November 28, 2011

I Draw YOU - @qstreet

This beauty is the wonderful winner of my Couch Potato - Super Spud contest. Her name is Sam Parrotto, but you may know her as @qstreet on Twitter. According to her bio, Sam seeks magic.


But I think magic just found her.

Inspiration for this drawing came from a magical photo of @qstreet by her friend @Jackinessity.

Want to be drawn by me? Subscribe to this blog and don't miss the next contest.


November 23, 2011

The Supah-Sam CONTEST!

Introducing...four year old Sam, who loves peanut butter and jelly passionately, and wants to fly through the sky in a blue Supah Suit. Did I mention his favorite color?


This imaginative little boy is the surro-baby of my friend The Smartness AKA @JWMoxie. She cried out for help last week cuz Sam has leukemia. That's cancer folks.

Why the contest? Morale!


Sam just started chemo and he's bravely facing the ordeal with his parents, Terry and Stephanie, and a very fine companion named Chemo Duck. I wanna cheer them on.


Now, when you're four... your imagination is in free flow, unfettered by responsibilities. So for this contest, I want you to pretend that you are four years old, like Sam! Use your imagination.

All you have to do to enter is comment below, like this:
  1. "Dear anummated laydi, I'm 4 years old, my name is _________ and I want you to draw me dooing _________. Draw me as cool as Supah-Sam." 

  2. Get out there in the real world and hug somebody you love. This part is super important. If you don't do it your name will be mud.

  3. Then Stumble, Tweet, G+ or Facebook this contest. Use this hash tag liberally - #SaveOurSam.
Zee Prize: I'll draw the winner as a four year old and give them a t-shirt AND a mug with it.

Zee Rules: You can only enter once. Most inspiring entry wins. I get to decide that and if you want to know how my brain works, well, just check out a few of my previous contests. If there's over a hundred entries I'll award a few consolation prizes. Contest closes Friday December 2nd at midnight. Winners announced the following Monday.

By entering this contest, you agree to allow me to draw you and to blog the drawing of you. I own the artwork but you can use it as your avatar if you want!

I like to get behind causes from time to time. A little animation can go a long way.

Find out who won!

November 21, 2011

The Emperor's KLOUThes.

WARNING: Full frontal nudity.

According to their blog, the new Klout scoring model is now more transparent that ever.


I dunno guys....it doesn't look any different to me.

More Klout funny?

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November 19, 2011

The MIGHTY Mouse III

...continued.

Last episode he was sick at home and wondering if he'd rocked his report card hard enough to deserve a pet mouse. The 11 year old boy languished.


Oh the frustration.

Oh the suffering.

Oh the runny nose...!

Until the 14 year old sister went to see his teacher and brought the report card home.


I laid the sealed envelope on the table and took my eleven year old son by the shoulder. I looked deep into his eyes and said, "If your report card shows a big thumbs up in math, what are you gonna get?"

"Um...a mouse?"


"And if your report card shows a big thumbs down in math, what are you gonna get?"

He looked down at the floor and his eyes welled up with tears.


I held his chin in my hand and tilted his face up to mine.


"Boy, you've got a great attitude, happy pets and a tidy room. I've seen all your homework done and the tests you've proudly brought home to show us. You tried.

I don't need to open that report card; in my book you've more than earned that mouse."



Meet the mighty mouse mice!




Let's give the boy a big hi-five!

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November 16, 2011

Weeping.

Yesterday I noticed that Bambi was slowing down. I offered her some romaine leaves and she did munch on them a bit. But she suddenly seemed smaller than her friend Momo. She'll be leaving us soon, I thought.

Although we all help look after them, Bambi and Momo are the 14 year old daughter's. She got them from the SPCA a few months after her first pig Mr. Snow finished his long life. The SPCA would only let them go as a pair; guinea pigs are social creatures and many are happiest with a life-long companion.

I'm sorry to say that Bambi was not doing well this morning. She lay in her hut, her eyes half-lidded. Momo lay beside her and when I passed near she'd venture out saying "Weep, weep, weep!"



And around mid-day Bambi slipped away...

* * * *

Bambi is now lovingly wrapped in pale purple tissue paper. Tomorrow in the morning light, she'll be laid to rest under the paving stones in the garden. She'll have Mr. Snow to keep her company, along with Night Silver, Ginger and Misu. Come spring, there will be crocuses.



As for Momo, she's "weeping" for real... We're hoping she can soon settle in with Goosie , the 17 year old daughter's pig.

Guinea pigs make wonderful pets; they're soft and furry, and they happily sit on your lap and allow you to stroke them. Our kids have helped to care for them, whispered secrets to them, written stories about them and sought comfort in their gentle warmth.

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November 15, 2011

The MIGHTY Mouse II

...continued.

Last episode, the 11 year old boy RAGED because math stood between him and a mouse.


With one week until back-to-school I decided to lay down The Law.*
*Cuz I'm not always a YES-a-holic.

1. Attitude: be gracious and respectful, even if you disagree.
2. Current pets need attention, love and care.
3. You must ROCK the first report card.

Then you can get your mouse.


At first he scowled. But realized immediately he'd instantly put even more distance between himself and El Mouso.


The weeks passed. Never has a boy in the history of boys been so focused on a goal.

1. He not only did his chores, he consistently offered to help with additional stuff, like mowing the lawn, vacuuming the car interior, cooking dinner and the occasional pedicure. He even cleaned his room without being asked. I know, right? My jaw is still hanging.

2. The goldfish (a gigantic 10 inch long beast) could now actually see me staring back at it through the glass of a clean aquarium.


The guinea pigs had an additional person changing their water and plying them with fresh veges previously destined for the compost.


The dog was played with...


...and taught a few new tricks...


...oh dear...um.


*Ahem.*

3. The boy insisted on sitting at the front of the math class instead of at the back. Tests were looked forward to and prepared for, the results were proudly displayed to us instead of being hidden in a crumple at the bottom of the schoolbag, homework was ploughed through with great determination. When he didn't understand something, he actually asked for help.


We're not talking two weeks of improvement here, we're talking two months. With no lapse. Which is a lot when you are eleven.

In between all this, the boy ached for his mouse. He studied mouse training videos.



He built a fantastic multi-level mouse habitat with his father.


He hoped the mouse he wanted at the pet store would not be fed to another animal...no 11 year old boy has looked forward to his first Grade 6 report card in quite the same way.

However, the teachers delayed the release of the report cards by three more weeks. The boy was disappointed, but he kept with the program.

The mouse he had his eye on at the pet store mysteriously disappeared...


But he kept on.

Then the boy got the flu and had to be kept home for two weeks. He worried that his grades would be affected. He worried that he would fall behind in the homework. He worried that the report card would be issued while he was sick at home....


...which it was.

OMGaaaaaaa. How will the boy get his report card...? And will he rock it? Most of all, will this 11 year old boy ever get his mouse?!?

Find out what happens next!!

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November 14, 2011

The GIFT.

When I started drawing my blog, I never thought that I would touch people's lives. I never dreamed that someone would do this for me.



Stephi Linn you got skillz.

Twitter's own @Gypsy_Momma - or "Giraffe Legs", as I like to call her - is a glass painting artist at BooMonkey Creations. She lovingly painted a collection of her fave drawings from my blog onto a re-purposed window with a toothpick. It took her several months to paint and many fingers crossed that it wouldn't break in transit. Here's the Epic Reveal in Stephi's own words.


Thank-you Stephi and Brian, all those who helped get this beautiful gift to me in one piece (including the US Postal service), and to everyone in the I Draw YOU collection. You inspire me and I shall treasure it always.

Who do you recognize?

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November 13, 2011

The MIGHTY Mouse.

The dreaded phone call came late last June.


"Hello Mrs. Little. This is Vice Principle Mr. LongGreekname from your son's school. He needs math tutoring over the summer to survive Grade 6 in the fall." Click! Dial tone.


The Huz had already left for England with the 11 year old boy and his eldest sister, so when I Skyped them to relay the message there were cries of dismay.


Yep. Summer was gonna be eaten by the times-table.

* * * *

Fast forward to late August.


Vacation is nearly over and the boy suddenly announces he can't wait to get a "mouse".

"Uh...excuse me?"

In fact he can talk of little else. It's all "mouse this" and "mouse that".

"What about the pets you already have? The monster goldfish in the Swamparium...


...the three smelly guinea pigs...


...and the depraved canine...?"


But he can't hear me.

"I'm gonna train my mouse and I'm gonna build a mouse cage with tubes and I'm gonna get a fancy mouse and I'm gonna mouse mouse mouse mousey mouse mouse infinity mouse!"


I decide to quiz the boy on multiplication and division with big numbers. Whereupon he flings himself around the room, kicking and screeching like an angry chimpanzee.


Turns out that despite summer tutoring he has retained little of the times-table or methods in multiplication and division. His room is flirting with hoarder. His attitude totally sucks!
And he thinks he's gonna get a mouse
?

This particular boy is not unintelligent. But perhaps he is lazy and somewhat presumptuous. What do you think I should do?

To be continued ...

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November 11, 2011

Eleven ELEVEN Eleven

Today comes once in a hundred years.



On a scale of one to ten, THIS DAY goes all the way up to eleven.




So crank it people. Let your inner PICKLE Weasel run free. And have yourselves a ONEderful day... month... year LIFE.

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November 4, 2011

From Couch Potato... to SUPER SPUD!

How did the couch potato...

...turn into a super spud?
Motivation. 

Stewart Rogers @TheRealSJR wants to raise cash and awareness for the Make-A-Wish Foundation by getting off his lazy french-fried butt couch to run the 10K Obstacle Course Challenge. This is gonna grant wishes to children and young people fighting life-threatening illnesses.

I wanna help too....but I'm a draw-er not a runner. So I'm gonna draw one of YOU. Yeah!

It's a contest:
  1. Go donate to Stewart's fundraiser. Give what you can. Even $1 gets you entered.
  2. Leave your name and Twitter handle (or some other way to find you) in the comments below.
  3. Hit the Tweet button below, and wish @TheRealSJR luck.
How will I know you've done all three? I have my eye on you (<-- see what I did there?). Contest closes Thursday November 11th, 2011 at 11:11 PM EST.

The Prize:
On Sunday November 13th, one day after Stewart has survived kicked this obstacle course in the goolies, I'll draw the winner...and draw the winner. You'll get a t-shirt or mug with your "mug" on it. 
    DONATE NOW.
    Every little bit helps.

    Find out who won!


    Here's where you hit the Tweet button.