RIP, Dear Ham...

My poor hamster died... :( She was out of water and I didn't know...and it's been so hot. :( I'm so sad. I really loved her and her small size and softness and her eagerness to say hello to me when I came up to her cage... Poor thing. She had her eyes closed so I'm hoping she just lay down next to her food and fell asleep there...I wish I could take better care of my pets, and myself.

At least student teaching is going all right...

-Katrina

Daily Challenge

I've been doing the daily challenge over at meyouhealth.com (google it. You need a facebook account, I think. Can't remember). The challenge for yesterday was to write your current self a letter from your self of five years from now, so I thought I'd share my letter here as well :)

Dear Katrina,

Stop worrying. Stop thinking about the things that could go wrong. They do go wrong. But I'm here to tell you that you live through it. I don't even think of the quarters of student teaching anymore. Yes, you made mistakes and looked silly sometimes, but it's all part of learning so just laugh and move on. You did the right thing by standing by your loved ones, even when times looked extra bleak...you know when I'm talking about. When others questioned your decisions, you stuck by them and that's what matters. You're still happy. You're still successful.

Just take a deep breath and your head high. Also, stop making excuses for not eating healthy. You need to take care of yourself. It's not about your looks. You're beautiful. Even you know that and have no trouble telling yourself that, so I know I don't have to make it an issue, but you have to be healthy. Trust me, I know because I *am* healthy (we are healthy) and it's so much better. Keep being who you are, but instead of taking care of everyone else all the time, spend time on yourself. I love you and so do many other people. :) See you in five years!

<3 Katrina

It was a fun challenge overall. :) You should definitely join the challenge. It's really inspiring and the things they have you do each day are really not that hard. Plus, you earn virtual stamps. I'm a sucker for things like that...probably one of the reasons why I'm going to be a teacher haha :)

<3 Treen

I'm Back :)

Oh goodness I know I haven't updated in two weeks. Had some off days and just wasn't motivated. So, this is going to be a longer one because I'll post my ATCs and a few pictures to make up for the updates I didn't do. Jason and I had a little bit of trouble for a couple of days after Kirstin's graduation, but he's doing better now and he's starting at CVS (a new one that opened near his home) today. I don't care about the type of job he has because, honestly, he could work his way up in this job if he stays there. He just needs experience and work atm. Anyway, here are the photos.

 

The top picture is all of us after Kirstin's graduation. Then there's a picture of a bee that landed on my mailbox. It stayed there for so long that I thought it'd died. I came back a few hours later and it was still there, then I blew on it gently. It started cleaning itself then stepped forward a bit, then just flew off! It was wonderful to watch it. Reminds you to pay attention to the small things :)

The ATCs come from some private trades. The black ones are scratchboard. I also have the Hamster swap cards, Kitties with wings, my tiger for the Lions, Tigers, and Bears swap, and the Gnomes at Work swap (mushroom painter, fox groomers, architect).

<3 Treen

New Day

Well then, the majority of my stress is over now.

We went to dinner last night and it's a good thing that mom came with us because Kirstin just isn't a big talker in general, so it would have been more awkward. Jason apologized, genuinely, for all the things that he had said and done in the past to her and I think she believed him. And he promised, pinky promised (cannot be broken under punishment of death), that he would never ever say anything like that again.

It's not 100% back to where it was, but we're like 3/4 of the way there now. And I have a feeling that Jason will be able to focus on moving forward in his life now that he doesn't have this hanging over him. I was just so happy that it was finally over with. I woke up this morning feeling tired (slept at two am lol) but happy.

And today is Kirst's high school graduation! O. M. G. wtf? Seriously? Ew, she's totally almost 18! Wow. I mean, it seems like we adopted her an hour ago....like mom and dad brought her home just the other day. I was seven when she entered our lives and it seems so odd now to say that she's adopted. Honestly, it's like an alien concept. And the fact that she's graduating just means that there's no way I can try to convince myself that she's a kid (not that I was really doing that anymore anyway, but still...). It's very bittersweet. She's come a very long way from where she was a few years ago, and I'm really proud of how strong she is as a person now, but I miss my little squishy sister. :( People get old way too fast...

Well, that's all. As it's Friday, I'll post some (awesome! lol...humble, I know) ATCs from this week later on tonight.

Best wishes :)

<3 Treen

Dinner

Having dinner with Kirstin, Jason, and Mom. Cross your fingers. Jason and Kirstin haven't really spent more than five minutes in the same area in the last year. I think it'll go all right, but I just get nervous. Want everything to work. Stresses me out....but I feel like this is the first positive step toward healing everyone. Please let it work out that way.

<3 Treen

Movies with friends!

Well, it was really just one friend. Katie and I hung out to celebrate the fact that she can eat semi-solid foods now. She had surgery on her throat to help with a swallowing problem so, until now, she was on a liquid diet. Anyway, we see each other at least once a month for movies or comic store trips.

This time we saw X-Men: First Class. I haven't been an uber fan of the other movies, just because I was never really exposed to the comics or the cartoon when I was younger. I saw the first movie a while ago, and bits and pieces of the other two, but I have a passable knowledge of the basic storyline and characters. With that said, I thought the movie was pretty good. I thought it moved a little slowly at some parts, but I like the background information about the characters and how they learned to develop their powers.

Kevin Bacon was really good. I wasn't expecting him to speak German so well. Is he fluent in real life? And he was believably evil. I was paying special attention to Jennifer Lawrence, since she'll be playing Katniss in the future and I haven't seen Winter's Bone yet. I thought she was pretty good. There were some moments of the movie that I especially liked, such as Xavier using the machine to find mutants and the training that they went through before their fight. Overall, it's a good introduction to the characters. I really want to watch the first one again now. Good day with a good friend :)

<3 Treen

Ouch!

Waking up, I was a little flubby, tripping around in my room before trying to make it down my hall. Little did I know that a killer cardboard box was waiting for me. Omg, worst fail ever. I tripped on the box, tried to catch myself on the wall, didn't manage that, then landed on my hip. And my hips are pretty large so I can already feel the murderous bruise growing there. Trust there will be pictures of the purple mass once it appears. Never had a fail that big. Thank goodness it was in my house and now like, in public...lmao. And I think I said the F word like twenty times because it hurt so much. Who leaves a box right in the middle of the hallway? Oh, right, my family. Thanks.

<3 Treen

Why am I still awake??

I wonder why I'm tired in the morning...or rushing to finish homework...oiy. I have three one page reflections to rush tomorrow...oh, and my final, which I haven't studied for or looked over. What is wrong with me?? Whatever, last day of cramming before I have a few days off. Then the new quarter starts on the 20th I think...or was it earlier? My goodness I've gotta get this stuff locked down!

Anyway, I know that no one is really reading this as of this moment, but if you are, and you're interested in art, I need your help! I just bought some ATC sized scratch board with silver/gold and the stupid sticks that I thought were meant for them are WAY too dull to scratch the surface, leading me to be frustrated, especially when I found out that most people use metal tools for this....SO, my question is, "Can anyone find me, or point me in the direction of, some really inexpensive tools to use? Or any makeshift ones?" That would be awesome, as I spent five dollars on this bag of useless sticks....feel so stupid. What the heck do I do with them now? And what were they made for anyway? There must be some cheap child scratchboard that they cut through, because they just aren't doing it for the ones I bought. And they're made by the same company! And on the bag, it said, "For scratch art" I mean, wth!? Oiy. Anyway, the one thing I've found to work best so far is a pair of scissors lol. HELP!

Alright, I'm going to bed so I can get at least six hours. Night! :)

<3 Treen

Delayed Saturday Slideshow

Hello :) Was too busy hanging out with Jason yesterday to post the normal update. We actually didn't even take any photos, lol. But I do have some from earlier in the week :) So here are the photos of the week!

 

Wasn't much going on this week since I didn't have class. I mostly worked on ATCs. However, I did get my hair done (only a grainy cell picture for that, unfortunately :p) and I watched Monroe. We went to Grandma's to say goodbye for the summer, since she'll be spending the next three or four months in Montana :( So sad. I already miss her. That's her strawberry plant. It's gotten a total of ten strawberries! Lol. 

And of course, Monroe's the best source of photos. I showed him that you could look through the hole so he was very fascinated by that afterward and kept going to the mirror to see himself as a dinosaur! :D He loves dinos. If I didn't mind parting with my book, I'd let him have it, but that's one of the ones I had as a kid, so for now, he'll just have to borrow it when I babysit :)

Well, that's all. I will say, Jason came through spectacularly with his role as boyfriend. He did make reservations beforehand, at Black Angus, and we enjoyed a really good dinner together :) It was good that we had reservations because it was a half hour wait. Hooray for responsibility! Our motto for the 8th year is, "Eight will be great!" so cheesy, I know :) I still love him, and that's what's important.

Until next time!

<3 Treen

Friday's ATCs of the Week

Pretty slow week. Most of the cards I made were for my own swap, Children's Literature Characters, to give as gifts to my swappies. But here are a few cards that I'm most proud of this week.

 

There's an all-types-of-art-athon going on at AFA this weekend and the first challenge was to use stamps in cards. The King was for a private trade I owed someone. It's based on the rhyme "Sing A Song of Sixpence". The Snake one just got stuck in my head. As soon as I saw that little green squiggle he was pushing into the window, all I could think of was "snake tail". And the last two are for my swap. I didn't draw Pooh or Piglet...just the backgrounds. The letters are from a cool rub-on sheet I got at Michaels. I love how they work. They always look great.

Well, sadly, that's all lol. Hopefully Jason and I actually do something for our anniversary tomorrow so that I'll have some nice pictures for the slideshow tomorrow. I'm hungry. Going to go figure out what I'm eating in this house all alone.

<3 Treen

Love Bites

 The Show's Website

I know it's only the first episode, and I'll probably end up forgetting about it (putting it on my dvr list just because I know myself :p) but it's actually really cute! It's a nice idea, since I tend to get tired of characters after a while. I love the actors and it's a sweet idea for a show. It's nice to see something lighthearted for a change. I love actually laughing at a show for once lol. Yay NBC! Oh and the music's great, too. Hope it lasts.

<3 Treen

O.O What??

My Facebook account is 'down for maintenance' and when I Googled the issue to see if that was common, some people said their accounts were offline for three or more days.

WTF? Damn it. Seriously, I know it's a sad statement on the world, but the fact is that Facebook is the ONE way I can actually communicate with people in my life on a regular basis. Yes, people text and call me and I see them in real life, but that is not the most common way. And I also have photos, games, and connections that I need to keep up with. So now I'm just stuck here today. It's like I lost the ability to be a human lol. Sad, sad pathetic comment on my life, I know. FIX IT, damn it. Lol... :( Seriously, though. This sucks.

<3 Treen

I swear...the blog post must have jolted them awake because literally the second I posted this...profile back up. Crisis averted. XD Seriously, though, how sad is it that my mind can not function without my computer? I need to get out way more.