Where for art thou, Sandman?

I have now been up for almost a full 36 hours. I was able to sneak in a 50 minute nap at one point. The bags under my eyes are deep and grey and when I look in the mirror, I see a sunken gauntness closely resembling Death warmed over. It does happen to be October, so I might be able to get away with this look for a few more weeks, but I'd really rather not.

I need my Sandman (can I request a Sandwoman?). Ah, yes, the ramblings of delirium. I shall leave this up even after I've had enough sleep and I read it over again realizing I was tapping out drivel on the edge of the cliff of dream deprivation.

I'm so tired I can't tell if that last sentence sounds poetic or pathetic. I'm going to bet on pathetic because I seriously doubt that I can be poetic with so little mind left. And I have come to the resounding conclusion that dreaming is a bodily necessity. Okay, not exactly. I might look like Death, but I'm nowhere near it. I'm well fed, watered and can still stand up straight, albeit with a slight lilt that portends a wont of drunkenness.

Portends? Wont? Where do I get these words of old? Of that, I am not certain. What I am certain of, however is that my soul is elder to by body. My soul feels as though it hath lived a thousand years and the desire to follow the path of love, hope and prosperity is strong in her. Which is why, I believe, I have followed my true self finally and fallen in love with the one who has stolen my heart from me. She walks on the path of hope and I walk beside her on the path of prosperity. Together we create the path of love.

Damn, I do ramble. I shall get a laugh out of this in a day or three. And now I've gone all mushy on top of it!

Time to go bathe Elektra and then read to the kids (The Hobbit is a little over half way done now). Then, in half an hour, I will shower, dry, and take some melatonin.

I have gotten to a point of sleep deprivation now, where if I don't take a sleep aid, I will lie awake for hours again.

Here I am Sandwoman, blow your sleep dust in my eyes and take me to dreamworld!

Colds, moving, painting and vacation!

I don't get sick. And when I do get down (I refuse to call it "sick"), I drink the amount of fluid I should have been drinking in a day all along, take a handful of vitamins, sleep like I should every night and take a hot bath. I get back up, get over it and get on with my life. I don't have time to get sick and I don't take time for myself as often as I should. A combination that baffles most of the people I know.

So, once or twice a year, I get down. It is my body's way of telling me I need to take better care of myself. It is a reminder to hydrate, dose up on the vitamins and take a good long nap...also called a night's sleep in the book of most.

I typically sleep anywhere from 3 to 6 hours a night when I am in my own home. When I'm at Steph's house, I sleep usually much better...anywhere from 6 to 10 hours. She also makes me drink water. Blech! I know, she's just taking care of me, but I never have been and doubtfully will ever be a water drinker.

At the beginning of the month, we moved Steph to a new home. It is super cute but was a bit needy in the cosmetic arena. So, off to Lowe's we went and checked out the "mistake paint" section. You know, the buckets of paint that they mixed with the wrong amount of magenta or cyan...well it's only 5 bucks for a gallon (as opposed to the $28 or so you'd pay if you picked it yourself). We discovered the perfect two shades...one a warm tan and one a very light yellowish colour. We already had about a gallon of a warm tan colour that we took from the last place she lived.

So, we get back home with all our supplies including some brushes and rollers borrowed from a friend and mix together the two tans. The result: a perfectly homey, warm, inviting almost coffee with cream colour. We get started taping off the doors and windows and painting the walls in the living room. Transformation abounds!

While standing on a chair painting a corner Steph says "You put me to work when I'm supposed to be relaxing. It's the weekend." And while painting the wall next to a door, I say "Yes, and you are doing a great job!"

She loved it. She might not admit it right away, but she enjoyed it...until her throat started to hurt and a headache crept up on her.

Then, I painted the kitchen. She helped with the hall way and I did the bathroom. The house is now covered in a fresh coat of paint and looks very much better.

Steph, however is now coughing, sneezing, sputtering and hurting. She has had about 6 cups of throat coat tea (she hates tea) to try to make herself feel better. I bought her some soup and a box of cornbread mix. She was sick of cough drops. She'll be staying home tomorrow.

I'm refusing to get sick. I came home and put some chicken into my crock pot. Time to make my homemade chicken soup. Maybe I'll take some to Steph tomorrow.

We leave for a vacation at the end of this month. She'll be better, I won't get it and if it kills me, I'm going to make sure we have the time of our lives! No, really...I know we will have a great time. I'm actually more worried about finding a suitcase!

Tally ho!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

October is breast cancer awareness month. Not sure why there is only one month to bring awareness to this devastating disease, but ranting is not what my post today is about.

Today, I write to let you know that you too can help fight to fund the cure for breast cancer. I do. Every year I make a donation to fund breast cancer research. So far I have raised over $500. No, it's not a lot, but I've been doing it for only 3 years, I'm a single mom and I was recently laid off from a job I had for 10 years so I'm thinking, hey, it's not too shabby!

If you would like to help me fund the fight for a cure and add to the $500 I've already raised, you can follow these instructions:

To place a Pink Ribbon order, go to
http://www.zazzle.com/jessicainseattle/gifts?cg=196234559202906390
and order any of the products in that category.
Thank you to all who have helped to fund the fight for a cure already!

If you would like to follow my progress, you can join my product page here (or click the link on my blog page):

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Seattle-WA/Jessica-In-Seattles-Gallery-on-Zazzle/108398079188486

I would love to have more fans and have you pass on the word that they too can help to raise fund to fight for a cure for breast cancer.

Have you done your monthly self exam or made an appointment for your next mammogram yet?

Jess

Vincent Van Carle?

I'm in a position financially that makes it impossible for me to pay for extracurricular classes for my kids at this time.

So of course, my nine year old son became very interested in an art workshop after seeing a flyer passed out at his school. Seventy dollars to teach a child about collages for one hour a week for five weeks seemed rather steep to me...even if I could afford it.

Being the ingenious mom that I am, I decided I would take it upon myself to play the role of teacher yet again and this time, teach art.

So, I did some studying (something all teachers should do), and I know that my son loves Vincent Van Gogh. He especially loves Van Gogh's Starry Night.

Asking a nine year old to recreate Starry Night would cause said nine year old much undue stress however since he is as much of, if not more than, a perfectionist with his art as I am.

Since the workshop was about collages, that gave me an idea. And I know of a very fun artist, that my kids also recognize...Eric Carle. You know, the author and illustrator of books such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Well, all of Eric Carle's illustrations are in a unique collage form.

So, my son and I together are going to recreate Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night in the flavor of Eric Carle. We picked up a few art supplies last night and I shall have to post a picture of it upon it's completion.