Of rhinos and new pens...

As I said, I am going to try to do at least a quick sketch every day. Here is my sketch from yesterday. It was drawn with the new pens that I had received for Christmas that I had kind of forgotten about. I discovered that I really like them. So, there you have it: a rhino in the new year created with my new pens, unfortunately not in a new sketch book.

Now it's time for my mandatory talk of the weather. It seems as though it is not quite as cold today. My apartment was in the high 60's when I woke up this morning rather than the low 60's, so that's an improvement. I actually am not even covered with a blanket at the moment, however I do have my computer on my lap.

I really don't have much more to say, other than the fact that I am not looking forward to going to work and making a million library cards again. No more guest passes for the computers means constant library card production. And I'm getting sick and tired of some of the high and mighty attitudes that some library workers have about people that don't bring their library cards to the library. None of my co-workers have had a life like a lot of the people that come to our library have. Try moving once a month, living in a shelter or having parents that are never home or not taking care of you and then see if you always manage to hold onto your library card. Oh,listen to this hair-brained decision. We are not supposed to give people their library card number if they don't have their card or an i.d. with their current address, however, they can still check out two books. So, we are allowing people to take our materials out of the building without proof of address, but we are denying access to our resources while they are in our building. Does this make any sense at all? I hadn't planned on ranting, but here you have it...

an itty bitty mouse (well no, it's actually a rat--don't scream)

I'm going to start the day by posting my itty bitty rat. I said last night that I was too cold for drawing, but I managed to squeak this out. And I've said before that I don't really believe in New Year's resolutions, but I believe in reachable goals. One of my goals is to do some bit of drawing or painting every day. This can be just a sketch or a full-fledged painting. I just need some bit of output. I have had kind of a bad year drawing wise. I haven't felt very inspired and have drawn less than I did in the past few years, hence this goal. And it is doable.

Now it's time to talk about the weather again. I guess one has to talk about the weather when it is extreme. Again I woke up to the lower 60's in my apartment, which is way too cold for me. As I said yesterday, my perfect temperature is 80, so this is 20 degrees less than my ideal temperature, so of course I have to wine about it. I'm uncomfortable, even with a blanket. I should have asked for a snuggie for Christmas.

Am I an icicle or a popsicle?

I really don't know what I would rather be, but all I know is that I feel frozen to the core. I don't like to be cold. When I was up north, in my little loft, I turned the heat up (there were only lines and no numbers, so I didn't know what temperature I was setting it to) and before I knew it, it was 80 degrees and I was so comfortable and happy. I was thinking how perfect 80 degrees felt. Of course when I saw that it was 80 degrees, I turned the heat down as I know my parents are paying for that heat, but for a brief moment in time, I had experienced my perfect temperature bliss. Now, in the summer, when my apartment is at 80, it feels too hot, but I think that's because there is humidity to go along with it. A dry 80 is quite comfortable. I took the above photo from the loft. I don't remember if it was during the perfect temperature time, but as you can see outside the window, the world beyond the loft was frozen. Frodo was pretty fascinated with the icicles hanging outside the window. As he lives in a lower level apartment, I don't know if he had ever seen icicles before. Unfortunately, I only had my phone to record the moment and it came out quite blurry. Blurry or not, I do like the fact that there are three Frodos in the photo.

I had planned on doing some drawing tonight, but I'm so cold that I really need to hold my computer on my lap for warmth. Instead of drawing, I may just go to the Netflix site and watch one of their "watch instantly" movies. That way I can keep the computer on my lap.

Oh, and I have decided that I will declare the whole week as snuggie/legwarmer week. Unfortunately I will not be able to participate as I have neither a snuggie nor legwarmers.

She's a maniac, maniac on the floor...

Here I am on the second day of 2010 (pronounced twenty ten) with a rhinoceros wearing accessories. She had cold legs even though it looks warm and green there, so her grandma knitted her a pair of pretty pink legwarmers and that is no small feat for a rhino as knitting can be challenging when you don't have have fingers. Yes, rhinos have toes, but only three, so yes, it is still very difficult. Now her legs are no longer cold and she is also ready to hit the dance floor in style and do some 80's dancing. I know that people have tried to bring legwarmers back, but I don't think they have really caught on. Rhinos don't care if they are back or not. They don't fall for trends (especially rehashed trends) and just wear what they want to wear.

I have heard it is cold outside, but I haven't stepped a foot out the door yet. I don't even have any legwarmers. I am going out tonight, but I will stay in until I have to go out. I hope everyone else is keeping warm. I think today one could use both a snuggie and some legwarmers. It is definitely snuggie/legwarmer weather. In fact, I declare today snuggie/legwarmer day.

Tenacious Tim

This is 2009's tenacious troll, Tim. He is determined to keep his job, but I say good riddance. He had more than enough time, but I suppose we can give him three cheers as his job is a tough one. So, three cheers for Tim and "goodbye." I would say he will be missed, but sometimes too much flattery is not a good thing. Trolls have a tendency to harbor large egos in their small bodies. Move away from the spotlight gracefully, Tim. It's time for a new troll to reign.

Bringing in 2010 with a cow...

First I want to say Happy 2010! Hope this is a good year for everybody. Next I want to say sorry I have been missing in action for so long. Bad bad blogger, I am... I just was all stressed out about holiday artwork and then the holidays came along and I guess I just forgot to blog. But I'm back, whether you like it or not, and will be blogging again;)

Today I will post the drawing that I did when I was up north visiting my parents earlier this week. My niece and I spent some time drawing together. She drew a vase of flowers and I drew a cow. You may not be able to read the text, but the cow is saying "mmm, cowpie." If you look to the left of the cow, there is a little pie on the ground. I hope it is a pie made for her and not a pie made of cow. I did darken the cow a bit with photoshop, just because I felt like it.

I plan on doing almost nothing today. I just got home about an hour ago, as it got late and I did not want to go out in the cold last night, so I just ended up spending the night at my friend's house. I was in the guest room and her dogs are not used to seeing people in the guest room, so the one dog kept coming in to visit me all night long. She not only visited, but whined as well, so I didn't get much sleep. I did stop on the way home and got an egg McMuffin and some McDonald's coffee, so I started off the new year with a delicious and nutritious treat. That's about all I have to say for now. If I do produce more drawings today, I may come back and do more blogging.

OK, now there are two different videos

For some reason I posted two of the same video. I fixed it, so there's two different versions.