Deep Within the FyreCreek

Happy New Year!

2012-01-23T08:13:00.003-05:00

Welcome to the Year of the Dragon!

SOPA and PIPA Are Not The Way

2012-01-18T08:36:00.007-05:00

Those of you who know me, or who have been reading my blog for a time, know that I don't get political very often. If you're here (reading some page on the Internet), this is something that you should care about.

The Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act are great ideas in theory. As an artist, I'm very concerned about the safety of my intellectual property. These laws are supposed to stop IP theft.

They won't.

What they will do is make individual websites like this one have to police content posted by their users and block it if it appears to be violating someones copyright. This post would probably be removed, because Blogger doesn't know if I made the image above or if I have permission to use it from the person who did make it (FTR, the person who created this image did so for the sake of this protest and it is intended to be used thus, therefore I do have permission). More than half of YouTube would be gone - videos of people singing popular songs would violate the singers/songwriters copyright. Except those things are not in violation of copyrights; they are allowed through the Fair Use doctrine. SOPA and PIPA would make Fair Use null and void.

But most websites can't handle the burden of policing their users. Etsy has a standing policy on this, actually. They don't go looking for copyright violations (and there are a TON) but will take action if the copyright holder contacts them. While it's not very efficient for putting an end to the piracy that goes on in Etsy stores, it's probably the best way to go. Etsy doesn't know if you bought a license agreement to use copyrighted images. Under SOPA and PIPA, they would have to remove those items (assuming if you have a license you would just need to prove it) and that size of a company just doesn't have the resources to do that. What would happen then? Etsy would shut down. Blogger, YouTube, Facebook - all of those sites would have a problem too.

The laws are great ideas in theory, but they're not written the way they should be. The letter of the law means Internet censorship. We all need to fight this.

Today, Wikipedia is blacked out. If you go to their site, you can enter your zip code and it will give you the contact information for your representatives. Tell them you are against SOPA and PIPA. They are not going to have the desired effect. The idea, what the laws want to do, is good, but they will not succeed in the way they are written. I think Wikipedia sums it up nicely, so I'll repeat what they say here:

SOPA and PIPA would put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites won't have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn't being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won't show up in major search engines. SOPA and PIPA would build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.

In a world in which politicians regulate the Internet based on the influence of big money, Wikipedia — and sites like it — cannot survive.

Congress says it's trying to protect the rights of copyright owners, but the "cure" that SOPA and PIPA represent is worse than the disease. SOPA and PIPA are not the answer: they would fatally damage the free and open Internet.

House Cookies

2012-01-13T14:49:00.007-05:00

My sweet friend Jessica gave me a bunch of totally awesome cookies cutters for Christmas. One of them is this cool house shape and as soon as I saw it, I knew what I had to do with it.

Jack has been renting a place and working on buying a house for a while. After a lot of searching and a few setbacks, he found a place and closed this past Monday. I'm so proud of him! And the house he found, which has its quirks, is awesome. So, to celebrate, I knew I had to make him cookies and it was the perfect opportunity to use my new house shape! (I know I've tagged this post under cakes when it's actually about cookies. Deal with it!)

But you, dear readers, know I can't just cut a few shapes and call it done. I have to decorate! I've never actually made cookies like this before. I've cut shapes and I've decorated with sprinkles and icing, but I've never cut shapes and decorated with royal icing. I had to do some research and fine some recipes.

Mixing Cookie Dough

Sugar cookies tend to be the best for shapes. Jack's favorite cookie is chocolate chip, but you can't really toll that out (too many lumpy chips) so I just had to make sugar cookies and he had to like it!

Balls of Dough

I made the dough into balls because I had limited space to roll it out flat so I made little batches.

The Cookie Cutter!

Here is my cutting board and cookie cutter all ready to be floured.

Rolling Dough

Rolling cookies for cut-outs does take some skill. My first couple balls were too flat and ended up very very brown. They were still tasty, but I made the last few thicker and that worked better.

Cookie Cutter on Dough

Finished Cookies

Don't they look delicious? Next step, icing!

Mixing Icing

Royal icing is fun stuff. I have learned a bit through all my cakes. People don't care if you make them from scratch or not. If it looks awesome, a mix is just fine. I admit I did use a mix.

Coloring

Icing cookies involves making an outline and then filling it in, a process called floating. I outlined it with a roof color and a house color, so a few globs of brown gel food coloring makes the roof.

Outlined Cookies

I just put the icing in little plastic bags and cut the tip to line. The white bag gave me a bit of trouble, but it worked. The next step was red icing on the chimneys, which I just slathered on with a spoon.

Floating

Floating is really fun! Give the outline a bit to dry, add some water to thin out the icing, then squeeze it all out and swish it about to cover the whole area.

Iced Cookies

The cookies are iced! The whole process took about an hour. I left them to dry overnight so the icing would be nice and firm for me to put the details on.

Little Blue Doors

I could have mixed up more icing and iced the details, but I decided drawing them with food coloring markers was just going to be easier. That was mostly true, but if I put too much pressure on it, it poked right through the icing.

Lights in the Windows

Yellow squared make windows. I'll finish it by outlining the windows and drawing panes with black.

Bushes too

It wouldn't be a home without some cute little bushes. There are little red berries or flowers on them too, but it's hard to see that in this image.

Finished Cookies!

A little pearl in each door for a doorknob and they're done! They were so much fun, and they were delicious.

Congratulations, my sweetie, on your knew house!

That Time of Year

2011-12-08T08:14:00.003-05:00

I could get into my regular rants about the names of holidays and what to wish people but I'm not feeling it today. Instead, I'll just show off my Yule tree! Happy Everything!

The tree!

The mantle!

Glitter house lights!

Halloween Cake Time

2011-11-01T20:26:00.010-04:00

Hello, dear blog readers! It's time for another cake!

My fabulous friends from Etsy and I have been talking about this crazy device that cooks little balls of cake. You can insert a lollipop stick, decorate, and have a cake pop, similar to confections you can buy at bakeries and coffee shops.

The more we talked about this device, the more several of us needed to acquire one. We learned they carried them at Bed Bath and Beyond and Kohls. One of my friends went to BB&B and found them sold out so she had to order it. I went to the BB&B not far from my office and they were also sold out. They told me of another store that had twelve in stock according to their computer, but that one is impossible to get to in evening rush hour. The next day, I went to a different BB&B and they had three on the shelf! Yay! My first batch with my new cake pop maker was apple cider doughnut holes, a recipe included with the manual.

Since we had been talking so much about cake pops, my friend came across this site that features an awesome Monster Cake. I got my maker the Thursday before Halloween, and as soon as she posted about that cake, I knew I had to make it for a party Saturday.

The first step was easy. I picked a vanilla cake ball recipe from the manual and ended up with a little more than three dozen cake balls.

Little balls of vanilla cake

I didn't take any pictures of baking the cake, but it was not complex. When I was making the spice cake for my mother's birthday cake, I thought it would taste amazing with pumpkin. Pumpkin is the flavor of the season, so I used a box spice cake mix made with about 15 oz of pumpkin (no eggs or oil or anything, just mix and pumpkin). I was a little worried that my cake would not rise, and it did not. It cooked fine, but both layers ended up lumpy. since I was making a monster, it did not have to be perfect.

The next step is to make my cake ball eyeballs. I got some candy melts from the craft store, melted them in the microwave, and got to dipping. Candy melts come in a variety of colors. The store was out of orange, so I went with a light chocolate.

It's something like chocolate.

The trick to dipping cake balls is to dip the stick first, skewer the ball that has been chilled in the fridge or freezer, and then dunk and swirl it in the melty candy. You want to get a nice, thin, even coat but, I have to admit, after the first dozen, I was less stingy with my dip.

It looks good!

My cake pop maker came with a stand that holds a dozen pops. When you have more than three to work with, it makes it a slow process. Also, I've learned from previous work with these candy melts that once you melt them, they want to stay melted, so I had to keep the dipped pops in the freezer until it was time to decorate them.

Delicious chocolate-covered balls

Decorating the cake balls to look like eyes was easy. I put some white candy melts in a plastic bottle, melted them, and piped a circle on to one side of my coated cake pops. A chocolate chip for the pupil was the finishing touch. I used long and short lollipop sticks to give my monster a different look.

Eye see you

Now it's time to ice the cake. I used cream cheese icing because it pairs so well with a spice cake. I colored the icing with brown gel food coloring. The first layer was way too light.

Start with a yummy, lumpy cake

The purpose of the dirty icing layer is to glue the layers of cake together (with icing between the two) and to tame the crumbs on the outer surfaces of the cake. This step is more important when your icing is light colored and your cake is really crumbly.

Cover it with icing

I dyed the second layer of icing much darker, but not the same color as the chocolate on my pops. I was running out of dye, so I just left it as is.

Nice and smooth

Smooth icing does not look like a hairy monster, so I took a shell tool and gave it some wispy texture.

Quick strokes make a furry cake

It looks fuzzy to me

The lumpy cake gave me a nice surface for the face of my monster. I used decorator icing with a piping tip to pipe on a black mouth line and some white teeth.

Grrrrr

I baked the cake and cake balls on Thursday and decorated the mess on Friday, but I could not place the eyestalks until I was at the party, because they would not fit in my cake carrier.

When it was time to bring out the cake, I put seven of my three dozen eyestalks in and brought it out.

Ta-da! The Completed Monster Cake!

Doesn't it look delicious among all that yummy food? The remaining eyestalks made for a yummy treat as well.

Good stuff to eat

The death of a Monster Cake.

The pumpkin spice combination was just as tasty as I thought it would be.

I really love my cake pop maker. The appliance was very easy to use and the cake balls are so fun to decorate. I think the next monster cake should be purple. I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

You Taught Me

2011-10-25T11:59:00.001-04:00

You Taught Me that true friends are people who love you for who and what you are.
You Taught Me that true friends wouldn't try to hurt me, so if they say something that I take as hurtful, they probably didn't mean it.
You Taught Me to trust the people in my life, to trust that they have only the best intentions toward me.
You Taught Me the value of communication, to talk to my friends when they say something that hurts me, or when I feel they don't have the best intentions toward me.
You Taught Me to think about how I react to my friends and to talk to them when I feel hurt. Because You Taught Me that my true friends don't try to hurt me.
You Taught Me to pay attention to the lives of others.
You Taught Me that every day is not peaches and roses and maybe the distance my friend is showing is because of a bad day, not because of me.
You Taught Me how to be open and understanding. Because You Taught Me to talk to the people who matter.
You Taught Me to move on.
You Taught Me to be thankful for what I learned from the time we had together and to let you go your own way when that time has passed.

By your anger, by your mistrust, by your assumptions.
By the way you did not do these things, You Taught Me.

This One is For Mom

2011-09-30T10:29:00.012-04:00

My mother is a wonderful person. I don't really spend a lot of time thinking about her mothering skills, or that I want to be a mother just like her if I ever am a mother. All I can say is, whatever she did, she did something right. I am proud that she is my mother, and I am blessed that she is my friend.

Her birthday was Tuesday. It was also her sister's birthday: they were born ten years apart. My aunt likes to joke, "you mom always used to say 'my birthdays were great until I turned ten!'" She loves her sister though, so I bet she thinks about it differently now. But, as you well know, dear blog readers, birthday means cake time!

Since my mother is the eldest, I told her to choose the cake. She first insisted that I use a box and not make anything too complicated, after hearing the story of Jack's red velvet disaster. She said she wanted something that goes good with cream cheese icing. I told her red velvet (I can get a box of that) or I have a box of carrot cake and spice cake on hand. Spice cake was the winner! It so happens that I have a fondant recipe that involves cream cheese, so I was all set.

I always talk about my friend Seddy's awesome blog. Ever since she posted about this fabulous cake, I have wanted to try it! The first thing I needed was jimmy sprinkles (Note: I actually only learned that they were called 'jimmies' within the last year or so, they were always just 'sprinkles' to me, and they will henceforth be called 'sprinkles' here. But for those who can't accept that there are different kinds of sprinkles, now you know I'm talking about jimmies.). As Seddy wrote in her blog, I also could only find a great mixed tub and no individual colors. So, I bought that tub and spent an evening sorting until I went crazy and my neck hurt from bending over. Then a few days later, I found a few colors separated in a sectioned jar. As it turned out, the pre-sorted sprinkles were mostly short and not very uniform in size. The ones from the tub were longer and fairly consistent, so I ended up using those anyway.

Next, I needed a design. Some friends suggested some vintage embroidery patterns and I crawled Etsy, finding some very beautiful and complex designs. I ended up going with a design similar to this doily because I decided simple was better!

Now the fun begins!

Ready to make fondant

The first thing I had to do was make the fondant. My recipe is crazy easy, but I can't share it because it was an old family recipe of Monty's mother-in-law and she swore me to secrecy. I will tell you that it involves cream cheese, confectioner's sugar, and vanilla. I usually put peppermint in there too, but not for this cake. This is the first time I'm going to actually put this fondant on a cake too.

Mixing the fondant

This fondant takes a lot of kneading and slowly adding in the sugar. It's best to work it a bit at a time and then combine each portion together. I wore gloves because it's very sticky and almost impossible to mix with a spoon. I could try a food processor, but I don't have one!

Finished ball of fondant

I knew this was going to be far more fondant than I need for the embroidery topper. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with the rest of it, actually. It does freeze well and when Monty's m-i-l first made it for me, she just rolled it into little balls and ate it like candy. That's pretty much what I did with it whenever I was previously inclined to make it as well. The ball of fondant went into the fridge until I was ready to make the topper.

My embroidery pattern

When I was ready to make the topper, I took the fondant out of the fridge and let it warm up so it was easier to work with. While it was doing that, I made a cutting guide so I could cut out a disk of fondant the right size for my cake. It was the same way I measured the fondant for the Stargate Cake too. I then drew the embroidery pattern with colored pencils, a color for each color of sprinkles, directly onto my cutting guide. When that was done, the fondant was warm enough to roll out and cut.

Placing sprinkles

There really is no way to describe putting the sprinkles in place. It was just a matter of picking a place to start and gently pressing them into the fondant. I put the thing on my lap so I could work while sitting with something on the TV. I learned my lesson from the Stargate Cake. Do not carve fondant on your feet, it's tiring!

Completed fondant topper

This is the finished topper! It took less than three hours. There are some white sprinkles there, and they show up against the cream of the fondant well enough (I wasn't expecting them to stand out). I used little pearls as the center of each flower. With the topper done, it went into a bag and into the fridge with the rest of the fondant. I barely used any of it.

Mixing

The cake was made last night so it's as fresh as possible for the party on Saturday. There's nothing much to say about this, as I was using a box mix and didn't do anything fancy to it.

Two lovely cakes

They came out beautiful. I lined the pans in parchment paper to make sure the cakes released from the pans (we were not going to have a repeat of the red velvet disaster!) and they both came out fine. I was a little worried because they look very dense. After they cooled and I cut off the rounded tops with my leveler, I tried some of the cut pieces and it was moist and delicious. I can't remember the last time I had a spice cake, I don't remember it being that yummy! I think it's just perfect for this autumnal birthday.

Layers and icing

Since my mother said simple was fine, the cream cheese icing also came pre-made. Since most of the cake will be covered with the topper, I slathered most of the icing on the sides.

I didn't get a picture of this next step. I wanted the icing to be a slightly different color than the fondant because I wanted to try something with the fondant borders. Do you remember the spray color that failed on the Stargate Cake? I decided to try Wilton's brand of spray color and picked up a can of blue. I wanted it to be very light, like just barely blue. I ended up with far more blue than I wanted, more of a robin's egg color, but I was happy with it. It came out light at first, but then I got a little heavy-handed with it. And now I can report that there was not a single problem with Wilton's spray. Now if only they would make it in silver!

Cutting the border

I made a mistake here. I should have pulled the fondant from the fridge and let it warm up so I could work with it, but I forgot. It's very crumbly when it's cold and it was getting late and I needed to be done with the cake. I kneaded a few balls of it so I could work with it, but it wasn't the best. It didn't cut cleanly, and I had a hard time shaping it. Even so, I was going to make it work, and work it did. I rolled a snake along the bottom of the cake and a kind of wavy, scalloped edge for the top.

Topper in place

Because I didn't let the fondant warm up, I had a hard time getting the topper off the parchment paper. It stretched a little bit, but I just pressed the edges into the scalloped fondant boarder and it worked fine. Moving the topper to the cake was a delicate operation! You can see a little of the blue in this shot. My coworker said it looked like the ocean. I love that! Perfect!

Finished Embroidery Cake!

Tada! The finished Embroidery Cake! I pressed some of those little pearls that I used in the center of the flowers into the rolled fondant at the base for a finishing touch.

The party is tomorrow. I hope my mom (and her sister) loves her cake!

For The Best Mom Ever

2011-09-27T10:28:00.000-04:00

Happy birthday, mom!

Heave To!

2011-09-19T09:17:00.001-04:00

It be Fae's natal day!

Happy Birthday, me fair friend!

Avast! It Be Talk Like a Pirate Day!

2011-09-19T09:13:00.003-04:00

Being a pirate is all fun and games till somebody loses an eye.

It stings like the blazes. It make you make faces, but you can't let your mates see you cry.

A dashing black patch will cover the hatch and make sure your socket stays dry.

Being a pirate is all fun and games till somebody loses an eye!

Apple I think I love you

2011-09-16T09:55:00.001-04:00

And if you know me, you can take the full meaning of that statement. (For those of you who don't know, my house is full of Dell products.)

So, I've been having iPod Touch problems. I have an older 2nd gen (8 gig, and chock full of stuff) that I've had for about a year and a half. The battery was running down fast, and it wasn't charging fully even when plugged in over night. I did some searching and found an entry in some Apple troubleshooting thing that said to make sure I had the most current software. A software update has been available for some time, but I've been reluctant to update it because I was worried about losing data - specifically my game progress in all my apps. Jack updated his iPhone some time ago and said his apps were all perfectly saved, but still I was afraid to update.

With the battery problems, it made it hard to play my games because the thing ran down after 10 minutes with Pocket Frogs. In fact, both of my NimbleBit games crashed often after the most recent updates, entirely the fault of the updates (Tiny Tower didn't open at all and Pocket Frogs crashed if I wasn't connected to a WiFi network- which is pretty much any time I'm not at home). Some of my games like Angry Birds and Stupid Zombies haven't opened for months, and Zombie Farm crashed occasionally too. I had no choice but to update my software and hope that fixed everything.

I spent TWO HOURS last night making sure my iPod was backed up, all my apps were saved, all my purchases transferred to my computer, all my playlists noted. The thing said it would delete my media, but apps and data would not be affected. Then I left it to update overnight.

The first thing I noticed when I went back to it this morning was that the battery was fully charged! Before, it would have the tiniest sliver to go and still indicate it was charging even after being plugged in for hours. Some of my apps had moved around, and the thing re-installed apps I had deleted to free up some memory. The apps even stayed on the correct screens, for the most part. Except 2 were missing from my first screen and I wasn't sure what they were. Pocket Frogs and Zombie Farm had saved my progress. Angry Birds and Stupid Zombies worked again. And then I realized one of the apps that was missing from my first screen- Tiny Tower was no longer on my device!

IT DIDN'T SAVE TINY TOWER! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! APPLE FAIL!!!!!!!

I had already shut down the computer and needed to get to work, so I couldn't plug the thing back in and see if I could get the app from my computer. Then I started telling myself that it was ok to start from the beginning. It had taken me some three weeks to get fifty-three floors, I was more than halfway to the best elevator, and the app was free and I hadn't spent any money on in-app purchases either. It's just a game, it wouldn't be that bad. So, I re-installed the app from the App Store and left the WiFi connected area.

I got to work and took a minute to open my new Tiny Tower so I could get started rebuilding. It was there! It was all there! All my floors, all my bux, all my money! Somehow, the game saved! YAAAY!!!

Seriously, I have no idea how it would have happened. Updating the software deleted the app from my device. I didn't open it right away after reinstalling so it couldn't have pulled my game from some secret storage place on the network. Some program stuffed my save in to some far reaches of my iPod memory, or something, I really don't know. Apple win!

Yes, it's just a game, but I get entertainment from it, and spent a lot of time joyously taking Bitizens up my tall tower in the not super fast elevator. It's frustrating to lose something you put time (and sometimes money, though not in this case) into, even if that something is meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

I still don't know if the update fixed my battery issues. It's been draining somewhat fast, but I've been using it a lot today (and I still haven't put all my music back on it!). If nothing else, I'm encouraged that I won't have to start over in every game when the day comes that I can upgrade to one with more memory. Thank you, Apple!

WAM Origins

2011-09-15T10:25:00.001-04:00

It was brought to my attention on Facebook that I have never actually told the story of how WAM earned her alias. I've used that name for her on my blog since 2006 and, while I have said what it stands for, I've never said how she got it.

I've said it many times; there's something not right with WAM. It's in her brain, something that makes her perceive the world in her own way, a way that is vastly different and totally unlike the way the rest of us perceive the world. Coworkers have speculated that it must be some form of Autism, high-functioning to be sure but debilitating enough that the rest of us just aren't prepared to deal with her. Anything can set her off, especially if you don't agree with her or don't let her have the last word.

Some of the stories she tells are so fantastical that they cannot possibly be true. She used to date several professional wrestlers who regularly hold matches over her, she's personal friends with many politicians and celebrities - who she calls regularly for advice, opinions, or to demand they do something, and everyone in her family is either a doctor or a lawyer or both and this fact makes her an expert on whatever subject you could possibly bring up.

She walks with a fast, heavy gait. She will mow you over in a heartbeat if you cross her path. This is quite laughable as she's a tiny little mouse of a woman with huge, not-quite Coke bottle glasses who is in her 40's and lives in an apartment with her mother - whom she calls several times throughout the day. She gets very excited when she has a new (fabricated) story to tell, and nothing will deter her until she has told it all, short of yelling at her. (Ask me about the time she was 'engaged' sometime.) Yelling at her, by the way, will either earn you a complaint with HR or the bosses, or some days of silent treatment. Lately, silent treatment has been the more likely reward.

WAM and I work in the same group and have the same supervisor. Before he was a supervisor, he was just a coworker in our group as well. When we first moved to this building, a more rigid cube farm than our previous location, Adolf (that's the supervisor, if you're new to my blog aliases) sat in a cube at the front of an aisle, right near the busiest walkway on the floor and open to a lot of traffic. When WAM had one of her stories, rather than coming around to stand in his cubicle behind him, she would just pop her head over the cube wall. Adolf said it was exactly like those Whack-A-Mole games at carnivals, where you have a big mallet and you whack the moles when they pop up out of the holes. He, on more than one occasion, expressed a desire for such a mallet, because she would pop up so suddenly and energetically that, thus startled, the urge to whack her one was hard to contain. I have never sat in one of those cubes where her popping up, mole-like, was possible.

So, she was then aptly nicknamed WAM (for Whack A Mole), by the not-yet supervisor and adopted by the rest of us, justly earned.

Looking Back on a Year

2011-09-05T21:32:00.005-04:00

Quite a bit happened for me last year. It was a mix of blessings and trials. Of all the things that happened to me during the first three quarters of 2010, today I'm only thinking about one of them. The truth is, I was miserable. I had been miserable for more than a year. I held on to a toxic relationship long after it had died. Once I had freed myself from that, the world opened up.

I met Jack at a party over the summer. We chatted through the evening and I gave him my e-mail address before heading home. He sent me an e-mail, to which I replied, mentioning that my mother and aunt were visiting that Friday. He sent me another e-mail that he was going to ask me to dinner on Friday, but since I was busy, would I be interested in another night. That e-mail got buried in my inbox, and poor Jack took my silence to be a total rejection.

A month later, I found that e-mail while cleaning up my inbox. I felt horrible! I sent him a message, apologized profusely, and said that I was very interested in going out to dinner, if he still wanted to go. He said no harm done, and we started planning. I was working at the Renaissance Festival on Saturday and Sunday, but I wasn't working Labor Day, so Sunday night became the perfect time for that dinner.

I rode to faire with my dad that day, so Jack picked me up and we drove to a little Indian restaurant in Annapolis. I still remember him standing by a tree when I walked out of the gate. The Indian place was my choice, I had been there before with my brother and it was close. We had a lovely dinner, and then he drove me to my parents' house where I was staying that night. I remember he quoted Romancing the Stone ("my little mule" to which I replied "Pepe!" We were talking about my car, because it was the same model he drove) and thanked me for getting the reference.

We saw each other several more times through September and following. We went to a street festival and a couple corn mazes. We spent time together for my birthday. One conversation in particular I remember was when he mentioned that his parents had a time share in Cancun for early December and had invited us to go. I remember that so well not just because I was being invited, but because it meant that he spoke of me to his parents. That was really big for me. And so our outings also include a week in Cancun.

Some days, we'll go out and do something, some days, we'll stay in and watch old TV shows all day. Every day is perfect, whether we go out or stay in.

We had gotten tickets to a Journey concert at a venue very near my home. The concert was supposed to be last Sunday, but Hurricane Irene messed everything up. The concert was postponed a week, putting it on the night of our one year first date anniversary. I was really upset upon learning this a couple days before the concert was originally scheduled. I had other ideas for what we might do with that particular evening (i.e. going back to that Indian restaurant after I got off at the faire), and getting to the concert on time would be impossible because of the shift I was supposed to work at faire. There was also the hurricane itself. I had decided to stay home with my cats because they were agitated from the earthquake. It was looking like I would not see Jack at all that weekend (because of the storm) and probably not even for our anniversary either (because he would go to the concert and I would be stuck working at faire). I think this may be why I spent every waking moment of that Friday crying. I'm not exaggerating that, I cried myself sick, though I honestly have no idea why.

As it was, the storm passed, leaving me out of power, so I hung with Jack that Sunday. Then, for what I think is the first time in eight years, I got someone to cover my shift at the faire so I could make the concert.

You're just going to have to take my word that is Journey up there.

I saw Jack before I worked at the faire on Saturday as well. Then we ended up at my place yesterday, went to the concert, and hung around here all day. The concert was great, even though that wasn't my initial idea of how to spend our anniversary. Everything worked out just fine.

Honestly, that's them!

Jack is a wonderful man. I'm so lucky to have him in my life. He's kind and patient, he's talented and creative. Neither of us knows what the future holds for us, and that's ok. I long stopped hoping I would have what I have now. Sometimes I find myself wondering how I got here at all. Then I realize that 'how' doesn't matter. I love that man. That is what matters.

For Ichus

2011-08-27T14:10:00.005-04:00

It had to have been 1997. I was working at an animal hospital and someone brought in a stray. I took him home with me and made him mine. His name was Houdini. He was a sweet orange cat who had a problem with men but loved my mom and me. He escaped the house and that was the last we saw of him. But this is not Houdini's story.

After we lost Houdini, we wanted another cat. My mother said she always wanted an orange cat. We had Zorro at the time. Zorro was a big gray tabby and he was all mine. Houdini did not stay with us long, and my brother wanted a cat too.

A friend of mine knew someone who had a barn and a litter of kittens was born in that barn on March 21st, my brother's birthday. That litter had two orange cats- my friend claimed one, and brought the other one to us.

He was more peaches and cream than orange, long-haired and fluffy with beautiful golden eyes. He was tiny as a kitten, he could fit in one hand. My brother named him Ichus, after a cartoon monster. We often called him Ick or Ichy.

Ichus with Noam the Gnome in 2009

I don't remember the year, but one day Ichus had a dreadful reaction to his routine vaccines. We finally got through to the doctor, who was able to save his life, but it was close.

My brother was married in 2004 and moved into a home of his own, and he took Ichus with him. They moved around a bit and settled at a lovely house a good two hours south of me.

In the past year, Ichus got very sick. They thought it was cancer and they really didn't have the money to treat him. So, they kept him as comfortable and happy as possible. As I understand it, he was doing very very badly on Wednesday. My brother dug a hole in the back and put the cat in it; he was going to shoot him in an act of mercy. Ichus kept climbing out, so my brother didn't do it. Ichus died in the house the next day.

He was a sweet cat and I think he had a good, long life. I'll miss you, Ichy.

Aftershocks

2011-08-25T07:41:00.000-04:00

Well, look at that, I'm still talking earthquakes.

There was a 4.5 aftershock just after 0100 this morning. It's kind of funny how I noticed it.

I have six piercing in my ears. When I was brushing my teeth last night, I realize I had removed only five of my six earrings (????). Then I read to my kitties and went to sleep. Yep, completely forgot to take out the last earring.

I had rolled onto that side and woke up to the post poking me. I lay there thinking I should really get up and take the earring out and get back to sleep, but I couldn't summon any energy to do it. Then it got really quiet- all the crickets and night bugs outside stopped singing. Then there was a little rumble and a little shake. Then a pause, and then a little more rumble and a little more shake. Then it was done. (And yes, I then got up and removed the pokey earring.)

The cats huddled close, purring and mewing when I touched them as we tried to get back to sleep. The last time I looked at the clock it was more than an hour later. I'm very tired today!

Shake Rattle Rumble

2011-08-24T08:26:00.002-04:00

It was almost 1400 yesterday when my desk started to shake. Then just as I thought it was finishing, it really started to shake and the windows were rattling. There was a low rumble. My supervisor said "what the-?" And I said "this is an earthquake." And he said "we should probably get away from the window?" And then it was done.

So we learned that the epicenter was in Mineral VA, spitting distance from the VA Renaissance Faire grounds and the North Anna Nuclear Power Station, about 80 miles from the office. It registered 5.8 on the Richter Scale. According to an expert at the US Geological Survey, it was the strongest VA quake since a 5.6 in 1897. This one was felt in parts of NC and as far north as VT.

At around 2000 last night, there was a 4.2 aftershock. It was nothing like the first quake.

This map of US fault lines and earthquake hazard zones came from the US Geological Survey.

Quakes are very uncommon in this area. I've experienced four over the past eight years and none that I can recall prior to that. VA has far more seismic activity than MD, and I've been working in VA for the past eight years, so that makes some sense. Nothing has really been big enough to rattle much through MD before that, I guess. Or I just didn't know what it was.

The very first quake I felt was a 4.5 in 2003. It wasn't that far from yesterday's epicenter, and it shook the office in McLean for a few seconds. The second was shortly after I bought my home. There was a very brief rattle in the wee hours of a Friday morning. I don't even know the magnitude or epicenter of that one, it was by far the mildest of the four I have felt. Hmm, a quick internet search tells me that one was a 3.6 and it was centered just north near Gaithersburg MD. It wasn't the mildest earthquake I've felt after all, but circumstances made the next one pretty bad. It was a magnitude 3 and it happened while Pat and I were riding a roller coaster at King's Dominion last October. We were a mere 3 miles from the epicenter of that quake. It was the worst roller coaster ride ever, and left us both with the mother of all migraines, though we didn't know until a few days later that it was a quake.

In every case but the third (because I was on a roller coaster), I knew it was an earthquake.

It was business as usual in the office following the quake, though no one was really focused on work. I heard a building was evacuated across the street from us, but we were not, though the entire call center left the building. We were jostled quite a bit, and I had a headache and my back and neck were sore. It was kind of like someone was shaking the building as if trying to get the last coins out of a piggy bank.

At home, I found two very worried kitties who clung to me through the night. One plastic bottle fell off a shelf in the bathroom and a shell fell off my altar in the bedroom. Otherwise, you really couldn't tell that anything had happened. The kitties jumped at every noise, or looked at me for a reaction, and I tried very hard not to jump with them (though I think I looked out the window when I heard a car go by far more often than normal). The aftershock was brief and the cats stayed close. They sat with me on the bed for story time and stayed with me through the night. Poor things looked quite forlorn when I left the house this morning.

A lot of people were joking about the whole thing in the hours that followed, because it was mild in comparison to other earthquakes but disrupted the region quite a bit anyway. The worst part of the whole mess, and why I find no humor in it, was the amount of people who were in town when the quake happened thinking "this is it, this is the attack we've been fearing would happen for almost 10 years." I think DC is perfectly in rights to be jumpy. While it turned out to be nothing more than a large (for the area) earthquake, a good deal of the nerve-rattling was from memories and fears.

We all have enough to be worried about.

Next up! Hurricane Irene! She might be headed our way!

Paint By Number

2011-08-17T19:08:00.002-04:00

This is a vintage paint by number that one of my grandmothers painted from the porch of her beach house on the Chesapeake Bay.

Someone at my maternal grandmother's community has the same one outside her door, but I otherwise have never seen this kind of paint by number anywhere else. It's on a scroll!

Ah! Banana!

2011-08-17T08:13:00.003-04:00

Do you remember this post where I proclaimed "Ah! Banana!" loudly, and for the office to hear, if people were in the office at the time?

My lovely friend Lori of myvintagewhimsy took a toothpick to her Ah! Bananas in my honor!

I love it!

Don't forget to start your day with a perfect Ah! Banana! of your own!

I Said I'd Never Do It

2011-08-11T07:18:00.001-04:00

But I had to! ArenaNet is having a little Guild Wars 2 contest, and I have to be there to enter. I don't plan to use it much. I don't really like it. It's very confusing. But I'm there anyway.

Come on over and say hello!

http://www.facebook.com/fyrecreek

'Allo

2011-08-04T13:56:00.006-04:00

"Did you say 'hello'?"

"No, I said 'allo' but that's close enough."

"Oh. You're a worm, aren't you?"

"Yeah, 's right!"

"You don't, by any chance, know the way through this labyrinth, do you?"

"Who, me? No, I'm just a worm."

I was talking with some Etsy friends yesterday about the Beholder I crocheted for Phoenix. Some said it looked like a creepy glove, some said it looked like a funky sea creature, and more than a few said it looked like something out of Labyrinth. Then the challenge was on, and The Worm was made!

This guy took nearly five hours. He is made with acrylic yarn, and stuffed with poly beads, scrap yarn, and poly fill. His scarf is recycled plastic felt and he has gold safety eyes. I think I need to embroider a line on his mouth so it's clearer that it is his mouth and add some blush to his cheeks. But otherwise, here he is!

Happy Birthday, Grandmom!

2011-07-29T08:42:00.012-04:00

My grandmother turned 93 last Thursday. I was chided last year for driving all the way out there on a week day (which was her birthday last year too) so I was told to come on Saturday this time. My mother's sister was in town from Utah, and her brother and his wife were there, and my folks, and Jack joined us too. Since I knew I wouldn't see her on the actual day, I asked my mom if I could make a special cake.

When my Etsy friend Seddy posted this cake on her blog, I knew I had to make one for my grandmother. She used to collect butterflies. I remember spending visits at her home looking at all the butterflies - butterfly ceramics, plates, plaques on the walls, magnets on the fridge, paintings, bed sheets. Butterflies everywhere! When I see butterflies fluttering, I think of my grandmother and her vast butterfly collection. A lot of is has been given away when she moved from her house to the senior community apartment. I knew this cake would be perfect.

I had never worked with gum paste before, so I played with it a bit and made the sand castle that went on Jack's cake. I was pretty sure I could figure out how to make butterflies. Then Seddy posted this butterfly tutorial on her blog and I knew my grandmother's cake would be a reality! As you can see, it was more than a month ago that I started working on this.

Supplies

Even before I saw Seddy's tutorial, my dad had helped me gather supplies: a butterfly cookie cutter, gel food coloring, paint brushes. So the first step was making butterflies, so they'd have plenty of time to dry and stiffen up (and so I could make several attempts if my gum paste skills proved inadequate).

Rolling Gum Paste

First, roll out the gum paste. I used my fondant roller and the smallest bands so each butterfly would have a uniform thickness.

Cookie Cutter

Next, cut the shape with a cookie cutter. I didn't actually do one at a time, this one was cut after I had gotten three or four out of the same clump. Just ball up the remains, roll it out, and cut again.

Painting Butterflies

Painting the butterflies was really fun! Seddy's cake sported thirty confectionery lepidopterans. I ended up with twelve and I was sure that would be plenty. I used four colors; teal, pink, purple, and golden yellow and painted them in layers. So, each butterfly got a base wash, then an accent of another color, and then a small detail with a third color.

Painted Butterflies

Seddy said her butterflies looked the best when they were all lined in black and I completely agree. Here are my painted butterflies!

Butterfly Boats

I set them gently into little boats made out of foil so they could dry with their wings slightly up. I think this really makes the in-flight effect. It wouldn't look nearly as neat if they were all flat on the cake.

They were all set aside to dry, then eventually put into a container until it was time to decorate the cake. The moisture from the icing can soften gum paste, which would make droopy butterflies! I didn't actually put them on until we got back from lunch and were ready for cake. The whole butterfly-making process took a good two or three hours, but I took my time with it, and found it a very relaxing and enjoyable task.

Lemon Cakes

Friday arrived and it was time to bake! My mother had heard of the terrible time I had making Jack's red velvet cake so she told me not to do anything fancy. If I used a box cake, no one would care. So, box cake it was! I don't think I've ever had a box lemon cake.

I wanted to do something special to the cake anyway, so I threw a handful of blueberries into the batter and added some frozen lime pulp. With all the heat we've been having, I figured a nice refreshing citrus cake would be delightful. I added some baking time to account for the blueberries and ended up with more of a dense pound cake. No big deal, pound cakes are yummy!

Layers

I prepared the layers. I used lemon curd in the middle, but lined it with icing to help hold it in. Lemon curd is a lot like the stuff you find in lemon meringue pie. We served it at the VA Renaissance festival on biscuits.

Iced Cake

As I was icing the cake, I realized that one can of lemon icing just wasn't enough. I threw the cake in the fridge and ran back out to the store. The can says it can do two 8 or 9 inch cakes. I don't believe it. I used about a can and 2/3.

The whole thing got thrown into the fridge for about an hour before I braved the heat driving to Jack's place. The cake sat in the fridge there too, so it wouldn't melt too much in the hot car the next day and it really would be cool and refreshing.

We came back from lunch. I gently nuked the remaining icing and started placing the butterflies. The icing on the cake was hard from being cold, you see, so I needed something slightly gooey to set the butterflies in. My aunt hovered as I worked. She was really amazed that they were edible and really impressed that I went with butterflies (because her mother collected them, of course!).

Butterflies on a Cake

The big light in my grandmother's kitchen burnt out just as I was ready to place the butterflies on the cake, so getting good pictures of the finished cake wasn't easy. My aunt took some also. Maybe her camera has a better flash than mine.

The Butterfly Cake

Ta-da! The completed Butterfly Cake! I'm glad I only had twelve butterflies, that was really plenty.

Yum!

Doesn't that look delicious! Everyone said the taste of the cake was fantastic and the butterflies were beautiful. We did taste them too (poor butterflies!). Gum paste tastes like nothing, but sweet nothing, and the painted colors didn't really have any flavor.

There is a funny end to this cake. Jack and I took the rest with us. We met some of his friends in Rockville to see Captain America, and then I hung out as he and his buds played Godlike. We brought the cake so they could finish it. The icing liquefied in the hot car while we were in the theater! I'm pretty sure it was still tasty!

Just a Few Memories

2011-07-21T23:07:00.002-04:00

Just some images I took in the 2004 sailing season on Gone with the Wind.

A Gift Just For Me

2011-07-20T07:49:00.005-04:00

Sometimes, my sweet kitties will leave me presents to find when I get home from work. It could be a dead, half-eaten spider on the dining table, or a chewed-up plastic ring from a milk jug, or just a toy mouse under a rug for me to step on. A couple months ago, it was 1000 origami cranes in a nest of broken glass on my hearth.

Yesterday, I came home to this.

No, that's not blood. It's wine! The really funny thing is that I don't even remember opening this bottle of wine. It was a bottle of Black Swan Rouge from Far Eastern Shore Winery, a very tasty blackberry Cabernet. Since reds don't need to be chilled, it just got corked and put back on the wine rack. Since I don't remember when Jack and I opened this bottle, I don't know how much was in there, but I don't think more than a glass or two had been consumed from it.

I believe Phantom was the culprit. He had been acting like he wanted to get under or behind the wine rack for a few weeks, like his favorite toy was back there, and I have known him to play with corks. Somehow, I think he found this convenient cork just sticking out and gave it a tug with his teeth. That puddle in the upper middle of the above picture is where the cork ended up.

What resulted was not only the wine pouring out directly into Miss Luna's food dish (the one to the right of the green fish, full of wine) but a spray akin to contents under pressure. No reason for a previously opened bottle of wine to be under pressure, but it spewed forth nonetheless.

The bottle in question is in the right column. From the top, there's a box port, then a bottle of Mayan honey wine, and then the open bottle of Cabernet.

Here is some of the spray on the clothes dryer opposite. Really, I'm baffled as to how it got that far! And the splatter spread out from there. It's even on top of the chest freezer that's directly to the left of the dryer.

Now, since the wine sprayed out like it did, it does make me wonder how much of it got on the unsuspecting cat - and how much he had to lick off!

There seems to be about two glasses left in the bottle, pretty much whatever didn't hit the mouth when the bottle was horizontal. Lesson learned. Open bottles of wine do not get put back on the wine rack! And it was the perfect opportunity to have a glass with my dinner.

I got this wine from one of the wine tasting festivals that Jack and I went to this summer. Everything from this winery was really good. There are a few liquor stores in Maryland that carry it in stock. I might have to send my mother out for another bottle of it! At least there was no glass to leave tiny cuts in my hands this time.

UPDATE! It has been brought to my attention that the cork may have just given up the ghost on its own. I thought I saw little teeth marks on the cork, but it is cork and hard to tell. After I had cleaned the mess, Phantom tried to chew on one of the other bottles too (completely sealed, so I'm not worried this one will burst). Still, I might be blaming the cats for nothing.

His Gift

2011-07-18T10:12:00.012-04:00

Jack's birthday was yesterday. Since I've been crazy about baking, I decided to make him a cake. I decided this about a month ago, but I had gotten his favorite kind of cake out of him before that. Do you remember this post where I talked about messing with gum paste? It's time to put that little castle to use!

Jack told me his favorite cake is red velvet. This presented several problems: I've never made a red velvet cake, not even from a box, and that's not usually the kind of cake you find decorated. Jack dresses like a hippie every year for Halloween, so at first I thought I could do a tie-dye cake like this. But, red velvet to me is a more elegant cake, and I think finding it under something crazy like tie-dye icing would be a shock. Don't worry, I'll come back to the tie-dye cake.

So, I had to come up with something elegant to top a red velvet cake, and still be fitting for the person and occasion. Taking inspiration from one of my favorite blogs by an Etsy friend, I decided to play with gum paste. Jack had been talking about going to the beach a couple times this summer, and we had a lovely time in Cancun, so a beachy themed cake seemed appropriate. As you know, I made the sandcastle topper about a month ago. To keep it elegant, I didn't make a huge topper - it's about three inches across.

Onward to the cake!

Box cakes are fine, but I felt this would be more special if I made it from scratch. I found this recipe and went out Friday morning to get the ingredients I needed (minus the pecans because Jack is allergic and I've got my own decorating in mind). I wanted to make three layers (also something I've never done before) but I only had two cake pans, so I picked up another at the store as well. I hit the first problem. Shoppers was completely out of red food coloring. I did manage to find it at Walmart (and they're renovating and stuff was all over in no logical order, it's amazing I found it at all!). When I got home I realized I had picked up only half of the cream cheese I needed. Back to the store!

Mixing Batter

Now with three cake pans and all ingredients, I got started on the cake. I only have whole wheat flour; this is important for later on. It bakes just like regular flour, but I can taste the difference.

Adding Red Dye

The red food coloring in the mix was quite the thing! I kept thinking of the "bleeding armadillo cake" from Steel Magnolias. I evenly measured the batter and the three pans went into the oven.

Perfect Cake

Doesn't that look splendid? I was so proud of my pretty cake. Then I took the other two out of the pans.

Disaster!

PANIC! (Is this always going to happen when I'm baking? Can I make a cake without a moment of panic? PLEASE????) My two older pans did not release the cake, even though they were greased and floured just like the new pan. They came out from the middle, and the sides and bottom had to be scraped off. The cake was delicious! But, I only had one layer and that was not going to work! Because I had gotten started so late and I didn't have enough ingredients to whip up another batch (namely, the red food coloring was out), I ran out to the store again and grabbed a box mix and another new pan.

Take Two

I split the box into two layers so I'd still have a three-layer cake. I mostly did this because I didn't trust my old pans. I could have added more layers fine, but I didn't need another cake crisis.

Mixing the Icing

While the cake round two was in the oven, I mixed up the icing. It's pretty much cream cheese and sugar with a touch of vanilla. This is also my recipe for fondant but in different portions (more sugar, less cream cheese). I had to 'test' the icing with my crumbly bits of cake. Cook's prerogative!

Drippy

My two box cake layers came out just fine so I leveled them (tested that bit too) and stacked them. The icing at room temperature was a little drippy, so I put the whole thing, cake and bowl of icing, into the fridge for 15 minutes. I then finished icing the cake while it was cool but not firm.

Iced and Lined

In trying to keep the elegant look of the cake, I made some shell-shaped chocolates to line the base. There's really nothing fancy about this kind of chocolate making. I used Wilton's Candy Melts that I bought at Micheal's in white and dark chocolate with a shell mold. Just melt, pour, and let harden. I froze them to speed up the cooling process and because they're very melty when being handled.

Shell Chocolates

I think Jack was most impressed that I made the chocolates. At first he thought I had bought them.

Castle Topper

So, I placed my little gum paste castle on top. I added a red gum paste bucket that I filled with brown sugar "sand" to complete the look. I then sprinkled the top with brown sugar, gold cupcake gems (tiny little flakes of golden sugar), and little candy pearls.

Completed Sand Castle Cake

Ta-da! The Completed Sand Castle Cake! The whole baking and constructing of the cake took a good seven hours. It would have been much less if it wasn't for the pan fail! Jack could tell that the middle layer was my from-scratch cake because it was a brighter shade of red than the other two. He also said it tasted better. Yay! That was the first time I made red velvet cake so I'm glad it turned out yummy. I thought that the whole wheat flour was obvious, but if that's what gave it a better flavor to Jack, I'll happily use it again.

We met some of his friends at his favorite Burmese place for dinner on Saturday and then saw Harry Potter. He and I spent Sunday, his actual birthday anniversary, lounging around watching old episodes of NYPD Blue. We also managed to get in a little True Blood (I think I'm one ep behind now) and A Game of Thrones (I'm way behind here, I've only seen 5 eps). I felt bad because we really didn't do anything for his birthday, but he said it was a perfect way to spend the day. If he's happy, I'm happy!

Next cake: Butterflies for my grandmother! Her 93rd birthday is Thursday.

For My Love

2011-07-17T08:35:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Public Service Announcement

2011-07-06T12:55:00.001-04:00

DO NOT sign up for a "risk free trial" from http://yourfacekit.com or http://auravie.com/. They say you have 10 days to review the product before they will start automatically charging you nearly $100 every 45 days. They did not give me 10 days, they gave me 6. But they said the thing was delivered two weeks ago. I can't account for that. My mailbox locks with a key and the package did not show up until last Thursday.

The "risk free trial" is bullshit. Don't waste your time, don't waste your money.

I'm allergic to the product as it is, so if anyone wants a true risk free trial, contact me and I will give you a 25 day supply. But stay far far away from this company!

Burn Scars

2011-07-01T11:38:00.002-04:00

I think I removed one of my favorite freckles.

I had a line of three on my right forearm that reminded me (and everyone) of Orion's Belt. Orion is my favorite constellation because it was the first one I could recognize and I always knew where to find it (and the three freckles that reflected the 3 brightest stars in the constellation on my arm. How many people have a star pattern on their skin that wasn’t a tattoo?).

But I burned my arm reaching into my oven on Saturday, right across that line of freckles. The last one got the worst of it. I don't think it's going to come back after the burn heals. *cry*

Chevron Seven Locked

2011-06-29T09:24:00.013-04:00

It was LDS's birthday last week. Her partner, who I will call Bonnie, decided to throw a surprise party for her. I had two important tasks: 1 - keep LDS occupied on Saturday morning while Bonnie decorates and cooks and 2 - make the cake.

The first task was easy. LDS and I have been trying to plan a big Guild Wars gaming day for a couple months. We would make plans and cancel them for various reasons. Bonnie and I told her it was going to be Saturday and she was not allowed to back out. Easy.

Since we were talking about the Stargate cake, as seen on this post at CakeWrecks I decided it would be the perfect time to make the Stargate cake.

I decided to make a fondant topper so that I could have the gate part made days in advance and didn't ruin the whole cake if my sculpting skills proved to be inadequate. I just used Wilton's ready-made fondant, because it's easier. Few people actually eat the fondant anyway. I cut a paper template measuring with the bottom of my cake pan, rolled out some white fondant, and cut a circle.

Next I used black gel coloring to get a gray color out of a ball of fondant and rolled and shaped and rolled to get the outer ring. I placed that a little inside the edges of my white base and textured it with a shell tool.

Carving Glyphs

I used black and blue gel coloring to get a bluish gray for the glyph ring. I mapped out and carved 39 mostly equal little squares for the glyphs and used an image from the Wikipedia page for reference to carve the glyphs. I then added another ring of the first gray color and added some texture.

Finished Gate

The chevrons were made with the same bluish gray and then the whole thing was dusted with silver pearl dust to make it look more metallic. Then the whole thing went in a Ziploc bag and waited. I want the cake to be as fresh as possible and not sit forever holding the heavy fondant top.

Dirty Iced Cake

I made the cake on Thursday. It was a simple box chocolate mix, no bells and whistles there. I then layered and iced my cake with a white buttercream. You can see some crumbs in there. I was sure my choice of color would cover them up, so I wasn't worried about that.

Spray Color Fail

I wanted to use a silver/gray spray Duff brand icing color. I got about five seconds of spray, maybe 1/4 of the side of my cake, before the crappy product gave up the ghost. PANIC!! I was counting on this silver color, and it was exactly the silver color I wanted! It was 2130! There was no Micheal's that I could get to (assuming they close at 2200, and it may be earlier) for more spray! Bonnie was picking up the cake Friday morning! It HAD to be done! I hit the Internet to see if anyone had any tips for unclogging this particular brand of spray color, as I tried hot water and pins and everything I could think of and nothing worked. I found a cake decorating forum where a whole bunch of people indicated that the silver color in particular consistently didn't work. Someone even mentioned that the company knew it was a faulty product and would hopefully fix it with the next production run. Pull your bad product off the shelves, morons! I want to like Duff brand, I really do, but creating a cake crisis like this has me telling everyone not to waste their time (and possibly cost their business) with any of it. You hear that, Duff brand? I'm telling people not to buy your crap! You left me in a hellova pinch and I will never give you another opportunity to do it again. I may not be a professional, but someone ordered this cake from me and expected it done. You fail. And yes, I returned that can to the store on Friday.

It Looks Like Snot

I had bought two cans of Wilton's decorator icing to use for this project and another one. I was almost certain I didn't have enough icing to cover my cake, when I was counting on that spray. I had to try, though, because there was no alternative. I added some black gel color and mixed it up. It looked just like snot.

Iced Cake

It turned into almost the exact shade of gray that I used for part of the gate! And there was exactly enough to cover the cake! Wilton's to the rescue!

Painting the Event Horizon

While the icing was resting and stiffening up, I worked on the event horizon on the gate. Using blue gel color and a bit of vodka, I painted blue on the white fondant field inside the Stargate ring and left the very center white.

Painted Event Horizon

If you watch the show or look at pictures, you can see the pool of the wormhole has this gradual color effect going on. I wasn’t sure about painting the blue detail at first, having never worked with piping gel that would be the pool of the wormhole. But, I figured if it didn't work, the piping gel might cover it.

Topper in Place

The next step was to put my topper on top. It fit perfectly, and I had enough icing to cover the edges of the white fondant base.

Gel Event Horizon

It's time for the final details! I mixed a bit of blue with the clear piping gel and slathered that in the middle of the gate, poking with a ball tool for texture. The painted color underneath created just the effect I was going for. I then mixed up some red piping gel and used that to color the lights on the chevrons and used the rest of that as a boarder on the bottom.

The Completed Stargate Cake

Ta-da! My completed Stargate cake! Everyone said it was amazing and delicious. It hope so, I worked hard on that thing! Constructing the Stargate alone took about three hours (mostly from carving all those glyphs). And the cake color problem added a couple hours of headache that I didn't need. LDS ended up cutting it because I couldn't bring myself to do it. All that work, and then they ate it! But at least I know it was appreciated and enjoyed.

And LDS had no clue Bonnie and I had been planning her surprise party for a month. Jack and I even managed to beat her there so we could warn everyone her arrival was imminent. It was a great party!

Happy Birthday, LDS!

Bloodletting

2011-06-28T20:19:00.000-04:00

I donated blood today.

When was the last time you donated?

I Just Noticed

2011-06-23T08:54:00.000-04:00

Remember this post where I told you about the outfit I made for the VA Renaissance Faire? I mentioned the shoes that I made that were not pictured. I actually made two pairs of shoes, one in blue polyester and a later pair in black wool. I'm wearing the first pair of shoes in this picture as seen on the post about my house party.

They're a Mary Jane style, fully lined in unbleached muslin with a foam insole. The sole is a soft, rubbery material a lot like a slipper. The pattern and sole material came from Shoeology on Etsy. Walking in them feels a lot like my Vibram FiveFingers- where you feel everything you step on but there is still some cushion going on.

Making my own shoes makes me a cordwainer! I want to make another pair in patchwork leather. I've had a few friends tell me that want to order a pair of my homemade shoes. Nifty!

Not Just Like Clay

2011-06-22T07:43:00.004-04:00

About a year ago, I got this crazy idea in my head that I could make beautiful cakes. I enjoy baking immensely, even more so now that I have my own kitchen to explode in. My first attempt was the house cake I made last year for my house warming party. The cake was a mold and the icing was crumby but it was cute. I then made a cake completely covered in inedible fondant and decorated with fondant cut-out leaves. That actually turned out very well as my first attempt at smoothing a cake with fondant. My elaborate baking dreams have mostly been a vague inclination since.

That being said, the cake I made for my 1-year house party turned out really good. The icing wasn't as crumby, and even though I ran out of the color I wanted to use for the roof, I had enough of a complimentary color to finish it off. This house was quite a bit more elaborate than the last one (with shingles instead of flat icing for the roof, and yellow gel in the windows instead of just colored icing). Jack said it was impressive.

While browsing through Cake Wrecks one day, I came across a cake that was made to look like a Stargate! It was awesome! LDS and I have dreams of making that cake some day. We're going to have a Stargate party. I already know what I need: fondant for the gate, piping gel for the event horizon, and something to make it look like metal. Maybe pearl dust will do. I'll have to come back to the Stargate cake later.

A new idea hit me yesterday. I recently learned of a decorating compound called gum paste (yes, I was mostly "how the heck do they do that?!" when it came to cake decorations). One of my Etsy friends (she has the MOST AWESOME blog in the world. Seriously, her recipes are unbelievable) wrote about the birthday cake she made for her mother that was decorated with gum paste butterflies. I need to make these butterflies! But I also needed to learn about gum paste, having only worked with fondant for my cake sculpting before (and lots of people really don't like fondant, even if it's made to taste good).

Most of my research said that shaping gum paste is a lot like shaping clay. I've worked a lot with clay in the past, and I can say that gum paste is nothing like clay! But that's not going to stop me.

So, I won't tell you what this idea is for just yet, but here's a little gum paste sand castle to get you thinking! The dusty "sand" is brown sugar, and I plan to apply more when the thing actually gets on a cake (and it will, you'll see!).

Yes, Virginia, there is a Renaissance Faire

2011-06-09T15:20:00.004-04:00

I worked four Sundays at the Virginia Renaissance Faire this year. It was a lot of fun, and the lovely lady I worked with wants me to join the cast and be full-time next year. I did really enjoy it, but I'll have to think about it. It is a long way to go, though dad and I can drive together on Sundays.

VARF tends to be more historical than the MD faire, making most of what I have not really workable for this faire. It's also a few decades later than MD, and fashion does tend to change with the monarch. I dove into costume research (ah, heaven!), learning about styles and colors, and made a costume suitable for a peasant working in the militia outdoor kitchen, and that won't kill me in the VA May heat.

I did ask someone to take a picture of me in the full outfit, but I guess it didn't work, because it's not on my camera. So, you'll have to settle for these dressform pics.

The little white thing at the top is my caul or muffin cap. It is related to the snood, but counts as a hat in its own right, where a proper woman would don a hat over her snood when going out. I could or could not wear a hat over the caul, but it otherwise sits about where a snood would sit.

The bottom layer is the shift. A working woman would have two, one to wear while the other is being washed. I had to adjust mine a little. I found an historical pattern, but it made the sleeves too tight and I couldn't roll them up to my elbows, which is where I would want them when working about the fire. I had to rip the seams out and add some ties so I could wear them rolled up or all the way down as weather and what I was doing demanded.

I typically would wear a corset over the shift (if the corset was not built into the outer garment), but I forwent that because of the heat and wore a modern girdle underneath it all.

This style of overdress is called a kirtle. It can be boned or not boned, laced in front or in back, open to the floor or sewn up partially or all the way to the neckline. The kirtle typically had sleeves that you could tie on which were impractical in the heat and not a requirement, so I omitted them altogether. My kirtle laces in the back with fabric loops, which look nicer than grommets (that can rust and tear fabric when they fall out) in my opinion. One could also use hook and eye closures.

I dyed it blue because blue was an easy dye to come by. At first, woad was used, but the spice trade made indigo dye cakes readily available and cheap because they were so easy to transport. Everyone could get their hands on indigo dye, and it made a deeper, more permanent blue than the native woad. My dress faded nicely in the sun.

I made the apron and shoes (not pictured) out of wool, so they would not burn if I got too close to the fire. Also not pictured is my partlet. This little article of clothing covers the neck, chest, and back area that is not covered by the dress or shift. It is worn for warmth and sun protection. I didn't make it right away because it's not a required piece of clothing, but I got a nasty sun burn that first day and instantly learned the value of the partlet!

Maybe I'll throw the ensemble back on when I have some company and try to get a full shot for you!

I’ve been asked to increase my station a bit for next year. That’s really not possible. There were not a whole lot of class divisions in Elizabethan times. You were either nobility or you were a peasant – and peasants far outnumbered nobility. Even land owners and artisans were peasants. They were wealthy peasants, but peasants nonetheless. I think I will use the same kirtle design, but bolder colors and add some trim. Probably red, green, maybe another blue. The wealthy could afford deeper dyes, and afford to re-dye things to keep their richer colors, so that would step up my outfit a bit. I’ll have to think about it!

House Party

2011-06-04T17:03:00.000-04:00

Of course that's not my house! That's my house cake!

I bought the house-shaped pan last year because I knew I would make a cake for my house warming party. It's been a year and the house is warm. I had to throw a house party anyway.

It's the 'I survived a year of mortgage payments' party! Yay! See how the lights are on in the windows? Ah, my cute little house! My first full day in this house was a year ago today.

I had a small, intimate party with lots of food, a walk to the lake, and a small game of croquet.

This is me in my party dress. That crazy cute apron came from Dot's Diner on Etsy. I can't throw a party without a good hostess party dress, can I?

Raise your glass with me to another year!

It Happened Last Year

2011-06-03T10:02:00.002-04:00

I signed my life away a year ago today.

My kitchen smells like focaccia. Phantom is sleeping on the cat tree in front of the window. Miss Luna is snoozing on a cool dining chair.

This is the home I made for myself. All on my own.

It is a beautiful day.

I'm Losing It

2011-06-02T07:31:00.000-04:00

I was sitting here thinking that I'm hungry and need to eat something. I reached into my bag thinking I will eat my string cheese and save breakfast for a little later. Instead of string cheese, though, my banana presented itself. And I said "Ah, banana!"

I'm glad few people are here this early in the morning to hear me talk to my fruit!

Rake Your Mulch

2011-06-01T12:14:00.001-04:00

I have a public service announcement from my Weight Watchers leader!

On Sunday afternoon, she was watching a movie with her husband while the kids were taking a nap. She detected the faint smell of smoke and figured someone lit an outdoor fire pit (it being Memorial Day weekend, that's not unheard of). Some time later, a neighbor was banging frantically on their door. When they opened the door, smoke billowed in and set off the smoke alarms. Almost half of the front porch was ablaze.

The neighbor had already called the fire department who showed up just as everyone got out of the house. They put the fire out and told her the cause: the mulch lining the front porch had spontaneously combusted. The fire department said it's more common than people think and most people don't know it can happen. It tends to happen in the summer, and whole houses have been known to burn down while people are away on vacations.

Mulch is plant material that, we all should know, is combustible. As it decays, it releases heat. When mixed with oxygen, it can cause flame, igniting all the burnable material, producing more heat, consuming more oxygen, spreading more flame. It usually starts inside the pile of mulch, where it's really warm. The fire department recommended raking your mulch at least twice a season to release that heat so it doesn't build up to the point where it will combust. My leader said she's going to do it every time they mow the lawn. Mulch that is new and has been sitting in large piles for a while is of greater risk, as is mulch that is really old and at an advanced stage of decay.

Fortunately, they only lost the front porch which the landlord was going to try to replace anyway.

So, go out and rake your mulch!

Judgment Day

2011-05-23T10:34:00.000-04:00

I went to Wine in the Woods, a great big wine tasting festival in Columbia, with Jack and one of his friends, who I think I will call Rachel, on Saturday. I suppose there were some people who thought it a good time to eat, drink, and be merry before the big catching up that was supposed to happen. Those people would say I would have been left behind, but Jesus and I are tight and he would have taken me even though his followers consider me a heathen. I'm sure of it.

Anyway, this is what I remember from Saturday:

Everything got fuzzy and kind of sparkly.

That might have been the many glasses of wine.

I distinctly heard the sound of bells.

Or, maybe that was the sound of my wine glass shattering when I dropped it.

Before I knew it, I was in a soft, warm place and I felt safe and protected.

But that might have been when Jack and I took a nap after we got back to his place.

Judgment, or wine?

Seriously, though, I'm not one to make fun of someone's beliefs but I really have a hard time accepting that so many people spent so much money (that they need to live on) because of one flawed man's idea of the end of days. Really, people - all you believers, the Bible tells you that this thing called Rapture will happen. That's fine, live your life not knowing when you're going to go, ok. That same Bible tells you that no man will know the date. Stop trying to figure it out, that's not how it's supposed to work.

Now, I don't believe as you do, but you can't take one part of the Book and deny the other if you're going to build your faithful life around it. I do not understand how you can believe it will happen but ignore that you've already been told that you won't know when. I bet Yahweh moves the date with every prediction just to keep you guessing. Stop trying to know something that is beyond human capacity to know. Just live your life being a kind, compassionate person who might be taken from this world tomorrow, or next year, or never.

It makes me sad that so many people were so misled.

Today's Theme Song

2011-05-21T06:46:00.002-04:00

When you attend a funeral,
It is sad to think that sooner or
Later those you love will do the same for you.
And you may have thought it tragic,
Not to mention other adjec-
Tives, to think of all the weeping they will do.
But don't you worry.
No more ashes, no more sackcloth.
And an armband made of black cloth
Will some day never more adorn a sleeve.
For if the bomb that drops on you
Gets your friends and neighbors too,
There'll be nobody left behind to grieve.

And we will all go together when we go.
What a comforting fact that is to know.
Universal bereavement,
An inspiring achievement,
Yes, we all will go together when we go.

We will all go together when we go.
All suffuse with an incandescent glow.
No one will have the endurance
To collect on his insurance,
Lloyd's of London will be loaded when they go.

Oh we will all fry together when we fry.
We'll be french fried potatoes by and by.
There will be no more misery
When the world is our rotisserie,
Yes, we will all fry together when we fry.

Down by the old maelstrom,
There'll be a storm before the calm.

And we will all bake together when we bake.
There'll be nobody present at the wake.
With complete participation
In that grand incineration,
Nearly three billion hunks of well-done steak.

Oh we will all char together when we char.
And let there be no moaning of the bar.
Just sing out a Te Deum
When you see that I.C.B.M.,
And the party will be "come as you are."

Oh we will all burn together when we burn.
There'll be no need to stand and wait your turn.
When it's time for the fallout
And Saint Peter calls us all out,
We'll just drop our agendas and adjourn.

You will all go directly to your respective Valhallas.
Go directly, do not pass Go, do not collect two hundred dolla's.

And we will all go together when we go.
Ev'ry Hottentot and ev'ry Eskimo.
When the air becomes uranious,
And we will all go simultaneous.
Yes we all will go together
When we all go together,
Yes we all will go together when we go.

(brought to you by Tom Lehrer. Have a great Rapture! I'll see you all tomorrow!)

I met the Prince of Ethiopia last night

2011-05-09T12:20:00.000-04:00

An old friend of Jack's is Serbian. One of the most important feast days in the Serbian Orthodox tradition is the Slava - the feast day of a family's patron saint (in this case, it was St George's feast day, one of the more popular ones). So, Jack and I were invited to the Slava.

His friend's father was commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and I think that's how he got so connected. So among the guests was the Prince of Ethiopia, and I believe the princess with him was his daughter.

I shook hands with royalty!!

And then felt thoroughly underdressed!

It was explained to me that the Slava was based on an early pagan tradition where families would feast to honor their personal tribal gods. When they were converted to Christianity, they were given saints to replace those gods so they could still have their big feasts. It is a huge to-do, tons of food, tons of people.

But it was also a ritual feast, you start by eating a bite of a special kind of bread (the name of it escapes me) that's made with unleavened bread to represent the dead and wheat to represent the living, to honor the ancestors. It was really like any other party, but the clergy bless the feast (I believe it was in Serbian) and the people who would partake of the feast.

The Slava is a big holiday so they when all out. Traditionally, since multiple families had the same patron saint, you would just spend the entire day going from house to house to celebrate each Slava.

It was really awesome!

That Day Again

2011-05-04T09:23:00.002-04:00

May the Fourth be with you!

Installing Spring

2011-04-20T10:07:00.001-04:00

███████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 44% DONE.

Install delayed ... please wait.

Installation failed. Please try again. 404 error: Season not found. Season "Spring" cannot be located. The season you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.

My House

2011-04-08T08:12:00.002-04:00

It's mine. I love it. This is a pre-move-in photo. There's a bunch of crap on the porch now!

Sloof Lirpa!

2011-04-01T10:01:00.001-04:00

¡ʎɐp slooɟ lɐıɹdɐ ʎddɐɥ

Happy Day of Green

2011-03-17T09:54:00.001-04:00

May the Luck of the Irish be with you all day!

Happy Pi Day!

2011-03-14T13:00:00.002-04:00

It's 3.14! Celebrate Pi!

Happenings in the World

2011-03-11T14:59:00.002-05:00

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by the earthquake in Japan and the resulting tsunami and aftershocks.

The State of Things

2011-03-10T09:44:00.001-05:00

Yeah.

Needs a Good Home

2011-02-18T08:57:00.004-05:00

This is Skylar. He is a very sweet kitty currently in the care of LDS. Unfortunately, her landlord says they have too many cats. With the local shelter inundated with cats, we're all hitting up our networks to find Skylar a new home.

He's about a year old. He's very affectionate and will sit on your lap. He currently lives with four other cats, so there will be some adjusting if he's on his own but he can live with others too. We're looking for a fairly local person who might want a sweet, loveable guy. Unfortunately, the news came too late for me to take him. Let me know if you know anyone!

In other news, Phantom goes to the vet tomorrow! I hope he won't be the pain in the car that Miss Luna is. I think he'll be ok. It won't be for shots anyway. I do want to drive around with him a bit and see if I can get him used to the car. Some day he's going to have to come home with me and meet Buffy. I'm sure a time when my folks need to feed both cats will come!

You Know Those Days

2011-02-15T13:49:00.003-05:00

when you just want to go home and cry? I'm having one of those days. And I can't account for it at all. I just want to roll up in my blankets and cry.

It probably won't happen. I'll collect Phantom for his --- ok. Well, I was going to say I was going to collect Phantom for his required vet physical, but they just called me (like as in right there as I was typing) to say the doctor was sick and we have to reschedule for Saturday morning. Alright.

Well. My train of thought has been totally derailed. I wouldn't say the urge to go home and cry is going away. But. Hmmm. How interesting. I think I'll just crochet while watching Stargate SG1. I'm in the middle of the third season right now (and NO, I have not seen them before so don't tell me anything!!).

Be Mine Feline

2011-02-09T07:05:00.003-05:00

Last week, I came across an article that described how Fairfax County Animal Control was far beyond capacity in cats from a hoarding investigation in November. For the month of February, they are doing their best, with minimal advertising, to find homes for these animals.

I've long been thinking about getting another cat. Miss Luna is so dreadful in the car and she definitely makes me pay for it if I leave her alone for a night or two. The truth is, for as long as I've had her, there has always been another cat around. I really think she was spending most of her time lonely.

I spoke with some friends who have cats and we all agreed that I should look for a male on the youngish side of adult. I figured why not have a look, and went to the shelter, that happens to be very close to the office, yesterday. I was expecting to fall in love with every cat in there, and it's not hard to do! I was also expecting to maybe find one and then wait a few days to a week for him to be neutered.

And then there was this guy.

He was sleeping when I came over, he noticed me, perked up, and rolled over. I wandered around a bit more while he showed off for another family that was also looking for a male cat, and then went to get a volunteer. Even though they were in the cat room before me, the other family admitted that I was looking at him first.

His tail is about half the length that is should be and has two funky ends. His coat is a little dingy, but I think that's from being in the shelter. When he gets comfortable, he'll keep himself cleaner. His eyes are bright green and his nose is a deep burgundy. He's about two years old and he wasn't part of the hoarding seizure, he was brought in as a stray- already neutered.

Guess what already neutered means? It means I got to take him home right away! He's had all his required shots and tested negative for FIV and leukemia.

He is such a sweet boy! His name is Phantom, after my favorite super hero. I kept thinking Gray and Ghost, and it hit me that the Gray Ghost was an early name for the Phantom, before the first Sunday strip showed his costume to be purple. (The Gray Ghost later became a Batman character, and the Phantom's costume was referred to as gray for some time after his color debut.)

Now to meet Miss Luna. I don't really have a way to seclude the cats, so I just have to let them into the house together and hope they behave. At first, there was minimal growling, but it did start. I tried to go to bed at 21:30, but Phantom sat on the dresser by my bed and growled at poor Luna every time she tried to come into the bedroom. I guess Phantom eventually settled on his bed in the kitchen around 01:00ish and Miss Luna could finally join me. It was a long night.

I will run by the pet store today and get some new cat supplies. I do hope they're being civil to each other today. I had no choice but to just leave them to their own devices. I think they will work things out, but it will take time.

Help to stop the GOP plan to redefine rape

2011-02-02T13:25:00.002-05:00

I just heard about a horrible GOP bill that could redefine rape and set women's rights back by decades.

Here's the deal: Right now, federal dollars can't be used for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or when the woman's life is in danger. But the bill, introduced by Republican congressman Chris Smith, would narrow that use to "cases of 'forcible' rape but not statutory or coerced rape."

As far too many women know, bruises and broken bones do not define rape - a lack of consent does. This bill is scary - so I signed a petition telling Congress to stand up and oppose the bill. It's this way: http://pol.moveon.org/smithbill/?rc=tw

The Dreams of Others

2011-02-01T15:10:00.001-05:00

She writes: "I dreamed that there were sleepy kittens (all curled up into little purring fluffballs) floating around the house like clouds... I could reach out and cuddle one and then set it back in the air and it would just start floating again."

Take a moment.

Icy

2011-01-18T10:54:00.001-05:00

It's not like the ice storm we had in 2007, but it's still icy. I was three hours late to work because I was frozen out of both vehicles. It took an hour to chisel through the half inch of ice once I finally got into the trunk to get the spare scraper!

The roads were not too bad, though.

I have a headache, probably from spending so much time in the cold. I took my boots off because I couldn't feel my toes (not wet, just cold). If my gloves were dry, I'd be wearing them now because my fingers are cold. This is regular office chill, though. It's compounded because my fingers started out cold today!

I hope the day goes by fast. I really want to be home.

Pissed Off

2011-01-13T11:37:00.002-05:00

Monday night, I received three text messages.

Tuesday night, I received two.

Yesterday, I received one.

All of them looked like this:

Reply 'Y' for the Info you Requested

brought to you by thenewsucanuse.com
Web & SMS Content $9.99/mo Txt stop 2 end messages

Need Answers?

Reply 'Y'
From: 56483

The 9th Circuit recently ruled that unauthorized text solicitations are illegal under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

I have no business relationship with this company that has been sending me texts. I have not authorized them to do so. I'm afraid to reply with stop as the message indicates because I don't want them to see a live number and then start killing me with even more messages I did not authorize.

Instead, I filed a complaint with the FTC and the BBB. I did send an e-mail to the company, but I'm not giving them my phone number so they can start thinking it's ok to use it however they please. Next, I will contact my cell provider. If it doesn't stop, I'll have to call my lawyer.

What is the point of laws if any company can just sign you up for anything even if you have never heard of them? I am thoroughly angry about this.

My Evening

2011-01-04T11:01:00.002-05:00

When I got home from the weekend with fam on Sunday, I noticed that I was not getting much hot water for my shower. I went to the crawlspace when I got home from work yesterday to find it flooded. I couldn't get to the hot water heater to turn off the water to it (based on where the lake that was my crawlspace was moving, the leak was definitely coming from the heater) so I had to wade through the water to turn off the pipe to the pressure tank. I was then able to siphon the Great Crawlspace Lake. It took a few hours to get to the point where the water wasn't going past my boots so I could shut off the water to the heater and turn the well back on so I could at least flush my toilet again. The water was coming from a rusted hole at the back and bottom of the tank. I need a new one.

Also, turning off my well drained the pressure tank and overwhelmed my septic system. The sudden alarm was rather shocking.

The bright side is that the septic alarm seems to have resolved itself in the night, the seller bought me a home warranty policy when I bought the place so replacing the rusted hot water heater should only cost me $75, and it's a crawlspace, not a basement, so the lake-that-was didn't do as much damage as it could have. I put in a claim last night, but the contractor said they won't be able to get out here until tomorrow.

My dad and Jack came over last night. Their presence helped me get my head on straight so I could deal with the problem (like siphoning out the lake, finding the shut-off valves for the two tanks, and locating the paper that my Realtor sent me in June about the home warranty so I could get started on getting it fixed). I boiled some water this morning so I could wash my hair, but I rinsed with the cold tap. Let me tell you, the water from my aquifer is C.O.L.D. and now I have a headache.

I know it could be worse, but it makes me feel like I never should have bought the house. If something goes really wrong, I can't afford to fix it. I don't know if I'll be able to renew my home warranty, and now that I see the value of it, I really think I should. I'll start saving now.

Traveling

2010-12-28T15:31:00.001-05:00

In the hotel in Cancun, there was a jewelry shop. On the shelf just by the door were four silver pendants. One of those pendants was an anchor and helm wheel design with inlays of Australian opal.

All during the trip, I passed it, glanced at it, liked it, but I didn't buy it. On the last night of the trip before heading out to dinner, we stopped by the jewelry shop again. I looked and liked again. On the way to dinner, I decided that I would get it when we got back. I certainly eyed it enough. I really liked the design, I really liked the stone. I didn't really budget for it, but I had a credit card. And there's nothing wrong with buying something nice for yourself when you're on vacation, right?

Well, we got back from dinner and I completely forgot about the thing. I remembered only after I was done with my shower and we were about to turn in. No matter! They'll probably be open in the morning.

When we woke up, I still remembered the pendant. I also remembered that the shop was having a fairly large sale, and it was probably included. On the way to breakfast, I looked only for the sale sign, and it was there. That settled it. I would buy the thing after breakfast, before we got our luggage together to head home.

Jack and I needed to do some last minute shopping, so we finished breakfast quickly and headed back to the room to bring our bags down and hit the store. We stopped at the jewelry store in the hotel, but there were only three pendants there. The pretty opal anchor was not one of them. I forgot about it, and it was gone.

Not a big deal, really. It wasn't a thing I needed, just liked a lot.

Who wants to know how I'm wearing that pendant right now?

While I was in the shower after dinner, Jack went down to reconcile the room bill with the hotel. Yeah, he remembered the pendant where I did not, the stinker. He put it in my hands on Christmas Eve.

It's not about the pendant, though I do really like it. There's a story there now, and a fond memory, and a sweet act that one person did for another. My man is something special.

Fake Tree Fail

2010-12-16T08:50:00.000-05:00

I was all about getting a real tree this year, as I have been doing since I moved out of my parents’ house. And this holiday time is extra special because it's the first one in my house. Well, I listened to the wisdom of my elders who told me my planned used of my woodstove fireplace would dry out my live tree faster than it normally would dry out and become a nice big(er) fire hazard. If nothing else, they said, it should be kept far far away from the fireplace. Well, unfortunately the only place I really have to put a tree is fairly close to the fireplace. Not wanting to burn down my house with a dry tree, I decided to just get a fake one.

I went with my folks to the Christmas Tree Store and found a nice little 4.5 foot tree pre-lit with white lights for less than $20. I don't really need pre-lit, but it'll do. Jack came over yesterday to put it up and decorate it with me.

It was a case of "you get what you pay for." Actually, I think I was robbed. I might have paid $5 for that pathetic thing. It was maybe 2 feet in diameter. The lower part was one row of branches that had the fake needles on about half of each branch. The lights were strung in such a way that I couldn't even fold them all the way out. The top part looked fairly full, but had the same problem with the lights. No amount of Charlie Brown love could improve this thing. It was not something I would be proud to display in my home.

I'm really disappointed. My first Yule in my house and I have no tree. With all the things I have to do, I'm out of time (and money) to get one. Jack could probably tell I was upset about it. He said he had another that I could use, but he probably wouldn't be able to get it to me until next week, which would be after Yule and then defeat the purpose. So much for my first holiday.

It's That Time of Year

2010-12-14T07:33:00.004-05:00

We interrupt your anticipation of reading all about my trip to Cancun to rehash that debate that happens every year. You know the one I'm talking about: the one where Christians get pissed off if you don't wish them a "Merry Christmas" and where atheists and others get pissed off if you do.

In 2005, I wrote this blog post about the whole thing, and my opinion really hasn't changed. I read this article on MSN this morning and feel the need to repeat a few things.

The author, P.J. Orvetti, writes:

About 76 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christian, down from 86 percent two decades ago. The nation has about 3.1 million Jews, 530,000 Muslims, and 400,000 Buddhists. Anywhere from 10 to 15 percent of Americans say they
practice no particular religion, with about 1.2 million calling themselves
atheists.

For most of the year, none of this is a big deal. We go along and get along. But as December rolls around, things get as sticky as a popcorn ball.

Yep. Pretty much. That's largely because holidays of various faiths and non-faiths don't really run together in such an in-your-face way as the winter holidays do. I particularly like the next paragraph:

The issue is that in today’s America, there are really two Christmases. The first is the second most holy festival on the Christian calendar; the second is
a largely secular holiday that is all about shopping or family, depending who
you ask. One is about a baby in a manger; the other features an aerodynamic
reindeer with a fluorescent proboscis.

Yep. Pretty much. This is also why I can spend Christmas Eve with Jack and his family even though my celebration of the holiday that is important to me would have been celebrated and done by then. This is why I can take my fond memories of Christmas as a Catholic and still love what it meant to me then, and respect what it doesn't mean to me now. Truth be told, it never really was about celebrating the birth of Christ. I think quite a lot was lacking from my early Catholic education (I take this as a benefit; I don't have the bitterness that many former Catholics have towards the faith). But, I digress.

The real reason this article struck me was at the very end. The author echoed the sentiments that I wrote five years ago:

I do not think of myself as a “Christian” in a traditional sense, but I was raised in the Christian tradition and have a great love for it, so perhaps I
cannot fully appreciate how a member of another faith might take offense at a
“Merry Christmas.”

But I’m happy to be wished a merry or happy or jolly anything. With so much animosity all year round, just take the cheerful greeting for what it’s intended to be -- a bit of good spirit at the end of a long year. [Bolding added by me for emphasis.]

And for good measure, I will quote my own words from that blog post all those
years ago:

I'll put this to you; instead of greeting me or wishing me happiness with something that means something to me, why not wish me happiness with a blessing that means something to you? I want a Jew to wish me a Happy Hanukkah. I want a Christian to wish me a Merry Christmas. I want to hear Happy Kwanzaa from my African-descended friends. And by gum, if a coven
wants to run around screaming Happy Yule, I want them to!

The point of this and any holiday blessing, you see, is to take something that is important, loving, meaningful, and everything else that it is to you and share it with me. This is a part of you, something that has meaning in your life. What a wonderful thing it is to take a piece of that and give it to another person, wishing nothing in return but responding in kind. How much of that other person do you learn by one blessing that leaves their lips and is directed towards you? This is the
embodiment of perfect love and perfect trust; no matter what words you use, your
holiday greeting says "This time of year is important to me, I hope you are
enjoying it too." This time of year is not about others accepting what you
believe, it is about connecting with people.

And while I'm at it, if someone wishes you a Merry Christmas and you have no idea how important such a blessing is to them: Be gracious! Who cares if it means nothing to you? Why can't you just accept the blessing for what it is and say 'thank you?' Does that hurt? Instead of saying 'I want to be greeted this way' accept that someone thought enough about you to greet you at all, and they thought enough about you to give a part of them to you. Oh, how truly blessed you are to receive such a wonderful thing. Gratitude, friends, is what you give in return, and perhaps a heartfelt wish from you to them.

Still with me?

It's ok to remember what this season means to you, if it means anything at all. It's ok to wish happiness upon strangers and family and friends too. And it's ok to do so even if they don't share your beliefs. And if someone wishes you a happy whatever holiday you don't celebrate, please just say "thank you" if you don't want to return the greeting in kind. We're all on the same planet, breathing the same air, and trying to go about our days on the smoothest path possible. Don't be a part of the problem. It's not worth it. What is worth it is to share a little kindness, no matter the sentiment, with others.

Home Again

2010-12-10T23:04:00.001-05:00

And it's cold!

I want to be back on the beach. I want another piña colada. I want to shake the sand from my shoes!

I hereby veto this cold December thing. Do you hear me, December? Ve-to!!

I'm just stopping by to say I'm back and will approve comments and tell you all about the daily piña coladas and trips to Mayan ruins and hours spent on white shell-laden beaches in a day or two!

Guess Where I Am

2010-12-03T04:30:00.001-05:00

I'm not telling!

I will tell you I had to get a house sitter.

Ok maybe I will tell you.

I'm going to Cancun!

For My Parents

2010-11-29T14:13:00.000-05:00

Happy Anniversary!

41 years of wonderful togetherness!

Thank You

2010-11-11T11:11:00.000-05:00

To all who have served, are serving, or will serve: thank you.

I'm Still Here

2010-11-08T07:06:00.000-05:00

Honest I am! Just really really busy. I thought things would slow up when the Renaissance Festival ended. Ha!

Evening Plans

2010-10-06T07:09:00.002-04:00

Jack and I decided that Saturday was too far away, so he's going to come over this evening. We really don't have anything planned beyond that. I'm sure we can come up with something. He's been constantly on my mind, so I'm really looking forward to seeing him again.

What Weekend?

2010-10-04T09:50:00.001-04:00

I had a rare weekend-off from the faire, and it got booked up fast.

On Saturday, Pat and I went to King's Dominion. Just like last year, it was a great day to go. The weather was nice and the sky was blue and cloudless. Also, just like last year, everyone seems to wait to come in the evening when the Halloween stuff starts happening, so lines are really short during the day. We rode everything we wanted to ride and even got a few things in twice. It was great.

We spent ten hours there and decided not to go through any Halloween mazes this year. It's hard to wait in hour-long lines when you had no lines all day. But we did some last year, so we weren't missing anything. I got home at a decent time, but didn't get nearly enough sleep.

The Takoma Park Street Festival with Jack yesterday was wonderful. It was still a lot of walking but a much easier day than Saturday. He didn't seem to mind too much that I was still rather exhausted. He even said we could start a little later if I needed more rest, but I didn't want to. I wanted to spend the day with him. That sure seems corny when I type it out like that.

We stumbled upon The Sweater Set while we were wandering about. They were fabulous! Really, really entertaining performers. Then we caught a band that played a lot of funk. They were fun. He wanted to see one of his favorite bands, ilyAIMY, and they were wonderful! It was a wandering kind of day with great music and great company. The rain even waited until we were back at his place.

It was a pizza dinner kind of day and we took a nap while we waited for food to show up. The nap was definitely needed. I could still use some more sleep and my legs are unhappy that I did so much walking. But I had a fun weekend, so I'll just have to deal with it. Jack and I were talking about going to a corn maze on Saturday. I am working at the Faire on Sunday.

Busy weekends are the best!

ATTENTION!!

2010-10-01T09:57:00.001-04:00

I regret to announce that my shop will be closing at the end of October. I've had a great time as a seller on Etsy and I will still be around as I do not intend to stop shopping there.

If you've been waiting, now is the time! Want a custom Gnome? I can still do it!

As always, if you want to chat, you can send me a convo on Etsy, find me in the Etsy forums, keep up with me here on my blog, or reach me on Twitter.

Thanks everyone for your support!

Singing in the Rain

2010-09-30T08:56:00.001-04:00

Goodness, I'm so behind on keeping you, fair readers, up to my comings and goings! I'm sorry. Let's see about getting you all catched up.

I've been seeing someone for about a month. I'm going to call him Jack. We went to an Indian place in Annapolis on the 5th. We went out again four days later to a nice little place that served American, coastal-type food in Tyson's Corner. I went to his place the following week and he cooked pasta for dinner. He came to mine a week later (and let me tell you about the Wednesday preceding that in a bit) and I grilled fish for dinner. Yesterday, we went to one of his favorite places, a Burmese restaurant in Silver Spring.

I had never had Burmese cuisine before! I got the impression that the owners know him, or at least recognize him as a regular. He was laughing at me (though I'm sure it was a delighted kind of laugh) as I hung over my plate just smelling the dish. It was a chicken with bamboo and onions sautéed in some yummy brown sauce (KyetThar Hmyit Gyaw). It smelled so good, I couldn't help it! I get leftovers for lunch today! I went with mild spice because I wasn't sure what to expect. His dish was pork with pickled mango and medium spice (WetThar ThaYetThee Hin). It was really good. Pickled mango was nothing like what I expected, but really very tasty.

Myanmar is between India and Thailand with China to the north and their cuisine seemed to have elements of all of those (and, of course, things I've never encountered before). There were many noodle and rice dishes, many curry-type dishes, and quite a few vegetarian choices (probably a Buddhist influence). I can see why it's one of his favorite places. OH!! The place has a website! Mandalay Restaurant and Cafe Go nuts; they have the menu online. Drool a little. It's ok. Is it lunch time yet?

On Sunday, we're going to a local street festival. One of Jack's favorite bands is playing there. Saturday is my now annual Halloween Haunt outing with Pat at King's Dominion. We had talked about making this a group trip, but decided since we had cancelled so many get-togethers over the summer it was a good idea to get some quality friend time in. They have a new roller coaster this year that I'm a little intimidate by (somewhat ironic) but I know Pat won't let me out of this one.

This is one of my rare, actually-not-working-at-the-faire weekends, and it's booked!

Oh yes, about last Wednesday- it ended with a serious disagreement between me and the dishwasher that resulted in it spewing water into the cabinet under the sink. Needless to say, my massive pre-date to-do list did not get completed and it looked like my kitchen exploded. Thankfully, I got to finish cleaning up before he arrived on Thursday, and he was perfectly understanding of the mess that was my kitchen. I made sure that mess was no where near getting in the way of my dinner.

The problem was that the output tube that drains the dishwasher into the garbage disposal is a good five inches too short. I can't figure out how the guy got it to fit at all! I can't get it to line up. The rubber hose that connects the two devices was bent at a funky angle and I guess the water pressure was finally too much for it. Unfortunately, since the tube is too short, that might be beyond my do-it-myself capabilities. Fae said she'd help me. No dishwasher or garbage disposal until I get that fixed, though.

I think that's the catch-up for now!

Comcast, You're Killing Me

2010-09-24T08:24:00.000-04:00

Not a week after saying I've never had a problem with my service except that one time with hook-up and then I come home yesterday to find no service?? Really? And the best that can be done to fix it is to send a technician on my mother's birthday? And you only care if a business is run on your network if I pay for business class service (which my business does not make enough money to support)? Really?

Not. Happy.

Cranberry Glass Dishes

2010-09-21T19:57:00.003-04:00

With flash 1

With flash 2

Without flash

Close up of a plate

For those of you who are wondering, dear blog readers, I'm posting these pics because I'm looking for some information. When my grandmother moved into her apartment, she gave me a lot of the things she wasn't taking with her. Among them was this lovely, near complete set of red glass dishes. There are two sizes of plate, three sizes of side plate, mugs, saucers, bowls, dessert dishes, and cream and sugar dishes. They're really quite beautiful!

A friend warned me that metal may have been used to make the red glass and I should avoid the microwave. Also, some of the dishes have white lines (but not straight lines) on them that don't seem to wash off, or wash off and come back. I asked the wonderful Etsy forum people if they can help me at least determine if they're safe to use. I'm so happy to have them, I know they're at least 50 years old, but there are no marks or dates to help identify them. In any event, they're being posted here because some of those fabulous Etsy folks said pictures may help. If you, dear readers, have any thoughts for me, I'll take them too!

Thanks, everyone!

A Letter to Comcast

2010-09-17T08:07:00.001-04:00

Work, dammit.

A Letter to the House

2010-09-16T08:02:00.000-04:00

Dear House,

I love you. I will keep you clean. I will keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. I will do my best to prevent Miss Luna from tearing up your carpets. I won't trash you up or tear you down.

I ask that you keep the rain off my head. I ask that you keep your pipes from freezing and that you keep power to your systems. I'll make sure they work right if you just make sure they work.

You have no idea what you mean to me, even after only three months of knowing you. You are freedom. You are the realization of a dream, the attainment of a goal. I love you and what you have done for me.

I think you should have a name. We should think about this together.

Love,
a mortgage-paying Fyrecreek

Letters to the Cars

2010-09-15T07:21:00.001-04:00

Dear Alice,

I will get you an oil change next week. I know it's a little overdue, but I need to get paid.

I'm sorry that weekends at the faire are so hard on you. The dust is hard on me too. But, I need you to run, and I promise I'll take care of you.

I know you're doing far more work for me than you ever did for my grandmother. I'll keep you in top shape to the best of my ability.

Love,
a cruise-controlling Fyrecreek

~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Hedwig,

I know I said I would be with you until you died. I'm sorry it's not going to work out that way.

I promise to find a good, responsible person to buy you. I know you'll take care of them like you took care of me.

When I do find that buyer, I'll miss you. I'll always remember what you did for me. You'll always be my first car.

Love,
a purple-loving Fyrecreek

A Letter to the Cat

2010-09-14T07:30:00.000-04:00

Dear Miss Luna,

I promise, not every car ride ends at the doctor. I take you with me because you'll be beside yourself if I left you alone for the weekend. Please learn to live with the drive, it's not so bad and I'm always with you. I know you don't like the cage, but it keeps you safe.

Waking me up at 3 am by clawing the new carpet in front of the closet is not going to get me to feed you any sooner. It is going to get me very very angry.

I bought the house for you too. It's mine and yours. The doctor said you are needy. But I need you just as much.

If I trust someone enough to let them into our house, I trust that they won't hurt you. You don't have to hide. You don't have to like them, but it's your house too and only the closets are off limits.

On that note, if you didn't ruin my nice dresses, the closets would not be off-limits. But, remember the shelf that fell down? Aren't you glad you weren't sleeping in there? Trust me when I tell you it's better this way for both of us (and remember that digging at the carpet will not allow you to tunnel under the door into the closet).

You can't come with me to work. I need you to stay home. You have a very important job: you have to hunt the bugs. I depend on you to help me around the house with this one little task. Please stop crying at the door when I leave for work.

Also, the house is a small place. If I get up to get some water, I'm not going far and I'll be back soon. You don't have to follow me everywhere (I admit I love it when you do, but it's ok to stay sleeping on the couch too).

I love you. We don't speak the same language, but know I'm doing the best I can for you.

Love, Mama

A Letter to Morning

2010-09-13T09:06:00.001-04:00

Dear Morning,

First, I would like to tell you that I love you. I love the colors of your sunrises. I love the way you wake up the world with your light. I even love when you hide under the blanket of fog. I love it when you make steam rise from the water. I love the smell of coffee brewing that tells me to get ready for what you will bring. I love waking up knowing that you are just the beginning.

I do have something to ask of you. Could you remind my cat that she should not be waking up before you? I'm sure you hear her loud mews and want to keep sleeping just a little longer too. She seems to be confused. I think she thinks she is the rooster and it's her job to rouse you and me from our beds. If you could have a talk with her, remind her that you rise first, and then you wake me, that would be great.

Also, there are some days when I need you to come not quite so early. I will be happy to tell you the night before. Today was one of those, you came before I was ready. If you could wait a bit, that would really help me out. I'm sure it won't be so bad once you and my cat discuss the proper order of things.

Thanks so much for all you do!

~ a sleepy Fyrecreek

No speel

2010-09-10T09:16:00.001-04:00

I posted to my team on the Etsy forums with intent on saying "I barely got a wink of sleep last night." But, I didn't type "sleep," I typed "speel." Case in point!

I went out yesterday and had a lovely evening. I made a bad choice on my route to go home, though (they were paving and I forgot), and it took me far longer than it should have to get home. Miss Luna was annoyed that she had missed her lunch and she told me so. All. Night. Long.

People usually say it's a good idea to get up and do something when you can't speel. I mean sleep. I don't do that and I probably should. When I can't sleep, I get so frustrated that I'm not sleeping. This, of course, doesn't help with the not sleeping thing at all. But, this also wasn't just insomnia, it was a black cat jumping on my bed and meowing as loud as she could in my ear. Over and over.

Despite the not sleeping, I'm feeling pretty good today. As I said, I had a great night out. It's going to be a little cooler for the Renaissance Festival this weekend. And I get to start planning for a craft fair in November. Who needs sleep?

Ready Set DUST

2010-09-07T08:42:00.001-04:00

One of the most annoying things about working the Maryland Renaissance Festival is the dust. If it hasn't rained in a while, the fine particles of dirt just float through the air. It turns black shoes brown, covers cars, and coats the inside of your nose, throat, and lungs.

And that's the worst part, because it stuffs up your head and takes away your voice and makes you feel miserable. This past weekend was particularly dusty and particularly busy (with a lot of people kicking up more dust).

I willingly do this every year. Riiiight.

Geekliness

2010-09-03T14:54:00.002-04:00

"Your geekliness on the subject of The Phantom and his proper continuity, darling, is wonderful. :)"

Said by my friend Ian (you're right, I've never mentioned Ian. He reminds me, in a way that no one will get but me, of Jeff Goldblum's character in Independence Day. Jeff Goldblum also played Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park, one of my top favorite movies, so Ian is rather fitting for him.) in an e-mail conversation where we talked a little about my costume.

Go, geekliness!

PS. Ian, if you're reading this, you will know you have been thusly dubbed. I hope you don't find my association offensive! And even if you do, well, it's too bad. It's my blog, and everyone except Doug has an alias.

Worse

2010-09-02T21:29:00.002-04:00

It seems that since Blogger implemented the spam filter for comments, there have been more of them, not less! Don't you stupid people have anything better to do?!?!

I'm making a tiny bit of headway in my septic problem. I found a receipt from the company that did the install five years ago, and it looks like he is licensed. I also have a number for a guy in the next county who might come as far south as me. I'll be making calls tomorrow since I should have a shorter day at OBC, depending on the work.

The problem with only having evenings is that these other companies close up too!

Still a Problem

2010-09-01T11:47:00.002-04:00

I thought about checking with my neighbors about my septic problem, because they have the same system I do. It looks like they were never informed of the law that went into effect in April and think they grandfather out of it (it's not so, but I won't turn them in). I suppose the DoH will get to them eventually, just as they put off getting the right documents from previous owners before getting to me.

I need to find a licensed operator and establish a maintenance agreement with them. Everything says you can search the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation's web site to find licensed operators, but their search function is the height of stupid. It will only tell me the name of the person and the license, not the company they represent or how to contact them. How am I supposed to find someone if there is no contact information? Dumb.

Needless to say, I'm still working on it. I hope DoH gives me time.

I didn't say earlier, Robin and I broke up on Monday. We say it was mutual, but I initiated it. I'm not sad, so I don't need sympathies. I'm excited at the prospect of being able to do what I want with my evenings.

Long Awaited

2010-08-31T08:24:00.000-04:00

A conversation on the Etsy forums reminded me that I've never posted my Phantom costume from two years ago. I happen to have a pic of me on the work computer that one of my coworkers took. Here it is! Ready for action!

YAWN

2010-08-30T07:36:00.002-04:00

Renaissance festival opening Saturday was busy. Sunday less so. And hot. Yes, it was hot. Obscure muscles are sore. Like my shoulders, my back. Probably too much standing. And all the stuff that didn't get done this weekend will have to get done today. The yard needs mowing, the kitchen needs cleaning, the carpet needs vacuuming. My poor kitty begged and begged and begged that I not go to work today. That would have been nice.

No one ever got an operating permit for my septic system, which means it's currently illegal. Virginia laws are really stupid about it too. I have to have a contract with a licensed operator to periodically check the function of the system. I don't know how to find such an operator nor where the money is going to come from to pay for it. Joy. I was able to ignore this problem for most of the weekend, but it gave me a headache of doom on Friday. A neighbor of mine has the same septic system I have. I think I'm going to knock on their door and find out who they have.

Meet Charlotte

2010-08-11T21:27:00.003-04:00

It's not the best picture since I had to enhance it for light, but isn't she beautiful?! She's a marbled orb weaver. Her body is this pinkish red and the tips of her legs are black and white striped. Her back is an off-white with that lovely black marbling. She's made her spectacular web right outside my living room window. At night, the gnats and flies are attracted to my living room light and they fly right into her web. I think we have a mutually beneficial arrangement going on. She gets the bugs for me, and my light brings lots of bugs to her. Win/win!

I didn't see her for a few days and got nervous, but she was only hiding in the corner. The afternoon sun shows right on the window and it must be too hot. She's usually building her web in the wee morning hours. There are two male marbled orb weavers on my porch. While they have similar markings, they're not as stunning because they're significantly smaller than the female.

Charlotte is one of my critters. As long as she stays outside, and there's no reason to come in with her prime web spot, she will be safe from Miss Luna. I have a spider!

It's OK to Laugh

2010-08-06T09:27:00.001-04:00

Really, it is! The closet story is funny to me too! When I told people the story yesterday, I could feel my eyes tearing up. It wasn't because I wanted to cry over my broken closet, but that I could laugh myself to tears!

We got some spackle compound and some new hooks and I ended up with poles that brace on the floor instead of screw into the wall to hold the thing in place. I think that will work better and bear more weight.

Now, it’s just spackle, let dry, sand, cough up spackle dust, spackle again, let dry, sand, cough up more spackle dust, redrill one hole, replace the shelf. Done! Oh, and then wash spackle dust out of hair!

Don't Open the Closet

2010-08-05T15:05:00.001-04:00

Do you remember those cartoons where the kid is told to clean his room and he just shoves everything into the closet and shuts the door, and then mom comes in and thinks everything looks good until she opens the closet and is buried in a landslide of stuff? Yeah....

Sometimes yesterday morning, I needed something from the closet in my bedroom. All of my closets are ClosetMaid wire racks, that is the shelf and the wire to hang stuff on. The closet in my bedroom has my clothes and a bunch of bathroom-type stuff like lotion, bandages, hairspray- the things I don't need every day and don't have room for in the bathroom. So, I got something out of it yesterday morning.

In the evening, I needed something from my closet. To this moment, I swear I have no idea what it was. When I opened the door all the stuff that was on the shelf came rushing at me! It seems that there was an installation error. The rack was anchored to the back wall of the closet, but should have had brackets at the front of the shelf on the sides for extra support. Since all the weight was at the front of the rack (where all the clothes were hanging) the thing just pulled right out of the wall, scraping along the sides and tearing it up as it went down. And since the door was closed, all the stuff just waited until I opened it, freeing the mess to invade the bedroom.

I wasn't home when the wall gave out. I'm sure it gave poor Miss Luna quite a start! I'm glad I wasn't there, though. I probably would have been standing by the door, holding a sword with the police on the phone, yelling at whoever was in my closet to come out. Well. Yeah.

I called mom because I don't even know where to begin to repair the wall. She, of course, doesn't know either, but it helped to talk about it. And laugh at the way the stuff within came tumbling out at me.

My dad is going to come by this evening and look at it and see what I'll need to fix it. I might get a different closet system for this one, more than just a rack. Only because I can. I checked the other two closets and they have the brackets that my bedroom closet was missing so I'm not worried about them. At least that wasn't the closet that Miss Luna sleeps in!

It Really Is Soft and Comfortable

2010-08-03T12:12:00.001-04:00

The other day, I had closed the closet door and poor Miss Luna couldn't get in. Since I'm not ready to cut her off from her safe closet space yet, I opened the door so she could go in and sleep. A little bit later, I decided to see where she was sleeping, since I put the bed over her favorite spot and she never sleeps on the cat bed! Sure enough, there she was on the bed all curled up and cute, fast asleep until I disturbed her.

I'm gald she was using the bed, really. I haven't seen any new cuts on her, I think. Hopefully that means the snow shoes really were the problem and now that she's not sleeping right on them (I mean, she's still on them, but now there's a nice padded bed between her and spiky shoes) she'll stop getting scratched up.

I entered a contest a couple weeks ago and won my kitty a new cat toy! It should be here soon!

I'm Alive

2010-07-30T18:23:00.002-04:00

I know, the last you heard from me was killer migraine. I'm really tired and I think I feel a cold coming on, but I'm alive!

Adolf didn't see my e-mail asking to go home until four hours after I sent it. It wasn't that bad, because the Excedrin finally kicked in. I was able to leave an hour early and got home just as my drugs were wearing off. Nice.

I'm still finding random wounds on Miss Luna, and evidence that she's scratching at the bad one on her side. A friend is going to come over this evening and hold her down while I trim her back claws. I'm not convinced the snow shoe was the culprit.

My neighbors behind me have two tiny white kittens, each with one little gray mark on their heads. They are so cute! I haven't met those neighbors yet, but I do watch the kittens when they're out. I think the big, mangy white tom is the father and the black and white that looks a lot like Miss Luna might be the mother. The kittens are probably flea-bitten, but they sure are adorable.

For Monday

2010-07-26T09:25:00.000-04:00

I woke up yesterday from a very uneasy night with a stomach and head ache. I was able to get some work done and some mini books made for my new Gnomes (or, printed, at least) but the headache lingered. It was still with me this morning but, naturally, is now a full-blown migraine. I shouldn't have come to work today. It's hard to get anything done when it hurts to have your eyes open.

And then there's that migraine-induced nausea. Maybe I'll be able to last half a day and see if I can go home then. Maybe.

Because It Is Soft and Comfortable

2010-07-23T11:25:00.000-04:00

I think I found the kitty cutting culprit. She likes to hide in a closet, there's only one closet that I will let her go in. Eventually, I want to close that door and force her to hide under my bed when she needs a hiding place but, for now, I left the closet open. I kept a little space on the right side free of stuff so she has room to sleep there. But, she doesn't sleep there; she sleeps on the left side on top of things like my folded-up camping chair and a few other things. I inspected that area and found she's been sleeping on my snowshoes! Because of all the straps and things, I've got them in there so one of them is pointy side up. How can that be comfortable?! I didn't see any evidence of pulled fur or blood, but that is the only explanation. They’re not even sharp blades or anything like that, but I really have no idea otherwise.

I put an old cat bed over it, assuring that she will never sleep there again. I don't know what that cat has against cat beds! But, at least it covers the spiky shoes.

I do hope that's it, because that means her cuts should heal up and she'll be fine. They're pretty bad cuts. It’s hard to see things through her long fur, but I was trying to inspect them last night and she was really unhappy with it. I know they’re hurting her. She squeaks if I’m petting her and just run my fingers over the spots. I hope this is it and the bed takes care of it until I close her out of the closet altogether.

Dangers of Home

2010-07-22T14:27:00.000-04:00

Miss Luna has two big gashes on her right side. I thought the days of finding wounds on her were over, now that she's the only animal in the house. This is not the first time I found a cut on her since moving, but I thought the other one was an older wound. These two are fairly recent.

My cat does not go outside. Certainly no other animals are inside. There is one of two things happening here. Either Buffy is making some kind of contact when we visit my folks (and, even though she's a puppy, I really doubt this is is) or Miss Luna is getting into something at home that is cutting her. Like, jumping off of the cat tree and getting scratched on the corner of my desk. I don't think it's the desk, because it doesn't seem to be showing any evidence of having cut a cat with long black fur, but it might be something like that. She likes to sleep in the closet, but she doesn't sleep on the empty spot of floor that I left for her, she sleeps on a folded metal chair. Her cuts are on the right side (the last one was too). I wonder if there's something in that closet. I'm going to inspect it tonight.

I don't like wounds on my kitty!! I'll get to the bottom of this!

Matriarch

2010-07-21T08:55:00.000-04:00

Today is my grandmother's birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

She's spent some time in the hospital and a care center but should be allowed back to her apartment today. I will drive the sixty miles to join her and her two daughters for dinner this evening. My mom tried a little to discourage me from coming, because I live far away and have to come back so I can get to work in the morning, but it's ok. You only turn 92 once!

Preparing

2010-07-15T07:58:00.005-04:00

While I've had lulls in posts longer than this one, I've got a good reason for being away this time. Preparations!! Unfortunately, it's all Etsy-related, so if you follow me here but don't follow my craft-specific blog (or if you follow me both places!) things are going to overlap. I have to tell you about this, because it's been consuming my week!

First, the very talented Theresa of Faerie Moon Creations has a wonderful blog. Every Thursday, she features two artists who make crazy fabulous items! You guessed it, this week, my Gnomes are making an appearance!

Check out her blog and enter to win a complete Gnome set (that is Garden Gnome, Cape of Warmth, and Gnomish Travel Basket) in the colors of your choice!

I'm also featured with the wonderful Visual Sentiments. You can enter that giveaway too!

Click here to enter and good luck!

And Second is the Christmas in July sale!

Check out my shop for FREE worldwide shipping on all items! See the special Christmas in July section for discounts on Holiday Gnomes and a couple select sets!

You can search Etsy for "christmasinjuly" and "cij" to find other great sales from artists across the site. Happy shopping!

In other news, my aunt is in town from Utah and she and my mother are supposed to come by to see my house tomorrow. I have to clean clean clean tonight!

World Cup Togetherness

2010-07-12T08:36:00.002-04:00

If you recorded the game and haven't seen it yet, stop reading now.

Yesterday's World Cup final was one of the ugliest matches I've ever witnessed. And I've seen plenty, I started refereeing as soon as I was old enough to work (ok, technically earlier than that, but only by a season) and played in many leagues until I went to college. The Netherlands, in particular, should be ashamed of how ungentlemanly they played (but Spain wasn't doing a whole lot better). Who really wants to set the record for most cards shown in a single championship game? And they blew the record out of the water with 14 yellow cards. It was set in 1986 at six. It was not a pretty game.

I hear that Netherland coaches, players, and fans are very unhappy with the way the ref called the game. Truth be told, he did them a kindness. He should have shown a red card for that crazy high kick in the 28th minute. They should have been playing a man down most of the game. They got lucky. And the ref kind of made up for giving them an advantage there by not issuing a deserved caution to Spain in the second half. Otherwise, every card was earned and deserved, in my once-professional opinion. A really disgusting game.

But, Spain finally got their goal (with some unbecoming gloating that is not in the spirit of the game), proving Paul the oracular octopus right yet again. I was semi cheering for Spain, but I would have been happy with a deserving victory either way. Ugly game aside, I do think Spain deserved their win. Maybe both teams will learn something and play better the next time they face each other.

Nothing brings the world together like the World Cup.

Good Game

2010-07-10T19:21:00.001-04:00

Uruguay, one word: KARMA.

The Keys

2010-07-09T09:21:00.001-04:00

The previous owner of my house didn't have keys to the mail lock box. He didn't live there, you see, so he never had mail going there. A month ago yesterday, I ordered new locks (so that there would be keys so I can get to my mail) and my mail has been held at the annex for me to pick up since.

I was told that they had one person changing locks and he just got back from vacation so it would be two weeks or so for the new locks. I called after two weeks and they were not done. I called after three and four weeks and spoke to a lady who didn't even ask for my name or address to look it up and just said they were not done. How do you know??

I went to the annex to get my mail yesterday. I overheard the workers saying the lock-changing guy ran out of locks and the new supply was not delivered yet. Then they said he is going on vacation again! Then the wonderful lady called the main office, confirmed that my locks had indeed been changed and that my keys were there (even though I had been told that morning they were not done - by the lady who couldn't be bothered to look it up). They're having the keys brought to the annex so I can pick them up today. Yay!

I think I have reason to not be too impressed with the main post office for my zip code, but my mail actually gets delivered out of the annex and those people are wonderful. Thank you, helpful postal people!

I've been a Reiki Master and Teacher since 2006. I haven't actually taught anyone, though. No one has ever taken me up on the offer. I passed my first attunement to Fox last night. I've been working with him more recently, and he expressed wishing I could be there to treat his mother when they visit her next week. Though Reiki works just as effectively by distance and I would do it at his and her consent, I thought it would be better if Fox did it himself. More meaningful to him and to his mother, rather. So, I offered that instead. It took no internal debating on my part. I knew that it was time, and I'm glad I could do that for my friend.

Pirates For the Gulf-Etsians Help Animals Caught In The Oil Spill (please re-blog and re-tweet thanks)

2010-07-07T08:29:00.000-04:00

The following was copied from PussDaddy Blogs. It was brought to my attention via Twitter. Since this event is relatively local to me and many of my dear readers, I am spreading the word- as asked!

[copied message follows]

I received this email about how some are helping animals effected by the Gulf oil spill, bless their hearts. If you love animals and would like to help please re-blog this or tweet about it. Thanks so much. I will just copy and paste the email here:

Pirates For the Gulf is the name of the charity organization (we're currently working on getting 501.c3 status) working to benefit the animals and ecological system affected by the gulf oil spill. The fundraiser event will be held at Holly Hills Country Club in Ijamsville, MD on July 17th. The proceeds benefit the National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Institute. The evening will be filled with food, drink, and entertainment. Local businesses have been kind enough to donate their time and items to a raffle being held that night. A local band, belly dance troupe, sword swallower, and tarot reader will be entertaining the attendees, too.

We've contacted many news venues locally but have found it difficult to get the word out nationwide. Our hope is that more people will come together to do similar fundraisers across the U.S.

The oil spill is a much bigger problem than most people seem to know or want to know, the repercussions of which will affect the Gulf of Mexico for many years to come. We feel that every little bit helps to those working to save the animals trapped in the area.

For folks in the MD, VA, or DC area, tickets can be purchased at www.piratesforthegulf.ticketleap.com and cost $60 each. More information can also be found on our Facebook group, Pirates For the Gulf.

Best Wishes,
The Alchemist's Star
www.thealchemistsstar.etsy.com

Hi July

2010-07-01T07:11:00.001-04:00

I have been a homeowner for one month today!

I'm really loving it. A couple weeks ago, Robin asked me if I got lonely. No. Bored? No. Sad? No. Angry? Only when Miss Luna decided that 0200 is time for breakfast!

Dad and Fox and another of our friend from the Renaissance Festival did come over on the 21st. I met a few more neighbors at the beach. We kayaked maybe four miles of the twelve-mile lake. Despite power boaters and jet skiers and water skiers, it was really quite nice. There is a very small part of me that is thinking about getting a little power boat. You know, after the truck. So we can load the kayaks on it and start at a different part of the lake. Yeah. That's it.

I only have a small reel mower. The thing with that kind of mower is that you have to keep up with the lawn, because if the grass gets too long, the mower will just push the blades over and roll harmlessly over them. I managed to eat something yucky last week and got sick from it, so the lawn didn't get mowed. And then it was hot so the lawn didn't get mowed. I woke up early on Saturday hoping to beat the heat of the day and take care of the lawn before it got to be too much for my mower. There is no such thing as "before the heat of the day" over here! After forty-five minutes and not even half my yard, I nearly passed out! I visited my mom that weekend and she bought me a battery-powered electric mower. I think it was an act of pity.

Mowing the lawn is on my list of things to do this evening.

The funny thing is that I've had more visitors to my home in the month of being there than I had in two years at the condo. And I'm further away from everyone, so it wasn't about the distance. I don't get it. Not that I'm complaining, of course! On Sunday, when my mom followed me home with the lawn mower in her CRV, we put it together, ran out to Applebee's for carry out, and then sat in my little living room and watched a movie. It seems like a simple thing, but it really felt nice.

Hedwig is for sale. Robin helped me put her on Craigslist. I've never sold anything on Craigslist, so this is a little interesting. I've had five inquiries so far. It's hard to get my home in order and worry about selling my car, though. It was probably a little premature to put it up before I could really devote the time to it, but it will be nice to get that off my plate. I'm sorry to be selling her, but I really don't need two Saturns and I really do need a truck. If I could, I would keep her.

Do any of you, dear readers, need a good ten-year-old car? Except that the A/C isn't working, she's in fabulous shape. I was expecting to get at least another five years out of her. I'd be willing to deliver a reasonable distance (reasonable as in something I can get to without killing myself on a Saturday or such!).

I know I said once the move got out of the way, I'd get back to regular postings. Thank you, gentle readers, for your patience with me. I'm still not completely unpacked, but I am mostly settled. I'm sure I'll be able to get back to posting with regularity. Be warned, you might just hear about how tall my lawn is getting!

Oh, and if you shop on Etsy at all- a large group of sellers got together and planned a massive Christmas in July sale! The official dates are July 15th through July 25th, though some shops are doing the whole month. Each seller is running their own sale, so search for tags "ChristmasinJuly" or "CIJ" to find some great sales! Yep, I'll be in on the action too!

Warm Waters

2010-06-18T14:51:00.002-04:00

Robin and I walked down to the lake yesterday and I got to put my feet in the water. It was so warm, like bathwater. If I had been prepared for it, I would have jumped right in.

Dad and I are both off on Monday, so we're going to try to kayak. We'd like to bring the boats out to me so we can see what the lake has to offer, but it may not work out. We're still working on it. Eventually, I will get a truck and that would make moving kayaks easier.

I haven't been out kayaking yet this year. Not cool.

Still Unpacking

2010-06-17T13:57:00.001-04:00

I admit, the unpacking has gotten old. I wish I could snap my fingers and put everything in place like Mary Poppins. I do feel like diving into some things when I get home today, but I think Robin is planning on coming over. Visitors get in my way.

I also need to get started on getting my programs moved to my new computer. I'd like some time to do that today as well. It's probably not going to happen, especially if I have to entertain all evening. There's never enough time.

New Computers and Old Cars

2010-06-16T14:46:00.000-04:00

I have a new computer. It's a monster! I love it though. The problem now is that I don't have any of my pertinent files or programs from the other computer on it yet. Does anyone know of a way to install a program from one computer to another if you don't still have the install disks?

In other news, I mowed my lawn yesterday! I have an old reel mower. The grass can't be too high and it can't get very close to edges but it worked. And then I got bit by a tick. Welcome to Virginia!

Ok, I know I've lived in Virginia for the past two years. I suppose a part of me always thought I'd end up back in Maryland. Now that I've bought a place, I think it means I'm here to stay. I certainly have no intention of moving again, but one never can tell the path they'll take.

Hedwig gets some work done today. My mom mentioned that it would be great if I didn't have to sell that car, but I really do need a truck. Honestly, I'd like to keep it too. I always said I'd drive Hedwig until she died. It's not like I don't have the drive space for three vehicles (two cars and the truck that I need to get), and two of them are paid for, but I would have to still insure them all, and that may prove difficult.

Visitors

2010-06-08T15:08:00.000-04:00

Someone listed my house for rent on Craigslist yesterday. We are not amused. The listing was gone this morning, so I figure some of the people who came by to look at the house must have gone back and flagged the listing (I don't use Craigslist, so I'm not entirely sure how this works). Some details still come up in a Google search, though. Anyway, I sent an e-mail to their abuse address. I'm still quite shook up about it. The info I was able to find had it listed as $700 a month. No wonder so many people came by last night. Not cool.

I now know it's actually a popular scam for people to collect 'rent' payments at some PO Box because they can't actually lease the property they said they were leasing. I'll keep my eyes open in case it pops up again.

Miss Luna is not eating. She's acting very lethargic. I hope it's just stress and will settle down. Maybe it has something to do with all the visitors yesterday, though it started before they did. I'm going to try some alone-time with her this evening and see if that helps.