So many tags, so little time

It's funny how, when you get tagged, you like a million at once? It's never just one tag.

It's also funny, how when you're a new blogger, tags are exciting!

And when you've established yourself...  you get a tag and you're like.....

Hurray.

Anyway, I got tagged three times!! (hurray) Once with the Liebster Award and twice with the Sunflower Blogger Award.

Because both tags require me to ask you eleven questions, and because I'm feeling rebellious, I am only going to think up eleven questions and use them for BOTH tags.

This is going to be a long post, but I promise to break it up with hilarious pictures and witticisms.

Liebster Award Rules: Acknowledge the blog that nominated you (*waves at Rose*).
Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger created.
List 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers that deserve some recognition. (*spews coffee and cries*)
Post 11 questions for them to answer. Notify them that they've been nominate

And Rose's questions are:

1.) An anonymous someone drops a note on your front porch saying that they will fund a trip to either England, an African Safari, Prince Edward Island, or Italy. Which do you choose? Why?

     You're making me choose between England and Italy?!!?Well an African Safari is never going to happen. No way. Nope. I think I'd choose England.

2.) You're being forced to re-do your room. What color do you paint it?
      Probably light brown with vibrant accents. I dunno, that just sounds cool.

3.) Do you have a particular song that you listen to often, but it never seems to get old? If so, what is it?
     At the moment, I've been listening to Because of You and driving my family crazy.

4.) Would you rather be lounging in the sun on the beach reading a good book or adventuring in the waves?
     I like both equally. I tend to adventure and then lounge and it is most delightful.

5.) You suddenly end up with two twin kittens. One is a girl; one is a boy. What do you name them?
     Jo and Dean.

6.) You're organizing a get together with friends. Would you choose a picnic or a movie night?
     MOVIE NIGHT! With coffee and cookies! And/or Popcorn and lemonade!

7.) What is your pet peeve?
     Gurrrl, I have so many, it's not even funny. But right now, the one that comes to mind the most is when I'm driving the speed limit and someone is tailgating. It's like, "DUDE. BACK YOURSELF UP, OR I WILL FULL ON DRIVE TEN MILES UNDER THE SPEED LIMIT."

8.) Is there a new hobby you've been wanting to try out?
     Erm. I really want to get good at guns.

 

 
9.) If you could pick one instrument that you would (without any effort on your part) instantly master, which would you choose?
     Guitar! I want to be like:

10.) Would you like to be snowed inside for a week?

11.) Pick the closest book to you that you've read. What is your favorite character in the book?
       I actually just finished The Masterful Monk, and it's sitting right next to me. (It sounds deadly dull but it's not. We swears.)
      My favorite character in that would have to be Eric, because Eric is a freaking saint and I love him to mieces and pieces.


For this, I nominate:

*Vicki
*Michelle
*Anna (HA! SUCKER.)



(Questions will be asked at the end of the post. KAY?)

Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeext up! The Sunflower Blogger Award from Bellaaaaa....

Le Rules:

1.) Share 11 facts about yourself  (WHY YOU HATE ME?)
2.) Answer the questions set by your nomination blogger.  (I CAN DO THAT.)
3.) Nominate 11 bloggers (THAT IS SO MANY.)
4.) Set questions for the nominated bloggers. (OKAY.)

Eleven Facts about Me:

1.) My brain freezes whenever someone tells me to tell eleven facts about myself.

2.) I think whoever came up with the Eleven Facts rule should be burned.

3.) I'm Jean Valjeaaaaaaaaan!

4.) I love the Cinderella Man

5.) My star sign is Cancer (haha. I'm a cancer. Haha.)

6.) I cannot get through a single conversation without quoting something. I even quote youtube videos, pinterest pins, and my family.

7.) If/When I get a car, I want our mechanic to teach me how to fix it... just in case.

8.) I have strong opinions when it comes to commenting on blogs. (You better answer back, darn it! lol)

9.) I ONLY HAVE TWO FACTS LEFT.

10.) I can wiggle my ears. (I have skillz)

11.) According to my family, I compulsively quote their quotes back at them. Like if someone says, "Oh, I'm a llama again! Wait." I have to go, "YAY! I'm a llaaaama againnn! ....Wait." because apparently my ego thinks that I can quote better than them. (I can, usually. That's another pet peeve. People who quote wrong. SO ANNOYING.)

That's it....

Bella's questions are:

1) Do you like Daylight Savings Time?
    I think Daylight Savings Time is a malicious plot to deprive me of my extra hour of sleep in the morning. It was probably invented by an Early Bird who thought he knew all the things.
 
2) What is one really good series which you have just discovered?
     Series of what? Books? Movies? TV show?
     I'm going to go with books and say the Thirteenth Child trilogy was tubular.

3) Are you a subtle fan-girl or more of a loud excited fangirl like me?
    It really depends on who I'm with. If I'm with people who are subtle fangirls, I fangirl subtly and with maturity. If I'm with Bella, I'm more of a ASDFLKJSFLKJASDFOSDK *dies*

 
4) Hamburgers or Hot dogs?
    Hamburgers! (do you have any idea what's IN hot dogs!? Ewww.)

5) Do you like wearing sweaters or do you prefer hoodies?
     I don't really own hoodies....

6) Do you like going out in the evening?
     I freaking hate going out in the evening. My evenings are mine! My own! Myyyy precioouuusssss. I will be fun and sociable all day, but around six pm, I'm like, "I want my home, I want my jammies, and I want my internets."

7) Did you ever play Truth or Dare and did you like it?
    Truth or Dare is the worse game ever invented. Seriously! You either suffer abject humiliation through a truth, or abject humiliation through a dare! It's retarded.

And Anna's questions:

1) Have you ever gone dancing? Of any kind? (But specifically swing or ballroom)
I've never gone dancing... ever. I don't know how to dance. But when I'm alone, and I know no one can see me and judge...

2) Would you rather be thrown into Middle Earth but you couldn't meet any of the characters from the books, or thrown into the Supernatural world, but you got to spend a lot of your time with the Winchesters?
     Oh you did not.
     You did not just ask me that.

I hate you.

If I was thrown into a world, I'd want to meet the characters, darn it!

Nope. Not choosing. So there. 
      
3) Favorite flavor of tea?
    I like Tetley's black tea, with a little bit of milk and sugar.

4) If you had to choose one, would you rather go deaf, or blind?
     WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THESE QUESTIONS, ANNA? Deaf means no more music, no more conversations.... But blindness I wouldn't be able to see my family, or the ocean, or watch the sunset.

I think I'd rather be deaf..... 

5) What's your go-to song when you're feeling down?
     I tend to go to Josh Groban's You Are Loved.

6) Would you rather eat cookie dough uncooked, or just have cookies?
     I'm the queen of eating cookie dough. I love cookies too, but if there's cookie dough, I will go for that like I haven't eaten in days.

7) If you have graduated High School, how did you celebrate it and what did you get for a gift? And if you have yet to do so, what are your plans?
    I celebrated by doing the dance from question one, and then I did nothing.... it was delicious. And my uncle got me a laptop, because he great and wonderful.


                Alright! Now my questions are:

For those of you who got the Sunflower Award, 

just pick seven that you like.

1.) Are you musically inclined?
2.) Would you rather go to jury duty or get "sucked out of an airplane window"?
3.) What is you opinion on spiders?
4.) What's taters, Precious, eh? What's taters?
5.) Do you have siblings? If so how many?
6.) What sounds more appealing, skydiving or surfing?
7.) Would you ever have a nerf war with me?
8.) Movies or TV shows?
9.) If you were to give a fake name at a Starbucks, what name would you choose and why?
10.) Can you finish this quote? "Life is pain, highness, anyone who says differently--"
11.) If money and maintenance were not a problem, would you like to own a black, 1967, Chevy Impala?


For the Sunflower Award, I tag:

*Cait (I need you to do this. Okay?)
*Jonni
*Chelsea

I apologize to you poor people.
Seriously, if I had to do this, you should do this.
Love you all!

Cheeeers!

Picture Saturday + update

It's been an off week, drawing wise.

Seriously, it's been one of those weeks where I sit down, with visions of art and beauty, and end up going, "The heck is this crap?"

Yeah. Disappointing in the extreeeeeme.

Anyhoo! (I apologize for the cruddy picture quality. Le camera is on the fritz.)

I'm going to show you the flubbed sketches too, I think.

The first one I'm not sure about. I kind of like it, but what is the deal with that baby? Eeeesh.

And then we have the ew-what-is-that:

Then the one I actually kind of like:

So, I have this dream to draw all the Gallagher Girls and make them awesome, but every time I try they don't turn out right. So yesterday, I had this plan. I was going to draw Liz. Because Liz is sweet. And the rough sketch part turned out great. She looked great, she looked like how I imagine Liz...

And then something happened.

Mostly to her eyes. 
And her mouth.
And her hair.
And her nose.
And her face.

And she turned into Demon Liz From Hell.

Seriously, those eyes.

But from the neck down, I actually
really like the picture a lot. haha!

And this led to the "Whatever, I'll just draw a  Gallagher Girl and not care who she is.

And when she sort of flubbed it too, I did lyrics. Because you can't mess up with lyrics.

And that's all I've got this week.

Now for the update.

JACK IS COMING IN LIKE TWO AND A HALF HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

source

BELLA MADE THIS REALLY AWESOME VIDEO!!!

I HAVE INSTAGRAM! (follow me????)

I AM GOING TO DO THOSE TAGS I GOT SOON, I SWEARS.

I AM LEAVING NOW!

Bye.

In which I rant

I was afraid, for a while, that I might be losing my love for reading. I used to read right about three books a week. And now, if I try new books, it tends to take me over a week to read one.

Sooo, I was freaking out that maybe my bookishness was seeping out of me! NOOOOOOOO!! I love being a bookworm, what was wrong with me!?  *gurgle of death*

So, I pouted and puzzled and finally came to these conclusions:

1.) I'm still a bookworm, I'm just picky

2.) I merely have no luck when I try to find new books.

See, here's the thing. I grew up on Redwall and... and.... well, mostly Redwall.
But heading into my teens I read things like Lark, Howl's Moving Castle, and The Sherwood Ring. I started on series like Alex Rider, The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Artemis Fowl, Heist Society, and The Gallagher Girls. I dabbled in higher fantasies like The Riddlemaster of Hed (Which was eeeepic.)

Basically I like clever books. Unique books. Books with flare and exciting happenings. Books that make me laugh, or cry, or both. Books that make me go, "I was not expecting that!"

I NEED BOOKS THAT MAKE ME CARE.

IF I DON'T CARE,

I DON'T FINISH. 

PERIOD.

 (See my Anton Ego coming out?)

And just like that, I figured out why my reading of new books has gone down.

Because, in general. I couldn't care less if the characters laughed or cried, completed their quest, lived or died.

People, if you want me to like a book, you need to make me care. And the run-of-the-mill, angsty teenager with boy problems, or the love triangle, or the same old distopian story over and over and over again is not going to do that, usually. Why? Because every single book on the shelf (minus a few brave exceptions) sound exactly the same. Sure, they can have different stories, the MC can be a different gender, but every writing style sounds the same. It's klunky and boring.

source

I like writing style to stand out a bit. Not the same old generic stuff as everyone else's, puh-lease!

It's actually a thing with me now, I'll go to the library and check out a bunch of books that sound really good. I then bring them home, read the first couple chapters, go, "Meh." and return them unfinished, because... well because.... I turn into Sherlock.

Source

If I'm reading a book, and it's an arduous task for me to turn the page...? I'm done. And I don't mean books like The Lord of the Rings, which are difficult to get through sometimes, (unless you are one of those very lucky people who have a devil of a good time reading high fantasy.) and I don't mean things like history books or theological books. Those are supposed to make you slow down and think a little. I'm talking about the horrible, depressing books that sound brilliant and let you down.

Like Time Snatchers. 

source

Doesn't that look great? It's set in the future, it has time travel, it has thievery, it has a weird sort of Steampunkiness to it! What's not to love?

EVERYTHING.

That book could have rocked, but as it was, I struggled mightily to about the mid-way point, until the villain cut off someone's little toe. (yep. The little toe. And he did it while yelling out, "This little piggy." Eh. No.) And right about there I was done. It was too weird, thank you very much. I didn't care! I didn't care that the main character just lost himself a pinky toe. Or that his father figure had done it. It was whatevs. I was bored silly.

So, with a chuckle and a "later, loser." I ditched that book.

 source

And you want to know the kicker? Whenever I stop a book in the middle... I have absolutely no urge to go back and finish it! What's the deal? I'M SUPPOSED TO BEING DYING TO FINISH! If not dying, at least I should want to a little! But with most books, I can't even remember their names they were so bad. There is nothing that makes me wonder how the book ended. It's beneath me.

I don't care. 

So, after leaving Time Snatchers at the library, I munched an apple and looked at the books that Kat had checked out. There on top, was a purple book. (PURPLE! I LOVE PURPLE! LALALA!) This one was called The Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede. Book one in a trilogy. "Hmm." I thought. "She's a good author." I told Kat I was reading her book.

It started off a little slow, most of hers do. But then I was like,

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That book was amazing! I loved it! I loved everything about it! I loved that it was set in the Old West, but in a parallel universe, where magic existed. I love the Old West, and I love magic, so it was a double win, right?

I finished that series in less than a week. Three books. Four days. No biggy.

AND THAT! That is when I realized that I am still a bookworm! I'm just a book snob. I expect a lot out of books.

 I love reading, I love everything about reading. I love the feel of books, the smell of books, I like turning pages, and getting sucked into a world that's not mine. It's like flying. (but you know, without the danger of falling. Or dying.)

I just like a higher caliber of writing than what's getting published a lot today.

And that is my story.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to finish The Shadow on The Earth by Owen Francis Dudley. (That is a great book. I enjoy it loads. It is a higher caliber of writing. Hee!)

The end.

Picture Saturday!

I started this post like five times.

The first time started something like, "Yay, Picture Saturday again!" (which was rubbish.)

The second time read like I was on drugs. "Picture... something. What was I saying? Whatevs. Flamboozle! Boogaloo! Foible! Thingamabob! (I've got twenty) Snickerdoodle. Razzafrazz. Boots and pants, and boots and pants, and boots and pants, and boots and pants." (La, for Geico's Maxwell Pig.)

The third time looked like this: ASDFLSJFSKFASLKFJSAFSLFJSLKFJASFSAFSLFKJS LASKFJASLKFJS LSKFJSF J SLKFJ FKFLSJF IEF SFIEF OSFKEL (because I couldn't think of anything else to say.)

The forth time, the post turned into a rant about books, which was so good I couldn't use it for Picture Saturday, because it took away from the drawings. (Yep. That good.)

This is the fifth time.

And I'm back to the "Boots and pants, and boots and pants, and boots and pants...." of that stupid Geico commercial.

(seriously. Take 16 seconds and watch it.)

Picture Saturday has only a few this week, because A.) I was busy. And B.) I was vomiting, sick to my stomach, ill.

So anyway, Here's le pictures. (Boots and pants, and boots and pants, and boots and pants, and boots and pants, and boots and pants.)

The Old West girl that was inspired by The Thirteenth Child series. (yes, I tinted it to look more "old west-y)

The random Elf Maiden of Power

And the fanart I did for The Far West which is the last book of the Thirteenth Child series. (SPOILER ALERT!)

You should all go read those books because they are awwwesome! Old West with magic? Yes please!

Annnd that's it?

I've been on the computer way too long, what with those four false starts, so now I'm feeling super bizarre and I don't want to scare you all off.

STAY WITH ME!!!!!!!!!!

Laters!

Cheers.

NO TOUCHY

Six Random Facts:
 
1.) There it goes. Wave to it. My Picture Saturday streak is over.

CAN I HAVE A MOMENT OF SILENCE, PLEASE!?!

*Silence*

THANK you. 

I meant to have a picture Saturday, but I got super busy, and then I ended up staying with my brother for a while... and he has no camera, and... yep. Even if I had a picture to use, I wouldn't have a way to show it to you guys, unless I decided to use the camera in my iPod, and let's face it, those things take rubbish pictures. 

2.) In case the above paragraph didn't give it away, Bella and I are actually staying at my brother's apartment until Tuesday. 

He just moved in and we're babysitting his girls and helping him unpack and stuffs. Joe has so many freaking books, you guys! (Don't get me wrong, I love books as much as the next person, but... he has so many books and so little space. lol.) 

So we didn't really have anything to eat on Friday that wasn't meat. (We try not to eat meat on Fridays because it's the day Our Lord died, and it gives us a little penance.) 

Because Joe just moved in, his supplies are.... limited. 

And when I say limited, I mean non-existant. 

Like:

Source

Therefore, I scrounged. And I came up with five things. Bread, flour, big, flag lasagna noodles, butter, and basic spices. (But no pepper. He doesn't have pepper. He needs to go shopping.)

And me, being all clever, I boiled the noodles, and then sliced them into fettuccine thickness, made a quick creamy sauce and toasted the bread. (in the oven, he has no toaster.) 

It was delish.
I was very proud. 

3.) After a long day indoors because it's been rainy everyday, Chloe and Sammi were a little hyper. 

Come to think of it, we were all a little hyper.

4.) In between unpacking and being a kitchen genius, I've been reading. Anyone ever read The Thirteenth Child series, by Patricia C. Wrede? The first one starts out a little slow, but I really love the way she describes magic. The second book's better, and I'm really itching to draw Eff. (yeah. That's her name. Miss Wrede could use a little work with naming her leading ladies. Eff... Cimorine? *headdesk*)

Who knows? Maybe next Picture Saturday will be Eff. 

5.) I missed out on a lot of the 90s and early 2000s Disney movies. So I'm systematically watching them all. 

I found the Emperor's New Groove absolutely hilarious. 

Mind-bogglingly dumb. 

But hilarious.

We watched Treasure Planet, too, and I really loved that one.

"You're gonna rattle the stars, you are."

I don't know, maybe I was just in the right mood for it, but I really liked it a lot. I only have a passing knowledge of the book though, so I could see how it was the same as Treasure Island, but I wasn't sitting there going, "THEY DID WHAT?"

Yeah, okay, so maybe Jim was a bit of a punk.... but he was a nice punk, and he got to be less punky by the end of the movie.

Also. STEAMPUNK!!

Also! Star Trek reference!

Yeah, I liked it a lot. *grin*

6.) I am SO excited!! Author of Mine, Jack the Awesome, is coming out to visit in twelve days!! This is thrilling, and we have great amounts of TV shows to watch, movies to swap, and talking to do. We shall have great, great fun.

Anyway, I just thought I'd pop by to say hi. It's been a truly ridiculous amount of time since last I spoke with you lot.

If you all could please pray that I can find a job that suits me, that'd be great. The places I've tried at didn't work out, and it's very difficult for me to get up the courage to apply to anywhere, so prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers and God bless!
(And remember not to throw off anyone's groove.)
FIGHT THE FAIRIES!

Treskie