Two New Members

So my mom's moving down to Mexico. (She doesn't know if she's staying permanently or if it's just a visit, but we'll just say moving for simplicity of typing because I'm lazy.) And she has two cats! Whatever shall we do?!

1. I am the biggest sucker for animals that need a place to stay.

2. One of the cats has been my cat since I was six or seven. So naturally my first instinct is: "Somewhere that I'm not? Bitch please!"


Long story short, there's now two cats living with me. Here is there general activity log.


Joey
Age: 14
Male

Hide under Brittney's warm blankets. "Sure is warm in here. Hmm... I'm kinda hungry....." Peek out to survey the room. Big fat meany cat is several feet away. "Okay... we're clear." Waddle on past "tall man's" chair. Eat. (I can only assume he poops somewhere in this log. I've never actually witnessed him use the litter box, but there are no kitty accidents anywhere sooo...) Return to "my" room. Only make it so far as the hall way. Fall over and become content laying there.



Frankie
Age: Half a year?
Female

Stare at the outside world. Run away from Brittney. Climb onto counter and steal bag of catnip. Eat ALL OF IT. Stare outside. Hide under futon. Stare outside.



They're so opposite. But they love the crap out of eachother.

Meet the Kids

In our apartment,we have three cats roaming around, two mice, and one fish. I am a proud mama of my kids so I figured I'd make a post about them. Because all I'm really doing is stalling cleaning the living room so I can work on my Yuna costume some more.


Anyhoo.


We'll start with the cats.

This is Cid. He's my half Siamese, half tabby two year old ball of love. After moving out I had missed having a cat so badly that I started getting really depressed about it. When living with my mom, I had lived with the same cat for about 11 years or so. (My Joey boo boo) But he stayed with mom over in the Seattle area.

So Zack (my fiance) and I went kitten hunting. And this little bugger here licked my finger and I fell in love. He's crazy. I won't lie. But I love him so much. He pretends to not care about humans in the least but whenever I come home, he's always the first to come see me. I still can't believe I've had him for two years.

This is Braveheart. She's going on 12 years old and is terrified of everything. She's fat and is waaaay to obsessed with my fiance. You can look at her and she starts purring. This cat and I go waaay back. She belongs to my roomate who is one of my few standing high school friends. I lived with her family for a time in my senior year and I roomed with this cat. She woke me up non stop from 3 am to six am every day for weeks on end. Now all she wants to do is snuggle up and sleep between my fiance and I... ... ... I love this girl.

This is my newest little punkin head. Her name is Heater. A friend of ours found her in the laundry room of the apartment across the street with no food and tiny as hell. I took her in and got rid of her worms and fleas, fattened her up and now we're working on getting her fixed. She's Zack's baby. He fell in love with her instantly.



Now for the mice.

Flynn(Black) and Bit(white)

I love these boys. They've since been moved to separate cages because they started fighting. Flynn should be sent to the circus because he won't stop climbing his cage (Which I've dubbed "The Grid"). Meanwhile, poor Bit aquired asthma from the old bedding I used to use and since then spends his time sneezing and coughing. I feel horrible but there's nothing I can do.


My fish has no picture, but he resides in the kitchen. He's a red beta and his name is Tyrant.


So those are my kids. <3

[Pearls] Are a Girls Best Friend!

Move over diamonds! You're not for this girl!


While diamonds are indeed beautiful and they have their place, I just happen to find them rather boring. Not that they're bad. No no. I love them... just not me.

So in my quest of hunting for my bridal jewelry, the first place I stopped was my work. (T.J. Maxx). I found a lovely pearl bracelet with brown cord and a gold sparkly ball attached at the center. It's simple and for $16.99 before my discount, it was hard to pass up.

Next, I hoped over to JC Penny, which happened to be my last stop. They had a decent selection of pearls. I picked up a lovely set of earrings.

And a necklace.

I absolutely adore ALL of them.

Moulin Rouge

The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.

Moulin Rouge

This is probably my favorite movie for many many reasons, though it often falls beyond my memory when asked about my favorite. It is simply a powerful, emotional film that never gets old to me. While it's silly exterior and the fact that is is a musical would turn most people away, those who watched it all the way to the end got to see the real meaning behind love.

The film follows the Bohemian beliefs of "Freedom, Beauty, Truth, and Love" to the T. No matter how many times I watch it, it never gets boring. It never looses those moments that give me chills or make me cry. From the moment Ewan McGregor sings his first line to the curtain fall, I fell in love with the true embodiment of love.

But I'm not here to do a synopsis of the film. I'm here to talk about love and representation. I bring up the movie because it is, in its self, a symbol of love for my fiance and I. We sat together one night, watching the movie together in bed. This must have been a couple months into our relationship... 

If you do not wish the movie to be spoiled, do not read past this.

Ewan McGregor has the worst screaming cry I've ever heard. As he sat there clutching this fading image of the woman he loves, his voice breaks your heart. And as Zack and I lay there in tears, he turns to me and hugs me. It was silent for a little while and then a heard his whisper "I could never lose you like that. I would die." Right then... that's when I knew how much he loved me.

From then on, the music in this movie touched me in a way I never knew before. The words of love meant something far more beautiful than I had been able to hear even a day before. I know it sounds silly and overly romantic. But what's what the bohemian idealism is about. That's what it means by Freedom, Beauty, Truth and Love.

Wedding Bells!

Today I finally purchased my wedding ring. I love it and how simple it is. I felt kinda silly actually. As soon as I thought 'this is the one' I almost got a bit teary eyed. But when I look at it, it's like making a permanent commitment. This ring will represent all that binds Zack and I and it will always be on me.

After searching every store's selection of ruby's, I decided on this one.

It's simple and I am in love.


I'm still going through and planning decorations and a reception dress. But so far, so many people are helping me put everything together. And each one of the people in my wedding has played an important part of my life and I love each one of them.

The Fair, Cat Puke and Early Morning Distress Calls.

After work yesterday Zack and I took a trip to the fair. Aside from the cost to get in, I set aside 40 bucks for myself to spend and was so proud of myself that I came out with tell dollars still in my wallet. Hooray!

The fair was a blast, we wandered around, played a couple games, got some fair food and pet some bunnies. If only it wasn't so hot.


Fast forward to this morning.

It's 5: 30.

I wake up to myself stretching and knocking over one of Zack's mountain dew cans (full) onto my head and pillow. So I had to take a shower at 5 30. Pleasant? No. I was fucking exhausted. So I crawled back into bead pillow-less and with wet hair and passed out until ten.

Feeling better, I get out of bed and head to make myself breakfast. I hear Jen(roomate -Female-) call from the hall that my kitten had thrown up. Once I get there we both realized, at the same time, something completely gut wrenching and terrifying.

The pile of puke was moving.

Worms. My kitten had puked up ring worms.

Instantly my body shuts down and goes into panic mode. I called the vet and took her in right then. The entire time I'm freaking out how I'm going to pay for this. Working part time in retail does not allow me to afford to take my cat in to the vet.

Aside from that, the appointment went really well. Heather did very very good with the vet. Purred the whole way through (except when she had to take her temperature...).

So Banfield has a wonderful pet plan that allows me to pay 25 bucks a month and her vaccines, vet visits, and being spayed are all covered by it. Shit my pants happy? I sure think so!

So now my kitties doped up on her shots, d-worming meds, and probably an uncomfortable rear end. But at least she's okay.

This is Heather Mason Berg. She's about three months old, a little under five pounds. She's a runt. She loves watching video games, playing with Cid (Siamese) and her daddy (Zack). She's pretty much his kitten, actually... but I'm paying the vet bills. Hmm...

Dear Somebody...

Dear Amazon. Fuck you. Not qualified to answer your phones? Answer your PHONES?! Seriously?! FUCK you! Go to hell. You've reminded me why I hate you. You know what? Fine! I'll stay in retail my whole fuckin' life because everything I seem to try for blows up in my face and laughs at me.


I know this whole thing is morbid. But I'm fuckin' pissed. How can everyone else get hired there and not me?! Why are they so much better at answering your fucking phones!


Thank you for your time, Amazon.

Britt. The best fucking customer service gal you just lost.

Amazon, Costumes, and other sorts of rambles.

The interview at amazon went really well today. I'll be hearing back from them hopefully within the next seven business days and if everything goes right, I'll have a full time job that works around my school hours AND gives me full benefits. Am I possibly the happiest girl in the world now? I think SO. Especially since this means I can afford to tuck more wedding money away!


As for my costume progress, it's been delayed by a couple days because I ended up running out of tulle and it really kinda hinders the progress of everything. As soon as I get more tulle, I'll get more photo's up for you guys. Other than that it's going really well!



Now for my other rambles. I got a chance to watch the remake of Friday 13th... All I can say is...wow. It was pretty horrible. It was done so poorly that it didn't even follow horror movie rules.

#1     If you show boobs, you will die.
#2      If you have sex, you will die.
#3     If you do neither of these things while being a girl, you are safe unless you're an airhead.


No. Go ahead and kill the smart girl, stupid movie. Oh well. Just another tick of the bad movie list.

What next? I never did see any of the Nightmare on Elm St movies...

Yuna Songstress Costume Part 1.5 of 3

Okay, so I intended this to be paired up with another part of the costume, but I decided to stick up up as is and just call it "1.5"

For the ruffles and the skirted parts of the shirt, I chose a pale blue silk. (you can't really tell the color of it in this photo since our house becomes very orange with our lights.

So to make the ruffles I cut out a 4.5 inch wide strip from the fabric and folded it in half, seaming up one side. I turned it inside out to hide the raw edges before continuing.

I pinned the edge of the strip at the base of the V then carefully hand ruffled it all the way along, pinning it in place every inch and a half or so. This took me about 45 minutes. The ruffles consist of a bunch of twists and bunches.

One strip of fabric reached to just past the middle of the back of the collar. So I had to repeat my strip cutting from before.

To fasten the ruffles to the shirt, I went in and hand tacked them myself with a needle and thread. More time consuming than a machine but the end product turned out much much better. This took me about an hour and a half to get it as well as I needed. I chose a thread color matching the might blue and tried to hide all of the small stitched within the ruffles.

Yuna Songstress Costume Part 1 of 3

A lovely friend of mine from Canada-land inspired me to make this costume to match her Lenne costume. (For those of you who don't know, it's the same costume with different wigs and earrings.)


Anyhoo, I've never really had a good way of keeping track of how I make everything to show people and blah blah blah. So here, I've decided to post the progress of the costume on here as a little "how too".

(Manda, I'll try and give you the best explanation I can for how I cut and did everything.)

 

The above photo is an image of my first cut draft. (thank god I got extra fabric) Because this lost almost all of it's stretch once I cut that tank out and tried to get it on. Dear shoulders, I hate you sometimes. You're too wide for the rest of my body!

So with my remaining fabric, I decided to play it extra carefully and cut out what we called "The Sack" I sewed up up the sides and across the shoulders in a very large square. I'm glad I did this because the sack, once pulled onto my dress form, fit almost snugly. Note to self, always sew everything like I'm a size XXL.

Do not be like me and sew the arm holes shut. Seam ripping is a bitch and no one likes doing it... ESPECIALLY when their seam ripper goes missing. >.>

Behold... the Sack, The shapeless square of blue fabric with just enough stretch to work. So I had my roomate mark a few things on this while it was on me so I could begin whittling away at the blue mass. (Yes my living room is a mess. Piss off. I made it that way when I cleaned off my table. And why does my Supernatural stuff always seem to make it into my "progress pictures"?)

After I cut open the collar to where I wanted it, I started trimming away the arm holes and the hem line at the bottom. This took a whole lot of guess-and-cut. I do not suggest this for the light hearted since I nearly had a heart attack the whole time. (This was my last chance with the fabric and I don't have the money to replace it.)

Snip snip snip. Back's done! (I've never appreciated this dress form so much as I do right now. This is as far as I had gotten the first night since I started pretty late after I screwed the first one up. On to day two!

We begin with me getting home from washing people's cars  from 11-1 in the sun.

Zzzzzzzz.... Oh, right... I was working. Wait... wtf are you-

You're really good at distracting me. Meet Braveheart. Codename for fat, lazy, old, and attention whore. Okay, back to work...

It's like they love to make me not work. Heather. Code name, Adorable ball of terror. I have kitten claws. ANYHOO. So after pinning and snipping away at the sack some more, I hemmed all the necessary parts.

The base of the top is officially done. I had to put some darts going from the sides of the bust to just above the arm pits. (Manda, if you need help with that I can find you some instructional videos.) But voila! That's the end of today's progress post, next time I'll show you the finished top.

How my body works with new things.

So I've decided that I really need either a second job or one that offers me full time. I haven't been pursuing it too hard because it's not a life or death situation. It's just a matter of extra money.

So today I unsuspectingly get a call from Amazon, one of those full time jobs I'd love to have. It's a full time position that is seasonal. But a top percentage of the seasonal hires get kept on as regular associates.


I should be excited about this. I can quit my retail job, or just work there on weekends. I can afford to put gas in my tank. Blah blah blah.


This is how my mind/body reacts to it instead.

Oh god. I'm trying to go back to school. But they said I need to be available for the training but I think it starts during winter which is when I want to start school.

Oh god. It's only seasonal which can last up to six months. What happens if they don't keep me? I can't afford to lose a job. I can't afford to go back to TJ Maxx with minimum wage. I just can't.

Now I lied to them saying I was completely available.

Oh god should I just not show up for the interview?

Oh god oh god oh god.







...


This is my plan. I'm sticking to it. I swear to whatever that I will not falter from it!

I'm going to go to my pre-interview on monday and tell them "I plan to go to school during this time. Here are my documents. How can we work around this. Is there a part time position available? Also, what are the chances of being kept on as a regular associate? I live on my own and can't afford to lose a job and go back to retail at minimum wage. What can I do."


If I don't get the job, oh well. If I do, then I'll figure it out.

Is it sad that I don't want to leave TJ Maxx because I'll miss certain people to much?

Too bad they can't hire me just to follow the coordinators around and do what they tell me to do.

Potato Romanoff

Or as I like to lovingly call it...


Potato Romanov

What you'll need (based on feeding three-four hungry people)

5 Large Russet Potatoes
1.5 cups sour cream (more or less to taste and consistency)
3 cups cheddar cheese
3 green onions
pepper
paprika



Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Boil the potatoes for 20 minutes then rinse them with cold water to cool them.

Peel if desired.

With a cheese grater, shred the potatoes into what looks like uncooked hash browns.
Mix the potatoes, chopped green onions, two cups of cheese, a tbsp of pepper, and the sour cream together into a large bowl.

Spray your casserole dish with non-stick spray and layer the potato mixture evenly in it.

Cover with cheese and dust with paprika.

Bake in the oven, uncovered, for 25- 30 minutes.


And enjoy delicious artery clogging cheesy goodness.

So it Begins!

So after reading a blog of a friend of mine's at work, I decided "Hey. Maybe people wanna read my random dabble!" And she encouraged me to make my own. So yar!




In this here box of text I'll probably be rambling on about the random crap I'm cooking or want to cook. Project I'm working on for costumes or artwork or any other sort of little creative sparkly thing I decide to make. I'll throw in some step by step workings of my costumes and wigs and whatever else.

I'm actually pretty excited about this whole thing, so yeah. I don't really know what else to mention in the first post. Hm. How about some random crap.

Currently Listening to: Supernatural Season 2
Currently Reading: Marvel Civil War