Ice, Ice, Baby

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate winter.  I really don't like anything about it.  The cold.  The snow.  The ice.  The wind.  I only stay here because we have a good living through my husband's work and he doesn't want to start over.  We may have to reconsider.  Soon.

Last winter I fell twice.  Once on some black ice and the other time in the house.  Nope, not explaining that one, sorry.

After all that I've been through with my ankle this past year, I have been extraordinarily careful when it appears that anything at all is on the street or sidewalk.  Possible ice or even heavy frost has me shuffling across the parking lot like an 80 year old women in her house shoes.

Yesterday I went up to the Y at about 6 a.m. to swim.  Because I have been an invalid here and there I have a funny habit of swinging both legs around and standing up with both feet on the ground.  I do this most of the time.

The only problem was that this time, I stood up on solid ice.  Couldn't feel it under my feet.

When you put both feet down on solid ice, a funny thing tends to happen.  You go down.  Hard.  In my case the car door was still open and my keys went flying. My legs went under the car.

Thought #1:  feels like knees and ankle are OK
Thought #2:  Oh no!  (I actually moaned this out load.  I sounded like a pathetic little puppy.)
Thought #3:(and it would have been my first thought without my history)  Did anybody see that?  (no one did, whew).

I crawled to my keys, pulled myself up and carefully went into the Y.  It did occur to me that maybe I should skip it, but hey, I have been called stubborn more than once.

Unfortunately, I was in too much pain in my right arm to even kick in the water, so I got out and went home.  I called in to work, let my husband know and crawled into bed and slept.  I felt like I had been in a wreck or something.

I did at least get to my friendly orthopaedic office.  They were happy to see me and we discussed how I was moving up in the world.  Literally.

Verdict:  broken left ring finger.  Torn rotator with nerve impingement.  I actually aggravated an injury that I got when I fell on the sidewalk in New York a couple of summers ago.  (I wrote a post about this is 2012)
Course of treatment:  Cortisone shot (nothing new here), Pt (of course), followed by an appt in a month to see if I need an MRI and whatever that will imply.  Activities as tolerated.

So, here we go again.  I tell ya, I really know how to live.

It is supposed to snow a bunch this weekend.  I may come out in the spring.  Somebody needs to rescue me from this frozen icy wasteland.

You can't see it very well, but there is a nice black and blue lump
under that last knuckle  above my ring.

I broke my finger right where the ligament attaches at that knuckle
so no splint for me as I need to keep exercising it so it will
straighten and flex in future.  I didn't realize my finger was broken
before it started turning and swelling.  Luckily, my rings still turn.
They sure won't fall off anytime soon.

Elcy's Buried Treasures

My grandmother, 1949

My mother is getting older (I am not, however) and she has decided to give me some things that she no longer needs/wants.  She used to make candy Christmas trees out of styrofoam tree shapes and then she would give them to her friends.  She has stopped doing this and has decided to 'spread the wealth' so to speak.  I received a couple of boxes of materials that she had stored away.

In these boxes, underneath the tiny little tree embellishments, however, was buried treasure. I found things from my grandmother, Elcy. I just love how I occasionally unearth her things. She meant the world to me and I miss her very much. She was a great grandmother.

Businesses used to give little trinkets
like these to their customers.

In the latest boxes that I was given, I found little items that brought back memories of Elcy.  There were packets of old buttons, mostly used up.  I recognise some of the brands, but not all.  There were several needle packs.  I don't know if needles still come in big packs like this, but they did in the 60's. There were partially used thread spools and even a few Christmas items.

The needle packs.

When I saw these tiny mementos, I was instantly transported back into her apartment.  She helped me learn to sew. She made great cookies.  I can see us sitting in her kitchen playing cards, sewing, making dinner. I spent a lot of time at her place. It was like a mini vacation for me, since there were three younger siblings tearing it up at our house. I remember hating it when Sunday came along and I had to go home.

So here's to Elcy, the greatest grandmother that anyone could ever have.  I miss you.

The thread that has DD written on it was mine.  I must have
used it for some project.  

I Am an Artist

Gulp.  It really is frightening to say those words.  I don't always feel that I really am an artist.  I cannot draw what I see.  I don't understand shadow and light.  I screw up all the time.

But I create.  And anyone who creates is an Artist.  Do you sew?  Do you quilt?  Do you make cards? Decorate?  Then you, my friend, whether you want to believe it or not, are an artist.

It doesn't matter if you sell your Art.  If it gives you and others pleasures, well, who would deny that there is an Art to that?

As part of the Inspiration Wednesdays class that I am taking, we have been experimenting with different mediums.  A couple that I have never used before, to be specific; super heavy gesso and acrylic glaze.

May I just say that I am obsessed?  With both.  I foresee lots of use of those two products in my future.

The super heavy gesso goes on like butter and looks like plaster. Yum.  The glaze thins out the paint without thinning out the color.  Double yum.

Enjoy.  Oh, and the elephant thing is my deal this year.  Kind of my spirit animal for the time being, if you will.  I know. That's pretty heavy.

(Please forgive the photos.  It's dark here and the Bat Cave is rather unforgiving.)

I Did It!

The finished journal.  I happen to love the skull covered button that I made myself.
I had all of the fabric leftover from other projects.  Use the stash!

I do not sew often.  In fact, I have been known to pile up little sewing projects and toss them because they get too dusty or out of style.  So, my inner monster was thrilled when I decided to take on a little sewing project.  I could hear her dancing around in the back of my lizard brain.

However, she didn't know that we had 2 cold days this week. So, despite my inner monster in my lizard brain, I finished the project!  Ha.  Take that!

One of the signatures with an inclusion from my stash.

I am enrolled (shut up) in a class called 'Inspiration Wednesdays' through Donna Downey.  (I have a button that I will put up after I remember how to do that.)
  A new class/technique is delivered online every other Wednesday during 2015.  We are supposed to put everything in an Inspiration Journal. Because the journals would be sold out of her shop immediately, I decided to try my hand at making my own.  I mean, I own a sewing machine that I use at least once a year. I have fabric.  I have thread and bobbins and needles.

Unfortunately, I didn't have several of the supplies needed so I trudged to the store(s) and picked them up.  Have any of you ever heard of an Anywhere Hole Punch?  Me neither.  I had trouble finding a grommet tool also.

I will not be giving any instructions on how to make the journal since Donna sells the video in her shop ($5 if you are interested).  Suffice it to say that despite a few glitches, I got er done!  I even added 2 signatures so that I can put in all sorts of messy goodness.

Enjoy!


PS:  I added the Inspiration Wednesdays button for any of you who may be interested in an Art Journaling adventure!

I have all sorts of doilies and decided to use this hideous
gold one.  It will get all painted, I'm sure!

Be It Resolved

A resolution.  That's a scary thing.  I don't like making them.

I had been, however, wanting to start blogging more consistently (duh) and I want to use my huge stash of supplies and tools in the Bat Cave.

So, I am going to attempt to create more.  Hopefully this will happen weekly.  I may need to delete all the games off of my iPad to do it, but by golly, it needs to get done.  If I don't use up some of this stuff, I will have to annex another room in the house.  Say, that's not a bad idea...

To start the New Year off right, I have completed a little project that was totally practical.  I received several gifts from students and I needed some Thank You cards.  What better project to help me use up my stash?

I want to stop here and say that I am going to be giving written instructions right now.  That is because while I know how to use the video cameras that I have, I can't figure out how to get them up above my head to film down on the process.  I probably need some super special little thingy ma bob that I can get for a few bucks.  I don't have that.  I also am not sure what you have to do to post them to your blog.  Hopefully, I will progress to film as I know you all would like that better.

1.  I started with a sketch of what I wanted to do.  I know, I know.  But, in this case it was super helpful.

2.  Next, I slopped some gesso on a piece of plain white cardstock (maybe they call it index?) that you can buy at any office supply store.

3.  After the gesso was dry I cut the cardstock into two 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" pieces.  This is the size of the card I will make.  I also will have an extra if I screw one up.

4.  I then sketched the design onto the card.  I did it portrait style at first, but then felt that a landscape card would fit the design better.  I love my eraser.  Note: you could just copy the sketch onto your gessoed paper if you can get it to run through your copier.  I didn't try it since I need all of the drawing practice that I can get.

5.  I then used my Caran d'Ache Neo Colors to color in the design.  These are very cool watercolor crayons.  I use them all of the time, but I haven't touched them in a while.

6.  After I colored in my design, I chose a watercolor paint brush, wet it and then went to town.  Note that the words aren't on there.  I can't tell you how many times I have finished something and then screwed up the lettering.

7.  I wasn't going to, but I wound up cutting the watercolor off of the rest of the card.  It made it easier for copying.  Yup.  I am crazy, but even I don't want to watercolor 12 thank you notes from scratch.  I had to play with my copier a bit, but I was finally able to copy directly onto the white cardstock so that I could get two cards per sheet.  Each copier is different so you will have to experiment with yours.

8.  Because I am not any good at folding things nicely, I have a little tool called a Scor-It-All.  It helps me make a really nice straight fold.  You do have to know how to divide by 2, which on some days...

All copied and folded.

9.  Still no lettering.  This time I thought that I would get smart and practice a bit.

10.  Now I just need to write the words on each card.  You are probably thinking that I should have written on one of the cards and then copied that.  It would be easier, but I wanted copies from the original, not from a copy of the original.  Got it?  Oh, I used my Faber Castell Pitt pens for this part. I think it was the next to thickest one (medium?).

11.  Ta da!  Finished cards.  I made a few extras so that I have some to grab when I need them.  I will keep the original and make up more as needed.  Just think, if you give me something, you will get an original piece of art, albeit a copy.  

So, there is the process in a nutshell.  Or two.  It wasn't hard to do and I used some of my favorite tools.

My next project is gessoed.  I just have to find time to work on it.  I will give you a hint:  wood and doodles.

Have a Happy and Wonderful New Year.  Time to eat!  Oh, and write 12 Thank Yous.

A - Cross the Universe

I am currently taking a beginning drawing class at our local Art Museum.  I am not any good at drawing.  I can, however, get the hang of it if I am taught specific 'tricks' if you will.

We have been studying contour drawing.  This is basically drawing what you see, simply.  Then there is 'blind' contour drawing.  It is what it implies.  You draw the object without looking at your paper.  I am not a fan.  You should have seen the results.  I drew my hand (a lot) and I could only wish for the thin wrists that I 'blindly' drew.

This past week we studied 'cross contour' drawing.  This involves lightly drawing the main lines of the object(s) in pencil.  You then indicate lightness and darkness by adding lines.  The further apart the lines are, the more light appears to be on the object.  Conversely, as the lines grow closer together, shadows start to appear.

For some reason, this style appeals to me.  It's kind of therapeutic in a way.  You have to fill in everything with lines.  It also makes you pay attention to the object(s) and really see the light and shadows.  Believe me, I need help with this.

I have the results below.  The 'object' was a reproduction of a Georgia O'Keefe drawing of Los Ranchos church in New Mexico.  The lines are super simple to reproduce, so rendering the basic outline is fairly easy.  My rendering of Los Rancho in cross contour are also below.

This was fun!

The 'object'.

My version

She's Back!

We ran down to Joplin, MO to bring Swim Girl back home.  She has completed her year of Vista/Americorps service and is now ready to dive into making some money so that she can get that 'big girl' job she so desperately wants.

I say 'ran' down, but bear in mind that it is an 8 1/2 hour drive (or more).  Each way.  Now remember, Grocery Boy just moved Alaska Girl out west (2418 miles, he will quote).  It goes without saying that we were not looking forward to this.  Oh, and I got to drive through my all time favorite conditions: snow, dark, county roads, no plowing.

Luckily for us, Swim Girl has learned a few things and she was all packed up when we got there.  She also had 3 friends scheduled to help load the 16 foot truck the next day.  The truck was supposed to be a 10 footer, but they didn't have anything that small.  Oh well.  It's only gas money.

Speaking of gas, I took a picture of the gas prices in Joplin over the weekend.  Now those are numbers we haven't seen for a long while.

We went out to dinner at a local place called Big R's while we were there.  Nom nom.  I had homemade rolls, bear battered onion rings and a great big ole piece of chocolate cherry pie.  Can you say food coma?  I got two servings out of that pie!

Mmm.  Pie.

So, we have sent one child away and in return we cycled one back into the fold.  This one has a cat.  A cat that my cats don't like and will never like because she is an interloper and not of their world. Despite the kitty pheromones being pumped into the air by the handy (expensive) Feliway dispenser, there is a lot of hissing and paw batting going on around here.  Maybe I can get some great cat fight pics.  Laters.

Pencil Pusher

Tools of the trade.  All 36 of them!

Because I don't have enough on my plate recovering from my surgery (still doing those exercises), working, moving kids etc., I decided to take another class online.  Oh, and I start an in-person class at our local museum on Tuesday night.  Oops.

This class is all about pencil work. Watercolor pencils that is.  The amazingly talented Dion Dior (link here) is the instructor and the class is chock full of wonderful little nuggets of information.  So many videos to watch and so many projects to do.

One of the things that she suggested would be helpful in the process of the class was to create a grid of all of the colored pencils (one brand, anyway) and how they mix with other colors. Cool, said I. This will be awesome!  I can sit and watch TV and color away.  Then I can paint them all in and I will be done in a couple of days.

Thank goodness for this thing.

Uh huh.  I have been working on the darn thing for a month.  Possibly this is because I bought a tin of 36 watercolor pencils.  WHY DID I DO THAT?  I mean really, how stupid can one person be?

It took about 6 sheets of watercolor paper to construct my grid and all I can say is thank goodness I live close to the Dick Blick outlet store.  I just happened to have a pad of good paper that I got cheap.

Quite frankly, the easiest part of the whole project has been to draw the squares.  I used a template.

I am well underway.  And my hubby will
soon eat at the table.  Notice the cardboard backing.

So, the ginormous grid sits unfinished on my kitchen table and I attack it with vigor every once in a while.  My husband is getting tired of eating at his desk, so I guess I will have to finish it soon.

Despite the work involved, creating the grid is a very therapeutic process.  I will for sure know how to use my pencils properly and hopefully I will learn just as much when it is time to put the brush to all those yummy squares.

I may frame this thing.  Not for it's beauty, but rather as a trophy so to speak.  I will call it 'Colorus Gridus' and I will hang it on the wall in the Bat Cave.  It will inspire me to greatness.  Mainly because I finished it.

As I am writing this, my husband is measuring the doggone thing so he can cut a piece of cardboard to put it on.  I think he wants to eat at the table.  Soon.

PS - If you click Dion's link above, go to the Classes section and look at the Watercolor Pencils class. I have also taken Mastering Twinks!  Wonderful, wonderful classes.  I highly encourage you to take them.

As an added picture bonus, I thought I would share my first attempt at using these pencils. with water and a brush.  Fun!

Moving On

With her grandfather.

It seems that our lives are constantly changing where our children are concerned.  We have been blessed to have both of our girls return home (literally) in the last couple of years.

Perhaps you remember that Swim Girl left the nest again last November to volunteer with Americorps/Vista. We have missed her, but since she is fairly close we have been able to connect several times.

Now it is Alaska Girl's turn to attempt another flight.  She is headed out west.  In fact, she and her dad are on their way as I write this.  She has a new gig as a cellarer (cellarist?) at a brewery near Big Sky Country.  That's about 18 hours by car.

I know that you will find this hard to believe, but I didn't have to help with this one.  I didn't help load the car and I'm not driving anybody anywhere.  In fact, the only thing I did do is pick up a bicycle from her apartment.  I almost feel guilty.   Almost.

With her grandmother, AKA Wonder Woman.

Alaska Girl moved back home nearly 2 years ago and spent about 5 months living in her old room (that was enough).  She has moved around in the immediate area since then.  We didn't see her a lot, mainly because she was working upwards of 50 hours a week; but, she would text or call every few days, so we knew what she was doing most of the time.  She found her own set of friends and wound up having a pretty great time, even though it was 'back home...ugh'.

With her Uncle Joe and Jim.

This child prefers to live her own adventurous, eclectic life with minimal parental input and that's okay.  She is comfortable wearing old clothes from the local thrift store, Xtratuf boots and loves to spend her time outdoors, even in winter.  She did not get those traits from me.
 

With her Uncle Dave

We will miss her.  She came over for dinner a lot.  She laid on our couch a lot, usually with a computer in hand.  My water bill will go down. Yup, laundry.  I will miss her staying with me on those few occasions when her dad was out of town.  I am a wimp.  We will miss her helping out in the kitchen or helping with a chore.

We will miss the Little Dude.  Rach is going with her.

With her Aunt Julie, TFIOS Addict and Ann.

So, to my daughter..." I wish all possible success. You deserve it.  Work hard, play hard and do your best.  I hope you love it so that we can come out for vacation next summer.  Now, I have to go clean your room."

And just in case you all were feeling sorry for me not getting to help her move, don't worry. Swim Girl is moving back in a couple of weeks.  I know I can't get out of that one.

Not the best of Alaska Girl, but you gotta love Rach.

Rach, Alaska Girl and Swim Girl

Obviously he is thrilled with the accommodations.

Go Fourth!

No, I didn't forget how to spell.  This post is about the 4th of July, silly.

We were able to get away to visit family for the holiday weekend.  We hadn't been down to Missouri in a while, so we were looking forward to it.  Swim Girl would meet us there.

Fast forward past Swim Girl running over a leftover tire thing on the highway and her car shutting off and me calling people and places.  She managed to arrive in a rental car a few hours later than planned.

These are the fences that the Tom's will be whitewashing.

We had a great time.  We spent most of it with Grocery Boy's brother and his family.  I sometimes forget how much fun kids are.  They kept me pretty entertained, although to be truthful, it doesn't take much.

We spent the afternoon of the 4th in downtown Hannibal seeing the sights.  This small town is the home of mud volleyball and Tom Sawyer Days, complete with Tom Sawyer contest, fence painting, frog jumping and Miss Hannibal.  You really should go there one year.

Downtown has changed a lot from dive bars to chic new bistro/bars and outdoor seating.  There is hand dipped ice cream, antique shops, lots of fudge and my personal favorite, the popcorn and candy store.

The Tom's.

Being that I was still using one crutch to motor around, I didn't go far.  Just to the popcorn store and to see mud volleyball for a while.

What?  You haven't ever played mud volleyball?  You haven't lived until you have played.  First you find your grossest shorts, top and shoes.  Then you duct tape everything on.  Including your shoes. Then you go onto the court which is ankle deep in mud; thick Missouri mud.  Then you just play volleyball.  Aside from the fact that you can't hardly pull your feet up to move, it's the same as regular volleyball except it doesn't hurt when you fall.  And you kind of fall in slow motion.  My husband and I played one year, before we had kids.  I think I still have mud on my body from that.

We had a great family function the next day and then we headed home on Sunday.

I hope that you all had a happy and safe 4th.  Next holiday ahead: Labor Day!

And there we go.

Who are these cute kids?

Our family was very kind and made sure that
I was able to easily get to and from the park where the fireworks were.  Thank you.

On Saturday, the kids (and others) enjoyed paddle boarding on the little lake at Uncle Joe's.  Yes, Swim Girl dresses up to paddle board.