spaghetti face

This spaghetti face is helping her momma this week that is for sure. So I have mentioned this week that I am concerned about a serious medical issue with a person I love dearly. They say things happen in threes. Yesterday I was told I am being laid off from my art therapy job of 9 years. Truthfully I have been feeling burnt out there for quite some time. But I wanted to leave on my terms. And we can't afford it. I have a second job where I teach but it isn't enough to cover the bills. Ugh. There is a chance I will be working in a medical office...nothing to do with my training but it will be ok. A change of pace possibly. I just hope that this is it and I don't get a 3rd "surprise." I've had enough for one week.

My husband has National Guard drill this weekend so I'm on sweetpea duty solo. I'm hoping that I get some scrapping time tomorrow night. Tonight I'm just to exhausted physically and emotionally. No one in this house slept last night. I didn't because I couldn't shut my brain off after the events at work. But then the baby was awake at odd hours. Turns out today she has some very sharp teeth cutting through. Poor baby! What timing.

Here's to a good night's sleep!

saturday

Wingaersheek Beach, Gloucester, MA - April 2009

This has been an up & down week. I have been so busy with pre-graduation/end-of-the-semester stuff. Haven't been home many nights this week. Cary got bad news this week that we are trying to figure out. He is being laid-off as of next week. Fortunately he has some good pay coming this summer while he is at OCS for National Guard but that also makes it hard to be looking for a job. I hope something works out for him. He works so hard.

As for other news...I spend the day with friends for a yard sale to benefit the Relay-for-Life here in town. It was a good day outside. Got some knitting done on a baby sweater for a co-worker. After I had lunch after with friends...a good ole' Gloucester Haddock sandwich...hmmm. After I went shopping because I needed to find something inexpensive to wear to the college graduation and my sister's upcoming graduation. Found a few things and splurged on two pairs of shoes. I feel guilty about those. But they are very cute and really weren't that expensive. Picked up a few groceries at Trader Joe's and now I'm relaxing and taking a break.

Exhausted.

Happy Saturday!

6 secrets

Sarah tagged me for "six secrets" - I share six secrets about me and then tag 5 other bloggers. I found this really hard! What to share...hmmm...

1. I was a complete slob as a kid. I remember "cleaning" my room and shoving stuff under furniture and slamming the closet door before things could fall out...it was bad. No-one now who knows me and my OCD-like tendencies would believe it...except my mom who was a witness :)

2. I am a World of Warcraft player. Yes. A computer game. Cary got me into it. I haven't regularly played in a few months but it is fun. An complete escape from reality that everyone needs at times.

3. Vacuuming doesn't happen until I get desperate and need to. My mom used to tease me when I was in college. I am so neat and organized in every other area of my home but vacuuming....I'm not good about.

4. I love plants but the only kind I can take care of are unkillable. And even that isn't always the case. My signal to water my plants is their wilting...crying out for me to water them before they die!

5. I hate peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. I used to eat peanut butter & butter when I was little. Gross.

6. I have no idea what to put for a 6th secret. This is hard. Hmmm. I won a bike in kindergarten and had a wierd premonition that morning and knew that I was going to win it. I'm not really a superstitious person but I have never forgotten that wierd, calm feeling that it wasn't a surprise to me that I was going to win it. Makes me sound like a freak!

This was so hard but fun! I'm tagging......Heather, Pete, Sandra, Toni,and Jen. Thanks Sarah...this was a fun challenging challenge!

creativity is

Washington National Cathedral, DC - 2001

Two Peas Challenge - Why is CREATIVITY important?

Creativity...

• creativity IS problem-solving. not just in art but in life.
• makes life interesting!
• can be found in children drawing and playing, adults balancing a budget and in someone making a recovery from mental illness and/or addiction.
• is something I feel in places... like homes, the Cathedral in the photo. hands that placed each beam, stone, light. creativity.
• allows for self-expression...our thoughts, dreams, goals, fears...
• lets us get out what we can't speak in words.
• brings beauty into the world in art, music, design, architecture, parenting, cooking, customer service...
• brings new things into the world to make our lives better and/or easier. a creative person invented cars, pencils, ice cream, chairs, comfy slippers...you get the idea!
• helps us find new solutions to old nagging problems.
  

That's my list for today!

Had some frustrating parts of my day today but also just got some exciting things accomplished...I'll tell more later. Trying to narrow down ideas for a research project I have to do during my 6 week class. Research is not my thing! Took a nice, long walk after dinner. Hoping to read a few blogs before I call it a night!

why I write

Two Peas Blog Challenge: 10 reasons why you feel the need to write now.

1. I am really enjoying the community of other scrapbooking, cardmaking, crafty girls who like the same things I like and take time out to really listen and see what each other has to say and show on thier blogs.
2. To document my life as it is right now: ups, downs, excitments, disapointments, everyday stuff.
3. Creative outlet...brainstorm ideas, share ideas, hear others feedback on projects, photos, etc.
4. To think through my day and try and leave it in the past and move on the next day.
5. To try and be more positive...I feel like I used to be a lot more positive and happy but lately the worrier in me takes over more than I'd like it to. Writing helps me sort through my worries.
6. Wow. Only on #6 huh?! Don't some of my previous long answers count as more than one?!
7. To grow more mindful of the everyday stuff of life.
8. Sometimes I blog and write as a way of procrastinating or distracting from the things I should be doing...there are too many shoulds in life anyway and that's what I'm trying to get away from (see #5!).
9. That's really all I got...I don't have 10!

Have a nice night everyone!

little known facts about me

Two Peas Challenge~ Share something about yourself that people may not know about you.

Here's are a few:

• I figure skated for over 10 years as a kid. Even had a single axle for awhile and started working on a double salchow.
• I grew up going to "the races." Car races. Supermodifieds. But among the "big guys" in Nascar...I grew up on Dale Earnhardt and Jr. is my favorite.
• I'm the oldest of three kids. I'm older than my sister by 8 yrs and older than my brother by 10.
• I met my guy two years ago through eharmony and had a very good experience with that website. He's my match.
• I was afraid of dogs as a kid. Now I love them!
• I was an RA for 2 yrs in college for international students and for 1 year in grad school for freshmen.
• I have the worst guilty conscious ever.

black & white

I started a project today based on an upcoming theme for Somerset Studios. I've always thought about submitting something to them. It's a work in progress and I'm not sure it is to the level of thier magazing but I'm having fun with the challenge of working in only Black & White. Here's a sneak preview...



We'll see! It's been fun anyhow.

10 best ideas

Two Peas Blog Challenge~ 10 of my very best ideas. Here are my 10. Completely random and in no particular order! When I think about it, my best ideas have all involved a time when I took a risk and was terrified it wouldn't work or felt sad about leaving one thing to begin a new.

1. Going to grad school in DC.


2. Taking a risk and meeting Cary.


3. Starting my sketchbook and carrying it EVERYWHERE


4. Breaking up with my old, long-term boyfriend and starting fresh all those years ago.


5. Taking the job at the college last May.


6. Painting one wall in my apartment royal blue (I guess "terrified it wouldn't work" is a little extreme in this case...but royal blue. Really. How would I have painted over it?!)


7. Buying my desk at Target. It fit in my very small space and has paid for itself 100x over in the 7 years I have had it.


8. Letting Cary bring his couch with him when he moved in (Ok. It really wasn't my idea but it was my idea to let him!)


9. Joining the YMCA and bringing exercise back into my life and routine.


10. Coloring my hair blond. (This is a superficial one. But a risk nontheless!)

freezing. creatively.

I haven't been as good about blogging every day. And I haven't had time to do any scrapbooking. Tonight (after work) I'm going to my muscle conditioning class at the gym. That has been on the back burner for too long also. Maybe when I get home I will do a page. If I set that goal maybe I'll do it! I got some photos back from scrapbookpictures.com yesterday...maybe that will be the inspiration I need. I've been drawn more to my knitting as a creative outlet this past week. But I would like to try some new techniques and ideas I have for a mini book and scrapbook pages....we'll see. After the stress at my job so far this week (it's only Tuesday) it will be welcomed. Hmmm...I also haven't touched my Art Journal recently... See. This is what stops me from doing art sometimes. TOO MANY ideas. I freeze. I need to just set a small goal. One scrapbook page with one photo when I get home tonight. That I can do. and be ok with just that. And stop using "no time" as an excuse. There's always time for something here-and-there. I've been reading Julia Cameron's The Sound of Paper...creative blocks, carving out time, ...and yesterday I read a chapter that talked about preparing for creativity as a way to get past a block. Gathering, organizing, turning to other creative outlets. Sometimes I let my perfectionism get in the way and don't allow myself to do something small and quick or like I said I freeze with all the ideas I have floating around in my mind. So tonight...I'm going to carve out an hour. I will do one scrapbook page with a photo I love that I got yesterday. A challenge for myself.

roses and stuff

I took this photo the other day. It's a rose Cary brought home for me. I've been really trying to practice taking close-up photos. I've always liked taking landscapes - but close-ups and people -not my specialty! I only have a regular old basic digital camera but it works for what I do. I kind of like how this turned out. I have been reading tips on blogs and online and took it in the window when it was sunny so it didn't get all washed out by the flash. The rose is such a gorgeous shade of red-orange and I loved it against my old, white window frame. Hmm...I'd love to save a little $$ and buy a "real" camera...sigh...

Two Peas Blog Challenge~ Are you the type of person who needs a new item in your hot little hands from a store or will you order online and wait for the item?

In general, I'm someone who likes to see the thing for myself. I'm a visual person and usually the little picture on the screen doesn't do it for me. And with clothes...unless I already own the exact same item, who knows if it will fit?! With scrapbook supplies I always look online but have never ordered online. I like to take my time browsing in my LSS and getting ideas before I decide. The only thing I really buy online is books occassionally and I started buying some Christmas gifts from Amazon. Stuff like DVD's, books, CD's because I often find it's cheaper.

But....there is something about getting a package in the mail mixed in with bills and junk! I have started ordering photos online and love getting them! So...I may change my tune.