New Blog - Change your Bookmarks

The new blog is done! Woot! So thankful.

For a whole lot of reasons I decided to stop using my other blog, "My Artful Soul". The main one being that I have found myself in a different place then I was when I created that blog. Art is a part of my life, but life is also a part of me as well. There were so many times I felt guilty that I wasn't posting more scrapbook related stuff, art journal entries, and etc.

The simple fact is my life is really a sum total of all kinds of creative adventures. From scrapbooks, to cooking, to colds and dirty laundry. And my new blog will encompass all that is me and who I really am.

So change your bookmarks and join me at my new blog (and no, it's not at typepad, lol!)

Desperately Searching for Creative Domesticity

Love It and Loathe It Tuesday

Yeah, I had totally planned on getting up and spending an hour writing some prolific post about my laundry success yesterday and how Intervention made me cry like a baby but when I tried to connect our wireless was down...

And after 3 long hours of me bitchin` and moanin` until I got it to work again...I just want a hot cup of coffee and a shower. Grrr. That means you get this...

Totally stealing this from my friend GD! Just going to do it with a little twist because I get easily distracted, LOL!

Loathe It:

1. Ants: Eww! Hate em!


Red ants aka piss ants (doesn't that name just make your stomach turn!), black ants, those huge uber disgusto carpenter ants... YUK!

2. Antagonists: Uh, Yeah! If you don't have anything better to do than cause shit...I got some advice for you...Get a LIFE, Dude!

3. Arithmetic: Yeah, math! Not my best subject. Without a calculator or pen and paper I am as useless as a tit on a wart hog.

4. Aggression:

aggression
1. the single most significant catalyst behind all destructive forces on the planet.
2. the single most attractive characteristic in men to the so-called gentler sex.

I am a lover not a fighter. Put me in the mix and I gurantee I will walk away. Life's too short to fight.

5. Abuse: In any form... Child, sexual, spousal. alcohol, drug, you name it. I don't get it. The desire to hurt someone else or yourself...what the hell?!?! Sick!

Love It:

1. Art: In any form, color, design, medium... I appreciate the ability of someone to create something appealing to the eye, senses, taste. It's a good thing as Martha would say.

2. Altruism: I aspire to have this quality. It is kindness at it's best without expectation. What more could you ask for?

3. Apples: Pink Ladies, grannysmith, MacIntosh... And especially apples covered in ridiculous amounts of carmel, nuts, and chocolate...Hello!

4. Ashley Jo: This girl. My first born. My baby.


Yes, on a daily basis we battle. There are days she hates me. But being 16 and trying to find your way in the world is NOT easy. I remember them all too well. So on the days when I want to smack her up, LOL, I remind myself being 16 is a small little version of hell itself.

And my heart... She owns a large piece of it. My love child. Full of laughter, kind to animals, so funny she makes me laugh out loud every SINGLE day... And tough. Like her Dad. Opinionated and ready to back it up. She shares her Dad and I's love for art (especially his love for drawing) and my weakness for crying at anything sappy.

She is my girl. My little girl. And I love her.

5. AlixGD: My friend. She makes me smile, laugh, and think. She changes my view and she doesn't even know it. She is funny and creative and selfless. She has the heart of a giant and she asks nothing in return. Although we have never met, her words sent by email across the ocean are just as if she were sitting right across the table from me.

She is my friend. And for that...I love ya, girl!

Random Tam-Bits Monday 3/17 - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

May your day be filled with the luck of the green whether it be green eggs and ham, corned beef and cabbage, or a nice stout green beer with some friends.

Just be responsible out there, eh!

Monday...Monday...

No bigs plans for Patty's Day around here. Dennis has to work, Ash is on Spring Break and has her BFF over. Cam is wreaking havoc aka playing.

Monday is laundry day however. (*&^%^&$^) Yeah, that's me cursing. I HATE doing the laundry! So I have delegated it to Mondays and Thursdays. I really want to cuss again here but I will move on quickly and try to imagine it's not waiting for me in piles in the laundry room.

Life has been good around the homestead. Dennis still has a job, LOL! (Thank God!)Ash passed driver's training and has her permit. She raised her collective GPA and we got an invite to the academic award luncheon at school on April 3rd. Cameron is growing like a weed, eating like a rabbit and can make a mess faster than the Tazmanian Devil. He is totally in love with Guitar Hero III and knows all the words to Slow Ride, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, and Welcome to the Jungle. Yeah, he is a budding rock and roll star at 4, it's insane but makes his daddy ever so proud. LOL! You should see them together.

Me... I have been crocheting like Ca-Ray-Zay! I got "hooked", literally. Here are a couple photos of finished projects.You can check out more picture at my Flickr site.

Already have a couple more projects in the works. I'm really loving this right now.

I have managed to make a couple mini albums too. No pictures yet but will "try" to do that today. I have been kind of missing paper and glue... Maybe I'll try and get some layouts done this week.

Spaghetti with turkey meatballs on the menu tonight.
WW Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.

I can't believe Easter is in a week. We still have snow for crying out loud! UGH! I want to see green!

Ok, I'm outta here. Laundry day, ya know...
But I am leaving you with my new Monday schedule- Random Information from my UBERLY exciting life...LOLOLOL!

1. I like salt on vanilla ice cream. It's amazing! Brings out the flavor of the vanilla, I swear.

2. I take prescription allergy medicine everyday! I am allergic to dander, dust, and certain pollens. But I won't give up my dogs, or move out of the country. Not to mention dusting, another of my least favorite chores. Hence the medicine and my doctor who laughs at my unwillingness to give up the above mentioned allergens.

3. I want a tattoo of a bumblebee flying out of my cleavage. LOL! True! I always have... My husband thinks it will make men look at my hooties so he is trying to enforce his man/hubby law on me. I told him the more he says "no" the more it makes me want to "go"! LOL!

4. I have such vivid dreams sometimes I wake myself up crying, laughing, and bitching. LOL!

5. I LOVE to read! I can read an entire novel in one day. When I read I actually see myself standing in the corner of every story watching it as it unfolds. But as I child I struggled to read. Lesson= NEVER GIVE UP!

Ok, to the Tide and Bounce arena I go...Have a great St. Patricks's Day y'all!
Peace.

See ya later old post...

Eww! What a depressing post to see over and over again, eh! LOL

Even I can't stand it anymore... So you get this crappy short post instead until tomorrow. Kids have been sick ALL week. Dennis is sick now. Ugh!

Been hooking up a storm around here and have some things to share. Sewing pillows today. Reconstructing an old bedspread from the old days to new throw pillows. I'll share soon. Got an agenda for the blog. Scheduling time for it. Apparently I need to do that, who knew.

Talk soon!
Peace.

Meet my Alter Ego...

I hate dieting.

I am not very good at self-control or self-discipline. This combined with the fact that I come from a Southern family who believes NOTHING is good unless it is fried and covered with butter or contain a pound of cheese, does not help my deep desire to be thin.

In all honesty I have never really "tried" dieting. I type it like that because I have taken diet pills, cut the fat out (When they said NO FAT was the way to go), tried Slim-Fast, Dolly Parton cabbage diet (don't ask) among others but NEVER truly commited to them.

Truth is I am married to a thin man. And there are days, more than I care to mention, that I wonder silently to myself what the hell is he doing with me!?!?! He could do SO much better. He deserves better.

It is an ugly poison that infiltrates my confident mind and makes me want to hide within turtlenecks and long pants. Usually the strong woman in me emerges after a few days and I tuck the fat hater back somewhere deep in my soul until she comes rearing her gluttonous head again.

Lately though....
She never leaves.

I have 2 thin and beautiful older sisters.
I envy them.
But I never tell them.
But the FHM (Fat Hater Me, my alter ego!) in me becomes the shy, quiet, hiding in the shadows woman when we are all together.
I hate her.

She is the same person who will suffer in 90 degree heat at the campground instead of dare to put on her swimsuit and enter the lake or pool. The same person who chooses big and baggy over fitted and stylish. The same person who makes fat jokes about herself to hide the hurt before someone else can hurt her first.

I loather her.
I have no respect for her.

And yet...
She is me.

I watched Intervention on A&E a few months or so ago and they had an episode with an anorexic woman. As I was watching with my teenage (She is 16) daughter Ash, I was also trying to explain how insane this was and how I could NEVER, EVER do that to myself. Starve myself to be thin.
But later that night after a boxing match with my alter ego FHM, I kneeled down before the toilet and stuck my finger down my throat.

After the first wretching of my guts, I sat back and caught sight of myself in the 4 foot mirrors that surround our bath tub and I cried. What the HELL am I doing? I cried for a solid 15 minutes and then picked myself up and said, NEVER AGAIN!

IN that moment of weakness I realized 2 things.
I am NOT willing to do THAT to myself, my body, or my mind to be thin.
And, that I need to be better to myself and be kind to myself. Love myself regardless of the FHM. She is a part of me, and even if I want to kill her (LOL!) she will always be there.

I started Weight Watchers 5 weeks ago. I had bought the program years ago and never tried it. So I got educated about the programs out there and decided to give it a go.

I did look at other programs.
Jenny Craig and NutriSystem were high on my list. Until I seen the price.
I'm not knocking either program, it has obviously worked for thousands of people. But I have a family and we do have a limited income as far as expenditures go. I can't afford 300.00 dollars a month on food for myself and starve my family. Which I would have to do just to buy the food monthly. And realistically what happens when you lose the weight and go back to normal food you prepare yourself?

For me, it was and is about making CHANGES.
Learning to eat better. Learning to eat less. Learning to make the right choices and be accountable to myself for them.

That is why I chose WW.

But for others, especially those who can afford it and lead hectic lives or are single, their programs might be better for them. And I say Kudos for them for making a choice to be healthy. In the end no matter what program you choose, we have the same goal.

My whole family is in essense doing WW. We eat meals I cook based on WW's points system. We have all lost weight. Minus Cameron, he eats whatever he chooses minus crap.

It hasn't been easy.
Ha!
Not at all!
Mountain Dew, my liquid love, has been alotted to one can a day. And I have to count the 3 points for it. And I only allow myself to have it IF I drink 8 glasses of water during the day first. I drank nothing else before. I essentially drank my calories in pop alone.

Diet pop, doesn't work for me. It makes my mouth taste like I am munching on aluminum foil. YUK! What I wouldn't give to like Diet Coke or even Diet Mountain Dew. I have tried. I even talked to my Doctor. She said that some people have a chemical reaction to artificial sweetners that produce a metallic taste. Yay for my sucky body chemistry! NOT!

So where am I today...
I have lost 22 pounds.
Yay!
I am proud of that.
But it is just a milestone.
I have more to go, much more.

Will I ever be thin?
No.
My goal is to be more active and healthier.
And I do have a goal in mind.
But the FHM (Yes, she still lives!) isn't quite ready to share numbers with the greater population just yet.

Maybe one day.
But until then, I am proud of me.

Every day is a new day. I am proud that I can be a part of it, alter ego and all.

Thoughts

Where the hell does time go?
And why do I never seem to have enough?

White Out!

Been MIA for awhile.
Staying away from the computer and investing time in creative stuff.

Brother doing well. Thanks for the prayers :)

Snowing like mad here.
Insane white stuff!
About an inch an hour now.
Beautiful.

Here is some photos from my little piece of the world today...In all it's white glory.

Be safe.

Sending lots of prayers to my brother David who is having carotid artery catheterization this morning. His carotid artery is 95% blocked. Wishing him safety and peace for his surgery and recovery, as well to his wife Tina and my nephew Josh.

Wish we could be with you all in Kingsport, VA today. Our hearts and thoughts are...

Was CHANGE an omen?

When I chose my word for the year, change, I really meant strictly personal reference to myself. Not to my family, by any means.

What a week.

Dennis, (My amazing husband for those that don't know...) works for a company called QuebecorWorld Inc. Midland.

On Monday, employees were notified that the company would be filing bankruptcy. I don't mean just my husband's plant, I mean the Canadian and American PLANTS. Dennis brought home a bunch of forms with information regarding the bankruptcy, that included FAQs and other mumbo jumbo.
The news hit the finance market across the world.

I can speak for my husband and our friends who also work there (including MY sister) by saying we were really shocked. This is not your small little printing business. They have plants and offices in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Finland, France, India, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom as well as the U.S. in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan (This is us), Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. They employ around 29,000 people.

Dennis and I talked into the early morning on Tuesday. The what ifs and what will we do's...And then both of us realized it doesn't matter. It is so far out of our control. Tuesday morning we called and requested a 401K update be mailed to us and watched the news and net for information.

The employees had originally been told it would NOT affect their paychecks. BY Wednesday that had changed. The company was awaiting an OK from the U.S. Courts that would allow the company to proceed with creditor protection. Until then the companies assets, including any money already allotted for pay was seized.

We live pretty much pay check to pay check. This was pretty frightening.

By late Wednesday evening word finally hit the news that approval had been granted.

Dennis did get paid today. As for the future. Only God knows.

I feel so bad for all the employees. Most people who work there have invested their adult working lives. Dennis has been there for 17 years. My sister 25. Some of our friends, 30, 31, 40 years.

Yes, there are the newbies, and the interns...but a majority of people have made this their life's work. And now they wait...like us...in limbo.

What do they print? Magazines, catalogs, books, a bit of everything depending on which plant. Cosmopolitan, Time, RubberStampMadness, Stamp & Scrap Artist, Sommerset Studio and all their special editions and publications, and they printed the Harry Potter Books.

I know something in me has changed. The "old" me would have been in emotional turmoil. But, in all honesty, I am calm. What will be will be. We could live off Dennis` 401K for about 6 months with no other income. But we both know if he didn't find a job with comparable pay (he currently makes over 20.00 and hour) we would have to sell our home. And that does make me incredibly sad. However, it is only a house. Our real home is where ever we are: together.

We do have great hopes after the restructuring the company will again raise to the economic giant it was and with very little employee loss.

Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.
~George Iles

That is what we choose to believe in right now.

*sighs*

On a brighter note, I have finished 2, that's right TWO, projects! Both crochet, a preemie blanket and a pair of booties. I have two nieces due to have babies in July and August!
Yay for me!

I think I might try Ali's Creative Weekend project, so cute!

Ok, off to try and sleep. Have I mentioned how much I detest sleeping alone???? I hate when Dennis works nights...

♥ Tam

Art IS Everywhere!

Have you been to this blog?

This is Me: Journal

I found this blog just before the New Year and I am all over it! I printed every challenge back to the very beginning and I plan on doing them all. Another little creative jaunt for 2008.

Not feeling so good today. Been battling something for 2 weeks, had blood work last week and the doctor called me Friday. My white blood cell count that normally runs about 3.4 to 5 is 12.9. She said, "Somethings wrong Tammy, I need to see you again next week." Hmm, ok.

Tomorrow is the day. Joy. I have but one thought on the subject. Find it and fix it. I sure do not plan on worrying about it. I said my piece and now it's in God's hands. Moving on.

3 more rows left in my baby blanket I am crocheting and then it is trim time. Woot! So excited to be DONE!

OK, I'm outta here, early morning for me tomorrow and I still have to clean the house tonight. YUK!

♥ Tam