Some good little things

* I got an e-mail back from the editor: yes, he had received my corrected proofs and sent them on to the press publishing the Proceedings. So I think I can mark that as done, which makes me happy. (If the thing is available as a .pdf for free online - Allen Press often does that - I'll pop a link in here).

* Getting to come home for lunch is just *nice* and I will miss it when classes start up in the fall. Another nice thing is being able to pop a load of laundry in the washer - I have sheets going right now so I can change the sheets on my bed tonight.

* My plans for this weekend are to make the little star for my niece, and maybe try to finish the current "simple socks," and work more on quilts and maybe watch some of the dvds I have that I never got around to. (I bought the My Little Pony movie - it was cheap enough - but still haven't watched it, and apparently the current season assumes that the events of the movie happened between the end of last season and the start of it? Rather than being sort of extra-canonical?)

Maybe I also want to finish Heartthrob too.

* The Fat Birds blog, which is pretty much what it says on the tin: pictures and video of fat birds. (I haven't scrolled through the WHOLE thing, but it seems pretty work-safe and all)

This post in particular (I can't figure out how you'd embed that video, but....you really do want to see it, and with the sound up). It's very funny.

* I have a stack of magazines that came when I was busy and didn't get to them, and the new Mary Jane's Farm came today, and I might just tuck up in bed this evening and read magazines. And yeah, I like Mary Jane's Farm even if the tone is at times a bit precious and if some of the medical-adjacent stuff is kind of woo-y, but the thing is - the magazine by and large portrays a nicer and happier world, and give the viewpoint of "you can do these things for yourself" (whether it's cooking, or making some of your own clothes, or "upcycling" stuff, or raising chickens or goats). And I need that sometimes; the image of a more-orderly, or nicer, or happier world, and I find for me that often involves either (a) being able to make stuff for myself (whether it's bread or sweaters) or (b) being able to do stuff to take care of things - which is probably some of the attraction of brushcutting for me, too, I feel like I'm doing something useful, and I'm also "proving" to myself that I'm strong and capable and I can do stuff.

* Another video:



Heh. Maybe I need to suggest that to my mother, who has issues with squirrels eating the bird seed even though they have their own dedicated feeder.

* My new good little blue son:

It's funny. I was already a grown-up adult (I was, what, 28? In 1997?) when Pokemon made the scene, so I never played it (nor did my brother, in fact, who was in his early 20s at the time) but some of them are just so darn CUTE it's hard to resist them as stuffies. (And I kinda like the more recent cartoons). (And again, this is something I snarked about when younger - after hearing someone I thought of as more clever than I was refer to it as "cockfighting with cartoons" but really, it isn't quite that, is it?)

Meowth is probably my favorite (and yes, I have a Meowth) but I couldn't resist some the ones from the new  "Alola" based cartoon series (I am sure "Alola" is code for Hawaii). This is Popplio, which is apparently the "water starter" (I do not know much about Pokemon but apparently they are all tied to some element - fire, or water, or grass)

I also have a Rowlet on order, but apparently there were no stateside sellers that had the specific Takara Tomy Rowlet I wanted (the Takara Tomy ones are the best, some of the other brands use cheaper plush that is not nearly so nice; I have a little "bargain" Pikachu from Tomy USA and the plush on him is not NEARLY as nice as the more expensive versions of Pokemon, so I think this is one case where paying a bit more is worth it) and so he's still on his way to me. But a couple days ago, I decided I wanted a Popplio so Rowlet had a friend to hang out with....

This one is made of a very soft low-pile plush, a great deal like the "Minky" fabric, which makes it very nice to hold and tuck up in your arm.

(Many of the Pokemon are kind of...you might say, redesigned....versions of real animals. Popplio is based on a seal - or really, more a sea lion, because he has visible ears. Or maybe he's more of a "sea doggo" because of the big ears. Rowlet is pretty clearly a modified owl)