Tales of a Hard Headed Woman

Ooo-La Oo-La-La (Suffrage)

allykat — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:29:45 GMT

I can't stop watching this.

‘Cause franchise isn’t just
The right of a man
(Universal)

Live Journal

allykat — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 11:58:18 GMT

Well... I've let my paid account lapse for the first time in years. I guess I just couldn't bring myself to sink the money this time around. Activity has been dropping off but worse than that people have been leaving/baleeting me with parting blows of "You didn't comment enough/aren't interesting enough!" thinly veiled under the guise of... I don't even know. Civility? This friends list "pruning" and notifications is one thing I won't miss about LJ. I never had that sort of thing on other blogs because they don't seem to operate the same way. It's a culture thing.

I mean, I cannot even COUNT the number of times in my LJ career I have read a "It's not you, it's me, but REALLY IT'S YOU" mass deletion posts on LJ. I particularly enjoyed the time that someone axed me because they "only wanted to keep their very bestie best friends" but left my husband on their list. He doesn't know them from Adam (or Eve, as it was in this particular case.) He is just a high profile artist in some communities and they wanted the reflected glory. It's such a petty, transparent, and above all old little game and I'm just tired of it being able to ruin my day.

All that said, it's not that I'm going anywhere. I still read my LJ list faithfully though I remain quiet myself. There are so many people on here I'd hate to lose touch with and such fun events to keep an eye on. I am starting to try to acquaint myself more with alternate blogs and websites especially kept by those folks here to assure I never fall out of the loop entirely. I'm planning on starting a daily baby blog because I've realized that the little things such as "Bastian ate his first yogurt" are going to seem significant in 20 years. I'm not sure I'll be doing it here, though. The adds do seem particularly large and obnoxious on the posting page. Maybe I'll break down a bit later and renew my subscription but I think I'm going to explore other options first. I liked Blogger for the Bean Blog.

allykat — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:57:23 GMT

My mother-in-law called in tears while I was out shopping yesterday. The antibiotics the Oma was getting for the lung infection weren't helping. They tried a different one yesterday, but the verdict was that if it didn't help there was nothing else to be done. After the hubby got home from work I fed everyone and we zoomed off to the hospital for a visit. She was quite lucid (besides asking six times how old Bastian is), and you could tell she was really happy to see the baby. He was a very good boy and made sunshine for his great grandmother until visiting hours were nearly over.

I just hope when she goes it's an easy going.

I thought about going back today but I think Mellie is going and I don't want to overwhelm her. I will wait until Ilse calls or check in tonight if I haven't heard from her.

In less bleak news, I've been on a whole grain baking tear. I made these muffins today with a raspberry substitution and minus about half the sugar. They are so delicious and gooey. Yesterday I made these to take to the hospital in case anyone got hungry. These are completely sugar free. I put orange extract in mine.

Oh I forgot, I added protein powder to the muffins, too.

I bought sweet potatoes at the whole foods store. I love sweet spuds but they are kind of hard to find here. I'm debating either making them as the main course tonight or being really ambitious and cooking the turkey breast I found onsale to go with them.

Despite appearances, I actually am back on the healthy eating wagon (not just cookies.) It seems like I can only lose the same 3 lbs over and over again, though. I'm trying really hard to not be all spazzy about this. It IS the first time I've ever had trouble dropping weight at the beginning of a fitness regime. Usually the first 10 lbs or so are super easy. But... but my body has been through big things this year, I'm older, and I'm also really sponguey. It's possible that I am putting on muscle. I did the easiest yoga routine ever yesterday and my abs are still sore. So pathetic. It's my goal to be ready to start running in March and it's a good thing I started early.

Calling my Children Home

allykat — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:17:26 GMT

There is a plan in the works for me to go back to America this summer with Bastian. As such, I've been trying to handle some paperwork and get Bastian ready to go. Although he doesn't have to have his American citizenship to travel to America (obviously... Germans ARE allowed to come to America,) I spent some time looking into getting him his dual citizenship. There will be hoops.

Curiously, I found myself really... not wanting to do this. I am completely unmotivated to pack the family up and go to Munich and do all this. I mean I will because he has a birthright and it's his decision, but I don't want to. I don't want to because I am afraid that he is going to grow up and decide to go live in America and leave me here.

I don't want to do it because it will make it easier for my son to do exactly what I did to my parents. And to those who would call it a long shot- au contraire. I did it.

I guess parenthood has allowed me to feel a level of empathy with my parents I never have before. I have been feeling REALLY down about this. It's not because I miss them (though I do.) It's because I have a bone deep understanding of the pain I potentially put them through in pursuit of my own happiness. Without a backwards glance. Someday, my son will do the same sorts of things and, even if it's not in a transatlantic way, I will have to let him go.

I still want to be called home sometimes. I hope he feels the same way when he's all grown up.

Dear History Channel

allykat — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:37:40 GMT

Dear History Channel,

"The History of Lord of the Rings" is an excellent program. I enjoyed that you took the time to discuss the mythology Tolkien drew upon as well as the modern historical context that influenced him and the book's reception. It was fascinating.

Far more fascinating, in fact, than the whole Alien bullshit you've been doing recently. I would really appreciate more historical programming and less of this conjectural kookiness.

Thank You!
Ally

P.S. Yes, History Channel... we are all laughing at you.

Amazon Review

allykat — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:45:53 GMT

This is a crossposting of my Amazon.com review of haikujaguar's Spots the Space Marine: Defense of the Fiddler.

Praise for Spots from a Cookie Baking Reader

As a new mother myself, I was primed to get a lot out of this book. As I came to the end I found myself thinking that it should be required reading for all Sci-Fi loving moms. Riveting, entertaining, and empowering... I got a lot more out of Spots than I had originally anticipated.

From a slightly more objective standpoint, Spots is well written and has spectacular pacing, especially given the unconventional formatting. The script-like narrative could be off putting to certain readers. In the interest of full disclosure, I was unable to get into it when it was released in its original web-serial format. I suspected that I might be able to overcome this once it was released in its full form and I was right. Once I had the full version in my hot little Kindle-wielding hands, I found myself sucked in and completely unable to put it down. Yes, it may be like a script, but it's an extremely rich script. One of my favorite traits of this author is that she can say a whole lot in a very succinct fashion and that lent itself extremely well to this format.

I could go on and on, but all I can really say is that no matter how much I sing the praises of this one, I really couldn't have said enough. Read it. It's worth it.

Amazon Link to the book.

Christmas art Giveaway

allykat — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:59:05 GMT

I have completed my Christmas Art Giveaway drawing! The person who nominated the winner has been notified via note on FA. It will remain anonymous until the 26th, to preserve the surprise in case it is to be given as a Christmas Gift.

Merry Christmas, Everyone! Congratulation to the winner!

Filming Started on my Birthday

allykat — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:05:16 GMT

*gleeful cackle*

WE WANTS IT. IT IS OUR BIRTHDAY PRESENT.

allykat — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:54:05 GMT

The weather here is INSANE. Richard was going to go grocery shopping for our guests and I wanted to walk to the post office to (finally) mail caiteydid's book, but it was just too brutal out there. Melanie called to say planes weren't landing. Good thing they're flying in TOMORROW morning. If it had been today there would have been big time trouble.

The "they" I am referring to are Krista, her boyfriend Mike, and mother Iris. We'll be hosting them for 10 days.I'm looking forward to it, but it's been a little stressful preparing. I am a little anxious because Krista's expectations seem to exceed the level of stuff I'd like to do, but I think they'll calm down a bit once they realize the realities of how much running around that would all be.

I didn't get my art done, but oh well. I have no issues drawing in the evenings.

I wish I had gotten a chance to bake. Oh well. I live in the land of bakeries, it will be OK.

Daily Post

allykat — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:43:24 GMT

This morning I caught a little bit of a show about Alaska while I was having my morning cuppa. I got to thinking about how I so badly wanted to go live in Alaska when I was a girl and how I almost went to university in Fairbanks. I got to wondering what my life would have been like if I had. Halfway through all these musings on my exciting Alaskan adventure I realized Hello! I live in GERMANY now. I moved across the Atlantic! It's not like my life path hasn't taken me on its own adventures.

I bet if I had gone, I'd have learned what I've learned about life here: life is life. Everywhere. It would be my normal, just like walking around and conversing in a language I didn't speak 3 years ago is my normal now. Life is buoyant. Life adapts. Life is beautiful.

I wasn't terribly productive yesterday but I made some progress. I also found myself awake at 2 am writing out notes on the novel. I'm trying to unpack those late-night notes now into a format I can use them. It's slow going, but the good news is that I actually have the rest of the novel written out in shorthand. I just have to rearrange and expound a bit to get it into the chapter format of the rest of the outline.

Today's Goals

* ~~Take down Bastian's baby swing (My baby's too big for his swing!)~~
* ~~Collapse Richard's "Amazon box collection".~~ He'll have to start over. :p
* ~~Put away yesterday's laundry~~
* ~~Put tablecloth back on table (I washed it)~~
* Thin out coats on coat rack to make room for visitor's coats.

* ~~Try to unpack yesterday's novel notes~~ BOOYAH. Book Two is OUTLINED, Baby!
* ~~First of the three commission sketches.~~ Didn't finish it, but the rough is coming along.

Tally me Gryphon

allykat — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 12:29:49 GMT

Here's a little sketch I did of the new gryphon character. Talleigh/Tally (can't quite pick yet) is a barred owl/manx cat gryphon. She's actually a rumpy riser which means she has a little fused tail bump, but it's concealed by her feather tail at most angles.

This is just the boring side view for the reference sheet I'm working on. I ran out of paper and start to lose some of the things I liked about the rough sketch so I decided to scan it and print it off for future tampering.

I'm experimenting with two different kinds of ref sheets. The first one I'm going to color each image separately then digitally compile them. The second, I'll draw each separately but digitally compile the sketches before transferring it and coloring it as one big piece. The text will be added digitally in both.

The second character sheet I believe will be Sixways, my new Chakat character. Yeah, I know, Chakat. They interest me in a way. They are in grave danger of Mary Sue-ishness, because their species description is basically "Here is how they've solved all the problems of the world from hormonal imbalances to saggy boobies." (n.b. This does not at all reflect on their creator as he is a prolific and successful writer. I'm referring to fan created characters.) I just want to take a species like that and figure out how to shove it in some conflict.

Today's Agenda

* ~~Clean all the (rest of the) things~~
* ~~Do battle with the semi-broken ouline of Part Two of the novel~~

Clean All the Things

allykat — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 10:33:37 GMT

I forgot two projects on my little wrap up yesterday. The first are the example color jobs I'm going to do on some of tsuhara's images for future joint commissions. The second is the trade with Crystal for novel outline edit.

There are also some pieces I recently read that I'd like to review.

Ok, project wrap up for my benefit:

Art
1. Anbessa's next color image beginning in Jan.
2. Christmas Giveaway winner
3. Trade with CP (beginning when novel outline is finished, yes?)
4. Tsuhara test colors when possible
5. Current sketch commissions (3 total)
6. Character sheets for some of my more beloved and neglected side characters.
7. Little ACEO trade (mostly finished)

Reading
1. Refresh and review Jokka short stories on Smashwords.
2. Read Kyvah's novel for review.
3. Finally read Spots

Writing

1. Finish outline.

Obviously, this is not in order of completion. Sketches take priority since they're due before Christmas. I'm going to work on them Mon-Fri. I'd REALLY like to start sticking to a five day schedule, if nothing else to give myself the weekend to work only on the novel or personal projects on the weekends.

Today's Agenda

1. ~~Write down novel notes that I thought of before bed last night.~~
2. ~~Clean all the things.~~ OK, not quite all, but I made a good dent.

Christmas Giveaway Clarification

allykat — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:27:49 GMT

Firstly, I think the wording is making people think it HAS to be a story illustration. This isn't the case. It's just a commission. It CAN be a story commission. It could just be you and your friends. It could even be a character ref (though in that case, it would be the same character four times instead of four different characters.)

Secondly, I forgot to mention rating. This image follows the same rating guidelines as my normal commissions:

G-X. I will draw artistic and pin-up nudes. I will also draw characters engaged in sexual activity. What I WON'T draw is XXX genitals-in-your-face stuff. When in doubt, ask!

To sign a friend up for the drawing, go here: http://allykat.livejournal.com/943429.html

Spreading the Word and a Pay it Forward

allykat — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:41:46 GMT

First of all, this is in response to nambroth's Christmas Pendant Giveaway. Please go here to view all the information and/or participate. (I believe it is friends/current watchers only, but I figured I'd link just in case you are one of her watchers and accidentally missed it.)

I've been a huge fan of Nambroth's jewelry for years, particularly her labradorite pieces (because labradorite is THE most beautiful thing on the face of the planet and her wire work makes it even more beautiful.)

Part of the rules of the game is that, if you win, you have to pay-it-forward. I got to thinking, wouldn't it be nicer if we all paid it forward regardless? What could I do?

I'd like to give away one full color illustration commission like my most recent one. I know I'm no big talent and it isn't much, but I promise I will do my very, very best on it. I will also cover shipping. Here is the SFW FA link to the example: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6986341

Specifics:
* Up to four characters
* Background (as best I can)
* Marker and colored pencil combo
* If this is an illustration for a novel or story, the rights come with it. THIS MEANS you can use it for for-profit published or self published work (as long as my name is in there somewhere.)

I cannot have the illustration finished by Christmas. It is not feasible as I have a few things to clear from my plate and I have guests coming from America. Rather, the drawing for who receives the commission will take place on the 24th. I will be happy to make you a fun little digital "gift certificate" for the commission so you can surprise him or her. Once the drawing is done, we will proceed just as if this is a paid-for commission with all the bells and whistles.

Here's how to enter:

Comment here and enter A FRIEND or someone you admire for the contest! It can be anyone, on or off my friends list.

If you really want to be sure you are entered too, PLEASE feel free to "team up" with a friend to nominate one another. The only reason I'm doing friend nomination is so that I can give someone the happiness of giving something, and another person the happiness of receiving.

Comment screening is disabled so that everyone can comment. This probably goes without saying, but feel free to spread the word. Again, I'll be doing the old name drawing thing on the 23rd. It will be very early in the morning American time.

Thanks, folks, and Happy Holidays!

Hurray!

allykat — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:10:08 GMT

I finally finished the big commission piece I've been working on throughout this whole illness ordeal. I don't think I've mentioned this outright, but I made a decision recently that I am really going to focus hard on traditional media and really go for broke. I feel like any digital attempts and forays I have made have essentially been a distraction and waste of time for me. Maybe I'll feel differently about it later, but for now I'm putting the weight of my conviction behind this.

And I did, in fact, throw a lot of that weight behind this. Marker/pencil combo. There are some things I would have done differently and I learned a lot. Here's to the next piece.

The characters are "Raúna". The species was owned and created by Anbessa. The individuals were created by me following his character sheet and are representative of the desert or plains people. A father conjures a symbol holy to their people over the head of his tired wife and newborn daughter as their elder son looks on (a little bemused.) Grandmother tidies up, having assisted in the birthing tent.

The day is pretty much over but I'm posting my to-do list anyway to give me a sense of accomplishment (which I earned.)

To Do

* ~~Clean Kitchen~~
* ~~Wash fridge shelves~~
* ~~Deep clean bathroom~~
* ~~Finish big commission~~
* Change sheets
* Edit last scene on the novel outline

P.S. I really need to learn how to scan.

So this is what happened....

allykat — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 20:55:14 GMT

We had a really great day on Wednesday. I was convinced this was all over and Bastian was on the road to Better-ville. Then I woke up Thursday morning and he was already croupy and hoarse. His voice was squeaky and his breathing whistled.

So I got dressed and took him to the doctor. The doctor told me to continue the eye drops from before and take him to the hospital if it got worse. Er... thanks?

I was highly skeptical so from my pediatrician I went to my mother-in-law. She was a pediatric nurse for like 30 years. He started to sound even worse and she was like "Yeah. No." So, we bundled up again and went to the children's clinic at the hospital where she used to work. They said it was croup and gave us a steroid and inhalation for if it "got worse", which it did. I stayed with my mother-in-law that night and last night. He slept a lot with the croup but true to what I was told it got better in two days. However, today he has a lingering dry cough and couldn't sleep at all so back to the hospital for something new for the vaporizer inhaler.

Let's see... I have (new) eyedrops 3x a day. Then the vaporizer mask thing 3x a day with the two medicines and once a day with saline only. I also have what amounts to "baby knock out drops" but I'm only going to use those if it gets super critical. They make me leery. The vaporizer will be a challenge. It's slow and Bastian doesn't really like having it shoved in his face for like a half hour. My most successful tactic has been to get him to nap in the wrap then sneakily do the mask before lying him down. This means of course that I don't get to rest when he is resting for the most part (except when he's gone to bed... hopefully.) This means I should have been in bed like an hour and a half ago but I had a bunch of Teenycom stuff to catch up on.

I shouldn't say this but I think we're getting better again. I had a dry cough too at the end of this virus and I had a hard time sleeping. I only managed it by cradling a throat space bottle in my hands while I dozed and, obviously, Bastian doesn't have that option.

Oh, also, Ilse and Gunther had two Romanians visiting them. So, after the baby went to bed, the Romanians did their level best to get me drunk. They accomplished this pretty easily, as one schnapps pretty much knocked me on my ass. First of all I haven't drank alcohol in almost a year (pregnancy and seldom drink now because I am on Mama call at all times). Secondly, I haven't slept a night through in several weeks. I am as tired now as I was when I was pumping.

Which makes me hopeful that in a month or two this will all be a blurry half memory with all the suck leeched out of it because my tired brain simply can't retain it. I hope. PLEASE?

Outline Reader?

allykat — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:18:07 GMT

I'm still struggling along with my novel outline. I'm feeling a lot more confident about it since I decided NOT to go the "Nano" way and sit down and think things out really carefully beforehand. I have two major "issues" left to solve (having knocked one out tonight), and then I should be having a complete scene-by-scene break down of how the whole thing is going to flow.

It's currently roughly 7 pages (single spaced, but with a lot of hard breaks). I imagine it will be about double that when I finish, so perhaps 15 pages single spaced with an upper limit of 20.

What I'd like is to find someone who would read through it and JUST give me their impression of the flow of the scenes and the logic of the story progression. Obviously there will be no editing going on as grammar and typos are not particularly important in an outline. It might be a little confusing, though, since it's in such an abridged form. There are points when I use a kind of shorthand to myself to remember specific things I want to include, or when I jump into snippets of dialogue. There may have to be a little bit of back and fourth between us if I need to clarify something that has less to do with the story progression and more to do with the fact that I didn't draw it out in the outline enough to be readable to anyone but me. I'll try to avoid that, though.

I'd be willing to trade for your services. Either a very big pencil drawing or a medium sized color pencil/marker combo piece (there's a recent example of this forthcoming with a commission I'm working on completing this week.)

I only need one maybe two people at this point. C_P, I know you offered, but if it's an either/or I'd prefer to save your help for the novel editing point, since I don't have "credit" with anyone else for a favor as big as a novel read-through! If you wanted to trade for that sketch of Ai, though, I'd be up for it!

I don't have an exact time when the outline will be done. I'd wager on after Christmas, but I could be hit by a wild burst of inspiration (you never know!)

Edited so I could use my Niev icon.

The Good, The Bad, and the Strained Carrots

allykat — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:41:32 GMT

The Bad:
(So that we can end with the good.)

It's been a week of ups and downs. Recent activities over on teenycom have been stressful, and in some ways disappointing (though most parties conducted themselves very well.) In a nutshell, a recent artists_beware post lead to an internet wide vendetta against the offender and his/her admittedly unspeakably awful behavior. Folks wanted this person preemptively banned from everywhere, including TC. Preemptive banning based on behavior elsewhere has never been and will never be a policy. Sure, exceptions can be made for cut-and-dry scammer issues, but anything short of that is a slippery slope of awfulness. Not to mention, it makes for a load more work and drama potential for the modteam than I'm willing to take on.

The Good:
(Because it outnumbers the bad.)

I have discovered that Bastian likes Opera. He's my kleiner Pa-pa-pa-pa-pageno. Huh. Maybe I should put Die Zauberflöte on his Christmas list. (Naturally, my favorite BBC production is like 2.5 times more expensive than any other DVD version I can dig up.)

Recently, I gave Bastian a bath in his baby tub for the first time in a long time. I usually just take him in the big tub with me for mommy/baby bonding and playtime. I decided to do it on the kitchen counter so I wouldn't have to lean. I put him in the water and he looked really shocked. He looked all around him and then quite suddenly he erupted in laughter. He screamed and squealed with giggles as he has never done before.

The only thing I can figure is that it was funny because he was taking a bath in the kitchen. Silly Mommy, you don't take baths in the kitchen! Look, a budding sense of the absurd!

God I love him.

The Strained Carrots:
(Because it is funny.)

Why don't I hear about carrots being used to dye? The seem pretty permanent to me. I started solids earlier than I had originally intended because, well, he started diving for my spoon (even if it was in my coffee). We had a rocky start and I had to go on a feeding hiatus while his nose was very very stuffy. I kept up the Milchbrei for the most part but veggie lunch regime went out the window.

I re-started with carrots today. The kid's a pro. It helped that I learned that you have to leave his hands free. I guess I actively encourage him to be tactile with his bottle. If I confine his arms for this other food then that is crap and we don't want anything to do with it so we will cry. As long as I let him have his hands free and don't mind a little more mess, he is all smiles. I suppose it might up my time doing laundry (or at least my number of orange stained baby garments), but it encourages independence. I just have to make sure he doesn't seize my hand and use it to thrust the spoon too deep in his mouth because that's his favorite thing to try to do.

To Do

* Laundry
* Work on big commission as much as possible.

((Not much on the to-do list because I haven't slept through the night in about three weeks and I need to take it easy or I'm going to get sick AGAIN.))

allykat — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 08:18:58 GMT

Does Alka seltzer sometimes cause tummy aches? I thought the point was that it HELPED stomach aches, but I've been taking it recently for pain management and last night and periodically this morning I have had some pretty heavy duty stomach aches. It's that's nausea that isn't really nausea if that makes any sense. Hmm. I guess I'll just lay off every med as long as I can. It could also be coffee, but I've really cut down recently. I don't really want coffee when I'm ill. Oh well. Overall, Bastian and I seem to be doing a little better. Now it's poor Richard's turn to go down hard.

On that subject, it is SO NICE to see Bastian feeling better. He was up at 7 today instead of his usual 8, but despite his earlier wake up time he was so bright eyed and bushy tailed. He did the wiggle dance of joy when I walked in the room. It's so wonderful to see that again. There's nothing worse than when you walk in the room and he looks at you and keeps crying. You can tell it means "You're here, you make things better. Why isn't this any better?" He's also napping better which is a major relief for me.

I only sold two sketches. It's time to advertise (outside of here and FA, that is). I have to do community business on teenycom today, though, so I'll wait to advertise until tomorrow or later on in the week. I just don't want people to get tired of seeing my face or cruise by thinking it's yet more TC business.

My sketches have been seeming kind of... flat to me. That might not be the right word. Even though the last 20 Iron Artmom sketches have all been on vastly different topics with different characters, they all kind of look the same. What is it? Do I not have enough variety in facial expressions? I've been told once my sketches are "expressive" and it doesn't really seem that way to me.

Maybe I should do icons. They could double up as expression practice and marker/color practice. It's been a LONG time since I did an icon. Huh. Wish I had thought of this before trying to sell 10 sketches. Oh well. I'll see the 10 Sketches of Christmas project through (even if it turns out to be the 2 sketches of Christmas.) Then I'll think about icons.

To Do

* ~~Post aforementioned community business post on TC~~
* ~~Fold laundry~~
* ~~Do at least 1 load of new laundry~~
* Transfer the Chakat image in preparation to ink it for Southlands zine
* ~~Continue on the big commission. It would actually be really nice to finish the father today.~~
* Write out at least two scenes on the novel outline. I'd like to have it covered up until Niev arrives at the Punjem. After that, I have one major plot problem to overcome and then it should be smooth sailing.

Ok, well I didn't do one thing on my list and I kind of fudged the novel bit. I didn't exactly get two scenes plotted but I DID solve a flow issue I was having and got things roughed in up until Niev's arrival, so I consider that a win.

10 for $10

allykat — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:20:23 GMT

Having cleared my sketch list, I'm doing 10 Iron Artmom slots for before-Christmas completion. They're $10 for one character and $15 for two, with a few special caveats for children and pets which are free. Read full details here.

I don't think there's any risk of these selling out while I slumber, so just comment here or note me or comment on FA or... whatever you're most comfortable with. Anything in that gallery titled "Iron Artmom" is an example of what you'll be getting.

Thanks!

Note to self: I should probably actually post to Teenycom. AMAZING. I've owned the comm for a thousand years but never actually advertised there.

allykat — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 07:25:50 GMT

Hmmm. Nope, I'm definitely sick again, too. FUN.

Will we ever be healthy again or are we doomed to pass around every respiratory infection forever until the kids are all in college?

Inspired by my dream of the other day I watched some of Battle for Endor. I'll finish it later. I found I still knew every word. I don't think I've seen it in over 20 years but I still had it memorized. My poor, poor father. I must have made him watch that movie six thousand times. Minimum.

I actually never watched the cartoon but I had all the books that they made based on the cartoon. I wonder whatever happened to those...?

I'm going to try to nap when he naps at least once. But other than "sleep some more and see if I can't get to feeling better", other goals include...

* Laundry
* Change sheets
* Finish marker flats on big commission and email commissioner with ETA
* Try to figure out where current scene I'm working on ends up and begin writing out the next scene with Oshani.
* Make Thankful Thanksgiving post.

Also

allykat — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:20:31 GMT

crssafox's drawing for an adorable free hoodie ends today! It's now or never! Hurry hurry!

I forgot to mention the funny dreams I had earlier. I dreamed that I drew a whole bunch of ewoks and suddenly I was internet famous for ewoks. Also, I had an ewok fursuit. I was the prettiest ewok of them all, in fact. I was the Belle of the Ewok Ball.

I think I will, in fact, draw some ewoks, but if I ever get to invest in a costume I am not quite so sure it would be an ewok (regardless of her relative prettiness to other ewoks.) Or WOULD I? :P

I also dreamed I drew a hippie porcupine character and sold it as an adoptable on FA for like a kazillion dollars. I might actually do this too since she was pretty, but I would definitely do it without expectation of kazillions of dollars.

Yay for dreaming of furry arts?

Busy Day

allykat — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:27:12 GMT

So much very disparate things going on...

First of all, as I'm sure many of you have heard, Anne McCaffrey has passed away. It didn't come as a tremendous surprise considering her long, full life... but it is a blow nonetheless. I have so many wonderful memories I never would have had without her. Some of the very first images I drew and posted on the internet were Pern fanart.

And now from death to birth- my friend from college who's having twins has just gone into labor. Eeeeee! I'm excited to learn what "Heman" and "Sherah"'s real names are going to be.

In our neck of the Babyland woods, last night was pretty harrowing. He has a very bad cough and stuffy nose, and when he woke up one of the times his eyes were stuck shut. I canceled English Club and took him back to the doctor. Now we have antibiotic eyedrops.

I think maybe I'm also sick? It's hard to tell because I spent most of the night in bed with this expression on my face: '0.0' It could be unadulterated exhaustion. His cough was scary sounding and I leaped out of my skin every time I heard it.

In artistic news, I recently did an image for a few folks with Chakat characters. Yesterday I was contacted for permission to publish it to South Fur Lands to go with a short story the image inspired. It seems legit (though I'm double checking with the commissioner to be on the safe side.) It's so ironic because I had JUST been thinking about how I should try my luck with conbooks and that sort of thing. I guess you never know what's going to fall in your lap. Hopefully it all goes through.

Baby is stirring, I'm back on the clock. Real Quick:

To Do

* ~~Take baby to doctor~~
* ~~Grocery shop~~
* ~~Vacuum~~
* ~~Fold Laundry~~
* ~~Start laying down markers on big commission~~ GOOD progress today! I can at least finish the market flats tomorrow and may finish them altogether (as I intend on doing most shading in colored pencil.)
* ~~Write out next scene in novel outline. Edit last scene, write down notes on the climax I thought about today.~~ Sweet. I totally know how this novel is going to end.

P.S. My friend had her babies! Liam and Eva. Such great names- BOTH were on my list! I think Richard vetoed Liam, though.

All my baby-having-friends are picking such great names.

allykat — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 19:01:31 GMT

We're on cold #2 in three weeks. It's just so sad. He's REALLY gotten to the point where he won't fall asleep outside the wrap. Sometimes he won't STAY asleep outside the wrap. I'm exhausted. Today was a little better until the doctor insisted he was well enough for his immunization.

I'm not getting a lot done. I tend to sit around shell shocked when he's finally asleep (and that doesn't always last.) In an attempt to wrestle myself back on track, though, I'm going to make myself a to-do list for the few scant hours I have left in the evening.

To Do

* ~~Finish refining the pencils of the big commission transfer a little. Ink at least two characters.~~ Hahaha, I inked the whole thing. I rock. *pats on back*
* ~~Write out the adjusted scene for the novel on my outline.~~

I guess that's it. I have a lot of other stuff I'd LIKE to do but it ain't happening. I have to go conduct English Club tomorrow. After that, I'm not leaving the house again until everyone is well and the house is extremely... clean.

And my big commission is done.

And... possibly never. I'm never leaving again ever.

Woopsie

allykat — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:33:15 GMT

I posted my weekly sketches, but I accidentally priced them $5 above what I'd meant to do. I don't know what happened. Either I was thinking of shipping, or my Id overpowered my Ego. I'd like to get $15 for a single character sketch, but it ain't happening yet and I'm realistic enough to know it!

Anyway, I hope not too many people saw it before the correction.

So tired. Please nap, Baby.

To Do

* ~~Exercise for 60 minutes~~ I walked to and from the Norma. I nerfed this by stopping for a coffee and some apple coconut thing, but I had to feed Bastian. Yeah OK, I could have skipped the apple coconut thing.
* ~~Grocery Shopping Redux~~ See above
* ~~Mail ellenmillion's Didymos~~ Now all I need to do is scan the receipt. Shipping was I think 14.40 euro which is frankly less than I thought. Yay!
* ~~Buy bubble mailer for Fox's book~~ Yay! I meant to get one the past 20 times I went out but I finally remembered it. Now I can drop it in the mail on Mon.
* ~~Open Sketch commissions~~ Done but imperfectly. See above.
* ~~Scan inks of the Mama bunny~~
* Ink the big commission
* ~~Transfer more notes on CP's novel.~~ Yay! I finished! Check your inbox, Crystal, and thanks again for the opportunity to be a part of this. It's really exciting!