Empty

At home the night before her big move with Makeup Mom
and Twilight Girl.

If you read this blog, you know how I live to move family members across the country.  I especially love to move Swim Girl.  Let's see, there was bringing her home from New Jersey, then off to St. Louis, then out to Orange County, then clear across the country to Maryland and then home.  But wait. We are not finished yet.  We had to move her one more time to southwestern Missouri.  Note to Swim Girl:  how about Hawaii?

I knew this one would be hard because it had been a long time since our house was anything more than her permanent address for mail (mainly bills).  In fact, she hadn't been here for more than a week since the summer before her Sophomore year in college.  She stayed this time for over a year.  It was hard to say goodbye.

I haven't looked in her empty room yet.  I am afraid that I will cry more than I already have (and not just because I will freak out at the mess).  I got so used to seeing her every day; on the couch wrapped up in a blanket, at work, at dinner.  Having her move home was one of those unexpected parental bonuses ranking right up there with the kids filling the gas tank without being asked (using their own money) and remembering your birthday without any discreet phone calls from the other parental unit. In other words touching and sweet and wonderful.

So as Swim Girl moves on to begin a new adventure, I say thank you.  Thank you for coming home and sharing your friendship once more.  I wouldn't have traded this past year for anything.

With her Dad.

I will not bore you with a narrative of the
hours I spent cleaning this tiny room

Be brave and enjoy this new adventure.

I Did Some Art - Finally

I cannot believe that it has been over 2 months since I posted here.  Whoa.  I just kept putting it off and thinking I would get to it.  Apparently, I never did get to it.  So now I'm gettin'.  Got it?

It does still creep me out some to tear up a kid's book.

I have had some time to get into the Batcave and accomplish a few things.  Mainly, I am trying like mad to finish up some classes that are set to expire soon.  Note to self:  do not sign up for more than 2 or 3 classes at a time.  Ever.  Again.

I was able to finish one class called "The Art of Wild Abandonment".  It is lead by the marvelous Junelle Jacobsen and can be taken through ScarletLime.  Since I have friends and family who keep having babies or grandbabies, it seems like a lot of my stuff is going for gifts.  I'm good with that.

The pics below represent a couple of gifts.  They are actually noteboards.  They were done on 6" x 12" deep edge canvases.  The fabric is stiffened burlap, and the blue fabric is from some blue jeans that I had hemmed.  The backgrounds are book pages with lots of paint.  I used embroidery floss for the 'sewing' and did that by hand.  The pieces were attached to the canvas by using Golden's Super Heavy Gel Medium.  Enjoy.

Gettin' the sticky on!

The burlap additions for both canvases.

Canvas #1

Canvas #2

I love the wire wrapped rocks.

It's the easiest thing in the world to go out and grab some sticks!

Sorry for the black rectangle, but
I wanted to block out the recipient's name.
I just used some letter stickers!

Summer Forts Revisited

Oh well.  I had amazing plans.  Those summer forts are, for the most part, still sitting undone!  No excuse.  Just didn't do most of them.  I have the spare bedroom partly torn up, if you all are willing to count that.  I have to finish it soon.

I don't regret not building my forts.  I was gone for nearly 5 weeks out of my summer and I had a blast. That is a trade off I will take any time!  (I will blog about these trips later.)

I did get a few things completed for the yard, though.  I painted some big pots, a metal table and made three bird baths! Ta da!  Do I at least get a few brownie points for that?  Thank you!

This one is fairly small and I keep it on our deck floor by some plants.  I caught a bird drinking from it this morning!  I was thrilled.

This one is a lot bigger and it is in our front garden.  I love the colors.  I haven't caught any birds using it, but I think that they are.  I found a website through Pinterest for how to do these. Basically just some sealer and then outdoor paint, paint pens, pen and Mod Podge Outdoor.  It takes a while because you have to let each layer dry. Other than that it was a blast to do these.  There is a third one that I gave to my dad for Father's Day.  I forgot to take pics.

These yellow pots were pitch black.  They are plastic and I was tired of the black.  I'm not sure if I would do the bright yellow again, but I like it. I think it looks cool with the flowers draped over it.  The thing is it takes a while for the flowers to drape over it!

We have had a weird summer and I am struggling with watering the plants properly.  I have 3 of these pots where the plants have pretty much died.  Grocery Boy insists that they don't like the pot color.

In case you are interested these were spray painted with Rustoleum white primer and then their yellow paint.  That's it!  So far so good.

This Boot Is Made for Walking...and Painting

The Achilles Tendon.  Sounds cool.  I mean, Achilles was fast and a hero and a demigod and good looking and stuff.  Except for that one way you could bring him down.  That one little arrow right to the heel.

I feel bad for Achilles.  I mean, that really hurts.  I don't literally stick arrows into the back of my heel, but it sort of feels like I do on a minute by minute basis.  You should see me stand up after being in the car for a while.  I swear to you waking up a teenager before noon is easier, and faster.  And I don't want to even discuss what happens if I wear the wrong pair of shoes for too long.  The upside to that one is that it sure has been fun finding that one pair of perfect shoes.  Can you say new shoe rack?

With the constant pain party going on in my leg, I decided that I had better start getting serious about managing this.  I was visualizing ugly orthopedic shoes in my future and it was giving me the creeps. So, I caved and went to the doctor.

The result of all my trips for testing, therapy and whatnot are this:  I have a split tendon on the outside of my ankle (!?!) and Achilles tendonopathy.  Say what?  In other words, I get to wear the dreaded Boot.  And not only do I get to wear it, I get to wear it for a looooong time.  Probably a few months. Oh and I can no longer walk for exercise.  So I get to completely change all of those habits.  Right about now I think my family is missing the effect all of those feel good endorphins (or endolphins if you prefer and you saw "Postcards from the Edge").

So, after a one day pity party that involved intensive retail therapy, I was ready to face this ugly monstrosity.  What to do to make it a tad more palatable.  I know.  Paint pens.  Paint always makes you feel better.

Say hello to the new Mr. Boot.

Because every boot needs a frog.

And an owl.

Mr. Boot sees all.  I am a little worried that this will creep out the preschoolers.

So, Is Summer Going Quickly or What?

Holy crap!  It is the last full week of July already.  I mean, where the heck has the summer gone?  I think I know.  It's been at the physical therapist's office!  And the doctor's office!  And in the car! And in Arizona!  And Hannibal!  And St. Louis!  And soon it will be in Manhattan!


There it is, my summer in a nutshell.  I have been busy, just not always doing what I want.  (There is a very heavy pout on my face.  I am 4.)

I was able to take a long trip.  And when I say long, I mean about 3 weeks.  After some meaningful family gathering in Hannibal and St. Louis, I accompanied my sister and niece to Phoenix.  By car. Again.  To help her move. Again.

This moving somebody thing is becoming kind of a summer tradition.  It all started with helping my daughter move back from being the Aquatic Director at a camp in New Jersey at the end of the summer of 2009.  We then moved her to St. Louis where she stayed put for the record breaking time of about 3 months.  Then she flew off to California and the land of Orange with 2 suitcases, a backpack, her pillows and a blankie.  Of course, she needed her car, so my husband and I took it out to her.  It was absolutely packed to the gills.  Translation:  we couldn't see squat out of the rear view mirror.  The side mirrors became very important.  When they got covered with slush going through the Rockies, we had to pull over and clean them with snow.  I swear to God!

Flash ahead to the summer of 2011, I helped my sister move to Phoenix, then continued on to Orange County, CA and helped my daughter move to Maryland (yup, you heard me right).  My butt put in 5500 miles.

Then last summer I helped the same daughter move back to the Heartland.  Remember the cube?

Now this summer, because I was adrift with absolutely nothing to do, I offered to help my sister move from Phoenix to right here on the good ole Mississippi.  That's just how I roll.

I forgot how hard it is to move.  All that annoying packing.  And taping.  And wrapping.  And trying to figure out what to do next and is it all going to fit and will we finish before the movers come? Oh, and speaking of taping, I wasn't allowed to do that.  I have a disability working those tape thingys.  I can't tear off the tape without dragging it two feet past where I wanted to tear it off.  My sister banned me from the tape.

We did manage to fit in a movie, a little shopping, some major swimming and some food.  I love Phoenix.  I will miss Phoenix.  I will miss the friends that I made there.  Luckily, those friends have invited me to come visit.  I just hope they don't want to move.

Visiting the Dead

I have a great friend who is into things like English history, genealogy and visiting cool graveyards.  She asked some of us if we wanted go with her for a tour of a local cemetery.  I said yes.  I then promptly forgot that I had said yes.  I mean, I TOTALLY FORGOT.  Not even a trace of a remembrance.

A beautiful sculpture on a surgeon's grave.

Imagine, then, my surprise when my friend pulled up in my driveway Monday night.  I was talking to my sister on the phone and I said something like, "Hmm.  My friend is here.  I wonder what she wants?  I better go see."

I finally had to ask her why she was at my house at 6:40 on a Monday evening.  This was her response:  "Cemetery walk?"

Oops.  Luckily, I had taken a shower about an hour earlier, so I was clean and decently dressed.  We ran upstairs and I slipped on some shoes.  Then I had to move some suitcases from my bedroom back to the 'extra room' (read:  the room where we dump all our crap that we don't know what do to with). I was in the middle of cleaning out that room (summer fort) and had been planning on working on it that evening.  Not so much.

I am proud to report that I did have the presence of mind to grab my camera and most importantly, the gift card to our local ice cream place; Whitey's.  I do have my priorities.

We made it in time to the graveyard and the tour was very cool.  Our guide knew a lot of things about graveyards in general, but she also knew this cemetery specifically.  She showed us where all of the Deere family was buried (yes, John Deere, remember World HQ is here), where Louis Bellson was buried and where Charles Dickens' son was buried.  Apparently, he just happened to be here and was broke, so...

Louis Bellson is from the area and is buried next to his father.

There was also a huge section for paupers graves.  This cemetery was built in the 1800's and it is on a hill, so there is some slippage going on and occasionally, after a good, hard rain, they will find some headstones down the hill.

If you have never taken a cemetery tour, I highly recommend it.  It was very interesting and we didn't even see a single ghost.

This statue was vandalized and
the still do not have any idea
where her head is.

The son of Charles Dickens.

This is the headstone of a soldier who fought in the Civil War.
The cemetery has an entire section devoted to these soldiers.

The mighty Mississippi.

It is easy to see why this
cemetery is a popular place for
the locals to walk and ride bikes.