CED Day 1

 

After the Party.

(Sorry, I can't seem to get a picture that is not blurry.)

Friday, October 31, 2008

 Feed the Homeless. I got this gentleman from a Feed the Homeless ad on the web.

These type of drawings take too long. I get impatient and want to be done with it.

Well, its Halloween. All Hallowed Eve... or something like that. I broke down and got some candy to give out. I needed some cash and I didn't want to go to the bank so I went to a store to pick up something and then get cash back there. Candy was on sale. I got some of my favorite, of course. I'm no dummy. Usually.

And I did have to check out the freshness. I'm not sure how fresh it is but I'm betting this candy is from their new recipe. It doesn't taste as good.... which is good for me. Less likely to munch on it.

It was raining today until around 2pm... now the sun is out. Looks like the kids will have a dry evening.

A Perfect Description!

Is this not a perfect description of how it feels sometimes:

"I am trying to figure out who to blame this one on. Blame is truly the eagle of the soul, soaring high out of your cloud of fuming anger and landing squarely on someone else's shoulder, then pooping."

Yeah! This was coined by Crazy Aunt Purl from today's post. She's such a great writer!

Water Painting Kewl to see

Draw Your Signature

Traveling Goddess mentioned an exercise called Draw Your Signature.

 My first attempt. Boring. (I saturated the color.) Geesh, so blurry I think I'm experiencing motion sickness.

 My second attempt. Fairly typical, but whatcha gonna do. Lots of bulging mass, droopy boobs, and fake martyr.

Waiting Waiting Waiting

 Guess where we spent the day. Its hard to see the sign, but the boys and I waiting in the emergency waiting room for four hours. After the first two hours things went down hill from there.

 Hunger struck plus boredom. Vending machines were the only thing available. The munchkins didn't know how fortunate they were that gramma had some money on her. They filled up in over priced junk food.

 Many visits outside, then inside, then back outside.... watching traffic, pushing buttons in the car, kicking metal posts, etc.

My daughter (aka 'mom') has been sick since Friday night. Lots of symptoms that accompany a lot of different ailments, mainly flu like symptoms. After four hours she was told she has a kidney infection. (I'm glad it wasn't anything contagious.) She came out with four prescriptions.

The boys, considering everything, were well behaved... but that fourth hour was tough to get through. All three of us were getting tired of waiting.

As soon as we were with half a mile of their house they both fell asleep.

I'm very glad to finally be home.

Gawd, Its So Sad

I just viewed two videos that demonstrated how ignorant some people remain. Voters who sounded like they just climbed out of a cave and are getting ready to toss a virgin into the volcano to appease their gods. After listening to them talk I scanned the background to see if they had anyone hanging from a tree or if their white robes were hanging from the clothesline. Its just stunning to me how someone who has been around for 50 or 60 years still wallows in ignorance.

No wonder the GOP uses fear and hate in their campaigns. It would seem to be the only thing to get through to certain people. God help us. Please protect us from our ignorance. Its so sad.... just so damn sad. And plain stupidity just ticks me off!!

Lets Try This Again ... Doodling

Nooding, doodling. The pictures wouldn't display properly the first go around, so I'm trying them again. Only this time I'm only posting the two that are semi decent. (the other two were just scratches on a blackboard. shudder.) Imagination doodling in a small 4x6 inch sketchbook.
 
 

ohmygawd, are you serious?!

I borrowed this clip from Aging Wisdom... SNL's weekend update. Its funny!

Sunday October 26, 2008

 
 Another perfect fall day. Beautiful colors floating with the breeze. Sunshine warming up the earth. Leaves tracked onto my rug!! What?

I've got both windows open and it feels wonderful. Soon it will cool off enough so that if one wanted comfort food for dinner, heating the stove will not matter.

Yesterday I visited my friend again. Lost Upwards again, but it was a close game all the way through. The pictures of the trees are in front of her house. It gets very colorful.

I'm having a quiet Sunday.

Bill Moyer's Journal... It had me sputtering.

The pbs program had me sputtering like a merchant marine tonight, but to be honest the information was not shocking in and of itself. It was putting it all together and laying it out there and having someone say it out loud...to see how badly government has been raping and pillaging our country, our citizens, for their personal gain... them and their "cronies" as mccain likes to phrase it. I want to hit somebody. I want to take a bat and beat the crap outta someone. Bush. Chaney. Get up here!! You go first!!! And you know what else? I wanna take this information and cram it into Hasselbeck's tiny little pea sized brain... that's how angry I'm feeling.

I know you're tired of all this dirty politic-ing. I am too. So please don't read it if you don't feel like it ... why ruin a perfectly okay day. I just have to get it out here so I can walk away from it. Otherwise it will pester me and pester me.

(the whole transcript can be found here and you can also see the program instead. See 'watch & listen' tab. I would recommend watching it. Its easier than reading.)

James Galbraith is an economist and his current book is titled The Predator State... no shit, Sherlock.

Here's an excerpt of the program transcript:

BILL MOYERS: You call your book THE PREDATOR STATE, what do you mean predator?

JAMES GALBRAITH: What I mean is the people who took over the government were not interested in reducing the government and having a small government, the conservative principle. They were interested in using these great institutions for private benefit, to place them in the control of their friends and to put them to the use of their clients. They wanted to privatize Social Security. They created a Medicare drug benefit in such a way as to create the maximum profit for pharmaceutical companies.

They used trade agreements to extend patent protections for various interests or to promote the expansion of the corporate agriculture's markets in the third world. A whole range of things that were basically political and clientelistic. That's the predator state.

BILL MOYERS: You call it a corporate republic.

JAMES GALBRAITH: It is a corporate republic.

BILL MOYERS: Which means that the purpose of government is to divert funds from the public sector to the private sector?

JAMES GALBRAITH: I think it's very clear. They also turned over the regulatory apparatus to the regulated industries. They turned over the henhouse to the foxes
in every single case. And that is the source of the decline in, the abandonment of environmental responsibility, the source of the collapse of consumer protection, and the source of the collapse of the financial system, all trace back to a common root, which is the failure to maintain a public sector that works in the public interest, that provides discipline and standards, a framework within which the private sector can operate and compete. That's been abandoned.

The introduction to the show pointed out that the United States is fourth in the world for having the largest span between the Haves and the Have Nots...we even beat out Mexico and Turkey. Imagine that, she said sarcastically.

I'm Giving a Shout Out to Rosy

No, really... a shout out to Rosy. She had asked for captions for a cartoon she did and mine got selected. Check it out here. If you want to take a look at her entire art blog, just go to the address bar (Internet Explorer) and delete everything back to the .com and then hit enter. (I suspect everyone knows about doing this, but just in case.... )

(sigh... no, I'm not tooting my own horn. (00) Look at that face, that innocent face. Would I mislead you? Of course not.)

Good Friday Morning

 My muse is still missing. Its red with black spots and its shape keeps shifting on me. Say that five times real fast. Shape keeps shifting. Okay, don't say it. Its not that tough after all. Hope ya'll have a most excellent day. Perhaps a little surprise will delight you. Maybe you'll find a $20 in the bushes... someone unexpected gives you a call. Or, for no gosh darn reason, you will feel a sense of total contentness.

Whadda Do When You Have Nothing to Talk About?

You do a repeat and hope the painting was posted so long ago that its not boring. This is a painting I did of my friend's granddaughters. She's currently 18 yrs old. I'm guessing she was around 10 yrs old in the photo.

Last night I thought I might have to turn on the heat for a minute (cha ching) but instead I put on a fleese jacket and covered my feet and legs with a blanket. Can you say 'old lady'? This afternoon I had to open the windows because it was too warm. I still have one window open, but not for long.

I Wonder Where It Is...... (updated)

 I can't find my camera. I've stood in the middle of the room and looked around, but I didn't see it. It didn't call out to me either.

I moved some of the magazines on the coffee table. Not there. I lifted up my straw hat. No luck. I even checked my purse twice and still no camera. I wonder where it is.

I know its somewhere around here because I used it yesterday. 'Mom' and the boys stopped by for a few minutes and I snapped a couple of pictures.... so I know the camera is here. Its just gotten up and walked away. (yes, things can just walk away and then show up later. I've experienced it.)

You know what this means, don't you? Its time to straighten up. To stack all the magazines and set neatly aside. Maybe putting the can goods away will help clear the space. While I'm at it perhaps I'll vaccumn. We'll see.

I wouldn't be surprised if I was looking right at the camera and not registering it. If it was a snake... you can bet your last dollar I wouldn't be looking for it, but nonetheless, do you have moments like this? You can't find something and then later its sitting on the counter mocking you? Its a mean mean trick to pull on an old lady. And I don't use lady lightly.

Update: I found it. I found my camera. It was crouching behind the coffee maker half hidden by a bread wrapper. The little dickens!

How About that Colin Powell!! Way Ta Go, Dude!

Oh my, Oh my. Powell's endorsement of Obama has me feeling surprised. Now there's a man of personal integrity. Powell's been a friend of McCain for 25 yrs, or so I've heard. He's a republican. He's not just endorsed a democrat... he stood up and ENDORSED Obama AND he laid out the whys of his decision. (all of which I agree with. He's a smart man.)

The Universe has been working on getting Obama elected for a while now. I had wondered what would be the next external thing to happen in Obama's favor... I didn't consider an endorsement from across the isle. Very well done, Universe.

Sunday Morning

 I just got back from grocery shopping. I'm currently in the midst of my calming down mode. You know, the time it takes to get over the shock. I went over my budget, but I bought a few non-food items too. It pays to know the going price of things at various stores because even though I shop at a discount grocery store, not all items are the best price. Especially with non-food items.

Yesterday I visited my friend. This time I won the Upwards game, but just by the skin of my teeth. It was a good game... very close all the way through it. My friend gave me her copy of People magazine. The one with Paul Newman in his younger days on the cover. I believe this is the pose Sandy and Laura (cat's momma) used to do their drawing.

Fall is here now. It is not just cool at night. It is cold. Warm jacket cold. We're currently sitting in fog. It looks like it will take a bit longer to clear.

How's it going with you?

I just learned something

If I save a post in draft, then post another entry, when I go back and post the draft entry it shows up behind the other one. Why am I sharing this? Because there is a new post down one entry. See "Have You Seen This...."
(If there's something I need to know about this situation (drafts), please let me know. Thx.)

Master Crayon Artist

Look at what you can do with crayons.

Have you seen this one yet? I like it (from my email)

Old Age, I decided, is a gift.

I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be.. Oh, not my body! I sometimes despair over my body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror, but I don't agonize over those things for long. I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly.

As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie (or three), or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avant guard on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging. Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60&70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will. I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set. They, too, will get old.I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things. Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong. So, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day. (If I feel like it)