Three Women II, 11 x 14 watercolor, crayon, ink drawing by Tammy Vitale

Ok, it’s 12:30 pm and I’m still in my pajamas.  I have been distracted.  First thing this morning I had to find out the numbers from the election.  It looks good.  It looks very very (VERY) good.

Then I needed to take pictures of today’s art for the day, and then Adobe wouldn’t work and I had to shut the whole computer down. 

Then I discovered that my Cheap Joe’s order than came in yesterday is $25 over in cost and they sent me dry workbooks instead of wet workbooks (which is why Three Women II here wasn’t working like I wanted it to.  And it’s impossible with their new improved system for them to pull up my original order and their fax is busy busy busy so I had to stop everything and write them a letter and attach copies of everything (am I annoyed?) to get the ball rolling toward getting that done. 

In the meantime, I realized there was other admin stuff that needed doing, so I cleaned my desk and the surrounding floor so I had some space and found applications I meant to finish and are now past deadline, and decided I had better go ahead and do the portfoloio submission for GreenLeaf Gallery in Duck, NC because that’s due Nov 30 and at the rate I’m going that will be last week before I know it.

The portfolio requires photos, which requires that I print them, and then assemble bio and artist statement and past postcards of shows and other goodies to convince GreenLeaf that I am indeed a serious artist who does beautiful work and they should run as fast as they can to get my work in their gallery.  An hour or so passes doing that.

Then, since I have to go to the post office for that (for the SASE return), I decided to wrap the tile I owe my webster since August.  Wait!  It isn’t quite that bad.  She came and we were suppoesd to meet but didn’t manage and then she came again and we were supposed to meet but didn’t quite manage so actually I’m only about 3 weeks late on this.  And then I wrapped some MaryKay (yes, I sell it – love their Extra Emollient – it’s the only thing that keeps my hands from falling off in the winter) for a customer and then realized that I had started to post this about 3 hours ago and that I’m still in my pjs and thus goes my day.

And it’s all good.  Because for the first time in a long time I have some breathing space.  I have a new design percolating in my head based on my Three Women series (ok, only 2 so far, but it’s only November 8, who knows what’s to come yet?) that I will get to today or tomorrow, and I feel relaxed!  Maybe I shouldn’t.  I really need to make fish for Dec 1 opening of The Bead Boutique in Prince Frederick (MD) where I will have a space for my work and some more for the Dec 2 craft show on Pax River Naval Base, and maybe I’ll get that done.  Or maybe I won’t.  January and February vacation days are coming and I’m always one to be early!  So I’m already slowing down.  Well, if you call this morning slow. 

Thanks to everyone who voted yesterday.  We have exercised our responsibility.  I, for one, am delighted with the outcome.  Onward to getting Barack Obama as our next president.  I love the talk of conciliation I’m hearing – whether or not it’s a smile plastered over the frown of those who lost (those who would divide this country into camps of hate) – and look forward to seeing if the winners listened to the public who wants them to lead, dammit.

thought for the day:  And so I made the speech.  To the two thousand people gathered in Chicago’s Federal Plaza, I explained that unlike some of the people in the crowd, I didn’t oppose all wars – that my grandfather has signed up for the war the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed and had fought in Patton’s army.  I also said that ‘after witnessing the carnage and destrution, the dust and the tears, I supported this Administration’s pledge to hunt down and root out those who would slaughter innocents in the name of intolerance’ and would ‘willingly take up arms myself to prevent such tragedy from happening again.’

What I could not support was ‘a dumb war, a rash war, a war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.’   Barack Obama, The Audactiy of Hope:  Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream