Some Wildlife and A Little Bit About Me

I woke up this morning to more mangled moss in the back yard, so before I even left for work, I had something to do when I got home.

I have a theory: If it is not the squirrels, it is those noisy grackles (is that how you spell it?) Those black/blue birds who make noise and steal bird food from the smaller birds. Just look at this:



Moss parts everywhere!







And over here, too. Sigh.







So Kitty and I went out back again this evening to replace the moss (me) and chew on grass (she). Check her out in action:

Here she has found a tasty morsel amongst the plethora of weeds in my little garden.

Note the sad, sad Hostas. They are supposed to like shade, but I think I have a little too much shade for them, the poor things.

And here she is being a stealth cat. She slinks around the edge of the yard, keeping me safe. I feel so much better about her being there.

Actually, as soon as I popped the can of cat food, she shot right towards the door and came in to feast. ;-)

Okay, enough wildlife. Next up is a list of questions I found on another blog as the result of a tag (hers, not mine). I do not tag, but if I find a neat list like this I feel compelled to take on the challenge. Things like this could easily become TMI, but I sometimes like to read about what other people do and where they came from, so I hope I do not bore you to tears here...

What was I doing ten years ago?

Lessee, ten years ago was 1998. I was working at different computer-related job within the same company I work for now. Boring, but true. And I had not yet discovered stamping. I still had my eyesight, and I was really into counted cross-stitch; the 32-count linen kind. Most of the ‘pictures’ in my condo are cross-stitched pieces I’ve done. Like this one:

This baby took me 2 years to complete. The buildings are over two threads and the windows in the shops are over one thread. Each window took me about 3 hours to do. Like I said - 2 years of my life.

Five snacks I enjoy:

Believe it or not, I am not a snacker. Crazy, I know! So where did all this weight come from? I guess if I do have snack foods, it is instead of dinner, not in addition to dinner. Possibilities would be something like:

1. Cheese and Crackers (Goat Cheese from the Farmers Market lately!)
2. Home-made guacamole or home-made salsa with Tostido’s Lime chips.
3. ummmmm …..
4. errrr .....
5. ??????

Five things on my to do list today:

1. Go to The Day Job.
2. When I get home tonight, take Kitty out back so she can eat more green weeds and I can put back the mangled moss. Again.
3. Make some more Graduation cards for Saturday’s Farmers Market.
4. Print labels for the recent Ribbon Share and divvy up the ribbon (this one may slip to Sunday, though.)
5. Clean up cat barf.
Wow, now that’s an exciting life, huh?

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

1. Quit the Day Job. I have always said I’d keep working if I came into money, if only to stay in touch with the rest of the world. But as I get closer and closer to retirement, it starts to look better and better! As of now, if I could afford medical insurance out of what’s left of my partial pay check, I’d quit tomorrow. So yeah, if I had money I’d definitely give up the Daily Grind.
2. Buy a bigger place with enough room for a dedicated craft room AND classroom.
3. Make sure my kids do not have to worry about money for extended college careers or for starter funds once they graduate.
4. Give big bucks to cancer research.

Five jobs I've had:

1. Catalog department at JC Penney.
2. Waitress at a local Bar & Grill during college.
3. Long John Silver’s (for about two weeks. Long story)
4. Karate instructor during and right after High School. Really!
5. Computer programmer/analyst most of my adult life.

Five of my bad habits:

1. Biting my nails.
2. Buying all the ribbon and paper in sight.
3. Not putting away the folded laundry.
4. Not communicating well enough with Friends and Family. (And it's gotten worse since I began making cards - go figure!)
5. Interrupting people.

Five places I have lived:

1. Dayton, OH
2. Oxford, OH
3. Flint, MI
4. Naperville, IL
5. Gaithersburg, MD

Six random things:

1. I am not a clothes horse, and could care less about what is “in” this season. Or this week. I think this has been true all of my life, even when I was a skinny Minnie. I just do not care. I look like I fell out of a Land’s End catalog, and that suits me just fine. Some things never go out of style, and I am so there!

2. I am a dog person. The only reason I have a cat is because of my lifestyle, because a dog needs way more attention than a cat does. And my cat is very dog-like, so she is perfect for me.

3. I have always dreamed of living in a small town of some kind. Now that I am older, I am not sure I want to pull up stakes and start over again, but the idea is still in there, somewhere. I am not ruling it out. Maybe I have read too many beach novels about women running away from whatever and finding love in a small town. Though they were also 20-something, and I am not.

4. I cannot drive in reverse. Ask anyone who knows me, I just cannot do it. Being a crafter and having to negotiate bumper cars to unload my vehicle at shows gets pretty interesting. One year a bunch of us went to someone’s house for dinner, and they have a really looooong, one-lane driveway. It had snowed, and I was last in so I was first out. And I had to back up the driveway. After I hit the snow banks several times, my buddy offered to back up my car for me. It was quite a hoot to watch me.

5. I sewed all my own clothes through most of High School. Yep, pants, jackets, dresses, you name it. For Home Ec in HS, my girlfriend and I chose a plaid fabric for the obligatory jumper we all had to make. The teacher doubted us, but we lined ‘em up just fine, thank you. Around the age of 14 I bought my first pair of blue jeans, and the thrill of the sew dwindled from there. Right now I could not sew a straight line if I tried. I have thought about taking out the sewing machine to try it on cards, though. Why not?

6. Spring is my absolute favorite season of the year. It is in the 50’s in the morning and gets up into the low 70’s by the afternoon. PERFECT! I do not even bother with a jacket. It is clear and sunny and wonderful. If it stayed like this all year, I’d probably be happy.

That's it! More than you ever cared to know about moi, I am sure.

Now I am off to spend the rest of this evening making cards for tomorrow's Farmers Market; it should be a glorious day weather-wise, too! Oh, and my Brother's b'day is next week, so his card is officially late even before it's been made. I hate when that happens.