Friends...

Curiosity = Cat

I was cleaning the kitchen just now and had left the dishwasher door open and bottom drawer out. I heard a *clank* behind me and turned around find Serabi IN the dishwasher, sniffing around.

Nothing is safe with this cat around.

Holidays...

Spent Christmas Eve with Dad's family. Saw my aunt and uncle and ALL my cousins = AWESOMENESS! Very rare. My oldest second cousin is graduating high school this year and is about 4 inches taller than me *beam/boggle*. The youngest is 17 months.

Spent Christmas Day with Mom's family (two aunts and an uncle). Much quieter day, but loved it just as much.

Went down yesterday to be with aunt and uncle and my Alabama cousins. Also saw my recently-returned Nevada cousins (they just moved back to Texas). Spent an hour working on my uncle's computer, played Halo 3 with one of my 2nd cousins, ate more food than I thought humanly possible, played my first-ever game of Trouble (my 5 and 7 year old second cousins taught me), visited and had a blast.

Today I took two angry cats to the vet. Serabi is SO freaking loud - it's actually painful to my ears to be cooped up in a car with her because she caterwauls non-stop. She had a scratch on her eye from one of the other cats and we'd been treating her 3 times a day with eye drops. She got a clean check-up today though, so no more drops! And I took my Sheba in for a check-up and she also got a clean bill of health *cheer*.

Getting ready for the BIG party.

And as for that paper... uhm... well... *cough*
*sigh*

But family and fun! Yay!?

Up-to-date

Let's see... Made several calls to the tv/internet company, waited around yesterday for the plumber to come replace our broken garbage disposal, and today they came back to replace the water heater that died last night. I spent all day today working outside; blowing leaves around the backyard, cleaning out the junk, sorting through things in the garage, cleaning up the driveway, and emptying out the "green room" (like a sun room).

Went bowling tonight with my dad. We both had a lot of fun. I beat him in the first game by 19 pins and he beat me in the second game by 49 pins. Not bad seeing as he hadn't bowled in about 30 years. I would have gone for a tie-breaker but I was exbausted after my cleaning spree.

I have managed to get a little work done on my paper, but not nearly enough.

Need to finish preparing for lunch on Christmas day - at our house. I think I'm heading to my aunt and uncle's on Christmas Eve.

Ugh. Too much effort to keep going on my iPod Touch.
More later.
Happy Holidays and safe travels.

Serabi

I have started researching for my Research Paper. Oofda. I hope to get a sizable chunk of it done before I go home.

Making plans for Christmas dinner (at our house this year) and for the Holiday party my parents are having on the 29th.

Oh... and as promised, a couple of pictures of Serabi. She's hardly ever in one place for very long and when she is, it's because she's sleeping. I'll try to get some better pics and a video before I leave.

Texas... again

Back home for the Holidays.

Nice and cool here. It's 38 degrees and feels like 28. Everyone here is freezing and I'm loving it. There's no snow, but otherwise it's not so bad. Beats last year when it was in the 90's. Ugh!

Brought Sheba home with me and she hasn't left my bedroom since we arrived. She doesn't want anything to do with the other two cats, though she does sniff the dog when he comes in my room. I wonder what she thinks about being drug back and forth between Minnesota and Texas. She does seem less traumatized by flying with me than she was when I "abandoned" her over Thanksgiving.

I'll post some pics (and maybe video) of the new kitty next time I blog. Promise :)
She's.... freaky... wild... cute... lovable... S T R A N G E...
You can follow her down the hall and into a room and when you look in the room she's nowhere to be found. Then you turn around and she's standing right behind you. And you have NO freaking clue how she got there. It's CREEPY... almost like she can teleport. LOL. Seriously.

When she looks straight at you she kind of cocks her head to one side. That combined with her the shape of her face and here eyes... well she looks like a wild animal. But she's super-duper lovable and sweet as can be.

She's always in motion; prowling, exploring, climbing behind things, and rubbing against you, the carpet, the furniture...

Ceramics

I made a total of 57 pieces. I showed my first two bowls and I'm saving some for presents for Mom and Dad - will post pics of them afterwards.

Below are a bunch of pictures of my stuff... I tried to lump them together in a way that makes sense... at least it makes sense to me!

Raku pots. It's a different style of firing.




Plates.


Less-than-gorgeous plates.



Bowls.





Lidded forms.


Pinch pots - hand made by pinching (not wheel thrown).



Cylindrical forms.



Mugs.



Two tiny bowls. People teased me saying I made a Saki bowl and a shot glass. *shrug*


A bottle and pitcher forms.


A four-piece set of bottle/bowls.


Slam pots. Slabs of clay thrown on different surfaces, hollowed out and in one case carved out. The rectangular one I carved out NZ symbols and it was Soda fired.



And my slab constructed, stylized fish hook. It's like my necklace I got in NZ. It was 23.5" high I first assembled it. The final size is just shy of 21".

Christmas Time

Borrowed this from Amber.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I usually use bags, but for Christmas I go Old School = Wrapping paper.
2. Tree--Real or Artificial? When I was growing up we always had a real tree. Then I developed allergies to them - itchy skin. They always made Mom sneeze, so we went artificial.
3. When do you put the Christmas tree up? My little tree in my apt went up Nov. 18th and I put my parents tree up as soon as I go home. This year was the day after Thanksgiving.
4. When do you take the tree down? When my Mom tells me I have to :(
5. Like egg nog? Yuck... no thank you.
6. Do you have a nativity scene? Nope.
7. Favorite gift received as a child? Oh man... That's an impossible question. I remember the feeling when I got my electronic piano/keyboard and a stable for My Little Ponies.
8. Hardest person to buy for? My parents. They want something - they buy it.
9. Easiest person to buy for? Aya.
10. Worst Christmas present? Can't think of any.
11. Mail or email a Christmas Card? In person or mail. Don't send a lot of cards.
12. Favorite Christmas movie? White Christmas.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? *cough* I'm a last-minute shopper.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No.
15. Favorite food to eat on Christmas? Mom's mashed potatoes.
16. Clear or colored tree lights? Clear.
17. Favorite Christmas Songs? "White Christmas"
18. Travel during Christmas or Stay home? Travel. I live in MN and my family lives in TX. I go to them.
19. Can you name Santa's reindeer? Wow... Yeah I can.
20. Angel or Star on Tree top? Angel.
21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve.

Last Class

I had my last class today... last class with Dr. Morgan and last class at BSU.

Next semester I'm writing my Research Paper and doing my Written Exam. No classes.

A little annoyed...

Yeah...

So I paid my December rent and left a post-dated check for January's rent that they were going to hold (like they did last year). My rental agency deposited both checks at the same time. This resulted in an overdraft from my credit card (what with me being broke and all). I've been dealing with this for a week and the end result is this: The bank didn't charge me an overdraft fee bc I have overdraft protection. The rental agency couldn't get the check returned bc it didn't "bounce." So I'm left paying interest on this amount for one month - until I have money to pay it off. Not a horrible result, but I'm annoyed non-the-less.

It can all be summed up in one word: Hassle.

Oh for cute!

Chewy!

Found it at Think Geek.com

If only I were say... nine years old again :)

New Family Member

So my parents just called me.
My Mom was giddy.
They had me on speaker phone because they "had some news they wanted to tell me together."

This is extremely rare and made me go... "Uhhhh.... ok."

I thought maybe they'd decided to adopt the Great Pyrenees puppy they've been helping to watch. Some friends of theirs found it and they're trying to turn it over to the GP rescue, but they have to hold it for 30 days. These friends already have two huge dogs, so the GP has been spending it's days in my parent's back yard.

I was wrong.

Dad - "We got a Bengal!"

Me - "You got a WHAT?" - I thought he was joking... that they got another cat, maybe a bigg-ish one.

I was half right...

They went to the place where they got Luxor (who passed away this past summer) and when they walked in the owner said, "I've got your cat in the back." They were like, "Yeah. Right."

She brought out a Bengal Cat and apparently it was love at first sight.

Her name is Sarabi (interestingly... that's the name of Simba's mother in the Lion King) and she weighs about 15 lbs.

She's still in quarantine, so they can't pick her up until tomorrow... I get home Thursday so I'll meet her soon.

A freaking tiger cat...

*boggle*

A Good Visit

Went to see Sharon today. I haven't seen her since May. Been missing her quite a bit. She's had one heck of a week, so I think she enjoyed our visit even more. Hopefully we'll be able to get together again before another 7 months go by!

Have you ever...

Have you ever been walking along when you heard something that made you stop in your tracks, blink, shake your head, stifle a giggle and take a deep breath before moving on?

How about two guys walking out of the Men's Room as one says to the other, "I’ve had them all my life and you know what, they didn’t get any bigger as I got older."

You know you live in Nrthn. MN when...

When they bring in dump trucks to remove the snow from parking lots.

True story: I was looking around at the huge piles of snow (smiling inwardly) and contemplating a post about dump trucks and snow... when a dump truck with snow remnants drove right by me.

Then I listened to my voice mail with my Mom was complaining about 79 degrees today, 80 degrees tomorrow and would I please bring some snow home to them?

Sparks & Fire

Did some more Raku last night and stopped by to see how it turned out this morning... Interesting...

Had to grind down two of my high-fire pieces. First time I've had to do that, but the glazes ran a bit and the pieces stuck to the kiln shelf. When this happens they have to pry it off the shelf - sometimes taking a bit of the shelf with it. Luckily you can grind it off.

I was getting ready to use the grinder and the Professor asked me if I'd used that grinder before and I said, "I've used 'A' grinder before." And he said, "Good."
I (practically) grew up in a locksmith shop... Key machines and grinders are like home to me.

iPod Touch

Trying something new. Got an iPod as a gift, but seeing as I already have one... I traded it in for an iPod Touch. Pretty nifty. Takes a bit longer to type, but will come in handy when I'm at home for Christmas.

Picturessss

The back of our Bowling Shirts:


Today's snow:


My own computer help:

Two Lumps

So THAT'S why Rascal climbed our Christmas tree ten minutes before family was due to arrive, bringing it crashing down onto the newly set table. There were ornaments (only 2 broke) and pine needles everywhere and he went into hiding for the rest of the day.

In the past...

I'm not sure if my references are totally obscure or antiquated... Maybe both.

In the past couple of days I've made references to a "push-me-pull-you" and "No Name City" and the people around me looked at me like I was crazy.

In other news...

I got to do some Raku firing today in Ceramics. Basically you fire your pots in a kiln, slowly raising the temperature and then when they're super hot (glowing red) you remove them from the kiln and put them in a container with some highly flammable material (in this case shredded paper). The special glazes for Raku firing give you some interesting colors and you get a crackled surface. It's a bit dangerous - what with the flames and such... plus it has a 50/50 chance of cracking your pots... and they're not food-safe. Two out of the three pots I did today cracked.

Medieval Tech Support

Dr. A just shared this with me.

Holiday Travel & The Guilt Trip

So.... Flew home last Tuesday night. Had Thanksgiving lunch with Mom, Dad and Aunt M.

Went to church and had lunch with Aunt N, Uncle G, Cousins D & L and their three kids who have grown so much in the last year and a half... Unbelievable.

Got a new winter jacket (needed desperately).

Loved a puppy dog and a kitty cat.

Visited with parents and helped them plan a holiday party. This will be the first party they've hosted since about 1976. They're really excited.

I decorated their/our Christmas tree.

Got up at 3am on Monday morning to catch my 6am flight back here... got to the airport and right before my plane was to board they asked for volunteers to take a later flight. I volunteered and got a free round trip ticket and upgraded to first class on the flight from DFW to MSP. As it turns out someone on the plane got sick... or something... two EMT's rolled their gurney onto the plane and there was quite a delay. The plane didn't leave the gate until 20 minutes after it was supposed to take off so I most likely would have missed my very close connecting flight.

My poor Dad had been home 15 minutes when I called and he very kindly came back to get me. I went back home for a nap, lunch with Mom and then hung out at their shop for a while. At 3:00pm my Dad took me back to the airport for my 5:30pm flight.

I got to MSP around 8:30pm-ish. I booked-it to the other side of the airport and waited for my flight home. Right when they were starting to board the plane they announced that they were skipping my town and going straight to the last stop (north of here). Apparently the weather here was too nasty. They told us that we could fly on up to Thief River Falls and find our own way home or they could try to rebook us but it might be up to two days. Aaaah!

I wound up getting on the 9:10am flight Tuesday and spending the night in a hotel right next to the airport (read: loud planes flying over me all night long).

Arrived at 10:30am, came home, changed clothes, grabbed a snack and made it to my 12:00pm class.

Weeee!

Now comes the guilt trip.

When I came home the first time kitty wouldn't be quiet. She squawks instead of meowing. She followed me around the apartment going "Yeow! Yeow! Yeow! Yeow! Yeow!" And I was only able to love her for 10 minutes before I had to leave for class.

I got back around 5pm and I could hear her crying at the door when I was walking down the hallway. Very unusual. She followed me around again... squawking. I held her in my lap for quite a while and she kept climbing up and head-butting me in the face. If I left the room she would start squawking. And the saddest thing ever... she fell asleep, sitting on the couch (next to me) and woke up crying and looking around for me. Like a baby. Seriously.

Last night I barely got any sleep because she kept head-butting me and crawling on top of me (when a 15lb cat crawls on top of you - you know it).

I had Aya stop by every other day to check on her, feed her, pet her... but even today she is following me around squawking. She was truly traumatized by my leaving her alone for 6 days.

I'm a baaaaad mommy.

Thanksgiving '07

Back in Texas, but no big plans. Just sitting at home with the puppy and kitty trying to keep myself entertained while the parents are at work.

Having Thanksgiving lunch tomorrow with my parents and aunt.

Hopefully I will get to see my Dad's family while I'm here.

Birthday

Had a guest over the weekend. Doug took his Praxis II test on Saturday morning and needed a place to stay.

I got some work done in the Ceramics studio on Saturday - time is almost up for wet clay work.

Yesterday morning Doug woke me up singing Happy Birthday and dancing on my bed. LOL
Dork.

Bowling was fun last night (even though my scores were terrible) and a few of us went out to Applebee's afterwards.

It was an ok birthday. Most of the day I sat at home working on school stuff.

Neighbors

When I moved into this apartment building there was a dentist office here. Now they've added a retirement/assisted living facility for the elderly.

If I stay here long enough I'll have great teeth and a place to retire.

Subbing 10.0

High School Choir... The Student Teacher took over all the instruction, bless her. It was her first week of student teaching, so I helped her a bit with discipline. Overall, it was a good day.

Black Magic!

A quick giggle, courtesy of Get Fuzzy.

Rant-ish

I don't like rude people. There's really no excuse for it.

I don't like bullies. They're really just terribly insecure.

It's kind of sad.

I do like supportive friends who "have your back" and bosses who stand up for you.
They're pretty much awesome.

What will $20 get you?

1. A sharp poke in the arm
2. A day-long pain in the arm
3. "Protection" from the flu
4. A sucker for not crying :)

LoL

I missed a phone call last night, resulting in a humorous voice mail from a friend of mine. He started out by singing, "Happy Belated Birthday to You..." and went on (rambling) about how he and his wife were sorry they'd missed my birthday. He also wished me happy birthday over 20 times...

So I called him (and his wife) back and in between fits of laughter I managed to say, "I don't know what's funnier... your message or the fact that my birthday isn't until November 18th."

Sensory Experience

Last night Aya and I went to see 30 Days of Night.

1. The movie takes place in northern Alaska - in the cold. The theater was freezing. I had on my jacket, hat, scarf and gloves.

2. At one point in the movie there's a bag of pot-marijuana-hashish. Someone in the theater reeked of pot.

3. The Kiwi guy in the movie had a terrible accent. Uhm... My Kiwi accent is terrible?

Ok, maybe I should have stopped with one and two.

Future Plans

I spoke to my adviser this morning regarding my future plans. I told her I was planning on attending the big education job fair in the cities this April and she said I should also look into jobs at community colleges. There's a thought...

*ponder*

It opens up more job opportunities for me and helps me in my long-term goal of teaching in higher ed.

I'll have to think about that...

Free Rice

Heard about this on the radio... Free Rice. For every word you get right they "donate 10 grains of rice through the United Nations to help end world hunger."

Or so they say... but I like word games and it's a nice thought...

Plus when I went to Dictionary.com to look up inveigle, I saw their word of the day is woolgathering and I had no idea it could also mean "indulgence in idle fancies and in daydreaming; absentmindedness." So it's educational.

Who done it?

So much fun!

Last night was my Murder Mystery Dinner Party. I had 6 other people over and we all dressed up and did our best imitations of French and Italian accents (meaning we massacred them). Lots of laughter, finger pointing and drama.

Good times.

The Haunted House was lots of fun too, but I was so tired by then end of it. 4pm until after midnight running around and giving tours. Half an hour before it was to start, the fire alarm went off because of the fog machine and they couldn't shut it off. It kept blaring for an hour or so, when it miraculously shut off on its own.

I'm looking forward to a nice quiet week this week.

Happy Halloween!

And that figures...

Two years ago I dressed up for Halloween, as did many faculty/staff from the Ed Dept. Last year I didn't and again many faculty/staff did and they all asked me where my costume was. So... I dressed up again this year and no one else did. There are rumors that one faculty member was going to, but no one's seen her yet.

Ah well. I'm all flowy and angel-like... and I'm in the mood for the Monster Mash.

And tonight I'll be emo/goth girl with my black clothes and super dark make-up. I'm a tour guide again for the Oak Haunted House.

Saturday night is my big Murder Mystery Dinner. I'm super excited about it and I've already started decorating and moving the furniture around. I have my outfit ready and I know what I'm doing with my hair and make-up. My character's name is Moma Rosa and I'm an Italian widow, my husband is the murder victim. Poor Pepi.

Eee! Fun, fun, fun!

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey is looking for a teacher to travel around with them, to be housed on their own private train.

If I was licensed for 1-12 (instead of K-8), I might consider applying. That would be an adventure of a lifetime and a great way to see all 48 continental states.

The hang of it

Thanks largely to an Intermediate Ceramics Student who spent over half an hour walking me through different techniques last Friday... I've finally got the hang of this ceramics thing. And it's about time... over halfway through the semester... geeze! I've made a plate and three cups and three bowls with a bit of flare.

Yay!

Saturday I get to go to a baby shower. Haven't been to one of those in.... years.

Also planning a Murder Mystery Dinner Party for a few friends.

Watching

Ok... so it's a little creepy to open my web browser and be confronted with my own eyeball staring back.

So... time for a new post.

I checked out a 2 bedroom in my apt. I was thinking if I gave up my garage it would only be $40 more than I'm paying now. However, the floor plan was completely whack and my apt is actually much nicer. So that's a BIG NO.

I spent a couple of hours in the ceramics studio yesterday and managed to make a couple of cups (my first). A guy from the intermediate/advanced class helped me out quite a bit - showed me some new centering and opening techniques which made everything so much easier! Yay!

Dog-sitting tonight for Aya's mom. Aya's cousin is getting married.... right about now, and they all went down for that.

Open

My brain is open for business.

Extinction

Aya and I just watched Resident Evil: Extinction. She jumps SO BAD at scary scenes. I might flinch or cringe a bit but she'll jump out of her skin and her jumping scares/startles me more than the movie so that I jump - belatedly. I'm sure we're entertaining to the rest of the theater audience.

On the way home I was trying to remember the first two movies, but I was getting scenes from the two movies all mixed together. Good thing Aya's going to let me borrow her movies.

And no new job for me. At least... not yet.

Getting Better

YAY! I finally had a couple of things come out of the high-fire kiln that don't suck terribly!

My first bowl has a crack in the bottom that goes all the way through, which is sad. I'll have to find something to use it for that doesn't involve liquids of any sort.
From the top:


Pretty color variations... From the side:


My second bowl is purrrrty. It has some minor imperfections in the glaze that you can see up-close. But still... I'm definitely improving.


I love purple and this is kind of a purply-blue with turquoise and black spots. Kinda nifty.

Sweeny Todd

Call me crazy but I'm actually so excited at the prospect of another musical that I don't mind it being about a murderous, demon barber.

I've heard the name Sweeny Todd before, but I never knew who or what it was. Tim Burton is pairing his wife with Johnny Depp again (plus Alan Rickman) in this film version of a musical.

Interesting.

Wedding 2.0

D's brother and sister-in-law took lots of pictures and Aya loaned me the CD's.

Aya's new family:


Wedding ceremony:


The car:


The head table at the reception/dance hall:


Aya and D at the reception/dance hall:


Aya and D's first dance:


Me dancing with a baby:


The garter:

The Wedding

We decorated and had the rehearsal on Friday. This took from 9am - 10:30pm, but the end result was well worth the effort.

I spent almost an hour scrubbing pumpkins/gords:


The church sanctuary:


The center piece on the punch table at the dining hall:


Unfortunately, I misplaced my camera before we decorated the dance hall, so I don't have pictures of those decorations or of the wedding day.

I'm emailing people asking them to send me pics.

I found my camera when I got home from the wedding and took a couple of pics of my hair because it was soooo purty!

From the back (I got to have flowers in my hair!):


From the side:


I'll post more pics as I get them. The actual wedding day lasted from 8am - 2am. But it was SOOO much fun. And I actually did a lot better with my toast than I was expecting. I was terrified to give a speech actually. There were about 200 people there. I've put in a copy of my speech at the end of this post if you're interested in reading it.

I didn't sleep well for a week before the wedding and then worked my bum off for two days. But it was beautiful and fun and I danced and hung out with friends I hadn't seen for quite a while. Aya was a gorgeous bride. The decorations were perfect. It went off without a hitch... well except for the one that was supposed to happen :)

Sunday morning I had brunch with some Res-Life friends and then around noon I dropped off the last of the decorations to Aya. I came home with every intention of taking a well-deserved nap, but I noticed my landlords next door and I brought them over to my apt to see if they could figure out why it's always so hot (between 80-85 degrees on average with the heat turned off). After climbing around in the basement we came back up and my landlord started feeling around for sources of heat. The culprit? My retro-avacado-green fridge. So sad. I fell in love with that thing when I first walked into the apt. Ah well. I now have a newer, white fridge and my apt is already much cooler. Apparently the green beast was running constantly, pumping out all kinds of heat.

I still couldn't sleep Sunday night - was up until 4am. Just couldn't turn off my brain. Finally, last night I took a sleeping pill and got my first good night's sleep in over a week.

And... I woke up to SNOW!


All in all - I had a blast this weekend. I saw old friends, got a new fridge and married off my best bud.

Here's my speech:

Hello there.

Who here remembers the dept store Montgomery Wards? (raising of hands)

Well I'll never forget that store. My first job was working there in the draperies dept. I remember on June 10, 1997 my boss introduced me to a new employee, this mousey, little, blond-headed girl. Yes she's naturally blond. (indignant "Hey!" from Aya)

Now, the draperies dept isn't exactly a hip and happening joint. We were kind of tucked away in this darkened corner of the store. It was actually quite boring., but those of you who know Aya, know how creative she is.

Well, somewhere we both had found these little beanie baby-type toys – hers was a lizard and mine was a turtle. We always left them at the cash register. Well… one day I came in and my turtle was missing. In its place was a hand-written note. This note, in a suspiciously familiar handwriting, (look at Aya) gave me cryptic clues as to where my little turtle was to be found. I spent the first ten minutes of my shift hunting for my turtle. After I found him I decided to return the favor with her lizard. And that was our beginning.

Aya moved up here to MN and less than two years later I followed her. She graduated from college, and a year later I graduated. Aya was the first to get her masters, and in May I'll have mine. She was the first to be employed in career-type job. I'll be seeking permanent employment in May. And now she’s the first to be married. I'm single. If any guys out there are interested - I'll be here all night. (whistles and woots from the audience - *grin*)

Over the last ten years we’ve had quite a few adventures. Some wilder than others. If you're interested in hearing about those come find me.

We’ve helped each other through lots of ups and downs and survived multiple road trips together - which wasn't always easy.

Aya’s more than my best friend. She’s my sister.

Please join me in wishing both Aya and Daryk a life filled with laughter and love.

Cheers!