GoFundme! Pass it on!

One day my brilliant partner and muse came up with the suggestion of actually creating blank greeting cards with some of my artwork.  Thought about it and thought about it and took it to heart and figured, why the hell not!

So, with a few designs, a few estimations and a bit of testing.  I think I finally have things down to the basics to try this out!  They are going to be wide and varied sources, probably mostly nature and fantasy, with a bit of fan art if the moment is right.  There will also be some UU cards as well seeing as there seems to be a large lacking of cards for the church out there.  And while I may not be part of the church, I would like to give something to them in the form of some art and cards that aren't out there for them.

The cards will start out as blank cards, the only text, if any will be on the outside of the card and part of the art work. Further down the like I'd like to incorporate text into the inside but that's going to be a little while coming.

The estimated 250 dollars is the cost covering 400 cards to start out, ink for my poor, poor printer which is running excruciatingly low, shipping and product packaging.  If I raise more then it also goes to a printer that will be strictly for printing cards only.  If I get even more then I can branch out into cards with pre-colored edging!  Which to me is very exciting!

The cards are the typical 5" x 6 7-8" and come with envelopes. Fluorescent White or Ivory.  I can work with the announcement sized cards as well which are 3 1/2" x 4 7/8".  The paper is a very nice, rigid, 80lb paper that has a wonderful feel to it.  I've run several test prints and the colors are amazing.

So, please look into it and if you don't donate at least pass the link on!  It would be a great help!

gofundme! Please!

Air Mother

Wind Mother

The Wind Mother is one that doesn’t seem to quit talking.  She is the hub of communication and always aware of everything and everyone around her.  She seems to know everything that’s going on whether she’s seen it herself or knows of it somehow that people aren’t quite sure of.

She’s the essence of purity of the spirit.  Of wisdom.  Of intuition. When talking to the Wind Mother all your cares seem to flow away.  She seems to know exactly what to say to easy your worries and fears.  She knows if you hold onto the negative that it can bring you much unhappiness and weigh your soul down.  So speaking to her is like a breath of fresh air and allows you to understand what you’ve been missing.  The bigger picture and not just the details that often hide what’s there.

Though she is a care free type Mother you have to be wary of the Wind Mother.  She can be as light and carefree one second and then as violent as a tornado the next and then in the next second as sweet as can be again.  So be careful what you say or even do.  They know and will tell you exactly how they feel about it.

In essence, be wary of the Wind Mother.  While she’s intuitive she can be flighty.  While she’s good at communicating she can easily stick her foot in it and mess a few things up but easily fix them.  But she is one of the only Mother’s to be very flexible.

Water Mother

Water Mother

The Water Mother is the essence of purity and fertility.  She works well with the Mother of Earth because they often share the common traits of wisdom, life, transformation.   But one has to watch the Water Mother for she is the embodiment of emotion, empathy, intuitiveness, and the seat of the nurturing of the elements.  Her imagination has no comparison seeing as, even though she’s a nurturing element, piss her off and she can be just as negatively moody and cold. 

The Water Mother is able to find the balance in her home life and work, between nurturing her family and her friends she’s able to be fulfilled in her knowledge that she’s able to help so many.    Her still waters comfort those around her and with that also connect us with a deeper connection. 

The Water Mother can be one though that has many tempers.  Warm and inviting when sick, allowing you to breathe easier.  Nurturing and quenching when you need that relief that only water can provide.  Chilling and slightly terrifying when angered, so much so they could destroy something or someone with words or actions alone.

Stay well on this Mother’s good side, for if you do, cookies, cuddles, and comfort is a bound.  Anger her and you will regret it with every fiber of your being.

Earth Mother

Earth Mother

The Mother of Earth is the essence of stability.  The foundation of life, wisdom and knowledge, she is the keeper of the circle of life and death.  Nurturing she raises the seedlings and the young till they reach adult hood and when their lives are at an end she releases that which she raised back to the beginning to nurture the new generation.

If you know someone of the earth element they’ll be a nurturer.  They are steady and reliable and will try to give all they have in nurturing the future.

Though like the element they are made of they are quiet in that aspect they’re always watching and learning and will speak up when disturbed.  And though they may seem calm, cool and collected on the outside, when angered they can erupt like a volcano.  So where they are the foundation of calm, they are a broiling powerhouse of emotion below the surface.

Never underestimate an Earth Mother.  They will prove you wrong every step of the way because they are so in tune with their surroundings.

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The first care of my Oracle deck that I'm trying to work finishing.  So far I've been working slowly through the meanings of the cards.  I'm halfway through I believe.  So expect more of these from my tumblr of the same name as this blog.  And please, feel free to leave comments!  I'd love to read them!

So, Jam day!

This year was a first for me.  I've canned foods before.  Tomatoes, beans, berries, and meats but I've honestly never, never ever, made jam before.  Which is very sad.  That changed a couple weeks ago.

My girlfriend and I had stopped at a farm on the way back from a fiber festival to pick up some Honey Crisp apples.  We had a couple of bruised ones but Honey Crisp apples actually hold very well and these were ginormous! The size of softballs!  And soooo very juicy and crisp.  Well, with so many we decided to try a jam that my girlfriend had found.  This Jam right here!  It smells amazing and tastes amazingly sweet. It should for how mush sugar is in it!

Well... we tried it and jarred some and it was delicious!

So my plans for today are going to be to peel the apples my future mother-in-law brought us and make another batch of jam with those and with the left overs some apple butter!  I'll post an update with pictures later for you guys and maybe see about posting some of the process but I'm not so sure since I only have one set of hands!

If anyone's tried this recipe I'd love to hear your experience!  Feel free to comment!

Well here goes nothing....

So, I finally got off my butt and decided to throw something into a shirt design contest.  It's not a guarantee I'll even get into the contest to the voting section, but we'll see what happens.  I'm hoping I'll get at least a couple votes....  Who doesn't remember Daria and Sick, Sad World?  That's the shirt design that I chose thanks to my lovely girlfriend who suggested it.  I like it a lot.  But we'll see.

They also have a contest for The Lion King which I plan on putting one in for that one if I can.  I mean, come on, why not?  I grew up with The Lion King being my most favorite movie for the longest time.  I don't know what I'm going to do yet though.  I want something freaking epic.

I hope my tablet lasts that long.  I think it's slowly going kaput.  Poor little bastard.  It did so well for a while.  The pen is going though and I think it'd be worth more just to get a whole new set up rather than deal with just getting a new pen seeing as my specific tablet is kinda the old model.  Again, poor little bastard....

Anyway, if my design gets up I'll post a link here and on facebook so people will vote for it!  Please please please go for it!  I'd really appreciate it!

Later guys!

Book Review - The Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse

As an obedient orphan of the U.N.A. (the super-country that was once Mexico, the U.S., and Canada), Alenna learned at an early age to blend in and be quiet—having your parents taken by the police will do that to a girl. But Alenna can’t help but stand out when she fails a test that all sixteen-year-olds have to take: The test says she has a high capacity for brutal violence, and so she is sent to The Wheel, an island where all would-be criminals end up.

The life expectancy of prisoners on The Wheel is just two years, but with dirty, violent, and chaotic conditions, the time seems a lot longer as Alenna is forced to deal with civil wars for land ownership and machines that snatch kids out of their makeshift homes. Desperate, she and the other prisoners concoct a potentially fatal plan to flee the island. Survival may seem impossible, but Alenna is determined to achieve it anyway.

The Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book.... This is one weird, slightly scary book. Just so you know.

This story plays on the fear that the government is controlling us in someway and makes those that don't follow the rules disappear. Even those that have a genetic factor that makes it so the mind control doesn't work disappears. And if your parents were 'trouble makers' then it's a good possibility that you'll be thrown somewhere where you have no change to get in the government's way.

Poor Alenna seems to have nothing going for her. At ten her parents are taken by the government and she's put into an orphanage. At sixteen, she and hundreds, nay thousands of teens go through a 'test' to weed out those who'd cause problems in the government that literally has no crime. After a trip to a museum created by the leader of the new government that was created to stop all wars, she sees the Island where all teens who fail the test go. Brutal, she hopes she passes with flying colors.

But Alenna wakes on the Island panicking and not alone. In the few days she's rescued, makes friends, and fights for her life against 'drones' of the cult of the Monk. She and several members of the village that she became part of make a trek to try and make it off the island. But after several deaths, a capture of what's left of their group, and entrance to the restricted 'grey zone' with the Monk himself Alenna finds she's bitten off more than she can chew.

This story honestly kept me guessing to the very end where I paused with a twitch and thought, "What the heck did I just read?" It was different, eye opening to the point where you had to think that the events really had a possibility of happening at one point. And it also got the conspiracy theorist in my thinking. So many what ifs tumbling about my head that it had me thinking long after I put the book down.

I honestly can't wait to read the second one!

View all my reviews

Will My Madness Ever End?!

Well, today I actually went to an open interview at Black Bear.  They're opening a new store here in Motown because the other is doing so well and there was a space available.  I'm not much into doing food work but at this rate anything is better than nada.  So I thought it went well.  I tried to play myself off as awesome (of course we all know I'm just crazy....) and it seemed like he really liked me.  So fingers crossed!

If I'm not hired there the hospital did call me today to set up an interview for next week!  Yay!  Union and health benefits!  But we'll see..... *shifty eyes*

I also got an email back from another job I applied for saying that the job doesn't open till August sooooo..... yeah..... But they'd like to have an interview with me if I'm still interested when the time comes.  Duh!  That one's silk screening.  On glass!  Why the hell wouldn't I want it?

Anyway, after working today in the 90 degree weather and the interview where there was no AC I decided I wanted a treat.  Thought smoothie.  We have fruit in the freezer that I need to use.  I wish I had fresh canned peaches because those were the best, and mix the juice in and yum.....  So I have orange juice to work with. Boo because that is worth 3 points alone for only like 1/4th a cup or something.  Bah.  But I had a crazy idea.  They have crazy tea flavors now,  why not add tea to the fruit?

Welll....... it kinda worked.  I have more of a frozen dish than a smoothie until it melts that is. lol  It's quite good.  You can taste the fruit but smell and taste the tea as well.  It's not that bad really.....  And it's worth nothing!  BWAHAHAHAHAHA!  Nothing I say!  I did add 2 spoonfuls of no cal sweetner but meh.  That counts for nada too.  Now to finish my treat and spam crap.

Book Review - Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In a world where the virtual reality is more common place than reality itself, there's another game that's being played. One that's a giant riddle in a realm that's immense and its winner takes all.

Wade's only way out of a world that seems to be slowly dying because of pollution and economic downfall is the OASIS system created by James Halliday. The same James Halliday that hid an Easter Egg (something hidden in the game where clues are given as to where it is) in the system that could make the dreams of the finder come true. Millions of people were searching for it and Wade was one of those who searched for it for five years. Then it happened, he figured out the first clue. Everything changed after that.

I adored this book. It was new and something completely different. I loved the references from all fandoms. Throughout the whole book I was thinking, I know that one and that one and that one! The twists and turns of it all kept me riveted to the story and I just had to know what happened in the end. And I wasn't disappointed.

I would definitely recommend this story to others.

View all my reviews

Madness with Dinner!

Well, my madness has finally moved to food. lol My fiance had decided that she was fed up with not feeling good and decided to start a diet of sorts. Well, can't let her go it alone in this so I decided to join in in my own way. Since I'm mostly the cook I need to come up with different meal ideas that are interesting because I can't stand bland meals and neither can she. Well, this week alone she's lost over 5 pounds! Just by eating healthy and working out 4 times a week. I've lost about 4ish myself which is interesting.

Anyway.......  Tonight we had a casserole that used some of my left over stuffs from the fridge. Mostly Chicken. But hey it was awesome! And we're full. A serving is only about 4 points + by weight watchers standards. And I say about 4 because I'm not completely sure about my measurements of the noodles. Anyway.... on with the recipe!

Chicken Casserole


1 chicken breast cooked shredded
around 6 oz of No-Yolk (3 hands full honestly.  it was going to be 2 but I have small hands)
1 cup broccoli
1/2 cup onion cut
1 cup of a rainbow slaw
1 can of a healthy cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of chicken broth
1 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 pepper
5 ritz crackers
5 or 6 cherry tomatoes cut into fourths

Turn the oven to 400 to let it heat up.

Begin cooking noodles as stated on the package.  While noodles are cooking boil water and cook the broccoli till cooked through.

In a large bowl mix the mushroom soup with chicken broth garlic and pepper.  Mix till smooth then add the broccoli, slaw mix, tomatoes, chicken and onion until they're coated.  Add the noodles after they've been cooked fully and drained.  Mix it all together and poor it in a casserole dish.

Crumble the crackers over the dish and put into the oven for about 15 minutes till bubbly.

Serving is around about 2 cups I think.

I served up a fourth of my casserole dish to each of us and with half a cup of applesauce we were both full!  Sooo good!  Next time might try to crumble some bbq chips on top to spice it up.  That was her idea.  Totally a good idea!