Steve tore off this piece of pizza and exclaimed, "Look! It's Missouri!" I got the privilege of eating my home state starting with the bootheel.

NOM NOM REDNECKS NOM NOM

(I can say that, 'cause I'm from there. That's always the way.)

WHAT

Steve cut this out from some random catalog that he received in the mail, and pinned it to my cork board. OH GOD THE VEINS!

Flop them on the table, indeed. Perhaps these are life size for the fellas carrying these?

A cat and his girl.

Aya and I enjoying our mossed-over lake and the lovely barley bales.

Pros and Cons of Gaining Weight

Pro: Boobs are a little bit bigger.
Con: Not big enough to make it worth it.

Pro: Setting fun new goals, like running 5ks with your BFF.
Con: Setting awful new goals, like running 5ks in the SUMMER.

Pro: Watching my kittehs all blissed out over making biscuits on my skooshy belly.
Con: Skooshy belly popping out of my favorite jeans. Hello, muffin top!

Pro: Fitting into all the cute clothes I couldn't bear to part with when I lost weight.
Con: Not fitting into all the cute clothes I have for when I was thinner.

Ok, that's all I've got for now. I'm off to eat some (reduced fat, natch) oreo's and (maybe) work out!

Painting the Roses Red!

Woo hoo! My rose is finally blooming. I'm not a total black thumb.

I love the way it is red and white striped, but I wish the blooms lasted longer than 2 or 3 days.

(Sorry, I can't remember the name of this rose. The tag is looooong gone.)

Surprise! Don't eat me...

The other day I went outside to water the outdoor plants. We keep the watering can on the back porch full of water so we don't have to mess with the hose every time we want to water something. I tipped the can over to water our Angel Wing plant and barely a trickle came flowing out. I knew it was full, so I took a peek down the spout to see what was clogging it.

A BIRDY!


"Please don't eat me..."

So, of course I exclaim to Steve, "OMG, it's a bird!". Steve's reaction was "Oh...ew!", assuming it was dead, but it was alive! It must have just fallen into the can right before I went to water the plants and couldn't get out. The bird and I sat there for a bit and tried to figure out how to get him out. Well, Steve and I did the thinking, the bird just blinked at me.


I very carefully dumped out the water and tapped the can on the concrete to get the little guy to slide back down the spout.


Freedom!

And here he is trying to get away from us as fast as possible. I'm thinking he fell in there looking for water, so I'm going to try to leave out a little dish for the birdies and try to keep the watering can empty from now on.

I...I don't even know anymore.
I really need to find a job.

Shot this short video of Fargo Kitty sleeping under the quilt on our bed today. Oh I do enjoy pestering her!

Who likes thrifting and has two thumbs? This girl!

I had the pleasure of going antiquing with a great group of girls this past Sunday. Usually when I go into antique stores, I am by myself, so it was really fun to have other people there to point and laugh at the redonkulous items for sale. Also, I was nice to get out of the house, since I'm now unemployed, I've been on self imposed house arrest so I don't spend any frivolous money. I did budget for this trip though!

Like this bunny doll that looked like it was bent on world destruction:

Image swipped from Angie. Can you tell how freaked out I was about this creepy bunny?

Anyway, on to my loot!


Two wood bead owl place mats. Don't know what I'm going to do with these yet, but they were too cool (and cheap!) to pass up.

In this photo, I have a metal and plastic owl pin, an Asian style necklace with a dragon, and a canvas bag from the Nixdorff Chain Company in St. Louis. I love finding things that have to do with STL in antique stores. Not sure if the bag is a reproduction or old stock, but it's still cool!

Detail shot of the Asian-style necklace. It looks like cloisonne.

Orange and white cherry blossom porcelain box, coffee mug with birds with cherry blossoms and a handful of old buttons. The box will go great in my bedroom since the colors in there are orange, blue and brown. The buttons will go great with a hat I am crocheting and the mug...well, I really don't need any more coffee mugs, but look at it! So pretty.


The clear glass owl on the left is an antique pipe holder. The blue owl on a branch is going to go in my blue, white and black bathroom to hold my rings when I wash my hands.

Avon perfume bottles. I really liked the owl (Dr. Hoot!) bottle itself, but the hat is a little chintzy. Maybe I'll spray paint it gold when it gets warmer outside. The toad on the stool is so cute, and I just love that elephant. The toad and elephant are going to hold my perfumes from Bath and Body Works. Not sure what to do with Dr. Hoot yet.

We are going to have to do this again sometime. I look looking at old stuff like a fat kid loves cake. (Wait, I love cake too...man, now I want cake.)

Just a quick post before I have to get ready for bed. I know how the internet loves kittehs and DIY, so here is a little of both.

Tonight while watching TV with the husband I made a sweater for Aya. I know, I know. I'm two steps closer to being a crazy cat lady. I just need one of those sweatshirts that has a picture of a row of cat butts and I'm there. It was surprisingly a perfect fit. I had to catch him first though. He took one look at me and my newly created sweater in my mitts and the glee in my eye and he tried to get outta Dodge. Luckily for me he's too fat to run fast.





I lost my tapestry needle, so I'm going to have to wait to get rid of those loose strings until I can pick up another one. I don't intend for him to wear the sweater all the time, but dang, it sure is funny when he does wear it.

It's amazing how much shit you have in your office when you have to clean it out...

So about those vacation photos? I think I'm going to post those later.

I was laid off from my engineering job in the beginning of December. (The photo above shows all the stuff from my office, sitting in my home office). Y'know, that poster is even more poignant now than it was when I hung it up.

Now I'm enjoying the unexpected free time and generally loafing around and doing some crafty things I've been wanting to do.

Except now, I'm going to put on my Hazmat suit and try to clean the kitchen. Wish me luck.

Holy RSS feed, Batman! I just saw that I have 59 people subscribing to me in Google Reader. I better get makin' with the posts then.

I'll post some pictures from various fun trips I've taken in the past after Turkey Day. I don't know if I'll post my trip to Europe right away though. All those photos were before the age of the digital camera and I'd have to scan in photos.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving and be sure to stuff yourself silly.

So the story of how our kittens got their names isn't so much a story, per se, but more like an explanation. See, Fargo is our girl and Aya is our boy. Yeah, I come from a family who likes to name their animals odd names.

So Aya first.

Pay attention to meh!

I found Aya as a kitten behind my work back when I was still in school and designing websites for a small company in a small town. He followed me into the building and after I put him back outside I said to him, "If you are still here at 6:00, you are coming home with me." Welp, that brat made me eat my words because he came home with me that night.

I got his name from an anime called Weiss Cruz. And....I thought the kitten I brought home was a girl. See, his...bits hadn't popped out yet, and well, I had already named him Aya by the time the vet told me "Yep, you've got a little boy here." Now, I can't imagine him named anything else.

Slurp!

Fargo was born on my husband's family's property. She was the cutest little fuzz ball I've ever seen. I need to find pictures of her as a kitten. You'll die. The hubs was wanting to get a cat to keep him company (this is before I moved in with him) and I gently (or not so gently, depends on who you talk to) nudged him to take her home. He finally decided to name her Fargo after she barfed in her cat carrier on the way to his house. His reasoning? "The movie Fargo made me a little sick, and so did she on the drive home."

So there you go. Here's some more kitteh pics for you. Because the internet and cats go together like cookies and milk.

These two pictures above are like catching an extinct animal in the wild. It just doesn't happen very often. Fargo is not really what we like to call, "a friendly cat" and HATES Aya with a passion. Sometimes we'll come home and they are sitting together like this. I suspect all the growling and hissing is a front and they secretly are in cahoots to get rid of us.

Turn off the light...it's too bright....

Whether they wanted to or not, the Fargo and Aya got into the Halloween spirit (Fargo is the tortie and Aya is the black/white/brown tabby):

I wish death upon you all.

They see me rollin', they hatin'...

Did I barf on something of yours? Is that why you put this on me?

Novelty shirt...too...heavy...must...lay down...oof...

I'll do another post where I will talk about where their names came from.

Anybody out there on Ravelry? If you are, come on down and be my friend!

Here is a quick photo of what I'm working on right now:

It's a baby blanket for my new niece for Christmas. Shhh, don't tell her! I know she's probably surfing the web all the time (kids these days) so lets hope she doesn't find my blog.

More posts to come soon.

Swiped this from Angie. Ha ha, you'll never catch me, coppers!

A – Age: 28
B – Bed size: Queen.
C – Chore you hate: Litter box, yucko. My cats poop like it's going out of style.
D – Dog’s names: No doggies.
E – Essential start your day item: Shower
F – Favorite color: blue
G – Gold or Silver: silver
H – Height: 5′6″
I – Instruments you play: I played flute in junior high and high school. Not so much now. But I still have the flute!
J – Job title: Design Engineer
K – Kid(s): Just two furry kids, Aya and Fargo.
L – Living arrangements: Small house by a small lake
M – Mom’s name: Elaine Eudoika (I'm not sure how to spell it, it's Greek)
N – Nicknames: Mags, Magpie, Hey you.
O – Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Can't say I've had one.
P – Pet Peeve: Talking on the cell phone while driving.
Q – Quote from a movie: “There are a shortage of perfect breasts in the world. It would be a pity to ruin yours.”
R – Right or left handed: Lefties unite!
S – Siblings: Sophia, Ben and Andrew.
T – Time you wake up: 6:12. My alarm clock has weird snooze times.
U- First word that comes to your mind for “U”: ukulele
V – Vegetable you dislike: Fresh green beans. Bleh. They squeak when I bite into them!
W – Ways you run late: Hitting snooze, not being able to decide what to wear, traffic
X – X-rays you’ve had: face (for sinuses), foot (for chipped toe bone), teeth
Y – Yummy food you make: Ha!
Z – Zoo favorite: The cabibaras! I want to ride one!

Lookie! An award!

The lovely Angie over at Klenke Konfessions has pulled me out of semi-retirement with this cute little award. I say semi-retirement, because I wasn't sure I really wanted to continue with this blog. I had a blog way back in 2002 and blogged all through college, but I wasn't sure I wanted to continue on now. I kinda have a "been there, done that" sort of feeling about it. I've also been having problems with my migraines lately and I really haven't wanted to do much of anything. BUT! Now that I'm back posting today, I feel like I can keep this up (ha, we've all heard that before!).

Enough o' that, here are the rules to the award:

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Here here! Now, I don't think I'm going to tag anyone, since everyone has been tagged already. But to keep up with the spirit of the award I'll post 8 blogs that I like to read.

1) Hark! A Vagrant - This is the blog of artist Kate Beaton. If you are a nerd like me and like comics and history, her drawings and comics will make you pee your pants.

2) Fuck you, Penguin - A hilarious twist on all those cute animal blogs.

3) Glassy Eyes - If you've ever commented on my glasses, check this blog out. He shows you how to get great looking specs on the cheap.

4) Bent Objects - Art using small objects and wire. Very cool.

5) Craftzine Blog - The official blog to the now defunct (SOB!) Craftzine magazine. Don't worry though, it still lives on in the web-o-verse.

6) Already Pretty - Great fashion advice from someone who doesn't sound like they are spouting crap from a glossy fashion magazine.

7) Shorpy - Great blog that posts old pictures of every day life from 50 to 100 years ago.

8) Everything Everywhere - Gary Arndt sold his house and everything he owns in 2007 and now he travels the world. I live vicariously through his travels.

Welp, there you go! I hope I've inspired you to put yet another blog in your Google Reader.

I'm watching the inauguration on msnbc.com with the sound off and listening to the coverage on NPR at work. Yeah, not getting much done today.

Squee!

So, it's 9:40 in the morning and no one has said a peep to me at work today. I wore my contacts to work today, which I never do. My glasses are sorta my signature thing. Maybe without them I'm invisible today. Hmm. Kinda nice not being bothered, but kinda weird all the same.

I've been tagged with horrible spelling!

The hilarious Sarah has tagged me with the Kreativ Blogger graphic. I am now forced to get out of my blogging slump and actually write something! Damn you, Sarah, damn yoooou! *shakes fist!*

Ok, enough of that drama, on the the thankfullness:

1. I'm thankful to have a house with central heating and running water. It's amazing what you'll put up with when you are growing up.
2. Even though it's sucking balls right now and I don't like it, I'm thankful to have a well paying job in a market I (think) is pretty recession proof.
3. My cats. I'm not going to lie. They are pretty 'effin awesome.
4. My husband. Man, did I luck out or what. It's like I married a handyman, therapist, and lover all in one.
5. Sushi. I can not stand seafood, but give me a spicy tuna roll and I'm your best friend!
6. NPR. Because I feel smarter after listening to it.

Ok, the rules are that I'm supposed to tag 6 peeps to keep this ball of thanksgiving rolling. Well, Thanksgiving is over, Santa is on his way to town, and hell, I can't think of 6 people to send this to.

I read back over some of my older blog posts and realized that I have promised pictures of stuff and I never delivered. I will try my damndest to get some of that stuff up here in the next few weeks.