Pepper Paints

That’s Simple

I am thinking about changing the furniture around here at chez Pepper Paints. So, if you wonder over one day and think I got rid of your favorite post, it probably just got moved to a new spot. I am fickle like that. With the change of seasons I change the furniture around in most rooms of my house. It drives my husband batty.

I had a revelation the other morning while out walking. I am NOT a simple person. And that is OK! I often ponder becoming a more simple person. I am sure it is an easier life, but it just isn’t in me.

I can usually spot a person that lives a simple life. You know those at the grocery that have a cart with only the items they will use in the next week. They don’t belong to food co-ops which buy in bulk, shop at several different grocery stores, or stock up in case of the bird flu or killer bees. They shop at the thrift store, but again buy only what they need, not every cute thing they find because it’s only a buck. There kids have a few precious toys that they actually play with, not toys in every room of the house. That’s just not me.

I love my stuff, my hand mirror collection, various rocks, shells and sea glass from all over the place. I love my marble collection, our stamps and coins. I love art supplies and other materials that most people consider junk. I see the possibilities in almost everything. I love other peoples cast offs. I rarely shop new and I love a good bargain. Flea markets and thrift stores make me coo! As does a pile on someones tree lawn.

I know those that live a more simple life, only bite off what they can chew. That concept right there would make my life more manageable. They don’t increase the size of their garden every year if they can’t tend to what they already have. They actually leave the library with only a book or two. They don’t try to jam pack every day to the fullest. They pace themselves and have a Zen way about them. And they don’t move all their furniture around every few months because they are bored. But again, that’s just not me.

Tomorrow, I will be going thrifting with some friends and I will find a few treasures that I want more than need and I will purchase them . And I will make more work for myself-more laundry, finding a place to keep these treasures. But that’s OK. Because it will make me happy. And I may just find the perfect thing to add to my kitchen I plan on rearranging on Saturday.

Shhh, don’t tell my husband.

And The Irony Of The Story Is…

I am not very good at budgeting my time.  I don’t have a great record for estimating how long it takes me to do something or get somewhere.  I am often late.  Today I had 2 different activities planned.  We left the house this morning to do some grocery shoping because Old Mother Hubbards cupboards were pretty bare!  I couldn’t even concoct anything edible with the combination of stuff I had left around here.  We went to Marc’s first of course then to get gas-Thanks Mom for your Eagle card.  I got $1 off each gallon of gas!!  Then we hit Trader Joe’s and finally Whole Foods.  I am a particular shopper when it comes to food.  Everything else I buy second hand.  But when it comes to food, I am a bit of a freak.  So that is why we run all over town to grocery shop.  I didn’t plan on it taking as long as it did.  I never do-that is part of my problem.  By the time we got home and I put ll the food away and showered-finally at 3:00PM it was time for Mollys tutor apt and bead class!  So I have no great activity for today.

So you may be wondering what we had for dinner after all that grocery hopping.  My family ate hot dogs at a baseball game.  I brought carrots to the game-bit no takers.  And the hot dogs were only 10 cents each, so my kids ate alot of them!!  I don’t even want to imagine what those are made of!

Now off to bed-possibly a project tomorrow!!

Probably Marc’s

We have a grocery/discount store in our neighborhood called Marc’s. I LOVE Marc’s. Not only do they have a decent and cheap organics selection but the have a close out section. You never know what treasures you will find! I picked up a set of books called A FIRST LOOK AT ART. There are four books in the series and they were each $1.99 each. Score!! I really like them and today we did an activity out of the CREATURES book.
We looked at THE BIRD by Eileen Agar and talked about patterns. We also looked at several other works by other artists that also use patterns in their work. We have a game called Art Deck and a great set of art cards from a UNICEF game my mother in law bought me years ago. Both have small works that we can handle and move around to compare and contrast.
Back to the activity-so we took a piece of paper and folded it in to 16 equal squares and filled each square with a different pattern. We used colored pencils and metallic crayons and these really hard crayon like things that I don’t know what they are. I don’t know where thy came from, probably Marc’s. They have no paper wrap on them. They are harder than a crayon, and they mold into a square shape at the end. I will photo them tomorrow and please let me know if you know what they are called! They were a big hit. We will use these sixteen patterns as a guide to fill in one of our own creatures soon-hopefully tomorrow!

We also spent some time outside. It was a beautiful day and great packing snow! After we built our igloo the kids spray painted it with a spray bottle, that I probably bought at Marc’s, filled with a strong solution of food coloring and water.

Tomorrow preschool and circus and possibly/probably a trip to Marc’s!