Creating & Thrifting

We spent the weekend away, celebrating our 4th Anniversary. We had a good time, ate wonderful meals, slept in a super comfy bed, played blackjack and Baccarat, and really just enjoyed our time away…alone.

We all need some time away to recharge our batteries and that is exactly what this was for us.

For the past week, when I haven’t been dealing with doctors and medical tests, I have been busy creating art. Art of all different types.  It feels good to create and I have the extra incentive to create with a deal that my sister and I have…we each pick something we want to achieve and become accountable to each other for completing those things.  If we don’t accomplish our goals each week, we owe the other money for each part not completed.  Yeah, cash is always a good incentive but it’s really more about being accountable to someone besides ourselves.  It has certainly helped get me into the studio more and helped me procrastinate less.

I am a huge thrift store/garage sale fan. I’m always looking for a deal and for “stuff” I can use in my art, too.  I often find things for our house and it’s unbelievable the deals I come across on things I use to create art pieces.  I thought I’d share my latest thrift store find that I’m excited about…

I got this pristine, antique canister set a couple of weeks ago for a mere $5.00.  I love a great deal!  Aren’t they fabulous?

What great finds have you come across in your thrift store or yard sale trips lately?

Peace & Love,
Barb

The Good Life

I have such a good life.

Now, if you had lived through the day (hell, through the LIFE) I’ve had, you might not be thinking that thought right about now…but really, I do have a phenomenally wonderful life.

Today I was diagnosed (finally, a diagnosis!) with Fibromyalgia. It is only part of what’s going on with me but to finally have a doc say to me “There IS a reason for your pain” and this is what it is and this is how we’re going to treat it…Oh my, those words are like music to my ears. I need to know that there is a reason I hurt and to have a doctor validate it. It helps. 

Now, if we can just pinpoint what is causing my upper abdominal pain (gall bladder?) then maybe I can get to healing and get on with life! Same doc is sending me for a HIDA Scan on Tuesday…maybe that will give the answer we’re looking for. *crossing fingers*

Why, after hearing that today and coming home with even more new meds to add to the ever growing pharmacy that I have for all of the other ailments I have, would I ever start off by saying how good my life is?

My life is good because the hubby and I celebrated our 4th Anniversary yesterday and that means I have spent a wonderful 4 years with the man who still makes my heart beat fast and can make me laugh like no one else on earth…the man who is the key to finally fit my locks. My life is good because I have close family (my girls, my sister, my son-in-law) that is phenomenal and their for love me is so wonderful and comforting.

Life is good because I am creating things in my studio that make me happy; trying new things. experimenting and learning.  Life is good because our bills are paid, we have jobs (even if I can’t work much right now), a good income, a roof over our heads and plenty of food in the cupboard. Life is good because I have wonderful, crazy friends who send me unbelievable mail-love that includes big eyes for my studio.

See? What’s not to love about my life?

Oh yeah, every single one of us has our own private hells to deal with but when we step back and look at things in the right light, life is good.

It just is.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

Peace & Love,
Barb

Rambling

I’ve always wanted to be one of the cool kids…one of those cool chicas who eschews television, drinks tea, does yoga, and maybe crochet or knit. Yea, I’d love to be one of the cool women but I’ve realized that really isn’t me. I can’t be something I’m not…I can’t pretend.

Then I realized that it is the same at 44 as it was when I was in high school. I just have to be myself, like what I like, do what I enjoy and the rest will continue to fall into place.

Who am I? I am the crazy woman in the neighborhood that likes to put pink flamingos in the yard, to wear paint covered overalls to Walmart if I have to run to pick up something in the middle of painting/crafting and I drink my coffee made at home and not from Starbucks, Diet Mt. Dew, not cups of hot tea.

It’s perfectly okay to just be myself. I am the best me there is; no one can ever be me.

Just my thoughts at the moment.

Other stuff:

• Been spending much time doing the whole doctor, tests, hospital for more tests route this week. I have type II diabetes but my pancreas is shutting down completely (leading toward being on insulin instead of oral meds); I’m having upper abdominal pain and have already had problems with my liver (and kidneys) thanks to the diabetes so they don’t know if it’s my liver or gallbladder that’s causing the pain (I should find out tomorrow); and the list goes on and on.  I’m really getting tired of dealing with all this health stuff…but what’s the alternative?
• I looked really hard at myself this week and realized that my outward appearance reflects how I feel on the inside…blah, rundown, achy and sick…but I’m tired of that. I haven’t worn makeup in months and not regularly for years but I want to start wearing some again. I want to wear a little makeup, already got a haircut, gonna color my hair tomorrow, pluck my eyebrows, shave my legs (LOL), dress better and just try to make my outside reflect how I WANT to feel on the inside. Who knows…maybe my body will follow suit.
• I’ve found so many new blogs that have captured my attention lately. If you’re looking for some cool places to check out, be sure to check my blog list (and click on the “see all” link). You’ll find some great art peeps, decorating blogs, crafty and thrifty chicas, lots of real women doing real things and leading real lives.
• Oh, big news…I got contacts! I had to get glasses 2 1/2 years ago (as I was diagnosed with diabetes) but I am such a clutz that I have broken them, I forget them sometimes then I can’t see anything up close, I hate that they slide down my nose and hurt my ears…now I have contacts! YAY!!!

That’s a bit of a roundup for me.  I have a couple of art classes (both are art journaling workshops) that I’m taking right now, although I’m not able to put as much effort into it as I want to, thanks to all the doctor stuff this week (not to mention the change in meds making me sickie feeling and very tired) and I haven’t taken pics of much that I’ve done but here is one: And with that, I think it’s time for bed.

Take care and I’ll be back soon.

Peace & Love,
Barb

Priorities & Multi-Tasking

The older I get the more I learn about myself and one thing I’m learning these days is about prioritizing life in order to accomplish all that I want to do. 

For instance, I still have a box of pictures from the move that all need to be hung, the kitchen cabinets still need painting, the hall needs painting (that’s where most of those pictures in the box are destined for), and on and on and on! That list of things doesn’t even count all of the art projects and ideas that I have in progress or in my head that I want to start/finish (including the perfect purse that I have decided that I’m going to have to make myself since I can’t find it anywhere! LOL)

I guess the truth of it is that I am just not real good at multi-tasking…and I am actually glad that I’m not.  When we “multi-task,” none of the tasks we’re working on get our full attention. In this day and age we are pushed by our jobs and those superwomen on TV to do more, do it better and do it faster…we’re not good enough if we can’t do it all, do it perfect and do it quick.

I don’t like this bullshit idea of doing it all. I suppose that I am old enough now to embrace the idea of Zen…being in the moment, giving my full attention to whatever task is at hand…so multi-tasking is out of the question for me. I want to enjoy what i’m doing, even the not so enjoyable tasks, and I can only do that when I give each of them my complete attention by doing one at a time.

Do you give your attention to one thing at a time?  Do you live in the moment or are you still multi-tasking and spreading yourself thin?

One of the priorities for my right now is taking time to do the assignments (I can’t think of a better word for it) in the art journaling workshop I’m taking (Art Journal LOVE Letters).  I realized right before starting the workshop that my art journaling had taken backseat to all of the other things in my life that needed my attention (the move, work, my health, the house) but in letting my art journaling fall by the wayside, I was harming myself. Seriously.

My art journal is my friend, my healer, my confidant and secret keeper, my dumping ground, my happy place, my place of experimentation…it is so much to me, yet it is one of the first things I push to the side when other parts of life call out needing my attention.  I have realized that I can’t do that anymore. My art saves me…everyday, it saves me. It has to be a priority…and it is.

 

What important, saving graces are you letting fall by the wayside in your quest to be Superwoman?

Peace & Love,
Barb

Life in Action

Am I the only one who has these great ideas and wonderful intentions but the follow through is the problem?  I do that all the time. I have this folder full of ideas of things I want to create, paintings I want to begin, decorating ideas to try out, signs I want to paint, even some sewing I want to do…but when it comes time to actually do those things, I just kinda peter out.

I really have to stop that and get my butt in gear. There are only so many days in a lifetime and I know that I am wasting my days with this procrastination of mine.

I think it’s just a matter of making myself go into my studio cause once I’m in there, I have a blast. I guess it all comes down to drive and initiative, huh? No wait, it comes to ACTION…anyone can think of great things, it’s putting action into it that makes them come to life. I have to focus on acting on my ideas. Yea, that’s it…action.

Valentines Day is coming up and that is what was on my mind when I was playing in my art journal. (Sorry the page on the right is kinda blurry…my art journal has gotten so thick that it’s hard to scan the pages anymore.) I think it pretty much speaks for itself (click to enlarge it so you can read…if ya wanna.)

In other news, I’m really looking forward to beginning the wonderful “Art Journal LOVE Letters” workshop love affair this weekend. I know that Connie is as excited as we, her students, are about this new adventure. I hope that some of you are coming along with us…it’s going to be a blast.

Now, I am going to get up off my duff and move into the studio…maybe I’ll actually get something done…if so, I’ll be sure to share it with y’all. Wish me luck.

Peace & Love,
Barb