Second, and for my own records, I am still stumped on this whip shading thing. Lining = check. Solid = check. Watered down black to make greywash = check. Whipshading = fail. However, we have an entire huge collection of tattooing dvd’s and whatnot, so maybe one of them explains it in a way that I get? I kind of got it down, but I had to turn the power way down. While Michael said some artists do that for shading, I’d like to figure out how most of them do it without doing so.

Third, I must have these shoes. Someone should get them for me. Yes, I want them in yellow. My Olssons recently broke, and needed re-soling anyway. Was it a hint? A shove to buy these beauties? I don’t know. I have a check coming that will cover them though…

and forth, my new system is working! The kids are keeping up on their daily personal hygeine and daily chores and so am I! I haven’t stuck to it 100%, but my floor is swept, my counter is cleared, and my laundry is (still getting) done. I’ve done four loads in the past two days and it’s pretty much all put away. I cleared out five baskets of clean clothes. (Don’t think me a clothes horse, it was five different people worth of clothes) The compost is out (Michael took it out this morning), the trash goes out tonight, the children and bathed and dressed and fed and we’re getting it done quicker and earlier in the day! They even earned homework points today for starting the Hebrew summer work (and if they finish the book, they get a prize when Hebrew school starts up again, so they win all around on that one).

I made rice today, which turned out over starchy and mushy. I thought a rice maker = idiot proof rice? Apparently not. I made Stitch & Mickey shaped unigari (with fake crab inside and furikake outside), and a terrible krab roll for Fish to take to work. The rice was just wrong Also sent him a handful of fake crab, and some fruit and some soy and furikake on the side. I’ll figure out this bento thing. I just need some practice. I’ll also figure out the rice lol

I have a few WP installs, and between them all, I use

• adsense now
• advanced excerpt
• akismet
• category order
• comment luv
• count per day
• hebrew date
• kb countdown widget
• lj cross poster
• my page order
• please link 2 me
• quotes collection
• sharethis
• shockingly simple favicon
• simple feed copyright
• simple tags
• time machine
• tinyMCE advanced
• twitter for wordpress
• updated today banner
• wordpress auto upgrade
• wordtwit
• wp-relative date
• page mash
• print me
• wp auto suggest
• limit posts
• Blog Copyright (by BTE)
• WPtouch iPhone Theme
• no disposable email
• cforms
• phplist
• popularity contest
• role manager
• vox crossposter
• buddy press (and related plugins)
• all in one seo pack
• hackadelic sliding notes
• simple tags
• statpress reloaded
• wpg2

I also have a wordpress mu insall, so I have a few related plugins there too. So… what can’t you live without? What can you live without? Share the link love!

Punky Moms: Kicking Motherhood in the Ass <– Clicky-Clicky!

We’ve got new goodies, old goodies, better goodies and tons of fun! Check out our new look today!

Don’t forget to enter the Cherry Canary contest in our newsletter! Click Here and scroll most of the way down the page. It’s pretty easy, just fill out the form! I’ve got three prizes to send out, a flower hair clip and two pairs of clips too! Winner is chosen on September 30, so enter today! You do not need to be a Punky Moms member to enter, but why wouldn’t you want to be?

Punky Moms Holiday Ad Book!
What is the Holiday Ad Book you ask? It’s a one stop directory of places to shop! It’s more than a holiday gift “guide,” it’s a resource people will hang on to and reference all year long. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve directed someone to this place or that looking for the perfect holiday gift, baby gift, mama gift… you name it! Whether you sell Avon, Body Shop at Home, Candles, Clothing, jewelry, you have a place in our book!

What a great way to reach over 1000 people (and growing daily!) all at once! We’re planning for our holiday shopping guide and we want your ads!

For the ridiculously inexpensive rate of 20$ per 1/8 page ad (the size of a business card) you can have a spot in our holiday digital book. The book will be available for free download to everyone as well as being distributed around the web.

Want a larger size? All of our rates are ridiculously inexpensive!

We have 16 1/8 page ads available @ 20$ each
We have 8 1/4 page ads available @ 35$ each
We have 4 1/2 page ads available @ 60$ each
We have 2 full page ads @ 100$ each

We want to have this created and ready for download and distro at the beginning of November for those who like to do their holiday shopping early! As long as the ads are in it will go out on time!

http://punkymomsforum.com/2008/09/18/links/

Free Links! This tells you where to post your free links!
Since we moved (yes, again) over to WordPress, our links page is no longer available. Oh no! Well, we have a solution! If you would like Punky Moms to link back to your site, just comment on this post with your link information. It will display as soon as we approve it. We do ask you link back to us, but it is not required.

You can use HTML in your post. We do ask that if you use an image that you use one less than 400 pixels in width to preserve our template.

You do need to sign up with us in order to comment. Punky Moms will not sell, barter, give away or otherwise abuse your information.

Maybe I am looking in the wrong places? I go to Chabad. It’s an ultra-orthodox shul. I am not ultra-orthodox, but they accept us, and we can’t afford to go to the reform shul. So SuperJew it is!

Why is SuperJew so incredibly not… super? Why is SuperJew anti-abortion, even when it’s rape? Why is SupoerJew up McCain’s ass?

I cannot find a single thing I agree with McCain/Palin on. Not a one.

I like to think I am a good Jew. I might not be as Jew-y as SuperJew, but the Torah teaches us there is no such thing as a bad Jew. The Torah teaches us love, compassion, understanding, and so many more things, I just cannot understand why SuperJew wants to keep so many of my friends from being married, wants to force women who have been raped (possibly by family!) from having abortions, wants to keep women who might die if they carry a child from abortion. Why does SuperJew want the shackles of religion controlling the government? If God is in charge of the US, can we start taxing God? Can we start repealing the commandments? We’ll take them, one at a time, to the supreme court. I bet if we get the right judge and jury we can have them repealed too, right along side Roe. Vs. Wade and so many other long standing, landmark cases, as well as some newer ones.

I google Jews & Obama. These gems are the first few entries:

http://jewagainstobama.wordpress.com/

http://jews4barack.com/mythfacts/?page_id=40

I am not even linking the creepy articles I’ve seen. Oh, sure I will. To get a good idea of how they think, read this one. Want satire? Try this.

Now before you think wrongly of me… I love being Jewish. I love the tradition. I love the comfort it brings me when I really need it and I love the freedom it allows me when I don’t. It is not my be-all end-all. It can’t be, because if there is a God, and s/he controls everything… I just don’t want to know. Too many things have gone wrong for me to be willing ot believe that. That said, I also do a lot of things that go against the teachings of the Torah. And that is OK by me, because I am not out to be SuperJew and I am not yet willing to devote my life to those teachings. Maybe I’ll never be. Maybe in another lifetime.

It frightens me just how many people are supporting McCain/Palin because they are “down home people” (they aren’t, he married money and she’s a gun-toting hockey mom in charge of a population smaller than the bottom half of Manhatten, nothing against guns or hockey, but not my image of a VP) and I wonder how many trully believe what they stand for… or even know.

I may not exactly be “for” Obama… but I am most definitely again McCain. I am not afraid of genuine, positive change. Change that I think Obama can start (and maybe see finish!) and that I know McCain will not even consider, and will start us in reverse. We certainly don’t need another four years of the Bush administration (or worse!), why elect someone hwo will be more of the same? Sure, the same might be comforting and familiar, but what have you been complaining about for the past eight years? SuperJew, it’s up to you to help do something different, and I have faith that come November 4, you will do the right thing, not choose blindly because it feels safe and familiar.

I need a small chunk of change this week. I don’t really have anything I am quick-sale or am really willing to get rid of at this time. I do have art skills. Do you need any of this stuff?

Web stuff (all web stuff requires you have hosting somewhere – I am not offering hosting or registration or anything other than a coded page/graphics):

A single page, a splash page, coming soon, or a simple site just saying “You know you want to check me out!” If you are looking for tons of detail or lots of pages, this isn’t for you.
Estimate: $75-$150 $50 flat rate, one page, brand new design.

Five to seven basic pages. Certainty probably includes news, about, contact, products, FAQ and one or two other similar pages. It might be powered by WordPress or a similar blogging program. You must have your copy (text), a logo and any images you want to use. This includes bare bones image manipulation, but no unique image creation. If you are lacking any of those things, I can provide them at an additional fee. This package is good for a brand spankin’ new site or site redesign and reworking. Some basic graphic design is included with this.
Estimate: $100-$400 $100 – $250

Logo Design
This is you. This is the single most identifiable part of you and your business/project. Let’s make it perfect. This can be a simple text logo, a graphic and text, or just graphic. It can be the start of your empire, or I can go with a design you already have.
$75 & up
For example, 75$ will get you one logo with up to three free revisions. For 100$ I will typically do three designs, and three revisions on one of them.I’ll do a single logo, three revisions for 50$, three designs plus revisions on one for 80$

Ad Banners & Buttons
Like a logo, these can be text, a graphic or a graphic & text. I can make a brand new banner for you, or redesign an older one you already have.
$2515 gets you a static banner, $4030 & up gets you animation

Desktop Wallpaper
Just something for fun. This is probably your logo and one or two other things to dress it up. Offer it as a free download on your site!
$35$25 & up, you receive multiple sizes and resolutions

Business Cards
I can design your business cards to match your site and logo, or it can be a completely different direction. This does not include printing.
$55$40 & up

Didn’t see what you needed? Email me and ask!

How do I pay you Jenn? Good question! I accept PayPal or a check by mail. I will give you my payment information once we decide what we are doing, and I will begin your work once your payment clears.

My portfolio is here: http://azxuredawn.com/portfolio/

quoting the page:
Sometimes there’s a need to reset all of the margins on a page, or you simply want something specifically applied to each element without having to count on inheritances to do the job. The solution: “*” or “universal selector”. This seems familiar from other languages right? Well, it should be. It simply means “everything” in a selected area.

The following will apply a gray background to every element on a page.

* {
background-color: #eee;
}

What if you want to get more specific?
With this code, everything within the div with the id=”wrapper” will have a gray background.

div#wrapper * {
background-color: #eee;
}

Obviously any properties can be used here. Enjoy.

not quoting now (I updated my WP install today, and apparently FF on a Mac isn’t loving the new interface, bear with me for now please).

So while this isn’t groundbreaking news (it’s from Oct of last year on that blog, who knows how long it’s been a function though) it’s news to me and useful news at that!

Got my food delivery last night and some stuff was missing. It was a total fluke, and Jack (one of the companies owners) brought it out at 10:30 last night. I’ve been missing an item here or there before, no big deal, they make it up in the next order, but half my order was missing. I was shocked he brought it out so late, but it is appreciated. I have oodles of goodies, I am really excited about it all *laughs* Yah, I am excited about food. I’m gonna make some pear sauce today, and I have some beets to do something with. More stuff, more stuff, it’ll be good.

I drew yesterday… ok, I traced. It’s gonna sound stupid, but I never learned how to trace. I need someone to sit down with me and tell me why it’s wrong. Someone is downstairs, and I’m sure we’ll have this conversation today.

Been listening to Stranger From A Strange Land on my iPod. I forgot how much I like that book. Michael suggested I get GROK on the otherside of my wrist (I want to find the Latin for Familiarity Breeds Contempt for my other wrist – I already have Tempus Edax Rerum on the right one) and I said I am not that much of a geek. He said you are that much of a Heinlein geek. I said true. So it’s on my mind too. I had been planning on getting Tempus Fugit on the other wrist, before I changed my mind. The phrase I want now will probably go all the way around. I think GROK would be cute on the inside. Cute little inside joke type of piece.

He also had a cute idea for my hands. I wanted some light (like grey wash) swirlies on my hands and fingers. He suggested getting a chai on the backs, with tendrils coming out and down, and having HOLD FAST across my fingers (it’s a Jew thing). Cute idea! Maybe the chai’s in script, not block. It’s something to think about. Not like I am getting that work done anytime soon anyway, but I really like the idea of it.

I spent yesterday updating my WordPress to 2.2 I was still running 2.04. I downloaded a new template. I might customize it more. For now I just made a grungy looking header that matched the shades of green. I had fully customized/re-done my last template, but I really like the green. We’ll see. I have more to do with it anyway.

We got a new front page on [Punky Moms]. I am still editing it.

We got our Wii. For those of you who want to link to us, our code is: 4039 1833 5082 7875. I know Fish mentioned this is my first post saying we got our Wii, but this keeps that info in a main post, and not a reply-post.

I cleaned our dining table this morning (and I mean cleaned, I scrubbed the whole thing) as well as the chairs. I still need to mop. I emptied the turtle tank, scrubbed down the stuff in it and cleaned out the filter (n-a-s-t-y).

I think I might grill some chicken breast tonight. Nice change from just tossing it in the over. I was going to make parm-ranch chicken, but I think my parm went bad. I have to check.

We’re headed to [Palm Beach Zoo] tomorrow and meeting up with one of our Punky Moms who is in town. I feel bad making them pay to get into the zoo (their little one is not quite a year) but there isn’t a ton to do that will occupy my clan and be child-proof (my house is far from it). So to the zoo it is! Hopefully we’ll be there early enough to avoid a crowd and any rain, they have a great fountain thing that the kids can play in once we’re done walking around.

Either my host or my FTP is busted. I can’t get in to my files. I had trouble yesterday as well, until the early evening. Aggravating at best, as I have work to do.

But the new version is sweet. The back end is a lot nicer, you can add new categories on the fly, and some other goodness. I’ll have to check what else has changed.

I need to pick up the kids in 40 minutes. I was going to take them down to the hospital, I’ll have to call my dad to double check that though.

Need to mail out the bills.

My heart has been racing lately, like a panic attack. It’s always there, in the background. I hate that feeling. It didn’t happen for so long, now it’s a constant.

I’ve used the word fuck a lot more lately too.