Ear Infections Suck

I have my second ear infection in 3 months, in the exact same spot.  I was told if it doesn't get better or if it recurs again I'll have to see an ENT MD.  I had it for 6 days before I finally went to see a doctor.  I just couldn't manage to get in with the Blizzard of 2015 and having to set up a ride at least a day in advance.  In the end I worked it all out. The doctor I saw prescribed two drops.  The first is an antibiotic and the second is for pain and inflammation.  Well I go to fill them and discover insurance only covers the antibiotic.  So I have to wait until the next day when my stepfather can pay for it.  In the meantime I'm taking Tylenol but the pain is really awful at times.

When I was a kid, I used to get ear infections all he time.  I remember one ear infection was especially bad.  It was the holidays and my dad and grandparents were in town.  My dad and my grandfather took me to the Harvard Community Health Plan location just outside of Harvard Square in Cambridge.  I remember (and so does my grandfather) the screaming as the doctor had to remove ear wax just to see inside my ear.  I survived and still have my hearing.

This time I have a middle ear infection.  The membrane that has internal pressure on one side and external pressure on the other was out of place, or something like that.  I didn't really understand it.

The Bruins won last night, 5-2.  I missed the game because I was passed out from exhaustion.

My First Professional Job

I have been commissioned by a fan of mine to paint her cats.  I am very excited, because this will be the first painting I've ever sold.  She is sending me a few pictures of her cats and I will paint from there.  I will not rush through it, I will take my time.  It's time I was challenged and this is the perfect opportunity.  I just hope I can live up to her expectations.  And since she's paying me, I can go get more paints, as I'm still low on yellows.

For reasons, I will not be posting a picture until my client has her piece in hand, so as not to spoil the surprise.  Photographs of paintings never come out right, anyway, with my little point and shoot.

I did get a suggestion from one of my Facebook friends to try doing a still life rather than painting from pictures.  I will have to try that once I get another easel.  For now I'm laying a dropcloth on my headboard and using that to paint.  Not very professional, I know, but my last easel was thrown out when we moved 10 months ago.

The Blizzard of 2015

The Blizzard of 2015, or the Nor'Easter Juno, has arrived.  There are no cars on the street, just a plow every once in a while.  I haven't been outside since the heavy stuff arrived, and it being night, it's almost impossible to see the falling snow. I don't mind the snow, because I don't have to shovel it.  As long as we don't lose power, I will be fine.  If we lose power then the snakes heaters will turn off and we'll have to get creative in keeping them warm.

So what do I do to keep myself occupied?  I check out things online, and I painted.  Now I'm just listening to showtunes as I try and slow my brain down enough to go to bed.  Tomorrow morning when I wake, I will open the shade and watch the snow come down.  I can't wait!

I painted an abstract based on a photo taken in 1995 when I visited my aunt in Ottawa.

Feeling All The Feels...And SNOW!

I'm mentally exhausted.  Some good things have happened in the last few days, and some bad things.  The good thing is that I have a new nephew.  Out of respect of his parents wishes, that is all I will say.  I am very excited, though.  Then there's family issues that are leaving me brokenhearted.  But I'm not really going to go into detail about that either. So why am I writing?  Because I need some kind of outlet right now.  I just need to spew my thoughts onto a place where people can choose to read them or not.

So snow, eh?  We got about 4 inches on Saturday, delaying my weekly grocery shopping trip by a day.  And now we're supposed to get a blizzard that will drop 2-3 feet of snow on us, tomorrow night and the following day.  So when we went shopping today, EVERYONE was at Market Basket (or their respective grocery store).  The line was wrapped around into the produce section.  Fortunately we only were in line for about 15 minutes, I was afraid when I first saw the line it would be an hour and the ice cream would have melted.  The worst is that I know two people who have to be at work during the blizzard.  They are considered "necessary workers".

The NHL All Star Game was tonight.  Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins was on the winning team and he scored a goal, along with 4 assists.  The Bruins need to regroup and get on a roll again.  Or they won't make the playoffs, which is completely unacceptable.

The piggies are good.  The snakes just finished shedding.  I'm halway through a painting that I'll finish during the blizzard.  The Great Blizzard of 2015.  We'll see.

Painting Classes

Today I was thinking about one of friends at the University of Toronto.  She was studying Art and considered herself an artist.  So I thought perhaps my town has Adult Education classes for painting.  I looked it up on the interwebs and found that they only offered beginners drawing.  I branched out and checked on the local Community College website.  Sure enough, they offer a painting course.  It's too late to sign up for Spring, but I definitely want to take this in the future.  I had minimal instruction in High School Art Class, so I basically taught myself.  I could use some professional instruction.

My sprained ankle is slowly healing.  The Bruins lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets after being on a season high 5 game winning streak.  What is wrong with them this year?

Where Did The Passion Go?

I have painter's block.  I want to paint but once I've set everything up I feel like I can't do the painting justice, and I clean up all my supplies.  This has been going on for more than a week.  I painted a picture of one of my guinea pigs on Sunday, but other than that I can't seem to find my passion.  I enjoy painting and even though I've never sold one, I still like to think of myself as an artist.

Maybe it's because I've been run down with a cold-like bug.  Once I feel like myself again, I'm hoping to start up again.

I did receive praise for my self portrait.  I was told that it actually looked like me.  That's a huge deal since very few of my paintings look like who they're supposed to.  With the exception of my portrait of Hugh Laurie as House.

Some Pastrnak Is The Answer

Perhaps the Boston Bruins wizened up when Charlie Jacobs took over and threatened the entire organization to shape up or ship out, or perhaps it was the injection of a skilled youthful player into the mix.  David Pastrnak, the 18 year old from the Czech Republic, brought a spark of life with him as he joined the team from Providence.  Scoring 2 goals in one game and 2 goals the next game, showed that he's got what it takes to be a Boston Bruin.  Congratulations kid.  Now Bruins, for the love of the game, KEEP WINNING.

A Birthday To Remember

It's my birthday today.  I am now 35 years old.  To some that will sound old and to some it will sound young.  I am older than almost all the Bruins, which is scary.  I've done a lot of thinking about turning 35 and I've decided to embrace it.  Even though my memory is slowly going already, I feel happy with who I am.  I'm more confident, and I have someone to share my life with.  Yes life for us is extremely stressful right now, but as a whole I am happy.

For my birthday, my mother in law took me to A.C. Moore to buy acrylic paints.  I didn't get quite as many as I had hoped because they were more expensive than I remembered.  My in laws gave me a generous amount of money to spend, so I'm definitely not complaining about that.  At least the store had a good collection of the brand I buy.

For dinner, my mother and stepfather took us to a Chinese buffet.  One of my brothers was there with his very pregnant wife, and two of my friends came with their boyfriends.  We all had good food and good conversation.

Unfortunately I had scheduled the dinner at the same time as the Patriots/Ravens playoff game.  Oops.  In my defense though, I had this dinner planned before the Pats made the playoffs.

This morning, my actual birthday, my husband and I cooked maple sausage and scrambled eggs for breakfast.  We then made our way to the bakery 0.6 miles away, picked up my cake and two Lobster Tails, and returned home.  It was all of 20F out.  Unfortunately for me, the boot I have to wear for my sprained ankle gave me a blister.  That was probably the only down side of the day.  The cake was vanilla cake with buttercream frosting and strawberry filling.  I had a piece a few minutes ago and damn it was good.  For dinner we're going to have chimichangas.  Mmmm...

I painted this afternoon.  Nothing overly impressive, just a picture of Oreo, my guinea pig.

My Adventure The Night of January 6th, 2015

My evening did not start off well, as I had been feeling run down the last several days.  I woke up from my nap incredibly nauseous and in pain.  After I started throwing up, I called my doctor to ask if there was something I could take for the pain that wouldn't hurt my stomach.  The Physician's Assistant asked a whole bunch of questions and decided I needed to be evaluated immediately.  I asked her if I could please wait until the next day and be evaluated in the office, but she insisted.  So I had to call 911 as we don't have a car and the buses stopped running.

I knew the evening was going to be a tough one, because the EMT recognized me from a previous time and gave me the 3rd degree.  We get to the hospital and they do tests, determine I'm in no immediate danger, and send me home.

The thing is, it's 11:00pm.  The buses had long since stopped running and wouldn't run again for another 8 hours.  I had no money for a taxi, and when I had begged and finally succeeded in getting the the nurse to agree to a taxi voucher, she told me that they only do that for locations in Lowell, and I lived in a suburb of Lowell.  So I make the decision to walk home.  It's 4.4 miles in 9 degree Fahrenheit weather.  It takes me two hours, and there aren't sidewalks most of the way, so I was walking in the street with black leggings and a black coat.  Pretty scary.

I get slightly more than halfway when I step at the edge of a pothole and my ankle turns.  I fall to the ground and decide to keep walking while I'm in shock and the frigidness of the cold will help numb it.  I get to my feet and walk on.  Finally I get home where my husband makes me a cup of tea and some soup.

The next day I go to the doctor's office and they do x-rays.  Thank God nothing was broken.  My ankle had swollen to the size of a tennis ball and was already turning black and blue. They gave me a big old boot and I went home to elevate and ice it.

I don't ever want to go through that again.