Leahpeah : flawed but authentic

It’s nice to be home. It was great to see my family.
I’m behind in a million things but it’s all good.
I’m playing catch-up.
It’s not always a fun game.
But it’s usually entertaining.
I took lots of photos and I have lots of stories to tell but not now.
Too much work to do.
hangin’in.

quick recap for the kids:
ali…i like your journal! i added your link to my sidebar.
see you in 3 days if you don’t count today or friday…….

I totally and completely love driving.
It calms me. It gives me time to think.
Long stretches of road in front of me and behind me.
Something about anonymity?
It’s very compelling.

I stopped at my sister Laurel’s home last night.
Today I drive another 5 or so hours to another sister’s home, Natalie.

It’s fun to see family and get to know their kids a little better.

Still looking for a new place to move into and someone to move into my current space.
Still working via the internet and cell phone.

Still me.

quick recap for the kids:
hope the wedding went well, miss you.
mom

Been taking care of a post-surgical patient the past few days. He’s really quite a trooper.
That sounded so official but it’s really just been fun.

It’s fascinating to watch Joe go through a new experience. We are very similar in the way that no matter what the experience is, we view it as writing material. Every feeling and thought must be acknowledged and put in place to be written about and explained later. I could have just chopped off my left foot and I’d be thinking about how I was going to write about it. Joe has gauze packed in his cheeks, can’t say a darn thing intelligibly, has bloody saliva dripping out of the side of his mouth and is barely conscious because his surgery just ended 20 minutes ago but keeps writing down everything so he can relay it accurately later. I love watching his mind work. Maybe I love it just because it reminds me of myself. I don’t know. Something to think about.

It’s funny to me that even though I’ve had my wisdom teeth out years ago and had babies and had surgery and anesthesia and the whole thing, I’m experiencing it through Joe’s eyes and it’s different.

Been busy working my three jobs. I like the flexibility of working from home most of the time. It allows me to get more work done than if I had to physically be at the work sites all day.

A guy in New York wanted me to send him some of my paintings for a gallery show. He also wanted me to send him $250.00. I told him I’d think about it. That means no.

I really like this quote:

“I have tried out numerous professions just to find myself right where I belong, as a starving artist. (The best diet I have ever found.)”

Jan Lukens
Winston-Salem, N.C.

GO Team!

quick recap for the kids:
when it comes time to get the teeth yanked out of your head, i’ll mash you some bananas and make you chocolate pudding….i know how now.
miss you
love you
mom

I am considering…..

A trip to Utah.
A trip to Utah.

I am considering….

That, my friends, is a really lame attempt to imitate a song called A Move to Memphis by The Colorblind James Experience.

I’ve been going back and forth about going for a variety of reasons, but I believe this is my final answer, Regis. I’m leaving Sunday and coming home in one week. I’ll get to see 5 of my siblings plus my parents (bonus!) during those 7 days.

This trip brought to you by my sister Rhoda and her husband Dave which would have liked our oldest sister Natalie to come and visit them in Washington. Rhoda wanted to sneak a turn at taking care of Natalie’s two youngest: Laura May, 1.5 years and Nicole Noelle, 2.5 months. Natalie couldn’t go to Washington due to the responsibility of her other 4 children ( ! ) but will instead get ME for a week and she’ll hopefully get some much needed rest while I get to play with the little girls! It’s a win-win…except for the fact that Rhoda doesn’t get to see the babies…..

My ex-husband is getting married this weekend. It’s a strange feeling. I wish them the best.

My website is revamped courtesy of Joe. Look at it if you have time. I now have an art therapy page.

quick recap for the kids:
i’m a going on a trip, be back soon, call my cell anytime, i’ll miss you more since i’ll be farther away…it’s a law of distance/ratio or something. you all have a page on my site. they are blank! help me decide what to put there!
much LOVE
mom

Which is good.
But still…….

Leaving to go see my kids in a few hours. woohoo!
Had a meeting and another meeting and another meeting and anoth…….
Met my deadline fo writers monthly.
Getting loans submitted.
Things are good.
I’m blessed.

Go team!

Quick recap for the kids:
see you in less than 4 hours!
today’s joke:
Goin’ to Church

One Sunday morning a little girl in her Sunday best was running so she wouldn’t be late for church. As she ran she kept praying, ÒDear God, please don’t let me be late to church. Please don’t let me be late to church….Ó And, as she was running she tripped and fell. When she got back up she began praying again, ÒPlease, God don’t let me be late to church — but don’t shove me either!

for the kids….
check out Strongbad
mom

“Zaftig: a Yiddish word meaning ripe or luscious and is commonly applied to curvaceous women.”

Taken from the front inside cover of the book ZAFTIG, THE CASE FOR CURVES by Edward St. Paige, author of many other books. some of which are examinations of various aspects of our social history.

I love this book. It contains so many wonderful paintings, drawings and quotes that show how the female form is beautiful and touches on how sometimes ‘larger and curvier’ is considered more feminine, fertile and preferable. The pages are filled with gorgeous women that posed for famous painters like Rembrandt, Diego Rivera, Renoir, Picasso and Lord Leighton who did one of my favorite paintings on page 50 called ‘Flaming June’. I think I saw it for the first time at the Getty in L.A. a few years ago although I could be wrong…I’ve been to many galleries over the years. In any case, I remember the impact it had on me. The color and figure in it are amazing and move me.

I quoted a couple of lines the other day in my blog. Here are a few more I love.

From page 134,

Fatness at it’s best is associated with moistness, fertility and kindness (a sociable and giving nature) as well as with happiness, vitality and bodily health in general. People know that drinks and warm moist, cooked food can fatten them, while cold rice, overnight food (leftovers), and dryers such as store-bought crackers usually cannot. Fatness connotes fullness and juicy ripeness, like that of ripe fruit well sweet and soon to burst.

Lisa J. Sobo describing the Jamaican feminine ideal from Many Mirrors, 1994

From page 138,

She was very beautiful, even though her status as a singer was only second-rate. All the same, he was more interested in her as a woman than as a singer. She certainly was desirable. Her folds of flesh and fat would warm a chilly man during the bitter cold of winters, which was at hand.

Naguib Mahfouz from Palace Walk, 1989

Today is 03, 03 of 03. That’s three threes which makes it my sister Rhoda’s favorite day. Ever. Period.

quick recap for the kids:
beauty is everywhere and in almost everything, be proud of who you are.
much love,
mom
ps. the new strongbad is WAY funny….don’t forget to look for the hidden stuff.