Today is Beautiful.

I am in Bay View, working on my first paid print order. I am working in a big, beautiful, empty house, with time to kill as the emulsion sets.

I walked through the neighborhood to get a cup of coffee, and it was sunny and warm, and the leaves were turning gold and falling slowly to the ground.

I was served coffee by a boy wearing thick-framed glasses and a vest, listening to Beirut, and he smiled at the ink smeared on my face, and I didn't feel like an old tired momma.


I have too much homework and too little money, I have no certainty about anything and several ongoing crises (my own and those of the people around me), and I can't do anything about anything, except to just deal with these things.

I have coffee, and sunshine, and ink, and that's enough for today.

This is an Introduction.

In order to avoid a complete and total blog failure, in which I think of so many things to write about and still avoid updating, I am going to brain dump for a minute.

I will start with an introduction to the main players in my life and therefore in these writings:

First, there is The Grizz--my leading man and ultimate adventure partner. We've been together since Clinton was President--a long time, which must be exhausting for him. He currently resides in retail management purgatory, and will do so until being a Sexy Drum God starts to pay off. I am not sure I believe in the concept of soulmates, but if I did I would know that he is mine. 

Then, there are The Boys: 

L is 11, smart, funny, etc. and has now reached the age where he occasionally acts like a complete delinquent. When I first had him, I couldn't imagine that he would one day turn into a teenager (or pre-teen, as it is) and now that we are here, I am trying to figure out what the hell to do about it. 

D is 4 and off-the-wall insane, usually in the best way possible. Of course, he wants to be a drummer. He just started kindergarten, which has been fantastic for everyone so far. He loves to play video games, which isn't working out so well for him as we don't have a television, but he manages to play Plants vs. Zombies or Angry Birds whenever possible. 

M is 3 and is a total sweetheart. He is mostly non-verbal and will be starting speech-audiology-cognitive-etc. screening soon. He is positively obsessed with Spongebob, hats, and calling random contacts on my phone whenever he has access.

There is Spike the Wonderdog, Claymortis--a gecko and a zombie, and my Grandpa--the boss of us all and Walker, Texas Ranger enthusiast. We all manage to co-exist in a tiny house in a bizarre little neighborhood right outside Milwaukee.

And then there is me: I am 30, in school for Community Development, and living in my childhood home, for better or worse. Besides the school and parenting gigs, I play flute and accordion with two to three bands, try to generate income where I can, and horde books. I take care of these boys, they take care of me; we all drive each other batshit crazy but we're generally pretty happy with how things are.

I lied...

Sorry!
After a few years of saying that I would never blog again...I'm blogging again.

This is happening for the following reasons:

• I write a lot for school, for odd jobs, and promotions work, but not enough for myself. If I know that (however many) people are reading, I will be able to force myself to write and work on my own personal shit. 
• I want to keep track of projects that I am working on and have a place to compile all of them. 
• I want a place where I can share what we are up to, funny/surreal things the kids did/said, and document the bizarre journey we are on. 

So, here we go...