yippee!

what a great day! I got my contact sheet and CD from the photog (of my artwork) and it is Fabulous!! i can't wait to get the website rolling rolling rolling! then i got my new 24/7 contacts and they are finally the right prescription! what a big difference. i like wearing contacts better than my 3-inch thick glasses, but the extra time it takes to put them on in the morning is time better spent with Diva. then there's the whole extra tote bag filled with cases and cleaners and re-wetters and glasses for reading and glasses-just-in-case...oy...who NEEDS it?? so these stay in for 30 days...day and night. and when you're as blind as i am, it can be a scary thing to think about getting out of somewhere in a hurry at night...an unfamiliar hotel, etc. not that i habitually spend my nights in hotels - unfamiliar or otherwise. but still... i stopped in to work to pick something up, and went down to the cafeteria....the woman who owns it...her father is an artist - he did the statues on 690 at the old train station. he's just getting back into things after a 10 year illness/recovery from arsenic poisoning. he used to work with a lot of pressure treated wood, and that's where it came from. who knew. so that's why they won't cut your lumber at Home Depot. anyway, we've been chatting about doing face casting, and he's offered to teach me the finer points. very generous. ANYWAY i wanted to show him my work, since it's very hard to describe. he was genuinely blown away...in fact, he wants to trade art. now, i would DEFINATELY be on the better end of that bargain, but talk about the ultimate flattery. i love my art...i love making it, despite the frustration at times....i love seeing it in my livingroom...i'm pleasantly surprised when someone wants to buy it. but it's such a solitary thing, the creating, that i guess i never picture the piece leaving me - even when i'm making it as a gift. when i do give a piece as a gift, it truly feels like i am giving a part of myself to that person. quilter's call people "quiltworthy" - those people that appreciate the time and effort and skill that goes into making a quilt...the one's that ooo and ahhh, and don't thank you for the "blanket." the same goes for people that are "artworthy." they may not understand the piece you give them or even like it, but they understand what went into it, and that you are giving them something from your soul. of course, if you know a person well enough to consider them artworthy, then the piece you make for them should strike a chord with them. ** Diva is about the same. she did toe-tap, as the vet calls it, a few times today when i took her out, and put the foot down to tink. so maybe it is beginning to heal. she's getting a little stir crazy...dragging Big Brown Bear around the floor and shaking him a little. she needs more snuggles than usual, which is A LOT. i almost want to buy one of those Snugglies that you carry babies around in. she's gotten heavy! when she first came to live with me, she only weighed 7 lbs and had no fur whatsoever...just a little down. she looked like a plucked chicken. boy has that changed! ** so the glimmer of a thought of an idea is beginning to gel a bit more. i need to rest in it and not try to force it, or it'll get all caught up in my normal chaos of thoughts and get strangled. diva's going to gramma's tomorrow, so i'll have some extended shower/meditation time. geez, either i'm having a heart attack here, or that chicken wing stuffed chicken breast i had for dinner is burning a hole through my guts. it was good...wegmans ready to eat stuff...split boneless breast stuffed with who-knows-what with bleu cheese crumbles, chicken wing sauce, cheese and more unknowns. but hells bells...my lips are burned and chapped and 3 Tums and a soy milk latte later and it still feels like chicken chernobyl going off in my esophagus. yikes. of course i can't drink a regular milk to neutralize it, since i'm lactose intolerant and that would create a whole new set of problems. getting old just sucks. i could eat flaming metal and drink a gallon of milk when i was ...not this age. now...i thank God that my neighbor is a fireman and 1st responder! ** so i gave a bunch of clothes to the Rescue Mission 2 weeks ago. yesterday, i realized that i gave them 2 pair of pants that actually fit. see, i have a pair of blue work pants and a pair of black work pants...classic, all weather, Big Girl Job pants. the 1st pair i got were a size 4. then i got the same pants in a 6. etc till size 10. they go with everything and take the hassle out of getting dressed at dark o'clock. well, i gave away the 10's and no longer wonder why i was sooo very uncomfortable at work yesterday. i almost split the zipper and was fretting about having to buy yet another size, just when i had a closet full of brand new THIS size. (of course at this moment, NO size would be comfortable, as the tummy is expanding by the minute to try and get away from the alien inside it). well, time to stand up and give it room...i feel like the blueberry girl from willie wonka. i bought a stack of magazines at B&N today and am drooling with anticipation! i truly have a magazine addiction. and i do not want a cure. it's bad when the whole staff at B&N knows you by name and asks about your dog and your art. yep. there are worse things. L.