zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......

happy new year ......

we had a new year's evening filled with food and friends and fun ..... around about 10 o'clock sweet sophie went from cuddled next to me to sprawled over me .... getting heavier and heavier as she fell deeper and deeper into sleep ..... i woke her and said, let's go home ... no mommy, i was awake ....i'm just resting ..... no baby, you are asleep, let's get you home to bed ...no mommy, we are supposed to stay up ..... so..... we went outside with our second wind and did sparklers ....... ten kids or so ..... then went inside to watch the tv count down .... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz .... i'm thinking i'm middle aged, cause those minutes leading up to midnight are getting looooonger and looooooonger! ...... we did actually make it to midnight .... with horn tooting and kissing and such ...... 

did you celebrate the last day of 2007? 

did you have a resolution last year? 

was it successful? 

do you have a resolution for 2008? 

how are you going to make it happen? 

here's wishing you and yours a joyful 2008 .... full of all the things that make you happy .... 

happy 2008 .... 

......... ahhhhhhhhhhhh.......

..... that was a sigh of contentment ... could you hear it? could you feel it? are you too content? 

.....ahhhhhhhhhhh ...... 

i like the holidays and the hustle and bustle and busy .... but just as good, or even better .... is the days of no school ... no work ...no big deal days ..... easy days AFTER the holidays ....

we five are, at this moment, are celebrating this post holiday calm with masses of family members .... my five.... one brother and his family of six ..... and my other brother   ... family of five ...... and my folks ....and another brother ..... 

didja do the math? 19 of us under one roof .... crazy or what? the nine of the ten cousins are like a gang ...or a swarm .... or a herd ..... the tenth cousin is like a grown up ... and he cracks me up ..... 

but .... i really got on quickly and secretly to update you on my art .... here are the three gifts i gave to my sweet children ..... 

they each got the clock that they asked for ... drew's and julia's i made specifically for them ... sophie's, i just clocked out a painting i already had .... 

so, i'm family-full and busy.....not arting ... my game journal is up to number 511, i think .... pretty good , huh? 

hope your christmas season is lovely, that your leftovers are almost eaten up ... but that you still have plenty of sweet treats to get you through the new year ... and that you are surrounded by the people that you MOST want to be with ..... 

a christmas story.... dec. 24th in the morning ....

my sophie came into my room this morning ....

the girl: mommy, i can't sleep anymore 

the mommy: snrgle snort ... what? 

the girl: i can't sleep anymore.... i'm ready

the daddy: did santa come?

the girl: WHAT?

the daddy: did santa come? 

the girl: daaaaaaaaaaddy.... santa comes THIS night, not last night

the daddy: what are you ready for

the girl: mommy is taking me on an emergency shopping trip .... i need another present for drew and julia and i thought of it ... we're going to cvs

the mommy: go get dressed

the girl: i am dressed

the mommy: brush your hair

the girl: it is brushed

the mommy: shoes on....

the girl: mommy, i'm ready .... i'll go pick out your clothes .... get up ..... 

an ancient rabbi was asked "who is a rich person?" ... the reply? ...the rich one is he who delights in his portion"  .... making the most of what you have... who you have .... appreciating your small things .... 

i am dressed in non matching clothes that my daughter got out for me ... many shades of blue that i wouldn't wear together.... and a pink hat ... and we went to cvs and debated the merits of tootsie rolls and dots (julia's favorites) as well as the enigma of jolly ranchers vs. nerds (drew's favorites) ..... we came home and let everyone know that we had a secret wrapping expedition in the basement .... we enjoyed our secrets and our time together .... sophie and i are rich, delighting in our portion.... even if our clothes don't match..... 

here's hoping for a meaningful, happy christmas time ....

with smiling faces....

surprise presents ....

delighting in your portion..... 

appreciating the small things .... 

pink boots..... 

and joy ..... 

72 hours and counting ....

in 72 hours my family will be sitting around the christmas tree exchanging gifts .... i think that means i should get on with wrapping .... but somehow i'm not feeling pressed at all .... instead, i'm watching my kids' new favorite show,  duel, and browsing blogs .... i just watched this video ...

heidi, aren't you collecting vintage bottle brush trees? 

my joy today was a chocolatey extravaganza this morning, a lovely lunch out,  some raucous bowling with pals, and dinner at the home of other pals .... it was  a great friend kind of day ....

how 'bout you? 

how are you spending your last days and evenings running up to christmas? 

4 days til christmas ....

yesterday was a two cupcake day....

today was a chocolate for breakfast day .... 

sophie came into my bed this morning and said, do you know why i come and get in your bed, mommy? ...... 

grrrrr, snort, snuffle, yawn, what honey? 

do you know why i come get in your bed? 

cause you're tired of being in your bed? 

no! i get in your bed cause i love you so much and can't wait to see you every morning .... 

THAT is why on alarm clock days i keep pushing snooze and am reluctant to get out of bed ...i'm waiting for sophie, right? ok, maybe not ... but that's what i'm saying from now on ..... 

yesterday was a two cupcake day....

today was a chocolate for breakfast day ..... 

i got to stay in bed until after 8..... with my sunshine chattering  away about things ..... and then we had to start our important day ....our first-day-of-no-school-at-all-so-you-better-do-something-christmasy day .... 

do you know i'm not a kitchen girl? for a variety of reasons, but particularly, i don't like to follow directions and i'm also inattentive .... that makes for poor recipe following and burned food ...... 

but.... i had a plan .... an even-kitchen-mishap-me-can- do-it plan .... in the microwave, we melted chocolate chips ... we added a titch of milk and a titch of sweet and condensed milk ..... and julia stirred and stirred and stirred til it was smooth .... then we dipped .... 

chocolate covered pretzels ....

chocolate covered ritz crackers ....

chocolate covered graham crackers .... 

all with generous coatings of christmas sprinkles ..... 
yesterday was a two cupcake day .... 

today is a chocolate for breakfast day ..... 

before we got going, i got sophie to get our of her froofy, fluffy night gown.... unles she wanted chocolate sleeves .... so she went up and got in her paint clothes ... ha .... she was expecting a big mess, huh? i did one, showed the kids how....and then i had breakfast ... they chocolated each other, the kitchen, the dog, and a few crackers and pretzels ...... and sprinkles....let's talk about sprinkles ... ha ... i had a jar of red, green and white balls.... tried to put them into a bowl for easy dipping application ... and EVERY one bounced out all over the counter ... like super balls .... half landed on the floor ... the dog ate them .... oops.... so they...um, we....  made a joyful christmas mess .... i ate breakfast then did the clean up .... 

we just packed up a tin for us and a tin for our pals, the strines, who we are going out to lunch with .....  

yesterday was a two cupcake day ...

today was a chocolate for breakfast day ..... 

can't wait to see what tomorrow brings .... 

hope your days leading up to christmas are yummy! 

what's the best holiday yumminess you've had so far? 

5 days until christmas ....

but really ... 4 days until christmas eve ... and i have a big deal christmas eve ... church at 3 for the children's pageant ... home from that at about five to put the beef in the oven .... family and friends and dinner and dessert .... and then gift exchange ..... all on christmas eve.... 

this collage is one of my grand accomplishments today .... i actually did the art bit a while ago .... but today i made it into a clock ... all three kids asked for me to make them clocks for christmas .... so this one is for sophie .... it goes PERFECTLY with the art that i gave her last year for christmas ....   sophie celebrates ..... if you did the click, you can see that, true to form i had done a bunch of similar backgrounds .... and then waited to finish them ... this clock piece AND sophie celebrates are done on backgrounds done at the same time ... i think i did five or six of them at the time....and finished them out over the course of a year or so .... that's definitely one of my art quirks.... i have all manner of backgrounds just waiting for me ..... 

so.... even with all the christmas hubub, i spent some time in my studio today ... this does count as art AND something to tick off my christmas to do list .... 

AND .... i just finished writing, stuffing, licking and stamping my christmas cards .... all 100 and how many? ..... and i still need to gather a few more addresses too ... i hope to get them in the mail tomorrow .... hurrah! my deadline i gave myself was saturday ... so friday is a day ahead of schedule .... hooray for having my christmas cards done early ...early is in the eye of the beholder, i suppose.... i got about ten christmas cards the week of and after thanksgiving ... what are all those people going to think of me when mine get delivered on the 24th and 26th .... i'll tell you one thing.... emblazoned at the top of my christmas letter, i typed, procrastinators of the world unite ..... 

are you feeling joyful, being joyful, doing joyful? i  hope so!

my day was so joyful that i had two separate opportunities to eat cupcakes .... not a bad thing, having a two cupcake day .... 

6 days until christmas ....

ok ... let's just start the count down ... six days ....

if tomorrow was christmas eve, i'd be ok ... not that my gifts are wrapped or any of the other tasks on my long (imaginary) list are finished ... but i'd be ok .... 

today was all over the place ... fun and frivolous and busy and exhausting and .....

 

i went to a party this morning ... a brunch with my women's group at church ... that was the best part of the day .... great food and a gift exhchange .... 

then i did some shopping with my pal, ashley... my car was (is!) in the shop .... so instead of going home after the party, we went to some cute shops ... did i need to buy anything? no, not really... it was a bit of a joy ride... but that's ok ... isn't that what the season is all about? .... 

then, the interesting bit of the day: fedex delivered, not one, but two boxes .... i was expecting one .... my christmas cards arrived ...hooray! i opened the box and what is in the box?

 .... 100 adorable christmas cards .... wait for it .... 100 adorable christmas cards with the spillers on them .... the spillers? you ask ... who are they ... well ... a cute family with two boys.... witt is in a spanish immersion program and plays baseball ... the dad coaches.... and beckham plays the glockenspiel and soccer .... really! ..... 

my first thought was ...OH! the poor spillers .... which quickly turned into a POOR me ..... until i opened that other fedex box and there were my cards with my non glockenspiel playing children ..... whew!  i called kodak and they said just throw them away!!! they'll reprint and resend faster than it can get sorted out from here .... so what do i do with 100 spiller cards ... it just seems too wasteful to toss them ... but i don't know their address .... sigh .... the funny thing is that kodak gave me a good samaritan credit for TRYING to help ..... groovy, huh? 

and lastly, all that talk of procrastination yesterday? i finally buckled down and wrote my christmas letter ... my pal ashley told me that her daughter checks the mail EVERY day for my letter .... ack .... and has dibs on opening it and reading it first ... big pressure!! 

so i wrote it .... and andy came home from his trip exhausted and still proof read it for me .... so we're set .... we'll see how long it takes me to get all the envelopes done now!! 

so, are you doing the peace on earth thing? or dashing about frantically .... happy day!! 

my procrastination has reached new heights ......

did you watch the video? old faithful? the geyser in yellowstone park ....... go ahead ... watch it

.... i'll wait .....

so here you go ....

-i've hardly started wrapping gifts ..... oops

-i've not written my christmas letter ...oops.... i know, some people HATE those letters , but i've done it every year for 11 now ..... some people have come to expect it ....i'm gonna do it...

-i've not addressed a single christmas card envelope .... oops.... but i will ....

-i have a piece of art promised to a child ... and i haven't made it yet .... oops... but i will .... mostly cause i already did the other two kids' art...

-i haven't planned my menus for christmas eve dinner (11 people) or christmas morning (i like a good breakfast casserole ... but no one 

else does) ... or christmas day ... (i know i need a turkey, at least)

-i'm sure there are other things i need to do that i haven't even 

thought about ...oops!!!

i guess that's the bad news .... but the good news is i've gone ahead and started planning my summer vacation .....

i want to see old faithful at yellowstone ... with my kids .... and hike 

through the volcanic land and forests .....and see bears and wolves and groovy stuff ....

i want to raft on the snake river like lewis and clark did ... well maybe not LIKE they did ... but in a kinder, gentler, safer way .....

... so my children and i spent the afternoon perusing yellowstone 

sights .....

this one is links to yellowstone in depth .. in case you want to actually learn stuff .... or perhaps an easy overview of yellowstone on wiki.... .... or, a groovy one,  my favorite yellowstone website..... .... and one more: live webcam at old faithful .... .... who needs to get ready for christmas when there is so much planning and dreaming to do ..... 

and just so you don't think i'm a lightweight procrastinator ... i'll just tell you ... i'm a multi tasking procrastinator ..... i started to make andy a photo book online ...which meant editting my photos, uploading my photos, and then diddling around with my photos while i make the book .... then i realized, i was making a 2007 book .... for a 2007 christmas gift ... which is, well, just dumb .... cause then you miss out on the last two weeks of the year ... and they are big photo op days ......so.... i had that slooooow revelation that i can't  print the photo book until january 1 ..... which is ok .... cause his birthday is in january ... BUT ... what am i still doing ... working on the book ...yup ...i'm working on the birthday book but don't have his christmas gifts .... 

and one last method of procrastination .. my new year's resolution ...nope... i'm not planning ahead for my 2008, procrastinators don't do that ... rather, i'm working to fulfill the 2007 resolution .... what was it you ask? well .... that's the test .... who knows what my new years resolution was .... and ... if you know the resolution ... go ahead, guess my number ... and it isn't 500 ...... 

really, i am this pretty much put together kind of girl ... but somehow i've just lost it ..... i'm just deedling on in my own little world of procrastination and denial ..... when i suddenly stop blogging, you know what i'll be doing ... planning my yellowstone vacation ....or hiding from the ghost of christmas present ...... 

monday's early bloggage

good monday morning!!

just in case my day gets away from me, i'm getting the bloggage done early ...since i'm sitting here anyway ..... 

julia is home sick from school .... which changes the way my day might turn out! 

to respond to some blog comments: 

yes, jeannie, you are absolutely right ...i'll go on survivor first and then go on amazing race as a celebrity ...ha! me? a celebrity? 

then, to queen vallen ... she says she is behind because 

she hasn't groceried yet .... to that i say, we are out of the all important chocolate milk and bananas! and that's just what i need today .... i too need to plan my christmas menu ..... it will happen in due time ... but no time soon! ....one thing at a time .... 

i just cleaned up my dining room from a party we had ... rearranged the tables and chairs so that i can have a big christmas eve dinner ..... 

set out the napkins fresh from the laundry and put out the christmas crackers .... who else does that? poppers? wear a crown? ....any idea what i'm talking about? ha! it is one of my christmas traditions ....... another good one we have: on christmas eve, we put a gift on the table as your place card .... so you sit at the seat with your gift ....and open it before you eat ..... that way you get a little early gift to whet your appetite .... or, when i was a kid, to make you want to eat faster so that you could get to the other gifts ..... except for that one year when, as a teenager, i opened underwear at the table, it has always worked out and been grand ..... we do our gift exchange on christmas eve ..... gifts from each other after dinner .... and then christmas morning is just santa gifts and stockings ..... when i was a kid christmas eve was always the most exciting .....

what are your unique christmas traditions? 

sunday night, still sunday, not monday yet, not saturday anymore ....

oh...sorry, no time for artsy post! 

i am simultaneously 

1.ordering my christmas cards (that might become new years cards)

2.making a photo book online for a christmas gift (that might become a birthday gift, jan. bday)

3.watching survivor ... i LOVE that show .... 

i'm pretty sure that i'm going to apply to be on survivor one day .... i hope it goes for a lot more years, cause i have to wait til my kids are big enough ...so, i'm middle aged at the moment ... i'll go on and be the old one ..... so, i'll just age a bit and then i'll be perfect ... and i'm certain they'll pick me ..... i'm an optimist like that .... oh wait, which should i do first, survivor or amazing race? hmmmm ...something to ponder ..... while i continue to procrastinate proper christmas time preparation ..... tra la la ..... in the mean while, i'm an artist who seems to do more laundry than art .... but i WILL do art tomorrow ... i have a plan ... 

ok .... if you read this post, please leave a comment ...... tell me which holiday thing you just haven't gotten to yet .... that'll make me feel less of a slacker for ordering my cards tonight ... who knows when they'll get here, but at least they are pretty cute ..... 

when is yesterday really today?

this is my saturday post and i'm certain blogger will tell you it is sunday, not saturday... but i beg to differ! .... i am still in my saturday....not done yet, not moving on to sunday at the stroke of midnight .... i refuse to concede that saturday could possibly be done ... so my today is still saturday, though saturday might technically be yesterday .... so, it is still yesterday, today.... ok? 

yesterday, meaning friday, since i'm saying today is saturday though technically i suppose you could argue that friday is double yesterdayed ..... where was i? ....oh yeah ... on friday morning i went to pottery and did raku and got two dear angels out of the flames ...one lost its halo ... so i won't show its picture until i do something to construct one for it .... a halo-less angel is ... well ..... what? maybe a fairy? definitely a rank below angel! .....

 but ..... i do have one glorious raku fired angel to show you today (yesterday) from yesterday (double yesterday) ...... 

so ... perhaps i am feeling a little overwrought by the yesterdayness of today because i stayed up so late last night ... and now i'm doing it again ... vicious cycle, this night owl thing!!! 

tomorrow, in my journaling class, we are working on the outside of the journal .... we painted them last week.... and this week we are working on the spine ... and adding fibers and what not .... should make for some interesting pieces ..... 

off to bed! it's nearly tomorrow ... but don't get me started on that! 

try again

...neither heidi nor allison could see the photos of my fifth graders' art ..... so here i am trying again ..... if you'd like to read about these two pieces, i think the post is two down from here ... hope this works!! not sure why they aren't showing up on the other post ... they do for me .... 

i had a FAB pottery outing this morning .... i'll show you pics tomorrow ....