Likes and Dislikes

Things I LOVE:
+ My most amazing, wonderful, intelligent, good looking husband. Drew is the best!
+ Early summer evenings with the grill going, a beautiful back yard of a beautiful house, and a comfy chair on the patio.
+ Good music that fits perfectly with my mood.
+ Having a plan... for the day, for the week, for vacation, for my summer job, etc.
+ A good dinner, with great guacamole, home made limeade, and freshly baked cookies.
+ My summer job - I think it is going to to totally rock.
+ Having a good book to read.
+ The end of school! Heck yes!!
+ Good friends whom you are so very thankful for and proud of... Congratulations Jeremy for graduating, Congratulations Amy and Rocky on your soon to be born beautiful baby Brinley (alliteration much?), and so thankful for so many others.
+ Being alive and feeling alive... celebrating every day.
+ Having a clean house, even though I don't much like cleaning it. (but I guess that point will come later)


Things I don't like so much:
- Paying bills
- Money in general... what good did it ever do anyone?
- Hearing my A/C on. It needs to just be cool in here without costing me so much money!
- Cleaning house, haha - specifically dishes and sweeping


Oh yeah, I love blogs too.

The Photo Entry

Here are a few photos for your enjoyment... and also a few for me to hopefully find out information...

My peach tree is growing peaches. They are so cute and fuzzy, but I want to know what I should do to ensure that no bugs or birds eat them. Any organic suggestions?

Anyone know what this tree is?

The other day, Drew was working in the front yard, and I got a little crazy motivation. So, I proceeded to cut down 3 horrid Holly bushes. I can not begin to express my level of detest for Holly bushes. They are ugly, and they stick you, and they grow like CRAZY and take over your pretty yard and make it where it hurts to get through gates... but I digress. This photo shows the future home for our new deck. I really don't know what I mean by "future" except that it is what I would like to do one day. And when the deck decides to build itself, haha, all of the dreadful holly bushes will be gone *insert mad scientist laughter here*

This is our "harvest" hahaha. We were actually able to grow 4 beans. Perhaps next year I will know to plant a few more plants and then we might actually have enough for a meal. Nevertheless, Drew is grilling steak tonight, and I plan to cook our 4 beans for us to enjoy. I'm sure they will be yummy.

Here are some more of our crops so far. One day, we might actually be able to have a salad. Looks tastey!

And, one day, we will have a cantaloupe. I LOVE cantaloupe.

I wasn't really able to get a good photo of our new garage star, because the weather was kind of crappy, and the grass wasn't mowed (Drew is outside doing that right now and it looks BEAUTIFUL!) But here is one of the things I bought in Canton when I went with the girls a few weeks ago. I love it!

And here is a photo of what Drew lovingly refers to as the "Tex Mex Garden" because it is just that... a mix of native texan and mexican plants. I have Mexican grass, Lantana and Bluebonnets growing and it looks so pretty! The bluebonnets are on the downfall, but I can't wait to see what they do next year!

Happy!

How has it been so long since I have updated? Especially with all the fun things that have been going on lately!

Let's start with Adventure Camp. Sadly, I do not have any photos of this, but I still have quite a bit of good old Texas dirt caked on my shoes, on my car, on everything I own that I took with me, just about. It was a pretty good time... lots of hiking and playing football, four square and various activities. I am glad to have gotten to know the 8th graders.

Then there was Canton. I don't have any photos of my treasures either, but maybe my next post can be photos with no text and you guys can play the matching game and see which picture goes with which paragraph of my blog, haha. Canton was awesome. It was especially nice this time since there was the threat of rain which held a lot of people at home. It didn't rain on us until we got in the car, which was perfect! I got a really neat Iron star to put on the garage, and some amazing soup and dessert mixes. I had a great time with Rebecca, Liz, Sarah, Lygia, and Kelly! Those girls are awesome!

And some news that I am really excited about: you know the frustration from my last post? Well, I am here to tell you that God really does answer prayers. I got a job working with a non-profit called Big Thought doing summer camps for Elementary and Middle School kiddos at the Bath House Cultural Center near White Rock! I am so excited and can not wait to meet to discuss details!

And another excitement: school is out in a mere 2 weeks! Juniors and Seniors are done officially tomorrow, with their exams being next week. Freshman and Sophomores have one more week of class before exams. So, I will be up here another 3 weeks, but it is definitely on the down slope and the end is in sight. I am finally being able to take a deep breath and relax a little. I don't think Drew and I have spent one evening at home together in a few weeks, so, I am really excited about the opportunity to spend some time with him.

Well, lunch break is over, so I must get back to teaching Art I how to do grid drawings. They are looking great!

Trying to think happy thoughts...

Well, the garage is finished. It looks absolutely beautiful.

I am trying my hardest to think of other happy things to write about, but I am feeling incredibly down at the moment. What better place to blab than on my blog where I don't have to be an emotional leech in person, right? Yeah, I know, false logic... but its my blog and I am going to leech anyway.

It all started with a case of the Mondays. Wait, rewind... lets start on Friday since there actually was some goodness during the weekend.

Friday, I did not have school. You would think this was an awesome thing, but I woke up that morning with a migraine like I have never had before. I spent all day on the couch trying to watch house, but having to turn it off and take frequent naps because I couldn't focus on the tv any longer. By the time Drew had gotten home, the nausea had taken over and I got pretty sick for a minute. And then, like magic, I felt all better.

Saturday, I was still feeling pretty exhausted. I slept almost 12 hours, and then took several naps on the couch during the day. Drew finally woke me up at around 4 because the Oak Cliff Art Crawl was taking place that night. Like the wonderful man he is, Drew took me to many many different galleries and tried to encourage me about art... which is a point I will bring up further down in this blog. Then he took me to Gloria's for dinner... my favorite. He treated me to shrimp nachos and made me laugh, and I can not tell you how much I appreciate the awesome man God chose to bless me with.

Now, back to the case of the Mondays. I woke up Monday morning feeling like I hadn't had much of a weekend since I slept through most of it. Then the day just kept right on going down the toilet. When Drew and I left the house for work, it was raining so hard I could barely see out of the windshield. I know you folks in Colorado will probably laugh at this next statement, but I am convinced that it was far more dangerous to drive yesterday morning than on our last "snow day". I spent most of the morning at school putting away all of the supplies that were left in my room from the Fine Arts Festival, and sorting through art work. I started my students on a really neat project that I THINK they are all pretty in to, and tried to be encouraged and uplifted.

I have been really down the past few weeks because I (and I really hate to admit this) kind of feel like a failure in the art realm. I can teach, and I'd like to think I am really good at it, but I have had no time to myself to maintain MY art, or to practice or take classes. I honestly miss college, because I was constantly surrounded by people working on art that they were incredibly passionate about. I drew from that energy and created some great work. It is so hard to be inspired when all you want to do is go home and sleep. I want to feel that magic of inspiration again, but in reality, I know Drew and I could not afford to live without my meager salary, and there really is no niche in Dallas that is not totally saturated for my kind of art. So, my prayer lately has been for God to show me how I am supposed to use this talent that he so obviously gave me. I feel so very much that he called me to be at FBA, but I do not feel that He would want me to feel so overwhelmed that I could not be what He called me to be... I believe it was my mom who once told me that God would never put you in a situation that he didn't already know you could make it through. So, I have confidence that He has a plan for me, and that in the end, it will all be perfect accordingly, but I really really wish I knew what that end goal was.

So, Monday after school, I talked to my mom and found out that my "puppy", Reggie, died Monday afternoon. With all the stuff I already mentioned, plus a few things that I do not care to share on the internet, this hit me unusually hard. I loved Reggie very much. He was a very good dog. But he hadn't lived with me since I got married, and I am not used to having him around every day... still I expected him to be around for quite a while longer, and it makes me sad that there wasn't something else I could have done to make him a healthy and happy dog.


Today started out on a good note. I wore my flowey white skirt and was feeling good, and then.. I dont know. I heard news about a really close friend of the family who is in the hospital, and my most favorite co-worker/boss/advocate sent out an email with his resignation. I was absolutely crushed and can not figure out what that means... I know we will carry on, but he was honestly one of the few people that really encouraged me as a teacher and as an artist. I will definitely miss him and his wisdom and encouragement in the hallways next year.

Well, enough of my blubbering. Hopefully the rest of this week will pick up and start to show a bit of improvement. Thursday, I am off to adventure camp with the 8th grade class at FBA. That should prove to be interesting and bloggable.

And... this weekend is Canton! See, I do have things to look forward to. Whew!

Garage, Earth Day, Etc.

Happy Earth Day, everyone. By coincidence, I planted some beautiful herbs and edibles yesterday, which I will take photos of soon. I planted a corn plant, lettuce, cantaloupe, beans, lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus, etc. They look great. Does anyone know if any of these have to be cross pollinated? Do I need to buy doubles of anything?

Here is the latest from the Garage update. Doesn't the door look AMAZING? I am so happy with it. Tim has one more door to go, and a few odds and ends and then we are done and will save up some money for the next project. Drew and I are thinking about some insulation pretty soon, maybe some drywall in the old hot water heater closet, and a deck.

This weekend is the Oak Cliff Art Crawl with many galleries in OC participating. Admission is free, and it is Saturday, April 25th from 4-9pm. Drew and I plan on taking part in the Bike Friendly Oak Cliff part of the evening... biking from gallery to gallery. Hopefully I can keep up! You can find more information at www.oakcliffartcrawl.com

Next weekend, Saturday, May 2nd, the girls and I are heading to Canton. Anyone interested, leave me a comment! We would love to have you come with us!

Seriously...

I have the cutest kitty in the universe. Just thought you would all like to know.

Garage Update

A LOT of work has gotten done on the garage the past week or so. Here are some photos to show the progress. As you can see, the garage is actually level. Once Tim got to work, he realized how horrible it actually was. Originally, the owners had built the garage on the dirt, and then someone poured a foundation inside the garage. So, there was no support on the walls, and the garage eventually sunk into the ground about 7 inches or more. Tim was able to use a hydraulic jack to jack up the garage, build it up a bit, and pour new foundation around the perimeter to support the walls better. That is all done, and he has run electricity out to the garage. We now have a light inside, beautiful lights outside donated to our cause by Jay and Lynda Martyn, and plugs inside in case one of us gets the urge to go out and learn to be handy.
Drew and I had Friday off for Good Friday, and so I started the tedious process of painting the garage. So far, i do not have a very good track record for finishing this type of project, but I would really like to see the finished product, so, maybe I actually will finish this one. I got the garage scraped and sanded, and thus far, I have finished painting the sides and the front. I also finished the trim on the front. Now I have to paint the back, and finish the trim on the other sides and then the painting is done.
You can't see in these photos, but the "man door" has been hung on the side and stained. It is beautiful! It is so fun to actually see the progress. Now, all we are waiting on are the custom carriage doors that Tim is building. Once the whole thing is finished, I will post before and after photos.

This photo is to show Mike what I am talking about when I say the garage was built up and supported. You can't see the new concrete, but he said he went through 11 bags!
Side of the garage. He built this up, enclosed part of the opening to create a space for a regular door, and has since installed a door in that hole. I did the painting, and we also put up trim on the top on this side (to match the other sides).
This photo shows the level front. Take a look at the last post to see how crooked this garage was. It was insane! I also have this side painted, and the lights are installed and working.
This is an example of what we are having built, only ours will not have windows. So, imagine the bottom part of these doors, and that is what ours will look like. I am so excited to see the finished product!