stop and smell summer.......

The last couple of weeks have been totally nuts. I feel like a dog chasing its tail....getting use to 3 hours of sending kids off to school in the a.m., then spending 3 hours in the p.m. with kids coming home. 6 hours of the day! Several times my daughter, who is the first home, and I have run to the store before the boys get home. She and I can do the shopping in a tenth of the time by ourselves versus having the boys with us. I am in the middle of eleventy quadzillion projects around the house, my hubby has been working 12 hour days (or should I say nights) this last week, so he sleeps all day and has not been able to help. Next week though he says he is only working his normal shift so that he can help me with stuff. We built our house 17 years ago and now everything is at that age where is it suffering from old age and it seems like we are having to replace all of the expensive stuff, and I am always 'redoing' something........I have never lived in one place this long my whole life, so I am also discovering how much junk you can accumulate in that time and trying to rid my house of stuff. Today my hubby 'only' worked 11 hours, we ran to Redlead to catch a demo and a few great things on sale. We ran him home so he could literally crash into bed. I nursed a 3 day old headache by trying to take a quick nap for just an hour after popping 3 tylenol. (one for each kid! ha just kidding) I hate tylenol, but that is all I can take with my other meds. My RLS (restless leg syndrome) kicked in which made napping almost impossible, during my hour nap my oldest son informed me several times what time it was and how much longer it would be until we picked up his DS (nintendo ds that is) from the layaway department at Wallyworld. My sister called to say her hubby had been admitted back into the hospital. At 4:00 we all hopped in the Flinstone mobile, ugh I can not wait until our dually is running again, we ran to return movies, ran to Michaels to purchase supplies to make a brain model, my daughter got a call on the cell from a friend wanting her to go to the mall in an hour. We ran out of Michaels, drove to Wallyworld did 15 minutes of shopping in and hour, during this time all 3 kids talking to me at once, and I remebered half way through that the reason I could not hear them was because I had turned my hearing aids down earlier, duh! I really did not want to turn them back up, but I did! My head started pounding again. We got the DS out of layaway, swiped the ATM card, went and bought my youngest son a new earring in the jewelry department, he lost his other one in the pool and we had to discuss again that he could not buy the c.z. bling bling earring that was almost the size of his head, that he needed to go with the smaller size, swiped the ATM card again, went and payed for the other stuff, swiped that ATM card again. Loaded up the Flinstone mobile, peddled the boys home, the daughter touched up the make up and we picked up her friend and drove them to the mall. I have never heard 2 people talk so fast and be able to understand each other. I thought about how I can not believe my baby is in high school. My head was pounding again, ugh I can not wait to put my comfy clothes on, pee, and take out my hearing aids! The air does not work in the Flinstone mobile, so my hair keeps blowing all over my face and I spent the whole drive to the mall thinking I must be losing my eyesight because I cleaned my sunglasses before I left the house and my vision is all blurry.....maybe it is a brain tumor......or my eyeballs are getting ready to pop out of my head from stress like some disgusting cheap horror movie effect........after I dropped the girls off I pulled over and took my glasses off and discovered I did not have a brain tumor, I just apparently cleaned my glasses with a towel that was dirtier than my glasses! ewwwwww! For the first time today I was alone............................................mmmmm imagine that ! I could breathe for a second. I started thinking about all of the things I planned to do when I got home......I don't wanna be a grown up I wanna play in my studio and put some really neat piece of eye candy on my blog............all of the sudden I realized I was smelling fresh mulch, not a smell many people like, but I do, then I could smell fresh cut grass, as I pulled up to a stop light I could hear the locusty buggy critters that make that loud noise, ohhh that was so relaxing......and peaceful to listen to the sounds, to smell the smells, and to watch as the sun was starting to set and the sky was so many beautiful colors blending together perfectly, and those colors were muted by just a touch of August haze...........I got home and checked to make sure the boys were not hanging from the ceiling fan trying to fly or that they had not tied each other up (their daddy was home but he thinks when 2 boys are quiet that is a good thing......silly man!) I stepped back outside and caught a quick lightning show off in the distance, the smells outside had changed to that smell that can not be described. It is like the soil and the concrete and plants are cooling off from the heat of the day that is now cooling because the sun has gone down......now the locusty buggy thingys had gone to sleep and the crickets and frogs are chirping.............then I remember how important it is to take the time to stop and take in what the season has to offer, soon it will be fall and there will be new smells, sounds......and summer will be a memory.......and I remember this just in time for reality to come back into focus and the phone rings, the puppy is barking, and the boys are running through the house making noise and my hubby is yelling his good byes as he is walking out the door..................

My favorite song ATC.... 

My favorite song ATC

My favorite song ATC. My favorite song changes hourly......my favorite song is one that makes me think, makes me smile, cry, remember, motivates me, makes me dance. My favorite song pushes me to make me walk that extra mile (literally) or to get the laundry off my couch and put away (ugh) My favorite song can make me feel sexy when I am cleaning the bathroom in my grubby clothes, a period zit on my chin the size of the full moon, my hair frizzy going in 50 different directions, the hair on my unshaven legs long enough to braid. It is amazing how much you get done without realizing it when you are lost in a song. When that song is bringing thoughts to life, when that song is stimulating your tired body to move like you have slept for a week. Usher and I walk together, Sometimes the Black Eyed Peas come walk with me, and Maroon 5. Janet Jackson has come also on occasion. Steppenwolfe, CCR, Chicago, Journey, the Eagles.........play when I am feeling mellow. The list goes on and on and on and on.........You name a song, I would say .....oh l love that song. It was hard to pick a favorite song. In the beginning I picked Bye, Bye Miss American Pie. Then Amazing Grace. What a beautiful, moving song that is. Then I thought about doing a clipboard ATC and listing my top 10. I could not even pick my top 10. Then I thought......ugh just pick a song that is easy........what a cop out I can't do that......there is no challenge in that........then I thought about the reliquary necklace I did in June. If I could save time in a bottle was the theme for that necklace, it was a tribute to my dad. My favorite song was picked. I was so frazzled that I turned the ATC's in thinking I was missing something......I had them sitting in front of me for an hour saying to myself....think, think, think....what did you forget. They look naked. After they were turned in I realized I did not put the ribbon on, so back to Redlead and I stood there feeling like a total dork putting my ribbon on! I am learning to embrace my dorkness and love it ! Everyone should embrace their inner dorkness on occasion.
Okay, okay, okay......so there is also meaning to this ATC, many people may not get it or see it, many will probably not care but here it is...... The hands are off the clock and over to the side, because without hands on the clock there is no sense of time, and with no sense of time you may feel a sense of eternity. Which is why the word eternity is stamped across the face of the clock (watch). The main body of the ATC is done on accetate to represent the bottle, and the words to the song are the message in the bottle. Get it? Got it ? Good! Hmmmm....did I, the not the brightest crayon in the box, not the sharpest tool in the shed, the wheel is turning but the hampster is dead, dorky blonde just have a deep thought? Kinda scary, isn't it ma?!

Back to School........................

What a day this is......my youngest who is still in grade school has been back in school for about a month, and today my other two started school, one starting his first year in middle school, and one starting her first year in high school. The morning started early, my daughter up a little after 5 am, off to the bus at 6:30, the next one up at 7:00 and off to the bus at 7:30, the youngest up at 8:00 and off to the bus at 8:30. Got lots of weeding done out front while waiting a respectable distance from the bus stop. I just can't believe my babies are growing up. How did this happen so fast I sit and wonder while remembering what they were like as babies. It seemed like those 2 am feedings lasted an eternity back then. I wish I could wrap my arms around them and keep them safe forever. I usually spend this first day they are all back in school almost mourning, missing them so very much. The house is so quiet, well as quiet as it can be with 4 large parrots, 2 medium parrots, a cockatiel, 2 flight cages of finches, 1cat, 1 chihuahua, and 1 lab/mastiff! ( oh, and a snoring husband!) The reptiles at least are quiet! Tomorrow will be a different story though! I will be settling back into my routine, remembering what I use to do with the peace and quiet 3 months ago! Drinking my cup of hot tea at the kitchen table after they have all been packed up and sent on their way, planning out my day........oh now I remember.....8 hours in my studio! Uninterrupted. The volume and station on the radio in my studio being adjusted to my mood, the birds occasionally singing along. Creativity rushing through me........that will be tomorrow though. Today I miss them, I miss the noise, the company, the hugs and kisses and I love yous, the morning walks and afternoon swims, and even the fighting and aggravating!

My offering for the Crowned Heads 4x4 swap through the Paperdollz group. I had a blast working on this, finding the perfect picture of the Flamingo (one of my favorite birds) in a vintage bird book I have, the baby from a group of pictures I had recently won from ebay, and I painted the paper with watercolors..... 

I borrowed Uncle Bud's hat and pants..........

Uncle Bud's ATC came about because I needed his hat and pants for paperdoll I am putting together from bits and pieces from a few different pictures. After I cut the hat and pants out of this photo I thought what a shame to throw away the rest of this copy, and then my muse spoke to me! I used the stencil technique that Sarah Fishburn did in her demo at Redlead last week!

Clipboard ATC

Clipboard ATC I made for Saturday for an ATC swap with the Artistic Big Chicks group. I used up all of my Tim Holtzs clippy thingys so now I just have to go to Redlead and get some more.......yeah!

OMG! Has it really been that long ago.......

Wow! Where has the time gone? I have neglected my baby! I can not believe how long it has been since my last entry! When the kids are out of school for break I lose all track of time! We have had a blast this summer just hanging out, and now it is winding down and coming to an end! My youngest is back in school, the other two soon to be starting their first year of middle school and high school in just a couple of weeks. Usually at this point I am so ready to send them back because they have all but the pushed the momma person to the brink of insanity! This summer was different. Maybe it is just because they are getting older........ There have been moments though.............like when my daughter was able to ramble for at least 2 hours non stop about how the fake nails she has put on have affected everything she does.........and then she was soooo kind as to keep me updated on everything she tried to do that was different with her fake nails. She has got the babbling thing down.......she can go on and on and on and on about just about anything, and all summer she has had a large array of subjects she has shared her thoughts on with me, and of course it is usually when I am in the middle of something that requires my full attention and concentration. my middle son goes into frequent video game comas and we need to poke him every now and then to make sure he is still among the living! we need to have daily interventions to get him to move, and his goal this summer was to see how long he could stay up without sleep.......he went about 30 + hours! he was kind enough to wake me every hour or so during the night to let me know he was still awake! he has some sort of internal alarm that goes off whenever my bladder is about to burst and i am running to the bathroom, he then has some l o n g story to tell me that is urgent, but to make things worse, he is speech impaired and i am hearing impaired so that conversation takes twice as long as what it would under normal circumstances! my youngest is the one that will have me on tranquilizer for the rest of my life at the rate he is going! if he would have been born first there would only be 1 child in our family! he is always, always, always moving. he can not just walk through the house he has to jump, bounce, roll, one day i looked out into the back yard and he was hanging by a belt that he put through just one loop of his pants and around a swing so he could fly, that worked until the loop broke and he fell on his face. then he is off to find something to jump his bike off of, then he gets in the pool.(yikes) he makes evil knevil look like a wimp.

I am looking forward to everyone going back to school though. I love my babies, but I also love my 8 hours creating art in my studio, and I miss it very badly! I have ideas back up in my head just waiting to come pouring out........I will have about two weeks of this heaven, then my youngest will already be on cycle break for 3 weeks, and then before you know it the holiday will be here! Where does the time go?

New art to be posted in a couple of days.............