Stuff that I enjoy, to an extent, but that I’m not able to fully involve myself in. For awhile there, this holiday season, I got back into the QBee, and determined to be active and an all ’round fantastic little member. But that lasted less than a month. I finally decided to close my own TCG, Bibliophile, and put myself on hold in the one TCG that I’m still in - that is still active, anyway. I’m probably going to leave that, as well. My dolling has dropped off sharply; while I still enjoy doing it, I just don’t have the urge to doll that I had when I rediscovered it ages ago. Its more of an occasional hobby now, at best.

Things with Nepheliad seem to have stalled. I haven’t contacted Carole, nor has she contacted me, in ages. I’d still like to do it - we had some really great plans for it, between the two of us, but at the moment, I’m just not moved to do so. Its sad. I was really excited about that for awhile. Part of the reason it stalled out, though was internet connection. I got the idea for it right around the time I switched form DSL to dial-up, and that just made anything TCG-related unbearably time-consuming.

I never did manage to upload all the pictures I’d wanted & put them on this site. I probably won’t get around to it. Its the sort of thing I might go back and do when Keslyn goes to school, but for now I’m going to keep them on my machine and just spend the time that would have taken enjoying her.

I haven’t gotten in touch with my best friend since… Christmastime. Which is a shame. I’d like to know how she’s doing, and how big her daughter has gotten. I just never seem to remember to squish stuff like that into the day. Truth be told, the PTRs take up so much concentration while I’m doing them that, by the time I’m finished for the day, I just don’t even want to look at my computer anymore.

And I’ve missed two birthdays. Or will have, by the time its a reasonable hour back in Michigan tomorrow. So, happy birthday to my brother Freddy Fred. And happy birthday to my friend, Derick.

And here’s hoping everyone else has more free time than me.

For anyone who wanted to buy gifts but had no idea what to get us:

John’s Amazon

Kathleen’s Amazon

Keslyn’s Amazon

Happy holidays, folks.

And Joe & John are going to dress up for Halloween, as well. I probably won’t be… The theme is EQ characters, and Joe really went all out and bought himself armor and ears and a sword and face paint… John got a staff (which Keslyn refers to as “The Ooga-Booga”, since that’s teh sound John made when he showed it to her), and is working on some sort of kilt idea. Dunno. It would have required too much effort & money to recreate one of my old EQ characters. If I go as anything, it’ll likely be a witch - all I’d need to buy is a hat, that way.

Work-Type-Stuff - I’m doing some volunteer work for The Bigfoot Discovery Project. Volunteer? Yes, volunteer. Why, you may be wondering, am I working for free when I could really use cash? Portfolio, people. Its good work experience, and its an… Unusual project to be working on. And, actually, the whole museum thing that they’ve got is only an hour or so away in the Santa Cruz mtns, so if I got itchy to get more involved, its not outside the realm of possibility. Mostly the portfolio, though. Its incredibly difficult to get work when you haven’t had work in the past. Especially when you’re self-taught and don’t have a degree to back you up. So. I’ve been surfing Craigslist awhile, looking for people who need web work done, and volunteering my time.

Housing-Type-Stuff - We still haven’t gotten in touch with the guy that John said wanted to rent to us. So. Its all still up in the air. I really want my dsl back.

Free-Time-Stuff - Free time? What free time? I’ve been making more dolls. They’re up on the Blooms section. I’ve been working more on Nepheliad, and I expect to have that functional and ready to go by December 1st. Carole’s been a huge help, making card sets. I hate making card sets. Quilting, too, lately. I’ve nearly finished Keslyn’s quilt. John hooked upt he sewing machine for me, so that’s going a little faster. I’m also crocheting a hat. Its… An experience. Heh. And I’ve been coloring a lot, Keslyn LOVES to color, but lately she’s figured out how easy it is to break crayons.

The biggest downside to that is that I’m very anal about my crayons. I like to have them all put back in order, all UNpeeled, all very neat and tidy and NOT broken. I’m a crayon-nazi.

But I’m trying to relax. A little. I draw the line at chewing on them!

Since then, though, I’ve signed up with a few others, and have actually been paid by these (within days) so far - if anyone’s interested:

GainMail
GainPay

Didn’t have much luck with affiliate programs, as I don’t really get that much traffic to my site. Adsense was/is a bust for me, too.

Tried doing the paid surveys, too, but I don’t qualify for many of them. I have to say - this trying to earn money from home is kicking my butt. Anyone got any better ideas (better than PTRs)? I don’t have anything to sell, I don’t have a valuable service I can offer, and I don’t have a fast internet connection. But. I still wanna bring in some extra spending money. So, if you have any ideas, or methods that work for you - shoot ‘em at me!

Nevermind. I get that song stuck in my head all the time!  Its a commercial right now, in Grey’s Anatomy, which means that I have about 3.5 minutes to blog. Lucky, because that’s about all the time this update is going to take.

All that PTR stuff I’ve been doing for a couple weeks? Paying off. Sort of. If things keep on the current track, I should be able to steadily make enough to at least pay for my webhosting, which is nice. One little worry I can forget about. If I get really lucky, I may make a few bucks extra to begin putting towards other debts. I have a lot of little debts. I just need to collect them all so I can pay them off. I’m talking really little. Like 9.99 for a magazine thing. 15.00 for a book club thing. Tiny little debts that I could have paid off ages ago, but forgot about, or misplaced, or whatever.

Oh. Show’s back on. G’night!

I feel confident that I got my side out, at least, and I hope that anyone who stops by from there, who knew of the situation can keep an open mind and not hold against me what was, essentially, a huge misunderstanding. You can be sure I’ll be alot more careful choosing my words from now on, though - lesson learned the hard way.

I’ll miss FF, I was having tons of fun there, and my biggest regret about the whole experience is something that was never in my control: I wish that when the issue first arose, the powers that be had contacted me for an explanation first. It would have saved a lot of people a lot of time. Not to mention a lot of anxiety (especially on my part).

Happy ending? Not really. But it could have been worse. They could have been right. ;)

And I’ve joined a new forum to take the place of the old, and am hoping that this ugliness doesn’t follow me over there. Fairytopia, here I come!

So, okay, some of you know I’ve begun dolling again. I’d even made some bases, and joined some forums.

But.

There’s a problem. My first base (one that I had referred to as “from scratch”) was based on artwork that wasn’t my own. I should have worded myself differently I guess, because I got banned from one of my favorite forums. “By scratch” was only supposed to mean that it wasn’t a recolor or a face/pose edit of another base - not that the work I based it on was mine. I meant only the shading. So. Banned I am, and quite upset. I’ve removed the base in question, as well as another set of bases that may or may not have also bee an issue, as they were also based on artwork. I’ve contacted the forum admins regarding the issue, and apologize and explained, and now I’m apologizing and explaining here, as well. I’m sorry for the confusion, and I never intended to pass off someone else’s artwork as my own.

The art in question was that of Johanna Brummer. So. Lovely art. Lovely Franctured Fairy Tales.

Bad Keskat.

I’m very sorry, everyone, and I hope that you can forgive me for this terrible mistake, and be assured hat it will never happen again.

And I’ve started dolling once again (which is what the new site section is all about), and base-making, which is tedious and frustrating and very satisfying when it all works out.

And I spent hours updating Keslyn’s Amazon wishlist, for anyone out there who wants to buy her things. Go here to see it in all its oh-so-current glory. Also linked into the sidebar. That project came about because Keslyn’s grandparents (John’s folks) are buying her costume this year, and Amazon seemed the easiest way to show them what we wanted. So, thanks for the costume and the boost in the rear to get the thing up-to-date.

And some (potentially) good news: we may be moving! Not to Michigan, not yet, but out of this restyled frat house semi-studio that is entirely too small for the three of us, and into a 2 bedroom garage-turned-cottage owned by a guy that John has been doing some side work for. And for $60 less a month! With more space, we could get out of the storage unit we’re renting (which costs us another $125 a month). So this place, provided it works out, could save us nearly $200 a month. I’m excited, but trying not to be too excited - we’ve had other similar housing options fall through on us in the past.

Still, its looking good, so keep your fingers crossed for us!

Uhm.

No, actually, I just took them off, because I didn’t like the slow load time (for me). So. Eh. Gone they be, but there’s a new section in town, to mollify you. Blooms is up, and houses all my pixel/digital art - or will house, when I finish getting them all posted. Right now its just dolls.

Didja notice the little theme I’ve got going on? TresCay blog categories “In The Garden”, “The Rose”, “The Thorn”, “The Sprout”… Directories titled “Garden”, “Weeds”, “Blooms”… See it? See the theme? Its all… Grow-y. Woo! I have a theme! And it has nothing at all to do with anything - layout, personal life, hobbies… Its just a random theme. Neat, huh?

Its breast cancer awareness month! So, since I’m of the mind that there is no excuse not to educate & check yourself, and I want to spread the awareness… I made a doll. She’s totally, 100% adoptable, and I don’t care if you link her back to me or not. Base by ILCK.

Its also the start of The Quilting Bee’s annual Trick or Treat event - which I really love. Its the first activity I got to participate in fully when I joined, and its the one I have the most fun with. So. Go check it (and the QBee) out - remember, though, its only for members!

And it rained here yesterday! I love rain, and (finally) the rainy season has started! Its like… The only kind of weather we get here in the Bay area, so I’m extra-excited about it.

In other news - I don’t know why my site is still visible. As far as I know, it hasn’t been paid yet, and still they’ve kept me up. I love my host! I hope I can get them paid soon. I’m sure they do, too. Heh. PHPWebhosting - much lovliness.