Damn. I have been unemployed a total of 10 days and I’ve gotta tell ya – I’ve never felt busier. And this isn’t a good happy busy – as in conflicting lunch dates. It’s not even the generally dreaded “work” busy. It’s more like a “soccer-mom” busy! And that becomes an all too real description tomorrow when Kyle starts his week-long soccer camp! A not-so-small part of me is dying here people.

So, adding to the now longer drive to the babysitter’s new house in Roseville (20 minutes each way!). I will have to drive Kyle across town to the other end of Lincoln by 9:00am and then go pick him up again at noon. Throw in week #2 of swim lessons on Tue, Wed, and Thurs in Loomis and I’ll be driving back and forth and back again from about 8:30am to 3:00pm. And that is going to suck. I’m not going to be able to get anything done with that kind of schedule. And I’ve suddenly got a lot to do. 

All the work I’ve been doing on designing the new website for dawnblanchfield.com is going to have to simmer on the back burner for a bit. A gentleman that Chris works with has hired me to build him a website! And that is fantastic of course, but (there always is one) the site he needs is not a simple static HTML site. This one will need log-in capabilities, a data-base, forms for user data input, and searchable results. Woo boy. Luckily I’m a learn as you go kinda gal, cause it looks like I’ll doing a lot more programming right out of the gate.

In addition to all that, I still need to update my resume, edit photos in Lightroom, choose the photos for the VoxSac show to print and frame, and do the always present laundry. I haven’t even thought about picking up my camera to make some new images. And I have that Lighting Workshop with Joe McNally at the end of the month. The day after my birthday! Damn, I forgot that I have a birthday coming up. That is bad. Oh! and my wedding anniversary is in 6 days! Crap. I am losing it people.

I keep recalling a painting I did long ago (early ‘90s) that depicted a figure being pulled in opposite directions by its arms while large blackbirds pecked at its head. Cheery no? What can I say, I was heavily influenced by the German Expressionists and that must have been how I was feeling at the time. It was never a ‘finished’ work, but a loose sketch done to ‘paint out the demons’ as I was prone to do. I ended up reusing the canvas some time later. The only evidence it ever existed is that you can see part of it in the background of a photo taken during that time. But the image keeps popping into my head. That’s probably not a good thing…

I have not read my horoscope in a paper (or online for that matter) in I don’t know how long. It’s just not something I bother checking out. But, since we’ve been grabbing local papers of late, I’ve run across these gems for the past two weeks.

Week of 6/25/09

Leo – What scares you or perturbs you in the coming week could, by August, become what fuels you. What makes you feel unsettled and out of sorts could turn out to be good medicine. But of course you’re under no obligation to submit yourself to this experimental sequence, Leo. The fact is, you could probably run away from the discomfort and get immediate relief. Unfortunately, taking that approach would deprive you of the benefits that will almost certainly come from enduring the discomfort for a while. My preference is that you be brave and farseeing.

Week of 7/01/09

Leo – Nietzsche’s dictum might be useful for you to keep in mind right now, Leo: “If it doesn’t kill you, it’ll make you stronger.” Since I’m very sure that the turbulent waters through which you’re navigating will not kill you, I’m looking forward to all the ways this journey will upgrade your confidence and enhance your power. But there’s more to be gained, beyond what Nietzsche formulated. It’s also true that if it doesn’t kill you (which it won’t), it will make you wilder and kinder and smarter and more beautiful.

Oooh, how strangely fitting. I pretty sure they are referring to the parent/toddler swim classes Erin and I start tomorrow.

But this does remind me that I do have something to look forward to – my birthday is in 24 days! However, I’ll again be older than I’ve ever been, so maybe that’s not so great. Hmm, apparently I’m still not yet back to thinking in “glass half full” terms. I’m not being “half empty” though, more like “yeah, there’s some water in there…” which I’m going to choose to think of as embracing the Buddha’s Middle Way.

There. I feel better about that. Still not at peace with those swim lessons.