Holey Smokes!

Wow, has it been so long? Feel kinda like Sleepy Hollow Meets Red Bull.
Been building planting beds, installing bathrroom faucets, drip irragation systems, canning, weeding, gardening, and a whole lot more! Kinda sleepy after a busy day, but promise to update photos and the blog!

Hmmm!

The comments area is messed up. Whenever I tried to comment back to Vandal, it'd kick me out to the logon space.
Hey V! TiVo is easy if you know what a WEP is...which I didn't...Then. LOL! Does Rabbia need her tiller back? I can borrow a truck and bring it down if she needs it or wants it. I'd take photos of the space I've been working on except the camera battery is toast and can't afford to replace it. Oh well, maybe someday, no big deal.

Hey hey hey

I haven't been here in a while! Hi Sis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sis knows where I have been, and i guess she's been pretty busy, as she usually is. Rabbia works very very hard all the time, then she has her beautiful Littles and the two Meows.
I've been doing stuff for Baby Girl, her driving stuff, helping out my mom and dad, working on a few things and the yard ( hey SIs, I cleaned all the stuck on grass and strings out of the blades of your tiller and used it again the other day. Joe gave it a tuneup, kinda, you had a clogged fuel line and he flushed it out so it starts right away now. J said he'd look into getting me the wood and/pr stones so I can actually start setting the garden up. He said he wondered why I hadn't planted anything. I told him cuz I want to have the planting boxes in first, so it looks nice. I'm thinking of planting sweet woodruff around the front apple tree, or maybe begonias. So long as I plant them directly around the tree in the existing dirt, I don't have to worry about choking the tree roots of oxygen. Have the TiVo working, thanks to Javi.

Kinda Busy, Kinda Not

As the title says, LOL. Spoke with Sis for a bit online, but she got busy. Cleaned teh kitchen a foyer floors, killed the herd of dustbunnies and their offspring behind the computer and tv, and the colony of gigantic daddy longlegs on the biggest web I've seen in a long time which was also hiding behind the equipment and attached to the back of my herb cabinet. Made Japanese Oyaku-donburi ( chicken and egg on rice, with shiitake and onions), made a lemon cake, and decided to make scones with Orange Craisins, which turned out pretty good.
Hooked up the pv to tv converter, Javi brought over some audio cables and an audio splitter so I could hear my movies as well as see them on the tv without having to use just the puter speakers.

Its Tuesday or something

Spent alot of time fixing things with my computer today, and it appears that the best solution may very well be to transfer all the things I want to keep onto discs and perhaps even in a specific folder in my new 500 GB portable drive then breaking the thing down back to ground zero. You know, dump some of the stuff Baby Girl or Sparky or I have imported that wasn't run thru the scans first. I scan everything, but Sparky and Baby don't. I asked my baby girl if she was scanning everything and she had a blank look on her face, so the answer was no obviously. Sparky doesn't use the computer much, so he had no idea, probably still doesn't.
I finally figured out ( Thanks to Javi) that I CAN use the built in programs this Vaio came with with minimal outside invasions ( if cautious) to do the mundane things...like...SAVE MY DVD COLLECTION, LOL. True, if anyone breaks in ( once they get past everything, including me, the vid feeds, locate where I stashed the digital recorders and backup lines, where the alarm trips are, the panels and so forth, heh heh. good luck finding them, and if a burglar does, good luck trying to break into or damage the access panels or getting to the breakers before the 5-0 shows up...okay, you get the point. It'd be too much hassle and not enough time. They could probably grab the computer and run like heck, but I'd still get a nice video of them doing it, and where they entered ( pick one, its all covered) the road, the car, whatever. Between Sparky being an electrician and me with cctv, either video, digital or fiber optics...it's just the regular computer every day functions I have to learn better, LMAO. I know MY aspect of those things. Javi has been showing me the everyday.omg-u-r-such-a-bonehead parts. You know, the: " Oooohhhhh. You mean the signal gets bounced thru the av relays?" and his, " Yes, click here." But then again, Sis, Javi is FAST on the board. ( and I thought YOU had flying fingertips!!) He goes so fast the computers ( his, mine, whoevers') has to catch up.
So between "that" made a couple of loaves of onion bread, a tuna casserole, Japanese chicken and rice soup, re0caulked a tub seam that cracked and cut back the lemon verbena.
Gave a loaf of the bread to Javi as thanks ( he came to fix my prob but by the time he got here, I'd fixed it. Took me all day, but then again,I was doing other things as well. So he downloaded a bunch of stuff I needed to update things that I hadn't just because I didn't know what they meant or entailed. My scanner hasn't been working right for a while, so I think tomarrow, I will remove it and re-install ot from the all in one startup disc. Used to work, but I haven't used it in a very long time. Tried it the other day and it wasn't working right. Oh well.

Wow, been a while...lol

Okay, not that anyone honestly notes my absence, but that's okay, its the way we all are anyways, lol. Out of sight, out of mind.
Starving kitty is less starved looking. It is still and extraordinarily ugly cat, but has a very sweet but incautious nature. Perhaps not incautious since it appears to have been shut in a building or garage somewhere and starved. It would run from Baby Girl and me for some time until we fed it up enough. She has some meat on her bones now and has a very unusual series of meows...she has a stuttering meow, sounds like static interrupting and audio signal. She has the pitch changing meow...she starts at one tone and it goes up like a boy going thru voice changing. She has a meow that sounds like she's a singer going, "ah ah ah ah ah" in staccato. Then she has one that combines some of the above. Unusual. Baby has been calling her Bacon, have no idea why. Her ribs are finally filling in, and although one can still feel her backbone, it cannot be seen at a glance with the naked eye any longer. I have no idea who this other cat is...I dread my backyard turning into a feeding station, dammit. A new cat, long haired, grey tabby looking thing, came by and apparently the starved kitty knows it well enough that they were rubbing faces. This other one is very very well fed, so who knows. Maybe starved has worms? Have no idea. Starved also has odd conformation, her back leg bones looked mildly damaged or perhaps deformed, theres a weird hink to them.Eh, who knows.
Been busy with the recently passed holidays with baking up the whazoo, candle and soap making for gifts, and such. Went to mom and dad's to clean for a few days. My sister ( genetic) is apparently having a cow over something no one thought would be a problem once we found out we did something. Sister gave mom some copper baking molds. Mom never used them, later had a stroke and FORGOT where she got them, she only knew she had found them in a box and gave them to me. Point being, she FORGOT where she got them. Otherwise she never would have given them to me, because we all know that is how my birth sis is. ANyways, sister saw the one I used on Turkey got Shot day and had a cow. Over a series of time since turkey day until current day and still going. She cancelled xmas gathering. Been harassing the folks over it and making our mother cry often. I UPS'ed the doggone things. Dad said he thinks I sent too many. I'm sure I did. I think I sent some that she had given me as gifts over the years that I never used either, just huhg on the wall. Funny thing is, I can't remember, and I ususally can. R said she wanted the stuff she had given over the years "back", so I did. Hope it shuts her up. I never could abide seeing our mother cry, and she cried alot when I was there over this. Telling me to stop this "fight", but until dad called me about it, I had no idea there was a problem at all, and I surely didn't start this, but I guess we've all gotten used to jumping thru hoops for birth sister, such a drama queen, and she wonders where her son gets it...

It's Late...

Well, been a busy gal making candles and cooking and whatnot. Sparky took a week off so we did a lot of driving around and hanging out. I needed more wax, so we hit the shop and Sparky bought the wax for me. What I didn't think about was that I need more sealant putty, doggoneit. LOL.
Made "loaded" candles using those molds I made from energy drink cans, which incidentally work VERY well. Just make sure if you try it to cut the curved upper crimp off or the wax won't unmold after, smaller diameter and all that, the same sized commercial molds run over $15.00 each, these cost the drink price, and I would have drunk the things anyways. I imagine the larger cans would make awesome fat pillars, but who needs a majick candle that fat anyways? Maybe Bette Midler...hmmm, LOL. Made purple, loaded and plain, rose red, and today made a mess of black candles...must for negativity elimination! Cutting up the rest for later was a chore...but its done, bagged and labled. Starving kitty was so happy with her half a big can of tuna that she was SNARFING. And I mean, she was making a snarf sounding noise, eating, growling in pleasure and purring all at once...oh, and trying to breathe. Was weird, interesting, but weird. Marinated the chicken within an inch of any other dead chickens' life, went to the market for kitty chow. only to have Sparky ( thoughtful of him) bring home a humungeous bag later. The day before scrubbed the kitchen floor to death, only to muck it up a bit in the candle making process, LOL! My dear heart got me a nice electric blanket since I am in the LR until he stops or lessens his snoring and was freezing my patootie off, not to mention my feet. I had some serious layering going on and was STILL cold! When I got real bad I'd invade the bedroom and since Sparky is like a furnace, warm my toes on him. So long as he has SOME warning, it isn't too bad a shock to his system, or so he says. But I have learned that he does NOT like me to park my frozen tooties on his bum or "boys", never mind both are more than adequate for coverage! And he gets overheated anyways...so got a plug in blankie...Shelby was on the half I turned on the first night, had to turn the OTHER side on just to get her to shift over! She toasts her tummy, then does one side and then the other! Its funny, when I turn it on to warm up, she jumps right up there. Tonight Bailey discovered it, the took over the top part that I had folded over and where each sprawled out across it! Gave Starved Kitty a nother fuzzy blanket and fluffed it up a bit so she could burrow in to stay warm. Bailey still hisses at her like a hellcat when she sees Starved One through the patio door, she'd try to kill the poor thing. And putting a electric throw out there for her would be a bad idea, leaves, outdoors, unattended...see?
Baby Girl had some puter issues when trying to print out her homework today, so since Javier was closer than my dearest sister I called and he came over to find out what the prob was. First, I had way too much running that didn't need to be on startup AND in the system tray. And the processor program Baby Girl was using was the tester model that came with the computer and the test time limit had expired, so it wasn't working anymore. I usually use the windows version on this pc, but apparently my daughter was using a Works version. The program, being basically a dead duck, had locked everything up. Javier dumped it and got everything back in order, cleaned up a few things, and he's gonna see whats up with Daniel's laptop. He thinks its a simple thing, like Baby's friend when he was given that laptop was given the wrong powercord. He has a universal that will fit, so he's gonna try and see. He also is going to give me an extra controller so I can return the one I just bought for the pc to play the really old games my son gave me, like Breath of Fire! When I return the controller I bought I can stop by to get my wick sealant putty too.
Javier says he wants to learn how to make soap, so he's coming over tomarrow to learn the first two easier methods, rebatching and glycerin. I'm not doing the hot or cold processes until I get a digital scale. I SOOO don't want to burn anyone with incorrect lye measurements. ( the "good old days" must have sucked in this)
urgh.Tired. Frozen feet. No other reason to stay up, so I'm outies.

Starved Kitty

She is much better today. Yesterday she groomed herself for the first time, which is a good sign. Today she ran up to meow and rear up to headbutt us, she hadn't seen Sparky yet, so she stayed, but she was meowing, with her tail all bushy, LOL.
She's still all bones and fur, but the fact that she can move around without staggering or weaving, that she has energy and bright clear eyes is a good sign, Guess she isn't diseased after all. Her eyes are nice and clear and her nose hasn't run since I shoved the peppermint under her whiskers and she sneezed out whatever that was that went flying.
She still sleeps alot, but she's still so very thin, her energy reserves will be limited and low for some time, and she needs time to get some flesh restored on her, much less any fat. Sparky was asking why I had Baby give her tuna (people tuna), I told him the cat has no fat on her to help her energy levels and to keep warm, it takes alot of energy to generate warmth. Baby said, " Did you see how she snarfed down that tuna?"

SOOOOOoooooooooooo BORED

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Was supposed to be my turn to get nipped yesterday, but Sparky commendeered it. So I am taking tonight, but ot isn't the same since I can't drink since I will be by myself and driving, which blows. Too bad Josh is so far away. We could get the night scopes and track stuff. Oh well, or get blitzed, but if Josh was here, Sparky wouldn't let us go off to be blitzed, he thinks me and Josh do the horizontal mambo, which is silly. Or else he'd go drinking with us and I'd wind up the designated driver anyways. Sick of being the driver. Maybe I'll get blitzed at Jaime's, shoot a few games if in the mood and crash at Rabbia's later. OR go to that Italian joint and shoot there. I dunno. FI.

Making candle molds

Today I decided to make candle molds. When I was a girl, we made candles out of whatever we had that we could get the candles out of, that usually meant we sawed a block of parafin wax and laid a wick in the middle and sealed it back up. Or we used soup cans and to get the candles out we put them in a hot water bath, or we dipped. which is very tedious.
I have lots of votive molds, a few shaped plastic molds that clip shut like a candy mold. A few pillar molds, a nice stout pillar and a nice 2.5 inch round pillar, the kind you get for "cheater" spell candles, but I want a narrower diameter one since those work just as well, and less wax, less sinkholes. So I cut off the tops of narrow energy drink cans, then used a sanding whell to burr out the rough edges, then sanded the sharp out of them, then turned them over ( they have that nice cupped base, makes a nice candle top) and drilled a wick hole in them. So now I have four more candle molds. Yes, they are thin aluminum, but a little mold release and they should be fine. If they work out, I will make more. It sort of "blows " to make candles and have to make one or two because that's all the molds you have in the size you want. Sure, I can make votives up the whazoo, they work too.
But I sure want to make some pre-loaded spell candles specific for certain tasks.
I won't have any more time today for candlemaking, but perhaps tomarrow.
Wish I had a digital scale. And a blender stick. I want to try soap in the hot process method instead of cold process or rebatched. MUST be very careful with measuring the lye accurately or else you can get pockets of lye that burn you, and if it gets in your eyes, that's it. Permanently blind.
Well, last night made japanese sukiyaki with rice, tonight will be roasted beef with leftover rice and salad. What remains of hte roast will be sliced for hot roast beef sandwhiches tomarrow OR steak salad with walnuts and Greek dressing. Or maybe Gyros even, dunno yet.