The saga begins yesterday, the 25th, with the good fortune of finding another and previously unseen Tanuki Benihana-style tiki mug at the local goodwill.  After that, I returned home in the less than 20 degree weather and took my Tasi outside.  He's been begging for days, and since I was already bundled up I figured it wouldn't hurt.  While I was outside I cleaned up the porch a little.  After securing the swing to the deck railing I walked down the three wooden steps to the porch area. Well, I TRIED to walk down the three steps.  I made it down one and skipped the last two.  Unlike Tasi, who would have landed on his feet, I landed on my back. Or to be more accurate, my back landed on the edge of the step. 


( bruised back photo )So now I am all sore since yesterday.  Onto the joys of today!

This morning we woke up a tad bit later than we should have.  But since the roads were good I could still get to work between 8:30 and 8:45 without too much trouble.  I was slowed down by the painful stiffness in my back, but it was going okay.  Then Jaime couldn't find his keys.  So I stopped getting ready to help him look (they were in his hoodie pocket).  I got to my car about five minutes after he left only to find him still outside, trying to air up one of his three flat tires.  Hooray for negative degree weather. :(
So Jaime had one of the inflation pump things plugged into his car lighter. I suggested plugging the second one into the other car lighter he has.  It did work for me before when I borrowed his car.  This time it blew the car lighter fuse.  So I ended up driving him in the freezing little kittenbus which had frost on the inside of the windows.  And I got to work an hour late.

Later Jaime was able to get a ride to a work thing he had to go to, and then home.  However his keys disappeared again, this time not on his person.  Luckily he had a spare car key and was able to work on inflating his tires (using the batter jumper thing he got) and called to let me know he couldn't get in the house.  I left work early so I could go home and let him in.  And what do we find?

Our pipes are frozen!

But  we had water this morning and we left the faucets dripping...how could this happen?  Dunno, but there was a cute little inch long icicle dangling from the faucet in the kitchen.  Did I mention our central heating only works a third of the time? 

So there's my day.  wooooo.

Oh!  Turns out the cat show didn't leave a space for me in their relocation to smaller digs.  AND a big hug to Brenna and Heza and all my other friends in freezing weather colder than ours is right now (10 degrees).

Currently my schedule is pretty tiring.  I have class from noon until 12:50 pm Monday through Friday.  On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I work from 9:30 am until 11:00 am (I leave early to catch a bus to campus).  On Tuesday and Thursday I work in the morning but then return to work after class from 2:00 pm until 5:30 pm.  And then I work 9:30 am to 5:00 pm on Saturdays. 
I'm totally exhausted.  I actually kept nodding off in class today.  I've never done that before!  And I've scored lower on the last two chapter tests than I ever have before.  The test I took yesterday got an 87.5, the previous got a 91.  Those are the lowest scores I have ever made in the class, and I was confident I did really well on both of them.  (Okay, I know those are not bad scores.  But when I have always made 95 and higher on the 13 chapters before, it tells me I am having trouble.)  I'm hoping this recent test was frought with stupid little mistakes, as was the previous.  (I haven't seen it yet.) Then at least that means I understand the material and just need to pay better attention.

In other news, I managed to finish two postcards for this years' Secret Artworks project, and they go on sale tomorrow.  It's for charity, so I won't make any money off of them.  But hopefully they will serve as continued advertising.  The artists' identities are kept secret until the piece sells, but I don't think I'll get in trouble for previewing one as my new lj icon. 

I need to make new stuff for Indigenous for the holidays, but have this awful habit of passing out on the couch whenever I get home.  I have alot of gift kittens to make too...

I have made a little progress on chores this past week...but not near enough.  I'm trying to get my workshop straightened up so Bru and Frodo can spend the winter there as opposed to the boring basement.  I need to take them to the vet too, for worming and shots and the like.  It'll run about $100 per kitty, and the August-October check from Indigenous is going to that.  I was hoping to clear the $200 mark, but only made $149.  Which is the same as my weekly paycheck.  Someday I hope to make $8 an hour, but that will never happen at this job.  We've had people leave but the bosses refuse to hire any new people or give anyone raises to compensate for all the extra work we are being given.  I know the economy is tough, but it's hard to sympathize with bosses that complain about not making enough but still eat expensive steak and do their grocery shopping in bulk every week.  The only reason they still have the employees they do is that jobs are impossible to get around here.

Anywho, I have to write a composition now...

This mural was recently painted near my neck of the woods:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theclubcreatures/2762733911/

And here's all the talk (well, at least one blog's worth):
http://www.building-cincinnati.com/2008/07/not-everyone-loves-campy-washington.html

Stupid people suck.

Nya. >^-^<

Well, the world of puppeteers and fx has lost a true friend with the death of Stan Winston.  The man held tightly onto the ideal that CGI could never wholly replace three-dimensional crafts in film-making.  He said once that no matter how good an actor is, if he has something physically before him, he will perform better than with just a tennis ball on a stick.  And I agree.  He was truly one of the greatest people in the film industry.  He and Jim are probably talking shop on a cloud and whispering their ideas to some young dreamer.

Finally put his cute little butt on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/crokittycats

One of girls in my Japanese class is doing a research paper in one other other classes and needs as many survey subjects as she can get. Please help?

Here's her questionnaire:


1) Do you know what manga is? If so do you like manga?

2) If you don't like manga then do you know someone who does?

3) How did you get hooked onto it/ how did you find out about it?

4) How much money do you spend on manga/related merchandise (anime) monthly?


And a question of my own...do you buy your manga in English, Japanese, or both?
Thank you!


In other news...the cat show did not go so well.  Last year's show brought in six times what this year's show did.  But all the vendors had the same trouble.  There was little advertising and the car show downstairs resulted in extremely high parking fares.  But the show in April will be cohabiting the Convention Center with a huge Pet Expo...so I expect to at least make my booth fee back (I didn't this past weekend).  I'm staying optimistic. >^-^<

Well, the auction for "The Hierophant" has come and gone.  I am just slow in posting here.  But "The Lovers" card is up for bid now.  I am also very behind in commenting on everyone's journals (Gomen ne, Waffles!  I do plan on catching up!)  I told myself I wouldn't post journals here or on DA until I finished the pirate kittens...but they have been taking a very, very long time.  I am close though!  I do see the horizon!  And with any luck I can spend some time this weekend reading journals & comments.
I have two shows coming up in September (assuming I have been accepted into the Sept 8th show) and currently have no stock prepared.  I suppose the bonus though is that both shows are relatively small in space and neither is a cat show.  So a smaller product display won't be too bad.
Okay, on to tarot cards!

So I actually listed them a few days ago, but have been lazy about posting in my journal.  This time it's the Emperor and Empress.  I designed them as a matching pair in the style of Hina dolls.  ebay link


And in other news...it's hot.  Really hot.  The room I'm in right now is the coolest it's been in like a week:  a breezy 88 degrees.  We try not to use the central air much if at all since our house is very old and doesn't like to cooperate temperature wise.  And a couple weekends back we got to go to the most awesome exhibit at the local museum.  It's called Real Pirates and features treasures and relics from the first ever authenticated pirate ship found in US waters.  The ship is the Whydah and sank in 1717.  I learned quite a bit about pirates, the slave trade, and recovery of sunken treasures.  My favourite part was the bell, and the creepiest was the stocking and shoe of 10 year old John King, one of the few children ever to be allowed pirate status aboard a ship (as opposed to cabin boy and such.)
And if you are wondering what happened to the side journal I set up for my site, I realized that I am far too lazy to update more than one journal.  And everyone who watched that one watches this one.  Might as well just post here.  And if I feel the need to be unprofessional I'll just lock those posts for my friends (which currently are all those lovely people who already read this anyway.)

*crossposted in my devart journal*

I've listed several of the Minis left after the last show.  I really want to leave my job, but I need to pay off some debts first. I did some budget planning and it looks like I'll be trapped in hell (I mean my workplace) until mid-September. I don't know if I can keep from going insane before then.
I don't have another job to go to. I just want to start focusing on my dolls and art. I actually don't have much in the way of monthly bills (once the debts are paid) so I could probably do okay with just ebay auctions and some commissions.
And soon I hope to get a cafepress store up and running with the cartoon versions of my kittens. Wish me luck!

My ebay page:
http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=crokittycats

So I've finished two more tarot cards.  The Magician went up last week and (despite my being convinced it would be lucky to get five bucks) it did better than the first one.  Yay me.  Today I listed the High Priestess.  Ebay Auction

And good news for Lisa and Jack!  The wolf geisha was selected as a daily deviation on Deviantart.  398 people have favourited her!  Now we just need to get her home!  >^-^<

I decided to try my luck with art cards on ebay, but I only do well if a piece is part of a themed series.  So tarot cards seemed like a good idea.  Once I'm done with all the cards, I'd like to see about getting the deck published.  That of course will require the application of some digital clean-up.

Ebay auction

also posted in my crokittycats journal

I finally have finished the wolf geisha (on the left) for my friends Lisa and Jack!  She measures around 10-12 inches including her base.  She's a big improvement on my previous polymer clay/washi paper doll (on the right).  More images of the doll and info can be seen here:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/56213084/

Well, the traffic at the show was pretty much dead.  I did okay though.  I did make enough in credit card sales to cover two months of the fees I pay to have the credit card service.  And, as always, my awesome friends Lisa and Jack (and new friend Shelly) saved the day by buying some Purrennials and a Catgoyle.  This makes me very happy, having such amazing people supporting me.  I swear I'll finish their wolf geisha soon.

I did put one of my Cat Geisha up on ebay. 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140115637409

She's got a few watchers so even if she doesn't sell it's good to know that people are at least interested.

And hubby is sculpting a freaking awesome tanuki.  It is the coolest thing he's made yet, and he just does these things cause he knows I'll love and admire him all the more.  He so owns me.

And she stole it from someone else.  It's a vicious cycle!

Okay Brenna!  You made me do it.  And I so had to just lock it in!

I am working on projects. Really I am. So I decided to make a livejournal for my business/art. I created it as a community so all you other cat artists can advertise yourselves there too. Rather than maintaining a mailing list, this will be an easier way to communicate with my customers and introduce them to other artists. And feedback is always good. >^-^<

So here's the community: http://community.livejournal.com/crokittycats/
I will hopefully be getting off my butt and posting some in progress images to it.

Nya!