Technicolor Day

Friday, April 30

Day Off
Ahh, the joys of being a state employee. Arbor day is a state holiday. Unfortunately, the young'ens have school, so I did have to get out of bed. But I just wore my jeans and coat over my jammies and went back to bed. ;)

Thursday, April 29

Projects Update
Mostly sleep. Is that a project? Really enjoying sleeping lately. Working on project ideas mostly in the thinking stage.

Tuesday, April 27

Tuesday Quote
If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time.
--writer Edith Wharton

Monday, April 26

And now for somthing completely different
To balance the scales a bit after that mini-rant, here's my new favorite on-line comic: The Deep South
Awsome!

Disgusting and Disturbing
OK, I'll admit, I was warned not to watch The Swan. But I flipped past and it was like a train wreck that I couldn't turn away from. Completely horrifying. I won't even start on how they're glorifying 'perfection' and cookie-cuttering these women. And I won't comment on how the doctors are nothing special to look at themselves (meaning they haven't had all sorts of surgeries done on themselves but they're willing to do all sorts of unnecessary surgeries on these people. And I won't finish by saying how pathetic it is that everyone made such a big deal about how beautiful these women are NOW, completely diminishing the beauty they already had to begin with. I won't even start.
I will go off on a different tangent, though.
I can not get into MaryKate and Ashley being grown-up hotties. I just can't see it. Yes, they've grown up just beautifully, but every time I look at them, I still see that little curly-headed baby, all smiley, as the 'uncle' and 'best friend' try changing diapers for the first time, and one says to 'dad' my favorite punch-line-turned-personal-catch-phrase-that-year (say it with me!): "Your baby's a pig."

Sunday, April 25

Newspaper Clippings
I always read the Sunday paper (the only paper I buy) with a pair of scissors. The coupons are supposed to pay for the price of the paper, number one, but I also like to cut thing out. Like photos of paintings or sculptures from the arts page, ads for things I might like to buy or make something similar (read: better), or headlines with words I might be able to string together in a ransom note or something ;p.
Basic collage fodder.
So tonight I remembered that I have a bunch of extra newspapers from a year and a half ago, when my family reunion picture, and Grandparents' anniversary picture was in the paper, and all my friends at work brought me their copies to send to out-of-town relatives. I didn't know that my Auntie had ordered extra copies and all the our-of-towners were taken care of. So I have several extras.
Hmmmm, I could make a few cool collages for my Aunties and Mom with those extra paper clippings. Now the idea machine is working overtime. We'll see what squirts out.

Friday, April 23

Growing Pains
My oldest is going on his first non-family trip tomorrow. All the way to Worlds of Fun! It's with his choir, and there are plenty of chaperones, but still.
I'm excited for him to get to go have a fun day sans-parental-unit but still a little nervous.
So my weekend will be spent focusing on the 'excited for him' part, making little brother's day fun since he doesn't get to go, and working again on my crocheting. This time, I hope to actually make a square instead of a triangle. Did anyone see that stitch I dropped???

Tuesday, April 20

T-Shirts
From Mac:
Get out your thinking caps, your drawing pencils, and your best political satire, it's time for The Design on the White House T-Shirt Design Contest!
I'm so proud of my teen and tween boys, they are both working on designs to enter. Never too early to make your voice heard!

Tuesday Quote
Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Sunday, April 18

Daydream Believer
OK, so my big 'job/career' goal includes having a stable, fairly easy-going day job, and working toward the artistic goals in the evenings. That's the plan. I am actually glad to have a 'leave-it-at-the-office' kind of job, so I can devote more energy to the art.
At work, we have these newsletters we pass around at work, full of helpful hints, success stories, and good ideas for folks in most any business. Of course, I read the articles thinking about how it could help me in my job, but some of the ideas can be applied to the creative process as well.
Case in point: Daydreaming.
The shortened version of this article (written by her) in our little newsletter said, among other things, to have a daydreaming 'session' that is planned. Now, some folks might think that's too rigid, but really, it's a good idea. Set aside a time, or place even, that's good for mind wandering. Driving is a good one for me. The shower, too, I often write a post in my head while showering. Before falling asleep is perfect, as often the daydreaming blends into the actual dreaming, and great ideas come from the sleeping mind.
So where do you daydream?

Saturday, April 17

Vampira Scare
I've decided that my digital camera is a Vampira. She sucks the life out of all batteries she even looks at. Luckily, with recursively, I can keep her pretty well fed, but I have decided that when not in use, I have to take out the batteries.
So I'm finally working on some pictures I've been promising to do, and she's making a strange error noise. IKES! This is the last piece of new technology I have, and she's already almost a year old. And I know I won't be able to get anything new (computer, better TV, TiVo) for a long while, so I don't want anything to happen to her.
Luckily, I found 'return to defaults' and she's back to her battery-sucking-goodness.
OK, that was a boring story, but I'd be lost without my camera

Thursday, April 15

Cool?
My stats show someone found me by Googling* "cool things in lincoln." And strangely enough, I was the only site to pop up in that search. While I'm certainly flattered, I certainly do not deserve that honor. Really, the site to see for "cool things in Lincoln" is Womats anyone?, he's got some great local links down there under Odd Links, including web cams from all over town. Plus, he put together a list of Lincoln Area Bloggers, which is very cool.

*OK, it was actually Yahoo!, but don't you use Kleenix and Band-Aids and Q-Tips instead of tissues and bandages and swabs?

Wednesday, April 14

Dollies
This awsome link from LYD, features fantastic one-of-a-kind custom dolls.
And it made me remember to post one of the dolls I've OOAK'ed, Aeshna. She was made for a fairy contest, she's a dragonfly fairy. The wings are origional poly-clay, and I rerooted her hair with metalic embrodery floss. Click the pix for a wider shot.

Americana, of thee I sing....
Check out the Alt Dot Country music (not to mention sexy DJ) tonight on my college radio.

What the??
On the way home for lunch, I passed a tanker truck containing "fat, not for human consumption."
OK, number one: YUCK! Sure wouldn't want to see that one overturned and leaking on the highway! and B) why are they transporting fat, much less not for human consumption fat? Big market buying that stuff somewhere??

Tuesday, April 13

Tuesday Quote
The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings.
--Dave Weinbaum

Saturday, April 10

Lazy Day
Still getting used to being in a new schedule, and this is the first kid-free weekend for me since starting the new job. That means: nekkid blogging, laying in bed reading, maybe a bath (reading again), fresh asparagus for supper (but I need to figure out how to cook it), some photo sessions including Crafster pix (I promise) and maybe another Worth entry (but I only have 14 hours), an afternoon of 15's (my improvised Flylady "you can do anything for 15 minutes" trick: I do 15 minutes of chores, then 15 minutes of fun, back and forth for a few hours), playing with all the pets, hopefully more Deep Space 9---shoot, they should have run it all weekend, but it's not starting again 'till late afternoon, another nap, generous self-love, and all around relaxation.
Edit:
Also forgot to add:
Margaritas, movies, and grocery shopping. But since the movie I had decided to rent (The Whole 9 Yards--since the next one is coming to theatres soon) is actually on television tonight, I have nothing prodding me to get out of the house, so I'll put off the shopping. YAY!

Friday, April 9

Spike me a 9
Ooo, I love Spike TV! They're running a marathon of the best Trek ever:
Deep Space 9.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again:
Ferengi are SEXY!!!

My cousin is selling tuperware, so if you need anything, click here:

I'm very interested in their flexible bakeware. I wonder how well it works.

Tuesday, April 6

Tuesday Quote
"All artwork is either priceless or worthless."
-- Gertrude Stein

Monday, April 5

A few cool colors and fungi
yellows, dancing, blues, with fish heads, and purples.

Sunday, April 4

Big Weekend
In addition to changing the clocks, we had an exciting weekend overall.
We practically doubled our household number with new pets (pix have been taken, but not yet uploaded--soon, I promice), AND my older son started his new blog: Problem Child.

Friday, April 2

Figures
As I mentioned in an earlier post, last weekend I had the opportunity to meet and watch in action a real-life comic artist, Mark Pennington. My creative mind has been excited about figure drawing after meeting him and watching him draw. I haven't actually practiced figure drawing for years, so I found a couple sites for learning.
Like here and here.
And this site with Gestures is just awesome. Here it is with just a skeleton, but you don't get the hangy-downy thing with it.
And that IS one of my absolute favorite parts

Thursday, April 1

Found Money Update
My scientific New Year's Resolution is collecting found change.
This month's updated total:
.28

To Cellebrate Fools...

I'll wear the ribbon here, though probably not at work. I am the new girl and all, don't want to make enemies with my new office mate so soon. I noticed a few 'family' style photos of at least two differnt Bushes on her bulliten board and, get this, taped to her computer.