Friday, October 4, 2013

Mortem's Tricks or Treats: Things To Do While Waiting.

My husband has been home every day since Monday when the news was announced that the U.S. government shut down, and most everyone in federal jobs were sent on leave without pay until further notice. Without going too far into it, things don't look good for many of us, and it's quite shocking to see the negative responses of such an event-- it's been quite stressful with how sporadic the government has been. First the sequestration happened, which destroyed the chance to move those months ago... and now this. It feels like we can't catch a break.

We are biding our time until then, pooling and squeezing each resource available to us since town living is not as cheap as one may think. We're not hurting yet since we've been able to make the best of what we have... that is, everything aside from entertaining ourselves. Squeezing pennies means we don't have the luxury of even taking a drive, since anywhere of note will likely cost $40 in gas... and well, the only place of note nearby is a National Park-- go figure, it's closed because of the shutdown.

On the brightside, my health has been doing alright (knock on wood)-- I haven't needed the surgery as far as we can tell since my gallstones are still mobile; I've been getting the hang of which foods don't trigger a severe attack... I still wonder the long term effects taking all these pain meds means, though.

Enough of depressing realities...

After a comment from Lynoire regarding the eyeball hairbows... it got me to thinking, what else can the crafting of eyeballs be used for? Other than jewelry and, well, hairbows.
As a self-proclaimed seamstress, the answer should've came to me right away! Better late than never, right?

Pattern weight decorations!


I'm constantly in need of pattern weights since I somehow end up losing them.
Remember my post regarding DIY Notions? Well I was never able to find good enough buttons for my pattern weights, so they have always been rather unfinished looking-- I save my good ones for when I feel like shooting progress shots of my sewing (heh!). Well, now I don't have to! These were two crappy turn-outs from before, but on they went onto two of my weights.

The good and the awesome.
I love novelty sewing notions... I'm such a sucker for anything that can reflect my tastes-- especially my tools!
On a side note.. copper BB's would add considerably more weight than just washers glued together; they end up as heavy as the store bought ones shown in purple. My husband happens to own a BB gun, that's the only reason I was able to acquire them... otherwise, it's too expensive a material.

In other crafty news,yesterday my husband and I finally got around to building the foundations of a cardboard cat condo. It's not as grandiose as I would like since we lack the space, but well, the cats love it.


I even built in a staircase.
And yes, you read and see correctly... cats.
This past Sunday we made the adoption of our latest beautiful bombay boy: Khan Edgar. He came to us already fixed, chipped and updated with shots-- which is nice because the day after adopting him, the news hit us.


We wondered if it was a good idea to have two rambunctious boys, and worried that the integration would be hell, as so many have warned us it would be... 
Luckily, Poe is the sweetest most welcoming soul and has accepted his new stepbrother with open paws. After some initial hissing and sniffs on the first day, by the second day they were already snuggling each other... and it hasn't faltered slightly since... or maybe I should say yet? Heh.


23 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. We already can't stop petting his ears... they flap so loudly when he rustles out lol.

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  2. Awwww, they are so ADORABLE!!! *squeeeeeeeeee!*

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    1. Aren't they? They keep melting my heart with how affectionate they're already being :)

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  3. Ahhaha, those patter weights are really cute, I'm honored to be your inspiration for them! ;)

    Khan Edgar, such a cool name! And he's adorable, of course. ^^ Well, we haven't had any offsets between our two boys so far, but more experienced cat owners say, that the critical period between two males is when the younger one hits asulthood and they start fighting for dominance and territory...If I look at our boys now, however, they're so loving and attached to each other, they never fight and I sure hope it stays this way...:)

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    1. Thank you so much! Yes, indeed, you were wonderful inspiration needed for the novelty weights-- great for the goth seamstress, heh!

      His name combines my love of Star Trek and of course Edgar Allan Poe. I first intended it to be Edgar, so that it would flow with Poe's name... but my love of Star Trek overtook that desire, eheh.
      Poe right now is an adult cat-- he seems to have taken on a caretaker role with Khan for now. I hope that when Khan is an adult, that I won't have too many issues!
      *cross fingers*

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  4. Oh, those kitties luuurrv each other, how lucky! Who needs expensive day-trips when you have such loveliness right at home? :)
    But, I'm sorry about all your other troubles. We have a saying in Sweden; A misfortune seldom comes alone. I hadn't heard about your government shutting down, I will have to look it up immediately.

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    1. Well a trip out would be nice with my husband, considering that he's constantly stressing about the shutdown-- he's not as easily distracted with the cats as I am, hehe. Our troubles seem to come in large and steady bursts... =/.
      Usually takes a few months for the next big trouble to kick in, which I'm growing quite tired of... I really feel like it's this town we live in that is jinxing our lives. You really have to live here to believe it-- we also have this saying around here when something profound and bad happens: "it's just Holbrook", because everyone who's ever lived elsewhere and somehow ended up here has strange and bad things happen to them often.

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  5. Eee, kitten! With kitten ears! Eee!

    I am a contractor, but I am considered "essential", so I am not immediately feeling the pain of the shutdown. However, if things don't resolve themselves soon...

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    1. You're quite lucky!
      I really do hope we get back-paid... though some feel we shouldn't; it's quite frightening to have loans and debt waiting while they continue to extend the date of the shutdown =S

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  6. Your cats are so sweet! It's great that they get along with one another. :)

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    1. Thank you =)
      I'm hoping it continues on when he gets a little older.

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  7. My husband just built our cat, Veruca, a cardboard cat condo last weekend! There must be something in the air that drives men to build cat condos. Our cat has ignored hers, of course.

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    1. It must be, hehe-- he just approached me out of the blue to help him build it. Our eldest, Poe, seems to like it best. He has this look on him while he's on the top, as if he's overlooking his domain... though it isn't more than 2-3 feet tall lol.

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  8. Very cool idea for the pattern weights, Madame MM! I'm sorry to hear about your troubles. I haven't read much about the government shutdown, but it boggles my mind. How is that even possible?

    Khan Edgar is gorgeous - and adorable - and has the best ears ever. You need to make him a pair of bat wings, please. :o)

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    1. The shutdown happened because our country is run by adults who behave like children.

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    2. Like Tante says, this government here is being run by immature adults. There's a lot of finger pointing and bickering between the democrats and the republicans... meanwhile they halted the pay of thousands of federal employees.
      They even have the gall to ponder back-pay; they would still need to pay these employees through unemployment if they didn't back-pay them, which I find ridiculous.

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  9. I love the eyeball paperweights! So cool!

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    1. Thanks! They are serving me quite well... and there's less of a chance of losing them since they're pretty nifty!

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  10. I love the eyeball paperweights! So cool!

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  11. Aww! Your cats are such a cute couple. The box hut with windows is a fun toy for them, beware of those claws sticking out from the holes.
    I hope that those in the government will come to a conclusion soon, this shutdown is only ruin people and gives the politicians bad reputation.
    Oh those paperweights are so cool.

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    1. They're very sweet with each other! I am quite happy.
      Oh yes, little "sticky" paws as I like to call them-- they can be quite mischievous while in there lol

      I really hope so too-- the frustration of having to cut back immensly while these congressmen sit around with their entire and bloated check really grinds my gears... they put many households at stake, with nary a solution in sight yet.

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  12. What a great house you built them! :) Pretty kitties! I love the pic of the little black one in the chair, so pretty. I havent liked black cats since a nightmare I had once, :P but they have started growing on me. <3

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