Tomorrow

I need to get to bed before I get sick to my stomach. Maybe because of poor sleep patterns mixed with tons of eye strain.

Will be back tomorrow. That will also be the day we're probably going to introduce the kitten, Nimbus, to our cat. Wish us so much luck because it's already tearing at my heart strings how sulky and upset he's been about the matter the past few days.

Monday Questionnaire

Saw this on a blog that I follow, the YT beauty guru: Amarixe! I thought it was an interesting take on the matter of Mondays.

I didn't plan ahead for this, so I don't have a favorite photo of the week this time. ^_^

1.) Mood: Drained, my addictive personality has not done me any favors over the past week.

2.) Do you wear a piece of jewelry that you never take off? Yes, there's usually something. For the past few years it's been a silver-colored ring from Disney on my left middle finger. It's been in a few photos.

 

3.) If you had a free year to do anything you wanted (with unlimited funds to do so), how would you spend it? I would plan the fastest wedding possible, build my dream home, finish my teaching certification, do some traveling for a few weeks at a time in between, and come back to find a teaching job. Of course, I'd give chunks to a few loved ones, make sure everything is paid off for myself and my folks, and more. The SO and I have extensive plans we like to daydream and scheme up together.

4.) Current nail polish: Essie's Capri with color-blocking Essie's Short Shorts on my ring fingers. I'm overdue for a polish change by about a week. :(

 

5.) Have you been watching the Olympics? Not yet because I have to watch clips online. Our internet is not cool enough to actively stream it. We've been trying to keep track of the medal count though.

 

6.) Current outfit: A gray sleeveless sundress for hanging out around the house.

 

7.) What are your favorite pizza toppings? Tons of cheese, but I'll default to pepperoni.

 

8.) Who is your favorite Disney character? Visually, I think it must be Stitch.

 

9.) When it comes to shoes, flats or heels? I wish heels, but flats. Slightly raised flats if possible because I'm short. :P

 

10.) Weekly goals: To finish this family recipe overhaul completely so I can clear off this table - To help the cats grow accustomed to one another - To reset my sleep schedule just in case I'm called into work now that the school year has started again. Going to bed at sunrise isn't fun.

Storm Clouds

We had a good storm today that lasted a while and was a bit intense. The power blipped in and out but that wasn't a big deal.

The news in the household today are the new critters. Oh, yes. FMIL went on a mission to find a new betta fish for the classroom since last year's classroom fish only lasted a year.

 

No name yet, but he's looking very patriotic with all of the Olympics business going on.

The biggest surprise is the new kitten she came home with instead of a fish. Here's the newly adopted four month old, Nimbus! So, now we're scrambling to assimilate him to his new home and vice versa. Our kitty is... well, I'm working on getting back into his good graces.

Pit Stop

Quick post to say that I'm done with the bulk of the family recipe organization!

The cards are in the box, the two binders are filled, and all that there's left to do is decorate! Woohoo!

The Bold & The Beautiful

Went back into work this week and saw a ton of classroom changes. Almost overwhelming after getting used to the past two years. School starts super early for these kids this year, but that means more/ longer breaks throughout the year. We'll see how we feel about that, lol.

Other sights I saw today were much more natural.

The pretty Desert Cardinal:

 

This was through a dirty glass sliding door and on the other side of the yard.

And *warning* creepy-crawly alert!

 We happened upon a pretty bald and upset tarantula.

 

 Might have been the same one from the other night, but more defenseless and therefore angrier. 

Maybe trying to get to dog dish water or the big ants nearby? :( Not sure but we did our best to shoo it out of the yard before the dog tried to eat it.

That's it for today!

A Sign?

Need more coffee in my life. Or sleep. One of those. Wanted to share two little moments from my day today. : )

 

This happening while I was in the middle of lots of typing. Sigh.

What I managed after looking up a quick tutorial online. Good enough(?)

Bunny flopping down that I saw through the sliding glass door.

 Then getting up and going about his business just as suddenly, lol.

 Hi there!

Twitching

It wasn't until late in the evening that I got more supplies for my recipe project, so I'm going to get back on that tomorrow.

In the meantime, I've been watching live-streams of a particular PC game on Twitch.tv. The SO got me into it and I've decided to be an active listener. Before I knew it, I was given the permissions to help moderate the chats on two channels. The SO warned me that it would probably happen pretty quickly because of my personality.

Old habits die hard! XD

It's been funny and... active, lol. They are two great and kind guys with equally nice audiences. Coffee is the nectar of the gods though. These guys are beasts that stream for more than half of the day- I can't believe the stamina and enthusiasm!

However, their positivity, patience, and kindness are infectious and we could all use a little more of those things in our lives. Heck, in the world. I'm pretty proud and honored to be a part of that. As nerdy as that is. :P

Brewing

I found something to work on today!

The idea was bouncing around in the back of my head yesterday behind the mental clutter, but I snagged it. :D

Before getting to that though: We got a rainstorm! :O

Now, this: What could it be?

Worked a bit more on the heirloom recipe storage and organization I started a few months ago! Yay! My hands currently smell like old paper, lol. I only stopped because I ran out of page protectors- how sad for an office supply lover like me!

I had stocked up on a few packs of dividers too, but quickly realized that they were not going to work for this because the protectors cover them. XD How useful.

FMIL and I are going to pick out patterned papers for the new dividers together. After that, I'll probably print out labels of some sort. It's really coming together! I took pictures of the older handwritten recipes from other family members and friends. Those recipes have been very well-loved and I'd hate to see the lost to time. 

There's a metal box that FMIL got in her Home Economics class back in high school that she likes to keep recipe cards in. So, I organized the sections into the same categories as the binders and fit what I could in there. That booklet was given to her mother from the Association of Children's Health Center. I think it features recipes from families involved and that she helped set it up in the first place. Probably should confirm that story- but it's something like that, lol.

... And this is why I write as much as possible now. My brain is like a big ole leaky bucket. Sigh. XD

Really wish I didn't lose my momentum. I'm very excited to finish this endeavor once and for all! Probably this week.

Project Possibilities

I'm getting over my latest obsession today and that made me itch to work on another project.

Not necessarily a new one, but I couldn't decide what I felt up for. Hm. Possibly a poor choice of words right there, LOL.

I was debating getting back to my aquatic-themed crocheting. I hit roadblocks on two new critters and it seems that walking away for a bit and then re-examining the pattern with fresh eyes often does the trick with yarn-related projects. I don't know if I'm that brave yet.

Super tempting to try because I've spotted a few more cool free patterns around the internet, like this. If you "Like" their Facebook page, you can see the picture of a ton of the Disney Princesses. I kind of melted. A bit pricey for me right now, but I know so many Disney lovers... Right now, the pattern for Merida from Brave and Rapunzel from Tangled are available.

Something else that has been eating away at me a little bit was inspired by that Florida scrapbook that I've been working on and my recent trips into the garage to the corner where I'm storing a lot of my stuff.

I've seen chunks of my crafting stash and I just really want to use some of it. Not just to play or anything, I mean to use it up once and for all to wheedle the amount down. I keep accumulating and not playing with enough of it. It needs to see the light! It made me really think about how I wish I had more crafting buddies nearby to tackle my collection with. That would be super fun and motivating.

Looked around online for ideas on how to use up my 12x12 patterned paper packs. After making for first 12x12 traditional album (took a whole two years), I don't think I'm terribly keen on making another one any time soon. I got these papers for 50% off, so it's not like it was a big investment or anything and I tend to like smaller items.

Part of me wants to find ideas for quick and simple gifts to make so I can crank them out assembly line style and add them to my gift stash. Then, I think about how many people I know who would actually use them and I'm discouraged again. Seriously, I need a crafting pen pal buddy or something.

Still haven't found what to do to satisfy this itch to accomplish a project though. Hopefully tomorrow with bring some inspiration that's leads to productivity.

The Saddest of Gardens

It's been a while since my last garden update. I've been in a bit of denial about the sad shape it's been in. Was hoping for some positive changes that were worth a quick vlog about but alas...

Here's what's left of the main area. Pretty sparse right now.

 

The tomatoes are the only big plant that seem to be doing fairly well this year.

Big Boy #1 - Cherry - Big Boy #2

Loving the quirky differences between the boys.

Cherry tomato has been working on this lone fruit for weeks now. Silly goose.

  

My original Basil has begun to grow again. Not sure what is going on, lol.

 Thyme that likes to grow sideways, Parsley blooms that refuse to die, Chives that have gone nuts, three new Basil that has overwhelmed the new Parsley and Cilantro in the same pot, Oregano that keeps bolting and attracting flies.

The saddest of sad Bird's Eye Chillies.

Every few days, quail parents come and tear off entire branches of one tree before moving down the line. It's ridiculousness. 

From right to left (the order that they were attacked): Hufflepuff has had the hardest time recovering and was torn into first, Ravenclaw has recovered significantly but has the biggest reaction to being thirsty, Slytherin was torn into last week but is ambitiously recovering now, and Gryffindor is this week's victim and has branches ripped every other day. The ripe peppers it had are often discarded or collateral damage. Sigh.

 The lone remaining pepper. Gryffindor has been the only one to produce fruit so far. I hope they recover well in the monsoon season. If only for the reason that the quails will find better food elsewhere when the desert comes alive.

 The (brighter green) Jalapeños tender leaves were being burnt off, so they are recovering on the patio for some relief. They are doing much better now. 

The two Serrano pepper plants were the favorite snack of the birds, so I brought them inside to recover for about two weeks before bringing them out for more sunlight. This one was the one with three two-inch long fruits and the other was brought back in during the first storm we had- it's too skinny to withstand those kinds of gusts right now.

Also on the patio are is the Strawberry plant.

As you can still see, it's tender leaves were being burnt too. It's recovering a little and making the tiniest of fruits. I hope it starts putting up new leaves again soon.

Gardening this year has been stressful and disappointing. It's not as uplifting as it was last year, but I'm determined to truck along and hope for the best come monsoon season. I'm thinking of starting new plants indoors now, so they may be ready or when the time comes, but am not sure what I would start. Half of my pots are empty now and it's a very sad sight. We'll see how that goes.

Changing Weather

The odd sleep pattern I've adopted has been really weighing on me, so I'm wiped. I did want to share the new sights we've been seeing with the bits of rain we're starting to see. I love the monsoon season here!

Saw something scurrying in the backyard from the corner of my eye while working on my laptop- Quails!

There were about three pairs of adults and about a dozen babies picking at the ground. Oh man, the cuteness!

A pair of grown-ups with the babies.

An odd sunrise led to some quick soaking rainstorms in the evening. Don't ask me why I was up at that time but it reminded me of what I typically saw growing up in Florida.

I had to take a picture of this weird boxy cloud. Within minutes, it thinned out and spread across the mountain.

Scrappy Ideas

Before I go on, I wanted to say that our hearts, prayers, and condolences go out to all of the victims of the Colorado movie theater shooting as well as those who have suffered greatly due to the wildfires. <3

- - - - -

Been sleeping terribly lately and it's really caught up with me today.

Took a break from working on any projects for the past day or so and that was probably a good thing. The brain feels like mush.

I did watch two videos today that really inspired me, so when I do get a chance to rest up, I hope to use that to help motivate me to keep trucking on that scrapbook album. I only found her recently and she has such wonderful ideas.

Streams

Not too much to report today.

The SO was feeling under the weather so he didn't join us, but FMIL and I tried out a new restaurant today. Actually, we were recommended a little bakery cafe and when I looked up the address, I saw rave reviews spanning years. We were pretty excited about that but I didn't think to look at the hours. >_< What a newbie mistake.

Turns out that it closes at 2pm Wed-Fri. Whoops.

We did see a Chinese restaurant on the way there and had seen advertisements for it before, so we gave it a whirl. It was a nice enough place visually, but the food was super dry and under-seasoned for what we paid for it. :(

We even brought the SO a dish to try too. I really wanted to like that place but none of us could. Oh well, it was fun to try something new anyways.

The best part of the day has been spending it playing video games "with" the SO. I've been playing the game that I shared yesterday (Terraria) and he's been playing Diablo 3.

He has been streaming live shows about video games for background noise and the occasional relevant tip. The commentary is sometimes hilarious. Sometimes it's hard to concentrate on killing demons because of it.

I, on the other hand, have spent my time exploring and digging through caves and turning them into caverns. I've come to realize that way I'm doing it is incredibly inefficient but I've opened up huge areas and collected many materials. It's just stuff like sand to make glass to turn into bottles for potions, etc.

My biggest enemy right now is water. I keep finding pockets of it by accident and flooding the tunnels and platforms I so painstakingly created with streams upon streams of water. Right now, my tiny adventure cannot breathe underwater.

I've seen that if I dig deep enough, I could get to lava! Not that I want to anytime soon because it sounds incredibly dangerous and tricky to deal with, but all I've seen are forests and dirt caves.

It's like a simplistic puzzle of sorts trying to figure out what ingredients I need with no goals or storyline that I have to pursue.Very addicting. :P

Mine

The flight issue was settles, she ended up volunteering her seat but didn't know if the airline would take her up on that offer until about 10 minutes before take off. Cute.

Then she wasn't able to find her luggage before realizing it was already waiting for her elsewhere because it had made the original flight while she did not. Got a voucher for her troubles. :D

We're all resting up before a night out, probably tomorrow now. I woke up to our first ant infestation of the season. It did not make for a happy camper and I was already exhausted after a sucky night of non-sleep.

This lead to the SO setting up and spraying around the house like we've been meaning to do. We were holding out for a good storm first, so the spray wouldn't be washed away but this was too much to deal with.

They were following past trails and going nowhere in particular yet, so that was the good news. The bad news was that they have trails going into every single room. My room was the only one they hadn't made it to yet before I started doing my best to manually annihilate them. Grr!

The best part of today has definitely been: Terraria.

It's like the big sandbox game of Minecraft, which I wanted to play but didn't want to pony up the $30 for right now. It's a cute old school pixel style, 2-D, and side-scrolling. You just... mine and build things while surviving zombie attacks and such. At 50% off right now through Steam? Yes, please.

I'm off to fend off balls of slime and build my fortress!

Arrival

FMIL is coming back from her trip today and there are a few issues with the flight.

In the meantime, we're again crossing our fingers for a little bit of soaking rain and making sure the house is in order. I'm on a bit of a cleaning kick right now anyways.

We'll probably take her out to dinner as a welcome home celebration of sorts.

Not much else to report other than kitty has been super affectionate and sweet with me today. It's a good thing too because he has woken me up a number of odd times throughout the night and into the week hours.

Taking It Easy

Dabbling in a little of this and that today.

It was beautiful cool and dare I say breezy today with the cloud cover and rain threatening to happen everywhere but here. Helping out friends, doing chores, working a bit more on embellishing the family vacation scrapbook, and looking after the SO after a dizzy spell.

We're thinking low blood sugar with the symptoms he had. :( He's not one to feel under the weather often, let alone show it. Like a stubborn wild animal. Sigh, lol.

I did catch this beauty video today and the nail art tip that Michelle Phan shows around the 2:45 marker blew my mind out of the water. I cannot wait to try it!

Nature Indoors

We had such promise for the thunderstorms hitting the house today. No dice. Lightning and thunder all around us with a hint of ice-cold sprinkles.

The breeze and low-rolling clouds made for a interesting sunset though! Here's the reverse view. The other was way too bright to capture.

For the past few weeks, the beans and two remaining Serrano plants have recuperated indoors in the original garden corner. Today, the SO cracked into one of the non-over-ripe fruits.

What an interesting hint of orange in the middle! Haven't seen that before. While he isn't the spice-fiend of the family, he does enjoy the heat and ranked these super hot. Especially in terms of after-burn. I had slices of cheese ready when he tried it. It's has been deemed a good secret ingredient, so that's promising!

The kitty has been acting very affection and almost needy this evening. Then, we found out that he has spotted and cornered a few kinds of beetle-like bugs throughout the house. Looks like it's time to spray the outer perimeter again. The recent bits of rain are driving the desert wild and the bugs are all starting to really put effort into seeking shelter indoors. No thanks!

I didn't snap any pictures because who really wants to save photos of squished bugs? There are some June bugs, something that closely resembles a stink bug, tiny little beetle-looking bugs, and then there was apparently a cricket-like insect indoors that we had no clue about.

While he just poked at the other ones and led us to them, he did not say a peep about that last guy until he was through with it. He came and grabbed my attention and then showed me the carcass in the middle of the living room floor. The catch? Mr. Kitty had ripped off 5 of the 6 legs and deposited them in different spots within a two foot square area. Yummy.

But I'm proud of my little man and his icky-bug catching prowess. Saves me the trouble and he has a very good idea which ones he should just leave alone and grab me or his dad to come look. I think I'll go grab him a treat for the jobs well done today.