The look of LauraCatoe.com from the start of June 2004 to the end of December 2004. I called this version “Blossoms.”
See a reconstructed version here.
Monthly Archive for December, 2004
Take that, sketchbook! In your face! Er, no. The sketchbook gets the last laugh, after all, cause the drawing kind of sucks. Lose some, lose some.
Last year, I did a year-end retrospective. I figured I’d do it again this year, and I tried to rope in some fellow fleegans. See if you can spot the question Jaimie contributed.
2004 RETRO
I freaked out the most this year when: I realized someone had stolen cds out of my car while it was parked in front of my house.
Best TV show I discovered this year: Veronica Mars (duh)
Favorite book I read this year: Threshold
Runner up: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Favorite movie: (tie) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Biggest cinematic letdown: Meet the Parents
Runner up: Van Helsing
The earth spins backwards: I bought real heels in the spring. Sexy, pointy heels.
The earth rights itself on its axis: In the fall, I gave them to Diana, having never worn them.
Things I am most pleased to have done this year: Purchased the duplii. =1000 Words. Talked GJ into not moving to Florida.
The thing that changed the most about me this year: My bank account. Oh, and my eyebrows.
Why 2004 should burn in hell: in a word? Taxes.
Bodily organ I’d rather have removed than live through this year again: That’s a tough one, as I really like most of my organs. It was a rough year, but I’ve had worse. I’ll say spleen.
Thing I’d most like to use to anally rape 2004: I’d take everything in our “Tax Stuff” drawer, roll it all up and have a go.
Regrets? Going to Mentone; I should have been a big girl and spent the weekend by myself. Not being more diligent about getting my stuff out of my parents’ house.
And that about sums up the year. I plan to roll out 2004 with some friends and some shrimp grits, then roll in 2005 by carting loads of stuff from my old room to the ‘plex. Cause Dad told me today he has renters moving in Monday.
It’s done; GJ bought the house. The man she bought it from was a real gentleman, and her closing was a breeze. To celebrate, we went and bought her a new vaccum.
One day. One day to finish that page in the sketchbook that mocks me.
Google, you liar. If I search for Hello Kitty Tattoo and restrict the returns to only pages on lauracatoe.com, I get zero returns. And GeoCities, you cheesebum. The counter on the Hello Kitty Tattoo page itself read “1″ last night, and yet the site statistic pages said “0.” Most disappointing, young Skywalker.
I decided to make a donation to Unicef’s South Asia Tsunami Relief Effort, and I’m trying to decide if I will generate more spam for myself by using a credit card or sending a check. I’m also waiting to hear back from the New York Times’ Matching Gifts coordinator to see if the donation is eligible for that.
I am fantabulously fashionable today because I’m wearing the poncho Kris’ mom gave me for Christmas. I keep catching it on things, though. My keys, the door locks, etc. It’s sort of, uh, woven. Look, just picture it as macrame, and you’ll understand the problems. This could very well be the reason that well-dressed girls often seem prim and stiffly off-putting. Were they to be anything else, their mascara would run, their manicured nails would break, along with their ankles atop their skinny high heels, making them come crashing down and ripping the fabric on their dainty little clothes.
The last page of the sketchbook has a faint outline of a face (that of Julia Stiles, to be exact). I said to myself “You will finish this sketchbook before 2004 is over.” And then Perry needed a map. That was two days ago.
Perhaps I am the lying cheesebum.
Okay, time for a new project. The Hello Kitty Tattoo project. Jaimie keeps getting hits on her site from folk searching for Hello Kitty Tattoo . So, today, I made a Hello Kitty Tattoo page. The counter began at zero; let’s see where it goes. If I was searching for a Hello Kitty Tattoo , I’d be looking for art to use. So that’s what you get if you visit my Hello Kitty Tattoo page.
As I clean out the stuff at my parents’ house, I’m collecting a little pile of Sanrio stuff that I think I might try to sell as a lot on eBay. I went to check today to see if any of the toys I took to “I Sell Stuff” sold.
The My Little Pony castle (complete with four ponies) went for $31. The Lullabye Nursery, however, went for $42.50. (Must have been that it came with 6 wee little ponies, including a set of unicorn twins.) I kept out two of the baby ponies to keep. One that I think was named Cotton Candy, and one that had blue and purple hair. I know; it was the hair that got me.
The only Care Bear I kept was Tenderheart Bear. The other 11 fetched $49.
The Barbie Ice Cream Shoppe went for an embarassing $4.99. Ouch.
I had five Cabbage Patch Kids (I’m an only child – lots of toys), but I didn’t save any of them. In the space it would take to save an ugly CPK, I could keep all of my She-Ra dolls and Strawberry Shortcakes.
As of today, one of the blondes hasn’t sold. She has the 80s, one ponytail off to the side look, and I guess that has dated her. The Cornsilk kid (cornsilk hair instead of yarn) went for $15.51. The plain-Jane blonde went for $11.50, while the blonde that looked exactly like her, only she came with Dutch shoes sold for 50 cents less. People. She had a tee shirt that said “I Went to Holland,” and you’d rather have the other one? Is this because I couldn’t find her passport? But the real gem was “Emily Gail.” She was a brunette in a little exercise outfit and had a pacifier. She garnered $32.02.
Blondes may be more fun, but brunettes cost more.
One of Kris’ goals for 2005 is to start a blog. This morning, while waiting on Jaimie’s dad to pick him up so they could go get a stove for $25 from Beth (because Jaimie, her dad and Beth are all awesome), he figured he’d get a jump start.
Day 11. Today, Maggie is facedown on the filing cabinet. Poor girl.
Our assistant Sports editor makes these comments on The Maggie Project: “I came into work Monday and wondered…’Who put the picture of Maggie Gyllenhaal in this picture frame?’ Now I know who the culprit is. She seems to liven up the drab sports department, but does this mean she’s our ‘Secretary?’”
See? He’s cool because (a) he knows who Maggie Gyllenhaal is and (b) he reads lauracatoe.com.
Jamoo read about TMP and reacted thusly: “that is so funny. you know what’s weird? i thought that picture was you.” Which I found funny because the day TMP began, I thought “if there was a movie about my life, it would be cool if Maggie Gyllenhaal played me.”
Also cool? The 80s tees Jaimie got me and Liz for Christmas.
Yesterday, we began the demolition derby at Brad and Cindy’s place. We got the rotting, mildew infested tile board out of the bathroom, tore out the bar in the kitchen, got the dishwasher out from under the stove and yanked the whole oven-stovetop out of the house. Oh, and also flooded the kitchen floor, cut the power to the whole house and nearly killed their life aquatic (fish, frogs and turtles).
Day 7 of the Maggie Project.
I was straightening up my officespace on Friday and came across a cheapy picture frame. “Now, what can I do with this?” I wondered.
I took the JANE magazine I’d just thrown away out of the garbage and flipped through it. I cut out a picture of Maggie Gyllenhaal.
“Now, where can I put this?”
I decided Ms. Gyllenhaal should be the patron saint of the Sports Department.
There she sits, looking all saucy, on top of the filing cabinet, next to the TV. She’s been there since Friday and nobody has moved her. How long will she stay?
I read in the paper today that there is finally a release date for Harry Potter VI: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – July 16, 2005. Yay! If I were a youngster, that wait would seem interminable. (Only, I guess if I were younger, I’d probably say something more along the lines of “that’s like forever!”) However, since I am now a grown-upt, I realize the time will fly and before you know it, it’ll be the middle of summer and I’ll be reading Harry Potter and wondering if I can go swim at the Pickles’ pool.
If I were a kid, these last few days before Christmas would be painstakingly slow. I would want the day to hurry up and get here already. As is, I want it to hurry up and get over with already.
I think it’s the Too Much to Do Syndrome. Kris and I have already been through too many times this year when we were bogged down with Too Much to Do, so when it starts to happen again, we dread whatever is coming up, even if the Things to Do are fun things.
On Friday, Kris’ parents and my grandmother are coming over for dinner (and possibly a holiday flick). On Christmas day, we’re driving to Fultondale to Kris’ grandparents’ house. That evening, we’re having some friends over – probably the least stressful event because (a) we don’t have to drive anywhere and (b) all the friends know it’s just come and hang and if you want food or beverage, bah-ring it. Easy on the prep time, y’know? On Sunday, we begin renovating Brad & Cindy’s kitchen and bathroom and later in the day are due at Dad & Patsy’s house. On Monday, we’re supposed to do a walk-thru with GJ at the house she’s buying.
Itsa gonna be a busy holiday, no? Ho, ho, ho.
I’m trying to roll out a new design for the site for the new year. I toil and tweak in the page editor until all looks good. I try it in Explorer and it looks alright. I try it in Netscape and it’s like “Why do I even bother?!?”
One page left in the sketchbook; I decided the VM soundtrack was worthy.
Looks like the closing on GJ’s house will be next week. That is sooner than expected. I also gathered from something she said that Doug will be coming into town to help her move, after all.
The sinuses of the Catoe household have been out of whack for 2 weeks. We realized yesterday that the windows in our bedroom are growing mold. Hmm…
We had Christmas at my Grandparents’ house yesterday. I’d scanned a picture of them from the year they married and sent it here. Grandad loved it. Between that and the place cards I made for Grandmother’s birthday, I am 2 for 2 this year.
If Saturday couldn’t jump start my biological clock, I daresay nothing can. We went to Jesse’s 5th birthday party, which included one of those tents that you jump around in. The theme was the Super Friends and the birthday boy was dressed as Spiderman. Ivy was there, too, and oh my, oh my, the cuteness that is Ivy. (Except when Nathan tells her to do the creepy laugh, which is, indeed, hella creepy.) And oh, the hilarity that is watching several small folk shout “Daddy is a girl” at Nathan just so he’ll act like he’s gonna run and get them.
That evening, we went to Faith Abercrombie’s graduation party (yay, Faith!) and there was a wee red-headed lass named Emily that stole everybody’s heart. She was so cute that I even heard my dad telling people about her the next day. (Speaking of cuteness, I keep telling people Mimi Smartypants’ YAY! BIG GIRL! story.)
We tried to go see the Lemony Snicket movie last night with some kids - no, they aren’t kids anymore - teens (d’oh, that sounds too oldster)… um, with some dudes from church. But we thought the movie was later than it really was, and while I don’t mind missing previews, I hate missing the beginning of the movie itself. So we headed back home. Kris did laundry and I finally finished my Veronica Mars soundtrack.
Soundtrack complete, it was pretty easy to then turn it into a wallpaper. Uploading it, however, sort of made my TV & Movies wallpaper gallery a bit too full. So now, Buffy desktops rule the school in Gallery 1 and TV & Movies are the name of the game in the new Gallery 6.
(Day 4 of The Maggie Project… and no, Jaimie, I am not trying to get pregnant.)
