Spooky and Squee

(x-posted to my LiveJournal and Deviant Art)

Spooky and Squee came into our home September 2009. Kindergoth had been wanting a cat.. specifically a "black cat" for some time. The day I happened to stumble across them, both Ecamer and Kindergoth were horridly sick. Body aches, stuffy noses, the blahs. I went to the pet store to get food for our snakes, Dhambala and Ghost, and as I was walking up to the cashier, I noticed 2 black kittens, in separate cages, attempting to play with one another. The sign said that each kitten was a whopping $70. (ouch) I stood there for a solid 15 minutes, watching them play, weighing the pros and cons of bringing them home with me. Pros includes the fact the both Kindergoth and I wanted cats, and have for a long time. Cons includes the price, and Ecamer's reaction. I was sure he would be ok if I brought home one of them... but two?

Finally I decided to make an offer to the store owner. (The pet store was locally owned and not a franchise so.) If he said "no" to my offer, then it was not meant to be. I offered him $100 for both of them. He paused a moment and then agreed, and the 4 month old (smelling of dog) kittens were placed into my arms, purring, content and happy to be held before being stuffed into a box for the ride home.

When I arrived home, Ecamer was laying on his stomach on the couch, passed out. Kindergoth was in her room. I called her out to meet the new members of the family. As I opened the box, Ecamer let out a moan when one kitten's head popped up. Then gave me a look when a second did the same and asked me how many were in there. (lol) Kindergoth squealed in delight and started the bonding process by playing with them immediately. The loved her as much as she loved them. Ecamer... well.. he wasnt pleased with the price, but when I told him the original price, he rolled his eyes. He admitted they were cute and told me "no more cats".

Several months have passed since that day, and Spooky and Squee have charmed their way into the hearts of the entire family. Next month they will be a year old. I am planning to have a party for them, for Kindergoth's benefit. We have had our shares of annoying moments such as them destroying my favorite couch and eating my clovers on the window sill, not to mention waking up to our spare snake tank broken yet again. This time, unrepairable:



But there have also been the adorable moments, when Spooky jumps in bed with me and night, gets on my stomach and kneads me. (Like I need any fluffing) Or when Squee, the moment one of us gets in the shower, feels fascinated to watch the humans in the water box and will sit there the entire time, and when we get out, he will stand right in the way with a baffled look on his face. The still play and tussle and its quite obvious that they should have never been separated. I feel I did the right thing for everyone when bringing them home. They love it here and we love them.



Besides.. how can one not love those furry little bastards?

Home Improvements

Yep. Still Alive. (insert Portal song here)

Well, tax refund came and the majority of it is spent already. Good news is that it's been spent on the house. Bad news is, that we have just focused on the smaller issues since 4 weeks ago I made a mistake carrying a newly purchased desk to the car and damaged my back in a major way.

Our "To-Do" list still includes replacing the old stove with one that works and a new counter top. (Stove will get done, but Im uncertain about the counter top.) We also need to re-tile the kitchen, dining room, hall, and bathrooms. (Definitely NOT happening.) New sinks and painting the bathrooms, (the main bathroom will be worked on.. ours will stay the same for years) and replacing one of the 5 entrances into the house with a large window (that had better get done as we have the window already.)

Part of what we have done so far is we have replaced all the brass light "fixtures" in the house with updated brushed-nickle ones with white marbled frosted glass. They look really pretty and I am pleased with it. A lot of what we have done has been outside though. We built raised gardens, bought some trees and finally chopped down the two 35-40 ft cacti that were draining the nutrients from our soil. Almost immediately our yard when from "barren wasteland, things dying everywhere" to "omg-there-is-some-hope-for-this-yard". Even our neighbors have commented about the improvements they are seeing in the once half-dead citrus trees. I wish I took a before shot when I first moved in. By next year, my backyard will be the sanctuary I always wanted.

One of the trees we have in are yard, we don't even know what kind of citrus it is cause it hadn't bloomed in about 10 years. This year it was FULL of blooms, so we will soon find out what fruit it will bear. Knowing my luck, it will be another grapefruit tree.. (yuck) Two of our citrus trees are lemon though and I just bought a Buddah's Hand Citron (aka Cthulhu Fruit) to be a main focal point in are yard. (You can read up on theme here. Clickie.) It already has fruit on it and I cant wait to try it. Ecamer also has some lime seeds for me to start. Not sure what kind they are exactly. All I know is that the limes are tiny, sweeter then a key lime, and from the Philippines. Obviously it will be years before I get anything from those.

Well.. we have been here nine months now. It certainly doesnt seem like that long. The house looks a lot better then when we moved in, but we still have a long way to go. Ecamer is happy here though, and so is kindergoth. Personally, I am happy here as well. I am really looking forward to the back yard being finished as I tend to spend a lot of time out there (in the shade). And when Im not outside, I like to look out at the yard through the windows and see the blooms in the trees and smell the fragrant air.

Guess I had better go take some meds. Gotta go pick up kindergoth soon. Hopefully I will have another post where its about me and my family and not just my house.

Why I am inside this box?

I'm really bummed as of late. Most of it has to do with missing my dad. I haven't heard from him in about a week and although you'd think I'd be used to it after all these years, for some reason it's hitting me harder now. I guess its because I finally caught a glimpse of what I have been missing out on and it has left me starved for more. Or maybe I'm just messed up in the head, I don't know... One thing that has really been bugging me is the fact of how very few pictures I took while on the trip. Everything was just so overwhelming. It wasn't until today that I realized I never got pics of Kindergoth with my dad.. or me with my dad for that matter.. Never got pics of her on the plane, or the CircusCircus tram (which she loved so much). Didnt get any of Ecamer at Lake Tahoe... Our very first vacation and I have so few pictures to show for it. :/ So yeah... bummed.

Anyway, one of our snakes got loose about 4 days ago. We still haven't found her. Good news is that neither have the cats. I'm just waiting for her to show up and slither across the room while my mother-in-law is over for a chat. Now THAT would be a conversation starter... At any rate, I hope she's ok and not going to be dead when I finally do happen across her path. I'm really worried cause I have had her since she was a week old. Her 4 year birthday is next month. :( (and she is really sweet. People don't like to think that snakes have personality, but they do. Just like rats, birds, cats, and dogs.)

Been playing a darkie on(Shaiya ) for a bit. You can find Vicious_Vixen on the Teos server. I do spend a lot of time on the lightie side as well however, and I am Failie_HM on the Etain Server. I really love this game for 3 simple reasons.

1.) It's FREE
2.) It's prettier then WoW
3.) Did I mention its FREE?

Of course they have items that you can only get through a web mall, but the fact of it is.. even when completely broke, you can play. There is no monthly fee. It has become my escape when I'm depressed or have an artistic block. Great time-killer.. Lots of nice people too.

Well, still working on my Oz Lolita Collection for IMVU. I'm unhappy with some of the products, but hopefully it's just my over-critical view and not what everyone will perceive. Maybe I just need to step away from the project for a few days.

Cell Phones

I'm a bit annoyed right now. Yesterday, I missed a call from my dad. I didn't even know it until this morning really. Then, today, my phone beeped at me telling me I had a voice-mail from 2 hours prior. Another call missed. Usually this wouldn't annoy me. It does this time because I had my phone on my person, all day yesterday and today. Seems my p.o.s. phone is messing up. But.. it may be a "get-what-you-pay-for" sort of thing. I don't know.

I'm cheap. I dont txt much and I talk on the phone even less. I have a cell mostly for emergencies but it is also my main contact with the world since I was sick of paying for a land-line I rarely use. My service is with Virgin Mobile. It's not bad for me. Pay-as-you-go sort of deal. $6.77 a month plan keeps the cost of minutes down as well as my txt messages. I have it automatically add $20 everytime my account goes below $1.50. Service is decent. Never really had a problem other then the fact that the directions to activate a phone on their website and the directions to activate a phone in the instructional booklet are completely different. (Btw... follow the ones in the booklet. It will save a lot of hassle.)

My problem lies with the phones in and of themselves. It seems like every year.. maybe two years if Im lucky, I need to replace my phone due to the fact that it has something wrong with it. The first time, the phone would get errors on the screen and I would have to pull out the battery to even get it to shut off. It was totally useless. The second phone I had was one of my favorites. But just like the one I have now, it started missing calls and txts. Not really a good thing when searching for a job. And to top it off, they no longer carried the version of cell phone I wanted. Now this one is doing the same thing... Over the years, phones have gotten fancier. I waited and waited for Virgin Mobile to come up with their generic version of an iPhone in hopes that it would make the price of their phones with full keyboards go down. This hasn't happened as of yet. It seems as though Virgin Mobile has hit the height of their technology. I would say that is is not a good sign, but due to the fact that fewer people are going be able to pay for such hi-tech phones, the demographic that Virgin Mobile is gearing toward will actually grow.

So my question (yes I do have one) is this. Would it be worth it to go with a larger company.. say AT&T and pay higher amount per month for the small amount I use my phone? Do they have better phones? Do the phones last more then 2 years? Or is this how all things are made now and no matter what price I pay, I will be doomed to get a piece of crap.

I need some suggestions and advice that anyone can give when it comes to the time frame certain cell phones last. Ideally.. I would like one to last at least 3 years.

Family Vacation

So this past weekend, I spent in Reno with my dad and sister who I haven't seen in years. I'm still kind of soaking in the experience.

We stayed at CircusCircus in the Sky Tower. The room was nice, two separate thermostats for the main room and the bedroom of the suite. It was nice. The car we ended up getting was a 2009 Ford Focus. OMG I WANT ONE! That car got over 440 miles to a tank of gas. It was uber sweet. It had satellite radio, usb ports right next to the lighter (lol) a sun roof and get-up-and-go like you wouldn't believe. I was in love and very sad I had to leave it in Reno.

On to the trip:

We flew Delta. It sucked. Pencil planes for 3 and a half hours of flight. Crowded ones at that. Note to self (and anyone planning to fly in my area): Fly Southwest from now on. From what I have observed, these planes are much more roomier and most likely worth spending a few extra bucks.

Meeting Dad:

My... stepmother (I guess) decided we should surprise my dad at a local pizza parlor where they were having dinner. As I drove into the parking lot, I saw him walking in the door. It was so... overwhelming to see him again. This man that I hadn't seen for 17 years. (i think?) And to see that he hadn't really changed all that much from when I was little. Just a few more wrinkles and a bit more grey. After parking, I sat in the car unable to get out. Ecamer was giving me pep talks.. but it wasn't helping. What it came down to was that I was afraid of being rejected by him. Just like I have been by the rest of my so-called family. A tap on the window brought my head up to see my sister. She made me get out of the car and told me my dad would be happy to see me. I still wasn't certain. We went in separately so my dad wouldn't suspect.

When I came in, I walked up to him. He didn't recognize me at first... until I said "Hi Dad" at which point he took me into his arms and a flood of relief flowed through me. There were tears of course... and pictures (damn pic-taken ppl). He told me how happy he was to see me and then asked me if I was happy. After that, the night went on and it was a confessional in some cases. So many things I didn't understand... or know... came to light. And the fact that he loves me and accepts me just the way I am now set so many fears at ease. He doesn't mind the goth aspect. Nor the fact that my beliefs are more of a witchy persuasion. He accepts that I like the dark and dreary and most of my clothing is black. We spent the majority of the trip together, naturally. The defining moment for me was hearing him say he was proud of me. All my life, all I ever wanted was someone from my family to tell me how proud of me they were. That I turned out well, despite all odds. And his wife... she was like a completely different person. So wonderful to me. So kind and encouraging. And nothing like the biological creature from which I was born.

They treated me like family. I know it sounds silly, because family should always be treated as such. But during the majority of my adult life.. well from 16 years on, I had never been treated like I mattered by my family. Not my mother, not my grandmother... just one big disappointment to everyone because I got pregnant at 16, married at 17, divorced at 18 and became a bi-sexual witch who had a taste for the darker things in life. I was never in any trouble with the law... just a black sheep in their eyes. Undeserving of family and/or happiness.

This trip has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had. My dad says he will come visit me within a year. I hope he does, because I already miss him so much.

Epic Fail

So I have not had my computer all last week due to the fact that it has been in a repair shop with the geeky tech boys trying to figure out what the problem is and why it is having this problem. I am not really impressed by the "work" they did to be honest.

First of all, when I took the computer in, I explained to them that it would keep rebooting on its own accord and when it did, there was a message saying System Failure due to bad sectors on the hard drive. I told them that I ran scan disc, disk defrag, chkdsk in DOS and still I had this problem

What they wrote on the repair form: "System will not boot into Windows"

>.>

Um... Hello... Not one time did I say that the system would not boot into Windows.

Also when I left them with my password and came a 5 days later to check on my computer.. They told me they hadnt started working on it because they didnt get the password right.

So let me get this straight... instead off CALLING ME or sending me an EMAIL, you just let it sit there for 4 days. Nice.

Then.. that same day, I asked them to move two folders to my flash drive so I could take them home and work on my other computer. I told them exactly which folders. There were only two out of the five folders on my desktop. They told me that they would just copy the entire desktop. Ok.. Whatever.

It took them 45 minutes to copy 5 small folders.
But that isnt the kicker.

The kicker is the fact that when I got home and plugged in the flash drive, the only files on there were the two I asked for. I spent 45mins waiting for two files. >.>

On top of all this when I finally got my computer back.. according to them nothing was wrong with it. They couldnt find anything at all.

Of course when I got home and hooked it all up and started checking my email...

System Failure Due To Bad Sector In Hard Drive.


I give up. Just going to buy a new hard drive and re-install everything. All. Over. Again.

Product 1000

As I was submitting my new uber-cute kitty hoodies on IMVU, it came to my attention that I was nearing my 1000th product submitted. So, in order to celebrate, I have decided to run a month long contest where the winners will receive everything they are wearing in a Save Outfit Snapshot.



*Product 1000 Contest* Ends September 15th

Win Everything you Avatar is wearing! Want to enter? Click here! http://www.imvu.com/catalog/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpbb2&file=viewtopic.php&t=289384