Greatwall Studios Graphic Design

While we’ve been a couple for 21 years, it was our 13th wedding anniversary yesterday. A rainy, stormy, muggy hot & humid day. We’re still both exhausted from our youngest’s birthday party from the weekend so we have opted to celebrate between ourselves at a slightly later date. Like next week, after all the school stuff is complete. My wife has her school’s Graduation Ceremony tonight, so it just makes sense for us to push a dinner & night out to a time that better suits us. Which is great, no need to be under the gun to perform on that day, which was a very busy Monday after all. I know – so romantic! My skin is still singing from the weekend sunburn, so I’ll take a welcome respite while I can get it.

I know that right out of the gate, like midway through this saturday morning my kids will be hollering “I’m bored!”, expecting us to have an action packed schedule set for them with things to do. But, ace in the hole, I think we’ll be far more inclined to go bowling, to the movies, wander a far away mall, hit up Wonderland, or find a glow in the dark mini putt, or rock climbing place this year, than any other year before. I realize COVID is still very much a thing, but with suitable respirators on, there is no reason we can’t go and do stuff this year. Plus the kids are older, ever so slightly more self reliant, and we can do more adventurous stuff every now & again. Not every day, mind you, but we can do something out of the ordinary before swimming lessons pick up in mid or late July. I for one am pumped! Go team!

Take it easy, it’s only Tuesday!

Comes from running a childrens party that lasts for more than four hours, with tie dyed take home shirts, arts & crafts, swimming, trampolines, a tire swing, and a lengthy patch with a pinata. Add in mid day sunshine, heat and a fair bit of humidity, and a bunch of kids six and under, and you have absolute mayhem, chaos, and madness. Went off without a hitch, besides my own sunburn, and the burn with wife had too. So attentive to keeping the festivities rolling along we didn’t reapply sunscreen after each session in the pool, and we are singed.

But now I don’t have to think about parties again until December, so heading into the summer months on solid footing. I’m going to take it easy today. Our last gymnastics block is today, and that concludes this school years extra curriculars for a few months. What a year it has been. Book reports, school trips, clubs and activities. Next year they’ll be in grades 1 & 4. Homework will be a big part of both of their lives moving forward. That and staying on top of reading! Math homework, counting, and all that follows. Lots of colouring, gluing, and using scissors if I remember the first borns time in grade one at all.

Take care.

We had just over 1.5 inches of rain fall yesterday, which is alot. Calling for even more rain and storms today. I’m hoping we can get through our outdoor event or atleast 2/3rds of it before we see anything that would take us indoors. We have a pool party, tie dye t-shirts, and arts & crafts for the birthday party, and I’d really prefer to keep that all outdoors if I can help it. So here’s hoping the weather holds, and all is well.

This party has 90% of my focus today, but the reality is once it’s done, and we clean up I will need to come home and work for a few hours to put some oversized posters together. I put almost 2 hours in on late Friday night, technically extremely early Saturday morning before going to bed. So I’m not starting from scratch, thankfully, but I am also not done either. It’s a bit of a rush, so I need to get to like 90-95% approval rating on the first pass otherwise this won’t make it to press on time for the event. Going to need to be methodical, and do it by the numbers. Perhaps go a bit overboard so no small additional tweaks come back early Monday morning.

I need to head over to our event to set up balloons and streamers and what not. Have a great Sunday June 25th, 2023. Ciao Bella!

And other helpful hints we’ll discover in this thirty seven step program to becoming a Tax Free Tech Guru in just nine easy payments of $699.87. Follow me on IG for more… or don’t, you cuck.

The kids have discovered mobile games, namely a ball rolling game of balance, bouncing, puzzles, and fine motor control. It also sparks a daily wobbly for the ages, with rage, tears, gnashing of teeth, and hair pulling. God I love technology. Not that we don’t have a plethora of 2D Atari games that they have played and enjoyed before. Now their spare time is spent on the spare phone playing a bunch of free to play games, and avoiding ads, or unstoppable prompts to visit other websites. Such fun. Why couldn’t they like Tetris, or Mario Kart Racing… no accounting for taste.

Fingers, toes, arms and legs crossed for better weather tomorrow for our birthday party plans. Much of which revolve around being outdoors, and in the pool. Tie dye is awful messy to try inside. Same with art & crafts painting. We need at least a lull in the rain to be able to enjoy ourselves just a bit. I have some shopping to do for snacks, and drinks. I also need to wrap my daughters gifts. Bake a bunch of cupcakes, and decorate them too.

Was out having a drink or two last night, so I’m a bit slow going this morning. I had a late night RUSH request for first thing Monday morning, so when I got home I worked a few hours last night to get a jump on this fairly extensive ask. 4 posters, all 32×68″H, in need of touch ups to the products, background, models and lighting. I have the basis for my work blocked in, and now I’ll spend another 4-6 hours or more refining, tweaking, and cleaning up. Luckily one of the four posters was really just a background swap, and will take far less time to plan & execute than any of the others. Score!

I think that message came in before 11:00pm last night, so not the latest rush order I have ever had. That’s freelancing for you in a nut shell. You can have flexibility to do family life events, but also be prepared to get, and execute on new work after midnight and over weekends etc etc… which I don’t mind ultimately. If I can do school drop offs and pick ups and see my kids every day, I’ll take a few late nights, or weekends in my office/studio getting things done. Fair trade in my opinion.

So what is the new american dream? I think it’s coming up with some kind of popular grift that makes money by selling an idea, with very little substance, but not onerous enough to warrant legal action against. Take my course, buy my plan, come to my conference, learn this one simple thing, do you want to be a real estate investor? Things of that nature. No longer an invention or product, but the packaged sale of an ideal, or winning ideology. Very fascinating. Mostly empty platitudes and common sense wrapped up in tech guru verbiage and a vagueness to waved hands, or finger temples, charismatic speaking engagements. It’s wild y’all.

June is almost done, and yet another school year along with it. Crazy. 6 months of the year done too. Half way through. My numbers here are WAY done. I’ve done 25% roughly of last year’s all time numbers. I haven’t written any shorts that garnered consistent attention, so no surprise there. Big difference between 14-22 views a day, and the current 2-4, with a handful of zeros mixed in for good measure. The disconnection of JetPack/Wordpress and other external sites is a factor as well, but I think it’s my lack of creative writing that has placed my viewership in a nosedive. Better than previous years, without a doubt. But sadly lacking in comparison to my All-Star showing of 2022. No matter. This isn’t a vehicle to fame and fortune. It’s an outlet I needed during the height of the Pandemic, and it’s aftermath which is still ongoing.

Happy Saturday, you made it! Ciao Bella

I promised to volunteer at a kindergarten event for today, several weeks in advance, and now (of course) I’ve gotten some last minute projects that require immediate attention. So I must be very diligent with my time, and planning today. First things first I got the kids fed, dressed, cleaned up and off to school with the appropriate gear for the day’s events. Next I will spend 2 hours working on CMYK logos, and then it’s the better part of three hours volunteering before I’m home for an hour to work, then pick up, and finish off the afternoon working as the kids watch a movie with snacks. Hopefully we can beat the rain due sometime this afternoon. Fingers crossed. Ciao Bella!

First one in a while where I haven’t had to be out of town for five or more hours. Feels pretty good to be home, if I’m being honest. As much as I like going places, and doing things, and being with others, the older I get the happier I am to stay home. It’s where my hobbies are. My office / studio space, and my wood shop are all here. Teaming with projects, old, new, as of yet unrealized. It’s great to be home. Plus when I’m home I’m not out spending money. Though I do enjoy experiences of all sorts. It’s cheaper to be home. And as a freelancer with invoices paid at irregular intervals, I’m best to be cautious with money right now.

In continuation of Domestic Duties Monday, I do have a fair amount of laundry to sort through and put away. The never ending cycle of t-shirts, shorts and under pants that I have to wash and sort every single week. Oh my! It’s alot. But I’d rather do that than commute four hours a day down to Liberty Village, or Mississauga or deep into the heart of York Region. Soon enough the kids will stop wanting to play with all of these toys, and their chores will adapt to their age and abilities. I can delegate their own laundry to them, and vacuuming, sweeping, mopping the floors, bathroom cleaning, putting away groceries, loading and running the dishwasher, recycling bins, garbage pick-up around the house, even lawn care or garden bed weeding can be handed over to the two kids. I have them helping with snow removal as is, so that will be a big help as they get stronger. Washing the cars, windows, drive way, so many things I can get them to do. But, for right now, while they are small, I’m ok to do that myself. Ciao Bella.

Here we go. Come on then. Get it out, say it, say it. I know you want to. I can hear it in your voice that you’re itching to say something. Hm? No? Cat got your tongue? “Well, it’s just funny that…”

Another lovely late spring weekend behind us. Father’s Day was pretty good. Busted out the new waffle iron, and gave that a go on Sunday. I need to tweak that recipe a touch, not quite sweet enough for me. But it works, and it was edible. I could have gone with my usual cooked English breakfast, but waffles were calling my name.

I did a fair amount of cleaning on Saturday morning while I was expecting my wife and kids to be out of the house until 10:00 or 11:00am, so the floors got a sweep, a vacuum, and a mopping. Grass got cut. And a general tidy up after my evening watching movies. I have laundry on the go, and the dish washer to run next. So I’m ahead of the game for Domestic Duties Monday. All of the kids extracurriculars other than gymnastics are over until September, so evenings are free and clear once more.

I have some small work matters to attend to this week. Nothing too major. I did recently learn that one of my clients has been acquired, absorbed into a larger conglomerate, and will no longer require my services. Sad. True. But part of the business cycle. I’m no stranger to the ebb & flow of clientele. At some point in the next year I will find a new set myself. Building the business is my least favourite thing to do. RFP’s, proposals, presentations, word of mouth, old friends coming back into the fold, new opportunities. Something somewhere will give. Best to put yourself into a great position to receive whatever is coming. It has happened before, and will happen again.

So that’s how my Monday is starting, how does the rest of your week look? In two more weeks time my wife with have a year off, to be at home, full time, with me, again, just like the lock downs. Should make for interesting times. Ha.

Ciao Bella!

Enjoy the 20th most celebrated holiday in North America, according to Ali Siddiq. Whether out on the golf course, or drunk in the sun day drinking for a BBQ, have a good one. To the non traditional folks that occupy the role, have a good one too.

I celebrated on Friday evening with a fun night in with no children fighting in the house. Watched a favourite movie with a couple of mixed drinks. Was in bed asleep before midnight. A real wild ride.

Happy Sunday mid morning. It’s sunny, warm on the verge of getting hot. Blue skies with some cloud cover. A lovely looking day.