Feel Like Complaining

I finished the last two water ones. I made a duplicate of the palm tree to give to Steve's wife. I figure if they take cruises every year, she must like water. There were more tutorials on landscapes but I'm not going to do them all; they're too much like some I've already done, so these are two that I've finished so far. This one is on larger paper and I really love how it turned out. If I want to frame anything, they have to be matted so I'm not sure if that will happen; but I would consider to do this one. These two were something I was trying to duplicate but she made it look a whole lot easier (don't they all) Tony liked them though. I saw this cotton candy sky one afternoon before sunset as I was driving from home back to Steve's. Other than the sky, I didn't know what to put on it, so just drew in some Spokane things.

I joined Threads about a month ago. I had seen little snippets on Instagram and curiosity got the best of me. First I created another Instagram because I didn't want Threads connected to my current pet sitting account. I don't post a whole lot anymore because I'm just seeing the same clients and that gets kind of boring. Family and a few friends follow me though, and I just want to be more anonymous on Threads.  So far I really like it and many people voice the same feeling. It's like a bunch of strangers just sitting around and shooting the breeze. You chime in if you want to or just eavesdrop. My current algorithm of what's in my feed is: Cancer diagnoses/cures Breakups/new romances Depression Anti Maga Grief Cats and more cats either lost-found-passed-rescued  Christmas trees and Christmas blues Weight loss Chronic illness Introverts Local photography Very strong women who have suffered greatly but worked hard to find their way out LGBTQ+ Artists I still do FB be...

I did these while I spent 17 days at Steve's. I see my mistakes and mine don't look like Kolbie's; but why would they? She's taught me so much about just enjoying the process so I look at each piece as a learning tool and have no problem with just living with it, or throwing it away to start over. This is only 8 out of the 10 and I might have to wait until I get back to Steve's to finish up.  These few I did with other tutorials Now before you go throwing accolades my way, I painted Abe, ha!

I had continued on with the tutorials I had paid for. The next one was trees and then mountains. I didn't care for the mountain lessons at all! I needed a brain reset so I started painting my own Christmas cards; it's been a lot of fun. I also did a Hanukkah card for our neighbor Steve and 2 all-occasion cards.  I'm not sure how many I did, because I didn't take pics of the duplicates. I got a little burnt out so it was time to move on to something else. I loved the woman whose tutorials I bought; and found a bunch of free one's on her web site. Next week: Painting the wilderness, seascapes. But first, this is our new Christmas tree. As much as I loved our old one (26 y/o), it just took too long to set it up and I couldn't see 1/3 of the TV. This one is a pre-lit pencil tree and we still could load a lot on it, and I can see the TV! There will be no prezzies under it, because SF was our Christmas. Seems like a fair trade to me but just in case Tony and Faith are...

The lady I used to work for would say that when she and her husband had so many Dr. appointments. October and November has been busy for all of us and our doctoring.  Tony had cataract surgery and about a million follow-ups. He's doing well and only needs readers so far. He also had his earing aids turned up a bit (Thank you Christine). Faith has been to her Primary and foot doctor for Plantar Fasciitis. She got it before vacation so he prescribed Prednisone and it really helped a lot but now comes home limping most nights. She's doing everything she's supposed to do but when she's on her feet all day, it's hard to get better. And me? I feel like I've needed a full tune-up. I went to my doctor because I'm having leg problems. Weird cramps/pain up and down my legs. Tiny little spasms that never stop. She asked me a lot of questions and said it didn't sound like restless legs but she prescribed some medicine that is for Parkinson's and restless legs. I...

Before we left on vacation, Faith had gotten an email from Indeed saying she was a match for a job as a Vet Assistant. She was hesitant to apply due to fear and past experiences but I told her to go for it. After we got home, she had an interview, then a working interview and was hired full time a few days later.  She's only been there a month, but seems to like it so far. It's a ways to drive but instead of taking the freeway, she drives past Mom's old mobile home community twice a day.  She's still in the training stage, mostly following around, but taking on more responsibility. They take things nice and slow and always work in teams. It's the only clinic in town that uses the Fear Free practices. It was developed by Dr. Marty Becker, a local vet, and is now worldwide. Every employee has to take a test to be certified and Faith was told it was hard and it took many tries for some, even the vet (6 tries). Faith got her certification in 2! She's also certified ...

Our flight was leaving at 1:15 so we didn't have much for breakfast at the hotel. Overall their breakfasts were just ok. They had the usual make your own pancake machine, breads, and cereals. I personally like a good breakfast meat but all they ever had was either chicken sausage (yuck) or pork link (almost as yuck). Eggs were either scrambled or some kind of omelet thing and one day they were still frozen (double yuck). And the potatoes; pure grossness of pale barely warm squares. It's a big hotel and it was packed every morning so I think some of the quality goes out the window trying to keep up with the demand. We took an Uber (too far for a Waymo) to the airport and had a really nice lunch before boarding. The flight was great and we were home by 4:45, just in time to feed Abe. He survived; our neighbor did a good job. He just fed him and didn't hang out for awhile to keep him company though, which made me sad. After he did his zoomies and settled in his saucer I went t...