I don’t know what the heck is going on with the atmosphere these days but I’ve been feeling on the edge of a migraine since mid-week and it hasn’t yet gone. The usual ibuprophen isn’t doing the trick very well and my glasses feel way too heavy so I’ve been taking them off. However, it’s been sunny so I don’t dare wear my contacts or I’ll definitely get a migraine. I’ve been clumsy (even with my glasses on or contacts at night), I’ve dropped and shattered our 2 most-used glass ware items (the juice jug -within 5 minutes of mixing up a fresh batch of mango juice and the coffee press insert with dredges and grounds still inside). I’m tried of cleaning up and stressing about shards of glass.

SO. I haven’t been working on my art as much as I’d like. I will continue to produce pieces for UNICEF for a while, though, once my brain settles down. I’m disappointed in how little I’ve managed to do so far but, from I read on Facebook, there are a lot of people in weird migraine moods lately, so I’ll blame the atmosphere and hope it clears up soon.

ANYWAY. Enough complaining about my head. I was going to post the results of the coin jar today and since it’s very hard for me to contain a secret, I still am going to. BUT. Once my head clears out the fog, I’ll get back to work painting and will not stop with the donating profits until I get a total to match how much is in the jar.

Ready?

Maybe check out the original post to re-familiarize yourself with the situation?

The closest person was my sister, Cindy (last comment), believe it or not! Once I get the total sales to match the jar, she can pick out 2 favorite images and I’ll send her prints!

OK, for the sake of fun (on my part) here’s the break down of the jar contents:

• $12 in toonies ($2 coins)
• $14 in loonies ($1 coins)
• $110 in quarters (I shit you not)
• $55 in dimes
• $17 in nickels
• $10 in pennies

I grabbed a few dimes to make the quarters’ total an even number, etc, but I only had to nab 2 pennies from my wallet to make the grand total an even number: $218. THAT’S $218!!

The last time I’d counted it, it was around $40 so I was pretty surprised at how much it’d increased. My plan was that once it was full, we’d spend it on something special for the whole family. We’ll still do that, but I think it’s at the very least fair for me to continue to designate some of my business profits to helping people who don’t have the ’spare’ change to toss into a jar for a rainy day, so I will.

Woot! My first two pieces are now available

Per my post from 2 days ago: all profits will be donated to UNICEF’s Haitian Relief efforts. You may also guess how much money is my half-filled gallon jar and, upon purchase, make another guess!

I’m trying to keep the pieces small and relatively simple so that I can produce as many as I can to do what I can to help, yet I also want them to be good. These first two are pretty typically Chair-ish, and there will certainly be more of that, but I have a few ideas in mind for some somewhat different approaches to my style. Who knows, I’m feeling inspired. I don’t know how much help will come of my efforts but it’s a good exercise for me to get some of the creative bug planted firmly in my head!

I managed to finish two fun pieces last night and this afternoon and I was planning to scan them this evening but I had an amazing yoga class and I am so. tired. I am reading another chapter or two of Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy and going to bed. Even typing is exhausting -seriously, it’s taking me much longer than usual even to write this.

I am very much enjoying the motivation to paint and the lack of subject constraints. I expect I’ll have quite a spectrum of pieces done by the end of this week.

Thanks so much for all of your guesses, I’m having a lot of fun seeing the numbers come in. It’s very hard for me to not give hints or say who’s closest at this point but I don’t want to ruin the fun. For the sake of not letting it go too long (and making me crazy with anticipation), I’ll give the results on Saturday.

It’s incredible how much one handful at a time of coins can add up. Today during Lochren’s nap, Theya and I dumped out our gallon jar of change and organized it into currency then counted it. I am amazed at how much is in there! I thought it might be fun to make a contest out of it:

(two angles for your perusal, click the images to see larger view)
Leave a comment saying how much you guess is in there*.

When the news of the disaster in Haiti hit us, we donated. We wish we could afford to donate more. I listen to the news on the radio occasionally but a part of me is so overwhelmed by the chaos, the pain, the damage that I can only hear so much -and feel so, so, SO incredibly grateful to live where, when, how I (and my family) do. I feel so incredibly grateful that I can turn it off -which I know is incredibly selfish, too many families canNOT turn it off. Ever.

Things have been really quiet around here since Christmas, which I’ve been enjoying a lot, but now I feel like it’s time to get back in action and there’s no better motivator than helping someone who really needs it, even if I don’t know anyone personally affected by the Haitian disaster.

So, tonight and (so the plan goes) all week, I will be sitting down at my painting desk and whipping up some illustrations. For the sake of good/easy sales I will do some charismatic insects and friends.. who knows where exactly the inspiration and the need to help will take me. I will be posting both originals and prints for sale on Etsy and ALL profits will go to Haitian relief. Our original donation was to the Canadian Red Cross, profits from art will go to UNICEF. Items will be put up for sale in my Etsy shop.

I don’t know how well they’ll do, I imagine anyone who is moved will already have donated to one organization or another (hopefully one of the ones that the Canadian Government is matching), but maybe another $5 here and there, in exchange for something to hang on a wall or prop on a desk will be manageable.

*Back to the coin guess: Whoever guesses closest will get a 5×7″ print of each of their two favorite paintings that I do this week. If anyone comes within $5 of the total, I’ll donate the entire contents in the jar to UNICEF. One guess per person, just for the sake of reasonable chance.

Added: Ooooo I just thought of a good idea: each purchase from my Etsy shop entitles you to another guess!

Hey! We’re alive and often kicking. Things have been quiet around these parts with some trips to the ice ovals and building of epic snow forts and, as is wont to happen with the introduction to the germ pool of school: colds. Theya is mostly over her mild version (just a bit of a cough and tiredness) but Lochren how has it full blown, which means waking in the night lots because he can’t breathe with his binky in his mouth but he wants his binky but he can’t breathe… *sigh* I look forward to the End Of Teething (oh, of course there’s some of that going on, too) so we can wean him off the darn binky. A (very large) part of me wants to just get it over with but another part of me figures that it’s one of the few things that comforts him when he’s miserable over his gums, it can wait a while.

Anyhoo, I’m tired, so while Theya is at school and Lochren is in bed, I’m gonna try to catch a few Z’s for myself.

Wow. Nothing makes a person appreciate normality more than a good dose of improbability. The Merriment Tour 2009 (Look For Us In A Location Near You) went.. OK. Hehe. The visiting was great and seeing everyone is always, always wonderful, but it would have been significantly less distracting if Lochren’s 2 year molars didn’t decide then and there and there and there to start pushing toward the surface, triggering separation anxiety and all-around grumpiness. He either needed to be within arms reach of me (if that far) or woke constantly through the night to be sure I was around. After the Edmonton & Myrnam stretch to visit J’s family, I was trying to figure out how to make the Cold Lake leg work but not looking forward to the drive and stay with Sir GrumpyButt so, with J’s support, Theya and I made a Girls Only run to see my family in Cold Lake. It was a very nice trip, Theya is so self-sufficient and so familiar & comfortable with my family that I was able to relax. I missed my boys like crazy, though.

Oh well, next year will be that much more awesome, right? There will be NO TEETHING. Also, I am counting on Holiday Season 2010 featuring a lot of Staying Put. Who knows, we’ll see.

With the return to normality (J back to work, Theya back to school each afternoon) has come another enrollment in a session of Ashtanga Yoga classes for me. Thank the gods. I’ve tried a few sessions since moving to Red Deer and the instructors have all been wonderful but I’ve usually wound up missing several classes because of anemia, scheduling issues or sheer exhaustion.

This time I feel like I’m finally ready to give it a serious go, there are no excuses for missing a class. It’s Monday evening (5:30-7) so it won’t interfere with weekend plans, it’s at the end of my block (yeah, Best Neighborhood Evar strikes again), Lochren generally is sleeping way better overnight and I’m no longer anemic. I’ve only been to one class so far and I am so pumped. Not ONCE did I get light headed during the entire class! Last session I’d usually have to sit out half of the sun-salutations because of dizzyness. It’s hard to feel the strength of flow of the vinyasa when I have to curl up in Child’s Pose every few minutes. It’s a very small class and, not surprisingly, everyone is very easy going and happy to be there.

Much of my upper body was feeling pretty fatigued yesterday (putting away the toaster was an effort) and I’m a bit sore today but not too bad. I’m eager to keep up the practice so will be doing some of the series at home with J tomorrow. I already can sense the strength and flexibility of not only body, but also mind and spirit that I always cherished from the days when I would practice regularly.

Speaking of spirit, we lost our dear friend Palla yesterday, which had me in a funk.

Palla the betta was a gift to Theya when she turned 3.

We like to think that Palla’s 3 years of healthy life was a happy one. We sometimes forgot to feed him and he never hesitated to remind us (peering at us from his tank when we’d sit up at our table right next to his perch). He contracted popeye and we didn’t catch it right away, so he deteriorated quickly. Yesterday I used some of J’s work-related wisdom and euthanized him using clove oil. I was in a funk all day and, understandably, Theya was upset when I told her. She has asked if we can have another fish and offered to buy it with her own money so I think we’ll be going to the pet store tonight to look around.

We’ve been pretty undecided on the whole Santa front. One one hand there’s the added magic of a season full of wonderful things and the whole fun of playing along with kids who have such marvelous imaginations. On the other hand, there’re the problems that come with the eventual realization that it’s fake (”You lied to me?!”) and it seems that in these days of emphasized privacy and security, many kids are freaked out by the idea that a strange man ’sees you when you’re sleeping’ and steals silently into your house in the night, eats your snacks and, if you’ve been good leaves you a gift.

A lot of parents bank on getting December to run a little more smoothly with the threat that if you don’t get your act together this instant, Santa may consider crossing you off his list. Power to you, but I personally can’t help feeling like it’s a cop-out, hehe. Screw discipline and learning respect, the strange fat bearded man in perpetual jammies will not bring you that lego if you fight with your brother!

When I was little.. well, and even now.. I was/am the youngest of 5 -and 12 years younger than my eldest sister. I don’t recall ever thinking Santa was real. Maybe I did, but I don’t remember and I certainly don’t recall feeling devastated upon realizing the truth. I remember getting a gift labelled, “From Santa.” We used to open all of our gifts after Midnight Mass, which was awesome. (Maybe that’s when Santa’d come?) Regardless, to me, that was a big part of the magic of Christmas, being up so late, going to church in our best clothes, singing carols during mass, then coming home to chocolate and toys. I have no idea how Mom managed to get us to bed after that. I’m sure the crash wasn’t too long coming, though.

Now that Theya’s a bit older with better memories, imagination and has been tossed into the stewing pot of popular culture as she interacts with her school friends and school activities, I was starting to reconsider the whole Santa thing. I don’t want her ruining it for her friends who do believe in Santa. I don’t want her coming home crying when a friend spills the beans, either.

Last week I found a letter addressed to Theya in her Petite Sac (homework bag) so we opened it together. On the front was a drawing of a pegasus:

I am SO keeping this forever

On the back was a reply! It appears that they had some of the older grade students write out responses to the younger kids (spelling mistakes, etc, very cute), promising that he was working hard on the gift and that he hopes Theya is sleeping well the night he comes by.

In awe, Theya turned to me and asked, “Is Santa real?!” How could I say no? How could I say yes? Thinking carefully, I told her, “Honey, sometimes believing in something makes it real.”

SCORE

I didn’t lie to her and I left it to her imagination and wonder to decide. She thought about it for a moment (I admire her consideration), and decided, “Yes, Momma, I think he’s real.” So, we made sure to get a small pegasus* for her to find under the tree Christmas morning.

She understands that the Mall Santas are not the Santa, but some of his helpers that pass on info and spread seasonal cheer. She mentioned one day that she’d like to get a photo with Santa so I made plans to hit the mall the next day. When preparing to leave, I mentioned it to her (better wear something special) and, panicked, wide-eyed, she paused, then announced, “Maybe next year.”

*An interesting idea that came up while chatting with the moms at J’s work party: not all kids’ families can afford for ‘Santa’ to bring them a NintendoDS -if anything at all. A thoughtful plan is to make the gift from Santa a modest one. It would be crushing for kids to be comparing gifts in January and find out that Billy got a NDS and Timmy got snowpants. Life can be roughly competitive as it is without Santa picking favorites.

Addendum: I started this post because Ada asked on Twitter, “for those that celebrate Yule and not Christmas: how do you prevent your little ones from spoiling the Santa question?” and, obviously, I forgot somewhere about that topic.

I suppose our kids are spoiled in a way, we celebrate both Yule and Christmas. On Yule, we do a small family celebration at home and open our gifts to each other. Then we open the rest of the family gifts with our extended family as we see them on Christmas morning and the days that follow. We don’t get extra gifts because of it, they’re just spread out. Santa is still associated with Christmas.

I like this set up because there’s less of a toy overload all at once but more so because I like to think that it will encourage a respect for the celebrations and, more importantly, beliefs of others. J & I were both raised Catholic and while we’ve veered off that road for ourselves, we have no intention of denying or rejecting Christmas as it is observed by the majority of both our families. If believing in something makes it real, each cultural, religious or personal celebration is real. And I personally can’t get enough of celebrating!

We’ve just got the kids to bed after a lovely evening of excitement over a special dinner, eggnog (for the kids) & wine (guess) and gift opening. Theya was in heaven and Lochren was frightened. We thought for sure Lochren would go bananas for his Mater The Greater but apparently missing most of his nap and not eating supper well (the more effort we make, the less he enjoys it *sigh*) made his favorite buck-toothed tow truck conjure frightening ideas. Hopefully he’ll be a little less on-edge tomorrow.

As Yule is meant to be, it’s been a day of thoughts of the past and the future and where things lie at this point in our lives. I’ve been particularly thought-laden the last few days: my father had a heart attack on Thursday. He’s OK (as OK as one can be post-heart attack). The EKG shows little damage and he’s on standby for an angiogram once there’s room (the Heart Centre in Edmonton is busy and emergencies get first priority). Chances are he’ll be back in Cold Lake within a day or so.

We’ve never been close. He was a truck-driver, and so away from home a lot, when I was a child and my parents split up when I was 11: my memories of him are few and hard to recall. We spent a bit more time together when we were both in Edmonton but still very, very little. I care about him very much. He’s my father, I love him.

But, I don’t know him. I don’t know what I should be feeling right now. I am sad, scared, concerned -and not because I should be, but because I am. I was ready to head to Edmonton to see him at the hospital but hesitated. It’d mean J taking another day off of work (which we’d do) and driving 2 hours each way (which I’d do) and probably feeling mostly uncomfortable sitting around his bed (which is likely). From what my sisters say, he’s more embarrassed about the whole thing than anything else. He’s a quiet, laid back guy who doesn’t want to be fussed over.

It’s a lot to think about, how thing can, will, might change. For him, for me, for us. I’m tired. Tired of not wanting to pretend that we’re closer than we are but also tired of not being close. I’m not sure which of those 2 weighs heavier. I’m not sure if the effort would make a difference.

===========================

I’ve just done the random draws, the winners of an 8×10 print of my The Holly And The Deer pieces are:

• Monarch
• Ada
• Jennifer
• Joccie and
• Stephanie

Congrats, everyone! I have all of your addresses already so I’ll get those in the mail this week sometime. Thanks to everyone who’s commented!! Because I’m such a softie and didn’t get an assload of comments, the rest of you will get a 5×7 print just cuz I loves ya!

Of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown.
The rising of the sun and the running of the deer…*

There you have it. Leave a comment on this post and I’ll randomly draw 5 names for a free 8×10 print**.

*The Holly And The Ivy. Loreena McKennitt’s arrangement of this carol is stunning. I’ve had it on near constant repeat while I worked on this piece. I cannot recommend it strongly enough.

**This design (along with 2 other ungulate-themed ones) will be available to buy on cards, tags and prints during the 2010 season.