Gorky's Granddaughter: Moses Hoskins, May 2011

Gorky's Granddaughter: Moses Hoskins, May 2011: Moses Hoskins from Gorky's Granddaughter on Vimeo .

I just discovered this painter and am so taken with his visual vocabulary that I sent my first ever fan (e) mail.

I'm back

I stopped writing because I was depressed. Feeling much better now.

A bit of catch up: survived AP and the microbiology teacher from hell (even got an A,) survived a horrible bout of depression, now teaching Humanities and having a great time with it, teaching several painting and drawing classes at private studios, sold my first piece on an opening night, and sold almost everything I've painted in the last year or so. Making more new friends in town and enjoying my community, enjoying my family. Signed up to run a marathon and training for that.

Starting nursing school in one week. Mixed feelings on this.

Cons:

I love teaching art and I'm afraid that's ending

afraid I won't have time to make art anymore

discouraged that all my experience and education is in art and now I have to start fresh

I'm not that interested in the material to be learned

nursing school is a significant commitment

I don't feel like doing it.

I don't want to put in catheters.

I'm losing my cred as an artist.

It means I have failed as an artist.

Pros:

I will never have to get charity food again.

We can pay our bills each month.

We can travel.

We can pay off our student loans.

I can pay for a studio space.

I will be helping people.

I'm a great teacher because I'm great with people and that will transfer to nursing.

Am I in it for the money? Yes, of course. But I choose nursing because I could never do anything unethical or that involved turning off my empathy for others, including any sort of sales or advertising.

Nursing it is.

When people ask me about it lately, I hear myself saying I'm sick to my stomach or I feel like I'm jumping off a cliff. That's true, but I wish something positive would come out of my face.

It's gonna be OK.

And so, no longer a blog about homeschooling - this is now the story of one part time artist/part time art professor/mom going to nursing school to pay for life.

Quit the waitressing job. No money.

Signing up for CNA course. Gonna butt-wipe my way into a good nursing job.

Teaching the seniors art today. Aboriginal dot painting meets purple coneflower still life.

Planning our next road-trip. Contemplating whether kids really need to be there on the first day of school or so.

15 garlic scapes cut into 1 inch pieces

1/2 cup olive oil

little pepper

1 lb turkey bacon cut into squares

1/2 diced red onion

1 sprig fresh rosemary

sautee and roughly mash into 5lbs salted red potatoes

I love garlic scapes - feels like asparagus, tastes like mild garlic. Once a year special.

Training for a demanding waitressing job this week - as hard to memorize the menu and it's descriptors as anatomy. I'm excited about the job - I think it will be fun, I like the atmosphere, and I will finally make a little money to pay off some bills - but I am also taking anatomy, and psychology, taking care of the kids, and have a few art classes left to teach and commissions to paint, and two college courses to write for the fall. And clean house and exercise. Don't know if I can do it all. ... Wasting the little time I have right now...

We ran the Warrior Dash this weekend. That was a lot of fun, easier than I'd anticipated, but we were a little worn out the next day.

Was just looking through family photos. So easy to worry about the day to day to-do. Everything will be fine. I forget without photos. Its a good life.

Chris got me a new subscription to Art Forum. He caught me reading it today while I was supposed to be studying, which is funny because its an academic journal. So should I be studying art if that's my passion? Not right now. I need a job. I grew up with medical talk at the dinner table. I liked it. The human body is fascinating and I like to solve it's mysteries.

I ate my first cooked food in nine days. I couldn't remember why I wasn't supposed to anymore. The point isn't to be obsessive and extremist. The point is to adopt life-long, healthy habits. I enjoyed a dinner of

cold soba (buckwheat) noodles with

tofu,

green onions, and

sesame seeds.

(and sesame oil, soy sauce, and sugar) So good.

I jogged and lifted tonight, so maybe I could hit the leftovers just a little. I'm "training" for the Warrior Dash in a few weeks. Its a 5k with ten ridiculous obstacles like jumping over fire and climbing over wrecked cars. My goal is to finish in 45 minutes. Very reasonable. Its going to be hot and all my "training" is on an air-conditioned track.

I made little cube cookies today.

1/2 lb. walnuts

1/2 lb. dates

1 cup unsweetened dried coconut

1 cup ground whole flax

little salt

little vanilla

Process in food processor till doughy - form into teaspoon size cubes. So good. I had a dozen of them, felt bad about it, then remembered all I'd eaten today was a green smoothie and some watermelon. No wonder.

My good friend moved to West Virginia this week. She will be missed. Watch for the pictures when we visit in August!

My dad took us to Disney World last month.

This is my hands-down favorite picture. Everyone gave me a hard time for making the girls where a uniform all week but it was great. Columbia's "Liking the Hiking" dresses. They were SPF, they dried fast, they were super cool and lightweight, and I could spot them a mile away. I washed them every night. I did get blisters from squeezing them out so much, but it made me feel like we were doing some real traveling, so that was OK. I also loved going away for a week with 5 people and only 4 carry-ons.

Played Art as Team Sport this weekend. Fun. We lost.

New painting.

So, the ants were mostly gone by that afternoon. Sprayed a few entries and washed the pantry out. still some hangers on but no more attack.

Having a great summer so far. Yesterday we went for a dog walk/jog/bicycle ride in the morning and went roller skating in the afternoon AND saw Kung Fu Panda 2 in the evening. Right now we're on the way to the zoo.

Doing well in Anatomy and excited about getting into nursing.

Sold 9 paintings this weekend.

I LOVE peonies! We have four beautiful, pale pink bushes. Oh my love/hate relationship with ants.

Day 8 of raw vegan diet. I eat a salad every day and a green smoothie almost every day, but my favorite foods are frozen bananas through the juicer with cocoa powder (YUM!) and half dates, half walnuts run through the food processor with a little salt and vanilla. Delicious and keeping me on the program. I feel great and have only had a few cravings for an Italian beef or pub burger. Easier to do this when its so hot. Nice to have structure when making the menu. Food choices can be so overwhelming.