Once again I am struggling with my desire to do art and the reluctance to get started. I really do not know what is up with that. Maybe it is because I can’t do it with Theo on my lap. Now that I have the time to do it, I’ve been in a total slug mode, playing computer games, watching movies, a little bit of reading…I have some paper pulp thawed out and ready so I am definitely going to crank up the woodstove to make that space inviting and cozy and make paper tonight after my movie date with Beck.

I did get my car serviced and I called the plumber to make an appointment to change the fixture on our clawfoot tub. It is so old that changing washers doesn’t stop the leaks, and my water bill is beginning to show it. At some point this year we will remodel that bathroom so that we can turn the water up to more than a trickle without blowing out the handheld shower head – in other words, we might have a real shower/tub combo instead of the junk that we rigged up seven years ago.

Sandy and I had a real date and we went to see Sherlock Holmes and had drinks at Fishbones afterwards. I love Robert Downey Jr., but this has solidified a growing like for Jude Law, too. It’s a great action flick. I read an interview with Robert last year where he said that he was tired of doing quirky independent films that nobody pays attention to and he wanted to be an action hero. Well, he does a good job of whatever he sets out to do, despite the drug habit.

This afternoon I am going to see It’s Complicated with my friend Beck. She is one of my oldest friends and we shared an apartment for several years. It’s nice to be back in touch with her, since we had pretty much drifted away from each other totally for the last 15 years or so.

I picked a small amount of broccoli in the Back Forty today, but with some prolonged temperatures at freezing and below coming our way I have a feeling that will be the end of it. I am not doing winter gardening this year, although I have the wire hoops set up for Reemay tunnels, and I do have a variety of winter-hardy greens. I never even got the summer garden cleaned up. Maybe once my hand is healed I’ll get a fresh start. I received catalogs from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and Pinetree this month, and I am very interested in planting some more colors of cotton in pots. I think that I’ll stick with Cherokee Purple for most of my tomatoes this year, and buy pepper plants instead of growing them from seed.

I signed up for an online embroidery class called Fertile Earth with Susan Sorrell at Creative Chick Studio that begins in January, so I’m hoping that changing my technique will give me a little jumpstart. I’m seriously considering this workshop with Kelly Kilmer to keep my art journaling stoked too – I’ll probably end up doing it simply because of all the people who rave about her. Maybe these classes will keep me sane until Art & Soul in late May. Going to these art retreats is wonderfully addictive, but there’s only so much vacation time and money to do them! Sandy and I played the “what would you do if you won the lottery” game while traveling this Christmas, and quite honestly, I would probably just travel and take art classes all over the world.