Leanne Wildermuth : Artist by Nature » Life, Love, and Critters

Life, Love, and Critters – of course!

Prickley $#!%

April

2006

Over the past week and a half, I have been dealing with this arm. Just the one, just a few times a day. I am at a loss now, and offer up my kid to the knowledgeable mom’s out here who might know what the heck I’m doing wrong. Because there’s no temp and nothing else associated with it, I have not bowed down to the expertise of our family physician – yet.

Cleaned with antibacterial soap. Clears the redness and reduces bumpies by half in half hour or so.
Locoid applications, a Rx hydrocortisone – seemed to irritate it. Did nothing to clear it up.
Washed, dried, bandaged in cotton overnight. Nope.
Washed, dried, medicated with benedryl cream overnight. Nope.
Benedryl cream after antibacterial soap. Helps clear it up faster, but it returns mid-day.
Washed bedding. Nope.
Washed pillows. Nope.
Bleach water solution on mattress. Nope.
Removed all stuffies from bed. Nope.
Use hypoallergenic, dye-free, scent-free laundry detergent and fabric softener – I’ve done this for years.
Pull hair up out of her face/arm area in case hair oils are causing it (she twists & plays with her hair with that arm).

Nothing. Nothing is making this go away. She goes to bed, she sleeps on her left side with her arm curled underneath her body. She wakes up, it looks horrible (see photo). I wash the hell out of it, let it air dry, put benedryl cream on it – it looks okay until mid afternoon. Another application of benedryl, it’s okay until bedtime. Then the itchies start. More benedryl, bed, and here we go again!

She has a tiny bit on her trunk – where her arm rests against her body while she’s sleeping. It’s not red, it’s just prickley looking, and it clears up about an hour after she gets up. It isn’t anywhere else, just this arm.

I’m pulling my hair out over here, help?!

***UPDATE*** It’s contact dermatits -she has a viral infection that displays itself as a rash. It would have gone away (as it was it was starting to clear up a little), doc said it can last anywhere between 7 days and 3 weeks. So, she’s on predensone and a strong steroid cream. Thank you all for your words of wisdom!! xox!!!

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ThursdayThirteen.com

April

2006

THURSDAYTHIRTEEN.COM

Now open – the central hub for all things Thursday Thirteen related! Whooowie! I’ve had this domain for a while now and finally got a chance to develop it. Some minor tweaking and some content to add, but we’re ready to rock & roll! C’mon over and have a look at how we’re going to improve the Thursday Thirteen, and really take it to another level!

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Better Day Ahead!

April

2006

My own personal thought police (see Thursday Thirteen #26) allowed me to vent yesterday, because otherwise I would have been found on the floor of my living room, kitchen, dining room or studio (I pace. a lot.), dead from an axiety attack or something.

Those of you who stopped by and offered your words of support, I thank you. I know that you only joined me in my anger and that it was a temporary passion that caused the words to fly, and it is what it is. Those of you made uncomfortable by the situation, I understand.

As a business owner and visual artist I had every right to take the action necessary to protect my copyrighted materials. And that’s where it ends. My content has been removed from the domain; I’ve been in contact with the artist and things have been resolved.

Usually when my thought police kick in it’s because of situations like this, so let’s not allow this to get all distorted and hateful. It happened, it’s over, we’re moving forward now.

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Thursday Thirteen #27

April

2006

Thirteen Things about Leanne, Thursday, April 5, 2006
My other Thirteens1. I’m working on that getting away from Blogger post. Truly. I am. I was going to make this TT into a theme about it, but I didn’t have the heart. I couldn’t. I hit backspace over “Thirteen Steps to….” so fast my fingers spun.

2. My sister, her boyfriend and their two kids have been staying with me for a couple of days. We ate chinese lastnight – and this was her fortune from her cookie: “You will be hungry again in one hour”. She felt cheated and betrayed, and somehow manipulated by their advertising. I can’t blame her. That fortune can only mean one of a few things, right?

You’re such a pig, it’s obvious that when you stop eating, you don’t stop for long.
We’ve laced your food with something so that it will run right through you. Muahahahaha!
You’re at a chinese buffet, and you’re eating like a bird. Goofy American! Have some ice cream!

2. Another fortune cookie keeper – on the backside you get to “learn Chinese”. Fun, I say! Who knows if anyone pronounces it right, but what the heck. We give it a shot every time. Lastnight we learned a new word, “Fish”. Fish, in Chinese, is “Yu”. So here’s my question. If I didn’t like their fish, and I told the waiter “Yu Suck”, would he take offense?

3. How many lightbulbs have I blown in my dining room this week? 5. FIVE. Why does my light fixture hate the clear light bulbs with the blue tint? Hates them. Blows them up within 12 hours of realizing they’re there. Something Yuey is going on with my fixture. (get it? haha! I am so funny I should stand up!)

4. I was helping my sis get a map to the funeral services they attended during their stay. My sister, who is logistically challenged, saw a chunk of road on the map and said “wow that’s a long ways!” between point A and point B. I assured her that it was just a few miles, she would have a hard time getting lost. Her boyfriend had a blonde moment and tried to explain that “the road isn’t as long as it appears on the paper” in a way I can’t even articulate in words – and then we got into a whole “objects on map are smaller than they appear in real life” funfest. We laughed until we cried.

Next time you want to confuse a young driver, hand them a map from mapquest and tell them to look for the big red star in the parking lot of their destination. Just like on the map. It’s there, I swear it.

5. My nephew and I watched the Eagle’s Nest cam for quite a while yesterday, there are two eggs! They should be hatching (both nests) in the next week. We’re all excited here to see those bald little Eagle babies making a bunch of noise. If you haven’t been there, I have two links in my sidebar to two different cams. Our favorite is the top one, thanks to Nancy for the link!

Updated Look at her eggs! Yayy for babies!

Updated again 7:08PM CST: We were so excited to catch the switch! The mom & dad take turns on the nest – boy there were squawks of delight that made us squeal over here in our chairs! They even gave eachother a lil affection before the change. Awww…

6. I’ve been trying too hard to remember my dreams lately, and now I am only remembering little pieces of them! I hate when that happens! I even bought a domain to have a blog specific for my dreams. All the pressure – and now I don’t have any content. Just my luck.

7. One dream I keep meaning to write about is about a friend I used to have that I miss very much. I dreamt it in a Brady Bunch screenshot mode, so she was in one of the corners and I was in another one, and we were also both online. I was writing or talking to someone about how sad I was that our friendship ended, why I was so hurt over some words that were exchanged that ultimately caused me to pull so far back from our friendship that it killed it. She never understood how I could have possibly been upset, because she was so upset herself, and she ended up crying when she realized how sad I was over the whole thing.

The strange thing – all the stuff in my little Brady Bunch box is true. My mind embellishes her side because I would truly have no idea. I am a loyal friend, truly – you couldn’t find a more loyal friend – until I feel used, manipulated or betrayed.

8. I have two paintings by that same old friend hanging over my bed, and I think about her every day. Even though our friendship ended nearly a year ago.

9. I’ve been feeling a little anxious lately, my heart has been wonky – I think it’s because I really want to move. Every day that passes I am more and more uncomfortable and I like our property less and less. We have so much to do to get this house ready to put on the market. I’m dyin’ over here. Send help!

10. I was contacted by a magazine who wants to chat with me and maybe include a bit about me in an article, and it took me a week to gain up the courage to call/e-mail her back. I am probably nervous for nothing, because I probably chewed my fingers about it for too long and she found a new person to interview. That is also just my luck.

11. We went to Payless lastnight, because my sister wears these strange chunky shoes that look like a leopard had a hairball moment all over, that are also very uncomfortable. We ended up with new shoes for just about everyone. For the kids, the girls all have matchin’ clogs:

For the moms, we went retro:

12. I about flipped out yesterday morning when I looked out at my bird feeders. I got one shot. Just one. And it’s not that great, but I’ll show you anyway.

13. My prize question of the day: if mushrooms are a fungus, how is it that they go bad? Mold on top of fungus. That just seems so wrong.

******************************************A special prize goes to Lisa, for noticing I can’t count! Yayyyyy!

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For My Next Trick…

April

2006

I’ll need a roasting pan, just an everyday average roasting pan, and a bunch of other stuff. See photos below.

And with my hammer, and all the stuff – or possibly just some of the stuff, and a bunch of instructions that I may or may not understand, I will attempt to build a harp. Yes, a harp. Why a harp? Because our daughter is in the 4th grade, and this is her music class project. Everyone knows that when your kid is in the 4th grade, the parents get to do the homework! The most difficult project list can’t consist of strings and a kleenex box – no way! That would be too “4th grader’ish”! These kids need to learn basic power tool skills, right away!

I must now disappear behind my big black magic cape with my flashlight to read “liquid steel” application instructions. Harps with holes? Can’t happen.

One thing is certain – if the thing doesn’t play, it will at least be pretty (see blue enamel spray paint).

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How Do You Spell Mommy?

March

2006

Me: “How do you spell Jayden?”
J: “J-A-Y-D-E-N!”
Me: “Can you spell Caty?”
J: “C-A-T-Y!”
Me: “Can you spell Daddy’s name?”
J: “D-A-D-D-Y!”
Me: “What about me? Can you spell my name?”
J: “L-E-A-N-N-E!”
Me: “What’s my other name? Can you spell my other name?”
J: “That is your name, mommy!”

I was also hoping I was the bigger girl with the chubby smiley cheeks. But no.
I’m the little red one.

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Thursday Thirteen #26

March

2006

Thirteen Things about Leanne, Thursday, March 30, 2006
My other Thirteens1. My girlfriends think I should care less about what other people think. I’m not sure I can do that, what do you think?

2. Great ideas fall right out of my butt onto the floor head onto my desk. It just happens. I can’t stop them, it’s like giving birth, only completely painless. It’s a gift. Or quite possibly a curse, I’ll get back to you on that.

3. I censor what I write on my blog, probably more than anyone else does or would, if given the chance.

4. This sentence has been banned, removed, and replaced with something more appropriate.

5. I am my own thought police.

6. So go look at the pretty pictures instead, because I’ve prohibited myself from saying anything that could be misconstrued, twisted, and blogged about by a bunch of people who might not “get” what I said.

7. If what goes around comes around, I’ve been dishing out some stanky stuff. If anyone is aware of the time limit for the coming back around part, please let me know. I’m still waiting, and starting to get paranoid. (indiscreetly sniffing for b.o.)

8. I’m starting to wonder if skinny bitches were once fat & happy. Is that what happens? I know I used to tell myself “I’d rather be fat & happy”, so I decided to finally complete that sentence and add “than be a skinny bitch”. Why did I do that? Because I’m pretty snarky when I can’t eat whateverthehelliwanna, I’m losing weight, and so the next logical step would be… yep, you guessed it.

9. Who truly believes in their heart of hearts that “imitation is the finest form of flattery”? Really. How to you perceive imitation?

“Anything you can do, I can do better,
I can do anything better than you.
yes I can – no you can’t – yes I can – no you caaaannnnnnn’t!”Nevermind my singing, what are your thoughts on imitation?

10. Another busy week so far, and in case you haven’t already, go visit MommaK and tell her she’s pretty. And that her blog is pretty, too.

11. I considered a “how to switch from Blogger” entry, but it would be somewhat long and technically detailed. Would anyone be interested in that entry if I wrote it?

12. Where’s my two dollars?

13. A couple of fun projects in the works – a website design (a fellow artists gallery), a new blog launch, the wedding couple painting, the 4×4 paintings series, my own gallery reformatting and updating, Lisa‘s wedding – I’m still uber busy here and blogging by the seat of my pants (when the voices in my head tell me not to delete it after I’ve published it), so please forgive the complete irregularity of my blog lately. A picture’s still worth a thousand words, right? 😉

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Just Say It

March

2006

Did you ever wish you could just say something so brutally honest to someone about how you feel, but can’t? Did you ever wonder how you would feel to just be able to get that out of your head?

I wish sometimes I could be the kind of person who has the ability to NOT say what I’m thinking. I have this horrible habit of being honest. Still, though, there’s this part of me that holds back. Unless, of course, I know I’m safe. Safe from judgement, safe from ridicule, safe from having to face the consequences of uttering the thoughts I long to speak.

Then the paranoia sets in. Can the people I trust be trusted? Why is everyone staring at me? Do I have something in my teeth? Oh no, someone told on me, my icky thoughts are common knowledge, now what do I do? Does my butt look big in these pants? You’re lying to me, I just know it.

Let’s pretend you have voices in your head, too. Let’s pretend they get icky sometimes – just humor me – what do they say? Share with me one sentence you would like to say to just one person, get the ick out of your head while the subject of your affection remains blissfully unaware. Just a nameless, shameless, random ick that you need to unload. I suppose some people’s cups never runneth over – in that case, you could just tell me how you handle your ick.

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Thursday Thirteen #25

March

2006

Thirteen Things about Leanne, Thursday, March 23, 2006
My other Thirteens1. I had a headache yesterday, and I’m not sure if it was an ocular migraine or not but my head was killin’ me, so I went and got my hair cut. I did. And I promised myself no haircuts until June. My last cut was in October! I lied to myself. I am a complete “growing out my hair” failure. Oh well. It didn’t stop my headache, but at least I looked prettier.

2. I also had my eyebrows done for the first time ever. Yes. I did. And ow. Who the heck does that on a regular basis? That didn’t stop my headache, either. (Imagine that!)

3. I ordered 20 small canvases for a series I’m going to be doing. They arrived yesterday, and they are so cute! Many of you gave me suggestions (remember?) on small’ish bite sized foods. The canvas and the suggestions go together, and I’ll tell you the rest when I introduce the series.

4. I’ve been tossing around the idea of changing my gallery up again. It’s always last on my list of things to do because it’s such a brain-labor intensive task. I’ve even been considering a new :gasp: color scheme. I’ll paint for a while, first.

5. I’m glad to be painting again. My zone and I have missed eachother – it’s a place where I “chill”, where the paint flows, where it just happens. It feels like one of those warp dimension doors (think Sliders) that you’re nervous as heck to jump into, but once you do it’s a great ride and you end up somewhere really interesting.

6. I completed another custom illustration this week too, for a blog design, but I can’t show you that one until the blog goes live. It’s really cool, and I’m going to love having it out there. It’s part of my “new toon” style.

7. So, see? I’ve been really busy this week.

8. I’ll finish the other cat portrait today, you can come back later to see it if you’d like.

9. Spring has sprung, and my good friend’s snow is going to be melting soon. I’m excited to start working on that project, too.

10. I’m totally procrastinating my morning workouts this week because it’s Spring Break. My children have beaten a record every single day, consecutively, on how much earlier in the morning they can bicker than the previous morning. It’s such a fun week! Lots of sunshine and love at my house! Really! I love Spring Break! I kid. They sleep in, so I still get up early to work out, I just enjoy the non-sweaty silence for a smidge longer. (A smidge = 1 hour.)

11. I’ve been thinking alot about good old friends who have gotten busy on me, and I wonder if they stop by by blog anymore. If you are one of them, you know who you are, say hey – wouldjya? I’m thinking about you, yes – you!

12. We decided to tear down the carport, for those of you wondering the answer to that question. Dumpsters are cheaper – and the thing is a mess! Hopefully we can do that in the next month or so. Also, the other answers are (in no particular order), Bambi, iodine, $125, and no. Just in case you were wondering.

13. I only have one question this week – what is your definition of “a while”? When someone says “I’ll talk to you in a while”, how long do you expect to wait? If you say to someone “I haven’t seen you in a while!”, How long has it been?

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