February 2021: Huskies, Hedgehogs, and Honey Chai Cakes, Oh My!

I can’t believe it’s already almost March! February was a busy and awesome month full of surprises so I figured it was time to get my butt back on the blog and do an update post. 🙂 I just got my second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine this past Tuesday and I’m so happy and grateful. (Even if it did really knock me on my ass the day after with sore muscles/joints, fatigue, little waves of nausea, and a headache). After that, I was back to my normal self though and I was just thankful to be able to get it, so no regrets. Thanks, Science! ❤

I also started the process towards going to school for graphic design. Michigan has a new program it has rolled out to get people over the age of 25 back in school to get their associate degree by covering their tuition. It’s such a great opportunity and was too good of an offer to pass up, so I’ll be starting classes this summer. I’ve even already got my college ID! One of my co-workers is already taking the exact program at the same college and has had great things to say about it, so I’m really excited. Pluuuus, I’ll get to share in this experience with my BFF Cupcakes & Machetes since she is going back to college as well starting in the spring. 😀 Different schools/classes, but we’re both excited to geek out over school stuff together so that will make it even better all the way around!

Other fun surprises this month came in the form of two new fuzzy and prickly friends. A girl I went to school with before was recently trying to find a home for a good dog in a sad and tough situation so he wouldn’t have to go to a shelter so long story short, my parents opened their home to him and now have a lovable, goofy, clumsy, fluff monster to call their own. ❤ My other new little animal friend came in the form of a lovely little hedgehog at my work. She’s so sweet and cute and the participants at my job just absolutely adore her, as do I. 🙂

It wouldn’t be an update post on THIS blog if I didn’t mention recent reads, hobbies, and baking. I didn’t have as much time for those things as I’d have hoped, buuuut I did bake this delicious Honey-Drizzled Cinnamon Chai Cake:

In reading news, I happily read Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book  this month. It was such a treat. Kind of a nice and cozy, comfort read. 🙂 I also started reading Leigh Bardugo’s The Lives of Saints (Grishaverse)  and, for a refresher before the Netflix adaptation comes out, I’m re-reading/listening to Shadow and Bone. I just watched the official trailer yesterday and I. Am. PUMPED. ❤

Well, those are my updates for the month! 🙂 I also did some writing and more practice with digital art but not as much as I had planned due to all the other stuff going on. All in all, though, February was a pretty good month. I hope you guys all had a good go of it as well. ❤ Looking forward to catching up on some blog posts I’ve missed but please fill me in on any excitement I have missed in the mean time. What were your highlights of the past few weeks?

 

June Wrap-Up: A Month in Photos

Can you guys believe it’s already almost July?? It feels like June came and went in the blink of an eye somehow. I decided to do something a little different with this month’s wrap-up post, and showcase what I’ve been up to through mostly photos. 🙂

LAZY DAYS: As has been the case for much of the past few months, there’s been a lot of time at home. Here’s a pic of Bailey curled up for a little catnap in a pile of blankets. ❤ Rest assured, if there is a comfy spot she WILL find it and she WILL nap on it.

GARDENING: Hostas, Rhododendron, Columbine, Peonies, Poppies, Oh My! It was a good month for gardening and learning. We planted more lilies, new bushes, moved some stuff around, and did a lot of other outdoor projects.

BAKING: I finally slowed down my baking spree I had been on. 😛 I did, however, make a really yummy peanut butter ice cream pie (graham cracker crust, thin layer of hot fudge, Reese’s peanut butter ice cream with thin sheets of chocolate, whipped cream, Reese’s peanut butter sauce drizzle, and chopped up Reese’s cups as pictured above). I also baked another loaf of Garlic Cheddar Beer Bread (soooo good!) ❤

DRAWING: I’ve been on a drawing binge lately that you can check out on my Instagram if you’re interested, but here’s a little sample of what I’ve been up to this month. 🙂

WORK: I got to go to work a couple times (staff only) to start setting up for all of the social distancing/PPE changes we will have to put into effect upon our return. Also got to redecorate a little. Pictured above is the head start I got on one of my room’s bulletin boards. We’re supposed to return to work July 6th, but with COVID cases back on the rise, we’ll see what happens. We can’t open back up until our state enters Phase 5 of our reopening plan, and thankfully our Governor has been taking this very seriously since day 1 so I don’t think she’ll rush us into that until it is actually safe to do so.

LOSS OF A LOVED ONE: The pic above isn’t from this June, it’s actually from last year when we celebrated my parents’ pug BeeBee’s birthday party for her Sweet 16. ❤ She was such a sweet and adorable little dog and was so loved by our entire family, but unfortunately we were forced to say goodbye to her this June. It is sad not having her around anymore, but she lived such a good life while she was with us. She was adopted by my family a decade ago, and by that point she had already lived through a lot. BeeBee was a puppy mill survivor who didn’t even get to feel the grass beneath her paws for the first 3 years of her life. She was rescued from that awful situation and found a home for some time with a woman who loved her, but eventually her owner became too sick to be able to take care of her any longer. My mom was in contact with a woman from a pug rescue league and she told my mom about BeeBee and that was that. She came to us blind, but this was nothing daunting for our family. We’ve taken in several animals with special needs over the years and her inability to see was no big deal. She was sassy and fun, and my dad especially spoiled her with so much love and affection. She had a new brother and constant companion in my parent’s other pug, Brutis. They were attached at the hip and formed an instant bond with one another. ❤

She had the cutest little “bubble bark” that sounded more like “Borp Borp Borp” than the normal kind of bark you hear, loved being held, liked to adventure forward without a care in the world like she could see where she was going even if she was always bumping into things or barking in the wrong direction while trying to be “tough” like her brother. She preferred to be inside the house and wasn’t shy about making sure you knew it by finding her way back to the door and doing her little bubble bark to announce when she was “over this outdoors bullshit”. Haha

Her vet sent a very sweet card and a package of Forget-Me-Not seeds for my parents to plant and grow in BeeBee’s memory. ❤ I thought that was such a touching and thoughtful thing for the vet’s office to do.

That’s it for my own personal June Wrap-Up. How was your June?? Can you believe the year is already halfway over? With how 2020 has been going I’m sure we’re all hoping for a better second half of the year. As always, take care and be safe, guys! ❤

Inktober 2019: Week 2 Roundup

Bailey rocking her new Halloween bandana.

Hello, it’s your resident sick girl here, living her best couch potato life with her trusted fuzzy minion cohort by her side, and we’ve got lots of new Inktober pieces for ya. A whole week’s worth, in fact!

Day 8: The daily prompt was “FRAIL” and I took my inspiration from old desiccated mummy faces. I then kind of took it into a more living dead sort of direction and ended up with this:

Day 9: The daily prompt was “SWING” and chose to do a little sketchbook quickie of my girl, Batwoman (Bombshells batter style, of course!) 😉

Day 10: The daily prompt was “PATTERN” and I was completely and utterly stumped on this one. I decided to just draw some quick little jack o’lanterns in a pattern of sizes (tall-short-tall-short). Hey, they can’t all be winners, right? 😛

Day 11: The daily prompt was “SNOW” and at this point I really wanted to up my Inktober game. I took inspiration from the legends of the wendigo since they’re associated with winter/snow.

Day 12: The daily prompt was “DRAGON” and I was feeling sick as a dog at this point, so I *technically* posted this the morning of Day 13, but oh, well. I did start it on the 12th, but NyQuil landed me in bed earlier than I would have intended.

Day 13: The daily prompt was “ASH” and I embraced my sickly current state and drew a sickly woman covered in ash.

Day 14: The daily prompt was “OVERGROWN” and I went with a wild forest nymph with overgrown, wild red hair and branches growing out of her head because why the hell not?? 😉

Well, that’s this week’s Inktober installment from yours truly. I hope you guys have been enjoying your October so far. There’s plenty of Halloween fun still to be had this month. What fun autumn hijinks have you been up to? What creative stuff are you working on? 🙂

My Writing Minion

That moment when you’re doing your best to concentrate on character sheets for your writing project and your fuzzy cohort says “Screw that shit, it’s cuddle time!”

Bailey cares not for productivity. She demands pets and undivided attention from all mortals.

It’s isn’t easy resisting those giant imploring kitty eyes when you’re trying to work on stuff. Still, I wouldn’t trade my writing minion for the world. ❤ Generally she’s pretty good about just relaxing by my side while I write, but today she wasn’t having it, rolling over onto the books I was referencing, meowing at me incessantly.

What are your biggest and/or cutest distractions when you’re trying to get your creativity on? Do you have the willpower to resist or do you succumb to the cuteness? I’m a sucker for all things adorable so I’m pretty sure you already know what my answer is. 😉

 

 

IgnitedMoth has fluttered onto Instagram

Hey, guys! ❤ I just wanted to pop in real quick to share with you that I finally joined the Cool Kid Party and started an Instagram account! Took me long enough, right? 😉 I guess that’s what getting a new phone and a wicked case of Cabin Fever will do to a girl, huh?

Anyhow, I’m still figuring it all out but it seems pretty straight forward so far, thankfully. I’ve posted a couple things (including 2 new drawings) if any of you lovely people are interested. I go by ignitedmoth on Instagram as well, so I should be pretty easy to find. If you have an Instagram account gimme your user name in the comments so I can creep at you in a sufficient manner. 😛

I think I’ll pretty much be sharing photos related to the stuff I babble about here on my blog, so books/comics, my drawings, some of the stuff I’ve cooked, and pet/outdoor photos, mostly. 🙂 Who knows, I may throw in the occasional wildcard here and there.

Well, I hope everyone has a fun weekend in store. I’m finally going back to work today, so I should probably go get ready for that, but knowing me I’ll probably wait until the last minute and be rushing all around the house. 😛

Halloween Pugs & Pumpkins

Hey, guys! No, that’s not a picture of a goblin (although I do call him “my little goblin”), that is one of my parents’ pugs. I love taking cute photos of animals, although I will be the first to admit I am in no way a pro, but it’s fun and especially entertaining around the holidays. I thought I’d share some of my fave Halloween photos I’ve taken of the puggies from a couple years back.

Pugs and pumpkins! ❤

Playing in the fake cemetery.

Brutis getting a little overzealous in the graveyard.

Bebe paying her respects.

Spooky pugs guarding the cemetery gates. I made the spooky graveyard for a halloween party a few years back. It was a lot of fun. I think this devilish little duo got just as much enjoyment with it as the party-goers did. 😛

 

Review- How to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You

If you’re familiar with the webcomic The Oatmeal, chances are you know what you’re getting into with this one. 😉 Written and illustrated by Matthew Inman (aka- The Oatmeal), this book is full of craziness in comic-form, crass humor, and cats. Oh yes, so very many cats.

I find it rather appropriate that I write this review as my cat slumbers at my side, no doubt dreaming of murder and mayhem. Those of you with fuzzy hell beasts, er, I mean cats of your own, are sure to recognize plenty of your own cat’s habits throughout the pages of this book. But, as The Oatmeal will point out, Some of the most mundane-seeming things our feline friends do in their daily lives might just be major red flags indicating their nefarious intentions.

You might think it’s cute when your cat kneads you with their paws, but what if this is really just their way of checking your internal organs for signs of weaknesses? And what of that excessive shoveling they do when burying their poo in the kitty litter box? Yup, practice for when they have to bury your body later. Also, despite what most people would tell you, it isn’t a gift when your cat leaves you a dead bird or mouse. It’s a warning.

This art-filled book spans various cat-related subjects including, but not limited to:

6 ways to tell if your cat thinks it’s a mountain lion.

How you see your cat and how your cat sees you. (Hint: They see us as “giant hairless gorilla-pig slaves” only put on this earth to fulfill their every want and need.)

How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you.

Having a baby vs. having a cat. (Quote from this section in regards to human infants: “Comes shrieking out of a vagina like some kind of jam-covered goblin.”) lol If you haven’t already guessed from that quote, this section is heavily in the favor of cats over babies.

If we treated our cats like they treat us.

The Bobcats. (If you’ve ever wondered what life at the office would be like if you had a couple of cats for co-workers, wonder no further. The Bobs are here to steal your sandwiches from the break room fridge, terrorize interns, and lick their own genitals all on the company’s dime.)/

I think this book could be the perfect gift for any cat lover you might have in your life. (Assuming they don’t mind some naughty language and potty humor, of course.) It’s makes for a fun little coffee table book, too. How could a title like that NOT spark up conversation? 😛 It was a fun and quick read (finished it in one sitting).

 

Cheeseburger Cat

As suggested by Forged From Reverie I have decided to share some pictures of my own furry companion after marveling at another adorable post about his trusty battle pug, Oghren. This was his ninth installment of “A Man and his Pug” and this one featured Oghren in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costume. As if that wasn’t enough to make you want to go check it out, the post also discusses the pure joy it is to have a pug, a topic I can definitely get behind!

So, on that note, allow me to formally introduce you fine folks to my loving and faithful companion, Bailey. She’s a sweetheart, but is also capable of being a total crap sandwich when she wants to be. Seriously, I’ve got plenty of stories I could tell you. She’s great in the sense that she always uses her litter box and never scratches up the furniture, and very rarely has hairballs, but she’s got some major sass and attitude sometimes. Even then, it’s impossible to stay mad at her because the circumstances are usually more ridiculous than infuriating, anyway. I wouldn’t give her up for anything.

She makes a great sidekick. She even has an amazing burger costume she dons on occasion! Probably to fight crime or something. 😉

Throwback Thursday: Pug Edition

An oldie, but a goodie. This will probably always be my favorite picture of this little guy. ❤

Spread the Love: The One Lovely Blog Award

I was so pleasantly surprised to see that I was nominated by none other than The Shameful Narcissist for The One Lovely Blog Award! 🙂 Special thanks for the nomination. I really do appreciate it. 🙂 Her blog is a fun and well-worded medley of her love for retro video games, fantasy, books, her own reviews/fan fiction, and more! Her passion for these things shines through in her well-worded posts. I highly recommend checking her blog out!

Although I had never heard of The One Lovely Blog Award until I was nominated for it, I can really get behind what it stands for. Those nominated share a few interesting facts about themselves and then nominate others to do so as well. As said by The Shameful Narcissist: “It creates a potentially never ending cycle of sharing and positivity, something there can never be enough of in the world.” I couldn’t agree more. With all the negativity out there, we could use a little more fun and love out there for one another.

The Official Rules of this Award go as such:

• Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.

• List the rules and display the award.

• Nominate 6-10 bloggers to receive this award.

• State 7 facts about yourself.

So, without further ado, here are 7 random tidbits about yours truly.

Fact #1: I have what is often described as a “young” sounding voice. It makes doing most vocal impressions difficult for me, but I have a couple that I am quite proud of. One is the titular character of Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo when she gets excited and screams “HAM!” and the other is that I can do a mean impression of a Murloc from World of Warcraft. It isn’t much, but you work with whatcha got! 😛

Fact #2: When I was a kid my first little girl crush was on David Bowie in Labyrinth. I regret nothing!!

Fact #3: I have a cat who is my furry little minion. Her name is Bailey and I love her beyond measure. I call her by like a thousand nicknames. Some are plays on her name like “Bailbo Baggins” or “Peter Bail-ish”. Others are things like “Chub Cat”, “Pound Cake”, or “Chubkins”. She is a cheeseburger cat.

Fact #4: I love learning. My favorite subjects are history, mythology and folklore, anatomy and physiology, and marine biology, but I love to research a wide variety of different subjects. I adore museums and libraries. If schooling was more affordable I would probably be enrolled in classes until the day I die.

Fact #5: My favorite holiday is Halloween! What’s not to love? The spooky fun, costumes, candy, scary stories and movies, pumpkin carving, apple orchards for cider and donuts, the list just goes on and on and on for me. It’s also the highlight of my favorite season: autumn.

Fact #6: I love sharks. There are so many kinds and so many interesting things to learn about them all. They truly are amazing creatures. They’re just fascinating. My favorite species is probably the whale shark. They’re gentle giants.

Fact #7: I am very passionate about people learning first aid and CPR. Sounds weird, I know, but these are easy things to learn that can literally save a life. I took my first CPR and First Aid class in 2009 and I remember as we learned the Heimlich maneuver thinking, I’ll probably never use this, but I guess it’s good to know. I kid you not, the following weekend I was out to dinner with my ex and his family and his great uncle began choking on his dinner. And I don’t mean he was coughing like crazy kind of choking, I mean his windpipe was completely blocked off and he could not breathe or even make a sound because of the food lodged in his throat. My ex’s step-mother noticed his situation just before I did and saved him by preforming the Heimlich on him at the table. A couple years ago, I myself was choking but there was no on there who could help me, so using a chair, I performed it on myself and saved myself. That was empowering to say the least. If I hadn’t known how to do it, I can say with almost certainty that I would not be here today. It’s a humbling thought how easily things can end if you are not able to take matters into your own hands when needed. I feel like these are things students should learn in school and that should be much more widely taught to the public.

So, there’s my 7 facts about me! 🙂 I tried to think a little outside the box with these since I’ve covered other more general facts about myself already in my blog. Thanks again to The Shameful Narcissist for the nomination. If you hadn’t already just completed this fact challenge I would have your blog on my list of nominees as well. 😀

I nominate:

Cupcakes and Machetes

The Mighty Castle

Forged From Reverie

Unbolt

Crumble Cult

Agatha Chocolats