I Miss It.

Writing that is. I miss it terribly. Not the tech writing thing, because frankly, that still bores me to goddamn tears (she says, knowing she’s meeting with a guy about a possible tech writing gig tomorrow morning… Sigh.). I mean that I miss writing here. I get my writing cravings out on Facebook now, but get pissed when my status update is “too long” and I have to try to condense it. ANNOYING. I ramble. God knows I ramble. So I feel hindered on Facebook when I’m trying to write the latest episode in my life and I’m told by Facebook I can’t post it because I’ve used 523 characters. (And yes, I call them “episodes”…. because more often than not, my life is a goddamn sitcom. Or at least in my head it is.)

So I’m back for now. I can’t promise I’ll stick around for long (because in my own fucked up head, I’m ADHD and don’t know if I’ll really stick around.) And I may start up a whole new blog. Only because over the years, I’ve said WAY too much shit here about people that are now (grudgingly) my friends on Facebook. And if I ever post the super secret link to this blog and they’re bored and start reading back through, it could present a big problem for me. LOL! If I do decide to start using a new blog address, I’ll post it here for those of you that only have this link. We’ll see. I’m not making any promises. I just know that if I don’t do something with the crazy ass random thoughts whirling around in my brain, I’m going to explode. And that would be messy. And Steve is anal and would be pissed if I exploded in the kitchen and got blood all over the white kitchen cabinets. So we’ll see how this goes. Again… no promises. I need to think of a quirky blog title tonight for the brand spanking new blog and secure it and all that other good stuff.

But if I DO decide to roll with this, I’m giving fair warning that it will be a no-holds-barred blog. I’ll drop “F-bombs like it’s my job (but only when appropriate to the entry that day). And I’ll have many entries that are random one or two sentences throughout the day (because Facebook has destroyed my ability to post long updates). But we’ll find the groove we’re looking for and go from there. Promise.

So stay tuned. I may be back tomorrow. Or I may be back in 6-months. God knows you can never take me for my word….

She’s Alive!

Me that is. I’m alive. Barely on some days, but I’m here. I could write a big long post to catch you up to date, but would anyone really read it? (Not to mention I don’t feel like it. LOL!) So here are some photos from our summer. One and half weeks left of summer vacation for the kids. Bittersweet. I’ll miss them, but I think we’re ALL ready for them to go back.

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I Suck Ass.

That’s right. I said it. I suck ass. Sigh. I am SUCKING at this blogging thing here on the ol’ personal blog. I’ve been quite efficient over on the other blog I contribute to. But by the time I get done with that, take care of the kids, take care of the husband (ahem…), take care of the house, post on Facebook, post on Twitter, make some shit that allows me to release my inner artist, etc., this ol’ blog gets neglected and I’m just too tired or uninspired to update it. I hate that I don’t post here anymore, so I’m going to try really, really hard to start posting fairly regularly again. I’m not sure who here even cares anymore (if any of you are even here anymore), but we’ll just plug along and see what I can do. LOL!

Hmmm… I’m not sure if any of my updating would interest any of you at this point. Or how many of you follow me on Twitter or Facebook (which means you already know everything about me), but I’ll give a brief summary.

School’s out… we joined the public pool for the summer and the girls drive me nuts everyday begging to go… I take them but hate it, only because my only suit that fits me is a plain brown one-piece that makes me look like a big piece of wet lumpy shit (need to get a new one this week)… Steve’s busy with work and got blonde highlights last week that make him look like a rock star and makes me want to dry hump him or something… lots of awesome friends have been stopping over a lot on the weekends which kicks ass, regardless of the ridiculous hangovers and lack of sleep we’re getting because of it… my creative mind is in overdrive and I’m a bit worried how much of that I’ll be able to satisfy now that the kids are home all day everyday… I have some cool ideas in the works that could either make or break me, but no one was ever successful without trying, so we’ll see what happens… I lost my wallet today and was thrilled when someone turned it in with all $150-ish still in it, untouched (I knew there were still good people out there in the world)…

Dear god. I keep thinking of more to add. But I’m going to end this. Only because I don’t want this blog to become an online journal of my everyday life. Most of you (I think) are my friends on Facebook, which means you already know ALL of this stuff, so why reiterate it here. Nope. Starting tomorrow, this is going to become like the “old blog” again. Humorous stories… essays… observations… conversations… etc. So thanks for bearing with me as I just rambled on about nothing. It’s my gift. Enjoy it. ;)

Creative Headgear

I SWEAR I’ll be back later with a real post, but for now, I just wanted to let you know I put up today’s blog post over on the Everyday Artist blog. Go see me making an absolute FOOL of myself while rocking out wearing the family’s hats.

My first blog post is up…

…over at Everyday Artist. Come discover the hidden writer in yourself.

(I’ll be posting again tomorrow too, but it won’t have anything to do with writing. Promise.)

5-4-3-2-1… Blastoff!

The site is officially launched! The one I was telling you about yesterday. The one I’m really, REALLY excited about.

Sweet, kind, fiercely talented Danielle Donaldson asked me a week or so ago to be on her team. I love me some Danielle, and once she filled me in on the whole concept, I was MORE than happy to accept. The new site is here. (Once you get there and poke around for a bit, click on the “Team” link. That’s right… I’m “The Yard Dawg” and if any of you try to cross me, I’ll chew your asses off. LOL!) On the site, we’ll highlight Danielle’s digital designs, photography in general, and being everyday artists in many aspects of our lives.

We also have a blog. Secretly, I most excited about the blog. (Well, not so secret anymore. Sorry Danielle if that was the wrong thing to say. LOL!) There are 4 of us that will have a set day every week to blog (my day is Thursdays), with the 5th day being for guest bloggers, kid bloggers, etc. (we won’t blog on weekends). Each of us has a certain “specialty” that we’re best at/do most often/were chosen for/etc., but there will be a lot of cross-posting about particular aspects of artistic stuff too.

I’ll use a lot of my posts to get everyone to think about writing. Not novels, mind you, because hell, even I haven’t written one of those (yet). Just little stuff. Crazily fun writing exercises… Writing ideas that make you think (or not think if you’re so inclined)... Journaling projects that get your kids involved… Some easy stuff… Stuff that involves a little more thought… Generally, all aspects of the writing spectrum. Most people assume that keeping a journal involves long paragraphs, daily updating, etc. but it doesn’t have to be like that. My goal is to make people realize that capturing their moments and memories through writing don’t have to involve a lot of work. I even have writing and art projects in mind that involve nothing more than jotting down (literally) one word a day. It’s going to be FUN. I promise.

But I’ll also be posting about other stuff. Scrapbooking, easy home projects to create awesome artwork for your walls even if you’ve never scrapped a page in your life and don’t have the software tools to do what some other people can, make you realize how words and lyrics and nature and all sorts of other things can inspire us all, “art” in the sense of just looking at yourself and realizing that your everyday responsibilities as wives, mothers, sisters, chauffeurs, coaches, house cleaners, etc. (whether you realize it or not) make you force yourself to be creative and invent things and ideas that you normally wouldn’t.

There’s also a set day on the blog to get our kids involved in being creative and give other kids motivation and ideas for discovering their inner artist. Art knows no age limit, so we’re hoping you all realize that your kids are artists too and can often spark that inspiration in us (and other kids their age) that we didn’t even know was there.

It’s a new project, which means transition. So bear with us and let us grow and develop. We all have the same goal in mind and I promise that as we each blog over the next few weeks, you’ll watch us all grow and develop and find our own groove. I’m REALLY hoping that you’ll take the journey with us and pick and choose which posts you most relate to (or ideally, choose all of them! LOL!). Figure out where the “inner artist” in you really shines and then run with it. And if we manage to turn our vision into a reality, you’ll start to realize that you’re an artist in ways you didn’t even think about before. :)

So add the blog to your feed reader (and then actually read it), join in on the challenges when we post them, comment when you feel inclined to, and join the Flickr group (Tink & the two Kelly’s, I’ll kick your ass if you don’t… LOL!), and allow yourselves to grow right along with us. I swear on all things holy that if you stick with us and help us iron out the kinks, we’ll get you on the right path. I have WAY too many friends that say, “I wish I was as creative as you,” without even realizing that they ARE creative… just not in the same way I am. We ALL are in our own ways, and the blog is going to be about discovering how to figure out exactly in what way you are.

So here we go. Buckle up and ride along. :)

Where do I start?

Hmmm… starting points are hard for me, generally speaking, simply because I’m a rambling sort of chick. I jump from thing to thing… lose focus and then gain incredible focus at the drop of a hat… have too many thoughts swirling to possibly get them all down… So let’s get started.

Since being laid off, I’ve been busier than I was when I was working if that’s possible. But it’s almost all good, FUN busy stuff and not that “busy” that makes us want to rip our hair out (although I’ve had my fair share of that too).

But my biggest sucker of time has been a new adventure I was invited to participate in. I’ll give more details in the next few days, but a crazy creative friend of mine asked me to help her launch a new website with a fantastic concept. It does involve digital scrapbooking to an extent, but it’s so much more than that (in our heads anyway). It’s about discovering and nurturing the everyday artist in all of us.

Art doesn’t have to involve paint or scrapbooking or pencils or photography. Although all of those kick ass, “art” is so much more than that. It’s how we live everyday of our lives. It’s what we see when we look around in our everyday lives. It’s how we come up with solutions to the normal stuff in our lives. It’s the simple notes we jot down to our spouses and kids. It’s the recipes we event and the organizational solutions we come up with. It’s all of that and more. And the new site is going to reflect all of that. Me and 3 other women are going to do our damndest to make each and every one of you realize that you all have an inner “artist” in you begging to get out. And we’re also going to make you realize that you’re all creative in your own way and that the things you do everyday that you wouldn’t think twice about is art in it’s own way. I’m pumped. Excited. Motivated. Inspired. And I promise we’ll do our best to make the rest of you feel the same way.

I’ll be back in a day or two to post the link to the new site. It may take us a bit to really get in the groove and get the site exactly the way we want it, but I promise you that if you all take the time to transition with us, you won’t be disappointed. More details soon. Pinky swear. But right now, I have shitloads of stuff to do for the launch and I’m going to get my ass fired before I even start if I don’t get it done. So stay tuned. I really don’t think you’ll be disappointed… ;)