Trying to get back into the swing of things

I've been home now since September 16 and I still feel very much out of the loop.

After returning home during the morning from San Antonio, we dropped my dad off and then went home. I was pooped.

I spent 8 days with my father, all day and all night. There was one day during which he went on a tour and was gone for 8 hours, but other than that we were together the entire time.

The hardest part was his smoking. It's also hard to sleep in the same room with someone who gets up several times during the night (I do, too, but I get up, go to the potty and jump right back into bed and back to sleep) and stays up for a while, having a cigarette, etc. I worry about him falling asleep with a lit cigarette so I don't go back to sleep until he does. Oh well, it was only for a week.

Then on Wednesday I picked Dad up bright and early for a doctor's appointment. That killed the morning. But I couldn't get into things when I got home as my daughter had called that morning to see if we could babysit as the babysitter's baby had a fever. My dh went over for the first shift and then I went over after I dropped off my dad.

Caring for a baby isn't too bad except when they crawl they go really fast and get into the bathroom and play in the toilet bowl water which hadn't been flushed by big brother. Then it is wash up time, then snack time, then nap time, then play time, then eat time, then play time, then nap time, (for me too) and then bottle time and then more play time until finally the parents come home...I limped home dead beat and that was with only one grandson.

The next day it was a full day of babysitting the baby, Ashton, and then on Friday it was a full day of both boys but at our house. Our house is not baby proof and Ashton's favorite thing is to head to the bookcase with early American pottery pitchers. He loves them but so do I so I have to swoop him up before there is major trouble. Jacob spent a lot of time watching the demolition of the old house next to us (which is still going on).

And then my on line class, Better Art by Design, started so I got that uploaded and set up.

While I was in Texas I met several cousins on my father's side that we had never met before. It was really great and we spent a lot of time talking family stuff. I have been involved in genealogy for thirty years and used to do all my research via mail, carbon copies, hopes and prayers. Now the internet makes it so much easier to connect with people and information but also to add information that is not well founded. I like to have the documentation to back it up.

Since I had been working on the Smith side of the family, I spent time on the weekend scanning about 400 family pictures and putting them into the right family files. I can't tell you how many more hundreds I have to do as this was just a small drop in the bucket.

My DH has been working to get the last of his "have-to-have" stuff out of three metal sheds in the back back part of our lot as we swapped that part of the lot with the next door neighbors in exchange for part of their property which is in front and right next to our garage. We are having the plans drawn up for a garage which will house our motorhome and upstairs in the storage area, which will be about 20' x 40" I will eventually be able to have my studio all organized...some day.

Meanwhile, I am still not getting any art done. I did go down to my studio, which is also in a somewhat chaotic mess as the artist who has a 10-20' space in the back of my space is moving out. She has been there and selling stuff while I was gone and is trying to get moved out by the first of the month. Then I take over that space.

And, then, I have to get my studio all cleaned up and respectable as it is on the PIQF tour which will include about 10 Japanese women who are visiting for the show.

Got to get myself into gear. I have been thinking about a series on houses created in a similar way that I have been doing the Color Blocks. I have also been thinking and drawing ideas for three dimensional work...something I would like to do more off...oh well, get my self-discipline back, get rid of distractions and get to work!