Thanks to everyone who sent me along some belated birthday gifts. From

scarlettehawk I got a nice selection of bath stuff, a cool book and some Roy Mustang stuff among other things.

sita_137 (probably with help from

adeliedreams) got me some bizarre little things, like a strange little penguin-like creature and a bag of stretchy body parts. I'm going to scatter those around the office. And

evil_little_dog got me a cool Saiyuki anime art book. Which one? Not a clue since I can't read the script but it's pretty. There's an amusing pencil squence in the back with Gojyo and Goku punching on one another and in the next shot Hakkai covering his eyes with Sanzo taking the wheel. She also got a few soap samples from some place called mud monkey essentials including one called 'monkey farts,' gee wonder why i got that one... it's almost sadly scentless (or it spent too much time rubbing up on the patchouli)

also several of you asked to see this, my latest necklace project. phases of the moon The moon phases are sterling silver made by a crafter I meet up with at Renn fests, on the inner strand the chips are moonstone and the alternating ovals are mother of pearl and rainbow fluorite with tiny pearls between them. The outer strand has laboradite chips, hematite rondelles and moons of abalone and moonstone. the big hunky chunky stones are rainbow fluorite and pearls. if you were paying attention you saw it around my neck in one of the Vegas pictures.

Oh and after contemplating the fact that I didn't take the batshit crazy guy at the laundromat and my broken washer as a sign to become born again, I realized that yes, once again the higher powers have a demented sense of humor.

And to go along with the Brad Paisley lyrics posted earlier (speaking of demented) here's some of his other recent works, also very silly. Sounds like the kind of pick up line I'd hear around here.

Every time you take a sip
In this smoky atmosphere
You press that bottle to your lips
And I wish I was your beer
In the small there of your back
Your jeans are playing peekaboo
I'd like to see the other half of your butterfly tattoo.

Hey that gives me an idea
Let's get out of this bar
Drive out into the country
And find a place to park.

'Cause I'd like to see you out in the moonlight
I'd like to kiss you way back in the sticks
I'd like to walk you through a field of wildflowers
And I'd like to check you for ticks.

I know the perfect little path
Out in these woods I used to hunt
Don't worry babe I've got your back
And I've also got your front
Now, I'd hate to waste a night like this
[Ticks lyrics on http://www.metrolyrics.com]

I'll keep you safe you wait and see
The only thing allowed to crawl all over you when we get there is me.

You know every guy in here tonight
Would like to take you home
But I've got way more class than them
Babe that ain't what I want.

'Cause I'd like to see you out in the moonlight
I'd like to kiss you way back in the sticks
I'd like to walk you through a field of wildflowers
And I'd like to check you for ticks.

You never know where one might be
There's lots of places that are hard to reach
I gotcha.

I'd like to see you out in the moonlight
I'd like to kiss you baby way back in the sticks
I'd like to walk you through a field of wildflowers
And I'd like to check you for ticks.

I'd sure like to check you for ticks...

and lastly for this rambling post, a meme snagged from

sita_137 that made me smile.

Your Score: The Otter

Here's your results! Your spirit animal has a Nobility ranking of 11 out of 18.

Your spirit animal is the otter. Playful, curious and fun animals, they are truly the start of what can be considered a noble creature. Otters are good at figuring things out, and make great friends. You are lucky to have one as a spirit animal. Otters are fairly rare as spirit animals.

***Wondering how this animal was chosen for you? These questions were carefully thought out to see how important you hold certain virtues such as: humanism, self-knowledge, rationalism, the love of freedom and other somewhat Hellenic ideals. Some of the questions were very subtle. Your score was then matched with an animal of corresponding nobility. However, you shouldn't think this was a right/wrong sort of test, but more of an idealistic values test. It's ok to not hold these values, you'll just get an animal spirit of lower stature if you do!***

Link: The What is Your Spirit Animal Test written by FindingEros on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

ETA - food stuff - got my first ripe Riesentraube grape tomatoes today. DELICIOUS. easily the best tomatoes of their kind i've ever had. Sweet like candy. So now to figure out how to dry out the seeds

also for reasons i don't know I bought chocolate at Wal-Mart Guylian, some of the silkiest truffles i've had in a while and they're shaped like sea horses and money from buying them goes to saving said critter

ETA - i ended up NOT downgrading my weekly goal for Red Skies since

evil_little_dog and I got halfway there tonight.