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Saturday, December 21, 2013

Happy Holiday!


It's Saturday, it's cold and rainy outside, and I'm ready to do another blog post.  However, no word for the week yet.  Refresh the illustrationfriday.com site...  pfft, still no new word.  There's nothing really to do except take the initiative and start blogging anyway, letting you in on my rambling thoughts and activities...

Happy solstice to everyone!  This means the days will get longer for everyone north of the equator.  Yay!  Tomorrow will be 1 minute longer than today!  Yay!  Oh yeah, and happy Christmas and merry Kwanza and joyful whatever other holiday you might choose to celebrate this time of year.  May you spend this time with people you like, with good and plentiful food.

My brother got 2 large, frozen turkeys from his work last night.  I would happily stick one of them in the oven, but I think I just mentioned they're frozen.  Sigh, delayed gratification again.  I got together with friends for lunch today and had a very happy conversation about books.  I stopped at my usual neighborhood store and laughed a lot with the owners while we contemplated the coming extra minute of light.

People in other departments at work were overheard complaining about that contractor whom I complained about in my post last week.  I feel some vindication, and I'm happy that my part of the project is finally coming together.  I'm abandoning ship this week and will let them fight it out without me while I hope to take some long-overdue time off.  I'll still have work to do at home, but I can do it in sweats and messy hair.

In other words, my world is in a good place in this particular moment.  I don't have any real plans, and I don't really want to make any.  I've hit the refresh button on the IF site a couple more times, and am starting to contemplate that 2' x 4' canvas I bought a couple months ago.  Or maybe another jigsaw puzzle.  Or I could finish the book I've been reading, A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.  It's a good book, but I have to admit the idea of yet another book or movie with a vampire in it is irritating me, and I'm more irritated that I'm enjoying the book anyway.

I did this art for a customer who failed to fully appreciate my efforts since they didn't buy it.  I'll admit it's a bad scan, but in my attempt to relax I'm going to go with the file at hand without looking for the original.  Besides, I'm having computer problems, and generally grouchy about software engineers making my life harder than it needs to be, not to mention that the lack of an IF word caused me to do actual work instead of blogging this afternoon.  Oh well, a little less to do this week?

I could go on a side rant about how trying to have Christmas spirit is too much pressure and not enough fun, but sometimes the holidays are fun, and maybe this is your year to have everything you want?

My dog thinks it's tv time and I should quit typing.  I'm thinking about that very nice bottle of wine my boss gave me too.  Maybe sometimes it's perfectly wonderful just to ramble about nothings without any actual point?

Wishing everyone happiness this holiday!

9 comments:

  1. Working in sweats with messy hair and fun holidays without having to make any point in particular. Seems heavenly. Thanks Linda. Happy, happy. :)

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  2. What a great festive scene Linda and I'm delighted that despite IF already seeming to be on their Christmas break that you still blogged. Glad you are having some overdue time away from work. Enjoy and wishing you a very Merry Christmas xx

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  3. Linda, your illustration is wonderful; it syas cosy and family and therefore I love it. We will have super relaxed Christmas days too and boy, will we enjoy it!
    Happy Holidays to you and your brother and your dog.

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  4. Love the image of kids on Christmas morning!
    I was thinking I might do an IF this week too since I'm on break. Wouldn't you know there's no new prompt! Didn't feel right to do last week's.
    Enjoy your time off!

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  5. It sounds like they were grinches. It is a lovely Holiday piece. It is taking so long for a new "if" theme I finally posted for spirit!

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  6. Thanks everybody! I guess I'll stay in the Christmas spirit and keeping my complaints about the IF holiday to myself. (mostly) I hope you all have a wonderful week!

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  7. I've been a bit frustrated of late with the new management over at Illustration Friday too, Linda. And it seems they've lost a lot of participants, if my own traffic is any evidence. Perhaps it is time to move on to those canvases, and just our own interesting personal thought posts, as you have done here? I bought oil paints and canvases this week and am anxiously awaiting their arrival. Egad! Never thought I'd be painting in oil again, but that is a subject quite lengthy for a blog comment. I find Christmas to be a consistently stressful season: so many expectations, pressures and guilt. It's a hard holiday to pick and choose one's own approach, and opt out of that which stresses, especially if it's family, and especially if one is not currently financially prosperous. Well, it will all be over in a week, and then we'll be given a new (year) chance at creating the best life ever! In the meantime, I am hard at work practicing gratitude for a mate and friends I can truly relate to, and the kindness of strangers...and the strange and stressful, but sometimes still helpful, kindnesses of family. Sending a warm holiday hug to you from balmy Northern California, Linda! ♡

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  8. Hooray for sweats and messy hair!!! May you enjoy your time to do whatever you want without any plans!! Merry Christmas, Linda!

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  9. At least we got a new word for this week! I suppose I won't complain too much about no word last week since I didn't really feel like putting new work into it with all the holiday fuss. I find Christmas stressful too, and I agree that counting our gratitudes is a good way to get through all that stress. I hope everyone had a happy day, and good luck with the oil paints Susan!

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