Card Give Away

I'm doing a 2-card giveaway over at Heavenly Savings.
There are all kinds of ways to enter and two people will get to choose
the card they desire and have it shipped off to them for free. Check it out!

I also have a new ooak card, Winter Sunshine, perfect for holiday correspondance or for those notes you know you won't get around to till well after new-year's but still while there's snow on the ground.
This is me every year. I never finish writing them till sometime in January
and they don't get send out till it's pushing March.  Some how I never have stamps.

Have a great Thanksgiving everybody :)

Thanks!

A big thank-you to The Curious Pug and to Ittybit Delights for featuring my shop on their blogs!
I write my answers fresh for each interview, so if you're interested in that kind of thing, they're both worth reading.

Also, blog readers can get 20% off a set of 10 Christmas cards through the end of the year, just convo me on etsy, tell me you saw this post and which cards you want (they can be all the same or you can mix and match) so I can make you a reserved listing. Regularly $30, but at 20% off only $24!
(plus shipping & handling, $2 state side, $4.50 everywhere else) 

Excuses Excuses

 When I was a kid I have a book called "Excuses, Excuses" and it had all kinds of ridiculous excuses a kid might use to get out of chores. Like if you want to get out of cleaning your room you could make a bear print stamp and stamp the prints all over the house, so then you'd tell your mom you can't clean your room because you have to track down a bear. What? you think your mom wants a bear loose in the house? You'd totally get out of it.

But most people use their excuses differently.

There are excuses for things you don't want to do,

"It's a bummer, but I can't! I totally would, but I have so much to do at home! I just can't tear myself away!" - from The Sims 3.

"I can't, because I'm sick, coughcough." - of helping you with your home projects.

And excuses for things you forgot to do,

"I couldn't because I ran into this lady who lost her dog and she was so heartbroken that I just had to help her find fifi and it took the whole afternoon!" - or two minutes of it.


Or for things you want to do,

"I'm sorry, I have to attend this ball game, it's really important to my dad and he's dying." - at some point. 

And for things you shouldn't do,
"Well you see officer..." Yeah, I bet you have enough practice with that one.

Yesterday I dealt with a lady who had a huge list of excuses.
I don't think she was lying either, she had a lot going on.
Probably last month was a bad month.
But the more excuses she gave me, the angrier I got!
Because the way she said it, it was like it was my fault her month was bad. And I should have known it was bad.
 
Probably she felt judged by my frustration with her, but I tell you nothing makes me so inclined as to go easy on someone as a big old, "I'm Sorry!"

"I'm so sorry I murdered that man, I just didn't like him!"
"Oh honey, don't worry, probably no one else did either! Plus he had ugly hair."
"It's a toupee."
"Well there you go."

The truth is that before her irate excuses I was feeling bad because I'd voiced my frustration, but when I listened to how it was all me being inconsiderate of the bad month I didn't know about - shazaam!  No more sorry. It's magic!

What excuses make you more angry instead of less?

Silent Songbird

I have a condition called Fibyomyalgia. Or Myofascial Pain Syndrome. Or both. My doctors didn't agree and now I don't have health insurance so it's a little unclear.

The main thing is, my muscles hurt.

I'm not a person that this is a big deal for.
Some people have such severe pain that they can't work, it's hard to sleep, and even small household chores can wipe them out for the day. I hold down a full time job, keep my apartment respectable, sell my personal art on the side, volunteer weekly, and have a decent social life.

But every now and again it becomes problematic.

It isn't the biggest problem I've had, but this past week I've had a bit of a pain in my jaw. At first I thought my teeth hurt and I had cavities again and, I won't lie, I was pretty upset. But as I considered it more I realized that my teeth were not bothered by crunching up hard foods, drinking ice-water, or eating sweets - all cavity related issues that popped up last time.

I came to realize that actually my jaw didn't hurt at all in the early morning (like it might if I were grinding my teeth at night) or in the late evening (when, this week, I've been home alone).

Kids, my mouth has been hurting whenever I've been singing! I tend to sing when I'm in the car or the tv is off in my apartment (though I try to not, because I figure my neighbors have never done anything to deserve that)
So I decided to quit.  It's not like I sing well, so what's the big deal?

Oh. Apparently I love to sing. I catch myself trying to sing all the time. I hear the chorus of a song I love and I just want to belt it out. It's been all of two days since I had this revelation and I'm going nuts!

To Write Love On Her Arms

 I was told on an etsy thread that this Friday is To Write Love On Her Arms day (I kind of don't think it is officially since there's nothing on the official TWLOHA site for Friday except a thing at Remuda Ranch) and it seemed like a good theme for some art work.  Clearly I'm still going ultra literal. I'm no good with metaphor.

I've had a lot of friends who have struggled with depression and various addictions. I've struggled with depression myself. Years ago when I first saw a To Write Love On Her Arms t-shirt, I knew immediately, without explanation, what it was about.

Of course I went online to find out more - and at that point there was mostly just a story online about the girl, Renee, who they started To Write Love On Her Arms for - and it was kind of confusing to figure out what TWLOHA was doing exactly. But they've grown since then and I can't help but be impressed with their mission to bring hope to people who can't see any.

And I think that hope grows with the awareness they've raised. One of the things I remember about being a teenager is how even kids who weren't coming from particularly bad situations could struggle with depression. It affects all kinds of people, but if we never talk about it it's just that much harder to deal with.

Though this post is written in support of TWLOHA this blog is not associated with TWLOHA in any way.

Needle in a...

 Sometimes I just have to draw something goofy to break myself out of a rut. When I was a kid I used to draw funny or overly literal illustrations for common sayings (like, a bunch of butterflies chatting at a party - social butterflies), but I decided to just go literal for "Needle in a Haystack"

I did think of another possible illustration for it - have you ever had a Haystack Supper? Around here they serve "haystacks" for fundraisers mostly - it' a bunch of food out in bowls and you pile what you want onto your plate in layers.

We had it at our last office lunch - there were crackers, lettuce, ground beef, nacho cheese, Doritos, pineapple chunks, diced peppers, tomatoes and probably more.

I didn't have all of that mixed together - but other people did.

Mmmmm. Tasty.

Color Thankfully

Another coloring page, this one is Thanksgiving themed. I know after a long day of cooking my mom always expected us kids to help set the table and what-not. Feel free to print out for your kids to color, but you may not alter, redistribute, or profit from this image in any way. This image is for coloring purposes only.

Latte Art

I haven't had my art on display much since college. Every year my church holds an Art Gala and some of my pieces are up at the office, but that's pretty much it.

So, I'm really excited that my art will be up for the entire month of November at Latte Art in Warsaw, IN.
I haven't seen it up yet, but here are a couple pictures of some of my framed art sitting in my living room.

I know most of my readers aren't from the area, but if you happen to be in Northern Indiana you should stop on by! The coffee's great and they make a point of having new goodies all the time.