GOP's War on Women

Every time I start to write the post I end up sputtering a string of expletives and there are so many that have said it far better, so for now, I defer you to where my art is on the subject.

photo

SPARK 15

In the midst of moving and all the children being ill and having a house guest, I decided to join a new art project that had a deadline.  Because I was feeling relaxed about my days and thought I'd ratchet up the expectations.  Actually it was super fun.

Spark is "Open to writers, musicians, and visual artists of all kinds, SPARK is a participatory creativity event that takes place four times each year.

During each 10-day project round, participants create a new piece of work using someone else’s art, writing, or music as inspiration. All resulting work is then displayed online, alongside the piece that inspired it."  

I sent in a little ink from a few months back and received a poem from Amy Moffitt. The pieces are starting to get posted this week, I just put mine up today and am excited to see everyone's work. I find it interesting to see what inspires people and try to understand what their process is. 

go see SPARK 15  and leave a comment.

Calling In

I totally don't feel like doing anything today.  I don't want to unpack any more stuff, run any errands, do any physical therapy, wash, brush, clean or cook anything.  I just want to continue sitting in front of this screen with my fuzzy little dog at my feet, while one baby sleeps and the other is at school.  I want to stretch this morning out into a whole day of eating Girlscout cookies and drinking French press coffee while reading blogs in my pjs.

Almost There

We're almost settled in.  I have all the pertinent items for everyday living unpacked and today I moved on to artwork and serving plates.  We finished another ten day round of antibiotics and the children are ill again and I want to say to all of the parents of sick children in the world  "Keep your little pie faced germ factories at home like the rest of us sensible people.  For serious. If I hear that you have taken your children out and about, even to the Walgreens to get a prescription, allowing their plague ridden sticky fingers to touch the shopping cart my son will later lick, I will kick you in the shin. Hard."  That is all.

Pics of the new house to follow.

Found

We're moving again, just up the road this time.  Our lease was up, the landlord decided to sell and we have to get three years away from our short sale* (June 2010) before we can get a home loan again.  We are staying in the neighborhood, switching grade schools and moving to a bigger place (ART STUDIO!)  Today is the day we are packing up dishes and the very last bits before the movers come in the morning.  I keep shoving things in my pockets that I find around the house.  When I started packing I was finding hair ties and hot wheels all over but now I'm really digging into the corners of our lives and today's haul of pocket novelties for your consideration are; a tiny nickel belonging to a magician, a brown penny from 1969, an orange paper-clip, a die, a paper hedgehog, a pink Lego flower and the bebe from last year's Mardi Gras King Cake.





*I want to explain we sold short but were not underwater.  What does this mean? The house sold for less than we owed after the bank agreed.  After making two house payments for a year, it was better than us just walking away from it.  The house was appraised for double what is sold for, it was just such a depressed market, nobody was buying.

Are You in an Abusive Place?

We know that people stay for a lot of reasons—for financial reasons, out of love, because they feel pity, because they’re too afraid to leave, because they can’t afford to leave, because they have children, and so on.

Have you heard yourself say any of the following phrases?

• "It's not Rockford's fault."
• "Rockford is trying to be better."
• "There were some bad choices in the past and we're working on it."
• "It's a good city in it's own way, really."
• "Stop criticizing and and ease up, Rockford is trying hard."
• "It's not that bad, at least we aren't Detroit."
• "Rockford is actually really creative and misunderstood."
• "I don't know what I'd do if I moved."
• "It's better for the kids to stay."
• "You don't understand the way it is."
• "Being in Rockford is tough, but a few times a year it's wonderful."
• "It's hard to get Rockford to see that anything is wrong."
• "I'm strong enough to weather the tough times, I belong here with family." 
• "It's up to me to make it work."
• "It's my fault, I just need to try harder."
• "It's just a small problem with drugs and alcohol."
• "It's not really that violent."
• "It's fine if you just stay away from Rockford's bad side."
• "You should've seen Rockford back in the day."

(Yes, I know I still choose to visit a few times a year.  Rockford, it it weren't for the people I love still there, you'd be history!)

Where I'm from.


****


In all seriousness if you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship there is help.

Where I'm from

Forbes Magazine: Rockford is the 9th Most Miserable Place to Live

Rockford in the Top 20 Most Dangerous Cities

Rockford 15th Highest Jobless Rate in the Nation

Rockford Register Star Responds: More Than a Set of Statistics

Our City Our Story - Rockford, IL

When I was fifteen, I went to the hospital for my appendix, upon release the next morning I discovered someone had stolen my boots.