Doctor Visit, Applebees and a nap

Today is going to be a bit of a slacker post- I've got to get back to homework and have spent the entire day... well doing what is in the title.

My daughter has been super sick- bad colds for a little over 3 weeks.  I don't really worry to much about those things- 'cause kids get better and she was still Avi.  Until this week when she was completely run down and sick.  So this morning I had a very sick girl; who remained that way until we got to the doctor- where she was sick; but fine.  Which is frustrating- 'cause this evening she was back to feverish and sad.  The hope is that it will blow over soon- if it doesn't I'll take her back next week.

My son spent most of the trip there worrying about shots.  We tried to explain why shots were good- this resulted in him looking at his hands and saying 'I don't seen any germs- I'm not going to get sick' Will have to get some books on germs from the library tomorrow.

Beyond that the visit was fairly uneventful- kids were good and were declaired healthy.

Afterwards we were all hungry and it was almost dinner so we went to Applebees.  Thought it would be fun.  Not sure why we thought that.  I had the brilliant idea of ordering the kids food first so they could be eating and less restless (since often when we do to out to eat the food arrives together and we end up finishing ours first and waiting for the kids to finish eating.)  Evan chose some pizza off the menu- upon recieving he found a small piece of tomato in the sauce- and refused to eat the pizza; instead eating broccolli.  I appreciate the fact he likes broccolli; but was annoyed he wouldn't just eat the pizza we had ordered.  The greatest failure of this was the kids got bored with their food faster than usual and were climbing over me and David while we tried to rappidly shove food in our mouths   while trying to keep the kids within our booth.  We learned 2 things: getting food for the kids first is NOT a good idea- and next time we do take them out we are bringing Avi's portable highchair booster  seat thing.  We can actually strap her in that thing.  Food was good though- I think the kids were just restless after being at the peditricians office for so long.

We came home and I crashed- which is bad- I have 2 paintings due Monday and only 2 days to complete them (eek!).

Hopefully I'll finish one of them tomorrow so I can share it with you.  Until then- peace.

~Nikkie

Reboot, Rededicate

This is probably a very silly thing to do- but I'm starting over with today as 'post 1' for the 365 day challenge.  I don't know if that is a bad thing to do; but I've missed a couple of days recently and really want to do this right.  So I'm calling today #1.

*EDIT*: February ended in chaos- I'm starting on March 1st with the challenge again.  I apologize for the wishywashyness of this blog thus far.  But it is my challenge and I've decided that restarting is the right thing to do- and starting March 1st will be better than Feb 20th because it is a beginning of a month.*

I've left this blog super open as to what I'm posting about and I'm finding that I don't do well with no structure, the funny thing to me is how often the blog turned into journaling or personal rants.  Neither of which are necessarily bad; but was not my original goal in starting this blog out.  It occurs to me that part of the reason I've lacked any general direction in the blog is because I didn't state my goals and intents at the beginning of the challenge.  I did post about my inspirations for the project and the reason I titled the blog what I did (Titles, Goals and Stuff); but never put down on paper my purpose behind the blog.  Quiet possibly because I did not know myself.  It was a challenge that I approached more casually then I should have for as large of a challenge as it is.  

So here I am today- setting out goals and objectives.  

What is my purpose in doing this blog?

I've stated before that I have a TON of interests and I always feel to limited when I write on my other blogs.  This isn't a bad thing- documenting my weight loss attempts/process/desires and my art career are both good things that probably do deserve their own space.  However it doesn't seem appropriate on either to talk about anything not related to the topic that the blog is dedicated to.  

So I wanted a space to be able to blog a little more freely.  Though I don't want it to constantly be journaling and personal rants.  Not that those things will not show up from time to time; just less often then they have been.  

The other purpose is one that has struck me as I began this challenge and surprised me.  And that is it is something to help me cope with depression.  I'm discovering new ways it helps each day.

What will I blog about?

In this post I wrote down some ideas I had about giving each day a theme or a topic.  I think this is a good idea still- I just need to do it.

A list of things that make me:

Illustration! (obviously)
Dance
Weight-loss
Craft projects
Writing/Journaling
Singing
Playing musical instruments
Reading
Hiking/Camping
Photography
My Kids
Video Games (I'm going to admit it- I enjoy them)
Cute stuffed animals
Butterflies
Care Bears
The color black
The color purple
Religion
Science
Movies
Cooking (this actually is something I find interesting; I just find cleaning up tedious)
Health Tips (I do consider this separate from weight-loss)
Exercising (again; while it is a part of losing weight; it is totally different in my mind)
Designing webpages
drawing comics
Cartoons (of all types an varieties)

I'm going to stop the list there.  I'm not going to publish a schedule online (at least not at this time).  As you can see; there are many things I enjoy.  The reason I'm putting this list here is more for me than anyone else- so when I have a hard time thinking of something I'll be able to grab something off the list and say something about it.

I'm hoping I can be more dedicated to this project from here on out; and also that I'll be able to come up with something interesting to say more often than not.  Also I'm going to try to find an hour during the day to write this- instead of leaving it until 11:59 at night.  :D

with that I will say good night to you all!
~Nikkie

family webcomic

SO as you can see- no comic today.  I'm not even going to share any of the sketches that I have been playing around with for the 'characters'.  Mostly because I am lazy (also because I do not feel like fighting with my scanner).  Though next Sunday I will.

I am finding it interesting how much more difficult it is to cartoon people you know than I thought it would be.  You know their personalities so well that when it doesn't look quite right in the drawing it really really doesn't look right.  Like the silly picture I shared of Avi the other day- to cute.  She is cute- there is no doubt of that- but she is so much more than that.  She has a lot of fire and attitude and a sort of glint of something mischievous in her eyes.

I am excited about this project though- there have been so many funny moments with my kids since they have come into my life that I have just wanted to put them in a comic form.  We'll see how it goes :D

~Nikkie

Favorite Movie List!

Another list- I know not so interesting; but once again it is late and I need to type up a post.
 SO here are my top 5 favorite movies.

1. Nightmare Before Christmas
2. Timeline
3. Labyrinth
4. Cirque du Solei: Worlds Away
5. Moulin Rouge

Top 5 movie Series:

6. All JRR Tolkien Movies
7.  Harry Potter Movies
8. Star Wars Movies
9. Star Trek Movies
10. The Amazing Spiderman Movies (I know only one is out- but I am pretty sure I'll stand by saying I love the series as I see more)

~Nikkie

Happy Valentines Day!!

I shared this on Facebook earlier- so probably everyone has seen it.  I shouldn't share it here as well- except I don't have a lot to say.  That isn't true- I have a lot to say but I need some time to organize my thoughts on the subjects... so today I'm just saying- happy V-Day- even if you are single- you still have people who love you!! Remember that.

Random Thoughts:
*started 'Fellowship of the Rings' yesterday- and the book is a lot harder to get into than I remember it being.
*I'm pouring a lot of time into my Illustration stuff right now (sketchbooks, projects, blog and webpage and other things) so sadly this blog is going to get neglected in some ways- I'll probably be posting a lot of little things  out of my sketchbook in coming days though.
*also I learned last night that my phone does not always publish my blog posts when I try to post from it... which stinks.


~Nikkie

Sketch Again

It is VERY late and I'm very sleepy... so I'm just throwing up a sketch from today.

It IS a sketch- so things like the hands stuff really didn't get finished... but it is something to look at.  'Night all

Cartooning

So today we practiced drawing children in my Advanced Figure drawing class- well actually we practiced drawing an adult and making them look like a child.  It was pretty fun.  So I was practicing with some of the things I learned today and drew this.  

If you don't know her that well it might be hard to tell- but that is my daughter turned in to a cartoon.  I'm still learning how to do line work in pen- so it is still pretty rough.  I am defiantly going to draw it again and fix some things- but this is where I'm at right now.  

~Nikkie

A couple of goals

Just a few goals that I'm working towards between now and the 22nd of February.  

1- start the Lord of the Rings trilogy

     ~I read these books when I was around 10 but I figure it's been 20 years; might as well read them again! Plus they are at the top of both of my book lists- so it seems like it is a good place to start.  

2- Get my portfolio website and blog up and running

     ~This is something I've been putting off for awhile.  I have just not felt like my art work was good enough to really display out for the whole world; and while I am not nearly at a professional level yet- I've decided it is more than time to get myself online and to start building an online presence.

3- Start an  ACTUAL health routine

     ~I say health routine because I'm including both exercise and eating into the whole package.  I hope to have what I'm doing for that ready to go on Saturday so I can share if anyone is interested in looking.

4- Publish a sketch/doodle a day on my tumblr blog

     ~might publish it on here as well- but if I don't- I'll defiantly link the blog

5- Sunday family webcomic

     ~lol... you'll see.... if I have time- it could be daily- but I'm not planning on that just now

6- .....

     ~I had something to write here but forgot what it was...

Other random thoughts:

the image at the top of this post is a doodle I did the other day as filler for something... it is clearly not a real illustration.  

the Amazing Spider-Man is one of my favorite movies at this moment; totally excited for the sequel

I'm really sleepy so i'm kinda babbling

that last one counts as a thought not a closing statement

I love to color purple

our treadmill is nearly cleared off so I can start using it again!

and now I'm done... 'cause this is just getting ridiculous

~Nikkie

Reading Challenge

Sometime ago (high school I think?) I heard of a list of books that everyone should read.  I've always thought that list was comprised of classics- but I never got around to finding the list to read it.  So I've been wanting to do this for awhile- but have been to lazy (or to busy?) to look up the list of books to read.  I tried to look up the list I heard about in high school- and could not find it.  At least I don't think I did.  I found several lists on this website.  I'm sure the list I should have been looking for was probably something like 'high school recommended reading' or something similar.  I was searching of course for something that sounded far more pretentious- 'top (insert number) books you should read before you die'; or something to that effect.
When I found that there were so many lists I just chose the BBC list- 'cause it looked the second most entertaining and seemed to be one of the most inclusive (genre, time published, etc).  The most entertaining list was the NPR list of 100 fantasy and science fiction books everyone should read... But as I'm wanting to EXPAND my reading repertoire- at least temporarily- I figured the BBC list would be better.  Though truth be told- I'll probably end up reading the fantasy list at the same time- maybe every other book?
Anyway- I think I'm going to start this tomorrow.  It should be interesting- at the very least I should come out of it being able to say 'oh yes- I've read that'.  Well; hopefully anyway.
I have read a few of these before (actually many of them before) but I think I'll re-read as an adult; it'll be interesting to see what I've forgotten and also what my reactions are to them now.

~Nikkie

**edit** I have noticed the 2 lists share many of the same books- so that should make getting through both much easier.

Favorite Quote

Back to my list of random ideas for blogging.  The suggestion today was to share my favorite quote:
“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. What I can do, I should do. And what I should do, by the grace of God, I will do.”
~Edward Everett Hale
I stumbled across the bold section of the quote on my mission and it kind of became my personal statement to get through each day.  It wasn't until today that I learned about the rest of it, I liked the whole thing so I went ahead and put it all in here.  
I find myself saying this quote to myself often even now.  It is still something that helps me get through each day- I tend to overwhelm and overwork myself- so I have to have something to remind me that I can do something everyday.
~nikkie

Family Day

Once again it is late- and once again I'm going to write this more like a journal entry.
Hung out with the hubby and kids plus my two youngest sisters.  We had a wonderful lunch- went out to the arcade and then this evening I went out again with my sisters and saw the lego movie.

The Lego Movie is the ultimate nerd movie.  I will not take back that statement.

The kids proved at the arcade there is no special skill required to get a lot of tickets from those machines- just mash buttons.

It was an awesome day.  Everything is Awesome.

~Nikkie

Catching Fire: Book Response

Oh where to even begin... I finished listening to this book the other night when I pulled my all nighter to finish a painting.  So the book has had a couple of days to bounce around in my head.  I have not jumped into the third book yet because... well I'll get to that.

I would say that I like this book a LOT better than the first one- since Collins was not establishing characters and setting as much the beginning moved a lot faster, which I liked because I get really impatient with books that start slowly... though I do have a rule that if I start a book I will finish it.  (Though I know there is a fantasy book I read the first chapter of and then had to return to the library... but I do not remember the name of it... so I may have broken my rule there).

One of the things that I both loved and hated about it was the overhanging mood of melancholy- it was really neat that book had such a distinct feel to it- but it also was a little hard to get through because it just felt so sad.  (not that hard to get through I think it only took me 2 days to read) I am constantly more and more amazed by Collins ability to show such visual and emotional elements through text.  It is part of what keeps drawing me back to these little books.

So overall I would say I loved it- it was a well written story with interesting characters.  As a book it is something I think everyone should read.  As a story- well that is where I get mixed on- I love that I hate it? Is that the right way to phrase that?  Collins has created characters that I care about.  I care about their lives- I care about what happens next in their lives- but I have a very real hatred for the Capital... well not the capital itself- most of the people who live there come across as very silly children who are so spoiled that the are oblivious to the rest of the world.  But the leadership of the capital I have a very big issue with.  President Snow is just so... evil.  (Though at the same time I feel like there is a lot more going on behind the scenes; but I just cannot place what it is).  In any case- the feelings I have towards the characters are very real and I admire the writing for that.

The best moment for me in the book was the very end when Gale tells Katniss that district 12 has been bombed.  'Cause I completely missed that in the movie somehow.  So it really surprised me.

Complaints

Okay; now for some of my issues with the book.  Katniss... She is one of my favorite teenage heroines
that I have ever read.  Her desire and ability to protect people around her is amazing. My issue? She seems sometimes to be incredibly quick and perceptive- and other times; really dense.  Which is a 16 year old trait- but sometimes I wish she would just get things faster.  The good news is- she does end up figuring out most things in the end- even if the way she 'figures out' some things is by being told outright... (It is her suspicious nature I think that ultimately makes it so hard for her to figure out that people would truly fight against the capital).  This is my only complaint about the book- and it isn't really even that much of a complaint- because Katniss is steadily Katniss; which is a really good thing- makes the character feel real.  All I'm saying is that it would be nice to see her pick up on things faster.

Movie vs Book

Obviously they two formats are different- and one cannot tell everything in a movie that is in a book.  In the book Katniss sees a lot more of the rebellion starting- I wish that she had been able to see more of it in the movie.  The movie shows the tour and then the reaping- it leaves out a lot of little things that Katniss notices and stumbles into between the two.  There is a scene in the woods where she runs across some refugees from another district- the two woman explain to her that she has become a symbol of freedom and rebellion- that the mockingjay has become that symbol.  It was a good moment in the book because Katniss is shown how her actions have seriously impacted the world.  I can understand why they left it out (time and there were other indications that the uprising was starting) but I really would've liked to have seen that in the book.  Also the changes to district twelves peacekeeper force was really better done in the book.  The movie kinda glossed over that- just showing the part where Gale was whipped.
I think my biggest frustration between the two is that they really limited the characters in the movie.  Katniss's mother and sister are really really cool in the book and kinda brushed over in the movie.  The interaction with peacekeepers in the book is far more dynamic, and they left Madge (daughter of district twelves mayor and Katniss's best friend) out entirely.  Gale's younger siblings are rather missing from the movie as well... Which shifts Gale's character a little bit from this tough kid who is going to protect his family no matter what- to kind of a love sick fool whose only thought is Katniss.  The movie rather oversimplifies who everyone is by leaving out so much.
I guess what I'm saying is that I think that this would've been a far more successful tv series (like game of thrones) then a series of four movies.

Book three
I am honestly hesitant to read this book for 2 reasons- first; I read a synopsis a few years ago- and I remember it did not go well for anyone in that book, and second; even without reading that synopsis the second book ends in such a way that I cannot imagine that the third book will be very happy.  So... it may be a little bit before I pick it up.

Conclusion
I would say the book is defiantly worth reading.  It is a harsh story- but very interesting and well written.

~Nikkie

Oxymoron piece

This is what I spent all night last night working on.  For my next piece I'm doing it more ahead of time... So I don't have to pull a 24 hour work day.
Also if I get it done ahead of time I'll be able to notice all the mistakes BEFORE I turn it in.
The assignment was to illustrate an oxymoron- I chose to illustrate 'living dead'.  I based the painting off the french rococo period of art... only more zombieish.  >:D There are defiantly some things I need to fix- but overall I kinda like the paining.
~Nikkie

PS- the original piece isn't this yellow... I'll have to take another picture of it when I get it back.

No real post...

Bad cell phone picture of a painting I'm working on tonight:

it is a quick photo- and I didn't notice at first that I was casting a shadow on the piece when I took the picture- hopefully tomorrow I'll have a more finished version of it.  We'll see.
Nikkie

A blog to share

http://www.cleanmama.net
I ran across this website a few months ago.  It is a pretty cool site about hosehold organization; and it has printables!! I love it when I can find a website that has charts and things that I can print- especially when they are similar to charts I've thought to make myself, only I don't have to spend the time making them- I just have to press print.
This site has charts for teaching kids how to clean and also for getting a house cleaned that is a super mess.  My favorite thing about it is that you can form better cleaning habits with some of the stuff that is available on the website.
Have fun browsing!
~Nikkie

Memorable Moments # 2

Just a couple of Evan ones tonight:

Monday January 27, 2014

Tonight I was tucking Evan into bed- he asked me to wait (which is not unusual; generally he wants me to do something for him so that he can stay up.) “but I’m tiiiieeerrrd” I whined at him  bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet.

“all right- I’ll move over and then there will be room in my bed and you can sleep”

I laughed, “I’m much to big for your bed.”

“oh..”he thinks for a bit, “will it break if you get in?”

“yes Evan; I would break the bed if I got in, and besides; I want to sleep in my bed; next to daddy”

He puzzles for a second then reaches for a stuffed animal, “then you can sleep with one of my stuffed animals tonight in your bed”

I took the stuffed animal and it is now sitting next to my bed watching over me

Wednesday January 29, 2014

"Oh mommy! You are home!!!" Evan cheers as I appear at his door, "Now I can eat breakfast and lunch and a snack!" he bounces over and jumps into my arms "I'm so happy you are home!"

(I guess he didn't consider any of the meals my mom gave him to be real)

~Nikkie

The Hunger Games: Book Reaction

(skip down to the stars if you want the actual book review- and not just the steps that led to me picking it up and reading it)
My first brush with this series was after the 3rd book in the trilogy had been released.  My husband sent me a message asking what I thought about the series or if I had heard of it- I don't remember his exact question.  I do remember doing some scant research on it- thinking it sounded to much like a Japanese horror movie- and curtly replying that I had no interest in the series.  It was a mean response to say the least.  After unintentionally chasing him off with my grumpiness I did a little more research about the series.  There were 2 things that immediately stood out to me during my research- the first was that it was written in first person; the second was that it was very popular among teenagers.  With that in mind I dismissed the series- and decided that I wanted nothing to do with it.
Why did I dismiss it like this? Simple- the last series that had this kind of popularity was Twilight.  I tried to read these books when I was pregnant with my son and couldn't get out of bed.  I had nothing else to do- so why not?  I honestly didn't make it past the second page.  The writing was so terrible I felt that I was reading the unedited journal of a 14 year old girl.  Honestly if I wanted read writing that bad I had my own journal from that age I could have pulled out and read.  So I prejudged the hunger games and was almost violently against the books.
A few months later I caught my sister-in-law reading it.  I was surprised by this at first; but then she explained she felt she needed to read it because she wanted to know what her students were reading.  I think I said some mean things about the book again- Kimberly is so sweet that she brushed off whatever I said- and if she did take offense she kept it well hidden.
When the movie ended up on Amazon I decided 'eh what the heck- it cannot be worse than that Japanese film I had to sit through'.  (to this day I cannot remember the name of the movie I saw- it was not battle royal but had the same theme of people killing each other)
I was surprised by a few things when I saw the movie- first off- it wasn't horrible.  Secondly- it treated the deaths of the 'game' with respect.  Which I found intriguing.  Did I pick up the book then? oh no.  Still refused to read it.  I mean; I didn't hate the first Twilight movie either (although it was a dumb movie; I admitted that even after I saw it).
I started following the actors of the movie- I don't know why- but I was just drawn to them.  Then The Hunger Games was a free movie on netflix- so I watched it a few more times.  Each time I saw it I liked it more.  Still refused to read the book.
Then Catching Fire came to theaters- one of my sisters couldn't get enough of it.  Finally last semester ended and my husband and I went to the theater to watch it.  I loved it.  It still took me nearly a month and a half to pick up the book and read it.

***

technically- I didn't read it.  I still haven't- but I checked out an audio book from the library so I could listen to it while I did homework. I was amazed by the book.

The beginning took me a bit to get into- I listened to another book between chapter one and chapter two.  Even though I initially found the story slow I found I really liked the writing.  This surprised me- as the book is in first person (as you already know) and I generally do not like books written that way.  Once I was out of other audio books to read- and had only a few days before I'd have to return the book I really started to listen to it.
The story I was already familiar with unfolded- I found myself impressed by the way that Suzanne Collins wrote the characters; I had a clear mental picture of each.  Some looked like the actors that portrayed them in the movie- some (Hamish in particular) looked nothing like what was portrayed in the movie.  The story moved at a steady pace- told completely from Katnis's point of view- so as the reader I felt just as surprised by events that happened in the book as she did.  I think this as a great choice by the author- because it allowed the book to have more meaning.
I'm happy that I finally got over my preconceived prejudices about the books and finally picked them up. It has been a really good experience.
I've started reading the second book and am enjoying it more than the first.  I'd say more about the first- but the two stories are starting to merge in my head a little.  So I'm gong to leave this little reaction here- when I finish the second one I think I might publish what I think of it a little faster. (maybe the same day I finish it!)

~Nikkie