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Bah, double-post, sorry!
…But actually.
Drag0nfeathers, I feel the same way actually. The top of Borealis is just a little too washed out. If he was just a little more intense, and there was some more scale detailing, he’d be stunning. Also, I do wish there was a little more of the deep blue that we see along his neck line and a little less black.
Well I am not sure how that happened but I felt sorry for the little koi kirin not getting many bids and I know how much the store ones sold for before so I put in a bid thinking for sure someone would outbid me but no one did. So it looks like I will have two baby kirins coming to live with me which is ironic since I have been trying to bid on other ones for over a year with no luck. At first I wasn’t sure how I would pay for it but just happened to sell something on ebay yesterday to cover it. Now I have to figure out how I will pay for a grab bag colt when they come out. Maybe I will get lucky and sell something else. I may consider trading the koirin at some point for another special piece if someone loves it more than me but I actually fell for the face markings and eyes. It’s one of few more natural coloured pieces I have liked.
Is it common for people to just… bid if they just want to knock the price up on someone else? That seems a little… idk. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
I really waffled on whether not to bid; it was definitely a cute piece. I liked the colors and facial markings. But… After having been in a couple bidding wars that I lost already, I just didn’t want to get stressed out over a very small statue and either end up paying more than I felt it was worth OR heartbroken if I lost (again). So I was going to wait to see what the price did, and after it went up over 120 I figured there was just too good a chance the person(s) bidding for it really wanted it and I’d end up spending 150 or more, which I just feel like I can’t do when I want the lap in morpho and PYOs as well. You got it for a decent price, though, so if in the future you decide you want to sell it for something in a similar ballpark, I would be interested. I just… really wasn’t prepared to take that chance right now.
I’m gonna keep stalking the store for more natural and fantasy colored baby kirin, because my cavern couple DOES still need to adopt a baby or two. I’m sure one will turn up eventually that I absolutely cannot live without, and that’s when I’ll know it’s time to go all-in. >:)
Kiya is right about sauces and whatnot. At least, things like ketchup or mustard or bbq sauce, you can find recipes and modify them and make them into things that you can eat, have less perservatives, and are generally much more healthy for you. It does take more time, though, which I think is kind of at the heart of the problem… a lot of people just don’t have time, after you factor in work and sleep, to be able to make all these things for themselves. It’s why food production became a thing in the first place, I think. But it’s just gotten out of control.
I don’t know what things are like in Europe, having never been there, or in many parts of Asia. In Japan, soy and rice are everywhere, sodium is never reduced either, and wheat and gluten removal is kind of unheard of. MSG is also included in a lot of things like ‘dashi,’ which is commonly used as a part of soup stock here. Food allergies and sensitivities seem to be less common here, though, so maybe the removal of these things is not so necessary. (But then, for those rare cases who DO have problems, getting access to non gluten, wheat, or soy-exposed foods are just that much harder.) In general though I would say I trust Japanese food a lot more than I ever did food back home–I will eat things here totally uncooked that I would never dream of touching back in America.
Borealis… I have mixed feelings… I think considering his scheme/inspiration, he’s totally fitting, but personally I’d love him if there was more/brighter teal involved. Still, if I wasn’t waiting on that lap dragon and debating PYOs in my future, I’d probably place a bid.
Congratulations to whomever picked up that little koirin by the way. I decided not to compete in the end. I want something perfect to come up before I start throwing my money around for those prices. Just not sure what yet.
They’re pretty cute, and I’d love it if they had some kind of… background story for what they’re supposed to be/how they came to be. Individual profiles or personalities might be cute too. I think I could probably shell out the money for one for 18 or so. 🙂 Seems reasonable to me anyway.
I don’t think I can be too strict with a diet like that at first. For me personally, it would set me up for a hard fall later on.
I try to avoid processed oils as much as possible because I suffer from adult acne. I’ve found out through trail that corn syrup and corolla oil will cause my acne to flare up something terrible. Soy will too and it messes with my hormones, like you mentioned earlier. I was told a story about a woman who raised her daughter on a soy heavy diet and now, as an adult, her daughter sufferers from a lot of health issues. Their doctor said it was the soy. So if I eat soy, it’s in small amounts. It difficult to escape it completely because it’s in a lot of foods.Growing up, one of my friends had a severe food allergy for corn fructose. Soy, wheat, gluten, and corn fructose are in practically *everything* these days. So it was very difficult for them to find hardly anything she could eat, and I imagine that for you or for anyone trying to avoid any of those products it’s a very difficult time. (Heck, I looked at the back of the sauce I was recommending for a recipe to you the other day, and the very *first* ingredient involved gluten. 🙁 I felt pretty bad.) I don’t know much, or hardly anything, about food production, but the heavy prevalence of these things in the food we consume seems like overkill.
Chloe asked that I also post photos of the piece I did for her.
This dragon is “painted” in pastels. The only actual paint on him is the black spinal scales and the silver accents.
I’ve photographed him in the sun, since he has that automotive paint on him that makes him sparkle.Again, I’m very happy you like him as much as you do! I haven’t painted a PYO in over a year, so I was a tad nervous that I’d be out of practice.
You did this in pastels!? Oh, I’m really curious now, I’m sorry if I’m hijacking the thread everyone, but I have questions. I assume you just used regular pastels and not oil? Did you have to prep/prime the working surface first? Did you literally just apply the pastel straight on, or did you use water and a brush, or… idk, I am intrigued, please tell me more.
Edit: I’m sorry if I seem overly excited, but the prospect of being able to use pastels for this is particularly exciting for me because I was thinking/feeling like I would need to get some acrylics so I’ve been putting off buying PYOs until I have money enough to invest in some decent media. HOWEVER I already have a really swanky set of pastels I could use, so if these are light fast and not too hard to work with, maybe I could get started a lot sooner…!
Wow, those last three things, what are you calling them? They kind of have a whimsy that makes me think of something out of a Studio Ghibli film. I actually really kind of like them… how much would you want for one, out of curiosity?
Is it okay for someone not a part of the trade to poke their nose in? :p All of these PYOs have been so gorgeous so far!! It makes me a little sad that I missed such an awesome opportunity this time around even though I have virtually no experience with something like this (but maybe next time!!!). I think thus far Kujaku’s contribution has got to be my favorite (blue! blue 5ever, and the way the scheme was handled was so nice too), but again everything’s been incredible.
Agreeing with everyone else that this (the pumpkin little rock dragon test paint) is a color scheme I hope we will see again, maybe in limited production. It was super gorgeous, and I could tell from the moment I saw him there was going to be some really fierce bidding for the guy, the detailing was just that nice.
Ahhh super gorgeous! I’m entering as well. She’s lovely, so my odds probably aren’t so great, but you don’t have a chance if you don’t play, right?
Yeah. I mean, in a way, I try to think of dietary changes as being kind of like treating an actual addiction, and it’s totally possible to go into withdrawal, so even if your goal is to cut it all out eventually, it’s much easier to take baby steps and de-esculate by establishing “better,” more restrictive habits first and gradually escalating. (ex: Soda or alcohol only on the weekends and only so much for x weeks, and then maybe only Sundays and only x much for x weeks, etc). I know some other people have mentioned that many kinds of foods have a real, chemical addictive reaction to the human brain and other parts of the body. I’m by no means any kind of expert in anything, and I haven’t done the kinds of research that some of these other people have, so I would definitely bow to them as having more precise knowledge. I just think of all the people who try cold turkey to quit cigarettes or other addictive substances, and although I realize that everyone’s personality is different and some people really just CAN quit cold turkey (more power to them, that’s amazing!) I think for most people… it’s just very very hard to shake it.
I was thinking last night about another thing to do with portion sizes etc. I know a lot of people are like “don’t worry about portion sizes so long as you’re doing x y and z” and I’m not arguing against that because I’m pretty sure that was kind of my position too. (That advice about the fistful of meat / no more was really good advice though! I’m going to have to try remember that one myself, lol.) However, if you feel like you actually want to be able to visualize these things because that makes you more comfortable, maybe the best thing to do is invest in a good scale for weighing, a good set of measuring cups and spoons, and a handy guide for portions like this one that you can print off for free and maybe hang somewhere in your kitchen:
http://img.webmd.com/dtmcms/live/webmd/consumer_assets/site_images/media/pdf/diet/portion-control-guide.pdf
I’ve got to be honest and say that portion sizes are still something that elude me, particularly for vegetables and grains. We grow up going out to eat at restaurants that give us really lop sided offerings because of what’s cheap and what tastes good and also just… giant sized plates of everything because we always want more more! So I think almost everyone has a confused sense of “but no really, what actually IS a portion size? It’s surely not this whole plate.” My weight watchers book has introduced me to actual portion sizes for things, and of course snack bags will have their (usually ridiculously small) portion labels on the back, but what it’s so much more complicated when you’re talking about unprocessed foods. Anyway I’ve definitely found that the more I think about it and use my books, the more easily I begin to see and think and realize “okay, this is the correct amount of meat” or “no, this is too much pasta.” I’m willing to bet that as time goes by you will begin to be able to eyeball it, but having a scale and other measuring devices will help a lot in the beginning.One thing I’m not sure if anyone has addressed or not (my apologies to everyone, I haven’t been able to go through all of the amazing advice here, there’s just so much although it’s all been well-thought-out whether or not I agree with it!) is that like… with eating… there are a lot of cultural, situational, and psychological aspects to it that you may need to take time to address. For example: when I am stressed or sad, I am a million more times more likely to want to head to McDonalds for French fries. And snacking at my computer or the movies is so thoroughly ingrained in me I often don’t even think about it. When I eat out, I have less control over my portions, and particularly when I go out to eat with friends we often make choices that appeal to the crowd and are delicious but don’t take into account practicalities (I went to 2 Chinese buffets and like 3 more other Asian restaurants with ginormous proportions when I went home to visit at Christmas time, for example). Holidays can also be a sticking point. So, the point I’m getting at here, is that you may have to compromise or change your other habits. Ex: Reduce the number of movies you go out to see, talk with your friends about your new dietary issues before going out to eat and/or relying more heavily on doggie-bags and avoiding buffets, stock your house only with baby carrots for snacking on, take up meditative exercise or running or something to combat stress levels.
Sometimes simple recipes are best.
I was referred to this recipe recently, and it’s great: (corn + diced tomatoes):
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/corn_tomato_saut.htmlAlso, if you like chicken, I love lemon pepper chicken which is SUPER easy and cheap to make:
http://www.mccormick.com/Recipes/Main-Dishes/Classic-Lemon-Pepper-Chicken
Perhaps use some gluten free flour? Is that a thing that exists?And you could do something like this recipe for vietnamese pork vermicelli, and just take out the vermicelli (the noodles), maybe go a little more sparingly on the amount of pork you use for each bowl/serving, and make it a really hearty salad with cabbage and lettuce and mushrooms and all kinds of herbs (hint, DO add the mint and the peanuts, and if you can, also use Maggi sauce on it if it doesn’t have no-nos for your diet in the sauce, it’s hard to go wrong!): http://www.theravenouscouple.com/2009/05/bun-thit-nuong-vietnamese-grilled-pork-with-vermicelli.html
There’s also this butternut & squash pie that I have made before in the past and got a lot of compliments from other people on:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1973647/butternut-squash-and-spinach-filo-pie
I’m not sure what would happen if you got rid of the pastry, but surely it couldn’t hurt that much? You could also get rid of the cheese if necessary for the IBS issues, however, I wouldn’t personally. There’s really not that much, and it’s more to add flavor than anything else.I am sick……I had a snipe set for that tremendously gorgeous little rock and it didn’t bid. Whaaaaa!!!! I am heartsick.
🙁 I’m sorry you lost, I know this heartsickness. Hopefully something wonderful will come out soon that will help to dull the disappointment.
A lot of the pieces coming out now are white, I’m noticing, very pale/cream, with a little colorful detailing. Not my cup of tea personally but I bet they’re going to make some people very happy.
