May I Have Your Attention, Please?

I am already massively burnt out on "news" stories about Kimye's Vouge cover and the Paltrow/Martin conscious uncoupling (does that mean they were unconsciously coupling before?).

Please cease and desist. These are not "news" stories, they are "entertainment" stories, if that. Although, I must admit that I found it highly entertaining that little North peed all over Kanye during the photo shoot. But otherwise? Please.

Thank you. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Just some pictures to share

Well, howdy. Nothing much going on around here. I'm trying to re-succumb to the vile virus I had a few weeks ago, but I REFUSE to give in! I have no idea where it keeps coming from, but it raised its ugly head this weekend. I felt OK Friday night, but when I got up Saturday morning I could barely swallow. The weather outside was gorgeous and sunny, and I refused to stay home in bed. I treated myself to lunch at our favorite Mom & Pop restaurant in Centralia: Poppa Ray's. Only now I think it might be calling itself Main Street Grill. They were closed for a month - the sign on the door said they were cleaning and doing some remodeling - and we were beginning to fear that they were closed for good! But apparently the old owner is back; booths and barstools have been recovered, and you can tell the place has been given an old fashioned assholes-and-elbows kind of cleaning. The food is still the same, which is a good thing 'coz that's why we go there!

After hitting the grocery store for a few things, I returned home and I took a few pictures around the homestead. Then I went into the house and collapsed for the rest of the day. Sunday was spent hiding in my room (I don't want Les to catch this) and playing Candy Crush on my Kindle. I feel better today. Weird.

As you can see to the right, I've decided to join a blogging challenge. It's new to me, but I think I'll be able to handle it. It's the A to Z challenge; click here to find out all about it. I don't have a central theme, but I thought I would chose a random thought for each day, and have an underlying theme of choosing a favorite film (or films) that start with that letter. Wish me luck!

OK - so here are the pictures. First off, I mentioned a while back that I joined a Facebook photography group to help me get back out there and doing what I love: taking pictures. There is a theme every week, and we must take the picture we submit within that week; no fair posting pictures that we have taken in the past.

The first week was a selfie, which I posted in my last post: me with the Kleenex box on my head. The second week was "buildings", and here is my submission:

The third week was "children". I don't have any, we don't live near any nor do I work with or around any. So, I had to get creative:

These are the eggs that our geese have been laying. So they are future children, yes? Well, it's all I could come up with.

Here are our geese:



Roaming geese gang with runner duck

We won't know which eggs belong to which goose pair until they hatch, I guess. They are HUGE! Each one of those eggs is bigger than my fist.

And speaking of geese, or gooses, whatever...we had a little goose that Jim got last summer that had a gammy leg, so he carried him around in his shirt and named him Swenson. Eventually, Swenson's leg healed up and he followed Jim around like a little puppy dog. Whenever Jim would sit down, Swenson cried to be held. Here is a picture of Jim and Swenson last summer:

It's love...

Eventually, Swenson got bigger and Jim was away from the house more and more, so one day I let him out of the little pen that Jim was keeping him in and put him in with the other geese. Jim never mentioned it, so there he stayed and is very happy. Here is Swenson today:





He is a big boy - his head comes up past my hip. I can't wait for all the little goslings to hatch! One of the grey geese lost her mate (because Jim sold him...grrrrr...) and was very depressed. One day Jim brought home a whole flock of little runner ducklings, and she took them under her wing (literally) and was a very good auntie. Hopefully some of those eggs are hers, and she can be a mommy this year!

Here are a few random pics. Please to enjoy.

One of our roosers: Lloyd



Sammy with an olde timey filter



This last picture was taken the same day as the picture of the Mission. This was directly across the street. I would take a snap of the Mission, turn around and take a snap of the sun coming through the clouds. I did this from several different angles, and I think this one turned out the best.

Well, I guess that does it for today. Hope to have some stitchy updates for you next time.

Take care!

TTFN.

Bonus post - project progress pictures and a small rant

OK - here are the progress pictures for Poppy Puss that I promised. I think I just used up my entire allotment of "p"s in that one sentence!

Here was my last progress shot on 1-26-14:

And here is where I am now:

Also, I posted some pictures a bit back showing some of the other projects I had completed, namely: jewelry. There were a few pictures that refused to cooperate (quelle surprise) and so I couldn't share them with you. Here they are:

I made a bracelet for my mother. I was out for a visit from Montana, and she was lamenting the fact that I had never made anything for her. I felt really bad about that; but to be honest, I didn't really know what to make for her. She never wore bracelets and does not have pierced ears. However, she does have this awesome banded agate ring that she got from her mother when she graduated from high school back around 1954. I have never seen another one like it; when I was little, I thought it was one of those rolly-poly bugs - you know, the kind you see on the sidewalk and when you touch them they roll up into a little ball? Anyhoo. She very, very rarely takes it off. Since I had driven out to Portland from Montana, I decided to leave a few hours ahead of my scheduled departure time for heading home and stopped at this phenomenal bead store just outside of Olympia called Shipwreck Beads (you can find them online). When I walked through the front door, I literally ran into a table covered in displays of...wait for it...banded agates in every shape and size you can imagine! So I found several that were almost exactly the same size and shape as the one in her ring, got some other beads and a few fresh water pearls to go with them, and when I got home I made her this:

Sorry - I know the picture quality is a bit wonky. I put a magnetic clasp on it so that she would be able to put it on by herself without any trouble. I don't usually work with gold, but that is pretty much all Mom wears. I got a small black and gold gift box, and wrote a little something on the lid in gold pen for her. Best. Gift. Ever. When she called to tell me she had received it, she was in tears. I sent it to her work place because I don't always trust her home mail delivery, and she said she couldn't stop bragging to people that I had hand made it just for her. It made my heart so happy!

I also made these pendants. I'm not super happy with them (I had planned to sell them on Etsy or similar) so I just kept them for myself. I gave the sunflower one to Sissy and the bird one on the far right to a friend.

I have a twin-set that is the exact same color blue as the background in the other bird pendant (second to the right) and wore it to a job interview. I have copper chains that go with the pendants, and if it wasn't for the big air bubble in the center of almost every one of them, I'd be really happy with them. I'm going to try to make more, and maybe I'll use one for my first blog give away someday.

And now for the rant:

I am addicted to the game "Candy Crush". I put it to you that it should actually be called "Candy Crush Your Soul". A game implies fun. Sure, strategy and skill can be in there too, but mostly "fun" is associated with the word "game". My sister wants to know how something could be considered "fun" when one is shaking one's fist at said game, and screaming "YOU BLOODY BASTARD!" at least once every 15-90 seconds. I have been stuck on level 70 (there are approximately 450 levels to date - and that is not an exaggeration on my part) for what seems like my entire life. My Facebook chums send me extra lives and extra moves, but to no avail. The CEO of the company that owns this game is set to make a butt load of cash in the coming weeks; I hope he squirrels some of that money away for dental insurance 'coz if some of us ever catch him in a dark alleyway, he's going to need help getting his teeth put back in.

And now, something sweet to counteract the bitterness of the above rant:

Miss Muffin has decided that I need a night time companion and has taken to sleeping in my room. If I am in my room with the door closed, she will sit in the hallway right outside my door and cry until I let her in. I don't mind; it's nice to have another little warm body in the bed. Ahhhhh...cuteness.

TTFN.

Being sick and daylight savings sucks!

I haven't been around lately because I discovered something: Strep + pharyngitis + ear infection = I want my mommy x butt kicked (squared). Who says you won't ever use algebra in your everyday life? At first it was one of those things where you are afraid you are going to die, then you are afraid that you won't die. Where the heck did I pick this up from? I'm giving you the stink eye, three out of the five food workers in the mill cafe that were sick at work, breathing your vile germs all over the food. Trust me, I totally get the "I don't get paid time off for sick days and I need the money" mentality. I truely do. However, I make sure I am not contagious, and if I am, I stay home so I don't give it to EVERYBODY ELSE. I also do not get sick days and I totally need money, but you cost me three unpaid days off, and my paycheck on Friday was only $189. Thanks for that. Thanks a lot. However, I was so extremely grateful for my awesome Kindle because Netflix!

So, along with the physical uncomfortableness came the mental hardship of dealing with the anxiety of only having $189 to deal with $400 worth of bills and gas for the vehicle in order to get to work, etc. I was (and still am) not very good company; prone to fits of weeping and nashing of teeth, extreme feelings of ill will and envy towards anyone that makes more than $10 an hour and/or does not have a current negative checking acount balance, or has more than $.75 in their savings account. My life usually feels like jail; right now it feels like 25 to life in maximum security prison with no parole until 2050. Although, if that was true, I'd have free cable, access to a free college education, and better food. Pfffffft.

OK, done with that.

The picture above is me taken with my fabulous Kindle for a Facebook photography group I was invited to join. We take one picture every week, adhering to a dedicated theme for the week; the picture must be taken during that current week, it can't be a picture that has been taken at some earlier time. The first week was self-portraits, and that was my submission - kleenex box on my head, cough drops and prescription medications on my chest. This week's theme is "building". I took a snap of one of the buildings here at the mill, but I don't think it's what I really want. I really want to take a good picture of the St. Francis Mission in Toledo, WA. It is sort of on my way home from work, but the weather has been rain, more rain, and torrential rain. Yesterday was gorgeous, however, and so is today. I'm hoping that it will hold out through tomorrow and/or Saturday so that I can get over there and get some good shots. I had to borrow $40 for gas from Sissy this week so that I had enough money for gas to get to and from work this week, and I felt guilty about using up extra gas to make the side trip to the Mission for pictures. But I get paid again tomorrow, and while I still won't have a complete paycheck and my checking account is in the hole, I'll be able to swing by without worrying too much about the extra gas. Hopefully I can do it tomorrow evening when the sun hits that "golden hour". If I can't get a good one of the Mission, I'll go ahead and use the picture from the mill. I think I will post my pictures on here too, just in case anyone is interested. I think I will enjoy belonging to the group; I used to be a very avid photographer, but the depression always robs you of the things you love most, and I rarely take pictures anymore. That, coupled with the fact that I cannot lock my vehicle (well, I can, I just can't get it unlocked again) makes it difficult to take my camera with me where ever I go so that it's handy for spur-of-the-moment snaps.

I have made some progress on Poppy Puss, but I'm blogging from work (shhhh...) and the progress picture is on my computer at home. I'll try to get that uploaded tonight or this weekend.

So, I guess that's it for now. Just wanted to let you know that I'm still around!

Oh, yeah, and daylight savings time SUCKS! I swear, only Americans are arrogant enough to decide that when actual time itself becomes too inconvenient for them, they start screwing around with it. And not in the fun Dr. Who type of way. Just LEAVE IT for Pete's sake! When the clocks go back in the Fall, it's not too bad. But robbing me of an hour of sleep for ANY reason is a good way to get bitch-slapped, and losing that hour in the Spring is killing me dead. And I'm already not in the mood, so this is not helping.

TTFN.