Lots of Feel-Goods

Whew, where to begin?

The other day, I cleaned out my car and reinstalled the boom-boom in the backseat. Although it was unfortunate to see the lovely blue crystals on my battery terminal, the good news is I am competent enough to rewire things in my car. Thus, I has moar bass again. This of course spurned a loud ride to my doctors appointment this morning, blasting Bayside and singing along. And I realized, this guy here, he is one of the best songwriters I've heard--at least, since the likes of Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano. So simple, so straightforward, yet with that play on metaphors I love so much. Snarky, heartfelt word play, showing a glimpse of pain so deep you feel it too. The funny thing about Bayside is that even though his lyrics tend to be fairly specific, they are still so relateable. So, as Mrs. K predicted, I have spent my free time today cleaning my metaphorical wounds with ink and paint. One of the tips I'd been meaning to try was printing onto tissue paper, and holy crap. I'm not done with this one yet, but below is the progress so far. I'm waiting for the clear coat to dry before I start layering the tissue paper on. I'm really excited to see how it turns out, I'm just hoping I don't have the same issue with the ink bleeding that I did when I got into stamping.

One of the other wonderful things--aside from cooking home-made baked ziti from scratch [happy Italian], followed by crock-pot beef stew today... Anyways, now that we're all hungry, moving on.

If you know me at all, you know how pleased I am when I am able to help people. Especially good people. So although tomorrow I have to put the blasted uniform back on, I have been able to help someone because of it. A while back, someone from my bootcamp division separated and based on my descriptions, decided to move to WA. We talked about meeting up to jam a time or two, but it never panned out. After I made an off-handed comment online, he ended up coming over for dinner and socializing. Fun fact is, he's closer to my brother's age than mine! He's enlisted the Italian's help with navigating the VA, and today they have made quite a bit of progress. The boys are getting along famously, which makes me smile inside. As my dad said once, I have quite a soft spot for "puppy dogs and broken boys," and given the chance, I will feed and comfort both of them. When the holidays come around, I make a big effort to invite displaced military folks for meals. I realized last night, that it's almost like I've adopted a little brother--no offense to my actual little brother, he's just a little too cool to talk to me these days. He'll come around eventually, I'm sure, but living three states away doesn't help either.

Anyways, just the interactions between those two cracks me up and makes me happy. Loud music with good words. Making art, exploring, testing, results. Kitty cuddles, especially with a little rumble of purr... surprisingly my typing has yet to disturb Miss Z, who is draped across my arms at this very moment. Homecooked food. And of course, top it off with a bit of British humor. Ah, good days. I can't wait until my life is filled with this on a daily basis and punctuated with school and working with awesome people.

I hope you are all having some small victories or small happiness, and leave you with this--so at least if nothing else, you can say you saw a cute cat picture today.

Why I Love My House: A List

Well, I am only one car-load and a deep-clean away from turning in my keys to the apartment and walking away forever. It's kind of a good feeling. I am excited to put the past behind me and start walking forward for once. I am feeling a little antsy, like I want to continue unpacking, decluttering, organizing, or cleaning the new place; but I am just so beat that I can't. However, in my lounging I keep finding myself appreciating different parts and pieces of this new life. One thought led to another, and so I thought, 'Instead of just jumbled fragments, why don't I actually make a list of the things I like about this place?' In the words of my mother,  "...aaaaaand, so I did."


1. This guy lives here. 'Nuff said.

2. THIS. So Much This. Not only do we have a garage, but our garage has an additional shop. It's big enough to share, so one side is devoted to guns and camping, and one side is devoted to... this. It almost looks like I know what I'm doing! It's nice to have room to experiment and play, without worrying about it taking over bits and pieces of my whole living quarters. Downfall: Much less walk-by-arting going on.

3. For some unknown reason [our theory ties in to ridding living quarters of the scents of memories as a way of moving on emotionally, if you know what I mean] Miss Maow and Bill are actually--mostly--getting along. We even caught them cuddling the other day. She's practically had a personality makeover: she cuddles, she purrs, she talks, she plays... like she used to.

4. Cabinets. Cabinets and drawers, everywhere! Can you say linen closet? Towels, sheets, pillowcases, and even two  comforters fit! It's so nice. Oh, and Maow fits too.

5. There are two bathrooms. And the upstairs bathroom has a for-real medicine cabinet [behind the mirror style]. However, Bill has not yet mastered its usage, as he lacks opposable thumbs.

6. My plants--and Miss Maow--can finally get some sun! And without me running them inside and out every day, or worrying about them being 'cold' at night. Our kitchen has a 'planter window,' and so does the upstairs bathroom. 

7. Hanging the Ivy in the mud room--we have a mud room! With French doors, even!--has done wonders, and it is growing quite quickly with much less fuss. Hopefully it will thicken up, too.

8. All my clothes fit in my closet. Well, mostly in. Not including shoes. Okay, look, this is like huge progress for me, capicce? And Miss Maow has a nice soft cuddle spot, too.

9. We have side-by-side closets. They are somewhat organized. And/or, the upstairs might as well be a seperate studio apartment. It is HUGE. As in, don't-know-what-to-do-with-extra-space kind of thing. Not enough furniture, haha. I've never had a problem with having too much space, I've always had too much stuff!

10. Okay, the stairs are meh to me, could do without them honestly, but, the fact that our stairs are littered with kitties... always a bonus. Plus, for stairs, they are pretty comfy. Very wide and the perfect steep-ness... stepth?... or however you'd want to describe that.

Okay, usually lists are ten items long, but here's a bonus picture because it's just too cute. It strikes a super-deep chord with me, sort of nostalgia, because I grew up with a giant, black Great Dane named Scoby... and Scoby used to sit like this on the couch/floor. So the fact that Bill does this all the time--when he's not taking up a whole step to make you trip--just melts my heart.

Got that Dutes...

or for the lay person, Duty. Meaning, I sit around on the ship and wait for things to break and-or catch on fire. Best way to ruin a weekend, if you want my opinion. But I'm trying not to get up on a soapbox here.

I took this picture halfway through cleaning the wall behind the bed.
ewwwwww....

Aside from wasting most of today, I did have a fairly productive Saturday. My buddy recommended to me the Mr. Clean 'Magic Eraser' and I don't know whether to thank him or hate him... oh, the grossness that came off my walls. So, walls are clean, kitchen is clean, living room tidied but still cluttered, bathroom is cleaned, bedroom is somewhat picked up and I made the bed [but it got slept in again], burnt out light bulbs replaced, and I cleaned the fish tank. Like REALLY cleaned it. Like scooped out the lil fishies and scrubbed that thing. I feel like I did more, but I guess that was really all.

Getting excited for potential moving. Getting scared about getting a 'real job' again. Very much appreciating how wonderful my life has become, even with the military still clutching at my soul, but having someone around who appreciates you and cares about you is a big help. Especially when you can play Cards Against Humanity together and die laughing at the same things. Extensive irony, much? And a 'bad day' culminates with a bottle of the best wine ever and bringing home Diablo 3 on Xbox.

 Obligatory 'cat in a box' pic. If you aren't familiar with Maru, spend a couple minutes [or hours, if you get sucked in] looking him up on youtube. Mr. Bill Apollo is on his way to becoming the American Maru. He hates collars but loves the harness, loves boxes, and will fetch mousies. He's only about six months old right now and already almost as big as Miss Z. So he'll be pretty ginormous one day. Don't mind the geeky mess behind him... boys will be boys.  

PS, upcoming dates to be excited about:
[asap]: Still need to see Captain America
23 April: Lyrid Meteor Shower peaks
16 May: Godzilla hits theatres
23 May: new X-Men movie in theatres

Outer Peace

For the past couple months, "sleeping in" on the weekends means waking up around 7 or 8 am and lounging in bed for a few hours, mucking about the internet and cuddling. Although I always loved sleeping in--sometimes I would sleep well into the afternoon--it wasn't really healthy for me. I get a little irritated now that  7 am on Saturday rolls around and I'm wide awake... but as I sit here in a cuteness sandwich, surrounded on all sides by beings that absolutely adore me, I am very glad and thankful that I am awake to appreciate it. My kitten is non-stop cuddles and purrs, and she is adorable. My new additions are resting and also adorable and cuddly. My home is now a place of happiness and comfort, and it is AWESOME. I never knew what I was missing. I didn't know life could be this way, and I am very happy to be able to experience this. Even though it took some trying times to reach this point, I have had some great milestones along the way, including meeting some wonderful new people. I probably should be 'using this quiet time efficiently' and getting some things done around the house, but I think I'll just enjoy this a little more.

In other news, I am insanely excited for some upcoming prospects... Long story short, in the near-ish future [the foreseable year] I will likely be moving into a large house with amazing people. And the plus is, we won't be renting. So this blog will erupt with my exploits into renovation and DIY wonderfulness. Stay Tuned.