Time

I'm not sure if it's just because I'm getting older-but time seems to be rushing by! Days pass by and I hardly get anything done, at least I don't finish a lot of what I want to finish. And the months just fly by. It's almost October-where did September go? Heck-it's almost Christmas. Was time always this way, or have I accidentally hit the fast forward button?

Jackpot!

I haven't been shopping at Michaels (craft store) in a while so I stopped in today. I found a little rack of paper on clearance. I LOVE clearance!!! Anyway I was rooting through lots of paper and they had some good stuff-12X12 papers, some metallic, some vellum, some 2 sided, and a really neat black with sparkly green and blue accent (perfect for a night sky, or dress, or...). Anyway I stocked up as these papers were either 25 or 10 cents-cool deal! As I was checking out I looked at the register and my 2 favorite papers (that black sparkly and a muted green metallic) rang up, not as 25 cents-but 1 cent, a mere penny. JACKPOT!!!

Smart Dog

Barrett is a smart dog. He even understands the English language, and I'm not just talking about basic dog training commands like sit or stay. My parents came over today and Barrett loves their attention. Towards the end of the visit Dad was sitting in a chair with Barrett at his feet. I was across the room and Mom was in the sunroom. Now according to Barrett, it's not enough just to sit near him-you must touch him as well. Well, Dad was drinking his drink and looking through a book, not paying attention to Barrett. So Barrett kept nudging him. Dad said "Barrett, go over and bother your mother." So, Barrett got up, came right over to me and leaned right into my face. I started laughing and hugged him, then he started stepping on the piles of magazines I was separating, knocking them all over. Yes, Barrett understands "go bother your mother".

Ugly Betty

Oh My God! Is it any wonder I love this show? I still can't get over the last few minutes! I don't even know what to say...er write. I love Ugly Betty!

Betty's Back!!!

Yea! Betty's back. The season premiere of Ugly Betty is just a few hours away. I can't wait!http://abc.go.com/primetime/uglybetty/index

Days

I am just not cut out for working days anymore. I had class again today, which I enjoyed (thank you Mr. Eye Candy) but I'm exhausted! I even got a decent amount of sleep last night, yet it's 7:30PM and I can barely keep my eyes open. (Although the 2 glasses of wine at dinner may have contributed to that.) Still, I was tired coming home-and having to deal with rush hour traffic-what a pain! You have to add so much extra time in. I'll stick to working odd hours! I just hope I can stay alert enough to watch my TV shows tonight!

3 Hours

I find it hard to deal with only 3 hours of sleep. I know plenty of people get along with that-or not much more-but I need my sleep. Give me 8 hours-or more!! I had to work last night then go to a class this morning. I got home around midnight and tried to get right to bed...but I had to check my e-mail, check out Neopets (OK play a quick game), take a shower, and then the story in the anthology I'm reading was almost finished...so...I didn't get to bed until about 2AM. Then I couldn't get to sleep, then, after finally falling asleep, I woke up in pain. I won't go into details here-but I lost more than 45 minutes of sleep time. My alarm went off just after 6AM. Yuck. While 6 AM may be nothing to day shift people-it's hell for those of us that work evenings.

At least the class was good. I really enjoyed it. Today was Day 1 of 3. We got toys and candy and even eye candy! God must have pitied me a bit as I got placed in the same group as the piece of eye candy. And we even sat next to each other. Hey, there's no harm in looking!

It's 6PM now and I'm really exhausted, but I daren't take a nap 'cause I'll sleep too long, then I won't be able to sleep tonight and tomorrow's another early morning. So hopefully I can stay awake and watch some new shows on TV.

Joyous Mabon!

Although the days are still quite warm, nights are getting cooler. The days are getting shorter as darkness comes earlier. Autumn is here, officially. It's time to get out my fall decorations! Fall is my favorite season; there's a crispness in the air, I can snuggle at home, dress warmly, and enjoy the fruits of the harvest, like fresh apple cider. Fall is here-and winter is coming!!!

Back to Work

This weekend sure sped by. I didn't take a nap yesterday, nor did I do any crafting (aside from a little knitting while watching TV). I ran my errands and stopped by the barn. Harley and I worked a bit then I returned home. I discovered a new old show on TV. Rosemary and Thyme. http://www.rosemaryandthyme.tv/I'd seen the DVD of the series advertised in a catalog and thought it looked interesting. Well my PBS station has decided to run it-so I was able to watch the very first episode. I enjoyed it. Rosemary Boxer is a horticultural pathologist and Laura Thyme is a former police officer. It was an enjoyable BBC mystery with beautiful gardens.

Boy is this a boring commentary or what?! I think this will be the last post of "what I did today". Oh well, it's back to work for me.

Weekend

Today is the second day of my weekend. There is so much to do, I think I need 2 days of work and 5 days off to get everything else done!!! Yesterday I did the dishes ( and I don't have a dishwasher, or I should say I'm the dishwasher!), went to the liquor store and library (I've got my errands prioritized right!), cleaned the yard of dog poop, cleaned the rat cages, and did some tidying. This morning I vacuumed, cleaned one of the litter boxes, the folks came up, went to the farmer's market, took Aleister to the vet, took Barrett for a ride and walk with Mom, copied photos for my parents, and cleared off the dining room table. The day's more than half over and I still have errands to run, I'd like to go horseback riding, and I need to do some crafts and other things here at home. And I still have a litter box to clean! All I really want to do is take a nap!Yup, I need 5 days off and 2 days of work a week!

Help the Polar Bear

I try to do what I can for the environment, helping animals in particular. I've been seeing more and more about the horrible effects of global warming. The polar ice caps should not melt, yet they are. Baby seals are drowning because they aren't born with the insulating fur needed to survive, when the ice caves they live in melt, they are dunked into the sea and cannot recover. So I try to sign petitions and attempt to do some good. I copied the following from the petition I signed today. I hope you'll follow the links and sign it too.

In as few as 50 years, America's polar bears could be gone. Global warming is melting the Arctic sea ice these bears call home, and if we don't act now we may lose them forever. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has opened a new comment period on their proposal to list polar bears as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. I just submitted my official public comment in support of this proposal - please join me and take action today: http://go.care2.com/polar-bear We owe it to future generations to do everything in our power to save polar bears from extinction and fight global warming. Please sign the petition to protect polar bears from extinction: http://go.care2.com/polar-bear Thanks!

Anger Management

Sometimes when you are angry with someone, it helps to sit down and think about the problem.

Sleep

I admit it. I love to sleep. Generally, I dislike getting up and out of bed-even when I'm getting up to do something fun. My alarm goes off and I push snooze so many times-sometimes up to an hour or more. I'm just so comfy. Sometimes I have very interesting dreams and like to fall back asleep to attempt to recapture them to try to discover what happens next. I've been staying late at work this week too, plus work's been extraordinarily stressful, add to that a headache, so I really did not want to get up today. But I'm up and dressed and writing my blog before I eat and go back to work. Too bad I can't stay in my pjs all day.

More Alpaca

I really want an alpaca!

Alpaca

I want an Alpaca!!!!!!!!

Back to Work

Well, my vacation is over and I have to go back to work this afternoon. Yuck! I had a nice time, even though I didn't do much and didn't accomplish near what I wanted to do. Still, I created several cards, wrapped and shipped some presents, went to 2 festivals, shampooed the carpets (thanks for the help Mom & Dad), hung out with the animals, read a lot, and started this blog! So all in all a very good time.

Once I'm back at work I don't know how often I'll be able to post. I am going to shoot for every day, but Mondays and Tuesdays will be tough! Keep checking back though-you'll never know what you'll find in this place of great clutter.

Fiber Festival

What fun!!! Today I went to a Fiber Festival. Now, fabric and textiles are all well and good. Who doesn't like feeling nice soft things (keep your minds out of the gutter people!)? But at this fiber festival I wasn't spending all my time pouring over luscious yarns, exquisitely made sweaters, mounds of wool and fleece-nope, not me. Oh sure, I perused and glanced, and said, "Wow cool...but, What would I do with that and God that's expensive!" but my time was spent with the animals!!!! There were angora bunnies, llama, alpaca, ducks, draft horses, dogs and lots and lots of sheep! I spend a good portion of my time talking with a shepherdess and watching her work her dogs. Toby and Luna are Australian Shepard Dogs and they herded both sheep and ducks! Then another woman showed her Border Collie. He was amazing with the sheep-but felt he was above the ducks and had no interest in herding them! There was to have been a Herding Competition, but, unfortunately, it had to be cancelled as there weren't enough entrants. Luckily these women agreed to give demos anyway. The one woman's sheep (notice how I know her dogs name, but not hers) were super friendly-they enjoyed getting pets and Baby even tried getting into my bag! (Yes, I even know some of the names of her sheep, but not her.) After watching these guys I went in search of food. I admit it-I had a lamb sandwich. I felt bad-but boy did it taste good!!! My guilt was very short lived. I also had salt potatoes. Yummm. Then I met Rose and Checkers-the two draft horses giving wagon rides around the fairgrounds. And yes, I know their names and not their owners-even though I spoke with the owners for quite a while. But while the sheep I met personally were very sweet (one even tried to give me a kiss!), the dogs were amazing, and the horses were funny (yawning and wanting to go their own way) by far the cutest animals there were the alpacas. What adorable animals. Spending a day talking with people who love animals, watching animals who love to work do the jobs they were bred to do, and pet the sweet animals themselves...now that's my idea of a fiber festival!

The Trotting Gourmet

I think I've been watching too much of the Food Network. I'm planning dinner and decide I just want some spaghetti-but I'm just going to have it with the fresh garlic I got from the farmer's market and the shallots from my garden with a little bit of wine. So I start the water to boil and chop my garlic, then the shallots. So I'm cutting, but soon I'm crying my eyes out. I didn't think shallots were supposed to do that! Well, I started getting worried as I'd already put the garlic in the pan with some olive oil and I didn't want to burn that (YUCK!) so, between tears, I dumped the shallots in the pan and stirred. The garlic was starting to turn color-must hurry. Meanwhile I'd already put the pasta in the boiling water and I started thinking of a recipe I did making a sauce with Parmesan and cream cheese. So in the pan of garlic and shallots I add the rest of the cream cheese I had. I'm whisking away, but something's not right...the CHICKEN STOCK! So I run to the fridge, get out some leftover stock and dump it in the pan. Whisk Whisk Whisk. Wait a minute-I wanted wine. Another dash to the fridge and dump some wine in the mix. Whisk Whisk Whisk. Uh oh...too watery. FLOUR! That thickens things up. Reach to the canister, grab a handful of flour and toss it in the pan. Whisk Whisk Whisk. Oh yea, Parmesan cheese! Shake some of that in. Uh oh. Now it's looking like glue. More chicken stock. Whisk Whisk Whisk. Now that's looking better. Spaghetti's nicely al dente, so I drain that and then put some in my sauce pan. Toss it around to coat and plate it nicely. A little salt and pepper and I'm done. Amazingly enough, it came out pretty tasty. It was even better the next day with some leftover chicken. I may not be the galloping gourmet yet-but I've got a nice working trot going!

A Stickie!

It's the little things that make me happy-I just added a stickie from Care2 to my blog. Every time I play it, it makes me laugh. And how perfect for this site! It took me quite a while to figure out how to do it-but hah-I did it. I still haven't figured out how to add my avatar or other icon to my profile, and everything's still posting an hour ahead, but, little by little, I'm learning and figuring things out.

Welcome!

Welcome to Katreader's Rat's Nest. A rat's nest is " a place of great clutter or disorder" and while I don't think I'm greatly disordered, anyone who knows me knows I live in great clutter! And...I have rats! So that's the origin of Katreader's Rat's Nest, the name of my first blog. I have a great many interests so you'll be reading posts about animals (rats, cats, dogs, and horses, in particular), crafts (rubber stamping, knitting, and other paper and fabric art forms) food and wine, gardening, books, and whatever strikes my fancy. At least, I hope you'll be reading my future posts!


This blog is also a learning experience for me. So I hope you indulge my experimentation into this new (to me) form and forgive any errors and bad blog form.