quite the culture

Looks like my goal of blogging more hasn't been the most successful but sometimes life just gets in the way it seems. I've been having one heck of an unproductive time since moving back to Kamloops as our home renovations are still in progress (but ALMOST done), we haven't actually finished unpacking (eep), and my chronic illness has progressed to the point where I can't work and trying to rest and feel better has completely taken over my life. Oh dear! 

On the bright side of things - I have had lots of time to read loads of scientific studies and novels on dealing with chronic illness (seriously - it's great. I love research) and I got the opportunity to make a whole whack load of little pseudomonas microbe plushies to send to some lovely ladies (and their lab cohorts) for xmas! My pinched nerve pain has left my left arm/side very limited so these cuties took quite a bit longer than my usual pace but I did it! And boy am I ever happy with how they turned out:

I hope these darlings are enjoying their new homes in the warm hands of those San Francisco pseudomonas lab geeks! I even made a nice little stop motion video showing these little opportunistic pathogens reproducing! Check it out!

Quite the pseudomonas culture growth on my couch today. Now to ship these babies off to their new home in California!

A video posted by Kate McCurrach (@scientific_culture) on Nov 11, 2014 at 11:46am PST

Hehe! We can send our thanks to Fraser for that one since it was his idea to do the video in the first place. Thanks hubs!

That little spout of creative progress left me hankering for more so I've been working on crafting up all sorts of lovely creations for xmas presents this year. Not working has tightened by budget quite a bit so I decided I may as well use some of the craft supplies I have on hand and make things! Unfortunately that also means I can't share my creations with you until after santa arrives - but I can tell you I've really been stretching the old creativity muscles and making all sorts of different and unique things. Oh and not to worry - I am still rolling along my slow road to recovery and hopefully be all healed up sooner rather than later! Hooray!

Caturday in Space!

This image pretty much made my day so hopefully it will bring some space-tastic cheer to your day as well!

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Happy Caturday! I'm hoping the silliness and cuteness of this picture will get me through a morning of (very dreaded but necessary) bathing suit shopping. Ack. What are your plans? 

Mary Totoro

This lovely image combines two of my favourite characters! How charming!

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Now if only I could get Mary Poppins to come on over to my house and use that nanny magic to clean up my house! I'd ask Totoro to join in as well but I doubt he's as helpful with the organizing...I swear ONE of these days we will be finished renos and be finally able to unpack our house. Until then - the mess will continue to chip away at what is left of my sanity and my wonderful husband Fraser will continue to work on our (hopefully soon to be finished) lovely home! Hooray! 

New Goals

It's official - I have been motivated enough to create two wonderful new goals for myself! How lovely!

They are as follows:

Goal 1. Recreate this beautiful piece of lumpy succulent joy (on the cheap):

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I'm thinking to fulfill this goal I will scavenge the thrift shops for some sort of neato jello mold, spray paint said mold,  then string that baby up and fill it with love (also known as dirt and potentially hard to kill plants). It's a plan!

Goal 2. Blog more. 

I will let you know how things go with the goals...or you know, I won't if I fail at that second one...

well said

It is pretty close to coming up to one year since we purchased our cosmetically challenged condo here in Kamloops and we are (unfortunately) still a bit away from finishing our renovations. Once the renos are done then perhaps we will finally be able to unpack our boxes from our move in the summer (oy!) and start actually living in our home instead of just sort of existing here. Throw on a wedding, a change of jobs, two major moves, a giant learning curve, and one heck of a chronic illness roller-coaster and you can certainly understand why things have been so slow moving. Alas - one day things will fall into place again and this lovely little mantra should be plastered on my unfinished walls:

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I'm so looking forward to our finished home and new studio so I can get back into more regular crafting, more sharing, and the long awaited reopening of my etsy shop! Oh what a day that will be! In the meaning I am seriously considering making a nice embroidery sampler of the above statement so I can be reminded to have a little patience now and again. How are things coming along with your lives? Do you have any words of wisdom you turn to when times are challenging? 

Feeling like Foliage

I couldn't help but fall in love with these darling (and quite odd) images from "urbans and indians" (link). Why yes - the website is in Dutch, but no need to translate if you're like me and mostly interested in the imagery. Take a gander:

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Or perhaps you're into the larger fronds? 

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or my personal fave...

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It really makes be wish I had a series of these hanging in my house somewhere. Or maybe I need to crochet up some cacti costumes for Fraser and I to sport for a nice xmas card photo? Or heck - I may as well aim to dress up and send out silly wedding thank you cards because I am sure am taking a million years to send those out! Oh dear! That would require me finding my very much missing address book so first things first - plant costumes. It's all about the priorities.