Tagged 2x

Opening, 2007, Oil on Panel, 5x7
Natalya tagged me way back in October and what with all the illness going on around here, I plumb forgot to do a post listing five things about myself. And then Stephen Magsig tagged me the other day. I don't normally like getting tagged however, post topics have been a bit harder to come by lately so so I figured what the heck. Although I am struggling to find five things that I haven't already disclosed here, I am going to give it a shot. Oh and I know I am cheating by condensing two tags into one. So sue me.

1. I absolutely hate cucumbers! Doug and I have been together long enough to have a system though, whenever I get a salad in a restaurant that has any cucumbers on it, he immediately removes them AND the surrounding items, because the flavor of what you hate always migrates.

2. I have the ability to make my shoulder blades protrude several inches out of my back. This was an excellent thing to do to impress the boys at the bar back in my younger days. And I have passed this talent on to two of my kids. They are so lucky. Heh.

3. I hated my hometown (Rochester, MN) so much that I moved to Minneapolis within days of graduating from high school. It was a good move to get away, however ironically, after living in all kinds of different places, we have settled in a town that is pretty much a smaller version of Rochester.

4. This one is a real shocker: I have always for as long as I can remember, wanted to be an artist. I have had a few other interests along the way; writing, working with handicapped people, and have had a few detours, most notably motherhood, but wanting to paint has always been a part of me. Well, that and being able to belt it out like Janis Joplin on stage!

5. Even though it's been 22 years, whenever I see the scene near the end of the movie Witness where the little boy rings the bell and all of the Amish neighbors come to help, I cry. Every. Single. Time. In fact that is the sort of thing that almost always makes me cry, is seeing or reading about people helping each other.

Ok, that's it. And now for the really hard part, tagging others.

Nat Dickinson
Kesha Bruce
Sheree Rensel
Angela Rockett
Gary Rith

I apologize in advance if any of you have been tagged recently, or if you prefer not to participate. Believe you me, I understand.

I Changed My Mind

Barn at the Edge of the Woods, 2007. Oil on Panel, 8x10

A few days ago, Katherine tagged me and I declined to participate. I don't usually like to "join in" with things, plus it seemed difficult to imagine what I could actually tell you about me that I haven't already mentioned. But now, I feel like a jerk for not saying yes. So I have decided to play along and I am sure you are all just so relieved and happy to hear that. Heh.

And it turns out that there are a few things I haven't talked about. So here are seven things about me:

1. When I was in my early teen years, I lived with a friend's family in a two bedroom trailer mobile home located in the "good" trailer court in town. There was even a swimming pool (!) for residents only and my friend and I spent our pubescent summer days there trying to get the neighbor boys to like us. But still, it was a trailer park, and well, ick. There was a unique social order there that was mostly based on the size and quality of your mobile home. We were considered mid-level, ours was a single wide rather than double, however it was relatively new instead of old and crappy.

2. I lived in several foster homes as a teen and even though the last one was a really good one (I am still very close with them) I was fed up being so monitored and so I just left when I was seventeen. I rented a room in a house with seven male roommates which was fun, yet exceedingly stupid in retrospect. I had two jobs and managed to graduate from high school despite all of the distractions.

3. Plan A in high school was to go to art college. If I didn't get accepted, Plan B was to become a special education teacher. I had worked as an aide in several special ed classrooms and was encouraged to become a teacher. I was accepted to art school, but ended up spending many years researching special needs anyway after we adopted our handicapped nephew. Which was an odd turn of events because...

4. ....despite having four kids and a dog, I am not really a kid person and I feel really awkward with teenagers. I have never really liked dogs much either. But I love my kids more than anything and now that we have Penny, I find myself having conversations about dogs with other dog owners.

5. I have mentioned this before but just to clarify, I was a complete and total barfly when I lived in Philadelphia. My favorite hang outs were McGlinchey's and Dirty Franks. Both of which are still going strong by without me, by the way. Like the trailer court there was a social order there too, and again, I was somewhere in the middle. Story of my life I guess.

6. I stopped being a barfly when I met Doug in 1988. He was actually my boss and three weeks after he hired me as his secretary we were in love. It was a bit of a scandal at the time but it worked out ok, I think.

7. I am a big time Howard Stern fan. He won me over one day in 1988 when he spent 45 minutes talking about whether his glasses looked better high up on his nose or lower down. Very endearing. I listened to him everyday until we moved to Utah and then I couldn't hear his show for 10 years. I picked him back up when we moved to NY and followed him to Sirius and while I don't pay much attention to the strippers and sex talk, I love the show best when they are all just sitting around talking about tv shows, politics and other current topics. I really love Artie (he replaced Jackie while I was gone) and I have to admit that my daily schedule generally revolves around his show.

Geez, hope I don't lose too many readers over #7. Anyway, my blog picks are:

Stacy and Shan chronicle their busy lives which include, like mine, a busy family life and making and selling their art.

Lisa Call is an artist with a day job who also spends more time in her studio than I do. She makes the most incredible quilts and has a wicked sense of humor.

James Wolanin is a painter preparing for his first solo show in NYC this fall. I am very excited for him.

Paul Butzi shows his beautiful photography as well as discussing issues concerning supplies, equipment and going digital. He also bought 10 boxes of girl scout cookies from me to send to his kids in college. Nice dad!

Rebecca is another kindred spirit. She describes her work, family and gallery dealings. Plus, I love her work.

Joe Kazimiercxyk is a plein aire painter who depicts the landscape in and around Bucks County, PA. Doug and I used to spend weekends exploring that area and seeing Joe's work always reminds me of those long drives.