A Perfect Start

I have to tell you all, that today was one of those perfect nights. The kinds that you want to save in a scrapbook, and take it out again and again when the hard times come, to remember how precious life can be.

I was on the go from 8:25 AM this morning until 3AM tonight. I picked up 3 girls for church, took them home, picked up James, K, & J, and met A & P at a Chinese restaurant. We ate, sat around and played Uno (story about that to follow when my pics are all uploaded), and then went to Walmart... wandered around for quite some time, and then went to K's to bake cookies for James family thing. Baked them, burnt half (despite pre-heating the oven for 30 minutes while I made the cookies, the first batch of cookies took 30 minutes instead of the recommended 15-20, and the second batch cooked maybe 15 and were almost all burnt. WAY wierd!), and got back to James house at 7:10 or so. BTW his family thing started at 7 AND he had to make a batch of chili for a church thing he was going to. So he made the chili at his Aunt Martha's house, and all was good. But in the meantime, his mommy called and was mad that he was running so late... by the time we got to his family party, I was about to burst into tears. :o(

But then I settled in, beat my cousin S at air hockey, beat some strange little kid at air hockey, royally sucked at pool, and then said bye-bye to James as he left for his family thing. Soon after, we realized James had left his cheese at the house, and I went to church (his current church, my old church, which I left on kinda bad terms) to bring it back to him. I made peace with the pastor's wife, wished her a Happy Christmahanakwanzakah and a Merry New Year, and went back... played three games of Euchre with my cousin Karen as a partner... lost ALL THREE!!!

*MENTAL NOTE: If your cousin has been drinking before the game even STARTS, she is probably NOT a good Euchre partner!*

But I can't blame it on her, I was absolutely exhausted and not too focused.

We ate, chatted, and then watched the ball drop & had toasts. Aunt Anita hugged me, and I felt special.

I played Texas Hold'em for the first time, and lost... but I wasn't the FIRST one to loose, so it was all good. Not bad for someone who had barely had any teaching on it.

Sat down and talked with "The Aunts"... Aunt Anita (who I'd never talked to much before), Aunt Clara (who I have known FOREVER), and Aunt Martha (who I'd known a long time, but not really KNOWN, ykwim?). Had some awesome chat time with Aunt Anita, which was WAY cool. She even invited me to stay the night if I needed too, but badly wanted my bed. Got phone numbers of Aunt Anita & Aunt Clara (I already had Aunt Martha's). Played with the camera phone, and then got into a discussion of art... which led to a discussion of art classes (I'm going with them to one next Saturday.) ... which led to Aunt Martha mentioning her "workshop"... which led to me getting to see an artists paradise! A room as big as my bedroom, TOTALLY FILLED WITH ART SUPPLIES!!! Brushes, canvases, stamps,... it was HEAVEN!

Chated a while longer, and then we all went home. Chatted with God on the way home and was just beyond thankful. James's family was SO nice to me. I was overwhelmed. Sad because I realized that when my 2 cousins and i got our pic taken together, it was the first time it had ever happened. Sad because we're so distant... before today I had only one pic of one of the cousins, and no pics of the other. But very happy... to be reconnected to my family again.

I was also thankful for the time with my cousins... sometimes the things that happened to me when I lived with my dad seem like a nightmare... so terrible they can't be real. But when I chat with my dad's family, I feel VALIDATED. Together, we know that the way our family was is not right at all. Together we can chat about it and understand and be understood.

Together we can heal.

Categories: James, Family, Friends, Aunts, Healing

TGIF!!!!!!

It is FINALLY Friday!!!!!!!

Shall we all partake of a Friday dance of joy?

*breaking into a happy dance*

Ahhhhh I feel much better now! I'm getting my stuff together, on my way to visit my friend Kim and spend some time watching scary movies (Critters, which I've never seen, among others), teaching her to knit & crochet, crocheting a new hat pattern I downloaded while I was at work today, and probably working on my art journal or collaging or just doing random types of art! OH and I'm going to teach her to play Risk! Yippee!

*another happy dance*

Tomorrow will be my "day off from the world". Some of us were gonna be visiting my grandma tomorrow in mass, but then decided it was a bad idea or something... so i have the day to myself, to undo the damage done to my bedroom over the holidays, do laundry since I have no clean clothing, get my finances a bit more organized, and probably play a game or two of Lemmings.

*yet another happy dance, in honor of time alone*

Then Sunday night I'm going to James Aunt's house, to hang out with his family, my three cousins who will be there (including one who I only see at funerals, and miss. My older cousins were way cool, and I was seriously deprived of time with them.), and other random people I've never met. We'll be playing 5 Card Stud, Bunko, (never heard of it) and Euchre (OMW I love that game!!!!!!! EUCHRE!!!!!!!!!)

*happy dance in honor of Euchre*

I plan to force one of my cousins to be my Euchre partner so that we can win by amazing proportions. Our family may be SEVERELY disfunctional. (The side that my cool cousin Amy is NOT on, just so ya know.) Many members of my family may have prison records. Several members may be alcoholics. Almost everyone has a violent temper. Almost none have been to college.

But we rock at Euchre!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bwahahahahaha

*evily laughing at the thought of unmercifully slaughtering another team at Euchre*

Family is good. *giggle*

Categories: James, Family, Friends

The W-List

Tammy over at Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together had the idea of making a meme list of blogs "by women for women." So if you want to participate, here's what you do. Copy and paste all of the links I have here onto your blog post, and add the blogs you want onto the top. (Along with instructions for other people to do the same lol) I'll be putting blogs on here that I haven't linked in a while.

Women, Art, Life
California Fever
Gobulous Hottie Bloggers
Wings of the Morning
Tuff Toe-Nail
Be Alive, Believe, Be You
The Viral Garden
Looking Beyond the Cracked Window
Aphra Behn - Danger of Electric Shock
The New Charm School
Taexalia
Creative Every Day
Methaphor Bling
Simply Wait
Jana's Journey
Tinker Art
Art In the Garage
Thick Paint
Molly Gordon Authentic Promotion

Categories: Memes, W-list, Friends

Wednesday Wanderings

Repression. I think that's what I'm feeling at the moment. I've been trying to figure it out all day... I'm not sure what the feeling is that I've felt this week, but repression is probably it. I think my mind is just afraid to deal with everything at the moment... the holidays, and all that comes with it... missing my dad... and so on. So tonight I've decided to make it a goal this week to give myself time to feel. With all the running, entertaining, and so forth this week, I haven't had much time for myself. But now that the hustle has bustled, the house has been cleaned, (except my room, which still is a bit frightening but not nearly as bad), and everything is better... I have to stop, and look at what's going on inside me.

• Fear... my roomate has offered to sell me her house, and me just take over the loan and the deed. James will help me renovate it, and we'll have fun in the process. But I don't know ANYTHING about getting a loan, a mortgage, or that kind of stuff. I'm so scared. And she wants to move so soon, I can't wait forever to make the decision.
• Fear... because James is a big risk... because I don't know if it's faith I have in him, or just stupidity... because I want a forever kind of marriage... because I want all that God has for my life... because I can't trust myself to make the right decision.
• Fear... because I feel like I have no one to turn to so many times in my life. I feel so very alone in the practical things in my life. How a person gets a loan, how a person buys & sells a home, and how to do this whole relationship thing....
• Fear... because the decisions I'm making will change my life FOREVER. If I make the wrong choice, the consequences will follow me the rest of my life. If I don't make the right choice, I'll miss out on so much!! I WANT IT ALL! lol

Hmmm... that reminds me... what do I want?

• Love - I want love in my life. Love to give to others & the strength to give it. Love to give to friends, to family, and to those who are hurting. I want to receive love too.
• Adventure - I don't want my life to ever get boring! I always want to be trying crazy new stuff! Going new places! Doing nutty things "just cause I can"!
• Legacy - I want my life to impact the lives around me. I want my life to give others the hope, help, and resources they need to change their lives.
• Spiritual stuff - I'm honestly not sure where I want this to go. I believe that God wants to give us more spiritual stuff. And when I say spiritual stuff, I mean things like... annointing (the power of God added to your life)... discernment (God telling you stuff you couldn't otherwise know)... love beyond human love... but I also believe you have to want & ask for these kinds of things, and I'm not sure what I want to ask for. I'm afraid of my spiritual potential. (I'm afraid of my spiritual potential... I need to analyze that later. Hmm.)
• Healing - I want to continue to heal from the past, and I want to help others to heal as well. That's REALLY deeply important to me...
• Teaching - I live and breathe to teach. It doesn't even matter what I'm teaching... I just love to teach. Taxes, crocheting, foreign languages, Bible lessons, it doesn't matter... I love to teach! I always want to have something that I can teach to others.
• Growing - I always want to be more each day than I was the day before. I want to learn to excel at what I do. I don't want to become stuck in a rut! I want my inner woman to keep reaching for the stars!!!!

Categories: James, Life, Depression, Fear, Love, Healing, Spiritual, Dreams

Welcome New Bloggers!

I think i have new blog readers, so I wanted to say HI to them all!!!!

James's Aunt Martha may be bloghopping onto here... I refered her to Tammy's blog to get some art marketing advice. HI AUNT MARTHA!!!!!!

I think Karen & Peggy are both now reading my blog... Andrea may be popping in from time to time to see my deep innermost thoughts... Reecie Cup was popping in a while back, not sure if she's still hangin' out?

So for all of you "lurkers" who quietly read and don't comment... PLEASE COMMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Reading a blog, and not commenting, is like seeing me naked and not screaming!!! lol

Categories: Aunts, Blogging

From Us to You!

Seasons Greetings from Jana & Friends:

James says: "BEWARE! Monkeys are taking over the world!"

Mama de James says: "The ninja monkeys are after James! No, seriously, Merry Christmas. He came to die for us!" (I think she was saying that about Jesus BTW, not the ninja monkeys or James. )

Kim says: "I'm not crazy, the voices told me so."

Jana says: Christmas day is finally over. The presents have been unwrapped, the leftovers divided up, and the company has gone home. I have so so so much to tell you all about today. I got to see "my daughter", M, on Christmas Eve, after not seeing her for a year. She adopted James and I a few years ago, and I really do love her (and worry about her) like an adopted child. That was so precious to me. The holiday with James and his family on Christmas Eve was amazing... they were BEYOND sweet to me. I fit right in, being teased by "Uncle Norman" and listening to "the aunts" lecture James about various things. *giggle* I learned that "the aunts" are both amazing artists, and where they take lessons each month, and was invited to their New Years Eve party, where they will be playing EUCHRE!!!!!!! (I love Euchre!) I also got to see MY cousin, who their family adopted because to be honest, our dads both suck. I hadn't chatted with her in AGES and hadn't ever got to talk to her daughter before, who evidently is a mini-me (well, maybe not, since she IS my height already lol) Today we all had a great time too. "Mama de James" and I had fun discussing our favorite series of books (Amelia Peabody mystery series by Elizabeth Peters), Kim and I made strange artistic creations (way fun!), I lost at Phase 10 and Electronic Sorry, but Kim & I won at Taboo... and since Kim has a little boy who is 4, I had an excuse to try out the NEW PLAYDOH SET I bought for "my Thursday-night kids." After the company was gone, we got into jammies (i got new jammies for christmas! yeah!) and watched a movie (Freedomland, which BTW has got to be THE STUPIDEST MOVIE I HAVE EVER WATCHED!!!!!). Now it's 2:45 AM and I still have a bedroom to clean so that tomorrow can officially be a day of fun for me... the last free day I'll have in quite a while, with tax season approaching. Then it's off to bed... nighty night to me!

Categories: Art, Aunts, Christmas, Family, Friends, James, Reading,

Disclaimers & New Blogs

Happy Christmas Eve Eve! LOL

I wanted to let you all know that today I'll be working on some blog maintenance, and hopefully adding a little list of "Blogs that love me" to my sidebar. It will most likely NOT get finished today, so if you don't see your name there, it does NOT mean I don't love you. It just means that you aren't on my list YET. People won't be added in order of how much I love them or anything. I'm also planning to work on organizing my tags list, updating it (I haven't put tags on my blog post in over a month I think!) and maybe even adding one of those tag cloud thingys. We'll see! :o)

So since I'm not saying anything to make you feel warm or fuzzy inside today, (I don't feel warm or fuzzy inside, partially due to not remembering to take my happy pills yesterday and taking them late -as in 2 seconds ago- today, partially due to the fact that I hate everything about Christmas except for the one who it celebrates, cheese cubes, and lights... and partially because my house is a mess and looking at it makes me wanna cry, but I have no motivation to clean it.) here are a few bloggers I've just started reading posts from lately, and not "advertised" on here before. Check them out, give them some love, and all of that good stuff:

Alison's Blog - Alisons daily life stuff, complete with VOICE POSTS!

Gobulous Hottie Bloggers - Susie's new blog project: "A blog for women who are tired of hating their bodies, who have always wanted to be a "hottie". It starts on the inside, with getting comfortable in your own skin. Accepting your physical imperfections as merely what makes you unique and realizing that real men like a few flaws. We will also share girly tips, and have fun with this in general." Also check out the Gobhole Gabbers Book Club.

Create a Connection - Melba's new blog project, bringing creative bloggers together in all kinds of new ways. Starting January 1, this blog will have monthly swaps, weekly creative challenges, getting-to-know-you questions, interviews with other bloggers, photo challenges, discussions and more! Plus you can also find more info about the upcoming JustBe conference.

Art Tutorial - Kala posts tutorials here on how to make different types of art. Check out her quick greeting cards post!

IT'S THE WEEKEND!!!!!

I am FINALLY off work and free for the weekend! YIPPEE!!!! I don't have to be back at work until WEDNESDAY!! *happy dance*

My goals over the holiday vacation are:

Sleep
Get the bedroom re-cleaned
Organize my financial papers
Join online banking
Do as many tax practice problems as possible
RELAX AND CHILL!!! lol (I only have a week or two before I have to start work at job #2!)

For now, I'm so sleepy I can barely stay awake, and it's only 4:45. I have NO idea how I'll stay awake until bedtime tonight. *yawn* But for now, I'm off to install a new Nancy Drew game or maybe watch some true crime stuff.

Categories: Life

Atomic Buffalo Turding 101

Well, last night I made my first batch of ABTs!!!! I thought some of you might be wondering what they are or how to make them, so here is a quick tutorial.

What you'll need:
Jalapeno peppers (I used abt 20)
Cream Cheese, softened (I used a package and a half)
Sausage (I used 1 pound)
Bacon (I used 2 packages)

Step 1:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and then PUT ON GLOVES!!!! Jalapenos will burn anything their juice touches, which includes your skin! (Trust me, I got some on my lips last night and lemme tell ya... that was some HOT lip balm! LOL)

Step 2:
Rinse the peppers, take off their little tops, and cut them in half lengthways. Take all of the seeds and innards out of them, and they will look like this:

Step 3: Fill the pepper halves with cream cheese. They will look like cute little canoes!

Step 4: Top each pepper half with some of the uncooked sausage, so that they look like this:

Step 5: Wrap bacon around each pepper, so that it looks like a little papoose: (I wrapped one full slice around the bigger peppers, and half of a slice for the little ones.)

Step 6: Put the pepper papooses side by side in a cake pan lined with foil. CAUTION: Do NOT put them in too close together (like i did in the pic... *sigh*), since the bacon & sausage grease need to have room to drain into the pan.

Step 7: Bake peppers for 30-40 minutes or until the bacon is done. Put peppers on a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Let them set about 10 minutes, (giving them time to drain and for the bacon to get crispy) and then serve your ATOMIC BUFFALO TURDS!

Categories: Recipes

Well, this is awkard!

Last night James and I went to the Christmas party.. he paid for my food. (which was kinda expensive, and made me feel special *giggle*) I introduced him to everyone, we were all sitting around and chatting about life and stuff...

Then M turns to me and asks "So how long have you two been dating?" We told her about a year off & on...

She looks at us and smiles, and says "OH, so someone might be getting a ring this Christmas!"

I stuttered, stammered, and finally got out "Umm... well... I'm not sure we're quite to that point yet....

(Which, he has always said that he wanted to propose at Christmas, soo.... I've been kinda wondering? I mean, it's kinda soon, but NEXT Christmas is kinda far away!!!)

So... we'll see. :) But anyway, it was kinda awkward... and I hope I didn't scare him off if he had planned to. Mrs. Jana Myers... has a nice ring to it, don't ya think?

Categories: James, Love

Life, Love & Other Mysteries

Well, the Christmas craziness has officially begun here. Tonight is our Christmas party at work, (James & I are going) and I'm kinda excited/nervous/stressed/happy about it. This will be the first time my co-workers have met James...

I told James this week that I love him. He told me this week that he loves me. (He told me first, actually.) I started to write a little letter to him being all honest (as promised), but didn't get it finished before I had to leave for work this AM. This is all totally scaring the snot out of me, but in a good way. After work I'll run to the tax office for 30 minutes, go home, wrap James presents before he gets there (yeah, I haven't wrapped any presents yet. I stink, I know.) and any other presents hanging out, try to do some quick cleaning, and then get dressed for the Christmas party tonight. We're all going out to a German restaurant. (They have THE BEST steak!!!!) I'm a little nervous because the people I usually hang out with (the assembly department) are not going. That means I'll have to talk to the wives of the men I work with... *gulp*... I don't know any of them that well, so maybe this will be fun... maybe we'll all make friends! (Or if not... maybe James & I can just whisper sweet nothings to each other at the table hahaha)

For my other 3 christmas parties (tax job party, regular job informal party, and Christmas day party) I plan to make Atomic Buffalo Turds. (Is that NOT just the coolest name ever for a food?! *giggle* This is all IF i can find jalapenos and rubber gloves... I don't want to repeat this experience!

I'm feeling like my blog is getting kinda stale, with the same people visiting and me visiting the same people... so my question for the day is:

What are some of your favorite blogs to visit?

Categories: Christmas,, James,, Blogging

Vision

I had been meaning to post this since Friday afternoon, but never really had a good oportunity. I just HAD to tell you all my good news!

SURPRISE!!!!!!

I have new glasses!!!!!

It's the first time I've gotten new glasses in 6 years, so I was very very excited! Wierdly enough though, the eye doc said my prescription had barely changed! I was even more excited then... thinking that I would have no trouble adjusting, no dizziness, no headaches...

Friday I went in to the eye doctor... got the glasses all fine-tuned for my face, walked out... and almost fell on my face! The difference was HUGE!!!! I was dizzy from it, and walked (very carefully) to my car, sporting my new glasses with their WICKED COOL magnetic sunglass attachments, and thinking... OMW! THIS is what he considers "almost no difference?!"


Then I got in my car, and noticed all this CRAZY stuff!!! My dashboard had dust on it! WHO KNEW? And my windshield had spots on it!!!! I never knew that. And suddenly I didn't need to look at my computer from only like 3 inches away! I never realized how close I'd been to the screen!!!

It made me think about how dangerous it is to not have a clear vision... looking back, as bad as my eyes had gotten, I really could have gotten in a serious accident! I could have died. Literally. They were that bad.

Prov 29:18 says "Where there is no vision, the people perish:"

I love something Tammy posted on her blog:

"Do you have a plan for your success? Have you written or painted or collaged or danced or sang it into life? It has to come out of your head (the abstract) into the world (the concrete). You have to taste it and smell it and touch it somehow."

That is so true. And what a perfect time to be thinking about that. So although it's a little bit early... let me just ask you...

What goals are you thinking about setting for yourself in 2007?

Categories: Pics, Dreams, Goals

Grief

While I was bloghopping today, I noticed a post by Liz Elayne for Poetry Thursday. She posted a powerful poem about grief, which made me remember one I'd written a long while back and that I don't think I ever shared. I wrote this after my Grandpa and Aunt Wanda died... sometimes back then, life just seemed so overwhelming. Tiny things, like seeing a car not pull over for a funeral procession, would bring a flood of emotions over me... so strong it even hurt physically. I wrote this poem for a friend who lost her father, to explain the way the healing came (and is still coming) into my life.

Grief

A scene on the street
a sight
a sound
memories surge around me
a tidal wave of emotions
flooding
overwhelming
How will I survive?

Time passes

A scene on the street
a sight
a sound
memories flow
like tears from my eyes
surrounding
permeating
I miss you so badly!

Time passes

A scene on the street
a sight
a sound
memories pass before my eyes
scenes from a silent movie
surreal
detached
Was this all just a nightmare?

Time passes

A scene on the street
a sight
a sound
buried memories surface
green leaves after an icy winter
fresh
optimistic
I let myself remember you again.

Time passes

A scene on the street
a sight
a sound
memories unfurled
petals of spring’s first blooms
vibrant
serene
I can never forget you.

Categories: Grief, Family, Poetry, PT,

TAGGED!!!!!!

Tammy tagged me today! (I get this awesome rush of love when someone tags me... how pathetic is that?)

The tag? " write 5 things no one knows about you and then tag 5 other people."

Let me think about this for a while... Amy, some of these you may know, but I'm trying to even surprise you...

1. When I was a child, I showed major signs of OCD... Had to step the exact same number of times on each square of the sidewalk, had to take all my steps in multiples of three, etc. Now the only lingering effect is an occasional tendency to step the same number of times on sidewalk squares.

2. At the age of 19 or so, I moved from the "middle of stinkin' nowhere" to the north 'burbs of Chicago (Waukegan, Highland Park). Learned to drive in city traffic, tasted my first chimichunga, babysat a set of triplets on occasion, smelled chitlins cooking (A little girl tried to say it and pronounced it with a s at the beginning instead of a c... that pretty much sums up the smell!!!!), ate my first cornbread dressing (OMW talk about GOOD!) and my first bite of okra (that is DEFINATELY an abomination!!) and met my first panhandlers. Definately eye-opening, and very fun!

3. While in Chicago, I went to a black church with an attendance of like 400 or so... less than 20 of which were not black. It was... educational!

4. My first time driving a car was at age 10, with my Daddy, in a field of hay-making stuff after the harvest. He always laughs about how scared I was to go in between the bales of hay... and they were like 40 feet apart. Hey, I was TEN, what'd he expect? LOL

5. While in college, I went to a church with all their services in Spanish! I learned to speak the language, and cook yummy foods like flautas, homemade tortillas (Sonoran style), and cherizo con huevos! While helping in the nursery there, I learned things like "SILENCIO" ( BE QUIET!), "Sientete. Sientete! SIENTETE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (Sit down. Sit down! SIT DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!") and how to clean toddler vomit out of my jacket. Oh, and I also learned how to say "I live in a van by the river" in Spanish. I'm not really sure why.

I tag.... Jami, Eliza, Jen, Nikki, and Leti

Categories: Childhood, Memes, Life

Jana's First Collage! - Layer 1

Tonight I finally took the plunge and started on my first attempt at collage. It's not anyways NEAR done, but I have to say I had a ton of fun doing it. It was my first time trying collage, AND my first time using Mod-Podge (which BTW is way cool!). So, today's pic is my first set of layers of the collage. The grass has some wierd spots from the paper ripping, but those will be covered up in the next day or so by more grass or flowers or other stuff. That's the neat thing about collage... there's always room for another LAYER. As you get one area closer and closer to how you want it to look, you can begin to add on, and work on the next layer. Kinda like life, eh?

NOTE: The brown stick-like thing is the trunk of a tree. I ran out of time before I could add leaves to it or finish the grass.

Categories: Artsy

Jana's Love Advice

Welcome to Love Advice with Jana. Tonight's love tip:

Watch what you write down!!!!!!

Take my day yesterday, for example. I'm at home, the roomate is peacefully sleeping. James comes to the door, and since the roomate is trying to sleep, James comes back into my room (nothing happened! He didn't even offer to massage my neck. Talk about a righteous guy!) to look for music with me. As we are chatting, his eyes wander up to to my journal page (mounted above my desk) and the sentences "I want to be honest with James. I NEED to be honest with James. I can't ask him to wait forever. I love him. I can picture us having an awesome life together. Am I ready? I hope so!" evidently jumped out at him. *blushing deeply*

I didn't realize I'd written so much on there... I just remembered saying that I needed to be honest with him. I just read it today, as I was starting to blog about what he'd seen, and was like "OH. *eyes huge* I totally forgot I'd written THAT." ROFL

He also saw this on my monthly to-do sheet:



and found my wedding binder, complete with sections divided up for bride, groom, decorations, food,....
Sooooo... I guess now I can check "Be honest with James" off of my to-do list!!!!! *still blushing* Maybe this was God's way of giving me a little *nudge* in the right direction? I'm flipping out now... but it's a good kind of flipping out! I also bought his Christmas present... *whispering* I got him a gift set with 5 different types of hot sauce... he and I both LOVE hot sauce, especially habeñero. I'm also still looking on Ebay for the really special present for him... I'll let you all know when I've found it.

Today's warm-fuzzy bonding question:

What Christmas gifts do you all get for the men in your life?

Categories: James, Love, Funny

Thoughts, Pics, & Memes

Today is Friday!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Check out my hair today! I'm impressed with my hairdoing skillz! *giggle*

Last night I had an "Oh" moment... after spending a couple of hours with "my kids," (poor K1 & K2... my first hairdoing victims!!! K1's hair was SOOO hard to do! So silky bobby pins slid right out of it!!!! K2's went a little better, but still not the greatest. Oh well, practice makes perfect!!) I was driving home. It was dark, my mood was dark, and my feelings had been hurt. About to launch into a pathetic (Yes Bri, I tell myself when I'm being pathetic too LOL) pity-party, I decided instead to just spend some time chatting with God. It changed my whole outlook... and reminded me that I have a choice to make when things come that hurt me or bring me down. I can dwell on the bad, and let it destroy my day... or I can just let it go, and keep my mind on the good things. I did that last night, and had a MUCH better evening!!! :o)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I found this meme at Amy's blog (not to be confused with Cousin Amy) and decided to do it since I always have been and always will be a total bookworm!!!!

How old were you when you learned to read and who taught you? I suppose I learned in school, from Mrs Sowers of Mrs Ratcliff. I don't really remember though.

Did you own any books as a child? What is the first one you remember owning? If not do you remember the first you borrowed from the library?The first books I remember owning were a set of Sesame Street books with all kinds of stuff in them to learn. I also had the books with matching records, handed down from my cousins... and the first book I checked out from the library? The Bobbsey Twins!!!!! I was sick, and mom brought one home for me to read... I LOVED them, and so we went to the library to get more!.

What is the first book you remember buying with your own money? I'm not sure... I didn't buy books much, i just borrowed from the library. (Still do! lol)

Were you a re-reader as a child? If so which did you reread most often? Of course! We lived pretty far from the library. I reread the Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, and Trixie Belden CONSTANTLY... as a matter of fact, I just read a Nancy Drew a couple of days ago when I wasn't feeling good. Nothing to distract you from your sickness like a good mystery!.

What is the first adult book that captured your interest and how old were you when you read it? I remember loving Mary Higgins Clark books from the first time I read one in 8th grade, and Agatha Christie books (Only Miss Marple ones though) when I was a younger teen. As I got into high school, I learned to love medical thrillers (ROBIN COOK!), more adult mysteries, and a little bit of Sci-Fi

Are there any children’s books you passed by as a child and learned to love as an adult? Not really, except maybe Anne of Green Gables. And really, I only like those because Anne acts out The Lady of Shallot, which I love.

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And speaking of The Lady of Shallott... I was re-reading it today, and felt inspired. Here are 4 sketches I drew on post-its today at work: (sorry they are fuzzy... I may scan them when I get home from work) I plan to make some fun designs out of these when I get home.

General layout of Shallott:

The mirror of shadows & the window of hope:

The lady "weaving" colors with an upside-down paintbrush:

The Lady floating:

Categories: Artsy, Books, Reading, Zuma

Dreamy Thursday

I am so excited! Today is thursday, the day we work with "my kids" in the evening. I bought them a HUGE supply of hairthings (and brushes/combs that can be boiled so no lice are transferred, and then used again), because I firmly believe that EVERY girl should be taught how beautiful she can be. Now I'm trying to find hairdo sites online. Anyone have good suggestions? Tonight I'm going to teach the girls to do this style! I'll try to take pics of the kids hair after I get done. And speaking of pics...

I have pics of the Jana family!!!!! (Except Luka, I forgot to take one of her)

This is me, being silly!!!! , and below is a pic of Sarah, the doggie.

On the left is Stripey the kitten, under my roomate's canoe. On the right is Psychokitty, (mommy of Stripey) being annoying and avoiding the camera! lol

Categories: Pics, Zuma

Voice Message me!!!

I saw this at a friend's site and it looked really fun. You just call the number or record the message on your mic, and I'll get to hear what you sound like! And if you get one of your own, I'll call it too! C'mon, it'll be fun!!!!

NOTE: You don't have to have a mic to do this, you can call from a phone! Just click where it says "Record by Phone" and call the number it gives you! :)

Get Your Own Voice Player

Manage

AEM Artistic Syncronicities!

Well, this month was AEM (Art Everyday Month) at Kat's blog, and I have to say that although it doesn't SEEM like I've accomplished anything through it, really I have!!! I have a bunch of collaging material ready, a bunch of ideas, all I'm lacking now is... matte stuff, and the time to sit down and do it. (I may go ahead and do it without matte and see what happens though *giggle*) I also had a lot of fun last night... we had "my kids" do a drawing contest, and as I was flipping to a blank page in my sketch pad, the kids saw my drawing of the Romulan. Trevor took it and pretended it was his (and didn't win the contest, because someone told on him lol), and Amber tried to copy it... we had fun. We will be drawing together more often! :o)

Then, today as I was browsing Tammy's site, I noticed a link to a Jackson Pollock site. I'd never heard of him, and was happily making squiggles at the site, when one of the guys here at work came around and saw it... that led to a HUGE discussion about art, art appreciation, and abstract art. My boss is NOT into abstract art... he suggested we all don bodysuits and roll on a canvas, and call it "humanity". In my mind, I was thinking... "Hmm... sounds fun! Can I be purple?!" But he was being sarcastic so I didn't say it out loud. *giggle* Now we've been discussing art all day... I've learned about not only Jackson Pollock, but also Sam Francis and Arshile Gorky.

So, this was all an interesting syncronicity. I had no idea the guys at work were into art at all, and am pretty excited about having a personal "art appreciation tutor" in my office space! :o) Syncronicity rocks!!!!! OH and I got an early Christmas present from my roomate... an art supply kit in a cute little case!!!!!! I have paints, oil pastels, crayons, glitter pins, gel pins, and all kids of other groovy stuff!!!!!!

And now, for your viewing enjoyment: My first good pic of myself taken with the new camera phone!!!! (Taken in my office yesterday afternoon!)


Categories: Artsy, Pics