i tangled!

Happy Halloween!

well we survived hurricane sandy - sigh.  in reality we live to far inland to have been in any real danger of anything other than a strong windy rain storm.  we WERE prepared to be without power though which seemed a likely possibility.  we installed a generator years ago because we lost power so much when we first built this house.  of course, we have never lost power again and this time was no different.  having been through several major hurricanes on the coast of louisiana i know how bad it can get and i feel for all of the people who were hit hard with this one and my heart goes out to those that died. 

pezza will be happily back in school today - she seems much better since our foray to the ER thursday - now THAT was an adventure.  schools have been closed anyway but she was happy about it because she would have had to stay home anyway and this way she knew she didn't miss anything.  because heaven forbid she who never sleeps should miss anything right?!?!  i knew something was up when she got home from school last wednesday, curled up in front of the tv and DIDN'T MOVE.  she even asked me at one point if it could be bedtime - it wasn't even 5:30.  this is NOT how pezza usually is!  the ER adventure was amusing NOT.  of course it didn't start until after bedtime.  she had a bad case of croup which i had never dealt with before but she was not just coughing she was having trouble breathing at all.  a steamy shower fixed it for about 20 minutes and then it came back worse along with a sudden fever that shot up to 102.3 so off we went to the ER.  when we got there the fever had hit 103 so we headed to a room pretty quickly.  turns out for croup they can easily get the swelling down and relive the problem with a dose of steroids and a breathing treatment.  well, the nurse comes in with the meds and hands the cup with the steroids in it to pez, she drinks it and promptly spits it out all over the nurse and yells OMG that tastes like car tires!  the nurse is all shocked and taken aback.  i was trying not to laugh but man it was funny.  the nurse did not think it was funny though but i mean come on!  if you are giving a 5 year old nasty meds come in with a plan right?  and leave it to pezza to be generally obstinate about anything anyway right?!?!  next up breathing treatment which she wasn't overly cooperative for at first either but i got her to do it

she eventually thought this part was kind of funny.  she has had a congested cough lingering but by yesterday she was well enough to drive her dad and i bananas - she has basically been cooped up in the house for 5 days straight!
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newsies - a new mixed media challenge starts TOMORROW on color me creative and i hope some of you will join in!  I have 3 mixed media classes up and running on CMC so if you haven't done any and want to get started JOIN ME AND JUMP RIGHT IN!

also - Leslie - the creator of all of the gorgeous shimmering Luminarte products i love so much just released NEW COLORS for the Silks and Twinkling H2)s.  i have used them and they are oh so gorgeous!  i will have a few of them featured in my next post!  see them at Dreaming in Color.
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so what else have i been up to?  well, i LOVE LOVE the look of doodles/zentangles - the zentangle style has been around far longer than the term zentangle but i know most people recognize "zentangles".  my mom has been doing this same thing on china for AGES.  i really want to be able to do it but i really struggle with it!  i do not find it relaxing as i tense up and over-think it!  however i started a piece in my art journal quite some time ago and have been working on it little by little while i wait for pezza in gymnastics.  it is finally done!

what do you think???  overall i am pleased.  the perfectionist in me has issues with it but i try to shut her up as often as possible!

 i began by covering my page with a wash of twinkling H20s so i wasn't working on stark white.  then i drew my squares and got to work.

i did not keep track of the names of all these designs but you can find loads of designs right on the zentangle website!  for FREE!

of course the kitty in the corner is my fave part!  you will probably see one form of this kitty or another pop up on some other things!  i did get a bit better and more relaxed as i went and i may even start another one......think i should?