Animal Shelter

From a friend of mine:

“I heard on the radio this morning that 70 Australian Shepards were seized from a home in Mason, Mi. due to neglect and filthy conditions. They are at the Ingham County Animal Shelter, and, its over full! They are going to have to put down lots of dogs if these Aussies don’t get adopted soon. I know I want to help. I’d even take one myself. Please tell everyone you know about this situation, its crazy! At least the woman got her kennel license taken away, and she’s going to court now.”

PenguiCon 7.0

I can’t tell you guys how excited I am right now. I’ve got materials out for making swag, I’m printing out CD labels and business cards, and I’m trying really, really hard not to squee out loud.

I’m making it back to PenguiCon this year. I’ll have ribbons – purple Rebuilder ribbons – to hand out with business cards that reference the web page, where there’ll be an answer to the question on the ribbon. I’ll have teaser CDs to hand out to people that attend the panels I’m on. And this year, I’ll have HAIR!

Heh.

Here’s a list of the panels that I’ll be on:

May 2, 2009
– 9:00 am Sci-Fi/Fantasy – Perception or Prescience?
– 10:00 am Short Stories : What’s the Story?
– 11:00 am Sci-Fi /Fantasy – What Really Works?
– 12:00 pm Self-Publishing – How to Not Get Totally Screwed
– 1:00 pm The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
– 3:00 pm Johnny Can’t Read and Nobody Thinks It’s a Problem
– 4:00 pm What’s So Funny?!
– 6:00 pm Future Crash – What If We Lose the Knowledge?

May 3, 2009
– 8:00 am National Novel Writing Month
– 1:00 pm Selling Your Soul – Marketing Your Work on a Limited Budget

If you’re going to be there, say hi! :) I may be vibrating from the High Octane coffee, so if I slip out of space-time, just give me a sec, I’ll be back.

Last Temptation

Last Temptation Last Temptation by Neil Gaiman

My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
I had been familiar with the idea of concept albums, but I’d never read a graphic novel based off of one. I’m a ridiculous Neil Gaiman fan, and was impressed to see that he helped Alice Cooper with the concept of the album. This graphic novel is just the icing on the cake. He pulls off the dark theatre/dark carnival story very well, keeps the preaching to a minimum, and worked with a great artist. I would definitely recommend this one.

View all my reviews.

Pampered Chef

A few days ago, I had composed a brilliant post in my head. I’d framed my thoughts about joining Pampered Chef with . I’d worked in all my ideas about selling, networking, and showing off the products. I’d come up with a good way to explain how we’d start with our friends and family, and create a larger network of possible customers from there. After all, friends and family aren’t customers. They’re friends and family. I neglected to write down my brilliant and/or cheesy turns of phrase, and so it was all lost to the mists. Last night, in an attempt to jump-start my brain into re-creating the original masterpiece, I wrote this:

“How do I sell? How do I share my exuberance about a product – actual, real excitement – with others? In a professional setting or a fun one? How do I express that I love using these products without sounding cheesy and/or coming across like I’m trying to pressure my friends into buying something that they don’t want and/or need?

I’ve been using Pampered Chef tongs and angled measuring cups and the liquid/dry measuring cup since put on a show in the Fairview house. When I moved in with , I got access to a ridiculous amount of the tools – garlic press, pizza cutter (squee!), and cheese grater, just to name a few.”

I didn’t end up finishing… Cian ended up falling asleep, and so I snagged the opportunity to sleep. I have to admit, I’m kind of wishing for the same situation right about now. Heh.

Put plainly and simply, it’s an opportunity to add to our income by selling products that we buy ourselves.

I won’t push anyone to host a show or to buy any products. If you want to check out the online catalog, and you happen to see products that you and your friends would enjoy, we’d be happy to put on a show for you. Hosts get free products, too, depending on how much their show earns.

Me, I can’t wait for my hinged grease spatter screen. Nikki’s biting her nails for her cutting board with drop-in measuring cups. Yeah, we’re addicted. :)

Image046


Image046
Originally uploaded by Childe

I don’t think he wants to transform and roll out.

He’s so big already that the 0-3 month onesies are tight on him. It could be because they’re 100% cotton, and need to be stretched by wearing, but… I’m still amazed. My jaw dropped when he outgrew his newborn size outfits.

I wonder if he’ll ever know how many directions he pulls me in on a daily basis.

One point twenty-one jigawatts!

It’s that time again. Cian was sleeping. He was, really. Then he got fussy, but there was hope of him going right back to sleep. I may be unrealistic, but I’m still holding out for sleep overtaking him. He’s had a lot of activity today, a lot of crying, and a lot of fussing. That has to have tired him out enough to sleep. Right? Both he and are exhausted.

Hunter’s been bad enough at school and during homework recently that we’ve had to…

–Went to sleep, it’s now the next morning–

…take pretty much everything away from him. I know that it’s in the nature of children to push the boundaries that parents have set, no matter what age they are, but these endless attempts at negotiation are maddening. Punishment is not supposed to be fun. That’s why it’s punishment, and not happy-fun-candy-time. Convincing a hard-headed eight-year-old that punishment is the effect to his actions’ cause is nearly impossible, even when you’re a hard-headed thirty-one-year-old. I’m being mean and unfair, I’m not delivering consequences for arguing incessantly with teachers and parental units (including myself).

I have to say, though, that I’m glad that his teachers are not shy about communicating with parents. Keeping the lines of communication open has let us know that he’s having the same issues there that he’s having at home, and it prevents him from playing one group of adults against the other.

All of that said, he had an excellent day at school yesterday, and only threw a minor fit when we enforced his punishment here at home. I have high hopes that he will continue the good streak, and take advantage of this opportunity to earn his way out of punishment.