30. December 2009 by Bex.

I should be trying to eat better and clean out my system after pigging out so much over Christmas.  We didn’t do a damn thing but eat and play video games.  I got my wish for a white Christmas and we were snowed in.  So far the roads are pretty passable which is good when one must make it to work.  I’d rather be snowed in at home though.  The dogs liked their snow time and it was very beautiful outside.  I’m ready for the weekend already though as I’ve been fighting a lovely sinus infection and finally succumbed to antibiotics.  They are kicking my ass.

Here are some photos from our Christmas.  Nothing terribly exciting but at least it was peaceful.

The drainage ditch behind the house.  I cropped out the rotted mattress someone threw down there about a year and a half ago.

We didn’t exactly primp for our photo shoot but dammit we still look cute.

Sadie enjoyed playing catch with the snowballs.

Ron has quite the smart ass sense of humor.  Good thing Rowdy was protected on the other side of the glass.

Here is Rowdy taking a nap the other day.  He’s so old and losing weight.  Not because of anything in particular but because he hates his bland diet.  So tonight he had boiled rice and cooked ground beef.  Lucky guy, eh?

This is typically what Patton looks like when I wake up on the weekends.  We sleep in together.  And nap together.  He curls up in a little brindle ball and snoozes on the bed.

Final dog photo for the day.  Last Monday was Sadie’s 13th birthday.  My baby is a teenager now.

So other then snow and pets, we’ve been playing a lot of video games.  We are almost done with Mario on the Wii.  The final Bowser section SUCKS.  This game was a lot harder then any other Mario games I’ve played.  I think it’s mostly because trying to coordinate on a platform game with someone else playing is not easy.  Both of us try to jump in the same spot at the same time.  There is much cursing in this game.

We also made it through one run of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles.  I like how they brought elements from several other RE games.  It was pretty fun and the shaky camera made head shots harder yet more enjoyable.  I would like to run through it again at a harder setting.

Finally, we made it through Left 4 Dead 2 which was a lot more fun then the first one.  The ai’s were annoying as shit but the weapons were better and the levels were a little longer.  I especially like the melee weapons which included a frying pan, guitar and chainsaw.

So I don’t have a lot more to share.  Well, someone asked me to photograph her in a tasteful, nude shoot.  That was unexpected.  I don’t mind doing it though as nudity really doesn’t bother me that much as long as I’m the one behind the camera.  I definitely need more lessons with the camera though and I think my peeps in the local KC Flickr group are going to be a big help.  Gotta love networking with others through the net.  It’s been a life saver for me with all my social phobias and tendencies to hole myself up in my house 24-7.  Hey who knows.  Maybe I’ll get a side biz taking nudies of people.  Wouldn’t that be interesting?  “Not now junior, mommy has to take photographs of people’s junk.”  That would rock.

Be well dear friends.

Tschus.

Posted in Photography, Flickr, Dogs, Video Games, Health | 1 Comment »

27. September 2009 by Bex.

We hit the jackpot this weekend at Game Co.  It’s like Game Stop only more vintage, and they pay a lot more for your games.  We got a nice credit with them and picked up several used games.  I was pretty geeked to find two Evil Dead games on XBox:

I haven’t played A Fistful of Boomstick yet but I did play Regeneration for over an hour today.  It is HILARIOUS.  Ted Raimi does the voice of your midget Deadite sidekick and Bruce does Ash’s voice, of course.  There are a lot of catchy one-liners and general hilarity.  The best part?  You can lock on your enemies and punt the Deadite to attack them.  I love it!    Since having an XBox is relatively new to me, I didn’t pay much attention to these games before.  I now have all the ED games but not all the games with Bruce’s voice.  Which is ok, as I’m not sure how much of a geek I want to allow myself to be.  Here is a link to the games: http://www.bruce-campbell.com/group.asp?grp=49

Crap, I just noticed this as well: http://www.bruce-campbell.com/pilot.asp?pg=action_figure It’s a BC action figure.  Crap….$60?  I may be a geek,  but I’m a cheap geek.  Damn.

The other thing I did this weekend was finish up a book called Shadow of the Wind.  It is one of the best novels I have read since The Historian.  The author, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, writes very descriptively.  The setting is 1940’s and 1950’s Barcelona, set in the aftermath of Spain’s civil war.  It’s a mystery and very well woven.  I’m sure I could have figured out some of the twists and turns if I had let myself think about it, but I really enjoy just letting a story take me along.  I can’t write a good review on it but you can find some great reviews on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Wind-Carlos-Ruiz-Zafon/dp/1594200106  Apparently The Angel’s Game is a prequel that just came out in English only a year ago.  I’ll have to grab that up soon.

Long story short, read it.  I was dubious at first but I went from summer beach reading to this book.  You have to get your brain in the right mode to really let the story suck you in.   If you read it, let me know what you think!  I should really join a book club but am too damn lazy.

I also finished another cross stitch but will have to wait to unveil it until after I send it.  I made it for a swap for a photo group I participate in on Flickr called Phat Quarter.  After the recipient receives the piece, I’ll post photos of it.  It’s actually very lovely if I do say so myself!  I also finished an embroidery not long ago that is for a breast cancer awareness challenge on Craftster.  It’s another photograph-to-embroidery piece:

This photo has over 12,000 hit on Flickr, but that’s probably only because my boobs are partially showing.  I hate that pervs are looking at it but the photo has done some good.  I’ve had some people contact me to ask about the reconstructive part of mastectomies.  I personally feel better having talked to someone who has gone through this shit before me, no matter what it is.  So I keep the damn picture up for others to find, in case anyone else has questions.  The contest on Craftster starts in a couple weeks and I’m eager to sumbit this.

Rowdy is shrieking/whining for his supper so I better go.  Dogs do not like to wait for their supper!  Tschus!

Posted in Cross stitch, Needlework, Crafts, Craftster, Bruce Campbell, Photography, Video Games, Books, Flickr, Hobbies | 2 Comments »

17. August 2009 by Bex.

Here is my little recap for the last week or so:

Last week was hell as far as health goes but this is a new week!  I was a shit-load of pain from endo and arthritis last week but thankfully, these things aren’t an everyday problem for me.  Shit could always be worse!

Ma Burley came on Friday night and we chilled out together on Saturday and went to the Harrah’s casino Saturday night.  What a culture shock!  I did see plenty of casinos in Vegas but it just seemed different because it was here in KC.  I lost $50 in the slots which sucked and the drinks were $5, not free like Vegas.  Casinos are fun for a few hours but after that, I’ve had my fill.  It’s loud, reeks of smoke and there are people EVERYWHERE.  Not a great place for recluses like myself.  Her visit was too quick but it was really great to see her again.

My Etsy hasn’t sold anything yet however I think I have a few interested in “Ass, the other Vagina.”  I have a couple private requests also that I need to get started on.  I’m excited about that because it’s fun to make these but even more fun to know that people are going to put it in their homes soon.  As soon as payday gets here, I am off to the crafy store again to get supplies.  I’m geeked!

Speaking of stitchery, I finished my first photo-to-embroidery project.  Here is the result and a comparison of the original photo to the cloth and thread result:

I felt pretty good about the overall end-product.  This has been a complete learning experience for me and I see what I need to work on now.  I have ideas for the next embroidery project already!  I like the idea of taking my photography and doing something more with it.  My ultimate goal is to get a gallery show.  I think I’m on my way as *enter drumroll* I’m going to be featured in the near future on Stitchgasm.  ACK!!!!  This is exciting to me although most of you probably don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about.  See the following website: http://www.mrxstitch.com/  I am not sure what day it will be, but one of the people who works on this newsletter is a woman known as Beefrank.  She is a witty, creative genius and her work makes me laugh a lot!  You can see her work on Flickr by going to http://www.flickr.com/photos/beefranck/.  If you appreciate humor, talent and witicisms, please check out her stuff!  Also, subscribe to Mr. X Stitch via the site or Facebook.  (He is also megacool and a Brit!)  This stuff absolutely feeds me inspiration as well as making me laugh.  I can’t believe how creative people can be and it is freakin’ awesome to see so many talented people out there producing so much stuff.  Ok sorry, I got a little carried away!!

Add that to a confirmation email I received about enrollment in a free digital photography course and I’m about to implode!  Whoopee!

All right, enough of that crazy shit.  As always, I hope everyone is well.  Catch ya later, tschus!

Posted in Cross stitch, Embroidery, Needlework, Stitchgasm, Photography, Flickr, Hobbies, Family, Blogs, Health | No Comments »

5. August 2009 by Bex.

General brain befuddlement has prevented any new creativity as of late.  I did however crank out a couple of things about a week or so ago:

I have a set of Hitchcock stamps that I collected years ago that I want to frame.  That is what inspired the Hitchcock piece.  The Super Bitch came from a book of cutsey patterns I bought.  I also happened to find small frames at Wally World and this was an experimentation with small designs.  I’d really like to put it at my desk at work but don’t think it would be wise.

Lately I’ve been looking at embroidery and wanted to try it.  Again I’m lost as to what to stitch.  However I woke up last night with an idea and spent the day looking at the internet for tutorials on how to make the images in my brain come to the fabric.  There are a few photographs I’ve snapped over the years that I really like and I’ve decided to make embroidery patterns out of them.  Thankfully there are people out there in the crafty world who blog and make how-to videos for the internet.  Here is part of the pattern I put together:

I’m afraid that I might start filling up the spare room with projects so I put up an Etsy store finally in the hopes of getting rid of some of them.  You can find the store here:  www.ndbex.etsy.com.  So far I haven’t sold anything but there is still hope in me to get rid of some things.  I made them pretty cheap!

Double dosing with the new drug and the Cymbalta is still a hellacious experience.  I was laid up in front of my computer all day because of it.  I hope I can get this out of my system soon.  In order to get away from all the stress, Ron and I booked a cabin for the weekend down by Stockton Lake.  It’s only a couple hours away, we can take the dogs and we’ve been there before.  If we can afford it, we might rent a pontoon and spend Saturday morning tooling around the lake.  We badly need to get out of town and have some fun.  I’m so excited to go!

That’s my exciting life this week.  Tschus!!

Posted in Needlework, Etsy, Crafts, Embroidery, Cross stitch, Hobbies, Photography, Cymbalta, Health | No Comments »

4. June 2009 by Bex.

I started an account on Imagekind.com a while ago.  It’s a lot like art.com but anyone can upload images to sell.  It’s also a great way of connecting with other artists, most of whom are commercial artists.  Also people start accounts there so they can print and frame their images.  Everyday they feature certain artists and artwork and today one of mine is there.  I’m really happy and excited about it.  I’ve been in a creative slump lately and this was just the motivation I needed to continue.

I have a couple photography field trips planned.  I’d like to visit some of the area historic cemeteries.  There is also a KC Zombie Walk tomorrow downtown.  What a cool opportunity to get some unique shots!  Here is the link: http://www.myspace.com/kczombies.  I think it will be unique and fun and it coincides with First Friday in the Crossroads Art District.  http://www.kccrossroads.org/  I’ll be sure to post images later.

I also want to mention today that I got a bunch of free tickets to the Narnia exhibit.  If any of the locals are interested in going, I can give you a ticket or two.  Please let me know and I’ll hook you up!  I think it’s safe to say that the success of the exhibit will help to extend my job and the jobs of many others.  Kind of a big deal.

That’s my exciting news.  I have to say I’m tickled freakin’ pink about the photo site.  It really makes me want to keep trying.  I never expect to make a dime from anything I shoot.  I’m simply doing it because I love it.  It’s a great outlet for an introvert like me.

I leave you with my favorite youtube video of the day, Advanced Cat Yodeling:

Posted in Photography, Work, Museum Exhibits, Hobbies | No Comments »