19:44 - We have lift off

On This Day:
Sunday June 22, 2008

This is the 174th day of the year, with 192 days remaining in 2008.

Fact of the Day1:

Fact of the Day2:

snails

Okay, so it's been a while. Back in May we had Barry's folks here for a short visit. We took them, Barry's sister Tina, and our nephews Storm (who is staying the summer with us) and Dylan over to Daytona Beach to watch the Space Shuttle lift off.

We can see if from our backyard, but I thought it would be really cool to do something we've never done before and drive over to watch liftoff.






Traffic was a mess! I think every single person in central Florida had the same idea. It took forever to get there. A trip that should have taken about an hour, took almost 2.5 hours!

However, we finally arrived to the coast. Traffic, cars, thongs of people EVERY damn where! People where charging $20 -$30 to park on the side of the road, in store parking lots... I never in my wildest dreams thought traffic would have been like that. We were about to turn around and head to Coco beach when we came upon this little kids play park. Hardly anyone was there!





So we wheeled in, parked (for FREE!!!) got out our picnic lunch that Barry's Mom had thought to make (me? I just charge off half-assed not thinking about snacks n' stuff). We all sat under a beautiful shade tree and just chilled for an hour or so until launch.



Molly plays with Grandaddy.










The kids dive into Skittles.





Fox sneaks up on Daddy.

The crowd started really growing about half an hour until launch. We got up and moved over to this bridge to get a good view of the shuttle. From where we were at Cape Canaveral was about 8 miles away.





I guess I was expecting HUGE sound, loud booms, the roar of the engines---but nah. There was a little bit of sound, but not what I was expecting at all.

You can see the shuttle beginning to launch in the bottom right

I took a video of it, but I don't know if I can make it work. I'll upload it and see.





It really was amazing to see and I'm glad we did it. I'd always wanted to. I have to admit that it wasn't quite what I expected. I expected A LOT more noise. I didn't expect the ba-zillion people.

I didn't expect the cities of Daytona and Coco to be soooooo racist! I swear if I saw one more Confederate flag stuck on a t-shirt, a truck or flying outside someones trailer, I was gonna scream.

I wasn't expecting the trip back to take 3 friggin' hours!

Really.

IF you go, the only thing I can say is traffic will be horrible. I'd heard stories, but I didn't think they could possibly be right.

Believe. Believe and be warned. You won't get out from the shuttle launch for 4 hours. And it's slow. Painfully, painfully. slow.

Guinevere

THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST




The kids all went and got hair cuts. Chloe went first. She's been asking for a spa day for a long time. Which is funny. I'm not the kind. Really. And here is my 4 year old asking for a friggin' spa day. She is the ultimate girly girl.





Then Fox decided he wanted to try it. Sooo...the lady had extra time and up he went.



He did awesomely. I thought for sure he'd start crying and thrashing once he got in the chair, but he was fantastic.




I admit it. I kinda freaked when she brought out the shaver. I wasn't envisioning anything too short. Fox has the most gorgeous blond locks.








It's a bit too prep boy with all the gel in it. But the kid cleans up right nice.


MOLLY UPDATE
Molly's latest PKU blood work came back really high for her--10.8!!



Of course, I flipped out and took it really hard. But we don't have to change anything major really, just cut her proteins back in half again. So I went and loaded up on veggies and fruit. She can still have protein, but we are cutting waaaaaaay back again. We have to retest in a week.


GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT

Coloring in Photoshop is tough. For the life of me I just can't get lighting. I can do it FINE when I watercolor, but sit me in front of the computer and...blank.

So I've started laying out little roughs of how I want back lighting, mood lighting, etc before I start computer coloring.
Guess I'm just old school. I still find writing easier on paper first, then tying it into the computer and editing it from there.

Some costume designs

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13:57 - catching up

On This Day:
Saturday May 24, 2008

This is the 145th day of the year, with 221 days remaining in 2008.

Fact of the Day: kimono
The kimono is a garment worn by Japanese men and women from the Early Nara period (645-724) to the present. Derived from the Chinese p'ao-style robe, the basic kimono is an ankle-length gown with long, expansive sleeves and a V-neck.



It has neither buttons nor ties, being lapped left over right across the chest and secured at the waist by a broad sash known as an obi. The short-sleeved kimono (kosode), worn by women as an outer garment, was introduced in the Muromachi period (Ashikaga shogunate; 1338-1573). The contemporary wide obi dates only from the 18th century. Although the kimono is not of Japanese origin, as is often supposed, its great beauty is attributable to 17th- and 18th-century Japanese designers.

The kids love to eat Chinese food. So as a lark we got Fox dress up in his Chinese outfit our friend picked up on his latest jaunt to Shanghi.

Chloe has a darling purple one and for the life of me I can't figure out why I didn't think to put her in it before we left.




Anyway, Fox enjoyed mugging in his outfit. I guess he liked the feel of the silk because now he always asks to wear it. He's one good lookin' kid. Someday I'll figure out who his parents are.

It's been a kinda crappy stressful time. At present all of us are sick in ways that nobody in polite society would dare mention. The kids have been sick with minor colds before but this time they all had high fevers, sever coughs, and just laid around. My kids DON'T lay around. I don't think they are still even when they sleep.

I've been sick at the same time and now Barry's caught it. It ain't pretty, it ain't fun and I'll sure be glad to see the back end of this thing.

On the good side, all the kids want to do is snuggle--en masse. Sometimes they have fights for lap space, but pretty much all we've been doing is laying on the couch and watching Cartoon Network. Never thought I'd get tired of that, but I'm due for a break.

Because things have been going so well at Ka-blam, we've put the kids in Day Care twice a week. I've had a really hard time with that. Barry and I have always worked shifts--I watch the kids during then day then do my drawing at Disney at night and he...well...he watches the kids at night and works all night as well ; o )


OHMYHEAVENS is day care expensive! I don't know how people do it. And I don't know for how long we can do it. For 3 kids 2 times a week it's $230.




Molly watches Daddy come in the room.  I love how she lit up.




Getting ready for first day of school. Yep. I do need to finish my laundry. I think it's still in the same spot from a few weeks ago.

Fox checks out the toy cars.  




I certainly grown to respect the work that Thomas an Barry do at the offices. I don't know how they get all the printing, coding, shipping, cutting, binding done that they do. They totally have my respect. They do this 7 days a week--I work occasionally from home doing the hand holding on the forum posts, and then twice a week in the office before going to work at Disney and I'm exhausted.

The kids seem to be adapting well to the Day Care thing. The first little while was really hard. One of us has always been there for the kids. Then they were rapidly put into a new environment. Molly has been having the toughest time.

I'm pretty sure that the crud we've all got now is a direct result of the germ factory that is Day Care. They kids had to miss Thursday because they were all sick and STILL the day care charged us for them. $230 down the drain. It hurt something fierce.

On top of that I got a crappy tooth and had to have a root canal done. That set us back another $2100! Yep, sucks not having insurance.

For a little while there we'd come into a little bit of extra money...not enough to turn me Republican by any means, but it gave us a little cushion and we got to get a Toyota mini van (henceforth referred to as "The Mystery Machine"--Daddy and Fox's idea, natch).



Molly has already made the Captains seat hers.




Chloe wears her IronMan shades.

So we now have 2 vehicles. But after my tooth episode, the sicknesses, car, various paying off of bills...back to middle class for us.

BOOK 'EM, DANNO

Went to visit my local crack house--a.k.a. Books-A-Million. I picked up a really cook book...Buffy the Vampire Hunter: Panel to Panel




Of course Mystery Science Theater 3000 is my all time favorite t.v. show, but Buffy is a top 3 or 4 pick for sure.

It's a really cool collection of comic book art, pin-ups and various and sundry. I've really enjoyed it. It'll help me a lot when I start coloring Womblees again.
I spent far too much time and money at BaM. They had quite a few costume books from the Victorian period that somehow kept getting into my hands. I felt it my personal duty to go ahead and buy them. Haven't had a chance to really look at them yet.

UNDER THE BOARDWALK..DOWN BY THE SEA...

We took the kids to Aquatica...a new waterpark that opened here.



Chloe is fascinated by the Commersons Dolphins.  They have a water slide where a tube goes thru their habitat...but she was an inch or two too short.  She took it like a champ.  Maybe next time.





Fox catching a breath.






Chloe wanted to just watch the dolphins.

These Egrets are one pissed off species.  I guess it's their molting season, but MAN!  where they cranky.  If you came anywhere close to them they bristled up and hissed.  Which they usually don't do.

They are lovely and I want to try and paint this picture. 



Went over to Seaworld for a bit and watched the Walrus.



More of the pissed off bird.




The green Moray eels are always fun to watch. 





Molly is one smart cookie.  Here she commands the dolphins with her mind.

JUST TAKE A PICTURE ALREADY

Got me a new camera.  This is the first pict I took with it.




I've grown pretty weary of Kodak stuff--for me they've been pretty unreliable, and subject to frequent breakage that isn't kid related.  I didn't want a "big boy" camera (big lens), just one that I could keep in my purse.  Yet I also wanted one with a good optical zoom and good mega pixels.  So I arrived at the Panasonic DMC-TZ5K



I LOVE this camera!  It's got 9.1 megapixels, 10x optical zoom, face recognition, image stabilizer, and one bitchin' LEICA DC Vario-Elmar lens.  Schweet! The shutter speed is very fast, no lag, great view screen (3 inches!!!), and does great movies.   Extremely easy to use with it's Intelligent Auto or you can play around with your own settings.   I couldn't be happier with this camera.

WOULDN'T CHA LIKE TO BE A PEPPER TO?



I LOVE hot sauces.  The hotter the better.  BUT...they gotta have flavor.  Any sauce can take the roof off your mouth thru the burn, but it's gotta taste good. 

Came across this Habenero sauce called Iguana Radioactive Atomic Pepper Sauce.  Cool label, too.  It's by Half Moon Bay Trading.  It rocks!  Lots of flavor and ooooooohhhh what delightfully painful burn is in store.

Back when we use to go to New Orlean with regularity, there were lots of places that sold hot sauces.  I became addicted to them.  But I also really love the art.  Some awesome names and labels. 


BEST OF LUCK TO YA!







The belief that it is lucky to pick up a

Currently listening : Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! By Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Release date: 2008-04-08

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23:45 - Vroooooom!!!
Current mood: enlightened

The stripes in toothpaste are created by a special device fitted to the nozzle end of the tube. A colored toothpaste is first filled around the special fitting, the white toothpaste is filled second, which holds the colored toothpaste in place at the top of the tube.



When the tube is squeezed, the white toothpaste would run through the special inner tube and the pressure of the squeeze simultaneously forces the colored toothpaste through the tiny orifices at the end. The toothpaste emerges perfectly striped.

The first toothpaste mentioned in recorded history was devised by Egyptian physicians about 4000 years ago. It was made from powdered pumice stone and strong wine vinegar and brushed on with a chew stick.

I love the feeling of freshly bushed teeth, but I'll be damned if I can stand to have the stuff on my skin.  Can't stand the smell, can't stand the feel...but give me good ol' freshly scrubbed teeth anyday!


I got to do one of the funnest gig's I've gotten to do in a while.  We got booked to draw at the Outback Stakehouse convention for 2 nights.  It was awesome!!!  There were a bazillion people (no, really) from all over the world.

I got to meet 2 of the three founders AND the guy who designed the recipe for the Bloomin' Onion.



I'm peekin' out behind Michael McElroy who's leaning back.  One of the most talented artists you'll ever meet.  Kenny Durkin is center.  He's supposed to be workin' on his comic book for Chicago...so if you go to his web page or myspace...ask him how it's goin'.  Tell 'em Jenni sent cha.

The last night the party was held at Flights of Fantasy in Lakeland, FL.

http://www.fantasyofflight.com

An absolutely incredible place.  The design of the place was amazing.  Very themed.  The collection of aircraft is breathtaking.

If you get the chance you HAVE to go and walk amongst the ghosts and relics of days long past.





I wish I knew about aviation history.  I find it fascinating.  My biggest thrill was getting to see a Flying Fortress up close.

There's huge, there's BIG and then there's a Flying Fortress.





Yeah, so I was all a twitter and my camera shook.





Here's that Michael guy again.







A storm is a brewin'.

I have to say how incredible this catering staff was.  This huge thunderstorm was coming in fast.  I'd say within 15 minutes they had all the tables that WERE outside BACK inside and fully dressed to receive guests.  They were truly amazing.




Just before the guests started to arrive, the storm started and it didn't let up for a mighty long time.  It was pretty violent.



Another cool craft.

The stands were supposed to hold the audience to see the Dave Matthews Concert.





Very few things make me squeal with utter girlish delight...but that nights entertainment sure did.  The Dave Matthews Band was the entertainment and MAN!  Did they sound awesome!




It doesn't hurt that Dave Matthews is one tasty lookin' fella.









I've taken up gardening.  Me.  Yep.  Go figure.  There was a reason Barry use to call me Plant Killer/ Herb Slayer.  

I had NO green thumb.

Nada.

I sucked.

Maybe it's the fact that I now have kids and am more...nurturing.  Bwahahahaha!

I think it's just 'cuz I'm watering the damn things more.

It's very rewarding to watch your plants grow.  I'm growing quite a few herbs again (and doing VERY nicely I might add).  As well as tomatoes, cucumbers, Sunflowers, and 2 lemon and 1 lime tree.  The trees are very small, but I've got fruit on 'em!!  Woohooo!

My main thrill is peppers.  I've been growing a lot of variety of peppers.  We got to eat some of the peppers last night that I grew AND cooked.  And I didn't burn the kitchen down this time!


I still need to get better at weeding.  The weeds are a tad strong in these parts.

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22:51 - Go Fish
Current mood: relieved

On This Day:
Monday April 7, 2008

This is the 98th day of the year, with 268 days remaining in 2008.

Fact of the Day: goldfish

themselves may not have been actually frozen, since all animals have natural levels of dissolved substances in their bodies which lower the freezing point of the tissues and body fluids.



Hence, one should not try putting the family fishbowl in the freezer, as that may kill the

are cold-blooded, and cold-blooded animals in general do slow down when the temperature is lowered. However, their bodies, senses and brains will operate the same except in terms of speed, and the only behavioral change which is likely would be eating at longer intervals.


Today was one for Molly.  We’d got her latest blood test results back last week and  luckily the Phe levels had gone back down.  Her latest test put her at 4.7.  For some reason the previous month her Phe levels had jumped up to 5.9!  I was in a panic.  Our doctors assistance told us just to cut out one serving of proteins a day and see how things went.  That seemed to have helped A LOT!  The doctors weren’t panicked by her jump in numbers--to them that was still within fine limits for mild hyper-Phe.  But I freaked.

We went down to Tampa today and met with Dr Malone.  It went wonderfully well.  We kinda had other folks popping in and out of the room to meet with Molly.  I dunno if they just wanted to show interns that PKU kids look perfectly normal or what.  But folks that had no impact on Molly kept stopping by.  Nobody was rude by any means it was just more of a point finger, lookie here, oddity check kinda thing.

We don’t have to take Molly back to the specialist until her 2nd B’day-- October.  We’ll still do her monthly blood work.  But Dr Malone seems to think that she is doing absolutely fantastically and she has great enzyme function--she’s just slightly off.  So, looks like Molly is definitely one of us--kinda slightly off.

Working hard on Womblees.  Having a total blast.





I’ve been getting catalog after catalog from Dover publications.  Which for me is like giving a junkie unlimited access to crack!

This catalog has every kind of cool book on every kinda cool subject that you could ever imagine.  I think I’ve spent about $200 on books for Victorian reference alone.  Last week.  And I spent about $170 on Victorian houses and furniture the previous month.

 I know, I know I can claim it as a tax deduction--Womblees is set in the Victorian era.  But I got this new Dover catalog today in the mail and damn, if I don’t want to order everything.

I don’t think I really need that book on WWII battle tactics--but ya never know.  And I could probably do with out the book on famous hats---but I just might need these things so I probably SHOULD go ahead and order them--just to be safe.

We did JUST have a Books-a-Million just open about 3 miles down the road from us.  There is absolutely nothing better then a cool used-bookstore, but I’ll take a BaM in a pinch.

I got some alone time on Sunday before I had to go into work and that’s how I chose to spend my 2 hours.  I had to check out the graphic novel section (awesomness!!), Science Fiction (actually pretty damn big much to my relief), fiction (standard stuff), science (kinda crappy only 4 bookshelves when New Age for 6 (!) and Religion got 9 (!?!) bookcases).

I did find Robin McKinnley had a new book out.  Almost bought it, then realized the state of my broketitudenss--it’s still in hardback.

What I wouldn’t give to have some of those cool used bookstores that we stumbled upon in Champaign, Illinois.  More libraries and bookstores then anyplace I’ve ever been. 


Got some cool sculpts from some gargoyoles I got to do.

































These were really cool to see sculpted!  It went from doing the pencil designs, to coloring them, and finally to sending the designs off to get sculpted.

I dont know who the sculptuers were, but they did a fantastic job.  Well--except for the unicorn I did.  The horn on his head looks kinda like...well...it just looks funky.  We’ll put it that way.  I need to take a photo of a few more whimsical creatures that got made.

But it was really thrilling and really fun to see drawings come to life in 3-d.

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1:10 - Never ever

On This Day:
Monday March 31, 2008

This is the 91st day of the year, with 275 days remaining in 2008.

Fact of the Day: thunder
Why does thunder rumble? When a lightning bolt flashes through the sky we see it instantly. Thunder takes a few seconds longer to reach us. Sound travels about a mile in 5 seconds. Start counting when you hear a lightning flash. If you hear the thunder in 5 seconds, the lightning’s a mile away; in 10 seconds and it is two miles away. We hear rumbling as sound from other parts of the flash hits our ears. Thunder from the part of flash nearest us reaches our ears first. The phenomenon of "rolling thunder" is many lightning flashes and their sounds occurring in sequence.



Thunder is the explosive sound produced by an ordinary lightning discharge. The lightning bolt quickly heats the air around it to such a high temperature that air molecules are pushed apart with tremendous force, producing a sound wave. Thunder lasts much longer than lightning and changes in pitch and loudness. This happens for several reasons: the lightning bolt has an irregular shape, the air expands in all directions at once, lightning bolts overlap, and objects on the ground interfere with the sound. Thunder is heard after lightning is seen because sound travels more slowly than light.



Fact of the Day: fire
The original source of fire undoubtedly was lightning, and such fortuitously ignited blazes remained the only source of fire for aeon’s. For some years Peking man, about 500,000 BC, was believed to be the earliest unquestionable user of fire; evidence uncovered in Kenya in 1981 and in South Africa in 1988, however, suggests that the earliest controlled use of fire by hominids dates from about 1,420,000 years ago. Not until about 7000 BC did Neolithic man acquire reliable fire-making techniques, in the form either of drills, saws, and other friction-producing implements or of flint struck against pyrites. Even then it was more convenient to keep a fire alive permanently than to reignite it.

I am having an affair.

Yep. And Barry knows about it.


It all started a while ago. I’ve been in the market for a new cell phone. My old one sucked. Sucked hard. Hated it. SO I’ve been doing research, playing around, doing some 007 type investigating and came up with my new Motorola krzr phone.

It’s a beautiful thing. I hold it in my hand and it fits perfectly. I can watch live TV, listen to music, watch current episodes of a lot of tv programs out there.

I’ve got GPS on it!!

It doesn’t make hot cocoa yet, but I’m sure that will be an option down the road. It is awesome. I can get a signal practically anywhere. I love this phone.

Anyone who knows me KNOWS I am the ultimate gadget freak. I dunno why--I think it’s a gene carried on my fathers side. But I have to have the current gadgets or at least know about them. It’s an addiction of mine.

I love my phone.

Now Barry wants one.

Stupid, STUPID me.


Stupid, STUPID me. Sometimes you just have to shut up.

I have a rule. It’s a simple rule. Never, never, NEVER, NEVER EVER discuss religion and politics. I always follow this rule (well, for the most part). ALWAYS--ok, most of the time. Kinda my own personal mantra ’Don’t discuss religion and politics’. Repeat as necessary.

I use to love discussing politics and religion, but find most of the time religious discussions of late digress into "my God is better then your God" I love politics and this Caucusing and Primary Races thing is my time of year.

So I’m chatting with the dad of a girl I’m drawing as he holds the girl on his lap. We were discussing (no, really) rocket science--he was a rocket scientist and I find that kinda stuff fascinating so we talked about it. He mentions he just moved to Texas and what a rough time he’d had of it and nothing was working and how the Elders of his church were really helping them out. For some dumb-ass reason I chime up with "Oh! Are you Mormon, too?"

I know better, I KNOW better.

He looks at me aghast like I’d just slapped him in the face and run over his puppy. He then gasps "No! I’m a Christian!" I then couldn’t decide if I DID want to slap him in the face OR run over his puppy. Mostly I was just pissed. But it brought up some interesting thoughts for me.

Unlike 99.9% of my family I am not Republican--much to their dismay.

I, of course, kept abreast of the goings on with Mitt Romney running for pres just because he was Mormon. There was never EVER the slightest possibility of me voting for him...but politics fascinated me and so I watched all the debates and watched the news like a hawk as I follow politics. I remember the polls discussing how such and such a percent would never vote for Romney under any circumstances because they held the view that Mormons weren’t Christians. At the time I thought it poppy cock and how we had to have come along farther then that. Then ya get slapped in the face with it. So my mantra...Never EVER discuss religion and politics.

EVER.

So I looked on my phone last night to see if there was a phaser on it just in case...but...I guess I have to wait for the upgrade.

The Eyes Have it!!!

I got ’em back!  I got ’em back!!!
I lost a contact a month or so ago and it’s wrecked havoc with me.  I finally got my super cool new pair in. 

It’s amazing. 

It’s almost like sensory overload.  I’ve been using contacts that weren’t my perscription and it has been kinda miserable.  I had an eye infection and not to mention since it’s an oooooolllld Rx I’ve missed a lot of details. 
Well, I’m back baby and I’m watchin’ you!  Wooohoooo!

WOMBLEES update

Here’s another page from Womblees that I’ve got colored. I’m really REALLY excited for this project.

Really excited!!!





Our Easter was awesome. The kids had a wonderful mondo chocolate filled day.


We got the kids official Easter pic. Fox and Chloe were awesome! Fox posed like a champ and Chloe took direction from the photo people wonderfully well! Molly...she wasn’t happy. She got scared of the bunny but we were able to take a couple usable photos. I had a lot of fun that day.

We went to Seaworld for a while on Wednesday. Chloe sat beside some gorgeous flowers so I took a few picts. Then Fox wanted to get in on the act, too. They are some beautiful, beautiful kids.











Be good and happy thoughts!

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23:57 - MegaCon wrap up

On This Day:
Wednesday March 12, 2008

This is the 72nd day of the year, with 294 days remaining in 2008.
Fact of the Day: gravity

Gravity simply exists; it is the universal force of attraction that affects all matter. It is the weakest of the four basic physical forces, but, on the scale of everyday objects near the Earth or that of astronomical bodies, it is the dominant one. The fall of bodies released from a height to the surface of the Earth and the weight of resting bodies at or near the surface are the most familiar manifestations of gravitation, but the rotation of the Earth about the Sun, the motion of the Sun around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, and the geometric structure of the universe itself are equally the results of the force of gravitation. Isaac Newton held that every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

I should have known that MegaCon wasn’t going to go well for me this year.  Friday (the start of the show) found me nervous and excited.  So much so that when I went to do my hair, I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why it looked so horrible.  Turns out I forgot to wash the deep conditioner I had used out of my hair.  In chick speak-- bad hair can totally ruin the most joyous of occasions.  Needless to say after I finished my hair and makeup--everything went to hell in a hand basket and it went there fast.

I was supposed to have my big debut of my new series "Womblees" at the Con--didn’t happen.  We got slammed for orders at Ka-blam and Barry and Thomas at times worked literally around the clock.  I had nothing new at the show...well, a DreamWalker TPB of my first volume--which just makes me CRINGE when I look at it.  So I didn’t spend much time hawking the thing.

Anyway.  On the way OVER to the convention I had something in my eye I had to go rub them and next thing I knew I heard this "plink" sound and felt my contact take a flyin’ leap out of my eye!  It hit something on the floor, what I don’t know.  But I have still never found it.

SO I’m just walking up to the Convention I have a couple people try to talk to me and I couldn’t see who they were because I COULDN’T FRIGGIN’ SEE AT ALL!!!  I couldn’t concentrate while talking with anyone at all. didn’t go well.

I also found that intelligence is linked to eye sight--at least for me.  I lost half my vision (well, more then that) and about half my intelligence went with it.  Being blond to start off with--you finish the rest.  I couldn’t hold a descent conversation for nothing.  I couldn’t think, got distracted and in general was good for nuthin’.  It sucked.  Big time.

Bright spots were of course bringing up Chloe alone on Friday.  All the family came up Sunday, but Chloe enjoyed just walking around the dealers room.  I loved hanging out with friends at being at the Ka-blam booth.  I loved walking around Artists Alley.



Brady and Keelan Parham chat at the table while Chloe looks on.

I have to say all in all I was greatly impressed with MegaCon this year.



Chloe and Haley Duron hang out at the booth.

It moved to a different convention hall.  I think the Con had a lot more space and was very well attended.  I loved that there was A LOT of Artist Alley space so lots of artists could  show their stuff.  I LOVED that the dealers room was HUGE.

Costumes this year were outstanding!!  I took a few pictures.  My camera was being persnickety and some of my picts didn’t turn out.







Chloe hangs with Sups.



The extraordinarily nice and talented Mark Mekkes hangs out with the dancers that were the pre-show to the Webcomics award.  Check out his fantastic comic Zortic.

If you want you can buy his Trade here:  Indyplanet
Sorry for the blurred images--I only had half my vision and couldn’t focus worth crap.

I got to present an awards at the 2008 Web Cartoonists’ Choice Awards.  I should have worn my glasses but vanity ruled me.  I went in my single contact wearing bad-ass self glory and bumbled my way thru the presentation.  I presented The Outstanding Writing Nominee Dresden Codac by Aaron Diaz.  Outstanding webcomic--didn’t win...but it rocks.  Kinda Quirky, kinda surreal...lotta heart.

I didn’t even want to go on Sunday, but Barry talked me into going up later with Barry’s folks (who are visiting from Mississippi for a bit) and the kids. I think the convention scared his folks.  They’d never been to a comic convention and I don’t think they’ll be rushing off to go to another one soon.

I haven’t had a chance yet to go see about getting another contact.  So it has been a very VERY frustrating week for me.  I had one extremely nice lady try to help me.  I went all over town trying to find a Doctor who could see me right then.  It was impossible.  I went to even some of the warehouse stores to see if they could fill my old RX or have a doctor THERE get me in.  No dice.

I was about to start cryin’ ( I swear) when one of the stores I went into had lost their eye doctor and was in search of another.  I told the lady about my last couple of days and I needed a contact...etc.  She looked at my old RX then went to her store room and made me swear that I’d go see a Dr within 2 weeks, but she handed me 3 (count ’e 3!!!) samples of contacts.  They weren’t my exact prescription or size, and they aren’t toric like I need but it was something.  She tried.  She made me swear that I wouldn’t tell anyone about her.  So I’m not.  But thanks.

See, nice things like that only happen to my friend Michael--never ever to me!!  The lenses didn’t really work out, and I now have an appointment for Friday morning.  I hope I can make it that long.  I worked last night drawing caricatures and I have to say I don’t think there was one that I liked.  It sucks not being able to see.  I was pretty miserable.  C’mon Friday!!!



This weeks toonweekly challenge was 90’s movies.  I chose Silence of the Lambs and Mystery Science Theatre 3000:  The movie.  Of course I had to do MST3K!!!   Dems my guys!!

Happy thoughts!


 

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22:35 - Dorothy from Wizard of Oz
Current mood: Befuddled

This weeks Toonweekly.com theme was Wizard of Oz--my submission was Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion.  I screwed up.  I wanted to go for the funny and had every intention of having Dorothy leaning on the Lion like he was now an animal hide...but I missed.  Now it's kinda lookin' more along the lines of bestiality--Dorothy and the Lion get it on.

Way to screw with an icon, eh?

Last weeks submission was coming up with our own Superhero--right up my alley.




So I came up with an ice guy and his lady love...dumdada dah...Tundra and Arctic Fox.  Yes, I do plan on using them in a story.

Some day.

When I have more time.

Someday when I have more time and the Gods of fate quit pointing their middle fingers in my direction.

Happy thoughts.

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11:38 - Toonweekly.com : Cantina scene
Current mood: ditzy

On This Day:
Tuesday February 12, 2008

This is the 43rd day of the year, with 323 days remaining in 2008.

Fact of the Day: fish in winter

Fish don't go into a state of true hibernation in the winter, yet their metabolisms do slow down. Advice for fish in backyard ponds is to stop feeding entirely in November-December and to not resume again till at least March (or until the water temperature has reached 50 degrees F), and then to start with very low-protein, easily digestible foods until May or so.



Fish become much less active in the winter, don't grow, and hardly need to eat. The only need that remains the same is that for oxygen, and when fish do die in the winter, it's often because their supply of oxygen is used up before the ice over their habitat melt

This weeks Toonweekly theme was:  Star Wars Cantina creature
I LIKE Star Wars, dare I say I LOVED the first 3  movies (ok, I'm old school, sure)  the other ones...not so much.  Of course I remembered the Cantina scene...who couldn't?!?  Han Solo shot first.


Go visit my new pals at the toonweekly site.  Hell, start participating!!
http://www.toonweekly.com/

We were to design our own new characters that were to be in the cantina scene.  Pretty fun.  So I did a couple of cool looking alien creatures that are beaugarting another chick alien creatures drink, while a jedi tries to hit on her.

I wish I could lay claim to the color job on this piece.  Lucky for me, Barry took pity on me and after my feeble attempt at trying cool lighting...he graciously colored my piece.  I'm very lucky to have access to one of the most talented people I've ever met.

 Here's a little bit of trivia about Barry.  Back when we were in university  at BYU Barry wrote an incredible play called 'Blessing'.

Well, said play won LOTS of awards--oodles and tons.  Barry and his talented cast and the director got sent to Arizona for a competition.  This was the Rocky Mountain Theater Festival.  He won and guess who he beat out--Yep.  Trey Parker and Matt Stone.  There ya have it.  


Now, some folks take Star Wars a little too seriously.  They know what color light sabers Jedi Masters have, what color acolytes have, which one is evil...
Relax, Bro.  Relax.
3 people have now pointed out to me that Old Ben was the only Jedi in exestence at the time of the first Star Wars.
Folks, I don't care.  It ain't real.  Move on...
So anyway, here's mine.
Suck it up, and move on.

ok, ok, another note about this piece...this is the second piece I've done where someone is smoking.  I do not advocate smoking.  I can't stand it.  Don't do it.  Blah.

Jericho returns TONIGHT!!!
Currently HBO's The Wire is my favorite show.  But I am all a twitter that Jericho returns tonight on CBS at 10 Eastern.  Watch it.  I WILL come to your houses, and Iwill sit your ass down and make you watch this series.  Or we can be more civil about it and YOU can go to the CBS website and get caught up on the series.

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/jericho/

I have great hopes for it's return and the numbers is should pull in.  Well written, well acted (Oh!  Gerald Mcraney--next time step to the left!!)

Skeet Ulrich...You tastey li'l fella.

Just do yourself a favor and give the show a try.  Watch the first season.  You'll be glad you did.

What is MY favorite all time TV show?  Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Cool thing here.  It's no longer being produced (damn you Comedy Central and SciFi Channels!!) but Mike Nelson does something similar with his RiffTrax web site.

www.rifftrax.com

Spend an hour or two just entertaining yourself with the teasers.  You'll get some joy.

Happy thoughts!

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14:19 - Coming clean

I picked up a pretty damn good set of books. GettyImages released a series of books starting with 1900 and going up to 1990's. They are fascinating to look thru. As an artist they provide incredible reference as a human it shows you the incredible human spririt--somestimes the photos are extremely graphic (WWI things are tragic indeed) to sublime (children with looks of utter joy over little things we take for granted). I highly recommend investing in some of these books. Each decade book gives you insight into all classes of life from all over the world. Insights into politics, entertainment, travel, science...hell, go for the gold and grab 'em all! The images are out of this world and the historical value is a treasure.

Barry and I spent most of the day cleaning out closets that were far too fully loaded with junk. Most of it has indeed been crap. We are hoping to have a garage sale next Saturday (the 16th)and get rid of a large portion of our crap. So our crap can then go with you and be YOUR crap. Happy to pass it on.

It was really fun to come across old photos, clothes (which I'd dearly love to fit into again someday, but also realize the futility of such a thought and decide I'll just leave most things for the girls). We came across a lot of old toys that we had acquired in hopes we'd make money off them at some later date, or just cuz we thought they were cool. Most are now still on their boards for the kids to grow into and decide their fate--sell, trade or play with.

We came across an old sunglasses, headphone wearing, plastic covered Coke bottle that would dance when a loud noise was made. The kids got a BIG kick out of that. It was fun to show Chloe and Fox our High School year books, my wedding dress, and other various pictures. They couldn't believe that Daddy had all that hair at one time, and that I wasn't always as round as a basketball. And why does Mommy have on a tie that looks like a piano keyboard in this picture--luckily enough I could run to my closet and show the kids I still have said tie.


For me, it was fun to walk down memory lane, but the BEST part was getting to show the kids little bits of our past that made us who we are. Me--it was the piano sheet music I use to use, cool 80's clothes that I still have, and oodles of Barbies. Barry=comics. Boxes and boxes of comics that will remain in the closet.

We also realized that old cards and letters, the ones we wrote to each other, or the little love notes we'd tuck into books or clothes for discovery at a later date, are they other ways they will get to know us and remember us when we are no longer with them. It was kinda sad, but very fun. Until my nose started having fits due to all the dust that was flying around in the room. The house is a complete and utter mess with boxes strewn everywhere and piles of clothes, toys and assorted crapola waiting for the garage sale.

Fox loves to take a running start and dive into the big garbage bags full of clothing we are going to have at the garage sale. We have a mountain of clothes in gargage bags sitting in the corner of our kitchen.





This week's ToonWeekly was themed...Midieval. Such a wonderful topic to do and I screwed the pooch with this one. I guess I was trying to hard for political/familial struggle and ended up with...yuck. I like the girls hair--kinda wanted an art deco flow to it, but that's about it. Too sacharine. Next week's will kick butt--creatures that shouldda been in the Cantina scene in Star Wars. I already saw one friends and it is totally breathtaking.

Happy thoughts.

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22:11 - Toady
Current mood: satisfied

On This Day:
Wednesday January 30, 2008

This is the 30th day of the year, with 336 days remaining in 2008.

Fact of the Day: jazz and blues

Jazz is a musical form, often improvisational, developed by African-Americans and influenced by both European harmonic structure and African rhythmic complexity. It also is often characterized by its use of blues and speech intonations. Blues denotes a secular folk music of African-Americans. It has origins in the Mississippi Delta in the early 20th century. As a musical style the blues are characterized by expressive pitch inflections (blue notes), a three-line textual stanza of the form AAB, and a 12-measure form. Typically the first two and a half measures of each line are devoted to singing, the last measure and a half consisting of an instrumental "break" that repeats, answers, or complements the vocal line. Blues and jazz are closely related; such seminal jazzmen as Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong employed blues elements in their music.

I'm still digging on my Vision M player.  I've been listening to the soundtrack from "The Wire"--you watched it yet???--and there's some cool blue stuff on it.  I'm surprised too at how much dialogue samples from the show turn up.  It's cool.  Can't help but feel the chill up the spine when you hear Omar whistle of "A Hunting We Will Go".  You best be watchin' your back.   Anyway, it's kinda fun when Rene' and I get together.  We talk about music like we're back in high school!  She's got me listening to FlyLeaf, 30 seconds to...something.  All good.

Time is tough  but Barry and I negotiated a schedule.  Wednesdays (for the most part) will be strictly our family day.  We've had to make a schedule of who will be were working where, what times that person will be leaving to make it home, pencil in personal time, etc.   It's been  tough not seeing each other for more then a couple minutes a day--literally.  I've been invited to work for an art company which would give me more time with the family but there's still things I'm working out.  It's a scary, exciting time.  I'll get to draw and work at my leisure (ha!  Like I know what that is!).  So today both Barry and I shoved it all away, took the kids, loaded up the Chloe-mobile and we got out for air.

Today we went for a nature walk with the kids.  We went to just a local park called Lake Louisa (which is HUGE, btw).  I certainly don't fancy myself a city girl, but take away buildings, people, strip away the background noises--cars, lawn mowers, dogs barking, and put me outside, I kinda get mighty nervous.

That all aside the woods were beautiful.  Huge live oak trees that must have seen a lot of stuff.  I love live oaks.  These had Spanish Moss hanging down from them.  The area we ventured to was more swamp then forest.  Huge Cedar trees.  Quite a Thoreau-ian moment.  Everyone needs to read more Thoreau.

We bought the kids Taco Bell (Barry and I ate ham and cheese--we are  recommitted to Low-carbing again.  More later).  Chloe ate hers up--Fox didn't really care although HE'S the one who wanted it!  Molly took a couple of 3 bites.

It felt good to be with the family all together.  Really good.  It felt good to be going something active and I think the kids all enjoyed being exposed to something they'd not really seen before.  They played in the sand and we walked quite a bit.  I took lots of photos.  We must have stayed there 3-4 hours if not more.  Then we went shopping a couple places.  Then home we came--to find out drains all backed up!  Barry's got this sewer drain opener thingie poured down the drain and we can't flush for 7-8 hours.  Thankfully we're doing it while we mostly sleep.  

This weeks Toon Weekly theme was ZOMBIES!!!  Does it get any better then that??  I couldda done a bazillion designs but I went simple...family.




The color is pretty much exact--I didn't desaturate it at all.  I finally got some pretty good reds.  Reds and blacks are hard to paint and harder to scan.

Chloe wanted to do a Zombie as well.  She did a Daddy Zombie.  I love it!!  I got her singing The Cranberries "Zombie" as well. 




I'm finished the flats of Wombless!!  Woohoooo!  Join me in a brief happy dance!

Happy thoughts.


Yes,  we really do have Homer Simpson shoes...

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19:21 - FX conven