Thursday, May 31, 2018

Creative Every Day - Stalling


I was listening to a podcast this morning when I heard someone say, "A good friend will help you move. A real friend will help you move a body." I laughed out loud. That is the funniest thing I think I will hear all day today.

I'm still working on designs for my characters (see below). I think I'm just having self-doubts and am stalling on putting my webcomic out to the world. Once I start posting them, I have to keep going or else I won't meet my deadline for posting every week. I won't have time to make design changes. Aaaagh! *biting nails*


These are the books I just read:

How do they draw so fast?! And they're younger than me! I've gotta get movin'! I think their style is do-able for me. I see where they made shortcuts to get some of the drawings done quicker. I hope these tricks sink into my brain while I'm drawing my panels.

I'm so nervous! Maybe it's the coffee I drank. I can launch my comic today if I wanted to. My kids are coming home early, though. Stalling...

If you want to join our blog hop, go to http://creativeeveryday.com/ and add your name to the linky. Below are more creative blogs you can visit.

Have a creative day!


Random Tuesday Thoughts Rebel - The Little Rascals


I have been thrown off schedule completely this week. Since Monday was a holiday, I thought Tuesday was Monday and then my son graduated from middle school yesterday. My husband took off from work for the graduation and then we took our second son out of school an hour early to have a celebratory lunch. That made me think it was the weekend. So now it's Thursday which is the last day of school for my kids, not Friday. The logic part of my brain is saying it's not the weekend yet, but the other side is telling me it has been the weekend all week.

Anyway, that's my excuse for being late on these posts. lol Kinda lame, sorry.

My very good friend from college is working on a comic like I am. Throughout college, we seemed to be very in tune with each other. Sometimes I would know he was going to call seconds before the phone rang. We still keep in touch. The other day, on Instagram he posted a drawing of Spanky that he drew from a picture of The Little Rascals. I was floored because two days prior to his posting, I was going to draw the same picture! I didn't draw it because I didn't have time, but I still had the internet page open on my phone. This is the picture (Spanky is the boy on the far left):


Out of all the pictures of The Little Rascals on the internet, that picture appealed to both of us around the same time without us telling each other about it. We didn't even mention The Little Rascals to each other. Plus, out of the millions of pictures on the internet, we chose The Little Rascals. Weird, huh?

This is a blog hop! If you would like to join our Random Tuesday Thoughts Rebel blog hop, please go to Stacy Uncorked's site: http://stacysrandomthoughts.com/2018/05/its-a-short-week-so-its-all-about-the-funnies-random-tuesday-thoughts/

Below are the participating blogs. Please check out their sites!

1.Forgetfulone4.Scriptor7.Kimberly Robello
2.Heck Of A Bunch5.Curious as a Cathy  
3.messymimi's meanderings6.Adventures in Weseland  



  







Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Monday's Music Moves Me - May 28 - My Choice(s)



This is one of my favorite songs from a band that many people don't know about or have forgotten.

The Cult of Personality by Living Colour.


I never get tired of The Devil Went Down to Georgia by The Charlie Daniels Band and I play it for my kids once in a while. They like it, too and they like the story.


Here's another song I never get tired of. Dragostea Din Tei otherwise known as the Numa Numa Dance made popular worldwide by Gary Brolsma who videotaped himself lipsyncing to the song and sending it to his friend who put it on the internet. This Romanian band is called Ozone.


This is the cutest animated short about love that I've ever seen. It's in French with English subtitles. A Quoi Ça Sert L'Amour by Edith Piaf and Theo Sarapo.



I like the original version of Electric Feel by MGMT, but Preston Pohl sang an amazing version on The Voice! Whooo! Smokin'!


This is a local Los Angeles band that they've been playing on the radio called Gamblers Mark. I believe their style is rockabilly. I've heard them sing songs by the Stray Cats. If you like rockabilly, you might like them. Check 'em out...



Those are my musical picks of the day.

This is a Blog Hop!
Visit the blogs below for more Monday's Music Moves Me posts. If you
would like to join us, go to Curious as a Cathy's web site:
http://curiousasacathy.com/2018/05/cathy/



Friday, May 25, 2018

Creative Every Day - Colorful Sketchbook


Yesterday I painted backgrounds for my future drawings in my sketchbook. I was looking at www.creativebug.com and was inspired by Pam Garrison's creative sketchbooking intro video. There are hundreds of classes you can take on the Creative Bug site.

https://www.creativebug.com/classseries/creative-sketchbooking/creative-sketchbooking-playing-with-pens-and-paint-part-1

A couple of years ago I decided to add color to my drawing pages. I got a lot of great sketch pages from that. Pam's videos reminded me that I used to do that because her journals are filled with color.

So, yesterday I painted a bunch of pages in a sketchbook that I made a few years ago. I made this sketchbook out of fabric from Joann's Fabrics and learned to make the sketchbook from YouTube videos. I stitched the pages together and used cheap watercolor paper from Michael's.

I intended to draw monsters in this sketchbook, but I never got past the first page because I'm not good at coming up with monsters.




Hopefully I can fill these pages with good drawings.

If you want to join our blog hop, go to http://creativeeveryday.com/ and add your name to the linky. Below are more creative blogs you can visit.

Have a creative day!



Celebrate The Small Things - Masterclass, Siri, and Dancing



This week I finished watching James Patterson and Steve Martin's Masterclasses.

James Patterson is pretty funny even though he looks so serious. I took a ton of notes. He has a lot of good advice for writers.

Steve Martin went to my university, but I never really got into his type of humor. However, he showed clips of his movies and they were very funny! I put his movies on my "to watch" list for summer viewing with my kids. He sure knows his stuff! I could tell how much experience he has when he sat with a group of young comedians and critiqued their work. It's similar to writing. You cut out all the irrelevant and lengthy stuff to make your comedic story clearer, stronger, and funnier. That was pretty amazing. The students had funny bits, but Steve made them even funnier. You can see their eyes light up in amazement and respect.

This week, I was using Siri's voice recognition to text my friend in France. I can switch to a French keyboard on my phone, but it takes forever to type out all the accents and correct my grammar. With Siri, I was able to speak in French and text my friend so much faster! Siri corrects my grammar and puts the accents in for me! Wow! I love Siri! Or if the grammar is off, Siri will underline it or put in different words. Then I know my grammar is wrong. But she isn't always correct. One time I found a big mistake and said, "Siri! You're supposed to correct my grammar!" lol What is humbling is when Siri misunderstands some of my words which tells me my accent is bad. People in France used to think I hardly had an accent and a couple of them thought I was from France. So, I thought my accent was pretty good. I guess Siri doesn't think so. Hahaha! Leave it to Siri to kick me down.

But Siri can't understand some of my words in English either. For some reason, every time I say "drawing" I get "trying" or "driving" or "drying" when I use voice recognition. So, I have to exaggerate the "w" which makes me sound like a 2-year-old.

Have you seen the autocorrect fails on the internet? Do a search on it. You will laugh and laugh.

It's a good thing I usually check my texts before sending them or else I would've been in big trouble with some people because of the autocorrect. A few times it autocorrected my texts into inappropriate words. One time which wasn't as bad was when I meant to type "Are you ready?" and it autocorrected it to "Are you breast?" What?!

My son went to his first school dinner dance last night. If it wasn't for the food and candy table, he wouldn't have gone. He's shy and didn't want to dance. I made him watch YouTube videos to learn how to dance. He didn't want to do it, but my husband got up to do it with him so he tried it. I think he liked it and my husband had so much fun. It was good father-son time for them. My husband loved it.

Yesterday, I watched a dance that all the kids are doing these days. I think it's called Swish Swish, popularized by The Backpack Kid featured in one of Katy Perry's concerts. I'm sure you've seen it. It looks funny, but I learned how to do it by watching this video yesterday. My son saw me watching it and thought I wanted him to learn it. He said, "Mom. I. am. not. doing. that." Of course he wouldn't. He would be too embarrassed. It's a silly dance, but I'm going to do it in public one of these days to embarrass my kids. lol My sister-in-law's wedding is coming up... Perfect opportunity.

So, my son told me last night that he would probably come home early after the dinner and that he would text me. I told him it was rude to eat and run, so he should stay an hour after that at least. A half hour before the event was over, he still had not texted me. That's when I knew he was having fun. I told him to text me pictures. Their dance was at the same place where my husband and I had our wedding reception. It was so weird.

When I picked my son up from the dance, he was all smiles and carrying a bagful of candy. He didn't even use the dance moves he learned. He said the other kids just jumped around, so he jumped. D'oh!

What are you celebrating?


This is a blog hop hosted by Lexa Cain and co-hosted by L.G. Keltner and Tonja Drecker. Please be so kind as to visit their blogs and participating blogs listed below. Thank you!


Lexa Cain @ http://lexacain.blogspot.com/


L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog
1.Lexa Cain2.Fiction and Film
3.Writing Off the Edge4.Kidbits
5.TheCyborgMom6.Thoughts and Ideas from Deanie Humphrys-Dunne
7.Intentional Insights with S. Kelley Harrell8.Constantine
9.My Miracle Life10.Writing, Reading, and the Pursuit of Dreams
11.Lara Lacombe12.TF Walsh
13.Life, Yoga and Other Adventures14.Suzanne Furness
15.Elizabeth Seckman16.Avalon
17.My Baffling Brain18.Planet Kimberly
19.Shah Wharton20.Victorian Scribbles
21.Tanya Miranda22.Ann - A Friend of Jesus 2013
23.Special Teaching At Pempi's Palace24.Square Pegs
25.Patricia's Place26.Anne Higa
27.My Antimatter Life28.Bouquet of Books
29.Lightravellerkate30.Curious As A Cathy
31.Glennie's Random Ramblings32.In My Own Words
33.Tamara Narayan, Author34.My Creatively Random Life
35.Yvonne Ventresca36.On Becoming a Writer
37.Decadent Kane38.Stacy Uncorked
39.Sharon Himsl--Shells, Tales & Sails40.Cloud Nine Girl
41.Our Simple Life42.Our Prime Years
43.Allison Bruning

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Creative Every Day - Dance and African Fertility Statues



My son is going to his first dinner dance for his school. He hates doing things like this. He doesn't want to dance, so he's just going for the food. Should be interesting. lol

My cousin just told me about these African fertility statues that are at Ripley's Believe it or Not. Apparently, there are lot of couples getting pregnant after touching these statues even when they were told they may not be able to have children. If you're having trouble conceiving, I guess it wouldn't hurt to touch these statues. What have you got to lose?
https://www.ripleys.com/fertility-statues/

I hope you had a creative day!

Below are the participants of this blog hop. Please visit their blogs. If you would like to be creative with us, go to http://creativeeveryday.com/creative-every-day-challenge to sign up.

1.Leah13.Coffee25.Simonewolthuis
2.Charissa Rate14.Kristin Dudish26.Su- sieee! Mac
3.Annie15.Sherry27.Allison
4.Diana16.Lille Diane 28.bluesun
5.Colleen 17.CREATE WITH JOY 29.Mascha
6.Nature Footstep Photoart18.Faydra Jones30.Latisha
7.Nature Footstep Art19.Amyfrattolicsw@ gmail. com31.Virginia L Small
8.Garrisonjames20.amanda jessie coates32.Mary
9.Karen21.maron33.Sherry
10.Sharon- The Moxie Rabbit22.Sharon- The Moxie Rabbit34.Kimberly Robello
11.Susan Carol23.Simone Wolthuis35.You're next!
12.Jenna 24.Simone Wolthuis

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Creative Every Day - Palm Springs Tramway


This is my slice of creativity for the day.


Yesterday, I was reading an article that my husband sent me a week ago. It's about a couple that got lost on a mountain in Palm Springs after taking a cable car to the top. My neighbor just mentioned this cable car to me at the beginning of this month because I was looking for a nice place to go with my husband to celebrate our anniversary which was on May 6. The couple got lost this month 12 years ago and almost died. They got stuck in a gorge and couldn't get out. A man got stuck in the same gorge a year prior and died. They found his journal on May 8. His last entry was on May 8, but a year earlier. What a weird coincidence.

Now I'm glad my husband didn't want to go on this cable car because I can picture that happening to us. It makes me mad that whoever manages that area didn't take precautions against something like this. The search and rescue didn't even look in that gorge for them! Geez! The couple saw the helicopter, but it left. The cable car operator assumed the couple found another way down. Wow. I wonder how many other people this happened to that they don't tell anyone about.

The couple wasn't even planning on going hiking. They were just going to walk around for 15 minutes. I hope the trails are marked better now than they were back then.

The article is called Lost: How a dead man saved two Dallas hikers
https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2006/december/lost/

I hope you had a creative day!

Below are the participants of this blog hop. Please visit their blogs. If you would like to be creative with us, go to http://creativeeveryday.com/creative-every-day-challenge to sign up.

1.Leah13.Coffee25.Simonewolthuis
2.Charissa Rate14.Kristin Dudish26.Su- sieee! Mac
3.Annie15.Sherry27.Allison
4.Diana16.Lille Diane 28.bluesun
5.Colleen 17.CREATE WITH JOY 29.Mascha
6.Nature Footstep Photoart18.Faydra Jones30.Latisha
7.Nature Footstep Art19.Amyfrattolicsw@ gmail. com31.Virginia L Small
8.Garrisonjames20.amanda jessie coates32.Mary
9.Karen21.maron33.Sherry
10.Sharon- The Moxie Rabbit22.Sharon- The Moxie Rabbit34.Kimberly Robello
11.Susan Carol23.Simone Wolthuis35.You're next!
12.Jenna 24.Simone Wolthuis

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Creative Every Day - Vat 19


Wow, my last post was so somber! Maybe it's best not to post my random thoughts. lol

To make up for that, I'm going to mention something fun. Have you heard of Vat 19? They sell unique stuff that's pretty cool. They seem to mix foods together to make a unique food item like spicy gummy treats. They have a healthy chip maker, popcorn maker that uses less oil, world's largest gummy worm that is 4,080 calories (lol), and various home decor, toys, clothes, gifts, etc. https://www.vat19.com/

My son loves to watch their videos. They do food challenges, and test out their spiciest gummy treats. Warning, some of their food challenges are gross, though, but something elementary school kids love to watch. I don't like watching people eat gross stuff. That's one way to get me to leave the room or get angry.

Here is one you might enjoy, though. They put different things in a fountain and try it with different food. Some of it looks really good! Or looks gross, but turns out to be delicious. They always seem to have fun making these videos.



Here's my creation of the day:




I hope you had a creative day!

Below are the participants of this blog hop. Please visit their blogs. If you would like to be creative with us, go to http://creativeeveryday.com/creative-every-day-challenge to sign up.

1.Leah13.Coffee25.Simonewolthuis
2.Charissa Rate14.Kristin Dudish26.Su- sieee! Mac
3.Annie15.Sherry27.Allison
4.Diana16.Lille Diane 28.bluesun
5.Colleen 17.CREATE WITH JOY 29.Mascha
6.Nature Footstep Photoart18.Faydra Jones30.Latisha
7.Nature Footstep Art19.Amyfrattolicsw@ gmail. com31.Virginia L Small
8.Garrisonjames20.amanda jessie coates32.Mary
9.Karen21.maron33.Sherry
10.Sharon- The Moxie Rabbit22.Sharon- The Moxie Rabbit34.Kimberly Robello
11.Susan Carol23.Simone Wolthuis35.You're next!
12.Jenna 24.Simone Wolthuis

Random Tuesday Thoughts Rebel - Dogman and Stacey Arras






I don't know what to write today, but since it's about random thoughts, I'm going to write about what I've heard recently and have been thinking about.

I was listening to an episode of the Dogman Encounters podcast and a lady was saying that she was going to investigate the Land Between the Lakes which seems very scary to me because dogmen are known to be around there at night. Anyway, she met a guy who wanted to go investigating with her because he wanted to learn more about dogmen. He had been helping a lady who had them around her house. Her husband had died, so she was alone.

This man went to her house which was in a remote area, looked around, saw something big and hairy in the edge off the woods and shot at it. The next day, he called the lady to see if she was having any problems. She said there was an adult dogman and two young ones in her barn.

The guy went to her house and into her barn. There was nothing in there, but when he looked through the wood slats he saw a huge bipedal figure with a dog's head staring at him about 8 feet or taller. It turned and walked away with two smaller ones following it.

He told the lady he could shoot them to get rid of them, but she said she didn't want to stir up any trouble. A week later, he checked on the lady, but found out she had died. The sheriff said she was killed by a pack of dogs. The man also found out that the lady's husband had also died the same way.

This is not the first time I have heard a story like this and it's so sad that people can't live in their homes in peace. Most people just move when these things are on their property, but sometimes people don't have the funds to move.

Most people are afraid to talk about it for fear of being ridiculed, so they have to deal with it on their own. Some end up drinking or doing drugs to forget about what they saw and end up losing their jobs and dying. There's a young police officer who ended up that way. It's so sad.

Hundreds of people go missing in the forests and no one is ever warned. We hear about them on the news for two weeks. After that, the forest service stops searching and keeps it hush hush. Millions of dollars of revenue are at stake after all. Or is the national park service hiding something else? Is there a serial killer high up on their staff?

Stacey Arras goes missing with many people around watching her. She is hidden by trees near a lake and no one ever sees her again. If she was kidnapped, why won't the park service release their documents on her? David Paulides, an ex-cop, investigates missing people and can't get the documents on her. They told him, "You will never get the files on her." What is so special about her case that they won't release it? I believe a senator or congressman tried to get the files, but was also denied. Wow.

I feel so sorry for her family. Regardless of how she disappeared, they will never get her back again.

This is a blog hop! Please visit the blogs below. If you would like to join us, please sign up at http://stacysrandomthoughts.com/2018/05/mothers-day-family-fun-random-funnies-random-tuesday-thoughts/

1.Heck Of A Bunch3.messymimi's meanderings5.Scriptor
2.Curious as a Cathy4.Adventures in Weseland6.Forgetfulone

Monday, May 21, 2018

Creative Every Day - Coffee and Mermaid?


I was going to say it is way too early in the morning to be creative, but it's already noon! I think I need a second cup of coffee. My knee is not healed from two weeks ago, so I really shouldn't be drinking coffee. I think the caffeine makes it worse.

I did jump lunges and jump squats with weights and then did Zumba the next day. Toward the end of Zumba, my knees were pissed. I foam rolled them out yesterday, but my dogs thought I was playing around, so they were in my face. I don't want my dog, Bumi, to lick me because he licks my other dog's butt. Plus, he always stinks even after a bath.

I still need a good design for an Asian comic character, so I've been doing studies/copies of Chris Sanders' drawings. Here's one, although she's not really Asian looking. I put my own style into it, so it's not an exact copy. And that ear is way too small! Hahaha!

Coffee is calling me...



I hope you had a creative day!

Below are the participants of this blog hop. Please visit their blogs. If you would like to be creative with us, go to http://creativeeveryday.com/creative-every-day-challenge to sign up.

1.Leah13.Coffee25.Simonewolthuis
2.Charissa Rate14.Kristin Dudish26.Su- sieee! Mac
3.Annie15.Sherry27.Allison
4.Diana16.Lille Diane 28.bluesun
5.Colleen 17.CREATE WITH JOY 29.Mascha
6.Nature Footstep Photoart18.Faydra Jones30.Latisha
7.Nature Footstep Art19.Amyfrattolicsw@ gmail. com31.Virginia L Small
8.Garrisonjames20.amanda jessie coates32.Mary
9.Karen21.maron33.Sherry
10.Sharon- The Moxie Rabbit22.Sharon- The Moxie Rabbit34.Kimberly Robello
11.Susan Carol23.Simone Wolthuis35.You're next!
12.Jenna 24.Simone Wolthuis