So… Why No Blog Posts Recently?

If you are indeed, still checking in to see if I’ve come around to put up a new post, I whole heartedly thank you for being a faithful follower! I have a few things on my plate this month that are leaving me with little time to crank out new posts. Trust me, it’s not that I don’t want to…but there are just so many hours in a day, as much as I hate to admit to that little fact.

So, what has been consuming all of these hours, you may be asking? One great time sucking item on my agenda, has been to get myself registered to begin taking some classes online at Lesley University. It’s been a very slow and frustrating process. Phone calls are not returned, paperwork has been lost. This results in more paperwork for me and more follow up phone calls. I wish I had a dime for every time I was put on hold, transferred to another department, or my favorite… disconnected. I decided some time ago, to return to school for my Masters in Science Education (K-8). I’m not ready to leave the world of decorative painting, but I do have a deep fascination for the sciences and totally enjoy my after school Mad Science classes I teach twice/week. I’m thinking I would like to be able to design and implement some after school Science programs for this age group that combine art and science… the science of art, or the art of science… so to speak. Going back to school is a step in that direction. Because ALL of the classes will be online, I will be able to keep the same schedule I have now, only more frazzled!

I have also been developing some new concepts for my PetMats. I had to let the PetMats slide after the holidays so have done no new PetMats nor any promotion. My former next door neighbor, Lisa Cohen, who is a wonderful photographer, called me with a proposal I could not refuse. She knew about my PetMats and this fit in nicely with her new foray into pet photography, SnapTails. She has arranged for us to have a little opening, March 2nd, from 6-8 pm at Durty Harry’s in Charlestown, MA. Durty Harry’s offers "Do It Yourself" dog wash stations, as well as gifts and treats to further pamper your pooch.

I’m very excited about my new PetMat designs. While I will still be carrying breed specific PetMats, I am introducing a line of pet quotes PetMats. Here is a sneak preview of a few:

I will have these, and more, on my Etsy site shortly. As always, a portion of all sales will be donated to Angel/MSPCA. More about this event later next week.

In my studio, I’m up to my eyeballs in mirrors these days! I have 14 of these huge mirrors from hair salon that I am redoing. Here is a "before" shot. The salon owners want them to be a very dark brown now.

I’ve rearranged my small, messy studio to be able to accommodate 4 of these mirrors in one room and 1 more in the adjacent room that is normally just used for laundry and household storage. It’s hard to tell from these photos, but the mirrors are about 3′ wide by 4′ tall. They are lightweight, made of molded styrofoam, but very awkward to move solo. Luckily, it’s school vacation week here and I’ve been able to recruit a few of my friends who are teachers to give me a hand transporting them. I’m doing seven at a time, so I don’t leave the salon mirror-less!

Of course, the ever ominous task of preparing for my 2010 tax return looms large! Here’s where I’m at… still entering numbers into my spreadsheet and hoping for the best. (which would mean I hit the Lottery, a zero in a million chance since I never even play!)