Fashion and Gender Stereotypes

I'm at a loss today. I wanted to share fashion from NY Fashion Week, but ick! Lots of really unwearable styles that only a Kardashian could or would wear, street slouch without much appeal, and it seems that the bra has become the new everyday top. Well, maybe in New York if you're very skinny and under 25, but not here in the Midwest when you're fighting to keep a reasonable weight and are over 60. Bah humbug! I want someone out there who will design for a real person - the working girl of 30-50 years of age, the overweight person who can't find fashion anywhere, or the girl who doesn't go clubbing the moment she steps out of her job in the Financial District. Who buys these fashions anyway?

Here are some selections from Alexander Wang. Note - if you're not less than
115 pounds and under thirty years of age, you won't look good in these! 

Women get down and dirty. They're cops, cowboys and firefighters. They're all of those jobs that were usually illustrated by males in the storybooks I read as a child. Sure, women are nurses, teachers and mothers. But they're also garbage haulers, miners, and astronauts. I can't think of many, if any, jobs that are traditionally performed by men that cannot and are not also being worked by women.

Blend these together and you have a real person of any sex. All people can
be hurt emotionally, can weep in grief, can be analytical and can be nurturing. 

Fortunately there's cross-over the other way too. There are Mannies, not jut Nannies. There are male bank tellers, food waiters, teachers, nurses and receptionists. Motherhood isn't restricted to women; although men haven't managed to actually give birth, motherhood or the act of mothering is an important aspect of parenthood. Those sexual stereotypical lines drawn in the sand when I was a child have blurred and are disappearing. Thank goodness!

Gender stereotypical advertising like this was common when I was
growing up. Women were at home (although some had outside jobs) and
they were also responsible for all of the housework and child-rearing. 

There are still geographical or religious pockets where men's jobs are men's and women's jobs are women's, even in this country of job equality. Those barriers are breaking down and crumbling more and more every day. Still, although I want job equality, I also know that men are usually stronger, often taller, and also often faster than women in many situations. So, if given my choice, and while I'll still envy the ease with which the guys swim in the lane next to me, I'll be happy to have more males than females in the fire department and police department, and I'll leave most of the armed forces in active combat positions to men. However, I want to see women in all of those positions too.

Do I really care about who is wearing the uniform? Hell no! I want someone
wearing it who can perform the job. Man or woman - no difference. If my house
is on fire, I want someone putting that fire out who knows how to do it best. 

So here's to sexual diversity - male, female, and the many stages in between the extremes and stereotypes. Let's celebrate our differences and emphasize our similarities. Let's admit that we're all people who deserve equal respect and opportunity.

Face Off is on tonight, so I'm a happy person. Have a wonderful Tuesday, and remember to spread some kindness today.

What a Crazy Place to Live!

I should have asked for the loan of some dogs last night. It was, and still is, frigid! Right now it's 1 F/-17.2 C but feels like -9 F/-22.7 C but we're in for a crazy week - the kind of week that will cause people to get sick, just because of the temperature swings. We'll be at the absolute low while I'm in the gym, and then start creeping up. By midnight we'll be at 19 F/-7.2 C, when I awaken tomorrow we'll be at 22 F/-5.5 C and by mid-afternoon tomorrow, we'll actually be warmer than 40 F/4.4 C. We'll stay in the 30 F - 45 F (-1.1 C - 7.22 C) range through the entire week next week. Crazy!! From a three dog night to balmy, almost jacket weather - that's the joy of living in the Frozen Northlands.

Three dog night isn't just a band from the late 1960's, but
rather is an indication of how many sled dogs you should
cuddle up with to survive the deep cold of the night. 

The beauty of this is we'll lose more of our snow pack. We might even see some grass! However, the warmer weather over the next week might start fooling some of our trees into thinking it's an early spring, which can cause problems and sometimes kill the trees when we dive right back into winter later on. It's February and we're not finished with winter yet.

Melting snowpack can be a beautiful thing to see, but if it comes
too early and stays too long, it can kill our fruit trees. They start
thinking it's spring and begin to put out buds. Unfortunately, the
buds will die when we drop back down to more normal temps. 

I spent more than two hours editing my short story for the Taboo Challenge at SWG. Crazy to spend so long on a story that clocks in at under 800 words, but that's the way it went. I'll get that posted a bit later this morning. It's been so long since I've put a story out at their website, I'll have to take some time to make sure I get it right. If you look for it, it's titled "Solitude" and should be up for reading by mid-morning or so.

The original group of contestants for Project Runway Junior, Season 2 started
out looking like this. Only six remain now, and after tonight, only four will
be left standing. 

Of course, tonight will be a very exciting night on Project Runway Junior - the last night before the finals and a night with a double elimination. I suspect Hawwaa will be one of the two eliminated, but who the second one will be is anyone's guess. It'll be fun to watch, though. I might catch the last 30 minutes of MasterChef Junior's first episode just before PR Jr. And did you catch Face Off on Tuesday night? It was a non-elimination week, and the format was changed slightly with the challenge being "Monster High" and the judges being a focus group of fans and collectors. That was really fun. DH was astonished that the focus group were all in their 20's or older, but I tried explaining doll collectors to him and he just didn't get it. Oh well, we can't all get everything.

I was never into dolls and haven't had any reason to buy any dolls
either, but the Monster High idea is actually rather cute. After
all, where else would the kids of Dracula, Frankenstein and other
monsters go to school, but to a high school just for them?
High school angst, anyone? 

So here's to bundling up and heading into the freezing temps. On cold days like this, the pool water is so nice and cozy, no shivers necessary. I hope you have a wonderful, cozy Thursday and I'll be back to bug you tomorrow, and have a PR Jr recap on Saturday. Keep on rocking on!

Face Off, Post Cards and Meme

First of all, Face Off is on tonight, for those of you who love the show as much as I do. I'm doing the happy dance just thinking about it (another 10 calories just bit the dust). Secondly, have you sent your postcards to your Senators yet? I'm not going to tell you which concerns you should have, I think those are probably different for each one of us. But send them! Send them today!

I bought a set of four really lovely hand-designed post cards from
an Etsy artist. They are thick stock and after composing what
I wanted to write, I got them completed and mailed on Saturday.
I'm ready for the next 10 Actions in 100 Days. It should be
announced soon. 

I loved the post cards I purchased to send to my Senators. I wrote my concerns to them in multicolored pens in a spiral pattern. I want them to stand out, to not get lost in the crowd. Now I'm starting work on the Avalanche Program - a similar action with a twist. If you are interested in information on this one, message me privately. I'm still trying very hard to keep politics in the background on my blog.

Let's do a couple of days of the 365-day Meme ...

I thought this was so cute. The
drawing is by Ann C Sullivan. 

If you could do today over, would you change anything?

Well, I just woke up an hour ago, so probably not yet. But I'm sure there will be something somewhere that I'll want to have smoothed out a bit more, or an action that I will wish I had taken more time with. There's always room for improvement.

I wish I had ...

I wish I had an opportunity to spend one more hour with my parents, just to tell them how much they have meant to me over the years and how much I miss them. Who knows? Maybe they know anyway, but since I'm really not a believer in white light and welcoming hands after death, I suspect probably not. They were pretty amazing people, though, and I love and miss them every day.

So let's make it through another day. I'm going to go out and shovel the small amount of snow we got overnight and head out to the gym for my swim. Here's hoping we all have a good Tuesday.

Postcards, Face-Off and Meme - A Busy Post

Postcards to send to my Senators were harder to find than I thought. I finally dropped by Etsy, found some perfect ones, and ordered them. They're already in the mail to me, so I'll get those postcards written and mailed off to my Senators within the next week. When I do, that will complete the first of the 10 Actions for 100 Days. Haven't heard of this? It's a continuation of the Women's March and I discussed it in my blog of Monday, January 23rd. (Or just follow the link for more information.)

Winter Storm Leo has hit the Western US quite hard over the past 48
hours, and now it's our turn. It seems to be veering a bit south of us,
though, so we may just get skimmed by this one. Minneapolis
is the city box at the upper right, and we're on the edge. 

I do live in the Frozen Northlands, but we've been having a week of meltdown and some nice(er) temperatures. That's going to be stopping today as the Western US sends us their snow. Our expected snow amounts and the times it will be falling keep dropping, though, so I'm hopeful we'll be on the 3-inch level instead of the 6-10 inch level. But, it's January in Minnesota. We're not going to escape snow.

I love good FX make-up. This creature, from an earlier
season of "Face-Off" was beautifully done. 

"Face-Off " Season 11 - All Stars begins tonight and I'm very happy about that! It's always been one of my favorite shows, so I'll happily join DH to watch every week for a while. If you enjoy makeup special effects as used in television and film, you'll enjoy "Face-Off". Check it out.

Onward with the 365-day meme.....

We're walking a tightrope trying to make sure we have the products
our customers want available while getting rid of others -
streamlining the stock, taking inventory, and figuring out
how to move product in alternative ways. 

What's the hardest thing you're dealing with?

DH and I want to retire. It's turning into a monumental task. I really envy people who work in an office for someone else. You can turn in your resignation, pack up a box with your stuff, and walk out the door. When you own your own place, it's a much larger situation with a broad scope. Somehow you need to stay an operational business while shutting things down in the background. It's a tightrope and I don't think DH and I are walking it with much grace yet. We'd better learn our balance quickly!

Today I wish I had more _____?

Time - for me it always comes down to time. I don't have enough time to write. I don't have enough time to do my artwork. I don't have enough time to deep-clean and organize my house. I don't have enough time to play, spend time with DH, or even go on a weekend vacation. Time - it's my friend and my enemy.

So there you go - another post completed, another day commenced. Now to plug in some pictures and get going to the pool. That's time well spent! Have an awesome Tuesday!

This, That and One Spoiler

So tonight DH and I will go look at carpeting and other samples at Home Depot after I get home from work. I'm giving up my "Amazing Race" for this since asking him to give up a hockey game, now that the Stanley Cup Playoffs have started, would be a waste of breath. But I really need to get a better handle on what he wants since the items I brought back from the decorating center didn't seem to meet his criteria. While we're at it, maybe we could pick up a new kitchen faucet too. Our current one is barely functioning and almost ready to break completely.

I want a rather basic kitchen faucet with sprayer,
similar to this,  We may end up having to get a
single knob variety, though. 

My friend Huinare got accepted to grad school for her MA in Anthropology. I'm extremely happy for her and celebrating, (virtual confetti is drifting down from the ceiling), even though I'm several states away from her. I remember the joy and relief I had when I got my acceptance letter for this so many years ago. Even though I didn't get into the school I had really wanted, grad school still turned out to be the single experience that changed my life the most, not least of which was meeting and moving in with DH. I know she'll do a fabulous job and write something outstanding for her thesis.

For those who may be confused about how the
new characters fit in to the Star Wars universe,
here's a handy little family tree put out by
our own evil empire - Disney. If they manage to
mess the franchise up, I'm not sure if the fans
will ever forgive them. And, BTW, Han shot first! 

I'm probably one of the few who has not rushed to the internet to see the new 90-second trailer for the upcoming Star Wars movie. I like the franchise and have hopes for it, and I've heard good things about the trailer so probably will see it sometime today, but yesterday was busy and things just didn't work out for me to be able to watch it. So there you have it - even though I've watched SW since the very beginning, I'm not planning to rush to the theatre to watch another episode in the saga just yet. I guess I'm still smarting from the disaster of Episodes I, II and III.

SPOILER ALERT - FACE OFF

Darla won with her four elemental characters, from left - Fire,
Air, Water and Earth. Each presentation was beautifully
conceived, but her "Air" character stole the show. It was truly
beautiful and innovative. 

We had a chance to see the final episode of this season's "Face Off" on Tuesday night and I was thrilled that the winner was Darla. Aside from her talents as an FX artist, she's from Minnesota, so I was cheering her on all season long. Next season begins in July and I already can hardly wait.

That's it for today. I've got to smack some pics into this and head out to the pool. Have a fabulous Friday!

Hockey and Books, What Could be Better?

I had a fabulous weekend, did you? I got some writing done, read a little, cleaned a little, slept a little, and spent some quality time with DH. I scanned more books into my book catalog program (I'm down to the hard ones now - the ones that are so old they don't have ISBN numbers), and we even managed to watch a missed episode of "Face Off" before calling it a night.

We finally caught up on an episode of Face Off Season 8. This was
a body painting challenge and there were two models - male and
female. Here the female is the front of the insect, the male is the
red thorax. I forget which insect they were portraying, but it was really
stunning. 

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were taken up by the annual High School Hockey Championship. Now, to most of you this might seem like a "what?" or a "yawn", but this is Minnesota - the State of Hockey - and we take our Boys High School Hockey Championship VERY seriously. We are glued to the TV for the tournament and many of the boys playing in it go on to be stand-out college and pro stars. It's watched world-wide as one of the best sporting events to occur annually. It's big time, and like other hockey lovers, we're glued to the TV.

The Minnesota Boys State High School Hockey Tournament
brings people from all over the state into the Twin Cities
and packs the hotels and the Xcel center with screaming
fans. It's the first sign of spring, the Boy's High School Basketball
Tournament in a few weeks is usually the final snowstorm.

Several years ago I was attending a local bead retreat during HS Hockey Tournament time. The retreat intersected with the Saturday games which were the two final games. I brought a portable B/W TV with me and had it set up on my table so that I wouldn't miss the games. Yes - I'm serious about my hockey - LOL.

The main splash screen of Book Catalogue is where
you start with the program. 

I mentioned I was scanning my books into my Book Catalogue program. The program is actually working really well. If you decide to get it, it's a free download and saves to your phone's SD card. The ideal is scanning in the ISBN, but so many of my books are older than the current ISBN numbering, I found it faster to just hand-enter the ISBN number. I change the cover shot if necessary, so that I have the correct cover by using the camera in my phone and cropping and rotating it as needed. I've gotten quite good at it. But I have some very old paperbacks dating into the 1960's that don't have ISBN's and those have to be hand entered - much more time consuming.

I use this screen a lot when I'm entering ISBN
numbers. Usually the search can find the book, but
often I have a different edition and need to change
the cover photo or a few small details. 

Still, I have more than 700 books already into the system and I'm almost finished with the paperbacks in my hallway bookshelves. I'll need to start on the hardcover and oversized paperbacks next, and that will require more boxes. Back to the office supply store on Wednesday for another three packs...

An entry screen for a book would look similar to
this. Lots of additional information is scrolled
down and entered where applicable including
number of pages, a review of the plot, and
other pertinent information. The final results
can be organized in any manner you choose. 

Today is a Guppy Day Monday. I hope all of you had as fun a weekend as I did (at least Sunday,m since I worked Saturday) and that you have a day of joy today.

Beading and Reissues of Some Older Writings

My day off is today and after I finish with my errands, I'll settle down with my beadwork and bead, bead, bead. I have been afraid to check the absolute deadline for my piece, but I know I'm pushing into November and it's due relatively early that month, so I'm really hauling to get this done. With several hours today, I should be able to get quite a bit accomplished (along with the shopping, laundry, and cooking dinner aspects of a normal Wednesday). I also have a repair that needs to be completed by the end of the week. I need the money that will bring to me, so I'll be taking a closer look at it today and try and whip it together tomorrow morning.

This is another piece from the 2013 Challenge. This small
handbag was beaded by Hannah Rosner. 2013 was the third
year of the Toho Bead Challenge and the first year I signed up
to participate. I was unable to finish last year, so I'm determined
to finish this year. 

I got notification from one of my craft publishers that an old project of mine is one of a dozen chosen for a new holiday e-book they'll be putting out soon. Happy me! It's a Holiday ornament cover that I designed to go over a shining Christmas ball. In fact, I have one upstairs,since I gave one to my mother-by-marriage and inherited it when she died. I designed it so that if the ball broke, the cover could be easily removed and put onto a different ball (I had cats at the time I designed it). Anyway - a few more small royalty payments for me when they release the e-book in a week or so. Yeah!

When I was still teaching classes, I designed a Christmas Tree ornament
each year. This one I submitted for publication and it was accepted. It's
been popular ever since. I wanted a Victorian look with a no-muss,
no-fuss cover that could be replaced on a different ball in case of accidents. 

And also on the re-release end, "Dragonthology" is available at no-charge through Amazon until the end of the month. It's a special "Halloween" offer that my publisher arranged. I won't get any royalties from this one since it's for free, but if you were ever interested in reading my story "Dragon Seeks a Wife" or one of the other stories in the anthology, it's a great time to pick up an e-copy.

I was thrilled to have my little story accepted in Dragonthology and
even happier that many of the reviewers loved and mentioned my
tale. It was fun. It's not the best publisher in the universe, but
hey - it looks great on my short resume - LOL. 

Not much else to say today, just trying to figure out my schedule and the best way I can accomplish maximum errands in minimal time. My usual Wednesday conundrum. I'll be talking with Aearwen later today and I'm sure we'll be talking about NaNoWriMo and writing in general. She's signed up for NaNo this year. Are you? If you are, shoot me your NaNo name and I'll add you to my buddies. It always helps to have another cheerleader and NaNo buddy.

Once again I'll be diving into NaNo. Every year I approach it with fear and
hesitation, but I always figure that at least I'll get something written in my
novel and something is an improvement over nothing. Thus - once again I
step into the breech. 

So, on that note, as the days get shorter and colder, fall seems to have moved in and winter is perched on the doorstep. Chickie's birthday is next week and we'll be celebrating with a fantastic dinner at one of the local Mexican restaurants. It seems that everyone from my end of town wants to ride with me. Oh well - at least we'll all be late together - LOL. But that's upcoming, not today, so I'll bid you all a wonderful Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow.

Face Off Season & final contestants were, Dina Cimarusti, Cig Neutron and
Drew Talbot. Of course, one of these three won, but I'm not going to spoil
it for those who may have missed the finale. It was a great show, though,
so catch it on on-demand or re-run. 

Oh - and I'm SUPER HAPPY that my favorite makeup artist on "Face Off" won it all. I liked him/her from the very first episode and couldn't be happier. Great work and a great season! (How's that for being murky enough that no spoilers can arise from my words - LOL.)

Apologies and Catch-up

First off - apologies for late responses to those kind enough to post on yesterday's blog. A variety of factors descended upon me, causing me to be unable to get back to the computer until this morning. I'll be reading and replying later today when I can take a break from work.

There are so many ways to read e-books now. Although I read on both
my phone and my NookColor, now my DH can read on his
tablet and his phone too. E-book readers and apps are fabulous
as my eyes age and vision for small, blurry print becomes more difficult. 

DH is loving his new phone in most respects, and read three chapters on the tablet last night very happily. I think upgrading him into the current electronic times was a good investment and if it keeps smiles like that on his face, all is worthwhile. He has a day off today, so I'll leave him with the tablet and he can continue reading if he has a chance to.

I admit that I tend to combine editing with
revisions, but that's usually because I have
time sensitive issues. 

I did get my Ardor in August story uploaded on Saturday night just before midnight. I went through three very extensive edits on the work, and it probably could have had at least one more, but each one takes 2-3 hours and I ran out of time. I wanted it posted before Sunday because I had a feeling time would be of the essence on Sunday and it was. Between watching the end of Le Tour de France and shopping for electronics, the day swung out of control before I knew it. I was grateful to have had time on Saturday, even though I gave up sleep (which will hit me later this week) to do so.

Here's the preliminary cast for Season 7 of Face-Off. Two of these
people have already been voted off. Episode two airs tonight. 

So, one of my favorite shows is back on for Season 7. Face Off (SyFy channel) is extreme makeup for movie effects and it's always great fun. Last week was the premier episode of Season 7 and it comprised a four-hour challenge as the final audition with two people who would be sent home before the actual multiple day challenges begin. DH and I both pegged the winner and the two who were sent home, so I guess we're used to watching the show and know what to look for after six previous seasons. I mention Face Off because it airs on Tuesday nights, so those who may enjoy it but weren't aware that it had started up again - turn on your televisions tonight.

The color progression and balance that Tanya Garvis
put into this piece are typical of her style and one reason
why I love it so much. I love color, one major reason
why I work in glass. 

I received my latest edition of Glass on Metal magazine two days ago. This is a specialized magazine for enamalists and, since that is my preferred artform, I couldn't let it sit on the table but had to rip open the packaging and start reading. I discovered an interview by Tanya Garvis and was surprised to discover that she's a local resident. I thought her work was fabulous and I'm going to try and take some time within the next week to contact her. She's doing some amazing work with color and I just love her sense of color and design.

Just look at the subtle color progression that she put into
this piece entitled "Soft Cascade". Really lovely work.
She's done smaller work for homes and larger work for
architectural settings. I'll have to try and contact her because
what she's doing is extraordinary. 

So that's about it for the moment. I hope each of you have a wonderful Tuesday. I'll be trying to do some catch-up with my writing, my blogging and my reading (while actually working at the shop) so it has potential to be a very good day :-)

A Day Off - Sleep, Errands and Rain

Tuesday nights are late nights for me (all of your night owls will laugh at what I consider late - but then again, you shiver at my early morning wake-up times). In any case, because of both Face Off and Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge, I get to bed at 10:00 pm instead of 9:00 pm. That one additional hour of sleep is important, so I let myself sleep in a little bit this morning - 20 minutes of wonderful cuddly sleep. It should have allowed me to only be a slight bit behind schedule today, but no. I couldn't find my eyeglasses. And the subsequent hunt took an additional 20 minutes of time. Suddenly my stolen 20 minutes became 2/3 of an hour and I'm running behind *sigh*.

Since Face-Off's finale was last night, Jim Henson's Creature Shop
Challenge will move into their time slot beginning next week with
Heroes of Cosplay taking the later time. I'm pleased about that because
I can get back to my earlier sleep time. Happy me! 

I have to get supplies from two different office supply companies today - better pricing on some things at each store will force me to visit two. But at least they are close to each other. I'm going to start my day out by driving back to the auto dealer and taking another, close and detailed look at the car I'm thinking about buying.

I love taking road trips. I haven't done anything major for several years
now, but I used to drive south every year to go through the Southwest, purchasing
new products for the stores I operated. These days my road trips
consist of my annual drive to Milwaukee - a mere 5-6 hours away.
Have any of you been on Route 66? As a former resident in
numerous locations in New Mexico, Route 66 was a road I was on often. 

I don't want to buy a car if my own will be fine for my annual road trip and beyond, so I've also set up a car appointment to get Grape looked at and get a realistic opinion on how much longer I can expect her to be dependable. Right now she's leaking a bit of oil, the result of a pothole incident about a month or so ago. That should be fixed and there are other issues here and there. I need dependable. I know the approximate trade-in value of my car and I don't want to put a huge amount of money into fixing it, so I'm at a crux. But the look at the new car this morning and the opinions of my mechanic next week should help me to nail the time frame on when I'll actually get new transportation.

I don't mind rainy days, but probably should buy a set of rain boots
one of these days. Wet feet aren't fun. I have a lovely yellow raincoat
that my mother-in-law bought for me when I first moved up here, but I've
never owned a set of wellies. 

It looks like I'll be running around with rainstorms today that will continue through tomorrow, so I'll be grabbing my Aussie hat with the large silver and turquoise spider for weather protection. This is a short post today, but my wishes for you to have a fabulous Wednesday are no less heart-felt than if I had written a novella. Happy Wednesday!

Yippie! Oy! and Yawn!

It's my day off - yippee! I'm really looking forward to having the time to take for myself, but I also have errands to do and places to go. My car is dripping oil since I hit a large pot hole in the road a couple of weeks ago, so I need to set up an appointment to get it looked at. But...not today.

Wal-Mart opens down the street from my home at 6:00 am this morning. 

Oy! My local Wal-Mart is opening a new store down the road from us. My DH is very excited about it, but I'm not really a Wally World fan so I can take or leave it. It opens in less than an hour and I think I'll skip going there. I'll leave it up to my DH to visit and tell me how wonderful it all is *sigh*.

I like the series, but can't watch it in long sessions. DH, on the other hand,
would happily watch hours at a time. There's a lot of violence in it, but I
read all of the books and at least know what is coming. 

He bought the set of Game of Thrones Season 3 DVD's last week, but there is an error in disk 6 and it stops the DVD player at that point. We tried it on two different players and had the problem at the same place on both of them. So I'll be off to Target today to exchange it for a different set. While I'm there, I'll pick up a copy of The Hobbit DOS while I'm there (and hopefully remember the other items I have on my shopping list).

He can watch his Game of Thrones, I'l watch The Hobbit - The
Desolation of Smaug. We'll both be happy. 

Yawn - it's always a late night on Tuesdays with both "Face-Off" and "Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge" shows. I'm dragging a bit today, so I'm grateful that I don't have an armload of errands to do. I need to get to the bank, my local restaurant is offering a great text bargain which expires tomorrow so that will be breakfast, and I'm tempted to drive out and take a close look at the Mazda I'm thinking about buying. I have to go to Target (see above) and I have chapters to beta and stories to write. This afternoon I'll be grocery shopping and finally I'll be chatting with Aearwen.

This has been a great show so far. It's only their first season, but it's
based on a Face-off style and it's working well. I like it, even though I
have a totally exhausted Wednesday because I only get five hours of
sleep after watching it. 

I'm absolutely sure that my time will be quite filled, so I'm going to end this here and get my trash and recycling together for today's pick-up. It's going to be 70 F in the Cities today so I'm really looking forward to some warm temps for a change. Have a great Wednesday!

Repair, Review and Revive

Our tax appointment went well. Although I started the day out with papers scattered all over the counters at the store, by the time I opened the doors most of them had been organized. By noon I was as ready as I was going to get, all of my bills had been paid for both the shop and my personal bills, and I was actually working the sales floor. Our appointment went very quickly later in the night and we were home in plenty of time to watch "Face Off" and the new show "Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge", which was excellent. Since I stayed up late to watch the Jim Henson show, I'm a bit of a zombie today.

Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge has ten contestants vying weekly for
a job with the iconic company. Each week one contestant will be eliminated.
It's a "Face-Off"-like format, but with a different focus and materials.
It was a great first episode and I'm looking forward to the rest of them. 

I have my "day off" today and I'll be doing my usual - errands, laundry, shopping and cooking dinner. I have to review a betaed chapter to return it to my friend and continue working on her next chapter, I have one very short drabble half-way complete, and I have a necklace repair sitting here on my desk. It's promised by the end of the month, so I'd better get going on it.

The necklace I'm restringing has multiple strands of pearls and tiny gemstones. The
gemstones keep wearing through the string (not uncommon), so we're switching
the stringing material and hopefully things will last longer this time. 

I really need a nap. I've only had about six hours of quality sleep in the last 48 and I'm questionably functional today. But it's the only day I have to get my errands done, I don't have any salad to eat and I miss my lettuce, and the trash and recycling bins aren't going to push themselves to the curb, so I have no choice. I have to actually motivate.

I'd love to indulge in an afternoon nap. 

I think I'll get some gas in the car and take advantage of a free car wash. My car is filthy from the winter/snow/salt/splash crud, and we're finally into temperatures where I won't be afraid of freezing my power windows so they won't be able to open or close.

I'm tired of winter and want it to go away!!!

The sun is getting stronger and stronger every day and even though we're still cold, the snow pack is starting to melt and I'm starting to feel hopeful that spring may finally be starting to move in. It's like taking the first box into a new dorm room. The room looks really empty and uninviting and putting the box onto the bare mattress seems like a commitment to an uncertain future. But once the box is joined by others, the bed is made and pictures are on the walls, it starts to feel like home and you're ready to take on the world. That's what spring in Minnesota is like. We just need more boxes in our dorm room before we'll really feel like Spring has moved in.

An empty dorm room has endless possibilities ahead of it. But it still needs
the other items to make it look lived in. We need our green leaves, our birds,
and our unfrozen lakes and streams to truly be ready for Spring. 

Have a wonderful and fabulous Wednesday. It's HUMP day!

Loose Ends? - NOT!

It's strange but my life is like a vacuum - no sooner does it get emptied then it immediately gets filled again. I posted my B2MeM story into the master list last night. I'm not sure when it will be revealed by the moderators, but for those of you wanting to know, I'll be putting it into my standard archives (Fairie, AO3 and either SWG or MPTT -in this case MPTT) after it has been revealed. No sooner had I done this when I had my next drabble prompt waiting in my mailbox. I also have my LOTR Community Story for the month that I started work on yesterday. So two items for me to write as well as a necklace repair waiting for me to work on. I guess I'll have a full slate for a while.

Can't I just relax and wait for the plots to come to me? Clara Bow
looks wonderfully relaxed and cute in this pic. Unfortunately, I'm
not as cute or young as she was in this pic, so I guess I'll have to
sweat the plots out the hard way...

We have a showing request for my father-by-marriage's house on Wednesday. But we've been very carefully watching to make sure we didn't have more ceiling or attic leaks due to the ice dams. We've had a good melt over the past two days, but I'm not sure I can approve a showing request until next week. I'll have to ask DH if it will be something I can approve. They'll be phoning me for my approval later this morning and I hope I hear from DH before they contact me.

Ice dams can lead to ceiling leaks. We've kept a close eye on
any leaks and have caught them, and we also raked the snow off
the roofs each and every time it snowed. It was so labor
intensive, and we still ended up with a few small leaks *sigh*. 

I don't usually watch the popular vocal contest shows - American Idol and The Voice have never really attracted me. But my Public TV station switched its schedule and instead of Antiques Roadshow on Monday nights, it has something else that I have no interest in, so I've been watching The Voice instead. Last night, the final contestant, Josh Kaufman, on this episode of blind auditions sang George Michael's "One More Try", one of my favorite singers and songs of all time. And he totally NAILED it. Beautiful. All four judges turned for him as well they should have. I've always thought George Michael to be an incredibly sexy man and wonderful vocal talent. It was a joy to hear some of my favorite song again.

The judges for this phase of The Voice Season 6 are: Adam Levine, Usher,
Blake Shelton and Shakira. They play well off each other. 

A young duo from Oklahoma also just wowed me. Alaska and Madi worked together beautifully as they sand "Barton Hollow" and were polished and interlaced like long-time professionals. They ended up with Blake as their coach and I think they'll do very well with him as their guide.

Another contestant to watch (and on Team Blake) is Sisaundra Lewis. She
wowed all four judges with her amazing voice. As a former backup singer for
Celine Dion she has the professional skills and calm. It should be a good season. 

I'm getting sucked in to the show, darn it all. I've watched it three times now and I really like what I'm hearing. I realize that this is Season 6, so I've been way behind the loop, but anyone who can pull me away from my computer screen and writing to turn around and watch them sing is making an impact.

Tonight I'll be watching "Face Off" and eating some Ben & Jerry's
Core Ice Cream. I'm already looking forward to it :-)

Enjoy your Tuesday.

Ostara and Day's Planning

Good Ostara to all of my friends and readers. Those of you not familiar with the Celtic name - Happy Spring Equinox. Yes, Spring is finally here and when I look out of my window I see growing/budding plants, birds flying together in pairs, and I see bunnies hopping across my front lawn. NOT!!!!! No, I see snowpiles of more than four feet high, grey skies, and ice patches everywhere with a temperature that will be lucky to hit 20 F (-6.66 C) for a HIGH today. Ostara? Well, it's a nice astronomical mark but my personal Spring is still a month or two away.

Good Ostara to all of you.

Today, after coloring one last pic for CB's story, I'll begin the pencil and charcoal work on her final original piece. I'm really looking forward to playing with drawing again - it's been too long since I've set up my easel. I have a ton of errands to do all over town today also, and have to remember to drop by Target to pick up some essentials plus (after all, I'll already be there...) the video of The Hobbit. DH said we could go ahead and get this but no additional copies until the combined set of all three in Director's Cut become available. I can live with that and it's at a good price for the full combined version.

I use a portable tabletop easel similar to this (not quite
as nice, though) and it's wonderfully useful.

Next week will be the final episode of this season's Face Off and I like all three of the final contestants. I won't put spoilers here, but it will be a hard-fought finale and any of the three could end up winning it all. The designs that have been constructed through the season have been mind-blowing and some of the painting skills of these artists - I want to just learn airbrushing techniques from them. Truly amazing talent.

The Face Off logo splash-screen features the hostess being
transformed into an avian of some type. Beautiful coloring.

I'm continuing to focus on artwork because I haven't found any writing that has jogged me lately. Yes, B2ME is ongoing, but I am not enamored with the format that is being used this year. But on the original fiction front, I'm pretty happy. Dragonthology is doing well as an e-edition (available as a NookBook and e-pub on March 31st) but even more exciting, it has now been issued in print now and is available at major book retailers including Barnes & Noble and Amazon. I received my author's copy in the mail a few days ago and it's a lot of fun to see and flip through the pages. One baby step to a novel of my own. If you have a desire to do some original fiction, Untold Press is still accepting stories for consideration to be included in their next anthology - Happily Ever Afterlife. If you're interested in finding out more, click the link, write a story between 5000 and 10000 words and send it to them (formatted properly). Who knows? You may be the star of the next anthology.