Yipee!

Yesterday I met with Brett and Sheila Waldman of Tristan Publishing. Brett had contacted me after visiting this blog and said he thought my work might be suitable for a future project, and he invited me to submit some sample illustrations depicting exuberant youngsters. Best of all, he invited me to come visit their headquarters, which by coincidence is in my neighborhood! So I brought my sketches to their office where I was given a royal welcome, initially by the four-legged doorbell named Bugatti (a charming Shi-Poo who I think would make a perfect date for my little Suzi-Q) and then a Grand Tour of the premises.

Not only did I discover that Brett and Sheila are genuinely lovely people, their publishing house reflects this sensibility. Each book they have published has received undivided attention, resulting in unique formats but all finely crafted with lush colors and various illustration techniques. And since each book's author delivers a message of inspiration, the resulting combination is, well, just lovely!

Check out their website here.

It's always great to meet people whose passion for their work makes the world a better place in general.

Sewing

Why didn't I learn to sew? I'd like to have a new fall wardrobe, but I'd like to not spend any money. I do remember having a sewing machine at one point in my life, but the tension bobber thingie was always breaking my thread. I took it to the repair shop, and they supposedly fixed the little contraption, but when I set about using the machine again, boing!, the thread snapped. Try as I might, I couldn't reset the tension button.

Many years later, I have no sewing machine, but I still have lots of tension that I can't seem to reset. Some things never seem to change.

Domestic Dilemma

My refrigerator, only 3 years old, stopped working with no warning. When the repair guy came out, he said he would be back with the new part - in 4 to 11 business days! Seems the part needed to be ordered from California, and I'm in Minnesota, and apparently they use camels as service vehicles. I said I would pay extra for 2 day service (this was on Friday) and the appliance store repair shop assured me the part would then be in their office on Monday.

I called on Monday, and they told me they forgot to order the part! So they said they would order it for next day delivery, meaning it would arrive on Tuesday, and they set up a repair date for me on Wednesday. OK, so far I'm hanging on to my sanity, just barely. You never appreciate your refrigerator until you don't have it! I borrowed a dorm-sized fridge that froze everything unless I opened the door every so often.

On Tuesday, I called to confirm their repair date for Wednesday. And they told me the part had not come in!

I think I blew a gasket at this point because I don't remember what followed this disclosure. All I can remember is that on Wednesday morning, they still didn't have the part and I was sinking into coma of despair, even while chanting zen slogans of acceptance. Wednesday noon the shop called and the part had arrived! And the technician came late in the afternoon and repaired the fridge, cursing it the whole time, saying what a piece of #^$@*&!! it was. Not too reassuring.

But it is working today, and I am so happy! I can't wait to make a real meal instead of canned goods and tiny bits of leftovers.

Back to School

I'm a school girl again. I enrolled in a community college to take another class in Illustrator, having taken one six years ago and completely forgotten everything I learned. This is not a workshop or one day seminar, no this is the real thing with real HOMEWORK and all the suffering that goes along with sitting 4 hours in a classroom every Thursday morning filled with a lot of other suffering souls, determined to better themselves or just get through it to fulfill their requirements. I'm awful at this. Everyone is so much younger with innate computer sense. These young whippersnappers don't even need to listen to the instructor lecture and demonstrate, they are completing the homework assignment and texting friends and websurfing while she speaks! Meanwhile I am still trying to figure out how to turn on the computer. I wonder if I will live through this.