Smelling the flowers

Petunia said:
Hi, Vicki. I believe the recipe I was using was this: Baked Turkey Meatballs with Spinach Recipe

I omitted the breadcrumbs quite often and it doesn't suffer from it if you're avoiding wheat. Enjoy! :)
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Thank you! I used ground turkey from a tube (which I normally hate buying but it was on sale for $1/lb) so it definitely needed the breadcrumbs. Made 166 meatballs today but the kiddo is scarfing them down so I think I did well.

Thanks for sharing!
 
Vicki82 said:
Thank you! I used ground turkey from a tube (which I normally hate buying but it was on sale for $1/lb) so it definitely needed the breadcrumbs. Made 166 meatballs today but the kiddo is scarfing them down so I think I did well.

Thanks for sharing!
Click to expand...

That sounds like a success! :)
 
Date night last night. We had a starter cocktail at B's and then headed to the Near East side for dinner at The Alchemy. We hadn't been there in ages, so it was a nice switch-up. The Near East side of Madison has a hip vibe of old hippies, young hippies, creativity and tree hugging. I can hardly believe that we don't own a home in this area of town, because those are our people. Bond and I had our first date at the Alchemy. Anyway, this is one of the places where my inquiry to hang art kind of got dropped. I took a look at what they had on exhibit, and I got a delight from the subject - chickens. And it was really well done and cute. And priced at a healthy rate, so that was good to see.

After dinner we stopped by Crucible, because Meetup had sent an email saying that there was a Poly event going on. We thought we might see some of our people there and none of us had been there since it opened last fall. It's a pretty cool space. The poly group was about board games, and none of us felt like playing a game, so we contented ourselves with a cocktail. The organizer of the meetup introduced herself and her goal for this new offshoot of the main Polycocktails group. Her focus is to be open to all ages, but mostly trying to create a space for the younger generations so they have peers to talk to and learn from. She wants to transition to having a 1-hour discussion time before the gaming time. I sincerely wish her great success. There is a big need for this in the community. She grew up in a non-monogamy household with two dads and one mum, and many other adults. She said she had the village. She was earnest and well spoken, and it was cute. :)
 
Today my niece did a photo shoot for me. Her idea. She noted that I needed a good head shot and she also thought a short video would be a good idea. What a kind thing for her to do for me. She's a really good photographer, made her living for many years with photography, self-taught and all that. Mostly I hope she makes her aunt look good, and wow, that can be challenging! LOL

Eight days until my art goes up. :eek:
 
Rolling right along with the photography stuff, today I asked for recommendations on the Wisconsin Photographers Facebook group for a photographer to take pictures of 8-9 of my paintings to be used for submissions to juried art fairs. I got about 8 responses, but most of them have never done this sort of photography. I settled on one who does fine art and photography and set up an appointment for 11:00 am tomorrow. He is 2.5 hours away from me, but his experience and availability were big pluses, and he will get the images to me the same day. There are several local art fairs that have March 1st deadlines and one that has a Feb. 28th deadline, so it was important to schedule something asap for that and also, best to do before some of my best pieces are installed for an exhibition and that will be happening Friday night, so chop chop! I'm not sure if Bond is going to take off of work and go with me. B already said she is busy and cannot go. I think she'd have enjoyed it, seeing as she is a photographer. (She doesn't have the correct equipment for my needs, so it was not an option to hire her.)

Having the photos will be one hurdle, the other is getting a booth and getting pictures of the booth with artwork displayed for show submissions. That one is a bit harder. I have a lead on a booth and Pro Panels for a good price, but the seller is in Traverse City, MI. It's about 8 hours one direction. I'd have to rent a van to go get them. The big question then is, when? This coming weekend is busy and the following one we have a thing to go to on Saturday. Both of those dates are past the deadlines I was trying to hit. I'm not sure I could get to Michigan, return, set up a time with a photographer all before Friday.
 
I've had to have the photographer retouch the images multiple times. He asked for another $45 the last time, and due to misunderstanding, all of the images with white will need another correction. I am thinking of paying $20/image to the premier photographer for jury images to fix them. Damn, this is getting expensive.

The used tent I was interested in buying sold, so now I'm narrowing in on a decision for an art fair canopy that is much cheaper. ($239) I am going to pair it with mesh panels from Flourish. This will eliminate the need for ProPanels. ProPanels are lovely, but expensive, and rigid which would mean renting a van for every show. The Flourish black softwalls and all the extras that I want come to $1075, plus shipping. Not cheap by any means.

I didn't make it into the Maker's Market for early May, but I did get into all four Bodega markets that are held from Memorial Day weekend until late August.

Someone posted on a FB group about how cool it would be to get together with others that were close to paint. That spun off into lots of people saying where they are located, including me, and now four ladies are coming to my house on 4/14 to paint. Should be fun.

Two weeks from tomorrow B and I fly to San Francisco to join Bond for the remainder of the week. He'll be there for the Game Developers Conference (GDC). He leaves the Sunday before. We will all fly back together on Sunday, the 24th. Oh! I just remembered that I was going to double check on the Alcatraz tour tickets that I purchased to make sure I got the Behind the Scenes tour. I have a feeling that with all of the back and forth that I didn't get that particular tour. I just sent them an email. I hope that they can switch it up if that's the case. Fingers crossed!
 
I did not get the Behind the Scenes tour, so we're doing the regular tour. At this point the BtS tour is sold out until some time in May. They offered to get us into the nighttime tour, but we'd rather do the daytime one instead, because Bond wants to be able to see the entirety of Alcatraz island as he's never been there before.

However, the whole trip is in jeopardy. Bond has to complete a work task by the end of this week or he won't be able to attend the convention. It's stressing him out, because we have this trip planned. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but part of the project involves a side of the engine that he has never worked on before. He told them to stop sending him bug fixes, as he needs to focus on this project, so they're going to do that and leave him alone to work on this one project. He went into work yesterday and familiarized himself with the part he hasn't worked on before, so he's feeling better about that now. I think he'll have a lot of late nights this week.

My UnderCover canopy pop-up will arrive sometime Wednesday, and the Flourish panels will be here tomorrow. I bought a light set up for the booth from a photographer on the east coast and that should arrive towards the end of the week. I got the insurance, and my seller's permit. Next I want to order a Rock 'n Roller cart and a vinyl banner with my name on it for on the outside of the booth, and a tall director's chair. I'm sorting through different types of swipe readers for credit cards and need to make a decision on that. So many details. I won't bore you with the list of miscellaneous things I'm going to need to gather up.

Once the booth and panels are here I will need to schedule booth pictures to use for entries into juried shows. We still have a LOT of snow on the ground and our driveway isn't flat, so I may move the furniture out of the living room and set it up in there. :D
 
My UnderCover popup canopy arrived yesterday. I lugged the boxes into the house. The one was all frame/pipes and was heavy as fuck. The other was the canvas, so much, much lighter. I may need to start lifting weights to handle this beast! I read on a forum that one lady does exactly that to prep for the event season and I thought really? But now I know where she is coming from; seventy pounds is heavier than I thought. Damn.

Last night was date night for the triad. I declared that we needed to have sex first, then go out to eat. OMG, so much fun having sex earlier in the evening before everyone is tired or has a full belly from eating dinner. Afterwards we went to HuHot - they now have zoodles and we all ate way too much. Like so much that I think I slept poorly because my belly was so full. :eek:

One week from today B and I fly to SF to join Bond. :D Fingers crossed that the trip is still happening. Bond seems to think he'll have everything in good order and that it'll happen, so I'm operating on that.

It's warming up here this week. The snow is beginning to melt off - finally. Yesterday morning Bond and I were talking about how huge the ice on the rain chain had grown and then last night it was bare. I'd have loved to have witnessed when it all came crashing down. Things are melting so rapidly that I noticed the parked cars seemed way out in the road this morning and could have been closer to the curb than they were. I am guessing that the snowbanks melted so much in the night that they now had many inches of road compared to when they were parked. It's a gloomy, rainy day, but no one is complaining as it is warmer and it's making the snow melt, although we are all concerned about flooding. We had severe flooding last summer and fall, and the water table is still dangerously high and may not be able to accommodate more.

Saturday I am getting my hair cut and colored so I'll be all spiffy for our trip. I need to find some time to shop for some new clothes, and I also need to paint like a demon so I am ready for all of the shows I've committed to doing.
 
Good news about being able to handle that monster popup canopy - I talked to someone who has the very same set up and he reminded me that it has a wheelie bag. He says it's pretty easy to move about and it has handles for lifting and such. :)

I mixed a lot of paint last night to pour a large canvas tonight for my niece. I'm thinking it'll be a 36" x 36" canvas. She found some color inspiration boards to show me, but is leaving it open to the style, and that is hard because I really don't know if she's a negative space or full on color saturation type. I think I'm going to do a ring pour and maybe add some additional techniques depending on how it turns out. And it better turn out, because I have a lot invested in the paints and pouring medium I prepared for this one. I think I used $25 (at 50% off) worth of pouring medium alone, not counting the paints and canvas. The canvas is $75 by itself. Thankfully I got it on sale.

So, I sent my youngest son a text message last night inquiring as to whether he likes abstract art or not. I'm so disappointed. He feels too pragmatic to indulge in feeling like it evokes any emotion in him right now at this stage of his life. That made me sad. He did say that "if it is from you I always want it. But don't give me your "cream of the crop" painting. I won't know the difference between that and an "oops". I just want it because you're my mom and I love the shit out of you. And I would hang it on a wall proudly."

I'm not sure where I stand with that information now. I was ready to make him something as a gift, but I would like him to enjoy it for art's sake and not just because it's from me.

Okay, after reading his reply again, I'm thinking that I'll still move forward with creating something for him. Others can appreciate it for its own beauty and he can appreciate it because it's my creation, because someday I won't be here anymore and he'll have that tangible piece of me. It may be stuffed in the guest closet by then, but whatever. Actually, he's sentimental as fuck, so it may be hanging prominently in his home and driving his partner bonkers and filling her with hate for this big-as-fuck piece of abstract art that doesn't suit her aesthetics. :D

I'm also going to make something for his older brother. Something specifically for him and hopefully spectacular. He needs it.
 
I'm two for two in attempts and fails on the painting for my niece. What was amazing was seeing how fantastic Liquitex pouring medium works. The colors were so fantastic. I wish I hadn't overworked the canvas and then added paints that were mixed with floetrol. Oh, well, I'm learning a lot here, but it's frustrating - and expensive.

Yesterday morning Bond flew to San Francisco, which means I had the house to myself. And it was delicious! I cleaned some things and then I went shopping for clothes - which I hate doing. I only went to JCPenny's and they had a ton of clearance racks out. I bought a shit ton of clothing and saved nearly $600 off the original prices. The shocker is that I bought more than just black clothing! :D Must be the artistic and colorful side of me is emerging. LOL

I went to UW Provisions and bought myself a steak and cooked that up and then spent the rest of the afternoon/evening in the art studio.

My oldest son started a text conversation around 10:30 pm that went on and off until midnight. His phone wasn't charging and kept dying initially. He is so lonely and he's such a nice guy. I don't understand why he has such a hard time making friends and finding a girlfriend. I think his lack of confidence and innate shyness are the biggest factors. Last summer/fall he was building friendships with coworkers, so I asked about that. He said that things had fallen off mostly due to his depression, but he is feeling better and making efforts and they are responding and things are improving there. He had a first date, they met at a park, with a lady and was totally catfished. I asked in what way and he said that she was nothing like her pictures and he estimated her weight well over 300 lbs. She also cannot speak - he is unsure of why this is, he thought it had to do with her tongue or lack of one. She hadn't mentioned this to him prior to showing up at the park. He didn't want to be mean, but after about 10 minutes he said that he and the baby were leaving. That hung heavily on him all night as he felt like a jerk for having done so and he figured she wasn't forthright with him, because of being self-conscious about her size and inability to speak.

The good news is that he really likes his baby-momma's new boyfriend. He said he and his family are really nice. He's a former Marine, so they both have a military background. I can't get over how much this guy looks like my son! Like, in some pictures I could not tell if it was my son or not. Same build, same short hair, clothing choices are the same, same type of hat, etc.

My daughter is in emotional, relationship hell right now. Sucks.

I am really looking forward to San Francisco. Bond purchased some weed for B and himself. I wish that wasn't such a big part of her life. Oh, well, it's not something that seriously affects me, so whatever. He got to SF so early yesterday and most of his colleagues didn't arrive until last night. He had hours on his hands and actually dyed his hair. It's Mermaid Blue now and it looks great. Besides the weed, he also sourced vodka and soda water. What a guy!
 
San Francisco was so much fun! It was hard to get up for work today. We got home at 11:30 pm and had to get ourselves to bed as quickly as possible, which ended up being about an hour later. That's just not much time to feel settled and ready to fall asleep.

We did an educational pot walking tour, visited the Museum of Modern Art, rode a cable car, visited Lombard Street, toured Alcatraz, ate at a Hot Pot, ate seafood - I had a Dungeness crab that made me a bit euphoric it was so amazing, had Argentinian meats from a food truck, yummy burgers from Super Duper Burgers that really were super duper, and a river of cocktails. Good times, good times. :) It rained on Friday, but it really wasn't that bad. We spent several hours at a neighborhood bar and had a lot of fun.

Now it's back to work and all that. I'm getting super nervous about getting more paintings made. I ordered an airbrush and high flow acrylic paints, so this will be taking things in a new direction. I hope it doesn't mean a lot of fails before I get something decent.

I did not make it into the Art Fair on the Square as an emerging artist, but I am #6 on the wait list, so who knows. I'm actually feeling really good about it. My booth shot was non-existent, so that hurt me a lot. I'm still waiting on the Art Fair Off the Square application to be juried and results made known. That should happen this week.
 
I did not make it into the Art Fair Off the Square, neither the outdoor show in July or the November indoor show, and I'm okay and relieved mostly. I really felt like it was too soon to take part in such major shows. I am about to venture into a different style of fluid painting and I want time to develop my skills and style. I still have the four Bodega craft fairs this summer and maybe that'll be all that I do for now. It would save me from paying to have booth shots taken if I were to keep things simple right now.

Today I have been investigating having prints made of my paintings. That would give me something to offer at a lower price point without necessarily having to make small paintings. It's an idea.

I need to focus on the other things still on my list that I need for vending, like the cart, a tabletop for the cart, tablecloth for that, and those kinds of things. Much to do, so much expense.

I would like to get to KY to visit my son and grandbaby sometime in the next 6 weeks. His birthday is the 8th of May and it would be nice to celebrate with him, but Mindy is coming to visit that weekend. Maybe I should move her visit. Or go in April.
 
I'm feeling more and more like I don't want to do art or craft fairs. I'm tempted to cancel the booth shots. I am feeling more and more pressure, mostly self-induced, to do continue forward, but in my heart of hearts, I do not want to. Lately everything I set my hand to fails. I'm reminding myself that I am in between methods, so it's natural, but even when I return to the older methods and mediums things still aren't working well. I'm going to paint this weekend and I'll see how it goes. I need to talk to Bond about my how I'm feeling about all of this. That may dissipate these negative emotions, as how voicing things often releases them.
 
Life is Good

1.) I have created five kick-ass paintings in the middle of this week, all while under the weather with a cold. I'm feeling much better about this whole art show subject. Additionally, I oozed out my feels to Bond and B about it and that kind of solved things right there. Funny how letting stuff out dispels it.

2.) A person I interacted with on an art group sold me a lighting system for my booth...at his cost of materials. He then created six videos explaining how to set up my pop up tent (same brand as he has) and how to install the mesh panels/softwalls and then he made multiple videos explaining how to install the lights in the booth, and he created documentation and diagrams for the lighting, all of which he FTP'd to me. What a kind, kind thing to do. There are some amazing people in this world and he's one of them.

3.) I sold a painting at the cafe where I had the March exhibition! I didn't realize it when I picked up my artwork. They contacted me via email and mailed me a check.

4.) This morning S2 and S3 both asked for paintings I had displayed in the kitchen. :) That's pretty cool.

5.) Someone I admire a lot sent me a friend request on FB. :)
 
We went to Polycocktails last night. The weather was the best we've had so far this year and we were able to sit outside on the patio. People gathered to our picnic table and the one next to it which made for lively conversation and a lot of fun. We met several new people and talked to them, which is always a goal of ours, so we got to check that box. We saw friends and had a good time catching up with them.

Off to the dentist now for a cleaning and probably the dreaded x-rays. :D
 
I'm torn. I should go to see my daughter and family up north this weekend. It's really the only weekend that works in the next month or so, but I'm full of dread over the thought. I need to go, because my daughter has gone radio silent and won't reply to my messages. My sister called on Sunday to say that she had seen her and that she looks like hell with scabs all over her face. I suspect that she's using again. It's not so much seeing her and dealing with whatever state she is in, but instead it's having to deal with the stress of being around my father and his craziness, and the stress of how holidays unfold there. They cannot do anything in a simple manner. Instead they will attempt to cook an elaborate meal in a space that is incredibly inefficient and crowded with too many people. My father will be foul with complaints that he cannot wait another moment to eat and afterwards we'll have the laborious task of cleaning up, again in a space that doesn't flow well and with people in our path. At the end of all that, when I go to take my leave, they'll object and I'll feel guilty about my departure.

Tonight Bond and I are installing my art at Cafe Brittoli. I have zero enthusiasm about displaying it, mainly because I still have not gotten booth shots taken for submitting to juried shows, and because I missed my art when it was at the last place. Because of the need to set up the booth, I am not taking my main pieces. It's probably for the best as the ones I'm taking

Last night I posted five new paintings to my Facebook business page and had a great reception from people that have liked my page. I actually sold one piece - it is a bit trippy and strange and I kept the price low-ish and it sold minutes after I loaded it. That was sweet!

B's been super sick with a cold this past week. :(
 
B has recovered from her cold, but it took a while. It really hung on and had her pretty miserable. She's also been dealing with back pain related to her hips flexors, which is related to her bunions and arch support. The fix was to buy insoles for her shoes.

The art installation at Cafe Brittoli didn't happen until Monday night as the proprietor had gotten sick the night before and totally forgot to have the current artwork taken down and the space readied for us. It took Bond and I about 90 minutes to get it all hung and leveled. Because of the change of plan from the original installation date, I failed to grabbed the info cards for each painting out of the bag I take back and forth to work, so I had to return to do that last night. When I walked in the door, the barista we had spoken to on Thursday night, stopped me to say that of all the art they've had on the walls, that mine was her favorite. She pointed out her favorite, and then she wanted to know how I did it. We had a fun conversation and she suggested another coffee house that she thought would be very well suited to have an exhibition at and she thought I'd do well there. That was super fun to hear!

We went to a concert last night to see She Wants Revenge. It was B's treat. She's been a fan of the band for a number of years and has seen them in concert when she lived in Florida. It was a lot of fun. I was surprised by how many people we knew that were there. While we were there my sister sent me a message to say that friends of hers love my artwork and plan on buying something at some point. This friend also wants me to put on a class at the museum my sister runs. I may do it!

So, two really nice things related to my art in one day! :)

Tonight S3 has a band thing at school. Earlier today S1 got his state ID. I'm after Bond to discuss college dorms with him. The deadline to put in for one is the end of the month and they still haven't sorted out if he's living on campus in a dorm or living at home!

Wil is coming to visit this weekend. He'll get there on Saturday. I pick up my grandson Friday night, and Franki may come up to paint - that's a big maybe as we're supposed to get a snow storm. Damn winter. It is so persistent.
 
Franki never made it up this weekend. We had a snowstorm that really wasn't as big of a deal as they made it out to be. On Sunday, when the weather and roads were just fine, she called off because her husband was clearing off their 4 season porch to set up an art studio for her. She didn't want to leave while he was setting things up, because she didn't want him to just guess about where she wanted things. I don't blame her. That's pretty exciting. :)

We did so many things this weekend. I painted Friday night after fetching my grandson. Bond and B went to a poly mixer and then hung out with me in the art studio for a while when they got back. Saturday we did our grocery shopping and then Wil arrived and B came over to hang out for a bit, left to get her kids, and then came back in the evening. She talked us into going to a Lesbian Popup Bar, because a band we like was going to be playing. I didn't really want to go and I think I've learned my lesson that one late night a week is about all I can muster.

Sunday I thought I'd be painting all day, but I was too tired to get going on anything. I did fix a painting I stuck my finger in before it was dry, so that's one positive step forward, I guess. In the afternoon, S1 got to go with a friend to Endgame, and Bond and I took my grandson and S3 to the trampoline gym.

Overall, it was a nice weekend. We cooked and visited, had b-day cake for my grandson, did things with the kids, and enjoyed one another.

Bond has decided to go with me to KY. We're leaving Friday morning after we drop the boys at school, returning on Monday. My son's gf sent me a message about having a b-day party for my son on Saturday - a cookout at the lake. That should be fun.

B is going to cat sit for us. I feel like she's guilt tripping Bond over going and it makes me unhappy. I feel guilty anytime we travel without her - and she was invited to go with us. There is a band playing in Chicago that she wants to see, but she's like, oh you won't be here to him, even before he had decided if he was going. And when he'd tell her that he hadn't decided she'd be like, "oh you know you're going to go...you always go where she goes" like it's something to be ashamed about. She's been so bratty lately and I've about had it. I'm tired of her acting like she has been. If this wasn't a 3-way relationship, I'd consider breaking things off with her, that's how unhappy I am with her behavior. I feel like she's holding us hostage to her wants and desires and dislikes. It's all B 24/7.
 
We booked our room in Bowling Green for this weekend. I'm glad to have that sorted. Tonight is date night, but it's just going to be dinner at B's. Her first husband is coming into town with his daughter and they are spending the night at her house.

He's a nice guy and we enjoy hanging out with him. She has said that she was so stupid to have divorced him. He cheated on her, and she had told him if he ever did that it would be over, so she followed through. She wishes she hadn't and she recognizes now that although the societal norm is this message, that it wasn't the right decision. Youth.

Franki said that she was disappointed with the progress they made on Sunday with her studio space. I don't know how far they got. I hope she's able to get it set up how she wishes this coming weekend.
 
We're on the eve of leaving for KY and I haven't put much thought into what I need to accomplish to make that happen. I need to buy cheese curds, a request from my son, varnish a painting and pack up the other paintings he picked out at Xmas and get them ready for loading, pack clothes and have my toiletries ready to go into my bag after getting ready tomorrow, get the cat food lined up for B to feed the cats while we're gone, and get the coolers out so they're ready to be loaded with sparkling water, summer sausage, and cheese tomorrow morning. Nothing too major.

B and I had lunch together today. That was nice. Sometimes I get anxious over the time she and Bond have together on Wednesdays while I'm at work. It feels like the two of them are drawing closer to one another and like I'm possibly being left behind. It's probably not reality, but it is a concern. Bond assures me everything is fine.
 
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