Ok, so we (ok, my husband) did laundry all day long getting ready for our trip. That night when I finally got my bath ready, full of bubbles and lovely smells, with my hot tea handy and new book, this bath- the promise of which helped me get through the week - was luke warm. Bah! No hot water left for me. Double bah! What a let down. So I put on some snuggly pj's and hopped into our new king size bed with cuddly flannel sheets (my birthday present from my parents! side note: if you want a new bed have your parents sleep in your fullsize bed you have had for way too long during a visit!) I ready some of my book, sipped my wonderful zen tea (another present from my best friend who also provided all the delicious smells for my bath - lukewarm, bah!) But then my mind got to wondering. Still thinking about work. How many paintings did I paint this year? How many this month? It seemed like a lot, but how many? I pulled out my files. I keep all my client information and sketches in files and various journals. I figured out why I was so busy since the week of Thanksgiving. From the Monday before Thansgiving up until this past Sunday I painted 37 paintings!No wonder I was tired. I counted 97 for the year so far and quit before I made it back to February's paintings last year. No wonder I'm tired! Merry Christmas everyone! Talk to you after the big, red, jolly man comes!!

I didn't meet my self-imposed Saturday night deadline. I finished last night (or this morning?) at 3:30am. I have one last painting to be picked up. The painting above is the last painting I will do for the year 2003. Can you tell which dog is head of that household?? lol! I have yet to tally the paintings for this year and will do that the week I have off after Christmas. As well as post them all to my commissions page. I know this holiday season was twice as busy as last year's and I painted about 20 paintings in the past 15 days. Phew! It was a tremendously satisfying and fun year and one of the best parts was the new online friends I made this year since starting this blog. I have lots of new exciting projects to get going on first thing in January and I will share them as they come up. Once big one that I have had to put on the back burner is now just screaming at me to finish it up. I can hardly wait to see what is ahead for me. I really enjoy having no idea what my future holds. It keeps my days full of hope and promise. Paychecks every two weeks can come in handy a lot of the time, but when all is said and done I still enjoy the rush getting in that job or commission that means I can stay self-emplyed one more month. My goal for the new year however, is to have an actual savings account! I know, loftly goals, but I think I can do it! Have a very happy holiday everyone! I will be back after Christmas!