Puddle Duck

When I was a kid (12 and under in this case) my mom went all out with decorations in every room and a wreath on the front door as soon as Thanksgiving was over. She would surprise my brother and I with a new ornament and we'd put the tree up. After that she would bake all sorts of cookies and make candies. My brother and I would get new pajamas to wear and on Christmas morning we'd be up with the sun to open presents. This usually resulted in her grumpily telling us to go back to bed. Around 10 am she'd come out and make hot chocolate for me and hot strawberry for my brother and load them up with marshmallows. While she did that her boyfriend lit a fire and we'd sit in front of it. We were handed our stockings first that were stuffed to bursting with sweets and small gifts. Then we'd open the rest. Later in the day our grandma, older brother, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc would all come around for dinner. All the females cooked while all the males watched sports (that always annoyed me a good bit especially since they didn't have to help with clean up either). Then there would be more gifts. My dad would come to take my brother and I home after everyone else had left which was usually around 9pm. Dad didn't have a lot of money being a single father of 2 without any form of child support so Christmas was always tight at home. We always had a tree and a Christmas carousel even if we didn't have anything else, but he always tried to make Christmas special. The things I really missed when I had my first Christmas away from family was the stocking my mom always set up and the Christmas carousel my dad would put out. I still have yet to wake up to my stocking stuffed with sweets, but my husband and best friend went in together a few years back to buy me the Christmas carousel from my childhood. I ended up crying so much. XD My husband buys me a new ornament every year since my mom never sent mine. After we got married we started a new tradition of buying a special ornament that we write the year on. He also reminds me to write a list for Santa and every year there is a present under the tree that says, "From Santa."

There are six Half Price Books, seven Barnes & Nobles, twenty libraries and a large assortment of mom and pop bookstores in the city closest to me. I didn't count the bookstores and libraries in surrounding towns. Even my small town of less than 400 people has a mini library that was recently added. I don't think I have to worry about bookstores and libraries going the way of the dinosaurs anytime soon.

A new "painting" as promised. I drew this one while listening to the Celtic Woman A Christmas Celebration CD. I don't like it anywhere near as much as my Luna picture, but it's only my second time with this style. I look forward to improving it.

I don't remember last night's dream, but the dream I had during my nap today was crazy. I was trying to sleep off a fever I've had for the last few days and things got weird. I was in my kitchen and I looked out at the driveway we share with my in-laws and there were a ton of unknown cars like they were having a party. I then noticed that the front door wasn't locking and was worried someone would come in. I turned to go to the tool box and sure enough it started trying to open. I rushed back and looked out the peep hole that our door doesn't have in the real world. On the steps was someone my brain registered as Alecks, but he didn't look like Alecks and he was dressed like a juggalo. The very next thing to cross my mind while still asleep and dreaming was, "Yeah, no. Time to wake up. Fever must have gotten worse."

My AI would have a sense of humor like K-2SO, but then probably go full Ultron because that's my luck. Never go full Ultron.

Here's some more art. I have drawings of Hershey and Apple Swirl in the works, but I seem to have caught something. My motivation is lagging and I just want to sleep. My very first oc pony, Apple Swirl (no relation to the Apple family). It was Fall and I was eating a lot of apple things. L from Death Note. I forgot to include him with the Zelda stuff. An old ad drawing A picture of Derpy that was done the same day as the Rainbow Dash ad

Pansexual. The first time I heard the term I thought the guy was making a joke and asked how he found kitchen pans arousing. Oops.

Anxious. The power just flickered in and out and it's 2°F out with a wind chill advisory. If the power goes out I'll have to walk over to my in-laws' house and hang out with them until the power comes back. I don't want to hang out with my in-laws!

Thanks. It's not all bad though. I have a fantastic husband and my dad is the coolest so there's that positive.

My mom, brother and mother-in-law for several reasons. The least horrible thing both my mom and mother-in-law have done was tell me they wished I was dead on multiple occasions. My mother-in-law also told my husband she wished he was dead and that neither she nor his dad loved him. (His dad said otherwise.) My brother used to beat me until I required medical attention and my mom encouraged it. Thankfully, my mom and brother live on the other side of the country and my MIL is moving south next May. I'm certainly better off without them.

The MST3K version of Tormented

My biggest problem with a lot of people when something becomes popular is their attitudes. I've been a Pokemon fan since it hit the US. I had pretty much everything you can think of that was Pokemon related. In elementary and middle school it wasn't much of an issue. In high school I was regularly bullied for my pokemon stuff. Then toward junior year Hot Topic started selling Pokemon stuff. Suddenly the popular kids who had made fun of me just days before had Pokemon stuff. They didn't like Pokemon at all. They only had the stuff because it was popular. They started calling me a poser and said I only had Pokemon stuff to seem cool. That kind of attitude annoys me to no end. On the other side of the coin you have the elitists that appear when things become popular. With all the comic movies I've seen a lot of long time comic fans become huge jerks to the new fans that legitimately like the movies, but don't read the comics. Some have actually had interest in the comics, but after getting bullied they no longer want anything to do with them. I really don't understand why an existing fan would shun a new fan just because they didn't get into it before it was popular. Some people weren't even alive or old enough to be a fan before something became popular. My only other complaint when things become popular is how the price of merch skyrockets. Comics and Pokemon merch have become huge headaches due to price hikes. It's not a problem if something is actually worth the high price (well, it is for my wallet). I just really hate people that jack up prices to make a quick buck when something becomes popular.

I don't remember ever writing anything really weird for papers, but most of my English classes required us to write a daily journal. I used those journals to work on the stories I would have just written in a different notebook. That was the easiest bit of homework ever.

Thanks LoneStar Here is some more old art because I still haven't finished anything new. My husband found an old sketchbook with the first Hershey drawing inside. Apparently I had originally given her a cutie mark. We don't have a scanner so it's unfortunately a bit of a blurry photo. Link and Midna Kirby Link and Epona Kirby Link and Epona pt 2 OC giraffe, Nugget Bat Pony OC simply named Bats

When I'm drawing I can spend anywhere from 6 to 12 hours on the computer just doing that. Before my computer died and I started sharing a computer the longest I sat on a computer drawing was 18 hours. When I'm not drawing I'm usually not on the computer all that much. I usually pop on to check messages and collect reference.

The original Tetris theme. I was listening to it for over an hour yesterday while trying to draw.

I'm annoyed because I can't get the Xbox to show up on the TV. I checked everything I can reach. I have a fever so I'm too tried to deal with anything else. I may or may not have spent more time than I should glaring at it.

I usually only listen to the radio when we forget the mp3 player on our way out to do errands or while cleaning. I can't trust myself to clean with the TV on. My favorite thing on one of our local stations is Helium Theater. The whole morning crew inhales helium and then acts out movie scenes. I usually only get to listen to it on my way to a doctor's appointment though. My least favorite thing is Mandatory Metallica in the afternoon. They often play the same Metallica songs.