Heyyyy youuuuu guys. I’ve been blogging for such a long friggin’ time, eh? Way too long. But I never SOLD OUT, yeah! Here I am on my birthday in December. 45 and still alive. I’ve decided that when I turn 50, I want a big ass Quinceanera party complete with tiara, ball gown and extravagant feast. I’m pretty excited about it. I know I’ll be 50 and not 15 and also that I’m white! Don’t spoil my Good Time!

Of course in the Holcomb household, I will forever be 39 (sweetie darling), because uh…those are the numbers that we own. I’m fine with that. In a way, 39 wasn’t that long ago. In another way, damn it feels like that was a long time ago. The year I was pregnant with a big ol’ redheaded baby. Just this morning after we cleaned his room together he requested a snuggle. Mawwwwww.

I bought this dress last year, but it fit me a little better this year. I still haven’t worn it out in public yet. Here I am drinking my current drink of choice: Blue Gatorade. Mmmmm.

Rosie is giving you the side eye. This was when we could still bring her to work. We can’t do that anymore–the gym moved upstairs closer to the resident’s rooms and there’s no door. She’s SO BORED at home, but I think she gets a teeny bit more exercise than when she was at work with us because sometimes Josh walks her in the morning and I often take her for guilty trips to the park to throw her disgusting toys.

Josh and I went to the Climate Pledge Arena to see Billie Eilish! This was my birthday present. I paid wayyyy too much for tickets, but that’s OK. I was so bummed when I missed Tove Lo in 2023 when my back was out.

We were second to the very last row, but it was still a great concert! I packed my binoculars in my little clear backpack. Billie is very talented. She’s still so young, too.

This was my art docent lesson for December. Oil pastels (not my favorite medium) on construction paper. Goo’s teacher really liked it!

Dressed up for our work holiday party. Since we have new management, we had a pretty lavish party with a yummy dinner, full bar, DJ and dance floor. They gave out a ton of prizes and Josh won 100$ for the best dancer.

They had a fancy camera set-up too so we were able to get these cute little pictures of us. It was fun!

The tree this year. My father was supposed to visit us Christmas week, but he couldn’t afford to rent a car and drive up. Since we had Thanksgiving in Spokane, we had Christmas at our house.

We went to GG’s on Christmas Eve, as is the tradition. Darla snapped this photo of me and I think it would be perfect for an author photo on the back of a book. And speaking of books…GUESS WHO IS A PUBLISHED AUTHOR??!!!!

THAT’S RIGHT, ME. About 6 months ago I found two drawings that I had done about 20 years ago. I think I had been planning to make them into a children’s calendar, but I decided to write a children’s book about the twelve months of the year instead. I formatted it (that took 3 frustrating days) using Amazon Kindle Direct Publisher and as of February 10th, you can buy my book as an ebook right from Amazon! Here’s a link.

Unfortunately, I can’t use the same program to publish the paperback/hardback options, so I’m on the strugglebus with another website right now. However, I’ll figure it out. It took a great deal of PAIN to get through the last formatting, I can do it again. I mean…no one can really help me! God forbid I ask for help at the “self-publishing” subreddit again. They actually downvoted my question when I asked a simple question before…what a bunch of cranky pants!

I have to say, publishing a book has been a lifelong dream of mine. Sure, the painting gig was fun and I’ve always found the concept of being a painter romantic and I’ve enjoyed all the shows I’ve done over the years but after 20 years of painting, it was time for a change. When I was a little kid I did a project for class and we had to write about what we wanted to be when we grew up, and I said “an author and an artist”. Dreams realized, baby!

Now I’m working on book number two…it’s about a preying mantis, of course. Dedicated to my son.