Any time a client comes to me know with images that they want me to use on their website I use it, and on several occasions it has saved my butt. After a time when I used a fairy image to make a header for someone and then found out that it was a copyrighted image I made sure to double and triple check usually by asking friends if they’d seen it being used anywhere, as I have several friends who are pretty active in artistic circles.

Now I can check myself.

Today a client came to me with an image of a double rainbow arching over a tree. As soon as I saw it I knew that it was a stolen image, and I knew that she had probably innocently saved it from an email forward because it looked pretty with no idea that it was someone’s creation. I’ve seen the image all over the web and when I put it into tin-eye it popped up on many forums and many people’s websites lumped in long lists of images that were probably also stolen from other places.

I did however turn up the original creator of the image D. Bush from Missouri Skies who took the image in 2006 with a fish eye lens.

Sad to say this image is featured in so many places and many people don’t care who originally took the picture. The more I become assured in crafting designs and images the more cautious I become; because I begin to understand the amount of work which goes into making a design. There are many images that are so widely used that they tend towards public domain, but there are many more which are not. They are photographs taken by someone, or artwork drawn by someone which they’ve put in their portfolio and has been taken.

I remember a few months ago reading an article by a comic book artist on deviantART who was berated by a “fan” who came to him with pictures of his artwork which he had printed out from his home computer and flew into a rage when the artist wouldn’t sign them. Given he realized that the “fan” was then going to go home put the pictures on eBay and sell them for a profit because the value came from the artist’s autograph not from the few pence he spent on ink and paper, because that was a greater profit than if he purchased the prints that the artist was selling that day.

Times are tough, true, and everyone is looking to save a little money but we should try to respect that if we do use an image that someone else made we’re stealing from them.

However with a little bit of the Yule windfall money I bought several bottles in different colors: Fish Bowl, Electric Blue and Wildflower the latter at Kore’s request.

Finally, this past Thursday, after our girls day out to watch ‘Legion’ Kore and I broke out the bleach and started to work. Sickness and general ill-feeling meant it wasn’t until last night that I could color my hair. I wasn’t too happy about this, but when you’re sneezing and coughing every few minutes the last thing you want to do is try to color your hair.
I just don’t like being bleached because of the way it looks. See?

I wore the head scarf for a few days so I didn’t have to see it, plus the bleach messed with my hair in other ways, and I was paranoid I’d keep messing with the tangles and knots and break a lot of the strands off. I do torture my hair so; but that’s the other reason I really like Special Effects dye. Once you do get it in it helps to rejuvenate your hair. It’s the one dye product I’ve used that actually leaves my hair feeling better after the dye job than before, and that’s without having to add extra tinctures and serums and things to it after dying.

I enlisted Kore’s help to dye the hair as I tend to make a HUGE mess, and this time I’d remembered to buy petroleum jelly which means I’m not all smurf faced this morning ^^ though I can’t see my back which we forgot to jelly.

I went with Fish Bowl in the front and Electric Blue for the rest, and even with a lot of the black dye not bleaching out very well I think the effect looks pretty awesome. I have had some hair loss which is to be expected, but not as much as I feared, about as much as I tend to lose in general from day to day given I have SO much hair. We used an entire bottle of Electric Blue and about 1/3 of the Fish Bowl. Still I should have enough dye to touch this up once, which means I’ll be like this for at least four months if not closer to six. Unless I get sick of it, which I doubt I will.

If you’d like to get your own Special Effects dye I recommend Amphigory wholeheartedly. They’re awesome about getting you what you want, answering questions and their prices aren’t that bad either, which helps. When I ordered this past batch they were still $10.99 a bottle, it has gone up to $11.49 plus shipping; but if you buy bulk like I do it’s an awesome deal, and I’d much rather pay these prices and wait a couple of days to get the dye, than go to a store and pay $15 a bottle for something which will fade out in a couple of washings. As I say I can maintain the Special Effects so that it lasts several months (they advise 4-6 weeks) but if you’re careful about shampooing and keep the water temperature luke warm when washing your hair it’ll keep at least 3 months if not longer.

Seriously I need to see if the company needs a spokesperson.

My eating habits have been pretty crappy too, if I’m being honest. There have been a few good meals in there, tuna salad and grilled salmon with asparagus and wild rice, but then there’s been a lot of crappy meals in there that involved cookies, candy and scones with jam and cream, and the five days of being sedentary other than the 7 hours at work.

However, despite all that and the fact that I wasn’t using even safe diet pills or unsafe ones. I did stick to my NO SODA and NO CAFFEINE rules, and I’ve lost 4.4lbs, so something good is going on.

That’s my weighing scale from this morning. I was very surprised, because I expected to have not lost, or even put on a pound or two. This does not mean I’m going to continue eating badly. In fact this has spurred me with great passion to fix that portion of my diet as well.

We had another walk with Mum and Dee (the dog) this morning, and depending on my work schedule that’s going to continue every day that we can, weather pending and appointments and all that. Until my stamina is built up, then I’m going to slowly integrate Couch to 5K back in until I can do week 1 of that properly and then move on with that.

Anyway, things have to be done. I weighed myself the other day after a shower and I was 243.6 but this morning doing my Official Weigh-In I was 248.4, of course I am clothed, but I’ve also been drinking a lot of soda lately which is another thing which is going to go starting tomorrow. I figure tomorrow or perhaps this afternoon if I can get some munchkin free time I’ll do my first Couch 2 5K workout and then we’ll go from there, doing one every few days. I’ve had issues with work outs before because of the FMS, but I think Couch 2 5K will be a good way to ease into things without killing myself the way I have in the past trying to work out every day and overdoing it and triggering a Flare of Doom.

So, here’s how I look right now, well 10 minutes ago.

And the official weight log.

This post will be edited later to include measurements.

I’m going to cut out soda once more, even the diet because that makes me sluggish. In preparation we’ve gotten in a lot of crystal light and things like that to encourage me to drink more water, and we’ve also got a lot of tea which has some caffeine but is lower than the soda and coffee, of course.

I lost 20lbs last year but have put quite a bit back on, as I said earlier, and I know that a big part of that is the lack of exercise in my routine. I was walking every other day around our neighborhood and so on but that went by the wayside during the zombie-time and hasn’t been picked back up yet. Though I have been pretty active the past week or so with us doing the whole House War thing, but I need a regime and I’ve heard a lot about Couch to 5K from several online friends and at least one of those also has fibromyalgia and was able to use the workout program without having any major issues, so that’s very promising to me.

I’ll update here once per week about the progress, this will probably be Wednesdays from now on because I know I’ll not be at work Mondays and Wednesdays given Kore is in class from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. (not including drive home). So, no work those days

We’ve also ALL pledged to stick with this, so this is double record of that, and anyone who doesn’t do the workout if they’re out on a work out day is held accountable. This is for all of us. Regaining our health is very important physical AND mental.

Current measurable tally is that we’ve thrown out 5 garabage bags worth of stuff that was un-Freecycleable (broken, missing parts, expired, extremely nasty) and gone through 4 paper towel rolls, but this is good, because it’s giving us more space, and we’re taking back the house.

I was telling Kore we didn’t clean this thoroughly when we moved in, but then we moved in very quickly. We had only a few days to get out of the apartment given we signed the paperwork on the 21st, and only had the UHaul for the 22nd and had to be out of the apartment by the 31st.

Anyway, here’s our before and after pictures. I figure publicly logging this will be a triple encouragement for us to not let things get this bad again. We’re also going to write up a list of chores and what has to be done how often to help everyone in the house keep track of things they can be doing to keep the house in order

Main bathroom before

Master bathroom before

It took us three hours to get them both cleaned and it was pretty darn gross in some spots given certain areas hadn’t been cleaned properly after the toilet got blocked up.

Main bathroom — Reveal

Master bathroom — Reveal

We picked up new toilet brushes for each bathroom and new trash cans too, and given everyone has a problem with the way the trash cans were going Kore added a helpful note to them so that we’ll hopefully remember to put trash bags in them which will prevent them getting so grody and make them easier to change on trash day.

After we get everything cleaned up there will only be the cosmetic things which need to be done to the house from now on. We need to get the floor tiles replaced in the bathroom and the hallway and finish the exterior and interior painting that we need to do. We have all the paint already it’s just a matter of getting things done. That will be a less intensive thing done a little bit a time though. I’m so incredibly achy and sore all over this morning and was most of yesterday too. I can see I’m going to be taking some of my “horse” pain pills today. They got that nickname because they’re 800mg and they’re HUGE.

Anyway, I really need to get on. I have to get a quick breakfast and then knock on Kore’s door so that we can get going with the days’ work load. I work tomorrow but hubbie is off and has promised to pull out the refrigerator and clean behind it and help Kore with the rest of the living room that we don’t get to today. He also has his loft that is his to deal with entirely.

Last night we watched an episode of “Hoarders” to make sure we kept motivated to get things cleaned up. It really did help. I may have to put another one on while I make breakfast.

The maypole guarded the entrance and when we walked in we were invited to participate in the Queen’s Quest, which was a version of Clue where we had to go interview members of the cast who were wearing red ribbons and do tasks for them in order to find out who hadn’t attempted to abduct the Queen and what they hadn’t used, and where it hadn’t happened.

The munchkin was a little freaked out about participating in certain events, he didn’t want to hop on one leg and pretend to have the plague, but he did like playing hot potato with the village children, and also had a lot of fun being swung in the man-powered swing set.

They had ladies doing Arabian dancing on horses before the jousting match was scheduled to take place.

We wandered around a bit more taking in the sights and looking for more red ribbon people. There were a lot of vendors and even a few card readers which makes me wonder about doing that next year if we’re able.

We were walking back by one of the fields after avoiding people learning how to sword fight and saw that there was a falconer doing a show and watched. One of the birds landed right above where we were standing.

After the show we listened to her talking about how she raised the birds and fed them quail and squirrel so they didn’t get a taste for domesticated animals such as chickens or rabbits.

Mum bought the munchkin a sword and shield and he challenged some other boys to a duel and was such a ferocious onslaught that they yielded. As we were walking out he challenged a man about my age to a duel because he saw that he had a sword but he yielded too because his sword was a replica in bubble wrap.

We also talked to some people from SCA who invited Mum and I to attend their meets in the neighboring town. It’s tempting especially when they said they have mead making classes from time to time.

Much of Friday was taken up with wedding preparations. Nephew, hubbie, munchkin and I escaped for a little while just before lunch to go to one of the restaurants in town “The Dimmick Inn” as we’d been told that they had a buffalo calamari that was really, really good. Which was absolutely true.

We arrived back in time for rehearsal, but as with most weddings things didn’t go quite according to plan. However, the wedding was able to go off a little later than intended, but was still a lot of fun. We had to swear before those assembled that we knew the bride and groom were free of other promises and ill-intent, and after the vows we got to beat them with pine boughs as a fertility blessing.

Then the bride and groom walked out through a sword arch that we, that is to say, the “witnesses” or bridesmaids and grooms men were making.

The munchkin played a part too. Towards the end of the ceremony he had the duty to bring the rings up, and he performed that very well. I was so nervous that he would run off with the rings, but he sat with hubbie’s aunt until the appropriate time and then ran the rings straight to his Dad. Everyone thought he was adorable, which I have to say biased as I am, that he was. He was dressed as a viking!

I can’t wait to see “official” pictures, because I know the photographer took several of him goofing around before the ceremony. He kept putting rocks in his helmet and pouring them over his head.

After the ceremony we went to the feasting hall where we had good food, lots of mead, and wonderful entertainment. An acting troupe put on “Tales from the Edda” depicting Loki and Odin having a heated argument about who had the right to bless the happy couple on their wedding day, it was hilarious, especially Thor in a dress being married to an ogre, and an awesome band called Norse Wind played during the second half of the reception. My husband was quite taken with the fact that the female lead also played a didgeridoo.

Towards the end of the night the munchkin was getting tired, so I took him back up to the cabin. He passed out fairly quickly but I had a hard time getting to sleep.

The next day was a lot more relaxed and slow for us. We woke up late and missed breakfast, so went into town to a local diner, and ate there. On the way back I realized that we were leaving the next day so it would be my last opportunity to get shots of the lake and weir on the road up to the camp so I pulled over to the side of the road and hopped out. Hubbie was a little perplexed but he and the munchkin soon followed, and we took a few more shots. I’m still in awe that my cell phone can take decent photos. I just wish it had a flash. I miss my digital camera!

When we got back to the camp all of us flaked out and fell asleep in the cabin for a while, which meant we missed the viking games. That was disappointing.

That night after dinner, hubbie looked after the munchkin who had caught a bug somewhere along the line and was running a fever. He said it was only fair I had a night out by myself given the first night he had gone with nephew and played poker. So, SIL, BIL and I went to the auction and then to the Odin blot. That was a really wonderful experience. I felt so connected to everyone and everything, and such power when the priest blessed me with Odin’s spear. I wrote out a list of things I was sacrificing and giving up and pledged myself. I was so energized when I got back, which was a little counter productive because we had to leave at 3 a.m. to drive back to Newark and get our plane, but I managed to sleep, and also slept a little on the plane.

We made good time back to the airport and had no problems with the rental car place this time, and didn’t get eaten by the train either.

We’re hoping to be able to go to ECT again next year; but it’s one of those things we’ll have to play by ear.

Cross-posted from twitpic

We’ve had the paint a while so it was a bit separated when we first opened it.

Thankfully we elected to do the new walls first which proved to be smart, as they were roughly plastered, and took a lot of paint and trouble to paint, we had to keep going over certain areas again because we would miss certain parts of the wall. There were times both of us were wishing it was just a steel buildings. In contrast the second day was a lot easier because were painting the other wall which was not textured plaster just flat.

Roomie painted a tree on one part of the wall, and we painted various other good look charms onto the walls and painted over them. Although we discovered that at certain angles you can still see the tree through the paint.

We have almost a whole can of paint left, which is interesting, to do the new plaster took almost an entire can of paint, and then largest wall took the remainder of that can and two pours from the new can; but the leftover paint is useful because there are still patches on the new construction where the plaster is showing through.

Roomie still has to pick out what color she wants to do the trim, but the color goes very well with the curtains she made. She’s decided it’s a bit of an earth and sky motif so the trim is probably going to be a shade of green of some sort.

When we moved into our first apartment, we thought we weren’t going to get in until at least the February, but apparently the fact that I was pregnant and my husband was a police officer bumped us up on the list and we got to move in on December 16th. I had gone up to Target after the next work day to pick up a few things we realized that we needed, and they had the Chibi Tree on sale along with some decorations and lights, and so I bought them, and put them up.

The Chibi Tree was great in that it would fit into any kind of apartment. We could put it on top of the entertainment center and gather the gifts around it until we went to the in-laws for festivities.

Last year we were just moving into this place on the 21-23 so everything was here, there and everywhere, but on the second night I found the Chibi Tree and put it up (as shown in the picture) and so we had at least some decorations up on the holiday.

In the after Christmas sales, my Mum and I picked up a lot of decorations for a very good price. I picked up a six-foot tree, a tree skirt, and a tree topper for less than the regular price of the tree itself, along with some lengths of silver and white garland.

It’s so strange to me but also really nifty that we actually have a “grown up” tree now. It can support most of the ornaments that we’ve had without toppling over, and I have to admit I really like the way that it looks.

Each year I get one new ornament to commemorate the year, one of the first ones we got was a little bird house with two birds on it, which was a gift from my mother-in-law the Yule after we got engaged.

The first year we had the munchkin my Mum got a police officer ornament and put his name on it. We also have the star that was used as a tree topper on the chibi-tree, and other beaded ornaments I’ve picked up because they seem nifty. I have some metal stars and metal snowflakes.

I also have an angel that was hand-painted by my former boss, and given to me the Christmas efore I left the library.

I realize how many stories that we have around the ornaments, and I think it’s great to have these things to share with the munchkin and show the different things that we’ve gone through and why I picked a certain ornament for which year.

This year I picked up a small silver angel with a trumpet, you can just make them out in the picture of the top of the tree. This is for my husband. His faith is Catholic, and he’s also our guardian angel. We have a lot more downs than ups this past year, but still things have worked out. It’s hard to not feel as though there’s someone watching out for us, perhaps from both our faiths.