"I've never been to a cave."

Well the Christmas hoopla is over. We're all a little poorer with a little more stuff.
We made the trip out to grandma's for all the food and merriment we could handle.
I got food, booze, jewelry, and Dean Martin. You can't say they don't know me.
I also ate enough peanut brittle, toffee, and cookies to really hurt myself.
Dina was accused of pushing grandma down the stairs and making her gimpy for the holidays but we suspect it could have been the boozy fudge. We may never know. But I told grandma maybe for once she'll be rested after Christmas since she was Queen of the Castle and we all got to wait on her to keep her from hobbling around.
Grandpa was a dishwashing mad man. Uncle Eddie was channeling Cousin Eddie and a flu-zombie-like Elmer Fudd but thankfully seemed to sauna himself healthy while we were there. The boys were racking up the kills on their Wii hunting games while the rest of us just goofed off and ate non-stop.
My highlight was playing Pictionary with Dina, Ben, Tanner, and Jordan. We played the girls vs the boys. One of the all play words was "intersection"...for which Jordan started to draw a football field. In his wee blonde head that word is very near "interception" and I was quite impressed that he thought he would be able to draw that. Dina had the word "count" and I wouldn't stop counting but I never got it right.
And it turns out nobody knows how to draw a pretzel. Go ahead, try it.........
See? You can't get it from your head to the paper.
My favorite one was "cave drawings" and I think I guessed that one when Dina was drawing but Jordan wasn't quite sure what they were. Ben asked him if he'd ever seen pictures of them or anything and Jordan said "I've never been to a cave."
Grandma also correctly guessed one though she wasn't looking OR playing. But I think our time had already run out anyway.
All in all a good time was had, there wasn't a snow flake in sight, and Heather welcomed a new baby in to the family in the wee hours of the day after Christmas.

Now I have preperations and tidying to do before the next party on New Year's Eve for a couple of January 1st birthdays. I've still got a post office run that didn't get accomplished before Christmas and a Johnson trip to make...I'm always stretching out the holidays. But for now, I'm gonna stay on my couch and watch some more Dean Martin before I even considering putting all this stuff away and taking a shower. I've got all day for that.

A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament. ~Oscar Wilde

The inspiration and and problem. Sorta.

In addition to the growing number of yarn crafts I enjoy, I also like to paint.

I don't paint people or places or....recognizable things, generally. I do outlines or alter things that already are to something I want them to be. Some day I might get to something that looks like something I want it to without it already being something else. You know? I'm trying to figure out how to draw people. It's not going awesomely but you can tell they are people. At least I don't have a shortage of things to practice I guess.

I thought I'd share the people who do the things that crawl in to my eyes and lay eggs in my brain making me want to make stuff that as of yet I'm not able to do. They make perfection, thus MY problem of not being able to achieve perfection. That's always my problem.

Frida Kahlo-

We have plenty in common and may have been great friends. Her paintings tell stories that would not be able to be told in words. She paints conflict; seeing as that's one of my strongest motivations, you can see why I like her so much.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti-

Rossetti is very simple. 1) He paints nearly all redheads. 2) Many of them look like transvestites. 3) He paints such deep and rich colors that his work looks like a gourmet meal.

Totally amazing.

Georgia O'Keefe-

Contrary to my beloved Bill, I don't paint like Georgia; and I prefer her other paintings to the floral genitals. This one specifically takes away all the clausterphobia and filth and movement of the city and makes me feel like I can float over the hills though the crisp air.

Now for the living geniuses!

Alejandro Gomez Oropeza-

I suppose technically I've known him my whole life...but from a distance. My mother has drawings that he did for her before I was born so his art has been around me for my entire life. As luck would have it, now that I'm a grown up and can appreciate these things more, he just happens to make the most awesome art in the whole world. And with all of my favorite colors. I could attempt to recreate my own version of a Frida or Georgia painting if I was feeling really optimistic, but not in a lifetime could I make something anywhere near as amazing as Ale could paint in his sleep. He paints dreams.

http://www.gomez-oropeza.mx/

Kris Kuksi-

His drawings and paintings are flawless and amazing, but his sculptures are something to be worshiped. If Ale paints dreams, Kris sculpts nightmares. (If you know me well enough you know those are equal compliments.) His sculptures are controlled and meticulous mayhem. These I have seen in person, when I lived in Hays, and if you ever get the chance to see one GO DO IT. If you see them you'll realize how they can not be explained in words. They aren't necessarily negative, as one might think a nightmare would be, they are just unreal and in such silent frozen chaos. I literally can't even begin to think how he does these.

If you don't know who he is now, you will.

http://kuksi.com/

They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom. ~Confucius

There are some things about me that will never change.
I am a female.
I was born July 30th, I'm a Leo.
I was born in 1981 so I am a Rooster, so say the Chinese.
I am not Chinese. I AM Scotch-Irish, German, Danish, & English.
I am a Johnson; even if something else was added I would always be a Johnson. It's the nature of us.
I will always have freckles, and be at least a little bit fat.
If I could have a super power I'd like to be able to speak any language.
Sawdust is a magnificent smell.

There are some things that are pretty concrete but could fade over time given the proper circumstances, though it currently seems unlikely.
Baseball is the greatest sport of all time.
Sandy was the best dog in the world.
I live for a good big or small screen story. Or a bad one, if it entertains then it was a success.
Creatures are awesome.
Sinatra is the most iconic of icons. I aspire to rebuild a Rat Pack.
I would kill for my best friends if it came to it.
I will never be satisfied with unpurposeful mediocrity.
I'm unnecessarily hygenic, at least when in the company of other humans.
I want to go. Anywhere.
I want a Belair.
I like the wind.
Harry Potter can not be out awesomed.
Proper grammer is generally preferable but can sometimes be worked around.

Some things are in fact the opposite of what they used to be.
I used to hate baseball. It interfered with other TV watching; that part is still sometimes true.
I hated wrestling until I watched it.
When I was young I thought onions and mustard were gross. Still waiting to flip on mushrooms but I don't see it happening. Fish isn't gonna happen, I think it's a phobia.
I used to not speak to people.
I like pink.
I used to wear short to walk several blocks to school in the snow. Now I have a hoodie nearby at most times and get grumpy when the Rocky Mountain chill arrives for longer than about a week or two.
I used to collect angels and can't for the life of me figure out why.

Moral of the story: This is why I don't have any tattoos. If I were ever to get one it would probably need to be somehow related to the first category. Why get something permanent for something that could change? I can't wait to talk to some of my friends about their interesting decisions when they are old and realize how foolish they once were. I'm glad to know what is unchanging and accept that things that I THINK will never change could absolutely change at any moment.

Just take a look at an old yearbook and see who you drew hearts around and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.