Festival of Trees Platter is fired!

Today I went to the Red Cross. I've donated blood regularly for years. The main reason I do this is some sort of strange bargain with God. It is sort of one of those ways of returning the many good graces I've received. I've been to the neonatal unit at Baptist Hospital. I've seen the premature, sick, underweight, and often dying babies. I, however, was just visiting, actually on a tour of the facility.

My two boys were born totally healthy. Mathias weighted 9 lbs. and 1 ounce. Alex was 10 lbs. and 3 ounces. I've donated blood ever since. I'm CMV negative. I don't really understand what that means except that my blood can be used for neo-natal babies.

Anyway, Steve generally tries to feed me steak or something loaded with vitamins and iron after I give blood. (He's too chicken to donate after nearly passing out once years ago!) So, we went to Foxfire Grill. I ordered liver and onions. (It was delicious!) We went there because it was a restaurant we'd never tried and it was located in the same shopping complex as Two Peas in a Pod, the paint-your-own ceramic studio. (Alex was at some hardcore show at New Brookland Tavern with the Norwegian exchange student).

We stopped into the ceramic studio to look at my recently fired platter. This is the one headed to the charity fundraiser, Festival of Trees. It benefits Children's Hospital. Okay, Mathias was born healthy but spent his first Christmas in the neo-natal intensive care unit there having skull surgery. I guess I'll paint a platter for life! I'm quite pleased. This is a good thing for the day. My entry for Woman Made Gallery's national juried show "From Sham to Shame" got rejected. There were over 300 works of art submitted. Less than 33% were accepted. Oh well.