Sorry Folks

While curating my micellany posts my computer got sick (again) and crashed. I won't be writing my blog anymore.

Finding links for my blog was fun, but spyware and viruses made frustrating. This is the third time I have almost lost my computer.

I use two anti-spyware/ anti-virus programs but they aren't enough to keep my computer safe. I can't afford to keep doing this.

I hope that you can understand.

Best wishes!

Micellany Monday 12-8-14

Source: George Takei's Facebook Page

Awesome:
♦Behind the scenes photos from the movies The MGM lion one is fantastic!

Cute:
♦An animal shelter uses silly photo-booth photos to get dogs adopted. Photos are super cute!

DIY:
♦Make marbled bangle bracelets
♦Cool chair make-over (Video) Furniture make-overs usually make me nervous but this one doesn't seem too bad.

Fashion:
♦100 years of hair and make-up in 1 minute. (Video)
♦Gross and dangerous beauty from the past. Leeches on the ears...ewww!!!!

Feminism:
♦A Might Girl is a great resource for anyone with a strong girl in their life. They have great recommendations for books, costumes, and movies that feature strong girls/women.

Heroes:
♦Women Heroes of World War 2

Lol:
♦Moms share stories about their picky eaters
♦Cards Against Humanity sold bullshit for black Friday

Noms:
♦Blueberry upside down cornmeal cake
♦Gooey skillet cookie Sounds amazing!
♦Crockpot cocoa

Have a great week!

Micellany Monday 12-1-14

Source

Art:
♦True story: I am a professional Ballet Dancer. I have always had an interest in ballet, so I thought this interview was very interesting.

Amazing:
♦Gorgeous owl has starry eyes
♦So exciting! Advanced Style is now available on Netflix!!!!!
♦I had no idea that cacti could be so beautiful!


Cuteness:
♦Frolicking corgis in snow!

 Two pet deer figured out how to use the dog door! Content Warning: Swearing

Fashion:
♦History of The Raccoon Coat. I am guessing these coats may have inspired Edward Gorey.

LOL:
♦Hipster business name generator. Ha ha!
♦Animals dancing to Salt-N'-Pepa's Push It. (Video)
♦Seniors dancing to Turn Down For What. (Video)

Noms:
♦Dark gingerbread cake. Sounds soooo good!

I know that the holiday season can be hard for many people. I tried to include more happy and fun things this week to help those with the blues.

Cats Need Heroes and Role-models Too!

These two pictures were in my Facebook feed in this order and I thought it was super cute!

 

Some day this kitty will grow up to be a sparkly superhero too. :)

Micellany 11-24-14

Source Photos by Spencer Byles

Art:
♦Amazing wood sculptures!

Book-love:
♦Terrible library books The clown one is extra scary!!! o.O

Cuteness:
♦How to exercise with cats..(Video) I feel this guy's frustration. I have been their! My cats are obsessed with my yoga mat.
♦Therapy alpacas Cute!

Entertainment:
♦Sequel to Clarissa Explains It All.

LBGT:
♦Fantastic interview with Laura Jane Grace of Against Me. (Video) Warning: DON'T READ THE COMMENTS-Tons of icky Trans-phobic @$$holes!

Mental Health:
♦PTSD is NOT a joke 

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Micellany 11-17-14

Source More info on the photographer: Alexey Kljatov

Art:
♦An amazing craftsman who makes wood dolls. (Video)
♦Gorgeous nebula towels and rugs

Booklove:
♦Don't dog-ear that page...use bookmarks! Super cute bookmarks.

Culture:
♦40 Yiddish words you should know. I was surpised at how many I already knew considering I am a Gentile.

Cuteness:
♦I honestly never thought I would think that bats are cute!
♦Adorable blind rescue kitten loves to go hiking
♦Super cute portraits of dogs.

Creepy:
♦Biography of Dr. Mutter of the Mutter Museum

Fashion:
♦90's fashion flashbacks...Omg I wore so many of these looks!

Feminism:
♦The invincible work force: women

Mental Health:
♦Advice I need to take: write in a journal!
♦Jen of Epbot wrote a fantastic post about agoraphobia

Noms:
♦Pumpkin, leek, and pecan corn bread....omg yum!
♦Homemade cranberry fig-newtons (The only thing I love as much as pumpkin is cranberry)
♦5 more uses for cranberries
♦Buttermilk Rusks My Grandma T used to make rusks for me. I had no idea the variety from culture to culture. Gramma had a loose definition of rusk, any twice baked bread slathered with butter and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. She often bought loaves of day old bread just to toast for rusks. What is a rusk?


Hope you are all surviving the Holiday Madness!

Monday 11-10-14

 Cute puppy source

We just had our first real* snow fall, so I thought this cute pup was perfect. *For those who live in warmer climates: Snow that stays and doesn't melt immediately.


Awesome:
♦An interview with the amazing seamstress for American Horror Story
♦America's First Cat Cafe.  The best part is that they have adoptable shelter cats available!
♦I love AbFab!
♦Sparkling water is the best.
♦Amazing miniature library

Cuteness:
♦Kitten cuteness overload  Purritos!!!
♦Shedd Aquarium took in a rescue sea otter pup! She is so dang cute!!!

Creepy:
♦20 unique hearses

Health:
♦Receipts are gross! I wonder what impact the thermal paper has on the health of cashiers at stores. They handle that crap all day long. (I speak from experience.)

LBGT:
♦Bad-ass woman firefighter! I am glad to hear that her fellow firefighters were so supportive during her transition. :)

Quiz:
♦Modern art...or garbage? I didn't do very well on the quiz :P

WTF:
♦Starbucks new dress codes; Tattoos acceptable, Wedding Rings nope.
I can understand not allowing rings for sanitary reasons...although I don't really think of Starbucks as a food producing entity. I am guessing most of their food items come in pre-made, and frozen. I really doubt they have someone mixing up cookie dough in the back.

I work in manufacturing and wearing rings is dangerous. I wear mine on a necklace so I can have it with me.

**For the record I am a tattoo fan, IF they are tasteful. I have a bunch myself, but wouldn't want to buy food from someone who had derogatory or grotesque (faux skin rips, blood gore etc.) tattoos visible.

Have a great week, stay warm!

Monday 11-3-14

Awesome:
♦A feral cat turned a man's life around A heartwarming story!


DIY:
♦Intimidated by watercolor paints? Alisa shows some fun ways to play with paint.

Halloween:
♦Amazing Halloween cakes. The level of detail is incredible!!!
♦Corgis...in...costumes!!!!  And more cuteness!  And and....part 3
♦Worst Halloween candies ranked. Lol!

Health:
♦Studies show that comprehensive Sex-Ed delayed the age students started to have sex.
♦Coffee is awesome..but those plastic to go cups...eww!

Noms:
♦Deconstructed chicken pot-pie. Great for a cold day.

WTF:
♦Teachers orders terminally ill girl to remove wig.

Hope you all had a fun Halloween! :)

Monday 10-27-14

 Amazing photo found @ Colossal Art Blog. Photo by Bertrand Kulik.

Fashion:
♦The Met. Museum has an exhibit of mourning wear! I love mourning garb I wish I could go see it!

Health:
♦Apples new health app. may be trouble for those with eating disorders.

Noms:
♦Hazelnut Crunch Pumpkin Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting..Yum!
♦Random facts about desserts

WTF:
♦Americas Next Top Model...give a model a fake beard?!

Busy week for Rasputin and I. We are giving our kitchen a make-over. New paint and hardware. So I our house is currently a disaster. The dogs are very unhappy, (they don't like change.)

We lost Gramma Honey this summer. Her birthday was recently, which was hard for the whole family.

Hope you all have a great (and SAFE) Halloween!

Monday-ish?

(Not our house, my Mum-in laws guest cabin)

Awesome:
♦Unforgettable David Bowie looks.
♦A multipurpose tool/ hair clip?

Entertainment:
♦A great interview with the woman who plays Pepper on American Horror Story
♦A "documentary" about the dangers of glitter; titled "I Have Glitter Lung"  ;)

DIY:
♦Great list of tutorials for painted pumpkins
♦Googly eye pins...which she mentions would also be awesome for pumpkins! Double win!

******

Things are quite hectic at my house. Rasputin and I are having a Love It Or List It moment. We have been scouring reality listings and going to tons of open houses.

We aren't sure if we want to stay at our house...There are a lot of great things about our house, but there are some things that are not working for us.

So hopefully we come to a decision soon!

Monday Meh

DIY:
♦Cool jewelry made with duct tape
♦Crepe paper mums 
♦Make a faux moth out of leaves. Very beautiful, and cool idea.

Mental Health:
♦What to say when someone confides in you about their mental illness.
♦Some thoughts on anxiety

Noms:
♦Chocolate Babka This looks soooo amazing!

Quotes:
♦Great quote

Sorry for the partial post. My insomnia has gotten the best of me.

Monday Miscelany 10-5-14

Source   Mannikin hijinks!  (Hat tip to Don't Get Rabies)

Awesome:
♦Edward Gorey Jewelry
♦The heart of an introvert Awesome illustration!
♦Epic cat names! (From a very creative animal shelter)
♦Think outside the box...? Try another view!

Creepy:
♦Amazing collection of skull related items.

DIY:
♦Steampunk pumpkin ideas

Feminsim:
♦Amazing Liberian woman saves her family from Ebola!
♦Science museum pisses off The Girl Scouts. (They only offer "The Chemistry of Beauty Products for the girls...compared to the chemistry, robotics, engineering, and  astronomy for the Boy Scouts.
♦Great review of Laurie Penny's book: Unspeakable Things. (Sounds interesting!)

Health:
♦Heart attack signs different for women

Lbgt:
♦Hooray!!!!! The "Trans-panic" defense is now illegal!!!!!

Noms:
♦Tons more pumpkin recipes (Courtesy of Hungry Girl  Por Vida)

WTF:
♦Ugly AND uncomfortable looking lingerie...eww.  Major wedgie alert!!!!
♦Bullshit-beauty: Pink Ribbon Posers (Think before you buy that pink crap.)

Have a great week folks!

Monday Micellany 9-29-14

Source

Art:
♦Adorable chalk drawings.
♦Amazing portraits of betta fish!

DIY:
♦Creative use of paper towels!
♦Make cool bunting with paper straws

Fashion:
♦All about Mary Quant and her contributions to fashion.
♦A great article about Isabella Blow

Feminism:
♦Make up and its role in abuse (hiding it)

Lol:
♦Best Disney movie ever.... (Hint: Llama)

Mental Health:
♦How to help someone who has anxiety. (Hat tip to Don't Get Rabies)

Noms:
♦Pumpkin master post! Holy cow!!

WTF:
♦Kohl's caught selling fur trimmed coats labeled as faux-fur

Monday Micellany 9 -22-14

Two adorable ferrets playing in a box full of packing peanuts.

Fashion:
♦Help! I have fallen into a fabulous black hole of tote bags. Take my credit card I want them all! This book tote, grumpy kitten, Tina Belcher and flower tote are awesome! Oh no. I found the corgi stuff...help!

Feminism:
♦Teen creates video game to normalize menstruation.
♦Rape culture in Alaska via The Atlantic (Trigger warning for rape and domestic violence.)
♦Rookie Magazine discuses elitism and exclusion of teen girls in music.
♦Raising children is not for everyone. These famous women have a lot to say about it. (Hat tip to Spaceman Steve)


WTF:
♦Facebook forces Drag Queens to to use their legal names. (I think this could be dangerous!)
 [Update: A planned protest got F.B's attention...] Lets hope they listen.
♦What are diamonds really worth; what is a "chocolate diamond"?

Wednesday Words

Hat tip to Don't Get Rabies

Monday Miscellany 9-15-14

 Image source

The glorious and extra fabulous Eddie Izzard!

Awesome:
♦Troll on a bridge. What a fun idea. She is adorable!
♦What happen when one woman refused to sell her house to developers.
♦Take a peek into the bags of creative people

Books
♦On an odd note; The Devils Bible AKA: The Codex Gigas

Beauty:
♦Natural acne friendly face-wash.
 
DIY:
♦Creative ways to use feathers
♦10 creative crafts that use old sweaters


Family:
♦We lost my husband's gramma Honey this year, so Jenny Lawson's story about Meemaw really resonated with me. A loving tribute.

Gardening:
♦Homemade organic antifungal spray   (Great timing, my poor garden needs this ASAP!)

Feminism:
♦Spinster, not what everyone thinks it is...
♦New hashtag about abuse: #WhyIStayed
♦Lululemon founder blames women thighs, instead of their crappy thin material... Gross, what a jerk!
♦Amazing photos of women factory workers during WW2.
♦"As a father of daughters, I think we should treat all women like my daughters" [Satire] Trust me its amusing!

LOL:

Jimmie Kimmel asks Fashion Week attendees what they think of made-up designers. 

(Ex: Chandler Bing, Betsy Ross...)

Noms:
♦Fall inspired floats YUM!

WTF:
♦The most shallow reasons to break up with someone...
♦Gross food and beverages from the 90's (Shudder-Orbit soda was like a drinkable lava lamp.)

Hat tip to Don't Get Rabies!

Which of course...made me think of this song:

I Should Be Allowed To Think ~ They Might Be Giants

Have a great week folks!

Ps. An extra special Congratulations to my younger sister! She got married this week! Wish you and you husband the best!!!!

Monday Miscellany 9-8-14

This cute fella' is Marty. Read a super cute interview with him at Cute Overload.

Feminsim:
♦Leaked celebrity photos is victim blaming

Health:
♦100 ways to reduce stress
♦Men are more likely to get skin cancer  Wear sunblock guys!!!!
♦Forget the icebucket challenge: bring on the Rice Bucket Challenge! (I am not saying that raising money for ALS is bad. Its terrific! They have received 94 Million compared to 2.7 Million last year! So how about helping another organization?

LOL:
♦Badly explained film: guess what they are. (I got 2 wrong)

Pumpkin:
♦A huge list of cool pumpkin related things thanks to Pintrosity. (Crafts recipes, etc...)

Sociology:
♦What your use of words can indicate

 WTF:
Sociological Images created a Pinterest board of ads that use sex to sell some bizarre stuff. Such as: organ donation, Seamonkeys, and even mushrooms! (WTF for the ads, I think the pinboard is brilliant.)

Hope you all have a great week. :)

Monday Miscellany 9-1-14

I hear ya Oscar...I don't like mornings either!

About damned time:

♦Landmark ruling: dogs to be treated as a victim not just property. (Now if all states would get on board!)

Awesome:

♦Lydia Deetz inspired photo shoot

♦Collecting radioactive glass...very cool! (A long read, but very interesting.)

Beauty:

♦Don't forget to wash your makeup brushes!!!

 DIY:

♦Make a cool reading light out of a hard cover book

♦List of 10 diy wallets

Feminism:

♦Playboy (I know! I am surprised too!) created an infograph on whether or not to cat-call women.

♦Clever comeback to online harassment

♦Are we asking the right questions about feminist contributions?

♦An outspoken feminist in the gaming industry receives death-threats

Health:

♦ 15 health conditions that doctors misdiagnose
♦Info-graph shows what we donate towards...vs. what kills the most people... (Interesting stuff)

 ♦Sleep-drunkenness (Scary stuff!)

Music:

MisterWives ~ Vagabond

Gin Wigmore ~ Kill Of The Night 

(Sorry for the lyrics version. I couldn't embed the one I wanted. Boo!)

Gin Wigmore ~ Oh My

I get this one stuck in my head a lot!

WTF:
♦Katy Perry's denim tribute to Brittany Spears. 

Hope you had a great holiday weekend!

Monday Miscellany 8-25-14

Image from Post Secret

Art:
♦Incredible tiny embroidery of cute animals!

Awesome:
♦The Nostalgia Machine...cues up songs from a chosen year.

Beauty:
♦Alexis Krauss (singer for the Sleigh Bells) talks about natural beauty. [Her hair is so beautiful and glossy!]

DIY:
♦This is an ambitious project, but sooo cool!

Fashion:
♦American's Next Top Model has a gorgeous model (Chantelle Brown) with Vitaliago. The show can get kind of gimmicky...but I am glad that in a small way they are educating people on vitaliago. More info on vitaliago.
♦I am catching up on older seasons of Project Runway. I am on season 9 right now. So far Anya is my favorite designer. She makes beautiful clothes full of color and vibrant prints. I also loooove her hair!

Anya Ayoung-Chee

Source: People Magazine (spoiler warning @ People)

Feminism:
♦A brilliant response to rape jokes

Gardening:
♦Menstrual blood as garden fertilizer?! Not sure I could do this myself..but it is interesting. [I wouldn't recommend this for consumable plants. After-all they don't recommend human waste for fertilizer on crops...just a thought.]

LGBT:
♦ The gorgeous model Andreja Pejic came out as a transgender woman. She is other-worldly beautiful. I wish her continued success in her career. :) Bonus she was in a David Bowie music video with Tilda Swinton!

 Noms:
♦  Blueberry marshmallows, this is not a drill go make these now!
♦Speaking of berries...Raspi and I have been enjoying a Dutch Baby  with blueberries  or breakfast on the weekends. (Think part pop-over, part custard, sort of a pancake...I know it sounds weird...just go check it out!)

WTF:
♦She is being swallowed by her belt!
♦Some Zoos use electrified plants to keep the animals in check... So disturbing!
♦What is REALLY in pumpkin spice lattes???

Better late than never!

Have a great week!!

Lost Our Furry Friend

We just lost our feisty boy Merlin. 

 As a kitten he was raised by his older brother Murphy a German Shepard. He always thought of himself as a dog.

 

He was my husband's cat, but lived with my mother-in-law out on the farm.

He was surrounded by dogs including a Great Pyrenees, but he was still the boss.

 Handsome prince!

 

In spite of his swaggering boss status he was cuddly and affectionate.

 He loved it when I would pick him up and carry him around. I would show him things and let him smell them.

He would respond with his patented  head-butt-of love. He would shove his head so hard up under your chin as if he was trying to melt into you.

 He was also fearless and a bit wild. He policy for new things was: swat first, ask questions later.

Oddly enough he could arm wrestle. He could hold his own against a grown man! (He used both front paws, but still!) If he got a hold of something you...weren't getting it back!

He was a big cat with a big personality. We are going to miss you so much.

Rest in peace Merlin.

(I just wanted to note that he was 16 years old when he passed. He lived a nice long life full of adventures. He had been my husbands little buddy since he was young. Even though we knew this time would come it still isn't easy.)

Cure For A Bad Day

I had a terrible day at work yesterday...and this video always cracks me up.

David Hasselhoff singing Hooked On A Feeling by Blue Swede

The video is so cheesy and terrible that I can't stop laughing. It looks like it was made at one of those make your own music video places that used to be in shopping malls.

Hope it makes you laugh too. 

P.S.if you want to hear the good version click on Blue Swede its a link to the original song.

:)

Roses

 

Absence

I know that I have had a long absence. I had burned out on blogging and had created a Tumblr. I was starting to really get into it, but then began to have problems.

I had problems with spyware crashing my computer. The second time was so hard on my computer that I had to re-install my O.S.I was disappointed, and sad but decided to delete my Tumblr.

I had edited and posted hundreds of photos, (as that had been the direction by blogging had taken.) Now I will have to post them all over again.

In spite of these set backs, they are not the worst thing to happen lately.

*****

My Grandma Honey (Rasputin's grandmother, but we are close) became very ill. She had a stroke and fell in the process. She had terrible bruising on her one side. Her health continued to decline, and the she had a second stroke.

We all took turns camping out at Grams hospital room. We did not want her to be alone, as she became combative with the nurses and doctors. (I believe she was confused and disorientated.)

She deteriorated further. She was in constant pain, and her breathing became very shallow and labored. She refused an I.V.

She was in so much pain...and maxed out on morphine. We kept wishing she would let go.

After 2 weeks she passed in her sleep. Which in one part was a relief...no more pain. Unfortunately she passed on Raspi's birthday.

*****

During this time the company I work for decided to restructure in order to survive the market fluctuations. I had no idea what hours I would work, what department, or if I would keep my job.

Depending on which shift I ended up on ...I would hardly see Raspi. 

*****

Considering we were both under a lot of stress...its no wonder Raspi got sick. He developed a skin infection. It kept getting worse.

After two separate trips to the doctor and two different creams...no improvement. He began to get worse. The infection was spreading and he was in more and more pain. The skin was cracking open and weeping.

They put him on a hideously strong medication. He had to have a liver test to make sure he could handle it. We were so hopeful...until he developed hives.

He had an allergic reaction to the meds. The wort part is that it was a once a week medication. It would take a week to clear his system. In the mean time...the hives...became blisters.

Raspi's doctor finally referred him to a dermatologist. His dermatology appointment took 5 minutes but gave us a correct diagnosis!

It has been two weeks since his diagnosis and he has improved so much! He may have some minor scarring (no big deal to either of us), but more importantly he is comfortable.

Sigh.

Orchids

Como Conservatory has a huge collection of Orchids. These are some of the ones that were in bloom when we visited.

 

 I did not know until recently that Lady Slippers were a type of Orchid.

There are more than 300 types of orchids world wide!

 I love the bold colors and patterns of this one.

Vanilla is derived from orchids. It is made from the dried seed pods of the vanilla genus.

This one reminds me of fireworks.

 

This one is so tiny, its about the size of a dime!

For more information on orchids check out Wikipedia, or The American Orchid Society.
 Hope you enjoyed the orchids. :)

Assorted Como Flowers

We took another trip to Como Conservatory for our anniversary. 

We had a lot of fun, and I took some great photos.

Water Lillies

Hibiscus

 Geranium

Lavender

 Petunia

Coneflowers

Lilly

(Anyone know what this beauty is?)

If you are ever in Minnesota check out Como Zoo and Conservatory. Its beautiful!