My Chaotic Realm

  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...

 I never posted this year's goals. I wrote them in my journal, went through the practice of selecting, etc. Never blogged about them. Got on here today to do my check-in only to find I never came back after the lightning strike fiasco. So I did, in fact, narrow down my choices to just 3 this year. As I was going through my selection process it dawned on Me that 3 of my five were indeed very closely related. So I lumped them into what I am calling IPP or Intention Pagan Practice. Then I also have my health goal "Lose 1# each month" and my Blog Monthly/Journal" goal that keeps me on track.  The end is near.. of January, at least. How have I done? Well, the Deep Time is coming to a close and I have been pretty much on target with that. This is my 2nd (and last) blog post for January, so that is good. I have no idea about my weight as I will weigh in tomorrow and compare. Keep your fingers cro My current term ends the 2nd of February and my LAST TERM (!!!) starts Februar...

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...

I suck at weekly posting. Maybe because I just don't see a lot of the things that happen in my weeks as exciting and needing to be shared? So, instead... what HAVE I done in the last 4 weeks? We had a majorly early freeze so L made a greenhouse for all the plants for the winter. I started on (and completed and mailed) my Holiday Cards. I cut the list (and the postage) by half this year. And please, do not be offended when I call them Holiday cards instead of Christmas cards. Think of it this way: “Holiday” includes Christmas whereas "Christmas” leaves out everything other than Christmas. I have many friends and not all of them celebrate Christmas. L got us tickets to the "Hee Haw Show" in Gulfport on the 16th of November. That was a hoot! Attended a funeral for a friend who's mother had passed. Rode with some friends on a few really nice weather days. Met a new friend. I canceled my gym membership. I paid off all my medical bills using a zero percent credit card....

I have not blogged in almost 7 weeks... that means there was no there has been no accountability posts since April. ARGHHHH In my defense May ended with my annual birthday camping trip AND with one of my co-workers being told to find employment elsewhere. So down to 9 teammates instead of the required 10-11. That means I worked at least 4 days a week in June. I did manage to scrapbook the B-Day pictures though. Speaking of June...that month started with my annual "All Class Reunion". Back home to Bandera we went-even the dogs! Took the camper this time, still stayed at my Dad's place. Mid-June saw us at the IMMS educational booth @ Jones Park during the summer shindig there. Got a tooth from a mackerel & a crow shark. Came away more educated because I didn't even know there were such sharks! we both also did some rubbings...lots of fun. And just when I had become somewhat used to working 4 days a week, teammate #9 quit at the end of June. No notice, no warnin...

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...

But I will see them again soon because I am headed to go see Dad in a few days. Have to work Thursday through Saturday then heading out 2 OMG on Sunday morning. Got some pics during the kids visit so will get those printed today & packed. My plan is to scrap some of them on my previously made page kits while I visit with Dad. So...the book for my expecting teammate.. pics! Took me 3 days of work.. Friday I built the structure. Saturday I covered it with decorative papers & put a cover on it. Monday I made journalling tags for pockets & embellished it. Tomorrow I will deliver it.

Both with the blog and the art projects. No mixed media today.. didn't get to Mike Deakin's Mission Inspiration today. Sad. But I did get the February Scrapbook Sketch Challenge done. Actually I got TWO of them done. That is because I did the wrong one first and then found the correct one Oh well... not like I don't have loads of things waiting to be kept in some form of memory keeping! Did the workout first thing this morning, then saw Dr. Adam (love him!!) and went to fill car & cans with gas. Got some ATCs made for upcoming swaps. Tickets are now pre-selling for March 3rd showing of Logan... so excited!

...One week into February & I am still on track with the fitness challenge. January is already in the scrapbook AND the trip we just completed is about to be! Off today (which is not the norm) because I work tomorrow. A teammate needed to swap days so I am about to run to St Patrick's and make a banner for this Sundays concert featuring Sibyl Child & Dr John Paul. See details for this free event HERE. . Book Making is on my horizon this week, I hope... shall see. Think work is about to be short one more person starting 2/13. YeeHa....not. Rock Garden is still a work in progress...need more marble (aka need more $). We are under a tornado watch until 2pm due to a line of severe thunderstorms coming from the west so we've battened down the hatches & secured loose yard items. Bud is in and already snoring in his bed. He's no dummy! Made some really tasty spinach pancakes for breakfast. got a dry mix with spinach in it (lowers the carbs that way) from MS_Patticakes...

I just noticed that I have not posted on here in like a coon's age.. so sorry!! been busy teaching at Michael's, working at DaVita and living the beach life. callie died in August, almost a year to the day of Mr. Buoy's passing. Sad. We are looking at end of life care for Cappi as she is way into the geriatric doggie stage now. Did make it back to Texas in July & then again early October to see the kids, my dad & some BHS friends. Also did some touristy type things like Horseback riding, walking the river, etc. Bud did not get to go because I took the BF instead. he can go in March. :-) Oh..get this.. DAD QUIT SMOKING!!!!! Wait.. THAT should be the headline.. lemme go change that up top.... ... ... Ok... Title of blog post has been changed. That is like an awesome thing, y'all...So, working on teaching some classes outside of Michael's since they have changed how they pay me. They are now deducting a "Room Fee" from my "Classroom Bo...

So I last posted on here February 23rd ...where has the time gone?? OMG!?! Between work (full-time, part-time & self employed), volunteering, Easter, travel to see family AND vacation I have not really stopped. I have been doing my art journal on a regular basis up until 2 weeks ago (need to catch up on that THIS weekend, I promise myself!). And I have been scrapbooking all the events...am even caught up except for our April vacation trip. The Healthy lifestyle challenge is still challenging and at times I am despairing of EVER getting to where I need to be. It turns out that I HATE to exercise. I am good with walking, goodness knows I do enough of that while I am at work!  And I like to walk socially. But I hate doing strengthening exercises. Those weight lifting, core targeting, stretching things. Maybe should take up watching TV and put a gym in living room so I would be more inclined? Who knows. And being in the beginning throes of menopause is NOT helping, lemme just say. ...

OOOPS.. I see another couple of weeks have gone by since last posting... ARGH. Well, was at work all of last week... way too many hours. Then, this week I have been off. Which sounds like a good thing, loads of fun lined up, etc...Right? WRONG. It was spent with some eye & doc appts, antibiotics, etc. Knew that was coming since my one day off the week before was spent in doc appts so planned very little for the week off except self-care. On the plus side, looks like surgery is not required so I am really happy about that! In spite of a migraine (weather is beautiful but the barometer change for that to occur usually knocks me for a loop) I made it to the St Patrick's annual Blessing of the pets. Callie went with me this year, carrying a photo of her sister, Abigale. She was not at all thrilled to be there and volunteered Abigale to go next year in her place. Today is World Card Making Day!! I will be making a few more. Spent last night and some of this last week scrap...