Wednesday, March 31

029. The Nerve

I'm feeling a bit under the weather today, possibly new found allergies, idk. So, I'm not quite sure how long this post will be. Yes, I know I said this was probably going to be a media filled post but just before I got here, I read and saw a few things that really ground my nerves. I try to keep this blog as fun and friendly as possible, but this is a pretty heated moment. So please, bear with me.

I'm not going to link specific articles because there are quite a few recent ones out and about now, but do a search for "dead marine's father vs church" and "trolls target grieving families" and you're bound to find quite a few stories and news videos about the two stories (the latter being pretty broad as it relates to several very recent headlines). I'll address the former first.

There was a young Marine that recently lost his life fighting for our rights and our country. During his semi-private funeral, members from a "church" (I use that term loosely) picketed the event lead by a certain man (Again, I use this word loosely). They held signs such as "God Hates The United States", "The United States of Sodomy", and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers". I'm already big on supporting the troops, but this- this was damn atrocity. So, I believe the protesters' feelings were that God was having these soldiers die because of America's tolerance for homosexuality. Really? Who the heck are these people to think that they know what God's intentions are? Anyways, the father of this soldier sued that church for invasion of privacy- long story short, he won, but appeals court overturned, and that court ended up ordering the father to pay the church's legal costs of over $16k. What is wrong with that picture? Many places are saying that this is a battle about the freedom of speech (I do believe that freedom is not free and that soldiers and their families have paid many prices for the rest of us) but I don't think it's as broad as that. I feel that these people are using it as an excuse to hide behind. Man, I could make much more vehement comments and statements, but I'm going to refrain as much as possible. I'm not trying to make a huge political or whatever hullabaloo about this. The update about that is that Bill O'Reilly has picked up on the story and will pay those court costs. Ugh, it still all grinds my nerves.

The latter news headline refers to the ever growing dangers of cyber-bullying, bullying in general, and internet trolling. Trolling refers to the act of electronically posting in public forums the most deprave and/or malicious of statements to incite chaos and outrage (other intentions play into that as well, but that is added). More news breaks out about young people be driven into committing suicide each day and this headline focuses on how there's a despicable growing trend of comments by trolls being posted on the personal pages/ memorial pages of these kids, targeting grieving friends and family members and their deceased loved ones. It's disgusting and sick. My PSA about this is raise awareness about internet safety, stay involved in your kid's and people's lives, and don't encourage this behavior. Often times, these cowards relish in people's reactions and passionate arguments and protests, it's attention. Report it to the website administrators or authorities, if possible. People (including kids) can be really cruel and there should be no tolerance for that. This all just continues to blow my mind just like all the mistakes humanity has made in the past. The nerve of some people.

Tuesday, March 30

028. Jungle Cat! Rawr!

Gah, had some computer issues. Man, this laptop is a trooper but you can only watch so many videos in slide show form before it gets super old.

**INTERRUPTION* I just had to drop what I was doing and hunt down our kitty outside. Cats + Outdoors + Desert = Coyote Snack.

Not. Cool. The door was left open a bit too much a bit too long (it doesn't help that he's obsessed with trying to be Wilderness Kitty) while the dogs were being coaxed in and he couldn't be found when we were heading to bed right afterward. Ugh! Preliminary searches in the back yard yielded nothing, so we searched around the house with flashlights and calling for a few rounds hoping to find him hiding on something, staring at us like we're idiots for calling his name while he's in plain sight. No such luck. I finally spotted him outside trying to climb up a trunk of a pine-like tree and called for backup. We tried coaxing him a little but he was so excited about being able to climb an actual tree he kept turning back into the brush. Thankfully, he was promptly caught and brought back in safe and sound and everyone was cactus-needle-free. He is going to be beyond grounded. Like not allowed to be within 5 feet of any door that opens to the outside. /panic attack.

Whew. What was I doing before all of this? Ugh, kitty is clamoring to be all by the (sealed firmly shut) window. It's like the outdoors are his crack cocaine. He is still so pumped and excited. Oh, kitty, kitty, kitty. Man, you worry us so. He's like one of our little boys. I think he's my step-son. Well, more he's adopted me.

Okay, re-focus. Lol, I first typed that "cofus". Good job, me. Oh! An update about my missing mail! Well, turns out there's anther family around the neighborhood that has the same last name as me. The mail carrier realized his mistake, called me and then told the SO's brother (who was outside at the time) that fortunately, that family doesn't check their mail all that often, so he took back the package he falsely-delivered yesterday and brought it here! Hooray! Lol. Such a great mini-story with a wonderful ending. SO and I dubbed our nice mailman the Anglo-Ninja-Parcel Carrier! Don't ask, we're not morning people. XD

I hardcore organized and cleaned my little creating space today! It has been... abysmal, to put it mildly, for quite some time now. So, I'm very proud of myself. The next step is to re-organize the storage bins tomorrow. I will kick that task's butt! Oorah!

Man, I was going to post more about music I was finding on YouTube today, but our little man's adventure has completely taken over my world, at the moment. Guess I already have something to talk about tomorrow! Lol.

Good night all.

Monday, March 29

027. On A Mission

I was on a minor mission today that was successfully completed, but more about that later. I'm pretty sure kitty reads my blog because last night he just sat on me, just out of my arm's reach for a minute before finding a few other places to nap instead. I don't think he was too pleased that I told the world about our special love affair. :( Lol.

Our kitty came running in last night staring at what seemed to be nothing before I realized he chased a bug into them room. Personally, if it won't harm him to eat it, I root for kitty to catch it because I don't want it touching me without prior permission. Here's a picture I captured while squirming into a corner :P

One intrigued kitty.

I eventually had to get that suckah myself. :(

It looked like a mosquito but the size of a half dollar! It isn't but that's not a fun thought, regardless.Before we all settled into bed, I heard a ruckus in the kitchen and found two kitties in the midst of a hunt. Here's a video I caught!


Apparently, there was another one of those bugs in the house and our kitty's cousin was hunting that little bugger down like the insect it was, lol. I found the whole ordeal pretty hilarious. No matter how aloof the cats try to be, they are just a bunch of playful and irrepressible kittens.

My mission was to pine for my mail. Ha ha, not really, but that's definitely a part of what I did today. I also used the delivery confirmation number I was given and found out my package was "delivered" on Friday! No one at home has seen it despite checking the mail everyday and being outside several times each day. How sad! I wandered around the front yard for a bit looking in bushes and the brush to see if the wind may have knocked it somewhere but who knows. /frown. I called the post office and they said they'd ask the mail carrier when he works next and give me a call back. I hope I get/ find it somehow and that it's not written off as a loss by everyone else. I really wanted it. :( /cross fingers.

My actual mission was finishing a mobile that was custom ordered. I hope they like it and that it will be sent to arrive on time. Here's are pics of it with a close-up of the centerpiece:




Not the best photos, I know. I just wanted to be done with it. I am happy with how it turned out though. Alrighty, time for me to go relax and/or pass out in bed.

Until tomorrow, ciao! <3

Sunday, March 28

026. Taking Notes

I like how I jot down notes throughout the day of stuff I'd like to blog about later that night. Ha ha, I can't trust myself to remember what I want to talk about. I think I've mentioned that before, lol.

Well, last night I was still feeling the caffeine from two days ago. Oh goody. Thankfully it wore off after tortured tossing, turning, and contemplating bashing my head against the wall. On a much lighter note about last night, the kitty treats me a secret gay lover. XD Let me explain. During the day, he wants little to nothing to do with me, like kitties tend to do when you're not their parental-figure. Or food, lol. Granted, I love to smother him with affection when I catch him off guard and I may have a higher pitched and easily excitable voice that he doesn't enjoy. Oh but come night time! I finally settle into bed and he comes to investigate. And by investigate I mean tromple (trample + stomp) all over me and stand on my chest and lean down really close until his whiskers are touching my face. He stares at me with his big ol' inquisitive eyes as if to say: 'And what do you think you're doing? Hmmm??"

So, I am more than morally obligated to pet him and cuddle him. If I don't do it properly, he squirms or shies away and would rather me just hold out my hand so he can use it to pet himself. If I don't do it long enough, he nudges my unused hand(s) until the petting is satisfactory. So unbelievably affectionate. If he gets really into it, he'll let me pet him however I want- even against the grain! He also settles in and relaxes enough to lay on me and take a quick snooze. On even rarer occasions, he'll headbutt my face and nuzzle me. I really love that when I'm awake and sitting up, but at night it just cuts off my air, puts my face in contact with cold wet nose, and gives me a nose full of fur. Overall, I do enjoy the time together because I love the attention and affection as much as he does.

But come the morning... He denies the whole affair. It's as if it never happened and never could/ would happen. I'm just another person that lives in the same place that he does that is too cuddly and unpredictable that flails around too often and makes really weird noises out of the blue. If I was just a typical secret lover, he'd still be affectionate towards me when no one was around but noo... can't have none of that! Regardless, I love him so. What more could you has for from a sweet kitty?

On FB there was a little application a friend posted that would tell you what song was #1 on the US/ UK charts on the day that you were born. Out of curiosity I found out that U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" was mine and that the SO's was "Celebration" by Kool and The Gang. His is much more fun but mine sure does explain a lot with what I've been thinking about these past few... months, lol. I'm sure you can gather that from my previous entries too. :P

The past few days I've ordered bunch of crafty goodies from a couple of different places so I can't wait until they all get here! I actually don't know when they're supposed to get here, lol. So, I get to check the mail everyday and tell everyone that I'm expecting something soon! Some of my cards have been sent out so I can't wait for those people to get them (partly because I want to post the pictures already!). I'm still waiting to hear from a few other people before I send out the rest of my mail. Weird how you just can't really trust using your own mailbox anymore these days. /Sigh.

While I wait, I'm working on custom orders from my Etsy shop and doing my best to list semi-regularly to stay near the top of the search engine. Bah, I'm having a harder time keeping up with my to-do lists. Silly having high standards for myself. Sigh, well I need to get back to work- because if you don't like something about yourself, you change it!- when I finish this craft project/ order I'll definitely post pictures!

See you tomorrow and thank you for reading! <3 <3 <3

Saturday, March 27

025. Who Wouldn't?



When the next person asks me what I did for Easter, I can now proudly say I upheld my tradition of annihilating a giant chocolate bunny! Hooray! Who wouldn't want two milk chocolate critters that were 7 oz. each for six bucks? Traditions are good. Especially when they involve food.:P

I almost pulled an all-nighter when I blacked out this morning for a few hours(thank goodness). Have I mentioned I have a love-hate relationship with caffeinated drinks? So physically draining. Emotionally too, for that matter. I had no idea what was going on with life in general for the first half of my day, lol. Good times, good times.

Since I'm not completely recovered from that mini-ordeal, today is going to be media-tastic! Well, maybe not that great, seeing as how I wasn't sure what pictures I was meaning to post. I'm pretty sure those brain cells died as I suffered from involuntary consciousness.

First up, new bracelet design I mentioned! I'm still not entirely sure if I want to sell them or not, but I did have a lot of fun learning this pattern and making a few!





They remind me of Skittles, FIRE, and other. Lol. Let me know what you think!

The next up is my little stationery collection! I like writing a note for each Etsy order I send out and ran out pretty fast of some of my fancier stationery that I had had for a couple of years. I can't find anything else like it easily nowadays (Lots of various designs for cheap!). But, of course, after several months of hunting around- note pads come back into style. It's one design throughout but for usually a dollar each, how can I pass that up? Plus it cuts down filler-writing on my behalf! Lol. The last three I just got the other night for Spring/ Easter! So exciting, lol. I adore office supplies! Here they are!


How fun! /gleeful dance. I think I have one or two more but it may be buried in a box between the past few moves :(

The last multimedia goodie I'm posting today is this video! Kurt Hugo Schneider posted a video in response to his suitemate, Jake Breune's, "challenge." It is beautimous, lol. Well, Jake has just posted a response that is absolutely amazing. Such musical carnage- in a good way! I find it hilarious, so I hope you enjoy!




That shall be all from me today, folks! See you tomorrow! <3

Friday, March 26

024. So Excited

Is it bad that even though I have about 20 things on my to-do list today and have only done about 3, that I'm still proud of myself? I just wanted to share that right now.

On a completely different side note, I never thought I'd know some truly evil people in my life, sure plenty of people I strongly dislike, but I do. I can't wait for the day that all their misdeeds come back full force to bite them. Bit vindictive, I know, but I'm okay with that. I've already said how I'm not one to forgive easily or at all, for that matter.

Gonna do my best to tune into My Pink Stamper's Live broadcast tonight! I can't wait! Until later! <3

--- Update ---
Well, it was interesting but the chat log of 200-300 people with their all-caps yelling about nonsense and impatience really ground up my nerves. I got all but 3 things on my to-do list done today! Yay for productivity! Even more got done that wasn't on my list so that's great too. Tomorrow shall bring pictures here! Huzzah!

See you then! <3

Thursday, March 25

023. Origami Butterfly Tutorial

Here's my attempt at a tutorial for you! I scoured the interwebs for a simple butterfly pattern that was hard even for me to mess up. : ) I always try to be extra thorough with my guides, not condescending. Here we go!
- - - - -
Step 1:
Cut a bi-colored piece of paper 2 inches by 3 inches.
- - - - -
Step 2:
Fold in half horizontally/ downward/ hamburger-style.
- - - - -
Step 3:
Fold in half vertically/ sideways/ hot dog-style.
- - - - -
Step 4:
Open once and fold the top corners to the center line.
- - - - -
Step 5:
Unfold back until this point. You just made score lines for the next steps.
- - - - -
Step 6:
Lift the top layer of one side and tuck the top corner inward.
The first picture is what it looks like when you lift up the left side.
Repeat on the right side.
- - - - -
Step 7:
Lift up the left side again and flatten it to make it your new front.
Flip over and do the same to the backside.
- - - - -
Step 8:
Spin upside-down and fold the inner corners downward just past the line.
Make sure to leave a space at the ends for wing tips.
- - - - -
Step 9:
Unfold what you just did. These are score lines for the next step.
- - - - -
Step 10:
Lift one layer and tuck the inner corner inward. Repeat on the other side.
The top picture is what the right side looks like when lifted.
- - - - -
Step 11:
Pull the top left layer downward and flatten. Repeat on the right side.
 
- - - - -
Voilà!
A bona fide butterfly! 
 _ " _ 
 (_\|/_) 
(/|\)

Wednesday, March 24

022. Just Can't Quit

I'm still in the midst of making important personal decisions, but enough of that for now! Lol. The internet is quite addicting but it's more my love of exploring that drives my psychological need for it, I think. Well, when I'm feeling like a homebody and just want to curl up in a warm corner with something simple like drawing or writing, I want nothing to do with my computer. Otherwise, I'm physically attached to technology. : )

This brings me to my desire to learn graphic design, web design, and about digital scrapbooking! I've always had a hankering for animation and my internet addiction makes it an almost obvious segue. Sigh, when I get the rest of my education and finances in order, I'll def pick up a few classes. There's only so much I can teach myself, I do a bit better with guidance. However! Digi Scrapping (I may or may not have just made up that slang term, lol) is something I think I can definitely pick up myself! It seems a bit more tangible in terms of being within my current means to pursue. I've added a lot blogs that touch upon it that you can check out too! Those people seem so cheerful, it's a nice pick me up to read and look at what they've created.

That blurb leads me to the fact this March is National Craft Month! Yes, I realize that the month of March is almost over but this enthusiasm still counts, confound it! Teehee. I can't say much about it since I haven't partaken in any yummy sales, yet. /devious grin. Oh, I will. I so will. Soon. I hope. Lol.

But that made me wonder what else the month of March means for people. Well, I went and found out! Here are some things, according to Wikipedia, Bizarre American Holidays, & Brownielocks and The 3 Bears.

The Month of March is also known as:
National Nutrition Month
Foot Health Month
Adopt a Rescued Guinea Pig Month
*American Red Cross Month*
National Furniture Refinishing Month
Humorists Are Artists Month
*Women's History Month*
National Caffeine Awareness Month
National Cheerleading Safety Month
*Irish-American Heritage Month*
National On-Hold Month
Play the Recorder Month
*National Eye Donor Month*
*Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month*

They even get into weekly observances! Here are some:

- Week 1: Nat'l Ghostwriters Week, Nat'l Procrastination Week, Returned the Borrowed Books Week, and Nat'l Write a Letter of Appreciation Week.
- Week 2: Iditarod Race, Celebrate Your Name Week, Telecommuter Appreciation Week, Nat'l Pet Sitters Week, and Nat'l Sleep Awareness Week. 
- Week 3: Nat'l Poison Prevention Week and Act Happy Week
- Week 4: Nat'l Cleaning Week, Root Canal Awareness Week, and Week of Solidarity with People's Struggling Against Racism & Discrimination.

Some of my favorite, lesser known holidays listed were:
March 1st = Beer Day. Pig Day. Peanut Butter Lover Day.
March 3rd= National Anthem Day.
March 6th = National Frozen Food Day.
March 8th= Be Nasty Day.
March 9th= Panic Day.
March 13th= K-9 Veterans Day.
March 14th= Pi Day.
March 18th= Awkward Moments Day.
March 23rd= Nat'l Puppy Day.
March 24th= Kick Butts Day. Nat'l Chocolate Covered Raisins Day.
March 31st= Bunsen Burner Day.

That is kind of awesome and bizarre at the same time. I think we need more days and months. Or less things to worship. I mean that in the nicest way possible. I love junk. Lol. /cower. Don't hurt me overstuffed closet!

The tutorial I wanted to make will be post tomorrow! Yay! See you then!

Tuesday, March 23

021. Music Feeds The Soul

It's great when a song I love and have listened to hundreds of time can still bring tears to my eyes for just being beautiful and soulful. It's great when they are poignant to intense life situations too but for just being a great song is just mind-blowing. I've been listening to find new music these past few days because I can usually gauge my mood by the types of songs I listen to.

When I'm feeling all emo, I actually listen to a lot of heartfelt country music. I still believe I tear up every time I hear and sing Carrie Underwood's "Just a Dream."

When I'm at one of my highest peaks of happiness, any song can come up on my iTunes and I'll dance to it and sing along at the top of my lungs. That's when I know nothing can bring me down.

When I am upbeat and focused like a laser on the task at hand, I'm listening to one song of the moment over and over again and I don't get tired of it.

I just saw the official music video for Michael Bublé's "Home" and I can't say how much I love that song. Well, I don't have to say it because if you like that song too, you already know.

I have come to the conclusion that if the saying "If chocolate could sing, it would sound like Josh Groban." is true, the Death By Chocolate must be a duet between the two amazing men.

I don't really feel like lamenting over the same things today :) You're spared, dear readers. At least for a day. ^_~

However, I'll leave you with some musical milk chocolate!

Enjoy! <3

Monday, March 22

020. On The Confused Side

Today I woke up on the confused side of the bed. Went about running some errands, but because of my I'm-not -a-morning/waking up-person confused state, I forgot half the stuff I needed at home. Yay for more errands tomorrow. Also, go figure that I haven't been able to get warm the past few nights but last night I was blazing hot. Of course we'd only have one warm day this week before it got cold again for another few days. Really? Why bother? Lol.

I was typing a message with much difficulty. I sprayed my long-suffering cutting mat with sticky tack and got a significant amount on my hand. :( Boo, for not thinking ahead and scrounging out a disposable glove prior. So half of my hand kept sticking to itself as I was trying to type and figure out why my McDonald's strawberry milkshake tasted more like coffee than a fruit. It just added to the confusion. Did you know that Mickey D's is the top seller of milkshakes? Kind of scary and logical at the same time.

Random side-note:  Facebook sometimes has some of the funniest groups. The other day I saw one along the lines of "I wish that battle music would begin to play whenever I ran into someone I didn't like, like from Pokemon" and today I spotted a "Do me a favor? Does it involve me getting up? Yes. Then no." fan page. XD Got to love the honesty of universal feelings.

Well, I'm keeping this short today. A phone call has completely killed my mood that I have been building up the past few days. Lovely. In the meantime, don't forget to check out some of the other blogs I follow! Somewhere to the right of this thing :) Some are personal blogs of friends, others are crafty blogs, and others are just plain artsy.

Until next time, have fun! <3

Sunday, March 21

019. What Did I Do Today?

I'm not quite sure where the time went, let alone what I did today. Well, I guess it's also a little earlier than I normally post. I've pretty much glued my butt to my chair and headphones in my ears to listen to online radio. I guess time passes faster without commercial interruptions, :) Go fig.

I had ideas that I typed up and sent to a beloved friend and that got me to actually sketch something from scratch! I miss drawing. I'm not terribly good at it but I like making weird creatures anyways. No shading or realistic proportions involved, I have a hard time picking those kinds of things up. I should go tend to my poor shop. I guess I'm hesitant to because it would make this tiny room even smaller with my junk everywhere.

For now, here's my sketch :D Imagine it in mostly shimmery polymer clay about 2 inches tall, lol.
 

I'll see you tomorrow. <3

Saturday, March 20

018. Retreat

Today I have been quite retreative. Hm, I thought that was a word, but apparently it is not. Neither is retreatful. Um, withdrawn? Tensions are running high for various reasons and I don't cope well with that. I tend to want to withdraw and regather myself before coming out to play again. Not that easy in a house full of people with varying schedules. It pretty much leaves me seeking solace in some corner when I can't sleep in the wee hours before dawn. There's only so many nights you can do that and still retain some sanity during normal hours of consciousness.

I finished making the main cards I wanted to make, orders are prepped to be mailed, and I've decided to hold off on backup card making for a little bit to tend to my shop again. I have had fun with stamping though, even if my supplies are modest. I just don't want to socialize or think about everything all at once. I just want to sulk for a little bit, is that too much to ask for? Granted, I want someone to nudge me out of this funk when I'm ready- but that's another kettle of fish. So, my personal side projects are actually progressing and it has helped me get up and keep occupied.

I did some research last night too about what I can do next. I'm trying to figure out my current options now on my own time so I can keep a level-head. Like teaching myself how to walk in mud before I run a marathon in it. I think my biggest problem right now is that I don't know what I want, career-wise. I know if I found a work calling that I would take off running (no pun or whatnot intended) but I don't think my calling deals with a way to earn income. I guess that's the hardest part of all of this, I'm trying to find a work passion that doesn't exist. Or at least that I'm not supposed to find now. If the latter is the case, then I'm kind of screwed atm, lol. Society dictates that I should have already jumped on that. I have always done things the hard way :P

Sigh, I need to go re-organize my shop because I want to release new product that had nothing to do with the previous product lines that I wanted to work on, lol. Way to focus right?

Doing my best to genuinely smile each day,
- Me <3

Friday, March 19

017. Be Prepared

Typing that title made me sing "Be Prepared" by Scar from the Lion King in my mind. :)

Well, as much as I try to be, I never seem to be prepared enough for, well, anything! Lol. I've been talking about getting back into crafting to help me through my recent funk and finally started on my new "self-taught" project of card-making. I started to after I got my wonderful Cricut during these past winter holidays by making simple postcards for a few special/ especially missed people in my life. I was really happy how they all turned out. I should be after the thought I put into little details like color schemes and the like! I'll probably post pictures of a few another time.

I bought some sprays last night to try to spruce up my old cutting mat and may have annihilated it instead. Oops! I also realized it would be at least 3 hours before I could use my mat, so no Cricutting tonight! But, that's not going to stop me because I finally got the nerve to try something new! I just finished one card and, as tempted as I am to post pictures of it before mailing it out, I will not! /soul cry.

Instead, I will post other pictures of the going-ons around here before getting back to the grind!

The hot air balloons that I mentioned seeing the other day!

WoW- inspired polymer clay figurines I made a while back. 
A set of totems and a sheeped pig! The SO played mainly a Shaman and Mage. :D
I think I'm so clever sometimes, lol.

Holding my poor Cricut cutting mat up to the light so you can see the damage.

I did, however, get most of the old adhesive off as planned. 
We probably didn't shake the can enough and that's why it began to eat away at my mat. >_< Oops!

Since I can't (aka won't let myself) post the card(s) that I'm making before their respective recipients receive them... I'm going to post the video where I learned the technique! I love Robyn of My Pink Stamper. She's absolutely fun and has a great collection of paper crafts that I deeply envy. Oh, wait. She doesn't want people to post her videos, but I can link her blog: My Pink Stamper! That is a link to all of her videos. I'm making a "Waterfall Card" Video #39! She also has great giveaways all the time, so if you're into this sort of thing start following her blog! All you have to do is leave a comment on the entries she tells you and winners are randomly selected to receive all sorts of great goodies!

Well, I need to get back to crafting before it gets too late. Much love as always! <3

Thursday, March 18

016. Stock- Piling

I'm not sure where the day went, but I guess that's what happens when you're feeling kind of listless. However, I did end up going to Michael's and buying some adhesives and supplies so I will bunker down soon (after cleaning, of course) and craft like a mad woman. I hope to start that tonight and have pictures to show soon! I think I plan to make a lot of cards. :)

OH! I know what I can post so this entry isn't so measly: the song cover that has invaded my soul and won my heart. These guys are so talented and adorable:


Hope you love it as much as I do! Well, wish me luck! <3

Wednesday, March 17

015. Happy St. Patrick's Day

Well happy day of Irish pride, the color green, and lots of drinking in the middle of the week? I have yet to look at a calender, but with all the hub bub on the telly, I'm assuming that that day is today!

I'm still pretty down in the dumps about the news I received yesterday so I've found it pretty hard to want to do, well, anything today. Skimmed through the majority of the books I checked out. It's irksome how it takes 50 pages to get to the main concept of the book and then only having maybe 5 bits of partial information result from reading the remainder. Hardly helpful as a learning tool. Thank goodness I'm obsessed with finding out more, so I can't help but look up the information I actually wanted but come on. It's an informational book! I was supposed to actually learn something! Well, thank goodness it was free thanks to the wonderful concept of public libraries. Just a waste of time, lol.

Well, I'm off to work on a project and research into my next. Just wanted to stop by today :)

Tuesday, March 16

014. Where To Go From Here

Well, where to start? I received some pretty bad news today, severely disappointed and the like. I have a lot of thinking to do about what my backup plan is going to be now. I was just really... this would have been near ideal for me. As for the field trip. We got there pretty early. One of the ladies at the front desk gave us incorrect information that made us think we were a whopping eight hours late. Eight. Hours.

No. We were there two hours ahead of the start time. We found someone that was working the event to confirm it. It was not what we ideally hoped it would be, it did fulfill the minimum we wanted from the event. We learned a different way of looking at the information but we're not in the right place to take as much advantage of this opportunity as we could at this very moment. Unfortunate that we're still at square one, but it's definitely an option and something to keep in mind down the road. Which is the most we could honestly ask for. I think the SO and I will discuss new options over the next couple of days and maybe do more research with the books I borrowed. Who knows.

My body is currently topsy-turvy over taking Zyrtec for my anxiety allergies and caffeinated soda to stay awake and alert. /deep breath and /sigh. I think I'm just sitting here stunned from the information I have received today. I honestly am not sure what to do right now, but I had promised to update after the field trip and I did. Maybe a family field trip to the Biodome 2 will lift my spirits, lol. Hm, I need a new craft phase. I shall peruse my collection and see what I should at to the current schedule. Hopefully while I craft, I'll have a light bulb moment/ brain storm. One can only hope, lol. I can't say it enough, I'm pretty bummed. However, that is okay, I did learn a few things today and now I need to figure out what is next.

Until tomorrow! <3

Monday, March 15

013. If I Had The Energy

If I had the energy, I'd be bouncing off the walls from sheer excitement about the field trip tomorrow.

We've convinced more of the family to meet us there, so hopefully we can get there early and get seats up by the front. Not the best eyesight in this party. I got so excited that I checked out a half dozen books while the SO printed the tickets during our errands today. Granted, only three of the six deal directly with what we may be hearing about tomorrow, another two are for down the road but along the same lines, and one is fairly irrelevant, but still, lol. I love my research.

Today was a beautiful day outside, the clouds are starting to clear out, the mountain tops still have some snow, and there's a bit of a breeze out. However, the weather is warming up- hopefully to the low 80's during the week! I'm a mid to high 70's kind of gal. Ha ha! Still, I'm tired mentally and physically of not being able to get, let alone stay, warm at night. Waking up sore because you were tensing up into a shivering ball despite three layers of blankets gets old pretty fast. : )

Because of such improved weather, it was really nice having lengthy heart to heart conversation/ day dreaming out loud with the SO. Again, surrounding what we may learn after tomorrow evening! I really hope the information and resources are legitimate and that the methods and tactics work for us. It could mean really big things or at least a lot of current stress lifted from our lives. Every little bit helps and even if it's not an ideal situation, maybe we can take something away from the experience and put that into good use soon. Having such an honest and realistic talk about some pretty serious stuff without the context of worrying is really motivation and almost uplifting. I just can't wait to see what tomorrow brings! Never done anything like it before, but I've always wanted to!

Well, my other projects seem to be going well. I'm practicing the new pattern and have really gotten the hang of it. Maybe I'll use some friends as guinea pigs to see how they like it. I'm still feeling a little under the weather, so I'm going to keep this short. Going to relax with a stack of books and then tear through them! The last and least relevant book is about event planning. Something I've always been interested in. I like planning, implementing my plans on my own is another matter. I try, but it's often too much for just one person and I can accept that now and freely ask for help when I see that it's direly necessary, lol.

Before I go, I want to let a few people (Xem, Yoh, and Mr. Bigshot Writer, XP) know that I'm really glad to have been in almost constant contact with all of you the past couple of days! It's been really nice to hear about the trials, tribulations, and adventures and I'm always game to hear more. Thanks for saying hi! <3

Regardless of how tomorrow goes, I can't wait to experience it and write about it! See you then!

Sunday, March 14

012. Turning Around

Today's blog will probably be posted in little sections because I wanted to at least start on the entry so I can remember what I wanted to talk about after I get some work done. :D I can't trust myself to remember things like what I had thought about.

Well, things seem to be turning around lately. I've been down for a few months now, but have been doing my best to keep a brave face on and have as optimistic of a view on life as I can. Vaguely stressful :)

I pray more often than it seems I would. I will not make this a religious discussion. I'm more spiritual. I try to bring myself down from the often selfish/ condescending/ just plain mean mood I'll probably be in and realign myself onto the path I know I should be taking. A very "Be the person your dog thinks you are" bumper sticker reality check. I like to take that time to be thankful for all that has gone so right in my life- even the ordinary that is often taken for granted- examine what has gone 'wrong' and figure out how it's actually right for me, even in the littlest of ways. I make a point to think about those who don't think anyone would care about them. I am supporting them whether they know it or not at the time. I know I don't have many brownie/ karma points racked up (Yes, I know I'm surrounded by plenty of people who would disagree. Thank you all for the vote of confidence <3), but it's something that will always be in my power to do- so why not.

Well, with most prayers, one tends to throw in a thing or two for themselves. I've asked for new and different opportunities to come my way (and the wisdom to recognize the value- go Serenity Prayer!). I think this is one of those times that it's happening! I've had great conversations with my mother, those around me are having their attitudes and hope turned around for the better, and I'm having tons of ideas come my way with the help of some very beloved companions. It's all that I could have asked for and then some. Doesn't it always work like that?

Ideas for starting up businesses, opportunities to help friends who have given me so much in a way that I feel is totally doable (I often so guilty compounded by the fact that I often set such goals way too high), the field trip we have planned in two days (I can't wait! /dance), and I taught myself a new bracelet pattern! I'm looking into taking random non-credit courses to learn something new. The people I seem to admire the most seem to know a little bit about everything and have such colorful collections of experiences. I want to be like that. I'm not going to try to be an expert at one thing anymore because I feel useless to humanity if I'm not. I'm going to help because I love to help and I'm going to do that in any and every way I can. I am going to embrace my exploratory nature and learn how to do more than just survive but fight in the process. I have finished this period of hibernation and refreshed my storage of determination to tackle the problems that have plagued me so in my own way on my time. And this will be okay. Everything will be okay because we'll figure something out.

Have I mentioned that listening to the news and politics can be a real downer? Especially when you're pretty skeptical. It takes a lot of energy being really skeptical of the really skeptical, lol. Okay, a break from blogging for now. I will have various pictures to update with later on!

--- Update ---

Well, I typed more than I thought I was going to earlier. Bit unexpected what I wrote too, lol.

So, all that is left is to post a few pictures!

Of one of the sunsets a few weeks ago. Not the clearest but the colors were actually richer in real life!

A polymer clay figurine I made for my virtual son, Elim. I hope to make more soon!

 One of the bracelets from my latest batch that was somehow uploaded sideways. /tilts head to the right.

That's all I think I wanted to post today.  Tomorrow shall be full of laundry! Yippee! /sigh.
Hope you have enjoyed your stay here today! <3

Saturday, March 13

011. As Straight as a Lightning Bolt

Mmm... working on new project today. Or started to and tried. That'll be my project for tonight. Texted/ talked to a friend who had attended a funeral near my home...county? I'm going to try to make a WoW inspired thinger. Also known as a figurine. I'm quite eloquent today :D

Ran some errands, tad frustrating trying to get answers from it seems everyone today. So I got a little fed up and just went ahead with that I had to do. Very "If you still can't decide what you want- You get nothing!" I don't think I'm going to keep asking for much longer, trying to do people favors should not be like pulling teeth. The local grocery store was crazy. A lot of adults completely disregarding each other and the environment around them. Very frustrating. It doesn't help that I haven't been feeling well enough to eat very much past couple of days. I really hope I'm not getting a cold, my throat and body temp seem like I'm staving one off.

The good news is that I decided to make my bestest roommate's family's baked macaroni and cheese! I still can't quite get the recipe correctly. It worked well enough last time I made it and this time won't be too bad, but it still doesn't seem just right. There's always next time! Mmm... next time... /drools a little.

But grrr to 20lbs of cat litter being $19 at the fancy pet store but $4 at the grocery store across the street! Am I honestly paying $15 for a box? Same brand and type. We returned the fancy box. Well, the SO did while I was trying to figure out what I could grab out of the groceries that would not hurt to eat and cure my lightheaded-ness. We used some of the money we saved to get smoothies from Jamba Juice across the parking lot. I asked for the sweetest thing, another customer there suggested something that tastes like a Strawberry Starburst. I got that, it does, and I can't find on the menu what it was. /cry*.  So, the moral of that little story is that I shall never know what to order when I go there. For the rest of my life, lol. /fail.

Not much else got done today, sadly. Still feeling under the weather and it just hard getting a straight answer from anyone to make the processes remotely efficient.

I need to go bury my sorrows and take my frustration out on a delicious mound of cheesy pasta goodness.
Until tomorrow! <3

* In WoW, for your character to act out an action, you type "/[action]". I tend to emote the same way while typing instead of doing a more 'traditional' *action*. You non-WoW-ers that still may have your souls intact have just learned something today! You're very welcome. :D

Friday, March 12

010. Twice As Long

Well, I've been awake for twice as long as I typically am today. Keeping this short, my head/ face feels like the beginnings of a head cold or all flushed. Lol, I have no idea how to describe it. I just know I want to go lay down and seeing how I may pass out once I get there, I wanted to make sure I visited my beloved blog. I'm so sweet like that. :)

Well, was in the car before 8am about to start the errands for the day and... I could see my breath steaming/ fogging up in the car. When I huffed/ or spoke, a poof of my breath. So cold. I did see two hot air balloons though and took a picture! Then my camera died, lol. So, maybe tomorrow I'll post a few pictures I've been meaning to post. Even my punctuation is labored. Ha ha.

I'm excited for a mini family "field trip" we planned this coming Tuesday. Yay infomercials! If it turns out to sound remotely legit, I'll probably post more- but it seems to take a lot to impress and make believers out of the SO and I.

I enjoy Real Simple magazine and... as much as she scares the living daylights of out me, got a free issue of Martha Stewart Living in the mail today! Yes, I did order it online. I asked for the creepy. I just can't deny that she seems to have impeccable taste in everything! Very clean, fresh, and classy. Also, somewhat affordable. I'm debating renewing my subscription with RS and/ or starting one with MSL. Ugh! Decisions. Or not getting either because I could probably use the $25 (per subscription) or what? Lunch for three adults at McDonald's. I have a feeling learning all sorts of tips is a lot better of a value. Sigh. I can always continue to raid their websites... Oh well, I'll sleep on it. No use dilly-dallying on what should be an internal monologue here. Not today, lol.

:) Yeah, I'm done. XD Hopefully more exciting stuff and more energy tomorrow. I think we have quite a few things planned this weekend. *crosses fingers* I hope the majority of the plans come through! Until then, <3!

Thursday, March 11

009. It Has Been One Week!

Yesterday marked one week of my daily blogging. Yay! Feeling under the weather and the immediate world surrounding me is working against me. Cats coming in being the fatties they have become after I only slept for three hours. He has also ended up whining that he's hungry after finishing his food. He's also gained a tummy in the past month. He was also eating crumbs and licking stains on the kitchen counter. "Feed me! I'm withering away! Pleeeeeeease???" As he flops on his side and his new pooch spills out from under him. ... Riiight. Suck it up, kid.

Two visits from members of the herd of children across the street. Within one hour. They get bored and decide to visit and purposely are more obnoxious than they are naturally to illicit attention from any of us. So, we answer by feigning massive amounts of indifference. It's kind of satisfying. Scratch that, it's is deeply satisfying. We only reward them with some attention when they've calmed down or are actually just lonely. I appreciate how everyone has different ways of approaching and handling the random kids, but how we can all band together and agree on: "Oh man, who's turn is it to tell them we're not interested?"  And other times, we'll be sitting in the living room watching television together and decide not to even answer the door. They are well aware of us, giant window next to the front door. Reminds me when I was about 5 years old (not 6-16), I did the same kind of thing. Except it was my best friend across the street, not random neighbors who's youngest kids were at least twice my age. I woke up with little patience (for unwelcome obnoxiousness) today, lol.

Not going to say much more about this, but wow, some 80's movies are really cheesy. Holy cow, lol. I'm going to go work on some project to work off some steam.

--- Update ---
Did various research. I'm just going to toot my horn and say that I'm so awesome! I hope this information will be put to good use in the near future! I need a more profitable project, but because I'm into making profits, but because what I like to do takes money to do. XD Crafting can be so expensive.

Good night!

Wednesday, March 10

008. I Bit My Tongue

It kind of smarts. Not so much the whole "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all..." concept. I learned that from Disney's Bambi, lol.

Currently, there is a documentary on PBS World that is, I believe, examining the cultural impact of the Helvetica. Kind of fascinating how saturated our lives are with this font.

Last night, I talked to a dear friend who is bursting with ideas for herself, for me, and for- quite frankly- the world. You know who you are and thank you for staying up late to read my blog! I deeply appreciate it! <3

Well, a few project ideas were given to me, I'm excited for all of them so I won't go into much detail until more is solidified. *Cheshire grin* I think that's the proper type of grin... However, all of the excitement did get me worked up and researching programs at the local community college. I found a few mini programs that would lead to certifications for digital art and/or web design. To say the least, I'm very intrigued. It would be kind of nice to have some sort of credential(s). Instead of telling people, "Sure! I think I can shove a basic website together for you!"- I can tell them that I'm certified. Or certifiably crazy. Erm, I kind of forget the difference, :P

It is pretty cold inside today. Everyone in the house keeps putting on more clothes as the day goes on. A long sleeve shirt, a sweater, a jacket. We may have caved and turned on the heat temporarily, lol. Outside looks beautiful and would feel perfect if it wasn't for the chilly wind. Ooh, I should post a good picture of the sunset. Those are some of my favorite pictures to take. Maybe another day.

Sigh, I think I was building up a train of thought, but it was sadly derailed at the possibility of breakfast meal for dinner. Mmm, bacon, eggs, and hash browns. Breakfast foods are among most of my favorites! I'll update later tonight! *flees*

--- Update ---
Oh man, we're watching the 5 Browns in concert on PBS. Five twenty-something years old siblings that were trained at Julliard, all piano virtuosos. They are playing a 5 piano suite of Star Wars music. It's is fairly epic, to say the last. All on Steinway & Sons, of course :P The tops are all taken off and all the grand pianos are shoved together so they can all look at each other, but the audience can still see all of their expressions. They've been on Oprah. Beyond legit, lol.

Well, that was what I wrote about the concert while we were eating dinner. The bacon was sadly a no go. Then I set off to work on that big batch I've been griping about for the past few days. It was a total of nearly 20 bracelets. I take at least 2 pictures of each. I also have to re-size and save every single one since my new camera apparently likes to show off how clear it can make big images. Yes, camera, I do love you and all of your talents, but I get it, lol.

Well, my poor little laptop, in computer age, is getting up there. It was never meant to handle media and, unfortunately, is what I'm mostly into. Music, pictures, saving those things I find online. I have a talent for pushing computers to their limit. I am, however and in my opinion, relatively aware of what I'm doing- where I go- what I'm opening. I would hope that this would balance my technology karma out. It doesn't. The silver-lining of this is that it regularly tests my patience, like aerobic exercise, and curbs my mild *grins* internet addiction. This translates into how most of my evening was spent: opening up each picture one by one, re-sizing it, saving it, closing it, and opening up another picture to repeat the process. Now add 30 seconds to 3 minutes in between each photo that shouldn't be there. My computer didn't seem to be doing anything else but be thinking for the sake of thinking. Not an extraordinary amount of processes being run, no other windows or programs running, I scan for ad-ware and viruses regularly, I defrag regularly, and I even rebooted twice. Yeah, this trooper of a laptop is getting up there in age, lol.

It has been painful, my body and I are craving sleep, but it's all done. All of the bracelets are up, the items in my shop rearranged how I like them, the FB fan page updated, and here I am reporting on the success. It kind of threw my whole "Okay, I'm not going to finish today's blog update until I'm done listing the new inventory" out the window. Instead of motivating me to finish faster (that being out of my hands), I am crawling underneath the finish line. What a victory, lol.

Until tomorrow, folks! Much love <3

Tuesday, March 9

007. Did I Miss a Trend?

When did it become almost fashionable to be a parent to a herd of children? Just heard about another celebrity that had adopted several children. Granted, they have the funds to provide, but the time? At least this family had all grown children and not nearly as much a spectacle as a few other high profile celebs and their families have been. It's hard not to be cynical after hearing the media berate people, 'normal' or otherwise.

Go figure that I would say that and yet turn around and say that I would be honored to be a foster mom to a few great kids. Yes, I would like to have at least one biological child of my own, but the others can be from who knows where. Even outer space. : ) I would hope I'm a strong enough person to take care of a child with special needs as well.

Sorry, I just saw a commercial with, I believe Charlie Daniels, playing a fiddle really fast and realized I saw this video the other day of a man that broke the record of playing the violin the fastest. It was pretty cool. David Garett was his name. He did it live on some show.

Sigh, need to go get some work done. Oh shoot, a new episode of NCIS is on.

--- Update ---
I think that is as short as I'm going to keep it today. Or else I'll just keep jabbering about bracelet making or food that I'm craving. Normally, not a problem, but I'm not looking for fillers and don't want to write just to make an entry as big as I can :D

Until I have a better thoughts, hasta luego!

Monday, March 8

006. Ow. *Eye Twitch*

I forgot how I was going to start today's entry, but then I got snagged in the shin by a kitty who doesn't do well at paying attention to people while he's playing. It smarts because it seems to be right in the middle of the muscle.

In other news, I don't think I dislocated my thumb from when I smashed it in a dolly. It may have a hairline fracture but I feel it's healing nicely enough and doesn't look nearly as bruised. However, that wasn't my other news, more of me getting distracted by remembering my other owie, lol. My mom sent me a care package today! Well, she bought the stuff and packed it, my dad sent it out a few days ago, and it just arrived today!

She sends some of the best and fairly random things ever. Some clothes, a special food in two Ziploc bags that came from VN, dressy clothes, egg roll cookies (! YAY!!!), some that flower candy, and fortune cookies! Lol, I had tried a few recipes to make some for the Lunar New Year last month and told her about it. She may have yelled at me a little, something along the lines of: "What?! Why would you waste time and money on that when you can just get a bunch for 2 dollars? Or you could have just told me a few weeks ago and I would have sent you a bunch!"

So... after a little /cower from me, I guess she decided to include them. So I find it hilarious. I may decide to post a picture of the food a little later. Right now, I need some food. T_T

--- Update ---
There may or may not (there was :D) an NCIS marathon being held in the living room. First season on dvd, teehee. Made yummy rice with my recently acquired goodies and ate some fortune cookies. Just thought I'd make a few people jealous. Haha!

On the last stretch with the latest big ol' batch of bracelets. So. Close. /sigh.
Until tomorrow, Adieu! <3

Sunday, March 7

005. Yeah, I Can Type Sideways

Sucking at sleeping sucks. That is as eloquent and honest a statement I can make atm (at the moment).

Sure, I'm upright but the majority of the fibers of my being are not in agreement. I'm trying to readjust my sleep schedule into something resembling normal and it's not working out so well. So instead, I'm trying to pump myself by listening to more Sam and Kurt on YouTube before I will myself to tidy up a corner of the room that I have annihilated with my possessions. Then off to work on a custom order at my shop and then general work on shop. An update is long overdue in terms of internet and business time, I know. It's wonderful that as I type my agenda for today I'm slowly leaning forward and off to the side. *Yawn* Sorry to whomever yawned upon reading that.

I'm so tempted to keep learning patterns to see if I'll be willing to start selling them. I'm picky. Some of patterns look quite cool, but I need a balance between something that is conveniently made and still generally liked. Odd numbers of strings are not my friends. Neither are patterns that are much more than an inch wide. Pets who like to chew on string are not conducive to having projects laying around. Neither is the alpha style of knotting, I'm very dedicated to the 1-2-1-2. If you'll look it up you'll figure out what I mean. I'm too nonsensical atm to explain it. : ) It's not that the alpha method is not hard to learn, you can really get into it pretty easy with a little practice, it just... doesn't look quite as tidy and tight-knit as I would like my bracelets to be.

I'm in the mood for making small figurines. Whether it be by beading or polymer clay. Unfortunately, I don't have enough supplies/ funds/ skills right now for either, lol. I go through phases fairly often, but when I'm in one, I'll give that topic/ task my all. And I often cycle back through phases, so that's also quite handy in getting anything remotely near done. Hm, I'm also craving super warm and cheesy nacho chips. With no seasoning in my cheese, please. Is that such a crime? Give me the choice, don't make it for me and mess up my cheesy goodness. Cheese, cheese, cheese, cheese, cheese. XD

I think I need to stop typing for a second/ little bit, work on my aforementioned to-do list, and come back before today's post becomes complete nonsense. :D

---  Update ---
It's a couple hours later and I'm maybe halfway with the cleaning. I think I'm just going to clean and not organize because I can spend the rest of my life organizing and reorganizing. I'm a bit more awake. A bit. Lasagna is in the oven being baked into yummy goodness. Sadly, not homemade. I'll try not to hold that against it while I devour my piece.

Quick blurb on a FB note (because I am terrible at staying away from the internet):
"It has actually finally sunk in that there's not much a point to spending much time on FB without being obsessing with some simplistic game that holds a knife to the part of your brain that craves instant gratification. Weird. It's not better than email or photo streaming. And it's not even very good at those two things... P.S. I like the FB group that's called: dear bed, im sorry i left you this morning, take me back? ):
It makes me happy and sad at the same time. XD/ T_T *Caresses bed* I'll be with you soon, my love..."

After posting it and then reading it, I realize I'm still pretty tiiiired. Back to cleaning.

--- Update ---
I have two kitties playing behind me with a straw wrapped in paper. Aww...
I also am really, really bad at not multi-tasking! So, I also found this ADORABLE video on collegehumor.com:
ISN'T IT CUTE?! Yes, the capitalization was completely necessary. Look at me get with my bad, tech-savvy self with all these pictures, links, and videos! Oooh! And:
Don't all Asians shop at the Oriental Market this way? I know I do.

--- Update ---
I'm not very good at housekeeping. It's like a negative number. Being tired all day multiplies that. I believe that results in an even more negative number. I meant every part of those sentences. Every one.

... Until tomorrow, all- because this madness needs to stop. Also because I have written documentation of the promise I made the bed earlier. You may need to scroll up a tad. :D

Saturday, March 6

004. 'Cats, Kitty, and Such

Just watching the U of A basketball game. Go 'Cats! Can't believe it went into overtime. Twice. Good gravy, lol. I try to follow it, I understand more NFL games instead, but it's so funny to watch the SO watch college basketball, especially his 'Cats. He gets so into it, clapping and whooping it up while he sits right in front of the TV. Typically, he's not one to get that openly excited about anything. It also doesn't help that I'm easily caught up in excitement.

Whenever I start watching a musical performance/ concert on TV and the audience starts applauding, I tend to applaud just as enthusiastically. I also find myself leaping up and cheering during particularly harrowing
sport moments. At the same time of giving myself a mild heart attack, lol.

We may be a horrible/ hilarious family if our future kids play sports or get into theater or something.  Fist pumping in the back of the auditorium during spelling bees with homemade t-shirts on, pom-poms, tail-gating, the like. XD I wonder what other ways I could potentially embarrass my kids. Wear lipstick (I normally wear it thrice a year at the most) whenever I drop them off as school so I can give'em a big ol' smooch? Pretend to lick my hand to fix their hair? (Gross!! XD) I have said that I wanted a mini van that I may get painted with blue flames. That would embarrass the SO probably more. Show up in a different costume at each open house? Or at birthday parties... Or when I pick them up from the mall or movies... Or videotape them doing something embarrassing. I'm sure I'll think of more creative ways later on. Like popping out of a cake during their sweet 16. Rofl.

I am not a huge fan of pet dander/ hair/ fur. Sigh. *picks off shirt and face* Aw, I miss my puppy. She's not even a puppy or mine. She's more of my little sister. A 3 year old Shih Tzu named Kitty. :D My idea. Totally a daddy's girl if there ever was one in our family. Lives with my folks across the States. Sigh. She's such a lovable dork. I'd like to bring her over here when I get my own place. The SO is just going to have to deal with a chubby little mop of a dog running around. She actually doesn't do much running, part of the whole being chubby thing, lol. She doesn't really bark or make noise either. And she will lick you to death. And she will love you forever if you let her onto your lap. She'll love you forever if you're a human being. Lol. Got to love dogs too!

Hm, so the Cats won the game! In double over time. By two points. How exciting! Now, we're apparently watching a 2007 Adam Sandler movie called "Reign Over Me". I don't do drama well , lol.  I can feel the mood get more intense, especially because of the background music, and I start to panic or cringe. Most likely, I'm expecting to cry or avert my eyes if it gets violent. Sigh.

Roar. I need to finish my grilled cheese sandwich. I may write more later :)

--- Update ---
So, I apparently can't type survey or spell embarrassing properly the first time around. Just got done watching 2012 with the SO and his family. I felt it was pretty good. Not nearly as cheesy as it could have been. I try to keep a pretty open mind when I'm watching movies. We also got a huge pizza pie from a local place. It was a whopping 22 inches in diameter. Hello, dinner for the next week. :D Well, I think that's it for me for today- off to work on more bracelets!

Friday, March 5

003. Sooner than Expected

Well... I didn't think I would hit a mental/ writer's block this soon. Ha ha!

Hm, I don't think I did anything too noteworthy today. I did have a craving for a chicken sub from this wonderful little place that specializes in Philly cheese steaks... bit backwards, I know (and I usually am a smidgen). BUT! The kicker of that is is that they can serve their sandwiches with Cheese Whiz! I know it's sounds gross, but I am a sucker for artificial cheese and maybe other artificial food things. Unfortunately, it's on the other side of town and the SO and I feel that driving maybe an hour in rush hour traffic for a 'linner' craving is a bit much.

Sidebar: rush hour traffic is never just an hour. Where I grew up it was from 4:30-6:30pm, with a minor one in the morning. Here, it seems that it's from 4:00- 5:25pm. And forget Saturday morning traffic near the malls. Or Sunday morning traffic after the late morning church masses let out and it's a crazed rush to any and every type of buffet in a 10 mile radius. Ooh, and happy hour is never an hour either! It's like 3-4 hours nowadays. Unfortunately, McDonalds still stop serving breakfast 30 secs before the minute they stop and early bird specials are pretty strict on their time limits too. What about carpool lanes? I know they're heavily enforced in terms of number of people, but I haven't heard about how strict they are about the times on those things. But, I digress.

I did get more bracelets done today with a custom order thrown in. I also decided to tap into a vat of patience and teach a neighborhood kid how to make the basic candy strip pattern. They caught on pretty quickly and well, at least enough to behave and stop chattering for the while they sat here, uninvited. Oh, is my bitterness/ crabby showing?

Sorry, I do love kids and being with them and helping and teaching, but they are still people- and I tend to have problem with the modern person as a whole. Lol. I think that's the nicest way for me to put that. I truly believe that some people should never be parents but are, sometimes many times over. To them, I'd like to say: Stop. Just stop. There is nothing wrong with not having your own kids. I know often said folks grow to love their children (hopefully) but it still leads to a lot of dysfunctional kids. The situation is unfair to everyone involved. (No, this is not the time for a "Well, life's not fair...") Lately, more often than not, I have been severely annoyed with other people's children. I adore well-behaved kids and the families and communities that raise them. Also, despite these feelings, I still want to be around them and try to lend a helping hand. I know a lot of, especially unprepared, people feel very overwhelmed and do the best they can, but I'm going to be honest and say: It's not quite good enough. Not that I'm discrediting the (hopefully) great amount of heart and effort put in, but help is required. It's pretty difficult to balance an idealistic but also realistic perspective on life. I guess that's why I try to go by a "Hope for the best, but expect the worst" mentality.

I feel I can be pretty open, or try really hard to be, as much as I can but wow, does the world make it hard in a new way in these times. I also seem to have a pretty strong... traditional sense about me? I enjoy structure and being polite and manners and all. I try to hold open the door for anyone often and I appreciate it when it's done for me. It doesn't mean I'm into having dinner on the table by 5 (which is kind of convenient actually lol) or mending the clothes all day long. Although my lack of cooking and sewing ability are not from a lack of trying. That reminds me of another result I got in the VIA character strength survey... I scored high on being curious and enjoying exploring the world but low on learning.

After reading that, I realized I may have had it wrong these past few years when I've said I've loved learning. The difference is that I like discovering and hearing about everything, but I don't necessary (or often) retain a lot of this information (*sadness*) enough to ever be able to teach it or recall it later on. Both are pretty heavy aspects of learning something. This also helps me in life in that I'll like hearing the same stuff later down the road like it's new/ pretty familiar. Again, not from lack of trying to remember it all or wanting to- I'm just not wired ideally that way.

... Oops, I stopped for a second when one of the dogs made a weird noise and lost my- what can I call it?- mojo. XD I would say train of thought, but we both know what I write/ think is hardly ever a congruent (I'm pretty sure that is an improper use of that word, lol.) train. Well, maybe it's a circus train with pretty random cars attached. Cars that like to sway and swerve while chugging and stumbling down the track. Great, now my thinking sounds like a drunk clown bumbling down the tracks. Wonderfully inspiring, I'm sure.

On that lovely note, I bid thee adieu.
Thank you for tuning in today!

Thursday, March 4

002. I Can't Seem to Control Myself

I'm posting a little early in the day, but I'll be sure to add updates as the day goes on. :) We'll start today off with a quote, because I seem to find myself pretty funny:

Me: "Ugh! I don't know why I have such a problem with just going to the bathroom when I need to go! It's like I want to lose all bladder control by the time I'm fifty!"
SO: "Ooh, am I looking forward to that one..."
Me: "*as I flee to the potty* Feel free not to buy me diapers but to remind me to do so..."

He's such a trooper. XD

Before I forget, can I just say how weird it is to see Google invade my life? First, looking up something online is called "google-ing" (I try to give Bing! a chance), then my alumni's email was switched to some Google app thing, I created a Gmail account for my WoW Guild and attempted to keep things organized with Google calender, my YouTube login is about to fail unless I link it to a Google email, who knows how many Google emails I actually have at this rate, and here I am with dear old Blogspot who has been Google-fied as well. Why don't we just stop calling it the internet and call it the Viacom/Google-net? It's kind of creepy. Like the creeper from another department you waved at one time and then started seeing in your floor's lunchroom and then started stopping by your cubicle when you came into work and then you show up at your mom's for dinner and he's already sitting at the table chatting it up with your family. That's pretty friggin' creepy, imo.

Mmk, onto current obsessions. I discovered the wonders that are Sam Tsui and Kurt Hugo Schneider on YouTube! I'm easily obsessed, what can I say? I watch a batch of their videos everyday to get my fix. It also put me into a nostalgic mood about singing with the high school gang and craving to construct my own medleys. It's really hard! Lol. I think I'm better at writing parodies instead. I'll post one once I actually finish it *sheepish grin*. So, go check them out!!

Another obsession is finally the Sims. More specifically, Sims 3. I mostly got it because I'm a sucker for customization and the chance to build my own home? I'm there. Currently focusing on a couple I made that wanted a big family... 'cept it's hard to balance that and now have the parents die of old age. I'm only slightly developing an *eye twitch* over it.

Ooh, speaking of obsessions: Glee! I can't wait for it to come back. I actually bought both soundtracks. They make me happy *melts a little*. They also put me into a nostalgic mood. Man! I just need to go out and get involved with making music again! Lol. Oh wait, except for the kind of creepy song about "You're having my baby..." No, I am Not a fan of creepy.

[update] Erm... I may have forgotten what else I was going to post *sheepish grin*

But I do remember that I had a usually independent kitty fall asleep on my chest! I sadly don't have a picture of that or any of his recent super cuddly behavior. BUT! I did snap a picture of this 'nappage':

 

I have many pictures of this handsome man. He has been very sweet to me the past few days and it makes me feel like I've done something pretty stellar to warrant such... acceptance. Got to love cats, right? 

Trying to be productive in other personal projects. I'm gathering info for making my own recipe scrapbook but needed more details so little progress there. I also worked on more bracelets and got an order in today! Hooray!

That's all I can think of for today, so until tomorrow...
 Oyasuminasai!
(Sorry, I have two friends in/ heading to Japan atm-at the moment! :D)

Wednesday, March 3

001. It's Been a Long Day

Well, welcome to my new blog. I think my Livejournal may have been my first. I have tried Myspace blogging (but it frustrates me with the whole privacy settings) and Facebook Notes (FB has irked me from the start), but I think through the years I've come to like this little spot right here *nestles in*.
I'm going to do my best and give myself the gift of stability by doing my best to write a blog everyday, so as a fair warning: this will be full of my eclectic musings, long-winded rants, exclamations, parenthesized after thoughts, constant laughing, and virtual actions.

Here we go!

Within the past hour, I saw the ending of a PBS documentary called, "The Suicide Tourist". I pretty much just caught the man undergoing an assisted suicide. I'm not sure how I feel about the legalization or concept of it just yet (I'm still trying really hard to get to know myself! <- One of my New Year's Resolutions from 2009!) but I did think about how depression sucks. It just plain sucks. That feeling of how you're such a failure and waste of space and guilt of being such a burden on the people around you that you feel that, at least for their sake, you should just stop existing and the world would then be a little bit better of a place. I know that this is just one kind of thought a person experiences when suffering through depression. My response (as posted in a FB status and About Me section update >_<) to that is:

I want to let everyone know that no matter how bad things may be- YOU ARE NOT AS BIG A BURDEN ON THE PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE AS YOU MAY THINK!- I would be honored to hear from you or just listen to you- even if we've never talked before or seem to have nothing in common. We are decent human beings and that is enough to start relating with. Honestly, it will matter to me not having you in this world. You are never alone and I am not the only person in this world that feels that way about you.


And I mean all of that from the bottom of my very soul. With that off my chest, today has been just a long and weary day emotionally. I didn't even get up that early! (I suppose I may have been recovering from those two nights earlier this week that I got 3 hours of sleep each...) Fast-forwarding through a few details, I found out that a third of my student loans were sold last December to the Department of Education... so we were a bit behind on the payments. Fun stuff- really stressed me out- but it's sorted now. I believe the moral of the story is: Our dependency on money SUCKS. :)

Went grocery shopping after having a minor meltdown and did relatively well at getting only what the household needed. I'm now trying to cut back on my spending and stop being a pain in the haunch teen rebelling daughter. Which reminds me, I took this survey yesterday that my SO had heard of and (after some training via my BA in psych :P) felt it was pretty decent of an evaluation.

It's called "The VIA Survey of Character Strengths" (<- Oooh, how fancy! A link that works and looks good!) Requires a quick and painless sign up. Yes, there are 240 questions- but that's how you know it's good :P My highest strength had to do with appreciation. At this point in my life, I can say that's true. As selfish or lazy as I am or sound- I am forever grateful for pretty much every aspect of my life and it is usually on my mind. One of my lowest strengths was forgiveness and mercy. I already had that in mind before I even answered the questionnaire. It's true and I have come to accept/ understand that about myself. I feel that I give a just amount of time and chances to make up for indiscretions against me (that wording makes me sound like I'm being godly or something), but after a while I'm done with it. I am a bitter person and those who understand me accept that aspect of me. On the flip side, I put a lot of effort into still being the minimal amount of courteous and kind (when the time calls for it) so I feel that it balances it out.

Where was I? Oh, so those two events really put me on my emotional roller coaster today. Mom says I've always been too sensitive but that I probably got it from her :P Hm, what else? Oh! If you haven't already heard... (despite my efforts to plead with and shove it in your face in the nicest way possible), I do have a little online shop at Etsy.com! It even has it's own fan page on FB (for someone who isn't a huge fan, I'm sure pushing it a lot... XD)! It has always been a dream of mine and with enough support and goading my friends both old and new- I finally started to sell my own handcrafted pieces! I feel that it's done as well as I could every hope for it to do and I'm still really proud of it and myself. Can you tell I've had major self-esteem issues in the past yet? :) Every little success is still a success!

So, on the note of my little shop. *Sigh* What to do with it? What to do next?

  • I know I should make more origami mobiles just to add to the variety (of one XD),
  • I am in the process of making a big ol' batch of friendship bracelets (I'm being obsessive about posting them all at once- which I understand doesn't make great business sense... of which I have very little of...),
  • I'm still researching on what my third type of item should be! I've tried a couple of things that haven't quite worked out well enough for me to be okay with selling.

If anyone wants me to sell their crafts for them- I'd be more than happy to. We can work out the details. And I would greatly prefer it if we're already friends, lol. My questionnaire results also said I seem to work best in groups :D Given that members of that group are like-minded and pull their own weight... /cuts self off of next mini rant.

Next note is going to be about/ to my SO. I don't want to go into too many details (because I do still value a certain level of privacy!) but I just want to share how proud I am of him right now. I truly appreciate the effort you're starting to put into this task and I understand (as best as I can) how hard it is to and how hard it has been on you. Whatever happens, I know we'll figure something out and whatever way you handle this- I trust and feel I know you well enough to support you wholeheartedly. I can't thank you enough for putting up with me all this time :)

Hm, in the midst of giving thanks- I think I'd like to give shout outs to a few people! Hooray for lists! XD

  • Melissa, I love reading your blog posts. I hope to see an update soon! I'm glad you got the pictures working! I really miss you :(
  • Kharlo, look at what your novel notes helped make me do! I started to come up with ideas for a story but couldn't quite make all the ideas flow into a cohesive... mess... XD So, I was thinking I could find a way to make figurines of my characters and offer mini backstories instead! I can't wait for your visit and to tell you about it!
  • Adin, *wails* I wanna go out and eat with you! Lol. I miss our mini misadventures and roadtrips to visit the folks. I know life/ luck really seems to have it out for you right now but I know that it'll get better soon (mostly because of your dedication to make it better).

There are many more and you guys will get your comeuppance sooner or later. :P

With the SO literally prodding me in the ribs, I'm going to cut myself off now so I'll have something to write about tomorrow! Have a good night everyone- and remember, you are Never alone!
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