Well, my Baby did it. He received his black belt. After 2 years of moaning and groaning every time he had to go I think I deserve a black belt or at least some sort of consolation prize. We are all so proud of him and he was so proud of himself. He got all choked up after Mr. Moore spoke so highly of his sparring skills. Now that he has his black belt we are going to take a break from karate. We are looking into something else for him to get into. I think kids Kiah's age need to be in at least one extra-curricular activity. That gives them less time to watch t.v. or play video games. As it is am I feeling so relaxed already knowing that our evenings will be a little freer (is that even a word). I think I will wait a few before I actively start pursuing another activity.

I've been wanting to post but have been so busy lately, I can hardly catch my breath. Okay maybe I haven't had time because I have been playing with Photoshop Elements too much.

P.S. I can't believe it- I reached over 400 views on my Flickr page. Woohoo!!

playing with Photoshop Elements again

You're more than just what you do for others.....

I read somewhere that what stresses us out the most is that we don't take the time to do what we truly want to do. I am terribly guilty of that. Something in my human nature makes me always forget about me. I blame it mostly on pure exhaution. It is easier to just go along with what it is that makes everyone else happy, then to deal with their fits when you want to do the opposite. One of my resolutions for the new year was to make more time for me to do what I truly wanted. Time that I can use to rejuvenate my soul.

One thing that rejuvenates and inspires me is art. But most of the time I wish I could break free from thinking so much about how I should be doing something. I want to just get lost in the process of creating. Forget about it looking perfect.

Another thing that gets me going is learning new things. When I heard Marah Johnson from Creative Imaginations was teaching a class at Scrapbook Island, I knew it would be a perfect way for me to do my thing for a couple hours. I turned my phone off and got lost in my element. Marah is an excellent teacher. She was very easy to learn from and she made the class really fun. She taught really cool techniques for products like Glimmer Mist and Alcohol Inks. Plus tips on using up the supplies you already have. I took a pic with Marah but I hate how ir turned out. I look like a frumpy crazy lady. I tried to took make it look better by applying textures, but oh, well. Here goes to not trying to be perfect.

After taking this class and participating in Susan Tuttle's wokshop my ideas and mojo are definately flowing. And I am feeling rejuvenated enough to start this week in a good mood. I have a conference with Kiah's teacher tomorrow to see if he may need extra help such as rsp or tutoring.

Chris and I need to decide whether we want to pay the $500 deductibe to get out passenger/side door fixed. While we were at the library last Thrusday somebody smashed into our car and just left. The irony of it was Kiah wanted to go to the book store, but we told him we were going to the library because it would save us money. Kiah being his materialist self didn't like that idea but we held firm, no we were going to the library. Well maybe we should have listened to him, we would have saved $500 by going to the damn book store.

It is all in how you look at it........

I figured I should add a note to people who don't know me personally. I love my granny and I tell her that a 100 times a day. It may seem like I am making fun of her, but I am truly not. I am finding the humor in our day to day lives. It helps me immensly to be able to retell the stories and make other people laugh. Having my granny move down here so that Chris and I could take care of her was a big decision. We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. It has been especially hard for Kiah. Before we moved her down here he had only meet her twice briefly. It is hard for him to understand why this adult acts like a child or why she takes up so much of my time. Awwww, I just got a Valentine from my boys. They do still love me. The moral to this story is we always help family no matter what and always look for the funny stuff that happens during the day to make our days brighter.

I started this blog as a way to share my artwork, photography, and vintage finds. Now it has become my way to unstress. Here are some photos that I recently manipulated on Photoshop. I love how I can totally transform my normal photos into artwork. If you ever get a chance to take a workshop by Susan Tuttle I highly recommend it. She is a regular contributer to the Stampington magazines and a amazing artist.

Coyote Point

We had a really nice day at Coyote Point Park in San Mateo. I had never been there before and have been wanting to go. Kiah had so much fun going down this huge slide, actually I think my mom had the most fun. She always says she doesn't want to go places but when she does she goes crazy.

The park is very beautiful. It has everything you could need. A great playground, a museum, a wildlife refuge, trails, and picnic areas all right by the bay. I got these pictures of a Coyote and a Burrowing Owl.

Kiah and Granny got to touch a Mountain King snake. I quickly had to change the subject though when granny asked the docent, "Are they edible?" as she was petting it.

I have been participating in another workshop by Susan Tuttle. I have a couple of pictures I manipulated that turned out awesome. I have them posted on my flickr, but will post them here soon. Thanks for stopping by.

No vitamins for you......

I recently found out my family is too crazy to shop at Whole Foods. Last week I tried to make it there to get new vitamins. That idea was dashed when Kiah decided to throw a major fit inside of Game Crazy complete with a dramatic bloody nose (he gets those when he really works himself up). I couldn't mingle with the Los Gatos yuppies with Kiah all bloody. You would think that with all the bloody noses he has gotten he would remember to put his head back, not downward so it gushes all over his good clothes. But of course that would not have won him an Oscar.

I don't know what possessed me to try to go there again this weekend with Kiah and Granny. It all started out fine. We would eat first, then shop. It took us forever to get our order and we had to pay before we ate. So Chris goes off to get us a cart and I am walking backwards, my arms full of food trying to make sure Kiah and Granny were keeping up. At the same time I got to the checkout, Grandma got side tracked by the salad bar. I couldn't have lost sight of her for that long. But it was long enough for Chris to find her grabbing handfuls of kidney beans, sampling and making nummy noises. Yes, with lots of Los Gatos people looking on in disbelief. Chris comes up, "You can never take your eyes off of her!!" Me: "What are you talking about?" ...Okay, we won't be looking at vitamins this week either. We managed to sneak out of there without further embarrassment. When we scolded Granny all she could say was, "But I love those bally things!" Seriously, I am going to have to put her on one of those kiddie leashes next time.