It's March 23rd Already???

(Blowing in the mic - "IS THIS THING ON??")

*crickets chirping* 👀

Well, apparently I've laxed the entire month of February and a good chunk of March. I can't tell you how many times I've come here, sat in front of a blank page, then left. Seems like it's so difficult to put my thoughts into words.

I've come to the conclusion that time truly flies when it revolves around bills and pay days. How unfair is that?

Unemployed - still, but not sweating it.

My sister and I have been getting into different art mediums. She's doing free hand painting on canvas; I turned her onto You Tube videos and there she went. Now - like me - when she can't sleep, she goes to her craft room and creates in the night. She changed her master bedroom into her work room so the amount of space she has is cray-cray. I hate her.......😝

I've been trying molding paste (aka Joint Compound I found in my basement) on canvas. This woman is my new true love. She makes everything look SO easy.

And here's my first attempt pre-sanding/painting.

First attempt

I love the texture and cannot wait to get started on another. One thing I have to learn to do is stop acting like I HAVE to be just like online artists. It's all experimental; playing around to see how things come out. I need to trust my inner-play and just let go of rules.

Here is another piece I started with bleeding tissue paper on canvas. I ADORE the texture it gives and the colors POP! I got the dried 'things' from outside off my Black-Eyed Susan bush that lives like this thru the winter until it re-blooms. It's sitting aside until I can figure out what's next with it.

They stay put thanks to the almighty Mod Podge & Elmers Spray Glue.

The plan is to have a garden this year. I have abundant sunshine now (since 'the tree' incident) and plenty of space so why not? Our local library has a free seed give away to encourage folks to grow their own food - I am SO all in. I grew up with a garden and have always loved planting, nurturing, growing then eating food grown right outside the door.

I used to have a blog page several years ago called "If I Plant It, It Will Grow." I documented my tiny garden from beginning to end. It was lots of fun. I think I will do that again, but I'll keep it to just this page - trying to keep 2 blogs going was quite a bit to chew.

Other than that - everything is still everything. I have more to say, but my eyes are growing tired.

Until next time!!! 👅

Your "Word" for 2017

I'm proud of myself for completing thus far 29 photo prompts of December Reflections. The only 2 I missed were days 24 and 25 and I don't believe in going back in this case. I enjoy these because it makes my brain connect a picture to the prompts. It wasn't difficult since I shoot about a gazillion pictures making it easy to go back & connect one with the other.

I will not participate in the last day. I mean I will, but it won't be "MY" word. I've decided not to have a word for the upcoming year. There are already plenty of words out there; I don't need to put another pain in my ass for feeling like failure when I don't 'live up' to the word.' I have enough on my mind.

For instance, the word below was my 2016 word. Yes, I came out strong creating a bold, kick-ass banner that screamed as much. However, I realized in the last few hours of the old year that I haven't done one damn thing that equates 'brave.'

My "2016 unused word" (Photo by Me)

If you want to call walking out on a stressful new job after a 3 year dry period 'brave', then you can count that. I didn't feel brave at all. I felt like I was leaving before the door hit me in the ass, so to speak. It's less painful when you 'fire' yourself than to hear it coming from your boss. Lol!!

My ever-wise friend, Se'lah, gave me this bit of knowledge tonight:

"If something doesn't personally make a difference in your life, there is no need to embrace it." 

My Photo

What? I don't?? Her saying that was SO freeing!!! Why the hell couldn't I have figured that out myself? I need to surround myself more folks spitting wisdom. Now I need to dig into myself to see what other shit is holding me hostage and why I feel married to shit that doesn't make me feel good.

Peace, light and DUH!!!! 😡

Breast Cancer Walk 2013/Catch Up #2

I walked the yearly Strides for Life Breast Cancer Walk, Canton Ohio chapter, last Sunday. It was a chilly, beautiful day. Nothing was more rewarding than walking as one with fighters and survivors. We are all blessed.

My home made banner for my sister, Sharon, friends & family

Top of the very early morning. 8:45 a.m.

The front of "Team for Life" T-shirt

... and the back. We got A LOT of compliments. Thanks to my 'niece', Kenya' for the design

The start & finish line

Me and 1/2 of "Team for Life". I was old enough to be all of these ladies' mother. Sheesh... Lol.

Eventful

In the late 90's, my sister, Sharon, asks me to meet her in San Francisco to be a part of Oprah Winfrey's "Live Your Best Life Tour" for the weekend.

Scream.

I took the Friday off work & flew out that afternoon. It was a whirlwind dream. A guy I could've sworn (& still do) sat next to me & kept telling me he WASN'T David Ducovny (X-Files), but I insisted that he was. He ended up falling asleep on my shoulder. (Umm.. 'scuse me, David?) SanFran is over the top beautiful and over the top expensive. I wasn't ready for the wind or the cool (aka, cold) temps. I didn't pack right.

We stayed @ a beautiful hotel & Sat. morning headed down early to Knob Hill to be w/Opie. Okay... the hills of SanFran - you would have to have feet like a mountain goat. Don't bother doing your hair either, otherwise you WILL look one deranged woman. For all the primping & prancing my sister & I did before we left the hotel, by the time we got inside the building, we looked like we had been beaten. Severely.

The line to get inside was wrapped completely around the building with 2500+ women (& a few men). The wind was crazy, the air was freezing, we had that mountain goat thing going on, yet we all wanted to see Oprah. The rule was 'no cameras. ever.' Well, I wasn't getting that close w/no pictures, so we tried to snap undercover. Just when we were trying to stuff our cameras in our purses, a guard comes up and says, LADIES! I died a little & was ready to plead the 5th. But she says, "would you like to greet Oprah as she gets out of her limo?"

Die.

So we scream & she takes us behind a velvet rope where "Oprah would be approaching.' (Sheesh). Six (yes 6) limos pulled up in a row, and there she was with one of the biggest body guards I've ever known a human to be. I laughed cause he kinda looked like one of my brothers.

 Oprah 'freakin' Winfrey. Right here - this ([ ]) close, in live and living color. Smiling, shaking hands, hugging (if she chose to). I immediately zoomed in on her fab hair and yeah... it's all that. A very 'excited' guy gave her 12-long stemmed roses; she accepted them & rubbed his cheek. I think he collapsed. Suddenly he just went down. Lol. She had on A LOT of makeup outside, but inside on stage - she was elegantly beautiful.

We were very close like 4th/5th row. Oprah was right there ([ ])!!So, starting @ 9:00 a.m., we:

• meditated (of course, I had to peek @ Oprah & see if she was doing it. She was)
• ate breakfast (we ate & socialized - not w/Oprah. We met back up after we ate)
• listened to her very funny, sad, painful, amazing life stories (she's very funny & very down to earth)
• watched her kick off her stilettos & get her pair of "fuzzies" from off stage
• listened to her heartaches & struggles with food
• watched her give away a brand new SUV (the person that won was from Portland, OR)
• watched her give special prizes for those who had traveled the farthest (I thought I was good coming from the midwest, but a mother/daughter team from India took the cake. And the prize
• listened to audiences' questions/comments & Oprah's answers while a mic was passed around
• broke for lunch (on Oprah, but not with Oprah. Lol)
•  accepted her awesome duffle bags full of goodies
• on breaks, laughed, hugged & loved perfect strangers because we were a sisterhood

I took (stole?) the terra cotta pot of roses from our lunch table & dried them when I got home. A good memory, huh? That was back when they didn't make you take your clothes off to fly. By the time I flew back home that Sunday, I felt so high, there were no words. The weather was clear across the whole country, I was miles high in the air, trusting God, I loved my sister even more (if possible) for giving me such a precious gift, and I was ready to live my best life.

While flying home, I filled about 15 pages of the cool journal that was in our gift/duffle bags. I was so charged up from the whole experience. It was a lovely gift in my life that certainly was eventful to say the least :-)

Pictures: Internet

Sunday Scribblings word prompt: Eventful

"She"

There is one friend in the life of each of us who seems not a separate person, however dear and beloved, but an expansion, an interpretation, of one's self, the very meaning of one's soul. ~Edith Wharton

I have been trying to write here for several days, but kept not being able to stay motivated. For all of the thoughts running through my head, when I got here, I would draw blank.

Palms clasped in prayer for a dear friend who is preparing for a life-changing journey.

We are miles apart, yet standing right next to each other. We are holding hands, laughing and touching the water. She reads my thoughts before I even know what they are. I make her laugh, deep belly laughs. We share our secrets, our fears, our loves, our dreams. She has taught me how to live, laugh and love, and shown me the light when all I could see was dark.

She taught me how to open my heart and soul and look at myself with kindness. She taught me to step out into the open and share my words when I didn't think it was possible. She taught me that I truly am an artist, and while I still think that sounds crazy, I believe it's true.

She's shown me that reaching out to others' needs are really all that JAH asks of us, and that there is truly only One Love.

So, I take and hold of the hands of my beautiful friend, of whom my eyes has never seen in the physical, yet whose souls meet each day. And on the day that our eyes do meet, we will step right in beat with each other, because we've known each other all along.

She is love, and so very loved. :-)