Yes, I am AWARE there is a layout issue. That issue will be fixed… eventually. I’ve just been working on other things. If you are using IE, just scroll down and you’ll see a list of comics on the left at some point. Sorry about forcing you to scroll. I just don’t have the time right now to fix it. 
I’m prepping for A-kon.. my last convention of the year. I really need to add more conventions.
Yes, I’m aware the layout is screwy in Explorer. It’ll take me more time to track down the problem than you to use something other than IE. (I’m pretty sure it’s just IE’s inability to overlap pictures. 9.9. You’d think after this being available for years they’d finally work with it.)
Upgrading sites… this one first to make sure I’m doing it right. So far, it looks nice, but I have things that need to be fixed on it before moving on.
Well.. really … two goals.
Goal #1 - Pay off ALL the bills.
Goal #2 - Save $25,000 to $30,000 so I can buy a house. Not an expensive house. Trying to get the point across to my husband that you do NOT buy the perfect house first… you buy a nice little house that you can afford and I want it under $100,000. Around here, it appears the median range is $75,000. My goal is to have enough for the 20% down AND money for emergencies. And to dig a hole and put in a storm shelter or something like that which I can dive into when the tornado sirens go off for my peace of mind. Living in a second floor apartment is really, really getting to me. I DREAD that sound more than I ever did on a floor apartment.
I am more and more looking forward to certain things.. such as.. NOT having to SHARE half my work area with Kim. A dedicated work area! Woohoo!! Tables! Tables I can work on that are covered in my stuff! No food! No toys! Just paper and glue and rocks and paint. Shelves on all the walls. I love shelves! I want a whole wall of nothing but shelves, maybe two walls. And I can paint on the walls!
Of course, I don’t look forward to the drawbacks - I vote for the lawn of rocks and native grasses. I’m sure my husband would appreciate that. No mowing. 
A kitchen in which more than one person can stand at a time. Kim likes to go into the kitchen and watch me cook, but there’s not enough room and I worry something hot might splash on her. :/ And I hate my kitchen. If it were MY kitchen, I’d tear out the drawers and redo them myself. They’re so annoying.
I’m thankful that we are somewhat secure in our apartment and have a roof over our heads, but I think it’s time to start moving up. It’s kind of funny how much I hate change, but I like progress.
I have four years to accomplish that goal. It’s kind of like when we got Vash. We got him BEFORE Kim had her last heart surgery. If we had NOT done that before the surgery, we would not have gotten a dog at all (for a much longer time). It was a realization we had two months BEFORE she went in. I’d been wanting a dog for a long time. I’m glad we did it even though it was a rough start with Kim’s hospital stay lasting longer than necessary. Kim’s most likely going to have her next heart surgery around 10 and if we don’t do it before then, we’re going to have the fun crimping debt all over again afterward for the next five years. 
We’re just now getting to the light at the end of that tunnel for this year.
FINALLY! I broke down and purchased a binder. I waited long enough to get one that I paid much less … now I want to bind things, so the first thing I bound was a book of all my post cards for conventions. Should be easy to add more images as well. I LOVE this thing.
You know that I’ve done this before and it went well, except that I was selling $5 spiral notebooks with 50 pages each and paying $3 just to get the books MADE using Staple’s binding, punching and paper cutting. This way, I spend much less, although it may take a little longer and more personal manpower to make them.
So, the two pictures before show the second, third and fourth books I made. These are all 4 x 6 books made from photo prints. The first book, the one with Angel Chatin has 50 sheets of paper in them … which made it clear that I need bigger owires. The second and third ones have 25 sheets of paper in them.
I could use some suggestions for how much to charge for the 25 sheet ones. The 50 sheet ones (with bigger wires/when I get my adjustment bar) will go for $5.00. I’m thinking the 25 sheet ones should go for $3. Feel free to make suggestions about what I can put in these. Eventually … I’m going to start recycling my comic drawing paper into these books.
Take a look at my stockpile - aka, my March/April stockpile. Those months are the months I earn the least from advertising, so I made sure to have more than me and my family of three need. Not shown is the bottom of my linen closet packed with tp and paper towels.
Last year at this time, every cabinet shown was pretty bare aside from dishes, towels and linens. I spent a little less this year and using The Grocery Game and use of coupons. I did not buy more than one paper a week, nor have I spent more than I did last year.. yet I actually have completely FULL cupboards, fridge and freezer. I’m proud of myself for shopping more efficiently.
Heh, I got tired of sitting on the couch and using a coffee table to put my tablet on, so yesterday I purchased a cheap laptop table, one of those that’s divided so that one side can be tilted. That lasted all of 12 hours. The following morning, I giggled as I realized that my tablet is so small that it’d fit on the part that doesn’t slant. Then, I went over to my desktop to start doing the work that the tablet can’t handle and sit on the hard wood chair.
And I had a minor brainstorm: If the table tilts… and it’s right size, I can DRAW on it! Then brainstorm number 2 and 3 simultaneously: I can move the nice chair from my big drawing table out to the living room and move it back and forth between the laptop table and my desktop! I can PUT the laptop table NEXT to my desktop, sit the tablet up on the non moving part, draw on the slant and be able to easily reference character sheets on the tablet WHILE drawing and then all I have to do is turn my chair to use the desktop when I need to! I love this.
Sadly… I realize what I really should do is just buy a corner desk, but this works for now.
At the moment, I have two plastic charms.. literally. I’ll make more if there’s interest. 
The stealth charm is around 1.25″ long and .75″ tall. Celina is 1.5″ tall and almost 1″ wide. Obviously you can do more than just hang these from a phone, dangle them from your rearview mirror, hang them in your cubicle or put them over a lamp arm.. like I do. Price includes shipping EVERYWHERE. You can specify the color of the loop, the black one is the nicest one I have, the others are pretty standard loops.
The Pins below are 1.25″ inches in size and metal. They are available as pinback/keychain or cellphone charms. You can specify a color for the cellphone loop. The latter are in VERY short supply. Pricing INCLUDES shipping! If you are outside the US/Mexico/Canada, please add the $1 shipping charge.
Add $1 for shipping if outside the US/Canada/Mexico!
Each book thong is handmade and the length is the top number. The item # is the bottom number. The length is the measurement of the line between the two sets of charms! They vary in size.
Price includes shipping within the US/Canada/Mexico outside those countries, please select the $1 shipping fee.
Each of these is one of a kind. The chances of me randomly creating a duplicate are pretty low. I also had Kim test them and pulled on them to see how sturdy they are so they should hold up to standard use unless you have 1. a cat or 2. a small child or … 3. a puppy or any animal come to think of it… maybe a teenaged sibling…
Bookmarks 1, 6,7 and 9 have been sold.
Add $1 for shipping outside the US/Mexico/Canada.
