well howdy campers....its been a lovely month....i gave myself a break and said, "ya know you write that blog whenever you want to write that blog,   no pressure here, just whenever"....love it...my self can be pretty groovy at times........
​       i also learned how to do a time lapse video.........so some people already know this is pretty easy when you are not doing anything fancy.....but then there's me......so for awhile now i have been researching and watching videos and trying all sorts of ways to do this myself.....but i think myself just got in the way....cause its super easy and i was making it super complicated....like math story problems......arrrggghhh....so you just go to....well first using your iphone....(don't know about the other phones).......go to your camera thing.....scroll the little scrolly thing at the bottom to the left till it says time lapse.....and press start..........yeah.....that's it.........i obviously need a lot of help in my complicated world to do most anything..........and to play it.....well you just push play.......technology is amazing!!!
     so i have been kinda vegging on checking out high school facebook stories.....well the band...cause that was my most favorite class.........so i was in marching band all through high school....loved it....yes i was a drummer......drummers rock!!!!!......well i came across our music teachers blog about our band.....i believe he was the band director for my freshman year........but it was kinda interesting hearing his side of the story and what he was going through while we were being our fabulous selves.........specially now that you can see that other side of the story..........but he was in the ohio state marching band...the band that spells out script ohio...very farout!!!!........and funny thing......or small world......he was in the ohio state band when paul droste was the music director....paul droste went to our church....and my mom was friends with paul and when he needed help with their uniforms, my mom organized the youth group to help the ohio state marching band by helping her sew the buttons on their uniforms.....yep my mom was the seamstress for the band....ya know the song that elton john sang about....how cool is that....maybe bernie taupin knew paul droste and heard that my mom was sewing buttons on the uniforms and got inspired to write the tiny dancer song and ....ok so that was a stretch........but anyway.... my mom probably sewed the buttons on the uniform that belonged to who was later to be my freshman year band director....what??!!......i know you're thinking....and????.....well nothing i was just on a roll writing and this is where i went....i bet you're thinking ..."if only this blog was in a time lapse"......short and sweet this time......be groovy

      good morning campers.....so it's been a bit more than 2 weeks since the last post.....just lazy here.....so about this art journey of mine.......well you've heard of the israelites and their 40 years  wandering round the desert..........ok so i'm on a 40 year desert art journey..........sometimes desert is what my mind is..........people say, actually i even just said to my youngest...."enjoy the journey, look around, be present where you are in life on you way to your 'goal'  ".........well...........it seems that my family always put a high priority on "being productive" ...everyday........it's not that i can't lay around and watch tv, read a book, etc......oh know, that's no problem....it's the being beat up by my guilt of not being productive that gets me..........i even told the same youngest daughter....."it's ok to not do anything sometimes".....and yet, here i am....jokes on me......ha ha
        so how do we enjoy the journey, take in the scenery, smell the roses, paint the llamas?.......is there a method to the madness?......is there a tried and true....i had put time and true and was like, that does not sound right..........method to slowing our roll?.........so i thought, lets test some theories........so where do i get my theories???....of course the internet where everything is true....right??!!....so you type in how to enjoy the journey, and up pops a plethora, by the way, the plethora is an extinct, maybe?, dinosaur of the writing and deducing species, it's small with wings that extend 1 inch, usually purple with blue spots, doesn't fly very well......of options .....option 1- lifehack , live in the present- do i get a present for living in the present?, sweet,.... enrich my life- if only my art would sell i could en-rich my life!.....be positive- i'm positively adding this to my list of things to do today....unplug- i do that all the time, which is why i disappear for awhile from the internet....relax, dont do it , when you wanna go do it......singing there, and so appropriate......ok option 2- inc   well #2- is easy cause i believe some people want me commited.....#4- i'm doing, it's the retention part that's hard for me, i learn, i forget, repeat.......#5- is tricky cause that's my life....there was this book called men are waffles and women are spaghetti....meaning women are multi taskers, always doing 5 things at one time.........for option 3, i had to type in christian ways to enjoy the journey.....option 3-joyce meyer , #1 is no problem, i enjoy my art, my music, the beach, family, God, etc, ......#2 is no problem, i'm already doing stuff i like to do and my part time job allows me to enjoy stuff too....#3-schedule time, i'm all about schedules and calendars, not that i keep up with that, but, anyway.......#4- a smell the roses thing or in my case like playing fetch with crabs on the beach...#5- i have amped that up, me and God have some groovy times........
        so even though i just picked 3 random blog sites ....what i got from them is "enjoy"...which is ironic cause that's what you type into the search bar to begin with but i didn't even get it......so much for being present....can you say obvious???......."obvious!!!"....so....enjoy where you are at this moment in time..... enjoy who you are with crosby, stills, and nash "love the one you're with"....well maybe that's something else...........enjoy what life gives you.....enjoy what life takes away- the loss might be hard, but the time that you had with whatever got taken away.......enjoy sitting at the computer and writing a blog that might bring a smile to someone.........enjoy a smile....ha ha i wrote smikle.......definitely enjoy a laugh.....especially at yourself....and i guess 40 years or more, of wandering around enjoying life, makes for a pretty good life....the plethora definitely agrees.....be groovy!
         

    good morning campers.......have you ever been going 1000 miles an hour and then nothing?..........it's like you change gears and switch to something else and then you just get blocked......feeling very ambivalent about doing anything at the moment.......hmmmmmm     
    see i was going fine....i had blocked out my day...even set alarms to help me switch gears.......i need that ........anyway got to the switching gears from of all things, cleaning........going into the sit at the computer to write the blog, check email, check instagram, facebook, etc......and i came to a complete stop..........................it's like even checking anything was a serious chore........so i thought i will go paint.........what do i paint, or draw, or create?........i have fallen into a very thick fog....saved by the bell...well the phone....be right back.............
      well it seems that "be right back" ended up being a week later......and i still have this not alot of motivation thing going on.........as i came back to this post i was thinking, great i have already gotten a bunch written.....nope.........my bad......
    so does anyone else have these issues too? feeling stuck, feeling blocked, mired in the mud?....oh wow that reminds me of super fun times........way back when my kids were young we would make mud angels in the backyard, well cause that's what our yard consisted of, same thing as snow angels but with mud.........that was sooo fun,  the neighborhood kids would come over and make them too.......probably most every parents worst nightmare, kids laying in mud, swishing about........but they had a blast....... we did mud painting, hang up big sheets of paper on the fence and let them go to town, well they didn't actually go to town, they stayed in the backyard, i mean sometimes we went to town, but well not then...... anyway........very inspirational.....well creative.......mud diving, kind of like slip n slide without the slide.........alot of good times.....
       my question to yall is what gets you out of this blah feeling? ......what gets you motivated and staying motivated?..........i know it's a whole kinetic energy thing........just start moving...i like to move it move it......or keep on swimming, keep on swimming.......just do something.....i can do it!!!.....and you can too....unless you already are and don't need a pep talk to get yourself going....cause basically your so far gone, you're outa sight....ha ha!.... be groovy! 

   happy new year campers!!!....it's gonna be a good one.........it's time to make resolutions...goals....set our sights on amazing things.....woohoo....starting something new.....always exciting..........i made a couple resolutions..... which i promptly broke the first day.......too much stress involved in trying to not break them......so i break them immediately.......at least there is no more stress with them....now i get on to doing them.......
       so something i've been thinking about is changing up the blog......first, write one every 2 weeks, instead of every week.....what a relief already!........2nd one is change the content a bit......sometimes.....like maybe have some more in depth thought provoking stuff.....thought provoking stuff....that just sums up how my brain works........stuff......
     life is categorized by me into stuff and more stuff.......ie-happy stuff, fluffy stuff, fun stuff, thought provoking stuff, art stuff, llama stuff, heavy stuff...that could be filed under thought provoking or elephant ..........bunny stuff, outdoor stuff, stuffy...which is something my son used to carry around with him......so stuffy could be filed under loveys or noses.......God stuff, groovy stuff, creating stuff outa stuff......tell me....does the word stuff look weird? ....and more stuff....
           so i'm not exactly sure where i'm going with my stuff but at least it's all slightly filed....or stuffed into stuff drawers........when you open them up it's a stuff explosion.......similar to my empty container explosion of 95'.....i'm not really sure of an exact date, but  it does happen all the time......
           so back in 95' or just pick a date.....or a fig......but i can't seem to let go of empty containers, cause you always need one....for something......so every empty container we had or accumulated....we would shove in this cabinet....and no we didn't match up lids with containers, cause why would you do something that organized?.......but there is a law of physics or gravity or some law that states something to the effect that "only x amount of stuff can go in a y sized cabinet until x plus y equal z-explosion ".....but still even knowing this law exists....we still try to shove more containers in the cabinets...... by we i mean me.....the lids are easy cause you don't have to open the cabinet far to slide them in........ the containers you have to be more creative and open 1 side while someone stands beside you holding back the avalanche of containers trying to burst out....then slam the door shut.....sometimes you have to hold the doors shut for a bit while stuff settles....then you're good to go.......so back in 95"....our container cabinet was at it's bursting point.........i believe we had a chair shoved in front of it to keep everything from escaping...........one of the kids....surely it wasn't me.....well cause my name's bobbi not shirley.....come to think of it, we don't have a shirley living at the house.......imposter!!!........so i believe it was a shirley who snuck in and encouraged the explosion.....you gotta watch those shirleys.....they are sneaky little devils.........but anyway.....one of the kids...surely it wasn't me.....it's like ground hog day over and over........did shirley sneak in again?
          but anyway,  one of the kids started for the cabinet.....i was in the back of the house...(i'm making this up now.....well kind of).......i heard the squeal of the chair being pulled away from the cabinet......a dread thought raced into my brain......"not the chair in front of the cabinet!!!".......i heard the vibration of shifting containers.....it was just like an earthquake approaching....you heard the rumble and were looking around to see where the truck was cause it sounded like it was coming straight for you........i felt a shift in the time continuum.......not really sure what that is but it sounded good....i looked it up and still don't understand it, but i think it has something vaguely to do with the containers, something about elements(containers) varying (shifting) by minute degrees (starting to move out)  .....i'm such a brainiac..........not.......anyway.......i dropped everything and leaped over boxes and dogs and kids to try to stop the onslaught that was coming......i heard the gasp of a child ......i believe nature got eerily quiet and a green hue was cast over the town.......sorry now i'm referring to a tornado................i reached the edge of the kitchen as a loud rumble, crash, screams, and out blew 5000 pounds of containers....hitting the living room wall....2 sent the cat flying....the dog  got hit on the tail.......chairs were knocked over... lights were swinging....a neighborhood kid was pinned against a wall..... lamps were broken..... lids started whizzing past my head.... i ducked for cover but got hit in the arm......"man down" i yelled.........a peanut butter sandwich was sent flying out the window.......i think there was a scarecrow and a lion too, but i might have been knocked out from the pain.........
           when the dust finally settled....and trust me there was alot of dust....i believe dust is to protect furniture....soooo......moving on,  i dragged myself into what was the kitchen....i heard a muffled murmur.......i started digging to find the lost child..........which buried a couple other kids in the process......i sent in the dog to try to track down the child..."find, search" i yelled.......the dog ran off with the peanut butter jar........i'm still digging when i see a toe.....and it's moving...."hurrah!!!"......i finally free the wild eyed child and we all rejoice!!!!......"she's been found, she's been found!!!".....
          it was quite emotional, we found the peanut butter sandwich and gave it to the found child....10 sec rule....or something like that............the cat was not seen for a couple days....the kids played king of the mountain on the containers....we freed the neighborhood kid who thought this was grand fun and can't we do it again  tomorrow........then we had to clean up....yikes.......so with everyone's help, we shoved all 5000 pounds of empty containers.....you guessed it...back in the cabinet.....why throw this stuff away....you might need it....right?!......then firmly pushing the chair in front of it and telling everyone "do not move the chair under any circumstances"....we all enjoyed the rest of the day.........
       that evening we were getting ready to sit down to dinner when my husband went in the kitchen cause we were short one chair.............one of these days i gotta get rid of some of those containers....and definitely have more thought provoking posts like this one........maybe that will be the resolution i break next new year......or just file it under "heavy  
stuff".......be groovy 
          

         good morning campers.....so i had a great idea for this blog.....seeing as how christmas is upon us.....but i cannot find the video of the thing i was thinking of......well it was a vhs, but i believe.......it got turned into a dvd.......but i can't find it anywhere....found all sorts of other stuff...got very distracted with other stuff.......but not exactly what i was looking for....but the whole point of looking for this dvd is that i was gonna try to post it so you would see the actual reaction from my kids....and the fantastic 90's style attire too......yeah...probably best i couldn't find it.......but ...i'm gonna tell the story anyway.......it goes like this...
       i wanna tell you a story bout a man named jeb.........my bad........
     so many moons ago.....ok disclosure... for those small children reading this...avert your eyes at certain points..........ok so back in let's say 1990...."1990"......echoey sound with that.....also i'm not sure of the exact year, but it was around that time........but our twins....having been going to public school....had been hearing tales....young children close your eyes for a moment...... of santa not existing ........what???.........anyway....young children you can open your eyes again........well how could they tell that i said they could open their eyes if  they had their eyes closed......hmmmmm....dilemma.........also i just tried to check the spelling of the word exisiting....1 s not 2.......and all of a sudden i have my groovy angel cards on here.......i really don't know what i am doing.....remember to save...no repeat of last time....on to the story......
        so our twins had this thought in their heads of the non existence of you know who.......and hopefully you know who i am referring too.....at this time we only had 3 kids.....so our son was a couple years younger and had not heard such devastating news.....and we would like to keep it that way...........so a friend of mine had mentioned awhile back how she found presents on her roof.....santa is a wiley charactor.........well, i thought, lets get in touch with the big guy and figure this out........but how do you get in touch with the big guy?.....so we sent a letter.......hoping for the best........well christmas eve comes around....we've already been to christmas eve service...no one burned the church down with their waving candles around.......always a good practice to give young children lit candles to hold.....so we are back at home.....and our son loses a tooth......ok so we are going to be visited by 2 instead of 1.....it's all good.........he puts his tooth under his pillow, and we tuck them all in to go to sleep.......which of course doesn't happen that quick....
         so while waiting for the kids to go to sleep, our good friend from farmville shows up.............of course the kids think santa and the tooth fairy had already come....but no...back to bed.......well we stay up for awhile talking...it's getting really late and ta da....the kids are all asleep.....we hear commotion on the roof....no kidding.....freak us all out.........we look out front and nothing is there........hmmm.....we look  out back....and see nothing.......it has started to snow though.....and our friend is getting ready to go home.......but first , we walk out back and on the roof is a bag with presents spilling out......what!!!???.........and a couple presents have landed on the deck.........since it's snowing, we thought we probably ought to bring them in....we had a mini trampoline laying beside the deck...our friend uses it to stand on to get the presents, when we hear the kids....our friend puts the mini tramp back and we run back inside......put them to bed...again.......and our friend says he needs to get home .........off he goes......and us being so tired, we go on to bed......
               next morning...or should i say 4 hours later.........the kids run in yelling ... "yeah it's christmas....get up...get up"........so we drag ourselves into the livingroom with frantic kids....and their faces drop..........you see, the only presents under the tree were the ones we had wrapped for them...they had already seen those....but, no new presents.....what??!!....no santa gifts.......ahhhhhh!!!........but alas....where do you ever get to say alas, but during a christmas story.......but alas we knew they were on the roof.........so we told the kids "we don't know what happened"...lies all lies........but "go feed the dog"...."out back".......so off goes one twin and when she opens the door to feed our dog she sees a present........she runs outside and yells at the other kids...."there are presents on the roof!!!"
            we all run outside....they are soooo excited......we pull the mini tramp over to get them and the kids gasp and say  "look at the footprints on the mini tramp....they don't match any of us".....a moment of awe........awe........we go back inside and there is a note on the bag, it says......."dear kids, sorry i couldn't bring the presents in , i ran into the tooth fairy and dropped the presents, hope you enjoy...love santa"......"the tooth fairy" shouts our son and runs into his bedroom where under his pillow is a quarter!!!!....yeah so it seems the tooth fairy has increased with inflation now........but anyway.........the tooth fairy is like a ninja....we were up the whole time....heard nothing.......well we possibly heard santa.....who also possibly had too much eggnog and is not as lithe as the tooth fairy...but is still pretty fabulous.....
           so belief was restored to the twins!!...yeah!!!.....the tooth fairy and santa are still friends....accidents happen.........our friend got back to farmville safely.......and the dog finally got fed!.........cause ya know what they say..."if you don't believe, you don't receive!"......have a merry christmas!....in case i don't get around to another blog before then!....be groovy
         

    Good morning campers.....it's wonderful wednesday.......what a fabulous day........well i thought i would update yall on what's been going on with my art....and what's not been going on.....and everything in between.......like a pb and j......gotta love those sandwiches, you can't go wrong with them, and they can go on long car road trips and not go bad.......now pb and alfalfa sprouts is super delicious, but it needs a fridge after a bit.......anyway, where was i.....
       ....so yall know i opened an etsy shop...yeah......and i got my first sale.....double yeah....i've got to add more items and work on the site itself, but overall i'm happy to have achieved that.......
        my dear friend billie, we are like identical twins, but not.....ok we don't really look alike, but we are alike in pretty much everything we do.....freaky...... but we are doing 2nd sundays in williamsburg va......so it's this arts and crafts show that was supposed to happen every 2nd sunday from march thru dec.......we did march, then everything got shut down.....then opened up to do nov, and yes dec.....so this sun we will be there again......hurrah!!..........so arts and crafts shows.....i've done a couple, but they were more craft shows...and when people come for a craft show, they want crafts, not original artwork, they are crafty people that way.............but since this was an arts and crafts show....we both decided to try this together for a year.......so since it's only been 2 times, we don't have a real good feel for how we are doing.....which is very little..........but we are still trying!!!...and having a grand time hanging out together.......we figured it would push both of us to create more........i think we are getting there.....we have improved our booth a bunch......baby steps!.......we can do it!!!
        i've updated my website with some prices for artwork, but need to change the headings around a bit so people can find what they are looking for.....if they look..............of course the whole facebook thing and instagram thing too...need to step that up a little.....
           oh and this blog post....it's not like i'm writing on it now, and i forgot it......it's like i'm walking out the door talking on my cell phone, and then walk back in to look for my cell phone so i can go.......i'm even telling the person on the end of the line.......great song by the way.......that i'm looking for my phone so i can get going.......scary that i'm allowed out in public.......
        so this streamline thing i talked about in the beginning of the year is kinda working, but still needs some organization...........ok alot of organization....and a cleaning person, cause my house is a disaster.............the cleaning person we have now is horrible.......that's me, by the way........so i gather the only way to make the streamlining  work is to do it......what a revelation........i amaze and astound myself all the time.......
          ya know  i might not be selling alot of artwork, but.....i actually have it up and priced....in places.....so that's a big plus......well better than just continuing to create and having walls double lined with artwork and tables filled with cards and prints, and tubs of stuff everywhere........at some point if i didn't put stuff up for sale.....all my artwork was going to take over the house and you'd have to tunnel through the art to get anywhere....hmmmmmm...that could be really interesting....and fun.............slides from one room to another........stairs made up of artwork and boxes.......there's a place in arizona i think, that has this art experience museum place where to enter it you go through a fridge...love it.......
           so i feel i'm accomplishing things.....and forgetting alot of things....where's the keyboard?.....but overall....i think i'm moving forward.......or is that sideways......or could be upside down........but as long as i have a pb and j, i'm on my way!!!   be groovy!
            
               

      good morning campers......so i just had a revelation.....crazy...right?...but so i don't know who knows this but i am sort of a control freak....ok well not sort of, but pretty much am......i try to let go of the control....and i think i am letting go of the control.....when i realize that i am still firmly attached to whatever i am trying to let go of....it's not pretty......my big issue has been for awhile...what does God want me to do?.....so i ask Him....all the time.....and it goes like this....

​this is me," hey God...how are things?....groovy....ok so could you tell me what you want me to do with my life?".....
God answers, " ok, so for sta...".........
me again, " i mean God, what is my purpose?".......
God again, "well what i wa...".......
me again, " so i mean could you send a fax or something cause i'm really hard headed"........
God again,  "well if you le..".....
me again, "i guess you know i'm hard headed, you made me"....
God again, "my tho.."......
me again, "i'm having a hard time hearing what you want me to do"........
God again, "......."........
me again, "i really don't understand, i'm really trying to understand and hear you but i can't seem to get it"
God again, "....."
me again, "could ya just make it real obvious where i need to focus my attention"
God again, "you really opened that do...."
me again, .....................
    
          well this could go on for a long time, switching between God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit.....they kind of tag team....i know God has unlimited patience, but even i can't take me sometimes......so my big revelation is not really a revelation but more of a revealing of the obvious, which has been right in front of me all this time.......but yeah, gotta let this control thing off the hook.....stop planning so much......right....
         it's like an addiction.....hi, i'm bobbi, and i'm a control addict..........so how do you let go of control?......interesting question.........first i guess is  what controls you?..........a habit, a thought, an action, control itself.......can control really control what i am trying not to control?......boy the word control looks really weird right now...........i'm sure i get it naturally from my mom........cause my dad was the opposite of a control freak.........i have passed it on nicely to some of my kids.......and passing it on would be nice if it meant i gave it away completely and  i didn't have it anymore....but it seems to multiple all by itself....as in..."but wait there's more!"
          like, i tend to hang on to things that are memorable to me.....and i swear the stuff in the attic keeps multipying..........i have tons of bins in the attic that have every drawing all the kids have done at one time or another.........even when they wrote their name, made a pasta drawing (yeah those are in really bad shape now), really anything they created i have saved......so i had my oldest daughter go through some of the bins with me to see what she would want.....because of course,  i saved them for her to  enjoy later.......so i pull down 3 or 4 bins....my daughter is sitting beside me, i am pulling stuff out and going down memory lane...."oh remember when you drew this?....remember when you made me that?....here are your worksheets from 1st grade".....meanwhile, my daughter is just throwing away everything in the trash can behind her as i hand them to her.....i'm so focused on all the stuff i didn't see what she was doing.....revelation again- me being so focused on the stuff i miss the actual life............ok back to my thoughts.....when i realize what she is doing i'm like "what are you doing?".....as i'm digging through the trash to get the stuff back out to put back in bins......."you can't through this stuff away??!!...it's important stuff ...it's your stuff!"......and she throws the bin in the trash can and says i need to get help....help as in clearing out the house attic and in clearing out my attic........very funny...how droll.....obviously she doesn't want the stuff....these mementos i have collected for years are not as treasured to her as they are to me.......who is this daughter i raised???......the funny thing is all of my kids are not memory keepers, or stuff collectors,  like i am....they are all basically matter of fact, let's enjoy it for awhile and then recycle it.......i mean a couple might be more apt to keep something for a bit, but in general, not so much....the youngest is brutal with not saving things....very similar to the evil older sister whos mantra is  "if you haven't used it in an hour, out it goes"........it's heart breaking....and also very liberating i guess....cause i can finally let go of some stuff......ok not all of it ....4 bins came down and 3 went back up.........baby steps.......
        but if i can let go of 1 bin of stuff....ok so i did try to stuff all the stuff ....ha ha very funny....stuff the stuff......from the 4th bin into the other 3.....but some things got thrown away........a couple papers.........but if i am able to get rid of a couple papers....then the world is my oyster.......what does that really mean?........but anything is possible....including letting control take control of the control i keep taking control of.........what?!...... so basically  i don't need to understand my underlying need to undertake control and underestimate Gods ability to get control under control......that's alot of unders.....which is understandably overkill.....ha ha....... let go and let God......be groovy!

     good morning campers.........oh my gosh....i was almost completely done with my blog when something went caflooee and i lost everything......arrrrggghhhh......... always save....always save....always save.......so frustrating...........moving on....
       so..... happy voting day!!......when i started to vote...they used to have curtains that you pulled around you to hide spying eyes on who you were voting on.........not that anyone could really see, but it was kind a neat.....and  kids loved to play under the curtains and the little voting booth thing....which reminded me of my mom taking us to the store....lazarus to be specific....and not the lazarus that was miraculously brought to life after being  dead.....which was kind of like how i felt after the shopping trip....well not the miraculously alive part but the other.............so lazarus was part of northland mall in columbus, ohio.........the mall wasn't an inside mall but just stores near each other with walking paths between them........ lazarus was kind of like walmart where it had everything... but a lot of different floors and it was a more upscale place.....not a place you went to everyday......special occasions...well for us......
         so my mom brought me.....i don't know why cause i could have stayed with the neighbor......but anyway....so it's my mom, with my bratty baby brother in a stroller, and the evil older sister.....who because she's in middle school gets a clothing allowance, .....i was rolling my eyes there........which basically gave her enough money to buy fabric to make an outfit..........store bought dresses were a little pricier.....so she was off to the fabric section....top floor i think.......and we were looking through clothes....and i was bored.....so remember, i was a spy at that time.......i see the round clothes racks and decide to work on my spying skills......so off i go.......the round racks are great cause you can get under them in the middle and nobody sees you......i was stealthily moving from one rack to the other and having a grand time......my mom finally realizes i'm not to be seen, starts calling me.......well i'm just getting my spy skills going now, so not being flippant, but i ignore her..........my mom gets more worried and gets others involved.......ya know sometimes just answering right away saves a lot of pain.....and then there's me........so i continue on with my spy games and now my mom is in a full fledged panic......by the time i got snatched up and my mom saw me, panic went right out the door.........and "the look" showed up.....ya know "the look"....it says so much with out saying anything....and yet leaves a lot to the imagination....and i have a great imagnation.........so my mom leaves the store quickly, with that fabulous smile on her face.....thanking everyone for their help..."thank you so much, i was so worried" ( i'm beyond furious), "i'm so glad yall helped me to find her" (i'm so embarrassed that i had to ask for help in searching out this child that makes me look like an incompetent mother), "she is just such an inquisitive child" (who's gonna get her rear end worn out for the trauma i just went through) (and the salespeople are saying to themselves " she's gonna get her rear end worn out when she gets home") (and i'm giving the pleading eye look to the sales people saying" can't i stay here, life is not gonna be good when i get home")...as my mom is dragging me out of the store with a fury that you should be able to bottle and sell........
            so yes i did get a spanking and had to do extra chores......did i deserve it?....probably.......wasn't the first, wouldn't be the last.......it wasn't that i was a bad kid, i just always went a different path......i would say i drove my mom to drink, but she didn't drink....she did have a nervous tic that appeared during my high school years....hasn't quite gone away yet...........my mom always said that i stayed up at night thinking of ways to drive her crazy........she gave me too much credit....in reality i didn't think that far in advance........chaos and mindlessness were my running mates......the former proceeded the later, but it was always very interesting...well for me.......
       have a super groovy voting day!

      good morning campers......what a fabulous day it is today!!!.... everyday can be a fabulous day!....well one of my grandkids just got glasses....she's so excited about them......so now that's 2 grands with glasses...they both look so cute...........i remember when i was back in elementary school how i wanted glasses.....they were so groovy on everyone....but alas i had 20/20 vision and beyond.......when the eye doc would say read the lowest line on the chart i could read the "made in china" line........not so much now....
         the first time i realized something was amiss with my vision was when i was painting the kindergarten mural for am davis........my vision would kind of go double when i was really concentrating....and i'm like..."what is going on?"..............i go to the eye doc and they say "you have a little nearsightedness....or is that farsightedness?.....not sure, but it's the one where you don't see close up very well....it's kinda like fiction or non fiction ....or left brain or right brain....what's so bad is it's just 2 things you are comparing but i can not remember what is what for anything.....i even made up that thing where you make something up to help you remember...what a minute...............mnemonic devise....but maybe that's not it......cause i would say not true for non fiction?.....not sure if that's right ....hold up a minute again....no it's the opposite...not false......which is like a double negative and very confusing.......you think it would be easy to remember 2 things, but maybe not...........i have played guitar since 3rd grade and i still can not remember the names of the strings......well i know both e's and the a........but after that i always mess them up.....it's just 6 strings..........it's like doing story problems, which i have talked about before......the 5:00 train leaves the station at 12, and carried 9 tons of blah blah blah........i've already zoned out..........my neighbor tells me this when she talks taxes to me, or anything to do with money....what?.....i just zoned out on myself.........she says "why am i talking to you about this, you have already left the building"........it's not that i have left the building, it's just the way the sun was lighting up the dust speck that was floating near her head made me think of incorporating that into this painting i was working on........anyway.........
           but back to the vision thing.......so back then i just needed readers....which helped alot!.....what a difference in being able to paint! and read!....woo hoo.......... now the eye doc said i need real glasses.....not strong just a weak prescription..... cause now i have the other of what i had before......basically both sightednesses....or both non sightednesses?.....so after dragging my feet and things are kinda blurry out there and it would be nice to not be squinting to see far away......... i decided to try the bifocal glasses....instead of having 2 pairs of glasses to keep up with i would just need one!.....makes sense........well when i got them i  about walked into a wall when i put them on....besides making me extremely dizzy.... how can anybody see out of 2 inches of glass.....cause when you look straight ahead its all good, but look down and you fall over or run into things until you look up again which starts the dizzy proccess all over again..........how do you see the world???........i took them back and got the 1 vision glasses....much better...... but not being used to wearing glasses all the time, they ended up on the top of my head cause i would think they were the reading glasses.......and there i am squinting to see far away again, till i realized....oh put my glasses on.............it's been quite a journey getting used to wearing glasses.........but i can say that "wow i can really see stuff now!"........i can even see the exit sign before i pass it and go...oops that was my exit......."oops that was my exit"......

            so while reading glasses help you to read,
            and seeing glasses help you to see,
          remembering the difference between 2 things,
          is trickier than it should be... 
         two leaves the station at 1,
         and 1 leaves the station at 2,
         good bye to you,  1 and two,
          was this non fiction or completely true................?

           sometimes i wonder about myself........be groovy

          good morning campers......well while watching art marketing videos, i started researching how to ship artwork....that's a big concern of mine because,  say i finally get my artwork up for sale, "i finally get my artwork up for sale".... and say someone actually buys something!!!....."yeah!".......well back it up....first i have to be checking my website everyday to see if someone did buy something or has asked a question about my artwork.....then if they want to buy it......now i have to ship it....how do i ship it??? ......so many questions and i am dragging my feet like crazy...my toes are so scuffed up......well not too bad at the moment.......but it's alittle overwhelming thinking i will have to keep up with this everyday and not procrastinate........i know myself and if i can procrastinate i will........but that's not really the professional way is it........and there's no better way to lose customers than to not realize they have contacted you or bought something they didn't receive, etc......yikes....i put so much pressure on myself....
          so one of the art marketing videos i was watching was talking about why not to become a full time artist...always a good motivator!.......and it ended with something like complacency is death......lovely......but i guess true also......if you are not creating and marketing your work, you're not making a living......and let me tell you that waiting around for the phone to ring, does not work....well unless you want a solicitor to call you....that works...they call all the time....i actually tried to sell my artwork to a solicitor once.....i asked them to ask all the people there, if anyone needed a mural......they haven't called back.....i guess they weren't expecting that.....and i guess they didn't need a mural.....but anyway, i perfected that marketing strategy of waiting for the phone to ring.......it's kind of a lousey strategy.......
        but..... some things i have learned are,  to keep it simple......which works for me.....so just go with 2 or 3 social media places and do them well....so i have instagram.com/bobbismurals/  and facebook.com/bobbismurals/ (by the way in case you wanted to check either or both of those out....hint hint)..........i believe i spend more time on instagram than on facebook.....but there's alot to be said about spreading yourself too thin.......i started out doing this social media and that social media and forgetting that i had those and others.....that doesn't get an audience, which is what i'm after in order to sell my work.....i gather.....i'm not after gazillions of viewers, well i wouldn't turn them down, but,  i'm not even in that ballpark....i'm in the dirt patch down the road......which is kind of a good place....ya know that little shop on the corner that people stop in......and we chat about life and art and sit in bean bag chairs and have tea.....that could be dangerous cause as soon as you sit down in a bean bag chair your tea spills all over you and hopefully it wasn't hot tea......ask my youngest about hot tea spilling on her....it wasn't much but alittle is more than you need.....and aren't bean bag chairs so fun when there is a small hole in one, so whenever you sit down it shoots out little stryrofoam beans.......which are all over your house .... and you never get rid of them...... i believe they multiply when you sweep....or really they crawl up in the bristles of the broom and hang on till the appropriate time to jump off..........but anyway.....someplace low key, comfortable, welcoming and friendly.....kind of like the meg ryan movie about the bookstore.....that's a great shop.......there is a book store in german village in ohio.....it's the grooviest book store, i believe it's like a block long, but it was a house or a couple of houses, so when you go in there are all these little nooks and crannies where you can go and hang out and read....it's great......not sure if they are still in business, but a great store.....
         so while looking to find the right balance between a million views or 3.....it helps to know that along the way there are friends and family to encourage you, viewers that leave positive comments and the fun viewers that leave not so nice comments, solicitors that call constantly and a thousand and one videos on how to ship artwork............but all in all i'm in a subjective field, where everyone has their own opinion of what they think or like in art.....and i just have to be okay with me and my artwork.....and take everything else with a grain of salt.....preferably salt at the beach!.....be groovy!