ellenmillion

FIVE INCHES OF SNOW! I'll try to take some photos when it's a little brighter out.

Piano lesson accomplished.

Laundry is folded and put away.

Just a note that if you're looking for cards, I have some available:


Not very many of the Christmas Kitties are left (They say Wishing you Magic and Merriment this Holiday Season inside). I have about 40 in stock. $3.50 apiece, 10 (mix and match!) for $20, $5 flat shipping fee in the US for any order size. (Inquire for other countries) The Christmas Kitties are big 5 x 7 inch cards, the flowers are 5.5 x 5.5 inches (blank interior), envelopes included.

Aging pets are hard. Just, hard.

A few nights ago, Norway tried to get up the front steps and failed. There are only two, and they aren't that steep, but he was having a bad back legs day. We put out the truck ramps for him, but they are metal, and although strong, sort of rattly. He looked at them, he looked at me, and said nope. I did finally get him up them with a firm hand on his collar, but it wasn't much fun. The next day, he ignored them and hopped down the steps. That night he got up the steps with effort. The following night, he walked right up them. It's so variable!

He's not the only one having issues with steps. Velcro's catbox and bed are on the main floor of our house, and her food and second waterdish are upstairs, where Norway can't help himself. I've pondered moving her food down because she clearly doesn't enjoy the stairs anymore, but figured it was the only exercise she was getting at this point. Yesterday, however, I watched her fall down them twice, and that's the end of that. The first time was just a few steps as she was going up. She picked herself up and powered up them, so I figured it was just one of those ungraceful cat moments they pretend you don't witness. But shortly after, she came down them and sort of got away from herself and ended up upside down at the bottom rocking in shock with her little extra toes in the air. She mewed at me in a very disappointed way when I came to help her up and spent the rest of the day sulking in her bed.

She's been missing the catbox more regularly lately, too. Oh, she tries! There are no accidents around the house, but sometimes she just barely gets into the catbox and the important parts aren't there yet. I've got puppy pads down, so cleanup isn't bad.

Poor old lady cat. Poor old man dog.

It seems like a lot of friends lately are losing beloved fur family members; Facebook seems to show me a few each week lately. I suspect it's just that I'm hyper-aware of them right now, because I know that my time with my own fur friends is not going to be a lot longer.

Have some art!

I recently did this for Portrait Adoption:


This one started life as a Sketch Fest sketch, in very rough form, and got refined at a gaming session.

A little over 800 words yesterday, slogging onward. The not-a-book is about 16k. I do not anticipate getting writing time today, as we have a playdate over quiet time. I've also got two more #junicorn pieces done (but not scanned), and am 1 behind (not counting today).

In less thrilling news, I finished the laundry, cleaned out the toaster with the air compresser, vacuumed upstairs (downstairs, too, but that's daily), and Guppy helped me measure and cut wood blocks for the woodshed.



And when I say helped, I don't even mean that with air-quotes! She fetched the blocks and drew the lines while I held the square. (She's wearing gloves because it's splintery treated lumber, not because it's cold.)

We made GREAT progress on the shed over the weekend, and we had our neighbors over for dinner, which was simply delightful, and we got a date night to go watch Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and have sushi. There have definitely been good times.

I'm growing on my bangs, and the irritation level is about a 6 right now. I've promised to try it until September.

Sea Monster Month drew to a close yesterday, and this was my last contribution to it:


Original available. Download available in my Etsy shop. It's also available to any Torn World subscriber!

Guppy and I had an insanely busy day. I went to the gym, trepidatiously, and it worked out PERFECTLY. I feared the worst when she clung to me as I was leaving, but I peeked in a few times, as she discovered that the play microwave went BEEP and was beeping it, and then she made a friend and when I checked in again, they were playing happily in the house. So I did a pretty long workout, took a long steam and shower, and then had 30 minutes of earphones-in art time in the cafe. HEAVENLY. I got my first #junicorn piece finished, and will have a landing post about that shortly!

(Because it's June already, what?! My garden, now that I've removed the tasty bits out of reach, flourishes. We had chicken tarragon salad with tarragon that grew back in our garden, and the delphiniums have declared this their year and have sent out scouts. The columbine came back, and has a few buds just starting, and the chives are monstrous already. No potato shoots yet.)

After the gym, the plan was to go food shopping, but we were about halfway through lunch at the grocery when Jake called and said 'come for a walk!' It was the perfect day for a hike at Creamer's Field, so we did that. THEN the shopping, and some other shopping, and a little extra shopping, then we got water, and there was no quiet time today. (So no writing. Alas.) After grilling the chicked for the salad, we made another trip into town to get lightbulbs and water a friend's garden and get another load of water.

We saw baby ducks, and a chickadee nest, and we got strawberries and dinner was amazing, so the day as a whole was a success.

/rambly ramble.

Yesterday, I went back to the gym. Guppy is okay with being left at daycare now (though she says she didn't like it because some of the boys are noisy), and the daycare ladies just LOVED her, saying she was super sweet and very polite (parenting WIN!). I am sadly out of shape, but still won a basketball game with Jake. I also signed Guppy up for swim lessons.

I got a few hundred more words on my next novella, and mailed several hundred coloring books. This is what my Amazon Fulfillment boxes looked like before I packed them up:



I also got subscriptions out, and poked briefly at some webpage/admin things.

Today I was parent aide at preschool, and survived! That's really all I have to report so far, but it feels like enough.

(Okay, no, who am I kidding. I am going to go write some words and art some art and wash some dishes and program some magic so I can cross things off my list and earn my after-nap ice cream.)

Happy new year! I am back from my vacation, which was partly just an escape from business and social media (much needed!), and partly an actual-factual escape to sunlight and warmer climes - we spent some of the time in Hawaii! None of us had ever been there, and we can't wait to go back. Guppy is a fabulous traveler.



Now I'm back at my desk adulting again - and I've got lots to catch up on.

I have already unrolled a Sketch Fest improvement that should be pretty major - the prompts page has been streamlined SIGNIFICANTLY, and now loads a literal 30 times faster. *polishes knuckles* Sketch Fest #71 is NEXT weekend - we've got a Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1639152869681450/

I got my trashy novella all formatted for publication (it feels like that took as long as actually writing the darn thing...), and have started on my next.

Coloring books are back up for order - I nearly sold out of my fulfilled by Amazon selection while I was away, which was lovely, so I'll need to stock them again. (But it's always cheaper/better to buy them through my webpage, of course: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/coloringbooks.php )

Now, we're back in the cold and dark (OMG, the dark. It's almost painfully dark.) and going outside to play on sleds at 8 degrees.



(I've missed you guys! I hope you had a fabulous time while I was away! Let me know if anything momentous happened while I was out!)

Sketch Fest in an hour! Get ready to be creative!

http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/

I've made a variety of cosmetic improvements throughout the site this month... mostly quite minor, but things that have been bugging me for a while. I also made progress on some big upgrades, but they aren't ready to roll out yet. (Sorry!) I also cleaned up a spam/hack attack - nothing compromised, just looks like a robot tried to 'purchase' a few pieces over and over and over again, presumably looking for a crack. Easily mopped up.

I should do errands today - we need groceries and I need to visit the PO - but I'm feeling supremely unmotivated to leave the house. It's 8 below, and I have a toasty fire, I'm still a little under the weather, and Ms. Minimus Monsterus is more than a touch whiny this morning. Besides, Sketch Fest!

And oh dear, that announcement list would probably be a whole lot more useful if I could remember to actually announce stuff to it in advance. I'm going to schedule the March Sketch Fest RIGHT NOW so that I give people enough advance warning.



Beating back brain lizards, in the meantime. Guppy asking (insistently) for attention now. Need to put laundry in.

I have a brilliant multi-colored knit hat that I wear when it's about 0 or above, and I call it my happy hat.

Guppy the other night asked for bread, both vocally and signing.

Jake: Do we have any bread?

Me: Nothing fresh. Just some old, crappy bread.

Guppy: Happy bread! Happy bread!

~~~~


This morning, she started fussing and pointing at... I couldn't figure out what. "AHHHPLANE! AHHPLANE!!"

Me: Lights? You want me to turn on the lights? (I did)

Guppy: AHHHPLANE! You AHHHPLANE broke!

Me: You want me to open the blinds? (I opened the blinds in the door)

Guppy: AHHHHPLANE!

And then I realized that she was pointing at the fan, which was off because the fire had gone out. Of course, it's on the ceiling, it must be an airplane! Heh! I turned it on, and all was well in the world again.

~~~~~


I worked on the map for Torn World today: http://torn-world.livejournal.com/168775.html

Stopping to work on some freelance programming that I'm not sure how to tackle but have to stop avoiding...

There is Sketch Fest THIS Friday! http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/

I also folded a load of clothes - another is ready to take out and fold, too. Bread is rising, and I have to figure out some kind of dinner. I'm thinking soup, because I haven't defrosted anything (doh!). Soup and fresh bread sounds good. We had homemade macacheeeee with veggies and leftover sausage for lunch, which was met favorably.

Still a little sniffly, but much improved.

There was a Sketch Fest this weekend, and I got 5 really rough pieces done, though I still need to upload three of those. I've got all the sales approved (none to chase down this month, which may be a first!) an am sending artist payments now.

I also finished a BIG programming update for a client, and am waiting for that to break with a finger on the roll-back button.

Adorable child has been adorable, but active...

( In case this is too large for your feed... )

I did get a long walk with Norway, today - which was simply sublime, if exhausting. It's a ridiculous 31 degrees, so the snow is pretty squishy and I had to take off my coat altogether on the way back up the hill.

Very busy week ahead, I won't be around much. Off to chop up food for stir fry and give a toddler her special yellow spoon...

(Or, by the time I actually POST this, time for changing the sheets on the bed and then falling into it!)

Programming this morning, plus a flurry of housecleaning, fire-making, laundry-starting, and adorable-baby-wrangling. I also scanned the finished submitted description artwork and brushed the cat.

Poor Velcro is finally starting to show her age. In addition to double-thinking jumping up on things, she's started having trouble grooming the area from the middle of her back to her tail. To compensate, she has been over-grooming the area around it, leading to funny little bald spots in a triangle down her back, which is what clued me in to her trouble. I've been making sure to brush her every day, and that seems to help. She's at least 14 by now (a pound adoption!), so this isn't unexpected.

In better news, yesterday was a banner day at the Post Office - not one, but THREE Kickstarter rewards came in! I now have two new art books, a GIANT copy of Digger, and a few various goodies.

I am trying to decide if dressing Guppy up as Digger for Halloween is the mark of a geek or just silly:


(See? Blurry! So many blurry photos! Baby is constantly in motion! I still thought these were cute.)

Sketch Fest is on Friday!

I got a massage yesterday, a follow-up from an absolutely brutal massage/adjustment on Friday, and I still feel a bit... tender. Or perhaps, tenderized would be more accurate. There is a core conditioning class tonight that I shouldn't wuss out on.

Whirlwind of a morning, but we missed story time.

Lots of numbers in my head, and... I have to go rescue the cat from the baby now!