are your spots painted on?

I don't sleep at home much during the month of July because I house sit for a string of friends.
(dear potential thieves: that doesn't mean that my house is empty. not to mention, what would you steal anyway? It's not like my Pez collection is still there)
Right after I arrived at my current abode with the cutie beagle Guiness, I looked at him and thought that his large shoulder spot was running.

What?
Was that there 10 minutes ago?
Has it always been there?
Have I maybe never noticed it?
Is his fur changing with age?
I thought all of these things in rapid succession.
I mean I really thought that somehow he developed a stripe or that I hadn't noticed it in the years I have been staying with him.
It had been a long day.
Then realized that my hand was black, too.
Must be from petting him, my razor sharp mind deduced.
 Dirt.
A perfect line of dirt the same color as his spots from under his dad's truck.
I was able to get some of it off, but now he just needs a full-on bath. We'll leave that for his humans.

Less than an hour later, the cat stood on her back paws, grabbed my wrist with her front paws and took a bite of my brown sugar pop-tart.
Really?

I think it is gonna be a long month

somedays i WISH i was making all of this up

Life...
Honestly.
Tonight i got locked into a store after it closed.
Really.
I had to trip the security alarm to get cops to come.
Locked. Into. A. Store.
How is that even possible?
That is the plot line to a bad horror movie. Or a bad teen movie.
Or a Scooby-Doo episode.
It is not something that happens in real life.
Unless you are Niki; then it is totally real.
Did you ever think how cool would it be to be locked into a store? I could run up and down the aisles and play with all of the things.
Such a fun fantasy.
The reality?

 

 

Note: some expounding in the comments.

July 4th in Vegas

Last year on July 4th Douglas and I were in Las Vegas.
I thought for sure there would be lavish spectaculars for the Independence Day celebration and maybe there were, but we didn't see them. Since the holiday fell on a Wednesday, all of the hotels were celebrating on Saturday; we left on Thursday.
However, there were some fabulous decorations around town.
The Palazzo has a huge atrium in the shopping area just past where it is connected to the Venetian, featuring a water wall, flat fountain and vaulted stained glass skylight .

I'm sure that ordinarily it is quite open and lovely, but with the larger than life Stars and Stripes hanging from the ceiling it was breathtaking. It is hard to convey the size of this thing. Imagine having a garrison flag indoors and you are on the right track.
The flag was surrounded by stylized fireworks and smaller, sparklier flags. It was the most ridiculously wonderful red, white and blue decor i have ever seen.

independence

It has been a year since i gave blood to the Red Cross.
Right after hitting my goal of maximum allowable donation (every 2 months) i hit a little blerp in my blood chemistry and needed to take one cycle off.
Then the whole job drama caused a series of blerps in both my life and my mood.
I just couldn't quite work up the gumption... no, that's just not the right word...
I just couldn't quite make myself care. I would make an appointment and then call to cancel at the last minute or even just not show. Not really sure what my deal was.
But no more!



let's be honest here
the nifty lapel pins also appeal to me

Every national holiday the Red Cross has a Baby Brigade drive specifically for donors with type O blood that is also CMV negative, which can be given to preemies, sick babies and kids with leukemia.
Guess who qualifies.
Even knowing that my blood was used for dying babies wasn't enough to get my butt in that chair this last year.

This morning i walked into my donation center and gave a unit of my blood to celebrate not only America's Independence Day, but my own as well.

Whatever miasma of apathy that had swirled around me for FAR TOO LONG has cleared.
Good freaking riddance.

Happy Birthday, America!

tidying up

Did a little spring cleaning on the blog today.
Yes, i am so far behind i am only getting to the spring cleaning on July 3rd.
The spring cleaning for 2009, that is.
A lot of it was behind the scenes stuff, but you might notice that both of my blogrolls are shorter. I still like the folks that were on the lists, but if the blogs aren't updated on a semi-regular basis they got cut.
Plus it was beyond time for a new quote. This one by William James is pretty self-explanatory:

To change one’s life:
1. Start immediately.
2. Do it flamboyantly.
3. No exceptions.

I feel like i have #2 pretty well covered.

my BFF gets me into the worst trouble

I don't know how it happened.
Rea and i were talking on the phone last night.
She was waiting at a medical clinic to get treated for the poison ivy she's had since the last week of April (shudder...yeesh...) and to kill time she was going through her huge 101 things to do in 1001days list.
There are 150 days left (well, 149 now, obviously) so we were making mini-goals and figuring out how to get as much completed as possible.
 I am going to have to blog every day in July, she mused.
I'll blog every day, too, to help keep you inspired.
Do you want to shake on it right now?, came out of my mouth.
Wha...?
Did i just say that?
Where did that come from?
Have i lost my freaking mind?
It was out there in the air before i even had a chance to think about it.
And we shook on it: me shaking her imaginary hand in the air and her apparently shaking like a wet puppy (one can only imagine what the other patients in the waiting room thought - fever dreams, maybe).
Sooooooooo, long story still long, i guess i am posting every day in July.
Good luck with that, Niki.
Be sure to check back daily to see how long i make it.
No, i am not offended if you start an office pool on it; put me down for $10 on any random day in the third week.
Check out Rea's blog during this next month, please, and leave her a little love and encouragement.

Niki and Rickki at Cackleberry Hollow, with Bess; May 2013

KA-POW

DISCO GORILLA

"...rainy days and Mondays always get me down..."

Because we all need a little something to help us get through a Monday afternoon of drizzle. 

I sold my PEZ collection

NikCo has been branching out and growing, adding new product lines and locations.
This is GREAT, except for the impact on my apartment.
I have the supplies for jewelry making and paper craft and assemblage/collage, along with my normal furniture, collections and 42 years of accumulated stuff in a one bedroom apartment.
To say that it is stuffed to the gills and a freaking mess is an understatement. Carnies wouldn't squat here. Recently the hobo raccoons left a petition for better living conditions.
Something has to be done.
In April I started going through every single thing i own to decide if it still had a place in my life and exactly where that place would be. And no, i am still not finished. Time consuming and an even bigger mess, but it is necessary.
I've finally had my first yard sale (there is a big difference between intending to sell something and actually selling it), am taking craft items to a crop tomorrow for the swap table and will probably yard sale once a month until the end of the season.
This past weekend i took a huge plunge and sold my PEZ collection.
sigh...

not a picture of Niki

I love PEZ dispensers, love them.
In the late 90s and early 00s i hunted for them, being sure to find every single design in any line i liked. My mom always puts one in my stocking or Easter basket. I always envisioned  how i would build a small high shelf all the way around the entertainment room with all of my sweet PEZs lined up and would have a centerpiece that i would change with seasonal PEZ.

 Well, the bulk of the collection has been in a box since 2006 and there is little possibility that i am moving into a new place with an entertainment room anytime in the near future so it was time for them to go.
There was some negotiating with myself about how i would just keep three of them or maybe five or mayhaps just the Hello Kitty one, but in the end it had to be all or nothing.
I didn't even take a picture of them before they went for a song to a lovely woman named Theresa.
Some separations need to be quick and final.

chickens don't know gratitude

I visited Rea last month for my birthday.
While we strolled her five acres discussing the long-term farm plan i noticed a Rhode Island Red rooster hopping about frantically. His feet were all twined up so we set about unhobbling him.
Did he thank us?
Was he grateful?

i could keel you right now with just ma angry glare

This is why i prefer them in McNugget form.

I just saved your life,

Mr. Could Not Walkerston.

Don't eyeball me, boy.

FLARKE

Dear IKEA-

I really love my 2 blonde Flarke shelves.
Purchased as the first new furniture in my apartment with a housewarming gift card from my friends Mel and Mike, they have faithfully stood on either side of my television holding CDs and DVDs.

 But my friend John left me his black-brown 4X4 Expedit when he moved out. It is humongous and holds soooooo much more than my wee Flarkes that it is now the entertainment center in the living room.

 I couldn't just get rid of the faithful Flarkes though.
 
 My question, IKEA, is this: if i hypothetically bolted the Flarkes together to form a craft storage tower to the sky, does that void their warranty in any way or release you from liability if they fall and crush me flat?

Thank you for your attention in this matter,
Niki