Reverb

This is a picture that I painted with heavy paints at each end and then used a spray bottle full of water to make it run. I really don't like the picture but everyone else does so I saved it. My son claimed it and now it's hanging in his room.

Divided

Here is a painting that I created for Sheboss.

The big one on the left is painted on four seperate 16 x 16 square canvases and placed on the wall with a slight seperation between each one. This is hanging in my living room now.

The painting was inspired by a piece called The Divide II by Max Hansen. My wife fell in love with it so I decided to try to make someting similar.

This painting is the final product of several mess ups. There are many, many layers of paint on this because I had to cover the entire thing and start over at least five times. I'm really happy with the end result.

The smaller one in the frame is an earlier painting I did for Sheboss. I think they look good together.

Sorry about the poor photography, there was too much glare when I took the photo straight on or used flash.

Feed My Starving Children

For a long time we have been saying that we wanted to do some volunteer work as a way to help teach our children compassion for the less fortunate. For whatever reason it was always talk and we never got around to doing it. I am sure you have felt the same at some time in life...right? Well, I recently read an article in the AZ REPUBLIC that talked about a group that packages food and sends to starving children in 3rd world countries. I looked into it and they were going to be doing another event in Tempe in August. I contacted them and put our names on the list.



To my surprise I did not even get and complaints from anyone in the family about doing it. Makes my heart warm to know the kids actually do care about others, when in this day and age seems like most kids are very self centered.



So, last night the family went and volunteered to work for 2 hours. It was actually kind of fun. We put on our hair nets and sanitized our hands and went to work. Basically it was a bunch of tables set up assembly line style. I got the opportunity to scoop ingredients into the bag, hold the bag on the funnel, and weigh the bags. We rotated alot since the kids arms would get tired. Some people sealed the bag with a machine that melted the end of the bag and others put boxes together, refilled supplies, and loaded the boxes. It was pretty easy stuff.



There were about 100 people there. They said that in the 2 hours we worked we put together enough food to feed an orphanage for about a year. I dont remember the exact numbers but it was a pretty good feeling to know it was quite a lot.



If you want to look into doing this you can check out the website http://www.fmsc.org/ ...it will list what state they are going to be in and the dates and locations to sign up.

I think I will probably do this again, only I think I will bring my Girl Scout group to do it.

I hope you get a chance to volunteer and help out others some time too. If you have an organizaion you work with, let me know about. Maybe we can work with them too!

I'm Learning To Be An Artist

Have you ever thought it would be cool to be an artist? I have. Only recently I felt like I would love to be able to draw or paint. The problem was that ever since I was a little kid I've always sucked at art. I took art class in high school but was never very good. I was the one who could never color inside the lines. I'm hopeless.

Then I started talking with skilled artists. I was surprised when they told me I should give it a try. All the artists I spoke with said the same thing. They were not born with art skills, they learned through trial and error, repetition, and lots of practice. I'm not hopeless.

Last week I bought a sketch diary from Target. As soon as I got it home I went into my daughter's room and found a picture book of farm animals with basic drawings. I sat down and started to draw them. I used a regular #2 pencil and my daughter's crayons. I burned through lots of erasers. After a while I got the lines to look somewhat like the pictures in the book. I kept going. I was learning to be an artist.

Here are the drawings I did last week:

The cow is my first. I only used a pencil for shading.

The horse was the hardest one to draw.

The pigs are kinda cute.

This one just came out of my head. Seems sorta menacing.

So by the end of last week I felt like I was getting much better at creating the lines and making things look the way I wanted. What about paint? I have this entire week off of work so last weekend I decided to buy some materials and try my hand.

I went to Michaels for all my supplies. I bought 5 colors of acrylic paint, a color wheel, a pad of 12x12 inch canvas paper, the cheapest pack of brushes I could find, a small plastic paint pallet, and a cheap desktop easle.

I also bought a book showing how to paint ocean landscapes because SheBoss liked it. She wants some kinda abstract painting to hang in the living room. She found one she likes but it's $200. I bet I can do that. First I need a little practice.

Here's what I've done so far:

This is supposed to be a wave. My first ever painting, what did you expect?

Don't ask. I'm not really sure. Hey, it's abstract.

This is very similar to the abstract SheBoss wants. My 3rd painting.

This boat landscape came from a picture I found in a book. I liked it so I used it as my 4th painting.

The Iris is from an art book I purchased later. I really like this one. Not bad for my 5th try.

I did the painting of Pepper yesterday for my 6th. It's my first truely original painting. I didn't copy someone elses work. The is a picture I took with my phone when she had her head on my stomach and was looking up at me.

I'll probably work on something for SheBoss tomorrow. I'm thinking about creating the painting over 4 of my 12x12 canvas sheets so they can be hung together an inch or so apart.

I'm taking today off of painting. I think I'll go down to Old Town Glendale and check out some of the art galleries. If nothing else, I look at other artist's work a lot differently now.

We have visitors from Virginia!!!

Yeah!!! The girls are finally here from VA!! We have my 2 nieces visiting for about a week. My kids are soooo excited to see them! Well....me too of course! So far, they have mostly been swimming and playing video games and hangin out with some of my sons friends.

Yesterday we went to the Wildlife Zoo in Campe Verde AZ....I thought I would post some of the pictures for you to see....it was "pAWSOME"...

We got to go on a Safari ride and fee the giraffe carrots. Some of us even fed the giraffe the carrot from our mouths...to get a giraffe kiss...this is one of the girls feeding the giraffe the carrot...she pulled away before the giraffe could "kiss" her....cant say I blame her that giraffe uses TONGUE!!! Grossss!!! But still quite an exciting opportunity all the same.

We saw a really cool tiger show....the tigers played/popped balloons and balls...they chased shoes and especially love a baseball mit. They are not trained to do the show..the keepers are only out they with the toys to get the tigers interest and then the tiger behave however they want...which is usually chasing the toys and people....by the way...tigers run much faster then people so they always caught what they wanted. In fact at one point one got ahold of a trainers foot and would not let go until a couple other trainers came over and clapped and made noise to get her to release!

We even got to feed the tigers after the show....

This is my youngest niece....

This is her sister... also feeding the tiger....

This is my daughter feeding the tiger

This is my son feeding the tiger...of course my husband and I fed them also...

We saw lots of cool animals and had a good time....but for now I need to go...maybe I will be back later and post some more photos for you! Love and hugs!

What do you do when you are bored?

I am fortunate that I have a great job and boss. I have a flexible schedule and can pretty much take days off when needed. The prolem is that it is a job that is swamped one day and absolutely nothing to do the next. (especially slow during summer months since I work at a school)

Sometimes I bring a book and read. This works well when it is a good book. But today, I have a new book THE SWEET FOREVER by George P. Pelecanos. So far it is not bad, not really great either. It is making me want to fall asleep. Maybe this is because I read before I go to bed or maybe it is because I am just not too into it yet....I dont know.

I spend a lot of down time searching the internet. I keep an on on craigslist to see if I can help my mom find items she needs for her new house. But you can only do that for so long too....

so does anyone else have any ideas? I need to be able to stay at my desk to answer the phone should it ring and obviously it has to be something not distracting to others in the office.

So what do you suggest?

Do you like tattoos?

Hi all...Just thought I would post a picture of my new tattoo. It is on my right ankle. My mother-in-law and I got tattoos together. They are almost the same....the only difference is she had a small heart put on the chest of her "dragon frog".

Do you ask if it hurt??? HECK YES! Down low on the ankle where there is just skin on bone was a total shock. I had a tattoo before and it did not feel good but this one really hurt. The top half was not as bad as the lower half of the picture.

It all started a few months ago when I saw a picture of a frog with dragon fly wings. It was so pretty I had to send it to her and commented how it was a combination of both of us. I love dragon flies and she loves the the small tree frog found in her native Puerto Rico.

Well, next thing you know she decided she wanted to get a tattoo ...so we scoured the internet to find the perfect picture. We found this little frog on this cool shaped plant....took it to "Quick" (our tattoo guy at Two Kats Tats in Phoenix) and he freehand added the wings. We both just love it!

Most people are surprised that I would get a tattoo with my MOTHER-IN-LAW...like it is illegal to get along with in-laws. I am very lucky to have a great mom-in-law!!

We were shopping at the mall yesterday and a complete stranger noticed them and complimented them. Of course then she showed us a tattoo she had that she did with her best friend.

We love the bright colors. It is about a week old in this picture and still peeling a tiny bit. It will get even brighter over the next few weeks.

I know some people think I am crazy for getting tattoos. I have two this one and memorial one for my Dad. I know my Dad would like my tattoo for him, but it would have been nice for him to see it. This way doing it while my mother-in-law is alive, we both get to enjoy it! I would have loved if I could have gotten a tattoo with my Dad...that would have been a hoot! I like the idea of putting something permanent on my skin to remind me of the people I love. My next one will most likely be two dragon flies chasing each other. One big and one little....to represent my 2 children. Let me know what you think!

GNOME MORE GNOME

Just an FYI,
I've gotten a little sick of the gnome.
As such, there will be gnome more gnome pictures.
I put a slideshow with all the gnome pictures over on the right side bar.

Then look at all my public slideshows.

You'll find so many gnome pics that gnome one will believe it.

On the bus to gnomewhere.

Goodbye Gnome. Follow your dreams and let gnomeone stop you.

The Family That Shoots Together................

As you might have noticed from some of my slideshow photos, my kids and I like to shoot archery. We're not hunters. We just shoot for fun.

My kids are both members of JOAD (Junior Olympic Archery Developement) here in Glendale.

My son also works at an archery shop part time. What a cool job for a high schooler. I was stuck working fast food most of my high school years.

Once both of the kids got involved I had to learn myself. I bought a PSE Shark bow. I have it set at 60 lbs with a 30 inch draw length. Once I got the bow I started spending money on equipment. Because I'm nearly 40 I bought a Tru Glo lighted site. I have a True Ball Cyclone release, no finger shooting here. A nice stabalizer and a wrist loop and I was ready to go.

Here's a couple pictures of my bow:

I really enjoy archery as a family activity. My son is the most involved, working at the archery shop and all. He was the first one to get involved.

We found the JOAD program at a local archery shop. They have three class levels, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. You don't even need to own any of your own equipment. They only charge $8 per week and if you don't show one week, you don't pay. I was excited because most of the activities there are to get kids involved with make you pay a lump sum up front and if you don't show up you lose your money. This is great because they can take a break for a few weeks for vacation or some other activity they are doing and it doesn't cost a thing.

Kilter is in the advanced class now. He's been involved for about 2 1/2 years. He shoots a Browning Rage bow at 55 lbs and 29 inch draw (he's a big kid). The class scores once a month and he usually shoots around 210.

Even my 7 year old daughter has her own bow. When she was five and Kilter was going to JOAD every week she would come along. I asked the coach how soon I could get her involved and her response was "two years ago". So Luckygirl started out with a very small bow that almost looked like a toy. After about 6 months I bought her a real compound bow. A PSE Spyder with a draw weight around 15 lbs. She likes it but is not as in to it as Kilter.

Here's a picture of Luckygirl's bow hanging on her wall against the pink wallpaper:

Like I said, it's alot of fun. If you're looking for a family activity archery is a good one. It's something that the whole family can get involved in whether indoors our outdoors. I highly recommend it.

We're still working on SheBoss but I'm sure she'll come around.

Happy Birthday America!!

I've been trying to write a blog entry about the 4th of July for a couple of days. Every time I get started I end up getting emotional and writing a lot of gibberish. I guess I'll just make a couple of points and call it good.

• I am a veteran and a patriot.


• I am very proud to be an American.


• I would like to think that all Americans share my view but sadly I don't think that's true.


• I support the war in Iraq.


• I support the troops fighting abroad.


• I don't understand why many people don't believe I could support both. It does not have to be a one or the other situation.

Those of you who have served in the military, whether in war or in peace, understand that, given the opportunity, our military could take on any foe, at any time, on any turf. Unfortunately, war is as much about politics as military strategy.

I have a few people I'd like to thank for my freedom and the freedom of my children and my country:

Thank you to the 4,445 Americans who died on the battlefield in the American Revolution

Thank you to the 214,938 Americans (both sides) who died on the battlefield in the Civil War

Thank you to the 53,402 Americans who died on the battlefield in WWI

Thank you to the 291,557 Americans who died on the battlefield in WWII (including 3,393 on D-Day alone)

Thank you to the 33,741 Americans who died on the battlefield in the Korean War

Thank you to the 47,424 Americans who died on the battlefield in the Vietnam War

Thank you to the 147 Americans who died on the battlefield in the Gulf War (Desert Storm)

Thank you to the 468 Americans who died on the battlefield in Afghanistan (Enduring Freedom)

Thank you to the 4,000 Americans who have died so far in the Iraqi War (as of 03/2008).

Thank you to all our nations service men and women for volunteering your service to preserve the principles our country stands for.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of
patriots and tyrants. Thomas Jefferson

Spec4-J, Saudi Arabia, 08/91

Here are my sources. For some reason the VA site didn't have any numbers on the two current wars going on right now so I went with Wikipedia.

http://www1.va.gov/opa/fact/amwars.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_casualties_in_Afghanistan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War#U.S._armed_forces