a little late night resistance.

Last night, after a quick trip to the Feathernesters' house to see the new cabinets (!!!!!), the Ouisers had a little art time. I was very thankful for my husband's willingness to say, "No, S, let's not watch Clifford. Let's just keep drawing." You see, when we got out of the car, S wanted to talk to the moon, so we all looked up at the moon and said goodnight to it. That's when I had the brilliant idea for us to all sit down and draw pictures of the moon and stars. S was into it for about ten minutes, but then she wanted Clifford the Big Red Dog. I would've caved, but M was strong. And it was great.

Ouiser and Little Ouiser art...including a little watercolor resist to look like the night sky.
Mr. Ouiser art. Shooting stars.

FIVE SENSES FRIDAY
Sight: so much sunshine outside right now
Sound: "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12 Ladybugs came to the ladybug picnic"
Smell: seaweed
Touch: S kissing and tickling baby Jack (I think this is technically a "sight," but I'm using it.)
Taste: blueberries in my Cheerios

now that's bad art.

Inspired by Soule Mama, we hosted a Bad Art Night a couple of weeks ago. Let me start by saying this: I do not believe that there is such a thing as bad art. I don't believe that there are people who are not good artists. I believe that there are people who were told as children that they were bad artists and believed it. I believe there are people who think that unless they are technically proficient in some artistic medium that they cannot be artists. I don't buy it. I believe that if any single person on earth will just let themselves go...will just let themselves draw or paint or doodle or whatever freely...they are achieving art and it will be good in the sense that it was made creatively. I may sound a little hokey pokey, but it's what I think. My husband is a prime example. He sits down to draw with S regularly. When he first started drawing with her, he would tell me things like, "I'm not good at this." Not true. He has a really keen eye for color, and his drawings are always interesting. He's no impressionist master or anything, but from a design standpoint, his work is good. I think people just need someone who will point out the positives instead of the negatives. People need to understand that there is no way that art can be "wrong." I think people worry to much about not doing things right, and it leads them down the "I am not an artist" path. It's crap, I tell you. Crap.

Now off my soapbox.

We called our party Bad Art Night to set everyone at ease. I worried that if I called it something like Family Art Night people might wig out and not show. Does that make sense? It made sense to me. We had a really great time. Lots of appetizers. Lots of kids. Lots of mamas and daddies. Lots of paint and markers and slick stix. It was, without question, my favorite party that the Ouisers have ever thrown, and we've hosted a lot of little parties. Here are some shots...

pete and repeat.

Did you notice? It was the first thing Mr. Ouiser noticed. Know what I'm talking about? The fact that it had been so long since I blogged before yesterday that I didn't even remember or bother to check that I'd already posted that picture of S building her snow girl. Oh, well. You'll live. I'm making up for it by blogging again today.

I'm feeling rather accomplished because I've already run the dishwasher, there are loads of laundry in the washer and the dryer, I've been to the post office to send a gift to my newly engaged dearest friend, and I've been to the grocery. Mind you, the "stuff" is still not all put away and my bed isn't made, but I am taking it easy. Life will go on. I think. At least dinner will get made at some point and we'll all have clean underwear tomorrow.

In my great blogging hiatus of 2010 I've been flooded with all kinds of profound thoughts. Thoughts about politics. About art. About being a mama. About food. About my garden. About those new 2010 habits that are totally not going well (my fingernail nubbins are proof of that). I don't want to get into it today, though, so I'm just going to list some things that I am loving today.

• Hot coffee.
• S enjoying Elizabeth Mitchell on the ride to school.
• Reading John Philip Duck this morning.
• Getting ready to take Mellie to lunch.
• Gloves.
• Knowing that my kitchen is restocked with good stuff.
  
• The forecast, which predicts that it will, in fact, warm up again soon.

I'm off, peeps. I've got to make a couple of phone calls before my lunch date.

Oh, and since I cheated you out of a new photograph yesterday, here you go. S had colored herself to be "like Mulan." Also check out that awesome ring she's sporting. I love that kid.

off the grid

It's been awhile, huh? Sorry about that. I was just being a blog bum, but then we were out of the house for five days while the floors were refinished. It was a surprise. You might recall that our floors were just refinished last Spring. We are not overzealous floor re-finishers or anything, but the finish didn't adhere properly, and our floors were really messed up. They were peeling and cracking, and it was a disaster. So, the guy was coming to deal with it, and I thought he was just going to try out fixing the floors on one little spot. I thought S and I would just have to be out of the house for the day. Wrong. Totally wrong.

So, at 730 last Wednesday morning, I started tearing my house apart, shoving furniture into bedrooms, moving things upstairs. Then I was informed that we'd need to be out of the house for three days...then we could come in on sock feet on day four, then in shoes on day five, then we could move the furniture back on day six. We are very fortunate to have my family close by that was willing to take us in. We are very fortunate to have a groomer who will board our dog with literally five minutes notice.

Anyway, that's where we've been for the last week. We came home Sunday night. We spent the day at Mellie's yesterday since the furniture was still in the bedrooms. But today, o glorious day of miserable weather, we are in our home. Almost normal. S has painted. She has glued. She has colored. She has fed me pretend apples. As soon as I get all the "stuff" back where it belongs, we'll be all set.

Moving on. Since you've last heard from the Ouisers, in addition to being out-of-pocket, we have played in the snow when the temperature was below freezing. We have played outside without jackets, building fairy houses when the temperature was in the 60s. We have hosted a bad art party (more about that later). We have celebrated Valentine's Day. We have visited the Frist (which is currently housing what I swear is the most amazingly beautiful piece of modern sculpture I've ever seen.) It's been fun.

apparently...

Apparently I can't be bothered to do things like post on the blog lately. There hasn't been much going on, and I've been spending most of my extra time baking bread and reading books, and, frankly, that's more appealing than sitting in the cold office/guest room on the computer. Sorry. I'm still not really going to post anything, but I thought you might enjoy a couple of pictures to tide you over until I feel like posting again.

Gearing up for the game, which I missed because I was on an airplane. I didn't miss much.
Clearly disappointed in the Colts.
Building a snow girl.
The snowman...on the opposite side of the walk. Not to be confused with the snow girl.

Hijacked

While Ouiser is away visting Scarlet Lily, I felt it was my duty as Mr. Ouiser to hijack this blog and advertise the entire P family's support for the Indianapolis Colts. We will be on pins and needles until the final seconds tick away and the Colts have won their next Super Bowl.

GO COLTS!!!!!