Letter #31

Hi Dad,


I figured out why my brother is being a jerk.  He told me.  He has a good reason.  Of course, that doesn't excuse bad behavior.  Sigh.

Mom had tummy troubles today, but she seems alright now.  She's reading a David Baldacci novel and it looks like she's almost done.  She reads a lot.  She has a lead on a job.  I hope it works out for her.

We went to town today to pick up Chris' pills and go to the bread store. We also hit McDonald's on the way out.  I came home and took a long nap.  We had cornbread, corn and leftover Beans & Weenies for dinner.   It was pretty good, especially the cornbread and no one got in an argument.  Yay!

I got some quilling supplies in the mail.  I just got a couple samplers of quilling papers and a tool to curl the paper with.  I did this when I was in elementary school.  Do you remember that?  So I basically know how to do quilling.  I have some ideas too on what I could do.

Here's the second set of postcards I made.  I haven't sent these off yet, need more stamps for that.  Front and back:

I'm still adding layers of Mod-Podge to the postcards in the garage.  I want to make sure the glitter doesn't come off.

from "Beautiful You":

Day 3:  Consider How You Feel About Yourself

"How do you feel about yourself?  Why is that the case?  What will a healthy sense of self and a healthy life give you?

This is how I answered:

Some days I feel good about myself, some days not so good.  I have strong areas, like writing and creativity and not so strong areas, like work and love relationships.  I feel good that my body can do so many things.  I don't feel good about my health issues, on the whole.  Overall, my self-esteem is kind of low.  Considering the things that have happened in my life I'm doing really well.  But I could do better and feel better, I know it.

I'd say the pressures of society to conform and be just like everyone else have contributed to these feelings.  Also, my upbringing.  Mom is still not satisfied with her weight or looks.  Also, I used to devour fashion magazines from when I was 10 until my 20s.  I still look at them sometimes.  They have all those air-brushed models and articles on losing weight, etc.

I think if I had a healthy sense of self and a healthy life I would have more confidence and be able to meet life's challenges more easily.

That's about it for today.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Letter #30

Hi Dad,


Things have been a little tense around here.  I, for one, don't want another verbal explosion like last night.  You have to understand, I'm not afraid of Chris, I just don't want to set anyone off.  I hate walking on eggshells though.  It should all blow over soon.

I've been in a pretty good mood today. I made Beans & Weenies for dinner.  I tried to make a joke, "It's not a meal, it's a lifestyle."  But that didn't go over too well.  I thought it was funny.  I have to tell you the joke I made up last week, unless I told you already, can't remember.  Here it is.  You know the book, The Purpose Driven Life?  Well, there's a new book out about SeaWorld, it's called The Porpoise Driven Life.  I crack myself up!  Which is good, because everyone is way too serious around here.

I'm listening to a mixed CD.  Iggy Pop is singing "real wild child" or whatever.

I've been doing a little reading on stencils.  I have to get repositionable spray glue to use these stencils.  I already tried one, just holding it down and using oil pastels.  Worked pretty good.  I can see with all the details and paint seepage, you'd need something to tack the stencil down.  One more thing to buy.  Sigh.  Trust me, nobody here wants to here me wax on about stenciling and how I'd like a set of Martha Stewart craft paint, because of the high ratings.  You're sort of a captive audience.  Or not here at all, which works out to being the same thing.  Amazing!

from "Beautiful You":

Day 2-Pledge Allegiance to Yourself

There's this pledge to sign and date, called The Body Warrior Pledge.  It is long and involved so I'm not going to type it here. The author asks what parts of the pledge do you have trouble with and how you are going to work on that.

Here's my response to that:

I have trouble celebrating my body, to rely on myself for my confidence and worth, standing up for myself, having a more positive inner monologue and loving my body and myself.  I now have an awareness of the areas I need to work on and am more conscious of my negative and self-deprecating thoughts and words.

Here's the first set of postcards I made last week and the backs of the postcards:

I gave a couple to Mom to send to her friends.  The rests I already sent off.  I used different fonts and printed out Post Card a bunch of times, then cut them out and glued them on the backs.  I used regular stamps because they are thicker than a standard postcard.

That's about it for today.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Weekly Poem: "Hand-Held Device"

Hand-Held Device

“It’s called a book.”

I hand it to her.

She doesn’t quite grasp

the concept and leafs

through the pages

upside down.

“No, this way.”

I turn it the right way

for her.

She’s just been introduced

to the joys of books.

The kind with pictures.

In later years, just bare words

will entice her.

Happy First Birthday!

2/24/14

© Anne Westlund

prompt:  hand-held device

Letter #29

Hi Dad,


With the rain and all, I think we are all going a little stir-crazy.  Mom was reading out of the New York Times and Chris had a cow, a major cow.  I think Mom finally got it through her thick head that nobody wants to hear her read snippets of articles, not to mention a whole article out loud.  You may have read to her and she may have read to you, but us kids hate it.  My brother is just more vocal about it.

I'm supposed to have a chat with the other poets right now, but no one is in the chat room but me.  I wonder if everyone forgot.  It's Tuesday night.  I was in the new chat rooms, everyone else was in the old chat rooms.  I found my chat!

I got a couple of books from Amazon today.  One is on stenciling.  It has neat stencils, plus project ideas and directions.  Here's a picture of that one:

The other book is a body image book with a daily reading, reflection and sometimes an activity.  This is that book:

I'm going to share my journal responses to "Beautiful You" on here, unless they're uber personal. I don't seem to have a lot to write about lately.

From "Beautiful You":

Day 1:  Begin

"What are your hopes-personally and for the world-with regard to body image and beauty perception?"

My hopes for the world is that we will all see through the lies of advertising and start to develop our own style and substance, not to mention seeing the beauty in each other and in everything , especially nature.  For myself, I hope to be able to see my own beauty, even when I don't feel beautiful or are all dolled up.

"How can you begin to live your hopes today?"

I could look in the mirror and say, "I'm beautiful just the way I am," and try to believe it.  I could take some pictures of ordinary objects like books (did that), for example.  I could question my need for approval and try to access inner approval or approval from a spiritual source.

I guess I'm doing the last.  I do feel your love and approval, Dad, even though you are long gone.  Which is more dependable than any earthly approval.

Well, here's another drawing, just for sh*** and giggles:

We are making progress in our chat.  It's always worthwhile to chat with my poetry buds.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Letter #28

Hi Dad,


The boots are distressed leather not suede.  My mistake.  Not that it matters. 

Mom and J. (her man friend) are watching the Sochi Olympics closing ceremonies.  You don't have to worry about him, he's got a lot of lady friends.  As far as I can tell they are not romantic.  She's talking about you more, which is really nice.

Here is a CD that I bought all scratched and turned into a coaster.  I just traced and cut out a circle of cardstock then glued it onto the CD. 

And here's another one of my drawings:

I went over it with ink pen and erased the guide lines.  This is an Anime character from a drawing lesson I downloaded and printed out.

I'm doing OK I guess.  I went to see M. today.  Her daughter and grandbabies were there.  They are so cute!  I had a lot of fun with them.  N. is learning how to clap and V. knows her numbers from 1 to 10.  I'm tired.  I'm not used to hosting dinner parties.  All I actually did was help Chris with fixing dinner, last-minute details.

I think I'll sleep good tonight.

Miss you.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Letter #27

Hi Dad,


It was miserable gray and rainy today, so me and J. didn't go to the beach.  She came over and visited instead.  We had a good visit and generated some ideas for NAMI speakers and topics.  Mom might have got a new caregiving job.  She is waiting to hear back on that.  It keeps her busy and out of our hair.  Gotta be a good thing.  :)

I found this great pair of black real leather boots on Amazon.  They are actually suede, which is even better.  They are originally $129, now on sale for $45.  So I ordered them.  I'm so excited!  They look kinda like biker boots, but the suede softens them a little.  Not too high heels either.  I guess I have a thing for shoes.  I definitely have a thing for purses, and maybe jewelry too.  You can never get too big for accessories.  Or too small either. 

Here is a drawing I did this week.  I left the guidelines in.  I think it turned out pretty good.  Actually, I'm amazed it turned out this good.

A part of me says, "You can't draw.  Why do you think you can draw?"

I want to stomp on that voice.  See, I have evidence, I can draw.  But I can still hear those lines.  Probably insecurity stemming from something an art teacher said a long time ago.

I showed J. the cross-stitch, drawings, postcards and Art Journal pages I've been doing lately.  She said she would go home and scrapbook.  I hope she did.

Well, that's about it for tonight.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Letter #26

Hi Dad,


We had a good meeting today.  I had to stomp on D. a little bit, just to get a word in edgewise.  I went around the table and asked everyone how their week went.  I gotta talk to, not a lot, but enough.  You know I don't talk very much.  Evah!

I did my Spirit Walking homework tonight and posted it.  We are only on Chapter 2.  Actually, I'm only on Chapter 2.  No one else is playing with me in the Divine Life sandbox right now.  That's OK.  I'll just plug along like I always do.  There's a meditation to go with this chapter.  I went to the website and listened to it.  I don't really like listening to stuff on the internet, it's almost as bad as watching videos. 

I made up Week 7s Art Journal page, it was for the prompt, "When I grow up..."  I went all Pagan with this one.  I hope no one objects to Tarot cards or Pentacles.  Oh well, it will make for interesting conversation.  Maybe I'll get kicked out of another group on Facebook!  One can only hope...

Mom and Chris are both reading books downstairs.  I've just been surfing the web.  Actually, I've been looking at drawing books on Amazon.  I added one to my Crafty Stuff wish list, 40 ways to draw a cat and other animals, or something like that.

Here is the Week 6 journal page I did.  The prompt was The Lost Art of Love Letters, so I wrote an anti-love letter.  I really like this one:

I'm finding it easier to blog every day instead of once in awhile.  Of course, I might not stick to that schedule, but for now, it's OK.

Miss you, always.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Letter #25

Hi Dad,


I'm doing better today than yesterday.  I stayed up late last night making postcards.  I was driven to make something (sort of) useful after a conversation about Art Journaling.  I finished 6 of them this morning, then made 4 more this afternoon.  They all turned out really nice.  I put a regular stamp on them because they are thicker than a regular postcard.  I'll mail 4 of the first set in the morning.  Pictures later.

I'm in this incredibly creative period right now.  No super long projects, just these one-offs.  That's OK by me.  I mean that U2 Jacket took me a couple years to embroider, on and off.  All those French knots!!!  I feel really good creatively; I just wish I had more balance in my life.  I haven't done any schoolwork this week, maybe the weekend will be different. 

I made Beef Stroganoff for dinner.  It turned out delish. We had it on noodles, with broccoli, salad, and canned plums for dessert.  Wish you coulda been here to enjoy it with us.  I was tired after all that and took a nap.  Betty Boop is sleeping in Chris' room, on his bed.  I colored Mom's hair today and painted my nails tonight.  You probably don't care about that girly stuff.  :)

Here is Week 5's Art Journal page.  It was supposed to be an abstract, but I don't really do abstracts.  It turned out alright I guess.

Tomorrow is the Coffee Klatch.  I wonder who'll be there.  I'm actually looking forward to it, amazing.  I think I'll go have some egg nog.  Don't ask where I got egg nog in February!  You wouldn't believe it if I told you.

Miss you.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Letter #24

Hi Dad,


How's it going?  Going good?  My day pretty much sucked.  I'm depressed.  I'll get over it.  If I don't get over it soon, I'll call my doctor.  Mom is watching Criminal Minds, which we call Screaming Murder because someone is always screaming on that show.  It's all about serial killers and the people who catch them.  Thrilling.

I started to feel better tonight.  What got me there?  Drawing.  An hour flitted by while I drew 2 anime characters from free lessons downloaded from Drawspace.com.  I just turned the music up.  Tonight I'm listening to Phil Collins, 80s "old school."  I think this couple is going to get murdered.  Isn't TV nice?  One of the reasons I don't watch much of it.  I'm very happy with my drawings.  Anything that looks like what it's supposed to look like is good enough for me.  I probably, no definitely have more hangups around writing than about arty/crafty stuff.  Ain't it the truth?  I'll post pictures of my drawings on another day.

Me and Chris were talking today about how much you liked chocolate malts.  Humdingers has wonderful chocolate malts.  I was wrong, the couple are the killers, not the victims...

Here is Week 4 of the year-long Art Journal challenge:

It's a mini-me. Those were the clothes and jewelry I was wearing that day.  We were supposed to come up with a character to put in our journals that represented us or an aspect of ourselves.  My hair is not that orange either.  It's more of a reddish brown right now.  You know that.

I'm cooking dinner tomorrow night, Beef Stroganoff.  It should be good.  I haven't made it for a long time.  I will look at a recipe before I begin.  I'm going to the store tomorrow to get noodles and sour cream.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne
 

Letter #23

Hi Dad,

I'm in a really crappy mood tonight, no particular reason.  You know how it goes.  You wake up on the wrong side of the bed and everything goes south.  That's what it seemed like after my nap tonight. 

I was just reading that people with my diagnosis never have a time when they are well, there is always something going on.  Well, isn't that just special?  I'm on some good meds.  I don't think that's true at all.  Perhaps I'm in denial.  Hard to say.  I certainly think I cope with things better than I really do.  I take on too much.  I get excited and obsessed about a project and that's all I can think about.  You probably knew most of that already.  I just think there are always going to be people who want to keep you down and/or underestimate what you are capable of. 

Mom got home about 7pm.  I barked at her a couple times, then she went and took a nap.  Chris is watching TV.  Betty's in his room.  I'm listening to Alice in Chains greatest hits CD.  I'm still hoping I'll get out of that author thing.  I just don't feel up to it.  Maybe things will get better.  We'll see.  I probably have the winter blues.  It rained a lot today.  I have a candle lit as usual (at night).

I watched Pacific Rim today, which is essentially a monster movie in the vein of Godzilla.  It was pretty good. I'll send it back to Netflix tomorrow.  I was gonna do something creative today, but I haven't got around to it yet.  Here is Week 3 of the Journal52 challenge:

You make me smile.

Remember that.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Letter #22

Hi Dad,


I'm having a weird day.  I was all angsty this morning and afternoon, but I've mellowed out.  It helped that I worked on my Visual Journal for awhile.  I got the journal pages mixed up again; it's definitely not in order by date.  I used up one of the glue sticks.  I have to get more of those!  I've been mostly thinking about Art Journaling today, off and on. I got a couple books from the library about altered art and and art journaling.  The pages are just too perfect in this one book.  You might as well make your own greeting cards if you are going to all that trouble.  And I didn't really understand the point of the altered art, that's what W. does.  It's cool, but kinda weird, all those altered dolls and game boards, etc.

So anyway, my eyes are being opened to a whole new kind of art, rather unexpectedly.  I'm having a very creative week.  Didn't get much homework done, however.  The weather is making me a little stir-crazy, I'll admit that.  Two days of downpour.  I hope tomorrow is nicer, not so much rain.  I'm working out some of my problems/issues in my journal pages.  Like Week 6!  Oh, you'll have to wait a little to see that one.  It's a little embarrassing.  I just went off.  Of course, my handwriting is not the greatest.  Some of these ladies have beautiful handwriting. 

Here is Week 2:  Somewhere, A Simple Place.  It's just a happy butterfly-filled place with butterfly trails.  I added the trails because the glittery bits didn't look very good.  I really like this one.  It makes me happy, even if it isn't "Art" with a capital A.

I got caught up on the first 6 weeks of prompts.  I don't know what I'll take pictures of next week. Any ideas?  Oh yeah, I made Lemon-Almond Shortbread this morning.  I have a picture of that too:

Yummy!  There's an informal NAMI meeting tomorrow night.  We're going to watch a movie.  We haven't decided which one yet.  It should be interesting.  Mom said she probably won't go.  She's more a talker than a part of the audience.  No kidding, right?  I beat her at cards again.  She still loves Spite & Malice, whether she wins or not.  Chris made turkey soup and dumplings for dinner.  It was pretty good.

That's about it. B. has been on my mind a lot lately.  I doubt that will ever work out.  :(   Have a good night.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Weekly Poem: "Apparent Backward Motion"

Apparent Backward Motion

Mercury’s retrograde

so I shouldn’t get a haircut

until Mid-March.

Mid-March!

It’ll be down to my ass

by then.

First the split end cream,

then the detangling spray,

the wide tooth comb,

then the regular one.

In a battle with my hair,

I comb out tangles,

one by one.

It’s a losing war,

my bangs dip below my nose

as I wait through the storms

for my next haircut.

2/16/14

Prompt:  write a hair poem

© Anne Westlund

Letter #21

Hi Dad,


I got kind of agitated tonight for a couple different reasons.  Firstly, I'm taking a Heal Your Money Karma-Daily Om course and it's dredging up some feelings.  So, what do I do when I'm stressed about money?  I spend more money.  You know me.  I was on the Amazon site with books, gel pens and a storage drive in my cart when I decided to save it for later.  I told myself I wasn't going to order off the internet this month and I'm trying really hard to stick to it.  We'll see...!

Secondly, M. called and complained about her daughter's boyfriend who sounds really immature by the way.  That was OK, but then she wanted to talk about our friendship.  Not good.  I hate those kind of conversations.  Friends are important, but I don't place as much emphasis on friendship as I used to.  Needless to say, now I'm agitated.

I had to go to town twice this week, so didn't get as much done as I'd like.  Oh, Mom found a Valentine's Day gift for me that she forgot about.  It's a little sketchbook, which is very thoughtful and encouraging of her.  I thanked her a couple times already.  I don't know if I will use it as intended, but I might, you never know.

Here is one of the "Art Journal" pages I'm doing for this journal page a week course.  The theme is "Up, Up and Away."  I like how it turned out.

I think tomorrow will be a better day.  At least I hope so.  It rained buckets today, it even thundered and lightninged a couple times.  I'm thinking of writing poems to go with my endpages and collages.  What do you think?   I think it's a fine idea.  I don't know how inspired I'll be by the Art Journal prompts, however.

I'm making Lemon-Almond Shortbread tomorrow.  Baking is very soothing to me.  Should be yummy! 

All for now.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Letter #20

Hi Dad,

It's been an up and down sort of day.  It's Valentine's Day again this year.  I keep hoping they'll cancel it.  I did make and hand out Valentines and give little gifts to Mom and Chris.  Mom made us cards and peanut butter cookies.  Chris got Mom a balloon.  It's still floating in the living room.  In honor of the holiday here is the other side of the endpage for the week:

Here is the balloon:

So the dinner party has wound down.  Mom had her man friend J. over (they are not romantic according to her).  We had stuffed cabbage, coleslaw and cherry pie for dinner.  B. came by with a chocolate heart and a card which was very nice of him, but he didn't stay very long.  "Nice" is deadly, have you noticed?  I wanted a nice guy, then I got him, then I got rid of him (sort of).  Now I don't know what I want.  Sigh.

The appointment this morning went OK.  Thank goodness.  The Coffee Klatch went OK, but D. kind of took over, as usual.  But if you can't tolerate people's idiosyncrasies you shouldn't be in NAMI.  That's all I gotta say about that.

I hope you had a good Valentine's Day up in heaven or wherever you are.  You are loved, Dad!

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Letter #19

Hi Dad,


There was a lot of activity today, but not much got done.  I made Hungarian Goulash for dinner.  I didn't like it much, but Mom liked it and Chris loved it.  I think it's bland, but it has a lot of veggies in it, so that's good.  I took a nap after dinner.  Woke up and had coffee ice cream.  Yum!

I pulled out the yarn in J.'s scarf and started over.  It's going to be a wide scarf instead of a skinny scarf.  Looks better already.  It was looking kind of sad.  I might embroider one of my jean skirts.  I haven't decided yet on the design(s) I'll be using.  I'm partial to birds right now, but that could change.

I've got an appointment tomorrow morning.  After that, lunch, then the Coffee Klatch.  J. and J. are going to Aberdeen to check out a support group meeting.  I should take a shower tonight, but I'll probably get up early in the morning and do that.  I still gotta cut my nails, they're so long now.  Tap, tap, tapping away at the keyboard...

Here is one of the endpages from my Daily Planner:

Those are 3-D stickers.  Did you know they have 3-D stickers?  So fun.

What was your favorite thing about being here?  One of mine is ice cream.  I forget how much I like it until I have it again.  And potato chips.  Mmmm.  Salt & Vinegar, BBQ, Maui Onion.  There's lots of good things about being alive.  I'm keeping a Gratitude Journal so I remember.  That's where you write down 5 things you're grateful for every day.  It really works.

I'm grateful you're my dad.

All for now.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne
 

Letter #18

Hey Dad,


How's it going?  Same old, same old?  I know...I know.  Me and Chris went "to town" today.  I had an appointment with my regular doctor and we did a little (OK, a lot of) grocery shopping.  Jay's has a new location for their Farm Stand.  They have a lot more room inside.  We got apples and cabbages and tomatoes and potatoes and a few other veggies.  I'm cooking tomorrow night, Hungarian Goulash.  It's a new recipe out of that soup cookbook.  Should be good!

I told you yesterday that I joined the Journal52 group with pages on Facebook and Flickr.  Well, I looked at those photos of everyone's first few pages.  Not a good idea.  These ladies rock!  I think it's mostly women.  They use paint, they use lettering, they use stamps, a lot of them can even draw.  And here I am doing my dumb balloon cutouts and happy butterfly stickers.  That's how I roll.  Obviously, I'm new to Art Journaling.  I don't quite get it.  Don't worry.  I'll figure it out... I hope.

Here's how far I am on the baby blanket:

I know, not that much more done on this.  I have all year to work on it.

I was going to sew tomorrow, but I think I'll just crochet and make journal pages.  I don't know.  I may start a new project.  I'll have to think about it.  I could play with clay, that's always fun.  Or frustrating, depending.  I'd love to embroider something.  I wish I had another jean jacket to destroy/improve.  They are kind of the same thing.  I could embroider my jeans...   :)

My doctor was happy with my A1c, and that I lost some weight, but not my triglycerides.  What's that they say?  Two out of three ain't bad.  My blood pressure is good too. 

We miss you.  I miss you.  I guess you figured out that part. 

I'm wide awake.  Must be the cup of real coffee I had.  I usually drink unleaded.  You didn't know that about me, did you?  Gave up caffeine.  Still sneak in a pop or a cup of coffee now and then.

All for now.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Letter #17

Hi Dad,

It's windy and stormy and rainy out tonight.  I hope we don't have a power outage.  It's time to go to bed anyway.  :)  I waited too long to write tonight.  I'm really tired now.  I've been doing a little reading on Art Journaling.  I found a free online class and a year-long project, both on art journaling.  I even tried my hand at the first prompt for Journal52.  It turned out pretty good.

I finished the Aztec Cross-Stitch today.  I like how it turned out even if the variegated grays didn't always match up right.  Here it is:

Now I have to soak the hoop marks out, let it dry,  get a frame for it and frame it.  Whoah.  That's the easy part.  B. will be surprised when I give it to him.  I hope he likes it. 

So, even though I read "Refuse to Choose,"  I'm still wondering, Is everyone interested in so many different things, read crafty stuff, but it applies to everything.  I wonder if I'll ever get good at anything, really.  I'm OK at poetry, that I've stuck with.  Everything else comes and goes.  Do you have any insights for me?  Mum as usual on this subject.  You always said I couldn't concentrate for long periods of time.  I'm thinking, you may be right!

All for now.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Letter #16

Hi Dad,


How are you doing this fine (rainy) evening?  I'm doing OK.  I've been better.  Like I said about the chocolate chip cookies I made tonight (not from scratch), I've had better, but I've had a lot worse too. 

Chris is all excited about a movie, the testosterone-laden Expendables 2.  "The body count must be in the 100s."  Anyway, Mom is reading a book by Kristin Hannah, and apparently she's "a great writer."  I haven't been imbibing in popular culture much lately.  Oh yeah, I saw Metallica:  Through the Never this weekend.  It was really good except they managed to play some songs I didn't like much.  They had a movie vignette along with the concert video.  I don't think you liked Metallica much.  :)

Here's the other weekly endpaper (the other side) in my daily planner:

I've been drinking a lot of water lately.  Since the beginning of December I've been drinking about 64 oz. of water a day.  It's supposed to help my kidney functions which are not all that great.  I'm pretty worried about the whole thing.  I'm going to see my doctor on Wednesday to find out if they've gotten any worse.  For years and years, no problem, now... problems.

Chris didn't win the Lotto this weekend.  Nothing new there.  He already promised me a one wing in a house with Mom.  I lent him $3 for the tickets and he promised me my own house.  :)  Because it's up to 7 or 8 million...  He plays the same numbers every time, like you did.  Didn't work for you either.  What???  :)

Guess what I'm drinking?  Water.

All for now.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Letter #15

Hi Dad,

Mom is watching the Beatles 50th Anniversary of Ed Sullivan Show appearance tribute.  The performances are uneven, but some are very good.  I think this Paul McCartney might have a future in show business. :)
Even Yoko Ono is there. This is geezer music for sure. Love it!  I love the Beatles.  Even I'm feeling middle-aged watching this show, or half-watching it as the case may be.

I bet you're wondering about Saturday.  No, me and J. didn't go play pool and drink Diet Pepsi.  She wasn't up to it.  It started snowing last night.  I went out this morning and took pictures. 

I'm planning on seeing K. on Tuesday afternoon.  I'll take the bus into Hoquiam and get dropped off near her house.  Of course, she could call and say it's not a good idea.  We'll see.  I left messages.  Tomorrow I gotta go to IGA, Ace and the P.O.  Groceries, light bulbs and stamps.  Fun, fun, fun.  At least the snow has all melted.

I re-read my morning journal entries for the week.  I've had quite the emotional week.  Maybe if I didn't reign in my feelings so much they wouldn't be a problem.  Maybe it's like meditation where you let your thoughts fly in and out like passing birds.  Maybe I could try to do that with my feelings, let them fly in and out, but not roost in my heart.

That's about it for today.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Letter #14

Hi Dad,

I've been fiddling around with the blog again.  I added a slideshow.  Not quite sure how I did it, but I did.  It only shows 10 photos at a time and links back to CoachCreativeSpace.  When I add photos there, the slideshow will change.  Ain't technology grand?  I think so.  You were always kind of a techhead, but you never owned a PC.  Weird.  I guess if you worked on the computers that ran the turbines, this personal computing is small potatoes.  I'm not sure if you were doing that back then or not.  I know later you were.  This conversation is awfully one-sided.  :)

Tonight I beat Mom at cards.  She did some minor cheating, well, it was hardly cheating, but to her advantage, so I got annoyed.  Then I won!  Amazing.  Usually getting mad doesn't serve you well in a competition.  Not so tonight.  

I've decided to turn J.'s scarf from a skinny scarf into a wide one.  To do that I'll have to pull it out.  I haven't crocheted many rows yet, so it's not a big deal.  I think it will be a lot nicer at 20 stitches to a row than the current 10.   Of course, me and my big mouth, I already told her I was making her a skinny scarf.  Oh well!

It was snowing earlier.  We've got over an inch out there.  Portland is snowed under.  We might get more snow tomorrow.  We'll see.  I hope the roads don't get icy.  Brrrr!

So, in my Daily Planner I'm setting aside one piece of neon cardstock a week to decorate with stickers, photos, pictures cut out of magazines, etc.  I'm decorating both sides.  I'm also including a page of lined paper each day to do some writing by hand on.  Here is the first side of the first cardstock page for the year:  (I didn't get the idea until this week.)

A bit stark, isn't it?  Hey, I just realized something.  You're my captive audience!  No one else is particularly interested in my crafty stuff or my life with Mutt and Jeff (my mom and my brother).  Dad, you were always willing to listen to me.  Here's your chance to be a good audience once again.  (If you're reading this and you're not my dad, you probably think I'm a lunatic right now.)  

At least I'm happy.  Temporarily, of course.  :)

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Letter #13

Hi Dad,

Mom was watching the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, but now she's reading a book and watching Blue Bloods, a TV show about a cop family.  It's a pretty good show.  My computer and desk overlook the living room and TV, so I can watch TV and be on the computer if I choose to.  I don't watch much TV anyway. 

I had a rough day.  I went to the Coffee Klatch and we got into some hard discussions, about the past mostly.  Not me, I tried to bring more positive energy into the group.  Didn't work.  I guess something must have triggered me because I got all emotional at the end and for a couple hours afterward.  I got angry.  So that put a wrench in my afternoon.

J. wants to go play pool at the bowling alley tomorrow.  I used to be good at playing pool, that was 20 years ago!  I think I'll go anyway.  I've been saying Yes to more things lately.  So we'll see how it goes. 

I made Valentines for the family and the Friday group, plus some friends.  They were really easy to make, just blank cards, cardstock, stickers, a felt tip pen and a glue stick.  I love glue sticks!  I wish I'd found them years ago.  Ignorant crafters unite!  Here's a picture of the Valentines:

Mom made a bunch of Valentines for her friends too.  It's next Friday.  Maybe someone will bring cookies to the Coffee Klatch?  J. probably will.  I don't think D. will be there. She bakes goodies.  I'm still trying to decide which cookbook I'll work from next.  I only have 2 more soups to make from the soup cookbook for my 10% project.  I'm going to make Hungarian Goulash this month.  Should be yummy!

Miss you.

Sleep well...

LOVE

Anne

Weekly Poem: "Bad Call"

I'm going to post my Weekly Poem as a blog post, as it doesn't work the other way (hard to edit, had to remove page element).  So if you don't see the Weekly Poem just scroll down.  It will be here somewhere!
I get my prompts from the Poetic Asides blog:  http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides

Bad Call

You wouldn’t call it work

but I do.

Referee for two people

brought together by biology

and fate.

They both speak English,

there the similarities end.

Contrary,

arguing at the drop of a dishtowel

Me in my stripes,

Is this a prison or a football field?

No one can agree

on the proper reaction

to spy cameras in the hotel bathrooms

at Sochi.

Will there be a winner

in this Olympian contest?

Not likely.

I blow my whistle

until red in the face.

Flag on the play.

Unnecessary roughness.

2/7/14

© Anne Westlund

prompt:  write a work poem