Hopefully, this will wrap up my yacking about health matters. I know it's really exciting for you all to read about every detail. But I did want to mention that I took a B12 tablet yesterday (which I've had all along, I just wasn't taking them) and the effects were almost immediate. First of all, let me mention that I had looked up symptoms of B12 deficiency and saw many that matched my own. One thing that had concerned me was a feeling of muscle weakness. When I tried to write my hand didn't want to cooperate. After the B12 that weakness went away, my mind was clearer and I really just felt good! I wasn't expecting such a fast result, so I don't think it was a placebo effect, but I sure do intend to keep taking it! I read something by Dr. Weil where he said it isn't possible to take too much. The ones I got at Walmart are 1000mcg, and the recommended amount for an adult is 2.4mcg's, so I was concerned about taking too much. He also recommended a B-Complex, which I will buy when I run out of these. I guess I hadn't been eating enough meat or something that I needed for B12, but it sure is a necessary thing! I'm not sure if this has anything to do with what I thought were allergic symptoms. Maybe I was just mistaking my symptoms for allergies and it was really a need for B12.
Poor Micah and the kids are dealing with a stomach bug now. It just seems to be one thing after another lately. Let's all just stay home, okay? :)
I'm slurping on a smoothie and trying to eat better. This one has raspberries, blackberries, kale, oj, grape juice, melon and a little banana. I use mostly frozen produce since I can't use up the fresh stuff fast enough. The oj and grape juice are mainly to thin it out. Tastes pretty good. Yesterday I added a little powdered milk and turmeric. It's different every time, but that makes it more fun!
Jody, if you're reading this, do you guys still drink coffee? Or just tea? I'm trying to decide if I should keep coffee as my one treat. I would have to have sugar and creamer in it, so it breaks the rules, but I had a headache this morning and I wondered if that was what it was from. No coffee. I did get a small one at the store when I picked up my mail, hee hee. Headache's gone.
I felt like doing a little art today, but I didn't want the mess of watercolors, so I did some color pencil drawing. This is copied from an ATC I did a long time ago. It was kind of a fun change of pace. I just used some Crayola colored pencils. I'd like to do more of this sketchbook sort of thing so I can actually save some pieces. Perhaps I can come up with some paintings and drawings that could be printed up on blank note cards. I may get my ideas from old ATC's that I've given away.
I'm reading Idyll Banter, along with a few others I've been reading for a while. I think it's a pleasant read. I enjoy his style and humor.
You folks have a pleasant evening. I'll be checking up on you!
Shalom!
Nice to see the sun this morning! Well, it was a little foggy at first, but it's shaped up very well since then. Sixty-six degrees! Flowers are blooming and lady bugs are hatching out!
I woke up at about 4 a.m. feeling very croaky in the bronchial tubes, so I arose and made myself a cup of coffee hoping that some warmth in the area would get things opened up and moving. I sat on the couch, closed my eyes and communed with the Lord for a while. I sometimes think He wakes me at 4 in the morning because it's the only time He can get me to sit still and listen! Could be! Because of that, I slept in late.
I spent quite a bit of time this morning making a birthday card for my granddaughter Chloe, who will turn 10 next Wednesday. She lives in the Baltimore area and I don't know her very well. I've only seen her a few times because they live so far away. She belongs to my step-son Trev and his wife Rhonda who I talked about in a recent post. It's surprising that I don't make more cards since I have so many art supplies lying around, but the few times I have made them I've been a little disappointed. For Chloe's card I used all stickers and it was a lot of fun! I think it's a lot more cheerful than one of my watercolor paintings. I wrote a little message inside, which reminded me of something I just read in my Bible the other day: "I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write." I always chuckle at that last line. :) Anyway, this is what it looks like.
I really slathered on the stickers! The nice thing about stickers is, they're always making new ones!
back of card
I've always loved this painting. I can't remember the name of the artist! Anyone know? Phoebe something? I was all ga-ga over her work for a while, but got a little tired of her feminist message. But I do like her painting style, so I may commandeer this for the backs of all of my cards. ;)
These drawings are for an online challenge called Inktober. Every October there's a challenge to draw something in ink every day for a month. They have a list of prompts, but we don't have to follow it. I'm just posting my pictures on ATC's for All, which is where I do my ATC swapping. A group of us are doing this together.
Here's the photo I used for the drawing above. I came across this when I was looking for pictures of fish to draw. I thought they were so cute! I never really thought about what the duck was seeing when its tail was up in the air!
An ATC I made for someone.
Son-in-law Adam and his father and a friend are putting up the rafters on the new house today! They've also put up a lot of plywood on the outside walls, but since they're doing board-and-batten siding they have to cut zillions of little boards to nail in between the wall studs so they have something to nail into from the outside when they put up the siding. Piddly work, but they are patient guys. I'll have to remember to take my camera along sometime to document the progress for my two male readers, Dad Glenn and Brother Mark. Remember...that's the operative word!
I just finished this rooster which will be mailed off to cheer up a fellow ATC maker. It's an 8x10 canvas. :)
Oh, I've been spending lots of time watching YouTube videos while I've been sick this week. (Since when do I need an excuse?) This lady (below) has tons of videos and they're all 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 HOURS long. They are streaming videos, but they're from a couple of years ago. Anyway, I'm trying not to watch too many of them, but if you just want something artsy to watch when you're not feeling up to doing anything more demanding you might want to give it a try. In this video she's showing us how to get all of our creative ideas organized in one 3-ring binder. I don't think I need this much room and I think she takes WAY too long to explain it. (And this is only one of many videos about it!) But it was pleasant listening when I'm feeling puny. Here it is:
YouTube has been acting kind of funny, so I hope this works. Anyway, you could spend a lifetime watching her videos, so control yourselves!! LOL
I will talk to you all later! Have a great day!
Shalom.
...was really MY larder! I'm touched that you believe me to be so awesome as to have such a larder. Nay, I must confess, I Googled "hobbit larder" to find this fine example. I wanted Badger to have something more in keeping with his habits and tastes than my boring little pantry. In this alternate universe I like to call The Wind in the Willows World Wide Tour, anything is possible, if we just think it up!
The wind is whistling around the house and slushy snow is falling outside. Badger and I are enjoying an evening of hygge. I asked if he would consider posing for his portrait. He thought it would pass the time pleasantly. Here's the rough sketch. I'll update as watercolors are added.
After some sketching, tea was made and we sat before a roaring fire reading and knitting. As I continued the saga of Jane Eyre, Badger was clicking away on his double pointed knitting needles, producing a pair of thick, woolen socks. I must have him teach me how to do this!
(from the internet)
My work schedule has made it difficult to entertain Badger as I would like to. He, however, has been the ideal guest and has managed to see some of the sights himself during my work day. The second day he was here he hiked into my small town of Nevis and was quite impressed with our Tiger Muskie statue.
(This statue is actually here in Nevis. The pic, however, is from the internet.)
He continued on down the trail to the town of Akeley, a five mile jaunt, and visited our very impressive Paul Bunyan statue. He cajoled two children into posing on Paul's boot so we could see how BIG he is. We seem to be enamored of giant statues in this neck of the woods. This British badger seems to think nothing of a 10 mile walk! He said he found it quite invigorating!
(Yes, he's actually 5 miles down the road. Internet photo.)
My house is back on the market at a reduced price. I actually had a realtor show it yesterday. That's the first showing all summer. I have no idea what the result of that showing was, but I'm thinking I'd better get a little serious about looking into housing alternatives, just in case. Badger and I have been making a list of things I need to find out about apartments in the area. This could be exciting, if I keep the right frame of mind. I'll be working on that. If things get too exciting, too quickly, I may need to put Badger on a bus to his next destination. We'll see how things develop. I don't want him getting lost in the confusion. :) Meanwhile, we'll enjoy staying warm away from the cold, sloppy weather. I finally have two days off! Hoorah!
I had an early day at work so I was home by 3:00. I did a little more painting on my acrylic sunflower. I just have the flat base colors on, so far. I look forward to adding lots of layers, and hopefully ending up with a decent looking painting. :)
I got some big, fat needles and started making...something. I'm using two colors of yarn and I like the chubby, soft texture of the resulting fabric.
Oh, on the way home from work I stopped off at the library book sale! Here's my loot!
Three of these are books that I donated to the book sale a while back and found them on the shelves this time around. I decided I might want to read them after all. Someday! Why did I get TWO copies of the Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market? They're full of great articles about writing! :)
Okay. Enough computerizing! Y'all have a nice evening, shalom, and stay warm!
It dawned on me yesterday that my blog has become more of a family photo blog rather than an art blog. Well, I think there's room here for both, but I'd like to get back into doing more art. I was watching some "sketchbook flips" on YouTube and one young lady encouraged me to just keep on sketching. Try to do some every day, but not in a compulsive way.
This first sketch reminds me of why I don't like drawing with pencil! I always smear it. This guy is a little out of perspective, but I felt like I had accomplished something just by drawing him/her.
When Zach commented that my drawing of a phoenix in this post looked almost "happy" and "huggable" I took it as a challenge, heh, heh... We all know that a happy, huggable phoenix is not a real phoenix at all, so I did my best to build a better version. And here he is.
I took pictures of each step as I colored it so I could remember what I did...
Close-up to see details...
Probably my last phoenix drawing. There are too many things to draw in this world to do too many do-overs. :D
