Graduation

My youngest grandson just

'graduated' from Kindergarten...

Oh my gosh...

complete with cap and gown!!

Isn't he Precious!!!

St Patrick's

I ran acrossed this photo

while looking for some others

of 

St Patrick's Catholic Church

in Nashville Tennessee.

It brought back so many memories that I just had to

write a quick post about it.

All of my children were baptized here...

most of my children 

served as Altar Servers,

several were Lecters,

my husband  and I were both

Eucharistic Ministers.

And...I taught 3rd and 4th grade

CCD classes for 5 years here.

Some New Pieces

I LOVE Sayings Prints and Posters...

in my 'younger' days

we always had one or two hanging

in our kitchen...

or bathroom...

SOMEWHERE in our house we had

them hanging.

So...I decided to do a few...adding my own

graphic designs as 'embellishment'...

I've currently got a few of

them listed in my

1000 Markets Shop.

1000 Markets have teamed up with

Amazon...so that everything purchased

actually goes threw Amazon...since they have

such an awesome buyer protection.

I thought that was a good idea.

My brother in law wrote a Book!

It's called..
'The Joy of Real Estate'...'The Greatest Job in America'
by Jerald A Zatloukal

Jerry has been in real estate most of his adult life.
He has made and lost a small fortune..but he's always bounced back.
He's so personable and knowledgeable about his 'craft'.

I think it is just GREAT that he finally has a book published...I know
that is his 'other great avocation'.

I wish him MUCH SUCCESS with his new book.

What Shall I Do?

I've got so many things I WANT to do...and so little time to do it in.

It would probably not be as big a deal

if I were actually 'making a living'

doing what I'm doing...

mostly my Rustic Goth Etsy Shop.

But...things have been

more than 'strange' over there since March.

Every time I think things are

'back to normal'

they decide to change things up..

and whenever they do this...it seems

it affects a whole lot of shops

for weeks and weeks.

And...my shop just happens to be one.

So...I'm trying to best figure out

what I should do.

I wanted to do a bunch of new

floral paintings...especially for CMZ Art...

but it may end up being a

huge waste of time.

I hate being so dependent on One Venue...

but since I refuse to ever go back to

eBay...I guess I'm 'stuck'.

I've got shops at

Artfire,

Zibbet,

1000 Markets...

all of them still without even 1 sale...

maybe I'll do a bunch of new stuff for

my Zazzle shops.

I don't make much money...per sale...but

I do make sales on each of my Zazzle sites...

so that may be where I end up

putting my new floral 

and other

CMZ Art pieces.

Yep....I think I've talked myself into devoting a week

or so...to doing a whole bunch of new pieces

exclusive to Zazzle.

Sometimes I just have to

'commit it to paper'

My "Me" Day

It's Saturday...my 'me' day.

Yes...I have a 'ton' of work that really

needs to be done..

but

I also have a need to spend quality time with myself.

I actually get way more done during the week 

when I take a little time to spend with myself

on Saturday.

Every other Sunday is 'family day'.

Five of my six children..and their families

come over and we 'do' dinner.

This started with their dad.

He was a 'chef' by trade...and so did most of the

cooking.

His favorite thing though, was cooking for the family.

So as the kids grew up and moved out on their own..

well (most of them anyway)

he started with Sunday Brunch

which morphed into Sunday Dinner..

and it was the one day of the week

we all got together.

In the four years that he has been gone, I've had

to take the Every Sunday and turn it

into every other Sunday.

It's a little easier for me...as much as I love

my family...sometimes my house just seems a little

too small for 15 people.

But...my 'me' day is almost over...so

I'd best be trying to get the very most out of what is left.

A busy week...

I took the week-end off...I really needed it..

but it seems if I take off too much time..

I end up with a work load that gets a bit unruly.

But..I've managed to stay on top of everything..

do some painting..

and update a couple shops.

I will be doing a lot of work on my

CMZ Art Zazzle Shop

in the coming weeks...

I've got a lot of new designs that I

want to put on the products there.

Mother's Day

Sick again???

I pretty much lost my Tuesday

this week...I was

sick again.

Maybe it's the high stress lately...

mostly Etsy related..

I will be so glad when they are through with all

the changes and updates..etc...

everytime they make changes and updates

the site ends up with all sorts of glitches..

and this time it was no different.

Plus..I think I have a spider bite or something..

whatever it is has made a huge

bruise on my left arm..

hope it goes away soon.

The nice people I 'meet'...

I do enjoy 'working' at home...

but sometimes I do feel quite 'isolated'

and maybe even 'insolated'...

it's way different than interacting with people

everyday at a 9 to 5.

So, the 'next best thing' is to

"make friends"

that I may never actually meet

face to face..

or even chat with over the phone

(but then, I'm not much of a phone person anyway...

I don't even give my phone number out to folks

who might be interested in licensing my art.)

I opted to do away with my 'land-line' and go with my

cell phone...but it seems my phone likes

to cut out when it someone other than family...

so..I just prefer to limit my communication

to email.

I find I don't have to repeat myself as often that way.

Anyway...not to stray too far away from my point...

my kids' say I do that a lot..

I've 'met' a lot of really nice people on Etsy..

through blogs I read..and at other

venues I participate in.

I think one of the best ways to

'get to know' someone

is by reading their blogs...

I have a couple that I would like

to share with you...

The Rainy Day Wanderer

Dyche Designs

and

Flutey Words.

Precious

I don't normally 'do'

movie reviews...

I leave that to the 'experts'..

but

I was so 'affected' by the movie

"Precious"

that I'm still not sure how I'm feeling about it.

Dear Lord, talk about depressing...

even the 'upbeat' ending

left me somewhat 'empty'..

I did get a little 'lost' from time to time..

I guess when Precious went into her 'fantasy world' to escape

the horrific abuse that was her life..

I think what affected me most..

was the knowledge that 

this shit really does happen.