the untitled post

I just wanted to share an excerpt from a book I am reading called "Your Captivating Heart" by Staci Eldredge.

"None of us gets a pain-free life. Not even the women whose life and appearance look so perfect... from a distance. To be alive means that we are and have been wounded. Longfellow said, 'If we could see into the secret lives of even our enemies we would find enough suffering and sorrow there to end all hostilities.' "

This really made me stop. To think that the person who cut you off in traffic today is suffering. That the cranky check out lady could be going through a divorce, that the woman who is always so annoyingly clingy is simply desperate for a friend, breaks my heart. All the times I have said things and jumped to conclusions. All the times I have been so quick to judge instead of help. Maybe that villain was really a damsel in distress.

"Love your neighbor as yourself. If you keep biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other." Galatians 5:14-15

Confidential... Read at your own risk!

I am about to reveal some top secret information about a conspiracy to overthrow our government and take complete domination of the world. But before I do I just wanted to warn you that this information is disturbing, and will change the world and your perspective of sea mammals forever. Read at your own risk...

Who is behind this evil plan you might be wondering. It would have to be someone deeply disturbed and yet seemingly innocent. Someone you would never expect in a million years. Oh the sick creatures are all that and more! Gaze upon the face of EVIL!!!!!!!

Yes, I am talking about Dolphins (this is where I lost the NSA). Seriously though, think about it. According to wikkipedia.com Dolphins are second in intelligence only to humans. Now do you honestly believe that a creature capable of that kind of intelligence would be satisfied simply jumping through hoops at sea world for fish? I DON'T THINK SO!

Dolphins are evil I tell you! But I am not the only one who thinks so. Here is a portion of a very informative article by the ultimate guide to dolphins. It explains some of the dolphins, shall I say, devious behavior.

"So what have researchers learned about dolphin intelligence?
Dolphin researcher Pieter Arend Folkens tells this story: "Since trash can be dangerous to dolphins if ingested, some of the animals at Marine World Africa USA were trained to retrieve the trash and return it to the trainer for a reinforcement reward.
"A trainer would come out onto the floating stage and a dolphin would perform a tail stand with a piece of trash in its mouth. The trainer would then reward the dolphin with a bit of fish.
"One day the lead trainer went through the routine only to notice that the dolphin kept coming back with a piece of trash even though the tank appeared clean. The trainer asked a colleague to go below to the engineer's port to observe what the dolphin was doing when a trainer came out on the float. The trainer came out on the float and sure enough, the dolphin quickly showed up with a piece of trash and got his reward.
"The scam was revealed! This dolphin had established a savings account of sorts. He collected all the trash and stuffed it in a bag wedged in a corner of the tank near the intake of the filtering system. In there was paper, rope, and all sorts of trash. The amazing thing is that when he went to the bank he did not simply take a piece, rather he would tear a bit off to maximize the return.
"This behavior is particularly interesting because it shows that the dolphin had a sense of the future and delayed gratification. He had enough presence to realize that a big piece of trash got the same reward as a small piece, so why not deliver only small pieces to keep the extra food coming? He in effect had trained the humans."

If they can save up trash each day waiting for a reward, how much more likely are they to save up intelligence waiting for WORLD DOMINATION!

Now certain individuals have brought up the fact that it would be impossible for Dolphins to take complete control over the world seeing as they are limited to staying in bodies of water. I have two words for these individuals... GLOBAL WARMING! I don't know how they are doing it, but the are melting the polar ice caps so that they can flood the world. With this accomplished they will be able to go anywhere they want.

If you are still not convinced this clip from a national geographic special should do the trick. "The True Nature of Dolphins"

I hope you found this post informative and I also hope that it will help you to take more care when it comes to... DOLPHINS!

Griffith and Me!

Everybody, I would like to introduce you to my new buddy Griffith! He is a small plush Llama, that some good friends brought back for me from the Cincinnati Zoo. He is incredibly soft, cuddly and really likes popcorn. He traveled around with me in my purse all week long and here is some stuff that we did together...

Monday

Monday was the last night the Ross' were here so we decided to go watch the new movie "Journey to the Center of the Earth". We really liked it but I had to cover Griffith's eyes for some parts.
While we were there we met the cast of "Highschool Musical". Zac and Griffith really hit it off.

Tuesday

Tuesday the Ross' left and I didn't have to work, so I spent most of the day in my PJ's (or rather Jimjamms as the Doctor calls them) watching "Doctor Who". Griffith and the Doctor also got along great. What can I say, Griffith is a people person... er... Llama. Do I see a potential new companion?

Wednesday

Wednesday I had to work. We had the VP coming in to inspect our store so everything had to be perfect. BACK AWAY FROM THAT DENIM LLAMA! It took me three hours to fold that!

Thursday

Thursday night we had a softball game that we... humiliatingly lost. But the good news is that afterwards we went to DQ for some ice cream. A vanilla cone, dipped in Butterscotch, with sprinkles is our favorite. If you are wondering why I look so surprised in this picture it is because Stacy tired to shove my face into my ice cream cone right as Olivia took the photo. That cheeky little rascal!

Friday Friday morning I spent cleaning my room. Griffith tried to help me fold laundry. He got a little lost. After that it was off to work and then to my sisters house to do art and watch Stargate Atlantis on her cable!

Saturday

Saturday I went baby-sitting for a lovely family with three little ones. The kept me and Griffith on our toes but after they went to bed we had a little bit of quiet time to fill out the rest of my open house thank you cards.

Sunday

Sunday morning I was on the worship team. It turns out that Llama's have very good singing voices.

We had loaned some friends our motor home and they brought it back on Sunday morning. Dad usually backs it on top of a small hill by our house. But Dad wasn't home and Mom thought she new a better way of parking it. Why not just pull straight up the hill? Here is why.

It was successfully stuck and after about two hours of my brother and neighbor trying to pull it out with a tractor and a lot of chain, and a good deal of pushing on Griffith's part, they decided to call a tow truck. I had to leave for work and while I was on my way I passed a GI-NORMOUS tow truck. "Whoa! Where is that going?" I asked Griffith and then I realized it was going to my house! Griffith and I had so much fun this week! Thanks so much my dear sweet friends for my fun new buddy!

IF: Canned

Doctor Who?

Here is a picture of one of my latest projects. I made this 10th Doctor doll for Stacy in exchange for a dress that she is going to make for me. I think he turned out... FANTASTIC! LOL. The jacket is removeable and I even made him a little sonic screwdriver out of a pipe cleaner and a bead. My favorite part though has to be the shoes.
Look at that face! Could it get any cuter? Wait... I think I have an idea... PERFECT!

You can find the pattern for this attractive little doll at Snuffykins Live Journal

and the jacket was found here

Enough...

This is my first painting for illustrationfriday.com I am so excited I finished it! Hopefully you will be seeing many more Illustration Friday uploads from me!

Wouldn't life be simpler if it was just like Saturday Morning Cartoons...

Do you remember when you were little and you would get up in the morning and watch cartoons? You could always tell who the bad guys were by their curly mustache, dark black cape, and most importantly their evil laugh. MMMMUAHAHAHAHAHA!

Unfortunately in real life it can be hard to tell the Good Guys from the Villains. Wouldn't it be nice if they really did walk around in capes followed by the occasional flash of lightening. Instead they hide behind paper smiles and cranky additudes.

How do you know when someone is a villain in disguise or simply having a bad day? How do you know if someone is evil or you just quite simply don't get along. When do you offer grace and a second chance and when do you just learn to keep away?

Then there are the so called "Good Guys". Why is it that the people you put the most trust in always seem to hurt you the worst. Why is it that just when you decide that some one is good you discover that they have been out to get you the whole time. How can you trust someone when you know that they will ultimately let you down?

Now yes I know that we are all humans, filled with selfish desires and ambitions to be good. But being created in the image of God but being a fallen creature really adds up to one heck of a dichotomy. Wouldn't life be simpler if it was just like Saturday morning cartoons...

A Good but Odd Ood, Serving Food on the Moon!

Are you liking the new blog layout? I am LOVING it! My friend Fedora and I set up a swap for it. She got this adorable stuffed Ood (an Alien from the British Scifi show called "Doctor Who". We are both kind of obsessed with it!) and I got that beautiful banner! We both think we got the better end of the deal, so I guess it worked out well!
His name would be Frank, that is if Oods had names.
I would provide a link to the pattern but unfortunately the designer is currently being sued by BBC for copy right infringement. Oops...

Good Day...

I know, I have been a very cheeky monkey and have neglected this blog for sometime now. It's not that nothing eventful has happened, quite the opposite. There has been so much going on that I am not sure where to start. But I won't go into all that right now because our friends the Rosses (Or is it Rosss?) are on their way from Georgia and should be here very soon.

Today was a good day. We got up early and went to Target, Joann's where I bought the stuff for this afghan and then we went to the library (which is always fun!). I found some really cool new books explaining how to make dog sized furniture, a sofa out of card board and a really cute hat.

On the way home we stopped by my favorite restaurant Pei Wei, and ordered some of their crab won tons! YUM, I love those things! Then when we got home, I discovered I had some extra company in the form of a small tick that I have named Ted. He had been riding around on my upper thigh all day. So we made a small side trip to the emergency room, that got me out of work and gave me a chance to read my new books.

The Doctor (not THE Doctor, our Family Doctor) said everything was fine though and gave me some antibiotics just in case. But the best part is he says he also prescribes that drug for acne so maybe it will get rid of the BIG zit on my forehead!

When we got home from the Doctor's office, we did some cleaning before our company arrives and now I am sitting on the computer contentedly writing this post, listening to my new Doctor Who CD and eating a cookie.

Today was a good day but now it is time to get back to work. I will say more later...

Artistic...

Here are my two pieces for the 4-H this weekend. I have been working on them like crazy! The top one is my mixed media, I am not really happy with it. I think it is missing something. Although the girl turned out amazing. If you look it is actually the same image that is currently my profile picture. I printed that black and white image and then used acrylic paints to add color

The painting below is actually an illustration from a song by Superchick called "Alive". I have always wanted to illustrate a song and when I heard that line I knew I had found the perfect one. I L-O-V-E this painting!

This last piece of art was drawn for me last night at work by a beautiful little girl named Simone. She is three and her Mommy wasn't paying very good attention to her in the check out line. So I gave her a piece of recipt tape to doodle on and she drew me this beautiful flower. It made my night.

Open House...

My open house was perfect. I could go back and do it all over again I wouldn't change a thing. My sisters and brothers-in-law all came over and helped get things ready in the morning. My mom had been baking up a storm for the last few days and had made three cakes, 12 dozen bar cookies, 3 dozen cupcakes, and 6 dozen cookies. Several of our other friends also brought sweets and so let me just say there are a lot of leftovers (YUM!)

One of my sisters brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and some college start up money and the other gave me a wonderful SUITCASE! Now let me just explain that I have a slight obsession with luggage especially hard side luggage. I have been wanting my own suitcase for about 3 years but have not had the money to buy a nice one. So lets just say that I was thoroughly excited (i.e. jumping up and down screaming) when I saw it.

The rest of the day was just as good with my friends and family coming in and out bringing me cards full of well wishes and gifts. It was so nice to sit and talk. I felt so loved.

But graduating is bringing changes (although not as many as I had thought) such as marking the transition from Mr. and Mrs. to first names with many of my friends parents (WEIRD!) Now I am constantly like "Mr. Smi... I mean.... Jim..."

One of the coolest things about my open house though had to be the cake. Mom, Emily and I went to go order a sheet cake from Costco, but all the had was the exact same graduation cake that Stacy and every other graduate has had. A cake with a hat and some flowers. Well I am not like every other graduate. I wanted something different. So we started looking over the templates and I found the perfect one! A cake meant for a baby shower with a giant STORK on it! It was AMAZING. So we had the decorater's leave off the baby stuff, change the colors and put a graduation cap on it and this is what I ended up with...

Isn't it cool! Mom said that storks are usually only symbolic of one thing however and I said "Yes it represents my new birth as a College Student!" and Emily quickly added "Besides Mom, it's not a stork... Its a mutated Beaver!" LOL

So there it is... My fantastic day. Probably one of the best in my life. I couldn't ask for anything more...