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My girly piece for this weekend
“A grandmother is a little bit parent, a little bit teacher, and a little bit best friend. ” ~Author Unknown
What a great weekend I had with my grandchildren! We got off our “art class schedule” when their mom had to have gallbladder surgery, though they asked often when we were going to do our art again. Mom returned to work on Friday, so we had a full weekend together. We pulled out our supplies on Friday night, wrapped the table in our ugly vinyl tablecloth and dabbled a bit. A visit to Michael’s and the grocery store on Saturday morning for more supplies and sustenance. Then lots of fun the rest of the day and most of Sunday. Both kids completed one piece and have another much larger piece in progress. I also revisited a very ugly background I had done and saved it and then added a little Zentangle for good measure – I can once again hold my head up. We all agree it is much improved.
Part of my plans for the weekend included trying out a new recipe for Mac and Cheese with Roasted Chicken. I was careful to use the rice noodles they like and that are safe for me. However, I did not reveal that the cheese was goat cheese. While they painted, stamped and played, I whipped up our dinner. Both kids loved the dish. After they finished off seconds, I shared that the reason it was so yummy was goat cheese. Maggie’s reaction was exactly as I expected. Jack, however, gave me a very solemn look and asked ” How do you milk a goat?” I replied, “Just like you would milk a cow.” A look of horror now, “Through the penis?!!” Oh lord, WHERE does he get this stuff! I explained there are boy goats and girl goats, only girl goats are milked and they are called nanny goats. “Oh. Well then that’s okay.” Not the lessons I thought we were learning, but valuable nonetheless!
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- Jack – his name is always proudly displayed on his work
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- Maggie’s girly work from this weekend – her version of her mom
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- My girly piece for this weekend
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- Salvaged ugly piece from a few weeks ago – the best of the ugly parts shows in the squares
“The life of a designer is a life of fight: fight against the ugliness.”— Massimo Vignelli
For the past couple of weeks I have been working to get myself “organized.” Trying to adapt to my revised job responsibilities has me completely at sixes and sevens. A webinar by David Allen reminded me of my past, those times when I was on top of every little detail. I used his process outlined in the book Getting Things Done. Realizing I had lost my process and my good habits, I dusted off my copy of the book and have been slowly working to get back on track. While my issue is really about process and not so much organizing my space – I did that sometime back and have been able to maintain it – I realized that one problem with my office was that my desk has no file drawers. I have resisted putting a file cabinet in there. I really like the way my office looks and didn’t want to introduce a metal eyesore to one of my favorite rooms. But the need for function has driven me to reconsider. One of my dealer friends offered me a great deal on exactly what I needed – FREE. I like free, but this thing was in my least favorite color – putty. Black would be better, even grey, but putty – yuck! Ultimately function and free triumphed over ugly putty and it came home with me.
Sharpie oil-based paint markers and Zentangle were the tools I used to banish the ugly from this plain, putty file cabinet. I may add a little more pizzazz to it later, but I’m calling it done for now. Now I just need to get the thing loaded up with my files.
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- Before the introduction of the “ugly” file cabinet to the right of the credenza.
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- My Organized Office Closet
Tangled Tranquility 