Kansas Day: Fun Facts about Kansas

Okay enough of the current, depressive things going on in my life. I'm ready to switch gears and start writing about things that are a little more interesting than just my life. So my first more serious post will be over my home state of Kansas.

As a Kansas Native, I was born and raised in the great state and I wouldn't have wished to live in any other state than in the state of Oklahoma, my second home state. Growing up in the small town of Scott City, I was fortunate enough to have the history of Kansas be drilled into my brain from Grade School to about 7th Grade. With Monday, Jan 29th, being the 100th Birthday of Kansas, I thought I do the easiest History Post that I can think of writing about.

The Great State of Kansas became the 34th state on January 29th, 1861. It was through the Kansas-Nebraska Act that helped to open the territories for settlement and to be considered to be apart of the union as a "free" or "slave" state. The pathway for Kansas to become a state was rather a long and bloody road. With both sides of the North and South competing to send as many settlers to the territory as possible. This led to Kansas gaining the name "Bleeding Kansas" because there were several battles with both the North and South wanting a claim for Kansas. The North wanted Kansas to be a "free" state and the South wanted Kansas to be "slave" state.

Kansas has also been part of major social, political movements since the Civil War era. With it being the battleground in the 1954 for the civil rights movement with the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka; that helped to end the segregation of public schools among other movements of the Civil Rights Era.

State Facts:
Capital: Topeka
Nicknames: Sunflower State, Wheat State, Jayhawk State
Motto: Ad Astra per aspera ("To the stars through difficulties")
State Tree: Cottonwood
State Flower: Wild Native Sunflower
State Bird: Western Meadowlark 
State Mammal: American Buffalo
State Amphibian: Barred Tiger Salamander
State Flying Fossil: Pteranodon
State Marine Fossil: Tylosaurus 
State Reptile: Ornate Box Turtle
State Insect: Honeybee
State Song: "Home on the Range"
State Crop: Wheat 

Kansas's Main Economy is Agriculture with top product for producing wheat, corn, soybeans, milo and of course sunflowers. It's also main leader in agriculture is beef production along with pork and dairy. Other forms of contributing to Kansas's Economy is manufacturing. Manufacturing of transportation equipment such as aircraft, missiles, railroad freight, and locomotives is a major part in the manufacturing. With food processing coming up closely second and printed material coming up third. They don't call Wichita, KS, "Air Capital of the World" for nothing.

See here, Fun Facts about Kansas
Kansas in Hollywood
There is the obvious, The Wizard of Oz. Other movies that was made in Kansas would include Dances with Wolves, In Cold Blood are the big two that most people would recognized.  

TV Shows that were set in Kansas
Jericho, Smallville, Gunsmoke

Famous People from Kansas ranging from Presidents, to Political, Actors, Actresses, and Musicians

• Amelia Earhart, Atchison, Kansas
• First American female aviator to fly across the Atlantic Ocean solo. She set the record of being the first to fly a plane in an altitude of 14,000 ft
• Became the first to set the world record for the 'fastest non-stop transcontinental flight'. She was able to complete that in 19 hrs and 5 minutes.

•  Bob Dole, Russell, Kansas
• Is an American politician, attorney and a WWII veteran. He entered the House of Representatives in 1961; then represented Kansas as a Senate from 1969-96. He retired from politics after he lost the Presidential Election in 1996. 

•  Melissa Etheridge, Leavenworth, Kansas
• is an American rock singer-songwriter, musician and activist. 
• Her top hits were "Bring Me Some Water," "Brave and Crazy," "Come to My Window", "I'm the Only One"

• Hattie McDaniel,  Wichita, Kansas
• was an African American actress, singer, and radio performer. 
• Her best known roll was "Mammy" in "Gone with the Wind" 
• First African American actor to receive an Oscar Award. 
• First Black woman to sing on the radio in the USA

• Kendall Schmidt,  Andover, Kansas
• Is an American actor, rock singer, songwriter, and music producer. 
• Has appeared in TV shows like 'Gilmore Girls', 'ER', 'Frasier', 'CSI: Miami'. 
• His best role is in the Nickelodeon's musical drama 'Big Time Rush'. He was a member of the same boy band until they disbanded after the show ended. 

• Dennis Hopper,  Dodge City, Kansas 
• an American actor, director, photographer, and artist
• His works in films, 'Rebel without a Cause', 'Giant', 'Night Tide', 'The Sons of Katie Elder', 'Cool Hand Luke', 'Easy Rider', 'True Grit', 'Out of the Blue', 'Hoosiers', 'Speed', 'The Keeper', '10th & Wolf'
• Tv Shows: 'Gunsmoke', 'Bonanza', '24', 'Petticoat Junction', 'The Twilight Zone', 'The Defenders', 'The Legend of Jesse James', "Entourage', 'The Time Tunnel'

• Colton Haynes, Andale, Kansas
• An American actor, singer, and model. 
• His works on TV include: 'Teen Wolf' and 'Arrow' 
• Made Guest appearances in 'CSI: Miami', 'Pushing Daisies', and 'Melrose Place' 

• Kirstie Alley, Wichita, Kansas
•  an American Actress, Comedian, and Spokemodel 
• Her TV series include: 'Cheers', 'Hot in Cleveland', 'Kirstie', and "Scream Queen'
• Film Credits: 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan', 'One More Chance', 'Blind Date', 'Look Who's Talking', 'It Takes Two', ' Drop-Dead Gorgeous'

• Cassandra Peterson,  Manhattan, Kansas
• Best known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark 

• Martina McBride, Sharon, Kansas
• American Country Musician 
• Notable Songs, "My Baby Loves Me', 'Independence Day', 'Wild Angels', 'Valentine', "Happy Girl', 'A Broken Wing', and "Wrong Again', 'The One for the Girls', 'In My Daughter's Eyes', 

 

Jan 27th, Starting up Part II

Part II of my busy life within the last few weeks.

While on my vacation, cruise, whatever you want to call it, I learned that I lost my Grandma. She was 89, and was someone that I enjoyed knowing. I'm sad that she is gone, but I'm happy knowing that she is with my Grandpa now; and I have almost 30 years of memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I was fortunate enough to be able to say that I gotten to know all my Grandparents growing up. But, it will be different when it comes to my birthday because I used to get a birthday card from my grandparents and it'll be something I'll definitely miss. But, I think I'm going to make an angel food cake with my Grandma's strawberry frosting in memory of her.

Things at work is starting to take it's tole on me. Before I went on my trip I had some problems with my Assistant Manager. Even after I came back from my trip, it has yet to get better. I'm doing all that I can to just make it through another shift when he's working. To give you an idea, before I did my cruise, my Assistant Manager had written me up on something that shouldn't have gotten me in trouble for. Turns out, he's been abusing his powers just a little more than we like. He's written up both Department Managers in my store because of a few menial things that they did. But, from the sounds of it, no one in our store likes him, because he's been causing trouble with them.

Yesterday was a turning point for me, I came to realize that nothing that we did will ever be good enough for him. I quickly learned when he was nitpicking the whole Men's Basics isles in the Men's department. Particularly the Men's thermal underwear. It just totally brought my whole day down because he wasn't happy with what got done there. For the rest of the evening I just had this black cloud hanging around my head. I think it was partly because I feel like I'm stuck at that place because I live in a small town, there aren't many jobs out there that I would want to do. I need a job yes, but I think I'm just about ready to find another town to live in. Something a little bigger but I'm not for sure where either. Plus, I got to factor in my Husband.

I think the only turning good point for me was towards the end of my shift when a couple of guys were hitting on me. Which was completely random, out of the blue for me because it never happens to me. But, I felt flattered and it gave me something to smile about even for a little while. I kind of question that maybe someone above wanted to give me a reason to smile so they sent one of the guys over to me. Had I gotten the courage to talk to them again before they left the store, I would've at least thanked them for giving me a break from my crappy day.

I'm hoping things will start to improve for me. It's a new year, so it's full of possibilities. I don't do things like resolutions or eating blacked eye peas on New Years Day because I find that the peas to be gross. I just take each day like any other with great stride and hope something good will come.

Jan 27th, 2018 Starting up again.

Hey, I thought I would come back to writing on my blog. I apologize for being away for so long, I've been busy with life, made my first big traveling since I was in high school. My husband and I went on our Honeymoon a couple of weeks ago. That was a blast, stressful because of going from airport to airport and going through the TSA. But, it was worth it; I needed a break from work and life in general. We went on a Disney Cruise through the Bahamas, it was a lot of firsts for me. It was the first time that I flew on a plane, I've been on a train before and a bus but I've never been on a plane before. It was a little nerve racking I guess the take off and landings is the closest thing to riding a roller coaster I will ever experience. It was my first time of being in Miami, Florida, it was beautiful and quite a bit of history found in the area. Then, of course it was my first time of being on a big boat, we went on the Disney Magic, and of course leaving the US and seeing the Gulf of Mexico.

Pros and favorite things about doing a Disney Cruise, was the food, I got to eat steak more that whole week then I did in an entire year. Meeting people from around the world, Disney Cruise Line hires people from around the world from several different countries. Along with meeting people from all over the country that went on the cruise with us. Most of the people were pretty friendly. Getting to see some the Disney Characters; example Mickey, Minnie and their friends was cool, I got signatures from Donald, Chip and Dale and Princess Tiana; but it was cool and funny getting to see Stitch and Pluto, and some of the other Disney Princesses. I loved going to the beach at Disney's Castaway Cay; it was only my second time in my life to go to a beach, but it was fun no matter what. I loved learning the history of the Florida Keys, being a History Buff the tour that my husband and I took was rather informative and interesting. The island was beautiful and to see so much history being preserved on the place made me want to come live there some day; but I highly doubt that would ever happen. Then, going to Nassau, Bahamas, though the weather was cloudy and kind of cool; it was good. Neat to see what it looked like but I also got to see at first hand the damage that the recent hurricanes had done to the Bahamas and the Florida Keys. Got to make Chocolate when I toured the small chocolate factory on Nassau. A lot of times though, my husband and I just hung out around the ship, I brought my writing and my sketch book in case I found some inspiration to at least draw. But, I mostly wrote whenever I found the time.

The dining options on the ship they were good but a lot of the food that each of the options were a bit too fancy for me. I was thankful for the option of either having a grilled steak or roasted chicken breast as an option and it came with either steamed rice, baked or mashed potatoes, and then steamed vegetables. Even though I'm almost 30 yrs old, I'm still picky about my food; I know for certain that I don't like anything spicy, and I'm not about to eat fish eggs or snails I'm from the Midwest, fancy to me was pretty much eating steak or doing bbq ribs for dinner. I gave a few options a chance some of it was good but one of the desserts that I had wasn't exactly all that great. It was in the Carioca's and it had something to do with Bananas and it wasn't that great. I love bananas, and I love fruit, but I didn't really like the dark chocolate that came with it. I had my first try of creme brulee which was good, but I'm sure that there's better just have to find it outside of small town USA that was in Lumiere's restaurant along with trying my first bite of lamb. It was good but I think I prefer my other animals, like cow, pig, fish, and chicken.

I did a pedicure and manicure while I was on the cruise, the first night I was on the ship and it felt amazing. From the reviews that I was reading that they weren't worth the money, but to me it was worth it. I don't do manicures and pedicures that often. In fact the last time I got my nails done and my toes was when I gotten married that was over a year almost 2 years ago. If I want to paint my nails I just buy the polish and do it myself when the mood strikes me which wasn't very often. But. when I did it on the ship, it was worth it. Getting my feet and hands massaged and then had the round, black stones that masseuses use for hot stone massages rubbed up and down my legs and feet was out of this world. The massages on the other hand, they were good but I think I had better when I had my massage in college when I was at my last school before I moved to the town that I live in now.

Cons; when on the ship for the whole day at sea, I kind of wished that there was an area where there wasn't any activities planned that people could go to hang out in. It would be for the people who weren't into joining activities just wanted to do their own thing. My husband and I went from one end of the ship to the other just trying to find a place that we could hang out and just do our thing. He played games on his phone and I wrote. We first started at the O'Gills Pub then moved to the Promenade Lounge. By evening we just ended up hanging in our room for the rest of the evening. I also wouldn't mind if there were more options for non-alcoholic drinks. I'm not a big drinker, I'm kind of the person that makes my own drinks because I don't like my drinks being strong. But, I did find a new kind of wine that I like.

Overall, it was a great experience, something I can mark off my bucketlist. Getting to do something Disney vacation wise. Now, I'm just trying to figure out as to what I'm going to do; to start thinking beyond after that experience. 

Day 4 - 3 Personality Traits that I'm proud of

My 3 personality traits that I'm most proud of would have to be my unique height, my creativeness, and my way of...


1. My first personality trait that I'm most proud of is my unique height. I'm proud to be 4'11 yes that's short. I've been called shorty, mini, I've had the whole I make a good arm rest with someone putting their arm on my head. I've had to get help with getting things off from the top shelf by either getting a step ladder, a chair, or getting someone who is taller than me to help me. I have to deal with wearing pants that are too long for me. I personally hate top loader washers because I have to literally use my tippy toes just to get into the drum to retrieve clothes so I can get them in the dryer. I can't began to imagine how doing laundry while pregnant will be like if I have to continue to use a top loader washer. A sun visor in a car doesn't always do it for me when driving or riding in the passenger seat sometimes I have to add a piece of a paper in the mirror so I can block the sunlight out of my eyes or else I get an awful headache from it.

Because, of my height it makes me long younger than my age. So, often times I get confused with being a younger sibling compared to my younger brothers. I know that I can't rock an ugly Christmas sweater because on me it looks cute. I know for certain that I inherited my height from a great, grandmother, she was close to 4'8, 4'9 when she died. So, yes being short sucks beyond belief, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I am proud to be short, there isn't much that I can do change that about me so I will where it with pride. It makes me unique, it keeps from hitting my head on top of door frames and tree limbs, sometimes. Although hitting my head on a clothing rack does tend to hurt when I hit them sometimes. I work in apparel at my job so I'm about close to being as tall as some of the clothing racks. But, it makes that much easier for me to hide sometimes. Plus, I can get away with saying things like I'm not short, I'm funsize. Or, a new one that I came across earlier, I'm not short, I'm just cute. I rather be called a Minion than an Oompa Loompa. I guess because the time of year it is I will add, I'm not short I'm elf size. Anyone can be a Santa Claus but, me I rather be an Elf at Christmas.

2. My next personality trait that I'm most proud of is my Creativeness. I am amazed at what I can come up with as a writer, as an artist, and sometimes a cook and a baker when I'm feeling an extra bit of ambitious. But, my first thing that I like to do is write. It's something that I can do all day long if I let myself do it. Same way with some of my artwork and paintings or drawings that I create. One thing is for certain, it all comes from my heart no matter what it is. And most of the time, a lot of my ideas have come from dreams, or something I thought of real early in the mornings. Two of my pieces of art for one my art classes came from both times. One was something that I thought about when I was sleeping my last assignment for my Fundamentals class that I had to take. I did a combination of a collage of kids wearing masks of butterflies that had eyes. The assignment had to deal with pareidolia. My other assignment was something I had to do with for my midterm assignment with collage making. I was sitting eating breakfast in the cafeteria and I was trying to think of ideas for my project. Then, my mind went to the day before when I heard my teacher and someone talking about some of Oklahoma's history and I kind of thought of, well a little bit of Kansas History a little similar to Oklahoma's at least earlier history. So, then the light bulb went off in my head. That I would do a collage on some of Kansas's History it was a little more condensed. Then, for my final art project in the Art program I expanded it more putting more detail in it.

3. My third personality trait that I'm proud of would have to be that I am the most respectful person that there is. I'm sure that everyone could say that about myself. But, what makes me different from everyone else is that I still believe in the Golden Rule, it maybe old school beliefs but it seemed to work for me. The whole treat others the same way that you want to be treated seems to be good rule to follow. You treat me with polite, respect, and kindness and I will do the same thing to you.

Where can you find me?

These are the sites, social media for anyone who would like to add, follow, etc.

For Patreon.com

https://www.patreon.com/Artisia18 

For Discord

Artisia07#7677

For all you PC gamers
Steam:
Artisia07

You can find my Art on Deviant Art
Artisia07

For those wanting to read any of my stories:
I use the WattPad App to write them on.
Artisia18

If you want anything else, let me know and I'll decide whether I'll give it to you or not.

Day 3 - Meaning of my Business name

My Business Name. Artisia?


It's just a name that I created all on my own. Sometimes I like to create words. I am a pretty creative, imaginative person. I started creating the word Artisian, a mix of the words Art Historian. Then, I just decided to shorten the word to Artisia. This blog is going to be nothing more than another creative outlet for me. I enjoy writing, I enjoy making artwork. But, I don't really have a way to show it. So, I thought it would be a good idea to start a blog to where I can write what I enjoy writing, show off some my creative skills.  Simply just open myself up to a whole new world of possibilities in hopes that I can reach out to people.

Granted, I know some of my posts won't be as long as others it will just depend how much I will have to say about a certain topic. But, it will be the truth, it will come from my heart and I guess that is all I would have to say about this for the day.
 

Day 2 - 20 Facts about me

20 Facts about me...

1. I am a Music buff. I like to call myself a walking jukebox because I can probably name just about any song that's being played on the radio. I can tell you the Title, Artist and whether it had been used in a movie, tv show, or even commercial. My favorite genres include Country, Pop Rock, Classic Rock and some Alternative Rock. But, I think a good chunk of my playlist is going to be Country. I like both the old stuff, the music that I listened to when I was growing up, and I like the new stuff that's being played on the radio now days. As long the music is upbeat, I can understand the lyrics I'll probably like it.

2. My favorite animal is a Cat. I like cats the most because they're so cute and cuddly. I like dogs, don't get me wrong they're great too. But, I'll reveal something about myself as to why I like cats more than I like dogs. I've owned many cats over the years and they've been fun to learn from.

3. I guess I'll reveal my reason for liking Cats over Dogs because when I was a kid I used to be afraid of dogs. There's actually a funny story behind the reason why I used to be afraid of dogs. I'm  not as bad as I used to be but I still have a little bit of that fear. I'm not too crazy about dogs jumping on me and I've had a few chihuahua dogs try nipping me on my toes when I walked home from school a few times when I was in high school.

4. That I am only 4'11 in height so yes I'm short but I am proud of it. There's nothing that I can do about changing my height so I go with the flow and be happy. There are pros to being short, like I don't have to worry about hitting my head on the door frame or on trees most of the time. But, the cons are the obvious I can't reach things that are high on the shelf, in a crowd I may not be able to see over people who stand in front of me. Oh, working in retail I have to watch where I'm going because I am just barely tall enough where I can hit my head on clothing racks in apparel. And, yes that does hurt as well as having to find pants that are a little too long for me that I end up walking on the ends of them. But, a lot of times, I just say that I'm not short, I'm funsize, I'm more down to earth, and the best one I've came across I'm not short, I'm just cute.

5. I'm a big Disney movie fan. I absolutely love Disney movies and I'm not ashamed to say it. Sometimes I rather watch Disney movies over whatever crap has came out of Hollywood where my brain cells don't scream out because they're dying because of the stupidity and other stuff that may be found in movies.

6. My favorite Holidays would be Christmas, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving and 4th of July.

7.  My favorite color is the Rainbow. Being an artist it's hard to choose just one color that I like the most. But, if I had to choose it would be Purple next to Blue.

8. Some of my favorite professional Artists would include Georgia O' Keeffe, Thomas Kinkade, Henri Matisse, and Vincent Van Gogh. But, I was told that some of my artwork looks like a mix between Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. A mix of Cubism and Abstract. 

9. My favorite subjects to paint or draw would include Abstract the use of shapes, color and lines. I do a lot of doodling and some of my best work has been from doodles that I've done in the past. I do a lot of flowers, sunflowers especially. Then, I also like doing landscapes as my other subjects. Especially of Kansas and Oklahoma landscapes.

10. I am Movie buff, not quite in the sense of Tony DiNozzo from NCIS, but I can hold my own on naming movies, actors, actresses. My favorite genres in Movies would be Musicals, Chick Flicks, Comedy, and some Action/Adventure movies.

11.  I have never missed a Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on tv. No matter where I am whether I was at home or I was at my grandparents, I always made sure that I had the tv on the annual parade. I absolutely love watching the parade it's a nice tradition.

12. I am a gamer, my most recent game that I'm playing on has been Borderlands 2, but I also like playing Grand Theft Auto, Need for Speed and HALO. I also like playing Mario Kart. I'm not hardcore but I can stand on my own when it comes to gaming.

13. I am an introvert, shy, quiet person. I rather be at home writing, watching movies, and hanging out with a few of my friends over being out at a party or out in public in general.

14. I am a victim of bullying. When I was in school, from elementary to early high school I got bullied by some of the kids in my class. I was bullied because of my last name, I got bullied because my immediate family wasn't exactly from my hometown, my parents moved there before I was born. In eighth grade, I had my notebook that I had been writing a story in stolen by some kids who had first asked if they could read what I was writing and when I told them no. They went behind my back and stole my notebook from me and read it anyways I think that hurt me more than anything because it scared me off from writing for a good while. I quickly learned in a small town like I grew up in, if you had a secret it was best to keep it to yourself because it would be all over school and even all over town by the end of the week. I am thankful for attending a smaller school district and that the internet and social media wasn't where it is today. I was the quiet, nice, shy girl in my school. So, I was easier target to pick on back then. I have to agree with something, kids can be mean, they can say awful things to make the person who is different feel bad for being themselves. And, with some of the kids that I went to school with they were the most disrespectful, rude kids that I ever known. They treated some of the teachers like crap sometimes and it made me embarrassed to be in that graduating class half the time.

I know it says 20 facts about me, but I've ran out of facts to say about myself. I think it covers everything that I enjoy, who I am, etc.