PORTRAITS BY RACHAEL ROSSMAN

Unique watercolor portraits and pet portraits as seen on dooce.com, marthastewart.com and The Pioneer Woman. Commissions gladly accepted.

Limits

This is one of those weeks when I'm pretty sure I can't do it all. I mean, I can hold it together pretty well, most of the time. But this week just might break me. If I had time, I'd probably just sit down, stare slack-jawed into the middle distance and drown my sorrows in black licorice. #1. My computer broke. I don't know how bad it is, but I'm a worrier so I assume it's pretty bad. Like all-my-artwork-and-business-data-lost bad. #2. My family is cranky. It's been hot and muggy here for weeks and we're all Over. It. Plus, school started up again and our sleep schedules are screwy. #3. I work too much. I've got this 9-to-5 job you see, and it's never really 9-5. And also? Life doesn't fit around 9-5 so well. Things you can't do before 9 or after 5, generally: go to the bank, go to the library, talk to a teacher, get your oil changed, go to the post office, take your computer to the computer-fixing guy or have your kid fitted for a cello. Monday looked like this:
  • Get kids up, dressed, ready to walk to school, leave with grama
  • Work all day
  • Rush home
  • Unplug broken computer and deliver across town (north) to the computer guy
  • Drive back across town and out south to take care of my aunt's farm (feed chickens, cats and cows, water garden, pick vegetables)
  • Drive back home
  • Fix dinner
  • Take son to Mandatory Parent Orientation for Students Interested in Orchestra
  • Sign up for instrument fitting for Wednesday, at a time I know I cannot possibly make hapen
  • Return home, eat licorice, put kids to bed, crash
On Tuesday, there was baseball practice and the farm. Tonight there will be the Impossible Instrument Fitting and another Mandatory Parent Orientation For Parents Interested in French Class. Then more baseball, and work, and oh at some point I need to keep the house clean-ish and figure out how to feed everyone and sign homework slips and maybe even paint a little. Of course, I know that next week will be better but in the meantime: Calgon, take me away.

3 Comments on “Limits”

  1. I never quite worked out how you managed to do all you do generally, and that’s without suicidal computers added in!

    You’re such a talented artist and all round awesome lady, I hope so much that you can give up your 9-5 job and just paint for a living one day soon.

  2. Don’t worry about your computer. Even if it did crash, there are quite a few methods that can be tried to get the data off of the computer and they are not even outrageously expensive (though I realize that’s a relative term). You’ll get all your stuff back and then you will buy an external hard drive with a terabyte of memory and back up your files. Often. Like I should have after my computer crashed the first time. 🙂

  3. Sad fact: I actually have a 1TB external hard drive connected to my computer and everything. Just never backed up. Learned my lesson!

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