Krystal Elyse

My colony is thriving. I started with a culture of 15, lost two. Two appear to be a different variety- one dark brown and one all white- but both are female and have successfully reproduced. I have easily over 100 at this point. The symbiosis between them and the springtails is super cool to watch.

This terrarium contains dairy cow isopods and springtails. Springtails are a very tiny harmless insect that eats microscopic detritus, so decay and mold. They keep the terrarium clean!

Baby isopods!(Finger tip for scale)

Pillbugs, potato bugs, rollypollies, whatever you wanna call them-

Neat fact, these guys are NOT insects! They are terrestrial crustaceans! Think of them as a different breed of crab or lobster, but tiny, and on land!

My bioactive terrarium is thriving!!!

I've been weirdly obsessed with isopods for a few years, and I finally bought some.

These lil dudes are called Dairy Cows.

Naturally, my partner and I spent Saturday afternoon building tiny barns for them, because we are totally sane adult humans.

I'm on multiple daily medications, if I can't afford them anymore I will go back to a daily 7/10 on the pain scale, I'll start having night terrors again, I'll start throwing up all the time again due to chronic hyperemesis, and I'll probably get depressed again. But the TAX CUTS.

Medicaid paid for my sons audiologists, his surgeons, his hearing aids and then his cochlear implants, plus replacement parts and follow ups and upgrades and speech therapy.

My son who is thriving at 15. But sure. I guess I'll start paying $500 for replacement batteries. To own the libs, you see.

Medicaid paid for my shoulders to be fixed. Without which, I'd be almost unable to move my arms. I'd probably have suffered nerve damage by now.

Medicaid paid for the removal of a super rare aneurysm on my kidney artery, it was positioned at the juncture of two vessels against the kidney.

"Good thing I don't have medicaid"

Is it, though? Because everyone is going to feel this eventually, including you.

If you have private insurance, GREAT! Your premiums are about to go up because demand for their service went up.

If you have to purchase a plan, good luck! Hope you don't have to pay rent!

If you, like me, have no plans and a chronic illness, I guess we're fucked together? Solidarity. ✊️(3)

When I make appointments for my son and I, I don't ask if they accept medicaid. I ask if they accept Caresource.

And even if you aren't covered by those, once most Americans can no longer afford a doctor's visit, the Emergency rooms will be full around the clock. (2)

"Good thing I don't have medicaid"

Are you sure? Or is this going to be a repeat of when you wanted Obamacare gone but to keep your ACA coverage?

Just in case you don't know, these are the Ohio medicaid providers.

(1)

Thinking about running for local office.

Looking hard at the school board.

Anyway, yard sale this weekend in Eastlake. Come buy my stuff.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

#pride #rainbow #stainedglass #leadedglass #art

36 years old, have my own kids, but my mother still had to remind me not to pet EVERY cat we saw.

Once upon a time, I made jewelry. And I was pretty good at it.

Pricing my art feels gross. Like, here's a thing I made and I demand you give me X amount because I decided so.

I've given away so much because I just feel weird charging for something I enjoyed doing.

#jellyfish
#handmade
#jewelry

Just some of the glass I've made and saved up from the last several months! Gathering stuff up for a yard sale, finally!

Just let me live in the mountains.
🍄

The microscopic jungles we walk by every day always draw me in.

I love moss so much.

I was at a gorgeous waterfall, surrounded by tourists photographing the water- and my dumb ass is squatted down, taking micro shots of the incredible moss.

I.

Am awkward.

I spent 4 days in the mountains of N.C. trying to help my mom find a new home.

I met some pretty cool cats.

Orange kitty works at the Franklin aquarium. Black and white kitty works at Darnell farms, doing pest control. Beautiful gray kitty is Luna, my great aunts gorgeous little fluff.

Helping my mom find a new place out of state. Stopped at the Women's History trail in Franklin N.C., looked around at some of the neat historical sites. They had a cottage preserved as it was when the area was settled. Saw something odd on the ground...

Awesome, just in time for my sons to be nearing adulthood, another fucking war.

I was told that Kamala was the war candidate?!

/obvious sarcasm/

My mom- "look cute!"
Me- (smiling)
Bmo- (stops smiling to do this????)

🤣

Four generations of my family in one shot.
My uncle, my son, my mother, my brother, my grandpa, myself, my other son!

I'm lucky enough to have two sets of amazing grandparents who love all their weird kids.
💙

Dipped my toes back in after shoulder surgery last month.
Simple (free)pattern yoinked from the Delphi site.
I used only scrap glass for this piece.
Giving me 1960's vibes 💙

If I can successfully pull this off, I may graduate to demastid beetles. Flesh eating beetles. A colony of derms can completely strip a deer skull of meat within two weeks, leaving nearly pristine bones. I could sell their service to local hunters. 😍

They breathe through their skin, prefer to stay damp, and females carry their egg clutch until it hatches in a tiny pouch on their underside.

They are detrivores- so they eat detritus(decaying matter) and are excellent companions for terrariums. Built in self sustaining clean up crew. 🥹

I've been obsessing over isopod for a few years, and I've recently started doing some research into breeding different variants. I think this might be a thing in the very near future.

Did you know that the humble isopod- or potato bug, or pill bug, or rolly poly- is a crustacean? 🥰

Extraordinarily mundane.

Took my eldest offspring to the Sessanta tour. My second time seeing Primus, my sons first time. Puscifer was phenomenal. Primus was again, incredible. Kid is now really getting into Primus and boy howdy, I'm a proud mom.

The pain is manageable, but the itching is maddening. My skin is peeling in sheets.

Anyway, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome sucks. So do the comorbidities. Like a side dish nobody asked for.

Next stop, Mast Cell Activation syndrome diagnosis.