Today’s every day matters drawing challenge was to draw your favorite object.  After two divorces and having everything and everyone I love stripped from me, I have really learned to curb my materialism.  I still want things, to be sure, but I just don’t find that I have the same attachment to them that I used to.  The question that I kept asking myself was: “If the house were on fire, what would I run back in to save?”  Of course the obvious is my family, then our clothes and photos…  I don’t consider my family to be objects and clothes are a necesity not necessarily my favorite.  Pictures are really just irreplaceable.  I couldn’t come up with anything.  So I changed the question.  “If I could be doing anything in the world I wanted, what would I be doing right now?”  Besides that.  Oh, definately besides that.  This is, after all, a family oriented blog.  Anyways, just because you objectify someone doesn’t make them an actual object…  It came down to golf, reading, and drawing.  So, the closest I could come to a favorite thing would be my 7 iron.

EDM
EDM 6: Draw your favorite object

Does anyone remember almost a year ago to date when Bush fought for, and got a stimulus package passed through congress?  Most of the taxpaying citizens of the U.S. got a check back to help offset high fuel prices and jump start the economy.  Remember how the press accused him of throwing money at the fire?  The biggest argument against this was that people wouldn’t just go out and blow the money, thereby putting directly back into the economy.  No, they argued, the people will use this money to pay down a credit card, pay off an overdue bill, some other sensible practice.  Now, if the general public werelikely to do something like that, would we be in this mess to begin with?  Besides that, even if they used it to pay off an overdue bill, doesn’t that mean that the money reserved for that purpose is now free to buy shoes with?  Does anyone remember three short months ago when the W’s administration was pushing for $750B bailout for the banks, the investors, etc.?  Does anyone remember how the press bashed him for even suggesting that our hard earned tax dollars go to bail out some fat cat, cigar smokin’, oil field, college drinkin’ buddies?

Today, and mind you this is one of the MANY reasons I have quit paying attention to the news, today I log in to the headlines only to find that President Elect Barack Obama is going to save our economy.  What is he doing?  Why, he is asking congress for a $everal hundred billion dollar bail out fund for a stimulus.  I guess having a D at the end of your name automatically makes it a viable option.

EDM
EDM 3: Draw a purse or bag

I have been addicted to news.  I have been a news junky.  I am an addict.  When I would watch the news, one comment would set me off.  A simple comment like “Most scientists agree…” would set my blood boiling.  I would then begin searching the net for resources and arguing ’til I’m blue…fingered on various discussion boards such as dancarlin.com.  One day, shortly after we discovered just how sick my mother was, Glenn Beck suggested that we all go without the news for one single day.  I did.  The first thing I noticed was how little it mattered that I wasn’t watching the news.  I didn’t feel bad for missing it.  As a matter of fact, I didn’t miss it.  I found that I wasn’t as frustrated, opinionated, and flat out scared.  The sun still rose the next day, and the next, and even the day after that.  People were born and people died and all of the natural things that humans do happened all around me.  It just didn’t seem as bad because no one was telling me how bad it was.  I find that I am able to genuinely smile at complete strangers and nod to them.  And when I do, they often nod and smile back.

I am still interested in the happenings of the world.  What I do now is spend about ten minutes a day perusing headlines from msn, cnn, fox… I try to vary my sources, but I almost never read past the first paragraph anymore.  I will still occasionally find something that sets me off.  Rest asured that when I do, there will be several flaming paragraphs posted here for your enjoyment.  But the sun rose again today without it.

Right now, I am spending more time on my family and on my art.

EDM Project
EDM2: Draw a Desk Lamp