Happy Holidays everyone!!!

I am not sure I'll have the opportunity to post again before Santa arrives, so I am wishing everyone a very happy holiday weekend. My husband and I will be headed to my mom's family in the Catskills on Christmas Eve, and then to his family's home on Christmas day...then the following week, up north to my sister's for a holiday cousins reunion, and the next day to my dad's where we celebrate Christmas a week late (back down to the Catskills.) Phewf, I'm already tired.

I hope that all of you have a few moments amidst the hustle and bustle to experience the magical, wondrous spirit of the season. That is my holiday wish for all of you (and me too!)

I leave you all with a picture of my darling Max, who posed for me in front of the fireplace last week...

This and that...

With the support and encouragement of my creative coach, and my amazing friend Debbie, I completed one of my big intentions for 2006 - I wanted to write and submit an article to one of my favorite art-related magazines. Until I hear from them, I will not name which one, but even if the article is not published, I am really glad that I wrote it. For me, the worst thing is for the new year to roll around and to look at my intentions for the year and realized that I did not make steps to achieve them. I have no control over the outcome, but if I don't show up and do the work, it won't ever happen!! I am also busy planning my first classes for 2007. I work at three venues, and it's a constant challenge to come up with new ideas every quarter, but I love the give and take of teaching and spending creative energy with like-minded individuals.
The photo that accompanies this post is a project that I completed at Art Connection, during our holiday ATC/little fat book party. It's a house with transparency pockets to display ATC or LFB pages. My favorite part is the pom pom fringe. It's one of my latest favorite embellishments. Although my usual color palette gravitates toward earth tones, my mood has been very pink & orange lately, so this house reflects a new direction for me and my art. I hope to post again this week, but if not, I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season.

How to put air in your tires...

I have a brand new Suzuki SX4, and the "check tire pressure" light keeps going on in my car. On Friday, I was going to visit my friend Debbie for an artist's date about an hour away in the country, and I didn't want to find myself broken down in the zero-degree wind chill with a flat tire, so I took the car to the Mobil station to get gas & add air to the tires. Only one tire looked really low, so after getting gas, I asked the attendant if they had an air pressure thingy. She said, "yes, it's on the air pump." Okay, so really I meant to ask, "Where is the air pump?" I found it around the side of the station and parked next to it. Believe it or not, if you're not a customer, YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR AIR. I had just purchased gas, so I knew the air would be free- lucky me - but I had to return to tell the same attendant that I needed her to turn on the air pump. She did. I returned to my car, and proceeded to do what I had seen done by various men. I detached the hose and unscrewed the valve on my tire, and connected the two. In less than a minute, my tire was almost completely flat, because in all the years of watching others use the air thingy, I had never noticed that they TURN ON THE AIR. So I was actually letting air out of my tire. Fortunately, a man waiting to ADD air to is tire came to my rescue, and I asked him to show me how it's done. I am posting these instructions for any woman who, after years of driving, still doesn't know how to do this. I think we should know some of the most basic skills if we're going to operate motor vehicles...

Let's assume that the air is free...
1. Look on the side of your tire for the number that indicates how many pounds of air your tire is supposed to have. Mine is 51 pounds. You don't want to go over this number or you can explode your tire.
2. Push the big black ON button. You'll hear a compressor turn on.
3. Remove the cap on your tire valve.
4. Press the compressor hose to the tire valve, and press the handle next to the nozzle of the hose.
5. To check the pressure, release the nozzle handle, and look at the number that pops up on the gauge. Keep checking until you have a pound or two under the maximum allowance.
6. Screw the valve cap back on your tire.
Leave with more dignity than I did on Friday.

Cleaning Catharsis

I am off this week. Taking a week in early Dec. has become my own personal holiday tradition, so that I can take my time decorating and making art before the holidays. I like to ease into the spirit of the season, which is also why I am not doing any shopping this week.

But before I could decorate, I had to clean my house - desperately. I love a clean house, but I truly hate house cleaning. I mean, I do the perfunctory vacuuming, mopping and surface dusting on a regular basis, but you know how it is when you start to really notice all the nooks and crannies - yuck! I began with my utensil drawer in the kitchen, which is a depository for every crumb and food particle that falls off my counter. That led me to every other drawer in the kitchen, and then the refrigerator, which was coated in soup spills, and contained a collection of vintage condiments - maybe I could auction them on Ebay?

Anyway, I continued this micro-cleaning from room to room & closet to closet, and endedd the day with a sense of immense satisfaction, even if it will only last a little while.

And that gives me the rest of the week to make art, plan classes, and perhaps make some gifts for friends and family. Just a note to my readers, my digital camera hub is at work, so I will post pictures of my art & class plans when I return.