#2891 I stayed home plus the Sunday gallery

I got off work early on Friday afternoon in honor of Easter weekend. I went to Costco to stock up on ground beef and chicken breast - staples at our house - then I picked up a drink at Dutch Bros, took the glass items to the recycling container at the park, and went home. I didn't leave the house again the whole weekend. I consider it a personal victory. 

On Saturday morning I woke up at 6:00 to feed the dogs and let them out. I wasn't quite ready to get up yet, so we went back upstairs to hurkle durkle. 

Not that 6:00 is long after it's time to get up on a Saturday, but I was up, and I went back to bed. I thought I'd read, but instead I played with my phone for an hour, then I fell asleep for a few more hours. I woke up at 10:00! I was feeling so tired and it felt good to sleep. Needless to say, I had a really slow morning. It was lovely. I showered, had a leisurely cup of coffee, read, then wandered up to my office to watch the creativity workshop on You Tube that I missed on Thursday, and caught up with my favorite influencer, Shannon, over in France to see what she is doing. She has started a weekly vlog about her day-to-day life in Brittany. It's pretty interesting. This week, she is in the Loire Valley touring some chateaux. I'm a goner for sure. I love chateaux. 

Today I managed to stay awake when the dogs woke me up at 6 AM for their breakfast. Mostly I've been here in my office. I spend a lot of time in here anymore. I am slowly but surely making it a Sandy-cave. I was doing one of my most favorite things today: reflecting on the past month in my journal. Did you know that my journal is my favorite book? Of course, I'm the only one who sees it, but it's full of stickers and doodles and words and miscellaneous decorations. For many years I used someone else's template for monthly reflection, then I decided to make my own and I enjoy the process. I also did a couple of art projects today, finished a book, did some laundry, changed the sheets, and did my bookkeeping. You know what I didn't do? Leave the house. I went to the backyard with the dogs, but I didn't get in my car. I wasn't sad about it.

It was a bit rainy this weekend, and a little chilly. March came in like a lion, but is leaving like a lamb. Tomorrow I get to turn all the calendar pages, and you know how much I love that activity!

It's time for the Sunday art gallery. Last week I told you I'd been messing around with zentangle doodles and threatened to show you some. There's no explanation on these; I follow a few doodlers on IG and when I see something they do that I like, I try to do it too. I'm still learning and experimenting, and I enjoy this form of art. It helps me let go and loosen up a little. Also, it is very meditative. I guess that's why it's called a zentangle.

Maybe you've already seen these, I don't remember if I showed them to you or not. I did these for myself a week or so ago. It had been awhile since I painted anything, and I missed it, so I picked out a few little things that had caught my eye and gave them a try:

This one happened during that creativity workshop that I watched the recording of yesterday. Jill the Artist was leading us through making collages. She wanted us to find a head and make a character. I had a couple of birthday cards I'd made that I didn't really like. I keep the stuff I don't much like because sometimes you can repurpose it, and that's what I did here. I made myself a little spring chicken wearing a flowerpot skirt.

Finally, you probably know that I have a couple of little things that I do every month, a zine and a calendar. The zine is a specially folded paper that creates a little book, or zine, and I use one page per week to make notes about what's happened, what books I've read, and what I've listened to or watched on TV. I decorate a the cover with some art. Here's my April zine cover:

Oh yes, Jill taught me about zines, too. I have quite a collection now. One thing I'd like to do in April is get a little box just for the zines I've made. It's fun to pull out a random zine once in awhile. I started doing them when I went to Greece in 2022, one for each day we were there. I made one each month in 2023 and so far in 2024 as well. I also made one for each day we were on our trip to France and Spain last year. I get a lot of joy out of these silly little things. It's kinda like my journal, just more portable.

Here is the wee calendar for April. I crack myself up calling it a "wee" calendar because I put it on the shelf in my bathroom. hahahaha

That's all for tonight! Take care of yourselves, and don't be an April fool!

xo