Balancing the New Year with My 100th Post in My Own Rambling Way...

It's the end of a year!

Time for many great and wonderful things
in the coming new year.

Of course, there will also be tears, sorrow, and heartbreak in this new year. 

There has to be a balance, a time and a season for everything.

However, the good, joyful and happy times will far out number the bad...

That's just the way God 

balances things, 
I think.

This is my 100th post.

I've thought on it for days.

Well, once I discovered it was on the horizon. 

What to post about?

What to do? 

Celebrate? 

Let it go by quietly? 

Or, just shout it from the roof tops?

Hmmm...I think I'll just write and see where it takes me.

Where to start, where to start...

 Why not the top of my blog?

 This is the quote so many have asked me about...

A few lines are in my header and I took the name of my blog from this poem.

 

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear
is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness,
that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?
Actually who are we not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people
won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine as children do.
We were born to make manifest
the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And when we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
- Marianne Williamson

I ramble a bit, and you know that, 

so jump ship now 

if you don't want to go along for the ride.

So here goes...  

A New Year is a time for reflection and thinking of things that have occurred and are to come. 
No rhyme or reason, just visits with old and new favorite photos and posts that brought me to 100.

 

I am an Outrageous Older Woman

(Am too...I have a bumper sticker from Maine to prove it)

I'm an OOW who loves her family, and friends, 

including all of you that I have met through this wonderful art of blogging, 

and I love expressing my thoughts to you.
 
May not be the highlight of your day, 
but it is one of mine.

I also adore my students,

my art teaching career 
and my junk art. 

 Ahhh...junk, what a wonderful thing.

Creating with it is even more wonderfuler.

I do love RUST, ya know?

Recycled adding machine spools I turned into beads for necklaces.

Being this OOW 
 is not at all what I always expected it to be. 

It's true that with this time of your life comes the loss of the people you love. 

So very hard, but it's something 

you expect and accept,

though not easily. 

This is from another post...it's a my memory jar for my daddy.

I didn't expect that both my parents and most of my aunts, uncles and 
some cousins would be gone by now. 
I didn't expect to sing at their funerals or have younger ones go before me. 


It's been so difficult to watch them fade away.

I also didn't expect to have richer relationships 

with those who are still here...

God handles that...
it's that balancing thing
He does...and a gift.

It's also a time when you start thinking of your own accomplishments, 

 and the imprint you've made on

your little corner of the world.

I've always heard with age comes wisdom. 

It's true, I am brilliant now!

Haha...not true, if you've never been wise 

then turning 50 ain't gonna do it for you. 

I'm six years past 50 now, and it still has not happened, so don't expect that...sigh. 

You do ignore the small stuff...you mellow.

That quite possibly makes you appear wiser. 

You know, no fretting over silly things and such. 

Not having hissy fits can make you look like you have it together, thus being wiser.

I really expected not to be wiser, 
I expected to lose some people, 
I even expected some of the aches and pains, and the sags.

Sent to me by a friend who's family took this while on vacation...wouldn't it be wonderful to see these beautiful ladies each day?

I did not expect the freedom, the appreciation for life and the joy in everyday little things that comes with being older.

Duncan enjoying the view of my garden through the bubbles.

Our trip to the sunflower field for my 56th birthday this year.

Stumbling on the ART MOOSE on one of our trips to Maine this past summer was one of the highlights of my year.

My Bill resting among the bubbles after a long day of yard work.

The just being comfortable with who I am,
 what I have and where I am going.

One of my favorite photos from Maine...so peaceful.

OK, so back to the 
Marianne Williamson 
poem...

I never expected to go back to school after 50,
 

but I did...

and during my masters program, 
I had a professor, 
who was, well...
lOoNy.

However, 

mY  FaVoRiTe  QuOtE  in a  FrAmE,  mY  FaVoRiTe  cOloR...

a gift from one of my favorite friends.

this professor introduced me to this quote, 

and well 
there you go, 
another one of those balances  
of good and bad...
God always handles it.

This poem stuck with me 
and has helped me as 
I deal with the expected and unexpected things 
of becoming an OOW, 

and OK, 
let's just say it...
a bit off balanced...
God handles that kind too, I guess.

Now for one of my favorite parts of the poem;
end of a year, 
and the end of the poem...


And when we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
- Marianne Williamson




So...

The Outrageous Older Woman, 
 Vicki, 
me,
the artteachergirl 
who rambles, 
has managed to create a blog with 100 posts.
  I am unexpectedly amazed.

  I hope that I have let a bit 
of my light
shine on you, 
and hopefully given you 
permission to 
shine, 
create, 
and 
soar 
in whatever you expect to do,
and I hope you find 
your unexpected!

  HAPPY, 

HAPPY

NEW YEAR!

May
2011
Bring 
you 
balance!

                                                         

This sunset was taken rolling down the highway, somewhere between NH and Vermont.

A new year is coming so I decided to create a new header...

can't decide if I like it, so it may be changed in the next few days. 

Any suggestions?

OLD HEADER

NEW HEADER

I spent all day creating the header, it represents my favorite place, 

you know? 

This blog is for me. I didn't create it to sell things as some do, I didn't create it as a showcase. I had to create it for a class I was taking during my Masters program. I did what I had to do for the class, but I created it as a place for me to go to and write, share my day or just randomly talk. Also, I created it as a place to share my art and the art of my sweet students. It's a mixture of many things. I would like to say I am multifaceted, but I am more of an all over the place kind of person.

My house is a quiet house. My husband is not a talker. My son is back home, but he is about his own agenda and has always been a calm easy going sort. Me, on the other hand, well, this art teacher girl, talks non stop and about everything. I will tell you every detail and go off on many tangents before I get to the point...you know, set the stage sort of rambling.  This blog helps me collect my thoughts, helps me put things in perspective and helps me talk things out... sometimes. I enjoy sharing with like minded people, people who I really don't know, but have come to recognize through their own blogs. 

I gather from my guys they are glad I have this place to go. I'm here for them when they need me, but they don't have to listen to so much from me now. They know that I am happiest when I am creating, and that this is a form of creating for me.

Why am I saying all this, when I started out saying 

I had created a new header? 

Maybe because I'm not sure the header will be understood,

or that it really expresses me.

It does express me.

I love burlap, and that's part of the background. 

The fence post photo was taken on our trip to Maine. 

The bird is from a book that belonged to my Grandpapa, I blogged about it last summer.

And the road marker photo was taken by a childhood friend.

It is a vanishing part of Georgia, found on a back road, and it tells the directions to the town I now call home. 

I may be deciding I like this new header for this new year. 

I just realized this is my 99th posting! I promise my 100th will be something better than a long ramble about my header...promise.

BLESSED CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS TO THOSE WHO BRIGHTEN MY DAYS!

SCENES FROM A CHRISTMAS POP-UP BOOK, JARED RECEIVED FROM SANTA WHEN HE WAS 3 YEARS OLD. IT COMES OUT EACH YEAR TO MAKE SURE WE REMEMBER THE REASON FOR THIS JOYOUS SEASON. 
THE PICTURES ARE BEAUTIFUL!

Some of my favorite Christmas decorations and things that make me smile...

My Santas...none are fancy. One is playing the bass, for Jared, and one is actually a Caroler dressed as Santa...my daddy gave her to me when I was around 12. There's a green bell Santa that my mama painted for me just after she had a stroke...there's even an Artist Santa.

I painted this small nativity when I was 15...poor baby Jesus has been broken for years.

My mama's little Christmas box...she kept it year round in the top drawer of her dresser and brought it out on Christmas...I still keep it in her dresser and bring it out for her.

Candy canes made by my little students out of empty carpet rolls. They colored the white and I rolled them in red.

K-Mart Nativity Set...rushed to after Christmas sale to buy it and got the last one. Loved it for many years. The stable is a yard sale find.

Bathroom shelf made from a shutter, my favorite cat and pine cones from my yard.

Our tree and mantle...will definitely look different in a few hours.

 Hope you enjoy your time with family and friends!

Merry Christmas, Vicki