2- I sold 6 hens this week for $125. They have a happy home in South Austin with a nice owner. I'm glad for them!
3- For Christmas my mom gave us the Safety Kids audio series. Have you ever heard of them? I love them! It's a bunch of songs to help kids learn how to be safe in a variety of situations (what to do when lost in public, what to do if someone tries to kidnap you, how to remember your telephone number, how to stay saf from drugs, how to keep our minds pure, etc.) I think they are clever and I remember them from my childhood. Our kids are in bed listening to the stories right now.
4- The Round Rock Area Arts Council exteneded a call for art work to be submitted for their annual art show. I have two unfinished paintings that I started this year. Can I finish them before the end of January? I feel a bit torn. I want to set my house in order some more before my classes start next week. Which is better?
5- I get kind of anxious when I work on some of my art projects. It's not relaxing for me at all. I get pretty worked up just trying to mix the right colors. I try modifying my color over and over and then worry about doing the brush strokes correctly and over analyze the angles. Usually I get so stressed about the painting that I reach a point where I don't care anymore and I jsut paint whatever feels fun, so it doesn't match the original concept very much. Whatever works, I guess.
6- On my first painting this year, the background mountains looked all wrong. I tried reworking the painting several times and finally white-washed it in frustration so I could start over with the blank canvas. After painting the mountains for several hours, I analyzed the new attempt, and realized soem cruel humor was afoot. The painting matched my first attemp EXACTLY. The colors were all wrong exactly like before. I laughed at it and decided not to care any more. I hung it up anyway, and I kind of feel liket hat painitng has a character of it's own. A sarcastic one.
7- My second painting is an attempt at Impressionism. It's a palace garden in France. I'll see if I can get a picture sometime soon and post the beginning stages of it here.
8- I've decided that the next home improvement project for my 'face-painting play money' will be a library. I've wanted to rip out our horrible carpets ever since we moved in, but a library has precedence over reflooring the house. My bookshelves are so full that books are precariously leaned on top of each other and balanced in towers on my dresser. I've already gone through the collections and thinned out the books that we don't really want to keep. The problem is that I love books too much to get rid of them (usually). They are some of life's best companions and I think reading is one of the best pasttimes a person could engage in. Honestly, what would you pick if you had to choose to downsize either the classics of Jane Austen or the collections of Shakespeare, or the intriguing Anatomy textbooks (I remember fondly perusing my dad's Anatomy textbooks and looking at dissected cadavers...SO cool!). They are all too life-enriching to get rid of them.
9- It will be a LONG time before I complete the library project....I have no bookings lined up for face painting since it's the slow season. The shelving will cost a couple thousand dollars......I'll be surprised if it gets built before next Christmas. Ah well, it would be a very exciting Christmas present! Until then, my books are safely perched in my room. We have all of our mismatched college bookshelves in our room....4 completely different shapes and styles. All full of books. (I feel like there should be some greedy villainous laugh here. Insert laugh now.)
10- Did you know Freemasonry is only open to men? I feel a bit cheated.
11- My classes start next week and I have mixed feelings. I'm excited to learn more about our bodies and feel my mind stretch. I'm not excited about the commute. I have a one hour drive EACH WAY to class, and it's on a Friday (again) so the traffic is especially bad, even if I leave class early. I'm not looking forward to that. Ont he other hand, the long commute is perfect for studying. I have a previous professor again, and she tests with primarily long essays. I record the essay material to a CD and listen to it while I drive, so there's a good study session. It is a bit over-stimulating to be driving in Friday's rush hour traffic in downtown Austin while listening to Nusring lectures, so I come home a little crazy, like I have ADD on hyperdrive. It's fun to make jokes about it. If you've ever called my house right when I get home, you know what I'm talking about. I talk a hundred words a second and I can't slow down.
12- Sarah is reading the Book of Mormon by herself right now. She's set s agoal to read the entire book before her next birthday so she can pray about it and decide for herself if she has a testimony about it's truthfulness and she can choose whether to be baptized. This morning she read next to me in bed. It was nice. The house was quiet and we just cuddled and read our books together.
13- Nathan brought home an electric typewriter this week. It was beign discarded at work. Sarah LOVES it and has been typing for a few hours each day. She likes to copy the texts from books or songs or write letters. She started a story today about a fairy named Adele. She has always loved making miniature books for other people, so I'm interested to see if the typewriter sparks more creative writing.
14- I guess I should stop now and go work ona painting for an hour while the children are asleep and the house is quiet. The problem is this: it takes me about 30 minutes to really get into the process and feel my groove, but then it will be late at night and I'll geel guilty for staying up. Erg. Perhaps I'll have nothing to enter in the art show this year. -sigh-
1 comment:
A library sounds awesome! Yeah there are the mason's for the guys but there is another "type" for the girl called The Daughters of the Eastern Star
they have one for youg girls too.... I think it was called "Job's Daughters"
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