I'm a Zombie Lover and I'm Okay.

  Why do I love zombies?
  Actually I love horror in general. I love the movies, I love the books. Especially the atmosphere and build of of the story. We all know that many of these stories don't have a wonderful endings, but for me, it's getting into the main event that's the yummy part.
    Am I a weirdo? Undoubtedly, but that's beside the point. I have always had what you might call a dark side. I pull my hoodie up, try to look casual and go straight to the horror section of the book or video store. I rarely even look anywhere else, (except the science fiction section, but I'm not ready to face my nerd demons on here yet).
  I don't join bookclubs, don't discuss with my lady friends. It's a secret. I show no outward signs of this ...thing... inside me. I look like an ordinary, well balanced (usually) person.
BUT..a couple of days ago, I happened to find out that a lady at work, that I have know for a few years, has the same affliction as me! Thank the lord, I am not alone! Huzzah! Happy days! Yahooee! *slow clap*
   Okay that is a bit much, but I have to say it is very nice to be able to talk to another regular middle aged person (as opposed to teenage goth/vampire/sewer dweller) about my finds. My work mate, like I, doesn't relish the graphic violence, but we can tolerate it or brush past it if it is too much, and we don't like things that we really think could happen to us. It's best when it's a bit out there, not totally believeable. People in the Antarctic, in a bunker after the apocolypse, in a haunted house for a night, in the woods alone, trapped under an invisible dome at a lakeshore house, some creature living in a hole in the bottom of my sofa, that sort of thing.
  The need to read or watch horror almost feels like it is to ward off bad, scary things. Maybe it's to toughen me up in case there is something evil about to take over the world. So I could cope when it happens. Kind of like imagining the worst when you hear your child has been hurt,I think it's your brain trying to prepare you.
  I don't know what it is, but if the zombie outbreak  happens, you might want to hang around with me. I'm getting pretty knowledgable about this stuff.

Our Little Surprise

We have been doing a lot of home renovations for a couple of weeks, as part of this, I have been using the carport in the front of the house as an area to paint moldings, and other things. Quite often when I went out the front door, I saw a tiny bird fly out of the hanging plant outside our front door. I thought maybe it was eating something inside the basket. When I looked inside today, I found a little surprise.

A perfect litle nest with three tiny eggs, the size of Cadbury Mini Eggs.

Cool beans

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July 25
.......an update

I stood on a chair took a peek in the planter and saw some wiggly black and pink things. I hope they're baby birds.
The mom and dad birds are acting like they are.They have both been in the nest and fly out and then come back with food, and they sure don't like anybody going near the nest. I haven't heard any baby noises yet though. When they were both gone I stuck my arm up to try and get a picture (the planter is a bit too high fr be to see inside it) and I just got the edge of the nest and can see a bit of a pinkish something  in it.

This is either the mom or dad on the edge of the basket.

 

On a side note, my plants are wilting quickly in this lovely summer weather, even though it is in a shady spot, but I can't really water the plant, for fear of hurting the babies. 

Too bad they're not ducks.

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July 26

Have a couple more quick (blurr) pictures I took while the mom is out looking for food.

 

There are some wicked looking little beaks now.

All Cat's Go To Kitty Heaven

Even the prickly ones.
I woke up this morning on my own, rather than to my cat meowing when she thought I should get up.
That should have made me happy, but it didn't. Not today, anyways.
Yesterday we had to have our 16 year old cat put to sleep. I found her lying on the floor, unable to get up. Her legs could move and she stretched out a couple of times, but couldn't even manouver into a position to get up , and didn't seem able to lift her head. She peed on the floor while lying on her side, and I knew that it wasn't going to be a good day.
We picked up my daughter, from her apartment (it had always been her cat, and when she moved out, she couldn't take it with her) and went to the vet. The vet was nice, and sympathetic, but honest and said it was  very serious, there was nothing we could do for her, it was either a clot in her head, or a tumor. So we did the only thing we could for her. My daughter was devastated. I was incredibly sad, but I have been through this before.
  Skittles wasn't a cuddly sweet cat to everyone. She had her own personality like all animals, especially cats, do.She was loving and affectionate to my daughter, she really lived in her room most of the time when she lived here. When my daughter left, the cat transfered that to me. I got to pet her and got the lap sits. She did mellow a bit when she got older, but she never really bonded with others in the household, not much anyways. That kind of makes me sad too.

I will miss you Skittles.

Wedding Season- Cake Topper Time

I have been noticing something in both of my shops lately. A trend towards people wanting customized wedding cake toppers. I have sold quite a few already.
It started out with the little owls. I am hoping to get pictures from more customers as their weddings happily happen, but so far I only have one.


It looks like a beautiful cake with big flowers down he side. As the bride noted, it's interesting that the cake decorators put the female on the opposite side as to how it was painted to be, an so instead of looking lovingly at her groom, she seems to be checking out someone or something else. The bride was actually okay with this , so all is well.

There are other sets, with different types of owls, and different colours that I have sent off to adorn other cakes and if I get more pictures I will post them here. I imagine they all have different ideas on how to display them. I know one was talkng of doing a nest on top.

Zombies seem to be a fairly popular request, with vampires coming in second.

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I have also had customers show me their little figures on their honeymoon, which I think is pretty darn cool.

Doing Some Good

Every once in a while, a huge tragedy will strike somewhere in the world. Most of the time there isn't much an average person can do to help, except donate to a cause that can help.
I have the pleasure of selling my artwork at a site that has a lot of people with big hearts, that wanted to help the people of Haiti. Together, some very kind, and dedicated women opened a shop for other crafters and artists to donate items that would be sold for the purpose of raising money for Doctors Without Borders, to help in Haiti.
I donated two of my owls.

Kiara


and Fruit Loop


They both sold very quickly and are winging their way to their new owners now.
Plus, I did a bit of shopping there myself. There is a huge variety of items for sale from artists all over the world. Why don't you have a look and see if you can find something that will make your heart feel happy.

Hearts for Haiti Shop

Hearts for Haiti Blog, to find out more.

Etsy article about the shop.

Cats and Dogs and Daylight Savings Time

They don't get it.
They don't like it.
That much is apparent to me.
Pet supper time at my house is at 5:00, and it's usually on schedule.
It has been a month since we set our clocks back an hour for daylight savings, but that makes no nevermind to them.
The cat now goes and sits by her food dish at 4:00, and the dog takes her que from that and goes and sprawls in her place in the kitchen doorway, waiting for me to serve them.
The cat glares at me, and lets forth bone chilling meows, and the dog gives me pitiful "you better feed me or I'll fade away, really I will" eyes.
The cat of course is the ringleader. A dog you can distract with words and games, but a cat has a mission and there is no distracting them from that.
Funny how I noticed they have adjusted to the time change when they are allowed to sleep in for that extra time in the mornings, even though that is how they spend most of their days, but fool around with dinner time and someone has to pay.
I think they're just messing with me.

Bye Dad

You have been my dad or almost 97 years.
You've taken good care of your family.
You've been there for all of us, through all our troubles.
Shared our joy over new spouses, new babies, and our babies babies.
I know mom loves you.
Your children love you.
Your grandchildren love you.
Your great granchildren love you.
You will continue to be loved and respected forever.
Thanks for being my dad.
You will be missed more than you can know.

I am going to add a bit of the eulogy that my brother wrote, because I think it's interesting, and just makes me feel good to read it. I have left out some bits that are a little more personal and some that you don't need to see.

"We should not have known him, Fredrick (dad), and most of us should not be here. Sailing to Canada from Avonmouth, his parents were all excited to board the greatest ship ever built... but they could not, and had to settle for the next ship, an old steamer named the Royal George, sailing just 2 days behind the mighty RMS Titanic. His mother was terribly ill, both with morning sickness and sea sickness, and welcomed to Canada by the bitter cold of the Eastern Canadian winters.Some months later at Batt’s farm at the top of a hill on Beckett Road on the outskirts of Sherbrooke, a tiny child was born. At only 3 or 4 pounds the country doctor said he was too small to survive, but the midwife decided otherwise. She rubbed him in goose grease and laid him in a shoebox. Day and night she sat by the old wood stove to keep him warm, feeding him with an eye dropper. And that is how Dad came into this world, ninety seven years ago today,
As a child, Dad’s job was to go down to the lumber mills around False Creek to fill his wagon with scraps for the old wood stove. If the lumberman spotted him he would be charged a penny or two per load.One day at about 14 years of age he came home from school to be told that he had a job as a printer’s helper. Having a good eye for matching colours and being a bit of a perfectionist, he became a very skilled lithographer and was usually given the toughest jobs and pickiest customers. He was in fact, skipped over for promotions several times because he was too good to lose as a pressman. But after 51 years working as a printer, he retired, and that was almost 32 years ago!
In 1945 Dad’s sister Winnie brought home a distraught young lady from work who had just left home and had nowhere to live. Being a kindly family, she was taken in... and so was Dad. In due time he proposed to her at Spanish Banks and they were married in June of the following year. Together they built a home and raised four wonderful children, watched their families grow through weddings and births, and lived to see their Great-Grandchildren.
Though not outwardly religious, Dad exemplified many of those old time virtues like faithfulness, hard work, honesty, integrity, and personal sacrifice.His word meaning something and promises were kept. He was outraged by injustice and a champion of fairness, and underdogs. He treated others with courtesy and respect and was a steadfast provider for the family. If he had shortcomings, it was that he had more than a little trouble with patience and didn’t easily express his feelings and affirmation.
Personally, dad could be quite charming with the ladies. A little while ago in the hospital we heard more than one nurse remark “Oh, he’s so cute”. Still, he was not much of a socialite and had little use for parties, dressing up or going out. He would much rather eat at home than at the finest restaurants. Nor was he a man of impulse, a thing as simple as a drive to the beach was something to be planned and scheduled days in advance.
Like a fine wine however some things did improve with age. With the coming of Grandchildren Dad seemed to loosen up.Grandad would read to them as much as they wanted and the same story as many times as they wanted. He gave them the gift of his time, his attention, and would talk to them about anything. Even in his 90’s with the Great-Grandchildren it was not unusual to find him on the floor playing with them."