Friday, October 21, 2011

The Things I Carry

Cold metals have left their marks,
The smooth thin lines,
Barely recognizable as the years have passed;
Prove that I am capable of surviving. 

Laid there in fits of drunken anger
The blood, hot against the cold steel,
portrayed my marriage perfectly.

Four of them adorn my body,
each one followed by a promise
of sobriety,
of change,
of transformation.

At the time I believed he would
be the one to perform these actions.

Vile from my heart would fall out,
sounding like gentle roses upon his ears;
promises that I would love him,
be true to him,
and stand by him.

With each instance that I had to reaffirm
these promises to him
my resolve to find a way to escape solidified.

I changed from a young girl
wishing to be blissfully married
to a mother of a young child.

I transformed myself
from a scared mother
to a strong,
independent,
single mother.

Fresher marks now adorn my body.

Creases around my mouth and eyes
prove that I have learned to laugh again,
to smile without end.

Other new metals now wrap my finger;
the combination of metals and stones
affirm to me that I am now safe,
loved,
cherished.

The cool metals now warm my heart and soul.

The scars across my abdomen,
numb to the touch
attest that I have birthed two healthy children.

Their laughter and giggles fill my head
and overflow my heart on a daily basis.

My body carries permanent reminders
of a life I once lived
as well as markers of a life I live now.

I sobered up to the idea of what love,
faithfulness,
and marriage was about.

The scars I carry with me
serve as a reminder to a life once lived;
a warning to others of a life that shouldn’t be theirs;
a prayer that intelligence overrides passion.







....Mostly written as part of my Literature writing assignment in response to "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien, but wish to keep it & share it here.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Epic Reveal!



A few months ago I blogged about planning an Epic surprise for someone.

Now, this has not been an easy undertaking by any means! Yes, the first bits came easily - the idea and the plotting of what I wanted to do. But the actual work part...no.

Link
See, the gal the Epic surprise is for is just, well, awesome. Very genuine, friendly, caring, hardworking, just awesome! She has a natural charisma for making others feel incredibly special and it's really hard to describe that type of awesomeness, much less do something that showcases how awesome many folks know her to be!

I'm referring to the awesome JC (@LittleAnimation) of The Animated Woman.


I then went through several of JC's blog posts and printed off as many of the pictures as I could in an effort to try to capture everyone she had animated at that time. I then cut out each of the pictures and arranged as many as I could onto my sheet of glass.

Of course some of the pictures printed off quite large, so I had to enroll @IamIRONDADDY (my darling husband, Brian) into the role of making a smaller replica of some of the pictures because by then my printer was trying to start a revolution against me and he's awesome at such stuff!



I finally had this:
Then I realized, while I was in the process of outlining everything that I left an important one out...so I had to put him in too..


Then I have spent the last several months absolutely freaking out over whether or not I would end up breaking this piece of glass (I even had to make a few trips across town with it, at one point in time it even put a huge scratch in my car door because the damned thing decided to shut on me - instant panic attack)...I had already done this much at that point!


Plus, if you've read some of my previous posts you'll know I'm an absolute klutz and shattering such things is not beyond my realm of capabilities.

Would you believe that I have painted ALL of that with a TOOTHPICK (ok, several tooth picks, but holy cow!) Slowly I've made progress...




Yea, that's right...after two months of working on this @WhyIsDaddyCryin still didn't have any pants!

I've kept up a steady sporadic pace on this piece...the headache is in the details...But I am finally at a point with it that I am now comfortable enough to share it & mail it out very soon!



...and then to pray it makes it all the way to Canada, from Tennessee without breaking.

Now I was not alone in all my planning and plotting and such. I had lots of help. See, I ABSOLUTELY totally suck at keeping secrets...so I had to tell SOMEONE and so there are a dozen or more persons who know about my surprise - some of which have asked to remain anonymous in their part in getting this done...So leave a comment & share your love, thoughts, part...whatever you wish...

But that's not all!  Right now I am holding an awesome giveaway & promotion on all painted glass pieces!  You can find all the details and enter here at Living with Logan!

If you wish to have a custom piece made for yourself or maybe someone you love you can use the contact button on the side or visit my Facebook page - BooMonkey Creations to check out what I have in stock or approach me with your personal requests! 


JC had no clue, prior to the viewing of this blog post, about what we were up to 
...or if she did have a clue she never let on... 
so all images were blatantly stolen from her blog in the anticipation that she would have given permissions beforehand if she'd known what we were up to.

Thank you JC for being an awesome lady!




*important to note that I am currently waiting on final layers of paint to dry then I have to set the glass in the frame before it gets sent out 

**Finally mailed out on November 1, 2011 ~~  Fingernail biting to commence for 6-10 business days after, until safe delivery is confirmed... 


Proud to announce that it made it safely!!!!  You can see the details of the finale here.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Busy Busy

I know I've been scare lately ..short answer I'm busy.

Long answer: I'm VERY busy lately & into the future!

This week I have spent time framing glass pieces for BooMonkey Creations, helping a friend get control of her clutter, I started Literature & Psychology courses this week, kids are home from school for Fall Break - this is two weeks of Fall Break, fun exciting things are getting ready to start happening at BooMonkey Creations, I've had three appointments....and that's just this week.  Next week Mikaila gets her tonsils removed on Monday, Tuesday they have dentist appointments, WEdnesday I have an appointment, oh, and classes, and social obligations, and well, I'm busy and enjoying time with my family & friends.

Have a great day, week, month, until I see you again!  MUAH!