Daily Creativity: International Women’s Day “Rosie”

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Nuchtchas

In honor of International Women’s Day I decided to sketch one of the most famous images of female empowerment and feminism.

Rosie the Riveter is an icon I grew up with, it’s more then just imagery but it’s history. To me, the idea of Rosie is what every woman should aspire to, not that every woman needs to do manual labor but that when it comes down to it every woman can do what they can to help out, to make the world a better place and to maker her way in the world. A woman can work with her hands, or in an office or anywhere including at home. There shouldn’t be limits on women, but there shouldn’t be limits on men either. True equality isn’t about women getting what they deserve, but everyone having the opportunity to become and be what they can. Male, Female, Whatever. /soapbox

Pencil Sketch

PS: yes I know I am posting this two hours after the day is over, but MY day ends when I go to bed, so it’s still March 8th :P

Valentine’s Day Confuses me

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Nuchtchas

I have never been a fan of Valentines day… well… that’s not entirely true. For most of my life Valentines day has confused me and I haven’t been a fan. I used to love Valentines day, I would wake up in the morning and under my pillow was a Russell Stovers chocolate covered marshmallow heart (or possibly a mini Whitman’s Sampler with 4 pieces in it). It goes without saying it brought a smile to my face, knowing my mother snuck into my room and hid that there, it was sweet (pun intended). When I first moved out of the house and moved in with my older sister in the city my first valentines day I woke up with candy under my pillow, my mother asked her to put it there. I wanted to cry I was so touched, I’ll never forget that.

When I was little, Valentines was sweet, everyone gave each other cards in school and candy under my pillow. Then came the Candy Grams and the Carnations that could be sent to classmates in class. No one gave each other Valentines now, and not everyone got a candy gram or a carnation (It was different depending on the school). That was the first time I realized how much Valentines sucked. I was mocked for not receiving, I didn’t think it was that big a deal when it started. I send a candy gram (hershey kisses) to my best friend, but I never got one back. I didn’t realize that in the sixth grade I was supposed to have a romantic interest. (funny enough, I did have one, a boy in my karate class from another town, but everyone thought he was made up) I also didn’t know that I would be judged and mocked for not having someone interested in my, that my value as a person would be judged by how many candy grams I got. The next year I sent my candy gram out to my best friend again, and one to myself so I wouldn’t be left out. It didn’t help. Even before the teasing started I knew that the only reason I got an Anonymous Candy Gram is because I paid a dollar and sent one to myself. The teasing started because everyone accused me of sending one to myself… in hind sight, had I actually gotten one from a boy (or girl) I would have still been teased, cruel.

I spent all of school looking at kids with candy and flowers on February 14th, it got worse in high school, sure I wasn’t teased directly anymore for not getting a carnation, but things were bigger and as someone not showered in presents I felt like the only one in school unloved. Far from the truth I’m sure. Looking back I am sure there were more single kids in my HS then those “so in love,” but I didn’t see that of course. This is part of the big problem with Valentines Day.

Then college came, I finally had a boy friend for Valentines, and he took me out, we had a good time but really, it wasn’t any different then any other date. I didn’t understand why I felt like crap at the end of the night when I had a boy friend on Valentines day. Six more of these and Valentines Day never felt special, never gave me that great feeling of being loved, it actually felt like a chore. Now I don’t blame the boy, he was wonderful, he would get me flowers, take me to a really nice place (Unless it was a year that I took him out), heck one year he bought me a star, another year he bought me Buffy the movie and season one on DVD (for anyone who knows me, they know those are great gifts). Still, Valentines always felt empty to me. I tried to tell him to calm down, not to over do things, but he just made a bigger deal of things.

When I got together with my now husband I remember talking about Valentines day with him, he hated it as much as I did, and I loved that. Our first one together I think I got him a chef’s knife, not because it was Valentines day, but because he needed one and I went out and got him one (and some other essentials for his make shift kitchen in barracks.) Since we have been together we never celebrated Valentines day. If it’s a weekend we might go out to dinner, but we normally would. We have gone out once to a special Valentines menu dinner at a local place that is a little fancy, not because we had to celebrate Valentines day but because we read the menu and HAD to try the food. So glad we did, they had a dessert that is so far unmatched. I’m happy with my way of celebrating.

Valentines day is not a religious holiday, it’s not based on a pagan holiday either. It was posted on snopes like ten years ago how it was a store that wanted to sell cards that started all of this nonsense way back when. Ever notice how when you read really old stuff you never see anything about Valentines? Or how none of the old paintings depict Valentines day or St Valentine or the supposed pagan festival? No, because no one used to do this. This is a made up holiday to sell stuff, comercialism at it’s best.

I just don’t want to be manipulated like that.

Also, if I love someone, I will tell them, we would have an anniversary to celebrate, what makes February the time to say I love you? I mean we’re already snuggled up cause it’s cold outside hee hee

I will say, to me, Valentines Day is for kids. It’s still sweet and nice and really that’s the best. This year I will be with my niece and nephew on Valentines day, my husband and I are in different states so I made the kids Valentines. I have to say, since I was a kid and filling in every classmate’s names on little red cards, I never felt so happy making a Valentine, it was a lot of fun.

So Valentines are for kids.

mmmm Bread

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Nuchtchas

So I live in Canada, I’m originally from New York but I married a Canadian and moved up to the great white north. What does living in Canada have to do with bread? Quite a bit, you see in the two plus years I have lived here I have been searching for good bread. I love bread, I really do, I love variety in my bread too. Up here I feel limited. The only bread I like that can be bought at the grocery store is either d’Italiano or the frozen Italian bread you bake to go with lasagna. (Oddly enough, one of the two brands I like is also d’Italiano, the other is the M&Ms Meat Shop brand) The bakeries aren’t that helpful either, I have bought some bakery bread at the farmers market and while it was good, it was too expensive to buy on a regular basis.

I have been wanting to bake my own, I used to work in a bakery and I know it’s time consuming but how hard could it be? I have the kneading tool for my mix master so that part, the really hard part would be done for me. Three people I think are kinda awesome both make bread a lot, (@vividmuse, @encaf1 & Sport) and when I hear about them making their own bread my mouth waters and I just want to try it. Then I found out that my sister got a new bread machine for Christmas. She was happy because she couldn’t use her old one anymore because she had used it before her daughter was diagnosed Coeliac disease, since the flour gets into all the parts of the machine, she can’t use it to make Gluten free bread. So I of course ask what is she going to do with her old machine. She didn’t imagine making any Gluten bread so she said I could have it. Now my sister hasn’t been making her own bread recently (meaning the last few years) but since her daughter has been diagnosed the idea of baking her own was appealing since the store alternatives are not that great. When I went to visit I saw her whole family just in love with the gluten free bread, and that bread was really good. So thanks @caelann for the bread maker.

My first loaf was a basic white bread that I used the recipe from the manual. It came out really good, so today I experimented, I combined two recipes to make an oat cranberry bread and it turned out mostly amazing. I added the cranberries a little late, the machine didn’t beep when I thought it would, to let me know when the kneading was close to done. Next time I will get it right. As it is now though it is damn tasty. Each time I took the bread out of the machine I gave the first slices to my husband, my gunia pig, and he loved them both. This time though, the oat cranberry time he kept going back for more, so I take that as a win.

So now I need some more fun recipes, got one for potato bread, I plan on trying that one.

Does anyone have tips for me? How to make the crust softer? Good recipes? How to keep the bread softer for longer? (I have been wrapping it in a towel for now. Anyone out there making bread too? Got stories to share? Please, share them.

Christmas Card 2010

Posted on December 19, 2010 by Nuchtchas

Christmas Card 2010

Originally uploaded by nuchtchas

As many of you know by now instead of mailing out Christmas cards I have taken what I would have spend on cards and stamps, doubled that and donated it to a charity. When we got married this practice grew from suporting one charity for the holidays to two.

This years we are supporting the Red Cross and the War Amps. Now the Red Cross is a repeat, and a charity I often support because every time the is a disaster somewhere in the world they are the first there. I have seen this organization in action and have so much to thank them for. The War Amps is a charity that offers programs and service to those who have lost limbs. Not just soldiers, but children and civilians and it is a charity that has touched our lives in the past few years. Seeing people get back up and back into life is inspiring and we’d like to help that cause.

We are so happy to have everyone in our lives and so happy to share this time of year with you, even if it is through a computer and the internet.

Have a happy and safe season.

Christmas and Epiphany

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Nuchtchas

Every year when talking about the holidays I will drop words like Epiphany, Kris Kringle and Kings Cake only to have baffled looks from people I am talking to. My family celebrates a little weird, no big shock there, we do everything a little weird. Many of our traditions come out of necessity, being the 7th of 9 children it makes very little sense to buy a gift for every sibling. Some of our traditions just came out of us being us. To explain last year I made a comic on Bitstrips, you can see the whole comic by clicking on the thumbnail.

As with many families we are growing and spreading out. Most of my family is back in NY, one section is in CT and my husband and I are in Canada. This makes the holidays interesting. This year was my grandmother’s 100th birthday and so we all (except my mom, then pregnant sister and niece who had to run track for college) traveled down to florida for it. We had a great time but it meant my husband spent the days he would have spent on Epiphany off work on that, also, we spent the money we would have paid to travel on that. Still, we are traveling, just not to my family. For Christmas we are spending it with his family in Ontario, and even better we are meeting our very good friend who lives in BC and spending all that time with him. Batman (the nickname online I use for this friend) is awesome and we miss him lots. Since he moved out to BC we don’t get to see him much so this will be a great trip. Already we are making plans for D&D and ShadowRun games, viewings of Tron (Original and the new one) and so forth. I can’t wait.

For Epiphany, I will be traveling to NY alone and while my husband really wants to go and be there this is one of the sacrifices we have to make. We have to get used to it, we live really far from both our families and he is in the military, so there are sacrifices to be made.

We have no need for a tree since we won’t be home, the lights, stockings and decorations will all stay in the box in the basement this year.

While some of my family and friends are celebrating Chanukah and others are getting their trees up and decking the halls I have been plotting and scheming. I love giving presents, LOVE it. This year we were able to get a lot of it done early, as of today there are only two gifts left I think to get. Oh, and presents for each other. My husband already knows what he is getting from me, and even though the money I was hoping to pay for it didn’t come in yet, I think I am still getting it for him. A PS3, it’s a big gift, it costs way more then I should be spending, but, it will make him happy and I’m amazed he held out this long on buying one. I will need to have something for him to open on Christmas though, a trinket of some sort. Other then that, my plotting and scheming continues for the last two gifts, I love playing Santa.

What I hate doing is waiting to give people their presents, I want to give them now. More then getting anything I love giving presents, seeing people’s faces light up when they open something I know they’ll love. It makes me so happy to give them that smile.

So, what’s your favorite part of the season? What does your family do differently?