• Around home - Blog - Creativity - Kitchen

    T Tuesday: adjusting edition

    I’m sure most of you are in the same position we are here. Adjusting to the new normal. Everyone home trying to do school and work. We had a family meeting on Sunday to set some ground rules and expectations.

    So far it’s just J that has specific class times. Mini-me and I are still on spring break. Next week will be an even bigger adjustment. Mini-me and I will most likely be in “distance learning” mode. She will have online classes and I will be…well they aren’t really sure what our role will be at this time. Perhaps making videos to support learning, reading, typing curriculum…what ever is needed really.STOP work in progress sign

    I quickly whipped up a couple of these signs for when the kids are working in there bedrooms. It’s not pretty but it is effective.

    Mr. G is still working but in a remote location for now. There are just two of them getting an industrial printer running. I think it’s only a matter of days before he’ll be working from home as well. casually bored Marvin

    Marvin is confused. His routine of morning snack, morning nap, bird watching, more napping and so on is really getting messed up by his humans constantly going from room to room making noise.dried apples

    All this time at home has had me using my dehydrator and even attempting to make hamburger buns. The key word there is attempting. They are a little dense…ok a lot dense. Not too bad cut in half and toasted though.

    I’ve been doing a bit more journaling as well. Both just writing and art journaling. This writing journal sometimes gets a bit of both.

    IMG_20200324_092636148

    This page started as a mind dump. Grievances and complaints but then something shifted. Maybe it was because I was able to rid my mind of all the clutter and garbage floating around in there. I became more mindful of things to celebrate and be thankful for.

    gratitude journalling

    I continued onto the next page. I was able to go to bed and actually sleep after all of this. Perhaps this mind dump will become a habit that will help me be more mindful each day.coffee for two

    Today has three of us home working on chores and little projects. Trying to stay active. Keeping physically distant from others while maintaining social connections.

    What are you doing today?
  • Art - Blog - Creativity - Kitchen

    T Tuesday: I have no idea edition

    Wow…I don’t even know where to start. I had effectively checked out of blogland for an extensive period of time. I wasn’t creating, feeling like being creative or even enjoying looking at others creative work. A big old funk is what I’m calling it.

    Now perhaps since we are heading into this crazy uncharted waters time of life, I feel the deep need to reach out to my online folk and participate. I hope you will all welcome me back with open arms…because after all…we are maintaining a 6 foot distance.

    I don’t mean to sound flippant about the current state of the world at all. I mean it. It’s serious folks. Life as we know it is changing more rapidly everyday. Schools are closing and moving to online learning models. Case in point….I spent all day today typing online curriculum in the event we go to “distance learning” after our extended spring break.

    J got the notice today that his college has been moved to online learning for the remainder of the semester. It’s really too bad that we had just traveled to Duluth on Saturday to get his laptop and books along with some clothes…now he needs to move completely out. *sigh*

    With all the ever-changing, fluid nature of everyday life we are currently dealing with, it’s nice to be able to share with others some beauty, some stories, some escape. With that in mind I will update you on a few things since I’ve been AFK.

    In the art realm, I’ve been a bit stagnant. I did create this journal page which made me happy that I hadn’t completely forgotten how to art journal.retro color quote art journal page

    I like the ragged edge on this page. It will eventuality get glued onto a black card stock page in a binder journal.

    Over the past few week school and school events have kind of taken a bunch of my time and energy. Our school does a fantastic fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of MN each year. Our students take this very seriously. During the final push classrooms hold garage sales with donated or created items all under $2. Juniper my pet rock

    Meet Juniper, my new pet rock. She lives in my locker. Greets me each morning upon arrival to school and makes me smile.snowshoeing

    My job as a special education paraprofessional has an extremely varied job description. I go from class to class supporting my learners in whatever it is they are doing. Science, math, reading, home economics, technology etc. This day it included snowshoeing. It was actually really fun and not as physically taxing as I had imagined. We traveled 1.5 miles in about an hour through the woods up and down a ravine. Marvin field trip

    Speaking of school…on a workshop day, Marvin went on a little field trip to the high school. Do you see him?cookies

    Mini-me and I worked our district archery tournament right after Marvin’s’ field trip. IT was a busy weekend. Mini-me made lots of cookies to sell for concessions. This picture show the ducks and grey ducks….its a MN thing…and the right thing. Duck, duck, grey duck NOT duck, duck, goose.archery tournament

    I worked the team registration table so I decided that some signage was needed. It turned out really well so it went in the tournament bin for next year. archery tournament

    Mini-me shot her personal best once again. She has been continuing to shoot better each tournament. She shot a 272 out of a possible 300. Now with COVID-19 running rampant, the final tournaments have been canceled. Hopefully they will still grant her varsity letter in archery.painted fingers

    Yesterday I snapped this photo…messy painted fingers. They made me so happy.

    I have two more days of school…with no children there…until our extended spring break. Then who knows what will happen. Mini-me was supposed to get her wisdom teeth removed over break…again…who knows what is going to happen. I guess we all are learning to be flexible.

     

    What are you doing today?
  • Art - Blog - Creativity

    T Tuesday: winter chill edition

    I did it! I finally got creative in the form of an art journal page.

    through flowering gardens art journal page

    It took me a few days to get it done but I did it. Ah makes me feel so much better knowing that given enough time, my muse is still there. Maybe she was just frozen.through flowering gardens art journal page

    I honestly just kept grabbing things from my scrap bin and gluing them down onto some cardstock to get the ball rolling. Over the top I spread a bit of white paint to mute the wild background. Then I went back with teal and lime green. This combination of colors made me smile and almost forget how dang cold the basement was.through flowering gardens art journal page

    This flower was created with layers of die-cut  book pages secured together with a large brad. I used various sprays until reaching the desired color. After it was completely dry I shaped the petals.

    through flowering gardens art journal page

    I used a little piece of my new Tim Holtz tissue up one side of the page. The butterfly and flower had me thinking spring along with the cheerful background color.

    I’m hopeful that I can continue a bit of crafting here and there as the temperature seems to finally be getting warmer. Maybe then the basement won’t be so frigid.

    cold early morning coffee x2

    This was my Wednesday morning on the way to work. It was so cold. It’s also my early day. I had finished my cup of coffee I brought from home well before arriving at school. I had to stop in an grab a cup to go as well.  A two coffee morning for sure!

    What are you doing today?
    Also linking up with Try it on Tuesday for Go Green