I don't know about you but this time change is really annoying me. Sure we get more evening daylight but I don't mind early nights, now instead I wake up in the morning to pitch blackness where before I got to wake up to a pleasant sunrise. I haven't been able to get out of bed very well for the past three days because of it so I'm going to have to work extra hard to not hit the snooze button eleventy-four times before getting up.

In other news, Butters has been going to doggie classes and has learned some good things, although I was somewhat disappointed with the amount of things he already knew how to do. However, the teacher at the Marin Humane Society did give a lot of good extra tips and information beyond just how to get a dog to "sit", "stay" or "lay down". Made them a bit more practical. She keeps saying Butters should definitely take her trick class next time but aside from the obvious cost prohibitions I sometimes wonder how much of her is actually impressed and how much is simply gunning for customers.

Here is Butters learning "Bow"

From Puppy

He's a sweet puppy but we still need to work hard on dealing with his alert barking and desire to check out every dog he sees. It's a long process because that tendency is strongly bred into Aussies, so at best we'll learn to control it someday.

Also what do you do with your old calendars? I have this beautiful Japanese wood block print calendar that I've been making into envelopes! It works pretty well, I think.

From Crafts

If anyone wants the template for how to make these, let me know!

Ciao!

Cailin

So, what's been going on in my life. Thanks to the internet not much remains unknown about my usual going's on (especially to those of you on the Facebook), so I sometimes find myself at a loss as to what to write on my Livejournal that you haven't already read. First, have some random internet pictures! First, a word cloud of the most common words in my Livejournal:



Second, a hilarious historical reference using aquatic mammals.




And last, a tattoo I would totally get just for the fun of it.


Oh internet, you make me laugh so.

-Cailin

Now get to work buster!

Not everything needs to get done today, but I'm shooting for 50% or more. :)

1. Get Greg's car smog checked and registered
2. Deposit checks
3. Do lots of laundry
4. Buy 6-volt batteries for smoke detectors, cat litter, cat food, thank you note cards
5. Vacuum house
6. Design Podfitness Workout
7. Go to JCC Gym, check out membership costs (bring 50% off paper)
8. Get Butters vaccinated for Rabies
9. Send in application for dog license
10. Start work on lace shawl again (row 11)
11. Make significant progress on knit-along scarf
12. Write thank you notes for gifts.
13. Fiddle with sewing machine, figure out how the bobbin works.
14. Take out trash, clean trash can

Hey guys I just made up a great new dessert! It's a Sweet and Spicy Mango Sorbet with Lime

Put some Mango sorbet in a bowl (home made or store bought)
Drizzle some honey on top
Add a splash of lime juice
Sprinkle some ground cayenne pepper on top

CONSUME!

It's not too spicy because the sorbet, lime and honey balance the spice very well, it's just a pleasant "heat" at the end, no stinging or crying!

If you try it tell me how you like it! For a healthier alternative, try this same thing on fresh cut mango slices!

-Cailin

How to Be Taken Seriously as an Organization

Step 1. Try to get fish renamed as "sea kittens" to improve their image

Step 2. Make cartoony fluffy website about it to appeal to children and the simple

Step 3. Follow up by suggesting that school officials change Spearfish High School to "Sea Kitten High School"

Way to go PETA!

Now excuse me all this talk of Sea Kittens has made me hungry... for SEA KITTENS!

-Cailin

My mother sent me a forward the other day that totally changed my life!

I had to go into the kitchen and check this out for myself. Whoever looks at the end of your aluminum foil box? You know when you try to pull some foil out and the roll comes out of the box. Then, you have to put the roll back in the box and start over. The darn roll always comes out at the wrong time.

Well, I would like to share this with you. Yesterday, I went to throw out an empty Reynolds foil box and for some reason, I turned it and looked at the end of the box. And, written on the end, it said, Press here to lock end. Right there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in place. How long has this little locking tab been there? I then looked at a generic brand of aluminum foil and it had one, too. I then looked at a box of Saran wrap and it had one, too! I can't count the number of times the Saran wrap roll has jumped out when I was trying to cover something up.

I'm sharing this with my friends. I hope I'm not the only person that didn't know about this.

O_O I checked and it's TRUE! All these years I've been struggling with the tube coming out of the holder and now I am free!

-Cailin

I was just reading my oldest posts from when I was a freshman in college, and it made me really miss going to school. I love learning, and I really enjoyed most of college for that reason. I got to specialize in specific subjects I enjoyed (two dinosaur classes woo hoo!) and got to learn a whole lot of interesting things. I miss the college learning environment some, for sure. Maybe someday I'll take some more classes at the JCC. I'd love to do some more science and art, specifically anything photography related because it is my very favorite art activity.

It's sometimes hard for me to grasp just how much I've changed in the last 5 years, but when I read my old journal entries the change becomes quite pronounced indeed! Aside from subject matter, I've shifted a great deal in my writing style and voice, though you could still easily tell when I'm writing this or that. I feel more boring now, though I'm sure that's just me. ;)

On an unrelated note, Butters has taken to hanging out on the big blue chair with Tashi the cat. It's rather cute, how she tolerates him. It only really works out when Butters is tired enough to relax and stop harassing poor Tashi who just sits there whilst Butters chews on her ears and face. I don't know if I could be quite that tolerant of him so I give her credit for that.

That's all for now I think, take care LJ.

-Cailin

How is your new year going so far? I'm happily knitting away with this gorgeous 100% silk yarn, making my very first Estonian lace shawl. It's lovely. Actually it's my first shawl of any kind so it's an adventure in patience. If you have a Ravelry account you can see what I have so far, and if not I'll be posting pictures of it later when it gets a little bigger.

School starts today, and I find myself with mixed feelings. I'm happy to have something to do outside of the house, but I'm also very fond of my vacation time and it's a bit sad to see that go. Ah, well.

I'd like to be able to visit my parents soon, but that might have to wait until the Spring or even the Summer when I have enough time off to make the trip. It's an 11 hour drive one-way, so we have to plan that kind of thing pretty carefully. I still remember our insane last-minute trip to Las Vegas, so I'm not that eager to go for a day-long car ride very soon. But, I miss my folks so that's really the only option considering how expensive air-travel is now. *le sigh* Why did they have to move so far away?

Well that's enough procrastinating I think, time to do laundry.

-Cailin

I cannot believe it is merely Wednesday. At least tomorrow is Thursday (also known as Friday Eve, my personal weekly holiday) and also the awesome Christmas party! I am ever so excited, especially since pinning down a day on which most people could attend was a bit difficult! My birthday is on Sunday SUNDAY sunday, and at the moment I have no plans. I'm hoping to at least be over most of the cold. I am so very tired of waking up in the middle of the night and then again at 5-6am unable to breathe. Congestion sucks. Anyway, time for Chinese food. :D

-Cailin

Now I'm beginning to think this is just a really bad cold instead of the flu. They are so similar sometimes it's hard to tell but oh well we'll see how I feel tomorrow. Today is more of a stuffed-up sore throat kind of day, and I'm hoping that my sinuses will feel better soon. Should I call my boss today if I'm not sure if I'm coming in tomorrow so she can find a sub for that day? Probably, right?

Anyway... I thought it might be nice to open the comments box a bit and see what if anything you guys have to say about anything! Anonymous posting is on so I'd like you to be as honest as you can be about whatever you want to say. Is there anything you want to say to me, about the journal or about your own life that you've been holding back? Consider this your personal invitation to share.

Peace.

-Cailin

Mmm won ton soup. Man this day has been pretty crappy. I have what I think is a strain of the flu, complete with chills and fever. Fever broke in the afternoon, but I'm still very achy, lethargic and congested. Blah. How long does the flu last? I'm doing everything I can to control the symptoms, but this is what I get for not getting a flu shot when I work in a school am I right? Oh well...

I finished some knitting today, a little blue cell phone cozy. It's silly but fun to make. My cell phone doesn't need to be cozy but it was a neat little project to learn a couple new things like special bind offs, sewing pieces together and button holes. Need t buy a button to finish it but obviously I'm not quite up to it right now. Maybe I can ask Marie to bring poor sick me a button from her store. :P

I'm not the only sick puppy here today... Butters is having a hard time recovering from his neutering at the same time, vomiting and having diarrhea for the last two days (Oops too much information perhaps), but now we have him on medications to help him out and he's feeling better, though he's never lost his joyful happy energy, which makes me feel better about the whole situation.

Since both Butters and I are sick (and Butters needs regular meds and little bits of food) I decided to stay home instead of going to the Laabs family Christmas party this year, which I'm a bit sad about. I hope they're having a good time with the festivities and pirate gift exchange... but it's good that I didn't go because I know no one would like to be around a sick person like me right now.

Well, time to rest up and get well as fast as possible.

Ciao
Cailin

Tolerance in different forms can be both a virtue and a hindrance. Tolerating the slow conversation with a stutterer for example is a kindness, where as tolerating a rabid badger on your arm is, to put it nicely, quite foolish. So I find myself wondering when it comes to the irritating behavior of others, is tolerance a virtue? I was raised to believe that tolerance was for people who couldn't help themselves or didn't know any better (like children) but that most people DID know better and did not deserve to have their rude or otherwise poor behavior accepted or tolerated. Even in the case of sheer ignorance and stupidity there was the sheen of disdain for such people who had the opportunity to move beyond ignorance and value knowledge and chose instead to remain dim. A bit harsh, perhaps, but this was the way the world was explained and demonstrated to me.

Now, how much of this is well grounded reasoning versus libertarian rhetoric? (not to imply to two cannot at time be the same thing, mind you). I have cases in my life where I can observe people acting in a way which I feel is immature and quite frankly a bit ridiculous. The immaturity is probably what bothers me most because there are certain societal standards by which we adults are expected to align ourselves (most of the time) particularly in our dealings with others. We are expected not to throw tantrums, to express our feelings with words, to share, to be polite, and these qualities are in large part considered to be that of a "good person". Sadly, we all have examples in our lives where we've observed people acting in the completely opposite way. Adults behaving badly are much worse than children because they ought to know better. I get angry when I see this happening, especially when the behavior hurts people I care about. (My adopted sister for example is an excellent case study of such things).

I wish I could tell people bluntly to stop acting as children do when they don't like a situation. Adults don't run from their problems or divert the responsibility to others. They do what is necessary to make things right even if that means being uncomfortable by facing fears or accepting responsibility. It's what maturity means to me, at least. And I cannot respect a person who consistently fails to show a basic grasp of this concept. Am I being unfair? I don't think so but then again I'm very much for owning your situation, and believing that most people are in control of their behavior enough to behave civilly to one another and that for these people there is no excuse for selfish childlike behavior.

/rant

-Cailin

Holy Computerized Sewing Machine Batman! Early birthday present ahoy!

Wow this thing looks pretty awesome, I'm going to have to really get all up in the manual for a while before I even attempt to put the thing together. So far I've only sewn one thing with the help of my mother, but it wasn't horribly difficult and I have sewing friends and family who can tutor me when the need arises. Who would have thunk I'd get so excited at getting a sewing machine for my birthday? Go figure.

What should I sew first? I need some beginner projects to hone my sewing skillz.

Ciao
Cailin

Generalized update:

Greg and I spent Thanksgiving with the Laabs side of the family, about 2 hours south of home. I made my first ever cranberry sauce and I think it went over really well, which made me very happy to hear. Even some of the folks who didn't usually like cranberry sauce enjoyed it which I think is quite an accomplishment. ( Recipe beneath the cut... )

Maybe next year I'll get to do the mashed potatoes? I hear adding just a touch of walnut oil makes them really quite special. We shall have to experiment!

Thanksgiving itself was nice, though I got a bit nauseous on the ride back (windy road, you see). It's nice to get together to eat for the holidays, though I see most of them so often it's not quite the same as when I get together with my own family which only really sees each-other on special occasions. Will write more later.

-Cailin

Just finished playing around a little with a new craft idea for decorating boring white envelopes.

From Crafts

Shown in order of creation. The light one was too light, the dark one was too dark and the last one was juuuust right. Will experiment more.

These envelopes are made by basically mixing some soap, sugar, water and food coloring together then blowing bubbles in a cup. When the bubbles rise above the brim you just tap the envelope lightly on them and voila! Bubble texture! I only had one color so I was somewhat limited so I hope to try it out with other colors sometime too. Here's the official recipe:

1 tsp dish soap
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup water
About 10 drops of food coloring

mix together till sugar is dissolved, stick straw in cup and blow! Once the envelope is dry you can do other colors too. This also works for making bubble stationary as well.

Yay crafts!

-Cailin

Washed the two cats the other day after giving them a very serious brush down. They are very soft and fluffy now and have almost no hair coming off them (because I took it all haha!). I used the puppy shampoo for a change, and now they smell faintly of flowers. Or strong potpourri. They were not happy cats that day.

Butters has yet to have/need a bath, but I look forward to an interesting experience sometime in the near future. For now I've been focusing on obedience, behavioral and some agility training with him, very basic things like jumping over hurdles, going through tunnels, and the usual sit/stay stuff. Stay is the hardest one so far, I think it's a two person job so I have to remember to snag Greg or someone else sometime to help me out.

Greg, Butters and I walked to the store yesterday, and the pet shop people were very sweet to Butters who is usually pretty nervous there. One of the cashiers even bought him a present (a veggie chewing bone that he has already eaten half of) and a customer bought him a small package of liver treats. Why don't I get random gifts when I'm in the store? It's not fair. :) Anyway Butters seemed to have a good time and is getting progressively more confident with each outing. Socialization is hard work! This breed is naturally cautious too so we have that to overcome as well but Butters is very friendly in his home environment once he settles down.

He's lost quite a few teeth this week, and I'm sure he's in the process of losing more. Still, even though I know it's happening it's distressing to see blood all over his toys when he first loses a tooth. Gross! I give Butters ice cubes and he enjoys licking them and pushing them around on the carpet because they slide quite easily. It's pretty cute. He's still got a bit of growing to do, probably peaking at around 10 months he'll be his final size and weight. Right now he's still small, and weighs about 10.5 lbs. Amazing! His brother is turning out to be full sized though and weighs a hefty 21 lbs. He's the big brother, I guess. :)

Ciao

From Puppy

I'd like to share something special with you. It's one of my favorite poems by Robert Frost:


I found myself thinking about this poem today, with Fall curling the leaves and whisking them away, the days growing dark and Spring so far away... Frankly it made me feel rather melancholy. It made me think about the cycle of life, specifically about the last part: death and dying. I don't see many people talk about this inevitable part of life very much, especially if they aren't personally faced with the possibility. Why is it we so often wait till the end to address this elephant in the room. We are all going to die someday.

( More on lessons from the dying... )

-Cailin