Attached are a few pictures of my maltipoo puppy Jack,playing in White Sands National Park which is a 45 minute drive outside the town where I live.

Sometimes it helps to get the worldy or materialistic thoughts out before I dive into something more creative. So here’s my wishlist for the next few major holidays:

Photoshop Elements. I love editing photos. Nuff said.

Some kind of blogging software that doesn’t endeaver to make the user understand code. While I’d like to continue using Tumblr, I’d also like to have more web design options than Tumblr offers. Unfortunately, I just don’t have it in me at this point in my life to learn code. But I do own the mermaidbrain.com url, and I’d like to actually use it.

A tripod for my Canon. It is often impossible for me to hold the camera still, so this would really come in handy. Plus then I could do my own shoots instead of having to arrange for someone else to come take pictures of me. In the past I’ve propped up my camera on top of stacks of books and chairs to do this, but that was when I had a small, significantly less expensive camera to play with. No way I’ll try to balance my Canon like that.

New bikinis—I might get myself a few of these as an early birthday present to myself, now that it’s summer. My birthday’s not until September, but my current bikinis are getting too worn out to wear. The material is thinning and becoming saggy.

However, I can’t justify spending the money my parents give me to live off of, and the money that my husband earns to buy any of these things. But it feels good to write a list about them. Writing lists has always been very therapeutic for me. It makes me feel like I’m being productive when in reality I’m not being productive at all.

Here are a few thoughts that are floating through my head right now:

“Father Ted” is a wonderful show. We watched all of it when I was in high school when my dad bought us the series on dvd. I highly recommend it! And it’s available on Netflix Instant right now!

I fell in love with Hugh Laurie when I was in elementary school, watching “Black Adder” because it was one of the handful of English-language shows we could get in my hometown in Germany. It’s so sad that “House” is over, but it feels like the right time.

I have an awful headache :-/

This whole page shouldn’t count as an entry, but it will anyway.

The only good part of having terrible fasciatis is that I can’t wear flip-flops anymore. Fasciatis means that the tendons that run along the soles of my feet are hardening and developing microscopic tears, but luckily just using these special insoles is enough for now. My mother’s side of the family has ugly, ugly feet, and I inherited a particularly large pair of them. Because of this, flip-flops, while convenient, have never been attractive on me. My feet are like large, long claws because the bones that run along the top stick out. So it’s nice to have a justifiable excuse to not wear flip-flops ever again, except in public showers and locker rooms.

It’s four in the morning, and I need to go to sleep. I’ve had insomnia for months now, and I’ve gained ten pounds because of it. I’ve gotta say I look pretty good at this weight, but I’d still rather lose the ten pounds again because now my clothes don’t fit. I’m right in between wardrobes.

Ok, maybe I can sleep this headache away now. Good night!

Love, 

M

I have great news! I had thought that my family sold our beach house last year, because that was their plan, but I found out today from my mother that we actually sold it to my grandmother’s sister! They do not have a great relationship, and the house was emptied out during the lengthy process of settling the property dispute, but ultimately this means that we can still visit there in the summertime (-: I am so excited. I thought that was no longer possible, that there would be no more happy Connecticut beach memories to be made, but I was wrong. I can’t wait to show this place that has been so important to my family. 

June does what she wants, at all times. Sometimes this means sleeping until three thirty in the afternoon, and sometimes it means having an argument with her boyfriend in order to justify sleeping with his best friend. 

Vanilla Belle talks to her dog too much. 

I am having a really, really hard time thinking creatively. Massive writer’s block. This writer’s block is made of legos that have been glued together to build a barricade. The salivating masses of zombies moan and groan in frustration at their clumsiness, which stops them from successfully climbing over the barricade. One zombie impaled himself by falling onto the leg of a chair. Another is swinging listlessly from the hinge of a fridge door, where his long matted hair was caught during his fall. Matteo and Elizabeth watch all this from their sixth-floor apartment window. They have made a game of betting on how long it will take for that particular zombie’s scalp to rot off, releasing him from his tether. Will he fall into the roving masses below, or will he perchance float away instead? That would be a new development, and Matteo dreams of the zombies floating upward like balloons. They also bet on how high certain ambitious zombies will be able to climb. Will the once-bodacious redhead re-animatrix make it to the red Ikea coffee table? Will their old geography teachr Mr. Courtier make it to the slippery slope of his now-dead family’s old dining room table? Elizabeth reminded Matteo periodically that these games would keep them from losing their minds to the madness of this new world, but secretly she wondered whether the games were in fact the start of that looming madness.  There was a moment one sticky-hot afternoon that one of the fresher zombies, nicknamed “The Jockey,” clambered his way perilously near the top of the barricade. Matteo and Elizabeth watched his determined ascention with terror and excitement, as spectators watch a horse race on which they’ve bet their entire life savings. They would never tell each other that they had each secretly routed for him to reach the crest of that monumental barricade. When, just inches from the top, he lost his grip and crashed violently onto his brethren below, the onlookers gasped in shameful disappointment. At what point in these weeks since Z-Day did they stop being grateful for their lives? Or had that happened long ago, when zombies were still a matter of fiction and pop-culture?

Carmella was so determined to convince herself that her tv was not preventing her from writing, that she began writing exclusively while watching television.

After this very long month of waiting, I can finally swim again (-: I went a week or two ago, because I felt such an urgent need for a swim, but could only float around and stretch a little. First I had a bad spell of the babesiosis, then a bout of tendonitis as a result of taking ciprofloxacin, and then a vicious cold. Today I got such a great workout in the pool! And a full, long stretch, while looking at the Organ Mountains through the window. The windows at the aquatic center are very big, so I can watch the sky while while I’m swimming. It’s wonderful. Today I wore my husband’s rashguard that doesn’t fit him anymore (I love hand-me-downs!) and it kept me  comfortably warm. 

Now I’m eating a lunch of tamales and resting, while watching “National Geographic: Amazing Planet: Born of Fire.” It is not as well written as most of their documentaries. The narration over-stresses the personification of the planet, to the point where it’s heavy-handed. That heavy-handed tone is further emphasized by the husky speech of the female narrator, who has a lovely voice, but who seems to have been told to speak like a dominatrix. The awkwardness of the soundtrack, which is supposed to be hip and with it, makes the whole thing a little disappointing. The impression this music and narration have on me is very similar to the feeling I used to get as a teenager when my parents tried being ‘cool’ by saying awkward, embarrassing things. I expect more of you next time, National Geographic.

I love the names of ancient landmasses:

• Gondwana
• Laurasia
• Pangaea
• Euramerica
• Oldredia
• Pannotia
• Rodinia
• Columbia, also called Nuna
• Nena
• Kenorland
• Ur (the earliest known landmass)
• Vaal
• Vaalbara

This isn’t usually what I post on here, but I just had to with this (-: these pictures are wonderful! Made me smile (-: all except the last one, because the presence of the f-word drags the human rights activist’s sign down to the level of vulgarity of the bigot’s sign. It’s not clever and it’s not endearing. 

Love, 

M

(via alliinblunderland)

Things I want:

1. metallic white acrylic paint, magenta acrylic paint.

2. poly-fil pillow stuffying, yarn, and fabric to make into floor/couch pillows.

3. foam for upholstery projects, fabric for the same.

4. my Kindle up and running, then various books.

5. cotton rope for jewelry projects.

6. medical ID tags for Jack.

7. medical ID pendants for me.

8. to finally see “The Hunger Games”.

9. various bikinis and clothes.

10. a longterm pool pass.

11. for my husband to make a decision about joining the Airforce.

12. baskets and trays for my vanity table.

13. to be able to sleep right now.

14. my insurance to finally agree to pay for my adderall refill.

15. for the tendonitis in my hands to heal.

16. 75$ sewing machine fix.

17. more pillows for our bed.

18. to take my quilts to be dry-cleaned.

19. the rest of the spray paint and other supplies needed for the lamps I’m making.

20. sea glass and more shells, especially large ones.

21. to be able to sell the baby clothes my sister-in-law left with me after her baby shower.

22. an extra battery for my Canon.

23. blogging software.

24. a new macbook (maybe -pro?).

Things I need:

1. $325+tax to pay for Jack to be snipped, microchipped, and given his rabies shot tomorrow.

2. approximately $100 to pay this month’s overdue bills.

3. food for the rest of the month. 

4. the tendonitis in my hands to allow me to finish the dolphin pillow I’m making for my soon-to-be-born niece.

5. a good lawyer for my disability case.

6. sleep.

7. between $500 and $1000 to replace the brakes on K’s car, and to fix whatever else is probably wrong with it. 

So, with less than two hundred dollars at my disposal, I’m going to write a check for Jack’s exciting procedures tomorrow, and tonight I’m going to ask my mom to take $2000 out of my “car fund” CD. I’m going to wait until that money clears to pay the past-due bills, and to take Kyle’s car to be fixed. Posting this here really helps me map this all out properly.

K and I only really talked about the Airforce a few nights ago, but I have made up my mind that I want him to do it. I won’t be able to have a job and help out financially for many years, until I am well enough. I have to start back to school part time next semester, while focusing on my health, and eventually finish my degree. Then there’s grad school. There’s no way I can work and go to school—hell, I can’t even go to school at all these days. K’s job hunt is not going well, even though there are some very good prospects emerging here in town. To be honest, I think I would be happy with the opportunity to move away from here. I would miss my friends and family to no end, but I’d still have Jack, and hopefully I’d still have K most of the time. I would never be ok with him being in danger though. Luckily because he has his degree he’s automatically be an officer. If he were stationed somewhere longterm I could move with him. I’m not afraid of travel, and not afraid of moving to foreign countries. I’ve had enough experience in both those areas that I know I could cope and be happy. K and I could both work on school if he joined the Airforce. I don’t know how we’ll pay for his master’s degree without the military. He says he would rather join the military than go to grad school, but it seems like a waste to be in the military and not get a degree out of it, in his situation. I don’t know if he could get his masters in his field while in the Airforce. I am distrustful of the military because of how much they lie to the soldiers. I need to talk to K and about this. Luckily, tomorrow’s his day off.

O! I forgot to mention this: as of today, Jack is officially five months old (-: I’ll post pictures as soon as I empty my camera. 

Love,

M

This is the second picture that ties for first place (great grammar here, ha) in the category of minimalistic shorts (-:

Love,

M

Alright, so, this one is a bit porny, but I do think it’s the best use of the minimalistic shorts. The color is perfectly faded and the perfect color for light shorts. This picture ties for first place with another photo (the next one I’ll be posting) for first place in minimalistic short shorts. Apparently I’m making it a competition now :-P ?

Love,

M

(via femaleperfecti0n)

Another rare successful use of the high-wasted shorts! My hat goes off to the lady.

Love, 

M

thesexiestfemales:

LIKE/REBLOG THIS IF YOU THINK SHE SEXY♥

I’ve never considered using pearls as a chain over daisy dukes. I will have to mull this one over for a while *hmmm*

Love,

M

Does anyone know where I can buy these? I loooooooooooooooove Half-Life merch.

Love,

M