My first reaction to the Pulitzer Prize announcements was that the apocalypse must be near if BuzzFeed won a Pulitzer.
Of course, BuzzFeed won for actual quality reporting, not a listsicle of Best Kardashian Dating Stories or something. But I like teasing BuzzFeed, anyway. Good for them on the Pulitzer.
Obit finally posted to Mom’s memorial website. Probably will post it separately on the blog at some point.
ICAD 11/61; “Library” prompt. Pilot G2 bold pen. Simple and to the point this time.
ICAD 10/61; no prompt. Acrylic paints, washi tape, cutout of my daughter’s index card scribble.
Late posting of yesterday’s index card. Last (for now) in my accidental series.
In the Before (COVID) Times, I’d give my kid pens and 4 x 6 index cards to busy herself during church. I was hoping she’d maybe take notes or draw something about the readings or homily; instead, she’d produce idle doodles of Pokémon or dragons or whatever else she’d be fascinated with at the time. I have a pile of these drawings now, and I’ll be incorporating some of them into these cards.
So much for sleep health.
ICAD 9/61; no prompt. Craft acrylic paint; washi tape; inchies made of repurposed cereal box cardboard, Eastern European newspaper, and Sharpie.
Took the look of the Day 7 card and switched things up slightly. I think I may have the makings of an accidental series here.
Been getting to bed by 2 or 3 a.m. the past few nights. Working on photo scanning, editing, and uploads to Mom’s memorial site. I still have a full obituary to write and a slideshow that I need to figure out how to create — all, ideally, by Friday. And I still have a job to tend to during the day.
Not complaining. All of this is the least I could do. My siblings have borne the far greater burden of our mother’s slow decline. And shuffling through hundreds of photos is helping me rebuild memories of someone I have been grieving over the past five years.
Weighed myself yesterday, per usual, but I forgot to post the weekly update. Down to 240 pounds, or 43 pounds less than the start of all this in January. That’s a 15.2 percent loss so far.
We’re heading West this weekend for Mom’s funeral, and I expect my eating patterns to go somewhat haywire. They’re already haywire now; I still forget to eat for stretches at a time, though I make up for it at dinner and afterward. Except for today (when I opted for a fudge pop that put me over my carb limits by 3 or 4 grams), I’ve been pretty good with keeping under my doctor-prescribed limits.
The Fitbit app now gauges stress levels; my score has been in the 50s and 60s over the past few days. There’s work, and then there’s some tasks related to preparing for the funeral and memorializing Mom. I’m trying to keep up my daily ICAD stuff, which has been such a welcome distraction and stress reliever. In a way, it anchors me these days – as does, to some extent, the dietary scaffolding of my low-carb “lifestyle.” Grateful for both anchors.
ICAD 8; “Umbrella” prompt. Black, pink, and blue Pilot G-2 bold pens; cheap glitter markers from Target; gold metallic Sharpie.
I was ready to post a different card, but the “Umbrella” prompt was especially compelling to me for some reason. I was stress doodling and ended up with this.
ICAD 7/61; no prompt. Metallic, pearlescent, and matte craft acrylic paints; metallic Sharpie; washi tape; old postage stamp.
Late getting this done after rifling through more supplies I didn’t realize I had. May be divine intervention involved, because I was close to giving up on this one. Actually happy about this card.
ICAD 6/61; no prompt. Gel pens, metallic Sharpies, printer paper, and repurposed cardboard.
Spending much of my weekend scanning family photos for an online tribute and slideshow for Mom’s visitation. This seemed kind of appropriate.
(I’m also finding she really rocked the hipster spectacle frames back in the day.)
ICAD 5/61; no prompt. Acrylic paint, metallic Sharpie, printer paper, and an artist trading card topped with inchies made with a metallic Sharpie and acrylic paint on repurposed cardboard.
My Saturday got kind of crowded, so I’m late in posting this one. “Productivity” has been on my mind a lot lately.
ICAD 4/61; no prompt. Acrylic paint, newspaper scrap, and inchies made with a metallic Sharpie and washi tape on repurposed cardboard.
This is one of likely many “I’m-overwhelmed-by-life-and-I-don’t-know-what-the-hell-I’m-doing” ICAD pieces.
I’ve been poking through a large stash of inchies I’ve created over the years and am trying to integrate them (and likely make new ones) into this project. It’s been a long week, and my brain cells are largely spent. So, I slapped this one together on a previously made paint background with inchies and newspaper scrap.
At the very least, this gives me somewhat of a template to play with for future cards.
ICAD 3/61; “Lyrics” prompt. Acrylic paint; Sharpies; collage atop painted inchies with punched cardstock and printer paper.
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I would sing “Blackbird” by the Beatles to her in my womb. She’s 13 now.
It’s that time of year. I would have rather voted for Victor Caratini over Austin Nola for NL catcher, but oh well.
I weighed myself Tuesday (rather than the usual Monday), but didn’t get around to posting anything. Preoccupied lately.
I hit 241.2 pounds on Tuesday; that’s 1.8 pounds down from the previous week. (I weighed myself this morning and was at 239, but I’m not going to count that. My eating habits were atypical yesterday, and I’m sure it’ll even out when I can get back on track.)
The Tuesday weight gets me down 41.8 pounds since I started all this in January.
This is what happens lately when my work day gets extra-stressful: I forget to eat. And then MyFitnessPal gets cranky on me because I didn’t log enough food for the day.
Probably not the best thing to just have a cheese stick for breakfast.
ICAD 2/61; no prompt. Paint markers, acrylic paint.
Inspired by a lousy first day of work after several days of bereavement leave.
I wanted to work with darkness and light in the midst of it. I might play with this kind of color scheme later in this ICAD stretch. Going from darkness to light is on my mind a lot lately.
Started my day weeping over Steve Stone’s dog dying and a sad cartoon about pets who “cross the Rainbow Bridge.” (I don’t feel like trying to discern whether that is theologically correct.) Then I discovered soon enough that returning to work today was a horrible idea. I forgot to eat and drink for much of the day.
And this apparent Cubs sweep of the Padres is just making this crummy day even crummier.
Pro tip: Take as much time off as possible after the death of a close loved one. Returning to work too soon is a terrible idea.
ICAD 1/61; no prompt. (Most will be no prompt.) Paint markers, Sharpies, acrylic paint, gel pen, laser printer, and repurposed cardboard.
Produced a makeshift title card this afternoon. I was testing some old markers on a card to see if they were still usable, and opted to do something with that card.
I’ve made Mom my patron saint, as it were, for this maiden voyage into the ICAD world. So, here she is (with me behind her, age 5), joining me in this venture.
(Also, I’ve created a second Instagram account for my art experiments: @gratuitous.art. Unlike my personal account, @gratuitous.art is public.)
Spending time today to search for and scan old photos for Mom’s visitation in a couple of weeks. I am finding great joy in this, as well as some incredibly terrible hair and wardrobe choices.
Taking the plunge at last in the annual 61-day Index-Card-A-Day Challenge. You just create a piece of art on a simple index card each day. Sounds simple, but it strikes me as daunting if I think about it enough. So I’m trying to not think (much) and just do.
Aiming to post what I do each day here (and at least some of the time on the ICAD group page on Facebook, if I’m brave enough).
I sense that I’m going to need this kind of outlet for the next few months to help keep myself sane. Grateful for it.
The small dot on my wedding dress, next to my brother’s disembodied limb, is a ladybug. Mom was completely giddy, as ladybugs are supposed to be good luck. Few things excited Mom more than good omens, and to have one at our wedding reception had delighted her no end.
(Not the greatest photo in the world, I know, but I still love it.)
And with this, I need a break. Two ballgames in the past four days, combined with a lot of emotional churn and a lot of photos and stories to sift through, left me spent. Maybe I leaned too hard into … into something over the past week.
Starting to remember why bereavement leave requires a good chunk of time.
The Sox game brought me some joy today. But I’m kind of crashing right now, emotionally and physically. Time to lay low — maybe here, definitely on social media — for a bit. Very grateful tomorrow is a holiday.