happy as a little girl in spring

My daughter had a nagging cough for over two weeks, and sure enough, I got it. I'm on about day five or six, and it's doing a number on me, that's for sure. The worst part of it is that it's made hash out of my vocal chords, so my voice sounds just awful. All day long, I sound like I just woke up from a bad three-day bender. At the very least, I sound like Bea Arthur. At the very worst, I sound like Bea Arthur's DAD. And he's dead.

I coughed so hard in the night last night, that one of my bottom ribs near my waist is really sore. When I have to talk, it brings on a coughing fit, which really sucks at work. Each time I answer the phone, the people feel they have to comment about how I don't sound like myself, causing me to have to talk even more to state the obvious: Yeah, I'm sick. Wonder how you could tell. Huh. (And hells yes, I've been complaining about this. I'm a wimp.)

Anyway. Regardless of that, life is good. My son got his cast off and will be playing soccer using a hard clamshell thing they created for his forearm, so his wrist has mobility and he can put on his goalie gloves. My mom is coming up from Utah to visit this weekend, and that spells more good times. We will travel to watch my son play on one of the days of the state tournament, and it should be a great weekend. The weather has been in the upper eighties this week, which adds to the joy. It's so nice to enjoy spring for real. Travel across Montana during this time of year is great fun for an artist. It's gorgeous.

I recently started a new ceramic project at the ceramic studio, which I'm excited to complete. I'm also working on a collage using ripped pieces from magazine pages, and I hope it turns out. I've never tried this before. I feel my art coming back to me and it's a great feeling. I may have a graphite portrait commission for Father's Day for the wife of a co-worker...which reminds me ~ I need to call her. Father's Day is coming soon.

Hopefully I'll have some good ideas come to me for this blog as well. I've been way too lax lately and need to write something of quality. If you have any suggested topics, please share. Some of my best blog posts from the past came from "assignments" people gave me. :)