Mountains and Motorcycles

I love to ride my motorcycle. Good thing, as lately I spend a lot of time on it. And by a lot of time, I mean a 90-minute commute one way, 4 days a week. Twelve hours a week on a bike in what is right now, unpleasant heat. I have olive skin but still use a 45spf sunscreen every day. Even with sunscreen, I'm getting very dark. You'd think my skin would feel like leather, but fortunately, so far it doesn't.

One good thing about the commute is that every day I get to view some of the most awesome scenery in our entire country. I get to travel at relatively high speeds on beautifully paved, curvy and shady roads, looking at trees, kudzu vines, quaint barns, and mountains.

Here are some pictures I've taken from the bike. Yes, I did. Once in high gear, my left hand is free and it takes about a second to call up my camera phone & snap a pic. The drawback being that some of these pix aren't as detailed as I like, and a couple come nowhere NEAR capturing the beauty that is apparent to the human eye, but they'll have to do. Each picture has a caption if necessary. Enjoy!


In Sevierville, you can go to an entire store dedicated to Beef Jerky. Not kidding.


These barns have dotted the countryside in the South for as long as I can remember.


Very hard to see, sorry. But every day I ride past this, and it makes me smile. These people have put up their own street sign at their driveway, crooked of course, and it says "More R Less."

Once I get to Sevierville, I take Veterans Parkway, which goes by the back parking lots of Dollywood but also bypasses all the traffic through Sevierville & Pigeon Forge. Along the way there are places where one can see up to 5 layers of mountains. The next 3 pictures were taken on that route.





Because the forests here respire so much moisture, we have a lot of mist (humidity, LOL), which is what earned them the name "The Great Smoky Mountains." In the morning and evening, it looks like the picture above. During the day, if there is cloud cover, it looks like the pic below.


There is one hill that I top every morning, when suddenly it's no longer just foothills covered with trees, but the full scope of the Smokies, looming large in purple-gray-blue, 4x as high as the highest foothill, and surrounding me by about 120 degrees. It never fails to give me goosebumps. The two last pictures are miserable failures at capturing the breathtaking beauty but they're the best I could do...

2nd of Many

I don't know if I've mentioned it here. In fact I don't think I have. But in soul-searching for some mid-to-late life career I could do that would be interesting, challenging, & something that would use my talents, I lit on becoming a tattoo artist.

Last month I began a 2-yr odyssey of apprenticeship under Boyd Reid. Right now we're working out of a little shop in Pigeon Forge, TN.

Up until now, I've had only the one, little ice-cream cone tattoo. As one moves through apprenticeship, normally one acquires more tattoos. My husband very sensitively stated, "You're gonna become just another inked-up freak." Well the freak label fits but... I really didn't want to end up with an odd conglomeration of relatively unrelated tattoos here, there and everywhere. And, I find that as I talk to people & tell them what I'm doing, their first response is to look me over & notice that I don't have any visible tattoos... and then not believe me!

What to do? I've designed a 1/2-sleeve tattoo of birth flowers of all 7 of my living kids, and 5 lost babies. An even dozen of colorful flowers, each with a little banner with the child's name. Each flower can be inked by a different artist, yet when finished, the piece will be one comprehensive work of art.

I want to have a modification done around my ice cream cone... a little white, lavender & light-blue cloud of marshmallow fluff. And then a flaming heart on the left breast in about the same size. But meanwhile, Boyd said, "Lets get some ink on you out where people can see it."

The pictures on the blog today are the progression of the first flower and centerpiece of the sleeve, a Stargazer Lily. This tattoo took longer to apply than the amount of time I've spent in my longest labor out 7 live births & 1, 19.5-week loss (3hrs was the longest). And, it's every bit as permanent. The bottom petal is purposely left undone so we can add the "Veronica" banner when the next flower down is inked, so the upper petals of that flower can overlap the banner.

Pics are clickable for full-size versions. Beginning at the top we have:

1. The picture of the lily, modified to be mirrored and tilted to the angle I needed it on my arm

2. Boyd's hand-drawn stencil of the lily, on my arm

3. Beginning the work. Me and my tattoo "master."

4. The lily, about 1/3 completed

5. Manic Boyd, madly tattooing

6. The lily, completed, not dressed & not done bleeding

7. Composite view (front and side)

8. Finished, dressed, & in sunlight (which highlights the colors)

He did this very large, original art tattoo in about 4 hours with very little lasting skin trauma. If you're ever in Pigeon Forge, you can stop in Ink Dimensions at Traffic Light 7 (Old Mill Avenue) and have Boyd Reid apply excellent, permanent art to you!

Unabashed Promotion, LOL

I follow @kiboomu on twitter, and they have designed a wonderful piano iPhone app of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for preschool children! They're going to give away 20 copies of this to 20 lucky winners!

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Aspiring toddler & preschool pianists now have a new way to take piano lessons!

Introducing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Piano iPhone App by KIBOOMU.

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"Spark your child's love of learning and musical creativity with this sing and play along piano." Eric Wiseman, PhD, Harvard University

"Both charming and colorful! Creates teachable moments whilst entertaining! Making animal sounds on a piano translates into big loud fun."
App Craver review: 8 stars out of 10

"Is an excellent children's learning app that I highly recommend!"
Crazy Mike's App review: 5 stars out of 5

"The fantastic touch keyboard just begs to be played with its light-up keys to guide your fingers to the correct notes."
App Discover review

"We love the app. A lot of fun and a great learning experience for kids!"
The Daily App Show review

"We love the colorful graphics and my daughter loves playing the piano!"
Heather Quinn-Shillin http://faithfamilyandfun.com

"The kids are having fun with it. It's our new favorite app!"
Chelle Cazella http://www.dappersnappers.com

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Created by a preschool teacher and pianist, this interactive app encourages children to take a more active role in learning!

It's also a really fun way to introduce children to playing piano!

With this play-a-song iPhone app, children can do the following:

follow the lighted keys or match the colorful music notes to the piano keys

watch the piano keys light up one by one with the song

press the start button and sing along

add animal sounds to the song

hear the song played on a banjo, xylophone, harp, flute, bells and more!

record your child singing and playing the piano!

sing and read karaoke style lyrics in English, French & Spanish

Playing the piano is not just fun, it's educational too!

~*~!~*~!~*~!~*~
Research has shown that piano lessons:

1.Help Children in School

2.Raise Self Esteem.

3.Increase Coordination

4.Help Children to Concentrate

5.Help Children to be Well-Rounded!

~*~!~*~!~*~!~*~
To enter, to win a copy of the iPhone app for your preschooler, leave a comment! PLEASE remember to leave some type of contact information (twitter ID or youremailaddress @ server.com in broken format).

20 winners will be chosen from the comments! Be sure to follow @kiboomu on twitter for app announcements and updates!
~*~!~*~!~*~!~*~

Things My Dad Said

In honor of Father's Day, I've been posting #thingsmydadsaid on Twitter. I've compiled the list, which is below. Thanks dad, for your sage advice & funny words over the years!

"I bought you a motorcycle."

"Don't touch the pipes. They're hot."

"What do you need art supplies for?"

"I can pull that tooth for you. Go get my water-pump pliers. They're the ones with the bent pincers."

"If everybody jumped off a bridge, would you?"

"You can ride the motorcycle on the road after you ride up and down this gravel-road hill 300 times in 1st gear."

"Go cook something. Your mom's tired."

"You wanna go WHERE?"

"There could be something living under that bed of yours & you'd never know it"

"Come out here & help me bleed these brakes..."

"What am I, a bank?"

"Nikki, your problem is you just don't care"

"Where did you put my tools?"

"Marry them for their money, bc the rest, the all have." (Did I freekin' LISTEN? Noooo)

"Nobody buys a cow if they get milk for free."

"Plug in a nightlight. The dark could be deadly." (I like my house as dark as a CAVE at night, LOL)

"Shut your drapes. It pays to advertise."

"You can't live on peanut-butter & jelly and spaghettios."

"I have to run over to Booty Black's house & pick up some parts."

"You can pick your friends. And you can pick your nose. But you can't pick your friend's nose."

"Does Jacki live here now? or did I miss something?"

"Never go barefoot. I stepped on a bee when I was six." (I only wear shoes when I have to)

"You shouldn't get a tattoo. Though tattoos are some really beautiful art."

"Never call me from jail. You'll sit there because I'm not gonna post your bond."

"He needs 2 hats like that stupid one. One to crap in, and the other to cover it up with."

"Your mom doesn't like the way you're behaving. Now *I* have to start going to church."

"Don't put anything in writing if you wouldn't want to read it in the newspaper."

"Don't wear name labels. They should pay YOU for advertising for them instead of you paying extra to wear their name"

"Get up and DO something. Even if it's wrong."

"You need a new overhead cam in the truck. This is the LAST money I'm gonna spend on it."

"Do you realize what ADIDAS means?" (yeah, if you're eleven...)

"Take your mom's hand-me-downs. If they don't fit, they will." (over my dead body, LOL)

"If you don't have the receipt, you can't return it."

"You have so much art in you! You could have made a lot of money! But you've wasted your life wiping butts & noses instead"

"Is that tattoo a stick-on?"

"So, have you wrecked the bike yet?"

Suburban Snapshots: Why Having a Toddler is Like Being at a Frat Party*

This is ROFL hilarious, and the comments are just as good as the post!!
Suburban Snapshots: Why Having a Toddler is Like Being at a Frat Party*

Wordless Wednesday - Kinda Ghoulish

You Don't Know Who I Am

I am on twitter, and I tweet a lot. I have over 2000 followers & I'm following almost an equal amount. I try to engage those I see in my timeline, because I know from experience that people want to feel important and like somebody notices them and cares about them. At varying times on twitter I've had people tell me I'm smart, funny, hot, a good mom, sexy, caring.

Today I mentioned I didn't get to call my dr. because I didn't have alone-time, and a new follower but apparent twitter expert said of course that's hard to do if you're tweeting all the time.

Today I spent 5 hrs in the car, taking one in for repairs and doing errands. I had one kid with me, then all 5 still at home with me. When I wasn't in the car, I was at home, with all the kids. I didn't even get my usual walk today, which at least affords me a short motorcycle ride & 40 freeking minutes alone. There are things you don't talk to your woman-doctor about while surrounded by your kids.

The comment struck a sore nerve, because this person doesn't know me at all. He doesn't know that I tweet, then kiss my 3yo's stubbed toe, or wipe her butt, or help her brush her teeth. Or maybe I tweet, and make 5 sandwiches for lunch, put in a load of laundry, sort mail, & tweet.

He doesn't know that I'm smart, yes, I even have a genius IQ, but my husband talks to me like I am so stupid I can't think to look for a kid's shoes until he comes home so I can ask him. Or that he's talked to me like that, with words that cut me to the core, for more than 20 years.

He doesn't know that I'm funny because people appreciate humor and because nobody wants to hear me whining about all the weird crap that happens at my house, or how bad my marriage is, or about trying to keep our heads above water on 30K a year with no aid and 13K in medical bills and about $15 a day grocery budget to feed 7 ppl (12 if all the kids/grands are here).

Maybe he doesn't realize that I'm "hot" literally because we only turn our air on for 4 hours a day in our 90-degree climate so that we can afford the bill. And he doesn't see that in the heat, I'm trying to maintain a clean and organized VERY small home with 7 people's stuff in it but no place to put anything, even bins of stored out-of-season clothing, blankets, etc. because my hoarder husband has every available storage space stuffed to the gills.

He doesn't know that I'm a good mom, homeschooling my kids and teaching the distracted 9yo to read again EVERY DAMN DAY, helping one kid with algebra at the same time as helping one kid with division (in between tweets, of course, since that's really all I do).

One of my kids graduated a year early, with honors... another just swore in with the Marines and the one currently graduating is going to Culinary Institute of America in January in NY, if we can get a Pell grant. I have four more kids yet to go through school. But Mr. Twitter Critic doesn't know that, doesn't see that. He doesn't know how much sacrifice it has been to raise 7 kids on one very small salary so that I could have intelligent, witty, sensible, hard-working kids.

He doesn't know that I'm sexy because I have worked damn hard to keep myself in good shape, to hold myself together physically to as high a standard as I can. And I have done that because the ONLY time in my life that I feel validated, wanted, worthy, sexy or loved is in bed, because that is the ONLY time my husband doesn't talk down to me like a non-person.

He doesn't know that I am a caring person because I crave someone to care about me, for me, and not because I am so-and-so's mom or Richard's wife or the lady who brought them fresh muffins or just the lady with too many kids.

The truth is, so many people like me and don't even know me. If you're on social media, please think twice before you comment something that you think is funny but is actually cutting and unkind. You may not know who that person really is.

Bike Pics & An Unfair Hill

Today I went out and spent a little "Me" time riding into Knoxville to a spa & yarn shop. I took the long way home to avoid a lot of Interstate riding & rush-hour traffic.

Shhh! Don't tell anyone, but also because I LOVE those curvy East-Tennessee back roads.

My first stop was to drop off my son's sneakers at Kroger. I parked in the same place as this bike (it's not mine), which had, of all things, a bag of chicken feed strapped on the back. Funniest thing is, I've hauled home chicken feed on my bike too!

Once a bike is moving and in the gear you need for a while (no approaching stops, etc), you really only need the throttle hand, so I got my phone out of my pocket & snapped some sexy action pics. Yes I really did.

In a couple pics you can see the gear (5th, which is the top gear) and speed (the one pic that shows speed, I was going 40MPH). Enjoy!!








This last one doesn't look that bad maybe, but it's about a 30degree downhill grade involving 3 curves and is less than 2 lanes wide. Very fun & kinda scary to ride!


These next two pics I took on our local greenway. I start at about the 1.6 mile marker and walk the trail down to .3 miles and back. At the 1.4 mile marker there is a hill. From my end approaching it, it's a small rise, about 10degrees and maybe 30 feet. But this is the view from the top...


And what's particularly unfair about this hill, is that on the way BACK, after powerwalking over 2 miles, and *almost* when the end is in sight, you're confronted with the UP side of the hill. It's what keeps me from skating the trail. I could see getting 1/2way up and rolling backward at a high rate of speed, missing the curve at the bottom and ending up in the river 20 feet away. Not a happy thought. LOL


One last pic! The honeysuckle is blooming now! I stuck this sprig of it in my (sloppy from riding) braid & took the pic with my phone!

WAY Far Behind

We've been up to a LOT and I haven't been chronicling it here like I probably should. So today's post is a lot of pics, each with a caption or a little blurb per group. Hopefully if I'm caught up, I won't feel overwhelmed at the thought of writing in my blog. LOL

We'll start with some B's Eye View photography. Betsy LOVES to take pics of our aquarium, for some reason. And even though there are like 15 fish in it, she always snaps a pic of this Kissing Gourami. Also in the mornings when it's asleep down behind something, she worries if it's dead.












We've had some really nice weather, in the 80s during the day and 60s at night. So of course nice weather and Friday night equal "Can we put up a tent & sleep in it?" I told the kids yeah, sure... so Diantha, Veronica, and Amy from next door took like an hour setting this up, played in it about another half an hour, and then the winds kicked up and there were storm warnings issued.

[Here on the Right are Diantha, 3 yo Beverly ("Betsy") and my beautiful and handsome 9yo son, Josiah.] Down came the tent & in came the kids. Who knew?

Below, I also caught a good front & back shot of Princess Beverly (with leaves caught in the back of her skirt, LOL).




We took the tank off the 650 and painted it metallic gunmetal gray. Here is the tank. Also the bike, reassembled.

I am going to paint green-into-silver-into-purple ghost flames on it & clear coat it yet.

We also painted my son's Icon helmet, which we were blessed to find pawned for 1/3 the retail price. It was flat black but now it's AWESOME. It actually took me a minute or two to figure out how he got the helmet to look bigger than a bathtub. See if you get it. LOL

So Diantha, Des and I were in the TwitKAL (Twitter Knit-a-long).

A bunch of Twitter knitters voted on 5 different categories of patterns (shawl, shrug, hat, gloves, sweater) and then voted again on the top winner from each category.

The winner was the Traveling Woman shawl from Ravelry. I blogged my finished shawl already, here.

This is Diantha's, which was knitted in Jojoland Melody superwash merino wool sock yarn on size 7 needles. Beautiful!