Hold Dear

My Big Beans!

Okay it's time! Time to spill my beans!

Have you heard of this new stamp company called Just Johanna!?? She has the CUTEST stamps ever! Very hip, very sweet, very cute, and very fun! AND lots of doodles and you know, I'm all about the doodles!

Well, if you haven't heard of Just Johanna....you are about to! And you will KEEP hearing about them because I made the DESIGN TEAM! I am just so excited!

I discovered Johanna's blog through Studio Friday. Thank goodness I am a clicker because through my clickin', I found a link to Cat's Craft Cupboard  (a wonderful craft store in Escondido, CA) on Johanna's blog and saw a call for a Design Team for a new rubber stamp company. Once I browsed through the online stamp catalog, I KNEW I wanted to apply!!! I am not kidding you, Just Johanna stamps are so fun!

I've got quite a few irons in the fire right now between work, school, and family but I really feel like my artsy soul needs some playtime! That is what makes me happy and keeps me centered. So I will now get to officially play with Just Johanna stamps and be centered!

Johanna has posted the Design Team list on the Just Johanna website. I had a chance to see some work from each artist and Great Googley Moogley...there is some serious talent on this team! When I realized that my name was on this list, that was when it hit me! I am right in there with them. I am on a Design Team. I am happy.

So, trust me, you will be hearing A LOT about Just Johanna, Cat's Craft Cupboard, and the Just Johanna Design Team!!!

Love, paint, and keep on clickin',

Michelle

Atticus.

Cutest. Cat. Ever.

Home Today.

I am home today. These past few days, Miranda had been in some pretty severe pain from her wisdom teeth. I called yesterday and made her an emergency appointment for 7:45 am this morning, I was thinking they would say "yep, they need to come out," give her some pain medication and send her home until her scheduled June 14 consult appointment. Well, lucky her, the dental surgeon's 8:00 am appointment cancelled! Miranda was there, in pain and ready to get these things out of her head and so they pulled two of her three remaining wisdom teeth. She had one of them pulled about a year ago. Number four will come out once two and three are healed. So for now, Miranda is happy to be 75% done with this and resting comfortably (thank you Mr. Vicodin!)

So have you EVER seen a tooth when it's pulled? It is SO amazing! The whole thing, crown and roots are "tooth!" I just think this kind of stuff is fascinating! Here's a pic, just click to make it bigger...I made it small in case you are grossed out by this.

Here's a fun fact about ME...I don't have any wisdom teeth! Never had to deal with any of the pain or freakiness they cause. I'm hoping this is a good thing and doesn't mean my wisdom teeth DNA migrated somewhere else in my body (remember that scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding?)  I also have really bendy thumbs.

In other news, since I'm home today, I found out what that little Atticus boy does all day!

Sweet dreams!

Haiku Tuesday.

Inspired by this weekend's gardening activities...

Planted our garden.

Seven kinds of tomatoes.

Can you say "Mamma Mia?!"

Monday evening.

So I had the evening to myself. Glen's off on his business trip, Miranda was out hangin' with Casey and Amanda at their new place, so Atticus and I took a little tour of my garden. Oi vey! It needs some attention! She's goin' nuts! It's primarily full of perennials that I've planted over the last ten years and I think it's time for a serious haircut. I love when things grow in but between the "bullies" trying to take over and the "volunteers" growing in all the cracks, it's lookin' a little shaggy! I have GOT to take charge!

I promise you; however, that I will NEVER yell or shake my fist at these little ladies. They can go anywhere they want. Purple irises. I am inspired just being in their presence. Aren't they just the most amazing color? This, dear reader, is what purple wants to be when it grows up.

Oh and yes, this is a distraction because I'm NOT spilling my beans just yet! Hang on, little tomatoes! :-)

BIG NEWS!

I have some really really really awesome news! Something I'm VERY excited about! Something that's going to be SO fun and something I'm SO honored to be a part of!!!

Can't wait to spill the beans! And these are some GREAT beans!

More to follow....really really really soon!

Happy Mother's Day.

What a sweet day to be a mother. On Mother's Day! Every Mother's Day I thank Glen and Miranda for making me a mother. It is a special day for me. Being a mother is the foundation of my existence. The process of being pregnant and giving birth was when I finally learned to respect myself. My body knew how to create, support, and expel a life. (okay there's gotta be a more poetic word than expel!) But I digress....if my body could do that for my child, just think what it can do for me!

So before I go off and get too mushy, let's shift gears, shall we? Every Mother's Day Glen and I call my mom to sing her the Mother's Day song. We think it's been 15+ years that we've been doing this. You didn't know there was a Mother's Day song? Well, allow me...a-hem....

M is for the many things you gave me.

O is for the other things you gave me.

T is for the thousand things you gave me.

H is for the hundred things you gave me.

E is for everything that you gave me.

R is for the rest of the stuff you gave me.

Put them all together, they spell, MOTHER!

The beauty of this little song? You can sing it in any tune or key that you want....and we do!

I want to send an extra Happy Mother's Day to my Mommy!!!!  I love you SO SO SO SO SO much! You make me smile...in fact, you MADE my smile! :-)

As for the local Mother's Day festivities, Glen, Miranda, and I met Casey and Amanda at Blossoming Lotus for a little snack then we walked around the Pearl a bit. Just a nice sunny morning.

After our visit, Miranda and I took Glen to the airport as he had to go to Callis Belle (is that the right spelling?) for work. Yay! Work! The very very cool thing...his flight to Callis Belle was in the corporate jet. S'WHEAT! I spoke to Glen just a bit ago (safely in Callis Belle in his hotel room) and he said the trip was beautiful. They flew over Glacier National Park and it was unbelieveable.

Some photos for the flight log....

Then inside the jet...

With Glen on his trip, Miranda at work, Casey and Amanda in their own place, I am now home alone. HOME ALONE!? What the heck am I doing on the computer!!! My plans for the rest of the day are to finish planting some vegetable starters, clean up my craft room, maybe read a bit, and watch Bee Season.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Saturday.

It was a wonderful Saturday. The weather was GOR-JUS! Warm but there's was that cool breeze that would come through just in time. I spent the day running around with the kiddles. Glen spent the day with the other woman, his airplane! Casey, Amanda, Miranda, and I went to the Farmer's Market in the morning, had some lunch, then went some shopping at Big Lots (aka Pic 'n Sav) so Casey and Amanda could get a few basic necessities (pillows, shower curtain, hangers, etc.) We also managed to squeeze in a garage sale. Check out this flippin' cool pattern that I bought for a quarter! SO funky! The patterns don't even have writing on them!

Miranda had to work so we dropped her off at the house and then I went with Casey and Amanda over to see their new apartment. It is SO cute! Hardwood floors, so much light! Very comfortable space...even with not much in it! Here are a few snaps...

Front of their building.

 

Casey and Amanda in front of the entry to their fourplex. That's their front window.

This is the inside of their front door and FINALLY...a picture of their cat, Bellatrix. She has eluded every attempt I have made to get a picture of her...until now!

The livingroom. Casey playing a quick video game. The boy loves his games. He is stoked because their new place is just a few blocks from Wonderland, a video arcade.

Their sweet little kitchen.

The bedroom. There is a camelia and a rose bush just outside their window.

And then the bathroom. Not a real big thrill, I know, but I just loved the light that was coming in.

During my visit to their new place, Casey had to run up to Walgreens to buy a cat pan. Whoops! Something you don't want to neglect!

Casey and Amanda spent their first night in their new place last night. They said they did some grocery shopping and made some grilled cheese sandwiches (vegan for Amanda) and used their fingers to flip the things 'cuz they didn't have a spatula. They were looking at them at Big Lots but then couldn't decide which one to get so they ended up not buying one!

It was so fun to watch the two of them with their lists figuring out what they need to set up house. It was SO long ago that I did that. I just wanted to buy everything for them but I know that's not how it works. (Plus they WON'T let me buy them anything!) Half the fun of setting up a home is having to use a cardboard box as a nightstand or having to use the landlord's vacuum cleaner because you don't have one of your own. Making do. Sometimes I miss the days of not having so much stuff. Doing without. Don't you dare touch my craft room stuff, but the kitchen? It can always use a good purge!

Happy Days!

Studio Friday

This week's topic on Studio Friday is Robot. I didn't get to play SF last week because I had camera issues. I was tempted to not play this week too because I looked around my studio and nothing was twiggin'...until I saw the old NuTone speaker on the wall. Now that's a robot! Our house was built in 1972 and apparently the wave of future back then was to have speakers in every room of your house. So every room in our house has these little beauties permanently mounted in the wall. There's even one at the front door and the back patio. The main "sound system" is on the kitchen wall. This is where you control which room you want your voice to be heard OR where you want your AM/FM radio to play. Yes, you heard me right. Our house is an AM/FM radio!  :-)  We went for the longest time without using these things but lately, we use it all the time for the radio function. Kinda cool. Good robot!

Just a page.

Hi...just wanted to share my latest Book of Dreams page. I wanted to include journaling in my art journal (ding! what a concept!) so although I have layers here (lots of layers), these pages are all about the journaling.

So you don't have to hurt your eyeballs, the journaling reads: "Somedays I look forward to going to bed. Not because I'm tired but because that means I get to dream. My dreams are my respite. I can do anything. I can be anything. I can go anywhere. I can fly. I can sing. I can dance. I look to my dreams for comfort. For peace. For escape. For clarity. For inspiration. For ideas. I am always skinny in my dreams. I am always a success in my dreams. Somedays I sleep in just so I can keep dreaming. When I'm extra comfy and cozy on the weekends. Mornings are my best dreams. Restorative."

Sweet dreams, dear reader.