Sunday, June 26, 2011

Flood Update

Hwy 30, the last highway that would lead us out of town, had a levee breach yesterday, and is on the verge of being closed. It has been raining in my town for the past two days. For those of you who have been worried, my family is safe and sound over at a friend's house (Mary). She has been kind enough to let us live at her house until things settle down a bit, as we were not looking forward to being trapped in our house. Most, if not all, of the highways leading out of my town are closed. To return home for anything will take us at least an hour or so when Hwy 30 is officially closed.

Thankfully, our house is on a hill and will be minimally affected by the flood. If anything in my house were to flood, it would be the garage, and maybe the basement, but the house itself would be safe, along with important documents that are in a waterproof and fireproof safe.

Thank you to everyone who has kept us in their prayers! We are healthy and safe and far away from the flood as humanly possible.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Oh. Joy.

Thank you, unrelenting stress.
And thank you, opressive depression.

Chunks of my hair, I repeat, CHUNKS OF MY HAIR are falling out. For once, I am thankful for the ungodly amount of hair I have, even though it is fine in texture. If all else fails and I end up with bald spots, I at least already know I look awesome with a shaved head.

I'm in a complete fog. I feel do disoriented and full of rage.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Missouri River Flood 2011

It has come to my attention that, though everyone was alerted nationwide about the tornadoes in the south a few months back, no one is being alerted about the serious damage being made in the Missouri River Basin here in the Midwest.

My first video about this crisis was posted on June 13. on my pagan-related channel, requesting prayers. My second video was posted on my random channel today, as an update on the high waters. To be clear, this is not affected just my town (Missouri Valley, IA) but all the states and adjacent borders of the Missouri River.

I now leave you with the two videos I posted.

Missouri River Flood 2011 Prayer Request

Missouri River Flood 2011 Hwy 30

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Your Common Sense, Your Best Defense, Lay Wasted and In Vain

I've been worrying.

I feel like all my hard work will be for naught. I'll end up losing all this weight, working my butt off every other day trying to get in shape, not being in therapy for these past almost 6 months for me to take my ASVAB, go to MEPS and then be told "Nope. Sorry. Disqualified. Have a nice day."

I'm barely passing Sociology, not for lack of trying, but because my professor didn't backtrack my grades like he said he would. I'm not going to worry about, though, since I AM passing, and it's because I am awesome. I'm actually pretty psyched about my final paper as it is a topic I am familiar with and enjoy researching (religion.)

I feel like I haven't slept in days and all I ever do is sleep if I'm not busy.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Draw a Labyrinth - wikiHow

How to Draw a Labyrinth

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit


Creating a labyrinth design is fun and it can be used for a puzzle, a logo, a wall picture, a book cover, and many other creative uses. This article explains the intricacies of drawing a labyrinth and provided you're patient, it's actually very easy to achieve and looks awesome.

Steps

  1. Draw eight concentric circles, leaving a small circle that will serve as the labyrinth's center. (Concentric circles sit one inside the other and so on.) Label the circles from 1-8, starting with the largest circle as number 1.
  2. At the labyrinth's center, draw a flower-like pattern. This is like the center of most labyrinths.
  3. Draw two horizontal lines and four vertical lines across the labyrinth, taking care to avoid drawing through the center. The lines should align with the middle of the labyrinth. The lines should be equally spaced apart.
  4. Erase lines to make labyrinth pathways. Starting with the left horizontal line, erase lines in circles 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7. Erase a part of circle 4.
    • When erasing, remember to make the pathway's size equal to the size of the spaces within circles.
  5. Erase the vertical line in the first circle, and leave the rest of them untouched. Erase parts of circles 3, 5 and 7.
  6. Erase the horizontal line in circle 7, and leave the rest of them untouched. Erase parts of circles 2, 4 and 6.
  7. Erase the first vertical line from the left within circles 3, 4 and 7. Leave the second vertical line untouched. Erase the third vertical line from the left within circle 7, leaving the rest untouched.
  8. Continue to erase lines within each circle to complete the pathways.
    • For circle 1, erase the part between the first and second vertical lines.
    • For circles 2 and 6, erase the part between the first and third vertical lines, as well as some from the left.
    • For circles 3, 5 and 7, erase the part between the first and third vertical line, as well as some from the right.
    • For circle 4, erase the part between the second and third vertical line.
    • For circle 8, erase the part between the second and third vertical line.

Video

This video presents a number of "seed patterns" with which to design different labyrinths.

Tips

  • Use a marker to make the pencil lines darker. Or, you could paint the image if preferred.
  • These instructions work for both paper drawing and screen drawing. Try both to see which effect you like the most.

Warnings

  • Have patience. Labyrinths are meant to test it!

Things You'll Need

  • Paper
  • Pen, marker, pencil
  • Eraser
  • Something to display your artwork in or on (optional)

Related wikiHows

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Draw a Labyrinth. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.




Draw a Labyrinth - wikiHow

Sunday, June 05, 2011

You Can Make It Feel So Real

My new piercing is AWESOME. So totally worth it. Just saying.

I was behind two weeks in my Sociology class (mind you, we are now finishing week 2) due to my sister's car accident, the death of Johnny, and last week's concurrent power outages here, that I had until tonight to finish them all. I had hoped to get them all done yesterday, but after writing them all down, it was already passed midnight and I was exhausted. Thankfully, in less than 24 hours, I got caught up with ALL of my homeowork, I have kept in contact with my professor this entire time, and he has ok'd it and is going back into the gradebook to give me full credit. :) I now have to do a paper on the death penalty that is due tomorrow night, but thankfully I have a big chunk of information in my textbook that I can use and only have to add one more reference, that I can easily pull out of my ass. :)

I am very tired and have a lot of things to do in the house that I feel will never get done. J has been washing laundry non stop and I, the dishes. I organized the kitchen so that things (appliances) would be more accessible, but soon everything will be in boxes. So many things have to go. The girls have WAY too many toys, and Grandma's has plenty to spare, so I'm only going to keep things I love, like the pretend play toys, dolls, cars, and building things. All those little annoying toys they have strewn about are going!

The amount of clothing this family has is ridiculous. Thankfully, my friend Rachel is taking all the rest of the baby clothes, as Rose is now in 2T , which means I can now get rid of all the 18mos and 24mos clothes I have...and boy do we have a LOT. All kids shoes under size 6 are going, too.

I was worried about the furniture, but we are taking all of it with us, not to keep. Joey (J's baby brother) is getting married soon and he and is wife-to-be are moving into a new apartment next month. They have nothing, as most newlyweds and college grads do. So they are getting OUR newlyweds furniture. ;) We get to downsize AND help out family. Everybody wins!

Saturday, June 04, 2011

Days Go By

My vacation, in general, went well. I had a friend of the family pass away the first week I was there, so the second week I went to the wake in Wednesday and the funeral on Thursday. I got to see some old friends from childhood, some of whom I hadn't seen in a decade, give or take a year or so. It was nice to see those faces.

I still feel out of it. I'm officially 25 now. I've hit my quarter-life, and I feel like I have accomplished very little. My mother took me out for dinner on the 29th, the day before we left. We said goodbye to everyone on the 30th, stayed at Mary's on the 31st, lounged about on the 1st, and did nothing on the 2nd, my actually birthday. A day like every other day.

Yesterday I went to Grinn and Barrett in Omaha with Michele and her husband and she and I got matching hood (vhc) piercings. J had the lines finished in his tattoo. Needless to say, husbs and I got cut and stabbed, and paid for someone to do it. Mine was free, only because James paid for it as a birthday gift. The three of us (J stayed w/ the girls at home) then had dinner at HuHot. HOLY SHIT THAT FOOD IS DELICIOUS. Just saying.

I have a lot of things to do in the house, but today is dedicated to homework and spiritual work.

I'm in a funk that I need to get out of.