AM~Erica is So Proud of the Accomplishments

So anyway...

It's that time of year when the school year winds down and another fiscal year is coming to a close.

This is also the time of year for the extra curricular awards banquets & ceremonies, too. And this year is no different.

Last night was one of those banquets. Teen Boy had his end-of-the-year squad awards banquet for his speech & debate squad.

Due to some unforeseen circumstances, the banquet was moved to our church! YAY!! So my son helped my hubby set up for the event.

It was catered, and the food was pretty good; there were speeches from the seniors for their farewells; there was an ongoing slideshow of all the craziness that happened within the squad thru the year; and there were awards....a whole lot of awards!

Now, we knew that Teen Boy would be getting his letter in debate...again (so a bar to add to the letter), his degree promotion for the points he's accumulated thru the year, plus he'd be bringing home his trophies he earned thru the year, too. Plus we had an idea of at least another award he'd probably get. So we were looking forward to this year. Taking it all in.

As the awards were getting going, he got his bar for both the speech and debate sides (so a bar for each), and he received his degrees of Outstanding Distinction AND Superior Distinction!

Woo Hoo!!!

Then they started giving out the squad awards. These are voted on by the squad!!

When it came time for International Extemper of the Year...it was Teen Boy. We figure that was the other one he was getting...but still...WOO HOO!!

He was also helping to present one of the awards, too. So that was fun....

But then things started going crazy!!

All of a sudden, he got honorable mention (read: 1st runner up) for Varsity Lincoln-Douglas Debater of the Year AND for Varsity Congressman of the Year!!
PLUS....he was voted Varsity Public Forum Debater of the Year with his debate partner!!

Also, as officers were being announced for next year, our son wasn't called up...but....
He was appointed as the Debate Chair of the squad's annual speech & debate tournament they host!! We were SO excited!! Not necessarily surprised, but still so proud! Supposedly he didn't want it, but thought he'd throw his hat in the ring to be considered "if they needed him to do it." Apparently he's what they needed.

Oh...we started reminiscing with him at the table when the members of the year awards were being given. They were handing out the Novice-of-the-Year awards...and we were talking about when Teen Boy won one of the novice awards a couple of years ago (reminder HERE).

Then as it came time to announce the Varsity-Member-of-the-Year, within a couple of seconds of his coach talking, I started getting choked up. But I was trying to hold it in...it sounded like our son she was describing, but I would have looked like an idiot for crying for another kid. So I looked down & away as the description continued to sound like Teen Boy! And so....she called his name!!

*CRIES*

Even one of the seniors address him in her farewell speech to keep him encouraged.

Whew!! I was an emotional wreck! My hubby was an emotional wreck! We have another year of this, people. If we were this mushy for his junior year...
*ahem*
Never mind...I don't even want to think about next year. It's gonna have to be a box of tissues for all.

And then the outgoing president got up to give his closing remarks & farewell speech. This guy is a great guy...and apparently was making bets with other seniors about whether or not they'd cry during their speeches. LOL!! But...mostly because he know he was going to be a puddle of mush during his speech. One of the saddest & most touching I've ever heard.
He singled out a few of the squad members, but knew he needed to get a move on (the banquet was already nearing 4 hours long...as usual).

Then closing remarks from the coaches came. And it was a prepared statement with shocking news. News that prompted shock, silence & tears as the send off was given. A statement when prompted me to put out an open letter to our district superintendent & school board. (can be read HERE, along with the statement given that caused the chaos)

As everyone was consoling each other & the seniors were giving their last banquet hugs, the outgoing president came up to us & apologized for not singling Teen Boy out...but he said he was already a weepy mess. But he wanted our son to know how great this guy thought he was. But we were interrupted as Teen Boy walked by, so the outgoing president could run over, hug him & tell him himself.

We think he's pretty awesome. And we are so glad he's found where he belongs. And he does pretty well...

The awards, degrees, certificates, and earned trophies
(not including additional medals received for placing thru the year)

It was an emotional night. We are so proud of what Teen Boy has accomplished....and we look forward to what he'll do next year!

...but it might night be without a bunch of tears.

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Apparently Needs Address it Again

So anyway...

Another school year is coming to a close. And we have had to deal with some flighty decisions made by a school district who is trying to hide behind a veil of "care", but many of us see the writing on the wall. A veil that can easily be seen thru if you take a moment to actually look thru it. When the light hits it just right, it's clear.

Last night was one of those times that the veil could be seen thru. And we were reminded how not pretty the face beneath it lies.

So, I'm going to take another moment to lift the veil to speak to those who hide underneath, and I will address those who need addressed in an open letter.

**********

Dear Dr. Herl & the Independence District School Board Members,

The flood of changes that have been made throughout these last couple of years have been mostly baffling. Trying to keep up with decisions made nearly out of the blue are concerning.

Many of these changes made have not shown where the kids have been kept in mind. Instead it appears there is an irresponsible wielding of power going on. It's disheartening & disappointing as a parent watching & witnessing the amount of seemingly unnecessary changes going on way too often.

With the recent levy that passed (by nearly a roughly 60/40% passing - which isn't an overwhelming margin by any means), that was supposed to mean it's supposed to bring in more teachers to help control class size. Which sounds great on the surface. But a couple of types of people got their votes to pass it in who either:

A) don't have direct contact or involvement in the schools, but think they are helping the kids without further information expect blindly listening to those pushing in favor of it,

B) have kids in the district because this is where they went & just want anything that sounds remotely positive to happen to keep the veil pulled over their eyes in hopes the bad stuff isn't really happening so their kids could go thru the same buildings they did.

This combination is your 60%. The other 40% know what's up, or at least can see the problems with the scenario. If the citizen remain & continue to be informed, plus letting more of the 60% know, and then that is true power.

And with that said, every year, with each class of seniors that come thru, there will be a whole new round of those kids turning 18. This means all of them will have the power to vote. This means that they have lived the confusing changes, don't trust the district, and, therefore, will not vote for any moves they deem unworthy of their support.

Just like much of what's taken place over these last two years. Great administrators were chased out because there's a district who thought they were also in real estate. Teachers left after being used as chess pieces within the district for not a lot of good reason. The only reason, really, was to prove the district could move them. More money has been taken from anything that is not sports. As there are students excelling in their non-sports departments, even representing the district & their schools on upwards of a national level, funds keep getting taken away right & left. They seem to be the first with swift, chaotic changes that are happening way too often. They can't get settled in changes made.

In just this last year, alone, we have seen a superintendent abusing power, seemingly with the backing of the school board. But the question becomes whether or not the board really has tabs on the district leader. If you click HERE, I have already been giving examples leading up to this letter. (Please read the link within that link, too, for an even greater understanding of where some of this stems from.)

There are many of us afraid of watching a villain coming forward. Someone who is in it for the power & the title. Someone who is willing to hide behind charity to "prove" right decisions are being made. And there's too many who refuse to speak up about it.

Things are not good here. If you look at Independence school rankings, even in just Missouri, it's embarrassing how far down the list this district is listed. If you look thru any given top high schools or school districts in Missouri, NONE of the Independence schools are even in the top 100. On one of the sites, which I'm trying to remember where we found it, Independence was given a 5 out 10 possible points. Neighboring districts, Blue Springs & Liberty, were given 8 or 9. Embarrassing.

With all of these things going down, and teachers being used as chess pieces, or just watching them leave so they don't get caught up being game pieces, something is already seemingly coming to fruition that I was trying to warn voters of when the levy came out. I went on some rants about how I was concerned with who would be handling the money since there has been no trust built as of late. Supposedly, there was to be a tight look on how the money would be spent & it was going to be monitored closely.

Dr. Herl was supposed to be speaking to a Sunday school class at our church about the levy, before the vote. I was prepped & ready to find him to discuss major issues behind my opinion of the levy & how I felt it was a catch-22. Then I found out he had backed out about 2 day beforehand, and a couple members of the school board would be there instead. I was disappointed, but looked at the situation as an opportunity to be able to approach the board about all of my concerns about the proposed levy & about the superintendent that is more than not-trusted. I was willing to lay out the reasons, too. Then it turned out it wouldn't be school board members, but instead a FORMER board member AND a spouse of a board member! Apparently it was against the rules for those who would be handling the levy money could not make a push for the levy, but send cronies out instead. Ugh.

Well, I still took the opportunity to corner one of the speakers about my concerns. He was not at all aware about what had been going on. Everything I told him was complete news to him. And it was after speaking to a class of grandparents...you know, part of the 60%. The clueless ones hoping to get information, but only listening blindly to what is being fed to them. I am glad a few of them are friends of mine & already had an idea from me as to what is actually happening in the district.

I'm laying all of this out, right now, Dr. Herl & Board, so that you will know where this next piece of information is coming from.

Last night, the Truman HS speech & debate squad had their end-of-the-year awards banquet. It was a lovely evening & we were so proud of the accomplishments of, not only our own child, but those of the whole squad. Seniors were giving their farewells. And it was awesome how they did after the major double-change that was a part of the chaos being dealt with this year.

When you wanted to continue to lift up Van Horn, while continuing to lay great focus on that high school (without a great deal of care for the other two high schools that need your great attention, too),  by doubling up the great speech & debate coaching team at Truman by dividing their time between the two schools, that was enough to hurt our hearts to watch our beloved coaches working with TWO separate squads. Squads that still compete against each other at their tournaments. Sounds like a conflict of interest to me. But I digress....
After this had been decided upon, the competitive drama teacher decided it would be best to leave the district instead, going to a neighboring district and taking her talents with her. It was a bombshell dropped upon the squad and parents. This meant bringing in another coach. Another coach who would be sharing their time between two squads. Double bombshell.

So, a new coach was brought in, much to the dismay of the competitive drama side of the squad. But, thru this year, he proved to be a worthy coach & really helped these kids to make great strides! In a school-year's time the kids were so thankful for him coming on board & being the great coach that he has been. The seniors gave him high praise, even apologizing for emotional attitudes out of early defiance...because they came to love him & couldn't wait to see how he would coach the other squad members in the time to come. Heck, he'd even turned down more money from a another school to stay on with this squad because he saw such great potential in this up & coming group of talented kids!

The squad persevered this past year of sharing coaches AND a new coach, too. And my son has been talking to the new coach to help him with some speaking pointers this coming year to help him excel more...

After the closing remarks from the squad president, then it came time for closing remarks from the debate coach...
As she took her place at the podium, she said that she had typed up what she would be saying so there would be no question about what was about to be said & that it could be made available to anyone who couldn't be there....

Uh-oh...something's up. We braced because whatever was coming wasn't going to be good.

Then, she shared these words:

As a celebratory & fun night of memories, tears, and accomplishments was a wonderful highlight, the sharing of this news made the night take a shocking downward spiral. After the last line was read, there was a stunned silence followed by sobs of sadness. Not only were the seniors experiencing the close of their final squad banquet, but the squad, as a whole, lost a whole lot in one fell swoop. Not only the seniors they've been looking up to, but there would be yet another huge change to deal with as they were just getting their footing.

I'm going to take this back to the passing of the levy vote for a moment:
Just because you have that money coming in now, this doesn't mean you should spend it almost frivolously. This lay out has Mr. Stafford on the way out the door within a few short years. It also is costing the district even more money. What has been proposed by the coaches to be able to keep the initial arrangement, set up for just this year, but to eliminate the travel money, would actually save the district a huge amount of money. Now they want to keep hiring staff that may or may not last. The squad just became OK with the set up after seeing they could still succeed, even sharing their coaches with another squad WHILE getting to know a new coach. And that has been torn away from them again.

Now, I'm going to be clear right now. Mrs. Adams did NOT engage in anymore conversation after reading the letter. She did NOT tell anyone to say anything concerning this. The squad members had already taken to Twitter to voice their disappointment. Several of us parents were discussing our great disappointment. And the answers we wanted were not coming from Mrs. Adams. She read the info she needed to, made the speech available, and that was it. Do NOT put blame on her as we express our great disappointment in the district. This is on you!

This is also a parent reaching out to have you reconsider their proposal. They want the kids to succeed & will do anything, apparently, to invest in the success of the kids. What are you doing about it?

We watch you tear away at relationships with teachers & students, messing with futures, education, and careers. It's disheartening.

After one year of a trial, that was a difficult one to get thru, you have decided to shake things up again. So, are you going to keep making huge changes every single year? Change can be good, once in while. If no one has time to settle with the changes, it is nothing but chaos. And I hurt for the kids having to deal with your actions.

The teachers, staff & students whose lives you are dealing with are people. They are not inanimate objects that can just be moved around & changed at random to "try a new arrangement." They are NOT furniture.

Now, if any of you could have been at that banquet last night in support of these students, outside of sports, you would have seen the wave of pain that fell over that room. There was a great sea of tears with the wailing & gnashing of teeth. And, understandably so.

So, when will you be taking responsibility for actions taken? When are you going to see that swift decisions can ruin lives? As we try to parent our kids about what a bad decision can do to mess up a life forever, you are proving in in vast masses.

With a superintendent who tweets with students while other administrators & educators cannot is just the tip of the irresponsibility iceberg. And things are sinking quickly.

The question now becomes whether or not you will see your actions in a different light. Are your decisions actually helping the students? Are you just doing things for money to look good in the public eye? Are you actually listening to concerns & willing to take action over them? And are your decisions actually for the whole student body, all the activities...or do you just want attention on sports hoping the boosters will just keep giving to that & pretending the district is doing well?

The district is failing. It is failing & falling fast. There is no consistency at all. And this community cannot keep up with the amount of change you are putting thru because you can't make up your minds as to how you can handle the district, the staff, the students as you just keep dollar signs in the forefront.

You cannot hide behind this veil any more. You are being watched. How are you going to handle the veil removal to see what is revealed underneath the pretentiousness?

Ball is in your court, but we are watching. Closely. Are you going to be the hero, or just wait to see if you become the villain? Many of us are concerned it's the latter.

Most Sincerely for the Children,

~Erica Williams
a very concerned parent

**********

With all of that said, I feel the need to put it in open-letter form so that many of you will be informed of things that are actually happening within this district. Those who don't want to believe anything is wrong because your kid isn't seemingly affected. But it affects every child in the district.

If these irrational decisions continue from the top, it's going to bite everyone in every school building, and within the families. You will see a greater rise of homeschooling (which I've already seen happen out of this district, by the way).

If you are ones who refuse to question what is happening, you are part of the problem. If you kissing their hands or hineys, you are part of the problem. Eventually, you will see the brunt of this. Especially if you have kiddos still going thru this district.

So, to those reading this within the Independence School District, who's willing to speak up? Many of you are willing to just speak quietly, but we need to get loud. But in a diplomatic way. Name calling & nasty language will get you no where. But we need to corner these folks on the board and the superintendent to let them know what we think. I'm willing speak to them beyond just what I print. If I wasn't willing to talk to them, then I wouldn't put it out there.

Anyone willing to speak up, too? Or share this open letter? Or write your own?

Email, call, write, get word out. We need to let them know we mean business when it comes to our kids, their education, their futures, as well as the treatment of the educators who are trying to invest in the kids if they are given the chance.

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

~~~~~~~~~~

*UPDATE* (May 15, 2015)

In amazing news....the board has reconsidered & will now leave the squad alone by allowing the same arrangement as this past year. Not sure if this open letter helped or not, but I do know the squad played a big part in it. Leave it to talented speakers & debaters!

From my understanding, the superintendent wasn't willing to budge...but the board decided to override that. This speaks volumes as to how the district is being run & hope it sends a message for how things should be taken care of in the future.

Change can happen!! This is amazing news!!

AM~Erica is Still Against Forced Commercialized Sentiment Holidays

So anyway....

I've said several times before, and I'll say it again:
I am NOT fond of Mother's Day!

(reminder HERE)

I've not been overly eager for it for quite some time, but I think I gave up on it just a few years ago. One of the worst Mother's Days I'd ever experienced did me in & I gave up. Completely.

Now, if you read the above link, you will know there's several layers to this animosity I have toward this "holiday" & others like it.

And, in my previous post (HERE), I pointed out that this is my first grandparentless Mother's Day.

When helping the kids look for cards, I realized I wasn't looking for "Grandmother" cards to give. So I stood there crying in the card aisle at the store. Wow, I guess I was having a really difficult time. And then when we got home from the store, a cardinal was sitting by our garage that was startled when the garage door began to raise. When I realized what bird had flown off....*sigh* yep, queue more tears. (see why HERE if you didn't get to it from the previous link)

On top of that, I hadn't been feeling the greatest. I was tired from an overnight trip to the lake, and just in general after trying to get over a migraine.
Today probably might have been a good day to skip church. But I didn't. And I apologize to anyone who I didn't encounter so well today.

Look....on this day, I do a disappearing act at church. I didn't do as well this morning. Some know how I feel about the day. There's others who either forget, or just want to tell any female, "HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!" So, I try to disappear and then come back in time to take in worship. I generally know that I can get into my flow of worship & not worry about the confrontation. I know that sounds so bad, but I do the same thing when I'm having a down day on Sunday anyway.

But this morning, a few folks found me anyway...and at a lot of different points during the morning. *sigh* And not feeling the best....and how I feel about the day....not sure I was at my best toward others today.

Regardless of what congress put into place...I don't want to feel forced to appreciate someone for a day. It's not a law!! But we still fall into the practice anyway....

My hubby & kiddos know how I feel about it, as you can probably guess. But they "show appreciation" in the trap of the holiday anyway. On the positive, I did get some awesome things...and I'm going to get one of my fave dinners fixed for me. So there's that.

I want to be clear about something: I do appreciate the sentiments. I really do. I just don't want them because the calendar says you have to. I'm all about celebrations! Right? I celebrate a whole lot of things...but when it comes to moms, dads & true loves....you should do that a whole lot more often than the once a year the calendar says to.

So, as I stated on my Facebook account status this morning:

"Per the usual, I am not fond of Mother's Day for a myriad of reasons, as several of you may know/remember. 

But with that said... 

To all the moms, grandmoms, great-grandmoms, great-great-grandmoms, rookie moms, veteran moms, mom-in-laws, stepmoms, single moms, single dads also trying to be mom, moms-to-be, adoptive moms, foster moms, surrogate moms, those trying to become moms, those who want to be moms, moms who lost any of their own, those struggling as moms, fur baby moms, and pseudo moms: may you be loved and appreciated for all you do, try to do, and failures in your trials every single day. May today be as beautiful as it should be every other day with your family, as the sentiments should go beyond just one day out of the year. You are loved, you are appreciated, and we are grateful for you & each other."

And I stand by that.

Also, if someone says they don't like something, generally you should stop doing the thing they don't like. Right? So, when I make it clear I'm not fond of the day, but thank you anyway....don't keep coming at me & telling me why I'm wrong in my feeling of this. 

Now, not that I'm not proud to be a mom...that is far-Far-FAR from any truth! I just know I would rather be appreciated at random times rather than feeling forced to because cards, commercials, and a calendar notification tells you otherwise. Because if that's the case...do you mean it today more than any other day? Something to think on.

I'm not the only one with yucky feelings about it, either. Check out this post (that I just discovered after writing this post...I had to come back & include it with mine):

click the pic to go to the blog link

If you are smothering someone with sentiments because the calendar says so, but you don't show it any other time...it's an ugly thing. Fake sentiments don't set well.

Plus...I'm not feeling the greatest (in case you missed me saying it earlier). So I'll try to get over that part pretty quickly. I can't say so much over fake holidays with forced commercialized sentiments attached.

That was a lot to unload. If you're still with me...thanks. Just another facet of the realist side of my heart. 

Now I guess I'm going to go enjoy a favorite meal. Hopefully because my hubby wants to fix it for me...not just because the calendar said so....

(and be sure to check out the links....they are important to the message of this post)

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Served Up Blueberries

So anyway...

For some reason, I've had my grandmother on my mind lately. Not good, not bad...just present.

Then I got in a conversation with someone who brought up a song that made them think of their grandmother. It was a heartfelt conversation remembering our grandmothers.

It hasn't been a year, yet, since my grandmother passed. And Mother's Day is approaching quickly, which will make it my very first Mother's Day without a grandmother.

Not that I'm fond of the holiday, or those like it (reminder HERE), but it is still wholly prevalent. No real way around that fact.

Recently, I did set up a memory table for her. It's not much, but just enough.

I wanted to carry it over from the memory tree I did for her at Christmas. (reminder HERE)

So she is always there....but just strong on my mind in the last few days.

**********

It's that time of year. Some berries are coming into harvesting time! So I'm trying to pick some up at the store.

Several years ago, while we were living in St. Louis, we took one of our far-too-few trips to the Soulard farmer's market, we came across a year of an overabundance of blueberries in season! We purchased a 5 pound box of blueberries for $3! What a deal!!

Since then, the blueberries have not been in such overabundance, and the prices on them have not been so thrifty. We are paying as much or more for a pint of blueberries than we paid that day at Soulard.

Now with some of my price matching & non-extreme couponing I do, I did find blueberries on decent sale, as opposed to what they have been going for. So I made sure to purchase some.

It's time for standardized testing around here (whole other subject I will not touch here), and so I've been trying to prepare the boys the best I can. So, I've read that eggs can help brains on test days, as well as berries. Blueberries are supposed to be great! They have earned the nickname of "brain berries" for that reason.

So, I've been fixing them scrambled eggs on test days....and I almost forgot we had the blueberries!

This morning, Lil Guy had testing to prepare for. He asks for green eggs (like I make on Dr. Seuss' birthday, HERE). They are cheesy scrambled eggs with bacon bits, salt & pepper, and some parsley - they are, then, colored a bit o'green, whisked & then cooked up.

While the eggs were frying up, I happened to remember the berries. I pulled them out wondering if he'd remember...

It's been quite a while, you know. The last time some blueberries had been pulled out of the freezer for him. Maybe about 3-ish years or so. And I really didn't know how...or even if...he'd react.

I placed the berries on the side of the scrambled cheesy green eggs onto the table for his breakfast. He came out, sat down & began to consume the edibles. But he didn't even react...

...until...

...I heard Lil Guy turn his voice to me to say, "Hey, mom! Do you remember when we would be at Gigi's? Not the nursing home, but her house before that? She would pull out blueberries when we'd go? Remember that?"

He was very matter-of-fact about his questions, and there I was trying to choke back tears while smiling that he remembered.

When he was very little, he went snooping in her kitchen (because he was way too smart for his own good) and discovered blueberries in the freezer & decided to start eating them. My grandmother was so tickled by it, she always made sure to keep blueberries in her freezer for when we would come by...in case he was looking for blueberries.

I don't think he realized how the blueberries got started, but I'm so glad just having those berries on his plate, really to help his brain on test day, would make him think of his Gigi.

Join the club, my son. She seems to be very present.

*grabbing a tissue*

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Campaigns to Change Direction

So anyway...

Big things are happening. Important things.

With MY OWN STRUGGLES, I have felt called to become an advocate, in the field & personally, for mental health & suicide awareness moving toward prevention.

Today something important is beginning.
The Campaign to Change Direction!

Today, I have been asked to show I know the 5 signs of mental illness onset.

I know the signs

These signs are very important! If you or someone you know has been experiencing one or more of the 5 signs, I urge you to find help NOW!

I want to take this moment to urge you to also learn the 5 signs, know them, take the pledge, as I did, that you know the signs.

http://www.changedirection.org/make-a-pledge/

I would like to ask you to join the campaign...

After you take the pledge, take a selfie holding up 5 fingers to show you know the signs. Tag it with #ChangeMentalHealth. Then, ask others to take the pledge, too. Next, post it on all of your social media accounts. Be ready to talk about it...mental health AND the signs.

A personal visual of the signs - do they look or feel familiar?

Think of it this way:
If you learn CPR, you would see someone who is in distress & could use what you know. If you knew their signs & knew there's something you could do, would you just watch them suffer? Would you tell them to get over it? Would you make them feel bad about their distress?
Or...
Would you step in & do what you could to save their life until you could get them professional help?

Same thing with these signs.
If you know these signs & see someone in emotional distress...would you just stand by & tell them to get over it, or do you step in & get them to a place so that professional help can take over?

Let's get this rolling!! This is so very important!!
One in nearly every 5 people suffer from mental illness. This is about 42.5 MILLION Americans. And the conditions are more than likely diagnosable AND treatable! And it could be anyone at anytime.

If you see these changes in someone close to you...take care of them. They are in a blurred reality right now.

If you see these in yourself, I am so proud of you. Please find help!

Let's break the stigma & help this campaign explode! It might change, even save, a life, a relationship, a bank account, a job.
This campaign is THAT important.

You're move. What do you plan to do?

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Giving a Proper Introduction

So anyway...

It's been a week since Planet Comicon...and I'm still thrilled we got to go & take it all in. And I'm still remembering our experience mostly fondly.

If you remember, I went to Planet Comicon in my long-awaited steampunk outfitted character. And she has been a two(ish)-year project in the making.

I wanted to take a moment to focus on how my brain works & where she came from. At least I'll try...

A couple of years ago, shortly after I discovered Pinterest for myself, I started following someone who had these amazing pins on a board called "Steampunk." I was so curious about it because the pins were intricate, beautiful, spectacular...and I was quite drawn in. So, I went straight to her board to see what other visuals she was providing for inspiration. And I, then, became inspired by this thing called "Steampunk."

As I looked into it (because you all know I research when I find something new to take in), I found it was really from a sci-fi genre of literature, mostly based on the Victorian/Old West times, where the machines & beyond ran off of steam power. And, there are several of the storylines that lean toward a post-apocalyptic time of steam power. There have been movies with the same type of visuals, even TV shows & cartoons...
And I was hooked.

When I read something, I have an idea in my head, but it's true visuals that spark my imagination. I'm a visual learner. So, I started going thru other pins on Pinterest based on this, even Google images. The things I found were awe-inspiring, beautiful, crazy, intricate, and so creative in how those who have created their own characters took the genre to another level.

I could do that.

At some point, I came across some artwork. That's pretty wild, too. But there was one particular body of work from an artist that kept standing out to me. It was from the hand & mind of Brian Kesinger. Not only is he an artist, but he's even worked on Disney productions! I found that out later. But I really discovered him because of Victoria & Otto...along with his Tea Girls. (check out his work HERE)

Here is Victoria & Otto.
Though Otto is depicted much larger in other artworks,
I loved how their coming together is shown...made me think of T'luluh & Carlow.

This is Brian Kesinger's "Earl Grey" Tea Girl.
He uses mixed media of ink and tea. Love it.
Also, I wanted to use Earl Grey for my Star Trek geekery reasons.

I was so taken with his lovely & precious idea of the companionship between the lady & her octopus (which has been made almost the Steampunk Mascot), and along with the lovely imaginings of the non-Victoria "Tea Girls", my mind began to swirl...the cogs were turning, and the steam machine of my brain was warming up & really got going!

More of the steampunk tie to tentacles have been to much of the cephalopod types, including the creatures of Cthulhu & the Kraken. Between all of these factors...my mind started trying to put things together.

I loved the tie to the octopus companionship, as shown by Brian, so I went with that. I also began looking at what it would take to start building a steampunk outfit. Holy Cannoli! The money that can go into some of this stuff is crazy!! I don't have that kind of money laying around to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to put together something even just beginner. So I had to make the cogs of brain-workings work harder as I flipped the lever to deliver more steam to the thinking process...

As I tried to find pieces, I was working on a name & a backstory. Her name, T'luluh, is a form "Cthulhu" that I found intriguing. And, it's my own spelling. I'm sure most of you are shocked. Her last name, Poulpe', is French for "octopus". Then I wanted to keep it kind of classy, so I gave her the title of "Lady." So, I started to put together "Lady T'luluh Poulpe'" for the steampunk universe.

Now, I don't remember exactly what order many of my pieces came into my possession, but if you remember, I had just enough things to do an early test run of my character. So, I unveiled a very rough first outing (although she looked quite put together) at our church's Trunk-or-Treat promotion table. (reminder HERE)

But she was definitely still a work in progress. It wasn't the hair I wanted for her. She needed to be more tentacle-y...and so I really wanted a dreadlock 'do for her. Plus...she still needed a companion! An octopus...DUH! So, I began finding T'luluh a companion. I was looking for the right adoption, and it needed a perfect name...

As I started researching names for her new pet, I finally came across the name "Carlow." I was pretty drawn to it, then found out it's an Irish name (well, that's fitting) for "quadruple lake." It's totally a water name! Perfect! Well...if he's Irish, he needs a type of Irish last name...because we all know I'm giving him a last name. Amm-i-rite? Still along the lines of tentacles, and since T'luluh was the Cthulhu portion, he got the Kraken.
If you ever see the word "craic" (pronounced much like "crack"), it's Irish for "fun." So, Carlow's last name would be "McKcraic'n."

And then I did a mail-order adoption thru (the) Amazon. I found him! And he's adorable!

Carlow's "adoption" pic

Plus, I found the perfect hair for T'luluh, I went to thrift stores & found the perfect skirt, I was gifted my jewelry & goggles, a halloween corset on clearance, gifted shoes, hand-me-over/down under skirt, thrifted blouse & over vest, and some clearance tights put together with the magic of modern safety pins. Oh! And the surge to get this all together when we found out we were going to Planet Comicon...on Pi Day!! (Reminder HERE for more photos, too) My entire outfit may have cost, including the adoption of Carlow, about $40.

T'luluh & Carlow made some Steampunk friends at Planet Comicon.
Could have found so many more! Next time!!!

And I had to share that I put only one picture, at first, onto Instagram with a headshot of T'luluh & Carlow. I did tag it with #PlanetComicon. It was crazy that I got one of the artists with a booth there find it & say she saw me there & loved the outfit! WHAT?? I was so blown away. And then several other artists found it & liked it, too. So awesome! (I did add more pics on Instagram later.)
Of course I tagged Brian Kesinger in it...he's one of the biggest inspirations for the whole thing.

I did share a collage on Brian's PUBLIC FACEBOOK PAGE (and tagged him on Twitter: @briankesinger). There have been other steampunk pages share the photo from there, too!
Holy Cannoli!

Even with all of that, T'luluh & her story are still a work in progress. I hope to do something with it in the future, but unsure how that looks at the moment. But when it involves continuing her father's work, how her mother passed, and the search for a sunken airship...and maybe even pirates...you know it's gotta be good!

Then, I hope to meet Brian Kesinger one of these days...well I hope T'luluh & Carlow get to meet him. He inspired their existence.

And I'm looking forward to another chance for T'luluh & Carlow to show up somewhere.

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Took in a Wee Bit o'the Irish

So anyway...

Yesterday was one of the biggest international holidays. It's a religious holiday that has become quite secular. And it's a holiday that comes out of the Emerald Isle...but has been turned into an insane spectacle in the United States. This shouldn't be a shock.

Only if you live in a cave would you probably have no idea that yesterday was, in fact, St. Patrick's Day.

Parades breaking out everywhere, folks dressing like leprechauns & crazy people in all green, downing corned beef & cabbage with a green beer...

Ugh.

Oh! And it's a day when everyone seems to find Irish heritage in them, whether it's there or not.

I do come from some Irish decent. This honestly shouldn't surprise anyone.

And I am quite proud of the Irish that runs in my veins.

Also, I do try to always tweak what foods we consume & how to dress as part of a more authentic celebration. I have yet to take in a parade. I try to catch the big KC one when it's aired on TV, but haven't been able to work going.
(Hey, Dad...maybe we should consider being in it for the Shanahans? Just a thought.)
Part of how the parades started was when Irish immigrants used the day, in New York, as a political statement. They were looked down upon & they wanted to show their pride in their people...and to show that they were people, too.

I have been having several conversations with people who have been going thru some of my struggles (reminder HERE), as well as those who have loved ones they have lost or who are struggling. Not sure what's in the air, but it seems to be a lot...or...more people are willing to step out to discuss it. Between that being a little overwhelming (in a good way), and then reminiscing my Irish heritage thru my grandmother...I had a great wave of emotion come over me. It's been really difficult for me to do regular running lately, and I'm behind. But I just needed to run. So much on mind, it needed my mind cleared. I was not fully prepared or fueled properly, but I needed the run. So, to lift my spirits a bit more, of course I needed to put together an Irish-inspired cosTUTUme that I had planned to wear for an Irish race...that I never got to run due to schedules.

Yeah...I did a short run around the neighborhood like this. And, it did help. I did feel better. Good thing, I had food to prepare!

Now then, you know I had to go as all out as possible while I celebrate...even if it's by myself.

I did begin the day, of course, with coffee. I even saved enough to enjoy an Irish Coffee:

Isn't it beautiful? I have a confession about it, though: it contains no whiskey. It was early in the day & I needed it to actually help me function! So there's brown sugar, coffee, Irish Creme creamer, and some whipped topping with a sprinkling of cocoa bean/coffee bean/sugar ground together on top along with a pinch of green sugar. And I have about 8 of these Irish Coffee glass mugs that I found at the dollar store!

Originally, I had planned to enjoy some Irish oatmeal for breakfast, but I found St. Paddy's Day specific Lucky Charms!!

Uh...yeah. In original AND chocolate! So I mixed the two together for some fun to start the day with. Never hurts to have a bit of craic.

As I got ready, I know that green is the typical color...but...blue was actually the color of St. Patrick! Most Irish won't wear green...it's actually more of an American thing. Go figure. (So is the pinching thing, too.) I have several Irish sweaters & hoped it would actually cool back off enough to wear one of them. With it being around 70 & 80 degrees lately, I was a bit concerned. It did, however, cool off to be in the 50's...so an Irish-style sweater it was!

A navy fisherman's sweater with an old green broomstick skirt seemed to be perfect! Topped off with my Irish-like shawl/wrap & pinned with my grandmother's tiger eye brooch made for a pretty fitting Irish outfit. I may have to wear it when I go to Ireland! Well...someday...

I did fix some lunch that worked in the Irish oatmeal & some Barry's Irish Breakfast tea!

The oatmeal included some buttermilk, honey & a bit o' brown sugar; the tea had milk & honey added to it. It was delicious!

As I had the KC parade tuned it on the television, I decided to start prepping some of the dinner I had planned.

First, I want to keep getting the lesson out there that corned beef & cabbage is NOT Irish!!
You could say it's Irish-American. See, a staple meal for the Irish was bacon & cabbage (Irish bacon is more like Canadian bacon, not the strips we tend to fry up)...but when the immigrants came over, they found they couldn't afford their bacon & had to go with a more affordable option (at that time) of corned beef...which they bought from Jewish markets. They didn't want corned beef...they had to make do. And right now, beef is at an all-time high. So having the corned beef & cabbage...or even a Reuben...is not accurate. There's even an article from History.com that says that corned beef & cabbage is as Irish as spaghetti & meatballs, and as American as apple pie. BOOM.

OK, now that I've had to put that out there AGAIN, and since our non-pork eater would not be with us, we could have a much more authentic meal! Typical meats for the Irish are pork & lamb. Lamb is not as easy to get a hold of around here, but pork can be found in abundance! So...I roasted up some pork loin with Irish herbs & served it up with Colcannon, Irish Soda Bread (which I added a little thyme to for the meal...but will definitely stick to the most simple from now on), cider glazed roasted carrots & onions, plus some potato cakes for the boys.

It was SO good, people!! I still haven't had time to make my Irish Creme Apple Cake. So there was no dessert...but we were so full, it didn't even matter! But I'm still planning on making it.

The day was hard to plan. My hubby had a day full of meetings, even having to travel to a meeting; Teen Boy had to stay after school for a bit; Lil Guy was staying late at school for chess club. We didn't even know if my hubby would make it home for dinner. But we had dinner late as I was trying to work around schedules as a chauffeur for the boys while trying to make dinner late enough in case hubby was home for it. Turns out hubby made it home & we got to enjoy the feast together.

We didn't get to take in an Irish movie again. I'm always going to be optimistic about future celebrations, though.

Now, it's time to plan for St. Joseph's Feast tomorrow...and then cardigans & sneakers to honor Mr. Rodger's birthday on Friday.

Busy, busy with celebrations!! March is full of 'em!

Hope you had a great St. Paddy's Day! And next year, I will try to start getting some of these lessons of St. Patrick's Day out sooner.

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

Beware! How AM~Erica Spent this Ides of March

So anyway...

As we get this round of celebrations rolling, we had an ultimate Ultimate Pi Day yesterday (reminder HERE). And that's just the beginning...

These next several days are full of holidays!!

Today...though dark, is the infamous Ides of March.

Caesar didn't heed his warning in 44 B.C., on this day, and was stabbed in the back...and several other places...by people he thought were friends.

My family uses this day to kick off our salad season! Not accurate in feasting, but we do enjoy stabbing a fork into a good Chicken Caesar Salad. Wrong? Maybe...but we find it fitting.

With some crazy scheduling that has been entering into our lives this year, we are scaling our feasting back a bit & including apple slices, cubed cheese, and some Italian Bread.

I had hoped to work in an Orange Julius at some point...but it looks like we cannot do it this time. So hoping to makeup for that one tomorrow.

Oh! And as we all probably know by now, I must dress for the occasion! Amm-i-rite?

Yes...this is pretty much my staple Ides of March top. And I got this new headband for $5 that is the perfect topper!! So, I tried to look ready. I just stayed away from government buildings & such.

And now that this weird holiday is coming to a close, I look forward to St. Patrick's Day in a couple of days! One of my favorites!

Stay tuned...

God Bless, AM~Erica

AM~Erica Takes a Slice of Ultimate Pi Day

So anyway...

Today is kind of amazing.

Fo realz, yo!

It's pretty ultimate!

Today we begin a whole new round of celebrating! And even though this one involves maths & stuffs...I still found a way to celebrate.

Today is a day that can be celebrated in the States since we have our date format set up weird. Because of our format of [month/day/year] (instead of the rest of the world that has it set up [day/month/year]), we are able to celebrate March 14th. For most of the rest of the world, it is 14/3/15. Here, in the U.S., we have it set up as 3/14/15. People! In all that confusing mess I just went thru...I'm trying to say that we can use 3/14 as Pi Day!

Are you still with me?? OK...well, today is not just Pi Day...but we are in 2015, so today is ULTIMATE Pi Day!! With Pi being 3.141592653, on 3/14/15 at 9:26:53, we have achieved Ultimate Pi! BOOM!!
*CONFETTI CANNON*

Well, since I'm not so big on the mathical smarticle parts of being smart, I would find another way! Like...going to Planet Comicon!! FINALLY!!

The whole family went, and even though Teen Boy threw something together in very short time (like right before we left), only Teen Girl & I dressed full-on for the occasion. The boys donned geeky t-shirts, but the girl & I had costumes!! I'm sure many of you are surprised by this. *cough-cough*
(My other costume stuff I've done HERE)

Remember when I unveiled my STEAMPUNK CHARACTER, Lady T'luluh Poulpe', at our church's trunk-or-treat promo table? Well, that's the direction I went! But this time, I got much more of what I'd hoped for T'luluh to look like!

Long auburn hair with blonde & brown dreadlocks & braids, all in one wig, gave my character the perfect cephalopod-type edge I'd hoped to achieve. Plus, I needed a sidekick with 8 arms. So, I adopted one from Amazon & named him Carlow McKcraic'n!

OK, part of the steampunk world has a draw to octopi. Between that & C'thulhu...it was a perfect match to work with! So, everything from my character's name, to her look, to her sidekick, even her sidekick's name, all has a tie in with c'thulhu/kraken references. Also, a couple of years ago, I discovered the magic of Brian Kensinger's Tea Girls, as well as his best known characters, Victoria & Otto (check his stuff out HERE). That's what sparked the inspiration for an tentacle-involved steampunk character. She is still a work in progress, but I was SO excited with how T'luluh & Carlow worked for Comicon!!

And? Some people GOT it! I was so excited when a guy got really excited about the c'thulhu reference...then later a kid (he was maybe about 8 or 9) yelled from quite a distance away, "C'THULHU! I LOVE C'THULUH!" It was AWESOME!!

And so many other steampunk folks there, too!!

I didn't even get all of them! However, I did find this guy right here:

Yes. This guy was an amazing Captain Jack Sparrow!! And, not only did he love the women, but he really wanted to use Carlow for his pic with Teen Girl (who went as Ariel):

He even asked if she sang & made her sing for him:

He was trying to be Ursula while she sang. He was hilarious, on-point, and awesome!!

We did have a lot of fun today:

There was so much to see!! Our only disappointment was how much it was to get pictures/autographs with the celebrity guests there...and the greatest disappointment of that was that Cary Elwes camped out behind a curtain. Ugh. So we saw the back of his head thru a slit between two curtains. Did see a few other celebrity guests from afar: Michael Rooker, Meng-Na Wen, Karen Gillian...to name a few.

But it was an amazing experience to spend Pi Day with thousands of other weird peeps. The overall respect & appreciativeness of other's effort in costuming & and overall love for the geekiness out there in so many forms. It felt like home amongst those of us weirdos. And it was wonderful!

After all of that excitement, of course we had to focus on eating for the occasion! So...PIE!

That's right. We ordered some Minsky's Pizza pies & enjoyed a small Moon Pie for dessert! PERFECT!!

Does it help that we had pizza & dessert that were round for Pi Day?

I hope you all found a way to celebrate the Ultimate Pi Day, which happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday (fitting).

Now, I'm hoping to clean this up so I can get it posted at 9:26 this evening.

More celebrations coming this week...

Stay tuned...(tomorrow is the Ides of March...beware)

God Bless, AM~Erica