Tag Archives: Painting

A Productive Sleepless in Seattle Type of Night

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! It is the middle of the night here in Seattle and I am not able to sleep. I really wish I could sleep but sadly, I am not able to due to insomnia. Having insomnia suck sh!t and I don’t wish it on anybody including my worst enemies.

Since I am unable to sleep I have been trying to be productive in some way. I have been reading Revelations; Fire & Brimstone Scroll 1 by Nikole Knight which is the first book in a six book series. I am about three quarters of the way in the book and I am really enjoying it. The genre is dark fantasy and gay fiction and discussed the book with my therapist when I saw her for my session with her this past Friday. She appeared to be interested in the book which is always a good thing. Of course as I read my cat, Billie, was laying my lap.

Besides reading, I have been doing art work as I listened to music. I listened to some old school alternative and grunge music. I mainly listened to Tori Amos and Nirvana as I did art work. The type of art work I did was coloring a giant poster I got from Stuff2Color.com. It is of an elephant. I also have started up painting rocks from a rock painting set that my uncle got me for Christmas. I am enjoying both the coloring and rock painting as I listen to music.

I do not have much else to write about in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader, read my blog. If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be continuing to write my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Too Long of a Post about Arts & Crafts

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! I was to work today but sadly, I called in sick as I needed to take a mental health day. I have realized that I haven’t done much self care as it is needed to do in any line of work but especially the mental health field and greatly love my work with a passion.

Much to my surprise my family has been encouraging me to do some self care for myself. I am just shocked as hell that it came from my grandpa. I love my grandpa so much. In fact my dad has been encouraging me for weeks to do some self care which I plan on doing.

Just like my family, my friends have been insisting on me doing self care. I am so thrilled that I have friends that care about me. I have the best friends in the world.

As some of you know, I have Anxiety, Depression and Complex PTSD along with treatment resistant Insomnia. Having insomnia sucks and the lack of sleep makes the symptoms of my other mental health challenges that become more symptomatic.

Due to the lack of sleep, I make sure I do a mindfulness meditation practice to start the day when I get up as well as to end the day before bed time. I highly recommend doing some mindfulness meditation.

Anyway, I want to bring something up that might help me with my mental health and my job. First of reading as I love to read. I highly enjoy reading. I am currently reading The Sorority Murder by Allison Brennan. It is a very intriguing book.

As far as arts and crafts I plan on doing is nothing new especially when it comes to art work, specifically when it comes to coloring. I have also dabbled in painting but I am not very good at. I hope to do more painting and coloring especially since I ordered more coloring pages from Stuff2Color. The coloring stuff I got from Stuff2Color and still have a lot of canvas that I bought a while ago and haven’t done anything about. Now it is just time to by paint and paint brushes.

Now on to the crafts part of arts and crafts.I have ordered some Latch Hook stuff already and have ordered more so I can make them for people and their special day whatever that may be as well as donate to local nonprofits so when they have an auction it will hopefully bring in some money. I know not much money but every penny helps for nonprofits. I do need a lot of practice with a latch hook.

Of course,the other crafting I will be doing is crossing stitching. I did cross stitch back in my twenties and really enjoyed doing it. I am not sure why I stopped but I plan to start back up again. I hope to give people a finished product as well as give to local nonprofits who auction off such stuff during a big fundraiser.

Before I forge a friend of mine who is also a neighbor introduced a thing called Diamond Art. It looks intriguing to do as it seems it can take a while to do as there are so many little pieces. I ordered some and am looking forward to doing this Diamond Art.

Of course when I am doing arts or crafts, I will be listening to music or a podcast. Listening to music or podcasts helps me concentrate on being able to focus the text at hand which is Arts and Crafts.

I do not have more to say in this blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be writing my blog. Again, thank from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Taking a Mental Health Day from Work Tomorrow Wednesday 7/26/23

Posted on by Gertie

Right now I am realizing I am needing to take a mental health day off from work tomorrow Wednesday, July 26th, 23. I feel bad for doing this as I don’t want to put more work on my team however my supervisors and team members understand that taking a mental health day is something that is needed from time to time. I am grateful for my team being so supportive.

I realized I need to take a mental health day when I realized I wasn’t doing my regular self care regiment when my PTSD, Depression and Anxiety starts to act up especially when I don’t make it apart my daily self care or just quit doing it because I start to feel better. I know from experience what I need to do for self care.

I have many things to help me through self care regarding my mental health challenges as well as just everyday life. For one I can cuddle with my beloved cat, Billie. I can always read a book that I am quite enjoying. Another thing I can do is make sure I have food on a regular basis. Of course doing art work by painting, coloring and diamond art. Also I can also do crafting by cross stitching and latch hooking. Listening to music is a great help as well as listening to podcasts. Of course there are my friends I can reach out to and go for walks. Mindfulness Meditation has been a great deal of help to me. My family and friends are of great support. Self care is major in helping yourself so you can be able in staying in recovery.

So I am going to end this particular post for now. I want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated that you the reader, read my blog. It wasn’t for you the reader, reading my blog I would not be writing my blog. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Weekly Plans

Posted on by Gertie

Sunday

  • Mindfulness Meditation with the Calm App
  • Volunteer at PAWS Cat City
  • Art (Paint by number and color)
  • Read
  • Cuddle time with my cat, Billie

Monday

  • Mindfulness Meditation with the Calm App
  • Work
  • Art (color)
  • Read
  • Cuddle time with my cat, Billie

Tuesday

  • Mindfulness Meditation with the Calm App
  • Work
  • Art (color)
  • Read
  • Cuddle time with my cat, Billie

Wednesday

  • Mindfulness Meditation with the Calm App
  • Work
  • Art (paint by number)
  • Read
  • Cuddle time with my cat, Billie

Thursday

  • Mindfulness Meditation with the Calm App
  • Work
  • Art (color)
  • Read
  • Cuddle time with my cat, Billie

Friday

  • Mindfulness Meditation with the Calm App
  • Work 
  • Art (color)
  • Read
  • Cuddle time with my cat, Billie

Saturday

  • Mindfulness Meditation with the Calm App
  • Clean apartment
  • Art (paint by number and color)
  • Read
  • Cuddle time with my cat, Billie

Weekly Check-In

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! It is that time to do my weekly check-in to discuss how my week went. Overall, my week went well and I am really enjoying my new job. In fact at this point in time, I am loving my job.

This past week I have come to the realization I need to focus on self care as well as time management. For me focusing on both self care and time management will help me with my recovery as well as doing well in my current position as a peer specialist at work. The thing I am doing to help with my self care is doing a daily mindfulness meditation practice. Another way I am doing self care is doing art. Specifically, I am doing coloring as well as doing a paint by number. I am incorporating time management with my self care. I am making sure my mindfulness meditation and art work is scheduled so I am taking care of myself.

Another way I am taking care of myself is spending time with my cat, Billie. My cat means the world to me and I love him to the moon and back. I am so grateful that he chose me during a volunteer shift at PAWS Cat City. Billie has been a great cat and is such a lap cat which I love.

As you can tell life is going really well which is why this weekly check in is short. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. I am very appreciative of you the reader for reading my blog. I hope you continue reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!

Another Night Sleepless In Seattle

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World from Seattle. It is just barely after three o’clock in the morning here in Seattle. I am extremely tired and it is the second night in a row where I haven’t slept very well. Tonight, I kept busy in hopes to get tired enough to go to sleep. Of course cuddling with my cat, Billie was a great help with my anxiety about not being able to sleep.

So, I started out with cross stitching. I am doing a stamped crossing stitching so I can learn and hopefully move on to counted cross stitching. I am crossing stitching a cat. I love cats. It’s a complicated stamped cross stitch but I’m okay with that. I am looking forward to the challenge of this stamped cross stitching cat. It is going to be beautiful when it is done. The next thing I did was painting by number. I am doing a scenery of a mountain and a lake. It’s coming right a long. The painting is nice and relaxing. I then colored a mandala. Mandala’s are a way to bring calm and peace to me. After doing my arts and crafts stuff, I started reading a holiday book. Actually it is a Christmas book. The book is called ” The Paper Bag Christmas” by Kevin Alan Milne. So far the book is good. After reading I did about a chapter of math in “Basic Math and Pre Algebra for Dummies.” Doing all this has helped me become hopefully tired enough to get some sleep.

I do not have much more to say in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading blog. Good Night, Happy Holidays and Peace Out, World!!!

Just Another Rambling Post

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World!!! It has been one of those days where I was not exactly feeling well. By not feeling well I mean I had a slight depression mode most of today. I am not one hundred percent sure why but I know the lack of sleep played some part of the mild depression today. Thankfully, I am feeling better now and my cat, Billie helped me a lot to feel better.

Over the last few days I ordered some stuff from Amazon. I ordered mostly crafting and art stuff. I did order other stuff but that is for another post. Now back on to the art and crafty stuff. I ordered painting stuff as well as coloring stuff. I also ordered cross stitching stuff. I also ordered this new type of art work called diamond painting. You don’t use paint, you use this little stick on stuff that is tiny as hell but looks like fun and challenging. So with everything I am getting from Amazon over the next several days, I know I will have a lot to do but first I need to clean my apartment.

Besides all the crafty and art stuff along with needing to clean my apartment, I have awesome news.If you been reading my blog on the regular basis you know I have a very part time job where I work twelve hours a week at four hours a shift for three days. Anyway I put in my resignation today because I got a full time job as a peer support specialist. Yes, I got a new job and I start in January. I am so very excited that I will be working as a peer specialist again.

I do not have much more to say in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader, read my blog. If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be writing my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Happy Holidays and Peace Out, World!!!

Head Full of Shit in the Middle of the Night

Posted on by Gertie

My head is full of shit right now and not sure how to deal with it when you cute ass cat named Billie wants to “help” blog with me. He is kindly walking on the keyboard to find a comfy spot on it to lay down and take a nap. I love my Billie so much and am beyond grateful that I am the receiver of his unconditional love. I love him to the moon and back.

My head is so full of shit the only thing I could think of was read comic books, paint and listen music. Specifically my recovery play list. In fact I start back to painting a piece of art that I thought was finished years ago but the universe had something else to say about it.

Add more yellow and green. Attempted to paint purple around the black hole as it is getting smaller and that is a great thing for my recovery.

I don’t have much more to say except that the shit is still in my head but it is a lot less after listening to music, reading comic books and paint. And of course Billie helped a great deal as well. I do want to thank you for reading my blog as if it wasn’t for you the reader, reading my blog I would not be writing it so thank you for reading it. I hope you have a great Thursday ahead of you as you all deserve to be happy. Peace Out, World!!!

Not Sure What I’m Getting Myself Into; Except to Improve Myself; Maybe Just a Little too Fast

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning, World!!! I think I over did it with things to do for self care and self improvement. Especially, since I start my new job next Monday. The reason I said I over did it was because I want to learn crafting by cross stich and latch hook.

I also bought my art supplies. I bought some painting supplies like paint brushes, paint and canvas. Not sure what I’m going to paint but a neighbor will teach me. As far as art supplies regarding coloring stuff, I bought my markers, colored pencils and some pictures to color.

In fact I am coloring a poster for my mom’s birthday in September. I jus hope she likes it especially since I’m going to frame it. I know she will like it.

I also ordered some math books so I can freshen up on my math skills. I’m sure this is going to frustrate the fuck out of me but I am okay with that.

Another thing I’m going to do is do one on the many recovery workbooks I have. I don’t know where I’m going to have time to do all this with the new job buut I know I can do it.

Still Struggling but Doing Better

Posted on by Gertie

Good Evening, World. It is almost ten o’clock on a Sunday night here in rainy Seattle. I feel like the rain fits my current mood of being depressed. On that note, it feel like the depression is lifting a little bit which is a really good thing.

Sadly, I did not go to my volunteer job at PAWS Cat City this morning because I did not get much sleep last night. It felt like I didn’t getting any sleep but I’m sure I got some sleep; sort of like cat naps or I would have most likely slept all day today if I got absolutely no sleep last night.

I’ve been lucky today as I had some of my support system help me out today. My uncle and grandpa came over with some breakfast. After we ate breakfast, my uncle and grandpa helped me a little bit with cleaning my apartment. It’s still a disaster area but at least you can tell there is some improvement.

After my family helped me with my apartment, I decided to turn on my music and play it very loudly. So, loud I will be surprised if one of my neighbor don’t complain to the apartment management. On that note, while having my music on full blast, decided to do some art work. The type of art work I did was coloring. I love to color and was able to finish the piece I was coloring to give to a friend who is a neighbor and live in my apartment building.

So, I went up to my friends apartment who is a neighbor and gave him my finished coloring piece I colored for him. In fact his music was on blast as well. He was also doing some art work except he was painting. In fact he allowed me to add to his painting which I found cool that he let me help him with this painting.

When I came back from my friends apartment, I decided to binge watch a couple of television shows on Netflix and Hulu. Of course, Billie Dean, my cat sat on my lap as I binged watched television shows. I love my cat so very much. He is a very sweet and loving kitty. He is also very much a lap kitty which is great especially when my depression is acting up.

As far as the Everyday Inspiration course I am taking through WordPress, I plan on continuing the course where I last left off. I really enjoy taking this course. It helps me stay focused on blogging. It also helps me keep you the reader more interested in my blog or at least that is my hope in what it does.

I do not have much more to say in this particular blog post. I do want to thank you for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you, the reader, read my blog. If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog, I would not be writing my blog. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!