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In the early 90's I designed a series of

well they were drawings of different characters, just black & white, pen and ink drawings, each one had a name and a little story that went with it, and I connected them all together. Each picture came with a little description on the back. Over the years I added to the collection until I had enough to sell as greeting cards, which I dubbed "The People In My Head". They were the strangest designs but I had so much fun with them. I don't have any of them saved but somewhere around here my mom does. If I find them I'll post them. Actually I already found them and trashed them, but come to find out she has a "backup set".

I post my name proudly. Not out of vanity or pride, cause truly, all my creative endeavors have been a flop. But I claim who I am with no shame. I say, this is my life.

I ask you, who are you, where have you been, and where are you going?

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My grandmother and great-grandmother at my wedding in '91. I'm not so much into grandmothers but I do love this picture, it says so much.

I realize I've strayed from my original intentions for this blog but oh well.

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Something my brother-in-law wrote when he was 21.

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I've just been staring at this for a while. I don't know why I love this one so much. I think it illustrates perfectly the relationship between my little sister & I. She's always operating off of her common sense brain, I'm always doing my own thing no matter what. I'm just trying to remember what was being said here. I think I was making a cake. What could I possibly be doing that would evoke such a reaction from her? What's to comment on when scraping a bowl of batter into a pan? Trust me, the redheads in my family ALWAYS have a comment and an opinion. For EVERYTHING. This is why I am so thankful to be a blond. I too have a comment and an opinion on everything but it's more of a gentle observation. And also I'm always right. The redheads just spout off.

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Joe, '95

I forgot about this. Right after he died, as in, days later, my daughter and little sister and I decided to release some messages tied to helium balloons in his honor, that was his favorite way to "litter". So we all put our heads together and wrote a neat little message, made lots of copies and sent them off on balloons. This one got stuck in a neighbor's tree and they brought it back to my mom. They knew it was us because the first page of this message talked about Joe's wreck. And how much he loved God. He really did. He was all into end time studies.

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'04. Shasta is a pet name for my daughter, along with Cupcake, Twinkie, Pringle, and Starfish.

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Apparently my mother has saved every single note, card, email, picture, and any other written thing I did. Ever. I had no idea. This must be from like '03 or '04, back when I emailed friends and family, for fun. That's back before I discovered blogging.

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Uncle Andy, '03, @my grandmother's apartment. I'm sorry if you have no idea who my Uncle Andy is. I can't help you with that.

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Grocery lists were never safe in my family. My mom would start one and add to it throughout the week. So did the rest of us. All she wrote was "no soup" and then it snowballed from there. The rest appears to be my handwriting, then the life/death looks like my brother's. My dad would get in on it too. We were note-writing fiends, every last one of us.

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..well here we go. I just unearthed boxes upon boxes of my mom's keepsakes. Boxes I never thought twice about until now. There's alot of things you don't think twice about until you're unemployed and bearing some type of illness. Then you think twice about everything. And dull things are suddenly fascinating. Why fight it? I'm amused.

Come to find out, she's saved EVERYTHING. This here is a notecard I made back in '93. Back when I decided to be a photographer. It didn't last for long. I got an old camera and black & white film and rooted around the house I was living in (my ex's grandmother's house) for props, and did random things with them. For this picture I actually asked my ex to drive me to the nearest railroad tracks. He stood patiently nearby and smoked while I arranged the old boots, hat, and Bible exactly to my liking. I had a few sets printed up on notecards. I never sold any. I ended up giving them all away. I abandoned this particular project when I saw my father's initial reaction to the photograph: laughter. And not the good kind. It's because the picture is called "The Right Side Of The Tracks". So what if I'm a nerd. What have YOU done in your lifetime on a creative note? Anything?

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How long has it been since you've gone rooting through your mother's jewelry box? If your mom is dead, maybe your dad has a place where he keeps his interesting things. If you have no dad, go visit an elderly neighbor and ask to see his valuables. If you don't have any neighbors, why not look through your closet and sift through your mementos? If you didn't save anything, then I just can't help you here. Sorry.

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This was sitting on my mom's dresser this morning. She just discovered how to make her own cd's. I find it disturbing and gross when she gets into music. She jams out when she's at her sewing machine. Mainly the blues.

I went in her room this morning to see if there was anything interesting to scan. I was thinking of re-opening that box of letters and doing something good with it. I might make a collage.

Did you hear about Bigfoot? In the freezer?

Is that real?

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