The Edge

My kiddo, who is 8, has started enjoying drawing. And, along with that, inking in ... coloring ... or painting her creations. I'm a firm believer that creativity is a wonderful thing, so I love this. And I love that she's having such a great time with it. She created a little mini art gallery in her room. After looking at her gallery for a few days, she decided it would be nice to have a bulletin board so that she could pin her drawings up for display, instead of just taping them to the wall.

And so ... we set out looking for a suitable bulletin board. Kiddo ended up falling in love with a cork one at Container Store. She particularly loved this one because it had a pretty design printed on it. But, much as I love Container Store, I have to admit it really is the place where money goes to die. I couldn't justify the rather high price just for the little bit of customization the board had on it.

Instead, we found a cheaper (plain) cork board at AC Moore ... picked out some stencils ... and customized it ourselves. It was a fun little project, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Pics:

( Read more... )

Kiddo has a sinus infection. Apparently. She's been congested since September, and the pediatrician is just now admitting that it's something more than "just a virus". After 3-4 months of repeatedly taking her to the doctor and hearing: "Oh, it's a virus. There's nothing we can do, and it'll pass on its own," I'm understandably irritated. And on top of that feeling horribly guilty. My little girl has felt bad since freaking September, and I've not managed to fix it. I feel like a horrible mother right now.

I kept her home today. Her class was scheduled for a field trip at the National Zoo. In below 30-degree weather with winds gusting at around 20-25 mph. Yeah. Not so much going there, particularly when she came home yesterday running a low-grade fever. I felt awful for having to say she would have to sit out the field trip. I remember all the excitement and fun of being able to go somewhere outside of school and see different things. But my gut told me it would be a horrible idea. Besides, we went to the pediatrician, instead. Kiddo seemed fairly OK with missing the trip, though. She only complained about it once. So maybe I should let myself off the hook, too.

I wrapped up my production art collecting year with a final addition to my Saiyuki Burial section. Some gorgeous Kouryuu (aka "chibi Sanzo") sketches that I unexpectedly got the chance to purchase. At least, I think they are gorgeous. I'm so thrilled with them.

Kouryuu 1
Kouryuu 2

And, since I felt like the Kouryuu sketches were a good stopping place for the year -- you know, ending on a high note and all that (LOL) -- I put together my Year-End Revue. I always enjoy taking the time to look back on the year, as a whole, and see where my collection and gallery grew. And, I guess, where my money went, too. I was surprised this year to realize I bought a LOT less than in years past. This is a good thing, as one of my resolutions for 2010 and one of my collecting goals was to spend less time and money obsessing over this hobby. Another collecting goal for the year was to try and keep things more focused on my "obsession" shows: the 6 shows I consider the mainstays/cornerstones of my collection. I feel like I managed to accomplish both those goals. This makes me happy.

Anyhow. if anyone is interested:

Texxie's Year in Revue for 2010

Be warned: There is a LOT of Saiyuki in here!!

I am feeling quite dizzy at the moment. I think I shall go lie down. ~.~

Why is it, when I give people two freaking weeks to RSVP, they still fail to do it?

I'm coming down to the absolute wire with the kiddo's b-day party and still haven't heard from several people. At this rate, I'm going to have to send emails asking if they plan on coming. Which I hate doing. One, it makes me feel like I'm begging people to come to my kiddo's party. Two, I don't have email addresses for everyone we gave invitations to. Bleh. And double bleh.

I still have a day left. I guess, if I don't hear from anyone else today, I'll send out emails tomorrow. Well, to the people I can email, anyhow.

*grumbles*

Crappy weekend was crappy. And busy, which greatly contributed to its general crappiness.

Friday was totally taken up in dealing with the fallout from the car wreck. I don't understand how such things can end up eating an entire day, but ... well, they just seem to work out that way. Friday was also a Girl Scout meeting day, but I begged off from attending the meeting. I was hurting and had a horrible headache, and all I wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep until I felt better. So, hubby took the kiddo to the meeting, which was very nice of him. And much appreciated by me. Of course, I didn't get to curl up in bed. We made plans to get together with friends on Saturday, so I spent my "free" time Friday (when they were at the meeting) cleaning house. >.O

Saturday, I actually got to sleep in. But I don't think I slept nearly enough, because I woke up at 10:40 thinking it was 11:40. So I got all panicky and worried, just thinking I had wasted too much of the morning or something. Then, I went downstairs to find the hubby and kiddo playing air guitar to some U2 videos (which was pretty cute), and found out it was only 11:30, which left me feeling confused and a bit off for the rest of the day. I was still hurting and not feeling well at all, but our friends were coming over that evening. So we did errands -- riding in the car was NOT fun and actually pretty painful -- and then came home to finish up the house cleaning. The visit was a lot of fun, but errands, cleaning, and visiting totally wiped me out. I was so sore and feeling awful by the time I went to bed that I didn't sleep at all on Saturday night. I could not get comfortable; it didn't matter how I turned or tried to lie, everything just hurt. Plus my cat decided to run up and down the stairs all night long -- until I finally managed to trap her in the office sometime around 4 AM. Darn cat. =>.O=

Today (Sunday) was a Girl Scout day. We had to do booth sale this morning, followed by Thinking Day this afternoon. I still hurt all over and feel just really brittle, feeble and damn old. I swear, I really feel like a wimp in all of this. But I ended up spending most of today on my feet for the various GS activities. Then, after getting home, I had to do the whole hair washing / bath thing for the kiddo -- even more pain for my aching back and shoulders. And I just finished getting her into bed. So now I can finally -- FINALLY!! -- head off to a nice, hot shower and, hopefully, a night of blissful unconsciousness. Because I am so, so freaking tired. And in pain. Bah.

I have to tutor tomorrow, which I am not looking forward to. Unless my back and shoulders feel considerably better, sitting in the hard chairs in the school library is not going to be fun at all. Tuesday is a field trip, which I'm supposed to chaperone. I'm seriously considering not doing it, as I'm not sure I can take all the bumping around from riding on a school bus. Yeah -- I'm being a total wimp, I know. But just the thought of someone touching me or bumping into me or getting bumped around in a vehicle makes me want to cry.

One piece of good news, though ... I think our troop may be done with the cookie sales. Our troop leader has another troop of older girls, and they said they would take whatever cookies we had left over from the sale. So, after gathering up the pre-sale money and making all my deposits and stuff, it looks like I might be finished with my tour of duty as the "cookie mom". I'm trying not to get too excited over it, just in case it doesn't work out. But still ... WHOOP!! =D

Heh. For some reason, I'm flashing back to those horrid days of elementary, junior high, and high school when we were forced to keep journals as class projects. It's weird how much I hated doing that. Hated, hated, hated, hated it. You would think I'd be in seventh heaven, considering how much I love to write. Even then, writing was -- well, it was my passion. My secret passion then. Not-so-secret now, I guess. My school journals, though, never reflected that. I was the kid in class who, if seen through the pages of my school journal, was a steady, unwavering shade of beige. Boring. Boring, boring, boring. We were supposed to put our thoughts and concerns about life. Supposed to be open with our feelings, yadda, yadda, yadda. Yeah, right. Even in elementary school, I knew someone would be reading them. It was a school project, after all, which meant teachers would look at them. How could I put my deepest thoughts down ... or write the stories that lingered in my soul ... or, well, anything ... knowing this? I couldn't. Plain and simple.

So, basically, I started each entry with: "Today, I ... blah, blah, blah *insert boring shit here*" And I always felt like a failure. (Although my not-so-public journals were anything but beige.) Ah well. I guess I've gotten somewhat better at knowing others might read what I write. It still scares the bejeezus out of me, but I force myself to work through that, at least. Even so, I still censor my thoughts, feelings, and opinions. Some things are private. And they should stay that way.

My daughter, who is five, decided to start a journal today. I guess that's what has me thinking back on all my years of journaling failure. (And, I suppose blogging failure now, since I'm on the WWW. LOLz) She asked me how to make a journal, so I gave her one of my cheaper Moleskine notebooks. I explained how to put the date at the top. Then, I told her to write about what she had done during the day. She's in the other room, working on it now. Hopefully, it'll be a fun project that she can continue for the summer to improve her writing skills. Then again, she is just as likely to use up an entire notebook's worth of space scribbling and drawing for one entry. She's five -- what can I expect? At least she's willing to give it a try. Here's hoping she doesn't feel like a journaling failure, too.

In other news, we had the doctor's visit today. They tested for H1N1 and other kinds of flu and for Strep. All good news, as the tests were negative. No ear infection, and her congestion wasn't really in her chest or lungs, even though it sounded that way when she coughed. So, it looks like a run-of-the-mill virus. Good news that it's not more serious. Bad news that there's nothing much to do but tough it out. I hate that. Poor little critter. =(

The doctor's visit was a nightmare. They had to flush out her ears to see whether or not there was an infection. That didn't go well. It's not a painful procedure, but my daughter hated the sound and feeling of the water going into her ears. So she screamed the whole time. Then, off to the lab for the nasal and throat swabs. More screaming. At this point, she was basically just on the edge. I could feel a huge temper tantrum coming on because she doesn't feel good, she was upset over all the poking and prodding, and she just wanted to get the heck outta Dodge. Can't say I blame her. She pulled it together, though. Brave trooper.

After the whole doctor's office thing, I let her pick anything she wanted for lunch. (She picked Mickey D's ... what can I say? For a 5-year-old, that's big stuff. LOLz) We got lunch, went home to eat and watch a bit of TV. Then we headed to Borders. I treated her to a new movie, a stuffed animal, and a book. I figured she deserved it after that ordeal.

On the way out of Borders, she told me it had been a really great day. Then she paused for a moment before adding, "Except for that whole doctor thing."

Given my (continuing) irritation over the fact that our lawn people ruined my yard, my daughter decided to help me out. Yesterday, as I was griping about the whole thing over the phone, she sat down and made a sign for me to hang on the gate -- to let the mowers know they were no longer welcome in my postage stamp-sized yard. Of course, I can't post it because it's absolutely one of my favorite things, ever. She was so sweet and concerned over my feelings, and I love that she wanted to do this to help me. I also love the sign. It made me smile and laugh, changing a bad experience into something more positive. I love that.

Since there is no way I would chance ruining something this precious, I've decided I shall share it with the world! (Or, well, my f-list. =D)

( Click for Pic! )