We came home from running errands this weekend and saw a neighborhood dog carrying something in its mouth. At first, we thought that it was a mother moving a puppy. No, not the mother. This was the big male. The body it carried did not struggle and it did not move. It hung limp. A cat. He dropped the cat on the grass in his yard and nosed it. It was dead.

We were shocked. We've had issues with this neighbor and this big dog before. And now, a cat was dead. The loose dog was reported to animal control. The cat was taken away. All I could think of was the final moments of the poor, black cat - full of fear. That's not something a being that is 95% tiger should ever feel. A tiny predator. 

I hope cat heaven is better than life in this neighborhood. 

​Remembering Neighborhood Cat, Name Unknown. 

I have quite a few projects to finish before the end of the year, and I find myself struggling with prioritization and overwhelm. I have 8 weeks until the end of the year and 52 days until Christmas. I have home renovations starting again (a small phase that should be easily completed) next week. All of these tiny little things - cleaning rooms out, working on commissions, finishing a wedding gift, planning for Thanksgiving, checking things off of the Christmas list - seem like they're floating around, hard to manage and organize. 

I saw a really great idea of writing down one to three things that have to be accomplished TODAY. It helps with prioritization. Ok, sealing a gift and getting it ready to mail is definitely a greater priority than wrapping a Christmas present (even though the Christmas present feels more pressing in my brain). Yes, working on a commission is important, but it's deadline is a little further out than this weekend, so I need to clear off my dining room table and prep it to move into a different room for the renovation that starts on Monday. 

So here are my top three priorities for today: 

-Pilates (so I'm moving my body and getting out of my head)
-Charging my iPad for some concept sketch work (not working on the concept sketches yet, just charging my iPad - which I have been forgetting to do for days)
-Transferring a design to a canvas (not painting it yet, just getting started). 

​Doable.