K is for Kerfuffle.

ker·fuf·fle/kərˈfəfəl/Noun: A commotion or fuss. 'There is a kerfuffle in Hailey's brain.'


Plates -- screwed up 3 this MORNING, is this going to work?
Calendar
Plane tickets? GET ME AWAY!!
Kitchen
Laundry
Mow the lawn
Sell stuff in Garage
Office
Bills
Paint with Julian, solo
Taekwondo Black belt papers
  K & J write commitments
Bills
Get gas
Change oil
Clean out car
Take a shower?

E is for ETSY

w is for WHiMSiMOBiLiA. Coming soon!

C is for CLAY play.

What is on my mind? Clay. Clay commission! Too excited to sleep. Read. Draw. Pray. Sleep. Remembering that first step across an elevated log? bridge? at a ropes course at the start of  my senior year in high school (before we left on a wee-bity hiking fiasco) being terrified, but taking the step, crossing that chasm. I keep telling S, the senior, just put one foot in front of the other and keep going (hopefully) in the right direction. I need to take my own advice.


Go on.

Buzy Beehiving.

I'm kinda pooped. Have a ways to go though...

C isn't doing well. How could I have known 19 years ago that in 19 short years I'd be married to such an old miserable fellow? There isn't anything I can do for him. He is getting his hip resurfaced on the 18th of December. In the meantime...

His bouts with extreme misery usually coincide with my much anticipated, look forward to, well prepared for, kinda costly events... This week is no exception. Tomorrow is the Beehive Bazaar!

I might post some pics of what I've been beehiving. Probably won't. Go see what is cooking at the Bazaar Thursday night, Friday and Saturday.

Here is the spin room gnome, dressed as a turkey, for Thanksgiving. The waddle is paper clay with red glitter hot glue running down it. He is dressed in the traditional paper bag turkey garb of the holiday.

ProjectTime

The idea behind ProjectTime is to hang out with clever women who do clever things for an evening. Usually everyone has something that they are working on/need to get to. Cool creations that involve needles (small and pointy or knitting), thread, yarn, glue, crochet hooks, scissors, buttons to sew, papers to sort, socks to sort... whatever. If you are completely caught up with everything in your life I can create a project for you or lend you ideas. Of course there is always my laundry that needs to be done. ;) The Beehive Bazaar is the first weekend in December and I'm gunning for it, making my whimsimobilia. Some of it I work on alone, other things are nice to have company for. ALSO: It gives me a touch of focus and a reason to clean up a bit. Bring a friend if you'd like!

HBB = the Heather Bailey Blog

http://www.heatherbailey.typepad.com/

I've been a fan of Heather Bailey for a while ... though I didn't know it. I had the opportunity to hear her speak at the Princess Startup event 2 Fridays ago. She is brilliant, blessed, gorgeous and (!) inspiring.

B is for Bucolic Bike ride.

[C, N & M went to pick up K & J. S is asleep, battling a stomach bug.]

I love to ride my bike. I ride it in my head if I'm not actually on it. My legs are going, "UpUpUpUp."

Sunday C and I rode for about 8 miles. It was so fun -- it is tricky to ride with him though. Don't know why. He is always trying to teach me something and although I DO need to learn a lot more about cadence, my cadence, and strength in general, his lectures drag.

What I need to do is pull out my labeler and note what goes which way & does what. Inevitably I shove the wrong thing at the wrong time and it feels as if I have hit wall. NG. [not good] I am getting more comfortable on my bike, but I learn best when I SEE the message a few times and then I get it. It might also help if I built a bike or two--I don't get the gears, big/small = hard? small/big = easy? Low? High? Yes, I actually know a rocket scientist, mais, il n'est pas moi.

Tonight I rode to OCJH (2 miles w/ a steep but short hill) for the open house (K is in 9th grade!) and then onto deliver an invite to J's party on Saturday, further up a hill. That meant that I could ride down a long fun ways.

Came home, via the tunnel, circled about once in the road before riding on my driveway, rode over the grass and parked my bike in its spot in the garage! -- The garage that I Landed today.

Then, refreshed, in nice clothes, I put on an apron and messed with clay for a long while. Thinking: IF I WERE TO HAVE ART, & NOT CLEVER CRAP, IN MY HOUSE WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE? WHAT IS OF VALUE? What has meaning & is of use visually? What could I make 3 times and still find fascinating? What is my personal graffiti? Is there life after wind chimes and fridge magnets?

Cleaned up the table and came inside, with clay covered hands and still in the apron.

Happiness.

P is for poop.

All sorts of latent fears of pasty white people with small minds and smaller hearts are being played out via the medical issues/reforms, and the fear is being stoked by like minded & hearted idiots like G. Beck and R. Limbaughpoop & that drip S. Palin. Everyone, no matter the party, knows we need medical reform. It was on the platform for McCain too. (What did bush do about it in 8 years?) -->Furthermore(!): if the dems don't do anything they are said to be deadbeats, if they do anything it is considered sneaky or rushed.

A is for Art du Auto.

Recently while cleaning the van I came across this scene.

It is breathtaking in its completeness, elegance, range of textures and random silliness. Silly is a power word.

This image tells a story of the van, the children who ride in it, the grit of childhood -- o.k. perhaps that is going a little over the top...

M (5) loves to undress her dolls--now she is just starting to dress them. I'm not sure if Barbie's negligee is intentional or not.

The composition struck me. Not one item was unnecessary.

N is for N is 8 = Painting by Lee Bennion!

Latest news: Lee is working on N's painting. Can't wait to see it. He loved sitting for her! LOVES attention.

J is for Jealous of Rob Ryan's art.

Oooh. I'm jealous. Man, oh man I wish I had created this. The book is available via Chronicle Books.

This world is full of artists, craftspeople, athletes. Everyone is one.

Simply sweet J.

A is for Art.

Looking up some of my favorite California Funk Artists. My inspiration.

Roy DeForest
Manual [isn't that the greatest name ever?] Neri
David Gilhooly
Robert Arneson
William T Wiley

http://www.williamtwiley.com/index2.htm

K art.

h art idea ... from sidebar

From an email to Julie T:
I know I'm a dork but it is cool that you are on line and I am too. I am contemplating painting. I'm in my studio pulling out things to contemplate on/about. Random (small) canvases. There is a story there, did I already write that to you? Have been thinking of Shelley [Turley] and Lee Bennion. Saw my old paintings at the office... kinda liked them! Making money, we need a bit, might make me focus my skills into a form, a sell-able form. But (!) creating art to sell is tricky. Landscapes or drapery? Cow? Figures? or my children? Always add a touch of red? Funky or classic. Ya know? Dang, where's the devil when you need to sell your soul?

G is for Ghiberti's Doors.

Remember: Peace. Ancient concept.

Mr. Ghiberti's self-portrait

The DOORS! J needed to do a small report on Renaissance art. We chose the doors because we were going to San Francisco and I knew he could visit them. It was neat. We didn't have to travel to Florence, Italy--not that we would have minded.

A lovely bee.

Isn't this maze cooooool? I would love in my garden. It is for meditating. You walk along the path, thinking quietly... unless you are a child and then you run along the path making friends which is what J & M did.

More Good News.

This is from the Washington Post Personal Finance newsletter:

"We also learned this week that the federal deficit could swell to more than $500 billion by the first of the year. Imagine if we all operated our personal budgets like the federal government -- going months, years spending more every month then we earn. Oh, right many people do run their household like that.

Finally, there was the news yesterday that the venerable investment company Lehman Brothers is facing a $4 billion loss (that's billions, with a "b")."

The art is from K's sketchbook. I was teaching him that he can go back into his books and by adding more, in this case color, the drawing becomes more finished and interesting. He seems to have hundreds of sketchbooks floating around from the last 13 years of his life. Surprisingly they are not all neat and tidy, labeled and dusty on a shelf. There is no time frame. He might have done this drawing when he was 5, maybe 5 plus. He is a wonderful artist.

a settle

S is for Spelling Plate.

I'm not a grate speller. So I thought I'd help my kids spell by having them eat their words, spelling words. For example: GHTLNWA
I'm sure this will help them on their ACT tests.

Lovers' Grotto

I'm sure you are surprised to read this is not actually our home. ha is not C in the purple pants. Although our bedroom walls are pretty much that color. And, just for fun, I clip on fairy wings...
Nope. This is from the amazing Miniature World in Victoria, Canada. One of the top highlights of our recent Alaska.