bamboo update

so the basement is cold. i've made a little bamboo blanket for my bamboo's vase. set it near the window but not too close. and then i've stratigically positioned it under the heating vent. it is greener than before... but leaning more towards yellow. i'm trying bamboo!! please don't die on me yet! darn winter temperatures....and lack of humidity

my bamboo plant hates me

i trimmed off the yellow tips and the one dying leaf... and now it is turning white! what does that mean? this is the droopiest i have ever seen my bamboo plant. i don't know what to do. so i thought.... it's in the cold basement, we don't have much humidity because spiders like that, and i don't like spiders. so what do i do? one of my desperate attempts to warm it up was setting it near the crock pot. steam comes out, right? i've watched crock pots and some steam escapes. and if nothing else it is warmer. i think i'm going to get some bamboo food. and play some classical music, and talk even nicer to it. (yes i already talk to my plant).....anyway.... i hope something works. i have never been able to keep a plant alive until this bamboo plant. it has been 2 1/2 years now since i bought it, and it has grown so much! i really hope it changes it's mind and decides to like me.

the new years party....

tomorrow is the new years party. i'm not a party person at all. i prefer hang outs and dates over parties.... like every holiday it's like "ok, another one down." and then another holiday comes up and i am like, "i can do this, yeah." take a deep breath and squeeze shiloe's hand for strength.....
anyway, finally this year it is a less formal party. in fact it isn't even a party! :) i am so excited! it is supposed to be more casual, like a hangout/date type and possible sleepover. YAY

shiloe's cute tags

shiloe took the opportunity to write a different set of names on each tag this christmas. here they are:
to kattalicious from skelator (other nicnames)
to kitty from shilore (other nicnames)
to felix ferdinand from grey pony(our "world dictator" names)
to kat-a-ryn from shiguy (other nicnames)
to kat from shi (shortened names)
to kathryn from shiloe (first names)
to mysterious guest from mysterious guy (this one ended up being for him from "santa" LOL)

it was a fun christmas. :) shiloe is so sweet!

the snuggie

so this christmas was a good christmas. :) in addition to the spirit of giving and the true meaning of christmas, the world often celebrates a material christmas. this is the christmas i am referring to. over the years of my fairly short life i have always had a way to satisfy or curb my controlling nature. for one-i may or may not have peaked at my christmas presents before christmas growing up-some of the years. and i may or may not have seen santa deliver them at least on one occasion. birthdays are the same way. it's like throwing a party but you don't know if anyone will truly show up, and if they do-will they have fun? so for my the gift giving holidays are just a little frightening and out of my control. i prefer not to talk about them.
this year however, i believe i have made a huge step forward to trusting the holiday spirit. shiloe wrote a christmas list with only three items on there. one of which was very expensive, thus forcing people to get him what he really wants-books. not just any books, history books and where's waldo? books. of course he put the history books on his list sent to his parents, so i was only left with one choice. Waldo. but where was he? i searched at several different online bookstores, no success. barnes & noble seems to only carry newer books.... online at least. so finally i turned to amazon.com, where i found the complete collection. all six books packaged together and sent to our front door. so i was done. i secretly hoped shiloe would forget about my gifts, or if he remembered i would get something like a ballet bar(barre?).... except that those are like $300 just for a good portable 5 ft bar. it was discouraging. but i put it on my list anyway.
by the next day shiloe had gone shopping for my gift. i had given him a very very specific list. but for some reason my list doesn't work the same way as shiloe's. my whole reasoning is that you write a list so that people know what to get you. what's the point in writing it otherwise?
so when i found out that my gifts came from bed bath and beyond i was upset, to say the least. that was not at all anything on my list. i didn't care what it was-it was the same amount as my ballet bar, and it wasn't my ballet bar. so it was going back. shiloe, bless his heart, returned it all except a cute little mug with hot cocoa mix. after a few days i thought i had convinced him that i was not to get me anything unless it was on my list. but christmas eve came, and while doing some last minute shopping in the morning shiloe banned me from one half of the store while he purchased my new gift..... can i say i was upset? i was. truly. and it was an event to watch my act like a two year old because shiloe just got my a gift that i didn't specify and from the wrong store and without my approval! i made him promise that if it was any sort of massage machine he would return it. he said he would, but after christmas. he said i had to open it first. of course i was upset. it would be so much easier if we just unwrapped it and returned it before christmas morning, then i wouldn't feel forced to accept a gift i wouldn't use. after a meltdown about how much i hate holidays because of the very lack of control that exists and how shiloe didn't even know what i wanted other than a ballet barre because i didn't write a list for that, shiloe sat me down. he snuggled me, and even though i said i couldn't kiss him because i was upset with him... well he convinced me to change my mind. :)
at this point he reminded me that we have a tradition picked up from my family to open one gift on christmas eve. i got excited. this could help me know how well he did on the rest of my presents. so he took me downstairs to the tree and recommended a few i could choose. i chose one. about the size of a wii box, but it was not a wii. it was light and didn't shake. no sound at all! i stared at it, and stared at it. i began to realize i could wait until the morning to open it. but that would break the tradition. so i used a justification to excuse the broken tradition. "shiloe, usually our christmas eve gift is pajamas." he looked at me and smiled, then laughed gently. he gave me a big hug and said, "you already have pajamas, but you will want this gift tonight." so i opened it.
the first color i saw was PINK. i love pink. :) then i saw the word "snuggie". yes, that's right. i have a snuggie, and i use it. me, shiloe and my pink snuggie hung out together christmas eve. today (christmas day) we took a nap with my snuggie. but the point is. i use it, i love it, and it makes sense. shiloe obviously put some thought into this.... i can't be on my computer, i can't draw i can't do like anything without having my hands free. but i'm always cold. so that's where the snuggie comes in. :) i am now a proud snuggesian.
so the point of all this is that the snuggie helped calm my nerves and build my trust between me, my wonderful husband and the holidays. and i must include the results of this christmas morning. i opened the rest of my gifts from him.... and they match, they are just what i wanted, and i can use them. :) what are they-you ask? well a new comforter, a bedskirt, two pillows and two pillow shams i had been admiring. they are floral, black and white and match the bedroom. i made the bed immediately. *sigh* it is so much easier to make the bed when it creates something beautiful. :D
he also was thoughtful enough to include a separate bed set in case i get bored and want to switch things up. which i do. a lot. he definitely knows me better than i had previously thought. :) i think i am beginning to like christmas again, without cheating.

The Case of the Misshapen Head

The following is to be read aloud ONLY by Proper English Gentlemen,
The rest of you may read along quietly:

It was quarter past the 22nd hour and all was still but the wind and willows. The night sang its sleepy song to the slumbering ears of a certain Felix Ferdinand II whilst a can of vegetable beef soup sat, spinning in the micro. The can of soup is not important though; forget that it was ever mentioned. In any event, the can of soup sat, spinning and cooking whilst a certain Felix Ferdinand II lay slumbering about dark and swirly things. To be particular, she dreamed that her head was sorely misshapen and was caving in on her brain. This Felix Ferdinand II, in her bleak and ghastly state, etched a frown upon her lips and tried to shew the thought away. Alas, the can of soup, which again, should have no weight in this tale, was finished and had been poured into a bowl. Felix Ferdinand II returned to the land of consciousness, still grimacing. The dream, she realized as she slowly felt the back of her head, had come true! Her fingers told the story; her head was sorely misshapen and inward it was caving! By this time, the ever persistent bowl of soup had made its way down the hall and into the bedroom where the Damsel was riveted in her distress. It wasn't hard to piece together, since the corners of her mouth nearly touched her toes. The bowl of soup was hastily clanked upon a dresser, sloshing about in its way. Felix Ferdinand II sat up and began to cry. Much to its chagrin, the bowl of soup was made to wait. There, upon her bed; upon her basilisk of comfort, the Damsel was wracked with her new yet ever present distress. This was the highest offense that nature could conjure. For the place Felix Ferdinand II wished most for comfort, was the exact place where she found none. It was that misshapen head of hers that caused the discord and discomfort. The bowl of soup was cooling. It was then the Damsel found loving arms and wept her tears of weep. Those loving arms had loving hands that wiped the weep from her cheeks. These loving arms were also attached to a loving body, complete with a loving head. Ironically, Felix Ferdinand II found, this head was shaped just like hers! It was sudden then, that a thought came streaming in; she had never really touched the back of her head before this night. In fact, as she felt the loving head, her own became more shapen than mis. The soup was still waning in its bowl. "All heads must be like this!" the Damsel chimed. She also found that what she called caving, most call a tension headache. So, off she went, back to sleep; back to listening to midnight's sweet melody. Not to dream of dark and swirlies but of marshmallow paddies and chocolate moonlight. The wind continued its dance through the willows and the bowl of soup, that was never forgotten, finally found its home.

The End.

Felix Ferdinand I

TUNE IN FOR OUR NEXT EPISODE:
Cold toes, an Upset Stomach, and Facebook quotes

Gilgamesh - Abridged

So basically Gilgamesh is a part god that is super strong and loves women and Enkidu is a beefy monkey man with the hair of a lady(created to be an equal to Gilgamesh and distract him from Uruk and doing bad things) that is not so into women; and they fight, then they are friends.... they slay a fire breathing monster together.
Ishtar goddess of love wants to marry Gilgamesh but then he says "oh you are too fickle for me" and refuses... which is funny to me because he was a manslut before and totally fickle from the sounds of it....lol
Ishtar sent her bull of heaven to kill Gilgamesh and Enkidu helps Gilgamesh kill it.

and they rested.

after giving it's heart which they cut out to Shamash who was one of the gods that gave Gilgamesh his unsurpassed beauty :P
but... the fact that he killed the bull made the gods angry so they declared that one of them should die... after having a nightmare Enkidu monkey man with lady's hair passes away (of course he is the only one with morals here) and Gilgamesh is sad

so then he decides that he wants to live forever and goes to search for the secret of immortality from Utnapishtim, the Mesopotamian Noah that the gods granted with everlasting life.

Gilgamesh finds Noah (Utnapishtim) and is told the story of the flood
so then Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh about this awesome plant that is at the bottom of the ocean, so he opens a channel out of the garden and floats into the ocean... he ties rocks to his feet and sinks to the water-bed. then he grabs the plant (even though the thorns hurt his hand) and then cuts the stones off his feet... the sea spits him out and there is a ferryman-Urshanabi. he tells him about this plant and how it will make old men young again and how he will share it with all of the old men of Uruk and eat it himself and then become young again.....
so then the ferryman-Urshanabi and Gilgamesh travel twenty leagues then eat, then at thirty leagues they decide maybe it's time for a rest. so they sleep for the night.
so then Gilgamesh was awake i guess and saw a well of cold water, he went to take a bath in it... but little did he know there was a serpent in the depths of it that thought the plant smelled nice.
and so it stole the flower, "sloughed" its skin and returned to the depths of the well.... then Gilgamesh started to cry.... Urshanabi is there and Gilgamesh takes his hand and cries, saying something to the effect of "oh Urshanabi, after all this work and wringing out my heart's blood i lose the flower, why??? i have gotten nothing for myself out of this....but the beast of the earth has what i want now....and by now the water would have carried it back to where i found it! let's leave the boat and go."
and so the destiny was fulfilled...Enlil of the mountain told Gilgamesh," kingship was his destiny, not everylasting life. so do not be sad or feel oppressed... you have given supremacy over the people, victory in battle, and you give darkness or light to mankind.... don't use this power for the wrong reasons, be just with your servants in your palace and 'deal justly before the face of the Sun' ".... the end