Of Rats and Jen

I’m still alive. Life is stressful. Costs are rising, and Gryphon is still looking for that extra income we need. The rats continue to do well. I continue to enjoy EQ2, also. Lola’s Ratonga doppleganger, Lolah, is now level 25 and climbing.

I continue to craft, slowly. The sock I was working on has been started over. The smaller gauge on the size 1 needles wasn’t working out, so I went back to my old reliable size 1.5′s. The new sock is about 6, maybe 7 inches along the foot, which is about an inch or two more than I’d gotten to on the first try.

The Adult Surprise Jacket is on hold for the moment. The weather has been warm enough not to want the bulk on my lap. That’s okay – I’ve got the socks to work on, and I’ve started knitting a small supply of dish rags again, too.

Video De-Cluttering

VHS. VCR. I still have a VCR, and multitudes of VHS tapes. Since DVDs and TiVo entered my life, however, the VCR gathers dust, and the tapes take up space on shelves and in boxes.

I’ve actually started weeding out my less viewed DVDs by putting them up at www.half.com. If you want to see what’s for sale there, you can look for the seller folkcatart. The movies are generally good ones, viewed once and kept nicely. They’re just not movies I want to have available to watch over and over again.

Half.com will also list VHS tapes. But from what I’ve seen, I’m not sure how well those move there. So it occured to me to wonder – would any of you be interested in an opportunity to acquire my VHS tapes? I was thinking I could offer them once or twice a week, for the cost of shipping. Maybe I’ll put them in sets like theme packs, tapes all of a similar genre in a bundle.

What do you think? Any potential takers?

There’s been a request for Rattie pictures to hold you while I go on break. So I reached into Castle Rattie, and generated a little excitement.

This isn’t hard to do with Ratties. In this case, all I did was turn the empty tissue box so that it faced a different direction. Naturally, everyone had to check it out. Because, you know, it was facing a different direction. So it was a completely new box.

Lola climbed in first, while the boys milled around.

Before Leo would commit to any box exploration, he had to make sure that my presence didn’t involve the offering of any Rattie snack foods.

Yuri was the last hold out. Yes, in this picture, Leo is actually in the box. The very tip of his nose is just visible in the top right corner of the opening.

Soon, though, even Yuri had to succumb to the lure of the box.

Yes, all three of them fit. But not for long. A tissue box is a comfy nest for two, and Leo and Yuri are getting to be big boys.

It was fun to watch, though. Like when college students try to see how many of them can squeeze into a phone booth.

Hope that helps, Carol! Enjoy!

I’m feeling that familiar blogging slump again, not wanting to write anything. I think it’s time for another break.

As with last time, I won’t go away forever, and I will still be answering e-mails and reading comments. I’ll post again when I feel I have something to say, and you won’t miss out on any major news. I promise!

Enjoy yourselves while I’m gone, be crafty, and play nice! See you soon!

Ignore this post, please.