There’s a Moose Loose in the Hoose!

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Cinka

You'd never guess she was a fearless mouse killer.

Last night as I lay sleeping, I hear the familiar cat cry of, “Mommy, I’m stuck somewhere, come get me out” from Matilda – which is generally a meek sounding mew that is more akin to a whimper. Or at least that’s what I thought I heard.

Sometimes the cats just mew because they’re looking for us. I called to her and she didn’t come. I kept calling and she didn’t come. I got up to look for her because I figured she must have (somehow) gotten into my closet and was now trapped. As I passed the bathroom, I hear the tiniest meow from the darkness. I look in, surprised to just see her sitting her, a toy mouse at her feet. Oh, she’d just been playing and was getting a little excited…at 3′oclock in the morning. No, wait, what? No. What’s that? ACK! Fake mouse, no. Real mouse, yes. *Dead as a door nail.

According to AJB’s recounting, I made barfy/blurgle sounds and called him up. I don’t think I did…make the blurgle sounds. I did call him up. I had to leave the room. I tweeted, “Holy crap! Matilda just killed a MOUSE in the bathroom!!! Matilda trumps your cat. Bonus: We now apparently have mice in the house.” AJB started to scold Matilda, but I shouted back that he should praise her. After all, it’s what we want them to do, right? We have mice? Cats are the cheap, eco-friendly way to get rid of them. I’m surprised, in fact. I’ve always wondered what the cats would do it a mouse got in the house. Would they play with them? Eat them? Ignore them? Well, tonight we found out.

Gross as it was, I really was proud of Matilda. I mean, it’s her first real kill. Being a vegetarian, you’d think I’d be sad about the mouse. I kind of am, but actually, I’m happier she got it before it chewed through my cheeks. Besides, hunting is natural for cats and far be it from me to take that away from her. And the truth is, mice are vermin and they carry diseases. As cute as they are, they don’t belong in the house and we can’t allow them to be. You HAVE to get rid of them and Matilda just saved us several hundred dollars in exterminator fees. Good girl!

After her kill, she roamed the house on patrol, sniffing in corners, checking behind furniture, looking for another one. She momentarily became sidetracked with a fake toy mouse, but quickly realized the live ones are better. Problem with the live ones, they stop moving after a while. I mean, come on, you bite them a few times and they go limp. What’s the deal? Anthropomorphizing my cats, as I do, I can only imagine that Matilda must have been so excited when she discovered the mouse. It’s like the fake ones, but it moves on it’s own!! OMG!! Finally! My years of training have all lead up to this moment!

A bit later, I gave Matilda a spoonful of tuna as a heroe’s treat. The other cats joined in the celebration too. It was indeed a red letter day. After that, I cleaned the kitchen REAL GOOD. Now that mice have found their way into the house, it’s imperative that we keep the house clean, don’t leave food out, and keep an eye on the cat food. I mean, we do a pretty good job already, but now it’s go-time.

Before we drifted off to sleep, AJB said that I was a good mommy because I praised the kitties…even when it’s horrifying. lol. I suppose so. Naturally, I cannot go without praising my man for scooping up the corpse and taking it out of the house. He also cleaned up a small pool of blood. I couldn’t have done it. I probably would have screamed, called my brother, and when he refused to come over, I would have slept in the car. Not sure how the next morning would play out. I am, sadly, overcome with girlie fears when it comes to dead animals or flying bugs. I become utterly useless. Aside from all the usual benefits of having AJB and the cats around, they also do the dirty work. I love them for that.

*Quite on accident, I discovered this phrase originates from Shakespeare. It’s fascinating that we still use phrases that were coined 400 years ago. Neat.

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Our Lovely Shower

Posted on September 27, 2009 by Cinka

My sister and Mom hosted a co-ed wedding shower for AJB and I today. It was lovely. My Mom spent the last month cleaning her yard and house, getting it ready and decorating it to a tee. My sister coordinated, brainstormed, had it catered, sent the invites, helped decorate and was an all around delightful hostess. In the mix, my sister-in-law was my sister’s right hand woman. My aunt Carol busted ass with my Mom to get the house ready. It was an all together amazing feat and they all did such a wonderful job. It was just great.

It was better than I hoped and better than I feel I deserve. It’s like, wow, all this for me and AJB? I can’t tell you how special we felt. We got a good turn out and even though some people didn’t show up (even though they said they would and didn’t even call to cancel) we were surrounded by people we love.

The biggest bummer of the day was that AJB’s kids couldn’t make it. I suppose I shouldn’t get into WHY they weren’t there. It’s not important, but I hope they know how much we missed them today. We really did.

Aside from the absent kids, it was just a spectacular day that went by entirely too fast. Mom had the yard just perfect with cafe lights and a white canopy. Every nook and cranny was clean and organized and filled with something – a plant or yard ornament. And it all looked so pretty.

I’m really bummed that I didn’t have a camera to capture moments or the decor, but it’s my fault – I should have planned ahead instead of expecting someone else to do it – it’s never a good idea to assume anything anyway. Luckily, AJB’s cousin Mike had a camera and took some fantastic photos of the day. Click here.

Did I mention we got presents?? Yeah, we totally did. Lots of presents! It was like frickin’ Christmas! Actually, I didn’t expect gifts at all. I was just happy people showed up. The best part about the gifts was that everyone was so thoughtful. Not one lame gift in the bunch. People even decorated or wrapped the gifts in Halloween themed wrapping. Wow.

I really am overwhelmed. In fact, I’m finding it hard to describe how I feel. I feel loved, that’s all. I’ve always known this, but AJB and I are surrounded by some pretty phenomenal people; really amazing people. Today, it was just so apparent. We have great family and great friends.

I know I’m leaving out details, I’m writing less than eloquently, and being extra girly. It’s after 1am and I’m exhausted. Happy and exhausted.

To everyone that helped pull this off and to everyone that attended, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you.

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Working Like Mad

Posted on September 15, 2009 by Cinka

How’s that “five day work week” go again? Over the weekend, I was handed a massive photo job involving loads of merchandise, a model, and even more photo editing. Whenever I feel exhausted (because I’ve been putting in 12 hour days) I remind myself that this is what I wanted. Here we go. This is my career. I wanted this. Most of the items in this project are rush items. Because I love this company and I want their continued business, I dropped the rush charge – that would be the 50% upcharge for work delivered in under 72 hours. Forget about it. This job is hefty enough. And this company has been good to me. I can afford to be good to them. I also really like my contacts over there. They seem like stand up guys.

I’ve been working in the studio more than ever – A.K.A. the garage. It’s only about 50% cleared, but I have space to work. I love working in there. I love it so much. On Saturday, I started work in the morning steaming t-shirts and as the heat rose, I thought I should go buy a thermometer, just to see exactly how hot. Turns out, it got to 91 degrees in there. And that’s nothing. It wasn’t even a particularly hot day. It was 80 degrees outside, 91 in the studio. Can you imagine what it’s like in 98 degree weather? By the thermometer’s logic, that would make it 109 in the studio! AJB finally caved and bought his poor, heat stroked fiancee a portable air conditioner. As he came home with the appliance, I stated, “Watch, as soon as we plug it in, the weather’s going to cool off.” Lo, I was right. It’s been a lovely 75 fucking degrees! Jesus. Ain’t it always the way? Well, through the end of the month, it looks like we’ll reach the high 90′s. I’m not wishing for another heat wave, I just want to make sure I use that sucker after all the fuss I made.

As I’m working hard, my eyes are burning with the heat of at least 1200 fires. I suppose this means I need new glasses. This has been the year that I’ve noticed I need my glasses more and more. Like, all the time. I’ve worn reading glasses since I was 17, but I could always get away with not wearing them all the time. These days, Grandma Kristen needs her spectacles. One of the numerous benefits to getting married is having health insurance and (hopefully) eye coverage. Teeth even?

On that note, HOLY CRAP THE WEDDING IS ONLY 46 DAYS AWAY!!!! No, I’m not panicking. I’m freaking the fuck out. We have so much to do. Our wedding planner – the girl that’s making it all happen – is out of town. Her father had a stroke and she’s (as she should be) attending to him. I can’t help but feel like…OMG bad timing! Does that make me a bad person? The selfish part of me is annoyed, the human part of me knows how tough it is when your Dad is sick. I’m sending her good thoughts. Except, now we’re on our own.

To get an idea of where we’re at, here are several important things we need to do: Wedding invites, bridesmaid dresses, grooms’s attire, groomsman’s attire, rehearsal dinner, wedding rings, outfits for the flower kids, wedding night reservations, honeymoon plans, slim the budget substantially, I need to figure out how I want my hair and make-up, alter dress, lose 10 more pounds, make appt. to get hair extensions (it’s gonna look cool), buy wedding shoes, take photo (or Photoshop) for special reception decor, write wedding vows, make favors, make bridesmaid bouquets, and a JILLION other little things.

AJB and I are lazy fucks. We lag on just about everything. When it’s come to the wedding, we’ve been less than proactive. Sure, in the last few months, we’ve gotten a bit more on the ball, but we’re not where we should be. Thankfully, we have lots of help. We’ve also been hellishly busy. Once the kids came back from vacation, we’ve both been working like mad. Who has time to design wedding invites? Yet, it has to get done.

On that note, I have a lot of work to do today.

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Fuck Yeah

Posted on September 13, 2009 by Cinka

My brother sent this to me this morning with the subject title “Your new tat search is over!“. In the body he wrote “I found the perfect tattoo for you. I think Dad would like it.” I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard. Thanks JCS. You’re hilarious.

I think the image speaks for itself.

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Station Fire, The Eyes of Mt. Wilson

Posted on September 7, 2009 by Cinka

Without a doubt, The La Canada Station Fire has been a spectacle to behold. As I’ve been watching the Station Fire swallow the Angeles Crest Forest, one of the more interesting vantage points has been the Mount Wilson Web Cam. Overlooking the Mt. Wilson Observatory (which was spared an untimely death), some of the most glorious images have come up. The web-cam went down for a few days, however, I’m happy to report it came back alive.

Over the last week, I managed to gather several AMAZING screen caps of the web cam. My favorites are the last two; the blue image taken just at sunrise (I happened to be up at the time) and only a few minutes after the 3rd image and then the most recent one where you can actually see the observatory with the fire in the background below a star filled sky. Just breathtaking. The first two look like Mordor.

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The Station Fire at Sunset

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Cinka

The last few days have been exciting. They’ve also been scary, nerve racking, and smokey. Oh, have they been smokey! The updraft from the Station Fire finally went away and allowed for all that smoke the fire was creating to settle down into the cities below; I think most of it’s settled around my house. In the morning, the Arroyo looks something like Mars – I’m thinking Mars from Total Recall. In the morning, the sun glimmers a red light onto the world. At night, the moon shines an eerie Halloween orange. If it weren’t for the fact that I can’t hardly breathe, I’d be totally stoked about all the reds and oranges and how spooky everything looks. Of course, it all reminds me that the Angeles Forest is burning, people are losing their homes, 2 firemen have been killed, countless wildlife has died, precious hiking trails have been ruined, and when the rain comes we’ll have to worry about mudslides. I don’t know who or what started it, but if it was arson, I hope whoever it was gets the slammer – forever.

I’m sending good thoughts to all the people who have lost their homes, to the families and friends of the firefighters lost in battle, and to everyone who has been effected by this terrible event.

While tragic, this has also, without a doubt, been a super opportunity for photographs – it’s what I do, you know. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of amazing photographs of the Station Fire on the net. Here are some more of mine.

These were taken on Tuesday September 29th, 2009 in the Rose Bowl parking lot and above JPL in Pasadena. Those clouds you see are actually smoke from the fire. These were the actual colors of the day as caught by my 40D. Pretty neat, huh?