greenbeanbaby art

see you all soon

over the weekend, we will be moving... new windows to look out from, new neighborhood to see, a longer distance from target [but not too much], and new rooms to fill... i'll have internet access still but won't be able to email or blog much within the next couple of weeks.... all for a good reason, right?

in the meantime, i've been cleaning up two places... this one and the new one... these dark circles ain't disappearing anytime soon as there is still so much to do... yes, i am wearing spiderman gloves and yes, they are diego's... yes, those are still boxes in the new place, and yes, the picture is blurry and no, i don't care... i just thought the picture resembled the situation so well... a tired mami who cannot wait to relax and be FOCUSED on how clean the house will be ;)

lastly, my etsy shop is bare right now but if you are looking for some ric rac or buttons [or other misc. goodies], you can check it this spot...

sorry for the speedy and rambling post... diego is playing on xbox live, isabella is bathing, coffee is brewing, ramel is painting the new place, and the cats are licking shipping tape... you can see i don't have much time to post a thought provoking blog at the moment....

see you all at the new place ;)

moving studio today

actually, it's been a process for weeks now... it's amazing when you realize how much stuff you collect, eh?! so many things for inspiration, creation, to give away, to collect for collecting sake, and to drool over... it was overwhelming in the beginning as the new studio will be smaller..... i need to prioritze which goodies go in the forefront and which will be in the closet...

here's what's left of my studio... my giant tower of 12x12 papers, a bin full of organized scraps [organized by color, pattern, etc], a suitcase full of 12x12 paper STACKS, my desk, and a few embellishments....

the computer will be moved today... along with all my papers and the rest of my studio.... all that will be left is what cannot fit into the car [dresser and a couple pieces of furniture] the television and xbox 360 will stay until the moving date too...

i thought artwork could be worked on during the moving process, but it's near impossible... i'm worn out by the end of the night... it's like a full time job- family, cleaning two places, packing, unpacking, etc .... i'm grateful that my mom and pops and ramel are helping!! for fun, i bought a few stacks of paper so that when i start working on art again, there will be new papers for inspiration

and new embellishments... my latest fetish... flowery goodness... last week, there were 2 days that were bitterly cold and dangerous to go outside... that meant, no school for diego, no work for ramel, no shopping for anybody.... what's a person to do but go on ebay and etsy?! hehe...

so in a half hour, i will be packing up what's left of my studio... when ramel gets home, he will move it, then i will head over there to unpack!!! fun stuff!

what have you been up to lately?

16 things about me...

1. i spent 4hrs reorganizing my flickr sets into collections because of my need to organize
2. i pull my hair when i'm frustrated and/or upset, often leaving my hair afro'd out
3. i pluck my eyebrows, and have been since i was 12
4. i don't watch scary movies
5. i don't like to dust, and will not do it as often as i was raised to do
6. i was never much of a procrastinator until after i had 2 kids
7. i don't ever want to experience labor again
8. i'm overwhelmed with all the moving and things on my to-do list
9. i hate doing dishes but i hate seeing dishes in the sink even more so i always do the dishes
10. when i was 5, i hated my snowsuit... and jogging pants... and flip flops
11. i bought a brand new coat 3yrs ago [always bought thrifted ones in college]... then i lost it...
12. i'd like a few more tattooes and perhaps a teeny nose piercing... but wonder if i'm too old for the piercing
13. i don't like unfinished things, including games... if i find out that i missed something [in a game], i'll either quit or restart over... and over... and over...
14. in one day, i can watch i love lucy, battlestar galactica, the office, avatar, hellboy, and then end the night off with killing zombies or racing my pinatas... can we say versatile?
15. ramel and i play the "what if we had a million dollars" game... i'll tell him the bills we'd pay, who'd we give money to, what we'd buy, where'd we go... after this talk, i feel good because we have a plan... then i remember, its only a game and i'm dismayed
16. last but certainly not least, i love my husband, son and daughter very very much, as well as my mom, papi, sister, bro-in-law, and niece...

the final five...

no, we aren't talking abut cylons here... although, if you remember, i'm a newbie/wanna be sci-fi geek so that means talk of cylons and finding earth... its funny because the first time i heard about battlestar galactica was when jim was pretending to be dwight [in the office]... and he says "bears... beets... battlestar galactica..." something like that... now, i'm in the same league as dwight?! scary and yet, humorous... enough of that though....

i finished all 5 illustrations for my friend andrea's cousin.... you can see the other 3 in the previous post.... it took several months to complete for various reasons... i wanted to make sure that they were completed before the move.... i'll have new projects to complete come february, so 2008 projects HAVE to be finished...

there is still one more illustration to do tonight [for another customer], after i blog... and then there is more packing... friday night, my mom and dad came over to the new place... we ripped out some pretty gross and smelly carpet.... it was some hefty work that literally required elbow grease... it was WORTH IT! the house smells better, looks better, and there is no worries of kids rolling around on nasty carpet and getting zillions of ring worms... tomorrow we paint the place and get some electricity issues hashed out... after that, i'll be [gently] scrubbing hardwood floors...

after the move, there are some new illustration ventures to pursue... i'm looking into other avenues aside from the etsy shop... my 2008 goal was to be published, and while i was, i'd like to get PAID this time... so with new opportunities, it looks like a little less usage of copyrighted patterned papers [a whole other blog post] but perhaps more publicity!

what are your goals for this year??

sci-fi geek?

can you believe it?! greenbeanbaby has finally scanned in a few of the illustrations completed... still more artwork to finish up but i'm getting there... and we can thank digital snowmen for lending [or is it borrowing?] us battlestar galactica season three.... the season finale had me on the edge of my seat.... the final 5 cylons- who'da thought?! [ i mean, i guessed 2 of them prior to the clues but you know, it was a shocker!!!] oh indeed, i've become a sci-fi geek although we can admit that i'm more of a wanna-be... a bit of eureka, smallville, x-files, the ORIGINAL star trek, and some battlestar will make a greenbeanbaby geekified....

perhaps my enjoyment of sci-fi goodness is related to all the video gaming as of late... or maybe its related to the fact i like comic books? think about it... most comic book fans [speaking sterotypically of course] tend to also love star trek.... and they also seem to be the ones who love every aspect of gaming.... in my head, i imagine the kid with coke bottle glasses going to comic book events one day, then dressing up as spock for a convention the next day... and i've even wished that they made the star trek dress available NOT for halloween... i'd sport it- does that make me weird?! either way, i've been a long time fan of cartoons based on comic books [i do not like the format of comics- too cluttery to read].... and after being married to ramel, video gaming has become an obsession... and watching an array of sci-fi goodness has us falling asleep and dreaming about cylons and achievements...

anyhow, i was the girl who loved math and dreaded any science classes... i was the girl [in high school] who didn't read mary shelley's frankenstein but based my entire book report on the boris karloff movie... after i read it in college, i realized the book was great and the old movie was WAY OFF from the original book.... i was and still am the girl who cannot understand molecules... or any form of chemistry... i'm the one who has to watch star wars 5x over to get what is going on and figure out who is who... so we can't really say i'm a sci-fi geek [or at least, i'm not the traditional sci fi fanatic]... guess i'm just a geek....

what about you??? what are you???

how clean is your home?

the moving story: we are selling our home and going back to renting... in all honesty, we are relieved... no more basement sewers backing up and calling professionals to clean it out... no more paying ridiculously high property taxes... no more mortgage that keeps increasing instead of decreasing... no more squirrels eating their way to the kid's room... no more hallway roofs leaking whenever it rains... no more wood paneling in the living room... no more curtain rods falling off the fake wood moldings... no more begging ramel to mow the lawn or fix the garage....

of course, ramel and i will no longer have our spacious studios in the attic.... i will have my own studio in the room next to the living room... it hasn't a door so i can't hide away like now, but it will also mean no one will "miss mami"... there is an attic with two HUGE rooms but they are in dire need of cleaning and moving stuff around and out... this'll be our summer project... after its complete, ramel will have the biggest studio either of us has ever seen... when the kids get a wee older, i will move my studio to the attic too...

in the meantime, the kids will still share a room... the 3rd bedroom [my declared studio] is opposite of the house so its too far away for our small kiddos... the carpets were not in good condition... i went over to the new place and ripped out the carpet in the kid's room all by myself... no cutting the carpet in pieces, i just ripped it all out and rolled it away... i suffered the next day with pains...

the new place is much bigger than this one... the entire place needs carpeting ripped out... my mom and i tackled one room fairly fast... now there is the living room, dining room, and studio  to do... tons of candle wax stains remain on the green dirty carpet.... and to realize that underneath, the ENTIRE floor is HARDWOOD! most people put on carpet to cover up hardwood that has been ruined, stained, or blotched with paint splatter from a bad paint job.... but these hardwood floors are in BEAUTIFUL condition!! it's going to look beautiful after tons of hard work...

the walls also need some tender, love, and care... no, i lie... they need a ton of soap, elbow grease, spackle, and a new coat of paint.... the kitchen was the worst... i scrubbed the walls so clean that there is probably a layer of paint missing... i couldn't tell if the water was yellow from all the dirt or part of paint job coming off [as the kitchen is yellow]... happily, the floors are cleaned, the woodwork is cleaned as best as could be, and the pantry is all fixed up and everything is rearranged to greenbeanbaby perfection ;) still the process of cleaning had my gag reflexes going berserk....

i've been to that place cleaning nearly everyday... and there isn't heat there... the first day, i cleaned the kid's room without any hot water.... now we had to turn it off so the landlord could fix the water heater [as it's leaking tremendously].... i bought a new thermostat, a new toilet seat, and even a new dish rack... [yes, a new dish rack is an accomplishment!!!]... there was tons of furniture, nic nacs, papers, books, misc junk left at the house... and we've had to move it all... all the while, i have been packing up stuff HERE at the 46th street place... ramel drives the boxes over to the house.... a ton of work for sure...

after all the cleaning and packing, neither house is completely clean or ready.... that part is most frustrating... it has me worn... it has me backed up on artwork... i have 3 illustrations done with 3 more to do plus a book.... my emails are overflowing... i owe 3 people packages... and everywhere i look, SOMETHING has to be done... i hate knowing there is so much incompletion around here, ya know?! still, i am grateful for everyone's patience and encouraging words...

by february, we should be moved in... that's my goal.... and i hope to have everything unpacked and organized by the next day... hehe- just kidding.... i'd give us a week to clean it out :) so if the next few blogs are rants about cleaning and painting and aching backs, don't mind!!

what have you been up to?

happy new years!!

it's the new year and what's best to start the year with happy stuff... first, my mom's new lollishops is open... you can check it out over here! she'll be adding goodies continuously...

on christmas eve, we've received some great packages in the mail including handmade and sweet goodness from meghan... [there's more photos at my flickr]... isn't that sweet of her?! she's a doll!

also on christmas eve, my mother and sister came over for our annual ornament swapping... the first few years we made them but now we buy them.... i ordered my ornaments from stephanie, julie, and nicky... and i made one ornament for us all... [nicky's pretty ornaments can be seen here]

my sister bought me the other starbucks ornament so now i have BOTH!! that makes my tree and me happy!!! my mom also purchased a glittery cottage from julie for the swap as well as a couple more goodies...

this lovely set of visual and artistic goodies is from our pals,  digital snowmen [eric and karen]... the book is hilarious!!! the beautiful katamari game is for moi and it's quite fun... challenging with catchy songs.... the dvd is for ramel ;)

isabella is doing wonderful despite being sick for over a week... she's been enjoying the fact that diego is home all day now as well as her daddy... here she is with her favorite care bears that are nearly as big as her... she loves to hold both!

 
diego is loving vacation from school... he gets to play oodles of games... when he isn't playing games or chasing isabella, he is sleeping soundly with his batman in a superman bed with superman covers on a spiderman pillow while wearing iron man pjs and a power rangers vest... some kid, eh!?

and when i am not packing up stuff, i am cleaning up the new place... and when i'm not doing neither of that, i'm relaxing my incredibly sore body... and by relaxing, i mean, playing video games on xbox live with some of our pals... hehe

so what greatness do you have to start the new year?!