Incoherent Scribblings

Frog and Bee Biscornu
by Casey Buonaugurio (freebie)
March 15, 2008-March 30, 2008
28 Count Hand-Dyed Turquoise and Pink Monaco
DMC Fibers

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In stitching frogs aren’t usually something fun, but I specifically invited these frogs to help me make this springy little biscornu.

Molly and Her Jungle Red Toenails
Originally uploaded by blondelibrarian

When I adopted Dolly and Molly last summer in addition to regularly trimming their nails, I immediately started training them to use a scratching post instead of my furniture when they felt the need to sharpen their toenails.

My method for doing this was pretty simple. When they attempted to sharpen their toenails on my furniture I would firmly tell them “no” and physically move them to the scratching post. When we were at the scratching post I would then place their front paws on post and rub their feet on the post so they got the idea they were allowed to scratch it.

It actually didn’t take too long for them to realize that the scratching post was the preferred place to scratch because whenever I observed them scratching the post instead of my furniture I would make a fool of myself and lavish praise upon them. As a result, they began scratching the furniture less and less and the scratching post more and more.

However, even though they weren’t tearing up my furniture with their toenails I still had a slight problem: They were tearing me up when they would play and the scratching post wasn’t doing much good when they would chase each other around the house and use those nails to dig in when they launched themselves off the bed.

Therefore I started considering my options. The first option was to do nothing and live with the scratches and scars I was receiving from those regularly trimmed toenails. The second option was to have them declawed. While I am not really opposed to declawing (as a matter of fact my other two cats are declawed… but that is another post for another time) I feel that declawing them for my own personal vanity is rather selfish.

Since neither of the first two options was particularly appealing, the last option was to consider Soft Claws. Soft Claws are plastic “nail caps” that you attach to a cat’s claws that allow them all the benefits of retaining their claws but save the owner (and her furniture or appendages) the damage of sharp little toenails. After months of debating, a particularly nasty scratch that I received from Dolly a couple of weeks ago made up my mind: I ordered a batch of Soft Claws and they arrived in the mail a couple of days ago.

Soft Claws come in either a boring transparent variety or a selection of colors and being the crazy cat lady style-conscious individual that I am, I chose Soft Claws for Molly and Dolly in “Jungle Red.” I rather like them but since they have to be replaced as the cats shed their claws (on average every 6-8 weeks) I think next time we might go for “Purple Passion” instead.

After an inadvertent two week hiatus, the SBQ is back with the following question:

When you stitch a pattern that you have downloaded do you print out the pattern or do you stitch directly from your computer screen?

When I first discovered cross stitch charts online I didn’t just download them, I printed as many as my ink jet cartridge would allow. However, as time went on and I literally found thousands of patterns online I printed charts as I decided to stitch them. I printed charts for much the same reason that I printed journal articles I found online: I believed it was easier to stitch (or read) from paper as opposed to directly from the computer screen.

Then I moved back to the United States.

Now I am sure you are wondering why this is a significant factor in the whole printing vs. stitching directly from the computer screen dilemma and the reason is that when I decided to move back to the US I opted to leave the charts that I had printed out behind. I had the charts downloaded and burned on disk anyway and it was much easier (and cheaper!) to move them that way than try to move a couple of pounds of paper.

I had every intention of reverting back to the method of printing the charts off as I decided to stitch them, but I ran into a slight problem: I had (and still have) no printer at home. There were times when I could access a printer, but of course this never coincided with a time when I was moved by the urge to stitch one of the charts that I had downloaded. Therefore, I learned to stitch directly from the computer screen and have been doing so quite successfully for about a year now.

I still print out charts that I have downloaded now and then when I remember to put the chart on my flash drive, take it to work, and print it out, but these days I mostly stitch from the computer screen.

The only downfall that I have found is that it is extremely difficult to stitch from the computer screen and watch DVDs on the computer at the same time!

Sea World
Originally uploaded by blondelibrarian

Last Tuesday I picked Sissy and Neecy up from the San Antonio International airport and the long-awaited Spring Break Birthday visit began.

Neecy was practically bouncing when I found them at baggage claim. It was her first flight and she had been treated like a princess complete with extra cookies and a personal note from the pilot welcoming her aboard. Needless to say, she loved it.

Sissy and Neecy’s flight arrived in the middle of the afternoon on Tuesday so after we found our hotel and got settled in we had time to head down to the Riverwalk and San Antonio’s most famous landmark… The Alamo. We ate Mexican food outside while drinking margaritas (Neecy had a virgin one) and after the sun went down we took a “cruise” on the river and learned about San Antonio.

On Wednesday we drove to Corpus Christi for the sole purpose of showing Neecy her first “big water.” (Big water is how I refer to any type of water that continues to the horizon when you look at it. This includes, but is not limited to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as well as the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Michigan) Neecy was pretty impressed with the big water and even though it was windy and only in the low 70s insisted that she be allowed to swim in the “ocean.” After she changed into her swimming suit and splashed around in the water for a while we collected sea shells on the beach.

Ever since she had arrived on Tuesday Neecy kept reminding me that I had promised her a surprise when she got to Texas. I don’t ever remember promising her such a thing, but she sure got her surprise on Thursday when Sissy and I announced we would be visiting a boring war memorial but then pulled into the parking lot of Sea World San Antonio instead!

I can barely even begin to describe how much fun we had at Sea World. It was definitely the highlight of our trip. We saw all the animals you associate with Sea World (dolphins and killer whales) and some that you might not (sharks, sea lions, otters, and penguins). We caught a couple of fantastic shows and rode some rides.

Since it was Spring Break the lines were long but the expression on Neecy’s face when Sissy and I took her on her first roller coaster ride was worth every penny we spent and every minute we had to wait.

We drove back to West Texas Town on Thursday night and I got pulled over for speeding by the Texas Highway Patrol about 20 miles outside of town. It was late (as in 1:00 am) and when I told the patrolman we had been on the road for almost 5 hours he took pity on me and my exhausted passengers and let me off with a warning.

Friday was a day of semi-rest as all three of us slept in until about 11:00 am. After we got up we took a tour of West Texas Town and did a little shopping. We then made spaghetti before getting ready to go to a Star Party at the McDonald Observatory later that night. The Star Party was fun and educational and Neecy got to look through a telescope and see the Moon, Saturn, and the Orion Nebula.

On Saturday we visited Big Bend National Park and stopped at ghost town on our way home. There is a lot to do at the park, but Sissy, Neecy, and I were content with a sightseeing tour of the park from the car and stopping every once in a while to take photos of the beautiful desert mountains.

It rained on Sunday, but that was OK as we slept in and then spent the afternoon in the car on the way back to San Antonio so Sissy and Neecy could catch their flight back to Iowa early Monday morning.

We had such a good time and crammed so much into a week that I seriously think I need a vacation to recover from my vacation!

(P.S. I will be uploading more pictures from the trip on Flickr soon.)

Here is this week’s progress on “Harvest Witch.” As you can see, Harvey now has a kitty to keep her company.

This will probably be my only post for the week since tomorrow I am going to the airport to pick up Sissy and my niece for their Spring Break/Birthday visit to Texas!

When I moved down here in September, I promised my niece that she was welcome to visit anytime. Although my niece thought that meant over the summer, somewhere along Christmastime Sissy and I decided that a March visit to Texas might be more enjoyable than an August one. After all, Iowa is still cold and lots of times snowy in March and in August Texas is hot, hot, hot!!! In addition to that, my niece’s birthday just so happens to be in March so Sissy and I agreed that a Spring Break/Birthday trip would be a nice present.

Sissy was sick and in the hospital when we first began planning this trip but we decided that one way or another, my niece was coming to Texas in March. I started looking into all the details about air travel for unaccompanied children, but when it was actually time to make the reservations Sissy was healthy enough to travel, so they are both coming.

We are planning visits to San Antonio and Corpus Christi before driving back here to West Texas Town and seeing the sights around here. It should be a fun-filled week with little time for blogging OR stitching, but that is just fine with me!