Friday and Saturday, I was part of the local art festival! The city board did well with the setup. The tents were lovely and provided shade. They had portable airconditioners pointed down the rows of tents to try to offset the heat. But the heat… It was killer this weekend. 88 degrees on Friday. 97 on Saturday. And we were there from 10:30 to 7:00 both days. I wilted.

Can you see how flushed I was? Both nights, I came home, showered in cold water, drank a sh*t-ton of water (see the bottles next to me?), and I was in pretty good shape compared to some of the more elderly artists who had to close early or limit their hours to prevent heat stroke. I guess all those years in the Texas Army National Guard trained me how to survive—don’t move around too much, keep out of the sun, and drink, drink, drink.

There were so many intrepid art enthusiasts who came. Maybe they were there for the live graffiti artist painting a mural, or staying for the food trucks and live bands, but they strolled through the tents. I can’t imagine how much more foot traffic we might have had if the festival had been held in October. But still, it was fun. And something to trade “war stories” about. 🙂

My dd was there, popping in, or having one of the girls keep me company so they could run for iced drinks or food, or just to make sure I wasn’t fainting from the heat. LOL

She was also responsible for setting me up, bringing in some fall decor to spruce up my tent.

My favorite piece was the first sold.

The postcards and bookmarks were very popular.

I sold those blue pumpkin earrings very quickly, too. See the wooden box? I found it at a flea market. It was yellow and very dirty. My dd painted and distressed it, then used chalk paint on the front so we could use chalk to write in our pricing on the little items. Cool, right?

And paintings were sold. I still have many, many items to bring to December’s craft fair and to post on Etsy. I have to get photos ready and then open up my Etsy shop. I made a ton of bookmarks and still have some left, so I will be thinking about how to gift them away… (Psst… Susan…)

But I still “feel” like a real artist. I’m glad I did it, but next year, if they schedule it for September again, I might not be there. Unless the forecast is for actual fall weather.

When I worked in the corporate world, I underwent all kinds of efficiency training. To-Do lists are supposed to be small, with the most important things at the top to tackle first. However, life doesn’t work that way.

Some things have to happen first before you can get to the highest priority things. Plus, once you finish something that requires a brain cell, you need something that requires less of the gray matter to follow in order to rest your feeble aging brain, right?

I’ve already failed to follow the order of my list that I made last night. I started at #1 because as soon as I’m up, I make kids’ lunches so that they can get out the door to school. But #2 felt like too much exercise before my first two cups of coffee, and I didn’t yet know what I was going to blog about, and #4 requires too many clicks, so I skipped to #5. Now that I finished #5, I’m trying to get back to the “proper” order of my list, and I’m doing good with this blog, right? That list was top of my mind, so I’m typing word-vomit while I’m sort of complaining about the fact my list is too long and I want to blame that piece of paper, but it’s all my own dang fault for committing to too many things this week… And on, and on.

And now, I’m ready to turn the list over on my desktop and just do wtf I want to do. What’s the worst that can happen besides two clients having heart attacks because their edits are due and me missing a book deadline? I’m turning it over….slowly…I haven’t yet laid it down…

Fuck. On to #4.

Psst! Be sure to check out yesterday’s post!
There are 8 open contests listed there that you can still enter to win!

I’m trying to keep focused on my work schedule, but it’s really hard!

I am participating in the Arkadelphia Festival of the Arts this coming Friday and Saturday! I’m super excited even though temperatures are expected to soar to 90 degrees!!! I’ll be in a tent, so in the shade, and I’ll have a cooler of water handy, but still…

If anyone happens to be in the area, be sure to stop in and say hi!

In the meantime, my lovely dd is helping me get ready. She’s been framing paintings and packing tubs with artwork. I’d be lost without her because she’s so dang organized.

I’m still finishing up some pieces for sale. Easy, fast-drying things, like this ceramic tile I used alcohol ink to paint. I have half a dozen tiles I can whip up pretty quickly and seal before the weekend.

My daughter started packaging some painted earrings I already had and decided I didn’t have enough of them. So, today, I’m painting some whimsical things like these pumpkin earrings. She’s finishing them for me (attaching O-rings and earring wires and packaging them) so all I have to do is paint. I’ll do some floral ones and abstract ones, seal them and be done!

I’ll be writing and editing all week and painting in my spare time. So, up to my eyeballs. As usual. Enjoy the rest of your weekend! ~DD

UPDATE: The winner is…ButtonsMom2003!
*~*~*

This is my end-of-month wrap-up (like you’re really interested 🙂 ), but I need to do it because maybe I’ll work a little harder knowing someone is watching…

August

Here’s what I accomplished…

Work-related:

1. I revised and republished “What a Wolf Wants” — an erotic short story set in my Dark Realm world—after I offered it for FREE for one week to my readers.
2. I completed 5 editing projects for other authors in August.
3. I wrote the first chapter of my next Brotherhood Protectors story! Progress! (I know that’s not much writing, but those editing projects really killed my schedule!)

Health-related:

1. I did not climb back aboard the Weight Watchers wagon until August 29th. However, I continued to maintain my 25 pounds of loss since January. I have a theory that my body has “reset” its starvation thermometer, so hopefully, I’ll experience a nice first week drop before I plateau again. At least, I’m hoping my theory is right. LOL
2. As for physical activity, I swam every single day (except for one stormy day), and half of the month, I swam twice a day! Have to make the investment in those pool chemicals worth it, dammit.

Happiness-related: 

1. I was knee-deep in planning activities with my local art guild. I mingled with real people. I attended one “art day” at the center and the monthly meeting.
2. I inventoried all the art I have already that I can offer for sale at the Festival of the Arts in September.
3. I worked on pieces for this year’s Festival. Nothing wonderful yet, but I’m a little out of practice.
4. Here are a few of my recent pieces…

 

September

  

For work-related, I plan:

1. To complete a story set in my sister’s Brotherhood Protectors world, Guarding Hannah!
2. To revise and compile the Danger Zone trilogy into a single box set/print book bundle and publish it in September!
3. To plot and begin writing Hard Knox, my first We Are Dead Horse story!
4. To complete 4 editing projects in September!

For health related, I plan:

1. To continue counting those points for my Weight Watchers diet (I hate that word) and hopefully shed at least 5 pounds, remembering, as always: Slow is good!
2. To swim as often as I can! Mid-September is when the water starts getting a little too nippy…
3. To begin some low-impact aerobics. I’ll dedicate myself to doing more housework, too, because my art room is a disaster!

For happiness-related, I plan: 

1. To produce at least four finished pieces of art every week!
2. To blog about art (on my Emerald Casket site) just to keep myself honest! (No one actually has to read it! No one except my pal Susan does!)

Contest

Comment on anything you’ve read in this post. Tell me what you’re doing to make yourself happier and healthier. Tell me what you plan to read…

Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Claire Reed Warren!
*~*~*

If you’re anything like me, you have a stash of notebooks sitting in a drawer or on a shelf that you haven’t used and have probably forgotten that you even own. I get notebooks from family members because they know I hoard paper products and office supplies. I’ve never been able to pass by the $1 aisle at Target and not pick up some cute notebook. And yes, I do use some of them. Every purse I own has a notebook stashed inside for times when story ideas hit, but I still have sooooo many sitting around. The kids know this and hit me up for sketchbooks all the time. I love being their favorite “store”—but those requests don’t make a dent in my stash. The picture above is of notebooks I had stuffed into the bottom of my inbox tray!

So, I thought it might be fun to create a list of ways to use up my stash and give those lonely notebooks a purpose!

1. 🎁 Birth dates and gift lists
2. 🤶 Christmas lists
3. 💻 Computer app passwords
4. ✨ Happy thoughts and sayings
5. ⚰️ List to help family sort your stuff when you die, also who gets what!
6. 🖥️ Blog ideas
7. 🛍️ Grocery/shopping lists
8. 🎨 Craft/Art project ideas
9. 📚 Story ideas
10. 🗒️ To Do lists

Wow, that made me think. Now, I’m going to hit up my daughter for labels for my notebooks!

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, share another idea for using up those notebooks!

Open Contests

1. Romance Trope Word Search! (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Michal Scott: Hiding in Plain Sight: Belle da Costa Greene (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
3. Favorite Heroes Word Search! (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
4. Saturday Puzzle-Contest! — Win an Amazon gift card!

Another of those throw-away holidays no one knows about. And it’s a cryin’ damn shame.

You wouldn’t know it to look at me, but back in my youth, I was the girl in bellbottoms and embroidered headbands. I was sent home from school to change when I appeared wearing peace signs on my blue jeans. When I was a young woman, the thing I wanted most from my nation was for the passage of the ERA—the Equal Rights Amendment. It’s long, long overdue. Can you imagine if our equality under the law was guaranteed? Sure, we’ve had piecemeal protections put into place, but depending on the flavor of government that exists, those can disappear with the stroke of a pen.

Not to get political, and I don’t think this example is, but can you imagine if we used that amendment to make sure that government dollars going toward research for things like for heart disease had to pay equal attention to a woman’s pathology as they do men’s? Maybe doctors would actually have a better understanding of what happens when WE have heart attacks and better advice for prevention.

Equality—when did it become a bad word? And why does the majority (women) put up with being less than? Okay, I’ll take a deep breath now and push down my former flower child into the deep recesses of my heart and wish you all a very happy, thoughtful Women’s Equality Day! ~DD

The forecast is for thunderstorms and rain throughout the day. We’ve been up early, preparing.

My dd and SIL fed and thoroughly walked dogs. We’re all charging devices.

I’m trying to get as much work crammed into the time we have left as possible. If you don’t live in a rural area where you don’t have buried power lines, you haven’t “enjoyed” the kinds of outages we experience when trees topple over lines (and we are a heavily forested area!). Some outages can last days, and we have a nice generator to keep the fridge cool and charge up our phones. However, running computers is a luxury. There’s no internet except for what we can get when we walk far out into the yard to get some bars. We have a propane grill and a charcoal smoker, so we can cook food. We won’t go hungry.

Hopefully, we’ll only go down for a few hours or a day.

Longer becomes a problem because we all like warm showers! The girls will be screaming about not being able to use their blow dryers getting ready for school, but that’s the trade-off for living in the country. Wide open spaces, trees, wildlife—goats—vs. “power insecurity”. We’re okay with that. I’ll charge up my laptop and keep it open so dropbox continues to update. I’ll pull out my paints and use daylight and then candlelight to play. My dd and her kids will pull out board games. It’s all good.

What about you? Do you suffer power insecurity from time to time?