what's on your mind, right now?

Purple Fairy Tree

Look what arrived today, I'm so pleased that I'm having a glass of wine to celebrate

g under p

I'm watching this movie called Hacksaw Ridge and every time I watch it I end up in a puddle of tears. I'm not sure why this always happens, it could be the war aspect, the heroism throughout the movie, a man's strong beliefs, its something that has me balling everytime I watch.

A big THANK YOU to each and every veteran out there for what you do, have done and will do for this country.

Peace

gimmesometruth27

working from home today. almost killed myself on the highway at 05:15 today. boss called at 06:05 and said he was about 20 miles ahead of me on hwy 70 and it was too dangerous. he said turn around and go work from home. i got home at 08:20. I spent 3.5 hours on the road today to go 70 miles only to work from home. i am thankful that i made it back. and that my boss is pretty cool sometimes.

Sprunkn7

Since I am not made of money I usually go the dentist every 9 months.  Beside having anxiety about the bill b/c of no dental insurance  coverage....I have come to hate the dentist and I literally shake when I get in the chair. I have an appointnment for a cleaning (and you know Xrays of course) on the 26th and I may put it off until January.  Then again, maybe I should go and get it over with.  Ugh.

deadendp

Sprunkn7 said:

Since I am not made of money I usually go the dentist every 9 months.  Beside having anxiety about the bill b/c of no dental insurance  coverage....I have come to hate the dentist and I literally shake when I get in the chair. I have an appointnment for a cleaning (and you know Xrays of course) on the 26th and I may put it off until January.  Then again, maybe I should go and get it over with.  Ugh.

I would think that delaying might make the anxiety worse, yes? 

My husband had a 15 year dental hiatus.  Oh, he takes wonderful care of his teeth, he just had such terrible anxiety. I had an appointment several days before him. I told them of his anxiety. Thet were beautifully gentle with him, didn't get on him about his absence and he has been good about going ever since. 

Have you spoken to them about your anxiety? We love our guy, but perhaps yours isn't a good fit for you? 

I know our guy has noise canceling headphones. Would this that be a possibility for you? 

Sprunkn7

deadendp said:

Sprunkn7 said:

Since I am not made of money I usually go the dentist every 9 months.  Beside having anxiety about the bill b/c of no dental insurance  coverage....I have come to hate the dentist and I literally shake when I get in the chair. I have an appointnment for a cleaning (and you know Xrays of course) on the 26th and I may put it off until January.  Then again, maybe I should go and get it over with.  Ugh.

I would think that delaying might make the anxiety worse, yes? 

My husband had a 15 year dental hiatus.  Oh, he takes wonderful care of his teeth, he just had such terrible anxiety. I had an appointment several days before him. I told them of his anxiety. Thet were beautifully gentle with him, didn't get on him about his absence and he has been good about going ever since. 

Have you spoken to them about your anxiety? We love our guy, but perhaps yours isn't a good fit for you? 

I know our guy has noise canceling headphones. Would this that be a possibility for you? 

I have been with the same practice sine I have had teeth.  I love them and they know I am a scardy cat! You're right of course.  Put my big girl pants on and get it over with.  My thoughts are the same.  Maybe I was hoping someone would say "Meh, put it off!"  so you know, I would put it off!

deadendp

Sprunkn7 said:

deadendp said:

Sprunkn7 said:

Since I am not made of money I usually go the dentist every 9 months.  Beside having anxiety about the bill b/c of no dental insurance  coverage....I have come to hate the dentist and I literally shake when I get in the chair. I have an appointnment for a cleaning (and you know Xrays of course) on the 26th and I may put it off until January.  Then again, maybe I should go and get it over with.  Ugh.

I would think that delaying might make the anxiety worse, yes? 

My husband had a 15 year dental hiatus.  Oh, he takes wonderful care of his teeth, he just had such terrible anxiety. I had an appointment several days before him. I told them of his anxiety. Thet were beautifully gentle with him, didn't get on him about his absence and he has been good about going ever since. 

Have you spoken to them about your anxiety? We love our guy, but perhaps yours isn't a good fit for you? 

I know our guy has noise canceling headphones. Would this that be a possibility for you? 

I have been with the same practice sine I have had teeth.  I love them and they know I am a scardy cat! You're right of course.  Put my big girl pants on and get it over with.  My thoughts are the same.  Maybe I was hoping someone would say "Meh, put it off!"  so you know, I would put it off!

I'm a mom. I say rip that band aid off and go! My daughter suffers from severe anxiety and the waiting makes things 1000x worse. 

hedonist

Uber can kiss my lily-white ass.

They regularly charge wait fees when the driver goes to the wrong address, cancellation fees when the driver cancels, etc.  Trying to get shit squared straight takes forever or not at all.

Unfortunately, I'm currently dependent on them or Lyft.

Assholes.

Purple Fairy Tree

This arrived in the post and I'm not sure how many copies of the same song(s) I need to own, but clearly not enough:


And here is a really nice photo of Eddie Vedder, just to cheer everyone up as today is quite cold out:

Thoughts_Arrive

Can I be a successful, technically sound painter if I work full-time in another job?

deadendp

Thoughts_Arrive said:

Can I be a successful, technically sound painter if I work full-time in another job?

Yes. As an artist I can tell that especially when starting out, if you want to paint, you will make it work by working a job as well.  I work at an art gallery with a number of other artists who also work to pay the bills to allow them to create art.  It's a cycle, especially if you have the goal we have for you-- to move out of your toxic home environment. 

Thoughts_Arrive

deadendp said:

Thoughts_Arrive said:

Can I be a successful, technically sound painter if I work full-time in another job?

Yes. As an artist I can tell that especially when starting out, if you want to paint, you will make it work by working a job as well.  I work at an art gallery with a number of other artists who also work to pay the bills to allow them to create art.  It's a cycle, especially if you have the goal we have for you-- to move out of your toxic home environment. 

Today I was thinking about how I would be able to afford to pay rent if I move out and art supplies on top of that. Is it possible? Oil paint is so expensive and that is what my teacher teaches and what I want to move to as acrylics frustrate me. I paid $122 today on 5 tubes plus other material. It freaked me out. Cost of living has gone up so much in Australia but wage growth has stagnated, not sure if it is the same where you are. People are struggling to pay bills let alone pay for art supplies.

I've been thinking about asking my best friend's fiance's best friend if I could move in with her. She lives alone. I don't want to live with strangers. I know her at least. But maybe she wants to live alone. I feel embarrassed to ask her.

I wish I worked at a gallery. Anything art related. Art store would be cool but I need to know a lot before I can help customers. I still don't even know all there is to know about oil paint and mediums/solvents.
I asked the art store I purchased my supplies for my classes if there's any jobs to help me pay for my classes and supplies and they said no :(

Do you have a website/Instagram/Facebook of your art? 

deadendp

I'm going to sound like a hard ass, but you do what you have to do. Cost of living has gone up everywhere.  Water bill here has gone up more than double in the time we have owned our home (20 years) because the stupid city decided to wait to replace all water lines until AFTER the EPA mandated it with no more extensions and all grants were gone.  They were told for 25+ years it needed done.  It wasn't until the federal government stood on them that they finally did it.  

Taxes on my home have gone up from $1200/year to $2350/year.  I live in a 1008 sq ft ranch with no garage and a lot that is 40 x 120.  There is not a lot to our home.  It's a lovely place, but we do not live in a mansion. 

It costs far more to purchase fuel for a car.  Cars cost more, especially when people keep hitting you and damaging them.  (BTW, I'm still in a rental because my husband's vehicle remains in the shop for the third week.)  

Groceries . . . insurance . . . life does cost more.  You don't steer around it but to turn with it, make yourself a reasonable budget and stick to it.  If you need to, save receipts for everything you have purchased or spent money on in a month.  Track your spending, chart it out, work out what you have to spend on supplies and go from there.  If purchasing supplies (yes they are expensive, believe me art school was not cheap) is keeping you from eating, you need to re-evaluate.  You make art to live, but it is necessary to live in order to do that.  

I recently received a $1 raise per hour where I work.  It sounds like a lot, but when a cashier at Aldi or a food service worker at McD's makes more than me, it still isn't that big of a pay.  My husband is a park naturalist.  Neither one of us make a lot of money but you save, you allocate, you are mindful of the resources you have.  (Yes, I know that you know this.)  If you don't have it to spend, don't spend it.  If you have it, it doesn't mean that it all needs spent.  

You do need to live under your own roof though.  Your mental health begs for it.  

And nope, not on FB/IG.  I've been on a bit of a mama break, but I create leaded glass photo frames.  I have a degree in printmaking, nearly a minor in glass, but I chucked that to get out of college and enjoy married life.  (We got married when I had a year and a half of college remaining.)  Which goes to say that occasionally you have to put creating aside to move up and then pick it back up.  It happens.  It happens to all of us.  Not saying that it is what you need to do but if you do have to go that route, all will be well.

Thoughts_Arrive

Thanks for the tips.
With that last thing you said, I just feel if you stop painting, then start after a while you lose momentum and your skills might decrease as you have to re-learn what you learned the last time you painted. From what I read online you must always been working on paintings to be good at it.
Do you think asking my best friend's fiance's best friend if I could move in with her is a bad idea? Mind you I also am paying off a mortgage for a townhouse I have leased. I'll struggle to manage on my own. Would be great to move in with a girlfriend. I am not a fan of living with people I do not know. The shit thing about being single, everyone I know managed to move out of home only because they had a girlfriend.

deadendp

Thoughts_Arrive said:

Thanks for the tips.
With that last thing you said, I just feel if you stop painting, then start after a while you lose momentum and your skills might decrease as you have to re-learn what you learned the last time you painted. From what I read online you must always been working on paintings to be good at it.
Do you think asking my best friend's fiance's best friend if I could move in with her is a bad idea? Mind you I also am paying off a mortgage for a townhouse I have leased. I'll struggle to manage on my own. Would be great to move in with a girlfriend. I am not a fan of living with people I do not know. The shit thing about being single, everyone I know managed to move out of home only because they had a girlfriend.

I had to re-read that phrase out loud to follow it. Got it now.

I guess I'll answer your question with a question. As in want as your heart is for love, could you maintain a friendship-only housing situation and feel good about it? Do I think you could do it? Yes! Will your mind be plagued by minutiae? (This is where you say no.)  

You own a townhome that you lease? Now, I may have read that wrong, but could you just not renew the lease and live in that townhome? (There is a chance that it is not in the area you need to live in or you couldn't afford it without a roommate.) 

Thoughts_Arrive

I think she might like me but I feel we're too different. I want a fellow creative as a partner. But you can't always get what you want. Oh, and if things went sour between us it would make things awkward when my best friend and his fiance have parties.

I cannot afford to live in my property. I'm thinking about selling it as the yearly bills to keep it are too high. My council rates cost $1500 this year and only increase yearly.

deadendp

Gah! Sorry to hear about the townhome expenses. 

Thoughts_Arrive

Yeah. That and interest on the mortgage.

hauntingfamiliar

Career, take 3.

Thoughts_Arrive

Loneliness.