MUCH better!

Sorry I was grumpy the other day! I thought about erasing my entries, but then the damage is done, as you already read them. After much prayer, I feel much better about EVERYTHING. I so hate feeling “controlled” by circumstance and not by the Holy Spirit.

My house is clean and my clothes are all ironed. Today I worked on packing suitcases for vacation. I have one full of clothes and two others full of books and art supplies. Another one is full of bedding and towels, blankets and the like. In addition I have several miscellaneous bags of “stuff”, as I have to take dishes, pans, lots of things to keep of warm, etc. This year I’ll not pack food, as we’ll have our car and be close to a grocery store. We’ve talked to the friends who arranged the home (they live next door!) and so we know we have a nice fireplace and wood to keep up warm (or at least try). We are hoping there won’t be a serious cold snap, just chilly enough to be fun. We are taking two ceramic space heaters and that should help a lot. We ordered 9 new books from Amazon that arrived last month and I have hardly been able to keep my hands off of them, but they are packed for our reading delight. Today I downloaded 2 audio books to listen to in the car on my mp3 player, as well as 5 old movies. I am slowly working my way through the AFI’s list of the best 100 films, so I’ll be seeing things like Ben Hur (I was too young to see it when it came out), All About Eve, Fantasia, The Thief of Bagdad, etc. Doesn’t that sound like fun? We won’t have internet (argh… a month without internet!!!!!), but I think we will survive. I am making lists of things to get done before leaving, as it is only a week away (yipee!!!!!!!!!!).

Last night I went back to art class and am desperately trying to figure out how I can manage two more classes before vacation… I loved it. I didn’t realize I had missed the company of everyone so much. She started a new phase for us in which we are working toward developing our own style, instead of merely copying what we see. I am so ready for that! It was so much fun. We studied a Cezanne and then had to sketch, as quickly as possible the still life using only a skeleton outline and then fill in with colors the form. I did it quickly, with no attention to detail. I thought it looked really free form, but my teacher says it is still realistic. Oh my, this is going to be harder than I thought, although she did say it was a good first step. Don’t laugh at it. It is what we call a “study” not a finished work. So the next time, I’ll try to do it more abstractly. That’s why I want two more lessons before vacation. I plan on having serious fun painting and drawing. I am taking stacks of paper, supplies and books with exercises on abstract art. I think a month will not be near enough time to do all this fun stuff. Til then, I had best get back to work!