My Last Year in My 20’s.

That’s right, it’s my birthday today, and next year I’ll be going into my third decade. I usually don’t pay much attention to the days of my birth; I’ve got some memories of a few, but not that many. My sweet sixteen was spent at the local pizza parlor playing video games with a bunch of friends, only one of whom I still actually talk to at least once a year.

But today seemed like such a hoot for me. It started out with a dream I had of a friend of mine from online. She actually made the trip down here last month to visit me, which only puts her high up on my respected friends list because of that reason alone. I promised I’d visit her next year, and am debating making it a birthday trip or a Halloween trip. I think I have to see first how my mom is planning the women’s get together first.

Anyways, so I dreamt that my friend was staying at a house that I used to babysit at, but from a time before the kitchen was redesigned. I kept on pulling fried chicken out of the freezer, to which it became the topic of discussion while I ate it. Sadly, the dream didn’t last long, as I was hungry and had to pee before the alarm clock went off…making me up earlier than usual.

The morning proceeded with some sleeping purrs from my little dumpling, to which later when she was up and about, she decided that she didn’t want to have anything to do with me, but instead attack her younger sister. And I say my cat is a mama’s girl…just not on my birthday.

I then got a call from my oldest sister and joked about whether or not my middle sister will remember to call me or blog about me today. I still love you even if you forget, Kermit! My oldest sister was surprised that I was up and about already, hoping to have woken my up. She then asked if Mom got to me already, but she didn’t. My bladder did.

Then when my boyfriend came down all dressed, sitting next to me while his daddy’s girl played his shadow, she immediately jumped on his lap. She loves his jeans and can’t get enough of his lap. The calico then proceeded to perk her rear up in my direction while he rubbed her back, and then released a rather stinky odor in my face. It’s her way of saying ‘Happy Birthday, Mommy!’ I’m sure.

But the fun doesn’t stop there! At work, and yes…I worked on my birthday…we get this phone call from some lady from one of our neighboring counties. I couldn’t tell where she got our number from, but she proceeded to give me her name, address, and told me how her landlord told her that she had an infestation of marijuana cockroaches in her apartment, and that she doesn’t smoke anything like that. I had to stop her right there and explain that she has the wrong number, since we are only a hobby and art supply store…and thus couldn’t help her. My boyfriend and I thus proceeded to look up to see exactly what a marijuana cockroach looks like to find that there was no such thing. This makes me think that maybe the landlord is doing the smoking…

After a call from my mom and changing out the display windows and putting up some sales signs for the shop, my boss drove me home. While I was pulling things out of the mail box, I found one card…from my favorite reference librarian! YAY! Probably the only card I’ll receive on the day of my birth, but I know I’ve got more coming, including a gift from my online friend mentioned above at a later date.

Ooo! And then I had a message from my dad from earlier this morning about my present. He had to call me back though, since he was on a conference call when I rang in. Whoops!

So, in keeping with the theme of fried chicken, my boyfriend went out and got us some KFC for dinner. While we were eating, our boss calls claiming she has a birthday present for me…and it’s one that my boyfriend isn’t going to like, and I’m doubtful that he’ll let me keep it.





Anyways, my boss happened to find a blue eyes, 7 (ish) week old Siamese kitten outside of her house when she got home from work! We want to think she’s a pure bread, which makes us wonder if she either snuck out and away from her owner or was abandoned. We’re not entirely sure, so we’re going to be contacting one of our local radio stations that announces missing and found pets, incase her owner is looking for her. And if not…?




We can’t really afford nor have enough room for a fourth cat, but deep down inside, I’m hoping we can either find her a good home, or my boyfriend will let us keep her. She’s just too precious to send to a shelter. Tomorrow I will be trying to get her to the vet for a check up and shots. Needless to say, our three girls…aren’t happy.

A Window into the Soul.

I like to draw eyes, especially when I’m bored and simply doodling. The shapes and lines in the eye fascinate me to no end. If you look back at my self portrait, I am admittedly drawn towards to the eyes and simply can’t stop looking at them. And so, in my creative slump…though I have a couple of projects I really want to work on but am not as ambitious to start as of yet…I decided to play with the chalk and oil pastel materials I have to draw a few eyes.



They’re primarily to play with the colors of the materials that I’m growing less fond of. Some time back, I went and bought some sets we had left over after ordering too much for teachers’ kits. Small sets ranging from 12-24 colors, and in playing with these sets, as well as the freebies I had gotten recently, I found that as much as I like having limitations…I don’t like having those limitations in colors. All the small colored pencil, chalks, and pastel sets that I have don’t satisfy me in range of colors. Yes, I know how to use two dark colors to make a darker tone of color, but sometimes there isn’t a second darker color to use…and thus I end up making the darker color lighter than I want. It’s rather frustrating.



I’ve already sent my niece some of the extra supplies that I’m not too fond of, but I believe it’s enough to satisfy her curiosity for the time being. I would love to send her more, but I want to know just how driven she is with the art bug before I throw more things her way to explore with. She is, after all, only 6 years old. It even takes me a while to get the most out of my supplies before I’m introduced to something new and want to explore it.



I am also finding, and this might be because of my training in the comic books art, that I actually like to heavily outline my subject matter. I’m filled with this need to make more outlines instead of putting in the effort to blend in the shades and highlights that would equally make the colored pieces pop out just as well. But I hesitate to use the color black, being drilled from my illustration classes that black is a major ‘no-no’ when it comes to color pieces. Even looking at past projects, I can see and understand why. It just looks horrible!

So…if these pieces were windows into my soul, I’d say they’d show the frustration I’m having with my materials. I don’t know if this means I need to find better quality materials, as we have a set of expensive chalk pastels left over from another kit, but I’m hesitant in buying them not for their price, but for the possibility that I won’t be too fond of the color selection they give me. The colors that are printed on the side aren’t much to go by, as a printed version of a color and how it actually turns out are two different things. That, and I have this nice…I think…100 piece set that I bought last year. I just haven’t wanted to unpack it from where I’m storing it yet. Not until I use up the stuff I’m not happy with first.