Irrational fears and other stuff

I am not a fearful person. Not the kind that you can jump out from behind something and cause me to freak out. I may knock the hell out of you, but for the most part I don't react to those kinds of situations as expected. I am cautious when I travel alone, but even then I am rarely truly afraid. I don't mind staying by myself in a hotel. I don't mind staying by myself at night.

Spiders and spider webs creep me out, but I will kill said spider and go about my business. As long as I can see a snake, I'm okay with that. I've even shared my studio space with a black snake at times. Mice too - not a big deal to me except for the mess they leave.

But ...... lets talk irrational stuff.

The critter below is known in our world as a camel cricket.

It has a big official name - but that is not important. I am terrified beyond all belief of these harmless to human insects. They are normally found under houses, in well houses, under damp logs etc. The funniest story Softball Princess tells about these is that I could not pin her very dead one to her insect collection. I pinned bees, wasps, grasshoppers, all kinds of bugs to her board, but we had to get The Man at My Address out of the bed to pin this one.

Well, guess what, I went to the studio this morning and found some on the walls in there. I am freakin out..... There will be extermination bombs forthcoming. I still have the heebie jeebies from that discovery. Yuck!!!!!!!!!!!

Now for the other stuff -- there are things I want to throw out there to the universe. I did that with MaggieGrace last year and managed to pull some of it off already. So here we go.

I want to go to Portland, Oregon in the spring of 2010 and it is going to have to be the sale of MaggieGrace materials that gets me there - because the rest of my budget cannot stretch that far.

I also want to have a small local gathering of friends for a Saturday or Sunday afternoon workshop. I'm thinking maybe 6 people plus me and my girls for a collage art workshop. I would like to do this as an act of kindness, to see if teaching a workshop is something I would enjoy. Maybe potluck on food - people bring a few of their own supplies - I'll bring an assortment of supplies - and just spend an afternoon soaking up the creative energy of women gathered. Most likely will think more about this after Christmas.

There ya go.

Have a wonderful day.