Mmm

Okay, those that know me know that I really don't drink that much. Those that don't know me, why on earth are you reading my blog? I seriously don't think I am that entertaining.

Anyway, I have recently discovered a yummy. Kahlua French Vanilla.

Kahlua French Vanilla

It tastes like my perfect cup of coffee. With a little extra. Of course, my perfect cup of coffee has lots of sugar and a decent bit of milk. Or even better, one of those nifty little flavored creamers. So yeah, I would imagine that this Kahlua isn't for everyone. It is pretty darn sweet. But that's why I like it, I think.

Mind you, I'm such a lightweight nowadays that a couple of tablespoons makes my head a little light. That just means this bottle will last forever. Nothing wrong with that.

Can we have a mulligan?

Hockey season officially started for me last night when the Ducks went to San Jose to play the Sharks.

Sadly, they lost. Kinda badly. 4-1. Yeah. Not cool. I'd really rather start the season with a win, but then who wouldn't. At least it wasn't the home opener, so there is that.

Honestly, I didn't pay enough attention to the game to judge exactly what I thought was going on - I was exhausted and thought I did pretty darn good just to stay up for the whole game (why can't I follow a team in the central time zone?) - so I can't really say much about how the team is shaping up. Which is a shame because I know the Ducks' coaching staff is desperate for my opinion. But sadly, they will have to wait until I see more games.

I'm just happy that hockey is back on so I have something to watch! Even if that means that some nights (like tonight) I have to watch Blues. But they have Andy Mac.

Go Andy Mac!

Weirdness

Yes, yes, I know. I haven't posted for a week and this is what I give you. But this is possibly the weirdest quiz thingy I've seen, so I had to share.

I could survive for 22 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

Yep, apparently dinos look at me and see lunch.

Which is really just fair since last night I had some of Dan's dino nuggets. I got to look at them and go "Mmm, dinner" and bite their little heads off. Of course, that could be because no one was chained to a bunk bed.

Or because they were breaded chicken, but whatever.

Life Is Dull. Good. But Dull.

Okay, so I haven't really been posting any "meaty" posts lately (well, unless you count the whole clogged sink but that was more "leafy". HA! I crack myself up).

Anyway, this post is basically an apology post for the fact that my life is very boring currently. I mean, the most excitement I've had lately was having a nurse come to my job last Friday to take my blood, have me piddle in a cup and ask a few questions so I can hopefully get life insurance. Woohoo! Life insurance! Ugh, I'm old.

So yeah, no big excitement in my life currently. But while not being blog-worthy, life is good right now. I still hadn't fully accepted that it was September (still dating things "August") and it is officially now October - that's pretty much the biggest drama in my life right now. Meh. I can deal with that. And hockey season is rapidly approaching so that's a big time bonus. Go Ducks!

Other than that, Dan and I have just been working, hanging out, watching TV, not getting enough sleep, loving on some wonderful kitties, and paying on the house. It's a thrill a minute, let me tell ya.

But I like it. But then, I don't have to read about it like you do. Muahahahaha!

Cuteness in Bitty Form

A couple of Bitty pictures to display the total cuteness that is our tiniest one:

Dan was napping. So was Bitty. Apparently they both wanted to burrow.

Bitty saying hello to the camera from her favorite playground - the laundry basket.

I'm Snape!

Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

Explanation of the Results:
This type of personality test uses four indexes of personality and the combination of the four is your personality type. The first index relates to how you interact with other people and can be Extroverted (E), meaning you're more outgoing or Introverted (I), meaning you keep more to yourself. The second relates to how you make decisions; whether you're Intuitive (N), getting answers from within, or you rely on Sensing (S) information from your surroundings, using your five senses. The third relates to whether you're more emotional and Feeling (F) or rational and Thinking (T). The fourth relates to whether you prefer things to be organized, meaning you're Judging (J), or you prefer things to be more unbound, meaning you're Perceiving (P).

Wait, does this mean I get killed by a giant snake?

I've actually done this type of personality test before (but without the Harry Potter character thing) in a job coaching book years ago. Anyway, I had to do a huge long test that took almost half an hour and got the same results as this little quick test. AND the book didn't even tell me what Harry Potter character I was! Geez. I think that job coaching book was a rip off.

Belly Boy

Just wanted to share the Sammy's typical resting position - belly up. And what a belly it is!

Isn't he cute?

Mini Teemu Appreciation Post

Hockey has sorta started but not and I was not planning on posting anything hockey related until it started for real (the Ducks have their first regular season game on October 9 but their first preseason game was yesterday), however I had to post something about this.

I just love Teemu Selanne.

Teemu

Check out this article talking about how Teemu's at Ducks training camp under a "pro tryout agreement", waiting for the Ducks to shuffle around their roster and make some deals so they can clear up enough salary cap space to sign him.

I love the fact that Teemu has loyalty to the Ducks and an obvious love of the game. He seems like a genuinely good guy (even with occasional f-bombing towards the refs after penalties included). I think if there were more athletes like him, the sports world would be a better place.

So yeah, Teemu totally rocks. He's the type of guy that I hope good things happen to, you know? And I really hope the Ducks can sign him again this year!

Oh, and since I'm already posting pre-season stuff, I'd like to mention that the Ducks won their first preseaon game (against the Sharks) 6-4. Yay! Of course, preseason means nothing but whatever.

Toy Killing Style

Here are some of our kitties showing off their various toy killing styles. Thanks Grandma Z for providing the toys! I think they like them!

Sink Ick = Kitty Fun

This weekend, Dan and I had a bit of garbage disposal related ick.

Clogged Sink

Our garbage disposal got clogged (with my tea leaves - bad me) which led us to discovering the fact that the garbage disposal leaked when it ran, and even worse when it was clogged.

Our Leaky Garbage Disposal

But, on the plus side, since we had to clean out under our sink, Cocoa had some fun with an almost-empty Swiffer duster box.

As an additional bonus, I've finally started learning how to use my new video editor so I can edit the videos my new camera records. Go leaky, clogged garbage disposal!

Tulip

I forgot to post this earlier in the week, but this is what I did last weekend:

My first official watercolor painting! I have a few small doodles and flowers, but this is the first "project" in the watercolor book I have that I've completed.

As a painting, I don't think it is that good, but as my first watercolor painting, I think it pretty much rocks.

AHRG!

Today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, uh, ye mateys.

Pirate Monkey!

In honor of today, I took a test to see what my Pirate Monkey Aptitude was. Uh, yar. Sadly, this is my result:

No pirate monkey, but sadly true. Well, except for the "children" thing. And the "being on TV" thing. But you know, whatever.

Avast, me hearties (what does that mean anyway?) I was tickled to find a plethora of pirate monkey things online. YES! (Seriously, go Google - the Google Image search is much fun).

Another Pirate Monkey!

I could get into this whole "pirate" thing!

AHRG!!!!!

Because...

...I've been thinking about him a lot lately...

Nibby Balance

Kitty Cuteness

It's been a while since I posted - sorry about that! I could say it is because life has been so busy and exciting that there just hasn't been enough time to post, but that would be a lie. I actually was sick for a little bit and ended up sleeping a lot. Which doesn't lead to very exciting blogging.

But, I've finally decided to expend a little energy and share some of the cuteness the kitties have been getting up to. After all, a number of packages have come in lately and you know what that means: kitties in boxes!

Chloe in a Box... with the Covers Pulled Up

I'm not really sure how Chloe managed to do this, but I imagine it took a little bit of time. We have such talented kitties.

Currently, two of the boxes in the kitchen have managed to get their flaps folded over and then dented to make a perfect kitty hammock. That kind of box set up leads to a lot of exposed bellys.

Cocoa Lounging in the Hammock Box

Of course, don't think that other items on the floor are neglected from becoming kitty spots. Bitty has recently taken a liking to any pillows that are put in the floor.

It's a Soft, Squishy Box... or Not

Bitty is also a fan of the alert "What was THAT?" face.

Sammy isn't a big box fan. He spends most of his time sleeping on the scratch mat in the living room. This time he was just hanging out on the mat but doing it in such a way that showed of his chubby little 'tocks oh so cutely (I think).

Sammy Tocks

(And with the size of his belly, is it any wonder that he runs a little bowlegged?)

And one more of the Samster Hamster as he lays on the scratch mat, this time belly up.

Sam Belly

Also, this weekend we got a package from Grandma Z which had some toys for mama, daddy and the kitties. One of my goodies was a black cat candle holder for Halloween. It's like Happy with a full tail!

Happy Inspects the New Kitty

Sadly, once I got down to kitty level to take the picture, Cocoa barreled over, disrupting the shot and scaring off the non-ceramic scaredy cat so this is the only picture I have. But I still think it is pretty cute. Thank you, Grandma Z!

I also got some really cute video of the kitties playing with some of their new toys but I'm going to have to learn how to use my new movie editing software. So hopefully I'll be posting that later this week.

In other news, I think Cocoa needs therapy. She has become convinced that she is a kitchen appliance.

Kitchen Appliances go in the Appliance Garage... Thus I go in the Appliance Garage

I'm an appliance, yes?

No. No you are not, Cocoa. Sigh. She has also taken to cuddling with the Zojirushi hot water dispenser on my countertop. But I don't believe we have gotten a good picture of that yet. Most of the time she does realize that she shouldn't be up on the counter and gets down as soon as there is any hint of Dan or me coming into the kitchen. But sometimes we say screw the rules, that's a cute picture!

Yum!

So, a few posts ago, I mentioned something about lately wanting to play with watercolors. Well, I haven't yet, but I was bored tonight so I decided to play with the cheapy acrylics I got to mess around with my journal. I asked Dan for a shape and he said, "Apple" so this is what I came up with:

My Apple

I think it turned out way neat! I did do some other doodling paintings but this one is by far the best. And I think considering I only had cream, pink, green and neon yellow, this is one awesome apple.

I put it on the fridge. Hehe!

Kaleidoscope of Homes

Yeah, this post is late, but whatever. I post dated it so it looks like I was actually on the ball and updating my blog in a timely manner.

Saturday, Dan and I went to the Fort Worth Kaleidoscope of Homes. It was amazing. It was crazy. There were five different homes, all of them worth more than 2 million. One of them was even over 9,700 square feet. Seriously. It took us two hours to go through the five homes and we accidentally missed a section of one house.

I took some nifty pictures, but looking back on them, most of the pictures ended up being of bathrooms, tiles or sink fixtures. But they are still cool. And I did manage to snap some shots of pools, courtyards, and patios. For, you know, when we plan on building a 9,000 sq. ft. house.

Ha! Right!

A private courtyard - I wants

Lovely pool (oh yeah, and a parking lot)

A barrel sink. Crazy. Yet oddly cool.

Fun faucet

Blue! Love the tile - the sink is just funky

More sink-ness

Yep, so that is all I'm sharing. Those and other goodies will be printed out and put in my "New Home Wishlist" book. Though the 7,500 - 9,000 sq. ft. think is not on the "want" list.

Bookness and Babbling about Women

I've been reading more lately. Mind you, not as much as 2005 when I read 153 books, but I'm on page to read more than the 20 I did last year. I recently finished Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next: First Among Sequels. The only bad thing about it is that it ended in a cliffie. *sigh* It frustrates me when books do that, but I was sort of expecting it. The third in the series ended in a cliffhanger, too. But even with the detestable cliffie, I really enjoyed the book. Though I really want to know more about the black market cheese....

Wednesday night, I just finished another book, Max Barry's Jennifer Government. This was a fun book; it was about a society that had taken capitalism to the extreme. The government was unable to pursue criminals unless they got funding from the victims or their families, corporations such as Mattel and McDonald's operated schools, and everyone's last name was the name of the company they worked for (thus the name Jennifer Government). I do think this book suffered just a bit having been read after Jasper Fforde's book (because I so enjoy Fforde) but it was still a good and worthy read.

It took me a bit to figure out who I needed to get attached to character-wise, but wasn't like Christopher Moore's Coyote Blue where I disliked the main characters - there were just a good number of characters and it took a bit to figure out who was "good" and "bad" and who was a focus and who was a more side character. Anyway, I love utopia/dystopia books and this one was one that qualifies but unlike so many books in that genre, Jennifer Government wasn't depressing and dark. It was fun, ironic and humorous, but a little disturbing, as are all good utopia books. (Though I still love me some disturbing, dark and messed up dystopia books - the ending of Brave New World with the feet rotating different cardinal directions is the best ending ever).

The combination of reading Thursday Next: First Among Sequels and then Jennifer Government did allow me to realize something: I have difficulty liking female protagonists. Thursday Next is an exception to this rule. The way Fforde writes all of his female characters is enjoyable and likable, well except the ones he wants to be annoying but they are annoying for the reasons he wants them to be annoying. But Jennifer Government was a bit iffy for me. Ultimately, I liked (but not loved) her; it just took me a bit to warm up to her. It says a lot for Barry that I actually did.

For some reason, my dislike is not just for female fiction characters. I also tend to shy away from female recording artists and also tend to enjoy fiction written by men more than women (romance novels being the exception, but then the men that write those types of books tend to have female nom de plumes). I even tend to like TV shows where there is a male (vs female) lead - Burn Notice vs. Plain Sight on USA are two examples of this. Very similar shows, similar sense of humor, but I stopped watching Plain Sight because I just couldn't like Mary. Michael from Burn Notice, on the other hand, I enjoy. Ironic because it is obvious that Plain Sight was created to entertain Burn Notice viewers in between seasons.

Anyway, congratulations if you've stuck with the babble this far. Sad to say, there is little point other than the following:

Thursday Next and Jennifer Government: both recommended reads (and I would also suggest any of Fforde's books and the other Max Barry book I have read, Company)

and

I don't, as a general rule, connect well to other females

I wish I had some fascinating insight about what that second item means. I don't think I'm self-hating or anything like that. I do tend to get along with men more than women. *shurg* Who knows. Ultimately, I don't care. And I'm tired. And this is long. So I'm going to bed.

Ugly Art or Ugly Subject?

I maintain that I have little in the way of artistic talent. But apparently I remembered a thing or two from my high school art classes because this journal page didn't turn out near as stick-figure-ish as I had anticipated.

Do A Really Ugly Drawing...

The subject of these drawings was a dead/dying hibiscus that I have on my back porch. I've had a horrible time this summer keeping it alive (it has never recovered from being pot-bound and then the shock of replanting) so I have decided to be merciful and just let it die. Eventually, I will get another one and try to make it live longer than two years.

Anyway, even though it looks horrible on my porch, it made a great subject for the ugly drawing. And yes, I drew it twice. The first picture (on the right) was one that I drew from memory (though my mental image was obviously off - I had even forgotten that I repotted it from the basketweave planter to a barrel-slat-ish planter). Anyway, I was content with how the drawing turned out considering my aforementioned lack of artistic talent, a spotty memory as my model and the fact that it was, you know, of a dead plant. But there was still this whole blank page on the left....

So I drew it again. This time, I took a picture of the plant and put it up on my laptop screen while I drew it. Yes, I could have gone out to the porch and used the "live" *ahem* model, but dude. Freakin' hot. So no, I couldn't have.

Anyway, for a dead plant, I think the second drawing turned out pretty well. Obviously I remembered something from my old art classes (though honestly, all I remembered was shading - and I even messed that up a little but it looks so much better before I did the (slightly off) shading to it so woo hoo!).

But all in all, this exercise has been fun. And the fact that my sketches (both of them) while not perfect were at least recognizable as dead plants make me more positive about the next craft I have gotten into my head I want to try: watercolors.

No seriously. I have the urge. So I'm going to see what I can do. Though right now, I'm reading a book to try to figure out what I need to get so I can see what I can do. If anything comes of it, I'll post more.

Until then, you can see the dead plant that was my model.

My Lovely Muse