The Early Bird

Didn't get the worm...this time.

But the little guy and I got up super early today, at his insistence, and went to the gym before 6am. While I'm an early riser, I tend to poke about rather than get 'er goin'. And he's the kid who will sleep till noon given the chance. But up we got and off we went and we had such a great time in that big old almost empty gym. 

And by 5pm the kid and I were both taking a nap.

Me: "Do you want to do it again?"

Little guy: "I dunno."

Thinking we'll stick to our evening workouts and let the rest of you be the early birds.

Here's my third piece inspired by Joan Miró. 

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Space, the Final Frontier

Know how you know your sixteen-year-old kid has the most awesome friends possible in this universe of ours?

Well, you go outside and find a sock that their friend accidentally dropped in the driveway when he was leaving. And is it a tube sock with stripes? No. Is it a thick wool wintry sock? Nah, too practical. Is it an argyle sock? Nope, though that would be cool, too.

No, it's the most awesome Spock sock ever.  Yes, Spock sock. The sock...it looks like Spock, pointy ears and all. And that is awesome...and so is that kid.

Live long and prosper, people!

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

 

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A Good Thing

My fabulous brother and his wonderful family are in town right now.  My nephew is totally into trains which led us to get the big boxes of model railroad stuff out of the shed.  The kids paid a bit of attention to it before they wandered off...and that left me, my brother, and my dad to dig through it all.

With all that stuff comes oodles of memories.  Good ones!  My dad and brother were pretty much in charge of the controllers, track, and cars.  My mom painted the backgrounds on canvas panels.  And I painted all the little people and helped with the creationing of the buildings.

We did this for many years and were even in TV and magazine stories doing our thing. 

And to quote Martha Stewart, "It's a good thing."

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Love in da House

One of my favorite things about summer is that I'm around to see so much more.  And one super sweet moment just happened.  Tommy, our kitten cuten was asleep on our bed.  Hazel, our 85 pounds of pure love dog was, too.  My little guy came in, carefully picked up Tommy and lay him atop Hazel, and then leaned into them giving them both a big hug.

Little guy:  "So much adorable packed into one hug!"

Love!

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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!

Hammer Time

So it turns out that if the guys are out hammering in the back yard it's absolutely, positively not received well when I break out into song with "Hammer Time".

Furthermore, it's absolutely, positively, without a doubt not received well when I break out into dance to go along with it.

And now I'm consumed by the urge to get some bloomy pants.

This painting has been donated to the Carver Museum as part of a benefit for them.

It will be auctioned off to benefit the museum.

 Click here to check out my gallery.

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

Wakey, Wakey!

Apparently there's a right way and a wrong way to wake up my kid when there's something he and I need to do over the weekend.

Here's what I do (AKA "The Wrong Way"):  I walk in, tap his shoulder, tell him it's time to wake up, pull the covers down a bit.

Here's what he does:  Ignore, ignore, pull the covers back up, zzzzzzz.


Later that day I am told what I should do to wake him up:

"Do something repetitive and loud until I get up and make sure you're a distance away so that when I thrash around kicking and hitting to make the noise stop I don't hurt you."


Well, now, that was a very helpful suggestion.

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Officially "Vintage"

Spent a lovely day celebrating birthdays with my mom today.  We ate good grub and then we went shopping at a vintage store.  I went through rack after rack finding tons of amazing things that were way too high maintenance for little old me (i.e. required dry cleaning and/or ironing), but happily, I did find a few must-haves.  At one point we were chatting it up with one of the owners and she mentioned that they're getting stuff from the 80s and earlier because they are a "vintage" store, after all.

Um...80s, eh?  So the clothes I wore in high school are now considered "vintage"?  What?  And then I looked at my mom and thought, "No, clothes from when she was in high school are 'vintage'.  That's how it's always been."  But I kept my pursed "vintage" mouth shut and figured that, hey, I've got some stuff in my closet that's officially worth something.

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Home Sweet Home

Rituals have changed in our house over the years.  When our kids were little we were all about making sure Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny did their part in the eyes of our kiddos.  We'd stay up late, wake up early, and live in a state of exhaustion that was totally well worth it.  Over the years we've pared things back a bit.  The Tooth Fairy...well, she pretty much left he scene on her own as all those delightfully large adult teeth grew in.  But Santa and the Easter Bunny...they have been cling-ons.  Course now they don't cause us any lost sleep, thankfully.

So this morning I was out walking our dog at about 8:30.  I passed a house with little ones enthusiastically hunting for eggs in their yard.  "How adorable," I thought as I continued walking and thinking about how cute my kids had been with their own little Easter baskets and bunny ear headbands.

"My kids!!!!"  Yup, I'd forgotten to do my Easter Bunny job before I'd left. I think I'm taking this "paring things back" a little too seriously.

Click here to view a video of me creating this painting.

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

P.S.  Just a reminder...all of my original paintings are 50% off to celebrate my 1000 paintings in 1000 days! Through 4/21 (my birthday)!  Message me the ones you'd like and I'll adjust the price (I can't do a blanket markdown on the site, unfortunately). Thanks!!! http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/kali-parsons-3935

But First, Let me Take a Selfie

It was a day of brief waiting for me.  Not highway traffic or anything like that.  Nope, this was purely people impeding my path of desire.

I was at the gym today.  One machine away from the finish line.  As I was completing my three sets on my second to last machine of the day, a fella got settled in on my last machine.  I thought, "Perfect!  We'll finish our sets at the same exact time and I'll just move right on over to that machine."

Well, it sounded great, but what happened is this.  Whilst I did my first two sets he primped his hair and took quite a number of selfies.  I figured they must be facebook "Workin' out at the gym, yo" status updates.  Or something else just as important.  As I started my third and final set, he began his first.  Sigh...no worries, waiting is good for the soul, right?

After my workout I went to the grocery store.  I wandered around getting everything we needed, checked out, and headed toward the exit.  In front of me was a little boy who must have been about four years old.  He had his own mini shopping cart that proudly sported a banner that read "Shopper in Training" or some such thing.

Well, just as he passed through the door, following his mom, he stopped dead in his tracks, folded his arms on his chest, and uttered what must have been, "hummmph!"

I found myself not at all bothered by this delay and totally wished that little guy had a cell phone he could whip out and he'd say, "I could leave the store, but first, let me take a selfie."

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Farrah's Feathers

OK, I'm totally going to admit something here.  Yup, when I was in junior high and high school I absolutely wanted hair like Farrah.  I never managed it as I was convinced that I'd never have hair that would be long enough to truly work it, so I just kept getting my standard long bob.  I did, however, manage to have baby feathers that I'd glued in place with copious amounts of Aqua Net.  And then a few years later I tossed in the towel, gave up, went for a mohawk and then shaved almost all of my hair.  Yeah, I throw the towel in in a big way.

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By the Light of the Moon ( AKA...If you've ever wondered why I paint so darn many owls.)

I usually paint as an escape, as a pure act of fun, whimsy, and bliss.  But this sweet owl I painted with a purpose (and fun, whimsy, and bliss, of course).  And I couldn't help but imagine where it might end up.

You see, the school where I have the great pleasure of working, is holding a HUGE fundraiser next month.  I painted this little guy to be one of the many wonderful items up for auction.  So, yes, the money raising part is fabulous, but I love thinking a child will have with this hung in their room. 

When I was a kid I had the most beautiful night light.  It was a ceramic owl with glass eyes and inlaid glass beads across its front, and they all lit up just beautifully and gave off a bluish hue.  And I felt safe.  And this, my friends, is why I paint so darn many owls...I can't help it.

Hope they make you feel safe, too.


P.S.  I still own my old night light, lucky me!

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I Officially Dread Paybacks

I've always thought I had a tough scalp.  I rather prided myself on it.  But for some reason the other day my kid grabbed my brush and started brushing my hair.  Super sweet, right?  Well, I found out that I'm not that tough after all.

It freakin' hurt!

Now, a little about my hair.  It's naturally curly.  A little about me.  I brush my hair pretty much never.  One more thing about my hair.  It forms lovely little dreadlocks whilst I'm neglecting it.

And...I am, post brushing, currently dreadlocks free.  Technically I still own them as they were brushed out intact.


My hair brushing little guy:  "Remember how much I hated it when you used to brush out my long hair?  It felt just like this."  His hair was curly just like mine, formed dreadlocks just like mine, and he never brushed it either.  Though I would on the rarest of occasion, sometimes brush dreadlocks out intact.


Oy, paybacks are a wee bit hellish.

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Missing Getting up at the Crack of Dawn...For Real

Call me crazy, but I'm finding myself missing getting my kid up at the butt crack of dawn (as it's known in our house) so we could drive in the pitch dark to school so he could go to wrestling practice.  I really liked hanging out with the kid....even though he was a bit grumpy when he got up...and griped about the cold...and spent the time in the car completely under a blanket...and never really talked to me (except for the griping, of course).  It was still really lovely mom/son time together.

I think I need to push him to join whatever sport is in season right now.

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Ice Cream Emergency!

I went shopping first thing this morning.  I love shopping early when hardly anyone else is in the store.  I got my stuff in nothing flat and went to a cashier's lane.  I put all my stuff on the conveyer, my bags were ready, and I had my coupon in hand.  There was only one customer in front of me...and that guy went an had himself an emergency.  An ice cream emergency.


Guy:  "I got the wrong flavor!  I'll be right back!!!"


He rushed past me, bumping my cart as he passed on his way to the freezer aisle.

And we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited....

...and waited.

Several minutes later he finally appeared, his coveted ice cream in hand.


Guy:  "Thank you, thank you...that took longer than I thought."


I just gave him an understanding smile, feeling quite sure that if I'd gotten the wrong container of, say, yogurt, I'd have been tempted to do the same thing.

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The Gift of Easy Gifting

Dave and I went out to eat tonight.  On the way back we passed by the mall.  I suppose the mall is OK on a normal day, but oh, my goodness, there was gridlock in that parking lot.  I was so happy to not be in it.  In our actively inactive participation in the holidays, we've pretty much avoided all the shopping hoopla.  I admit we did buy a couple of things for my niece and nephew who are many states away.  Amazon, thank you very much...shopping in my PJs awesomeness!  We're happily giving my art to family as gifts.  No shopping there.  And my kids?  Well, they're each getting cash and, I'm every so slightly embarrassed to admit, groceries.  Yup, all their tangible gifts say "Trader Joe's" on them somewhere.  And I'm absolutely positive they will love what they receive!

This is my happiest and most stress free holiday season ever!

I recommend it.

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Super Star

Overheard the other night in our driveway where the basketball hoop is.


Big guy:  "I'm in better shape than you."

Dave dribbles.

Big guy:  "I'm bigger than you."

They move around, they block, they do whatever it is that they do out there.

Dave got basket.

Big guy:  "He's been practicing."


Nicely played, old man...nicely played!

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