Brayered Collage Paper

I have a hodgepodge of acrylic paint procured variously over the years — a lot of it dried up and no longer good. I want to start fresh! So I’m trying to use up the old so I can buy some new.

These patterns/backgrounds/collage papers were painted on newspaper flyers using a brayer.

Have a great weekend!

 

Post 25

Since our anniversary yesterday Steve has taken to saying things like, “Now that we’ve been married 25 years I don’t think I should have to make amends for something I did in your dream.”

Okaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy……

Countdown to 25 – 1!

thou

Steve and I will be married 25 years on June 19th. So I’m doing a little countdown here at the blog and will continue the Something FOUND, Something WRITTEN, and Something MADE format.

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1 Day before the Silver Anniversary

Something FOUND

A delightful post over at 50 Watts on 1950s Japanese Ads:

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Something WRITTEN

“Watch Out for the Overturned Jeep” Part 2

We set off, the three of us: Christer (now 4), Steve, and I.

This cross-country trip was beginning on a different note than the one in the summer of 1990. We were tired from the holidays and had had a rough couple of days. Someone’s feelings were hurt: “We had a fight just DAYS after the engagement? What does that MEAN?”

We said goodbye to my mother and set off at 7pm; if all went well we would arrive to Steve’s parents house by lunchtime the next day. We planned to drive all night… since we weren’t yet married, a hotel room seemed out of the question.

After a few hours in the car, though, we started to relax and things were good! Christer fell asleep in the back seat and we drove. And drove. And drove.

Now, we were only a little bit older, but somehow the Young Us that could drive all night just a year before had evaporated after we made arrangements to become an Old Married Couple. It was only midnight and we were exhausted.

But no worries! We could do it!

We drove several more hours. I don’t think I’ve ever been as tired as I was that night. I could hardly keep my eyes open, but I forced myself to stay awake for Steve’s sake.

At about 4am we exited the freeway to get some gas, and I saw something on the road ahead. “Watch out for the overturned jeep,” I warned him in my best stoner voice, as if running across overturned jeeps in the middle of the night was a common occurrence.

“That’s not a jeep,” Steve countered in an equally slow and calm voice, “it’s a herd of elk.”

“Oh,” I murmured, nodding in agreement.

We slowed down so as not to scare the herd as we passed.

But… there were no elk.

There wasn’t a jeep either.

There was…. nothing.

Steve braked — hard — and the two of us woke up from our sleep-driving. “I think we should get a hotel,” Steve said, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never felt happier to hear those words in my life. And a mere twenty minutes later we were slipping into blissful unconsciousness when Christer’s cheerful, singsongy little voice startled us awake:

“I not tired!”

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Something MADE

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Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Countdown to 25 – 2!

Steve and I will be married 25 years on June 19th. So I’m doing a little countdown here at the blog and will continue the Something FOUND, Something WRITTEN, and Something MADE format.

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2 Days before the Silver Anniversary

Something FOUND

An Oly Oly Oxen Free post about Japanese artist Mizuki Gozo.

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Something WRITTEN

“Watch Out for the Overturned Jeep”

Once upon a time Steve and Carla got engaged to be married. It was Christmas 1991 and they had decided to spend Christmas in California with Carla’s family, then drive to Colorado to spend some time with Steve’s family.

Having dated for a year and a half, they had already made the 15-hour drive several times — usually in a single overnight stretch.

It was on such a drive, in fact, that they fell in love.

(Tinkling music indicating flashback.)

It was summer 1990 and the location, Santa Barbara, California. Steve and I, who were acquaintances at the time, were attending a Bible Study. Steve had asked for prayer for his mother (who had just had surgery) and for his road trip to Colorado, which would be made in two days’ time in a car held together by twine and chewing gum wrappers.* Steve finished with, “So if anyone needs a ride to Colorado….”

Now — and I kid you not — it just so happened that I needed a ride to Colorado! A friend of mine had moved there a mere six months earlier and had told me I could visit whenever I wanted, so why not take this ride with the cute guy across the room?

I said I would go with him.

“Are you serious?”

I was.

“Um, I don’t really have a reliable car…. um….”

(Okay. I need to confess here that this wasn’t the first time had I cheerfully taken someone up on an offer that probably wasn’t really being made as a serious offer. In college, I spent six weeks in Indonesia after Justine, a foreign-exchange student, offered that any of us from the tennis team could come stay with her family over the summer. “Oh…um… I need to ask my parents,” she said uncomfortably when I saw her the next day with the news that I could come… I could come!!!)

Anyway, to make a long story short I assured Steve that I trusted him with the car and, by the way, could I bring my two-year-old son? And then we drove to Colorado and talked all night and then, um, when we got there I couldn’t get ahold of my friend and Steve’s dad told Steve that Christer and I had to leave immediately so I had to call the only other person I knew in Colorado: my old boyfriend. And then we stayed with Dave for five days before taking the bus back to Denver where Steve picked us up and we played in a fountain and then kissed for the first time in the middle of Utah on the way home to California.

Fast forward 1.5 years and the three of us again got in a car and headed for Colorado.

(To be continued…)

 

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*Actually, that’s not quite true… Steve didn’t fix the clutch with the gum wrapper until the middle of Utah DURING the Colorado trip.

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Something MADE

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Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Countdown to 25: 3!

Steve and I will be married 25 years on June 19th. So I’m doing a little countdown here at the blog and will continue the Something FOUND, Something WRITTEN, and Something MADE format.

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3 Days before the Silver Anniversary

Something FOUND

A cool post by Brown Paper Bag about the 2017 Thesis Exhibition of MFA students from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)… inspiring!!

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Something WRITTEN

Okay, just three days left. Which story would you like first?

Weekend Away to Saugatuck, Michigan

or

“Watch out for the Overturned Jeep.”

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Something MADE

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Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Countdown to 25 – 4!

Steve and I will be married 25 years on June 19th. So I’m doing a little countdown here at the blog and will continue the Something FOUND, Something WRITTEN, and Something MADE format.

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4 Days before the Silver Anniversary

Something FOUND

 

From our wedding album contact sheet:

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Something WRITTEN

The wedding was held at a Lutheran Church in St. Charles, Illinois. The officiant was Mitch Gowen, Steve’s brother-in-law. About 70 people attended the service.

The day was freezing for a hot summer day — 59 degrees F.

The reception was held at a beautiful old hotel in Batavia, Illinois. The ballroom had underlit glass tiles for the dance floor.

The bride wore a beautiful pink wedding gown. The groom used a newspaper rubber band to tie his hair back. Christer, who was four, had not had a nap.

The bride’s mother’s feelings had been hurt by the bride the day of the wedding. The bride was later told by her mother that the transgression was a “blessing in disguise” as, otherwise, she might have cried at the ceremony.

Photographs were taken before the catered dinner of chicken and peas (pretty sure).

Highlights include the kiss, the cake, and watching Christer cut up the dance floor in his mini tuxedo.

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Something MADE

Adam and Eve, 2002.

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Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Countdown to 25 – 5!

Steve and I will be married 25 years on June 19th. So I’m doing a little countdown here at the blog and will continue the Something FOUND, Something WRITTEN, and Something MADE format.

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5 Days before the Silver Anniversary

Something FOUND

Denver artist Anne Thulson is a family friend and I love her style so much.

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Something WRITTEN

Only five days left until our anniversary. I think we’re going to make it.

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Something MADE

Steve’s caption: “I can’t poo and you don’t care.”

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Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Countdown to 25 – #6

Steve and I will be married 25 years on June 19th. So I’m doing a little countdown here at the blog and will continue the Something FOUND, Something WRITTEN, and Something MADE format.

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#6 Days before the Silver Anniversary

Something FOUND

Eugenia Loli.

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Something WRITTEN

I missed another day, but this time it wasn’t Steve’s fault.

 

(HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)

Seriously, I feel bad. But today is a new day!

So far in this Countdown we’ve talked about Steve’s bicycle (aka “the other woman”) and throw pillows.

So today we will naturally turn our attention towards Steve’s cooking.

When we first got married we shared the cooking duties. There were several dishes I was pretty adept at making — spaghetti, dried chicken with frozen peas, and Wendy’s to name a few.

The problem was, I never seemed to make enough food. Before I got married, if I cooked, I ate leftovers for days. But after the ceremony, each time I made dinner I watched with dismay tomorrow’s lunch and dinner inhaled by Steve. All of it. And then, “You only cooked ONE chicken?” he would ask incredulously.

Our schedule looked something like this:

Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays: Steve Cooks = Everyone Happy
Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays: Carla Cooks = Everyone Unhappy.

We limped along this way for two years.

Then I got pregnant with Wes, and during the three months of pretty terrible morning sickness, Steve kind of took over the kitchen.

And it’s been that way ever since; Steve has done all the cooking for more than 22 years.

I know.

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Something MADE

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Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Countdown to 25: #8

Steve and I will be married 25 years on June 19th. So I’m doing a little countdown here at the blog and will continue the Something FOUND, Something WRITTEN, and Something MADE format.

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#8 Days before the Silver Anniversary

Something FOUND

I love this portrait by British painter Emily Ball. She has a great book, too.

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Something WRITTEN

During nap time today:

Steve: We have each other, and that’s pretty good.

 

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Something MADE

I haven’t been making very much lately! 😀 Here’s a doodle from awhile ago.

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Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Countdown to 25 :#9

Steve and I will be married 25 years on June 19th. So I’m doing a little countdown here at the blog and will continue the Something FOUND, Something WRITTEN, and Something MADE format.

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#9 Days before the Silver Anniversary

Something FOUND

I really like these two paintings by Jason Yeomans:

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Something WRITTEN

I missed a day. This is because Steve and I got into a big fight yesterday, and I spent the first part of the day hiding from him and then the rest of the day fighting and/or licking my wounds.

We have learned that no fight is all one person’s fault, and that in the end there are just things we don’t understand about the other.

For example, Steve doesn’t understand how the female emotional mind works:

Carla’s feelings about (fill in the blank):

It’s okay.

It’s okay.

It’s okay.

It’s okay.

It’s okay.

It’s okay.

It’s okay.

It’s okay.

It’s okay.

It’s okay.

It’s okay.

It’s okay.

It’s okay.

IT’S NOT OKAY.

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I don’t understand it either, but on the other hand I understand it perfectly.

I know you know what I mean.

Whenever we fight (less often as we get older, but still), I feel so sad that a whole day was wasted.

But everything is okay now.

It’s okay.

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Something MADE

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Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you tomorrow!