A few finds

I had a fiver burning a hole in my pocket so I went to a street sale. There wasn't much that was useful to me so I picked up some fun stuff.

A book of household hints from the fifties. I think it was a gift for opening an account at a bank.










Some vintage pillowcases with a great print.








Some religious books about saints and rosaries. I'm not catholic, I just liked the way they looked. Plus they were free so...








Cute books for my children.









These were the best find of the day. A vintage watercolor set that has never been used and is in great condition for 50 cents and some vintage colored pencils from the free box also.

My favorite 23 year old.

Last week I had the pleasure of entertaining a very good friend from the Good ole Colorful Colorado. Or did she have the pleasure of entertaining me? Either way we had loads of fun. We schlepped my children from one garage sale to the next on a very humid day and she loved it. You know you loved it, girl. We only had her for two days but she definitely livened up our little home while she was here.

My children adore her , I'm not sure why. HAHAHAHHAHAHHA. She is pretty much the only girlfriend of mine that can draw my brooding husband out of his shell.( That is quite an accomplishment, for any of you who don't know.) The Girl even came out of her den of moldy cups and stinky fish tanks to take a peek at this strange and wonderful new creature. It was a sight to behold.

My Weird Freind is beutiful and wonderful and I will miss her greatly until I see her again. She is the only friend I have who tolerates my dark, sick humor and even joins in the fun sometimes.

Now that she has gone we are back in our routine. Guitarman, being the only male in the house, is the main source of entertainment for all of us girlies. He has our undivided attention now. It's always fun to poke at him and get him all prickly.

The Girl found someone who wanted to buy her Camaro and we got her a nice practical Focus. Everyone is happy with this choice. I just wish we didn't have to go through 2 cars to get to this one. Oh well. I am happy that everyone else is happy. Now there will be no more complaining. Well, that's just a pipe dream, I know, but we all gotta have dreams.

SPC: My first POP ART.

When Rick and I first got out of the Army we trusted that my family would follow through with certain promises. Unfortunately they did not and we were left to have an unprosperous life while living there.

The only joy I had was my photoshop program that came with my little 1mb kodak camara. I took pictures of everything, even our little shack we called a home. The picture I chose for this week was one of the pictures that I did while we lived there.

When I look at it I do see my baby girl but it mostly makes me think of how hard we had it and yet we still managed to find things that made us very happy: Margarita night, ice cold pepsi's to try and cool off during the hottest Summer that state has ever had, Touchdown Taco Dip, five dollar pizzas (from a local joint that gave you the pizza for the price of the time that you called.) and driving around in a beat-up, old Wagoneer trying not to die from the exhaust.

Good Times.

For more Self Portraits go here SPC

June 13, 1979

June 13, 1979 I was born at 7:05 in the morning. I was born on a Wednesday.

The moon was in the Waning Gibbous phase. I am a Gemini, born in the year of the goat and my life path number is 9. My birth tree is the Hornbeam and stone is the Alexandrite.

I have no world changing insights to share you with you at this juncture in my life. The one thing I have learned from my life is that there is no need to be in a hurry. Everything happens when it is supposed to. If you rush it, you don't give yourself time to learn and be and grow into your soul.

Book purse

I have been reading posts about making these on craftster.org for a while now and decided to make one yesterday. I read a few of the tutorials and decided to go my own way with it. I am happy to report that I am much better with a glue gun than I thought I would be. The flower did not turn out great, it looks like just a bunch of material. That's ok with me because I've never done anything like it before.

As we speak Boog and Bell are running it through the gauntlet of love. I hope it survives.

Sewing

For the past 6 months or more I have been attempting to make my childrens clothes. I made the cute little pillow-case dresses they wore in Easter.After making those I wanted to try out some patterns. I am having a very hard time with it.

I can't get the hang of binding the collars. I did ok, and I am using that word loosely, on the arm binding. My ability to sew a straight line is non-existant.I know I am making this harder that it needs to be and that if I keep at it, it will just click.

It's just really bugging me because this is something I want to be really good at. My Grandmother could sew anything and had so many ideas, she is the one I emulate. I want to sew like she did. I want to make quilts and wedding dresses and toys and clothes for my kids.

I'm just frustrated with it all right now.

Love that popart stuff.

I am really enjoying the pop art. There's just so much you can do.

SPC: POP ART

My hands have long been a point of contention for me. I have often been embarrassed by how un feminine and quite large they are. This is my therapy. Get over it, me!

The Thing About Parenting

I often wonder if we are over-thinking parenting. Is it ok to turn every little food issue into a well thought out blog? Isn't it normal for children to be picky eaters? Why does it have to be a so serious. They aren't going to let themselves starve. Barring any serious illness they will eat when they get hungry. I don't need a book or a doctor to tell me that.

Is a degree in psychology necesary to be a parent? I don't think so. Not everything my children do merits my evaluation of what kind of impact this moment could have on their futures.If I swat a tooshy after having exhausted other means of trying to gain control, am I going to scar her for life? I doubt it.

Why has potty-training become something that has to be taken so seriously, that it can make a mommy literally breakdown crying? I mean sometimes it's just not gonna work out. There will be accidents, there will be lots of poopy panties that will need to be swished around in the toilet until acceptably clean enough to launder. Life is not over.

I'm not on a high horse here.I have stood in a public bathroom, on the verge of tears, and begged a toddler to "pleeeeeaaaaaassse go in the potty." I have felt bad about not breastfeeding long enough. I have even wondered if I lose my temper to much. I have thought the thought that never seems to can never be answered ( when it is answered, its to late) "Am I a good mother?" I am guilty of taking it to seriously.

I just wonder why does all this have to be taken so damn seriously. Growing up is what it is. No matter what, their going to do it. As long as they are given love and attention they will be ok. Right. I think so.

Lets all just relax about the peas and carrots, the potty, the mean little friends, the scrapes and bruises, colds and coughs. Just breathe. They will survive. They have no other option.

SPC: Last Introduction

I took this picture of myself as a joke. My eyebrows don't always look like that. It's turned out to be my favorite self-portrait.

My eyes are prominant, which has always been.

My nose is obviously not perfect, a little crooked. Me and Macey Cayfield dropped some acid together in the 11th grade. The one thing I remember about the experience is her telling me that she looks at me and thinks I am totally beautiful..."but then I look at your nose and realize you're not perfect." ~o.k.

Love the cheeks. My uncle called me squirrel cheeks when I was a kid because, he said, it looked like I was smuggling acorns in there. How da' ya like me now? hehe.

I use this picture the most for internet purposes. It is most often what you will see as my avatar.

I think what I like best about it is that it looks like me. It shows my flaws and it shows off the goods.