Dear Courtney,

Doin'?
This is my first completed embroidery project...& it's all yours.
I hope you thoroughly appreciate his crazy eye.

Love,
Sarah

P.S. - Here is the kitten:

We nap together. Kbye.

Bear cat.

There was no flood. Just a lot of dreariness, which the lettuce enjoyed just as much as I did.

Courtney suggested that I plant lettuce in an old shoe rack, which turned out to be the greatest container-gardening plan ever!

It gets a bit wilty during the hotter parts of the day, but perks back up in the evening.

Here is a photo of a dirty hippie preparing to eat a gigantic cake pop:

(The cake pops were fun to make...and a huge hit at Marvin's work.)

And here is our de-cluttered living room:

Tomorrow I'll try to post about all the great things that have happened this past week, but for now I'm going to leave you with a glimpse of Mr. Eko - the cat that most people have never met. He tends to hide behind the fridge or under the sofa when company comes over, but the rest of his time is spent talking a lot, annoying Derby, trying (but failing) to turn doorknobs to places he'd rather be, searching for the most comfortable lap available, "drinking" with his paws, and looking like a bear cat. He answers to both "Bear Cat"...and "Rain Man," God bless 'im.

P.S. - Here is a picture of a real bear cat for reference. I hear they like to eat bananas.

My Makeup

on my cheeks I wear
the flush of two beers


on my eyes I use
the dark circles of sleepless nights
to great advantage


for lipstick
I wear my lips

- one of the world's best poems according to me, by Rochelle Kraut

This week I vowed to always be true to the following things: hammocks, meteors, returning phonecalls. I am no longer true to housekeeping. I also attended a non-house-church for the first time in probably six years. What did I get from the experience? The desire for trendier hair and a collarbone tattoo. No, really I just prayed a lot that God would help me to not judge hipsters so doggone much. Especially nice ones in a house of worship. The commute to and from Little Rock was nice though, and confirmed that I need to get out of the house and workplace more often. A cheerful heart is good medicine.

Derby just yowled and carried on like cats do when when they've caught you a "dinner" of dead mouse or bird. The Derbs, however, was proud to present us with a wadded up paper napkin. Quite the hunter.

Weeshes.

Birthday wishlist. Go ahead - make my day.



Really all I want for my birthday is to eat catfish at that place on the river in Dardanelle and then look for fish bones and bottled messages. And maybe visit Goodwill and Vintage Books. And maybe drink too much coffee. And maybe, maybe, MAYBE get to see snowfall. It seems to always snow while I'm asleep and just be icy and treacherous by the time I'm up and around. Either treacherous or already melting. I braved the ice early yesterday morning to have my drivers license renewed. I thought (correctly) that there wouldn't be any lines at the revenue office during such horrible weather. I was pretty pleased with myself for being so line-avoidingly sneaky...and for only almost sliding off the road into someone's yard.

Work was hectic today. I got to do inventory on about a million new-agey fairy&angel greeting cards that all look pretty much the same. It made me really glad that I don't work at Hallmark. I don't know how much greeting card inventory I could handle. I could count probiotics and rainforest chocolates all day long, but not greeting cards. Nope. Not doing it.

And now for a brief list of weird things I've witnessed Mr. Eko eat this week:
1. a yogurt covered raisin
2. a tuft of another cat's fur
3. seaweed
4. paper

He and Shat are now best friends. Shat never befriends other cats, but she's been very motherly to Eko lately. It's cute. And surprising.

2.0.1.0.

Hey, New Year!
You're going to be an amazing one.
I spent the eve of 2010 playing Battleship with Marvin. We'd intended to go to Vino's to see Andy Warr play (and drink too much of the best root beer in the world) and then go to a more glamorous after-party at Hannah's, but we ended up hanging out at the apartment. Ignoring phone calls. Eating junk food. Being old, boring, married slobs. And it was delightful. As usual. Marvin pointed out that my Battleship game is the oldest he's ever seen:


It's the only Battleship I've ever known. He wants to get the computerized version, but I say, "NEVER!" 1971 isn't going anywhere.

So far this year I've accomplished two of my many mini-goals: making quiche (which turned out quite nicely) and making sushi (which ended up being sloppy, but delicious.)

[On the left - sushi roll attempt #1. On the right - sushi roll attempt #2...]

Mr. Eko really wanted a bite. I later learned that all of our kitties have big appetites for nori.

Here's Eko with my New Year's drawing contest submission:

Okay, who am I kidding. The cat drew that masterpiece, not me...

Walked to the grocery store today. Played tennis and did some yoga yesterday. Two for two on my fresh air and exercise resolution!

And finally, here is evidence that the lovely Mary Hollowell and I hung out over the Christmas holiday. It was the first time we'd seen each other in about six years. I love this girl so much!

Oops.

Marvin & I kept accidentally finding the presents we'd gotten for each other (once because the cats pulled the tissue paper from a gift bag, once because an order confirmation got sent to my inbox, etc.), so we went ahead and exchanged the few remaining mystery gifts last night. (Maybe someday we'll do Christmas right.) His favorites were shoes and Hansen's sodas and a neti pot. My favorites were slips and a sleep mask and a grass-scented candle...but most of all: A SOLAR POWERED RAINBOW MAKER!

This contraption and the Lite Brite are probably the only frivolous gadgets I will ever covet.

Yesterday we went Sunday driving and ended up in Fort Smith, where there wasn't anything spectacular taking place...so we just ate a big meal and came back home...but on the way there we stopped and bought a homemade pie and a bird necklace from a nice lady that was set up on the side of the road. We also admired Subiaco Abbey...as well as a gigantic Budweiser can. I should have taken some pictures of these exciting things, but I didn't...so here are some boring-around-the-house photos:




Our little (live! with roots! plantable!) tree, our forbidden rooftop view, a little teacup of blackberry wine, & a heap of cats.

P.S.-There is a live nativity scene taking place around the corner with a lot o' bass.