Plans

Here it is almost Christmas and I am ill prepared for it this year. I do have some plans. I planned to go to Las Vegas and be with friends from Christmas through New Years but plans may have to change.
I walked into my laundry room to find a puddle of water ankle deep last night. The room contains a furnace, water heater,water conditioner and washer and dryer. I set about finding the cause and after a bunch of phone calls determined that it is the water heater. After calling the 24 hour hotline the manufacturer has on the unit I was still in a quandry. They said it was probably just a bit of condensation due to cold weather. Condensation? The water was dripping about half an ounce an hour. If you do the math and factor in a ten day vacation, I may as well have a jaccuzi in there. So I have a call in to a plumber or two and see if anyone is in town to fix this before I head out for what is a 600 mile journey. Will I be able to take a shower before I go? All these little things make me crazy.
Did I mention my cat sitter and the backup cat sitter both flaked out on me? Sure, why not, just add that to the joy of the holidays. I finally called all my friends, cajoled and grovelled until someone offered to at least be here every three days and look in on the kitties.
I do have most of my gifts wrapped, one more to go, and need to have my mail held which is not a big deal. I just have this feeling that no matter what I do there will be obsticles in my way and my little vacation will be less than great as I will be constantly stressing about the house and the kitties.
My friend Dianne sent an email to me about stressing less and enjoying life to the fullest, you know, one of those we get every once in a while meant to cheer us. I did follow one bit of advice though. I am now wearing my best clothes, even to the store, along with my best perfume. After all, what if this is my last day on earth, who am I saving it for anyway. I have also colored my hair from blonde to an earthy red/brown. When I got out of the shower and my hair was still wet it looked like my head was on fire. I don't care, I like it. I will no longer wear high heels because they cause pain and foot problems I no longer wish to endure. Admittedly heels make ones but look better, sort of uplifiting, so I will continue with my long forgotten and overlooked Hatha Yoga practice and that will lift more than my spirits and butt. I reccomend the 28 day Yoga plan by Hittleman. It was published in 1969 and still is the best book on Yoga around. Very simple, good illustrations and very doable.
So happy holidays to all of you who care to stop by and read my ramblings. If I get a chance to blog in Las Vegas I will, if not, Happy New Year too.

Song of the waves - Parayil A. Tharakan Blog: Lenin Rajendran going ahead with Raja Ravi Varma movie

Song of the waves - Parayil A. Tharakan Blog: Lenin Rajendran going ahead with Raja Ravi Varma movie

Photos

The photos below are, from top to bottom, a street in San Miguel Allende, my painting of a buffalo and my painting of Caleb. I love to paint and I love to take picture. I am continually fascinated with the world and the people in it.
My recent exhibit at a local gallery got rave reviews,"best show ever" etc. No sales, but terrific reviews and press. I guess we all take a hit in this economy and art has always taken it. I am not disappointed although I would have been over the moon with some sales.
Some of the best paintings I have done where the ones that I stopped the car just to take the picture because the scene was so beautiful and full of life. My award winning landscapes however were done from memory so maybe the pictures don't help that much, who knows. I intend one day to do a painting of that street in San Miguel although the photo is really special. I'm tempted just to do a bunch of prints from it and call it good.
Tonight I attended two galleries and met some artists. Despite the cold our little town was out in force to watch the Christmas parade and look through the shops. I had a terrific conversation with a native Idaho man who filled me in with stories about the local lore, it was lots of fun to hear the legends mixed with facts. So very entertaining to meet people. I can't wait to do it again.

OMG

I was looking at the pictures of celebs on OMG. I like to see what the fashionistas are looking like and of course who everyone is dating. The comments sometimes seem really abusive. If you think about it, here are people who have never achieved any kind of fame or recognition in their lives but they feel free to totally trash people who have made it. It must be really hard for a person to depend on their looks as part of their job. I don't think I would like that kind of pressure.
Some of the clothes, especially the ones women wear, do get pretty strange. I'm guessing it's because they want the attention at any cost. I have heard that there is no such thing as bad press. Getting in the limelight must be a priority for some.

I saw a picture of Pam Anderson in a dress which looked like someone threw a bunch of pink cloth at her and pinned it on. Now there is a lovely woman and I can only imagine desperation made her do it to get some press. The obsession with the youth culture is so pervasive and poisonous. Very few have the guts to age gracefully if they are celebs. Then there are the before and after pictures of child stars in their golden years. Can we ever leave these people in peace? I don't like the way time changes my looks either but at least my net worth is not connected to it.

Abel

I am an artist. I must admit that in our group, artists,we can be a most peculiar bunch. I recently had a conversation with a young guy who said he just got married because his parents felt like the end of the world was near and he and his girlfriend should be united at "the end". I will call my friend Abel. Abel said his parents have been severely disappointed over the years as each and every prediction of the end of the world failed. Pity. The thing which is curious for me is that anyone who remotely believes the world will end soon would bother with higher education or anything else. Why not just sit around and wait to die? I don't know if I would function well if I believed this to be true.
I suppose the disappointment comes in because of some belief that there would be a rapture or a heavenly ascent of some kind. I just feel so connected to this earth and my life that any promises of that sort, of heaven and such, do not even interest or tempt me. I like living right here and right now. I despise what some people do to the planet like tossing poison into rivers. I actively fight to keep the earth clean and healthy. I wish everyone would. Is it such a burden to want the next generation to inherit a decent world?

Cats

I have had one cat for 12 years now. She is a black very short tailed Manx mix. She tucks me in at night and wakes me in the morning. Her name is Booboo. I adopted her when she was barely weened from a man who found her mother abandoned in his yard. I also have a wild thing, his name is Kittyboy. I watched him for two years as he knocked around the neighborhood. He would sneak into the house at night through the pet door and take whatever food Booboo left. I always wondered why Booboo ate her food at night and not during the day LOL. One day I caught him steeling in. He had a regular routine. He ate at night and spent his days sleeping under the foundation of the house across the street. In the winter it was easy to track his comings and goings because of the tracks he left in the snow. He always checked a house nearby where his people had abandoned him. He was mean. No one could come within twelve feet of him before he ran away. Last winter someone left a trap which caught him on his front left paw. The trap was on his foot for two weeks because no one could come close enough to him to take it off. One day he was caught between the fence of my house and the neighbors and we could then take the trap off. The poor guy lost a toe in the process.
As time went by I made it a point to let him know that I was the source of his food by placing his daily ration in an enclosed patio which he could access. Kittyboy is now a lap cat at every opportunity. He still views all male humans with suspicion and Ms Booboo does not like his encroachment on her once pristine territory. He does lack manners which most domestic cats have. For instance if I want him off my lap his first instinct is to nip my hand and let me know he is not pleased.
I have made some observations regarding cat people, maybe you agree, maybe not. It seems to me that people who like to be in control will not be "cat people" as control is not really an option. A cat will do as it pleases every time. Cat people are mostly women although I have met some men who adore them. The most notable male I knew who loved cats was such an avid fan that we called him Pudders. I have rarely met a woman who did not like cats, although I think they must exist. On a trip to Italy our guide took us to a mission high in the hills. At the entrance of the mission was an older woman in a pink coat standing in the misty rain with her hand out begging for donations for her cats. I just adored that woman.

Food

It just occurred to me that I have a very unhealthy attachment to food. Yes, we all have to have it in order to survive but how much of it and how often is always a struggle. I grew up with practically no food, really, in a third world country. My first act of larceny as a child was to kidnap a cow. I was two years old. I asked my Grannie for some milk and when she said we had none because we didn't own a cow I set my plan in action. I remembered watching cows go back and forth in front of the house each morning and evening. That evening as the cows were coming home from the pasture I cut one out of the herd, closed the gate, and once more requested the milk. When it was discovered by my god fearing Grannie what I had done there was pandemonium. The cow was happy eating all of her veggies in the garden, the only food we had, so of course there was a rush to get it out of there. Eventually my grandfather, seeing my determination, bought a goat. I only mention this because you have to understand that hunger was a major motivation factor in my life. I don't think I ever got over it despite the fact that since the age of six I was never really without adequate food.
I now find myself buying much more food than I can possibly use and end up giving it away or throwing it away or worse yet, eating it. Is there anyone else out there with these food issues? I am, quite frankly,driven to eat at every opportunity and it is some times a source of embarrassment. In other ways I am a perfectly happy person and get along well with other aspects of my life.
Why am I writing about this guilty and somewhat shameful secret? I need help. I would like for anyone with a similar food problem to write to me and let me know if they have overcome the problem and how they did it. I am now 100 lbs. over weight and if this continues I will be in a downward spiral of bad health. I can not afford nor do I want ( I think ) the lap band system as I have seen too many people gain the weight back because the issue of over eating and underlying causes is not really resolved. I have been on every diet under the sun and know my nutrition inside and out. The problem is the behavior, how do I deal with that. The only pill which worked was Phen Phen and now it is off the market and has proven (?) to be dangerous to health. When I took Phen Phen I was as hungry between meals as any normal person but just a fraction of the food I normally eat would satisfy me. It was as if my brain was adjusted somehow to not focus on food.
So. If you are out there and reading this and interested in writing, please do. Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Rose