May 12, 2012

Artist of the Week

My artist of the week is my mom. You won't find any of her fabulous creations on the internet or in a gallery or store anywhere. In fact, most of the beautiful paper dolls, fashion designs and oil paintings, she created no longer exist due to a terrible flood in our family home basement some twenty odd years ago. That doesn't mean they don't exist in my memories. When my mom (mom #1) passed away when I was in my twenties, I had hoped to maintain and pass on her hand drawn paper dolls and their divine wardrobe (also designed and drawn by mom) to my daughter. Not being artistically inclined in the visual art realm, I can only describe them to my daughter. I pass on to her my love for movement and creativity. The drawing and painting moved through me to my sons and there it manifests itself. My daughter and youngest son - dance, the middle two children - draw. Thank you, Mimi!

My mom, known as Mimi, to her three daughters, was Margaret Ann Latten. She was an only child and was raised in Austin, Texas. When she went to college at Talledega College in Alabama, she met my dad. She graduated and they moved first to New York City (and created my older sister and I) and then to Detroit (where the last daughter was created). She worked for the Civil Rights Commission until her late diagnosed Lupus forced her into an early retirement. She was a wonderful mother, with all the ups and downs that went with it. She shaped most of the way I view the world and how I raise my own brood. She was the first one to show me that nothing you want to do is impossible if you work with perseverance to get it. She built bookcases and sewed prom dresses from newspaper patterns. She wore all her mom hats well and I only hope that as I travel on this path, that I wear my 'hats' just as well. Thank you, Mimi!

I found this adorable book at the local library this past week and just had to check it out. I wondered if these 31 uses included any of the uses my children have for their mom. You know, those "mom hats". The very first use in the book is TIME accompanied by a delightful drawing of a mom standing at the door, waiting for her child to leave on the school bus.

The uses go on to include such time honored classics as #6 Doctor, #27 Bank, #28 Tweezer, and #18 Party Planner. It doesn't include some of my all time "faves". I could continue the list by adding:

#32 Personal Groomer (really you put those pants with that shirt?)

#32 Laundress (I just washed those, can you just put them away?)

#34 Homework Assistant (I haven't done algebraic expressions in twenty years, I don't know the answer!)

#35 Life Coach (maybe she just isn't the one for you right now, how about an ice cream cone?)

What would you add to the list?

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Fun With Music and Video Monday

I saw this video on Saturday morning and was moved to tears. What an awesome testimony! Proctor and Gamble did a superb job with this ad. I am purposely not saying what the focus of the ad is, because I want you to view it and weigh in with your opinions ^_^! Oh and hey, have a spectacular day!

February 29, 2012

Anything Can Happen Day!

I am a Great Aunt who happens to be a great-aunt, hee, hee (total pun intended). Here is my brand new (well, okay she's a few days old now) grand niece, 

Sabrina Guiliana McQueen 

I can't wait to see her again. My mom (new great grandma), older sister (the new grandma) and I keep trying to remind my nephew that he and his fiancee were merely the vessels that brought our little bundle of joy into the world. She totally belongs to us now (can you say "spoiled"?). Sure we'll let them visit, we'll write, send a few pictures, but really I think their job is done here. My daughter (the only girl to be born into our immediate family in the last 21 years) has started buying little matching "big girl/little girl cousin" outfits. She had to reassure my youngest, that he's not being replaced as her bestest youngest brother, but that he now has a new "toy" to play with. I'm afraid....very afraid, lol!

December 14, 2011

Anything Can Happen Wednesday

My children get out of school for the holiday break this coming Friday, December 16^th. Two weeks ago, I was feeling a tad bit overwhelmed and more than ready for them to be home (three less “things” to have to prepare every day), but now that it’s almost time….AAAGGGGGHHHHH!

It’s actually more planning to have them home during the school hours than at school. I totally forgot about preparing lunches and planning activities (no way are they vegging in front of the tv with video games for two weeks) and sharing my daily routine with theirs. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE spending time with my boys (my daughter can’t come home for the holidays, she just got a new job), I just have to have a game plan that will hold the interests of a 15-, 13- and 6 year old boy. 

Lunch Plans

My sons love hanging out in the kitchen, sometimes with me, sometimes not. Lunch plans look like this:

Sat, Dec 17 – Homemade Burgers and Fresh Cut Fries	Sun, Dec 18 – Mom & Son Day – Mom’s Ramen Noodles	Mon, Dec 19 – Sub Sandwiches	Tues, Dec 20 – Mom & Son Day Tuna Salad
Wed, Dec 21 – Middle Son’s Birthday – Meatloaf/Mashed Potato “Cupcakes”	Thurs, Dec 22 – Spaghetti-Os and Mondo Salad	Fri, Dec 23 – Mom & Son Day – Mug o’ Tomato & Grilled Cheese Soup	Sat, Dec 24 – Brunch: Pancakes, Bacon, Sausage & Eggs
Sun, Dec 25 – Leftovers All Day	Mon, Dec 26 –International Week – Sushi, Tempura Shrimp, Rice Noodles	Tues, Dec 27 – International Week – Grape Leaves, Hummus & Chicken Shwarma	Wed, Dec 28 – International Week – Bratwurst & Sauerkraut, Potato Pancakes
Thurs, Dec 29 – International Week – Polynesian Chicken Skewers	Fri, Dec 30 – Boys’ Day In The Kitchen – Make Your Own Pizzas	Sat, Dec 31 – Ramen Noodles (Eating feast with family tonight)	Sun, Jan 1 – Day At The Movies – Hot Dogs, Potato Chips & Milk Shakes
Mon, Jan 2 – Fish and Chips	BACK TO SCHOOL!!!

 

Activities

Sat, Dec 17	Put up Christmas Tree, decorate the house (tree, lights, bulbs and garland inside & out)
Mon, Dec 19	Mom’s Date with Son #1 – Window Shopping at the mall (Must check out the new high school fashions while allowing him to flirt with girls as if I don’t notice ^_^)
Tues, Dec 20	Gift making day – (Make presents, bake goodies, wrap it all up for gifting)
Wed, Dec 21	Middle Son Birthday Celebration/Kick’s TaeKwonDo Holiday Party (older boys are Black Belts)
Thur, Dec 22	Mom’s Date with Son #2 – Lunch Date @ Buffalo Wild Wings (who can eat the hottest wing sauce challenge – he usually wins)
Fri, Dec 23	Great American Wii Decathalon! (Just Dance, Wii Sports, Wii Games – May the best mom win – hee hee)
Sat, Dec 24	Christmas Eve at the Grandparents House (A family tradition!)
Sun, Dec 25	Boys visit with Dads (my time to recover from the late Xmas eve celebration)
Mon, Dec 26	Veg out in front of the TV all day – Movie Marathons
Tues, Dec 27	Prep Day for Back to School (Laundry, School Work, Clean Back Packs, etc)
Thur, Dec 29	Shopping for Pizza fixings
Fri, Dec 30	Mom’s Date with Son #3 – Play Date @ Arcade (bells and whistles for 6 year olds)
Sat, Dec 31	Prep for Mondo Dinner with Family for New Year’s Eve Celebrations
Sun, Jan 1	Let’s Go To The Movies (Boys watch the games, Gals go to the movies)

So what are your plans for the holidays?

November 18, 2011

Friday is Talent Round-Up Day!

So let me introduce you to one of the men inside one of my favorite Etsy teams - the Promotional Frenzy Team. I first came across Martin while looking for balloon pictures for a treasury and I found this:

So I was pleasantly surprised when a few weeks later, I saw that Martin was a new member of the PFTeam.

Martin's shop is called GraphMagics. A cool shop full of acrylic and metal necklaces, brooches, pins and earrings in funky shapes, many of which evoke memories from my growing up years.

As a graphic design student Martin started experimenting design with different tools and materials. But he's not a limited artist. Not only does he play the guitar (music is one of his passions), he has been learning contact juggling and uses it to relax in his free time.

Hailing from the beautiful Buenos Aires, Martin has also been learning how to work with epoxy resin and polyester resin in many different ways. According to him, "This became more than a hobby, almost an obsession with shapes, colors, light, perfect roundness of my resin pieces. I dedicated a lot of time to it. I love spending all the afternoon paper-sanding and polishing pieces if they look perfect at night. Currently I am working on metal most of my time in my home studio."

Martin wants to share his creations and hopes people like it and get inspired by them. So I was inspired to put Martin to the ABC test. I asked him to choose several random letters from the alphabet and use them to describe himself (yes, a short version of the The ABCs of Me). Here's what he came up with (in random order):

M - Musician, J - Juggler, I - Independent, G - Graphic Designer, S - Skater,
G - Guitarrist, R - Resin Crafter, A - Artistic, D - Drummer, T - Twenty Three Years Old,
D - Dog Lover, S - Shower Singer, M - Metal Crafter

 He forgot one...F - Fantastic!!

Take a moment and drop by GraphMagics. I think you'll like (read LOVE) what you find there!

Have a great weekend!

November 15, 2011

Hello there and Hello Tuesday! The second day of a lovely week. I have two items that I'm posting today, both of which I found on other blogs that I follow. Since this is LL's Guide to Renewal - I guess I need to get back to the renewal part of the blog. First the ABC's of me - I thought this was a great way to get to know some things about someone. I saw this first on Edi Royer's blog, memoriesforlifescrapbooks.blogspot.com and decided to try it here.

 

The ABC’s of ME

A – aunt to 5 wonderful nephews, B – bargain hunter, C – choreographer,  

D – dancer/dance teacher, E – ex- tax preparer, F – forty something,  

G – God fearing, H – happy (much of the time), I – Internet addict, 

J –jelly beans (2^nd favorite candy), K – kids (four of them), L – Lostlemonade

M – multi-tasker, N – Nerd for life,  

O – Operations Manager (for art shows/festivals),

P – popcorn (favorite snack food), Q – quiet, R – rebellious,  

S – sister (second oldest),

T – tinkerer, U – upbeat, V – violet (favorite color), W – Wii Player,

X – xenodochial (isn’t that a cool word? Means hospitable)

Y – yellow roses (favorite color to receive), Z – zealous

This was so much fun to do. I am a list maker as well, so this was a task right up my alley. Try it and let me know how it goes (you can post your link in the comments).

The second thing I borrowed is from VictorianSwag.blogspot.com. She talks about personal progression and goal keeping. In this particular, she mentions a professor she had that required the students to daily chart their progress in each of five areas:

1. Spiritual - Examples: Reading Scriptures, Prayer, Meditation
2. Mental - Examples: Learning a new word, starting a new book, watching a documentary
3. Physical - Run a mile, Do 30 lunges, run the stadium steps, eat a healthy breakfast
4. Service - Call an old friend, find a way to get involved with community, volunteer
5. Other - Come up with something on your own, something you've been putting off

This was so simple and life changing to me, I have decided to adopt it into my own life (thanks, VS!). So last week, I added this plan to my Renewal process and here's what I've done so far this week.

• 1. Spiritual - Meditated 10 minutes each day, returned to Women's Bible Study classes on Thursday.
• 2. Mental - Read two new books, learned a new word (see X above)
• 3. Physical - Added work out portion to Monday night dance class, walked 7 total miles this week
• 4. Service - Involved in two fundraising activities with sons' schools (two schools)
• 5. Other - Staying away from my bad habit (I'll tell more about that at later date)

I've set up a little bulletin board on the wall (right behind my trusty laptop) and I've added my ABC's and my Personal Progression Goals Overview List to it. It's my Daily Motivation Board and it's simply fabric covered foam core board with some bricbrac edging, double sided foam taped to the wall so that I can "push pin" and "thumb tack" and "post-it" everything I need to follow my path towards renewal.

So far, so good! I ended my week with a positive affirmation of things about me, a refreshed zeal and a positive attitude about the week ahead! 

How do you "re-new"? Any ideas that you use to keep yourself going on those days you don't quite feel like doing anything?

November 14, 2011

So many things going on this week, I decided to try a new trick for my blogs. What's the trick you ask? Okay, hold your breath, it's an amazing thing........"Plan My Blogs"! I know right, calm down, settle down over there in the back. Never in a million would have seen that one coming, right?

For you regular bloggers, I'm sure this is no world trade secret, this planning, but for me - goodness knows, I'm usually typing frantically, trying to decide on a topic at about 4am, bleary eyed and stumbly fingered. But no more! Or at least I'm gonna try for "No more".

If I come up with a suitable plan, which I think I have, this will ultimately make blogging not only easier but much more fun for me and hopefully interesting for you.

I'm still working out the kinks of this (what kinks, you say? I hear you scoffing in the background) but I tried it last week and it was cool and I'm going to do it again for the next two weeks. It should be a habit in no time and smoothly transition into part of my weekly "run-around-like-a-chicken-with-two-heads-where-one-head- is-cut-off-and-one-leg-has-a-bum-foot" routine. You don't know that routine? Really? You must not be a semi stay at home, trying to be self employed, mother of four (ages 21-15-13-6), with no car and multiple obligations....no...no one....anyone? Alrighty then (big sigh)

from www.outersketcher.com

So my first blog for the week is this one - obviously - and you'll just have to check back for the rest. I know you're thinking - Yeah, cause she doesn't have a plan. Hah, I do to - I'm taking my cues from the Original Mickey Mouse Club plan -
Them                                                                                                    

• Mondays - Fun With Music                                                       (LL101) Fun with Music and Video

• Tuesdays - Guest Star Day                                                        (LL101) Getting To Know Who

• Wednesdays - Anything Can Happen Day                                 (LL101) Anything Can Happen

• Thursdays - Circus Day                                                             (LL101) Social Media Day (Pinterest, Kaboodle, etc) 

• Fridays - Talent Round-Up Day                                                (LL101) Formerly known as "Artist to Know"

So, now you that you tortured my plan from me, here is today's fab video -

Enjoy and see you tomorrow!

November 11, 2011

reprinted from www.mlive.com

Motown and mistletoe: New festival seeks to re-create Detroit Christmas past

Published: Sunday, October 30, 2011, 3:31 AM     Updated: Monday, October 31, 2011, 11:13 AM

By Kim Schneider

Courtesy photo

DETROIT — The magic of Detroit Christmas past is what event organizer Mark Loeb is trying to bring back with the city’s newest festival, the nine-day Christmas WonderFest, running Nov. 18-27.
From the time he was 7 or 8 years old, Loeb, 51, remembers where Christmas magic happened — and it was not the North Pole for his Ann Arbor-based family. It was downtown Detroit. As for many families at the time, the holiday tradition was an excursion to Hudson’s Department store, the Christmas mecca of its day.
“It was a completely overwhelming feeling, the lights everywhere, moving mechanical figures, trains running around,” Loeb said. “Everywhere you looked, there was motion and lights and everybody was having a good time.”
He hopes the new festival becomes part of Detroit Christmas future for each family that visits today.
“I want people to feel astounded, even people in their 50s to feel 7 again,” he said.
The new festival spans the period between the ceremonial lighting of the city’s Christmas tree in Campus Martius Park, and America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade weekend. The main feature will be the European-style Christmas markets featuring gifts from around the globe.

Those booths will be supplemented by live music, food and a “Motor City Market,” featuring Detroit-centric gifts. A giant Ferris wheel will dwarf Campus Martius park, home to the city’s official Christmas tree and an ice skating rink. A carousel and a “magic” elevator will transport children straight to the North Pole with special effects.
Magic for adults will come in the form of a traditional German beer garden where brews will be served in traditional boot-shaped mugs. There also will be mulled wine and roasted chestnuts. A Michigan twist on the European traditions will be the addition of a giant heated tent, Loeb said.
“In Christmas markets all over the world, the event is outdoors and people stay outdoors,” he said. “In Michigan, I’m not feeling the love for that yet.”
Organizers are working with the International Institute of Detroit to spotlight many countries with Christmas booths, food and gifts and to weave traditions of those countries in with the holiday traditions of the United States and the Midwest. While keeping “Christmas” in the name might be somewhat controversial, Loeb said, organizers wanted to establish a link to some 800 years of Christmas markets in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
The establishment of such markets as a way to help spark a renaissance of downtown shopping was part of the plan when Campus Martius Park was created nearly a decade ago, Loeb said, but other improvements kept taking precedence. This seemed to be the year to make it happen, partly because several prominent businesses moved back to downtown, bringing back 200 stores spread across many buildings throughout downtown. This also seems to be the year of Detroit, Loeb believes, thanks in part to the feel-good Chrysler commercial that aired during the Super Bowl and the winning seasons of the city's sports teams.
Those who want to identify with Detroit will have their chance through the festival and available gifts. The Motor City Marketplace will give people a chance to “really show their colors,” Loeb said, through merchandise provided by a variety of city institutions, including the Henry Ford museum, Motown Museum, Pewabic Pottery, the Charles W. Wright Museum of African American History and the Detroit Historical Museum.
“For years, Detroit events were about bringing people downtown to show them they might want to come back,” Loeb said. “Now that they’re willing to go downtown, let’s get them exploring a little more, making them Detroiters again.”
The commercial and sports aren’t the only reasons for the downtown renaissance, said Renee Monforton, communications director of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau. There’s been a transformation of the riverfront with a new five-mile pedestrian walkway and, over the past few years, the addition of 2,000 new hotel rooms, three casinos and several new restaurants.
She’s excited about the timing of this festival, she said, because she, too, remembers the magic of Christmas in Detroit. As a young girl, she would get dressed up to go to Hudson’s with her family, then to Sanders for a hot fudge cream puff.
It’s great to kick the event off with the lighting of a tree she thinks will come to rival the one in Rockefeller Center and go through the America’s Thanksgiving Parade, this year themed “So Much to Believe In.”
“I think there’ll be a lot of people who remember how great it was to be here,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

DETROIT-AREA EVENTS

Christmas WonderFest: For information on the festival and a detailed schedule of events, go to christmaswonderfest.com or call (248) 486-3424.

America’s Thanksgiving Parde: Go to theparade.org, or visit campusmartiuspark.org for more on the annual tree lighting and related events.

Noel Night: Another reason to visit comes Dec. 3, when, in honor of Noel Night, all museums in Detroit’s cultural center offer free admission (detroitmidtown.com).

Email Kim Schneider: kimschneider@chartermi.net