A Sleepless Soul

Happy list - Prompts list 2

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 07:32:36 GMT

Challenge 2
Day 1: LIST 10 THINKS THAT MAKES YOU REALLY HAPPY

1. Cooking

I started cooking when I was 7. Probably even earlier. The first thing I learned to make was rice. In the photo, Mama Anita and I are making rice for a party, one of my aunt’s weddings, I believe.

So of course, my specialty was always Mexican food. But when I turned 35, I went to India for the second time and completely fell in love with Indian cuisine. Now, these are my two culinary passions.

Cooking Mexican food is like making love; cooking Indian food is like making magic.

2. Max

I adopted him when he was a month old, and ever since then he’s loved curling up in my hair near my neck. He also likes sitting on my shoulders. I have 7 cats and I love them all, but Max will always be the one who makes me happiest.

4. Reading

The scent of the pages of a new book ❤️

You can here a small part of my story with books 👉Here

reading and re reading:

Baarish loves books too

5. India

I didn’t know it was possible to love a place this much. It’s hard to put into words, but being there, on the terrace of any rented house, breathing in the smells of food, seeing the colors in the streets, the kites in the sky… I can still recreate every sensation if I close my eyes. And I can’t describe it any other way, it’s the feeling of being happy because you belong to a place.

6. Drawing Mandalas and replaying the time lapse process after
PLAY👇

7. The first coffee in the morning

8. Having my own place

I have a small apartment in a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. It’s nothing fancy. More of a working class area, as people would say. Even though I have the means, it’s not very decorated or finished with expensive details because I don’t have the time. It’s not always perfectly tidy either. I can be messy due to my mental health, but having it makes me happy.

Just arriving, opening my door, and knowing it’s my place...that feeling is everything. I dreamed since I was a child of having a place of my own, filling it with books, and I did it as an adult. That feels good. And even just planning to remodel it, even if I don’t have time yet, makes me happy too.

(I dont have picture for this one because of the messy issue XD)

9. Seeing my smile in the mirror.

I’m in the final stage of my dental rehabilitation after years of covering my mouth with my hand when I smiled, feeling insecure, and going through a lot of pain when eating. I had perfect teeth in my 30s after wearing braces, but again, my mental health ruined my smile,literally, until it got to a point where I couldn’t stand or hide the pain anymore, and I decided to start the process.

It will be finished in about a month, but even now I can smile with confidence, and it makes me happy how I look and how I feel :)

(I don’t have a photo for this yet because I still don’t know how to smile for pictures haha)

10. Visiting mom and dad

They always make me happy. Since forever.

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It was more difficult than I thought...

If you wish to do this prompts too, the lists are in my profile :)

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No.1 I Wish I was better at...

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 08:30:32 GMT

1.

You read it from me before...

Writing.

But its deeper than just wanting to get better at it.

It goes back to when I was 3 years old. Or maybe even before I was born.
Mom and Dad love to read. Specially Dad. Mom tells me, on every date they went out, he used to show up holding a book. Every single time.
Then, when Mom got pregnant with me, we didnt have a television. All the entertainment we had at the time was a radio, books and art. So my mom read to me a lot, all the time. So basically, all I did during the 9 months I was inside my mom was listen to books and music.
Well, not just those 9 months, but all the time while I was growing up.

Mom and Dad didnt have much time to read to me all the time, but they did their best. At night, they used to read in a normal speed, but during the day between job, chores and taking care of their hyperactive kid, they read very, very fast!

I was amazed! And couldn't wait more to start reading. I wanted to read that fast!

So... short story long, at 3 years old they started teaching me how to read and by 4 years old I slowly read every word that was put in front of me—street signs, the market, the instructions on pantry products, everything. Truly everything.
And with my reading came questions. Lots of questions. "What does this mean?", "What does that mean?", "What is the meaning of 'What is the meaning'?

Dad got tired of my questions, so one memorable day, he got back from work with a huge box. It was for me.
It was an encyclopedia. And that’s when the best part began. I pushed that box with all my strength everywhere I went, reading new things, discovering new meanings, and admiring the illustrations.
My favorite pages were the ones that showed all the world’s flags in color, because when I was just learning to talk, my aunts taught me the capitals of every country. So those pages gave color to the things I had been repeating like a parrot since I was a baby.

I Still have it <3

Many more encyclopedias and books came with the years and a second love too. At the same time I started reading, I also began drawing. But that’s a story for another post.

I always knew what I liked, so when the time came to choose a career, I had 2 loves: Words and images.
I had been reading, writing, and drawing almost all my life by then, so it was the time to be honest.

I was better at drawing and painting.

My writings were not bad, but they were nothing special either.

(Short story inside this story: In high school, i fall in love with the intellectual guy of my class. He read a lot and wrote quite well. So it was my obvious choice. But he didnt like me in return. We were good friends and one day we gave an exhibition together at the school corridors, my paintings and his poems. We went to university, he went for literature, I went for design and visual arts. Never saw him again.)

During High School (Im in the middle)

During university and art college, I continued writing my normal nothing special poems and tales.

Second year in College

I stopped writing for 2 decades when my grandmother died. I started again at some point, and here I am now. Writing on this blog, whishing to be better at it. Although I'm better at writing in my native language.

Graduating from Design college, about to start Art college, didn't know then that I would stop writing 2 years after that. But I continued painting and reading compulsively.

And this is me know... more than 20 years later, hoping to be able to write and paint again soon.

P.S.
Remember I said we grew up surrounded by books, art, and music?
My brother is a musician. He always has been.

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You can see the prompts here if you want to join me :)

sleeplesssoul.dreamwidth.org/2560.html

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Oaxaca

Tue, 13 May 2025 09:27:49 GMT

I visit my parents three times a week, usually returning home between 10 and 11 p.m. Tonight, I fell asleep as soon as I got back, only to wake up at 1:30 a.m.—and here I am, writing. (Not to mention, I have work to do. Thankfully, it’s not too much, but it still needs to be finished before morning.)

I suppose I’ve ruined yet another attempt at becoming a morning person.

A few weeks ago, I went to Oaxaca with my parents and brother. The trip was a disaster in terms of family interactions (brother and sister interaction to be more precise), but Oaxaca itself is always a beautiful experience.

There, you find the best food, the most stunning art, vibrant streets bursting with color, and creative people everywhere—all infused with that surreal touch so characteristic of México. My writing isn’t quite where I want it to be yet, so I’ll let some images speak for me:

And this is the Oaxaca haul :D

I thought these two needed a close up:

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Writer's Block

Sat, 12 Apr 2025 23:31:54 GMT

I have been sitting in front of the laptop for several days since I came back here wanting to write something but I cant focus.
I will start treatment and increase my reading hours, hopefully that will help. So until I get better, I will be just sharing images, songs, and book excerpts.

Image of the day

From the clouds collection

I thought to follow a writing challenge to help me get back on track with writing again.
Im considering these two, but if you have any other you want to share it will be most welcome

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3 years later...

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 23:01:17 GMT

That's right, I'm back... 3 years and 3 cats more later.
I have a lot of updates, but for now I just want to share this draft I found here, I dont know exactly when I wrote it but Im guessing it was at least 2 years ago.
...........................................................................................................................................................................

R said that I am not as tomboy as I claim to be. I guess that is right, since I have this light artifact to dry some special kind of nail polish.
I do my nails sometimes, but they don't last much, either they fall because of cleaning, fixing something, playing with the cats, or I just take them off myself when I have to print an etching or something.
If you ever printed an intaglio copper plate, you know your hands end up looking like you had been fixing the car all day.
So next time you see the hands of someone who works on printing, do not rush into thinking that is dirt. That in their nails that make them look like a car mechanic, is ink. Isn't that beautiful? Not that the mechanics' hands dont have their charm as well. I like them.

Today I am just going to paint them black.

I have a small art studio here in my apartment. When I started teaching in high school, I got my first Tórculo (Im not sure about the English word for it, but it's a press to print etchings), and installed an art studio in an empty room at my parent's house.
I was 23 at the time. A few years later, when I got my own apartment, I moved the studio here and I've been fighting with myself to keep it organized since then...

And this is a song I love and my poor attempt to translate it:

Un astronauta y una bruja (An astronaut and a witch)
Viajan en una burbuja derechito para el sol (are traveling in a bubble directly to the sun)
Ese fuego que creció (that fire that grew stronger)

Si se calienta el detergente (if the soap gets hot)
Y revienta eso que sienten (and their feelings pop)
Pueden perder el control (they can loose control)
Y también la conexión (and the connection)
Certidumbre o ilusión (certainty or illusion)
Epidérmica ficción (epidermal friction)

El cree en naves espaciales (he believes in star ships)
Y en efectos especiales que nunca verificó (and special effects that he never verified)
Que en su puta vida vió (that he didnt see in his F*ck**ng life)

Ella practica con escobas (she practices with brooms)
Ve el futuro en una bola (she sees the future in a crystal ball)
Que un colgado le vendió (that a scatterbrain sold her)
Y también la convenció (and he convinced her too)
De su poder interior (of her inner power)
Esa magia de cartón (that cardboard magic)

Y en el aire (and in the air..)
Ruegan (they beg...)
Gotas de amor (drops of love)
Gotas de amor

El vago juega con la idea (he plays with the idea)
De crear un gran sistema (of creating a big system)
Que permita otra fusión (that allows a new fusion)
Otro tipo de valor (a different type of value)

Pero la bruja lo contiene (but the witch stops him)
Y adivina lo que quiere (and predicts what he wants)
Porque él ya fue y volvió(because she went and came back)
Al infierno del terror(to the terror hell)
A ese mundo tan glotón(to that glutton world)
Que te come el corazón(that eats your heart)

A veces pasa que la fiebre (some times the fever)
Sube misteriosamente y se retira sin razón(increases misteriusly and retreat with no reason)
Como toda aparición (as every apparittion)

Eh, una burbuja reventada (a popped bubble)
Ya no significa nada(does not mean anything anymore)
Y abatidos van los do'( and sad they go)
Sin creencia o religión(without beliefs or religion)
Alejándose del sol(going away from the sun)
En opuesta dirección(in oposite directions)

Un retorno eterno (an eternal return)
Al vacío (to the emptiness)

.............................................................................................................................................................................

I don't know but phrases like: "Cardboard magic", and "that glutton world that eats your heart" ...
uff... that's art...

If you want to listen with me:

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The behavior of mirrors, and cats.

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 17:48:08 GMT

I adopted a cat. Yes, another one. I have 4 now, but the other 3 were not exactly adopted, my sister gave them to me, so they were family already. This one is a real adopted one, he was wondering around the streets of some neighbourhood when my brother's boss found him.

She needed someone to babysit him later and I did. She asked then if I could keep him because he was not safe at her place. Against my mother opinion, I accepted.

Soon I learned that she gave up on him not only because he was not exactly safe at her place but because he is extremely active. But he has been a blessing, his name was Haku when I took him. Not a name I would choose for a cat of mine but its him. And here I am, some pieces of furniture less and one more cat later.

I have a new refrigerator now, thanks to R, so finally I can eat healthy again.

I finished the books and Hedwig too, and I sent them to him. Made the wand too, all is 1/6 scale.

So it's time to move to the next unfinished project, but I really need to organize, which is not my strength. I have a lot of work lately, I started freelancing in pattern making and never thought there would be that many clients. I mean, it's good, and It would be even better if I could be disciplined and organized.
I have been reading my other posts here and they are full of "i" instead of I. Its annoying! Dont know what possessed me.

From left to right: Haku, Baarish (the grey), Max (the white), Neela (the brown)
And I just realized I am the mother of a bounch of wizards haha.

I dont know why I didnt take more pictures of the books :/

And here you have your Cortázar for today. Another piece of the last book of him I re-read. You can find another piece of it in my last post and you will probably will find more in my next.

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Clock instructions and floods

Thu, 30 Sep 2021 08:06:32 GMT

Ok so, I just lost a huge post I wrote trying to check the crosspost settings ╥﹏╥
Anyway... they were just random thoughts as usual..
Summary:
1. R is my boyfriend now ( about time, after 3 years haha) and we are coping with our mental health conditions together.
2. The refrigerator is still broken.
3. My kitchen and living room got flooded because I left the back door opened and it rained really hard. (I don't want to tell you what happened with the cats litter ^ ~ ^ )
4. I'm reading Cronopios and Famas by Julio Cortazar, one of my favorite writers, and say that its amazing will not be enough so I found the translation of some parts of the book that I'm going to be sharing with you in this one and next posts :)

I'm going to write a full post about the book and probably another about Julio Cortazar, for now I leave you with this gem <3 Tell me what do you think and if you would like to read more of the author.

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Books and proposal

Thu, 15 Jul 2021 10:55:34 GMT

The books are almost ready. Recent family events kept me away from working on them. But now i painted them and only the lettering remains.. which is the most difficult part.

I have been working on a video for R too.. is a proposal. Im asking him to be my boyfriend. He states i am his girlfriend already and he ask me to marry him almost every day. But i actually never said yes officially to be his girlfriend.. which is stopping me to take the things to the next level...things like pushing him to make plans for a future together and work for that... so we are in a kind of limbo. I have been working in the video for days and im guessing is my fear of commitment what is slowing it... but im determined to finish it tomorrow. I would love to make it now but is 5 am so...

I worked a little bit more in the new pattern, and im thinking to flood the thieves forum with spam until they take my pattern down but if i dont have energy for my own work i have it less for cyber attacks.. legally nothing can be done.

R's mom explained to me that the rice cooker i got is also a slow cooker so i can make really good dishes with it but it will take hours. I made rice and pasta, for that was pretty fast. Maybe some of this days i will try something slow like a stew. Difficult since my refrigerator is not working. My neighbors messed with the electricity (trying to avoid paying i guess) and my refrigerator broke since then.

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Thieves and Rice

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 08:02:33 GMT

A piracy website stole my work and they are giving it for free since 2 months ago.

Some years ago, i quit my job as a high school teacher (actually I didn't quit, I'm just in a succession of sabbatical nonpaid years) because my anxiety and depression could not handle it anymore, details in another entry.
Anyway, since then I've been maintaining myself economically working online, teaching what i know, selling things, YouTube, etc.
One of those activities is selling crochet patterns, pretty complex ones, it takes me weeks to create every pattern, and one of those, actually my best seller, has been stolen and posted as i said in a pirate website :(
That event triggered my anxiety and i could not work for several days, or write or anything. I was working in a new pattern and now i cant find the motivation to continue.
Meanwhile the books are taking shape, i detailed them and gave the texture but for the same reason described above i didn't paint them yet... at least I see some progress.
I have been reading in Spanish, one of my favorite authors, he is a genius, Julio Cortazar is his name, his use of the language to create new realities is unbelievable, and unbelievable as well is I discover that reading in Spanish improves my writing in English. I mean, writing English immediately after read a couple of hours in Spanish feels more fluid, my grammar mistakes are still there since i learned English speaking it in India and not in a class. Hopefully writing here will help.

I made the wire soul for Hedwig as well, but I am having problems with R and is not like because I'm mad at him now I don't want to continue making his gift, i feel inspired to do it, also I feel excited to send it to him, even with the problems, but anxiety drains my energy and fill my brain with a world of words that do not let me do anything, or have a minute of inner peace.

In other news I just order a slow cooker, crock pot or whatever it is called, in Spanish we call it rice cooker. I have been cooking since i was 7, long tradition of women passed trough generations, same recipes, same procedures, so adding a twist of technology to the practice will be interesting.

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Remaking old drawings into digital paintings

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 11:01:56 GMT

Just that... some time ago i started a project to make digital paintings inspired in old drawings. I started working on it again and this is the first one i finish. The original drawing, im not sure but can be dated around 2007 when i was working with archetypes. Back then i was in love with a man who was 20 years older than me, also artist and designer and i learned a lot from him. I learned italian, i learned to use my skills to create and not only reproduce reality, and many things more that belongs to another post. Now i remember i made and share this drawings in my old livejournal, where i met him too.

So here you have the original sketch and the digital painting.

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New try

Fri, 21 May 2021 10:36:03 GMT

Again sleeping at 6 am.
Its not good, i know. Specially for me, but i cant help it.
Im going to my parents house every day from 2 pm until night. Coming back at my apartment i have only nights to do my things, and ive always been more active at nights so.. its like this.. sleeping at 4 the earliest and obviously waking up just on time to go there.
Many projects on hold.
Today i had time to make the blocks again for the books. Tomorrow will leave my arms sanding them and if im lucky i will be able to start shaping them.
Here you can see the difference between 1/4 and 1/6 scale.
I will make the bigger ones too and keep them for myself after i send him the others
For now lets finish these first..

I cant wait to start making hedwig, i want to achieve something like this 👇 but more realistic since im going to use wool and feathers

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1/6 Scale Books and Brain Glitches

Thu, 20 May 2021 06:40:47 GMT

It's my first entry here.
But no.
As probably many, i had a journal here many years ago, and since then I didn't find a blogging place that feels like LJ. But that is the topic of another entry, I'm not going to make a proper introduction now.
I'm working on a 1/6 scale replica of Hedwig standing on some books, the books obviously the same scale. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's Harry Potter stuff. The man I'm dating likes to display his movies with figures and props, so I thought it was a good idea to make something nice for him. The plan is to make Hedwig in needle felting and sculpt the books in epoxy clay.
I was working happily stressed (as in every project) when it occurred to me that I should show him the progress, which was the initial sculpting of the clay blocks... (he does not know I'm making them for him) and his first reaction was: they are coming out perfect but that is not 1/6 scale...
Yeah, he has the superpower of noticing inaccuracies faster than flash running :/
I did not believe it, but then I checked the dimensions and my annotations, and (again :/ ) he was right, i made the books 1/4 scale, all my notes and measurements matched the 1/4 scale, but I swear I planned it to be 1/6 :(
Now, maybe this not much of a problem, but I'm going through really hard times in my life and I have always suffered from short memory loss, so this makes me think I'm getting worse..or something..
I don't know...
Here you can see the blocks in what I thought was 1/6 scale and in pencil how it should be... u_u

So I'm going to start over and post the updates here.. stay tuned..

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Hi

Thu, 20 May 2021 04:50:03 GMT

I was thinking to make this blog the Spanish version of my Livejournal, but i didn't find many Spanish speakers here so i guess im going to just copy and paste my entries since i don't want to mess with that crossposting thing.
with the time, every space gets its own personality so i'll see how this goes :)

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