Again, there is no new art on Society 6 but there is a sale. I feel like I'm failing without putting out new art every week. I know, logically however, that I'm not. I am still working on the piece, and I need it to be just right. Still hunting the perfect brush and blender for a look that fits the piece but also gives it a look that I'm looking for. That and that whole adulting thing...seriously puts me at a grinding halt for arting. Yes, arting is my full time job, but that being said, working from home means that I have other responsibilities that sometimes have to take priority and this past week was no exception, except a bit busier. Fun story to share, just no art...yet. I did promise myself that I wasn't going to be an assembly line of churning out art that is just up...with no feels, but just to get something up. Nope, not doing that anymore. Maybe not the best in a business sense, but it's best for me not totally burning out and taking a 6+ month sabbatical. Yes, I'm still struggling to balance, but I think I will get there.
So last week, busier than I thought...summer months seem to busier...which I think I am coming to terms with. This week is going to be busy, too...and then 2 weeks from now. Speaking of, I will be on vacation on the week of the 19th...but I'll be back on the 26th. I wanted to give you a heads' up. Ready for some sad (to me) but funny news?
So I had an aloe plant. Note the tense of that last sentence...I kept it alive for I think over 2 years, go me!! The homestead and I are not ideal for plants. So the poor aloe plant...it wasn't thriving very well over the last 2 months, I'd say. It wasn't dying but the stalks were a bit droopy and there were a few spots on a couple of them. This past week, I noticed for the second time, little yellow penis looking things sprouting in the soil. What? When I went to water it, all these noseeums came flying up...and I noticed we were getting dive bombed by them on a normal day...annoying as fuck. Me, being the researcher I am, decided to Google-Fu what the hell was going on and what the little yellow penis like things were, along with if the noseeums were related. Well did I learn a LOT...I love learning.
So the little yellow penis thingy's are actually Yellow Houseplant Mushrooms. They are very cool looking fully grown. Not harmful to the plant...but most people think they're ugly, I didn't share that opinion...but there were loads of them. And the cause, cheap soil, I'm guilty of that, and just poor drainage. They did say not to eat them, and that never crossed my mind, but to be careful with kids and pets (we have neither) as they are toxic. Okay...so I was like the soil is bad, and I did replace the soil after a year because of that issue. At this point my hubby was calling the aloe plant a zombie aloe plant. My Dad agreed after hearing the story...oh it gets worse...the noseeums....not noseeums...they are actually called Fungus Gnats. And they breed in a soil that is cheap, again guilty, and about an inch below the ground...they feed off of the soil, and root rot...which also came up with the little mushrooms that were spawning like wildfire. Root rot was coming up a lot in my research...and oh I forgot to tell you about the smell, that caused me to do the research. There was this sickly sweet smell around the area of the plant. It was not overpowering but I didn't like the smell at all. Again, sign of root rot...so my aloe plant turned into a zombie...and I started calling the fungus gnats, Necro Gnats...needless to say, the hubby and I agreed to throw it out. I had him do it, as I was fond of the plant. And the dirt got thrown out too. Moral of the story, I am not good with plants. I want to be...but I almost killed a cactus early in my youth due to lack of water...no joke. I did have a garden outside that did well, though. So indoor plants, no.
Since getting rid of the zombie aloe plant the necro gnats numbers have decreased substantially. YAY!! It was very interesting learning about all of the tips and tricks. I'm sad for the plant, and now I know I am so not investing in a Venus Fly Trap, which I really, really wanted...they need care that is well above my skill level...down to the water. It would be drinking better water than we do!! No. I still think they are amazing, a carnivorous plant. How cool. The maintenance not so cool...Lesson learned.
Onto cheery-ish news. I am hoping, despite the busy on my calendar, to have a few soft goals completed and set into hard goals, and get the piece almost done. I have a fair amount to go. But I am not rushing it. I'm hoping but who knows what reality has in store for me, besides a busy Dad day...I'm really hoping no bumps in the road, and that everything goes smoothly. But it's me, and my luck usually doesn't run on the smooth side. The interesting side, yes. The entertaining side, most definitely. It used to be the boring side, and maybe to some it is...but on my end it isn't.
On that note, minions! I will leave you here, probably shaking your head at me and my late zombie aloe plant and the remaining necro gnats. You won't be the only one shaking their head...I, too, am shaking my head. Until next week, I bid you an adieu!