Peppermint & Broccoli

Okay, so I have to be honest... I can't paint the dinning room yet. We are project people around here and there are too many other projects in mid-project-ness to start a new one. Namely the half finished metal cabinet project, and the replacement of our wood burning stove. The later of the two is a big job! More on that later, when it is finished though.

Anywho... today I am determined not to be antsy or bored. I am wearing my hair down too, that way I won't get that I-think-my-ponytail-is-pulled-too-tight feeling either. I am working on being okay with a slower pace and so far, today, I like it.

There are two things that I live off of in the winter and they are probably the least likely bed-fellows. Peppermint Mochas from Starbucks and Cream of Broccoli Soup. LOL... weird combo, I know. But it isn't like I am slurping them at the same time!! Today while running errands this morning, I treated myself to my first Grande Peppermint Mocha of the season. Oh how I missed you my sweet peppermint. And when I got home from my errands, I started a pot of soup. Yes, I make it from scratch, and no, I can't mail you any. Truly, can you think of anything better then soup and bread on a dreary, cold, Fall evening. It.Is.The.Best.

Today has been such a good day.

Rinse & Repeat

Such a silly and somewhat boring name for such a bright and playful necklace, huh? Oh well, that's what it wants to be called. No, really. I was uploading the photos and as I was hitting "save as" when the words "Rinse & Repeat" were suddenly being repeated over and over in the my head. What else would I think but this is what the necklace wants to be called? LOL.

My guess is that it is really my subconscious (or dare I say my creative spirit) talking to me. That it feels like I am in a rinse & repeat mode of life right now. Not really doing much more then going through the motions of the day. Not enjoying things enough. And my subconscious would be right. I am still trying to find my footing and a routine to the quiet days I have. Some aren't so quiet, with running here and there, or mid-day doctors appointments that totally throw me off... but at least a few times a week, it is just me, in my quiet house, wondering what to do next.

I had all that pent up creative energy in August and I don't know where it went. I am waiting for it to come back. LOL. Silly, I know. But as I have said before, I am patient when it comes to things like this. I will be inspired and overly creative again in no time. I have an art show coming up in a few weeks and I don't want to disappoint... so lots of new things will be made. I just wonder what new things? Do you ever wonder things like that? There is always a "new thing" and it is out there waiting to be thought of... I sometimes sit and wonder if the thing I am doing at that moment will be the catalyst for the new thing I have been waiting to get inspired to do. Puts grand expectations on little things, I think, and makes me disappointed when the new thing doesn't pop into my head. Alas, it is how I think though, and changing the way you think is a hard thing to do.

And there we are... back to a "Rinse & Repeat" way of life. My stars, I sound sappy. I don't feel sappy. I feel bored, and cheeky, and tired of being patient, and like my ponytail is too tight today. LOL. I am in a think-I-aughtta-paint-something-lime-green kinda mood. You know what... I might just do that! I have been wanting to re-paint the dining room for a while now, and I found a color I love, and although it isn't lime, it is a lovely shade of aqua-ish green. I bet I could have it done by the end of the week. Hmmm... wonder if Ron would mind?

Chocolate Love

Just a quick mindless post for this morning. I have been knitting on a new sweater and the yarn is a delicious shade of chocolate brown from Knit Picks called "Merlot Heather". I love patterns that have a gauge of 3 stitches per inch, LOL... it goes by so much faster then the ones at 7-8 stitches!!

Departing Arrival

I am rather late to blogging today. Hmm... I wonder if it will become a habit, LOL? I usually have my posts written first thing in the morning, but these days, there is so much to do. Today is was a few estate sales that had me out the door the moment the kids were on the bus. My finds, though, I will save to share on a different day.

Once I got home from my thrifting, I went straight down to the studio to work on the design I mentioned yesterday. Unlike yesterday's necklace that took about 30mins to make, this one I spent the past 2 hours on. And it went through several revisions in that time.


My original idea that spurred the dozens of black and white cupped discs was a variation on a lariat. I have this design for a "loop" at the end of length of chain that is kinda like a sleek oval and a disc hanging on the other end of the chain would slip through the oval. Wonderful in theory, and still going to be worked on, but ended up not really working the way I thought it would. SO, I rearranged the beads, and in a second idea hide the clasp in the front behind one giant POPPIN' turquoise disc. Again, cool, and I liked it, but still not quite right.

Finally, I settled here. With a graduating cluster of discs that dance on gunmetal black chain with a simple sterling clasp in the back. Each one of those blue bubbles are handmade sterling silver glass headpins by yours truly. I am so happy with how they turned out!! Some of the discs are attached with sterling swirls and some with these headpins, I think it is a fun mix.

Now the name... "Departing Arrival". I wanted a name that was a bit of an oxymoron. Opposite things together. Kinda, yin and yang-ish. You know, playing off the black and white thing... this just popped in my head when I started downloading the photos. I think it fits it perfectly!!

More Relaxed

First of all, thanks to each and every one of you for the love and support you give me anytime I dive into my life behind my art exterior. I truly appreciate each comment you leave for me and every email that is sent. I don't know how I would get on without the e-friends this blog has brought me together with. Thank you. Things went well yesterday with the new in-home therapist. I am armed with a magic phone number I can call anytime I feel overwhelmed and although she is young, she seems bright and intelligent. It has me very hopefully today that there might be some better days coming our way. Though, I have been warned, it always gets worse before it gets better.

Moving right along though... I spent most of the morning in the studio. I had an idea POP in my head and I was very excited to make the beads asap so I can bring it to life tomorrow. I spent a solid three hours making dozens of beads for this new design... and GLASS headpins too. Wait till you see it!! When I started to wind down from the bead making, I wasn't ready to leave the studio, so I set myself down at my desk. And a half hour later... this new necklace was in my hands. I am calling it "Layin' Around".

I find it funny to think "which came first? the design idea or the beads?". For me, most of the time it is the design idea. Then, I make the beads to suit. Case in point, the design I will show you tomorrow. Over time though, there ends up being lots of beads that are one off from what I need and they sit homeless on my desk. They sit patiently and wait for their turn to be needed. There are usually some stand outs that audition for lead roles in my finished jewelry more often than others, only to be turned away at the last minute. Poor things.

All these beads, all 13 of them, were just laying around on my desk. Really! Finally they have found a place where they can shine. My stars I am sounding corny. LOL!. This was just plain fun to make and for the half hour or so that I have been wearing it around the house, it is just plain fun to wear too.

Hey... have you noticed my new photo experiments? What do you think of the simple solid color backgrounds? I bought one of the scrap booking packs of colored card stock and I am shooting against those. I feel like everyone does the "white background" thing these days (or the vintagey staging which just wouldn't work for my pieces)... I want to mix things up and try something new. I would love to hear what you think! Leave comments!

In Our Home

Life is a roller coaster ride, right? Or so they say. Full of ups and downs. Yesterday's post was one of the ups and unfortunately, today's is going to be one of the downs. I was very tempted to just let this day go by without a post at all. Part of me feels bad when I talk about certain topics, like I am burdening you all. Another part of me needs to write about those things though. I try to remind myself that this blog is about art and life, so whether it is good or bad, it can all be here.

I think I have mentioned before, the new meds aren't working for Andrew. Or rather, they work for a week or two and then stop. So we increase the dose, it works for a bit, and then it stops. There are new possible diagnoses being talked about to explain why he seems to be so unresponsive to meds. In the meantime though, our doctor put us in touch with a group called Home Crisis Intervention. Today we are starting six weeks of in-home family therapy three times a week for 2 hours at a time. It is a huge commitment. And I have been told it will be primarily for Ron and I, to work on refreshing parenting skills and to give us new things to try.

Needless to say, I am a nervous wreck. It is one thing to drive to a doctor's office once or twice a week and talk about what is going on. It is a completely different thing to bring someone into our home. There is no "spinning" the bad, it is all going to be right there. Will they think we are bad parents? Am I a bad Mom? Can this really help us? There is an art show in a few weeks, how will I be ready? Can I find balance? I have got a million and one questions floating in my head.

I am not fishing for oh-you're-a-wonderful-mother comments. I just want things to get better. I would love a day where I didn't have to break up a fight between the kids, where homework is done without a meltdown, where they can enjoy each others company, with kisses goodnight on the forehead at bedtime. Really, am I asking too much? Do those days not really exist?

Today is just... ugh.

A Weekend of Celebrating

This weekend was wild. We had so many things to celebrate! First, it was my Mom's 51st birthday. We spent the day together rescuing a new kitchen from a local animal shelter, hitting a few estate sales, and having margaritas in the afternoon. Mom hates when I try to take her picture. She kept running (or rather waddling quickly, her legs aren't what they used to be) and hiding behind things. She got so playful that she started laughing so hard she nearly peed her pants (see last photo). LOL!! I would say that is some good birthday fun, wouldn't you?



For Saturday we had a wedding to celebrate. My cousin Greta married her boyfriend of several years, Michael, in a lovely patio ceremony at a place called The Rabbit Room in The Lower Mill in Honeyeo Falls, NY. This reception hall was awesome. The place is a converted flour mill with three floors to explore. The main level was where the party was at with Rock Band set up for the kids to play and "grazing stations" for dinner. Then, upstairs, there was an art gallery and a museum. Very cool!! It was an unconventional reception to say the least. No formal sit down, no bridal dance, and no garter throwing, but rather there was specialty micro brew beers, and M&Ms with the bride and grooms photos on them, and carrot cake! This was the first ever wedding my kids have gotten to attend and they had a blast. Best of all, we were all home and in bed by 10pm. It made for a very happy Sunday morning.

I wish I could have had a higher note to celebrating the ending of the weekend. I wish I could tell you Jacob's football team won their first game... alas, they lost. Again. This time, it was 44-0. He still isn't able to play. The doctors are now saying it is tendinitis in his neck and he can't return until Sept 30th. He is bumming hard! But we won't let him play unless he is 110%. He just needs to rest and let his body heal.



So... did you do any celebrating this weekend?

Tweaked

Things didn't go according to plan yesterday, but they did work out in the end. Check out Jacob's new old bed. Nothing fancy, just a simple wood headboard and some plain bedding. I picked him up a down comforter for chilly winter nights and no, I didn't iron the bed skirt. I.hate.ironing. Would you believe, his room is always that clean? All I did was sweep and set the bed up. He is like me in more ways than we can count. For his birthday, I plan to get some reproduction vintage football prints for the walls. I can already envision them hanging on the wall over his bed.

Oh, and his neck... thanks for all the well wishes. He is doing much better, but still isn't 100%. I took him for a massage yesterday afternoon, and the massage therapist could feel swelling in two areas still. So he isn't going to football practice tonight, but hopefully he will be back on Saturday.

Now me, on the other hand, totally tweaked my back last night. Ron and I were laying in bed watching an episode of Hell'S Kitchen on my laptop on Hulu. When it was over, I closed my laptop and twisted to set the computer on the floor. Well, I twisted the wrong way and wrenched my back. I was in pain all night, and got very little sleep. I am hoping my Mom can bring her heat pad over later this morning and I can get enough relief to take a breath without being sore. Ugh. I am sure it will be better in a day or two. But I think I need to take this as a sign that I need to slow down and take it easy.

Here is to a day of knitting on the couch with a heat pad and coffee.

Not According To Plan

I am having an annoying day. I awoke this morning with an idea of how the day was going to go, but left and right... things aren't going according to plan.

Yesterday, I took a ride out to an estate sale with my Mom and bought an old bed for Jacob with new mattresses. He is nearly as tall as me these days and wedging his lankiness into a tiny twin bed is getting difficult. He says "Mom. It's fine." but I go in his room to wake him up in the morning and half of him is hanging out of the bed! So, it's time.

The bed I bought is a queen size, which is just a hair too big to fit in my minivan. So I told the sale people I would be by today to pick up the bed. I made sure Ron left me the keys to his truck and he took my van to work. Easy peazy right? Nope! I went out to pick up the bed and Ron's truck is dead as a door nail. It is either the battery or the starter. Grrr... now I am stuck home waiting for Ron to come home on lunch with a replacement battery. I thought I would be done with the new bed thing by now and hitting the torch this afternoon. Oh well.

I hate when things don't go according to plan.

Headed to JOOLZ

The fabulous Francie over at JOOLZ sent me an email this weekend letting me know the shop needs new pieces. She put in a special request for pieces that are primarily black and white (the decor of the store). She knows her jewelry and she knows her clientele... they love classic black and white designs. I am very happy to oblige her request. I have been really wanting to try new things and take my jewelry in different directions, but at the same time, since I haven't made anything in months, I need to refresh my skills. So, having a set color combination, and the idea of classic designs, is letting me dip my toes back in the water, so to speak, before diving in head first into wildly new designs.

I worked on these beads yesterday. I was trying to make checker board beads, but they just weren't working for me. So, I thought... hmmmm... what if I make a grid instead? Tada... I love all the straight lines! I calling this piece "Orderly Fashion". I used vintage black and white enameled chain to link it all together. It really gives the look of two necklaces layered together. One is 24inches long and the other 19inches. I would show you what it looks like on, but alas, I am wearing yellow and brown today... the black and white just doesn't work. LOL.

Oh, I wanted to let you know that Francie recently opened up an online JOOLZ boutique. Visit http://www.shopjoolz.com/store to check out some of the fantastic work she has available. You even see a few of my pieces there.

Sports Photographer

I din't get to do much "creating" this weekend. Things seemed to revolve around makng sure the boy wonder with a neck injury was comfortable. (Though I did get to go out to a couple of estate sales with my Mom on Saturday afternoon.) On Sunday we went to watch Jacob's team take on some Vikings. I told y'all how I was asked to be team manager, but did you know, I am also the team phototgrapher (and a medic)? Yeah, I am! I thought you would like to see some of my favorite shots from yesterday's game.

I am still learning about sports photograpy. I have been reading lots of articles online about how to set up my camera to get good shots with little blur of those always-in-motion kids. I had a lot of trouble at last weekend's night game, but things look much improved this weekend!! I am very excited. I still need to work on "framing" the shot better, but I think that will come with more practice.

Check them out...








I have a new project I am working, as well as several others. Hopefully, I wil lhave lots of new things to share with you this week! Stay tuned!!

Make 'n' Take

I decided to try something new. Make 'n' Take beads... I make them and you take them, lol. As I find the time, I will be making beads to offer up on my website. In the past, I would pick a color combo and over a couple weeks make a whole bunch to offer up all at once. Now, I am going to be posting whenever I have something. I think it will make things more random and give more people a chance to be the lucky person to stuble across a fresh set of beads. Sometimes there will be lots of beads, and sometimes just one or two.

Pop over to my Bead Box and check things out!

A Scary Night

Oh.What.A.Night

We are off to a slow start this morning because Jacob and I are just exhausted. As a little background, on Monday, Jacob went with a friend's family to their cabin and had a wild day of water activities. While there, he tried to life a tube (the big huge kind that gets pulled behind a boat) and pulled a muscle in his neck. He was sore when he got home so I iced it and gave him Motrin. Tuesday was fine, he didn't complain a bit and I thought he was good to go. Tuesday evening, we went to football practice and after about 15 minutes of warm ups, he came off the field in tears unable to stand the weight of his helmet on his neck.

Jacob.Doesn't.Cry. He just doesn't. I know my kid and he lives and breathes to play football, injury or not. If he is in pain enough to cry, it is serious. The medic iced him up and we kept him out of practice for the night. Wednesday went by, no football practice, so he was able to rest up. We kept the Motrin in him and kept him moving his neck. By Thursday he was pain free and ready to return to football.

Last night, about half way through practice, I said to the medic "someone is not getting up". She went out on the field and as the coaches were lifting the "someone" I realized it was Jacob. He came off the field in extreme pain, worse than it had been before. Every step he was taking shot pain through him, and when we took his helmet off he was holding his whole head in pain. We iced him for about 30mins and then tried to take his shoulder pads off. Not. Good. The medic (we have two team medics that are registered nurses) said he was in too much pain for a regular pulled muscle. She said we needed to go to Urgent Care.

Once at Urgent Care, I got lectured about how Jacob should have never attempted to walk off the field, he should have been put in a collar, and an ambulance should have been called. So that is what they did. They got Jacob's weight and vitals, then got him on a bed and called the ambulance. He was immobilized on a board and put in a stiff neck brace. Where he stayed for the next two hours as we went to the emergency room and he had a cat scan. The initial review of the ct is that there isn't a "serious" injury. No slipped disc, no hernias. They are calling it a "sever sprain/strain" of the muscles in his neck. It is high, near his hairline. We are icing it lots, and keeping the Motrin flowing. He is home from school today, and he is out of football for at least a week.

Keep him in your thoughts for a speedy recovery and your fingers crossed that when he is able to play again that he doesn't re-injure himself!

An Interesting Experiment

This past Spring when I was in Loveland doing the shoot for my book, I heard the book Ancient Modern by Ronna Sarvas Weltman mentioned several times. It was mostly things like "what color background did we use on Ancient Modern?" or "it is the same size spread as Ancient Modern." When I was in Barnes & Noble the other day, I picked up a copy and had to take a look.

I love Ronna's use of color, I love her chunky style of jewelry, and I love the textures that everything has. I let things stew for a bit and started to wonder how glass and polymer might look together. I stewed on the thoughts so long that I couldn't get it out of my head. It started keeping me awake at night, lol. SO, with my first full day of freedom, I set out to the local craft store and bought me some supplies. I already had most of the suggested tools on hand from working with PMC. I just needed the pasta machine for working the clay, the clay itself, and I picked up a bead roller too.

The photo above is my first ever piece using polymer clay! I literally spent HOURS playing with the stuff. It really is interesting. I can't decided yet if I like it or if I wasted a lot of money, lol. The glass beads I used were just some beads I had laying around. So, the plan for today is to make glass beads this morning and experiment with polymer more this afternoon. I had another sleepless night of imagining the kind of glass beads I would rather see in this design, I am working on those first so maybe tomorrow I will be able to string some up a little sumptin sumptin. That is the trouble with being a glass artist and not necessarily a beader... I don't have a huge stash from which to work, I have to have the idea for the bead I want, make the bead, wait for it to anneal, clean it and then make the piece of jewelry. *sigh* sometimes I wish I had a stash of beads.

One thing I will say, for those that are thinking about trying to play with polymer. For me, I don't work well when learning with a blank slate, I need to have a project to try. And I think that is why I was working for HOURS on things. I was too scattered and didn't know what to do. So, this is the kind of situation where I say, copy a tutorial to the letter. Learn the technique. Keep that project for yourself. And then take off with your own ideas from there. That's what I am going to do.

And... They're Off...

They went back!! And I am headed out the door to do some craft supply shopping to get to work on that list I day dreamed about yesterday.

Dreaming While Running

(me, working on my Rainy Day Camouflage cardigan over the weekend... it has nothing to do with my post today, lol... just needed a photo!)

There is something about my morning runs that really gets my brain going. Some mornings, especially when it is hot, I am not thinking about anything but making it to the next mailbox without falling over. On other mornings, like today, I can't keep my thoughts under wraps. They run wild. I think about every thing and any thing. Today, I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve. The eve of school starting = Christmas Eve, I can see that, can't you?

Much like a kid dreams about all the toys they will receive and the games they will play once they rip through all the wrapping paper, I was scheming in my mind about all the things I want to do with my time when the kids get back to school. TIME! Oh what a valuable thing it is. "Me" time is extra extra valuable. And I am going to get tons of it... soon.

Here is what I was thinking about while running...

* Make more beads... and have sets to offer up on my website at least once a week
* Make more art... and create prints of the pieces I make and make note cards of the pieces, and oh, maybe a calendar full of my mixed media pieces for 2010.
* Make more jewelry... and take my jewelry in a new direction. I am seeing changes coming.
* Learn new techniques and mediums... hmmm... maybe learning to make polymer clay beads to work in with my glass beads, what a match at would make. Can you imagine my "style" in bright playful polymer clay? (I almost can.)
* Go thrifting more.
* Pitch a new book to my publisher.(I have an idea already, I need to work on the designs to support it.)
* Read the back log of books I have bought but haven't opened.

I am sure there were others, but alas, I was day dreaming and sometimes they come and go so quickly, it is hard to hang on to them. What are you day dreaming and scheming to accomplish these days?

Weekend Reviewing

We had a bit of a hectic weekend around here. Lots going on for this last weekend of summer vacation. I am gonna give ya a quick review of what we did... I am anxious to get back to doing nothing today and relaxing a little longer while Ron is home.


I was able to get the base of my cabinet stripped down to the base metal. I wet sanded for about two hours!! It will be worth it. I am going to prime it today and start stripping the upper part of the cabinet next.


Jacob's team had their first game of the season Saturday night under the lights!! They played the Wayne Eagles (yes, his old team, the team he was on when we lived out there) and OMG those boys are HUGE!! I was one proud Momma and Team Manager, that is my Jacob #87 voted one of the team captains by the other players. Unfortunately, my Webster Warriors lost 8-30, but dang it was an exciting first half. This photo turned out great, but most of my action shots are blurry, which has me researching sports photography. I am learning lots of new things about my new camera. I can't wait until the next game!


Sunday we had a family day at my parents. Mom cooked a Thanksgiving style turkey dinner complete with mash potatoes and stuffing. We ate picnic style out in the backyard with corn on the cob too. We played that bean bag toss across game, drank wine, and had a bonfire in the woods while listening to Van Morrison and Jimmy Buffet tones. Mom and I also popped out Lauren's third tooth. She is a tooth losing fool the past few weeks!!

And that's that. Just today and tomorrow left in the summer of 2009. The kids go back to school on Wednesday!!

I was stripping...

(aka how we spent our Friday)



Ever wake up and decide to work on a dozen projects you hadn't planned on working until that moment? Yeah? That was the kind of day I had yesterday. Ron has taken the past couple of Fridays off to relieve a little of my stress. Last week we took the kids for a trip to Powder Mill Park in Pittsford NY. This week though, we were all business... well sort off.



First thing we had to take care of was wood. We have a wood burner and heat the house mostly by wood through the winter. We have been getting load after load of free wood from my in-laws property. There was a giant stack of logs that needed sawing. Ron chain sawed and a stacked. The pile of wood was on the side of the garage, and as I was sitting on a bench sipping morning coffee waiting for my next load of wood to be ready to stack, I started to kinda flip out. LOL. Ron asked what as wrong and I said "I am trying very very hard to control my anxiety", to which he replied "what are you anxious about?" Logical question right? As my knee start to bounce uncontrollably, and I wanted to bite my nails, I said "the garage is a DISASTER and "Carrie" wants to clean it". He laughed at me of course. Y'all remember Carrie, dontcha? She is that OCD alter ego in the back of my head. LOL.

So yes, I cleaned the garage too. More organized than cleaned really. People around her have a tendency to just drop things in empty spaces rather than put the things where they go. So it makes things look really really cluttered, all.the.time. But I know what you are thinking... Kerry, what do these pictures have to do with chopping wood and cleaning the garage?



Ron and I recently traded his parents our mid-80s oak china cabinet for a metal hunk o'junk outta their basement. We don't think it is a hunk o'junk though!! It is actually a 1930's metal medical hutch. It has been in the garage for the past couple months and after cleaning the garage, I decided it was time to dive into this restoration project. I didn't get a proper before photos with the hutch on top of the base, oh well. The top is almost all beveled glass. Glass sides, glass doors, and glass shelves. The base has been painted three or four times. Blue, a couple shades of green, and ivory at some point too. We are stripping it down to bare metal and from there we will prime and paint it. So, most of yesterday afternoon was spent on the deck, with a cold beer in hand, taking turns scrapping the paint of this old cabinet.

I can't wait to get this done, it is going to look so cool!! Wanna know what color we are planning to paint it? Rusty Orange!! I was thinking orange from the beginning and didn't think Ron would go for it. He is a paint-everything-white-or-off-white kinda guy, but he went for it!! I will let you know how it turns out.

A New View

Okay, what is it with me and salvaged windows? Really now? I can't get enough of them. I think I am up to eight in places through out the house. This latest one, over the kitchen sink, is courtesy of my sister. She found this gorgeous window for $5 at an estate sale. What you can't see in the photo is that those diamonds of glass actually bubble out. The window is dimensional!! The side on the living room sticks out about three inches from the frame. Cool huh? Anyone else salvaging old windows out there?

A Memory Lane Adventure

After yesterday's blog post, I decided, enough is enough. We needed to get the heck outta the house. We needed a little adventure. I told the kids there were a few stops to make and then we would eat lunch in a special spot. I, of course, got a bunch of "what special spot" comments. I told them... "you'll figure it out."

First we popped in the grocery store for a loaf of bread. Sandwiches were my easy lunch choice of the day. Then to the farm market where a peck of peaches was $5! A PECK! That is like 30 peaches!! After that, we stopped to pick raspberries. The fall raspberries are in season around here and they are so so so so sweet. I think Jacob ate his weight in berries while picking his pint.

Then, it was time to make our way to our special spot. As I drove the back roads from the farm with raspberries to the park I picked, the kids started to realize they knew where they were. I was taking them "TO THE LAKE!" And not just any lake... the old lake... the lake we used to go to at the old house. To B.Forman Park. Y'all have seen photos from this park before, too. Here are a few more.









We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, we threw rocks, and we swung on the swings. Not a bad way to pass the afternoon. It was hard on Jacob though. He is my deep thinker. Being so close to our old house and visiting an old favorite spot, in his words, brought back too many memories. He misses things. I told him it isn't bad to remember something and miss it. It is good and we can visit the lake anytime.

Lots more photos HERE on Flickr. I had fun turning a bunch black and white too. Check them out.

Rainy Day Camouflage

I have a feeling that this is going to be a bit of a run on, rambling post. I am feeling a bit scattered in the brain and that always comes through in my writing. I started and stopped this post in my head all through the night. Yep, I think about writing while trying to sleep. Doesn't everybody?

Half the posts I thought of I would mention my latest post on Watch Me Create, show you the latest project I started knitting (photo above), and/or tell you some other "fluffy" thing. The other half are ones where things aren't fluffy at all, because frankly, there is nothing rainbows and unicorns about my mood right now. And it isn't that I am depressed or anything, it is something else... something that is hard to put my finger on.

I have mentioned a few times this summer that I have a lot of pent up energy. Creative energy that is itching to get out. With out the "me" time I need to let that energy do what it wants to do, it is turning into frustration. I think now though, over the past week or so, as the time for "me" time starts to get within reach (school starts next Wednesday), that frustration is turning into a very insecure anxiety. I wonder... "where do I start?" "what should I make?" "my 'stuff' feels boring... what if I don't have any new ideas?"

I *know* things will work out, but as I was told at one of Andrew's therapy appointments, knowing something and being able to spit it back at someone is very different than taking it in and really letting it change the way you think. Right now, my thinking is stuck. Though I am surprised I am coming right out and admitting it. I don't usually do that. I usually think myself into being fine. I consider myself a very patient person when it comes to thinking like that. Do you know what I mean? I don't have patience about a lot of things... but being able to wait for things to be fine... that I can do.

Life never stays the way it is for very long anyway. It is always changing and new things are around every corner. *sigh*... see, I told you this would be a scattered post... just when I think I am getting to a point, I lose it and my mind travels off in a different direction. I am guessing that is how my mind copes with my life. It doesn't let me dwell too long. I think I will take the kids raspberry picking today.