A day in the life

March 24th-April 1st, 2014: Pie to rule all birthday pies!

2014-04-02T09:13:00.003-07:00

I inquired to Chad about what kind of pie he would like for his Birthday on the 1st. That question actually lead to a conversation about how I should make one pie once a month. It almost got a bit ridiculous when I said I should make 35 pies for his 35 years of age, but that worked out that I would have to make a pie basically every week until his next birthday. I feel like we would turn into blimps if I made that many pies. In the end we decided maybe one a month would be ok and not disappointing if we don't get a pie made.

After looking up when certain types of pies are in season and making a list because lists are fun to make. Don't deny it. A list of pies is irresistible. Apple. Blueberry. Pumpkin. There is a pie called Bumbleberry and you know I'm going to make that someday.

I digress, I finally had to make Chad pick a pie for his birthday. You will never know the pain of decision than when you have to decide on what kind of pie someone will make you, and the choices are literally any kind. What seemed like ages, he finally decided on a coconut cream pie, which I'm sure you already knew based off of that first picture!

I have never made a coconut cream pie before, let alone from scratch. Well, it was mostly from scratch. I did not make my crust because I had some left in my freezer from when I bought some crusts during the holidays. Everything else was el' scratcho'.

While making the coconut cream part I had one of those moments that made me realize how much fun making new things can be. I was whisking and stirring away and it all of a sudden started to get thicker and it was basically like I was seeing magic happen before my eyes. I can't even count the amount of times I'll try to cook something new and I'll feel anxious and worried the whole time that it wasn't going to turn out. This time around I just let what happen, happen. I think I have some sort of pie baking bone in my body.

After it was all cooked up and ready to go in my cooled pie crust I had to let the insides rest for at least 2 hours. What does one do for 2 hours while they wait for the pie to cool? Watch whatever you can find on the DVR of course, but lets just get on with this pie story because my DVR is an endless time waste.

The pie has cooled and we begin the process of making our whipped topping and boy was it beautiful. And by beautiful I mean the recipe I found had rum in it. That means it's amazing. It goes so well with the coconut. I think I might be biased since rum is my downfall. Seriously, I have a drink with rum in it and I'll sleep like a wee babe.

Can I just say the best part about being an adult is you can lick that bowl clean if you want. I retained some dignity and used a spoon but I was THIS close to sticking my head in the bowl for a lick.

All in all I was very happy with my coconut cream pie and didn't burn the coconut or screw up the insides. I think a day later it is even better. Romana wishes it was for kitties but I made sure she knew it was only for us silly hoomins.

The next few days I'm going to be in a happy little Coconut Cream pie coma dreaming about the next pie I'll make. Oh, and I suppose I hope Chad enjoys it too since it was for his birthday! (I'm guessing he did since he had two slices yesterday.)

Go bake a pie or something. It'll be fun. : ) OH! And the recipe I used was a combination of the recipes located HERE for the whipped topping recipe with that scandalous rum in it and HERE for the filling recipe I used. I'm sure the crust recipes on either site would have been great but like I said I had one pre-made so I used it up!

March 19th-23rd, 2014: Spring Shedding

2014-03-23T13:06:00.001-07:00

With the final coming of the first day of Spring this last Thursday we are feeling the urge to shed all the winter weight. I don't mean in the regular sense of loosing fat, but in the form of hair. It seems like everyone in our house is shedding some extra winter hair.

Our cats of course go through that little bit of extra shedding like they do after it starts getting warmer out. Although, Romana doesn't show shedding as much as Gwen does and thank goodness for that. I already look like a crazy cat lady enough as it is, I don't need more cat hair on my clothes!

Gwen will let us brush her, in fact, I think she actually really loves it when we brush her. She looks at us like we have some sort of magical powers that turn or hands into the best thing ever. Yesterday I took the comb to her hair after I finished Charli's hair cut and Gwen would not stop following me around until I did it some more. She is very demanding when it comes to something she enjoys.

Romana on the other hand doesn't understand what the comb is for and will usually try to bite and play with it like a toy. We have tried to get her to realize that it is for her enjoyment and not the kind she gets from a toy but I don't think she'll ever want to be brushed like Gwen does.

Speaking of Charli getting a hair cut, she had the biggest hair shedding that occurred in the house. I finally chopped off her massive mop of hair. I think she seriously lost a pound of hair at least. She wasn't really like a mop but she was a big poof ball. I think her hair was at least 3 inches long maybe more.

It's hard to tell what part of her you are looking at when her eyes have hair over them most of the time. I think picture above on the left is the side of her head and the one on the right is part of her face and foot. I can see the shape of her ear and the possibility of maybe her eye.

I had to sit and cut her hair before I bathed her so that after the bath was done I could just shave the rest off without it pulling too much. This is only my second time using the electric shaver to do my dogs hair and I must say it seemed like it went better this time around.

Part way through the trimming I had to take a picture of her looking like a partially sheared sheep. I couldn't get a good view of her long hair on her belly but she just looked ridiculous. Her front end was the hardest to get trimmed so in the picture above her back is trimmed but she still looks all poofy up front.

I think the whole process of trimming, bathing, and shaving took a few hours, probably 4 max (most likely less). This was the first time that I've bathed Charli since we got Romana last fall. She has never seen Charli sans all that hair. She of course spent some time following her around sniffing her trying to figure out what kind of witchcraft this was.

All and all I think I did a pretty good job for a second try at it. I feel like it took less time this time around. The time could have passed a bit faster because I spent a large amount of time sitting in the living room watching movies on netflix while I trimmed her hair.

I'll let you decide how I did. She looks goofy but she always has.

So we say bring on the spring. Time to get the garden planning going! I'm already behind by some standards.

Hey, who knows if I'll try doing my own spring shedding. I've already shaved off all that winter leg hair. Haha, but really I'm looking forward to being able to go for a walk and it not being frozen or dodging road construction. I'm so happy this summer we don't have construction anymore!

March 18th, 2014: After work motivation, what's that?

2014-03-18T08:17:00.002-07:00

How do people find the motivation to do anything after work? I've never understood how some people still have enough energy to work out or do chores around the house when they get home from work.

I'm sitting here on the couch after putting in a load of laundry and I'm about ready to curl up in a heap and sleep right here. The wait for the laundry to dry is probably the longest hour of anyone's life. All you want to do is put that laundry away and the only thing standing in your way is the dry cycle.

I'll be honest, I'm not above leaving it in the dryer and doing it when I wake up but you never want to accept defeat so quickly. I usually make it one load through, but if I have to do two loads of laundry that second load can forget what being folded feels like until I get some naps in.

Today when I was putting the clothes into the dryer Romana and decided she wanted to jump into our front load dryer to see what I was putting in there. She being the curious cat she is thought dryers were a place kitties should go. After the first few pieces of wet clothes where tossed in atop of her she didn't want to be in there for very long.

She has the habit to jump into things when you open them because of her curiousness. For example, the closet in the hallway is used for towels and other bathroom things that don't fit in there, and she feels compelled to jump in there the second you open it.

In fact, one day she jumped in the closet and I didn't notice so I of course shut the door, like you do. Then a little while later I hear a faint meow. Sometimes she can meow when she has forgotten where you are in the house so I simply called out where I was, but she didn't come. Eventually we found her sitting on the towels in the closet. Now she only visits the closet briefly when you open it so she doesn't get locked in, and I'm extra careful to check places when I open them.

Now I have to make sure she isn't in the dryer before I start it too. She is such a trouble maker, but she is too adorable to get mad at.

March 16th-17th, 2014: St. Patrick's Day, or should I say Idea Day?

2014-03-17T07:54:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel like you have too many ideas inside your mind going at once? A swirl of ideas that jumble together and never come out of your head when you are ready for them. There is never enough time to complete the idea you have, or maybe you lack the supplies. So, you take note of it for later but then you are left with this list of things you would love to do but there is only so much time in this world, and sometimes a nap is far more important that doing task on your list. Frustrating, yet satisfying at the same time.

This weekend I tried to find a nice balance between my creative outlets. I spent a part of the time working on a new scarf for my Etsy shop. I really need to get more items up for sale in my shop in order to get more attention. I welcome any ideas that you'd like me to give a shot but for right now I've only got the one solid it to sell.

This scarf is going to be an infinity scarf that I've made in the round. I'm not sure how it will turn out yet because I'm making the pattern up on my own. So far so good, I think.

I know scarves are starting to get out of season with spring finally springing. Can I just say that spring has needed to sprung weeks ago. I have been feeling the urge to be outdoors and in my garden for weeks. I've had the whole stir crazy feeling since I got home from the trip to LA for the Doctor Who convention Chad and I go to there. Having the lovely 80 degree weather there and then having to come back to Minnesota where the seasons are winter and pot hole season.

The need to garden has grown so much inside of me that I have been considering how I can start it inside without my cat trying to eat it. I'm hoping to get my hands on some possible refurbished wood so I can make a few shelves out of it. If I make said shelves I'm thinking of creating a neat little herb garden holder with it out of Romana's reach.

See. Once again another idea up their in my brain just waiting to get out. I'm going to go work on the other idea I worked on over the weekend, my story I'm writing! Did a bit of research and wrote a paragraph that will most likely be completely changed later, but it's still thrilling!

Oh, and Happy St. Patrick's Day! It's the only day I have an excuse to deck myself in green. Wait, like I need an excuse to do that. Pssh.

March 11th-15th, 2014: Irish Soda Bread

2014-03-15T17:31:00.001-07:00

Sometimes in life you have to take some chances. The chance I took was making some Irish Soda Bread for St. Patrick's Day weekend.

I have never made bread on my own before. I have made things like banana bread and the like but not bread-bread. I haven't used yeast and waited for the dough to raise, but then again this Irish Soda Bread is the type that you don't need yeast for; which is one of the reasons I chose to make this kind.

The idea to make this bread came to me when I started looking for ideas to make for St. Patrick's Day weekend. When there is a holiday going on near a weekend it is a great excuse to make something new. I was considering making a pie for Pi Day on 3/14 but I settled for buying one instead. Plus, I lacked the ingredients to make a pie. So, I settled on the Irish theme! Corned beef, potatoes, and Irish soda bread sounded like great Irish themed options.

Biggest challenge when it came to making the bread was trying to make sure it didn't get over cooked! I checked and checked the bread but it kept looking semi-doughy in the middle but eventually I decided it's time had come. Unfortunately the bottom got a little over done but that's easily eaten around.

My first impression of this bread was the feeling like I had just made a giant biscuit. I'm pretty sure if I had space enough to roll it out I could have easily cut the dough up into biscuits. So, if that is what the bread is supposed to be like then it was a success; if it wasn't supposed to turn out like that then people are missing out on some giant biscuit action! Am I right?! No? Alright.

Honestly, I do like the bread. After I had it with the corned beef I cooked in my crock pot and some scalloped potatoes I was feeling pretty darn Irish. Heck I got wild and crazy with it and put some honey on a piece.

Seriously, can I eat this like a normal sized biscuit? I'm picturing just pouring a huge amount of gravy over the whole thing. Of course that would be waaaay too much food but man if I was a giant I'd be all over that.

Basically I just want you to know that this bread is tasty and you should make it if you so desire. Have an excellent St. Patrick's Day and be safe!

March 9th-10th, 2014: Story Waffles

2014-03-11T07:10:00.002-07:00

If you were to write a book what kind of book would it be?

Seriously. What would you write about? Would you write about your life? Would you write a fiction about something you enjoy, or make it up from scratch? Would you write it for adults or children, or maybe even one for both?

I have been thinking about writing something myself. I'm not sure if it will be book material but maybe I'll eventually post it to a fan fiction site depending on what I avenue I go with it. I've been leaning towards something Doctor Who themed, but I'm not sure yet. It's kind of fun to think about different types of themes for what I'm planning. I don't want to really give away too much because I'd still like a bit of a surprise for when I finally do it.

This idea has actually been crowding my head for awhile so I've found it hard to come up with blog posts because this is all I have been thinking about is writing it. I need a code name for it. Secret special thing? Booky thing? Waffle? Eh, I come up with something.

I'm going to leave you with a picture of Romana and I thinking about the kitty stories we should write. Which reminds me that I was once going to write a story about a Boston Terrier. Hmm, maybe I'll add that to my list.

March 6th-8th, 2014: When in doubt cook some balls.

2014-03-08T12:42:00.002-08:00

I suppose I'm disappointed in another app now. I tried to post for the past few days through it and neither of the posts went through. I guess I'll have to look at another one. Ah well.

I'll just let you know what's what for the past few days. My days off at work are normally Thur-Sat, so I'm able to do things around the house; like cook. It's hard to make time for cooking during the work week and I try to do as much I can over the weekend. If I cook large portions over the weekend then at least one or two days I get to have leftovers at work. Which is better than the sandwiches I tend to make instead.

This weekend so far I have endeavored into making Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes. Then this morning I made some pancakes for breakfast. I'm even contemplating making some cookies. We shall see if I go into that project because I've got a heap of dishes to do after all that cooking I did!

I've tried to make Swedish Meatballs in the past and they went alright, but I also used pre-made meatballs that time. This time around I went for the homemade meatballs and I think that changed things a million times for the better.

I've also never cooked meatballs in the oven. I've always done them in a pan on the stove top but I really liked how they turned out. They were large and moist and delicious!

The meatballs are probably the easiest part of the recipe (even if I had to tweak things). The scariest part for me when cooking something new is making a sauce. How often do you start adding in the ingredients and the instructions say it is supposed to look a certain way but when it doesn't right away a sense of panic fills the air? This would happened to me more often than not. I have begun to get better with that panic because I have learned what I can do to salvage my recipe. I had one of those moments with my sauce yesterday when I put the flour in with the butter and it was supposed to be pasty and began to clump. Instead of freaking out I just added a bit more butter and had my liquids ready to help it loosen up. In the past I would have panicked and thrown away the batch and had to start over. Not this time! I don't let it get the best of me if I can help it.

It's taken me some trial and errors to become more and more comfortable with my cooking abilities and I'm very grateful for it. There is nothing quite like a home cooked meal. One thing I'm still trying to figure out is how to get some good mashed potatoes from scratch. I'm thinking next time It'll involve my mixer instead of my pure arm strength. You can only do so much with your arm before it wants to fall off.

All in all we were very pleased with the way the meatballs and everything turned out. The recipe I used was called Ikea Meatballs and I'm pretty sure mine turned out way better than the ones at Ikea. Just saying. The benefits of making meat balls from scratch is you get to decide how large they are. Mine were definitely large and in charge. It was a great success and I will totally make these meatballs again.

I'm going to go try to do some dishes and possibly I'll attempt baking some cookies today but no guarantees. I get to have some tasty meatballs for leftovers today.

March 5th, 2014: Cat nap app

2014-03-05T08:43:00.001-08:00

I'm giving a blog app a try to see if it would make for a good option to use on the go or when I don't feel like waiting for my computer to boot up because seriously it takes waaaay too long.

So since I am fiddling with an app I won't be doing a full post. I will leave you with a picture of the worst alarm cat ever. Romana is the worst at getting me out of bed or even getting me off the couch. She is around 5 billion pounds when laying on me. She is doing it now and I need to get up to go to bed!

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bh7YpFvCcAAlSWG.jpg

March 4th, 2014: Blast from the past, Old drawing edition

2014-03-04T08:17:00.001-08:00

Sometimes you find things when you least expect it. I was looking for my smaller sketch pad to help draw out and visualize some ideas I've been thinking about to help our kitchen be more functional. I came across a bunch of old sketches and drawings I did ages ago in the process of searching. They are pretty terrible but I feel like sharing them. So, I warn you now, if you don't want to see a bunch of old drawings and listen to my reminiscing then you should probably stop reading now.

Many of them are unfinished and never will be finished. I used to draw from reference images so I would have to find the image that I was using in order to finish them. Others are inspired by pictures I've seen and face the same issue of me not having those pictures anymore.

Some of the things in my sketch pad I have no idea what they are or why I put them in there, but I did. For example this phrase I wrote in it. I'm not sure if this is something I made up or got from somewhere but it is a rather interesting sentence, no?

"Flesh is merely flesh until severely seared away by the sun." (Yes I realize the written version has spelling errors but I fixed it now.)

I really feel like this must have come from something. I think I'm going to google this while blogging. *Insert googling noises hear* (Googling noises oddly sound like dial up sounds. Google it if you don't know what dial up sounds like...youngsters...) I'm not finding any hits with the quote. If anyone who reads this knows what that is from or not let me know. Until told differently I'm going to assume I made it up! (Even though I'm sure I didn't...)

My next pictures are going to come from the way back machine. These are a few of my first drawings in this sketch pad. It comes from back from the days when I watched more anime and read manga more than I do now. I'm sure you'll be able to see the influence from anime in them.

I also seemed to have some sort of an eye patch thing going for me. I'm pretty sure it was because I would screw up an eye and just use an eye patch to cover the evidence. Pretty clever, right?

Eye patch girl is probably one of my favorite drawings I ever did. Her and another girl I drew are the ones I hope I never lose. They both remind me of what I could do and what I can do now. The mother of dark haired girl was a drawing I did only from my mind. All the ones so far have used a picture to help inspire the person.

Here is the mother character I was talking about that I created without any reference.

The animal looking thing below is a character from an anime I read back in high school. It was called Love Hina. This was an adorable stuffed animal the didn't really have much of a part in the anime but the few times I saw it I thought it was the cutest thing and had to draw it.

Here are some characters people who play animal crossing might recognize. I think I had to pause the screen a certain way just to see him clear enough to draw him.

Here are some unfinished male characters from different manga that I read. I think some might be from Love Hina, and I'm pretty sure the crown like thing is from Saiyuki.

Hopefully you were not too bored by my post of old drawings. I don't draw very often but it is always interesting to look through old stuff when you find it. You should try looking through something that brings back old memories for you. It's kind of fun to get back to a time when things were so different.

Have a great day!

March 3rd, 2014: Today is the day I start this again

2014-03-03T08:32:00.002-08:00

Life is a busy, messed up thing sometimes. It just so happens that life changed my plans to blog for an entire year.

I honestly have no idea what happened to keep me from following up with my plans. I wanted to start writing again and keep my blog going last year; I went so far as to make a plan for everyday to help me write something daily.

Maybe that was were I went wrong? I should just let my blog happen organically.

I'm going to bring back my blog, but not make any sort of solid plans. The only plan I'll try to keep is the picture a day. I did that for a year or longer in the past so it won't be hard for me. It will also help me motivate myself to save up money for a shiny new camera. If I'm taking pictures on a daily basis and I have a crappy camera then I'm sure it will bug me faster. It already is bothering me to have a new camera because I want to get better photos for my Etsy.

I currently only have one style of scarf on my Etsy and I took it with my less than fabulous web cam and camera on my phone. I would love to sell some scarves and really get my foot in the door when it comes to selling my craft.

I'm the type of person who loves be creative. Being creative is just something that has been in my bones from since I can remember. This is probably a good reason for why I got a degree in Theatre. Now I've branched out farther than Theatre to making things on my own.

I'm not opposed to making things with others; in fact I miss doing theatre but haven't had a chance to make it fit in right now. I'm trying to be more interested in doing me, being me, or whatever that means. I haven't been able to really promote myself to myself lately if that makes any sense at all. It's taken awhile for me to believe I could make something worth putting out there in the world. It's definitely been helpful having friends and family that support me too. I'm hoping 2014 will be a good year for me.

My next project is one I've been putting off for a long time because I didn't know where to begin. I put off Chad's scarf most of this winter season and I'm thinking that starting it now it will be done and all our snow will go away. So the faster I get it done the faster it is spring, right?! Right! That is what I'm going to tell myself because an end to this winter is means hope for everyone.

It will be a scarf with orange and brown that Chad picked out. I'm going to attempt to do a pyramid pattern that will alternate between colors. It is a new adventure for me and I look forward to it.

Here's hoping I make it through the rest of winter with out going bonkers and keep up with keeping myself up. You do you too. I'm just making little to no sense now so I should probably finish this blog.

Also, if you are still interested in this long blog post; I'm very surprised that my blog still gets views when I haven't made posts in a long time. I looked and I got around 18 views a few days ago and I hadn't posted a single thing in a year. I'm going to just claim it as a fluke. That or it's probably the new people following me on twitter checking out my blog. Nah, just a fluke.

Jan 28th - Feb 3rd: Lots of pictures of progress.

2013-02-03T07:33:00.003-08:00

There has been much slaving away happening this week. The list I made was a real eye opener to me about how much I needed to accomplish this week. I think the only thing left to do on my dress is the collar at the top of the dress, oh and the ears. I have the ribbon to make them just not sure how I'm going to go about it. Now be prepared to see all sorts of work in progress pictures and finished product ones too.

The buttons and lights are finally all on in the spots I wanted them. Those lights were a pain in the tush to get on. I couldn't get the right side to not be crooked for the longest time.

I also got the snaps added to the back of my dress. I think the back of the dress turned out very well.

The K-9 for the front of the dress is finished now but all I have are the work in progress pictures to show you. Also in the left picture there is eye plunger for k-9. I'm really happy with the finished product.

Check out my K-9 collar. It's finished! I couldn't find a silver disk but I think the brass disk works out well. Just looks like it's a bit weathered now.

I've also begun the painting of my TARDIS purse. I'm still working on getting the letters to show up just right.

My preparations that I'm making for the Doctor Who convention are not the only thing I've done this week. I have managed to make a carrot cake from scratch this weekend! I don't think I have ever made one before let alone from scratch.

It's a bunny! Fitting, right? Have yet to eat a slice, but I'm looking forward to it. The recipe I found is located here and I was really intrigued by it. I liked the idea of the coconut and pineapple in it. So lets hope it tastes as good as it looks.

Jan 17th-28th: 17 DAYS?!?!

2013-01-28T08:28:00.000-08:00

It is crunch time guys! Chad just marked my chalkboard pig that has our count down for Gally on it. It says 17 days! SEVENTEEN DAYS! Ahhhhhhhhhhh! I have so much to do before then! In fact, I am going to make a list of things to be done before then.

1. Finish dress collar for K-9
2. Write K-9 on dress
3. Get dog tags
4. Fix control panel
5. Finish TARDIS purse
6. Continue to look for possible ear options for k-9
7. Get a hair cut

I feel like there is more to do. Maybe it is just the trying to do day to day life things while trying to finish a cosplay that has me feeling overwhelmed. Doesn't help that I've been watching youtube videos instead of working on it...

Ok, I stopped working on it because I got frustrated with the control panel not being straight, but hey this is what I get for wanting to put actually working electronics onto my dress. I must be bonkers or something.

Seriously. I'm crazy. I'm putting things with batteries upon my back... I can just imagine what the people scanning my suitcase are going to think about 'lots' of AA batteries...

Also in the picture you can see some buttons; which unfortunately I have to move because I realized I didn't like where I put them. Is cosplay always this hard? (Don't get me wrong, I'm really looking forward to completing my first cosplay)

The part I was actually the most worried about was the hem for some reason. I'm not really sure why, because now that I'm done with it I don't really see why I was spazing in the first place.

I did have to decide to do a hem style I've never done before and also involved me borrowing my boyfriend's mother's sewing machine because I didn't have the hemming foot for mine. That could have had something to do with it, maybe.

In other news. Let me catch you up with my life.

Charli is still a dog who puts up with crap, but also has developed a fondness for eating her own. Seriously, why are dogs so gross?

Gwen is still as adorable as ever. She got mad at me yesterday because I had bought some dental sticks for Charli (because who wants to smell doggie poop breath?) and she was soooo mad I didn't have a new treat for her. The next day I brought home some treats for her, but I'm pretty sure she had already forgiven me because of the nap time cuddles given to me. I still felt like the bad parent bringing home an awesome gift for one kid and all I had to offer the other was a new water bowl because you know I make my kids drink out of bowls on the floor. Doesn't everyone? Wait, I don't have kids...

I made a tasty crumb cake muffin over the weekend. It was out of a box, but hey they turned out good because of my skills!

I had been craving poutine basically all week. So grocery day rolled around and I got the supplies needed. For those unfamiliar with poutine; it is a tasty Canadian dish consisting of fries, cheese curds, and then slathered with gravy. I wasn't really impressed with the fries I bought, and I made a 'grave' error with the gravy. That error was not getting it hot enough, but that is something easily fixed with a microwave. I think next time a different fry would make it taste better, and possibly try a different gravy. I'm just happy I got to eat some. Don't think I did too bad with it being my first time making it either.

So that's basically how life has been going. I should probably go get cracking on those billions of things I need to get done before gally now!

Jan 14th-16th, 2013: Progress Report

2013-01-17T08:56:00.000-08:00

Monday I came to realize that I only have a month left to get everything I wanted for gally done. This information has given me a new found ambition towards getting it done. I have been working on things all week. Made head way on the buttons on the dress, and the collar is waiting on snaps and a tag.

Here is a little sneak peek at my dress progress for my cosplay. Also a fun buttons strewn about. I had fun trying to figure out what ones I wanted to use.

The only thing left for me to do besides attach the buttons is hem the dress and pin down the top collar and maybe adjust the sleeves. That isn't too much, right? Do-able with 28 days left, right? Gosh I hope so!

There has been work made upon my TARDIS purse as well. I don't want to share too many pictures of it because I'd like the finished product to be a surprise, but I suppose I can show you what the unaltered purse looks like. (I might have posted this on here previously, but re-posting it none-the-less)

I have figured out what I want to do it and just need to get some fabric paint. I'm pretty excited to see it finished.

I think I'm just super excited in general because the convention is so close now. I highly doubt I'll finish the scarf before gally but I'll do my best to get as much done as I can.

Seriously I am just wiggling with anxiousness for gally. I have to go knit now or I'm going to explode!

Jan 6th-13th, 2013: Playful/Tired Kitty = Cute

2013-01-14T06:39:00.002-08:00

Woah. Hey. Last week. Where did you go? Is it just me or does time just fly by? Well, I suppose it depends on what you are doing. The week didn't have anything too terribly note worthy. Just a bunch of the usual.

I tried working out on the exercise bike but need to figure out a way to make the seat not make my butt feel like it is going to fall off. Also used some Dance Central action on the Xbox360 to get myself a bit of a work out. If you haven't figured it out I'm trying to exercise a bit more. This week I have started the second stage of working out besides actually working out; I have started to put it on my calendar. That way it is staring me right in the face. The day in which I write this blog upon has bike riding scheduled. I think I may need to find a butt pillow.

I'll try to be better about updating this week, but no promises. To make up for my lack of posts and content you can enjoy these adorable pictures of Gwen. (probably will put more on Facebook)

She is pooped.

And I guess Charli can be in one too. Sorta.

Jan 4th & 5th, 2013: Stew

2013-01-06T08:35:00.003-08:00

Stew has been made. Rather successfully I would say. One thing about cooking in a crock pot that always makes me nervous is that I don't know if it is actually working. My crock pot is an older model that doesn't have the light on the front of it that lets me know that by plugging it in and turning the dial it is doing it's job. So I always leave it be but always with a worrisome heart and whisper "You can do it. I believe in you.". Then I return hours later and there is steam on the lid and the wonderful aroma of food cooking. I can't help but worry every time even though it has yet to let me down.

Mainly the mushroom scent filled the air but no one was complaining. In fact Chad kept walking around saying how good it smelt, but he might be biased since he loves mushrooms. Speaking of mushrooms. I promise that it wasn't just a mushroom stew. If you look at the picture above it really does look like I only put mushrooms in it, but there is more to it!

I tried to get a picture of the meat, potatoes, and carrots but they kept falling to the bottom. I learned that mushrooms are very buoyant and don't like to be on the bottom of the pot. Must be why the recipe said to put them in last.

The adventure into stew land was wonderful, and when I spilled my entire bowl on my living room carpet I tried to not let that get me down. Luckily the spot is in a less seen area and if it stains I can keep it a secret. Also lucky that there was plenty of stew to go around so I didn't miss out on eating it.

We also have roughly 3 pounds of stew meat left in the fridge. Taking ideas for what else you can do with stew meat besides make stew.

Jan 3rd, 2013: Gweener and Poopenstien

2013-01-04T06:52:00.001-08:00

Before the arrival of Gwen into the family I have only had to deal with one set of animal eyes looking at me. Just Charli would gaze at me before with a dumbfound look or with inexpiable excitement at the mention of 'poop'. Charli would be pleased as punch to just roll around rubbing her face on all my things until she passes out for her nearly all day long nap.

Now there is Gwen. She would be satisfied with laying in front of the heat vent for the rest of her life with the occasional visits to the bed to curl up in a ball. However, now that she has been here a few months she seems to be much more comfortable with the rest of the house. She has found her way to the couch and other chairs, and only thing of the dogs she would claim is the top of the crate that she uses to look down upon the heathen beast Charli.

Instead of just the one set of eyes, now I have two sets looking at me for attention and of course food. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Jan 2nd, 2013: Inspiration

2013-01-03T07:33:00.001-08:00

The New Year is always good for inspiration I really wish that people were able to be inspired all through out the year instead of just at the beginning. Maybe this is just me who fails to keep the same rush of inspiration going year long. I get bouts of ideas and motivation, but how does one maintain that momentum? The answer might be that I shouldn't use up all the chutzpah on one idea and try to spread it out over the entire year. I have plenty I would like to accomplish this year and hopefully I can keep this awesome feeling.

One thing I'm going to give a go this year is making stew for the first time. I've made a roast in a crock pot before, but I wouldn't consider that to be a stew. I plan to do it in a crock pot as well. I'm still intimidated by cooking it on the stove and I also fear I do not have a pot large enough to hold everything. However I do hope to eventually get more confidence in my cooking and venture into bigger pots and the like. I got some stew meat at Costco last weekend so I'm thinking the time to venture into stew land is going to be this weekend. The recipe I'm considering using is located here. It looks super tasty. Most recipes I found wanted to use wine, but once again that whole timidness with cooking came into play and I voted on one without it.

I'm going to make this blog a short one because I want to get to work on figuring out the hem of my cosplay dress my mother helped me assemble while I was in Montana so it is ready for Gally in February!

Really really REALLY looking forward to Gally in February. Really. Seriously. I'm so ready for it. Well I'm not ready because the dress isn't finished, but you know what I mean!

Jan 1st, 2013: Welcome to 2013

2013-01-02T08:03:00.001-08:00

Well Hello there everyone. Welcome to 2013. We did it. What a hoot was 2012, eh? Where has all the time gone? Who let the dogs out? Wiener schnitzel is pretty darn tasty. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is wonderful, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is awful.

I'll stop starting all of my sentences with 'W' now, and just stop making up sentences that start with 'W' in general.

I do realize I haven't blogged in a long time. I also realize you are probably wondering why. Well, do not worry because I will tell you that reason. Right now. As you read this. In a small, compact nut shell.

I got busy.

That's it.

Alright, there is more to it than just "I got busy". Essentially I dropped off the planet because as the opening of the show I was stage managing was coming closer I was in need of concentration points towards that. So, I took those points away from blogging and applied them elsewhere. I didn't have time to blog everyday and still manage to get enough sleep with rehearsal daily and work on top of that. I do feel bad that I wasn't able to keep it up but here is hoping 2013 I do a bit better.

You might be happy to know that the show went well. It did sell out and even had a smashingly stressful night where we had to replace Annie an hour before we opened. That was the first time that has ever happened to me as a stage manager. I think that day we all learned something very significant; understudies are very, very important.

I digress. I probably could have managed to throw a blog up here or there while doing the show but I didn't want to risk it. Plus then the holidays come rolling right around the corner after the show closes and I was still working on trying to figure out if I was going to make it to Montana to see family or not.

For those of you not in the loop, I did make it to Montana to see my family. I did the trip in two driving chunks instead of one and that was probably the best idea ever. I do not enjoy 15 hours of driving and neither does my dog. So 6 and some change hours is way better per day in my opinion. Plus I got to wander around the city I stayed at a bit. That helped it actually feel like a vacation because I wasn't just going to an old familiar place. It was someplace new. It wasn't that exciting of a place and all I went to was some places I could go to anywhere else, but it was fun because they weren't in places I could normally visit.

I got to spend my Christmas with my family in Montana and unfortunately had to work New Years so I didn't get to do anything fun with Chad for it. Maybe we will have a belated New Years this weekend. I'm going to make stew for him. (I've never made stew so this is exciting!)

All in all I would just like to leave this post with my thoughts on the New year and the year past. I do not want to walk my way back through the entire year because there is quiet a bit of it on here already. Go read it yourself! (or not) I think it was a pretty great year. I'm happy to be where I am at and doing my best to focus myself on finding a better job. I need to be happy where I work and then life would just be peachy. I've got an awesome boyfriend, his(our) adorable cat, and my(he doesn't like to claim her, but I'm pretty sure he likes her) special needs dog bundled up in our cozy home living our lives in 2013.

We are totally ready for this, are you?

October 29th - Nov 3rd: Happy Side

2012-10-31T04:07:00.000-07:00

This week I have not done my blog and I'm sorry for that, but as I get closer to the show opening it seems to be getting harder for me to write blogs. This week has been an up and down kind of week that is for sure. To properly explain the week I'll break it up into two blogs. The happy side of the week will be in this one and you can find the sad side of the week here.

Happy Side

After struggling to figure out what was wrong with me last week I finally found an explanation There is just a tightness in my jaw in the TMJ area and that can be fairly common. I was going to go into the dentist to talk about it, but after looking into the issue the sites recommended you don't do anything drastic to your mouth and that with some TLC the pain can go away. Now after avoiding hard crunchy foods and putting a hot pack on it for few days it has already improved. I've been eating normal foods and the pain is far less often, and not even close to as painful. I just have to remember to massage it now and again and that seems to help. I'm just happy I didn't waste money on that Dentist again.

This week was also the week of Halloween. It didn't really feel like Halloween for me though because we were putting up Christmas stuff at work. I never really feel in the mood for Holidays when they are actually happening anymore. I think retail might be to blame. I did wear a 'costume' that I guess complied with the all the rules with wearing one to work. I was a Concordia Cobber, Concordia sweat pants and a fear the ear shirt. They had so many stupid rules that they should have just said we can't wear them, because no one really did anyway. There is a bright side to this story though. I bought Charli a Halloween costume the day after so it was 50% off.

She is an astronaut if you couldn't tell. The size I got for her was a little large, but she can deal. Well she can't really deal. The moment I put it on her she just froze in place and felt like she couldn't move, or when she would try to move she some how thought she could only move backwards. I tried to get it on my camera but by the time I got it ready she stopped moving completely. So you will just have to take my word for it. She would also not look at me when I asked. I think she was embarrassed.

Charli has had a pretty interesting week. She also got a hair cut. She tends to look more on the boyish side for a girl doggy but after this hair cut I think she looks extra boyish.

It's hard to tell in this picture but the way they rounded her ears she kind of looks like a Friar. So her nickname this week has been Friar Tuck.

Lastly this week I took a video of us going for a walk and you can feel free to watch it, or not. This video is the day before she gets a hair cut. So you can see how poofy she was.

October 29th - Nov 3rd: Sad Side

2012-10-31T04:06:00.000-07:00

This week I have not done my blog and I'm sorry for that, but as I get closer to the show opening it seems to be getting harder for me to write blogs. This week has been an up and down kind of week that is for sure. To properly explain the week I'll break it up into two blogs. The sad side of the week is in this blog and you can find the happy side here.

Sad Side

The part of my week that makes it sad is what I discovered Thursday before going to work. My gerbil Falkor hadn't been coming out to see me when I come home and I thought that was a little suspicious. He will usually come out if I talk to him or open his cage door, but no such response. I lifted his house slightly to see just his feet sprawled out beside him and immediately dropped it closed.

Falkor has passed away. He is no longer gracing the world with his tube chewing antics or urge to dig to China through his bedding. Despite the fact that he was a little over 3 years old and lived a long life I still think he would have lived longer under some different circumstances.

See here is the deal. His old water bottle broke earlier this year and I had bought him a new one. This new one was not high quality and I discovered this was the case when I would walk in the door and just the vibrations of the floor would cause water to come out of it. When I inspected closer (after Falkor's passing) I saw the bedding was starting to mold because of the water that kept coming out. I feel like Falkor was made sick by the water bottle not doing it's job properly. Needless to say I threw out that water bottle and his cage because of the mold.

I'm still a bit sad and upset about loosing my luck gerbil, but he won't be forgotten. Chad and I buried him in the back yard and put his wooden house over his grave as a marker. That house was his and I wouldn't want any other gerbil using it. I'm going to miss that little guy.

He kept me company when I was new and lonely in Minnesota. He annoyed the crap out of me some nights with his chewing and digging that I had to keep him in the bathroom to block the sound. He gave me endless hours of free entertainment and had some dastardly plans to escape and rule the world, I'm sure. In the end I don't regret one minute of it and hope he likes his new home, in my heart.

October 26th-28th, 2012: Send it up!

2012-10-30T07:45:00.000-07:00

I was just working on writing a blog about something I thought was clever, but then I started doing some research to help my point and I was hit in the face with a completely obvious element to prove myself wrong. It was something that I should have thought of because I'm slightly obsessed with it.

That is why I erased that silly stuff and I am going to write something else... If I can think of something else to write about. Man. I thought I was being so clever too. How silly of me. I might share if you ask, but you'll only know if you ask.

I'm fresh out of ideas of what to write about so I went to youtube to watch videos. I found the video above which made my little fan girl heart squee a bit having three Doctor's at the same time talk about Doctor Who.

The video also made me look up the phrase "Send it up". Apparently that means to mock someone in a humorous way. I think I might make this a goal to use that in regular day to day use. It's always fun to find new phrases to try to use.

Speaking of Doctor Who, I got to watch a bit more of the Second Doctor's stuff. Watched The Mind Robber this weekend. For some reason my memory at first thought it was Mind "Blogger" which would make for a completely different episode...or maybe not. Considering how it is mainly about fiction writing. It would just have to be slightly different because blogging doesn't tend to be fiction. Usually, but it could be I suppose.

I've been thinking of writing some fiction. Nothing fancy or anything, but I have some cute ideas for stories. They probably won't be seen by anyone's eyes but me, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't write them, right?

However, the writing will have to wait until after I clean my house. Three weeks just passes by too fast for my cleaning abilities. I should probably be cleaning something instead of blogging. Alright, here I go. To clean something! (Or most likely to the post office to mail something I'd rather not mail.)

October 24th, 25th, 2012: Good Doctors?

2012-10-27T21:29:00.000-07:00

All the feels I have are being converted into pain in my ears. I have never had an earache this bad where it radiates throughout my face. There might also be a chance that the pain in my face is sinus congestion from the evil allergies this year. I've been trying a few different things this week but if Monday rolls around and I don't feel any type of improvement then I'll have to give in and go someplace to have them take a look at it.

Speaking of those types of places, does anyone have any experience going to a minute clinic at a CVS? This is where I'm considering going instead of paying a huge doctor visit bill at a hospital. I've just never been to one of those before and don't even know if they'd be worth it either.

I'm slightly jaded when it comes to doctors. It seems like every time I get the courage to go see one when something is wrong, they never find anything wrong or tell me anything useful. It's also hard since I moved here to Minnesota to find a primary Doctor I can trust and would like to continue to see. The only positive experience I have had medically related was with the lady doctor at planned parenthood when I went in for my yearly check up. She was super nice and I felt very comfortable around her. She didn't make me feel like an idiot or say strange things about the size of my uterus like another lady doctor had said.

I don't know what it is about some doctors but I just feel like they are judging me. Sure they are trying to figure out what ales me but do they have to make me feel like a terrible person for getting sick in the first place? Maybe I'm just jaded from the doctor that literally made me feel like an idiot for not coming in sooner, and then he didn't even find anything wrong with me. "Oh why didn't you come in sooner?" (Insert judging glare here) So you can decide that nothing is wrong with me? Gee thanks Mister. That sounds like a great idea. I should pay you lots of money for something that I'm pretty sure now was mental, or in a completely different organ than where they looked.

So what I ask, from those of you who might read this in the twin cities area, where are all the good doctors at and I don't mean the one with the blue box (although I'll take that too).

October 22nd, 23rd, 2012: I prefer Magic over Politics.

2012-10-25T20:05:00.001-07:00

Watch this video. The rapping isn't all that great but the ending is pretty funny. Plus It's about time I put something political in this blog right?

I'm pretty sure Abraham Lincoln wins this epic rap battle. Just saying.

I don't really like putting my political opinion out there because so many people get up in arms about things but I think Obama should be able to do four more years as president because there is so much to do as President that four years it is impossible to fix everything you want to fix. That's why I personally dislike the limit on how long the President can serve. We as people have a power to impeach and if we really didn't want someone ruling the country then I'm sure we could make them stop when it was time for them to move on.

And now for something completely different.

I think I actually remember seeing some of this on tv. Either way this guy has some sweet magic skills. I think I'm going to go get lost in the rabbit hole of youtube and find more of these videos while I fend off Charli and her random urge to lick me today. Seriously she is a lick monster today.

October 20th, 21st, 2012: Time flies, and Time Lords

2012-10-23T06:59:00.000-07:00

I intended to write this blog yesterday but I realized that I had to wake up an hour or so earlier than usual for a production meeting and that meant I wanted to get to sleep sooner. That means I went to bed instead of staying up and typing my blog, but now I'm annoyed I'm behind on my blog again. Meh.

Since the show I'm working on is the reason for the delay in my posting a blog I will take this as an opportunity to update about how it is going.

There is something about time flying by so much faster for this show that I haven't really experienced before. I think we are in a great place for where we are time wise but it just is hard to believe that we open the show in less than a month. I'm looking forward finally seeing a full run through piece. With any show in the theatre business it is always hard to get everyone together at first for rehearsals.

No matter what the show is or anything like that there will always be people missing for awhile. I think I might be looking forward to when we will always have everyone more than anything.

Despite having rehearsals Saturday and Sunday I still manage to see some Doctor Who with Chad. We have moved on to watching some episodes that include Susan; the Doctor's grand daughter, because she is going to be a guest at the convention we are going to in February.

Seeing Susan in The Daleks story I was less bothered than when I watched her in An Unearthly Child. She was still overreacting and a bit of a dolt, but I wasn't left as displeased with her as the first time I saw her. Maybe it is because the Doctor wasn't as 'mean' in this episode. He did make some terrible choices for selfish reasons, but he is just a youngster for a Time Lord and has yet to age to what he is now.

The older regenerations of the Doctor have way more on their minds and hearts that they are more concerned with are around them. I think as the Doctor ages he gets more and more attached and aware of his companions and starts to realize he doesn't like losing them.

Matt Smith's Doctor would most likely not endanger his companions by faking the ship is broken just to see some buildings. However, I wouldn't put it past his companions to be the one to want to go check them out. That is another way the Doctor has changed. He has went from seeking adventure and trouble, and having worrisome companions; to being worrisome and protective, and having adventurous trouble seeking companions.

The balance of those relationships is key to what makes Doctor Who so interesting. If everyone was worried and didn't want to explore at all then nothing would happen, and if everyone was adventurous and haphazard more people wouldn't be around anymore.

Now, now. I am not saying that the Doctor is not adventurous and doesn't seek out trouble sometimes, but it's rarely on purpose that he finds himself in these situations. Let's just say that I agree with Amy and that the Doctor should never travel alone. He needs someone there to balance out the other side. The ying to his yang, or something like that.

My goal this week is to work on my dress for Gally and go to the Doctor (and I wish I meant the time lord kind).

October 18th, 19th, 2012: I believe in Pit Bulls

2012-10-21T14:39:00.001-07:00

After watching a few episodes from The Twilight Zone with Chad I began to wonder why it took me so long to watch this show. I have only seen one episode before and that was for a film class I took in college. The main reason I don't think I have watched the show is for the simple fact I didn't really know what it was about. I thought it was some kind of cheesy sci-fi show (don't get me wrong, I love cheesy sci-fi too).

Three episodes into it, there is much more to the show than I thought. There are more physiological themes than I was expecting. I actually have yet to see an episode that I would consider sci-fi. Maybe the first episode is sort of sci-fi but barely. I suppose for the late 50s it would be considered sci-fi. I think it would be more along the lines of supernatural, maybe?

I've looked into the show a bit more on the internet and found that Ray Bradbury wrote for the show. I'm looking forward to finding those episodes and seeing what they have in store. Let me just say I plan on watching as many of the 138 episodes on Netflix as I possibly can and you should give the show a try too.

In completely unrelated news, there has been some recent flack in the news from some news lady, whose name I can't recall at the moment, about pit bulls. She said something about them being vicious dogs, and basically feeding the terrible stereotype around the dog.

I'm a firm believer that the dog is never the one responsible for how it acts. The owner is the one who trains and raises their dog, and teaches them what is right and wrong. So to show how pit bulls are not mean vicious dogs I'm going to post videos of cute pit bulls for cute animal video Friday.

The video below the sound is just lots of buzzing for some reason, but it's still cute to watch.

This dog is so 'vicious' it can't even walk around a kitty.

Pitbulls also are so "mean" and "ruthless" they hate baths.

I don't really care for posting videos of babies and what not, but in order to show how "vicious" and "mean" pitbulls are I will show you this one video. Dog has some serious patience but the owner is also being a good owner by making sure her baby doesn't hurt the dog either. I don't know if you remember this from experiences with babies, but they have some sharp as hell nails. Keeping the dog from getting hurt by the baby will allow the dog to care for the child and not build up any fear around getting hurt.

Lastly I will leave you with a video of Wil Wheaton's super "vicious" "evil-doing" lick monster, Marlowe.

She is a recent rescue stray pit bull puppy and I dare you to not find her adorable.

I hope these videos helped open a few peoples eyes to see how we need to stop feeding the stereotype for pit bulls and start making sure that people train and teach their dogs correctly. There needs to be more stories about successful pit bulls and less of these stories about how a pit bull did something wrong (with no focus on how the owner was bad).

Every dog owner has the responsibility to adapt it to human interaction and bring them up right no matter what the breed is. I wouldn't want my dog being mean or bad to people so I never let her be. Luckily Charli is too sweet and dense to ever want to harm anyone.

So all I have to say is, be good to your pets and they will be good to everyone else.