Ninja Bats and Golden Roses

I finished up some new bookmarks. I was getting tired of the smaller, rectangular sizes so these ones are quite bit larger and more unique.

I made a little stuffed ninja bat out of felt for the top of one, a handsewn ribbon rose for the other, and a kite tail with red ribbons for the last. I really like how they turned out.

Ninja bats, Golden Rose, and Felt Owls, all in the shop.

Happy Halloweenie Day

It's been a happy Halloweenie day with pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies to decorate, pumpkins to carve, and yummy banana cream pie (which is not Halloweenie, but it's still good!)

V. carved the short, fat pumpkin while I attempted to carve the tall, smooth one. Unfortunately, the tall, smooth one seems to be made from wood and no knife could cut it with any sort of ease. We finally gave up and drew on him with a sharpie marker.

We've got PUMPKINS!

V. and I went on a hunt for the perfect pumpkins this week, and here they are! As you can see, I chose a tall, skinny, smooth pumpkin and one short, fat, lumpy one with lots of defined sections. They are a match made in Heaven, hee hee hee!

V. chose 2 perfect, normal-looking pumpkins for his house, tsk tsk! They definitely don't have as much character as mine. V. says my tall one is "the one no one would pick". He kept trying to put it back. Good thing I saved it!

They're shown here with my 2 small, home-grown delinquents :)

Happy Friday!

I'm so thankful the week has finally come to a close! Boy, has it been busy! Overtime every day is NO FUN! There just isn't any time to draw when I get home! (Lol, look at all the exclamation marks I'm using.)

I hope all of you have had a good week. I've been doing my best to drop by your blogs and to read them, even if I haven't had time to leave a comment.

Here are some things to inspire you. They have surely inspired me this week.

Woodland Conifer trees by Winsome Hollow.

Sentimental Journey by Irene Suchocki.

This little lemon and lime bird pouch is from The Wren.

This is a gorgeous bracelet from Magdalena's Atelier.

Neighborhood Fire

My neighbor's house caught on fire the other night. Half of it is now black and badly damaged.

Fall is Lovely

Yesterday it was sunny and the trees looked so lovely! They are bright yellow on one side, and vivid red on the other, like fire! The wind blew and one tree with round, pink leaves sent a shower of little spining pinwheels down the street. They rolled like cheese down a hill along the pavement and it was quite delightful to watch.

Other trees are turning oranges and browns, and it contrasts quite nicely with the still-green grass.

I was able to harvest 3 pumpkins from my borrowed garden (the communal garden that I took over). These pumpkins actually grew out of my discarded compost, so I guess they're children from last year's pumpkins. Since my borrowed garden is not as well-watched, squirrels and disease had gotten to the pumpkins. The result is some of the ugliest pumpkins I have ever seen. They have wierd scars all over them, some from hungry squirrels, and some from bugs or some kind of rot. I don't know what caused it, but it's quite hideous. However, since I did rescue the pumpkins (readjust their position from under lots of rotting leaves and such), they did heal over from their trauma. Yes, so wierd scars is the result.

I offered them to V., but he was so disgusted by their appearance that he declined to accept, lol. However, my family adopted them immediately and they now sit on the top of the TV. My family thinks these war vetrans have a lot of character and look perfect for Halloween. Aw, now isn't that nice!? I'll have to post a pic when I get home so that you can see them.

Tamper with my memory

Tamper with my memory
and make me remember
the past, but not as it was.

Make the dim skies
a sunny, bright day.
Surround me with love
and with care.

Take away the pain
and the loneliness.
Replace it with wonder
and joy.

For though I've been hurt
and I can't change that fact,
my memory's flawed
and that's good.

If I can imagine
a better condition,
then I can move on
and be healed.

--Marie Tai

Mrs. McRooney's Mice Problem

Mrs. McRooney has a mice problem.

They're in her garden, in the pantry, in the cupboards, and in the living room. They're everywhere! But she doesn't mind. Mrs. McRooney loves the little mice.

Her favourite is Odie, a fat mouse that helps her take care of the much more pressing spider problem. Mrs. McRooney hates spiders, don't you?

These new bookmarks are all in the store.

I think I'm getting sick...

The cold air froze like icicles in my lungs today as I rushed to catch the bus. I covered my mouth once I got the to bus stop and breathed into my hands. Brrr! It was a cold morning!

I pulled out a container of tapioca pudding, peeled of the top, and dug my plastic blue spoon in.

The bus interior was warm and I dozed off. When I opened my eyes we were at the station and it was time to get out into the cold and run again. Dash, dash, dash! I squeezed my way into the skytrain just as the doors closed shut. A kind lady beside me asked if I was okay as I tried to catch my breathe. "Just out of shape!" I wheezed. She smiled at me understandingly.

I shuffled around on the crowded skytrain, and caught my breathe just in time to feel strangely out of sorts. I gulped repeatedly as I fought back a wave of nausea. "Uh oh!" I thought. A crowded skytrain was not a good place to throw up. I kept swallowing back the feeling of nausea as a curious boy looked up at me from his seat. My vision began to swim and I could see bright spots in my vision - I needed to get out right away!

The skytrain pulled into Sperling station just in time for me to half stumble, half push my way out of the train. I ran to the nearest wall and hunched over, dry heaving. The cold air seemed to help, however, and I felt the nausea reduce. I leaned my head against the cold wall and closed my eyes.

People rushed up the escalators and pushed into the next train. I continued to lean against the wall, watching them dully. Once they were gone, I dragged my feet over to a bench and sat down. More people gathered on the platform and, since I didn't feel like throwing up anymore, I got onto the next train and went to work.

I was a little bit late, but that was okay.

Now I'm sitting here, still in my coat. Feeling toasty warm, but not so sure that I'm going to be okay. I'm hoping that I'm just being paranoid, but a part of me thinks that I should be home sleeping this off. I really don't want to get sick.

If there's one thing I hate, it's the flu.

Halloweeny Bookmarkians

Ah, it's in the air! Look what I've been doodling now - Juvenile Ghost Thieves, The Pumpkin Party, Jack O' Lantern and Baby Ghosts, and Halloween Spookster.

All in the shop.

Three More Bookmarkies

And here are the last three bookmarks, phew! All done! These are Blue Rose, Pumkin No.2, and Yellow Birds and Sunshine. See them all in the store.

More New Bookmarks!

I've just listed 5 new bookmarks! Bats on the Horizon, Squat Blue Birds, Breakfast, Acorns, and Toy Geese and Yellow Roses. I'll be adding more throughout the day.

New Bookmarks in the Shop!

There are 3 new bookmarks in the shop! Broken Hearts, Sad Snowmen, and Daffodil Pods.

To Drunk and Back (minus one tooth)

The ordeal is over and, I must say, it was one of the BEST experiences of my life, lol!

I prepared for my wisdom tooth extraction by staying calm that morning and preparing for the worst. I didn't say much and I was quite focused. The plan was to just get it over with and to shove it away into harmless bad-experiences-stored-memory. I paid my hefty fee, and sat down to wait for my turn.

Scrounging in my bag, I discovered a green plastic bug. I pulled it out of it's packaging and tucked it away in my pocket. It's the little things in life that make miserable moments more manageable. I found it funny to have a plastic green beetle in my pocket. I put my hand in my pocket and peeked at it occasionally.

My name was called. I took a deep breath and got up. V. said goodbye and wished me luck and I followed the lady to the surgery room.

The lady was very sweet. She introduced herself and told me that she would be taking care of me and making sure I was comfortable. A fellow inside the room introduced himself as well and began some friendly chatter with me. He was the anesthesiologist. They took my jacket (bye, bye, bug!) and covered me with a warm dark green fleece blanket. I felt quite comfy and was not much disturbed when I felt the pinch of the IV needle.

The anthesiologist kept me occupied with many questions about my job and it was after a particularly kind thought that he said, "and that's a nice thought to slip into!" Oh! The drugs must be kicking in soon, I thought. I looked up to see my vision swim as the surgeon walked into the room and exclaimed "Whoa! The drugs must be..." and then I was out.

I woke to the gentle squeeze of the blood pressure machine against my upper left arm and thought how comforting that felt. There was some music playing and I realized that I was already humming along to it. It seemed like really good music to me so I kept my eyes closed and just kept humming along.

A nurse came into the room and asked me how I was doing, and I told her that I was great. I told her I found the squeeze of the machine of my arm to be very comforting. She was glad I was comfortable and went out again. When she came back in after a few minutes, I was still singing along to the music. I told her she had a great job and she agreed. She took my IV off and told me to slowly open my eyes. Things were still swimming quite a bit when I opened my eyes. I could see someone being worked on in another room and I noticed that all the doctors wore colourful caps. I felt incredibly happy and content and continued to hum absent-mindedly to another song that was playing. I had not noticed music playing when I had entered the surgery room earlier but it was so obvious now. I chattered about some other experiences with surgery to the nurse and compared it with this one, saying how great this one was.

She unhooked the blood pressure machine from my arm and I was sad to have it go, but I was delighted to have my jacket back. She helped me walk to a new waiting room at the back and I walked slowly with her. I felt like I was walking on the moon. I took note of all the things I passed by (I guess because I was walking so slowly and had a lot of time) and I noticed cans of ginger ale with the word ORGANIC on it. I was quite pleased by that.

She left me sitting on a couch and went to get V. When V. saw me, he asked me how it was and told him it was, "so fun!" He looked at me quizzically and grinned. The nurse and V. sat down and she explained all the medicines I would be taking afterwards and some other after-surgery details. I listened as well as I could but I was quite distracted. When she pulled out a can of ginger ale and gave it to V. I exclaimed, "It's organic!"

The nurse told V. that he would have to guide me as I walked because I was walking very slowly. She showed us to the door, which turned out to be a back exit into the hallway (I guess because all the patients behave strangely afterwards). I began to tell V. how fun it all was and how we should do it again sometime. He laughed and helped me walk.

In the car ride, he tried to persuade me to stop singing because he was worried about the stitches, but my sister told me that I was still singing as I walked in the door at home and that I kept telling her how it was so fun. V. said, "Yes, yes, come along now" and guided me down the stairs to my room. He tucked me into bed and I was still chuckling about my fun day when I dozed off.

Yes, and so when I woke up several hours later (with the green plastic bug on my forehead no less), I was now laughing about how strange I must have behaved after the surgery. I found it infinitely funny that I had wanted to do the tooth extraction again because it was so fun, and I was so glad that I had had such a pleasant experience overall. V. provided me with some chilled ginger ale, and he later made me some hyper smooth mashed potatoes, which were delicious. I kept an ice pack on my cheek for the remainder of the day, and I didn't feel badly at all, except that I had to keep still, rest, and try not to talk.

Not so bad for such a dreaded experience, huh?

Goodbye, Wisdom!

Tomorrow something dreadful is going to happen - I'm going to get my wisdom tooth removed! Aaaggghhh! I am truly terrified. I've been dreading this day since the moment I learned about these mysterious wise teeth.

In my case, I can't even see it. It's hidden away under my gums and I've never had the pleasure of seeing it and scolding it for existing. I suppose it will be a very rude awakening for it indeed when Mr. Oral Surgeon says hello! I just hope I stay safely unconscious until it's long over.

Wish me luck!

The Outbreak - Movie Game

I played this online zombie movie game with a co-worker and we tried out every possible choice and outcome. It was pretty fun. It's like Choose Your Own Adventure books, but in movie form.

Check it out!

Twilight Spoof

Omg, this is so funny. I've been obsessing over the Twilight trailers and such lately, and this spoof is really quite entertaining. You might like it too if you've seen the Twilight trailers. Hee hee hee...

A Moment In Time

A moment in time, not frozen, but wet
stands a girl in a dark hooded jacket.
Around her the glorious trees are alight with their colours that signify death.
The rain how it pours, the sky's overcast,
but she stands there alone and unmoving.
The rain how it pours, the poor girl's all wet,
her jacket soaked clings to her skin.

Drip, go the leaves and they rustle in the wind.
Torn off, they swirl pirouettes in the sky.
Slowly, so gently, they fall to the ground
And spin in the puddles of water.

Bright leaves on dark puddles
Dark jacket amongst red,
and yellow, and orange, and green

She stands in the forest, asphalt road running past her
She stands, and she doesn't make a sound.
The rain drums fast sound beats, the leaves drip with water
Raindrop beat their fists 'gainst her head.

The girl is the darkness, surrounded by light
for dark is her moment in life.

--Marie Tai