My plans for 2023.
In this post I am looking back at one of the worst years of my life and share with you my plans for 2023.
2022 started with me being out of a job and in the following months I have concentrated on making art and exploring different materials and techniques. I have tried my hand at paint pouring with fluid acrylic paints and created a video about my experience. I have also had a go at working with alcohol inks and you can find the video about this here. I have continued my membership with “The Confident Brush” and followed most of the suggested art challenges. This meant mostly painting with acrylic paints. Some of these paintings will be available to buy this year.
First bad news of the year: Dusty’s death.
The first bad news for our family came when my dad told me that our beloved Dusty (originally my mum’s cat, she enjoyed her company for a short period of time before she passed away) had to be put to sleep in January. Dusty was an adorable Norwegian Forest cat. A very sweet and affectionate cat who was very playful and a very skillful hunter (to my dad’s horror). We miss her very much.
Starting a new job
In June I started a new temp job as an admin, working three days at the Children’s Hospital in Cardiff. The job sometimes requires me to work 4 or 5 days. This meant (and still means) that I have very little time for painting or tending to my business. I try my best to cram as much work into Mondays and Tuesdays and often the weekends too. In November I cancelled my membership with “The Confident Brush”, as I didn’t have the time to continue with the challenges and I wanted to learn to paint with watercolours. I have bought a few courses by Nicki Traikos to get me back into painting with watercolours, something I had a go at a few years ago. I also want to explore alcohol inks more this year.
A year of unexpected deaths.
Last year was another depressing year of people dying far too young and suddenly. We are still seeing a massive increase of excess deaths worldwide, which the MSM doesn’t really want to talk about.
The death of Andy Fletcher, keyboardist of Depeche Mode and the glue that held the band together, really shocked me. Very sad. I loved the band since their second album and I have a very soft spot for them. Their music has always been part of my life. It’s going to be hard for Dave and Martin without their friend, but they are releasing a new album this spring and are going on tour again. Life has to go on. Another death that shocked me was that of Maxi Jazz, singer of Faithless, and actress Kirstie Alley.
Losing Bobby was horrendous.
However, nothing has prepared us for saying goodbye to our beloved Bobby. It’s still raw and hard to write about her. She died on the 2nd of September and the circumstances were horrific. We had to make the hardest decision a pet owner can make and let the emergency vet put her to sleep. You can find the whole story in this blog post. Bobby has left a massive hole in our lives. We don’t have children, so she was our fur baby and a spoilt little moggy. It’s hard to pick yourself up and continue as if nothing has happened and pretend you are happy, especially when you work in a job that requires you to deal with the parents of seriously ill children.
Dealing with grief.
Our first instinct was to just go away for a few days. We ended up going to Chester to visit the zoo in October. While the zoo was enjoyable, even though the tigers were hiding, the place wasn’t and we went home a day earlier than planned – to be greeted by an empty home.
Around this time, we became friendly with our neighbours’ cute Ragdoll Charlie. When Bobby was still alive, Charlie and his two brothers (they have 5 cats) all managed to get into our home. However, Charlie was the most relaxed and just decided to lie down in my work room. Needless to say, Bobby was not amused and at the time we were very protective of her, as she was quite vulnerable. So, we turfed him out. When my husband met him again, he had a bad conscience and we both realised that Charlie is just super friendly. He just seeks human company and is an adorable little chap. Our neighbours are very lucky to have him. When they were on holiday, he moved in with us for a week (with their permission, we contacted them). This was a welcome distraction.
However, he is not our cat and we miss Bobby very much. What he showed us though is, that it is possible to love another cat (even if it’s not yours) and we learnt that neutered toms are very affectionate and sweet. And we fell in love with the Ragdoll breed. We watched tons of videos on Ragdolls to get an idea of what they are like. We are very tempted to adopt one.
First Christmas without Bobby
Christmas was a very sombre affair and not the same without our Bobby. Our car died on Christmas day and hubby managed to bring his mum home to us in a taxi. The taxi driver was very nice and we kept his number for future reference. We put Bobby’s Christmas sock under the tree and her urn.
It’s now January and as it is the start of a new year, I have made plans for 2023.
Plans for my businesses are:
- I am hoping to teach more adult students who want to learn German.
- I am planning to declutter my inventory.
- I want to get back to working with silver clay and polymer clay.
- I am planning to make the paintings that I have created last year available to buy.
- Last year I have created an e-book about how to prepare for your first craft fair – which I am hoping to sell.
- I have also created a beginners’ course for lino printing which I want to sell.
- I want to continue painting with watercolours and alcohol and acrylic inks.
- I want to grow my YouTube channel to get to 1000 subscribers, which would mean I could monetise it. I have noticed that some of my videos have ads on them, but I don’t get paid for them. My videos are very carefully created and take time to make, which is why I can’t produce as many as other channels. And so far, they don’t make any money.
- Declutter the home. We don’t really have much space, so it’s essential to thin down. This is an ongoing task. Things I want to thin down are: books, DVDs, videos (!), clothes, old furniture, my electric guitar and amp, ancient laptops and computers.
- Get a new carpet for the hallway and stairs. For this we need to paint the skirting boards, which will take time. We want to get this done in February as the carpet gets fitted in March.
- Buy a new table for the living room which is rectangle or square. The table we have is round and not very practical.
- We bought a new sofa and chair for the living room this month and want to create some spaces on the wall behind the sofa, where cats can hang out.
- And this one is a biggie: we want to secure our garden to make it cat-safe again. Our garden was never super safe, but Bobby never showed any interest of escaping. She was super happy to sunbathe outside, use her litter area and otherwise was mostly hanging out in the house. She was a people cat, so she was always following us around or wanted to be near us. Securing our garden will take a lot of time and is going to cost a fair bit of money. We need a new garden side gate, the walls to the lane need to be smoothed over and plants need to be moved, before we can install safety fencing. I found a company called “Protect A Pet”. They install their products for you and advise on areas where there needs to be something in place. They are not going to be cheap, but it is an option to consider.
- And you have probably guessed this already: we want to open our hearts and home for not just one kitten, but two kittens. Ideally litter mates. Cat rescue centres prefer to rehome kittens in pairs, rather than as an individual kitten. The other option would be a mum cat and a kitten. We are consciously choosing cats that will not resemble Bobby, Freddy or Dusty. We both have realised that we can’t live without feline company and two cats have the advantage that they keep each other company and can entertain themselves when we are not around. Plus, it’s also very cute to watch two cats sleep together, wash each other and play with each other. Double the fun.
So, there you have it, my rather modest plans for this year. Should have mentioned losing weight, but it’s not priority.
How about you? What are your plans for 2023?
Let me know in the comments below.
Helen x