Needs Some Work

I had my new studio space set up so perfectly. It was even featured in an Etsy Storque article. But the truth is that version of my studio didn't last very long.



What happened to it? Life I guess. Between getting pre-occupied with finishing up the rest of the apartment and a sucsessive series of illness once again my studio started to function as a storage space for random junk. Something that always bugged me and I was hoping would stop after it got moved to a visible doorless room off the living room.

How am I supposed to get anything creative done in such chaos where I can't even move or find free desk space? So today i've decided to set the rest of the house aside and work on it. I must make something during my Wednesday chunk of me time and I need to prepare.



- Posted from my iPhone

And it's perfect

so clean looking
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com

While the entire move isn't complete by any means, my studio is all set up and ready to go. Now I just need to take care of that pesky rest of the house problem. Gotta say that I am pretty pleased with how it turned out and with myself a little bit. But most of all I feel very blessed and privileged to have such a great space. This downsizing and moving was something we always knew I would have to do as soon as I found out I was pregnant. But it was such a daunting task and I wasn't exactly thrilled to be giving up my studio. But I got over that selfishness a long time ago and have been itching to move for ages now. What stopped us was the hassle of it all. But we had an opportunity to get it started the Wednesday before Thanksgiving when Jon was home from work and Alex was at her toddler group so we started moving our furniture. But we couldn't move the 200lb press, that had to wait until he had a friend come over to help on the following Tuesday.

There is so much natural light I rarely have to turn the ceiling lamp on and I have no need for any of the clip or desk lamps like the old studio. I was able to hang my SAD light up on the wall so it can illuminate the entire room. This space was a blank slate for me to build on and I think I did the best I could with the space and without buying anything new. I made a lot of mistakes with the layout of my last studio, mistakes that I learned from.

And I finally framed and hung some of the art I have collected over the years!

Alex so wants to be in this room and that cannot be as there is way too much for her to get into. So we removed the door and put up a gate. Now I can be in there while watching her at the same time. We might hang a curtain for privacy and decor at some point in the future. I don't know how much work I will be able to get done when she is awake as she still requires a ton of my attention, but it has to be better than before.

Hopefully I will be back to making art sometime this month. There is still so much to do.

The Studio that Was

Printing Corner
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com

Is dead and gone made into our bedroom (makeshift at this time) and I now have a space that is about one fourth the size. We finally gave Alex a proper bedroom and in order to do that I had to downgrade my studio.

And it is awesome! Instead of feeling sorry for myself like I was I actually am loving the new space! Some would call it cramped but I call it cozy. There was a lot of wasted space in my old studio so everything is fitting a lot better than I expected it would. Originally we expected to need to keep my press outside the room in the neighboring livingroom. Not so! No inches to space, but the beast fits.

Jon moved it with a guy friend last night while I was out and I am going to work to make it usable today. Starting from scratch is great because I learned what to do and what not to do when setting up my old space.

I think I'm going to need to have a studio sale soon due to this downsizing.

What Better Way?

Working in my jammies
Originally uploaded by mlee.etsy.com

To get over a major case of the blues than to pull out an old partially finished block and get to carving. Everything is already drawn I'm just clearing wood at this point before adding details here and there. It is a little boring, but just what I need right now. And yes, I am wearing a nightgown under my printmaking apron. That way I can hop right into bed as soon as I am ready.

I'm also getting back in the drawing groove. But what I am not going to do is to stress myself out about creating a finished product. After all, art is about more than making and pushing a product isn't it?

The weather here is gorgeous. I sit here typing this with the window open right next to me and a nice breeze coming in. The days are just beautiful and blee and I get in plenty of walks. But we need to find a new place to walk as I am getting a little bored with our scenery. Time to mix things up a bit just like with my art.

I'm looking forward to the weekend.

Hope everybody has a wonderful day filled with joy and beautiful weather.

March Is Fired!

my wall
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

What a terrible yet fitting end for a terrible month.

This was my wall of art before I destroyed them last night. Now I just
see empty nails on a wall. Last night an anonymous person took the
time to point out that my collages are too busy and it hit a little
too deeply.

It has been a long time since I have destroyed work other than to use
them in something else. The tree was spared since it is not a collage and therefor doesn't
fall under the umbrella of being too busy. But it does have a lot of
dots on it so maybe. I am starting to question everything about myself
right now. I wish I could just stop making art.

So last night, I took these collages and left them out in the rain to be destroyed over night. I will remove them from Etsy later today-not that they're in any danger of selling anyway.

What was I thinking trying to break out of printmaking and trying new
things? With everything going on right now I just can't handle this.
I'm going to have to take a break.

Sick

View from my relaxing chair
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

No Valentine's Day chocolate for me please, but feel free to send hugs and kisses to miss blee.

I started feeling bad with a sore throat on Tuesday night, but I pushed on and ignored it because I had a new desk to set up and a studio to re-organize.

And I do have a wonderful and well organized work station. I also have a runny nose, headache, muscle ache, sore throat and a fever. I caught it from Jon who caught it from his dad when we saw them in New Haven. Thankfully the only hint of it in blee has been a slight cough. She's behind me right now in her bouncy chair inspecting one of her toys.

This reminds me a lot of last years three month illness, but thankfully without the throwing up.

I am going to go relax in my comfy chair while supervising blee and hoping she doesn't need lots of holding today as I don't have the strength. She's a tough kid. Tougher than her parents. Hope everybody is doing better than we are over here.

Yesterday we missed the perfect mother/ daughter sling moment. Jon was gone but on his way home and she fell asleep cuddled up in our cotton pouch. For about forty minutes she napped against my chest all snuggled up in the sling while I relaxed on the sofa. She woke up and I had to use the bathroom less than five minutes before Jon got home. I would have loved a picture of that moment. It was so precious.

First woodblock prints of the year

Pfau
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Woodblock prints are back, my first of the year actually! Not that I am anywhere near done with collaging and gocco. In fact I made a collage that I am quite proud of just last night. But I had a chunk of time and was in the mood so I made about ten prints. Not a lot for me but it was what I was feeling. The peacock is my favorite.

I am going to try and do my 365 Sketch of the day tonight, but I won't beat myself up if I don't get to it. I am taking a break from reorganizing my work and cleaning my studio. You see I have a new work desk coming in and I need to be ready for it. And it is one of those situations where it is going to get worse before it gets better. This is my big birthday gift from my husband. It is a huge deal because my current cheapo Craigslist desk is on its last legs quite literally. It is unstable and I am constantly having to readjust the leg screws and an unstable desk for carving is not safe. Especially one that is piled high with stuff. Ikea has a smaller but great desk for me.

I'm looking forward to having it set up, but not looking forward to getting it set up.

More new work coming, check back often as I will be trying to put new stuff up in my shop at lease twice a day this week.

Funny Thing

portable washi art station
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

How the simple task of organizing my new little washi cutting ACEO making portable station along with finishing off a couple in the process can give me focus and allow me to go on to being creative. It is 2am and I just finished up a bunch of printing. I have quite a few finished pieces as well as some pieces that I hope to finish tomorrow.

Much scanning to do! I am pretty excited with the washi additions on the ACEOs along with some new blocks that are getting printed for the first time.

Now I must go to bed as I would like to go to church tomorrow and not be a total zombie. Though when you have a baby people kind of expect you to be a zombie, but they don't expect you to be a zombie because of art. What can I say, I suffer for my art! Sleep can wait.

Happy Sunday!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

To me.

The Happy Light Jon ordered for me Monday night came this morning, just in time for me to sit in front of it for thirty almost peaceful moments this morning with breakfast and (paper) journaling. This is to help treat the mixed state depression I have been going through very bad lately. Winter is rough on me. I can't take anti-depressants for a number of reasons so I am hopeful about this. It is quite enjoyable, the light itself and the routine of it could be. I haven't actually written in my paper journal since the day before I found out I was pregnant! First I was too shell shocked and then simply too sick and just out of the habit.

It was a good habit that I am going to try and get back into. It is one of the many things I am doing to try and feel better.

I have the block that can barely be seen in this photo almost completed then I have a small block to carve. Then printing. I am hoping to have all my carving done tonight. We have gotten in the routine of giving blee a nice bath then massage before bed and it is going quite well. Last night she slept her longest stretch yet, eight full hours. This after a horrible night before when she kept waking up every hour and a half or so all night. So far tonight is looking good.

Oh and I was featured on Trunkt the other day. I logged on to take down a sold piece and there I was on the homepage. This is the second time that I know of.

Not So Lazy Weekend

rearranged print corner
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

First thing this morning I did what I had been thinking about the night before and rearranged my print corner so that the drawers faced out in a better direction. They had been facing toward the press and the top ones would bump up against the paper rack and not open all the way.

But it could be more productive. Like right now instead of being at the computer blogging I could be finishing up cleaning my studio so I can do two things.

a) print, including using my new block which I need to tear paper for, I have none that size.

b) cart the Pack n' Play back into the corner of the studio for some blee watching during work time. That corner I had set up for her prior to the birth didn't last two days post getting her home. The first night we co-slept with her in her co-sleeper in our queen size bed. The second night we said screw this thing is two wide and dragged the pack n play into the bedroom at 2am so she could sleep next to us in the bassinet part and we could actually have some room in the bed. It has been there ever since. Currently she either sleeps in the crib in her nursery (yay) or in the bouncy chair on the floor next to us (bad), but never in the bassinet anymore. It is just getting stuff piled in it instead of being used.





Ok, time to do some sweeping since there are woodchips everywhere. Once she is crawling I am going to have to be very careful about letting her loose in this room. As in not doing it.

Killing Time

Progress
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Guess I lied when I said that I would be taking a break. What can I say other than that my moods can change on a dime.

Last weekend I finished carving the large block I have been working on for what seems like forever but I was unable to do any printing. Knowing that I need a decent chunk of time to print I knew I wouldn't be able to do anything with it until this weekend. So with my free time I have kept busy by carving small blocks. The more I have to work with the better and these are fun to play with. If they work great, if not no skin off my back. The 4"x4" size is what first got my shop noticed after all. What allowed me to get all these done? A combination of blee sleeping away most of the day and having people over to clean all of the house except for the nursery and my studio. I brought blee in with me and we hung out only venturing out to change her and for food and water while they worked their magic.





Of course at the same time as making these pieces I have also managed to make the mess in my studio that I will need to clean (hopefully today) before I am able to print. Suddenly what a few months ago was the cleanest and most organized room in the place is the biggest mess. But it has been so much worse! Things are still organized outside my desk area.

It is 12:30am and I should be sleeping but after taking a two hour nap after Jon got home I have a bit of energy to burn. But am burned out on carving for the time being. It is funny how even when she is good blee is still quite exhausting.

Needs a Baby!

The blee corner
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Good late morning to all. I just woke up not too long ago! Haven't even made myself a pot of tea yet. That certainly sounds like a good idea. I am loving having good light blocking curtains in the bedroom and I hope baby appreciates them while napping.

The waiting game continues.

Art is still happening after some time off and that makes waiting a little bit better. I carved quite a bit yesterday and I will probably carve today. Right now I am getting my studio nice and cool so I can be comfortable. I'm making some serious progress on the block and that is very encouraging. Granted it is just the outlines that I am carving, even when I am done with that I have a heck of a lot of clearing work to do. But this block has me excited and motivated to work on it and get it done as soon as possible without pushing myself too much.

We saw a midwife yesterday since I have to go in twice a week now. This one was a lot more relaxed than my typical midwife and didn't seem concerned at all. It helped that my blood pressure has dropped significantly and was out of the danger zone for the first time in about a month. Both numbers fell at least ten points! If is stays low the pressure to have this baby ASAP might not be strong enough to induce before my delivery date.

Mostly I am ready to have her out so we can meet her, but she's behaving herself so keeping her in has some advantages as well. And Jon does have some work to finish up.

Last night we were out late at our neighbor's house. First we took Maeby over to be social with other greyhounds and she was our sweet but socially awkward girl. Then we went over to our friend's house for a BBQ. All I ate was fruit, not really wanting BBQ meat at this time. We were getting bitten so we took it inside and ended up chatting for hours long after the kids went to bed and the other guests had left. It was nice but we crashed when we got home.


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Now playing: The Pogues - The Ghost Of A Smile
via FoxyTunes

I can still work! (a little)

Taking it on!
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Morning to all! Another Tuesday and no baby. Last night we were convinced she was on her way and were even using the computer to time contractions. Then the power went out and we both fell asleep. I guess they must not have been true contractions after all. I'm sure we are not the only impatient one at this point.

After having a few slug days in a row I had a small burst of energy last night a couple hours before bedtime. It wasn't super hot out and I had the air on and the door closed and Jon was in the bedroom hanging curtains. (now our bedroom can finally be nice and dark when we sleep). At first I thought maybe I would do some printing, but I realized that is insane and way too much commitment once I have my inks out so I decided to start carving this puppy instead! I know there is no way it will get finished anytime soon but I might as well get it started. Normally I carve standing up because I feel I get a better angle that way but pregnant I try to sit as much as possible. But at times it just wasn't possible and as I bent over to carve my belly would press up against my lower body. Seriously not comfortable and i tried not to do that often! Don't worry I didn't overdue it and stopped after about an hour and then took a lovely cool shower.

I've been feeling like such a useless slug with nothing but wanting this baby out on my mind for days now. It felt good to let out some creativity even if it wasn't much.

And now i have a bedroom with dark curtains so me and the baby can sleep better. I then vacated my studio and he hung curtains in there too. We got curtains for the whole place but the ones in the bedroom and my studio are the most important because that is where she will be sleeping. And the studio corner with her pack and play bassinet has a window right there that didn't even have blinds. I think we need to get even more to block light in there.

For a couple of days we were thinking that we want to have this baby on the 18th, that way she can share the date with both of us! That and see Superbad in the theaters on Friday the 17th! But I have since changed my mind and want her out ASAP. The more time passes the bigger she gets and from her squirms I am thinking she is very big and cramped in there!

Making art, listing on Etsy and putting stuff on Flickr is becoming less important in my mind. Blogging is becoming more difficult as well. I'm so tired so much of the time. But I have discovered that people tend to jump to the conclusion that I am having the baby if I don't at least poke my head out once a day! I was thinking if the power wasn't back on by morning I would have to call somebody to post that I am not having the baby I just don't have power! I swear that other than my mother in law my friends and the people I know through Etsy are the most excited about her arrival. Or maybe it is just that my family tends to be very reserved.

We have plans for a BBQ at a friend's house and a play date for local greyhounds to run around in a fenced in area tonight. Jon is working on finishing up some major projects at work before he takes his leave. So probably she'll come sometime today! That is fine with me because I really would like to avoid getting induced or having a C section. Recovery for a C can be really difficult and I have a big art fair that I would really like to do at the end of September. It is very important to me.

P.S. feeling better after my emotional moodiness from the last post! Thanks for being understanding.

Weekend Plans

Final Four
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

I hope everybody has fun stuff planned this weekend. And is able to stay cool. It is hot as heck here in Boston. My fun stuff is art and baby stuff.

After what turned out to be a very productive week I now hope to have a productive weekend filled with art and baby prep. Heck, I consider working on art as baby prep at this point. Because I am doing something that is important for me to do before the baby comes!

I finished carving the last of these four images (on two blocks) yesterday and now I am off to touch up the carving a bit, make sure there are no snaggy areas in the carving and that the areas I need deep are deep enough. Other than that they are done. Then clean off the desk which is currently a mess of woodchips and carving tools.

Once the desk is cleared I can tear my paper and I want lots of paper! Thankfully I do have a bunch that is already half done. I have some new paper that I want to try too. Hopefully I will get to printing by Sunday.

Last night I was really nervous that today was going to be ruined because my stomach was acting up and feeling acidic. I was exhausted but didn't go to sleep until around 2am because of the pain and fear. But it had settled down enough at that point and I slept very well. I'm not even all that sore like I was yesterday morning. We both slept in and as I rose Jon leaned over and rubbed my back. I feel very motivated to get stuff done today after a good night's rest.

This weekend is important for us to do stuff around the house. My baby shower is next Saturday. Boy has that really snuck up on me! It looks like two of my best friends will be coming from NYC for it and I am excited. I'm excited to see everybody that will attend. Many of them have not seen me since I got huge.

Last Hurrah!

Carved Butterfly
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Of one very pregnant lady.

I hope everybody is having a good week so far. I can't believe that it
is nearly over. I also can't believe that we now have an infant car
seat strapped in our back seat! I'm all grown up now! *tick tick tick*
my belly has a time bomb in it and I can't read the clock.







Carving the pine cone block was beginning to wear on me. That 8"x10" was feeling rather large and daunting and my mind had moved on to other ideas. I've made good progress on it but find myself slowing down and neglecting it. Odd finding such a small block feeling so large when I have carved 20"x30" many times in the past. So I pulled out one of my many 6" square blocks and pasted two images onto them. They are a mixture of images I found in the dictionary combined with drawn embellishments. I attached the paper Tuesday night and then let it dry to the block overnight before carving. Dragonfly on one side, butterfly on the other. Then I carved them both in a day before washing off the paper guide. The process can be seen documented here in this set. I am really liking the paper transfer except for the part where I get the block wet. I wanted to go back into the butterfly after I removed the image but I felt that carving it wet would not be wise. It was the detail in the butterfly that really killed me and gave me some serious shoulder pain. I needed to use my magnifying goggles to carve those little dots and they still need to have the edges cleaned up before I can print.

In the end I am proud of myself for pushing myself to get this done. I am planning on printing the two separate and together seeing how the forms overlap. Depending on if I am able to complete the pine cone block or not these may be the last blocks I finish for awhile. And possibly my last big printing session until after we have adjusted to the baby.

Last night I was feeling good, really good, and I made the mistake of telling somebody that both my swollen ankles and my acid seem to be under control. Well around 3am I was puking up acid and today I will probably end up with swollen ankles even if I never get out of bed! What does a girl have to do?

I Feel Loved and Very Lucky

Earthy Ginkgos
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Thanks for all the wonderful supportive feedback I have been getting lately! I really appreciate it and have been feeling much better and even when I hurt I don't let it get to me so much. I am in such a mood that I am able to push through the pain.

The pack n play has shipped and I am incredibly excited about getting it and setting it up in here. Pretending baby is in here with me. Imaging that being in a creative space right from the start will rub off on her. Jon likes to tease me about it because early on in the pregnancy I was really worried that I wouldn't bond with the baby but here I am all excited about having her in here with me, so excited I want to pretend she is. And I will most likely cry when I do.

Here is one of my favorite pieces from the mad printing session of Sunday. Ginkgos just don't seem to get old do they? I love the earthiness of the colors. It is one of my favorites of the series.

I have two bigger pieces that I still need to scan in and now that I have a program that doesn't crop off edges like the annoying HP driver getting nice scans of them should be a lot easier and more successful. Too bad I had to buy a $40 product just to get my scanner to work properly because HP can't make a decent driver. But thank you to the Etsy seller that pointed it out to me. At least the purchased program has some cool extra features like how I can scan a jpg and a tiff at the same time. I always want both keeping the tiff for backup. This makes sure I don't forget!

I spend a fair amount of time yesterday mucking around in Photoshop making up a collection of some of my favorite art cards thanks to the suggestion of one of my readers. It turned out so well I printed it out but messed up at first and printed the low res jpg I have for online and it looked like butt. That ticked me off wasting the ink and the paper. Then I printed the proper image and it came out so awesome that I listed it on Etsy and even framed one for myself!

Speaking of art cards I got some new art card cases that are rigid plastic instead of the bags I have been using from Ebay yesterday. They are great! Archival just like the bags, look nicer and they make shipping easier since they offer protection that the bags do not. Thank you Studio Lyon for the suggestion and link. I need to leave feedback today because it shipped wicked fast. Also, I made my very first posting to the ACEO Street Team for Etsy. I enjoyed sharing my thoughts on the little cards.

I wanted to take photos of mirrors yesterday but the sun was not obeying. It was a very dreary day here in Boston. Maybe today it will work out better.

My final block?

Carving outlines
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Along with hopefully the other side. And maybe a few small art card and 4"x4" pieces. But carving this piece I realize that there is a good chance that it may be the last block that I carve in awhile. I just can't see myself actually finishing anything of size after this and hopefully the other side. This is an exciting piece for me because I have plans to play around with moku hanga finally! And while some people have told me my old blocks that have been used with oil based inks may work, I think it would be best to have something fresh to try. I finally bit the bullet and did it while ordering a presentation case for my smaller work on the Dick Blick website. I've heard that using Methyl Cellulose in hanga instead of rice paste may not be traditional, but it works well and is a lot easier to deal with since it isn't perishable. They had some and I got it. I also got some hanga appropriate papers that didn't break the bank. I won't start with the $20 a sheet hanga papers! Messing those up would hurt!

Of all the wonderful hanga artists I have come into contact with online through blogs and the Baren forum, Annie Bisset has inspired me to try it more than anybody else. I've really watched he grow with the process. Go from making very attractive work to amazing pieces in such a short time. There are others but she was the first hanga artist I discovered. What is it about me and Annies?

Yesterday was a great day for purging. My husband found a great home for the drafting table and chair that I wanted to get rid of. A guy he knows with three boys that all like to draw took it off our hands last night. Now I have a studio that feels so roomy, but like little relaxing by the window corner won't be mine for long once the Pack n Play comes. Baby goes there! But still, the Pack n Play is about half the size as the desk and hopefully it won't end up covered with clutter like the desk was most days! The shelves can stay but they are a bit of a mess and I need to go through them and clean them up, tossing stuff when necessary.

I'm really feeling lucky and happy to have this space right now. And to be able to have room to share it with the baby soon is very exciting. I give up that corner for her quite willingly.

Another purge was finding a new home for my old digital camera. It is kinda buggy that is why I replaced it, but it works plus this person's boyfriend may be able to work out its bugs. So it is on its way to NYC right now. I am all about getting rid of things! And I am typically such a pack rat!

Happy Wednesday to all! Hope you enjoy it. The weekend will be here before you know it. We have an all day class on the "childbirth experience" on Saturday so that should be interesting!

Happy happy joy joy!

Color Explosion!
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Blogging on a Sunday! Whoa!

Today is just about the opposite of yesterday for me. Gosh these flip flopping moods are going to be the death of me!

In an attempt to recreate the lost print as best I can I brought out the blocks involved; circles, cityscape and stitching (haven't printed that one yet) and yellow, orange and purple (haven't gotten to that one yet either) ink. And wow! Not only is the recreation going pretty well so far, though I still have the final layer of purple to do and that is by far the hardest part. The super subtle barely there purple in that missing piece was a complete accident, and of course accidents are pretty hard to recreate! I do believe there was artistic magic in the air when I made that piece since almost none of the other pieces turned out that day. Just that one.

At this point I am hopeful that the recreation will be good enough to satisfy me. But honestly even if it doesn't I have so many cool things as a result of this I won't be all that heartbroken about the loss. I took out the majority of the unfinished pieces I had in a drawer of various colors and added yellow and or orange to them and it turned out great. Some are finished, most are near finished. Despite only printing two blocks with two colors I have so much variety. It feels like old times, only more sore. I am going to try and do the purple layer now after I clean up the orange ink a bit. And the new studio setup seriously rocks. Printing no longer equals half finished print and newsprint explosion.

I even have a new ACEO listed to show for it. And more to come.

Oh noes! Tragedy and pain.

blee is a zombie
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

I thought I had transformed my studio into my happy space. Not just back but better than ever. I had fantasies about where the pack n play will go with the baby and even finding a way to put a comfy rocking chair for me next to it so I can just chill and be comfortable in my favorite room.

I found a couple cool things while cleaning. That makes me happy. I could see the floor again and that gave me a sense of accomplishment.

Then I realized this morning that I probably threw away one of my two favorite pieces while I was in my cleaning frenzy. A piece I had been holding onto for myself and stupidly put off framing. I've looked but it doesn't look good. I've decided that I am going to try and "remake" it though that is completely impossible. The colors are so subtly and randomly varied there is just no way. But maybe I can get something that I like? It is really all I can do. But I expect the magic that was in the original will be lacking from anything now.

To top everything off while looking for the missing piece I found one of my old journals. A journal from when we first got married and things were not so good. Some people know this about us, but many do not. Our marriage started off very rocky. I shouldn't have opened the pretty little pink and red journal but I did. Didn't get any farther than a couple of sentences but the damage is already done. I tossed it in total disgust. What a self pitying pain in the butt, not willing to do things to make our marriage better bitter bitch I was. I was 24 at the time, but acted more like I was a spoiled teenager. I don't even deserve him. I can't believe he stuck with us through all this. I thank God that everything was able to change. That I was able to change because while of course we have fights here and there just like any couple that world that we lived in just a few short years ago is now miles away. This baby is being brought into a marriage filled with love. By the time I got pregnant things were better. I'm pretty damn lucky.

He is off right now getting me an iced coffee and a bagel. Yup, I've got it good.

Thanks for letting me vent. Happy weekend. I am going to try and cheer myself up. Get some paper ready and attempt to make something pretty.

I am so proud!

Compare and Contrast
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Friday the 13th oooooiiieeeeeooooo! Bah Are there any good horror movies even coming out today? I haven't heard about anything. The weekend is coming and I doubt that I will be up to much excitement this weekend, as usual lately. I'm so boring! I hope others have more of a outside life than I do. Especially on weekends. The pregnancy certainly isn't helping, but honestly I was pretty lame to begin with. I am going out to dinner with Sweetestpea Jen on Tuesday and that will be fun. It has been a couple of months and I always love spending time with her.

My foot certainly did not turn into a sausage in vain because my studio is looking fabulous! Especially looking at the before pictures. What a sad display that was. I felt like I was totally disrespecting my work by how I kept what should be precious to me like my carved blocks of wood. At least they are very durable! Now those before photos are very extreme and show the worst it ever got. But it was never very well organized and didn't look that great or function all that comfortably or efficiently even when it looked "good". The set up I have now is worlds better than it ever has been before. No more useless items like an easel taking up space, everything is very functional. I'm a little hesitant to use it fearing I will mess it all up. But I do want to test it out and see if it runs as smoothly as I hope it will.

Once I finish cleaning off my work desk I will be ready to print again. But I think I am going to work on a carving I started last week before I do any printing. Printing is very hard on my feet and will almost definitely lead to a sausage foot. My days of printing for five hours or more and pumping out thirty pieces from start to finish are over!

My happy place is back and I am looking forward to spending as much time in there as I can now and with the baby!

PS. I made it through the night last night without getting sick. Maybe I need everybody to do a little chant for me every night before going to bed because it seems pretty random to me. Sometimes the medicine settles my stomach, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the cider vinegar does the trick, sometimes it makes it worse! But last night was fine, except for oversleeping which is probably good for me.