At my art table...

Well, here I am back at my art table (WITH caffeine in my favorite cup - it's my own design!)...ready to dedicate the entire day (well, at least until the pre-school bus comes) to my latest project...

A BOOK DUMMY FOR SIMON & SCHUSTER

I want to thank all of you for supporting me through this publishing journey. So many of you contact me and ask WHERE you can buy my books. I don't have any published but I have many written and even more partially written. I have notebooks FILLED with simple ideas that would make a one-of-a-kind, quirky story! I will never live long enough to write every one of them!

This current project is a first for me. I am submitting as an AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR! Yep, I am taking your advice! I have been thinking all along that I wanted to just concentrate on ONE or the OTHER....writing OR illustrating. Come to find out, it make my writing SO much better when I can use MY OWN illustrations to SHOW the story. It's cleaner. Clearer. It feels like I have found my niche.

I recently had a review with an art rep from NYC who selected a few illustrations in my portfolio and said it was such a unique style that I needed to "run with it!" You can read more about that meeting HERE at my children's book blog.

OK! Back to work (and my coffee!) before I get sucked in chatting with you!

(Not that that's a bad thing!)

Peace.

NAMESAKE Christmas Gift EXTRAVAGANZA

Original, hand painted NAMESAKES on 9 x 12" bristol board: $50.00 each

I sold about 30 of these last year right before Christmas and I am opening
my "ORDER PAD" once again but for a SHORT amount of time.

My ORDER PAD will be open until November 1st.

Orders will be verified once payment has been received.

I will contact you via email to discuss design options

and special requests for your child's artwork.

Peace.

Kate and I: Crafting together...

I know, I know. You are thinking, "Where did that come from?"

Well, if you have been around this blog for any amount of time, you know that I am on TEAM KATE! Especially, especially especially during this time of her life! Ugh! I cannot imagine going through something like this and even more, I can't imagine it happening so publicly!

My heart is with ya, sistah!

So, I decided on something that would take her mind off the "junk" people are putting out there because the have nothing better to do than bash people they don't even know…

A NEW reality show...Kate and mine…a spin-off of sorts. With my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants creativity and her very structured nature, I think we could keep the ratings up and satisfy a major network simply on the fact that we would never be totally OK with the other one’s idea of fun. But, we are adults, we are women, we would have a blast.

I have a lot of friends and thousands of you reading my blog and from time to time you all think I have completely lost my mind.

Like when I tell you the creative projects we get into at my kitchen table. Having been a high school art teacher, messes don’t really freak me out. When we are working with supplies that won’t wash off, you know, the kind that stain your skin for a couple weeks, then we go outside. Easy. My outlook is, “no medium will last as long as a tattoo!”

Our NEW reality show would highlight the fun you can have with your kids without having an aneurysm. With eleven kids on our heels, can you imagine the number of segments we could tape in a short time?

Unlike me, Kate is adamant about her hate for messes. She doesn’t do them. Ever. And quite honestly, with 8 kids, who would?! In one episode, she and Jon take the kids to the Crayola Factory in Easton and she barely lets the kids try anything. Although, I totally respect her fear of messes (remember, I have lived with a fear-of-messes husband for 15 years), I have made it my mini-mission in life to show moms that Art doesn't always = messes. It is doable with the RIGHT supplies and an ample amount of planning ahead. I did one of those projects with my youngest this morning and it was delightful. Not a messy hand in sight!

My husband has a hard time with my messy tendencies. When it rains, we go outside and play in the mud. When it’s hot we have water fights...with our clothes on. We have even been known to have a small food fight or two. Although messy and causing my husband a few small strokes, the fun we have will create life-long memories of family fun. It's good to see Mommy and Daddy getting messy and being big kids! Even if Daddy twitches a little.

In my “research” on reality shows it is necessary to have a couple things to be a long-running phenomenon. One of the things on my reality show checklist is an interesting venue.

A place that has never ending possibilities for interesting outings … check. Lancaster County is filled with fun and not-so-common-to-the-rest-of-the-planet adventures. I can see me and Kate overseeing a finger painting project using a horse and buggy as our canvas. I see a big sheet of paper clothes-pinned to the side of the buggy...of course the horse's tail will probably whip away a fly and get into the paint...oh that would add a VERY cool element to a kid-style painting! We could donate the “painting” to Hershey Medical Center to hang in the pediatric wing. Who knows, that horse could become famous! Elephants do it!

Talent is a definite must on my checklist and I think Kate has this covered. Any woman that can juggle 8 children day-in and day-out is Mom-of-the-Year in my book. And I have the creativity piece of our show covered! How cool would it be if the Gosselin kids could do art projects and then we could have greeting cards printed with proceeds going to charity! I could write funny blog entries and illustrate each episode to give viewers juicy behind-the-scenes tidbits. People love that stuff! I LOVE THAT STUFF!!

Of course just the right amount of sheer chaos completes the recipe for blockbuster reality show. Just re-read the above paragraphs, close your eyes and visualize the opportunities for chaos. (although in my twisted brain I REALLY TRULY don't see it as chaos! Honest!) Mom viewers would love it.

Well, maybe I just needed to talk myself into believing that as my 12-year anniversary of being stay-at-home mom approaches, I actually have a ‘marketable expertise’. Maybe I am distracting myself from cleaning. Either way, I think I may be onto something.

Peace.

Sanity's Blogtober TIP Parade: 10/21 ME? Speaking?

So, this post is for you moms who have done speaking engagements before.

I have.

I love them.

But I get real nervous.

And I am always looking for ways to "keep it fresh."

My tip for public speaking? Pretend you are talking to one of your best friends on the phone... under a spotlight... with 100 people staring at you ...and don't snort! Easy, right?

So, lay it on me! What are your PUBLIC SPEAKING tips?! If I get enough, I will post the video of the event here on my blog.

Peace.

Sanity's Blogtober TIP parade: 10/19 HELP.ME.

So.

I'm.

Having.

Trouble.

Blogging.

Everyday.

Tips?

Sanity's Blogtober TIP Parade: 10/14 Childhood Cancer SUCKS!

About a year and a half ago I started a mission...I was going to bring smiles to the faces of every child on the planet with cancer!

I started its4thekids! With some very generous artists, we formed a philanthropic organization that sold art to raise money for what I called the human side of cancer.

Many people don't know that electric still gets turned off, insurance companies drop your spouse, etc, etc, etc all while you are watching your child battle cancer. I had heard enough and wanted to help.

The very first child we raised money for was Jessica! She was diagnosed in 2006, at 7 years old, with Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma.


In her own words:

"I am 7 years old and have alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer. I had a bump on my leg one day, and the next week I was at ACH having biopsies. I will be on chemotherapy and other treatment for 43 weeks, possibly longer. I cannot go to school or play sports until chemo is finished, and may lose my right leg too."

Her leg was amputated and she was fit with a prosthetic she affectionately named, Elvis!

This photo (below) was taken at the Arkansas Children's Hospital to celebrate Jessica's last chemo treatment. She was 8 years old!

On Valentine's Day 2007 Jessica got the news that her cancer was in remission. She was thrilled to get a second shot at a "normal" childhood. And she was even more thrilled when her hair grew back!

In November of 2007, Jessica was having some breathing issues and was sent to have scans done to rule out a relapse of the cancer. Unfortunately, after months of waiting and getting test results, doctors revealed that they had found a tumor in her back. Jessica underwent removal of the tumor in April 2008 and started another round of chemo almost immediately. A relapse of this type of cancer has a VERY poor prognosis.

December 3, 2008 and just in time for Christmas, Jessica was told she had achieved a SECOND REMISSION! By this time Jessica had also exhausted her lifetime allotment of chemo and could not afford another relapse.

Jessica and her mom, Teresa, put all the rebounding energy into a BIG project. A cookbook of recipes collected from across the country to benefit Childhood Cancer!

Once again her hair grew back and she was back to the energetic kid she always was. This photo is of her and her sister, Katie, goofing around! What a beautiful smile!

8 1/2 months later (August 2009), Jessica was having trouble breathing once again. The family's fears mounted.

This beautiful 10 year old's body was shutting down. Her mother reports on their caringbridge site, "CANCER BACK, wrapped around aorta and shoving heart up chest cavity, invading spine at T11-12, multiple metastases in lungs and lymph nodes." Jessica spent the next 2 weeks in the hospital.

I saw this on Jessica's facebook page (September 9th... less than ONE WEEK AGO):

"i'm home finally i got home bout 45 minutes ago and i'm here on hospice..i still have the chest tube in and an iv hooked but now all i do is lay and bed and wait till God comes to bring me home!!"

Jessica Easley turned 11 today...she blew out her candles with Jesus!

What will YOU do about Childhood Cancer?

46 children every school day are diagnosed with some form of cancer.

Only a small percentage of them will live 5 more years.

The American Cancer Society gives 0.03 on the dollar to childhood cancers.

Donate to organizations like CureSearch and Alex's Lemonade Stand where ALL funding supports research for childhood cancers.

Sign the Childhood Cancer Petition!

Leave a comment for Jessica and her family here or at their CaringBridge site!

Tips for the TIP parade?

DO SOMETHING! Don't turn away!

If you would like to purchase Jessica's cookbook, please email Teresa @ tlradke2@hotmail.com

Peace.

Sanity's Blogtober TIP parade: 10/13 To go or NOT to go?

Last month I had a really sore throat for almost a week...now I am NOT a baby when it comes to pain! Remember, I am the one who had the 11 lb baby! But, I was actually spitting in the sink instead of swallowing b/c it hurt so bad that my entire body would flinch.

Just about the time I was ready to go to the doctors it went away. Then, I got a pretty bad cough...lasted a week then when I had peed myself one too many times from the strenuous hacking, I was ready to call the doctor. Then it went way.

This went on for a month. A WHOLE MONTH! My mom was calling every day to see if I had gone to get some meds but it was a strange pattern of events...just when I thought I had had enough, the symptoms would go away. I would feel REALLY good for a day and then BLAM! I would come down with some other symptom.

So, after not seeing my brand new baby niece for 4 weeks, I broke down and went to the doctors. He heard my plea for meds, jotted down some stuff I said, listened to my chest and said, "WHY on EARTH did you wait a month to come in?"

I had no answer. Like a 10 year old being asked why she has toilet paper in her training bra, I said, " I dunno."

"Well, Michelle, you have PNEUMONIA!"

Nice.

So, I grabbed the Z-pack and the Advair disc (that is disgusting, btw!) and I was as good as new in about a week.

So, this weekend I came down with that same spit-in-the-sink sore throat. Was up by 5am drinking tea and doing shots of honey all the while downing 1/2 a bottle of Advil to kill the pain.

I call my doctor and tell the nurse that I am being proactive and I want to come right in so I can get on some meds and NOT be sick for another month! Of course they can't see me right away and I have to wait a day.

So, today I head in with my responsible big girl panties on. Call my mom from the parking lot and tell her what I am doing! "Yes. No, I am NOT kidding! I am standing in the parking lot! I swear! I will text you a picture!"

I tell the nurse that I was playing it safe and not letting my I-don't-need-a-doctor-I'm-a-mom pride get in the way. I was there for medicine so I could get back on track!

Dr. Lou came in and I sat up straight, took some deep breaths, fished for the pat on the back deserved for coming right in and not waiting.....

He sits back down and chuckles.

"Your throat is barely red."

"WHAT?!"

"I hear NOTHING in your lungs."

"WHAT?!"

"You just have a cold."

With my tail between my legs, I walk out to the nurse's station to turn in my diagnostic paper (after writing SCARLET FEVER and WHOOPING COUGH across it with the red crayon from my purse) and then head to my car.

What a waste of my time.

Today I NEED THE TIP...cuz apparently, I got nothin' out of this lesson!

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU REALLY SHOULD GO TO THE DOCTOR AND WHEN IT'S JUST A COLD? I had the SAME FREAKING symptoms both times!!

Leave your comment/tip along with your blog link. Go back and blog an anecdote or tip for your readers and leave a link to me. Invite your readers to play along and enjoy a whole month of MOMMY TIPS!

Peace.