end of year busyness

i just finished doing the grade reports for the end of the semester...for the first time. it was easier than i thought it would be!!! we decided this year to go with homelife academy to get ourselves ready for the fact that, starting next year, we would not be able to homeschool samuel since he will be high school aged. in tennessee, if you do not have a bachelor's degree, you cannot homeschool a high school aged child. the only way around this is to use an umbrella school like homelife academy. i'm glad to be done with the grading process!! as unschoolers we don't really do any actual grading. we have to rely on how well we know our children and what our children know. the grading gives me a chance to reflect on the kids in a different way than i'm used to. but it's not something i would want to have to do all the time. so that's what i did this morning.

other things i've been doing...contemplating my artist self...ooh big surprise. i was asked to do illustrations for a children's book. i find myself feeling inadequate for this task. but wanting to push myself to try anyway. i don't want to let my friend down...or myself. i've been working on some larger pieces than usual using my big watercolor paper that's been sitting over in the corner mocking me. i'm doing them with watercolor, pencil, and chalks. i'm also wanting to do more realistic figure work (as opposed to my usual figurative illustrations). i did some rough (really rough) nude sketches using photographs of myself that i have stashed away that were taken by my boyfriend in college for a photography class. they really helped a lot and i'm glad i still have them. i'd love to have a live model to draw from...and eventually do some clay figure modeling as well. anyway, here's an idea of what i've been doing:

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quote time

i'm reading Odd Hours by Dean Koontz. as usual, there are tons of excellent quotes!! here are a few that caught my attention...made me read them over again a few times...

"the given world dazzles with wonder, poetry, and purpose. The man-made world, on the other hand, is a perverse realm of ego and envy, where power-mad cynics make false idols of themselves and where the meek have no inheritance because they have gladly surrendered it to their idols in return not for lasting glory but for an occasional parade, not for bread but for the promise of bread."

"to protect the innocent, to avoid being one of Burke's good men who do nothing, [refers to the quote by edmund burke in 1795 'the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing] you have to accept permanent scars that cincture the heart and traumas of the mind that occasionally reopen to weep again.

to do something, to do what you feel sure is right and in the aid of justice, you sometimes have to do things that, when recalled on lonely nights, make you wonder if in fact you are the good man that you like to believe you are.

such doubts are high cards in the devil's hand, and he knows how to play them well, in hope of bringing you to despair and ennui, if not to self-destruction."

"we are coming now to dark shoals in rough waters, to straits so narrow that virtue and wickedness voyage close together and may be at times more difficult than usual to differentiate from each other."Share

updates

recently, samuel was invited to join some local artists to hang out and draw at the local comic book shop where he sells his comic. he had a really great time!! he'll be doing it again soon but this time he'll have his new issue of GUILD ready to sign and sell!!!

you can look at his comic site here (be sure to click on "latest" to take you to the most recently added page):

http://www.drunkduck.com/GUILD

in other news...scotty starts a new job today!!! yeah!!! we will still be building and promoting thyme for toast but in the meantime we'll have some extra money coming in. he will be working with the troutdale company at their troutdale bistro location in bristol. so please go check them out and say hi!!!

also, i did a write up for thyme for toast that was published in the most recent issue of the loafer, our local entertainment guide. we picked up an issue last night after going out to celebrate the new job and didn't realize it was going to be in there. what a nice surprise!! now i'll have to check out all the other papers that i sent press releases to...that should be fun!!!

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Thyme for Toast

well, as you know...scotty lost his job about a month ago. while he's been applying at every imaginable place on earth, we've been working on an idea we've had for years but he never really had the time to go very far with it. in the midst of working on our business plans our friend ren talked to her friends at wjhl and set up a cooking spot for him. he went this morning to do a live demonstration on the morning show. it was really exciting to watch!! okay, so we're getting ready to go out for "first friday" here in jc so i'm just quickly putting up links now. so here they are...
our website:
http://thymefortoast.synthasite.com/

clip of his wjhl segment:
http://daytimetricities.com/tri/food_cooking/article/cooking_lessons_home/17270

thanks to all our friends who have been so supportive and enthusiastic about all our ideas!!Share