Yes, for today only, being mathematically challenged is a GOOD thing!

In trying to balance the checkbook (I do this every 3-6 months, depending on my mathematical procrastination level), which by the way has taken me all of 4 hours, I ended up with almost $200 more than I thought I had. Oh yea. It’s a good thing.

Unless, of course, I did something really wrong just recently, in which case I will balance the checkbook in a more timely fashion (say within a day or two of this statement? LOL) so we’re not completely goobered when The Man returns.

Aah. I feel like I should go shopping now, you know? Having more than I thought I had, I can justify the expense as “Hey, it was invisible money anyway, right? Now I have something tangible to show for it!”

I am such a girl.

Sheeba is also a little tacky (her nose is wet, isn’t that just like a dog!), I managed to scan her as well. I also created a very cool wallpaper for Sheeba’s mom of her portrait!

(Karen, if you’d like a wallpaper, I will wait until all of your babies are done and make a nice collage for you!)

Barkley’s edges are still a little tacky. I had to scan him very carefully, as I couldn’t wait anymore to show you a better representation of his portrait!

I’ve just finished Sheeba’s portrait, she turned out stunning if I do say so myself! I’m going to be painting the sides to match the blanket with a black pinstripe (that’s pending the ok from mom). She’s going to be even more beautiful scanned, lots of details in her fur!

Here he is, um, all of him! Close your eyes! 😉

I painted the edges a really beautiful & rich brown that compliments his couch nicely. I’m guessing just the edges will take about 2 days to dry before I can even touch it to scan. I’ll get a scanned final image up with details in a few days then.

More work still to do on Barkley to finish him up. What’s finished right now is his ears/head/neck, the pads on his right hind leg, tail, and the base color for the skin underneath the fur on his hind legs. I’ll finish him up tomorrow.

eBay has been the top auction website for years now. As a buyer, it’s the first place you think of to go looking when you can’t find something, or when you can’t find it cheap enough. As a seller, it stinks because they charge you up the wazoo for listing items for sale, and your fees aren’t reduced if your item doesn’t sell. They’ve neglected the art community so many times I can’t even count, since now they’re “big business” and really don’t need the “little sellers” anymore. SO. If you’re a buyer or seller, I want to share this info with you.

Overstock.com has implemented an auction feature. The functionality is great for buyers, it is “just like” eBay where you can find what you’re looking for, but better for sellers because those of us who can’t afford eBay fees can list our items and not be broke, which means what you’re buying may be even cheaper since we won’t have to increase our prices to try to absorb the cost of selling them.

I received this e-mail yesterday from Overstock urging folks to “strike eBay”. The problem before was that there was no competitor auction site that was worth sticking with. Now there is. I haven’t listed on eBay in a while, mainly because I’ve been really busy with commissioned works, but even still I would normally list a commission auction. It’s just too expensive to sell there! So I’m asking all of you to keep in mind the alternative – Overstock.com. Many, many sellers have made the move already.

We (you and Overstock.com Auctions) have one chance to make this work. You gain, we gain. Given the confluence of eBay’s fee hike, our fee drop, our integration with ChannelAdvisor, and our focusing advertising on auctions, now is that chance.

Each of you knows thousands of eBay buyers. Now is the time to contact them and tell them to try Overstock.com Auctions. Let them know that:

1. Our listings are respectable in quantity (about 100,000) and quality.
2. Our technology is working smoothly.
3. Our auctions customer service department is staffed, trained, and broken in.

In sum, if there were ever a time to strike, now is that time.

We are doing our part. We built and tuned the site, staffed customer service, cut fees, made a deal with ChannelAdvisor to get good listings, and devoted a six figure budget to auctions advertising.
Please do your part by telling thousands of eBay buyers to try us now. You’d be doing us a favor, we know, but you are doing yourselves a favor too.

Your humble servants,

Patrick Byrne – Chairman & President
Holly MacDonald-Korth – VP of Auctions
Sam Peterson – CTO of Auctions

When I get back to listing items, I will list on either ArtByUs or Overstock, and I will provide those links when that happens.

🙂

What can I say. I’m still painting my portraits out of order. I was in the mood to work on Chelsea tonight!

She’s a black cat, really she is. This is just her underpainting, done a little differently again. I’m exploring a little bit with these new ones, they seem to be asking for something more, so I’m going to do my best to give it to them!

No excuses now, it’s on sale! I bought this workout DVD set (Target.com link) last spring and I’m not kidding, it works.

So for any/all of you who want to get your tummy trim – quickly – this is it. Low impact on your lower back, as you’re trained to use your ab muscles. It’s only 8 minutes a day! Trust me, after having lost 50+ pounds since last March, I did this program (just the abs) for about 2 weeks and jeez, there was a noticable difference after 2-3 days. It really helps get you back into the groove of using those muscles too, for those of us who have lost all control of the area since childbirth.

🙂