look, this essay says it much better than I can. That's pretty much how I feel about it, too. I just want an environment where we are all doing this insane silly hobby cuz we enjoy it and it records our memories. I don't want to know the ScrapDiva personally, or get her advice on what to think every day. I just wanna lift a cool technique or use of product, dammit. LOL Yup, I'm all about the sharing of ideas. I don't want to crush on any famousness. This is why I'm allergic to Oprah. Why I bitch and moan sometimes instead of portraying all sweetness and light. I already read too many Stepford bloggers.

So anyway, that's out. And it leads me to explain why I was fidgeting with the blog comments. Sometimes even that gets competitive, like shades of it. I'm just wanting to give it a rest for awhile. Time's too short, at least for me. But, turning them completely off was not my only option, as a friend pointed out to me. (Duh, Aimes). I've now turned them back on, but they will get sent to my email where I can read them and respond. I'm gonna try that and see if it makes me feel happy about it.

So, okay. I'm sick of talking about it now, LOL. Probably put off posting in part cuz I dreaded that. Anyway, I don't want to jinx it but I actually created some art last night. It's still in progress, but dang, my Muse was feared lost forever. So I am feeling very relieved I found her again.

I do have some shots of my progress on my craft room. I'm just gonna throw these up in bunches, random shots, to save time, but you'll get the idea. Here's my befores of this particular corner:




Now, you might be thinking, what's the problem? Looks pretty neat. Well, it is, but it's not accessible. Too much piling on of stuff. Need to access my stuff better.



Then this lovely section. That was supposed to be just for my two big paper cutters, believe it or not. Now, it's a pile for the die cuts I haven't opened yet or haven't found a good storage option for. Enough! Driving me nuts.





Ah, my totally out of control ribbon section. It was all wrapped around 8x11" chipboard sheets, but I spent most of this year switching it to hangers. It enjoyed a home in Missy's closet until she came home for the summer. So, I had to get another shelf, but I definitely can access them more this way. Now, if I can just use some of it! LOL

Well, okay, I am going to try to get back into this. Wednesdays has always worked best for me, so I'll try to continue weekly. Thanks for checking in.

My 411 Lately...

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Also, had a pleasant Mother's Day:

Missy had our fave photo of us sepia'ed and framed for my office.

Hubs got us chocolates.

And, my Muse has had me in a very anal retentive organizing mood lately. Into the minutia of cataloguing and indexing diecuts, which could last months but headway must be made before I literally go nuts over not knowing what I have that I can use to play with.

Here's a view of some of the index sheets I have completed. These are fun to look at, I think, but then I have a little bit of a diecut fetish:

Made a drawer into a basket with my antique kitchen cabinet handles:

And the Kids send Peace and Love to Blogland:

IN MEMORY

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
b. January 15, 1929 - d. April 4, 1968
What a wonderful difference his life made!

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MY "MAJOR AWARD"
That's right. Just like the Dad in "A Christmas Story", I value and highly covet major awards, LOL, especially cyber ones. And thankfully, no fishnet leg lamps have to sit in my living room.

I want to thank Tina and Lida for awarding me this in March, and Lynn in April:

The rules for the *you make my day award* are to re-present it to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blog land. Let them know through email or by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times yourself, and if you do, consider yourself really, really loved:
So I'm passing on the award to the following people (in no particular order):
1. Kim L.
2. Kim KT
3. Katy
4. Sandi
5. Vicki
6. Cheryl
7. Jenna
8. Gina
9. Heather
10. Noelia

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MONTHLY MISCELLANEOUS:

I've taken lots of photos and collected tidbits of info in the last month to use here on the old blog, but as often happens with me, I either forget to upload them or I'm not in the mood or situation to bother getting into the detail needed to explain. And this past month has been a real black hole for my free time, what with tax returns and policy research.

Well, today I thought I'd try to get some of these out of inventory and into the light where they belong, so to speak.

Some things I've been into lately:

Here it is, April, and I still have not finished altering my 2008 art calendar I started back in January! Argh! I'm using it to keep track of the birthdays and dates of my artsy friends, as well as deadlines for swaps and challenges, and although not having it decorated does not stop me from using it, it still bugs the bunion outa me, so I'm making it a goal item for April.

Back in January, on Flickr's Inspiration Boards group, I saw people making these on their walls to help them keep their notes and inspiring papers out and visual. Soon, this morphed into people using these to show off their little pieces of art or pretty images, whatever, which is also inspiring. I've been wanting to make one for my wall and even decided where it would go, but was a bit shy about sticking the thumb tacks into a pristine wall. One day I just did it, and I'm glad I did. I'm using this one to hang my art after I finish it to "cure" a bit. And I plan to make more inspira-lines in other places. One cool thing about them is they can be as long or as short as you need them to be. And, they are really easy as pie to string up: just start at one end and then the other.

Aren't these pretty? (See? I even strung some more line under my bookshelves over my desk, LOL.) I took an afternoon not too long ago to work on cling-cushion my background stamps, and made up some image sheets for my stamp binder while I was at it.

I keep most of my stamps in VCR tape cases by theme, and these were all thrown into the cases, no rhyme or reason.

I have finally created a system for organizing these case contents. I make chipboard inserts that have glossy photo paper adhered to one side where the stamps cling to the surface, and have sticker paper on the other side where I stamp the images. That way I can pick up an insert and know what which stamp each image belongs to. It really makes it easier to see what I have in there. Only a million more cases to fix up this way, but at least I have a plan now.

Well, this entry is becoming a mile long so I will call it quits for today. Have a great weekend, everyone!