I’m a PRINCESS

Last night, I had a “Princess and the Pea” moment. Typically, when I go to bed, I’ll pull the top pillow down to the foot(-ish) of the bed, and get in, lying on my back. Typically, I have to shoo Smokey and/or Cocoa off the covers and top sheet so that I CAN get in bed. The reason I lie on my back (at first recline) is for feline belly rubs.

Smokey comes up my right side, crossing or perching on my chest and ribcage 3 or four times before finally settling into my right armpit. I’ll start his belly rubs, while he rests his head on my diaphragm, watching Cocoa attempt to settle in on my left side. She wants to walk all the way up to my face, and if I reach for her At All (to scratch her head or whatever), she’ll back away toward my feet. She does this three or four times as well, sniffing or licking Smokey’s head in the process, and then she’ll eventually plop down (very ungracefully) against my left ribcage, throwing her back leg over my hand for optimal belly rubs.

Cocoa would honestly rather have me to herself, so she typically hounds me for her personal belly rubs throughout the day, or she’ll wake me (too) early for one-on-one snuggles. This means that she also tends to depart the bedtime belly rubs pretty quickly; within five minutes, Smokey has me to himself.

After ten or twenty minutes (just about when I’ve fallen asleep), Smokey will depart, as well. I don’t blame him; what’s the point of perfect belly rub positioning if you’re not actually getting your belly rubbed? Once I am sans feline, I’ll roll over to one side and curl up, semi-fetal position, and go to sleep for the night (until Cocoa decides to wake me {too} early).

Last Night, when I curled up, I felt a pain in my ankle. It wasn’t a sharp pain, but it did feel like, if I didn’t do something about it, I would end up with a stone bruise. On My ANKLE. So I lifted the pillow I use as weight on my feet, and discovered a mouse.

No, it wasn’t a live mouse. Nor was it a dead mouse. It was a stuffed catnip mouse. When the mouse was new, it was vibrantly colored and had a purple felt tail. It still has the bell or rattle or whatever it is inside it that makes it an appealing toy (the catnip doesn’t hurt its appeal). It no longer has its tail. The ears are frayed. One eye is frayed. Most of its surface is frayed. It seems to be leaking stuffing through its muted-in-color, no-longer-vibrant pelt. Stephen often calls it a FISH (because the ears look like fins, and it has no tail).

Smokey is ALLOWING me to photograph FishMouse

But it’s well-loved, and the bed is honestly the best place for us to store the most-well-loved toys belonging to the cats, so they don’t go “hunting” in the middle of the night, while we’re sleeping. They can “hunt” all they want during the day, as long as we remember to bring the toys to bed with us.

*note to self: don't forget to return FishMouse to the bed, when this is posted

At Any Rate… the bell or rattle or whatever’s inside that damn mouse felt like a stone. It wasn’t a pea at the bottom of the stack of mattresses, it was atop the covers but under a pillow. And it was bugging me, y’all.

#ImAPrincess #ImaFuckingPrincessYall #ImaFuckingPrincessAndDontYouEverForgetIt

New stuff is new

I've been "doing" a lot of educational stuff to move my career forward. The other day, I had to film myself for a couple of auditions for a student film. Not all auditions are in person, unfortunately. Not everyone can coordinate schedules in an appropriate audition space. So sometimes we self-tape. My experience the other day was my first time self-taping in California (I had done one self-tape on the #WrongCoastForMe, and it was really really horrible.)

The other day wasn't as horrible. It still wasn't particularly good, but I ended up with two clips where you *can* see and hear me, and I *did* perform the lines that were given. So we'll see. The good news about all of it was that it'll no longer be "new" if when I have to self-tape again. #HowDoesItGetAnyBetterThanThis?

But sometimes, new stuff is actual stuff. Yesterday, Stephen and I took a little walk, just to get some steps in and also to get some fresh air. As we exited our building, we noticed a complete chest of drawers sitting in the alley. So we walked past it, discussing where we'd put it, in our tiny apartment, if we were to think about adding it to our furnishings.

Stephen's been a touch under the weather for the last few days, so when we got back in from our walk, he sort of "wound down" so he could go to bed relatively early, since he'd have to go in early to work today. So I assumed the chest of drawers would end up in someone else's apartment. But just as he was heading to bed, he suggested I go down and take some measurements. Hmm...

It's 4'4" wide, which was the biggest detriment to us bothering to bring it upstairs, unless it was also #SuperFuckingHeavy. While measuring it, I also removed all the drawers, so I could investigate the pulls and the tracks, and lift the damn thing as well, to gauge the weight. The drawer pulls were mostly tight enough but could use some tightening. The tracks were all in great shape. The dresser itself had one front leg that needed some tightening, and the center-back leg needed some realigning. The only detriment I found in the alley was the 4'4". But my favorite number is 4, so could we find a "home" for this piece?

I measured the wall in the kitchen next to the fridge: kind of a snug fit, and where would we relocate the stack of bins to? I measured the hallway wall, and figured that would work, at least temporarily. But what will a chest of drawers hold in a hallway? Hmm... Stephen eyeballed the living room wall with the entertainment center, and mentioned some rearrangement there. That would definitely give the piece "purpose" (hiding all the not-currently-in-use electronics, etc.), but would also require moving the two small toy chests elsewhere, so where? I told Stephen to sleep on that one, and I planned to spend today doing the tightening/cleaning that it would require.

Which means, YES. We brought it in last night, set it in the hallway with drawers sitting on top, so the cats could give it a good investigation and approval overnight.

And I've spent my morning listening to educational stuff whilst cleaning and rearranging and tightening and sorting and whatnot in the kitchen. We'll see what Stephen thinks before we put anything in the drawers, but I'm pretty happy with the idea of it holding Corningware or serving dishes or other kitcheny stuff, kinda like a china cabinet would (but having no Chinaware, we have no need of a china cabinet).

What do YOU think of our NEW thing? Are you a procurer of new stuff that's actually someone else's old stuff?

Blargh. It's already the 18th day of the new year!

As if "time" were a real thing, or "years" or "dates". I'm kicking myself because I haven't blogged since the 30th of December, or since the 364th day of the "old" year. Like it matters, in the grand scheme of life, how often you "hear" from me (or not).

I have been busy. I dunno why I'm kicking myself for not posting ideas I'm kicking around. #GratefulToBeBusy #BlessedWithWork #NoSADSoFar #WooHoooo #Hashtags

It's been Awards Season(TM), and you're probably aware that I've been receiving

1. invitations to screenings
2. physical screeners in the snail mail
3. access to streaming screeners online

so of course, I've been watching and absorbing and enjoying all the movies and television/internet shows. I've also been back at my crocheting. I have been busy, creating tons* of beanies, mittens, and Moebius scarflets, as well as a pair of fingerless gloves for my mail carrier, PitBull.

*not LITERAL tons, just, ya know, a "shit ton" or possibly more than that, like maybe a "fuck tonne"

 I mailed out 22 items for family.

Bill "cheated" - opening the gift early, so he could wrap for the boys. I'm okay with that. ;)

I filmed a webseries of crocheting and movie reviews with a friend. I attended classes, at the SAG-AFTRA Conservatory and online and elsewhere. And I managed to have some days on set, and days where I walked again, and got groceries shopped for, and hung out with friends.

But I have, once again, neglected my blogging. I'm sorry. Forgive me?

Oh, yeah. Also, I need help choosing a name for my personal website. It will be a site to host my "business" of acting and other film/television production "stuff" (headshots, resumes, voice clips, demo reels, that web-series, and anything else pertaining to ME in the world of show biz). I looked into "emelle dot com" but that one got snagged when domains were first available for snagging. A broker called me the other day to tell me that the "owner" was willing to sell me that domain for, oh, say, SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS? Sheesh. No. #FuckYouVeryMuch, "owner" of "my" domain.

So I'm tossing around "therealemelle", "realemelle", and "the-real-emelle" dot com. I know that most of my "audience" will not have to type it out or fear getting it wrong, but there are a BUNCH of "e"s in any of those combos, so I want it to be fairly intuitive, which is why I'm considering hyphens. I've been told by a few beta-testers that hyphens are the only phone-friendly appropriate punctuation, and I get that anyone I send to my site via phone will appreciate not having to hunt for the underscore. What are your thoughts? IF you were to "check me out" without a hyperlink, which address makes the most sense to you?

Once I've bought the domain, I'm going to need help building the site, too. I'm not planning on investing in additional webhosting with a template, unless y'all tell me that I have to, because there's no other way for a semi-Luddite to do it. And frankly, if that IS the way, what company will give me the best value for hosting/building? Yes, I get that it's an investment in my career. No, I do not want to spend thousands of dollars, particularly when right now, I have mediocre headshots and an OLD resume (remember, I've been working in the background for fifteen years). I'm emotionally ready (and trained, so mentally ready, as well) to jump into the foreground, but I just don't have the materials necessary to build a kick-ass site.

Ennyhoo, that's where I am these days. Too many things on my plate to be able to keep up with blogging or blog-reading. At least the cats are healthy. Oh, and, I had to disassemble my keyboard to clean it (sticky keys and soooo much cat hair!) - when I put it back together, I swapped two keys, which only matters if I actually LOOK for the letter I need. Can you spot my mistake?