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Painting or sculpting skills, but in the five to ten years that I have been chipping away at both, I’m getting happier with my results. No major leaps forward using the airbrush, it brings it’s own set of hassles and limitations, but I think it is more consistent than what my dry brushing ever put down. Takes longer, and uses more layers to do it with the airbrush, but then you don’t get brush strokes visible on larger surfaces, and it looks buttery smooth. Which – for now, is something that I like.

I the last few months I have completed my Ape, Hellboy, Elf Barbarian, Warrior, and now my Ogre Royal Guard. I went in vastly different colour palettes for each one. As I tend to like greens and blues, and didn’t want them all to be exactly the same. I should try a blue one next, as I’ve gone through Pink & Purple, Reds, Blacks & Greys, Various shades of Brown, and Green & Yellows. So my Ogre Rogue should be blue. But I kinda want him to look more human, and go with skin tones instead. Maybe I will try the Ninja Turtle next? Either way, I will need to sculpt some new things, if i want to continue painting into the new year. Or pray that the large box of miniatures I picked up off of Kickstarter shows up in the next 3-6 months.

I had a spot of good fortune over the weekend, and one of my reports came in, so I blasted through that in 18 hrs or so over three days. I wanted it done before, or at the least, very early Monday, as it looks as though we had another CUPE strike day set for today (Monday). But crisis was averted, but I was ahead of the game, so I should have a quiet day today. I did the laundry yesterday, and found out my wife’s winter tires, and did some chores around the house in preparation of the kids being underfoot all day. Now I can chill out for a bit. Prep files for new reports that I know are coming in the next few weeks.

I started to watch The Family Stone on Disney+ last night (from 2005), and had forgotten just how much I hated Sarah Jessica Parker in that film. I watched many seasons of Sex in the City with an old roommate decades ago, and kinds didn’t hate her as Carrie Bradshaw, but… Yikes. Can’t stand her in this film. I’m not certain if it’s set in Christmas or Thanksgiving. Either way. I also dug up Trains, Planes & Automobiles the other day. That’s always good for a chuckle. Trying to get into the holiday spirit this year. I just couldn’t quite feel it last year. I was so very close. Right on the cusp – even. But never really found that childhood wonder that surrounds the Christmas break. I don’t know if it’s our decorations, or the threat of Covid, or the weather that tamped things down, but it really did fell muted. Like hearing your favourite song from outside the dance club, through closed doors, and a blacked out window. You know it’s there. You can hear it going on. You can feel it thumping in your chest. But… it’s not the same, as being awash inside it. Could be age, and that I’m grumpy. Ha.

Happy Monday to all who celebrate. Take care of yourselves out there. Ciao Bella!

First off, it is absolutely required that we run a sturdy brush through both our kids hair at least twice a day minimum. Secondly, both kids hate it, and squirm, fight & cry about having it done for any length of time, regardless of how much nicer it looks and feels when done. Thirdly if you should miss even one session the hair will turn in on itself, create frizzy volume, and tie itself in such viscious knots that you’d seriously contemplate shaving the kids heads, and starting again from Pixie cuts, and hair clips. They also desperately want to draw attention to their hair by dying it bright colours, and insisting on wearing their hair down. Both things require extensive hair care and/or management to pull off successfully, and not end up looking like a homeless child. So naturally they resist all attempts to reign in their hair. A constant, and consistent struggle. Oh joy!

I look forward to a time when either child will focus even the slightest bit of attention towards the maintenance of their own hair. Washing, conditioning, drying, brushing, or styling & colouring. Then they will know the struggles first hand of what we deal with day in and day out. Maybe they come to realize how fortunate an hour in the home salon chair is. Does that sound right? You get my drift. We do it anyway, but maybe they make it less of a fight, and more a chance to talk and connect? A dad can dream can’t he?

In other news it is Sunday, and we are once again facing another CUPE strike, and more of this god forsaken on-line learning for Kindergarten. So I best shake a leg and get my newest report finished. Came in late yesterday evening, and I got several pages started. So have a great lazy Sunday. Fingers crossed for a resolution to the CUPE dispute before tomorrow.

I know I made a fair few comic books of my own when I was a little kid, and I struggled to come up with a story, spell it correctly, draw all the correct panels & splash pages, colour it all in, bind it in a suitable fashion, and then try not to hate it when I finally finished. And low & behold my kids do the same thing with zero prompting from me. I see the spark of an idea, and then the crushing weight of what it takes to complete the project if you want it to be exactly as you envision it, and then the building frustration when the corners figuratively start to peel on you from the accumulation of minor errors. Ah that brings back memories. There are few self inflicted wounds quite like seeing how far off your vision you are when it comes to your own execution of said artistic vision. We are truly, our own worst critics.

As I sit here, both kids are hard at work, writing, drawing and colouring their comic books. When they aren’t fighting over crayons, or wigging out about how their art is progressing it almost feels like a great morning. I’m just happy that they have found something to occupy themselves for a few minutes so that I don’t have to entertain them.

I did build a deck of flash cards again last night to aid my youngest on her way towards early primary reading. And we are close to discovering whether the eldest has a LD regarding reading. We are trying lots of ways to build her confidence when reading. She seems to forget words of all lengths, and starts to panic when she has to read out loud. She can remember something like Cretaceous, but forgets words like who, when, and, and if. I don’t get it. But I’m no educator, and I don’t deal in child psychology either. She isn’t transposing numbers or letters, so likely not dyslexia. As far as my best guess goes. She does well in math, and listens in class, and is otherwise participatory in nature. Just the reading is lagging behind. She is several levels back of her peers (those that aren’t also struggling with reading anyway). I was happy to hear that her reading had progressed to where it is now, because she plateaued at a double digit level for two or more years. Thanks Covid and online classes! So yes, she can read, and does so, but just not at as high a level as she needs to to not continue to struggle with it as she moves on. But we are building a plan, and getting her extra help where any is available. We have hoops to get through in order to get her assessed by an academic type.

I know that I disliked reading a great deal in my youth, I was going on twelve before I actually enjoyed reading a full novel. I still have the first novel my mum bought me. It was a BattleTech brand novel about fighting robot mechs, war, treachery and violence. And I never looked back after reading it. I then read about Mortal Kombat, The Death of Superman, and the original Jurassic Park novel. Don’t quiz me on those publishing dates, they stick out in my memory in regards to reading. Plus a whole slew of Dragon Lance books, but that wasn’t until 1994 when we moved to Erin On, from Scarborough. So my own journey into reading started a lot later than my teachers had been pushing for. So the kid, she comes by it honestly. But once we get the reading to be less of a panic inducing activity, we have about seven hundred or so books that she can read if she wants to. Of all sorts of genres, lengths and difficulty levels. Science fiction, non fiction, fantasy, romance, poetry, technical, crime, humor, murder mystery, violent blood soaked horror, arts, historical and wood working to name most of our major areas of interest.

The good news is, all four projects are still a go, and we’ve picked up a fifth. The bad news is they are all due before the end of the year, and not one client is ready to go – yet. One is totally out of our hands with a foreign tourism bureau taking their time to review numbers, but the other ones will likely all come a knocking within days of each other. So buckle up. Wrest that wrist, and be ready to roll once the clock starts!

It would be ideal to get one per week, over the next five weeks, but if they aren’t 55+ pages or more each with massively wide tables, I can probably tackle the first two or three of them in just 3 full days each. I guess it will also depend on the school strikes, as two kids under eight being home 24/7 will get under my heels and will severely impede my ability to work quickly. Plan for the worst, and hope for the best!

I really need to start thinking about Christmas shopping for the kids/spouse sooner rather than later. If the strike lasts a while, and I have reports due, I won’t have the time to get to it for too much longer. Time to put my memory to good use, and recall all of the things both kids have gone moony over from toy commercials. Then I need to decide how severe my budget considerations need to be. Plus I need to order stuff so it will arrive before Christmas so I can wrap it, and actually have something under the tree for each child.

We have Birthday parties almost every weekend coming up, so those gifts have to be purchased too. Not only that but considerations need to be made for my eldest child’s party coming up in something like 17 days. Pizzas, goodie bags, drinks, decorations. Finalize the invitations, and getting cups/plates/napkins, and cutlery sorted out. I know I have forks and spoons already from last year. A table cloth from the youngest’s birthday in June is still in good working order. Lots left to look after. Going to be a very busy couple of weeks one way or another.

You know what that means! We roll out the tv stand and show a movie in class today. Put your heads and pencils down children, and stare blank eyed at this bulky rounded ccrt television with mono sound, and the white stripe damage to the VCR heads. I’ve had a bit of a weekend, and I don’t feel much like trying today kids.

In other domestic duties news, we’ve been shopping for groceries and the ever present water softener salt. Put away the dishes from the dish washer, and tackled three loads of laundry, which I still need to sort and put away, but that can wait. A general tidy up has finished, and now I want to eat some breakfast before I get down to brass racks with any paid work. Always good to fuel up before a big day. Or any kind of day for that matter, unless you have surgery, then fast for that shit. No good aspirating vomit into your lungs for the sake of a morning coffee & donut combo, or a measly piece of buttered toast. Just don’t do it. Save your own life today. That’s what I bring here, life affirming nonsense that keeps you all coming back for more. That, and a few gripes, but mostly the good natured, wholesome life affirming shit we all need to hear every once in a while. The good stuff. Mmmm. So. Good.

We had our first flurries this weekend. Exciting and cold all at the same time. Not enough to cover the ground. But it did give the grass frosted tips. Very retro 90’s looking. A real Chad from the beach vibe. With his pooka shell necklace and tie dye tank top, and Billabong board shorts. A very distinct vibe. All except it’s grey outside, windy, and bleak as fuck. But we did see those fluffy fat snowflakes falling from the sky. Lucky us.

Perhaps today I will wash snow pants and winter coats, in preparation of the much colder weather to come. Yes. That is exactly what I should do with myself this morning. I’ve been putting it off since we’ve had such an extended warm period, but I can give in to the coming of winter. Give myself over to the cold icy chills, and the frosted windshields, and frozen seats of the car once more. I really do have to come around to it all. It requires a very determined shift in thinking to make do during Canada’s colder months.

Well, that’s enough waxing poetically from me today. I best hop to it. Ciao Bella!