Actually, I got back yesterday, but didn't feel up to doing much of anything. A day in the car can do that to you.
Anyway- the breakdown of the trip!!
We left on Friday, but only drove about six hours to where my Aunt and Uncle live, the seven (there are eight in my immediate family, but my older brother didn't come with us,) of us divided into separate households, Mom and Dad staying with my Aunt and Uncle, while EvilGlare and my little brother stayed with "the ticklemonster" cousin and his family, and Squirt, my littlest sister and I stayed at another cousin's. She has a great dane named Samson, and he is adorable. And huge. Reallly Reallllly huge. He was so excited to be around people!
We got up early the next day and drove for about twelve hours- all the driving on these trips is done by my dad, he says he can't relax when mom drives. That might be weird for other families, but its been that way as long as I can remember, so it's pretty normal to me. A little tough on dad though.
(As a side note, it was totally crazy- once we got out of texas, everything was GREEN. And there was water EVERYWHERE. I mean, it's one thing to know that your state is almost constantly in a state of drought, but it's another to see it. And the swamps of Louisiana? I'd never even seen a swamp/bayou thing before. Holy cow that was a lot of water- just sitting there! and trees growing up out of it!!)
We stopped that night at Panama City beach, the next morning, Mom, Squirt and I were up with the sun to gather seashells before the other tourists got to them. Yeah. We're greedy. XD
Didn't really matter though, since we didn't find any big shells, we did get a lot of pretty little ones though. The weather was really nice up until the others woke up- then a storm blew in. It was pretty incredible to see the lightning strike the water- mom says that she and her dad used to watch that all the time. It was cool, but we kids (probably mom and dad too) were pretty worried that we wouldn't be able to play in the ocean, and it was such a pretty beach. The closest ocean beach to where we live is probably Galveston, and that beach, while nice enough if you can't get out to a real beach, is pretty depressing. Brown water meeting brown sand, and everything smelling a lot like fish. The Panama beach was gorgeous, white sand that wasn't coarse, and water that was a dark green near shore, and blue on the horizon.
The storm blew past in about 40 minutes, and we were the first ones in the water. There was a pretty strong current- fortunately, it dragged ACROSS the beach, not OUT to sea. No Riptides please. We had to keep wading ashore to get back to our stuff on the beach!
After a while, and burying my little brother, most of the family just laid out, tanning, or resting in the case of my mom and I, who only really freckle and burn- burning being the more likely.
Since I know I burn, and was too excited to just lay around, Squirt and I tried our hands at making a sandcastle- with Mom and Dad giving pointers. We still failed pretty miserably. I like to blame that on the beach- it was a pretty steep one, so all the good wet sand got hit by the waves every few minutes, so we hand to build it up on the level dry sand. We wet it down with seawater, but.... yeah. ANYWAY!!!! I tried to make a moat too- but the seawater sank down into the sand.... lol..... should have thought about that a little better!
After this, we all piled back into the van, and headed out once more. We stopped to say hi to an old friend of mom's, who she hadn't seen since before any of us kids were born.
We arrived in Orlando and checked into our hotel...
The next day we spent at Universal Studios, the first of our long tour of theme parks. We went on the incredible Hulk first, I was really happy with the way the lines were set up, so that it told you the story as you went along. The only thing worse than being in a long line, is being BORED in a long line. The ride itself was good, though I kept trying to black out on the first... loop? incline? I couldn't tell because my vision kept going out and all I could really see was a dark impression of the track in front of me. Fortunately I never lost vision completely, though it still would probably have been a good idea to avoid going on it again. We also rode Spider-Man, a 3-D virtual reality type ride, which was REALLY good. I mean, no upsidedowns or anything, but really impressive as far as action-storytelling goes. I can't remember much else of what we did, I know we did Poseidon's Fury, which was fun... I think this post has gone on long enough though, and I haven't even gotten to Disney yet. Maybe I'll write more later... today or tomorrow.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
You can't handle the truth!
Sorry, had to say that since I'm watching that movie later today- A Few Good Men. Whooo.....
But here is the truth, whether you can handle it or not.
I'm leaving for DisneyWorld today. Yep. The "happiest place on earth" will soon be visited by yours truly. I can't wait, I'm so excited, hence this post as I frantically kill time that just won't stay dead.
I've never been to Disney before, though as a kid I always wanted to go and in high school I nearly died of envy when my sisters EvilGlare and Squirt got to go as part of a band trip. Much as I hated band, it actually made me wish I'd stayed in it!
But this year, rather than the traditional family trip to Colorado, we're driving to Florida. That part causes mixed emotions- (not the driving, I'm well used to long days in the car) but the fact that we aren't going to Colorado. We usually go just about every year. I mean, I LOVE Colorado, its one of the few places that I feel I can totally relax and recharge because its all so natural and beautiful, and I don't have my computer with me. I'm a bit of geek- I tend to use my computer and play videogames more than anything else, so a week without it is refreshing.
But still, we're going to DISNEY. I've wanted to go for FOREVER. I've halfway talked myself into riding all of the rides, no matter if they scare me or not- but I just remembered (how could I have forgotten?) that there are TEACUPS at Disney. No way am I getting on one of those things. That would be a sure way to ruin my vacation.
Well, I should probably wrap up this post, as I'm starting to just ramble- the sad news? I only killed about twelve minutes. *Sigh*
But here is the truth, whether you can handle it or not.
I'm leaving for DisneyWorld today. Yep. The "happiest place on earth" will soon be visited by yours truly. I can't wait, I'm so excited, hence this post as I frantically kill time that just won't stay dead.
I've never been to Disney before, though as a kid I always wanted to go and in high school I nearly died of envy when my sisters EvilGlare and Squirt got to go as part of a band trip. Much as I hated band, it actually made me wish I'd stayed in it!
But this year, rather than the traditional family trip to Colorado, we're driving to Florida. That part causes mixed emotions- (not the driving, I'm well used to long days in the car) but the fact that we aren't going to Colorado. We usually go just about every year. I mean, I LOVE Colorado, its one of the few places that I feel I can totally relax and recharge because its all so natural and beautiful, and I don't have my computer with me. I'm a bit of geek- I tend to use my computer and play videogames more than anything else, so a week without it is refreshing.
But still, we're going to DISNEY. I've wanted to go for FOREVER. I've halfway talked myself into riding all of the rides, no matter if they scare me or not- but I just remembered (how could I have forgotten?) that there are TEACUPS at Disney. No way am I getting on one of those things. That would be a sure way to ruin my vacation.
Well, I should probably wrap up this post, as I'm starting to just ramble- the sad news? I only killed about twelve minutes. *Sigh*
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Welcome Summer
... now tone it down please...
Well, it's May 5th (happy Cinco de Mayo) and it's hot down here. Not bad hot (yet) but Fruit Bat and I are already pining for those glorious 75 degree days.
Also, I managed to get sunburned already. (Sigh)
Had a bit of an adventure today- last night I got off work at around the same time as FB so she wound up following me back to the dorm. During the course of this trip, she noticed that one of my tailllights was out, and there was about an inch of water swishing around inside of the light. O.o
We couldn't really do anything about it last night, but today we went ahead and pulled out the light. Wow, easy to say, but we had no clue what we were doing, so it took a long time. Fruit Bat was an immeasurable help.
We got the light undone and turned it upside down and sideways, trying to get the water out and also so we could see where it had gotten in, but we weren't able to tell anything. We had to completely pull off the colored plastic casing and dump it (there was a LOT of water!), of the four lights, one was broken, and one didn't really work, so we had to figure out how to remove the bulbs (a challenge in itself) since they didn't screw into place, but were snap-ins. We then ran down to wal-mart to get new bulbs and replace them.
Now I just hope it doesn't rain for a while. Until we can figure out where the leak is- though if the sunshine is any indication, I wouldn't count on rain for a month.
Stupid sunburned shoulders....
Well, it's May 5th (happy Cinco de Mayo) and it's hot down here. Not bad hot (yet) but Fruit Bat and I are already pining for those glorious 75 degree days.
Also, I managed to get sunburned already. (Sigh)
Had a bit of an adventure today- last night I got off work at around the same time as FB so she wound up following me back to the dorm. During the course of this trip, she noticed that one of my tailllights was out, and there was about an inch of water swishing around inside of the light. O.o
We couldn't really do anything about it last night, but today we went ahead and pulled out the light. Wow, easy to say, but we had no clue what we were doing, so it took a long time. Fruit Bat was an immeasurable help.
We got the light undone and turned it upside down and sideways, trying to get the water out and also so we could see where it had gotten in, but we weren't able to tell anything. We had to completely pull off the colored plastic casing and dump it (there was a LOT of water!), of the four lights, one was broken, and one didn't really work, so we had to figure out how to remove the bulbs (a challenge in itself) since they didn't screw into place, but were snap-ins. We then ran down to wal-mart to get new bulbs and replace them.
Now I just hope it doesn't rain for a while. Until we can figure out where the leak is- though if the sunshine is any indication, I wouldn't count on rain for a month.
Stupid sunburned shoulders....
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Surprised
I admit, I was surprised. I'm a big girl, and I can admit when I'm wrong. In my painting class we have moved on from photo-representational work to impasto/expressionistic/ arbitrary color using palette knives instead of brushes. I've never worked with palette knives before, and certainly never gone impasto (thick paint that stands up off the surface its applied to in ridges.) Van Gogh did a lot of this, even in photos you can see the lines of the paint, and if you were to actually touch it you could feel the texture. Arbitrary color is just fancy-speak for picking the colors yourself regardless of how an object appears in real life. Anyway, I fully expected to hate this project because I like working with brushes and doing tight details, getting things to look real. Also, I'm a fairly cheap individual, and impasto uses a lot of paint. So I was surprised today because I like the work I'm doing. It might not be my favorite thing ever but I like not completely blending the colors and drawing designs in the wet paint. It's... fun. I didn't want to stop.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
kittens
Hello all! So Mama-kitty had her kittens a couple of days ago... Monday I think it was, and I got to see them last night.
Though it wasn't exactly for a happy reason.
The day started off pretty good, had a nice time in my classes, and had dinner and a movie with my cousins and their puppy, who was quite happy to run up to me and give me kisses. Lots and lots of kisses.
I got back to the dorm at about 10:30 or so, and was surfing the web and such for another hour after that. Fruit Bat was reading in bed, and I was thinking about taking a shower and going to bed. then Fruit Bat got a call from the lady who is looking after Mama-kitty. Apparently, since she's had her kittens, she'd been really mean, and wouldn't even let the lady open the door of the cage to feed her- she had to poke the food through the bars and Mama still swiped at her when she did.
There are four kittens, two are the creamy-orange color that Solstice is, one is a tortie and one looked gray to me, though FB says that its actually a tortie as well due to the color splotches on the paws. Anyway, this lady was calling because Mama-Kitty had pushed the gray kitten away, and she wasn't sure it was moving anymore. It was hard to tell, especially since Mama got agitated whenever she saw her.
FB and I were instantly worried, and rolled out, stopping by the store to pick up nutrient-rich kitten food to help Mama produce milk,some milk-supplement in case bottle-feeding the kitten was necessary and a cat-cube, since at the moment Mama's keeping her kittens in the litter box. It's our hope that she will move them to the cat-cube, FB thinks it would be less stressful for her if she could feel as though her babies were better hidden.
The lady watching the cats lives about twenty minutes away from campus, I think it was about 12:10 when we got there (and I can just hear mom and dad complaining about it being a school night.) She let us in and took us to the garage where the cats were.
Mama-kitty and kittens are in a large wire dog cage (not a crate, this one isn't for transportation so much as a place for your dog to sleep where they can't get into trouble) that has two litter-boxes in it. One is an actual litter-box, where Mama has sequestered the kittens, the other had been filled with shredded paper in hopes that she would nest there, but she pulled out all the paper and stuck with the other box.
The minute that Mama saw FB she started purring. I have never heard Mama-kitty purr before, but she purrs LOUD. It filled the whole garage. Fruit Bat put the cube in the cage, Mama watching her, never letting up on the purr. I was really impressed that she trusted FB so much that close to her babies without even a protest- but what came next simply blew me away. FB carefully reached in and picked up the gray kitten that had been pushed away, a motion that took her very near Mama-kitty and the other kittens, and Mama-kitty just watched her do it. Unbelievable.
Little gray was alive, and warm, FB couldn't see anything wrong with it, and handed it to me while she and the lady went to go mix up some milk supplement.
I've never seen a kitten that young in real life before. She has the extra dewclaw that some of Mama's kittens get occasionally, and from her dad, the infamous Capricorn, she's inherited some light facial markings that outline her eyes. The eyes themselves were, of course, closed. I may not know exactly when, but I do know that kittens and puppies are born with their eyes closed and don't open them for a while. I want to say a couple of weeks, but don't quote me on that.
I found it interesting that even though her eyes were closed, she was more comfortable sticking her head into the sleeve of my jacket where it was darker. She sucked on the skin of my hand, trying to nurse. I really can't get over how cute she was.
The whole time that FB and the lady were fixing the supplement, I held the little kitten, and watched Mama-kitty (still purring) watching me. She sat up and let the other three nurse that way.
FB and the lady came back, and the lady gave us pointers on how to nurse the kitten, since neither FB nor I (definitely not I!) have ever done it before. The kitten wasn't interested in the supplement, and FB and the lady left again to warm it up.
Having warmed it (and having a discussion as to whether or not it was too warm) we tried again. I think I felt her swallow some, but she really just wasn't that interested.
Finally FB decided that we would just try putting her back with Mama. She reached in (again!) and put the kitten in with the others. For a while the kitten just lay with its head on Mama's hind leg, but after a bit it moved to nurse, though it had to shove the two creamy's out of the way, since they were hogging the food supply.
It was so hard to convince ourselves to leave. We sat watching them for a long time, Mama getting sleepier and sleepier the longer that we sat there. I've never seen her so relaxed or happy.
We did have to leave though, again, it was a school night. Didn't get to bed until about 1:40 I think. Oh well, I consider it to have been worth it. Especially since the two classes I had today don't really require mental backflips.
I keep wanting to name the kittens, and I have to keep reminding myself a.) We don't know the genders yet. and b.) They are only a few days old and don't even have personalities yet!
We still don't know why Mama pushed away the gray, but it's heartening that she took it right back.
Though it wasn't exactly for a happy reason.
The day started off pretty good, had a nice time in my classes, and had dinner and a movie with my cousins and their puppy, who was quite happy to run up to me and give me kisses. Lots and lots of kisses.
I got back to the dorm at about 10:30 or so, and was surfing the web and such for another hour after that. Fruit Bat was reading in bed, and I was thinking about taking a shower and going to bed. then Fruit Bat got a call from the lady who is looking after Mama-kitty. Apparently, since she's had her kittens, she'd been really mean, and wouldn't even let the lady open the door of the cage to feed her- she had to poke the food through the bars and Mama still swiped at her when she did.
There are four kittens, two are the creamy-orange color that Solstice is, one is a tortie and one looked gray to me, though FB says that its actually a tortie as well due to the color splotches on the paws. Anyway, this lady was calling because Mama-Kitty had pushed the gray kitten away, and she wasn't sure it was moving anymore. It was hard to tell, especially since Mama got agitated whenever she saw her.
FB and I were instantly worried, and rolled out, stopping by the store to pick up nutrient-rich kitten food to help Mama produce milk,some milk-supplement in case bottle-feeding the kitten was necessary and a cat-cube, since at the moment Mama's keeping her kittens in the litter box. It's our hope that she will move them to the cat-cube, FB thinks it would be less stressful for her if she could feel as though her babies were better hidden.
The lady watching the cats lives about twenty minutes away from campus, I think it was about 12:10 when we got there (and I can just hear mom and dad complaining about it being a school night.) She let us in and took us to the garage where the cats were.
Mama-kitty and kittens are in a large wire dog cage (not a crate, this one isn't for transportation so much as a place for your dog to sleep where they can't get into trouble) that has two litter-boxes in it. One is an actual litter-box, where Mama has sequestered the kittens, the other had been filled with shredded paper in hopes that she would nest there, but she pulled out all the paper and stuck with the other box.
The minute that Mama saw FB she started purring. I have never heard Mama-kitty purr before, but she purrs LOUD. It filled the whole garage. Fruit Bat put the cube in the cage, Mama watching her, never letting up on the purr. I was really impressed that she trusted FB so much that close to her babies without even a protest- but what came next simply blew me away. FB carefully reached in and picked up the gray kitten that had been pushed away, a motion that took her very near Mama-kitty and the other kittens, and Mama-kitty just watched her do it. Unbelievable.
Little gray was alive, and warm, FB couldn't see anything wrong with it, and handed it to me while she and the lady went to go mix up some milk supplement.
I've never seen a kitten that young in real life before. She has the extra dewclaw that some of Mama's kittens get occasionally, and from her dad, the infamous Capricorn, she's inherited some light facial markings that outline her eyes. The eyes themselves were, of course, closed. I may not know exactly when, but I do know that kittens and puppies are born with their eyes closed and don't open them for a while. I want to say a couple of weeks, but don't quote me on that.
I found it interesting that even though her eyes were closed, she was more comfortable sticking her head into the sleeve of my jacket where it was darker. She sucked on the skin of my hand, trying to nurse. I really can't get over how cute she was.
The whole time that FB and the lady were fixing the supplement, I held the little kitten, and watched Mama-kitty (still purring) watching me. She sat up and let the other three nurse that way.
FB and the lady came back, and the lady gave us pointers on how to nurse the kitten, since neither FB nor I (definitely not I!) have ever done it before. The kitten wasn't interested in the supplement, and FB and the lady left again to warm it up.
Having warmed it (and having a discussion as to whether or not it was too warm) we tried again. I think I felt her swallow some, but she really just wasn't that interested.
Finally FB decided that we would just try putting her back with Mama. She reached in (again!) and put the kitten in with the others. For a while the kitten just lay with its head on Mama's hind leg, but after a bit it moved to nurse, though it had to shove the two creamy's out of the way, since they were hogging the food supply.
It was so hard to convince ourselves to leave. We sat watching them for a long time, Mama getting sleepier and sleepier the longer that we sat there. I've never seen her so relaxed or happy.
We did have to leave though, again, it was a school night. Didn't get to bed until about 1:40 I think. Oh well, I consider it to have been worth it. Especially since the two classes I had today don't really require mental backflips.
I keep wanting to name the kittens, and I have to keep reminding myself a.) We don't know the genders yet. and b.) They are only a few days old and don't even have personalities yet!
We still don't know why Mama pushed away the gray, but it's heartening that she took it right back.
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