Missing Childhood: Polly Pocket

I was looking through the blogverse the other day, and came across this article by Chrystal over at Yumeating, about getting rid of beloved toys that her daughter was outgrowing, and it got me thinking about the toy I miss most from MY childhood. The Original Polly Pockets.

Back in the 90's it seemed like every one of my friends had at least three or four of these freaking lockets, and the envy was real. I grew up with not a lot of money, so I never really got the newest toys, but thankfully my friends let me play with theirs, and let me tell you, I was so in love with these it was sad.

The original Polly figures weren't anything to toot your horn at, but they were tiny enough to fit in the miniscule rooms and environments held in the lockets, and that was good enough for me! I had huge adventures at my fingertips, living out everything from the dainty princess, to the happy housewife, and much more. Most of the lockets only had a couple of moving parts, if any, but that didn't limit my imagination any less. I could dance with the prince in the castle courtyard, or have tea in the sitting room, or just go to the mall like to oh so amazing teenagers I couldn't wait to grow up to be.

Look at this magical mofo! It has lights and everything! That was some advanced tech for my childhood.

 After a year or so of pining almost desperately for a Locket of my own, I was surprised one day with this freaking amazing set. The Polly Pocket Magical Mansion. I was OVER THE FREAKING MOON, and for a few more years, I did nothing but play with this set, living out dreams of fancy adulthood with the M.A.S.H husband I had decided on.

And then one day, I just didn't play with it anymore. It eventually got sold for a fraction of the price at a yard sale, and I had decided that my time with Polly was over. It's sad really, to realize you've outgrown something you so loved as a child. But here's the thing about adulthood....you gain the ability to once again own the toys you loved as a kid! So if anyone happens to know of someone with a Polly Pocket Locket that might be rotting away in an attic or something, let me know. I want to give it a good, and very loving home again.

Where there any toys from your childhood you would love to have again?

Love and Lightning Bugs,
 

Ralph...

Sometimes I come across useless videos or photos that make me laugh, and sometimes I come across useless videos or photos that make me let out an unholy and inhuman pterodactyl screech in sheer joy.

This is one of those videos.

Love and Lightning Bugs,
 

Pretty Pictures and Apologies

WELL, it's been a hot minute since I've been on here, huh?

Sure, I've popped on from time to tine to post a VoxBox or two, but any real content on my part has been missing for almost a year. What happened? Well, I got a job that I don't hate, am renovating a house, and in the middle of three massive projects that have taken up any and all my free time. So yeah...been a touch busy.

But not so busy that I forgot to take some pretty photos of the 4th of July fireworks I enjoyed a couple weeks ago! So take a look at them, and accept my apology for the insanely long hiatus. Because they're pretty...and pretty things win people over, right?

I call this one above, Dandelion, because it reminds me of the fluffy flower. I don't know why, but it amuses me a great deal.

The above photo is another of my fave's. it's just so...WHOOSH. That's a correct descriptive word, right?

Love and Lightning Bugs,
       

It's Taking Its Toll.

So, I know it's been a long time since I've updated last, but there's a been a very good reason for that.

I graduated from Kansas State University in May, with my Bachelors Degree in Animal Science and Industry, and started my job search the very next day. At first, I was dedicated, filling out a few applications every day, and always calling back on them. The days stretched to weeks, and my job search was still getting nowhere. It's been almost three months now, to the day I started my search, and still there's no job in sight.

It's not for lack of trying either.

Every day, I fill out at least 15+ applications for every job I can think of, excluding fast food and retail (my joints can't handle those jobs anymore). My resume is posted on every job site I can think of, my LinkedIn is pristine, I have applied with several temp agencies and yet, no one calls back. I have no idea why, and to be honest, the constant rejection is wearing me down.

I've gotten to the point where I start to dread checking my email, because I know there will be more rejection. I've lost the will do actually do anything in fact. Video games aren't fun. Reading isn't fun. I don't want to leave the house, and I don't really want to hang out with anyone. Even Facebook is a chore. I just want to sleep all day, and stay in bed. I have to force myself to even answer the phone, and even then, I want the conversation to be over as soon as it starts. My "give a fuck" is broken completely, and even the most mundane of tasks is a struggle.

I've been trying for a week and a half to just pick up my living room, and every time I think about it, all the energy drains from my body. I wish I could just wake up one day, back to normal, but I'm struggling. I force myself to go outside. The trek to the post office this morning, just down the road, was akin to an arctic expedition. The only time I feel slightly better is when my boyfriend is around, but with him working, it's just me at home the majority of the time. Festering in my stew of rejection.

I know if I got a job, this would get better. I know I could be excited about what the day had to offer, instead of cringing at the thought of even rolling out of bed. It's becoming more and more difficult to even get on the computer anymore. My life has just become one job application after the next, followed by rejection after rejection...and it's taking its toll.

Love and Lightning Bugs,
 

Don't Feed the Trolls

Don't you just love the internet? You have all the knowledge of the human race at your fingertips, allowing you to do literally anything in terms of connecting with people from all walks of life, and yet, there are those who would rather spend their time disparaging people.

Fucking Trolls.

I had an encounter with one today, seemingly out of the blue, on a pin well over two years old.

I thought I handled it well enough, seeing as the trolls really hate when you come to them calmly. It freaks them out. After dropping that little screengrab on my Facebook page, a few friends decided to pop on over and leave comments of their own. Which promptly made her delete her previous comments and change her profile picture.

Ah, the wonders of the internet.

Love and Lightning Bugs,
 

How to Keep from Killing the Neighborhood

I've decided to make an effort to post every day, for 30 days. i'm not holding my breath on that happening, but hey, it's worth a shot right?

Today, I woke up in a horrible mood. Not a 'my day is going to be bad' kind of mood, more like a 'I want to stab everyone I meet today in the neck' mood. Thankfully, I found this website before I went to run my daily errands.

Put You in a Better Mood is a website that does exactly that, by showering you with pictures of cute puppies, kittens, and awesome moments that may go unnoticed throughout the world on any given day.

Like a bathtub full of idiots...er...I mean Labs. (Don't be mad Lab owners, I have owned a few Labs in my time...I know that special kind of stupid they possess. It's awesome.)

Or gifs of kittens so intent on killing that shadow monster on the wall, they bonk heads mid leap.

Face it, you know you need this website to keep from going on a murder spree too.

Love and Lightning Bugs,
 

4 Blog Types You Shouldn't Let Your Blog Become

There are always popular genres in any medium that will eventually be successful. Successful, but also unoriginal and pretty redundant. Like the Spiderman movies. Sure, it's sort of different, with new actors and maybe a different story arc, but in the end, it's the same old story. Don't let your blog turn into just another bad sequel, by avoiding these blog genres like the plague.

1.) Mommy Blogs
Now, before you start raining down brimstone and hellfire, hear me out.

See those numbers? See just how many Mommy centric blogs there are on the internet? I'm going to be blunt here, but what makes your special snowflake any different than the snowflakes of another blogger? Writing a blog solely about the topic of your child and how difficult/easy/fun/exciting it is to rear them, is one of the best ways to not only stigmatize your blog, but also alienate new readers.

A person who might come upon your blog in one of a hundred ways will suddenly be bombarded with:  LOOK AT MY OFFSPRING. LOOK AT IT. IT'S THE BEST OFFSPRING ANYONE HAS EVER CREATED. THE FRUIT OF MY LOINS IS PERFECTION IN EVERY WAY AND FORM AND YOU SHOULD AGREE WITH ME.

Well, if that person is a mother, I'm sure they share your mindset, but what about those who don't have or want children? Or  those women who desire children more than anything, but are having difficulties getting pregnant? That kind of constant LOOK AT MY BABY content can get pretty tiring, and even annoying. Nothing turns off readers like a constant stream of baby news, with nothing else to alleviate the topic.

Now, I'm not going to tell you to never post about your kids, because every human on this planet has moments they would like to boast about. But don't make your blog just about the kids.

2.) Giveaway/Deal/Coupon/Freebie Blogs
I used to run a segment on my blog about once a week where I would gather up some of the better giveaways and freebies I could find around the web. Let me just say, that even for a simple once a week post, I was spending hours scouring all kinds of spammy websites, crappy mailing lists, and worse. Now imagine dedicating an entire blog to coupons, or freebies, or giveaways, and wave goodbye to your life.

Not only will your social calendar in real life suffer, but your online life won't get much better. Because even though you might have 10,000 people reading your blog, how many of them are actually sticking around to comment and interact with you? If the interaction will be anything like on other freebie blogs I have seen, it's going to be cringe worthy.

3.) Overly Religious Blogs
Like with everything else on this list, things in moderation can be great. I'm a religious person, I try to be a good Pagan and treat others like I would like to be treated, and sure...I might write the occasional post about my faith. However, I have come across a recent surge in blogs dedicated only to the writers religion, and how awesome it is, and how everyone should be (insert religion here).

Well for one thing, you just pissed off the rest of the internet population who isn't the specific religion you're touting, for another, we aren't getting any real information about you. I for one like to know things about the blogger whose posts I'm spending time to read. If all you ever post is sermon after sermon, well, I could just go to church for that.

4.) Recipe Blogs
I have literally millions of websites at my disposal that will give me recipes for anything and everything. What makes your blog about Grandma's super secret pumpkin pie any different? There is enough repetitious content on the internet without yet another food blog clogging my feed.

In the end, all I'm trying to say is don't let your blog become just a genre. You're unique, and your readers want to know more about you, not just one specific aspect of your life. Be more than just another throwaway blog in the blogosphere.

Love and Lightning Bugs,
 

Saying Goodbye

I know I normally post about my rabbits, both the good and the bad, but today, I received some pretty upsetting news.

Before I get to that though, I think some backstory is in order.

You see, like every other teenager on the planet, the human known as me at 18 was a fucking nightmare to deal with. I wasn't nearly as bad as some of the horror stories I'm sure you've heard about other teens, but I was no angel either. I had good friends, a job, an close knit family, and an attitude that would make you wonder how my mother didn't chain me in a dungeon.

I got in a pretty bad relationship my Senior year in High School, with a guy who I thought was my Prince riding in on a white horse to save me.

I was wrong.

He hit me, he slapped me, he pushed me around, he forced me into things, and made me feel like the lowest of the low when he was around, or when I did something he didn't like. It was emotional and physical abuse, and once my parents found out about just how bad things had gotten, they shipped me off to Kansas to live with my SUPER conservative Christian Aunt.

I love my aunt,I really do...but at that point in my life, I hated pretty much everyone. Well, my aunt never married or had kids, but she always had cats. As far back as I can remember, she's always had a pair of them. For the extent my "trial 1 month stay" at her home, she had a spazzy calico named Callie, and a talkative tabby named Katie.

You should know by now, just how much I love animals. I tried desperately to form a connection with these cats, but both simply snubbed their noses at me. For the first week, I was subjected to a drastic change in my diet (I was put on vitamins and all that super fun supplement junk...ick), a change in my wardrobe, all my dearly cherished items were riffled through, and all my music and books were put away as well. It was hell, pure and simple.

I felt alone, I felt like an outsider, and I was seething.

And then, one afternoon in my second week there, I was sitting on my bed writing, and the next thing I knew, there was a massive ball of grey fluff on the bed with me. Katie sniffed my hand, looked at me a couple times, then plopped on my lap for the remainder of the evening. After that she was a constant follower, and a happy friend. I still don't know what exactly happened, but before I knew it, I was getting a job in Kansas, choosing to stay there, I realized just how much abuse I had suffered at the hand of my ex, I was singing and drawing and painting again, I was focusing on my photography and writing, my head sorted itself all out, and I was pretty content.

I learned to live again. All because a fat cat decided that I was an ok human being.

And then, today, I learned that the fat cat who was so crucial to my mental healing passed away from kidney failure. She was 12 years old, and quite the chirpy thing when she got to talking. Her favorite place was a lap, or cuddled next to one on the couch. She had beautiful green eyes, and dainty black paws. She was never in a bad mood...and she was the one thing I needed most when I felt the world was falling apart around me.

Thank you Katie. I love you, and I hope we get to meet again at the rainbow bridge one day...

Love and Lightning Bugs,
 

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses....

As a blogger who has worked with various companies to facilitate product reviews and giveaways, I have heard pretty much every excuse in the book as to why I should write a post for a company without actually getting proper compensation for my time. I thought you might like to hear some of my favorites, and the reasons why I refuse to work with companies who use such excuses.

That's right, time is money. I spend a lot of time and effort in writing a past, making sure I take quality photographs, and promoting the post to you lovely readers. On average, it takes me about 6 hours per post between writing, photography and editing, graphic design, layout, and promoting the post. Now, if YOU were to work for 6 hours doing something for someone else, wouldn't you expect something in return?

I thought so.

Way too many companies I have been contacted by have tried to get me to post a giveaway or review of their product, for absolutely nothing. Not a sample of the item or service, not paying me for a sponsored post, nothing. Anytime I get an e-mail like that, it goes right into my "Fuck You" folder. Any company who tries to recruit hard working bloggers to write for free, is pure scum in my book.

Let me just say, that any company who thinks that the chance of getting more hits to your blog, and perhaps even a new follower or two is proper compensation, can suck a big fat dick. I swear to you, some of the PR reps I have gotten e-mails from where on some severe drugs to think that I was going to jump on the chance to maybe get some followers for all the work I put into their post. 

Not only have I had companies who asked me to promote them just for the followers, but also just for the prestige. One place actually told me that by working with them, it would look better to other companies, who would in turn want to work with me. 

YEAH.

Last week, I received this e-mail in response to me giving  my rates for a sponsored giveaway post:

 "We have worked with many bloggers who don't have this type of criteria. Most agree to work with us at our first request, and ask for no payment in return. By working with us, you will get lots of followers in return, and it looks like you could use them, since your blog doesn't have a lot of followers to begin with".

So...you contacted me to run a giveaway for you, but when I respond by asking for payment to do so, you try to guilt trip me into helping you for free, because 'everyone else is doing it'? My mother could probably get me to send her flowers with that kind of thing, but she housed me and pushed me out of her body. All you've managed to do was throw a fit when I didn't like your terms, and tell me that my blog is crap because it doesn't have the kind of following you like. Well, why the fuck did you e-mail me in the first place?

 I made the mistake of working with an overseas clothing company one time, who offered me some cosplay items in return for hosting a giveaway for them. I was thrilled, because cosplay accessories and garments can be expensive, and con season was coming up. Well, I got the post written, I placed in some of my own photographs where I had posed in my various cosplay's (one of which took 2 hours to get into and photo ready), and I promoted the daylights out of it in the various online cosplay communities I'm a part of. I waited for a week to hear back about my compensation. It was only after I had e-mailed then four times, and threatened to take down the post, that I finally received a response. Turns out, that since the post wasn't getting the hits they wanted, they didn't want to supply me with the items they promised....and that's why that post is no longer on this blog.

Sadly, far too many bloggers fall for these extremely lame tactics, and so companies keep using them.

Stop selling yourself and your blog short. Don't work for free unless it's a cause you can really stand behind. Your time is more valuable than you might think.

Love and Lightning Bugs,
 

3 Things no one tells you when you switch from contacts to glasses

Ignore the crappy photo of me trying to look presentable in my glasses. It was taken on my kindle, and is beyond pixelated all to hell.

So, after 10 years without a back-up pair of glasses, I finally decided it was time to get some for those days when my contacts are bothering me. Let em tell you, after such a long period of time, there were a LOT of things I didn't remember about wearing glasses, and I thought I would share them with you, in case you decide to take the plunge and change up your eyewear as well.

1.) You Better Get Used To Living Like A Fish

Stock photo from stock-gallery

 Now, I don't remember ever feeling like I was trapped in a fishbowl with my last pair of glasses, but the second I took out my contact, and put on my new glasses for the first time, there was a severe sense of being trapped in a tiny spherical glass prison. It was so bad in fact, I literally just sat down and did nothing but stare out of my glasses, trying to get used to them. Even after wearing them all last night, and all day today, I'm still bothered by the curve I see out of the corner of my eye. I know I just have to get used to them, but if you plan to be constantly be switching from contacts to glasses, the fishbowl effect will never go away...so just be ready to feel like Nemo trapped in the aquarium around the clock.

2.) You Will No Longer Have Any Sort Of Depth Perception

My depth perception wasn't the greatest with contacts, but when I put on my glasses, any sort of talent I had for not running into things flew out the window. I can no longer gauge where I am in conjunction to solid objects. I've run into the doorway between the living room and kitchen twelve times today.

Twelve.

And it's not just walking, oh no. You should have seen me trying to wash the dishes earlier. The sponge was not where my brain said it was, so I was groping about trying to get a knife to wash without cutting my hand because my eyes said I was grabbing the handle, but my hand said, "THAT'S THE BLADE FUCKTARD."

3.) You Get To Living In A Poorly Color Screened Comic.

Image from White Rabbit 3d

Just a warning, if you don't look out of the EXACT CENTER of the lenses, you will get to experience what it's like to revisit those old comics with the bad color bleeding from poor alignment during printing. I'm just so used to glancing out the corner of my eye at something, and the fact that I now have to turn my entire head in order to look at something has me annoyed to no end. I can't be sly and just sneak a peek at something any more, I have to be blatantly obvious tot he fact that I'm looking at something.

What if I want to sneak a peek at the trainwreck of a woman having a meltdown in Starbucks because they ran out of her favorite creamer? Or have a nonchalant glance at the two drag queens having one of the most intriguing discussions about "potatoes" I have ever heard?

No...now I have to stare with a deer in the headlights look.

So be warned, if you switch from contacts to glasses, your ninja like snooping skills will be completely lost to you forever.

Love and Lightning Bugs,
 

Blogger Pet Peeves

Normally, I really love being a blogger. I share a bit of my life with you, and in return, you do the same for me. I have made some amazing friendships due to blogging, and I have learned a lot of lessons from the trials of others as well. but today...well...I'm getting a little annoyed at some of the things that make blogging difficult.

For instance, the bane of my fucking existence as a blogger: Categories

I mean, I understand why they might be useful, but the majority of the blogs I read have no theme whatsoever. They're just the random things that happen to a person throughout the day, or the things that interest them, or the sarcastic and profanity laden rantings of a fellow College student. Take a look at the photo below...

Look at those "categories" you have to choose from to classify everything that you write about. If you're a Mom, well you can pick the "Mommy Blog" option, but what about the rest of us who don't just blog about one thing? Not only is picking a category crucial to getting new people to read your blog, but it also effects the kinds of companies that want to work with you. I was turned down from working with a video game company not too long ago, because my blog wasn't listed as an "entertainment" blog.

Because, we all know, I NEVER post about video games, or my newest electronic toys, or the current obsession I'm having with whatever TV show I'm watching. Yeah...never...

The other big pet peeve I have is blog stats. Well, that's a lie, it's not so much the stats themselves, as the minimum stats glass ceiling that many companies use. If you're looking for an example, check out this gem of  of an email I got today: "We have a policy of only doing reviews with sites that have a page rank of 2 or greater, I checked and you currently have a PR of one. So, once you get it at 2 or more, email me and we'll do the review."

 Here's the real translation: "Oh, I see that your PR rating isn't higher than a 1, so your blog content must be worthless, even though we never actually visited your site. We're not going to work with you until the new PR rating come out, sometime in the next six months."

via Shutterstock

It's not like I put a lot of time and effort into my posts, or spent hours staging, photographing, and editing images of the products I review. Hell, having a PR minimum wouldn't even be so bad if bloggers actually KNEW what affected our rating. But we generally don't! There's no set guidelines that tell us what makes our rating fluctuate! How the everloving FUCK am I supposed to work on something when I have no clue about what makes it work?!

Ugh...I just...I just really hate blogging some days...

Love and Lightning Bugs,
 

Click to Cure

In the thousands of years since the invention of medicine, we have cured and almost completely eradicated hundreds of disease, such as smallpox, polio, and the bubonic plague. One disease that we have yet to cure however, has been cancer. In fact, cancer is one of the most mindboggling diseases known to us. There is no guaranteed treatment that will be 100% effective, and to even stand a chance against it, you have to undergo horrible chemicals pumped into your body, radiation, and risky surgeries to remove it. Research into what causes, and can cure this disease, has been at a crawl due to the millions of factors that effect it. Trying to figure out all the variables, and how they effect a cancer cell would be something that only hundreds of supercomputers could do...or you know...you could ask the internet for help.

Cancer Research UK created an online interactive database called Click to Cure, that invites Internet users to aid in the fight against cancer, as long as they're willing to do a boring, repetitive task for free. Let's be honest, that's what we usually do anyway! I mean, how often can you harvest your virtual crops before it gets mind-numbing?

The idea came from various projects developed by astronomers, which use crowdsourcing to document millions of galaxies. Even though slides of human tissue are, as a whole, a lot less enthralling to look at than the eternal mysteries of the deep cosmos, people seem to be taking up the cause. When users log in to Click to Cure, they are met with a quick tutorial that demonstrates how to identify cancer cells by identifying their irregular shape and yellow color. After this, they're shown a series of slides and asked to identify what they see in each, and note the proportion of irregular cells that exist. This information gives crucial insight to researchers in determining which treatments are effective for each different type of cancer cell.

At the time this post went live, the combined force of cancer hatred on the Internet has analyzed over 1,072,203 of these cancerous images, and Cancer Research UK is convinced that a major cancer breakthrough is buried somewhere within their data. They estimate that they can condense research that normally would have taken years into only a few months.

So take a few minutes each day, let your virtual crops wait, an help kick cancer in the ass!


Love and Lightning Bugs,
 

Some Girls like to Make-Out With Strangers...I Prefer Eskimo Kisses with a Deerling

Wow, it has been a long time since I last updated!

I'm so sorry! I've had so much going on, with a horrible car accident, to a death in the family...just so much has been going on that the blog has fallen behind a bit...but I'm back!

So what have I been up to in the meantime? Why more costuming of course!

This past weekend I went out with my friends, in our Ren Fair garb, and helped to promote the Great Plains Ren Fair which is this weekend.

You'll note our animal like appearances...well there's a good reason for that, we're putting together a show! Together with my friends Mickie, Jolene, and Georgia, we plan on attending various Ren fairs and Steampunk conventions, and putting on a song and joke act. Will it ever be anything big? Who knows...but we can have a blast doing it anyway.

Jolene has yet to flesh out her character, but may I introduce the rest of us... Viviette the Vixen, Deena the Deerling, and Glinda the Grumpy Goat.

Please feel free to enjoy some more photos below!

You can't tell, but there are two of us helping her tighten her corset. Sometimes it takes four hands!

Some girls like to get drunk and make out with strangers. I prefer to stay sober, and share Eskimo kisses with a deerling. (This one was snagged from my Instagram, so bear with the large watermark please.)

 Poor Deena....she got caught in the headlights!

Love and Lightning Bugs,