Melissa Mosaic

No, it's not a new last name I am trying out.
(Although I do admit it could be quite catch if I were a painter.)
After I finish watching a biology video for my BIOL 1010 class, I reward myself with a bit of idle thinking. Usually this is where I break out the coloring books, but today I decided to blog-stalk a bit and stumbled across a delightful little blog here.

After reading through many of her posts, I came to one where she had created a mosaic of what looked to me like completely unrelated pictures. After reading, though, she had followed instructions and answered questions to achieve the completed mosaic which was tailored to fit her. She invited readers to do the same.

And so I obliged. Here is my mosaic:

[These are the descriptions and links to the photos on Flickr.]

1. Caixas de Melissa, 2. Ice Cream, 3. nourishment is most important in the morning, 4. Dark Blue..., 5. Darren Criss, 6. Pecan Coconut Chocolate Milk Recipe, 7. Cuba Gallery: Italy / Venice / Rialto Canal / natural light / vintage / night / photography, 8. This one's for you, 9. Bakery, 10. Dancing, 11. Creative & Thrifty Organization Solutions, 12. melissa

For those who would like to create their own mosaic, here are the instructions.

-Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

-Using only the first page, pick an image.

-Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into the Mosaic Maker.

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. Favorite drink?

7. Dream vacation?

8. Favorite dessert?

9. What you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. If you had to choose, what is one word to describe you?

12. What is the name of your blog?

[My Answers]

Melissa 1.

Ice Cream 2.

Timpview 3.

Deep Blue 4.

Darren Criss (Momentarily) 5.

Chocolate Milk 6.

Italy 7.

Raspberry Cheesecake 8.

Bakery Owner 9.

Dance 10.

Creative 11.

Melissa, Maybe 12.

Enjoy!

Betta Sweaters

I don't think I have properly introduced my betta.
This is a severe lack of judgement on my part.
I mean, after all, he is probably the greatest thing to happen to me in December

....After, you know...

Moving on.

This is Leonardo.
Not after Leonardo DiCaprio.
He is pretty awesome. He will swim right to the edge of his bowl to greet you, and also blow bubbles at you if you make faces at him. He is slightly spoiled, though, because he will only eat if you feed him one betta bit at a time. But he is so adorable that you give in and do it with love.

Now that you have met him, we can segway into our dilemma.

Poor Leonardo.

We have had to relocate. (Still does not excuse my lack of blogging.) But.
In lieu of recent events, Leonardo and I set sails on what is sure to be a life-altering adventure.

Or death.

But we are hoping for the first option.

Anywho, in our current place of residence, the temperature in my room is slightly below what it used to be.
And by that, I mean I am 7 times more likely to be wearing socks right now. Which I am.

I don't know if you have any knowledge about betta fish or their requirements for life, but let me fill you in on a few things. Betta fish are used to living in a warm, tropical climate in muddy ponds. Their bright colors allow them to attract mates, because only male bettas are colored, whereas the women blend with the mud (Totally gives the ladies the advantage, because they can select the best looking guy while avoiding all the creeper-bettas). Average water temperature they are used to? Between 70 and 80 degrees F.

Now, when the temperature is below this, things become problematic. Leo's little fins start to shiver and he becomes lethargic. He also refuses to eat, thereby spiraling himself into starvation mode. Nothing I can do can make him eat. He will hide in his plant, low by the rocks and when I peer into the bowl to see him, he gives me a look filled with such disdain it stabs me in the stomach. It breaks my little heart to know I am breaking his little betta heart.

He is sitting under my lamp right now, trying to absorb as much warmth as he can from its pathetic rays. I am at a loss! I am fearful for Leonardo. Also for myself. (I can't bring myself to flush him if this ends badly!) Leo is all I have right now...


Is there any way to make him warmer? I made a joke about buying him a betta-sweater on Facebook, and thought I was being clever.

I would just like to say:

Behold the betta sweaters.

I think he would look good in the stripes, what do you think?

For the Love of Bacon...

So.
I was innocently walking through the grocery store the other day, when an item reached out and caught my attention.

There are a few words that I could use to describe my thought process once I saw this, but one will suffice:

WHY?

WHY would someone eat this?

WHY would someone buy this?

WHY would this seem like it would remotely taste good?

WHY was it even made?

WHY!!??!

It looks disgusting. The mere thought of having to ingest such garbage makes me physically ill. As would the side effects of possibly eating it. Which will never happen. Even if there was an apocalypse and the entire earth was reduced to a smoking, body-strewn war zone and I was the last person on earth and the only things  that had survived was the Bacon-Pop warehouse and a microwave. The answer is still no.

With a capital N.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, my sister produced similar reactions when introduced to Bacon-Pop:

Case in point.

This ish is nasty.

Oh. My. Gosh.

I can't stop laughing.

This is pure gold.

Maybe you won't find it as hilarious as I do

but just in case, click here.