What region is this meatball?

Proud of myself for opting to not go to the new Mexican place for dinner, I drove to the grocery store and bought ingredients for last nights meal. I made tortellini with meatballs and garlic bread. So when the hubby comes come from work he's dishing up his dinner...
He: "Dinner looks good - I'm surprised you cooked tonight"
She: "Ya, I was going to go out, but changed my mind"
He: "Did you eat already? I know you don't like to eat your own cooking"
She "Ya, I had a few bites.... then busted out the salsa & chips" (he knows me so well, I rarely eat anything I cook myself)
He: "So what region are these meatballs?"
She: "What REGION? What are you talking about?"
He: "Well what region? Where did they come from?"
She: "Are you high?" (what the hell is he talking about?) "They are from province de la Safeway" I said almost shrieking by now.
He: "Why are you freaking out? .... I just wanted to know what they are made from"
She: "Well why didn't you ask me that????? What's with this region crap? I don't have a clue what you are talking about when you talk to me"
He: "Oh you know what I mean, silly"
She" "UGH"
then in the background I can hear my son laughing "you guys are funny"

A new guage of space...

My mom loves to tell the story about when I was in elementary school, in math class were supposed to find a body part that closely resembled a unit of measurement, and measure the hallway around the school with it. Most people chose their foot, an arm length, etc, but not me... I chose the length of my index finger between the first and second knuckle, because when I bent it, it measured a perfect inch. So I crawled the hallway, on my hands and knees, measuring how many inches the school was. You'd think after all that effort I might remember that number, but I don't.

So in true "Tracy" spirit, I have found a new way way to measure my space... living space that is.
When I plug my vacuum into the bathroom outlet, I can vacuum the entire house, without having to unplug and relocate. (minus the kitchen, but there's no carpet in there anyway) Hmmm, I live in a 'one cord length' apartment. My next place will have to be bigger than that, lol.

Home with the Hives

They are back, my wretched hives, or something like it. I'm bumpy, itchy, and hopelessly scratchy. The worst place is having them on the inside of my eyelids... I feel like I've rubbed all my eyelashes off. They are on my scalp, forehead, face, neck, boob, butt, stomach, back, legs, arms, and top of my feet.... on an off throughout the day. The ones on my eyelids, head, face, neck and back are constantly there. Stress sucks!!!

The silver lining... staying home from work and making art.

My favorite kind of Sunday

.... that's what today was. I got up late, and sipped the most delicious coffee out of my favorite mug while wearing my snuggly hello kitty slippers and reading my favorite blogs. I need to make a list of them so I can share one day. I use firefox to browse the internet, and this am I downloaded a plug-in that tracks my blogs for me, and pops up when there is a new entry to read, supposedly - I'm still working on getting it set up.

So after that I showered and went to work at Sandy's. She thinks I'm kinda nuts because I love doing her paper work, but it's true - I love to tame her chaos. We called it quits after a few hours because the Mexican food was calling our names. It's our collective weakness. We went to our favorite taco joint.... Burrito Brothers .... if you are ever in town, stop in. Just a tiny place, but the best people run it and the food is yummy. I usually love the fish taco, no cheese to upset my tummy, but tonight I had a craving for nachos. Dinner was great, but I had cheese and sour cream and I'm paying for it now. When will I learn?

The conversation is always great when were all out together- we always laugh the whole time. Tonight's table topic was hysterical and we came to the conclusion that men under-utilize their 'units'. Oh yes, it's true. Maybe that will be another blog topic, LOL.

Rats....

the blog isn't nearly as fun as used to be because I can't bitch about anyone here anymore, since 'the locals' are reading it. My online 'dear diary' is no more, LOL.

White Wine Bunnies

Ok Seriously, could this bunny be any cuter? My uncle and his wife have 8 new bunnies hopping around. Oh how I miss my old place, with our bunnies all about. Don't worry animal lovers, no bunnies were harmed for this photo :)

My X, his wife and 3 additional (since ours) kids are in town. Bless his little heart, he's here visiting his son, for the first time in 10 years. Despite my sarcasm, I'm happy he came to see Tyler, in Tyler's environment. They are having fun and it's about time.

Tomorrow, we are driving up to Portland for Tyler's last INS stuff.... his fingerprints. Yahoo, the whole immigration thing will be done, finally. Now he can get a job - woo hoo! While up there, we are picking up his best buddy Ian from the train, from Canada. I love Ian - so I'm tickled pink he's spending a week here. I just wish his mom was coming too. I miss my best friend SO much, it's kill'n me. One day.....

38 and things are changing

Yesterday I turned 38. I'm sliding down the slippery slope to 40, pretty darn fast now. It just feels so weird.

One of my favorite things to do on Saturday mornings, like today, is read my fave blogs and see what my fave artists are doing, creating, thinking about. It's almost a bummer when they start getting recognized and they stop blogging and creating art because they are out touring around the country teaching classes or writing books or something. It's a natural progression, and they need to 'out there' - I understand that, but it's a drag that it seems to change them.

Personally, things are changing too.... my friends are moving or changing and well, sometimes I just hate change.

I'm feeling creative this morning, so I'm happy to have the day off to have fun. I've been working hard all week and this will be a great reward.

Dairy Free..... Me???

This past year has given me a few presents I haven't been crazy about.... dark circles under my eyes, weight gain, the discovery of my sinus cavities being full 24/7, and the on again/off again ear aches. And let's not leave out my old 'friend' the migraine, who's been faithful at never leaving me. The doc says that my sinuses are trying to drain, but my ears are not cooperating and keeping all the nasty stuff to themselves... thus the earpain, headaches, etc. I'm on a new med for that, so hopefully that will get rid of the immediate trouble, but long term.... well that's in my hands.
My mom has been suspecting food allergies in me for a while and the local guru at the health food store thinks so too. I guess the whole 'dark circles under the eyes' is a big red flag. And here I just though age was catching up to me, lol. I've just been feeling like my body is out of whack because I'm packing on the pounds so easily too. I know, I'm already 'livin large', but I'm a 'maintainer'... I've held the same weight for years, and actually last year, I started dropping since going to the gym, but all of a sudden my face is unrecognizable - even to me, and it's mine. Damn. So long story short (too late for that now isn't it?).... I'm trying the DAIRY FREE thing for 2 weeks to see what kind of difference that makes. She wanted me to go wheat free too, but I told her I couldn't try both at the same time, or I might go totally insane.
I'm a total milk drinker... love cheese, and love sour cream even more, so this is not easy for me. To make easier though, I'm reading all the horror stories I can about dairy, so if health isn't enough inspiration, the grossing me out part will be. I'm such a child.

Dairy Free Journal

day*1
I usually drink a high protein Boost every morning, but discovered (while drinking it and reading the label at the same time) that it contains milk, so that sucks. I don't like eat breakfast when I get up, but I need something to keep the gitters away till lunch, and I found those to be perfect. I'll have to find something else, since my next item of choice would be cottage cheese, and that's of course dairy. Drat! Lunch was easy - I just had left over pasta, and didn't even miss the usual addition of parm. cheese. Dinner.... oddly I don't remember, but I know I did fine.
I went shopping for soy milk. The only time I ever drink it is at Sandy's. She makes yummy lattes with her fancy machine and steams/foams Silk instead of milk. I like in that, but have never had it on it's own. I don't remember if she uses reg or vanilla in the coffee.
I ended up buying an assortment of soy stuff, to see what I like. I got vanilla Silk, and Safeway Organics in regular and chocolate. I had a glass of chocolate when I got home and it tasted almost identical to my boost shake, so I was happy that I liked it.
day*2
I didn't eat or shall I say 'drink' breakfast this morning, but while I was getting ready for work, I heard a commercial for dairy free slim-fast shakes. I will give those a try when I go shopping on Saturday. For lunch I splurged on Taco Bell and had 2 Fresco tacos. Basically they had lettuce and a chunky salsa. They were good, and although I really wanted sour cream, I lived without it. Dinner was an easy dairy free meal... kung pao chicken and rice. I tried the vanilla soy... it was a bit sweet. I tasted like a melted vanilla shake. I still haven't tried the regular yet.
So far so good. Even if I can pull this off 'forever', I don't think I'll be fanatic about it when it comes to small amount like milk in chocolate, but I won't eat something that's mainly made from milk, like say... pudding. I wonder if butter would make a difference. I won't eat it for this 2 week experiment, but I might try adding it back after, and see what happens. I don't like the idea of margarine ... it's just so nasty and fake. I guess I don't look at this from a 'vegan' point of view, since I'm not a vegetarian... this is prompted from what might be an allergy, not a social/moral point of view. Hmm... it will be interesting to see where this takes me.

Just call me Itchy Scratchy

The weirdest stuff happens to me.... Today was day 2 1/2 of having a crazy rash all over my chest, shoulders, back, neck, face, eyebrows, arms and scalp. Oh and it's even on the insides of my eye lids and lower lash according to my doctor. Jeepers. I am apparently having some extreme reaction to 'something'.
I don't have a clue what it is that I got into contact with. The last time I had a reaction this bad was when we added cedar chips to raku fire, about 6 years ago. I totally forgot about that, but I guess it was in my 'record'. He asked me what I was concocting now, lol. Drat, nothing as fun as raku.... just painting with the usual supplies. So now I'm all jacked up on prednisone for the inflammation and swelling and clarinex for the itchy itches. Needless to say I didn't go to work today - I would have scared the customers away looking like a puffy measle patient! Instead I continued to paint the day away, trying to get a bit of art to hang for my upcoming show at the gallery.
I'll be the guest artist for the month of March at the River Gallery in Old Town Florence, OR. They are hosting a reception for me this Saturday from 1-3 pm ... I should be rash free by then, lol.

So Long Friend

Today we attended our friend John's memorial. It didn't hit me that he's really gone until we were in his shop, and he wasn't there. I know he was there in spirit and I'm sure he would have been thrilled that we filled his shop up, both floors.

* * *

So far February has been a real eye opening month for me. I'm getting all kinds of messages via things I read, see, etc for changes that I want to make in my life. One of the things to be thankful for what I do have and the layout below showcases the little things that have made me happy this month like finally finding a little plant to put in my thrift-store glass for a terrarium, and finding a fish bowl that my cats can't drink out of. I'm also pretty jazzed about getting asked to make a special art piece for the upcoming Habitat for Humanity auction - that was big thrill. Oh - and I can't forget my fun new scarf! I could never pay full price for it, even though it's cute. $48 is just more than I am willing to part with for a scarf, but I got it half off, so how could I resist? {credits}

Going going..... please be gone!

Well jeepers.... I don't have a bid on my 'remember romance' hanging yet, and the darn thing is a measly 4.99! I listed it as part of ZNE's 'Romance' theme week. If you need a little gifty for someone, bid your heart out :) View everyone's auctions here.
......
What a great Wednesday I had.... I got a smok'n raise, sold 3 more nest pendants and was chosen to be part of digital creative team! Not bad, not bad at all. More to come next week about the digital creative team. I don't want to blow the horn till her newsletter comes out. I'm totally jazzed to be doing this... it was one of my creative new year resolutions actually, so I'm tickled. UPDATE: I forgot to add that I got word that I'll be showing at the river gallery in March too - yes - it was a slamm'n good day!
......
So my website's shopping cart is giving me nothing but grief. I have potential shoppers emailing me constantly that they are having problems with it. I can't have that, so I'm switching carts, servers, everything. YIKES. It's going to be HUGE undertaking to rebuild, but a gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do. Wish me luck!

...Time took nothing away

Oh how I love the comfort of being with an old friend. My friend Mia came into work today to surprise me... she will be in and out of town for a while. I wish it were under better circumstances - my heart goes out to her Dad right now. Anyway - we went out for dinner to catch up and it was so nice to be a with a friend and fall right back into each other's lives and never have a quiet minute. So nice to reconnect and just have that familiar feeling of comfort, kindness, and the bond... time took nothing away. We shared a great dinner and 2 hours flew by like 2 minutes. Thankfully she'll be back next week.

So I had the MRI. It was not fun, but not the worst thing I ever did. The soft white light made it bearable and they played my John Mayer cd, so his sweet sound helped calm my nerves. The only part that REALLY FREAKED ME OUT was one of the sequences made a horrible 'alarm' sound and vibrated quite a bit, so I thought those crazy 'what if' thoughts.... like "what if the machine is broken and the guy doesn't know?" and "what if the the tsunami struck - would I be stuck in here?"
I have mixed feelings over the results. They found nothing wrong, so that's terrific, yet at the same time, I have no answers to why my migraines are worsening and any leads to a cure. Ugh. Is it all in my head? Pun intended.

Snow Day .... Charms & Headache Free

Last Thursday we had a snow day! Oh ya - we got a whole 2 inches and the town was in a tizzy and canceled school. They just have no idea what snow is around.... it NEVER happens. Sometime we get slushy snow mixed with rain, but it never never sticks on the ground, so to wake up last Thursday and this was amazing!
I was so sick with my damn headache, I wasn't able to go driving around to take pics of the dunes or anything, which was a drag, but I was happy to know it was there.

So yesterday (Sunday) was my fist day, migraine free, in almost a week! I just had the best time finishing up my charms for the other charm swap. Tyler spent the whole day with me (instead of being in his room hooked up to his headphones and guitars), so I was sheer heaven. After spending the entire day taping and soldering I hopped online to read my mail, surf the net, catch up on some blogs and even managed to crank out the two scrapbook pages for the snow and charms in photoshop! I was a little too excited and stayed up till 4:30 this morning playing, but I don't care - it's the first day I have felt like myself in weeks!!!

Here are my charms... I had made up the pic with brushes in photoshop, punched them out and stuck them to the glass pebbles earlier, so all I had to do was wrap them in copper tape and solder them up, but it took pretty much all day because I did quite a bit more than the 25 needed for the shop, since I knew that some of them might would be duds. I am not a master solderer, so I always make extra ;)

(All the credits for my layouts can be found on my flicker page... click on the link to right)

Happy New Year

Happy new year! I had a nice new year in, getting movies, making special snacks etc. I got invited out, but I like it quiet these days.

So how about those resolutions? Last year mine was to make way more art, and I did - so that's cool. This year I want to spend more time with my friends and keep in touch with those that are not here. I really need to do that. I want to see how long I can go at doing a photo a day too - so that means I'll be posting it here if it happens. Wish me luck!

Last night I downloaded some new wallpapers for my desktop and found one that looks like my cat Mew. Then when my screen saver came on, it was awesome - it looked like she was looking through aquarium glass. I snapped a photo with my phone:
How fun it that? You can get the background and the cool screensaver free (with no spyware) here. The animated screen savers (like my aquarium one shown) are really cool, and the best part is they are truely free, no adds, no spyware. Go get some!

Tracy.... where did you go?

Wow - who knew that taking on the not-so-new job would take my happy little world... crumple it into a ball... and toss it in the trash? Certainly not me. I have totally lost myself. I'm cut off from my altered art group, I can't get anything done that needs daytime hours, my business is going down the drain, my hair is in dire need of a stylist but she keeps the same hours I do so I'm screwed, I have not seen my friends in weeks, I'm too tired to go to my other job, I never cook anymore and worst of all, I have not created a single piece of art since I got hired. I hate having to cram my 'to do' list, family and friends into a 48 hour time slot - because trust me, it all doesn't happen. I have to tell you, I hate money. I've sold my soul to the workplace, so I can 'live'. Ya right - what living? I want my life back.

Operation "outfit" a success

Yesterday, I made the treck back to Eugene to find an outfit to wear the bank's Christmas party, after coming home empty handed in last week's fiasco of a trip. I clocked 170 miles on the ol' Bonnevissle looking for it, and finally at 6:35pm it came together. (so much for getting home before dark) While it's still more casual that I was hoping for, it will do. I'll jazz it up with lots of bling bling jewelry :)

Mint Chocolate update....
I am SO LOVING the navigation thingy on my new phone. I just type in a store name, or any address and it searches it out and tells me how to get there, turn by turn. Yippee... no more driving by the exit I need and aPublishsking "should I have gotten off there?"

The 'girls' Christmas party for the bank was last week.... this is the sweet present that I got:

Recovered

Whew... I have recovered from my bad day :) Thanks for all the sweet emails. I love hearing your stories ... don't be afraid to share them here on my comments page, unless of course they are private, then your emails are great too. Either way, thanks for taking the time to write me!

So how's the shopping going? Everyone done? I just started this weekend so I have a lot to do still, but I like shopping in December. I enjoy the hustle and bustle of people. Maybe if I had to buy an Elmo or PS3 I would hate it, but since I don't have to hunt down those items, I'm doing ok. My last paycheck before the holidays is the 15th, so I'll be shopping till at least the 20th.

I don't know if I blogged about my job or not (I don't think so), but besides my art, my shop and my friend's business, I'm also working at our local bank. It was a major change for me.... and everything suffered the first few weeks... I came home too tired to do anything, but now I'm feeling ok. The only thing that is suffering still is my art.... I just don't have time - and it's killing me. I can't just create on Saturday and Sunday when I have the time. And I can't stay up all night anymore or I have to suffer from a migraine at work, which I just can't do. So I'm hoping that soon.... very soon.... I will regain the energy to create after work, and that inspiration will at hand on the weekends.

My aweful, no good, very bad day...

went something like this:
-get up at 5:00 am to take our sweet friend to Eugene to the train
-argue with grumpy husband in the car
-fight with grumpy husband in the car
-get hurt feelings and tune out grumpy husband, still in the car
-realize the tags on my car expired 2 days ago (while 65 miles away from home, on a Saturday when the DMV is closed) (for my Canadian pals, the 'tags' are what Americans call the date stickers on the license plates)
-spend way too much on soap making supplies
-return much need and highly desired soap making supplies
-look for an outfit for work Christmas party
-try on an outfit for work Christmas party
-look terrible in an outfit for work Christmas party
-stop at music store to pick up keyboard for son's Christmas present, then realizing it doesn't exactly fit in the car (with expired tags)
-see a fantastic movie (doesn't belong on the bad list, but it's the only good thing, so no point making a good list)
-keep looking for an outfit for work Christmas party
-try on more outfits for work Christmas party
-looking terrible in more outfits for work Christmas party
-leaving town without an outfit for the work Christmas party
-getting stuck on the drive home for 1.5 hours because there's been a terrible accident on the hwy
-driving by the crash site, feeling horrible sadness for the victims
-driving the rest of the way home with a horrible migraine
-running over and killing a poor, innocent raccoon 15 miles from home
-crying the rest of the drive home, trying to see through my tears and apologizing to the raccoon, the raccoon's family, my son who's in the car with me, God, and pretty much anyone else who would deem me a horrible person for not being able to swerve out of the way
-falling into the most uncomfortable bed in the world with swollen eyes, a migraine

That was my Saturday.
Today I didn't get out of my jammies, didn't shower, didn't answer the phone, and didn't do anything but try to regroup, rest and take the entire day off.

I cooked.... and there's proof

If you knew me when my kids were little, you would have expected a grande feast from me for Thanksgiving. I was the one who baked all the cookies, painted all the windows, hand made all the invitations... I could put Martha to shame back in the day.
But in recent years, I've lost my zest for decorating for the seasons, preparing special meals, making everything from scratch, etc. .... until this year.... I've rejoined the festive ... and am chalk full of holiday spirit. Here's our Thanksgiving feast...

Thankful for....

This has been quite a year for me, and I am thankful for....

• closing my studio on my terms, and going out happy
• having Tyler come home
• the comfort in knowing Trev is ok living on his own
• my Mom's support of my art sabbatical
  
• my sister for being my sister - which means the world to me
  
• having the time to focus on my art (till now)
• Patty - for not letting the miles get in the way of our friendship
• Amanda - my partner in crime, for making me laugh and for being here for me, in the good times, the bad times, and everything in between
  
• Sandy - for good advice, good company and flexible hours :)
• Lori - for the support and good words in my new job
• my computer - because it connects me to the world, otherwise I'd go nutty
• selling my art
  

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey be plump
May your potatoes have gravy
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize
And may your Thanksgiving Dinner
Stay of your thighs!
- anonymous