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There comes a time when I wonder if anybody is actually reading this blog. It’s so hard to tell when so few leave comments. I am busting my butt to get interviews with accomplished illustrators. The spend their time answering the questions and supplying me with their art for the blog, I spend my time making it all come together. And then I send it off into cyberspace hoping people read it. Did they like it? Did they find it informative and enjoyable? Is there any point to me nagging other busy artists to answer questions and share art? I am sure I am not the only blogger who has these misgivings. I just wish there was a better way of knowing if I am having any impact aside from the occasional comment.

Getting a comment is like a getting a new shiny wrapped gift. I don’t know what is inside, but I cannot wait to find out. Most of the time I am thrilled with what’s inside the little comment wrapper of my email. I guess I am like many other creatives, or any blogger for that matter. A comment on one of my posts telling me I am making a difference in some one’s life makes my day. A lot. In a big way.

So if you enjoy the daily doodles, the advice on illustration and the artist interviews, please tell me! I do my best to answer the comments and if the comment maker has a blog, I visit and return the favor by commenting there. Sometimes I find places I want to visit again and again. Like I hope their writers are doing with my blog.

I am really missing my kitchen right now. So the doodle for today was cookies. They will be the only ones I will be making this season. Until I have a kitchen again, there will be no cookies for me.

Work on the kitchen is proceeding. Today the last of the drywall was hung. Tomorrow the men will lay on the first layer of mud and tape. Monday they will do the second layer and Tuesday the floor expert will come in to sand and patch the hardwood floor which is in surprisingly good condition considering the history of the house and all the layers of other floor it was buried beneath. After the dust has settled, I get to paint. Looks like that is what I will be doing the holiday weekend. At least the paint is green. In keeping with the spirit of the season. Not tree green, more a pale muted dusty green, but green none-the-less. I was going to take pictures of naked drywall, but I need to buy new batteries for my camera and I will have to wait until after the holiday madness subsides. I went grocery shopping in the middle of the day today and had to circle the parking lot several times before I could even find a space for the car. I’m digging in and hiding out for the duration!

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We actually made it out of Mom’s without a week’s worth of leftover  overcooked meat. She still insisted we take food with us. We got a half dozen cucumbers and a couple of tomatoes. Both items which we had forgotten in grocery shopping yesterday. And if I understood my mother-in-law correctly came from my sister-in-law’s garden.

Lunch today was mounds of mashed potatoes, enough for 8 people. (There was just the three of us, as usual.) Also, about a half dozen pork steaks; breaded and fried, then baked in cream of mushroom soup for an hour. My husband, bless his heart, tried to consume all of them in one sitting. I ate about a quarter of mine after doing my best to scrape the mushroom soup and breading off. Neither one of which I should be eating as they both contain items to which I am allergic. *sigh* You would think after knowing  me for nearly a dozen years, my mother-in-law would realize I have food allergies. The cans of vegetables didn’t make it to the table today. I ‘forgot’ to get them out of the basement. I did cut up one of the cucumbers and one of the tomatoes my MIL handed me. The other 3 I put back in the fridge.

My niece and her adorable son who’s about 2-1/2 showed up in the mid afternoon. He was a very crabby baby and was making his mom a very frustrated one. He was in his third time out for misbehaving as we took our leave and headed for home. Neither one of them looked very happy. He had tears on his cheeks and my niece looked about ready to spit. LOL I am so glad those days are behind me.

We then went to the market for the other half dozen things we forgot while shopping yesterday. Among them fresh butter.

I used some of that fresh butter to make chocolate chip cookies. The timer is telling me it’s time to take them out of the oven. Yum. I make them with extra-dark chips and walnuts. The house smells delish!