a good place

The good people at the Bridge Project and I have been talking about starting a graphic design class as one of their after school programs. It would focus on teaching middle and high school students who have never been exposed to any design tools, or design in general. I went and visited a site yesterday and was greatly impressed and humbled by what they are doing. The dedication of the teachers and volunteers there is tremendous. With any luck DU will pick-up the cost of the needed software, and a design class we shall have.

update

We have an appointment for Penny at Children's Hospital on Monday. Just completed all the paper work so they can transfer the files.

Glad to see something moving forward.

more progress

Here is an update as of yesterday.

On another note, we are still waiting for all of the good doctors to get together and speak so we can get a plan in place for the girl. Not feeling very patient about this and think a phone call this morning is in order.

painting progress

I should have photographed my process along time ago. There have been countless changes made since my first in process post. So here is my work in progress as of two days ago.

just finished

Here's a couple of illustrations that I got wrangled into doing for the kid's school. Just finished and sent them off to the PTA people.

Quite a bit of painting was accomplished last night. Worked out some problems with it that have been plaguing me for a while. Now I have created entirely new ones...

moody

Not much in the mood today. Funny how things effect other things. All of the stress with Penny and her eyes has taken a toll on all the members of the family in different ways. My day to lose it a bit was Friday, Crystals seems to be today. The not knowing and wondering what is happening is probably the worst part.It didn't help that Paige had an episode today and stayed home from school.

Just received a call from Children's hospital and they are working on getting us in to see a specialist - nice to have something moving at least.

Other than that, I made a good start on a new story that needs to be roughed in, and I have to get back to painting. It's been a few days without working on anything and I need to get my rhythm back. All of the paintings that are done still need to be archived as well.

off to school

Penny woke this morning and marched off to school without complaint. Her pupils are still very dilated due to two days of drops so people could peer inside her head. Hopefully we will hear more news today or Monday on our next steps.

After days of beautiful, unseasonable warmth, January has returned today and is scheduled to stay through the weekend. The cold is probably a good thing, it will make me stay inside and catch up on some design work that has to be completed. The deadlines are catching up with me.

Onward.

good news and more questions

We just returned from the retina specialist, and after many tests, the doctor has ruled out any damage to Penny's retinas.

This is good news.

Now what we don't know, is what is causing the double vision and blind spots. So everything points at one eye being weaker than the other, or under developed - but none of the tests thus far have said this is true. Where we stand now is, the back of the eye doctor needs to talk to the front of the eye doctor, then they will talk to the pediatric eye doctor. Once this is all done, hopefully next week, we will probably head over to the pediatric doctor to see what he can see.

A very long couple of days for Penny - but she looks very stylish in her mandatory sunglasses and, as always, smiles through it all.

thinking good thoughts

We are thinking good thoughts over here. Penny just finished her eye appointment. We have been concerned due to some seeing issues and head tilting. What we found out is that she might have holes in both retinas. What's happening is she can see out of the sides of her eyes, but has a white spot in the middle. Our appointment with the retina specialist is tomorrow morning, so not too much sleep between now and then.

change is good

quick update

Lunch was very good. Very full now.

an exercise in words

It has been days since I have written anything, whether it is on this blog, case studies or any of the stories that are in process and bouncing around in my head. When this happens I tend to laps into long droughts - this is a bad habit and nothing positive is accomplished from it. So, that being said, this blog entry is intended for nothing other than to get the fingers hitting the keypad again.

Today is my birthday, and I am officially 39. It seems hard to believe, but it's true. It has been an interesting day so far, I woke to find I had a flat tire, so after a bit of work, the pathetically small spare was installed and a trip was made to the tire fixing place. Fortunately they were able to fix the tire and there was now cost - hurray. The girls are off of school today, so they are meeting me for lunch, which is not coming soon enough because I am very hungry.

I know that I am negligent in posting updated photos that I have promised, and hope to have those up soon.

still here

I've not been myself for the last few days. I don't know if it's been because of the weather, the moon or something else, but I am glad that the dark mood is starting to wane a bit. Still not fully functional, but I am hopeful it will pass soon.

Plugging along at work as well as trying to get a short story finished - it really needs to be done so it can move out of my head. I am also trying to wrap up some paintings that have been on my mind. Then begins the challenge of finding someone to show them for me.

One thing at a time, one thing at a time...

salsa

Just a quick post to say, I made one incredible batch of salsa last night. The heat didn't overpower the flavor in my opinion. The girls would say differently though. I think that they would call it wicked evil voodoo salsa.

It made me happy.

Happy New Year

We spent new year's eve up with our friends at their cabin. Here are some pictures of us doing cabin-y things as well as a bit of back country snow shoeing.

in progress

Here is a current painting in progress. This is another gouche on masonite.

needs color

Another pen and ink in need of some color.