Friday, September 24, 2010

Top Five Things to DO!!!

Top five things I have to get done. Sorry, this is all my brain can think about right now.

1. Make dinner. I got home too late to make what I was planning on making (crockpot beef stew). Now what do I do?
2. Do the laundry...
3. Fulfill my etsy orders. A little stressed that one of my customers didn't get her package in three days (I sent it first class, i.e. TWO days) but there's nothing I can do about that right now.
4. Finish Abigail's birthday dress. Order things that need to be here before her birthday.
5. Work on my website, which my wonderful husband is currently helping me update!!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Top Five Works of Art

(pssst! Shari! It's actually Friday! Aren't you proud of me???)

Top five works of art in my home right now:

1. Abigail Hanson (American, b. 2006). Yelling People with Lots of Eyelashes (2010). Mirror and Dry Erase Marker.

2. Abigail Hanson (American, b. 2006). Aliens (one with disappearing yellow head) (2010). Marker and Paper, taped to fridge by the artist.

3. Abigail Hanson (American, b. 2006). Alphabet with Traced Duck (2010). Pen and Paper.
About the Art: This piece was completed while in a church service. If anyone was at CTK on September 5th and heard a small child singing the ABCs while everyone else was singing their praises to God, you were privileged to have heard the artist as she was going about her work. Her mommy is very proud of her, despite the missed point of church.

4. Abigail Hanson (American, b. 2006). Floor Book Puzzle with Coins (2010). Installation with Books, Coins from various countries and game establishments. 
About the art: The artist had this installed in her room for the morning of September 16th. It was meant to be an interactive piece, where children could step from book to book (but not the library books), trying to keep the coins from sticking to their feet. As far as we know, the artist was the only child to get to interact with the piece before it was taken down.
For those unfamiliar with installation art: Installation art describes an artistic genre of site-specific, three-dimensional works designed to transform the perception of a space. (wikipedia.com)

5. Abigail Hanson (American, b. 2006). Self portait, yelling, with picture of mommy, etc (2010). Collage using mirror, dry erase marker, paper, pen, newsletter, church craft, brad, crayons, tape.
Detail of the portrait of mommy follows. As this was apparently done in disappearing ink, some work has been done to digitally enhance the detail shown here:

6. Abigail Hanson (American, b. 2006). Untitled (2010). Non toxic paint, paper.
About the art: This piece won the coveted "Mommy's current favorite" award and is displayed in the fabulous frame that is used to display such decorated pieces of art. By the way, this frame comes highly recommended by the gallery.
Oh, did I say top five?? Oh well.

About the Artist:
Abigail Hanson is currently living in Birmingham, Alabama, where she was born in September of 2006. She enjoys creating art in all mediums. She also enjoys playing with friends, doing puzzles, playing games on mommy's phone, dressing up, playing pretend, sorting things, playing hide and seek, watching movies, reading books, going to the library, shopping with mommy, eating treats, gymnastics and almost all things Disney. Mommy doesn't understand how sometimes she seems so big and sometimes she seems so little.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Top Five Brain Farts This Week

Umm.. sorry mom, I wrote fart.

My top five brain farts this week:
1. When texting my friend, I said 'in toon' instead of 'in tune.'
2. Emailing my playgroup members three times about one playgroup because of forgotten important details. Oh, like the time we were meeting and giving the wrong date.
3. Emailing a customer about her print, telling her it would be shipped the next day when I had actually shipped it 7 days before.
4. Buying my friend, who is having a baby in FEBRUARY, Christmas clothes in size 3 months.... uhh...
5. Forgetting about 'top five friday.' Well, I only forgot about it on Friday. All day Thursday, on the other hand, I remembered. I guess I should write the posts and schedule them to publish later! I do have a good excuse though. That playgroup I mentioned in #2, the one we've been going to almost every single FRIDAY for 3 years? We just changed it to Thursdays. I'm afraid my Fridays will never been the same again, they are officially lost in time.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Top Five in Exercise

I went for a speed walk today on the Lakeshore path, which I think may be officially called the Greenway. It has been a while since I've last been there and I just have to say, I love the Lakeshore path! I love the stream that runs by (except for that one stinky part), the way the light goes through the trees, the interesting wildlife and the even more interesting people who pass by. Today, I'm dedicating my top five to those people.

Top Five People You Pass By on the Running/Walking/Biking Trail:

1. The person who pretends to not even notice you.
2. The person who pretends to not even notice you and feels and looks really awkward about it (with or without earplugs in their ears).
3. The person/people walking their dog
4. The person who feels they should interact with each passerby. This group spans from the very discreet head nodder to the friendly joker, who says the same thing to every mom pushing a stroller, "Will you push me?" or "She's smart to ride!" etc.
5. The guy running with really short shorts, no shirt and a smug look on his face.

I generally fall into group 4, sharing a grim smile with each passerby and occasionally talking, especially with the jokers. I almost always have to look at the person and interact with them in some way. Occasionally, however, I fall into group 2 (or maybe 1?), especially when the oncoming person is a starer.

My complaint today is with group number one. Especially the bikers, who usually fall into that group. I guess I can't really blame them. They've got the gear, they're in the zone, they're trying to maintain their biker image, why would they notice the woman pushing a large stroller with a child in it? I mean, sure, I can do without that elbow the biker took off when he passed by me so closely, without so much as a sound or warning. But don't you think that the bikers should have the common decency to stop and say they're sorry, give back the elbow maybe? Or maybe look in their tiny helmet rear view mirror and give a little head nod? A thumbs up? Maybe even a polite hand wave? Sometimes I like to think that they're silently freaking out. "Oh man! I saw that lady just in time! Boy do my knuckles hurt where I grazed her so closely! Calm down. Act cool. Protect the sleek biker image. C**p! Another walker!" But something tells me that what they're really thinking under that frozen outer demeanor is, "LOL! O.M.G. I totally freaked that lady out! COOL! I am so cool. So cool, so cool, yeah. That's 10 points me, Zero points lame-os! Yes! Here comes number 11! Woosh!" Dudes. We totally have to work out some etiquette here. My request: You must be in the other lane before you get to 10 feet behind me. You must pass by with at least two feet between me and you. And I don't mean human feet. I will do my best to stay out of your way. That is, if i even hear you coming before you pass me by!