I'm sorry it's been so long!!!

When we moved to Hot Springs I didn't realize how much of my time would be taken out of the home and back into the insane and crazy. You all know me; I am good for a while and then "life" happens and I'm gone... Maverick and I have yet to have a child.. and I'm still struggling with my weight (I was doing awesome). We bought our first house together and then it burned down after we'd been in it for a month. I could careless about all the possessions we had; what kills me to this day is Drake & Kai are dead from the fire.

My paw prints ( 6-19-2013) for Drake and Kai RIP March 2013
 in honor and memory of Drakkus de Elder Thyme and Anunnaki Nysa who died in the house fire March of 2013

I got the "party dot" covered up that was on my hand and replaced it with this beautiful memorial to them. I miss my babies so much it hurts me. But I am slowly coming back together... Drake was almost 13 and Kai would have been 4. On top of the fire; I quit my job at the Car Lot (I don't think I've even talked to you guys about that place?!) I've been pursuing my own Photography Business. So that's pretty much it in a nutshell! I promise I'll try to stay around more... I wonder if there is still anyone out there reading this.

In Love, Laughter and Light...
Jester

omy pool omy motorcycles omy heart

Today is our first singles pool competition and I'm hosting!! How super fun love it!

and i bought the hubby a motorcycle yesterday...

aaaaaaaaand i hope i got preggers this month!

He got me Flowers!! Blankie Update & I <3 Chili weather!!!

Friday I stayed up all night (most of it anyways) to get the man off to work to fix some violations in the warehouse... We knew that if one of us didn't stay up he'd never get out the door. And you know men don't think of themselves... So I stayed up and woke him at 3:30 am up and fixed him french toast and coffee and kicked his ass out the door at 4:30 am. Then I crashed. When he came home He had this bouquet in his hands!! Isn't he the sweetest man ever in the whole world??

I havn't been crocheting while on Medical Leave like I was supose to... I don't know if it was the medications or what but I was just "eh" to the whole crocheting thing... I would crochet once day a week but only for a few hours and barely got through the pink in the past 3 months!! 3 months for 1 color! And suddenly last week... BAM the crochet bug HIT me... I finished the pink and I was so excited about getting into the next color that I couldn't stop and I've been crocheting like a mad woman. what took 3 months will take a week, I'll have the green done and into the next color (Yellow) by tonight (if I get my ass off the computer....)

I now have 2 projects looming infront of me... I want to make a baby blankie for my soon-to-be-born neice from Pebbles & Neopolitan. At first the doc said she was due in December then changed to January and now they're saying December again! I want to get finish this project before I do anymore and I got 5(?) more colors left...I can't remember I got em all in a list how we decided... And ofcourse Raquel and Hunter want a Pink & Camo blanket... Yes, she is truly my sister. You mention camo to Pebbles and she cringes but you mention it to me and Raquel and we're in happy world!! That's how you know Raquel and I are blood sisters and Pebbles is our step-sister. But there is no steps in this family. She's still our sister but doesn't share our love of camo. Its sad really!! So Pebbles says they are doing Tinkerbell and very minimal pink so I thought a nice soft green with soft pink trimming would be great. Its a surprise, I can't wait to work on it.

(our rainbow blankie i've been working on since april? yikes!!! i need to get my rear in gear)

Fall is one of my favorites times of year. The beautiful changes in colors of the leaves, halloween and the crisp freshness in the air! So in honor of the cold season I made chili last night..........om nom nom!! We have left overs (ofcourse you can't make chili right if it aint a huge batch) and so we froze the leftovers and next week we'll thaw it out and have frito chili pie... NOM OM NOM om om om NOM NOM!!

from my heart to yours

I just wanted to make sure I told all of you thank you so much for your comments and warmth on the prior post "Liquid Smoke"...

I'm sure some might have thought "what a title for that!" ... when you love something (or atleast when i love something) there is a fire that burns inside of me and its one hell of a flame. And when one feels a loss or sadness in connection with that flame it builds up smoke.... liquid smoke....tears....

If you figured it out, well I guess I'm not as obscure as I thought I was and I'm glad you figured it out...

My sisters Raquel and Pebbles are very much the animal lovers themselves. I learned today that Raquel's hamster died today. Hamsters live an average of 2 years... Her hamster was about 3. I don't want to think about it, but when mine go...I'll probably not get another hamster. Then again, they are fun little creatures so I might.

Raquel has 2 turtles, 1 bird, 2 bunnies, a ton of fish, a guinea pig....and I think that's it. I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a dog or cat (yet) but I know that when they get thier house built out in the country she'll have dogs and cats and horses, lol...

We do want fish tho. Last time we went to the pet store we saw these really awesome goldfish i'd just die to have!!! But, I must wait...waitwaitwaitwait... The next year is going to be alot of waiting... And a doggy. I want a dog. But having a dog brings on alot of fears... they go outside, they bring in fleas... fleas carry disease...these can get on the cats and make them sick... a bit paranoid? yes. I am every bit paranoid of some stray flea getting on my babies and making one or both of them sick.

Leave it to a bad experience creating a sour taste you can't get rid of or forget...I was so afraid of getting another cat because of either Miss Diva or Maige bringing disease in the house and the Mysterious dying because of Crystal's dogs' fleas...

But I'm happy we did. I am so happy to have my Kai and my Drake. I am happy that he's got a friend. And altho Kai thinks that Nilla & Lo-Jack are her own personal self-moving toys and I get mad at her for chasing them when they're in the excercise balls... We are one big happy family.

liquid smoke

i apologize for any mistakes in grammer or spelling...i can't go back and proofread this.... writing it was hard enough

i got a glass of mt dew this morning and the cats swarmed me trying to get at it...

you'll be happy to know that Nilla did NOT chew on her plastic tubes lastnight. instead she ran in her wheel!

and Lo-Jack did not get out.

Drake (my siamese male) will sit on the couch and stare at the family photographs back there. It seems to me he's looking more to the one in the middle that's a picture of him and Mysterie (my 3yrs deceased hymalayan)...and I wonder if he looks at that picture of him and her and remembers her... They were very closely bonded.

When I was in highschool I had a friend who had a litter of kittens and the mom didn't make it and alot of the kittens didn't either. He did his best to keep them alive until he could find good homes for them. I got the Orange one. Spike. Oh he has a handsome fat cat! Well, not at first! lol But got there. And altho daddy said "no more pets Jenny!" I just had to have my Spike!! (Spike de Vampyre after you guessed it my love of TV vampire Spike on Buffy. ArmyGirl had it for Angel I had it for Spike. We were always destined to be oposites but still the greatest of friends forever!) We had 2 miniature chinese sharks daddy got from a Lady that he mowed her yard. She didn't like they'd eat her goldfish!! Guess her kids didn't think of that huh?! And we had this purplish blue crawdad lookin thing from the same lady. We kept them in seperate tanks... And as long as we bought fish that were the same size as the sharks they didn't try and eat them!

Fastforward a few and I got handed to me Scalawag from Coolio. I can't remember now why he couldn't keep her at first when his mom still lived there. he named her. i think maybe she was allergic? And a few years later when I was living at his house she ran out the door never to be seen again. It was really sad! but he found her a stray and sometimes they never get the wild out of thier hearts.

And then it was just good ole spike again.Me and my buddy! He was always a loveable guy. Liked to be held. Didn't mind riding in cars. He was so fat and furry and handsome! I'd take him cruising with me!

When I got my first apartment a friend of mine asked me since I was a cat lover if I'd want another one. I told her no but she showed me pictures and I could tell right away that Winston was a keeper and so I said yes and I became the proud owner of a short haired domestic white and tan male. I came home from work to find him laboring to breathe on the floor. There was blood around his mouth. I took him to the vet and he had a hole in is lung. a birth defect his body could no longer maintain. He died that day. I was very distraught. I swore I'd never have another animal again....it was just going to be me and Spike forever! I'd only had him 3 months and I askd the vet to dispose of him. I felt like I'd failed him...I wish now I'd kept him.

And then I went to visit a friend of mine who's Siamese cat had babies...Oh she pressured me into seeing them. And there was one that stood out from the crowd. And he walked over to me and just sat there looking at me... I gave in. I said "ok, I'll take him/her". And I did. I was reading a book about this colony of dragons and one of thier leaders was named Drakkus de Elder and so I named him Drakkus de Elder Thyme. My friend Everlight said that it felt like Drake was an old soul and suggested I add Time and I made it Thyme for my love of cooking!! I remember me saying "Spike, I need your help. I need you to help me train this little guy. Make sure he pottys in the right place". And Spike picked up Drake by his neck and took him to the litter box and pushed his butt down on the sand! I was in awe. No hissing. No "get this ass away from me" just total love. The same way he was with all other cats. A gentlegiant.

Flashfoward about 6 months now? It's a cold and rainy night. We're across the street from our townhouse complex at the local hangout when a former hs acquantance pulls up with her mom... We're talking to them and I notice something on the front seat. I said "what is that a rat?!" and she said "oh no, that's my daughters' kittten. she's not very good with her."...............you guessed it a little kitten being abused and neglected. so I said "Can I hold her" and once I had her in my arms they went into the store for drinks and to pay for thier gas...I just walked away with the kitten in my arms. She was so bad. We took her to the vet. I explained the situation to him and he said he didn't think there was anything he could do but he'd try. We left her with him. We went and visited daily. We ended up calling her "the mystery cat" while she was in the hospital. and then his nurse called and i knew it was bad news but she said we could come and pick her up!! that we were the proud owners of a Hymalayan and as soon as her furr grew back and she finished all her meds and mended she'd be so preetty!! And she was. she was beautiful!! The vet walked in with her in his arms and said "it was touch and go. i believe she's stable now. it had to be devine intervention. she was ment to be yours." and handed her to me. And that was how she got her name: Mysterious Devyne.

So here we have 3 cats. Spike (the oldest), Drake & new addition Mysterie. H's brother moves in with his cat Satan. and we tried to adopt a black cat named Miss Diva and Tan & Cream cat we named Maige Intuition. We ended up giving Diva away to a single cat home. She never got along with the other cats. And then Spike suddenly got very ill. He dropped all his weight in less than a week. It was so quick. I rushed him  to the vet that confirmed Spike had feline lukemia. He'd never had it before & we always got them vaccinated. He said we had a choice: put him to sleep or give him meds to try and make his quality of life better...I couldn't stand to put my Spike asleep. I shut him up in my bedroom upstairs. We got the other cats in the house tested and washed everything from top to bottom. Maige and Spike positive. Maige showing no signs or symptoms... Satan, Drake & Myst negative. He was deeply concerned about her already suppressed immune system due to her early months in life...

A month later Spike died on my bed. I came home and Juggalo said to H said that all the cats were trying to get under the door. He opened it, they rushed in. Jumped on the bed and sat around Spike. He said Spike stared at Drake. Meowed and quit breathing. The cats left but Drake stayed next to him. We had a memorial funeral thing and I had him cremated...Drake has never left my side since. They swear that Spike was giving Drake his orders that he is in charge now. I've heard that from alot of people saying animals do that in a pack.

Maige continued to live with no symptoms for a year. And then he got sick. and I couldn't do to him what I did to Spike. It was too hard. The suffering, the loss. The injections. The pain... I put him to sleep. He was cremated.

And for years and years it was Drake & Myst. Those 2 were so close! Literally inseperable. And then I moved to chicagoland. And then she got sick. I had just gotten them thier vaccinations and shots. They'd just been tested in arkansas and they were both fine! And out of nowhere. She got sick. the vet said more than likely a flea got on her from Crystal's dogs and it was diseased. It ate away at her like Aids and that's exactly what it was, feline Aids. There was nothing to do. After all those years ago I risked theft charges to save her life and this?! this is what she was going to die from! too early in our lives she was taken away from me. I felt so lost. And Drake just cried and meowed for weeks and weeks. I know he missed her so much. When I came home from the vet and my arms were empty he just sat there looking at me so accusingly. It broke my heart even more.

The loss of Spike was devasting but the loss of Mysterious seemed to hit me like no other grief I had ever felt before. I had her cremated. All 3 of them are in urns in my living room in the TV cabinet. I have a special Tarot deck for all of them. I have retired the decks and they are with them next to thier urns. Drake and Kai have thier own decks too.

When Mysterious passed away I was looking through my very first deck of Tarot cards and the Fool was gone. It was there before she died I know it was. (The Fool being my soul card everytime I've ever drawn a spread that showed a soul card it came up the Fool) And that is how the Tarot Deck honoring starting. I placed the deck at her feet. It felt like I had lost my soul when she died. Its with her. Altho she was never interested in working with Tarot, it was only right to give her that deck. And then I took the deck I worked with when me and Spike use to do the cards together and put them at his feet. And then I took the set I'd never used but I bought because they reminded me of Maige and put them at his feet. I have 3 decks now that are in use: the Dragon tarot for Drake, the Goddess Oracle for Kai and the Cosmic Tarot for myself.

And so after I've sworn off pets forever it was going to be just Drake for all eternity...I now have 2 hamsters and another cat. The losses of my prior children were devastating. But I have a big heart. And alot of love to give. And if they're with me, then I know they are in a good home!

Spike de Vampyre

Spring 1998- Spring 2001

Maige Intuition

Autumn 2000-February 2002

Mysterious Devyne

October 2000 - October 2006

Drakkus de Elder Thyme

Born May 2000

Anunnaki Nysa (Kai)

Born April 2009

surgical site update

48 days post op? about that... incision is completely closed. very bumpy. and itchy.

just wanted to share!

peeeeeeeeeeeektures of indiana stuff!!

oh i am soooo silly! i forgot to post pics :)

everything you see on that cake table is edible except the net! the "sand" is cinnamon and sugar!!

yes, this is my man hula "belly" dancing!!

these are the centerpeices my aunt as so graciously given us for our wedding!!! i am more than esctatic and happy!!

omigod! you're doing that today?!

We all know that Joe has been teasing me with my engagement ring as well as everyone at his work who has seen this priceless piece of jewelry... He swears that our "official engagement" is MONTHS away...

Last night we were talking about the hike at Starved Rock we were going to take because my back is feeling better... I said so carelessly "proposing ontop of a cliff overlooking a beautiful lake and surrounded by nature is so romantic!!" and he said "what? no its not..." and left it at that... I had also told a friend of his that I figured that he would propose to me at Starved Rock.

Little did I know...

So we got to Starved rock and about 2 hours into our hike we come up Eagle Cliff.


I am looking out over this amazing view...


When I hear "Honey, come here"... I turn around and see this ring:


In my man's hand... he's kneeling infront of me on the bench and I hear myself say "omigod! you're doing that today?!?!!" and gasp as my eyes fill up with tears and see everyone's eyes on us as he says "Jenny, will you marry me?"



Ofcourse I said "YES" and he put it on me and this nice couple offered to take our picture where it happened...



I am so happy and swooning with Joy!

After a long ride back to "civilization" we went to the Texas de Brazil to celebrate and took a short walk around the mall...

And here we are! I got a ring on my finger I can't stop looking at and had to share with everyone!

i got me a new babeh!!

introducing Anunnaki Nysa (ahnahkai neesa) and we're calling her Kai-Kai (like pie-pie) for shorts...



aint she da most perdiest??!! we loves her, she's one of my birthday presents. My man is da bestestests.

bigscreen monitor...

this thing is freakin huge!!

Vacation Pictures!

Click to go to the Photobucket album to view the pictues...

(sadly they didn't upload in order so if it all seems random and out of place, you are correct)

Day 1 Drive to Arkansas... St Louis Arch... Lots of Trees & Sky... Pics of the babies & lots of Taranis.

Day 2 -none viewable (all family)

Day 3 The Drive to Florida from Arkansas. We went through TN, Mississippi then Alabama. Trees, Skies & Taranis.

Day 4 1st visit to Busch Gardens in Orlando. Taranis & His Mom hand feeding the birds and pictures of when we were on the coasters (not sure if she got any with us on it-you can't really tell)

Day 5 2nd visit to Busch Gardens. Lots of animals in the Zoo portion of the park. And the beach on the way to the Miami area.

Day 6 Miami Metro Zoo

Day 7 Everglades National Park... The Drive to the Keys & back again... The Start of the Journey back to Arkansas (we stopped in Orlando again)

Day 8 From Orlando to Mississippii finally stopping in Louisiana for the night.

Day 9 Monroe Louisiana to NW corner of Arkansas back to the western central city of my birth.

Day 10 Hometown to Slumtown... not really slumtown but I was sad to be leaving Arkansas & Florida behind... its leaving me slightly jaded... You'll see alot of pictures of some trees that were literally broken from the weight of the ice storm they had a few weeks ago. It was nasty. Worst since I was a kid. We went a different route coming back than we did going down...

Please remember that family members were removed for thier own privacy. Make sure you ignore all photos of me and my bloated over medicated ass... And I hope you enjoy the pictures of all the animals... especially the alligators :-)

let me know if you have any issues with links or viewing the pics...

secret life of a hamster...

obviously i wanted to explore our new camera and it does video! woohoo! so i thought i'd share with you all what nilla and lo-jack do all night....


as a typical woman you will see that Nilla is constantly working out trying to make herself sexier. she doesn't realize that its Joe and I keeping her from consumating with Lo-Jack. She believes its his undesire for her.


and as a typical male Lo-Jack on the other hand is completely oblivious to anything except the fact that he is horny and wants sex. He cares not for what she looks like just that he wants it and is trying to get to her...

especially after thier allowed to hangout together in the flesh...or should i say furr?

snow snow snow...and more snow!...and my little family!

the New Year is fast approaching

2008 has come and is almost gone. in roughly 7 months i'll be 29 years old. that makes me cringe.

i must say that i have experienced my fair share of things this year. i wont bombard you with "all the things i've learned in 2008" but let it be justified that it was alot.

instead, i'm going to tell you what happened to me on christmas night.

Joe and I were on sneezy playing and were not in necesarily one of the more friendly zones when all of a sudden --my computer just shut down. it wouldn't turn back on. thankfully he killed the mobs without my assistance and got me safely into our apartment in game.

finally got the damn thing turned back on. and sure enough, the damn battery fried itself. i have no battery power. i am permanantly stuck to the wall. no more taking the computer into the kitchen and reading blogs while cooking dinner. not for a while. or running around Amber Castle while cleaning the kitchen.

but that's ok. it'll be a-ok. just eventualy i'll need a new battery or a new computer.

right now Joe and I are trying to think of nice places that we might want ot move to in the event we decide to leave Chicago in a few years. His mom is lonely in florida and i'd like to move closer to one set of parents or the other. he's teasing me with saying we could move to alaska to be closer to coolio & his family, lol.

oh, and i think the battery did more than just fry itself. mmy keyboard isn't working as well as it should be. kinda does what it wants... so its not my fault if there are weird things going on with letters and sentences.

As much as I love my home state of Arkansas I do NOT want to move to anywhere near the NW part of the state or the county I grew up in. Visiting is ok for a few hours but living there causes too much risk of drama. --now central and eastern Arkansas might be doable. or even southern arkansas... that's an idea.

mucho love peeps, i'm outa here and leave you with pictures of forspecial ornaments joe got me this christmas. Bumble was the 1st one during turkey week,the siamese was a few weeks ago on a whim and the snow couple was at the christmas market downtown.

i hope you all had a wonderful holiday and got what you wanted for christmas. look for the "new years resolution" post coming soon.






ps --joe's momma got a new camera and she's sending me her old camera! and it takes MUCH better pictures!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! - BLESSED YULE!

the story of our day in pictures...

these are very random and in no particular order. however i will say the snow was 1st thing this morning, the pie was baked first then we ate dinner and opened presents after dessert.

ENJOY!




















and i you got this far --you'll know that my man is *SO* perfect! He got me exactly what I wanted! Did you see those new dishes? PERFECTION! and the special edition Craftsman toolset I got him... oh yea, I know I'm awesome! and drake with his blue mice! too funny! and lo-jack definatly has tubes to crawl through now.

i <3 my little family