Mentor Critique and Other Things

On Wednesday I met with Lin Lisberger, a wood carving artist from Gorham.  I had met with her a year ago to learn the basics of carving wood and she was extremely helpful.  When I arrived I heard her pounding away in her studio.  The last time I was there she was working on something new, she was carving knots into branches.  This time, she'd taken that to an exponential level and is carving these large knot pieces that hang on the wall, they are stunning!  After I got set up we began talking about my piece, she was very impressed where I have taken my carving since we last met.  She was very excited about the piece that I'm working on.  She gave me some tips on how to diminish the joints better than what I had planned.  She also gave me a great tip on what to use for a finish, which I think I'll keep to myself for now.  After asking when the project had to be done by she told me that I may have bitten off a little more than I can chew, but I'll get it finished!  We spent some time talking about the flow of the piece and different things that I could do to emphasize that more.  Overall it was a wonderful visit and I found her feedback very valuable, I'm glad she was willing to meet with me.

My great gram is still declining.  We have had to make more decisions.  She will be coming home on Monday and hospice will be coming in to assist 3 days per week.  In the condition she's in now she could go to a hospice center but we have chosen to bring her home so she has a chance to die there, that's what she would want.  She can no longer be transported in a car, she must be transported by an ambulance service.  She is still refusing to eat or drink except for a couple sips or bites here and there.  She is becoming very dehydrated, they wanted to do some fluids but cannot do a normal IV because it would be dangerous for her heart.  The fluids would only last for a few hours and then she'd be right back to square one, so we have decided not to do them.  They have since stopped all "curative measures" and are going to take away everything but the pain medication, which they are increasing.  They are not sure if she'll make it through the weekend or not.  I dread every phone call from my mother because any phone call could be the one that she has passed.  I hope, for her own sake, that she finds peace soon so she can stop suffering.

On Monday Skylar had an OT Evaluation with a specialist, it has been determined that she has Sensory Processing Disorder.  SPD is a spectrum disorder that there are many different parts and pieces to and many different levels.  Skylar is of the "Sensory Seeking" portion which means her neurological sensing is under-responsive, meaning she needs more more more sensory input all the time.  Running, jumping, spinning, stomping, kicking, hitting, yelling, go go go, more more more.  She is also the type that, rather than feeling like an outsider because she doesn't interpret things like other kids her age, she gets frustrated very easily and gets aggressive and lashes out.  The specialist explained it to us like a venn diagram, on one side we're dealing with SPD and on the other side we're dealing with other behavioral issues and it all comes together in the middle and escalates.  We have to wait 3 weeks for our appointment to discuss all of the findings (there are 7 others ahead of us).  After that we have to wait to get into therapy/treatment.  There are no medications that can improve this, it's all therapy, research, understanding and hard work.  I hope we can get this done before she starts kindergarten in the fall.....

Wedding plans are going well, the honeymoon is on hold since Skylar's school doesn't decide the first day of kindergarten until June.  We're honeymooning in Newport, RI - I hope all the rooms aren't booked by the time we can book them...  I need to get 2 more references so I can start applying for jobs.  Graduation is May 14th, I hope to start working May 16th so I can pay bills for June, if not we'll have to use wedding and honeymoon money to pay the bills and cancel the wedding...  I also have to figure out how I'm going to pay $135/week for daycare this summer so that I can work... 

For now, I just need to enjoy the last few weeks of college and just crank out the work on my piece.  I'm determined to finish!