I was talking with a co-worker today about game nights…be it family, friends, youth groups or whatever group gets together to enjoy a bit of (hopefully) friendly competition, laughter and relationship building. She mentioned Settlers of Catan which is a favorite of mine. My family isn’t quite as excited about it. In fact sometimes they say in a very loving way….”Oh sure if we just want to watch mom play. ” I may have won by a landslide a few times….not that anyone is keeping track. ;)

Anywho…I thought I’d share for this month’s Second on the 2nd my WIP Catan board pieces.

 Take a look….

WIP catan pieces

I’ve working on painting all of the Settlers of Catan pieces in between playing nursemaid. Mini-me has influenza. I’m beginning to think that Typhoid Mary is camped out in our house.

WIP catan pieces

See those little tiny bits of white in the green hex tiles. Those are teeny tiny sheep..complete with black faces. I have to take off my glasses and hold the tile a couple inches from my face to see to paint them.  BAH!!! Getting older isn’t for the faint of heart.

catan pieces

The attention to detail is worth it in the end though.  Once I get all the pieces completed, we’ll decide in the border color for all the tiles. It must be consistent throughout the tiles. I’m leaning towards a cream to taupe tone so that the paint job on each will really pop.

I also have to share this Model T Mr. G printed. He had to modify the original CAD file as it wasn’t going to print correctly. He designed the wheels, axle pieces and the mounts for the axles.

3D printed Model T

The penny is for scale. This is for a history presentation J is doing today. He and his partner thought a 3D model would add some punch to their project.

IMG_0661

Time for a bit of tea before some errands and more nursemaid duty.  I’ll do my best to get around to visit my T stands for Tuesday friends as soon as I can.

What are you doing today?

Over the weekend we had the last of the super hot and humid days. People who aren’t from Minnesota think that we couldn’t possibly have tropical dew points like our far southern states…well they are wrong. I’m assuming its due to all the lakes..the sheer amount of water around. I could be totally wrong but that’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.

As some cloud cover rolled in I decided it was time to pull up the garden or perhaps I should say what was left of it after the critters had chewed their way through it. I didn’t bother taking any after photos as it’s pretty much just dirt and some fallen leaves now.

Over the weekend while enjoying the comfort of the air conditioning we watched or I should say re-watched a couple movies. Some laid back family time was definitely in order.

I actually did a bit of sewing over the weekend too but was totally unhappy with the results. I wanted to make a little pouch to hold my hand-sanitizer that would attach to my lanyard. I’ve already gotten one cold from all the germs. Anyway…I didn’t love my result so Mini-me found a store bought one in her room for me to use. Perfect.

Slowly I am finding time for more things in life. I think I just had to get over my old way of thinking and re-prioritize.

I’ve been thinking about trying some new things with my blog…stay tuned!

What are you doing today?

That is a message that I feel gets lost to many folk. Not naming any names but…. em-hem …you know who you are!believe in yourself art journal page

I don’t think this is an entirely Midwestern thing but we are definitely the champions of down playing ourselves…to the point of forgetting to believe in our own capabilities. I know I spiraled down this rabbit hole myself a time or two but it drives me absolutely up the wall when I see other folk…perfectly capable folk…downplay themselves so much.

believe in yourself art journal page

Ok, off the soap box…. but seriously…just do it…. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!!!!

 

This has been such a busy time for our family. Adjustments being made across the board. It makes me appreciate the simple things.

A family dinner with all of us present. A driveway chat with the neighbors. Having all the laundry done. And being creative with enough time and energy to share it with others.

 

The pieces of this fell into place without me even realizing it. I’ve been a bit of an emotional wreck on and off over the last 3 weeks….not even going to sugar coat that one. The changes were scary. I have taken comfort in my little bubble of security for the last decade or so. Pizza on Thursday, Fish on Friday. Routines and schedules grounded me…ground all of us. More than I ever realized.  I honestly thought of myself as spontaneous and I am…to a point. I just didn’t realize that as the years ticked past, my way of thinking and of life became more rigid.

This quote spoke to me. As much as I am enjoying my new career, I do morn for what was, as silly as that sounds.

I truly do like working in a school again. This job is definitely different than my previous but so am I and that’s ok.

ACK! See super emotional. Chatty and over sharing. Not my usual style.

Back to the journal page…. The little bit of lace just felt like the perfect finishing touch of the page.

It’s funny because if you’d have told me that I’d be spilling my guts on this journal spread and in the post when I got started I’d have told you that you were crazy. Well, look who’s a little crazy now. LOL

Linking up with Art Journal Journey for Color in My World…highlighting my favorite color PINK/

Art Journal Journey

I think the title says it all… this whole working outside the home is really cutting into my artsy time. Of course I knew it would but eventually I’ll find time for creativity again. I have so many ideas float through my head when I have a moment to pause my brain. Now I just need to execute said ideas.

My first week of school was good…exhausting…but good. This week we are starting to get into some routines which can only mean that things are about to change! The kids have had a busy week as well. Mini-me had a game 1.25 hours away on the first day of school and tonight is playing in our capital city of St. Paul. Crazy how far they travel to play teams not even in our conference.

This little guy is so confused as to why mom’s not home…he’s a little mopey about it.

Also since I’m not out in the yard all the time, the deer have decided it would be fun to jump over the garden gate and eat all the leaves from basically every living plant in our yard. Makes me wonder if we will have a really harsh winter or if they are just opportunity eaters,

I did manage to finish the mixed media piece I was working on last week. Anyone remember those I AM LOVED buttons? I want to say they were from the early 80s?? I happened to still have one floating around. Yep it’s a sickness…never get rid of fun stuff like that.

Over the weekend we roasted hotdogs for supper again in the chimenea. Some neighbors showed up and we had a impromptu party on the deck, capping off the night with a couple games of cribbage.  Thank goodness we got a light under the umbrella!

What did you do today?

It’s that time again…time for the kiddos to head back to school.

Notice anything peculiar about this photo.  Hmmm….there are THREE lunch boxes ready to pack in the morning.

That’s right…I’m heading to school too. I got a job in our school district. I won’t be in my kids school but a middle school. I’m working in Special Ed lending support to children in general ed classrooms. It’s definitely a different type of position than I had 17 years ago when I had J.

I think I have bigger butterflies in my tummy than the kids do tonight.

I’m not giving up on blogging or creating but I know there will be an adjustment period while I figure this all out.

What are you doing today?

So many things happening around here. So many that I’ve been completely neglecting my blog and my art lately. Neither of which makes me happy…the neglect that is.

Let me give you a brief and incomplete list… Kids going back to school one week from today, Mini-me starting high school, packed sports schedule, college applications, jury duty and a few other items I’m not at liberty to discuss right now.  Don’t get me wrong, this list is exciting for sure but a definite shift in gears for us.

That being said…I did clean off my desk and start playing around with a mixed piece.

I also did a bit more canning…

4 pints of diced tomatoes and 7 pints of spicy beans.

Oh yeah and painted the front door…that turned out kind of crummy though so I’ll need to sand and touch it up. Basic white…fairly boring.

That’s it for today…other than my obligatory beverage photo.

What are you doing today?

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