Yes, I'm still alive, to all who care. Haven't gotten much (if any) drawing done lately, I've been stressed/busy. How, you ask, can I be busy when I just quit my job? ... you'd be surprised. Family up to visit, grandma is in the hospital and I'm watching my aunts dogs... turns out the mass was cancerous... but they got it in time... so she won't need chemotherapy. I want to thank those who have prayed with me for her safe recovery. =D

On a lighter note...

Funny thing happened the first day I was here watching the dogs.... the dogs woke me up out of a dead sleep, asking to be let out. It was past time for me to be getting out of bed, so I got up and let them out... there's a pen in the back connected to the rear garage door.. so I just stepped into the garage and opened the back door for them... but uh... I kinda shut the garage door into the house behind me, not realizing it was locked. I mean, I had JUST woke up... still in my pajamas and everything. After several attempts to break the door down... Hollywood police movie style (it doesn't work, btw) I went outside and tried the front door... locked. So I ran around to see if I could find a way in through one of the windows.

I managed to pop one of the basement windows out, unfortunately, I had trouble fitting inside and there was nothing for me to land on. I grabbed some rope from the garage, trying to figure out a way to climb down, but hell, I'm a chicken for heights. It wasn't really that far a fall, maybe my own body height at most, but hell I hate sprained ankles so much. I grabbed some more stuff from the garage, trying to figure out a way to pull a chair or something closer to the window for me to land on. I spent time hanging halfway into the tiny window (Thank goodness I lost all that weight... or I'd still be stuck) but finally, after crying and having an emotional argument with God, I replaced the window and looked up... I brushed the cobwebs and spiders off ...They love hanging around basement windows... stupid things... dead lady beetles, too. I hate those things, and I was covered in them, not even caring I was so desperate...

Did I forget to mention that at one point I stepped in dog poop? I did, with my new sandals . It was stinky... but it wore off from pacing in the grass. Also, my purse was inside the house... and in my purse were my cigarettes... which I was seriously craving at this point, 1 hour, 30 minutes into the ordeal...

Anywho, I looked up... above me was the bedroom where I was sleeping. I remember grandma jokingly making a comment about the hole in the screen being my cousin's way into the house... I ran into the garage and got a tiny stepladder- I managed to reach up through the hole in the screen and push the window the rest of the way open, and then popped the screen out and into the bedroom. There lie my ticket to the inside, with a soft bed pushed against the window for me to tumble onto! Alas... as I said... the stepladder was tiny... a pointless thing, really. I've worn heels that raise me up just as high... for a 1 level (not counting the basement) house, those freakin' windows are positioned hella high...

So now, my panic begins to set in yet again. I'm dripping with sweat, in my embarrassing sleepwear (baggy old plaid boxers and a tank top), filthy from kneeling into the basement window... and I was also thirsty. For those of you who don't know, I have a problem with chronic hives, if I don't take my mega dose of benedryl first thing in the morning and again early evening, I start to break out... I was too flustered to notice or feel the hives forming on my legs... and I hadn't taken my meds yet.

Then, a pickup truck pulls into the driveway next door, stopping next to the mailbox. A man... the kind of man with a pickup truck, the kind of man who has a tool shed filled with power tools and ... possibly a ladder. I ran up to his truck and explained my predicament. "I have a ladder, I'll go get it" and he did... he even held it for me while I climbed into the window and tumbled onto the bed. I thanked him and ran throughout the house, unlocking every single door. I let the dogs in, gave them each a treat, and enjoyed a well deserved cancer stick. I glanced at the clock... over 2 hours had passed since my terrible ordeal started, and I had never been happier to be stuck indoors on a summer day. My ribs were bruised and hurt for an additional 24 hours from hanging halfway into the basement window... but I guess it could be worse...

THE END