I Have a Studio Sorta

If you've ever talked to me, you'll hear reference of me working in the The Studio. When I say it, I don't know if people think of this state of the art room with an electric feeling. It could be a dark burgundy room with leather furniture a great mahogany desk and photos of geese flying around. Or it could be a bay house like room with white washed walls and furniture with a sea shore inspired decor. When I think of it, it's a place wear magic happens. It can be a library fit for the Biltmore Estate to an open room dance studio with graffiti on the walls, tray ceiling and a huge table in the middle. This was The Studio.
Well, the studio was a room with a futon, a love seat I got from somebody, and a magazine rack my parents gave me. That's it. It did look better with seat/futon covers but Ciara's fur became a blanket on everything. Once I washed everything, I never put it back on. After sitting on the floor until my legs got numb from sitting Indian style and having back spasms from being hunched over, I had to get off the floor!
My studio is now in the never entered guest bedroom.

Can you believe I've never been to Cape Hatteras? I'm saving that trip to go with somebody special!

My mother painted the one in the corner on wood. Dad did the trim. Ain't they sweet!

Hair, The Boogie Man & Quilts, Photography

I washed my hair. I have a few SLs that are pretty much not my favorites because they hang longer than the rest of them. I will ask Ayana if something can be done about these.
I bought a quilt. Thank you Dad for this solution to baking under my comforter at night. Who also probably remembers my fear of the Boogie Man. As most of you already know, you have to be covered while sleeping in order to protect yourself from the Boogie Man. A sheet will work, but the heavier the fabric the better. I felt like the sales lady at Dillards understood this too because she said, "I have to have something on me at night."

I was also introduced to the coverlet. I quickly turned my nose up to Mr. Coverlet the same way I did Ms. Duvet when I saw the price. I could not justify buying a duvet is priced about $10 less than the comforter. Maybe people buy the plain white down comforters more than I think. I stood there imagining how ridiculously difficult it has to be to shimmy a comforter into a duvet. Sounds too much like work to me. The duvet could be used as a quilt/coverlet, but that's not its purpose. The coverlets were solid with decorative stiching, but putting a solid color on the bed seemed too plain for me. The quilts were - well quilts and had the ugliest designs ever. After two weeks of searching in store and online, I came up with this set at Sears. Yummy yellow. I will miss you Blue/White.

My camera isn't picking up this yellow and it's blurry. See how the yellow toss pillows look differently on these two pictures. I even took a picture of the yellow from the foot of bed like with the blue set and it's still blurry. Any suggestions are welcomed.

Crown Victoria - Villianne Blue

Meet the Blue Crown Victoria. Her name hasn't been decided. She might turn out to be a guy. I could call her Vicky Veil, Victoria, Villianne, Vivica, Vivian, Veronica and the rest of her name will be Love Blue or Blue Love. Villianne Blue. She's an 88 Crown Victoria. Her problem is that she needs a power steering belt, some anit-freeze, and an oil change for good measure. My neighbors were all out so I couldn't take the red pumps and booty shorts pictures on the hood.

Villianne has a simple beauty right now. She has all her parts. What she needs is a bath and a really nice pair of shoes. Her factory rims are a size 15. I think maybe a modest 18 or 20 will be perfect for her.

Ben

Being a biology major, I hate killing things. Ben you came into our lives and now you are gone. Please see my blog Blah for more information on Ben. I really was glad to catch Ben and was hoping he would have just his paws stuck so maybe he could get free and run to the woods. He looked so sweet and innocent. Sorta like Squeak's stillborne children. Squeak's real name was Virginia Lynette and she was a guinea pig.

How to catch a mouse. Get these sonic waves and plug them into the wall. Find the hole and plug it with steel wool. Then put down glue traps near the hole and around the baseboards of the area of high activity.

Ciara alerted me to our finding with a new type barking that I have never heard before. Which could only mean. 'Get down here right now. We got Ben!' She was rewarded with a handsome piece of sesame chicken.

I will play Ben tomorrow on my way to work. And yes I am crying over little fellow.

Update: That Michael Jackson could so beautifully as a little boy. He had a very strong voice. Blackrussian77 commented on the 'morbid' pictures of dead Ben which sparked me to add a few more words to this blog.

Having something unknown living in your house is scarey. I don't know where he came from, when he's leaving, or if he is actually a bunch of them. I really didn't know how big Ben was going to be. If he had rabies and inch long teeth. Then I didn't know how he was going to look on the glue trap. I was expecting him to just have his feet stuck, squeaking curses, and spitting venom. Or he would jump off, attack me to the point that I wouldn't be able to move. I wanted everyone to see how a mouse on a glue trap looks so they won't be scared if they ever have a mouse in the house.

Laser Hair Removal, Fake Plants & Cow Roping

After getting my laser hair removal for my face and chest hairs I went to Garden Ridge and Home Depot. I got a push broom and some hideously bright plants. I had roaster cones/ice cream cones last year and I think two may come back. Hell, I'm tired of buying plants so I got some fake ones to put in the pots. I do have two begonias that came back in the front yard = yippy.

The lady zapped my upper lip. Talk about hurt but her technique was good that it didn't last long after the zap. I haven't had my lip done since the first session. Today was my fifth time and I have four more sessions. The next one is August 8th. I love being smooth. I go to Ideal Image which are everywhere. The package includes full face, neck, and breast bone for 9 sessions. Does it work. Yes. I would never gotten a digital camera if I was still looking like Wolfman Jack.

I think I'll practice my cow roping on Ciara.

Parents

So my father called so I could claim his phone. At first I thought he won a phone, but he left it at the farmer's market. Which is a straight shot from my house about 10 minutes out. I was sorta hot that they didn't even call to let me know they were in town. They do this all the time, though.

Earlier today I was at Bojangles and this lady left her purse. I took it to the counter and the manager said he couldn't do lost and found because of liabilities. At least put it near the counter where somebody could keep a watch on it. But he asked me if I could put it back where I found it. I did and as I was leaving the cashier asked this white lady if she had left her purse. Umm. I was thinking, why be concerned now and then tell somebody who just walked up to the counter about a missing purse. Boo. Hiss. So, I said, "She's a black lady." They all looked at me and I said, "The lady who left the purse is a black lady." I just wanted to take the purse and try to find the lady myself, but I figured she would be coming back for it soon.

That brings me to my father. Since I could take the purse to the lady, I took the phone to my father. We sat outside and I tried like hell to dig a piece of my mona lisa plant up. Raymond Byers of Richmond, VA gave me this plant for my 22 birthday - which will be 3 years ago on my next birthday, exactly three years. They gave me a bulb some time ago and I tried my best to get it to grow. So, I was digging like Ciara and still couldn't get a good bulb out. So I just broke off a piece. Hopefully it'll root. I have been rooting pieces of plants and potting them and so today I took the time to repot them. Grow babies.

The Patio II

Eight bags of lava rock. Eight bags of lava rock. I have a problem with accepting help and asking for it in general. I mentioned it to Route 66 before and he said he would help. Today when he came over I was going to ask him when he had time to help. Instead I listened to context clues like him having lunch with his daughter. He keeps her with the help of his family. That means if I have children with him and I die, they'll be in good hands. I took this bottom picture because I wanted to see what my neighbors had going on in their backyard. I didn't want to stop and stare. I just held the camera in that direction and blindly to the shot. Call it nosey. I know at one time they had some lava rock down but used some el'cheapo mesh with itty bitty holes. I'm sad for them. The husband is disabled and can barely walk. I got some Avon stuff from her - toe rings, anklets, bracelets. I ended up getting Shine - Avon stuff - from a lady who owns an Avon shop. It's hard to pick a fragrance in the department store. How am I supposed to pick one from reading the description? I would be hot if a grass/weed came through my lava rock. I know what 46-48 bags of lava rock feels like. And don't worry all the lava rock will look the same.

The Patio

This really doesn't need words. One side looks really good and you can see Ciara's muscles. I'm going to do the lava rock around the heat pump and to the gate. I don't know about the walk way right now. To keep the lava rock off the walk way I will be using those decorative bricks - there are two by the gate. Last year all my pots/planters were full. I had roster cones/ice cream cones, bleeding hearts, and a sweet potato plant - they're dead. If you look through the fence - my neighbor has a lawn mower. I'm just jealous - but look at the tiny little patch of grass.

Lava Rocks and the Patio

After work I went to Lowes and decided to resume work on my backyard. Pushing lava rock is no easy task. So far it's coming along nicely, but I have a few more bags of rock to get. Rome wasn't built in one day. A neighbor took this picture for me.

After getting a few compliments that I don't deserve, I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that this is not my yard by far. I posted this picture for those who have seen my yard, detailed drawings of it, and have heard my stories of lugging 30 some bags of lava rock into my yard. My yard is a slab of concrete about 8x20 ft and a grassy patch 7x23 ft. NOTHING. At one point I was weed eating the little patch of grass and turning my dogs arms and legs green up to the brown part. Then I had to rake up the grass. I got tired by the time I made a pile. The next time I went out - that area was dead. Oh, I tried planting some flowers and that didn't come out too good either. And of course crying and completely abandoning the yard altogether for almost a year. After all my blood, sweat, and tear -literally, they say my yard should look something like this picture.

My Parents, The Bathroom, My Toy

If toys for adults bother you, then skip to the second paragraph. I think my mom saw one of my toys. I forgot it was in the bathroom drawer. When I saw it I immediatedly closed the drawer and looked at her eyes. Her eyes were down like they were looking at my toy. But, she didn't respond with wide eyes or questions. I'll just block the whole incident and pretend like it never happened.

We were in the bathroom to fix it up with some yellow. I got some yellow bordered, little tin trays (6 for $1 at the yard sale) and hung them up on the walls, then filled some yellow hand painted glasses (4-$2) with clear beads and put some artificial flowers in two of them and cotton balls in the others. One round tapered clear vase has various yellow beads and a large candle. Then the one my dad created is a rectangular vase with various blue beads. He was in charge of cutting the bouquet of flowers into smaller sections which left a few stems. He put them in his vase. After coiling one stem and bending a few they actually look cute. Somewhere in there we had dinner and went to Sam's which doesn't take Visa.

Today was the first day my parents saw my hair. My dad didn't say anything and my mom loved it. My aunt saw it too and she wants some too. And I washed my hair again today.

This is the reason I can't buy a camera.