Sophomore

Yesterday was one of those days where everything that I needed to complete a simple task was on empty. I had an invoice I had to send out, and something that should have taken a quick 5 minutes to print, stuff into an envelope, slap a stamp on, and mail away-- ended up taking me the entire morning to accomplish.

If you already follow me on TWITTER than you already heard about the "smearing" and I apologize.

So I tried to print this invoice, and of course the ink is out. Ugh. Errand. Load Tessa in the car, start it up. Ugh. Gas light is on. Another errand. So I head to the gas station. Pull in. Grab a pump. Ewww, I immediately feel something gooey and smushy and wet, and "OH MY GOD IT'S SHIT!" The entire inside of the gas handle had been smeared with dog shit by someone, which is now all over my hands. "FOOOOOCCCCKKKKK" I look around to see who saw the outburst and if there are any giggling prankster hooligans hiding nearby watching their handy work. Nothing.

The worst of this, is that you still need the gas. So you have to just stand there and keep pumping. When life hands you dog crap on a gas pump, you keep pumping.

The woman in the mini van behind me, has the shocked look on her face, I notice she is also standing there with a hand full of dog shit shaking in disgust. Luckily I have baby wipes and hand sanitizer and share the wealth. We chat about humanity being on the brink. We both just keep saying, "who does this?" I get in the car and had to laugh about how simple and cruel this prank was.

I drive back home, and wash my hands 20 thousand times, with vinegar, with a lemon, with some bleach water, and they still smell bad. Ahh, toothpaste. That always works. Remember that little trick folks. It gets the smell out.

So long story short, I get the ink. It's the wrong pack, I'm out of envelopes, I'm out of stamps, I am feeling like a schmuck for being so unorganized. How can we spend so much money at Target and still be out of these kinds of things?!

Whenever a series of annoyances comes barreling at me like this, I always end up in a funny mood. Like laughing out loud in the car at myself and calm. I just think, "these are your problems?!" and I remember to feel lucky. I will take dog shit hand, and trouble remembering to keep ink in the damn printer any day. None of it is a big deal. Not even a little bit.

And then all of the sudden just to make sure my day was brighter. I get the most excellent email in my inbox from THIS super talented lady.

It's the brand new cover art for "Do Fun Stuff Vol. 2" which will be coming out close to Christmas this year. That's right, It's finally coming together. Take a good look at it. It's freakin exciting. I'm excited.

I am thrilled to share this with you. I wanted to get a new artist for each new Volume of "Do Fun Stuff" and for this effort I asked mega talent Jen Lobo who paints stunning creations using animals as her main subjects. There is so much personality and spirit in her subjects that they just push the imagination. They always feel like grand scenes from a bigger story don't they? I recently bought my favorite piece of hers for Tessa's bedroom. I hope she will make up a thousand stories in her head about that whale. I can't wait for THIS image to be in her shop.

So HUGE thanks to Jen for kicking things off for Volume Two and coming up with this scene for the cover.

In the mean time, while I get things finished up with Volume 2. Anyone that might be interested in picking up some prints I am having made of some of my work, please read below. I am participating in a silent auction. Prints. I almost never make prints.

I wanted to direct your attention to a great family that's out there making things happen for the Smith Magenis community. I recently got the chance to speak with Steve who runs a much more ambitious blog than mine, where he has chronicled a ton of great hiking trails and museums in his home state. Steve often takes along his son with him on his travels, and his son also just happens to have SMS. We recently talked on the phone for a couple hours about the charity work that he is doing, but mostly we traded stories about the boys. Steve's son is a little younger than The Littlest Buddy, just as adorable and charming. His name is Damian, and his father is doing big things to get some money raised for hard research. He has put together a really cool silent auction and I am in the process of getting some prints made to donate to the cause, and soon you will be able to go HERE to a "Dream for Damian" and bid on them along with a ton of other really great items. You can bid on anything you want, and all the money goes directly to the Smith Magenis Research Foundation. He has done a fabulous job whipping up interest and getting people on board. It's a father fighting to make a difference, not just for his own son, but for an entire community of people that just doesn't get much help or attention when it comes to research funding. I am grateful of his hard work, and for his perspective on raising a child with SMS. It has been a real comfort knowing there is another parent I can talk to about the heavy and the fun stuff.

So if you're interested in the auction, please take a look HERE.

Anything you think I should make prints of? Make available? Let me know.

Thanks for giving this some attention today and I hope you're excited about Volume 2. It's going to be a hard act to follow, but I am determined to deliver another big dose of family friendly music for your epic dance parties.

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