Thursday, March 10, 2011

One of THOSE days.



Yo, sup? (I don't know why I just said that , I never say that!) Really though, there is a lot up. Always is isn't there. And today was no exception.

Ever had a stupidly rough day? Not bad rough, just stupid. The kind of day that starts with your kids getting up an hour earlier than normal. Hmm, not so bad you think, I can make coffee right. OK, so I planned to make coffee, that took a few hours but hey, it's not bad just slow so far. A bath would be great and then we will be back on track. So I ran a bath. Hmmm, cold. I am guessing the element in the  water heater blew again, this happened last week so I am guessing that is what it is. Still a bath would be nice. So I boiled water and added it to the cold bath and had a very short luke warm bath. Not so awesome.

But hey, the sun is shining and my kids are running around nearly naked so I have less laundry to do cheerful and awesome. The day is looking up!



We are raising super heros you know!
They will wear the full armor of God and be prepared to ward off the whiles of the devil when we are done with them. Or so I pray. That is my job right? To prepare these little people for the big adult world. That is what I signed up for without even thinking about it 5 years ago. I am growing and nurturing  future citizens here. Educating and leading. Not babysitting and entertaining as some might think. It is a big job and one that I feel like I fail at on so many levels.

Today I feel like the day kicked my butt. I set a few goals. Got half of one done, yip!
We were going to do school in a timely fashion. But we unschooled today. De-schooled.....didn't school, whatever. We started to do a project on building robots and were going to learn about setting goals and planing and following through and then seeing the final product while at the same time honing some skill with cutting and folding and gluing and taping and coloring and counting and writing. Anyway that all got derailed when halfway through the project Hudson spilled his juice box all over the table and we had to set everything out on a towel in the sun to dry for a few hours. We never got back to it. Tomorrow.

Some days we don't get to school until late.
And it is for the better, we are out on adventures and then at the end of the day with all the energy worn off we sit down and calmly get it done.  Not today. Not tonight though.


Today was a run for my sanity. Well one little monkey gave me a run for it. The first two kids have been pretty content and happy to be pretty obedient kids. They fight and do normal kid stuff once in a while but they have always listened after being disciplined .... or maybe I am blocking it out but I sure don't remember getting the go around that I am getting with Huds. He is the biggest charmer and flirt and also the mischief maker.

Then again I never had a 1 1/2 year old with a half finished home and very tempting holes in the floors and walls. I have no idea how we will get all the toys out of the heat vent without taking all the pipes apart.



And the walls.
Oh the poor beautiful walls.


Seriously. You are busted. Again. Every stinking day.



Yes, I know why the Lord made you cute.



It is a very redeeming quality but it doesn't change the trouble in his wake.



I am so glad that Ronin has yet to be any trouble but the guy is on the move.
In no time flat now he goes from laying on his stomach to sitting up.



And is for the most part a happy camper, which I need since apparently I cannot turn my back for a moment or something happens. And if you are wondering about all the nearly naked pictures it is because it is so very hot in our house. Although it is frigid outside our furnace doesn't kick in all day with all the south window exposure. This guy was sweating up a storm.

Anyway, as I was saying something always happens the moment I am not looking. Toys and shoes and clothes and books thrown in the bath. Or maybe like tonight, a box of crackers and a box of cereal dumped in two seconds flat.



And I do think I should have been more in tune with what was happening behind my back but with Dave working late tonight I decided to let the kids watch a movie so I could get this painting done and shipped already.  We would all be in the same room so I could watch them out the corner of my eye as I worked. However with no cupboard doors yet apparently the loot on the shelves is a little tempting.

 And with me taking way longer to get orders out lately than it should (or maybe not) I was trying to get something done and wasn't looking for a just a few minutes. Two minutes!
 After today I think that I really have to give up doing custom work for a while. I am behind and I have 10+ orders to get out in the next few weeks.  I realize that this gives me some stress and I hate stress. I like that mellow non stress feeling all the time and when I am crunched with work I feel that icky tight stress ball creeping back. I rather like watching the kids pretend that the paint tubes are people and they play house as I do real house stuff. Then again this is just begging for an accident too isn't it.



Thing is that I love to do the work once I get started, I really love it and that is why I keep doing it. But isn't it true that sometimes you have to give up doing something you love to keep things going smoothly every where else. Something always has to give and it can't be the kids or the house or the meals. Of course now that they are in bed I can do some work and it is ok. I just CANNOT try to sneak moments of work in during the day again.

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And did you know that trying to vacuum crackers and cereal from a shag carpet is a huge pain. Of course I was not too pleased and was vacuuming rather vigorously trying to get it all out and ran over the corner of a blanket. It jammed the machine and when I pulled it out of the powerhead I lost power. No spin action. Grr. I fiddled and turned it on and off and unplugged it and tried again. Dead. What should I have expected?! It is my lucky day right.

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I was glad that Dave had left his shop vac in the play room and brought it to the rescue.

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Only problem was that I had to use the nozzle. 35 mins later it was clean. That felt good.
Something got done today!
OK, so more than just that got done today but for some reason I just felt like I was 10 steps behind where I needed to be. I did figure out that there was a reset on the Dyson though after the fact. At least my vacuum isn't really fried after all!

Time to brew a cuppa tea already! Hello that can't go wrong can it?!



Oh ya. Guess who just brewed a cup of black tea instead of green without thinking and is now totally wired!



Yup. Seriously.
I might as well paint now!
But it is that weird kind of wired, when you can feel it in the pit of your stomach and you are kinda jittery. And I really need to dance around and power clean my house sleep.  Weee........

So anyway since my mind is spinning, wanna know something?
Well maybe some of you know this already since you might have formal art training but I don't have any so I will share it with those of you who don't know.
When I was a little kid we once visited this elderly woman in a town close to here and she took me into her basement to show me her art. She had (from what I can remember) some really stunning portraits and then she showed me how she painted them. Upside down.




I have flipped paintings upside down ever since that one incident when I was maybe 10 or 11 years old.
You see when you flip it you no longer see it as the same piece. Instead you see lines and shapes and color and math. You can see all the areas you were struggling with and know exactly how to fix them. (I have a lot of work to do on this one and I HAVE to get it shipped!) It gives you a whole new perspective. I still paint all my pieces right side up and only flip them to check them or make corrections but some people paint everything upside down. Cool huh!

Alright I have to get off here. I have to get to sleep. Here's hoping that there is hot water in the morning and I can make the coffee before noon. I will be set! Cheers!

p.s. All the big square photos are off my phone so that is why they are kinda crummy.