Somethings are not meant to be.... or my big fat shopping adventure.

Skinny Jeans Suck.

So yesterday was 'spend-money-day'.  We started off with a set of badly needed new tires for the car- brand new tires- and that was the bulk of the money.  When Mr. Owens returned home, I set off to carry the monster off to get his car back from the mechanic, mail the go-around sketchbook, and do a few other errands.  I managed to get the clean art rags back to school, never did mail the book- the car was successfully repaired and driven off happily into the sunset.  I now had a free afternoon in the city- and Mr. Owens encouraging me to 'take some time for yourself- have girl fun', and off I went.  

My plans were basic- perhaps a new book at the bookstore.  A new belt for Mr. Owens, and a cd for Owl for Father's day.  Easy.  

World market was first- one of my all time favorite stores ever since Sister Sue took me to one in Texas.  Contented browsing, free tea, a really bright cool shopping bag with Mermaids on it...and a sale on shower curtains.  Now, I have always been a white-bathroom person for the most part.  I have painted the windows, and Grendel's bathroom had a boy-friendly bright fish shower curtain in the grey house, but basically white-is-right.  The bathroom at Tanglewood (which is the project-that-will-never-end) is mostly white-ish, different shades, which fit with the cottage look of it.  Clear glass bottles, a few paintings, Einstein.   When our last (white) shower curtain wore out, Mr. Owens bought a practical-sensible heavy clear curtain that has lots of reinforced pockets for bath-stuff.  While that solved the problem of side of tub overflow, our narsty water has quickly stained it....uck.  What to do?  A cover-up cloth curtain for the outside of the tub seemed ideal, but I was not fond of the Walmart choices, the price, and .... well.....nothing suited.  Back to the World Market story-  shower curtains on sale.  REALLY on sale.  I looked at the tame ones, then somehow ended up with a wild Indian print that has every color of the rainbow and that will make my gypsy-bathroom dreams come true!

Barnes and Nobles?  Easy peasy.  New Stephen King book (Joyland).  Found a treat for Ms. Ball.   Ran into Mr. Flowers from Topsail, considerable amount of school chat ensued.  During this time something odd happened- it happens every summer around vacation time, but it did take me unawares...... the desire to 'get something new for going-to-Texas'.

For years and years I have relied on dresses and skirts- comfy,easy, love them.  Last year I saw a not-so-flattering photo of me in one of my then favorites....I immediately vowed to lose weight, get rid of my tummy...yeah, like that happened. Not. So I still wear them...but am a bit self conscious.   Figured though that since I was looking for a belt for Mr. Owens, I would go check out the sales at Mayfaire. (Non-locals, this is the 'upscale' shopping place that is also home to World Market/ B&N).  Wandered into Coldwater Creek, nice stuff, but costs more than the tires.  Went to Belk- beautiful women's clothes on sale, including some awesome Indian-print (still on the shower-curtain groove) dresses and skirts.... but 'on sale' is relative. And the belts?  Well....yeah. Nope.   Tried to go to Kohls, but got lost in traffic...ended up at Old Navy, where of course I bought a sweater.  Then headed over to Target, figuring that I could kill all three birds with one stone.

Oh the deception of Target!  Racks of tempting things on sale, I quickly scooped up no less than five pairs of pants- despite the very confusing sizing (Fits 1,2,3,4,5,6 in American sizes- the fits are cuts, not sizes- until you get to the 'fat lady clothes' where the sizing pretends to be European or something to make us feel better.   As in 'Oh, I wear a size 6 in FLC').  Ok- pair one.  A nice gray....good start....then AWK.  Should of been labeled 'extreme sausage style'.  Fits tight, tight, tight at the bottom, up the legs, then- once the butt is sort of wedged in- all extraneous fat is pushed up, out and over the top.  Not a good look.  Quickly started checking, trying on and discarding the rest of the pants.  No matter the 'fit', or the 'especially for curvy girls'- they all had skinny, skinny legs....and while the curvy girl styles did cover the butt without causing a fatalanche, I still had the sexy silhouette of a blowpop. Not attractive.  Well- I lie- this look *does* work on: Charles's sisters and Movie Wife, all of whom are tall no-butt types, teen age girls who are still in the skinny stage, and the girls from Maple Hill- not small by a long shot, but they make it work and twerk their way to stardom.   But me?  No.  The world is not safe.

Let me rant on the other clothes for a moment:  I am no fashion maven, and 'style and trend' is fine for some- but can't the rest of us please have some plain choices?  Seriously- there were pants in every color, which is good.  A variety of cuts to fit body shapes- even better.  But Skinny cuts? Seriously?  And the plethora of tie-dyed pastels, flower prints, polka-dots etc...... again, kinda fun, good for some, but  people would think I was a couch.  Dresses- lots of dresses, beautiful dresses, even dresses in  the right colors *except* HORIZONTAL STRIPES.  If not totally striped, lets put a strange big horizontal stripe in some sort of 80's neon color right across your tummy or butt.  Now *that's* attractive.   Oh- let's make the whole thing either strapless or spaghetti strapped.  Which means you have the choice of either going braless and looking like you are either an earth-mother throwback or shopping at Walmart in Wallace......or wearing a strapless bra which is a device made by Satan to ruin the whole theory of 'comfortable summer dress'.   T-shirts?  A safe choice, until you realize that the perfect shirt in the perfect color is either bedazzled within an inch of its life, features an age-inappropriate cartoon character, has weird cutouts or itchy lace, or...wait for it...says "Twerk Team" on the back.  Yes, that does exist.  (If you don't know what 'twerking' is- it is a dance that involves bouncing your booty up and down while twisting/squatting/bowing....rather....uh...well, let's just say that it is not something *my* body is capable of doing, or would look attractive doing.  Leave it at that.)

OH- and there are no men's belts at Target.  I didn't have the energy to look for cd's.

I did finally end up at my home Walmart, where belts were located as well as- low and behold- a pair of dark jeans and a pair of short jeans existed that were *not* skinny, not expensive and actually fit.  I guess that I have found my fashion niche.......

Keep calm and Twerk On.

Flower storms

Glads from the Yarden

Officially summer- no regular school, it's hot-hot-hot out, rolling thunderstorms and all the glads are blooming.  Mr. Owens has planted lots of glads- I have lost track- but they are sparking out in salmon, flame, purple, yellow and the rare green.  I came home from school on the official last day- which was a dozy for various reasons- and he had two vases full of them, one on the tv, one on my desk.  I pick off the wilted blooms and put them into Turrello's basket, he has a real thing for flowers, and he sleeps contentedly on them in the sun.

The last day of school resulted in an adventure, of course.  No sooner than I arrived than Grendel called- the Saturn had broken down on the way to take Serene to the vet.  Boy, dog, car stranded in 90+ temps, mum to the rescue.  After some magic, Serene made it to the vet, where she was spayed successfully- she is doing fine.  The car got to the mechanics for a new alternator, due for pick up today.  (along with new tires on  Capone- money, money, what can you do?) Boy was kidnapped into forced labor at school with me, where he cleaned the art room, hauled multitudes of trash to the school dumpster via Hobo cart, and did other narsty chores while I did paperwork.  Things worked out for the best, they always seem to in the end.  Lucky that way.

So now, summer.  Teaching online.  Trying to figure out trips, visit everyone, balance everything.  I really miss Mother and want to see her badly- I feel so guilty for not being there, not communicating better.  Now that I am waking up I realize just how shut off from everyone/ everything I have been, and I apologize- will try to do better.  Words are just tricky right now- even the tone of this writing seems a bit off, comes slower than the usual flow of water words.  It will get better, just have to trust and keep going.  Life is good, live it well. 

And that is what happens- I am working on building up to length again writing wise, I am ok with very short things (facebook) and pictures-  images have always been my best way to communicate.  I am at the awkward part of my sketchbook now, where the Spring book is almost finished and I am anxious to start a new one- but I still have a few pages left.  If I leave them blank I feel unaccomplished- I think when I do get to the new one I am going to work from both ends at once and end up in the middle.  Might be better, I don't know.  I did go through all of my sketchbooks- well, the hardbound ones- the other day, dated and labeled them, put them in order.  It's amazing the journey- from the first efforts from undergrad, to my first completed black book in 1999.  Several years to fill one at first, then stepping up to the 'almost filled'- about one per year, then two filled per year, to my current 3-4 per year.  Drawings, writings, notes, memories- my life all sprawled out.  If I count just the 'big blacks', this spring makes number 30.  Plus there are 20 more other sketchbooks- spiraled, large, small, from classes and from long ago- way back when I was a kid.  And that is just what I kept.  There are other books- journals, which were my life-rope during and for the few years after my divorce- the altered books, partially started smaller sketchbooks and the thin 'summer books' where I taught myself various things.  Thousands of pages.  Interesting to me~ and to others? Who knows?  My kids like looking at the Big Blacks, Mr. Owens likes seeing what is in my book-of-the-moment, what will happen to them someday?  Not sure, but they will stick around for awhile, have a better chance of being seen I think than what is online.  I love online, and this blog, but that fades away-  Life is short, Art is long.

Summer~

Wilmington, NC

Summer!  Finally- wasn't sure I would make it but I did- kids are out of school, virtual school starts tomorrow, just a few teacher workdays left.  Summer.  Transition with all of it's joys and sorrows (yes, I know that is a cliche', but apt.)  Promising myself that next year will be different, that I will do things differently, be a better teacher, have more patience, be involved- be awake and aware.  Hopefully.  Vowing to spend the summer writing on the blog, making art, getting things together for next year- high hopes that balance precariously with the reality of having a hard time getting started on things, wanting to just be still, quiet, alone.  I have a sudden great love of silence.... the aftermath of the chaos I suppose.

Actually, off to a fair good start here- last weekend I power cleaned while Charles was in Charlotte.  The living room, kitchen, studio and bedroom are ready for summer- the bathroom (ick as always) and Rose room need to be done yet.  And the porch, the dog-room that will be transformed into man-cave (one of the potential agenda items for this summer), never ending work on the yarden.  We have had our first tropical storm (Andrea) and the mosquitoes are out in full force, finding me particularly tasty as always.  Let's just say that if I lost a pound for every bite, I would be below my goal weight soon.

Ok.  Updates and roundups, since I haven't posted forever and ever:

The Manz:  is my super-star.  What was a lark last summer- submitted on a whim for an extra bit- has uncovered an unexpected talent and has taken him amazing places, with more to come.  It was just a year ago round about that I put him in for 'Caged'- which turned out to be Iron Man III.   Since he began with that last August he has been in the following movies:  Iron Man III, Catching Fire, Safe Haven, Adrenaline, My Name is Paul, The Remaining, Dale Archdale, We're the Millers,World Made Straight and Tammy.  He is background in most of these- featured in Catching Fire, made the trailer for My Name is Paul.  Television-wise, he has been in: Revolution (ep. 5 and 15), It's Supernatural, Lizard Lick Towing (catch him tossing tables around in ep. 306), Banshee, Homeland, and Under the Dome. You can spot him in upcoming commercials for NASCAR and (a leading softdrink that I can't say in the blog).  He has been working steadily at this- and still tow-trucking between times- has traveled to Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, Black Mountain and various other local places for shoots.  (Sometimes I get to go along!  Hopefully lots this summer- though most things are filming locally right now- but we are hoping for at least one trip to Nashville).  We got to attend the Iron Man III local premier and party- fancy eats, champagne, red carpet et all.  Keeping fingers crossed for the Under the Dome premier- downtown at Thalian Hall- Stephen King will be there and I am hoping to get a glimpse!  Other things- saving up for the National Beard Championships in New Orleans in September- working on growing it longer.  The beard is the 'moneymaker' and the longer the better.......

The Boy:  (Who is still my boy, even though grown)  Will graduate in December officially!  Hooray! In the meantime he has moved to a larger, nicer apartment with a new roommate.  Still close to work, but in a much better section of town, the Peppers live in the same complex, and his roommate is nice.  He has finally inherited the Saturn and has his first set of wheels~ and rumor has it that he is looking for a dogg.  (Dogs are welcomed at the apartments- his roommate has a chihuahua, which is supposedly good for a chihuahua, but not his type of dog).  The roommate, btw, is a girl- not a girlfriend, but a girl none-the-less.  He also has moved along at the bookstore, acquiring the small perks that come with being a faithful employee.... looking now ahead to his future career, applying to graduate school for computer science if he hasn't a worthy offer.  Happy, healthy, red-haired- planning summer adventures and living his life.

The Doggs and Turrello:  Max is pleased to announce that he has hair (mostly) on his butt.  Still missing a few patches the spine stripe and by the glands, but it is mostly back.  Bear is the same as usual.  Turrello (the cat) has decided to take up acting like dad- while he hasn't made it on screen yet, he found an old pair of Groucho Glasses (with the nose and mustache) somewhere and that has become his new favorite toy. Along with his unusual love for rose petals (his window basket now has dried rose petals scattered on his quilt- he steals the roses Mr. Owens cuts me from the yarden and plays with them until they fall apart)- Turrello has become quite the.....male equivalent of diva?  Charlie Sheen?

Me:  Ok, me.  It's been a rough year, but we are finally getting things settled down and improved.  Good news is that all the assorted testing turned out ok- there is just a chemical imbalance in the brain that makes the flow of electricity disrupted.  Thus the sleepiness etc.  What is causing it?  We don't know yet, but I started new meds a week or so ago and they are helping.  A LOT.  I still sleep bunches, and am not so great with numbers/time, but I am doing better!  Hooray!  This has been my wake-up call- I am *not* doing leadership things anymore, time to give that load to someone else.  I am going to live, make art, write- do more of what I like and less of what I don't like- the pay is the same, I've glass ceilinged career wise (at the point where I would lose money by going to higher education, but they are cutting teacher pay across the state- at this point I am 'grandfathered' in and safe, but if I left then came back, it would be their opportunity to put me at the new, much lower, tenure-less pay rate.  And I'd have to wait tables.)   Maybe I'll write a book.  Paint everything.  Who knows?  My goal is to enjoy myself and live again- not spend all my hours working.

We are planning on traveling this summer some- out to Texas to see Mother at least- when depends on 'Cupcakes' schedule for filming.  I don't care when- just so we go (I miss Mother- and everyone- terribly)- and just so everything is smooth sailing.

Stacking

It is finally springtime, more or less.  I have slowed way down, haven't written forever, slept through spring break though I also did a fair amount of cleaning and catching up.  We have been working on the yarden, mowing and cutting back- I can't believe that I let it go so far.  Strange, being like this- time is liquid and each day seems to be both eternal and fleeting, and the years?  I have no idea where they go.  I have always been bad with time- I can't remember much about what year I did what in, or how old I was when such and such happened, I have to go through an elaborate ritual of finger-year counting to figure it out.  Why?  I don't know, except that it is hard to make time important to me in that way- instead I just move from time to time, dawn to dusk, dream to waking.  I live through the time, but become anxious and upset when I start dwelling on 'oh, must get this done by x' or 'dang, missed that deadline' or 'I have so much to do and only x time to do it' or, worse yet, 'what have I done with all that time?'.  I imagine a life without those boundaries where I could move season to season, doing things as they come about.  I have to many lists and clocks and calendars.

Yesterday evening I was reading in bed- the manz was out at work- and just pausing to look around the room as sometimes I do.  It was not quite dark outside (yes, I was in bed reading already- and that's ok) and our room was lit with a combination of diffused twilight and my lamp.  I started noticing the stack in the above picture, and thinking of that- how time works, and where each piece in the stack came from, what they were once and what they are now.  I'm kind of like that.  The bottom white iron stand I saved from a dump in Boone- it was abandoned by the dumpsters and I loved its curves, the worn cream color, the fact that it was still sturdy after the rest of it was gone.  I imagine it was a seat at some time, with a cushion- (notice the dip) part of a vanity for a girl or lady.  Did they make them out of iron?  It doesn't matter, it is what I want it to be, and for now, that is a stand.  The large wooden box on the bottom- I'm not sure where that came from.  I've had it for a very long time- perhaps a flea market in Charleston?  Another dumpster find?  A cast off at an auction?  It is a paint-box, one of those used by artists who paint outside.  Inside it has compartments and a broken stand, stained metal cups that once held linseed oil and solvent.  Memories of paint.  I wonder who painted with it?  I was going to make something out of it someday- but I like it as is.  Above that is a jewelry box, the kind so common at one time.  Cream vinyl, red velvety interior, little shelf, mirror, pegs.  I have no idea where it came from either- yard sale or thrift store? It latches, but doesn't lock. The narrow white box is a cigar box.  This one I do know about- it was a project turned in by a student.  They brought in the box, sanded it, painted it with a beach and palm trees.  I keep letters in it- the student was from Samoa (of all places) and is now grown, tending bar in Wilmington- two of his sisters lived with me for awhile on the island after one of the hurricanes.  I run into one of them frequently in our walmart- her and her clan of kids, all tall for their age with long dark frizzy waves of hair.  Someday they will be my students as well.  The last box is the most special- the blue and gold tin, looking like something found in a treasure room.  This box was at the magic auction in Warsaw- the pharmacist auction where the manz first asked me out, where Melissa and I acquired all sorts of mortars and pestles, science glass, books, the magic cactus, my little feather pillow and this box- which was left behind, abandoned on a stack of stuff destined for the dumpster.  I saved it- and inside are notes from the manz, a dried rose, the red satin box my engagement ring was in, other mementos. Bits and pieces of time and place and memory.

I love things like this- cast off bits, stacked and used to create a new meaning, like so many words put in a different order.  Like my life, and time, this and that stacked to create the day any way I please, to fill with things expected or mysterious, to be quiet, private, personal and yet part of the all of it.

Of Memory and Elephants

Yesterday I didn't go to school.  I was tired, my throat hurt, but mostly I was tired.  So I stayed home, slept forever and ever and ever, was taken care of by my beloved Mr. Owens who fed me ice cream and hot tea, and I read a book- a whole book- for the first time in forever.  The book was one of the free books from Grendel's store, and was 'The Circus in Winter'.  The setting is Lima Indiana, and the story is made of smaller stories that circle around the circus people during the winter off season- mainly in the 30's- but drifting back into the 1800's and ahead into the now.  The author echoes her real life in the stories- she grew up in a winter circus town and many of the characters are based around her family, in particular her great x 2 uncle that was killed by an elephant.

Elephants remember things, keep things to themselves, somehow have immense power, wisdom, gentleness and sadness rolled into one. Or at least that is what I have been told about elephants, having not known one personally- my experience is limited to zoos and circuses, a brief ride on one as a child and later when Grendel was a child, and the elephants that my Mother collects.  Trunk up for good luck, Ganesha (I have a painting and statue of him at school) is the elephant-headed god of luck and valor, elephants though are mainly out of my experience.  But, the book.  The book was not a 'jolly circus book' but a rather stark and grim retelling of how it was- the hard work, the tangled relationships, the tragedies and- of course- the magic.  I won't tell you all of it, or even recommend it for reading, for it disturbed me and kindled strange sad dreams, mostly about elephants.  What I can say though is that I fell briefly into another world for a while, and that was good- but now I am feeling the echos of discontent that come when you know that something bad happened long ago- and you can't do anything about it- but you are sad none-the-less. Books have the power to do that to you, television and movies you can cast aside- they stay for a bit but easily move on- but a well written passage in a book can stick in your heart like a thorn.  Elephants.

I think my overall tiredness from yesterday is an echo from Saturday and the testing.  I know that may seem strange, it being so many days ago, but this is how it went.  The tests went fine, I'm supposing.  It was morning, I was awake and 'on', the tasks suited to me for the most part- arranging blocks into patterns, drawing a complex shape then redrawing it from memory several times, memorizing lists of words (which was easy for they broke themselves into stories and pictures in my head.  Words are always easy).  Knowledge (who was Marie Currie? What is the theory of relativity? Are you kidding me?) , vocabulary (my usual- I knew what the majority of the words meant, but could not pronounce them correctly).  What tripped me up was sound (listening on headphones to many words said at once and differentiating between them), math (the fast reciprocal math bit), and... I think that is it.  Did great on the 'what is wrong with this picture' part.  Hours and hours of this testing.  I don't mind tests like this, and I wonder about their validity- I expect that most of this was easy for me simply because I am an artist and educator.  The common knowledge is kept in the forefront of my brain because I refer to it constantly, the patterns/drawing/pictures are all part of being an artist and what I do daily.  Words and vocabulary are always a pleasure- I have been a reader and played with words since I was very young.  If the test was geared towards the flip side of my brain- recognition of equations, memorization of strings of numbers (there was a part like that, but it was strictly short-term), things of that nature I would be lost.

What is curious is what happened *after* the test.  That afternoon I was out with Grendel, and sleepwalking through everything.  Sunday, a few bright moments that I spent grading- but naps and general malaise.  Monday at school was a nightmare- I couldn't wake up, I wasn't making sense when I was trying to teach, I finally gave up and just endured the day, and then my night class.  I decided Monday night that I had to have a day off and thus I called in.  I slept most of the day yesterday- waking to eat and drink, about an hour of work, reading the book and (Finally!) getting to watch Mr. Owens episode of Lizard Lick.  (He is awesome- hair flying, table flipping, mud wrestling....).  Then I slept some more.

Today I am up, after a night of elephant dreams and stray dogs.  The wind is howling outside, I feel better but still dreamy, not quite real.  What I should like to do is have a day to dream and paint, write some more. What I will do is put on my shoes and go to school, plan and grade and try to teach (I am going through a crisis that I am not a good art teacher.  I am a good *teacher*, but the art part? Not so much- I can do it, but I don't teach the technical things well at all- mainly because I don't care much about that part.)  Then a meeting and then home.  What next? I don't know.  Dreams of elephants.

Simple Magics of the Heart

I am a great believer in magic.  Not rabbit-in-a-hat magic (though that is cool), or magick with a 'k' (which inevitably includes the scent of patchouli, unshaved underarms and a tendency to misspell words by adding extra 'k', 'y' or 'e's here and there). Just the simple magics of everyday life- little customs and charms, stories, an awareness of what makes a moment special, makes a home safe.

Grendel and I were out and about Saturday after my endless testing at the Doctors (which included math, word memorization, drawing, 3d puzzles, common knowledge and the like- of which I found them very easy with the exception of the last math part which was a timed reciprocal adding...bleah.  Afterwards I was exhausted and not very good company....but still managed to stumble around....back to the story)- anyway, the boy and I had this conversation about houses and ghosts.  Little magics and things that he remembers, and it is curious because they are the same sort of things that it seems I have always known, always done.

Find a penny and put it on the lintel for luck, hang a mirror by the door, count crows, stamp white horses for a wish. Pick up pins, hunt for clovers, turn the broom upside down and say bless you- and if they sneeze often enough turn it into God bless you, God keep you and may all of your children have curly hair.  (Mother must of sneezed quite a bit).  And then there are my own quirks and things- our cottage is full of them, our decorating theme being 'curious hag' or something.  Windows full of bottles, wish stones on strings, walls of scissors and crosses, witch balls in the kitchen.  There is a cauldron on the hearth and way to many books (I keep bringing more home), we have a blackish cat, an abundance of keys, collections of stones and bones and strange papers from far away.  We find things- old letters, sharks teeth, shells, bottles- we are given things- quilts and lamps, bits of art, feathers.  Mr. Owens knows what to bring me for gifts- always has- from the first set of old keys to the shell he found Friday, pale orange and as long as the first joint on my thumb.

What is all this?  Simple magics.  Just things, stuff, ideas that we give a home to, that become part of us and define where we nest.  White dishes and open windows, lavender shirts hanging to dry. The quite in the morning and the constant work of the day, the way the doggs snore and the cat sleeps on the heating vent.  The stack of pillows on the bed, the milk in the fridge, the coffee and the tea.  There is nothing much elegant about it, or refined, perfect, immaculate, but there is a comfort here in our safe place, a happy air to our home.

Rabbit Rabbit

Rabbit mosaic at Cinderella's Castle in Disneyland

Rabbit Rabbit- it is March, and therefore Spring, and therefore I am ready to shed the grays of winter and move into the hopeful greens.  Always loved March, turbulent though it may be- the winds and unpredictable of the weather.  Growing up, you could count on snow for St. Patrick's day, and even here in the southlands it might snow again tomorrow night.  But today is to be windy and sunny- cool and clear, a good introduction to Spring.

Mr. Owens is up early today- he has to drop me off on the way to Southport (wish I could skip school and go with him!  Would love to spend the day wandering around the town, drawing, photographing and hunting down at the wharves....but duty calls).  Anyhoo, he is on the set of Under the Dome, which is a mini-series for TV based on a book by Stephen King.  So guaranteed good and creepy, with a possible dose of cheesy.  It's exciting though because hopefully he will be back and forth until filming wraps in July- so I may have my share of days down in the old port after all.  Today is especially fun because he is cast not only as background but also in the 'churchgoer' scene- so he gets to wear dress clothes.  I had fun last night helping him pick out the right shirt, suit and ties to take- a variety, plus a variety of 'casual wear'.  We don't get to dress up often, and he wears a suit so very well- I am hoping they will choose my favorite dark suit with this lavender shirt and tie of mixed greys and purples.  Looks so lovely with his hair and eyes.  (I think I have a celebrity crush here, eh?)  Absurdly proud wifey.

As for me today, school- endless grading of virtual school, instructional meeting at our school, classes of course and continuation of prom work.  Prom this year has a 'Once Upon Your Time' theme, so it is all Medieval castles and fairy tale stuff which is wonderful fun for me.  (LOTS of work, but fun).  This week I taught the art club about heraldry, and they designed banners for each discipline.  We are in the process of painting them- but they are looking great.  To go, a big backdrop of the castle in moonlight, with sides of heraldic silver unicorn and golden dragon.  The castle facade for the entrance, two 'tapestries' that are painted, wishing well and frog prince, vorpal rabbit and shrubbery.  This is fun to because while the prom-star (Kelly the English teacher) was suggesting princess hats and a pumpkin carriage, we sort of morphed it into Monty Python meets Game of Thrones.  Lots of hidden jokes in the banners, the rabbit is of course from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and the big tapestry paintings are going to have all sorts of cool things worked into them.  Finally, a prom that is FUN!  We might even go!

Obviously I am in a better frame of mind this morning- seasons turn, payday, Mr. Owen's cupcaking, fun art- and Grendel gave me boxes of free books from his work which I took to school.  I gleaned out some for LC and I, one for Croson, let Donna come and get first pick, then turned them loose to my second block art kids.  It was amazing and like Christmas- they circled the table like sharks, bartering each other over who got what  (I'll trade you this for that, oh look there is two!  That conversation was not over a popular novel, but over a history book.  I am amazed.)  In the midst of all this Dr. Sullivan comes in- asks what I was doing- some of the kids were sitting and working (non book lovers), others happily filling up boxes and bags with books.  I explained that I was giving the books away and he looked astonished....not so much as that they were free (free books are easy to come by these days sadly) but that the kids were so excited about them.  Then he spotted a few hard bounds of his favorite author, and asked if he could borrow them....one of the kids said 'no, these are for keeps!  You get to keep them!'.  It was so funny..... made me happy though.