"Dear Diary..."

since when...??

November!!?
you've got to be kidding!
I'm still waiting for trick-or-treaters to come get all that candy I bought!
crap.
the good news is that I FINALLY have the access "code" for the online class I've been struggling with all semester.
but now that means lots of catch-up (or, as I tell the kinders, "ketchup") work to do.
I'm determined to do it, though, by December 5, last day of classes.
don't want it hanging over my head during the holidays.
tackled a fair amount the last couple of days.
but it's back to school tomorrow.
and a new adventure in substitution awaits:
high school "shop class."
can you believe it??!
hope they aren't working with power tools this week...
later,
Mrs. O'R

delete, edit, and integrate, oh my!

still sorting out feelings about this strange summer of "unemployment," after a stressful, hectic, but very rewarding school year.
I feel as if I went to sleep as an artist, and woke up as an educator, with one foot stepping back into my former life as a music teacher/conductor.
I'm dragging the other foot, as there is still a lot of baggage I'm carrying with me.
but I'm confident that it will all fall into place.
I absolutely loved my time spent subbing, especially after I got to know more kids/teachers and their routines.
and although I was a bit scared at first, I'm so glad I also made the jump back into adjudicating music festivals for WSMA.
those Saturdays at Who-Knows-Where High School can be very long, but I think I'm a good judge, and I have a lot of fun.
and NOW, I'm dusting off the baton, and will be conducting a group of young string players with the Door County String Academy.
it's very exciting.
but I'm also nervous about it all.
want to make sure that all the parts & pieces fit, and don't interfere with the life I have here in Kolberg with Patrick, and the critters.
to all my artist friends, I want you to know that I've not quit "making stuff," but the emphasis has switched.
at first, it was out of necessity - just had to make more money.
but now, I think this is the direction I should go, it's where I'm supposed to be...
later,
Mrs. O'R

October??!?!

I can't believe it's October, and I can't believe how long it has been since I've posted anything here...
crap.
the good news is that I've been very busy subbing, almost every day for the past two weeks.
the bad news is that I did it with a terrible cold and sinus infection, and I'm still coughing and a bit conjested.
still trying to balance subbing with artwork and housework and volunteer work and all the rest, and it's not going very well.
when I do schedule time to "do art," I'm having trouble concentrating, and don't seem very inspired, of late...
but this, too, shall pass, this blue funk I've fallen into.
I think part of it is the weather.
although I love fall, it's also a reminder of the impending winter, a season that seems to get longer as I get older.
need to keep this short, and get back to other work.
among other things on my never-ending TO DO list is website and blog updating, and a trip to the post office.
then Snickers and I will reward ourselves with a nice walk in the autumn sunshine.
that should help with my attitude adjustment.
later,
Patty

sick, broken and discouraged

lately, it seems that most of the time I have when I'm not at the art museum has been in caring for the sick and getting broken things fixed.
the distribution of medications around here has been quite something.
each morning, Thumper has half of two different pills that I shove down her throat.
yes, I've tried putting them in food and treats and such, but she manages to work around them, and then spits them out, so just shoving them down with my finger is much easier and faster.
and she seems to understand that this is for her own good, doesn't put up a fuss.
Snickers now has some liquid anti-inflammatory stuff he gets every day, but because of his recent tooth extraction, he won't allow me to hold his mouth open for the syringe.
normally, he wouldn't blink, but not now, at least not for awhile, anyway.
so I put it in the palm of my hand, and he licks it off - honey flavored, I'm told - yum.
and now, our newest patient, Spike, who for some unknown reason had diarrhea this weekend.
this truly falls under the category of "crap."
I won't go into details, but let's just say I've spent a considerable amount of time sanitizing, doing laundry, and trying to help the little guy clean himself, only to be scratched for my motherly concern and efforts.
but I have managed to get a dropper of Pepto into him three times a day.
by the time I get everyone medicated, I'm ready for a pill!
yesterday we had the unpleasant tasks of getting both the lawn tractor (yes, again!) and the little car fixed.
and both bills were more than expected.
because there were several things that had to be done to the mower, and Patrick wasn't sure just how involved some of them would be, we had the small engine repair guy come and get it, and deliver it back to us when done.
$60!!
I could have cried.
when they went to rotate the tires on the car, we realized just how bad the two in front were, so we replaced them.
more money I hadn't planned on spending this week.
the good news - we had the money to do it.
for that, I'm grateful.
but I admit to being discouraged.
I have my cello advertised for sale, and if I could sell that now, things would feel a lot easier, I'm sure.
but selling a professional-model cello in this part of the planet, in this crappy economy, well, it may take a while.
if anyone's interested, let me know!
better get ready for work.
later,
Patty

Mr. Toad's wild ride

well, although everything I make is crap (I say this annually, right before this show, but I get past it, don't worry), I'm feeling pretty good about the packing progress I've made.
usually, I'm up half the night before we leave, making price tags and packing up all the little odds & ends you need when you do a show, and basically live in your tent for two days.
instead, I was up half the night LAST night, doing that.
but it's done, a day ahead of my usual time, gold star for me.
and Patrick packed the car yesterday with all the tent stuff, panels, poles, weights, etc.
today will be kind of a mad dash to the finish line with everything else.
Patrick has a dental appt. in Green Bay this afternoon, and from there we go directly to Weathered Goods, for the gallery night event.
I better go finish packing, and double-check my list.
later,
Patty

a picture is worth...

I guess that sums it up.
but if I have to whine, at least I've done it artistically.
and it's really no big deal, mostly the weather.
woke up to more snow this morning, which has now changed to this sleet/rain mixture, making it all quite depressing.
I put a print of one of my collages on Etsy last night, and I have another one I might list today.
the schools around here are on spring break, so there won't be any 5 am subbing calls.
must use the time to make stuff, get ready for summer shows and a couple of workshops.
oh, speaking of workshops, I received a lovely invitation from Teresa at Assemblage to a "paper doll social," a reception to kick off a weekend workshop given by Catherine Moore, April 18th-19th.
go HERE for more information.
I really admire her work, maybe I will take one of her classes - maybe that's what I need right now, some hands-on inspiration.

later,
Patty

not so delightful...

before I begin, let me preface this post by saying that I have had two cups of coffee, working on my third, and am fully awake and aware of my surroundings...
having said that, my blog seems to have developed a tick, of sorts.
after reading e-mail and going to the several sites I visit on almost a daily basis, I decided I would "tweak" a few things on my blog.
that's part of the fun of this adventure, right?
wiggling things around, adding new content, etc.
I removed a book from my BOOKS FOR SALE list that I sold yesterday.
I added a link to Assemblage after receiving an e-mail from Teresa, telling me she would like me to teach another class at her wonderful shop, perhaps this summer.
I recently added a section in the left column of "STUFF FOR BLOGGERS," and decided I would move my DELIGHTFUL BLOGS badge over there.
ok, done, no problem.
but as I was scrolling down to see what else I might move around, I noticed that all my text links in my recent posts were gone!
no, wait, the text has actually been changed into one big link.
no matter where I clicked in any of my posts, it was linking to delightfulblogs.com!
well, I thought I must have done something wrong in the move, so I deleted the badge from the typelist, and tried again.
same thing!
so I moved it farther down in the column.
still getting the mass-linkage-thing.
so I moved it back over to the right column.
all is well.
as I age, I'm learning to pick my battles.
in the "old days" I would have persisted, changed it four more times, cursed the very ground that the computer desk is resting on, and started writing e-mails and calling 1-800 numbers to lodge complaints to whomever would listen to me!
it's that perfectionism-run-amok-thing.
but today, it pleases me to say, I calmly created another typelist of MORE BLOGGING STUFF for the right column, and left it there.
but now, much to my horror, the mass-linkage-disease has infected the text in the right column!
well, not all of it.
I click around a bit, and it's only the text of the labels of the typelists.
not wanting to spend any more time on this, I changed the source code, so that the badge and all the extra linkage will now go directly to my page on their site.
as long as everything else is working, why should this be such a big deal?
I've resisted the urge to throw the computer out the second-story window, and/or read the riot act to some poor, unsuspecting tech support person, and I'm feeling quite good about that.
gold stars for me!
more coffee, please.
later,
Patty

sick

and tired.
haven't been feeling well the past couple of days, and this fricking cold weather isn't helping any.
so, I'm taking Thumper's advice:

time to snuggle on the couch with a good book, a cup of tea, and at least one (if not all three!) critters curled up close by.
later,
Patty

p.s. yes, that's a smiley-face sticker on her nose...

crap

crap.
cars.
can't live with them.
can't live without them.
Patrick left for work this morning, went out the back door to the car, as usual.
but he came right back in the house to report that his key would not turn in the ignition of the van.
so I gave him my key, and waited.
but mine didn't work, either.
I threw some clothes on (over my pajamas), and went out to inspect the scene.
for some reason, the steering wheel had not locked when he took the key out last night, so now we could put the key in, but couldn't turn it.
and no amount of wiggling or jiggling did any good.
so he took the other car, I went back inside, put "call Triple A" at the top of my To Do list, and went back to bed.
but the frustration of having a car, that was just fine a few hours ago, incapacitated this way really ticked me off, and not even Thumper's lovely purring could lull me back to sleep.
so I got up, and turned on CNN.
(might as well get good and frustrated, and all before I've even had coffee!)
waited until about 8 am, then called AAA, and the overly sweet woman there put me in touch with the nearest authorized towing service, in Algoma.
he told me he had a lot of cars in the ditch to deal with, but I assured him I was in no rush to get anywhere, and it was not an emergency, I was safe and sound at home, not stranded on a highway somewhere.
he told me it would be after 2 pm, and I called the dealership in Sturgeon Bay, where we have all our service done, to make an appointment for late afternoon.
the tow truck with sled (the flat bed thing they put cars up on, rather than "dragging" them by that pulley and hook thing) pulled up about 3:30, but when I went out to meet the driver, he informed me that our driveway was not clear enough for him to pull in, that he was sure he would get stuck.
stuck!??!
it's a frickin' tow truck!!
AND, it's a frickin' Triple A authorized tow truck!
the driveway, which is a shared driveway with the church next door, is plowed by a driver for the county, a very nice man who happens to be a member of the church next door.
he had cleaned it out nicely on Friday and Saturday, in anticipation of Sunday service.
but the approximately 2" to 3" we received Sunday and Monday had not been cleared yet.
but we had been driving in and out, so I assumed it would be no problem for a truck.
never assume, I was wrong, it was a problem.
the tow truck driver was nice enough to jiggle and wiggle the key in the ignition again, just to make sure, but no luck.
he gave me his business card, and told me to call when the driveway had been plowed.
so, Patrick and I will be clearing snow tomorrow.
if I had known, I could have done it today, while I was waiting.
oh, well.
at least we have one car that is working, and Patrick has the next two days off, so we will deal with it.
but it's an odd thing.
working at home, and because of the price of gas now, I try to keep my trips in to town at a minimum, and I am often home for days at a time, and it doesn't bother me at all.
I really enjoy being home.
but today, knowing that if I wanted to go somewhere, and I couldn't - that bothered me.
crap.
later,
Patty

mystery solved

well, the Case of the Missing Paycheck has been solved.
after several phone calls to various locations around the country, I finally got to talk to a very nice woman in Georgia, who appologized every time she put me on hold, thanked me for my patience, and got to the bottom of the problem fairly quickly.
it seems that when we switched which account our deposit would be made to, we had the correct routing number, the correct account number, but accounting in Georgia submitted it to the bank as a checking account, and not a savings account.
so my bank (soon to be my ex-bank) refused the deposit, sent it back.
now, I appreciate all efforts to keep our money secure and safe, but Georgia Pacific had already run two test deposits (they put in a penny, just to see if its working correctly) over a three week period.
you'd think someone at the bank would have refused one of those!
and, to make matters worse, the bank was snotty about it.
I don't deal well with snotty.
this was something that was beyond my control, and someone in Milwaukee was quite crabby about the whole thing.
the check has been mailed, and we'll be fine.
but it certainly ruined the first half of my day!
number one on my To Do list for Monday - shop for a new bank.

yesterday was a lovely day!
went to the farmers' market in Sturgeon Bay with my neighbor, Carrie.
bought some green beans and new potatos (potatoes? which is it?), then we went up to Wood Orchard, north of Egg Harbor, for honeycrisp apples.
Patrick & I mowed the lawn in the afternoon, so that we can play a little today.
probably going to a movie.

I will attempt those changes again on the website, and I have exciting news that I cannot post until tomorrow, so "tune in."
later,
Patty