• Art - Blog - Crafts - Creativity

    T Tuesday: returning edition

    June 26, 2017 - By 

    Hello!! I am still here. It’s been a while.

    Gosh, that sounds like the beginning to a song… I’m awful with names of songs/singers/authors/actors/movies/etc…so if it is one…sorry, I’m just not going to be able to commit any brain cells to that information. I have WAY too much other pointless trivia floating around in there.

    So I took a bit of a blog hiatus after mom’s passing and funeral. I just wasn’t able to “find my voice” for the blog. I think my bout of laryngitis is over now.

    During my break we traveled to north to do another college visit. This one was University of Minnesota Duluth. I completely forgot to take any photos on campus likely because our tour remained inside all but one brief walk outside as a shortcut. The awesome thing about UMD is that all the buildings are connected by tunnels and concourses. You literally don’t have to step outside if you don’t want to all winter long. I’d be blissfully happy if that’s where either kid decided to go to school.

    Mini-me and I did our traditional sea glass hunting. The view is lovely…

    and we always manage to find treasures.

    The kids and I walked down to Grandma’s (host of Grandma’s marathon that had been run just the day or two before we got there)

    Both times we’ve eaten there, we’ve been seated right by this sign. Too funny! I didn’t take the obligatory beverage photo but rest assured it was there and it was of the adult variety. Why not…we were walking!

    Back at home I’ve been keeping busy with gardening, driving back and forth to the high school for volleyball and some volunteer work I picked up. The choir director put out a call for anyone with sewing skills to mend the robes before they are dry cleaned to save the program some money. So far I’ve mended 20 robes. 

    It’s mostly split sleeves but there have been some zippers and collars as well.

    It’s all hand stitching and the stitches need to be hidden. Thank you Mrs. Wilwerding for teaching me how to sew in the 8th grade. My kid’s high school also thanks you for indirectly saving them lots of money. I’m hoping when I drop off this latest batch of 6 robes that at least some will have been taken by the others to mend.

    I have been a little creative as well. Here’s a little sneak…

    What are you doing today?

    T stands for Tuesday
  • Blog

    T Tuesday: ?? edition

    May 8, 2017 - By 

    Welcome to my weekly blog post. This frustrates me beyond belief but right now that’s just the way it will be,

    Last week I didn’t remember to post the journal page that I had created mostly because it was a twofer post with Second on the 2nd.

    I did a little play on words since it was the 1st of May. Not my favorite page but at least I got my hands messy with paint, ink and glue.

    I have another page sitting at this point…

    Just a background or at least the start of one in a whole new journal. I’m trying to be mindful of embellishments in this one. Not too thick or at least not towards the spine.

    Last Friday was my birthday so I got my free drink from Caribou coffee…they are a chain like Starbucks only 1000 times better! You can only find them in the midwest USA though…sorry.

    The coffee cooler was so big and decadent that I could only drink 1/2 of it. I put the rest in the freezer for Mini-me.

    The chore of cleaning out mom’s apartment is still going. We’ve decided the best thing to do is to have a garage sale. Hmmm…feels like I just did one of those a couple weeks ago. UGH!

    I did get the majority of my garden planted over the last couple days.

    The tomato plants were getting gigantic.

    The onions were planted last fall and look great already.

    The shed garden doesn’t look too exciting right now…just some row markers.

    I had to leave some room for the plants J started at school in Biology class. He’ll be bringing home 7 tomato plants , a sunflower and a pumpkin plant if all survive the study and trip home.

    Sorting, book keeping and cleaning are on this list…exciting stuff.

    What are you doing today?

    T stands for Tuesday
  • Art - Blog - Creativity - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: chaos continues edition

    March 20, 2017 - By 

    Hello…thank you for continuing to visit my blog each week especially since my posts have become weekly…nowhere even close to daily as I would like. Evidently I am in a season of life that has me focused outward instead of inward. My mom is having some health issues so between her flurry of appts and my own children throwing curve balls at me…I’ve been in clinics, hospitals and ER’s more often than not lately. I’m feeling a bit run down myself today to be honest. Running on adrenaline will eventually cause you to crash. Never the less I am here. I am not even going to pretend that I am going to make it around to everyone this week…or even perhaps next. Sorry about that.

    Anyway…enough of those things that are out of my control…and on with the post.

    I took a bit of time yesterday to prep a new art journal and actually work in it. It was so much fun to create. I know I’ve said that dozens of times but it is always true! 

    Playing with layers and getting the pages soaking wet to watch the color bleed has been very therapeutic in some strange way.

    Since Spring is officially here it’s past time to think about starting my seeds.  Over the weekend Mr. G came up with a plan to enclose the plant cart since we purchased a new full spectrum light. Evidently some of the light is UV and will damage eyes.  We honestly weren’t as concerned about our eyes as big, dumb Marvin. The plant cart is a favorite perch and in addition he has a love affair with plastic. Guess what!?! I keep my seedlings in a big plastic tote. We were afraid of Marvin going blind from the UV light as he obsessively licked the plastic tote. Not even kidding.

    It’s not the prettiest thing but it will keep all the eyeballs safe and still grow plants. The side facing the outdoors is removable so I can let the plants get natural light during the day and of course be able to water and monitor their progress. I promise I’ll share more once I actually get the seeds started.

    Tuesday holds a pre-op appt for mom and something fun..lunch with some girlfriends. Super excited to see those girls!

    As I’m writing this I hear lots of birds outside…I look and there is a flock of robins. I quickly snapped a photo and was able to distinguish 7 but honestly I counted at least 20 out there within my sight. I guess the robins have decided that Spring is here as well!

    What are you doing today?

    T stands for Tuesday