Art therapy & other feel-good stuff

(Before I get into this post, I promise I won't dwell on Sepp too long, but I did want to write a little more about him. Also, I'm not blogging on a Friday night because I'm depressed, I'm just taking advantage of some down time since I'm babysitting Logan & he's off to sleep, and since tomorrow I'll be running around trying to get stuff together to get out of town for a few days.)

Last Wednesday I decided that even though I had the rest of the day off, I didn't need to spend it working, doing chores, or doing anything else too productive, so I spent some time getting started on some arts and crafts. My projects stemmed from my wanting to put together some kind of shadow box for Sepp, along with the huge sale they were having on frames at Michael's - buy one get one free on a bunch of different brands & types of frames and display cases. Hooray!

First, here's what I put together for Sepp:

Just in case the picture's not big enough, the box is somewhere around 6 1/2 by 9 inches, and about an inch and a half deep. I made copies of a bunch of different pictures, in an attempt to get his personality down - Trey said I did a good job. Anyway, I've got him in his tent, him under the covers, a couple of kitten shots including the first night I had him (right under his name), a bird watching shot, a jungle kitty shot, and a shot of him & Siggy from the first night we got Siggy.

I also included part of his collar (the rest I made into a key chain for myself - hope that's not too morbid), his ID tags from throughout his life, and part of his pet passport. He's got some Q-tips, because he always liked to fish them out of the garbage can and eat the ends off, some leather mice because he LOVED them, and a homemade piece of cheese because the only time he ever got pushy about begging for our food was when we were eating cheese. I'm still on the lookout for a not-so-ghetto piece of cheese, a gecko charm, and I need to add some dried catnip, but I want to wait a few more days until it's dry enough to spray some hardener over. I spent several hours over the course of a few days putting the box together, but I felt great when it was done.

Aside from that I also spent much of Saturday working on some other wine-related projects I've been meaning to do. One of them is a framed piece of the labels from the wine Trey and I served at our wedding, along with some other Delaney stuff, and I think it looks awesome. I'll have to post pictures of it and my other art projects around Christmastime - I can't post until then because the rest of my projects are gifts for some other folks.

On a slightly different note, the timing on the art therapy thing and my reflection on it is funny to me, because on a listserve subscribe to the topic of fear of death has come up recently. It's caused me to reflect a little more on my view of death, and how after I get over the initial sadness, I've done well buying into my viewpoint that death is really a joyous occasion. Sure there are continued moments of sadness, and there will be for years, but having great memories to draw on and knowing that your loved one is in a better place waiting for you is such a wonderful picture. I've realized, too, that my mother really deserves a lot of the credit for this, since after my dad died she continually encouraged us to think of all of the funny things dad did, and all of the good times we had together.

The last thing I'll say about all of this is that I've finally decided what I want in terms of another tattoo. I think last time Sarah Ford and I were together we were talking about tattoos, and I mentioned that I wanted another one but a) I didn't feel like I was at a turning point in life and b) I didn't know what I wanted. With Sepp's passing, however, comes a transition, and I think the perfect thing to get will be a little black cat. I'm thinking I'll put it on my foot, unless that'll be too bony and hurt too much. Trey thinks I'm insane, but I was expecting that. I am going to go with the same rule I went with when I got the first one: now that I know what I want, I have to wait at least 6 months - if I still want it, then I can get it. Since my birthday is in about 6 months, it'll make the perfect gift for myself.

Ok, enough for now. I'm on vacation this week, which will begin with Trey and I doing a long weekend in Cleveland, and end with my cleaning out some closets and having more time to blog midweek. I've got a couple of condo updates (no resolution on the tax situation, but a slight update to the plan), and promise I'll write about the good stuff that's happened this summer. :-)