What's the Point?

Don't worry, this isn't going to be a self-pitying entry about my qualms with the universe. I don't mean "What's the point?" as a rhetorical question, as people often do. I mean it quite literally. What's the point to this blog?

A friend of mine has been working on a blog of his own, and has been trying to streamline his thoughts and interests into a general theme. He got me thinking about the blogs I read, and my own blog, as well.

The blogs I read have very little in common with one another. A fashion designer in Brooklyn, a dog musher in Alaska, a farmer in upstate New York, a mother and her cancer-fighting baby in Kentucky. Maybe because they're all written by strong women? They all have qualities I admire; primarily, strength and independence. Only a few of the blogs I read are written by men. (And most don't even update anymore!)

Blogs are an evolution of the personal diary; a hobby often associated with the female sex (though I'm not sure why -- is keeping a record of your day-to-day life somehow feminine?). I've always kept diaries, journals, and now, blogs. My first diary was a big, blue, spiral notebook. I mostly used it for stickers, but I did scribble out some entries. They were riddled with spelling errors and hard to read, chicken-scratch handwriting.

I went through a long phase of starting journals and then immediately destroying everything I had written. Pretty much sums up my pre-teen and teenage years. So much angst for no apparent reason.

Then came the internet. I think I have had every online journal/diary/blog imaginable. Livejournal, Deadjournal, Xanga, and more recently, Blogger and Tumblr. I know there are others, I just can't remember them all.

But what's the point? Why have I always been so inclined to record my ramblings? And publicly, no less? Part of it is to feel important, I'm sure. To broadcast my thoughts and ideas, as if they somehow matter. Many hope to gain a following, some sort of e-fame, through their writing. I admit, that would be exciting. But I've been writing for years without any clear audience, and I don't show any signs of stopping.

My blog (diary, journal, etc.) is for me, above all else. It's something to keep track of my existence -- to prove that I exist. To share what I care about to anyone who might be listening. I don't write to change anyone's mind, but to open it, if only for a minute. And while I don't write about anything earth-shattering or unique, I hope to at least offer an alternate perspective: my perspective.

So when I ramble about dogs, cooking, and hiking, I realize I may bore the masses. But one person might adopt a husky, buy a bread machine, or go for a walk in the woods. And that's all I can hope for.

Furniture, Moving, Animals

I’ve been meaning to make this post for a few days now, but haven’t had time. After two weeks of sanding and refinishing furniture, packing up everything I own, and moving to a new town — things are finally starting to slow down.

First, I’ll start with the furniture refinishing. I followed the advice of The Frugal Girl (How to Paint Wooden Furniture) and decided to paint my desk and dresser, rather than buying new ones. They were always very beat up looking — well, for as long as I remember. They were previously owned by my uncle when he was growing up (he’s in his 60’s now), and he built model airplanes on them. So there was plenty of cuts, dings, scratches, and glue marks. Despite how ugly they were, I always loved them. They’re very modern looking, and really simple.

I decided to give them one last chance by repainting them. If my endeavor came out poorly, I could always just get new furniture anyway. Worth a shot, right? Here’s how the desk looked beforehand:

So Rob and I sanded, sanded, sanded, and sanded some more…

Until finally, things started looking like they were ready to prime.

So we primed and primed until my wrists were sore.

Painting took two coats over the span of two days, and involved me getting covered in paint. So there’s no photos of that step. However, you do get a somewhat crummy picture of the final product, located in my new room!

Now, onward to the rest of the house photos. These are from my first day officially living at the house — so I was doing a lot of cleaning. A lot of things have since been moved around, and I’m currently waiting on some art pieces to arrive. There’s a lot more stuff I plan on buying (throw pillows, curtains, clocks, plants, more art) but I must wait for my funds to replenish. I’ve done a LOT of heavy spending just to get everything in place, so over the next few months will come the fun, interior-design-y part.

This is our uber-floral kitchen. Part of me hates it, because it’s overwhelming. But part of me loves the kitschy-ness of it. We may opt to take the wallpaper down and just paint the whole thing white, but that won’t be for awhile. For now, it’ll be known as my Kitsch-en. (PUNS!)

Please ignore the garbage bag on the floor — we’ve since got an under-the-sink can, but need to install the slide-out tray part. The counter has room for my blender, microwave, coffee maker, toaster, bread/cheese displayer, crock pot and bread maker. Had to ditch the microwave oven (cry).

Here we have the living room — looking messy. I was in the middle of steam-cleaning our new (pre-owned) couches. Apparently I’m immune to doggy smell and didn’t realize they stunk.

Lots of odds and ends have since found homes and are no longer being displayeded on our bookshelf. The TV is now on the TV stand, but will soon be replaced with a new HDTV.

I’ll have more photos of the rest of the house, plus decor progress to share soon. I also need to get some gardening supplies and rip apart the backyard, but that’s a whole ‘nother monster.

Last but not least, I’ve got my animals here. Perry is happily housed in the living room, where he’ll once again be a sociable bun with company. Chase, the ferret, has been situated carefully in her new high-rise style apartment. I let her free to roam throughout the day, and Dexter has been very gentle with her. I realized after she got loose in my previous house and Dexter found her for us, that he wasn’t going to hurt her — he had every opportunity to, but he didn’t. So now they’re allowed supervised play together.

The cats alternate between closets and beds, staying hidden most of the time. They’re still unsure about everything.

Princess has gotten over her fear of Dexter, but still hates him. Matilda is afraid of Princess, but food overcomes all her anxieties. All in all, I think my pack is settling in quite well.

Pet Post: The Cats

I fear that if I make a separate post about each and every one of my pets, my blog will ultimately become incredibly boring. Or one of the blogs MC Frontalot talks about in his song (see: I Hate Your Blog). So to spare you all the constant pet-postings, I have decided to combine the cat post into one.

The oldest cat in the house is Malakai. We took her in when she was a few months old in 2003. She's very skiddish and overall not too friendly. I sometimes go weeks without touching her -- she only allows it when she feels like it. She recently had some kidney problems, which caused her to have seizures from time to time. She's made a full recovery, and continues to be the bratty little boss cat of the house.

Next oldest is Mama. Real original, I know. Yet another stray that showed up at our door step when she was around a year old. We brought her inside when we noticed she was very pregnant. She gave birth to five kittens in July of 2006. She's a very unusual cat. For along time she followed Malakai around and tried to be buddies with her. Mali only recently started to put up with her. She's also a bit skiddish, but loves getting pet. Just don't make any sudden moves and she'll love you forever.

Kirby, Princess and Gremlin are the remaining three kittens. The other two, "Alien" (now Thomas) and Sheba (now Pita), were adopted. These three each have completely different personalities. Kirby is a loveable oaf. He's pretty easy going, though not too bright. He's my sister's cat more than anyone else's. Princess, on the other hand, is my baby. She's got a weight problem (that I intend on fixing when we move out). She's the most affectionate cat I've ever had. She loves to cuddle and "hug". Last we have Gremlin, the little demon. She thinks she's the boss, and loves patrolling the house looking for trouble.

Our newest addition, Matilda, is probably a few months younger than the "kittens". My mom started feeding her in the winter of 2007/2008, and was finally able to bring her in just as the weather got frigid. Since she had five cats already, Robert and I took Matilda to our apartment at school. In the long run, she ended up back at the house with all the other pets, but it was a good opportunity for her to adjust to in-door life.

A quick story: at one point, we lost Matilda. The window screens in our old place were broken or non-existent, which lead to Matilda falling or jumping out one of our living room windows. About a week went by with no sign of her. Some friends told Robert about a dead black cat a few blocks from our house, and we feared the worst. Then, a day or two after the horrible news, who should come running home -- none other than Matilda! She saw Francis (our roommate) and followed him in, eager for some dinner.

OK -- that's all for the cats. I still have the ferrets, rabbit and dog to discuss... but I'll leave them for a later date.

Pet Post: Tiki the Love Bird

If you know me, you know that animals are a huge part of my life. And if you've ever been to my house, you definitely know I love pets. Since they're so important to me, I figured I should write a little something about each of the current animals living in my (parents') home.

I'll start with the oldest: Tiki, our Peach-Faced Love Bird. I'm not exactly sure when we got him, but I'm pretty sure I was still in middle school at the time. So that makes him around 10-years-old.

He seems to be a generally happy little bird, even though he's been single since we got him. For a good portion of his life, we would cover his cage at night (as one often does with birds). And I guess he was lonely, because he'd pull the fabric inside through his cage bars and proceed to hump it. He's since gotten over that, and happily sits in our kitchen.

Tiki doesn't like bird seed much anymore. Mostly because he's been spoiled by receiving food straight from our dinner plates. His favorite snack is fresh corn; if he sees anything yellow on your plate he'll squawk and dance until you give him some. He also like's spaghetti.

I love his lime green and sea blue feathers. He's definitely a beautiful pet. Stay tuned for my next pet-post, featuring Malakai, the oldest of our cats.