Wasabi as a doodle.

I was playing with my little Wasabi Hammie today and was so taken with his cuteness I grabbed my notebook and turned him into a doodle. I hope he approves.

The cliff notes to my road trip.

When I wrote these notes, I had intended to write a long elaborate blog later, and these were just to jog my memory when I had time to do that.
Since it has been a few weeks, I have accepted that I won't be writing that long blog, and these are kind of amusing, so here are my cliff notes to my road trip with the girls/long Posies weekend... Use your imagination to fill in the gaps.

Friday- GO!
Work half day.
Pack.
Step outside to talk to Bree & Amie.
Lock myself out of my apartment and my purse with ID and money inside.
Have Carl come rescue me with spare key.
Wait with girls for Licia and Carl.
Get keys.
Get stuff.
Licia arrives.
Sit in HOT car.
Sit.
Stop.
Stop again.
Get lost.
Find hotel.
Get dressed.
Get food.
Go back to room to change sexy shoes back to comfy sensible shoes.
BEST shoe choice of the whole weekend!
Go to show.
Show too hot.
Slam drink to go to a place with AC.
Regret slamming of drink.
Go to another bar.
Take 100 cute photos.
Head back because Posies are about to go on.
Watch Posies.
Sweat.
Watch friends get REALLY intoxicated.
Funny.
Run into past stalker.
Ignore.
Show ends.
Kiss Jon goodbye.
Catch Rickshaw.
Tell him it can't carry all four of us.
Argue that we are certain it can't.
He insists several times.
We agree.
Get half way.
Bike wheels bends in half.
Rides over!
Feel bad we broke his bike.
Throw money at bike guy.
Bree falls on curb and accidentally moons group of people.
People amused.
Oops!
Get back to hotel.
Buy $20 worth of chips at mini bar.
Bree passes out in middle of the bed we are supposed to share.
Find a spot to sleep on.
Wake up sweating.
Bree is spooning me.
Hot.
Wake up in a room of hungover girls.
Rehash the parts of the night that are a blur.
Wake up.
Take Advil.
Lay back down.
Wake up.
Go to Oliver's for food.
Stop at VooDoo Donuts.
Out of bacon maple donuts.
Bummer.
Drive home.
Girl's sleep in back.
Drive faster than I have ever driven.
Get to Seattle in less than 2.5 hours.
Have 20 minutes to get to DJL show.
Whores bath.
Slap on dress.
Get to Neumos.
Remember that I am supposed to do a secret shopping trip at adult store.
DOH!
Dear John Letters goes on.
Awesome.
Realize my husband is playing the drums for my ex.
Weird.
Accept weirdness.
Decide it isn't as weird as it is amusing how fate has an interesting sense of humor.
Enjoy show.
Regret shoe choice.
Mike!
Brian!!
Joe!!
Dave!!
Arthur (Rick)!!!
Remember to call Rick, Arthur!!!!
Posies.
Convince Bree, Flyn, and Licia to go to Porn store between sets for secret shopping.
Posies.
Porn.
Hot dog.
Posies again!
Sleep on feet.
yawn.
dance.
Feel like I'm in a strange dream.
Take a million photos.
Party at D's!
Get home at 4:35AM
Sleep
Cats wake me up.
Get ready for another road trip to Bellingham.
Plug in camera.
Camera deletes all of my photos but doesn't transfer them.
ALL PHOTOS ARE LOST!
SHIT!!!
Cry.
Leave for Bellingham.
Drive.
Drive.
Drive.
Sound check.
Long walk.
Regret shoe choice for the second time this weekend.
Eat nachos.
Hang with in-laws.
Eat Salad and Nachos.
Have long talks with old friends.
Catch up with Kenny Jr.
Feel very old when realizing he is 22 now.
Le Concorde.
Le Posies.
Aftershow waiting.
Crazy women running all over the stage picking up guitars.
CRAZY woman decides she wants to get in my face because I am standing there.
Starts shouting in my face.
Try to make joke to diffuse situation.
Crazy woman doesn't think joke is funny and starts FLIPPING OUT on me.
Seriously consider slapping a stranger for the first time in my adult life.
Decide against it.
Jon breaks up fight.
She leaves.
Drop off friend of Kenny.
Drive home.
Get to bed around 5AM
get up at 7AM
go to work.
Sleep with eyes open.
The End.

FUNNEST WEEKEND EVER!

Farewell my little Milo....

Papa Gerbil (Milo) passed away last evening. He lived a VERY long life. (over a year longer than the average gerbil life exp) so I feel blessed that we had him for so long. I knew he was looking a little worse for wear. I told Jon last week that I think he is saying goodbye. I can always tell with the gerbils. They slow way down and suddenly really seem to enjoy being pet. Like they are stopping and letting you know that they appreciated you. Usually they are so busy digging and chewing that they didn't have time to be pet for too long. Last week he stood and let me scratch his head for a good long while and he was looking very elderly around the eyes.
It is sad because we are down to two, one girl and one boy, but they are in separate cages so they can't hang out. I am going to see about getting the boy fixed so we can put them together again. They would be happy together. Their cages are side by side and they are always touching noses. It is so sweet.

RIP Milo

RIP Bo Diddley

Rock pioneer Bo Diddley dies at age 79

I was so sad to hear this news today. It was a great honor to meet him and have some time to sit and talk with him. This photo was in New York, backstage at a rock festival, while I was on my honeymoon. (I am holding baby Aden.) He was pretty sick that day, but he still rocked, and he was a wonderfully sweet man, and didn't let being sick damper his spirits. He was a joy to meet and brought so much to the world with his music. He will be missed.


Here is what the news says:
By RON WORD –

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Bo Diddley, a founding father of rock 'n' roll whose distinctive "shave and a haircut, two bits" rhythm and innovative guitar effects inspired legions of other musicians, died Monday after months of ill health. He was 79.

Diddley died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla., spokeswoman Susan Clary said. He had suffered a heart attack in August, three months after suffering a stroke while touring in Iowa. Doctors said the stroke affected his ability to speak, and he had returned to Florida to continue rehabilitation.read the full article here




Mojo come to my house, ya black cat bone,
Take my baby away from home,
Ugly ole mojo, where ya bin,
Up your house, and gone again.

Bo diddley, bo diddley have you heard?
My pretty baby said she wasn’t for it.

Dwarf Hamster Tip of the Day.

No, I'm not starting a new thing on my blog. I'm posting this info for two reasons. One, I took this REALLY cute photo of Wasabi and wanted a reason to post it.
Two, I thought this info might be helpful for someone at some point.

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR HAMSTER HAS AN OVERGROWN TOOTH:

My happy little hamster celebrated his 1st birthday and not long after that started to lose a lot of his hair under his chin and getting very skinny. He is a dwarf hamster, and everything I read on the internet said he was not long for this world. Many sites told me that they lived 1.5 years max and that the balding thing was normal for a dwarf hamster of his age.
Then one day I noticed that he could not take his treat out of my hand like he always used to. He seemed to be having trouble getting his mouth around it. I then gave him a cracker, and realized there was not a crunching sound coming from him. It kind of looked like he was gumming his cracker.
I called the Vet and she said that it sounded like he had a broken or overgrown tooth. Because of his age, and how skinny he had become in such a short time, it was dangerous to give him the anesthetics, but if I didn't get his tooth fixed, that would kill him too.
I made an appointment for a week out, and I decided to get him super healthy so he would survive. I fed him three times a day.
His diet was:
A small square of Hard tofu 2 times a day (Once in the morning and once after work
A teaspoon of either carrot or green pea and brown rice high quality baby food 3 times per day (You can only keep it in the fridge for 3-4 days and then you must throw out the rest. You do end up tossing a lot, but you don't want to feed your hammie baby food that has gone bad! I thought about freezing servings in an ice cube tray to make it last longer, but he got better before I needed to do this.)
Some all natural peanut butter (no sugar added) on my finger tip as a treat when he would normally get a snack.
Sometimes I would add a little instant oats to the carrots to make them less runny and give him some added carbs.
By the time he had his appointment, he had already gained some weight and was looking a lot more active.
He had his appointment, got his tooth trimmed, and the doctor said he popped right back awake afterwards. A perfect patient. It was only $56. People always ask how much it costs. That really is not a lot compared to what most vet visits are and it was totally worth it!!
After his appointment I kept giving him the same diet, but as his tooth started to grow in, and he started going back to his regular food dish more and became less interested in the food I was putting out for him. I still supplement about once every other day with baby food, and he demands the peanut butter as his daily treat, because he LOVES it, but he seems to be back to regular food for the most part.
He has gained all of his weight back AND His hair has all grown back! Turns out his baldness was not "Old age" but a proteins deficiency. With the tofu and the peanut butter, he got all the protein he needed.
It has been a month since all of this happened, and he has never seemed happier or healthier. No longer the skinny balding hammie, but an active fluffy happy hammie. This is not an old man on his way out. I have a feeling he will be with us for a very long time to come!
If you have a hammie in the same situation and need more specifics about the diet or anything, feel free to email me. It took a lot of internetting and separating fact from fiction for me to get all of this info together, I'd be happy to share with anyone that needs to know. I'm positive my hammie would have died if I didn't do all of this when I did it.

Squirrel or Spiderman? SpiderSquirrel?!

I was wondering how the birds were going through seed so fast! I had JUST filled my feeder after work, when I turned around and I saw this sneaky little dude.
Isn't he cute? He is only hanging on with his tail and hind legs! I found it very impressive! Do you think he is trying to blend in with the feeder?

The good, the bad and the AWESOME!

The bad news, my camera died and I lost a LOT of the pics and vids from the shows this last week.

The good news, by some awesome twist of fate, the ONLY vids that I did not lose, managed to be one song of each incarnation of The Posies!! YES!!

You can see them all here.
Just finished uploading: youtube.com/dreamingviola

20 Years of The Posies

Every band member from the last 20 years.

Making amends with the Red Balloon Co.

When I first heard that a big old chain like Red Balloon Company was taking over my beloved Rainbow Grocery space, I was pretty bummed in that "There goes the neighborhood" kind of way. I LOVE my neighborhood. It is our little happy corner of a big city that still has the good parts of the small town vibe.
With more bars opening and condo developments tearing down other hipster hangouts further down the hill, it is slowly losing some of it's charm. Parking is getting harder to come by, and at Beer'O'Clock you get more and more drunken weirdos howling at the moon. But, for the most part, it is still full of friendly familiar faces and one of the coolest video stores in the city. So, not all is lost.
My tune has changed about the Red Balloon. I will admit, I spent most of the last year pretending it wasn't there. I have walked past it and not allowed myself to be tempted by the curious looking gag gifts and colorful children's toys. I just stuck my nose in the air and walked on by. In my head it was a show of solidarity for the good old Rainbow and all of the friendly faces that used to work there. I loved them, dreads, wheatgrass and all. I mean, where am I supposed to get my fresh squeezed Apple and Beet juice now?!?
About a week ago, a million things all went wrong at the same time and I found myself in a horrible position. I was hosting a birthday party and I still had not purchased anything that needed to be purchased before said party. I had no time to make the trek out to any of my next closest options, I had to make due in my own neighborhood. At first I was going store to store. I actually had completely forgotten Red Balloon was even there.
I was coming up empty and getting desperate, then I remembered the cool little shop that carries neat little Mexican imports on 15th. I thought it could not hurt to try.
On my way there, I realized I had completely overlooked the most obvious place, the big giant party store right under my nose! The Red Balloon Co!! I was desperate and I was running out of time. It was a very now or never moment.
I went through the giant glass doors with big cheery balloon bunches bookending them . I had already convinced myself that they would only have things for kid's parties or else it would all be extremely over priced. The more I looked around it became clear to me that this was not the case. The store was full of things for people of every age, and shockingly it was all very reasonably priced! I managed to get everything I needed and then some! I even spent about $20 less than I thought I was going to!
So, I am officially a Red Balloon convert. I know it is late coming, but welcome to the neighborhood. I'm glad to have you. (Now if you would just start serving freshly squeezed apple and beet juice we'd be 100% square.)

You and I in a little toy shop
Buy a bag of balloons
With the money we've got
Set them free at the break of dawn
'Til one by one, they were gone
Back at base, bugs in the software
Flash the message
"Something's out there"
Floating in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by

Grandpa!

My Dad emailed these to me. They are of his father and family way back in the day. (Grandpa is the cute little boy right in the middle of the group shot and the little rascal below.)

Catch my disease.... (Or, Why I LOVE Ben Lee)

A couple of weeks ago, Ben Folds came to town and played a show at a really weird venue in Tacoma called UPS. Ben was kind enough to put me on the guestlist plus one, so Bree and I made the trek.
Much to my excitement Ben Lee was opening the show!! I have been slowly falling in love with Ben Lee's music since I first saw him in New York where he played an ASCAP showcase with Jon. Since that show, I've been buying his songs one at a time on iTunes.
I was in LA the last time he played in Seattle, which really bummed me out. So, when Jon told me that Ben had put us on the list and Ben Lee was opening, I was REALLY excited for this show! (I could wax on about my love of Ben Folds music as well, but if you read my blog, you already know this, so I won't repeat myself. Needless to say, he ROCKED the UPS!)
This was, in fact, a most perfect rock show line up as far as I am concerned. The only thing that would have made it even more exciting for me is if Jon and Lou Barlow were on the Bill as well. But, I won't be greedy.
I recorded a couple songs from the show. I will post them at the end of this. They are pretty good, but the angle is kind of strange as the concert was in a giant gym.

The thing I love so much about Ben Lee's music is his completely positive message. Now, I don't know about all of his other records, right now I am only familiarizing myself with Awake is the New Sleep. And I have to say, this is a great, feel good, pop record. I'm not super excited about the first and title song on the CD, but then every song after it are easily some of my most favorite songs right now.
The lyrics for Begin are basically an anthem for someone wanting to make a positive impact on the world around them. Gamble Everything for Love makes you want to go out and take chances. Ache For You is a sweet, longing song, but it isn't depressing at all. But No Right Angles, I wish I had written it. This song was like a dear friend to me when I was going through a rough patch late last year.
What can I say? It is hard to be eloquent when trying to explain the emotions certain records bring up when the emotions run so deep. I can say that if you know someone who loves good pop music, and they have been going through a dark time, this would be a great record to pass along to them.
From beginning to end, it is one long, warm hug from a best friend that you never knew you had.



I'm walking down Broadway
Each foot step is a new love letter
I'm trying to make eye contact
With each and every stranger that I pass
Thinking about the city
It's living proof people need to be together
I'm thinking about how I just want to open up
And give and give and give
And it's ok for you to care
Cause I can feel you in the air
And while you wonder "how's this gonna end?"
I only want it to begin...

I've listened to this CD on repeat all day...

...and I am sad that I have to go somewhere soon, because I have to stop listening to it. You should really check it out if you like the slow and pretty with really great lyrics.
Jon played a show with him last month, that is where I heard him the first time. Jon said he heard him on the radio and knew that I would love the CD, he was correct!
Here is a youtube of that show:

And here is his website:
http://www.jmorrisonmusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/joshuamorrison

"One day you'll leave this town and
no one will notice,
you are gone."

The new couch arrived today!!

Isn't it pretty?! The boys are already breaking it in.

Trashy!

Photos from the Haute Trash fashion show:

Meet my niece!

This is Carys:

Sakuracon 2008 - Making memories

Did I mention that I spent an entire weekend at the end of March at the convention center dressed as a comic book character?

We had a great time! I wish they had stuff like this when I was a kid. (They probably did, I just didn't know about it.)

Not For Kids

I'm volunteering at this show. You should go, it will be a lot of fun!

The following info is from their website: http://www.nwpuppet.org/don.html
Don Giovanni

April 25 - May 4, 2008

The Carter Family Marionettes are joined by an ensemble of outstanding musicians and singers for this unique production of "Don Giovanni".
Tickets going steadily. Please arrange for your tickets soon. Order by mail with check or by phone with visa/mastercard.

Northwest Puppet Center
9123 - 15th Ave. NE
Seattle, WA 98115-3111

(206)523-2579


SHOWTIMES:
Friday at 8pm Saturday at 2pm & 8pm
Sunday at 2pm

TICKET PRICES:
$28 adult
$25 senior
$25 youth
(please note: not intended for young children and not part of subscription season)

ARTISTS

Directors: Christine Carter
Music Director: Margriet Tindemans
Puppeteers: Christine Carter, Dmitri Carter, Stephen Carter
Sopranos: Melissa Plagemann, Linda Strandberg
Tenor: Scott Whitaker
Bass: David Stutz
Basso Profundo: Eldridge Harding
Flute: Janet See
Violin: Sandi Schwarz, Kim Zabelle
Viola: Margriet Tindemans
Cello: Zon Eastes



Please call or email for more details or if you have any questions.
info@nwpuppet.org


Thank you!

Here it is!

On stands now, go get one! www.thestranger.com

Now I can check one more thing off of my life list!

This will be our year, took a long time to come...

I made a dress out of recycled copies of The Stranger. The dress is going to be in a fashion show this Friday and it is on the COVER of The Stranger that is coming out today!!!

Bree is going to be rocking the dress in the fashion show for me. It should be a lot of fun, I hope to see you there!

The Fashion Show will be on Friday at around 8pm or 8:30
at New York Fashion Academy
5201 Ballard Avenue. (Corner of 52nd and Ballard Ave.
2 doors down from the Tractor Tavern and Hatties Hat)

The event itself runs from 7 to 10 pm. This includes
the art show, beer & wine garden and some speakers as
well as the fashion show.

Tickets are $10 and available on line through
brownpapertickets.com

They are selling Fast.

On Sale Now!

The Posies 20th Anniversary & the CD release for Beautiful Escape: The Songs of The Posies Revisited at Neumos May 17th. This show is going to be full of surprises and special guest appearances. I'm giving an early heads up because I think it is likely this event will sell out.

My old band (from another lifetime and a different last name ago), Dear John Letters is getting back together for one night only, to open this show!
It won't be entirely the old line up, because Johnny and Cass will be out of town, but Jon has agreed to fill in and Robb's Dept of Energy keyboardist, Ty is filling in as well. They'll play a set list of the songs that I wrote with Robb. Mostly favorites off of rewriting the wrongs and a few other songs that have never been performed live before.

If you are not familiar with Dear John Letters you can hear them: www.myspace.com/dearjohnletters

Beautiful Escape: The Songs of The Posies Revisited has a Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/theposiestributealbum


See you there!


EDIT:
I've had a few emails from people who are having trouble buying the tickets online from the Neumos website. It isn't very clearly marked on the website, but you can buy them here:


That is ticketwest.com in case my search link doesn't work. Just plug in the date and the band name and it comes up. Thanks!

Here I am, stuck in the middle with you...

This week is going to be a super busy one! I've got some REALLY exciting stuff happening, but I can't talk about all of it yet. On Wednesday I will post more.
One exciting thing I can talk about is the fashion show that my dress is going to be worn in is happening this Friday! Bree and I will be doing some last minute prep this week and Friday night it will hit the runway. They also informed me that my dress will remain on display after the fashion show for a month. This is funny to me as the decision to make the dress was kind of a last second one, and I did it just to challenge myself. But, aside from my musical endeavors, this dress is getting more press than anything I've ever done! Proving once again that you can not predict where life will take you next. The only thing I have learned to be sure of, is that inspiration can never lead you astray. It can only open doors to adventure.

Darian and I had a very girly weekend. We went and spent the super warm Saturday afternoon getting manicures, pedicures, and eyebrow waxing. Darian had her toes done in the most intense neon green I've ever seen and for her nails she got her first French Manicure. She LOVES how it looks. She keeps saying, "My nails look so shiny!" I think she is hooked. I did the usual bright red toes, light pink nails. Maybe next time I will try the neon green?

We spent most of the day on Sunday getting the apartment ready for the new couch. Do you remember months ago when we ordered it? Well, it is FINALLY coming this week! They had some sort of issue with getting the special red fabric we ordered, so it is a month behind schedule. The upside is that they are going to extend us a fat discount due to the inconvenience. So, I guess that is good news! I can't wait to see the new couch in the living room. We've installed new shelves and ceiling fans, donated all of the old mismatched stuff, and totally made the place look like new, the couch is the very last thing that it needs. Like a big red couch shaped cherry on top! I will take a lot of photos after it gets here!

Speaking of photos, you may have noticed that I have not been doing one photo a day. Let's just say I'm over it. It was getting hard to log on every day and upload one photo. In theory it was fun, and I may even resume it every now and then, but I think it was making me write less and writing is kind of the whole point of this thing, right?

Oh, and in the spirit of non-sequiturs, I've had this song stuck in my head for the last 48 hours, and I don't know why. It must be on a commercial or something.

Trying to make some sense of it all,
But I can see that it makes no sense at all,
Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor,
'Cause I don't think that I can take anymore
Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you...

I'm not pregnant.

Disclaimer: This blog does not end with me announcing that I am pregnant, even though it might look like it is heading that direction, that is not the point.


I have PCOS. One of the wonderful side effects of PCOS is that your hormones go all awry every now and then and you skip your period for months at a time. When it has been three months, you call your doctor and get 5 days worth of hormone pills which leads you to have your period and get back on track. It is kind of like getting a jump start, and once you get this you go another year or two without a problem. When I do go through this I have two choices.
One: I can go to the doctor and get a pregnancy test and get a prescription. They want to be sure you are not pregnant before they give you this prescription.
Two: Since I've had this issue for years and my doctor and I have a good relationship, if I go buy a home test and tell her that I took it with a negative result, she will call in my prescription without making me go into her office. This saves me a lot of time and money.

Easy enough, right?

Wrong.

Now enter my interesting "Get caught with your pants down" type luck I seem to have when I go to the grocery store. You know, that luck that means when I wake up sick and want to run to the store across the street looking like hell in my PJs convinced there is no WAY I could run into anyone who knows me at this ungodly hour... I walk in and right into the cute guy from the office. THAT kind of luck.

Last night I decided to go and buy a test so I could call in a prescription this morning since payday is tomorrow. We go through the store, do our regular shopping, I find a test on sale, last in stock so it is super cheap. Score! I grab it. Darian whispers, "Hope you don't run into anyone you know, they might think you are knocked up!"
We laugh.
We go to the check out.
I choose the one older checker who I know will not even blink or ask questions if I am buying a pregnancy test. I'm really friendly with a few of the checkers who are close to my age, so I know they would be asking a million questions if I went through their line. This guy is a very nervous type and I know he will not want to ask.
He starts to run each item across the scanner without even looking at them.
Bread. BEEP
Bananas. BEEP
Muffins. BEEP
Then I hear, "Hey Michelle!"
I look up, and much to my horror, one of my coworkers gets in line behind us.
I have NEVER seen this particular co-worker in my store before.
And as I make eye contact with him, out of the corner of my eye I see the checker has picked up the pregnancy test. I am thinking, "Just scan it and get it in the bag before the coworker notices! If I keep office guy's eye contact it will be over in a second."
I am literally willing the test into the bag at this point.
The checker swipes it.
NO BEEP.
Swipes it again.
NO BEEP!!
Swipes it a third time.
NO BEEEEP!!!
FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!! BEEP ALREADY!!

The checker stops his steady rhythm of checking and starts to turn the box over in his hands. At this point the coworker notices and looks to see what the hold up is. I see his eye register what it is that is holding up the line, then he looks at me, then at the box and at me again. I'm about to try to rattle off my explanation when the checker says, "Oh, this was on clearance!"
He types it in and in the bag it goes.

I'm sure I was just standing there with my mouth hanging open. The coworker mumbles something about work, it doesn't register, I run my credit card and practically shout, "Have a great night!"
And Darian and I run out the door.

No sooner do we get out the door does Darian look at me and say, "Well, how long do you think it will be before everyone in the office thinks you are pregnant?"
Then she bursts out laughing.
"I'm glad this amuses you!" I snap
"It could only happen to you mom. Only you."

Indeed.

Snack time!

Quaker Mini Delight 90 calorie packs in Buttered Popcorn flavor.
I am basically in love with these! So much so, that I have been passing them around the office to share my newest snack addiction. They are SO good and 90 calories. I bought them on a lark. I have never really cared for their sweeter snacks because they just seemed like rice cakes with a tiny amount of flavor, but these are different. They totally curb any salty craving in a very guilt free fashion. The bag is packed full of them and each one is well coated with a buttery, salty goodness!
Yum! These will most certainly be in my purse the next time I go to the movies!

Bye Bye baby...

We lost a beloved pet this weekend.

One of our female gerbils died sometime on Saturday. (This photo is her with her family when she was a newborn. She is the baby on top with the white spot on her head)
I gave them all treats on Friday evening, and they all seemed fine, but on Sunday we noticed that we had not seen her since then. She went into her little house and passed away. There was nothing obviously wrong with her, so it must have been something internal. Poor little girl. Now her sister is alone. They are social animals, so I don’t think she is going to like being alone very much, she is too old for a new cage mate. Lonely gerbils tend to die soon after their cage mates. Usually from broken hearts. When they are alone they lose the will to live.

I think losing her lead me to having uneasy feelings and uneasy dreams. All night I dreamt about pets that I’ve lost along the way. In my dream they were all living at my parents house and I went to visit and told them I was bringing them all home with me. I woke up sad because for a few minutes I forgot they were many years gone.

Over the years I’ve lost as many humans as animal friends to death. Honestly, both things hurt me equally. I know some people would think that is wrong or shallow, but I don’t. Pets give nothing but unconditional love to the families that adopt them. I can’t say that same thing about all of the people that I’ve come across over the years.

In other pet news, it is so weird that our gerbil died. She was young and seemed so healthy. We have actually been bracing ourselves for our little hamster, Wasabi to pass away as he is looking very much like a Grandpa recently.
The weird thing is, he has made a complete turn around! He has been running in his wheel like he has not done in ages and his fur is looking all bright and healthy!

He started to look really skinny and was sleeping a lot about a month ago. I was starting to get very worried about him because I am told that Dwarf Hamsters don't live more than 1.5 years usually, and he is right at that age right now. He was not eating as much as he used to either, so I decided to try something out to get him to eat better. I thought that old people need soft food, maybe geriatric hamsters do too?
I bought a few different types of high end baby food and a block of tofu. 2-3 times a day I've been feeding him a small dish of baby food and a square of tofu with a thin all natural peanut butter spread on it. (I started out spoon feeding him for the first week when he was weaker, but now the dish is fine.) He has been going CRAZY for it and totally got his wee appetite back. It has been amazing!! Within a week, he was sleeping less and running in his wheel and begging to get out to play. He is a young hammie again!

I mean, I know he is at that age, and I should not get my hopes up too much, but at least I know that if he does go soon, his last days will have been happy.

On The Radio

Last.FM anyone? Add me if you want to. You can find me under: Dreamingviola or
http://www.last.fm/user/dreamingviola/

Things I almost forgot to mention...

Jon is playing a show tomorrow in Fremont. All the details are on his myspace www.myspace.com/jonauermusic

Speaking of the husband, did anyone else notice that there was a Big Star song that played in the much talked about "How i met Your Mother" episode with Britney Spears the other night? They played Thirteen through the entire date scene from beginning to end.

The postcards for Buck are starting to pour in! Keep em coming and thank you all so much!

That is about it.

Please send get well wishes...

In the first 20 seconds of this video (The Posies- Conversations) there is a man with a white beard who is "Talking to God" and Jon hands him a cell phone. He is actually our good friend and neighbor, Buck. I've lived in my neighborhood since 1997 and every day I pass Buck when I am walking home or going to the store. He is always out shopping, or getting coffee, or visiting with neighbors and always has a kind word and stops to chat. He is well loved and a great neighbor! Practically a local celebrity! I've never heard him say a bad word against anyone. I think he is a really cool human being.

He has been really sick and in ICU for over a month now. I'm super worried about him. They say he is getting better, and everything he has going on are things he should recover from, but it is just a matter of him keeping his spirits up and them getting ahead of the thing ailing him.
My idea is to have people from all over send a post card wishing him well. I think getting post cards from all over the world would REALLY lift his spirits. He is such a good guy, I think he would be so tickled.

If you are interested, you can send the postcards to me and I will collect them over the next two weeks and send them all to him in a big bundle and flowers. I think it would be a wonderful surprise for him!

If you are interested in participating, you can send the cards to my office:
The Stranger
ATT: Michelle Auer
1535 11th Ave 3rd Floor
Seattle, WA 98122


Feel free to link this or repost if you think you might have a FL that is interested! Thanks!

I made that!

My boss challenged us to make a dress out of recycled Stranger newspapers during last week's meeting. I decided to take that challenge. This is my beautiful friend, Bree modeling what I came up with. The hat, dress and bracelet are made up of recycled paper I found in the office.

Let them eat curry!

I just got just got some news about my favorite restaurant, Cedars. The owner has sold the business and is moving his entire operation over to The Taste of India starting the end of April. The new owners will keep the old name but after a bit they may change the menu. The head chef will be moving to the new place.
Cedars is my most favorite restaurant in all of Seattle! I love it SO much. I go there for every birthday. When people come to town to visit they always ask that we go at least once. Oh Coconut Curry Chicken & Chicken Tikka Masala, Spinach Naan, bottomless cup of the most amazing Chai tea ever, how I love thee!!!

Who knows, maybe the new place will be just as good, but I will miss it. I loved everything about it. The smells, my favorite table, the staff...

*sigh*

Just can't get enough!

In the last week I've read all three of these books (Good books), watched The Other Boleyn Girl (Craptastic movie), and revisited the first of the two Elizabeth movies (The better of the two starring Cate Blanchet).
If you need to know anything about Tudor history starting with the time of Henry VIII lemme know, I appear to be obsessed right now. (Which is strange, because I'm really not at all a history fan. I don't believe in living in the past. Who has the time?)

I found these books in a thrift store. This was a thrift store in a retirement community so these were the large print versions of the books. (ie it is the same book just HUGE font!) I didn't realize this until I got in the car and started to flip through the first one.
Then something magical happened! Due to the massive font I was able to read in the back seat of the moving car without getting the least bit car sick!!! This is unheard of for me! Since all three of the books were the large print versions I was able to read them all in the last week while riding around the city. I can't tell you how long it has been since I've had the time to just enjoy reading a book, much less three books in one week! It seems when I'm at home there is always some movie I've been meaning to watch (Thanks, Netflix) or there is some project I need to work on. The only time I had was in the car, but I would get car sick.
I don't know if all books come in this large print option, but I will most certainly be looking for it all of the time now!

Em & her brother in 3D

I decided to recreate her in Sculpey. I really love how she turned out! (There are more panels with Em on my doodle blog)

Em decorates her little brother.

If you have not figured it out already, I am working on a children's book! I'm hoping to have it done and off to the printer by the end of the month. If you want to see some of the samples wander over to my doodle blog, I've been keeping them updated over there. I won't be using all of them, and I'm not posting EVERYTHING over there, there must be surprises! But you will get the general idea.
It is going to be a bunch of misfit doodles that I have written cute little poems for. I meant to just get them out of my head and onto paper, but it kind of organically took on a life of it's own. Hey, I'll take inspiration wherever I can get it! It feels great to be doing something creative!

Doodling

I have been taking photos, just need to upload them. Tonight I've been too busy uploading doodles!
Check 'em out if you please.

March 2nd, 2008 - Wasabi Hammie

Wasabi eats his spinach so he can be strong like Popeye! Nom Nom Nom!

March 1st, 2008- Mr Happy wants you to Dine for Darfur on March 4th!

February 29th, 2008 - Creepy Doll

She towers over the cubes in the office. She REALLY creeps me out.

February 28th, 2008 - Mr Happy checks out the office bathroom reading.

Only at The Stranger. Any other place I have worked, any book with the word "playboy" on the cover showing up in the office, would be cause for the entire office to attend some sort of eight hour sexual harassment course. I'm glad things are more relaxed here, it just amuses me sometimes just HOW relaxed they really are.

February 27th- 2008 - A spring in her step.

My mom's shoes always make me think of that tune, "The most wonderful thing about Tiggers..."
She says they are great for her knees and for people who work on their feet all day. Makes sense.