Maranda Russell's Blog, page 28

Poetry – Better Than Money

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I like many things

better than money –

windy skies

and resilient wings,

fiddles that set

everyone dancing,

minds that are open

and yet, not empty,

churches unconcerned

with old books,

and warm, cozy homes

littered with cats.

PlannerGirl2020 – Planning It All Out

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I’ve never really been one to do the whole planner thing, but I see how much fun others seem to be having doing it on Instagram and their blogs, so I decided to give it a try. Yesterday I bought a simple but cute planner and a planner sticker kit, because I figured the cute stickers would make me more likely to “stick to it” – pun intended.

I have already set up the Jan-March months and am going to keep track of my goals I set for my art, writing, and blog this year. Here are the goals I set:

Create at least 2 artworks larger than ACEO cards each month (I love doing ACEO art, but want to do larger artworks as well)
Submit poetry to a contest or publication at least once a month (to help with this I ordered the 2020 Poet’s Market guide)
Promote at least 2 Instagram posts a week
Post on my blog every other day (pretty much keeping my current schedule)
Make $1,000+ selling art in 2020 (this was my goal last year too and I think I may have met it or come close, but I didn’t keep track of it well)

I like being able to set goals I can actually control like most of the ones above, rather than abstract numbers of followers/subscribers that I have no control over, although I do set a new goal for Instagram and blog followers each year just for fun.

For 2020, I am aiming for 2,000 followers on my blog and 5,000 followers on IG. Of course, I would LOVE to sail past both of those goals!!!

Poetry – Drummers of War

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Drummers                                               Drummers of War

Phil Collins              diminuendo               Barack Obama

Ringo Starr                                                 Donald Trump

Lars Ulrich                                                 The Clintons

Dave Grohl                                                 The Bush’s

Chad Smith                                                 John Bolton

Keith Moon                                                 Mike Pompeo

John Bonham                                              Netanyahu

Neil Peart                   crescendo                DICK Cheney

                          And the beat goes on…

 

(This is a bit of an experimental poetry piece. I had the idea for it and decided to just go with it. I hope others get the concept. I had a hard time choosing who to put on the right lol. Others that came close to making the cut were Rumsfeld and Condoleeza Rice, but I decided to go with Pompeo and Bolton as they are a bit more relevant currently. I knew I had to have Cheney on there though!)

3 New ACEO Artworks – Fiery Forest, Cat Lantern, Abstract

It has been a little bit since I did an art post, so here are three of my favorite ACEO size artist trading card artworks I’ve made fairly recently. The first is a fiery forest oil pastel:

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Next, we have this cute mixed media cat lantern:

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And lastly, here is another oil pastel, an abstract expressionistic painting that just speaks to me on some level.

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I hope you liked these! Please let me know which is your favorite and why! If you want to check out the art I currently have for sale, visit my Ebay store!

Topamax Troubles and Migraines

[image error]I’ve had a horrible week of migraine trouble and the worst part is that I kind of brought it on myself

Poetry – New Year, Same old Sh@#

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I was going to try to write a cheery New Year’s poem…oh well, maybe next year.

“New Year, Same Old Shit”

200,000 crowns

could never satisfy

the heads of those

born unto

the spirit of entitlement.

Nor would 200,000 bodies –

as more than that

have already been

stepped over

or kicked aside

by royal feet.

(Poetry by Maranda Russell, Photo via Pixabay)

Poetry – Freakish Hybrids

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Call us freakish hybrids

or tolerably ugly plebeians,

but it does not define us.

We are a kind of chaos

prepared for a carnival

in the olde grand style.

May it become the height

of supreme folly –

or the ridicule

of the whole world,

our lives play on

as the planet

turns and turns

and changes and changes.

(Original Art & Poetry by Maranda Russell)

A Few More Favorite Christmas Gifts From the Hubby

Hi everyone! I already showed you my adorable stuffed Scar, but thought I would share a few other favorite gifts from my husband (Steve) this year.

First, we have this Halloween wreath that he actually made for me (for years I have been telling him I wanted a Halloween wreath):

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The best thing about this wreath is that all the decorations are removable, so you can redecorate it or swap stuff out whenever you want. He got me a bunch of other decorations (skull lights, creepy flowers, more spiders/cutouts/etc.) to use with it if I so wish.

He also got me this Anubis prayer bead necklace and Anubis & mummy statue set (the mummy actually goes inside the Anubis sarcophagus):

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Steve bought me several books, all of which I like, but my favorites are these two:

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Both of these books are very thorough reference materials for two of my favorite subjects – world mythology and world literature! I especially like that both of these do not just center on Greek/European/American history, but are more expansive than that.

So there you have a further peek into my Christmas haul

My Favorite Christmas Gift This Year

I got a lot of great gifts (maybe I’ll show more of them to you soon), but today I’m just sharing a couple pics of my favorite gift…my big stuffed Scar from The Lion King:

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Merry Christmas Eve Everyone!

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I am feeling lazy today, but I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas Eve and Christmas Day tomorrow if you celebrate those holidays. I plan to have a quiet holiday here at home with my husband: enjoying our presents, going out for Christmas dinner (probably Chinese since nowhere else is open lol), going to see some Christmas lights, and maybe seeing the new Disney Frozen movie.

We already celebrated with family and friends over the weekend, so now we feel like it is time for just us. In some ways that is nicer than any big party. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday whatever it is you choose to do!