Fuzz and Freezing

Guess who woke me up at 4am this morning because they wanted food and attention? And they thought it was 5am and time to wake me up? And who I wanted to sell to someone in China?

Today was a crappy day at work which then turned into a crappy evening at home because the furnace wasn't working and it was cold inside. The house heated up around 8pm finally. They are supposed to come back tomorrow and do more work. I'm going to sleep in a sweater just in case it craps out in the middle of the night. No frozen Beans. None!

And for something fun and not about cats nor furnaces - Here's a meme I pulled from iamshake -

Comment and I'll give you an honest compliment. Then post this in your journal and spread the love.

Sleepy Happy

I had a really good weekend and made excellent time driving home tonight. Had two quick stops and still managed to make the whole drive in just under 3 hours and 15 minutes. Fastest yet for me :) Now I'm cuddling a cat and feeling like sleeping upright on the couch so I know it's time to tuck myself in. Good night everyone, have sweet dreams.

Also, I had falafel on Saturday that I've been craving for 2 weeks and now I want some again. Oh Noez!

Black Capped

Today we went on a search for a bigger litter box for the cats. They are chubbier now and need more room. I was really happy because that meant I got to go to pet stores and peruse the selections of animals I wish I could take home right now. I'd have a zoo at home if I could.

When we were at Brenneman's I saw a cute terrier/sheltie mix who was black and white. He had a sweet face and looked really calm. Then we went to Petland and checked out all their lizards. Now we have to decide if we want a Water Dragon or a Savannah Monitor.


I played with a shrieky black capped conure who was out on a perch with a Cockatoo. I had the conure step up onto my finger and he walked up my arm to my shoulder. Then when Josh was taking him off my shoulder, he started walking up Josh's arm and I took him back quick because I definitely would have a harder time reaching up and plucking him off Josh's shoulder :)

Then we went to the Mall for some unrelated shopping and I had to check out Pet Central Station and their rescue cats. I love cats that are all white but have a colored tail or a spot of color on their back. They look silly. We saw two spunky cats like that. I couldn't convince Josh to take me back to Petland before we went home. *mock pout*

Pancakes Yum

I had delicious Village Inn multigrain pancakes tonight. I ate half the stack and I'm saving some for tomorrow. I love leftovers. I never understood how people can refuse to keep or make leftovers. They are delicious once, why wouldn't they be delicious twice? And I saved a strip of bacon. mmmmmmmmmm.

I drove out to Iowa tonight so now I'm sleepy and full of pancakes :)

Yay It's NaBloPoMo!

Yay It's NaBloPoMo!
Originally uploaded by beanzilla

I'm so excited my face distorted itself with glee!

I successfully avoided getting hopped up on leftover Halloween candy today. A few people brought candy and I picked out some twizzlers and starburst. I had my fill of chocolate yesterday. I did grab a thing of Rolo's that I'm saving for tomorrow. Since I don't have kids I don't get the fun of picking through their candy bags and taking the good stuff out.

I also "celebrated" my 3 year anniversary at my workplace today. I'm not really that excited about my job and I didn't remember that it was my anniversary until I was driving home. Teh excitement is killing me.
My Dad is celebrating his 21st year working at his company today. He's gone through mergers, moves, new management. Go Dad!

Tonight's dinner was so good I want more. I made a sauteed mushroom and colby jack omelet. I sauteed the mushrooms last night in salt and pepper and kept the leftovers. Heated them up in the pan first so they were a bit more carmelized. Nrom nrom nrom.

What did you have for dinner? Halloween candy?

Hallobean

Hallobean
Originally uploaded by beanzilla

This is my costume. That I'm wearing at work. That I spent a $3.04 on to make last night. At 8pm :)

Oooooooooo booooooooooooo booooooooooooooooooooooo

Leopard!

Day 89 - Leopard Style
Originally uploaded by beanzilla

We installed Leopard on our Mac's last night. Photo Booth has an option that allows you to take 4 pictures in quick sucsession like a ...well....photo booth. *hee hee* I had fun with this.

When your photo is done it shows up on the Photo Booth screen like this, all tilted with a shadow behind it. I think it's cute :) I'm having way too much fun exploring Leopard!

Hello!

I came back to Blogger after an unexpected break. I started doing Flickr's 365 Day project and got burnt out on updating Flickr and a blog. I eventually slacked off on Flickr too :( I'm hoping to get back to both because I really enjoyed both so it is perfect that NaBloPoMo is back in a week!

What have I been up to? I started Weight Watchers May 25, 2007 and have lost 32 pounds so far. My husband has a new job and I'm still at the same ol place. I haven't volunteered at the zoo for over a month because I had nasty bronchitis. I have taken over moderating some forums on a bbs I'm on and created a clone of Survivor set in Japan. That was a really fun competition. Started crocheting some new projects including an alien baby doll with green skin I want to finish this weekend.

Expect to see more photos here as I'm going to take a photo a day for Nov. too.

Bailey

I had a dream last night I was running a dating show where the contestants got matched up by my agency and had their first date somewhere between their two houses. This one couple, the guy was from New York and the girl was from Iowa so they had their date in the middle of Ohio. And when the date was ending they had to meet each other's parents. I matched up this tall skinny guy whose last name was Bailey and who named all his pets Bailey with Izzy Stevens from Grey's Anatomy. I guess in my dream she was from Iowa not Seattle.

The end of the dating show showed them married w/ kids owning an apartment complex in Maine that they rented out rooms to people taking music lessons.

And then I woke up *heh*

In other news - my workplace is fixing their A/C so we have no air circulation and they aren't expecting it to be finished until MAY! So I went out and bought some skirts to wear since we aren't allowed to wear shorts. And I'm trying to rig up some ways to be cooler since it was 40 outside yesterday and about 80 inside.

Other than that things are going pretty well. I bought my first pair of sandals of the year and some new skirts and underwear the other night. I'm on a search for inexpensive comfortable short sleeved business casual shirts to wear at work this summer. Lots of the shirts I've tried on recently are too low cut or not dressy enough. If you see anything cute, let me know!

Tamago!

Yesterday afternoon Josh called to let me know he was doing an install right near my work and I was so excited because that meant I could ask him to go with me to one of my favorite places - Mitsuwa Marketplace! We met there for dinner. (Mitsuwa is this awesome Japanese grocery store w/ a food court, yum)

I had tempura and tamago (egg sushi) and some good miso. Josh had katsu over rice. And they opened up a new place in the food court called Re Leaf. It serves Matcha tea, desserts like mochi, and icecream! Woo! I had a scoop of black sesame and a scoop of lychee. Josh had ginger and green tea. The zing of the ginger w/ the mellow green tea was really really good. My lychee had bits of the fruit in it and was like a sorbet. Mmmm. We also bought some pastries and a Green Tea pound cake. I was hyper on sugar for most of the evening and ended up crashing - fell asleep on the couch watching TV. So worth it though :)

Mountain Ewww

Last week I gave up caffiene. I was having trouble sleeping through the night and thought about my habits before bed and realized I was drinking Mountain Dew at 8 or 9pm. No wonder I couldn't fall asleep or woke up at 3 am to go to the bathroom and then lay staring at the ceiling. I weaned myself a bit by drinking less and less pop each day until last Tuesday evening I just drank water w/ lemon in it.

All day Wednesday I felt like a crap sandwich. My head hurt, my face hurt and was so heavy, and I felt really tired. I think I went to bed at 9pm that night. I couldn't stay awake (hey helped with the sleep problem right away, heh)

The next day, also felt really bad but I didn't give up. Friday I felt mostly human and started to feel bouncy as the afternoon went on. No more headache! I had heard that when you stopped drinking caffiene you got headaches but I had a whole face ache. As bad as it was, I am beginning to think it's worth it. I slept the whole night through Saturday even with the daylight saving time change.

Now, I'm feeling well and I see a difference in my skin too. I haven't used as much lotion. I also feel energetic when I wake up instead of groggy. Hopefully the good benefits will stay and I won't feel tempted to crack open a can of Mountain Dew.

Lovely

I'm really tired but I had to put this picture up tonight. This is Arnieta. She was born Jan. 17th, 2007. She is so curious, I was about 3 feet from her when I took the picture and she kept coming over to look at me. Her skin looks so soft and kind of wrinkly still. I think petting her would feel like suede or velvet :)

Their momma is named Princess Leia

I think everyone should get to play with baby goats at least once. Especially 1 1/2 week old goats. The one with the white ears is Muffin and she was 4 pounds last weekend and the all black is her sister Ginger who was 7 pounds. Their bodies are the size of house cats (if you are trying to picture how big they are) but with gangly legs and rubbery hooves. They are so little their hooves haven't hardened yet. When they are born their hooves are like marshmellows and when I asked as zookeeper why..she said "Would you want to have hard sharp pointy things inside your uterus? Really?" *heh* Yay evolution!

This was right before they got their bottles and after they both fell off the haybales 283 times playing Queens of the Mountain. Muffin makes more noise even though she's tinier - I think she's trying to make up for her size with LOUDNESS. And she nibbled on my shoe and pants and we are trying to teach her that pants aren't food. And neither are people fingers. Or her sister's foot. Or the wall. She's slowly learning.....maybe.

I'm alive!

I got into a funk shortly after my last post and haven't made much crochet and skipped a day at the zoo. I was feeling all sorry for myself and being mopey. There is something just horridly depressing about February. I'm usually excited for Valentine's Day because we go out for a nice dinner and I look forward to that - this year we had an Indian Buffet. But then it snowed like crazy and I got sick and my nose, which is mostly healed, started hurting again and I let myself turn into a grump-o-saurus.

I picked up my DS Lite which I haven't played for ages and started playing Animal Crossing and Nintendogs and Brain Age again.
And I had another Zoo Day and took 80 billion pictures so I'm starting to cheer up again.

At the zoo this weekend I got to play with 2 baby goats that are less than 7 pounds each and barely 2 weeks old - imagine a fully grown house cat...they are smaller than that. I took a video of them romping and need to put it on YouTube. And the baby polar bear is getting bigger, and the zoo has a new dolphin, and I hugged a giant rabbit.

Life is better with tiny baby goats.

Early Valentine

Here are the penguins I previously posted about! They are both custom orders for Valentine presents for a little girl and her Dad. I wrote the patterns for both of them and am trying to decide which pattern I like better. Please let me know which you think is cuter. The one on the right is supposed to look like the baby Emperor Penguins from the movie Happy Feet.

These penguins are about 6 inches tall, stuffed with Polyfil and have marbles in their feet for weight. Crocheted in a spiral - the black and white penguin body was crocheted in one part which was fun trying to figure out the decreases and increases in the middle of color changes - first time I tried that!

What sound does a penguin make?

I am proud of me.

I'm writing my own pattern for a crocheted amigurumi baby penguin and I got it finished today and it's sooo cute. It's like a baby emperor penguin
(example - http://www.emperor-penguin.com/emperor-chick.jpg)
and now I get to make a big brother for it.

I have lots of projects to finish before Valentine's - I'll post pictures as soon as I'm done. I had some good time off work, my nose is healing well. Things are looking brighter :)

My nose is healing - yesterday the swelling was way way down and I didn't whistle when I breathed. I am going to attempt to wear slightly less bandages today. Thanks for the well wishes. I'm calming down more about the fact I could scar on my face. I know it won't make me hideous to have a lil scar on my nose area but when you are saying "ow ow ow ow ow ow" all day it's kind of hard to think rationally.

I have Monday and Tuesday off work which is perfect because I really need some relaxation time.

Ow

I opened a cabinet at work yesterday morning and one of the metal shelves fell out from about 2 feet up and knocked me on the floor. My nose got wacked pretty hard and my glasses knocked off my face.

I went to the hospital and got xrays and they don't think my nose is fractured but they are having a radiologist look over the films today. The cut is like half an inch right down the bridge of my nose and they had to glue it shut. I have glue nose.

Ow ow ow it still hurts.
ow
ow

My eyes are kind of swollen today too and it looks like someone punched me in the face.

I'm a pretty princess, right?

Tall and gangly

Baby giraffe! Baby giraffe! *sing song* Baaaaby Giraaaffffeeeeeee!

At my zoo, on January 17th Franny the Giraffe gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and I got to see her Saturday. She's about 5 foot 5 and has the longest eyelashes and dark coloring. She was very inquisitive and it's hard to believe she is only 10 days old when you look at her. She is very brave and confident, exploring the building. Did you know giraffe's use their tongues like we use our hands? She kept licking the rope fencing and then licking the walls.

I saw her fold herself into a tiny giraffe ball and go to sleep when I saw her at lunchtime. I went back after my zoo shift was over to watch the baby for "a little while". An hour and 15 minutes later, I headed home. I have never seen something that looks graceful and awkward at the same time. She doesn't have a name yet, the public will get to nominate and vote on a name later in the spring. I am thinking of a few good ones. Her dad's name is Dusty and her sister is Jasiri. Any name suggestions?

Crocheting a Zoo

Currently I'm making an elephant, two penguins, a platypus, a giraffe, and a punk rock rabbit complete with skulls and a few piercings. Yay! They are all commissions so I'm having fun and making some extra change. Well, one of the animals is technically free but I'm sending it to someone as payment for helping me think up cute things to make and sell on my etsy.com shop.

Thinkin

The radiant Sari has tagged me with a meme, The Thinking Meme.

1. If you had to choose one vice in exclusion of all others, what would it be?

I would pick alcohol, especially Malibu Rum. I don't smoke and I've given up caffiene before and that wasn't to hard. But I'd miss getting tipsy on New Years on two wine coolers and a Malibu Rum and coke.

2. If you could change one specific thing about the world, what would it be?

I would want more people to give me presents. No no, really I'd want more people to understand that if you like something it doesn't mean every other person has to like it too. We don't need a world of clones - differences are good. Me liking cheese doesn't hurt the fact that you don't like cheese and I'm not going to force you to like cheese.

3. Name the cartoon character you identify with the most.

Bubbles from the Power Puff Girls, especially the episode where she has the crayons and is running around coloring everything *heh*

4. If you could live one day of your life over again, which one would it be?

The day I decided to stay at the college I went to instead of transfering. I was in the Art History program and was going to transfer to the University of Iowa to study Zoology but decided against it for some reason. I'd have maybe met my husband sooner since he was in Iowa City and I already knew the person that introduced us *heh* But it's tricky because I wouldn't want to mess up the space time continuum.

5. If you could go back in history and spend a day with one person, who would it be?

My Dad's grandpa. He talks so fondly about Elmer and I would love to have a chance to spend time with him and my Dad.

6. What is one thing you lost, sold or threw away that you wish you had back?

My toys from when I was little in the 80's. I think some My Little Ponies and Rainbow Bright dolls got tossed when I was in college and my mom went through a cleaning frenzy. I am feeling nostalgic tonight.

7. What is your one most important contribution to this world?

My artwork and when I have kids, my kids.

8. What is your one hidden talent that nearly no one knows about?

I can close one eye completely and leave the other eye completely open. Husband calls it the Dead Eye. It's pretty creepy.

9. What is your most cherished possession?

Just one thing? I cherish my kitties but they are family not possessions. I tend to cherish things that are alive more than possessions....I cherish my wedding ring because of what it means. This answer is boring... I cherish my yarn collection! *heh*

10. What one person influenced your life the most when growing up?

My Dad. He helped me see the silly in life, he showed me that you can cook wierd combinations of food and it turns out great, and he taught me how to be kind and thoughtful. My dad is the best.

11. What word describes you better than any other?

Excitable!

Teensy Bunny

I decided to try and make my own little stuffed bunny last week, first thing I've made with no pattern. I pretty much winged it - the body came out looking like a tiny delicious pear. Then I added the ears and arms, got stuck for a day trying to figure out how to make feet....bun suddenly just doesn't need feet *heh* Feet aren't that important when you have a divot in your bum to keep you from falling over. Added the tail and face tonight and voila, Teensy Bun. His body is 3 inches tall with 1 inch ears and he's about 2 inches wide.







Can you believe I just taught myself to crochet in September? I'm so excited about this little guy.

Seriously Don't

You know that song "Mama don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys..."

Well my song is "Mama, don't let your babies grow up to work in the insurance industry .... especially not when it's January and everyone's benefits renew for the year and everyone wants to check into the hospital at once and your baby has to work 10 hour days or longer just to barely keep upppppp" *twang twang guitar solo*

I'm really tired - today is the first day since 1/2/07 that I didn't work 10 hours or more. My "No Elevators" is still going strong even if I did want to fling myself down the stairs today because I was too tired to walk down them. I managed.

I'm crocheting a tiny bunny, one tiny body part at a time for some stress relief - last night I made an arm. Today, a foot.

This rambling post is brought to you by The S.D.W.I.I. Institute *



*S.eriously D.on't W.ork I.n I.nsurance

No easy ride

I'm attempting to make 2007 the Year of No Elevators.

I won't take an elevator all year. I'll take the stairs both up and down 3 flights at work. I'll take the stairs instead of looking for an elevator and hopefully I'll be in better shape and less likely to want to die after a few flights of stairs. I can walk and walk and walk, but make me heave myself up some stairs and I'm Wheezy McWheezerstein.

Ambitious?

Christmas Presents I Made - Part 2: Camo Gloves

I made these fingerless gloves for my Father-In-Law. When I was making a pair of fingerless gloves for myself in November he saw them and requested a pair. Since he hunts, these will be nice to use so his hands cam be warm but his fingers are free. My husband's hands just happen to be almost the same size as his Dad's so he was my "helper" when I was trying to make sure they fit. He's also modeling them here before I wrapped them. I used Red Heart Super Saver acrylic in their camo color and a I hook. This is the pattern I used - Wrist warmers

FIL really liked the gloves and they fit well. I didn't crochet the thumb part so I'd make sure they fit well. I think they turned out nicely and my gauge was even since both gloves were exactly the same size.

Christmas Presents I Made - Part 1: Cupcake Face

Here is the amigurumi cupcake pin cushion I made for my sister for Christmas. It is life size so it fits in the palm of your hand and the needle stuck in it is a huge yarn needle (about 3 inches long). The vanilla cupcake was made with a shiny tan yarn for the vanilla cake part and worsted weight acrylic yarn for the frosting. Then I put multicolored sprinkles all over the top. I filled the bottom of the cupcake with a dry black beans for weight (they are wrapped in plastic so they don't get icky) and the top has stuffing inside. My sister really loved it and I already bought supplies to make another one with either white or pink frosting.

Cupcake butt!

Jingle Owls Jingle Owls Hoot Hoot Hoot Hoot Hoooot

I am up and wrapping the last Christmas present to take with me to my parents this morning. The cats are celebrating by sitting on the wrapping paper and purring. I hope you are having a lovely morning wherever you are and if you don't celebrate Christmas I hope you are enjoying the day off work to do whatever you want :)

Slackerface McGee

I am working so hard making Christmas presents that all sorts of other things in my house are suffering. Sorry messy kitchen, sorry laundry stacking up, sorry disheveled living room. At least I've managed to keep myself fed, the cats fed, and I've bathed regularly :) I am giving my sister a scarf and decided to crochet a container for it, so I'm making a giant purple and white cupcake to put it in. I had to adjust the pattern to make a lifesize cupcake into gigantor cupcake, but so far it's working out alright :)

Run around like a chicken

I have been working overtime and making Christmas presents and not sleeping very well. How are you? I have had trouble getting into the Christmas spirit this year but I think making 10 Snowman ornaments should help, right?

I was at the zoo today and they have carmel colored baby chicks! Just when I thought the chicks couldn't get cuter, they did. And there is a new zoo baby born Thursday night! I can't say what animal had a baby yet (they don't release the info to the public for a bit and I don't want to get into trouble) The baby Klipspringer was finally named - he is Nadir which is swahili for "rare". I think it fits him well. Within a 45 minute period I held Banana the Rat Snake, Michael the Rabbit, Zappyhead II the Guinea Pig, Ben the Rat, and Smokey the Cat. I was getting tested on my animal handling. We have to get check ups on our animal handling skills regularly so we can still be certified to hold them. I'm still certified for all of them, yay!

I'm thinking of getting a part time job at a pet store near by and maybe my experience at the zoo will help me get the position.

Currently

I have crochet projects out the wazoo.

Last night I rewrote a ornament pattern to be smaller so I could make more before Christmas. Tonight I made an cadre of tiny black top hats. They go with the army of little snowman heads I'll be making this tomorrow. Then, I start on the fingerless camouflage gloves that will be a present for my father-in-law. Fortunately, Josh has the same size hands as his Dad so he can try them on as I make them. Then I'm making Josh a warm hat for winter. I'm also making cat toys on commission for some friends and a possible dog toy that looks like roadkill. Hoo-yah!

The Zoo Went Cuh-ray-zee

Saturday night was Holiday Magic at the Zoo and I was stationed as a door greeter and counter for a half hour (5 to 5:30). 350 people came in during that time frame and by 8:30 at night we had over 3,000 guests (when we usually have a few hundred in that same amount) And we still had to show animals and do arts and crafts while being mobbed with kids wearing 30 layers of clothing. It was....interesting. *heh* I did get to meet one of the new baby corn snakes and take out Jim the Cat. Jim is so mellow - he's like a bag of pudding that purrs. He is unflappable, big and orange and very much like Garfield. I will be taking my camera next week to get pics of the ice carving and holiday lights.

Nothing says Christmas like 700 children singing Jingle Bells to the Tiger who sits there looking really really confused. They are going to sing carols to the bears next weekend. Crazy!