Cat Aprons

 I made aprons.  They do not fit my cats.  

I want it to be noted that my cats were not at all helpful in trying on aprons. They were not thrilled about any of the colors or patterns available to them. They in fact would rather play with the apron strings, then to actually wear an apron.

It is times like these, that make me thankful that several of my friends have cute tiny spawn. The failure for cat aprons (that the cats insist they never wanted in the first place) is a victory for small humans.  Several small humans in my hemisphere have been gift with aprons.  The cats are relieved.

Truth:  This was a Pinterest experiment. Nowhere in the instructions does it say it can be used for cats.  In fact the pattern that I used was called “Ann Kelle - Childs Apron Tutorial”. There is nothing that pattern that specifies this can be used for fur children, but also there is nothing specifies that this cannot be used for fur children.  If you are sewing inclined, I would recommend this pattern. It was easy to follow and turned out well for tiny humans.

Cemetery Picnic

What do you pack for a picnic at a cemetery?

Okay.  I should probably back up. For Mother’s Day, I took my mother to a cemetery for a picnic. This is not a hint to my mother that she has one foot in the grave and not a me being dramatic and exaggerating the truth.  The truth is, I did take my mother to a cemetery.  The cemetery in question is about an hour away and is the cemetery that hold the remains of the first generation of our family in America.  Pretty exciting stuff if you are interested in family history/ genealogy.  Since the cemetery is about an hour a way, it makes sense to bring a picnic and refreshment, which bring me back to my original question. 

What do you pack for a picnic at a cemetery?

Do you go full funeral meal and bring cold salads and finger food? Do you liven it up and play off a Halloween theme? Do keep it to traditional picnic food? These questions rolled around in my head, until I did a mash up of all three.

Cemetery Picnic Menu

Chicken Salad on Onion Rolls with Cheese and Tomato

Deviled Eggs

Marinated Mushrooms

Mozzarella and Tomato

Strawberries

Dirt Cups. (Chocolate Pudding with crushed Oreo’s and Gummy Worms)

What would you pack for your picnic?

Album Art Appreciation

 There was a great mental debate on writing about my Mother’s Day plans and in the end I have decided to hold off and write about it at a later date. Mostly because I don’t want to provide any spoilers to my mother and mother in law.   Instead I will talk about something that both my mother, mother in law and myself have in common and that is art appreciation. 

My husband is a connoisseur of vinyl records. It is his hobby and he is constantly on the hunt for new music. He has a talent for finding obscure and often very interesting records. While not all the records are to my musical taste, some of the art on the album covers is remarkable.   Below are 11 gems from the record collection that I think have interesting album jackets.

1. Monomyth - Exo - This is amazing because not only is the jacket a space trip, the inside is fascinating to look at.
2. Comacozer- Binbeal - I love how psychedelic this is. 
3. Orphans of Doom - I am not going to lie, I picked this one because of the octopus.  The flowers and octopus is beautiful to me.
4. Alunah - Amber &Gold - I feel like this one could be the cover to several fantasy novels. It reminds me of a fallen angel in the garden of eden with the apples and wings. 
5. Book of Worms - Remythologizer - This is the exact type of fantasy novel that I would have bee drawn to. The more you look at it the more details you see. 
6. The Pilgrim - Walking into the Forest - This reminded me of the sort of folk music that I enjoy. 
7. Slift - Ummon - This is another amazing one that the out side of the jacket is just as interesting as the inside of the jacket. 
8. The Well - Pagan Science - This I would expect to see in a museum. 
9. Waveshaper- Artifact - I love how retro and futuristic it is. I makes me think of an 80’s set in what they thought the future would look like.
10. Turned to Stone Volume 2- Masamune and Maramasa- Howling Giant- Sergeant Thunderhoof -  There is so much going on in this.  The more you look at it, the more details you see.
11. The Greasy Gills- The Spring Collection - This album cracked me up. It made me laugh.

Filling the Bag

My mother gave me a box of zippers. I have been practicing by making zipper bags. After about a dozen bags, I needed to come up with a purpose for the bags. I cannot keep giving away the random bags. 

I decided to make some of the bags into a To Go Kit. Or as my husband has called it a The Girl Kit. (In truth my husband did back peddle beautifully and renamed it The Non Gender Specific Kit.)

The idea behind the kit is to keep it in the car and use it when needed. It isn’t a first aid kit.  

Here is what is in the kit so far:

1. Hand Sanitizer
2. Allen Wrench (hex key)
3. Bands Aids
4. Alcohol Wipes
5. Lint Roller
6. Floss
7. Tooth Paste
8. Bobby Pins
9. Sunblock
10. Hand Lotion
11. Face Mask
12. Magnifying glass
13. Nail File
14. Sole Savers
15. Hot Chocolate
16. Vanity Kit (cotton balls and cotton swabs)
17. Pads/ Tampons
18. Face Mask
19. Shampoo
20. Makeup wipe
21. Safety Pins 

Other than a cup of tea, is there anything that you think is missing in this kit?  

The Sad Cupcake

 You can’t be sad when you’re holding a cupcake. My dear friend Faye, gave me this magnet. It made me laugh and I thought it was the truth. Then I found an exception to that.  When that cupcake is a lie, the phrase misery loves company comes to mind. 

Welcome to a story about a terrible cupcake.

My friend Nic is a vegan. A gluten free vegan. Being vegan and gluten free is not a terrible thing. I have had some amazing vegan food and gluten free food in my life. While it is not my way of life, I am open to trying new recipes. Nic wanted to make red velvet vegan gluten free cupcakes.  She found a recipe on the internet. 

This is proof that the internet is a cruel and terrible place. They looked like cupcakes. They tasted like misery and tragedy. Of course I brought one home for my husband to try. After all, what if they were fine and I was just being super critical? (Truth: Misery loves company and I needed someone else to be just as traumatized as I was over the experience.) I have never seen a person spit a cupcake out of their mouth so quickly. My husband might never forgive me for the cupcake betrayal.

Things that were wrong with the cupcake:

1. Texture - It was crumbly yet gummy, like it lacked the will to live, but was trying anyway
2. Flavor-It did not taste like red velvet. It did not taste like chocolate. It tasted somewhat nutty.
3. Icing- The recipe had described it as tangy. Tangy is not something an icing should ever be. I am pretty sure my husband described it a barf. 

Lesson learned. Be wary of anything that is mostly held together by maple syrup, coconut oil and optimism.  Thank you Nic for reminding me that cupcakes can be deceiving. Happiness is not always a cupcake.

The Ugly Potato Alien

 E.T is an ugly potato of an alien.  

I may have made the ugliest pillows ever.  I say this,because I used left over E.T fabric that was used in the pop culture quilt I made my brother.  I do not understand  the love for E.T. He isn’t all that appealing or even interesting. In fact, I can name ten aliens that are more appealing than E.T.  

The E.T. Go Home List

1. Chewbacca 
2. Mork
3. Alf
4. Ewoks
5. Xenomorph
6. Predator 
7. Zaphod Beeblebrox
8. The Thing
9. Triffids
10. Dr. Who

How many aliens can you name that are more interesting than E.T?   Also- Is Predator the name of the actual species or does it have something more scientific?

A Toy for Iggins

If I was a better cat mom, I would have written about Iggins on his birthday. Instead I just now remembered that I forgot his birthday and instead I am going to talk about the nice thing I made for Iggins for his unbirthday. 

I am not a naturally creative person. I am a person that does an excellent job at following instructions. If someone else comes up with the idea, I am decent at following instructions on how to create it. I am not normally an originator in the craft world.  I bring this up, because this is one of the rare moments where I did not pull a craft off of Pinterest.  I made Iggins a cat toy that he actually appreciates and is not a random twisty tie or wine cork. 

Supplies:

1 Finger Puppet

Loose dried catnip

Needle

Thread

Instructions:

Acquire a finger puppet. If there is a Ten Thousand Villages near you, they have a wide variety of finger puppets for a decent price. I picked up a piggy for my Iggy. (Iggins is my Piggins) Once you have you the finger puppet, stuff it full of the cat nip. You want it in until the finger puppet is stiff. Thread the needle and stitch the end closed.  This is an easy toy to make and has been Iggins tested and approved.