Say hello, Rjjr!

As some of you may know, it's my life ambition to have a big, cuddly dog or three in my life at some point. However, I live in a little duplex that does not allow any such pets, and I probably couldn't afford the dog food, even if our landlord allowed them. So instead, we got Rjjr, a lovely little black and white rat. Actually, he's sitting on my lap right now, happily chewing a button on my sweater. He's no dog, but he's fairly cuddly and requires way less maintenance, except daily exercise.

Exercise, you ask? Doesn't he have a wheel? Yes, he does. He also has a clear plastic exercise ball. Unfortunately, he's pretty dumb even as far as rodents go, so he doesn't know how to use either device. (We tried to teach him a few times. No luck so far.) So I have to take him out and let him run around for awhile everyday. Good thing he's lovable.

He was getting a little antsy today,  so I let the little guy take a few pictures.

What a photogenic rat.

Also, this post marks the second week day in a row in which I have showered, cleaned, replied to my emails, taken pictures, and written something. Now if I can only finish my headband before I go to work!

Eh, well see. We're winners anyway!

Weekend of Fun #1: Carbondale Street Fair

Hello, loyal readers (all three of you)!

I was hoping to get around to writing this sooner, but it's been pretty busy around here lately. I started work, had a couple eventful weekends in a row, and got another pet (RJ jr, but more on that later). But alas, Sam has to go to a dinner with his advisor, so now it's just me, my computer, and a glass of my favorite cheap moscato. What else is a girl to do except blog?

 Seriously, it's Barefoot Moscato. Sorry to all the wino's who are rolling their eyes right now.

So to catch up on all of the goings-on, two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of selling at my first craft fair ever! I spent whole week doing nothing but making mosaics from the show. Making earrings, necklaces, window mosaics, and business cards all morning, day, and evening! Sam was ready for it to be all over. My house fell into disarray; I stopped showering and sleeping; I started talking to myself and even making up alternate realities and storylines for all of my pieces!! Okay, that last sentence was a lie, but my house did get really messy.

And this was just my workstation. Imagine what the rest of the house looked like!

We finally got there, and it was a... learning experience. There were quite a few "less-than-ideal" things about the show, but they were mostly balanced out by something good. So, in typical Alyssa fashion, here's my list of the bad/good things about the show:

1) Not very many people came to the show, and most who did were there for the wine, BUT I did make over twice my entrance fee! Plus, everybody wanted to touch my mosaics, so at least I know they are interesting!
2) There was a weird giant metal wine glass in front of us, but all of the drunk people loved it and took pictures with it.

It's just a big wine glass! I don't get it!

3) The music was local and the first band consisted of high schoolers, but those kids were seriously talented.
4) It was extremely cold, but one of the wineries gave us warm sangria for sharing our power strip!
5) It was also super windy, but none of my displays blew over because they were just open frames!

 So there it is. My first craft show. All in all, I wouldn't trade it for the world. In fact, it was so not-terrible, I signed up for another show in November! All for now, later, kids!