ManvsMini

Your dose of Timeline Trivia for February 26th: 1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on Elba Island, putting events in motion that will lead to (but not officially start) the Hundred Days War.

That's totally worthy of a Show Off, especially if you are happy with her! She's awesome. If I had chosen Ursula for that mini, I would never have thought to try to make her scarves as the eels. That's genius creativity.

Thank you very much. Parts of it look better in that photo, and parts look worse, but again, that pic has a lot of light reflecting (those white lines near the hem of his robe between orange and blue, that's pure reflection).

Horsetail Fall's firefall in Yosemite Park. So cool!

I painted this one as part of a duo with @Maledrakh for this month's RCL. Not my finest work, lot of frustration with it; most of the shading you see is being done by my lighting setup, which really needs refined. And the highlights look in the wrong spot in places. Eh, I myself am a constant work in progress. Still, it's one more mini done for this year, which puts me way ahead of what I finished last year. And the color scheme resemblance to Goku from DBZ is purely coincidental. Thanks for looking.

Ok, slight update for now as I am killing time with laundry. Got another square to mark off with this guy, a duo mini I did with @Maledrakh: I rarely paint orange. I almost never paint it, it really hasn't worked out well for me in the past, and this time was no exception. Lots of struggling with this one, I did almost everything wrong from the beginning. I didn't even think about my primer color, I used black since I already had some on the palette from priming a previous mini. Took a lot of layers to get a decent base coat, even after I went back and did a base of a lightish brown that covers well. Had problems getting good shadow colors mixed. First they were too red, then they became too brown. Eventually I just wanted to get it done, and almost just went with a color I'm more comfortable with. Not pleased with how it turned out, but I can at least take pride in that I stuck with the color choice and attempted it. There will probably be more orange minis in my future as a redemption round. Anyhow, I get to cross this one off.

Finally got a plumber to come and check the pipes for that leak. Spent the last two hours cleaning everywhere he tracked dirty shoes all over the house. Grrrr. Neither he nor his partner wore masks in the house (I made certain that my father and I were double masked, but dad took the reins and told them to come on in... again, grrrr). He also decided that my bed was an appropriate place to throw his dirty work coat before climbing into the attic guts. Cuz you know, his partner was too busy standing around to hold the dang thing... I really hate living in a small town at times. Luckily no leaky pipes, most likely the water is coming from condensation in the attic due to poor ventilation. Apparently they took out a number of vents up there when they re-roofed the house a few years ago and the colder winter has made it worse. Have to get the roofer in here now to confirm and possibly fix it. Several loads of laundry to do now (rugs, blankets and sheets). And all that other stuff I would normally have done... I'm worried I won't have time today to work on my last RCL for the month. FIZZY JUICE!

Lemon. Absolutely love the citrus. Oh, and definitely Pacino. Hoo-ah!

A few things that happened on Feb 25th: 1951 – The first Pan American Games were officially opened in Buenos Aires by Argentine President Juan Perón. 1956 – In his speech On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences, Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union, denounced Joseph Stalin. 1991 – The Warsaw Pact was disbanded at a meeting of its members in Budapest.

The Denton, Texas treat? Sounds like more of a pepperoni brand... which is all fun and jokes until the product shows up in stores and we notice Reaper staff suddenly start disappearing...

Someplace in Kentucky, I don't remember the name, but I remember the empty cornfield where I attended the strangest of all the weddings I've attended. The field was well off a country road, the path marked by spray-painted rocks. When I got to the clearing, there was a legit police vehicle with "jailer" written on it (not a gag either, legit jailer cop car). The groom wore a gun during the 7 minutes it took for down the aisle and back up (only Spaceballs had a shorter ceremony!). That only scratches the surface of the ordeal, just say I felt slightly out of place. I can say I've been to Kentucky, met the people; it's been scratched off the list, no need to go back. I don't really have an interest in visiting anything in the Caribbean. My genetics are not suited for that much sunshine, and there likely isn't enough sunscreen in the world. It's about 50/50 odds as to whether I'd erupt into flames like a vampire.

Our Wednesday walk through the history of today's date: 1854 – A Penny Red (a stamp in the UK) with perforations became the first perforated postage stamp to be officially issued for distribution. 1876 – The stage première of Peer Gynt, a play by Henrik Ibsen with incidental music by Edvard Grieg, took place in Christiania (Oslo), Norway. 1980 – The United States Olympic hockey team completed its Miracle on Ice by defeating Finland 4–2 to win the gold medal.

Ireland has gotten quite a few votes, I am noticing. As far as places I'd like to visit, I feel I need to visit both Scotland and Wales, due to family ties. And the Netherlands; I've been through Amsterdam's airport numerous times, all the people were friendly (the airport security personnel waaaay more friendly than our American TSA counterparts). I feel like I should also visit some part of Canada, being as how it is the nearest of all foreign countries to where I live. I had plans to go there once one a trip to Niagra Falls, but hernia surgery put the brakes on that plan.

Hmmm, a part of me misses Berlin, where I spent a couple years. It's location was nice, accessible to all the other parts of Europe. Like a lot of cities, it had a nice cultural blending that gave good food. I liked going to the market every couple days. I felt safer than in an American city, and the public transportation was clean and efficient. But as far as one that I only visited, I would have to concur with @TaleSpinner and say Ireland. I went there in spring one year and it was SOOOO green. Food was good, the people were friendly, I heard "Whiskey in the Jar" sang in every pub we stopped in.

Timeline Trivia for Tuesday, February 23rd: 532 – Byzantine emperor Justinian I ordered the building of a new Orthodox Christian basilica in Constantinople – the Hagia Sophia. 1927 – German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg wrote a letter to fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli, in which he described his uncertainty principle for the first time. 1954 – The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Jonas Salk chose not to patent the vaccine or seek profit from it in order to maximize its distribution; by 1959, 90 countries would be using his vaccine.