Alright, I was not going to comment to much on this because well frankly I don’t really give a flying hoot about Duck Dynasty as a show. I do not watch it, I do not understand why the merchandise is everywhere. I do not understand the whole phenomenon as a whole. Then again I don’t understand all the reality TV things anyways. I digress.

So southern man who is known as a very conservative Christian spouted off at the mouth and showed that he is really a bigot, and everyone is really surprised? I mean seriously? Now I do not agree with what he said one bit, in fact I think what he said is about as foul as you can get. EVEN if his supporters are claiming but he wouldn’t treat them rude, or whatever it was he said after the bigot part. I am sure I am lumped into his bad people list because I am a Pagan and guess what, I am just fine with that. Plenty of people closer to me then some random millionaire with a beard have lumped me into that box and I am okay with it.

So everyone else is spouting that he shouldn’t have been fired and that it violated his right to free speech.  Sorry folks WRONG. He has the right to say whatever he wants and he did say it and no one said he couldn’t say it. However it is also the companies right to want to distance themselves from someone with those kind of views. Does no one remember the whole Dixie Chicks fiasco years ago? Kind of the same thing, only back then people were all for the Dixie Chicks getting what they got.

Not to mention I would also point out to the supporters that A&E did not actually fire him, they suspended him. There is a difference. Same as would be for a person in a real job place. You have a right to go in and tell your employer they suck or something else and they have a right to suspend or fire you.

So yes..Phil Robertson has a right to spout off at the mouth and sound like a bigot.

And A&E has a right to want to distance themselves from those kinds of views.

And I have a right to think it is all just getting way to much news play..and once again say, People are REALLY surprised?

Those who have known me for any length of time know that I am not usually a coffee person. I will once in a while have a Mocha or some such from a fancy coffee shop when at a Book club or what but usually even then stick to hot coco. That has all changed. I know insert gasps and looking to see if Satan is ice skating here. On a wild hair when we were shopping a few weeks ago I decided to get some Gevalia Chocolate Mocha coffee grind. I don’t know why I decided to get it, but I did the theory is well if I don’t drink it I know who will so it won’t go to waste. The man loves coffee and will drink any kind without grudge. Even as I was purchasing it I was saying, “I know I am not going to like it”, I just don’t like coffee. I LOVE the smell though which is why every once in a while I get a wild hair to try something.

The Gevalia sat..and sat a while longer while I eyeballed the bag. Then one particularly rainy and chilly day I said alright it is time to try it. I followed the directions on the bag and brewed up a lovely smelling pot. Well now what? I mused well duh make up a cup. So I poured, decided two sugars and a splash of milk would be to my liking and with trepidation took my first sip. Now there was not fireworks or angels singing or any of that but my taste buds said “CHOCOLATEY GOODNESS”. I was sold. This is by far the most enjoyable cup of coffee I have ever had. I enjoyed the first sip to the last sip, and have had more then one cup now to know for sure that I do like it and it was not just a fluke. I finally see what all the coffee drinkers enjoyed so much!

That is not to say I think I will like all coffee now and suddenly become some big coffee expert but hey I found one I like and it is a good thing.

Three cheers for a Cup of Johan.

You know I have found it is very hard to create when you always feel exhausted. I love my art, I love my reading I love all of it. Alas I have not been getting much more than Work Work work work work work work..brain freeze work work work work done. Because I do not seem to be able to get even my small amount of sleep that I usually run on. So please pardon if this posts heads off in several directions because I just can not seem to pull my focus to anything but Work work work work work.

I could not sleep when I tried to nap last night, so what do I end up doing? Watching Hoarders. Yup that show. No matter how clean my house or the area I am in at the time I watch that show is I feel the need to clean. Not just clean but throw everything under the sun out and scrub the bare house with a tooth brush. I can not be the only one who gets that feeling when I watch hoarders am I? I sure hope not. I really do need to be banned from watching it.

In other news just in the last 12 hours or so Jellie seems to be coming around to be more of her usual self. For those who don’t know, this is Jellie..

I have had Jellie since she was a teeny tiny should still have been on Mama with milk kitten. I also had Jellie’s sister Bellie (yes Jellie & Bellie). They were as close as close could be you never saw one without the other. Prime example..when Jellie had to be in the cone of shame..

Going on two years ago now Bellie had a sudden heart attack and passed away. Jellie spent days crying and looking for her sister, she just did not know what to do. At the back side of several days Jellie took up residence on the kitchen counters, and other then to go to the litterbox she did not come down off the run of countertops for anything. We just took to calling her counter kitty accepting that this was how she was coping with the loss of her sister and it was going to be how it was from now on.

Until last night. She was spotted in the library peeking in on the new arrival Bastet (more on her later) and than it was onto the bedroom, on the bed..cuddling up in the blankets with her Son Little A. She did make two runs back to the counter, Just to make sure she could I suppose. Alas back to the bed and more interaction and cuddling. I think Jellie has finally turned a corner and let go of her deep grief. I think she will always miss her sister Bellie they were two peas in a pod, but something about Bastet gave her a new look on things. Of course only time will tell if she is done being a counter kitty for good…now if Only she could teach me how to sleep like she does.

So I have epicly failed in doing my weekly Meme’s on this blog for a while. I would use the excuse that I am busy, which I am but it does really sound like an excuse. So I am just reminding myself that this is the year of blogging for fun and if I make the Meme’s I make the Meme’s if I do not, I do not and I am not going to be up overly upset about it. I feel better after I remind myself of that. There is also the fact that I am seriously very swamped and busy.

Readable Kingdom is officially up and running. I will make a separate whoohoo post about that sometime this weekend. That took a fair amount of time and still is while I work on promoting it.

One thing I have been doing is spending some time on Deviant art and looking through the stuff that people post there. A lot of really good talent is on there and I find the process of looking through things relaxing.

This right here has to be one of my favorite pieces that I have found so far. I love Pasha (duh) and this artist has truly caught the light and look in his eyes. Really amazing don’t you think?

I realized after looking that this post is rather belated. I have had this ink for several weeks now as I got it just about a week and a half after I got my Faithfully ink maybe two weeks. I love it no less of course I have just been a little bit busy with things.

While my Lilium tat was the next one I thought I would get I ended up needing to get a tribute to my lost animals before. So it went on my left arm for some balance on the sides and I have an appointment for my Birthday the exact day even to get Lilium.

Here is the work as I put it on paper:

and here is how it turned out as a fresh ink, I have not taken one yet since it has healed I will soon as well as my other one the Faithfully tat.

Once again Scotty has done a fantastic job on my ink. At the time I also got my ankh retouched he agreed with me that it had faded well. A true artist to the core he did the touch up for free. I have at least five more planned three of them have taken form on paper but the last two haven’t yet I will post at a later date to show the planned ideas.

So anyone who knows me knows I have ink and I am not afraid of ink. I think it is an artistic expression. There are some forms of ink I personally do not care for however. One of them is names, I think putting a name (unless its like your Mom a child or a lost loved one ect) on you is asking for trouble its like your asking for a break up. My Dad had my Mom’s name on his arm and guess what? Divorced. That said I am not against romantic ink for a loved one.

Hubby and I will have our 7th wedding anniversary in October and have been a couple for 9 years total now. That is a goodly long time yes? Almost a decade. He thinks the ink on me is sexy and I wanted to do some ink in honor of him. Of course I do not do the name thing. I also wanted something that would suit both us and my tastes.

This is the design I came up with..a Claddagh with the name of our song under it. Yes our song is Journey’s Faithfully. It is also a nice word in general to go with the Irish piece.

So I set up my appointment and was a very happy camper. I got my design put on Yesterday. I am SO happy with it. The Claddagh ended up being the main piece of a full anklet. The stencil application itself took 20 mins and it was another hour and a half or so of sitting in the chair to have the work done. This was the longest I have sat yet for a tattoo and a new place for me. I will not say it didn’t hurt because it did. However it is so worth it and I am proud of myself for not needing to stop and take a break at all. My Fantastic artist in fact said several times I looked to comfortable Ha ha. The pictures do not do this justice. The beads look real and the flow of the black is stunning the Claddagh itself pops with some white highlights I am SO pleased.

I already have planned my next work and have had it priced with my awesome Artist. It will be for my 30th bday (gads am I going to be 30 already?) It is an ode to my love of writing, to Thomas Jefferson and well..A little Knights Tale.

So there is my little bit of art for the week. I will of course post some ATC’s soon too 😉

Well we know it has been talked about for years. But the announcement this morning was that it is official the post office will stop delivering Saturday mail of letters and such in August. They will still deliver packages however. So my mail friends what do you think of that?

I myself do not like it for a couple of reasons. 1 reason costs seem to be going up but mail is slower and slower. With the other close downs that they have had I have noticed my mail is 2 or so days slower than it used to be, so Saturday mail was nice and at least I did not worry *to* much. The second reason I do not like this is that you should either have Saturday mail or not. I can not see how it is going to save a whole lot by still delivering packages as you will still have workers out on the roads,ect. If you can drop off a package (yes I know they cost more to ship therefore more money) why cant you drop off the letters too?

So my mail friends what do you think?

There is something wonderful about getting a letter in the mail, from an old friend of a new friend. I think many people have forgotten that simple joy in this modern era of e-mail and such. Now do not get me wrong I like e-mail I use it, I use instant messenger as well. However there is some kind of pure satisfying joy that I get when I open up my mail box and see those lovely stamped envelopes.

Knowing that someone sat down and took the time to pic what they would write on and with, and write the letter has a certain joy to it. I know when I write to some of my friends and family I take a great deal of time being careful in the selection of what I will send them. I wish that the art of letter writing was not so forgotten. I wish that when I told people I write letters they didn’t look at me and go “REALLY?!” like it was an oddity. You know it was not so long ago that it was perfectly normal to have regular correspondence with people. I learned about the joy of sending and getting mail from both my Great Grandmother and my Grandmother.

I am often amused when co-workers or others have panic attacks over their internet being down. Now granted I do not like it anymore than the next person, especially if I am working on a project when it goes down. However I made a resolution sometime ago to not let it get to me so much. To remember how much I love to do things that have nothing to do with the computer. Craft something! Read another book! Write another letter!

Simply sit back and enjoy sending a letter to get one back.

“You should date a girl who reads.
Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes, who has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she has found the book she wants. You see that weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a secondhand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow and worn.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry and in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things must come to end, but that you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.”

— Rosemarie Urquico

So I know I have been a bad blogger the last few months. I shall be making that better in the new year. I promise folks I do. It has not just been the lack of blogging that has escaped me. I missed the announcement that once again we will be having postal rate hikes. I understand that (like just about everything) the USPS is suffering. I love USPS I send a lot of mail after all and most of it gets to where it is going. However I have a problem with the rate hike and it is not the one you might think.

I have no real issue with the money side of it. The US is still one of (if not thee) cheapest places for letter mailing. Moreover can you really do anything so satisfying anywhere else in for less than a dollar? My problem is that I wish they would knock it off with the yearly hikes and just sit down and decide what amount is actually going to HELP the problems and then hike it to that. Would that really be so hard really?

My other beef is this, while I LOVE new stamp designs and I do trust me I do. I wish they would not release as many as they do. Of course keeping the rates a steady amount would help (international and postcard stamps). It can not be cheap to get the designs done, test them , put them into production ect. Oh well what can you do? I will still use the USPS and I will still encourage people to send mail.

So at the end of this little rant of a post. I shall post what the new hikes (and services) shall be.

Highlights of the new single-piece First-Class Mail pricing, effective Jan. 27, 2013 include:

• Letters (1oz.) — 1-cent increase to 46 cents
• Letters additional ounces — unchanged at 20 cents
• Letters to all international destinations (1oz.) — $1.10
• Postcards — 1-cent increase to 33 cents

The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) will review the prices before they become effective Jan. 27, 2013. Today’s Shipping and Mailing price filings will be available on the PRC website at www.prc.gov and the new Mailing Service prices will also be available at http://pe.usps.com.

Shipping Services
Several new Shipping Services products will be available in January. Free tracking will be offered to all competitive packages, including retail Priority Mail and Parcel Post (recently renamed Standard Post).

Also new, customers shipping Critical Mail letters and flats will now have the option of receiving a signature upon delivery as part of the service offering.

A large variety of flat-rate boxes and envelopes for Express Mail and Priority Mail, including the padded and legal-sized flat rate envelopes will continue to be offered by the Postal Service.

New domestic retail pricing for Priority Mail Flat Rate products include:  (From the USPS site)

• Small box — $5.80
• Medium box — $12.35
• Large box — $16.85
• Large APO/FPO box — $14.85
• Regular envelope — $5.60
• Legal envelope — $5.75
• Padded envelope — $5.95