I promise

I'll update here in a little while, I promise. TODAY!

Busy day

Well, what a busy day I have had! I read to my boys classrooms as usual, on Fridays. I finished at school by 9:00 and headed home. I met with a young girl to discuss art classes, which will really officially start next week. Today was a time of showing her some of the things I do, finding out her interests, etc... so I could get a direction to go that she will really enjoy. I'm very excited!

As soon as she left, my friend Lynn, came over to go through another class proposal with me. We worked through the project and worked some kinks out by looking at potential problems, coming up with valuable questions and demonstrations for composition design, etc... It was a productive time.

Lynn stayed until 6:30. I quickly changed clothes, ran through McDonald's (shiver..) and headed to church to see a film at 7:00 titled "As We Forgive" about the genocide in Rwanda and the reconciliation that is taking place between the victims and those who murder their families. It was a powerful, thought provoking film. I highly recommend it if you can find it being shown anywhere in your area.

Chuck has the boys on weekends but tomorrow, he has a class he is taking so we will swap the boys back out by 8:00 in the morning and I'll have them until 6:30. We may plan an outing... I'm not sure yet.

There has been a lot of "drama" in my life this week, which I can't go into, but I am thankful for the protection, peace, and clarity that God has given me along with his tangible presence in the mist of it. I am happy.

Well, gotta' get to bed. I'd like to get up early in the morning and at least get in a walk before I get the boys back. Don't know if I'll have time for a mountain hike but at least a walk would be good. So, I'm heading to bed...

My hike

Today, the desert was not brown... unless it was wearing fur. The little chipmunks are a regular site and every morning I hike, I kick myself for forgetting to take seeds for them. They'll take things right out of your hands! And they are scampering everywhere! So cute! The desert squirrel is a very rare sight. I've only seen maybe 2, EVER, here.



Today, the desert was red and yellow!

I love how everything is blooming. I got soooo lucky with this shot of the hummingbird!

I love the color of this desert grass.
I had a really nice hike up the mountain this morning. I ran by the dollar store and beauty supply for a few things and then home to clean up and do a couple of haircuts. Max had a friend over while Sam went to a friend's house after school. Max is SOOOO into his gardening that all he wants to do is plant things.

This evening, I went to a 'lecture" so to speak, to hear Kathy Cano-Marillo, Cyndi Coon, and Lisa Jacobs speak about turning "craft to business". It was encouraging to hear their stories and to learn a few things too.

Now, it's late and time for me to get to bed!

Aren't these fun?

Aren't these such fun pants? They' re actually cropped pants. I found them at Goodwill in like new condition for $3.99! You can see them a little more close up posted on my other blog. I just love them! And photobooth comes in handy! :) Gotta' run out for appointments. Ciao!

Finished painting

Today, I finished a painting I started back in December. It is certainly not a "pretty" painting by any stretch of the imagination... but it tells part of my story.

A few things off catch up

Well, it's late here so this will be a bit short. I just finished watching a chick flick by myself sitting in bed. I moved my computer to my bedroom and use my monitor to watch movies! It's quite convenient when you have a 24 inch monitor!

I spent the day with my friend, Lynn. I taught her how to make the book I'll be teaching at Art Unraveled! She has offered to be my class assistant so she needs to know what we are doing! It was such a fun day creating and brainstorming together. She took notes as I talked ideas out... I felt important... like she was my personal secretary! LOL! We have a lot of ideas! She asked really good questions while we were making the book today too so it was good practice.

Yesterday, a tornado hit the small town in Mississippi that was always "home". Both sides of my family are from Magee and as a child, it was my most favorite place on earth. The church that generations of my family attended, was completely destroyed. It's still so shocking to see the pictures. I was in my first wedding as a rice girl in that church when I was 7. I remember attending revivals there as a child and participating in kid programs when we visited my grandparents in the summer or on holidays. I remember watching my grandmother stretch out her quilts on table tops to prepare them for quilting. Many, many memories there. It's so sad to see such destruction. I also heard that the home my grandparents lived in before they passed away had a tree laying in the middle of the house. I'm so thankful they were spared that. My grandfather was deathly afraid of storms and usually would go spend the night at someone's house if a storm blew in. Of course, most of my life, they lived in a house with a metal tin roof so it was really noisy in a storm! Anyway, prayers for that community are so appreciated.

Tomorrow, I have someone doing some work in my apartment so I have to be here most of the day but am planning to go hike early in the morning first thing. I also want to work on a painting tomorrow. I finally have my work tables clear and ready for creating! It feels so good!

Also, this past week our church had our week of 24/7 prayer. It was powerful again this year. I wish I could have spent more time than I was able. Easily, one could be there for hours.

Well, I'm hitting the bed.

WINNER!!

First of all, I want to thank all of you who posted your thoughts about possible classes for me to teach. Your comments were encouraging and enlightening. You have all given me some direction to go... and it appears that unanimously, I need to be teaching some sort of watercolor class. Funny that I proposed one for Art Unraveled but it did not get accepted. Guess I need to venture off on my own, huh? You all have been very helpful. Thank you so much!

Now for the winner of either the book or the goodie package... using the random number generator, Judy Whitehead! You are the winner! This is the first time I've ever used the generator and had it choose the number 1!!! So Judy, let me know what your choice would be. If you want the goodie package, let me know if you would like more of a fabric type package or ephemera and also colors you enjoy working with.

Thanks again everyone! You guys are great!