Are You Kidding Me?

Yes, I know this is a fictitious work. I made it. -___-

Does the above argument sound ridiculous to you? It does to me. Yet someone was trying to make this kind of argument earlier. No, not about Skittles. About pants. That's right, pants.

There's a new type of jeans out there that show rainbow threads when they start to wear down. They've been labeled as "gay jeans", and so folks are kicking up a fuss. Saying that the brand shouldn't sell to such a small market as they won't keep in business. As if that wasn't bad enough, then people started going on about what a rainbow means in the bible and that it is something sacred, and that it needs to be "taken back".

This isn't okay people. They're jeans. It's rainbow. You are not the only people who need to wear clothes. Nor are you the only people who have the right to appreciate colorful things. There is no "taking back" of anything in this. People are allowed to like rainbows. They're allowed to incorporate them into their everyday life. Regardless of whether or not their straight, gay, bi, trans, pan, not interested, or somewhere in between. 

You aren't being harmed by this. You won't go to hell because of a pair of pants (though you should be careful if they're a mixed blend of materials). Just because a group associates with rainbow colors doesn't mean you cannot enjoy said colors. You have the right to enjoy them. BUT SO DOES EVERYONE ELSE.

I'm tired of the hatred. It's getting downright dumb. It's been dumb for quite some time. So the next time you see something that's aimed towards some other group other than straight people (which doesn't actually exclude you, it just means you weren't the main objective) try and look at it objectively. Is it really something you should get offended by? Truly? Or are they just Skittles?

Think about it.

Hogwarts House Pride

So my sister over at Tea Leaves and Tiny Hats made a blog post on house pride, and suggested I do the same. Well... not one to turn down such an interesting topic I decided to oblige. Thus this post. *cough*

Ahem, so without any further ado... let's get on with it!

I became aware of Harry Potter a little later than my sister did. It wasn't until the second movie came out that I really started paying attention to it. You see, I wasn't much of a reader as a child. However, after enough nagging from my sister to read them I finally relented, and quite frankly am glad I did. I would have missed out on so much.

I've taken plenty of tests on the house subject, most being obvious as to what house you'd get, and so for a while I kept getting Gryffindor. I mean who wouldn't want to be a Gryffindor? It seemed that all the really relevant, good characters came from that house. It was only later, when I took a "which house hybrid are you" that I actually began to see the appeal of other houses. In case you're wondering I got "Gryffinclaw", a hybrid of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.

See, I thought Ravenclaw was only for those who were really smart. That's not necessarily true though. It's actually just that those in Ravenclaw value intelligence. They also care for creativity and wit, thus drawing a lot of quirky characters. When I thought about it that way, Ravenclaw really was a good fit for me. So when I took the official Pottermore test I was pleased to find out that's where I was sorted.

I'm the only Ravenclaw in my family. My mother is Hufflepuff (though interestingly enough has several Slytherin tendencies as she almost was sorted there). My older sister and her husband are Slytherins, and my younger sister (the one I mentioned before) is a Gryffindor.

Anyway, part of the whole "show your house pride" thing is to design an outfit that would display said pride. Now I could have cheated, and just used a pre-made outfit already designed for this, but I wanted to be true to the spirit of the challenge. Besides, a lot of the outfits, while nice, didn't have my kind of flair. The thing is, I'm a bit more like Luna Lovegood when it comes to style. I like things quirky. So here's my go at a Ravenclaw outfit.

I feel pretty! Oh so pretty!

...

...

...

Just kidding! While bronze armor would be bad ass, it really isn't practical outside of a battlefield. Thing is it was rather difficult for me to find anything bronze as far as clothing was concerned. At least anything that wasn't leather, pleather, or covered in sequence *shudders*. I wasn't about to cop-out and just have bronze accessories. So I spent a while searching, and eventually came up with something that I would totally wear if I had the items.

Yes, I know I didn't use the one special site that usually makes these types of things. They didn't have a lot of bronze things so shut up.

Isn't it lovely!? I think so. It's obviously a fancier option, featuring the bronze dress of fabulousness, the blue cloak of warmth, the bronze hat of epic win, and the lace embellished long glovey-thingamabobs. For makeup I decided to go with bronze eye shadow (for that slightly mysterious look), and blue lipstick (because I can). Jewelry is a simple eagle necklace, and for footwear I decided to give myself two blue options depending on whether I wanted a long boot or a short boot.

All in all I think this is a great representation of Ravenclaw, and my style. I would proudly wear this outfit at a House Pride day. Now if only I could talk someone into buying me all of the items...

Adventuring

Today my mother, younger sister, and I made plans to go to a store called Earth Lore. It's a really neat shop that has metaphysical stuff along with a lot of other nifty stuff. There is a cat there that roams the shop. Usually he's a tad antisocial, but today he came right up to me and demanded pets! It was adorable.

While there I picked up some herbs (some powdered, which make for excellent paint pigments), and had my eye on a set of wind chimes for our new place. Sadly the chimes there were a tad outside my price range. However, while in the store I came across something unexpected. It was a basket full of hand woven brightly colored bracelets! After staring at the wonderful array of prettiness I had a sudden vision of myself having several of them. Not as bracelets though, but as hair accessories. I asked my sister what she thought of the idea, and she liked it- even got one for herself to use. I, myself, ended up getting nine of them.

After there we went to eat. We got subs, and then after that went into two nearby candy stores, and a tea shop. The first candy store had a fifty-four inch gummy worm (they called it a boa instead though because of how large it was)! We did not purchase said gummy boa, but instead got giant pixie stix, and a few other items.

The tea shop was a lot more fun. They had all kinds of tea, and tea related items. One thing in particular that I found neat was they had princess teas. There was one for Sleeping Beauty, one for Snow White, and one for Cinderella. You could smell them and oddly enough the scents reminded me of said movies. It was really interesting. In the end I bought a gift for someone there.

After we left that area we ended up going to Lowes to look at riding lawn mowers. We didn't get one, but got a guide so we can do more research. We also got some plants: one for my room, one for my sisters room, and one that was on sale that my mom wants to rehabilitate. We also found a wind chime that is lovely and was the right price.

We'd only planned on going to one store today, but I'm glad we decided to go adventuring a little bit. We spent most of the day out, and it was a lot of fun. I hope we can go on more adventures in the near future.

The Many Sins of Fanfiction: Part 1

Have you ever liked a book, movie, or show so much that you were sad to see it end? Have you ever wanted to see more of those characters, perhaps in new and exciting situations? If so then fanfiction might be a good outlet for you.

Fanfiction is fiction written by fans of a movie, show, or book using existing characters and/or situations to develop new plot. These works can range from the mundane to the extraordinary, and anyone at any writing level can create them. Unfortunately, that means there comes a point where you will encounter bad fanfiction. 

I myself have had run-ins with it on many different occasions. So I decided it would be fun to make a "Many Sins" post about it. I labeled it as just the first part as I'm sure I will come back to this subject again in the future. And so, without further ado, here is the first batch...

Sin Numero Uno: Bad Writing

I personally feel you should have a basic grasp of whatever language you are writing in before you actually attempt to write. It is extremely irritating to click on something that has a decent premise only to find the story to be littered with errors. I'm not talking using the wrong tense occasionally, or the wrong two (to? too?). I meen righting lyke this, ohkay? It isn't hard to click the little spell check button. So PLEASE USE IT! Otherwise I'll get twitchy, and immediately stop reading.

Sin Number Two: Bad Dialogue

Similar to the first, but not the same. This one is easy enough to avoid. Just read your dialogue out loud. If it doesn't sound like someone would actually talk that way in real life then chances are you need to reword some things. Also use moderation. There's nothing worse than like hearing someone like speak like this like they're a freaking like ditsy like person! Like. *shudders*

Sin Number Three: Bad Plotting

So you've killed a character off. Good for you! That jerk deserved to die! But... you really liked writing his character. You miss being able to put him into situations where he gets to sass at everyone in a thirty mile radius. He was fun. So you decide to bring him back. Yay! Except bringing him back doesn't make sense in the story. But, like I said, you miss him. So you do it anyway. Sure you have to make up a convoluted reason as to why he was able to come back from the dead, but your fans won't mind. He's a fabulous character! Who cares if it seems forced! To hell with sense! 

Except... it does matter and people do care. It doesn't matter how awesome a character is, or how awesome a story is. If things start to teeter on the edge of what the frickity frack was that ridiculousness then you are in serious danger of losing your followers. The thing with any plot idea is that there has to be at least some semblance of believe-ability. Otherwise there is a disconnect, and the last thing you want is your followers to disconnect from you and your work.

...

Those first three deal with bigger structural issues of fanfiction. These next ones however are sins that I consider to happen out of pure laziness.

The Sin That Comes After Number Three, Also Known As Number Four: Extreme OOCness

 OOC means out of character. The reason why I say extreme OOCness instead of just plain OOCness is because as a fan writer you will always, ALWAYS make the characters from your fandom a little out of character. After all you were not the one to originally create said characters so it's not something you can help. The characters are also going into situations that you can only guess as to how they might react.

The key here is that you have to try. Mind you the rules are a bit more bendy in an AU (alternate universe), but you have to at least get a basic grasp of what the character is like, and then try to figure out how that character would react in certain situations. If you are making a fanfiction where the main guy character is the strong and silent type then it is not okay for you to suddenly break character for him and make him into a gigantic crybaby just because he stubbed his toe. Just like with bad plotting, if your rendition of a character is not in some way believe-able then your followers won't buy it, and they certainly won't continue on with your story.

The Fifth Sin: Gender-swapping

There is a right, and a wrong way to gender-swap. It all depends on your reasons for doing the swap in the first place. Unfortunately the main reason people use this idea is because they are uncomfortable writing the character(s) with their normal gender identities. You usually see this with people who want to write romance between two characters who are of the same gender normally, but are uncomfortable with the idea of writing two guys or gals getting together. So they switch one so that there is only one guy and one girl.

I could rant for a long time about why this one bothers me, but I'll spare you the dramatics. Hopefully it's obvious why this one gets people into loads of trouble, and if not... well whatever. On to the next one.

Sin Number Six (The Last Sin... For Now): Nicknames

I can't stand this one. It just. Uhg! So annoying. Now I'm not talking about using nicknames that sound good and would make sense for a character, nor am I talking about using a nickname as a tool to be irritating to said character. I'm talking about a continual use of a nickname instead of a character's given name that makes very little if no sense what so ever. Want some examples? Well let's see... in the Avenger's fandom I have personally seen Tone for Tony Stark, and Lokes for Loki. As you can see both character have four letter names so what is even the point of nicknaming them? I've also seen in the Merlin fandom, people using Arty for Arthur, which no. And the worst I've seen so far (again from the Merlin fandom) is Merls for Merlin.

Again, it's obvious as to why this one is a sin, and if you don't see as to why it is then I'm afraid there is no hope for you.

And so ends The Many Sins of Fanfiction: Part 1

I hope you enjoyed yourselves. Be on the lookout for another part in the future.

Oversights Lead to Ouch! That Hurts!

Today I relearned a lesson I should have already known in full. It is a lesson that involves cats, though this time it was the cat above specifically. The lesson? Don't give a cat the opportunity to use your neck as a spring board.

I learned this when I was younger. One of our cats had wanted out of my arms and up onto something, and as a result I got my neck gouged pretty good. I still have a scar from it. Well today the same thing happened. I was holding October with the intent of putting him on a bookshelf. However, I forgot that the plant on said bookshelf was cat grass, and in his rush to get at it I was used as a spring board. It would have been fine if it'd been my chest; I was wearing a robe. Unfortunately though his back legs landed on my throat, and double unfortunately we haven't clipped his back claws recently.

He got me in a few places on my neck, and at first it didn't look bad at all. But then a minute went by and the suckers started bleeding, quite a lot actually. I knew it wasn't anything too bad though, it just looked bad. I bleed rather easily you see. So I cleaned it up, got a gauze pad, taped that on, and then to keep pressure on it wrapped a scarf around the area. Then I went right back to organizing the books (which was what I'd been doing previously to this incident).

It's a pain in the butt, and I have to be careful with it otherwise the tape will come off. It also aches somewhat. Hopefully it'll heal quickly, though I am curious as to whether or not it'll scar. That might look cool. Anyway, to those of you who own pets, BEWARE! DON'T DO WHAT I DID! PROTECT YOUR NECK!

You have been warned.

Analyse This: New Bed

Wow. Okay. Did you know that analyse can also be spelled analyze? 

I look at both and they both seem wrong! Gah! 

Anyway, onto the subject of this post: I am getting a new bed.

I bet you're wondering what the big deal is. I mean it's just a bed, right?

WRONG!

You silly sausages, do you honestly think if it was that simple I'd be talking about it?

Well... maybe I would. But that's not the point! Perhaps I should get to the point you say?

Great idea!

This is no ordinary bed. It's not simply a mattress replacement deal here. 

I am getting a brand new bed. A bigger bed. 

I'm talking with a head board and foot board here!

*flails around like a crazy person*

Still confused? Wondering why I'm nervous about it... 

maybe even freaking out a little, tiny bit?

Truth is... I don't really know. I mean I am excited for it. I am. 

I get bouts of giddiness. But then I hesitate. I feel... apprehensive. 

The question is why though? Why does something as

small as a bed freak me out, even just a little?

I have a couple of possibilities for you.

1. It's, le gasp! Change.

2. I don't get to have nice things.

Now I think my problem is a combination of both of these things. 

There might be more to it,  I'm not sure but let's just roll with these at the moment. 

We shall start with the first one. The dreaded change.

Don't get me wrong, I've had a lot of change in my life and consider myself decent at

rolling with the punches. However, I think it's precisely because I've had a crap ton

of change in my life that the small changes are what trip me up.

Also, if I think about it, the size of my bed has been a constant in my life. 

I've always, always had a twin bed, and I'm getting into the thick of my twenties. 

That's a long time to have a certain type of bed. Also I've only really had two frames in my life. The first I had for forever; it was the top bunk of a set of bunk beds. 

The only reason we got rid of it was because it died and could no longer be put back together.  The second is currently sitting in our garage, still wrapped up in plastic from the move. It wouldn't fit up the stairs, and if we were to take it apart it wouldn't be able to be put back together. Thus, the need for a new bed.

But it bothers me that I can't use my still perfectly good bed. It's not dead yet, so why should I get a new one? This brings me to the second issue.

I don't get to have nice things. This could also be interpreted as new things. I get stuck in this way of thinking that if something works then I should keep it. I shouldn't trade up for something better, I should just wait until it falls apart. This applies to big things and small alike.

I think it's a self-esteem thing? Maybe? Or maybe it could be the fact that these things,

though not as good as they once were, are mine and so I don't want to give them up? Oh!

I think that one is true. Let's add it to the list.

3. I'm somewhat possessive of objects already established as mine.

I think I feel sorry for the objects I'm letting go. 

Like I'm saying they're no longer good enough or something, and so I feel bad. 

Wow. Giving yourself a guilt trip over an object. *shakes head*

Anyway, back to number two. No, not that number two. Anyway (again), I don't

get this way when other people need things. Only when I do, which further suggests

the self-esteem thing. I worry that if I get something new/better, that that means someone

else won't be able to get something when they need it. So then I feel bad.

Yay guilt trips! *rolls eyes*

The good news? I know that my feelings are a tad irrational. I can reason out

why certain things are necessary, and that me having things is, in fact, a good thing. 

I'm a lot better at this then I once was. The other two numbers are something that

I can handle with perhaps a bit of a pep talk, and if that doesn't work then a swift

kick in the rear should do the trick.

Because in the end this is just a bed. I will probably have many other beds in the

future. And that's okay. It's no big deal. It's normal. It's so normal it's mundane and boring. Therefore there's no need to get stressed out over little rediculousnesses (totally not a word) that won't matter in the long run anyway.

And with that said, I need to go organize the library.

Does anyone have any other theories about this subject? 

Comments? Rude gestures? Sparkly pinatas?

Let me know in a response.

It's Okay... Just Be Yourself

Picture this: Your doing something. This thing is something you enjoy. However, every now and again you pause. You get self conscious. You get embarrassed. You feel the need to justify liking whatever it is. Not anyone else, but to yourself. You remind yourself that it's okay to like things. That because you like them you aren't somehow some strange, abnormal thing that should be shunned away. It's fine. You're fine.

Maybe you haven't experienced this. Maybe you have. All I know is that this is something that I deal with a fair amount. Not all the time, but enough to be annoying. Enough to keep me on edge. I don't like those moments. I don't like checking myself, doubting myself like that. I know in part where it comes from.

My past, for one thing. As a child I felt that there were expectations I had to meet, and that no matter what I did I could never meet said expectations. Some of them were from my family (a few real, but most imagined) while others came from peers, teachers, or religious folks. It was really rough for me, and took me a long time to realize that what some people said didn't matter in the long run. It took me even longer to realize that in some instances I'd been brainwashed, or indoctrinated if you prefer.

I'm still a work in progress. I know more pauses will come in the future, and that sometimes I'll have setbacks. Sometimes I'll breakdown and freak out, wonder what the hell is wrong with me. But I also know that those times won't be the majority, and that when they happen they won't last. I won't be beaten by fear, by doubt. I will be myself. With all my wonders. With all my flaws. Everything.

I encourage you all to do the same. 

May your own journeys be filled with more ups than downs, 

more joy than sorrow, more tenderness than pain, and plenty

of whatever it is that makes life worth living for you.

Le Sigh...

So we've moved into our new house and everything is going great!

Except...

we're sick.

And...

there's no running water.

Sooo... addressing the first thing. I believe I started this whole thing off. I got sick, went to see the doctor, he gave me penicillin and sent me on my way. I started to get better, took the whole week's worth, and while I was doing that my sister got sick. Now my mom is sick, and I am too... again.

Went back to the doctor. Guess what he did. Any ideas? Whelp, he gave my sister a different kind of antibiotic than he gave me. For me? He checked my ears, took some blood to test for allergies, and sent me on my way. So apparently he thinks my issue is allergies... oh and salivary stones. Coughed one of those babies out right in front of him. But it's "nothing to be concerned about". Uh huh. Suuuure doc. 

The water thing is a bit of a pickle. We had some for about half a day. Then the thing crapped out on us. We've had a guy come out, and he's still not 100% sure what the issue is. Thankfully my family has had to endure worse conditions than this before so we know how to rough it for a bit. It's just... uncomfortable. Our landlord is doing everything in his power to get things worked out, which is nice. Most landlords we've had aren't so good at their job. It's awesome to have one now that cares.

All in all I'm just a little bit miserable right now, but doing my best to cope. Hopefully things look up soon. That's all for now. This is Kimi, signing out.

Peace!

Moving On...

So, in a few days I'll be moving. I've moved several times in my life so I know how it goes. You pack everything up, sifting through it as you go, and whatever you have that no longer works for you you then give away, or get rid of in some way. Usually this process hasn't been too hard for me, but this time around was trickier than the others.

You see, when it comes to holding onto stuff from childhood I'm the one who has kept the most stuff. I have pieces ranging from about five years old and up. Both of my sisters have one, maybe two items from that time (not including things like pictures, school awards, and whatnot). I had somewhere in between seven and twelve.

Don't get me wrong, I've downsized my collection of things before, however it was usually by one or two things. This time around I got rid of several. Some were easy; they were items I received later on in childhood, and while I had fond memories of them I wasn't as attached.

There were, however, two in particular that I did have a special bond with, that I had a hard time letting go of. So I decided to compromise with myself and take pictures of them with the intent of posting about each one here. All right, here goes!

First is the Furby! This is not your newer version, but one of the old ones. She's just a little bit creepy isn't she? As she is a Statue of Liberty version she was dubbed "The Statue of Furby". Yes, creative I know. I got her at my sisters' birthday party. This was one of the years my parents decided to not only have their birthdays together, but they also decided to invite a ton of people.

I admit, whenever they had birthdays together I would get jealous. It always seemed so much more spectacular than any of my birthdays. However, I tried to take it like a champ and not get too melancholy. So it came as a huge surprise to me when the last gifts also had one for me! I was super excited. It made me feel included, which was really all I ever wanted. So we all opened them up at the same time and found we had Furbies. My older sister got a graduation one, my younger sister got a sort of speckled one, and I got the one above.

We got right to annoyed our parents with them. It was a lot of fun. Of course after the novelty wore off, my older sister got tired of hers. So then my younger sis and I annoyed her as well. We'd feed them (not real food, obviously), get them to say things, and swing them around really fast. All in all it was great fun. However, then their batteries started to die, and well... that's when they started to seem a little creepy. At least to me anyway. We realized that sometimes they wouldn't go to sleep, that their eyes would just stay open... staring at us.

So like I said, great times! We never really put batteries in them again. I did once, but then my Furby needed to be washed (which I took the batteries out for). She never worked after that. You'll notice she's missing her eyelashes. That's due to them falling out. But then she is over ten years old.

This next one is a little more complicated for me. He is much newer than my Furby was, but he represents a stuffed animal far older. This is the story:

When I was young I had a bear. I took him with me on many of my grand adventures, getting him muddy, wet, you know the drill. I even took him to a hospital event where he got a cast. His name was Teddy. Now there is a great mystery surrounding that bear. For one evening I had set him down on my bed and went to dinner. However, when I came back afterwards he was gone. I looked for him everywhere. So did my mom, but there was no sign of him. Days turned to weeks, weeks to months, and eventually I knew that wherever he was he was not coming back.

It broke my heart. He was my bestest most favorite of bears. To this day I still don't know what happened to him. This brings me to the bear above. His name is Teddy the Second. We found him one day while shopping. It was amazing. There he was, just as we were passing by. I stopped, stared, then showed him to my mom. Sure, he had clothes on, but I knew... this bear was an exact duplicate of my bear. So she got him for me, and I started a friendship with him.

He and I haven't had as many adventures, but I did perform surgery on him. He was very brave to let me do that. However, I realized that I wasn't doing him any justice by holding onto him. I knew some other child would play with him, have adventures, and love him dearly, and all without having thoughts of another bear at the same time.

Intense feelings for a stuffed animal, I know, but when you really get down to it there are lots of people who develop real attachments to their things, especially those from childhood. People also have a range for when they can let go of said things. I'm just one of those people who has taken a bit longer.

You should have seen my room when I first became an adult. I still had most of my stuffed animals throughout the years. Now I have only a few, small ones with which I have great sentimental attachment to. (I also have some anime plushies, but they're a tad different in my opinion.)

But yeah... moving on is hard. It feels like you're leaving everything you've ever known or loved behind. It doesn't have to be that way though. You don't need to keep the items to keep the memories. And you can always take a picture like I have. Speaking of pictures, I need to find that one of Tigger Tiger (he was a very special beanie animal that was much bigger than me for a good long time). I'll have to show him to you all another day.

Ta!

^-^

The Wonderful World of Cat Videos

You haven't really been officiated into the cybernetic world of the interwebs until you've seen a cat video. It's  hard to get anywhere in this cyberspace without somehow tripping over a video of a kitten whining for food, a grumpy-looking cat seemingly judging you, or any other variety you can think of. Cats are as diverse as humans, and we all love us a good cat vid (unless you don't like cats, which in that case I say to you GET OUT).

Anyway, today I finally broke into the world of cat videos for the first time. No, not as a viewer, but as a creator. It was a simple video, only a little less than forty seconds long, but it was still an adorable little introduction to one of our furbabies. His name is October.

This is a recent photo of said furbaby.

October is our oldest, and crankiest of furbabies. As you can see he is a lovely, little, black kitty with pretty yellow eyes. I am his favorite (much to his owner's annoyance), and he spends most of his time hanging out in my room.

So, back to the video. I decided to test the waters by taping him with my new camera I got for Christmas. I'd taken a few with him deeply entrenched in my blankets, but finally on the third try he emerged just enough so I could get more than just his eyeing me or biting my fingers (which is his way of saying "Back off! This is my cave!). It took me all of a half hour to complete, and that's with dinking around. So if any of you would like to take a look then here's the link:

A Kitty Short

I hope you enjoy it.

^-^

Projects

Okay, so today I'm going today I'm going to talk about some projects I am working on. A little back story is first needed. So...

I have 13 different projects listed that I need to get done. Some are small and can be finished in one sitting while others are much larger and will take months, or even years to finish. Of these 13 projects I have 7 of them already in some stage of work. There's a lot to be done, and relocating (a 14th project coming up) doesn't make it any easier.

However, some of my projects can be streamlined a little so that I can continue working on them, and working on said projects will actually help with the moving process. The first of the projects is consolidating writing articles from a rather large stack of magazines into a writing binder. I've already gotten through a few of them, and once I finish this I will no longer have a tower of paper threatening to topple over every time I move my feet wrong.

The second project is one I've been working on for years. I say years because I've been saving up old/holey pieces of clothing that I liked and am making them all into patches for a quilt. I have wanted to make a quilt out of my (and some of my sister's) things since I was a child. We're talking 7 years old. However, when I was young my mom accidentally gave my bag of old clothes away. I was... rather distraught about that, and for a long time didn't try collecting any more for fear of the same thing happening. Around the time I was 18 or so I decided to start anew. Since that time I have amassed a fair amount of clothing which has periodically been made into patches. I'm hoping that soon enough I will have enough to make my quilt.

The patches won't all be similar. They are various colors, cloth type, and whatnot. They are all, however, roughly the same size (7 1/2" x 7 1/2"). Once I have enough I'll sew them all together, after learning how to use a sewing machine mind you, and then I'll have a nice quilt! It will look kind of like the below only waaaaay cooler.

The third project I've only started recently. It is similar to my quilt idea only it won't take as long. I have plans to also make a patchwork scarf. Those squares are 3 x 3  and unlike the quilt will have some repeating square types. I imagine it will look something like this:

Again, only way cooler. Not sure if I'll have fringe on the ends or not, but we'll see. I'm almost done with the bag of old clothes/stuff I have. I only have 5 or 6 more pieces to go through. So in 2 days I should no longer have a big, bulky bag and instead have a neat, little box ready to move to the next place.

I won't worry about sewing until after the move. I probably will need some more pieces of fabric anyway. On that note I need to remember to take another look at my sister's fabric stash. She might have something I'd like to use. Hmm...

Well until next time!

^-^

It Isn't Nice

It isn't nice to belittle people.

It isn't nice to make someone feel like crap.

It isn't nice to dismiss someone.

It isn't nice to make people feel stupid.

It isn't nice to say "come to me with things" 

only to later on turn away and scoff.

It isn't nice; not at all.

It's things like this that make people averse to telling you things.

It's things like this that make people think you care only about your own stuff.

It's things like this that separate you, and close you off from others.

And then you wonder why nobody lets you in.

You hurt people.

You say your sorry (sometimes), 

but then you go back and do it again.

And again.

And again.

You want people to like you?

You want people to care?

The first step to getting those things

is to first be willing to change.

Then you must actively try to change,

to seek out ways to be good to others.

Because if you keep up this behavior

you'll wind up very lonesome,

and have no one else to blame

but yourself.

Residence Relocation

I've got big news from London! Big news!

Okay, not really from London, but I do have news. Can anyone name that quote by the way? *cough* Anyway, we had an interview the other day about a house.

not an accurate picture

It's a very nice house, with a lot more room than our current one. It has a ginormous backyard, around 4 1/2 acres, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and f course the other standard rooms you usually get plus 2 more. It's really nice and so we decided to try our luck at being the next tenants. It took a lot of time, and paperwork, but we secured an interview with the landlord. It went really well, and it looks like we've got ourselves a new house! Hurry! Doot do do dooo! That's a triumph noise for those of you who don't know.

So yeah, we'll be moving. It'll be interesting as the house is in an area we've never lived in before. We'll (my sister and I) be in upstairs rooms again, though they're a tad different as this time our walls are slanted. Hopefully that won't hinder us too much, though I know it means I won't be able to hang up my artwork anymore. Hopefully I'll be allowed to display it in other areas of the house.

So yeah, some lifestyle changes will have to happen, but I believe it'll be for the best in the long run. We're hoping to make the switch from old house to new come March 1st, but we'll have to see whether or not that's feasible. In any case I need to start taking a look at the things I have and getting rid of any of it that I don't want to haul to the next place. Eh... I'll do that later.

Well that's all for now. Wish me luck!

Common Mistakes with Painting

Today I'm going to talk a little about common mistakes while painting. These aren't some top five I found in some article or anything, but are ones that I find myself on the wrong end of. Maybe you do some of these too. Who knows? Let's find out together shall we?

1. Impatience

This one is pretty obvious. When you get impatient about wanting something to be finished then you don't produce your best work. You end up pushing the paint around instead of actually finishing, and that my friend leads to mistakes.

2. No Clear Vision

Now this one isn't always a bad thing. Some of my neatest paintings have come from just rolling up my sleeves and diving in without any idea of what I want. However this way of working can easily backfire, and you end up with more of a mess than anything else. 

It's especially dangerous if you have an idea of what you want to do, but no idea how you want to go about doing it. I had this problem recently. I wanted to do one particular type of landscape, but dove in first without an idea of how to proceed. It was only after I'd started that I looked at reference pictures and as a result had to redo some of my work. It was a downward spiral from there, and I ended up scraping the project instead of wasting more paint on something I couldn't save.

3. Over Correcting

This one I know is common among most artists. It's when you see something you don't like, and so you correct it. Only then you see another thing. And another. And another. Soon your painting has changed so much you no longer like it. You can also correct so much that in your correcting you make a blunder.

I did the latter of the scenarios once while doing an intuitive painting. It was really gorgeous, but had a couple of white spots. In trying to correct the white spots I completely messed up the flow of the painting to the point where it couldn't be salvaged.

4. Not Letting Things Be

There comes a point in painting where you need to walk away. It could be you've spent too much time looking at the darn thing and you're starting to go cross-eyed, it could be you don't know where to go from where you are and are feeling hopeless, or perhaps it feels like it might be finished, but you aren't sure.

When you become unsure it's best to take a breather and walk away. Sometimes that's all you need. Sometimes you need more time. What you're hoping to achieve is a different state of mind. A fresh outlook. If you don't do this and just stare at the canvas you won't get anything done, or worse you make a mistake that messes it up. The same thing is the case for something that's finished, but you're unsure about it. If you don't sit on it you can end up having to redo the whole thing.

5. Not Trusting Yourself

This is a big one. Ultimately, with anything in life, you must trust yourself. If you aren't able to listen to that part of you that tells you it's enough, to do something this way instead of another, or to not put the paintbrush in your mouth then you end up with a lot of problems. You must have confidence, at least a little, or you'll never get anything done. What's more, when you have finished you'll be easily swayed by the comments and criticisms of others.

So these are my top five issues I have while painting. They don't always come out, but when they do it's super annoying! However, if I just chill a bit, relax, breathe, and then re-access the situation usually I can get through whatever the problem is. So if any of you suffer from these issues make sure you try to do the same.

I wish you luck in all of your creative endeavors.

^-^

Why With The Annoying Things!?

Arrrrrrggghh!

That is how I am currently feeling. Why, you ask? Why indeed! Well, there's only the little issue of one of our cats getting a little friendly with my blankets again. Nothing new really. Although this time it was because I left a hoodie on my blankets that I had on when visiting my sister's place. They have an unfixed cat there. So yeah... big whoopsie on my part.

Still, this isn't the first time he's done this, or even the second time. He done it four times (that I remember anyway) to my things, and at least once to his owner's. These are at random times, and are usually far apart, but the last time he did this was last week. Last week! Gah! And he did it around the same time too, as in right before I was going to go to bed. 

After I went to put my things in the wash he started to follow me, giving me this "are you still mad at me" look. It was pathetic and clearly a ploy to get back into my good graces. It did not work. Instead I sent him to his mother's room to stay in for the time being. He was less than pleased.

So now I'm here typing this, and waiting for my linens to finishing washing. Then I'll put them in the dryer and wait some more. *SHAKES FIST*

Poetry and Other Things

 

Shards of frozen glass

Clinging to the evergreens.

Nature’s ornaments.

This was a poem I submitted for a haiku poetry contest on a site I frequent. There were several entries with 3 categories you could enter, and each category has a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. This poem was entered under the "Winter" category, which ended up being the most entered category. I didn't have much confidence that it would win.

It did.

Not only did it win, but it won first place! I was so excited about it. Even though I didn't win anything other than fake money, it was still nice. I felt validated in some way, my talent acknowledged.

This is something every artist struggles with. The wish of being seen as talented. The hard part about this issue is that you're usually the one who is your biggest critic, your biggest obstacle. I know, at least in my experience, that if I didn't get in my own way so much I could do so much more. I just need to stop tripping myself up.

I think this is true of all people, no matter what you're doing or where you come from. We all just need to give ourselves a break and see our strengths for what they are. 

To learn to celebrate the wonders that can be if we just believe.

It's a New Year!

So it's a new year. 2014. What are your plans?

 

As we look into the new year one of the things my younger sister likes to do is get and read us our astrology forecast for the year (it's actually a little longer than a year, but close enough). This year is supposed to be year of growing for me. Yeah, I know that's a common theme in astrology, however it was far more prominent a theme then the normal vague things. It was a very nice sounding year, however as I'm sure all of you know change can be a little tough sometimes, especially if you have a normal disposition where you tend to neglect yourself (with it usually not being a conscious thought). So I may have a few bumps and bruises throughout this year, but it should be worth it.

 

My mom and two sisters have slightly worse sounding forecasts. For one thing theirs had actual "Hey you should be careful around this time" parts whereas I had none. My mother's had two, one financial and one health, and my sisters (who both have the same astrology forecast) have a similar one, though theirs focuses on the health part more than the money. Good news is for all the health issues should be cleared up, and as long as they are on top of their finances they should be fine.

 

Astrology aside, I really hope that this year is a productive one. Not only would I like to find myself and my family moved into a better home, but I also hope that other areas of our lives stabilize a bit more as well. Both my younger sister and I want to get to a place where we actually have income coming in for ourselves. Whether this happens from being able to procure a part time job, or finally being able to start up our Etsy business, or both (preferably both)- any of those options would be awesome.

 

We both would also like to be more comfortable driving. I already have a license, but have a bit of a driving phobia, and my sister has yet to get enough training to go take the test. I really hope that by year's end I'll be able to drive to the store without feeling like I'm going to die or throw up.

 

Another thing I'd like to do is meet new people and try new things. Progressively throughout the past few years I've been slowly coming out of my shell. Being homeschooled left me with a bit of a shyness problem, and an aversion to such things, but with a bit of effort I've been able to make new friends and do some things I hadn't thought I'd get to experience for a while yet. I hope to continue this trend, and with it gain more social confidence.

 

I'd like more confidence in general thank you very much, but I can be patient. I know that all of what I hope to accomplish takes time, but with any luck my wishes will come to fruition. I just need to keep trucking along, make myself lists, and goals, and keep myself on track. If I do that then I should be fine.

 

So what are your goals/wishes/dreams/lamas for this year? Let me know in the comments.

 

Happy 2014 everybody!