House on the Rock

Today was the best day ever. Which was a nice recovery from yesterday's disaster. Let me elucidate.

First, I slept until noon. Wow do I feel better.

Second, on our way to the House on the Rock, we stopped at a place called Heck's Market Place. Here we bought a caramel apple, beef jerky, some Indian corn, and fresh apple cider. The all the edibles, including the apple cider, were gone before we got home. We love apple cider.

Third, also on our way to the House on the Rock, I saw Taliesin for the first time. Having studied FLW extensively while obtaining both of my degrees, this was quite a moment for me. I can't wait until we go back and tour it.

Taliesin

And Finally, after a year of anticipation after seeing it on the Travel Channel, I went to the House on the Rock. No words can describe it, so I shall illustrate what I did.

Got directions from a wizard.

Experienced the Infinity Room.

Found some cool art glass.

Looked a giant sea monster in the eye.

Read a St. Louis newspaper.

Failed to capture the majesty of the world's largest carousel..

.. not that I didn't try.


Saw some crazy chandaliers.

Found a dragon brave enough to stalk DS.

And made time to stop and smell the flowers.

Why I Love DS # 67

SG: Hey. Dominoes is free on pogo. Will you play and help me get my badge?

DS: I can't level up my wizard by playing dominoes!

What is this "Tagging" Business?

Monkey tagged me. If even Calzone will participate, I guess I will too.

Seven Things

Seven Things I Plan To Do Before I Die
1) Read War and Peace
2) Learn Sign Language
3) Clean a 5.10
4) Trave extensively, seeing all the architecture I studied in school and loved
5) Visit all accredited zoos in the USA
6) Run a successful business selling things I make
7) Take Ballet


Seven Things I Can Do
1) Make a delicious batch of cookies
2) Make almost anything with my hands
3) Play Piano
4) Kick ass at Soul Caliber II
5) Sleep for 12 hours straight
6) Win a national title in cheerleading
7) Pick up boyfriends all around the world

Sleep Goblin in Cuba

Seven Things I Cannot Do
1) Maintain the life of a fish for more than 2 days
2) Use anything but the microwave for cooking
3) Stay away from my computer for more than 2 minutes at a time
4) Aerobic exercise
5) Go to sleep, or wake up, before DS
6) Put up with mean people
7) Resist the urge to sing and dance

Seven Things That Attract Me To Another Person
1) Smell
2) Being a huge dork
3) Sense of humor
4) Intelligence
5) Making me food
6) Loving baseball
7) Loving me

Seven Things I Say Most Often
1) I am awesome!
2) I blame DS.
3) Rockin!
4) I'm hungry.
5) I'm tired.
6) I hate you.
7) I love you.

Seven Celebrity Crushes
1) Jude Law
2) Mila Jovavich
3) Johnny Depp
4) Strong Bad
5) Monkey
6) Dr. House
7) Calzone

I'd tag people, but I doubt they'd do it. Though, maybe just for kicks, I'll say Moral Turpitude, Janelle, DS, Dad, and Jesse.

Ahem! And also, Fritz!

It's a sad day. Too sad for the pictures I promised. My fish died today...

Busy Bee

I've been very busy lately. Before I had a "9 to 5" job, I started a lot of projects to help me make money. Unfortunately, they require a lot of time, and aren't bring in money yet. It would seem this was poor planning on my part. However, they are endeavors that I find much more rewarding and stimulating than my job, so I'm still doing them.

The first is working with MT to sell my crafts on her site. It shouldn't be too much longer before I have that up and running. That first mobile I sold that I mentioned previously? That's actually from DS's mom. She rocks.

The second is making jewelry for the company Blue Hill by Hand. I get paid per piece, and when I'm done, I know that I've created something that someone will use. I don't design these pieces, but that's probably a good thing, considering how long it takes me to design things. Virgos are perfectionists and very picky.

The other thing taking up my time, other than work of course, are the myriad of birthday's I'm preparing for. Being poor and artistic, I tend to make presents, rather than buy them. However, this usually means that presents from me are late. Just ask Kel, who is still waiting on the poncho I made her for Christmas last year. And now her birthday is the 30th. DS's is the 28th. And my step-dad's was.. yesterday. I finished his present last night though, so I'ma run to the post office before work today to send it off.

My step-dad is the kind of person that won't let us get rid of those handwritten ornaments with our names on them, even when they get water damaged and crusty. Which is something I find funny, since he's not sentamental about anything else really. He is especially adament about keeping the ornaments with former pet names. So, I decided to make him ornaments of their current four dogs, and also of his doberman whom he still misses. I actually wanted MT to make them, because they would have been so cute. But she's just as busy as I am, so being too nice to straight up tell me no, she suggested I make them myself. Well, I tried.

Our New Pet

DS and I got our first pet together today on a whim. We haven't come up with a name for him yet, but isn't he pretty? We're taking suggestions.


Also, I sold my first mobile today! Woohoo!

Rockin!

I just got the coolest e-card from Janelle! I'll see if this works...

This post is here for a limited time only! So go be happy.

Also, some background. Her birthday was Friday. People born in September seem to love me. And I love them too. My best friend back home.. DS.. now Janelle. We have a certain.. I don't know, glow I guess.

*Update: While the link did work.. I realized after the fact that it had her personal e-mail, and not her public one. I'm not all about given her personal stuff to all you weirdos. So no card for you! However, you can see a non-personalized one here!

Birthday Dance

It's my birthday! Duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh! (This is where you pretend to sing along with this song that my old boss at KYTC would sing whenever it was someone's birthday. What? You don't know it? You'd better fake it then!)

I am now 24. I was going to post DS's favorite picture of me at three, but my scanner does not seem to be properly installed, so check back later for an update.

Also, I seem to have a lot of new readers lately! So welcome! I kick you!

A Lesson in Biscuit Making

Here is a true story about my breakfast yesterday....

DS: What do you want for breakfast this morning?

SG: Oooh! Biscuits and gravy!

DS: Okay. I've never made biscuits before.

SG: It's not hard.. *gives DS a weird look*

-- some times passes, noises are heard from the kitchen while I visit blogs --

DS: Any idea how to make gravy?

SG: It'll say on the package.

DS: Any idea where that package might be?

SG: Where we keep the food...

-- more time.. more noises... --

-- DS comes to get me --

DS: It's almost done. I hope it tastes alright. I've never made anything with dough before.

* I have no idea what he's talking here.. I think, "how hard can popping them open, and placing them on a cookie sheet be?"

-- We both go into the kitchen, and I open the oven door. --

DS: See? They look too big.

SG: They do look a little funny. But I think they'll be okay. The edges are turning golden brown, we should probably take them out.

DS: The thing said to cook them for 10 minutes, and it's only been 8.

SG: Well, give them one more minute, but then they have to come out. When the edges start turning brown, they're usually done.

-- I stir the gravy for a bit.. and then take the biscuits out of the oven. --

DS: I hope they taste alright.

SG: Well, if they don't, I bought two. We'll just cook the other one.

DS: What do you mean you bought two?

!!!

-- I open the fridge, show him.. TWO! things of biscuits. --

DS: We had biscuits already made??

SG: How the heck did you make these?

DS: With bisquick! I thought that's why you bought it!

SG: No! I bought biscuits for biscuits. The bisquick was for dumplins!

DS: Crap!

SG: Wow. I wondered why you kept saying all that crazy crap. I can't believe you just made me biscuits from scratch. You're awesome.

DS: Yeah, well, we'll see after we taste them

* The biscuits were indeed awesome, and I am in awe both at his lack of knowledge concerning pre-made biscuits, and his ability to just whip them up without said knowledge.

Birthday Par-tay! Recap

Okay, I promised an update, and here it is, pictures included.

First, everyone that was invited, came. In fact, there was an added person that wasn't invited, but I let her in anyway, because she's good people. We grilled hamburgers twice, because some people were late, and we decided to bestow mercy and let them eat anyway.

After some beer drinking and food eating, I decided it was time for cake.

As you can see, MT was not joking when she said she knew what a good cake should be. For some reason, I ended up lighting my own candles. Well, Jesse lit a few. For you amusement, I present some photos of the guests singing me happy birthday...

Later, everyone could be seen stuffing their faces full of cake and ice cream.

What did I get for my birthday? Well, so far, not much. Which is fair, because it's not really my birthday until Monday, and most of my family will have to mail gifts. However, so far, I've gotten money, a tequila shooter set, and a little stuffed dog, to name a few.

The dog was given the name Smaxwell (did I spell that right MT? DS gave me more tequila after you left, and my memory of silly things, like how to spell, has been left by the wayside). He came with polka dots and a pink boa. It aroused my suspicions, but he told me after everyone left that he was gay. So now I know for sure. He's seen here enjoying some Madison microbrew. You might be seeing more of Mr. Smaxwell.

Does anyone know why my shooter set came with a burro that holds toothpicks?? I've personally never needed toothpicks to down tequila, but maybe there's a part of it I've missed until now...

And finally, I leave you with this. Evidence that Jesse is trying to get in the pants of my boyfriend during my own birthday party. I noticed they had been missing from the festivities for a while, and found them together.. on my bed... you decide.

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Note: MT seems to like it when her face is covered up with her name, so I decided I would be nice and continue the tradition. Personally, I think it has something to do with staving off her crazy fans...

BIRTHDAY PAR-TAY!

I declare that this shall be a wonderful weekend. DS stayed home. The party is on! Everyone who is anyone will be there! (Within a reasonable driving distance, of course.)

Also, I have recently been admiring others, and in turned been admired. I am in love with the world. I shall go out and smell the flowers. I shall give away my spare money to the needy. I shall..

Wait. First I have to clean my house for my birthday party... I'll be back with a full report later.

Little Things

It makes me very happy to know that I sit at the top of Monkey's very long link list. It's easy to overlook the fact that I'm only up there because, alphabetically, I come first. It has nothing to do with how important I am, or Monkey's preferred order of reading. I know this because of the lower placement of people like Spinning Girl and Fritz. Knowing all of this doesn't stop me from visiting, seeing my name at the top, and feeling special. It's grand to be at the top of any list, no matter the reason. Well, I supposed that deserves some qualifiers, but you're not getting them. Any list it is!

Thanks Monkey :)

I feel like writing*

DS has gone to get his passport today. It's looking more and more like he'll be gone from tomorrow until at least Thursday. It will be my first time sleeping alone since I moved here. My birthday will come and go without him. I really don't like it when he's gone. Even if I'm not directly interacting with him, I appreciate his presence. My dad has suggested that I wait on my birthday party. But really, it wasn't going to be much of a party anyway. Perhaps I'll just have MT come over. She's been so busy lately that I haven't seen her in forever. She's not even online anymore, at least, not when I am.

Spinning Girl recently posted a long reflection on blogging life. When I started this, I thought blogs were stupid. I started mine simply because DS had one. Sometimes, I like to fit in. I didn't get the point though. For a long time, the only other blogs I read were by people I knew. I always checked my StatCounter to see if new people were coming. I got excited when people from other countries came to see me. I wondered at people coming and not staying. Why weren't people commenting. Somehow, I stopped caring if people commented. It's funny to me that the people I now frequent are all a result of reading MT's blog. Just Thoughts and The Columnist Manifesto were links on her sidebar. Monkey had left a random comment which intrigued me to check him out. A crazy zoo experiment led me to check out Spinning Girl, who then kept my audience through her love of Tolkien and Lewis. (I'm dying to see that new movie, btw.)

Now I have people I only halfway know sending me postcards from Italy. When DS says, "What are you laughing at?" my response is usually something like, "Look what Monkey just said!" And how many people have dragons named Calzone harrassing them on a regular basis?

Just the other day, I was IMing MT about how busy we both were suddenly. We marvelled at how quickly we both went from being online all the time, to hardly ever. I actually said, "I feel so out of touch with the world now, which is weird, now that I'm actually spending some time in it."

All this internet friend stuff reminds me of being in, I don't know, 8th grade. My parents bought a computer, and we got dial-up. The internet was still relatively new at that time. Chat rooms were all the rage. Internet boyfriends didn't automatically make you think of 40-year old pedifiles. I spend every night in those chat rooms, talking with my "friends", falling in love. I remember one time I ended up with two different boys named David Castleberry proclaiming their love for me, because I had looked them up and gotten them confused. Whoops :) Maybe blogs have in some way replaced chat rooms. I know Spinning Girl doesn't shy away from holding conversations through the comment option.

Well.. This has taken me forever to write. It was pointless, but I felt like wasting my morning online. I miss the online world. However, now I have to start getting ready for work. Will someone remind me why I insisted upon getting a job when I could have stayed home all day doing things I like instead?


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*When I started this, I thought I felt like writing. Looking back, it appears that I felt like linking instead.

Decisions

Monday is my birthday. I'm supposed to have a little cookout this weekend. However, DS might be sent to stupid France for the weekend. Normally, I love France. If he leaves for my birthday, I'm going to resent it... Like a co-worker said to me today.. I'm a bitter bitter woman. So I must decide, if he goes, do I reschedule my birthday??

DS and I had also been planning on getting satellite. I had it in KY, and I loved it. I'm addicted to the convenience of DVR. If I'm busy, I can just record it, and then watch it later, sans commercials. Now we're being told that our balcony isn't quite right for the required view. Is TV really that necessary that I should get uber-expensive cable instead?

I also have an awful headache. Should I still go climbing with DS??

I'm going to skip the decision making process on dessert. I already know it's going to be chocolate!

Dear Sterling Silver Head Pin:

I hate you. I hate you I hate you I hate you. You're not long enough to do what I need you to do. I went to the craft store, but you seem to only come in this one small size. The brass head pins come in various sizes, but you?? Nooo. Plus, just 10 of you tiny good-for-nothings costs 2.99. Did I mention I hate you?

So you don't feel alone in your hated corner, I'll be sending a letter to the company that told me I had to use you. Hopefully, they'll send a replacement. Ha!

Not Sincerely (unless you count the hate),
Sleep Goblin

Murphey's Law

Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

Indeed, yesterday, it did. It was my first running the store. I was the only member of management there, putting me in charge of the other two people I was working with, along with all the money and paperwork and blah blah blah. So how did it go?

I came in to find a note from the person who had closed the night before. It was his last day on the job. His leaving is the reason I got promoted. Now, maybe it's just me, but I find it just slightly suspicious that on his last night, whoops! there's money missing from the drawers. According to him, all the drawers were way off. He tried fixing it by moving money from drawer to drawer, altering the bank deposit paperwork, etc. He also failed to count the safe, which he was supposed to have done first. That means he made the deposit before making sure the safe had the correct amount of money in it, which it did not. Oh well, it was his last night, not his problem right? Yeah, just my problem this morning...

I finally got the store open, though several more draw audits were necessary throughout the day to sort that mess out. But I opened with one employee instead of two. One of my high schoolers "didn't know" they had to work that day. I promptly let him know he needed to get his scrawny butt in there...

A customer came in that afternoon to return a $200 dresser. He tells me its around back. I'm thinking, why the hell is it back there?? But I finish what I'm doing and go look for it. I can't find it. I go ask him again where he put it, because I'm thinking maybe he just wasn't sure where our back door was. I mean, there are a lot of backdoors that all look pretty much the same. He tells me he knows where our back door is. So I look again, and walk around a bit, and still come up with no dresser. I ask him to walk around behind the store with me and help me find it. But it's not there. In the five minutes between his dropping it off and me going to get it, someone had carted it off. They wouldn't even have known at first glance what it was, since it was still in its shipping box. And it would only fit something large, like a truck. I spent the next hour trying to find people like the district manager, who was of course on vacation (stupid holiday), and talking with mall security...

When I closed the store, all the registers have to say "closed". Two of mine said "signed off." I didn't know how to fix it. I did know that without those registers closing, the back office server would show me what my real totals for the day were, meaning I couldn't send my require e-mail to the district manager reporting what we'd done for the day. On top of that, because the closing checklist hasn't become habit yet, it took me almost an hour. It usually takes about 20 minutes or so. My associates were getting bored, and took to throwing pieces of wheat from the floral pieces at me while I recounted money....

I must have called the store manager 6 times yesterday. She assures me that it can't get any worse, as this was the worse first day she'd ever heard of. There was no 9 am phone call from today's opening manager asking what the hell went wrong. Let's just hope that means I didn't screw anything up too bad. This could be the shortest promotion ever.

It's about time!

I was just visiting someone's blog. They'd posted one of those "what are people searching for that brings them here" posts. I've never been able to do one of those, because mine is always empty.

So after saying that in their comments, I decided to check again. And guess what!?! I had one. So here it is, my first keyword search:

• girls kicking heels

That's all I've got. You'll have to get your kicks elsewhere today. I'd rather be playing the Sims.

Some Real Cooking

I know some of you have been suspect about my and DS's ability to cook. I realize this suspicion if founded on some truth. After all, it wasn't that long ago that I admitted to never cooking anything unless I could make it in under 3 minutes in the microwave. What about the frozen pizza I've eaten, you ask? That was all Kelly.

However, times are a changing. Today, I decided I wanted enchiladas for dinner. (These cravings for Mexican food are also new developments, which I blame entirely on the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.) To remedy this, I went to the grocery and bought the necessary ingredients. As proof, I present to you this:


So quit your doubting, you nay-sayers.

Whoa

Yesterday I got promoted. It was my third day on the job. And it came with a $1.50 raise. Hot damn!

Some Good Exercise

Last night DS, K and I hit the climbing gym in style. Well, by that I mean we went.

Since I'm not quite so into climbing as DS, I knew there was no way I would want to do the trade off thing. (That's where you can set climbs in the gym in return for free visits.) I have better things to do than set routes. I guess K does too. So, we dropped some mad cash and bought our memberships like normal people.

Okay, maybe normal people don't climb at least once a week, but you know what I mean.

I originally got into climbing because of DS. Initially, I refused. I'm somewhat afraid of heights, and his calloused hands did not look promising. So instead, my first few trips to Devil's Lake were for hiking, something I got into in undergrad.

At some point, my curiosity overcame my uneasiness. I decided I'd at least try. It's not a cardio sport, which is a big plus with my asthma. I liked climbing the jungle gym as a kid, and grew up being the smallest cheerleader, which almost inevitably meant I spent a large portion of my cheering career up in the air. It had also been since cheerleading that I had done any real regular exercising. So.. I thought, "what the hell?", and decided to go with my, "I'll try just about anything once" policy.

End result, I like it. I enjoy thinking out the moves. I enjoy the challenge of the leveled rating system. I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when I conquer said challenge. Do I want to climb as much as DS? No way. I think he's crazy. Once a week is plenty for me. But it's an enjoyable once a week indeed.

Yum!

I will go ahead and proclaim that I make the best cookies ever. Last night, despite a very large glass of red wine working its effects on me, and made a huge batch of chocolate chip. After taking his first bite of one of my still oven warm cookies, DS could only say, "Damn." Here, look for yourself.You want one don't you? Well, if you know where to find me, I might just give you a couple.

News: Wayna, you'll be glad to note that last night I was treated to a home-cooked meal of sherry-mushroom chicken. Yes, you heard right. DS did what even you would call "real cooking."

Good Neighbor Festival 2005

I love small town festivals. Back home, in the little town of Georgetown, Kentucky, we celebrated the Horse Festival. It usually ended up being the same weekend as my birthday. It's fun to have a festival on your birthday.

Middleton has the Good Neighbor Festival. DS, Silverback, and I decided to check it out this afternoon. It was everyone's first time, though the boys seemed kinda new to the whole "small town festival" thing in general. We happened to get there just as the big parade was starting. There are a few things I feel must be in every parade:

Either a marching band, or bag pipers. Preferably the bag pipers, of which this parade had two.

Handmade floats from groups like the 4-H or the Girl Scouts.

And of course, horses.

I'm happy to say this parade fulfilled all of the necessary requirements. It was noticeably lacking in the horse area though, with the one pictured above being the only one I saw. To make up for it, every kid organization within a 40 mile radius was there, float or no float. Generally, is was no float. Which is really too bad. I loved making floats when I was a wee little Girl Scout.

On the up side, I saw some things I've never seen in a parade before, including bicycle vendors, lions on mopeds, and none other than Bucky the Badger. I adore Bucky! Thus, this parade was given an A!

Baseball is always a good way to spend an evening.

DS and I had been planning to see the Braves in Milwaukee for quite some time. In fact, I think it's been almost two months. I wasn't even living here yet. So, yesterday, we piled in the car and drove out early, because we like to watch batting practice and things like that.

It's a good thing we did leave early, because a wreck on I-94 held us up for a while. The Brewers don't usually huge crowds though, so we figured we were still fine, despite the delay. We also caught word of a rumor that they were giving away nesting dolls of the radio announcer to everyone that day. "The radio announcer? That's weird.."

Boy were we wrong. We arrived at Miller Park nearly an hour early, and still were shown to the very last parking lot. The place was packed. We were shocked. Was it really the nesting dolls that drew this crowd?

Answer: Quite possibly. Turns out, the radio announcer is Bob Uecker. Don't recognize that name? He started out playing for the Milwaukee Braves in 1956. Later, he played for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Phillies. He went on to play on Mr. Belvadere* on TV, and was an announcer in that grand movie, Major League. And now? He's home, calling the games for the Brewers for over 25 years. It's why he's in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

So, my guess is that it was a combination of Mr. Uecker celebrating 50 years in baseball that night, which meant we were graced with the presence of the Commissioner of Baseball, the Braves being there, since they use to call Milwaukee home, and a much better season than the Brewers have had in a while.

Even though we were there an hour early, we could only get standing room only. Which still cost us $15! However, it was totally worth it. We lucked out that we chose last night to watch baseball. Plus, we each got these awesome nesting dolls to remember the night by. I'll be sending one of them to my wonderful grandparents back home in Kentucky, who got me hooked on baseball as a small child.
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*Duh. A typo caused some misleading information, which was pointed out by tRJ. Thanks!

Wednesday was Crazy-go-Nuts!*

DS encouraged me to stop applying to jobs online, and to just bike around and see what was close. So yesterday, I did. I spend three hours biking around Middleton. I detoured at the library to get a library card, and I stopped by the Middleton Historical Society Museum, only to find that it's only open for three hours on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Crap!

I applied at several stores, and took home applications from several others. I stopped by Greenway Station last, which is right down the street from where I live. This is also where the dreaded Michael's store is, where I will no longer shop for reasons I'm not ready to talk about...

One of the last stores on my list was Kirkland's, a home decor store. I walked in and cheerfully asked if they were still taking applications. They seemed happy that I asked, and quickly gave me one. They also seemed to want me to fill it out there, so I did. (A lot of the time, I got the impression that places didn't want me filling it out there; thus, I have a bag full of unused applications if anyone wants one.) The manager seemed a little overeager to get it back from me, popping up to see if I were done yet.

When I had finished, without even looking at it, she asked if I had time for an interview. Of course I did! We go to the back, and I'm asked the usual questions. I was getting a pretty good vibe from the manager and assistant manager. They seemed like pretty cool people. So, when asked why they should hire me, I had no choice. I had to tell them the truth.

"Because I'm awesome."

And you know what? It worked. They hired me on the spot. That's right!

Needless to say, DS and I went out to celebrate last night. We went to this wonderful little spot downtown called Hubbard Avenue Diner, which is "famouse for pie." I haven't had their pie yet, so I wouldn't know. I do know, however, that their "3 giant scoop sundaes" are really more like 5 giant scoops. And they're delicious.

Then DS surprised me, or tried anyway, with a new video game as a reward for going out an getting my job. Unfortunately, The Sims 2: Nightlife doesn't come out until Sept. 14th, or so we've heard. I guess someone can give me a late birthday present... or a gift card to someplace that sells it! Instead, he got me the Harvest Moon game I wanted. Woo-HOO!!

All in all, it was a great day. I love Madison/Middleton!
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* For more information about Crazy-go-nuts, please click here.

The Saga of the Runaway Clay, Part 2

It was some time before the young lady could admit to Moral Clay that the adoptees that had been intrusted to her care were now wandering Gods knows where. She was ashamed and frightened. Was she truly an unfit parent? Would she ever be trusted with little pieces of clay again??

One very hot day, when the young lady and the maker of Moral Clay came face to face while moving heavy furniture, the truth came out.

"My Clay ran away..."

She told her story. Rather than chastise the young lady, the maker of Moral Clay simply said in her calm way, "That's okay. We'll get you some new ones."

Time passed slowly. The young lady worried and worried. It's hard for a new parent to suddenly have no one to care for.

Meanwhile, the young lady created a piece of clay of her own. Nothing much, but the maker of Moral Clay promised to have it baked and sent back. She is so kind.

So it happened that, along with the piece of clay the young lady created, three new Moral Clay figures were delivered to her. They came with a note:

Young Lady,

Here's to replace that first set of pencil toppers who ran off. Jerks!

Maker of Moral Clay

These new adoptees were indeed more docile than her previous ones. They even enjoyed looking on as the young lady crafted her quills. She knew that great adventures were in store... The kind that didn't involve runaway clay.

The Saga of the Runaway Clay, Part 1

Once upon a time there lived a cow, a bee, and a penguin. They belonged to the Moral Clay family, and had recently been adopted by a young lady in Kentucky. Thus, this story begins in the rolling hills of the Bluegrass Region, home of thoroughbred horses, rock fences, and lots of other farmy/picturesque things.

The cow, bee, and penquin had always dreamed of living life wildly and free. Being tied down to the tops of pencils was not their idea of a good time. No, they wanted more. They wanted long nights of staring at the moon. They wanted to travel, and see things. Cow, for one, had always wanted to try out the hobo life and follow where the train tracks may lead him.

This didn't seem like it would be a likely path for their lives to take, as they were safely atop the young lady's desk. Unless, of course, she was showing them to relatives in excitement. However, as fate would have it, the creator of Moral Clay had an idea. "Wouldn't it be great to have pictures of the family in their new habitats?" The young lady, unable to speak the language of clay, agreed. Little did she know of the inherent danger in what she was about to do...

The young lady decided to snap her new adoptees posing in front of typical Kentucky scenes. She went on a quest, along the back roads of the county, to find the best places for picture taking. Such a quest could not last long, due to the abundance of horse farms in the area.

The cow, bee, and penguin had a wonderful outing. They saw horses grazing in the fields. They held long conversations atop rock fences on philosophy and cosmology. The young lady had no idea the dreams of escape that were floating through the minds of the little clay figures.

As evening came, and quiet fell over the rural landscape, the young lady began to think about heading home. She had some trouble rounding up her crew though. The cow was especially stubborn. She started to think it a little odd how wistfully cow seemed to be staring after real cows in the field.

The thought didn't stick though, and soon the young lady had all three back in the car to head home. They were driving along, jamming to some Tori Amos, when the young lady was suddenly struck by the magnificence of the moon. Wasting no time, she pulled over and prepared her camera. No more than a minute could have passed until she was in the car again. But that minute, that lonely minute, was more than enough. The cow, bee, and penguin, seeing their small window of opportunity, decided to jump out of the car. By the time the young lady realized they were gone, it was too late.

No one really knows where the clay decided to go. They never bothered to call, or send a postcard. For all we know, they could be in China, or Australia. We do know one thing though. A tourist, after picking up their pictures from a recent vacation to a Train Museum, found this:

Monkey taught me this

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Name:	Sleep Goblin
Birthday:	September 12
Birthplace:	Louisville, Kentucky
Current Location:	Wisconsin
Eye Color:	Hazel
Hair Color:	Brown
Height:	5'2"
Right Handed or Left Handed:	Left, most of the time
Your Heritage:	I think Irish and Swiss, but who knows?
The Shoes You Wore Today:	None!
Your Weakness:	Things that smell good, like paper.
Your Fears:	Spiders!
Your Perfect Pizza:	Cheese
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year:	Starting my art business successfully
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger:	I never overuse anything!
Thoughts First Waking Up:	That was yet another weird dream
Your Best Physical Feature:	Eyes
Your Bedtime:	11:30-ish
Your Most Missed Memory:	Can you remember a memory that's missed?
Pepsi or Coke:	Coke, by all means coke
MacDonalds or Burger King:	Arby's
Single or Group Dates:	Single
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea:	Luzianne
Chocolate or Vanilla:	Depends
Cappuccino or Coffee:	Cappuccino
Do you Smoke:	Nope
Do you Swear:	Sometimes
Do you Sing:	Totally
Do you Shower Daily:	.... no
Have you Been in Love:	Yes
Do you want to go to College:	Too late
Do you want to get Married:	Yes
Do you belive in yourself:	?
Do you get Motion Sickness:	Nope
Do you think you are Attractive:	Well, I'm not too ugly...
Are you a Health Freak:	Depends on the day
Do you get along with your Parents:	Usually
Do you like Thunderstorms:	Love them
Do you play an Instrument:	Lots!
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol:	Yes
In the past month have you Smoked:	No
In the past month have you been on Drugs:	No
In the past month have you gone on a Date:	Yup!
In the past month have you gone to a Mall:	Unfortunately
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos:	Totally
In the past month have you eaten Sushi:	You bet!
In the past month have you been on Stage:	If you count the one I carry with me
In the past month have you been Dumped:	No
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping:	No
In the past month have you Stolen Anything:	Not on purpose
Ever been Drunk:	Sure
Ever been called a Tease:	Yup
Ever been Beaten up:	Nearly. Unless you count my brother.. then definitely
Ever Shoplifted:	No
How do you want to Die:	Old
What do you want to be when you Grow Up:	I think technically I am grown up.
What country would you most like to Visit:	Currently, France with DS
In a Boy/Girl..
Favourite Eye Color:	Green
Favourite Hair Color:	Reddish brown
Short or Long Hair:	short
Height:	eh, i don't mind so much
Weight:	something fitting
Best Clothing Style:	the kind that covers you?
Number of Drugs I have taken:	prescription or otherwise?
Number of CDs I own:	250
Number of Piercings:	double in ears
Number of Tattoos:	0
Number of things in my Past I Regret:	I try not to regret
CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!

Whoa, it's high up here...

Today, I went with the BMR to climb at Necedah. Rob wanted me to get on Air, which is only a 5.6, but it's really long. He gets some amusement out of sending my parents pictures and having them threaten to kill him...

Anyway, this one was really high, and once I got up there, it was pretty scary. Plus, I repelled for the first time [well, the second time that day, but still] ever to get down. Not too shabby.

Aqua Teen, I love you

You will see that I've added a new doodad to my sidebar. While I couldn't care less what the terror alert happens to be, the idea that it's brought to me by the characters of Aqua Teen Hunger Force make it at least a little funnier. I mean, Ignignokt at level green, while Meatwad hangs out at level red? Hilarious.

3 weeks and 3 days

I just realized that my birthday is coming. I think I'm going to start list of things I want for my birthday, so everyone can start buying me stuff. (Though I give MT permission to make me stuff, because she's cool.)

So, here goes...

The Sims 2: Nightlife
Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (for Gamecube)
Knife of Dreams, by Robert Jordan (publishes Oct 11)
A Treasure's Trove, by Michael Stadther
The new bootleg series by Tori Amos

Okay, that's it for now. I'm sure I'll add more later!

More from KZ

When DS saw this camel, he actually said, "Oh look! Camels! That's cool, I've never seen those before." Now, granted, this kind of camel is a little furrier than the one's we normally see, but just two weeks ago, we saw not one, but two camels. When I pointed this out, he simply said, "shut up."

A new life goal

When DS and I visited the Henry Vilas Zoo last winter (which happens to be a great time to go to the zoo!), we stumbled upon a map of the US. On this map were red dots, representing the accredited zoos in the nation, surrounded by patches from several of these zoos.

Well, it just so happens that I like to collect patches from zoos. And right then and there, we decided that we would visit every zoo in America. So what could we do but stop at the Knoxville Zoo on our way home from Asheville, NC last weekend?

While this was by far the most expensive zoo I've ever set foot in, it was also one of the best. I suppose that $13 per person is doing some good. Though I must say, it was really hard to pay that after going to the St. Louis and Madison zoos for free.

The best exhibit, by far, was for the black bears. I've had a fascination with them ever since I went hiking through the Great Smokey Mountains a few years ago. Bears are so cool.



DS and I could have spent hours looking at those guys. They seemed very happy.

There were other memorable animals running around. My favorite had to have been the meerkats, though the others are worth showing too. So check back tomorrow for those.

so true...

One of the things I like to do everyday is read webcomics. (Perhaps this information will give you a glimpse of the "who's the biggest geek" contest that brought me and DS together.) Today, I read this.

Peejee: Cab, do you ever wonder why, sometimes, friends just vanish the way they do?

Cab: It's a lot like nature. You only have as many animals as the ecosystem can support and you only have as many friends as you can tolerate the bitching of.

Thank you somethingpositive.net! I'm pretty sure my limit is 2.

Advice, or the lack thereof

Recently, as in the last time she posted, MT commented on Hotmail's tips for bringing laughs to a date. I, too, like to read those little pieces of wisdom that Hotmail delivers free of charge. It's almost like Cosmo. Okay, not really.

Continuing on with their trend for full-proof plans for getting it on... I present to you their "10 things every single girl must own."

1."A fabulous photo of yourself." Yeah, okay, this is alright. But just to keep it on your fridge in the hopes that guys will check it out when they come over? I don't know... sounds pretty pathetic to me.

2. "A pretty pair of heels." Eh. Just because I have them doesn't mean I wear them.

3. "An Eminem cd." This I have major problems with. They advise that girls buy this cd, not to listen to it mind you, but to give guys the impression that we're "open minded." But we're not! We're faking it! At some point, when this fling turns into a relationship and he realizes that you never listen to this cd, but in fact hate it, how do you explain that you put it there just to trick him into finding you interesting?

6. "Bathroom reading." First of all, I'd rather you not take a dump in my house if I hardly know you. Secondly, why is it suddenly taboo to keep a bunch of Sports Illustrated if you don't keep up with sports? I mean, we're supposed to keep around cd's of musicians we happen to think suck.. what's the difference?

8. "Earplugs." Riiiight. Because this happens to me sooo often.

10. "A condom." While this is probably a good idea, you should also think twice about sleeping with people you hardly know that also refuse to provide condoms themselves. Seems pretty risky to me.

Okay, so maybe I'm not single. But surely I'm not the only one who thinks the author of this piece is either scarily desperate, or a floozy.

Ew.

Yesterday, I had the very opposite of privelage of being inside two of the nastiest apartments in Madison. Now, I'll go out on a limb here and say that the nastiness wasn't the fault of my friends. Though I'm making an assumption that may very well be wrong.

This much I know. If DS's new apartment, aka, where I live, ever looks anything like his old apartment, I'll kill him. Or move out and leave him with the mess. Cause that's just gross. How did you even live like that?? *shudders* I hope I never go back in there again for as long as I live.

MT, tell your roommate she's lucky to just have your mess and not the messes we've seen.

Finding my residency

Well, I got a bank account today. A statement that is "at least 30 days old" was one of the options for proving I live here. Though I don't know why. I get bank statements still from my old bank in Kentucky, and do I live there? NO! What is it with this state and it's closed doors? Open up Wisconsin, and let me in!

No wise cracks about why they don't let me in.... ya savages.

Everyone, please encourage DS to get us some good tv channels. I've had about all I can take of two gospel channels, and PBS. Not that I don't like PBS, but I need something else to watch too. Plus, it's fuzzy. I want my MTV!

On the plus side, I've gotten MT addicted to pogo. Ha! Sucker. Now I have someone to play Canasta with whenever I want. er. Actually, I'm not sure she knows how to play Canasta. MT, can you play Canasta?

crap.

Looking for a Jobby Job

I have an interview today. I was going to get my driver's license, but someone, I won't say who DS!, put all the utilities in their name. Now I have no proof that I'm a resident. So lame.

At any rate, maybe I'll at least have a job this afternoon.

Manners

I just noticed that sign in the goat picture. Zoom in on it.. it's so true.

Here come the lions!

DS and I went to the Henry Vilas Zoo today, where we finally got to see the five baby lions that were to young for public viewing when we went last winter. They were very rambunctious. I thought this would be the highlight of the trip. To my surprise, I was taken in by a cow and some goats. Probably because I could pet them, and feed them. First I found the cow, who must have liked the taste of my hand, because it kept licking me. Cow tongue is seriously gross. I've washed my hands twice, and they still smell funny. The cow itself was very soft though. Then we found the goats, who were funny, and greedy. Look how they fight over the food! Though, considering how many people were there feeding them, I don't know how they were hungry.

I'm back!

Here I am!!! I can tell some of you really missed me. Sorry for the delay.

Update: I am moved into my new apartment in Middleton, which is basically Madison. I got cable internet today, which was a godsend, because I've been bored out of my mind. I've spent the past few days getting lost around the Beltline. It's very disconcerting to not know your way home. I finished Harry Potter, and I must say I was shocked! Thank you to everyone who refrained from ruining the ending while I slowly made my way through it. I know how hard it was for you.

And now, I present this picture for MT, who was once very concerned over the marketing skills of a certain coffee company.