It's late and I need to sleep, so this is going to be a speedy post. I had my appointment on Wednesday and the doctor added Cipralex to my list of meds in order to help with the depression. She also advised that, once I feel stable on the new medication, I start cutting down on the amount of Ativan I am taking as it's highly addictive and probably why I am always tired. While the addictive bit worries me, I'm far more worried about the possibility of my anxiety coming back. I've been having anxiety related issues since elementary school, and this is the first time that they've been treated. I can walk down the street and smile at people, talk to the person behind a counter. I can answer my phone without knowing who's on the other end of the line. I can stand up to people, and even be a bitch about it when it's warranted. I can talk to strangers. I don't want to go back to where I was.

Wednesday was also Thing 1's birthday and her father's parents came by with supper and gifts. It was pleasant enough, and the kids enjoyed the cake. I was a little peeved at M. just taking off to get Thing 2 from daycare while I was working, leaving me to run up and answer the door for his parents while I had active chats going for work. A) Not fucking cool, as the merchants were waiting, and B) Super rude for his parents who basically had the door opened and then saw my back as I ran back downstairs to my work computer. I swear that man doesn't think (which is a large part of why we aren't together anymore). At least Punks was around to keep them occupied... upstairs. Thankfully. Sometimes she plays in my study right behind me while I'm doing chats and that makes it almost impossible to concentrate. The fun side to working at home - no one around you takes your job seriously. I think I might start locking my study door.

I completed a couple more paintings yesterday. The first one turned out better than I expected, and the second one was hastily painted over the foliage that didn't quite turn out (cotton balls cannot be used instead of sponge - good to know).



The second piece could have used more paint, but since it was a throwaway meant to use up what I'd already mixed... I didn't exactly want to start mixing more paint to tidy it up. It looks streaky, but still cute. I'm not selling so it's not really all that important whether or not they're perfect. I'm painting them for me. Once I have my art den set up, I'll probably put them up on the wall. :D

And speaking of set up -  I ordered myself a proper easel so that I don't have to paint in my lap anymore. Yay! I'm actually super excited about this. I've never owned an easel, and while it's not exactly what I want, the trade-off is that it's portable so I can take it with me to the park or even when I go on vacation. This makes me happy. I am dreaming of / considering booking myself a trip back to Rhode Island so that I can paint the water there. I might want to get my driver's license first so that I can rent a car - I don't think walking / Ubering everywhere would be super feasible. I also want to paint in Nova Scotia at some point.

Last little update - I saw Avengers: Infinity War last week and it was AMAZING. And sad. So friggin' sad. I'm going to trash any geek cred I had here and admit that I have not seen the other Avengers movies (well, except Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and the Guardians of the Galaxy movies). I know, I'm bad. I will eventually get around to seeing them all - I just haven't been getting to the theater very much in the last... decade. Anywho. Go watch it if you haven't.

Et... c'est tout! That's all for now folks! I am off. <3