I wanted to take a minute out of all the busy-ness in my life and plug a woman who inspires me so very much. Her name is Molly Mednikow. I met her at an art festival last April. (Can you believe it is almost a year, Molly???) The second I met her we resonated. I think we each feel each other's passion and energy for what we do. My art drew her in and we had one of those conversations where we each couldn't stop talking about how happy we were to follow our hearts. Molly left a very nice life in Atlanta where she ran her family's jewelry business in a very upscale part of town to follow her heart. I have no doubt she had very nice things, dined in the nicest of restaurants and lived a very comfortable life. She left it all, despite family protests, and moved to Iquitos, Peru. She started a nonprofit organization called Don Perrito, which is now Amazon C.A.R.E.S. Her organization saves the lives of countless pets in Peru. The stories are heartbreaking but also joyful. Without Molly's intervention, there would be so much more needless suffering of animals there. Molly cares. She educates. Molly has a passion for not just animals, but people. She employs many locals in her organization and has started programs with the local children. She has gotten Pedigree to sponsor a trip for me to go down there, hopefully, this summer, and run and art program with the local children. Her life is not what you would consider an easy one. She deals with more red tape than I would want to. She has sold beloved possessions to fund her work. She tirelessly asks for help and donations that she needs after spending all her own money. This woman has passion. Passion for a cause and what she must do. She has a mission and is fulfilling it everyday. And I have no doubt there are days she wants to run away and hide because it can be so difficult. Molly is one of my heros. And when things settle down for me with my gallery I can't wait to help her even more. I designed her new site and logo. Please go take a look and see what she is doing. And if it so moves you, donate a few dollars. It goes a long way down there! Molly, you make a difference in so many ways! Keep on going, girl! You rock!

So it is last night at about 10pm. I had put the kids to bed and watched a bit of tv as a treat. I had a few phone calls and needed to return some that I hadn't been able to pick up earlier. The reason being was that right when I sent my kids to bed, my daughter threw the dear-god-she's-gonna blow kind of temper tantrum I hadn't seen in a while. Now, girlfriend can throw down, so I have learned from past experience it is a battle of wills. See, I was being a terrible mother because I was saying no, that she could not sleep on the couch. Now from time to time, I let them sleep in my bed. But never the couch. So this was weird anyway. I flat out told her she would not win this arguement. She screamed. She cried. She literally stomped her foot. I stayed calm. "No way Soph. I am not going to bed yet, and you are not sleeping on the couch." This lasted a good ten minutes. And Noah, wonderful and helpful brother that he is, said lovely phrases from his bedroom just loud enough, "Sophie, you are mental! Sophie what is your problem?! You are seriously mentally off. I think you need some kind of medication. You are such a freakshow!" As you can imagine, that really HELPED. Finally, I said, "Do you want to just sleep in my bed?" People, the tears INSTANTLY were gone. "Yes, mommy, I guess I could do that." Sniff. "Thank you mommy. I love you." And she was asleep in .2 seconds. Yes, I think I had been conned, thank you for pointing that out. So while I stood firm on the no couch thing, I have to wonder, was her in my bed the plan all along? I think back to me batting my eyelashes at the big, bad building inspector and getting my way. Yes, this child is undeniably mine....

Oh, and one final note. After all this, and you sit down and have some amazingly decadent chocolate cake that you HID, YES HID from your children, (and yes, the REAL reason there woudl be no couch sleeping on) and decide to either read two children's decorating magazines for ideas (oh FUN!!), or the IRS's 27 page Guide to Starting a Small Business and Recordkeeping (Oh, not so fun, but informative and responsible), well guess which one will put you in a near coma in about 15 minutes? Yeah, right. Those IRS writers sure are a crazy bunch!

I finished the sign! Oh lordy, lordy does that make me happy! I picked up the kids from school and brought them over to the gallery for the first time since they came with me to see it for the first time. It looks like Home Deopt blew up in there, but I think they were excited by the yellow room and now the finished blue room! then they saw the sign and were pretty excited. It turned out pretty awesome. It is huge. And heavy. At least 100lbs. It is 57" x 46" and I bought molding and mitered the ends at 45 degree anges and spray painted them black and nailed them on so it looked like a gian picture frame. One I did all that twice. I have to admit it took 5 days and yesterday there was a break down moment.

Between the stress and hormones and feeling like I had been working on the sign with no end in site I broke. I called up my best friend in Dallas and as soon as I heard her voice I started sobbing. Luckily, being a girl and knowing I was not really asking her to fix anything, she just listened and I cried (while painting little white lettering) and telling her it was so much. So much. And I didn't see how it could all be perfect by the time I wanted to open. And even if it was, what if it doesn't work? What if no one comes? What if every room takes four coats of paint!? What if no one ever orders another painting from me again? What if I never, ever finish this damned sign!!??? She listened, sweet girl and then told me that I would get everything done the way I want it even if it means staying up 10 days in a row with no sleep (cause the girl knows me and is as big a perfectionist as I am when it come to art proejcts. house cleaning is another story. She could give Martha a run for her money. Me? martha who?) that people would indeed come, kids would take lessons, and that I am due a big old crybaby session every once in a while just to break the stress and tension. And suddenly I felt so much better. She pointed out how much I HAD gotten done and helped me realize that this is an on-going process and while I won't have it perfect by the time my doors open, I will have it looking really, really great. And today I went in and finished the sign. Then painted a whole room blue. Done. And tomorrow I paint a room pink. (my office, yes I am a girly girl sometimes) I feel like I have gotten past a few hurdles. Still a lot of work, but finally today I saw progress. Another friend of mine came over today and she is going to help me do some simple landscaping in two weeks. I will have some pretty azaleas in front that would look so sweet when they bloom in March and April.

So things are going. I will post some pics very soon. I am deciding if I want to wait until it is all done or let you all see the works in progress. But I WILL show you pics of the sign hanging tomorrow!!

I have a beautiful, bright yellow room. Gee, have I said that already? Today I hope, hope, hope to finish the signage for outside. It is taking so much longer than I anticipated. But the lettering is very meticulous. I finished one whole side yesterday and it did look pretty darn good. Damn double-sided signs! But exposure on a busy street coming and going. That's what I'm talking about. But I do wish I was more than one person. Or that I didn't want to do it all myself. Or that the people I trust that would be as anal retentive as I am could just quit their jobs this week and come help. Come on friends, if you really loved me you would quit that silly contract job and paint! Money-shmoney.... Or really, other friend, can't you lock your three year old in a closet with some pop tarts and juice boxes for a few days? He won't remember that in a few years. Kids are resilient! No? Sigh. Thought not.

Anyhoo, I talked to my best friend the building inspector yesterday and he informed this "young lady" that he was getting to me and my paperwork just as fast as he could and he would call when it was ready. Yippee! So now just have to contact my liability insurance agent for my quote, the security system people, hope my Articles of Incorporation (so fancy!) get filed soon so I can open my bank account, finish the painting, finish the decor, figure out the hanging system, get information out to the parents, oh yeah, get the cash register and figure out which of a billion ways I can accept credit cards. Oh, and let me tell you about sales calls. They are relentless. And everyone and their mother apparently has the best credit card machine and price. And when you say send the information and you will call them back once you have researched it, they will call YOU back, like 5 times a day. Oh, yeah, harrassement is always SUCH a good customer service feature! Well, guess what merchant service in Pheonix, Arizona?? You have now annoyed me so much that while you were high on the list, there is now NO CHANCE I am going with you. Feel pretty stupid now, dontchya? Yeah, go sulk. Michelle hates begging.

Ok, I'm off to paint. Tune in tomorrow for another exciting episode of: "I jes paint and paint and paint ma lil' heart out and it jes never seems to make a dent..."

It's still a good tired. And if anyone took any of this as complaining, not a chance. I am loving every crazy second of it. And yes, still scared to death. I fake my confidence every moment. Good thing that works!!

Yeah, the painting gods gave me a big ol' thumb down on the two coats of yellow. It took three and I can see a few spots which will require a spot 4th coat. Made an executive decision to NOT make the second gallery yellow. It is going to be a beautiful shade of cotton candy blue that after testing was found to only need two coats. Thank you Home Depot and your $5 gallon Oops paint! I heart you. I am tired, but happy. So excited. I am covered in paint and I get giddy when I catch myself in the middle of singing with Ella or Dino or THE man, Johnny Cash and I realize that there is no other place or moment I would rather be having. That rocks. Oh, and to those of you reading this that might think I actually believe in painting gods now, have a sense of humor sweethearts*. I know there are no paint gods. I mean, with the sun god, moon god, and enchanted wood nymph god, there really can't be room for painting gods, right? Geez, I'm not that crazy.

*And for those of you not getting this reference, don't worry. And for the record, yes, I believe in my dear sir Darwin. And chimps don't have tails, that's monkeys. And crazy, but I do actually believe in God and I am pretty sure he believes in me. You respect me and I'll respect you. Say one more time I've turned my back on God and I'll have the painting gods come get you while you're sleeping. For reals. One eye open my friend, one eye open. Or you'll awake and be a nice shade of lemon yellow in the morning.