Yes, we have no new blog entries

I would like to start this entry by thanking Brian for shaming me into writing on a regular basis. Without his relentless efforts, you people would have nothing to read.


The Christmas tree is surviving, though every day when I enter the living room I find one or more slobbery/chewed ornaments on the floor. Yesterday I just found a lone ribbon and a pile of little cinnamon-scented bits. It looks like the cinnamon/applesauce ornaments weren't the taste sensation Tater expected them to be. I don't know why it took me so long to figure out a solution to this issue, but yesterday I finally realized that I could keep the dogs closed in my bedroom at night so Tater doesn't eat the tree. This morning there were still a few ornaments on the floor (damn cats), but nothing was damaged. Hopefully this strategy can make the whole holiday thing a little less stressful. I really enjoy having the tree, but I just know one day I'm going to come home and she will have eaten the entire thing, ornaments and all, and that totally stresses me out. Not only would it be sad to lose all of the beautiful ornaments from when I was a kid, but I'm pretty sure there would be some fairly expensive surgery involved to remove an entire tree from Tater's gullet, even with T's discount.


For the past few nights, I have been trying to rephotograph my jewelry for Etsy. The problem is, all the daylight is gone before I get home, so I have to use artificial light sources and they just don't look right. I'm thinking about buying a light tent and some tabletop lights so I can get some better pictures. The picture is everything on Etsy...if your pictures are too dark, nobody is ever going to look at your stuff.


Speaking of Etsy, I just bought the cutest pair of cupcake hairclips. I had actually bought some cupcake ornaments from the same seller and I asked her if she had ever thought about making a smaller version and sticking it on a barrette. She hadn't, but she gave it a shot and I think they turned out fabulous. I don't know why I have been fixated on cupcakes lately. I don't want to eat them, so much, I just think the cupcake motif is kind of cute without being too cutesy. Anyway, I've been thinking about doing some hair jewelry myself so I got a sampler of polymer clay to see what I come up with.




Well, that's the latest. Nothing earth-shattering, but some fun stuff. Hope things are well with you!


xo,

C

Tadaa!

Here's the decorated tree for those of you who were curious. Keep in mind that I took this last night, after the cats had had a whole day alone with it. Let's just say there may be a few things askew or out of place...
Also this morning I found an ominous bundle of yarn on the floor. Sadly, it looks like one of my yarn doll ornaments won't be making it to Christmas. I moved the other one up to the top of the tree to make it less tempting. Damn animals.

The underestimated importance of the very end of the movie

I got my Christmas tree yesterday. Did you know there are people on craigslist who will cut a tree with dimensions you specify and deliver it to your house (and sometimes set it up in the stand)? I called the guy yesterday around 4pm, told him what I wanted (a fat, 6 foot Douglas Fir...see below) and he showed up at my house around 6 with the most awesome tree I have ever seen! It only cost me $25 bucks too. Pretty sweet! So anyway, after the tree guy left it was just me, the dogs and cats, and a giant tree. I felt pretty sad for a little while because putting up the Christmas tree is one of my favorite memories from when I was a kid (yes, even the ones when Dad got pissed because the stand wasn't working right) and it just felt wrong to be doing it alone. I tried distracting myself by unwrapping some ornaments and reminiscing about where they had come from and Christmases past, then after a few minutes I just gave in to the festivities, turned on some Christmas music, and had a pretty great time! There's something great about being able to sing cheesy Christmas carols ("It's a marshmallow world in the winter...") at the top of your lungs and not having to worry about anyone hearing you. Good times.

The other day T was over and we watched this movie from a few years ago called "The Pledge". Let me tell you, this was the best movie I have seen in a long time. It had suspense, love, mystery, action, murder, a great soundtrack, beautiful visuals, great acting...it was just awesome. Halfway through, I made up my mind to tell everyone I knew about it because it was just such an incredible movie. Then, ten minutes before the end of the movie, it just started sucking hard. You would not believe that ten minutes at the end of the movie could have the potential to derail the whole thing, but I promise you, that is what happened. It was so awful that we decided just to ignore the last ten minutes of the movie and make up alternate endings in our heads. So if you find yourself watching this movie and just totally loving it (trust me, you will), do yourself a favor and stop watching about ten minutes before it's over, then make up your own alternate ending. You will be glad you did.