Do You Ever Procrastinate

Over at Authoblog David poses the question today "Do you ever procrastinate"? I had to laugh at first because I thought as a writer I think all of us procrastinate. I think that holds true with my other hats of weaver and artist. I have heard it said that we procrastinate because we are just not ready to take on a certain project at a given time but I think there is so much more to procrastination than that. For once I haven't procrastinated about this topic. Then again I should be upstairs getting ready to head out to church but here I am on the computer. Well maybe that is not procrastination at all. I would just rather be here writing than heading off to an activity I really don't want to do. I am a greeter this morning so I do have to show up. Oh well such is life.

Take a look at the question and see where it takes you. I had better go get ready to leave...

Time in the Garden

I haven't posted since blogger has been giving me problems lately. Sarah says thanks for all the birthday wishes. I haven't had much time in the garden this year. I am playing catch up with weeds and there really is not much to choose from in the nurseries anymore so I will have to make do with what I have. I was delighted to see some of the things I planted last year actually come back. I saw this lovely butterfly the other day. I have no idea what kind it is but it really liked this one plant.













I ordered some tape from Japan that arrived the other day. They are really pretty. Funny thing is I ordered some things from Japan and Canada and I got the Japanese package first.

Helena.

The trip to Helena was good I was moderately successful in my booth. I did manage to garner to wholesale customers. One if in a shop in Bozeman and the other in Corvallis Montana. They bought a lot of my fibers. That got me to thinking that perhaps wholesale is the way I want to go. So I decided I will take some dyed fibers down to New Mexico to see if I can get some shops down there to carry my product. I will then also be able to write off the trip as a business expense so that will be a plus. I think if I can get a half a dozen shops carrying my product that would be great.














This is one of the booth displays for the Conference.
















This is a group of vests in the Fiber Arts Show.


















I loved this one so here is a close up.

















This yellow scarf was gorgeous.













This was a towel, I liked the color arrangement so I took a picture.


















This shawl was done by my friend Laurel. It is beautiful and soft and made with beaded yarns.

It's been twenty years

Its been twenty years since I became a mother. It is the best decision I ever made. Yes its Sarah's birthday today. Its hard to believe my little baby girl is no longer a teenager. She is all grown up now and I couldn't be a prouder mom. Happy Birthday Honey.

I made a big cheesecake with strawberry topping to celebrate when she gets home from work. It should be good. Dave's birthday is Friday. Her boyfriend Kyle comes on Friday to visit from Butte, Montana, so we will have a full weekend around here. I hope to be able to report about my trip tomorrow

24 Tips for a better life

A friend sent this to me today and I really liked it. I added tip #25 since it is so important.

24 TIPS FOR A BETTER LIFE

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to.

3. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement,
'My purpose is to __________ today.'

4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

5. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.

6. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

7. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

8. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

9. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

11. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

12. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

13. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

14. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter ??'

17. Forgive everyone for everything.

18. What other people think of you is none of your business.

19. FAITH heals almost everything.

20. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

21. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

22. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

23. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements:
I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.

24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
25. Be grateful for everything.

And the Winner is

And the winner is.....Gemma... Like I said before I will not ship it out till next week.

I am headed out to a Weaving Conference in Helena Montana tomorrow morning. I won't be back here till Monday. Have a great weekend everyone.

National Year of Reading

Today I am picking my name for my blog giveaway so leave a comment if you want to enter. I'll be picking a name later tonight. I won't mail until I get back from Helena, so it will go out next Monday or Tuesday.

We had the sheep sheared last night and Emily had to be sewed up. I hate it when they take a hunk of skin with the wool. She is all stitched up and is doing fine.

What's your story

I know this is last minute but for all the writers out there. Go here to read short (600)words stories by a group of famous authors and enter your own. Today is the deadline for entering. I think that Sarah and I will be adding ours tonight. Oh here is the site Its all to celebrate the National Year of Reading. Even if you do not submit, there are over 3,000 entries to look at.

I was going to show my shawl I finished but blogger is having issues today, so maybe later.

Attitude is Everything

This morning I was reading an email from the Bleeping Herald from one of the producers of the What the Bleep movie and that is what she was talking about. I like that new catch phrase because lately it seems that what I have been noticing in myself. Yesterday I found myself in a downward spiral. I started getting negative about everything, about this trip to Helena and then to Taos and so forth and before you know it I am depressed about everything. Today is a new day and I choose to be positive and happy about all of it. Thoughts do create things so I am on to better thoughts. Then on YouTube my friend Megan has a wonderful video on this same subject. So I thought I would share it with you.




After my pen discourse the gracious Kelly Kilmer commented with some new pen ideas. In case you don't look at comments, this is what she said

"My fave pens that write on paint:
Sakura gelly roll glaze, sakura souffle, sharpie poster paint (WATER based not oil based), faber castell pitt pens (Brush tip is my fave), zig vellum and writer pens, latte pens, "sweets" latte pens, ... these will all write on paint. The paint does have to be 100% dry."

I looked in my local stores and could find only the sharpies and the Zig writers and vellum writers. So I picked up a few writers, and one vellum and sharpie to try. I'll let you know later how well I like them.

I was also reading this last night. I have had the book for awhile but never took the time to read it. After delving into the editing book last week this seemed a good next read. I've read Heather Sellers other book called Page by Page and really liked it. That book was more about setting up a writing practice, while the new one focuses on writing and finishing a book.

The the author talks about the commitment to writing a book and how you need to look at your life and see what things you can cut out to devote more time to writing. Well one thing I tend to do is to use TV to relax. When nothing is on I find myself watching silly things like the E network. Which is just a celebrity gossip channel. When I think about it what a waste of time that is. I think I will put an end to that. That should definetly free up some more time.

I spent time in the garden this morning, digging up the forest of weeds that have accumulated. There is something about being outdoors and working in the earth that is pretty satisfying.

In search of the perfect pen

I was working on this page and I could not get anything to write on it, that is so frustrating to me. I ended up using a brush pen. So I headed to Roberts and bought these.
















The only problem is that they do smell, the solvent in them is a little annoying. I like all the colors though. I have these water based markers by Fibracolor that are nice but they are only for bold writing. I had ordered some of those white gel pens and now none of them seem to work. I hate it when that happens. So I continue to search for the perfect pen. Any suggestions out there....






















I drew this little lady the other evening. That about it for Art lately. Saturday and Sunday I spent at the dyepot. I head up to Helena for a show on Thursday. I dyed another 12 pounds of fiber so I should have enough. Its now been weighed labeled and priced and packed away. I am glad that is done. Now to finish the shawl that I want to take. I think I will put on a long movie and sit in front of it while I add the fringe.

A Lazuli Bunting

I was sitting at my couch looking out at the bird feeder when this beauty showed up. Its a Lazuli Bunting. I grabbed the camera and it flew away. Dave managed to get some shots of it later. Its amazing how you can look out your window countless times and then all of a sudden you see something new. The blue of this birds was so intense, the picture does not capture the color that well. I think this bird will be fun to paint with all its color.


Blogging Contest

Don't forget to enter my blogging contest. I am giving away a group of collage materials to celebrate my 500th post, just live a comment and I will enter your name in the drawing. I will be drawing a name next Wednesday June 18th.

ART

I've been making backgrounds in that watercolor paper journal I made awhile ago. I decided to just use all the different materials that I have and see what I like best. So far I have used golden acrylics, folk art craft paint, and water soluble oil pastels. I think I will use some actual watercolors next, then maybe some golden fluids and soft pastels. I think I like using Twinkling H2o's for more detailed work so I will skip trying them as a background. With so many choices it sure is fun to play.

Why don't you take some time to play today...

Inspiring Speech by JK Rowling

This J.K. Rowling commencement speech at Harvard has been circulating for a couple days on writing and coaching blogs so I thought I would share the link with you too. You can watch the video or read the text. It is worth a look for anyone, I sent it to Sarah too. Although the message is for graduates, we can all gain some wisdom from it.

I downloaded Google Earth yesterday afternoon and started looking up some addresses of the letters my grandparents wrote and was very excited to find a few. It is a pretty exciting tool to use. This project is becoming more real with the idea of visiting these places, making their story come to life in a different way. I am working on getting the manifesting machine in working order so I could make a trip next summer. Just the thought of doing this is fun exciting and a little scary too.

I picked up my Nanowrimo novel and thought about editing it and as I read a section all I could think was this was absolute drivel and maybe not worth my time. Then last night I was looking for a writing book I have, that has a section on editing and I could not find it anywhere. Then I remembered that years ago when I took a writing class on AOL I bought a suggested editing book. So I went looking for it. i found 3 books that I want to read but the best one was this.

I sat reading it for awhile last night and its excellent. It is easy to read and the examples are really good. I now know how to take the drivel that I wrote and make it better. Perhaps the stifled dialogue scenes needs to be changed to narrative summary and some of my summaries need to be turned into scenes and so forth. It really opened my eyes to what editors do and how I can make my writing better. I love how these late night wanderings can turn up a gem.



500th Post

I have discovered that I can't count I thought my 5o0th post would be tomorrow so I am adding a addition to this post. I always forget my blogiversary since it is in November and I am doing Nanowrimo then, so I thought I would celebrate a different milestone instead. This is my 500th post since I have been on blogger and I am planning a giveaway. I will be giving away a collection of collage materials. I'll be throwing in papers, napkins ephemera, cards and more. I had planned a picture for the post tomorrow but since I am a day off you'll have to wait till then to see the actual prize. Of course I haven't collected it all together yet or I would take a quick snap right now. I'll keep things open a week all you need to do is leave a comment letting me know you want to enter.













Ok here is a picture of items I have collected as my prize, there are napkins, papers of many sizes, ephemera, ribbons yarns etc. I will probably add more to this but its a start. Its hard to take a good picture of but I think you get the idea.

Feeling Groovy

I am feeling groovy today, do you remember that song. Such an upbeat silly thing to sing on a beautiful day.

I was going to spend time dyeing today but the farmer accross the street is spraying pesticide and yuck it smells, I sure don't want to be breathing that so I will be staying indoors today.

When I was at the Villa coffeehouse on Saturday I bought some tea and a strainer and left the package on the table. How silly of me , right. Well I was hoping that they would have found it and put it away for me. I am beginning to be a regular so they may have remembered it was mine. Anyways I headed there today and yes they had my package. Happy camper here, doing a happy dance....

I spent my time there doing some writings from this :














Its Natalie Goldberg's new book on memoir writing. Its quite like Writing Down the Bones but different. I like it.

I also was watching some 100 day challenge video's. I am into season 3 and have not been watching any. It was nice to see old friends and see what they are up to, and of course become inspired by others.

Drawing again

I drew this in my moleskine sketchbook while at church today. I haven't drawn in church in a long time. It was my attempt at a different face. I won't show you the original since it really does not look like what I drew but oh well this is a first attempt at a 3/4 face and I am sure it will get better with more practice.

I am still cleaning the studio I hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel soon.

I had set up an additional writers group meeting on Saturday and it was great. I met with Maggie and she told me all about the 6 week writers workshop that she is going to attend in Seattle. Clarion West is what its called and its for SciFi and fantasy writers. Six weeks to work with 6 published authors. Its quite an opportunity for her. It sounded perfect for Sarah so I am encouraging her to apply to it for next years session.

I am back to working on my Grandparents book. I put all the letters on a disk only to find I had all these duplicates and some things are missing. So now I am going through them all again and checking what I have printed and what needs to be done and so forth. Sometimes its a daunting job. I also am starting to think about the trip I want to take to Ireland. There are a lot of details to be worked on before I can even think of going so I am starting to make lists and all that. I see it as a start to make that goal a reality.

My sister is here

My sister Marianne is here just for a day on her way to California and Mount Shasta but she'll be back in July to spend some time here. I haven't seen her in three years so this is special time here. I started this 2 days ago so Marianne is gone now. We had a nice visit and I am looking forward to seeing her again next month.

I spent all this time cleaning the house for her visit so now its back to the studio. I really have let it go so I have a major clean to do. I want to get back to some art but there is too much disaster here so I have to clean up. I would like to be one of those people who puts everything back in its place. I still have not found a way to organize my magazine clippings that makes it easy to access it all. I have too much stuff, I am getting buried by the clutter. Hopefully I will come up with something that will work for me soon.

I am working on a new RR book and its quite a challenge, the theme is white and beautiful. Hard not to do color so I will throw some in anyways.

I really like how Sharon uses napkins in her work but I really haven't been able to find that many I liked. I found the mother lode and am in napkin heaven now. Tuesday Morning is the place to go. They have more napkins than I have seen anywhere. These are what I took home.


















Some beautiful Sunflowers.

















This is the front of one Marianne bought, we traded some with each other.


















... and the back since they are different.


















Some snowflakes, I got these on clearance for .60.


















Calla Lilies and butterflies, this one is really pretty. I think that all of these will be fun to work with in either small collages or in paintings. I am sure I will be going back for more. If you have a Tuesday morning in your area check it out.

Back home again

I hate to have to be reporting all these mishaps lately but things continue to be out of whack for me. Flynn our dog was attacked by a killer elk in the campground we were staying. He was kicked but he was ok. We left him in the trailer that day like we usually do while we go wolf watching and when we got back we could not get the screen door open. Its was jammed close and all the screen was torn out. I don't know if he was having elk nightmares trying to get away or what. He is fine now. It turns out the elk had lost her calf to a grizzly bear the day before and was mad at the world. She even went after the campground worker driving around in a golf cart. From then on we avoided that area of the campground. I do have lots of pleasant memories of our trip and once I get my pics sorted out I will tell you all about them.

When we got home we found out our llama had died. He was sitting when he died so perhaps his heart just gave out. He had been dead several days so we had to haul the body right away. The smell was awful and the scene was really unpleasant, I won't treat you to all the disgusting details. I am truly hoping this is the last thing to have happen.

My sister is on her way here. She was in S.Dakota last night and I expect her sometime tonight but I haven't heard from her yet. We were supposed to get our sheep sheared tonight and that got canceled which was a relief. It is nice having the evening off.