Happy Hump Day!

Dang, I knew enough to feel guilty for not posting some blog entries, but it's been a whole week? I've no excuse other than I've been in deep deed.

It seems that every spring is like this: all of a sudden, I'm awash in chores with deadlines. After April 15th, I always want to chill out for a month or so, but nooooo. No one else waits around for that. winkwink

I can proudly boast that I've succeeded in biotch-slapping Hubs to hire out the humongo pool cleaning (after over a year of bog-like conditions). Finally, YAY!

May I present the most gorgeous blue water I've seen in a while, lol:








I had to sneak the photo because I didn't want Pool Guy to know he was being snapped. Kinda awkward. lol I have to say he worked hard. It was a tough job, and I have no idea if $325 for 3 afternoons of work was worth it more to him or to us, but it's paid and the pool's clean.

Of course, in 7 short days, it'll need the regular maintenance of brushing and chemicals to keep it from slowly going downhill again, which we can count on Pool Guy to take care of for $40 a week. That's $160 a month. And let's not forget the 12 hours of pump electricity each day for aeration. I guess I now know why our electric bill seemed lower, lol.

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose. Whoever first said that must have owned a pool, but I digress. I'm usually the first to goad Hubs into doing the DIY thing, but this time I'm voting for Pool Guy to do the weekly work. Hubs came right out and asked if we could hire him. LOL Yeah, like maybe he hates doing the pool? Ya think? My thinking on it is that Hubs wasn't that great at it, and it needs to be done correctly or that investment gets more costly.

So, anyway, that's now the plan for the summer (which is like 6 mos. down here, if not longer). It's amazing to me looking at it in retrospect how it could take so dang long to do just that much, but I've been working hard in my thorny-sided role.

First, starting last week, I had to spend almost 3 days in virtual verbal war as I told Hubs he needed to find someone, then I told him again, and again, because he went into his usual little weirdo rebellion fits, until he realized his way wasn't happening. It only took 2 screaming matches to get to that point.

By Sunday, Pool Guy had made two appearances and Hubs returned to work on days. I only took it easy just a little bit because I dived back into creating, and haven't really looked up until tonight, when I became duly red-faced for realizing how long I'd gone without blogging.

While all this was going on, I have been having a midlife art crisis, for lack of a better description. I've been getting more and more into stamping, paints, background techniques, gessos, glazes, and glitter. A bigger canvas than an ATC affords. And the awesome ways so many out there are combining ephemera with the liquids to create mixed media art.

It's like Scrap booking, but it's not. It's, to me, the closest you can get to feeling what a real artist might feel, short of drawing or painting everything on the piece. You are more free, less constrained by the photos, which in art collage are people you don't know but are attempting to create a personal relationship which. And it can be anything you want it to be, what fantasy! I mean, you can't control the lives of the real people in your scrapbook layouts, but you totally can in your collage.

I don't know. On one hand, it's so much work, learning the ropes and getting informed. But on the other hand, it's fascinating. I even got out the old Artist's Way and read some, need to read some every day. I will admit to being reminded by the author Julia Cameron's ex being interviewed on TCM the other night. Who is her ex, you might ask?

Martin Scorsese, that's who, the film director and obsessed American Express photo development customer. She even refers to them in one chapter, so he's in the book's index. And he was describing in this interview about a tough mental time he went through, about the same time they broke up. Hmmm.... Oh, to be a fly on the wall concerning that one! I really enjoyed seeing him in that interview. I find him quite refreshing and a very positive and religious man. (Cameron's book is laced with religious metaphor and inspiration). Double hmmm.....

I seriously sometimes think I was really meant to be Mary Hart on Entertainment Tonight, except that somewhere something went horribly wrong for me, LOL.

Anyway, if I actually do go through any material changes, you heard it here first. Lately I have been so lazy that if God himself told me I'd win a million bucks if I'd just be a tad more industrious, I'd honestly have trouble finding motivation.

Relaxing and letting time roll along in a parallel universe is just so nice.

Well, speaking of rolling along, I was shocked in a great way to discover I won a RAK from Shirley! Congrats to her for her 1,000th post and I guess that'd be me! LOL See, it pays to reply to practically every entry you're behind in reading, LOL.

Anyway, I know Shirley's RAK will have something neat in it, so even though it may take a while to get here, it'll be sweet!

And, I've been tagged! That, for next time....

Put the Whoa on Nelly

Monday for me began like any other, with me making all these big crafting plans to complete within the next 16 hours or so.

Typical me. As with food, my arty eyes are also bigger than my stomach.

So, at some point yesterday, I mysteriously just put the whoa on Nelly, as we say down here. IOW, I put the brakes on. Reality met my art-fantasy life.

I was frankly amazed, because my left-brain usually has to talk my right-brain into something like that. I had big plans to make like a bazillion more Valentine cards, and of course I'd never finish in time to mail them all today. So it was with relief that Nelly met whoa. I was finding myself working on ATC's anyway, the entire time I was thinking all these additional cards were going to get made.

I did get cards made and mailed for my folks and Missy. Hub's family is not into cards other than birthdays and Christmas...and maybe Easter. I grew up getting and giving cards for any little thing, however. My parents like getting them and giving them.

Speaking of left brain / right brain, I ran across this cool questionaire for artists. The quiz technically is for painters, but it could easily apply also to paper crafters. I found the questions themselves to be quite interesting. Definitely worth a try...

I've been certifiably ambi-brained almost my entire life (ambi- meaning double, or both as applies to being left-brain or right-brain). I suspect most people are who are left-handed. Something about having to live in a right-handed world makes us enhanced on both sides or something.

At the end of the quiz, it gives you a 2-column table that lists traits and which brain side (column) each trait applies to. Going down my table was like tracing ric rac...that one on the left is true, the next one on the right is true, lather, rinse, repeat. Geez, if I didn't know my background, I'd be thoroughly mixed-up. LOL

Anyway, it was all so true! I am horridly late for things, yet I plan out my projects. I hate to keep to-do lists, yet I always read the instructions first. I'm strongly visual, yet I'm strongly verbal, too. And the big one: I remember both faces and names, but if push comes to shove and I don't have face visuals, I may get the names confused.

So, I have to be ambi-brained in order to be a day-dreamer (a huge one) AND pay fastidiously close attention to detail (anally so). Those who know me know I am both of those. Just a weirdo. hehe

Anyway, moving on! Some of you wanted to see my hair after I cut it myself. Over the last couple of days, in spare moments, I've tried to snap some shots of my hair that has been neither coiffed nor styled, so I guess I should be glad I didn't go to the trouble since I totally suck at those Myspace type of self-shots. It's having to use one hand with my arthritic fingers. Not a good combo.

Anyway, here are a couple of everyday shots where maybe you can see that it's just hair and no big deal, LOL. I mean, I am definitely going to get my cut cleaned up, but I'm taking my sweet time doing it...

This is what it looks like most days, from the front: And as far as the back of it goes, Hubs tried helping me out on this one, and as usual, you might want to pop a dramamine if you tend to get seasick, LOL: And finally, I just wanted to add this one, cuz I like it, LOL:

Anyway, the cut is surprisingly even from side to side. I have something approaching Farrah wings (bangs) in front, and a bit of a mullet going on in the back, but nothing that a flat iron can't blend and hide. Plus, I have a tiny bit of a natural poof on top now, which I definitely needed. So, as these photos show, it's hardly noticeable to anyone other than me, but I am so much happier with the shorter layers and not nearly as much hair falling out. And I guess I'm just kind of lucky about cutting my own hair, although my standards on that are so low, lol, luck is not that hard to find. My basic view is, it's just hair and it grows back.

Ok, moving on! Here's the card I made my folks: I probably should have photoshopped that one a bit, because the pink paper ribbon blends much better in real life with the chipboard elements' pink colors. Anyway, this card was just very quick and of course still took me a while, and that wasn't the card's fault (I refuse to say how long it took me...I do not like people laughing at me for any old thing, now). What I thought was cute was that there were 2 girl bunnies and 1 guy bunny...like our family. So, on the inside, I print Happy Love Day, fron the 3 of us. So, that's like each of us (me, Hubs, Missy) are on the front. Yup, my parents get all excited by the lamest stuff. They are gonna love this card...hehe.

weekend in a glaze

note: my fingers are all puffed out and aching so no caps for awhile...

my mom and i share a weird trait: we both sort of mangle certain words. she does it by mispronouncing them (kay-sette for cassette, woke for wok);I do it by merging two words about the same thing

the latest for-instance is the word glaze. you've heard, 'she walked around in a daze', right? and 'haze', as in 'hazy'. ok, then take it to 'laze', as in lazy. and finally, i must picture something coated on it like a glaze, i dunno. anyway, instead of haze or daze, i always say glaze. hence, my blog entry title. this weekend just went by in a glaze. lol

okay, can't be explained. not well, anyway.

i actually think i forgot to upload something here i did like 6 months ago, so i need to do it now, since i discovered it about a month ago and thought i'd uploaded it then...but i didn't. gosh, my mind is in a glaze, too. {sadly, it's this way most days, i just do a bang-up job of hiding it. lol}
this was done for round robin tag book, and i like it because it's the first time i've ever used an original poem of mine in my art. i really wanted to do a nice page for the recipient. never heard a who, what, when, where or why from them either. what i get for trying, i guess.
i'm reminded of something an art teacher in college said - 'never make art for anyone else. make it always just for yourself.'

my new motto.

The Weird and the Wacky

...is how my week has been so far. Wish I could add Wonderful to that alliteration, but so far that ain't happenin'. I still hold out hope, though, lol.

Our street's Christmas decorations were put up this past weekend by our usual tiny band of resident volunteers. The drive-thru winter wonderland is slowly taking shape. At least I hope it'll be another lit-up year. The neighbors seem to be a bit slow this year in preparations. Lord knows we've been there ourselves. LOL

The arches are really cool to drive under. Of course, not being able to leave your driveway for all the cars on the street almost every night after the 15th or so is not cool, but there's a price to pay for everything, I suppose. We are one of the top 5 spots in town for looking at lights.

***

You know, I do want to make sure that I thank all of you who have continued to read and post a comment or two during my recuperation from my hand pain problem. I really appreciate all the thoughts and concern.

I know it's the time of the year to be thankful, but even if it wasn't I'd still feel the same way, LOL. I am working on leaving everyone comments on your blogs, although it may take a while longer until I am back to my old speed. (I'm embarrassed to say this one little post has taken the better part of 3 hours on and off. My fingers are really out of shape bigtime, LOL).

I won't stop plucking away at it, though, and I hope to be back the way I was before too long. Just know I do read! With a blog addiction like mine, ya have to. LOL Thank goodness my eyes are still working....

***

Life around Casa Miguel is a bit frantic these days, as I'm sure it is at your house, too. Seems I've been doing nothing but ordering stuff online, creating gifts, sleeping, eating, and showering occasionally. Last Friday night I started feeling lousy and so I quickly beefed up my supplement and home remedy intake, as it felt like I was coming down with a cold or the flu. But by Sunday night, I realized that except for a stopped-up ear (that's still stopped up), I was feeling better.

The ear does not hurt at all, but it's pretty frustrating, especially when talking on the phone. I began using these drops I bought at CVS called Debrox a couple of days ago, and at times it almost clears up, but so far not totally at any time. It always goes back to being stopped up.

I guess I'm old-fashioned about this. Since there is no pain, I just don't believe I have an ear infection, but I know they are not always painful. Sigh. Looks like a trip to the doc may be in my near future, darn it. I'm tired of doctor visits. Stoopid ears!

***

I haven't been doing much accounting lately, but I have been having to go to get some continuing professional education. I went to a course in Houston last week and right now I'm taking an online course. This one is not really accounting, but more marketing and customer relations. It's about internet businesses. I have homework, too! So, I was hoping to get your input on a what-if scenario I have to put together. Ya'll are internet customers, right? I'll post my hypothetical scenario in my next blog entry, once I finish thinking it up, LOL. It's about general business practices that foster loyal customers or create angry customers. You know you want to help me by putting in your two cents, right? I think all of us are experts on that subject and could write entire books about it, LOL. Anyway, look for that next time.

***

How do you like my not-so-new Kandinsky framed prints? The Hubster and I finally got them hung last weekend. It only took about 3 years since I bought the prints and had them framed, LOL.

The first obstacle to my hanging them was the cathedral ceiling. It's way up there where I wanted to hang them and Hubs is too damn cheap to buy a ladder for that height (and I haven't been willing to start WWIII over it - and if it wasn't for telescopic handles on my dusters, there would be a huge dirty mess up there because I have no ladder that goes that high up). I usually get stuck doing these kinds of fix-it things on my stuff, so there I was with no solution. Time went on and I forgot the prints until recently when I was cleaning out a closet for Hubs to store some of his clothes and there they were. I then began bugging Hubs to get them hung.

So, he proceeds in his usual bull-in-china-shop fashion when he's irritated about having to do something he doesn't want to do. And, he broke the hanger on the back of the big print. Then he had to fix it. Then we ran out of picture wire. On and on.

Finally! He finally did it! You'd have run screaming if you had to endure being in the room when I was telling him where to hang them. Let's just say it was the Cuban Missile crisis redux. Almost WWIII, but not quite. This time though I was not backing down.

So now I finally have my prints of my favorite artist to admire. I just love them. When I was studying art years ago, I really connected with Kandinsky, for some reason, probably because he loaded his works with color. He's generally considered to be the first modern abstract painter. The big print in the center is the one he himself called his most intricate work, which is why I chose it. The other two I chose because they complimented the big one the best.

I have several of his prints, bought over the years when I could find them, but they are small, 5x7-inches, and since what I love about him best is his use of color, I wanted a big display of it, LOL. So, now that is finally taken care of. Amazing how a great piece of art can lift your spirits by just glancing at it as you walk by...

Oh, see the hanging beaded thing in the foreground of the photo? That's the ceiling fan pulls I beaded. Yup, no tiny little wimpy fan pulls for us. These are so big you actually pay attention to avoid crashing into them because they can bruise a forehead, LOL.

I have an ongoing feud with the Hubs about height-related things, since I'm barely 5'5"" and he's 6'1", and he of course thinks that everything needs to be at his height. Car seats, lights, fan pulls, ladders (argh). The frustrating and unfair thing is that he can always bend down -- hello! -- but I can only stretch up so far. Ya KNOW????? Ugh, men!

***

Lately, I've been inspired by:
Tim Holtz - awesome 12 days of tag creating with his products; if you like his stuff, this series is a keeper, bookmark it!
Nichole Heady - co-owner of Papertrey Ink and also the McGuyver of paper crafting! This woman can do anything with paper, seriously...
Ellen Hutson - if there's a machine or gadget that scrappers oughta have, Ellen's on the case scoping it out. I have learned so much from her about diecut machines and dies, not to mention about stamping and card-making.
Melissa Phillips - omgosh. just. Heaven. {long sigh}

***

Okay, enough. Off to create! Have a great week, I'll probably be back with a post on Friday....