Snow Cat

I did in fact take my cat out into the snow, and good news:  I have pictures!  Enjoy cat exploration, he did. 😀

Recipes and a cat

Happy Thanksgiving!  So I found some spare time today while waiting for my turkey to cook and I figured that I would finally get around to writing up the post that I promised I would do.  I know that my mom wants some of the recipes I’ve talked about and hopefully some of you also find them appealing. (all credit goes to the people and places listed)

1) Amish White Bread.  I call this sweet bread because it is somewhere in between bread and cake in its sweetness level.  Everyone who has tried this has loved it and it makes an amazing french toast.     http://allrecipes.com/recipe/amish-white-bread/

2) Italian Bread.  Here is an awesome recipe that I found for Italian bread.    http://breadbaking.about.com/od/yeastbreads/r/itallybrd.htm

3)  Peasant Bread.  My aunt actually showed me this one.  It’s from Alexandra Cooks and is simply delicious.   http://www.alexandracooks.com/2012/11/07/my-mothers-peasant-bread-the-best-easiest-bread-you-will-ever-make/

4)  This is actually just a variation on my mom’s potato soup found here: https://crittersandchaos.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/delicious-berries-posting-takes-sooo-much-time-recipes-for-saver/

Here are the additions I make: 1 can of green beans and 1 shredded chicken breast.  I cook the chicken before hand, shred it and then add it when mixing everything together.

Now we got a little crazy at the house here one time and made a truly loaded potato soup.  For that we added the above ingredients and also one box of sauteed mini pierogies.  Yeah I know it’s potato in potato soup, but it was still tasty.

That’s it for my recipes, now for the more exciting news: I now have a cat! His name is Armel and he is adorable.

This is one of the few times he held still for a portrait shot.

What follows will simply be a series of adorable cat photos.

Look how adorable.

Sometimes he consents to being a lap cat.

And like all cats you must not ignore him for the computer.

The one thing he will always love to do is play.

And that is Armel.  He is adorable and troublesome, but totally worth it.

LARP Character Tribute by Saver

So I’m not sure that it was ever posted here, but I LARP.  LARP stands for Live Action Role Play and involves creating a character and playing them for usually a weekend.  It’s kind of like acting, only continuously for several days and for no audience other than the other actors.  There is no script and so you must really get to know the character you are playing so that you can react to situations as they would.  It is a truly fun and rewarding experience.

Anyway, I was recently at a LARP where the first character I ever created and played died in the game world forever.   Her story is done.  I don’t like associating names with pics or anything (especially in case someone comes to game) so I’m just going to call her Earth Mage because that is what she had become.  But I just wanted to share a sort of tribute to her because she was such an amazing character to play and also because I’ve discovered that when you lose a character that you’ve become attached to it is still saddening.   For those who read, think of growing attached to a really awesome character in a book and then having them die in circumstances that do not leave you with any anger, just the loss.  That’s a start on the feeling.

Earth Mage started as just a lonely little wizard trying to protect her only friend.  Through time she built up some power, gained friends, lost some, and eventually proved to herself and everyone else that she was capable.  She laughed, she cried, and she fought.  In the end, she had made both a great number of friends and many enemies.  Her in-game final walk through town showed her just how much respect she had earned and was the most epic death of a character that I have actually ever seen.  And I very much thank the other players for that.

With all this in mind I would like to share a few photos from her life and should anyone have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments:

Earth Mage had an interesting start in the town. (She was dead here)

She did her best to guard her friend.

And deal with problems

But with practice

She became respected (“Go away now!”)

And had a happy life

Fighting beside friends

And in the end

Dying

Surrounded by Family

“You’re all done now Earth Mage. Rest easy.” -Another player

Bees!/ Don’t try this at home

Ok, so this post is coming a while after the event, but I still would like to share an awesome thing I got to do last Monday.  First you must know that I am taking a class which is currently studying social insects.  So for our lab we got to go watch  as an artificial swarm was created.  Then we were allowed to touch it!  I got this awesome picture of me and the swarm:

Don’t try this at home!!

It feels rather buzzy and warm.  The bees are not as aggressive while swarming because they have no home to defend.  However, I would not recommend that people go around randomly touching bees.  There was a professional beekeeper there to supervise so it was safer.  Also for those who were worried about us disturbing the bees, we were told that this time at least it would be therapeutic as the hive was getting mites and this would allow them to get rid of most of them.  It was an amazing experience.

Anyway, aside from getting to touch bees, another fun thing I got to do was go to a LARP recently. LARP is live action roleplay and it is a lot of fun.  Below I’ve inserted a picture of one of my characters practicing “combat” (the staff is foam).

Just having fun practicing

I had a great time and can’t wait for the next one.  Other than those fun things, I am running clubs and going to classes and basically being busy.  So sorry you can’t get in touch as much mom.  Hope everyone there is doing well!  Love you all!

Vale,  Saver of Bugs

I do still exist mom, and henna pictures

So I know that you’ve been questioning my continued existence and I just wanted to tell you that I am indeed still here.  I have been running around going to classes, doing homework, handling a bunch of club stuff, and doing some necessary LARP prep, but I do indeed still exist.  My bit of exciting news is that I bought some coarsely filtered raw honey from a local beekeeper.  I haven’t gotten a chance to try it yet, but it should be good.  I did find her warning amusing however: There won’t be any bees in it, but I can’t guarantee that you won’t find any bee legs or other small parts.  Didn’t see any in mine, but could be interesting.

And now mom, you said that you wanted pictures of the henna I had done. Well the first round faded before I could get pictures so here is the second round with paste still on for better viewing:

Left shoulder

Right shoulder

Can’t smile or the paste will crack!

I have some very artistic friends.  It’s unfortunately mostly gone now, but it was awesome while it lasted.

Now that’s about it for me.  Hope you guys have been having a good time!  Also if I screw up your blog with this post I’m sorry.  I’ll fix whatever I mess up.  Yay first post!

Vale,

Saver of Bugs