After I made a little blender breakfast, I headed right into my craft room to get some sewing done. I didn’t dare turn on the TV or computer for fear that I would lose precious sewing time. I also had plans to watch the SuperBowl in the afternoon, even though I don’t really like or understand the rules of football. I watch it just about every year and mostly just to see guys getting tackled. I like contact sports, I guess.

Anyway, I got a few more 10 X 10 squares done. At this rate, I will be filling the walls with all my squares. I just need to pick up some more flannel. I’m getting great at sewing straight lines, over and over on paper. If it’s true that you need 10,000 hours to become an “expert” at something, I’m well on my way. I’ll be a master at straight line sewing in about 6 or 7 more years.

Also on my To Do List are to send these back to their rightful owners:

I took these little Polaroids at the dinner I went to a couple of weeks ago, and I want to turn them into nice little tags, similar to these ones I have hanging on my decorative branches. I’ll get cracking on them this week.

Any time I’m in my sewing room, Oscar is right there with me.

In between the times he’s biting at the thread on the sewing machine or sitting on the fabric I’m trying to sew, he looks out the window, and then will start to meow at me as it gets closer to 5:00 – his dinner time.

Donner comes in for a visit every once in awhile, but if Mike’s home, you can always find Donner hanging out in Mike’s office. He hangs out on his desk when he’s playing games. Mike put a little bed right on his desk so Donner can just sleep and every once in a while, will try to put his paw on Mike’s snacks. Sneaky kitty.

The sun is shining bright today and these sunbeams got the kitties out of the bedroom (their usual daytime hangout) into the kitchen to absorb every ray. I guess they must get really warm, they are black after all. They must absorb every bit of heat there is.

The guys hung out on the dishwasher for some time this morning. Donner did that chattering thing at the mean old crows that sometimes fly by, and sometimes just sit on the balcony railing when they notice the cats by the windows.

Oscar disapproves. Of everything.

But I do like his bokeh toes.

Speaking of Oscar, when I got up this morning to make some porridge for breakfast, I found Oscar staring intently at the washing machine. Cool, right? We have our washing machine in our kitchen, just like they do it in England! Anyway, something was up because he kept walking over to it, then looking beside it, then stepping back, sitting down and never moving his eyes away from the floor right beside the washing machine. Then I heard what sounded like scratching in the wall.

Oh no. Not again. One time we found a bird, dead, on the kitchen floor. He had somehow gotten in through the dryer vent because all the windows were closed. This was before we got Oscar or Donner. Mike helped me move the washing machine and the scratching stopped. I hope it was because the bird found his way out and didn’t get squished somewhere in the tubing that’s attached to the dryer. We’ll know for sure if there’s a strange smell in a couple of days.

Oscar didn’t break his gaze on the spot on the floor the whole time we moved the big machine. I can only imagine the chaos that would break out if a bird DID find it’s way into our place. YIKES. If Oscar didn’t get the bird, Donner surely would. Bird feathers everywhere. Let’s not think about it.

Donner gave me the look he gives me when he’s sick of me taking his photo. This was just before he turned his face away from me. Photo taking time is finished.

Good news! We had fluffy white clouds today with a side of baby blue sky. It was a great sight to behold. Also, I’ve been told it’s very near time to plant seeds. Perhaps I’ll get some sweet peas out this year. I missed the window of opportunity for that the last few years. We have an extra day of February this year, so I could be able to squeeze the seed growing in.

This sunny day also illuminated that it’s past time to clean off the balcony. It’s collected an assortment of leaves and I think some moss. Soon time for a big spring clean.

This is day 4 or 5 of having “the crud”. I think it’s too long to long to be considered a cold at this point. I woke up this morning surrounded by the kitties after dreaming of following oil down a hallway to find a Japanese man clutching his chest telling me he was experiencing anxiety. Whoa. I think I’d better do some deep cleaning of the bedroom after all these germ-ridden strange dreams.

Anyway, enough about the sickness. Tomorrow is a new day and I’ll be at work first thing. In fact, I’ll even take photos in the morning in the city. If that won’t get me out of bed tomorrow morning, nothing will.

February 2012′s desktop calendars are brought to you by Valentine’s Day this year. Both Cynthia and I used a heart motif this month. So, if you like, you can download both and change them up every other week for this month. And this February is a leap year, so it’s like you get an extra day of February for free.

Just click on the photo/photos you’d like to use and you can download it from my flickr page. Easy Peasy.

This just in! One more calendar for your monthly viewing pleasure:

Another lovely New Mexico sky courtesy of Scout.

Beautiful!

Around 2:30 this afternoon, the fog lifted and I started feeling perkier. Hooray! The dark, cold cloud had passed and I’m back to work tomorrow morning. With my new-found energy, I put together a Valentine themed photoshoot for February’s desktop calendar. I picked this photo off the cutting room floor and put a frame on it. If I’ve learned nothing from those wedding photo books, I will always remember the, “Put a frame on the photo and call it art.” advice. It totally works.

I thought the main focus for this photo would be those chalky candy hearts with the messages on them. I had two boxes from last year I unearthed from somewhere in my craft room. It wasn’t until I dumped them out on the top of the dishwasher that I became pretty sure I got the reject hearts. Hardly any of them had messages that were readable and some of them didn’t have a message. Outrageous! See if I EVER buy candy hearts from the Dollar Store ever again! Hrumph!

Also in my energy spurt I crocheted these Mr. Spock ears for a trekkie at my office. Now, I can’t promise you’ll see them on his ears or anything, because I didn’t want to treat the ears like a conditional gift – I’ll give you these if you let me take your photo with them on. It didn’t seem fair. And Mike Browne flat out said NO before I could even ask if I could take his photo with the ears on, so I’m not feeling like we’ll see them in action. Also, they’re not very exciting on their own.

If I don’t get out of the house, I’m afraid I’ll be staring in my own show on the TLC channel called, “My Strange Addiction to the TLC”. I watched so much Toddlers and Tiaras, Next Great Baker, and Hoarders that I started seeing repeats of the same shows. Of course I want to see the next season of “My Strange Addiction” they’ve been advertising so I can see the lady that eats more cat treats than people food and the guy that makes out with his car.

I need to know these things. I think should just rename that channel, “You’re a Nosy Neighbour for watching this stuff”. It’s a stretch to call that channel “The Learning Channel” at this stage of the game anyway.

I love it when the dancing girls bust out the fans and the shiny costumes for the parade.

I love the look of concentration on their faces as they remember their steps…

And even if they’re a little blurry and not in focus, they’re as pretty as ever.

Even when the parade is over and they are walking with their mom and sister to join in the festivities with their pals, they’ll still smile nicely for the camera.

These dancing girls are better than the Toddler and Tiara girls any time.

Here are all my photos from the Chinese New Year parade here! Now with more dragons.

Funny that the day I call in sick from work, this Ferris Bueller car commercial is all over the interwebs.

He even goes to a Chinese New Year parade in this video. Enjoy!

I’m down and out with a cold and a throbby headache today. I’m sure I’ll feel better soon. If I don’t, I think I’ll go to work anyway. Daytime TV will surely drive me out of the house. I think they make it this crappy on purpose to get people to go back to work. It is NOT. GOOD.

Not only is the Year of the Dragon zodiac sign, but it’s the year of the Water Dragon. According to this website, this means the water will calm the dragon down, so that it’s not quite as tough as he usually is. Hooray! A friendly dragon? I’m in! I loved How To Train Your Dragon.

Despite the off-and-on rain, there were plenty of people out watching the parade. I think last year’s parade was more rainy than this one. There was actually some dry periods today.

Woohoo! See the two sisters wearing the matching jackets? They’re the Chinese version of my cousins, Andrea and Melissa. Aunt Sharon used to dress them up matchy-matchy when they were little. Adorable.

I was pleased to see the parade master today. HOWEVER, I don’t think this is the same guy as the one who has led the parade the last few times I’ve been! I wonder what happened?

I’m usually edgy until I get the photo of the parade leader. After that, I can relax and take photos of the people around me.

I loved this little granny photo. She was waiting patiently for the dragon.

You would think this guy would be happier about the news above his head. One day off from taxes? YESSSSS! Thank you, Water Dragon!

Everybody loves the Water Dragon.

Wait, was there a parade? Yes there was. I’ll post those photos later. And I went to the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens as well. I’ll post those ones later, too. I pushed my way through all sorts of places in Chinatown and enjoyed every minute of it. So far, I’m liking this Chinese Zodiac sign.

Last night I took my boiled oranges cake to my buddy, Wheezy’s, place in Yaletown and enjoyed a good old-fashioned potluck. Not one of us brought salad or veggies, so my cake served as a serving of fruit for the meal.

We enjoyed delicious scalloped potatoes – Wheezy does them up right, some Chinese food, pot stickers and ham.

Cake review: Very marmalade-y, very rich & dense, very moist (ew. That’s an awful word). However, I did spread a thick coating of Nutella on the top and that cut that bitter, orange peel taste down to a manageable level. Also, a little goes a long way – you only need a little piece and it’s very filling.

We talked about serious things, like politics and the education system.

And taxes and a social security.

Not really! We mostly laughed and ate cake. I took photos with my new flash. Instead of using my rechargeable batteries, I used some regular batteries. Unfortunately the rechargeable kind don’t last long enough at all. I could take 2 or 3 photos and then it was over. I had no idea how much juice a flash can use up. Pretty incredible, actually. The only downside to using a flash like this is that candid photos just aren’t possible. So, I guess these photos show how my pals just ignored me and big flash all night.

Thanks a lot guys! JEEZ.

Thankfully the flash worked with the timer and everything, so I was able to get a group photo with me in it –

I love how Sandi and I have our eyes WIDE open for this photo. It must have been all the chocolate.

First, you boil the oranges.

Tonight I made some kind of crazy clementine cake. I actually made 2 versions – one with ground almonds and one with regular flour. I had to try this recipe out because I have a little shin dig to bring a cake to next week and wanted to try something a little different, but wasn’t brave enough to bring an untested boiled orange cake for everyone to try. Also, I’m going to a potluck tomorrow night and those poor guys can try out this cake. If it’s a bust tomorrow, then I’ll go back to my old standby, One Bowl Chocolate Cake. I’m just hoping this cake’s not too dry. My last couple o’cakes were on the dry side, or, as my mom says, “stroke your throat!”. I’ll let you know the dryness factor tomorrow.

These are the oranges after they’ve been boiled for TWO HOURS. It sure made the house smell nice. I picked up a couple of little bags of mini-clementines and they were seedless, so I was able to skip the de-seeding step in the recipe. Here’s the recipe I used.I love the photography on this website – very beautiful.

This recipe has hardly any ingredients in it all, but there are a lot of eggs in it. 6 eggs in one cake. Here’s the complete list:

4 to 5 clementines (about 1 lb.)
6 eggs
1 Cup plus 2 TBsp of sugar
2 and 1/3 Cups of ground almonds (or substitute all-purpose flour)
1 heaping teaspoon of baking powder

5 ingredients. See how I’m a little concerned? “Can this really make a proper cake?” I wondered.

Out of the two cakes, the prettiest one by far is the one made with ground almonds. It also looked the sturdiest coming out of the oven. Both cakes are cooling at the moment, so I’m not really able to test them just yet.

I’ve got a jar of Nutella in the cupboard, so I just may bring that with me tomorrow just in case these cakes taste like marmalade. I’m a little concerned about that. I’m not a marmalade fan at all. But chocolate and orange together? It could work. I’ll let you know how that goes!

Also, hooray for the potluck! I think I’ll see how many portraits I can get tomorrow at the party. I haven’t taken too many photos of faces lately and I sure do miss them.