Pictures tell the story.

My family fostered these kittens. Two of them have gotten adopted, now we just have the black one left, who needs to gain some weight. They were stinky, but SO much fun.

Our House got broken into. This is a picture of the sliding door that connects the Master Bedroom with the back yard. They used a chunk of flagstone to break in. I came home while "they" were in the house still, and they ran off. We were relatively lucky, but grrrr still.

These flowers off of our Passion Fruit Vine in the back yard provide me with endless inspiration. I will really be surprised if I don't start writing sci-fi sometime soon. :)

Jonah Bologna and Mema. What can I say, he smiles for his Aunt Cynthia

My friends from Paso Robles/ San Luis Obispo came and played a show and let me play with them, as impractical as it was. I love them for it. Well, I love them anyways but...eh. As you can see, I was feeling happy, and they couldn't wait to get home.

My cousins from Montana, (2 of the 4 pictured here), visited. I love kids.

Jonah plays with Merlin. It's really cute.

Merlin is King of the 2ft. tall rock! Watch out, he'll turn you into a squirrel just to teach you a lesson! :)

So, I've been busy as a bee.

I've pretty much been assigned to opening shifts at my work, without my consent.
Multiple 4am mornings do not one happy Cynthia make.
I need a vacation...but, on to the fun stuff!

Family is great. I don't know how I lived away from them for 5 years. What a ninny muffin I was.
Brunches, Teas, Family Birthday Dinners, Holidays, and the nightly chill time in front of the tube is equally treasured. I have truly discovered the best friends are family. At least in my case, this is true.

I am in love with my backyard right now. We've got flowers coming out of every nook and cranny, it's insane. To see pictures I took of les fleurs, go to www.flickr.com/photos/ohdeeryme.

I am learning more and more this year that I need to reconnect with art. It really is the only thing besides friends and family that motivates me. I've always wanted to write and illustrate Children's Books. I've always wanted to write a novel. I've always wanted to record a solo album. I've always wanted to create an art school/museum dedicated to children. I really should stop WANTING to do these things and start DOING them. Who knows, maybe it will lead somewhere. I need to take the risk, I think.

So, here is some childish food for thought.

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis, Eustace is a pain in the neck boy who "liked animals, especially beetles, if they were dead and pinned on a card." Among other things he liked to bully his "friends" and blamed them for every bad thing that happened.
He was feeling especially sorry for himself when "he had turned into a dragon while he was sleeping. Sleeping on a Dragon's hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart, he had become a dragon himself."

It's a children's story, but that small vignette hit me like a brick wall.

Lately I have been really frustrated at work, with my life, with everything. I will spare details, but I've basically turned into a walking disappointment. Not a disappointment to anyone, but myself. So, as us humanoids usually do, I started pitying myself. I started blaming my icky feelings on things that I have no control over. I can't control my work schedule (apparently), and I can't control the new management at my store. I can't control Sac State's budget cuts, and I have no choice whether or not the classes I needed got cancelled. I was holding bitterness in my heart, and in the process, I turned into a cold, bitter, complain-y person. Go Figure.

Why is it that we have to see the mess in another room before we recognize the clutter in our own?

So, thank you Clive Staples Lewis, for once again reminding me, post mortem, to be a good person.