Happy St. Patrick's Day

For a change it isn't snowing and freezing here. The inspiration for the picture comes from the fact that Chicago dyes the river green each year for their big St. Patrick's Day Parade. I don't think the leprechaun's companions are as amused as he is. The picture is called "Leprechaun Humor."

I have lately been rereading Andrew Greeley's Nuala Anne books. I enjoy his books not only because they are well written but he also brings a definite connection to my Irish heritage. You learn a great deal about the Irish both past and present from his books.

 

Lot's of Art Coming Up

It is taking forever for the Star Wars III trailer to download but I'm determined to see it tonight. Right that would be me and a million others as slow as it is going. ;-)

It is going to snow again all weekend so I'm devoting the time to doing artwork. I have a St. Patrick's Day picture I'm working on and then I'll do my Easter one. It promises to be really silly. After that I am going to do a series of 4 pictures with Feng Shui themes that my niece would like. I hope to have them done in time to present them as a wedding gift. I also have a wedding dress to make for her based on the Princess Bride movie and find and learn the Irish Wedding Song that I promised to sing at her wedding. It is a good thing she is giving me a year to try and get all of this done.

One Giant Step

I have finished the last story for the first "Sean's Stories" book. It came in at a whopping 55 pages so I hesitate to call it a short story. It does set up everything though so I can go back and do the novel "Caledonia" which tells the story of magic being brought into the worlds and the story of the elves, unicorns and dragons plus the coming into being of the Dark One. I did a new cover picture for the book. I am now trying to find all the information I can on how to get the book published. That is my goal for this year.

Other then that life is still going good. I am happy at work and I am working for someone who appreciates me for a change. What a difference from my old job!

 

A New Year

It was a fairly quiet Christmas and New Year. I am thankful that my Mom is doing fairly well. I am also so thankful that I have a great boss for a change. It is so nice to have someone that appreciates my hard work and lets me know how much she appreciates it. After having to deal with a lying, jealous, team leader at my old job I am so blest to have a good person to report to. I know that the problems are still occurring at my old job which proves what a liar that woman was. I am glad to be out of that situation.

I have been much more creative now that I'm free of the stress. I have one more story to complete and I will have enough to try and get my book published. My first picture for the new year is called "Dream Weaver" and I am very pleased with it.

I am not one for making resolutions but I do hope that this year I can set up a internet business and sell my art work. I also am going to pursue getting my cookbook and my stories published.

 

I'm Still Here Honest

I have had problems with the computer and wasn't able to access much on line. I got the machine back on Tuesday and have been trying to reinstall all of my software ever sense. Being an artist I have tons of software that has to be put back on. The hard drive gave up the ghost but fortunately I learned a long time ago to put my data on a second physical drive so that I wouldn't lose any of my art work. Now all I have to do is try and get all the Christmas pictures and cards done.

A MacGyver Moment

I think I've mentioned that my brother is hopeless in the repair department. The towel rack in the upstairs bathroom was coming off the wall so I took it apart to see what I could do. The wall is just simply flimsy wallboard with no lumber backing in that spot. The wall had a hole in it and nothing to stick repair gunk onto. It appears that the towel rack had been moved at one time and Mike had pulled on it making the hole worse. The butterfly clips that would hold the bracket up had nothing to hold on to in the wall since what it was holding onto had crumbled away. So I took heavy duty spackling and made a patch to hold the butterfly clips to hold the bracket. Since the remaining wall was uneven the holder needed help. I realized I would have to glue the holder to the wall since the bracket couldn't support it completely. Unfortunately with this particular holder the rod had to be in place before I could try and fasten the it. Well, that was too much weight for the thing to stay up and not feeling like staying up all night holding the blasted thing until it dried I looked for another solution. Well, there happens to be a flat basket with flowers hanging on the wall right over the towel rack. The nail that held it up was centered over the towel rack. Aha! Mac moment! I took dental floss and tied it to the nail and strung it down to the towel rack and tied it to the center of the bar. Viola! Enough support to hold the towel rack and brackets in place until the glue dried. And since the wall is so weak I decided to leave the floss in place since the arrangement hides almost all of it and you really can't see the floss around the bar because of the towels.

Feeling Good

It is amazing how much better I feel now that I am away from my old job and working for mature people who appreciate my talents. The stress of having to deal with a talentless person who was promoted above her level of competence and decide to persecute me for her failings was really causing the stress level in my life to be so severe that I was constantly ill. Since I started my new job and moved to Indiana I haven't had any health problems. Even though I can't take my regular asthma medicine until I get health coverage next month I haven't had a single asthma attack.

On the kitty front Merlin is growing a real thick winter coat and keeps making a "nest" out of the throw on the bed. I think he is trying to tell me that glaciers are coming down this winter. ;-)