This week, I finished making the book for my new circle journal project. I also managed to get a rules page made, complete with man-eating zinnias. There’s not a definite first mailing date for this, but since it’s organized through Facebook, we can all see everyone else’s progress. I can see that the person I’ll be mailing to has finished making her book, so we’re sort of at the same place. Ideally, I’ll be finishing my artwork at the same time she is, so I can slide my book right on over to her as soon as she’s free of her own.

Working with the two offbeat art groups I’ve joined on Facebook has been an exercise in letting go. I joined a 4×4 swap on one where the pieces were due January 1st. There’s still one person whose work hasn’t been received by the host. In the past, this would have made my head explode—and perhaps, if I was hosting this project, it still would. We’ll see if that’s true, because I’m hosting the next project in the group. My little deadline-driven, type A heart races at the thought of letting things slide…

Tonight I’m going to my local arty group meeting, and not make what’s on the schedule. I’ve decided that if I’m not interested in the project being made at the second Friday meetings, I’ll still go, but I’ll bring art journal stuff to work on. I’m hoping to get a second set of pages in my circle journal mostly done.

In my abundant spare time *ahem*, I started a gluebooks group on Facebook, which you should join if you’re of the gluey persuasion. It’s a bit quiet at the moment, but I’m hoping as membership grows, the conversation will, too.

I also mowed the backyard yesterday, which I’m only mentioning because it’s February, which is just a ridiculous time to be pushing a lawn mower around. I had no choice. We’re being attacked by a particularly vicious infestation of henbit, brought on by last summer’s drought. Henbit is a cold weather weed with pretty purple flowers, and it can grow quite tall, which is sort of a bummer for my little dog. When he has to leap like a deer to get around in the backyard, I know it’s time to mow, no matter what the calendar says. Fortunately, the one way to control henbit is to scalp it as it flowers, which is exactly what I did yesterday. Unfortunately, when I turned on the leaf blower to remove all the stray bits from my back porch, it blew up in my hands with a loud popping noise and the smell of burning plastic.

My life is so glamorous…