on being tagged

Well, it finally happened...I got tagged!  Thanks Vicky!  I certainly enjoyed reading your 7 things, now as for me to reveal more than half a dozen things about myself! No time for paper art, I hope you enjoy my photographic talents with this pic of our wonderful Oregon coast!

1) I am a follower of Jesus. I want others to see HIM when they see me.  I have lots of work to do for that to happen, but every day I strive to love and live for HIM.  It is not about religion, but relationship to me.

2) I recently colored my hair for the first time in my life!  My DS told me he was tired of people asking if I was his grandma...'Can you image that, MOM?'...actually I can as I just had my 55th birthday last week.  But the Lord gives in HIS time and my mothering career was...well, I guess you could say I was a late bloomer!  Now I am faced with trying to keep up that glorious color!!! Read, less stamping money!

3) I didn't want to scrapbook/stamp.  I resisted for over ten years...I knew I would be hopelessly addicted. Now I dream of projects in my dreams...I love everything about it...touching the papers, the stamps, the ink...I know what you're thinking because you all are the same!  I have a corner in our family room that looks pretty sweet...we all hang here, doing computer or whatever...while isn't as spacious as I would want, it works

4)  Reading is another passion for me and I've found I have to work it in to everyday...I love the classics or obscure writings...I like to be absorbed in a book.  My sons and I read to each other.  My eldest college son still loves to be read to...we consider it a high art. And plan what book will be next!

5) I love music of all kinds and have made it a point to be a student of my sons music...yep, even 'SCREAMO, Primordial angst.  I surprise them with tickets to favorite bands and GO with them.  I was gifted a "MOMpod (purple my fav) for Mother's Day.  To say I rock out would be an understatement. Gospel, punk, old shag music, classical, beatnik...Billie Holiday, Pasty Cline...I LOVE it all!!!

6) Cheese is my favorite food.  Much rather have it than sweets.  I have a local market that has a cheese steward...that about says it all.  This week I am eating Goudas.

7) I love quirky, original restaurants.  Small mom and pop shops. 

Places where they know me and my family.

Girls, I could go on and on...but it's time to run to the bread store and co-op classes for my hip DS...no playing for me today...well unless you consider the fields of my mind! Thanks so much for thinking of me, Vicky!

shelter

I strive to be One4Joy daily even though I am not blogging that JOY daily!  But today I had to get in the grove, oops, groove with this card for a double challenge. Thursdays Ways to Use It and the Sketch Challenge from Wednesday over at SCS.  I love to think about the different kinds of friendship...hold that thought, it's time to run a carpool...be back

heart to home

Today's Inspiration Challenge on SCS was one  that touched my heart in many different ways!  I'm missing the physical presence of Sam, even though we text and talk frequently.  I'll drop my card in the mail to him this afternoon along with the monthly payment to the university!  Just to remind him home is where the heart is...

These colors, so popular now, remind me of my home growing up, along with the oranges that were our high school color.  They look edgy and modern, though I look at them and think childhood!  We have a new vintage store in town...it's ultra hip and happening and what's there, avocado, gold and oranges along with mushrooms, owls, those glass clusters of grapes in any color but purple, and teak furniture, pole lamps, and bark cloth.  My DH and I strolled down memory lane there last week.  It's fun seeing the next generation get excited about discovering treasures, the newest antiques...

How about you, are you inspired by the throwback colors?

laughter

I love to discover peoples' laugh patterns...from giggles, to snickers, to hew-haws...we are unique! I tend to store up my laughter and erupt in belly laughs so hard tears pour from my eyes.  One gal at work laughs at every breath and it is infectious!  But what are the health benefits?  

A hearty laugh can help reduce stress, lower blood pressure, activate the immune system, improve brain functioning, connect you to others, and make you feel good.  These are a few I found on helpguide.org.  And belly laughs are internal jogging for your body!  I'll be doing more of those, I tell you!  So the next time something strikes your funny bone, I hope you'll laugh more, louder and longer!

My challenge card today celebrates this very idea!  Have a happy day.

inward beauty

I'll never forget the first time I saw this stamp at my lss. Several years ago, one of the owners was suggesting it to someone who chose not to buy.  I  had to bring her home last week during the going out of business sale.  I love her face. Wrinkles and all.  That face reminds me to go beyond appearances and look to the heart.  I find myself in this position now...I've noticed my face looking older, that mature look.  I look in the mirror and think who is that woman...I 'm still used to seeing a girl.  I haven't fallen in love with what I see in the mirror, YET.  Haven't embraced HER yet.  I know I will, it's just a matter of time...

I think of my Mom who wears her wrinkles with a twinkle in her eye...I wanna be like that!  I see my dear mother-in-law, who is so elegant and always so coiffured with the polish of a makeup artist, beautiful...I wanna be like that too!  I want to feel I've a right to all those wrinkles I can just see lying in wait at the edge of tomorrow on my FACE!  I want to embrace this new era with joyfulness...I'll have to have a to be continued...I've got to see how to grow into this new woman!  

I'll check back with you and please do the same!

If you want to link back to this on SCS, here tis

artists

I don't know about you, but I've never considered myself an artist.  That title was reserved for the painterly types...living and dead.  My friend, Kathleen is an art teacher and I certainly consider her an artist.  She buys those tubes of pigment that you squirt on a palette and real horsehair brushes.  Nope, I'm a crafter, not an artist...but I think I wanta be and then just now I look up the meaning in my online dictionary and lo and behold...I think I qualify!   Dictionary definitions

Wiktionary defines the noun 'artist' (Singular: artist; Plural: artists) as follows:

1. A person who creates art.
2. A person who creates art as an occupation.
3. A person who is skilled at some activity

So, Kyle was right...we ARE all ARTISTS even if we don't know how to draw....or paint with real paints!

Hope you get to spend lots of time today doing what you love...I know I'm gonna nurture the artist in me and my DS!