She Walked Away

QotD: Stress Case

People do many different things to cope with stress, loss, and "bumps in the road". How do you handle stress and hard times? 
Submitted by RedlyGal. 

Two Part Answer:

 

Olive Sketch

 

Whirlwind

This week has flown by. I have so much to accomplish over the weekend and I am hopeful I can get at least half of it done. Or started. Well, at least written down on a list. Please see after-the-fact notes in PINK.

The truth is that the cavalry will be arriving at Chez Moi tomorrow morning at 8:30. This cavalry will take the shape of my favorite handyman, my Daddy. I'm not exaggerating when I gush about him by saying that he can do anything. Everything. He's amazing. At any rate, the tentative itinerary includes, but is certainly not limited to; Good Coffee (I make it, he drinks it. His taste in coffee is pretty unrefined), Review of List with Marker, Quick Walk of Olive (she calms down so much when guests arrive and take a walk with her), Run to Hardware Store for Supplies (Handyman has oh-so-handyVAN), Outdoor Two-Person Chores, Indoor Two-Person Chores, Trip to Local Pay-by-the-Pound Thrift Store for Goodies, Good Beer (I buy, he drinks. His palate for beer is improving, but I am such a beer snob). I'll post separately about it soon (with pictures), but needless to say, THIS is not what actually happened. I can report that 5 intense hours were spent with both of us working hard (well, I did a little whining, too), and big feats were accomplished. Of note: NO beer was had, instead Dad brought me a bottle of his homemade wine.

As with any list I make, this one is subject to change. That's a fact.

Oh! And my fair city is chock full of happenings this weekend, so there's always traffic and other congestion to consider.

In an attempt to get some drawings stored safely before my Fall semester begins in less than a month, I took snapshots of some pieces so that I can roll them up for safe keeping. I still have to consider every piece to be included or excluded from my portfolio, as I have an advancement review in the Spring before I can continue on with my major. I have oodles of foundation projects, a small house and a pack-rat mentality, so you can imagine the dilemma. I actually made tremendous progress in converting my 3-season porch into a studio space yesterday. When it's completed, I'll post about it. With pictures. 

I think I will stop somewhere and get myself a fancy hamburger to go on my way home tonight. That way I can maximize my productivity in preparing for Handyman Day tomorrow when I get home. I so stopped for that burger. I have been off chips of any description for weeks now, but the burger joint put SALT AND VINEGAR chips in my To-Go sack. I'm not turning those down. Don't be ridiculous!! 

 

 

Naps are good.

It started raining somewhere around 3:00 am today, and I can't think of anything better than sleeping while it rains. I have even considered putting a tin roof on my house just for nap quality. Needless to say, two hours of rain-accompanied sleep wasn't enough for me.

Alas, my sleep patterns have never been normal. As I finish up my Summer class, continue working, and prepare for my Fall courseload, a nap sounds really delicious.

Initially, I thought my sleep-deprivation and lack of sleep-continuity was a product of my non-traditional college student status. Upon further inspection; however, it appears that I have been given to bursts of napping from an early age:

 

Batgirl

 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

There's no question I have made some small changes in an attempt to live a more sustainable life. That's a tall order for a packrat, I'll admit, but that's why I am making small changes and trying to stick to them.

I started with my bento boxes and tiffins. These are prefereable to disposable plates and utensils when considering lunch at work or school. I don't always use them, but I try to consider them when I can. I used my family-sized melamine tiffin to take fresh brushetta to a dinner party on Saturday night. I made the bruschetta with my own roma tomatoes and fresh basil. It was really very good, if I do say so myself. Everyone at that dinner had made something from their own yard and it was unbelieveable. Fresh pressed concord grape juice. Wow! It was delicious!

I spent some time this weekend felting thrift store sweaters. I have been quietly collecting wool sweaters for a while now, so it was most definitely time to get busy with them. I have completed two projects with them so far (and the progressive snapshots are on my flickr page):

 

The first is a skater cap for my nephew. I made it from the sleeves of a felted wool sweater. I hope it's not to cutesy for him, but if he doesn't want it, I'll keep it for certain!

The second is a skully cardigan made from thrift store wool sweaters. Obviously, I used the lighter sweater for the skull and crossbones, so I have a lot more sweater to work with. I'm considering trying to felt it more now that I have it changed around, as the green sweater didn't felt as much as I wanted it to.

I worked a bit more on my dachshund portrait as well, but it is still not finished.

The comfortable weather has had me sleeping with a fan in the window, rather than using air conditioning. With my recent property tax increase (121% from last year), increased utility costs in general, the expense of having my sewer line replaced in the Spring, and an upcoming increase in income tax, I can use the break from sweltering heat. The downside, I have found, is that I am having allergy issues like nobody's business. Benadryl has not been helpful with trying to re-establish a healthy sleep pattern. I can deal with it, but it really is an inconvenience.

 

Non-Ephemera

Wrapping up another week in what seems to be dullsville.

I have been watching the third season of Rescue Me (from DVD at the public library). It is so much more entertaining than network television. I have done the same thing with other cable series, such as; Six Feet Under, Big Love and Weeds. I purchased the first season of the Henry Rollins Show, though, and I find it to be a very good decision (I think I mentioned that somewhere before, but Henry Rollins bears repeating). My late night television habit has found me drinking too much coffee again. This is partly due to daylight savings time, though, as I rarely want to wind down when it's daylight at nearly ten o'clock at night! So the cycle goes something like this:

5am Alarm (I used to wake up at 5:00, now I enjoy the snooze button for 9 or 18 minutes)

All the stuff that happens during the day (getting to and from work, school, etc.) goes here.

6:ish Walk dog, water plants, make dinner (which is sometimes raisin bran and soy milk)

9:ish Watch or listen while doing one or more of the following; knit, drink tea, draw, glance through books

11:30, 12:00 or 1:00 Give up and turn in for the night

Is any of this the stuff I should be doing? Most likely no. The good news is that I am getting comfortable with a studio practice of some sort well in advance of my Fall classes beginning. The bad news is the coffee thing I mentioned previously. Oh! And the snooze button. Why I claimed to enjoy the snooze button, I do not know.

This weekend I plan to enjoy the more comfortable weather. I have been invited to two dinner parties (one tonight), and I will have time to pedal to the farmers market in the morning and hopefully do some drawing outside. I might even go on a sketch safari Sunday afternoon. Options are good. 

QotD: My Solo Getaway

Would you go on vacation by yourself, and if so where would you go?
Submitted by Sean & Stefan.

I would and I have. I'm not as interested in vacations as I am excursions, and my vacations often involve camping and hiking (and often a canine companion which may or may not disqualify my answer to the QotD). If I were given the opportunity to go anywhere, though, without concerns of cost or time, I would go here:

[there used to be a lovely picture of New Zealand right here]

I would like New Zealand. Absolutely!!

 

Plan versus Reality

This would be a particularly cruel measure of me.

I used to be a list maker. It's really funny for me to run across a grocery list in the bottom of my purse and wonder if I ever used it. Probably not. There is a list that I strictly adhere to as an art student, though, and that is a supply list. Thinking ahead, I emailed one of my professors at the beginning of the Summer, asking for a supply list for my Fall painting class. Good planning helped me to accumulate supplies over time, on sale, with coupons, etc. I finished up my list this weekend and feel very confident that I have practically everything I will need.

No reading was done over the weekend. None. I read a little Dubus this morning, waiting for my class to begin.

 

Two Meagans

Saturday morning, I finished up the drawing I did for a friend's wedding gift. After careful consideration, I decided to complete the one shown here on the left. It has changed some since this picture was taken, and since the bride reads this blog, I will not put a picture of the completed portrait up yet. Her wedding is next month, so I'll be sure to post a picture then. It's nice to be able to give a unique wedding gift like this, but it was an equally nice treat for me to have a live model. She's done this for me in the past, so I am terribly grateful to her.

After deciding that I was finished with her portrait, I needed to start another drawing. This keeps me from fiddling with things unecessarily.

 

 

Olive Early WIP

What better subject matter for my new drawing than Olive? I very much stumbled into having her be the subject of so many things that I have worked on for school, so I am thinking that I might need to be on the lookout for a new muse or series. Yeah, I need to be thinking about that for certain.

This drawing of Olive is very early, so it will be interesting to watch it change over time. I'll be sure to post more of it as I go.

I'm enjoying the distortion here, but looking at it on the monitor makes me want to rush home to "fix" a few things.

Hmmm.

I spent a good portion of the day on Saturday thrifting with a friend. It was a really great day. We both found lots of treasures and spent very little money. Not exactly the thing I need to do if I wish to be less of a packrat, but I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Recommendation Day

Being in the delicate financial situation that I am often in, I have no business purchasing music or movies, or even renting movies. That said, I often comfort myself with such things as music and movies (the latter often borrowed from the library), and the truth is that my addictions could be far worse than they are, so.

Addiction to Music:

I recently mentioned buying Betchadupa's "Aiming For Your Head" from Australia. I am quite happy with that purchase. Keeping it all in the family, I followed Betchadupa's Liam Finn with his Dad, Neil, and his newest Crowded House release, "Time on Earth." What planets line up every time a Finn is born that makes them all musical geniuses? Seriously,though. Neil, you are beyond any music legend that has ever lived. Ever (even Bath Robe Brian!). Crowded House has reformed after the tragic loss of Paul Hester to play a new game of tug of war with my heartstrings. New drummer Matt Sherrod is a lovely compliment to Neil, Mark Hart and (the man who is my soul mate) Nick Seymour. No kidding. Nick, if you're reading this: You are IT.

  

Addiction to Books:

I treated myself to Painting People: Figure Painting Today. It's a compilation of contemporary painters and I just want to lick the pages. I might have, in fact, I'll just never confess which ones.

 Addiction to Film:

I am seeing a few complete films in my summer film class, and more than a few clips and scenes from movies that make me want to watch things again. Often, the films I want to watch again aren't the selections I saw in class, but my mind does have a tendency to wander. I recently borrowed and re-watched a few things from the library: "Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself," "Kitchen Stories," and "In the Bedroom." I could not wait for the library to make "Little Children" available, so I bought a Pre-Viewed copy from the rental place on the corner. Todd Field does not disappoint. I might seek out a copy of "Ruby In Paradise," when I first developed my crush on him. "In the Bedroom" always gets me back to Andre Dubus (see next paragraph), so I also watched "We Don't Live Here Anymore." Please! Andre Dubus stories enacted by Peter Krause and Mark Ruffalo (and two actresses whose names escape me...). I have also requested "The Five Obstructions" from the library, as it is simply too good not to watch over and over. All this movie viewing, by the way, is causing me some trouble, because I stay up late at night watching them. Not exactly helpful when my usual bedtime is about 8:30. You could say I'm a bit knackered by 3:00 in the afternoon.

Back to Books:

So... "Little Children" has me wanting to read more Tom Perotta. His stories always translate well into films. I have been re-reading Andre Dubus stories, "Killings" and "Adultery" for starters. He was an astonishing writer. I'm looking forward to what is supposed to be a beautiful weekend, so I might just whip up an early dinner tomorrow and go outside to read in the yard.

 

Camping 101

Odd. I have had a strange feeling of melancholy lately and I am either: a) Needing a change of scenery, or b) needing to get busy with something creative.

I am considering a long weekend after the Fall semester starts. My birthday falls on a Friday this year and I am hoping to take Olive for a three-day camping trip. Safety is a concern, although I have never had any trouble. My camping alone has always included a companion of the canine variety. What do you think, Olive? Want to go camping??

 

 

Yes, I am sure she will want to go. I only need to get her backpack from the basement and she is bouncing at the gate and ready to go!

Thinking back on various camping excursions I have taken does remind me of one trip that was a little unsettling. As soon as I arrived at the primative camp sites where I was staying, it started raining. Shortly after that, another 'camper' arrived and began removing crossbows from his car. He unloaded them carefully, one at a time, from the car to the picnic table at his spot. I saw somewhere on the order of 10 crossbows. I assure you it wasn't hunting season, and I was more than a little worried about one of my dogs having an arrow through his midsection before morning. As it got darker, my neighbor donned a camouflage rain poncho and lurked around in the woods for quite a while. By the time the park ranger came around to collect my camping fee, I was ready to invite him into my tent for the night. He assurred me I would be safe with two dogs. Uh, yeah... sure. I feel much better now.

After a very long night in a soggy tent (because you don't realize you have a leak until it's raining, right?), I was happy to pack up, move on and take my morning hike in another location.

Death and Taxes

At this point I am inclined to believe that I might die of taxes.

I live in an area with a property tax problem that is causing people to lose their homes. It's a big problem for people who have lived in the same house for years, raised their families there, and believed Scarlett O'Hara's father when he proclaimed to her that "Land is the only thing worth owning, the only thing that lasts." I'm worried about my community with it's increasing crime and decreasing educational quality. For the latter I will say that teachers, especially those in public schools, are grossly underpaid. It's shameful. I don't have children, but I fear for the children of others who will suffer not for a lack of qualified teachers, but for a lack of funding to pay those teachers sufficiently.

So. I received my property tax bill this week, along with everyone else in my city. It more than doubled. I am not alone in this crisis, and I am certainly one of those who will have to struggle to pay it. My tuition has increased recently, and income taxes are set to be increased before the end of the year as well. And gas. And groceries. And utility bills. And health care costs. 

49% of my property taxes goes to he public school system. It does? Maybe I just don't see where it goes. Yeah, maybe it's helping to pay for quality lunches and books for those students who cannot afford it. What? There isn't a quality food program in the public school system? I can be fairly confident that it doesn't go to snow removal (I was snowed in for a week in February, and I live in the city).

Okay, so this is all pretty negative. I can't think of a time I can appreciate a weekend more than right now.