Salt of the Earth

What do you do when someone is being mean to your whole family? What do you do when a person says horrible things about the people you love? Sticks and stones… that doesn’t always work when the words are so harsh. I’m struggling with feeling hurt and angry and not knowing what to do. Do I say something more? At one time I told this person not to say bad things about my family members- but I think she’s either oblivious to the fact that it’s so hurtful- or that she just doesn’t care. It hurts me to see other family members hurt by this person. I know people talk about people- that’s a fact of life. But what do you do when someone is blatantly rude to family members right in front of you? It’s a hard thing to see- and even harder to know what to do.

I was a little optimistic with my ability to handle iron. Last night I paid dearly for consuming so much iron. I am going to have to cut the dose in half or take something else.

Had lunch with my cousin and his awesome wife today- then they had to leave. I’m so sad. I so wish they lived here. We had such a wonderful time with them. I have that sad feeling today- like something is missing. It’s hard having family so far away.

Painted today in class. It was fun. Getting used to acrylics is going to take some time but i think it will be way cool in the end.

Check out my Easter Pics

T

Today was Easter and it was good. Very mellow- just the 4 of us hanging out. I didn’t cook anything elaborate- in fact I didn’t cook at all today.

The Easter Bunny left the kids baskets outside- and they had a blast finding them. The also liked their egg hunt which resulted in eggs filled with quarters.

I am feeling a bit better. Still dragging around. The iron upset my stomach today. BUT I still didn’t barf it up. My pee is a neon yellow now. I’m not sure if this is normal- but I’m kind of hoping so! I’m still dizzy and hope that that passes because I have my favorite painting class tomorrow and I do not want to miss it. I am also having lunch with Davie and Danielle before they leave.
Here is a picture of them:

I stretched my own canvas today and put the first two layers of gesso on it. I was pretty excited. I did have Thomas help me pull the very last part of the edges. wanted to make sure it was very tight. I can’t wait to paint.

Bath time.
T

Today was a good day. Despite getting stranded at the grocery store- battery died in the van (can we be DONE with car problems now?). Went to my favorite art store and picked up some stretcher bars and paper. I always find the people in art stores to be really cool. After having a conversation with this one woman about paper I realized I like art people. i like them because they are a bit off. I don’t feel so off my rocker when I’m around them. I fit in. That’s a good feeling.

Second good thing- my cousin David and his wonderful wife are visiting from California. I LOVE my cousin Davie. He was my first baby. I took care of him like he was my own when he was a baby-and still now. If I could sprinkle sugar on him and eat him up, I would. I just love him to pieces. He’s 30 now….. sigh…. where has the time gone. I find myself calling my kids by my cousins names sometimes. Because Davie and his brother were my first experience with babies. He’s so grown up now- but I still see my little Davie in his eyes- and his smile. He’ll always be my little Davie. There are many things that Graham does that remind me of Davie. When we went to CA a few years ago for Davie’s wedding several of his friends agreed with me- that Graham has the same naughty look in his eye that Davie did. And both of them are equally sweet. I am desperately trying to talk him and his wife into moving up here. That would be awesome.

Third great thing- I didn’t barf up my iron pills. I took them twice today- and kept them down BOTH times. This is a HUGE deal for me. I don’t think I’ve ever kept 2 iron pills down. I’m relieved because I’m just exhausted- which is a part of the anemia. My legs ache and my muscles jump a lot. I am so happy that I can tolerate this brand of iron.

Fourth thing- my dad sent me his old cell phone. I love it. It’s much fancier than mine- and does a lot more things. It’s gonna take me awhile to figure it out but it’s cool.

Lastly- we dyed eggs tonight and it was fun. Danielle- Davie’s wife- dyed several with the boys. It was very cool. We got to see baby Abby (Victor is her dad and Davie’s brother). She’s getting big and has the cutest chubby cheeks. She smiles now too.

Ok Off to fill baskets.
T

First round of test results came back.
Thyroid levels-normal
Hormone levels-normal
Blood Count- bad.
I am once again, anemic.

Second round of tests in 2 weeks. I suggested to the nurse that I may be anemic because of all the blood they took from me yesterday! I swear it was a gallon. She said it wasn’t- and yes, i still have to take the nasty iron pills not once, but TWICE a day cause my levels are so low. lovely. I hate iron supplements. They make me feel like barfing-and on occasion i actually have.

Wasn’t it Bugs Bunny who said that his metal carrot from outer space had lots of ‘IRUN”? maybe i should look into that…..

T

I had the mother of all migraines yesterday. My doctor gave me something for it that really helped and pretty quickly. Didn’t leave me too loopy which was good considering I had to pick Thomas up after his after school activity. (Graham stayed home with a sore throat). The doc took a lot of blood from me yesterday to run some tests- and I go back later this month for more. I’ve dreaded April for awhile now. I just hope the results are good.

Mick is home today as well as the boys. I think I’ll go make some popcorn.

T

just got out of the tub…. it was probably the BEST bath I’ve had in a very long time. As I was getting in i realized there were millions of little bubbles- more than there should be. I then realized some of the boys shampoo had spilled into the tub and was creating this wonderful, white mass of fluffy bubbles. There were more bubbles than water and when I got out I was covered in bubbles and bubbles were still lining the tub. ahhhhhhhhh such a nice little pleasure…

Some lady at school today told me my hair looked like Victoria Secret hair. Thanks, I think…..

T

The front breaks on the van were completely shot and the drivers side axle was broken. Big bucks spent today to fix both. BUT the good news is- it’s fixed and I am a very happy person. I will say I’m very thankful for seat belts because without them my poor children would have been shot across the van the first time I tapped on the new, improved brakes.

So I took the little grey truck today. Despite it’s many flaws I’ve always liked that little truck. Mick instructed me not to go over 40. Well, that wasn’t a problem- pedal to the floor at best gives you 40. Many, many passengers passed me by today- including several cyclist and every time I stopped at a stop light my boobs jiggled. (truck isn’t completely fixed and it shakes a lot when idle) But I like that little truck. It’s been good to us the last 10 1/2 years. It’s front end is pretty dented from a few run ins, the heater and horn don’t work, and it does not have power steering. But its been a good little back up car. Hopefully we’ll find a new replacement that will do the same.

Had painting today- ahhhhh painting class. It’s like a drug to me. We have these black artists books that we do assignments in- mostly ideas and journaling of what we want to paint and what not. I am REALLY enjoying that. My teacher and I were talking after class today and she asked me why I wanted to do art. I told her ‘because i want to live’.

I’m all fired up for printmaking too. Have several ideas for some cool prints this term. I need to order my boards. I am SO excited to do monoprints with my new teacher.

I’m unsure if I will be going to class tomorrow. I am having some health issues and have to see my doctor at noon. We’ll see in the morning. I’m thinking of skipping my drawing class and just going to the printmaking studio for a couple hours. hmmmmm

Meeting more cool people in my painting class. I just love it.

T

Along the way This is about a girl in class. She’s one of those braggadocios kind of people- likes to throw names out and talks up her ’skills’. Today she told me that her period is late and she might be pregnant and she’s not speaking to the dude she slept with. Apparently they had a fight and she wasn’t taking his calls now he’s not taking hers. She said that she would go and talk to his dad if she had to. I thought about giving her the ol STD talk but figured by this point- it wouldn’t make a difference. ah the lust of young love….

The brakes in the van are going out, I think. There is a horrible scrapping sound when I press on them and turn left. This is not good timing as the truck is not entirely fixed yet. I’m not sure which car I will be able to take to school tomorrow. Mick suggested I drop the car somewhere near my school and take a bus to school. I have a very small window between dropping the boys off and getting to my campus- and it would be difficult to get to class on time plus carrying all my supplies for painting. I am going to call the mechanic tomorrow morning and see if i can drive the van to school then drop it off on my way home. I am hoping this will work out. I hate car problems. Especially when both of our cars are having issues.

BUT the good news is I talked to my two new teachers about my life drawing frustrations. My painting teacher told me not to throw in the towel and stick with it. She said she has a VERY hard time with life drawing to this day. She said to see the big shapes and not worry about the detail. I like her. My printmaking teacher- who subbed in my life drawing one time- was EXTREMELY helpful. He told me to bring my drawings in on Thursday and we would go over them and he would help me from there. He said that it could be many things. ONE of the things is maybe its just MY style and i needed to accept that. He also told me a bunch of other stuff about drawing that made me feel much better- more encouraged. How I wish he was my drawing teacher! Then we began to talk about printmaking and he said he was going to teach Monotype- my favorite! He said the possibilities were endless with monotype. What a breath of fresh air! My old printmaking teacher doesn’t consider monotype a form of printmaking because she is a purist and that the purpose of printmaking was to print several editions that all looked the same. My argument is that art should be one of a kind and not something you can mass produce- that’s what Kinko’s is for. So i am excited to see what my new teacher has in store for us.

off to do some homework and get stuff ready for tomorrow.
T

Had an amazing art class today- as to be expected because it was with Lori my painting teacher. She was telling us how to begin painting- and the 3 things you look for. Value, hue, and saturation. Go for the big objects first- make out shapes then define later. That really clicked with me. Then she said that if you focus on details that you will lose the entire picture early on. (hmmmm, i do this often). Her last bit of advice during her lecture was that you should NEVER criticize your own work and say things like ‘that’s WRONG or that looks bad”. (hmmm, i do this A LOT) Painting is a learning experience and you need to tell yourself- ‘OH that’s how that works-” You also have to be ‘bad’ at painting before you can be good….. but it’s all a learning experience. Even though she was directing her lecture towards painting I walked away from class feeling a little more hopeful about life drawing. Very good words of wisdom.

We had an Easter egg hunt tonight at cub scouts. It was nice enough to have it outside- but got a little nippy in the end. I wore flip flops and my little toes were actually cold.

Stretched canvas today. It turned out well. I brought my own heavy duty staple gun and it took two people to figure out that the reason the staples wouldn’t go in is because they were the WRONG size!! My friend let me use his- which is bigger than mine and in the end he had to staple down my canvas to my stretcher bars because my hand wouldn’t fit around his staple gun. I think I’m really gonna like that class…. we begin our first painting on Thursday. I’m going to make a conscious effort to NOT criticize my own work- and I’m just going to let myself paint and enjoy it.

I have life drawing first thing tomorrow morning…..

Off to have some strawberries
T

Last weekend we got free Showtime. Let me first say that I am so glad we don’t pay for that. We did however, get some good movies. I started watching two separate movies last night- each dealt with a child dying and I didn’t finish either. I hate movies like that. I have NO desire to watch them either. Especially if they are about kidnapping and killing children. Way too disturbing. So as i was settling into my bed I decided to watch Smoke Signals. I’ve blogged about that movie before. It is such a good movie. I am moved to tears every time I watch it. Several times today I found myself thinking of it- and in a happy way. Some day I will actually break down and buy the DVD.

I have a myspace account. I’ve had it for a few months now but neglected it until i found out a few class mates had one too. I am also very happy to say I have 5 myspace friends! whooo hooo. Granted one is Mick- but that still counts. If anyone would like to check it out and/or become my myspace you can check it out text here.

I am so ready for bed now. Once Monday starts it’s go, go, go, go, go! But it’s all good.
T