Live and Learn...

I've been playing with headers and names...decided to drop the 'ArtSmith' name because: 1) I don't get as much art done as I want too; and 2) it's too hard for me to separate the art and the daily life, so this has become a daily life blog, that I can use to show things that I've done. And most of the things I do have to do with sewing and not the mixed media that I intended. Things change, people come and go and life moves on...along with your muse, sometimes. My muse has been gone for a long time.

As of now, I am officially changing the name of the blog to "Live and Learn". Not sure what to do with my Flickr account/name. I don't even know if I can change my name without starting a whole new account. I'll have to check that out, but for now it is still the same.

And check out that new and oh, so cool banner! I should probably have just gone ahead and put a regular everyday one up there but I just love this one. I got it for free at "The Cutest Blog on the Block", the same place I had gotten the cherry one. Hopefully, I will remember to change it after Halloween!

There was a HUGE adventure for us last weekend...it was Valero Family Day at Fiesta Texas. And we went! Valero hosts this every year but we have never gone. I just have not been brave enough to take Ethan out to a place like that. But this past year he has made a lot of progress and I felt like I could handle the multiple meltdowns we were sure to have. I can't believe this myself, but, there was only ONE! He wanted to play a game and win a stuffed Bugs Bunny, and things just weren't working out for him. I finally convinced him to let me try one. So I walked around and took a look at all the games, finally found one I thought I could win-it was the one where you pop balloons with darts. I even studied it for a while to see how the darts were weighted to make it harder for you to win. lol! So I finally decided to go for it, and just a few pops later, all three kids had stuffed toys!

I'm going to go ahead and brag here for a bit...I handed them my three tickets for 3 tries, and you had to pop one balloon for a small, two for a medium and three for a large. *Oh-side note...Ethan didn't trust me and thought Steven was a better shot. So, Steven played for Ethan and I was playing for the girls.* My very first 3 tries I won a medium Bugs Bunny for Claire! Steven tried 3 times and missed every single one. hee-hee-hee! I was now in charge of all of the tickets. Took 3 more tries and won a medium Tweety Bird for Allison, and used the last 3 to get something for Ethan. I only hit 1 balloon. That was it-no more tickets. So Ethan chose the small Bugs Bunny, and I thought for sure Meltdown City was upon us! But, nope. He liked the small one, because it looks more like a baby! Yee-haaaaawwww! Everyone was happy. Of course, Steven will never live down his complete and total loss to my incredibly amazing score! The new rule around here is that the girls have to say "my MEDIUM sized Bugs Bunny/Tweety that MOMMY won".


So, here is a shot of the two big guys in one of those teeny tiny cars...


They managed to do ok in the end though...


And one of the girls on the swings.


I had to go on one of the rollercoasters with Claire. The Roadrunner, I think. It wasn't the biggest one, but the next one down. Still to big for Claire, I think, but she just had to ride it. That girl has no fear! She wanted to go over and over but I thought that one heart attack that day was enough.

Long update, so I'll stop now. I have been working on some Halloween decorations and some things for a Day of the Dead Shrine; so someone please remind me to take pictures of it all before I take it down!

Conversations with Ethan

We are getting ready to go out to eat, so we told Ethan to go upstairs and "get dressed", thinking that he would (at almost 12 years of age) know to put on some clean, decent, presentable clothing along with a pair of shoes. You know...like 2 shoes. One for each foot.

He does go upstairs, but then comes back down wearing a black watch plaid flannel nightshirt that I made for Steven 15 years ago (I also made matching ones for me and Allison), a pair of polar fleece pajama pants and one, yes ONE (1), not one pair...just one...Croc shoe. The other foot was bare.

Steven: Ethan...I told you to go upstairs and get dressed so we could go out to eat! You cannot wear that, so go back upstairs and put on real clothes!

Ethan: What??? It's just a Mexican restaurant...not church or anything!


Ummmm...I have no idea where this philosophy came from! Just the special brain mode of a pre-teen boy, perhaps?

Moving on...so many stories I'd love to share about school but, I am actually afraid of being "Dooced" by my teacher. Guess they will have to wait until the end of the semester. Got my first big project done today, will have a test on Thursday and then I have a paper due on October 1. After that it is pretty much smooth sailing, other than the regularly scheduled tests. I'm anxious to get my grade back from today though, because it is something that could be very subjectively graded...and she definitely plays favorites...with boys. At least they are college age, I guess, but it is still gross to watch. After taking coughsevencough years to get my undergraduate degree, I have never had a teacher like this. She never has a lecture prepared ahead of time and actually has to Google things during class that I know off the top of my head! She actually works as a therapist, also. I'm afraid for her patients.

And because it is NEVER dull around these parts: there was/is a tarantula in my neighbor's flower bed and the AirLife (LifeFlight) Helicopter had to transport a child from our elementary school to the hospital yesterday. Except for the actual incident, I watched just about everything unfold and happen. It is absolutely heartbreaking, and no one is releasing any information at all about it, so no one knows what kind of condition the child is in. I *think* I know the child that was hurt, but I'm not sure, and no other parent has any clue at all...the only reason I *think* I know is because I *think* it was a special ed student that actually responds really well to Ethan, so if he is refusing to do something for a teacher, they will call Ethan out of class to come help and he will usually do anything Ethan says. He is nothing but absolutely sweet and hugs me and Ethan everytime we see him, which is usually at dismissal. Anyway...whether or not it was him, a child was hurt and seriously enough that he needed to be airlifted to the hospital and I have no idea how he is doing! I understand the privacy laws and all of that, but...I think at this point the school could at least send out an email letting people know the condition the child is in. It happened right at dismissal time, and every kid in that school knew that there were fire trucks and an ambulance there...the helicopter didn't arrive until most of the kids were gone, but we all know that someone was hurt. And it really hurts not knowing or being able to help the family or anything like that.

Blah, blah, blah...rambling at this point.

Before I go, I'd like to give a shout out to my camera's USB cord. Hey, USB cord! Answer when we are calling you, alright? I would really appreciate it! Thanks!

I DID IT!

Well look at that! I 'customized' my banner All. By. My. SELF! It is a free banner from "The Cutest Blog From the Block". They have tons of free banners and backgrounds, plus they do custom work. Check them out if you are ever thinking about changing anything...they have such great directions on how to do everything I was able to do this banner in about 20 minutes and that is because I don't know the FIRST THING about this kind of stuff. People who do can do this in about 20 seconds. They come "Highly Recommended" by me, the Anti-TechnoGeek.

Construction Zone

Obviously, I'm playing around with this header business...please bear with me as I am a little slow on the uptake with all of this techie stuff!

Conversations with Claire

Claire: I found love today. I was able to admit it, and he feels the same way about me and he's French.

Me: Oh, that's nice. What's his name?

Claire: Timothy. And he's French.

(I'm wondering if she thinks he comes with fries?)

School Started

For all of us! Well, except for Steven. I decided I wanted to go back and maybe get a Master's Degree but, I have to bring up my GPA just a *teensy* more. So I signed up for 2 classes (6 hours) at a local community college, and hopefully I'll be able to do that. One class is Psychology of Personality-my absolute favorite subject every single day of my life, so I'm liking that one so far. The other is Educating Young Children. Not sure how I like that one yet because we have yet to get a teacher! We should find out today what is going on once and for all. So keep your fingers crossed.

I knew my eyesight wasn't what it used to be, so I made an appointment to get my eyes checked last week, and the appointment was for Saturday. I'll be getting my new glasses soon...bifocals. But! she says, They're seamless! Yeah, but I still hear the word 'bifocals' and think of a 101 year old little lady sitting in a rocking chair and knitting or something. lol! But, they are also purple, so they are cool. Just one more sign I'm getting older. Hopefully, they will be here soon because my eyes are killing me and I'm getting some bad headaches...which I do NOT understand, because I read all the time. Every day I'm reading one book or another. The only conclusion I can come up with is that if you are reading for pleasure, that's one thing, but if you are reading because you have to really remember it, that a whole other level of concentration and eye strain.

In short...we survived another summer. And this one was one of the better ones. The school let us know who Ethan's teacher would be for this year hoping that knowing what was going to happen and where he was going the first day would help calm some of his anxiety, and it worked! Something worked anyway, and that was the only thing new, and he was looking forward to the start of the school year all summer! I'm already worrying about next year though...he will start middle school and I'm really not sure how he is going to react to all of the changing classes and chaos in the halls. Well, I do know how he will react to it. I'm just wondering if I will have to pull him out and homeschool him. I'm going to try and do some research on that this year because I have no idea how to start or what to do. Do I have to register with the state? Where do you get lesson plans? Or, at least the information about what they are supposed to be learning? If anyone reading this has any knowledge on this subject, please let me know...I would truly appreciate it!

I'll leave y'all with one parting shot of summer - a total Smith Classic. My dad on the beach, fully clothed!


And now it's time for me to head off to class. :)

So I've been laying back and taking it easy this summer...

NOT! Like I ever thought you would believe me anyway...I was just hoping I could get a few of you to fall off of your chairs.

Our 'Big Summer Project' has been the "Summer of Doctors Tour". Let's see, we have seen the regular GP (one for kids and one for adults), dentists, orthodontists and periodontists, Urologists, Psychologists, Psychiatrists, NEURO-Psychologists (my dream job!), and, just to throw in a little twist...Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine where I got Ethan into a brain study. That was pretty cool...he got a brain scan using new MRI equipment that is more powerful and gives better pictures. Plus, it is an all around bigger machine, and it is the actual MRI machine of the Houston Texans...not that I'm a fan. I'd be MUCH more impressed if it was where the Spurs had their MRIs done.

Speaking of the San Antonio Spurs...Bruce Bowen shops at our CVS! (local drugstore) Ethan had a flashlight with him at the time and nearly blinded poor Bruce! Ethan didn't know who he was, but Steven was trying to save Bruce's eyesight and get the flashlight away. So now everyone knows who to thank for Bruce Bowen's continued good eyesight. lol!

If I am not at home lately, well, other than being at a doctor's office, I can usually be found here:

This is our brand new Barnes & Noble Bookstore at LaCantera. It is a TWO STORY BOOKSTORE! TWO FLOORS! TWO! NOT JUST ONE! There are stairs! In MY bookstore! It's like I have died and gone to heaven. I could never work there because I would just be looking at the books all day. Coolest bookstore ever.

Oh! Almost forgot to tell you...I finally learned how to knit! On June 13-I will always remember the day-I decided that after all the years of trying and lessons and not being able to comprehend it, that I was just going to sit down with some yarn, a couple of knitting needles and a book called, "Teaching Kids How to Knit", and that I wasn't going to get up until I had taught myself how to do it. And I did it! It was pretty easy to pick up while having the book right there so I could read the directions AND see the pictures; then over the course of the next two days I knit the whole ball of yarn into this rectangle thing.

This is the book I used, and would definitely recommend it to adults and children.



And this is a picture of the rectangle in progress. I don't have a picture of the finished project but, I think you can figure out how it goes. Claire chose the yarn...that girl loves orange! It was a rather small ball of yarn, so the finished project is about the size of a doll blanket, so that's what we are using it for.


I'm sure that there is a lot more that I want to blog about but, that is all I can come up with for now. The girls are in Houston with my Mom and Dad until next week, so it has been nice and quiet around here for the last couple of days. By the time they get back we will be neck deep in "Back to School Mode"...for them and for me. Yes, I said it...FOR ME! I am registering for at least 2 classes at one of the Junior Colleges in the Alamo College District and I am so, so excited! Real live classes for credit...not just community education classes. I can't wait to actually use my brain again! I have been wanting to go back for so long...actually, I was applying when Steven got the job offer from Valero and we moved from Houston to SA, so it's been at least five years. Then last year I was feeling settled enough here to go back but kept thinking we couldn't really afford it, so, I decided that I would educate myself. Taking art classes here and there and buying a lot of books...worked great for a few months, then of course my art classes and workshops were being dropped more and more often, and I was having more and more limits placed on my book budget. So, I figured out if I am actually enrolled in college, it can't be taken away from me. So here I go!

I'll post more about this later, and I also have a GREAT "Conversations from the Backseat" to post. Right now I've got some mac and cheese calling my name!