Joyous Rodent Day to you all.

First, for something completely unrelated: I have never seen a "Trudy" TV who wasn't a hussy or a lesbian. Interesting, I think.

HAPPY HAMUARY (in honor of Tim Horton's new ham sandwich).

It's Groundhog Day, which means a few things:

1. Rodents of the Maritimes have declared an early spring. I'm surprised they could get out of their little holes with all this snow.
   
2. I need to find a job because in 6 weeks, I'll either be employed, or asking for donations.

Yea. Exactly like that. Or more specifically like this:

So... I've been doing a little painting, and making many mental notes regarding the impending kitchen reno (which means we'll be saving and thrifting and buying accordingly and it'll get done when we have what we need) BUT I have a scheme and a plan, so the hard part is done.

I need milk and coffee and I should go out, as it's calling for another (on top of the 15cm/6" ish we got last night) 45 cm/18" today. I loathe the snow. Despise it. I know we don't get a lot compared to some places, but I think I was born in the wrong hemisphere; I am not designed for winter. I do love weather though. As a science, not as something that has to be salted and shoveled and cursed and fallen in. This is us today

Yay. Which brings me back to the rodent. Why do we have a fuzzy little guy ("Furry, not fuzzy." "Furry. Fuzzy. What's the difference?" "You don't know the difference between furry and fuzzy?" Anywaaaay....) forecasting the weather? Well this is what I found from here:

This tradition started in the 1700's in Pennsylvania with the German settlers
who lived there. They are called Pennsylvania Dutch today. This was called
Candlemas Day and occurred halfway between the Winter Solstice and Spring
Equinox. The tradition said that if the weather was fair, then the second half
of winter would be stormy and cold. If the weather was bad, there would be an
early Spring. Here is the poem that the Germans would say:

"For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day,
So far will the snow swirl until May.
For as the snow blows on Candlemas Day,
So far will the sun shine before May."

Well then, we're in luck, because this Candlemas Day certainly blows. How a groundhog got involved, I'm not sure. I can only assume one of them wandered out unwittingly, and a tradition was born.

Beware the doughnuts.

I made a long anticipated trip to Value Village yesterday. I was looking for a ginormous plushie for Rocco but they had nothing. As per the fabric diet, I avoided that area. I didn't find any dirty plates either, but hope springs eternal on that front. So, what did I find?

Well, I did find plates.

I know they're a little out of season, but they'll be awesome about 10 months from now! Sorry about the bad pictures, too; the graphic is really clear, but they were very hard to get a picture of. They're only about 4" in diameter, and they're stamped American Greetings, but there's no year. Cost: $1.99 each.

And then.... (conveniently after lusting after this) I found a mini doughnut pan, that I don't think was ever used, for $3.99. So today this is what I've done:

I glazed mine (maple glaze, butter pecan, and vanilla with cinnamon and sugar). They're good, but I wouldn't use the glazes again. Next time: pumpkin doughnuts with a cream cheese dip. Giggity.

I haven't done anything else because I've been chasing the dogs around. Yes. DogS. And no, we didn't. We couldn't! WE WOULDN'T HAVE. Adam's friend brought his dog to play with Rocco while they work. He's great, other than liking to wander off instead of pee when he goes outside. Most people would wonder why Rocco was sleeping like this
but that was because Judd was lounging in his chair
... which Rocco was fine with. Until he wanted it back...
... so they settled on this...
How was your Saturday?

I'm perfecting the Truffle Shuffle

(For the record, Jeff "Chunk" Cohen, is now a successful entertainment lawyer. Info from the web says, "The only Goonie who realised he has achieved artistic perfection in 1985 and turned his back on acting." I can't argue with that. And if you haven't seen The Goonies, and you don't know what I'm talking about, well then, you should be ashamed of yourself).

Today was one of those days. Not as bad as yesterday, when I fell down while walking the hound, got home to realize I had achieved a phenomenal doggy-doo finger without my knowledge (gross, I know), and it got worse from there.

However, today I probably should have shuffled around in my pjs and slippers, or at the very least, definitely not baked anything. Oh, banana bread, why do you forsake me??

Two tears in a bucket.

I have things to do tomorrow. Things I shall tell you about at a later time. Unless the hound jumps the gate and eats the laptop.
I won't think about that right now.

So. I read a tutorial about printing onto cotton from an ink jet printer (I can't remember where the tutorial was, sorry, I have no link). Have any of you tried this? I have no way to mirror image my text so I can print on my transfer paper, so I was going to try it. Although I would appreciate any advice/direction on mirroring text, too.

(Gratuitous dog shot)
"Did you say walk?? Hellsyea I want to go for a walk!" And this is what he does after the walk. Well, he prefers to lay on me. As soon as that mat hits the floor, he comes over, leans his big saggy face in mine (not that my face is big and saggy. Well, I hope not anyway) and then proceeds to put one arm on me and leeeeaaaaan, like he's some cool furry Marlboro Man.

You may have noticed by now that this post has neither a point, nor a craft in sight. Well, how about this:

TATTOOS.

I want a new one. I've been thinking about a tattoo of my Grandmother's old Singer for a while, and after seeing this,
my mind has been made up. It will be considerably smaller and not on my chest (that's reserved for my submarine. HA. No), and I'm not sure if I'll go for something realistic, although I'm leaning that way, or something sketchy like our coffee cup (which is not, no matter how much Adam insists, a bowl of oatmeal).
So, since it's Friday, I'll leave you with this. Basil Fawlty= me, in almost every social situation.

My Creative Space

For my super-weak re-entry into the creative space lineup, I give you.... bottles of dollar-store glitter. I have a plan to use a little of this. Most of it will probably sit idle until Christmas. Tis the season to be shiny, right?
Pop over to Kootoyoo for some far more inspiring creative spaces. I'll do better next week, promise ;D.

WARNING!! This post contains *ahem* vaginal odour

Now, you may be wondering where the hell this came from. Well, first, let me say

if you are noticing a foul odour coming from your crotchal region, get to the doctor, cause it's not supposed to stink.

That being said, there is a Vagisil commercial that seems to be on 800x a day (that I can't find on the internet, and yes, it might be because I've been watching too much TV, but that's neither here nor there) where the the woman facing the camera says, "I found out the hard way that not all cleansers eliminate vaginal odour," while the two women behind her are whispering and glaring at her. Thankfully, she discovered Vagisil before it was too late, and the commercial ends with the three woman chatting amicably, walking along on a bright sunny, day.
Good thing she discovered Vagisil; poor dear, this is probably the first time she could walk around in the daylight without being pecked to death by seagulls.

Why, society? Why is it okay to shame women?

Or how about, they be honest about it? Send out a man in a suit, or even better a lab coat.
Have him say something like, "Ladies, your vaginae are filthy and disgusting. They smell. They do things we don't like and can't talk about. Use our product to hose out your business, or don't blame us when you're shunned, and die alone."
Isn't that really what they're getting at at? And I don't know about you, but I definitely have never seen a commercial with a young man who's afraid his balls stink, and no one will like him. Or maybe they could save time and just dub over this Febreeze ad. Really, try it on mute with this script:

Timmy: Dad, what's that smell??
Dad: Oh. That's your mother's vagina. If your friends come over, tell them we were just at the all you can eat seafood buffet.

Vagisil. Save your family the embarrassment

OHDEARGOD. Yes, it gets me riled. But before I'm done, (and I'm almost done, I promise) I'll just leave you with this gem: If you have some extra time, google vintage Lysol ads. Did you all know it was originally sold to combat vaginal offence? Clearly, we haven't progressed at all. If anything, we're going backwards here; it's not like you can scrub your floor with Vagisil.

This kind of weather makes me wish I was a bear

Not that I sometimes don't just wish I was a bear anyway...

I think the worst thing about being a bear would be NO COFFEE. Course, giving coffee to a bear just seems like a bad idea.

Anyway.

It was cold here (I know I don't really have any room to complain; compared to some places across the country, we have it good). It was around -30 here, with the windchill. My skin feels tight and itchy, and I only left the house to untangle the dog when he went out to pee (poor little pupsicle). So no w-a-l-k today; no trip to the dog park (which is more skating rink than park right now). How many more days til spring??
Don't feel too bad for him though: he did have company this morning.

The weather is perfect for sewing though. I managed to finish a messenger bag with only one broken needle, no injuries, and not as much maniacal swearing, as... well... as there could have been. It wasn't my fault! I should have known better than to line it with jersey. I loathe sewing the jersey. But here it is:


It really isn't crooked, contrary to how the pictures look; and the lining makes all the aggravation worth it. I think it needs a label that says, "Meredith knew about the affair; but Bernard would never know his coffee had been poisoned."

Christmas Flashback

This was the gingerbread man decoration I made for my sister; the muffin tin is from Value Village, the gingerbread people are made of fimo, and the rest are things I had (all from the dollar store).