gillianivy

Blackout Weds 18th

2012-01-17T10:54:00.002-06:00

Chase Enjoying The Snow

2011-12-27T11:46:00.002-06:00

Dragonfly Rider V.2 by *GillianIvy on deviantART

2011-08-06T04:59:00.000-05:00

Dragonfly Rider V.2 by *GillianIvy on deviantART

Created a new version of my first journal skin design on DeviantART. It's almost DA's 11th birthday. Which they're letting all members use journal skin features through Sunday, August 7th, DA's birthday! Woohoo!

So, here's my contribution to the DA community, another free skin to enjoy. This one is my best design yet with the most features. I'm really proud of it. I'm glad I hadn't released it sooner, as it wouldn't have been as good as it is now. I'll really have some work trying to out do this one! XD Seriously though, it is an accomplishment for me. Looking back on just over a year ago and seeing the CSS behind my first skin and compare it to now... Granted, it probably looks like nonsense to anyone who can't read CSS and maybe also to those who can. It's chockfull of so much stuff! But at the same time, it's a simple design which is easy or complicated. Hopefully, it will be a versatile skin.

A lot of my friends and family might not know what CSS is, or even DA for that matter. Well, DeviantART is my life. Really. I've been on there for nearly 8 years and I met Kevin there. Most of my artwork is there. And CSS is an extension of my art. I combine my love for HTML and web stuff with my art and I'm pretty good at it. So check it out. If you have a DA account, then good, you can install it and use it ;D It's free for all to use! ♥

Dragonfly Rider V.2 by *GillianIvy on deviant ART

Here I am

2011-05-18T02:04:00.001-05:00

Self Portrait

2011-05-18T01:56:00.000-05:00

Again, just playing with this technique. I took these with continuous shot on my camera. I had it secured to a tripod. Unfortunately, there's no burst mode, so I couldn't use the self timer. I had my finger on the shutter release the whole time. Maybe I need to read my manual. Sigh. Or get a remote button!

Kevin must think I'm conceited, or that I just love myself ;P I take a lot of pictures of myself. Really, who else do I have to model for me? I have a boy, a cat and a man who hates having his picture taken. ;P

The little boy that I love

2011-05-18T00:10:00.001-05:00

Went out to play with my tripod today. It was a little windy, so perfect for taking stop motion pictures. And fun too. Chase did a few action shots for me. I haven't sequenced them yet. This one, I added a few old home movie type of effect. Just practicing a new layer technique I'd learned in Photoshop. I never really played around with the layer masking stuffs. I've also learned wth a PS Action was. Someone tried to explain it to me once. It sounded like they said they took stock images, edited the crap out of them with a bunch of filters then posted them as stock photos. Maybe that's what that person actually was doing. I'm not sure. But an actual PS Action is a recorded event of maneuvers you might do in PS. You can even set closing a document as an action.

So I've made myself some handy vignette type of actions. Just a subtle blur, lighting effect and overlay done on just the outside border. The first set of actions I made were done with using the select modification tools as well, but it's impractical if you're handling documents of varied sizes. Or switching between horizontal and vertical layouts a lot. So I made a set of three generic actions and then combined them into one big action. Woo. So, once I figure out how to export it and such, I may share my simple actions and how to use them to get a very subtle vignette that can make a bold difference in the picture.

If I start doing a more photo driven blog, I may have to switch over to Tumblr and see if it's as enticing and useful as it seems to be. I think people mostly use it for a complete blog of nothing but photos. Or just small amounts of text/captions. Me, use very few words.... imagine that!

Dance in the Puddles

2011-05-14T23:41:00.003-05:00

More Cinegraphs

2011-05-14T23:40:00.000-05:00

Lasers and Gaming

2011-05-14T22:44:00.001-05:00

Trees

2011-05-14T22:36:00.000-05:00

I'll only be making small posts of these, as I'm sure it will cause everything to take forever to load. And I've only set the loop to run 32 times. Any tips on the best dithering and editing methods to get the nicest looking gifs (as near to photo quality and lossless as possible) would be appreciated. I have some research to do. For more animated photography, try looking up BehindInfinity on DeviantART. His deviations introduced me to the blog "From me to you".

I love the Rain

2011-05-14T22:19:00.001-05:00

I've been inspired by some lovely animated photos dubbed "cinegraphs". And felt it would be fun to experiment. The rain presented the perfect opportunity to practice. I plan to make ones with small animations subtly added to accent the photography. I'll have to learn the best techniques. Layer masking should accomplish this. This is also a bit of animation practice for me, as I have two projects I plan to be adding a bit of animation to. Please enjoy the rain with me.

The Horror Zine!

2011-04-20T00:23:00.002-05:00

I have been featured in the May 2011 issue of the Horror Zine online as one of the featured artists. It is such an honor to have been chosen for this. Jeani Rector, the editor of the Horror Zine contacted me to be represented in her zine. Here is what she has to say about the artists she has chosen to be featured in her publication:

"I have personally hand-picked the best artistic talent in the world, from all over the world"

I am so honored to be amongst the artists that she has chosen for her website. It really makes me feel special beyond words to be spoken of so wonderfully. I never considered myself as one of the greatest artists, though I do consider myself to be a very capable artist. And to know that so many others love my artwork really means so much to me. I am overjoyed with all the love and support I've received from others who have told me how they love my craft. I cannot express, I don't even know where to begin.

I've now been featured twice in one month! And that never happens to me. I feel like I've reached out to the handmade community and they've accepted me with open arms.

Please check out the other featured artists Karin Zeller and Evan Hoyt.

In other news, Kevin has been hired at Lowe's Home Improvement and will be working in the lumber department. He starts orientation on Monday! I'm very happy. This won't get us out of the hole just yet, but it keeps us afloat and that's as much as I can really hope for right now. ♥

WIP Art Spam + Strawberry Patch

2011-04-15T17:38:00.000-05:00

There's a lot of projects I'm working on all at the same time. which I sort of eluded to last post. So now I'm going to spam you with all of the lovely photos all at once!

I'm working on a custom set of art mats/scrapbooking frames. They're all black cardstock done with various metallic gel pens. No specific sizes or styles were ordered, so I'm just doing various ones. I'm still working on Anissa's tattoo commission. Almost finished. Been working on it clockwise from the center out. I have to alternate between projects, otherwise my hand starts to all cramp up and I get a little unmotivated. Some how, I can work hours on end by swapping what I'm working on every hour. Both of those projects are almost finished. Woooo!

I also have some paper making projects going on. Pictured are some newspaper ATC's and bookmarks. some of the bookmarks have little purple flowers embedded into them. Not pictured, I have some recycling paper mache items. Masks (for decoration only) and bangles. The bangles are made from a soda bottle wrapped in paper mache. And the masks, I used fused plastic bags as the form I molded my design on. Trying to reuse and reduce as much as I can. And cut back on my supply costs as well. I found a nifty tutorial on fusing grocery bags, which we have tons of. We save them for, you guessed it, trash. I know, boo on us. But we live out in the country where we don't have recycling services. We compost most our food trash. But we still end up with a lot of cartons and plastic in the trash. I've already been using the cardboard from cereal boxes and the like for my packaging and as the base for some of my artworks. Like postcards and ATCs and my gift card holders.

Now I'm trying to eliminate our junk mail and newspaper pile. Making pulp for my paper. I plan to make some plantable tags. I have a little packet of flowering seeds which I'll be using to make them. They arrived in some junk mail, actually! So completely recycling the junk mail! I plan to fill up my store like crazy!

I have a rather large strawberry patch in the back yard. Last year, it was producing close to 1-2#'s of plump strawberries a week during the production season. But my patch was looking way over crowded and I'll need to thin it out. I'm thinking I can dig up 25 plants/offshoots and offer them in my Etsy store. The first year, my patch didn't have much fruit. But the next year, the berries were crazy all over the place, and even more last year. But I really need to thin it out if the plants are going to do well. I don't want to have to throw out so many good plants. If you're interested in some, I can make a special listing for them. This is seasonal, of course, and about now is the time I need to dig them up. I think $6 + s/h should be a fine price, it's about half the price I paid for them and they're all mixed varieties. I think we started with about 50 plants. The next year, it more than doubled! I recommend planting in a tiered shape, we did ours wide and I have to play Twister when I pick my berries. I bet I look rather silly to the neighbors... So either plant them tiered or just a few rows you can easily access. Totally worth the cost, you buy a little 1# basket at the grocery store for almost $5.

I may do some digging on Monday. So if you want an order of plants, send me a convo on Etsy and I'll dig some up for you and send them out right away. They'll come with some wet newspaper to maintain their moisture. My blog readers and returning customers can take advantage of the offer below.

Use code THANKYOU for 10% off right now

Easter Frogs

2011-04-14T00:37:00.001-05:00

I have fallen in love with Amanda Makepeace's little collection of froggies. Her watercolors are a delight and I decided to share them with my son for Easter. He loves ATC's, probably because I love ATC's. He even has a small collection of trades he's done. These ones are special. A set of three prints. I'm going to put them into one 8x10 frame and have a black mat bordering them.

Tree Frog Open Edition Set

Amanda has started a promotion where she is offering a watercolor ATC per month subscriptions! I love the idea of receiving a miniature work of art every month. I don't have the money to do that right now, but hopefully will get a chance before she closes the offer. For the month of April, she's collecting pebbles from around the world... You send her a pebble, and she sends you a watercolor painting ATC of your pebble. Her pebble paintings are my favorite. They are like zen. I actually feel peace of mind and well being gazing at her paintings of little stones. I have a pebble to send her, and my son wants to send her one as well. Need to pick up a bubble mailer at the Post Office ♥

She found me on DeviantART. I think through one of my journal skins, Dragonfly Rider (my first released DA skin, soon to be re-released!). And I was amazed that she featured me in her journal. And her gallery is full of watercolor treasures and fractal art (and Shadow, her kitty cat). Brilliant work. She even got a DD (Daily Deviation for those not DeviantART savvy, that means she got featured in their daily feature by the moderator for fractals) on one of her pieces, Power Source, which is a high honor on DeviantART. And she really deserves it. We've quickly made friends, though we have never met. I'm glad to help her out a little by buying a small token from her whenever I can. I've bought from her before, a watercolor print bookmark of ginkgo leaves, which was absolutely beautiful and a perfect match for another DeviantART friend.

Naturescharms.Etsy.com | AmandaMakepeace.com

So these little frogs will soon be on the wall. I'll post up pictures after I've framed them. I'm going to hand cut a black paper mat, just something simple with maybe a bit of gel pen accents. Nothing too fancy. I'm working on some other gel pen mat frames (similar style to the link) right now for Kevin's Great Aunt. His Grandma is buying them from me. A whole set of them. I have two more pieces to make. I'll post more on my projects tomorrow or soon. I took quite a few work in progress type of pictures, enough to fill up a whole 'nother journal entry anyway.

Stellar Plane

2011-04-09T01:57:00.000-05:00

The stars beneath my feet,
little explosions of life.
It hurts so much to behold,
seeing the living matrix
cast in gilded light.

I am in awe,
I stand amazed,
I cannot believe,
that no one else sees
the essence of Earth.

How can they not notice
the world below us is teeming
with such magnificence?
A vision of existence
in the night.

Never before have I seen
anything like this.
And I want to scream,
at those who cannot see
it's intricate design.

The stars below mirror
of the stars above.
Except they are connected,
by tiny strands of light.
Our lives intertwined.

------------------

Just an errant thought I had to scrawl down while I was thinking about it.

Anissa's Dandelion Tree WIP

2011-04-06T21:28:00.000-05:00

Twisted roots of the Live Oak

I've been working on a wonderful tattoo commission for a friend I've known for ages. I will not reveal how many ages! She sent me wonderful resources for inspiration. Pictures of trees, dandelions and art nouveau inspirations. And I saw her tattoo in my mind.

It's still under works, but nearing completion, and I couldn't wait to share it with everyone. She'll be getting a reserved listing at Miscellaneous Juxtapositions. I don't have any tattoo commissions listed there, though I have done quite a few of those (proportionally to my other commissioned art). I designed a tattoo for Moria, which she has on her leg. And I've tattooed my mother! How many people can say that? Tattoo has been a great influence on my art, I had once aspired to be a tattoo artist, though it was not my course in life.

Leaves extending into the sky, as dandelion fluff into stars

Art Nouveau framework

Instead, friends have asked me to design their tattoos. Which I was more than pleased to do. It's an honor that someone would love my art so much as to want it on their skin. Really amazing to me. And the inks they have now and tattooing techniques... Paintings could be done, masterful works of art. I love the art of tattoo! I have seven myself. And, I crave more. Eventually! I plan to have the entire Chinese Zodiac tattooed on me, all my own artwork. Maybe, someday.

I did a lot of research for this design. Looking at the shape of leaves and studying the bend of the Live Oak tree. Truly a majestic specimen! Then going with her idea, with the wind bending the tree, delivering its leaves to the sky, and turning to dandelion fluff swirling into stars. All in an art nouveau style with an a frame. My vision and her's together. I immediately pictured the tree emerging from the frame in a third dimension.

Right now, I'm penciling the design. I had a lightly drawn design before, now I'm fixing up the linework and shading in the depth of the tree. I'm so pleased with how this is coming out.

Finishing the pencils and details

When this is complete, she may have me paint the original artwork. I picture subtle colors in the sky, the leaves, trunk and grass. And some violet midnight hues around the lit up stars. Soft sunset colors blending into a vivid night.

Twisted Root
Creations

Anissa is also a wonderful Etsy seller. Twisted Root Creations. That shop is currently closed, but she will be opening a new shop soon called Olive and Eggs. It will have vintage clothes and accessories, family treasures that once belonged to her grandmother. Her original store had her natural mineral jewelry, gorgeous stuff! I believe she still does commissioned works. She is also a certified Reiki healer, and her jewelry is a reflection of that, I believe. The stones and minerals are often used in healing, where I don't know much about the art of Reiki, I do find it intriguing.

Desert Panorama

Smoky Room

2011-04-05T02:51:00.002-05:00

In case you're wondering about the spelling, I wondered too. Smokey vs smoky. Smoky is correct, though Smokey is also correct in a different sense as a pronoun.
I haven't uploaded any work in progress type blogs in quite some time, though I almost always have something in progress. Right now, sitting on my art table, is a plastic muffin basket filled with incomplete paper mache masks and bangles. Also, in my scan bed is a tattoo design I'm currently working on which will be turned into a completed painting. And today, I was compelled to start another painting.

"Smoky Room" on the drawing board

Part of my artistic process is that I multi-task. I work on one, then feel the need to switch up and do something else. So I work on another. Perfect for projects with drying times like paper mache! Though I have found I have a really hot lamp that dries my paper sculpts ultra fast. (The masks are going to be wall masks, as they are flat, so not good for faces)

Beginning the swirls of smoke

Now my art desk doesn't even hold a torch to my computer hard drive. I currently have a ready-to-code CSS design for DeviantART that just needs to be divided into the components and worked on in CSS. The design is completely done (and awesome!). I have countless this and thats of ideas for art projects which I never really worked on or just started part of the way. I have a scanned up doodle of Cougar which I plan to digitally paint. Reference pictures reference pictures reference pictures. Patterns and stocks. And countless pictures which are all in the wrong folders.... I fixed some of them earlier. I really need to fix how they tier so it's not so much digging to get to the ones I want. And I really need to name everything properly.

I'm getting off subject...

Smoky sexy lips

Smoky Room. I felt like painting a big watercolor painting, in somewhat the same style as the "Murder of Crows" fine art painting listed on my Etsy, however more like "El Captian Sonriente/O Carnivale" set with lots of swirly patterned details and pen work. So I looked for inspiration. What should I fill this big sheet of watercolor with??? Then, I thought of one of my favorite songs by Channing, "Stone Me" and the line, "Hard to stay clean in a smoky room..." And immediately, a vision of sexy lips smoldering with smoke rolling out from a burnt out looking girl in a room so filled with smoke nothing else is visible, immediately sprang to life in my head. And I just knew exactly how I wanted to paint it. With the smoke curling up. I drew it out first, but didn't like it. Then looked at several stock images on DeviantART to study how the smoke curled out. I didn't find any that were quite what I wanted. But I found good inspiration.

Right now, it's in one of the first layers. I've added in some fine line detailing with my smallest and largest microns. I'll go back over everything with my new awesome brush pen. The tip really is a brush, not like Micron brush pens which are like felt or something! I love it, it took forever for the ink to flow all the way to the tip the first time, but after wards, I love how it flows so smoothly. Being used to stiff tip pens, I'll have to adjust to the new technique.

Face with the smoke tendrils spiraling out.

Today I've done bright colorful splashes and washes, then designed over top of it with masking fluid. I added more washes of greys and blacks. Several layers to build up the level I wanted. Then I began to ink in the patterns. After that initial inking, it's gonna get more washes of grey to black tones to build the depth and flow. This time, without any masking fluid. Then re-inking and highlighting to follow.

I'm excited how this is already starting to come out. I'll be selling the original and make prints available as well. Creating art with the intent of selling has really given me so much inspiration. I feel like I'm on fire and everything I create is better than the last! Part of what's fueling me is all the wonderful attention I've received for my art. Nothing makes me happier than telling me how awesome I am! XD Modest, aren't I? Really, the more positive feedback i get, the more I want to just completely wow my captive audience. Do something better than the last to the best of my ability.

"Smoky Room" inspired by "Stone Me" - Channing Hembree

I used to do 15 minute drawings. And I thought they were great. And I was done with it and would never touch it again. Kevin has taught me to put more detailed work and effort into my art. And it has improved my art by amazing levels. Thank you, Kevin. He is the awesome behind my awesome. Now to get him motivated to create wonderful stuff and I'll promote the crap out of him since he is such an anti-social beast! But he wants feedback and the same rapport that I get (well, maybe not so much dialog as my part...). But he does not interact with the artist community at all. He throws a work on DeviantART, then gets no feedback, so doesn't upload anything else for a looooong time. It frustrates me because he is such a better artist than me on the form and skill. Every line he draws is perfect. Or rather, has to be. Whereas, I flourish with my mistakes. I either paint over them or work them into it. (They equal texture) I love his art, I wish he'd do more of it.

Rebecca's Whims: Feature: Gillian Ivy

2011-04-03T10:56:00.001-05:00

I am honored to have been featured in Rebecca's Whims' blog! She's a fellow Etsy seller with a beautiful store filled with art, little treasures and herbal crafts. Have a look at her inventory, her creations are delightful, especially her aromatherapy dolls. Which are perfect gifts for children to help them get ready for bed. She is very friendly and caring. She shares with the world her life and her son over at Henry's Heroes.

Rebecca's Whims: Feature: Gillian Ivy: "I 'met' Gillian when I started my Etsy shop last fall. She was one of the first contacts I had. Since then I have been watching her progress..."

Etsy

Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her personal blog You Have a Kid, So Now What as well. Thank you, Rebecca for featuring me. I really am too flattered and over joyed that you would say such wonderful things and show off my work. It really means a lot to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Universal Winners Announced!

2011-04-01T23:41:00.000-05:00

Sadly, only four people entered my giveaway. Happily, that means all four people won! So I'll be announcing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and runner up momentarily. And I'm busy painting your prizes at this very moment. (Way to wait till' the last minute, Gillian) Drum roll please!

Jess Martinez
Amanda Makepeace
Michael Fisher
Lauren O'Doyle Kojola

I'll update this journal with the full prize list to let you all know what you've won. I will be messaging you all shortly to get your mailing addresses. Please share with everyone how awesome it was that you won something in my contest because they didn't enter ;D Congratulations to all my entrants because you all won! Best odds of winning a contest ever!

Giveaway Ending Soon!

2011-03-30T11:44:00.000-05:00

The giveaway I'm holding for free metallic art prints plus original artworks will be ending on April 1st! So far, I only have two entrants, and seven prizes. Which means, both entrants will receive a prize! If only seven people enter by the deadline, then all seven get the prize.

Details: Universal Wishlist Giveaway

Grand Prize winner will receive the Sea Witch Metallic print ACEO plus an original 5"x5" original acrylic/mixed medium painting on canvas paper.
Second winner will receive the Sea Witch Metallic print ACEO plus an original ATC sized acrylic/mixed medium painting on canvas paper.
Third Place winner will receive the Sea Witch Metallic print ACEO plus an original ATC sized acrylic/mixed medium painting on canvas paper

Entering is actually really easy. Especially if you already have an account on Amazon.com. they have this really great wishlist feature which can be used on any website. And it works great with Etsy. You add an item to your Universal Wishlist and people who shop your wistlist can see every item you want, even if it isn't carried by Amazon. So here's what you gotta do to enter:

Install the Universal Wishlist plug in if you don't already have it
Pick an item from Miscellaneous Juxtapositions to add to your wishlist
Post your wishlist link on any social media (Facebook, Twitter, Blog)
Send me a link to your sharing the wishlist comment here, Twitter, Facebook, or e-mail.

Please also share this giveaway so more people can enter. It ends soon, so hurry! ♥

I write Like

2011-03-29T10:14:00.000-05:00

Here's just a bit of fun.

I write like
Dan Brown

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

Just copy & paste some of your writing, a blog or story, poetry etc, and see who you write like. I put in my unfinished Sims 3 story set in a futuristic post-apocalyptic, fantasy world. If you want to read it, I put the first two paragraphs into this analyzer.

Chapter One: Beginning of the End

Beyond that wall lies a wasteland filled with death and decay. No one ever enters that wasteland, travel is restricted to the underground tunnels connecting Elysium to the 7 cities within Kosuna Stretch. The Stretch covers nearly 100 miles with Elysium as the hub, central to the others. The most heavily fortified, it has become a safe haven for all walks of life. What remains of it. The system of walls surrounding the city, with no actual gate, only service entrances and walkways, provides the first line of defense. Almost like a maze with pitfalls and traps to prevent any breach. Guard towers stand sentinel with an army of sentries patrolling the ramparts. The citizens rest easy despite the continuous onslaught. Within the maze the city is surrounded by an electrified wall, a sheer, unscalable face. Not a single entrance, preventing any who have passed the gauntlet within the maze a chance to contaminate the populace. But even the strongest defense systems and most fool proof precautions can be defeated by one thing. Our own human follies.

Veri breathed a heavy puff of mist across her small hands as she rubbed them together. She looked out from the alley, high above the Harashin Square along the Eastern edge of the city. From the corner of her eye she caught glance of a flash of light, but gone by the time she turned her head to look. Nothing. Only the darkness against the dull glow of the city. Veri held her breath a short moment and scanned the shadows for movement furtively. Something seemed amiss. But she couldn't place what was wrong. She released a lungful of air heavily and turned back from the precipice. She had work to do, and worrying about flickers of light that she never actually saw wasn't getting it done. Obtain the "Drakon's Wisdom". Easier said than done. It's taken the better part of a week to come up with this small lead. She'd followed some ugly looking thugs, somewhat oblong and disproportionate features, four of them, a large trunk between them. No clues as to what she was even looking for. Seemingly an ancient tome or artifact. She gleaned something concerning ancient Chinese dragons. So it would seem, what she wanted was in that case, and those four henchman might be more than she could take on... In a fair fight.

Wow Since 2006

2011-03-04T20:47:00.000-06:00

I have had this blog going since 2006. It is older than my son. I started it when I moved out to Indiana and was pregnant and far away from all the friends and family I knew. It has seen my tears and my randomness and my art. So my blog is nearly 5 years old. I haven't updated as much as I used to. Mostly just my art or a random blog about some obnoxiousness that I felt I must repost. To those who've read my stories and thoughts and been here with me through these years, with me pouring out my heart into the vast expanse of interspace, thanks! I appreciate your thoughts and time spent meandering the inner workings of my mind. As I usually write exactly what I'm thinking as I think it with very few edits. You get to know what's really going on with my thought processes. Scary!

This blog doesn't have a ton of readers. Not that it was ever the goal. I've changed up the format of this blog to be less of my ranting about inane shit and more me jammering about my art. Which is a good thing XD I have Facebook as an outlet for all my rantings about injustices in the world for them to disappear in the never ending wall.... lols.

I better save this, there is a storm.

Universal Wishlist Giveaway

2011-03-03T11:14:00.000-06:00

Miscellaneous Juxtapositions Giveaway!

Now through April first, I will be holding a special contest for a metallic limited edition print ACEO (2½" x 3½"). Only seven are available.

Sea Witch ATC - T by *GillianIvy on deviant ART

Only one requirement to enter. Add any of my listings from Miscellaneous Juxtapositions to your Amazon Universal Wishlist and share it! Doing this is very easy. Of course, you'll need an Amazon account. Creating a wish list is easy. Simply load the plug in for your browser and on any website, you can add an item you're viewing to your wish list. It works great with Etsy. Please add an item you would actually like to have in case someone gets it for you ;D Post the link to your wish list here or e-mail to me: gillianivy@live.com, then share your wish list with your friends and family, either on your blog, facebook, twitter... Whatever social network you like. Link to the post here or send me a screenshot so I know you've entered the contest. There's seven chances to win, if I only get seven entries, then all seven will be winners! Hopefully, we'll get more entrants. I'll select at random through random.org's list randomizer tool.

Etsy
gillianivy

The Grand Prize winner will receive the Sea Witch Metallic print ACEO plus an original 5"x5" original acrylic/mixed medium painting on canvas paper. Second and Third Place winners will receive the Sea Witch Metallic print ACEO plus an original ATC sized acrylic/mixed medium painting on canvas paper. I'll post pictures of those once they have been created, they are made specifically for this contest.

All entries must be received by April Fools Day, April 1st 2011, 12:00 AM (Central). I will do the drawing and release the winners list and contact winners by e-mail. If I have not heard back in five days from every winner with their mailing address to receive their prize, another winner will be selected at random. Additional entries may be added once per day, by either creating a new wish list or adding a different listing to your existing list and sharing it again. Please be sure to mention when you share your list my contest so your friends and family can participate as well! You can only win once. Multiple entries will increase your odds of winning, but will not increase the number of prizes you can win.

For ease of sharing, see the menu at the bottom to connect to Facebook, Twitter and other social sites.

I currently have a sale on select items. Sale lasts until the listings expire, and they are all expiring this month! Free shipping while items last. Afterwards, any sets will no longer be available as a set and separated into individual listings. Miscellaneous Juxtapositions Sale

There is also a new section in my store for donation/fundraising items I am selling via my Etsy store. Currently, I have 3 items available, the purchases will go to benefit the family of Lucinda from DesignedbyLucinda on Etsy. Please see the item listings for details. Donation Pieces.

If you can read this

2011-02-20T23:56:00.000-06:00

我愛你

To all my friends and family whom I haven't seen in a long time. And especially to Dirk, on his birthday. Happy birthday, my friend. You are missed.

Deviant ART Etsy Treasury

2011-02-19T05:58:00.001-06:00

This is the Buy n' Replace treasury for DeviantART team members. In order to get on this, you first need to have a DeviantART and Etsy account and join the team. Then post up a link to your item in discussions. There's still 3 slots available. Then the BnR swapping can begin.

'Deviant Art Team BNR' by iamadecoy

iamadecoy $22.00	NeonSun $13.00	deeterhi $25.00
LittleGreenJel... $20.00	KicaBijoux $	MissToryDesign... $49.00
mixedmayhem $16.00	clockworkgh0st $15.00	NikkiWynne $7.00
amberhlynn $35.00	gillianivy $12.00	makoccino $26.00
Evenrose $15.00

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com A/B image testing.

cheekyjewelsbysonja: A Few Very Talented People That I Have The Pleasure of Knowing!

2011-02-03T01:50:00.000-06:00

I've been featured in a blog article by the wonderful Sonja Brekhus! She's the owner of "Cheeky Jewels by Sonja". Her assymetrical jewlry is quite eye catching, definitely some wonderful conversation pieces. I'm partial to some interesting pieces. I love the long strands of Onyx that drape together in these. And the Swarovski pendant reminds me of a chandelier. All of these would add an elegant compliment to romantic evening gown, or casual enough for jeans and a chic top.

cheekyjewelsbysonja: A Few Very Talented People That I Have The Pleasure of Knowing!

My Year in First Sentences

2011-01-02T21:02:00.002-06:00

Okay, apparently it's Doppelganger Week on Facebook? Kinderly Song Tribute to Dirk Some of you may have heard of this photography project going around. Sigh. I have finished a 4 set ATC plus one. I'm working on another batch of Artist Trading Cards. Glogster Who. ATC Poster. Journal Glog. Here's my Glogster poster for my store announcing latest items. I'm holding a contest for my Etsy Store. Before I get too ahead of myself, I ought to organize my projects a bit here. See the Contest Winner Announcement for details. I'm excited to announce my first sale, now through July 25th, free shipping on everything. I'm currently working on a rather fun commission. To make a donation for these cards, go to the listing on Ripple Sketches and request by the item number. So it's taken me over a year to write this song. A lot of bad happened in 2010, but here's a few good things in review:

Okay @Maggie, mine wasn't very interesting either. XD Looks like I did a lot of art, and Glogged for a month. And sang to myself.

Here's 2010: All Posts

2010 The Highlights

2010-12-31T21:26:00.001-06:00

A lot of bad happened in 2010, but here's a few good things in review:

Dancing girls with boxes on their heads

Korn Dogs

Infra Fart

Insert Coins

Doctor Who + Star Wars = Fangasm

Hawt Robot Fantasy Girl

Sodomy Song

Do you....?

Spider Cat will eat your soul

Rainbow Barfing Clown

Krampus Christmas

Christmas Tape

Okay, this is just December in review. I have too many obnoxious links/videos/etc that have either been tagged at me or I've posted on Facebook. Happy New Year's, enjoy this month in review!

Our Shattered Lives

2010-11-18T13:02:00.000-06:00

So it's taken me over a year to write this song. I've mostly been "writing" it while doing dishes and never wrote down the lyrics and figured out the song. But apparently, I sing it best while doing the dishes. I tried to record it, but the recording sounded like I was just shouting into the mike. It was kind of the fail. So instead, here's the lyrics, maybe some time I can record it whilst I am doing dishes.

Our Shattered Lives
--- Gillian Brown

Our shattered lives
Are shadowed lies

Too many skeletons in our closet,
lies lay buried
She thought she'd taken
the secret to her grave.

Whoever said that what
you don't know can't hurt you
never knew, never knew
the truth.

It burns into your soul
not knowing what's missing.
The pieces don't fit...

Into our shattered lives
are shadowed lies
Our shattered lives
are shadowed lies!

I've been thinking of incorporating all my poetry and lyrics into my artworks. I have a lot of songs and poetry I've written but never really shared. Now if only I could sing without a little voice saying "Mommy!" in the background....

Ripple Sketches for the Gulf

2010-08-31T12:02:00.005-05:00

To make a donation for these cards, go to the listing on Ripple Sketches and request by the item number. Ripple Sketches ATC's 1-6 by GillianIvy

I've recently come across an artist who had submitted her ATC's to Ripple Sketches, to be donated for the Gulf oil spill animal rescue and clean up efforts. Artists, please check out this website, make a 2 ½" x 3 ½" contribution, which will get a $10 donation to the Gulf. "Great American Illustrators" cards, which are from professional widely published artists, their cards get a donation of $50. There are already so many great and wonderful artists who are contributing miniature masterpieces, art for a cause.

I'll be contributing a set of 6 cards. In mixed media, all are the standard ATC size of 2 ½" x 3 ½". Some artists have donated works in large format, but most are trading card sized. This set was specifically created for the Ripple Sketches Blog.

"Origami" #1 of 6
Chinese Brocade, Silver Sharpie, Fine tip pen, Gold & Black Acrylics

"No Sushi" #2 of 6
Chinese Brocade, Silver Sharpie, Fine tip pen, Gold & Black Acrylics

"Inked" #3 of 6
Chinese Brocade, Silver Sharpie, Fine tip pen, Gold & Black Acrylics

#1-3 of 6
These were from the same sheet of Canvas Paper, sewn, drawn, painted then cut.

When I started designing these first 3, I had no idea what I intended to create. I had some excess fabric piece left over from the skirt project I had just finished hemming. I immediately thought of the Ripple Sketches project and pieced the scraps together, and chose an Asian theme to compliment the brocade. An origami bird to represent the birds affected by this plight. Sushi to represent the fishing and food industry's blow that has been dealt. And finally, the great octopus who lives deep in the water and isn't seen on the surface, and will suffer as greatly as all the coated fish that float to the top.

As I got the black out for the oil splatters, I accidentally put a lot more than I had intended on my palette. So, I decided to do three minimalist dark cards. To represent a whole blackened ocean and the creature effected by it. Instead of a full ocean, we see only one animal, its neighbors already having died, the population of the sea dwindled down to one loan fish, one loan crab, and the last mermaid.

"Little Fish - Big Sea" #4 of 6
Black and Gold Acrylics.

"Minimalist Crab" #5 of 6
Black and Gold Acrylics.

"Last Mermaid" #6 of 6 SOLD
Black and Gold Acrylics.

#4-6 of 6
Same sheet of Canvas Paper, painted then cut.

These works can also be seen in my DeviantART gallery. They are only available via this cause, for $10 a piece. So my goal is to raise $60 for the Gulf crews. If you have already made a donation to any of the causes they have, get your confirmation number and choose which card you want. Go to the Ripple Sketches Blog and contact the blog owner in order to claim your card. These images are not stock, no prints or digital reproductions will be made of these, they were designed exclusively for this project.

Pressed Rat and Warthog

2010-07-19T21:48:00.010-05:00

'm currently working on a rather fun commission. Way back in 1996, I think, I was staying with some friends, and they had an animation program, they wanted me to make the animated characters of pressed rat and warthog from a Cream song. I never finished. Well, I've now been asked to redo those characters. And love how it's coming out! I'm putting a lot of detail into this, and adding tribute to my departed friend, Dirk Smiler. The image has so many elements he would've loved. So, I've added book titles, such as "Perdition's Gate" and SPQR painted above the door archway. My art has evolved so much since 1996. Really, it's such an amazing difference. I put a lot more work into each piece, not just some fast drawing. And I won't be declaring this one finished until it really is. So, sorry, Josh, this won't be done as fast as I would have liked, but I want to really make this something to love. ;D

'll post up more pictures as it progresses. This is still in the first stage, pencil work. Then I'll be adding ink and colors and then accents. Then it will be finished ;D This is one of the biggest artworks I've done in a while. I think the page is 9x12. I need to just sit down and work on it, I'm procrastinating at the moment, but I wanted to share this bit, because I am pretty excited about it. I seem to have a hard time getting past the tedious bits (like drawing books), just need to get that over and done with so I can work on the foreground. I rarely do backgrounds quite like this. One of the reasons I'm drawing that first, just going to go across the page and fill in as I go. Here's the Song:

Christmas In July!

2010-07-15T21:57:00.002-05:00

I'm excited to announce my first sale, now through July 25th, free shipping on everything. Etsy periodically has sales which fellow Etsians can participate in. I'm offering free shipping, as I do not have large enough of a stock to offer anything like BOGO. But do plan to do something like that in the future. I try to have reasonable shipping on all my items, going by USPS shipping costs. I've looked online and tried to calculate the approximate costs for most of my items. Individual ATC's ship at the same rate as a normal envelop, but several would be more expensive, so the free shipping is perfect to take advantage of when buying multiples.

I take care when shipping my artworks to add stiff cardboard to protect them from bending. I've found that recycled cereal box cardboard is perfect, as it's thin enough to cut down on costs to ship and stiff enough to offer fair protection. Unless the Post Office completely mangles it, but then, even thick cardboard wouldn't stand a chance in that case!

And the Winner Is...

2010-07-11T15:04:00.003-05:00

See the Contest Winner Announcement for details.

The Arty To Do List

2010-07-03T07:39:00.000-05:00

Before I get too ahead of myself, I ought to organize my projects a bit here. I need to treat it like a business. Well, it is. Though most of my art I've done for free, so haven't taken the task of completing any of it in a timely manner. Well, I'm going to start treating it like a job. An art project a day if I can. Depending on the project of course. But anyhow, the project list which I'll try to keep up to date with new projects and completions.

Etsy Store Projects:

4x6 gel pen art prize for Contest
Accordion book (puzzle)
ATC book
Bookmarks
Scrapbook Embellishments
Paper Frames (1x1, 2x2, 5x5, 4x6, 5x7)
Brocade Skirt
Brocade Gloves

Commmissions:

Josh B. - Pressed Rat & Warthog - Pending approval
John M. - Portrait - Pending Approval
Sherry S. - Tarot Deck - Must discuss

Gifts:

Postmaster - 7 Gifts - Half Complete
Jen A. - 7 Gifts -
Jess L. - 7 Gifts-
Mom - 7 Gifts -
Julieta B. - 7 Gifts -
Deni H.- 7 Gifts -
Steve H. - Family Portrait -
Stephen B. - Daughter Portrait -
Wes Smiler & Family - Dirk Painting - background painted
Goth Freaks of DC - Dirk Portrait - sketched only

Wow, looks like I'm pretty busy! If there's anyone I forgot, please comment/e-mail me. This is just off the top of my head. I'm pretty sure that's everyone I said I'd make a gift for... Sorry to have been so slack everyone. I'm out of that artist hiatus and back to it, so will try to start cranking out your personal masterpieces by the masses.

Contest on Facebook

2010-07-02T12:57:00.002-05:00

I'm holding a contest for my Etsy Store. It's open to my Facebook Fans only. Simply "Like" Miscellaneous Juxtapositions, "Share" and tag a friend (artist if possible), and "Join" MiscellaneousJuxtapositions.Webs.com. That's it. Contest ends 11:59PM Central on Sunday July 11th. See the Event Page for details.

Miscellaneous Juxtapositions

2010-06-15T14:24:00.000-05:00

Here's my Glogster poster for my store announcing latest items. Believe you need Flash Player to view.

Journal Glog

2010-06-11T08:10:00.000-05:00

ATC Poster

2010-06-09T07:25:00.002-05:00

Glogster Who

2010-06-09T00:50:00.004-05:00

I do so love joining new sites... lols! Glogster seems pretty neat or making flash images/media on the fly. Not sure how versatile it is yet. But it is interactive. Click on the images above and they will pop up. You can add links and the such. Unsure if you can remove the banner part, but read something there about creating webpages on the fly. I know CSS and such, but something like this would definitely be fun. However, it'd be static, unless you go in and edit it.

Art in your pocket!

2010-05-01T07:22:00.000-05:00

I have finished a 4 set ATC plus one. (Yes, I know, that means 5) This series is mixed media, collage style with a bit of this or that pieced together.

This is made with colored gel lighting filters windowed between watercolor paper and riveted together with eyelets. Designs are painted onto the filters which are all layered to achieve a different effect to complete the picture. "In Eye's View" also features a cover piece which is part of the finished work. It adds another layer to the image.

"Short Circuited" features a blue colored gel lighting filter and a cut out piece from a watercolored old drawing, layered upon a bristol drawing and a couple eyelets. Watercolor, acrylics and micron pens.

This card has a cut out piece of circuitry from our old motherboard. The painting is an old drawing I resurrected with a bit of watercolor paint and gold acrylics. The pieces are decoupaged together with a red gel lighting filter on watercolor paper.

Another multi-layered ATC, "A Whisper" has a champagne colored gel lighting filter fastened to my watercolored sketch over a micron on gold drawing. It is accompanied by a windowed cover piece with a pale blue gel lighting filter. A button holds it all together and makes it so the piece is moveable so you can reveal the bottom layers.

Finally, "Stitched in Thought" was created as an after thought, so did not get included in the serial numbering. I've added a piece of my favorite Chinese brocade fabric scraps, stitched onto bristol with a clipping of watercolor art stitched on top.

I really love the effect of the cloth with the painting and have included snippets of material in some of the envelope sleeves of the other cards. All materials included which are not a part of the actual piece are for the artist to use or trade in their next ATC project. This batch was a lot of fun for me and my son really was interested in every aspect of creation and trade of ATC's, so he also made a set of 2 for trading. Those are up in my DeviantART gallery available for trading with anyone who would be willing to make a kid oriented piece.

Artist Trading Cards

2010-04-29T01:23:00.000-05:00

I'm working on another batch of Artist Trading Cards.Anyone interested can either contact me gillianivy@live.com or via gillianivy.DeviantART. This series is a very different style. Watercolor, acrylics, sharpies, microns, gel light filters, eyelets, bristol and watercolor paper and one chunk of motherboard make up these. Even Chase wants to make his own. I think I might try to make a trade for him. Or just let him make more cards. He really enjoyed it and his card came out pretty cool with some nice textures and colors. Only problem is wresting him away from it when you're all done! He wanted to sit on my lap and paint for hours. Yes plural. One hour of sitting with a boy painting on my lap is enough. I gotta switch and do something else. I spent easily two hours on and off with him on my lap today while he painted. For a three year old, he sure does have a long attention span when he's got a project or something he loves. Like back to back Tigger movie 5 times in a row....

I'll post up pictures once I've finished. Until then, please enjoy my first ATC collection:

A Minute in the Life: II

2010-03-20T14:46:00.001-05:00

Some of you may have heard of this photography project going around. I've invited quite a few people to participate. And I actually managed to look at my clock at the right time and go snap my photos. For more details check out A Minute in the Life: II I'll not be explaining it as they've explained it rather nicely, instead, I will simply post up my photos. Please enjoy:

I did some minor editing as I was cold, so didn't adjust my settings for macro, or well anything. Both shots were way overexposed and out of focus. So deepened the gamma in photoshop and did an unsharp mask over the leaf. Minor edits. Can't wait to see everyone else's pictures. I thought this was definitely a cool project idea and am intrigued to see what people around the world were all taking pictures of within the same five minutes. If you participated in this project, feel free to post links to your blog or submissions. I'd love to see.

I Was Feeling Done In...

2010-03-07T22:58:00.001-06:00

Sigh. Today has been rather full of blahs. Started off talking about my Dad and how he's never treated me equal to my brother. Been thinking on that a lot lately. And come to some realizations that are awful truths. The other day, my Mom had found the original court agreement for child support between her and my father. This is of great consequence, as when I was 17 and homeless, my Dad suddenly cut off child support, our only means of FOOD. His reasoning was that he had been overpaying by $9 a month and therefore able to cut me off a year early without warning. Though I now understand the true reason. A letter I had written to him back then, a very emotional letter which I was hurt so badly by his disappointment in me and how I wanted him to accept me for who I was. And a single line I wrote rings out so loudly now "If you don't accept me for who I am, you may as well be nothing more than a child support check in the mail to me". So he punished me by allowing me to starve. Fuck you, DAD! Fuck you. And this paper my mom found, it says that any amount that he pays over the agreement, he was to keep paying until my 18th birthday. Perhaps he had planned all along to cut me off a year early to save himself some money. $9 per month = $108/year, which equates to $1836 over a 17 year period. So did he plan this a few months after I was born? Did he think there would be no repercussions?

I've been thinking on him a lot lately because of his insensitivity regarding the loss of my dear friend Dirk. First, when I came to him to ask for help, he pretended to contemplate it, though I knew the answer before I even asked the question. The same as it always was. No. Not once has he ever helped me when I asked for help. And I NEVER ask for help unless I damn well need it. It hurt to have to ask friends for less than $200 in order to get there and back. It hurts like damned hellfire that if it were my brother asking for help, my Dad would fork out 10x as much without a damned thought on it. And once I'd gathered the money through Paypal, then found out the airline won't accept Paypal, I asked him to pay on his credit card and I would give him the money. Again, he had to think about it. Fortunately, before he had a chance to call and tell me no, when it'd be already too late to book my ticket anyway, a friend of Moria's, a complete stranger to me did it. A STRANGER came to my aid when my own father would not. Fuck you, Dad.

So, when I'm finally there, after the wake, my Dad had the gall to ask me explicit questions regarding the details of the loss of my friend. "Was he shot in the face?" "Was there still blood in the room?" What the fucking shit is that? Have you no fucking sense of when to just shut the fuck up? My friend DIED! And I recall the insensitivity he had at my little sister's funeral. Asking Alison to hold up my sister's urn and smile for the picture.... I didn't want a picture in the first place, but asking her to pick up my sister's box?!! That year at Thanksgiving he had Moria and I hold up a picture of Grace for a picture, the first Thanksgiving after Grace's death. The rest of the night, Moria and I were blubbering in tears. Thanks, Dad. Way to make everyone cry for the holiday, remind them of all the reasons they weren't thankful.

Back to the child support issue. My little brother's child support was more than what mine was, plus my Dad had joint custody and paid half my brother's school tuition every year through High School, which was more than $1,000/year. Every year, gifting my brother fancy gizmos, games, electronics and expensive toys. Me, the cheapest bargain/rebate he could get on the worst piece of shit junk he got for free when he bought himself something better. One year, he got me and my boyfriend matching key chains. This past year, a United States Coast Guard Christmas ornament. All he ever buys us are things emblazoned with USCG all over them. A slap in the face telling me that he's proud of and loves Kevin more than me. All he ever buys me is these "I love Kevin" hoodies and hats, sweatshirts or toys for Chase all from the academy.

It's not about the money, it's about how I'm being treated. I'm being treated like I'm second rate and unimportant. And now, when he came to visit the last time, he barely was here to visit us. He visited his favorite tourist shops and hung out in Chicago by himself. Kevin's right, being a grandfather will be a novelty that will wear off soon, then he'll never come to visit.

So, I'm pissed and upset and have been miserable all day thinking on it. I need to write to him and tell him exactly how I feel, how he makes me feel. Only thing is, I know how he'll react. He'll be a child about it and then never talk to me again or some bull shit. I can't write him now, not when I'm all pissed off. That will only exacerbate things. I know how my Dad reacts to every thing. I wrote a letter to Moria once and printed on his computer. And the print job was still on the system though I deleted the file. so he printed it out. I had written that conversations between he and I and that point were no more than polite conversation like "how's the weather". He was pretty pissed off about that. Things were awkward back then. I've been getting along with him now. And had been for quite a bit. I don't call or write often, but I don't call anyone really. Though now I speak to Mom and Moria every week. Sometimes, every day. I haven't talked to my Dad since I've been back. too upset with him and not wanting to deal with him asking more about Dirk. I'm thinking of writing him a letter, just to make sure I remember everything and not get interjected with distracting points. Though I could call him and keep index cards handy... But I'd want him to just listen. I have a lot to say. Obviously. Really, when don't I?

Perhaps it's tasteless of me to air all this online, in the public eye. But I find this to be a sort of self therapy, beyond talking it out. I get my thoughts constructed in order and calm myself down. And really, who wants to listen to me venting about my Dad? We've all got our familial issues, and my Dad certainly isn't the worst. And I need to vent, though I've gotten a migraine coming on. Stress equals migraine. It just saddens me to think of all the times my Dad has let me down. Especially since I put him on such a high pedestal all my life. But the truth is, when it comes down to what really matters, I'd had it all backwards. My Mom, though she didn't have the means to take care of me, tried her damnedest and gave all she had to raising us. Whereas, my Dad had the means and he never even tried to have custody shared with me. I could've gone to some high education school, got a diploma and had a car when I turned 16, got put through college or some equivalent... Rather than learn what hunger is, to know the fear of not knowing where you're going to sleep that night, being worried we'd be arrested for vagrancy for sleeping in our van, and the shame of my peers knowing my unfortunate situation and holding fundraisers in my honor. Granted, if I had lived with my Dad, I would've never gotten to really know Grace. So I don't begrudge him that. Had he raised me, I wouldn't be the person I am today. I would've had an easier life and probably would take my fortunes for granted and not have respect for every penny that ever comes my way. I love who I am and glad of it that he didn't raise me to make me whoever I would have been instead.

Enough venting for now, got it out of my system for the most part and need to spend the rest of my night not thinking about how pissed off I am at my Dad for his careless regard. And yes, I actually do speak like I type. "Careless regard" was actually the first thought that came to mind. I basically type as I think and exactly what I think, nothing more. Sometimes stop to check my spelling, because I use words like "exacerbate" in my head. I always liked that word, simply because it rhymes with "masturbate". How many words off the top of your head do you know that can do that? Exactly. Though maybe i speak like I do because I spend hours on the computer every day having virtual conversations using the whole brain to keyboard technique. In real life, I don't get off so many of those 2 cent words. ;D

Kinderly Song in Tribute of Dirk

2010-02-18T04:12:00.001-06:00

Doppelganger Week

2010-01-27T23:38:00.004-06:00

Okay, apparently it's Doppelganger Week on Facebook? I always thought that Shannen Doherty was my closest celebrity match, though I had never thought to look at Asian celebrities. Did it just never occur to me that I'm Asian? Lols! I can see Selma Blair, though I have considerably fuller cheeks. And wow, I have 3 Asian matches. Gackt is a boy, but damn, what a hottie, I'm honored to look like him 72%, that's definitely a compliment! Ueto Aya is so pretty, I suppose I ought to find out who she is and why she's famous. I think the Ayumi Hamasaki chic is a J-Rock Pop star. I know Gackt is, and he did one movie, yes I watched it. It was delicious! So moosh all their faces together and you've got me? Hahahaha. The morph process one doesn't seem to be working for me. It was lame that I had to install their toolbar. I'm uninstalling this right after this post.

Facebook Wall

2010-01-17T01:07:00.002-06:00

Swagbucks Referral

2009-12-04T23:21:00.000-06:00

swagbucks.com: Swag Store

Dec 4, '09 10:44 PM
for everyone

Link: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/GillianIvy

1. SEARCH
Search the web using www.swagbucks.com and receive results from Google & Ask.com.

2. EARN
Swag Bucks are periodically awarded as you search the web.

3. REDEEM
Redeem your Swag Bucks for exclusive www.swagbucks.com products and more in the Swag Store.

Too long

2009-09-20T02:32:00.003-05:00

It's been a long time since I'd last updated. Basically, since I've become enveloped by the Sims and started up a Sims 3 blog, I've not really done much here. So I guess the summary.

First, let's start with an art update. My latest sketchbook drawing, which I've now colored but don't have that uploaded anywhere yet, is a tribute to the awesome Jamie Hewlett's Tank Girl. One of my favorite drawings from the series, done in my style, and is instantly, one of my favorite and best artworks I have ever done.

Lil' Black Sketch: LoonyGirl by ~GillianIvy on deviant ART

Second, the toddler update. Chase is 2 1/2 years old now and in the potty training phase. Sometimes he does really well, other times he'll lose interest completely. We take it at his pace. But he has been standing up like Daddy does and has good aim, and washes his hand afterwards very well. So he's filled out his second potty chart, this one with 15 stickers, and he got to pick out his potty reward. He was very proud of himself and he chose a Cars ™ Movie Bowling set. He's been very pleased with it and going on about going bowling. We've changed his punishment method when he's misbehaving and it seems to be working. He's acted out less and calms down faster. We were sending him to bed, taking away toys and making him stay quiet before he could come out of bed. Which would mean a looooong time. So I put a sticker on the wall. And I tell him to put his nose on it and count to ten. We cont. Then he talks to me about what went wrong, then goes back to playing. The end. No more tantrum, change of behavior and instant result. Wow! My mom really did know what she was doing when she sent us to the corner. We thought we were outsmarting her, as we'd just go to sleep standing up so it wasn't like punishment at all. XD

Third, the financial update. We're still screwed, though now, lessly so. Kevin is back to working his full time hours again so getting full paychecks. So we're slowly working away at all of our accumulated debt. I often feel kind of hopeless about it. As our only hope of paying it off is come tax returns. Though Kevin has thoughts of buying a HDTV and a PS3. Both things I really want and both things we can't afford. So hard for me to tell him no when I want them too. On the upside of things, if ever we can cut down our bills, Kevin's friend, Ryan has a house he'd rent to us for real cheap. That would be so awesome. A goal. Our own place. I don't care how small it is, it'd be better than this. I love Randy, but I can't live with him. Not and raise my son at the same time under his roof with his rules.

Fourth, ramble update. Sometimes I let my thoughts enjoy themselves too much and wonder where I'll let that lead me. Not that I lack the self control, just that the thoughts are too delectable to resist. Sharing these thoughts can be a dangerous thing. But so nice at the same time. Sigh. Best kept as secrets lest secrets become truths and truths become lies and lies become livelihood.

Finally, what I've been up to. Mostly I've been playing around modding Sims 3. Making neat custom content and sharing it with the gaming community on my shared Sims 3 blog: theRejected. I've also been playing a lot of Scrabble on Facebook. It has become an addiction in itself. I love playing word games. I've been watching True Blood, but now that's over I'll have to find a new series to follow. I do have a new season of Heroes that needs to be watched. Recently, I was suggested a zombie apocalypse show called [Rec]. It looks intriguing and has been put to the top of my Netflix queue. I'm reading Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke, the author who wrote the story "Inkheart" that was made into a movie. It's overdue to the library... I'd been reading half of it outloud to Chase, but saw that was taking too long, so now I spend every chance I'm outside letting Chase play reading it, alternately out loud or to myself. He enjoys the book and the characters and really gets into the story, but he gets tired of me reading after a while. And I need to return the book as soon as possible.

So that about sums it up for my blog update and what's going on with me. Take care until next time!

Summer of Love "Writer's Block"

2009-07-29T15:31:00.002-05:00

Sharpe Pointe - Build n' Share Week 6

2009-07-15T11:43:00.002-05:00

new creation from TheSims3.com

2009-07-11T12:56:00.001-05:00

Sweet Angel of Darkness, A Requiem For Grace

2009-06-26T22:59:00.002-05:00

Sims 3

2009-06-21T03:34:00.010-05:00

"...haven't gotten to enjoy just playing yet..."

So, I bet you wonder what I've been keeping myself so busy with.... Or not busy, however your viewpoint. I've been playing my new game, The Sims 3. Which, I'm sure a lot of you are as well, as their sales are record high. If not you, then someone you know... So, I like doing custom content and making my own characters and housing. And here's what I've been busy with, I'll just transfer the blogs from my Sims profile here. So far, I've been mostly creating, and haven't gotten to enjoy just playing yet. Suppose I ought to give that a go. Once I'm done creating...

"Symthetic Musings" POSTED ON 06/12/09

Vivie Roche - May require --->Treeag's Hidden Traits Unlocked for "Pyromaniac", "Rocker" traits to be enabled.
Quang Zyi - May require --->Treeag's Hidden Traits Unlocked for "Rocker" trait to be enabled.

Please download there and give many thanks and faves and happy comments.

WARNING
Before you download these sims, you must download Rick+Delphy's CAS Slider Hack (Facial+Body) in order to get the same facial sculpture or if you want to edit/tweak their face/body (so they won't revert)
You can get it here:
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=344369

And this is optional, but I used HP Default Skin Replacement. You don't have to use it if you don't like it but it you want these sims to look exactly like in screenshots you have to use her skin.
You can get it here:
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=343769

Vivie's outfit features a pattern which I created for the Sims 3, it's my first pattern of this nature and still in the trial and error period of production. The design is by a talented artist from DeviantART.com.

A-Little-Kitty

She does some ultra cute, super kawaii illustrations which she sells various products of at her online store Hip Hop Candy:

I will soon be uploading the household of "Symthetic Musings", the popular "S-Rock" (Sim Rock) band local to Sunset Valley. I'm still tweaking the house to my likings and will be submitting screenshots to go with the generic looking auto screens the game uploads housing with. Which is very difficult to see any real detail.

Vivie ----- Gavin ------ Quang
Lead Guitar-- Vocals/Bass ---Lyricist/Keys

Until then, they are available for download individually. I've never uploaded/played a preset household before, and do not know if their jobs and funds go with them. So I'm playing them to get them the correct jobs and skills before I upload the household as well. That way you get them as rockers, not on the road to. Please enjoy my creations, I've spent all day so far on this and should've gone to bed hours ago!

"True Blood - Bill Compton" POSTED ON 06/13/09

My first attempt at a celebrity Sim. This one is based off the character from the HBO series, True Blood. His name is Bill Compton, played by Stephen Moyer and he is a Vampire. Based on a series of novels, the story is set in the South and vampires have "come out of the coffin" to the general public. Very passionate story. Here are my reference pictures for comparison.

Apparently, I'm having issues when I tried to save my sim to my saved sims. I seem to be having this problem with some downloads not showing up in either the create-a-sim prefabs nor the clipboard households. So I had to upload this as a household rather than individual sim, so traits and headshot, etc do not display in download.

"Symthetic Musings Household & lot" POSTED ON 06/13/09

This once simple abode is bursting at the seams with the Symthetic Musings sudden fortune. Toys, fancy decor, landscaping and shiny new cars... But will they spend their 15 minutes of fame too fast?

3br/2ba
Dining
Kitchen
Livingroom
Indoor pool/solarium
Rooftop Patio
Observation Deck
Zen Garden
Fishing Pond w/Bridge
3 Vehicles (no garage)
Expensive furnishings

Custom Content

Ivy Wall Leaf Pattern -

PhillaStock on DeviantART.com

Punk Rock Skull, and Heart Pattern -

A-Little-kitty on DeviantART.com

"Oh Sookie" POSTED ON 06/15/09

Sookie Stackhouse from the HBO series True Blood. She is portrayed by Anna Paquin which is hard to emulate her face. There's no adjustment to forehead slope, and hers is pretty flat. I think I did alright with the nose and shapes of eyes and lips. Though her lips are a little more flared than you can do (and still look right). I may be doing more characters from True Blood, which the premier of the second season aired tonight. I didn't get to watch yet. Warning show is quite addictive. You may just watch the box set of the first season in one sitting if you can't help yourself.

For reference:

"Dr. Who - Martha Jones" POSTED ON 06/19/09

I've decided to attempt a Dr. Who themed Sim household. I've been working hard on designing the TARDIS. It has lots of work yet, though, so not today, all in good time. ;D

I've finished Martha Jones. Here is her base character. I'll be playing the households up a bit so they get the appropriate job/traits/etc before I upload them as a household. Does everything get uploaded when you do it that way? I've been doing this for all of my households, as well as uploading the blank models.

I've just barely worked on the Doctor, but if you'd like to play him immediately, The Doctor (10th Doctor - David Tennant) by judhudson is currently available. Though I think I can do it better as I have a slider hack, so can get better face/body sculpture.

"Dr. Who - The Doctor and Rose" POSTED ON 06/21/09

Dr. Who's 10th Doctor, starring David Tennant and his assistant Billie Piper as Rose Tyler. I'll soon be uploading a household with The Doctor, Rose and Martha together. I'll be working on some of their skills and testing how true to character they'll play. I'll develop their relationships a bit before I upload the entire household.

I plan to upload the TARDIS as a residential lot, which will be a challenge to play. You have to micro manage your characters, or else they'll be foot stomping and swinging their arms at you. I don't know how "trainable" the AI is in game, but the house is by teleport accessible only. I'll have to play test it for a few days to make sure it functions smoothly and isn't too much of a pain to live in. I'm still working on the textures, otherwise, it's about done. ;D

Well, that about sums up what I've been doing. If you like my stuff, please rate up (you might be req'd to have an account.). Feel free to share my creations with other, as they are in a public domain for free usage. However, please credit me and link back, and no one is allowed to post claiming as their own. I've spent many a sleepless hour perfecting my works, so at least link back to me about it.

10 Ten Dollar Sketches

2009-05-24T15:40:00.010-05:00

A few of the artists that I watch on DeviantART are doing $10 sketch commissions. Which I think is a brilliant idea. They're doing 100 sketches, which is a bit much for me. So, I'm doing just 10. They're doing just a simple sketch, nothing fancy, but still finished looking. But I want to do my own spin on it. Basically, you commission me to draw a single character for you. Any character, refs may be required. I draw it in my style and my way. I'll sketch the image, scan then color it up for ya so it's all nice and finished, then either print (on card/parchment stock) and ship to you or send via e-mail. S&H charges will be additional. Payments must be through paypal to gillianivy@mchsi.com. I figure this will be a great way for me to get back into drawing and make a few extra ducketts.
Check out the other artists offering this commission:

In addition, I plan to do "Artists Trading Cards". An idea I had from Strathmore paper, which sells trading card sized paper stocks and suggests artists log on to their site to trade with other artists. You don't need special paper or anything, just cut a piece of your favorite medium to 2 ½" x 3 ½", which will fit in the standard baseball card/trading card plastic sleeves. Your art doesn't have to be flat, you can add adornments so long as it still fits neatly inside a card sleeve. Here are some links to other artists/programs which are participating in this free, anyone can enter trade.

"ATC" - Artist Trading Cards by creator M. Vänci Stirnemann
Art in Your Pocket
Artist Trading Cards Yahoo!Groups
ATC's For All
Ed's ATC's
Suite101.com
EBSQ Online Art Magazine
ArtJunction.org
Art E-Zine

and

Wikipedia Entry

And that's just page one on a Google search! There have been publications of these collections, which I saw are available at Amazon.com. This is a great way to connect with other artists and to enjoy some art. Also a great form of practice for those of us who haven't been drawing much as of late and are eager for artistic inspirations. Working on a small scale is the perfect way to do just that.

Latest Art

2009-03-25T15:50:00.005-05:00

Some art by me for you to look at. Just a bit of sketchbook goodness in my new sketchbook. Done with fine point sharpie pen. Took several days to complete this one, despite it being so small, as I worked in short periods of free time. And not having drawn much in a long time, especially not with so much detail, it hurt my poor old hands....

Little Black Sketchbook Page 4 by ~GillianIvy on deviant ART

I plan to color this with colored pencils and give as a gift art for the "7 Gifts By Me" project I'm working on for one of the following people:

One more person can jump on the boat, they must comment on the other post, or on my Facebook, or Multiply blogs. I'll post up here when I pick who gets what. I'm working on a few others right now also. No where near completion. My time is devoted to Sims 2 right now.

Pro-Compromise

2009-02-27T08:00:00.006-06:00

Since my mother has started this quilting project to fight FOCA(<----Facebook link, also on MySpace<----), I've had a heavy heart. I've always been a pro-choice supporter. But also, have a sway towards the Pro-life outcry. I believe that life is started the moment of conception. However, I know that desperate women will go to desperate measures, and abortion must be legal to protect these women from harm. But also, the innocent lives of those without a voice must be protected as well.

Previously, I was unaware of a serious atrocity that is occurring in America. "Born Alive" infanticide. Please take a moment to read her heart wrenching testimony of a practice which is widespread across America.

Babies left to die on shelves, or placed in biohazard bags and disposed of still breathing. After her outcry, the hospital she worked at added a "comfort" room for people to give comfort to the aborted child until death. I cannot imagine the pain of holding a one pound baby and having

"...Babies left to Die on shelves, or placed in Biohazard bags still breathing..."

him/her die in your hands. I once held a kitten as she died, and that was unbearable to me. I've held a sweet puppy who died as we rushed him to the vet. And I comforted our dying rabbit throughout the night after he had suffered a grievous injury after escaping the rabbit hutch. I cannot imagine holding a one pound child barely able to breath because his/her lungs haven't properly formed.

"...Suck the brains out of their skull in utero is less appalling..."

Partial-birth abortion, where they suck the brains out of their skull in Utero is less appalling. At least with that method, as sick as it is, is more humane than letting the tortured soul slowly die. And the worst part is, with neonatal care and breathing apparatus aid, these abortion survivors may have a chance to live. Unwanted children who have already taken their first breath have every right to live.

How can we, as a society turn our backs on this unpleasantness? We can't do nothing. It must be stopped. Either they institute a less fallible method of abortion, or they need to do everything they possibly can, despite the cost to save the lives of these poor children. To let children die, unloved and cold and alone is unfathomable, yet it's happening every day in our beloved country. Saving their lives is deemed a burden. Giving the parent(s) the burden of choice, and burdening the staff with the costs of sustaining a life that

"...Saving their Lives is deemed a burden..."

only has such a poor chance to live because of the failed procedure. Letting them die is more cost efficient and easier to turn your back on and wash your hands of. And so many of the mothers who chose to abort their babies, are not even aware that their child was killed in this manner. This practice is sickening and something must be done. How many babies are dying everyday in this appalling manner?

Wary of the Ox

2009-02-25T18:17:00.007-06:00

I've just been reminded it is the year of the Ox. Woe be the year of the Ox for the fair Goat. I think I'm gonna keep my head down low and stay in my hidey whole till this year blows over. Please, everyone I love and care about stay indoors this year, avoid horrible death or anything like that. I may sound superstitious, but I'm entirely serious.

Welcome to the Year of...THE OX 2009

JANUARY 2009 rings in the Ox year on the 26th. From that day forward, we will be under duress. The Ox is a striver, a worker, a challenger, a taskmaster and something of a despot with that. The news is good for those who enjoy working and the news is less than lovely for any lazy parkers who might be lurking about looking for handouts.

This January, you will want to pack up all loose ends from the Rat year 2008 and burn them. After that, gird your loins. Prepare to push that rock, slowly and painstakingly, up the mountainside. The most appropriate word I can think of to describe most everybody's New Year is STRUGGLE. Get ready to toil and strain to rebuild what many too many years of desultory flim flam have wrought. Get ready to plan your life differently. Budget. Economize. Save. Take fewer risks. Secure your home. Secure your career. Put the lid on spending. Spend spiritual time. Work out more. Walk. Run. Do not hurry. Do not flash riches. Care for and respect your elders. Don't spoil you children or allow them to get fat. Discipline will serve you well this year.

In Suzanne White's earlier publication of her Chinese Astrology book, she described the Year of the Ox for the Goat with these exact words as the opening sentence: "The worst." 1997 was the last year of the Ox. That truly was the worst year of my life. And I've dreaded the return of the Ox for 12 years. Grace, my little sister died in 1997. It shattered our lives completely. Now I'm a mother who has so much to lose if tragedy rears it's ugly head again. So please, heed my warnings against needless outings, wild adventures or any foolhardy acts.

I expect more tragedies such as the recent shootings of 7 innocent bystanders out celebrating Mardis Gras. I'm not superstitious, but if there's one thing I truly believe in, it's the Chinese Zodiac. And Suzanne White's breakdown of Western and Eastern combination has been spot on for EVERYONE I've ever read from the book. I mean like goose-pimples all over your body how right it is. Those words, "The worst." rang so true and hit so hard, and shake me to my core.

Rebeautification Process

2009-02-25T14:59:00.003-06:00

I am currently in the process of rebeautifying my blog (the main blog on blogger, not multiply, everything just cross posts there). I've realized how horribly out of date my links were and that it's in need of an overhaul. I hadn't done the "templates" thing, as it is so much more work to get things to look like I want them to, as I love to customize the crap out of everything. I put a lot of effort into the old template, and now I have to figure out how to work around the new widget templates in XML. I've been wanting to add those nifty "following" widgets, but could not find a way to do it without upgrading, so finally broke down and did it. Which removes all my laborious hours CSS formatting and making all my squares. This time, I'm going rectangles. I might just scour the internet for some pretty templates that I can modify to my needs.

Oh how I do love modding stuff. I've recently obtained Sims 2, which is pathetic and lame, but I don't care. Now I'm going to mod all my textures and such to make my chars all nifty. I was doing that on Fallout 3, which is ultra fun and all, but FO3 is kinda scary and hard. I'm generally horrible at FPS games (first person shooters) vying for MMORPG's instead (massive multi-player online role playing game). I really like messing around in the game mods, but FO3's mod was kinda annoying to place things and such. Not the most user friendly thing. And I was lacking inspiration. Though I did make this Hula Gnome. Which I am very proud of, and Kevin says I'm silly for. It was my first ever retexturing job and I love it. Currently I'm trying to do some Bleach char mods for my Sims 2 game, which I will post up on their community exchange. Though I'm not going to do them all Shinigami with swords and the like, I want them to look like Sims. Hmmmm, there's garden gnomes in Sims 2 also, I could make them into Hula Gnomes! Bwahahahahaha! People might think I'm obsessed, or at the very least, a bit strange... Ohhh, Shinigami Gnomes. That would roxor.

5 Rangers x10

2009-02-07T08:51:00.003-06:00

Stop spinning it! XD I got this link from an artist on Deviant ART who was inspired to do a beautiful collab of "Multiple Boobs". Truly incredible. This might be amongst the weirdest things I've ever seen. Magnificent.

Moaar collab with Algenpfleger by *janaschi on deviant ART

7 Gifts by Me....

2009-01-27T22:28:00.001-06:00

The first seven (7) people to respond to this post will get something made by me.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
- What I create will be just for you.
- It'll be done this year (2009).
- No requests-- it could be anything. It may be a mix CD. It may be a poem.
I may draw or paint something. I may craft you something.
I might bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows?
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch is that if you don't re-post this offer, the bargain is void!

Anti-FOCA Quilting Project

2009-01-26T01:07:00.003-06:00

I've added a cause to both MySpace and Facebook in order to help recruit helpers on this project for my Mom. She's collecting baby blankets to sew into a quilt to represent the number of abortions since the 1973 ruling of Roe vs. Wade. She needs 50,000,000 (you read it right, 50 million!) baby blankets. She needs blanket donations and volunteers to sew together portions. Please join the causes and invite your friends.

MySpace Cause

Facebook Cause

Blankets can be sent directly to my mother for her to sew, or collect blankets, sew them together, then send your portion to her. She'll give me details about how many blankets volunteers will need to sew together. Blankets should be the receiving kind which are usually about 30" x 30". Please e-mail everyone you can in order to get more participants. Your help is appreciated. The blanket is a statement against the Freedom of Choice Act, which will enable full-term abortion as well as partial-birth abortions. The FOCA states that the government would have no rule over a woman's rights concerning her body, which would therefore also remove any government regulation of abortion procedure. To ensure women are protected, and that means their rights as well as from themselves, it is important that regulations be in place. Such as waiting periods and guardian notification for minors, educational material for women considering the procedure so they understand risks. Clinic facilities and practitioners need to be standardized so no abortion is performed by anyone without license or proper facility. The FOCA needs to be revised and amended for it does more harm than good. I support a woman's right to choose, but I oppose this bill.

Family Videos

2009-01-24T13:35:00.004-06:00

Chase rocking out with the guitar Grandpa Steve got him for Christmas. The bestest ever!

Mickey Mouse rocking out to 30 Seconds to Mars and Monoral. And Chase dancing too.

Safe Sex: Durex Style

2009-01-15T13:54:00.001-06:00

Had to share the awesome. Practice safe sex!

'Tis the Season!

2008-12-18T22:01:00.004-06:00

Omg! Too good not to blog.

QQ & Q's

2008-11-14T01:31:00.004-06:00

Since Kevin is now laid off, it has become important to me to figure out ways I can save money. So my latest obsession is clipping Coupons (or Q's as in the title, QQ means crying...). My cousin Deni has a wonderful blog filled with tips and tricks to making the coupon system work for you. Like using coupons only when the item is also on sale. Keep your eyes on weekly ads, comparison shop stores. Etc. So here's the link to Far More Than Diamonds, perhaps we can all save a little bit of money.

On a much sadder note, my sister's best friend passed away on Halloween, Louisa Hanley. If anyone reading this knows my sister, give her some love. She really needs all the hugs and condolences she can get. She's taken this real hard, as she's lost 3 friends in the past 3 years alone. I'm very far away and can't be there for her in her time of need. Give her your love for me, please.

On the brighter side of life, Chase will be turning 2 on Monday, the 17th. Which is also me and Kevin's 4 year anniversary. (we'll need to make sure when/if we get married to pick a date in summer or something, too many things in the winter). We're not doing a party or anything, just a chocolate cake and at home. Maybe order a pizza, a family fave. We're going up to my mom's on Thanksgiving. Definitely nice to not have to worry about the Turkey dinner. Though I do plan to bring a dish, likely to be dessert, I love making desserts and candies. I have a bit of a sweet tooth...

That about sums up my updates for now. Just tight on money and looking for more income. Anyone have any job info, please send it our way. Kevin doesn't want to do construction. We might switch who's working and who's the stay at home "mom". Chase will hopefully be weaning soon, so now may be a good time for me to rejoin the workforce. But I would definitely miss all the time I spend with him. And I wonder how daddy will handle all the dishes and constant cooking. He and I have some different ideas on Chase's nutrition, like if he gets candy before dinner or even though he was bad.... Grrrrr. I had to pull teeth to get Kevin to change a diaper today while I was cooking and doing dishes. He thinks all I do is sit around and play on the computer? He's got another thing coming if that's his plan... I'm on here now at butt o'clock when I ought to be sleeping, printing coupons and making contact with the outside world.

I have too much on my mind and no one to talk to. I don't have any friends here, and my best friend hates me now. Julieta, believe it or not, you're the closest thing to a best friend I have right now. You and the strangers I socialize with on Age of Conan, an MMORPG. Pretty sad, huh? Julieta and I never really knew each other very well in high school. Now we've become good e-mail buddies and all, but I still lack the closeness of having a friend in person. Like I said, I have a lot of things on my mind, and don't get to talk to anyone very often. Marc is off in Vegas, and has no internet. And I can rarely use the phone without some little miniature person climbing me and forcing his head between mine and the phone saying "TALK". So holding a normal conversation is a little difficult and must be brief. Internet is my only outlet. Sigh, I miss my friends. And seeing Louisa's funeral/wake photos on Putz's multiply site only made me miss them more.

So, I'm done QQ'ing for the night. I swear. Though, Kevin's nagging 'bout me complaining about him in my blogs. Which he never reads, so how would he know what I'm complaining about... ;P

Netflix Free Trial

2008-10-17T19:16:00.002-05:00

Dear Gillian,

Who wouldn't like a free month of movies? Forward this email to your family and as many friends as you want, and they'll get a FREE month of Netflix! That's twice as long as our regular free trial!

This limited time offer expires 10/31/2008, so forward this email today.

-Your friends at Netflix


From: Gillian Brown
Good for: 1 month of Netflix Expires: 10/31/2008 (Quantities are limited)

Click above link or got to netflix.com/tellafriend

and enter one of the following promocodes:

M557263192795

M14579198075

M502585594875

M532585594295

M592535594645

M532545594615

M818200396995

M858260396245

M888290396275

M242330599345

M232370599055

M232310599375

M212320599325

M806721295265

M886741295605

M826751295685

M96615494075

M76605494085

M56675494345

M16655494355

Never Ending Quest to Save the Bewbies

2008-10-02T22:00:00.005-05:00

I'm sharing this information for all the women I know to possibly aid in the research to preventing and curing breast cancer. This study is in need of women who are perfectly healthy, so they can better understand the nature of cancerous tissue, it's cause and prevention. Women who are diagnosed with cancer may participate in the study as well. I encourage you all to atleast check out the Army of Women, and see if there may be a way that you can help.

More Politicking at You

2008-10-02T03:07:00.006-05:00

Is that how you spell it? Politicking? Funny, why would you add a "K" when you add the "ing"? Maybe F-U-C is the original spelling.... Hrmmmm, food for thought, digest. While you're chewing on that, please watch this video and then share it, and make other people watch this video and share it too. Exponential. I like that word. Exponentialking awesome. Yesh, I just made that up, but you know what it means! So here it is, another politically correct video from moi...

Register to vote!

Now that you've watched that, go to: http://www.myspace.com/impact and register to vote. I'm not sure if I'm still registered, so I'm gonna double check. I think I registered when I first moved here when I got my ID. I get things in the mail "vote for me!" all the time for congressman and school board or something or other... Doesn't hurt to make doubly sure. Then I'll make Kevin take me to vote, though I know he won't want to.

~Edit 10/02/2008 4:07am~
So, I am registered to vote after all. Found out real quick at https://www.voteforchange.com. So there's another voter link for you to follow. Soon, I shall be blogging about my political views. I have some strong opinions and may have ideas that I ought to have shared long ago. I'm hell of a debater.

Wake Up 2008

2008-10-01T19:15:00.002-05:00

I usually tend to avoid politics, makes an ugly bed fellow and all of that. But I thought I ought to share this music video that was passed on to me. It was originally recorded prior to the 2004 elections, but now is re-released with updated stats to urge people to vote AGAINST McCain. I'm not an Obama supporter, but I am a McCain opposer. I've never voted, as there has never been anyone I'd supported voting for. Now I'm rethinking my logic, perhaps it is better to vote, if only to oppose that which I am against. Though that requires determining whether or not I'm still registered to vote. Well, here's the video, "wake Up Everybody 2008", by Babyface and other artists.

Piracy on the High Seas

2008-09-28T23:43:00.002-05:00

Modern day pirates have hijacked a Russian Tank toting cargo ship. Check out this article.

Netflix.com Friends Get 30 Day Free Trial

2008-09-18T16:07:00.016-05:00

This is a 30 day free trial of Netflix for any of my friends who sign up with the following link. For every friend who signs, I get 1 additional rental (limit 5). So I'm sharing this with any "friend" interested. As only "friends" read my blog, I'm posting it here.. ;D I've recently joined an online community called RetailMeNot.com which users post coupon codes, promocodes and printable coupon links for various retailers. A good way to save a bit of money. I saved $33 the other day at Kohl's. I get their mailers with coupon codes but usually throw them away or lose them and when I need them don't have it. So this is a good way for online shoppers to get those lost codes.

Dear Gillian,

We're offering you a special opportunity to give your friends and family one month of Netflix service for FREE - that's twice the length of our regular free trial!

When they redeem their free trial, you'll get a bonus rental (up to 5 bonus vouchers per member)* at no additional charge. This limited time offer expires 10/31/2008 so forward this email today.

-Your friends at Netflix

	From: Gillian Brown
	Good for: 1 month of Netflix DVD Rentals
	EXPIRES: 10/31/2008 (Quantities are limited)

Quantities of this special offer are limited. Free trial valid in the 50 United States and its territories and possessions only. This limited introductory free trial offer expires 10/31/2008 subject to continued availability and cannot be combined with any other offer. Limit one per household. First-time customers only. Internet access and valid payment method required to redeem offer. Netflix will begin to bill your chosen method of payment for the plan selected at sign-up at the completion of the free trial unless you cancel prior to the end of the free trial. DVDs out-at-a-time vary by plan. Our most popular plan, 3 DVDs out-at-a-time, is $16.99 plus any applicable tax. Your Netflix subscription is a month-to-month subscription cancelable at anytime. Click the "Your Account" button for cancellation instructions. No refunds or credits for partial monthly subscription periods. Delivery claim based on nearly 90% of our subscribers being within one-day postal delivery zones. Please visit www.netflix.com/TermsOfUse for complete terms and conditions. Netflix reserves the right to change terms and conditions at any time.

*Limit 5 bonus shipments per referring account. The referring member will receive 1 bonus disc voucher in their Queue for each qualifying referral. Once a bonus disc is redeemed, the member will need to return 2 DVDs to get the next shipment from their Queue. The Tell a Friend program is intended for use by Netflix members to refer family and friends, so please do not post this email or send it through unsolicited channels. Any complaints due to misuse of this program may result in the forfeit of all bonus shipments earned.

SRC: 20080916TAFA
(c)1997-2008 Netflix, Inc. 100 Winchester Circle, Los Gatos, CA 95032

This promotional message was mailed to [gillianivy@mchsi.com]. If this is your email address and you would like to unsubscribe from Netflix Offers Via Email, please visit the Email Subscriptions page in your account. If this is not your address, this message was forwarded to you by your friend, and there is no need to unsubscribe.

Can't Sleep with These Thoughts in My Head

2008-09-18T04:41:00.003-05:00

Mom, if you're reading this, stop now, it will upset you. It upsets me and I have to get it outta my head. Warning to everyone else, this post is graphic and sad and if you're upset by such things as I am, don't read on.

I can't sleep because my mind somehow drifted to the day of August 4th, 1997. The day we found our dog, Emma, dead in our house exactly one month to the day after my sister's death. And I can't get it out of my mind and I keep crying thinking how our poor dog was killed.

Yes, killed, she was murdered. Mom couldn't bear to look, thought Emma had died during childbirth in the bathtub. But Rebecca and I saw that her stomach had been cut open. The dead puppies were strewn all over the house, 3 or 4 of them if I remember correctly. We found the dog in the bathtub. Her fur was matted in the way as if it had dried wet, and the tub was covered in fur as though water had filled the tub.

It seemed evident to me that someone had killed the dog, assumably in the bathtub. From my estimation, I surmised that someone cut open her stomach in the tub and removed her babies (possibly stillborn or premature), either left them everywhere, or they had been strong enough to walk on their own before they passed away. Then they rinsed away any blood and left her like that.

We buried the dog as quickly as possible so mom wouldn't see the wound on her stomach. There were a lot of questions unanswered. Pat, our neighbor/friend was supposed to check on the dog twice a day. He said he had that morning, it was afternoon when we found her. There wasn't any dog feces/urine anywhere, so I do believe he had checked on her at least the night before. He may have lied about the time.

If he was telling the truth, the killer had to have come in the moment he left in order for the dog and tub to have dried by the time we got there. It seems more likely that he didn't check on her at the time he told us. Also, no one mentioned seeing strangers in the very small trailer park neighborhood we lived in. We only had about 5-8 neighbors total. And there weren't too many surrounding residences either, we lived in the middle of nowhere. So again, more likely that it happened at night.

There wasn't the smell of decay, only of wet dog. So she hadn't been dead very long, overnight at most. I do not believe Pat would've hurt our dog. He had a dog of his own, he was a non-violent person and a good friend. I felt strongly that whoever it was, also had been involved in the death of my sister. The coincidence of it being exactly a month after her passing was too blatant to ignore.

My feelings on why this happened is that whomever killed my sister came back in order to hurt me and/or mom. I had moved out, and mom couldn't bear being alone in the house and couldn't take the dog to her uncle's house with her. So, I theorize that they broke into our house (it may have been unlocked) and finding that we weren't there, killed our dog instead as a psyche-out method.

At the time, I thought it was Grace's father who maybe hired someone to hurt us. I thought Grace's death was a botched kidnapping at that we were to be killed. Grace's father had kidnapped Grace before and he had stalked us and hired private eyes in the past. He was a violent and predatory creature, and seemed the only one I could think of with a motive. But that theory is completely blown to shit now. He kept paying child support for about a year after Grace had died.

Mom made nor effort to notify him of her passing, not even to inform child services to cancel child support. She says she was terrified of his retribution. But I still think it a heartless thing not to inform a father, even a bad one, of his child's death. He is still human after all.

So then, who would have motivation to perform such atrocities against my family? That I may never know. I'm tired from thinking of this too much and it's now 5:30am, maybe I am worn out enough to return to bed before my son wakes up. The details of Grace's death are so confusing and so many, that writing that out would take another few hours, and I'm too exhausted to think on it for that long. I've had a good cry, so am feeling a bit better now. Sorry if I've depressed anyone, but I did warn you at the beginning. This is all for my own peace of mind, which I will never fully have. I've come to terms with the death of my sister, but not with the terms of her death. Rest in peace, Grace. Rest in Peace, Emma. We love you and will never forget you.

Palin the Presidential Meatshield and McCain's Flip-Flops

2008-09-12T18:00:00.005-05:00

It seems very clear to me that Palin was chosen as the "Don't assassinate me if I become President" VP, a woman whom no one would want to become the first female President through the death of the actual President. Meatshield. Hopefully, if elected, he won't just keel over at the inauguration from his heart not being able to handle the excitement of becoming President.

The following article was taken from the Yahoo!News AP, Palin Defends $200M in Projects. Suppose I've jumped on the political bandwagon. I'd almost vote this year, just to vote against McCain/Palin despite the fact I have absolutely zero faith in Obama either. I'll oppose the worse of the two.

Am I even registered? Do you have to do that every year or something? Is it too late to register? I've thusfar, had a strict policy of not voting for any candidate I do not support, therefore, I have yet to have ever voted as none have ever reflected my ideals. I've generally avoided political debates since high school, as I have come to the realization that our individual voices do not matter when the mighty dollar holds sway over the hearts of our leaders and rules our nation. There is so much I dispute on all sides of the political coin.

The solutions seem so logical and simple to me, I do believe there is a way to unite an entire nation of bipartisans. By making compromises on issues which have divided our country so bad we may as well be worlds apart. In any relationship, in order to survive in a social structure without treading upon the rights of any other human being, we must all make compromises, something we can all agree upon. I don't feel like going into all my ideas at this time, instead I'll just quote the aforementioned article and allow you to digest.

NEW YORK - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Friday defended the nearly $200 million in federal pet projects she sought as Alaska governor this year even as John McCain told a television audience she had never requested them.
In the second part of her interview with ABC News, Palin was confronted with two claims that have been a staple of her reputation since joining the GOP ticket: that she was opposed to federal earmarks, even though her request for such special spending projects for 2009 was the highest per capita figure in the nation; and that she opposed the $398 million Bridge to Nowhere linking Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport.

Palin actually turned against the bridge project only after it became a national symbol of wasteful spending and Congress had pulled money for it.

Palin told ABC's Charles Gibson that since she took office, the state had "drastically" reduced its efforts to secure earmarks and would continue to do so while she was governor.

"What I've been telling Alaskans for these years that I've been in office, is, no more," Palin said.

When Gibson noted she had requested money to study the mating habits of crabs and harbor-seal genetic research — the kind of small-bore projects that draw McCain's ire — Palin said the specific requests had come through universities and other public entities and weren't worked out by lobbyists behind closed doors.

On the Bridge to Nowhere, Palin said she had supported a link from the mainland to the airport but not necessarily the costly bridge project.

"It's not inappropriate for a mayor or for a governor to request and to work with their Congress and their congressmen, their congresswomen, to plug into the federal budget, along with every other state, a share of the federal budget for infrastructure," Palin said.

Palin's comments came after McCain sat for a feisty grilling on ABC's "The View," where he claimed erroneously that his running mate hadn't sought money for such pet projects.

"Not as governor she didn't," McCain said, ignoring the record.

The panel of female hosts also pressed McCain on Palin's religious views, his position on abortion rights and whether he had traded in his maverick ways to placate conservatives.

In Alaska, meanwhile, the investigator looking into whether Palin abused her power as governor in trying to fire her former brother-in-law asked state lawmakers for the power to subpoena Palin's husband, Todd, a dozen others and the phone records of a top aide. The state House and Senate judiciary committees were expected to grant the request.

Palin was in Alaska on Friday and scheduled to attend a campaign rally in Nevada on Saturday while McCain took the day off, a reflection of her growing status as the GOP ticket's celebrity draw.

Palin had kind words for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, months after suggesting that Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination had been whining about tough press coverage.

"What determination, and grit, and even grace through some tough shots that were fired her way — she handled those well," Palin told ABC News.

In March, Palin was asked about coverage of Clinton at a Newsweek forum, and said: "Fair or unfair, I think she does herself a disservice to even mention it, really. I mean, you gotta plow through that. You have to know what you're getting into ... when I hear a statement like that coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism, or you know maybe a sharper microscope put on her, I think, 'That doesn't do us any good — women in politics."

On "The View," McCain said that Palin had "ignited a spark" among voters but acknowledged they parted ways on certain issues. The Arizona has said human behavior is largely responsible for climate change and opposes drilling for oil in a federally protected refuge, for example.

McCain appeared to back off a bit from his claim that Palin was the best vice presidential pick in U.S. history when he joked, "We politicians are never given to exaggeration or hyperbole."

The GOP hopeful also stood by two debunked campaign commercials — one which said Obama favored comprehensive sex education for kindergarten students and another that suggested Obama had called Palin a pig. Both are factually inaccurate.

Obama, as an Illinois state senator, voted for legislation that would teach age-appropriate sex education to kindergartners, including information on rejecting advances by sexual predators. And while Obama told a campaign rally this week that McCain's policies were like "putting lipstick on a pig," he never used the phrase in connection with Palin.

"Those ads aren't true. They're lies," said "View" co-host Joy Behar.

"They're not lies," McCain said, insisting that Obama "chooses his words very carefully" and should never had made the lipstick remark.

McCain defended Palin's conservative religious views but said as president he would maintain a clear separation of church and state. To a smattering of boos, he reiterated his opposition to Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion rights.

McCain looked irked when Behar asked him whether he had jettisoned his independence as a candidate by appearing to be in "lock step" with President Bush's policies.

"What specific area have I, quote, 'changed?' Nobody can name it," McCain said.

McCain has changed positions on significant issues. For example, he once opposed Bush's tax cuts but now supports making them permanent. He had opposed lifting the ban on additional offshore oil exploration but now calls for drilling off the U.S. coast. He had been against mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions but now favors them.

Marica Tu....

2008-09-10T16:32:00.003-05:00

Why was I searching the internet for the word "Marica" in Spanish which translates to fag? So I could discover this rare gem of a music video, of course. So without further ado, for your enjoyment, I bring to you, "Marica Tu".

Time For Campaigning: JibJab

2008-09-09T04:38:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Thom for the link. Really too funny and so very depressing because it's too true. We're all DOOMED! The neat thing about this video, you can stick your own head in it and send it to all your friends.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

So Wrong Yet So Funny

2008-08-29T07:51:00.005-05:00

Thanks to Joel for finding this gem. I'm speechless and highly amused.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Politically Blonde

2008-08-06T08:01:00.008-05:00

Wow, when Paris Hilton has better ideas of how to make compromise between the two party candidacy and unite the nation, we really need to be worried about the state of things. Perhaps someone clever wrote her "speech" for her, but really, my jaw is on the floor. Dumb, rich, blonde tart notorious for being a self-absorbed twit proposes a solution for energy crisis that seems plausible and logical. Perhaps her acting career has made it so she can actually read lines, but thats one up on our current President, she can read! Her next movie should be "Politically Blonde". Starring as a pampered, pink clad, bejeweled bimbo who runs for President and has an Epiphany which enables her to gain the Presidency and responsibly rule the Nation. Scary thought.

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Save the Bewbies!

2008-07-29T23:41:00.004-05:00

This is an important video concerning breast cancers. A very rare and difficult to recognize form of cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer does not form an easily detected lump. Instead, it forms an almost web-like mass which may not show up on a mammogram. Which is why awareness needs to be brought to the attention of all the women we know who could potentially get this type of cancer. The following video shows examples of IBC and warns women of the symptoms. Please share this information with the women in your lives. Also here's a link to a podcast from the Mayo Clinic on this disease: Podcast: Inflammatory Breast Cancer

Thoughts of You

2008-07-03T02:00:00.004-05:00

I will always remember the fear I felt that day and the pain as my worst fears came crashing upon me. I sometimes imagined mourning the loss of my parents or my older sister. But never did I worry about Grace. I was so unprepared for such a blow. I miss her so much and another year passes, the anniversary of that fateful day approaches. Again, I am flooded with those unwanted memories, and mourn her again, more so for her never being able to meet my son. The day is as clear to me as though it were only yesterday.

That year, the fourth of July was on a Friday like it is this year. I had last seen her on Wednesday when she came over to my apartment I had moved into the day before. I tried to convince Josh to let her move in with us. Only one person knew where I lived besides Grace, and that was her friend Tim who came to pick her up. I think it was Thursday that I tried to urge Mom to not go to her friend's wedding out of state. An irrational fear was in my voice and I pleaded with her not to go. I didn't know why, but I knew something was wrong.

On the forth, I asked Josh to pick up my sister. But he refused saying he couldn't fit all three of us on the motorcycle. His car was in his dad's garage just down the street from our apt. He refused to pick it up. So I begged him to go get her himself and I would wait there. But he refused again. I couldn't call her, there was no phone at the house. We didn't go out that year, didn't see any fireworks or eat at any BBQ's nor have any fun. We watched TV for hours. I recall it was around 10-10:30 p.m. when I went out to the balcony and stared mournfully at the nearly full moon, thinking of Grace and feeling so sad and not knowing why. I shook off the feeling, wondering what she was doing if she went to any parties.

We were still up at 1am when the frantic knock came at the door. Josh freaked out and was yelling at my friends from the balcony for coming by at such an hour. He was refusing to let them in and I was pleading to go out there and talk to them. He thought it was some sort of trick to get me to go with them so they could hurt me. But it was Channing whom I still loved so much, and Chris, Grace's ex-boyfriend, and Tim, who was the ONLY person besides Grace who knew where I lived. I knew. I knew before they told me. That combination of people and the hurt in their voices told it all. I was screaming inside and out, I went into a panic, desperate to know, and was asking them where was Grace. Finally, Josh permitted me to talk to them outside.

After a brief discussion, Channing approached me, and I'll never forget the look in his eyes as he told me my baby sister was dead. I screamed out "NO!" and collapsed to my knees, Josh catching me. I had no will to control any muscle in my body other than to sob. Josh wasn't any help at all, telling me to be quiet, I'd wake the neighbors. Screw the fucking neighbors, my sister was dead! Fucking chode. They ask me to come with them, and of course, Josh, the gem that he was, was refusing to let me go. He was saying it might be a prank and that he thought they were going to hurt me...

Finally, he manages to borrow the neighbor's car to drive me to Bob & Lorna's where my friends were gathered to help me through this. They told me what they knew. Grace was struck by a vehicle 2 miles from our house around 10-10:30 p.m. To this day, I still gaze at the full moon and think of the glow of her radiant face.

Fireworks always bring a tear to my eyes. Grace loved fireworks. Every year, I want only to watch some fireworks, be with those I love and perhaps be distracted by friends having fun. As the day approaches, I think on it longer and longer. My thoughts inevitably come to her and I find myself crying. Eleven years doesn't make it any better. I will always miss and love my little sister so much. I miss the sound of her voice and laughter most of all, for I fear I have forgotten the sound. Would I recognize it if I heard it again? I'd only hope so. When it is my time and I get to see her face again, I'll relish the sound of her voice again. Thankfully, I'll never forget her eyes, every time I look at my son's face, I see them. She lives on as long as our blood does.

Stop the Gestapo!

2008-06-05T08:10:00.004-05:00

Thanks to Thom for bringing this information to light. Apparently, the DC Police Chief, Cathy Lanier, is cordoning off target neighborhoods in DC. They're posting officers at checkpoints surrounding poor neighborhoods which have a high crime rate. Blatantly violating the rights of American citizens whose only crime may be living in an impoverished neighborhood. Lets see them cordon off rich neighborhoods so no questionable characters are allowed admittance!

"...Pledge your allegiance to the lies of the United States of America, and to the delusions for which it stands, one Rule, under God, indivisible for imprisonment and injustice for all ...."

Doubt they'd stand for that. So what's there to stop the criminals from leaving their neighborhoods to commit their crimes elsewhere? Are they not allowed to leave without "legitimate reasons"? Shall this become a prison without walls, where innocents who merely made the mistake of being born into poverty will be condemned to a life of ghetto? There's too much truth to those sci-fi futuristic movies which depict exactly this sort of thing on a grander scale. When we allow the rights of even one American to be stripped away, we break down the walls to allow all our rights. Freedom is only an illusion. Best way to control a populace, convince them that they are free and that they have a sway in the governing process. Read the article for yourself: Lanier Plans...

Memorial Day Bake Sale

2008-05-21T15:22:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to help my Mother gather funds for her to move out to Indiana to be near myself and her grandson. She's fallen on troubled times and needs to expedite the moving process or else become homeless. So I'm having a bake sale on Monday, Memorial day and will transfer proceeds to her PayPal account. Her goal is around $1,000, so far she has only about $125 towards that from generous donations. At the bottom of this page there is a link to donate directly to her PayPal account if you would like to make a contribution. Any amount would help. My Mother is under a lot of stress right now, and any monetary relief would alleviate quite a bit of that.

Here are the recipes I'll be using for my bake sale, I'll post up pictures later on. Our neighbor Jess will be helping with the sale, she's baking up a few things and will help watch Chase while we sell. Good thing is, we get to eat all the leftovers! ;P So even if we don't pool together much profit, it's not a total loss. I'm making "Crispy Peanut Butterscotch Fudge Squares", "Buckeye Candy", "Cake Balls", "Peanut Butter Pie", "No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudgies", "Easy Chocolate Fudge", "Graham Cracker Cake W/Buttercream Frosting", "Chocolate Turtle Bars", and "Chocolate Caramel Crispy Cakes". I've already made a batch of Peanut Butter Fudge. Using 3 ¼ cups Brown Sugar instead of morsels, and milk instead of condensed milk and confectioners sugar instead of marshmallows, and of course Peanut Butter! I'll post recipe later if I can find it again. It's really sweet, cut into very small pieces so you don't go into sugar overload!

Lots O' Blog Entries....

2008-05-15T16:30:00.000-05:00

Sorry to everyone who's received all my tons of blogs all at once in their inbox. Just importing old blogs from my Yahoo!360°. And neat-o, it puts them all in chronological order like magic! There might be some dupes, as I was blogging on two websites at the same time. Now I only post on my Blogger account and it cross-posts here. If only it'd also cross-post to 360 as well. Though most everyone on there has either a Multiply account or reads the Blogger, so no biggie there. I like that this website allows you to import all your blogs from elsewheres. Well, not my MySpace ones yet. When that happens, my blog collection will be complete, all in one place for easy reading. I said easy not light! Eventually, I'll go through and edit all the tags. Unfortunately, it doesn't import those! But, alas, not today. Goodnight all.

Word For God on the Lips of Babes

2008-05-11T10:51:00.003-05:00

Mother. I'd like to give a big shout out for all my favorite Moms. Julieta, Mischa, Geri, Amanda, Susan, and of course, my Mom. Happy Mother's Day ladies! I hope you're all being pampered or treating yourselves to something nice (even if it's just a relaxing bath and a hot cocoa) because you deserve it. Big hugs to all you Mom's out there.

Weirdness of the Day - RIP Slyme

2008-05-07T11:07:00.002-05:00

This is by far, the weirdest music video I've seen in awhile. We've recently started this kewl and bizarre and violent anime called GANTZ which features this band RIP Slyme's "Sharp Shooter" song as it's main theme. A sort of Japanese Hip Hop style music. For some reason, I really love anime music, especially when it's mostly in Japanese with one or two English words in there every now and then and nonsensical lyrics. So I did a search for them and found this gem on YouTube. Enjoy!

Do The Green Thing

2008-04-28T02:01:00.001-05:00

This was too funny not to share, I found it on MySpace.com. It makes me green with envy, and you know what kind of envy! Check it out:
Dothegreenthing.com: Turn the light off early - Do it in the dark

Beatles Baby

2008-04-28T01:55:00.004-05:00

Too cute not to share, this video on MySpace of a little Korean baby singing "Hey Jude". Had to watch it a couple times over, Chase was enthralled. I wonder how old she is. She's really little, maybe Chase is just big for his age.

korean baby singing hey jude

Impartial Judge: An Open Letter to Moria & Mom

2008-04-26T19:47:00.005-05:00

The following is the latest addition to my Open Letter series of blogs. This is a letter to both my sister and mother concerning their most reason bout of drama bullshit. It illustrates exactly my position, how I feel and where I think they should put their drama... Seriously, they both need to grow up and quit trying to pit me against one or the other. It's not going to work, I know you're both full of shit!

Mom & Moria,

I am writing to the both of you so there can be no misunderstandings nor miscommunication concerning my opinion of all of this. Please read this letter in it's entirety and do not reply to anything that has already been addressed herein. If you fail to do this simple request, my only response will be to resend this e-mail until I am convinced that you have actually read (and understand) it fully. Is that understood?

Where should I start? Facts. Well, obviously, as I am not there I only have your words as to what these are. And as these are in such a great contrast to each other, I can only conclude that both are false. I also know you both well enough to know that you believe fully everything you say. You both have a very lengthy history of your opinions altering your perceptions which are then altered again in your recounts. So it is left to me to pick out that which is implausible and believe whatever happens to be left over.

Does Moria wish to kill Mom? Implausible. Did Moria present herself in a threatening manner and possibly imply committing bodily harm to Mom? Plausible. I know firsthand Moria's overzealous wrath and how flippantly she can change from hot to cold and back again. Does she mean everything she says? No. Does that give her the right to say any mean shit she wants just to be hurtful? No. The fact is, Moria, when you're two inches from someone's face and screaming it is an intimidation ploy and inappropriate behavior for a human being to treat her mother or any other person. I find that behavior deplorable, as you have done such to me on occasion and I was crying because I wanted to HIT YOU so bad that it took every ounce of my will to just sit down. I never want to feel that way about you again. I have never laid a hand against you other than in self defense. Ask Joel and Vychtor if you've forgotten that event, I do not feel like recounting that tale at this moment.

All financial matters can be proven with receipts and such. If neither of you have receipts, then that portion is thrown out of court. You can't prove who bought groceries and what when and how often, nor who paid how much rent. I have told you both a number of times in the past to work out a budget, put in writing exactly how much is owed for what to have a complete break down of all bills and debts. Moria can prove her costs for cell phone bills and the cancellation fee.

You both should have been keeping record of such expenditures, otherwise, you've lost all grounds to complain about it to me. I know you are both often irresponsible with financial priorities time to time. Especially, Mom, you have many times caused impoverished conditions due to your lack of proper financial planning. This is a skill you need to work on. So who owes what is plausible, but unproven as you both say differently and neither of you have records to document such. Dismissed.

As for alleged abuse by Monexxx upon Moria, there has been no actual witnessing of any such activity. There are the facts that Moria you have had a number of injuries which have been explained away as drunken clumsiness. It is plausible that a wife may deny any such actions. So I cannot disbelieve claims that domestic violence may be occurring in your household. I hope above all else that this is not the case.

You have admitted to me that there have been arguments already in your marriage which have gone as far as yelling, slapping or pushing. This is not "Normal" for newly weds. In my relationship with Kevin which is going on four years in November, we have NEVER yelled at each other nor physical altercations upon each other. We rarely argue and when we do, we talk it out like rational adults. That is how a functional relationship works.

If your marriage is failing this, perhaps you should work to resolve this. First, subtract all alcohol from the equation. Both of you. If you still argue to the point of yelling, then perhaps professional help ought to be sought. Otherwise, you'll be lucky (or not so) if this marriage lasts longer than a year. You must respect each other's opinions and listen to each other. Calm it down a notch for both of your sake's and sanity. I honestly do hope the best for the both of you to be happy together and hate to hear that you are already encountering such stress between each other. And do not say it's all over Mom, because that is implausible and I do not believe you.

As for Mom disowning Moria, it is not "over a poster", that is implausible. An old adage might work best here, "the straw that broke the camel's back". It may seem a petty thing, but it really all adds up. If you combine all the nights Moria has incited and terrorized and whatever sort of lewd and outrageous behavior you might be able to imagine, like showing Mom the pictures that Monty took for Thanksgiving... Tsk, Tsk.

Moria, you have constantly done horrible things to Mom trying to upset her, piss her off or make her cry. You had this coming. It is a sad thing that Mom has chosen to sever all ties to you, but at the same time, I really can't blame her. I would swear that I would never kick out my child, but hopefully, my child wouldn't be so mean-spirited, vindictive, violently aggressive nor such a bitch. Mom's fault for naming you after the wind.

Sure, Mom hasn't been perfect. Sometimes selfish, negligent and self-deluded. But does she deserve to be screamed at inches from her face? And you know this is not the only time you've done this to her.

You may think I'm defending Mom and attacking you, but that is not the case. I'm not taking sides. I think you are BOTH wrong. Mom is the lesser of two wrongs, but still wrong. You have both been petty, manipulative, intolerable, irrational and a number of other words all ending in -able.

You both have your own very contrasting versions of the truth and I believe NEITHER of you. You are both liars. You lie to yourselves so often that you believe the lies yourself, accepting them as truths. You both have more in common than you think, and that is what probably incenses you the most about each other.

I hope someday you will both grow up and attempt to repair your relationship. Though I don't see that happening anytime soon. You may hate me for saying all this, but I'm only pointing out the truth. You are horrible to each other, to other people and to yourselves. For these reasons I do not like either of you. I will always love you both and it hurts me to see how horrible you act. There is a reason I delay returning both of your phone calls. You stress me out, annoy me and piss me off. And I'd rather not have to deal with either of you most of the time.

Moria, you rarely ever actually listen to my half of the conversation when you let me speak, and Mom, you're depressing and I don't feel sorry for you. That said, I can understand why you might not wish to speak to me, just know, I hold no grudges against you, love you both and always have forgiven your transgressions and put up with your bullshit. I'm not cutting either of you off, but don't be surprised when I take forever to answer your calls. So hate me if you like, I don't hate either of you and will always love and care for you despite my better judgment. As my life would be a lot happier if not for your constant psychodramas.

I'm sure there's more I could add to this, but really, I'm done. Read carefully before responding, else you will just get another copy back as response.

Love Sincerely,
Gillian

To Be An Ostrich....

2008-04-25T18:05:00.003-05:00

Really, I'm wishing I could bury my head in the sand so I didn't have to listen to another word of the drama going on in my family between my sister and mother. I love them both, but they drive me nuts. So Mom has officially disowned Moria. And Moria says "Good!". I've moved all the way to Indiana and am living my own life far from them, yet their troubles follow me, so long as I care about them. Well, my solution to this, I am going to once and for all write a letter to both of them that illustrates EXACTLY how I feel about this whole ugly affair. Of course, not being there to witness any of this shit firsthand, I only have their words to tell the account of what actually took place. And I know BOTH of them have their own versions of the truth. Perhaps, I'll post the letter here as part of my on-going "Open Letter" blog entries, where I make all accounts available to read without altercation (excepting removing personal information) so we can all look back and go, "You said this... I said... and she said". And it's open letter for a reason, it's open for interpretation by whomever is the reader. Maybe if I aired all this out loud on YouTube I'd get world famous like that lady and her divorce you see on the headlines now.

Get This Garden Started

2008-04-22T23:20:00.003-05:00

We've started the planting in the garden. Randy planted the hedge last night. A combination of Purple Leaf Plum Bushes and Dwarf Burning Bushes. So it will be alternating red and purple when it grows in. I'm going with a theme of red and purple flowers in the floral garden this year. Randy let me pick them out. I also got a splash of orange and blue flowers for variance. Today, I planted the strawberries. Tomorrow we'll plant the blackberry bushes. I've got a lot of plants to be planting and we're off to a late start. It's hard for me to help out whilst chasing the little one... I think Chase will enjoy the garden this year. Which makes Grandpa so proud. He takes a lot of pride in his garden. I'll be posting up pictures. There was good growth last year. I'll be looking up lots of recipes to try to keep up with harvest time. Randy practically has a whole farm's worth of veggies in his garden, and I don't want it all to go to waste. He tends to plant too much. He tries to take into account for all the plants that won't grow. Too bad he won't sell the excess, we could probably make some decent money. I think I might freecycle surplus veggies this year at harvest. We'll see. Chase will actually be able to help out now, he likes watering the flowers (and everything else in the way). I want Randy to set up a tent he has for Chase to play in while I'm digging in the garden. Should make things easier. I want to get a bunch of ball pit balls to fill it with, that'd be fun. Besides, having a tent set up with chairs in it and a cooler with drinks would be a good quick reprieve for everyone working in the garden. Well, it's time for our baths and then to bed, so goodnight for now!

Dresdenophile

2008-03-14T21:11:00.003-05:00

Those of you whom are savvy to Sci-Fi channel popular shows may already have heard of the Dresden Files. Well, I'd heard of the show and saw about half of the middle of the show, somewhere in the middle of the season, or something, so it hadn't held my interest. Well, one day, Kevin decides to buy a few of the books randomly. He then gets hooked and buys the entire first season without ever having seen an episode. I watch the show with a bit of interest, I've only seen two episodes so far. We set it aside while Kevin bought more books and I got myself hooked on Dresden. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts.... All in a day's work, if you happen to be the only wizard listed in the Chicago phone book. This is a great detective novel with a supernatural twist. And I love the sardonic wit and banter that the main character engages everyone in. And ALL the women are hot, or maybe Dresden (it's in first person) is just undersexed. The show (thusfar) is nothing compared to the book. I still have to finish watching it before I could judge that. Hmmm, I hope they get a movie deal.

Kevin and I love to read. And happily, so does Chase. I'm currently reading out loud to him (though on a small intermission for Dresden, which Chase seems to have little interest in, too much violence) Lord of the Rings. I've been reading to chase since he was just a little bouncing amoeba-like organism in utero. He loves me reading to him, and he loves to read to me. He'll grab my book to me and flip through the picture-less pages uttering syllables with bright eyes. When he reads his books, he quietly studies the pictures, digesting the entire book before moving on to the next one. So, Mom, as you're likely reading this, buy Chase books for Christmas. Start collecting them now. Even if they're for a higher reading level, I'll read them to him. Classics and favorites like Little Bear and Aesop's Fables, any books you knew I enjoyed growing up. Do you still have any of my books? Let me know what books you grab, so I don't buy duplicates.

Be Wary What You Blog

2008-02-24T01:04:00.005-06:00

Apparently, I pissed somebody off. Bwahahahaha! Because I'm an idiot who thinks pregnancy tests should be equipped with an IQ meter as well... (comment is dripping with sarcasm, which I shall now notate so there can be no confusions). Bless the internet for the plethora of people who have nothing better to do than ridicule and personally attack people with different views and opinions. Either, they read an extensive amount of my blog or they wandered in through some key word search, because they commented on an archived post dating back to November 2007: "GillianIvy: Bumbo's™ Dumbo's". I had to reread the post to see what they were on about. I filter all my comments and they require approval for posting. Normally, if I were to get flamed (which hasn't come up till now, not on my blogs anyway, but when it comes to the Dutch and my big head...) I would not publish such. However, I felt like allowing this comment due to the fact that it lacked any clear basis other than "I think you're an idiot." And I allowed it as a challenge to Mr/Ms. Anonymous to call them out and identify themselves if they have the balls. I wonder if they'll read this... I posted a nice descriptive reply, maybe I'll get some juicy flame war going against myself to really give meaning and validation to my ignorant life. Because having an opinion makes you an idiot, therefore Anonymous would be one also, as they clearly have that opinion.

~Edited 2:28am 02/24/2008~
Deduction... I've been trying to figure the likeliest route by which someone might come across an old post of mine and therefore I might be able to venture a guess at the identity of Monsieur/Madame Anonymous. It is highly unlikely due to the trail of URLs that anyone from DeviantART may have ventured here, I think they'd have to dig through my journal to find my old account then find the URL posted there as a link to my personal webspace. So, scratch. My blog is mirrored on Multiply, and unlikely anyone there would post here (Blogger, to those on Multiply whom are reading this), besides, majority of my readers are either friends or in my network of friends... There is a possibility, though remote, that some pro-Kimmer chode may have followed a link from an anti-Kimmer blog to my Multiply and then from there weeded through my links and found my Blogger... Remote, though again unlikely as the same blog is on Multiply, why bother posting on Blogger? Okay, so that leaves two other possibilities. Blogger-ites? Perhaps someone who stumbled upon my blog clicking next a bunch of times... Or perhaps another Kimmer fan who read my comments on my couisin's Blogger concerning her ordeal with the whole Kimmer nightmare. Again, unlikely, unless it's Kimmer herself on a mega-bitch rampage. So that leaves on MySpace. I had forgotten that I'd set up my blog link to link directly to Blogger instead of the MySpace blog, as I no longer use it. Which leads me to believe that someone on MySpace forums must have taken personal offense to my opinions, most likely to be my most recent activities in the forums. Perhaps it was a response to my reply only two hours earlier on the "Should Spanking Be Illegal?" thread. If that is the case, there was only one/two (by that I mean two profiles from the same person) who seemed to take personal offense to my stance against the use of spanking against children. And if it were that particular individual, I've taken the liberty of blocking him/her/whatever from being able to contact me and have set my profile to friends only, which I didn't want to do, as I don't have a problem with people wanting to contact me and look at my art or blogs, but neither do I want people flaming me because they disagree with my viewpoints in the forum. The only other likely MySpace person (that I know of) is on peaceful and civil terms with me, so again, very unlikely. Gee, I feel like a private dick or something... So, banned, banned and private! I have learned my lesson, when attempting an intellectual debate with a faux-intellectual expect a bit of mudslinging because they'll take it personal. Case solved. From now on, I'll not speak my mind unless it is in total agreement with everybody else (sarcasm, by the way, for any ultra-maroons out there who can't grasp such literary techniques).

Latest on Ledger

2008-02-06T22:17:00.000-06:00

The toxicology results are in on Heath Ledger, laying to rest the drug scandal perpetrated against him. He had a mixture of prescription drugs, anti-anxiety, pain killer and sleep aides. They have not released the amounts that were present at the time of death, citing that some of the medications could have been in his system from earlier and the combination of drugs which effect the central nervous system similarly caused an overdose.

"Doctors not connected with the case said it would be unlikely for one doctor to order all the drugs. However, they said it's not unusual for people to be prescribed both painkillers and sedatives, and overdoses are not uncommon."

This wasn't your celebrity/rock star party drug overdose, but rather an alarmingly more common problem. This is precisely why I am against taking unnecessary medications. I rarely take cold medicine or headache medicine unless I'm absolutely miserable. Most of these over-the-counter-overdoses are due to combo meds. Cold medicines touting pain relief and sleep aide. Don't take those with headache medicine and sleeping pills, especially not nighttime headache medicine.

"...call your doctor, call a nurse hotline, or suffer the sniffles and just avoid it all..."

That's a cocktail for cardiac arrest or toxic shock. A sure fire trip to the ER anyway, and not the popular TV show. There has been a major recall on children's medicines and infant medicines for this reason. Cold medicines aren't proven effective in children and can be accidentally overdosed, causing worse than a head cold. Read your labels before you gulp down that NyQuil, read what the drug content is and what not to take it with. If ever in doubt, call your doctor, call a nurse hotline, or suffer the sniffles and just avoid it all. Drink a piping hot cup of tea, down a shot of apple cider vinegar mixed with honey, and put a hot towel over your head before taking a long nap to rest. "I don't have time for my cold", well, your cold has time for you, so you better make time for it. We all want the instant gratification cure-all to keep us up to pace in this rush rush world, not really taking the time to pay attention to our bodies and what they need.

Back on subject here... I hope Heath's family can have some peace of mind knowing that the supposed drug scandal has been proven for naught, as well, it has been proven it was not an intentional suicide. Perhaps the media will leave them to their grieving. I also hope they know how much his fans loved him and he truly touched our lives. I cannot imagine the pain of those who actually knew and loved him. He was a brilliant person who shone so bright he blinded us all. He has left behind an amazing legacy and is a credit to our generation. I hope his daughter will see him smiling back at her every time she looks into her reflection. He truly loved her and tried to protect her from the media horde. She'll never remember the pain of his loss, though she will suffer the pain of his absence and having never known him for the rest of her life. Perhaps she will retain some memory of her father and treasure that moment forever.

Obviously, I was a bit of a Heath Ledger fan. He was a fellow Earth Goat, which I have always felt an affinity towards. As well, he is the exact same zodiac signs as my boyfriend, Aries-Goat. A beautiful combination. So he was my age and has a child about my son's age. A reminder of our own fragile mortalities. He also had talent, proven by him taking controversal and difficult roles, against the "heart throb" cliche. He was a sincere individual who touched the lives of all those who surrounded him. Rarely have I ever mourned the loss of a celebrity, but I sincerely do feel the loss of him. Mostly, I mourn for his daughter, having lost someone she will never know. I'm hoping I can do justice to a memorial tribute to Heath and to his Matilda Rose. I'm currently drawing an image that I hope Michelle Williams will accept as a gift to their daughter. I'll be writing her to ask if she will accept that small token, either way, I'll post the completed work on my DeviantART page. No prints will be made available, as I am apalled by my fellow artists who have sought a profit from this tragic loss.

Whether Heath's doctor(s) were negligent or he was, his untimely death is a tragedy. It truly is a shame to lose anyone to such a gross miscalculation in proper medications. As a patient, it is partially our responsibilities to research drug/food interactions prior to taking any medication, as well as making certain our physician(s) are aware of all prescriptions and health conditions to avoid any tragic mistakes such as this. Of course, it is still possible with all precautions for a doctor to make such an error and overlook drug interactions when prescribing medications. It never hurts to get a second opinion. My mother was once being prescribed Prozac and there are food interactions she was not made aware of. Things such as chocolate, cured meats and bananas can have negative effects. I'm not sure of the details, but anyways, she blacked out and collapsed in a mall and was taken to the Emergency Room, only to be diagnosed as perfectly fine. Later, she researched her medication and found a list of foods to avoid. I think dizzy spells and migraines were the main side effects, but passing out spontaneously is definitely a hazard she should have been warned about. Like I said, I'm very much against unnecessary medications. Especially people who medicate their "ADD" children with Ritalin. Any drug people may abuse for recreational purposes BEWARE! And there are not enough studies to properly determine long term effects on children, nor the proper doses for children. Okay, I think I'm done ranting for now. Here's the link to the latest article by the Associated Press.

Ledger Drug Scandal

2008-02-01T23:50:00.000-06:00

Tthe video aired in segments on Insider concerning Heath Ledger at a drug party in 2006 was nothing more than an entrapment. (see article) The photographer and paparazzi invited him into their drug filled hotel room and secretly filmed him, asking him questions about his drug habits. Which he answered as he used to smoke weed, but because of his daughter Matilda, he quit. And he said he didn't feel he should be there while his girlfriend were upstairs in another hotel room waiting for him. He spotted the undercover camera and was outraged. They never sold the footage as Ledger was likely to sue them, but with his death, they sold it to the highest bidder. It was entrapment and they never "caught him in the act". I find it so lowly that the celebrity hounds are dragging his name through the mud before the toxicology reports even come back. Ledger apparently was drug free (excepting Marijuana use in the past), and all that was found in his apartment was LEGAL prescription drugs. I hate media hounds, they really need to just let his family grieve without all the circus slandering him. WBC was bad enough.

Insider's Article retracting video. And their drug rumor against him, which has not been confirmed. In fact, Michelle William's denies the allegations that she ever asked him to go to rehab nor broke up with him over drugs nor piss tested him so he could visit his daughter. And here's an article concerning celebrities petitioning to have ET/Insider retract the video or risk being boycotted. Really, something has to be done about paparazzi. Looking through some of the more recent images of Heath, you'll see him walking down the street with his daughter and having to lure the cameras away from her while his Dad watches her. The price of being famous. Have people harass you wherever you go, your name smeared, your families hounded, can't get a cup of coffee without someone following you and snapping your picture. Something is seriously wrong with our society. This family needs to grieve in peace, and never will so long as their loved son/father/brother/friend/lover has his life splayed out and dissected without a care as to the feelings of his loved ones. HAVE RESPECT FOR THE DEAD!!!!!

~Edit February 2nd, 2008 4:11am.~
Tasteless link: E-bay auction for supposed e-mail address: HeathLedger@gmail.com

Westboro Burn In HELL!

2008-01-23T21:58:00.000-06:00

This is beyond sick. That friggin' church is out to pickett another funeral. Heath Ledger's because he was the star of "Brokeback Mountain". If anyone's going to hell, they certainly are for having no respect for the dead and for those surviving them. How will Heath Ledger's 2 yr-old daughter feel about these "Anti-Fag", bible-thumping, nazi's picketting her daddy's funeral?

Kansas Baptist Church Intends to Picket Heath Ledger's Funeral Because He Played Gay Character

Shirley Phelps-Roper burn in HELL you sick heartless slab! Will someone please run her over with a truck!?!!!!

Goosefrabba

2007-12-28T05:19:00.000-06:00

This was my letter to Julieta, just ranting about some of my stresses and worries that I've needed to get off my chest. I tend to keep my stress in. I'm happy most the time, and then everything builds up into a big angerball of emotion. So here it is, a friggin' novel written in an insomniac reply to a short and sweet e-mail conversation about "how's your holiday going?", and I exploded....

The holidays don't last long enough. Kevin had off the 24th-26th, then worked a night, now he'll be off until the 2nd I think. He gets something like the next 7 days off in a row. He works a long week then a short week, so it just happens that he goes back to week during the short week. The pay will be tight, but he'll enjoy this time off and getting some extra time with Chase. Chase really misses him. So do I. Kevin could put forth a little more effort to spend his free time with Chase, but all he wants to do is get as much video gaming or movie watching done as he can, cuz it's his time off of work. Bah! Friggin' bullshit. It pisses me off. Especially since I NEVER get a day off. And all I want is a break sometimes so I can do the dishes, or cook something or take a real good shower. That's my idea of a break... dishes.

Any time I ask Kevin to do anything during his "gaming time" he gets all huffy. As a result, I'm constantly on edge and snippet with him. He spends maybe a total of 10-20 minutes a day off either holding Chase as he's playing on the computer or he'll take a very short time actually playing WITH the baby. On days he works, Chase gets zero time. Every time I open the bedroom door Chase looks quizzically and says "Dad?". It really wears on me how Chase and I are treated like a distraction from what he wants to do. And I can never find the right time and way to discuss this matter with him without sounding like I'm nagging.

I find myself crying sometimes. I cried on my birthday. I didn't tell him, nor let him see there were tears in my eyes, and he certainly didn't notice as he sat there with his back to me on the computer playing his game half the night. All I wanted for my birthday was to spend some time with him. But he viewed it as, what is he supposed to do when I'm nursing the baby or getting him to nap, or feeding him, or playing with him... I don't know, maybe interact with us while we're doing all that stuff.

Though, just Kevin being in the room is so disruptive to Chase's nap/sleep schedule. Because Kevin is either playing some cool video game with bright flashes exploding and loud noises, or he's watching movie after movie. And when we need to go out somewhere, get groceries and maybe dine out, Kevin will procrastinate, and not go when I say we're ready, there's a short ready window... So he makes us go during Chase's nap time, disrupting his schedule completely. Naps on a regular routine is imperative for babies. He really doesn't seem to either realize or care about how important they are. So he often opts to just go out somewhere without us. And that just hurts my feelings, and takes away time Chase could be spending with him.

Sigh. Maybe I should just nonchalantly blog about it and accidentally leave the browser open when he gets home for him to read.... Something needs to be done so we can stop bickering over nonsense. We're both so defensive about every little thing, and just tend to get terse with each other. Funny, we still manage to have a good sex life. We're either bickering or making love whenever we have a chance. Don't argue during sex... ;P Think that'd be a turn off. Well, this long period of no work will be a good opportunity for me to discuss this matter with him. He can't keep up that his work is so hard that he needs his days off to play as much as he can without regard for anything else. Concessions must be made, or else I shall resort to spousal abuse... Knock him around a bit. He'll have to tell his co-workers that he looks like a raccoon because he fell into a door knob twice.

Speaking of which, I'm worried about my sister. She says she got a black eye from being drunk and falling down. But recently she's suffered some mysteriously broken ribs, while she was drunk and can't remember how it happened, and she's had bruising... She's hanging out with this new group of guys, who seem to want her to have sex with all their friends, and enjoy getting her really drunk. One time she was gang raped by their friends and they said they didn't know it would happen and told her that they beat those guys up.

My poor Mom is living with Moria and her drunken rampages, constantly bringing in these drunk guys at all hours of the night. Moria is very unpleasant to be around when she's inebriated, she really has no regard to her limits. She's 32 and doesn't know how to not drink to excess. She can't do social drinking and just have one or two drinks. And now she's hanging out with these new guys who are obviously taking advantage of her state, her real friends are aware that she gets flirty and such and drinks too much, but they just sober her up and not do anything untoward that she might regret in the morning. These guys are not her friends. Sure she's having a lot of fun with them, because they let her do whatever she wants, they get really drunk and party, and they all want to have sex with her so she feels pretty. She's dating a different one in their group almost every other week.

I'm really worried about her. She'll either get a disease or one of these guys will go to far. I'm certain they're getting a bit too rough with her, whether or not she's aware of it and just in denial, I cannot say. But maybe they'll rape her and worry that she'll report them so they might decide then to just kill her. I don't want to receive that phone call from my Mom. And I'm not sure my mother could handle losing another daughter. You see, I've been pretty stressed out lately. I wish I could not stress about my sister and her foolish escapades, but I cannot help it, I love her despite all the bullshit drama.

This really turned into a long novel and I really need to be getting to bed. Chase is sleeping and I'll be exhausted tomorrow if I don't sleep with him. I suppose I had a lot to get off of my chest. Hmmm, I think I might post this as an open letter on my blog.

That's a Wrap!

2007-12-24T14:34:00.000-06:00

Just finished wrapping up the final Christmas present, it arrived today. In the nick of time. Well, Kevin's last gifts are arriving the day after X-mas, but he doesn't count. ;P It was impulse buying any way. He's already spent something like $200+ on himself and saying it's his Christmas present to himself. Santa ain't getting him anything, he's been a naughty boy! The tree is all decked out in red this year. Red lights with red, silver and white ornaments. Very classy looking. The cats love it.

"...Red lights with red, silver and white ornaments..."

Mister keeps taking down baubles so I can redecorate the tree every day. Chase is mesmerized by the tree. He likes to grab off the candy canes and use them to hook the ornaments and lights because he knows he's not allowed to grab those. Clever little dickens. His Daddy likes to grab the candy canes and eat them all, will there be any left on the tree by Christmas morning?

So last night Chase tipped over my water glass onto the uber expensive gaming keyboard.... It has a fancy schmancy LCD which displays the time, date and game stats or music/movie controls, and the keys are all backlit with that addictive electric blue color. It has extra programmable keys just for gaming. It's a $100 keyboard... Well, it kinda sort of works, all the main functions. Typing, LCD, extra buttons, they just don't function properly. Chase was real sneaky and a tool using monkey. I was across the room reading to him The Lord of the Rings trilogy (we want him to grow up to be a D&D geek like his Daddy), when he goes up to the desk and bangs on my glass with a small card box, knocking it all over. Whoops. Chase likes to use tools to get at things he knows that he's not allowed to get or that he can't reach (usually the same thing...). So nothing is safe and out of "baby reach". There really is no such thing as childproof. Whoever made up that word obviously has never had children and never was one themselves. Perhaps child resistant like a water resistant watch, it's not waterproof, don't go diving with it.

"...Nothing small enough to fit in child's mouth or that can come apart when bashed into other objects and torn at and stomped on and gnawed until little pieces go flying everywhere..."

Nothing's childproof, don't let your kids near ANYTHING! Speaking of childproof and such, be sure to check out the latest product recalls from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Rules of thumb, #1 No Magnets!, #2 Nothing "made in China", 3# Secure all furniture in place, #4 Nothing small enough to fit in child's mouth or that can come apart when bashed into other objects and torn at and stomped on and gnawed until little pieces go flying everywhere, #5 No strings, straps, loops or anything dangly and enticing to a cat, your baby is enticed by it as well. I hope everyone has a safe holiday, toy safety and mistletoe safety (it's poisonous, don't let your baby eat it nor your cat, and not your men folk either). You'll be surprised how many consumer products, not just kids stuff, get through and onto the shelf, then later recalled due to hazards or horrible incidents. Why do these things get allowed into the marketplace in the first place, are not the same regulations in place to check them BEFORE they're on the shelves and in our homes. Your best bet, get crafty and make stuff yourselves. That way you know there's no lead in any of the paint. Hell, there's lead in lipstick, eye makeup and rouge. There's lead in tinsel and things made of vinyl and other common household knickknacks, decorations, furnishings... Things consumers don't think, "hmmm, someone might chew on this, it could be a safety hazard". My baby chews on the desk, the window sills, the cat.... Things you wouldn't normally want to put in your mouth. I think the cat is probably the worst health risk of all of them, blech! Lots o' love to all my dearest, peace and yada yada yada, lewt!

Life's A Breeze

2007-12-23T09:35:00.000-06:00

Wow, there's was so much wind last night that it felled a tree in the backyard. I knew it was pretty windy, I could hear it against the roof, Randy worried it would tear free the shingles. I guess that answers the age old question if a tree falls in your backyard in the middle of the night while you're sleeping, does it make a sound? Not enough of one to wake me any way! I suppose if it fell on the house I would've heard it. It's a big tree, too. So I wake up and go to take a piss, and look out the bathroom window to see this giant tree across the yard! The yard's a mess, too, branches everywhere... Haven't looked at the front yard yet.

Wish List Widget

2007-12-22T12:55:00.000-06:00

This widget thing is for a contest on Myspace. Even if I don't win they still will donate $10,000 to Children's Defense funds once

Get this widget!

10,000 wishlists have been added to MySpace profiles. So, I'm just spreading the word.

Would You Fall For This?

2007-11-26T16:19:00.000-06:00

Do people really fall for this? Work from home, just send us your money after you get this fake check.... Uh huh.

From: Lawton Arts [ Save address ]
Subject: COMPANY REPRESENTATIVES NEEDED
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:12:34 +0000

Would you like to work online from home and get paid weekly ?

Lawton Arts Inc. needs a book-keeper in the states, so I want to know
if you will like to work online from home and get paid weekly without
leaving your present job? THIS IS SAFE AND LEGAL.
My company produces various clothing materials, batiks, assorted
fabrics and traditional costume which we have clients we supply weekly
in the states.
My clients make payments for our supplies every week in form of Money
Orders which are not readily cashable outside the United States, So we
need someone
in the States to work as our representative andassist us in processing
the payments from our clients and I will pay HIM/HERweekly salary. ALL
YOU NEED TO DO IS RECEIVE THIS PAYMENTS FROM OUR CLIENTS IN THE STATES,
GET IT CASHED IN YOUR BANK THEN DEDUCT YOUR WEEKLY PAY AND FOWARD
THE BALANCE TO THE COMPANY DOWN HERE VIA WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER.
Our payments will be issued out in your name and you get them cashed in
your bank, deduct your weekly salary and foward the balance to the
company via Western Union Money Transfer. AS SOON AS WE CONFIRM ANY
PAYMENT COMING TO YOU, I WILL LET YOU KNOW AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE
INFORMATION TO SEND THE
FUNDS TO THE COMPANY VIA Western Union Money Transfer.

Prospective finance co-ordinators should forward the following info to
my
email :(please note that this applies to only USA and Canada
residents)
1.Full names
2.Phone number/fax
3.Full contact address( not P. O. Box) to include city, state and
zipcode.

Warmest Regards,
Timothy Daniels

Are people really this stupid? Apparently. Well, people who are stupid enough to be conned into this deserve to be conned out of their money. I hate these stupid e-mails. How do these people not get caught? Where should I fwd this type of e-mail to? I get all these UK lottery ones. I'm sorry, but I know that I can't win a lottery if I don't play the lottery. Statistics, right? Odds of winning, zero.