The Zoo

I went to the zoo with my sister yesterday and it was a blast. I still can't get over the fact that I can hang out with my sister any time I want. For the last eight years, I have kept myself silent about wanting my sister and her family to move to Birmingham, but it wasn't until this year that God finally moved them back...to stay...I hope. :)

Anyway, it was my sister, her 2 year-old (A), a little girl (B) she is keeping a few days a week, Ham and me. My sister's 2 year-old truly believes she knows what's best for Ham. She will feed her (sometimes forcibly), give her a sippy cup and push her stroller like a champ. Sometimes, the outcome is pretty funny. Sometimes, we have to intervene.

One funny moment was when we were in the monkey house (appropriate, no?) and little "A" went over to Ham, shoved Ham's sippy cup in her mouth and said, "Here." Before Ham could take a sip, "A" had taken it away and said, "OK, you're done." Things like this go on non-stop when these two are together. Thankfully, Ham was too tired to protest anything that was done to her. She was a dream. She was up at 8 and didn't go down for a nap until 1PM. I was really surprised. If she was at home, she'd be pitching a royal fit. Not that I would blame her. Five hours is a long time for a 10-mos-old to be up.

The zoo is OK. I mean, they have just about anything you could want to look at. However, we haven't seen the elephants, rhinos, or hippos in a while. Also, I wish they would do something about habitats always being 'under construction' or 'renovated.' Thank goodness the zoo doesn't charge me for Ham, but when we go, we'd like to at least see a bear or two. That's another animal I haven't seen in at least two years at the zoo.

We actually made it on time to see the seals being fed. OK, one seal being fed and doing tricks, the other seal was laying in the sun and I swear it didn't move the entire time. I really thought something was wrong with it or that it was dead. I hate to say that, but seriously, the seal didn't move at all that I could see.

It was a cute show. The seal reminded me of a big, water-drenched dog.... Without big ears. Or paws. Or a tail. OK, so they aren't much like dogs, but the do bark!!

W/out our Internet for a week!

Ok, so it's been too long since I've written. I hate when I go this long because then you feel like you have to cover everything to play catch-up. I'm not going to do that. I'll just tell you some basics and then get on with it.

I have created two new pieces of art. One of which is Here:

I created an etsy.com account McTigerlily and am going to list this piece at a rather high price because, let's face it, when we create something we like, most of the time, we don't want it to sell. Perhaps I should be embarrassed for the price. However, I will say that I used some rather 'different,' luxurious materials to make it more interesting.

The stars are made out of Aurora Borealis Swarovski crystals and the eggs are six white freshwater pearls. I even calculated how much those embellishments would cost on their own and it was around $10. So, add a few dollars for the vintage wooden knobs for apples and the labor of love and I think $60ish isn't that bad of a price. However, it's only like, 7x6." It may sell one day, it may not. That's OK.

I've been doing some really fun stuff, creatively. I have made a few stamps. One is a little bird sitting on a vine and the other is my signature faerie that I've been drawing since I was 13 years-old. I'll have to post pictures of those later because our Internet is down and I'm having to use a wireless connection and I can't get on my computer to download the images.

That's been rough. It sucks to be looking at your computer, thinking of all the places you want to surf and all the important things you want to do like playing free poker advancing your career as an artist and not be able to do anything about it at the moment.

It's amazing how much we rely on the Internet(s) these days. We've tapped into an unsecured wireless connection from a neighbor (not illegal, btw...I don't think) and it's a pretty weak signal, but strong enough to get online every now and then. I find myself looking at the bars saying, "Come on, baby. Come on. YES!! Three bars! Connect, connect!" Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

On a different note, Ham is teething. I really, really, think she's teething this time. LOL. She has been chewing on things since she was 3 months old and we have had some false alarms, but now she really does have ALL the signs. She is drooling like CRAZY. I'm not talking a little spit on a block she's devouring, OH NO! I'm talking, when she's crawling from Point A to Point B, drool pours out of her mouth. She seems pretty surprised by it sometimes. That's the price of teething a little later than most babies.

Another thing is that this morning she began sneezing a lot. Her nose is runny (oh joy) and that is another sign. The last sign is not so lovely...as if the others are.... It's the other runny end that is getting to me.

BTW, why is it like that? I mean, the kid is going to be in at least some discomfort already with the teeth busting through tender gums, so why do we now have to treat chaffed skin on her butt, nose, and chin because of all the runny, sloppy, icky stuff that comes along with teething? Poor girl.

Welp, I have a lot to blog, but I'll start another post later. I don't want this one to be too random.