Groundhog Bowl

Did anyone else forget that it was Groundhog Day yesterday? I never remember Groundhog Day till I see it on the news feeds somewhere. It's like it has it's own cloaking device. So the only thing we wound up doing to mark the occasion was watching the Groundhog Day themed episode of Supernatural a couple weeks ago.

Can't say I'm surprised that we're in for another six weeks of winter. Not that it makes much difference down here, but I know plenty of people who are ready to just see it gone already.

I didn't forget about the Super Bowl. ::)

I can't say I'm a huge sports fan. Or much of a sports fan at all, really. I do like figure skating and gymnastics, which I also tend to forget about until the Olympics roll around - now that I can get excited about, I can't wait to see what the opening ceremony looks like this year! - but as for everyday sports? Nah. I kinda like having baseball on in the background while I'm doing something else. Football is also good background noise, and of course it's a natural part of the Thanksgiving soundtrack along with the parade and the dog show.

I make an exception for the super bowl though. It's almost equal to a minor holiday for me now. If I'm able, I like to do something for it. Truthfully I like any excuse to make an event out of something, especially if a theme is involved. I'm sure I drive everyone nuts with it. ::P It's a bit easier then when we're just planning a themed movie marathon, we all like some part of the super bowl festivities. TMU likes the stories and surrounding extras, we both like the commercials, and while TPU keeps claiming he's not interested this year because none of his teams made it (which didn't stop him from performing his usual game time antics) he's the only one that actually appreciates the game itself.

And of course it's a fantastic excuse for FOOD! ::D It's practically the snack food Thanksgiving. Totally ironic that this is the first post right after talking about losing weight, right?

We didn't originally plan to watch the actual game itself. We don't have cable, by choice, and with certain specific exceptions we prefer it that way. So since we thought no one was going to be streaming it in a way we could watch (something about having to have internet through a cable plan, which seems pretty stupid since then you wouldn't need to internet stream it) we planned to YouTube past and present super bowl commercials while we pigged out. In hindsight we could have planned on watching Groundhog Day as well as football movies like The Replacements or The Blind Side (maybe even Ace Ventura) but I didn't think of that till later. It wasn't that well planned this year. ::P

Turns out though that Fox actually did broadcast it normally, so we got to watch after all.

~*~

Now, to the first of the two actual most important parts of any super bowl game. The FOOD.

Most of our game day feast was made up of things we'd been saving up from Schwans, who have great food by the way. A little more expensive, but they deliver and we've found them to have superior quality in most things. There was one item we tried and didn't love so much, but I can't even remember what it was.

I can't rightfully claim that I'm a foodie, but I do like to play with food and it's always the right time to try something off of Pinterest. ::P I didn't want to be stuck doing too much cooking though so I only pulled a couple things out of my appetizer board.

We ended up being ready to eat about 3:30pm, a full three hours early for the game. Luckily there was plenty of pre-pre-game stuff to watch so we just cranked up the volume on the computer and started stuffing our faces.

First up were these:

Corn Dog Muffins. They're supposed to be made in a mini muffin tray, but we don't have one so I made them in regular and doubled the hot dog bits. Much simpler then actual corn dogs, perfect when you don't want to put in that much effort.

TMU tag teamed with me on these:

See the bits of lovely oozy cheese?

Philly cheese steak balls adapted from this recipe. We used her favorite bread dough recipe (that we use for pretty much everything) instead of the pre-made biscuits and damn did they turn out fantastic! We are so making these again, in many different varieties. TMU is pushing for sausage, egg, and cheese. I want chicken and broccoli alfredo.

Then we made our absolute favorite appetizer from Chili's:

I know, not glamorous. But this is real food, not food porn. ::P

Copycat Skillet Queso. We make this every time we're able, it was the one thing we were always guarunteed to get when we ate at Chili's. It's a damn good reproduction.

Then we had chicken tenders, twice baked potato skins, onion rings and mozzarella sticks from Schwans. The tenders reminded me a lot of KFC, this was our first time trying them.

Here's the whole buffet:

~*~

The second of the actual most important part of any super bowl game: The COMMERCIALS.

I readily admit it. In a complete reversal of ordinary life, the commercials are the only reason I ever look at the screen during the super bowl instead of my plate or whatever craft project I brought along. I miss the days when they didn't release them ahead of time so you either had to see the game or catch them online afterward. Seriously, what's the point of putting them out early? It's like peeking at your presents before Christmas morning.

Just for fun, here's a run down of both mine and TMU's favorites of this years batch. Since TPU was watching the actual game, he spent most of his commercial time running around.

TMU's Top Two

Budweiser's "Puppy Love" came in first. So damn cute! We saw this one ahead of time.
Volkswagon's "Wingy Thingies" came in a close second. She saw this one before me, told me I HAD to see it.

My Top Four

"Puppy Love" was my favorite too. Seriously, so damn cute! Budweiser almost never disappoints me, I look forward to their commercials the most. Only Coca-Cola can rival them in my commercial affections.
"Wingy Thingies" easily took second, even though I didn't see it till I looked it up on YouTube. I know that isn't it's actual title but that's my favorite part.
RadioShack's "The 80's Called..." would have been second if I never saw Wingy Thingies. Who doesn't like the 80's? One complaint: Just where was Freddy?
Bud Light's "Up For Whatever" comes in fourth. It was pretty funny, and also explains why The Terminator wasn't in the RadioShack commercial.

I had so much fun looking at old commercials I had to link a few more just because I can. ::D These are some of the most memorable Bud commercials in my mind. In no particular order:

The Original Budweiser Frogs, The Rocky One, The Dalmatians, Awwww!, Clydesdale Brotherhood Behind the Scenes, The 9/11 Tribute...I cried

~*~

All in all, a good super bowl sunday. Great food (I'll start being good again tomorrow, promise), good commercials, the game apparently wasn't the best, but it happens. Even Dusty got involved.

In that she was in the same part of the house we were.

I have to remember to use Seahawk colors when I get around to scrapping the actual pictures. Even though they're only of the food, unlike previous years when I tried to document the TV or TPU's dancing around or sulking, it's still what I did yesterday.

The leftovers. You didn't think we could eat all of that, did you? O_o Ok, we tried...

Here endeth the post. ::)

Resolutions of the New Year's Variety

Lookit me! January 31st and only NOW getting around to talking about New Year's Resolutions. In the last hour, no less. ::D

It's a little late (OK, kinda really late) but since I was late making the blog to begin with I figure I can be forgiven. Though it is pretty typical of me to not get an idea until it's almost too late for when I would want to have it done by. Then again after working in retail for so long your concept of what is late gets skewed. Everything comes out three months in advance at least. So with that in mind, I'm downright last minute for Valentine's Day, and running behind for St. Patrick's Day. Easter is only saved if I skip those two all together.

Anyway. Resolutions. They're almost as much of a joke as they are a real set of goals, aren't they? Most of us make some sort of plans for the upcoming year. Things about ourselves, our situation, our environment we'd like to improve. Maybe some are important, others not so much. More of a "that might be nice to do" sort of thing. Probably just as many don't take those plans all that seriously, or we get distracted by the day to day minutiae and nothing really changes.

I'm unfortunately one of those. Every year I make mostly the same goals, and by that next New Year I'm sheepishly putting the same ones up because once again I didn't make it. Maybe I just lack commitment? Where can I download some of that?

Here's this years list. It's actually mostly original for once, but these are just the important ones. We'd bury ourselves if we tried to list everything that could use some improvement, right?

~*~

1. Lose Weight and Get Healthy


This is probably the most stereotypical resolution. Most often made, most often abandoned or not achieved. And yeah, I'm right there with ya. *Joins the club* I say this every year, too, and it's the one I hate having to act on the most. Carb counting, exercising, figuring out what part, if any, of those constantly changing fad diets might actually be useful to roll into my own. It just makes me want a cookie, damn it!

In recent years though it's taken on a lot more importance then just my vanity or even my self esteem. Several years ago I was diagnosed type two diabetic, which means while my blood sugar is out of whack and screwing things up it can still be controlled with diet and exercise instead of with insulin, because it's pretty much the fat that's the problem. I'm stubborn and don't want to go on insulin any sooner then I have to. The more weight I lose, the less of a problem I have. Provided of course I haven't worked my pancreas to death trying to keep up by then.

The best diet I've found for me is actually a mash up of common sense, some basic tips from my nutritionist when I was first diagnosed, the South Beach Diet, and TMU's trick of not eating after three pm. I don't follow the ideas of depriving myself completely of anything even slightly unhealthy, all that does is make me want to binge even more. I eat what I want, but in moderation, and keeping my blood sugar in mind. It's a whole lot easier being a good girl if I know I'll get rewarded for it at the end of the week when I allow myself a particularly yummy dinner, a meal out, or whatever it is I decide is the reward that time. Combined with exercise, when I stick to it it works really well.

Which is usually the problem. Sticking to it. The best laid plans and all that.


My most common monkey wrenches:


It takes so much TIME.

Not even effort (except for the whole saying no part) just time. There are so many things I'd rather be doing then tracking the carbs/calories/fats of everything eat, it's a pain in the ass. We make as much as we can from scratch, which means no handy little pre-made nutrition list to copy. I have to look up and work up my own. It also means that either I do all the cooking, which eats up even more of my time, or I have to hang over TMU's shoulder and write down everything she does. Cause half the time she doesn't work from a written recipe. Speaking of, is there something wrong with me that I can't do that? Maybe I need to try some of those brain training games...

I need to just get over it. Once I figure out what each thing is the once it won't be such a big deal after that, as long as I always do it the same way/the same size.


I LOVE FOOD!

Willpower? I'm supposed to say no when it's sitting there on the stove looking so nommable?? I'm not supposed to have seconds??? ::'( Seriously though. We don't do 'diet food' per se. We cook healthy as a general rule, but it's not fair to make everyone follow the same rules that I try to. Getting healthy sucks, no reason everyone has to suffer if they don't have to. ::P But that also means that we make a lot of things I love, everything from entrees to dessert, which practically stand up and shake their booties at me when I should be saying no.


My concept of a portion size is kinda screwed up.

Don't ask me how it got that way, I have no idea. TMU vehemently assures I didn't get it from her, thank you very much. It definitely works against me. 'Everything in moderation' only really works if you, you know, actually moderate. Having some of that awesome looking stroganoff is fine, but when you're prone to going for seconds and start off with a plate full to begin with...you see where I'm going with this.

I need to get better at sticking to normal portion sizes. I can always go back for more if I'm still hungry, but I have to get better at actually paying attention to just how full I am physically instead of mentally.


Healthy food can often be boring or outright unappetizing.

I like variety anyway, but especially when you're getting healthy the common diet tropes really could use a dose of imagination. Veggies, veggies, fruit, veggies, careful of the veggies too (they're not all diabetic friendly), bran, whole wheat, grains, blah, blah, blah. Thankfully, the interwebs is there to help with that. Meaning Pinterest, of course. SO many great ideas. Just as many unhealthy great ideas, but that's beside the point. It helps a lot with keeping things interesting, and if the food is interesting I'm much more interested in maintaining the plan. Plus it's just fun trying to make healthier, at home versions of my favorite junk or fast food, too.

Which isn't to say that necessarily solves the unappetizing part. There are some things that just aren't going to ever be something I want to eat. Like buckwheat.

Have you ever had buckwheat pancakes? Sounds disgusting and healthy, don't they? They are, both. ::P TMU likes them though, and wanted to clear out the last of the old buckwheat flour we had, so I made them. The batter looks like polyjoice potion. Lumpy, until I beat the crap out of it, sludgy grey. I really should have taken pictures. Thankfully no human hair was involved, though you never know about stray pet hair floating about. So far I haven't sprouted ears or a tail. At least they didn't taste quite as bad as polyjuice potion.

Now that I think of it I should probably add them to the Halloween menu, they'd fit right in.


Exercise is another challenge at the moment. Our resources are pretty limited, and the area we live in isn't the safest or particularly suited to outdoor activities like hiking, so I need to get more creative. In a word meaning, going back to basics as well as trying other things I haven't bothered with before. Like old school basic exercises like push ups and sit ups when I used to depend mostly on machines or weights. I'm thinking of yoga too, you don't need much equipment to do that. And of course there's always the necessary things that can provide exercise like gardening and biking into town for groceries.


A. The Goal

I don't really have a specific target to shoot for. No need to be able to fit into a bathing suit by summer, impress anyone, or fit into a significant item of clothing. But if I don't have something to shoot for not only will it feel like I'm not accomplishing what I set out for, it'll feel like I never will.

So my official weight loss goal will be to drop down to an XL. Right now I'm still in the XXXL range, even though I have lost some weight recently. I don't know how much farther then that I'll want to go, I don't necessarily hold with the perfect weights doctors say you should be. Your perfect weight is the one you're healthiest and feel the best at, and that isn't always the same as the predetermined weight for your height.

But a lot of stores that don't cater to plus size women still carry items up to XL, which will open up my fashion possibilities a whole lot more then they are now. That's a goal worth shooting for.

~*~

2. Read and Watch Stuff I Haven't Yet

Over time there's been a number of occasions where I've shocked even TMU (who should probably know better, she is my mom) with books that I haven't read or movies I haven't seen. Maybe the schools I went to just sucked in that way but there are a lot of classics and well known ones I've heard of but never seen/read myself. Dickens, War and Peace, most of the old classics like Jane Austen you usually get forced to read in school. I've decided to fix that.

TMU thinks I should start with 1984. I'll probably start with the Lord of the Rings series, starting from the beginning. ::P Partly because they seem much more interesting, but mostly because I already have them. I've read the main trilogy, and own the others as well as a lot of the surrounding books (damn, do I miss my favorite used bookstore) I just haven't gotten around to reading them yet

Movies are easier to tackle thanks to Netflix. Old classics, originals of remakes I've seen, etc. Even ones like Star Wars, which I've never been interested in but has so many pop culture references I probably should just watch it and get it over with. Maybe I'll start with the original monster movies, you don't get much more classic then that. I've only seen a couple of them. OK, my tastes definitely lean in certain directions. ::P I'll get around to ones like Casablanca.

I don't imagine that I'll actually like all of it, but I'm thinking of it as self education - even if I don't enjoy it, I'll at least know what people are talking about when they mention it. I'm sure I'll be surprised sometimes too. I didn't think I'd like Pride and Prejudice - turned out I was mistaken about what the plot actually was - but when I finally read it (it was free on the Nook) it was just the sort of romance I like.


B. The Goal

I kinda think this one is a little too vague to really have a set number to get through. I have no idea how easy it will be to get my hands on the ones I want. So this one I'll leave open. I'll have a stroll through Google, see what other people have on lists of what I shouldn't be missing. At least I've got a lot of the classic musicals already covered. ::)

~*~

3. Take Online College Courses

It's true, I've never been to college. It just wound up not being a priority before. I didn't know what I wanted to pursue and figured until I did I'd just start working. If I were to go to college tomorrow I still don't know what I'd major in, or if it would be different from what I do now. But I figure it's time to explore a bit and see what turns up.

Outside of a regular job crafting has been my main focus. TMU and I have a shared fantasy of some day starting up a themed bed and breakfast, selling our crafts, maybe even incorporating some homesteading elements since we've gotten into that more and more. I definitely would like to try it, even though I've always kinda hated other people living in my house thanks to The Older Sibling (TOS). It would all depend on the house, wouldn't it? ::P

Of course I'd love to make my crafting into an actual thing. TMU and I are actually working on that with our Etsy shop. It's still small, but you have to start somewhere, and we're learning a lot.

When I was a kid I wanted to be a writer, thanks to an assembly in...what was it, first grade? I don't even remember who it was that came to speak. I've always been interested in psychology, though more the abnormal side of it then anything like being a shrink. I like creative things. In my last job I discovered I very much enjoyed and was actually quite good at merchandising. I'm quite interested in history (particularly the Victorian and Medieval periods). At some point I may even try other art forms.


C. The Goal

My starting point will be these free online courses from MIT. That sounds so daunting. TMU found them somewhere and passed them on to me, and surprisingly there's more then just technical and science stuff. History, writing, even photography. They're basically the real course you'd take in school, you can just do them on your own for no credit.

The goal will be to finish one course. Well, pick one first, then finish it. Most courses aren't meant to last a whole year on their own I don't think, so maybe I'll be able to do more, but I don't want to bite off more then I can chew.

~*~

4. Self Discipline

This is really the biggest thing about myself and my life that I need to work on.

It's a pretty simple concept, right? One we all have to master to succeed in work and school. Something needs to be done, you do it. When I'm working for someone else I have no issues with it. I could be running around like a chicken without a head convinced I won't get it all done in time, but I usually manage to without pulling out too much hair.

At home or working for myself...well that's a different story. I sorta suck at just doing things. I'm a huge procrastinator. Even when it's something I choose to plan to do, that I want to do. I just don't get at it in a timely manner. I tend to work slow, waffle over decisions for too long a time (like I couldn't just start over if it didn't turn out right), or get so bogged down in planning everything out perfectly that I never even get to the action part. It's a repeated comment from TMU.

I find myself saying "I'll do better tomorrow" or "I'll start again on Monday." The infamous, magical Monday where things will just effortlessly happen the way you want them to. If I'm being particularly pessimistic, it fits the definition of insanity. If I'm being particularly optimistic, I haven't failed until I stop trying. It's a lot like the new year itself isn't it? You start off full of good intentions and grand plans, and the next thing you know you've tripped over the same bad habits as before and nothing has changed.

I've always been bad at just shoving through with things even when my plan didn't actually work the way it was supposed to. I make lists, schedules, plan all this stuff to do. I feel good about it. Then I run behind or I don't get as much done as I wanted to and it just feels like I didn't get anything done. My attitude doesn't help I'm sure, I drop into a funk. I look at what I didn't do instead of what I did. To be honest that Perky Polly stuff always seems so obnoxious and condescending. It's not like looking at the bright side changes what actually got done.

You'd think it would be easy to just start doing things differently. I want to do things better, so why not just do it? As I was writing this out I thought maybe it's like trying to snap your fingers. It's so easy, but if you're having trouble with it you have no clue how to make it work. Until you just do.


D. The Goal

I have no real idea of what actual steps you can take for this sort of thing. Aside from just mentally yelling at myself whenever I'm lagging. ::P

• Spend less time on the computer. I don't waste the whole day on the computer, but I do probably spend more time on it then I should when I have a list to work on. It can be so distracting, even just hopping on while taking a break.

• Stop scheduling so hard. Who cares how long it takes me to do something as long as it gets done and done well? Maybe trying to get x amount done in x time is part of the problem.

• Re-think what I plan to do. Just getting up earlier and earlier to try and make time for everything doesn't really work. Hell, getting up is part of the problem sometimes. Accept and work around that it takes longer then I think it should to work something out, especially creative stuff. Maybe I have unreasonable expectations of myself. I feel like anyone else would get it done in a fraction of the time, that I really am too slothful or doing things in such a wrong way that it slows me down. Maybe I shouldn't try to live up to what I think some vague person in my head would be capable of. Maybe I just need to kick myself in the ass harder. 

I suppose it's like any habit. It takes time to build, and I just haven't yet. One day I will, and I'll be able to snap my fingers, and I'll just do it.

~*~

So, there we are. My goals for the year. Lets hope this time I make progress. After all, now I've got witnesses.

Here endeth the (really, really long) post.

The Cast of Characters

To continue the introductory phase, here are a few of the people - and most of the animals - that are likely to show up a lot over the course of time. There's no real reason to do this, of course, but also no reason not to - which fits right into the theme of this blog, so here we go. ::P

All names have been changed to protect the "innocent". Except for the animals. They're attention hogs who have no shame.

I'll probably update this every so often as needed.

~*~

The Maternal Unit (TMU) - My lovely mother. We didn't have as much in common when I was a kid - the famous sourpuss pictures at living history places spring to mind - but as I grew up we got more and more similar. I'm lucky to get along so well with my mother, and I know it. ::)

She's a newly retired nurse who herself has many hobbies, including tole painting, crocheting and knitting. She's also single handedly responsible for most of my craftiness, especially the scrapbooking, and shamelessly encourages me every time I come across something new to try - like I don't have enough projects! She loves Coca-Cola - both drinking it and collecting memoribilia - understands my love for a brand new box of crayons, loves Disney (and passed that on to me too) and she's the one who got ME to read Twilight despite claiming she doesn't like vampires or fantasy. I still haven't gotten her to like DVD commentaries, but she will get caught up in a philosophical discussion about one of the TV shows we watch almost as easily as I do.

The Paternal Unit (TPU) - My step-dad. He'll watch any sport with a ball in it, reads every sign passing along the side of the road, flails so much while watching wrestling that he's literally fallen out of the chair before, and drinks coffee almost exclusively but doesn't like coffee shops. He has almost complete opposite likes and dislikes to the rest of us, but we love him anyway. ::) He's the woodworking side of our crafting family, and cuts all the pieces for TMU to paint.

~*~

The Felines:

She always has to be right in the middle of everything.

Dusty - My babycat, she's almost ten years old I think. She's developed quite a vocabulary, though she didn't start talking until it was just her and I. She likes to lay on my hips, lower back and shoulder blades, doesn't seem to care much for cat nip, purrs so quietly no one but me can hear her usually, and doesn't much like people food except for certain brands of deli ham. She was supposed to belong to TPU but she apparently had other ideas, and came with me and Cosmic when I moved into my first apartment alone. Her full name is Sawdust, because of her coat pattern. UNLIKE TPU, I didn't completely rename her, tempting as it was to try and get revenge.

I miss having multiple cats. First we had Cosmic and Figaro, then Cosmic and Dusty, now it's just Dusty. For awhile I was afraid she'd stop talking if we got another cat, then we couldn't really afford another one. I miss watching them play together and the antics they'd get up to.

~*~

Cosmic Creepers (Deceased) - Cosmic died several years ago, but he gets included anyway because he's still important to me. He was my first pet and lived to the age of seventeen. We grew up together. I named him after the cat in Bed knobs and Broomsticks, honestly because I didn't have any other ideas. I liked the name so I went with it. It sparked a habit of naming animals after animals in movies or TV shows. TPU thought it would be funny to nickname him Cowboy and refused to stop calling him that no matter how much it annoyed me. Honestly, does he look like a Cowboy to you??

Cosmic was a tuxedo (or close enough to count for me) Main Coon/barn cat mix. In his prime he weighed in at thirty pounds and seemed made up entirely of fluff. He shriveled a bit as he got older, but never lost that regal bearing. He was a little standoffish but liked to be near me, he had this strangled almost silent meow, a purr like a chainsaw, and if you scratched the right spot he'd lick the air. He didn't expend energy if he didn't have to, he adored this real fox tail I bought at a county fair in Wisconsin, and when given catnip he'd usually fall asleep on it afterward. He also actually liked to walk on a leash, even in the snow, which made him a decent traveler - once the first explosion of....anxiety....was past. I miss my boy still.

~*~

Figaro - Figgy, as she became affectionately known as, was given to us by our phone guy when we lived in tiny White River Junction, Vermont. His little girl had named her. He had been trying to re home her, and when he noticed our Cosmic looked almost exactly like her he asked us if we'd like to take her. We did, and so began the tempestuous relationship between her and Cosmic.

She went absolutely nuts with catnip, would often climb the doorjambs, and loved to pull drive bys on Cosmic, slapping him and taking off at a run. Cosmic took it all in stride....usually. When he finally had enough he would literally pin her to the ground and lay on her for awhile, her howling like she was being tortured the whole while. She was more of an outdoor cat so we had to be careful when opening doors. She'd dash through if she could and disappear for a day or so, till she turned back up tucked into the eaves of the porch when she was ready. We never found out what happened to her, she disappeared one day after we'd had to leave her with a cousin when we moved.

~*~

The Basset Hounds:

Brick walls on short legs. Drool factories. Larger then reality barks and lovely three part harmonies.

The Queen on her throne.

Freckles - The grumpy matriarch who's getting on in years, TMU named her after her spots. She wants attention on her schedule, has resented Snickers ever since he knocked her up, and likes egg nog, peanut butter, and squeaky toys. She's gotten much whiter over time - I never knew dogs went grey - and occasionally tries to get one of the others to play, despite having snapped at them throughout the day.

~*~

He's the only one who can fit in the chair properly.

Snickers (Lemony Snicket) - So named because he was much more blonde then red when he was a puppy, and at the time we got him A Series of Unfortunate Events had just come out. Then shortened because we nickname everything. He can't stand to be out of sight of TMU and cries outside the bathroom door, has the most distinctive bark of all of them, doesn't seem to understand that jumping around and running in squiggles ruins the picture he's so excited about, and proved that even short legged Basset Hounds can climb fences if properly motivated. He's a lovable doofus.

~*~

She fits if she squeezes.

Ladybug - She's the baby, gotta love her! Bug is the only pup we were able to keep out of the unintentional eight pup litter Freckles and Snickers had. As a pup we called her Lady because she looked just like Lady from Lady and the Tramp, but TMU couldn't leave it that simple. ::P She (Bug, not TMU) has an unhealthy attachment to a basketball toy, likes rolling in laundry, and thinks Dusty is a toy meant for her to play with.

~*~

The Flock:

Who knew chickens would be such fun? We didn't manage to socialize these guys to be as cuddly as I would have liked, but they're still a hoot every day.

Americauna Golds:

Bertha - Once the dominant hen, she's now a bullied outcast for reasons we haven't figured out. I named her that because she was the biggest for a long time. When she gets hassled a little too much by the others she likes to flap up on my shoulder blade (or head) and sit there while I go about whatever it was I went out to do. She's still one of the biggest ones, and can be told apart from Rooty by keeping her neck stretched straighter on habit. They used to always be together, so I kinda started to think of them as sisters.

Struttin' her stuff.

Rooty - Named by TMU because we thought she was going to be a rooster for awhile. Turns out she was just mouthy. She and Bertha are the two truest redheads, you can tell her apart by how she tends to keep her neck hunched into her shoulders more, and she looks like she's wearing a thick collar or muff. She also makes THE silliest sound. She doesn't really coo, cluck, or growl like the others. She squonks. Like a cross between a squawk and a honk, a short sharp sound. She's most often seen with Glinda lately. Before we got a bar for them to perch on at night in their coop, she and Bertha were the two who would snuggle up against my stomach when I was putting them to bed at night.

Glinda - The only blonde of the bunch, so of course that's the first thing to pop into my head when naming time came around. Before we moved and they had a fenced in backyard to run around in she was always the one who liked to perch on and walk around on the fence itself. Sometimes she'd wind up on the wrong side and make us chase her. Not sure which of us really needed the exercise. Now when a group is out where they probably shouldn't be, she's one of the first to be there.

Twinnie - One of a set of twins that had more black in the feathers on their head and necks, it was the only way to tell them apart from the others when they were young. I never did pick names for her or her 'sister'. Twinnie's the redhead of the twins, getting her mixed up with Bertha on occasion, and has one of the jiggliest double chins of all our chickens.

Took this when she was right in the middle of her molt, poor tailless thing.

Twinkie  - The blonder of the twins. I was just calling her Twin, but Twinkie suddenly sounded cute and kinda similar, so it's stuck. I'm so good at naming pets, aren't I? ::P Twinkie, for whatever reason, is the one most nervous of me.

The Australorps:

Giving me the 'chicken eye'.

Maleficent - Sleeping Beauty reference! I just had to, come on. So named because I tried to name all of them themed after evil characters or black birds, though she didn't get that specific one until she got to be the biggest, because otherwise it was impossible to tell them apart.

We learned eventually that in the absence of a rooster (we've gotten lucky so far with not getting boys) a hen will usually adapt to sort of take over that role, crest and waddles getting bigger then usual and changing behavior. Before we got the Lorpy's that was probably Rooty, but now it's definitely Maleficent. She's bossy, fat, and full of herself. One of Bertha's main bullies unfortunately. Seen most often with Scrawny Neck.

It's hard to get a picture where she doesn't look a little crazy.

Scrawny Neck (Diablo - Deceased) - Yes, that's the name I called her most often. Before they started molting for the first time I couldn't tell one from another, but once they did they all got different bald spots. They're still having feather issues, which means for now we can still tell them apart. Scrawny Neck had a mostly bare neck, and usually looked like she's having the mother of all bad hair days. I decided she'd get Diablo (which is the name of Maleficents pet raven, in case you didn't know) just because she was Mal's sidekick, even though looks wise Baldy is more like Diablo then Scrawny Neck was.

She was the runt but made most of the noise. She was another big bully of Bertha, and seemed to be Maleficent's partner in crime. She was picked off by a hawk.

Looks kinda like those bad blurry bigfoot photos, doesn't it? The Rare and Elusive Bare Butt Chicken!

Scruffy Butt (Blackbird) - Scruffy Butt doesn't stand out so much, except that she seems to like throwing leaves around the most. Anytime they wander around to the front of the house she's always in the deepest leaf pile, vigorously throwing leaves around as she scratch dances.

She's not fond of us paparazzi.

Baldy (Elphaba) - Not very inspired, but with another hen named Glinda around, I couldn't not. ::P Elphie (I really need to start calling them by their names) doesn't have a very strong personality. She's always right with the rest going where they shouldn't, but otherwise doesn't stand out much.


Black Beauty (Deceased) - Included just because she was one of the five original Australorpes and since we're now down to three I'm nostalgic. Beauty was like Elphie, she didn't stand out much among the other hens, and unfortunately died before I was able to tell them apart and officially assign names, so she's named posthumously. I don't even have any pictures that I can identify as her. We think she had sour crop, it was a pretty sudden downward spiral. Like Dia, if we have other Lorpys at some point I may ressurrect her name.

~*~

Not a good hair day. ::P Bertha wasn't helping, but she was stressed so it was ok.

And then there's me.

I'm thirty one years old, short, definitely fat - which I'm working on, but reality is what it is - and diabetic. Both of those have influenced different parts of my life quite a bit in different ways. I like diet Pepsi more then diet Coke, any diet soda better then regular soda, and fountain sodas rule all. I have a slight obsession with keys, quill pens, castles, masks, and dragons.

I'm a crafter/hobbyist with WAY too many mediums I like to dabble in. TMU and I currently are running an Etsy shop together, you can click the link on the left side to see what we're offering, and dream of opening a themed bed and breakfast with an attached craft store.

I'm somewhat of a nerd. Geek? I'm still confused on the specific definitions. ::P I like many TV shows (and the connected fandoms), movies (and their connected fandoms), and will always pay more in order to get whichever set of DVDs has the most commentaries/extra features. I LOVE reading, am ridiculously picky about what editions/cover art I buy sometimes, and fantasize about having a grand mansion with a huge library full of leather bound books. I like video games like Spyro and 3D Mario and computer games like Spore and The Sims.

I'm the closest thing we have to a computer guru. Which is scary. ::P I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid and though I never pursued it seriously I do dabble in fanfic writing now.

I've been told that I'm an old soul. I consider myself shy and insecure in a lot of ways but when I'm comfortable in the environment I'm competent and friendly, though sometimes I can get bossy. I try hard not to. I'm a procrastinating perfectionist. I'm not OCD - though if it's possible to be a little of anything then I suppose I could be - when I do something it has to be done just right, and I can easily get bogged down in that because I often change my mind on what 'just right' means. I have issues sitting down and doing things because of how long I make the process sometimes.

I've never been on a date (I know, shocking) and due to various things at various times never been to college. I've worked almost exclusively in retail. The best job I had I think was the first craft store I worked in when I was sixteen. I live with my parents by choice. I never had the stereotypical desire that many teenagers have to get as far away from my parents as I could. I lived alone for awhile, but rent was ridiculous in my area and they lived nearby anyway, so it made sense to move back in. The rent was cheaper and I was able to help my parents out with various things, so it worked for all of us and I don't see much reason to change it.

I would love to travel. Europe, Egypt, Isreal, hell, just about anywhere would be fascinating to me, but particularly Egypt, Ireland, Scotland and Britain.

~*~

Tl;dr - I love my people, I have cute animals, and I'm eclectic and long winded. ;;P

The Obligatory Introductory Post

Have you ever thought about what stuck with you from school, besides the knowledge that you probably only partially remember years later? Habits, impressions, things you were taught to do and just never really stopped?

I have two that are still particularly prominent. One is really small handwriting, a result of a bunch of my classmates and I in grade school competing with each other to see who could write the tiniest (and driving our teacher mad in the process since we were using our schoolwork as the playing field). For whatever reason that habit stuck hard and fast, and now my writing more resembles centuries old chicken scratch then an actual written language.

Yep, I'm one of those people that sometimes can't read their own writing.

Another is always dating and titling everything I write. I'm just slightly obsessive about this, actually. Pretty much anything short of a temporary to do list gets the date and some kind of header marking the subject.

It's a particularly useful habit since I'm also the type to scribble things down on whatever random scrap of paper is handy. In my rush to get the thoughts safely on paper (I tend to forget the details of one thing if I let my thought process run too far ahead, I swear my mind is like a sieve) I write too fast, don't quite form the words properly, and use short phrases that I can't always decipher later without that header. 

This first post is kind of the same thing. Not that it's necessary to be able to understand anything in the posts beyond, but because without it I don't feel like I've started this whole thing properly. ::P

This is my first attempt at a blog. I never really thought about them before. If I did it was probably as just something people used mostly for SRS BSNS like news and current events. Julie & Julia - a good movie, though Julia's (Meryl Streep's) parts are the best - brought them more to my attention when I saw it, but it wasn't until I got into Pinterest (that wonderful, evil site) that I was really catapulted into blogs headfirst and realized just how useful, creative and inspirational many of them are.

They still seemed pretty much for those with something particular to talk about, a specific passion to share, so the occasional thoughts I'd have of starting one seemed kind of silly. I wouldn't have any idea where to start picking just one interest to focus on - not the only place I've run into this hang up, but that's another post. I also couldn't really imagine anyone finding what I wrote that interesting and that's the point of it, isn't it? Getting attention, sharing yourself or your passion with other people.

But the ideas never really went away and after some (exasperated) encouragement from my  lovely Maternal Unit I finally figured "What the hell?" What's January for if not for fresh starts and trying new things? I am prone to random whims (hence the name I chose) and not actually keeping up with or finishing projects that I start,  but who knows? Maybe this will be one that I actually do right. If nothing else, I lose nothing for trying it.

Despite the fantasy that I'll become famous or have an impact on someones life with this blog (come on, people have gotten internet famous just for posting pictures of their cat online, it's gonna cross my  mind ::P) if I'm realistic I'll admit it's not going be anything special.

At the least maybe I'll keep up with it better then I do a physical journal. Certainly it'll serve much the same purpose, which in itself is valuable. I think people don't always manage to document enough of their whole personality to look back on. Or maybe that's another one of my obsessive tendencies (a desire to preserve for posterity as much of what I'm like as possible, and the wish that others did more of the same) talking. We document the big stuff, remember the important things, the highs and lows that made us dizzy with how fast they'd blend into each other. But the small things? The little quirks, the bits and pieces that aren't really important but still flesh out who we are, those get lost so easily.

That's what this blog will be. Random slices of my everyday life and personality that I put out here for no other reason then that I can. From crafting to home improvement, resolutions and goals to fandom rants and ruminations, and everything in between. Maybe there will even be a bit of the stereotypical quest to improve or discover myself and what I want out of the rest of my life. ::P I have no idea.

We'll find out together. ::)