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These are the ones that have a photo of Dante-Inu in them.
Happy Holidays Everyone!
Remember...the 2009 MARS calendars are now back from the printers and
available for ordering!
We have been shipping them all week and the feedback has been great :)
Please forward this email to other Akita enthusiasts, family members,
email lists, or anyone you think would be interested in purchasing a
calendar. It is our MARS grass roots supporters that help us promote
and sell our calendars each holiday season. Every purchase counts and
makes this a successful fund raiser for our orphans!
Please order early, especially if your dog is in the calendar, as we
only printed a certain number of calendars and we want everyone that
desires one for themselves or for gift giving to be able to purchase one.
Please see below for an order form that you can print out, or you can
order on-line with your credit card from the Moongazer website
(http://www.moongazer.com).
**For international orders, please email me privately for specific
instructions.**
The calendars are the featured product on the Moongazer website and are
listed under "Unique Items" and then just click on "MARS Items."
Or follow this direct link:
http://www.moongazer.com/Boulder/web_store.cgi?category=Artwork&page=2051.html
Or, see a complete listing of various MARS items at:
http://www.moongazer.com/Boulder/web_store.cgi?category=Artwork&page=MARS_Items.html
This year the calendars features over 90 Akitas just being Akitas and
with over 1500 entries, we tried to pick some great shots! We have a
detailed Who's Who page, dedications, and every month has a miniature
calendar of the month previous and the month following in the top right
and left corners.
We are sure you will love them!
100% of the proceeds from calendar sales benefit the orphans under the
direct foster care of MARS. Many thanks to all who have supported MARS
efforts and to those who made the calendar possible this year!
Take Care,
-- Lisa
***********************************************************************
Lisa R. McCluskey, BS, CPDT
MOONGAZER.COM - "Intelligent Instruction Pets Enjoy"
Accredited Pet Behavior Counselor - Pet Behavior Institute of the UK
Certified Pet Dog Trainer, Certification Council for Prof. Dog Trainers
American Kennel Club (AKC) Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Evaluator #3950
Certified Delta Society Pet Partner, Animal Assisted Activities/Therapy
Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) Professional Member #2713
Assistant - John Rogerson's 21 Day Instructor Course - Kusur, India
Akita Club of America Public Education Committee (PEC) Chair
Midwest Akita Rescue Society (MARS) Co-Founder
***********************************************************************
MARS ORDER FORM - 100% of Proceeds from Sales Go to MARS Orphans
1.) 2009 Full Color Twelve Month Calendar (11" x 17" when open) - $16.00
each
QUANTITY - _______ TOTAL - _______________
2.) MARS Notepads -- 5.5" x 8.5" burgundy print on grey, 50 sheets
--$2.00 each
QUANTITY - _______ TOTAL - _______________
3.) $5.00 - S & H - Please add $1.00 S/H for each additional calendar
ordered.
TOTAL SHIPPING - ______________
4.) GRAND TOTAL - _____________
5.) SHIP TO:
NAME _________________________________________
ADDRESS ______________________________________
CITY ______________________ STATE __________ ZIP _____________
PHONE ____________________ EMAIL __________________________
8.) Method of Payment: Check, Money Order, MC, Visa (please circle one)
Account Number: exp. date:
Cardholder's Signature:
(Your credit card will have our corporate sponsor, MOONGAZER.COM on the
bill, as MOONGAZER.COM will be providing merchant services free of
charge to MARS.)
Call Moongazer at: 866-822-PETS (toll-free)
OR
Order On-Line at: http://www.moongazer.com
OR
Send to:
Lisa McCluskey, MARS, 1802 CR 2000E, St. Joseph, IL 61873
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![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) wolfsilveroak |
| 2008-12-04 14:50 |
| Maple Chipotle Sweet Potatoes |
| Public |
 calm |
| Gorky Park-' Child of the Wind' |
| food stuff |
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Maple Chipotle Sweet Potatoes
The husband loves Sweet potatoes. I can't stand them. Yams, either.
But every Thanksgiving, he asks for sweet potatoes, and every Thanksgiving, I make just enough for him, as well as a bit of leftovers.
Now, he has to be my taste tester when I'm making these too, as I refuse, lol. Not that he minds one bit. And he enjoys them for several days after as well, claims they get better as the flavors meld.
I wouldn't know. }:P
 To make enough for 4-6 servings- 3-4 large fresh raw sweet potatoes, scrubbed 1/2 cup maple syrup 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream 1 1/2 Tablespoons Chipotle pepper puree (I buy a small can of chipotle peppers and puree them in my small chopper) 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon Salt, pepper to taste Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Stab the sweet potatoes a few times to allow steam to escape. Place on baking sheet and bake, 35-45 minutes, until soft. It may take up to an hour, depending on size. In a bowl, combine syrup, cream, cinnamon, chipotle pepper puree until well blended and smooth. When potatoes are cooked, remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes, or until you can safely handle them. Slice them open, lengthwise, and scoop out all the flesh into the bowl of other ingrediants. Mix well, and if desired, put them through a blender to smooth out any possible chunks. The mixture should be relatively fluffy. Salt and pepper to taste and serve warm/hot.
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Did you know...
Roanoke has a Roller Derby team?
I so did not know that.
Star City Roller Girls
So cool.
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Just one for right now. But I will have more up sometime this week.}:)
 This was just this last week, with her new Kong Wubba, that next to her Loofa Dog, she loves. 5.5 months, and knock on wood, barely any evidence of the chrondro. The one ear is up 99.9% of the time, the other, maybe 50% of the time. Which just adds to the adorableness.
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Witching Hour by *WolfSilverOak on deviantART
'Witching Hour'
100%Habotai Silk Scarf
8"x56" flat, 6"x56" pleated
Third in my new Dark Series, 'Witching Hour' is an Arashi Shibori, OOAK hand dyed silk scarf, with hand beaded points, using sterling silver seed beads, Fire polished Austrian crystals, silver-grey rounds and silver tone, heavy skull and crossbones charms.
Black as the deepest hour of night, with hints of deep blue and silver from Pearl Ex powder suspended in fabric medium, then dry brushed on and thoroughly steam ironed for durability, this unique piece is perfect for wearing as a neck wrap or even a stylish belt.
Available Here
Northern Lights Silk Scarf by *WolfSilverOak on deviantART
'Northern Lights'
100% Habotai Silk
8"x54" flat, 6"x54" pleated
Hand dyed using Procion MX dyes, this gorgeous, OOAK silk scarf was Arashi shibori wrapped, then discharged, then over dyed again, giving it a myriad of depths to the colors.
Within one scarf, you'll see deep navy, blacks, indigos, violets, silvery whites, even pale blues and lavenders in the folds.
Available Here
And finally, the Hand Dyed 100% Cotton Bandanas-
Akita Rescue Bandanas by *WolfSilverOak on deviantART
100% Cotton, Hand dyed Banadanas
32" on long side, 21" on short sides
To be hand stenciled with Akita Stencil at ' point', in choice of Silver, or Gold.
These cotton bandanas are lightweight, hand dyed and easy to wear. Perfect length for not only wearing wrapped around your hair, but also as a neck kerchief.
Dyed using Procion MX dyes, and to be hand stenciled day of purchase in your choice of either Silver or Gold.
100% of the proceeds from each bandana sold goes to benefit Akita Rescue.
Your choice of colors-
A- Firey Oranges
B- Bronze and Loden
C- Cinnamon and Clove
D- Vanilla and Plum
E- Turbulant Ocean
F- Oak and Nutmeg
Available Here
more coming soon.
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The general misconception that simply because some of the supplies can be cheap, the finished product needs to be as well.
How do I put this...
I do this for a living, or try to. I KNOW what they cost. I also know exactly how much certain fiber reactive dyed for use with those scarves cost, what it takes in terms of my time and my energy to create ONE of my scarves. I also know how much it costs to simply list a scarf and sell it (20 cents to list, 3.5% of the sale, on Etsy), as well as how much it cost for packaging that I use and what it costs to ship.
Now, given this is my JOB, if I don't pay myself, then, yes, I could probably sell a scarf for roughly 20.00 and make a profit. Especially if they or I don't donate anything.
But given that I value my time, my energy and my talent far more than that, and given the fact that I donate 50% of my proceeds from each sale, I simply cannot sell a scarf at bare bottom prices. Which is what a lot of people do.
Yes, Dharma is relatively cheap, IF you only buy the Habotai, IF you only use certain sizes. I don't just use Habotai, I don't just use the smaller sizes. I use Crepe De Chine, Stone washed Crepe De Chine, Habotai, Charmeuse, etc, etc... as well as a wider range of sizes.
That adds up.
Then you add in the cost of certain fiber reactive dyes, that I do not buy from Dharma, and in order to get any sort of profit from THOSE, you need to buy in large quantities, and for certain colors, THAT adds up.
Add in Soda Ash, Synthrapol, PVC pipe for Shibori if you decide to go that route, string for shibori, Thioxurea for discharging, beads, FireLine, charms, semi precious stones, whathaveyou if you decide to embellish them, whatever soap and fabric softener you prefer to hand wash your finished piece in after rinsing the excess dye out, your water bill, your electric bill, and gee, it's not simply 5.00 to create one scarf anymore.
But customers don't see that. They see a gorgeous scarf at a low price, and they see another gorgeous scarf at a higher price and automatically want the cheaper price. And expect that everyone should sell at the cheaper price.
That's where I'm coming from.
Yes, it is a nice thing they are doing, donating their profits, etc. But for them, this appears to be mostly a hobby.
I don't.
I do this as my job and people coming in saying, oh it only costs such and such amount to create one of these, is wrong. That would be like telling a famous painter that because their paints were so cheap, that their canvases were so cheap, they should sell their artwork cheap too. It doesn't work that way.
Let's break $20.00 for one scarf down-
I mean breaking 20.00 down...
That's-
2.00 for the scarf blank.
2.00 for the mailing of said blank to you.
2-3.00 for a 2oz container of ONE Procion MX dye color, depending on the color, of which you can get maybe 2-3 scarves out of IF you skimp on the dye, so say 1.00 for dye.
maybe 10.00 for the water and electric you use to dye the scarf.
maybe 50 cents -1.00 for packaging, depending on packaging.
then 2-3.00 for mailing if you just stick it in a plain envelope and go regular mail.
Total- 18.50-19.00. You make ONE DOLLAR. That's it. That's not even minimum wage.
That's not even paying yourself for your time or the cost to list the scarf.
IF you list the scarf at 20.00 on, say, Etsy. Well, there goes another 20 cents right off the bat. You sell the scarf, there goes another 25-30 cents, roughly. You use PayPal for receiving payments, there goes ANOTHER 25-30 cents.
That's another 70-80 cents.
You make exactly 20-30 CENTS. That's it.
Could you make a living on 20-30 cents per item sold? I sure as hel can't.
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Our pets are being finicky eaters.
The Boys don't like their canned food because I added Flax Seed Oil.
Caena don't like the Old Mother Hubbard food because it's not ground (like the Neura 95% Meat food), it's sliced/chunks and has the Flax Seed Oil AND Bone Meal in it.
I picked up Caena's dry food and told her she'd either eat the wet food or starve. Told the Boys the same thing. But left the little bit of dry they have left.
Oh looky, Max is eating the wet now. Well, he licked at it.
They should just be happy I didn't add fresh garlic to it too.
Photos from last weekend and a couple recipes coming soon, as well as new scarves and finally, bandannas.
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| | Overall, you have partaken in 111 out of 174 possible life experiences.
Your average life experience score is therefore 64%.
The average score is 49%, making your experiences more than 87% of the people who have taken this test.
The average for your age group (26-35) is 52%.
Broken down by category:
Art: 9/17 (53%)
Career & Work: 11/13 (85%)
Civics & Technology: 4/7 (57%)
Crime & Disarray: 8/11 (73%)
Education: 10/18 (56%)
Fashion: 12/15 (80%)
Fitness, Health and Sports: 3/7 (43%)
Life in General: 10/14 (71%)
Relationships: 10/14 (71%)
Religion & Politics: 4/4 (100%)
Social: 16/22 (73%)
Travel: 8/20 (40%)
Vices: 6/12 (50%)
| | | | Take the test and see how YOU compare | Why no food, moving or military type experiences?
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| wolfsilveroak |
| 2008-11-25 14:20 |
| Spreading the Word- DeviantArt Art Theft Alert. |
| Public |
 annoyed |
| Metallica - My Friend of Misery |
| montage, rant |
|
Via Draco-Samhain-
The Elven Blood Art Theft Ring
I am seeking help in identifying artwork in a game that is building a reputation for art theft. My goal is to have every single uncredited artist whose work is used in Elven Blood, to be sought out and contacted. The developers post a link where you can submit work to be showcased, but it seems they favor theft over honest submissions. I don't know how many images are legitimate submissions (very few are credited, maybe 5%) and that is what I seek to find out.
Elven Blood, for those who don't know, is one of four games in the Blood Games series put out by a company calling themselves the Royal East India Trading Company. Originally debuted on Facebook, they have several thousands of players worldwide and have recently launched onto Myspace. They claim to have millions of dollars worth of support from investors. If so, why would they fall so low as to steal so much art? Thefts have not only been from individual artists, but from those creating work-for-hire pieces, which are legally owned by the company they created them for. Whether this company is real or a complete scam, I don't know yet. I do know that of the artists I have contacted and heard back from, that 100% of notifications have been confirmed thefts.
Many of you wanting to help may say that you're not a gamer or even be on Facebook or Myspace. That is perfectly fine. I have supplied screen shots of most of the 78 locations here: [link]
If you do play the game or another in the Blood series:
-I am seeking screen shots of the first few and very last few locations in Elven Blood and any of the shops. I have all locations listed here on the bottom half of the journal. I need shots for locations without an asterisk * : [link] I will add more as I can get to them.
-If anyone has played a significant amount of Blood Lust, Skies of Blood and/or City of Blood and is willing to travel around and gather screen shots, please contact me. I'm not that far in these 3. I can however, create a list of locations such as the one I made for EB.
Please reference the screen shots I've provided for the range of the shot needed. It needs to cover from the top of the location banner down as far as your screen will allow. The location links at the bottom aren't as necessary as they're thumbnails of the banner up top. If you don't want to host shots you've gathered, send me the link of where you've temporarily posted them telling me so. I will transfer them.
The compiled links:
Main project page: [link]
11.23.08 update: [link]
11.6.08 update: [link]
Elven Blood screen shots so far:
[link]
*************************************************
Found list in rough order of appearance:
These artists have already been contacted. Credit to finders will now be listed at the bottom, as some of you have found a lot. Entries without a status are ones I'm awaiting replies on.
~Alfredsson's Knight of the Temple [link] at Saint Castletown. CONFIRMED.
~jnurp's Pirate King [link] located at the Northwest passage
`Saimain's Dark Warrior [link] located at Elven Moonwoods
~kankakanka's Baby Dragon [link] located at the shop in Garden of Eden
*infraberry's Black Dragon Attack [link] located at Orc Fortress
~Dajotoy's Orc [link] located at Orc Fortress
*aaronsimscompany's Satry Concept 1 [link] located at Forgotten Chasm
*ShadowUmbre's Unleashed [link] located at Cyrene Jungles
*Raphael-Lacoste's Masyaf [link] located at Neo St. Castletown
=Pretty-Angel's Drowning [link] located at Dream of the Past. CONFIRMED
=alexiuss's Equinox [link] located at Fourth Circle CONFIRMED
`treijim's black dragon: [link] located in the Ninth Circle. CONFIRMED
`blackeri's 7 sins... ALL CONFIRMED
Vanity [link] ...I forget the location. I just passed it though...
Avarice [link] at the Tangles of Greed.
Gluttony: [link] at Glutton's Desert.
Wrath: [link] at Peaks of Wrath.
*************************************************
Credited images:
=alexiuss's Neurotic Indisposition [link] located at Dream of Despair
(For the actual links and such, see the original article.)
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