PPF: Clothesline Redux

I'm not sure why, but there's something about clotheslines which speak to me. This watercolor art journal page reads: "This is the clothesline of my inner athlete." It's not the first clothesline I've done. I've posted this plaster pieces before:

And this art journal page:

And one of my all-time favorite photographs which I took in Venice:

I have no clue why I'm drawn to this motif, but I am.  Just like I'm drawn to houses.  Weird.
Are there recurring motifs to which you are drawn and you don't know why?
I'm posting this to Paint Party Friday.  To see more painterly goodness, click on this link.

Classes in Progress (A Confession)

I received an email from Strathmore today that the "Force Drawing" class in which I am enrolled is set to begin.  It's a free class, and you can learn more about it at this link.  I'm not quite ready to start it though. Why? Because I haven't finished the earlier free Strathmore class  ("Watercolor Sketching") in which I am enrolled!  I've finished the first two lessons in the watercolor class, but there's still two lessons to go.  I looked at the lessons and decided that I really do want to complete that class. There's a third free Strathmore class - Doodling Unleashed with Traci Bautista.  I haven't even looked at that one, and I'm not sure I will before the classes expire in August.
Anyway, this got me thinking about the other classes I have "in progress," and I was chagrined by the length of my list.
In the mixed media realm, I am almost done with "The Art of Wild Abandonment," for which I did the art journal page up top.  There are about three projects I want to finish before I declare that class "done."  I want to do that fairly soon, so I can post a class review before I forget what I learned in it.
At the end of last year, I signed up for a Katrina Kennedy photography class called "Exposure." I never managed to start that class! I did, however, just locate the class materials online, and I will print it out soon.  Also in the photography field, I need to do some refreshing on photo shop. I bought permanent video access to Kim Klassen's Skinny Mini class, and I want to go back and work my way through the videos again. I also bought a Jessica Sprague photo editing class called Good-to-Great. I started the class and then my hard drive died. Sadly, I never got back to it. I'm going to figure out whether I still have access to those class materials.
Finally, on the scrapbooking side, I recently won the class "Collect and Create with Amy Tan" from the Ali Edwards blog.  I need to sign up at Two Peas and figure out how to collect that class.
That seems like plenty to keep me busy through the summer!!! It is very unlike me to sign up for or start a class and then not finish it. Please someone poke me if I even hint at signing up for something else until I work my way through these!
So, there you have it - my  "classes in progress" confession. I'm willing to bet that I'm not alone in having a list of classes "in progress." I'm curious. What's on your list?

Stamp Winner, Blogger Blooper, and More . . .

A little mid-week pretty for you today to go along with my ramblings . . .
First, congratulations to Alison for winning the flower stamps from yesterday!  Email me (rinda1961@yahoo.com) with your mailing address, and I will send them off to you.
Second, I made a blogger blooper.  When I was uploading a post the other day, I got an error message that I had exceeded my storage capacity on blogger! I had never heard of this before.  Being too cheap to buy the upgraded service being offered, I went into my google blogger picassa album and deleted some images and my post went through. Unfortunately, now some of my posts are without images! They've been replaced with an ugly black box filled with an exclamation point (you can see it in my sidebar where my "wings" collage used to be). I'm not sure what to do about this. I think I have two problems - one is deciding whether to go back and fill in pictures (probably will not do this). The other is what to do going forward. Have any of you encountered this problem?  And what did you do about it?
Third, a reminder that Sian's Storytelling Sunday is due up this weekend. Looking forward to it, but I need to figure out the story I want to tell . . .
Finally, tomorrow is Operation Speak Out Thursday, sponsored by Abi.  The idea is to stop lurking and comment on every blog you visit. I did this last month and really enjoyed it. I hope you consider joining in!

May Stamp Give Away

Once a month, on the first day of the month, I post a couple of new or gently used stamps to give away. They usually relate to an upcoming holiday. If you want them, leave me a comment and let me know. But you have to be quick! I'll pick the winner in the next 24 hours. Both of these wonderful flower stamps are from Club Scrap. Let me know if you want the pair.
Edited to add: Congratulations to Alison on winning the stamps!

My Week in the Life Plan

I've been participating in a photography and scrapbooking project called "A Week in the Life." During this past week, I took lots of photographs each day to chronicle my life as it is right now. The next step in the project is to scrapbook the photographs.  I'm going to use the 6x6 handmade album above.
Last time I did WITL was in 2008, and I used an 8x8 album:

I had a two-page spread for each weekday with a Tim Holtz quote and circular date stamp.  The left page featured one 4x6 photo and journaling.  The right hand side featured a collage of four pictures. Here's a couple samples

I also had filler pages in between the days, which covered topics. As an example, here are pages on pets and mornings:

I was happy with how this worked, so I'm following a similar plan this year. I refuse to buy a new album (as I have several in my stash). The only 8x8's I have are pink and not appealing to me. So, I'm going with the 6x6 featured above.  Some of the pages have flaps inside, and I'll use these for the daily pages:

This will allow me to feature four photographs per day, as well as plenty of journaling.
There's also simple two page spreads (alternating with the flapped pages).

I'll use these for filler pages on certain topics (one for Paul, Henry, Clara certainly; probably one for the gym; one for pets and my walk to work). I took fewer pictures this year, so I think this album will be big enough.  I will order my pictures today or tomorrow and start on building the foundation to make it easy to put them in when they arrive.  I know from experience that keeping it simple and doing it quickly is the key to completing this project.  
If you've done WITL before or are doing it this year, I'd love to hear how you scrap your WITL photos.

WITL: Finally Friday and a Plan

I'm participating in a photography and scrapbooking project called "A Week in the Life." I've been chronicling this "typical week" in my life. I started last weekend, so this post (about Friday) is my last one.  
The day dawned bright and sunny on the coastside.

On Friday, the cleaners come and Paul and I go out to lunch.  The dog waits in the car because otherwise she barks non-stop at the cleaners:

I did a lot of laundry:

Henry's baseball practice ended early, and I took him "over the hill" to buy some baseball stirrups at Goetz Bros. and then to the mall because he wanted to buy a birthday present for his girlfriend (!). He bought a beautiful heart shaped necklace, which is being engraved with their initials (!). This all seems very serious. I'm a little scared (not really). We ate at Panda Express and then headed home for a quiet evening watching the Giants on TV.
Photographically, I decided to capture a few other bits and pieces of everyone's life.   Clara:

Paul:

Henry:

And that's it for my week!  Back tomorrow with some thoughts on how I will put this all together and a look back at what I did in 2008. Also, a quick reminder that on May 1, I'll be giving away some free stamps.

WITL Weds/Thurs: Hit Rewind and Run Like Mad

I'm participating in a photography/scrapbooking project called "A Week in the Life," which you can read more about here.  In my penultimate post, I'm chronicling a Wednesday which replays many of the events from the rest of the week and a Thursday which was busy, busy, busy.
A quiet Wednesday morning around the house:

I went to work for a meeting and then came back to watch Henry play baseball (I posted a video yesterday). Here's a few photographs from our home field (yes, those are cows on the hill, in the pasture behind our baseball diamond).

Afterwards, I went to a silent auction to raise money for the high schools' Grad Night. This week Henry is doing "star testing," (to assess whether the students are learning what the state wants them to), so he doesn't have much homework. 
On Thursday, I got up early to get some computer time in before heading to the gym (where I received a certificate for completing a full year at the gym - it noted that during that time I have lost 14 inches and improved my mile time by two minutes!). I was surprised to find that the weather had turned, and it was wet and damp:

Then off to work for a student consultation and faculty meeting:

Ran back home (it's about a 45 minute trip) to go take pictures of the middle school soccer team (I do this as a fundraiser for the athletic program).  Clara came along with me, and she finally let me take a picture of her (she's the one on the right)!

We came home, and I helped her with her homework. Then it was off to my book group meeting, where we ate and drank and discussed the book and our lives. We all hated "The Whipping Club," so it was a short discussion. Our next book is Stephen King's 11-23-63. I didn't take any pictures. I was too tired from my busy, busy day!