RossoRaven's Nest of Rants and Raves

Time keeps on slipping

2012-01-30T14:34:00.003-05:00

Alright, I've been a good sport about having asthmatic bronchitis this time, because it has been over a year since I last had a severe cold, sinus infection, or bronchitis. Thanks to that snazzy heart surgery allowing my blood to get that proper oxygen mix it needs.

However I'm now beginning week three of it and I'm starting to lose my patience. It is getting harder to remember the good points.

Pros:

1 - Yes, it isn't severe as in the past. I haven't had to take a trip to the Emergency Room.
2 - I don't feel like I am about to die with every cough.

3 - I'm not contagious.

Cons:

1 - It is taking far too long to recover.
2 - I am exhausted ALL the time. And that tired feeling feels way too much like I felt before the heart surgery and that scares that crap out of me. I lost a lot time during of my summer to a medication screw up that threw my mind and body out of whack and now I am losing three weeks to this! UGH!

As healthy as I eat 90 - 95% of the time and even with going to the gym, I think I need to do more than maintain my health with everything that is 'out there'. Obviously, it isn't enough to have my heart fixed. Viruses themselves are becoming stronger. So I need to work on boosting my own immune system BEFORE I get sick. Researching teas, tonics, elixirs, tinctures in my personal library and notes now. Then I'll expand outward from there.

Loss of another legend today - Etta James

2012-01-20T13:23:00.002-05:00

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/20/showbiz/etta-james-obit/index.html?eref=igoogledmn_topstories

Farewell Etta James, thank you for your beautiful songs.

You are truly legendary.

Etta James/Jamesetta Hawkins (Jan 25 1938 - Jan 20 2012)

Birthday Blessings Mr. Poe

2012-01-19T23:59:00.011-05:00

It seems even your 'toaster' may have joined you across the veil.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-01-19/entertainment/bs-ae-poe-toaster-20110119_1_poe-toaster-jeff-jerome-poe-house

May you have endless ink, bottomless drink,

and a warm cat on your lap at all time where you are Edgar.

Edgar Allan Poe

Short List of SteamPunk Artists and Wares

2012-01-13T11:11:00.001-05:00

Makers (many have items for sale)

Jake Von Slatt – maker and blogger extraordinaire
Dave Clifton – steampunk spectacles and more
Datamancer - steampunk contraptor
Steampunk Lab - inspiration for makers
Tom Banwell - masks and amazing things
Thomas Willeford – mechanical arms, goggles and more, many featured on television!

Fiction (Comics, Podcasts, Books & Magazines)

Aldersgate Cycle - fantastic podcast from GeekMom.com’s own Natania Barron
Girl Genius - outstanding webcomic
Weird Tales – the classic magazine often shares steampunk content
Gatehouse Gazette – steampunk and dieselpunk speculative fiction
Steampunk Tales – electronic pulp fiction magazine
Clockworks – urban steampunk webcomic

Blogs

Brass Goggles – great blog & overall resource
The Steampunk Tribune -
Steampunk.com
Aether Emporium – a great wiki
Multiculturalism for Steampunk – you don’t have to stick to England with your steampunk!
Parliament & Wake – aesthetically fascinating duo
Steampunk Scholar – for steampunk smartypants
Steampunk Fashion – a collection of links in lots of categories – not just fashion

Community

Steampunk Empire – start here, Facebook for steampunks
Caledon – a Virtual 3d Steampunk community in the MMO Second Life
Brass Goggles Forum – accompanying forum to a great blog
Steampunk Chat – fridays on twitter

Fashion

Steampunk Fashion LJ Community – essential stop for steampunk fashion enthusiasts
Steampunk Emporium – affordable staples for steampunk costumes
Clockwork Couture – exactly as their name states, couture for the steampunk set

Decor

Steampunk Wallpaper - desktop backgrounds for your computer
Steampunk Home – ideas and inspiration for steampunking your home
Steampunk and Modern Victorian Home Design – these folks tricked out their pad steampunk style, they share photos and tell how.
Victorian Trading Company – lots of great reproductions from the era sacred to steampunk

Music

Clockwork Cabaret – podcast featuring wonderful hosts The Davenport sisters, and lots of great music
Sepiachord – looking for great new steampunk music? Sepiachord has found it for you and wants to tell you about it
The Cog is Dead – amazing new steampunk band
Unextradordincary Gentlemen
Professor Elemental – originator of Pith Hop, steampunk Hip Hop, and the brilliant Hype Man behind steampunk anthem “A Cup of Brown Joy”
The Cassettes – Folky, cowboy steampunk poetry with jangly guitars
Beats Antique – Gypsy + fairy + bellydance + steampunk = MAGICK
Frenchy and The Punk – Formerly The Gypsy Nomads you either already know them, or you should.
More great steampunk music links in Rebecca’s post HERE.

Events

Steamcon – Seattle
Steampunk World’s Fair – New Jersey
World Steam Expo – Michigan
Clockwork Ball – North Carolina
Dorian’s Parlor – Monthly in Philadelphia
Chrononaut Ball – San Diego

Time in The Gap

2011-12-28T12:47:00.001-05:00

It has been said that it's the space between the bars that holds the tiger.

And it's the silence between the notes that makes the music.

It is out of the silence, or "the gap," or that space between our thoughts,

that everything is created-including our own bliss.

The reason for wanting to get into the gap is not so much to give you a sense of peace,

which you will, of course, receive, and it's not so much to make you feel rested,

as it will-you can get the equivalent of a night's sleep by spending a few moments in the gap.

And it's not even to make you feel younger, which of course it will do.

The purpose of entering the gap, the space between your thoughts, on a regular basis,

is to be able to make conscious contact with God/Higher Power/Source Energy.

~ Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Someone reminded me about this quote this morning, and it had as strong of an impact on me as it did the first time I heard it coming from Wayne Dyer himself on a video. However the feelings behind it were completely different. Much, much clearer and positive this time around. I guess I wasn't quite 'shifted' into the right mindset the first time I heard it.

Rainbow Warrior Festival 1988 Video

2011-12-19T13:23:00.003-05:00

This video is so beautiful, the content obviously more than footage quality.

The music, their message ...
we need to hold on to THAT if we are going to survive this Shift the entire Earth and civilization is experiencing now.

http://www.viddler.com/explore/ChanceCarpenter/videos/1/

Merry Chrismukkahzaayule, Warm Pasta Noodles for the Pastafarians too and Live Green,
RossoRaven

Baby Bat is a Rocking Star

2011-12-12T15:45:00.003-05:00

Over half of the bat species on Earth are on the endangered list, and these mammals-with-wings need our help.

Bats play a key role in the environment by feeding on harmful insects, pollinating plants, and providing over 80 different types of medicine.

Support the cause by getting a BAD "Bats-Are-Deserving" wrist band for yourself and someone you love!

50% of your purchase goes to Bat World Sanctuary, which helps save amazing baby bats like the one in this video.

Click here: http://shop.vamplets.com

Summer Rayne Oakes' "eXtinction"

2011-12-10T11:11:00.007-05:00

Beautifully done, I hope the message inspires change rather than despair.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xmm1n8_super-shorts-2011-extinction_shortfilms

David DeFranza said this about the Short Film:

"To learn that African lion populations have decreased by 50 percent in three decades is shocking. To hear that they could be extinct in as little as 15 years is even more alarming. When such significant environmental changes are mapped across a single person's lifetime, it becomes clear that degradation and destruction are spinning out of control.

It is this personal approach to conveying the severity of the planet's situation that Summer Rayne Oakes and Director Clayton Haskell have taken in their short film "eXtinction."

The film is currently up for both an Audience Choice Award and Best Editing Award at DailyMotion."

We have a voice, use it for change not complaining.

2011-11-22T11:11:00.001-05:00

This year because of our usual pre-Halloween snow, the stores all decided to skip the Fall Season altogether and jump right into Christmas/Yule. And we let them. I boycotted and complained online and even to the stores I had no choice but to shop at like the grocery stores and gas stations. But there was no mass revolt, everyone just said, 'yes, they start it earlier every year'.

People these stores depend on US! WE HAVE THE CONTROL. Just like our government, I am so tired of everyone complaining about the government or the president, then copping out because 'I didn't vote for him' so I CAN criticize.

You know what?! Pissing and moaning doesn't do squat! Quit being a drone! Quit listening to what all the big mouths on TV or whatever talk radio show you regurgitate your gripping from and do some solid research. Find out who you CAN write to in your district or state or county. Find out what they are voting on, how it effects you and TELL THEM how you want the vote to go. This is how our government is built to work.

We have a voice, use it for change not complaining.

Monday's Musing

2011-11-14T11:11:00.005-05:00

"Even through mistakes can there be forward progress.
It is just a matter of choosing to hold on to the lesson or the pain."
~ RossoRaven © 2011

Be Skeptical. But learn to listen.

2011-11-10T11:10:00.003-05:00

"There are no mistakes in life, only lessons.

There is no such thing as a negative experience,

only opportunities to grow, learn and advance along the road of self-mastery.

From struggle comes strength.

Even pain can be a wonderful teacher."

~ Robin Sharma

More and more lately I have been relying heavily on the Fifth Agreement. I always refer to the 'Four Agreements' in my day to day life, but our stunted Fall season and the early start of Winter seems to have brought on a severity of moods in people along with the weather.

The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz taught us (very summarized): to be impeccable with your word, don’t take anything personally, don’t make assumptions, and always do your best.

The Fifth Agreement, then tells us to be skeptical of our own lies and be in truth at all times. Then we can begin to listen with the heart and common sense. It’s a big opportunity for everyone to become both their own teacher and their own apprentice.

"The result of practicing the Fifth Agreement is the complete acceptance of yourself just the way you are, and the complete acceptance of everybody else just the way they are. The reward is your eternal happiness. The Fifth Agreement is made with words, of course, but its meaning and intent is beyond the words. The Fifth Agreement is ultimately about seeing your whole reality with the eyes of truth, without words.” ~ don Miguel Ruiz

If you haven't read the Four Agreements yet, please do.

It will change your life. If it didn't, you need to sit down and re-read it without distractions.

Just My Opinion about Jealousy

2011-11-03T23:11:00.011-04:00

I was just thinking about Jealousy.

The reasons people give for being jealous, and their underlying issues that truly cause them to go all wonky.

When I was just a young teen I used to confuse jealousy with love. LoL. That may have something to do with my devouring books non-stop (trashy romance novels included) and watching every John Hughes movie made.

Back to the Future --> This is what I came up with; Jealousy is a control issue (obviously). It isn't REALLY an infringement on boundaries, the initial action may be, however the reaction to it is a control issue.

It seems so simple, doesn't it? But yet people lie, fight, scream, and even kill each other because they don't control the ONE thing they have the choice in, their reaction.

The Power of Pumpkin for our Pawed Pals

2011-11-01T14:21:00.000-04:00

Every year I see and hear of the antics that the combination of Fall, pumpkins, cats and dogs brings. It is adorable. It can also be healthful. I am certainly not encouraging you to feed your pet the bacteria factory you have carved and sitting on your porch!

However, unsweetened cooked fresh pumpkin 'meat', even organic canned pumpkin (NOT THE PIE FILLING), is a marvelous source of fiber! We all know fiber is great for digestive systems.

Let's not forget all the other great things about pumpkin ... antioxidants, Vitamin A, beta-carotene, potassium and iron. All these lead to healthy skin, shiny fur, increased urinary-tract health, and studies have even shown possible Cancer prevention.

All these things hold true about pumpkin for humans too, just replace 'shiny fur' with shiny hair. LoL.

So I hope you saved your seeds from your Jack-o-Lanterns and roasted them instead of tossing them out. They make a great snack, whole for you, ground up for your pet.

Healthy Halloween

2011-10-29T09:45:00.000-04:00

Is it asking too much to break a time honored tradition and give children a different treat than candy? I don't think so. Candy is given over so readily to kids today it isn't really a 'treat' anymore like it was when I was a child. And what has happened to these lame costumes? Get creative kids! Quit having Mommy make them for you ... where is YOUR imagination? All lost in your video game? I swear that kids did better imagination wise when our toys did less FOR us. Like Legos and Matchbox cars. Or bicycles, grass and trees? I can't believe how many kids were sitting inside watching TV this summer instead of riding bikes. *getting off my soapbox now*

http://realfoodforlife.com/healthy-halloween

Scream for Ice Cream Filled Mini Jack-o-Lanterns

2011-10-29T01:23:00.018-04:00

Scream for Ice Cream Filled Mini Jack-o-Lanterns

4 large navel oranges, at room temperature*
1 pint orange sherbet, slightly softened
1 (11-oz.) bag candy corn1 black permanent marker

Cut the top 1/4 off each orange. Scoop out fruit and pulp with a spoon.
Chop fruit and set aside.
Draw jack-o-lantern faces on each orange shell.
Mix 1 scoop orange fruit and 1 scoop sherbet together & fill shells w/mixture.
Place shells in freezer for a few minutes to allow sherbet to firm up.
Remove shells from freezer.
Top with pieces of candy corn and let your little witches & goblins gobble them up!

*Tip: Permanent marker won't work as well if you've been keeping your oranges cold in the fridge.

Have a Safe and Blessed Samhain and Halloween Everyone,
Raven

Native Americans are STILL being stolen from!

2011-10-26T10:33:00.001-04:00

Years ago, thousands of Native American children were forcibly removed from their homes and sent to boarding schools, where the motto of the schools' founder was "Kill the Indian, Save the Man." Children lost touch with their culture, traditions and families. Many suffered horrible abuse, leaving entire generations missing from the one place whose future depended on them — their tribes.

In 1978, Congress tried to put a stop to it. They passed the Indian Child Welfare Act, which says except in the rarest circumstances, Native American children must be placed with their relatives or tribes. It also says states must do everything it can to keep native families together.

But 32 states are failing to abide by the act in one way or another, and, an NPR investigation has found, nowhere is that more apparent than in South Dakota.

Use the 'Listen to the Story' link for the in depth version of their year long investigation.

http://www.npr.org/2011/10/25/141672992/native-foster-care-lost-children-shattered-families?sc=fb&cc=fp

Then please spread the word, these people need help,

the more people that know about this,
the better chance there is of someone learning about it who can help.

Direction and Magnetism

2011-10-21T11:08:00.001-04:00

Locate your constellation.

One of the first steps in finding your place in the the universe is declaring who you are

& what you're about.

Don't skimp here.
Don't cut corners. Lean into your dreams.

Dive deep into yourself. Forget about safe.
Get dirty. Come out feeling more alive than you ever have.

After you discover you, put yourself out there. Be brave.
Life will continue to happen whether you take action or not,

my advice is to STEER CLEAR OFF the beaten path

& catch up with your passion.
Be a magnet for the people you want to attract along the way.

-Amanda Oaks from "How To Rock This Trip Around The Sun"

This month has been full of finding new directions and new paths for achieving goals. I feel like a magnet that has changed it's polarity. I'm grateful for the warm and wonderful friends I have now. I rarely look back anymore at the people I've let hurt me in the past, but when I do I can do it now with forgiveness and compassion. It is uplifting to let that weight go after all these years.

Another wonderful witchy giveaway by ... Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom

2011-10-05T16:45:00.000-04:00

Another wonderful witchy giveaway by ...

Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom: Giveaway: Old World Witchcraft by Raven Grimassi: I admit it, I read a lot. Fiction, non-fiction, biographies, metaphysical, backs of cereal boxes - I've been known to read the backs of sha...

Dance of the Thinning Veils

2011-10-05T16:44:00.002-04:00

"Ancestors, Creative Spirits that move in the lives of animals and plants in this season of fruitful and waning life. Cool Autumn Breezes and Crisp Tree Leaves spiraling down to us and the earth, with this fire we honor the life that blazes all around us, and ebbs so quickly to dormancy or departure in coming months. With the scents of rich myrrh and frankincense we renew our own sense of the coming holiday season with its stories and traditions, and of the exotic and wonderful gifts we bring when we join in spirituality and worship with others near and far. We breathe in this moment, we breathe it out. We are alive and we know it with every atom of our beings. We take in scented air and know it as precious. We let it out, and begin to prepare ourselves for the next step on our journeys."

- by the Rev. Elizabeth A. Lerner (at UUCSS on November 2, 2003)

The Veil grows even thinner a bit earlier every year. Have you noticed it too?

As I was sitting in the sun today trying to charge up my 'Soular Battery', I closed my eyes and could feel the energy shifts and swirls around me as if the spirits were dancing in the miniature wind vortexes along with the leaves and twigs.

When I opened my eyes after what seemed like a long slumber, there he was ... my little Poe. I thought for sure I was seeing a stray that looked like him, until he sat back on his hind legs and did this motion with his front paws that he used to do. I had to smile then. Dream or spirit it has been some time since Poe came to visit me, and he has sorely been missed. I whispered, "I love and miss you Poe," but as I blinked away tears he was gone.

Think about it.

2011-09-15T16:44:00.028-04:00

"He that will not sail until all dangers are over,

will never put to sea."

~Thomas Fuller

Happy Stroke Day to Me

2011-09-13T10:11:00.025-04:00

Today marks the one year anniversary of my last and most severe stroke.

I expected to have mixed feelings today, I didn't expect them to start creeping in over the past week. It has been like riding a slow-motion-meditative roller coaster. LoL.

The events a year ago were so well laid out, that you would have thought Mindy Weiss planned my stroke. Right down to pre-planning the care of my beloved Poe the DAY before and making my brother the one to make medical decisions if I was unable to do so myself just the week before. When I was feeling completely healthy! I also remember that my sister-in-law, an RN, was already there (at work in the ER) when I arrived. I also know that there were EMTs that arrived before the ambulance from the hospital, they were on a lunch break just one street over.

Any of numerable factors that day could have changed where I am now. I COULD have been left completely paralyzed on my left side and unable to utter more than one or two intelligible words for the rest of my days like my Grandmother Hoke. She was the first feminist I had ever met , a woman to be respected and if you crossed her ... to be feared, she was fiercely independent, strong-willed and beautifully opinionated. The last 15 years of her life were spent in a nursing home, not being heard as anything but a hard to deal with 'resident'. That honestly was my biggest fear a year ago, being trapped in a body that held a mind screaming to be heard. I would prefer death over a lifetime of being held prisoner.

Perhaps that is why things played out the way they did. I know it was my daily motivator for getting off of that hospital bed and wheel chair, then the walker, and finally just recently the cane.

One of the hardest moments for me to keep believing I could recover was when a friend of mine (who was having an unrelated hard time) started to give up on my recovery. I found myself saying words I wasn't quite sure I believed, but they were all true. I HAD been here before, unable to walk and talk and I HAD come back from it before. Only this time I was covered by better insurance that allowed me to go to physical and speech therapies. There was no way to fail!

I made it my goal that day to be walking and talking well enough by my "one year anniversary" that people who didn't know me would say, "I never would have known you had a stroke, ever." Not just last year, but EVER.

I enjoy sharing my story about the heart surgery and the strokes now, not because I like talking about myself, I don't think I'll ever get to THAT point, but I hope people learn from my experiences that you need to listen to your body more than a person who isn't living inside your skin 24/7. You intuitively know when something is really wrong, point these things out to your health care provider in detail. STAND UP FOR YOURSELF. You are paying them to assist in your healing.

Now, my nitinol heart and I are off for a celebratory bicycle ride. I'm not back to daredevil level, but I haven't wrecked in a few weeks either. ;)

Balance. In all things.

I am grateful today

2011-09-08T09:00:00.008-04:00

I am grateful today that I can wake up and take in a very deep breath. Last year at this time I did not have that capability.

I am also grateful that I haven't had a migraine in 9 months ... the longest I have ever gone in my entire life (since age 7) without one, although back then we didn't know it was called a migraine. I know now the proper label for the 'sick headaches'.

Samson and Denial

2011-09-05T09:12:00.000-04:00

Reading my copy now.

Go get one for yourself, you will NOT be disappointed!

The Writer: Robert Ford's Origin of Samson Gallows

A review: http://www.horrorreview.com/2011/samsonanddenial2011.html

Put down the pretty pastel packet and nobody gets hurt.

2011-08-20T12:07:00.003-04:00

For some reason this week I keep getting in the same conversation about artificial sweeteners.

People don't realize how massive this thing is. It makes the biggest skeleton in your closet look like the Easter Bunny. Every time I see someone tear open one of those deceptively pretty pastel packets, I want to scream, "You'll rot your brain out if you eat that!"

If you suffer from Fibromyalgia-like symptoms, spasms, shooting pains, numbness in your legs, cramps, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, joint pain, depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision, or memory loss AND YOU USE ASPARTAME (NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc.) you probably have ASPARTAME DISEASE!

Splenda actually advertises that it is all natural, but it adds the chemical Chlorine! Why would I want that in my food or drink? By the way sugar has many masks these days, learn the ALL names sugar has like anything ending in "-ose" like glucose, saccharose, sucrose, dextrose, maltose, fructose (high fructose corn syrup), and xylose.

Here is a list of the ingredients taken directly from the back of the packets:

Equal or NutraSweet: Dextrose with Maltodextrin, Aspartame

Sweet ‘N Low: Nutritive Dextrose, Soluble Saccharin, Cream of Tartar, Calcium Silicate (an anti-caking agent)

Splenda: Dextrose, Maltodextrin, Sucralose

Sugar itself, is not the enemy. Our lack of restraint when using it IS. Put Agave, Honey, Sugar or Stevia in your tea, coffee, or ingredient list ... just use in moderation.

Surrounded by Squash? 100 plus reasons to smile about it!

2011-08-19T14:34:00.001-04:00

I volunteer at my local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) every week, and at first everyone was thrilled when the zucchini and yellow squash (which is just yellow zucchini by the way) started coming in. Now I am starting to notice after a few weeks that the thrill is fading. Why? Lack of recipes! Apparently other than zucchini bread and frying or sauteing the squashes people around here don't get very experimental with their recipes.

I found the remedy in this article; 100+ Ways to Cook Zucchini and remember Yellow Squash IS Zucchini. Only in the United States do we call it Yellow Squash instead of Yellow Zucchini.

Another highly under-valued vegetable? Eggplant. I had no idea how good those things were until recently. It is all in how it is made. I promise you.