cocoon

It's Friday, and we all know what that means - Illustration Friday time!!

I have this picture that was taken maybe about an hour after Wolfgang was born. He's all bathed and freshly fed. I'm all showered and comfy, and the two of us are snuggled together all cozy. A far cry from the mayhem and slime of just a short while earlier.

So when I saw this week's IF prompt "cocoon", I thought of that photo. Wolfgang, all comfy cozy, wrapped up in a little hospital issued cotton cocoon.

It should be noted, that while I sketched this, Wolfgang sat a couple of feet away from me. He was blowing things up on some XBOX game, and probably wishing I wasn't around so he could appropriately swear at the thing.

I showed him the sketch, and he was at peace.

Okay... I made that last part up.
.

finito!

Run With Lumber. It came, they ran, they drank, we scooped, we counted, it's done.

The weather cooperated for the most part, and there were no serious injuries, so I'm calling it good.

This year, Lumber looked a bit different from class to class. He seemed to shrink a few inches, but then would come out later and be taller again. Oh, the mystery!

Well, not that much of a mystery. Wolfgang and Chaco were tag-team Lumber this year. Wolfgang wanted to do it last year, but I told him he was too short. So, he set to work on growing, and managed to fit the suit this year. That's him in the first pic up there.


Chaco, the veteran Lumber, is there on the right, with the taller kids. They both enjoyed being King of the Day. Sheesh, each time I would bring old Lumber out for the start of a run, it was like a freaking Justin Beiber concert.

Meego made a good showing too, setting a new PR of 19 laps. I ran with him, and he figured out how to pace himself.

So.... 60 liters of root beer, 10+ gallons of ice cream, a bunch of little flashy light things, and a slight sunburn later, I'm ready for some sloth time now.

.

Silver Liningness Sunday

Happy Sunday, and a real sun day it is! Well, after our cold, wet spring storm, I'm revelling in any sunshine and warmth we can get. The snow is all gone now, such is springtime in Colorado.

This past week saw a nice balance of productivity and sloth. Run With Timber preparations are right on schedule.

I think.

In movie news, we watched The Fifth Element, which we found very fun. It's got something for everyone: Sci-fi, action, adventure, drama, humor, a love story... Plus, it's just one of those movies that can laugh at itself, which I appreciate. Really, go see! I'd never heard of it before. Magnum selected it as he has a thing for is a big fan of Milla Jovovich, and will watch anything she's in.

Despite the sloppiness of Friday, I enjoyed a fair amount of running around on the bicycle, while wearing shorts and short sleeves, even. Road bike even.






Between work work and volunteering work, I'm pretty busy, but still found time to indulge in therapeautic artsy time. I seem to be drawn to drawing boats lately. I managed to keep this junk boat on the page after last week's Viking fail.

.

let it go, let it go, let it go

Okay, I'm officially tired of snow now.

Chaco took this picture yesterday... YESTERDAY. April freaking 23rd! I went out to shovel SNOW off of the deck, and Chaco was home because there was NO SCHOOL on account of SNOW.

But I'm optimistic. Run With Lumber is scheduled for Tuesday. I've got a closet full of root beer and cups and flashy light things that are just dying to be off-loaded. It will be a beautiful spring day.

Still, I don't think I'll switch out the snow tires on the van just yet...

In other news, I haven't seen either of the the duffle bag duo this week. Watch, they're probably finished with whatever mysterious activity they were up to, and I'll never know what it was!

.

ahead

It is supposedly spring, but we're having us a snowday today. And this time, it really is snowing! Oh well, so a good day to stay in an putz and partake in Illustration Friday!

This week's prompt is "ahead", and it brought to me thoughts of racing. Ever win a race? It's all about getting ahead, being ahead, and staying ahead.

I enjoy watching horse races, although I don't care to gamble. So much power and grace and speed displayed for about 2 minutes. The winner of the Belmont Stakes last year was a horse named "Summer Bird".

It just seemed appropriate for getting "ahead" on this late April snowday.
.

he, himself, and me

Kids have the day off of school today. It's the anniversary of the Columbine shootings, plus it's pot smoking day, so the district just decided to call it. To my surprise 2/3 of the brood are up and out of bed already.

Speaking of being up and about, recall a while ago when I blogged of my return to early morning outdoor running after the long cold winter. Recall the crazy man I encountered? The crazy man with the duffle bags?

Turned out he was actually a very friendly person just waiting for his carpool. Weeks have passed, and he and I have continued to greet each other on these dark mornings as I pass by in my myopic haze and he and the duffle bags wait on the corner. I don't know his name. I don't know where he goes after the car picks him up, I don't know what's in the duffle bags. I just learned that he is a very cheerful person.

Sometimes.

Sometimes, his greetings are much like that first encounter - very friendly and animated, including a spritied "happy running!" or some such. Other times, not so much. Other times, it seems almost burdensome for him to acknowledge me. Like he's got a split personality or something.

Well... lo and behold! Last week, I finally got a clue. It's not a split personality, it's actually two different guys!

All this time, I've been passing by and greeting this person, receiving mixed greetings in return, and just last week I realized the explanation. Okay, as I mentioned, I don't wear my glasses when I run, PLUS, it's still dark out when I see "him", PLUS, it's pretty chilly that time in the morning. Chilly enough for people waiting for a carpool to be covered in jackets and hats.

Well, it's started to warm up a little and one morning last week, when I passed "Mr. Friendly", he was just wearing a light coat and a baseball cap. Same duffle bags. A couple of days later, I passed "Mr. Disinterested". It was then that I finally noticed that he's a totally different person from Mr. Friendly! Who knew?!

But now I'm really curious. Just who are those guys? Where do they go? WHAT'S IN THE DUFFLE BAGS?? I think I'll ask.

I'll ask Mr. Friendly.
.

what not to wear

A local radio station asks trivia questions on weekday afternoons. Listeners who call in with correct answers to the questions win things like movie tickets or passes to local funcenters and whatnot.

The questions usually involve something that a percentage of some population does, like "7 percent of people have done this before marriage!" Vague stuff like that.

So the other evening, I was driving home when the trivia was, "73 percent of women say they will not date a man who wears this!"

Calls were coming in with answers like, "suspenders", "speedos", "socks with sandals", etc. Eventually, someone called in with the correct answer and scored some minor league baseball tickets or something.

I, in turn, was feeling quite triumphant myself. I got home and asked the fashion challenged Magnum if he'd heard the radio trivia. He hadn't, so I repeated it for him. He began guessing, "suspenders?", "speedos?", "socks and sandals?". I was rather proud of him for at least knowing that much...

But no, none of those were the answer.

"Pleated pants!", I revealed.

See, just recently we had a conversation about just this thing. It was my assertion that men (women too, for that matter) should NOT wear pleats. He was puzzled. He owned some pleated pants. Pleated pants that I had probably purchased. A loooooooong time ago!

Back then it was fine. Things change.

One thing about people with Asperger's is that they don't notice when things change. They often have to be told. Once things are defined for them, the things stay neatly defined that way forever. Hence, the fashion disasters that can ensue.

So, I'd told him about the pleats, but it was the radio trivia that got him to discard the pleats. Seventy-three percent of women is powerful.

Now... about that 20-year-old rugby shirt...
.

Silver Liningness Sunday

Happy Sunday everyone. Whoo, these weeks are just a-flying by!

Just over a week ago, I decided to go on the coffee wagon... again. I do this every now and then just to test my state of addiction. I'm glad to say that I don't miss it, and I don't miss cleaning that press every day. No, I have not gone caffeine free, just coffee free. Tea is my substitute and my friend. *takes an audible sip*

Yesterday, we awoke to much fog. There was a very medieval feel to it. I went for a jog in the fog almost expecting to have some Tolkeinesque character emerge. That didn't happen, but it was still an interesting jog. In the fog.

Being in an ancient times state of mind from the fog jog, I later sketched a Viking ship, but alas my planning was not so good. The thing rowed right off of the page, so it is headless. Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Run With Lumber preparation continues. I think I'm getting as anxious as the school kids.

This morning, once again, greeted us with thick fog. But that soon gave way to bright sunshine, of which I am also a fan.

Time to go play.

detective

Oh, poor poor neglected blog! Is it true I have not been here since Silver Liningness Sunday? And here it is, already Illustration Friday? Is that what it's come to? Theme days only?!?

Well, no. Work's been busy, but that has started to nicely let up.... just in time for my volunteeringness to get busy. BUT, it's all good.

Today's IF prompt is "detective". And I will say, that I've long been impressed by dogs' abilities to do just what they were bred for. I fondly remember the time that a sheep truck overturned on a narrow winding road - no that's not the cause of the fondness.

The situation would have been a traffic nightmare if not for the steadfast border collies brought in. Those dogs were total badasses, no other way to describe them. They managed to move those disoriented sheep to the side of the road and keep them there, thus allowing traffic to continue to flow. Yes, total badasses, and they knew it too. You could see it in their faces.

So, when I saw the "detective" prompt, I thought of the hound. Here we have a Basset Hound. Bred to hunt rabbits. I don't know if mine will find any rabbits, but it should at least alleviate the blog dust bunnies.

.

silver liningness Sunday

Another week, another Sunday, how I shall count the ways...

We're well into April now, and I welcome the longer days. My early morning runs are not quite so dark anymore and I can actually kind of see where I'm going now. For part of them, anyway.

On that note, Wolfgang now has a few high school caliber track meets under his belt and he's enjoying himself. I thought he mainly wanted to join because he's the kind of kid that just likes to join EVERYthing, but it's nice to see him setting goals and achieving them, setting new goals and so on.

Work has been busy for the last few months, and that's nice for the cashflow, but I'm welcoming a little more breathing room in my schedule these days. Schedule's about right, I'd say.

That's also good because Run With Lumber is just a couple of weeks away, so I've been busy with the grunt work involved in that whole endeavor. I gotta admit, I do enjoy being Run With Lumber chair, despite the gruntwork...

Then we had that silly snowday on Wednesday. I'm sure the district had complaints from a few parents, but I say, what the heck, just enjoy a day off in the middle of the week.

Did this greenhouse in my pocket Moleskine earlier today. The little pocket Moleskine is so cute and fits so sweetly in my purse, and I only just heard of them a few months ago - seems most people "in the know" have them, so I jumped on the bandwagon.

After looking at the finished drawing, though, it looks just SO something-hanging-in-a-grandma's-kitchen. The next drawing I do will, no doubt, be something of the much more non-conformist genre.
.

linked

Happy Friday! It's a beautiful spring day outside in Colorado, despite the *COUGH* snowday of just two days ago!

It's also Illustration Friday! (applause*applause). This week's prompt is "linked". You may think fences, you may think world wide web, you may think chains, you may think handcuffs - if you're into that sort of thing...

I'm thinking honeybees.

Behold the industrious honeybee, buzzing from flower to flower, collecting pollen and thereby reproducing the plants thereby feeding the animals, which thereby reproduce themselves thereby feeding us humans, which thereby reproduce to consume even more!

Consume consume. We're the top of the meticulously linked food chain and we couldn't do it without honeybees.

Have you hugged a honeybee today?

(Watercolor and colored pencil)

.

____DAY !!

We're having us a SNOWDAY! Just one thing missing:

Snow.

Yeah, okay, so it was snowing this morning. Early. People were slipping and sliding. School announced a delayed start. Made sense.

But then they came back and said that school was out for the whole day. Mmmmmmkaaaaay...

As forecasted,the snow left, the clouds parted, the sun shone, and all the snow was gone before noon.


So here we are hanging out. The ManCave is getting some business.

I drew a picture with my Sharpies. I saw a photo and was intrigued by the lines of the backboard structure from this angle.


Or maybe I subliminally just want everyone to go OUTSIDE!
.

Silverliningness Sunday

Happy Easter! Another Sunday is upon us, and this one is special for the Christian or pagan religious and/or those just into all things pastel! I wish a Happy Easter to all, whatever your persuasion.




It's been a busy week for me. Lots of productive work time and charitable volunteer time, mixed with a fair amount of play time.




Kids went back to school after their spring break. Now for the big home stretch into summer!

Last weekend, after our afternoon of hiking, we swung by a McDonalds. We patronize them every so often. It just wouldn't be right to not let our children enjoy their eat-Super-Sized-Big-Mac-Extra-Value-Meals-and-remain-a-lank-bean-pole years. Plus, I've been known to have a filet o' fish attack from time to time.

So anyway, we swung by this McD's and the service was just AW-ful. We waited forever for our order along with the small handful of other customers waiting forever for their orders. It was so atypical, I thought I would fill out their online comment form (I was polite). They should know these things, right?

The manager of the errant McDonald called me this week, we had a nice little chat, and I got 5 free samwiches. Nice to know someone cares (unlike Jerry's recent Reese's incident).

In movie news, we enjoyed the goofy and lighthearted The Hangover. I knew it was just goofy crudeness, but enjoyed it enough after the boring and depressing aforementioned "Everybody's Fine". It's more enjoyable for the menfolk, I suppose. Chaco and Wolfgang viewed it along with Magnum and me.

Word of caution: if you happen to get the "unrated" version, which I realized LATER, and there are teenagers or younger - or perhaps other family members like grandmas or something - watching it with you, STOP the thing BEFORE the credits roll! Just sayin'!
.
.

not for Everybody

Last weekend, Magnum and I watched Everybody's Fine. We thought it was bad.

Later, I read a few reviews and it seems that people either loved it or hated it, no grey area. To me, it was depressing, boring, and just took itself too seriously. I didn't like any of the characters. Lying was too easy for all of them. And some of the writing and directing was a bit ridiculous.

Robert Dinero plays a widower who goes to visit each of his 4 children after they stand him up for a weekend at "home". We're forced to travel with him to these visits, which feature much lying and awkwardness from everyone.

The dad character lived too much in the past and just wanted to look at things through rose colored glasses. The first daughter lied too easily and/or just swept bad things under the rug. The son lied too easily and had a chip on his shoulder, the third daughter was sweet enough but lied too easily. Two thumbs down.

I'd heard this was advertised as a comedy. What? Glad I wasn't expecting that, since it's depressing and boring. Maybe if they'd changed the title to "Everybody's Lyin'", I would've known better what to expect.

Just my humble opinion.
.

dip

Oh, poor poor neglected blog....

Whew, it's been a busy week. All good, I will say, but it leads to things getting back-burnered. BUT thank goodness for Illustration Friday to keep me straight with my art play commitment! This week's topic is "dip".

Several things come to mind with the word "dip". Skinny dipping (this is a family blog so...), chips and dip (yummy, but not a particularly appealing sketch subject), roller coasters and other thrill rides (severe acrophobe here), etc.

I decided to keep with the spring theme since we had some lovely weather this week. Of course, the season that follows winter is construction season. Much dipping to do. As a mom of a boy, and then another boy, and then another boy, I learned that knowledge of construction equipment is a MUST.

This sketch is of a lovable excavator. Manly, yes, but I appreciate this particular one for its petiteness. Watercolor and ink in the pocket Moleskine.

Happy spring.
.