TODAY

IS 

CHRISTMAAAAAS

Merry Xmas. :D

Fruit Overload

AAAAAAAAUGH~~

Arizona is a great climate for citrus trees. So great, in fact, that people plant them in their yards for decoration. People like the former owners of my house.

AND THEN THERE IS FRUIT EVERYWHERE.

There wouldn't be so much fruit, actually, if it weren't for the fact that it is sunny and 79 degrees Fahrenheit today, the tenth of December. DECEMBER, damnit. Maybe it's the midwesterner in me, but the very word "December" is entirely incompatible with sunny and 79.

Meanwhile, the citrus trees apparently opine: "Hey, still warm? Let's drop a second harvest. Whee!"

Which returns me to:

AAAAAAAAUGH what do I do with all of this?!

I know what to do with lemons. Actually, I love lemons. Lemon is my favorite flavor of most anything. Lemon bars, lemon spritz cookies, lemon ice cream... here is a fantastic recipe for lemonade, by the way. I can probably use up all the lemons on my own.

Oranges... well, orange-cranberry scones are a hit with my dad, and orange juice is always good.

...but what the hell do I do with five-dozen grapefruit? o_o

Happy Hannukah: חנוכה שמח

ハッピー　ハンヌカー ♥

(Have a latke for me.)

Limks

I really need to link to some people.
Anyone feel like exchanging links with me? :D
Please? ;_;

富士山：ふじさん, Mount Fuji

Woah, a softie pattern? Really?

Yep! :D

I've been sitting on this "mountain" idea for a long time, trying to figure out how to make it more mountainous. The original small version looked like crap:

Pfft, first try.

Then I tried to make a really big, fluffy one out of some fleece material, like a wumphy-fumphy pillow, but it also ended up looking like crap:

...especially when compared to real mountains.

...and then I discovered that somebody else had already made a much nicer soft Fuji:

damnit

...so fark that. Here's an Eyjafjoell, or Merapi, if you prefer.

Okay, not quite as bad.

 平和な場所と見えるけど、実は、富士山も活火山です。Despite it's peaceful visage in modern times, it is important to note that Fuji-san is also still an active volcano.

(She could blow any minute - save the tea!!!)

And, if you're interested, the word for volcano in Japanese is kazan, written with two very basic kanji: "fire" and "mountain".

火 = fire
山 = mountain
火山 = volcano

Pretty easy, right? This is actually the way most Japanese words are formed. Even single kanji, since they began as ideograms (shorthand pictures meant to illustrate the thing they were describing), can be built out of simpler kanji stuck together:

木 = tree

森 = forest

日 = sun

月 = moon

明 = bright

Hey, you just learned some kanji. :D 楽しみしてね！

MY CUP!!! D:>

Damnit. That was my favorite cup. ﾟ･｡(｡/□＼｡)｡･ﾟ

Real post coming later.

Postality II

Hells yeah, Postcrossing is awesome. Successfully sent cards to Finland, France, and Canada; the USPS is still working on a pair to Russia and the Netherlands. Best of all, Finland and Croatia each sent me one back! ♡ 

Here is my gallery of cards received~ ♪♫

Now, on a different issue, can anyone out there catch the Japanese unicode symbols I use all the time on this blog? Here's a test:

 〠

Do you see a strange little face symbol? That's the Japanese post's Nanba-kun (ナンバ君、"Mr. Number") character, essentially the J-version of Mr. Zip. 

If you do not see the strange little face (you might get a little box instead), would you kindly let me know what browser you're using in the comments section? Thank you very much~♡