Beginnings

       Every year on New Year's Day, I put important things on my new calendar. Birthdays, any appointments we already have for the year, and days when there is no school or a half day for professional development. It also brings me back through the previous year and sometimes things catch my eye. For instance, this painting party date from February 22nd. Marci's family had been sick so we had to cancel, but it would have been one of the final things we got to do with other people in 2020. I also saw that we had Travis's IEP meeting 2 days before the shutdown. That was the first time we met the new teacher in person. 2020 was a weird year. 

     For me, 2021 is starting out just fine. I have not done any doll work yet, but there is a lot of year left. I did have a prepping party for one though. 

      I don't love prepping, I have done a lot of it over the years, but I do love finishing micros. I have been having a really good time with that this year (well, last year). I wanted to make sure I had a nice variety of models I could work on. It IS winter, and there will be a lot of days that are just really horrible for prepping.

     I need to look over this group again, but I think I have everyone finished. Now to choose colors and get to painting! NaMoPaiMo is coming soon and registration is open. Though my NaMoPaiMo horse has been prepped for a very long time and is not one of this bunch. 

     The last several horses that I finished in any type of pigment started with an acrylic basecoat. I may have to do that again. It may be because I prime in gray, or it may be because putting on a basecoat with pigments takes half of forever, but it doesn't appear that I am making any progress with this horse at all. Even with several layers put on (finish in between). I may have to go back to acrylic basecoats just to keep from being completely frustrated. It may also just be that the lighter colors take so much longer to build than the darker colors. Or maybe it's a combination of issues. Hard to say. I am still pretty new to this.

       The other day I started purging my house. Again. I went through my school clothes, most of which I have not worn in almost a year, and pulled out quite a lot to get rid of. I have a lot of clothes and even in a year when I will actually wear nice clothes to school, I don't NEED everything that I have. So I pulled out a bunch of stuff. Downsizing felt pretty good. I listed a bunch of stuff on Mercari and discounted several things that have been on there for a while. While I am almost ready to just give away a whole bunch of stuff (over the years I have given away tons and tons of clothes) I am going to attempt to at least get a little bit of my investment back. It is also possible I might go through everything else in the house and do a fuller purge. It can happen. 

     Sooner or later I will get into some doll work. It's January, which means the end of March is a lot closer than it was a few days ago. I need to start getting ready for my next live sale. I don't have a date yet, but the birthday live sale was fun last year, I imagine I can have fun with it again this year. I just have to see if I can get focused and start getting ready!