ArtsOnFire

"Making objects of beauty is a revenge on depression." - Matjames Metson

My favorite new thing? Art Abandonment! click on the link to see what it's about!

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I am in a band called The Sump Pumps; I play percussion and sing backup.

I am a tour guide for Chicago Hauntings. This is a ghost hunting tour created by Ursula Bielski, a world-renowned author and ghost-hunter.

I am a firm believer in the paranormal and am a "professional" ghost hunter. I have visited some of most haunted places in the US. I take digital images of spirits and EVP recordings. I have conducted healing and casting circles and house clearings.

I was struck by lightning when I was 12.

A piece of my artwork is on permanent display in Malaysia.

I've started "super couponing." My best coupon experience was just a few weeks ago when I saved 100%; all I paid was .9 tax!! My goal is to get cart loads of free or nearly free groceries and donate them to the food pantry that helped us when we were in need. Check out jillcataldo.com for some great tips and tricks.

I once stalked Bono outside his hotel room in the freezing cold Chicago winter and had my picture taken with him.

°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º° The Sump Pumps, U2, Amy Winehouse, Adele Laurie Blue Atkins, Florence and the Machine, Kate Nash, Madeline Peyroux, Doc Watson, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Kings of Leon, The Killers, Keane, Snow Patrol, Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, David Gray, Lily Allen, Tom Petty, Friends of Chloe, Mayhem, Pavarotti singing Nussum Dorma, Comfortably Floyd

Favorite by Instrument/Skill;
Lead Guitar - My Ray (of course!), Dave Grohl, Lindsey Buckingham
Rhythm Guitar - David Gilmour, John Lennon
Bass - Stefan Lessard, Adam Clayton, Flea
Drums - Neil Peart, Martin Chambers
Girl Singer - My Mom who sang opera on the stage of the Lyric Opera House in Chicago, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lily Allen
Boy Singer - Bono, My Ray, Dave Matthews, David Gilmour, Tom Chapin, David Gray; Elvis Costello
Lyricists - Elvis Costello, Neil Peart, Paul Hewson

°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º° An Affair to Remember; anything Cary Grant; Wuthering Heights; Sense and Sensibility; Twister; Breakfast at Tiffany's; Charade. Anything with Audrey Hepburn; Shetlands Are (look it up on YouTube); In The Name of The Father; The Shawshank Redemption; Casino; Good Fellas; Twister; Remember the Titans; The King's Speech; Roman Holiday; It's a Wonderful Life; White Christmas; Holiday Inn; Love Actually; Casablanca; Sabrina (both versions); Legends of The Fall; Fight Club.

°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨ I watch TV; it doesn't make me bad or any less cerebral than those of you who make a point of saying you don't watch. My current favorite is The Golden Girls. Hallmark channel runs them in order every day. I had no idea this show was so cutting edge and relevant! It's not just for old farts! (of which I am not one, yet) Some of my other favorites are: The Big Bang Theory, 2 Broke Girls, Royal Pains, Chicago Cubs Baseball, Deadliest Catch; English comedies: Are You Being Served?, Keeping up Appearances, Black Adder, Absolutely Fabulous. Craig Ferguson is my favorite late night host. I love MASH and I Love Lucy. Whose Line Is It Anyway? (both the UK and US version).

°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º° Altered art "Looking Boxes", mail art, jewelry making, paper, throwing pottery, card making, handmade envies (check out my swap-bot group Enchanted Envies), assemblage, LMAO, "Angry Art" (that's what my daughter and I call it), ATCs, I'm quite fond of Whimsey Jars, but only if they're glass.

Fave colors: dark blue, silver, deep purple, black.

°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º° Making tea in a real teapot (and I drink it the English way, with lots of milk and sugar); Star Gazer Lilies; Buddah; Ponies, Tuxedo Kitties, Trivia contests, digging around at Flea Markets; digging around at Thrift Shops, English things; Panda Express Mandarin Chicken; Constant Comment Tea; Books, History; Vintage Paris; Tazo Chai Tea, San Franciso; travelling; Tim Holtz' products; my Cricut Expression; oatmeal; thick juicy steaks encrusted with bleu cheese; sleeping late; a clean house; rainy cool days; camping (real camping with a tent and a fire); Edy's Swiss Chocolate Sherbet; Tazo Earl Grey, surprises; Johnny B Radio; kittencats; puppydogs; snail mail envelopes full of surprises and local ephemera; doorways; shabby chic; Portillo's double cheeseburgers with everything NO ketchup; good homemade soup; clean 100% cotton sheets; a good fitting bra; oatmeal raisin cookies; learning about other religions and cultures; learning to say thank you in other languages (so far I'm up to 14); Atomic Fire Balls; dresses; a good solid pair of flip flops that can last the summer; Shetland Ponies; Jimmie John's Italian Nightclub; auctions; ice cold milk; a good sale; Chicago Cubs Baseball; Portillo's Chocolate Cake (to die for); vintage postcards and photos; old metal bits of whatever; keys; old jewelry (to take apart and put back together some other way); foreign language text from anywhere; bath scrubs; good candles; different colored or shaped glass beads; lovely yarns and fibers, cool tiny things (check out vtj2.com), urban foraging; a good hair cut; Postsecret; Postcrossing; ATCsforall.com; walking through cemeteries, I love old funereal architecture; reading postsecret; sitting in my studio and looking at all my "found" stuff on the shelves my Ray built me; finishing projects I start (rare, but I'm working on it); hearing my Ray on the back porch strumming on his acoustic guitar; sitting around the fire watching and contemplating the flames; leaning my head on Harley's tummy and listening to him purr; watching Wellington drool all over the catnip toy I made him; hiking through the Forest Preserve District trails; looking things up on Wikipedia, whether they're true or not; picking on my cats (in a completely loving way, don't worry Peta fans),

Preferences: Book to movie; Hardback to Paperback; reading to tv, wood mounted rubber stamps to acrylic mounted rubber stamps; toilet paper coming out from the bottom to coming out from the top; Coke to Pepsi; 12 grain wheat to white; psychological thrill to gore; 2% milk to regular; half caf to full caf; Equal to Splenda; Target to Wal-Mart; Edgar to Sig; cloudy to sunny; cool to hot; truth to lies; black and white to color; sepia to black and white;

Some of my favorite people are: My Ray, My Meagan, Matjames Metson, Susanah (whom I miss terribly), my Uncle Al, Kelly Y., Maizey, Chloe, Tyler Durden, Jana Holle, Uncle Billie, Mike Rowe, Vincent D'onofrio, Heidi Klum, Ursula Bielski, Angelina Jolie, Leland Chapman, Daniel Burnham, Dan the EMT who tried to save my Ronin,

Some of my favorite books: The Hiding Place by my Tante Corrie TenBoom; The Help by Kathryn Stockett; Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen; The Odessa Files by Frederick Forsyth; The Taking by Dean Koontz; Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow; There Are No Children Here by Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers; The Sinking of the Eastland, America's Forgotten Tragedy by Jay Bonansinga.

°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º° UNESCO postcards; deco tape; shimmer spray; German scrap; cancelled postage from countries other than the US; B&W or sepia photos or copies of photos; Earl Gray, Constant Comment, Chai Teas; skeleton keys and skeleton key charms; Parisian things; foreign text; exotic chocolate; funny sayings with an edgy-ness; play on word sayings; pictures/stickers of ponies or horses; vintage-y printed collage papers; victorian-y pictures; butterflies; dragonflies; bees; Buddhist things; Islamic things

°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º°¨¨¨¨¨¨°º©©º° Ignorance; hatred; prejudice; poorly executed swaps; females who are weak; females who feign weakness; females who think their tits entitle them; along those same lines; too much skin unless it's beautifully tattooed; Kawaii; Sanrio; Hello Kitty, etc (ickie bad); Anybody with the last name Kardashian; Justin Bieber; Dancing with the Stars; Survivor; American Idol; pinky girly things; animal prints; things that are too religious (like those little books people hand out), unless they are in a language other than English; green tea; cheap candles; bath salts; plastic beads; large bodies of water; clowns (I do like menacing clowns, tho); teddy bears; stuffed animals; Disney except for Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin movies; the St. Louis Cardinals (we are talking hate, here); The Cincinnati Reds; The Pittsburgh Pirates, The Green Bay Packers; The New England Patriots; cheaters, liars, thieves

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Rating Policy as it pertains to evil swappers and vile flakers.

On this issue I will not budge. I am a patient person and will give extra time for many reasons: life, mail, weather, sickness; but the minute you ignore me and/or lie about it, all bets are off.

Also be advised that once a "3" or a "1" has been issued, it will not be rescinded. I do not bandy about with the "1" and "3" buttons and only issue them in the direst of situations. In fact, I've only issued one "1" and no "3's." You could send me the winning lottery numbers to the largest pot of gold in the world and your rating will not change.

If you do flake on me:

A pox upon you! I will gather all manner of beast, and using "The Force," I will send them to your place of residence where they will lick your windows with their slimy beast spit and breathe their stinking beast breath deep into the bowels of your most prized possessions. A smell, I assure you, that can never be eradicated.

Furthermore, I will do everything in my power and use every method at my disposal to ensure that other swap-boter's are aware of your loathsome, vile, wormy behavior.

Everyone will know your name; you won't be able to swap a quarter for two dimes and a nickel.

Get it?

Hell knows NO FURY like a Lora flaked.

You have been warned.

FLAKED June 16, 2012
I am an original member of this site. I've been on since 2006. I guess I've been lucky up to now; I am saddened to report that I have been flaked.

@VAGrammy66 - flaked for the "Inspired by Postage Stamps Booklet."