For those of you looking for fan arts, I have not been doing much of that lately. Real life keeps me too busy. This LJ is mostly for personal life ramblings and random photos of my cats.
The Chinese horoscope seems to be correct about 2025 being a bad year.
My mom had another fall and has been moved to a "rehabilitation center" after several days in the hospital but the place is basically a care home. Mom is 86 and very frail, with Parkinsons, diabetes, heart problems and to be honest some cognitive issues. Medicare will pay for 90 days at this place and after that it will be out of pocket for 10k a month. If it comes to that we will have to sell her house, but at the rate she is declining that may be a moot point.
I will be flying down in a couple weeks to see her, despite the current lack of funds. I think if I did not see her before she passes I will be regretting it in the coming years. Credit card it is.
Job search is still coming up dry. I just applied to an assistant position down in Louisiana. I am sure hundreds of other also applied, including people that were directing last year. It is amazing how few animation storyboard openings there are. Unemployment will run out in December. I love my property but we may have to sell chunks off to carry on.
Ugh, sorry for all the doom and gloom. I have been listening to my siblings cry for the past few days and I am getting so tired of not being able to do anything to help the situation.
In other news, life goes on. Weather is getting cooler so I have been doing some baking. Cats are being cute as usual. Neighbors across the road gave us a big box of pears from their backyard orchard so I made a pear crumble yesterday. I keep finding new boxes of old dolls and other collectibles that can go on Ebay. 90's and 00's era Barbies are not worth that much, but it all adds up.
Here is hoping that 2026 will be good!
So our old rooster went to the great barnyard in the sky few weeks ago. While the hens do not seem to miss him, roosters are useful for keeping unwanted critters out of the chicken run. The problem is, everybody has extra roosters. Most of our neighbors have chickens and treat them more like pets. Extra roosters are only good for using up feed, but nobody wants to kill them. If we let it be known that we are in search of a rooster, there could be any number of roosters dumped in our driveway in the middle of the night.
One neighbor around the bend has a much more visible chicken operation. They have a farm stand and a big covered run with 30 plus birds you can see from the road. The couple were out manning the farm stand today so we stopped by on the way home from the market.
"Do you have any extra roosters?"
"Sure! Somebody dumped a couple roosters just this morning. Take your pick."
We dropped off a cage, and will be picking up the new rooster later when they can catch him.
I woke up instantly from dead sleep at 4:30 AM because I heard, "mama." It was Clyde cat, getting a bit excited playing with a toy. He was actually saying ma meow, LOL. Mommy radar never leaves you. My kid is in his 20's and now 4 hours drive away.
Kid packed up the car and left Friday afternoon. He said everything is good, he is settled in at the new apartment, and classes start Monday morning.
Husband is visiting a relative in Arizona. He will not be back until Tuesday.
I have nowhere to go and not much to do...also no motivation to do anything. But the weather is lovely and not crazy hot today, so I am going to get off my butt and try to do some housework. I usually can't take naps during daylight but it might be needed today. But first, coffee and cake!
Clyde cat. He is very chatty.
Hello again! I am not dead, stuff has been very busy the past couple months.
Thank you for the birthday wishes. We went out to lunch at a Thai/Japanese restaurant in Sandpoint.
What has been happening...Husband wrenched his back again several weeks ago and it was worse than last time. He ended up getting an ambulance ride at 3 in the morning. He is doing much better now but still needs to be very careful, which means I have been taking care of more housework along with work work.
The new project is already almost done. I have only 2-3 weeks left and still haven't heard where they plan to send me next, which is not stressful at all, ha. I sent out another application to Disney TV today. Last time it took them a week to send a rejection email, I am curious to see how long it will take this time. My old friend who has worked at Disney TV for 15 years got laid off couple months ago, along with a bunch of others. It makes me wonder what the heck Disney is doing, putting up new job postings. At least Nickelodeon seems to put in some effort at placing artists in new projects at end of contracts.
The weather is cold, wet and gloomy. A big windstorm last week toppled a tall tree out back. Since Husband can't currently deal with it, I expect the tree to stay there until summer when Kid comes home, or when Husband's back feels well enough to do chainsaw work, whichever comes first.
Sister got me one of those blanket hoodies with a pet pocket. Hardway cat has found his new happy place. Imgur changed some things around so I am not sure how to put pics up here now...I am going to have to find a new way to post pics. Any suggestions?
imgur.com/tfgmx00
That is about all the catch up news! Hope everybody is doing well.
I mentioned on my last post that taking commissions will pretty much guarantee that work will show up? Yup. Just that. First handout meeting of 2025 tomorrow, and looks like I will be busy for at least a couple more months without a break. Now that I know this is how the new department operates, I am going to keep saving money and look for longer term full time work. But this gives me a breather, and a continuing source of freelance income once I do land a new full time position.
I plan on going away for the weekend somewhere. Husband and I deserve it after stressing through the holiday and sending the Kid off for Empty Nest Lite 2.0.
The LA area fires look pretty crazy. Mom is in Burbank with younger Sister. They are safe but say the smoke is awful. Their neighbors are housing evacuees. Sister has not been able to go into work. If any of you are in the area please stay safe!
Happy New Year! Here is hoping that 2025 will not be a total dumpster fire. My Chinese 2025 horoscope is quite dire(No lucky stars??? For 3 more YEARS???), Western horoscope says all will be fantastic, we shall see! I am an Aries born in the year of the sheep. Double baaa. New Year is the only time I look up horoscopes.
Kid has moved out to his new apartment and started classes Monday. House feels very empty despite all the cats. Miss Spots cat has taken to wandering the house yelling when she remembers Her Boy is missing. I have been giving her extra cuddles and treats.
Work is...something. This new department has many short term projects instead of one long term one. I am kind of stuck in limbo. Since waiting around does not pay I am looking for work again. Finances are good for a while, but I can't just sit. Industry is still in the dumps. But the animation union decided to not go on strike so there is some hope for the future.
Life goes on. I have been chatting with some old friends after reconnecting via holiday greetings. The author of the books I illustrated sent a lovely card via snail mail, despite the editor swearing she did not share the address. It is a mystery! Not that I am too concerned about a nice old lady from So Cal stalking me out here in the woods, but I guess our information is all floating out there easy to find.
If you are on Reddit, you know that once several hundred comments have already been posted nobody will see your new submission. I wrote this out in reply to a Gen X subreddit question, "what is the strangest most surreal thing that ever happened to you?" and did not bother posting:
Back in the 90's when Husband and I were cute 20 somethings, I worked in Century City. We met up after work to get dinner at the Dive(a submarine theme restaurant, was quite trendy at the time, their fries were bomb), and there was a huge crowd milling about out front. I am 5' tall, I can't see why people are not moving.
Hope everyone is well! Kid is moving out to his uni apartment next week, so between that and work trying to wrap stuff before the holidays it has been quite hectic. Kid will be back during the summer so not quite empty nest.2, but it will be quiet here for a bit. Miss Spots is staying with us. She already paces around the house yelling at everyone when Kid is late coming home. The poor cat is going to be quite upset when Kid moves out. But his new apartment is no pets and moving an old lady cat 5 hours for just a few months did not sound like a good idea.
The weather here is freezing rain for the next week. I can't remember the last time we had rain instead of snow at Christmas.
Laundry and cooking mass quantities are on the agenda today. Dinner tonight is steak and shrimp, with roasted sweet potatoes, green beans, and cheddar biscuits. Tomorrow is turkey, day after will be a honey glazed ham. Plus brownies, cake, and that weird canned sweet potato casserole with marshmallows Husband insists on every holiday. All for 3 people. I am going to gain 10 pounds by New Year.
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