April 2nd, 2010 by Missy

So, Anya has decided that she is ready to get into the world of miniature wargaming. We’ve got boatloads of old miniatures lying around that we’ve never gotten around to doing anything with and likely will never get around to doing anything with.. tyranids, IG, SoBs, etc, etc. Anyway, we gave Anya a box of Cadian shocktroopers to paint and told her that if she takes her time with them, really tries to be neat and takes good care of the brushes and paints, then we’ll let her keep painting. So far, she has been very good about taking care of the supplies and I think that her minis look great for a six-year-old! Honestly, her little guy (she calls him Mr. Injured) looks better than a lot of stuff I’ve seen out of adult painters. Such as the pieces I received today (more on that later). She could do with a little better paint coverage and a lighter hand with the wash, but all in all she did great! She was very careful to be neat.

She also appears to be taking after me! Notice the paint on her lip from licking her brush? Cracks me up.

Okay, later: The Empire army I ordered off of eBay arrived today and I am disappointed, I must say. Everything was just tossed into a box without any attempt to actually pack the items. An enormous number of the models are broken. I mean, some repair is expected when you ship Warhammer but this goes beyond what is acceptable. I’d say at least 1/4 of the models are broken, and not just snapped apart at join lines. The War Altar is smashed into several pieces and Volkmar is completely missing a hand. The 10 “master painted flagellants” (not that I really care about the state of their paint, it’s acceptable) are only 9 flagellants. Which I do care about.. now they look stupid sitting on a movement tray with a rank of four. It’s just like.. wtf.

And yes, everything that the guy painted (except for the 9 flagellants, which he didn’t paint) are terribad. Anya’s Cadian is definitely better. Not that I was expecting them to be well painted, (I was planning to strip them anyway) it just makes me lol.

March 30th, 2010 by Missy

Mm.. haven’t blogged again for a bit.

This whole house thing is starting to get frustrating. We just can’t seem to come to an agreement with anyone. The banks are huge pains in the ass to deal with (woah, big surprise!), but it isn’t just them apparently. We put in a bid (I think we’re up to four now x.x) on another house, owned by real people (investors). They’ve had the place on the market for just about three months now.. and they won’t budge the 1% we need to cover our VA costs. They bought the house for $70,000. We’re offering $127,000. I know that they put some work into it, but they didn’t put $60,000 in it. Is 1% really worth not selling it? It isn’t going to appraise for much more than we offered (maybe $131,000 if they’re lucky?). It doesn’t have a garage, which drags the value of the home down by a HUGE amount. Seriously. 1%. WTF?

Hasn’t anyone told them that this is a buyers’ market right now?

Anyway, Vampire Counts are moving along. I’ve got another 15 ghouls painted and based, so I am at 35 now. And may I say it drives me insane that you HAVE to make a champion with every box? Who fields 10-man units of ghouls? I don’t think I should be strong-armed into making a champion. 80 ghouls is four 20-man units (which is a much more common unit size, obviously). Why do I want eight champions for four units?

I’ve had enough ghoul painting for the moment. I have 15 more assembled, green-stuffed and primed but I just don’t have the will to paint them for now. I got started on my grave guard the other night (and whee, I lost a breastplate and another broke so I’ve got.. eight grave guard to paint). Hopefully they’ll be a nice change of pace and then it won’t be so bad when I get back to the ghouls. I’ll probably finish these eight and then do the other box of’em that I have. Going to try to order some breastplates on eBay so that I can have a full unit going on. I’ll just paint the two incomplete guys with the next batch, I suppose.

Then.. the corpse cart, I guess. Followed by Blood Knights? C’mon army, just be done already..

I want to paint my Empire! I won a great auction on eBay for some Empire stuff (it isn’t here yet) that pretty much completes my army. Once this lot comes in I will have:
Three brigades (which contains, all together)

• 120 state troops
• 30 great swords
• 24 knights
• 60 handgunners
• 15 pistoleers
• 3 great cannons / mortars

I will also have:

• A warrior priest
• Luthor Huss
• War Altar
• Deathclaw
• 10 more great swords
• 15 flagellants
• 4 wizards on foot
• 5 mounted wizards
• 10 free company
• Steamtank
• Hellblaster / Helstorm

So yes, my army is pretty much done.  Just need a few more free company for detachments.  I’m kind of hoping to kitbash those out of the bazillion extra parts that I should have, though.

March 19th, 2010 by Missy

Well, we withdrew our bid on the house. A new house just got listed up the street and Maria called the listing agent (who happens to be the same listing agent for the original house) and the woman said that this new place was in fantastic shape, etc, etc. So.. yes.. we withdrew our bid on the house and put in a bid (sight unseen @.@) on the other house. It is 240 square feet bigger, 4 bedroom, big backyard with no pool (yay).

I drove by it today with my Aunt Karen and we went and peeked in all of the windows. It looks amazing. The carpet all looks brand new (beautiful berber in the living / family rooms and a normal carpet in the bedrooms). Tile in the kitchen / entry. The ceiling in the living room and kitchen are a really pretty plank wood. The master bedroom has sliding glass doors out to the back yard, and the entry from it is tile instead of carpet (just the entry, not the whole room) so you don’t track dirt all over your carpet when you come in.

The yard is really very nice. It is large and grassy and there is a very large covered patio with fans and what appear to be misters, although I’m not 100% certain on the misters. The front door is blue with a really pretty glass insert. There’s a little “courtyard” by the front door with a little gate, and there is a large planter inside where I would grow my kitchen herb garden. All along the front (outside the courtyard and under the windows) are more planters for flowers.

Anyway, we sent over a contract yesterday and today they asked for a highest and best, since they have multiple offers. We offered $125,000 (which is basically full asking price + 4% as we’re asking them to pay 4% for our VA fees and such).

Keep your fingers crossed!

March 17th, 2010 by Missy

As promised, pictures of the Varghulf and some of the completed ghouls. These aren’t all of the ghouls, as they don’t have a base of their own at present. Don’t mind the strange formation — I just stuck them on the Dire Wolves base until I get a chance to do theirs. I’m not really a big fan, but I’m feeling too lazy to try to come up with anything better. I do think I’ll go back and fix those eyes though, now that I see them close up. A few spots that need a little touch-up there, and I think the eyes really want a highlight. If you’ll notice, the ghoul in the front rank of the very far right looks different (slightly) from the rest.  He is the one that I painted months ago, and for some insane reason I wrote down everything about how to paint him except for the deeper red over his joints.  Unfortunately, I was unable to reproduce the effect.  Which sucks, since I think that he looks better / cleaner than the others.  Oh well.

I’m fairly happy with Mr. Varghulf here, except for a few small things.  He looks better on the table than in pictures, but I think that the pictures show pretty clearly that he needs some more highlighting on his skin. I also notice a few places on his talons where some touchup and darkening of color is needed.  His base, also, is subpar.  I already knew that one before the pictures, though.  As I believe I said in an earlier blog, I’ve got in order in to The War Store that should fix his basing inadequacies.  I still love his wings.  I suppose I didn’t show a closeup of those.. they still look the same as they did whenever I posted him last, though.  Anyway, enjoy.  Critiques are welcome.. nothing is varnished yet.

March 16th, 2010 by Missy

Well, I’m home from the house inspection. It wasn’t terrible, but didn’t go as well as I was hoping for. The house has a lot of things that need to be fixed, but nothing majorly expensive. The problem, I suppose, is that a lot of these things must be fixed or the house won’t get through VA. This isn’t a comprehensive list.. just a few major things I remember from the walkthrough (the inspector will send an inspection report later).

There are also some random, smaller things that aren’t necessarily VA deal breakers.

That’s all I can really think of for now.  I’m sure there was a lot more, but my mind is drawing a blank.  Anyway, took lots of pictures but just not feeling in the mood to post them.  If the bank gets back to us and says that they’ll fix this crap, then I’ll post pics.  Until then, I guess I don’t see much point since we might not end up with the house anyway.

March 16th, 2010 by Missy

Our house inspection is today! I’m so excited to go in and see the place again, and hopefully get some window measurements and stuff so I can start making curtains. Er.. provided that the inspection doesn’t turn up anything nasty which would prevent us from buying the house @.@

The kids are also super excited. They want to see their prospective new bedrooms (Alex is an odd duck.. he has claimed “the smallest bedroom”, which works out well since Anya wants the largest.. ^^;) and the pool and fruit trees in the back yard. If I don’t totally suck and forget the camera, I’ll snap some shots and post them up here later.

Dan did, indeed, pick up green stuff on the way home from work yesterday. I’m planning to get to work greenstuffing those ghouls after I get back from the house inspection and post up the pics. Then I’ll prolly set those guys aside to cure and start gluing the other ghouls sitting around in boxes. I should probably wait until tomorrow to prime and paint the first batch but I don’t think that I will have the patience.

Right now I’m trying to fight off the urge to buy a Warhammer army on ebay consisting of two brigades, a war altar, Deathclaw, steam tank, helblaster, various mounted and unmounted characters and some flagellants. Oh, and extra great swords and some free company. For $350. Will not spend more money. Do not need more models lying around without paint. Bad. Bad.

March 15th, 2010 by Missy

Well, it has been a while but it would appear that we are back to painting Warhammer. I’ve finished 20 ghouls over the past few days (a record for me on painting speed, surely) and have 30 more waiting to be done. Well, 10 assembled and waiting for green stuff (which seems to have taken a walk..) and 20 in boxes wishing that they were assembled and waiting for green stuff. Hopefully Dan will pick up some more green stuff on the way home from work today and I can get these ghouls prepared. I should probably assemble the other 20 who are waiting in boxes and just green stuff them all at the same time, but I’m having more fun reading Empire tactics at the moment.

Ordered an Empire brigade from The War Store today, but I swear I’m not going to even open it until the Vampire Counts are finally done! I’ll post up some pics of the ghouls later, btw. Too lazy to bust out the camera at the moment. I don’t love them, but I don’t hate them either. I am.. content (..?) with them, I suppose. I can’t think of anything better to do with them, in any case.

Ah yes, and I also finally finished the Varghulf! I ended up going with black fur. Can’t recall why I didn’t want to do black fur before? It looks nice. I’m waiting on an out of stock base to come in from The War Store before he is officially finished, and I suppose I should probably go over him one more time and just brighten up his skin highlights a bit. And, of course.. repaint his freaking talons and wing tips AGAIN before varnishing him. Along with the base from The War Store, I shall also be receiving a few VMCs that I am missing (namely turquoise and emerald green) and then I can get going on the Grave Guard. I’m hoping to have all of the ghouls finished before the new colors come in (depends on how long my base is backordered, I suppose). If I finish them with enough time before hand, I’ll probably get started on a corpse cart. Then the Grave Guard. Then..? I’m not really sure. Perhaps the 5 other dire wolves that I have assembled and primed (bringing me up to a unit of 10, should I so desire) and then I guess I can start working on blood knights and characters. I have a gorgeous limited edition CMON mini that I’ll be using as one of my vampires who I’ll either be saving for last (or second to last, after my BSB).

I suppose I’m feeling very energized (which is a nice change of pace from my recent state of the blahs which is, unfortunately, still in effect so far as exercising goes) and excited about painting. I know that I still have the vast majority of my army to paint, but getting the ghouls done is so refreshing. They aren’t fun, there is no paint scheme for them (that I’ve seen / can imagine) that I LOVE, they’re finicky and horrible little models, they hate ranking up, etc, etc, etc..

So yes, feeling like they’re moving along quickly (and thusly, will be done quickly) makes me excited! Once they’re done, it is just fun stuff, right? Grave Guard are annoying and a bitch to put together with their stupid little spindly skeletonness, but at least they look fantastic. I absolutely adore the thought of verdigris on the armor and I am happy to have them coming up soon. I still haven’t figured out if I’m going to paint them the blueish that I like, or go with a more traditional red. I love the blue, but I think they might end up just looking out of place? Not that I know what color I am painting the Blood Knights either. I was thinking blue for them too, but I saw some blue BKs on ebay that were painted well and I didn’t like them at all.

Ah, choices, choices..

February 21st, 2010 by Missy

I have no idea what I was thinking last night. Dan is still in Minnesota and Anya slept over my parents’ house (leaving me in the room all alone) and I decided to watch.. I Am Legend before bed. I’m terrified of zombies. Yes, I know that zombies aren’t real, but that doesn’t stop me from being terrified of them. By the time the movie was over I was jumping at small noises. I got up to lock the door and Peri jumped up on the desk and knocked a hairbrush on the floor.. I think I was thisclose to hyperventilating.

Aaaanyway.. I watched Like Water for Chocolate afterward to try and take my mind off of zombies and now I’m taken with an obsession to make quail in rose petal sauce. I feel a little bad eating quail (they’re just so cute, aren’t they?) but I’m thinking I’ll make this dish for our anniversary or something. Suppose I’ll have to find a store / someone who sells quail meat first. I came across the Phoenix Permaculture Guild while I was searching and it got me thinking about raising my own quail. Not to eat (I know I could never eat something that I had raised myself), but for the eggs, the fun for the kids, etc, etc.

And, of course, then I started thinking about goats as well. I rather imagine, however, that most HOAs wouldn’t allow the raising of goats. Quail are so quiet / small / unobtrusive / native to Arizona that I’d think it wouldn’t be a problem, but goats may be another matter. Guess we won’t find out until we buy a house and get our hands on the HOA paperwork.

February 19th, 2010 by Missy

Today just feels so.. blah.

Dan is on his way to the airport right now since he is heading up to Minnesota for the weekend. I haven’t seen him since we went to sleep last night and I won’t see him until he gets home from work on Monday. I know that a weekend isn’t really that long, but it feels much longer with work today and Monday. Not to mention, I am just pathetic and needy and I don’t like not seeing him for any length of time.

I’m also signed up to help Katie move into the house that she is renting tomorrow and I’m not really looking forward to it. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge her the help or anything, it just isn’t exactly.. exciting.

Complaint upon complaint.. I just can’t seem to work up the motivation to exercise. Dan has been working out pretty darn regularly (and I can’t seem to keep my eyes off of his stomach whenever he takes his shirt off.. he is finding it quite amusing, I think) and I really should be working out with him, but every time he sets out to do it I just.. don’t. And I don’t even know why. It isn’t like I’m doing anything else while he is working out. I usually just a) stare at him, b) pretend I’m doing something else and not staring at him.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt this unmotivated before. I mean, I’ve been substantially heavier than I am right now (I’m not even really that heavy right now.. 10lbs over my lightest weight) but I’ve never felt this BLAH about it. Blah. Blah. Blah, blah, blah.

All I really feel like doing is lying down and taking a nap. For like a week. Just.. wtf?

August 4th, 2009 by Missy

Had a nice run today.. ran to the end of the street and back (as opposed to just to the end of the street last time) which works out to be about a mile and a quarter. Think tomorrow we’ll do a weight training day (one of the P90X videos, I’m sure) and then run again on Thursday. Actually, now that I think about it.. I’m not sure we’ll do anything tomorrow. It is Open House up at school (since school starts on Thursday) so it is possible that we won’t really have time for a workout by the time Dan gets home from work, we go to Open House, eat, etc.. Guess we’ll see.

I need to plan out a longer run. Something that is 2 miles or so from the house would be nice.. I think that if we walk to the end of the road (toward Tatum instead of Scottsdale) and then run to Dynamite and back, it will be about two miles. Guess I’ll check in the car later.

Waiting for Dan to get back from the grocery store right now.. I want to experiment with making a diabetic friendly cake for my grandma (her birthday is coming up). Katie picked up some whole wheat pastry flour for me on the way home from work, and then I’ll use Splenda instead of sugar. It still won’t be -healthy- of course (too much fat) but at least it will be whole wheat and sugar free. I think she isn’t really watching her fat / caloric intake right now.. just sugar and starch and such. Basically, I’m just adapting an excellent red velvet cake recipe that I have and hoping it turns out well!

Workout today: Mile and a quarter jog.