Meet Beni

Okay, so there are a lot more productive things I could be doing right now (like writing, working on the craft I was doing for Zach's birthday or Christmas present, or -- you know -- sleeping), but I really wanted to take a second to introduce you to Beni.

This is Beni.  His name is short for Benedict; Zach decided we'll call him Big Ben when he gets older and, well, bigger.  He's a German Shepherd Puppy that's 6 weeks old on Wednesday.  He was born on Halloween.

One day, Zach came home telling about one of his students had German Shepherd (which I will henceforth refer to as GS because I am lazy and always misspell "shepherd") puppies and asked if he wanted one.  Cue adorable man squee.  Of course he did, what kind of a question was that?!

The problem?  Zach is the oldest of four children with a total of six people in the household.  Wyatt, his younger brother, has an old-as-dirt Siamese cat named Sarah.  Katie, his younger sister, has a slightly-younger-than-old-as-dirt-cat-Sarah-but-no-spring-chicken Peekapoo named Mardi (he was born on Mardi Gras, hence the spelling).  Stephen, his youngest brother, has a still-in-his-puppy-phase Sheller Hound named Ford.  His parents had 12 chickens they kept in the yard, but there is only one left right now due to stray dogs killing them for seemingly no reason.  The argument:  There is no room in the house for another dog.

Well, I shouldn't say that was the entire basis of the argument.  Points were also raised about how no one takes Ford on walks, the children have to be reminded to feed and water the pets, and the fact that Zach basically has two jobs right now (internship and waiting tables) and wouldn't have time for a needy little puppy.  I see the validity in all of these arguments, don't get me wrong.  Zach's main argument was that everyone else in the house had a pet.  Now, there was a point where Zach had adopted a husky dog.  She was amazing and I miss her. Wynn died mysteriously one morning without any warning.  That was about a year or two ago.  Ford was, in a way, supposed to be her replacement.  (We all know it, though no one officially said it.)

His mom joked saying that I should be the one to adopt him since he's at my house all the time.  Well, I have an explanation for that.  1.)  There was a time where I was upset with his parents; it was something healed by time, reflection, and the girl moving to a completely different state.  But, this is neither here nor there.  Initially, that was the reason behind hanging out at my house... I just didn't want to be around his ex girlfriend.  Plain and simple.  2.)  There was a period of time where I had very intense headaches almost daily.  You can imagine the noise level in a household of 6 where the children's ages range from 7 to 22.  If you can imagine that, you can understand and empathize with me not wanting to poke my already throbbing brain with a sledge hammer.  3.)  Depression, man.  Occasionally, I sink into a depression.  It's no big deal and I probably should be taking my medication for it.  Luckily, it passes on its own within a week or two.  If you have ever experienced depression, odds are that you know what I'm talking about.  (Exercise attire, despite not exercising...or just, no "real clothes" in general.)  4.)  I'm lazy.

Unfortunately, these don't get explained often.  I mean, why would I bring up past tensions that happened a year or two ago to explain my absence?  My headaches have gotten a lot better; it's rare that I have one for more than one day in a row.  (Though there hasn't been much change on the noise level, due to Stephen now associating his yelling voice with his normal voice level.)  His mom is a nurse, so she would possibly worry and/or try to get me to take medication -- or even worse...talk about my feelings.  Not to mention the fact that I've been hospitalized for overdosing and it's falsely believed by some to have been a suicide attempt.  I don't want her to worry.  And no one likes to admit they are too lazy for real clothes, makeup, and doing their hair.

I've been making a conscious effort to go over to his house more.  I especially have since they think I'm mad at them and/or don't like them.  It also helped me realize my absence more when we went to take pictures and Wyatt's girlfriend was there, despite Wyatt being at a track meet.  I felt a little like a crapbag at that point... I realized that, in my selfish laziness, I had missed out on a year or two of their lives.  It's not like I was never around or anything, but it was a lot of bonding experiences.  I promised Zach that I would definitely come over more to help raise the puppy.

Anyway, back to the main story!  Zach came home asking if he could get the puppy on Friday.  The girl needed to know a definite answer by Sunday at lunch, and it would be preferable if he could pick him up then.  We visited the puppy Friday and held him.  Zach took a picture and sent it to his family.  Wyatt, Katie, and Stephen immediately fell in love with this lovable tramp.  We speculate that his mother did, too.  (She wanted to keep two of Wynn's puppies, but their dad decided they all needed to go.)  There was about 3 hours of pleading/negotiating on Friday before Zach and I had to go to dinner at my grandparents'.  God only knows how much pleading went on after that and on Saturday.  Katie, Stephen, and I even watched a marathon of "Too Cute" on Animal Planet -- I think it was a subtle tactic of Katie's.

Saturday night at nearly 10, Zach excitedly showed me the text message he sent the girl asking when he could pick the pup up.  We had a mini-celebration.  I mean, we had already seen, held, and fallen in love with this little guy.  It was only a mini-celebration because we're adults and feel like we shouldn't be this ecstatic about a puppy...I guess.  But who doesn't love puppies?  He was going to leave right after church to pick him up.

        

  

Beni spent the seven minute car ride in my lap.  Half of that time was spent asleep.  When we got to his house, we took him to the back yard to potty and explore.  I got worried because he seemed sad and/or scared.  He hadn't wagged his tail a single time yet.  I get it, though.  It's a new place and he's confused.  I think the excitement came when Ford entered the equation.  Ford's a big puppy; he's maybe two years old.  He's a very excitable dog and loves to play and act silly.  Because he is so big, we were worried that his playing might hurt Beni or that Beni would be scared just because of how big and rowdy Ford was.  Thankfully, neither of these were the case.  Ford has already taken on the role of big brother and Beni has happily let him.

   

His parents are trying to hide their approval of him, which they do well.  Wyatt has already tried to steal him from Zach, but Zach is bound and determined that this will not be the case.  Zach's planning on moving out soon (once he gets a steady, real job) and young GS recognize one alpha male and one alpha male only until they are older.  Katie and Stephen adore him, but then again, he's a baby animal and young kids generally do.  I think Katie is taking advantage of Stephen not being able to tell time very well.  She'll say that it's their turn to swap holding the sleeping puppy "in about half an hour" and then say a time that is different than the anticipated time.  Stephen is determined that he's going to carry the puppy everywhere.  I swear, my first hour or two there, my most common saying was "Stephen, put him down. He has to walk and get exercise" or "Don't carry him, he has to learn to do it on his own."  Is learned helplessness a thing for dogs?

Because he's Zach's dog, as soon as we got there, I backed off.  He needed to bond with Zach more than anyone if he's the dog's master.  I watched.  I played with him when they were playing, but I tried not to take the situation over.  It was different when it was just me and the kids; I wanted to help instill in him that they were near the bottom of the hierarchy.  I know, it sounds bad...  What I mean is, they are the youngest two people and he needed to see someone older taking the spot of the temporary leader of the pack while the alpha male was missing.  I don't know if I'm over thinking it, though.  Probably.  Out of all the willing arms, Zach was sadly the one to hold him the least.  It made me feel bad because I had complained, quietly, and to him only that we were the ones that didn't get to hold him.  He let me hold him until it was time to put him to bed.  I didn't realize it until later, but it made me feel selfish.  Thankfully, Beni and Zach did get to bond.

So, why am I so excited other than the fact that there's a cute new puppy that I get to play with?  I realized, before Zach pointed it out to me, that Beni wasn't just going to be his... He was going to be ours.  The plan was that he was going to secure a real job and graduate college before proposing.  He's applied for a teaching job already.  He graduates on Saturday.  Brace yourselves...adulthood is coming.  I mean, I don't expect an immediate proposal or anything (trust me, we've been dating for six and a half years), but knowing that the time frame is actually nearing kind of makes me nervous.  It's nothing about him that makes me nervous, but the idea of being an adult.  The idea of being a wife... The idea of starting a family... Not a "family" where there is a married couple and a zoo of animals, a real family...with human birth.  I don't know... It weirds me out a little and gives me butterflies in my stomach.

Because he'll be hopefully moving out soon, Beni will really be ours and not just his.  Not to mention when we get married.  I think that's part of the reason why I don't mind stepping up and helping raise this little guy; Zach and I really are his pet parents.

Okay, one last little thing, then I'm going to finally go to bed.  Since I posted so much about Beni, I feel bad not mentioning anything about my cat, so here we go!

I couldn't resist a cute picture of a sleepy kitten curled up by the Christmas tree!  At least he wasn't under it this time, knocking the ornaments around.  A few got broken last year -- probably because we have glass ornaments.  He also likes to sit on the presents, but that's understandable with the history of cats and boxes.  Not to mention how warm it is under those lights.

Yes, this is my bathroom sink.  Yes, he's looking at me upside down.  Yes, that is normal for him.  Sometimes, he's just too lazy to turn his head, so he just looks up, which makes him end up looking at you upside down.  He's weird, I don't know.  But he did this and I got so excited.  I've wanted him to curl up in the sink since I've had him, but he never would.  I walked into the bathroom the other day and BAM!  There he sat.  I tried to take a better picture of him, but he decided that I was weird for taking his picture, so he went and laid in the floor like a normal cat.

He hasn't met Beni... I don't know how he'll react to him.  He gets along great with my dog, but every time my dog gets a hair cut, Booger (my cat's unofficial name) freaks out and thinks he's a completely different dog.  He'll have nothing to do with Prelude for at least a day.  I don't know what this means for Beni, but I'm sure once they live together, they'll be great friends.

I promised that was going to be all.  I'm sorry that this post was so long...  I realized I needed background information for a few things and I ended up rambling.  Regardless, enjoy the pet pictures.  There are probably many, many more to come.       

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What a Novel Idea!

From Barns and Noble. If you're interested, check it out here.

Zach and I went to Barns and Noble for my birthday so that he could pick up my present:  my own copy of Dragonlance Legends.  He said they did have an annotated edition that was what he was looking for, but it was out of stock.  He gave me the choice between Dragonlance Chronicles or Dragonlance Legends.  That was tough... Chronicles was what got me into the whole series, but Legends focused on my favorite character, Raistlin, and effected me so deeply.  Seriously.  My mom called me as I reached the last few chapters of the book and I reluctantly answered the phone.  After I spoke, she was in a panic because I was crying so much.  I explained, no nothing was wrong, but I was finishing my book.  (I knew not to delve into detail with her because she has no interest whatsoever in fantasy genres of anything.)  I finally decided that, since Zach had a collective copy of Chronicles encompassing all three of the books, that I would get Legends, another collective copy encompassing three books happening after Chronicles.  I didn't see the point in having two copies of Chronicles; I justified it as "Well, when we get married, we're going to merge our libraries into one."  Dragonlance is a great series and you should read it if fantasy is your cup of tea.  I would suggest beginning with Chronicles; then you can go and read the beginning and ending of your favorite characters' stories.

I said all of that to say this:  Every time that I go into a book store, I always find myself thinking "I could do that."  Looking at some of the lackluster books that you can find on the shelves, I know that I could...and it would be better than some!  Sure, I've started a lot of stories, but rarely have I ever finished them.  I always find myself writing aimlessly -- no direction, no solid plot...  Not to mention that about halfway through writing it, I would notice that I had stolen so much from other movies or books that I loved.  (In 6th grade, I wrote pretty much my own version of Harry Potter, using my friends as the main characters.)

This time, I decided to take a more structured approach.  I know that it is going to be truly difficult for me to map out every aspect of the story before beginning.  Still, I know that it is necessary for me to actually find a way to finish a story.  My downfall is plot.  Sure, I create an overarching plot line, but how do the characters get into the main conflict of the story?  Why should they care?  They're going on this epic adventure, but it seems that I never divert from the overarching plot. 

For example, a story I was working on in junior high school consisted of two main characters who somehow befriended a dragon (I'm fuzzy on the details).  He informed the two that there was an evil dragon that was searching for and item known as the Dragon Orb and was going to destroy it once it was found.  I don't remember exactly what it did or anything, but that was the main plot.  So, they set out on an adventure to find this evil dragon and rescue the Dragon Orb.  (Later, when I was reading Dragonlance, they used dragon orbs, too.  I was so excited because I remembered using that in my story ages before I had even heard of Dragonlance.)

That was all there was to the story....Ronin and Tera looking for the Dragon Orb.  How did I expect to make them find it?  One day, they just trip over this piece of glass, unearth it, and oh hey, look.  The Dragon Orb.  I realized even then that my plots were really thin and that my characters had no idea what they were doing.  That's all well and good so long as I know what they were doing, why, and how it would effect the story as a whole, but I didn't.  I had no idea what I was doing.  I just had this idea one day and wanted to expound upon it.  I can see the value in that, but I never went back to attach it to anything.

This time, I wanted it to be different.  I wanted something that I could look back on in a few years and be proud of, even if I found flaws in it later.  Something that I wouldn't be somewhat embarrassed of like I am with "The Fate of All Dragons" (original title, huh?).

I did some cheesy Googling ("how to write a novel") and found some pretty useful links, actually.  One was particularly useful:  "How to Plan out a Novel" on WikiHow.  Honestly, I didn't see that coming.  I followed the steps to creating my folders on my computer.  I started with characters, since they are what I am most familiar with.  I found a -- no joke -- 18 page character description and profile template on DeviantART which I am modifying to fit my uses.  I thought it was great because it makes me think more in-depth on my characters.  I can tell they're becoming more realistic as I fill it out.

My story is a steampunk fantasy adventure based (loosely) on a Dungeons and Dragons campaign that Zach and I ran.  We spent a great deal of time developing the world, races, etc. because there was no real set of steampunk D&D rules that we could find.  I am more than familiar with my character as I played her, but I don't know if Zach would want me dictating how his character would think, feel, and act.  I thought about changing the name so that I could do so. 

I don't know how well collaborative writing would go in cases such as this.  I feel like it would be like reading the Inheritance Series (Eragon, Eldest, Brisinger, and Inheritance).  I loved the books, I mean, who couldn't?  It's medieval Star Wars.  (Slight spoiler alert?  This is Luke. He's a farmboy.  This is Eragon.  He's a farmboy.  He lives with his uncle.  He lives with his uncle.  His father is the bad guy.  His father is the bad guy. Seriosuly, replace the word "sword" with "lightsaber", the word "magic" with "the Force", and the word "dragon" with "X-Wing" and it's the same thing.)  After Eragon and Roran got separated, the chapters would switch focus.  One or two chapters would focus on Eragon and his adventures, then the next one or two would focus on Roran and his adventures.  I don't know about you guys, but I tried to be done with the chapters on Roran as quickly as possible.  I feel like that's how our writing would be.  And it would make me feel bad.  I'm not saying that my chapters would be preferred over his, but the thought of people reacting to a set of chapters in the same way that I reacted to the chapters on Roran makes me sad.  (Another quick little rant on the Inheritance series that is somewhat unrelated:  It was supposed to be a trilogy.  You don't publish in your first book "Part one of the Inheritance trilogy" if you are not 100% sure that your series is going to be a trilogy.  It said the word "trilogy" in the first two books.  I noticed the change in Brisinger and it drove me a little nuts.  End rant.)

I'm utilizing the research folder a lot more than I thought I would, too.  I feel that it adds a sense of credibility and realism to the story.  I realize the use of aether crystals and airships is a bit unrealistic in itself (lest you're talking about blimps), but considering my story is based around the period of time where aether is discovered, I thought it would be a good idea to do a little light research on the types of ships from around the 19th century...especially the required crew size.  I also thought it useful to look up crew hierarchies and implement those.

The only thing I'm stuck on is the plot right now.  I have two main, overarching quests right now:  I have my main character's personal quest, and I also have a common goal for the entirety of the main characters.  As of right now, I only have one side quest.  I feel like there needs to be more...  Right now, I feel like my plot line is too thin...  I always get stuck on the plot!

Maybe starting to develop the main antagonists would help me in my development of the plot... What are his/her motives?

Sigh.  I've logged a good few hours on planning already and still there is so much to be done before I can even begin writing...  Hopefully this has helped my writer's block some.

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Random Update Compilation!

Man, student teaching has really taken over my life.  I didn't get to make any new costumes for AWA this year, but I had a few more things to bring with me and change things up a little.  Needless to say, I didn't get my armor for Asynlynn done... I got my shield started, but only in the prototype that is completely cardboard and masking tape.  It sucked that it was rainy on the last day and we didn't get to do our normal photo shoot.

What sucked even more is that I somehow managed to get pink eye.  I don't know if I got it from the school where I'm student teaching or from AWA.  Regardless, it sucked.  Not to mention the fact that I have a touch of OCD, so I don't like feeling like I've touched a lot of things and not wash or sanitize my hands.  I just thought it was kind of funny that I don't recall seeing anyone else do anything like this, but I'm the one that got sick.  (I'm not saying my friends didn't wash their hands or anything -- just that I didn't see it.  Of course, I wasn't going out of my way to do that or anything.)  But it's better now!

Anyway, I missed two days of school, which just means that I have to make it up at the end of the semester, but I didn't miss teaching or anything.  I just finished my first placement which was a first grade class.  One little girl got me a bunch of adorable little teacher charms in an owl bag.  She remembered me saying how much I loved owls at the beginning of the semester.  My teacher got me a small Thirty-One bag and three books.  I'm kind of sad to leave them and move up to a fourth grade class.

Last night, I remembered I had jewelery wire from making icicles as Christmas presents a few years back.  So, I made a Walmart run for wire cutters and tried making chainmail.  Yeah, that's right.  I made a little bit of chainmail.  It looks like crap because the wire is so thin and flimsy, but it's a start.  I mean, seriously, how many people in the world can say, "Oh, I know how to main chainmail!"

I've also decided that I want to be able to sew.  Zach and I made a fabric run before AWA for his vests.  A nice woman told us that there was a sale on some patters and I ended up getting like 6 patterns for 99 cents each.  I also got a sexy steampunk dress pattern for $10.  Now I just have to find the time and the motivation to get my lazy self up and do it.

That being said, Heather came up with an amazing idea for next year's convention.  I know that Zach did steampunk Pokemon trainer last year, but she suggested that we should do a big steampunk gym leader group.  She's going to be Sabrina, Mike is going to be Lt. Surge, I'm going to be Misty (I think), and I'm not sure if Zach ever landed on who to be.  I said all of that to say this: help me?  Please? <3

So, I think that's about all you've really missed...  I'm going to end this jumbled mess of a post right now.  I'm going to try to post more.  No promises until December, though. (Graduation, baby!)

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WoW Cosplay Armor Re-redux!

I hate the fact that I've put off my armor making for so long, but it's also been a pretty good thing.  Our server finally switched over to Cataclysm, so I started looking at Cata gear.  The armor I'm going to make now is infinately simpler than my Asynlynn build from before.  As much as I hate to admit that I'm completely scrapping that one (and not really bothering with the Blood Elf features, I hate to say) and starting over.  As always, click on the thumbnail for a bigger image.

My new design from the front.  The boots don't quite go with the set, but tier armor never comes with boots.  I thought these would go nicely if I changed the color scheme to match the rest of the armor's colors.  I didn't include a belt because the pants basically had a belt with them. /shrug.  Plus, the paladin belts look like wrestling belts and I kinda hate them, to be honest.  I also think I'm not going to bother with making a tabard since the armor is so cool.

Also, I am in love with those shoulders.  SO. MUCH. LOVE.

The weapon isn't even really Cataclysm gear... For those of you nerds who may notice, it's [Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker]!  Yes, I know.  But it looks super awesome and it's totally worth it for the WoW joke.

This offers another view of the shoulders and armor from the side.

Oh my god... Dat shield.  I know it looks a little out of place, maybe, with the pointed edges and whatnot, but it has a hammer in it which is the typical paladin symbol.  It isn't the best in slot, but the ones that are wouldn't be easy to make and looked much more out of place than this shield.  (I mean, come on, one of the ones that are higher iLevel than this one is a freaking turtle shell...)  This one is going to be difficult...
 

I offer to you two back images.  I haven't quite decided about the back... I don't think I'm going to worry too awfully much about it, especially since I don't think I'm going to bother with a tabard.  I posted both so that I can get opinions on whether or you think it would make or break the costume.  I feel like the colors don't quite go with the rest of the armor, but most of the time, the color is all that differentiates it from other capes. Right now, I'm leaning towards not bothering with it at all.


So, there you have it.  My revamped armor ideas.  Like last time, I'm going to post a link to each of the armor pieces and their Wowhead link so that you can see how they look in-game or isolated.  I'm really hoping to get started on it this weekend, to be honest.  I've already sketched out the armor and colored it so that I can see the pieces isolated from one another.  Again, I'm not bothering with a helm because I never display the helms.  (Also, the one that goes with this gear looks like the Pope hat.  See for yourself.)  Once again, here is the list of gear displayed:

• Shoulders:  Reinforced Sapphirium Pauldrons
• Back: Indefatigable Greatcloak  I still need to decide...
• Chest:  Reinforced Sapphirium Battleplate
• Hands: Reinforced Sapphirium Gauntlets
• Feet: Massacre Treads Scratch that! Wowhead showed me the ones that DO go well with this set...Yay! Life Force Chargers
• Legs: Reinforced Sapphirium Legplates (Lookalike image here.)
• Weapon:  Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker  Because it's awesome.
• Shield:  Blockade's Lost Shield

Here is a link to Wowhead's paladin set for this.  I think this is mostly going to be for me to use for reference when I'm not on my own laptop, but hey, it's pretty and the armor displayed is on a female, so that's a plus. I'm so glad that I looked at this set because I found a pair of boots that go perfectly with it.  Now I don't have to bother with trying to change the colors and the like!

Modifications:
I am going to modify the sword at least a little... I like the whole video game over-sized sword aspect, but at the same time, I don't want to lug around a sword that is so much taller than me.  Zach also suggested leaving out what he called the "giner v" (I had to include what he called it because it makes me laugh so much) and I think it's a good idea.  That means that I would leave out the topmost gold V in the crotch area, if anyone didn't understand from the name.  Of course, I don't think I'm going to make the little floaty metal feathers on the shoulders.  I know they look really cool, but I'm not sure how they would look in real life...  I'm also not going to try to make them glow, I don't think.

Long story short, I'm super excited!  My uncles have offered to help us, too... Mostly because they don't believe that I could make it on my own with this much limited time, but hey, help is help and I probably won't turn it down ever.  Now, I think I'm off to work on measuring and making patterns!

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Six Long Years

A lot can change in six years.  For example, six years ago, I was in band camp to start my senior year of high school.  I was applying to Jacksonville State University and preparing to start my collegial career in video game design.  I was mentally preparing to start my life on my own (with financial support, of course) living in a dorm and being on my own for the first time in my life.  In my senior year of high school, I was slacking and taking life easy, but at the same time, I was a little bit nervous about what was to come.  I hoped that my new-found relationship was going to last; I knew that he was special even that early in the relationship.  I had hope, but I knew the distance would be a strain.

So, fast forward to 2012.  I've unfortunately fell out of contact with many of the friends that I had during high school, with the exception of a small circle.  Styles have changed drastically -- for example, I've turned into a bit more of a girl than just a female.  I usually do my hair and makeup and I've strayed away from my usual attire of t-shirts and Converse every day.  I wear heels, even!  Interests have changed, somewhat...  But no matter what, through these six years, there is always a constant.  One thing never wavers.  One relationship to rule them all! (Sorry, I had to.)

Sure, things are not always happy.  We've had our fair share of fights.  They're usually over stupid things and we end up laughing about them later.  For every fight or tear shed, there are at least ten laughs and jokes to make up for them.  I'm finally starting to openly talk about my feelings with him, which is still difficult, but I'm making progress.  We've avoided several fights because I'm starting to discuss feelings as they arise rather than in retrospect.  What we have fought about has strengthened our relationship.

After six years, I find myself in nearly the same situation.  I'm in my senior year of college about to begin my student teaching.  Obviously, I'm taking my summer classes as easy as possible.  I want to keep my grades up because, as it is, I will graduate with honors and in an honor society.  I'm once more preparing to begin my life on my own -- financially and physically.  I'm nervous about what is to come, but unlike before, I'm not worried about my relationship falling apart.  I know that he will be there for me no matter what (or at least I hope) and he knows I will be there for him.

Like I told Zach on our actual anniversary:  "I look forward to becoming one of those cute old couples that you see on greeting cards."  So, here is to six years and hopefully at least sixty more!  (Yes, I hope to torture you for that long, babycakes. I love you.)  Unfortunately, this blog post is done nearly two weeks late, but as mentioned, due to school and nerdiness, it's been hard to find down-time to write a post.  Better late than never, right?

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Children's Literature :: Book Reviews 14 of 75

And here is my second installment of my Children's Literature book reviews.  I have added Color Zoo, Friends (Mostly), Trudy, Once I Knew a Spider, Mark's Messy Room, Piggy Bunny, The Cats in Krasinski Square, A Boy Named Giotto, and When We Married Gary.  I have to have of these done by Thursday, so I'm going to have one more post this week about these.

Book Title:  Color Zoo
Author:  Lois Ehlert
Illustrator:  Lois Ehlert
Genre:  Picture book, animals, shapes
Date Published: 1989
Awards:  Caldecott Award, 1990
Brief Summary:  This is a simple book that focuses on shapes, colors, and animals.  The way it is designed is with animals made up of 9 unique shapes.  As you turn the page, a shape is taken away and the animal is turned into another animal.  At the end of each animal section, there is a review of the shapes that made the animals.
Ideas for Use:  This would be great in kindergarten when students are going over the names of shapes and colors.  It would be fun to get them to replicate the book, or draw a picture of an animal made up of these shapes.

Book Title:  Friends (Mostly)
Author:  Barbara Joosse
Illustrator:  Tomaso Milian
Genre:  Fiction, humor, picture book
Date Published: 2010
Awards:  None
Brief Summary:  Henry and Ruby are best friends that do everything together.  They know what the other likes and are able to play well together because they like different aspects; when they are playing pirates, for example, Henry likes the gold coins and Ruby likes the rubies.  Ruby gets jealous because Henry can swim and she can’t.  She gets mad and decides to play by herself.  After a while, Henry shows up and begins playing with her.  She is reluctant, but she likes to be the leader, so she gives in.  They share secrets with each other, which they also share with one classmate each.  Of course, they get mad that their secrets are told, but after a lot of apologies, they make up.
Ideas for Use: This simple book shows how friendships work.  They play on each other’s strengths and weaknesses; they get mad and apologize to one another.  This would be great to share at the beginning of the year to remind students how relationships work, or if there are some students who are in a fight.

Book Title:  Trudy
Author:  Henry Cole
Illustrator:  Henry Cole
Genre:  Fiction, animals, picture book
Date Published: 2009
Awards:  None
Brief Summary:  A girl and her grandfather visit an auction with the promises of getting an animal.  Esme looks through several animals, keeping in mind that her grandmother was allergic to feathers and ruling our animals that were too smelly.  She finally finds a goat that is free to a good home; they take her home and fix up a little barn for her.  Then, they realize that Trudy has a special skill of being able to predict snow.  One day, she goes inside and it doesn’t snow which causes Esme to panic.  The next day, she goes out to check on Trudy to find a matching baby goat lying beside Trudy.
Ideas for Use:  Since the setting of this book is the transition from winter to spring, it would be a good seasonal transition book. 

Book Title:  Once I Knew a Spider
Author:  Jennifer Owings Dewey
Illustrator:  Jean Cassels
Genre:  Fiction, animals, picture book
Date Published: 2009
Awards:  None
Brief Summary:  In this book, an expectant mother is sitting by the window and notices a spider beginning to weave its web.  She watches it for a few days, talking to it, and notices that the spider looks like it’s getting bigger, too.  They decide that the spider must be pregnant, which is proven true when she begins laying her eggs and wrapping them in her web.  When her baby is born, she describes it to the spider and even holds her up so the spider can see her.  Winter comes and the mother is afraid for the spider.  When the snow melted, she saw that the spider was still alive, though shriveled and pale.  When summer comes, the eggs hatch and the spider dies.  She later tells that none of the baby spiders survived the winter.
Ideas for Use:  This was a strange book that I probably would not share with a class.  While the art is beautiful and the story is well-written, it doesn’t seem very applicable, to me.  The art is a little too realistic, in my opinion, for an elementary classroom with children that might be scared of spiders.

Book Title:  Mark’s Messy Room
Author:  Geraldine Elschner
Illustrator:  Alexandra Junge
Genre:  Fiction, animals, picture book
Date Published: 2006
Awards:  None
Brief Summary:  Mark is a messy kid and his cat, Carlo, is fed up.  After a particularly bad night of sleeping in the cactus’s pot and being hungry, he runs away.  Just when Carlo begins to feel alone and tired, he finds a window to jump in and sleep for the night.  The family that lives there happily takes care of Carlo by feeding him, bathing him, and loving him.  Soon, Carlo realizes that with such a clean and orderly house there is nothing to do; he sneaks back home to Mark, who has cleaned his room in an attempt to bring back his beloved cat.
Ideas for Use:  I nearly cried when I read this!  While it is a cute little book, I probably wouldn’t use it in my classroom or read it aloud, but it could possibly have a place in my library.

Book Title:  Piggy Bunny
Author:  Rachel Vail
Illustrator:  Jeremy Tankard
Genre:  Fiction, animals, humor, picture book
Date Published: 2012
Awards:  None
Brief Summary:  Liam is a piglet with a dream of being the Easter Bunny.  His siblings make fun of him for it and his parents try to convince him that he is the perfect piglet.  None of this affects Liam and his dreams.  Eventually, everyone trying to dissuade his dreams begins to nag at him; he starts to doubt himself.  His grandparents, however, give him a pep talk and order him a bunny suit online.  When Liam looks into the mirror, he doesn’t see a piglet in a bunny suit, he sees Liam the Easter Bunny…and so does everyone else.
Ideas for Use:  This is a great book to help students believe in themselves.  It would be one of the books to read at the beginning of the school year and return to throughout the year.

Book Title:  The Cats in Krasinski Square
Author:  Karen Hesse
Illustrator:  Wendy Watson
Genre:  Fiction, history, picture book
Date Published: 2004
Awards:  None
Brief Summary:  This is a beautiful story about World War II Warsaw where a girl has developed a relationship with abandoned cats.  The cats slip between the walls of Warsaw to get food.  The girl lives with her sister (assumed that the rest of the family fell victim to the Holocaust) who tells her about a plan being made to smuggle food into Warsaw.  She tells her sister of the paths through the wall that she learned from the cats and they plan the pick-up.  Her friend tells that the Gestapo heard about the plan and will be waiting with dogs to sniff out the food.  The girl and her sister hatch a plan and gather the abandoned cats into baskets.  They let them loose at the train station when the dogs are released; the cats get to the food first and no one gets blamed for smuggling food inside.
Ideas for Use:  This is a beautiful book that should be used when teaching about the Holocaust.  I would definitely not use it with elementary students, but I would have liked to read it when in the 8^th grade studying World War II.

Book Title:  A Boy Named Giotto
Author:  Paolo Guarnieri
Illustrator:  Bimba Landmann
Genre:  Fiction, art, picture book
Date Published: 1999
Awards:  None
Brief Summary:  This story seems to be a biography of the early life of Giotto, the Italian Renaissance painter.  In the story, Giotto is a shepherd who likes to sketch in his spare time – or rather, instead of watching his sheep.  Because he was sketching, he lost a lamb as his father angrily points out when he gets home.  His father compliments a painting in the street as it is carried and asks who the artist is.  Curious, Giotto listens and follows his father to the artist despite his grounding.  The artist listens to Giotto’s story and gives him painting tips before supplying him with materials and sending him on his way.  The next day, Giotto paints a picture of the mother sheep on a rock, which the lost lamb sees and runs to.  The artist returns to see the boy and his beautiful painting.  He tries to convince Giotto’s parents that he should stay with him and become his apprentice.  Seven years later, Giotto leaves to become the apprentice and master his art.
Ideas for Use:  This book is well-written and has beautiful pictures.  I would definitely use this as an art teacher, but I don’t see how it could come up in a general education classroom.  I would keep it in my classroom library for any students interested in art, though.

Book Title:  When We Married Gary
Author:  Anna Grossnickle Hines
Illustrator:  Anna Grossnickle Hines
Genre:  Fiction, family, picture book
Date Published: 1996
Awards:  None
Brief Summary:  Beth remembers their father, but the younger sister doesn’t.  Their mother will talk to them about him because sometimes she and Beth get sad about him not being around.  She explains it by saying he had problems and was not ready for a family.  She decides to marry Gary and to show the daughters that they are marrying him too, they wear rings on necklaces.  He says they can call him “Poppa” since they already have a daddy.  It tells about things that they do with their new Poppa and that the four of them fit nicely, like puzzle pieces.
Ideas for Use:  I feel like this could be a very important children’s book to someone who was in a similar situation.  It may not be one I would share with the entire class (because of some views on remarriage), but if I knew a child was going through the same type of situation, I would definitely read this to them or let them read it themselves.

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How It Happened (A Weight Pondering)

I know that I made it sound as if I was going to do consecutive posts on my Children's Literature class -- and that was the plan -- but a thought occurred to me yesterday morning.  When I have thoughts, I either have to say them or write them to finally stop thinking about them, so blogs are the lucky victims.

I was thinking about my weight and how it came to be.  I'm not a huge girl or anything, but I am overweight; I think technically obese, but I feel like I would rather take information like that from a doctor instead of the trustworthy internet.  At the same time, I've been told that I do not look like I weigh (insert three digit number here) pounds. 

I am a vegetarian, which I feel is something that both hurts and helps my diet.  Why I say it may be hurting my diet is because as a child (and even now, since I'm thinking about it), when people didn't know what else to add to my meal to make it "whole" they would add pasta, rice, or something starchy and carb-y.

What made me start thinking about this, I believe, is my current soda intake.  As a child, I would down Cokes all the time -- from the time I got off of the school bus to the time that my mother picked me up from my grandparents.  They finally started limiting it to two per day when they began thinking the caffeine and sugar was keeping me awake at night.  (Yeah. It doesn't matter if I have caffeine or not, I end up staying up to all hours of the night.  Perhaps it's genetic?)  My question now as I look back on it is why didn't they buy some of the diet or diet, caffeine-free drinks?  That would have solved the problem of sugars and caffeine, but would have still allowed me the sweet, carbonated goodness and gradually ween myself off of it.

I finally came to the conclusion that part of the blame for my weight issues is that I was never really taught how to eat.  Well, I know how to eat, per-se, but I was never taught how to eat healthy.  I honestly don't think that anyone told me as a child that being full and being stuffed were not the same thing.  I know that sounds utterly simple, and as an adult I realize how simple it is to realize and control, but as a child, I did not know and I never really came to the conclusion on my own.

There were times when my mother would be planning out dinner and ask for suggestions.  When I replied with something I liked (of course, the breads, pastas, rices, etc.) she would take the rest of the meal into consideration and mention if we had another starch, saying that it would be too much.  I don't remember this much in my earlier years, though, only when I became more health conscious.

I am not blaming anyone but myself, although it may seem that way.  I should have known and enforced my limit on eating.  After I was told to cut back on the Cokes, I should have done so and not slipped a few extras from time to time.  I should give up sodas all together again, but even as I write this, I am drinking a Monster: Absolute Zero.  (Yes, it is one in the morning.  No, I don't care.)  I saw myself gaining weight and didn't do anything about it.  In my late teens, I saw myself gaining weight and decided that I was going to do something about it.  My motivation?  I didn't want to have to shop in what my mother calls "the big girl sizes."  I was dangerously close to it, too.  Since then, I have dropped three sizes.

As the summer begins, I know that I am slacking.  I had become lax on my diet and I noticed the tole it was taking on my body and mind.  Every time I put something even relatively unhealthy in my mouth, my brain shouted at me; later, my stomach rumbled and cramped to punish me.  Even on my "cheat days," I had to be conscious of what I was eating, even if it was less healthy.  I'm not a full-time student over the summer, so I do not get free gym membership at my school. 

I've been stuck at the same weight for three months and it's my own fault.  Although I was embarrassed to do so, I asked my doctor if there was anything that I might be able to take that could help me with my weight loss; apparently, my thyroid problems also hinder my progress.  He told me that I was a perfect candidate for Adipex.  (I'm still not sure how to take his wording.  A perfect candidate?)  I picked up my prescription on Monday and began taking them on Tuesday.  I think it's too early to tell if they have really had an effect, or if it is just psychosomatic.  Hopefully in the long run, it will pay off.

That seemed rather successful.  Now that I have written all of this out, I don't feel the urge to dwell upon it anymore.  Thank you again, blog.  You have helped me clear my mind.

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Children's Literature :: Book Reviews 5 of 75

This summer, I am taking a class called Children's Literature.  I am not sure why it is only a requirement to those with a Language and Culture minor, but, for whatever reason it is.  I thought this class was going to be like beating a dead horse because we have had so many literature/English language arts classes already.  Luckily, I was wrong thus far; I am enjoying the class.  The assignment I am most excited about is our book report assignment.  We are required to read 70 picture books -- out of these 70 books, 10 have to be non-fiction and 5 have to be poetry -- and we also have to read 5 chapter books for children.  Because most of my friends are either education or English oriented, I thought I would share my book reports on my blog, also.  This way, those who may need book ideas for their classroom library can find a few reviewed books, and hopefully I can get some suggestions on good children's literature also.

I will post book reports as I do them so that there are not 75 short posts, or one huge post.  My first haul from the Teacher Materials Center consisted of seven books (mostly related to cats, I hate to admit):  Binky the Space Cat, Princess Super Kitty, Magic Thinks Big, Vivaldi and the Invisible Orchestra, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, Paint Me a Poem, and Earth Magic; however, I have lacked the motivation to read the last two yet, so I will post those in the next haul.  I will include the cover art with a link to their page on Amazon if anyone is interested.  Without further ado, here is my first set of reports:



Book Title:  Binky the Space Cat
Author:  Ashley Spires
Illustrator:  Ashley Spires
Genre:  Graphic novel, fiction, humor
Date Published:  2009
Awards:  None
Brief Summary:  Binky has never left the house and, to him, everything outside of the house (or space station, in his mind) is outer space.  He protects his family from alien invaders (bugs to us inferior humans).  He gets his letter from F.U.R.S.T. to welcome him as a space explorer.  Stealing items from his humans, he builds a rocket ship in his litter box.  As he is counting down to blast off, he realizes that he forgot to pack two very important things -- his humans!  He jumps out of the ship just as it takes off and stays home to keep his family safe.
Ideas for Use:  Being in Huntsville, anything space related is usually relevant to children's interests.  Many children do not know how to read graphic novels, so it would be a good place to start, especially since Binky is the beginning of a new series.

Book Title:  Princess Super Kitty
Author:  Antoinette Portis
Illustrator:  Antoinette Portis
Genre:  Fiction
Date Published:  2011
Awards:  None
Brief Summary:  Maggie is a little girl with a huge imagination.  She begins the day as a kitty, telling what it is that a kitty does and how she tweaks things a little ("Kitties only eat fish. And peanut butter and banana sandwiches").  Soon, she grows bored with being a regular everyday kitty, so she transforms into Super Kitty!  Super Kitty is stronger and braver than regular cats, she explains giving examples.  Eventually, she gets bored with being plain old Super Kitty and helping everyone, so she turns into Princess Super Kitty.  Princess Super Kitty doesn't do things like open jars, but she is nice and allows her brother to play with her.  When it's bath time, she realizes that kitties don't like water, so she has to change once again...into Water Lily Hula Porpoise Princess Super Kitty of the Sea.
Ideas for Use:  This book uses a lot of compare and contrast ideas, such as when she changes into someone/something else and explains the differences.  It could also be used to help with sequencing.  It also shows a female super hero.

Book Title:  Magic Thinks Big
Author:  Elisha Cooper
Illustrator:  Elisha Cooper
Genre:  Fiction
Date Published:  2004
Awards:  None
Brief Summary:  Magic the cat is trying to decide what he wants to do in a manner that is similar to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.  He plans out his next move by using cause and effect with a layout of "If I do this, then this or that could happen."  In the end, he decides that it would be best for him to just wait and let his next move find him instead.
Ideas for Use:  I'm not entirely sure.  It has beautiful artwork, though.  Also, it is based on a real cat that is huge and loves blueberries.

Book Title:  Vivaldi and the Invisible Orchestra
Author:  Stephen Costanza
Illustrator:  Stephen Costanza
Genre:  Fiction
Date Published:  2012
Awards:  None
Brief Summary:  Every morning, Vivaldi has a new piece of music written and ready to be rehearsed.  It is the job of a little orphan girl named Candida to copy enough of the music for all the musicians.  As she copies, she daydreams and visualizes the music.  Eventually, she scribbles her poetic daydreams in between the lines of music on accident.  At first, the musicians find this laughable, but Vivaldi stops them as he finds it inspirational.  The next day, Candida goes to Vivaldi to find music written for her to copy with her same little poetic daydreams scribbled between the lines.  The music was inspired by her.
Ideas for Use:  The art in this book is amazingly beautiful; I wish I could post every page of it on here!  I strongly suggest going to the Amazon link and flipping through the preview.  It incorporates a lot of Tier 2 words and a few Tier 3 words.  I would definitely suggest this book to anyone going into music.

Book Title:  The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish
Author:  Neil Gaiman
Illustrator:  Dave McKean
Genre:  Fiction
Date Published: 1997
Awards:  None
Brief Summary:  This is the classic story of swapping things without permission and the long, tiresome trail of trying to get it back.  He swaps his dad for two goldfish that his neighbor has, and when his mom comes home, he gets in trouble.  Going back to his neighbor, he finds that his dad has been swapped for a guitar.  Then he was swapped for a gorilla mask and finally for a huge rabbit.  The girl that owned the rabbit mentioned that his dad didn't make a good rabbit.  "He's not meant to be.  He's a very good daddy."
Ideas for Use:  Young kids love to swap things and often times when their parents find out that their child has swapped an item, they get mad.  This could be a good book to help prevent this type of thing going on in a classroom.  The art style is beautiful and somewhat reminiscent of a graphic novel with speech bubbles at times; it could serve as a good introduction of this style of book.

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Mai Pokemanz

Yes, I survived Zach's absence.  I know I was painstakingly annoying on his way back, but I was bored!  I realize how stupid I was being and so on.  Anyway, on to the news!

My friends and I decided to make a...Pokemon d20!  Yeah!  Let me explain a little for those of you who may not understand what I'm talking about.  First, if you don't know what Pokemon is, you have been living under a rock and you can Google that on your own.  d20 is a system roughly based on the Dungeons and Dragons system; it uses the 7 polyhedral dice and the same basic mechanics.  Basically, it's Pokemon D&D. Since my other bros all have a campaign started, I offered to DM it (or run it in lay terms).

It's hard because we cannot find a set of rules for Pokemon d20.  We have used several different sources, but they all have huge gaps in their information.  So, we are basically creating our own from the bottom up.  Does it sound that hard?  Yeah, it totally is.  Right now, we are doing only the Pokemon that can be found in Kanto (original 150, plus some pre-evolutions and evolutions).

In the midst of doing that, I have decided to put myself in the mood a little (Hey, perverts. I'm talking about the mood for running a Pokemon game.  Get your mind out of the gutter.) by replaying a Pokemon game.  I know that I have Pokemon Black started, but I don't want to wipe the save file...  I want to do the Nuzlocke Challenge!  If you've never heard of the Nuzlocke Challenge, it is simple to explain, but hard to play.  You can only catch one Pokemon from each area -- it is the first one you come to and if it faints or runs, that's all you get.  You have to nickname each Pokemon you get.  If a Pokemon faints, it is considered dead and must be released (but I'm using a box in my PC for them instead).

I want to do a comic based on them like you're supposed to do, but for now, I'm just going with screenshots because I really want to play.  I'm using a rom of Pokemon FireRed.  I may do some posts of the screenshots later, but for now, it's off to play~!

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Emotions! Y U NO?!

Today marks the first day of Zach's Florida-bound bachelor party excursion for his best friend's wedding.  They are coming back on Sunday.  Today is Friday and they left at about 4:30 pm.  All-in-all, it's about two full days.  So, I pose this question: Why did I find myself earlier in a nearly debilitated state of depression?  Seriously.  I lay on my bed for about an hour and cried.

The weird thing?  I knew this was coming up.  I knew it was only going to be a weekend thing.  Why did this affect me so much?  Why do I know that around 11:30, it will hit me again that I won't see him again until Sunday afternoon/night?  I do not understand. I mean, I realize that I have crazy jealousy issues and insecurities.  For the most part, I manage to control these things.  It's not like I don't trust Zach or anything, because it's quite the opposite. 

He thinks, for some odd reason, that I am mad at him.  I responded to that in a playful manner by saying "Not unless you give me reason to be."  I hope that the tone was conveyed through text message.  You can never tell.  The last time that something like this happened, I was mad at him.  That was a completely different scenario and it would be ridiculous to think that it would translate into every situation.  To be honest, I'm not mad at him at all.  Really.  I'm just sad because I know that it will be Sunday before I can see him again.  I think it's also just knowing that if I need him, he'd be more than his usual five minutes away; I guess I always just kind of flash back to when I was in the hospital in Jacksonville.  (Wow, that was five years ago... I feel old.)

I admit that any reasoning that I could possibly think of for me being mad -- or even sad for that matter -- are entirely selfish.  I'm naturally a jealous person; I don't know why, but it is true and I am trying to work on that.  It's that whole childish, "If I can't have him, no one can" mentality that I hate to admit that I have.  I worry a lot...Perhaps that's it?  There's also this pathetically impairing mental block that I have that says "If neither of us have done X before, we should both do it together."  I haven't the foggiest notion of why I have this mentality, but it is there.  In fact, that odd little block has caused at least two fights in our history that I can recall.  Perhaps that stems from my expectations of a perfect little couple that does absolutely everything together.  That isn't to say that we don't spend time together or anything; we're almost always together, even if we're just watching television.  I know there are no perfect couples, either, but we're pretty good together.  We will have been together for six years in June, so we must be doing something right.

Anyway, I do want him to go.  I'm glad he did and I hope he is having fun, even though he's probably still in the car.  (My geography skills are pretty sad, so I don't know for sure or not.)

I've been working on a list of things that I could do while he's gone.  Funny enough, all of these are solitary.  Zach added to the list that I could go and visit Ashlie for a while.  I considered it for a few minutes, then I realized that the majority of my class is at Camp Autism Smiles this weekend as counselors (their teacher requires it as a grade).  Ashlie is included in this group.  Among my list of things that I could do are working on my armor for my World of Warcraft costume, play video games, and possibly give myself an at-home spa day tomorrow (complete with fake nails, bubble bath, and hair dying).  When I realized everything was solitary, I text Zach with a fake conversation with myself.  "Hey, Jesh, how do you deal with lonliness?"  "Oh, that's simple, self, I isolate myself more!"  I understand how strange that is....

Now, on to the MMORPGs!  [I got sucked into Aion...]

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In Which I Find a Notebook

In one of my classes for the past month or so, there has been a spiral notebook floating gradually to the front of the room.  It didn't quite seem to belong to anyone.  I fought every impulse I had to take it the first day that I saw it and instead let it sit for a few weeks, waiting to find its owner.  Apparently, the owner had since moved on to a newer notebook, so I welcomed it into my bag with my pink binder and textbooks.

I came home and started going through it.  Finding an abandoned notebook to me is like finding a discarded diary of a total stranger.  There was only a name on the first page that was tucked away in the pocket of this five subject, UAH spiral notebook.  If I were Evan Fowler, I would have been rather sad because the UAH bookstore overcharges for anything with the school's name on it.  I sifted through a few pages and learned that he was studying chemical engineering, as it was written on the bottom of a sheet of what I could only assume to be homework.  Everything like that seems like gibberish to me; at least with an education major, all of our work is easily read by anyone.  Whether or not it makes sense to everyone is a different story entirely.

I flipped through Evan's work, but learned nothing more personal about him.  It almost seemed like he was in a freshman composition class because he had a handout on flow charts and what looked to be a small storyboard.  I also assume this because the engineering building is across campus from the building where I found the notebook.  There was a lot of math and he drew a cone very well; this impressed me because cones are rather difficult for me to draw.  I did note that he had an odd habit of skipping a strange amount of pages.

I wonder what separated Even from his notebook.  Perhaps his classroom moved when the contractors were installing the new windows and it got lost in the shuffle...  I feared the worst, though.  I know that eventually, someone would recycle it -- or worse, just throw it away.  Instead, I saved this poor little notebook.  I lovingly pulled out all of the scribbled upon pages and all the little perforated edges that strayed in the binding.  I haven't quite decided what I am going to use it for, but at least it won't be wasted.

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Spring Cleaning?

Ever walk into a house and feel like you're walking into an episode of Hoarders?  Okay, it wasn't that bad, but it paints a pretty good picture.  We've picked up Dungeons and Dragons again, which is so amazing.  The only bad thing is, three of us live here, and one (or two, depending on if Caleb wants to play, too) live about ten or fifteen minutes away.  (Not to mention the fact that I'm neglecting school work to play.  Everything's been turned in on time, don't worry.)  Because I have a judgmental, nosy mother that I live with and Zach is part of a family of six that all lives at home, we'd rather not do it at either of our houses.  That leaves either the long drive or the episode of Hoarders.  (I am intentionally not using the person's name because if he happens to stumble across this and read it, I don't want him to feel embarrassed or anything.  I feel kind of bad enough as it is...)

Now, I would be lying if I said my room was always spotless -- or even that I could always find a clear path on the floor to walk on (hey, it's only one room out of the house)  -- but there comes a point where you just look around and say, "I have to clean all this up."

Heath had recently had a conversation with him about the state of his house, and while Zach and I haven't said anything to him, we've decided on a plan of action to clean it up.  After all, if it is going to be our central hub for D&D, we all need to feel comfortable in it; I feel like I can't think creatively sometimes in clutter, which is a large portion of what D&D is.  His fiance is trying to lose weight for their wedding, but I don't see this living environment to be conducive to a healthy lifestyle.  (Not that I'm one to be lecturing about this, since I'm on a diet myself...)

Let me paint a more realistic picture for you rather than the over-dramatic Hoarders image you may now have in your head.  (I apologize for the vast over-use of the word 'stuff' but I have no idea where to even begin what to call it.)  The living room has a couch to your immediate left upon entering; to the right is a hallway.  All but what seemed like one cushion on the couch was unusable because of stuff.  There are Magic:  The Gathering cards all over the floor, along with miscellaneous change, empty soda cans, and Qtips of questionable origin.  We discovered a hole in the floor where a vent used to be (which was previously hidden by more stuff).  The remaining seating in the room is pushed to a side along with storage boxes, overflowing with stuff and a coffee table that had to be sat on its end to ensure a walkway.  Half the hallway seems to be taken up by...stuff...reducing your walkway to the bathroom.  There are two bedrooms off of the hallway, both piled.  There is a large pile on the bed and on the floor of the only bedroom I looked into.  I picked up a stack of two plates with what was possibly food at some point on it -- it was still there, I'm just not sure it was food anymore.  It turns out that it was actually two plates that had been fused together over time. On down the hall is the bathroom.  Sorry, bro, but your bathroom smells like so much pee; I held it until I got home.  From the other side of the living room is the kitchen, master bedroom and master bath.  I haven't ventured more than a few feet into the kitchen, but it seems just as piled up.  There are plates all over the counter and towels (and miscellaneous other stuff) on the floor to leave only one clear path to the bedroom.  This is a brief, but I think, accurate description.  And again, I'm sorry if you read any of this and it offends you (you know who you are).

Yesterday, while waiting on Heath, Zach started picking up Magic cards to "look" at them.  He formed them into a pile as he gathered change from the floor into a large jar lid.  Before long, the floor was pretty much clean and he went on to the bookshelf.  While he did that, I grabbed a garbage bag and started picking up cans.  I am not exaggerating when I say that the large garbage bag was full when I got all the cans I could see from the living room.  We filled about three garbage bags (not counting can bag) and took them to the side of the road.  His desk and the entire couch is usable now.

Zach and I (unsure on Heath's status in this) are planning to sneak over when he's not home and deep clean.  I've even formulated a small divide-and-conquer plan.  You see, you start with the bathrooms and clean out the bath tubs.  Once they are clean, you fill it with water and dish soap to let dishes soak while you do the rest of the house... Oh, it'll be like a whole new trailer by the time we're done with it.  Like Zach said, "It'll have that fresh, Pine Sol sent in no time."  But there again, he's also the one that said "If he lets it get this bad again, I'm going to burn it down."  Silly boy.

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New Goals & New Toys

I'm excited because Zach, my friends Heather and Mike, and I are making a small writing circle.  It's nothing particularly fancy, especially at the moment, but it is something to get the proverbial creative juices flowing.  Each week we are to submit a one-page (minimum) piece; they do not have to be part of one story -- they can be stand alone projects.  For the most part, there is no theme for the week's writing, but I think it would be a neat idea to incorporate one on the occasion.  It's just a place to stretch your creative muscle; we read each others work and give constructive criticism and the like.  I was so excited that I made a new blog for it last week and made my first post the day before yesterday.  If you're interested in my writing blog, feel free to check out Owl Quills & Squid Ink.

I posted on my Facebook yesterday that, now that I have started writing again, I want to be able to draw.  I don't think I have ever really been a terrible drawer, per se, but I don't think my drawings are quite good.  I can look at a picture and draw based on it, which normally comes out decent, but when it's something just from my imagination, it never seems to work that well.  I end up tracing an outline of something and then altering it.  Sigh.  I feel kind of bad admitting that, but it's true.  So yesterday, I made a new DeviantArt account, Jeshil2draw, which is going to be where I favorite all of the drawing tutorials that I find useful.  I didn't want it clogging up my steampunk DA account. Most of the stuff that I have found tutorial-wise have been for digital drawing, but all I have is a mouse... Sigh. Pencil and paper it is, right?

Yesterday, I drew this flower based on this tutorial.  I know it's not great, but it's a start, right?  I love the old-school tattoo-esque rose. (Click for a bigger picture, as always.)

Now then.  As you may have noticed by now, I am a nerd.  Sorry to blow your minds, those of you who hadn't noticed yet, but it's true.  But, as they say, "I am a product of my own environment."  My father was always super into computers; I actually grew up sitting in his lap as he used the computer.  Yes, I am old because I remember when computers were first made for home use, but this is neither here nor there.  My maternal uncles are both huge nerds.  Rob, the oldest, is always upgrading his computer, which now looks like an ammunition case.  He has packages almost daily from Amazon.  He buys a lot of video games, etc. and always likes having the newest, shiniest things in geekware.  He is going to school for programming, mainly in the area of software and video games.  Brent, the youngest at 29, loves video games almost strictly.  He has to have the newest consoles and games literally as soon as they come out. 

I tell you that to tell you this:  The other week, Rob had bought a new Wacom Bamboo tablet and was showing me some of the things he had drawn with it.  At first I was all, "Oh, that's really neat!  I've always wanted to play with one of those."  But when I decided I wanted to learn how to draw, my only thought was, "I wonder if Rob bought a newer, shinier one so that I can have --borrow-- his old one..."  Because I am cheap and don't like to spend my money.  I had looked online and found one off-brand for $40, but it was out of stock.  The next cheapest one jumped to $80 and it didn't seem much different than the cheapest one.   (I did not know until right now that $80 was what he spent on the original tablet.)

So, we go over to my grandparents' for dinner last night, and I ask him where he got it.  He said "Which one?"  I didn't know there were more than one!  He plugged in his new Intuos5 Wacom tablet that cost $350 to let me play with while he packed up the Bamboo one.  He also let me borrow some of the software he had gotten for it.  So boom.  That's the story of how I acquired a new, $80 Wacom tablet free.  I am installing the software after I finish this post.  I'll upload anything I draw that is decent and link it.

A quick weight loss update before I go. I went to the doctor on Wednesday, and as of then, I had lost 22 lbs.  He also told me that my health was much better; all of my blood-related tests were perfect (glucose, red cells, white cells, liver, kidney, etc.).  Actually, he downed my thyroid medicine because my thyroid is now working better than it should.  I'm disappointed that I only lost like 3 lbs in February, but I feel like I'm going to make up for it.  I can tell I've lost inches, which is more important.  I've convinced myself that I haven't lost as much because I am gaining muscle due to my piloxing class.  22 lbs down, 68 lbs to go, 5 months and one week to go.  Wow, that actually seems manageable when I read it like that... Maybe I'll actually make my goal.

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