 Good morning everyone. My hair looks like crap today. It's one of those days. So anyway still no word on my mom Sunday morning, April 11th just after 10 a.m. And We're going out for a walk Not only do Bob and I need some exercise and I need to get out the fresh air and away from Everything else that's going on But we have still Lily no grass crazy pants noodle dog there and She really likes to go for a walk so She just saw a deer So she's like what was that? Is it a friend? Anyway, so we're gonna go for a walk and get some steps in Oh and Lily scared it away Um As you know He barks anyway, so we're gonna go get some steps in and see what we can see I'll be back. Okay, so I don't know if you can hear the faint hum of music in the background But Bob is in the garage working on all the cars. I think you washed mine. Yes, so I drive a Subaru out back Can you even see that? Kind of right there the front end anyway, it's red Anyway, it's filthy. It's probably filthy. So he's downstairs washing the cars and I was upstairs here catching up on some stuff that because of the situation with my parents I didn't get done and that included scanning a bunch of artwork sending out downloads to free down digital downloads of things to patrons and supporters and Getting all the scans done which I did now have two pieces of artwork that are for sale in the Etsy shop That I just really love so much. I scanned and made copies for them for for myself I did share the copies with the patrons and supporters but I really just wanted to Make them into stickers so I made them into stickers and It's that one The originals of course like I said are for sale in the Etsy shop if you'd like to own them to hang them on your wall They're signed on the back and then I have a bunch of copies of vintage and antique ephemera Some of which I had some of which a friend of mine had Laura Gurgain shared with me so with her permission we created a digital file combining the two and And So I printed some of those for myself because I want to use them in my downstairs journals, so those are all going down stairs and The Handmade paper is all dry. I have another coffee filter from the inside of the strainer that sits over my paint water bucket in the first So the first level of cleaning the water when I'm done creating is Running all the water through a strainer with lined with a coffee filter Then after that I use the golden crash paint solids to remove the rest of the solid matter from the water To make the water safe to be something that's dumped down the drain I will put a link to the crash paint solids down below for you. It works really well. Anyway, when I was Cleaning that whole mess up Getting it ready for the crash paint solids the Strainer was lined with some paper pulp I didn't think would come out, but I dumped it out on the table and that actually did so it's kind of dry to another piece of paper So, you know Lily of course is up here because grandpa was downstairs in the garage And she was crying because I was busy and not paying attention to her and grandpa was outside Also not paying attention to her So she was having a conniption fit Poor thing. You're right Poor baby My siblings and I are working to advocate for my parents and getting them the help Equipment and supplies they need no matter what ends up happening with my mom or whether she stays home For care or she ends up going into care so that for both her and my dad it's The way it needs to be so we're all cooperating. That's not happened in decades, but it's nice. All right I think that's it for the minute I'm gonna actually turn the computer off even though it's only 8 to 41. I Could edit the vlog, but I'm not going to I'll do it tomorrow. All right, that's it for the minute I'll be back. It is Monday March 12th. It's about 1 30 p.m. I have spent the morning on the phone with nurses and doctors and on the internet Chotting back and forth with siblings and right now as we speak my mom is at the hospital and they're getting her some outpatient testing that she needs and then taking her around to the emergency room and Hopefully if the right things are said by my dad and my niece Getting her admitted which is one step closer to getting her into skilled nursing It's a lot of ifs though. I mean you guys we are out for our evening walk taking noodle girl Noodle girl out for a walk before she goes home and Yeah Waiting test results for my mom and hopefully some definitive answers because up until then up until now The diagnosis has been speculative So but the good news is they're keeping her in the hospital for the time being She's not going home anytime soon. You need to figure out what's going on and And my dad's made it very clear to the staff. He cannot take care of her at home so I Gave him permission earlier to do and then or say whatever he needs to with with regards to the staff To make his point clear To them that he can't take care of her I Would forgive him whatever it was so It might be a pretty big statement. I might regret it later You guys are gonna be able to see this There's our little neighborhood duck pair. You can see that male right there Maybe Yeah That's female. I think that just flew away. Sure. They have a nest over there somewhere Because they probably in the bushes over there because they are over there all the time So a bit windy this morning, I think it died down finally but I Worry we can hear pine cones and branches hitting the roof The driveway and Street are completely littered it's crazy up here in the art room doing a little bit of cleaning and reorganizing I Changed this part right here a little bit to allow for a basket of my handmade papers my Distressed papers some things that I've printed on dictionary paper things Sort of texture paper I've made out of paint and dryer sheets some things I really really want to use and if they're in the bin I'm finding I'm not using them and this way it's a little easier for me to just Kind of flip through and pick out what I want to use. I still have the bin and it has More painting papers and canvas scraps and stuff in it But there's some things in here that I really really I'm enjoying at the moment. I want them out I still have my stack of books to dry flowers and some other things The big thing I moved was the little toaster oven we have for drying clay and stuff I put it over here on the tool desk and model making desk right there rearrange this a little bit kind of put the Disposable cups in a little bin to corral them a little bit Mostly I'm just keeping myself busy My mother has been transferred to a bigger hospital in Washington State. She's getting some more testing done She has some lesions or masses on her brain and she's got some trouble with the spinal fluid not draining. They're Going to drain the fluid and test it they're going to Do some more testing on the masses one of them is causing the spinal fluid to not drain and they're not sure what's going on with There it might be really bad So I'm keeping myself busy Yeah So anyway, I have to do April's mission inspiration. Haven't done it yet. So I printed that it's on my table I also have my other art journal out because I want to do a page in that Whether today or tomorrow, I don't know but I do want to work in that and I Need to sweep the floor in here because I did make a lot of paper I've put the paper making stuff away for the minute because I have a lot of handmade paper right now And I need to use up what I have made before I make more I have all of this right? There is some handmade paper in my Etsy shop for sale At this moment, I think there's still some pieces in there Could be wrong about that, but I don't think I am anyway. Sorry distracted by paper Um, yeah So that's all the stuff going on this morning It's Wednesday evening April 14th. It is a quarter to 6 p.m. I haven't vlogged all day I did do a couple of journal pages and I actually recorded the process so there'll be some non-speaking Journaling videos coming soon. I don't know that I'll speed them up so much As they'll just be music in the background Um, so I got that then the rest of the day is being filled with phone calls and family conversations and sibling arguments And still no word on my mom And I don't Think this is a case where no news is good news. I think it might be the opposite so Yeah Trying not to eat another bag of cookies. I'm going to cut up some more apples for the ambient friends and Feed them and keep myself occupied because that's all I think I can do right now I'll be back Good morning, everyone. My hair looks like crap today It's one of those days. So anyway, still no word on my mom still waiting and Things are quiet out in the woods today. I think beautiful sunshine. I'm gonna open some windows while I can before the yellow pollen season hits and then I just don't Open at least this side window because The pollen Just gets everywhere. I've got so many things on the window. So it's hard to get open. It's just really difficult I've got a couple of videos I filmed yesterday of me non-speaking videos of me working on some journal pages and I'm gonna start up playing in my journal series episode one is Saving right now and then I did the other journal page was mission inspiration. So I'm going to be saving that one I'm doing that one today too and getting those scheduled and loaded up to youtube and scheduled I'm trying some new music. So let me know if y'all like it or not um What else I think right now because it's 11 57. I'm gonna go have some lunch and Watch some youtube and then later this afternoon. I might work on another journal page and film that So I'm working on a journal page in between crazy text messages from my parents. Oh, uh not my parents my siblings about my parents and Do you guys ever just have a roll of washi tape that just I mean it seems like no matter what I do I just Can't get it to unroll It's just I'm about ready to chuck it in the trash can I Like really like it's just doing this Like what the hell if you guys have ever Had this I mean, is it just bad washi tape? Can see then and when you do get it to come out does that so I'm gonna just throw it away, but tell me all what you think like I don't know so you look for this in the next Use it or lose it box Because yeah, it's gotta go. Okay. I got two more journal pages done today. You have two more videos Yeah, one of them is saving right now And as soon as I'm done with that two new videos, I'll get them all loaded and scheduled out on youtube I also got a squirrel I also got some ads out for The class I'm teaching in june with bae agrob and a bunch of other really talented artists The link for that's in the video description The link for the stamps and simple stencils I've used in the upcoming journal page videos will be in the video descriptions But they're all available at the Etsy shop. So Go look over there. And what else? I know there's something else. I can't think what it is guys. It is friday april 16th 6 11 p.m I forgot to vlog this morning or any other rest of the time today oops There's a lot going on today including starting off the morning with an eye doctor's appointment that ran An hour and a half deer longer than it was supposed to Yeah, an hour and a half longer than it was supposed to not because there was anything wrong They had a couple of emergencies at the ophthalmologist's office Which pushed my appointment behind she was over an hour late to see me The good news is though, although i'm on a glaucoma watch because of some family medical history and Issues with my eyes. I was born with That I can't do anything about they're just watching things. I have to make sure I go in every year and not be a Jerk and not go in But otherwise my vision is good. I'm safe to drive without corrective lenses. So I should I so choose And I still need glasses to read but you know Anyway, we had a meeting after that a phone meeting. We took care of that. We went grocery shopping My mom is being transferred to skilled nursing care to take care of a couple things for her before she goes back to the hospital for a procedure that she needs so Still don't know if she's coming home at all or not Um, and if so when or if she's going to skilled nursing care for a while. We don't I don't know Anyway, we're headed up to my dad's tomorrow to go check in on him and my sister Karen is in town from Iowa Staying with him helping out with some stuff I'm in the process. You see that That container right there. It's full of sourdough crackers Uh, making regular sourdough crackers and gluten-free sourdough crackers to bring up to dads I made extra crackers some for us some for the daughter and son-in-law because they like them. Anyway I spent the afternoon baking Yeah, it's a thing no art not yet. Anyway, all right. I think that's it for the minute I need some more water some more of that Weird pizza. We're not even going out to go get pizza because we did enough errands. I don't want to leave the house again Yeah, it's a thing. All right, I'll be back dinner I've kind of blown my diet today Just FYI I haven't had that many vegetables unless you count the little bit of broccoli that was on the pizza that I just had for dinner I don't know that that counts And we're going walking It is 9 17 p.m. Or so Saturday April 17 It's been a long day Driving all the way up to my dad's And mom's house. Um, there are a couple hours from here spending the afternoon with them making sure dad ate a good lunch um Talking to my sister Karen about what's going on with our mom's health kind of Making sure we have I have the facts straight According to what she's seeing and that we're kind of all on the same page um My mom's having kind of a risky procedure done next week And Cross your fingers it goes well. There's a lot of things that could go wrong between now and then How do I say this? It may make what's left for her more comfortable Which is why it's being gone ahead with Um, but it's not going to change the outcome of what's happening If you get my drift So anyway, uh Karen and I also for the first time in Quite a few decades maybe 40 years worked together peacefully and we got my Dad's pantry closet and his kitchen cleaned and straightened out because that was a hot mess and um She's helping him with yard work and some things other things around the house That need doing that, you know, dad hasn't had time to do and I see garbage on the floor Dad hasn't had time to do and because he was taking care of mom Got neglected and so um, I think every time one of us kids go over we're helping him with something new That's all we can do while we're waiting to see what happens with mom. So anyway now and we've had dinner and We're just chilling first time in quiet. I think maybe since I started this whole thing. We didn't go walking Maybe the only other time I did that was when we had our first covid shot So Anyway, um, but I have 70 000 plus steps this week already. So I think 72 or 73 I'm not really worried. Let's see. I had 70 000 last night. What do I have now? 3300 at the moment. So I'll be ending the week with 73 000. That's an average of 10 000 a day. That's fine Anyway, um It's been a week bonus though. I'm um Back to doing some more art journaling tonight at 8 p.m The first of those videos came out And I'm trying some new days and times and so we'll see what y'all think. I don't know. You let me know The pages are fun. They're not super hard. I do think I'm going to go back since it's only April and look at Mike Deakins mid-month mini missions and um, I have an idea maybe for doing those. I'm going to go Maybe tomorrow and print as many missions out for january through april Since we're only the fourth month into the year. I can still probably maybe catch up and um do those So I think I might do that. I have a few ideas. So, you know the inspirations like coming back um Now that we just kind of finding know what's going on with mom. I mean now comes Probably not going to be a great one, but I'm finally feeling a little bit inspired to create some stuff So I think we'll do that so anyway. I don't know what else to go with that We're going to take it as it comes. It's all we can do with art with life and everything Anyway, if you have any questions comments or current concerns, please leave them down below If you're in one of my facebook art groups, feel free to tag me in a post over there Especially if you've done some artwork. I'd love to see what you're doing if you're inspired by Um prompts or words or anything else that's going on in one of the groups I'd certainly love to know about it. So please do tag me If you want to join set art groups or following on instagram support the free content by shopping in the etsy store joining patreon All of that stuff. Look in the video description down below It's all down there including my link tree list links. Some of it is in the link tree list links So check all of the things in the things for the things check them out Um, you can get my art foemies at the art foemies website. That's down there You can sign up for the class i'm teaching in june with bae agrob and a bunch of other really fabulously trained artists And that is also down below. Check it out. All right, that's it for right now Give your loved ones a hug say, please and thank you be nice be kind be decent humans And you know we can all make it through. I know we can all right. That's it for this week I will see you all next week. Please stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay creative. Please wear a mask And if you're so Okay with it or inspired get vaccinated. I don't think it's a bad thing All right, that's it for the minute. Don't forget to go out and do something nice for yourself because you deserve it And i'll see you later. Bye guys