The summer night is like a perfection of thought. Wallace Stevens (1879 - 1955)

Sunday, a summer day. I can hear a lawn mower in the distance. No kids playing yet, but I am sure they will be out later, screeching and calling to each other. The robins have found another home to lay their second brood and sometime tonight the town will shoot of the fireworks that were canceled by rain last night.
I have been busy the last few weeks. I painted Meghan's room while she was away in Florida. She had a great time with friends and came home to an orange room that had been planned for 2 years. I only had a gallon of paint, my mum and dad had bought it when they came to visit in 2007 to thank her for letting them stay in her room. It was only enough for 3 walls so instead of trying to match the color I did one wall in a blue/purple color. It was difficult to move around the room with her furniture in the middle of the room, the mattress and box spring leaning against a wall that I wasn't painting. I managed though and she was surprised when she got home, I think that the Jonas brothers poster was the thing she enjoyed most though. I had put it in a poster frame and it is up on her wall, so she can change the poster when she gets tired of them (hopefully soon). One of the things I am most excited about is taking off her closet door, which gives her a lot more room. Now just to find a beaded curtain to cover up the mess inside. I saw a wonderful glow in the dark one that I want to get.

Unfortunately I have been plagued by back and neck pain for a few weeks now and it is hard for me to do much of anything. Sitting in the computer chair is only comfortable if I lean back, which doesn't help with my typing and sitting in the recliner is OK, except for getting in and out. Turning over in bed is almost impossible and sitting on the hard kitchen chairs is not too comfy either. I have managed to get a few things done, but mostly I have been reading and feeling lazy, not wanting to bend over for anything I don't have to.

I sorted my photos. I know I have more somewhere but the ones I had in plastic containers here in the living room I went through and sorted into categories. I tried to go by the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid) and it seemed to work, just picking a few titles to start, family, friends, places, and of course the three kids. Troy and I had one category together as there are a lot of photos with both of us in. It actually went pretty fast. Then I started sub-categories. Troy's family, Laura's family, Parents etc. I am not done with that part yet, but I am really glad to have the photos in some sort of order, now to find the rest that are hiding in the house in a dark corner somewhere. I think the hardest thing is going to be purging the pictures, letting go of something that I once thought important enough to take a picture of.


What started me off sorting the pictures was a list of things I want to scrap into albums. I found a starter on Plinky. "What values do you want to instill in your kids?". That got me to thinking and then I thought about others that I want to do. I would like to make a green book. Green in my favorite color and it would be easy to pull the things I have that are green together into an album. Also, suggested in an online magazine, Scrapbook & Cards today,I saw an article that suggested using facebook as a journal, expecialy those 25 random fact notes that I have participated in. Another great blog is Creativity Prompt that has lots of ideas for blogging and scrapbooking and jornaling, I don't think I will ever get through them all. There are so many resources on line that it is easy to get distracted from actually doing to just browsing. I really want to set a goal of 'doing' so I can get some real things done.

I will say that contrary to my quote for the title of my post I am not a fan of summer. Hot, sticky and buggy: my least favorite things. Spring and fall are much more my style. The mornings with the frost on the grass. The rustle of leaves sounding like the sea or the seemingly dead trees showing new buds ready to burst with bright green. I do enjoy the longer days and the summer fruits and vegetables though.



So off I go to do. Well maybe after a nap.

Newness

Well, this is rather like a new notebook. The whole thing is blank and you don't want to ruin the first page. I am a bit particular about it. I want to start at the beginning and work to the end, but I have been thinking lately it might be better to start in the middle.
Starting in the middle would be much easier. You could already see the direction you are heading for and divert any mistakes. Much of life is like this, but mostly I am that way with my art. I have thousands of dollars of art equipment and supplies, and I often leave them unused rather than ruin them. Sometimes it could be a few dollars worth of paper, ribbon or fabric. Lately I have been moving out of my comfort zone and just using what I have. I don't have to show anyone if I don't want to, but it is doing no good to let it sit around and dry out, collect dust or (as my things are apt to do ) get lost. I would never start a book in the middle!
So here I am, starting this continuous stream of consciousness. Thinking that some may read my random thoughts and feelings. Now there is a scary thought! I guess I should start with things about me, not too much, just enough to start.
I am married with three children. I will reference the family here. They are part of me, I cannot ignore that fact. I have 2 dogs, 2 rats and a turtle. They will also be mentioned from time to time.
As I stated earlier I am an artist. I am uncomfortable with the label, but it is what I do, what I am, I could stop creating as easily as I stop breathing. The only problem is I tend to jump from medium to medium often and quickly. I will talk a lot about that here.
I am passionate about things I believe in. I love to have fun. My internal dialogue is complex. My skin is dry. (see I told you..random). I cherish my alone time. I dislike intolerance, but feel that makes me intolerant. I worry too much. I would like to think that some how, some way I am making a difference to someone, somewhere.