Minis Mania

Some years ago Ironwolf gave me the game Warhammer 40,000 as a gift. It's a miniatures-based tactical combat table game set in the far future. So I started collecting an army to play the game, but it's very expensive and I didn't really have anyone to play with.

A couple weeks ago I pulled out the minis again with an inexplicable desire to make them into a formidable fighting force, i.e. to paint them and make them look pretty, at least. I've gotten through my first batch and I wanted to show one off:



This is a Seraphim Sister Superior from the Witchhunters' Sisters of Battle Army.

For the real-life friends, this is a re-do of an old paint job. Did some touchups, painted a face (something I'm still terrible at), added hair highlights and robe lowlights, and redid the base.

I wish I wasn't so heavy-handed - sometimes I end up obscuring the details of the mini with too many layers of paint (because I mess up so much).

It's a hack job. If you really want to see nicely painted minis you can check out "Cool Mini or Not?"

Still, the painting is fun, and I'll put up a pic of the whole force in a couple months when I finish it (if I finish it). Mind you, I still won't have anyone to play with...

Kill the Slug!

The new Sabres logo is ATROCIOUS. It's a diseased slug! No resemblance at all to a Buffalo or a sabre. *retch* So join the more than 20,000 good souls who have signed a petition protesting this icon of evil!

Go to the Fix The Logo petition today! And tell your friends! Please!

One Disappearing Rascal

OMG I can't believe that I forgot to post this earlier!

A few days ago I was in here on the computer being a bad parent while the boys were watching TV. After a while I finish up and go into the living room. I ask Zipper, "Where's Rascal?" He shrugs, so I go look upstairs.

No Rascal.

I look outside. No Rascal!

As utter panic begins to set in, my BIL comes walking up to my door with Rascal in tow. Thank goodness!

Apparently my darling little 6-year-old, without telling me, decided to walk to his grandmother's house half a mile away.

Dear readers, take heart in the fact that I did not strangle my boy on the spot! It's not even that I don't trust Rascal (to cross streets safely, and to not get lost on the way) but that I don't trust the rest of the world.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

No, maybe I'd rather have the rain. In some ways it's better than that darned heat.

Yesterday the boys and I joined my SIL and her kids at the Clearfield pool in Amherst. Wow, they had such a nice kiddie pool there! It featured one of those big water playground structures with slides, waterfalls, spouts and the like. Rascal loved it! Zipper was afraid of all the splashing and excitement but had fun anyway along the edges with the other little kids.

Sadly, the thunderstorms rolled in after about 2 hours, so they closed the pool. Particularly sad because we had to pay $5 each to get in! LOL Oh, well.

Nice place, tents for shade, well supervised - we'll be back.

EMail is Weird

Let me reproduce for you an email I received today. What the hell is this? Is this the new thing, assaulting random people with random fiction?

From: Hope Benitez
Sent:
7/27/2006 12:34:17 AM
Subject: Fwd: Help

I understand all your questions. The first two infant deaths had not aroused suspicion — a story on one had mentioned severe birth defects.

For the last time, he hoped. Her rejection of what he had written would be easier to bear if he could blame it on the pain, but the truth was that the pain had finally begun to subside a little. Because the crucial plot-twist of Fast Cars concerned Tony Bonasaros near-fatal crack-up in his last desperate effort to escape the police (and this led to the epilogue, which consisted of the bruising interrogation conducted by the late Lieutenant Grays partner in Tonys hospital room), Paul had interviewed a number of crash victims. In the kitchen, tall hugged Misery tightly to him, feeling his soul live and die and then live again in the sweet smell of her warm skin.

"Suddenly she kicked the front bumper of Mr Rancho Grandes car, kicked it hard enough to knock packed chunks of snow out of the wheel-wells. The whole thing was meaningless.

He could not tell her because it would hurt her badly, and in spite of all the pain she had afforded him, he found he could not hurt her in that way. Martian death-machines. He looked toward the barbecue pot, expecting it to look like a barbecue pot in the morning light: a barbecue pot and nothing else.

No Living Out My Dreams of Glory Through My Children for Me

LOL I wasn't planning on doing that anyway!

The town track meet was yesterday - the culmination of weeks of hard work by the kiddies in the town summer track program (including my kiddies of course). It was surprisingly well run, considering the number of participants and the number of events (> 60 with all the age divisions). And I learned (although I knew this already)...

that my boys are probably not cut out to be sprinters. At least, not right now. Rascal and Zipper finished last in their heats of all their races - the 50M for Rascal and 50M and 100M for Zipper (who admittedly was competing against 7-year-olds in the longer race). Oh, well. Cheer them on, be supportive, maybe they'll be marathon runners someday instead. :-)

Rascal also did long jump. He fouled the first two jumps but got off a nice one on the last try. Not very far, but impressive form (which has to count for something). Both boys did the softball throw as well (a kiddie version of shotput). Not very impressive, but they were both so cute and they like to do it so much that you can't help but be happy about it.

So in the end I can honestly say that the track program was worthwhile and fun. The kids enjoyed it, and I think we'll be back next year. Now only 6 more long weeks of summer to go...

Damn Dick's!

I ended up gettting that UnderArmour sports bra at Dick's after all. I went over to the Galleria Mall to go to Galyan's for it. When the heck did Dick's buy out Galyan's? I don't remember reading anything about it!

Grrrr... I hate giving Dick's my money... at least the service at the mall location was better.

Oooh, oooh, it sounds like the high school guys are playing rugby in the elementary school field next to my house. Oh, boy, hot teenage guys to check out! See ya later!

Flauting on the Fly

On Thursday evening my church's choir director called me. She was frantically looking for someone do to some music this Sunday for service because she was on vacation. She had a guest organist already and asked me to do a couple flute pieces with her. (Apparently the director was *really* having trouble finding someone willing to work with this organist.) So I agreed, and with 20 minutes of rehearsal this morning we managed to pull things together. It came out better than I expected.

Let Today's Meeting of the Mutual Appreciation Society Begin!

Some of you may have noticed that I was named Girlz Blog of the Day yesterday on Blog Of The Day! Hey, go check it out - it's a good site and I found some interesting stuff out there in blogland! It's a lot better than hunting randomly for a good blog (trust me, I know).

In that vein (vane? oh, whatever), let me direct you to a hilarious story by Trebuchet at Legwarmers. I think she has instantly become worthy of my blogroll with the tale: "My Best Friend Pooped Her Bikini: A True Story and the Birth of a Nickname".

As long as I'm here, I also may as well direct you to Jade's post on the 2996 9/11 rememberance project. I've already signed up myself, and I hope you do too.

Oooh, oooh, one more! You have to check out the story of One Red Paperclip, brought to my attention by Three Headed Dragon.

Lonely Little ShadowAngel!

Awwww!!! Pity party for me!!! :-)

This blog has been pretty darn quiet in the comments department for a while, so I can only assume that I'm unpopular. What else is new?

No, no, it's ok. I'm well aware that some of my readers are lurkers, and that some readers simply haven't been online much lately.

I suppose I'll have to face reality - that I'm not going to be some net goddess unless I get out there and start reading other blogs and all that other networking sort of nonsense.

The question is, is that what I want to do? That's what got me in the morass that caused me to abandon my first blog. It's too darn easy to spend too much time online (especially with stupid dialup). But at the same time it would be nice to know that someone's actually listening and that I'm not just screaming out into the void.

Dick's Can Suck My...

Wait, it's not that kind of a blog!

Today I went searching for a new sports bra (the zipper went on my old one), with kids in tow. That's a bad way to start things off right there.

First I went to Target, where I had gotten my previous sports bras. I was saddened to find that they no longer carried the Jogbras that I liked so well. Tried on a bunch of crappy Hanes and Champion styles and hated them all. *sigh* Well, I was able to pick up some school supplies at Target anyway.

Since I was close, I went to Dick's. After some hunting I found a nice UnderArmour bra that met my stringent requirements (hey, you have to have stringent requirement when you have a chest like mine - I have no desire to look like a woman out of National Geographic, if you know what I mean). I wasn't happy to be spending twice as much as I wanted, but I can deal with that.

So I hauled the kids, who have been behaving quite badly, to the register. There's one guy in front of me who is being helped by 3 staffers. After a couple minutes one of them suggests that I go to the customer service desk to check out. There's a nice long line of about 10 people there. Oh.

Kids are fussing, and I'm watching the cashier, who has this sour look on her face, as she sllllloooowwwwllllyyy folds up a pair of shorts and puts it into a bag. Oh, God, at this rate we're going to be in this line for 45 minutes. Forget it, not worth it. Bye-bye Dick's - next time maybe you'll actually *want* my business!

I should know better by now - I've had a few bad experiences there already.

You Know What Annoys Me? (part 1 of a many, many part miniseries)

Stupid idiots on the road.

While everyone has *far* too many examples to list, let me tell you about incidents during the last 24 hours.

1. Driving up Colvin Blvd. yesterday morning in the right-hand lane I find myself behind a big honkin' van. At the last moment the driver swerves into the left lane to avoid a parked car. Which leaves me immediately behind rapidly approached said parked car that I had not been able to see before the van moved - thanks, how nice of you!

2. Same stupid van, a minute later. We both turned onto a side street, and he just stops in the middle of the road. After a few moments I figure out that he wants to parallel park - nice signal, jerk!

3. On Colvin Blvd at Sheridan Dr. (a very large intersection) on the way home. I'm sitting behind a truck at a red light. The turn arrow turns green... and he blasts straight through the intersection into incoming turning traffic - what the hell are you thinking?

4. That night, in the mostly unlit back tae kwon do school, I barely manage to see 3 teenage guys dressed all in black crossing the lot - good way to get killed, you yahoos!

Buzzy Tonic!

My good friend Martin and his brother have come out with an excellent CD, and I have to share the love with you, dear readers. Have a listen for yourselves at CDBaby, and if you like it, buy a copy and tell a friend!

[Shoutout to MSzinger: Martin, I wish I had 1/4 of your talent, but since I don't, I should at least do what I can to get your music heard!]

Welcome to Fantasy Island!

{mood: toasty}

Zipper threw up all over me this morning, and a little later on the living room rug (oh, joy), but he seems to be doing better now (good thing I decided to skip track today).

Well, maybe I do remember *something* from the last week. Thank goodness - I was getting worried there for a second.

My parents were in town for the wedding, so they decided to take all 5 grandkids (including the 6-month-old) to Fantasy Island (a local amusement park - not a lot of big thrills, but good for the kiddies). My SIL and I came along too, mostly for herd control.

The kids were pretty good, actually. Not too much whining or running off in different directions. I was pretty impressed, considering it was a very hot day (about 90 F - pretty good for around here). But let me tell you - it is HARD to keep track of four kids in a packed kiddie pool!

We had an incident while at the kiddie pool. My sister's 6-year-old was running and ended up clocking heads with my SIL's 3-year-old. It opened up a earlier cut above the 6-year-old's eye (which wasn't bad) and left a GREAT BIG goose egg on the 3-year-old's forehead. My parents were tending to the kids but the SIL is freaking out, hyperventilating, continually asking if her boy should go to the hospital and worrying that her husband (my bro) was going to be angry. So while my parents are helping the 3-year-old, I'm left to tend to my SIL while trying to round up the other boys, who are now unsupervised in the kiddie pool.

Ugh. Honestly. Look, I was like that with Rascal for about his first 15 months or so - freaking out if anything happened and the like, but after a while, you just have to accept that sometimes kids are going to get their bumps and bruises. Her son was going to be fine - I told her so, my parents (both with extensive EMS experience) told her so...

Well, never mind all that. The kids were fine and back to running around in a few minutes. I ended up taking the older boys off on my own for a while and left the other 3 kids with the other adults. We saw the end of a show that seemed to be this mishmash of Pirates of the Carribean, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings. The kids thought it was really cool. Ummm...I didn't.

I went on a few rides with the boys, and was not feeling so well after one too many spins on the Tilt-A-Whirl (that is, 2 spins), so we went back to find the others. They were pretty worn out too so we called it a day. It was a lot of fun though - I'm glad my parents suggested it.

Now all I need is someone to go out with me (and not the kids) to an amusement park, since I am a big coaster fan, and I've been on a grand total of one since Rascal was born. :-( Too bad Ironwolf has *major* motion sickness issues...

Where Has The Week Gone?

I have no idea. Really. If you ask me what I've done all week, I can honestly say that I don't remember too much. Alzheimer's must be setting in early. *sigh*

Yesterday was the wedding of a family friend (the one whose shower I went to not so long ago). It was a very nice ceremony (i.e. short), although it was funny - a couple minutes before the ceremony the couple's youngest child (1 1/2 yrs.) started bawling inconsolably in the church. When the bride Mommy processed in, oh my, did that little girl start howling! She was removed pretty promptly though.

The reception was at the fire hall in my old hometown. My parents were volunteer firefighters for many years, and I spent much of my childhood in that fire hall, so it really brought back memories. The folks were particularly happy that they were allowed in to show their grandsons the fire trucks. All in all, a good time. Hope my sister (the matron of honor) managed to get through the evening without throwing up - I've honestly never seen her so smashed! (Don't fear, her hubby was there to drive her home).

Well, I gotta run - got some Dungeons & Dragons to play this afternoon (I am *so* not prepared, but they'll forgive me)!

Nose Buried in a Book

[**boring post alert**]

The locals know that there were major cutbacks in the county library system over the last couple years, leading to the closing of a number of library branches.

Now back last summer Ironwolf and I were talking with the parents of a friend about the impending closing of the branch nearest our home. Well, more like arguing than talking, but that's ok. *grin*

This couple was steadfastly opposing the closing of this branch, which was a very small library but it saw a fair bit of usage due to its being next to the high school. So they asked us if we opposed it as well.

Our answer was pretty much "Hell, no!". In the ensuing discussion we defended our position by noting that it was known that there would be a major library budget crunch several years in advance, and that we supported the consolidation of these small libraries into larger, more comprehensive libraries with up-to-date facilities (resulting in less overhead and salary costs) - and in fact, a couple years earlier, there was state funding available to do just that in our town, and for some reason the town refused.

The point is, as much as we loved our neighborhood libraries, reality does indeed rear its ugly head at times, and you have to make some considered decisions.

Well, after the attempts of my friends' parents and others to keep the library open failed, they decided to start up a non-profit corporation to run the building as an independent reading room. After much negotiation with the county, town, etc. they succeeded and the new reading room, Brighton Place, opened about six weeks ago.

I figured, good for them to try to make something useful out of this mess. So we joined, which costs the family $35/year, but I figure it's for a worthy cause. They did a nice job sprucing up the place and getting the wireless hotspot in, and I've already taken the kids to a couple different programs.

I am happy to report that I am actually using this membership (unlike some other things I've signed up for in the past) and that it means that I'm actually reading books again. A few of you may recall my endeavor to read some of the classics (which I posted about in my old blog). Well, that didn't go so well. LOL Oh, I got a few things read, but I found that reading novels on the PC was a pain in the butt.

Well, right now I'm not doing the classics, although maybe I'll get back to that - but I do have a couple recommendations for you in the young adult/fantasy realm:

• Protector of the Small by Tamora Pierce: a compilation of four books (First Test, Page, Squire, and Lady Knight) featuring the tale of the first girl in the kingdom who trains to become a knight. I could not put it down - yeah, it's girl-oriented, but it's got a great set of characters a la Harry Potter.
• Eragon by Christopher Paolini: you've probably heard of this novel written by a 15-year-old wunderkind. It's actually a nice, solid fantasy tale (esp. if you like McCaffery), although it does rely on a lot of fantasy stereotypes. It also seemed like most of the main characters were unconscious half the time! *chuckle* I'll pick up the sequel if it comes into the reading room.

I'm not quite sure why I rambled on like that just to give you a couple half-baked book recommendations, but there you go. Enjoy.

Would You Believe...

what I found at Wegmans (a local grocery store chain) tonight? There in a bin in the produce section was...

TRUFFLES!

That's right, honest to goodness, dug out of the ground by trained pigs truffles. Selling at the low, low price of...

$399.99/lb.

No kidding.

I was soooooo tempted to toss one into a produce bag and weigh it just to see how much one tuffle costs. I bet it's something like 20 bucks.

Holy cow, these things were accessible! If I had them in my store, I'd at least lock them up inside a display case or something!

'Cause All My Friends Are Doing It...

What Dungeons & Dragons Character Are You?

I Am A: Chaotic Good Elf Monk Bard


Alignment:
Chaotic Good characters are independent types with a strong belief in the value of goodness. They have little use for governments and other forces of order, and will generally do their own things, without heed to such groups.


Race:
Elves are the eldest of all races, although they are generally a bit smaller than humans. They are generally well-cultured, artistic, easy-going, and because of their long lives, unconcerned with day-to-day activities that other races frequently concern themselves with. Elves are, effectively, immortal, although they can be killed. After a thousand years or so, they simply pass on to the next plane of existance.


Primary Class:
Monks are strange and generally not understood by the world at large. They live apart from people, and follow strict codes that restrain their behavior and lifestyle. They have an exceptionally calm outlook on life, and generally do not resort to violence unless absolutely necessary. Even when they do, their code of conduct forbids the use of all weapons - except their hands. As such, monks are extremely skilled at hand-to-hand combat, and no other style.


Secondary Class:
Bards are the entertainers. They sing, dance, and play instruments to make other people happy, and, frequently, make money. They also tend to dabble in magic a bit.


Deity:
Tymora is the Chaotic Good goddess of luck and good fortune. She is also known as Lady Luck, and also Tyche's fair-tressed daughter. Followers of Tymora believe in the tenent that, 'Fortune Favors the Bold,' and will throw caution to the wind and trust to luck to work things out for the best. Tymora's symbol is an unmarked silver disk.


Detailed Results:

Alignment:
Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXX (7)
Neutral Good ---- XXXXXX (6)
Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXX (8)
Lawful Neutral -- XXX
(3)True Neutral ---- XXX (3)
Chaotic Neutral - XXX (3)
Lawful Evil ----- (-1)
Neutral Evil ---- (-2)
Chaotic Evil ---- (-2)

Race:
Human ---- XXX (3)
Half-Elf - XXXXXXX (7)
Elf ------ XXXXXXXXX (9)
Halfling - (-3)
Dwarf ---- (-3)
Half-Orc - X (1)
Gnome ---- XXXXXXX (7)

Class:
Fighter - (-1)
Ranger -- XXX (3)
Paladin - X (1)
Cleric -- XXXX (4)
Mage ---- XXX (3)
Druid --- X (1)
Thief --- X (1)
Bard ---- XXXXX (5)
Monk ---- XXXXXX (6)

Find out What D&D Character Are You?, courtesy ofNeppyMan (e-mail)

Memeilicious!

{mood: chilly (brrrr stupid Buffalo)}

I do what my friends tell me to do. *meep*

So, courtesy of Jade, here's a fun little exercise for you:

Instructions:
1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. In the Search box, type your birth month and day (but not year).
3. List three events that happened on your birthday.
4. List two important birthdays and one interesting death.
5. One holiday or observance (if any).

My birthday: October 9 (don't you forget)

Events:

1871 The Great Chicago Fire was brought under control

1888 The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public.

1992 A 13 kilogram (est.) meteorite lands in the driveway of the Knapp residence in Peekskill, New York, destroying the family's 1980 Chevrolet Malibu.

Births: (now here's some perspective for you)

1940 John Lennon, British musician and songwriter (The Beatles) (d. 1980)

1941 Trent Lott, American politician

Death:

1967 Che Guevara, Argentine revolutionary and guerilla leader (executed) (b. 1928)

Holiday:

Leif Erikson Day - in United States, Iceland and Norway: celebrating the first European landing in North America (holy cow, SpongeBob wasn't making it up!)

Da SMH, Doin' Her Part Ta Stop Da Scammin', Yeah!

Back about a week ago I was hitting random blogs (a terrible waste of time, btw) when I come across one entitled PayPal Profits. I didn't notice the title at first, otherwise I would have skipped right by it.

It featured a photo of a woman of about my age who also claimed to have two small children - at first glance a "mommy" blog like mine. One post, just put up, acting all innocent about a PayPal pyramid scheme and saying that she usually didn't go for things like this, but maybe this one would be worth a try.

So I put up a comment, in which I said that I would give her the benefit of the doubt, although I probably shouldn't, and directed her and other readers to a website about such schemes (very good, btw).

My next line was: "Yes, kiddies, fraud is indeed illegal." And then I wrote that I would be watching to see if the author deleted the comment and that I would be slamming them if they did. Well, I checked today, and the whole blog was down.

I'm a little disappointed because I should have hit her profile to see what other blogs she had. I expect she turns out quite a few.

I hate scams, I hate scammers, and I *especially* hate scammers that intentionally try to disguise their scamming.

Catching My Breath

Whew! I survived! All the boys were good, and the baby mostly slept through the night - I woke him up in the middle of the night because I happened to be awake, and then he slept until 7 AM (yay!).

Random, you were right btw. I was doing pretty well on the caffeine thing, limiting it to two beverages/day until yesterday. With the four boys there I needed every bit of chemically-based stimulation to keep up with them! But I'm back on track today.

But now I'm absolutely drained from the events of the past week. I'm not complaining - parties and family gatherings and the like are great, but I'm *tired*! Zipper was up early but Rascal slept until 10, and I conked out on the couch for most of the morning. Needless to say, I didn't get the boys to track today, and I honestly couldn't care less. I am determined to do nothing today. *sigh* Well, maybe I'll go to tae kwon do.

Tomorrow we are going to my SIL's campsite in Canada for the day. Hopefully that will be relaxing, but I doubt it. There's talk of going to the Geneseo Air Show this weekend, but we aren't sure yet. Then the craziness starts up again late next week with the family back in town for a wedding.

It's probably best that I hide my head under the blankets for a day or two...

Mmmm...Big Chocolate...

One of the lovely things about Ironwolf's job in consumer product testing is that on occasion he brings me home something good. After products are tested there are often leftovers, and anything that is safe is given away to employees or charity rather than just being thrown away. Some of the more valuable products are raffled off instead, with proceeds going to charity, and this big ol' YUMMY chocolate bar was one of them, and we won!

I cannot help but to gloat, so here's a picture of my 10 lb. chocolate, with an ordinary Hershey bar on top for comparison!





Gloat, gloat, mmmm...

How Busy (and partied out) Can One Woman Be?

{mood: tired, and about to become *much* more tired}

The answer is: pretty darn busy (and pretty darn partied out too).

Saturday was the annual summer party that my aunt hosts. It's partly birthday party (for my grandparents), partly family reunion (I mean everybody, even the great-aunts I don't particularly care for *grin*), and partly just a big ol' summer bash (all their friends and neighbors too).

They have such an awesome place for a party - an elevated deck, big inground pool, large backyard. They really go all out with these parties - they hire a band and everything. It was really a lot of fun, although I did have to spend most of the time looking after the kids in the pool.

Of course the folks came up from SC for the party, so the next evening the whole immediate extended family went out to a nearby beach club. As usual, the gathering involved much loud music and beer (don't worry, we keep good track of all the kiddies). Thankfully the weather held out, but we decided to abandon ship after a few hours since we could see the thunderstorm rolling in across Lake Erie.

Now today (and yesterday during the day), I've been cleaning like a madwoman, because my parents are coming for dinner in a few minutes and they are bringing my sister's two boys, 6 yrs. old, and 6 mo. old, over to spend the night and then I will watch them during the day tomorrow. And *then*, my sister and her husband will come over for dinner and we'll go out for fireworks.

And *then*...

I'm going to collapse, and not do anything for at least 24 hours.