Been singing the flu blues

Well, gee, it's been about a week or so since I've been here. Was sick, still am. Have the flu or something so I've been keeping a low profile. Hahahaha, that's funny, a low profile. How much more out of touch with life can I get! Ventured out today but got sick in the store so had to cut it short and didn't get what I went for. I had wanted to get some cheapie paint, the little round ones that come with about 8 colors and you use water, I cannot think of what they are called, not real watercolors although they are water colors, I think. I was hoping to experiment with them on some drawings I've done. The cat eyes are Rocky's only his eyes are copper color, not yellow. I was afraid it would look really weird with copper eyes. Then again I guess I could have used orange/ginger color on the other part but I liked these eyes . They can use a bit more work but for not doing anything like this in more moons than I care to remember, I like it as it is. I am going to do more, maybe I'll put them here, too, so if anyone in my family reads this they can comment, or not. I just finished another pair of eyes and if I scan it I'll add them on here at the end, maybe, if I remember. Rob likes them the best, oh, I'll just add it here now so I don't forget. I'm so glad you can't see the little eyeball that is visible on the actual paper. I had started one up higher on the page and didn't like it so erased it and started another one, this one, and discovered the other eye was right in the eye whiskers. This is not Rocky although he was very well scrutinized for this. I wish I could draw the rest of his face, I know that I cannot do that. I tried but I get into all sorts of perception trouble and believe me, it ain't pretty. So I don't think I'll ever get beyond the eyes. OH well, I like 'just' the eyes.

I was thinking about Ernie today and got bummed out. Started thinking of dad and got even more bummed out. I keep telling myself that they are together, happy, disease free, etc. but sometimes I can't talk myself out of being bummed out. Daddy would have been 82 yesterday and Monika would have been 62 on the day before that. I hope she is with them. For someone who seemed to be so miserable for so much of her life I hope she is finally at peace and happy. I keep thinking about all the stuff she put in Ernie's coffin and I suppose he wouldn't have minded. He was used to her collection of clutter in their house so he may have expected it :-) I wonder what happened to all that stuff in their house. I only wish she had sent me Ernie's shirts.

Tomorrow I am mailing those booties I made. I received the check for them and after seeing the check and thinking about all that work that went into them, I don't think I'll be doing that again. I am disappointed that I never heard back from the lady at polkadotpunch about the monster dolls. I wonder if it would be wrong to call her? Maybe I'll do that, just for the sake of it, to satisfy my curiosity.

A couple of weeks ago I bought what I thought was polymer clay. I saw these great boxes of clay on sale for 2 dollars a box. I said to myself, what a deal! So I bought 6 boxes. I didn't get to them right away and when I did get to them, boy, if I could have reached I would have given myself a good swift kick in the butt. They weren't polymer clay, they weren't clay at all, it says right on the box in big bold letters Modeling dough! It's that play dough stuff, not that brand but the same thing. I made a little head out of it just in case it would work out for magnets but alas, after 3 days of drying it was still play dough, rough and salty!

Check this out, it's so funny! Shoes I visit these craft places often and thought this was so funny. I cannot see anyone using these, although it took a lot of imagination and skill to make these purses. Maybe in places like NYC or L.A., I don't know, maybe not even there. When we were in London I think I could very easily seen something like this. I have forgotten the neighborhood name where all the punkies were hanging out but there were things there I still can't believe. I wonder if they all still hang out there. Mohawks were very popular then and some were 2 feet, I'm not joking. I have heard it takes hours to get the hair to stand up like that but when I think of the people wearing them, would they actually stand still that long to achieve that look? I guess they would, either that or they put resin in their hair.

Speaking of London, I found my 800 year old piece of iron from the church gate. I wish I had written the name of it down. I lost my piece of dirt that I dug out of the castle wall, well, I didn't really dig it out, I just helped it out, it was already loose. It was from a castle in Gilford, or Guilford? It pre-dated Jesus and was unlike any castle you'd ever think one to be. I didn't find it romantic, I found it utterly scary that people lived like that, just pockets for sitting and sleeping carved into the walls, very small and cramped, earthy is an understatement.

Okay, I'm getting off here now but before I go, one more place to look at that's really cool. You can look anywhere in the world to see where these are happening. Goodnight...wait, a family picture is needed...it's (bear with me, he's my child) Rocky, one totally ticked of kitty for getting bright lights flashed in his face, can't blame him. But look at the other photo, same one, just manipulated and it really shows his anger! If looks could kill, I'm absolutely certain I'd be dead...see below...