Networking, the fun way

"Steampunk: My Coal-Dusty Heaven" is a guest blog post I wrote for a very cool steampunk blogger I met on twitter, @suzannelazear.

I've had another blog ask to interview me, not because I'm the steampunkiest out there (I can dream!) but because of networking.

I've been retweeted by steampunk authors, artists, and musicians. I've virtually met a lot of movers/shakers and shapers of our wondrously steampunk world, all very cool people.

I've subscribed to steampunk news, blogs, and tweets. While my fondest hope is that Professor Raven's Curiosity Emporium blows up with adoring fans and eager customers, the exposure isn't what I really love about all this "networking".

What I really love about it is being on the front lines, fighting the good fight, and the occasional Zeppelin battle, to craft the genre the way we, the true steampunkers, want it.

Sure, it's popular now, and will be for a couple more years. But after the masses "trend" something else, we will still be part of this mechanized world, still dreaming of rivets, steam, and land-walking Cephalopoda.

Did I tell you this to brag? Or to scare you? Gawd, no...other than government-controlled mechs tearing up our carefully-crafted towns, what could possibly scare a steampunker? And how could my occasional retweet of Lord Likely (who's likelypedia is hysterical), or quote of Airship Ambassador's, possibly engender any awe? Really, I don't want my 15 minutes of fame; I just want to be an eccentric who's heavily involved in steampunk, craft what I love, and have my passion pay for itself.

No, I tell you all this to encourage you to "network" with like-minded steamers, to get to know each other. Most of us have day jobs, and require the odd assistance in the mundane world; having an ally to point you in the right direction sure could help a lot. Banding together into a cohesive worldwide union or resistance force ensures the steampunk world we love will never truly disappear, fall by the wayside, or be left in the dust of obscurity. Getting to know artisans and journeymen can teach you a lot! Attend a con, tweet your heart out, go out there with coat tails flying and goggles secure! I can't wait to meet you!

Meet Vespa Nyx

The Unnaturalists, coming to print soon, by author Tiffany Trent, sounds like a good read! Danger, intrigue, strange creatures, alternate timeline, steampunky goodness... . Is it August yet??

spine-tingling synopsis
In an alternate London where magical creatures are preserved in a museum, two teens find themselves caught in a web of intrigue, deception, and danger.Vespa Nyx wants nothing more than to spend the rest of her life cataloging Unnatural creatures in her father’s museum, but as she gets older, the requirement to become a lady and find a husband is looming large. Syrus Reed’s Tinker family has always served and revered the Unnaturals from afar, but when his family is captured to be refinery slaves, he finds that his fate may be bound up with Vespa’s—and with the Unnaturals.

As the danger grows, Vespa and Syrus find themselves in a tightening web of deception and intrigue. At stake may be the fate of New London—and the world.

Tiffany sounds like a fantastic writer, and now after reading that, I have to go find her books! (Plus preorder this one!) She also has a great blog!

Going a slightly different direction

I've spent the past couple of years on this blog just sort of drifting. Parenting, kids' needs, family life, product reviews... not really sure where I wanted to go, no specific destination or even route in mind. And how do you know you've arrived if you don't know where you're going?

Today, I was hit by Tesla! I've been fascinated by the steampunk world and genre for several years now. I'm not very active in the online steampunk community, only participate on one forum, and that's very sporadically. I work full time at a job that pays the bills but that I love. I spend my spare time creating steampunk goodies, playing with my kids, domestic drudgery, and now exercising. Doesn't leave a lot of time for online steampunk networking, but there ya have it.

Much like an author, I've had characters in my head for a while, the start of a story around them. Only recently have I been able to bring those characters to life, fleshing out their appearances and beginning to craft their back stories. So much I want to do!

So I bid a very fond farewell to the "I'm a mommy" blog, and now my charming, handsome, debonaire alter-ego Professor Raven will be taking over. Fair warning: he's rambunctious, elitist, and eclectic at times!

Disney World: Fun family vacation, or cash-guzzling torture?

In December, Disney was offering some great vacation packages. Since we've never taken the kids on a purely fun vacation (cuz we're boring and cheap, I guess?), we decided to take advantage of it. This was a trip nine months in the making. Oh, we had some grand plans! Character greetings, fabulous meals, adult night life, adventure... Grand.

We invited Grandma to come along, not as a built-in babysitter, but to spend some quality time with 2 of her 8 grandkids, and for me to have my mom to myself for a week.

My kids are six and three, 4' and 3'3". According to http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/, the big booger could ride almost everything, and the shorter one still had a lot she could do. So we settled on five days, four nights, the dining plan, and seeing every park.

Boy, did we! We combed every inch of all four parks! We rode nearly everything, saw nearly every show, several parades. We ate well, and still had about six quick-serve meals remaining when we left.

We have some truly priceless memories, some wonderful pictures, and fun souvenirs. We encountered friendly people, fantastic employees, and great sites. And, as exhausted as we were at the end of each day, I wouldn't trade it.

So, why am I writing this? Just to brag about our awesome trip? To whine about how tired and out of shape I am? To bemoan the cash machine that is Disney? Nope, even though some may apply. This wonderful missive is merely the prelude, the intro if you will, to an upcoming yet humorous list of family vacation dos and dont's.

Stay tuned to laugh at my expense!

Product Review: Moon Dough

Moon Dough. When this arrived, and I saw the box, I cringed. The logo looked remarkably similar to the logo for Moon Sand. You know, the sand that never dries out and doesn't make a mess, but is easy to mold? If only their product was as good as their tag line...

So when I saw the box, I was afraid. If it was from the makers of Moon Sand, I was in trouble. First, because I knew my kids would scream and clamor for it (which they did as soon as they saw it), and second, because I was afraid of the mess. As a mom of small children who is employed full time, I don't have tons of time for cleaning. But, my kids love all forms of art, especially if it involves them making a mess, and Mom cleaning it up. *sigh*

I decided, shushing that pessimistic voice in my head, to let them give it a try. We received the barnyard set, and opened up everything in the living room. Because I enjoy complicating my life. The "dough" in the bags wasn't really doughy, it was crumbly. Extremely crumbly. So much so that many months later, I am still finding pieces that are one with the carpet. Which is a color improvement.

The "dough" does indeed smush relatively easily into the animal shapes provided in the barn mold. They hold their shape surprisingly well. But they also crumble at the touch of a finger. Which my daughter delights in doing. And then an exasperated sigh scatters the now-crumbled "dough".

If your kids love art, love to play with things they can smoosh in their hands, I would highly recommend several products before I can reliably recommend Moon Dough for young children: modeling clay, of the bakeable or air-dryable variety; finger paints; mud; a pile of leaves. I'm sure Moon Dough (or Moon Sand) might be a good buy for older kids; for mine, and my poor abused carpet, not so much.

Product Review: The ShoesUnder *

You've heard of The ShoesUnder, right? Or have you been ShoesUnder a rock? HAHA, I made a funny! OK, that was lame...almost as lame as the ShoesUnder.

Seriously. If you watch the video provided, it looks so easy, effortless, to neatly store your shoes out of site. And at $9.99 + tax at Walgreens, it seems an organizational dream come true.

While it does fulfill its promises (see photo), that's about the best that can be said for it.

The entire apparatus is fabric. Yes, flimsy cloth. The partitions are merely sewn together, not sewn to the base, allowing shoes to move around under the partitions.

Since it's entirely cloth, there is no real structure to it. Go ahead and try to pull it neatly out from under your bed while it's loaded down with 12 pairs of shoes, I dare you. Try fitting 12 pairs of heels in there, I dare you. Whatever they did to it to make the video look awesome, is not the product you're going to receive.

Not only will 12 pairs of heels not fit neatly into it laying on their sides (as demonstrated in the video), but it's not tall enough for heels. I know, most moms might own 1 or 2 pairs of heels for nice events, but mostly slipons, flip-flops, and the like. And for those kinds of shoes, they should fit. It might work for lighter children's shoes. Although, a large plastic basket works pretty well for my kids' shoes, easily stores, they can find things, it's breathable, and they don't have to futz with zippers.

Bottom line on the ShoesUnder: I give it * (1 star). Probably good for long-term storage (storing summer shoes during winter, let's say), but not for daily use. And not for the heels and wedges I know and love. And now, I'm going to drink a glass of Moscato and ponder how I should be storing my shoes for daily use.

Christmas in the bag, it's Sesame Street FTW

My daughter, all 23 pounds and 27 inches of her, loves Elmo. Not like most little kids love a character. She obsesses over Elmo, can spot the tiniest Elmo image from across the store, sings the Elmo song, begs for an Elmo show after school, wears Elmo clothes, and on and on. Did I mention she's not quite two?

Her older brother, on the other hand, is four going on 16, loves anything battle related or superhero related, loves to enact battle scenes, and only puts up with his sister's Elmo obsession because, well, he loves his sister. And, let's face it, they are awfully sweet when they play nice together.

If you're a mom like me, you'd give anything to let your toddler test out toys before you shell out the cash to keep them. Luckily, I had just the opportunity. While doing some pre-Christmas scouting in the store the other day, I spied some cool new building blocks, and of course they're Sesame Street-themed, which is why they caught my eye to begin with. But I took them off my mental list after seeing the recommended age of 2-5 years. Imagine my delight when I received a reviewable kit of Sesame Street K'NEX in the mail from Team Mom!

Sadie was overjoyed at seeing her favorite friend, Elmo, and his trusty pal Cookie Monster, in cute, lovable, changeable block form! But the biggest surprise was seeing Jacob chomping at the bit to have a go! We put the 1-2-3 Brownstone together, and she laughed at Bert in an upstairs window. She danced Elmo around the building, singing Elmo's song. She took his head off and learned how to put it back on. Then Jacob took it apart and made an Elmo robot to prowl around. The best part? Jacob has been playing with the set, rebuilding, playing Elmo and Cookie Monster hide and seek, the better part of the day.

All of the sets are designed to work stand-alone, or together, which means I can buy as few or as many as I want. Plus, the pieces are big enough for Sadie's tiny hands, big enough not to get lost in the carpet like other blocks, yet not so big that Jacob would call them "baby blocks". Even better, the sets are what I consider to be reasonably priced! Which is great, since this is going to be an Elmo Christmas, followed a month later by an Elmo birthday...

Below you'll find info on a great video contest sponsored by K'NEX. I won't be entering, but after watching mu Elmo-girl and my big tough boy play with these all morning, I think I know what Santa's bringing us!

Want to get in on the fun, and have a shot at winning $1,000? Create a 30-second to 3-minute video of your child playing with any K'NEX 400 pc tub or K'NEX Sesame Street set. Do not include last name, city, street, or other personally identifiable info on the video itself, beyond state and first name of your child. Post the video on your blog or website, and send the link to knexvideocontest@knex.com. Don't have a blog or website? Send the video to Make a K'NEX Video Contest, K'NEX Brand, L.P., P.O.Box 700, Hatfield, PA 19440. You'll need to include an official entry form (which I will gladly email upon request) so that you get credit, and can get notified if you win. Entries must be received by K'NEX by 7 December. 10 finalists will be posted on knex.com and the K'NEX Facebook fan page, where fans can vote for their favorite. Must be a US resident, not a resident of Florida and over 18 to enter. Complete official rules can be found on www.knex.com. Good luck!

The contents of this product review are strictly the work of the author, and do not reflect the opinions or any policies of the product in question, or the review's sponsor. Author has received no monetary compensation in exchange for this review, beyond a product sample that is author's to keep or distribute as she pleases.