Witch Way Next?

Well...I'm still waiting to have the first sale on Shady Dealin's Etsy shop. It's a little disappointing that there hasn't been a flood of orders but that's not entirely unexpected. I probably need to invest more effort into promoting the shop. Really, all I've done is mention it in this blog. So, you know, that means I've reached about five readers.

Anyway, that hasn't kept me from working. I actually just wrapped up another colored pencil drawing and it will soon be posted on the shop. I actually finished previous drawing a couple weeks back but that looked a lot better in my head than on on paper. I think I'll redo that one at some point.

So, here's the latest. I'm still working on a name...

Exhaustion

I don’t often use this blog for journaling. That is, simply documenting the events of my usually uneventful life. But these last couple weeks have been pretty intense in a lot of different ways. I’m feeling it physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I thought I’d share. If nothing else, it’ll be cathartic for me. Still, I don’t want to get too personal.

I have a close buddy. We’ve been friends since the fourth grade. We played on the same little league teams. We played GI Joe together. Our families vacationed together. His family was and is like a second family to me. Anyway, several years ago, his Mom--this second Mom to me--was diagnosed with cancer. Two weeks ago, I visited her and the family in hospice care. She passed away soon afterward and the funeral was last week. That hit me hard. I don’t really know how to put into words all that I was and am feeling. Sorrow. Fear. A tinge of anger. And, strangely, a little happiness that her terrible, valiant struggle is over and her earthy chains are gone.

…

I had more about the physical and mental exhaustion but, you know what, never mind.

Updates

So I haven't really been feeling the blog lately. I've had a lot of other things going on and keeping the blog updated hasn't exactly been a high priority. Here's a couple quick on various aspects of my life:

1. The family is awesome. Jonah had some stomach funkiness a few weeks ago but he's over that. He's rolling over now and even eating rice cereal. He's growing so fast. Jesse is picking up new words all that time. More than that, he's starting to put them together in actual sentences. We've been participating in MOPS date night recently. Ok, only once so far as the MOPS season has just started. But we're really liking that. If you're not familiar with it, it's kind of like a babysitting co-op. There are 18 couples working together and every couple weeks, three of the couples watch the kids of the other 15. Through the 18 week schedule, I think we'll work three and have 15 date nights of our own. I would highly recommend that kind of thing to parents.



2. Reading. I've read a lot of 007 books by Ian Fleming lately: Casino Royale, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, and one whose title would likely bump the blogs rating up a bit (Bond fans, you know what I'm talking about). They've all been a blast to read. They'd better be or would've been silly for me to read so many. The 007 books are a lot different the movies. Much more realistic. It's funny to see the covers of the books and their portrayal of the scantily clad woman when you know that it has absolutely nothing to do with the actual writing. I think they're just trying to play up the relationship to the movies. I also read Men and Cartoons by Jonathan Lethem. It's a collection of short stories in several genres. All were interesting and fun to read.

3. I've been exercising more. Ok, not necessarily more but definitely with more intensity. I'm putting a more concerted effort into it. For me, that planning, simplification, and turning off the television while I work out. It makes a big difference. I feel better and the bathroom scale has me slowly inching back up to my college weight.

4. Speaking of college, I went rock climbing with a couple college buddies at Climb Time this past weekend. It was the third time I've gone and the second time I've gone with this two friends. It is really a lot of fun. We had a good showing and we all successfully climbed walls that we really didn't think we'd do. There is one section of evil blue wall that I could never get. Next time, Blue! Anyway, I'm definitely feeling it in my forearms. I'm also feeling a nice bruise on my knee and another on my chest.

5. My priorities seem to be in a constant state of flux. Without going into too much detail, the shortness and preciousness of life have really been at the forefront of my mind lately. I'm not sure how I'll use that just yet. Part of me says "Why mess around with saving for retirement when I can enjoy things now? To heck with my Roth IRA, I'm buying an Alfa Romeo." But I also know that's not entire healthy. I'll keep you posted. And, if I get an Alfa, I'll take pictures.

Later.