Tag: Painting

A Plethora of Blessings

God has been doing so many things that I am having a hard time keeping up with it all.  However, I really feel I need to continue to share so that I can keep track and possibly encourage whoever might be reading as well.

This weekend had potential to be a rough one.  In fact, it started out pretty rough spiritually speaking.  It was so bad that all of us were feeling it– like constantly being slightly embarrassed and uncomfortable. Everything seemed to be off and finally today, after much prayer, discussion to see where things went off, and listening, we figured out the trouble area, confessed, and things have cleared up.   The key word that God keeps impressing on us is love.  There is more to it but that was where we were going wrong.  We were not being loving of some specific people and needed to get back on track.

On the other hand, God provided in several amazing ways this weekend in the midst of uncomfortable situations.

  • We were nearly out of enzymes and gas plus several vitamins that we really need due to health issues.  The Lord worked it out that during our weekly visit to my grandmother she gave us, on the spur of the moment, enough money to buy some groceries and enzymes.  Due to a sale at GNC we were able to get the vitamins, enzymes, and then go next door to Walmart for a few key groceries to fill in the gaps.
  • When we went to get gas the girls decided to use some of the money that Grandma had given them to get a drink (which meant that then Issac wanted to do the same which caused all kinds of confusion.) Their expenditure normally wouldn’t have made a difference on my gas since I usually pump gas first then go pay.  However the card reader didn’t work so I had to pay inside (which made me cranky because apparently that store doesn’t due debit card prepay) which meant me standing at the pump in frigid temperatures, twice, trying to get the card to work and running in the store twice instead of just once (did I mention COLD and that I was whiny and the kids couldn’t make up their minds?) And because of all that I got a discount and was able to pay for the gas using the money from a small job I had done that morning before and which had paid immediately.
  • A friend gave us several bags of groceries (with lots of home canned goodies from her freezer and pantry as well as some meat to fill in where we have cut into our own stores, thanks Connie!) which despite some confusion was brought to our house by another friend.  There was a bit of a mess involved about which I felt awful.   However, God worked it out beautifully so that Rachel ended up getting babysit today in exchange for a piano lesson and most of it ended up being just my discomfort at having everything be a mess and not really be able to make things right when people were going out of their way to help us out.
  • We were the recipient of a package of books from Donita K. Paul (which really deserves it’s own post).  In exchange I sent her a painting based on another one that she really liked.  It wasn’t till last night that I realized that she had also sent promotional bookmarks with it, one of which she signed!  Will take some pictures of the books and bookmarks plus do a bit of a review of the books (which are excellent) when I get a minute.
  • We received a $50 gift certificate for Novica.com (and I get to do a giveaway of another $50 gift certificate to one of you, which is really exciting).  As you know I normally don’t do giveaways but I have been so impressed with their items (which are handmade by artisans around the world) and we have been so blessed by them in the past that I would love to share.  The really cool thing is that tomorrow is our 14th anniversary and we don’t really have anything with which to celebrate so we ordered a few things that we absolutely love as an anniversary gift to each other.  We managed to keep it completely under the $50 including shipping and even had a few dollars left over on it to donate to artisans. As far as the contest goes, I am thinking I will do the contest in the next few days (God willing, I will start it tomorrow).

New Elasah Art site


So I gave up on incorporating my art site into this one. And am tired of my art floating around the internet so now I bring you a one stop spot for all my art: Elasah.com

It is not self-hosted, for simplicities sake it is over on wordpress.com.  This also means I can’t mess with the theme so even though there are some things I am not thrilled with I am in general very happy with it.  I still have more art to upload but there are already 73 paintings there to peruse.  And if you use a feed reader you can access the feed here or you can stop over and subscribe via email. Also, all the buying info is linked at the top.

Life as We Know It

Yes, we still unschool.  Yes, it is still working.  Yes, we still both work from home though it has shifted even more from me working to Shamus working while I hang with the kids and keep the household running smooth so he can focus and be productive.  Yes, I still love our life and wouldn’t change it for the world.

Ice Skating

Shamus is working, a lot.  Things are financially stressful but that is another post (and one I have been pondering for a while but which may or may not actually get shared.  All I can say right now is that God is amazing and much more reliable than any paycheck.)  On that point I want to mention mint.com– if you are having a hard time seeing the big picture of your finances, suck at budgeting, or just like seeing everything in one place then it is well worth a look.  It is working great for this financially challenged family and being free helps.  We had recently discussed the possibility of me taking on  a part time job to fill in the current gaps, but various factors nipped that in the bud.  Mostly the fact that me being here facilitating the children’s learning is key (they would learn anyway but Shamus cannot field their constant questions AND write 3 comics a week, 3 articles a week, and do 30 hrs a week programming not to mention keep up on his blog and several side projects.)

Ice Skating

The kids are happily occupied talking to fellow unschooling friends on Skype and text chat, interacting on FamilyRUN, playing Build-a-Bear (their favorite game to play?  School–“except we know most of the answers already, but we get to learn new things too”.)  They are also occupied playing  Plants vs. Zombies, a lot.  Talk about an educational game that  you don’t realize is educational.  Essentially you could think of it as a fun way to learn financial planning and organizing your resources— of course you could say the same thing about Star Craft and other strategy games. At the pondDue to the snow, snow, and more snow they have been avoiding going outside (especially now that there is no ice to skate on).  The kids are also very involved in a new Lego Quest weekly challenge run  by a friend on Twitter.  Lego Quest carRachel is thrilled to have made friends who can talk when she can, Essie is reading her way through multiple series of books (having read all the Gregor the Underlander books in a week and moving on to several other series I can’t remember) , Issac is building all sorts of things and intent on beating Mario Galaxy on his own.  We are spending a lot of time listening to audio books together, playing games together, talking together.

At the pond
Picnic at the pond

Me?  Aside from all the cleaning and rearranging going on (lots of re-purposing and getting rid of which I find a quick way to beat the urge to go buy something new. )  Now that the website issues have been dealt with I have been free to work on painting (trying acrylics still.  It is interesting but maybe I am getting somewhere?)  I am doing less reading and spending time on the computer  (due to eyesight issues) and more listening to audio books which means I am being more productive– I feel like I need to be doing something if I am listening to audio books.  And since the cd player is in the kitchen and we are being VERY frugal in our meals I am spending a lot of time in the kitchen cleaning, rearranging, and baking.  Yesterday it was no-bake cookies (naturally sweetened, carob, peanut butter, coconut, and oatmeal), homemade granola bars (naturally sweetened with oatmeal, cranberries, peanut butter, cocoa nibs, coconut, flax seed), and lots and lots of bread dough.  The day before I chopped all the raw veggies in the house, making a nice salad mix and freezing the rest.  Oh, and I finished a painting–a commission by my sister-in-law for her employers. Watercolor

Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother's Day
My Mother's Day gift to you.

As you may or may not know I am not a fan of holidays. I don’t like that, especially for mother’s, they give us unreal expectations. We get so caught up in our expectations that we forget how God has blessed us and how He has provided for us. God has blessed us so very much and yet we get frustrated and disappointed because the world tells us that we should get this and that and Mother’s Day should look like this or that and in the end, no matter how wonderful our families are, we end up disappointed and discontent–because no one on earth is capable of living up to those expectations that the world has given us. Regardless of your situation, regardless of how much you get or don’t get, regardless of your place in life, God is still in control and God loves you. And regardless of how perfect your Mother’s Day is or isn’t your children are a blessing from God and you are God’s blessing to them. And so, regardless of my feelings for what I feel is just another “media and marketing get people to spend money by guilting them into it” day I wish you a Happy Mother’s Day and want to remind you that YOU are greatly blessed and a blessing to your family–regardless of whether they recognized it today outwardly or not.

Joy

Joy

This is the potential beginning of a painting series I am planning based on the fruits of the spirit.  Considering that this is a 12″ by 16″ painting we will see how far I get.

Waiting room

Imaginary little girl combined with the real waiting room –drawn while waiting in radiology for a friend who’s daughter has spina bifida.  Painted and little girl drawn later in the Spina Bifida clinic while waiting some more.

Funny story about this one.  While waiting in the clinic for several hours children and parents came and went.  Finally, after reading for some time I decided to work on this a bit more.  As I got out my watercolors the sweetest little girl, about 3 years old, came over and started watching me work.  She then ran back to her mom on the other side of the room and told her there was a “painter”.  The mom shushed her and said no, I was just wearing a beret.  She isisted and finally they came over together, her mom tickled pink that I really was an artist and really was working and that I was allowing her sweet little daughter to watch and ask questions while I worked.

Randomly random because my head is still busy

  • I gave up and cut my hair.  I have been getting a lot of headaches lately and it hurts to have my heavy, thick hair up and it bugs me to have it down so chop-chop.  I did ask the kids if it would be all right (I kept it long because they loved it) but too much is enough.  And so, my new head:  It is frizzy here because my hair is naturally VERY wavy and I hadn’t used a straight iron (which surprisingly does not straighten it though it does smooth it.)  Yes I cut it myself using lots of time and mirrors and hair clips.   I hate having someone else do it because my hair is tricksie and they always mess it up.   This is my favorite cut, is flattering on most people and looks good with my favorite accessories–hats and hoop  earrings.  No straight on shot because I was having a hard time getting the camera set up.:)

    • Hubby says that now I have to dye it blue or purple so I can look like one of our favorite anime characters, and it is AWFULLY tempting:

  • The girls have been working hard at learning to draw and paint better and have been using my poor sad bunny as a model (no, I do not own an actual model, he is out of my head and the kids are using him as a spring board for their own paintings.  We have bunnies EVERYWHERE.  It is my humble opinion that these bunnies are BREEDING.

    Rachels bunny

  • Issac has been enjoying what snow we have been having (off and on, snow then rain then back again, driving us all insane–“Make up your MIND!”  The girls built giant snowmen down in the field and Issac worked on a speed bump.

  • Rachel has been spending every possible moment either playing chess with her new board or trying to convince someone to play with her.  Here she is with a friend (sporting a new haircut which I had just done a few moments before and which reminded me how much I LOVE this haircut.) They had a great game while their brothers who are the same age were upstairs cleaning up a bit of a mess.
  • The mess?  Oh my.  Do you KNOW how many teeny, tiny Styrofoam balls are in one of those squishy nylon pillows? Especially the squishy purple marshmallow bunny pillow?  I am STILL cleaning up those stupid little balls.  The boys found the balls that had come out of the peep which the girls KEPT instead of throwing away and dumped them in every, single corner of the mess (which the girls were supposed to have cleaned) of a room which is the girls.  You see the mound of laundry?  That was AFTER I took several loads downstairs.  The girls had left PILES of clothes and blankets on the floor which were then covered in very static-y little balls. The 2 7 year old boys had to clean as much as they could but the girls then had to deep clean their room (like they were supposed to).
  • I got a new camera which is wonderful and capable of taking lowlight photos without a flash which is why these photos exist –usually I wouldn’t have enough light to take these.  And it takes MUCH better photos of my art without a lot of lightboxes and fuss–this shot below is right off my drawing table no extra light or anything.
  • Oh, and then there are the elephants.  I am still working on the new website for my art so I posted it over at Elasah.com but I got a new palatte and watercolor journal and jumped in and did this weeks Inspire me Thursday which you can see here: