Tuesday, September 10, 2013

No Joke

My life is awesome and busy.

While still teaching at FloorSpace, doing the choreography for the Aladdin musical. In addition, I have a full time job at BOS Staffing.

PLUS we found an awesome great house to move into and out of this shitty neighborhood we live in. WOO HOO AND YEEEE-HAW!


Sunday, August 18, 2013

Boozing and Bedazzling

This photo explains my entire weekend in one go:




Maybe not my entire weekend, but definitely a good feel of it.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Link

We lost our beloved Link yesterday.

It's been a rough week for sure. I've had three 15-hr work days in a row, so coming home to Link bleeding almost every night has been even harder. I never knew how long he was bleeding for, just that it was going everywhere and his wound was infected.He would pick at it, in attempts to clean it I'm sure, but just end up making it worse.

When I got home yesterday, his penis had swollen up and I knew that he wasn't going to be able to urinate. I called the vet immediately, wrapped him up in my jacket, and took off.

It was ironic. I had already called the vet that morning while I was at work and made an appointment to bring him in the following day (today). We talked about how it was to the point where he was too uncomfortable. We talked about how it was probably time to say good bye. The vet even asked if I would be able to bring him in that day; it would probably be best for him if we could do it sooner.

The people at the Sycamore Vet Hospital are amazing. They were already staying afterhours to help some other poor critter. Dr. Mackey told me she'd been thinking about me and Link and that she was so glad she had answered the phone when she did. They are absolutely the best veterinarians I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I trust them 100%.

Just like with Bingley, they let me stay in the room and hold Link's paw as they gassed him into sleep. I even got to hold his paw as they injected the needle into his heart. I will always be grateful I was there and that I was the last thing he touched before he left me.

Link was named after the character Link from the Zelda video games. He had a sword  pattern on his back. He was always escaping his cage when he was young while the others stayed behind. He always liked to sit in my lap. He was precious to me, like all my other critters, and I will miss him sorely.

Thank you Link, for all your time and your sweet kisses. Thank you for all the snuggles. Say hello to Bingley and Goku for me.



Thursday, June 20, 2013

Dreams

My mom and I are living in a small apartment together. I don't know why, dream don't exactly give you back story. You just know that this is how its going to be, no question about it. The apartment is cramped and very Parisian. You can see your neighbor's door through the peephole, we're so tight and squished up together like how Europeans should be.

But because this is a dream, you should also know that the second we open our door and look out, it is obvious (and again, no questions about it) that we are in a duplex-type building and surrounding is nothing but but green hills. Sure, there are other duplexes nearby, but you have to walk over some hills to get there. It is all emerald green though, lined with blue cloudless sky.

So, back to the beginning: my mom and I are living in a small apartment together. Our landlord is this nasty old fat man who's really ugly.

No one lives in the across from us in the hall (but its not really a hall because when you step outside of the door you are outside immediately), so my mother and I enjoy being flamboyantly loud and silly all the time.

Apparently I don't have a job. Maybe I'm a younger version of myself, maybe I am exactly who I am right now. Regardless, I'm not in a rush to go anywhere these days so I go off and explore the outside. I walk over several hills until I get to my Landlord's house. He's away on vacation or holiday, or just isn't in his house for whatever reason, so I of course try the door.

The door is unlocked; it is easy to be unlocked when the door in question is just a curtain. I go inside.

Why not? It's what we do in dreams. Don't ask. Never ask. You already know.

The landlord's house is odd on the inside. For one, he has a mattress laying out just a few feet from a stand-alone stove. The stove is installed into a counter and has a cabinet underneath and below. This is all that he has resembling a kitchen.

On his mattress (which I'm sure you've gathered by now is his bed--of course, no question there. What else could it be?) is his cat.

Immediately I know (because again, I just do) that this cat is so very lonely. His master's been gone for quite some time, and all the kitty wants is some love. So I give the kitty scritches and go over to the stove to make some food.

I take a cast iron pan, throw some oil in it, then put in two pieces of bread and a big heapful of jelly. I intend to fry this, of course. What else do you do with bread and jelly in a cast iron pan?

But I hear something outside and know that I have to get out. I turn off the stove top, no time to clean up the bread-toast and jelly, and book-it outside.

I run into my neighbor. He is a large old man with a cane, a happy old man that reminds me of a friend named Mr. David and will forever be called Mr. David in this dream. I tell Mr. David what I had done and he understands the importance of it all. We decide to go on a walk around.

We walk just a few feet and then I realize that all of Landlord's backyard is teeming with strange animals.

I need to step out of dream-world for just a moment to tell you this very important thing: In dreams, we won't notice things until our brains decide it is time to. But if you logically think about "missing" this backyard, it is pretty impossible. The little houses/duplexes/apartments/dwellings are not close by. There is a lot of green space and hills around each dwelling. The "backyard" of our Landlord's is vast and huge. It filled up an entire valley, from one hill to the next. While in real-life, I could not possible just "realize" that the backyard is "teeming with strange animals," in dreamworld this is exactly so.

So, the backyard is teeming with all sorts of creatures. Exotic and large animals that you would only see at the zoo. And then additional animal, such as dinosaurs and things.

I say to Mr. David, "Good God! It's a Genetic Experiment! He's splicing DNA! I've got to get home!"

With this new-found sense of urgency, I rush home to my mother where I find that all the artwork we had placed on the outside of our door has been taken down. It is scattered partially on the floor and some pieces were attempted to be hung back up, but it is obviously in the wrong place. There is a smear of the jelly I had attempted to fry on one of my signs.

Just like me, my Landlord is bad at covering up he'd been there.

I try to fix everything up as quickly as possible, open the door, and slam it closed behind me. I yell for my mother, who is in the shower. I tell her, "He knows! He knows I went in his house!" Except I don't actually say "I went into his house" because in dreamland, my mother already knows about everything I do.

I hear the Landlord knocking on the door and I become terrified. He's going to kill us all!

I jump into the shower with my mother, clothes and all, and tell her that he's knocking on the door. He's here to kill us.

In the meantime, I am aware that he's moved in all his things across the hall. He is officially our new neighbor.

Well, my mother is quick to act and full of confidence. She puts on a pretty pink gown, some very nice jewelry, and is somehow very dry (as if she never took a shower at all). She dances as she walks from the living room to the front door.

I am trying to tell her to stop, that we need to work something out and figure things out. Maybe we could just blame it on somebody else.

But my mother opens the door to our Landlord, greets him sweetly, and invites him in.

From here, you'll have to make up your own ending. It was at this point I woke up (damn! why do dreams DO that?!) and can only hypothesize how my Valiant Mother took care of the problem.

Maybe its like when we dream about falling and we wake up before we hit the ground. That way we don't really die and there is no body left behind for us to fixate on and have a funeral for (unless you're Sherlock, and then all bets are off).

Did our Landlord kill us?
Did my mother tell him to go fuck himself?
Did I panic and kick our Landlord in the face?
Who knows.

The other question is, how is his kitty doing?

Monday, June 17, 2013

Watery Goodness

I had the fantastical experience the other day of doing a photoshoot underwater. I was pretty nervous at first, but definitely became more comfortable as I got the hang of it.

The photographer is Dennis McDaniel (http://www.dennismcdaniel.com). Here is the result:






What's SUPER DUPER fun is that just a few days earlier I got to do a photoshoot with Craig Gum (http://www.craiggum.com) where he wanted to attempt a to create a tidal wave by layering up some splashed waters.


He tried it with two separate models: me and a gentleman that looked like Huck Finn.


Below is the result of the tidal wave and a funderful picture of us all being goofballs (yes, Eddy came along and helped splash water on me and the other guy):



I hope I get more water shoots as the summer continues to roll and the days increase in their heat.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Water Dogs

Eddy and I made a great discovery yesterday-- Mary Jane is not as fearful of water as we previously thought! In fact, she enjoys romping about in it.

Sure, she probably will always hate baths and runaway when it is bathtime but.... you know, whatever.  Some kids like the mud bath, some kids like the soap bath.







Riley, however, did not enjoy the little rapids of Watson Mill Bridge. It made him nervous, and he didn't like sitting in it at all.


  There was a lot of coaxing involved. There were a lot of "good boy"s, "you're okay, sweetie," and "c'mon, let's explore over here."  There were some very special moments where I had to pick him up and carry him over some parts. I'm sure we got some strange looks, which I'm totally okay with. I go out in public everyday expecting strange looks and am disappointed when they don't happen.


 
 We found a sweet spot where Eddy could sit in a fun flowy puddle of water and hold the pupperdoodles. Mary Jane had a blast getting over there.

She also seemed to like it when Eddy sprinkled water on her head. I don't know why that was so exciting for her, but she made some pretty good faces.







 And then it was Riley's turn to cross the watery area and go hang out with Eddy. He was very resistant. You can tell he's not super psyched about any of it.







I got some good shots though. They're all "family" style. Like, let's print them and put them on a mantle piece somewhere.


Eventually, when I told Riley it was okay he could come back to Mom, that was the only time he jumped into the water on his own. He fled the scene and ran back to me.


 So that was our adventurous day. On the way over, Riley felt unwell and barfed everywhere and pooped in the car. Other than that, we did okay. Oh, and he cried a lot. But that was on the way there. When we headed home, everybody fell asleep. Except for me because I was driving.





Friday, June 7, 2013

Jack the Tube of Fur

Jack got to visit the vet today to get a cell mast tumor cut off his side. It was a very minor procedure, he didn't even have to go under for it (just a little sedation), but finally FINALLY he is back and very sleepy.

He dozes off and on and I have to watch him eat to make sure he doesn't fall asleep with food in his mouth.

He's been super cute since we got back.

Anywho, the real story here is while Eddy and I were sitting in the waiting room, so was this other family. It's a mom and a little girl (the dad came in a little later, but he existed too), and their new pupper as well as a bunny in a box. The little girl told me about the bunny in the box about three or four times. She also told us that the puppy was found by one of their other dogs at home.

She asked if I had a dog and I said, "No, I have a ferret."

"A parrot?"

"No, a ferret."

"What's a ferret?"

I thought for a second on how to describe a creature that no one has ever seen before. "Well.... erm... they are kind of like cats and dogs but they don't look like cats and dogs. Instead, they are like tubes of fur with little legs and a triangle head."

She got a kick out of a triangle head. I can only imagine what a ferret looked like in her head.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Mr. Bingley

We lost our beloved Mr. Bingley earlier this week, May 30th.  I had to take him into the vet's office. They let me stay with him until he was gone and also helped me make imprints of his paws on some air-dry clay, like they did with Momobella.

It was really hard. I woke up that day feeling horrible and crying. I finally called the office, knowing that this was probably something I should have done a week prior. Bingley's infection was getting to the point where pus was coming out of his nose. There was nothing I could do. At least I had as many additional months with him as I did.

Mr. Bingley was a such a sweetie. He was picked out and named by Natalie, and his name and temperament is that of Mr. Bingley from Pride and Prejudice.

He was always the smallest of the group (the adorable runt trait that attracts so many of us) and the strangest buggiest eyes I have ever seen on a rat.

His strange tooth issue will always be a mystery to us. After we let him go, the vet wanted to look at his incisors and was still baffled.

Even during all of the discomfort he experienced for the past several months, he was always still very sweet with me. He enjoyed exploring when given the opportunity, but also was very content to just sit next to me for snuggles and scritches.

He was a sweetie. I will miss him dearly.



Final Jabberwocky




 

 





Thursday, May 23, 2013

More of the Headpiece



All of the feathery bits can come off the overall piece. So I use them however I want, and I wouldn't have made a massive headpiece that I can never use again.

Hopefully I'll look more intimidating than in the picture. We'll see.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

More Jabberwock

 I tried to use my webcam to take a photo of the dress I'm working on, but I don't think it came out super great. HOWEVER, you can see what a mess I've made of our computer room.



 This is the base of my headpiece. The feathers will go on top of it.

Jabberwocky

I get to create a last minute costume for Monday's Renaissance Festival in which I get to dress up as The Jabberwocky on a Pirate Ship.

I know, none of that makes any sense. Jabberwockys? Pirate Ships? Renaissance Festival?

The fact of the matter is: who gives a damn. I don't care if it makes zero sense. Pirates and Jabberwockys don't actually ever coincide in a real-life Renaissance Festival, so what we can take away from this nonsense is that Lewis Carroll in his homemade opium clouds, with all of his little Alices running around him, would be very proud.

Here is the head piece to my Jabberwocky outfit:




It's not done. It's basically going to be a crown that goes on my head. I'm going to have antler-horms coming out of the middle attached to head-band or something.

Next I need to find a fashion corset I can ruin with feathers and nasty black-and-green paint.

WHO KNOWS. Maybe I will use this in  a burlesque number. I'm definitely creating the headpiece so I can take it apart and use it for future bellydance attire.

Whatever happens, it will be magnificent. And make very little sense.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Super Trooper

It's hard to tell when your rat friend is not feeling well. Animals by nature will try not to show that they are feeling sick, but prey animals in particular are soldiers.

Bingley's had a horrific infection growing in his mouth that has just recently started to get to the point where we can't reverse it, and yet he's being such a trooper.

You can smell his infection, its so bad.
If he puts his nose up to your nose, you can smell the rot and pus. He's sneezing constantly because he's having trouble breathing sometimes.

And yet, he seems so chipper whenever I hold him. He's still curious about his surroundings. I keep wondering if I'm going to check in on him one of these days, and it'll be like Goku again. He's collapsed and barely breathing, or he's already dead and these are just the last breaths of air being released from his body.

Honestly, I keep hoping that's how it will happen. No one likes making The Decision for our critters. Deep down inside, we always want them to choose.

Either way, I will always give Mr. Bingley his lovely nosey-rubs, no matter how bad that infection gets. Super Troopers deserve all the nosey-rubs they can get.


Friday, April 26, 2013

Lizards, Anyone?

So I get home from doing some errands (I'm getting ready for the Renfest this weekend, acting as a pirate on the pirate ship) and Riley is running back and forth across the cabinets near the sink.

I think it's a cricket. A lot of crickets have been getting in lately because the duplex we live in is poorly made, and its now warm enough for insects to start breeding like... er... well, insects.

A shelf from the ferret cage that needs to be cleaned in blocking part of the cabinets, so I think, "Let's move it and see what's got Riley's panties in a bunch." I move the shelf to the side and out zips a four legged lizard looking thing!

I think, "Aw shit!" and tell Riley very firmly, "No!"

As if in a cartoon, he freezes. You can tell in his eyes that oh, man he want to put that zippity creature in his mouth and see how it feels against his teeth. But he's finally learned that when Momma says "No," we aren't messing around.

So he stays frozen, and I tell him he's a good boy and then make him leave the kitchen. At this point, Mary Jane wants to know what the hell is going on. She and Riley sit on the other side of the kitchen gate, Riley upset that he couldn't catch this thing and Mary Jane just so damn confused.

I am able to capture this scurrying, slippery thing under a box, then slowly slide one of my thinnest cook books (American Girl: Samantha's Cookbook) beneath the box, pick up the thing inside and take him out.

I plop him in the grass and he stays frozen against the green blades of grass, the hot sun beating down on him. He's breathing fast but dare not move as such an enormous predator hangs nearby.

He was a silver thing with reddish orange colors around his jaw area. It seemed the center line of his body was more silver than his sides, the rest of which was a darker gray silver.

I wish I could have taken a picture, but I knew that if I went inside he would leave immediately.

Riley is still currently upset about his loss. He switches from crying in the kitchen to coming back to me. I wonder if he thinks I still have the little critter that's as quick as silver.

******************************************************************************
Update on 4/29/13:
The critter is actually a 5-Lined SKINK! Hurray!
Thank you Jay and Rebecca.

Friday, April 12, 2013

The Legend of MomoBella



If you knew anything about MomoBella, you knew she was a feisty and fierce beast. Her beautiful white hair and large dark eyes were intelligent and dangerous. I always said that, of the three, it would be MomoBella that could survive the encounters of the wild. It would be her wits and keen mind that would find her shelter and food. And, while I have never encountered true fear in any of my ferrets, Momo's boundless bravery would win her a dinner three times her size.

I kept hoping that Momo would go peacefully. That I would wake up one day and she would be gone. But I suppose cancer doesn't work like that. Or, if it does, that's not how it worked this time.

Momo has always had a strong and aggressive personality. She has always had a nasty biting habit, a habit that has left many of my loved ones with life-long scars. In fact, what Momo is mostly known for is her biting habit.

She bit the UGA intern when I brought her in to first check up on the strange black bulge on her ear. It got her ten days quarantine. Come to think of it, I think she also bit the referring vet before that.

And today, as her last action, she bit again.
She lashed out, quick as a viper, and created two perfect little holes on one of our veterinarian's arms. If for every person Momo has bitten turned into some sort of vampire-zombie, Momo would have an army.

I love Momobella.
This week has been hard on me, but this has been the hardest. Taking in my little girl to make sure she doesn't have to hurt anymore was a decision I was thinking on for weeks. Honestly, it wasn't until I spoke with my friend Stormy, MomoBella's first mommy,  that I could actually face the facts.

I knew that Momo was miserable. And that was the deciding factor. Momo was miserable and that wasn't fair.

But what you always have to remember is how much all of this heartache is worth it. And it was. I love Momo. I will always love her.

She was good at giving kisses, especially if that meant you were going to stop holding her and put her on the floor soon. She loved to play and romp. The boys had been infatuated with her. One of them used to get sad when she decided to play with the other, and then Momo would get frustrated when the boys decided they'd rather play with each other than her.


When I first got Momo, Stormy told me this hilarious story about how Momo would drag her cage-mate, Stinky Pete, out of bed to play with her. Imagine how thrilled I was when I saw her doing it to Rudyard too!


I have a lot of good memories of her. Even the chomps on Chomps Day are good memories to me.









***********************************************************************************
UPDATE (4/14/13):

This is from Stormy:

"My beautiful, bitey girl. How grateful I forever am that she had a whole wonderful life, full of love and THE TASTE OF HUMAN FLESH. The second half of her journey could not have been spent with a more fantastic creature- yourself. I love you so fiercely for taking her in and not letting her suffer a broken heart when Stinky Pete died and she was all alone. I can never thank you enough for being a gracious and caring mother to her when I no longer could. Do not worry that you made a poor decision, she told you it was time. Thank you again, Clara. You are as special as she was. I love you."

Additionally:
"
Did I ever tell you that she tricked us into adopting her? On separate trips to the pet store, she had given Jim and I kisses. What we did not realize is that we were being tasted. Clever girl. ♥"

Thank you Stormy. I am always going to be grateful that you gave me the chance to know and be with Momo.

The love and support I have received from friends has been great and wonderful. Thank you all so very much.