Friday’s High Five

1.) Recycling Wrapping Paper
2.) New Year’s Holiday Traditions
3.) Countdown to the New Year
4.) Funny Resolutions
5.) Money Saving Tips for 2008

New layout!

I wanted to put up something new, but I didn’t really want a pixelized look this go round. That and I was also too lazy to make one. So, I was looking at a handful of the zillions of Xanga sites that people use to collect random graphics, trying to find inspiration. I found all of these neat images to use, starting with the skeleton. Then I found the umbrella (smaller and straight up), and I started playing around with how they would look together. All of the other little random bits and pieces just gravitated to the palate, and this is my end result. It’s definitely something new and fresh, and one of the very few layouts (out of a LOT) without a panda involved. Although, that wasn’t on purpose. I just saved it and uploaded everything before I even thought about it.

Thoughts?

Meet Schroeder.

I have been wanting a kitty for quite some time now, and I finally got Sam excited about it. He found a kitten at his work that was starving and so bad off that it could barely move, so he took it to the vet. The poor little guy didn’t make it, but it made us want to find one that we could save. There is an animal shelter about an hour away from us that only has a fee of $20 that I often see postings for when searching on craigslist. I saw a post that showed this little guy, and when I realized he had less than 24 hours to find a home (or be put down) immediately decided to make the drive to go save him.

I love dogs, but I’m really more of a cat person. This is one of the silliest cats I have ever had though. He’s worse than a dog about trying to get to our food because not only does he want the food, but he is agile enough to jump up on the table to our plates. We actually have to close him in another room while we eat most of the time, otherwise he does his little run and jump act, doubling as a bowling ball to our drinks. He doesn’t mind water either. Tonight I was rinsing off some dishes, and he was so curious that he climbed right into the sink in the way. I spashed him a bit to see if he would move, but he just sat there trying to see what was going on (and if there was people food that he could eat, I suspect).

He’s used to being around other animals, so he’s very friendly. He likes to perch on our shoulder or lay on our chest while we watch tv. And he is as affectionate as can be. He is into as much mischief as possible, but he also loves to snuggle anytime, anywhere. I’m trying to adjust to waking up to paws on my face and motorboat type noises in my ear.

All in all, he is a wonderful kitten. Loving, cute and he hasn’t even bothered to knock down my Christmas tree. He’s been curious about the ornaments but hasn’t bothered them much. He has seen Beethoven (our chameleon) but doesn’t care about him, and he hasn’t even noticed Mozart (our hamster).

Now if I can just get him a bow-tie to match that beautiful tux…

Happy Holiday!

No matter where you are, who you’re with or what you’re celebrating, I hope you have all had a happy and healthy time!

December 15th is Annual Quilting Bee Blog day!

The Quilting Bee is an online club in which the members trade pixeled patches to make electronic “quilts” on their websites.

I joined the club on July 29, 2007, but I knew about it way before then. I came across The Quilting Bee a few years ago. I wasn’t confident enough in my ability to pixel, and I also didn’t think that I had enough time to devote to being a part of the club. I also didn’t know much at all about the club, or I would have known those were silly reasons not to join. However, I would often go to the site and look through the members list to find new, cute sites to look at.

I sort of drifted away from updating my website completely when I went to college. This past summer I decided to revamp sillylittlepanda.com back into a blog. I was trying to decide on a new set up for everything and decided to once again go through the Q*Bee’s members list to see how some of the sites that I used to visit were doing. Then I thought, I’ve been lurking for years; why not just join?

Since I have been a member of this club I’ve made lots of new friends. Some of us even exchanged some Christmas ornaments, and I have Christmas cards from as far across the globe as Denmark and Thailand, not to mention all over the US.

I love the activities, too! I have participated in the aquarium activity in August (here is mine), and also the one for Halloween (my page here). Soon I will get my Christmas page set up aswell.

If you aren’t a part of the bee already, check it out!

This falling snow script I have going on here doesn’t really fit in with my life right now. I mean, it never really does more than flurry in December here, but this week we have had record breaking highs.

There is something very strange about wearing summer clothes and driving with the window down while I listen to Christmas music.

Can you guess the real names of the Christmas carols? (credit)

1. Approach Everyone Who Is Steadfast
2. Ecstasy Toward The Orb
3. Hush, The Foretelling Spirits Harmonize
4. Hey, Minuscule Urban Area Southwest Of Jerusalem
5. Quiescent Nocturnal Period
6. The Autocratic Troika Originating Near the Accent of Apollo
7. The Primary Carol
8. Embellish The Corridors
9. I Apprehended My Maternal Parent Osculating with a Corpulent, Unshaven Male in Crimson Disguise
10. I’m Fantasizing Concerning a Blanched Yuletide
11. My Singular Desire For The Impending Yuletide Season Is Receipt Of A Pair Of Central Incisors.
12. During the Time Ovine Caretakers Supervised Their Charges Past Twilight
13. Celestial Messengers From Splendid Empires.
14. The Thing Manifest Itself at the Onset of a Transparent Day
15. The Tatterdemalion Ebony Atmosphere
16. The Coniferous Nativity
17. What Offspring Abides Thus?
18. Removed in a Bovine Feeding Trough
19. Creator Cool It Ya Kooky Cats
20. Seraphim We Aurally Detect in the Stratosphere
21. Valentino, The Roseate Proboscissed Wapati
22. Father Christmas Approaches the Metropolis
23. Ag Glockenspiels
24. The Slight Percussionist Lad
25. The Antlered Quadruped With The Cerise Proboscis.
26. The Event Occurred At One Minute After 11:59 PM-Visibility Unlimited.
27. Ornament The Enclosure With Large Sprigs Of A Berry bearing Evergreen.
28. Anticipation Of This Noel’s Memento’s: Nil.
29. The Approach Of The Holiday Commemorating The Birth Of Christ Is Becoming Evident.
30. During the Dark Hours When Herdsman Attended Their Charges.
31. A Trio of Non Occidental Potentates Is Our Identity.
32. A Meteorological Melody Is Manifest.
33. The Yuletide’s Diurnal Dozen.
34. Please Permit Pristine Precipitation.
35. ‘Rimey’, The Mannequin of Crystalline H2O.
36. Our Desire Is Your Yuletide Cheer.
37. Aged Matriarch Plowed Under By Precipitous Darlings.
38. Are You Experiencing Parallel Auditory Input?
39. Endeavor to personally experience singular, minuscule Yule!

Get the answers!

I suppose it’s not actually a new layout, but it’s definitely a new look. It was harder than I thought to find a falling snow javascript code that would work in Fire Fox. Hopefully this one looks ok in your browser.

I have some ornaments ready to send out for the swap. Check out my flickr feed for a sneak peek! There’s also a new activity going on over at The Quilting Bee. We’ll be swapping some pixel ornaments there too! I’ll have to think up something neat.

I’m watching The Santa Clause right now. I forgot how much I liked this movie as a kid It’s still one of my favorite Christmas movies.

Anyway, my Thanksgiving was great. Sam and I went to lunch with his mom and his grandpa, and then I drove to my parents’ house. I had dinner there and visited some family that I rarely get to see, and then my brother and sister and I played video games for a while. Last year my friends and I basically stayed up all night and met at the mall at 1am to go shopping, but this year we met at 5am at Old Navy. We walked in 10 minutes after they had opened and there was already a line all the way to the back of the store! And Old Navy is a big store! I ended up finding some great deals though. A pair of jeans for Sam for only $15, plus 2 long sleeved thermals for him to wear to work that were only $6 each. AND I got this sweater (in black) for half price, although now it’s $15 as regular price. I also got some black heels, clothes for work, and some new sunglasses. DGs, the cheapo version of Dolce and Gabbana. But you can’t beat $5 for pretty and protective sunglasses. I never cared much for the look of huge square glasses, but my eyes are super sensitive to light. It’s amazing how much of a difference it makes to have my whole eye more covered.

I’m not sure how I feel about this look yet. I love the tree. I did the outline and the pixeling completely by hand from scratch, and then copyed just half of it and mirrored it to make it look more symmetric. I’m not sold on the rest yet. The panda will probably gain some clothes in the next week… And I’ve been wanting to make some new smilies too.

Anyone who would like a Christmas card in the mail from yours truely, send me your mailing address! You can find my email address on my contact page. I plan to send some out very soon.

edit
mallory, I accidentally deleted your comment off of my last entry! I constantly have spam comments on older entries, so I was trying to delete them and got one too many. But I finally took Melissa’s advice for the Akismet plugin. Nice!
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