Prim lash challenged

Most of you know I'm into the "prim torture" thing. I enjoy twisting and shaping and cutting and forcing them into submission.

I love prim lashes. I think they are the most fabulous idea ever! I have no idea how I ever lived without them. I see people without pretty prim lashes and I wish that I had a pair of transfer lashes that I could give them.

But give me a pair of prim lashes and ask me to fit them and I quake in fear. I can literally spend hours trying to fit a pair of lashes.

My favorite lashes are the "Bedroom Lashes" by Cake. They've been a staple in my wardrobe since I found them back in May.



They're my ideal of the perfect lash. They're long, fluttery, soft and yet dramatic without looking like your mascara did that clumpy-gloppy-spider-leg thing. I've just spent an hour fitting this pair. The left eye (stage right) I'm pretty happy with finally. As long as I'm looking straight on at my eyes.

Then I turn my head and see this.



Still beautiful, no doubt. But see that space between the lower lashes (stage left) and my eye? Drives me crazy. You can see it some on the inner corner of the other eye. It's probably not so bad that the average person would notice it in regular conversation. But when I hop on a posing stand to start shooting ads, I see it. And then I go from "just going to shoot a quick ad" to "gotta make these lashes fit better first" and it the "quick" ad turns into a 3 hour ordeal.



Bird's eye view. I'm sparing you the up-the-nose view. I've tried every way I can think of to get that curve more tight fitting to my eyelid so there isn't that funky space. It's probably me being super picky, because I know that most people don't look at me from that angle, even though most of the grid is taller than I am. But usually you look straight on at someone, right?

I can get them closer to my eye, but then the ends of the lashes are up in my little avie's brain someplace. Hae never has this problem, her lashes always look perfect from every angle whenever I shoot her for ads. I've never really noticed anyone else having these issues. Is it my eyes? Are they funky? Are they too far into my head? Are they a funny shape that refuses to take prim lashes? Is there some trick to fitting these that I just haven't been made aware of?

I am not going without them, that's just not a viable solution. If anyone wants to start up a prim lash fitting business, call me. I'll be your first customer. I've got probably some 50 pairs of lashes from different people and in different styles and colors that you can fit to me.

The fun never ends

Things happen in threes, right? Please tell me yes, cause this would be number 3 and I'm pretty much needing a break.

Oh, and if Catero is reading this, this might top the period saga, so get ready.

I have this stupid choking problem. I can choke on about anything. Stupid things. Macaroni and cheese - stuck. Soup - stuck. Rice - really stuck. Eggs - mega stuck. Good news, it doesn't get stuck in my airway so I can breathe. Bad news, it gets stuck in my esophagus and won't go up or down. If I try to drink, I feel like I'm drowning because it just sits in my throat and won't go down all the way. I do this fairly often, a few times a week. I've done it my whole life. Eventually, I gag enough and can get whatever it is that's stuck back up.

Until last night. My hubby was late coming home from work, so he stopped and picked up KFC. Mmmmm! Honey barbeque sandwich heaven. I got about 3 bites and choked. It wouldn't go down, wouldn't come up, I was hugging the bathroom sink trying to get it out. After half an hour (and quite a few threats of doing it) my husband called 911. Apparently half our town (it's a little town) is on the rescue squad because they all showed up at our house. They brought a stretcher into our bathroom and took me out. Fifteen minutes to the hospital, trying to give me oxygen because I wasn't breathing so much because I was gagging constantly.

I got a shot of some Glucogen stuff that hurt like crap and is still making me feel really sick today. It's supposed to relax the smooth muscles. After two+ hours, I finally got up a piece of chicken - which they saved for me. How nice. I get to take it to my Dr today. He'll be so happy, I'm sure. They were about to start getting me ready to go via helicopter to one of the bigger hospitals 2 hours away - like came in with the IV bag and all that hoopla, when it finally came up.

The ER doc was glad, he was starting to get really worried, and said there was no reason at all that I should have choked on a piece of sandwich that small. So now I have to let them stick a camera in my throat to see what's going on. (I'd had a barium/swallow study a few months ago and that was normal.) ER doc is thinking surgery. Yay. After 31 years of choking on the dumbest things for seemingly no reason, I'm really hoping they can figure it out and fix it. I'd like to be able to eat a waffle without fearing for my life.

On the SL side of things, I've got seven styles newly colored in all the new colors. I've just got to get them boxed up and my little trip to the ER last night set me behind. I was hoping to get them out today, but it looks like it will be tomorrow - possibly Sunday. Something to look forward to: Water Willow is coming! YEEEHAW!

Seeing red

I swear I am not a bad parent. I am not neglectful. They eat many times a day, they don't get too much sugar and junk food, they have beds to sleep in, clothes to wear, and (way too many) toys to play with. I do not let my kids run unsupervised. They are disciplined and I'm not afraid to spank them when necessary. They know the rules, they know they have to be followed. They know right from wrong.

And then there is my four-year old.

She's like a bull in a china shop. Except she's the bull and the china. She flat out does whatever the hell she wants to do come hell or high water. Gee, I wonder where she gets it. Though she usually gets hurt in the process.

Yesterday, the grid was down, there wasn't a whole lot I could do so I decided I'd go outside and we'd continue painting the barn, because I was pretty sure even though it looked like it might rain, it wouldn't until later and I could get something accomplished. (More on the barn later, but long story short we're building one out back.)

We're painting the inside white, to make it less dark and dreary inside. The kids each have their own little paint roller and they both paint to their heart's content and I just go behind them. Works pretty well. The 19-month old painted a tree in the back yard. And the big beach blanket I had in the grass for them to lay on. And my shorts - which had been black. And himself, and lord knows what else we'll find a year from now. Some of it managed to get on the walls, and he was happy and everyone had fun.

I'd gone to Lowe's and gotten paint for the outside because that's gotta be done, too. I decided on this really pretty brownish-reddish kinda barn color and white trim. So I paid 20 bucks each for these two gallons of paint for the outside, exterior paint, resists mold/mildew/etc etc. Not cheap, but hopefully it'll hold up a good 5 years or so, right?

Enter four-year old darling offspring.

We were still working on the inside walls, so the red paint was just sitting in the living room waiting to be used. I went to the dryer to get the now clean, but covered in paint clothes from the day before. She came in with a gallon of the outside paint. "Go put it back, we're not using that one. You have to get dressed, go get panties on!" ("Go get panties on" is the most used phrase in our house. I'm sure she's going to be a stripper when she grows up.)

I get the clothes, round up the toddler to get him dressed. Head towards the kitchen to grab some water to take out and there's this really strange smell.

Four-year old says, "I made a mess." Like this is something new. My life is a series of going from one mess she's made to the next. I turned around. Then I saw where the smell was coming from.

An entire gallon of barn red paint, upside down and puddled on the living room carpet. Apparently the girl at Lowe's didn't put the lid on very well.

After taking a very deep breath, I told her to go to her room. Then I did what any self-respecting parent would do. I called my mom and asked her how in the world would I ever get that off my carpet.

I then spent the next 2+ hours with the steam cleaner (I'm having an affair with Mr. Hoover) and got most of it up. I managed to save 3/4 of the gallon by scooping it off the floor with a dustpan and pouring it back into the can.

Good news, I still really like that color. Bad news, my carpet now has a beautiful blush-tone right in by the front door.

I figure it goes pretty well with the chocolate milk stain that won't come up, the really expensive Lancome mascara carpet drawing, and the Trix hot-pink and turquoise yogurt stain that is just now starting to fade. All courtesy of the same child. When she grows up, I'm saving that piece of carpet to show her every time her kids make a mess on her floor.

My mom says I'm speshul!!

So it's 4:30 in the morning and this medication I'm on has me all tweaked out and jittery... What better to do than shop? So, I find these awesome boot/shoe/heel things. I really don't know what they are, but I think they're adorable. Look!


Cute, right? You can get them at.. um... Next Step in Envy.

And THEN I'm thinking, what do I have that would look good with these? So, I'm bouncing through my inventory, popping on anything and everything that I own. My most awesome friend and secret wife, Pushbutton Skolnick has just given me a pair of goggles to try on. May as well throw them on, too. (They're really cute by the way!) Suddenly I had to stop. I caught a glimpse of myself...



I look like I fell off the short bus. It made me giggle quite a bit. That's Pushy behind me. Ain't she pretty! And she makes fab clothes too. Which... of course you can also get at Pushbutton Industries in Envy. Links are fun! She also has fun things like these little signs. You click em and you get to pick what it says :D



My inner dork is VERY happy right now.
Loves!
Hae

Busy bees! Pretty as you please!

We've been super busy this week trying to get all these older styles up in all the new colors. I'm dying to make something new! These went out today and you can find them in the lobby or in their style sections.

I'm holding out on you...

New(ish) necklace! Comes in 10 colours:
(Blood, Pearl, Jade, Emerald, Onyx, Rust, Pale pink, Mint, Sky, Light sky) You can see it in the Pearl colour in the Ivy Ad.


I'm sorry.. I forgot to release this months ago when we put out the Pearl Wrap bracelets. I know I gave them to a few people, but never actually set them out for sale. But they're up now, available here. Also available in a 10-pack for 20% off.

And for anyone that missed the bracelets, here's a picture for you.

6 Styles in New Colours!

I'm blogging... and I haven't had my coffee yet. Actually, I just haven't slept.... be afraid.
6 styles in new colours now available at Calla. Get em here. On with the pictures...

Take Five

Well, I've been kind of taking five. We had a tropical storm here this weekend, and RL preparations have had me super busy. Thankfully it wasn't too bad. We did get about 12 inches of rain according to the five gallon bucket I forgot was outside.

I've been trying to catch up in-world the last few days. If you're waiting to hear from me on something, if you haven't heard by the end of today please send me another notecard.

Haedon put out two styles in all the new colors last week and I've put out three this morning. A few of these were moved up the list by request.

If there's a style we haven't gotten to yet that you're just dying to have in a new color pack, drop us a notecard, or post it here. We'll move it up the "to-do" list for you. :)

Here are the latest:

A long overdue rave - the Extremely Lazy Coloring Machine

Back when I was a brand spankin' new noob in Second Life, I came across KStarfire Rich in one of the classes I was in. I asked a (probably really stupid noob) question and he was the only one who offered any help. Coming from Star Wars Galaxies, I have this habit of reading profiles. So I read his profile and much to my surprise he was part of a Star Wars Galaxies Refugees group. I'd only been in SL maybe three weeks and was really missing SWG. So I sent him an IM and thanked him for his help. We got to chatting about SWG, and then other things, and he was the first male I ever allowed on my friend's list. (He doesn't know that, it'll probably go to his head.)

He was also fairly new and we spent lots and lots of time in Teazer's classes together. It was so bad that if there were two classes going at the same time that we wanted, one of us would go to each and then we'd swap notes afterwards. KStarfire is one of those people who can script in their sleep. I'd often go to him for help. He helped us figure out how our vendor boxes were going to work, and we're still using the same script we started with over a year ago.

I don't remember how the first one came about, probably because he was tired of me whining how long it took to color hair. He made this completely confusing (to me and Hae) thing that would crank out hair, but we had to script all the pieces, and we had to do all this stuff to the textures and there were all these things that we just had no idea what he was talking about. So I promptly looked at him like he was crazy. Told him I thought he was awesome, but whatever it was he was trying to explain and show me was just way, way over my head and much more work than we needed to do.

Little did I know. Many months later, I asked him if there were some way to make all this hair coloring easier because we now had some 60 colors instead of 25. So he puts together this scripty thing and all we have to do is paste the texture UUIDs, with some commands, and voila hair is colored! Some more commands and the hair is renamed, copy/paste/take copies, blahblah. Yay hair! He even made it so we could do trans textures and the regular textures. He made it so we could have only one side of the prim textured, thus completely eliminating that funky flexi-halo. We were pretty sure we'd died and gone to hair maker's heaven. Haedon dubbed it the "Lazy Coloring Machine" and the LCM was born.

We used that for quite a while until I heard about something called the Toaster by Sol Columbia who is quite the awesome scripter as well. So I went out and got two. And we started messing with it. We had all kinds of funky halo issues which there was no way to get rid of short of coloring each flexi end by hand. I talked to Sol about it a few times and we couldn't come up with any other method of fixing the halo issue. (Disclaimer: I am not knocking the Toaster, I think the toaster is awesome. Pure awesomeness. It just didn't do exactly what it was we needed.)

So, back we went to the LCM which took longer, but at least we had no halos. (Being the perfectionists that we are, halos are not acceptable.) I talked to KStarfire and told him there was this Toaster that spit out the hair but didn't do the multi-sided texture coloring and we had the halo. At that moment I'm pretty sure he thought I was an idiot. He told me about that first thing he made way back in the beginning. My little light bulb came on over my head. All these months later, I was finally able to understand what it was he'd made and was trying to explain to us. And I could have just kicked myself for not getting it then.

He gave it to me, and I made a few changes and "can we do x this way?" and played with the way it named things so that we didn't have to rename all the hair, etc etc. It had easy-peasy pop up boxes that told me what to do, when to do it and saved me hours and hours of coloring time. I told him I would have his little prim babies.

This new, improved ultra awesome version became the "Extremely Lazy Coloring Machine," fondly known as the ELCM.

And then...we decided to add more colors. Which has, of course, more than doubled our previous color selection. We have been able to get out the old styles in new colors considerably faster than we would have been able to months ago. The ELCM is the reason Haedon didn't entirely tear me limb from limb when I said "Let's add more colors!" It has really enabled us to do considerably more for you, our customers. We can now offer a much larger variety of colors and shades to match your every mood. We'll be able to do special Holiday editions considerably easier. I kiss my ELCM every day.

In short, it's made our lives and our jobs a hell of a lot easier. Sachi and Damen of Adam n Eve are using it too. Damen's been using it on his shoes, so this is certainly awesome for much more than just hair. Anything primmy, you can put into it and crank out in multiple textures. Sachi wanted the ability to use a third texture, which he'd already built in. (I only needed two, so he didn't mess with it.) KStarfire added that for her, and now ELCM V2 is out and in my pocket!

He is offering these to the public for sale. It comes with lifetime free updates to new versions, as well as customer support. So if you're a designer and create things with prims and are tired of the frustration and time involved in making oodles of copies to recolor, check this out. I will be happy to provide a live demonstration for you if you want to see how it works before you buy one. It's worth every Linden, and then some, I promise you that. What's worth even more, is having more time to do the things you want to do in SL and in your RL!

I don't know if he's got them up on SLExchange or not yet, but he is going to. He'll also sell them direct to you, just send him an IM.

And no, I'm not getting any commission off of these. I just know there are so many others out there who are spending a lot of time to make wonderful products for everyone in SL. If this enables them to spend more time with their families and friends (both RL and SL) than maybe we designers won't burn out so fast and keep making more fantastic stuff!

A very heartfelt and public thank you is in order. KS, you've always been there whenever I needed you. You've been an amazing friend, without pushing any boundaries or making me feel guilty for not spending enough time with you. You certainly deserve way more than you get. You've always come through for me, no matter what insane thing it was I was trying to do. You were the first to put lights over my head when I was working so I could see. You spent hours upon hours trying to help me figure out the flexi skirt that I just knew I had to figure out. We never did get it, but I'd never have gotten as far as I did without you. You were there in that first tiny little skybox we started in over a year ago. You endured hours of trying to help me figure out how an invisiprim works on shoes. You've given countless critiques, suggestions, and advice. For all the laughs, for the class notes, for the never-ending support and praise, for the patience and concern you've shown me, and for never even once asking for anything in return, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

And now, the rest of you, go buy an ELCM! If you don't need an ELCM, then send KStarfire Rich a little thank you note, for enabling you to have lots and lots more Calla hair!