Google Hangout

I said I was going to do a blog post every day for 30 days, and by golly, I'm gonna finish one thing that I say I'm going to do.  After this, maybe I'll get that Bible read all the way through, not just the high points (Numbers, here I come) and maybe I'll actually be able to make it past day three of a workout regimen.  

So today, nine of my online friends and I hung out together.  I know I'm not technologically advanced at all.  I Skyped for the first time just about a month ago.  We don't have Netflix. I don't Vine.  I do have Amazon Prime but just for the free shipping, and I use my phone mostly for a phone.  This stuff is almost like science fiction for me.

The fact that I can sit in my sitting area in my bedroom in little bitty podunk Texas and chat with nine other  people representing six other states is just AMAZING to me.  It was really fun!  This is the absolutely adorable Georgia girl Renee Burke of  Mind, Body, and Spirit Yoga.  Look her up! She does online one-on-one yoga classes!  All my other friends are across the bottom of the screen.  The person who is talking pops up on the big screen.  Of course, when we are all yakking at one time and laughing our heads off everyone is popping up all over the place and making us all dizzy.

Hangout would be cool to use for mini family reunions, business meetings, book clubs, Bible studies...all kinds of things!  You should gather some friends or distant relatives and DO it!

That's the big thing that happened for me today.  I'll be back tomorrow with some other tidbit I haven't discovered yet!  Have you used Google Hangout or some other video technology dohicky thing for something cool?  If so, I'd love to hear about it!

<3 Lori

Energy Crisis

I was going to write a post today about my energy crisis, but I'm too tired. I think part of my problem may be poor oxygenation of my blood due to only being able to breathe through part of one nostril for most of the day. That can't be good for a body.

The other problem is probably the fact that I ingested too much sugar to try to make up for not enough oxygen. I never took chemistry or anatomy and didn't really pay much attention in biology, but even considering my lack of science education,  I'm pretty sure those are not interchangeable. 

So it's 945 pm, and I'm already in bed.  I'm going to try to read a little bit now that both nostrils are working. 

 

I found a great blog today that is inspiring me to try to get the bad food /no exercise/no energy freak show that's my life straightened up. I'll share it tomorow, so come back!!

<3 Lori

PS. I actually posted this from my phone last night. Apparently, you have to wait until it says it's actually posted before you exit the app.  I didn't read one word last night.  I was so exhausted, I turned off the light and passed completely out. And I slept all night.  It's weird. When you get to be whatever-age-I-am..I guess you would call it "middle aged" (surely that can't be right... but really ...how long do I think I'm going to live....94 would be really old, so I guess this really is "middle age" :::commence sobbing:::)... we tend to start talking about sleep for ourselves the same way we talked about it for our infants.  I slept through the night! Yea, me! :|  It's a sad commentary.

Anyway, so this is last night's post.  I'm still technically blogging every day.  There'll be another one about something later today. xoxox L

On Springing Forward

I heard today that "Spring Forward" happens on Saturday.

 :flings self around and violently bangs head on desk:

I'm not sure why, but it seems that I am most inspired to write poetry in adversity like having to go to Walmart or dealing with teenagers or people who wear perfume and make me sneeze or losing things.

Today, it's springing forward.

I'll get over it.  Eventually.  Probably sometime in November.

<3 Lori

A Little Bit About My Fit Bit

I'm trying out the Blogger app on my phone for today's post because  I am literally too lazy to go get my laptop out of the car. I probably should not be that honest, but if we are going to be sharing every day for 30 days, there's really no telling just how honest it might get, so buckle up.

I bought myself a Fit Bit back in December. It's a handy little gadget you can wear in your pocket or on your arm that can help you track your activities. It's a web based application that uploads the data from the gadget on your arm or in your pocket via a wifi plug in much like the one that came with your wireless mouse. 

I haven't actually figured out all the tricks it can do. I wore it for a couple weeks after Christmas, but when it needed to be charged again, it ended up on the bathroom counter for a few months. 

I charged it up today and have it on my wrist. That's the first step, right? Tomorrow maybe I'll actually give it something to do. 

That one little light is indicative of how much I moved today. Tomorrow I'll try for at least two dots. 

Do you have a Fit Bit or a similar gadget?  What do you think of them?  What are your favorite healthy living apps?  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Nite friends!  Sweet dreams!

<3 Lori

Rigging Up an Art Bag--30 Days of Blogging--Day 2

That's a really long title.  Sorry about that. I thought I'd give a 30 day blog challenge a try. I wrote a post yesterday, so I already have a head start.  In order to keep this thing manageable, though, I'm going to try to keep my posts really short and use a lot of pictures instead of my usual habit of using too many words (Faulkner was a favorite of mine in college).

Someone clued me in recently that Harbor Freight carries canvas bags, called "Rigger's Bags".  They make most excellent bags for carrying so many arty things on the inside.  Since they are made of canvas, they also make an excellent surface for art on the outside.

I don't know what "riggers" (whoever they are) carry in all the handy little pockets, but they are perfect for colored pens and pencils, erasers, water pens, White Out, washi tapes, ink pads and stamps.  The inside is so roomy I could load it up with too much to carry if I'm not careful!

When I carry my new art bag, I'm a happy camper.

Here's my Happy Camper bag with one I made for a friend. She very sweetly let me have my way with it, which is my favorite way to do commissions.  I'm not sure where the flower cat came from, but I really like him.  He may show up again.

You can find the riggers bag at a Harbor Freight near you.  Won't your husband be surprised when you suggest a trip there!?  If you'd like a bag custom painted for you, I'd love to do that!  Shoot me an email.

Come back tomorrow for another installment of the 30-Day Blog Challenge.  I haven't the foggiest notion what I'll write about, so we'll both be surprised.

Until then, may the good Lord provide you a little sun on your face.

<3 Lori

Fact is Stranger than Fiction

I'm tempted to start this post with "Once upon a time.." or "It was a dark and stormy night..." or "I was born a poor sharecropper's child...". This story seems so far-fetched it must be fiction.

 Check out beanforest's shop of cute (and snarky and some inappropriate) buttons here.

Even so, it is not, and I'll begin at the beginning.  

On a normal day last week, I was sitting, minding my own business when a message came across my phone that I'd made a sale on Etsy. (YEA!!)  Making a sale on Etsy is one of my very favorite things.  I do a little happy dance in my head.  If I'm home, I do an actual happy dance outside my head, as well.  Etsy encourages that because the app provides a rather realistic cash register sound when the volume is up on the phone.  That is a very happy sound.  The volume wasn't up this time, which was good because dancing right then would have been highly inappropriate. But the push notification is happy too!

I hastily clicked over to see what had sold.  I didn't even really get to see which piece it was, though, because I didn't make it past the message from the buyer.  I  nearly dropped the phone when I read it.  It looked kind of like this to my eyes:

 ::commence hyperventilation::

::search for paper bag::

Okay. 

Seriously.  

This doesn't happen to me.  

I was pretty sure I was being punked.  But it looked real.  I got the real message from Etsy. The art was actually sold.  The verbiage didn't seem like it could have been written by my son or my husband.  There was a legitimate address and a phone number and THIS PERSON WANTED ME TO CALL HER... ON THE PHONE!!

::puts head between knees and breathes into paper bag::

After some practice introductions with myself, I called the number and spoke to a very nice and very businesslike television art buyer who tried her best to explain it all to me.  She pretended not to notice how it seemed as if English might not have been my first language.  I appreciated that.  

A lot.  

The rest is kind of blurry but included contracts and releases and some kind of tax form to sign, which all got included with the painting in the overnight FedEx delivery the very next day.  Television moves very fast.


After the art was on its way, I ran over to Hulu.com and began a marathon catch up of Nashville, a show I had never seen.  I spent almost the whole time looking over the shoulders of the actors at the art on the walls.  There's a great article in Nashville Arts Magazine here about how art is used on the set.  My art is going to be in Rayna's daughter Daphne's room.  The episode is scheduled to air Wednesday, March 19 at 9 CST.

So that's it.  My art is going to be on television. (Eeek!)  I'm not really sure what that means, though.  It may only show up in super slow-mo or with someone's head in the way or barely visible in the dark.

Here's the thing, though. 

I don't even care.  

Someone I've never met went to Etsy looking for art to decorate a little girl's room. She entered her search terms, which no doubt resulted in hundreds of offerings.  Of those hundreds of thumbnails, something about my painting sparked that person's interest and spoke to her and told her it was made for that little (fictionalized) girl. 

That's it right there.  That's why I make art.  I'm so grateful for that. 

Look for "Songbird" somewhere in Daphne's room on March 19.  I would love to hear from you if you see it! 

And thanks for being here so that I can tell you about it!  I'm also grateful for you!

<3 Lori