Lucky's Babies

Meet Thumper.

This is Lucky's favorite toy.

Yes, it has catnip in it. Think of a kong for a dog and that's what Thumper is, except all soft and fuzzy filled with catnip. 

Don't judge her just because she carries Thumper around like it is her baby or judge me as I have a brand spanking new Thumper in a drawer just in case something happens to this one. 

I mean seriously. The nip is legal. The nip is encouraged by her vet.

The nip is gooood. 

Thumper used to come to bed with us every night.

Lucky used to sleep with me every night too but lately she has taken to the chaise lounge in the den.

I can count on being woken up between 3:24 AM and 4:16 AM daily.  This is when she brings Thumper to the bed.  She's all excited and is ready to play.  Saying no is not an option.  I could close the bedroom door at night but I only do so when company is over.   

We have taught one another how to play fetch.  It is quite delightful and makes those early morning play sessions bearable.   

I'm glad her Auntie Kari picked her up a teddy bear toy we call Pookie one night we were at the pet store getting her a kitty condo aka scratching post/nesting thing.

Pookie was the original and how I knew to look for Thumper. 

Pookie gets his fair share of abuse love too but Thumper is her go to baby.  I believe it has do with the ears being easier for her to carry in her mouth than Pookie's big head. 

I'd love to show you a picture of Thumper these days, as she is worse for wear, but as I type this, Lucky is showing her baby she is the boss.  She's been playing non stop for about one hour this morning. 

I put fresh nip in the back of both babies last night so it makes sense she would be in it to win it this morning. 

Who knew a one year old kitteh would like a stuffed tiny toy better than a string or a ball to play with?  Not me that is for sure. 

God bless her little catnip enhanced fur ball self. 

Peace, Love, Laughter and Soul Y'all. 

I Want, I Want

I came across a graphic t shirt website the other day.  I don't wear t shirts that often but when I do, I like to have fun with some of them.

Below are some I saw recently on this website that speak to me.

These are shirts that want to become one with me.

In no particular order . . .

 Should you desire to hook me  up with one, I like my shirts on the big and comfy size. 

Peace, Love, Happiness, and Soul Y'all. 

I Shall Call It

I shall call the latest abstract Repricing.

See, when I have things I need to work out and I get frustrated or hit a wall, a creative outlet is necessary for me to process and eventually move forward.

Yesterday was one of those days.

This is nothing spectacular by any means.

It's a previously painted canvas I painted over. Added a few dimensional elements and called it good.

The rhythmic motion of the putting the brush against the canvas and then letting whatever I feel like doing to the base coat calms me.

I may not have figured out everything I need to do but I certainly felt better after I took paint to the brush and the brush to the canvas.

Peace, Love, Laughter, and Soul Y'all.

Summa' Time

We finally had a day with the temps in the 80s.

Today not so much. Today finds us with cloudy skies, some rain showers, and a high possibly in the 70s.

However, the fans are in full effect and it stays light until about 9:10 each day so I'll take that as our version of summer this year.

With that being said, in the summer I take my hair to a lighter hue. I add more highlights and warm tones.

This year is no exception as evidenced by the picture to the left.

It's pretty close to the color I naturally had in Texas during the spring and summer so all is right in the world of my hair these days.

Hope the same is true for you and yours.

Peace, Love, Laughter, and Soul Y'all.

Penchant for Observation

As I took an early lunch break on my first day back to the grind (re:  returning from vacation), I decided to update my Netflix instant queue.

The obvious made itself visible.

I have a penchant for documentaries.

This is nothing new to me.  I have always been intrigued by observation - whether it be people watching, reality tv, or non fiction books. 

I enjoy fiction, drama, and comedies too but I'm drawn to non fiction. 

Human nature, in a word, is intriguing; at least to me it is.  


I appreciate how a non fiction work can broaden my horizons, educate me, open myself up to a whole other world I might not have been exposed to otherwise, stretches my imagination, and reveals possibilities. 

Gee, I wonder why I originally pursued sociology and social work in college. 

So, it makes perfect sense when I look over my instant queue and notice 56% of my selections are documentaries. 

I wonder which one I will watch first. . .

Peace, Love, Laughter, and Soul Y'all. 

Little Engine

I'm on vacation this week. 

I usually always take this week off. 

Why?

It's the week before the 4th. In my line of business, this is a slow time of the year for me but hella busy for the folks I work with. 

Some may even go as far as to say this is their busiest week of the year.  My busy time is considered their slow time of the year. 

I know this may sound confusing but if you know what I do, which company I work for, and who I support daily it would make perfect sense. 

So, this is the week I stay home, take it easy, and do all those honey do and chores the rest of the world gets to do during the first half of the year.

It's hard to do a whole heck of a lot of home organization and honey do-das when I'm away as much as I am the first half of the year. 

With that being said, the beginning of today found me in the yard. 

That's not a picture of my grass or my lawn mower. 

The lawn mower is red though.  I affectionately call it Little Red.  We don't have Bermuda grass in the Pacific Northwest. 

Sadly, Little Red was not the little engine that could today. 

He made it through the front yard and one tiny row in the back yard before conking out on me.

Little Red needs some loving. 

Loving I am not capable of providing. 

My housemate, who grew up summering on a family's ranch, can provide that kind of loving. 

I feel slightly inferior but know and recognize my limitations. 

I am not mechanically inclined.  The fact I was able to prune the rose bushes and remove 15 year old+ ivy from part of the wall, digging up some of the roots mind you, made me feel better about my lack of Little Red loving skills. 

Filling up the large size compost bin with the ivy, yard clippings, and other yard "waste" left me feeling sweaty, grungy, and accomplished.

You gotta celebrate the small successes in life right? 

Right. 

Yay me! 

The rest of the day will find me organizing a closet or two.  I foresee a trip to the Goodwill donation center in my crystal ball. 

Or maybe I will bust out the paint, a canvas, some stamps and ink, or chillax with my nose behind Kenny with the kitteh in my lap. 

Peace, Love, Laughter, and Soul Y'all. 

Chocolate Cures All?

About 15 minutes ago I was in a panic.

Heart racing. 

Breathing was fast and furious.

I was picking my left thumb cuticle.   

Purse was turned upside down and inside out.

Desk drawer emptied. 

Mind in a frenzy. 

Why was I in such a state?

I thought I had misplaced a necessary financial record of the personal nature.

I remembered I had Hershey's bars in the kitchen.

One must always have s'mores ingredients on hand this time of the year.

I made my way to the kitchen.  Opened the cabinet.  Unwrapped the bar and took a deep breath.  Broke off the first row.  While stuffing a few pieces in my mouth I asked myself, "If it is lost, I can deal with the situation how? Think Mo, think." 

I made my way around the corner, down the hall, and back to the office.  Candy bar in hand, I opened the same desk drawer, pulled a few things out, and viola - there was the missing financial record. 

Devouring the bar might not have been what allowed me to find the item but it sure did calm my anxiety, for about 45 seconds or so.

Now I have to add an extra 5-10 minutes of the treadmill to the mix to accommodate the indulgence and remember to restock the Hershey's.  At least I'm somewhat calm again and have the "missing" item in my possession.

Chocolate.  It's a cure all. 

Peace, Love, Laughter, and Soul Y'all. 


Photo courtesy of this website.

Meet Lucky

Lucky is the newest member of my family.

She is an one year old, medium hair kitteh I adopted Friday night.

Her name was Gabby. It was a nice enough name but didn't seem to fit. 

She does meow at ya' but nowhere near enough to earn the name Gabby in my opinion.

It took me about 3.5 days to find a name I liked.

Lucky fits as I am lucky to have found her and she is lucky to have found me.

Some of you may know and remember the very unfortunate situation surrounding the passing of my baby Princess in late July of 2010.

It's taken me this long to be ready to let another fur baby in my life.

I went to the foster store with my bestie and her hubby to sneek a peak at another cat but Lucky is the one I came home with.

We even had plans to visit other locations that night and the next day but when I locked eyes with this sweet pea, it was game over.

She is the perfect blend of my other 2 kittehs, Princess and Jasmine, in personality and body type plus having her own special something too. 

Put all of this together and Lucky is her name-o.

Her alter ego is Cocoa Loco and her affectionate nickname is Boo Boo.

She is a snuggler, a head butter, a suckler, a kneader, a playful spaz who likes to check out everything and enjoys licking ice in iced coffee <-- go figure. 

I am sure as the days progress I'll find out more about her but for now, we're in the get to know you stage and are as content as content can be.  I also hope to get better pictures of her.  This one was taken from across the room in Bevo's Den on the sly.  She's either camera shy or is playing hard to get.  Either way, game on darlin'!

Peace, Love, Laughter, and Soul Y'all. 

In Bloom

'Tis true this picture was taken June 4, 2010.

However, the front yard roses are bloom currently.

I haven't gotten around to clipping any for viewing pleasure and delight inside - yet. 

More bloomed this year than last so far so I have quite the selection to choose from - both color and type wise. 

I hope you're in bloom in too.  Life's too short not to be. 

Peace, Love, Laughter, and Soul Y'all. 

My Thoughts Exactly

A friend of mine shared this as a wall post on her Facebook account. 

I have since done the same.

Then I decided to share it here too. 

Speaks volumes to me. 

Peace, Love, and Happiness. 

GD Slackers

Translation:

Feel free to use my shizzle.

Don't piss off the Whizzle aka MoW (Mo Dub).

Hope you had a great day.

You better not have f*cked anything up.

Cause Mo don't play.

Now it's time to be on your way.

Don't let the door hit ya' where the good Lord split ya'!

Thanks to JLo and Tiff for making this a reality.

Of Late

Another week has arrived. 

Another week finds me flying the friendly skies.

I'm heading east again this week. 

Over the mountains and to somewhat wide open spaces.

When I arrive home it will be to a couple of friends in from out of town + a week of previously planned vacation.  

I'm not going anywhere for this vacation.  I'll be staying close to home and loving every last minute of it. 

I have a few projects around the hizzle I want to complete and down time to embrace. 

Peace, Love, Laughter, and Soul Y'all.

I'm a Big Girl Now

Meet Billy.

How did I come about this decision?

After 2 trips to the Starbucks down the street in one day I decided I had enough.  It was time. 

It was time to finally have a coffee maker in the house.  

I'm a tea drinker.  

Rather I should say, I was one.  

Don't get me wrong. I'll still drink tea.  

It's just now I'll be drinking coffee and making dirty chais at home without paying out the arse for two shots of espresso.  

Billy IS a bad ass.  Hence, the name Billy.  You know for when people say Billy Badass. 

He rocks my socks off. 

I'll go as far as to say I'm in love with him. 

He's already shown me the investment of his purchase was well worth it.    

The girly part of me said get the stainless steel one for aesthetics. Plus, this model comes with all the attachments built in versus buying add ons.   

With over 200 K cups to choose from, I invite you to come over for a cup or two.

Peace, Love, and Soul Y'all.     

Jesus is the Reason but . . .

Jesus is the reason but those of you who know me knew an item like this would appear for the weekend. 

Yes, I am also wearing this in the office and will be sporting it through both the Spokane and Seattle airports later today. 

I've already had spontaneous conversations at the hotel and Starbucks this AM.  The rest of the day should hold even more looks and commentary.

Happy Easter to you and yours. 

Peace, Love, Laughter, and Soul Y'all. 

OTRA

Heading back out to fly the friendly skies again today. 

Going to the Big D, which is where I was bred, born, and raised. 

Thankfully I get to squeeze in a little bit of family time before the meetings begin.

Hope you and yours have a great week. 

Peace, Love, Laughter, and Soul Y'all. 

Shellac

Those of you who see me in person know my nails sadly can and often are a hot mess. 

My hands and nails take a beating with the work I do, the travel, the time spent on a computer, texting, and the time spent pursuing my creative endeavors.

I have weak nails to begin with; even my toe nails break easily! 

Saturday I went for my twice a month manicure.  I threw in a pedicure too. 

My lady asked if I wanted a shellac manicure. 

Other than being asked if I wanted one about a two months ago I wasn't quite sure what a shellac manicure was but I said yes without giving it a second thought. 

When she told me the color would stay for at least 2 weeks I was sold for sure.  Sign me up for a shellac-ing! 

My nails tend to do a lot better when protected by a bit of polish. 

My thoughts were What do I have to lose?  Maybe a few extra dollars.  What do I have to gain?  Pretty, stronger nails for more than a few days. 

Let's do this. 

I am only on day 2 but so far so good.

All the internet reports and facebook replies have indicated this process will and does work.  The polish will last.  Since there is no buffing involved, my nails should be stronger. 

Usually by now at least one of my nails would be showing signs of wear and tear so to speak.  Not tonight!  They look like I just left the salon. 

If it holds and withstands the hype, I know there will be no going back for me. 

Feel free to read about it here, here, and here. 

NOTE:  first two links are testimonials and the last link is the official CND Shellac website. 

Oh and the color I'm sporting is a pale pink.  Maybe I'll go bolder the next time around.

Peace, Love, Laughter, and Soul Y'all. 


Photo courtesy of http://www.alllacqueredup.com/

What the Flock?

JoAnns 50% off a regular priced item + 25% off entire purchase had me jumping for joy at the purchase of this flock. 

I've never used flock before.  I have admired the usage of it on projects.  I figure a little bit of glue, the sprinkle of some flock and I'll be good to go. 

I have an Easter card in my mind's eye in which the yellow flock will be perfect. 

Now I just need to make the time to mass produce the project.  I've marked down the evening of April 9th should any of you wish to come and play. 

Peace, Love, Laughter, and Soul Y'all. 

Kenny and Me

I love, love, love my Kindle2. 

I am so very glad I purchased it back in the day. 

For the time being I see no reason to upgrade to the K3 or to get an iPad, unless my fairy godmother or secret admirer would like to bestow one to me.   

What I do see the need for is, is the need to read.

I am almost finished with Love You More by Lisa Gardner and Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. 

The latest purchases downloaded for the next few weeks in travel and down time include

The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

Heaven is For Real:  A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd Burpo

Live Wire by Harlan Coben

I pre-ordered 10th Anniversary by James Patterson

Have you read a good book lately? 

Do share if so. I am always on the lookout for a good read. 

I prefer to be able to download it as I have become accustomed to the slimness of the Kindle versus the bulk of a book.  

Funny how I thought this would be one of the things I missed most about reading on an e-reader -- the holding of a book and flipping the pages.  

When I get the hankering to do so, I can always visit a bookstore or walk over to my bookshelf in the office or Bevo's Den.   

So, hit me with it.  Leave a comment with a recommendation. 

Please and Thank You. 

Peace, Love, Laughter, and Soul Y'all.

Here I Go Again

Here I go again! 

3 day tour. 

2 states. 

Travel by air and car. 

Send the vibes. 

Peace, Love, Laughter, and Soul Y'all.

Slow My Roll

For the second time, in less than 3 months, I have locked my keys in the car outside of Target. 

I definitely need to slow my roll. 

Let's set the stage shall we. 

I have a routine for each Saturday morning.  It starts off with a chai tea latte of course. 

Then I go for a massage followed by a chiropractic adjustment.  Every 6 weeks I get my hair cut and colored.  Every 3 weeks I get my brows done.  In between those appointments are the errands I need to take care of. 

Normally I would take care of these errands during the week.  Doing so is challenging when I am out of town so I am usually running around like a mad woman going from one place to the next in a rush each Saturday. 

I schedule appointments with travel time and roughly a ten minute break in between - if I am lucky. I am usually out and about for 12 hours.   

This past Saturday looked like this: 
Wake at 0715. 

Make the pee pee. 

Shuffle to kitchen.  Fishy kiss Reggie and Spike.  Make chai tea. 

Shuffle back to bathroom.  Shower.  Throw on lotion, clothes, makeup. 

Head out to massage.  Finish punishing but much needed massage.   

After massage stop by Office Depot.  Scowl when discovered they are out of the sheet protector/insert I was in search of.  Leave empty handed. 

Drive across street to gas station for bag of chili cheese Fritos for chiropractor and a drink for me. 

Get an adjustment.  Good crack-a-lackings. 

Drive through Arbys for a mini sammich. 

Head to salon for cut and color.  Sparkles be gone. 

Check to see if Pier 1 has the room spray in stock yet.  No such luck.  Leave empty handed. 

Head over to JoAnns and PetCo for flock and fish food. 

Meet BFF for pho at our joint. 

Head to Home Depot in search of flowers for the planters.  Leave empty handed. 

Finish errands at Target. 

Determine keys are locked in the car of Target's parking lot.  

Call housemate to the rescue as extra set of keys is at home. 

No answer. 

Attempt to call cab companies, yes multiple cab companies, to get a ride. 

Call housemate.  He answers.  Holla! 

Cancel cab ride. 

Move cart of stuff from parking lot to entrance of Target.  Wait for housemate to arrive.

Resemble homeless folks with full cart of stuff with both the BFF and I eating movie snackies from the cart. 

BFF plays music and begins to brainstorm as to how we can panhandle to pass the time.  Laughs ensued.   

Housemate arrives. 

Head home.  Change clothes, get out Snuggies, and watch The Social Network. 

Hug BFF goodbye and call it a night. 

I really need to pay better attention to my get out of the car routine apparently.  Either that or I need to stop shopping at Target as this is the exact same location I locked my keys in the car at last time. 

On the list of errands this week/weekend?  Get extra car keys made. 

At this stage of my life's game, I find this to be a necessity. 

Peace, Love, Laughter, and Soul y'all.