howdy do campers......well my 100 days plus 4 ( i did not add correctly...what's new?, and so my 100 days ended up being 104 days)....so 100 days plus 4 are going well....im taking some liberties with my art.....yesterday was fabric day...actually patch my jeans day.....i feel like i was using the sewing machine to draw with so that was counted as a day......
     speaking of patchwork jeans.....well no one was, but i segued ....segued looks so strange....segway looks better but that's a thing you ride......which i have and is very bizarre and fun.......focus....so who patches jeans anymore?.....well i do....but it used to be the thing to do, but now the thing to wear are  leggings......they are really comfy, but not great to patch.....too funny.......i just imagined someone wearing patched leggings.......probably me.......not really working............ so way back you would get these rectangular patches that were sewn or ironed on....no kids, not like a piece of iron on your jeans,..... it's that contraption that used to be used all the time by mom's everywhere.....iron out wrinkles in skirts, shirts, dresses, in my mom's case, sheets, towels, curtains, etc....or in my case, grilled cheese sandwiches.....yes virginia you can iron grilled cheese sandwiches on the ironing board,.... prepare the grilled cheese like you normally would then wrap in aluminum foil and iron on both sides.....amazing and really fun.........and for you carnivorous people you can make it a ham and cheese,  or for you vegans a tofu and vegan cheese.....that's really good.......... but where was i....wait, i'm right here....ha ha ha .....i make myself laugh all the time......i'm not really sure why people don't come by anymore....hmmmm........
         back to jeans......so these patches would be sewn or ironed onto the knees of your jeans even before you wore them.....to keep your jeans from wearing out so fast......cause, i always spell cause, casue....had to correct it............anyway....... you only had so many jeans and they had to last the whole year....if you grew, which we all did....material got added to the bottom...or everyone asked you why you are wearing high waters.........like you had rolled up your jeans cause you're wading through water, but you didn't roll them you just wore jeans that were too short...anyway.......well my hubby wanted to get some jeans, levis to be exact, but there are so many numbers...501, 502, 505, etc....and then what fit and cut do you want?....flare, boot cut, low rise, high rise....not a skyscraper, ....narrow leg, loose fit, curvy.....well not my hubby,....or me......relaxed, really low rise....which is kind of redundant....low- rise........what color, etc.............how bout just a pair of jeans.......and now it's not a pair of jeans it's just jean.........which is what i'm called by my relatives, and my mom when she's mad at me....bobbi jean....a good southern double name......
            but back to my 100 days plus 4, so fabric art is a thing and really art is subjective so anything you do could be construed.....very wild word.....as art.............like i just made art with the dots....."i felt it was a very existential reality that affirms the dot's existence".......what?.......right.......really i was just thinking......but yeah art can be anything.....and i've been getting some inspiring info from art marketing videos.....so i keep moving forward....ever so slowly......and even though i was supposed to be selling my artwork by april 1st...joke on me.....i'm pushing to have a way to sell my artwork by the end of this month!.....yes that's right i said it.....october 31, i will have my artwork up for sale........yikes........better get a move on.....
         so moving on...... art marketing is going well......my hubby did get some jeans.....the pictures below will be photos of my art jeans....some i can still wear and some are only patches with a little bit of jean left....or jean right......but not jean write....cause she was sewing....on day 25.....be groovy!
​ps- happy 12th birthday o 
         
        
        

      Howdy all you fabulous campers!....well it's october so halloween decorating is in full swing....or has been in full swing......also my 100 days of art is going well....actually doing it...yeah me!......especially when i can combine
halloween and my art....
       so my daughter, the oldest twin, loves halloween.....and last year i had told her that she needs some sort of monster climbing over her fence because you can see it from far off.......so last year we had made some cardboard eyes and fingers....didn't have alot of time so it was a rush job......still looked cute.....but this year i said we needed to go bigger.....so after looking online at different chicken wire sculptures.....we made a chicken wire monster......with fingers too..........now what i wanted to do was have the monster climbing over the fence......but with only a total of around 7 hours....my ideas got scaled done abit........we got done what we could get done.....
      the start of the monster was us trying to figure out how big to make it......i had already painted 3 eyes for him....dollar tree has some big clear plastic serving bowls at the fabulous price of $1 each....gotta love dollar tree.....ya know in japan their dollar tree is called the 100 yen store.......great stuff there!.......so back to the  eyes.....so i painted them like i painted my dino eyes, from the inside and they turned out great.......i'm trying to get the picture in the text for you to see....
     i remember doing a post on chasing around the image as i tried to put it in the text....it's happening again.....arrrggghh....and now the text formatting has gone ca -flooee....that's the technical name for when your text goes crazy......i don't think it's happening today...
       anyway   so here we are ....well there we were actually....but we were trying to figure out how to start the monster.....let me say making an armature before you start is way better than making after you have put alot of chicken wire in a shape and it's not holding it's shape......live and learn.......so after multiple starts and restarts and numerous people now helping hold the shape we get the head kind of done........the armature is now in and somewhat stable inside the monster....he's holding his own...yeah.....we secure the eyes in the monster.......get the first part of the nose done....i wanted him to be sort of a kilroy type monster.....ya know the nose hanging over the fence and the fingers gripping the fence........it was an old cartoon type character.....so we needed him to be propped up more or laying on his back to finish the nose......anyway.......so my daughter and i are getting to the tired part .......ya know the part where we are getting tired of each other......i have my idea....she has her idea......i gotta say that her way of attaching some chicken wire did work a little better than mine.....sometimes my vision is not as clear as it could be.....kind of a cloudy vision that works itself out through alot of trial and error.......and painful cuts and scratches ...because chicken wire is sharp.....who knew??
       now my daughters' like, "what are we covering him with?".....hmmmm....my original idea was shower curtains or cheap plastic and then spray paint them.....but since we didn't have that with us and it's getting dark and we are trying to hold it together with our frustration of "it's not done yet???".....i say "how about cobwebs?...they should stick to chicken wire real easy!".......let me say that unless something is rough....cobwebs don't stick to it........but they do stick to anything and everything else....our gloves, bodies, hair, feet, tools, etc.....just not chicken wire......so let's cut the chicken wire in areas to attach it!!!......after many more painful cuts and scratches....that did not work much better.....then we thought how bout that gauzy fabric....like cheese cloth but cheaper.......we put that on first....but it didn't stick much better either.........then an idea hit us.....or that might have been the chicken wire.....but..... eureka.....spray glue!!!!!......
      the fabulous properties of spray glue......you spray and it glues....wonderful......so now we have gauzy fabric glued to chicken wire with cobwebs glued to that and our hands and fingers glued to each other and cobwebs glued to our clothes and feet......but the monster looks great!!!!.....
      still need arms and legs....like i said we had to scale down.....so fingers it is.....well 3 fingers, cause we were kinda done and it was starting to rain.....
        the next day, it's really raining now and we finish 5 more fingers, attach noodles for hair.....pool noodles are the best...you can use them for anything.......so fun..........now with the help of my son-in-law and hubby we have to attach it to the fence....in the rain....and the wind.......no problem.....electric power tools in the rain....so much fun.....
       all i can say is...."hallelujah the monster is secured to the fence and looking fabulous".....the whole fence might fall over in a strong wind but the monster  will stay attached to the fence!.......
        so the next time you want to make a monster for your fence ...i would say cardboard is such a great material to work with...not as painful.......and it's free!..............but ...making the monster made up 2 days of my 100 days of art....sweet!!!...be groovy yall !
       

      howdy campers....so one of my grands was telling me that you don't need a license to own a artic fox.....and i was like ...no i'm pretty sure you have to have a license and be trained too....which i guess is how you get the license......also i said they are wild animals...not pets....which brought the conversation around to the skunk i used to own......
      so way back before kids and a husband....i was delivering pizzas...in my vw bug....loved that car...it was my first car and it was fabulous!!!......anyway i went to this one house and walked up to the door and these 2 huge great danes came to the door....oh my gosh they were so cute.....and then a skunk waddles up between them........i was in hog heaven.......well that would probably be skunk heaven, cause it was a skunk and not a hog.....moving on.....the owner comes to the door and i am just raving about the skunk.....she says "do you want him?"......and i say "of course!!!!".......i mean who wouldn't take a skunk that you just saw from a house you were delivering pizzas to?.....right??!!.....well.....i rented a house with 2 other guys and let's just say  they  weren't as thrilled with the skunk as i was, but i kept him in my room.....in general.....ok he roamed the house......oh and i already had a guinea pig and a dog........and how many problems could a skunk really cause?
     ya know sometimes spontaneous decisions can be really interesting and exciting......i mean if you think things through too much you you probably wouldn't do some things.....of course it is good to think things through sometimes.....but maybe not too much....
         so how many problems can a skunk cause...........well it started with the skunk..tea bear....chasing the guinea pig, while the dog chased the skunk through out the house.....that was fun and chaotic.......then there was tea bear digging.....they really like to dig....alot....with long claws......in the bathroom..... on the walls.....lot of drywall repair needed.......then tea bear would do this back up hopping thing...trying to scare people off, which would tear up the carpet......thankfully he couldn't spray.......what else.......oh yeah he got out a bunch of times and would scare the neighbors because they thought it was a rabid skunk digging at their screen doors....he was just hungry.....had to get him from the dog pound a couple of times......i don't know how he would get out....he was pretty smart...............a fun thing we would do is walk around the neighborhood.....with tea bear on a cat harness leash......he basically waddled.......super adorable.....he did have a musky smell to him, like a ferret...but all in all he was fabulous.....
          i had checked about getting another skunk some years back and found out you had to have a wildlife license.......so that's how i gathered an artic fox would need more of a license to get one.....and since we don't live in the artic....maybe not.....they are cute though........
        so even though jumping in with both feet with out looking can sometimes lead to not so great consequences....sometimes you just need to be spontaneous and hopefully things will turn out pretty groovy.....or you could just be repairing alot of drywall..........i mean if you are delivering pizzas and an artic fox comes to the door and the owner says "do you want him?".......what would you say?................be groovy!
​
.....ps- so i have been searching the house for this 1 photo of me and tea bear and all i can find is the book that came with the him.....so one day when i find it i'll post it for you to see how adorable he was!.....see ya
        
      

      good morning campers........well let's just dive right in.....i obviously have too many fires going to accomplish anything......i've been reading things on marketing and such, and getting very overwhelmed with all the information out there..........how do you focus on something when you have 5 thousand somethings going on???   i was reading an article about , what else, art marketing....and came across this artist...corrina thurston.......i figured i give her props for inspiring me and others....i mean she is pretty inspirational, she's got a great story too........but in 10 years, she has gone from sketching to doing alot of stuff successfully.......wow......i have been at this for over 30 years and while yes i have done alot of murals, i just feel like maybe i have too much stuff going on or trying to make go on?....does that make sense?.....i'm not comparing myself ....well maybe i am....i mean all artists are different, all art is subjective........but i want to make this a business, ya know actually make a living at it, but ........there are alot of but's here.......i guess i'm making excuses for not achieving ...what....well i'm not sure.....
           so that really gets to the point of why i'm where i am.......not really anywhere.....well i am ....i'm here...so that's not anywhere.....but....wow that's my word today.....
       so my art day goes.....cause i've got other stuff i do, but i'll focus on the art part at the moment.......check email....interact with others on facebook....i seem to be a hermit and don't interact much on facebook or at all and then i'm asking people to "check out my latest post or artwork"....kinda rude and insensitive to others thinking i'm so special people want to read all about my latest exploits.......so i try to interact on facebook.......i have to set a timer cause i get sucked in and the next thing i know its 2 hours later.......but there is alot of funny stuff out there........then try to post on instagram, cause if you post 1 time a day people start following you...is what people say, and you know what people say....."no, what do people say?".......anyway....oh my, i'm rhyming now.....you can tell when things are going downhill when you rhyme at will.....ok that was a forced rhyme...... .......do you feel the pressure already and i've only gotten into 45 min of my art day.....and once again you can't just post on instagram and not interact there either......so i set the timer again....cause there is alot of good stuff out there............then different days of the week i do different things at this point....write blog, draw pics for blog, post blog, work on computer to edit pics, rework on computer cause now i have to make all pics 1200 pixels or less...arrrgghh and i forgot how to resize again...i think i lost the post-it.....apply to mural calls....which means i have to find pics to send, write statements of why i want to apply to the calls, archive pics, photograph artwork, download artwork.............then.......that's supposed to take about an hour or so...now i actually draw, paint, sketch, whatever....for about an hour......ha ha ha.........i am a mess..........my biorhythms must be in the dumpster today.........i only really.....reverse that....i really only have 3 hours to get all that done before going back to my paying job.......and i thought i was organized....ha ha.....oh yeah and also this above doesn't happen everyday........sometimes i get part of it done.....some days i just do whatever i want...which might not be anything....it's great being my own boss.....but sometimes my boss is not that organized....and kinda lazy....at times.....
        well what to do???......hmmm.......well 1st, stop ranting about my lack of getting stuff done and 2nd,  .....get stuff done!...right?!.....i mean it's not rocket science....or is it??...... if i want to do something, i have to actually do something......sometimes i amaze myself with my brilliance........the wonders of my brain.......so i figured what better way to say "hey i'm gonna do something", than in public, or on the internet......so world....for the next ....wait a second while i go and count the days.......14 weeks and 2 days....hey that's exactly 100 days....seriously i didn't plan that...........unless my math is wrong, which it could be.....but that gets us to the end of 2020......i will....this is not a maybe or i'll try, but i will do a drawing or sketch or painting or some sort of artwork everyday!!!!.....which is 100 pieces of art.....woohoo!....... i will post them here so yall get 7 fun filled drawings every week now!!!....and post on instagram everyday, well skipping sunday, so mon -sat.........which also means i'm posting a blog every tuesday!...yes that's right folks...blog posts on tues!
           so hopefully , no change that to....... this will... get me creating art everyday........this will get me motivated , even when i don't want to be motivated.......i'm on fire....can someone say bipolar?....."bipolar"........so moving forward,  switching "but" for "will",  creating art for the next 100 days, and use all my fires to draw by.....God's got my back, and front...ha ha...........life is good!    be groovy!
        

      good morning campers....hope all is well with you and your virtual selves.....life has become very topsy turvey here........topsy turvey, that's a great word....needs to be said more...."topsy turvey" ....my spell check is having a field day at the moment....so my streamlining hasn't been going well, because, well, i am easily distracted.........who knew??....surely not me!....what?!.....it seems, well it's not that it seems, it's more like it is, that  i've been focused on everything but my painting....feeling alittle discouraged, but it's really my own fault...because, see, why be discouraged when you can be encouraged!!!......"go team go"......"you've got this"......"just one more turn".....that's what i kept hearing when i ran my first and only (at the moment) marathon......but really it was more like 100 more turns.......but it did keep me going.......my brain is easily tricked.............but back to being distracted.....  i go back and forth with, "well is this really what i want ?" (talking about painting).....and "yeah it is...i'm pretty sure"......ah ha!...there's the problem....me and my doubting mind........but then what am i doubting.....my ability?......possibly, cause i believe we all doubt ourselves at one time or another.....well not the evil older sister.....she definitely is not a doubter....she's a doer...and a "get out of my wayer, i'm on a roll"....... and a "oh i'm sorry, not, that i stepped on your prone body while i'm trying to make a sandwich".........how many times today have you said "prone?".....kind of an odd word...."well that was prone to happen" ....or " since i believe that dust actually protects the surfaces of things i was prone to get dust caterpillars"....more like dust llamas......and i wonder why the kids sneeze when they come in the house?!....hmmmmm
      i'm trying to write this before the bread rises and i have to knead the dough......11 min......no problem..........
         anyway so this doubting thing i have going on really must stop..........you see i can make a  decision and doubt if i made the right decision about what i just decided because after i make a decision then i weigh the pros and cons of the decision i could have made instead which never weigh out the same......and then l feel guilty over making that decision, but it wouldn't matter if i made the other decision because i would have done the same thing.....it's a no win -no win situation here......guilt and doubt are siblings by the way....i start doubting what decision to make and then when i make the decision along comes doubts sibling to the party and wham serious guilt over the decision......which brings me back to doubt.......i can say that i have gotten better with the guilt.....i think.....at least i don't apologize when it's raining anymore........the power i think i have is incredible........so instead of feeling guilty and doubtful, i'm trying to actually learn something from all my choices i make.....people say "weigh the pros and cons before you make a decision"....yeah i have done that too, but it still drives me right back to the doubt and guilt house.....good times.....it's probably something the evil older sister did to me years ago....probably a recording she played while i was sleeping that instilled this guilt doubt family in my brain........ ........ya know i been trying to really get God's opinion before doing stuff..... maybe i won't doubt/guilt myself so much....right.......but i keep forgetting to check in.....God does alot of those v8 slaps to the head concerning me....
          i've got a minute....be right back.....and you can be left front.....ha ha ha
       so the minute turned into a couple of days .... and a weekend at the beach.....my happy place.......and the bread turned out fantastic and delicious!...yeah!!!........ but back to my doubting guilt filled existence......it's not really that bad..... 1st,  i forget quickly what i'm feeling guilty about and 2nd ....what was i talking about?.....
   i think that's my saving grace......"what is?"...... and why i  live....."i can streamline"........ a....."butterfly".........totally........."shiny object" .......distracted........"was that the right decision?"........topsy turvey........"i believe i will now say that guilt and doubt are happiness and sunshine and every decision i make is done, right or wrong"........."maybe?"........ life.............."my new life credo-que ser ra ser ra"......."it was prone to happen".......be groovy! 
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      good morning you fabulous campers!....well it's been a bit since i have written a post....got alittle preoccupied with kids and grands visiting, or going to visit them......summer is always a very non scheduled time here.....we have been beaching it alot.....well anytime i am near the beach it's definitely beach time........
     so the last couple of times i was at the beach i took my sketch book and drew waves......sounds easy enough, but much harder than you think.....i mean you think  "it's a wave, how hard is that?"......but water is ever changing and waves don't stand still unless you photograph them, but then you are losing the whole "plein-air" thing...which refers to outdoors.....so if you say plein air painting, it's painting outdoors......but i was doing a more plein air sketching....or basically sketching outdoors...ha ha.....
     anyway, so i'm sitting there watching the waves trying to retain what i saw for a brief second and then sketch it........i think the waves were laughing at me and saying to each other....."hey let's bring the white foam over in the middle....oh no let's drop down on the side.....how bout i just fizzle out?".........good times.....well i was at the beach so yeah it was good times.........
      and while watching the waves i was also watching how everyone interacts with the ocean too....so there are different groups of beach goers....probably many more groups but these were kinda the basics...........you've got the cowabunga crowd....they just run into the water and take the ocean head on....crashing into the waves, diving into the waves,  laughing their heads off, etc............then there is the sit or stand and watch crowd....they stand or sit near the edge of the water but don't want to get too wet, they enjoy their space beside the ocean without really submersing in the ocean, they like to watch whats going on..............then you have the jump the waves crowd....usually young kids, they stand at the edge of the water and jump the waves coming in or run from them when they crash on the beach....they have so much fun getting wet but not feeling the need to get completely submersed..........then you have the sandy engineers....they love to build and dig and make stuff in the sand....they love sand all over them, ........you have the beach explorers.....they like their feet to get wet and don't mind a little sand, but they like to keep moving, they like to hunt for shells, sea glass, driftwood, and any other treasure the ocean gives them........there are the clean up crowd....they walk the beach too but in search of trash to pick up...........i can say i have been all these groups in 1 day.........if i have the grands i'm definitely cowabunga dude....unless it's cold, i don't do well with cold water.....with the young grands i'm jump the waves.....always love to be a sandy engineer....and exploring and picking up trash will happen all the time too........there's not much to be bored with at the beach, always something for everyone.......in my opinion it's the best place in the world......love the beach
        a couple years ago, my bff and myself were at ....where else...the beach....and we're just enjoying the ocean and the beach......my bff is off walking her dogs......and i'm laying on the sand watching the little crabs come out of their holes.....ya know the ones that creep out of their holes then flick sand out of the holes......so funny.......anyway, i'm just laying there and i have little pieces of sea oats around me and i toss a sea oat and the little crab runs to get it.......i'm like what???.....so i toss some more and they go get those.......euerka! i have taught the crabs to play fetch!!!.........oh my gosh, so much fun  (obviously i'm easily entertained)......i layed there playing fetch with the crabs, toss a little sea oat to the side of them and they run over and get it........  when my bff came back and we got her dogs to not chase the crabs,  i showed her my new expertise......it's hillarious.....we layed there all morning playing fetch with the crabs.........good times! it's so good to have a bff who likes to lay in the sand and watch crabs....groovy......... i have also layed in hammocks and watched ants do their thing, very mesmerizing....or if you lay on your couch and watch the dust float through the air through the sunbeams........kind of meditative too i gather....maybe i was meditating with the crabs?.....hmmmmm....definitely meditative watching the waves...or i could just be lazy
          i wonder if that's what God thinks as He's watching us....well besides alot of slaps on His forehead pertaining to me of ...."not again??!!".....but besides that.....maybe we all need a little lazy, meditative, time where we just take in the little things going on around us....peaceful and tranquil........or  we just yell "cowabunga dude, i'm jumping in!!!".....just make sure the ocean doesn't fizzle out, cause wet sand is very hard!     be groovy!
          

     good morning all you fabulous campers.....so i haven't been posting for the last 2 weeks..........i get real involved with the grands and seem to have a very hard time scheduling time for my work.....and... sleep has eluded me.....what a great word eluded.......seems like a spy word......so getting up shortly after going to sleep and being wide awake.........really frustrating......i really like my sleep.........so woke up last night, tossed and turned, ya know the drill...... sleep on right side, sleep on left, sleep on back, sleep on front....great for the neck by the way.....sit up and try to untangle shirt that is now 3 times wrapped around my body, sleep sitting up, sleep pippi style (feet on pillow)...i love pippi longstocking....one of those amazing books that's at the top of my amazing book collection, i mean who wouldn't want to be able to pick up a horse and have a pirate captain for a dad?!, ......repeat whole sequence a couple times, finally decided to just get up ......couldn't do yoga, every room was occupied with a person or dog....multiple grands and one daughter was here along with her 2 large dogs.......so...didn't want to get the dogs started barking.......so i make my way to my  small art room ...too much stuff in it to do yoga....or it's the new yoga..."paint can yoga"....and sit.....and lay down....and sit again.....and do some praying.....like "help me get to sleep please"......reading.......isn't it funny how when we are kids we will do anything not to sleep and now as adults it's what we are after.....anyway after all the above numerous times i decide to paint,..... in the dark,...... with my fingers.....i just felt like i needed to have paint on my hands and be creating something........it's like you have this creating thing inside you and it needs to come out, eating at you, trying to devour you until you get it out.........so i paint....in the dark, well with the help of the moon ........just squirted paint on my fingers and painted on a canvas......pretty interesting......very fun, very relaxing.....a new therapeutic sleep technique......as my author friend nita says...."it's my meditation"......so true......after i have put layers of paint on this canvas i said, hey let's check out this nighttime masterpiece.........yeah, not so much.....but it did relax me, then after a couple of sketches in the light.....of course when you are tired your eyes don't really focus so well, which was why the dark painting with fingers worked so well....., but hey, they were just sketches......once again not my best work, but the goal wasn't getting things "right"....or "left"....ha ha ...it was to relax......worked like a charm and i was finally able to go back to sleep.....
      i believe i will have to try this more often, maybe i'll get good enough that these paintings might look like something.......or not......but anyway, i'm writing this while trying to give one of my grands some things to do.....so if i seem more distracted than usual.....well let's just say it's normal for me.......so for the grapes.....sorry......she's looking for grapes......so for the next couple weeks i will be moving my youngest from one apartment to the next, watching some of my grands, going to the beach, surfing!!!...or more like falling.....i'm really good at falling off the board.....amazing as a matter of fact....if there was a competition for falrfing (falling off a surf board),  i would win hands down......or basically nose down cause that's alot of my problems.....also that balance thing too.........then driving from south carolina to north carolina and back to virginia  and back to north carolina, etc,  and eating lots of cheese balls, cause that's what my grand is doing right now, jumping back and forth saying "i have cheese ball cheeks".......and probably not putting anything up on this blog post...........so.....hope yall have a very meditative  week with lots of nighttime painting....remember to  practice your falrfing and hopefully sleep will not elude you too!...........be groovy

      good afternoon campers.....fabulous terrific tuesday today!......i have been trying to get back to my streamlining....which in the world of someone who is distracted by most anything, is kinda like stream-wandering.......maybe stream-wading, which is so fun to do, just walk through a stream, checking out nature and what God's created....kind of like God's instagram....pretty groovy creations!!!....back to streamlining......it's kinda like the two trains...the local and the other one which i can't remember what it's called......i'm definitely the local......probably the scenic.....maybe a slow boat to china........it's like back when toys r us was still in business....this was probably  back in the 80's....i remember walking in to find a toy for our soon to be twins....and i was so distracted by everything.....i mean there were toys everywhere, up down all around.....and the colours.....wow.......pretty colours........shiny stuff......i believe i'm a magpie.......except without the stealing of stuff......and magpie....what a groovy name....well anything with pie in it is a pretty groovy name......moon pie, door pie, sky pie, dog pie, shoe pie, cow pie...ok maybe not that one...unless your'e a cow, mural pie, pie pie, etc......pie's looking like it's not spelled right at the moment.......
         so back to streamlining.....it's like herding cats over here........have you ever tried to herd cats by the way?......cats just sit there and look at you and probably say to each other ....."isn't it so much fun to watch humans try to get us to do something that is never going to happen unless we want to do whatever it is we want to do when we want to do it....they think we have no control over our actions, and as if we would even need their crazy attention, we are not dogs, as if we would even...laser light!!!!!"......yeah cats are just as bad as me at times.....
       or could it be procrastination?....hmmmm....of course wouldn't that be a good thing??!!....i mean it starts with a pro......that means you need to be good at it to be called a pro....i really haven't heard of any amateurcrastinators....that is a mouthful of a word, but used in a sentence...."seeing how the llama was waiting for the boat in the hot sun, the alpaca amateurcrastinated getting in line and still made it on time"....obviously the alpaca wasn't a pro at crastination or he would have missed the boat completely......like i'm missing the boat on streamlining, which means i'm  procrastinating, which means i'm not an amateur i'm a pro, which means i'm a professional at getting distracted, which means i should be getting paid more because of course professionals get paid more, which means i can go on more vacations, which means i can travel the world by boat, which means if i'm a pro at procrastinating....i will miss the boat......
      so procrastination is not the best thing to be a pro at...you'll miss the boat, the llamas, and the cowpies (which could be a good thing).............. probably better to be a professional cat herder.......be groovy........(yeah, God's having a field day with this one)

      good morning all you fabulous campers!!!.....it's another amazing day..... a day to bring joy into someones life.....a day to say...."hey, you matter"....and "hey, you are loved"............that's our God moment to begin your day with!....right on groovy peeps.........God's being my wingman today at my post....well everyday really..........of course i get going and and God looks away for just a second, and then He looks back and is like..."what are you writing?"...it's an interesting relationship here......
      so i bet you didn't know that if you boil water in the microwave for awhile it will eventually kind of blow up?....ok....so what happened was i was boiling water in a mug for turmeric tea.....super great tea......anyway i set the microwave to 3 min ....i stopped the microwave at about 2min 45 sec and opened the microwave....but the water didn't seem to be boiling....so i shut it and turned it back on.....and ...i am laughing now at my reaction......it was pretty funny......anyway....i was watching it.....cause why wouldn't you sit and watch a microwave cook stuff?!...it's like watching yeast grow.....fascinating........and all of a sudden the water blew out of the top of the mug.......sorry i'm laughing so hard at this.....it wasn't like it boiled over, it blew out of the mug....straight up and everywhere in the microwave...... my reaction was to jump back and yell whoa...or something like that....it super shocked me, .....well not static shock, ....i cannot stand to get static shocked.....i will smack things numerous times before i touch them.....probably comes from the whole electric fence thing........ back to the microwave....
      it was hilarious....i had jumped back , yelled and then burst out laughing......looking around to see if anyone was watching....you know the drill....... it's like when you trip and you look around to see if anyone saw ,...and of course someone always does....which makes you feel foolish and then you try to brush it off like.."of course i was trying to almost fall and then catch myself on a person in front of me which caused their pants to rip , which caused them to spill their drink on the person walking toward them, which caused that person to throw their arms out which smacked another person, who stepped on a dogs foot, who bit"......ok so i got a little carried away.....gosh, that reaction....wait there's a word....chain reaction, so this chain reaction could go on forever......hey.....it might still be going on.....what?!........whoa......i mean just think about that...........heavy ...........oh and then it comes back around to you and you get a drink spilled on you along with being smacked in the face and bit by a dog, which rips your pants.....hopefully the drink didn't just come out of the microwave after exploding....which actually would be very safe, cause there wasn't anything left in the mug.....ha ha....just a microwave full of water.......every time i stop to think....scary, i know.....my cursor jumps back to the beginning of the post and then i will start typing and.....is it still called typing?.......anyway, it jumps to the top and i start on a thought and by the time i look up everything i wrote is now at the front of the post......good times.....
        ok where was i???....chain reaction and feeling foolish.....but aren't we all foolish at sometime or another.....i can tell you with me it's more "times"....not just "somes".....like how many times am i not being foolish or doing something really goofy.....yeah...moving on.......i guess we just need to start this groovy chain reaction....  laugh at ourselves more, which makes people smile, which makes people remember something silly they did, which makes people laugh, which bring joy to people.......be groovy!!!! and remember God loves ya!!!!....right on!
            
         

       good afternoon you fabulous campers!!!.....speaking of campers, that has become a big activity now....camping in the great outdoors......sometimes your outdoors is really out your door.....like your backyard......the best things  about camping in your backyard are,.... it's free! ....food can be kept in the fridge, no need for coolers full of ice that are constantly melting.....hot water and the big one.....a toilet that flushes......funny how you don't realize how nice that is till you are without one......you see some years ago...my youngest daughter and i went backpack camping on the appalachian trail with her girl scout troop .......these were high school age girls.......so while i have never backpack camped.....i was all for it....i love to camp so....this is gonna be super fun!!!.....
      so the plan is we get on the AT from amherst va.....there is a figure 8 trail that's about 10 miles long total...remember i only remember bits and pieces of things...trail might have been longer or shorter........so we don't have to backtrack while backpacking....ha ha......anyway.....so we divvy....strange word when spelled out......up the gear so everyone has similar loads....just 40 pounds......no problem......at the beginning...........and off we go....well let me backtrack a bit to the night before....i guess my spidey-sense should have been up when the troop leader says "we're gonna camp here at this campground for the night and then start off in the am"......and she points to an open field......."where is this campground you talk of?" i ask.....she laughs and walks off......right.........
          so back to 40 pounds on my back.....i don't know if anyone saw "wild" the story about the lady who walks the western version of the AT in well, the west.......cause that whole trying to fit everything in your backpack scene and put it on is very true.......you want everything light....didn't know that trail mix and ramen are heavy.....but after 5 miles....everything is heavy....you're trying to shove everything in a backpack that only fits half of that stuff.......it's like trying to get an inflatable unicorn raft back in the box it came in after being inflated.......it just doesn't happen......so after much wrangling with the pack....it's like a wildcat attacking it's prey....rolling around, punching, prodding, standing on it, screaming and yelling......other hikers we're shielding their kids from us and getting back in their cars and locking them, saying things like....."mommy i'm scared"...."just look away dear, it'll be ok"............... then try standing up after putting on your pack....yes, you do fall over backwards...we had alot of webbles that wobble and do fall down....reference to an old tv commercial...webbles wobble but they don't fall down...ha ha....anyway.....we had to put their packs on them and then the last one had to prop against a car to wiggle in theirs.......and that was just the first 3 hours.........so off we go up hill, in the snow, barefoot.....no , that would of been really bad.....but i definitely would have missed the trail head if the leader had not pointed it out......it was this tiny opening between trees......more previews of things to come...... so uphill over rocks and boulders we go.......
        the AT is really beautiful....well the scenery, the actual trail, i feel, needs a little more obvious marking.......some places it does look like a trail, others are just packed grass, and some it's a random color randomly placed......it's like those little towns that people say, don't blink or you'll miss it....well don't blink or you'll miss the color and off the trail you go.........so fast forward to our "campground"....i say that lightly cause once again the leader says "here's our campground" pointing to a direction of nowhere........supposedly the boy scouts made this campground.....obviously it was a boy scout who didn't really want to make a campground so he just stomped around a bit and said "yeah i made a campground".........so the big plus for this "campground" was it has running water!!!!  yea!!!   show me where..............................a stream.........................."and i gather the toliet is???" .....i got handed a shovel.........actually a garden trowel....must think light, remember?!..............
          other fun things we did.........not taking our flashlights with us to go see the "view" at sunset.....trying to find our way back to the "campsite" after dark with no lights...yeah, it's really dark up there........tying up our food so the bears don't get it....yes and like in  "wild", i had already read the numerous ways bears can kill you.....just to be prepared......very reassuring.....rescuing me from the tree as i went up instead of the food............sleeping in our little nylon tent of safety...surely no bears can get through that.....listening to the numerous bears outside our little nylon tent of safety eating the food.......eating ramen for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.....i gather bears don't like ramen...siphoning water for drinking....a little mud isn't that bad...right??!......
           so this was my first primitive camping experience......and considering all the craziness of the trip, it was pretty fun.....i just need to keep my camping expectations to a minimum and all will be well...well.....basic....as in basically nothing for your comfort.....of course i could just fill a backpack full of stuff...walk around the neighborhood and then camp in the backyard.....i could name my campground "camp of running water, flushing potty, and no bears"......be groovy!