enormous disco snowman

How did they even build him that big without a skid-steer?

At night you could really see his branch arms busting the disco moves (especially if you jiggle the camera accidentally) .

Yes, he was so massive they put a floodlight on him

Mental Morsel: thanks to Rea for teaching me the word skid-steer yesterday. I had no idea that the wee Bobcats and Caterpillars you see at constructions sites had a name besides those little bulldozers.
I have always wanted to own one. You know, for all of those pesky digging and moving things chores around the house.

why doesn't this post have a title?

This morning i briefly woke up between dreams, barely opened my eyes and saw a sweet black kitty curled up just a few inches from my head sleeping that really deep sleep that only cats, ferrets and teen-aged boys seem to know.
Flooded with affection i rubbed my forehead on the top of its head and drifted back to sleep.
Except that it occurred to me that i don't own a cat.
Opened my eyes: sleeping black cat.
Closed my eyes really confused, Did i get a cat? Am i dreaming?
Opened my eyes and turned my head to a different angle: crumpley pillow in a dark flannel pillowcase.
A-ha.

Speaking of being in my bed, i love my bed.
I mean, i really love my bed: the cool iron headboard, the perfect mattress, my heated mattress pad, my pillow that i've slept with for 40 years, my fuzzy warm blankets.
Ahhhhhh... my bed.
Sometimes when it is time for my afternoon nap i don't even sleep. I just lie in my bed reveling in its awesomeness.
How much do i love my bed?
Rea sent me this video because in her words, As soon as i saw it, i thought of you and your bed.
[though i would like to point out that i generally don't go to bed with my cheek pouches full]
Bikke the Chip morning stretch

If you are wondering how i can possibly have the time to lollygag about in my bed, it is because i am self-employed. I am more creative at night so it makes sense for me to nap in the afternoon so that i can stay up.
Self- motivating is not my greatest strength so my BFF -who is also self-employed- and I talk once, twice, three times a lady... i mean once or twice a day to help each other map out goals, check progress, celebrate accomplishments and goad each other on.
A few mornings ago i was sitting at the dining  room table talking to her and realized that i was drinking yummy Earl Grey tea directly from the pot. The spout kept everything neat like a straw and i didn't have to wait to go get a cup.
I wonder if i have a caffeine problem...

 Spring means spring festivals for NikCo.
May 2nd and May 9th are already booked and i am deciding which Strawberry Festival i want to do.
Since a lot of festivals are harvest themed i have been looking for fruity beads for Quirkees and finally decided on these polymer ones:

Excited to sort them and start making earrings and bracelets, I got right to it after taking this picture and realized quickly that my idea of fruit and the maker's idea of fruit are a bit different.
There were the obvious ones, thank goodness.

Apple, pear, watermelon, strawberry and kiwi.
Orange, lemon, lime.
I am even okay with the pink apples and strawberries; even though they are not 100% realistic, it is obvious what they are and who doesn't love some pink?

Then there were these dotted ones that i had to stare at for a while before i decided that the top ones were longitudinal cross-sections of apple, and pear and the bottom ones are pomegranates, maybe.






And then there these random babies:
Obviously they are supposed to be citrus sections, but pink peel/pink flesh, lime peel/teal flesh, yellow peel/bright green flesh and dark bluey-green peel and flesh?
Where does this bead artist go shopping?
Finally there are the three beads that i cannot figure out for the life of me.

These are fruits, in theory.

Anybody got a guess?

Anyone?

one of my favorite botanicals

first day of Spring

HARUMPH!

you'll have to register that shillelagh, ma'am

My dad lives in a gated community.
This is what i saw driving in today:

i love oldsters

random brain bits

I love visiting Florida.
Living there? Not so much.
But a nice week in the sunshine is just what is needed to relax, clear one's mind and start to shake off those winter doldrums.
There are record high temperatures this week.
The AC broke, so that's a bit unfortunate.
Still, i don't have to shovel heat.

Two weeks ago i couldn't close zip-top bags.
I use them every day in the studio.
I have never had any issue before, but suddenly, no matter how many times i slid my fingers down the top ridge, it wouldn't seal.
I tried different sizes and brands, but i was stymied.
What the what, people?
Then just as suddenly, last Tuesday i could close all of the bags again.
Sometimes i think my house must have been built over toxic waste and the fumes are making me hallucinate large parts of my life. It would explain a lot.

Going by someone's house yesterday on my constitutional, i saw small decorative piles of rocks placed as yard art and said, Oh look -  Inukshuks! to the no one riding along with me.
Then i paused to think, Why in the world do i even know that word? Inuit sculpture isn't something i encounter in my every day life.
It was from an episode of due South.
Betcha haven't thought about that show in a hot minute.
Who says tv isn't educational?
Upon closer investigation they were less traditional Arctic tribal art and more tiny little adorable  rock people.

i want them in my yard

Mental Morsel: the plural of inukshuk is not inukshuks as i thought, but rather inuksuit, which i have no idea have to pronounce.

Recently i heard some less than good news of a medical nature (not about me).
For the next 36 hours or so i had the Time For Your Checkup song from Doc McStuffins stuck in my head. A 43-year old woman with no children should not have to endure It's okay if you giggle; this will only tickle a little for that long.
Great. Now it is stuck in my head again.

Bonus Mental Morsel: despite sounding like most of the noble gasses (neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon) the coolant Freon is not really a single chemical, but the trade name of a bunch of different chloroflourocarbons used as refrigerants.
Generally, Freon is four times heavier than air.

I can't believe it took me the last 25 minutes searching the internet to find that this guy's name is Sir Scoopsalot.

You know i can't resist a costume character and this guy was in Hampden, hon, handing out coupons to The Charmery.

If you haven't been to The Charmery in Baltimore, you need to go now.
They make all the ice cream in-house from local milk, invent interesting flavors and try to capture the spirit of our charming, quirky city.
I highly recommend the salty caramel.
Every day is the right day for ice cream, even if it is only 30 degrees.
Or you can get hot chocolate with house-made marshmallow.

The fountain in the lake in front of my dad's house goes off at 11:47 pm or, as my dad informed me when i pointed it out, 10:47 pm before daylight saving's time.
Nice round number, yeah?
It gives me pause.

Recently -maybe the last two months-  i have been using "totes" instead of totally when speaking.
Hello 2010, what are you doing here?
I didn't use that term when it was popular.
Why in the world would i suddenly start now?
I didn't even realize i was doing it until i heard one of my charges -a kindergartner no less- use it in a sentence and realized she had to have picked it up from me.
Now i am hyper-aware of when it slips into conversation and am really annoyed with myself.
So to all of the people with whom i might have had a conversation of late, i am sorry about resurrecting this lame slang.
I think i need to go with the snapping-rubberband-around-the-wrist aversion therapy to stop myself.

And finally, to end this stream of consciousness, kittens:

Spring 2014 with Erin, Caleb, Cameron and Collin

yesterday afternoon

WWoB goes to school

Hitting that snooze button a second time seemed like the right choice at 7 am.
To shower faster i skipped the conditioner on my hair, threw on workout pants and a sweater and was out the door at 7:28 to be at JP's at 7:30 to wake up Dash at 7:40.
Easy-peasy.

ummmmmm... are you wondering how i parked in front of that tree?
I didn't.
And that is not a tree.
It is a ginourmo tree limb laying ON my car.

Good news - only a few scratches that will easily wash or buff off.
Bad news - i had to lift that grody, soaking wet, very heavy dead thing off of my car and then move it into the front yard, around another tree so that i could pull my car out resulting in me being covered in mud.
By the time i got to JP's it was already time to get up the boy.
Got all of the morning routine done and left his house on time, but never got around to putting up my hair.
And that is why the Wild Woman of Borneo walked into the Otter's classroom this morning with muddy clothes, destroyed nails and half-wet, half-dry, frizzy, almost but not quite curly hair.
One can assume it was a sight.

i never want to take them off

I have never liked long pajama pants.
The bottoms ride up when you get in bed and twist all around your calves.
My legs get hot.
They bug me.
But for Christmas my sister bought me the fuzziest, softest, most wondrous pajamas that have ever existed.

Can you see the fuzzy?

And they are that fuzzy on the inside, too.

And polka dots.

POLKA DOTS!

Pink polka dots even.

I put them on and it felt like i was wrapped in a flock of fleecy sheep, without the bothersome wool rash or barnyard stank.

I don't think i took them off for 2 days.
As soon as they were laundered, i put them back on.
I freakin' LOVE these jammie pants.

rice dancing on the lint trap

No, my friends, i don't know what that post title means either.
That is the phrase that was in my head when the alarm pulled me from my nap yesterday.
Actually, i think it was misheard song lyrics as i sometimes dream in musicals.
Either way, it is a little glimpse into what it is like to live in my head.

The last week has been really weird, even by Nikiverse standards.
Nothing bad, just weird.
Wait... typing that sentence gives me pause.
There were things happening in the last week that any normal person would consider bad, like sliding into an ice bank while wearing a skirt right before a business meeting or getting towed by a predatory company to the tune of $250.
But in the Nikiverse i consider those things to just be the way of the world.
When i thought nothing bad just now i was thinking no one died.
People use that phrase all the time, but it is the actual measure of good vs bad in my head.
I wonder if that is a good thing because it means i am able to rebound from things quickly or a bad thing because it means my world is even more skewed than i realize.

Speaking of skewed, i clearly remember learning the word askew in fifth grade. We were reading Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time where it was used to describe Mrs. Whatsit.
Every time i use any variation of that word, that book flashes quickly through my brain.

I cut things, it's what i do.
My friend Cricket once described scrapbooking as cutting big pieces of paper into smaller pieces of paper to make into big pieces of paper, which is pretty accurate.
Card making is much the same.
I have straight edge scissors all over the house, in my car, in my various toolboxes so it was causing me much consternation that i couldn't find my favorite purple scissors and it seemed like i kept picking up pairs that weren't cutting well.
Girl needs to cut stuff, people!

Even i was surprised how many scissors there were,
especially since not pictured are my fabric shears,
jewelry scissors and decorative edgers.

So i gathered together all the straight edge scissors i could find, de-gunked them all and then sharpened each edge by hand with a whet stone.

By jiminy, they will all cut whatever needs cutting now.

Unfortunately, still no sign of my favorite purple scissors.

Ah, well.