Drowning in Housework

Going on vacation is so wonderful but coming back can be so hard. I was spoiled by two and a half weeks of help with children, farmland for them to roam, not being responsible for making dinners and not being in charge of cleaning.
Now that I am back it has been very hard to get into the swing of things again. Not only is there a backlog of things needing to be unpacked and put away strewn around the kids rooms and laundry that is behind, I feel like my brain is in shock from the change.
It does not help that my husband has been working 80hr work weeks and traveling for extended trips. His work situation is so stressful and he has been applying for jobs. We would really love to move closer to family so that we could see them more often. the thought there is a potential move coming up makes it hard to focus on cleaning also. I spend my time daydreaming about possible houses with yards to send children out to play in.

Trying to manage the daily tasks of raising three small children and taking care of a house can be so overwhelming. Throw in the ups and downs of trying to start a business with my painting and making sure I spend time on that, and I feel positively floundering.
Some days can be so exciting, when someone contacts me about a commission, or there is good news about a gallery possibility, but most of the time is just waiting, horrible, gut wrenching, waiting with nothing really happening. I pour my energy, time and money into this venture in an effort to help my family financially and all I seem to end up doing is spending money, money for supplies, money for classes, money for frames!

I need to make a breakthrough sometime soon. I need to find people who love my work, who want to, and can, buy it for profitable prices.

But really right now I would be happy if I just had a clean house.

Vacation and Plein Air

The last few weeks were spent traveling and spending time with family. Trips in the car with three kids are always a challenge but I found that the hardest thing about them is taking three kids to the restroom at a rest area all by myself. We drove for about 34 hours spread over three different driving sections and spent many wonderful hours on three different family farms. I think the best thing ever for children is free time on the farm with a gaggle of cousins.

 

I painted 3 plein air farm paintings, one beach scene and completed a portrait of a dog. I also worked on removing an overly large hummingbird from a painting I had done in college and given to my Aunt. I varnished several paintings and sold one original. It was an amazing trip and I have way too many pictures to add captions to all of them but they will give you a feel of our vacation.