Sundays are a day of rest

Actually, most days this summer, so far, have been mostly days of rest. I guess it's time to buckle down and do something productive. At our family meeting last night, we set (assigned) weekly goals. I have to admit, I assigned weekly goals to the girls. I told them they could assign me a weekly goal too, if they wanted, but I assigned myself one as well. Next week, summer art classes start, then I cook at camp for a week, then more art classes . . . . I just know we will start being busy and get less done around the house.

I really love the change of pace that summer gives us. I feel spoiled by it, and am so thankful.
I've continued my creative endeavors, but I took yesterday off, so I decided that I might not do the creative stuff on Sundays. But I might. We'll see.

I don't think I've updated lately, though, in what I've created, so here you go. Friday we created food -- egg rolls and chicken fried rice -- which we'd never made before. It was yummy but time intensive. We'll do it again sometime and will get better at it as we go, I'm sure. I linked the names of what we cooked to the recipes in case you want to try them. I did change them up a bit, used chicken instead of pork for the egg rolls, added pea pods cut up and left out peppers and celery. But I mostly followed the directions!

Saturday I created polymer covered Christmas ornaments to sell at the auction at church, to support our youth's trip to Pennsylvania this summer.

Now, off to be productive, hopefully. Praying for motivation!

Zentangle Haikus BAM!

Better light for my previous project -- these colors are more true (thanks sun!).

Last night Emma & I did Zentangle Haikus, an idea that was inspired by this (thanks artsyville!). Zentangles explained here. Can you guess which ones are mine and which ones are Emma's?
Someone stole my pen!

One view of summer . . .
Someone has a birthday coming up (and needs some cash!)
Another view of summer . . .

Someone might say "bite me" a little more than they should . . .

BAM!

Day 1

Scrapbook paper cover for Ellie's violin book.

Day 2:

Polymer clay covered objects. I used Fimo -- the colors are not very true. I might try a new pic in natural light today. I made a Klimt cane with my extruder (my fave thing to do -- google it) and then covered an Altoids container and two glass bottles. I tried a new method -- rolling out a big flat piece and then laying slices of my cane on top and running the whole thing through the pasta machine again. I've been unhappy with how bumpy my objects turn out when laying the cane on in pieces and then pushing them together with my fingers. I did that method on the middle jar. I liked it, but I wasn't completely crazy about how it flattened and biggened the design. I may experiment with that more later. Post your creative activites and leave me a comment about them! BAM!

My own version

It's summer!!! I know, not officially on-the-calendar summer, but it's summer at my house. Oh boy, is it ever. Haha. Big family meeting last night, beginning our new summer bucket list and committing to try to be more loving to each other. We used to have weekly "family nights" where we intentionally spent time together doing something fun as well as checking in. I am going to lobby for re-starting those weekly times. Although there were tense moments in our meeting last night, I think all of us (or at least most of us) saw the value in really talking to each other and keeping the conversation going, even when we didn't agree. We also used to do a nightly "high/low" which then became "high/low/ha" where we checked in daily about what the high and low of our day had been. We added the ha to share something that made us laugh. I am also going to lobby to restart that too. The kids tired of it, but I have to admit that I never did. I enjoyed that nightly check-in, recognizing the blessed and the broken in our day, superficial or deep.


My other inspiration is to do something creative every day. I know lots of blogs have done this very same thing, but I really want to do it. I seem to not be very good at sticking with something like that, but I thought to myself that maybe I would be more stick-withitish if I was doing it myself. So let's see. Want to join me? I'm gonna call it BAM (Beth and Me -- good grammar, right?). Put the button on your blog. It's right here and on my sidebar. I'm going to try to blog DAILY about my BAM activity and would love you to do it too. You can do the same thing I'm doing, or your own creative endeavor. Please leave a comment with a link to your blog so I, and anyone else who reads here, can follow your creative work too! Enjoy!

Update

I am feeling completely random and dis-jointed. My mind whirs with what still needs to be done in the next 2 weeks. For starters, I have 2 more kiln firings to fit in. That takes all day, plus the loading and unloading. Sometimes a whole day plus an hour or two. The results are so much fun though. And the excitement at seeing the results! Opening the kiln is exciting for me, and presenting the finished products to the artists is exciting for them (and me too!)!

I have big plans for the summer. I seem to always have big plans, but they don't always come to fruition (big word -- sounds intelligent, huh?)*. We shall see.

*When my sister went to college, I was in 6th grade. I was a goofy kid (See photo above. Yes, that is me with the pixie hair cut and the psycho smile). I wrote really goofy letters to her, and to my brother when he went to the Navy. They included "Super Beth Adventures" as well as lots of silly repeated phrases, such as "Hardy Har Har"; "Rain shore will do the corn good, pa. Yup" and "sounds intelligent, huh?" Maybe one day I will reward my faithful readers with a real, honest-to-goodness Super Beth Adventure!

Ok, I got kind of distracted with all the goofy kid super Beth stuff. So, there you have it. Stay posted here for any great summer feats!!!

Random Sunday night

Seems like I'm always tired. So looking forward to next week and a break from the routine. Once I felt like I was too tired all the time so I went to the doctor, thinking he might give me a magic pill.He said, "get more sleep!" Well. I'm sure he was/is right. I guess in a way that could be a magic pill. Or something like that.My girls and I got creative a week or so ago, making altered books. That's where you get old books no one wants and do art on and in them. You alter them. You can keep some of the words, rip pages out and restick them in, whatever. I'm teaching a class this summer on altered books, so I wanted to practice.

And this, my friends, is dinner by candlelight. The electricity went off one night, and stayed off for 15-20 minutes. Long enough to wonder if it would be coming back on. So we dealt with it. And it came back on!

Peace?

I've started a habit of taking a little notebook to church with me on Sundays. Sometimes I draw pictures, write notes to my kids, make lists. Lately I've been jotting down things that jump out at me during worship -- words or phrases that I find meaningful. And then I add little pictures. This past Sunday I wrote the following, four full pages, written rapid fire. I'm thinking I carried some baggage with me to church Sunday. What do you think?

I can't seem to be at peace, even in my own home. If we can't even be peaceful, at peace, with those we live in community with, those we love, how can we (I) expect peace in our larger communities? In our cities? Our country? Our world? I hold on tightly to the wish for peace in the world, but really, do my daily actions and words reflect that hope, that wish? They do not. Why do dishes affect my ability to be peaceful, be a peacemaker, show love to those I love more than anything else? Dishes. Today anyway, it's dishes. And maybe rinsing out the bath tub . . . and . . . and . . . Unfortunately, on any given day, the list could go on and on. I don't love them any less, in the big picture, but in the moment maybe I like them less. My reactions and interactions do not show peace or love. Then my anger turns inward. What have I done wrong? I haven't been the person I should have been, so I taught them incorrectly. I did them a huge disservice. Why wasn't I a better wife and mother? Maybe it's too late now. At least that's what my thoughts are at that moment. Then it passes. My mind gets busy with something. I forget my feelings of anger. Until next time I walk into the kitchen and find the sink full of dishes that have been there for days. And then the cycle starts all over again. I've always had an ability to forgive quickly. As a child, I remember fighting with my neighborhood friends. We would go our seperate ways, and in 15 minutes or so, I was ready to play together again. They could, and sometimes did, stay mad at me for days. If nothing else, my kids inherited that ability from me.



Dishes keep me from being a peacemaker.



Get up, do not be afraid. (these words were part of the liturgical dance and words of reassurance)