Happy Halloween, everyone! And a Blessed Samhain for all of my Pagan/Wiccan friends.

Anybody doing anything fun for Halloween? I have a pumpkin all carved out and I'm going to take my little guy trick-or treating after dinner.

Commissions: Open.
Trades/Requests: Closed.

Bleh. I've been so busy lately, I don't know what to do with myself!!

I started taking pain medication last month for my back. It's great, but it's taken me that long to stop feeling like an absolute zombie. I think I'm finally used to them; I don't feel like sleeping all day like I did. Whew. I still get drowsy, but I'm able to ignore it most of the time.

My son started Pre-K on the 10th of September; it's kind of hard watching him get on the bus and having to trust someone else to take care of him for a few hours during the day. I'm always afraid someone's going to lose him between here and there. He is, afterall, only 4. But he absolutely loves school! I'm so glad. I was expecting this big, dramatic tears-and-screaming deal the first time I had to put him on the bus. Nope. He almost forgot to say goodbye to me, he was in such a hurry to go up the bus steps. I'm so proud of him. Every day he comes home and tells me what he had for lunch, and what story they read, and all sorts of other things that made an impression on his day. Today, apparently, he was digging up little dinosaurs out of a big box of sand. I get such a kick out of all the things he tells me every afternoon.

Also got myself "new" bedroom furniture, which has caused me to turn my whole house upside-down in order to get ready for it. Apparently my brother is getting new furniture, and he was getting rid of the stuff that my Mom had made for the two of us years ago. I mean, we're talking sturdy, brick sh*thouse kind of furniture. Forever furniture. (Unlike some of the stuff I currently have, which is oh, circa 19060's - 1970's and isn't quite, um....lasting that well.) I just couldn't say no.

First they wanted to ship it up here via moving company. That is, until they quoted them this completely ridiculous amount of money just to travel 230 miles. I moved my whole house & family from Florida - 1200+ miles - for way less money than these people wanted. So my hubby had to go down and get it - and drive a moving truck back here with it. Easy, right? HAHAHAHA.

The stuff wouldn't fit out my Mom's front door. I about had a hernia when I heard that. My hubby and my brother wound up dragging 3 HUGE pieces of furniture through my Mom's house, up the back stairs, through my grandparent's house, back down the front stairs, and then into the truck. It sounded like an absolute fiasco from my end of the phone. I'm SO glad I wasn't there to see it. I couldn't have been any happier to see that truck finally get here. Of course, in an odd twist of irony, it took all of 10 minutes to get it upstairs and into my house.

So...in the meanwhile, all the contents of my bedroom are in my dining room. I have SO much cleaning to do. I can't find my table, or most of my floor in there. Doesn't leave a lot of time for anything else, but I'm trying to fit in stuff here and there. Bear with me, I swear I'm not hibernating. Really.

Commissions: Open.
Trades/Requests: Closed.

Well, after 4 years of being in agony all the time with back pain, I finally lost my mind and went to the doctor to practically beg for some relief. (I hate taking medication, and I really consider it a last resort.) But 4 years of not really sleeping, and slowly getting into a depressive funk about feeling lousy every day kind of takes its toll. So I basically made myself go yesterday, hoping that I'd come home with something.

I've had another doctor swear up and down that I need back surgery immediately. When I told him that was out of the question, his answer was to begrudgingly put me on narcotic painkillers. Great for a while, but eventually ineffective. That and it's hard to watch your kids when you're well, all wacky on those things. I've had acupuncture. Works great, but can't afford it anymore, and my insurance tends to not want to pay for alternative medicine.

My doc looked at an MRI that I had done a while ago, said I was right to refuse surgery, but that I shouldn't feel like I have to walk around afraid to ask for medication (it's become a sad trend that because of people who abuse prescription painkillers, people who need them have a hard time getting them). So she tells me about this painkiller that's narcotic-like, but not a controlled substance, and she thinks I'd do good with muscle relaxers too. So of course I'm suspicious because nothing seems to work on me. She writes me a small prescription for both in case they don't work. So I go home and take one of these painkillers.

Wow.

I can get through most of a day on ONE. It's pretty amazing. The muscle relaxers actually made me sleep last night, something I haven't done real well in 4 long years. I can't take those during the day, because they make me uncontrollably sleepy, not to mention, well, floppy. So maybe this is a good thing. Maybe now I can actually sit down and do some artwork again - it's been too painful to do anything lately.

*crosses her fingers that she has found the magic "Pain Be Gone" Potion*

Commissions: Open.
Trades/Requests: Closed.

I tend to get in my van (and occasionally the car) and drive when I need to clear my head or I just want to relax. I can just listen to some music and watch the road go by. However, every single time, without fail, I find every jerk on the face of the Earth is out driving at the same time.

A few weeks ago, I had to follow this person going 10 miles an hour on a road that regularly travels at 50. Worse, she came to a complete stop trying to go over the train tracks. Huh?! Oh I just wanted to scream. I'd been driving for 2 hours back from my in-laws and I just wanted to go home.

Had someone try to pass me on the right - with my son in the car. The right lane ends in that spot. Anyone who lives around here knows this. Anyone who's been taught to drive in this state knows passing on the right is illegal. If my son wasn't with me, I swear I would have followed this moron to wherever it was he was going and gave him a piece of my mind. Instead, he got an earful of horn and the ol' finger out the window.

And today, to top it all off, I find....a drunk. At 6pm on a Saturday. With his passenger side wheels so far over to the right of the road, I was waiting for him to roll off into the ditch at the side of the road. In a brand-new car, nonetheless, his arm hanging lazily out the window. Occasionally he'd bobble all the way to the left and almost into the car next to him. And of course, that person wasn't daring to just speed up and get the heck away from him, either. And there wasn't any room for me to get around either of them without doing something completely illegal on a road that's normally full of cops (except when you want one, of course). Argh!

Driving is supposed to be relaxing, not aggravating. I wonder where people get their licenses - is it out of a box of Lucky Charms or something?

End rant, exit stage left.

Gah! I came back from my week of absolute giggling with and there were way too many messages waiting for me. I've somehow managed to go through most of them, thankfully. If I missed yours, don't worry, I'll get to it.

Speaking of messages, I am noticing a rather persistent pattern, so I thought I'd address it right now while I'm thinking about it.

A word about requests:

I am no longer taking free requests. I have a very marginal amount of free time in one day; doing free requests takes time away from the people who are actually paying me to do commissions for them. Art supplies are expensive - mine are running out with no way to readily replace all of them as fast as I use them. So sorry, freebies are a definite no.

A word about trades:

Trades are closed right now because I'm waiting for some people to catch up on their halves. And again, I've also got a very limited amount of free time (which happens when you have kids). If I've already done a trade with you, be fair to others and give someone else a chance to ask me. Thanks!

In other thoughts, I was going to do a real short tutorial on how I do highlights in hair - since several people have asked me. Unfortunately, my camera is acting up. It refuses to take clear pictures because something is screwy with the digital display. Poo. (I'm thinking it's probably because UPS dropped it when they lost the box it was in for two weeks) When my hubby comes back from the Land Down Under, I'll try my luck with our other camera.

Well, I'm off to enjoy what's left of my peace and quiet....it'll be over soon and everything will be back to the usual chaos that is my house.