Playing Comes First

My husband is a birder. Most Saturdays you will find him somewhere with his binoculars and often with a group of other wing-watchers. Last week, the guide mentioned that ravens are considered more highly developed because they play. Evidently playing is an indicator of higher intelligence which makes sense when we consider what we know about dolphins. I am fascinating with this premise and plan on researching it a bit more and writing about it later.

The initial thought I had when my husband told me this was how maybe adult humans are showing our lack of higher intelligence when we disdain and turn away from play. True play. Not competitive sports but just fun for the sake of fun.

As for me and mine, we are heading off for a week of play, doodling and moodling.

Just when I am getting back to writing here, I am taking a break. Just a quick one. I’ll be back to it next week. But for now …

Playing comes first.

Art Journal Love Day

Tags

art journaling

Because I have been neglecting my art journaling ….

Because I don’t celebrate Valentines Day in the traditional sense …

Because I LOVE Connie …

I am urging you to go visit her Art Journal Love Day Party.

Go be INSPIRED to play in your Art Journal!

There are even Party GIFTS!

But the best gift will be to yourself.

It’s fun!  It nourishes the soul!

Do it!

Thursday Thirteen — Words that are fun to say

Sometimes words just feel fun in your mouth when you say them … or maybe I am just weird that way. Here’s a list of thirteen words that I like to say just because of how fun they are to say:

1. conundrum
2. magnanimous
3. cacophony
4. discombobulated
5. decrepit
6. snarky
7. persnickety
8. schnitzel
9. shenanigans
10. phantasmagoria
11. lolly gag
12. serendipity
13. falafel
    

Playing with Photos

Got this from Jewls!

Here’s how you play:
The concept:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image. I picked the FIRST image …
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s Mosaic Maker.

The Questions (with my answers):

1. What is your first name? cynthia
2. What is your favorite food? salad
3. What high school did you go to? greenville
4. What is your favorite color? orange
5. Who is your celebrity crush? ryan gosling
6. Favorite drink? water
7. Dream vacation? Ireland
8. Favorite dessert? apple pie
9. What you want to be when you grow up? artist
10. What do you love most in life? breathing
11. One word to describe you. unique
12. Your flickr name. Cynthia Clack

Thursday Thirteen – 5th Edition

Tags

games, Thursday Thirteen

Just bought a new family game which I think may quite likely become our favorite, on that note, I am going to list thirteen of our favorite family games.

1. Quelf – this is our new game. Had you peeked in while we were playing you would have found Chris announcing the time whenever anyone rolled, me pretending to be in the army with taco bombs falling, Katie talking like a pirate, Justin and Logan as conjoined twins, Noah acting like a girl, Molly singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall, Stephen pointing to the ceiling and Drew just acting normal. All of that was pretty much simultaneously going on and it made for a wild and funny game!

2. Apples to Apples – this game just gets too funny with all of us playing. so many inside jokes!

3. Scattegories – this is fun and being the lover of words that I am, I win this one a lot.

4. Yahtzee – who can resist leaving that spot open for a potential yahtzee?

5. Monopoly – I don’t play Monopoly. Don’t like the greediness of it.

6. Eat Poop You Cat – this is a new game for us too. It’s basically a cross between pictionary and telephone. Another name for it is paper telephone. We didn’t know the name and have been calling it fictionary but I like Eat Poop You Cat much better.

7. Risk – another game I rarely play. I am not that good at this type of strategy.

8. Rook – the game that is responsible for teaching my children about the concept of negative numbers. I never had to teach it in math!

9. Clue – this game has endured time, hasn’t it? I played it with my friends and always wanted to be Colonel Mustard.

10. Sorry – but we don’t have the cool bell like Eunice, Ed, and Mama did!

11. Rummikub – I was surprised at how well my young children play this game. We haven’t played it in a while. We’ll have to pull this one out soon.

12. Spoons – another one of those games that just becomes wilder because there are so many of us. We are all quite competitive about grabbing those spoons. Injuries are not uncommon.

13. Four Corners – Having a large family means we have enough people to play this game at home. It’s usually requested for birthday fun by the younger ones.

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Related Tags: Thursday Thirteen, games

Thursday Thirteen, 3rd Edition

This week’s theme is to choose a letter of the alphabet and then write thirteen words beginning with that letter to describe you. I have added a twist. Here are thirteen statement about me … twelve are true and one is false. Can you guess which one?

1. I had head lice two years ago and shaved head.
2. My husband picked out the perfect handbag for my 2007 Christmas present.
3. I would love to learn Hebrew.
4. As a child my hemoblobin dropped so low I couldn’t walk.
5. I have had a henna tattoo.
6. I never played hooky from high school.
7. I have been described as hot headed.
8. I have killed every houseplant I’ve ever attempted to grow.
9. I was the hula hoop champion of my block.
10. I LOVE hummus.
11. I’ve never been hunting.
12. My husband still owes me two hydrangea bushes from a bet we made in 1997.
13. I practice hydrotherapy.

Go ahead … make your guesses in the comments!

Some Friday Fun

No energy to write today. i am sitting here tonight watching Chimp Eden and thought I would randomly take a few BlogThing quizzes

Who Should Paint You: Alfred Gockel

All American yet funky, you inspire an artist’s imagination And while not everyone will understand your portrait, you will!

What Artist Should Paint Your Portrait?

You Are 4: The Individualist

You are sensitive and intuitive, with others and yourself. You are creative and dreamy… plus dramatic and unpredictable. You’re emotionally honest, real, and easily hurt. Totally expressive, others always know exactly how you feel. At Your Best: You are inspired, artistic, and introspective. You know what you’re thinking, and you can communicate it well. At Your Worst: You are melancholy, alienated, and withdrawn. Your Fixation: Envy Your Primary Fear: To have no identity Your Primary Desire: To find yourself Other Number 4′s: Alanis Morisette, Johnny Depp, J.D. Salinger, Jim Morrison, and Anne Rice.

What Number Are You?’

You Are an Alien

You’re so strange, people occasionally wonder if you’re from another world. You don’t try to be different, but you see most things from a very unique, very offbeat perspective. Brilliant to the point of genius, you definitely have some advanced intelligence going on. No matter what circles you travel in, you always feel like a stranger. And it’s a feeling you’ve learned to like. Your greatest power: Your superhuman brain Your greatest weakness: Your lack of empathy – you just don’t get humans You play well with: Zombies

What Kind of Monster Are You?

A busy month

Tags

Art Everyday, nablopomo

It’s not enough that Thankgiving is in November.

I got married in November.

Then went on to deliver four of my nine children … in November.

It’s crazy busy and what do I do?

Participate in Art Everyday!! I did this with Leah last year and though I didn’t make my goal of creating art everyday in November, I did get a jumpstart to my creative artistic journey. I am looking forward to re-igniting that flame this year. Creative block has settled in for some reason. Hopefully, this is just what I need to prime the pump and get those juices flowing again.

Last year, I also participated in National Blog Posting Month. The premise is the same … post everyday during the month of November. Maybe this is for all of us not brave enough to tackle National Novel Writing Month. There’s a cool new website for NaBloPoMo. Check it out!

I have created art today but it’s not dry enough to scan and post here yet. Look for it tomorrow.

creating and blogging . . .

Related Tags: art everyday, nablopomo, Turbo Tagger

Possum update and MORE!

Update on our little possum.

When my husband opened the laundry room door, he was perched on top of the shoe cubby just gazing around. He was easily prodded into a plastic bin, taken for a long ride and released far away so that he will forget about the free food around here … hopefully. Hubby says that if he returns now that we should just keep him as a pet. Um, I don’t think so!

Since the beginning of the year, I have been establishing community with a group of creative women at Create a Connection Wednesday is Getting to Know You day and offers interesting questions that may or may not reveal the quirkiness within a person. This week the question asks what moment we would alter. I really can’t answer the question . . . really. I know it is just an imaginative exercise but I just can’t entertain anything being different. Good or bad. Of course, who determines good or bad? I have learned that those things in my life that I might have said were good things, produced negative results and those things that I might have said were bad things turned out to be the most wonderful blessings.

In lieu of answering that question, I will answer this tag from last week:

First, list seven random facts or habits about yourself:

1. My favorite cologne is Tabu. Has been since I was a teenager.

2. If it gas mileage and money were of no issue, my vehicle of choice would be a Honda Ridgeline pick up truck or a Jeep Wrangler.

3. I love to kiss my husband after he has drunk a beer. Ok, I just love to kiss my husband.

4. I’m going to Cornerstone Festival this year with my daughter! Been practicing my head banging!

5. Sometimes I wish I had had a few more children. I would love to have a Thomas Manly and a Geneva Mae and a Martha Routh running around.

6. I drank a green smoothie for dinner last night … spinach, romaine, cilantro, pineapple, strawberries, apple juice and a squirt of agave nectar. Yum!

7. My mother originally planned on naming me Lucille. Since I have red hair, I am very grateful she didn’t or the unending teasing in school would have been even worse.

Then, tag seven other bloggers and list them in your blog. Be sure to leave a comment on the blogs to let them know they have been tagged!

1. Joy – My soul sister!

2. Kathleen – my beautiful … um, intelligent, fun daughter!

3. Heidi – newest read on my bloglines

4. Mary – new blogger who is asking some great questions.

5. Tammy – my favorite homeschooling/unschooling blogger.

6. Amy – who may not find the time because she is so busy producing Creative Moms Podcast.

7. Cindy – an old cyber friend who keeps crossing my path.

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Immersed in the Mystery,

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Back in the Fray

No apologies for my unexplained absence. I don’t like seeing my excuses (and that is all they are … not reasons, just excuses) for not doing what I love to do. So, let’s just continue on as if I hadn’t ignored my blog for 20 days.

Wednesday is Getting to Know You day at Create A Connection. Today’s challenge is to answer the following questions in a SNAP! I am not supposed to think, just answer with my first reaction. okaaay!

1. You run into a friend who has just chopped off all her long hair (or suddenly has an Afro). What do you say? WOW! Look at your hair!

2. You walk by a well dressed man with manicured hands who smells like a gin martini. He asks you for money. What do you do? I give him some money.

3. Your brother or sister or best friend falls madly in love with someone you think is a jerk. What do you do? Try to spend time with my brother, sister or best friend away from the jerk.

4. You get a terrible present from your husband, wife, girlfriend or boyfriend. Do you let it show? I TRY not to let it show.

5. Who’s your favorite Beatle? John Lennon

6. You walk by a disheveled man wearing soiled & tattered clothes. He politely asks you for money. What do you do? I give him some money.

6. Skinny Elvis or Fat Elvis? Skinny Elvis

Ok, some of these were no brainers for me. Favorite Beatle? Didn’t have to think about that at all. Others, I wanted to think, to analyze, to imagine. But I think I stayed true to the instructions to answer within 2 seconds.

It’s good to be back.

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Immersed in the Mystery,
Cynthia

Related Tags: Create a Connection