*****CAUTION EXTEREMLY DEPRESSING*****

The holidays!(that pathetic,slightly disturbing sobbing noise is me)Another Christmas season shot in the ass. I hate feeling this way, earlier in the week while out shopping with Marie and I saw all the Christmas stuff on display I was excited; almost like a kid again. I really feel like a old fashioned Christmas season. but just as fast that feeling faded. I know how it's going to be even though it hasn't started yet.
Thanksgiving will be the first jump Billy Joe will drink to much and say something stupid to Cindy Lou which will upset her brother Jim Bob and it all begins at a ever increasing pace all the way to New Years Day.
In an attempt to meet it head on and not let it get the best of me this year I will work to much overtime. Exposing myself to the extra helping of stupidity that is 90 percent of my job.
And when on New Years Day I leave work hunched over like I am warding off an imaginery blow having endured my 10th straight New Years Eve. I will have taken hundreds of battery victims, overdoses to numerous to count and domestics that become so common you smirk when you hear the caller being hit becasuse if you don't you go mad. And to top it off some selfish loser who finally decides to end his life on Christmas Eve twill try to make me be the last person he talks to on this earth. Half way home I will be a sobbing mess and for the first time this year I will be happy the house is dark and quiet so I don't have to try to explain to Marie or my son what they can't possibly understand.
When I lay down for the day I will let out the last choked and broken sigh of the hoidays and remember the holidays of my youth. Presents under the tree, big family get togethers, good food everywhere and wish I still didn't know all that I do. Wish that it really was a silent night and to wisht that even for one night peace and joy could really take over the world.
Can a guy get a tissue? How about a hug?

Yes my little kiddies it's time. Time to make you aware of one of the retarded things that has somehow unjustly found its way into my life making it the living hell it tends to be.
The Florida Turnpike, hence forth to be referred to as "retard road". "What could the road have done to you?" you ask? Let me tell you, I was heading out to a airbrush get together this Sunday. The get together was held in St. Cloud in the middle of the state. This required me to drive down the retard road for a distance of 9 miles. I get on retard road at mile marker 249 looking for exit 240. At exit 244 there is a sign that reads "next exit 56 miles" this concerns me greatly because, as I previously mentioned, I was looking for exit 240 which in the normal world would be 4 miles up the road. "Tom" I say to myself "It must be a new exit keep going" so I did.
Sure enough shortly up the road is a sign that advises exit 240 is 1 mile up the road and is the last exit for 53 miles. The next exit being YeeHaw Junction."Self" I said to myself "it's your lucky day exit 240 exists". As 3/4 of the next mile passes and I approach the exit with very little time to make a choice I view a sign, much to my dismay, that informs the unlucky travellers of retard road that exit 240 is a Sun Pass only exit. For the woefully uninformed among you a SunPass is a little device you buy and stick on your windshield that racks up your tolls then you pay the bill at the end of the month. Usually used by travelling business people or locals who spend a lot of time of Floridas toll roads. Now, I have seen exits on toll roads in Florida, and only in Florida, that were unmanned and required exact change so I was prepared on my journey with a pocket full of quarters. But what in Gods good name do you do when you need a Sun Pass to get off retard road in the middle of nowhere?:wtf:

As a side bar I would like to remind you that the next exit is 53 miles up the road and is at a place named YeeHaw Junction. Being a anal virgin, and with the hopes of remaining one for the rest of my life, I will not willingly drive to anyplace that has a name that sounds like something out of the movie Deliverance. I could here the banjo music all the way up at exit 240.

So with precious little time to make a decision on whether to drive 106 miles out of my way and just go back home. Or go the next 53 miles and try to find my way back to where I wanted to be with no map and no cell phone. Or do the only really logical choice and take the exit. So that's what I did, even though the signs advise of a $100 dollar fine for not paying a toll that they don't let you pay. Not to mention that after having a wonderful time at the airbrush get away I had to take the same on ramp back onto retard road to get home because as it turns out there is now other way with out adding hours of time onto the drive taking the backwoods way home.

So, if anyone has wandered into this blog that is in any way associated in a official capacity with retard road take note. Keep your tickets to yourself. I truly feel sorry for the first dipshit that is going to have the displeasure of dealing with me if I get a ticket in the mail. I will get back on retard road and take it all the way to Tallahassee and club someone like a baby seal if you so much as dare to even consider sending me a ticket. It's bad enough that every election that comes down the pipe makes us the laughing stock of the nation, but you start putting unmanned toll booths in the middle of no where on a road primarily driven by tourist, requiring them to have a special device they have no business having they will end up vacationing in some other place with a smarter government. Panama and Haiti come to mind.

I did see a sign while on retard road advising of a web site you could go to with questions or comments about retard road but I am afraid anything I could write at this time would possibly be taken as a terrorist threat.

That's right folks I have discovered the world of blogging. My first blog is the one in the signature of my posts. It is about building a motorcycle in my living room.
Since that project is slow going that blog has been about almost everything but that. I will try not to duplicate that blog here unless it is pertinent.
Firstly, you should know a little about me. I just turned forty this year, I am twice divorced, I have a teen age son and I am a 911 operator for the last 10 yrs. Now if that isn't enough to explain the bitterness and attitude, then maybe I am just a jerk(per the first wife)and emotionally unavailable(per the second wife). Anywho, abandon all hope ye who find this blog interesting it's going to be a bumpy ride. :60:
As you will see my writing is always a little on the cynical side.It is never terrible and is usually meant in a tongue in cheek fashion. With everything I have seen, done, and heard in my life you have to learn to laugh at yourself even when the voices tell you to stay home and load the guns.:bigeyes:

I will think of something to put in here.

last few weeks me and my family have been at a clinic, we are trying to learn to understand and work with the diagnose that our son has, ADHD with a Aspergers syndrome which is a form of autism.
learning methods is easy, practicing them is hard!
armed with a endless set of rules, boardmaker pic's and good amount of hope we will head home in a week and try to tackle the "every day live"
rules for each room, occasion, activity and just about everything in his/our lives.

it scare's me as a parent.what if I'm not able to follow through with it, what if I fail.
how can we change us to fit ones perspective?

for those out there that do not know anything about Aspergers syndrome it handles mostly about perspectives, how the one with it sees and senses his surroundings.
one of the toughest problems is the lack of empathy and not being able to understand others behavior and specially all the unwritten social rules.
on the outside a person with a Aspergers syndrome might seem to be very self centered and rude! but the truth normally is that they didn't catch what was going on or misunderstood the situation.
another thing is that they can't grasp the concept of doing nothing, they need to know what happens next, which means planing the whole day in advance.

any members of the AA out there doing art??

Well It's been 14 months since my beautiful, wonderful wife Marla passed away from Melanoma. I've been wandering around aimlessly since that time just wondering what the fu.. I was gonna do with my life besides just waiting to retire from my job. I've gotten totally out of shape, I've been really lethargic(tired ass) for a long time lately. Well two days ago I said enough, I needed something to set me on a path to well being. My brother just happened to have a comercial building for sale relatively inexpensive. I decided it's time for me to have my own business. It don't have to make money, just break relatively even. I do have a daytime job for the next 20 months before I retire from that, so I have time to get it ready and workit before I go at it fulltime. So anyway, here's where that building comes into play. The Airbrush Shoppe... a place where It will be cool to hang out, display artwork, have my woodwork shop, airbrush shop, and living quarters all in one place. No running back and forth to the garage, moving tools out of the way to do this or that and most importantly a direction and goal for my future retirement rather than just hoping to retire someday and do nothing.. not my style. So today I made the deal with my brother and I am buying this place and setting into motion the business of getting my business open. I have a lot of work to do, but I'm shooting for a grand opening of June 2009, 40 years from the date I graduated from high school. Everyone's invited....:beerchug:

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Just a quick warning... If you're not into personal stories, you'll wanna pass on this one. Don't worry, I won't be offended!
;)

So some of you know that back in January of 2007, I temporarily closed my studio to raise my 15 month old daughter & to prepare for the new one that was coming that March. Since we needed my husband's office in the house for one of the kids & he was having a hard time finding one to rent here in town, I offered him the use of mine. It's a 7' x 13' raised hardwood floor office attached to my 20' x 20' shop, all heated & wired for internet, fax & phone, complete with a sunny window. I wouldn't be using it for at least 6 months, so that would save him money until something good & inexepensive came along.

Well, all my stuff got moved out & 6 months turned into not reopening until the kids are in kindergarten, which for my oldest will likely be 2010. The shop area slowly filled up with so much crap you couldn't even walk through it: old machinery parts, landscaping leftovers, garbage, 4 billion beer cans & gawd only knows what. Much of my equipment & materials got buried in that mess, some destroyed by spillage & junk thrown on top, some frozen out from lack of heat.

Late this summer, my hubby & I had a huge heart-to-heart. I was finally able to tell him how for me, painting isn't something I do like go fishing or see a movie. It's part of who I am, more like breathing or eating, except the death from a lack of it is a mental & emotional one, & a lot slower. I can't quit painting or drawing just because I've had 2 kids & am not doing it for a living. I think he finally understood how upset I was by the condition of my old shop space & the lack of respect all that junk showed. I told him I really needed at least a portion of it back, whether I was in business or not.

Shortly afterward, he rolled up his sleeves & spent hours & hours cleaning up years of dumping & neglect. I was so grateful & excited! (Thank you, honey!) I didn't even poke my head in, because I really would rather not know what got saved & what got tossed. I would just be thankful to be able to sort through it all, whatever was left, when he was done. There were around 8 or 9 huge 30 gallon construction garbage bags FULL of foul smelling, poky mystery garbage, plus assorted overstuffed boxes. But all the junk was gone. For the entire month of September, I would put out 2 huge bags & 1 box with the regular garbage, slowly emptying out the space even more. When the last bags & boxes were taken by the garbage truck, I was so excited!!! There was actually hope that I might really get a bit of space back for myself!

I have included a picture of what it looked like this summer. It actually got worse than this before it got better. I really debated exposing myself by showing you how bad it really was, but I'm sure there are some of you who must be able to relate to it. Besides, if you can't see the starting point, you'll have less appreciation for the final results.

I've also stuck in 4 pics of what it looks like right now, the beginning of October. Although there is still stuff piled everywhere, I have uncovered my trusty art desk & gotten it all set up again. Woo hoo! September was all about scraping out the big stuff & spider bombing the shit out of it. I am a certifiable arachnaphobe, so that was probably the most urgent step! LOL!
:85:

October will be all about cleaning up spider corpses (eeewww), dust, cobwebs, mouldy spills, etc. Once that's all done, weather & bug proofing will be next. (Can't be letting those leggy, webby, fang-ridden bastards back in.) It will also keep bills down on the electric heater when it's not all seeping out around the garage & entry door. Lighting will be next. After that, I can start to go through all of what's left out there & get it organized. The stuff that got tossed into the basement can go back out with the rest of it where it all belongs. I cannot tell you how much I'm looking forward to being able to actually find something when I'm looking for it!!!

One last pic, just for fun. It's my Studio Fund jar. Anything I offer up for sale is to raise money for this project of mine. I'm sick of hiding cash in accounts & in boxes under the bed. My jar is proudly kept by my computer, in plain view, as a constant reminder of how important this is to me. (I should've put on there, "What's good for the goose is always good for the gander.")

The reason I've decided to share this reclamation with you guys is that it might help a newbie set up a space of his or her own. I'm going to go over everything I add back in & why, how to do it cheaply & safely, & all that happy jazz. Maybe, if I'm lucky, it will prove useful to someone some fine day.

Thanks for indulging me. :rolleyes:

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Did you know that the Bill that was passed to "Save" our economy was titled "Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act"?

According to our Constitution (not that Washington actually refers to it often), ALL Money Bills MUST originate in the House of Representatives. When the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act" died in the House, the Senate decided to take the lead and simply added the Bail Out language to a Bill already on the floor. So Paul Wellstone got his extra Health Care coverage for mentally ill employees, Hollywood got its money for small movie production, the Rum manufacturers got their money, the sheep in Montana are happy because they will now be researched, the wooden arrow manufacturers are happy with their 3 million an the list goes on and on for 300 pages.

Want to read more?
Ignoring the People by David Warren

hehehe....4 more

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Here are the remainder of pics and the point at which the barn is at right now.

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Well...here's where I have been for the past few months instead of in the chat room, hehehe. For those who don't know, I am in the process of moving out of the shop i so preciously called home for the last 8 years or so. I recently sold my house and moved to a new place that has a barn on the property....sooooo, the barn will soon be the new shop.....well, once I get the bats out of it, it will, but that's a completely different story. I'm just gonna dump a whole slew of pics on this blog if I can...so you can see some of the progress. The further I get in the project, the more pics I will post.

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Here she is....
Purebred Blue Patch Norwegian Forest Cat (Wegie). Her mom is a champion. Mike bought her for me with his band money from last weekend. :) What a guy!! (Thank you baby.... she is awesome!!)

Her registered name is Lady Brynhilde MacCha Skog. I think we are keeping the Brynhilde (Bryn for short?) and looking for a middle name for fun. Brynhilde is from Norwegian legends and is the most beautiful of the Valkyries.

(“Oh Brynhilde, you’re so wove-ly” “Yes! I know it! I can’t heeeelp it!” Cant forget the classic Bugs Bunny refernce either!!)

She is SO friendly, has a HUGE purr box that goes non-stop and is just a doll. Tini, my 5 year old Torty, is a little irritated.. Hahahhaa... I think she will get over it.

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I know this is kind of a trendy thing to do (& no, I haven't seen the movie), but with all I've been thinking about & working on lately, I decided that creating a "Bucket List" was a good idea. Most of the ones I've seen posted online are 100 or 1000 things that the writer wants to do before he/she kicks the bucket, but I'm happy with my list of 50. If I only get to do a quarter of it before my time is up, I will be a very happy camper.
:18b:

Anybody else got a list they want to post, feel free to add it here if you like!

MARGE'S BUCKET LIST
(in no particular order)
1. get my teeth fixed
2. get in shape (or love my body again)
3. LAZIK baby!
4. teach beginning drawing, life drawing or airbrush classes
5. illustrate a children's book
6. get an entry accepted in the "Birds in Art" show at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum in Wausau, WI
7. see both of my girls start college
8. buy my mom a house
9. take a honeymoon
10. take a hot air balloon ride
11. learn to fly a small plane (for REAL, not just take the controls for 3 minutes while in the air)
12. deep sea fishing for marlin
13. salmon fish in Canada or upper US West Coast with my dad
14. visit New York & get the WHOLE experience
15. go to Australia
16. go to Scotland
17. go to Italy
18. go to Alaska
19. own my own tricked-out shop vehicle
20. have my own art studio space again
21. start an art scholarship fund in my deceased friend Mark's name
22. build a greenhouse
23. build a treehouse
24. hold a baby tiger
25. scuba dive along a coral reef
26. take massage lessons for the loved ones in my life
27. make an income off a successful art business again
28. bag a trophy buck
29. buy a small fishing boat (aluminum jonboat?)
30. finally decide whether or not I believe in God
31. learn Spanish
32. teach my children Spanish
33. create a series of paintings based on Native American mythology
34. become a neat freak (or at least figure out how to keep a house relatively clean)
35. be part of a Habitat for Humanity home
36. donate murals to children's facilities
37. become a regular blood donor
38. learn to weld so I can do metal sculptures
39. help Andy retire early
40. restore my mom's heirloom nutcracker
41. take up jewelry metalsmithing again
42. control my arachnophobia
43. camp & canoe in the Boundary Waters (MN)
44. chart out entire family tree
45. spend some time each year visiting long distance friends (You're first, Annie!)
46. collect 1 original piece from each of my favorite artists to form my own private gallery
47. write a will
48. organize all my photos
49. learn to make really good homemade fruit wines from my orchard to share with friends
50. create scrapbooks for my 2 girls

Well, now Ive bought a old school Suzuki... well I didn't buy it, the former owner used it to pay me for painting his bike... but that's not the point really!! The point is that I going to build a Streetfighter using parts from my old Kawasaki.
It will probably take forever because I don't have any tools or a garage! But I got a shed that holds most of the rain out and some friends:em3700:
The goal is to have a "fighter" ready and rolling when Rod comes back heh he.