I actually think I might be getting tired of it. This is the third snowfall for the winter. Unheard of in Texas where the normal is maybe a nice freeze once in late January. It’s beautiful when it falls but it always leaves a big slushy mess. We didn’t get as much snow as a few weeks ago, but here’s a few snapshots of what we got last time. This was my backyard. Unfortunately it only lasted about two days looking this nice. Now it’s back to mud.
I’ve been waiting for my postcards to come in. Seems the company was waiting to send them all at once. I received ALL of them yesterday in one package. I was quite excited to get them, they look wonderful and I am always so proud to look at something so nicely printed that I painted. Going to look at ordering book markers from another company since Vista doesn’t print them. Shame really since they are pretty inexpensive.
It is so good to finally be able to send out postcards. To me, it says, I am currently trying to fulfill my dream to illustrate children’s books. My plan is to bombard the publishing market with beautiful samples of my work once a week for about a month. I’ve taken 5 illustrations, and ordered 100 of each. I just sent the first set last week on Wednesday. Although I didn’t have 100 people to send to, only about 50. So the rest I’ll use as sample illustration postcards for the SCBWI conventions. That way I’ll be ready.
If anyone needs a good, cheap, printing place. Vista print is fabulous. The colors are excellent and they send out emails for 100 free postcards at least 5 times a week, so you can always get 100 made for free. Of course they charge you 5 bucks for uploading your own design, and 6 bucks to send it to you, but heck, that’s still pretty good for 100 postcards. One word of caution though. Size your pic to about 3 times what the postcard size is at 300 resolution. It will turn out great every time. And don’t mistake the dotted lines as margin lines. They are the cut lines. Found that out early on when they cut part of my website address off at the bottom. They reprinted them for me and sent them back out for $2.50. All in all, it was a good experience.
I can’t wait until the summer SCBWI conference in LA. I intend to place in the portfolio contest.
I hope to have several more postcards come in soon. then I can bombard the publishing community.
This is the third one to illustrate realism.
I think I’ve made this message before. Oh how I HATE spam! Not the canned meat mind you. I hate those innocent looking yet vague comments that answer absolutely nothing at all hoping to be put through by the moderator so that they will then have a window in to post all their ads for viagra or some other medicine, credit report, computer equipment, cameras, etc. I don’t care if you advertise, but do it on your own turf. This is my blog, my turf. That being said, if you signup to follow my blog and have things like CreditReport or Viagracialis in your user name or subsequent email, you and your comments will be deleted from this blog. So don’t even try it. If you are a real person and would just like to follow my blog because of all the groovy stuff I say, it might be a good idea to not list your user name as a popular pharmaceutical drug or brand product.
Guinea Pigs are strange little critters. They stay in a cage most of their lives, whistling for treats such as hay or fruit, yet sometimes, you can’t really tell one of them might be sick until it’s too late. That’s how it happened with Fluffy. I don’t really know how old she was, we estimate 4 years. I should have noticed sooner that something was wrong. Last week when she wasn’t quite so thrilled about getting her carrots. She wouldn’t touch them although her sister ate them up. I should have sensed something then, and I think deep down I did, but pushed it back thinking either a) she was tired of carrots, or b) she was getting old. It wasn’t until yesterday when I noticed how frightfully thin she was compared to her plump sibling. I pulled her out of her cage, she didn’t try to run like normal. I tried to feed her some celery. Didn’t touch it. Since it was late, we decided to take her to the vet in the morning.
After doing a quick internet search, we learned that maybe her molars had overgrown and that would cause them to stop eating. Which would mean if she wasn’t sick, she was starving herself because she couldn’t eat, not wouldn’t eat. How horrid!
I took them to the closest vet. Closed on Wednesdays. I took them to the next closest vet. Doctor’s not in. They tell me about a third one down the road. Yeah! There is a vet in! Yeah, she can take a look at exotic pets! Guinea Pigs? Exotic? O. K. Yes, her molars are overgrown, causing ulcers on her tongue but NO, they don’t have the equipment to trim them. Oh Great!
So, she gives me the web address and number of a place 45 miles away. And yes, they do have the equipment. But when I called them, they couldn’t see us unless we were clients and she would have to make an appointment for us and see us again as if no one knew what was going on. In other words more money for another pet visit to see what was wrong with her. AND she couldn’t get us in until the next week. You don’t take walk-ins? What kind of a pet clinic are you? Gee, I think my pet will get sick, let’s say, next thursday. We’d better make an appointment.
We finally called around and found another place but because of all the driving around, the doctor was just leaving. They could see us first thing in the morning though.
I tried to feed her pureed pellets with a syringe. Then I watched her die in my arms. I don’t think I’ll ever get that sight out of my head. I don’t know if she choked on the food, or just died because she was too weak. That’s what gets me the most. One of my friends told me she had a rabbit who died the same way, in her arms as she was trying to feed her. Sometimes it just happens that way. I still feel responsible. I couldn’t stop crying, of course it didn’t help that my three kids were also crying. My husband would say she was just a Guinea Pig. But she was an animal in my care. I would have gone to the ends of the Earth to protect her.
May you Rest In Peace, Fluffy.
This was one of the many stories inspired by Fluffy.