Thanksgiving and goals

Thanks

I have been feeling like my life is one big example of Murphy's law at the moment; anything that can go wrong will. (still no brain tumor though Susan ;-) ) Sometimes things just seem to keep getting harder instead of easier for me and there is nothing I can do about it.

One thing I can do is think about the good things in my life though.

Family and Glenn-- I am thankful to have a great hubby and family. Even though all of us are busy busy busy it is always good to know that you have people who understand you completely and will support you no matter what.

Friends
I feel quite antisocial at the moment because all I do is drive to and from school every day (90 miles) but I know that my good friends are always there if I want to pick up the phone, shoot an email or facebook message, or even come visit.

My puppies
I love my adorable pups! They are so smart and have such cute personalities. I can't imagine not having them to cuddle (well Minnie anyway- Molly isn't a cuddler)

Art
I still love art even after being in school for it. The more art I create the less I want to do anything else like write papers. I wish I didn't have to!

Computers
let's be honest, I would be lost without the Internet and a computer! Writing papers is stressful, but it's sure a lot easier typing them on the computer rather than a type-writer! Or handwriting! *gasp*

Texas
I think my favorite things about living in Houston, Texas are the fact that it rarely gets cold enough to wear a heavy jacket. If it does it won't last long. Also, where else could you commute 45 miles every morning in a little over an hour? I mean it still sucks, but it is doable. The food is really good too :-)




Goals
I realize that it isn't New Years resolution time, (I never make one of those anyway) but I have some goals I would like to accomplish

• To pass my Texes Art EC-12 test

Actually I already took it, but I haven't found out my scores yet. I really think I did fine, but until I know that I passed it I cannot be officially enrolled in a teaching certification program.

• To get a teaching job in a good school district close to where I live

I desperately need to start working. With paying back scholarship from UCLA, paying for my student loans/school expenses, buy a new car (we are down to 1 car at the moment) , pay for ridiculous traffic citations, food, art supplies, etc, etc, etc. Not to mention living in a 1 bedroom apt is getting REALLY old! I just hope I can find an opening for an art teacher at a district that is close enough to where we live. I don't know how much longer I can handle driving so far every day. Glenn has a really good job and it is sad that in this day and age it isn't enough to keep our heads above water. He really couldn't be doing any better, so I need to step it up and start earning money.

• Keep doing my own artwork even when I am teaching and be able to sell it

This is probably a goal that will be on my list for the rest of my life. Most art teachers I talk to have a hard time doing their own art b/c they spend so much time concentrating on their students.

• Not to stress out so much

haha yeah right! It is in my nature to stress about things, but I wish I didn't. I have had a lot of things on my mind lately so that doesn't help. Before every big paper I am stressed , before every big test, etc. They are important, but I know I should just relax. I worry that if something happens to my car I won't be able to get to class or Glenn to work. I worry that on one of the days when he has to walk home some crazy driver will hit him or he will get mugged. I worry that if I have to see the officer at my court date who pulled me over I will start crying again. I worry that my dogs will eat something they shouldn't while I'm not home and get sick or die. I worry about if I don't find a job. blah blah blah you get the idea.

Tag you're it!

Glenn and I are alive and well- just really busy. catching up with school after Ike has not been easy, but I'm getting there. All my teachers seem to think their class is the only one that is important haha. My Thursday night class got extended to last until 10:20pm...not cool since I have to drive an hour back home afterwards. blah! I am taking the test to get into the teaching certification program the first weekend of November (the same weekend as TAEA conference in San Antonio) so that's another thing to add to my load. I'm taking the test in San Antonio actually. A lot is riding on me passing it so wish me luck! Oh and the image above is one of many projects that have been taking up my time. (very tedious)

Susan tagged me and I haven't posted in a really long time so here it goes:

I think I have to answer in 1 word

Where is your cell phone? table

Your significant other? great

Your hair? blonde

Your mother? inspiring

Your father? smart

Your favorite thing? Glenn

Your dream last night? weird

Your favorite drink? diet coke

Your dream/goal?art in galleries( I don't know how to anwer that in 1 word)

The room you’re in? living room

Your hobby? art

Your fear?failure

Where do you want to be in 6 years? successful

What you’re not? finished with homework

Muffins? blueberry

One of your wish list items? MONEY

Where you grew up? Texas

The last thing you did? tv

What are you wearing? shirt

Favorite gadget? Computer

Your pets? Molly, Minnie

Your computer? old

Your mood? procrastinating

Missing someone? lots

Your car? cluttered

Something you’re not wearing? makeup

Favorite store? JCrew

Like someone? hubby

Your favorite color? pink

When is the last time you laughed? recently ( I laugh a lot at everything)

Last time you cried? not sure

I tag anyone who reads this.

Rant

I am SO sick and tired of companies and organizations of all kinds trying to rip me off!

The most obvious of course would be my wedding photographers who I'm sure you all know about by now. I don't even want to talk about it.

In LA we got ripped off by the Armenian mobsters who moved our stuff out of our apt into a truck in Los Angeles. Now, we did not know when we hired them that they were mobsters. Their company's estimate was reasonable, then they ended up charging us over 3000 dollars. And that was only moving our stuff to another location in LA- not all the way to TX! Normally Glenn would have disputed things, but we really didn't want to be killed in our sleep. They were scary fellows and they knew where we lived for one more night!

So meanwhile we are still recovering financially from the move... and we find out we have to move again.

The most recent company to rip us off is my former apartment in Pearland. Now, we only lived there for 3 months before Glenn's job moved all the way to North Houston. There was no way he could drive that far every day, so we explored our options for getting out of the lease. We agreed (because we really had no other choice) to pay a large reletting fee (over 1000 dollars) and to pay the rent until they find a new tenant. Luckily they found someone immediately, so we were only out of 1000 and expected to get over 700 in deposits back. We moved out early at their request (b/c the new residents were moving in right after we moved out and they needed to clean the apt). I left the apt spotless to be sure.

A month later we get a bill. They replaced the carpet and are charging us for it. Luckily our deposits paid for nearly all of the over $800 cost of replacing the carpet, so they are charging us $60. Now, they told us the carpet wasn't new when we moved in, but was in great shape. We lived there for 3 months. The fact that they have the nerve to charge us 60 dollars after taking so much money from us already makes me really angry! If they had been decent they would have made an exception for us since it was a work transfer causing us to move, but NO they have to take ALL the money they can get from us!

Upon disputing the charge with the corporate office I have been informed that our carpet was new when we moved in. What!?! Something is fishy here! I can't wait until we own our own house!

On another note, why is college so expensive? I look at my bill for grad school and it makes me sick. The tuition for my classes is only $1728 for 4 classes this fall, but wait why is my bill nearly $4000!?! Maybe because they find it necessary to charge me an extra $1200 "graduate tuition" not to mention a long list of random add-on charges! They charge me a $174 student services fee, $160 computer fee, $60 library fee, $16 E services fee, the list goes on and on! A long list of things that I largely don't even know what they are or things that I don't even need to use. I'm an art major- I have to spend lots of money for the supplies I actually use. I don't need to pay for this crap! They charge me $3 ever semester for my ID card which I got when I enrolled and will use the same one my entire student career. Unless of course I lose it in which they would charge me a hefty fee to replace it.

I HATE the feeling of being ripped off. Unfortunately it seems that you can't trust anybody to be decent. No wonder the corporate world wasn't for me- I despise the way most companies do business.

Separated at Birth

The Monopoly Man

AND


MinnieI'm just saying...

Scary...

Check out this article on Perezhilton.com here!

OMG what happened to Madonna's face? I know...too much plastic surgery! This picture frightened me when I saw it and I just couldn't look away! I have never been a fan of Madonna just for the record but it looks like she has reached a new low.

Now, I think a little nip and tuck is all fine and dandy (if you have that kind of money) but how do people not realize when enough is enough!?! How can Michael Jackson look in the mirror and think that he will look better if he gets another nose job or new cheek implants?

Also it seems like EVERY major celebrity out there has had work done on their face if you stop and notice. Angelina Jolie for example: her lips are all real, but do you remember what her nose looked like when she first started out? See Here .
Or here

She had a perfect nose that any normal person would be lucky to have! A much different nose than she has now! See here,
or here
Her poor little nose keeps getting thinner and thinner!


The scariest part of all is that it's not just celebrities that look like this these days. I was at the Estee Lauder counter a while back and the lady working behind the counter had fake lips and cheek implants... I mean not just a few collagen injections but she was verging on the Cat woman: see here

I was thinking....she works at the Estee Lauder counter at Dillards! How can she afford this magnitude of surgery? She probably is in loads of debt b/c she thinks her "perfect" lips will be worth it, but how can someone not see that they look like a freak? I just don't understand...

One armed Em

I feel like I only have one usable hand right now :-(

Ever since I played the POS Frumpet in marching band I have had tingly sensations and irritation in my hands and wrists. For example when I push a shopping cart across a parking lot my hands ache and tingle. Or if I am driving on a rough road my hands hurt from the vibrations on the steering wheel. Not fun, but it has never severely interfered with my life. I never saw a doctor about it but I have suspected that I have some kind of nerve damage or carpal tunnel syndrome.

Flash forward to June 2008. I woke up this morning with my wrist absolutely killing me!I am in a ceramics class and have been learning to throw on a potter's wheel. Now when you watch potters do this they make it look effortless, but in reality it takes a lot of strength to move the clay where you want it. This has apparently aggravated my wrist/hand condition because it is so painful that just the action of gripping a light object sends a sharp pain from my wrist down my arm.

I can't turn a doorknob, open the fridge, or pick up my 2 lb puppy without being in great pain. I'm really upset b/c I love my ceramics class and fear that this is going to stop my progress of learning the wheel in its tracks. Monday morning I plan on setting a dr.'s appointment with a hand specialist so I can get this thing diagnosed and treated. Such a bummer...

Happy

I am almost finished with my first week of summer classes and I am SO happy! I am taking ceramics and photography this session, and drawing in the second summer session. Drawing and painting are kind of my fortes, so ceramics and photography were kind of out of my comfort zone. BOY am I glad I took them anyway!

In 3 days of my ceramic class I've finished a large abstract sculpture (that's ready to go in the kiln) and learned how to throw pots on the potter's wheel and trim them! It is SO much more productive than boring business classes that put me to sleep! This class is at 8am and I have to drive a ways to get there, but even though it's early, I am excited to wake up every morning because I look forward to class so much!

Somehow, I feel alive again. A hole in my life has been filled in. I feel that my purpose in life must involve art and in hindsight I can't believe that I didn't realize this sooner. In high school I had art in my life, but I was always distracted somehow by boys and other high school things. Now that I have Glenn and art in my life I am just about the happiest girl in the world!

I really think I have a high level of natural talent, but also I have worked hard my whole life to try to be a good artist. Everything is coming easily to me now; I feel like I'm at the point where every piece of art I have observed and done in my life is sitting in my brain and so when I am designing something, my mind somehow just knows what a good design/ composition looks like without thinking about it. It's hard to describe, but it's almost like the less I think about it, the easier it comes out in my artwork. For whatever reason that art comes easily to me, I KNOW I can do great things!

For the first time I can see a career that is enjoyable for myself and even exciting to me- being an art teacher! What other job allows you to be immersed in your subject of interest, affect young people's lives, get to attend art classes on the school district' dime, gets the summers off, and still starts out making around 45,000/yr? It's a pretty awesome gig! Teaching in college and simultaneously being able to sell my own artwork in galleries would be my ideal goal, but I will start with teaching high school.

I will post pictures of my new artwork when they are totally finished!