Saints and the Scribbler

In cased you didn’t know, last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday and Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent.  For the record, I got lucky on the ashes this year.  Instead of the usual “you’ve got dirt on your forehead,” a man actually asked me where I got my ashes because they actually looked like a cross.  A compliment.  Ha!

That’s never happened before.  Back when I worked at Borders I had a customer (whom I had never met before in my life) try to wipe them off my forehead like they were doing me a favor.  Awkward?  I thought so.

The inevitable question every year(the one that tags along with the ashes) is: What are you giving up?

Sometimes I don’t give up anything, and when I do “give up” something, I try to make it something that’s actually for God instead of for myself (ex: giving up deserts because you want to lose a pant size=for you).  No, it doesn’t always work that way, and yes, like everyone else in the world I’ve given up food items.  Perfect I am not.  Last time it was pop(yes, southerners, I said POP!), and by the time Easter rolled around I was seriously craving some Coca Cola. (Sidenote: When I finally got to order that Coke, the restaurant we were at gave me diet instead…sheer disappointment)

This year, I decided I would do something instead of giving something up.  I decided to give up some of my day to read something religious whether its fiction or non.  As a reader, I tend to stay away from the religious reading.  A single book a customer made me read several years ago(that I felt I had to slog through to be nice) kind of killed a genre for me.  It was awful. Continue reading

Steampunk, Scholarship, and Me

It just occurred to me this week (I don’t know why it didn’t hit me earlier…it just didnt…I’m special sometimes) that I should probably do a post on steampunk since it’s still playing such a large part in my life.

Why, you ask?

Are you some crazy costumer who doesn’t leave their house in the morning without their goggles???

Um…no.

Since I suppose I’ve never put a proper introduction up on my site (and for that I apologize…I’ve totally meant to.) you probably have no clue who I am or why I’m babbling about steampunk(unless you do know me, in which case you do know and ignore that).

I’m currently trying to finish my M.A. up in literary studies.  My thesis just so happens to be focusing on steampunk, which I think is fun.  An older gentleman at work yesterday (I work at a bookstore…to fill that little bubble in) disagreed.  I tried explaining what steampunk was to him and at the word “Victorian” he totally zoned out and eventually told me “nevermind, I’m not interested.” Continue reading

Cat Coats!

Yes, I really do love how many times the letter “C” appears in that title.  “C” is not just for cookie.

Now, to the topic at hand: cat coats.  I have two indoor cats, Mia and Pele.  Back when we first got them my neighborhood was having problems with coyotes.  Most of my neighbors spotted them at some point, I know I saw them walking down the road on two different occations.  When they first showed up, small animals in the neighborhood started disappearing.  I know they got two cats (we still miss Sweatpea…), but I’m pretty sure the number was higher than that. That said, when we got our cats they weren’t going outside; there was no way kittens would survive against coyotes.

So, 6 years (I think), after the arrival of the Wonder Kitties, my parents decided to knock down the old deck and have a new one built with a screened in porch.  We all joke that they spent all this money just so the cats could sit outside, and we all know that the joke isn’t really a joke and that they kinda-mighta-maybe built a porch so that the cats could sit outside.  The cats, of course, love sitting out there and listening to nature.

Unfortunately, no matter how many times they go outside, they’re still indoor cats who are used to the controlled temperature of the inside of a house, but they still really really really want to go outside even though the weather has taken a turn for the colder.  They’ll currently stay outside for anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 mins and then they come back in because they’re freezing their whiskers off.  I feel bad that they can’t do something they love so much (I swear this whole cat coat thing was not meant to torture them), so I decided to try and find a solution for my favorite felines. Continue reading