it's the holiday season...whoop-dee-doo and hickory dock!

ok, so i've been gone a long time....dying blog........

i feel i got some splainin' to do...first, shane was gone practically the entire month of november but for thanksgiving...so i was a little busy with working, being a single mom for the month, and tending to the overwhelmingly needy dog. second, about the third day after shane left, our laptop went the way of the buffalo with a dead keyboard and motherboard.

but now i am BACK baby and it's christmas time! *sigh* i love this time of year! but i've got a problem this year...one that can only be solved by writing a dear john letter....


dear "atmospheric conditions" aka the weather,

you know as well as i do that we have a love hate relationship. but this year, you have been driving me absolutely crazy. to quote my current favorite movie "your mood swings are giving me whiplash!"

thank you for the milder summer. not having A/C can make it difficult to withstand your heat that tends to get bottled up in our top floor bedroom, but you definately made an effort to try and not scorch me so much this year. however, our arrangement has always been that about halfway through september you start cutting back on the 90 degree days and give way to the more balmy ones of 75. you kept your temperatures up to 80 degrees until about two weeks ago. do i need to remind you that it is now december? i appreciate your concern that i did not "get enough fresh air the previous summer" and you "were only trying to help" but - sleeveless tops in october so the kiddos can play outside without getting heat stroke is a bit much. as we are on the topic of not keeping your agreements....you have always gotten either extremely cold or snowed on halloween. while, i will not complain too much about the fact that i didn't have to wear a coat while my little girl did her first ever trick-or-treating this year, i will say that you made me out to look like fool as i told my "new to colorado" neightbor that "of course it will snow on halloween - it ALWAYS does." i do not like looking the fool!

thank you for FINALLY snowing once we put up our christmas lights. it's about time! is that all you were waiting for? our christmas lights? if i had known that i would have put them up in october. stop with the freakishly warm days were the kids in the 'hood think it's ok to wear shorts in december and get down to being winter. i know your "official" day isn't till decmber 21st this year but our NORMAL agreement has always been a flexible date in november when it is clear that it is winter. so starting snowing already and you better stop in march when i tell you! GOT IT! if you plan on changing any of our agreements in the future, i want it in writing first. i am cc'ing this to my lawyer.

yours most annoyed

elisa.

i know, i know

i've told myself time and time again - no expectations of grandeur this time ok?!?! but, nevertheless, i seem to find myself thinking way out at the big picture at what i hope to be able to do one day. which, may or may not be possible or probable. i typically shoot down all of shane's big grand ideas because, typically, i see all the tiny steps to get there and know (or presume to know) that he will give up or that the outcome of the all steps together doesn't justify the results of all the little ones in between. but now, i am realizing that maybe i'm wrong in all my assessments of his big grand ideas. maybe the little steps i see in his big plans aren't the little steps he'll actually take. maybe he will do things differently than i expect and the sum of the whole will be equal to the sum of the parts. what i'm trying to say is that through running i'm realizing that the small steps i take 6 out of 7 days a week count just as much as being able to run, say, 25 miles a week - that each of my little steps that i take may or may not add up to what i think the outcome will be. i ran 2 miles today - well run/walked 2 miles - it took me 33 minutes. that is slow by anyone's standards. BUT, i realized that speed doesn't count/matter. i still got out there and did it. i'm not ever going to win a race or set a world record. my true goal is to be able to do this running thing - and guess what i already am doing it. the time dedicated to running is more important than some distance or speed goal that i think i should be able to do someday. i just want running to be a part of my everyday life regardless of how many miles it actually puts on my shoes. right now, the dedication to get up early and run is enough and i'm ok with the idea that maybe that is all i will ever be up for. one day at a time determining to run. i read the book No Need For Speed by John Bingham and he outlines the cycle of inspiration and loss of interest or disappointment that usually happens when you don't see the celebration in the activity you're setting out to do. his solution is to find the joy in every run...no matter how small. He says you should think like this: Inspiration, Dedication, Perspiration, and Celebration - that way the cycle is just that, a cycle. when inspiration dies, like it inevitably will, the celebration of each run, finding the joy therein, will raise up new inspiration. this cycle isn't vicious - it's life giving.

don't say anything...unless...

sometimes i feel like i have nothing nice to say...so i say nothing at all...on my blog...to myself and friends and family, i say all kinds of not nice nothings! so, instead of saying all my not nice things, i thought i would say all the nice things right now.

i am loving the fall weather. though we live in colorado and our fall lasts approximately 2 weeks, and of those weeks there are really only about 5 hours devoted to fall weather each day, i am enjoying the chill! i love sweaters and socks and bundling up. i think i just like to feel cozy. i also look good in fallish colors!

i am too loving all the halloween and autumn decorations going up all over the neighborhood. even the neighbor i don't like too much put up something fallish - so, see she can't be ALL bad then! i have gourds on the front porch, pumpkin spice candles inside, and a bag-o-halloween decorations in the closet ready for our halloween party.

i went to estes park with loo loo and kel bel and have a marvelous time. it was quite possibly the most picturesque day of my life. let me take you there...it was a beautiful drive up - not many people on the road (except once we got into town), bright yellow patches of changing aspens dotting the mountains with hints of not often seen autumnal red leaves sprinkled here and there too. it was the elk festival, so of course, there were a million people out and about. we easily though, thanks to loo and kel's expert knowledge of the area due to a summer/fall of working up there, found a parking spot and a cozy chinese place to eat. we ate delicious food and chit chatted about everything. then we went off to explore the town and the festival. we walked by the river behind all the shops to avoid the hustling bustling crowds as long as possible and admired the houses whose porches hung out over the rushing water. the air got chillier and chillier as we walked and ominous dark grey clouds started to build to the west. we stopped in to a few stores and even bought some touristy shirts - "got oxygen?" we walked and walked occcassionaly stopping to comment on something in a shop window. we finally came to the park hosting the elk festival where there were tipis and camp fire cooking, stations to learn how to make a fire by rubbing two sticks together, racoon fur hats, and lots of mullets and tight wrangler jeans. there was only a half an hour left of the festival so the crowd was thinning. then we saw the wolves. real live wolves! there were two massive wolves in a pen pacing and staring down the gawking onlookers. then came a voice "move back! moving wolves! get back!" and from behind the pen came a man and two women guiding two even bigger wolves on leashes to be put back in the truck. they were terrified with tails tucked and it made me a little sad that this was i how i saw wolves in real life. we then continued on to our favorite estes haunt - a little place only the locals know about - perhaps maybe you've heard of it - starbucks! as we walked down the crowded street, a gust of wind came and blew tiny yellow leaves down upon our heads. we all stopped - blocking the walking traffic - and stared up at the rapidly greying sky with hands outstretched as the leaves fell against our faces and palms. we walked on to get our coffee and made it in just before a rush and snatched up the last table. then it started to rain. sprinkles at first and then not quite a downpour but no longer a drizzle. we waited it out sipping on our cups of friendship and warmth. we moved on once the rain subsided some, but were quickly pushed back under cover and sat for a few minutes outside a local real estate office's overhang and perused the for sale homes that we will never be able to afford. we left our shelter and made our last major stop at the candy apple store and then it was off home. there was more traffic on the way down which helped to bring us all out of our reverie for our perfect fall afternoon and soon we were back in longmont and we'd missed the eastern traveling rain clouds by a only a few minutes.

it's nearly time for christmas music - and that always puts smile on my face!

we're going on a vacation of sorts to visit my family in IL next week. we have one of those rare families that actually all get along with one another and genuinely enjoy eachother's company and don't fight when in tight quaters with eachother - perhaps it is because we only see eachother once a year. nonetheless, it will be 6 days of kickball games, pots upon pots of coffee, hardee's breakfasts, guitar playing, children laughing, home cookin', and love.

ok, that was enough to cheer me up subtantially and forget at least for a few moments that i have not nice things to say too - but i'll focus on my nice things today at least!

google told me so...

so every once in a while i like to do that silly thing where you search google for "'your name' needs" i.e. "elisa needs" and then see what the results are...pretty funny here's this time's results in the order they appear in the search:

1. elisa needs rehab - yikes
2. elisa needs a better icon and logo - what?
3. elisa needs to reflect - probably
4. elisa needs and supports - doesn't everybody?
5. elisa needs a man - yep just the one i already have ;)
6. elisa needs to update - again probably
7. elisa needs to have a framework that is both flexible and dynamic - hmmm true
8. elisa needs a nice bar on the top - ummm a bar on top of what? my roof?
9. elisa needs now - uh...
10. elisa needs to experience beautiful things - i do every day
11. elisa needs to be confirmed by a second method - i don't want any false positives or anything
12. elisa needs to gabe alone - what does that even mean?
13. elisa needs your measurements - huh, i wonder what i am making you
14. elisa needs to be adjusted - yep a good precision adjustment is just what i need
15. elisa needs to shout a bit more - yikes at who?
16. elisa needs to feel safe - maybe i need to feel safe from the person i need to shout at
17. elisa needs to be stored at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius - i like the cold i really really do, but that is chilly!
18. elisa needs less - wait, of what!!!
19. elisa needs to get like a 100 on this final - thank god this one can't be true - i'm not in school!!!
20. elisa needs further validation for quantification purposes - stupid validation process!

well, there you go - google's top picks for what i need :)

clogged

lately, i have been so overly inspired by things that i can't let any of it out - i have a creativity clog. anyone have some inspiration drain-o that i could use?

top ten ways to get a clogged creativity center:

1. look at just the first page of esty.com
2. log into flickr.com
3. join a flickr group
4. read any book
5. go to blurb.com
6. search for a blog on a hobby/craft/art style/artist you enjoy and follow every single link that they like...hours of inspiration constipation coming up!
7. search artists on youtube.com
8. have creative friends and talk about what they're into right now
9. look at magazines
10. check this guy out - he'll blow your mind! markryden.com

word association fun

this is one of my favorite things to do when i just can't seem to fall asleep.... i think of a word, any word, and then think of the next word that it reminds me of and keep going and going and going and going....till i fall asleep...more entertaining than counting sheep, less fattening than getting a midnight snack.

so, i'm bored at work so here goes....five minutes on the clock please....go

work
check
bills
money
green
sweater
lisa
grove
gnomes
painting
easel
school
the art building
dirty
wash
"warsh"
lana bond
lauren
mushrooms
bikes
lazy
me
home
cozy
candles
pumpkin pie
thanksgiving
family
dreams
betsy
pink
victoria's secret
scanty
small
mice
squeaky
eisley
cooking
dinner
hungry
grocery shopping
mondays
thursday night dinners
friends
moving
boxes
tape
sticky
honey
bees
jerry seinfeld
annoying
sniffles
kleenex
judy's desk
avoid at all cost
the plague
druids
chanting
ohm
thailand
"wats"
monkeys
zoo
hippos
hungry hungry hippos
childhood
popsicles
dripping
faucets
fixing our floor


i should have thought of more things i'm sure but thinking them and then typing them kind of slows you down...and i only wasted five minutes....2 hours to go....

better back this up....

figured i better back up my claims of greatness....i mean accomplishments since the tv left....so, in a very photoful blog post, here you go!

Here are the makings of a cupcake hat for eisley - i just have to add the frosting :)

Here are some little pieces i have started and some i've finished:

Here are some felt lovelies that i have made:



















Here is a piece of pottery i painted...double espresso cup and saucer with birds on a wire :)













Here are just a few of cupcakes....














Here is the wall with shelves - i think the color reminds me of nacho cheese from a ball park but i like it still.














and finally - here is my first purchase from Emily Martin's The Black Apple esty shop...
(please note the "cupcake peddler" print from my previous post - which now belongs to ME and will soon be added to our "gallery wall")

life after we booted the tv...

life without tv.............people ask me all the time how life is different/better/worse/possible without your tv - NOT just cable.........the whole tv unit. it's hard to say a complete answer. life is definitely different - no doubt about that. sometimes it is better and sometimes it is worse (but rarely - all the election stuff and the olympics were kind of sad to miss). but mostly it is more than possible and in our lives it was a necessity!

it used to be cute when eisley would yell "dowa dowa dowa dowa" when dora the explorer came on....but when she started to throw a fit if dora wasn't on any channel or it was time to turn off the tv, it was no longer cute. it was nice to be home a lot and watch all kinds of home shows and i get grand ideas of how to organize and transform my house into a home, but when i forgot to do the dishes and mold grew in tupperware containers in the fridge it was not great. it was nice to sit down with my hubby and veg-out before bed with a dumb mtv show, but when we forgot how to have a normal meaningful conversation about something other than what heidi and LC were fighting about this time, it was not nice.

i hated my life revolving around a tv schedule. "oh sorry we can't do anything on mondays because the new hills is on, and tuesdays are out 'cause this other show we don't really even like but we HAVE to watch comes on and wednesdays between 7-9.30 is out because ANTM is on and then we have to watch the new run's house, no not thursdays either, but maybe there's a 2 hours window on friday because it's the off season for....blah blah blah" rushing home to watch some show is not a good priority and i knew this then, but i wonder i stopped caring. but i care now and that's what matters. we might have a "boring" house now, but i don't care we're better off for it. we don't usually do things half way in the beeson house.....all or nothing...we cheat too much if there are loopholes.

so if you click here you'll see how my life was when i first started thinking about what it would be like without the boob tube. and below is a list of what i've done after kicking the tv to the curb:

in no particular order:

• read about a gazillion books.....ok, not really.....half a gazillion at least though


• gotten back into art and my creativity has spiked for the first time in about 4 years


• made new friends


• gone on loads more walks, hikes, and bike rides


• been still and present and not off in some other world


• caught up on household schtuff


• organized


• painted a wall and installed shelves on it


• enjoyed my sweet neighborhood to it's fullest


• explored new spots in my hometown


• played more outside with my boo boo


• learned to be mindful of the task at hand....still working on that one


• learned toooooo much about this coming election- we didn't get rid of internet for goodness sake - we can't be completely shut off from pop culture


• baked more..........a lot more


• read books together with my husband - we read aloud alllllll the harry potters to eachother :)

i'm sure there's more...but you get the idea...life is much much different without the tv!

bummin'

i normally hate politics and want nothing to do with them let alone discuss them...but this year i've changed my mind - a bit - i'm not endorsing Obama, but i think some things need to be said about him.

i watched Obama's speech last night with my friends. i enjoyed it and thought it all well said and in reference to McCain very respectful. i'm saddened because of how the media is portraying his speech...already twisting it by cutting out sound bytes of small things that he said in a much broader context, piecing them together to portray that he bashed McCain the entire time and said little to nothing of his actual plan for his policy changes. i HIGHLY disagree! I'm bummed because i think too many republicans didn't actually watch last night and will only read articles and blogs from "their" side. instead of researching BOTH sides of the coverage on each candidate, i think we're doomed for another vote down party lines instead of a true look into what each candidate stands for and will bring to the table.

so i leave you with this...an excerpt from his speech...this will probably offend those of you who are die hard religious people, but this is the country i want...one that doesn't discriminate against people different from us, that shows love and compassion to those who need it most...remember this when you pick up your bible and thump at it someone when talking about all this political crap - jesus loved and dwelled among the "sinners" without discrimination, disdain or prejudice.

"America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require tough choices. And Democrats, as well as Republicans, will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past, for part of what has been lost these past eight years can't just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose, and that's what we have to restore.

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country.

The -- the reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than they are for those plagued by gang violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals.

I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in a hospital and to live lives free of discrimination.

You know, passions may fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. But this, too, is part of America's promise, the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort."

here's the link to his speech in it's entirety

what i should be doing....

i should be writing a blog about how great it is that we FINALLY got rid of cable and even the whole TV in general....and i swear i will too....after i spend another hour or two looking at cupcake paraphernalia on etsy.com....maybe.....cupcakes are sooooo alluring!