Birthdays and Donuts

Today is my uncle Raymond's birthday so I want to wish him a very Happy Birthday!  He is having some health issues and I hope that he is feeling better soon.

It's also my favourite actor crush's birthday.  Viggo turns 51 years old today.  He is aging mighty nicely if I do say so myself.  This was taken during "The Road" promotions tour yesterday (Oct 19th) in Paris.

copywrite:abaca press

Who says donuts have to be boring?  I was looking online at art and came across this unusual shop.  I have never been to this donut shop but I'm plugging it anyway because I think the concept is BRILLIANT!  The name is Psycho Donuts and with a name like that I just had to take a look.  They are located up around the Bay Area, in Campbell, California and they truly lived up to their name.   With donuts named comfortably numb, the headbanger, the donut hamburger, donut fires and Jekyll and Hyde how can they be bad?   This is what a few of them look like.  The Jekyll and Hyde, Moodswing, Donut fries and Manic Malt.  Don't they look yummy.  Kinda reminds me of the donut version of my friend Mel's boyfriends krispy treats.

Not only does this shop have fun donuts but they also have art and music!  They remind me of the old 60's coffee shops that beatniks hung out to share poetry and music while having coffee, only moderned up.  This could be why I like the shop so much, I'm still a hippie at heart.  It definitely feeds my eclectic tastes for original and unique. 
This months art is a monster theme for October with artists like:

Gus Finkelstein

and

Christne Benjamin

Octorber and Halloween also hold events like psycho costume karaoke, a zombie nurse costume contest, bobbing for donuts which consists of bobbing for donut holes in a soupy glaze, and even their donuts will be in costume.  Jekyll and Hyde will become a protestor donut...and so on.  It sounds like they will be having a blast up there in the bay area.  I only wish I lived closer.  My hope is that they will franchise out and have a shop near me in Palm Springs.  The only problem with franchises is that they lose their originality and charm that makes them so good to begin with.  If you live or are visiting the area I hope you'll check them out and give us your opinion of them.  There is also a blog on what's going on if you care to check it out at http://psychodonuts.blogspot.com/   They really seem to be a fun spot to hang out at and have some cool munchies while you're at it.

Reflections

Our weather here in California has been so crazy lately.  It doesn't know what season it wants to be.  I thought I'd missed Fall since we only had a few days of nice crisp autumn like days then suddenly if felt like winter but now we're back to 100*F temps.  I finally had to break down and turn the air conditioner on late yesterday afternoon because it gets so hot in our livingroom with the afternoon sun pouring in through the window.  I feel sorry for those who had thought summer was gone and winterized their a/c's and swamp coolers already. 

The past week has also been kind of a wonky one for me.  I started new medication that the doctor told me would not make me as sleepy as Lyrica does but he apprarently doesn't know me very well because I've spent the majority of this week sleeping.   I kept hoping that once my system was use to them I'd be ok but so far no go.  I'm the first to admit I enjoy a good nap but this is rediculous.

When I wasn't sleeping, or trying out new recipe I did some reflecting about life and death.  Last year I joined Facebook at the urging of some friends.  Since it seemed to be the place I'd get to see them the most I broke down and joined.  What I thought would be a few minutes here and there to catch up with them turned out to be so much more.  Immediately I started getting some family members friending me that I didn't know were on there, which grew into more family.  Quite a few of whom I hadn't seen in years along with their children and extended families.  Within the past few months I've also been reaquainted with many of my old classmates which was a bit odd for me.  The first few were people I'd known only in passing so was surprised they even remembered me.  Those friends snowballed into more friends and people I'd known since kindergarten.  I've since met up with, Lois, whom I've known since we were 5, a couple of times and last month we got together with a couple of other friends, Valerie and Lisa, for dinner.  We had so many laughs while catching up on what's been going on.  I've reconnected with several people now that I hung around during my school years and had lost touch with and have been surprised at some of their journeys through life.  More surprised at some then others, but surprised just the same.  It's funny how you can see people's lives as being wonderful and so much better than your own and come to find out they are miserable or having the same sort of problems you are.  Some even doing things so out of character from what you knew them as. 

It made me think about my own life so the other night I baked up some peanut butter cookies and journaled.

This week started off on a sad note for me as I learned of the death of a sweet friend I'd met online.  Another friend hadn't been able to get a hold of him on the phone and became worried and called the police to check on him.  Unfortunately they found him dead in his home and figure he'd been there a few days.  As far as we know it was natural causes since he was in poor health.  Finding him that way reminded me of one of my fears which is being alone and wondering: " If I died, would anyone notice?" 
A couple of days later I got a message on facebook from a friend I'd hung out with as a sophomore and junior in high school.   She (Teri) and I had hung out with a couple of sisters and another girl, all of whom weren't the best influences on us.  We spent many a day ditching school and partying.  Her first message was to ask about a girl who contacted her and I informed her she was the little step sister of the two we'd hung out with.  Her next message was to let me know that the youngest of the two sisters has passed away last spring of an overdose and that the older had been in a car accident and now legally considered retarded.  They'd apparently had been unable to shake that lifestyle and paid the price.  Teri learned some years after she'd moved away from this valley that they were the reason her mother moved them.  She feared Teri would become like them and moved her away from the valley.  After an all day drinking binge that started at 7:00 a.m. and ended with me brutally ill and unable to remember driving home, I started to drift away from this friendship as well.  It was not a conscious effort but I think I knew that wasn't something I wanted to continue with.  I had become quite the drinker in high school and I'm sure had that day not happened, given my families history of alcoholics, I could very easily have followed that path.

A lot of times when I reflect on the should've, would've, could've's it consists of what could have been better in my life.  This time it was more of what turned out right.  As I say, I attribute that day as curing my alcoholism.  Not because of any revelations or will power, but the simple fact I just cannot drink like that anymore without getting sick.  So goes the saying, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger". 

I am grateful for changing my ways, concentrating more on my failing grades and graduating instead of continueing along that path.  I realize that often we do get what we need in life, it just isn't as obvious or come in the way we expect....

It's Celebration Time!

I'd like to give a shout out to Ro Jordan, one of my new friends from across the pond.  She is the Mistress of the Gramayre blog and today is her birthday

I hope you have a wonderful day Ro and many happy endings!!!

also on this day:

On October 15, 1999...TEN years ago...Viggo first arrived on the set of The Lord of the Rings. I just can't imagine the film with anyone else in that roll.  Though I like Stuart Townsend, I just wouldn't have enjoyed the movie as much if he'd remained as Aragorn.

 ROTK premiere

Let the holidays begin!

The holiday season has started... For me as soon as October hit it meant Halloween was near then Thanksgiving and finally Christmas and New Years.  When I was a kid it also meant NO SCHOOL!!!!  Halloween was fun if it fell on a Friday or Saturday but sucked if it was on a school night and you had to be in bed by a certain time.  When you're a kid those days at school between September and the four day weekend for Thanksgiving were an eternity.   Then the month till Christmas break wasn't quite so bad because people were happier and in the spirit of the season, especially towards little kids. There were class parties and Christmas programs to do so the school day went by a little faster.  Of course the Christmas breaks flew by back then, but nothing like the warp speed I encounter now.  As I get older time seems to zip by.  I never believed it till I actually started experiencing it.  The years go by so fast but the last three months, my "holiday season", go by in the blink of an eye.  One minute I'm thinking, "hey I should do some Halloween cards this year" and the next it's nearly Thanksgiving.  I have come to the conclusion if I expect to make anything for any of the holidays I must start a year in advance to maybe be done in time.  Rediculous as it may sound, it seems to be my reality.  I had planned to do some Halloween projects but have also taken on copying old home movies to put on DVD's for family Christmas gifts, which is turning into a bigger job then I had expected. 

I suppose I could always just go plant myself in the neighbors yard and relax instead.  One of the houses down the street from us has put up a grave yard for Halloween.  They have lights all around also that I haven't been by at night to see yet.  I love seeing the decorations this time of year.  It's one of the parts of this season I have never stopped enjoying.  Granted people didn't get as elaborate at decorating back when I was a kid and there wasn't all the cool gagets that are out now but it's still always been cool to see people's imaginations at work.

October has also been "try new recipe's" and bring back some of the old,  month for me.  I started off with baking cookies, something I hadn't done in years.  Not from scratch anyway, I've been using the premade doughs that you just heat up.  That got me going into other things and I decided I would try as many new recipes this month that I could and also make some old favourites that I haven't made in ages.  I don't like seafood but John loves it so I broke down and made him some clam chowder the other day, which he says turned out great.  I'll have to take his word for it but he did wolf down two huge bowls so I'm thinking he's telling the truth.  Tonight we tried out one of my aunts old budget favourites, jungle stew, which is basically a combination of 1 C. rice, 1 can red beans, 1 can corn, 2 cans tomato sauce, hamburger, onion and some seasonings.   It turned out pretty good.  Tomorrow we try out my friend Mel's ... well her boyfriend Phil's actually, chili recipe. Wish me luck! I'll include recipes for the clam chowder and jungle stew at the end of this post.

I'm thinking for my New Years resolution I should try something new every week.

Clam Chowder
6 slices bacon                      2 (8oz) cans minced clams
3/4 Cup diced onions           4 Tablespoons flour
3 Cup diced potatoes          1 (8 oz) bottle clam juice
3 Cup light cream or whole milk
1 Cup milk
1 teaspoon salt                     pepper to taste

Fry bacon until crisp and drain on paper towel before crumbling.  Fry onions in bacon drippings till tender then remove. (I cut the bacon into pieces and fried them with the onions instead of individually as the recipe suggests and left them in the pan to cook with the rest because I cook with the least steps possible.)  If you have too much excess grease you should drain the pan before going on to the next step if you cook in the same pan as I did.  Drain clams and add liquid to clam juice and potatoes and boil gently until potatoes are tender.  Mix flour with 1 cup of cream until smooth.  Slowly add flour mixuture to potatoes along with remaining 2 cups of cream, clams and salt and pepper.  Cook over low heat until thickened.  Stir in 1 cup milk, crumbled bacon and sauteed onions (I cooked the bacon and onions in the same pan with everything throughout the process to add more flavour instead of adding at the end).

Jungle Stew
1 can corn nibblets                            2 pounds ground beef
1 can red kidney beans                      1 can water
1 cup rice, uncooked                         salt and pepper to taste
2 cans (soup can size) tomato sauce   1 Tablespoon dried minced onion or 1 small raw onion

Brown meat and onions, drain fat and add tomato sauce, corn and beans with all their liquids, water, salt, pepper and rice.  Simmer until rice is cooked.

YAY FOR FALL !!!!

I know some people just love Summer and heat and can't get enough of it.  I am not one of those people.  I love Fall and Spring.  Winter is ok because we don't get snow here but it does get a bit nippy even without it.  If the power goes out and you're cold you can always put on more clothes and huddle up.  When it's hot and that happens there's nowhere to go from naked and you're still miserable.  I know my friends that live in snow country will have their arguments against that because they deal with snow shoveling, icy roads and frost bite.  I think snow and icicles are beautiful but I have never had to live in it.
It's started to get pretty cold here, down to 39*F which is actually Winter weather.  I've had to whip out the bootie slippers to keep my feet warm.

I have always had cold hands and feet when I get cold.  It drives John crazy because he's the warmest place to put them to warm up.  I found some cute skellie gloves at Target for $1.00 when I went on my last adventure there so figured I'd pick them up since I will be needing them.   I'll probably pick up another pair to cut the fingers out so I can use them at the computer easier.  I can splurge for a buck.

 

I really like this time of year with all the changes in the weather.  The crisp air and magnificent colours of the leaves as they turn on the trees.  We don't have as much of the beautiful Autumn foilage out here in the desert but we get some and up in the moutains there is more.  It's one of the few orangy things I like.  Nature orange = good.  Clothing, shoes, etc. = not good, unless it's Halloween.  For me anyway.   Too many years of Orange and Black from school I guess. 

This is beautiful Montana taken by my friend Michael

This is Woodland Cemetery in Ohio taken by another friend whose name is also Michael. 

And this is the California desert taken by my brother in law, Mike. 

Apparently there's a Michael in every state.  It's the law! lol

Actually there's more fall colour here than that but I don't have any pictures that I can find off hand.  I'm looking forward to seeing what we end up with this year as well as the areas my friends live in.  So if anyone wants to share pictures I'd love to see.  I just love nature in all her glory.

Updates

First off I'm posting the last of my journaling to date.  I didn't get the rest of September done because of my back issues and some of the questions were more in depth then I wanted to think about right now, politics, passions and such.  So I will probably do those at a later date when my head is a little clearer.   I miss the APAD group but with so many things going on and little fund$ I needed to take a short break.  My procedures have been taking up a lot of resources I didn't have to begin with but Monday will be the last one for awhile.  Hopefully I can get back to the group in the next month or so. 

This last page I did was about secret indulgences.  I don't think I have any "secret" indulgences anymore.  I use to sneak food or shop when I was stressed and/or depressed but I'm not so secretive about it these days. 

One of the ladies of my journaling group, Diana Wolf, is trying her hand at paper designs to sell online so she asked some of us to try them out and see what we thought.  I used her roses on this last page and some of her boarder pieces on my previous page as well as making a few birthday ATC's with her grunge sheets.

On the left boarder you will see my newest addition, a Messiest Art Table award.  I came in second place to a contest that Paper Imagery Designs was having.  I'm not sure if I should be sad because I'm only second messiest or happy that I'm not THE messiest.  At any rate I am happy that it means I win some cool stuff from paper imagery designs.  They have some awesome paper images and goodies. 

Looking at it here, it's hard to believe this table didn't have a thing on it earlier this year, before I started stamping and journaling.  I'm a out of sight out of mind person so if I don't drag things out I want to use I completely forget I have them.  One thing leads to another and I end up with something like this. This table is a bit extreme even for me.  I had left a lot there when I found out about the contest so that it would be at it's best messy appearance...apparently I should have embellished a bit more since it's only second best. Believe it or not, even though there isn't much working space I do seem to get more done.  Maybe it comes from my childhood.  I would have tea parties in the corners between the tables and chairs or behind the sofa with my imaginary friends and toys.  It  felt more comfortable I guess because I always ended up falling asleep back there and my parents would frantically search everywhere for me.  They finally figured out where to look first. 

 

7-11 has come out with a Domo promotion for October which I am loving.  They have these cool drinking straws that have little toy domo's dressed in different attire to collect as well as domo cups.  The whole store is Domo'ed out with things such as "Domo loves brownies", "Domo loves slurpees", etc.  I went in today to get my slurpee fix and was surprised that most of the domo things were sold out already.  I was just there yesterday and it was fully stocked. 

My friend Mel has also informed me that Target (who has been selling the regular Domo) is selling Domo in costumes for halloween.  Since I collect bats I wanted to get the one of him dressed as that but when I went in there was not a Domo in sight.  I mean not a single solitary one.  I don't shop at Target normally (this is one of the reason's why) so I was beginning to wonder about Mel.  The only trace I found was an empty display box that had his name on it so I know something existed.  Luckily for Target I could still leave being a happy camper because they had my skelanimals.  I love these cute little boney pets.  I picked up a Dax (dog) plush dressed up as a mummy to go with my Dax plush keychain.  They are happy together.  They also had a Diego (bat) keychain but sadly no other Diego items.  Someone has it out for me not to find bats. 

For anyone who might have wondered what happened to Mortie after I got him, he has been happily romancing Miss Eve L.  He spied her up on the shelf and they've been giddy and inseparable ever since.  Poor Aragorn had to move over. They hang out all the time and I hardly ever see the two of them...unless I go into their room.  They do make a cute couple I think.  Here's a couple of photo's they recently had done.

Check these out!!!

My friend Mel is down sizing some of her stamp supply so I'm posting links to both her EBAY and ETSY sites for anyone that's interested and would like to take a look.  She's got some cool stamps listed so far and has more to come.

Etsy:  http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6159442&ga_search_query=loozianadesigns&ga_search_type=seller_usernames

EBAY:  http://shop.ebay.com/louisianabrown03/m.html?_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

I've been slacking with my journaling.  I've done a few other things but for some reason I've not been in the mood to journal.  Not sure if it's the questions aren't motivating me or I'm just more into doing other things right now.  I have my last procedure tomorrow then maybe I'll be back to doing things again.

This is the last one I did.  Well second to the last, the last one I think I want to do some more too after taking a second look at it.  Who keeps you going?  Who is your life support when you're starting to go down?  My husband and friends have always been there for me and encouraged me when I needed them.  I've never been one for sharing bad things in my life to people so the past couple of years have probably been hell for friends that I've started sharing more with.

I've also been taking in more of other people's lives and it makes me appreciate the things I have and the people in my life so much more then I ever did.  Sometimes it even makes me feel ashamed for thinking things are bad or whinning when I remember that there are others that are dealing with so much more then I could ever fathom.  I am in awe of people that can pick themselves out of the rubble and keep on going. 

Enchanted Makeovers needs your vote!

Enchanted Makeovers

Source: http://www.enchantedmakeovers.org/

Enchanted Makeovers is a internationally recognized non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization that transforms shelters for women and children into places of peace and possibilities—not just where basic needs are met, but spiritual needs for hope and beauty also.
 
The Martha Stewart site has a "doer of the week" contest which Enchanted Makeovers is in the running for.  If anyone should read this it would be much appreciated if you would go to the above link and vote for them.  They do many good things for women and children that you can read about on their website.  I only recently found out about this group led by Terry Grahl but already they have touched a special place in my heart.  I wish they would have been around when I was growing up. 
 
When you have endless resources you can have unusual tastes and be thought of as chic, but when you're poor growing up on welfare and have eclectic tastes people feel sorry for you.  When something turns your world upside down it doesn't matter if you have money or not, it's the people you are surrounded by that can make all the difference.  Being pitied instead of encouraged and guided can make a child doubt themselves and their self worth.  Terry's organization doesn't pity people for misfortune, she helps give them essentials for living and peaceful surrounding while they work at getting back to a place where they can feel safe and happy again.  It's a very scary thing to be displaced and not know where you will call home next.  I've lived in childrens shelters for a short time and was lucky enough to have people who cared and were very nice to me.  I also knew other kids that weren't so lucky and lived in homes where the parents only took them in for financial means and to have free help around their house.  Those that stayed and took the abuse were scared and frazzled while the others ran away and took their chances on the streets.  The type of environment can mean a big difference in how a person might end up.  You can hardly think about the future when you're main concern is surviving the present.   If you have encouraging surroundings you're more motivated to pick yourself up and move on with your life, do what needs to be done.  If you have nothing but dispair around you it will suck you right into it. 
 
Even if you could care less about what happens to these people, please take a moment and just click Terry's name and vote for her.  Make it your one good deed for the day.

Do you ever look through your eyes and see a stranger living your life?

That was our question of the day for journaling.  I think I'm getting stranger all the time.  I'm not sure but I think a lot of us see different people from time to time inhabiting our bodies.  Taking over and doing things we normally wouldn't do.  I use to catch stupid mistakes at work and know that I couldn't have done this because that would just be stupid...but yet, yes indeed I had done them.  What was I thinking?  Obviously I wasn't or I wouldn't have done whatever it was, but it still makes me wonder where my brain was and why it wasn't with the working half of me at that time.  It's sort of like invasion of the body snatchers.  I wonder if this is what multiple personalities is like.  I've never had total black outs where I lost big chunks of time, just did stupid things or my mind wanders but on the occassions when I find I've done something totally idiotic I do wonder about myself.

Peace Day !!☮☮☮☮☮☮☮

21 September is the UN International Day of Peace, a day of global ceasefire and non-violence: Peace Day.  I hope everyone will do their part to spread peace among their own environment.  I think people should try to do this always, not just one day.  I'm glad that there is at least one day where the world comes together to allow aid to those that need it without the people trying to help having to worry about being hurt. 
There is an organization called Peace One Day that  holds events and educates people about the various places in the world that are in turmoil.  Their site explains why just one day can make a difference to many. 
You can find out more about the Peace One Day organization at http://www.peaceoneday.org/en/welcome .  They also have a facebook account here http://www.facebook.com/peaceoneday  

Rough week

This last procedure on my back seems to really have taken it's toll on me.  I had a lot of different side effects this time around.  It kicked my butt the first day and I slept through most of it.  I didn't think I over did it but apparently somewhere along the line I did because I went from feeling good on Thursday morning to lots of pain and just plain feeling icky now.  My hand is even still bruised from the I.V.  It's finally starting to fade one week later.
I feel like I'm so behind with everything now even though I'm really not.  My lovely Aunt Patty sent me boxes and boxes of ribbon and craft goodies for me to sort through so I've been digging through them and putting things away.  I also managed to get caught up on my journaling again.  Oh how fast those days ahead dwindled away.  Since it's just past midnight I guess I'm really behind again.
Our last page was about Back to School Sales. 

I love basically any sale but back to school shopping is just different.  There's a whole different feel to it.  Maybe it's the memories of actually having to go back to school that comes with it.  Since I have this thing for paper, pens and all things of that nature it's the best.  And the after back to school shopping sales are even better. 
On Saturday we went to San Bernardino, CA for the annual Route 66 car show.  I think San Bernardino is the last stop on the route...it is in the song anyway.  Something else I just learned from the show is that San Bernardino is considered the birthplace of fast food.  It's the home of the original McDonalds.  Apparently the McDonald brothers were from San Berdoo.  I guess if you're into McD's you'd probably know all this.  I use to work with a doctor that had stock in McDonalds because he said you should invest in places you frequent.  He came from a family of doctors but hated spending a lot of money on food. 

The town blocks off a big portion of the streets next to their Carousel Mall (which sadly looks like a ghost mall with all the store closures since the recession) and the cars are lined up and down all of them.   It's about a 10 block square radius.   A few of the blocks have vendors and there's also a stage set up for entertainment.  One block has food and they hold a big bbq cook off during the event.  About 5 blocks from the mall there's a park where they've set up a small carnival with rides and games.   Even the businesses along the route get involved by painting their windows and having sales.  I suppose it would be a great time since you have so many people wandering around in front of your stores.

I love seeing what people do with their cars and just the nostalgia about them.  I'm still an old fashioned girl so old cars fit into that very nicely.  Throughout the day they have cars cruising the streets so even if you don't walk up and down every block you're bound to catch  a lot of extra cars driving around. 

Inside the Mall they also hold a model car contest.  They set up tables with catagories of models with voting boxes next to them so people can vote on what they like as they go by.  It's amazing the details these guys put into even a toy replica.

We went early to try and avoid the heat and I still managed to get my face sunburnt.  Unfortunately we didn't get to stay too long because my back was starting to make me feel sick but we did get to catch quite a bit and saw a lot of the cars coming in as we were leaving.   They spray numbers on the streets so that the entrants know where to park their cars after they've signed in.  The numbers by the park were in the 900's so there is easily 1,000 cars registered for this show.  That doesn't count the people that just show up and aren't a part of the judging and cruises.  Even the weinie mobile made an appearance.

Week almost complete

I just finished 4 days of journaling and getting ready to prep some more pages.  I've been getting things ready for tomorrow so I can try to "be good" and not keep getting up out of bed like I did after the last injections.  I have my journaling pages up to thursday done and posted to the class site so thought I'd blog them before I forget. 
For the 15th we were to write about an impromtu vacation at  home.  I put down basics I'd do for pampering such as a candle lit bubble bath, wearing my pj's and tiara then creating some art and taking the time to send snail mail to people that I care about.  Just having a relaxing time away from everything and taking care of me.  Things I should do more now but don't seem to. 

For the 16th we were to tell how we "LIVE OUT LOUD" which for me was basically a continuance of the 15th.  More "me" time and doing things that release my innerself...following my bliss and being a better person.  I think everyone needs to do this.  Live their lives with adventure.  I've tried to do this more the past few years and have explored places nearby that I had never known were there before or just never thought to see.  I highly recommend to anyone just to play tourist in their own city sometime and visit some new places you've never been to.  This year has been more of an artistic adventure for me and I'm so glad I've followed though with it.  I have had a lot of fun creating and learning but I have a tendency to shy away from it when I don't have some type of project due.  This is something I need to figure out a way of changing so that I'll be more motivated and play without the need for a schedule of some sort.

For the 17th we are to tell whether we prefer movies or book versions.  I love movies but usually I prefer the book because of the details that get lost on the cutting room floors and never make it to film or get changed because someone thinks they can do it better or it films better in another way.  I know that sometimes when a book is bought it's just the "idea" of what happened in the book that the film maker wants and not the book itself, but when they are making a movie of a best seller and are pretty much going to reenact that book they should keep it genuine.  There was a reason the book sold well and if it was good enough to make a movie of I think it should be kept intact.  Just my 2cents on the subject.  I also like books because of the new book smell.  I just love that.  You can't get that from a movie.  But then you can't get the smell of hot buttered popcorn from a book. 

My last page for the day was "If you could be friends with a celebrity who would it be?"  Well that was a no brainer.  Of course I'd want to be friends with Viggo.  Not only because he's cute but he is a very interesting man.  He's artistic, a poet, publisher, photographer...all things I'm interested in.  I wish I could speak the languages he does and have the energy and adventure for life that he does.  He's very driven to live life to it's fullest and many of the things he does are things I had once sought out to do myself but because of various circumstances fell short of.   So I can live vicariously through him.  Plus he's good eye candy.

Now I'm off to get some more pages painted and maybe plan a home vacation sometime soon.  Hope those of you who read this will do the same.  Everyone deserves some pampering!

Such is life

I didn't really care for the way my 13th day turned out.  I have a harder time with the pages when I don't know the answers to the questions.  For this day it was what are your goals for the next 10 years.  Other than basics I really don't know.  I wasn't sure where I was going with it and it shows.  There's always going to be the ones you hate and the ones you really like and enjoyed doing I suppose.  It's just a part of anything in life. 

For the 14th it was another of those ones you could go literal or metaphorically.  The question was "look through your door, what do you see now versus then?"  Well literally the only difference is the type of tree...then the neighborhood.  The street I grew up on was very quiet compared to what I live on now.  That's the one thing I dislike about the area we're in now.  When we moved here 15 years ago it was still realatively quiet and we knew all the neighbors around us.  Now the street is majorly traveled and we hardly know any of our neighbors.  Our valley use to be quiet and no one knew where it was when you said the name...but over the years that has changed.  More and more people from the cities have decided they wanted cheaper housing, better communities to raise their children and so on...so we now have tons of high priced but low grade houses, over populated schools and people with Los Angeles attitudes.  The only nice part that came with them is the stores.  We didn't even have a McDonalds in our town until I was in high school.  I remember when they applied for their permit to be able to have their sign with the arches because I was working for the city planning deptartment at the time and had to type up the paperwork for their proposal that was voted on by the city board members.  The sign was technically higher then city regulated standards so it had to be approved before they could put it up.  Can you imagine McD's without their arches?  I think they had to compromise because the sign has never been anywhere near as tall as the ones I'd seen in other places.
It's funny because back in my teens and early 20s I use to go to Hollywood every weekend wishing that we had better shops and things to do that were closer. I hated that everyone had MTV but us because of our mountain range.  Now I wish that we had the quiet little town we use to have.  I hate the traffic and haven't even been to the L.A. area in years and now I don't have to because they've come to me.   I miss our orchards and dairies, well maybe not them so much as the smell could really get to you.  And you don't even want to live near a chicken or turkey farm. Peeewwww!  It's true, you really do have to watch what you wish for because you just might get it.

She loved them!

I'm jazzed today because my past few journaling pages have gotten very good comments and in an email today, Kelly said she loved the pages I turned in today.  I got 4 pages done today so I'm ahead again.  Whoo hoo!  Now if I can just keep it up for a while I could be done with a couple weeks in no time.  It's been really helpful to get such good reviews from the rest of the class too.  There's no negativity allowed so if someone comments on your work it's because they saw something about it they liked.  You can tell how well a page does by how enthusiastic everyone gets.

Today's page was about bad hair experiences.  I've only had one really bad one and that was when I had my hair past my waist and decided I wanted it permed.  What a mistake that was.  The girl that did it kept saying it was no problem, that all she had to do was double roll it because I had so much hair.  Well she burnt my hair because she decided she needed to give it more time too.  I ended up having to trim it off and let it grow out again.  Luckily my hair grew fast back then.  I don't know what's happened to it now.  It doesn't seem to grow half as fast as it use to.  I could cut it to my shoulders and within a couple of years it'd be back down past my waist.  Now I'm lucky if it's half that.  My mother always cut my hair really short when I was little so I always wanted it long...and so did my dad.  When he was home she wasn't allowed to cut it.  Then when I was old enough to have my say I kept it long.  Now for some reason I like it short because it's easier to manage, but John loves it long and actually went to the salon with me one time to make sure they didn't cut off more then I said I would. 

For tomorrow she asks if we've ever had any surgeries and if we'd ever had or would have cosmetic surgery.  In 1988 I had my first back surgery then 10 years later my second, third and rang in the millenium with my fourth.  As far as cosmetic, unless I was in some sort of accident that disfigured me I doubt I'd ever have any.  Besides it being way too expensive, I've heard too many horror stories and a lot of these people that have them look so plastic.  The more people get these proceedures done the more society judges those that look naturally aged and the way they were born as being not good enough and that's just wrong. 
I used a copy of a drawing by Rima's that I thought went well with the journaling. 

On the 11th our topic is "Who couldn't you believe said that?  I'm a good one for putting my foot in my mouth.  My mouth seems to want to go faster then my brain...  I've also had a lot of those moments where I can't believe someone has said something they shouldn't have.  I'm sure we all have.  The one I mentioned was one that effected my youth.  When I was in elementary school my grandfather's cousin saw an inter-racial couple with their baby and was just disgusted.  She said they should never have brought a baby into this world that was mixed because that is just too hard on a child to have to deal with that sort of pressure and that children of mixed raced were just a mistake.  So for a long time I figured that included me since I was mixed..  I think that's part of where a lot of my negativity about myself comes from. 

I used radiant pearls on this page when I painted it and found that it doesn't dry so well on top of some paint. 

The 12th is about pen pals.  Have we had and would we ever have... I've had pen pals since I was in high school so this was an easy one for me.  I also brought up how we use to decorate and pass around friendship booklets with our letters.  I was surprised when Kelly commented on how my page brought back memories for her because she did them also along with the various labels we use to use back then.  Now I wonder if I have ever had one of hers cross my mail path.  I had so many labels and still have quite a few so I included them on my page.  Duran and Japan were my favourite bands at that time so I had a ton of labels with them.  I guess the friendship booklets were my first artistic endeavors that I shared with others. 

One of the things I'm learning to do more with these projects is use colours I don't normally care for and new combinations.  I really don't care for orange but we've been using a lot of it on our pages and I'm beginning to like it a little better with combinations of other colours.  I'm still not fond of it on it's own.

What a weird day

I am having a very strange day.  I started off energetic and ready to get things done then half way through it I got this weird dizzy feeling and something smelled like oxygen...like what they give you out of the tanks.  Whatever it is it's by my desk because that seems to be the only place I'm smelling it.  Maybe I'm becoming a hypochondriac and don't realize it yet.  I'm always the last to know.   I did get two pages done this morning before I started feeling queezy so that was a good thing.  And once I started feeling a little better I got a couple more pages painted and waiting for them to dry.

September 7th: "What do you know now that you wish you'd known in middle school or high school?"  Wow, what don't I wish I knew.  I was so naive and didn't know much about anything.  Most of my learning was from other kids...and we all know how accurate that type of information can be.

September 8th was "Which do you prefer, the woods or ocean?"  I like both even though I'm not much of a crowded beach type person.  I do like the water and all that.  I like the serenity of both types of places.  They can both be very good for the soul.

More alive at night

Does anyone else feel more alive and at peace during the night hours then the day?  I've always like nights and dawn better than any other time of day.  A friend had the theory that people tend to be more of a day or night person depending on the time of day they were born.  If you were born in the morning you were a morning person, born at night you were more inclined to be a night owl.  I screwed up her theory when I told her I was born at noon.  She felt better when I told her noon where I was born would be night here.  So technically I still fall under her logic.  I was born early so is that why I hate being late too?

I tried the old hot water trick with Mr Vampire and he didn't like it so much.  He became a crackled vampire.  I'm not sure if it will correct itself once he starts drying out and shrinking again but I'm thinking the damage is done and everytime he grows from now on he'll have a shattered look about him.  Poor guy,  I don't think he's liking me much right now.

I didn't post my journaling yesterday.  Our 5th project was about Living Wills.  Something I really should do but it's one of those things you mean to do but keeps getting put to the side as something you can do tomorrow.   I never want to live on life support or be so bad off that I couldn't take care of my basic needs.  That would be a horrible existence to me.

For the 6th. we had to talk about a favourite park memory.  We use to play at the parks a lot when I was growing up and loved rolling down the hills till it made you so dizzy you couldn't walk when you stood up.  I use to take my niece, Ashley, to the park near our apartment whenever I babysat her.  She loved playing on the swings and merry go round.  She was still learning to talk so it was cute to hear her try to explain what she wanted to do next.  Everything was a new exploration for her.  It's fun to see that with kids when they discover something new. 

I need to start blogging BEFORE I write out my journaling because I go blank when I read the question as I'm doing it and will write whatever comes to mind first.  Even if I read the question in advance so I can think on it for awhile, nothing comes to mind until I have something else down on paper and the page is done with.  I do the same thing if asked a question in person.  Things I know suddenly become lost because I've just been asked about it.   When I'm blogging I start remembering all sorts of things and I end up rambling.  My brain just baffles me more and more as I get older.  I think it's out to get me.

Behind again...naturally

Wow does time ever fly by for me...especially when I'm not feeling that great and go into slug mode.  For some reason I've been extremely tired and unmotivated so I haven't gotten any journaling done until today.  I finished day 3 and 4 down so I need to catch up and get ahead again sometime this week.  I'm going in for another injection proceedure on the 14th and that will put me in bed for a few days and behind if I don't get a moving quick.  I have so many things I want to get cleaned up and worked on this week so I won't be doing it while I'm suppose to be resting.  There's no way I'll finish it all but some would be nice.

Journaling for the 3rd was about tattoo's.  What we thought about them and if we would have them.  I really like tattoo's but I do think people can go overboard with them or choose the wrong ones.  I've seen so many beautiful works but I can't help but think about what they'll look like as the person gets older or if their body changes in anyway that will distort the pictures.  There have been some really gorgeous full body tattoo's posted on the internet that make me think, "Oh that would be so cool to have" but I don't like needles or pain that much and I'm not the type of person that would look good covered in ink.  I think some people can wear then better than others.  I have a vine of thorns at my ankle with 3 hearts entwined in it.  I'd like to get it finished so that it goes all the way around my ankle and I've toyed with the idea of getting another someplace but I can never seem to decide what and where.  Since I'm so indecisive about things a new tat doesn't look like it's in my too near future.

Day 4 was "who talks too much and gives their opinion or always has to put in their 2 cents".  That was kind of hard because I know a lot of "talkers" that aren't obnoxious and over opinionated, they just like to talk and tell stories.  That type of person I don't mind since I'm not a talker myself so being with someone that likes to actually works well.  We did use to know a person who LOVED to talk and no matter what had happened to you or what illness you had she always had it happen to her only worse.  That can get annoying real fast.  Luckily I'm not around that type of person very often anymore.

On the vampire front...Day 12 and he hasn't really grown much at all.  It can get cool in the house with the air conditioning on during the day and our late nights get chilly.  The water is suppose to be room temperature so I don't know if it's getting too cold for him to grow...you know guys and cold water or he's just done and this is as big as he gets.  He's only maybe a teeny tiny bit bigger than the day 8 picture.  Maybe I'll see what he does in hot water.

Can it be September already!?!

Wow, this year is nearly at an end.  For the past several years I've resolved to try and be more creative and I think this year has been the best as far as that goes.  Between the stamp conventions and journaling class I have done so much more then I may have ever done. 

Today was the beginning of month two in journaling.  We did a "consumption" list:

Thinking of things I use on a daily basis was a lot harder then I thought it would be.  My focal image was a candy bar wrapper that I really liked and have had in my scrap pile for a couple of years now because I had no idea what to use it for.  I have lots of little things like that here and there just waiting for their day.  I have drink coasters from various places that I am trying to figure out what to use for so if anyone has any ideas I'm open to them.  I thought maybe binding them and making mini books out of them.  I had a pen pal in Norway back in the early 80's that use to send beer coasters to me from pubs she'd go to.  I really liked them and started picking up the coasters whenever we went to a restaurant that used them as a sort of momento to be used later.  Luckily (?) I don't go out that much so I don't have a huge stock pile.  I really do love the ones from Europe.  Maybe it's just because it's different from ours but foreign papers, packaging, containers and such really excite me.  I really miss my snail mail of surprises.  I'm a sucker for cool packaging even with our own products though.  Funny how one mans trash (literally) is another ones treasure.