Play Date

I've been feeling so verklempt lately. Yesterday I had another procedure on my eye for a tear in the retina. It was very Not Fun. So today, I had a play date. With myself. No, not that kind, you filthy monkey! I made stuff with paint and glue. I am not all that artistic, but I've decided that the process is the point, not the outcome. I had fun painting and pasting and at the end, I felt decidedly less verklempt. And that, was definitely the point.

This first one is supposed to be about Hope but the words smeared a little.




I like the effect of the smearing on the word "Fear" in this next one. I think it works. It needed something else so I added the postage stamp and now it makes me smile because I think "fear of postage" when I see it.



This next one is not about anything, but I like it. The background is sort of bright pink and tangerine and I really think the postage pops on it.

This next one is about Faith, and I cut the edge off when I took the photo. It's missing something, I think, but I haven't figured out what yet.


This last one features a horoscope I liked. I only believe the good ones. I doodled on this one a little, which is a challenge for me. I have absolutely no talent for drawing whatsoever.

I don't know what to call these. I started off trying to make Artist Trading Cards but the small size intimidated me so these are a little bigger. Altered Index Cards? I know, I'll call them therapy.

God bless Oklahoma

So yesterday, I was shopping at Target. I was on the household cleaners aisle with no one else in sight. Here's what happened:

Me: ACHOO!
Random stranger on the next aisle: Bless you!
Me: Thank you!
RS: You're welcome!

I just love living in a place where random strangers will bless you for no reason other than that you happened to sneeze.

How Blue Can I Get?

I love the blues. LOVE them. I love how blues singers take a bad situation and just WALLOW in it, even as they sometimes poke fun at themselves for doing so. Singing the blues just cheers me up, it really does.

"I'm gonna lay my head on some lonesome railroad line and let the 2:19 train ease my troubled mind." Now that is some wallowin', don'tcha know!

So, lately I've been singing the blues a lot. My eye is still healing which is making many of my favorite things, such as crafts and reading, rather challenging. (Also, y'all, get up right now, close one eye and try to clean your bathtub. It can't be done with one eye! I never knew so many things required good vision!) My sister-in-law's situation has not changed, and I'm just frustrated as hell about it. (I can't imagine why getting treatment for cancer takes so dang long. I mean, I know the process can be a long one, but why does just getting starting take so dang long? I'm pretty sure people have been cured of cancer in the time we've been waiting for her to start treatment.) I'm worried about my other sister-in-law, who just went through a divorce, is juggling a job and two kids and a sick sister. I'm worried about my hubby. And my father-in-law. Lil Sweetie's birthmom is going through some hard times. The bathroom remodel has completely stalled. There are mice in my garage and the dogs have fleas and I'm pretty sure locusts and frogs must be right around the corner.

Life is just hard right now. It really is. And the weird thing is that it is hard right now for so many people I know. Although I don't actually believe in astrology, I'm pretty sure the stars are out of alignment. They must be. We are just going through a gigantic cosmic shit storm.

But that blues song I quoted above?* It goes on to say: "I won't be blue always, you know the sun is gonna shine in my back door someday."

*"Trouble in Mind" if you were wondering, recorded by such greats as Johnny Cash, Nina Simone, Janis Joplin, Muddy Waters...sheesh, who hasn't recorded it?

So just let me wallow for a little while. I'll be all right. (And just to clarify, I have no actual intention of laying my head on any railroad tracks, although I do enjoy singing about it at the top of my lungs.)