Why aren't Saturdays more fun?

There was a time in my childhood when I truly thought that Saturdays were a different colour.

I was a strange kid.

But seriously, for weeks and weeks I would get up and out of the house to play on Saturdays at a different time than I did for kindergarten, therefore the sun was at a different angle, and the day was a different colour.  And that colour was magic!

Saturdays were the days I could eat Wonder bread with butter and cinnamon and blow bubbles so they'd stick to the shrubs in the yard, chase butterflies and gather up worms and watch my cats stalk grasshoppers in the yard. (This was before we started keeping kitties safe inside.)

Now Saturdays are the day I start off with a delightful cuddling session with V in bed that lasts for at least an hour, and then once we get up it goes downhill from there.  I actually dread her tiny voice saying "Is it time to go into the liven room Mama?" Damn.

I start off with washing the diapers, then wade through the dishes, make a fried egg and french toast for V, might try to pick up the living room and pull out the vacuum if I haven't decided it is too much effort, oh wait I forgot my tea, I should really eat something, check the internet, kill a few dozen carpenter ants...

This is not magical. Or fun. Or fulfilling. And honestly by noon on Saturday I'm generally exhausted and cranky and haven't managed to do anything constructive with V and now I'm feeling like a total mom failure.

What the hell happened?

To be fair my time management totally sucks and I'm hoping that working a full time job will force me into being more on top of things during the week so I'm not so overwhelmed on my one full day off.

Yeah, wish me luck with that. Now I'm  off to get another cup of tea and introduce my daughter to yet another television show to melt her brain and mine. Mommy of the Year I am.

Back to full time

I got the job I was trying for and will be employed full time again for the first time since V came on the scene.  Ironically I will be starting the day she turns 35-months-old.  There will be a lot of adjusting to do initially until we all, as a family, find our new patterns. I have to admit that I'm really concerned about the extra time I will be apart from V, but I'm sure we will work it out.

As for my artwork, I have acquired yet more paints and am planning on participating in a local art fair this fall.  So I have to get cracking on getting an inventory of different things to sell.  Hopefully I could make a few hundred dollars or so in a weekend.

That would be a good thing.

V has started telling me stories. Yesterday she said there was a white doggie barking in her bedroom closet. Last night she was telling me about how when she wasn't a caterpillar she was a butterfly. And butterflies are NOT caterpillars. And when she was in a cocoon she was a butterfly. It was awesome.

She is awesome.

To be fair I sometimes want to sell her to the gypsies. But mostly she just blows my mind with her imagination.

I'm so lucky.

It has been/I have been, crazy

So I always promise myself I will actually "be a blogger." Then I never get around to actually recording everything that is going on... So I'm looking for yet another job, this time full time. And I was doing really well until my phone service go cut off and I sent an email to the veterinary hospital I'm applying with to let them know I can't use my phone, please use my email, and DH paid the phone bill right after. I really don't know how to fix that... V is amazing. I cannot quanitify how awesome she is, even while she is struggling through growing pains and learning milestones and being V. She isn't potty learning yet, but that is okay with me. I'm actually starting to "be an artist." I've sold two paintings, bartered one, and have more commissions lined up. Holy cats! I will try to be better at this. I have a lot to say, I just mostly say it to myself, and the cats.

Artwork

So since I completed my Sketchbook Project 2012 book I've been continuing on with painting and playing with multimedia animal portraits.

This was my first coloured pencil and watercolour piece. On 140lb cold press watercolour paper.

This was another watercolour and pencil portrait for a friend of my sisters.

This is my most recent, with the addition of Micron pen to the process. And my most dynamic scene yet. At least I'm trying to improve and keep busy in the midst of an unreal stress load.

I should mention that all images are the exclusive property of me, and cannot be used or reproduced without express written permission.

I am a terrible blogger

I've been at my "new" job for 9 months now. Almost long enough to make a baby, so one would think I would have posted about what I'm doing in that time. Alas, as I mentioned in the title of this post, I am a TERRIBLE blogger. I'm also not a great telemarketer, which is what I do "out of the home" now for 20-24 hours a week. I call hapless homeowners and offer them a "free mortgage analysis." I get hung up on a lot, cursed at more than one would expect, and occasionally have great conversations. I've only recently started to really make "leads" at good rates. But I keep at it. And I've met some truly wonderful people that I really like seeing most days in the week. More importantly than what is making me money, is what else I've been doing. I joined the 2012 Sketchbook Project and am almost done (right before deadline) with my sketchbook. It will be going on a multi-country tour after I send it back to the Art House Coop and will eventually be archived in the Brooklyn Art Museum. I've really stretched and stressed myself with this project and am quite proud of a lot of the work I've come up with so far. I'm finally being artistically creative on a regular basis again. While I've been stretching my artistic wings, V is getting hers. I cannot believe this butterfly of a child I am so blessed to have in my life. Her vocabulary and abilities are growing by leaps and bounds every single day. And I get to have cuddles with her every single morning, every single night, in the middle of the night, before and after her nap... I couldn't ask for more. My parents watch her while I'm at work and that requires a strange living arrangement, but we are managing. I just wish I could spend more time at home. On a totally shallow and inappropriate note, I'm thinking about shaving part of my head. I like the renewal of that old punk style and some people have pulled it off as sort of classy. Although I'm sure if I tried I'd look pathetic. Anyway, I shall try to be a less terrible blogger and get back into the swing of writing, not just drawing and painting and cooking and cleaning and breastfeeding and tickling a toddler. LOL :)

Going Back to Work

As of this coming Monday, I am going back to work part-time at a call center. I am glad I will be providing to the financial situation, but I'm also terrified and stressed.

I know that this will probably be much less problematic than I think it is going to be, but the transition is hard. Very hard for me.

And I need to figure out child care situations, also very hard.

This is hard.