The Documented Life Project

Seasons Greetings Friends I wanted to pass on information on this exciting new year long journey set to begin on January 1 2014.
It's all about documenting your life in one part planner, one part art journal, and weekly challenges. I found this out via Robin-Marie's Blog about a week ago.
And really looking forward to it.
You can click on the above link and find out more about it. There is also a

facebook group

flickr group

instagram: #documentedlife

OR 

Visit the blogs of the lovely organisers:

Robin-Marie Smith
Lorraine Bell
Rae Missigman
Sandy Keene
Barbara Moore


Anyone want to join the challenge? Check out the details and anyone of these ladies blogs and sign up!

I've started posting a few photos on my instagram, but I think I will add a blog post on how I made my journal/planner and keep updating as the weeks and months pass.

Zendala Dare #83

Seasons Greetings Friends....A few posts ago I mentioned that winter had arrived in Doha, but it was nothing like what everyone else in the North would call a winter. But dare I say it is cold. Our day time high for the past 2 days has been in the mid 60's F. And I am so thankful to be here rather than any further north where others are battling freezing temperatures and snow and what ever else comes along with winter. Am I now looking forward to the summer again? no not at all. But for now it feels like someone stole the giant air conditioner remote and refuses to turn the temperature up.

I have chosen the colors of Christmas for this challenge, and the arc flower to represent the poinsettias that I love having so much during Christmas time.

Challenge #148 - HAPPY MERRY

Hi folks, here is my entry for the last challenge for the year.  HAPPY MERRY
Not at all fancy but it's all I could come up with at the moment. Thanks to the Diva for the challenge.

Happy Holidays to you all, may you all be safe and blessed. I am looking forward to next year in more ways than one. Are you?

A big shout out to my followers, thanks for sticking by me through my inconsistent postings and what not, and times of rambling. Hopefully I get better at this blogging thing next year.

I've started a new Christmas mandala which I will finish soon. Be sure to check back in a couple of days to check it out. Or better yet, just click the follow button so you can get an instant update.

Toodles for now, and have a great weekend.

Zendala Challenge #82

A nice template this week. Of course, it was difficult to find a tangle to fit in the circles. Should I do one pattern or 2 or 3? I chose wood grain for the background, cruffle and strung some beads in there as well. wooooo hooooo! It all came together with various shades and hues of blue.

Thanks for stopping by.

Diva Challenge #146 - Duo-Tangle, Pea-nuckle and Well

Hello Friends, Winter has arrived in Doha finally. It rained for two days last week, then the temperatures suddenly dropped to the upper 70's; that's Fahrenheit. The nights are cool and most of the time breezy. That's our winter. To those who are suffering through the negative numbers in temperatures and the snow and whatever else goes along with winter, I am sorry that you can't be here with me enjoying the cool balmy weather. Sorry to say, but winter is not my favorite time of year. I don't like being cold. But then again the snow brings skiing and sleigh rides and snowball fun fights for some.

Lets get to the challenge. It was a duo-tangle with Pea- nuckle and Well. Hmmmmm...... a strange combo. How does one fit them together?

So there you have it. Pea-nuckle and Well.

Happy December folks, the count down to Christmas and New Years is on. Thanks for stopping by.

Zendala Challenge #81

Hi Folks, it's so feels so good to be back posting zendalas again. I've been making them but not posting them here; or anywhere as a matter of a fact.

Our Challenge was a weird one I must say, had no idea what to do with the template Erin gave us.
After a few days of looking at the template, I just put a line in and took it from there. I've used purk, well half of a purk, and hibred.

Diva Challenge #145 - QUIB- A new official tangle

A new tangle from Rick and Maria is always welcome, and most excitingly so.
The Diva gave us the charge to use QUIB the new tangle for our challenge. I am loving QUIB, and looking forward to using it again and again. There are so many possibilities here. I did 2 peices.

 I don't know why the bow got in there. I saw the step outs on Pinterest and started playing with it, then recieved notification that the new challenge was out. QUIB looked fun so I just added it to the bow.

Disappointed that the tile was complete, I started another one. This one is a tangled mess but I like it. You have to look closely to see QUIB. This was a fun challenge. I can't wait to try it again.

Thanks for stopping by.

Diva Challenge #144 - It's A Bugs Life

Hey Zentangle and doodley friends, I can't promise that I'm back to regular posts. But hopefully I can be back to regular postings from next week. Don't you wish life were just as easy as a bug's and creating zentangles and strings?
Below is my version of this weeks challenge - It's A Bugs Life.

Diva Challenge #142 comfort/danger zone

Moving away from your comfort zone and more toward the danger zone was this weeks challenge. My danger zone has to be the grids. Some how I usually start off really well and somewhere along the way things get twisted and it gets screwy. My comfortable area are the florals and the organis and the swirls.

I was browsing pinterest during the week and stumbled upon Beth Snoderlys' design "Bumpkenz". I tried but somehow think I did not follow the step outs correctly. But it come out okay, I cannot complain. Deffinitly one to put on the try again list.

"Bumpkenz" by Beth Snoderly - found on Pinterest.

Zendala Dares #77 and #78

Zendala Dare #77

 

 

Zendala Dare #78

Diva Challenge #141 Duo-Tangle Fengle and Qandry

My Answer to this weeks Duo-tangle is simple. This has been a very uncreative week for me. And there is a very good reason too.
Anyone ever heard of simultaneous equations, or even quadrilateral equations? Yes that's the mountain I've been climbing this week. Really?!!! Why do kids need to learn this stuff? In my opinion they are all useless.  The extent of my mathematical abilities is knowing how to balance a check book, and whether that sale is worth it or not. That's why I'm an artist. I don't know many artists who are mathematicians, and kudos to those who are. My daughter who says learning to speak Japanese and French was much easier than learning what they are teaching her in math class is an artist as well. Numbers don't compute to her. Numbers don't compute to me either; especially when you start mixing letters in.

Well, I won't allow her to give up so we have been going through tutorials on you tube, and just battling it out with the numbers and the x's and the y's.

So after all of that here is my answer to the challenge for this weeks Diva's Challenge.

Challenge #140 - Pointillism

Our challenge was to work on a tile using "Surrats" method of Pointillism. I remember my first attempt at pointillism. That was about 20 years ago. Ah boy saying that makes me feel old. The 8 by 11 peice took a few days to complete. At the end of it, I remember being in pain. My fingers hurt, so did my wrist and my shoulder and neck muscles. And it was then that I decided that Pointillism was not something I would do again unless someone was willing to pay me for the work I did.  The payment would be used to visit a good massage therapist.

Twenty years forward, I've learned how to nurture my artist hand and arm by doing specific stretches and exercises so that those important muscles don't cease up by repetitive movement.

So here's my answer to Pointillism this week. I've kept it as simple as I could have, and taken a few breaks in between. Sorry I cannot remember the name of the tangle used.

BTW - Is anyone on google plus? I now have a follow button - **hint hint***

Challenge #139 - UMT "8's Porte Dos"

Did anyone here me screaming at Laura yesterday? Here's why. She chose the most difficult Zentangle there is for this weeks challenge. (For me it is) I have tried this tangle before and just could not wrap my head around it. So I put it into my "never to try again" file. Praises go to its creator Jane Eileen who has made it look so easy, and uses it so well.

But I made a promise to not back down from a good challenge so armed with pencil and eraser, I gave it another try. It took a while. A long while, but finally it all began to make sense. By the end of creating this tile, I realized 2 things.
1. The ribbon is pink to honor the fact that October is breast cancer awareness month and
2. This reminds me of another piece I did that was tied together with string that would be challenge #122 - Grid (unlocked)

At the end of it all "8's Porte Dos is not that bad. It just takes a little patience and the try and try again factor. After all that's what a challenge is there for right?

Zendala #76

In keeping with the boarder theme from last weeks Diva challenge, I decided to try it again on this Zendala. Honestly I expected something different but still happy with the way it turned out.
The template for this was amazing so thanks to Erin for posting it.

Have a great week all!

Diva Challenge #138 - Fun with Borders

Laura the Diva, threw out a great challenge for us this week. Taking inspiration from Maria Thomas, and her blog post "Bordering On...". Maria talks about finding inspiration from the things that surround you.

Ever since I started the art of Zentangle, I've been more observant of the patterns around me. Including this one that I see everyday. It adorns my bedroom furniture. I always thought of how I could make this into a tangle pattern but never tried.

Faced with the challenge this week, I was totally up for it.  The intention was to practice, and create the step outs.

So here we go. A few pencil trials and a few micron trials. A bit of shading here and there, and we're off.

 I wanted the border to be the star so I kept the "zinger" in the middle simple.
I think there is more that I can do with this, so I will play around with it a little more.

Have a great weekend all and thanks for visiting.

Zendala #75

Hi all, Happy new week. Mine is in full swing! How about you? Luckily I have found some time to actually print out this weeks challenge template, work on the challenge, get it scanned and posted. wooohooo! things are really getting back to normal around here.

My offering of the challenge is not that spectaculer. I drew a blank yet again when I put pen to paper. grrrrrrr!!!! don't you just hate it when that happens?

Here is a link to my "catch up" post for the ones I missed for the last four weeks.

Zendala Catch up

I think that I'm all caught up now with the Zendala challenges; and what interesting CHALLENGES they were at that. Challenges was spelt out in all upper case because I needed to emphasize how each of Erin's templates make you think. Rightly so, that is what they are supposed to do. Some of them made my hand hurt. Perhaps I held the pens too tightly, or perhaps once I got started, I just wanted to get each one finished. You know that when you get into a zone, you just can't stop?

Here are the last 4 Zendalas that I have not posted. #71, 72, 73, and 74.

To see them bigger, you can visit my Zendala Challenge pinterest board to see each one.

After a pause, Challenge #137 - Duo Tangle

Hi folks, after a long, unintentional break, I hope to be back with regular posts once again. I wish I could say what kept me away for so long but the story would be way to long for even a month of posts. It just happened that life got busy, and an unusual and strange kind of busy at that.
But here I go my 100th post (yayyyy!!!) and a new challenge.

The Diva's challenge this week is to do a duo-tangle using Knightsbridge and Tipple. Like Laura, I must admit that Knightsbridge is not a tangle I would usually use, and for me Tipple is not one of my "go to" tangles either, although it should be. Nevertheless, here is my answer to this weeks challenge.

Duotangle Knightsbridge and Tipple

Have a great week, and thanks for stopping by.

Diva Challenge #133 - Tipple

Finally, a few moments to myself! I've spent the time reading, browsing pinterest and re-pinning loads of stuff and falling in and out of sleep. And of course finishing up this weeks challenge. Laura mentioned her anxiety issues in her post this week. How coincidental is that at a time when my own anxiety has reared its ugly head this week and the medication seems null and void. I have to agree with Laura when she says that the "few mindful pen strokes bring peace and calm. I seem to keep going on about it but Zentangle really does help in times of extreme and not so extreme stress, and when I just need for my brain to settle down especially when it wants to behave like my hyper active jack russelle dog. The circles in TIPPLE helped me to focus and to bring my thought process down to a manageable level.


What's your "go to" tangle when you just need to unwind and not think??

I like tipple although I don't  use it often. It's one of those "go to" tangles that come in handy when you get stuck.

Thanks for stopping by. And have a good weekend. My starts today.

Challenge #132 - "Non-Domonotangle" - Bales

We are once again back in Doha after our short but adventurous holiday in Singapore.  Although hot and humid, it was perfect for us as we enjoyed getting away from the extreme heat and extreme humidity here in Qatar.

I took a much needed holiday from the Internet and most electronic media. Except to check in with family all the way on the other side of the world, that was it. Although there was one exception. Can you guess what that was? Yep I had to check in with the Diva to see what the weeks challenge was. As I logged on to her blog and read what the challenge was I immediately wished I hadn't. "Really Erin? That's the challenge? How am I going to zentangle a tile with my non-dominant hand?  Really?"
Matters became worst when I scrolled down and saw what she did. Just perfect. Really!!!????

I used to practice writing with my left hand which is the non dominant hand so I knew writing even a few paragraphs would be okay but to draw shapes such as zentangle, I didn't think it was possible. So I shut down my Internet and pretended I never got the challenge for a day or two. On one particular day while waiting for everyone to get ready to leave the hotel, I pulled out my micons found a piece of paper drew a simple string and started doodling bales with my left hand.

The whole thing was done in 3 stages as time permitted. Every time I had to wait I pulled out the paper I drew it on and did a little bit at a time. Very Slowly, as I was in no rush to get it done. At the end of it all it turned out quite fine I think. There was no need for the panic.

A great big shout out and thank you to Laura for this challenge and pushing us beyond our comfort zones.

Diva Challenge #131 - Monotangle DEX

I like working with DEX. It's one of my favorites but yet I don't use it enough. Our challenge was to use DEX as a mono-tangle. What a lot of squares for this challenge. I filled the tile with squares then went from there.

Black and white would have been to boring for me so I added some watercolor. Interesting effect. Thanks to Mariet for giving me the idea of writing the name in the piece. I felt it was completely unfinished with a hole just suspended there.

Thanks for stopping by.

Zendala #69

It's a whole lot of circles this week. I was stuck on this challenge, but I needed to get it done early before the events of the week got in the way.

By the way I made a pie. Why is that so grand? I've never made a pie in my life before. My mom makes awesome pies. Her most famous is a coconut cream pie made with the real coconuts not that powered stuff. So yeah I made a pie. I made my own pastry, but cheated and used powdered custard since eggs are not my thing. I also made a blue berry reduction with sugar and a little brandy. The result, okay. For a first try, great; there is none left, unlike the red velvet cake that sat in my fridge for about a week.

I'm not a naturally good cook or baker. I don't have the natural common sense that many good cooks I know do. But I try, and for some reason I have no fear to try something new once I understand the recipe. I don't have that passion the good "cooks" do but I like food and experimenting with flavors. Art comes naturally to me and yet I fear to expose that to others. Dunno but whatever. By the way, my red velvet cake was made with beet root and according to my son who gave me a lovely hug and said about my cake..."great job mom but that was an epic fail." Oh dear! No offence taken I already know. But I have to try it again I will not be beat on this one.

Now on to the challenge. With a little imagination lacking this week, I was stuck. However, I used purk and cruffle for this one, and let shading do the rest.

Diva Challenge #130 - Henna Drum

The challenge this week is to use a tangle created by Jane MacKugler, CZT - Henna Drum.
I've never used it but I love the organic-ness of it.
To accompany Henna Drum, I used Hypnotic in the background and a blue twinkling H2O for a little color.

Simple! Simple.

Zendala Dare #68 - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is this weeks template challenge. Divide the template and create two distinctive sides. This is a brilliant ideas.
This Zendala I think has a lot of opposites. Can you find them?

First of all I used Tangles beginning with S and E. Why those letters? Because just as I was pondering what tangles to use, we began putting our final arrangements on our holiday which is coming up in a couple of weeks. So I chose the first and last letters of our destination because they are on opposite sides of the word. SINGAPORE.

More opposites: Organic on one side, but yet a different organic in the star. The geometric black and white as opposed to the black lines. By the way that was supposed to be Erins tangle called SOCC but it just did not work nicely there. So I just went with the lines. But there's more.

The tangles I used are: Sanibelle, Sonnenband, Echo, Embellish, Eye-wa.

Loved loved this challenge. Now I'm on my way to see what others have done.
Thanks for stopping by.

Diva Challenge #129 - String Theory v. XXV

Doing the happy dance 'cause I finally received my package of art supplies. Not to many things, just  microns, my very first book of Zentangles, and another package of twinkling H2O's. I have written a short review about the "twinks" and a colorful cosmic explosion that happened when I was testing them out. So click HERE to learn more.

As for my new Zentangle book, I chose "Totally Tangled" by Sandy Steen Bartholomew. With so many books about Zentangle on the market, it was difficult to choose one. I just closed my eyes and picked.

I am glad I got this one too. There are so many tangles that I was introduced to that I could not resist using a few of my new favorites in this weeks challenge. I like Sandy's book; very straight forward, easy to understand step-outs, and lots of pretty tiles and compositions.

For our challenge this week we were to use string #004 from TanglePatterns.com

Tangles used are anti-dots, bollywood, flora and flutter tile

And last but certainly not the least, I would like to thank everyone who have been so kind to leave encouraging comments from time to time. I am truely grateful. I've been practicing with Zentangles since last year November when I broke my foot, and could not move around at all. These challenges every week and practicing and learning the steps helped the time go by faster. Eight months later,  and mobile again, I'm still at it. What a lovely habit to get into isn't it?

Twinkling H2O's - A Short Review

I finally finally received my package of Twinkling H2O's. I had one set from a while ago which I never used, and because I was so fascinated by them, and wanted to find out what all the hype was all about I got another set.

 The concept is interesting. These little pots of sparkly paint, which are full of concentrated color, are great to add to any picture. But do they really twinkle?

My initial thought was no, not really what's all the hype about? But I later realized that in order for them to live up to the name twinkling you can't dilute them too much.

Once the light hits the colors some of them have a really nice sheen to them. Once they start to get a little watered down the sheen, or should I say, the "twinkle" disappears. You can see the sheen in the green (Spanish moss).

But there is something I found even more fascinating, and I saw this totally by accident. I used a black water bowl to rinse my brushes. After finishing with one color I just left the brush in the bowl while I opened another color pot. After using about 5 colors here is what I found in the bottom of the bowl:

The twinks shining in all of their glory

Instead of dissolving in the water like watercolors do, the left overs from the brush just settled themselves at the bottom which made it look like some cosmic colorful explosion.  

This then gave me the idea to use the twinks on a black background.

I found an unfinished black gesso primed page in my art journal, and added the yellow and blue twinks. Low and behold my suspicions were right. Using a loaded brush I painted  the lines and dots. The paint begins to look metallic against the black. But it all depends how much paint is in the brush. This is certainly something I would like to explore further. So stay tuned.

Zendala #67

Erin's template this week was weird. I had no idea what to do with it. I stared at it for a long time and asked it to speak to me. It didn't. I liked the template, It was different; quite a departure from the circular ones. But I guess it took me from a comfort zone and made me think a little harder.

I would have liked to do something extra special for the middle flower but nothing else seemed appropriate than just those lines. I am curious to see what others did. In the end I like what emerged. It looks like layers of paper tiles waiting to be peeled off one at a time.

Thanks for your visit.

Diva Challenge #128 - Two Pencil String

The Challenge was to use 2 pencils as the string. Very interesting indeed. I kept mine simple but then got carried away with the tangles. I finally finally received my new micron pens. Yes after all this time. I got the black ones and the sepia ones. The sepia ones are cool. So for this weeks challenge I did it in sepia ink with shading in light and burnt umber and sepia prisma colors.

Do you know when you start a tile and you get into a zone, and you sit there, one thing leads to another and boom you're done- surprised at the out come.

The string is filled with shattuck and bluebonnets. It looks like a piece of fabric cluttered with stuff.
Laura comes up with such cool ideas. I don't know how she does it.

Zendala #66

Our template challenge from Erin this week was shared by Mariet who tried her hand at designing a template. "You go girl"@ Mariet. She did a great job with this template. I really enjoyed working with it. Mariet is an amazing "tangler" and I enjoy her work. Thank you for sharing.

For this Zendala I used keeko, port holes and what's the flower thing in the middle? I have it in my book to zentangles but there is no reference at all. I used a grey pen and pencil for shading. But for some reason I don't like the tone of grey.  Perhaps the brown dosen't really go with the grey. I don't know. Something just seems off. What do you think?

Have a great week.

Diva Challenge #127 - A Duo Tangle

Hey there.....I hope everyone's week is moving along smoothly.
 In my neck of the woods, I am finally getting things done. I have lists of things to do, and I am slowly crossing things off. I've had a social media to do list and a blog up date to do list for well over a year now.  Social media still boggles my mind so I have had my girls helping me make accounts, and we are working on a possible blog redesign. Nothing to spectacular, just something a bit more colorful. 
If you look over to the side bar, you will see a set of social media buttons. At the time of writing this, I simply cannot remember which ones work or don't work. But for sure I know the twitter works because for the past few months I've been the proud follower of people like Justin Beiber, and such pop stars that young people like. I didn't set up my twitter account my daughter did. And just to make the account more mom friendly, she started me following networks like National Geographic, CNN and BBC. Yeah!!!!! The joys of having teenagers.

I have since stopped following the pop stars, and at the moment sticking to the things I know, and more interesting to me. I am still challenged on how to send a proper tweet. Hopefully if all goes according to plan I will have everything up and running next week. Right now I am just testing out things.

This weeks challenge from the diva is to use 2 tangles only; Cirquital and Opus wth Aura.

 

For some reason this reminds me of a day at the beach. When I look at it, I see white sand, picnic baskets, and kids running around. In the distance out in the sea there is a speed boat  with a water skiier doing tricks. Wow all of that just from Cirquital and Opus wth Aura.

Zendala Dare #65

The Holy month of Ramadan started almost one week ago. Good for Muslims but not so good for those of us who are not used to it. This is my third summer in Qatar, and I thought by now I would have grown accustomed to their customs and traditions. It's taking me a little longer to figure it out I suppose.

First of all its not only hot but it is also humid. So we don't do outside unless necessary. Secondly, during the days, ALL restaurants are closed until sunset. Malls are open for only a few hours in the mornings, then open again later in the afternoons. Each mall has its own timings. To make a long story short, there is nothing to do during the day in Doha. During the night the whole city comes to life. So do the roads with traffic jams, and restaurants with people breaking their fast. The malls will close way after midnight. Truly, I don't like to venture out then either; too much crazy driving, traffic and crowds of people every where.

Using it all to my advantage, I am moving full steam ahead with preparing art work for an exhibition I would like to take part in. I don't know when or where it will be but I'm preparing for it anyway.

 

For the challenge this week, I used purk, and bales. I also used a metallic copper pencil to fill in the spaces in bales but I expected the copper to be a little brighter.

Diva Challenge #126 -Use your own stencil

This was a fun challenge. We were asked to use our own stencils as the string. Even if you did not have a stencil, you could use something from around the house that can work as a stencil.

I got this from Martha Stewarts' craft collection a few years ago. Its not a real stencil but I use it as one.

 And this is what happened when I had my way with it. Of course I use zinger, and voly.

Diva Challenge #125 - Birdie Feet

This week is the use my tangle challenge, and we were to use Birdie feet from Owl Loving April.

I got carried away with this one, and the birdie feet could be more prominent here.

Along with birdie feet I used pop cloud, nzeppel, pais, and the beginnings of scrolled feather.

Zendala Dare #64

A rather interesting challenge this week. For this I uses cubine and the basic beginnings of Dugwud for the middle. Some simple frilly fans to garnish ooops (been watching to many cooking shows) perhaps embellish would be better used here.

And then one extra thing. I totally did not follow the challenge directions properly and did not use tangles beginning with the letters H.O.T or H.E.A.T - another oooops!. Think I'm going back to bed!

Stay cool people. The kids and I plan to fry eggs outside sometime this week. To actually see if it can be done.

Zendala Dare #63

Happy July everyone, and Happy Canada Day to our Canadian friends, and Happy 4th of July to our American friends when it comes around. Yes it's sure going to be a long hot summer and while many of us are looking forward to getting on with it, I am sure the heat is a deterrent for many, including me.

The template from Erin for this week seemed strange at first glance. Strange indeed. It took a while for me to figure out what would be right for it. It wasn't much of a struggle once I got the first set of lines flowing. I did want to try out SNUGZ again. I used it last week in another challenge, and it got sort of weird when I lost my concentration in the middle of doing it. If you notice, the 2 halves are inconsistent.

Here is SNUGZ again with Kuke

It was a little easier this time. Just don't know why I can't wrap my head around twisty thing like that.
Have a good week all.

Diva Challenge -#124 - Thinking of Calgary

This weeks challenge was about remebering the flooding victims in Calgary, Canada, so therefore the challenge was left open. For sure the weather around the world this year has been weird. I was not aware of flooding in Canada, but have been following the plight of those who have suffered the same situation in Europe last week as well as in India. It is so difficult to see and hear of so many people being hurt and displaced.

It's just not fair that some people get too much of one thing and others get none - like  RAIN. Not that I expect rain at all, but Doha will hit 47C degrees today. That's about 115F. Really? And it's only June. What's going to happen in July? Yup this is the hottest I've ever felt it.

For the challenge I just started with a string and tried stuff.

The weekend starts to day, and summer holidays officially start today as well. It's going to be a long hot one!

Zendala Dare #62

Happy new week to everyone!!!

This weeks template from the bright owl was very nice, as usual. I really enjoyed this one. Here's my interpretation of it.

tangles used are birds on a wire and flwr box

Zendala - #60

I feel like I've been running a marathon, and there seems to be no finish line. It's end of term which means exams, loads of studying, a graduation, a shift of schools or perhaps two shifts, I will know in a couple of weeks; which means interviews, and decisions to be made. And to make bad matters worst my sweet sweet Shilo is acting up. He is just really naughty these days. Perhaps he senses the tension and the daily chaos.

How can such a sweet face be so naughty? 

Now on to the challenge. As soon as I  saw the template I thought of SCHWAY. But no matter which way I turned it, I could not get it to happen. So I just had to settle for something like SCHWAY's cousin, and RETRO.

If anyone else sees schway in the template and can make it happen, send me a link if you post it.

I am off to put back on my running shoes, in order to keep going, and hopefully reach the finish line much sooner than later.