Moving right along....

I'm moving this blog! Come find me at blog.lyssakaehler.net. I'll have it unpacked and prettied up soon, but all the posts and archives are there already, sitting around in boxes in the front room.

Tight

We're halfway through the month and I've spent my whole budget already...well, not quite, but $17 for two weeks isn't much. Sigh. The only thing I miss about my "real job" is the regular infusions of money. Given the choice, I wouldn't trade it back, but it is difficult saying no to things, especially in this ad-driven feel-good market industry that says you deserve new shoes, a latte, a night out, etc.

Did I mention that this $17 also has to cover any groceries we might need? Yeah. New shoes, I don't need them.

Now, I could just spend a little more...pull a little out of savings, tell myself I'll make it up next month...but you know you never do. Next month has its own surprises and temptations. If there are any real emergencies, there is money to cover them - that's not what I'm trying to work on here. What I'm trying to fix is my pattern of running over budget every single month for no good reason.

I know that I'll need more milk before the end of the month. Other than that, the pantry, fridge and freezer are well stocked, the chickens are laying lots of eggs, I have all the art supplies I need, and the cats have plenty of kibble. We have lots of projects to work on, netflix to enjoy, some tickets to events already purchased, and enough alcoholic beverages to get through a return of prohibition. It isn't like we're going to suffer.

It will feel pretty good to get to the end and still have ten bucks in my pocket. Don't tempt me, please.

Chicken Butt

Some days, the creative process begins with a good chicken chase. By which I mean they chase me looking for handouts.



Lucy and Greta are very demanding and sociable. Maud is a bit more reserved...always has been.



After their closeups, I went through and picked out my three favorites, cropped them to a good size, and made line drawings.



Line drawings got converted to linocuts, and linocuts get printed on kraft paper cards.



I'm putting up a whole whack of stationary in my Etsy store tomorrow, so if that's your thing, come get some!



The girls appreciate your support of the arts, and also want you to know that they would like more cracked corn now please.

The folks who owned this house before us did some strange things...but one of the strangest was definitely our weird little garage bathroom. See, someone had decided that it would be a great idea to convert the garage to a studio apartment...so they built a bathroom in one corner, added a sink and a bit of counter space, and profit!

Or not, because they lost the house anyway. Anyway...

The bathroom was built on a raised brick and concrete pedestal, so that the dodgy sewer drain would actually drain. This makes the ceiling in there around 6.5 feet...not so good. The showerhead sticks out of the wall at my shoulder level, and I'm not that tall. Worst of all, the whole structure was built in the front corner of the garage, blocking the garage door rails and keeping the door from rolling up more than six inches (which is just enough to let feral cats come in and raid your koi food, but not enough for anything useful.

When the husband came home from work Friday night, I was swinging a sledgehammer at it. He's a good sport, so he grabbed a crowbar and we went to town. By the time the dust settled, the garage door was wide open and all that was left was the dodgy platform and its lonely toilet (we're leaving that for now, strange as it is. Soon we will be remodeling the bathroom and will be very happy for its existence).

In the end, we had to move around most everything in the garage, including a full rearrangement of my studio...but look! Now it's so clean and pretty.



Plus, without that giant aluminum shield interfering with my router, I now have speedy speedy internet out here! I'd better put it to good use and get back to work :)

Baycon

And lo, they did go unto Baycon, and there they did party.

And boy, did we party.


(photo shamelessly stolen from tsgeisel's flickr set; I was too busy bartending to take any pictures of my own. None of these people are me either...I'm in the back of the room where the eerie purple glow is)

This year, for the first time, we got a room on the Party Floor and threw parties every night. There is something really awesome about looking out over your room and seeing cylons, klingons, steampunks, mad scientists, and punks of all other kinds all dancing together to Juno Reactor, then drinking whiskey until sunrise.

The only downside to the weekend was that my cell phone was stolen by charismatic catholics at some point. I'm getting the replacement hooked up today, but if I used to have your phone number, I probably don't anymore.

Alpha Blocks

From A to Z, the alphabet blocks are done. Now, what to do with them? I'd like to print up a book of them, but looking into self-publishing for art books it looks god-awful expensive. I'd also like to print onto kids' t-shirts and stuff and sell on Etsy, but I'm still conducting color-fastness tests on my inks. Ideas and feedback are most welcome! Would you buy stuff like this for your kids or your friends' kids? What would you like the most?

We has teh cute

I had a squeaky kitten in my jacket,



but a little of this, then a little more...



and now I have a happy purring pocket kitten. Those little tiny claws do hurt, though.