Getting Ready to Hit the Road

Well John and I are getting ready to hit the road soon. We are taking a 2 week road trip to go see his Mom (and step-dad) in TEXAS! We will heading to a cute little town called "Georgetown" and it is about 30 or so minutes from Austin.

We drove out there a few years ago, and I am SO excited to go again. There is a whole lotta NOTHING between here and there, but at the same time, so much to see. There is a lot of desert, dirt, trains, cactus and more dirt, but they all hold a certain beauty. John is the best travel buddy you could hope for, and I am excited to start a new trip with him.

I have had the travel bug for a few months now, and it is way past due for a visit to see John's Mom. We last saw them....mmmmm.... at a wedding, and that was 2 years ago this May. So long over-due. I am not quite sure what we will do along the way this time. Last time we stopped at the Grand Canyon, hiked thru the underground Carlsbad Caverns, took a tour of Hoover Dam, and stayed and played at the Luxor Hotel in Vegas. That about covers all there is to do on the way, and the way back. So this time around we are going to try to see some people on the way and way back.

A good friend of mine has moved to Phoenix and we will try to see her on the way out. And then on the way home we will try to visit our one of our favorite people in the world, John-John. He lives in Vegas, and we will try to see if we can see him on the way back. If you are a regular reader, you will remember our trip to see him last year. But he is hard to get ahold of, and travels around alot, and so we will keep our fingers crossed that we will be able to see him.

As far as craft room progress goes- I have finished the 2x3 foot canvas, and 2 of the 8x8 inch ones. I will have to let you know what I do with them- that should be a week or 2 after we get back :)

In the Studio Again

Photo from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blockpartypress/2210303986/

Well I am finally back in the Craft Room after a bit of a break. Sometimes I just get.... well... bored is not the right word, but sometimes I need to get out of the craft room for awhile. So instead of spending the evenings and weekends in the craft room, I have been curled up in one of the armchairs in the front room, reading books and drinking tea. Lots of tea! I drink a custom blended "Rose Petal" tea. Loose Leaf black tea, with rose petals & rose oils. It is a dainty, yet refreshing blend. Over the last 3 weeks or so, I think I have gone thru almost 2 pots a day, every day. (Along with a dozen or 2 books, and a few plates of scones).

But I was not feeling the "urge" to go into the Craft Room, and even trying to "make" myself create was not working. I would spend a hour or so reading thru craft mags, or browsing blogs and Flickr, but nothing was inspiring me. I think that I just needed a break, and reading is a good relaxing escape from having to really think about anything in particular.

But on Friday afternoon, I found myself wandering in there, (book abandoned mid- chapter, which when you consider that I read a book about every 1.3 days it is saying something that I could walk away so easily!). I spent some time picking up in there, moving around some stuff to make my desk look cleaner ( I am not sure if it IS cleaner, but it LOOKS cleaner) , and by Saturday afternoon, I was back in the mood to create.

It was nice, it was easy, and I didn't have to force myself to think about what I needed to do- it just flowed. And flowed quickly- I think that I finished a painting in about 2 hours from start to finish- I usually hem and haw over it for hours or DAYS at a time trying to be happy with it. I just put in "Casino Royale" and by the time that James had his heart broken, my painting was drying, and I called it good.

I have not taken any pictures of it yet, but I will post it when I do. I am now officially out of Canvas, so I have all this creative juice ready to flow, and I am empty handed. ARG! And let me tell you, after the cheap, ugly, hard to paint, flimsy, flat canvas that I got from Aaron brothers last time, I am not touching those. At $8 (on sale) each, for a lousy little thing, I think that I can wait 2 days for Dick Blick to deliver my high quality, nice and thick canvas (at $3 each!). So for the next day or so I will have to cap on the creativity and wait for my Delivery.

Also- I ordered a 3x2 foot canvas! I think that I will be a bit scared of it (the biggest that I have ever painted is a 8x8 inch). I am going to try to make a painting to hang over John and I's bed. Our house is SO lacking in any kind of art. (At least outside of the front room and guest room anyway.) Our Bedroom consists of a bed, a nightstand (which is really a pine-wood tv tray) with a clock radio, a lamp, and a silver tray with my perfumes on it. That is it. No Photos, no dressers (we keep those in the closet), no art or anything.

We have painted the room so many times in the last 2.5 years (white, to a soft mocha, now to a cream- with many coats of each) that we have never really put anything up.
I would love to have a mirror on the wall behind the bed (to reflect the light from the window on the wall across from it- our room is kinda dark before the sun shines in there in the late afteroons) but John has a "thing" about hanging a mirror over our heads. I think he has images of a huge "crash, glass everywhere, sliced heads or necks, and trips to the ER" in mind, so hopefully a canvas will not scare him.

Oh well- my canvases will be here in a few days, I already know what I want to do with the big one for the bedroom, and I will go from there.

I am also starting to plan for our road trip. We are driving to TEXAS in a few weeks. It should be tons of fun- but we leave in 2 weeks. Time to get the outfits, luggage, pets, maps, plans all worked out. That should fill the time until I write again :)

Have a great day!

Back in Action

Hello!

I have been MIA for awhile. I had this issues with my back\shoulder area last week. It was itchy and stinging and just really hurt. I was going nuts because nothing was working- Aveeno Lotion, Neosporin, lots of other kinds of lotion- and nothing was fixing it, adn to top it off- there was nothing showing on my skin. It looked perfectly normal. Then some bumps appeared (like spider bites) and after a few days of it getting more painful, I finally gave in and went to the Dr to see what he had to say.

Well turns out that I had Shingles! Which I think is kinda weird. I mean I had them when I was really young (which is REALLY odd- kids normally never get them) and then to have them again before I even hit 25 is weird (IMHO).

For those who don't know what Shingles are: When you get Chicken Pox the virus lives in the base of your spine for the rest of your life, and can resurface at any time it pleases in the form of Shingles.

They are really really painful. It is one of those things that you cannot SEE, but your nerve endings are basically going nuts and it feels like you have a sunburn and someone is scratching it with needles. And it also itches (like a sunburn) but the goal is to not itch it- because even having your clothes touch it means that you are in pretty bad pain. Even a breeze that touches your skin can cause pain (because of the over sensitive nerve endings under the skin).

They are not "catchable", you cannot get them from anyone, but since it is the same virus as ChickenPox, you can give CP to someone who has not had them (like little kids). As a matter of fact- that is how my little sister got CP when she was young- she got them when I got shingles.

Shingles are normally brought on by lots of stress- and the last month has been one of the least stressful that I have had in a long time. I was missing quite a bit of sleep lately- but I have not been stressed out about it- just tired.

So the worst part is the pain, but coming in close second was the cost of the pills (which doesn't cure them- shingles just go away after a week or so- or when ever they feel like it, the pain can last for months if it feels like sticking around that long- but the Meds try to rush the process and pain to finish a bit more quickly) but the cost of meds for a 7 day rounds was $216! YIKES! and that was WITH Healthcare and going to Wal Mart to get the best price. OUCH! (sigh) It seems to be my lot in life to get odd illnesses and then have to pay a bundle to fix it.

But I will be back in the Craft room this weekend, and we will have to see what pops up. I may do some painting, but I may just clean up. No matter how much I clean in there, all it takes is about 2 hours of creating, and the whole thing is a mess again. But last weekend I did manage to go thru some of my stuff and I took a stack of things over to a friend who also loves to get crafty. She got "new" free stuff, and I was able to pass along things that I didn't think that I was going to be able to use, and I freed up some space in my paper bins :) Everyone wins that way!

I am also REALLY wanting to buy a sewing machine. Not a nice one- just the bottom of the price range from wal mart sewer (like$75). I want to use it to be able to sew on my projects, and to be able to make some things for around the house. do you know how long it takes to HAND SEW a pillowcase, or a curtain panel? I do- and it takes forever and still looks funny. Hey, I can hand sew, but I never said it was pretty. So I may get one, but we will have to see. I spend almost $300 in heathcare last weekend(not including the cost of insurance, which just went up almost 45% this month! ouch!), and I was not expecting that expense, and so my money fund for the next month is smaller than I would have expected.

Oh well- enough chit chat! I have to get some lunch and then back to work for me!

Have a great (and Shingle-less!) Day!