Garage Sale SUCCESS!

What kind of scrapbooker am I?  I had my record BEST garage sale on Saturday and sold $1000 worth of art supplies and various junk and didn't take ONE photo.  All of it was art and craft related.  I put the add on Craigslist and included my phone number.  I got a lot of calls from people about the sale in advance.  People were very respectful and didn't come early.  I was happy to donate the leftovers to the Hall Closet and get it out of my garage.  It feels really great to have all those things gone.  Now I am looking at how I can get rid of even more and have another huge sale in November or December.

Some of you know I have been struggling with a frozen shoulder for most of the year.  I just found out that there is a significant tear in my rotator cuff, and I will probably need surgery.  OK... that will happen after the first of the year.  I can't be limited in my mobility before the holidays.  I need to be able to do all my holiday baking and crafting.  I am selling in 2 boutiques this year in November.  At least they are letting me see the doctor I want, the same one who did my nephew and sister-in-law's surgeries.  I will be glad to get the mobility back in my shoulder.

Check out this adorable little Breezy Bug I photographed in my front yard this morning... Invasive pests, they're here and they're hungry...  Anyone heard those adds on the radio by the California agriculture department?  They crack me up.  Like them, Breezy never met a plant she didn't like... and enjoys picking flowers and pods and some of the last tomatoes. 

Letting Go....

It seems as if everyone I know is in a state of loss.... Jobs, homes, income, lifestlyle, pets, family members, mobility, cognative function, health... With so many people losing so many things, doesn't it seem logical that we would want to HOLD ON to the things we can?  Hmmmm... Why can't we lose the things we want to lose, like weight, gray hair, bad memories, painful and ackward situations.  It would be so much easier if those things just disappeared. 

My mom and stepdad and my 2 year old niece have been living with us.  Having a two year old around all the time takes me back to that person I used to be when my kids were two.  I remember now how harassed I was when the boys were little.  How hard it was with them so close in age, and how I couldn't wait for them to outgrow another difficult phase.  Now they are both taller than me, and I look at them and wonder where the time went.  In 6 years Kayleigh will be off to college.  We will be empty nesters...

No one WANTS to spend time with me any more except Kayleigh.  The boys are here, but usually in their room watching tv or on some technoligical gadgetry of some kind.  I REFUSE to get my kids cell phones.  Austin was the only senior to raise his hand in school when the teacher asked who didn't have a cell phone.  He said he felt like a big DER...  I say technology is turning us all into a bunch of unsociable idiots.  I spend maybe 5 hours a week on the computer.  I check email and once in a while post on my blog or facebook.  I suppose if I had one of those newfangled phones with internet and all the apps, I would be on line more often.  I am kind of thankful for my old jankey Nokia from 7 years ago.  I have dropped it a hundred times and it still keeps working.  But it also enables me to have a fairly technology free life.  When I get in the car with my kids, we TALK... What a concept.  We listen to Alice Radio in the morning sometimes, and laugh along to the crazy talk with Sara and Vinnie, but basically, it is great time for us to chat, about our lives, and things that we have going on.  No one is texting friends of searching on their ipod.  Family dinner nites are sacred in our house.  Tuesday and every other Sunday is family dinner nite.  All of us are here together around the table, eating, yelling, carrying on and just being a big ole loud blended family.  I like to call us a modern day Waltons.  We usually play a game after dinner, or watch a movie.  Video games and internet are banned on family nites, and on weeknights in general for homework purposes. We only have one working computer that barely limps along, so the kids are allowed to use it only for homework.  The boys tend to obsess on the games otherwise and spend a lot of time on x-box live and WOW if I don't monitor it. 

SO what does all this babble have to do with loss...  I guess as I look at it, I am seeing ways that I have lost... contact with my kids, and good friends.  People I see rarely because we are "too busy with our lives".  I have been cleaning out the studio and turning it from a crap collecting room to an actual studio.  The plan is to have art friends over for regular get togethers and make things from all the cool stuff I have collected.  I want to start collecting good memories with family and friends.  My family and friends mean more to me than stuff...  but in the face of so much loss over the years, I found myself collecting little things here and there, until I had a TON of things that filled my space, and life, but not my heart.  They say that clutter is emotional baggage...  I say it is more than that...  For us altered artists, it is also stifled creativity.  All these things we collect to one day use to make something cool and artsy.  I had a room full of that.  Now I am getting it to a place where I have a lot of supplies, but they are all organized, and put away in a way that I can use them to create, rather than collect them to maybe do something with one day...

Purging is hard for me.  But nonetheless, I take a truckload to the store every week of things I am getting rid of.  And adding another run every few weeks to the depot to get rid of the artsy stuff the closet can't use.  I get a sense of freedom, a big release every time I get rid of something.   And I am loving all the negative space in my house!  It is like a Flashdance moment "What a feeling!"  I am getting there, a little more every week.

Art Gallery Show

We had our show at the mARTinez Art Gallery on the 18th.  The turn out was great, and I was very pleased with the work that was done by the young men on the YOTP unit.  Please check out the Green Youth Project blog here to see the wonderful artwork these talented young men have created.  I am so proud of all of them, and their accomplishments, and very honored to be working with them. 

I get mixed feedback when I tell people what I do.  Things like "Why do you want to work with 'those' kind of kids?"   I say why not?  It takes a certain type of person, to have passion for teaching, passion for art and creativity, and you have to really love kids, especially troubled teen agers.  I can check yes to all the above.  I have had many tell me they think I have found my calling.  I don't know about that... but I do know, that in spite of having my time slot moved several times, and dealing with a lot of internal politics, I am NOT giving up on these kids or this program. 

I need space for a reuse center.  I want to provide a safe place for the kids to go "on the outs" as they call being outside of incarceration.  A place that will help boost their self esteem, where they can work and earn some money and where they can connect with other artists to mentor them through their transitions.  So many of these kids have nothing to go back to once they get out.  With a 60% recidivism rate, the odds of rehabilitation are not in their favor.  I think we need to spend more money on programs for these kids while they are still young and able to be rehabilitated, BEFORE they end up in prison.  Programs like the one I am putting together, that connect them with mentors and positive role models.  There is really nothing out there like it.  I have the dream, the vision, the business plan, now I just need some money and the space to house it.... 

If anyone reading this knows of a space in Contra Costa County we could use for a while to house a very worthwhile program, please let me know....

A funny email today

I get lots of jokes form my Uncle Bob, but I rarely forward them. Not because they aren't funny, but just because I hardly ever have time to read them. I store them in a jokes file and every once in a while when I need a laugh, they are there waiting for me. I clicked on this one for some reason, and laughed so hard I had to share it. I have been complaining to Pascual about ALL of these things.... Being the Insurance Man that he is, he tells me that they are going to have to write me off as a total loss, and maybe some mechanic will buy me cheap and part me out.



IF MY BODY WERE A CAR.... If my body were a car, this is the time I would be thinking about trading it in for a newer model. I've got bumps and dents and scratches in my finish, and my paint job is getting a little dull. But that's not the worst of it. My headlights are out of focus, and it's especially hard to see things up close.My traction is not as graceful as it once was. I slip and slide and skid and bump into things even in the best of weather. My whitewalls are stained with varicose veins. It takes me hours to reach my maximum speed. My fuel rate burns inefficiently. But here's the worst of it -- Almost every time I sneeze, cough or laugh, either my radiator leaks or my exhaust backfires. CASH FOR CLUNKERS..........I QUALIFY

Pizza Night

Homemade pizza last night, Kayleigh was the chef. We make it in a 2 1/2 pound loaf bread machine and it takes 1 hour till the dough is ready. If you don't have a bread machine, get one at a local thrift store or garage sale. We use ours all the time and make fabulous bread with it. It kneads and proofs the dough and gets it through the first rise, then you shape it, let it rise again and bake... very easy. Even I can do it, and I am not the bread baker Paskie is... I am the cookie, cake and pie lady.

Here is the recipe:

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons bread yeast

1 tablespoon flax seed (optional)

Place all ingredients in bread machine pan according to the above order exactly. (wet ingredients always go first) Program the machine for the pizza cycle, and press start.

When the machine beeps at the end of the cycle, remove the bread pan from the machine and turn dough out on to lightly floured surface. Divide dough by cutting with a knife into desired number of portions. Roll out to desired thickness. Transfer to baking stone or cookie sheet, spread sauce, cheese and toppings. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until pizza is desired golden brown doneness.

1 batch makes 3 pizzas as pictured, 18 inches wide with thick crust. I double it and make 4 large pizzas with my extra large cookie trays. We often make mini pizzas when the kids have friends over.

My favorite gourmet version is ranch salad dressing for the sauce with roasted garlic mixed in, fresh sliced mozzarella cheese, diced chicken breast browned in garlic, crispy crumbled bacon, chopped green onion, diced fresh tomatoes from the garden. It is delicious and it disappears fast. Some make it with Alfredo sauce, we tried both and you don't really notice the difference.

Give it a try. It will only cost you the price of the ingredients, which I guarantee will be less than half the cost of one pizza, and your kids will love making it.

Making Pizza

Mom and Teen came over for the weekend and I made Pizza with Adrianna and Breezy. I love the photos of them rolling out the dough. Breezie was really into it, and wanted to eat the dough and threw a fit when we took it away. I love spending time with the family. I forget what it's like to hve a 2 year old around... She is into everything. She calls me Auntie and Pascual is Tio or sometimes Tito, and she tells us over an over "I low-lu" which is Breezie language for I love you. It just melts your heart when she says it... Ahhh... almost makes me want more...

Youth Poetry

I am starting up a new blog here specifically for the youth art program. I wanted to share a poem that was an honorable mention in the Juvenile Hall Poetry Contest in April, for National Poetry Month. Please check out the new blog for updates and info on the project featuring some of the art and poetry created by at risk youth.

No More!

You smile at the edge of sight,
and I turn to see you. No More!
You whisper between words,
and I hush to hear you. No More!
without you I am in darkness,
and the sun hides beneath the world.
No More! Will I ever be held down,
or be a menace to society. No More!