Hobbies

I have hobbies. Too many hobbies. I read quite a bit. Some of my favorite authors are Jodi Picoult, Elizabeth Berg, Nicholas Sparks, Anita Shreve, just to name a few. I'll read just about anything except Science Fiction. Not my thing. The book I'm currently struggling through is The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. Apparently there was quite a bit of hype about the DVD and book. I never heard a thing about it until watching Oprah a few weeks ago.

After viewing the episode on Oprah about "The Secret" I bought into the hype and bought the book. As I said - I'm struggling through it. I guess I'm not much into self help books either. The gist of the book seems fairly simple to me and I guess a secret I already knew: If you're a negative person who thinks negative thoughts, that is what will come to you. If you're all gloom and doom, you're life will be gloom and doom. You get what you give, basically. The flip side of it is, if you are positive and believe good things will come to you, that is what you will receive. I was a sucker - I bought the book. Apparently it's changing a lot of lives. I'm lucky that mine doesn't need changing, atleast in my opinion. A total waste of a Christmas giftcard.

Another hobby of mine is painting. I have painted for nearly 20 years. Growing up I wanted to take art classes in a bad way. My parents thought that my sister was the talented/creative one and she took the art lessons. (Can you sense a small amount of bitterness here?) So when I was about 24 I took a painting class. For the most part, I am self taught. Trial and error. I typically paint with just simple craft paints on either wood or mat board. If I can figure out how in the world to put picture on here I will. (OK I did it, but for the life of me can't figure out how to arrange them where I want them) The Santa and the angel were painted on mat board. The waterfall picture and the painting of the mountain scene are oil on canvas.

Recently I have taken 2 oil painting classes. This is new to me. Totally different from my usual. So I am struggling with it. My teacher told me I try too hard. My problem is that I am a really detailed person. My paintings MUST look like something real. Trees should look like trees, people should look like real people. I try, but I do not get the paintings that you see that do not look like what they are supposed to be. If it's a woman, it should look like a woman, not like a 2 year old painted it. I don't know what that style of painting is, (Impressionist???, I think. I just don't know) but I don't get it. BUt I also don't know what my painting style is. I really don't have one. When I see something I like, I try to paint it. I cannot paint from my own imagination. I have to visually see a picture, a pattern or something. The oil painting is definitely not my style either. It is what the teacher taught every student that day. Definitely not something I would pick out at random and paint.

Well I was totally enjoying my day. Thinking about getting the paints out and Mr. T called. He had taken our daughter to visit MIL yesterday (she lives almost 2 hrs away). They were going to stay the weekend and come home Sunday and I was going to have some "ME" time. Apparently MIL has the stomach flu and they are on their way home. So much for the ME time. Oh, well. Atleast I had about 1/2 a day. And hopefully I won't be cleaning up puke. Fingers crossed.

Miss Chris

My Very First

I don't know where to begin. I read so many blogs. I LOVE to read other blogs, but mine, I am at a loss. I've always wanted to have a blog but wondered if my life was interesting enough, would I have comments, lurkers that left hateful comments??? (I hate that, BTW).

I guess I will begin with ME. I am 43 years old. A mom to 3. Two boys from a previous marriage. Trav is 18, Wes is 13 and I have a daughter, Faith from my 2nd marriage. She is 4 years old going on 25. So I have one in college, one in middle school and one in pre-school. I spaced them out pretty well, but it was not intentional.

Transplanted??? No, I did not have any type of organ transplant. I hope my title isn't too deceiving. I was raised in Columbus, Ohio for 23 years by a VERY Irish-Catholic family and moved to Western Kentucky to marry my ex-husband. We met through work and dated long-distance for a year. I moved here to be with him, fell in love with the slow paced life and never left. Even after a very nice, amicable divorce.

I was a single parent for about 5 years (I think I should receive some kind of medal or something) because honestly, it was THE hardest thing I have ever done. (Other than CONCEIVE AND GIVE BIRTH.) Because for me, those 2 things, I was not good at. I bow down to single parents everywhere.

I met my husband Mr. T. through work (he was my boss), we fell in love, married and after 3 miscarriages, our daughter (his only child) Faith blessed our lives. We have been blessed ever since - With everything. I am thankful everyday for the blessings in my life.

While I was pregnant with our daughter, Mr. T and I both lost our jobs so we grasped at straws, took a leap of faith and started our own business. Honestly, it was the best thing. It was successful right from the start. Never a struggle and we never had to borrow a dime to get it started. Like I said - we have been blessed.

So I live in Kentucky, you ask??? A sterotypical state if there ever was one to live in. When non-Southerner's hear us talk I think they automatically lower our IQ's considerably. Some misconcenptions: Yes, we wear shoes. (My kids are forbidden to go with out them.) We do not eat critters, throw trash or have broken down vehicles in our yards, nor do we have a rebel flag hanging any where on our property. (I think the movie was called "Deliverance" and just to set the record straight - that was set in EASTERN Kentucky. We are no where near there.) We don't marry our cousins or our sisters/brothers. We live in a nice rural area, with very little crime, seldom lock our doors at night and my car keys stay in the ignition of my car. That way, I don't have to look for them. It is a good wholesome place to raise kids.

The top 10 things I've learned from living here:

1. The first thing I learned after moving here is that I was living in The Bible Belt and the correct usage of the word "GOD". #1 rule - YOU DON"T USE IT. You don't say Oh my God, Oh My Gosh, or anything that sounds like you are going to say the Lord's name in vain. God Bless is permissible.

2. You don't say "I swear" because you don't swear on anything, ever, at all. And you don't cuss either.

3. You don't wear white shoes after Easter and before Labor Day. (Although I think Clinton and Stacy of What Not to Wear could testify that this "rule" is old and useless.)

4. You don't lock the door to your house EVER, your nosy Mother-in-law may need in there for something. (I haven't figured that one out yet but thank God (whoops) mine lives 2 hours away)

5. You also don't lock your vehicle and by all means, leave the keys in the ignition just in case it is blocking someone and they might need to move it. (This has happened to me before and it is a handy rule to have).

6. If you are Catholic, you are a freak of nature. (I apologize to all Catholics)

7. Louisville is pronounced Looo-eh-vull.

8. The school system/athletic programs are crammed full of politics/cliques. It's not how talented/athletic your child is. If you didn't grow up around here, they are screwed.

9. People have strange names. Especially senior citizens. A few examples: (Male names) Toy, Knox, Talmadge, Winston, Lanie. Female: Harrolyn, Fairy, Arvis, Farris, Vasteen. You also call your elder female aquaintances Miss. For example Miss Ellen, Miss Susan, etc. I apologize if anyone reading this has the above mentioned name. It wasn't your fault.

10. The pace is slow here. People drive slow, talk slow, the mail is slow and technology is behind as well. We are not known for a huge variety of culture.

Considering all the above, I love it here. You couldn't move me with dynamite. It suits me and my family and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else on God's green earth (whoops again).

I hope you'll will stick around, read, enjoy what I have to say and leave nice comments. My blog won't be strictly about Southern living, but a variety of topics from my everyday, normal life.

Ya'll come back now, ya hear. (Sorry I couldn't resist)