I win!

Butterflies!

Just some sketches for the ATC swap we're doing in Suzi's Fairy class...

This guy is a little bewildered, like "Um...what just happened?"

This one is the most bug-like:

And this one is supposed to be sniffing the flower, but it doesn't really look like he is:

I'm bringing some blank ATCs to school tonight to sketch them out on, I think I'm going to make one of each for my swap partners. That way if they hate them, they can pick the one they hate the least and keep it.

Soul Garden is coming up!

Today I worked some on my August planner for Soul Garden! Here's a little grocery list I made with a graphic of Finney that Suzi drew and I turned into a photoshop stamp: 

I put these little half-notecards on every page for my to-do list:

And here's my week at a glance pages:

Three more days until the class opens! 

Mercury Retrograde

I know, I know, astrology? I'm not someone who really believes in astrological stuff. However, I've been observing the whole Mercury retrograde thing and I have to tell you - Mercury messes with me. Since this retrograde started, I've had to reset my Internet every single day. Everyone I've known who has made travel plans has had problems - delays, cancellations, you name it. Suzi even pointed out how my father-in-law getting on my nerves relates. Not to mention the communication issues.

So, anyway, my brain feels like scrambled eggs today. I can't say I didn't accomplish anything - I made cookies, took Liam for a walk, turned in all my ink cartridges at Office Max (I get $3 for each one!), folded a bunch of laundry, added some things to my August Soul Garden planner. But I also started a bunch of things and just haven't finished them: I tore paper for two journals, folded it, and now it's sitting in a pile; I started working on several things for my SG planner that are sitting around me on the couch, incomplete; started crocheting a mitten and got about six rows done; burned my grilled cheese sandwich; didn't finish working on my rapidographs; didn't do any homework; etc, etc, etc. Even the laundry I folded didn't get put away.

Blah.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a day for completing unfinished projects. Who's with me??

Twinkling Goog2O's

OK, so...I have some of these...

Added water and a few drops of gum arabic like the YouTube lady said to...

And this is what they look like today.

EPIC FAIL.

However, there WILL be a take two. Stay tuned.

I swear I was gonna!

I was going to blog about my new make-your-own twinkling H2Os (which I've renamed, naturally, to Goog2Os) but just as I was about to sit down and try them out, there was a knock at the door and the mailman brought me THESE!

YAY!

Kelly's hubby, Paul, made this for me!! It's loaded with chocolate chips and chocolate frosting and chocolate cake!! You gotta love friends who don't care if you're chubby and will help you stay that way!!

Sick Suzi

One of my best cartoons so fart his month!!

A Visitor

First, rest assured that none of the people mentioned here, nor anyone connected to them, read this blog.

I love my husband's father. BUT. Something I've noticed about most people is they simply don't give a shit about anyone but themselves. I met a new friend for coffee this morning, came home at noon, and he and Liam had been playing video games the ENTIRE time I was gone. Fine. FIL doesn't know how to entertain a five-year-old. No problem. I make Liam stop after another hour and ten minutes. I feed him - he hasn't eaten anything and now it's after one pm.

FIL goes outside to smoke, I turn the Wii back on, meaning to put on Bones or Law & Order or something just to be in the background of my day. He comes back inside while I'm making a sandwich and puts on a movie - one that is NOT appropriate for kids, and one that I have NO INTEREST in watching. Without a word, he just takes over like he owns the place.

I HATE THIS KIND OF MENTALITY. This is why I don't like being around other people. It doesn't occur to him AT ALL that he is one of THREE PEOPLE in the house. He is a GUEST, which to me means you ASK before doing something. But it just doesn't occur to him.

So, now I have to do my homework and get ready for school tonight with this movie giving me a migraine because he watches TV ridiculously loud. It's seriously hurting my ears right now. It's so hard for someone like me - who is ALWAYS conscientious of the fact that I'm not the only person on the planet - to be around people who are SO ridiculously unaware. Because it's not a matter of "Geez, Goog, you could just say something." Of course I could. It's a matter of HAVING TO. Why should I have to constantly remind people that they are NOT the only person who matters? Why should I have to assert myself IN MY OWN HOME? Why should I have to tell my son's grandfather that this is an inappropriate movie for HIS GRANDSON?

To me, THIS IS COMMON SENSE. Everyone thinks they are the one who has common sense and that nobody else does, but tell me - would it really not occur to you that a PG13 movie is maybe not OK for a super sensitive five-year-old? And now FIL is snoring ridiculously loudly - so I'm going to be tortured with this stupid movie and he's not only going to sleep through it, but also add to the noise level? I might kill someone before the week is over.

A little boy's painting

He started with blue. He ALWAYS starts with blue! 

And here is the finished product - SpongeBob, Squidward, and Patrick, his favorite pals!

Kelly's Angel

I don't know if I like her. I already showed her to Kelly, so I'm not spoiling the surprise or anything...

The words are the lyrics to Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah.

A boy and an Irish rainbow

I made both of these layouts with Backyard Picnic from Busy Crafting Mommy Designs. This is Jack:

This is is a rainbow in Ireland that my BFF sent me. It was so big she had to send three pictures of it!

Mt first tomato!

It looks like a normal tomato, right? I ate it with scrambled egg (cheesy), and avocado.

Here's the weird thing. Can you see what's wrong with it? Maybe not WRONG, I guess...

NO SEEDS. There are NO seeds. It's not a seedless tomato. I mean, I guess it IS, but it's not supposed to be. And if you look at pictures of "seedless" tomatoes, there are still SOME seeds. This was completely solid. No juice, no slimy stuff, no seeds. Ajae thinks I picked it too early. It tasted fine, it was just so weird!

GIANT Post-its!!

Who else tells you about these things?? You can get these 12x12 sticky notes at Target

What the ITT Tech commercials don't tell you

That's right, people. This is what we did in my Instructional Design class. Then we went out in the hallway and threw them. Whoever's when the farthest won. It wasn't me, mine was about average. Still, it was fun!

Baby G's Quilt...ing

Quilting the quilt! Like those little threads I haven't trimmed yet? Yeah, me too! 

I'm not "good" at free motion quilting. I guess you get good at it after a while, but I'm totally not there yet. Oh, Goog, what makes someone a "good" free motion quilter? Even stitches. I don't have those. Not yet. 

Better yet, I don't even really strive for them. I notice they're not even, but I find that I don't care as much as I should. But somehow I don't think my niece is going to care! I'll let you know if she does.

July 4 Cartoon

One of my favorite cartoon pages for July so far :)

Now what??

I do this all the time - sprays all these super fun, pretty pages. They're cut to my favorite journal size. But now what? I want to bind them into a journal and then USE IT. But usually when I'm sitting with itchy fingers and I want to draw, I want a blank page. I LIKE the blank page. I enjoy violating its purity with my grubby pencil. 

And when I look at these pages them make me want to collage and sew on them and all kinds of stuff, which is much harder to do if they're all bound together. So do I leave them loose? Because then they usually just sit in a pile until I bind them and then don't use them. I'm going to try and use them. Starting today. Right now. I'll put one in my backpack to doodle on while I'm at school, like my CTJ. Or maybe I should bind them and use them as my new CTJ all together? Or is the binding what makes me not use them? Dilemmas!

The use of You

I've noticed a lot of people make art and/or journal pages with the word YOU when I wish they would say I. "You are enough" is not as powerful of a statement as "I am enough". We already mostly feel like the people in our lives are good enough, that's why we love them. The statement we need to see and hear and tell ourselves isn't about YOU. It's about I.

I am enough.
I am loved.
I am beautiful.

Say it. Write it. Put it in your art. Feel it.

That's me. I'm in class right now. Hair up and messy and needing to be colored. Didn't brush my teeth. It was 104 degrees today and I walked back and forth to lunch and Michael's and haven't showered yet. My shirt is from 2001, which is actually declared on my left sleeve since it was a gift from my big sister in SAI. I'm struggling to make a 3D castle in Autodesk 3DS Max 2012 (teacher is helping someone else right now). I'm wearing shorts, sneakers, and two different socks. I AM ENOUGH. Non-showered, messy haired, unbrushed teeth, mismatch socks and all. It's ALL enough. Perfectly enough. And If I can make a castle? So much the better.

Jetpens

I signed up with Jetpens to be a product tester or reviewer or whatever. It was a couple of months ago and I totally forgot about it, figuring since I'm a nobody they wouldn't send me stuff. Then they did and I'm supposed to review it and link it to them and if my blog generates enough interest, they'll send me more stuff.

Here is what they sent me:

It's tiny and has thin shitty paper.

Probably NOT the review they were hoping for, huh? Click the link to Jetpens and check out the site if you want to buy a stupid, crappy little notebook. Thanks for nothing, Jetpens!

Independence

No photo is safe! Kelly was teasing me about watching me and sent me a pic or her eye, and then one of her son Josh's. It was super silly and I just wanted to do something with it. So I did. It totally makes me happy, even though it's ridiculous (since it's an eyeball). I love it and so does Kelly! 

Confession Time...

I hate raising my hand to be called on in class. I don't want to share my knowledge with people who don't bother to study!! Yes, I'm that person who screws up curves - who needs a freaking curve? Yes, I'm the person who reads all the pages I'm supposed to and does all of the homework and buys the "recommended" books in the syllabus. I don't even know why. I'm not trying to screw up the curve, I swear. We're supposed to do homework and study and read the recommended books, aren't we?

Things People Say

There are things that people's children say to my son that he finds confusing. Example: "watch out". Seriously, people - THIS is what you say to your kids instead of "excuse me"? Watch out? There was a little boy in the pool at the same time we were and he kept saying "Hey, kid, watch out!" and Liam didn't know he was speaking to him, because those simply aren't words he knows. We also don't say "look out" or "beep beep". How many people do you know how say "beep beep" to other humans but who have NEVER honked their car horn because "that's rude"? ADULTS who say this as if we were all Sesame Street characters? I'm not a muppet, and I have been known to say "Oh, did you mean 'excuse me'?"

Second: "huh?" How many times a day does someone look at you with that dumb, scrunched up, "I'm an idiot" face and say "Huh?" like you're the stupid one? My son says "I'm sorry, could you say that again?" or "I didn't understand what you said." Or something along those lines. If you give my son the idiot face and say "Huh?" he's probably just going to look at you, eyebrows raised, and wait for you to form intelligent words.

I'm in school with a girl who speaks like a thug. There is not a single word where she says "ing", it's always "in". As in "Where we goin' for dinner?" and "I was workin' all day." and "We were hangin' out." She slurs her words slightly, like she's too lazy to move her tongue. In spite of these things, she seems reasonably intelligent, gets relatively good grades, and will be competing with me for the same jobs in a year. Now, my work is better than hers, my portfolio is better than hers, and I can't help but listen to her talk and think "Why would someone hire her over me? She sounds like a gangster." Pretend it doesn't make a difference, but it does.

Would you say "watch out" to a stranger? A coworker? Your boss? If not, why would you say it to the people closest to you? Do you forget your pleases and thank yous when you're at Thanksgiving dinner with the family? How about Tuesday night on the couch with pizza? Every generation says the one after them is screwing up the world. Lately all we hear about is how rude and impatient children are. Guess where they learn that? Oh, yeah - right at the family table.

Ha! I typed this up a few days ago and was letting it settle a little before posting it. It's kind of angry, isn't it? And yet, true, so I'm posting it anyway.

Suspicious!

Look how she looks at me! I just had to scrapbook it :)

I used a mini kit from One of a Kind Design Studio called "Amazing" and a kit from Andrea Gold.

In other news, The Peeper is caught!

So, I guess I haven't really told you guys but there's been a man peeping in our windows for a couple of years. My upstairs neighbors called the police a few times, but they always came outside, saw him, he took off, THEN they called the police. I haven't really stressed about it, except I don't let Liam walk around the house naked. I don't care who sees me, but pedophiles make me sick.

Last Saturday, Tim caught him IN THE ACT. He was coming home from work at 3am, saw the man, turned off his car and called the police - while he WATCHED the guy move from window to window. Den, Liam's room, my room. Tim told the 911 operator that he was worried the guy would run if he saw police, and she told him not to worry about it.

Tim watched while a policeman walked up to the transform box the guy was hiding behind and flashed his flashlight and the guy ran. Tim said two other policemen came out of nowhere and tackled his ass. Cuffed him, took Tim's statement, told him they've been trying for a couple of years to catch this guy, and then gave him a card with Victim's Services stuff on it! We're VICTIMS! Who knew? Apparently I should be more upset about this than I am, but I just can't work myself up to it. Liam sleeps in my room, and my blinds are ALWAYS closed - even during the day - so I don't really see the point of the peeping.

Here's the newspaper article all about it: Peeper. He's still in jail and is not getting out, except to be deported. Good stuff, right? The legal system at work! We tried to find his mug shot, but we haven't been able to so far.

Soul Garden, part 2

These pages are from my July planner. I'm having SO much fun with this, you have no idea! 

These are a couple of stamps I carved. Stamped on post its and stuck in:

For every day of the month, I made up these little list thingies. It's half an index card, backed with cardstock that was leftover from making the planner. I just take one, glue it in, and write down the stuff I want to do today. Cute and functional! This has been SO useful for me.

  This is just a doodle - usually I do this on my homework papers and notes.

I carved a cupcake stamp and used it for July birthdays. A stamp and a name scribbled in it so I don't forget.

Some days there's no list, no To Do's, no homework. Just pancakes and the pool.

I have Liam make me a little piece of art on an index card every day and I add it in. 

I also have these little badges that I made up. This particular day I made art, took my medicine, studied, did the dishes, went for a run, talked on the phone (twice), made some cartoon pages, and cooked. They're one inch squares and I got the clipart and the iPhone pic online. Resized and colored in photoshop.

This is a screen grab from my iPhone about a funny conversation I had with Paul. 

This is what I'm doing with my Project 365 pictures:

This planner has been SO helpful for me so far. Sometimes all I need to get me motivated to fold the laundry that been sitting, clean, on the couch for a week is to put it on today's To Do list. I know that seems silly, but that's just what works for me. And why take all these pictures for P365 if nothing gets done with them? The badges make me want to glue them in - and I don't get to if I don't actually DO the dishes or MAKE the cartoons. Those silly text message conversations? Who doesn't want to remember those?

What makes a soul grow?

This is a little preview of Suzi's next class, Soul Garden. It's a collaboration between her and Kelly, which I think is SUPER fun and a first for them. The idea is a planner. A planner for our lives. NOT just one where we jot down our appointments. One where we make goals and have rewards when we complete them. Simple goals, like getting up earlier or eating a healthy breakfast. And more difficult ones like integrating exercise into our daily lives.

 

It's part journal, part scrapbook. The ephemera of our lives meets practicality.

Just in case you can't read that To Do List, it says "Carve light bulb, Make cartoon pages, Yesterday's cartoon page, Eat chips & Cheetos, Watch Gilmore Girls". Sometimes that's the kind of list I need - one I'm going to actually accomplish. There's also an elephant I drew, a little musing about weeds vs. flowers, and the top of an individual cream cheese container - and my face, of course.

Here's a horribly taken photo of Mini me, and a page where I wrote in shiny gold pen.

There's more, trust me. Stay tuned for much, much more!

"Tell Goog good night!"

Kelly and I skarted last night for hours for the first time in FOREVER! We made whimsy animals, Juliette Crane style. It was fun. Silly, messy fun. 

He's a penguin, just in case you can't tell!

Here he's supposed to be outlined with India ink and a bamboo brush, but I only have a small squirt bottle of ink for my Rapidograph pens, so I outlined him with it. I think he's finished, but maybe not...