dad, on his farm

morning pics with kitten

no idea why my lips are so extraordinarily red in this picture. i blame the dehydration.

morning person; morning, person

i'm trying out this "morning person" thing.

day 1 - success.

and by "success", i mean that i went to bed by 11, slept fitfully because i'd had to work until 9:15 pm that evening, set my alarm for 6:30 am, woke up and didn't go back to sleep.

it probably helps that i put my alarm in the kitchen and not next to the bed. keeps me from doing late-night "checks" on facebook and haven't "they" said that having gadgets next to the bed keeps one from sleeping well?

either way, let's see how long i can keep this up. it was nice to have an hour of time to get ready - heated up some coffee, read a little, snuggled with the kitten on the couch. i *almost* did some yoga, as i've been feeling all sorts of body old and ache-y, but maybe tomorrow morning.

have i mentioned that i also got a new job?! very exciting! i've been feeling very stagnant here at the library, with almost no options for me to advance, even though i'm doing the work of a statistics librarian combined with systems administrator duties and knowledge. LAME.

so when a programmer/analyst position came up with the county, associated with my old supervisor, i jumped at the chance. and i got it. hurrah! it's a raise, not huge, but i'm not saying 'no', and a co-worker mentioned to me yesterday that it's actually on the same pay grade as a principal librarian. what what?

it's good on the resume, it's good with the county to be moving up, and it's good for me, because i love new things and get bored easily. my first day will be august 15th - cannot. wait.

i keep trying to take super cute pics of yam; because she is (super cute).

but it keeps backfiring on me! the other day, she perched herself on my stomach and proceeded to bliss out while i gave her some loving - her tongue slipped out and she closed her eyes. soooooo cute! but here, she just looks like she's going to vomit.

cute cat picture fail!

faux mcD's

when we first started dating, ant and i used to go to mcdonald's to get hamburgers, hold the meat.

hold the meat, you say? hell yes! that shit's gross and almost always gave me an upset stomach. probably because it's "meat" made of salt. it's amazing what they can do with technology these days.

there's just something so... wonderful about that spongy bun, the mix of ketchup and mustard and tiny little onions, and of course, the extra pickles. it's basically a vinegar sandwich. (my mouth literally started drooling.)

we don't get them that often nowadays, but when we had a cookout for friends of the family, anthony had this GENIUS idea to make one at home! and they're so fucking amazing. seriously.

in fact, i've had 3 in the past 4 days. it's kind of an obsession. i'm trying to rein it in, but they're just so... tasty.

ugh

so my camera is broken, now both of them!

camera 1 (older one) - gets an ERR message randomly and then proceeds to take super dark photos every 3rd photo.

camera 2 (newer one) - seems to have a stuck shutter. the mirror flaps up, and comes down, but the normal "taking a photo" sound is missing.


tonight's goal: find my receipt.

craft nights are keeping me sane.

one day, we'll be able to open this up to more people - as it stands, none of us have the space to really allow for larger numbers of people to create.

but, for now, it's keeping me totally sane. stress levels are below a danger threshold (which is when i start producing massive quantities of stomach acid and pain). last meetup, we made hypertufa planters! when i finally plant something in it, i'll be sure to post. it was fairly easy, although one of the ingredients smelled strongly of cat litter. used cat litter.

hint: portland cement is caustic - use gloves or wash your hands and apply massive quantities of lotion as needed.

these pics are from the meetup at my house - we made carved sculpey beads - ridiculously easy. hello jo-ann's sale! roll a bead, poke with skewer, bake for 15 minutes, cut with razor blade/x-acto knife (we put them on crumpled foil to bake - no need to worry much about dent marks in the clay from the foil, since we would be carving into them).



i really want to make more and will hopefully soon be tracking down some ball chain to use as the necklace. i like the way it lays, and it's cheap. right, it's cheap? seems like it'd be cheap.





this was an attempt to make a colorful rainbow bead necklace. it's still in this state in the craft room. rainbow necklace fail.



one of the craft members found this fantastic piece of wood shaped exactly like a turtle head! no, not like this. at least, one hopes not.

this day? glorious.

remember this?

the good news is that our little kitten, wash, is actually playing with his sardines!! he's starting to get crazy frisky and clearly wants to kill me, as he runs between my walking feet with reckless abandon.

reck. less.

even more, he loves wine corks and pieces of paper that skitter across the hardwood floor.

(yammie, of course, is too dignified to play.)

i'd made a few extra, so i sent one to ruby (who hopefully liked it) and then brought another to erika's cats, theo and hazel.

holy. mother fucking. shit.


those cats went batshit over the sardine. bat. shit. crazy.


this is theo:



and this is hazel:




theo is definitely the dominant cat in the house - strong and lithe. i have 2 claw scratches on the top of my foot that are just now beginning to heal.

hazel was a sweetheart and was very difficult to get near, or photograph. she also licked the sardine to within an inch of it's life. the felt eyeballs? grey. the 'X' sewn eyes? unrecognizable. the length of the sardine toy? sopping. wet. when i left, it didn't even resemble the original toy, but for the vague shape and a barely discerable blue. somehow, it looked really dirty, as though it had been dragged through dirt.

*shudder* it was so gross.

so, not an utter failure!

the blueberry farm was on the honor system. drive up, grab a bucket and pickpickpick.

tip: it's a good idea to taste from each bush, just to make sure it's a good one. no one likes a sour bush.

(that's what she said.)







meaghan was a total pro - her final weight was 3 lbs! we were there for maybe... 20 minutes? my final weight was 1.5 lbs. granted, i took some time to take these photos, so maybe... oh, let's be real. no way i'll be a blueberry picker anytime soon.

blueberry eater? YES.





really need to see if tampa has something like this nearby. i loved that this place was so close to meaghan's house, on the way to erika's. it just made it so easy to get a fuckton of blueberries for super super cheap. did i mention that it was $2 a pound? perfect for picking and freezing and maybe even making jam.

bridal shower weekend

quick overview, for memory's sake:

got in to gainesville on friday, had a quiet lunch at the flying biscuit. meaghan was unavailable, i was hungry and in need of sustenance. i read and even talked to someone at the end! social anxiety be damned!

meaghan and i got together and planned for saturday, filling a picnic basket and making lists.

then off to do some organic blueberry picking!

and lastly, delicious dinner at erika's, made mostly by nick, followed by exercise with the kinect and dance central.

saturday we awoke and met rachel & amanda at meaghan's for a crepe brunch - organic blueberry compote, fresh (raw milk) cream, homemade lemon curd (*DROOL*), homemade nutella, bananas and other such fruits.

a quick jaunt to the farm to meet meaghan's cow and amanda's horse - we saw chickens and dogs and cats and a donkey and a goat and an emu - all in bridal shower attire. then we picked up a white chocolate cheesecake from an old hs friend who does baked goods on the side.

bead shop where we ate the cheesecake and asti and were accosted by the owner's daughter who talked all about her life and her aunt's life and her WOW account ad naseaum.

starbucks for an energy break and then dinner at leonardo's 706. 4 meals total: 3 steaks and 1 vegetarian pasta. sorry, erika!

met up with john for drinks and a downtown gainesville walkabout. attempted to see erika's brother's band - no dice - we were too late! john stayed at erika & nick's and then.... TUBING!

/end blissful weekend