crashed

ok, so this new schedule is kicking our butts!
batgirl crashed out on the couch in the middle of everything yesterday. we are all feeling the drain of early mornings, homework, football and soccer games, and the general dashing around that leaves the house (kitchen in particular) in the wake of utter disaster! today i just want curl up in the lovesak with babygirl in our jammies and watch a movie. that would mean the laundry and dishes and clutter upstairs would just become the fossilized lower layer to the next batch of fallout that will settle at 3:00pm this afternoon after everyone comes home again.
hmmmmmmm, what to do. . . . .
the color version of this photo shows off batgirls fab black and fushia belt, but also gives a clear view of our couch which is NOT fabulous. it is the second hideous couch we have owned, the first being a 7 foot blue and green sculpted velvet floral thing that my aunt gave us when we first got married. the aunt that still paints on her eyebrows to look like the mcdonalds arches.
so you see why i dream of smooth leather conversation groupings as seen in pottery barn.

4:30 am!!

it is dark at 4:30 am.
but, if you want to be up on the lake when the fish are biting you will have to get up
e a r l y !!
grandpa vern took me and burke fishing to celebrate his 10th birthday.
happy day buddy, we love you!

this is by far the biggest fish i have ever caught. we caught four this size plus 16 more 'out of the water' as burke puts it. we lost a few reeling in. i get excited and start reeling too fast. like a maniac really.
i can't believe i didn't take a picture of the fog rolling over the water at dawn. well, we were fishing. it is serious business this fishing. especially since someone was always reeling in a fish, or looking for the pliers to flip a fish back in the drink.
my dad can really fish. back at the fish cleaning station two guys were oggling our fish having been out all morning without even a bite! dad sold them four of his own lures. he designed them after a great lure my grandpa sabin gave him. he hammers out the blanks and curves them for some great action, then adds a strip of holographic tape to catch the light.
we all came home tired and a bit sunburned with fish goo on our clothes, but smiling.

a little princess

it is wonderful to have a princess around when you need one.

down right gritty

so many beautiful blogs out there. i even read a few every day even though it bugs me to see their names on my bookmark bar. their photos are gorgeous, (i know how long it takes to set up a shot) their children are smiling, their houses are decorated with a theme even and apparently they make beautiful art all day.
sometimes when i am running i dream of posting horrible gross pictures just to remind people out there that our lives are not even supposed to be this lovely perfection. lots of life is down right gritty.
that is my explanation for the following photos. they are part of my collection of 'that is the worst public bathroom i have ever seen file' i know you are surprised i even have a file like that and am even taking the time to blog about it.

however, today i celebrate all plumbing in honor of my sister who knocked down her fence bulldozed over a peach tree and plowed through her garden only to spend the entire day digging up her backyard looking for a blockage in her plumbing. the following are scenes from our last family vacation. right after our car broke down we were towed to this lovely roadside RV park for the evening.
there are times when even the worst public bathroom is greeted with appreciation.

the door does give a bit away doesn't it.










then there is the leaning toilet with absolutely no paper available.
















the shower does seem to have a bit of style with the jaunty purple and white striped curtain.























as you exit please close the door. thank you and come again.

feeling a little witchy

this lovely lounging lady is how i picture all you stay at home moms that sent all your kids off to school today.
this is not me.
i am feeling a bit witchy tonight.
i do actually like halloween.
i even dress up and go trick or treating.
but my current witchy disposition has nothing to do with the holiday.
it was a day that will replay itself in my mind over and over and possibly convince me to change careers.
so i have your attention. . .
bedlam and mayhem
our little cat 4 months old comes down stairs at the end of my afternoon preschool class. one little boy is absolutely petrified of animals. (this i did not know this being our first day) he sees the cat and actually goes rigid and stops breathing for a minute. it was horrible. just two hours before his mother was showing me how to administer his epipin just in case he is exposed to any nuts.
the resulting mayhem was me trying to catch the cat, get rid of the cat, console the little boy, and round up the rest of the little boys who were having a fistfight over the plastic spatula that came with the plastic BBQ. (battery powered sounds every time you push the button. curses!!)
needless to say deep yoga breathing isn't cutting it tonight.

art journal in the mail today

today my art journal returned in the mail from candice all wrapped up!
what a beautiful gift!
a little hand made book and tiny pencil were tucked under that cool twill.
check out the cool tag!


the fabulous page that candice did in my art journal!!
the photo is printed on a transparancy and adhered with pale blue velvet ribbon. her drawings behind the photo look amazing with the white pen markings.
it is my favorite page in the whole book!
thank you candice xo











i got my erraticus zine from melissa today and i love it!
such gorgeous art throughout. the first time i have seen the art of kristen peterson- -amazing!
very fun retro collage art pieces by katey nicosi!

i think it is wild that today all my mail was in this same color scheme. .
so fun to look inside the erraticus zine by melissa and see some photos from the color spectrum project.
my bluebird tag and directions are there!

the house upon the sea

second book page for candice in the art journal exchange.
the photo was printed on vintage scrapbook paper, then collaged and painted.
a little bit of the dark sand in sewn into a square and stapled on the page.
i like how the white sharpie poster paint pen looks on the acrylic paint.

Redwood Forest

this is one of the pages i sent off to candice this week in our art journal exchange. i started the background when i was in a real art funk. i hated it and wanted to rip everything off and chuck it. (the nice thing about an altered book is you can tear out two pages and noone would care, or notice)
Art Lesson # 47 Don't Rip It Up Right Away, Let It Sit A Bit
so i closed the book and went on vacation.
when i came back i loved the background and only added my journaling and a few more bits of green.
the pirate illustration was already in the 1898 novel, it is so similar to the illustrations in the Edge Chronicles it is weird.

still dreaming of the sea

i am still dreaming of the sea.

i could walk for hours along the surf as the fog rolled in.
a place of power and solitude.
a place of wonder.

we spent hours running with the waves and gathering small stones and bits of shell.
when we were salty and cold we would finally walk back along our footprints in the dark sand to our car and drive the winding highway home.
home for a late dinner by the fire and little children in sleeping bags telling spooky stories with a flashlight.

dream on. . .

a house called awful end

i totally enjoyed myself today reading this VERY dry british childrens book.
excerpt from the second page:
They were in Eddie's parents' bedroom, which was very dark and dingy and had no furniture in it except for a large double bed, and even larger wardrobe, and thirty-two different types of chair designed to make you sit up straight even if your wrists were handcuffed to your ankles.
"Why are you sucking an ice cube shaped like a famous general?" Eddie asked his parents, who were propped up against piles of pillows in their impressively ugly double bed.
"Dr. Muffin says that it helps with the swelling," said his mother. In fact, because she had a famous-general-shaped ice cube in her mouth, what she actually said was "Dotter Muffin schez va it hewlpz wiva schwellin," but Eddie managed to translate.

goodbye robert

my husbands brother passed away very suddenly two weeks ago.
he died early in the morning on his birthday. he was 51 years old. everyone in the family is trying to deal with their feelings of grief and loss. this is a picture of the painting robert's sister did of him as a teenager with his favorite dog, dashy.


monday morning came after the funeral services and it felt like part of me wanted to move on,
slip back into the comfortable routine and pretend things would go on as before.
the other part of me wanted to try to stop everything around me. then i could scream out loud
'there is a big emptyness in our lives now, cant you feel it?'