at least it's not brain surgery

thoughts from November '06

Jimmy is 5 now. He has already had some of the side effects from the radiation they did last year for his brain tumor other side effects will take years to show up. One of the side effects is that the bone on the side of his head has died and is being re-absorbed by his body, this means he has no skull on one side of his head. If that is what radiation did to his skull I don’t even want to know what did to his brain.

We need to do some surgery to fix his skull. They are going to take the bone from his forehead and split it in two and put half back in his forehead and put half on the side of his head. It will be the fourth time he will have surgery on the same spot, plus they will be cutting open the top of his head too.

I was actually handling this news pretty well until the Dr. mentioned that Jimmy would probably be in the ICU for 3-4 days. I just don’t think I can take the ICU again.

Jimmy lost half his hair from radiation, just on the side and back of his head, unfortunately 90% of the hair that he lost never grew back. So now Jimmy is bald on the left side and half of the back of his head. His hair was finally getting to be long enough to do a 6" comb over to start to cover his bald spots. Now they want to shave his head. Jimmy was just as upset about that as he was about having another surgery.

It is strange how we get upset about different parts of the same horrible thing. Oh well, as my husband says "at least it's not brain surgery".

Spring!

"Lanie's Narcissus" - 5x7 watercolor Painted Friday 3/23/07

I am so motivated to paint today! I love to paint flowers, especially tulips! they are so simple and elegant! I went outside to and saw the crocus in bloom and the tulips ready to bloom. Oh, the beautiful bright spring colors whisking away the gloomy muddy whites and greys of winter. As soon as my tulips bloom I will be painting them, But for now I well have to just plan to paint my tulips.

What Do You Really Want?

"Tulip" 6x6 on clayboard

About 7 years ago, when my 3rd son was about 3 years old, he and his brothers were at my parent’s home being babysat. My little boy was watching grandpa mow the lawn and saw him empty the grass clippings into the garbage. Now my 3 year old was (and still is) the kind of boy who likes to keep everything, he never wants to throw anything away. He thinks everything is useful (a collage artist in the making). So he asked grandpa if he could have some of the grass clippings. My dad having the weird sense of humor he has gave him a bag of grass.

When my three-year-old showed his two older brothers that he had a bag of grass they of course ran to tell grandpa that they really really wanted one also could they pleeeeease have a bag of grass too. Of course when I went to pick my kids up I had three boys and three bags of grass to take home.

Sometimes some of the things that we want are really just bags of grass. We want them because someone else has one and they seem happy about it so we want one also, but what it really is, is more garbage to take up space in our lives. Now when my boys tell me they want something I often tell them to make sure they are not just wanting a big bag of grass.

How was your day?

"Winners Never Quit" 14x18 Acrylic on canvas

If you had today to live again would you make the same choices? Is there someone you could have helped in some small way but did not? When you look back on today are you glad that you lived it, or was today a waste of time? Did you take time to smell the roses, did you notice the beauty around you? Or were you so stuck in your rut that you didn't even lift up your head to look around. Make everyday matter! Live each day so you will have no regrets. Make each day joyful, but remember you can only find joy by looking for it, and sometimes it hides very well.

The Journey

2.5" x 3.5" ACEO watercolor ink "Sego Lilly"

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be. -Douglas Adams


This quote pretty much describes my life and my art. When I start a painting I have something in mind but, the painting usually ends up as a surprise to me, a happy surprise, but not at all what I intended. Life is like that: we start with a plan but life takes you in other directions than you planned and you look back and say "that was a tough road, but I'm not in such a terrable place. I'm not where I intended to be but, not a bad place after all" and perhaps the journey and the struggle made you different than you would have been.

My First Entry

A little about me to begin with, I am basically a pretty boring person. I am a mom and an Artist, I have been a mom for about 16 years I have 4 sons and one husband. I have been selling my art for the last 7 years or so. You can see some of my work at www.DesignsByMelody.com I do custom hand painted ceramic tiles, watercolors and acrylics I also occasionally paint in oils.

My art is found in collections throughout the world. I am well known for my work on ceramic tiles and am rated one of the top ten tile artists on the web by handpaintedtiles.org.