Phyllis Made the Graffiti Wall!

Phyllis has joined my graffiti wall and she's doing a little jig in celebration. And of course she's considering eating those flowers because that's how she rolls. Love my girl and my graffiti wall...such fun to watch them both grow.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Staring Down

It wasn't my intention. It really wasn't. But...

The first thing I painted on my hallway graffiti wall was this creature...and it happens to be right outside my oldest son's door. Now I rather like this creature, but I'm thinking that in the middle of the night when my kid gets up to go to the bathroom and sleepily heads back to his room, that this thing staring at him might just be a tad startling as it stares him down.

Sorry, kiddo, I'll make the next thing a tad more welcoming.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

 

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

My Hallway Mural is Finished!

Yup, I finished it. 

The family has been so great.  Dave thinks it's awesome.  My little guy thinks it's a bit "kiddish" and that I "should have started it a few years ago," but he also thinks it's pretty darn neat.  My big guy says, "That's really cool, mom."  And his girlfriend, the only other human girl that hangs out at my house these days says, "I love the cat.  It's my favorite part."

So there ya go!  The reviews are in.  And I'm giving myself five stars...see 'em?  They're right there at the top.

Oh, and when the light is low, the owls and stars appear to glow.  And now I think I need a black light!

Stop by any time.  The mural loves visitors.


P.S. The actual mural is more of a square shape.  My wonderful husband took a bunch of photos of its parts and seamed them together to create this image.  Thanks, Dave!!!!

 

 This is my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Boo Boo Fixing Super Powers

I'm convinced that our roles as parents are set really early in our children's lives.


If they wanted to be tossed high into the air...talk to dad.

If they wanted a snack...talk to mom.

If they wanted to build something with power tools (not counting my awesome sewing machine)...talk to dad.

If they had a boo boo...talk to mom.


And while I've pretty much managed to shake the whole "talk to mom" if they're hungry, I still haven't shaken the boo boos.  Not that I want to, mind you.


Last night I had to be away from home overnight and at about 1:00 AM I ended up engaging in a long texting conversationwith my little guy who was having some undesirable symptoms.  Mind you, his dad was there in the house sleeping, less than thirty feet away.  I was all the way across town.  But contact me, he did.

And even though I'm pretty darn exhausted today after having taken the kid to the doctor and then to the pharmacy, I'm happy that I've maintained my boo boo fixing super powers.


Upon arriving at home...

Little guy:  "Mom, I'm hungry."

Yup, still working on shaking that one...but not working terribly hard.

This is part of my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Who dunnit?

My big guy is outa here for about three weeks.  I look at this as an amazing opportunity for my little guy to shine.  Bet you're thinking I'm talking about how he'll have the chance to get all the adult time, energy, and love.  Well, he'll get that, too, of course.  But what I'm talking about is this.


He'll have the chance to prove the following, leaving us no choice but to solely blame his brother:

- he always flushes after using the toilet.

- he consistently turns lights off when he leaves rooms.

- he never leaves dishes strewn about the living room.


Let the absolutely, positively, loving mom data collection begin.

This is part of my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

The Inspection

Feeling like a rock star!

I actually got my car inspected the very month it was due, early in the month, no less!  I didn't really have any anxiety about it not passing, but every time I have to have this done, old anxiety memories tickle at the edges of my mind.

My first car, and likely my favorite car ever, a bright orange standard Renault LeCar, had an emergency brake lever that was basically there simply for moral support...just there to look good, essentially.  A reason to fail the inspection for sure.

But happily back then inspectors always seemed to need car owner's support during the process.  I'd sit in the car doing the horn and lights as guided, and when it was time for the emergency brake test...well, I'd pull the lever up, stick my foot out the door, press it to the ground, and do my darndest to keep the car from rolling as the inspector gave it a nudge from the rear. 

And it worked!  Year after year it worked!!

And my 47 year old self is happily patting my teenage self on the back for such amazing brilliance.

This is part of my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

It's Good to be a Girl

It's good to be the only girl in the house.  One particular way has surfaced just recently.  And it revolves around laundry. 

Every time there's clean laundry a battle ensues.  A "That's mine!" battle.  The thing is, both of my boys and my husband now all wear approximately the same size shirts and shorts.  And they have no qualms about taking each other's clean clothing out of piles or drawers. 

Me?  Well, no one wants any part of mine...the girly, frilly, lacy, pastely, polka dotty, flowery, and tiny.  And that's awesome.

This is part of my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

In Need of a Manual

So I found a shirt on the side of the road.  A bunch of shirts, actually.  And I've been wearing them off and on for a while now.  All but one, that is. 

Now, I like the shirt.  At least I think I like the shirt.  But really I can't quite figure it out.  I think I know which is the neck hole and which is the waist hole...but truth be told, I'm not 100% sure.  So it sits in my drawer waiting for some stroke of genius to come over me.

I'm pretty sure the shirt must have originally come with a manual.


Suggestions and wisdom are welcome.

This is part of my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

An Early Morning Scare

Sometimes when you think you're not alone, but it turns out you are, that ends up being a good thing.

Case in point:  This morning I got in my car.  I closed my door and saw something out of the corner of my eye.  I turned my head, saw nothing, turned my head...AND THERE IT WAS AGAIN!  My heartbeat accelerated.  I started to perspire just a tad.  I even reached over to lock all of the car doors.  But being me, I accidentally opened my window instead, which nearly gave me a heart attack. 

I got the window back up, managed to lock all the doors, held my breath, and turned my head.  I saw nothing, then turned my head back...and then I figured it out. 

Yes, I was scared of my own reflection. 

My little guy often manages to hit my driver's side mirror as he walks his bike to the back yard through the carport. 


And then slightly sweaty and much relieved me headed off to work.

This is part of my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

The Wonder of it All

I don't know why, but I'd always assumed that squirrels were vegetarians.  Until I walked my dog last night, that is.

It's smooshed toad-in-the-road season, and, by golly, I saw a squirrel grab one of those dried up flat-as-a-pancake toads and run off with it.

And then I wondered if that squirrel would get toad stuck in its teeth.

And then I wondered how squirrels floss their teeth.

And then I wondered about my whole line of thinking....

This is part of my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

A Good Day

Conversation in the car today:


Little guy:  "Today just feels like a really good day."

Me:  "Did something special happen."

Little guy:  "No, it just feels like a good day."

Me:  "I know that feeling."


I love that he tunes in like that!

This is part of my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Getting a Charge out of It

We got a new dishwasher this week.  We'd put it off forever, understanding and accommodating for our old one's myriad of issues.  We put up with gunk being left on stuff on the top shelf and the loud noises it had been making, but when it literally shocked both of my children...one a surprise first incident and the other because the first shockee told his brother to touch it in the same spot...it had to go.

And we were finally able to right a wrong that was many years old.  About ten years ago when we bought our old dishwasher, we fell in love with it at the store, got it home, installed it, and then realized that the drawer adjacent to the dishwasher was not able to be puled out unless the dishwasher door was open.  Yeesh!  But put up with that we did.  For a long, long time.

And now there's no shocks, now the drawer pulls freely, now we have clean top shelf dishes, and things are awesome.

This is part of my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Animaters

So this happened at my house.


We were talking about some animated cartoon or whatnot and the amazing work of animators, and all of a sudden my husband hops up, runs out in the yard to his garden, runs back in, and...

"I like animaters on my sandwich!!" as he proudly held up two lovely ripe 'maters (as we call 'em).

Insert collective groan here.

This is part of my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

A Little Bird Will Make it Better

Tis true.

Quite accidentally we found the secret to keeping cut flowers looking awesome for much, much longer.  On Mother's Day, a couple of weeks ago, my kid and I were doing our Purple Martin volunteer gig.  One of the duties is to clear out sparrow nests so that the purple martins can get in the bird houses that are designed with them in mind.  One of the sparrow nests had a lovely purple flower with a stem in it.  The kid, being the resourceful guy he is, brought it over to me and said, "Happy Mother's Day!"  And I loved it...except for the bit of bird poo that was on it, of course, but just a flick and it was gone.

I took the flower to my car and put it in a glass of water I had in there.  And in my car, in that water, the flower sat for two weeks.  Through being parked in the sun and baking all the day.  Through moments of intense air conditioning.  That flower stayed absolutely lovely.  Until this morning when it suddenly didn't look so great any more.

So here's what the kid and I have concluded:

Bird poo is good for cut flowers.
Extreme heat is good for cut flowers.
Never changing the water is good for cut flowers.

And having been lovingly placed in a nest by a sweet little bird, well, that's the best of all.

This is part of my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Examining the Data

I have to say that I find something very interesting.  I live with three fellas and the microwave at our house is a serious disaster.  Despite the fact that we have two microwave dome covers that live on top of our microwave, the inside of our microwave looks like a gruesome scene from "Dexter"...splatters everywhere...ceiling, sides, door, circular tray...disgusting. 

Now, the microwave in my classroom is used by me and the lovely woman with whom I'm lucky enough to work.  We use it each and every school day, all school year long, and on the last day of school we don't every have to clean it because it is pristine.  Note:  we do not have a microwave dome cover.

Hmmmm...I'm not quite sure what to conclude from this. 

This is part of my Hallway Project.  More little friends keep showing up!

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Axe Awesomeness

The fastest and easiest way to get your kid to do manual labor is to offer a tool to go along with it.  And what is the most desirable tool ever?  Well, from the data I've collected it's absolutely, positively an axe. 

Give the kid a rake and ask him to fill the bags with leaves and the reception is cool at best.

Give the kid an axe and ask him to chop up all the branches you've trimmed and you've got the most amazing, manic, obsessive worker ever.

You're welcome.

This is part of my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

That Safe and Secure Feeling

About a week ago something unexpected happened.  Something that has never happened to us before.  Something downright scary.

Yes, we actually ran out of toilet paper.

I'm the sort of gal who likes to purchase her toilet paper in bulk.  Nothing says safe and secure like a thirty-six pack of double rolls from Costco, right?  Luckily I feel the same way about kleenex, so at least we had tissue to use when the unheard of happened.

I B-lined it to Costco with the little guy, put a pack of toilet paper in our cart, and noticed a fella who had also just put the same pack in his cart.  Only instead of just putting it in his cart and moving on, he was poking a hole in the packaging and caressing a roll.


Me:  "Oh, good, I couldn't remember which kind I got last time.  Is it soft?"

Toilet paper caresser:  "Yes, it's soooo soft...and I'm picky."

Me:  "Great!  Thanks!"


OK, I stand corrected.  Nothing says safe and secure like a thirty-six pack of double rolls and a positive customer testimonial.

This is part of my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Chicken TV

I heard from someone that when you get chickens as pets they are so captivating that they're basically chicken TV.  And it's true!  In addition to setting up a living space for our five new chickens, we've set up a living space for us as well.  A living space devoted exclusively to chicken watching.  We sit out there with our snacks, our drinks, and even our computers.

But when we're not out there, and the coop is closed up tight, it turns out our cats take over our spots and watch the chickens, too.  Only I think they're likely drooling as they watch "Tastes Like Chicken" TV.

This is part of my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

The Hallway Project

I've started something new.  Something I've been wanting to do for a while now but for some reason never just jumped in.  But today was the day.  I chose my paints.  I chose my brush.  I threw a towel on the floor in the hallway.  And then I painted a flower on the wall.

So here's my plan.  You all know how I like to do a painting a day, right?  Well, some days the painting will be an addition to our hallway wall.  Some days I'll paint something I'd love to sell or give away.

I'm super excited and invite you to come along with me on this adventure!

Click here to check out my gallery.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!