#arthaul

I've filmed 2 videos back to back so I'm done until the new year. Hope everybody had a good Christmas.

My husband is still overseas but he got to go to Rome with a buddy for Christmas and it looks like they've seen some cool things so thats really nice. We called each other this morning and he wanted to watch me open gifts.

He sent me a University of Tennessee giant snuggy thing and an army hoody with his units symbols on it. I've worn both today already, especially while walking the dog because its cold outside. He also got me a cool Hakuna Matata Funko Pop figure which I've never seen before and a new smart watch. My smart watch is a first generation samsung and I've considered getting a new one several times but the first gen in still alive! it wont die! and it still does cool things and works efficiently. The new watch I've been charging it and linked it to my phone but mainly I've already screwed up putting the watch bands on T_T I still need to see how customizable it is.

Somehow, despite being alone this day has gone by faster than yesterday. I spent most of my morning filming this unboxing and then fighting my desktop computer to work.

I'm trying to cook shredded turkey and gravy to smother mashed potatoes but wish me luck because I dont know how to cook. We may be having microwave pizza for dinner instead.

and then I have to work the rest of the week and I already have a bad attitude about it, everyday I tell myself to quit but then the money comes in.

I guess I need to do a year in review. I've done some cool stuff this year amongst the stress.

The worst part of the year IMO is January, February when its cold and dreary. My husbands 40th is in January and I did send him birthday presents but still. I always look forward to spring when the seasonal depression kicks in after new years.

I do need to take my dog back to the vet probably next week on my next day off to see if she still has a bladder mass or a funky UTI. Unfortunately also, I need to rake my yard because this half of the country is a couple months behind on "fall" and all the leaves have just now fallen into my yard.

Believe it or not I've actually purchased quite a bit recently that has not been art related. However I still have art stuff I want to talk about but I'm trying to spread it out a bit so I'm not uploading a video every single day.

I got something else that was kind of silly fun and I already tested it out and I think when I finally film it, it isnt going to be as fun. lol.

I think the last art subscription box I got was from marker universe maybe. Sometimes I like to watch the subscription box videos on youtube but a lot of the time the supplies in them do not pertain to my interest. This box however kinda caught my eye so I just got the one box. Definitely interesting.

otherwise, as I said before. Countdown to the ball next week. Then easter trip to Phoenix.

how I spent my first paycheck at my new job.

I keep forgetting about tiktok and reels on IG. My brain cant focus on more than one thing at a time.

My dog decided she isn't feeling well and has kept me up all night and its quite possible its my fault. I got her a new dog bone to keep her occupied thinking she'd nibble on it here and there or maybe not at all because she's picky. This thing was pretty large. I can't find it now and I'm wondering if it wasn't a long lasting chew bone afterall and maybe she ate the whole thing and has made herself sick.

so now I'm just going to be anxiously watching her. She keeps licking her lips like she's nauseous but I havent seen any actual emesis. Lord knows she also asked for breakfast this morning. Girl. slow down, mommies worried.

Ooo so I got some art supplies in the mail and I’m so excited to play with them. My mail doesn’t get delivered here until after 4pm which is quite annoying because I want to film my haul but the suns going down 8( so I’m going to wait til my next day off. I do have one more thing incoming but I ordered from Aliexpress so who knows when it’ll get here? I guess I’ll just film a separate video for those because I’m ready now.

I tried to draw some today but again, my husbands out of town and Im feeling a bit overwhelmed with this free time. I have things I can do to fill the free time but I feel too scatterbrained or anxious to sit still for too long. I’m just having a hard time focusing.

But I did want to talk about how exhausted my brain feels. I feel like this city I moved too is one of the “strangest” American cities I’ve ever lived. Now hear me out it’s still American and I have so many convenient American amenities near me but the language barrier, man. It’s the same feeling I got when we travelled to Europe a few years ago. When got arrived back in the US I didn’t realize how deflated my brain felt just hearing it’s first American accent again. My brain was so tense from being in an unfamiliar environment and then trying to absorb languages. Majority of everybody where I am now living speaks Spanish and I’m still new to this place..I just feel unfamiliar and exhausted. But I am trying really hard. Spanish immersion via healthcare workforce. I’ve been studying the language for years and needing to use it at work is exhausting. I’m really not complaining. I’ve been excited about language learning for a long time and I’ve been telling myself for years I need an immersive experience. I just feel dumb and permanently engaged without getting a break.

I have learned some new vocabulary words which I think will permanently be imbedded in my brain now.

Suero=IV fluids

Which now I find funny. Now that I know that word, I see it everywhere. I had to go to Walmart, for example, and there was an entire shelf dedicated to ‘suero’ which is essentially like your pedialyte..electrolyte water…it’s also a name brand.

My local Walmart is probably one of the coolest Walmarts I’ve ever been in, btw. It is very Mexican. They have a fresh tortilleria in the Walmart. There’s so many Mexican brands which is completely different then what you’d find in my Walmarts back home in Tennessee. At the same time Im struggling to find brands Im using to getting.

But anyway, continuing..

Se siente bien?= you feeling ok

Very useful phrase in nursing

Respire profundo = breathe deeply

Also very useful in nursing when your patients aren’t breathing. Every nurse has probably said this a billion times.

Cobija = blanket

Patients always want a blanket. This one made me laugh because when you sound it out it vaguely sounds like and has a similar origin to ‘covers’ in English. Duh.

Had a patient correct me that their blood pressure was ‘alta’ and not ‘alto’. Non sarcastic Thanks because I’ll never forget that.

I had had a patient a bit disgruntled because he was afraid of needles and he didn’t understand why he couldn’t get a pill before he came in for surgery and the last time he had the same procedure done he didn’t feel any of the sedation and he felt pain during the procedure and he didn’t want that to happen again. He ofcourse said all of this in Spanish and I understood it but my brain couldn’t get the Spanish words out much better than ‘I’m sorry the doctor prefers IV sedation for this procedure, ask the doctor’ in a fumbling way. Even though he was a bit upset, I felt pretty proud that I understood him atleast lol.

I scrounged together some stuff for youtube. I feel like I'm treading between I want to talk about art stuff but also want to talk about life stuff. Sometimes I feel life stuff just isn't appropriate but there is a therapy in just talking.

As mentioned, husband volunteered us for trunkortreat and I'm kinda excited to get to participate in something related to the holiday. Obviously, Halloween just isn't the same as it was when I was a kid. My husband never got to participate when he was a kid because it wasn't a thing in his household and now he has interest but our area doesn't really do trickortreating. Last 2 years we've gotten zero trickortreaters period. So decorating a car seems smaller scale and if we like it, a potential to do something more creative next year.

I feel kind of icky this morning, which isn't at this point anything new. I had a doctors appointment the other day to talk about my misbehaving digestive system and got a new medication to try if I need it. Sometimes I'm not convinced its my stomach at all so.

and then yesterday I had a going-away-party that my coworkers planned for me. It was super super sweet and ofcourse I feel super guilty and anxious and they're coming up with creative ways to try and make me stay. So it is nice to be wanted. There are some things about this job that I really won't find anywhere else that were a nice luxury and I did try really hard to be a good team player even in my bad days.

My husband has to work this weekend so my plans are to probably run back out to popshelf and get some green brush pens. My birthday is next week and I kind of wanted to dress up but honestly have nothing to wear so idk idk idk I'm stressed about it.

I keep meaning to post here but then I feel guilty that I'm just rambling or that I don't have art to post with it. Technically I do have art to post with it..I just talk myself out of posting. Like it'd be a waste of time to even do so. Which is really weird because I used to blog every day. Nowadays I'm afraid I'm going to put my foot in my mouth.

I wanted to post a few different things but I apparently am getting frustrated with tumblr because this text box is glitchy and I can't get images in order of what I want. So in reality I should just make different post..whatever..

I just kind of want to post some of my art wish lists.

The top 2 japanese watercolors..are so friggen cute..I have seen them on amazon.jp but some are sold out. I'm assuming these will come to american amazon in the near future. I'm pretty positive the macaron set is garbage but they're so adorable looking!

and then the super vision..I don't even necessarily want the super vision. I am just impressed by the price jump. I had assumed these were garbage cheap aliexpress watercolors..which they totally were..you could get a set for 15$...and now they're repackaged and going for 6x the price. wtf.....I was actually tempted to buy the predecessor set. They had one that was a very muted like grunge pastel that kind of attracted be. But again I didn't purchase because I'm pretty sure these are made in china and I fully expect dollar store quality. But dude, again..that price hike is hilarious...now I kinda want to know the deal. Just not at that price tag. I know that these are chameleon type color changing watercolors too and I don't even know how to go about scanning that in. I don't even use metallics so it doesnt seem like a great idea to me.

I was hoping to have some other painting to upload to the internet and I've been unhappy with what I've made and I've also just been at work. We have some people out on maternity leave and I've been overly nice saying yes to extra shifts. Also got a letter saying our rent went up which kinda freaked me out. I mean we aren't like..unable to pay rent. I just freak out over money. We tossed out a lot of money over the holidays and just the state of life in nursing where cost of living keeps going up but then my salary never goes up with it. I really need to get one of these cushy work from home zoom meeting jobs on everybody in the world is making fun of. Those people look like they get raises!

I also got another mini art haul. I enjoy drawing my pink headed lions but I keep making them overly orange and I want peach lions so I'm looking for the perfect brand of peach. So I ordered a irodori holbein gouache which is part of their new line of gouache. I keep talking myself out of buying the box sets because they cost a fortune for me to never use most of the colors. Then I got some extra holbein pencils since Ive been using so much pink.

Also just tacking in a cute photo of my dog.