Neither. I’m not a follower and I don’t like to lead the way, I create my own separate direction in life.
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This is my latest painting that I’ve just finished a few days ago and it’s called The Monarch Butterfly Invasion. It took me about a month or so to get this piece done and it’s loaded with tons of details.
This was pretty fun to work on, the monarch butterflies were my favorite to paint along with the caterpillars.
I went a little crazy and added
- 11 monarch butterflies
- 6 caterpillars
- 5 bumble bees
- Lots of flowers
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Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra in Newark, New Jersey. What a crazy experience!
This was in 2019, a few months before COVID-19 took over the world.
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Have you ever felt like you just don’t belong….anywhere? Any place, any time, around people, family, friends, stores, bars, school, etc. Something inside of your body screaming this just isn’t right.
And when you are around people just trying to have a good time and fit in, the connection suddenly becomes interrupted by a different type of point-of-view and the fun starts to disappear.
It’s the ability to disconnect from yourself – kind of like an out-of-body experience where you can see yourself outside of your physical form from above or at a distance.
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“The saddest thing in life is wasted talent” is a quote that I live my life by and think about often. It’s even tattooed on my body.
The first time that I ever heard this quote was from the movie called A Bronx Tale and it just kind of stuck with me for some reason.
I think about this often because it has a powerful message to it and I have seen people waste good talent.
I don’t want to be like these people.
I don’t want my life to be wasted away and I never get to reach my full potential.
Sometimes I worry that I’ll never make it to that point and that it might possibly be too late for me.
I got this quote as a tattoo when I was in my twenties because I liked it and thought I was being different.
I had no idea that it would actually mean something to me later on in life and now I use it as a reminder for myself –
A reminder that I may not be in a comfortable place in life where I want to be, and I have a lot things that I must do before we can cross that benchmark. It’s going to take some time, patience, and dedication on using my talents and the worst thing that I could do is nothing.
But I’m alive and healthy and so are my children, so I must be doing something right.
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I have two favorites because I can’t just decide on one – Halloween and Christmas of course.
These are my favorite because I have two kids so I get to go all out on these days.
Usually I make my son a Halloween costume by hand out of boxes and he just loves it.
The costumes that I’ve made him:
Tamago sushi from Secret Staycation (Roblox)
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Everything. I live with generalized anxiety disorder and literally anything can make me feel nervous for no reason. Even a simple trip to the grocery store gives me an overwhelming feeling of doom.
I know, so silly but it’s true. My technique to get over this is to take some deep breaths in and out until my heart stops racing.
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Today I made a historic mark in my life. I sold my first painting on eBay and I’m still in shock. I just shipped it out today and I’ve been saying prayers that the package survives throughout it’s journey and that the buyer is happy.
I have wanted to do this for so long now, and I have been working harder at my paintings and how I market them. To be honest, I have no idea what I’m doing but I’m learning so that’s all you can do.
But I finally did it!
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If I could improve my community and I had the extra money, I would cook free hot meals for families that are struggling. Food is so important and times are very tough for some of us, and I always think about the children that are hungry.
One way that I do help our community out is by donating food, snacks, sweets, clothing, and toiletries to the food pantry at the church whenever I can.
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Flipping around on trampolines, running away from dangerous things, vacuuming the floors and carpets, swimming anywhere, gardening outdoors, and going to the park with my kids!
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I love animals and I think that any of them could make a great pet really.
I have had dogs most of my life and cats too. Also had hamsters, guinea pig, freshwater fish, saltwater fish, birds, and crabs.
Our family does not have a pet right now, we lost our family dog last September and that was very painful for us.
This is our Rocket, or we like to call him Cheeba –
We miss him everyday and he was definitely the best dog we’ve ever had.
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I have always wanted to be a blogger but never knew the proper way to go about it. Years ago, I actually had a blog that I created using WordPress and I didn’t really go far with the first attempt. I think I lasted about three months before I decided to call it quits. That first blog was originally about my life living with mental illness, mental madness or something like that it was called.
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My kids and the stuff they do
Karma when people deserve it
Family Guy
The Sopranos (Anyway, $4 a pound)
Watching 90’s cartoons again and hearing all the adult jokes they mixed in. I was just watching Doug the other day and the episode started with Mr. Dink asking his wife Tippy if she would like to “slap some balls”, I couldn’t stop laughing
Watching the older Saturday Night Live videos
When I fall down and hurt myself on accident
The show Jackass and all their movies
Animal videos when they do silly things
Dark sense of humor jokes
Jim Carrey
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I consider myself to be “the black sheep” on both sides of my family. The one who doesn’t fit in like a puzzle piece because I was built differently than the rest of the tribe.
What qualifies someone to be a black sheep?
What the hell even is a black sheep?
It’s someone that the family doesn’t accept to be as one of “them”, a disgrace to the bloodline. I like this definition from Merriam-Webster dictionary: “a disfavored or disreputable member of a group.”
That’s me.
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One secret skill I wish I had would be to become invisible whenever I wanted.
One ability that I can do is sometimes I can mimic animals noises or people’s voices.
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Daily writing promptWhat are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?My mornings are very sluggish, it takes me a little time to wake up and get my eyelids to stay open.
Then it gets a bit chaotic – first things first is coffee on the pot, getting breakfast ready, and my son prepared for school. While getting him ready I also have my daughter and her needs to tend to as well. My hands are pretty much tied up in the morning until 9.
Each day is completely different and it’s never the same so I don’t know what to expect.
One thing I do though, every day and night, I say prayers for both of my children. This is like a faithful ritual of mine and each time I pray the same – to stay safe, healthy, and smile.
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Living with mental illness and how it effects life and the people around you. I’m one of those people who’s had the privilege of experiencing this.
From my own personal journey, I’ve learned that either people get it or they don’t. The ones who do understand mental illness have some type of diagnosis, like me! I’m someone who lives with generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. To me, they are all kind of the same and bounce/feed off of each other, creating this “umbrella” technique. It’s taken me years to learn about each disorder and what I can do to help myself and improve my own mental health.
Even though I’m a functional adult who lives with these types of conditions, I still feel judged for it and I accept that now. I’ve learned that it’s okay to be a little bit different and I don’t need approval from anyone except me. This is a special path in my life that will always be apart of me, and for that I have to make the best of it.
I’ve spent years in the darkness and created my own broken roads, but since then I’ve learned to how to repair those cracks and move on.
I have my own personal connection with mental illness and for other people, like me, who also have the privilege to live like this. It’s a difficult road to walk down but it doesn’t have to be all that bad.
Sometimes I try to look at it as a blessing in disguise.
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I have been painting for a few years now, not sure the exact time but for quite a while. It started as a hobby when I was going through postpartum depression but then I began to take it seriously – now I have tons of artwork throughout my house and I’m starting to run out of room.
Ever since I was child I’ve always doodled on stuff – like on the walls, on a piece of mail, on the side of my notebooks, whatever. Whenever I had the opportunity to draw I took it, it was something that made me smile and I was free to forget everything.
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Some tattoos that I would like to get would be the doodles and drawings that my kids make.
I’d put them in all different spots most likely – maybe a sleeve on my arm that goes up and then goes down my back.
Problem is I’m such a baby getting tattoos done. I have 9 and every single time I can’t handle it.
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My eighth grade art teacher – Mr. C. He was a pretty cool guy that took art very seriously. He taught us how to throw clay on the wheel, sculpt with our hands, painting, and drawing.
I’ve been into art my whole life and this was the first person (besides my mom) that I ran to every time I made something. I used to doodle a lot when I was a child and one particular drawing that stays rent free in my mind is the dog Tramp from the Disney movie Lady and the Tramp.
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Different Hats 