I clipped my nails last week since I actually did some sculpting!  I made a fairy for my mom for her birthday, something I intended to do last year, but never did.  That was my first ‘project’ in months.  I am working on a little dragon too for fun, but started it a couple of weeks ago.  Just having fun with my colored clays.  I picked up a pack of black at Hobby Loddy this weekend.  I love that store.  Give me a thousand… or a few thousand dollars & I could easily spend it there.  Unfortunately my husband & I have gotten on a kick of video games lately.  Something we love doing, but can spend all day doing.  We have been working on the house too but we did spend hours yesterday just playing games.  Gotta love it!  Playing games for hours is the stuff my youth was made of!  It’s good every now & then to just do that kind of worthless activity.  Thanksgiving was good, great weather & all.  Bonfires in November!  My mind couldn’t help but wander, thinking about starving children in some foreign country.  Here in America we simplify our Holidays to meet our needs of sitting around & doing nothing.  Thanksgiving originates from eating a ton of food & sleeping the rest of the day… or that’s what it is now anyways.  Christmas is a great time to buy lots & lots of stuff we don’t need for each other, then eats tons of food & sleep all day.  Christians like to say that they know the true meaning of Christmas.  It’s easy to say such a thing, but to actually keep it real is another.  I find it difficult to know what to do.  I have awesome memories of Christmas, great times.  Right down to getting my Hallmark ornament each year.  I have two nephews & a niece.  I feel the need to get them something, that their world would collapse if there were no presents.  I can thank myself for part of that.  I always got them great stuff, I always put a ton of thought into it.  Sometimes Christmas is a great excuse to get family members nice things you wouldn’t just buy for no reason.  To really show you care…. I don’t have the answers, but I hope when we have kids we can teach them to be excited to give money to a needy family at Christmas time, or all the time!  I feel that way.  I think Christmas can be very special, full of family tradition like homemade meatballs & Hallmark ornaments & gifts for each other, just not going over board.  I don’t want my kids to expect tons of stuff.  It’s really just another day.  Aside from the fact that it is around the time Christ was born.  Which just happens to be a side note to most families.  Children are implanted with the ideas of gifts & receiving & food & having school off & it’s mostly about self.  Can we protect kids from these things when it is everywhere??  We’ll try. 

My friend did the sweetest thing for me a couple of weeks ago. I had told her a while back that I didn’t have much motivation lately to sculpt.  Out of no where I receive a package in teh mail of 10 different sculpey colors, how fun!  She sent a note that said new things sometimes make her motivated & she hoped it would work for me too!  So thoughtful.  I never buy the colored stuff for myself anyways so it was extra great.  So far I have only made a small drag but the colors have definitely been inspiring.  So much of the time I feel like I have to sculpt something with the notion of selling it, I hardly ever make fun little guys just for me.  I do however make little guys I intend to sell but never do- quite often.  I have an unhealthy connection to my work & I hate to give it up in the fear that the next person won’t appreciate it as I do.  So, this explains my high prices!  I think this all stems from, well being an artist plain & simple but also because I gave one of my most prized works away once.  I gave my senior project away, my painting of Rafiki that I put everything into.  Although this was not an original, I looked at a picture & made a painting- but it was an accomplishment for me.  Well I gave it to the drama teacher in high school, I surprised her & it felt awesome!! People thought I was nuts!  They said I would regret it…. & I did.  About three years later I did the unthinkable, I asked for it back!!! Wouldn’t you know my friend stepped in once again!  I hadn’t heard from the lady (who I didn’t know was about to burst from being pregnant) so my friend literally went to her house & got it & surprised me!! My heart skipped a beat.  That painting had haunted me.  How stupid?  I still smile every time I walk past it.  I haven’t painted like that since but I cherish what I learned from it.  It was created in a time of my life that sort of defines me & I have to remind myself that it is simply a painting, if my house burns down & takes it along- it’s ok.  I wonder what sort of art we will create in heaven?? How fabulous.