Fun meme & happy pix to banish the NYE blues!
I remember a meme that consists of pasting the first 1 or 2 lines of the first entry you wrote each month in your blog for the year. Well, I decided to do it! :) It came out quite interesting and appropriate -- it shows mostly positive stuff but also some negative stuff. And that's basically how my 2007 was also.
After the meme is a handful of PHOTOS, all of which make me HAPPY for various reasons. I'm posting them now because I've been depressed today and kind of yesterday. :( But I can't feel depressed when looking at these pix, so I hope if anyone reading this can use an emotional lift, these will help you too. Some are photos of my RATS that I just took tonight! :) Those are cross-posted in this post in ratties, which I mention only because I liked the comments folks there left about my boys. *blush*
JANUARY: No, I didn't misspell "Happy New Year". I purposely wrote "crappy" -- not because it rhymes with happy, but because it describes how my 2007 began.
FEBRUARY: I haven't read the descriptions of all the other results, but this one certainly sounds like me. *blush* Idealistic, empathic, romantic Pollyanna -- that's me! :)
MARCH: I "stole" the subject of this posting from beckerbuns, who used it recently and it amused me. :) However, there's nothing new under the sun, as the saying goes, so I'm sure MANY folks have used "updatey thingie" to describe a bunch of miscellaneous things in one post.
APRIL: I was writing an intro first, but lately I don't like filling up more than half a screen with text without doing an LJ cut. So, for textual and photographic proof of the triumphant return of my squirrelly friend Peanut after more than a two-week absense, please click below! :)
MAY: Happy May Day, Beltane, Walpurgis Night, Lei Day, International Workers' Day, Loyalty Day, and St. Joseph's Feast Day! It's amazing how many different holidays, festivals and/or observances all crowd the spot of May 1st on the calendar!
JUNE: I'm posting this via email, so please excuse any weird formatting, if it occurs. Also, please excuse boo-boos in spelling or grammar; I don't give a flying fig about that right now.
JULY: It's time like this that I wish the majority of my LJ friends were local to my area, rather than just a very small few. The more local folks, the better my chances would be of rounding up some folks to go see fireworks with tomorrow night.
AUGUST: Several news sources have reported lately on the results of a multi-decade study which, greatly over-simplified (by me), reports that (1) you're more likely to be overweight if you have overweight friends; (2) people tend to hang out with people of similar weights; and (3) you're also more likely to be overweight if your spouse and/or co-workers are, but the friend link is the strongest. The study said "obese" but I think "overweight" is more appropriate.
SEPT: I'll skip the rambling preamble (heehee) and just say that if anyone wants a hint at what my Labor Day Weekend consisted of, and what I therefore am going to write about, just look at all the tags/keywords below. (The reference to "photos" is because there are some pix of my sweet furry boys eating! ;D
OCT: I'm not sure how often she reads my journal, but ever the optimist, I'm sending happy birthday wishes out today to raininroses. :) Marjorie -- I know we haven't seen each other in ages, but that doesn't mean I don't like you or think about you.
NOV: Yes, this icon is me as a giggly girl, and yes, the Youtube video below truly made me giggle like that! ;D I hope you will too.
DEC: I used to think I had a way of picking all the cowardly, clueless men. I'd start to like a guy, he'd start to like me, sometimes we'd date, sometimes we wouldn't, sometimes we'd end up as boyfriend and girlfriend, sometimes we wouldn't.
.
These amazing, beautifully variegated 4 o'clocks are the parent plant of some of my own 4 o'clocks, although so far mine have not displayed this magenta-and-yellow variegation.
These equally amazing, beautifully variegated 4 o'clocks are a different parent plant of the majority of my 4 o'clocks, and many of mine DO display this magenta-and-white variegation!
The other week, my friend and co-worker Becky R. and I met up with my other friend with that same name, Becky S. (beckerbuns), for Starbucks, dessert and chatting during our afternoon break. As it turned out, Becky R. and I wore VERY SIMILAR sweaters! LOL Our co-workers thought it was very amusing and some wondered if we planned it. Well, we didn't!! It was just a case of "great minds think alike." heh Fortunately beckerbuns was able to record it for posterity! ;D My hair looks thrashed because it was windy and rainy that day. *blush*
This pic is my 12-year-old cousin DC, Scary Shari, and my 15-year-old cousin JC. (I prefer not using names for young people under 18.) They're from Colorado, and I really enjoyed their company. I got to meet and hang out with them when a bunch of us convened in Arizona last week (where I went on my 4-day vacation). They weren't the only cousins obviously, but I'll post more about that great reunion at a later date. Suffice it to say, it was a blast! :) It looks like perhaps JC thought he was too cool to pose so cheezily with us girls, but he was a good sport anyway! *giggle* Actually, I think we ALL look pretty darn cool!
And now some photos I took of my sweet boys, Blueberry and Jellybean, during their nightly playtime TONIGHT, New Year's Eve. Here they're checking out a wooden cabin/hideout that I gave them for the first time tonight! They were enchanted with it! :D Jelly's on the right; Berry's inside.
I eventually got Berry to climb up on the cabin with the lure of a treat, which you can probably see! (I need to get pix of the rats actually ON the cabin! heh) Meanwhile, Jelly is looking inside the cabin.
I'm not sure if this is Berry or Jelly peeking through the hole, but I think it's TOO CUTE!
Here is Berrykins with a plastic "jingle ball" (actually a cat toy) that he ran into the crinkle tunnel with! He carried it in there because I stuck a treat inside, and he had to work to get it out. Jelly also enjoys doing this with the ball, when he gets a hold of it, and he also likes to run away with it! LOL
A furry close-up of Jellybean gnawing on a piece of edible calcium chew on a bird chew toy I got the boys. These toys are actually supposed to hang in the cage, but I know the rattums would eat too much if I did that!
Berry was so preoccupied with eating something that he didn't even care that I put a square of nesting material on his back! *giggle* This is something rodents are supposed to "fluff up" and use when making a nest, but neither boy seems interested in fluffing it. However, Jelly *does* sometimes put the squares in his nest corner.
The boys having a wrestling and power-grooming session inside the crinkle tunnel. It's not as bad as it might look! :O
P.S. I wish everyone a happy, healthy and SAFE New Year's Eve and a great 2008!
After the meme is a handful of PHOTOS, all of which make me HAPPY for various reasons. I'm posting them now because I've been depressed today and kind of yesterday. :( But I can't feel depressed when looking at these pix, so I hope if anyone reading this can use an emotional lift, these will help you too. Some are photos of my RATS that I just took tonight! :) Those are cross-posted in this post in ratties, which I mention only because I liked the comments folks there left about my boys. *blush*
JANUARY: No, I didn't misspell "Happy New Year". I purposely wrote "crappy" -- not because it rhymes with happy, but because it describes how my 2007 began.
FEBRUARY: I haven't read the descriptions of all the other results, but this one certainly sounds like me. *blush* Idealistic, empathic, romantic Pollyanna -- that's me! :)
MARCH: I "stole" the subject of this posting from beckerbuns, who used it recently and it amused me. :) However, there's nothing new under the sun, as the saying goes, so I'm sure MANY folks have used "updatey thingie" to describe a bunch of miscellaneous things in one post.
APRIL: I was writing an intro first, but lately I don't like filling up more than half a screen with text without doing an LJ cut. So, for textual and photographic proof of the triumphant return of my squirrelly friend Peanut after more than a two-week absense, please click below! :)
MAY: Happy May Day, Beltane, Walpurgis Night, Lei Day, International Workers' Day, Loyalty Day, and St. Joseph's Feast Day! It's amazing how many different holidays, festivals and/or observances all crowd the spot of May 1st on the calendar!
JUNE: I'm posting this via email, so please excuse any weird formatting, if it occurs. Also, please excuse boo-boos in spelling or grammar; I don't give a flying fig about that right now.
JULY: It's time like this that I wish the majority of my LJ friends were local to my area, rather than just a very small few. The more local folks, the better my chances would be of rounding up some folks to go see fireworks with tomorrow night.
AUGUST: Several news sources have reported lately on the results of a multi-decade study which, greatly over-simplified (by me), reports that (1) you're more likely to be overweight if you have overweight friends; (2) people tend to hang out with people of similar weights; and (3) you're also more likely to be overweight if your spouse and/or co-workers are, but the friend link is the strongest. The study said "obese" but I think "overweight" is more appropriate.
SEPT: I'll skip the rambling preamble (heehee) and just say that if anyone wants a hint at what my Labor Day Weekend consisted of, and what I therefore am going to write about, just look at all the tags/keywords below. (The reference to "photos" is because there are some pix of my sweet furry boys eating! ;D
OCT: I'm not sure how often she reads my journal, but ever the optimist, I'm sending happy birthday wishes out today to raininroses. :) Marjorie -- I know we haven't seen each other in ages, but that doesn't mean I don't like you or think about you.
NOV: Yes, this icon is me as a giggly girl, and yes, the Youtube video below truly made me giggle like that! ;D I hope you will too.
DEC: I used to think I had a way of picking all the cowardly, clueless men. I'd start to like a guy, he'd start to like me, sometimes we'd date, sometimes we wouldn't, sometimes we'd end up as boyfriend and girlfriend, sometimes we wouldn't.
.
These amazing, beautifully variegated 4 o'clocks are the parent plant of some of my own 4 o'clocks, although so far mine have not displayed this magenta-and-yellow variegation.
These equally amazing, beautifully variegated 4 o'clocks are a different parent plant of the majority of my 4 o'clocks, and many of mine DO display this magenta-and-white variegation!
The other week, my friend and co-worker Becky R. and I met up with my other friend with that same name, Becky S. (beckerbuns), for Starbucks, dessert and chatting during our afternoon break. As it turned out, Becky R. and I wore VERY SIMILAR sweaters! LOL Our co-workers thought it was very amusing and some wondered if we planned it. Well, we didn't!! It was just a case of "great minds think alike." heh Fortunately beckerbuns was able to record it for posterity! ;D My hair looks thrashed because it was windy and rainy that day. *blush*
This pic is my 12-year-old cousin DC, Scary Shari, and my 15-year-old cousin JC. (I prefer not using names for young people under 18.) They're from Colorado, and I really enjoyed their company. I got to meet and hang out with them when a bunch of us convened in Arizona last week (where I went on my 4-day vacation). They weren't the only cousins obviously, but I'll post more about that great reunion at a later date. Suffice it to say, it was a blast! :) It looks like perhaps JC thought he was too cool to pose so cheezily with us girls, but he was a good sport anyway! *giggle* Actually, I think we ALL look pretty darn cool!
And now some photos I took of my sweet boys, Blueberry and Jellybean, during their nightly playtime TONIGHT, New Year's Eve. Here they're checking out a wooden cabin/hideout that I gave them for the first time tonight! They were enchanted with it! :D Jelly's on the right; Berry's inside.
I eventually got Berry to climb up on the cabin with the lure of a treat, which you can probably see! (I need to get pix of the rats actually ON the cabin! heh) Meanwhile, Jelly is looking inside the cabin.
I'm not sure if this is Berry or Jelly peeking through the hole, but I think it's TOO CUTE!
Here is Berrykins with a plastic "jingle ball" (actually a cat toy) that he ran into the crinkle tunnel with! He carried it in there because I stuck a treat inside, and he had to work to get it out. Jelly also enjoys doing this with the ball, when he gets a hold of it, and he also likes to run away with it! LOL
A furry close-up of Jellybean gnawing on a piece of edible calcium chew on a bird chew toy I got the boys. These toys are actually supposed to hang in the cage, but I know the rattums would eat too much if I did that!
Berry was so preoccupied with eating something that he didn't even care that I put a square of nesting material on his back! *giggle* This is something rodents are supposed to "fluff up" and use when making a nest, but neither boy seems interested in fluffing it. However, Jelly *does* sometimes put the squares in his nest corner.
The boys having a wrestling and power-grooming session inside the crinkle tunnel. It's not as bad as it might look! :O
P.S. I wish everyone a happy, healthy and SAFE New Year's Eve and a great 2008!