On hiatus

     Positivity week was...positive. I found it was much harder than I thought to keep it up. As hard as it is to break the bad habit of negative thinking, it is even harder to keep it up when talking to people. People love talking about how awful their life is.  The only thing people love more is hearing that your life is worse. I'm not kidding at all.More often than not people would get agitated almost to the point of angry if you say that everything is going all right. So I end up saying something negative.
      I did, however try to make different people's day. I sent out a bunch of cards letting people know I love them. I gave some little surprise gifts to people at work who were having a bad week. I also gave one homeless man that waves every morning money with a card to thank him for waving every morning.     
     Other than the people at work, I have no idea if anyone felt better by what I did. I don't exactly know how to feel about not getting a phone call or e-mail or anything from a single person. But I guess that wasn't the point. The point was to do something nice even if I never know the outcome. That's life, right?
     I will be away from this blog for two weeks. I am calling the next two weeks New Mexico Week and and Watercolor week. I will hopefully have lots of great things to give to you at then end of them.

Sending you each lots love!

Eye Candy

     I'm about to go on Vacay so I wanted to give you a few things to look at while I'm gone.

This is Peaches part 2. But It is still not done. However, I'm having a hard time finding a direction.

Here is one of the headbands I made and one of the flowers I made pinned to it. The other headband is the same material as the flower.

Here is a little watercolor I painted. It is entitle "Fuzzy Dreams of Mama's Kitchen."

THis is a really old painting entitle "Sidd in Green" Sidd is my dog. Normally he isn't green, though.

Yes to this week

     Fabric week is officially a success. I managed to make two headbands, two flower decorations, a sachet for my car using my favorite incense and mended some clothes. I know I owe you like ten million pictures, but I promise someday soon to deliver.

      I found a great way to get the right amount of fabric is to buy quilting squares. They are a fair size, but not the yard  that stores often required. I really do not need a yard of fabric to make headbands. While on the subject- does anyone have a good pattern than makes the headbands that look like head scarves? I only have one for tighter headbands.

      I have found that I need a sewing machine. The pattern that I used to make the headbands said that they are so easy you can make a dozen in an hour. When you are sewing by hand, however, it takes considerably longer. And the lines are not always straight. For the people who are to be recipients of headbands as gifts I am just telling them that crooked lines means more love.

 

      This week is an important week to me. First of all it is don't-think-negatively week. Not only am I trying to think of goof things, I am trying not to think of bad things. It is harder than you think. People like to talk about the crap in their lives and they love to hear that your life is worse. But I'm trying very hard not to do that. The second part of this week is to make someone's day. I try to make at least one person's day every day. Maybe it will be you.

    

      Just in time for positivity week I got to see Maya Angelou speak at my Alma Mater. I wish I had words to describe how excellent it was. Her over reaching message was "Be the rainbow in someone's clouds." That is what this week specifically about, but I also want to take that with me into the future. One of the things she said that struck me the most was, "Let your gratitude go ahead of you. Let people see how happy you are to be living your life before they ever see you."

    

      I know there are plenty of you who do not want to participate in making things or reading things or remembering things, but please please try this one with me. Let's work to make the gray world brighter. 

Sunday, Monday, Wednesday....whats the difference?

     So I'm updating at the end of my lunch break. You may wonder why I update on lunch so often. It is because after working on a computer all day I really don't want to be on one at home even for recreation. Much of my spare time not being spent on cleaning, the project or finding, preparing and shopping for food is spent napping. That is neither here nor there.
     That being said I owe you some drawing I made during journal week. I like to draw and make diagrams because it can be clearer than descriptions. Sometimes. Sometimes I just like a reason to use markers and crayons.
     This week has been fabric crafts week. I have not actually crafted much so far. I have made a headband and  sewed some buttons back where they were supposed to be. I don't know how we lose so many buttons. But I hope to try out a few things I have seen on different craft websites.
     Next week is going to be a combo week. You will like it when you hear it. Plus, I will be expanding the contest so that even those of you who do not feel artistically inclined can participate.

You know you want to win preserves

     I canned like a madwoman this week. Just take a look.

These are the regular peach preserves. I also made some with crystallized ginger. I don't know if it is possible to keep the fruit from rising to the top.

Look at this craziness. And I have already given away four! 

So, remember the painting that I told you about last week? Well, I didn't do anything to them (yet) But here they are. Don't be too harsh on them.

 

The contest: come on people.I KNOW that you have made something excellent. It does not have to be really recent. My friends are more creative than this. You can send them in here, facebook, or if you know my e-mail, I will e-mail it. You can even make something now. How about a haiku about your summer? I would love that!

      This week is more about doing than learning. I have gotten out of the habit of writing in my journal and it is something I'd like to do again. So this week my goal is to write in it at least 20 min a day. You may or may not know that I was a history minor. Would've been a history major except I was hoping to earn money to fund my book habit.  As a result I always write with an eye to the future. I know, nerdy and overly hopeful. I think that might be my new motto "Nerdy and Hopeful"