Winter Break Update

Long Lines Late in the Day, 2009, Oil on Birch Panel, 12x24

Here's what's up this week:

1. The kids are home all week for winter break and just to insure that I don't get much of anything done, Doug scheduled a business trip for this week as well. Actually, he didn't do it on purpose, usually I mark the vacations on the MASTER CALENDER and he is supposed to check the MASTER CALENDER when he schedules a business trip but I missed this one for some reason and so he has been gone since Sunday, returning tonight, thankfully. I guess I shouldn't complain because this snafu is definitely my fault.

2. And I really shouldn't be complaining at all about not getting any work done this week either as the kids have been totally doing their own thing and while they have been coming up to my studio quite a bit with various issues, physical ailments, and their side of the story concerning the most recent argument, overall I have been able to be in the studio everyday. I haven't been terribly productive but it's been ok. The KIDS should be really bored, but they don't seem to be. I guess it's nice for them to take a week and just do some quiet relaxing things, like reading, art projects and watching tv, as normally they have pretty busy and full days when school is in session.

3. Part of the reason that I haven't been terribly productive is that I fell off the wagon and straight into a river of chocolate! I was doing great with the no flour/no sugar thing (still no flour actually) but I had a few Lindt truffles which sent me spiraling out of control and back into a full out obsession with procuring and eating chocolate. Dang! Will be spending the next few days trying to get that back under control again.

4. Mr. Wilson is feeling better today after his return yesterday from a night at the vet's office. He had um, a procedure, and is now, well let's just say he is more neutral about things. Lately he has been driving us all crazy with his doggy adolescent behavior, panting and whining all the time and humping Penny's feet (he's short, she's tall, it's all he can get to), the cats (they were not happy about that) and even the furniture legs.

PS. If you are opposed to altering pets and feel the need to write to me about it, save it. I already know the pros and cons of this issue, plus I am also a little crabby today so my response might not be pretty!

5. And while I am at it, I may as well give an update on the chickens too. They stopped laying eggs in September or so. I figured they were molting, although I was a bit surprised that they were all doing it at once, since some of the hens are a year younger that the others. But after talking to a few friends that also raise chickens I learned that often the whole flock goes at the same time. I could have messed with the molting by supplementing their light to get them laying again, but our chicken house is pretty rustic, no power, no water and so getting them extra light seemed like way too much work. So I let the chickens have a rest from popping an egg out everyday. Anyway, we really suffered without our daily eggs, it was a sad day when we started buying them at the store again. Even the cage free organic eggs were disappointing. Not as fresh as what we are used to I guess. The chickens look beautiful now though after their rest, they grew back all their feathers (some of them were almost completely bald before they began molting, they looked VERY scary) and they seem more friendly too, although I might be imagining that. They gradually began laying eggs about a month ago and now we are overflowing with eggs again.

6. I have five landscape paintings finished for my upcoming show (one is kind of iffy, so there might just be four), and also have four underpaintings ready for color. If I work on those this weekend I will be able to get right back on schedule. I am really enjoying getting back to the landscapes. After a six month break from painting the landscape I wasn't sure if I would feel good about them again, or stifled.

7. Am still working on the People You Know series, today I plan to work on the two larger panels that I started a few weeks ago. I worked on one yesterday, but kept getting sidetracked, but I will try to finish it up soon.

8. Oh and I missed my blog anniversary again. It's been three years (as of February 10), 635 posts, and over 200,000 unique visitors since I started this project that has nearly ruled my life! I am still enjoying all this but also sense that some changes here in Tracyland may be coming too.

Well, I guess that's it, that's all I have going on. Even though I have much work to do, and am making progress with it all, I still feel like I am floundering around in a haze.

I blame the chocolate.