Tuesday, March 29, 2011

I miss art school.

I found this movie on TMC this morning that has made me severely miss being an integral part of a fine art community.  Don't get me wrong, I love the art that I am involved with now.  But I really want to be a part of something bigger and different.  I don't think I'm ever going to get the art community I'm looking for here in SoDak.  Too many people here only want to see art by commercial artists like Terry Redlin, John Crane, John Green, Mark Anderson, and Thomas Kincade.  Yawn.  Not that commercial art is bad.  I quite honestly might sell out a little in order to fund the art I'm really passionate about.  It's just that in this part of the country, most folks want to see pictures of wildlife and nature and the same old boring crap they see when they go outside.  I'd rather enjoy nature firsthand than second- or third-hand in a painting of nature or a print of a painting of nature.  That's just my preference.  But living here and working at a frame shop, most of the art I see is of nature.  I want to go to a gallery and see an artwork that doesn't make sense at first or that elicits some sort of response, be it physical, emotional, psychological.  I'm just bored I guess.  I think I need to visit more actual galleries.  I need some sort of artistic dialogue.  I need my artist friends to want to have an in depth art based conversation.  I just need more.  And what I really want is for my work to be in a gallery, even a commercial one.

The movie that prompted these strong feelings: (Untitled).

"Everyone has an opinion.  The artist must find meaning in the process."

Maybe my process of getting into a gallery includes working as a commercial framer, a children's art teacher and a crochet instructor.  I never thought I'd say this but I really enjoy sharing knowledge with anyone interested enough to listen.  When I was younger I told myself I never wanted to be a teacher.  Though it's not ultimately what I want for my life, I do like it.

Back to the movie: totally bizaaro ending, just exactly as it should be.   :)

What is it with this cat and public bathing?

Seriously.  One of the cats I live with has an unrelenting tendency to hide out all day long until the rest of the household comes home; then he sits in plain view and bathes.  It's repulsive.  He knows I hate it and yet he does it every single day.

I just have to say that while I can't guarantee that I'll never live with a cat after living here, I can say with 100% certainty that I will never own my own cat.  Aside from my slight allergy, I just don't love them enough.  Actually, they kind of annoy me.

And that's how I feel about cats.  The end.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Ahhhaaaaaaaaa!!!

I AM posting later!!! I posted earlier for the first time in 2 weeks and after all these times of saying I'm going to post and not posting I figure I owe a logical explanation...
Well, after much calculating and a lot of diagnostics I have discovered one crucial bit of knowledge...I am hopelessly, utterly and irrevocably addicted to Boy Meets World.
On a whim awhile back I looked up some links to the show and inadvertently found unlimited access to the show at:  www.watch-boy-meets-world-online.com.

I've been binge-watching ever since...and who wonders why?     And now, back to the show...

Friday, March 25, 2011

Uuuugghh, It's been 2 weeks already!

Once again I must scold myself for being a crappy blogger.  I actually even looked at my blog on Sunday, thought the same thing as I am now and then closed the browser.  Life's been crazy and busy since my last post...

Actually the day after my last post I had a birthday at the Pavilion followed by my mom's birthday dinner at Qdoba.  The following Tuesday was Angela's birthday which we ended up celebrating last Saturday night with the tasty first cookout of the season, tons of liquor and our first sleepover. 
Then last Sunday started the Wellness Challenge at Michaels.  I've submitted my steps diligently every day so far and have thus been entered in the prize drawing.  Since I won the pedometer, I've been tracking the steps I've been taking as well as the conversions for other activities.  I've come to realize after watching myself over the course of this week's Z-days that I have a  problem with getting my daily number of steps in if I do not supplement the day's walking with exercise.  Though the wellness challenge is only counting steps, it's keeping me accountable for being active every single day.  Like the number on the pedometer screen by early afternoon is so low that I have to compensate for it by vigorously working out.  Tuesday I did Kenpo X in the evening, which is an hour.  Wednesday I did the 90-minute Yoga X.  Yesterday I started the Legs/Back/Ab Ripper X workout and had only done 30 minutes of it when Aaron came home early and wanted to do his workout of Kenpo X.  So I did that with him instead of finishing the legs and back or starting Ab Ripper.  Later I went for a walk with Terri; she's been going every night but it was my first tag-along.  I may do Core Synergistics or Cardio X this afternoon before work... After a couple crappy weigh-ins this week is gonna be the big one, hopefully.

Most of my spare time (beyond exercise time) this past couple weeks has been spent preparing for my crochet class at Michaels.  I've also started the after school art program with the Pavilion.  I go visit a couple of middle schools on Mondays and Tuesdays to teach the after school crowd some arty things.

Ahh I hear the Z-man cooing, finally up for the day.  I'll try not to wait so long to post again.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Random Bit of the Day

I've always disliked cooking and found myself drawn to folks who know how to cook and cook very well.  Well, now in my quest for healthy yet delicious alternatives to the many tasty temptations of the world, I'm slowly learning more about how to cook (and kind of enjoying it too!).  I used this website's brilliantly easy tutorial on how to saute chicken.  I would very much like to try to make a risotto the next dinner I cook for the household.  It would give them the chance to work out like they've been doing after work this past couple weeks and me the chance to practice my kitchen prowess.



Thursday, March 10, 2011

Random Bit of the Day

Just read this interesting article about home remedies:

7 Home Remedies That Actually Work


Tuesday, March 8, 2011

It's a long and late one...

I've been a bad bad blogger... I know, it's been a whole week since my last post.  But in my defense, I had the flu last week.  I actually tried to do another P90X workout last Tuesday when I was overcome with nausea and dizziness.  I thought it was just muscle fatigue from the other 2 workouts but it was unfortunately the onset of a nasty case of the flu.  I actually missed work Wednesday night because of it.  I also had a crappy weight loss week too...stayed pretty much the same.  I guess I'd rather have it be that way than have lost a few pounds due to dehydration and gain it back this week.
 
I hosted a princess-themed birthday party at the Wash Pav on Saturday which was INSANE.  I had to paint 14 six-year-old girls' faces.  I think I'm going to have to practice on Chloe (and likely myself) a little bit for next time so that I can move a little more quickly.  Either that or request another host to help with that many kiddos.  I'm trying to get more parties progressively and I'm pretty sure I will be helping out with the Action Arts after school program with the Pavilion.  Hopefully that'll bring some extra income in.

I'm also knee-deep in the certification course for the crocheting class that I will be teaching at Michaels very very soon.  I haven't got any classes scheduled yet but I've started to make my samples and think about how I'm going teach each stitch and technique.  I'm actually surprised at how much work is involved in the class certification, but I don't really mind.  It's like a refresher course for me and I'm sure I'll learn some new things to add to my ever-growing arsenal.

I didn't do much along the lines of working out while I was ill last week so today was the day to ease myself back into it.  I did my 45 minute-long yoga video Yoga Conditioning for Weight Loss plus I shoveled the driveway which took about 40 minutes.  I think the video has gradually become too easy for me.  I've been trying to get Terri to try it or Angela to borrow it because it was a great tool for me to begin yoga.  However, I used to do yoga to that dvd very consistently (ie nearly daily) the summer I lived in Lisle and it, like I said, is no longer challenging.  The Namaste Yoga show, on one hand is almost elementary in some aspects, but on the other hand they frequently toss in such advanced poses that I couldn't even dream of doing at my best.  Since I discovered the P90X yoga is quite challenging and though there are a couple impossible poses, it is very doable.  Therefore, it will henceforth be my go-to yoga workout.

Speaking of workouts, Michaels just started this new sort of wellness plan; I got the info for it on Sunday.  The deal is that if I registered online at this website (www.livewellknowhow.com) yesterday as early as 7 am, I'd be part of this challenge for which there are many killer awesome prizes.  Since I was one of the first 5000 Michaels employees to register I get a kit that includes a pedometer and a few other coolish things.  The actual challenge doesn't start until Sunday March 20th.  It goes for 4 weeks.  The premise is to count one's steps (hence the pedometer) in every day and log them on the website.  For every day that I reach just 10,000 steps I'll be entered into a drawing for some weekly prizes like gift cards.  I'll also be entered in a drawing to win a Grand Prize of a Wii Fit, Kinect with Dance Central, or a gym membership.  As I said, the actual challenge won't start until March 20th (by then I'll have the pedometer) but I was able to go on the website and convert my 2 main workouts for today into 'steps' and just those 2 without any of my other actual 'steps' added up to 10912 steps!  I've totally got this thing in the bag if I can be diligent about recording my steps, wear my pedometer every day, and make sure I post my steps on the website.  Actually getting the required 10,000 steps, I foresee, will be the easiest part.  I really want some cool prizes!

Well, this afternoon I decided to use my old bananas to make some tasty, healthy banana bread.  This is the recipe that I used:  Healthy Banana Bread Recipe  The only difference was that I did not have wheat flour so I used white through and through.  Also, when Aaron got home he said Terri was going to do P90X with him and asked if I could make dinner.  I ended up making something incredibly tasty on the fly.  It went a little something like this:
 In a cake pan pour one can of cream of chicken soup, one can of water, and one cup of long-stem (slow cook) brown rice.  Mix in some veggies; I used green beans, cut up baby carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower.  Season the mix with minced garlic, chives, ginger, and minced onions as well as a couple tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce (all of mine were dried seasonings but of course fresh is best).  Then bury 3 lean boneless chicken breasts in the mixture.  Bake it at 425 degrees Fahrenheit covered in foil for 30 min.  Remove the foil, stir, bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the rice cooked to desired consistency.  Soooooo good!
I thought it was pretty delicious for being completely made up.  And also, I think it was fairly healthy too.  I think I should try making up recipes more often! :D

Well, this novel of a post will teach me to not go so long between posts anymore.  I can't promise anything, but I'll try to be a more diligent blogger instead of the bad kid that hardly ever posts...

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Holy Crazy Workout Batman!

OMG.  Aaron just got the workout dvds for P90X from Jon and Marcy last weekend.  Well, I tried the Cardio X workout on Sunday which is approximately 45 minutes of extremely effective but mostly not very difficult exercises.  Then last night I got about 45 minutes into the Yoga X workout.  That was actually only halfway through the whole thing, but I did it after a quick episode of Namaste Yoga beforehand, about 15 minutes.  My legs feel CRAZY today.  I was looking for a workout that would be more challenging for my leg muscles and I've most definitely found it.   I would very much like to try another of the P90X workouts today if I can handle it.  I may try one that focuses on either arms or abs.  If I can I want to do as much of 1 X workout every day this week.  Then Saturday's weigh in should look really good.  I think that though I did lose 6 pounds in the last 2 weeks (bringing my running total loss since New Years to just under 11 pounds, yay me!), I can still pull a loss if I do the workouts daily.  I am pretty pleased with my progress thus far and I think I'm doing really well at integrating exercise into my daily routine.  Yesterday I went to the mall with Angela for a little while.  We ended up bringing lunch back to the apartment for us and Matt.  She's told me how she's had some difficulties being consistent in going to the gym lately and asked if they could potentially come over to work out here with me.  I think that would be awesome.  I've been kinda getting over my anxiety about working out around people.  I actually get excited to tell people about new workout videos or tips I've found.  Sometime show them; or they show me.  I'm pretty happy that I've been keeping up on this particular resolution so resolutely.  I'm well on my way to my better beach body.  Go me!