Take a Deep Breath

I guess you have all figured out by now that I wasn’t really “back to blogging” like I said I was last time. “I will work harder.” (from Animal Farm)

Life has been happening and I can’t put off selling my house any longer. I have met with a real estate agent and set the date to put it on the market the first day of June. That gives me about two weeks to get it ready to show. Geoffrey has the assignment to keep the lawns mowed and to get the back yard cleaned up. I need to get rid of more stuff, clean like mad and bribe someone to finish some painting for me. I have already lost about $50,000 by waiting until this year to sell. Last year my house would have been worth about $300,000. Now I will be lucky if I can get $250,000. The main stress now is time. I need to sell before I can no longer make the house payments.

Things are looking pretty depressing at work. Many of our key people have left the company and others have started working part time. Paydays have been late for the past two months and if it weren’t for my tax returns and Bush’s stimulus package, I am not sure what would have happened to me. I have worked so hard to get my credit score up to 684, but I have had to start putting things on credit cards without knowing how I will pay them off. It feels grim. I’m glad I have Harry Potter to listen to at night so I can get to sleep.

I have now finished four pictures that are of framing quality and I am so proud of them. One is the kitten by the bowl of cream I told you about last time. Another one is of a woman who I thought was just an anonymous model in the Oprah magazine. Eventually, I found out that her name is Elizabeth Hurley, that she used to be (or maybe still is) Hugh Grant’s girlfriend, and that she starred in some Austin Powers movie, which I have never seen. I did my most recent picture of a young woman in a riding habit standing next to a saddled horse. If she is a famous model, I haven’t discovered which one yet. The other picture I think is of framing quality is the skull I did in my sketchbook when I was still taking my art class. I haven’t decided what I will draw next, but I am considering doing a picture of a workman in his work clothes and tool belt.

I was very happy to learn yesterday that California will allow gay couples to get married. It has been a hard-fought battle for them and they will probably have some serious opposition still to come. But I think gay rights are the issue of our time, just like human rights for blacks were the issue during the Civil War and women’s rights were the issue in the 19^th century. I wish people could get over the archaic ideas that “my way is the only way” and "I am better than you."

Today, Chelsee, Geoffrey and I are off to Nevada to attend Allison’s graduation from medical school. It will be a great week-end for me. I hope it will be for you, too.