#i've never looked up a piece of fan art five years later but you better believe i'm doing it with amvs

[dragon-wisteria]

amvs & animatics are the most powerful form of fan-content by the way. if you even care.

[arenabreadandbiscuits]

✨ Art Commissions Open w/ Writing Commissions Mentioned Too ✨

PLEASE READ AND MAKE SURE YOU FULLY UNDERSTAND BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE HERE ON KY ACCOUNT PLEASE AND THANK YOU.

~

Hey everyone!

Give me ten dollars and I'll draw you a profile pic of your OC or a favorite character of yours.

Give me twenty and I'll draw you your OC AND your favorite character together. Something basic like cheek to cheek, cheek kisses, side hugs, etc. Just depends.

OPEN BELOW FOR MORE IMPORTANT INFORMATION BELOW PLS! Also please answer the poll below the cut if you really want to help me out.

If you don't have the money please reblog, reblog, REBLOG!

It's August 5 as I'm making this so I'll keep this open until September, meaning until then anyone and everyone can send in their comms before I shut this post down and start over in September. Let's see how this goes, if we do a good job I'd love to do something like this every month just to draw for people.

Imma push myself so I'll open 15 spots to do these commissions. I think well for one, outside of the fact that I get to practice my art if people pick me I do actually enjoy talking to everyone. Especially fans.

Notes to Consider:

Artist who needs and wants money. Been talking about getting one of those at home treadmills and other home gym equipment so I can work on my body and get it back to the right shape I want it so it doesn't play with my head and trigger something

I'll do lineart, coloring, and shading for these of course. I only take Cashapp, Venmo, cash one, etc.

I plan on returning to school next year if my body is up to conditions by that time. To do that I really want this at home gym equipment stuff. I was even thinking that if I get it I can make another account and document my workouts. Probably will be on discord or things like a second Twitter for me but it depends on y'all.

Please be above 18 when commissioning me. I'll check your account for one...and for two these things can already be stressful, I don't need someone else's child being added to that.

Other art commissions are available, highest pricing is like $105 but I gotta check again. I'll link the post HERE.

I'll do 10-20 for chibis, 15 to 25 for sketching, 35 to 45 for lineart and basic coloring. 50 for regular shading and highlights, 60 for second line of lineart because going over it a second time is better for me but also looks neater. 75+ dollars include multiple (up to five sketches) of how I thought about drawing your character/s. For the $105 I'll give the sketches but they'll be lineart neatly, the time lapse videos for your main piece and the sketches after, shout-outs to you for working with me, a short blurb for your character and/or ship. I know with the art community some argue that we over price. This is literally the bare minimum especially with everything I'm going through between being immobile for the most part, living with trauma in a household where people gave me said trauma, being mentally unstable and even needing money to get that checked on. I would prefer $105 for the whole bundle I listed above. If you don't want to pay the $105 then you aren't paying for the bundle. So don't worry.

Outside of school I'm hoping I can join a more serious outside gym later to keep my body in shape. I have an interest in boxing and tai quando so I'd love to join a community for that around me. Same for some sports like tennis which I used to play when I was a lot younger. I love swimming so a swimming class could be fun and I've always been anxious about this but I'd love nothing more than to join a fun dance exercise group thingy.

Gotta keep my dog up to date, I've been talking about getting his next check up but disability bills go so far when you are helping others in your house to pay for things... I went from 802 to currently 200 in just a few days. Please help me out guys I'm begging. I've started a thing for piggy banking but I've never done it before so it definitely takes self discipline. I'm hoping that with the funds I make here I can just put the money in the piggy bank and open it by January...

Um if check ins are needed I don't mind give one every couple days to a week.

I have to pay for some stuff a sibling broke while I was sicker and couldn't keep things safe...I'd like to get those fixed or replaced but a few hundred dollars were lost there too..

I still do writing commissions as well. Check that post HERE.

Here's some art that I've done recently for reference of what you COULD get but with these the characters will probably be more chibi-ish compared to my normal style ^^`

MY ART VVV:

Some of these I'm sure I've posted before but I need more things to draw y'all! Outside of the money I really hope I get to practice my drawing skills some more..

DM me or comment if you are interested.

Also here's a poll to enforce engagement ^^`

I'm serious guys. With the last poll on commissions people voted but I have yet to actually have anyone ask me about commissions or to do anything for them. If you don't have the money please don't vote, in a situation like mine the last thing I need is to get my hopes up.

If you are also serious and stand of your word then I'm happy to meet you in my dms for further communication.

Oh and preferably I would appreciate drawing for characters that are in the same fandom I'm in. You'll find a list of those fandoms HERE so check those out before texting me or asking me anything. No I will not conform to a request just because I need the money, pick a fandom that I share with you and we should have no issues.

I'll also post any commissions I get either here on Tumblr, on Twitter, deviantart, and/or Tiktok. (I'll post on all.) If you want to be mentioned when I post let me know that before I actually post. I'll warn you when I am.

If you have any questions on these RULES or anything please dm me before ever actually sending in money. DONT SEND ME ANYTHING UNTIL WE BOTH COME TO A FIRM AGREEMENT ON WHAT OUR INTERACTION WILL BE, pls and thank you. I already had one person who didn't read my rules before sending money and tried to put that all on me...I don't need that again.

Just to make sure it doesn't happen again I'll even ask you three questions revolving around this post when you dm me just to make sure you ACTUALLY read it.

Thank you to anyone who's made it this far, bigger thank you to those happy and ready to help me. I look forward to hearing from you guys!

I'm really hoping I blow up for this post Lord Please.

[hangonimevolving]

The Iron String.

“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”

--Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance

Here we are. It's August. Five months plus since the start of the U.S. pandemic, lockdowns, and general disruption to society. Over 5.26 million confirmed cases in the United States alone to date, and 167,000 deaths. Our world around us has changed.

Much of the last two months of summer for me were spent in an agonizing holding pattern concerning the almighty School Question. What would happen in the fall? Would schools be reopening? If so, how would that look - would we just act like life is normal, or would there be modifications to help prevent transmission of the virus? If so, what on earth modifications are even possible for young children that are reasonable, and to which little kids can even feasibly adhere given their ages and needs? If it proves too difficult to reopen schools, what would be the plan? Would there be some sort of virtual learning program, and how would it differ from the shifts that happened this past spring, with teachers scrambling to educate themselves on distance-learning technologies and teleconferencing utilities in order to teach a room full of kindergartners on Zoom? Surely, with several months to ponder the possibilities and plan for vairous contingencies, schools would be more prepared with better, more structured and thought-out plans for fall, than what they had in the spring... right?

Er, wrong. WRONG. The short version of how this situation ended, at least in our geographic area, is that the public school system (and my own kids' small, family-owned private school) made the decision to reopen to face-to-face teaching by the middle of July. Late in the game, both also hastily threw together a virtual option for students - but the virtual option was tantamount to a continuation of the fly-by-night Zoom teaching that had been put into effect at the very start of the lockdown.

I for one was entirely disappointed and disgusted with this. With SO much time to plan, this is really the best that could be done?! Bruh, NAW. I wasn't having it.

So blah blah blah, hem, haw, blah. Research, research, research. Reading, millions of review websites, forums, blogs, legal defense funds, Department of Education website, nonprofits, clubs and associations and collectives.... a phone call with an old friend from high school with over 10+ years experience, and a series of long and informative text message exchanges with two other friends, one a veteran with over 15+ years with three now-adult children, another a mom about my age of children about my kids' ages, facing this situation just like me and working through options just like me...... and, after all this, I knew exactly what I would be doing. What WE would be doing, in our family.

By June 13, it was official, and it was all systems go.

Ladies and gentlemen.... I am officially a homeschooling mom. Like, a LEGIT homeschooling mom. As in, I am doing a 100% parent-led homeschooling curriculum plan, FULL-time, with my two children.

I won't lie. In a million, bajillion, baskillion years, I don't think I ever intended to find myself in this place. I'll also say with honesty, that I have admired from afar the rare few homeschooling families that I somewhat know, and the flexibility and creativity with which they approach academics and learning in general.

I have also been increasingly dissatisfied and frustrated with the academic progress of my own children... Dr. Spouse and I have had long discussions where we've tried to speculate on the things that we haven't been satisfied about in our kids' schooling. The list has been long. But even as we were able to identify specific shortcomings in our children's particular educational environment, I've felt a rising sensation of control-freakism and bootstrapism in my chest, that has whispered to my conscience: "if you feel something is wrong here, don't sit around waiting for someone else to fix it. And, when you articulate your concerns in a constructive, non-threatening, but clear way, and people have smiled and nodded and claimed they'd follow up on those items, but in the end, they havent taken those concerns seriously - then it is time to man the f&* up and TAKE CARE OF THAT SHIT yourself. Because YOU are the only one you can trust. YOU are the only one who can do it right, in your own view. So either do it, or stop feeling dissatisfied about it."

So here it is. Our original plan, prior to the pandemic, was to switch the kids to the local (A-rated) public elementary school for this coming year. We had hoped that a change in environment, teachers, and the accountability of being a reputed school in the public school system, would mean more organization and oversight, and that hopefully this would translate into better academic progress in our kids.... but the pandemic changed all our plans, and besides, I don't know if more "in theory..." type things ever really translate to palpable, effective change at the individual level (at least not for me anyway, I never have such luck).

Rather than seeing this weird, surreal circumstance has having forced me into the homeschooling decision (which, maybe it sort of did) - - for reasons I can't explain, I dove headlong into it, with great excitement and hope. I can't really figure out how I have been as enthusiastic or jazzed about it as I have been - - but lookie, I'm jazzed! Seriously. From the moment we made the decision to do it, I felt like a 1,000-lb. weight was lifted from my chest. No more feeling anxious or on the edge of my seat about decisions that are being made outside of my control. In this matter - I stopped waiting for other poeple, and I TOOK CONTROL. For my own kids, anyway.

I'll write a detailed post at a later time about some of the particulars of the homeschooling plan that I am using, the research I did, the materials I ended up purchasing, the knowledge and insight I required while in the preparations phase, and other stuff. But, for now - I've droned on long enough. I'm gonna share some pictures now.

To bring it back to the start of this post - - with this homeschooling plan, I have found my iron string. I literally felt this resounding, reverberating sense of CONFIDENCE the moment that I decided to do this, and effectively brought Dr. Spouse on board. NEVER, in my life, have I felt so right about a decision. I feel a tremendous inner harmony about it - like I've come home to myself, if that's not too weird to say.

Sooo.... here are pictures of Week 1 of our great homeschooling adventure.

Obligatory "First Day of School" picture....

Our newly-tweaked home office - - now serving as our homeschooling classroom!

Particularly proud of our new training clock, our large-format calendar, and the "today's date/weather" board that I made with vinyl die-cuts from my Cricut, some chalkboard-surface Contact paper, and some rainbow sparkly duct tape :)

Spanish class: kids use a fun new app for two class sessions a week

Dey working on simple addition/subtraction with Teddy Bear Counters

Dey slaying his worksheets in Handwriting class - we're doing both print letters and cursive

Vev learning to tell time, and to recognize and convey the time in both analog and digital notation

After reading several history textbook chapters on the origins, diets, nomadic lifestyles, housing practices, and modes of dress among prehistoric humankind - we did a "History in action" lesson where the kids were given 10 minutes to construct a shelter out of a "mammoth skin" (blanket), "two tree branches" (pool noodles), and several large "rocks" (throw pillows). They didn't need the full 10 minutes :)

Vev enjoying one of his first chapter books - an "I Can Read" reader during a Language Arts learning block

After a week reading science textbook chapters about the earth's atmosphere, we conducted science experiments to better understand the properties of air! The boys had a "paper race" using construction paper and pieces of cardboard as fans, to race two paper structures across a finish line. They discussed their expectations and each articulated a hypothesis about which paper would travel faster, prior to conducting the experiment; afterwards, we determined whether our "guesses" (hypothesis) were accepted or rejected :)

This is just a smattering. There's been so much, and in only four days. I can't believe how much we are able to learn and cover in our homeschooling time. And the crazy thing is, we are able to do Phonics and Grammar, Reading, History, Read-aloud time, Math, Spanish, Handwriting, and Science in only about 3 hours per day. We integrate things like art, movement, current events, and practical life skills into pretty much everything we do, but on occasion we are even able to do a discrete, planned-out period of time for these topics too.

The iron string is taut, and secured in its proper place. We are ready for it to guide us through this school year.