This will be the last Weekly Summary! Going forward, I am going back to a more or less daily format. So, let’s get right to it… what happened this week? Christopher was gone on a work-related trip, the studio revamp was completed, and I spent a lot of its aftermath in a perpetual “I’m drawing personal art any minute now. Oh boy! It’s gonna happen! It’s gonna… uuuh…”
Let’s just say it’s been a struggle.
Thank you in advance to anyone who comments on this post! Though it may take me a little while to reply, your comments mean so much to me! ๐โจ๐
๐ Monday ๐
On Monday, Christopher left for Natia. Whenever he travels I tend to go a bit nuts and blow my bedtime. We went to Kimchi Mart and got a huge amount of snacks as well as wine at ABC. While I spent the day doing things around the house, in the late afternoon and evening I got drunk, stuffed my face and played WoW. It was fantastic. ๐
Then, in the evening, I slept with Kotoko and Rosie. But I wasn’t a good substitute for Christopher… Kotoko was not pleased.
๐ Tuesday ๐
On Tuesday I finally put all the bins into storage and then took care of Mothball. I dusted him, surface-washed him with gentle soap, rinsed him off, disinfected him with Clorox mist, and dried him in the hot Florida sun for hours. Then I cut off the loose threads that he had and the leftover bit of glue in his paw, and fixed the scratches on his face and feet with furniture markers. Finally, he got brushed and dressed up!
I think he looks a lot happier now, wouldn’t you agree?
I moved most of the stuff that was displayed on the corkboard above my computer to the one in the bunk-bed. This is where my traditional badges used to be, but I decided to put all my badges away.
With the writing desk against the bed, the entire area is darker and the lights look even prettier. I don’t often sleep in this bed, but when I do, I love reading or gaming in it before I sleep, with all the pretty lights on.
A little more WoW before bed on this day. It’s been bringing me a lot of joy.
I slept on my own bed for a couple of nights this week. Rosie was so happy about it.
๐ Wednesday ๐
On Wednesday I zoomed with my mom and did a bit of digital art. I was still doing odds and ends around the house and sort of mentally resetting. But I got this cute video of some birds interacting. A woodpecker even happened to come to the feeder as I was recording!
๐ Thursday ๐
This print of Horus came in the mail on Thursday! The drawing was made by Cody, AKA Pukopop. Cody is an amazing artist. I set to choose one drawing to make into a print and display after the studio change, and it was this one. It came out so good!
This is where I put it. It’s a 12 x 12 print:
As of Thursday I was still been bits of housework as I waited for my stool to arrive. Cleaned one bathroom, organized stuff in the kitchen, played a little WoW. I finally fixed my Furby, Sour Cream, whose ears needed to be sewn back into place, and went through old sketchbooks and did more book formatting.
I came to realize that I need to set new solid goals. It can’t merely be “I’m going to work on my stuff now” or even “I’m going to work on finish these chapters of Meganeea soon”. It has to be as strict as my commissions were, such as “I’m going to finish, illustrate and post two chapters per month”. Without goals, there is no progress.
Anyway, on this night Christopher finally came home! I missed him very, very much.
๐ Friday ๐
โจ The Studio Is Finished!! โจ
When I woke up on Friday I knew it was time to set new goals or I would just keep doing housework, drinking wine and playing WoW and that…. well, isn’t ideal. I set myself a few book and art related goals as well as goals for chores of that day, and, after breakfast and a shower, set right to work as soon as the stool was delivered, which happened in the morning.
So here’s the new look of the studio, viewed from my digital art work area! You can see that a bookcase was removed, and this entire wall is dedicated to my personal art. Already, a brand new piece is on the corkboard, and my side table is there from the inking I’d been doing a while prior.
My dinosaur books have been moved to a shelf in this room for easy access while I work on my parasaurolophus novel, Fern’s Path:
Here’s my drawing board with the first two pieces I am set on finishing:
Here’s the left corner (behind the writing desk) and the right corner (with art supplies)…
…and the door, which serves as yet another display for art:
The top of the writing desk has all of these decorations as well as all my writing-related reference books, and you can see how my writing computer is set up also, with Scrivener on the screen:
A close-up of one of my favorite canvas prints. I hope I can do colored pencil work like this again.
I added this little ceramic pencil to my digital art area:
And that’s it! I think it’s pretty perfect now. I can actually “think” here.
๐ Saturday ๐
On Saturday I played WoW for a while. Tomoyo was feeling very cuddly.
She’s so cute and empty-brained. I love her.
๐ Sunday ๐
I made chicken curry for Saturday night dinner. I hadn’t made curry in a while, it turned out pretty good. Because the AC is still broken downstairs, we didn’t watch TV, and instead ate at our respective comfy spots.
That’s kind of it… I put off writing this post, which means I forgot a bunch of what happened. ๐คทโโ๏ธ Oops. I hope you all had a wonderful week, and going forward, I’ll see you all regularly in this space throughout the next!
It rained a LOT this week. It rained so much, in fact, that Broward County closed its schools for two days, and Ft. Lauderdale closed down its airport. Some areas experienced unprecedented levels of flooding: a historic volume of rain exceeding 2 feet. I read it described as “an event so intense the chance of it happening in any given year is just 0.1%”.
It felt like the rain would never stop, and while it did stop by the weekend, it’s the rainy season now. We may or may not get flooded areas again, and thankfully I saw no significant flooding where I live, but rain on an almost daily basis will become the norm for quite a while. Then it will be hurricane season. That’s Florida for ya!
The rain, which I normally enjoy, really brought me down this time around. My period wreaked havoc on my mood this month: I would call it, too, a rare event. My crankiness does not usually last this long nor is it this intense, and overall, it made the week unbearable for me and those around me.
There were good, bad, and boring sides to this week. Let’s get on with it!
๐ Monday ๐
It began to rain in earnest, but still we had sunny moments throughout the day and the humidity wasn’t too bad yet. It rained more and more as the day got long in the tooth. Anyhow, Monday was a busy day. I did loads of chores, went grocery shopping, played Diablo II with our partner, and completed this commission:
Our partner made a ham quiche for dinner. It was delicious!
๐ Tuesday ๐
Rain, rain and more rain. It seemed to drag everything down with it. I felt useless, sleepy and sluggish, with no energy whatsoever. Eventually, I forced myself to move, and slowly started doing things around the house, such as organizing the studio, and setting some stuff aside to put into storage or give away. I wanted to make more room for new toys, mostly dolls.
Something really odd happened on this day. Sarah mysteriously appeared among the bears!
She didn’t have her hat. I am not sure why she is here. Frankly it’s a little unsettling. I hope all is well between her and Buddy.
Something important happened on Tuesday:
At the time, I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but this was an important step in my mom’s paperwork being finalized once and for all. More developments would come later in the week.
Rosie was being a cutie and trying to get my attention while I had lunch:
So I played with her a bit:
๐ Wednesday ๐
On Wednesday I completed a commission and a new banner, which you already saw at the top of this entry, and a commission for Pilou that I’m really proud of:
I also had the usual Zoom call with my mom. You’ll notice I make no mention of work so far. That is because this week, I would only work on Saturday. Last week, I only had three days. Next week, I only have five hours again. I’m not the only person dealing with that, but I am not happy about it. From what I read online, it’s a common issue with this company: most people leave due to very limited hours. I hope I won’t have to do the same.
๐ Thursday ๐
To say that Thursday was momentous would be an understatement. As mentioned, on Tuesday, I’d received confirmation that my Form I-130, Petition For Alien Relative (for my mom) had been approved by USCIS. We have been waiting for years, just for this specific step. But, my mom still hadn’t been told that her Form I-485, Application To Register Permanent Residency, was approved. Though unlikely, it could still have been denied.
On Thursday, my mom’s application was also approved:
It’s hard to overstate the significance of this moment. I know my mom spent the day crying on and off. I still haven’t been able to process it, myself –though I did tear up a bit when the paralegal CC’d me on an email congratulating her. It felt more real then.
Some of you know how long and arduous the road to legalization has been, both for me and for my mom. I still lived with fear that the response would be a denial and my mom would be deported. Even though I myself have been sorted out for many years (and a citizen for two) nothing really felt done until I could truly stop fearing for my mom’s welfare.
I wasn’t even ten years old when I decided that someday, somehow, I would live in the USA. My mom worked for my dream and made it hers. We would eventually abandon all we had for a huge gamble and an unsure future in the United States, knowing the gamble could cost us everything.
We have been in the USA since 2001: this is the first time I truly breathe in complete relief for both of us. So many years later, it feels complete. I’m numb and not really having an emotional reaction yet because there were so many times I thought this would happen and it didn’t. It’s hard to believe it’s finally over. I am a citizen and my mom is a legal resident, forever. Hopefully someday she’ll be a citizen, too.
And for those who have heard many times my little story regarding An American Tail (which I’ll retell at some point soon) yeah, my mom and I are getting together to watch it. Finally after 15 years I will allow myself to watch it again.
Christopher had the Apple IIe out and functioning on Thursday night. It looked so cool.
Here’s a little lady I have coming to me. She’s a Pat Secrist doll. I’ve been learning about these dolls recently, their high quality and (if you’re patient on eBay) incredible affordability. She’s a big one, too. I don’t have many blonde dolls, I’m looking forward to playing with her. Her dress is so lovely, too! I’m going to call her Nellie. She reminds me of a schoolmate I had in elementary school, who had that name.
For date night we played LEGO. I finished Emma’s Art School!
๐ Friday ๐
The sun came out again!! Finally! โจ๐โจ But, now it’s very, very, VERY hot. That aside –Friday was extremely productive! I finished three Patreon rewards:
Then I did a few chores, before setting everything up for some fun!
๐ Fun With Pony Beads ๐
I’ve been putting off making new toy necklaces. This is pretty bad because I don’t really enjoy a new toy until, at a minimum, it has been christened and given its necklace, but ideally until they have an outfit that I’ve put together myself rather than the original one (this mostly applies to dolls), or a bandana, or just something to make it look like it’s my own, and loved.
Between Friday and Sunday I decided to dedicate time to the toy name backlog. I started by setting everything out, surrounding myself with toy friends, and putting one of my kiddy playlists on!
Sometime in between making necklaces, I played some more Diablo II with our partner.
๐ Saturday ๐
In the morning, I played with Reddit’s avatar maker thingy today, that was fun and also dumb. This day was finally a workday! I worked from 4:00pm to 9:00pm after getting all my chores done.
Things were tense at work. Because of the rain, sales were very low the entire week so everyone’s hours were cut. As a result, there were less people available to finish a project that has been stressing all the managers out for weeks now. I was put to work on the floor, pricing and placing merch, and even though it was only five hours, it left me completely exhausted.
An upside (or downside??) of the day is that I kinda got called out in front of everyone else for doing better than anyone else in my first week (second only to my training manager) in getting new emails from customers. They really, REALLY care about employees doing this. I’m pretty shy, so it takes a lot out of me, but I do ask and engage with everyone, and most people do sign up.
Apparently, other employees don’t really try, so when they released the numbers of my first week, the manager wrote a note underneath calling me out by name as an example and saying how I’m not doing anything unusual, only what I am supposed to do, and how others are failing to do so. ๐ฌ๐ง
There was an undertone of “It’s unacceptable that this brand new employee is doing better than everyone else, so, get it together” to the other employees, and another manager said to the first that I did that “because I’m an overachiever” which kinda sounded like “you can’t expect everyone else to do that”. Haha… I don’t know. It was nice but also very awkward for me.
Back when I used to hold jobs like this one, I struggled a lot, and was definitely the sort of person to get reprimanded for mistakes, shyness or sluggishness. I’ve changed a bit, I can do things better and push through better. So I won’t lie, all the praise I’ve received since I started feels really good, but at the same time, isn’t a call-out like that the sort of thing that makes coworkers resent you? ๐
Anyway, I only got to help two people at the register on this day, which bummed me out because I don’t want to forget everything I learned, but working on the floor I learned many new things, so there’s that.
At some point today I noted that Sarah’s hat had somehow materialized upon Toklo’s head, while Sarah herself had disappeared. ๐ณโโโ
I keep worrying that this is Sarah trying to send S.O.S. messages that I’m failing to interpret correctly. I hope she’s okay…!
Normally, after getting up at 7:00am, a day full of chores and then going to work, getting comfy and having dinner, I would just want to stay in. But I want to start making a habit of going out with our partner more on Friday or Saturday nights. For one, Christopher really treasures time truly to himself, and doesn’t get much of it. And I want to make sure our partner is having fun since he’s much more outgoing.
Lately, I’m trying to think of different things I can do with him and with Christopher (as well as for them) to make them feel loved and appreciated –as in, individual things, one-on-one. Soon I’ll be able to play visual novels with Christopher again, and with our partner, I’ve been playing Diablo II. I want to start going out for the odd lunch or dinner date with Christopher, and watch at least a couple of movies a month with him, maybe cuddled in the game room couch.
Anyway, my plan was to repeat the outing of last week with our partner, but somehow he convinced Christopher to come! This is a rarity given that it was late at night, and we were really happy about that. We took Christopher to Salt & Straw. I had the same black olive brittle and goat cheese ice cream as last time:
We also went for drinks at the exact same place…
…and had a mediterranean plate for a snack:
On the walk back, I took this photo of a neighborhood’s gate. It looked spooky:
๐ Sunday ๐
Sunday was a very nice and sunny day, even if the humid Florida heat is back in full, unbearable swing. My laurel fig continues to grow beautifully. It’s hard to believe it was once a little tiny branch that found refuge in a crevice of our roof!
Later in the day I went for a walk to get more beads. I saw a cute lizard on the way to the stores.
Though I really went out for beds I ended up coming home with this. What a find! Last one left, too.
After a pizza dinner, our partner and I played Diablo II some more. I really liked the Arcane Sanctuary area.
After that, I finished a few more necklaces and actually put them on toys. I’ve made a total of twenty one necklaces. I still have to make a few more, but those are for toys that I have yet to name.
Rosie decided to relax in the area normally occupied by my bead boxes:
She was being so loud, too!
My new doll, Nellie, should be coming by Wednesday, which has me really excited! Hopefully she has no funny smells, since she is a used doll after all. I have her necklace all ready to put on her. ๐ฅฐ
Mwako’s visit was this week! He spent from Sunday to Wednesday with us. We looked at toys in many stores and even bought some, had some nice meals, and went to the zoo which was amazing. Other than that we just hung out though unfortunately I was really busy a lot of the time.
I also started applying to jobs again, and got one! I should be starting next week. I also took a pretty serious decision: to close commissions permanently. And we went to the Phillip & Patricia Frost Museum of Science, where I got to see an incredible dinosaur exhibit! So, all in all, it was a pretty eventful week. Let me tell you about it.
OH YEAH: CW for lotsa snakies and a spooder. ๐
๐ Monday ๐
On Monday Mwako and I went to the zoo. I’ve been to Zoo Miami lots of times, so, at this point, I tend not to take photos. But it had been a while I’d been in the daytime, a whole five years (last time, in December of last year, was at night). I had no idea how much the zoo had changed, how the enclosures had been made so much nicer. You feel like the animals are closer somehow.
Not only that, but I’d never seen the animals look so energetic and sociable. This has always been a great zoo, but it’s clear that it has improved even more, and for good reason it is called one of the best in the country these days. It was a huge treat –here’s photos and video!
Wombat…
Tree kangaroo!
Southern cassowary… I think?
Warthogs!
Buru babirusa (I think).
A turtle –not sure what kind.
Lots of lovely snakies!
Got a bunch of videos too –they were active!
Patch had his picture taken with one!
Green and black poison dart frogs:
No idea about this guy, sorry! But he was cute.
I’m guessing a tarantula?
Red-eyed tree frogs, sleeping peacefully…
Amusingly (and worryingly) Steve was nowhere to be seen:
This guy was there, though. Possible a Baja blue rock lizard, but not sure.
Northern caiman lizards, just chillin’:
Southern screamer! These things have detachable wing-daggers, it’s nuts! We got to see it, too.
Just a gator. He’s not real, but he’s still a good boy.
Crocodile monitor (I think).
Plumed basilisk!! A cheerful lad.
I really tried to look it up but cannot remember or figure out exactly which type of (bull)frogs these are. They were very cute potatoes though.
This indoor aquarium was amazing! Some redtail catfish…
Ocellate river stingray:
Blue poison dart frog:
The Mold-A-Matic looked like fun!
In this one, you could make a little otter.
I decided to give it a try!
โจ Ta-daa~! โจ
I think this beauty was a harpy eagle:
A blue-billed curassow!
Four-eyed fish:
Four-eyed fish, or Anableps anableps, do not actually have four eyes. They are surface dwellers and have eyes adapted for seeing both above and below the water surface. The eyes are on top of the head, and each is divided into two parts, an upper half for vision in air, and a lower half for vision in water; hence, the common name.
An anole, maybe?
Mission golden-eyed tree frogs:
I’m not sure if we caught them chilling, or in an amorous moment, but it was very cute.
Black spider monkey:
African bush elephant:
Gulf fritillary butterfly:
This is part of the wildlife that just roams the zoo, and, I’m pretty sure, even my neighborhood. It certainly liked to pose.
Addaxes:
Adorable dholes!
And some Bactrian camels:
Playful and alert African wild dogs!
Watch the whole thing to see one of them jump in the water:
These spectacled bear were having a blast being cuddly with each other:
๐๐ That was it for the zoo! ๐๐
We were EXHAUSTED by the time we were done. From there we had a really nice lunch at Five Guys and then headed home.
After Christopher got home, we three played LEGO together! Unfortunately our partner was out working. I built LEGO Ray the Castaway 40566:
…and LEGO Creator Panda Bear 30641:
Christopher built yet another train and Mwako built a few different things but unfortunately I didn’t take pics of those before they were put away.
๐ Tuesday ๐
On Tuesday Mwako and I went out again. At the craft store they had this โจ BIG โจ boy for just $10! He was so well made and so massive. I originally left him behind, but on the way home I just had to stop by again and grab him. He is the cuddliest thing.
Look how big! I still can’t believe it was so cheap.
We went to Buenos Aires Bakery for lunch, it was a big treat. I also got my yearly Argentinean Easter egg. Will have to start decorating that basket soon.
We went to Nami Sushi for dinner and I brought Robito, one of my oldest toys, along. I wasn’t very hungry and Christopher was feeling down, which made me fret a lot. But we went for a walk and still had a pretty pleasant evening on Mwako’s last day with us.
๐ Wednesday ๐
On Wednesday, we still had a bit of time before Mwako left, so we went out one more time. We went to Barnes and Noble, Petsmart, and Five Below. I took an outfit selfie for the first time in a LONG time, and took Sugar Lump with me:
I actually felt cute for the first time in a while. I haven’t been taking that many photos of myself compared to before.
But first we got our pals safely strapped in:
At Barnes and Noble I came across this book. I’ll be buying it on Amazon down the road. It is absolutely massive (over 700 pages) and a beauty to hold –just look at this amazing cover! The inside pages did this cover justice, I’ll tell you that much.
At one point I went to the restroom and someone had left this little positive message in the stall:
Mwako treated me to lunch at The Pub. I had bangers and mash and we shared a scotch egg. Everything was incredibly delicious and we wound down talking about all sorts of things.
Then we went home and soon it was time to say goodbye, until we meet again. When we parted, Mwako entrusted me with Tiny Tina, AKA Tina the Tiny T. rex. I’ll take very good care of my new palm-sized Tyrannosaurid!
Christopher was a little down in the evening again (both times it was a side effect of medication) so while he slept it off, I proposed to our partner that we go pick up Pollo Tropical, since I know Christopher’s usual, and it would be nice to wake him up with something he likes. While we were in the drive-thru doing just that, we saw this car’s helpful little skeleton man!!
He just looked so happy. You couldn’t help but smile back!
๐ Thursday – Friday ๐
Thursday was a very busy day catching up on all the housework. I also had a phone interview with the place I sent my resume to, and they scheduled me for an in-person interview on Friday. It went well –I was hired, and start on Monday! I haven’t worked retail in a few years, so I hope I can get back into that groove without too much trouble.
It’s also near the house and it is part-time, so it shouldn’t get too overwhelming.
After the interview I went grocery shopping for dinner. I made salmon! It was really good.
I happened to notice my roman snails mating for the first time in many months! So I immediately put the dish they picked for their date in the little tank (AKA “The Love Shack” AKA, later on, “The Nursery”). I hope they’ll lay eggs in it!
๐ Saturday ๐
On Saturday we went to the Phillip & Patricia Frost Museum of Science! I’d wanted to come again for a few years. The only time I was here was during one of the worst times of my life. It was such an unhappy day. So it was really nice to be able to push those bad memories away with good ones.
The reason we came was to see the Ultimate Dinosaurs: Meet a New Breed of Beast exhibit. First though, we had lunch at Panera Bread:
The dinosaur exhibit was only one part of the museum, but it was really wonderful. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. If you know me, you know what sort of reaction I had in a place like this!
Look at the size of these!!
Little toy dioramasโฆ
Loved this display at the entrance.
Waterbear!!
These things are freaking ADORABLE! Tardigrades, also known as “water bears” or “moss piglets” are a “phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals (Wikipedia).” Tardigrades are among the most resilient animals known. They can live almost anywhere! They have even survived exposure to outer space.
If you’ve never heard of these guys, please watch this:
Some fishies:
And a bit of video:
“Feathers To The Stars” Exhibit:
Psittacosaurus model:
Amazing Yutyrannus model:
Sinornithosaurus and Bambiraptor models:
Space exploration display:
Mammoths: Ice Age Giants Exhibit
Adorable Eastern screech owls:
The view at the top of the museum:
Dogs and Cats Walkway Sculpture Garden:
For a souvenir, our partner got me this little pteradon plushie. It’s the cutest thing!
We had dinner at Tijuana Flats and then hung out together at the house watching TV and watching Christopher play video games. It was a really tiring but extremely enjoyable day.
๐ Sunday ๐
Sunday was, at least, productive. All the laundry got done and put away, snail tank cleaned, did dishes like three times, did the grocery shopping, filed the paperwork for the new job, and just did a whole bunch of chores. So as far as getting stuff done –I did.
But come 9:30pm, I found myself pretty frustrated and upset, having done nothing I really wanted to do, knowing I am due to orientation at my job tomorrow, and honestly, really nervous about working retail again. I have no idea what this will be like compared to prior experiences and can’t really plan my week since I don’t have a schedule yet.
Though I spent my day running up and down, I wasn’t able to go on my walk. I haven’t been able to do anything toward my writing goals in like two or three weeks now which is super demoralizing but it truly was due to simply too much going on, rather than moments of “I could write right now, but I don’t feel like it.”
So before bed I made some tea and at the very least met my writing goal. It’s something. Maybe tomorrow I can somehow squeeze some more in. It was a really good week, but everything feels off until I settle into my new routine. We’ll see what it looks like by next Sunday!
Hello, everyone, and Happy 2023! As of writing this post, the first week of the year has come to an end. I hope your first week was great! Mine was very satisfying as far as accomplishments go, but also tinged with sadness.
๐ CW: pet loss discussion ahead. ๐
You might remember Shampoo. Most recently “my mom’s cat”, Shampoo was in fact our shared cat for many years, along with Sweeney. We got her when we’d only been in the US a couple of years, and she was around 10 when I got married and moved in with Christopher. Here’s an old GIF I’d made of Shampoo and I many years ago:
As you can see, while in recent posts outside of this blog I put the focus on my mom’s grief, I loved Shampoo very, very much. I’d picked her out of the litter myself, and until I bonded with Rosie years later after I moved out, I had never had a cat I felt as close to as I did with Shampoo. She was on a different level, and so cheeky and playful.
This changed a lot in her last five or so years. She’d started to have painful blockages because of her long fur, which necessitated shaving it monthly. This seemed, to me, as though it changed her personality too. But perhaps it was that around this time she was already quite old.
Shampoo had MANY (very expensive) close calls in the last few years, and made it to an impressive almost 19 years old. But on Monday, it was all too much. She was severely anemic and in serious kidney failure. She was made comfortable for the next 24 hours, which allowed her to rest, eat normally, and just feel alright, until the next afternoon, when it was time to say goodbye.
Shampoo’s passing at home was as ideal as possible. Her body had not yet resumed failing and giving her pain. She’d eaten multiple times, napped peacefully, and enjoyed many pets from my mom. When the vet came (it was done at home) she did not even move from my mom’s lap, on the favorite chair they shared. She fell asleep there, happy and peaceful. We could not have asked for a better send-off.
I process grief a little different from most people. I think, I grieve my pets when they are alive. I remember when Shampoo was around nine years old. I was holding her and thinking how much I loved her, how unique a cat she was, and how I’d never have another cat like her. Shampoo was not sick: she was at her prime, and just being extra cute that day. I remember I started crying, then sobbing, as I held her. She was not amused.
It would not be the only time this happened, nor the only pet it happened with. Certainly I’ve cried with every pet that passed. But, I think I am recovering a little faster, in spite of my sadness, because of this –and because I wasn’t living with Shampoo for the last few years so she wasn’t as much of a constant in my life.
For my mom, it is very different. She tells me she is okay, but she’s also in deep, racking grief, wondering if she did enough (something I think no one would dispute). She told me how how she feels a constant anxiety right at her throat, and how she keeps looking for Shampoo in her usual sleeping-spots. I can’t really help my mom other than to listen, and knowing that she is in pain and will be for a long time is hard for me to accept.
That’s all I have to say about that, but as it was a major element in the week, I wanted to give it its own space. Now I’ll move on to the rest.
I’ve decided to go back to weekly summaries for posts (other than my daily resolution summary) because, now that I’m giving more priority to other things in my life, my blogging time has been reduced. And that is fine! I am very happy. I just want to make sure I can maintain a consistent posting schedule, and I believe this will be the best way to accomplish that.
โจ๐๐ง New Year’s Eve ๐ง๐โจ
I’m allowing the New Year weekend to slip into this post, though in reality the post is about the first week of the year. On New Year’s Eve morning, I had mate and did some reading. My mom came in the early evening.
We had a pretty quiet New Year’s Eve. Our partner went to a party for a while, and we played board games –both by ourselves and with Christopher. Partner was back in time to ring in the New Year with us, and we did the customary eating of grapes at the stroke of midnight. You have to make a wish on each grape. I have one thing I want most of all in this life, so I made the same wish on every grape, with all my heart. It was my wish the last two New Year’s, too. Then we went to bed.
โจ๐๐งธ Sunday ๐งธ๐โจ
On Sunday, I finalized prepping everything to start the first week with a bang. Part of this involved sorting all paperwork and for the first time in our lives, clearing out the filing cabinet of too-old, unnecessary stuff, a lot of which was kept while my immigration paperwork was in process (we waited until my citizenship was done, and even then, another full year.) This took a few hours.
One of the things included in this process was sorting through the prior day’s mail, which included a couple of late holiday cards. One was from an old friend of my teddy bear Franklin, a kindly gentleman named Stephen.
Franklin has been receiving letters from Mr. Stephen for all of his life. Many people used to write to Franklin back when he was a small celebearty, but most eventually stopped. Not Mr. Stephen. Even though Franklin never replied, he’s been writing consistently over the last 10+ years, on all of Franklin’s birthdays and at Christmas.
The last card was very long and had an odd feeling to it. It made Franklin feel that Mr. Stephen may not write anymore. Franklin had wanted to reply in recent years, but the envelopes with the return address kept getting discarded. So we are trying to see if it’s possible to get in touch with Mr. Stephen via Facebook, so Franklin can show him how many friends he has now, and how he’s enjoyed all the cards over the years and in fact, kept them all.
I also went around the house, just doing accumulated chores, to make sure nothing went over to the next day. I was tired by the time the day was over, but it was a really successful day.
โจ๐๐ง Monday ๐ง๐โจ
I drank mate for breakfast every day this week and enjoyed many of the leftover holiday snacks. I went back to written to-do lists, as well, and continued to enjoy reading multiple times a day. My coffee intake is decreasing thanks to the mate, and because I’m putting priority in things that matter to me, I am becoming happier and happier.
โจ๐๐๏ธ Tuesday ๐๏ธ๐โจ
Tuesday was Project Night! It’s an idea I had recently, a companion to our Date Nights. Every Tuesday evening, for at least two hours, we all work on personal projects. This past Tuesday, Christopher and our partner worked on turning a V-Tech Talking Whiz-Kid Notebook into a “real” computer by using a Raspberry Pi. Now it has a mouse, a battery pack, it’s really cool:
You can even view my blog! Although, it’s too big for the screen… ๐
I did something less cool, but it was important to me. Since one of my 2023 goals is to finish more coloring pages, I spent time with my coloring pages and crayons. I had a little snack, listened to music and had one of my dolls, Kalamata, for company (I’ll tell you a little more about her later).
I’m still working on a Christmas coloring page. I haven’t finished it yet, but I had a lot of fun. I’ll finish it on the next Project Night. I’ll use these nights for my coloring page goals, puzzles, scrapbooking pages, and more –such as pyrography.
Kalamata is a Zapf Creation doll, made in Germany. I was very excited when I bought her. But when she came to me, she smelled like cigarettes and her skin was sticky (some vinyl degradation). One of her sleepy eyes was (still is) slightly sunken. Worst of all, her legs were fabric! Even her feet are fabric. I wanted a doll with vinyl arms and legs. I was so upset that I immediately decided to donate her. She even made it into the donation box. But something about her expression just kept tugging at me. It is impish and very unique. Her skin color is also quite unusual.
I decided to give her some TLC. Since she had the old fashioned, tied-on style of head, I removed it, and washed her body. I bought some extra filling, and made her floppy arms a bit firmer. I washed, conditioned and combed her hair (her wig is beautiful; it feels almost like human hair, and after some research on these dolls, I think it may be the case, which is kinda nuts!) The wash and dry removed her vinyl stickiness, which thankfully has yet to return. The bad smells were also gone. She looks happy and mischievous!
I’m looking into a solution for her wonky eye, but even if I can’t fix it, I’ve grown very fond of her. I think she’s a very special doll full of personality, so, I will be keeping her.
โจ๐๐ง Wednesday ๐ง๐โจ
Speaking of dolls –on Wednesday I finally opened some dolls that had arrived. One is the JC Toys/Berenguer Boutique “Chloe”, whom I’ve named Polenta. Her box was really beautiful:
She looks just like in the photos. Her vinyl is very soft. I generally prefer hard vinyl, but she’s a gorgeous little doll. She can turn at the waist, which is unusual. I’m sure I’ll enjoy taking her places.
Then there is Paola Reina’s Lidia, whom I’ve named Camila. She is the most luxurious doll I’ve ever owned, with a myriad points of articulation. Her ankles, wrists, elbows and knees are all articulated, as is her head.
She can be put into lovely poses, such as kneeling! And she is very big.
She also smells strongly of vanilla pudding –in particular, a vanilla pudding I had as a little girl. I am filled with nostalgia when I walk into the studio now, and smell it!
Our partner and I have been walking every day. On the way back during our walk on this day, we passed by the burned house. I’d been there when it was still burning, months ago. Back then, the damage didn’t seem so bad. We thought it was just the garage. But I guess the house was damaged very badly. The family appear to have left, and the house sits quiet and eerie.
The burned area reminds me of how, in The Neverending Story, things and even creatures would have chunks taken out by “The Nothing” (or, “La Nada” in Spanish). This house used to always have really nice vintage cars outside. I hope the family is doing okay.
Also on this day, I managed to ship a bunch of packages. A Little People train my friend Snow had me purchase for him, some books I’d been holding onto, a badge, and an exchange for one of my mom’s Christmas presents. Normally I really procrastinate on this sort of thing. It requires printing, packing, measuring, taping, filling out forms (for international packages) dropping things off… mailing packages is always a hassle but mailing international ones even more so for my ADD-addled brain. So I was really, really proud that I pushed through and did it all! ๐
โจ๐๐ง๐ฅ Thursday ๐ฅ๐ง๐โจ
Tomoyo has been struggling a lot with her asthma during these colder, drier days. We’ve bought her a humidifier, and I plan to invest in an air purifier soon. Anyway, here’s a photo of her relaxing:
I need to weigh her again soon, to see if her very expensive weight-loss diet is doing anything (which would also help her asthma).
On Thursday I continued to read Kaya’s Story Collection, and also enjoyed a little lunch.
Afterwards, I worked some more on commissions and watched dinosaur documentaries downstairs. It was a welcome respite from sitting at my computer alone, and from YouTube.
Then Christopher got home, and it was time for Date Night to begin!
We went to the food trucks, only to be absolutely sticker-shocked by a dramatic increase in prices. Some food trucks had prices higher than many of our usual restaurants. But we had ice cream, anyway. I made a mess of myself eating it, but it was such a treat!
We got chicken sandwiches for dinner and watched a bit more Chucky while eating. Then we started playing with LEGO! Here’s some photos of that:
Kotoko stayed near us. Our partner put her in a box and she stayed in it.
Afterwards, Christopher joined us on a walk. It’s the third time he does this week and I am so proud and happy. It is very hard for him to walk, and he hates it. But, it is good for him.
Here’s a photo I took on the way back:
โจ๐๐ง๐ฅ Friday ๐ฅ๐ง๐โจ
Today, one of my last two dolls arrived. This was Antonio Juan’s Bella, whom I’ve named Penny. Her box was absolutely luxurious, and huge:
The dolly herself is about the size of an American Girl doll. Her vinyl is soft. Her clothes are very pretty and understated.
She has that immediately recognizable Antonio Juan trademark to her expression. Pouty rosebud lips, and serious, deep eyes with long eyelashes:
Here’s all three of my girls together, Penny, Marzi and Molly. I think Marzi would be happy to know she is still my favorite:
Kalinka, Camila and Polenta sit on the bunk bed instead, while Kamalata sits on my empty studio chair, and tends to be my constant companion, at least for this week.
Reading has been progressing very well! I finished both Jurassic Park/Jurassic World and Kaya’s Story Collection. Kaya’s Story Collection is now a firm favorite, equal to Samantha’s Story Collection. I badly want Kaya (the doll) but, having promised myself not to buy anymore unless I got them for special occasions, I am stuck. I did want her before reading her story, but so much more now that I have!
I hope she won’t be retired… it’s a sort of luck I seem to have, and a pattern with Mattel/AG these years. I’ve kinda hinted to my guys that I’d love her as a jointed Valentine’s present, but I know I probably shouldn’t hold my breath, nor should I use every special occasion as an excuse to get something new. ๐ She is so special though, and so different from any other AG doll…
I almost got her instead of Molly when I saw her at the store. I want to go to the store again so badly, too, and choose Kaya right there. Her character is wonderful. I was so sorry that the book was over so abruptly… I wished it’d been twice as long. I wanted to see Kaya find her wyakin, and take Swan Circling’s name. I wish I could even have seen grow into a young lady and perhaps court and be courted by Two Hawks someday. It just wasn’t enough!
Anyway, I had another nice little lunch, and began reading Raggedy Andy Stories.
The illustrations are very beautiful. It is always poignant to see Marcella mentioned.
It’s pretty saccharine writing, but I enjoyed it very much. I’ll would eventually finish reading it on Saturday evening, to then start on Stephen King’s “It”.
โจ๐๐ณ Saturday ๐ณ๐โจ
Here is the line on Saturday morning to stare at the bird feeders:
After breakfast we went to IKEA to get nightstands for our partner’s room. We had Swedish meatballs and Christopher even treated me to a slice of cake! It is always fun to walk around IKEA, and I brought Giorgio to carry around.
After we put together the nightstands, I grabbed some coffee, a snack, and my Switch. I played Pokรฉmon for hours before falling asleep (I’ll recap my playthrough in a separate, detailed post). It was so relaxing and blissful. I woke up when Christopher came downstairs from his own nap, then resumed my housework.
โจ๐๐ Sunday ๐๐โจ
On this day I began intermittent fasting, which gave my mom amazing results over the last two years. In addition to my extra exercise, we’ll see what it does.
I went grocery shopping, did a bit more housework, worked on art, began reading Stephen King’s “It”, and played video games. Elliot kept me company:
I now have all my Gym Badges, so the League is next! But maybe I’ll battle a few more Titans, first.
I also found an area to display my Jurassic Park Advent Calendar, and some other minis I had:
This has been a week of many accomplished important resolutions so far –but none as important as that of writing. I wrote 500 words a day almost every day, sometimes more, making up for the days I did not reach that number, to not only get to my total of 3,500 words, but completely surpass it, at 3,701 words. This was over two whole chapters!
When progress happens on my books, I feel, more than at any other time, as though my life has purpose. Considering this, you’d think I would try harder to make time for it. I’ve avoided it for so long, that my brain is still a little broken when it comes to working on my fiction, hence the small daily goal. But it’s getting better –as it is for reading, gaming, and simply letting my thoughts wander.
All of this time I’ve tried to keep up with news, with social media, with “the latest”. Making sure I am seen, not drowned out in the noise everyone else makes online, as they, too, try to be seen. I am accepting more and more than just having local friends, and a couple of online friends, is okay. That it’s okay if I lose touch with a ton of acquaintances, and it’s okay if I’m forgotten by people, it’s okay if I don’t keep up with every bit of news.
My own life and needs, the needs of those closest to me, and long put-off dreams and desires (often for the urge to make money to buy another toy) are slowly coming back into focus, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s only week one, but I’ll do my best to keep it up all year. For now, I’ll say…
Buddy and Sarah may be really small when compared to us, but I bet today they felt like giants looking down on the in-progress LEGO bookshop! The bookshop has lots of little details to explore. Christopher and I are having lots of fun putting it together. One of the minifigs was staring right back.
Today’s Jurassic Advent Calendar surprise was this little worker:
The LEGO City Advent Calendar had my favorite surprise yet. The first minifig!
This little guy is ready to send his letter to Santa. I wonder if Santa’s gotten my letter yet.
๐ Snail Interlude ๐
He fell asleep with his head on his friend’s shell…
โจ๐๐ Zoo Lights ๐๐โจ
Today we had an awesome treat. The three of us went together to experience Zoo Lights at Zoo Miami. It was a first for all of us, and a very romantic night that brought memories of our Tampa trip of a year ago –the first truly romantic trip together.
The first stop was to get hot chocolate and some treats. Our partner got two hot chocolates, one for me and one for him. Christopher had some of mine. He also treated me to a really good rice krispie treat which I also shared with Christopher.
We got those magic glasses that had things wherever there is colored light. We had zebra, giraffe and elephant glasses. They were very trippy. I think the elephant glasses were the best.
I brought Igloo with me, and had my snail Christmas sweater on, since it was an ugly sweater themed night. The zoo hosts themed nights throughout the many nights of Zoo Lights.
There were magical looking animals all lit up throughout the zoo…
By far the most special thing was getting to see the bears. I guess because it was nighttime, and less busy people-wise, a lot of the animals were out –either from curiosity, or because they were nocturnal.
I was able to get merely a foot away from a bear, separated by glass of course, and I don’t know why, but this had such an effect on me. I’d never been able to see a brown bear so close, and when it locked eyes with me for a few seconds, it made me cry. I was so happy about that brief connection.
Speaking of animal connections –the second best was an american crocodile. There was a large tube going through the water enclosure, and the crocodile was laying on top of the tube. So if you went through the tube, you could see its belly, and put your hand right up against it, and feel the rumble of its tail sliding through it.
That on its own was awesome, but the gator then slid down to the floor, and snapped right at my face, looking at me as it did so. Its teeth clicked against the glass!! I almost lost my mind from excitement, and screamed “HOLY SHIT” completely forgetting that I was surrounded by elementary school aged children, several of whom began yelling “Did you hear that?! WHO SAID THAT?! SOMEONE SAID A BAD WORD!!” but no one seemed to realize it was me. Lol.
Anyway, everywhere there were pretty light displays. Here are some:
I particularly loved this Pridey tree:
Right past the bamboo forest (an experience on a normal day) they’d decorated everything with giant glowing starfish, jellyfish, and urchins. It was incredible!
Here’s some video:
Here’s some photos I took of Igloo. I enjoyed carrying her around.
There were many photo spots, here’s Christopher and I on one of them:
I took this photo at the restaurant we were originally going to have dinner at, but it was SO expensive! We actually had to go somewhere else.
In the end we went to a very traditional Japanese restaurant that had amazing food. I got to try plum wine there and we even bought an extra bottle for tomorrow’s party. I can’t wait for that! It’s turning out to be a really fun month in spite of some stress.
Henlo ebearyone! I gots to go to IKEA for da furst tiem todai an had Sweddish meatballz! My furst outing by myself wid mah hooman. It wuz fun! I traveld in mah hoomanz bakpack for lot of teh dai. After I gotz home I told Giorgio all bout it!
Todai we met Marzi! She is da only dolly in da toybox and beary important. She takes care of everybear. If a soff frend pops a seem, Marzi fixes dem. She also maded us naym necklaces!
Marzi sez in dis house you knowed you are home when you get get a naym necklace of your beary own. Hereโs ours: