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"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon, or not at all."
-Harriet van Horne
For this edition of the RRC, Jennifer Robin, who authors, Robin's Woods, asks us to show off things we have made. How fun is that? I like doing crafts, but I haven't been doing as many this year as I have in the past. Photography, caring for Elvis and the same old, same old day to day pretty much eats my time. I even debated possibly sitting this one out, but in the end I reached into my archive and pulled out some photos of different projects I have done since blogging. As you probably know, I love to cook, and making up new recipes, so a few of those are featured below, and in the photo above you see what is probably my most interesting invention, her name is Clarice. Can you tell what she is made from? Well, if you look very close, you see yarn for hair, and her smile comes from a magic marker, her pretty blue earrings are made from beads, and in the upper right hand corner you see the shadow of a straw hat. But what is her face made out of?
Well, if you look even more closely, you will see a fake boob! Yep, that's right, Clarice is made from a fake boob, and has a nipple for a nose! One of a a box of 100 false boobages Alan found alongside the freeway, as he changed a tire one day! LOL. At one time I was making them and giving them away, and I even offered one to the winners of my MADLIBS game I sometimes featured on the AOL version of Ellipsis, but only one person, Phinney, ever requested it as their prize, so to date, only two people own an original Clarice... well, three if you include me. Personally, I think she is kinda cute. LOL. And she makes me smile, but that's just how my silly sense of humor goes. Life gets a little too serious sometimes, and Clarice reminds me to smile. :)
"Disappointments are to the soul, what the thunder-storm is to the air."
-Friedrich von Schiller
Some days are just disappointing. Yesterday, the Barenaked Ladies, were in San Mateo at Barnes and Noble, performing and signing copies of their latest CD, "Snack Time." The CD is a collection of songs for children, but I have already come to love the song 789. Have you heard it? The collection songs, while child friendly, can be enjoyed by adults, as opposed to an all Elmo or Barney type CD, which I think might drive me crazy! LOL. Anyway, needless to say I had been looking forward to seeing one of my favorite bands, and enjoying watching the crowd, not to mention coming home with a signed copy of some new tunes. Well, some days just don't work out the way you want them to, no matter how much planning you do.
Alan and I had discussed what would be our best route and time schedule for the day. We decided that it would be more practical if we took one car, for the trek across the bay, especially since we had just spent $100 to fill both of them with gas. To take one car, meant I had to wait for him to get off work, which was fine, because he gets off work at 2 and the CD signing was at 3:30. It would give us plenty of time to get across the bay, by way of the San Mateo bridge. There was one problem however, that being the guy that relieves Alan at work for the swing shift. A man who is habitually late, so he can finish his weekly golf game.
We talked about this possible problem, but Alan said that the guy hadn't been late in almost two weeks! A record for his being on time! That probably should have been a Murphy's Law clue, but naively I chose to ignore it and hope for the best. Running true to form, the guy was late by almost 10 minutes, which meant Alan had to spend an additional 25 minutes in traffic on the way home. In the Bay Area if you leave just 5 minutes sooner or later then you usually do, you can either shave or add 30 minutes to your commute. There are 5 freeways/highways between Alan's work and home. HWY 92, HWY 880, HWY 238, HWY 580, and HWY 13.
We finally got to Barnes and Noble at 3:20 PM, where we stood in line for 5 minutes before being told that the store had reached the maximum capacity and there was no more people being allowed in. Sigh. Alan and I just looked at each other, shook our heads in disappointment, and walked back to the car. Oh well, sometimes in life you are a 7 and sometimes you are a 9! LOL. Yesterday, we both felt like a 9, which wasn't a good thing at all. LOL.
Me: Hey Elvis, why was 6 afraid of 7?
Elvis: I don't know mommy, why?
Me: Because 7 8 (ate) 9!
Get a free download of the song, 789 here.
Official Barenaked Ladies Website
-OndineMonet
"Looking For The Barenaked Ladies"
Hillsdale Mall
San Mateo, California
June 12th, 2008
Late Afternoon
"People that hate cats, will come back as mice in their next life."
-Unknown
Me: Hey Elvis, what do you call a person who steals cats?
Elvis: I don't know mommy, what do you call a person who steals cats?
Me: Glad you asked Elvis, you would call them a purrr-snatcher! LOL
Elvis: Uh Huh.
Me: Hey Elvis!
Elvis: Yes Mommy?
Me: Why did the kid try to feed pennies to the cat?
Elvis: I don't know, why?
Me: Because his mother told him to put the pennies in the kitty!
Elvis: (Rolling his eyes) Oh brother!
My cat Elvis puts up with a lot from me, he is especially patient with me when I tell him silly cat jokes! LOL. He and I have a ton of fun together, our most recent fun has come from a snippet of colorful ribbon, which he loves to chase and catch. He also received a brand new squeaky mouse from his daddy this past week, and we are enjoying that as well. I have attached it to the ring on my desk drawer, and several times a day Elvis tries to pull it away for some chewy fun. Unfortunately, it tends to snap back, but that's ok with my boy, he enjoys a good challenge! :)
Elvis had his second dose of chemotherapy last Thursday, and all seems to be going well. He is eating his meals, and is more playful now then he has been in months. When he was first diagnosed, he was so wee and weak, but he has perked up and is such a joy! Something even more encouraging has been happening the last week or so, he is now back to climbing up on the bed to sleep with us at night again. When he wasn't feeling well, he would isolate himself. That broke my heart. I am afraid I don't sleep as well without that little bundle at my feet watching over me. :)
It's difficult to remember sometimes that he is dying. I know about all the realities, but he is such a good cat. So funny, so happy, so sweet. I don't know if it is particualry helpful to dwell on things when he is enjoying life so much right now. That inevitable day will be here soon enough. Right now the three of us are embracing life. We do a lot of laughing. I think that makes all of us a little healthier. :) I am so thankful to Dr. B and his staff for making this time as positive as possible. I know I am living the miracle I hoped for right now, with Elvis, each time I hear his happy little giggle.
So tell me, does your cat giggle? What is the quirkiest habit your pet has? If you would like to read more cat jokes, just click the link below! :)
Cat Jokes
-OndineMonet
"Oh Yeah, That's The Spot"
Berkeley, California
June 12th, 2008
Morning
"Manys the long night I've dreamed of cheese... toasted mostly."
-Robert Louis Stevenson
Tuesday, Alan came through the door with a medium brown bag, and a big smile on his face. "Guess what's in the bag Carly," he said. As I eyed the bag I considered what it might contain. From it's size it could have been anything from a can of motor oil, to a new puppy. LOL. "Nah, it couldn't be a puppy," I reasoned, it wasn't moving, and besides, Alan wouldn't bring me roadkill. LOL. My curiosity was definitely on high, so I decided to just take a look inside. Now if you have known me any time at all, you know the way to this girls heart is to present me with... cheese! I love cheese. All cheese. And as if the cheesy goodness weren't enough, Alan purchased a freshly baked marble rye to go along with it. :) Needless to say, we had a delicious afternoon. :)
So tell me, if someone presented you with a medium brown bag, which could contain anything, what would you wish to find it contained? In my brown bag was a 1/4 lb Cotswold, 1/4 lb Asiago and a marble rye bread. What three items would you like to see. Share. You know you want to!
-OndineMonet
"Happiness In A Medium Brown Bag"
June 10th
Berkeley, California
Afternoon
"There is so much plastic in this culture that vinyl leopard skin is becoming an endangered synthetic."
-Lily Tomlin
New Monday Photo Shoot #24: Show us something made of plastic. If it's unusual in some way, so much the better.
-Karen Funk Blocher, of the blog, Outpost Mavarin
When I read what this week's photo shoot topic was, I immediately looked around my desk for PLASTIC objects. To my dismay, I have already featured most of the items on my desk in previous entries. My blood glucose kit is almost exclusively PLASTIC, with the exception of the needle used for the lancets. But what a bummer as a photo subject. I have a PLASTIC bottle of Magic Bubbles on my desk, that could be used, but I kinda had that in mind for an upcoming update entry about Elvis. I have tons of pens, and pins, but nah... BORING! Hmmm... do I own anything PLASTIC that might be considered unusual? I probably do, but nothing was coming to my mind. With my inspiration standing in the blank position, I decided to break for lunch.
As I put the fixings for my noontime meal on a lovely PLASTIC floral tray, it hit me. An idea, not the tray. I realized that most of my Monday lunch was PLASTIC. I was eating a lovely, healthy salad, in a new PLASTIC salad/dessert dish I purchased a couple months ago. As a side dish to my lunch, I was going to have a Motts Strawberry Applesauce, which is served in a lovely PLASTIC container. LOL. Not included in the photo, but which also figured into my PLASTIC lunch were, a fork with a blue PLASTIC handle and PLASTIC bottle of Ocean Spray Cranberry juice. :) So, when you consider that I do check my blood before and after I eat, I would say that 90% of my lunchtime experience today was PLASTIC! I am not really sure if that is a good thing, or a bad thing! LOL. I do know I enjoyed the still life PLASTIC photo shoot experience. :)
"I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood. They're beautiful. Everybody is plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic."
-Andy Warhol
-OndineMonet
"Plastic Still Life At Lunch"
Berkeley, California
June 8th, 2008
Afternoon
"When in doubt, where red."
-Bill Blass
Isn't she beautiful? I happened upon this dragonfly, well, actually, there were several of them flying about, lining the shore of Lake Anza, in Tilden Park, as I took a long walk there one day last week. I was thrilled to see them, I haven't had the chance to get in really close to them before now. It also made me happy to see about 4 or 5 varieties that day as well as the red ones. There were bright blue ones and a really interesting stripped dragonfly. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get as close to them as I did this one. 
I probably could have moved a little closer to the shoreline, but I really didn't have the right shoes on for the steep, rocky climb. I was really lucky in that this one kept flying up to the top of the hill where I was sitting, and came to rest on a rock just a couple feet from me. I swear it was posing for me! The dragonfly and I had a pretty good time that day. I am going to try to get back there soon, with the proper clothing on, so I can hopefully photograph as many dragonflies as possible. I think I might make this a summer goal for this year, like the bumble bees were last year. Wish me luck.
-OndineMonet
"Red Dragonfly"
Lake Anza
Tilden Park
Berkeley, California
June 6th, 2008
Afternoon
"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon, or not at all."
