Ok George

I got a "Wheresgeorge" dollar bill in my change last night, and couldn't wait to see where he traveled in his normal circulation. I really enjoy the idea of tracking where bills go, and what they are spent on in their travels. But POOR George... this bill only travelled 18 Miles in 1 year, 232 days, 14 hours, 35 minutes at an average of 0.03 Miles per day. Not that Illinois isn't a fabulous tourist destination, but that doesn't seem like much of a trip in my humble estimation. So I have the idea of sending him in a gift with a note to spend in another state. Giving him a little "jump start" somewhere new. Too much of the country left to see, I figure I am doing my patriotic part. :)

http://www.wheresgeorge.com

It Starts with Gratitude...

Having fun learning more about Kanji, Japanese pictogram language. I find it fascinating of course, since I've always been attracted to the visually symbolic. Thought I would upload a few here over the next few weeks in an effort to remember them as I learn. It seems most appropriate to start with the symbol for "gratitude" since we are so close to Thanksgiving. (A holiday that has seemingly morphed into a monstrous turkey gluttonfest, and not so much the act of gratitude for abundance it should represent.) I try my best in my daily written journal to be thankful for the small overlooked aspects of life as well as the huge miracles. So today I send out to my friends "gratitude", to remind us all to take a moment to think of the things in life that truly deserve thanks.

Nature's Modern Art

As a few of you know, I have collected stamps for use in personal correspondence for years. Why use a boring stamp when you can really enjoy a mini piece of art? (LOL) Well, today at my local Post Office I asked to look at the new stamp sheets, just to check out the Christmas Stamps for cards. When I spied this sheet I was absolutely in love, it is by far the best art I've seen on a stamp in a long time. Now maybe it is my visceral reaction to the combination of the colors, or just my sentimental favorite since loving the lights in person. In any case I would encourage anyone to enjoy such a little art jewel, even if they only use them for postage :)

You've been Warned!

There will probably be a test too (LOL)

Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase

And another video..just 'cos I can now (LOL)

Women In Art

Finally! After several months of not being able to upload to my blog... a video upload from UTube arrives! Thanks Sharon for your kind expertise. I loved this video from the moment I first saw it last spring and wanted to share it. Enjoy!

What I am reading: Victoria Finlay "Jewels"

My birthday book from Rogie this year. I so enjoyed Victoria Finlay's natural history of color that he gave me at Christmas 2006 he knew I would love this one. Reads like a novel, but full of interesting historic and compositional facets on all manner of jewels. Ms Finlay travels the world to the sources of each type of jemstone, with chapters devoted to each stone in the major spectrum. I assure you after reading you could never look at a jewel in the same way again. I would recommend to anyone with an interest in history or art, a fascinating read.

And the WINNER is....

Best Homemade Homage to Corporate Branding:

Light Up Spongebob

Most Likely to Need Therapy as an Adult :

Scary Monster with Ribs Sticking out

Best Use of Technology for Optimum Night Viewing:
Christmas Lights Sparkle Fairy

Most Fabric Used in Special Halloween Effect:

Mr. Mummy (5 yards)

Best Use of future Gay Best Friend (High School Age Range):

Gypsy and Zombie

Diane Arbus Commemorative Award :

Shark King (I am bored of taking pictures Aunt Laura)

And thus concludes the 2007 Howlie Trick or Treat Awards.

Happy Halloweenie :)

Look what washed up on the lakeside this Halloween! OOOooo...scary! The famous mermaid and merman costumes were finished in the nick of time. The pictures above were taken before Crystal and Amber went to school today (no makeup/hair color was allowed there), and in the last Crystal is ready to go out trick or treating with full tattoos and spray painted hair. Amber was a little self conscious around her mermaid ..ah-hem "chest" but loved her long blue hair and dangling earrings. Crystal loved her "Shark King" chest tattoo and stuffed six pack abs. Plenty of securely wrapped Halloween candy was enjoyed by all :)

Sharing the High Point of my Day

Today was the first fitting of the fishtail portion of the Halloween costumes for my nieces. I must admit, I never learned to sew well on a machine but I generally make up for this in hand sewing skills and design. Each fishtail has taken quite a bit of time to complete, and since they are somewhat form fitted they had to be tried on each child today for final alterations. After school my niece Amber came over and tried on her fishtail for fit, and I once it was on I watched her little face light up like a Christmas tree when she first saw herself in her "real tail". It was worth every hour of sewing to see such delight. :)

Crossing Over the Covered Bridge

I have been traveling the past week, mainly for business as we were involved with the massive Covered Bridge Festival in Indiana. Ten days, 2.5 million people, blown over festival tents, major weather problems, and a hotel hours away from the festival itself made it grueling to do. But the best part was the turning of the tree leaves, every imaginable color along small country roads. It was still unseasonably warm, but there was a bit of fall peeking around the corners. And those little snack packs the hotel packed for the residents every morning felt a little like school lunches made by Mom, a nice thing to see at 5 am. :)
Returned to a ..slap.. instead of a kiss of Autumn in Illinois. It became very cold last night and the night was clear and full of stars. Another reason I do like living here is seeing the constellations so clearly. Received a sweet birthday gift from Rogie today, and I couldn't be more delighted with my new book and various accessories, thank you. I hope everyone in life has a friend as kind as Rogie has always been to me.
I am busy finishing up fish tailed Halloween costumes and enjoying the peace of my home tonight; everything feels right in my world, and for that I am grateful.

Can ART to fight Hunger 2007

Amazing what a couple of architects armed with canned goods "can" do. This event is getting bigger and here are some of my favorites from this year.

Update on Life in the Heartland

Wow, I have never felt so silent in my life. Every day I try to remind myself to BLOG and by the end of the day I haven't. I guess all the confusion and anxiety the last few months have taken their toll on my voice. So those of you that read this looking for me I am sorry. I am struggling to find my routine in my new surroundings, and I miss my blogging too.

Patty is healing up well, and I spent a lot of time taking over her life last week. And what did I learn from this? Her life is hard, she is welcome to have it back. I knew making the decision not to have kids was a sound one for me. Love 'em when I rent 'em, but I like getting the deposit back at the end of the day. (LOL) My nieces took the opportunity of me hanging around a lot to con me into building elaborate mermaid/ merman costumes (three guesses who is gonna be a merman...) for Halloween. I will post pictures before they get out the door and get sticky candy all over them.

Judy called from New Zealand last night to wish me "Happy Birthday" and it was good to talk to her. Today got a birthday giftie from Genie in the mail. Totally unexpected and welcomed, thank you Genie. :) Tomorrow (my actual birthday) Patty and I will be taking a girl's day out. The only thing I really know we will do for sure is "shrimp"...(LOL) I guess that's the word that jumped out at me in her birthday plan description. Since we are the only family members that adore them we sneak away and do "shrimp" whenever we can. My birthday is as good an excuse as any.

It is terrifically hot here still, I am waiting for the kiss of crispness that means fall has arrived. It usually arrives around my birthday, but this year only steam heat. So my Meez character chose to be a devil this year for Halloween, figuring if you can't beat the weather join it. :)

The Birthday Girls

This weekend found me elbow deep in twin birthday cakes for my sisters Patty and Martha. They were actually born on the same day a year apart, and we decided to have a joint birthday party on Sunday. They requested opposite cakes (figures, they couldn't be any more different as people) and I accomplished harmony by the cake decoration. No candles, just 44 candy roses for Patty and 43 candy roses for Martha. The cakes basically became a rose trellis for each sister. I dearly love making birthday cakes, and this time unfortunately wasn't fast enough with my camera to show pictures. Cake does not last long with these kids. (LOL)
Of course this was a send off for Patty's surgery today. She has been in a lot of pain with that genetic rudimentary gallbladder we all have (thanks Mom), and we (being us) laughed all evening about Patty's surgeon's reaction to what he found in her stomach today. I am sending up prayers that all will be well, and would appreciate any other prayers in this regard. I guess I have lived to long not to know even routine surgery has real risks.
Finally have all my books unpacked, and not nearly enough bookcase space for them all. Story of my life actually. I figure the day I have enough space I would die in shock before placing the last book. My neice asked me point blank if I had read them all, and when I told her I had she never missed a beat asking "Then why do you keep them ?" I went into a long explination around how they were special art books and they inspired me, but really she might be right. I am just grateful, I suppose, to be their caretaker in this life. Just as long as I don't have to move them again anytime really soon.

What I am Reading: Curt Cobain Journals

When I saw this at the bookstore I almost passed it by since I figured it would be a little too strange and morose for me. I was in Seattle at the time these were written, and saw him on the streets of Capitol Hill as well as heard him pre-fame in concert at the Crocodile Club, so my curiosity got the best of me, and I am glad it did. This is an actual reprinting of several spiral notebooks found in Curt's possession after death. There is something very powerful about seeing his drafts of songs and reading his thoughts in his own handwriting, as jumbled and sketchy as any artist's vision is. Among sketches of video concepts, notes to friends (as drafts), and lists of equipment needed for gigs there is a human there. Trying his best in a real love/hate relationship with fame and fortune and struggling to understand and hold on to his life in a whirlwind most of us can only imagine. I was surprised at his view on gays (he actually supported them fully, and was angered by hate crimes) drugs, ( his drug use was not quite what the media reported) and what he saw for his own future. A very interesting glimpse into the creative process. I was surprised just how vulnerable he really was, and now much of what was considered "Nirvana" was Curt Cobain.

Stolen from a friend who STOLE it from Someone else

What color is your soul painted? Purple Your soul is painted the color purple, which embodies the characteristics of sensuality, spirituality, creativity, wealth, royalty, nobility, mystery, enlightenment, arrogance, gaudiness, mourning, confusion, pride, delicacy, power, meditation, religion, and ambition. Purple falls under the element of Earth, and was once a European symbol of royalty; today it symbolizes the divine. Click Here to Take This Quiz

Quizzes and Personality Tests

I didn't win the cow (LOL)

OK, this is my story. My next door neighbor was selling raffle tickets for a big festival here last week. I bought a few, and among the tickets was one for a cow. Now I expected this would be beef from a cow, and when I read the fine print I was astonished to find it was for a whole LIVE cow. OMG...what am I gonna do with a cow! I mean, it would cost about 300$ to process an entire cow, and that would also mean I would pay to kill it. I can and do eat beef, but this much beef would take a much larger freezer than I have, and killing a cow... yikes! I called my sisters, and they both assured me (since they are both cow beef buying professionals) that 1/2 a cow feeds both their families for months and months...and between the three of us there would not be enough freezer space for an entire cow. In my mind, this was a bad sign that, since I was not really prepared, I would win it. (LOL) Luckily, I won BINGO games instead and someone else won a cow. Cash is easy to store, and takes up virtually no freezer space. Thanks Universe.

You never know...

...what you will find at an Illinois auction. I can't believe there are actually people that live here and never go to auctions! I got back in the swing of it yesterday, and bought several things for resale. But this little 50's Chinese Figurine set stays with me. I priced this set of early 50's Shawnee Chinese figurines with detachable baskets for my oriental collection last time I was in Seattle and the pair was $45.00. Yesterday I found them sitting in the middle of a huge auction trailer, in pristine condition, and purchased them for $6.00. I have come to believe about 50% of antiques on Ebay at this point are from Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri auctions. This particular auction also had unbelievable furniture deals, and I am watching out for pieces to repaint. I couldn't bare to paint real antiques, but old wooden furniture is plentiful here and so I am on the lookout for 40's and 50's naive pieces to paint. I'll keep my progress posted :)

A Very "Fortunate" Day

Today I had Chinese food for lunch, one of my favorite treats. Imagine my surprise when I opened my fortune cookie and three fortunes popped out. In all my years, I have never had that happen so I think maybe I should take this group seriously. (LOL) I have always saved my fortunes, I have thousands of them. I have thought at various times I should write a book using only my fortunes, or use them in some creative work. But never have I encountered three stuffed in one cookie. So it is indeed a fortunate day. :)

On to the Next Year

Long Term Benefits of Quitting
1 year:
excess risk of coronary heart disease is decreased to half that of a smoker
At 5 years:
from 5 to 15 years after quitting, stroke risk is reduced to that of people who have never smoked.
At 10 years:
risk of lung cancer drops to as little as one-half that of continuing smokers
risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas decreases
risk of ulcer decreases
At 15 years:
risk of coronary heart disease is now similar to that of people who have never smoked
risk of death returns to nearly the level of people who have never smoked.

Yesterday it was a year. It was really difficult to quit the first week, but I was very determined. And there have been times "just one cigarette" would have been an easy self-con. But from my own experience I knew better. And here I am a year later... smoke free. My friend Bammy is quitting now, 40+ days...and I wanted to post these to inspire her to continue. She's had a hard year too, and it takes a lot of courage to walk through this when stressed out in real life. I am proud of you Bammy.
It would have been impossible to do this without the generous help of Rachael for many months, and so I must say "Thank you" to her as well.
And now, on the day after this goal has been reached I start on another. I was diagnosed with diabetes this year, and I have battled a weight problem my whole life. So this year's goal is to reduce in weight and build strength. Another goal that has so far eluded me no matter how long I've worked at it. I am built like my Mother, and the chances on me being tiny are slim (No pun intended) but I will reduce my chances of being dependant on insulin if I work diligently at this goal. So all the good thoughts, prayers, and support that have been extended to me during this year I hope will continue for this goal as well.