free art work!

i'm having a little give away on my facebook art page... come and become a fan, enter the drawing and perhaps win a 5x7 digitally toned blind contour drawing "pods"...

foody!

i have been working on Kate Cheney Chappell's cookbook all week and have been swimming in great new recipes to try. i figured that it is the best way to help write acookbook...dive into the recipes and the food.

so i went grocery shopping at my new favorite spot, market basket in portsmouth, NH this week. it's no whole food market, but i recently discovered that most of whol foods own brand of veg comes from China. so what's the difference? market basket has good quality food, a lot of organic and all natural products and i have been saving about $75 a week shopping there.

so this evening, my kitchen is fully stocked and i'm ready to cook! trouble is i'm almost on over load! everything sounds so good i can't decide what to cook first!

to circ or not to circ...

i read a big long debate tonight on circumcision. i realized that a lot of moms-to-be out there do not have good information about circs and that they are COMPLETELY not necessary. i guess i never realized a mother with no strong attachment to the idea of circumcision would want their child to undergo such an unnecessary ordeal.

i do not know a single parent who did not circumcise their son to regret it...however i know many parents who have that do.

for the record... circumcision as a cleanliness issue is a total myth. there is seriously nothing necessary about it. it hurts baby, takes a long time to heal and is basically some weird form of accepted mutilation. anyone having a boy baby and wanting info feel free to contact me and i'll share.

you can go to youtube and watch a live circumcision. that should help you understand what you are doing before hand for sure...don't think it'll be as easy as it is to watch the video as it will be to witness your own baby go through it either. ouch.

i just have to say...

i was always a night owl...even as a kid...i hated to miss a beat of the day and go to sleep! and then, in the morning, i'd hate to pull myself from my amazing, vivid dreams to wake up.

put, these days, i find an asston of pleasure in the wee hours of the morning before anyone has woken up. who knew?? i can do yoga without a baby crawling through my legs...no one is talking at me...there are no needs floating about except my own.

and coffee tastes that much better in the quiet of pre-dawn, before 6 AM.

this morning, it's 5:15, i've already showered, dressed, done the dishes that i abandoned last night to care for sick baby D and i am about to do some yoga and then begin a bit of cookbook work before waking the brood, making their lunches etc...

<3 this type of morning <3

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two hours later: and right after i published this entry Baby D woke up and has had me covered in hummus, chewed pretzel, boogers, orange pulp and tears... :( he is feverish and restless and miserable. so i take it back...i love the above kind of morning when everyone is healthy. but, this kind of morning, actually, i do not love.

down with chaos...

with all of the work i have coming in, i am finding myself needing to organize the tiny corner of our house i share with our rat terrier. big time.

this little 6x3 space, packed with bookshelves and drawers of art supplies and my beloved mac and scanner and my epson printer, is the hub of all of my different roles. it is my command center. and i am definitely not known for being organized. i tend to live in and thrive in chaos if left to my own devices.

but over the past four or five months there has seriously been a drastic shift in me. i have begun to appreciate sparsity and having a place for everything. back in september j hired someone to help me clean the house. it was such a blow to my ego at first! then i learned to make having her come every other week work for me...and now, (with our new tightened budget we can't afford her) i can and do keep the house clean all by myself. it is surprising even to me, but i have had family that knows my chaotic nature stop by unexpectedly and exclaim at their surprise at how tidy our world is these days. i kind of love it. i think i've become obsessed. <3

so...i have begun to organize this little nook. it has been clean, just not entirely organized. i created an area designated to files which hold all of our financial stuff and records...an area designated to kids' school stuff...an area designated to the cookbook design job...an area designated to jewelry and art supplies...a space for photographic equipment...sigh...the list goes on and on. i'm not finished, but i feel like i can successfully begin the book now and not feel like i am drowning in disorder.

i really think that being organized, and purposeful is helping me and my family get to a better place...to achieve our individual and collective goals.

<3 cheers to cleanliness & orderliness.

while i'm on a roll...

things have started to move and shift in my life towards the changes i've been wanting to make. it's pretty wild. i suppose i shouldn't be surprised by it, but alas, i am. happily, joyfully surprised.

i have been having so much fun with my little weekly art auctions on facebook. people have responded really well to them and i think they have drawn people into looking at my work. i have had several inquiries into pieces of work through facebook as a result of them. also, i have a new etsy customer that is looking to purchase a significantly large body of work from me, my work was featured in a new treasury on etsy and i have been approached to do a large commissioned piece of work.

also, the cookbook design project that i have been patiently waiting to begin is about to take off! i may even get the information i need today. that is the hugest blessing. being able to do design work, from home, being paid by the hour. *sigh* it truly is a gift.

i am looking to put a babysitting exchange together, where moms trade hours of watching each other's kids so that i can get some time in to do a cleaning job or two or what-have-you. but...

it's really exciting to think about how amazing it would be if i could make enough money doing creative work that filled me with joy!!! to think if i didn't have to leave my baby to go clean or wait tables or host in a restaurant?? not that i wouldn't love that work...i just don't love it as much as i do making art and jewelry and designing.

it's funny...well, not really "funny"...i guess it's more "telling" why i am so determined to support my own art and school debts and to have my own money to spend on art supplies. when i told J last night about how well the past couple of weeks have been for me with selling my work, he laughed at me, in front of our children and told me i may as well pay my debt by going to Bingo. bingo. he equated selling my work to playing bingo.

i should have known better than to put myself out there like that, i guess. i certainly do now. all i have to say about that is, "just you wait, buddy. just you wait."

things are coming together. <3

From the Spray Art Auction...

Having another weekly art auction on my Facebook Art page...Click Here to View it!!!!