Saying yes...

I am a product of Indiana...

Yes... I am...  a state I remember fondly, a state I also wanted to leave and not because it was terrible, but because I heard life's call elsewhere. Every time I hear someone bash on Indiana I think of all of the opportunities I was given there. Every time I think of Indiana, I think of a state where my eyes were opened and I was allowed to see the world outside while given the safety and comfort to explore.

By all accounts I should have been raised in a narrow fashion. My parents, both from Indiana, raised their family there, but, my parents, both of inquiring minds, realized there was a world beyond. My parents, of humble beginnings, eventually became a surgical nurse and an art dealer with both traveling the world and expecting the most from their children whether raised in Indiana or not. Indiana was not an excuse to set our sights low. Indiana was a beautiful place to rest in between mental and physical travels.

My parents worked hard and we had many comforts and luxuries. We could have been happy where we were, but we were also taught about the world at large... . The world came to us in the form of many exchange students and business colleagues, but also in the form of trips over the border.

I also attended a state school! Yes, I was ambivalent about colleges when the time for my enrollment came so I went to Indiana University. It was a beautiful campus, but it was also there that I found my world view enlarged even more! Yes, a college in Indiana was capable of teaching diversity and complexity... more so than I had even touched in my diverse and complex home... Indiana raised and educated an open-minded and diverse person.

I am grateful to Indiana... always will be. It was where I got my start... a safe place where I was able to slowly checkout the world at large. Indiana has some large, ugly spots as well, don't we all... but I won't deny her. She is a part of what made me what I am and I am forever grateful.

My husband says my experience was the exception and not the rule. He's probably accurate... but you know what? We exceptions exist and if there are exceptions, the place can't be all that bad.

It Looks Rather Yellow for Pork!

Grizzled and I spent some quality time at our lovely Home Despot this morning. We were checking out some replacement carpet for the small finished room in our basement. Although the lamblets are getting older and aren't spilling as much and hopefully won't be spilling beer for awhile, we still wanted something that would wear well, would survive rough treatment, while still looking somewhat presentable.

We found a couple of patterns/piles that we liked. Now it was a matter of narrowing down the choice of color. I hate choosing colors from a 3x6 inch swatch. I know that no matter what the color looks like in the store, it's going to look infinitely different on the floor and in the varying lights of the day. I also didn't want something that would be dated too soon and although I wanted something that would hide dirt, I didn't want one that looked dirty before it even was.

Grizzled found a color that he liked. He asked me what it was. I replied, "Cork, the label says it's Cork." We went on to the next and found one that was named, "New Bud". My first thought was, new bud on what?? A new bud is going to look infinitely different depending on what tree or bush it's on.

We went over a few more colors when Grizzled said he really liked that Pork one although he thought it was a little yellow for pork. I looked at him, feeling both disgust and sympathy. "It's CORK" I said. He blushed a little and said he thought pork was an odd color name choice for a carpet... He then said he kind of liked the color next to it... what was that? I looked. It was Honey Glazed. I kid you not.

F*** It

Have I mentioned how much I dread my painting class? Have I mentioned how frustrating it is to teach people who say they want to be taught and yet seem to not want to hear anything you're saying and then openly discuss how the instructor at their private lesson just taught them this and how they don't realize that is exactly what you were explaining to them for the past 90 minutes???

I know a private lesson is better than being crammed into a room with too many people and too wide a range of abilities, but still... it gets to me.

Have I mentioned I've got 6 more weeks before I can RUN!?!

I'll probably be dead by then. I'm sure that will make some hateful people very happy. I am oh so very tired of ignoring rude behavior. I am oh so very tired of loud, obnoxious people who act abominably and yet you're expected to excuse them, but they won't excuse you when you're only dealing with exactly what they've dealt you.

You know what I don't understand? How a class that is all about creativity can sap you of every creative urge you've ever had.

There's always YouTube

I've got nada when it comes to post ideas... I am a news blooper junkie though so I thought I'd put up one of my favorites.

Spring is here...

... however, the forecast says 8 more inches of snow this evening. Argh.

I'll be insane, but by God, our electricity bill will be lower!!!

We recently signed up for "real time electricity". Instead of paying a flat rate all the time, you are actually charged for the amount of electricity you use and at what time you use it. It pays to do your laundry or run a load of dishes during off hours if you can plan accordingly. Since I'm the one who is around more often than not, this is going to fall to me to chart and plan.

I can tell already, I'll be insane soon.

I do not suggest it for anyone who likes to gamble or who might be slightly obsessive-compulsive. You have to look at a graph and see if you can schedule your peak appliance usage for the lowest predicted price per day. Our average price per kilowatt hour was 7.5 cents before switching so I’m supposed to be watching this graph and doing laundry, etc, at a time that is ideally below 7.5. They give predicted hourly rates, but today the low rates were off by 4 cents! Yes, I’m going to be insane before this is all over. Our bill will be lower, but I’ll be like the rat in the Skinner Box pushing the lever for one more inexpensive pellet only to get zapped again and again!!!! AHHHHHH!

I have a feeling the reason you save money is because you never run anything because you're too busy hanging out at the WattSpot waiting for that ideal price. We're currently at 8.1 so I guess the laundry can wait for another hour...

ATPCT: Sometimes you just show up

I had to go to painting class yesterday. I did not want to go. I really haven't wanted to go for awhile... not totally sure why, but yesterday I had to go. I had taken the previous week off due to illness and I knew that had probably thrown my group into a tizzy. As a matter of fact, I knew it did when I started receiving calls 30 minutes before class was to start as to why I wasn't there. Cancellation calls had been made, a sign had been put up, but that didn't matter. There's a routine and I was messing with it so yesterday, come hell or high water, I had to go.

I had absolutely nothing planned. I still have not found my groove in that respect. There are those who just want to use it as studio time and I am fine with that, but there are a number of others who want an exercise, a demonstration... there are those who are hoping I will tell them how to do what they have not been able to figure out for the past 50+ years. I hope and pray every week that I'll find the magic answer, but I know there isn't one.

I was searching for the magic answer yesterday, wondering what to do since we had gotten off of the schedule and I knew people would not be coming in prepared. I spouted this out to my sister who suggested I just show up and let them know that sometimes showing up is the best you can do. At least if you show up, something can and might happen. It may not be what you expected, but at least the chance is there, so... I showed up.

It was a smaller class yesterday which was nice. The class is too big for anything truly meaningful to happen. Sometimes I think the class is too set in its way for any meaningful thing to happen. I'm not even sure why I feel I am supposed to make something meaningful happen. It's not in the course description. "Explore the world of oil painting! Work with shadows and light! During every class, something meaningful will happen. For an additional $25, you'll get twice as much meaning out of every class!!" And yet I feel the onus of creating meaningfulness. Maybe I just want it for myself.

Yesterday's class wasn't all struggle. I had some good discussions, we had some good laughs. One of the people is moving into an assisted living situation. She doesn't want to, but her children don't want her living alone any longer. The other students keep telling her how she'll love it, how she'll probably meet a lot of men. She said she's done with men. Men to her just make her think of stinky socks. I told her she'd probably find even more men since she wasn't looking. I suggested we start a pool to see who could come the closest to picking the date she met someone and their age. She said although she's not looking, she'd prefer younger.

Yesterday's class was OK. It was neither good nor bad. I doubt anything miraculous happened. No... yesterday, I just showed up.

If only...

If only the chills and fever were from watching Tom dance...  For the record, I'm officially over winter.

Palette Procrastination

I have a terrible habit of thinking I'm going to paint every day and therefore I don't clean off my palette as often as I should. Even oil paint will eventually dry even if it's covered. When the urge to paint or the need to paint hits, I then think of the 30+ minutes I will spend scraping my palette clean with a razor blade. I'll start on a corner and eventually, I'll just do what I did before... I'll put another blob of paint on top of the old one. It's getting ridiculous though. My palette is now looking like a 3-dimensional map. But it's also looking awfully pretty.

As the endless gray of January starts to get old...

...inane games become more fun than they should be.

h/t to BP's invisible friend, Zelmo...

Flail harmlessly

Leprose semen fetishes

Brutal, agile trendies

Loud Beef

Yes in gays

Toad-like, tall and in

Hell's brute

Fouled botchers pig

Secure fine angel

Dear! Silliest creep

Queer hijacker detracts clean

                                                 Chamber echo

It's a start...

UPDATE: For those who asked... no, I'm not on drugs, the above relates directly to a comment made at BP's lurvely blog. If you went over and gave the man more of your bloggy luv, you might have known that. Sniff... I hereby declare January 15th "Give BP Some Bloggy Love" Day!!!

Update II: As I mentioned, it was just a start. :) But... had I really been awake, I would have added, The Hard Temptress. :) mdhatter, you don't strike me as a temptress.  And while I'm at it, let's add, Mushiest Excess.