tub time!

I've spent so much time next to this tub during
the past 7 years, overseeing baths.
When I was in 5th grade, somebody at my school
had a 2-year-old sibling who drowned in the tub
when her mom went to answer the phone. She was
only gone a couple of minutes. I didn't know the family,
but it left a lasting impression. It just felt so tragic.
So I am an avid bathing supervisor with my kids,
especially if they're five-and-under.
And also paranoid about swimming pools.
The fun thing about this is I get to watch them enjoy
playing in water, which is one of their favorite things,
whether bathing or swimming. I've always taken other
diversions in, like my guitar or a bag of makeup or a magazine,
so they've gotten used to playing by themselves. This means I get to
overhear all the two-sided conversations they invent
between bath toys. It's great fun.

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schmoo


Inspired by Stacy Peterson today, I started experimenting with cartoon versions
of my people based roughly on the proportions she seems to use.
I love the idea of being able to simplify people down to very straightforward
lines and still have them be recognizable at some level as specific individuals.

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my new favorite book

When I was sick last month, I got a bee in my bonnet about
growing my own produce and reserved a bunch of books from the library.
They've been coming in, and most of them were boring and totally over
my head. My gardening experience is nearly zilch, so all those charts and
graphs about soil pH and soil drainage just wouldn't stick to any brain cells.
Then along came Movable Harvests, which is all about container gardening.
It's absolutely fabulous! It includes specific, thorough instructions for growing all sorts
of fruits & vegetables, including how to make your own soil mixes and
simple directions for when & how to fertilize. Best of all, it has lots of pictures.
I can actually imagine being able to grow some veggies now.
My favorite part is not having to deal with a bunch of digging in the hard,
clay-bound Tucson soil. Also, the book has a section on indoor gardening
and addresses considerations for various climates, including the hot southwest
and the icy northern regions. Don't you just want to go start a container garden now?

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breakfast for dinner

We had breakfast for dinner last night, and it was amazing!
The kids were so excited, you'd think Christmas had come early.
And, other than it being 100 degrees outside, it felt kind of like
Christmas. We had sweet rolls and coffee, orange juice and bacon,
eggs, sausage, and the most fabulous french toast. Yum!
On top of it all, a monsoon rolled in while we were cooking, bringing
heavy gray clouds, a nice little lightning storm, and huge drops of rain.

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skyscraper adventures

Elliott saw a Bob the Builder video last month about skyscrapers, and since
then he's been asking lots of questions. Now, Tucson doesn't have a whole lot
of buildings that would qualify as skyscrapers. Maybe 4 or 5.
So today while Eric had jury duty, we went downtown and found us some skyscrapers.
In fact, we went way up the elevators in 3 of them looking for good birds-eye views.
Unfortunately, most of the window-side property in these buildings is behind locked doors
in offices & conference rooms. Finally we found a big window to stand next to and get
that scrumptious, squiggly feeling in our tummies just looking down so far.

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i said goodbye

I have this theory that life & relationships are better if we grieve our losses along the way....
Today I got rid of Elliott's tiny toddler & baby socks, which I've been hanging onto all this time (although I did save a couple).
I feel sad to lose those little feet and my part in his life where I was the one who always got him dressed and took care of his little self.
I enjoy the independence that comes from his growing capabilities, but I recognize all the departures of his growing up as a little bit closer than they were before.

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it's time for... another perfect system!!

This is my tiny sewing corner. It's in the main storage closet,
which is already quite full. So, not a lot of room to keep supplies.
I finally got fed up with having thread in several places and
particularly thread in the drawer tying every last thing together.
However, the wooden thread holder I came across yesterday was $14.99.
I recalled a wooden thread board my dad made for my mom years ago out
of nails and a piece of plywood, and then I noticed this nice 1x4 going
across the wall a couple of feet above the sewing machine.
So there it is: lovely thread organization using only the supplies at hand.
It's a perfect system!

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35. draw your worst friend.

Or is that my own worst enemy? Yes, that would be myself.
I'm the one who gives myself guilt trips and has bizarre expectations
that no one else places on me, won't let myself rest,
chooses to blockade the things I care about the most, etc.
Of course, this is more true some days
than others, and it (fortunately) seems to be getting better as I get older,
which I'm convinced is directly related to how much and
how long I've listened to Jesus and been transformed by what he says.

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i thought you might enjoy this...

Last week when I was drawing bath water for Elliott, I
walked into the bathroom to find him tossing powdered
foundation onto the water. "So I'll smell fresh and clean, Mom."
It had been in a little round container next to the jar of bath salts
on the counter. We went ahead and threw some of those in, too.

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34. draw your best friend.

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fun (er... mostly) with photos

Lately we've been having lots of fun taking jumping shots.
Unfortunately, these are sometimes prone to cause injury.
In the above picture, you can see that Elliott's already a little
confused re: what's about to happen.
Apparently, we didn't brief him well about the fact that he was going to be jumping.
So he got dragged down instead.
Oof! He really got the wind knocked out of him, poor little guy.
Fortunately, the daddy of comfort was near.

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fun with playmobil

This was a little drawing session while Eric and the kids played with the playmobil castle today.






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33. draw your sister.

See #36 (coming Wednesday).

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32. draw your brother.


This turned out as something of a cross between my brother David
and my cousin Jay. I find people's heads/faces very intimidating to draw.
One little proportion off and the whole thing looks like someone else!

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what it is

I just got the book What It Is, by Lynda Barry. It looks to be loads of fun -- it's written as something of a full color graphic collage novel meditation on the creative process. I'm looking forward to soaking it in.

.

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31. draw your father.

As you can see, this is a little bit skewed. But it captures a couple of things
I love about my dad: his smirky, affectionate smile
and the gentle expression in his eyes.

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30. draw your mother.

This doesn't actually look anything like my mom, but it was the best of 5 attempts.
I guess I'll just have to be glad I managed to pull off a humanoid female and leave it at that.
We've been house sitting the past few days and are enjoying the quiet bit of vacation
that brings and the air conditioning as well. What are you all up to?

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29. draw your lover(s).

Just one. There he is!

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28. draw your pet.

This is Daisy when she was a tiny puppy.
She was so cute!! She's a shih tsu/beagle mix.
Really friendly but barks like a maniac.
I wouldn't recommend it.

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27. eat it anyway (and draw the empty plate).


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26. draw your pudding (that you're not eating).

Elliott and I made chocolate pudding this morning and had
a great time about it! Also, it turned out to be a very popular
item with the children and housemates. Who knew?

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25. draw instead of eating pudding once a week (good for your waistline, too).

Uh, I never eat pudding; however, in
honor of Michael Nobbs I might whip some
up in the next couple of days.
Here's the kitchen-in-progress of our new building,
drawn while I was definitely not eating pudding.
It's amazing to me how much James & others have pulled off
in terms of undoing the old kitchen -- it looks like an
entirely new space, complete with vaulted ceilings
(a huge improvement over the dropped tiles & fluorescent
lights); all the old appliances, cabinets and walls gone;
and new framing in place. It's so fun to watch it happen!

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24. if you can't give up a programme draw it instead.

This is the cooking show that was on when I
went to draw today. I've never seen it before,
but the French accent is wonderful. Those
Gruyere puffs looked pretty great, too.
This is the first day I've felt good in two weeks.
Hip, hip, hooray!!!

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23. give up watching one tv programme and draw instead.

Today we moved our room all around.
That huge square beside the chair is the box
Eric made for our bed a few months ago.
Those are our pillows on top.
The mattress is inside, and he just flips it up
in the morning and down at night. Not as
easy at it sounds, since it's a California King
and extremely heavy. But it leaves us room for
two chairs, a couch, a couple of bookshelves and
the computer desk. So our bedroom doubles as
a little living room, which is a nice getaway
in a community house full of people.
It also frees up a good space for exercising, which
we tend to do together after the kids go to bed.

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22. hold a drawing party

... and give everyone a sketchbook and a pen and make drawings of each other's faces without looking at the paper. My drawing party consisted of my daughter & me
and a pile of cardstock 3x5s. This is my version of her
(without looking at the paper).
And this is her version of me.
I rather like the cartoonish whimsy of her penstrokes.
This is my take on Eric, who was sitting nearby,
and her sketch of the chimenea we were all sitting around.
Evenings in the front yard with a fire in the chimenea have
been our family favorite lately.


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21. hang around after you've met a friend and draw something else.

Okay, I'm claiming this as my last sick day. I switched from amoxicillin to the good 'ol Z-pack (my new best friend) yesterday, and I'm hoping for the best! I'm feeling better in bits and pieces but still fighting off the gargantuan headache of yore.

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20. when meeting a friend, get there 10 minutes early and draw something.

What a lovely idea! But how 'bout I just lie down and think about meeting a friend....

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19. draw in your car (after you've parked!) before you get out of it.

Once again, this is just not going to happen today. I did manage to drive kids to swim lessons this morning, but that is all I've done. I'm still down for the count.

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18. draw somewhere you just happen to be.

This is the mask I had to wear in the waiting room at urgent care
today because of my flu symptoms. I must have been quite a sight!
However, it seems that my flu has cleared up and been replaced
by a sinus infection. The good news? Amoxicillin to the rescue!

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17. go somewhere specifically to draw.

Sigh. This just isn't going to happen today, my friends. Maybe when I have enough energy to move my eyeballs again...

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16. take photos of things you want to draw...

while you're out and about but are too nervous/haven't time. Draw from them.

I took this photo several months ago to draw from at a later date. I just love shopping carts, probably because they turn up in strange places like this empty lot. It's as though they have personalities of their own, so they wander out to see the world from time to time.

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