Hi!

If you happened to wander over here as a result of encountering my art work at MoiraCoon's Shinies or elsewhere, let me direct you to my art journal. This can be found at moirashiny. The journal that you're currently at is my personal journal, filled with natterings about such things as what I did last weekend, the fine soup I just made, and the daily life of various friends and chosen family. (Interesting, but really only if you know the parties involved.) For the art stuff...which is likely more relevant to the most of you...I really recommend visiting moirashiny.

Ms. MoiraCoon, maker of the shiny bits.

Etsy Buy Handmade MoiraCoon

Free domestic shipping on all jewelry orders through Cyber Monday (11/30). Also, clearance prices on all vintage patterns, fabrics, and supplies.

In a fit of frustration, I reposted a bunch of stuff to my eBay with a stupid-low starting price of $0.99 a pop and a three day run. I'd previously had these up on fatshionista and (obviously) on eBay and figured I'd do one last ditch effort before I donated them. While I'm (temporarily) unemployed, I'm not broke, but it would be nice to have some extra cash in the next month or so.

(I have some awesome creative folks on my FList, so I figured I'd share the fruits of my obsessiveness.)

In a fit of sleeplessness the other night, I decided to make a list of places on the web where a small-time artist could get the word out about his/her work. Not the $250-a-year-we'll-host-your-virtual-gallery sites, but the free (or cheap) communities/blog hosts/online galleries/social networking sites/etc where one can post pictures of artings and such. I also included sites on the list where one can sell work with single digit (at most) commissions paid to the marketplace.

I should note that I put this list together for my own self interest for the sort of things that I create. There are a lot of other sites out there that are focused on prose, music, digital art, photography, etc that I didn't list. Since I'm making this a public post and encouraging people to link to/use the list, feel free to add comments suggesting sites that I missed and I'll add them on.

Cutting to be kind, as it is a rather long list.

( To Etsy...and BEYOND! )

I miss Detroit.

Yes. Really.

This will be my fifth summer of living "away". I have a very good life in Wisconsin and I have absolutely no intention of moving back to Michigan, but I still miss it. Like an old lover, Detroit still drifts into my thoughts. Summer lures the ghosts out and I find myself aching just a bit for the following...

-The sound of Ernie Harwell's voice as he describes a Tiger game over a transistor radio.

-A round of mini-golf at the old Putt-Putt range at Metro Beach. Both of the Tarkentons have passed away (as well as their son, Jeff, who was a college friend), so I'm not sure that it is even there anymore or if it would feel the same.

-Eastern Market on a hot Saturday morning, the smell of overripe fruit giving way to the essential oils being hawked by the Rastas on the pedestrian bridge.

-The flutter tap of a moth against the TV screen in the darkened family room of my mom's house.

-An icy liter of margaritas and trying to figure out how to walk down the steep stairs from the second floor of Xochimilco after said margaritas. (I swear, it's a miracle that more people haven’t taken a tequila-soaked tumble.)

-Dozens of freshly cut lawns in the 1950s labyrinth residential neighborhoods in the burbs.

-The stifling humid heat amplifying the musty book smell in John King

-Wandering around Royal Oak after a movie or before dinner, people watching and being watched by the scruffy kids loitering at the corner of 4th and Main.

-Catching the ferry to Harsen's Island

-The crush of bodies at the Ann Arbor Art Fair.

-Getting a contact buzz from the hash fumes on the lawn at Pine Knob during a show.

-Barefoot backyard volleyball

-Doing the Electric Slide on the Bob-Lo boat after a long day at the park.

-Holding my breath on the I-75 bridge that arcs over River Rouge, so not to smell the fumes from Zug Island

-A Vernors float at National Coney.

-The feel of the breeze off of Lake St Clair while driving down Jefferson.

*sigh*

I heard the Faygo song the other day and started to cry. I am such a simp.

In light of some really horrible things that have been happening in the lives of my chosen family and friends as of late, I've been feeling really ineffectual. In most of the cases, there's not squat that I can do to change circumstances for them. That said, I'm trying to do my best to assist where and when I can.

Which leads me to the following...

Back in February, I met a terrifically talented grrl (itsroach) and her daughter at a con. She's been making a go of it as a costumer and crafter, but with the economy the way it is, finances have been tight for them. Right now, she's in rather dire straits and is mounting a campaign to raise funds to make sure that she and her family are secure.

Currently (through June 10th) she's offering her custom Victorian corsets that usually sell for $300 for only $150. While I don't know her terribly well, I can wholeheartedly vouch for the quality of her work. They're very well made and sturdily steel boned to provide a lovely display of cleavage...oh...and they're absolutely beautiful!

Take a peek at her work for yourself and read more about her offer...

Even if a new corset is a bit out of your budget, please feel free to cross-post or link to this post. You'll be supporting an independent artisan and getting a great piece of handmade wearable art in the process for a great price!

(This came up while I was playing Christian mini-golf* the other night with Mocha)

Which musical fandom is more embarrassing to admit to: Cheap Trick or Rush?

Discuss.

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*To confess, we only discovered that it was Christian-esque when we looked at the back of the score card while at dinner and noticed an appeal to players to "hit a hole in one in life" at a local church. The course wasn’t at all over-the-top faith-alicious like it could have been. That might have been interesting, though. Then again, I’m a big old lapsed Catholic/Pagan baby with a fascination for tourist traps, so my perspective might be a bit skewed. Apparently there WAS actually an Old Testament-themed putt-putt course in Kentucky (now defunct). Personally, I’d have a Sodom and Gomorrah hole, where players would be required to putt backwards to avoid looking at the green. Oh…and it would definitely need to have a salt pillar hazard.

Last spring, I had posted a set of lists of employment resources for the Chicago and Milwaukee area respectively. In light of the ongoing recession and ever-mounting unemployment rate, I figured I'd repost this. Feel free to share/link to it and if you have anything to add, let me know.

Good luck everyone. These are challenging times.

It is currently -17 degrees F. (That's -35 degrees F with wind chill.)

Fuzzy blankets and body heat sound so delicious right about now.

stormdog and I were looking up something on eBay and in our meandering, we found the following (all from the same seller):

-A face-shaped bank that eats coins and belches

-See your own brain (and be just as surprised as our model!). Comes with an extra packet of ear wax spoons!

-Air Guitar (Pro...not for the amateur)

-Make your own theremin!

-For a musical finale, torture your pets with the most painful rendition of "Amazing Grace" ever heard (play the video in the listing at your own risk)

____________________

Edit: GAH! How could I have neglected to note the Matryomin? Yes...a functioning theremin INSIDE of a matryoshka! BON-US!

Yes...Zombies on Ice.

I’m going downtown with Storm to photograph the uprising, with a likely foray further north on Michigan Avenue to get some shots of the crowds/lights/displays on the Mag Mile.

Incidentally...feel free to spread the word about Zombies on Ice. The more bodies, the better!

*hums "...staggering ‘round a nuclear winter wonderland..."*

Since I've gotten inquiries, I will give answers!

Yes...I will be at WindyCon and Midwest Furfest this year. I won't be working operations at Windy this time, though (This will be the first con in quite a while where I'm not working in some capacity). As for MFF, I'm doing my usual gig on registration staff. I believe my status as token grrrl of the department still stands. *laughs*

Hope to see many of you at the cons!

It has been a long while since I posted a request for photo captions, so I think that it is high time I do so...



...aaaaaaaaand GO!

Last September, I wrote the below entry, but never posted it. It was written after someone I care about was diagnosed with type II diabetes and (at the time)I was unsure how he would take the entry. Yesterday, I found out that someone else quite dear to me just received the same diagnosis, so I figured that it was high time to dig this out to be posted.

Please feel free to link. I don’t mind at all.


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(Originally written 9/20/07)
Call this a public service message...call it me being a nag...call it whatever you want, but I just hope you all hear me out.

As pretty much everyone who knows me knows, I’m a type II diabetic. As a result of my diagnosis a few months ago, I’ve suddenly had to pay a lot more attention to my health. A LOT more attention. No more Pop-Tart and venti almond mocha breakfasts. Since I’m paying a lot more attention to my own health, I have to admit that I’ve noticed the health of those around me. Like an ex-smoker or an addict in recovery, I’ve become the tiniest bit of a pain in the ass about my lifestyle change *laughs*. If I’ve watched you suck down a two liter of Mountain Dew in one sitting ("sitting" may be stretching it, because you’ve also gotten up to pee 4 times in the same span)...I’m probably going to mention that something might be a tad awry.

Getting this diagnosis sucks. What sucks more is that I know that I should have paid attention to the signs that my sugar was out of control. At the time, denial was a lot easier, though. I’m glad that I eventually mustered up the courage to get this checked out and that I’m now being very diligent about managing my disease, but the fact remains that I have years of damage that will never be erased. I should have known better. After all, I have enough diabetics in my life (flavors I and II) that the subject was not foreign to me. It took a lot to get me to hear what my body was telling me. This is why I’m going to keep talking about my disease to anyone who will listen. I talk about it to friends, family, and coworkers and obviously, I blog about it. Maybe this will get heard by someone who needs to hear it.

This brings me to the point of my post: In the last few months, I’ve had several conversations with people who have suspected/feared that they might be diabetic. As a result, a couple of folks have followed through and gotten checked out, so now they have a better idea of what they’re dealing with. I’m not vain enough to think that I have all of the answers, but I am bold enough to urge you to ask questions of someone much more knowledgeable than I. I’m asking that anyone reading this please take a few minutes to read the following link:

http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-symptoms.jsp

Do these signs sound familiar? If so, please...get checked. If you see these signs in people you care about, tell them to get tested. Testing is a simple blood draw and nothing to fear. What IS to fear are the ravages of uncontrolled blood sugar. Ignoring the disease does not make it go away. Eventually, what DOES go away is your vision...your mobility (Personally, I rather like having feet)...and in time, your life.

Almost a year ago, my friend C passed away. What I didn’t say at his memorials, I’m going to share now, because I think that it’s important that some manner of legacy continues. The last time I saw him was in July of 2006 and we were at another friend’s wake. We sat off in a corner on the pub and I shared with him my deep concerns over another friend’s health. Both men were diabetic and quite frankly, the disease had really taken a toll on C. Because he was a decade older than my other friend, the damage was more evident, but there was no denying that the second man was well on the same path. In the course of our conversation, C made a sincere offer to have a very frank discussion with the other man on my behalf. I was incredibly grateful...but unfortunately, this was not to be. C passed away before delivering the intervention. Since then, since I was the only witness to the message, I’ve been caregiver for his words (And yes...even after having heard them spoken...I believed that they did not apply to me, so I went untested for months). Right now...I just don’t want C’s message to have died with him.

If only the clerk had a piece of paper handy...

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/05/30/local_news/doc4840088067924709507780.txt

Every day on my way to the office, I pass that big billboard near the state line that announces the current Mega Millions jackpot (if I look in my rear view mirror as I pass it, I can see the Powerball jackpot on the opposite side of the board). Not infrequently, I spend a good portion of the rest of my journey down the tollway thinking about that number and what I would do with it. Sometimes, these are grand plans like buying a big enough home to consolidate a couple of my chosen family’s households and retrofitting it to be energy efficient/semi-self sustaining. Other days...I simply dream of doing a low-paying, but personally rewarding job (working at a food co-op or teaching at a Head Start/senior center) and knowing that I won’t have to worry about money.

Today? Today, I fantasized about a life of sleeping until noon and playing a lot of mini-golf.

What would be your filthy lucre fantasy today?

-At this very moment, I am frying up part of Homemade-From-Scratch Spinach and Feta Pierogi (version 2.0.). After Sunday's experiment, I decided to tweak the formula a bit tonight. Why? Because it made Storm squee with sheer schmoop. *grin*

-Speaking of food, the pup has requested that I make these:

Bacon chocolate chip cookies with a maple cinnamon glaze

(duncandahusky and takaza, this totally made me think of you...)

A couple of months ago, I helped out a friend who had unexpectedly needed to exponentially hasten her job search. At that time, I’d culled a huge list of local Milwaukee and national websites for her to use to post her resume and search opportunities, another big list of local and national sites that were just job boards, as well as a list of other employment resource sites.

I figured that in light of the recent buzz in my own industry (GAH!), it wouldn’t hurt to expand/tweak this list a bit. Also, considering where I live (smack dab between the metro areas), it might also be a good idea to do a similar list for Chicagoland, too. My situation isn’t urgent yet, and for a variety of reasons, I’m riding this position out for as long as it is viable. That said, these are precarious times, and it would be damn handy to have resources neatly organized and at my disposal should I suddenly have to hit the ground running after a downsizing.

Since I was already going through all of this trouble for my own purposes anyway, I figured that I should share what I put together with others. After my post about building community and such the other day, it made sense. Please-please feel free to link to this entry. None of the information is any big secret and if you poke around on the web long enough, you can eventually gather the same information. I just put it in one spot. Also, even though some of the links are local-specific, many are not, so much of this is also relevant outside of the region.

By no means are these end-all-be-all comprehensive lists, so I’m sure that I missed some gems. (I also intentionally avoided listing things like newspaper sites that just linked back to one of the major career sites like Monster or Career Builder.) If you know of a site that I should have included, please let me know in the comments and I’ll add it!

---

Cut to be kind, since the lists are quite long!

( CHICAGO AREA )
( MILWAUKEE AREA )

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23571516

Despite a certain degree of jingoistic taint to the journalism ("War on Terror." Ugh. Can we please abolish this blort of doublespeak?), I found the subject matter of this piece fascinating. Not really for the whole "war effort" take on the project, but rather, for the way that something so simple addresses community needs on different levels. By gathering together to cut coupons and create packages, the seniors are able to feel connected to something larger and that they’re contributing. Everyone wants to feel that they’re valuable and vital, so such events help combat the isolation and depression that is common among seniors. At the same time, their efforts are actually helping cash strapped families and on a more macro scale, the movement of spending is good for the economy.

For all of the showy patriotism that we’ve seen in the wake of 9/11, THIS is what our country needs. Not trendy flag waving and hatefully venomous and divisive rhetoric prattle from FOX "News"...we need more community building. Neighbors helping neighbors and the sharing of time/resources/skills are what will strengthen us as a nation.

There’s a wonderful poster on the wall at Mo’s that I want to share with all of you (the same company also makes a more global version, too). I know I that I often fall short of these things...but every week, I look at the poster and try to do one or more before I see the poster again the next Friday.

Turn off your TV
Leave your house
Know your neighbors
Look up when you are walking
Greet people
Sit on your stoop
Plant flowers
Use your library
Play together
Buy from local merchants
Share what you have
Help a lost dog
Take children to the park
Garden together
Support neighborhood schools
Fix it even if you didn't break it
Have pot lucks
Honor elders
Pick up litter
Read stories aloud
Dance in the street
Talk to the mail carrier
Listen to the birds
Put up a swing
Help carry something heavy
Barter for your goods
Start a tradition
Ask a question
Hire young people for odd jobs
Organize a block party
Bake extra and share
Ask for help when you need it
Open your shades
Sing together
Share your skills
Take back the night
Turn up the music
Turn down the music
Listen before you react to anger
Mediate a conflict
Seek to understand
Learn from new and uncomfortable angles
Know that no one is silent though many are not heard. Work to change this.

The last few weeks have been extremely rough on a good number of us. I’m not going to do the litany of whys. Things are spiraling in ways big and small. There’s a general malaise in Live Journal, at work, and seemingly everywhere and with everyone.

As I drove to the office this morning, I was writing an update post in my head and realized…I don’t have the energy to type the words. I further realized that I lack the energy to read another negative post, too. Not that I would deny anyone a forum to vent (God/dess knows some of us need it), but I think I need a vacation from the unhappy. Do you?

I’ve decided that today THIS *waves hands around* is a Happy Bubble space. This thread is a sanctuary from the news, weather, politics, health, economy, etc. Just for today...just for this post...let’s dwell in the joy. No snark. No drama. Just positive energy.

Tell me...what is your "happy"? What is keeping you going? No need for explanations of what else is going on. Just share where your hope dwells.

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My happy at this moment is the fact that I have strawberries. Not just sustenance, but a promise of warmer times to come. I can look forward to this summer and my plans to use a bit of the land on farm_cat's new little organic farm. I can dream of basil and rosemary and mint and the sun on my back as I crawl in the earth, weeding and harvesting.