Tattoo

I've been thinking about a tattoo for a long time. I first got the idea into my head when I was on crutches, in the Army, in language school, working out each day with one of the SF guys in my class. My arms were starting to tone pretty nicely, and I thought it could be neat to get one of those arm bands. Then I remembered that tattoos are permanent and when I'm an old lady with flappy skin, that tattoo is going to look really silly. So I didn't do it, and the idea went away.
Then I met Nick and we stared dating, and occasionally he'd harass me about getting a tattoo. My response was always "No, they're permanent." But it did get me to thinking. I knew immediately I didn't want to get a rainbow, star or Tinkerbell on my ankle. I didn't want anything cliche. If I were to get a tattoo, I'd want it to be symbolic--Something I'd be happy having on my body forever.
I thought a Celtic knot could be cool. (I was thinking about something along that theme when I thought about the armband.) It would be a nod to my heritage, my English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. So I contacted an artist friend of mine, Bobbie, (also on deviantART) and asked her to draw something up for me. I wanted a Celtic knot, with Heather flowers worked into it.

Bobbie's drawing for my tattoo.

After I got the picture from Bobbie, I tried contacting a tattoo place in town, but they took to long getting back to me. So I stopped by a tattoo place in the next town; they set up an appointment for a week later (I don't know why they couldn't do it right away).
Last Saturday I went to my appointment, and received my tattoo. It hurt. It hurt a lot. I didn't cry, but I sure did complain and whimper, and I cussed a little bit.

Brian working on my tattoo.

My tattoo while it was getting worked on.

Basically, they took a copy of Bobbie's image, and put it on carbon paper. Then they applied the carbon paper onto my body, and traced it with the tattoo needle. The process took about 45 minutes. After he was done he cleaned the ink off, bandaged it up, and sent me on my way with an instruction sheet. The next day, Nick removed the bandage and cleaned it off for me. The antibacterial soap made the wound sting. The tattoo scabbed over along the ink lines, it itched some for a few days, and now it has pretty much healed up.

So now I have a permanent image on my right shoulder, but I'm very happy with it, and it is something I feel I can relate to for the rest of my life. I'm thinking about getting color added, eventually, but I haven't decided the coloring will be yet.

Roxi (With Pictures!)

A few weeks ago Nick told me he wanted to get a second cat, so Lulu would have a friend to play with. I told him he could if he kept the litter box clean. So Nick decided to get a self cleaning litter box. Now we have Roxi, and a litter box that looks like a robot.
Roxi has adapted well and is far more affectionate than Lulu. We were able to interact with Roxi on the first day, Roxi is more amenable to holding, and she'll hop up on my computer keyboard while I'm typing. Lulu likes to stick to herself.

Roxi in our paper compost bin.

Roxi in the bathtub checking out the soap suds after my shower.

Roxi and Lulu playing.

The litter box.

25

1. My job leaves me feeling drained.
2. I wish I lived closer to my family.
3. I have 2 cats (more about Roxi later).
   
4. I have a 75 gallon fish tank.
5. I'd like a dog; a yellow lab or golden retriever would be cool. Or a husky.
6. Some day I want kids, and I'd like some day to be in 2.5 years.
7. I'm Airborne, but never did a jump after getting my wings.
8. I'm going to try and grow artichokes this summer.
9. I don't remember the last time I went to the dentist.
10. I ride a bus to and from work.
11. I got a new internet capable phone so I can blog on my bus ride home.
12. I got a new tattoo (more about that later).
13. I need at least eight hours of sleep to function properly.
    
14. I think I have low blood sugar, because I turn into a total freak when I miss a meal.
15. I've become one of those crazy cat ladies who thinks her cat is the cuties thing and takes pictures of it. At least I don't frame the pictures, right?
16. My husband has a Mohawk. (I know that isn't about me, but I'm running out of ideas.)
17. Kaycei stands for kitty cat.
18. I used to do 3D modeling as a hobby, but it takes the same part of my brain as my job, and I just don't have that much brain energy left after work. So I haven't done any new models in quite some time.
19. I enjoy sewing, although I spend almost as much time ripping stitches out as I spend putting them in.
20. I become more and more like my father every year.
21. Oddly enough, I'm becoming more and more like my mother. It must be the gardening.
22. I like to grow out my hair and donate it. I've donated to Locks of Love twice. Next time I want to donate to Pantene.
23. Because of this, my hair is its natural color--brown.
24. I keep thinking about getting a master's degree, but haven't decided it its worth it because
25. I want to be a stay-at-home mom.
    

Christmas

Nick and I have been looking forward to having family over for Christmas for several years now. This was the first year it actually happened. (And I apologize for not taking a picture of the tree, or any other Christmas time pictures.)
The weekend before Christmas, Nick's parents, step-brother and step-brother's wife all came over. We had a nice dinner and gift opening. Nick's parents stuck around over the weekend and helped out a lot with the house. They installed a programmable thermostat and fixed some of the wiring issues upstairs.
My parents came up Christmas day, and stayed the following two days. The visit wasn't as house productive as it was with Nick's parents, but I got to show off my house, and go Wisconsin cheese hunting. It was a fun trip and far less stressful than the last time I saw my mom (which was when we moved in). My dad loved the house, and seemed to be a little bit jealous. I wish my family was closer, but... that's how things are.

Because we had family visit for Christmas, I got Nick a dining room set for his gift.

Nick got me a 75 gallon fish tank.

They are both great gifts and are really helping to make the house feel like our home.

Lulu

In November, we got a cat, Lulu.
It turns out, Nick had been wanting a cat for quite a while. He wanted a lap animal, and doesn't like dogs that are that small. I wasn't really on board to get a cat, until I discovered proof of a mouse living behind my glove box. Then, Nick let me know he saw a mouse in the house. At that point, I was all for getting a cat.
So we went to PetSmart and checked out the adoption pets. We saw an orange female tabby, almost a year old, that we liked. We wanted to check out the Humane Society before committing, and headed over there. Took a look around, decided we wanted the orange tabby, and headed back to PetSmart. We filled out some papers, handed over a check, and brought home Lulu.
Lulu's backstory is that she was found abandoned in a car, with kittens. The poor kitty had kittens before she was a year old. I loved the backstory, because it went with my romanticized image of Lulu being my minute lioness. So I had images of Lulu hunting all the mice out of the house. She is a beautiful cat, and she seems to be good at catching mice. However, I don't think she's sealed any of their fates yet. All the mice have escaped.
Here's a few pictures of Lulu.

Such a pretty kitty.

Yep, she likes fish. Good thing the fish aren't there anymore.

She chased the mouse onto the top of the scratching post, and then chased it around the room. The mouse ended up escaping down one of the heating ducts. (They're pretty wide since its a old house.)
Another thing about Lulu. It was about a week before we actually saw her, and then in took another week before we could pet her. She's very noisy and likes to meow. She still doesn't acknowledge her name, however she is finally starting to warm up to us. And, she'll make appearances if we have guests over.

More on the New House

So we closed on the house at the end of October. It was an insanely stressful process and weekend. My mom, aunt, and cousin came up to help me with painting and setting up the house. Nick's parents came up to help with the move. So there were a lot of people around. And on top of that, the previous occupants didn't have all their stuff out. In a way this was bad, for many obvious reasons. But in a way it was good because we got a lot of free stuff. They were potters, and left behind a lot of pottery. So with the pottery and Nick's glass (did I mention he took glass blowing last semester?), we have a lot of original art pieces.
So here's a few pictures from shortly after moving in.

The house the day we moved in. I forgot to mention, we had a guy putting up siding on the mudroom addition that day too. We didn't know he was coming and it was a bit of a surprise. But the siding had to go up, and it did.

I expanded a flowerbed my second weekend. This will be my cut flower garden. I'll probably change it again once the snow is gone, and put a path down the middle of it. My 100 tulips and 100 daffodils are in there, with a few iris and some lilies. There's lilies all over the yard, and they'll get transplanted into this bed.

The downstairs bathroom. The upstairs bathroom is the same size. My other house pictures are blurry, and its too late in the day to get more non-blurry pictures for this post. I can't keep the camera still enough to take a good picture with the flash, and our lighting isn't the best.