My Chaotic Realm

February did not roar. It did not explode into transformation. It thawed. This was the month I stopped gripping. At the beginning of the month, I was still inside the tight container of work stress — rotating through understaffed shifts, holding more than was mine, carrying payroll problems on my nervous system like they were a moral failing. And then something subtle shifted. I began separating what was mine from what was not. There was a day when I felt the anger fully — the hot, justified kind — and instead of swallowing it, I named it. That anger wasn’t volatility. It was a boundary, forming bones. And then came relief. Not fireworks relief...Body relief. The kind where your shoulders drop without you telling them to. I chose to resign. I chose to step out of consensus and into alignment. An oracle message echoed all month:  “Don’t worry about the effects of going against the grain. When we are who we are in truth, we attract the support, protection, and energy we need to thriv...

 I looked at my calendar and I see that Mercury will be going retrograde tomorrow. Let me get this communication out before that!   The gravel project around the house—meant to cover a 3-foot perimeter where rain falls from the eaves—has been a bit of a rollercoaster. We initially hired someone to remove the grass along the house, with the clear expectation that they would return to level the area, lay down weed barrier, install edging to contain the gravel, and then pour the rock. Unfortunately, that’s not how things unfolded. In the end, we had to bring in someone else to actually clear the full 3 feet, since the original worker seemed unable to grasp how to use the yardstick we provided. And L has been laying down all the weed barrier and guides herself. And then we began pouring the rock, which turned out to be the easiest part for me. I am 6 weeks post-mishap with my knee, and it is much better, but not able to get down in it yet.   Less than three weeks un...

The weather here has been beautiful lately—overnight lows in the upper 60s and daytime highs barely nudging into the 90s. Living near the water has its perks; there's a steady breeze that makes things feel pleasant overall. We’ve even been able to open the windows some days. And I have been taking my motorcycle out more, even riding it to work some days.  Work at Office Depot is still going well. I do wish it weren’t a full 40 hours a week, but that’s not something I can change at the moment. Thankfully, it’s mostly stress-free—apart from the usual nonsense that comes with retail. Some customers really seem to be trying to wear down my last nerve, and the entitlement levels can be unreal. But not all are bad—some are kind, and some are even grateful, which helps balance things out. I’ve been able to carve out a little time for art on Fridays, which—for now—seems to be consistently one of my two days off. Sundays are my other day off, but those tend to be reserved for family time an...

As I look back now on 2024, using the post from an art group I am in as well as my blog posts here,  I can see that 2023 was the year of "NOT according to plan" and 2024 was spent "Regrouping". The recent art group post asked 5 things:  1) What were our plans for 2024, 2) What did we want to do artistically, 3) What did we learn about ourselves in 2023, 4) What was our art focus for 2024? and 5) What was our word for 2024? My plan for 2024 was to protect my peace, which might mean finding a different job.    And I did that, and I am glad, even though it meant taking a severe pay cut. I was approved for an ACA health plan and SNAP so both of those things are helping bridge the income gap. Artistically speaking, in 2024 I planned to continue de-stashing so probably just making greeting cards and journaling.   I did journal most every day (I do so to remain sane) and I made greeting cards. Still behind on the de-stash but not as overwhelmed as I was. Did I learn...

Well, life has certainly not been boring since we returned from the Total Eclipse trip!! Tori's eye has healed, thankfully. Has had no further issues with the uveitis, which we were told might reoccur as it is an inflammation, not an infection. Binx & Tres are still coming by regularly for kibble and pate. Sadly, Midnight injured his ACL and ended up having to surgically repair it ($2500!!) but is now in his 2nd week post-op and recovering nicely. Hard to keep him on "bed rest" as he is still quite active, in spite of coming up on 9 years of age.  My health has significantly improved, likely due to reduced stress and better sleep. I completed all my annual check-ups, and everything is as expected. Working freight at my job has also given me some strength training, which is a nice bonus. Thankfully, none of last year's issues have returned! All tests, including Hem/Onc, came back with great results—no diseases, including connective tissue disease, and no genetic pr...

  Yesterday was a fantastic day!! I turned in most of my school work Wednesday, and the rest I will tend to come Monday because I never went to class 4/1. Was a bestie's birthday, so made a card, made a gift, wrapped another gift, and spent time with her. The important things.  Speaking of skipping, I skipped school Monday to go see Queen Nefertari's artifiacts at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) and it was worth every mile to get there. There was so much to see, and so awe-inspiring, that I never even realized there were 2 more floors of the regular museum to see. I spent the whole time touring Egyptian tombs and relics and stories that I never even made it upstairs. We did make it to Byblos to eat. Fantastic food, if you want to go try it out.  Last Sunday we rode the motorcycles over to Ocean Springs for their art festival. Gorgeous day for a ride. Another storm came by... straightline winds again with 60mph gusts. Lots of damage on Beatline @ 28th, just north...

 The end of 2021, that is. October went by so fast that I am not sure what happened? And now, November has disappeared as well. But, thanks to my paper planner, I can look back to see where the time sped off to!  October 10th my mother would have been 75 years old. I spent the day with some witchy friends at a high tea...so much fun! Mom would have loved it. New classes started on Oct 13th. Maybe having my nose in a textbook is why time seems to be going by so fast? On the 23rd of October, I threw a pizza party for the 2 work trainees. They hit the floor solo at the beginning of this month. Expensive (for me) but worth it. As I started training one new tech yesterday, we now just need to find one more.  The shift for Thanksgiving always sucks. As Christmas and New Year’s fall on Saturdays this year, I will be working on the Sunday after each. Kinda sucks, but not as much as it would if we shifted the entire week forward by 1 day… that is just a mess! I will take working...

Wow, over half of 2021 is already gone?!? Tomorrow is my last day in Term 6. Term 7 kicks off on August 11, and this one actually has real (rather than electronic) books!! My hope is that this proves to be easier when we go on our annual trip . Speaking of trips, the kids could not make it last weekend (illness) but Sheila is scheduled for this weekend. Gulf Shores, here we come!  For my Dean's list & 4.0GPA in the last 2 terms, I bought myself an HP Sprocket. I chose the 2x3" size so it is compatible with my planners. My goal is to do most of my memory keeping for our  Grand Circle Trip  on the go. Normally I take pictures for the whole trip, return home and upload those 1000 or so photos, then wait for Snapfish's "penny print sale" to order them. Then there is another 2-week wait to get the photos back so I can scrapbook them. Oh, and try to remember where each one was taken, and when.  The Sprocket is micro USB rechargeable and uses Bluetooth. What it doe...

Yes, I missed last week. That means I missed my accountability. But I have a really great reason...SHEILA WAS HERE! My Bestie from Texas comes every July 4th so we had a great 4 days. Dinner @ Speckle T's, fireworks on the beach in Long Beach, thrift shopping all down the coast, live music @ Finally First Friday, crab festival Saturday, gospel hour @ Darwell's Sunday before returning her back to NOLA to catch her flight. Last night was the 1st meeting of a book club I am moderating...the conversation was enlightening and terrific. Okay...accountability: #1) participating in my art group's "Birthday Club" where we send a handmade item to those celebrating birthdays. MET #2) 2019's weekly scrapbook layout challenge over at the Scraptacular Cropping Club MET #3) the 52 Weeks Being Me challenge over at the Words of Me Project Met, and it is getting better as I get into it. The last couple of challenges have been to choose a word to finish the year with base...

To those that follow my blog, I apologize. I went back and I looked at when I had last blogged. Actually, over the last seven weeks (yes, I know. I am sorry I have been such a slacker) I have been looking back over a few things. That is about all I have had the energy for as of late. I went back to work on the 28th of March. It was too soon, I think. I should have taken the extra week I was given by my Cancer Team, but… Sigh. What have I been looking at besides cancer bills & such? Today for Mother's Day we went to go see Avengers: Endgame. Took us until last night to watch the first 20 movies in timeline order so today was the day!! As far as things I looked at online? I am actually thinking of deactivating my Facebook account. It came to my attention when, laid up with very little I could do, that I saw very little of what my 137 friends were posting. And of those 137, some are dead and 3 or 4 of them are dogs. Actual dogs. So why am I only seeing a few people? Unless I...

First let me start off the year by wishing everyone a bountiful, joy-full and ART-full year. Second, I have just reread my goal list from 2018 and, of the 5 goals, I met 3. 1) the #52in52 scrapbook pages challenge 2) the Mission Inspiration monthly art journaling challenge 3) my art group's "Birthday Club" where we send a handmade item to those celebrating birthdays I quit the planner group with good reason (drama then NO activity AT ALL sigh) so #4 (posting weekly in planner group) was not met. No real reason for not meeting #5 (blog weekly) except to say that I live a sorta boring life and just never really felt the need to post boring things for Y'all. That brings me to 2019 in which I have a health issue that is going to need to be dealt with (sooner the better). Therefore I am trying to allow more time to just BE and relax and heal. I have things I am wanting to do but they are not set in stone type of things. My word for the year is FLEXIBLE. Anyways, ...

and how did I spend it? Doing nothing except chill and relax. I took some time to play in my art room. I did caught up my emails and completed the mission inspiration journal challenge for June. Oh... I got the pictures from our end of May birthday camping trip into the scrapbook!! Pictures from the BHS reunion wknd should arrive this week. The Scrap Our Stash Challenge was posted 6/15 so I have a couple more weeks to get that completed. I did go to a garage sale at oh my God a.m. Saturday morning hosted by none other than the coastal magpie. I picked up some really cool stuff: some mat board, a table that will hold all of my scraps in a open top file, some paints some Nifty pieces that will become mixed media items... way cool stuff. Did spend some time reorganizing a few items in order to get two pieces of storage type furniture moved into my room. I have a few jams that need to be played in and passed on so I'll work on those Monday along with the scrapbooking challenge. Yes...

Crossing as much as I can off my tasks list in preparation for my annual birthday camping trip. We'll be leaving out Friday & will return Tuesday. The difference this year will be that we are doing the trip in our ALiner camper instead of a tent. Hoping all the leaks and whatnot are fixed!! We got it used for a terrific price but that means there are things that needed to be done to get it trip ready. Dogs have to be ready as well so I had to get a kennel for Bud. He'll probably sleep in the camper where I am but just in case. And he needed one since he is living with Grandma in a hurricane prone area, just in case. This trip is about getting away and being unavailable to do anything but chill. With that in mind I have posted all my monthly swaps & pen pal mail out as of this morning. Created a few art pieces (tiny ones) for later purposes this afternoon. I have 4pm appt to see Dr Adam and then a shopping trip to see about some additional camper supplies. Planner has...

...at the end of the work tunnel... I think. At least I am only on the schedule for FOUR days this week.. hallelujah! So today is the day I get started on my "To Do List". It has been snowballing since having to pick up some days at work starting back on 5/2. On the "done" side is blogging, Mission Inspiration's & ATC Fun's challenges for May. Ah, and I am all caught up on Birthday cards for my art group & thank you cards for the local art group that through a Bday party last Friday for me. My actual birthday will be spent camping in the ALiner (its maiden voyage, no less). Left on that list? Making a book or journal. Scrap Our Stash's Monthly page sketch challenge. Working on my art window project. Return mail out to Cher & Brandy from Sendsomehting.net. Care package of randomness to Michaela. Getting my address corrected on my voter registration card so I can go to the poll nearest me. Getting my poor nail fixed after its traumatic remova...

...and I am done with my 2016 scrapbook!! All done... like put out in the bookcase in the Family Room DONE!! I am so excited... went back & put the captions and notes on the rest of pages. If you recall, those pages were completed last Friday at some ungodly hour during our twice monthly art group. I had a couple of other goals for January: make a book, 3 workouts/wk, weekly chore list, ATC Challenge, Mission Inspiration journal challenge, birthday card group and Blog. The Results are in.... I DID NOT make a book. I DID work out at least 3 times a week (some even saw 5!!). I DID the weekly chore... except that killed our vacuum cleaner. LMAO. I DID complete January's ATC Challenge. I DID complete January's Mission Inspiration Challenge. I DID make birthday cards for those that were due. I DID blog but only 3 times (goal was 4 so only completed 75%). What else did January include? Art time, both with friends and alone. Lost 3# & 6 inches. Worked 4 days a week...

Today was my day off.. and I took it!! No phone, no work calling, no household stuff (well, not much)... just me & my fur babies and some paper! And ink, modeling paste, glue, scissors, pearlX powders, ink, etc... Yeah, I did the basics such as: made chiropractic appointment, paid bills, balanced checkbook, 30 minutes of cardio, meal prep for today & tomorrow (at work), dishes, pet care... blah blah blah. Emails all caught up and cleared out. Art space tidied up from the last few weeks of working 5 days. But then I played in my art room... ALL the REST of the DAY. Radio on & fingers inky. A couple of swaps done & ready to mail. 18 ATCs for personal trades created & posted. Planner played in, prepped for February, next week laid out & posted to the group I admin. First scrapbook page for January completed and put into album. Random acts of kindness made and posted to the box for delivery. Whoop whoop... now to bed... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

So I did not post AT ALL here for November & December. Life gets away from me during the time of year commonly known as "The Holiday Season". Therefore some stuff just has to fall by the wayside. Things like blogging, Facebook, art therapy, getting lost in Pinterest or any of the other extraneous stuff. What DO I do during those 2 months? I cover for people I work with so they can go out of town for the holidays and see their loved ones. I cover for sick coworkers and for those who suffered the unimaginable loss of a loved one during this time of family and friends. I make my gifts for family, friends & patients. I make cards and mail them to the 150 addresses on my list (next year that list will be trimmed down to less than half that #!). I push through to finish all my projects that I have not completed so I can start fresh ones in the new year. So... that brings me to the NEW YEAR and my NEW GOALS... hence the title of today's blog post. Keeping in mind th...

So, made the trip back home...we left way before daybreak last week. We hit Jennings park for a quick dip & roll...saw the baby gator (Bud didn't even bark...). Then back in the car & over the Baton Rouge bridge. Ever upward and onward until we finally see it...the Texas State line!! That meant we were halfway there! Made it to 5 Mile Dam and took a trip down memory lane...that was where Bud learned to swim with his Daddy as a mere pup. Speaking of his Dad, we made it to the kid's place in time for dinner and an early bed. Saturday saw us head out at the crack of dawn to Bandera. Along the way I was going to stop for breakfast at the biggest (and newest) Buc-ee's in New Braunfels. That's when I saw it... BRAND NEW HEB+ ...right across from the Beaver!! Ah, my loyalties were torn :-( But HEB+ won. The grand opening was the day before but there were still LOTS of specials. Loaded up the car & ice chest as much as possible (the overflow got to ride with B...

DIY MARDI GRAS BEAD MOSAIC TRAY DIY MARDI GRAS BEAD MOSAIC TRAYI love this project - make it using mardi gras beads and a tray from the dollar store!Great project by Aunt Peaches, for iLoveToCreate. Posted by Dollar Store Crafts on Monday, 25 January 2016 DIY MARDI GRAS BEAD MOSAIC TRAY

So, I started a pilot program through my health insurance provider for ppl @ risk of diabetes (I had gestational diabetes in 1986-1987 & am overweight now). It involves a wireless scale that transmits my weight directly via cell signal (so no lying there!) and a phone app to track all my activity, food, etc. How long will this last, you wonder? 16 weeks. So far I have lost 3.6 pounds..I think I can put up with this. It is arranged in a group of 2 dozen ppl one 1 health coach. We are all linked via a chat room/forum board for discussions, support, exchanges, etc. There is no cost for the wireless scale or phone app so the only thing I have to lose is... you guessed it...weight. This is why I signed up for it...that and the fact that I really do not want to end up with diabetes. Today is a holiday for the BF...we are going to the gym & then goofing off he rest of today. I do have some art-related items to catch up and a few pen pals to write, but that is not really work for me...