have a wagon full of pancakes! it's shrove tuesday!

happy shrove/fat tuesday to all you catholics and other assorted xtians out there. or for those of you just celebrating the pancake part of shrove tuesday (hello, british folk!) or, you know, breakfast (hello, me!), happy national pancake celebration day. (it's also an ihop thing, free pancakes until 2 p.m. every shrove tuesday.)

i am having pancakes for dinner tonight but i'm not doing it because of the shrove tuesday thing. it just worked out that way. and i'm not going to ihop because i don't like the new fangled stores. i prefer the old ones with framed paint-by-number clowns on the walls.

anyway, despite all of this flapjackery, today has been kind of dull. i spent most of the morning waiting on the produce shipment to arrive. which means that i didn't get any work done and ended up watching a billion episodes of unsolved history instead. including an episode about the various plots to assassinate lincoln which i thought might have been better if i'd seen it on president's day. (come on! i'm sure abe would have thought that was funny! work with me, people!) (oh, and do click on the link for president's day. there's a recipe for "george washington cherry thumbprint cookies" at the bottom of the page.)

let's see....what else, uhm, leff's been playing sly 3 and it's really, really great. i just got super smash brothers melee, a game at which i will soundly pwn leff at. because i am the queen of fighting games at our casa.

and that has been my boring ass day. and this is a picture of luther in an ill fitting helmet.

quit your job, let's go bowling

the date for a dental visit has been set! i know this isn't front page news or anything but i'm kind of proud of myself for not chickening out. because sometimes i do that when it comes to dental/medical things.

in other news, bowling and drinking last night with jam master j.



luther was there too although i don't remember putting him in my pocket. stowaway!



one reason of many that we (leff + me, not the royal kind) heart joe: he's as quick with the cameraphone as the both of us.

premolar death

WARNING: DESCRIPTION OF AWFUL TOOTH INCIDENT FOLLOWS THIS SENTENCE!!

oh christ, am i freaked out! earlier today when i was flossing my teeth half of one of my premolars fell out! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! #@#!$#@$#!

i'm embarrassed to admit how long it's been since i've darkened the doorway of a dentist (being broke + no insurance hasn't hastened the process) but now i have no choice. visit a dentist i must.

does anyone know of a good doctor in the queen anne area? i'm looking for someone that isn't afraid to knock me out (fear of needles, don't you know) and that won't lecture me about the state of my teeth. (i've done the best that i could given my circumstances.)

god, i'm so nervous. and i feel like billy-no-tooth from up in the mountains.

and don knotts died. *deep sigh*

hype machine

i found the hype machine through mefi yesterday. it's a site that tracks and lists songs being written about on music bloggy blogs. basically, it does the work for you. all you have to do is click and listen.

because of the hype machine, i found out that radiohead's new cd is out, like, any day now. and that they're also planning on touring. i heart radiohead. i've been loyal since seth from german class gave me a radiohead mix tape. yes, tape. it's been that long.

anyway, hype machine. track down benjamin gibbard's version of "girls just wanna have fun" in the "popular tracks" section. it's retardedly emo and makes me giggle and want to watch "the goonies". because they're good enough.

lectures and such

since i lived in a small town until i was old enough to get the hell out of it (i.e. 18), i'm often asked by ma famille (ok, padre) why i enjoy living in cities so much.

one word: lectures

all of you know that i like to nerd it up. (just count all of the breathless entries about the freakin' library for proof if you have any doubts.) but i don't think that i've mentioned how much i heart lectures.

because i do.

and, lucky for me, there's one tonight at the seattle academy of fine art! that's right, kirsten anderson of roq la rue fame is lecturing about pop surrealism at 7 p.m. (thanks, seattlest!)

should i mention that gerhart richter will be at the academy on april 28th? (at least i think he's going to be there. the site isn't that clear. it might just be slides of his work.)

anyway, lectures. they make me happy. and i'm glad about that because last night i was profoundly depressed when i realized that i was sitting on the floor, cutting paper hearts to make them look broken and watching a "show" that included a segment about new trash bag technology.

new. trash. bag. technology.

life seems pretty grey when you think about the person obsessed with making a better trash bag.

er, sorry. that's a depressing way to end things. here, have a photo of a kitten.

ramble on! (*john bonham drum hysterics*)

argh! the season finale of project runway isn't tonight! tonight is some stupid reunion show, like i care what happened to heidi.

i just want this thing to be over so i can stop bitching to leff about how santino is nothing more than this season's wendy pepper with uglier clothes. because, really, it's just taking up space in my brain that i could use for other, more productive things like thinking about easter candy.

anyway, my obsession with crappy television aside, things are. let me quantify that. things are ok.

oh yeah, much more succinct.

this week i found out that carrots were only bred to be orange because of dutch patriotism. they orignally came in many colors such as these:



(note: i haven't eaten any yet. i'm assuming that they taste like carrots though.)

andi sent me a LOVELY package full of goodies!



i can't wait to see those dvds! (i'm headed down to the intl district for a region free dvd asap! (ok, when my tax return is, er, returned...but asap was funnier.))

speaking of easter, i don't think i've mentioned how much i *love* this time of year, have it? it's not for the xtian crap, i'm sure you've all assumed that. i reserve my hearting for the fluffy bunnies, ducks and rams like this guy



(god, that's so happy! it makes me want to punch someone because it's so happy and fluffy!)

and candy. specifically peeps.

i don't know what easter eggs i'll be making this year, but, in case you're new to rakkaworld, (putting "world" and "town" after things is tres web 3.0. try it, you'll agree.) last year's ovulation decoration included a tribute to the egg council



"donnie darko" eggs



(frank wears a bunny suit, remember?)

and the ever popular kiss eggs.



any suggestions you might have for egg decoration would be appreciated. (feel free to leave them in the comments.) i have two ideas that i'm kicking around one of which i'm pretty sure about.

oh yeah, before i forget! it's three days past my one month anniversary on etsy! thanks again to everyone that's been a patron of my shop! and another thanks to everyone for being so supportive! because i couldn't've done it without your help! (you like me, you really, really like me, etc, etc, ad infinitum.)

(more items going up either today or tomorrow. photos of items will also be here and on flickr as soon as available.)

more saturdays should be like this!

today = not half bad!

i went to the top of queen anne hill for spackle and instead of being 20% off like i thought it would be, it was 50% OFF!! A GALLON OF SPACKLE FOR $7!!

ok, most of you don't care about cheap spackle but it rocks my world, so there.

also, the uqa librarian was wearing a funny old skool html shirt. you know, the one that says "body" on the front and "/body" on the back? i think i was the only person there that knew what it meant and it seemed to make him happy that i got it.

one last happy book item, marly's ghost was waiting for me in the hold section. i finished it about 20 minutes ago and it was pretty good! (i make no apologies for my love of young adult fiction. some of the best books written today are in that genre, imho.)

have i mentioned that it was sunny? because i could see rainier again. and every day that happens is a good day in my book.

also good organic coffee from cafe fiore. double tall americano, of course. (i'm repetitive in the coffee department.)

the only thing that would make today perfect would be lemonade and strawberry ice cream. but not together in the same glass. ew, that's just gross.

sloth and gluttony

this week's topic on scrapiteria is "bad habits"! (i heart bad habits!) here is my entry, "sloth and gluttony":



two of the seven deadly sins. baby and RUTH!

a stupid quiz result for your friday

ok, look. since haibane renmei is partially responsible for my online name, i had to take this quiz to see if the result came out the way it should. (and after cheating a bit, it did.)

i...am rakka. (hear me roar?)


You are Rakka, the newest Haibane! Rakka is a

little shy, indecisive, and soft-spoken, but

very compassionate and determined. She's

prone to worrying.


Which Haibane Renmei Character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

i'm crafty, i get around

it's a done deal. i entered fred flare's next big thing contest with my cupcake sculpture.



(the cupcake was the crafty thing i kept blabbing about a few entries ago.)

so now i'm all nervous and doubting that i should have entered. (but that, seriously, is my problem. i have issues and some baggage that i bring to this blog and they both color coordinate.) the worst that could happen is that i'm out $5. which isn't so bad, really.

(cupcake on etsy, btw.)

k, i've got more plaster cupcakes to make. this weekend is 20% off at ace hardware and i need to have the bases ready for all of my discounted spackle!

cranky pants and good things

i'm feeling cranky although i have no reason to. good things have been happening!

first off, i might have another print thing to tell you about sometime soon. again, no specifics yet since i don't want to get ahead of myself.

secondly, these daffodils are nice and yellow!



also, i'm nearing completion on my new crafty project. i just have to let one more layer cure and set, then a coat of gloss medium, followed by shellacing the hell out of some tiny things, adhearing said tiny things to the set layer and then finishing everything off with some more gloss varnish.

oh no, that's not much. haha! (it'll be up at etsy soon.)

wow! it's amazing how writing something so short helped me to change out of my cranky pants! (i think next year i'm going to see a doctor or a sunlamp before winter sets in. this seasonal doldrums stuff is for the birds!)

a baker's dozen of crazy delicious cupcakes!

and that would be the baking surprise for today!

details and recipes can be found by clicking on the photo above. and, yes, i used mr. pibb in the cupcake batter and the icing does taste vaguely like red vines since i made a red vines extract. (i used it instead of the vanilla extract required for the icing recipe.)

now it's time for a snack attack. motherfucker.

W00TNESS!!

the ds cake got blogged on kotaku!!

happy freakin' valentine's day to me!

oh, and please stay tuned to the gpiss. i'm baking something pretty damn awesome (if i say so myself) today. AND my new craft project that i'm going to enter in the fred flare next big thing (and also sell on etsy) is almost finished. it, too, is awesome, imho.

it's a duo of awesomeness. i'm all atwitter just thinking about it.

here, have a photo on the house.



/end with dancing

gah!

etsy had data loss last night and had to backup from 30 hour old information.

so i lost a sale tally, a listing and, most importantly, hits to my page and to indiv images. (it kind of matters. exposure = good and improves your ranking on their site.)

thankfully, the sale was already completed. (i'd shipped out the order on thursday so no worries there.) and, luckily, i'm not one of the people that lost feedback or conversations.

but still.

member indulgence weekend (where etsy is free to sellers) is gonna' be nice but here's looking forward to more redundancy.

i heart redundant redundancy.

hell freezes over

huzzah! i'm back in collage brain!



it's a collage for the heaven and hell topic on scrapiteria. it's really been a long time since i've submitted there. *hangs head in shame*

anyway, the collage's called "hell freezes over" which is why the title of this post is the same.

i've got nothing else to add except that i like bunnies and ice cream.

where i write about potentially mind blowing good news and junk food

i have some potentially mind blowing news! well, mind blowing to me at least. i'm hesitant to write about it until after the fact but, well, let's just say that i might be talking to someone that works in print and leave it at that.

if/when things actually happen, i'll give you a link, rest assured.

anyway, to add to the (potentially) mind blowing news, it's been sunny in seattle for a whole freakin' week! my favorite part of this fortuitous break in the weather is that my shoes haven't gotten soaked ONCE! (a brief aside: although i've managed to purchase a coat and scarf to get me through winter/the rainy season, i've yet to buy a pair of shoes that isn't made of canvas or corduroy. when it rains, it rains through my shoes and socks and i end up with soggy feet. ew. in summation, i need new shoes.)

you know what else i do when it's sunny? i eat junk food.



i hear you. yes, i eat junk food when it's not sunny too. but i don't enjoy it as much.

k, i've got to get crackin' on studio work. i haven't done anything vaguely art related today and it's already past noon.

stars, hearts and rainbows

i guess it's a good thing that i didn't start hibernating yet because i wouldn't have painted this if i had.



available at etsy if you'd like your own unicorn. it might be a wise investment since chotda thinks there's gold in there somewhere. (edit: sorry, it's sold. jens is now the proud owner! thanks, jens!!)

i'm thinking of hibernating for the rest of the winter

yesterday i was unwinding from the weekend, doing some dishes when all of a sudden *ping!* (yeah, i heard a *ping!*) my neck and left shoulder seized up and started hurting like hell.

it's probably just a delayed reaction to the stress of a pseudo-in-law visit but, COME ON! what kind of a moron hurts themselves by just standing there in front of a sink full of suds?!?

obviously, me.

next day, almost same place i'm all happy because i've got a copy of "activision anthology" which has pitfall.



"wheeeeee!" says i!

*pzzzTHUNK* says the building and out goes the electricity.

yep, it was an hour plus power outage. no traffic lights and no one walking around outside knew what was happening. sigh...

sleep is sounding good right about now. and then reading some more of the areas of my expertise.

trips, babies, possible baking, definate naps

i'm looking forward to a nap today. leff's mom just left this morning after we had breakfast at cafe mecca.



i feel like i ate a wagon full of pancakes there but it was really just a short stack.

adding to all of the hecticality (it's a new word. i just made it up.) of this weekend is the arrival of baby boy king! (as in the milk king's son. i could have also called him baby boy kat since he's katty kat's baby too. (in other words, names have been changed to protect the blahblah.))



good news arrives in a text format!

have i mentioned that t eh shed is now a father too? so, congrats all around!

i might try to make chocolate beet cupcakes today. if so, i'll post about it because it's just too weird not to. otherwise, i'll be the person alseep on the couch with an open copy of julie and julia on my head and a gin and tonic resting next to me.

now back to our regularly scheduled programming

praise the baby jebus, i can type again! (my finger's still kind of purply bruisey and smooshy like a bad spot on an apple but i can deal with that.)

so, what's new? whatcha' been up to? how's the weather? who's the boss?

despite my mangled digit, i'm been working my proverbial ass off. (my real one is lodged on a chair at the time of this writing.) i somehow managed to reorganize and clean the entire apartment before leff's mom got here on saturday morning. (leff swears that if i'd had a broken arm i would've somehow managed to wash baseboards. this means that i'm crazy, doesn't it?) and the pseudo-in-law visit has gone much better than i could ever have anticipated. (please note that i had based my earlier assement upon the paternal pseudo-in-law visit of aught two which was, well, hellish is too mild of a word...how about we go with heinously repugnant with a dash of odiousness?)

since leff's mom is in town we've been doing some sightseeing. we hit seattle center where we got to see part of the vietnamese new year celebration. and also this merry-go-round.



i like merry-go-rounds because they have horses. also because they're hyphenated.

we also went to the pike place market. it was stupid fresh.



we also also went to the first starbucks since leff's youngest sister is the shift manager at a d.c. starbucks and wanted pictures of the original. and we did the sur la table thing where i got cupcake liners and piping bags (more about those later after i finish the project. pictures will be included, promise!) and then beecher's cheese for lunch.

on the way back from the market, we stopped by the croc for i heart rummage.



leff's mom was looking for some earrings and i thought that she might find something unique there. unfortunately she didn't. but she DID surprise me with a suicide kitty!



can you belive that? i heart his mom!

(kitties are available at suicide kittens)

same day, we hit kerry park for the vista as it was partly cloudy and not hella windy like the day before.



the rest of the time we've been eating (blue water taco, phucket, various nibblies from home) and leff and his mom have been working on a website because this was, first and foremost, a business trip after all.

today will be ballard where we meet up with leff for lunch. and i'm TOTALLY going to cupcake royale. like i even had to mention it.

speaking of cupcakes, i managed to destroy 3/4 of my cupcake card stock in the oven the other night.



you see, THIS is why you should never use an oven as a drying rack. *eyeroll at self*

also, i finished my "office" space.



holy hell, how did i ever get this girly?

AND ann sent me the most fantastic robot glass painting in the WORLD!!!!



it cracked a tiny bit in shipping but that's ok because it's A SKULL JUGGLING ROBOT!!!! have you ever SEEN anything that cool?!?

she also sent me some fantastic buttons too!



ann's superawsomeness cannot be denied! nor can it be surpassed! you just need to bow down and worship, sucka!

but now i'm off. leff's mom and i are headed to the international district before we're off to ballard.

i still heart you though.