Rain

Just had to show off our beautiful blue skies and the rain clouds coming over the mountains. We don't have many rain falls except during the summer months; the local weather guys refer to it as the "monsoon season!" Yea, hello Mumbai is calling and they want their term back!! The other night it rained so hard, my car is now clean, so Mother Nature saved me a few bucks to take it to the car wash, but the windows still need some help!!! LOL


Today is another adventure with Miss Daisy. My mother remodeled her bedroom and now her living/dining room. It's been whirl wind visits to Home Depot and Lowes for tile samples, paint chips, and area rugs...oey vey, the whole thing has exhausted me. So today we're going to put the final touches on the living room...picture hanging time. I'm taking my nails since last time we did this in her bedroom, she had no nails except the originals ones she's had for 50 years...I'm only 8 years older than those nails!!! She did a great job, though, or rather, the contractor did, but under her strict instructions and specifications. She bought this gorgeous Persian rug years ago....paid an arm and a leg plus the souls of her future grandchildren and insructed me to her remind her that this rug would be passed on to my brother, Fred. Well, Fred informed me the other day he didn't like it or want it!!! Oh yea...it's mine now, mwahahahahaha!!!! But for now, it stays under the formal dining room table where it looks gorgeous.

Well, need to get ready to sweat in my 87 year old mother's 85 degree house (not if I can help it) since she's saving on electricity and turns off her central air conditioner and opens the windows!!! You know how to spell, "sweat lodge?" Well, I must be very sneaky and turn it on and way down while she's not looking, but then she knows my intentions and just may foil my little plan!! LOL Oh, my dear friends, please don't forget to enter my giveaway...look at blog below. Take care, God bless and beware of gift giving goats. Peace out.

Giveaway and giveaway

Good morning all. Hope everyone has had a great weekend and for many of you, a very creative one. Wish I could say the same for myself. I haven't been inside my studio, except for watering the plants, in over a month!! I'm not exactly starving for inspiration, but you know the old saying, "the spirit is willing...." Oh well, I'm hoping all this "stuff" will blow over soon and I can get back to my abnormal self. One good thing is that my brain zaps have subsided tremendously especially while driving!! LOL

Had 2 of my 4 grandsons on Thurs. We had lots of fun and I never realize just how much I miss them till I see them. I took them to see "Toy Story 3" and I highly recommend it to everyone. I think I heard more adult laughter than that of children. Every time I laughed, my almost 6 year old Zachy would turn around and asked me what was so funny!! Anyway, I had a wonderful time with them and am planning another trip to Austin in October...just for a weekend since everyone will be working or going to school during the week. and besides, you know what they say about house guests???!!!?? My boys did ask me to make the "liar" cookies for them when I got there, but I told them their mother was very capable, she learned from the best!! They're actually Mexican Wedding cookies, but I read that the Italians have something very similar called Liar cookies...if you see powdered sugar on their shirts and they deny they had any cookies, you know they're telling a big fib, hence the name!! LOL When I was there at Christmas, they purposely padded powdered sugar so they could be accused of cookie stealing!!

Now for something completely different (one of my favorite sayings from Monty Python), I thought it was time for a giveaway, or two. No special reason, just because. It's very simple, just leave your comment and I will draw the winners name the 10th of July...someone please remind me, though!! My poor leetle synapses are still reeling and very angry with me.

As many of you know, I love Dia de Los Muertos art, or as my 7 year old Ryan used to say, "Meema's 'keletons." I really got into it several years ago when my kids were still in elementary school. My daughter, Andria, was in Spanish from the time she entered 1st grade and that year I made "muerto bread" for the class and a little dead pin for her teacher...ol' buck eye!! Well, it just took off from there and the popularity of the holiday has reached global recognition now, not my artwork, but the holiday!! LOL Anyway, my two pieces of work are a celebration of that day.

The painting was an idea born in a dream...I was sooo surprised I remember it. I used to keep a notebook on my bed stand for that reason. I was always dreaming up wonderful ideas and wake myself up, but I no longer am as ambitious...if I remember great, if not, oh well!! Must be an age thing or just a Georgina thing. The little bust is made up of polymer clay. I had this wad of translucent clay and a smaller wad of white, so I combined the two to give me this marble look. The little flowers are sculpted out of coloured polymer...I love the stuff.

So get those comments in and good luck. Take care, God bless and remember, all reality television is scripted!! Peace out.

New Award

I got a new award from my buddy Linda at http://lindaomasoldebaggsnstuftshirts.blogspot.com/ Linda and I met several years ago while we were members of some Yahoo group which the name now escapes me, but we both decided this wasn't our kind of hangout, so we split the group but stayed buds. Now part of the prize is to list 3 things on my blog you all don't know about me...YOU ALL KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT ME!! Hell, I've even told you what I used to confess to the priest during my forced confessional days!! You all know where I stand on bigotry of any kind, deceit, betrayal and lies (wasn't there a movie with that title), and stupidity (I guess that could be a sub-topic under the bigotry outline), so what's left? Well, not much. Funny, for a very loner type person, I'm such a damn open book. Oh, ok, I'm a loner, there's one, so I'll start with that.

1. Big Time Loner: I know, you're thinking I'm constantly surrounded by people, have lots of friends and am out and about socializing my putooty off...WRONG. I've always loved being alone. I enjoy it immensely and actually need that time to myself...I require it. When my children were little, I trained them to go to their room in the afternoon so mommy could have her "quiet time." Now when they were very little they took naps, but later, when they outgrew naps, they went to their rooms to watch television, read, play, colour, it was also their time for exploring and learning to entertain themselves. Too many children today require mommy and daddy or someone to constantly entertain them, they're unable to just sit in the moment and enjoy their own company; it's
becoming a lost art.

2. Obsessive Collector of Books: When I was a kid, I hated reading. My mother would take to the public library and would force me to sit and read then check out the damn things and force me to take 1hr./day to read. I had to read out loud so she could hear me. Well, Georgina was not to be forced to read some silly kids book, so I made up stories and she thought I was reading (oh no falls under that deceit, betrayal and liar heading...hey, I was 8!!) my book and she actually enjoyed listening, however, the only problem was that when she asked me to re-read a certain passage in the book she liked, well, I freaked and asked her to be more specific....whew, I was good!! When I was 12 our school began this book club series. You know what I'm talking about, this company would send out little magical little pages of age appropriate books for your class and you could buy as many as you wanted or as many as your folks could afford. All of a sudden, the world of books opened up to me. I began reading little teeny bopper love stories, one in particular I remember was, "Jeannie and Johnny," how trite, but it was great read for a 12 year old virgin. Then I began to evolve...no more teeny bopper love novels or any love novels at all, I began reading the classics (uh, no Greeks) such as "The Count of Monte Christo," "The House of Seven Gables," "The Portrait of Dorian Grey," and lots and lots of Poe. Hence began my love of not only reading, but collecting. I have books in our entertainment centre in our bedroom...stacked on top of each other, books in my trastero (Mexican kitchen cabinet, but it's my living room) books in my shrunk in my studio (shelves are splitting from the weight, so I use books to support them) and books stacked up next to a lounger in the living room. Have I read all these books, NOOOOO, but I love seeing them...they make me very happy. I also collect childrens lit. When my daughter was little, I got her into Shel Silverstein, we all love Shel and one of my fav kids stories is "The Stinky Cheese Man," and "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs,"...read them, hilarious!!

3. Portals, Windows and Doors: Ok, what's that all about? I'm attracted to those things in art and otherwise. A few years ago for one of my final projects in one of my studio college courses, I made a family portrait, my parents, siblings and myself, represented with all kinds of windows, mirrors, doorways and stairways. I guess a therapist would have a hey-day with that one, but I just like that stuff!

Well, you now have quite lengthy list of 3 things you didn't know about me. Wow, I had to think about it too and right now, my poor injured synapses are not too happy with me, I could still think of something, anything. My world is still whirling and twirling and my moods are all over the place just as my blood sugar...pinchi diabetes, and I just want to feel good again...just like that arse president of BP said, "I want my life back!" Peace out.

Drugs, Oey Vey!

I've been absent for a bit, but then I tend to be absent a lot from life lately. Truth is, I've weened myself off mega doses of Lexapro, an antidepressant. Friday night was my last dose and now I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was on 40mg, 20 more than I should have been on, but you know how these docs are. "Oh, maybe you need to up your dose since you're in so much pain over the death of your frog!!" or, "Sounds like you need a bit extra to tie you over the next few years due to your bankruptcy!!" Holy crap, where does it end?? Well, I decided to end it!!

I've been going through some very difficult personal problems, I discovered the drug just wasn't doing anything for me. I suppose my brain hadn't been that challenged since my divorce 12 years ago and I don't recall needing anything to ease my pain then, except for an occasional vodka with lemon flavoured Kool-Ade...hey, still had kids at home...the only decent set-ups I had!! LOL Well, I found I was walking in a fog...isn't the antidepressant supposed to prevent that from happening??? I was tired of feeling the way I did, so I visited my doc and told him the whole story of what was going on right now, then dropped the bomb, "Doctor, I want off this stuff." He was amazed! He told this was no time to go solo, but I stood my ground. He offered other types of antidepressants...different names, but same caca!! I told him NOOO and how do I go about weening myself from this stuff.

The weening has been an adventure in itself. I went from 40mg, to 20mg the first week. My head felt as if it was going to explode from the top of my crown. I kept imagining brain matter all over the kitchen and me standing there with my spatula saying all kinds of expletives as to why this didn't happen just moments before while I was taking a shower. Now you're thinking why would I be in the kitchen right after a shower with spatula in hand...ok, I took some time to put some clothes on!! You see how my brain is working right now??? Some time it can be magical, no headaches, melt downs and mood swings, or just down right miserable...lovein' the porcelain goddess...hey, if I'm going to do that, might as well have a hangover, right???

So I completed my 20-10-5, three weeks of this crap, and now I feel horrible!! I was explaining to a good friend the other day that I don't get the brain zaps...she did...but she described someone she knows who got the shivers. She said that if felt like the top of her brain was a can of ice cold soda and it popped open and the entire brain and body got the shivers...nothing like brain freeze, which I also suffer from not pacing myself when I'm eating some really good ice cream. So that's what my brain is doing right now, except no shivers, too bad, I could use a shiver or two in this hot weather!!

As for any art work, I haven't been in the studio in quite sometime. The last project I completed was the Baylor Bear doll I made for my step-granddaughter. I was hoping to do some art therapy with my youngest, Ian, who is here for a month, but so far, I haven't been able to stop my world from spinning, literally.

Ok, so far everything has sounded awful and miserable, which it has, but I will say this much, I haven't had this much clarity in years!! It seems like I left the fog and walked into a beautiful garden, some of the flowers have thorns, but still beautiful. I really felt this one other time many years ago when I was still a young mother, but won't go into that. My thought process, injured as it reads right now, seems to make sense more and more each day and all of sudden, I've found my critical thinking skills, lost in the fog and my hudspa!! All this will take time, my poor gray cells have been under attack for many years, but I'm looking forward to a having "Georgina" back, not that I ever really left, but a clearer Georgina. I swear, if I ever have to go back on these drugs, I'm never going off of them again, so this better be it for me. Peace out.

More Art, Observations and a Couple of Rants

I have to apologize to Pam at yoborobo.blogspot.com. She sent me the most adorable dolly, Alice, I won in her last giveaway. I have a couple of other wonderful little sweet stuff I have won during the past years from our wonderful and talented Pam. I love her art and her sense of humour...it's evident in her work.

As I mentioned in my last blog, I haven't really felt too creative, but I'm slowly coming out of the artistic fog and getting into doing more. That ugly art I mentioned is coming out pretty darn good, thanks Anne! I just might make more of those. As soon as I'm done, I'll post in here and you be the judge. I did create a little something for my sweet man's first grandchild who is graduating from h.s. this weekend in the Houston area. She will be attending Baylor U. in Waco, TX in engineering...the kid has "brems!!" She once called me and wanted me to help her with a novel she was reading by Ayn Rand!!!! Holy Moly, Ayn Rand in her sophomore year!! I still haven't had the cajones to begin "Atlas Wept." Anyway, guess who became the student and who became the teacher during that conversation!!??? I digress, but I made her a candle stick doll of Baylor's mascot, an American Black Bear....his name escapes me right now. I was planning on giving him a full set of teeth, but after making several attempts to add those damn canines, I said the hell with the teeth, I'm painting those babies in!! Anyway, he turned out pretty good, the only detail that bothered me was that the mascot's got blue eyes. Now how many American Black Bears out there have blue eyes??!!?? Ok, maybe we'll never know because most of us won't stop to check out eye colour if ever confronted by one!! My hubby told me his grandsons actually put their fingers in the bears mouth and realized he had teeth!!! LOL



As said in the Monty Python programs, "Now for something completely different." The other afternoon after taking a break from a few chores, I sat down and turned on the boob tube (did any of you back in the 70's see that movie??) and was struck by a train crash...not really, but that's how it felt. Ever seen "Toddlers and Tiaras?" I was dumbfounded by these people, the parents of these little girls...what's wrong with them??? Many will go into complete financial ruin just to keep those little darlings dressed in the most obnoxious outfits fit for a hooker standing in front of the public library!! And speaking of hooker, these children are prompted to dance like an exotic dancer by their rather stout, unattractive mothers out in the audience...what schmaltz!! Ya think these parents are living vicariously through their children??? Many of these little darlings actually throw temper tantrums if they don't win and some parents storm out of the auditorium because they're little beauty wasn't even a runner up. I know there's money involved and many of these parents are putting their winnings away for college, but at what price to the child?? So, if anyone is involved in these contests please give me your views.

This is sort of a rant/observation, but you know me by now...I love tracking!! LOL We had our first book club gathering last night at one of my favorite pizza places. To refresh your memory, we read "The Shack," by Wm. Paul Young. Out of 8 of us, only 2 of us gave it a one...didn't like it. My friend El (anthropologist by day and lead singer in a Goth band by night) and I found it a bit too preachy, plus there was all these references to Creationism, which I am not. What's wonderful about this group of old and new friends is that we all don't agree politically or religiously, but we all respect each others views. We live by the words of Voltaire, "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." Sooo, I mentioned that the last 150 pages were probably the most interesting, especially the section on "perception." Recently, it was brought to my attention about a blog concerning someone's perception of me. So when I came across this paragraph about perception it got me thinking....ok, I'll quote it from the book:

"...Paradigms power perception and perceptions power emotions. Most emotions are responses to perceptions-what you think is true about a given situation. If your perception is false, then your emotional response to it will be false. So check you perceptions and beyond that, check the truthfulness of your paradigms-what you believe. Just because you believe something firmly doesn't make it true. Be willing to reexamine what you believe. The more you live in the truth the more your emotions will help you see clearly..."

And so I have reexamined my paradigms, and this person's "truth" and still found it false, but then, I'm the negative subject matter. I'm not taking it personally since her emotions are wired differently than mine and her truths are her truths, not mine. I don't live in certainty, who does, but I know I love what I'm doing, who I'm loving and who I pray for constantly for peace of mind where ever that takes them. I live in the "now" as authentically as I can and just try to be as good as I can be...can't ask for anything else. Sounds kind of simple, but I discovered I like simplicity, like Thoreau (however, I still haven't lived my life so simply that I almost starved to death)...there was too much conflict and tumultuous moments in my past and I'm just glad it's all over and can sleep nights knowing I tried my best, even though for some, that's not enough and therefore blame me for my short-comings that they believe affected them and their lives. All I can say is "move on." Just be happy and authentic, "To thine own self be true," even though you have to question your truths sometimes. Well, next month is my turn for book club; we'll be reading "The Witch of Cologne," by Tobsha Learner. It's just a good read about a Jewish midwife, Lilith and love!!

Well, that about does it for me. I'm thinking I'm going to have a giveaway here soon. I'm not celebrating anything like the number of followers I have...I've even lost a couple, or the number of blogs I've distracted or bored you with, just because!! Details coming soon. Peace out.