Something To Crow About

If you haven't visited Something to Crow About, you must. There is a great weekly "project" taking shape there. That's what I'm working on right now. Each week, the group (I think there are over 70 now) receives a set of images that we can use in our collages, journal pages, ATC's, etc. What's great is to see how these images take shape in our own minds and how they land on the page. Mine isn't very good this week, but that's okay. I have been swamped with the whole idea of moving. If you haven't read my last post, you should and you'll get an idea of how freaked out I was earlier in the week! Goodness. Anyhow, the weekly images are such a great way for us to get thinking about creating something. Sharing ideas and inspiration and encouragement is what it's all about.

My journal page connects the images given to us along with my own. I found a photo of my grandma in a swimsuit--which wasn't hard since she had no issues with her body. She loved her body and was proud of it. I wish some of that had rubbed off on me! I also used an image of the Ford Fairlane that was from the front of my grandpa's stash of owner's manuals. He bought a new car every 2 years and kept a chunk of the manuals that I'm now copying and using for my collages. Then I found the image of Marilyn and it juxtaposed nicely with my grandma, who was playing with the strings of her swimsuit. I put all of it together with the images from the "project" and tada. Not the best in the world, but like I said....

Oh, and please stop by Collage Contessa. She, too, is awesome, and I love the work she's doing. She's the one who awarded me the BFF, so I need to give her a shout out!

Holy Moley Quacamole!

Holy moly guacamole! (the phrase that drives my students crazy, I must say!) Let me say, I hate moving. The last time I moved I SWORE it was THE last time, but then I fell in love and decided to get married (silly me), so here I am moving again. Good grief. My house sold on Monday--yeah!

In this market, I thought it would take months and months, maybe a year. It didn't. Good news. Yes! However, could it have come at a busier time? I mean I had June and July that was totally flexible. August means getting ready for school and with the change in schools this year, that means extra work. I had to move all my junk from one building to another, and I'm having to set up a new classroom and learn a new curriculum and get training, and write everything from scratch and read all the new books and stories, and whoa! Now, I have to move my house, too!

So, the new owners take possession of this house on Aug. 29; Jake leaves for college on the 20th, and I am on contract hours---no flex time in the daily schedule on the 18th. School actually starts on the 25th. Can you say NERVOUS BREAKDOWN?

At this moment, I should be doing something else. But, I'm blogging to get away, to channel the anxiety of having Rubbermaid containers in my living room, stacks of things pulled from the shelves and scattered on the floor and every flat surface in my house. I'm trying to decide what I'll be taking with me to Eric's house, which is already fully furnished, but I NEED some of my own things there to make it feel like home; what do I put in the storage unit, knowing full well it could be broken in to (not likely, but it's possible, isn't it?) and what about vermin? Don't wild creatures find their way into storage units? Thank heaven my mom lives close. I'm taking all my photos, yearbooks, my childhood toys and baby "stuff" along with Jake's baby clothes and collectibles, etc. to her house where she has a nice carpeted basement with a corner (very large corner!) I can stack these containers into.

Okay. I feel better. Getting all that out was cathartic! So, needless to say, the next few weeks will be hellish for me. My nice, neat, organized world is no more (I have to have organization outside because as you can see what rattles around IN my head is whacko--outside organization means I can function with the chaos internally :) Art will be scheduled in. Eric, bless his heart, has made it a priority for me to have space at his house for my art work. He has a back porch that's three times larger than mine. It's a bit hot here in Missouri right now, but with a fan and a few open windows I'll make do--for Eric, I can make do.

All this being said, we'll put his house on the market in April and likely find ourselves in this situation at this same time next year--moving two households into our newly chosen home. God wants me to learn something from this experience, I just don't know what. If you have a clue, tell me! I told myself the other day the house would sell when it was suppose to; at the time, it was my rationale for if it took a year to sell; then, it sold and now I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out why now. There is a lesson here. Maybe that life isn't always so neat and organized? Hmm.... Any thoughts?

Award

Yeah, it's my day! My house sold, and Collage Contessa, gave me the Blogging Friends Forever Award. Yeah!! I will have to follow the rules of the award tomorrow, though. I'm off to get a storage unit, to check out the room my son will be moving into at my fiance's and to have dinner with my future mother-in-law to celebrate the sale of my house. But I wanted to take a minute to say a big thank you!!