Lessons from Lily.

We are cat-sitting Lily (the kitten we raised for Bob...a.k.a. Bobskitten, Bobcat, and Darlene.) She is a phenomenal feline. She only talks when she has something important to say. Is very well-groomed. Polite. Curious about the world. Responds well to criticism. Appropriately affectionate, but never needy. I could learn a lot from this cat!

The weather is beautiful here. Since the snow melted, I've been spending as much of my free time on the deck as possible - reading zines to Shat, listening to town sounds and the occasional city cricket, hammocking, enjoying the juuuust bearable for bare feet weather. It. Is. Nice. The clouds keep teasing me with a good storm, but so far have only produced ten minutes of sprinkles.

Sidebar: many people assume that I am a cat person, but really I am just an animal person...who tends to accumulate stray cats. This cat accumulation makes it tricky to accumulate other animals, as they would harass - if not devour - fish, birds, and rodents. Our landlord does not allow dogs, since we live above a business and barking would not go over so well (and I'm not sure that I am patient enough to happily have a canine roomate). Our yardless location is not farm animal friendly, so that rules out goats, pigs, and chickens for the time being...

BUT Courtney is getting some chickens and I will love them as if they were my own.

Last week was ladies' swap night and it was a hit. Eight purty gals attended, pilfered through piles of discarded wares, and left with armloads of "new" clothes, books, bath things, furniture, craft supplies, and decor. Trash to treasure! It was beautiful. Alex sent me a message about how she is enjoying the thongs she got at the swap, but she meant to say "things" rather than "thongs." I laughed out loud, although secondhand thongs wouldn't be all that far-fetched in our circle of friends. Underwear, bras, boyfriends, mouth guards, and even Divacups have been known to circulate...

I just finished reading the second anthology of Invincible Summer by Nicole J. Georges. She has been added to my heroine list. Here is a partial list of little inspirations I gathered from this group of her zines:
Tofu omelette with olives. Road trip with cherries. Missy Kulik. Vegan white chocolate peanut butter?!? Fake flowers. Embroidery. Sister Spit. Eating Chinese Food Naked. And carrot soup. (I tried her recipe today. It was easy and yum.) Thank you, Nicole, for doing what you do!

Tomorrow my head will be out of zine and comic world and back into my "workshop." I do enjoy my job...I just enjoy free time a whole bunch more. Don't we all?

Big excitement list:

March - Hi, Vanessa!
April - Hi, Lady Gaga!
May - Hi, Dalai Lama! (work schedule allowing)
June - Road triiiiip!
July -5 year anniversary party!
August - Mary returns from a million years in Africa!

The best e-mail I've ever written to a complete stranger:

A rather ridiculous question... :]

...

From:	Sarah Reilly   ... Add to Contacts
To:	c**********@*****.com

---

Dear Sir,
Last week an expression popped into my head that I hadn't heard since my childhood. The expression ("barfalonus of the fruit loops") was one that my daddy would use to make me laugh whenever I was feeling sick. Why it popped into my head twenty years later in good health...I do not know...but now I'm curious as to where he came up with this saying. He can't remember and my internet research has yet to solve the mystery. Googling the whole phrase brings up nothing, and searching for "barfalonus" by itself directs me to (drumroll, please...) your blog and your blog alone! (An entry from 2003, in fact. You were blogging before blogging was cool! Whoa!) Anyway, if you have any information regarding the history of barfalonus, please let me know. Haha. :]
Have a lovely week and thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Sarah R.

Dirt boogers are a good indication that you had an adventurous day.

I should know by now that when Marvin suggests a "walk in the woods" I should expect a treacherous climb over slippery, snowy rocks and cliffs...and trespassing. Actually, I don't think he knew ahead of time about the trespassing and treachery involved. This time. It was fun though & tomorrow my body will be a-achin' & I will feel good about it. It was nice to come home, thaw out, clean up, and eat pumpernickel bread. Mmmm...

Before our hike we did a little Goodwill shopping and ended up with three vintage t-shirts for Marv, a brand new tee for me, a cuuute purse, two picture frames, and a hardback xylitol cookbook that retails for $18.00 at my work....all for twenty bucks. It made me feel guilty for cheating on thrift stores with Ebay.

Last night I was given a fancy coffee drink past my caffeine deadline, but I drank it anyway and wound up feng shui-ing the dickens out of our bedroom. It's a little bit eerie how amazing it feels after only making a few small changes. Much cozier. Less chaotic. Try it yourself before writing my off as nutty. 

Now, some urban snow walking pictures - featuring Derby, our not very intelligent cat:

Busy Thursday.

Today was a more productive than normal day off. I drank a lot-o-coffee which led to bakeaerobics, which basically means dancing while baking chocolate chip banana bread. I spent most of the morning scanning and labeling old photos of people on my dad's side of the family tree:

I got our taxes ready to mail off and bid on some Ebay dresses that I probably don't have appropriate shoes to match. Then I ate some roasted peppers and green beans and mod-podged my grandma's old sewing box with pictures of plants and textiles while watching "The Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus." In case you aren't familiar with it, it's basically Johnny Cash narrating the life and times of J.C. with song and kitsch. Hehe.
This may not sound like a particularly productive day to you, but my normal day off usually consists of sleeping in until noon, eating, reading blogs, and thinking about doing something more interesting.
I've started making lists of all the little things that I wish I could be doing instead of being stuck at work...and then doing them! On. A. Roll.
Tonight I have a stay-at-home-date with Marvin.

Jan, are you ary?

So far February means BUSINESS where weather is concerned! I'm okay with the cold because it means more baking, more cuddling, and more ginger tea. I'm also a big fan of thermal underwear. I could never ever make it as a fashion blogger...not only because I am terrible at blogging, but also because 75% of my winters are spent in thermal underwear and 75% of my summers are spent in unmentionables. I like looking at well-assembled outfits & I even own a handful of pretty things, but I'd rather be extremely comfortable than a little fashionable. And being fashionable in a house with four indoor cats = TOO MUCH LINT-ROLLING. No thanks!
Now that I've talked about the weather and reassured you of my frumpiness, let me tell you something about January, 2011: It was spectacular!
I spent the first week plucking bits of confetti out of my hair after Courtney's New Year's Eve party and nursing a cold. I also spent a lot of that week looking at this photograph and noting Kupo's cuteness:

Marv & I visited Holla Bend Wildlife Refuge & saw lots of birds, armadillos, and even an opossum. Once the weather warms up a bit we're going back to hike..and hopefully encounter more critters. This one was my favorite:

He dug such great holes and made the funniest little grunting sounds! We were instant friends.
For Marvin's birthday we ate an Australian feast and for my birthday we ate a Mexican feast...........and Courtney threw me a birthday party complete with a cake and junk food and a pinata and balloons and an obscene party game! It was just what I needed to feel not-so-old and boring! Here is my favorite picture from the evening:

Other exciting things: Tim & Amy's hippie-tacular bonfire wedding reception! Meeting Matt Millard's girlfriend! Friday night arcade hangout! A perfect walk in the snow! Marvin got his GED! Marvin also got stranded in Fayetteville during the last big snow which reminded me of how nice it is to have him at home! 
Wednesday nights are now devoted to girl hangouts with Leah & Alex. We originally intended for these hangouts to involve belly dancing lessons, but they've turned into intense bouts of couch-sitting, plan-making, problem-solving...discussions of Cunt, and lots-o-laughs.
This past weekend I visited my family. Daddy & I spent an afternoon looking through amazing old photos of our ancestors (to be scanned soon!) Mama & I played Scrabble (of course!) and she baked a sweet potato pie. Adrianna and I tried to identify some wild edibles, but failed. It was the perfect amount of cold & dreary for a good hike though!

My life is very full of goodness. I can't be thankful enough.

Love and more love,
Sarah
P.S. - As always, the really good photos are all stolen from Court___knee.

2011

Perhaps I should have spent the eve of the new year sleeping soundly, recovering from a bug...but instead I found myself dancing in dirty confetti, eating lunchables, and sharing the story of my first pant-crap at age twenty-six with both old friends and virtual strangers. (There is no doubt in my mind that 2011 will be the best year yet.)



Get weird.

I made things:

The third one is a footless stocking.
A holiday legwarmer if you will.
Please do not mistake it for a regretsy. 

I'm kicking myself for not sending out this photo (taken of us at the post-apocalyptic book-burning party) as our holiday family photo:

(photo stolen from Amanda Mayhugh)

A big day.

This week Rachel and I had a distance date. We watched the same move at the same time, ate and drank and prayed and wrote each other letters. Socialization for hermits/long-distance friends with no gas money. The movie we watched was "Good Dick." It's was oddly romantic.

Today was big: I started an art journal, Marvin started GED classes, and we became an aunt and uncle.

Meet Remy - five pounds and an ounce of preciousness. He decided to make his debut a bit early, but is doing really well...as is his mama.

Other things that have happened recently:

Halloween.
Wednesday, Gomez, and Pugsley Addams.
Laughed harder than I had in awhile...about a talking turkey puppet.

Bought a printer and became absolutely obsessed with coupon-clipping and free samples. So far I've gotten $96 worth of Burt's Bees products for $44, $35 worth of food at La Hacienda for $10, free potato oles, free birdseed, and free Tom's toothpaste...just to name a few. It's getting a little ridiculous.  All of this started after I watched a YouTube video of a woman who bought over $200 worth of groceries for ONE PENNY.

Mostly I've just been peddling a LOT of granola. One of my co-workers has a yoga-related foot injury so I've been working longer shifts and extra days to cover for her.

Do you ever get creeped out by things that shouldn't be creepy? Recently I had a bunch of bees seemingly appear out of thin air in the kitchen and then woke up in the middle of that night to the whole house smelling (mysteriously and intensely) of garlic. Strange.

Happy November. <3

Amelie likes and bulleted lists

I like it when I finally decide to be unhealthy for awhile and eat a whole bag of candy.

I like it when cats snore

and trees rain leaves on me

and when I sit outside on my lunch break and witness the weenie dog from down the street walk half a block just to pee on a tree in a yard that belongs to a gigantic dog that is stuck inside a pen.

And I like my husband's hairy butt. Said it.

Speaking of that hairy butt...it has gone to see Danzig and left me alone at night for the first time in probably YEARS. In my alone-ness I plan to:

• dye my hair
• eat more candy
• maybe jump on the bed
• maybe eat some other stuff besides candy
• make bulleted lists
• peel the paper off of crayons
• take advantage of having the fancy t.v. to myself and watch foreign films until I either feel pretentious or fall asleep

Exciting things that have happened since I last blogged:

• got a toe or two back in my dancing shoes thanks to Brother Andy
• also got one of Bob's mustache hairs in my mouth. I'm not telling how.
  
• dug up some crystals on 101010
• survived a corn maze
• fessed up to some brokenness
• dreamt of visiting the new Red Velvet location. (Best. Dream. EVER.)
• befriended a racoon

Maybe I shouldn't have fed him so much cheese - one of his homies climbed in the window and hung out in our bedroom last weekend when I was out of town. Feral cats, bats, raccoons...we certainly have lots of wild animals that decide to kick it in our apartment. I'm okay with it as long as they don't eat my candy, give me rabies, or poop on stuff.

9.30.2010

Oh, hello.
Saturday at the Food & Faith Fair, I got to see a worm bin, some heirloom seeds, and lots of people in the community learning about sustainability. It was neat and just my cup of tea. That evening I drove up into the mountains to be with my mama on her birthday. She turned sixty-seven on Sunday. We ate chocolate cake and played Monopoly to celebrate! The roadkill count on the way there was pretty high:

Opossum: 4
?: 3
Raccoon: 2
Cat: 2
Skunk: 2
'dillo: 1
Bird: 1
Shih Tzu: 1

 But I did manage to rescue a tortoise from a similar fate.

My mama gave me some of the pot-holders she'd sewn. I've been doing a lot of cooking to break them in properly. She and daddy also loaded me up with sweet potatoes, banana peppers, pears, and persimmons. Yum.

Once I came back home, there's been one date, two bike rides, a little Netflix, and a lot of enjoying the nice weather. I also have this dream of covering one of my walls with pictures of planets and stars and moons. It's a work in progress that may or may not turn into a disaster.

Oh, and I started a tumblr. Marvin called me a hipster. He was listening to Animal Collective when he called me a hipster. I pointed this out and he shut up. This is the link. I'm bad about posting pictures that belong to other people and not giving them credit for their work...due to not remembering where the picture came from...so I thought a tumblr might be convenient for sharing pretty things.

9.22.10

Merry Autumnal Equinox!

Bring on the cider and crunchy leaves. The cardigans. The cool starry hammock nights. The hot baths. The ginger tea and pumpkin flavored things.

Speaking of pumpkin flavored things...I can't stop eating pumpkin spice hershey kisses. They are heaven in my mouth. We finally found them while on a trip to bring Bob his kitten. The long car ride went surprisingly well, with the kitten sleeping most of the time and staring out the window and trying to lick the foam off of my latte the rest. I think Bob and the kitten will be the best of friends and I think he might name her Lily. They make a cute couple, that Bob and Lily!

I had a customer who was making her granddaughter some monster spray out of lavender and water and glitter. I am certain that it will work. Magic like that usually does.

Please pray for Brandi & Remy, Chip & family, Jonny & family, and Pam...if you feel inclined...and can remember all those names. :)

9.16.2010

A million and one little things to learn about in one tiny day off.
Car engines & activated charcoal & nature therapy, among other things.

I've learned that a strong cup of coffee in the morning makes me far more tolerant of the gossipy middle aged drama queens I work with. It also makes me zoom around and fidget, which then makes me laugh at myself - bettering my mood as well as making the fussbudgets more bearable. God bless 'em, but they drive me nuts.

In other work news: Earlier this week I was sitting on the floor, stocking some medicinal teas on a lower shelf, when one of our regular customers (who happens to be obsessed with shoes) plops down beside me and very rapidly removes my shoe and sock, touches my foot, and comments on how soft it is and wants to know what kind of lotion or exfoliant I use. As I was putting my shoe back on, I told him I didn't use any products on my feet, abandoned the pile of echinacea elderberry tea, felt slightly violated, and found some work to do in the back until the guy left. This incident made me realize I am completely unprepared to handle uncomfortable non-textbook situations. Outside of the workplace I probably would have kicked the fellow in the face, regardless of how "nice" he was, but I had no idea how to deal with having my foot fondled in a professional setting. (But is anyone ever prepared for such things? Doubt it.) Perhaps I should have kicked him in the face anyway.

And while we're on the topic of uncomfortableness, I'd like to recommend never watching The Runaways with your mother & and father-in-law...unless you're really okay with viewing sex and masturbation scenes in the presence of your spouse's parents.

Call me old-fashioned, but I found it a bit on the awkward side.

Birfs and crafts.

My first pumpkin spice latte of the season came with a free pumpkin cream cheese muffin. Thank you, overly enthusiastic Starbucks employee, for making my day.

There's another 'bucks I'm hooked on: Swagbucks. It's a site that pays you a tiny bit to search the internet. Slowly but surely I am searching my way to some PayPal dollars with which I will purchase lovely Etsy things that I don't really need:



Yup. Trivial trinkets.

Marvin's parents flew in last weekend. We hiked and watched movies and ate a bunch of doughnuts and grilled a little.

His dad fixed our broken air conditioner, light fixture, and sink...all in twenty minutes. Now I can read books in the living room without going blind and/or sweating half to death. Yay!

We had Bob's kitten spayed last week. Her shaved belly is real tute. Once her stitches are out, she'll be ready to move in with Bob. I will miss her.

Speaking of Bob, check out his King of all Cosmos costume:

Isn't it amazing?
I wish I could take credit for it, but all I did was remove a pocket and cut out some foam flowers. Even that much involvement made me want to craft more!

Happy birthday to, well...pretty much everyone I know!

You are all great and I love you a ton even though I can't remember dates worth a crap. <3

Weekend update.

I saw a baby bear. In the wild. 

(That's all that really matters.)

Love,
Sarah

08.22.2010

The LOST auction begins in three hours.
I've decided to put my money toward this instead:

It's pretty much a faster, roomier version of the car I've had for nine years. It also has more paint and power steering. I got a little teary-eyed while we were out test-driving; I've been with the Metro for longer than I've been with Marvin and it pains me to see her go. But the hatchback Versa will easily carry both of our bikes and I really love the Espresso Black paint job; I just want to eat it. (Poor little Metro. You'll always have my heart.)

Bob's kitten has taken a liking to unrolling all of the toilet paper. She's been banished from the bathroom for the time being.

Also, I take back everything negative I've ever said about "The Office." It kind of rules.

A quote on zines

from Xerography Debt #27:

In the midst of volcanoes, Tea Party rhetoric, earthquakes, layoffs, stock market volatility, and sectarian violence, I am learning to care and not to care - to be free and in the moment. And nothing does that better for me than reading a zine. How is it possible that these 1/4 page miracles of paper and toner can help me escape from grim reality and connect to total strangers that somehow the Internet cannot match? What is it about handwriting and art and loving placement of text that transforms my internal landscape? It is a constant miracle and source of interest and happiness to me. - Maynard Welstand

As you may have guessed, I totally concur.

(Going places.)

8.8.2010

Wrapping up day four of no sugar. I've started taking digestive enzymes with any meal I eat that isn't 100% raw. The experts claim that enzyme supplementation will decrease the amount of energy used up by the body for digestion and use that freed-up energy to assist other cells in need throughout the body...with healing or just more optimal functioning. I tend to always be tired...and I also tend to always be eating, so this could be a monumental step toward feeling not-sucky. I've taken my little enzymes with three meals so far and I do feel pretty awesome. Placebo effect? Possibly. I'll keep you updated.

Marvin and I visited the new self-serve frozen yogurt place today. It might just be my saving grace in this sugarless endeavor. I had the no-sugar-added, fat free pomegranate energy yogurt with strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Heavenly! We also checked out the new pet supply place, which has a kitty adoption station, forty pounds of cat litter for $15.00, and a please-bring-in-your-pet policy. Thumbs up there, too. The new dollar jewelry store had an alarming number of zebra-striped purses and earned an "enh" rating, as did TJ Maxx. We didn't make it to the new grocery store or dollar spot, but we got to visit with Bob, which was undoubtedly cooler than hanging out at a Big Star.

Now I'm making some butternut squash "fries," which are actually baked and contemplating an enormous bike ride. Am I healthy?!?

P.S. - I found some notecards along the lines of ^this^ on clearance for a buck. Yippie! I love foodscapes.

(Heck, I'll even settle for meatscapes.)

Nerding out.

Well, it's day two of the LOST auction. There are already bids on Juliet's death costume and Claire's squirrel baby, but Daniel Farady's Island costume and the DHARMA bikes are still bid-less. I'm waiting until the last few days to register as a bidder since it costs a small fortune to even be allowed to participate in the auction. If the squirrel baby is still in the triple digits, I'm going for it! Who needs an emergency savings fund when you can have LOST props! The DHARMA van's starting bid is set at $8,000, but it isn't guaranteed to be "street legal." Bummer.

Since you've been an avid follower of my "26 before 27" 2010 to-do list, Lauren, I'll go ahead and let you know that plan #12 has just been changed to "Try and win a LOST prop!" Don't judge me.

And now a great picture of the guy who plays Sawyer - from his early modeling days.

Yowza.

Where did the evening go?

Oh yes, it was lost in the pool with a mermaid, a boy princess, and two of my favorite pseudo-hippies.
The sunset was nice and pink.
My feet are nice and swollen. I am not enjoying my week of being thrown into the world of business management, but I'm making it. To the best of my knowledge I haven't made any major screw-ups.
The strep throat has gone on its merry way, our bank account will be reimbursed for the fraud within 90 days, and the car is still clanking right along. If it breaks down, so be it. Bikes and hitch-hikes are more fun anyway, right?

Everything is going to be okay.

As soon as the true Granola Queens get back to their managerial posts, I will be the most relaxed person you've ever seen. (Or at least back to my normal level of relaxation, which probably hovers somewhere around Kind Of Uptight.)

Marvin has been appeasing me with Ben & Jerry's, and helping out immensely with all of the cat sitting I've gotten myself into. He is my favorite.

Here we are, looking crusty on vacation. I'd spent the day at the beach with his sisters - he'd been out skateboarding with Todd...and then the whole lot of us cruised around on bikes...in the "sultry" Georgia heat. I'm not sure why I bothered to try and justify our crustiness in the photo, as we look equally crusty on most any other day. Haha.

In closing, life if freakin' sweet.
Some day I will work at the wildlife refuge in Cabuya.
Some other day I will hike the AT.
And maybe even some other day I will be comfortable taking charge.

P.S. - Where you at, Matt Saunders? Your bicycle is under our deck and every time I see it I think, "Where is Matt Saunders and why isn't he over here demanding that we ride bikes?" Anyway, this is for you:

This Land is Your Land...

I really like the verse that was mysteriously left out of Mr. Guthrie's song when we learned it in school:

As I was walkin'  -  I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no trespassin'
But on the other side  .... it didn't say nothin'!
Now that side was made for you and me!

Everything

makes the perfect amount of sense today.

Inspiration & optimism...

...we sucked them down like Coca-Cola.

This happily cramping in bed day has been devoted to reading the stacks of printed things within reach, dog-earing and underlining the parts of books, zines, and magazines that I deem the most valuable, and then copying those parts into various journals, little black books, and lists. Once I've digested and/or re-written the goods, the book, zine, or magazine gets passed on to someone else. This has been my system for awhile. It's usually a slow process, but a lot of progress has been made on "the stacks" today. I'm taking a break from my "work" while Marvin takes a break from his. This break was spent browsing ffffound. It was a good ffffound day, as you can see from the pictures above. I only stumbled upon one vagina. You never know what you might ffffind in someones collection. Today I learned that people who like pictures of bunnies dressed in aprons and Fight Club also might like crotch-shots. Who knew? There was also this:

Marvin has given me permission to marry Robert Downey Jr. in the event that I am widowed. My only other Marvin-approved options are Jorge Garcia and Matt Millard:

GET THEE TO A NUNNERY.