As you may guess from the title, dear reader, I have decided to complete my Library and Information Studies course ( I may have previously alluded to this). I had gone back to web design for a year but found my heart just wasn’t in it and I was completely sick of demanding, rude clients who thought they could take as long as they wanted to pay invoices. Do not want! Some of my current subjects are Cataloguing, Acquisitions, Databases and Information Research. Those are not the exact class titles, but sum up each class quite nicely. When I finish, I would love to find work in the Cataloguing/Archival areas.
Now that design can be for fun, I’m slowly starting to find my creative spirit again, particularly in terms of my own sites. This site will likely change a bit, every now and then, as I tweak the design and get it to look just so. In working on this site, I was browsing through my archives and discovered that on March 20, I will have been blogging for twelve years! There have been a few pauses in there, but hey – I’m still one of the early bloggers from before Blogger itself and even the ability to post a comment on a blog! That dates me a bit, too!
With some travel time each week, I’ve gone back to working my way through The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I’m almost up to the end of the second book; no spoilers, please! It is amazing how fast time flies once I start reading, I’ve almost missed my stop a couple of times.
I shall post a few photos next post; some of the Kittens who are growing in leaps and bounds (or should that be fluff and meows?) and also some general snaps, including some of my latest stitching project. Mmmm stitching, I think I shall do some tonight!
With it getting close to Christmas, I’ve been thinking about decorations, menus and traditions. Do you have special things that you always do at this time of the year? About now (or sometimes earlier in November) my Cliff Richard music comes out, or rather, my Christmas playlist gets a workout on iTunes. I do have some other Christmas music (including classics from Bing Crosby and co) but my Cliff ones are the only ones on iTunes at the moment. I must dig out my other CDs tomorrow. My current favourite is Cliff’s version of ‘Let it Snow’:
For one reason and another we haven’t put the tree up for a couple of years. I would love to have a tree this year but am worried about the kittens hurting themselves. Lights, baubles, tinsel, tree falling and associated risks. I’ve been toying with the idea of weighing the tree down, so it can’t tip over when climbed (the husbitect has a brilliant plan for tree safety) and making some felt decorations filled with catnip. If the kittens get them – no harm done!
I have some vintage and breakable ornaments I’d love to decorate with, but that seems too risky. At least this year. Any ideas on how to use fragile ornaments safely, and out of kitten reach? They can jump up quite high now, so putting a small tree on a high shelf may not work. Oh! Oh! I think I may have it, dear reader. As I was writing this, I thought of our glass display cabinet – surely I can display the fragile ornaments in there. Perhaps in baskets or bowls?
How about movies, do you have movies that you watch every year, at this time? The first that comes to mind for me, is probably one of the most commonly suggested Christmas movies; ‘It’s A Wonderful Life‘. I think one of my absolute favourites, however, is ‘While You Were Sleeping‘. Ohhhhh, I adore that movie! I’ve lost track of how many times I have watched it – it can never be too many times!
I also enjoy those classic movies from Rankin and Bass. You know the ones; ‘The Year Without Santa Claus’, ‘Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer’, ‘The Little Drummer Boy’, ‘Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town’. Such adorable puppetry and stop-motion animation. I think I am the only fan around here, so I will likely be watching them on my own, this year. The Kittens will join me!
Now, speaking of Christmas movies, there are two that I saw many years ago, that I can’t find now. The first was about a Snow Goose, and was very 70s with its design and script. It was American, and I think it had a group of male singers who were very ‘Jackson 5’ in style. Ring any bells?
The second is more vague (yeah, I can be even more vague than above!) and was about a Christmas tree. I think its title was something like ‘The Little Christmas Tree’. The tree in question was sad because it was overlooked, and really wanted to be a family’s special tree. I can picture the final-ish scene showing the tree all decorated with lights and baubles. Do you remember that one? It may have been a book, but I’m sure it was a movie, too.
If you can point to information about either movie, you will be a friend for life!
Please do share your traditions with me, dear readers. It doesn’t have to be ‘Christmas’ related – anything that is a special tradition for you, at this time of year. I love learning about other traditions and experiences. Gosh, one thing I have done once, but want to MAKE a personal tradition, is reading Doctor Who books, while slowly savouring toffee sweeties. It was a very hot December that year, and I remember spending much of the end of December savouring my gifted tin of sweets, as I savoured each page of my new Doctor Who novels. See – doesn’t have to be even remotely Christmas related!
Have you seen the latest Simon’s Cat video? It is titled ‘Catnap’ and you can watch it below! I really enjoy Simon Tofield’s work, he captures Cat attitudes and mannerisms perfectly. My Husbitect bought us the last couple of books in the series plus one of the plushies. I may have ‘Squeed’ when I saw it! If you had not heard of Simon’s Cat before, head over to the official site. You can watch the videos (including the new ‘How to Draw’ series), buy the books and more.
I am still battling away in Skyrim as a Breton female, level 15. I’ve played through some of the main quest storylines, but have sidestepped away from them for now to spend some time simply exploring Skyrim. There is a lot to explore – not to mention fights to pick, ingredients to find, deer to hunt and treasure to be discovered!
When not playing (or working!) I have come across some fabulous sites to do with Skyrim. Here are five of my favourites:
Skyrim Nexus – One of the best sites to find game mods, view player screenshots and pick up a few tips from the modding tutorials in the wiki.
Time for some new skills for this alyshajane. First up on the list is Joomla and possibly also Drupal. I am still working in design and will continue to freelance while I finish my library course. Any and all IT skills will be as useful in information management as they are in web design.
I came across the JoomlaShine blog via Twitter, it looks to have a wealth of reading and links. Of most interest to me currently, is the list of Joomla books. The blog has a fantastic table of books for beginners and more advanced Joomla developers. I really appreciate the guide on what format each book is available in. I’m going to try them on the Kindle reader for iPad – much more affordable and portable. Another interesting blog is cocoate.com, looking forward to reading their Joomla Beginner’s Guide.
I’d love to learn a programming language as well, PHP would be the most likely candidate and one that I have wanted to learn for a few years. Time to get thyself in learning gear and improve, improve, improve! I love learning new things and am all excited to get started!
The Husbitect and I have been thoroughly enjoying playing Skyrim over the weekend. A game that was worth the wait not to mention the hype. The gameplay is enchanting and fast-paced, whether you are exploring the lands or following the main quests. The graphics are awe inspiring, although I wish my rig was up to playing in Ultra HD!
I’m hoping someone creates a weight/encumbrance mod soon so your character can carry more items. It’s frustrating to get to the lowest level of a cave or other such location, find much treasure and not be able to carry it! Hurry up modders!
I love taking photos with my iPhone, especially since the newest iPhone came out – the camera is amazing! Better than my little compact digital camera and smaller. Plus there are all the fun photo apps available. My favourite of these is Instagram, with which I took the photos below.
Oops. I missed a day of Blogtoberfest! I think my slip is allowed, however, as it was our 3rd Wedding Anniversary yesterday! My husbitect and I have been married for three absolutely blissful years. It feels like so much longer to us, and in that wonderful way of happily married couples. Our gorgeous outfits came from Gallery Serpentine.
Three years ago on October 4th, 2008, we were married in the Blue Mountains. It was a wonderful, misty mountains day. Even though our planned outside ceremony had to be moved inside due to rain, it was magical. A pair of frogs serenaded us from their pond, outside in the garden, underneath the window. It did not matter where our ceremony was held – we only had eyes for each other! The whole day was perfect.
For our anniversary, we went to a local Japanese restaurant, and apart from feasting on looking at each other, we dined on delicious food! We started with Agedashi Tofu & Soft-shell Crab. Followed by the freshest Sashimi and then, Beef Sukiyaki! All washed down with Japanese beers and Green Tea. Nom!
On leaving the restaurant, we took a photo outside, under their gorgeous LED-lit cherry blossoms! I want some for our home, but with two feisty kittens, they would not last long! I am tempted to try by hiding them on top of a cabinet, however. I cannot resist the pink nor sparkly!
After mentioning the delicous Japanese food we enjoyed, I thought I would find some recipes for each course we had, so you can try them at home!
One of my favourite social media sites is Pinterest. For those who have not used it, it’s like having virtual pin-boards full of images and links that you find interesting. You can have multiple boards on any theme you want. You can also follow other pinners and view the images that they have pinned, and see what pins are popular and new. And it is free! A screen capture of some of my boards is below.
If you are on Pinterest, do let me know! You can find my boards here, I am alyshajane.
I’m a day late joining Blogtoberfest, but better late than never! Hoping to post every day for the rest of this month. Hello to other Blogtoberfesters and to non-Blogtoberfesters!
Changes. As well as changing the appearance of my blog, I’ve also changed my appearance. I have wanted pink streaks in my hair for years, but had been nervous about doing it. I’ve spent far too long worrying about what others might think and missing out on doing the things I really wanted to do. No more! My new hair is a start of me being me. Of discovering the real me. It is quite a fun journey!
The whole process of getting my pink streaks took a bit over two and half hours. First was the bleaching, then rinsing, then a little more bleaching, more rinsing, then dyes applied and yet another wash + treatment. I am *so* happy with the results! I love my pink hair, it is so me. I am already planning on adding a larger blonde slice with pink in the centre, at my next visit to the hairdressers. Yay, for pinkness!
Late last year life threw us a few curve balls which, amongst other affects, saw my creativeness all but disappear. I am now trying to get that spark back again, as allusive as it is. One of the projects I want to pick up and finally finish, is my mushroom embroidery. My last post about it was back in November. I’ve done a bit more since then, but still much to do:
I’m going to make a little crafting and creating nook in the kitchen this week. Now we have two very curious kittens, I don’t feel safe doing crafts that involve needles on the lounge chair. I shall hang a few pictures on the wall around the table, add some dishes for working needles and maybe a cloth on the table!
Speaking of kittens, Pippin and Merry are much bigger than they were in the photo I posted the other week. They are now heading up to five months old and getting quite big! Their fur coat is changing with the warmer weather and some of the longer fur is shedding out until next winter. They will be much comfier with a lighter coat for summer!
You can just see a photo on my desk of me holding my late Maxie. Pippin has many of Max’s traits, and on the first day the boys were home, Pippin saw the photo of Max on my desk and gave him a little kiss! Awww! Last week was snip snip time for both boys. They were a little sleepy at first but are now back to bouncing and running around the house. No lack of energy, that is for sure! Another craft project I have in mind is making them little ties so they can be little business cats! hee!
On the 15th of July, we adopted two little kittens from a local rescue organisation. Meet Pippin and Merry, brothers and absolute bundles of cuteness! They had been relinquished to the pound by a man who promised he would (finally) get his cat desexed. Her five little kittens would have been euthanised perhaps the same day, if our lovely foster/rescue worker had not been there. All kittens have been rehomed! I hope their Mum is being looked after well, too!
The photos above are the ones taken by the foster carer – many more will come soon! I thought I would use these as their intro photos, as Pippin’s photo is the one that melted my heart and led us to them. *squeee*
Originally Pippin was called Bushells and Merry was called Brittany; he was presumed to be a girl then! Oops! We renamed them after a few days of name considerations. I almost called Pippin ‘Avon’ of Blake’s 7 fame. But it didn’t suit as well as ‘Pippin’ does. Virtual cookies for those who immediately understood where our name choices come from!
We actually went to meet Pippin only; as I was holding him and getting to know him, Merry ran up my Husband’s leg, climbed onto his shoulder and mewed “You are my hooman! Take me, as well as Pippin!“. So we adopted them both! While they are both ‘ours’, Pippin is my baby and Merry is my Husbitect’s baby. They each have their ‘hooman’!
They are just over four months old now and are lovely, loving little kitties. We believe they may be Maine Coon mixes. They rarely meow, they chirp, trill and chirrup! They have tufted ears like a lynx, and have ‘ear furnishings’. Pippin has a very pronounced ruff around his neck (Merry’s is a bit shorter) and they have a double-layered coat. Very big feet with toe tufts, fluffy tails and they will be big boys – even the vet has observed this!
Whatever breed they are, we are both very happy and fortunate to have them in our lives! They are very much loved, not to mention spoiled! Yay for kittens and cats!
And yes, I am back to blogging! Finally!
(and I am addicted to ‘!’ it seems. Ooops).
