I'm not doing to well at the moment. Tuesday evening my sister and I found out our mom had passed away. Yesterday we found out that our mom had $8,000 in life insurance which she left to my sister's son leaving my sister, my niece, and I out of that and keeping us from using any of that money to pay for her cremation.

Crystal, my sister, is going through and tracking down as much money as she can so that we can pay for this.

For those of you who know me offline, we will be holding a memorial in Finlayson, MN, at 2:00 PM. It's potluck but you guys are welcome to come (if you're interested let me know.)

I'm not sure how many of you watch vlogs that don't deal with the fandom but NerdishByNature is one of my favorites and they need some help. Sara Parker and Jurre van Herwijnen are in the US on H1B and H4 visas respectively. They have been working within our immigration system for a long while to get their Green Cards, which has not been going well for them. Please watch and share to spread the word. If you have some disposable income consider donating. My understanding is that if they don't reach the $500k goal that they plan to donate the money to help needy pets.

If you don't know who much about them please check out their daily vlog at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA.....XLXF_jv5m8tRmA
They have two cats Castiel and Finn, Sara's a CosPlayer and Jurre is a Penny Boarder and Photographer (Film and Digital.)

Pleas check out the GoFundMe campaign at the following link:
http://www.gofundme.com/gobiggerorgohome

Just a quick journal to say Happy Beltane to all my friends and loved ones! May all our lights burn bright and beautiful this day and everyday.

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2.....ne-d3crgvi.jpg

*Having to write this on my phone; please pardon any spelling or grammar errors*

My brownies are out of the oven and the chicken is cooking. The sauce for the chicken riggies is all mixed but won't be completed until the chicken comes out of the oven and I can cube it. It's a spicy (by MN standards) but should still be edible to most. I'm bringing some (but not much) Parmesan, Assiago, and Romano, mixed cheese and some crushed red pepper flakes for people to top their pasta. I do ask that people remember that there is only a small container of the cheese mix.

I'm looking forward to the party; I only wish that my yarn tail would be ready to wear but I have to buy more yarn and some elastic.

I finally found what happened to my old FA account (which I opened five odd years ago.) It got lost to obscurity because I couldn't type my own SN correctly.  Ookamimaru is an empty account but I might just leave her there for possible future use. I guess I'll have to go find her a profile picture now (as I'm typing she doesn't have one.)

And now it's time for bed; I've been up for 26 hours now. I can hardly wait until the term is over.

Why do I do this to myself? I've been up for over 24 hours! Again! ><

I'm hitting the hay soon and hoping that this error in judgement will turn out to be beneficial in resting my circadian cycle.

Good Night! :(

Sometimes learning from our mistakes is an important part of this life. Unfortunately, for me, I'm not so good at that.

Late in the night of July 23rd I decided to rearrange my room, moving several large pieces of furniture in the process (two 5 shelf bookshelves, an all wood frame futon, and a large -- 200 pound -- desk.) And what did I get for my efforts? Several days of pain.

Lesson Two this month: If you are going to rearrange your room wait until you have some help or you may need some help just to sit.

I made some poor choices at the Machine Shed last night and paid a big price. I have a form of diabetes that presents most strongly when dehydrated; I chose not to drink enough water for the amount of carbohydrates I was eating. I became sick to my stomach and very weak while holding a conversation.

Thanks to Yarrick and Innouva's quick thinking and rapid re-hydration I'm much improved. The two of you have my gratitude. ^_^