POTD

My cute little cuddly kitten. She loves to snuggle up in the blanket with me (or without me).

POTD

Oh how my garden grows

Jalapeno flower

Tomato-YUM

Banana Peppers

Bell Peppers

Basil

Cucumber

Loofah

Lavender-one of my fav smells

Lavender flower

A lil cucumber forming

Rosemary

Sage

MINT!!

More mint=mojitos in my future!

Thyme-it's so tiny and pathetic

Cinnamon Basil

On the fail list so far this year: Catnip, have no idea why I can't get it to grow, it grew like CRAZY last year. Oregano, it was on fail list last year too. Tarragon, still alive but just a green stalk at this point, no leaves. Strawberries, also still alive but the berries are disgusting.

A little Mahut anecdote

Years before Nicolas Mahut's marathon match against John Isner at Wimbledon 2010 I had a soft spot for the guy and felt for him. A friend had a little run in with Nicolas Mahut during the tournament in Indian Wells CA in 2007.

The first Friday night of the tournament, we had a few drinks before having dinner at the hotel restaurant. It was prime rib buffet night at the restaurant so we got right to eating. We were eating and talking and seeing what players were around also enjoying the bufffet. Most if not all the Frenchies were in the back area and there were a few other players and coaches spreckled around the place. N and L went to the buffet together, I saw them getting some salad and then they disappeared around a corner I couldn't see from the table. L comes back with an odd look on her face and walking kinda fast and shaking her head. Apparently Mahut was at the buffet at the same time as them and N started talking to him. Before N could get more than 2 words out L looked at Mahut, who already looked like a deer in headlights apparently, and said something like, "Walk away, just walk away it's ok." He didn't listen.

So what is the first things out of N's mouth to Mahut, "I'm old enough to be your grandmother."

That was when L left, it was at least 30 seconds before N finally came back to the table so who knows what else poor Mahut was subjected to. He really should have listened to L and walked away but he's just too nice of a guy.

Let's talk about what we know N said to Mahut. "I'm old enough to be your grandmother."

1. Who in their right mind (we knew WAY before this that N was not and has never been in her right mind, ESPECIALLY when she's had a drink or two) says that to a nice young man. Seriously what did she expect the response to be or where did she expect that to get her, it's just one of those things you don't say.

2. IT'S NOT EVEN TRUE! I didn't do the math but it's definitely not likely and would be quite a set of circumstances to make it happen, if it's even is possible. N's daughter is ten years YOUNGER than Mahut.

Our table was on the way out of the restaurant. I could see Mahut and the rest of the Frenchies walking towards our table on the way out. If I remember correctly Mahut was trying to hide behind some of the other guys and gave our table as wide a berth as he could because he saw that N was at the table. I think he even tried to use a side exit but wasn't successful.

From that night on I always felt bad for the guy and have a special soft spot for him. Who knows what else crazy N said to him. We haven't seen much of him since then especially at Indian Wells but boy did he make quite a jump into the spotlight this year. So that's my little Mahut anecdote hope you find it as funny as we do. There's a reason we keep crazy N around and a reason why we call her La Loca too, haha.

Is this a light bulb joke variation?

From a post on Grist.org:

“BP notes the fall in its share price in US trading last night. The company is not aware of any reason which justifies this share price movement.”

Really?

I read somewhere, can't find it now, that BP's reason for not taking the FREE oil soaking natural fiber booms from Matter of Trust is because they are worried about debris that may be left behind/get loose from the booms.

Really? They are worried about what is mostly hair floating in the ocean and the impact that would have, I'm sorry but you've got to be fucking kidding me right. Even if that is the case and it is a sound case they cannot find a better way to explain it.

A quote from Matter of Trust's site re debris from their booms vs the booms BP is currently using:

Riki Ott PhD, Marine Toxicologist, Author and Exxon Valdez Oil Spill expert - "The oil industry's approach is to use oil based synthetic products to respond to oil spills. After use, this results in mountains of contaminated material that need to be landfilled or incinerated. This creates a secondary pollution problem. At least with hair booms and hair mats, natural material is used that breaks down faster and releases less toxins when incinerated or landfilled. They even have a chance at being composted with bacteria. To suggest that any possible shedding of natural fibers into the gulf are a problem, pales in comparison to methods using hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic industrial solvents. The benefits of removing oil waste with natural fibers largely outweighs the minimal immediate risk to the environment. Also they reduce the secondary pollution concerns that come with using oil based products, such as only synthetic boom and dispersants."

Again really, the company responsible for the oil disaster in the Gulf is going to cite debris in the ocean. The company that probably makes money off the manufacturing of these synthetic booms because they are made from oil. The company that has been using an oil dispersant is going to cite debris from natural fiber booms. Really?

Here is a bit on the chemical dispersant from an article on ProPublica.org

“There is a chemical toxicity to the dispersant compound that in many ways is worse than oil,” said Richard Charter, a foremost expert on marine biology and oil spills who is a senior policy advisor for Marine Programs for Defenders of Wildlife and is chairman of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council. “It’s a trade-off – you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t -- of trying to minimize the damage coming to shore, but in so doing you may be more seriously damaging the ecosystem offshore.”

Is this a "How many people does it take to change a light bulb" joke happening in real life? Seriously I don't understand why BP is still the one in charge of "taking care" of the Gulf disaster. How many times does one need to prove themselves stupid, incapable, incompetent, unorganized, out of the loop, unreasonable, etc. before someone (government) steps in and takes control of or at least demand to take part in trying to manage the Gulf disaster.

Why are people so afraid/incapable of placing blame? I heard someone ask another person who just pulled out of a BP station why they still give their money to them? Their response, it was an accident! Yes it was an accident and it's not like they did it on purpose, I appreciate that, but in our society you are still held responsible for your actions accident or not, just because it is and accident doesn't make it a get out of jail free card, or it shouldn't be at least because I do realize that a lot of times it is.

Is their total and utter inability to deal with the disaster an accident, no it's negligence. We are required to carry car insurance, in CA at least not sure if that is a nationwide law, in case we are in an accident so we can at least try and financially compensate for the accident we've had. There is blame to be laid and it's on BP and it's even on each and everyone of us, in a way, and our massive dependence on oil.

Yeah it's hard to get away from it and there is no way we, at this point, can just stop using it but there are a lot of relatively easy ways you can cut back. So many of the products we choose to use everyday are petroleum based or contain petroleum. There is probably some in every single room of your home. A lot of them just aren't necessary even though you may think they are. You really want to use a facial/body lotion with petroleum in it, really?

Tree hugger has an article on 50 surprising fashion and beauty products made from oil.

The Daily Green has another article on 60 surprising products made from oil, along with a link, at the bottom of the page, to a list of 144 products.

If you think it's impossible for you to do anything to reduce your dependence on oil, or in regards to anything for that matter, it's not and never is. Every choice you make has an effect, even if it is just making yourself feel like you're doing something. It's not impossible to make a difference even if it is just in your own home. I really liked the recent mnmlist's post on "I could never give up".

Even though at this point BP is refusing the booms made by Matter of Trust they are still taking donations of hair, fleece, and nylons. I sent them a paper lunch sack full of mine and Rich's hair clippings that I had been collecting for the past year. I knew about Matter of Trusts use of hair to make oil soaking mats and booms way before the Gulf disaster. At that time they didn't have extra warehouse space, after the disaster they were donated many warehouses in Gulf states and have been accepting and making booms since the early days of the disasters. Although BP refuses them Matter of Trust is making booms available to local municipalities for use on their shores.

Update: Just came across this article at Your Daily Thread about Getting Unnecessary Oil out of Your Life. Short and simple but easy things to think about changing.

Update: I'll be adding related links as I come across them so if this is something that interests you and wanna see what I'm finding interesting check back on this post every now and again.

~Another article of interest over at Green Living Ideas: Why Don't We Care About Thousands of Other Oil Spills?

Added 6/14

~Where Oil Goes in the US from Treehugger.com

~Gulf Oils Spill by the Numbers: 16 Different Ways to Understand the Disaster from EcoSalon

Added 6/15

~Time to get tough with BP on dispersant from Grist

~EPA data show dispersants plus oil are more toxic than either alone from EDF

~Lightning Strike Oil Spill: Fire on Ship Halts Containment Effort from Huffington Post

Book Review: Stay by Allie Larkin

Let's cut to the chase, read Stay by Allie Larkin you won't be disappointed.

Stay Book Trailer

Allie is a blog/twitter friend, Stay hits shelves Thursday June 10th, as part of the promotion for the book she is doing a blog tour. She offered me the opportunity to host a stop on this blog tour, I of course jumped at the opportunity. Joe, the dog in Stay was inspired by Allie's own german shepard, Argo. So much so that Argo is the dog featured on the cover of Stay. That fact alone made me want to read the book.

I was sent an advanced free signed copy of Stay and was so excited to start reading it. I was hooked after reading the prologue, seriously, that page and a half itself made me really want to know more about the main character, Van. Once I got into the book I couldn't put it down, literally, I normally read a bit before going to bed every night and usually get a chapter or two read before my eyelids get heavy and I have to put the book down. With Stay I picked it up one night at ten, curled up in bed with a mug of tea, at 5 am I was done, I never got tired and I could find a place to stop reading, I had to know what happened next. Throughout the night I laughed and I cried along with and for the characters in the book.

Allie has created a set of characters and situations that draw you in and make you love them. Her voice is so honest and straightforward even if you've never been in a similar situation you feel like you have after reading it. She writes real life like it is which makes reading her book an enjoyable adventure and pleasure.

What I didn't like about the book was that it ended. I know it can't go on forever but I can't wait to see what else Allie has for us to read in the future, what new characters and adventures we will be enthralled with.

For more information about Stay visit AllieLarkinwrites.com the site includes an excerpt, audio clip, reading group guide, and question and answers with Allie.

I leave you with these adorable pictures of Allie and her dog Argo, how could you not want to read the book written/inspired by these two.

Where it all went awry

I'm not what society calls "normal", I don't even know what that means or why one would want to be "normal". While at work the other day my mind started to wander as I got to the "routine" part of my day. I thought, "I think I know when things went awry."

I believe it could have been my childhood over identification with Pippi Longstocking. It must have been my 11th birthday if I am doing my math correctly, which I am probably not because me and math are like oil and water. That summer The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking came out and for my birthday I went to the movies with friends and then had a party.

I share her love of animals and like her I don't necessarily conform to preconceived notions. I don't have super strength like of course but also like her I would not, and still do not, hesitate to jump into a body of water fully clothed even in my best clothes, although now I wouldn't jump in with any of my fave shoes on, you don't mess with a girl and her shoes. ;)

As I've gone into here before I am not obsessed with cleanliness and I always thought of Pippi being the same way, we aren't walking around looking like Pigpen from Peanuts but that's because we're girls and it's cute when girls have a bit of mud smeared on their clothes and/or face. I would have given anything to live in a house with a monkey and a horse. Being older and having actually worked with a few different monkeys I've changed my mind on that one, they are just too damn smart and test you, although I do know a monkey (Gepetto) that loves his human mommy (Jess) and would love to have a relationship like that with one.

To this day I still love horses though. My uncle had a horse that wasn't ridden very often but I didn't hesitate to get on it bareback even on a few occasions. On a family trip to Yosemite me and my dad went on a horse back tour. When we got within sight of the stables my horse took off and I just went for a long bumpy ride all the way back to the stables. A guide was quick to follow me to try and get the horse to stop and make sure I didn't panic, I did quite the opposite. He apologized to my dad for the incident and was amazed I took it so well, I didn't just take it well I quite enjoyed it. It was the highlight of the tour for me, only thing I remember about it actually.

After contemplating all this I texted my mom and said I know where you went wrong (poor choice of words) and told her it was because of her allowing me (again poor choice of words) to over identify with Pippi Longstocking. She got back to me and said, "oh nice blame it on me." I really should have worded my text better. I got back to her and said well I guess I could have identified with Stawberry Shortcake, gotten obese and had friends all named after desserts. We had a laugh.

What other characters was a little red headed girl suppose to identify with? I never liked Annie much , think it was the way she was treated and while the story had a happy ending I didn't identify with her at all. I'm glad I chose Pippi. Even to this day I wouldn't mind being Pippi.

Bottle cap magnets

You could do this the easy way like Condo Blues did. With the right pieces and it would be simple and fast. Or you can do it my way and use up some things you have lying around the house and take a bit more time.

The things lying around the house you'll need to have, bottle caps of course, free business card magnets (or any magnets you may have lying around and no longer need/want), and scraps of fabric or even paper/cardboard, perhaps from junk mail if you don't have scrap fabric. I used fabric because I have A LOT of it and no real use for it but I can't just throw it out, think there are some under lying issues there.

Gather all your supplies: desired bottle caps, magnets, scrap fabric, and hot glue gun:

Measure out a piece of fabric that fits inside the bottle cap width wise, fold it up so it all fits in the bottle cap with some space left for the magnet piece and glue it in. Make sure you glue at most/all folds.

Measure and cut your magnets into pieces that will fit in your bottle cap. I choose to go with rectangles versus circles cause they were easier to cut to a correct size for me.

Glue your magnet to your fabric

Stick on your fridge or whatever surface you please.

What's up...

Been busy and dealing with everyday things and some not so everyday things.....lot's done and lot's had to be done.

-My computer crashed while trying to install a game and was revived by the guys at Rich's friend who works in the I.T. department at his work. Luckily I had transfered all my pictures and the few docs I had the day before it crashed. I did lose some bookmarks but mostly just random things I never got around to looking at. I use google bookmarks for the most part since I was having a monster number of crashed due to crappy Vista.

-Computer was taken back so they could help install game properly and in doing so found that my hard drive was just about to die and that was the stem of the issues I'd been having. Got new hard drive and the game installed.

-Tried to play game with a ten day trial but apparently it doesn't work anymore with the version of the game I have, it only works for the OLD version. Makes no sense.

-Took a pet sitting job that was 25 miles away. I did pet sitting for a while a few years back, it was a stressful time I had 4 jobs back then. Talk about working yourself to the bone. I haven't done much since then but do miss it.

-On the last day of pet sitting the blind dog finally warmed up to me and didn't bark at me on and off the whole time I was there. After the first day he would let me pet him but then remember he doesn't know what's going on and who I am and would bark at me again. ;) We became good friends on the last day though.

-Other dog caught a young squirrel for me. That was gross, it was still moving and then she brought it over to me and I told her to go take it somewhere else and she thought I said leave it alone so she dropped it next to me and then went and looked guilty on the other side of me. Eventually she went back to it and gingerly picked it up and went and buried it.

-Rich's computer also crashed and we had to buy a new motherboard. Then ram wouldn't work and now having issues getting it to update to 7. Technology seems to be more trouble than it's worth sometimes.

-Need to learn to eat dinner before 8 pm. Dinner not ready until 9 tonight and then I was no longer hungry.

-Did some laundry and had the extra pleasure of the cat using the litter box that is in the same room, and we aren't talking about pee here.

-Sewed some more book covers. Having issues making them so they actually fit. Luckily all my small paperback covers fit but my large hardcovers keep coming out too small. I just use them for larger paperback books. Lesson: I really need to get a proper ruler, all I have is one that I had from grade school, really not good for marking and measuring for sewing purposes.

-Finally got around to buying my cat's a new scratching post. Got them a cool little post that has a spinning top too. Their old ones were actually scratching boards, they had two that were wrapped in sisal rope and one was crap, made of rope wrapped around two pieces of cardboard, it fell apart and the other was falling apart because it was very old. The cats couldn't really scratch on them anymore and the fatty took to eating the frayed rope. Now I just have to get some sisal rope and cover the posts of the carpet cat tree we have so the fatty stops eating that.

-Rich finally got the raise he deserves and has been due for years. They did an official wage study on his position and a raise of almost 20% was approved. While we are beyond happy it really drives home how over due this raise is. 20% raise is ridiculous!

-Been having constant battles about what needs to get done on a daily basis yet doesn't get done and still doesn't after battles are brought to a conclusion. It's beyond tiring.

-Just finished eating 4 avocados I bought and then my mom brings me 5 more ripe and ready to eat NOW avos. I love being in an area where avos are so readily available and delicious but don't want to eat them everyday for weeks on end. Not sure what I am going to do with these. I guess I could make and freeze some guacamole.

-Wild fire season has apparently started once again and started with a wild fire in the county no less. I believe there was still a hire fire danger heading into December last year. That's just too long for me, it really makes me think about moving out of the area. I hate fire season and have a panic inducing fear of my home and all my animals being destroyed by a fire, especially when I am gone.

-I am being more of a klutz lately than usual, not that I notice doing most of this stuff but the ridiculous amount of bruising on my legs lets me know I need to learn to avoid something, not sure what exactly, ha. I have always bruised very easily and the bruises go through such a gross progression of color and last for ages.

101...why mudnessa

Hey would you look at that, this is apparently my 101st post. So let's have a bit of a blabbering post letting you get a little more insight into mudnessa, you know a mudnessa 101.

If you come across a mudnessa it is most likely me, I did see a mudnessa registered on a racing/car/motorbike site something or other that wasn't me so it isn't ALWAYS me. Before I was mudnessa, way back when usernames were only used for email and IM, I wasWeeMadNessa. I used WeeMadNessa for years, many many years. It was fitting but the mad part only come out if you really really really piss me off or I love you with all of my heart, yeah major character flaw. I'm pretty sure mudnessa all started with a MUD (multi-user dungeon) game my brother was playing and he wanted me to play. It was the Discworld MUD to be exact, I didn't wanna be weemad and he suggested MudNessa because it was a MUD and that's just cool, right? We decided that all lowercase was good since the game is in caps. Didn't hurt that mud is actually a pretty fitting description of me sometimes, ok most of the time. From then on I was and will probably always be mudnessa. It is just so fitting.

Let's "discuss" why it's so fitting. Well my name is Vanessa so the Nessa part is self-explanatory right....I actually had a friend ask why people call me Nessa, not the brightest guy in the world. Nessa started when my younger, not little, I'm the little one, first started talking and he couldn't say Vanessa and Nessa was easy. I rarely hear my family call me Vanessa and even Rich almost always calls me Nessa or sometimes red. I don't actually get called mudnessa it's just used in print.

A few years back my mom asked me why exactly mudnessa, a friend asked and she said it was because I get and don't mind being dirty and muddy and she wanted to make sure that was why. I told her about the Discworld game and then confirmed that it stuck because I am usually dirty. I told a few stories of me being dirty over the years, one of which she hadn't heard/known about that she loved.

Here are a few childhood dirty Nessa stories. When I was a kid we had a LARGE veggie garden and I really enjoyed planting things and digging in the dirt. We had a BIG pile of manure brought over by my uncle. For weeks on end after school I would go and play IN the manure pile digging around for worms. I literally remember digging myself a big hole in the middle of the pile and having manure surrounding me almost past my head. My parents would just smile and shake their heads at me.

I went to work with my dad, who works in construction, one day and ended up playing with wet cement with my bare hands. If you are familiar with cement you know how miserable I was later that night and the next day. If not, basically it pulled ALL the moisture out of my skin and basically "burnt" my hands. Not a happy day, not a happy day at all, but I sure did have fun playing in the wheelbarrow full of gooey cement.

Here is the story my mom loved. We had a sandbox that me and my brother played in a lot. One day I decided it would be fun to see how much sand we could get in my pants. I put on sweatpants and quickly realized the elastic on the bottom wasn't strong enough to hold in much sand. I ran inside, got some super thick rubber bands, something we had A LOT of, dad got a lot of large plans that were secured with large rubber bands. With a roomy pair of sweatpants on secured at the ankles with rubber bands my brother grabbed a bucket and started dumping sand down my pants. We succeeded and got my pants FULL of sand. They weren't really around my waist anymore but they were brimming with sand, it was like a heavy fat suit and if I remember correctly we were hysterical. Guess my pants didn't end up too sandy because mom was non the wiser while doing my laundry. My brother is currently and has always been the clean freak type, but not OCD like, he obviously had no problem helping me get dirty.

Probably somewhere around my 13th birthday I got a worm growing kit. I LOVED growing worms. Obviously I was the kid who had to be forced to take a shower. Which didn't work, as in as an adult I still don't shower that often. I've mentioned it here before but luckily I am not an overly smelly person and showering daily really isn't necessary. My hair would revolt if it was subjected to water much less washing everyday. As it is now as long as I don't get too visibly dirty or play with a stinky animal at work I only shower twice a week. I know gross right, eh, another character flaw.

However the other day when me and Rich were....um......."talking" my over active mind got working before our "conversation" got too "intense" and I noticed he smelled different, he had bought and used a new shower soap. You know how people have their own smell, whether it be their perfume, soap, or whatever. I don't use a scented soap, I don't use perfume or scented anything really so I just smell like me. I asked him what do I smell like, he sniffed my hair and said, nothing really. I had showered the day before so I probably did have little to no smell. Then I asked well if you had to from memory describe what I smell like what would it be, he just looks at me not wanting to piss me off. I say, "poo?" He smiles and snickers while saying yes. We had a good laugh and I realized why again I love him so, because he loves me despite the fact that he can't say his wife smells like roses, vanilla, or something sweet, he know and still loves that his wife smells like poo. Ah true love isn't it glorious, haha.

Now don't get the wrong idea I don't smell like a nasty sewage bathroom gag inducing walking poo stick or anything. It's more of a dirty, nature, gritty smell, perhaps with a little bit of pet shop/zoo on bad days. In recent years it hasn't been so bad because I no longer clean up and sometimes literally roll around with smelly mammals like monkeys, coatimundis, binturongs, pot bellied pigs, kinkajous, opossums, foxes, porcupines, prairie dogs, among a lot of other smelly things. Some days I use to have to drive home with the windows down or I would gas myself out of my car. Those were times when I would shower daily, if not more since I worked 2 short shifts at one job.

I now exclusively work with reptiles and don't do a lot of hands on with them beyond just my hands, as long as I don't spill/drop things on myself I don't get too smelly at work. I am working in rooms full of reptiles, it can smell like the reptile house at a zoo, it's not too bad. One problem though is that I get pretty immune to my work smells so I don't even notice it anymore. Unless something is dead, death stinks even when it's just a tiny little creature and there is no getting use to that or not noticing it.

Every once in a while I will pick Rich up from work right after I get off work and the first thing he'll say will be something about me smelling, I've heard, "YOU STINK!" "Did you play with the dogs a lot at work today?" Lovely things like that are often his first greetings to me. It is usually more my clothes that smell than actually me so once I change I no longer have dog or stink on me.

That's the story, evolution, and why behind mudnessa and why it has stuck with me. Hope you enjoyed. Let's end it with a picture from a few years ago of true mudnessa just home from work one day.

Even vegans can enjoy "cheesy" pizza

When I was a kid my mom would make English muffin pizzas for lunches every so often. They are delicious and oh so simple. I have started eating them A LOT recently. I started eating a mostly vegan diet in January of this year and honestly it was easy but I did miss pizza and other melty cheesy things.

I heard Sara Gilbert, yes the actress from Rosanne, talk about vegan cheese that melt, through her twitter account. She recommended Follow Your Heart cheese alternative. I believe it is also lactose free (don't know why it wouldn't be but it doesn't actually say lactose free anywhere) so even if you aren't vegan and you avoid cheese because of lactose sensitivity you can still eat pizza!

I went to the health food store I do all my primary shopping at and what do you know they carry it. With my block of mozzarella cheese alternative I headed to the pasta aisle and grabbed a jar of organic Italian herb pasta sauce. Next I headed to the bread corner and looked through the rows of different English muffins they had. I settled on a pack of flourless organic 7 sprouted grain English muffins.

They sounded pretty healthy (I have no idea if they are actually any healthier than generic white English muffins). I'm not a fan of wheat breads so I was a bit concerned about how they would taste but I just went for it, I wasn't even sure if the cheese was going to be any good. I thought maybe it is something you have to learn to love because let's be honest there are some vegan foods that are DISGUSTING, but that can be said about any kind of food can't it.

At home I set out to make myself some vegan English muffin pizzas. Here is my step by step guide for making English muffin pizzas, not because I think you can't figure it out yourself but because I wanted to share my new favorite meal, with pictures too!

I use a toaster oven to make my pizzas.

Set opened English muffins on a toaster oven tray, if you like you can toast your English Muffins first so they are a bit crispy. I like mine soft so I do not toast them.

I am not a big fan of pasta sauce but I use a generous amount on my English muffin pizzas, it soaks into the muffins and makes them tasty and very moist.

Next add as much as you like of the shredded mozzarella cheese alternative.

Bake at 450 F. It usually takes about 10 minutes with no preheat of the oven. I like my cheese a bit browned, it doesn't brown as well as dairy cheese so be careful if you're like me and you like practically the whole top to be brown, you will probably burn your muffins before the cheese gets like that. When they are visually just about done I turn the toaster oven to broil and broil them for a minute or two.

Let them sit for a few minutes, transfer to a plate and let them sit a few minutes more, trust me, I was eating these things every other day for almost a week straight and I burnt the roof of my mouth so bad it hurt to drink lukewarm tea. Let them sit and cool. The combination of the heated muffin and sauce sealed in by cheese makes for one hot pizza. Now enjoy your pizzas that are still hot but not too hot that you can't eat anything remotely warm for a week.

I have also used Follow Your Heart's cheddar cheese alternative to make cheesy beans for dip, burritos, and things. The first time I tried their cheddar I shredded it and added it to a bowl of hot chili and stirred it around and expected it to melt like dairy cheese. It did not and the chili I made was not very good either.

Their cheeses need to be melted before using in a separate dish or, like in the pizzas, while heating/cooking your food. It took a bit before I tried their cheddar again and while I do not like it as much as their mozzarella it is still a great vegan/lactose free alternative. I usually cook myself some beans and heat an open faced tortilla with beans and cheese on top like the pizzas, a Mexican pizza I guess. If I am reheating beans or making cheesy beans to be used in another way I heat them together in a pot on the stove or a dish in the oven. You can also heat just the cheese on the stove or in the microwave to a liquid to be used in/on whatever.

*Silly disclosure thingy* I did not receive anything for free or in exchange for anything said in this post or any post for that matter. These are all my own opinions influenced by nothing, no one, or anything but me, myself, and I. If I ever do receive anything from anyone you will be the first to know, trust me.

Wide legged jeans into "skinny" jeans.

I was looking through patterns and sewing ideas and random things I had bookmarked recently. I have no idea where I read this but I read about making a regular pair of jeans into a pair of skinny jeans and it sounded pretty straightforward. I believe it was from a site that offers patterns and things but I can't find it in my bookmarks and I probably got there by clicking link after link after link.

Why would I do this? I hate shopping for clothes I actually have to try on especially pants. The proportions between my waist, ass, and thighs make jeans a REAL pain in the ass to find a good fit. Not to mention I can't afford much and jeans are so f'ing expensive. Price aside if they look like they will fit my waist I can't get them past my ass to even find out if they actually fit my waist. If they fit my ass the waist is WAY too big or has that stupid huge gap at the back. If I find a pair that I can live with the waist and the ass is ok when I walk the tightness of the thighs just starts to work the pants down to below my ass crack because the waist is actually too big and they are basically being held up by my thighs and due to them being a stiff material.

It's all just too much for me, let's not even talk about the fact that I'm five feet tall and I can take about 2 to 3 feet off each pant leg. Ok let's talk about that. It's not such a big deal now that I have a sewing machine but I've only had it for about a year and a half and had given up on buying jeans many years ago. Also it's kinda difficult to self measure pant legs for hemming, I had a bit of issues with the skinny jeans I made and the legs are off a bit but I made them long enough it's unnoticeable especially since they are skinny jeans and just gather at the top of my feet not "dangling" loosely down my heels like wider legged pant would.

Being short makes skinny jeans pretty impossible to shop for because my legs just aren't long enough for the proportions of the pants to work. They taper way too slowly to fit my legs properly. Even now that I can tailor the legs of pants all I want with my sweet sewing skills (holy shit did I really just write sweet sewing skills, LOL!) there is still the fact that I pay WAY too much for a pair of pants to go home and have to deconstruct them to make them actually fit. I feel if I am going to pay that much for a pair of pants they should be able to pretty much be wearable as is. Please tell me that isn't totally unreasonable and I'm not the only one who feels that way.

I gave up shopping for jean quite a few years ago, I don't think I have bought a new pair in close to 3 years. I have a pair of capri jeans that have holes and worn out parts all over the place (ok just mostly the ass area, pants just can't contain my ass, ha!) that I have patched to no end. They look pretty normal while I'm wearing them because apparently I did a pretty good job even though I totally winged it patching them up. That's pretty much how I sew, by picking up things and try them and teaching myself and reading tutorials and blog posts here and there.

I attempted the skinny jeans after just reading the how to once, it was literally just a written guide kinda like this will be, but they are much better than me and just wrote the directions minus all the blabbering. Hey I like to blab deal with it. ;) I am pretty amazed it actually worked and I managed to make them look good and damn proud actually. Here we are finally to the good part, thanks for reading all my blabbering.

I used a pair of pretty wide legged pants that I have had for years and they are quite stretchy, stretchy really is the way to go for making skinny jeans so they give and don't get too tight, especially around the ankles, you want to make sure you can get your feet through them, your feet might need more room than you think.

Turn your desired pair of pants inside out and put them on.

Make sure the outside seam is pretty much on the outside of you leg evenly as you gather them to desired "skinniness" on the inside of your leg and pin them at desired "skinniness" all the way down your leg. Don't make them too tight we aren't going for the liquid latex look here.

You may need some help from a friend to keep the pinning even and get a good straight line. I had a very uneven line once I took the pants off and was pretty much unable to do anything with them at this point. My pins were crooked and well one of them ended up in the side of my calf for a bit as I was trying to get them off. Still not sure how I achieved that great feeling, I hate getting poked with pins. Yea I know I have tattoos how can I hate getting poked with pins, PINS are my problem, not needles. Things that are suppose to poke me are fine by me. (That's what she said! LOL!)

I had to put the pants back on and re-pin them, still didn't do a very good job but I got out a piece of tailors chalk and actually traced a line on the inside of the pin line while I was still wearing them to have a more straight/even line. It still wasn't very straight but it gave me a good starting point.

I took the pants to the sewing machine and sewed OUTSIDE the chalk line, closer to the original inside seam, making them LOOSER than the chalk line since I made the chalk line inside the pins. I didn't want to make them too tight because that just would just ruin them and then I would be minus a pair of pants and would be forced to buy a new pair, I only have 3 pairs of non work pants. I tried to start my seam on top of the already existing one a bit higher than where I marked them so I wouldn't end up with an odd bunch or dart looking thing on my pant leg and continued the seam at an angle using the chalk line as an outside guide.

I tried them back on and they fit nicely. I cut off all the excess material and hemmed the bottoms and I love my "new" pants. Hope this is understandable and will help anyone who may want to give this a try. It's nice to have a pair of jeans that didn't cost me a thing and aren't actually new but sure do feel like a new pair of pants.

Here is a before and after picture of my jeans. Came out pretty good, no? :)

I know I am happy with them and I have worn them multiple times and washed them too and they haven't unraveled on me. I had images in my head of wearing them out and a seam popping and they start unraveling on me. Weezer's Undone The Sweater Song came to mind actually, hehe.

So Just for the fun of it have a listen, cause who doesn't love Weezer? (that's rhetorical, I really don't wanna know if you don't like Weezer, it's great sewing music too so just don't tell me.)

Weezer's Undone The Sweater Song from their official youtube page.

*I'm not so sure skinny jeans are something I should wear all that often, make my thighs look huge, comparatively of course, I realize they aren't actually huge at all.

*Yes I am pigeon toed, always have been and it is so obvious in so many pictures.

*I love the fact that our plastic lizard toy door stop is in the background of the after picture. Had a few people come over and see it and ask if it was real. Yeah I have a live lizard loose in my house and I let it stand right in front of my door! Really people I'm crazy and I'm a reptile freak but that's just irresponsible. No one messes with my animals, NO ONE. Plus the coloring is quite off for an actual lizard.

My name is mudnessa and I'm....

...An inconsistent blogger despite my best intentions.

I wish I blogged more frequently even just about the asinine stuff that goes through my head, like the things I blab on and on about to Rich which make him just look at me and shake his head and say, "You're thinking too much again." Sometimes if it's ultra geeky or just purely asinine I get, "It's a good thing you're hot." If it is very scientific of me and just something WAY too well thought out and my inner scientist comes out I get, "God you're hot."

I wish I would actually blog the many not so asinine things I want to share. I wish I could keep up with the weekly picture posts I wanted to do starting at the beginning of the year. I wish I would get around to writing about the less chemically nail polish Rich got for me for Christmas. (That's one thing stopping me, the inability of my brain to find the right words sometimes, less chemically, really brain, I mean really. Can't you just find the proper word instead of making up or using stupid ones!) I wish I could get around to writing about the sewing things I have accomplished, including one a twitter friend specifically asked me to please blog about doing. (I'm going to get to it Allie I promise I will eventually.)

What is it that is stopping me, that good old thing called procrastination and also that pesky bad time planning that seems to always plague me and many other people. At least I know I'm not the only one that has this time issue.

I have cut out A LOT of time wasters recently but picked up a few more, mostly I waste my time reading twitter. I am SO addicted it's comical but I enjoy it and the friends and acquaintances I have made and the few friends I've had pre-twitter and now keep up with them via twitter are great and I wouldn't trade them and it for anything. It feeds my tennis addiction and allows me to "stalk" celebrities, have I mentioned I'm celeb obsessed, have been as far back as I can remember. I find the whole thing odd but it is what it is.

I have also almost doubled my hours at work recently. That leads to A LOT of time I don't have to do things at home. I'm still only working part time but it makes a big difference. The added hours have lead to me living in quite a sty because nothing gets cleaned anymore, not that it did all that frequently before. I have a cleaning schedule written on my calendar but that hasn't helped and I've been doing that for probably a good 9 months and things previously still didn't get cleaned all that often. My nickname isn't mudnessa just because it's cute, it's appropriate. Picture Pigpen from Peanuts, minus the actual appearance (usually) or smell. I try and not let myself get to smelly.....wait why am I writing this down and putting it out there for anyone to read. Oh because I really don't care, if that wasn't obvious.

Oh time I wish you went slower sometimes, faster others and just didn't exist at others. I wish I had a better handle on you, had you under control and didn't just let you slip away or dictate what I can and can't do because of you.

Hey would you look at that it's now after midnight. I should crawl into my bed right now since I have a lot to do to catch up on this weekend, sadly sleeping is not one of them but that doesn't mean I won't actually catch up on sleep and not on the other stuff. Especially if I don't make myself get into bed soon.

Basically I have time issues. I have priority issues. I have thinking issues, according to Rich. I have cleanliness issues. (Don't know how that got into this post.) These are all the more common and less bizarre issues I have, if only you knew the others. Maybe one day I'll get to feeling like sharing those but people I actual see have been known to read this and that could get awkward, not that they think I'm all normal like but they put up with me...well because they have to.

So here's to me trying to get more blogging in because I want to and I have to do things I really want to when I'm home, it can't all be about cleaning and things I must do, I would go more insane than I already am and that wouldn't be good for anyone.

Tennis Vacation

I left Wednesday morning for the high desert of Indian Wells CA to be a spectator at the BNP Paribas Open. I am leaving on Sunday. I wish I could stay for longer or come back but work must be done....so sad. So here are links to pictures of what I have been up to so far:

Wednesday March 10th

Thursday March 11th

Friday March 12th

Update on hair products.

To see what I'm using and what I was using and why I changed check out my blog from Feb 7th. Giving up on no 'poo.

This stuff is working pretty well for me, my hair is a bit more frizzy than what it was like with just baking soda wash and apple cider vinegar rinse but I think hair will react to real soap in any form like that. It however isn't as crazy as it was when using conventional shampoos and even all other "eco" shampoos I have tried. My routine is shampoo, conditioner, combing using a wide tooth comb, a bit of air drying, apply hair oil, more air drying and then brushing with a new boar bristle brush I picked up. I usually do this once or twice a week depending on what's going on and how my hair is feeling. Between washings sometimes I add some more hair oil after a brushing because it gets a bit frizzy. I obviously don't have any issues with oily hair EVER. I could probably put an ounce of oil on my hair and it wouldn't be noticeable, besides a bit of a shine.

My scalp is a bit better, has it's days of good but also has it's days of bad. Just the way my scalp is I guess. It is now mostly caused by forces outside my control, stress, hormones, and stupid water quality, seriously the hardness of my water is ridiculous and makes bathing in general such a chore, but I am dealing and things are working out.

Why no pictures....

Well it's been a while since I blogged and even longer since I posted what I wanted to be a weekly photo post. Not much has been going on that was photo worthy. I've been mostly dealing with trying to be healthier and all that good stuff.

Mostly I have been really trying to get some good sleep, it was hard to come by for a few weeks, I was pretty miserable from total lack of sleep for almost a whole week at one point. It's partially because I just couldn't sleep and also because my husbands snoring was getting really bad. He added a pillow and that seems to be helping. I stopped drinking caffeine and it was a lot simpler than I thought it was going to be, I usually start my morning with a delicious mug of hot coffee. I downloaded a water sounds for sleep album and listen to that every night and I have been trying to keep the bedroom cooler, which isn't hard since it's on the corner and it is still getting cold at night. I checked out 5 books on sleep from the library, they haven't really helped but I haven't just sat down and read them yet, I've just been browsing them, not very smart on my part. I have been sleeping better but still need to work on it, mostly need to force myself to bed earlier than 1 am and make myself get out of bed before 10 am. I think I might be use to getting my best sleep in the morning basically making the rest of my day hard because I can't get feeling good and functional until 2 pm which is just way too late.

I have also been eating healthier, which hasn't been difficult at all, I've just had to put my foot down and say no to going out to eat. Getting the husband to go along with that has been more difficult but we don't eat the same things anyways. I went vegetarian in November and vegan in January and Rich didn't so he has been cooking for himself and me for myself. Recently I have just had to make the time to actually cook for myself every night and force myself to eat leftovers, don't know why but I have never been a left over eater.

One thing that has happened since this change in diet is my skin, my skin is the skin I have always wanted and dreamed of and knew I should have. Not just my face, but that's the most obvious, I've always had small breakouts around my chin and I haven't had one real pimple/zit/nastiness on my face since January. Even the rest of my skin is less dry and itchy and smoother, softer, and it's just lovely. I'm pretty sure this is due to giving up dairy, I also have not been bloated since giving up dairy. I am pretty sure I have a lactose sensitivity. My brother and my mothers side of the family are lactose intolerant probably mostly due to the fact that we/they are Japanese and Asians have a very high occurrence of lactose intolerance. Not being bloated is a GREAT feeling, a really great feeling. I can always fit into any of my pants at any time no matter what, do you know how awesome that is.

So that's what I have been up to for the past three weeks and beyond. Not a lot of fun but a lot of good. Fun is in my future though, next week I am going to Indian Wells for the BNP Paribas Open. WOOHOO!!! I am so excited. Look back a year in my blog and you will understand why I am so excited, teehee.

There are a few pictures of my cat's from the past three weeks. First Harley Quinn is not a fan of beer. I got a package delivered one day and every time Otsego heard the UPS truck in the afternoon she went to the door and waited for him to come up the stairs and leave a box on the patio. Most notably Otsego and Harley Quinn have been sleeping on the same piece of cat furniture, taking turns with the spots, that is notable because they don't particularly like each other. They tolerate each other but don't like being close and this is pretty close for them. (FYI if you click on the picture it should get bigger, I've been struggling with pictures and formatting and all that crap. Another reason I haven't been blogging as much, pictures and me just aren't getting along right now.)