June Sunshine Award

I got given the June Sunshine Award today by NMNPHX!

This is something both lovely and hard to comprehend….but I am a firm believer in no takie backsies so it’s mine now and I’m keeping it. Also I have the ability to pass on ten more awards of this sort to ten other bloggers who I think are full of awesome. (I don’t think I can give one back to NMNPHX, but I would if I could because she fits the criteria.) Please visit the blogs I mention at the end of this post plus NMNPHX, you will happy that you did.

The June Sunshine Award  is similar to the Versatile Blogger Award, but better because I have one of these now but I don’t have the other.

If you’ve received this award there are a few little rules you should follow. I’m not saying that if you don’t follow them a large angry bear will knock at your door or anything……but why take that chance right? Also this isn’t a threat people, I don’t even own a bear I’m just saying that’s how the universe works and stuff. Probably.

Here are the rules for the award:

• Include the award’s logo in a post or on your blog.
• Answer 10 questions about yourself.
• Nominate 10 other bloggers.
• Link your nominees to this post and comment on their blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.
• Share the love and link the person who nominated you.

To start, here are 10 questions and answers about myself.

What is a real fear you have?  Driving and attempting to drive scare the pats off me. It has to do with………..well I’m not really sure what it has to do with but it’s really inconvenient. Also, people screaming “Look out you’re about to hit that car” or “Watch out, there’s a ditch” every time they give you driving lessons does not help. Why would you give someone driving lessons on an actual road with people or ditches anyway? It’s irresponsible. Also, I have horrible side vision.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? A writer and then an artist with an actual gallery exhibit.

What are some of your hobbies? Reading, writing, blogging, painting,drawing, sewing felt fairies.

What hobby would you like to start? I’d like to take up kick boxing again- I took a few classes in my twenties and I remember really liking it.

If you could tell people anything, what would be the most important thing to say?

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and don’t forget to find the lesson from them when you do make them.

Name one item from your “bucket list”? Someday I’d like to attend the Glastonbury Music Festival.  Thankfully I crossed off SXSW a few years ago.

What’s the best prank you’ve pulled off?  Nothing, nada- I’m a big goof and end up laughing my head off whenever I’ve tried to prank someone.

What book are you planning to read next? Scott Nicholson’s Creative Spirit. I’m reading Write Good or Die right now and he’s one of the contributors so I’m interested to see what his writing is like.

Coffee or Tea?  Coffee but if I’m stressed or sick I like tea. Mint tea with milk or black tea with lemon.

Lemon Torte or Chocolate Cheesecake?Okay, I’ve never tried either of these but I’m going to go with Lemon Torte because I’m crazy for anything lemon. Chocolate is good too but I like my cheesecake New York style and plain.

My 10 Nominees are:

1. My Write Side

2.Madison Woods

3. Nikki and the Novel

4.Kelly Graham, Artist

5.Twinkle, Twinkle

6.Tracey Fetcher King

7.Bridget Straub Author, Artist, Mom

8.Dayo Benson

9.TinkerLab

10.Juise

Camp Nano

I’ve signed up,it’s offical. For some reason I need not only a goal to make time for writing,but a public goal that could lead in humilation if not completed or something.
(I also think I need meaner friends though, because y’all were all way to easy on me when I didn’t complete Nanowrimo.)
I’m completely kidding on that last part,I’m a complete and utter weenie when it comes to meaness directed at myself.
But I still want concrit if it’s helpful,I promise you.
Ugh,that’s horrible- ignore all of that except the starting Camp nano part.
The story is something I thought of while working with my writing group and inspired by pinterest. Consequently  I’ve tried to stay off pinterest until I done more than with this project. The problem with me is not finding ideas to write, it’s the sticking it through and doinv something with the ideas.
Another problem is that I ramble in blog post,sorry.
The story is called Techie war and while I had written a start to that story I never went futher than that and have now decided to write a new beginning.
I’m told it’s a dystopian novel and even though I never knew what that meant before I was told that, I agree.

Several things have happened to make it a different world than we live in now. The first of these is a Hacker Bombing. A group of Hackers caused bombs to go off across the world but mainly in America, there was no real reason for them to do this besides wanting to prove that they could pull it off. There will be a twist concerning this at the end of the story but for now assume it was all ego-inflated Hackers. (I’ve probably said too much.) These bombings caused several groups who were already weary of how technologically reliant the world was becoming to separate from the majority and form their own community. Think Amish but not really religious- there will be religious people in this group, actually several types of religions, but the group itself just wants a return to a more natural lifestyle. They make their own clothing, they live off the land- they’ve formed communities off in parts of England and Ireland somewhere. (I’m calling them Waldorfs for now.)  The Techies are the majority and after the bombings they embraced technology more but with one exception, internet use is now highly controlled, regulated and watched. All media, art and even clothing have to be sanctioned. Most things in Techie world are manufactured and the separating of the two groups has led to Techies snubbing anything natural and instead only using mostly synthetic, manmade objects. The second thing that has happened most recently when this story takes place is a small (very small) uprising of college aged rebels trying to shut down the government’s main computer. This has led to even more regulations and distrust of anyone who has Waldorf sympathies or is artistic or nature loving. (As the techie and Waldorf communities have continued growing there are now grievances between how much land each should be allowed, obviously the Waldorfs want more land to grow their food and lifestock but the techies outnumber them and have begun wanting to take over the land that the Waldorfs own and refuse to sell.

Main Characters:

Diana Greaves- wife of Basil, mother to Cynthia and stepmother to Andrew. She is American and was a well-known artist before the techie wars

Basil Greaves- multi billionaire head of GlobalTech, a technology empire which has grown substantially since the start of the techie wars (Techie wars; name given to what led to the bombings and the separation and disputes between the Waldorfs and the Techies, think cold war- it’s not an actual ongoing battle or anything) He is English, extremely controlling and a little cold but always polite.

Andrew Greaves-Basil’s 13 year son from a former marriage

Cynthia Greaves- Basil and Diana’s 6 year old daughter

Arthur Burke- longtime friend and associate of Basil, good friend of Diana

Tessa Miller-Green- Diana’s mother, a seamstress and artist who works in fabrics

Simon Green- leader of the Waldorf community, Diana’s stepfather

All I truly hope from Camp Nano is to get writing done on a more regular basis and to get this story started, I know what I end up with may be a hot mess but I’m hoping to be able to gleam something from it.

Will you be doing Camp Nano this year?

Love breath,#PPF

Quick sketch I did this morning, I think it would make a fun painting.

Worked on this before Valentine’s day but finished it just this week.

It seems like ages since I last did a Paint Party Friday(most probably because it has been ages!) I haven’t been as productive as I would like to have been.

A sudden urge to clean absolutely everything and get caught up on laundry(our washing machine was broken for three weeks and we tried to get by washing the bare minimal at our laundromat). I couldn’t put my finger on it but I’ve been really restless and wanting everything tidy and organized I want to have a fresh start before we carry on through the year…then my daughter was telling me that the first day of Spring falls on the 20th of this month and I had to chuckle. I’m not going crazy(yet) my body was just telling me that I needed to do some Spring cleaning.

It’s not glamorous or anything but it is needed this year I have been a little lapse in keeping on top of everything. Besides the catching up I’m also trying to introduce a family rhythm- not a schedule those do not work for us! Just a loose routine to follow on certain days. I think it’ll be good for the kids especially my youngest.

Hopefully when I come out of my temporary fog I will be ready to write and paint at more regular intervals I’m just fleshing out what the best time of the day for that is as my drop everything and do this right now method was not working for me or us! I’ve set up a little office nook in a corner of our living room and am thinking of ways to make our garage more friendly place to paint.

I’ve missed Paint Party Friday and also some writing communities while I’ve been away and because I enjoy it so much and you do so much to keep me inspired I’m making it a priority to participate again sooner than later!  (Starting with this submission for PPF 😉

Can’t wait to enjoy lots of wonderful artwork tonight!

While I was gone…

I have been gone from this space and my other..forever. And yes that is a slight exaggeration- but only slight.

There are reasons, my keyboard being left on our coach while I got up to make a coffee and then ending up getting stepped on, possibly even jumped on and becoming unusable was one of them. But I found an extra one late last week so I hope to be back and writing on a regular basis. (Yay! Trust me I need the outlet- there are pages of barely readable (I have horrible handwriting) very badly written  poetry lying around the house that prove that fact.

When not writing horrid poems I also got caught up on all the episodes of Downton Abbey and Once Upon a Time that I had missed, thank you online streaming. 🙂

When I wasn’t completely  immersed in that magic  I was finishing my painting(tree lady), getting frustrated with my remaining painted wine bottles- they’re just not coming out like I wanted,making a few clay dolls (some of which have actually not gotten broken) and sewing felt plays capes for my youngest daughter’s fairy dolls.

Which is actually something I feel comfortable giving a lot of time to right now- the sewing, crafting stuff I mean. I go through …seasons? Sometimes I want to write a lot and sometimes I want to paint a lot and sometimes I just want to craft(all day but pesky things like feeding people and having clean clothes interrupt). I think that maybe I never truly excel in anything because it is impossible for me to devote myself completely to one area- I’m fickle. I’m working on it.

I’m about to post something I did manage to write for my writing group last week. It was a godsend that I picked a 30 minute prompt to work on rather than chose to submit a longer piece. It meant that I was able to borrow my husband’s computer for thirty minutes and I had the added bonus of him keeping an eye on the time for me- he’s working on a new website for custom tattoos and running into issues- tearing him away from his screen for 30 minutes was almost pushing my luck. 😉

I need to work on a schedule, I say this to myself way too many times  but I do feel the need for one. There are just so many things that I want to find the time for and so many things that I feel like I should make time for- I’d like very much to not feel stressed about any of it. I want more stillness in my life but I’m so naturally all over the place myself I find that a hard thing to imagine.

Didn’t my last post promise no more rambling?