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True ‘I’ve been too busy to rebel’ Spirit

So, let’s re-cap. My baby boy is 16. My spring semester has started and it is already kickin’ my ass. More on that later. I currently have art work in 2 group exhibits with a benefit show coming up at the end of the month. 2013 has been pretty exciting eventful exhausting so far. I am taking a quick break between to-do lists to show you my results for the True Free Spirit class’s January project. This post showed you the beginnings of my first piece and a digital painting. Here is the finished 9×12″ piece: Damn. There is a lot going on in th0se mere 108 square inches! I also downloaded a new iPad app, Procreate, and made this: And as much as I said I love the ArtRage app, this one is far more user friendly and has some fun textures. And between the 2, I can RULE THE WORLD!! ahem   //smoothes skirt, sits back down And then I jumped on a chance to donate another “heart” themed piece for the Hearts for the Art Benefit on Feb 26th. Why? Because I have obviously suffered a severe blow to the head. Having already ear-marked the only pieces…

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Alternative Lifestyles

Wow, my last post was in August right after the opening of my show. You may think I am quite the slacker, but that is not the case. I just moved out of heavy internet promotion mode back into school/making art mode. I gotta admit, I like this better.A couple weeks after the show opening, the fall semester started at Sierra College. I am only taking one class and it happens to be the best class ever! The class I have been waiting for all these years. The first of its kind at Sierra:Photo 92 –  Alternative Processes!And the angels sang!Before I go any further, maybe a brief explantion of what alternative processes are would be helpful. Basically we are making prints outside of the darkroom by coating watercolor/printmaking paper with various chemical solutions and then laying a negative on top and exposing the print in the sun or a UV box. FUN!These are contact prints, so the final image is only as large as the negative you use, so you really need to have a large format camera. (I’m giving you links – learn as much as you like!) And so we would have negatives to work with, we…

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On zombies, birthdays, and sewing machines

7 months later, it appears this blog has once again risen from the dead… BRAAAAIIIINNNSSSSS!!!! There have been a couple times these last few months when I thought about writing a post; Kyle’s 15th birthday, Easter (for the whole ”it has risen” thing and pics of Kyle being taken down by a 3yo with a squirt gun!), Erin’s 5th birthday, but today is the day! So, let’s catch up. That new drug? After playing around with the dosage, I’ve found a balance that makes my migraines much more manageable and the side-effects minimal. So that is huge and has improved all our lives – cause it was getting bad people. Let’s file that in the “good news” column. There were some holidays. Fun and merriment had by all. In January we went to Florida to visit my parent and freeze our butts off at Disney World! There were a bunch of birthdays. (Not mine. Don’t worry, you didn’t miss it!) Too much cake had by all. It has just about been a whole school year since my last post. I have 2 semesters under my belt. Lots of good stuff there. Kyle has 3 weeks left of his first year…

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Not my baby!!!

Today was Kyle’s first day of high school. High school. But first there was texting to be done. Then a god-mom-take-your-silly-picture smile and he was off. He said he did not need me to walk him to school. Bummer. I was even wearing my fancy pajamas. Paparazzi mom ACTIVATE!

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Goodnewsapalooza!

Hey did you hear the good news? We won our appeal with the County Board of Education last Thursday night! It was beyond nerve-wracking and a close vote: 4-3. yikes. It took Chris and I over a day to finally come to grips with the reality that the whole interdistrict transfer process was finally over and that Kyle was actually going to be allowed to attend Whitney HS. damn that was stressful. But today I got Kyle enrolled at Whitney and he is all set to start in the fall. So relieved. And probably 3 inches taller without all that stress weighing on me. And Kyle isn’t the only kid around here with school news. Erin had her “Moving Up” party last Friday at preschool. She’s no longer in the Busy Bee class, but in the Open Court class. Weird name for a classroom isn’t it? Turns out Open Court is the name of the reading program that class uses. Erin was placed in the “advanced” Pre-K class. And today was her first day in her new class with a new teacher. Seems to have gone okay. The big difference for us is that in the new class there is…

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Request. Appeal. Rinse and repeat.

Our battle with the school board. When Chris bought this house in one of Lincoln’s new planned neighborhood, they had just finished the new elementary school, construction was starting on the middle school directly behind the house, and there was to be a new high school completed in a few years next to the library that is within walking distance of our house. Well, the city is stupid and mismanaged their finances so the high school got shelved. The other thing you need to know is that our house is just a couple blocks from the city border with Rocklin.  And Rocklin built a new school on their side of the border – Whitney High School. Exactly 1/2 a mile from our door.  A very nice high school that we can see from Kyle’s window. We want Kyle to attend Whitney High School. The obvious reason is location. Lincoln’s only high school is 5 miles away on the opposite side of town. A part of town we never even go to. Another and ultimately more important reason is that the Rocklin high school is a better school: college-prep vs vocational. So we have known for some time that we wanted…

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