bethsblog

Storytime

Sunday and Monday were spent caring for our grand-kids while their parents took a trip to Chicago. Just before the exhausted Sophia and Cassidy May headed back to Ann Arbor with their mommy and daddy, Gary got one more chance to work his grandfatherly magic... moments before this idyllic scene took place, both girls were pitching fits about getting ready for bed.

It's reported that they slept in the car all the way home.

Thanks Amy and Stephen for entrusting your beautiful children to us for a couple days. We had a wonderful time.

"Keep it simple."

Computer Butt or Why I am Pulling the Plug

I've always been the sort of person who jumps with both feet into whatever I decide to do... I'm an all or nothing sort of gal... yet, I'd rather do a few things well that a whole lot of things half-baked, so today I am pulling the plug on Facebook. I have allowed it to suck way too much of my time.

I joined up because I thought it would connect me with people, but instead of feeling connected, I felt bombarded by a random assemblage of random banter that required me to sift and winnow through tons of randomness at random times adding to the random scatter of my already random brain until my mouse finger was sore and my butt was beginning to assuming the size and shape of my desk chair.

I'm emancipating myself from the randomness and returning to my first online love, my blog, blogging, and reading my favorite blogs. By letting go of my Facebook page, my precious computer time won't be divided between the blog and the "wall".

Anybody who really wants to keep up with me can find my news, what I'm thinking, my photo albums and videos, my email address, links to SCD resources, my Art Gallery and Zazzle products here. 

Returning to this tagline... appropriate for today:

"Keep it simple."

Death of Blogging?

'Tis a shame to be too busy to write... to read... to sit and ponder... Has social networking taken over the world, leaving, I fear, blogging in it's wake? Is life reducible to a series of "tweets"? Please tell me that it's not true.

I entered the wonderful world of Facebook about a month ago. Since then I have found my inspiration (and time) to write blog entries flagging. Way too many times a day, I'm drawn like a moth to a flame to check my "Wall" to see if any of my "Friends" have posted a  mind-burp. And believe me, I have written my share of trivia there. It a heckuva lot of fun. Addictive too.

But wait a gosh dern minute! Here I am again, unloading my thoughts at length on my very own blog. Neither Twitter nor Facebook nor MySpace allow for the depth of self-expression that a blog delivers. There just ain't enough space in those tiny text boxes.

I think the main reason that social network sites are absorbing so much online energy is because their immediacy is irresistable to the fast-food generation that spawned them... (Count me in.)

I found this in a back issue of Wired. I suspected as much.

Begonia

"Breathe."

My Philosophy Regarding Yardwork

"It ain't perfect, but it's better than it was before."

"Breathe."

Somehow, I never had a Michael Jackson phase.

In the 60's I was totally into the Beatles. In the 70's my passion for the Beatles was augmented by Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, James Taylor, Cat Stephens, Elton  John, Harry  Nilsson and David Bowie.

In the 80's I did a stint as an Evangelical Christian. The only pop music I listened to for about 10 years was Christian. One day when I was feeling particularily "spiritual", I broke up most of my pop records and tossed them in the trash. Wow. Fortunately, In the 90's I recovered my spiritual sanity and I replaced my old favorites with shiny new CD's.

So I missed out on the whole Motown scene. Oh, I was aware of the Supremes, and the Temptations, and the Jackson 5 because growing up, we always watched the Ed Sullivan Show, but I never bought
an album.

When "Thriller" came out I must admit that in spite of my conservative bent at the time, I snuck a peek or two at the video that forever changed the world of pop music and virtually put MTV on the map.

Last fall I finally got to have my date with Michael Jackson's music. I was asked to be in a performance of the "Thriller Wedding Dance", where a group of guests at a wedding reception learn and present a simplified version of "Thriller" for the crowd. It was doubly fun since the wedding was held on Halloween... so we were all in our ghoulish costumes. It was a challenge for this 54 year old gal to get the booty shakin' but I did and I had the time of my life! I am so glad that after all these years I finally got a chance to immerse myself in a very small piece of the brilliance that was Michael Jackson.

"Breathe."

Spoken by a woman who laminates her fortunes:

Today I am celebrating! It's been 2 weeks since I finished taking Klonopin for anxiety brought on by a thyroid imbalance that hit me last February. (If you want all the details read this page.). I am so grateful to my very loving and patient husband and family. With their support, I got through it!

I can't even express how much I have been helped by saying affirmations, which I wrote out on 3 x 5 cards and spoke out loud when ever things got bumpy. Going through my cards several times a day, and writing new ones as needed, has kept me sane through a long and frustrating process. My therapist was so right about this... positive thinking, prayer.... whatever you choose to call it, it works.

The only withdrawal symptoms that remain today are a slight "burned" tongue/mouth sensation, a little shoulder pain, and a little facial redness... looks like a mild sunburn. The brain fog has lifted. The clumsiness, pounding heart, nausea, shakiness, and insomnia are gone. Hooray!

A social worker friend told me that even after Klonopin is out of your system, some symptoms may linger for several weeks while the brain rewires certain connections that the drug interfered with. So I'm being patient and believing that all will be well in time.

Now here's the part about Fortunes:  When I get a good one I save it. If it's especially good I laminate it. These 4 made the grade. They are sitting on my kitchen table. I believe them.

You are almost there.

The coming year will bring you much happiness.

Good health will be yours, for a long time.

You have an active mind and a keen imagination.

"Breathe."

Perfect

It's not exactly a bountiful harvest, but I managed to snag these 4 perfect strawberries from our garden before the chipmunks discovered them.

We have a very industrious bunch of chipmunks this year who, in addition to undermining the strawberry netting, are also in the process of excavating our front garden, leaving me each morning with another dozen or so messy piles of dirt at the edge of the driveway and deep holes (for a chipmunk.) in the garden. We think they're after the crocus bulbs, which each spring have provided us with a luxurious carpet of purple blooms.

This is how the garden looked last spring. Hopefully the chipmunks will leave some crocuses (and strawberries) for us!

"Breathe."

Baby Peaches for Sophia

My 4-year-old granddaughter asked me to post a picture of Grampa Gary's baby peaches. So here they are, Sophia:

The peaches are about the size of large olives right now and if you click on the image, you can see that they are all fuzzy and cute. The reason that the leaves are white is because Grampa sprayed some icky tasting stuff (to bugs) so the bugs won't chew the leaves or the baby peaches. We will wash it off when the peaches are ready to eat in about a month.


"Breathe."

Poppen Art Exhibit

For the past 7 years I've been teaching drawing and painting to a very talented bunch of kids through the Sherman R. Poppen Scholarship Program which provides Fine Art instruction to gifted low-income students in the Muskegon Public Schools System.

This year I was especially thrilled to witness the graduation of two of my former students, Michael Kelly and Jubenal Rodriguez from Muskegon High School. I was privileged to teach art classes to Michael in 5th-10th grade and Jubenal in 9th and 10th grade. Next fall, Michael has decided to attend Muskegon Community College with hopes of eventually becoming a real estate developer. Jubenal is planning on continuing his Art studies at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, MI where he has been granted a generous scholarship! 

When Jubenal joined my studio 4 years ago he announced that he didn't like color. He had only worked in black and white. Clearly he has gotten over his aversion! And I am glad to have been instrumental in his conversion! Below is one of the paintings that was in his winning college scholarship portfolio:

"Score!" by Jubenal Rodriguez - grade 12 - acrylic - 60"x 60"

For more images from the Poppen Art Exhibit click on this link or on the thumbnail in the left sidebar.


"Enjoy!"