Survival Sunday 213: Random Ramen

You've probably noticed a theme to Survival Sundays, and that's Ramen. See, here's the thing, I love noodles, and Z & I get Umai Crates monthly, but this week the noodles in question came from some very generous friends of ours, so thank you to our noodle-bros!

I'm not 100% sure what nation these noodles originated from, but they were really good.

We added a little onion and some ramen pepper, which was pretty nice.

I'm not sure what the white & black package was, but it was kinda grainy & sticky,
so I'm going with maybe coconut oil/sugar?

We also added three eggs and some torn-up roast beef.

We were told to mix all of the flavor packets together, so here's the ingredients before they were mixed up

And here they are all kinda mixed together.

I'm pretty pleased that I didn't get any shell in the bowl!

And here's our whipped up eggs.

Then I added the roast beef.

I mixed the eggs & beef together and let them sit and marinate while I did the noodles!

This block of noodz broke themselves!
Sadly, I forgot to snap a pic of the meat/egg mixture being added to the water, but it looked pretty neat.

Here we see the noodz having been removed from the water with the beef & egg mix together.
I used a pasta spoon for this, so the water wasn't there.

And here we have the bowl properly mixed.

Since this was a dry noodle dish (no broth), it took a while to get the mostly dry flavors mixed in, but man was it worth it. The package said "barbecue chicken" flavored, but it's absolutely not American-style bbq. This was wonderful. The flavor was sour & sweet & salty, but not the sugary sweetness we're used to here in the States - this was more like a citrusy sweetness, more like Teriyaki, to be honest, and it was really good.

The noodles got left in a little long, but they still held enough chew to not be soggy, which was great!

If I were to change one thing about our prep, I would've added some veggies. I think that some pea pods & bean sprouts would've added a lot.

That and I would've taken more photos lol.

I'm looking forward to trying more new things in the kitchen!

Now Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Saturday Casual Gaming 213: Games for Bad Days

If you're anything like me, sometimes you have bad days. I don't mean days that are annoying or where a bunch of nonsense happens to you - I mean bad days. Days where you don't feel like you can get out of bed. Days where you haven't been able to sleep the night before. Days where you feel like you can't continue doing anything. Days where even a shower feels like hard work.

Basically, when I say "bad days", I mean bad mental health days.

Many, many people suffer through Bad Days. I'm one of them. Most people I know have Bad Days.

So what do I play when I'm having a Bad Day?

Well, the sad truth is, some days are so Bad that I don't even want to play a game. I don't want to do anything.

But on the days that are Bad but not So Bad I Can't Do Anything, these are some games I play to help me not focus on how Bad the day is:

Castaway and Castaway 2 by Likwidgames (on Kongregate) - Beautiful, fun, difficult, and fascinating. I love the Castaway series. I really, really love them. Like. A lot. Great RPGs, the both of them!

Crystal Story by lan14n (on Kongregate) - a pastel paradise of a quirky, Dragon Quest-style RPG. Fun, simple, and lightly nuanced, this is a good game for niggling at my nostalgia to try and pull me out of an emotional hole. It can get annoying, however, when you're six attempts in on the same boss. Like with any RPG. Yeah.

Einstein Riddle (Android) - I grew up doing logic problems with my dad. He's the same guy who introduced me to Indiana Jones, the Shadow, and Sherlock Holmes before I was even in school. My dad rocks. Einstein Riddle is a set of logic puzzles ranging from super easy to insanely, stupidly hard. I dig it, but I can't focus on it 100% of the time.

Enchanted Cave series by dustinaux - (Android, Steam, Kongregate) - Brilliant RPGs, brilliant developer, a good time to be had by all, and music in the second game composed by the same guy who did Banjo-Kazooie. Need I say more?

Epic Battle Fantasy 4 by kupo707 (on Kongregate) - I like the rest of the Epic Battle Fantasy series, but this one wasn't a platformer. It's a Final Fantasy-style sendup of RPGs while also being a great fantasy RPG, and it's hard as can be if you're not careful. I like the grind, so it works for me!

Fragment Hunter by mmx95 (on Kongregate) - I love RPGs. I love Engrish. This has a lot of both, since I'm fairly certain English is not these folks' first language. It doesn't matter, though. The story is pretty straightforward, and the loot mechanics appeal to my mathematically interested-but-not-quite-inclined mind.

Grind Quest by jetspice (on Kongregate) - This is a Minecraft knockoff, I know, but there's something relaxing about building up everything you need to take on the nonsensical Ender Dragon. Also, I don't think my PC can run Actual Minecraft, so this is as close as I really get.

Hack Slash Crawl by Void (on Kongregate) - a simple point & click dungeon crawling RPG with perma-death and stat-boosts via Titles. This one can be a little frustrating, since its permanent deaths mean that you can feel like you lose a lot of progress, and can't really get attached to any of the interesting characters.

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) - I'll be honest, this is one of the only video games I've bought for myself that wasn't a Pokemon title. I love Pokemon, don't get me wrong, but I'd been hearing so much about the Legend of Zelda series that I had to try it for myself, and with my last paycheck from my old job (before that dried up), I purchased both a Switch and Breath of the Wild. It's been a joy. A furious, anxious, fear-inducing joy. That makes very little sense, I know, but on days when I struggle to feel anything, I can always induce rage by trying to take on a Guardian or trying to get that one stupid chest on Vah Naboris' tail or give myself a shiver of fear while I hurtle through the air in Vah Medoh's ridiculous death trap design. Seriously. I have so little trouble with the Elephant and the Lizard (though both have their scary elements), but these two... Anyway, I strongly suggest this game if you have the dough, and... if you can, buy the DLC. I didn't have the cash for it, so I'm missing out on a lot, I think. This is one of the games I really wish I could Stream, because I think a lot of people would find my freaking out over the heights in a video game hilarious.

Magikarp Splash (Android) - I love Pokemon. A lot. This game lets me take care of a Magikarp and have fun adventures without having to shower or put on real pants. I like that.

Neko Atsume (Android) - oh mannnnnnnnn, I love cats! This game is peaceful. It's a garden of tranquility and kitties. What more could I ask for?

NGU Idle by Somethingggg (on Kongregate) - Ah yes, more math for the bad-math-but-I-love-numbers-brain. I like the loot progression on this game. I like the stupid monsters. I like the completely cracktacular storyline. I like that it doesn't take itself seriously. It's good at distracting me.

Pokemon Go (Android) - Oh boy. This isn't a 100% success rate for getting me going, but there is something special about jamming monsters into balls and then turning them into candy that can help. Also, it encourages me to exercise, so that helps.

Pokemon Shuffle (Android) - I'm big on Match-3 games and Pokemon. My only gripe is that there's timed levels, and I hate those.

Slurpy Derpy by ScaryBee (on Kongregate) - Candy-colored post-apocalyptic nonsense abounds, and I love it. I would absolutely fall into a freezer in a convenience store, reaching for a burrito, right before the nuclear apocalypse. Yes.

Stardew Valley by ConcernedApe (Steam) - one of only two games on here that you absolutely have to pay money for (the other being LOZ:BOTW), this is a peaceful, relaxing mind-sauna. I can just drop myself into the life of my far-more-successful farmer and live out a fantasy of having money and being loved by my whole town. It's kind of a dangerous fantasy, true, but it's one I sometimes need. It's great for fighting anxiety and relearning how to complete tasks on time...

Sudoku - Okay, this one's kind of hard to focus on when I'm really down or at 6AM on day 8 of wretched insomnia, but it works most of the time to give me something new to focus on.

Tabletop Idle by omgnoob191 (on Kongregate) - I like board games, but I don't like playing with other people, since I'm a really crummy loser and I play well with others. This game scratches the Board Game itch without pestering me with other players.

Trimps by GreenSatellite (on Kongregate) - Minimalist so I don't have to focus on sprites or art or anything but text. It reminds me of my childhood, watching my cousins play Zork or other old text-based adventures on my grandma's Commodore 64.

Wild West Saga by Tamesenco (on Kongregate) - I've talked about this one! It's a simple idle game set in the Wild West (hence the title). Fun, low commitment, and easy to pick up or put down.

Word Cookies (Android) - I like word puzzles and word searches. I'm not trying to brag, but since I was in the advanced reader's program in grade school, I feel like that shaped my love of vocabulary and random words. This game rewards me for having legitimately once spent an entire day reading the dictionary. It was a very boring day.



Now, this is nowhere near a complete list - the internet is a vast and varied place for video games, but these are tried and true standbys that I adore. I'd like to give an honorable mention to my first finished-games; Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3, which, until Breath of the Wild, were the only games I'd ever finished 100%.

I don't own copies of these games, sadly, but one day, I shall, and it will be glorious. I'll have to learn how to stream them for you guys. I really have to.

Thanks for reading my insane rant/list about video games, guys. Writing it out really helped me today, since, as you might have guessed, today wasn't a particularly great one. Nothing's wrong, though. It was just a low day from the moment I woke up. Talking to you guys really helps, so thanks for listening!

Now, Go Enjoy Something

And so will I :)

FC

Filmic Friday 213: Bathtubs Over Broadway

Everyone has something they love (at least I hope so). We all have something that we love more than anyone else seems to. For me, I love a great (but obscure) book called October Dark by David Herter, and I seem to be the only one out there who does. I love this book, I read it yearly, and I share it aggressively with people around me and I'm sure they're tired of hearing about it.

Thing is, I am not alone, because everyone's got something to talk about - something they love to the point of annoying everyone around them or seeming weird because of it. All of my friends have at least one obscure thing they obsess over, and that's a good thing.

Bathtubs Over Broadway is an ode to this kind of niche obsession. It is a documentary that lets you know that, no matter what that thing you love is (provided it's not super illegal and/or harmful), you should absolutely love it, explore it, share it.

I mean, look at this blurry little poster!

Actually, this one's better. Look at this one.

Bathtubs Over Broadway follows the journey of Letterman writer Steve Young and his lengthy love-affair with, of all things, industrial musicals. If you've followed the rest of my blog, you may recall that I referenced both this film and industrial musicals in my Wednesdaymania about a Kellogg's-branded wrestling show. If not, then you can check that out here, or you can just keep reading this blog. It's not imperative that you read the Kellogg's blog.

Young finds his first industrial musical while looking up records for a bit on Letterman, and from there, the rest is history. He was hooked.

How could he not be?!

So what is an "industrial musical"?

Imagine, if you will, that you've got to go to a regional business conference for, say, General Motors or something. Any kind of job. But you have to go to this conference, and while you know the food will be decent, and you'll get to see that nice Cheryl lady from the western accounting branch again, you also know it's just another way for the big-wigs to try and con you into working harder for the same amount of money. Boring. Tedious. Annoying.

But when you arrive, you're shocked to find a stage set up - not just a podium with some boring business folks yapping at you about how you need to sell aggressively to grandma to get your quarterlies up to par or whatever, but a real stage with... are those pyrotechnic and lighting scaffolds? Wait, is that a band?! WHAT'S GOING ON?!

You're in your seat. The lights dim. Cheryl from western accounting is as confused as you are about all this.

And then an overture starts. Not just some company logo song from the latest commercial spots, but a song you've never heard before! The curtain raises, and... people are singing and dancing. It's a straight-up Broadway-style musical, but...

Wait...

The attractive blond in the shoes is singing about how to better sell things.

Is this...

Is this a GM-themed educational musical?

Holy cow, it is!

And that, my friends, is an industrial musical.

It's a fantastic way for companies to disseminate information to their workers while also showing off how profitable they've been (because these things were generally not that cheap!), and they were a hit.

But why are we only now hearing about these, we who were not at these conferences?

Because they were for internal use only. They were never marketed to the public. They were never meant for the public! But some of the souvenir albums and company films survived and made it out into the world. And Steve Young (among a few others!) found them.

At first, Steve just wanted to find all the albums. He wanted all of the original music. He wanted all of the productions. He wanted a complete collection.

So he reached out to others like him and found historians, collectors, and even some aging rockers determined to clutch to the weirdness! They shared some of their albums with him, he shared some of his with them, and it just started to balloon. Suddenly, it wasn't just about owning the music. He wanted to learn more!

Eventually, he started meeting people who had been in the musicals, he met dancers & singers, and most importantly, I think, he actually began meeting the very people who had crafted these strange and wonderful things!

And look at the joy he feels when he hears a song he's never heard before!

Eventually, all of this led Steve to writing a book about industrial musicals, but then something happened:

David Letterman retired.

The end of the movie follows Steve as he's closing out his office, getting together with his new industrial music friends and moving forward with his life. As he asks several times during the film: "what do you do when you're a comedy writer with comedy fatigue"? He doesn't quite know what to do with his life.

Except he does.

He's hanging out with Chita Rivera and Martin Short.

He's singing along with the cast from The Bathrooms are Coming.

He's writing new industrial music with one of the original composers.

So of course, you know the movie has to do it.

It ends with a big musical number about following your dreams, no matter what.

And yes, the older people in this crowd were in those original industrial musicals.

This is a triumphant movie. It's filled with sadness and nostalgia (several of these wonderful musicians and actors passed away before the movie came out, after all), but it's also filled with pure and unbridled joy. Why worry what others will think? If you're the best at making musicals about bathroom fixtures or silicones, then that is what you should do!

It's wonderful, and you should absolutely watch it.

It Will Change Your Life!

FC

Thursday Art Walk 213: Uigi Madness

I've been working on the Luigi drawing for a while, and I'm pleased to announce that I only have one part left to finish!

The background.

Yikes.

That's gonna be interesting.

I cleaned up and transferred the lineart onto a fresh piece of paper.
I think I prefer this FSM to the blobby one before.
Also, I like that both the rocket and Luigi have more expressive faces!

Basic coloring finished - now for background!

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the background. I'm conflicted - do I do bubble art for the background or do I try something new or do I go concentric?

Bubble art would look neat, but I don't know what to use for the starting points.

Concentric would look... odd. Maybe that's a good thing? I don't know.

If I did something different, I think I'd go with a more impressionistic approach. Then again, I could try doing the background with overlapping shapes or letters or something.

These are the big questions.

I do know my palette for the background, at least - blues, purples, black. Boom. I definitely want things lighter towards the center and darker on the edges, but if I was really crazy, I could do things so that there was more of a mix. I don't know how any of this would look.

To be honest, it'd be super awesome to be able to make the background and then put this drawing onto it, but I'm garbage with both Photoshop and knifework (if I were to literally stick this to a background, I'd have to cut out the elements and hope I got them placed correctly... ugh).

We'll see how this puppy turns out, eh?

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Wednesdaymania 213: Sumo and Belts and Tables Oh My!

It has been quite the week for my little Indies that could, but first I want to talk about this season's basho! If you want to catch up on the whole basho yourself, I'd suggest you do so now and then come back to the blog (please come back when you're done)!

Holy cow, even though Hakuho's win was basically assured, what a wild ride! The thrills, the spills, the nearly-kills... it was a great basho from first tachiai to last throwdown! Now, I was disappointed that Takayasu didn't get the final crack at Hakuho during the basho, but I wasn't disappointed that, even though he didn't win the match he did have against the young Yokozuna, he really, really gave him a hard time!

It was an edge-of-your-purple-cushion match!

The final match of the basho was Yokozuna vs Yokozuna (highest attainable rank in sumo). Hakuho fought down Kakuryuu and took him out, but...

Such a victory does not come without cost...

It's strongly suspected that the arm injury Hakuho suffered during this final, awesome bout is a muscle tear, which could destroy him if it's bad enough. It certainly did so to Kisenosato, who was on fire and then... sputtered out. Muscle tears are no joke. If you're an active person and this kind of injury happens to you, don't do what Hakuho is doing because he's just resting it, and the window of time to get the injury properly repaired without loss of strength is fairly narrow for a sports injury.

Dude was in so much pain and so week that he couldn't lift the Emperor's Cup trophy at the end of the ceremonies. He couldn't lift a glass of water the next day. That's bad. (For more info, go here).

But enough about sumo and how epic it was this basho!

Let's talk little guys in wrestling!

First, I want to talk about how cool the new belt design for AEW is:

And yes, it has been pointed out that it kinda resembles the Mid-South Championship belt.
I'm 100% for this.

It's a very classy design, though I'm surprised they're not going for more of an angular design, based on their logo. I'm not disappointed in the least - merely pleasantly surprised. I'm more of a curves & conchos kind of person myself, so this is nice. If a little hard to see.

AEW is looking cooler every day, to me, so I can't wait to see what they come up with!

I'm also fascinated by the idea of "The Librarian", which is an open casting call made on Being the Elite for anyone to send in a 60 second (or less) video of why they should be "The Librarian". At no point do they specify that "The Librarian" must be a wrestler. If I had a means to travel to them, any skill at improvisation, camera & sound skills, and any courage in my flabby body, I'd try it. Also, I'd need a Twitter account which... I haven't got. Also, I think someone with actual skill should be the one to take this job :)

Now, I find it difficult to talk about AEW without talking about the other Indie wrestling promotion they've been sniping major talent from - MLW. Now, MJF is in MLW, and so are Pentagon JR and Rey Fenix, which is... maybe not the best news for MLW. Is that too many monograms in one place? I think that's too many. Especially with the letter M involved.

The way MJF is being portrayed on Being the Elite, and the way he's on fire in MLW right now, I'm a little curious as to what his career path is going to look like. No matter what, he's going to be fine, because he's a consummate heel, and I hate him. Thank you, MLW & AEW. I hate him real good. He's the perfect combination of obnoxious and offensive talker & good hand in the ring. He's not a perfect ring-spider like Zack Sabre Jr or a spot monkey like the Bucks, but he does what he does well and it looks really good!

MLW may be losing some talent to AEW's seemingly bottomless pockets (thank you Tony Khan), but they're still putting on one hell of a show. The latest I've seen involves a guy who seems like a bizarre and wonderful combination of Jeff Jarrett & Stone Cold named Mance Warner. It's... it's a fabulous gimmick, and I have a hard time deciding why I like it so much. Probably because, like Jarrett & Austin, he's pretty darn decent in the ring on top of his ace promo skills.

He was sent against LA Park because he ticked off manager Selena De La Renta.

SDLR came out to LA Park's new theme (because even MLW can't get away with putting an unlicensed use of Thriller on YouTube) and even did the dance!

Which was freaking hilarious.
It's not every day you see a deliriously gorgeous woman do La Parka's ridiculous dance.
In a mesh top, too!

By the way, yes, LA Park is the real La Parka. Accept no substitutions. There is only one chubby Mexican Chairman, and he is LA Park.

So he comes out, does his dance, and they bring it to Mance Warner, who also does the dance (badly) at one point just to tick them off.

Finding good pictures can be hard, but this should help you get an idea of the intensity.

The match is a Hardcore one, so I'll admit, I mostly watched it from one eye while hiding behind my hair and hands...

Weirdly enough, I don't remember much blood though, and I know that's not a BeIN Sports mandate, since a previous episode showed the villainous CONTRA Unit driving a railroad spike into Maine man Ace Romero's forehead (which was gross as heck).

There were, however, many, many broken tables.

Terrifying.

I have to say, I dug Mance taking off layers as he got down to business (to defeat the Huns). I like it when people have their own way of doing things - their own spin on ring presence.

Overall, I'm going to continue looking forward to whatever Mance Warner brings next!




I think that'll about do it for me today!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Talk About Tuesday 213

It's still me - Google & Blogger are shaking things up a bit, so I'm probably going to have to change how a few things look, but I'm still the same FC you've known for a few years now.

I don't honestly know how different things are going to be, to be honest. I'm still pretty dumb about this stuff.

I'm sorry this hasn't gone up earlier - I've been a liiiiiiiittle busy this morning! Unfortunately, it's not the fun kind of busy. I'd rather have been late because my morning workout ran long (believe it or not, I have one; it's just walking, pushups, & squats, but it exists!) but that is not the case. No, I'm late because of my cat. And if you just rolled your eyes, then you've known a cat owner before. Yeah... cats.

I love cats. I love my cat. I think she's the bees' knees.

Not so much when I wake up, roll downstairs, and immediately find myself in a lake of pre-digested cat food.

So that's been my morning - cleaning up a vile smelling mess and looking for hidden spots (she seems to always do this in threes...) while trying to keep myself from freaking out. It's not her fault. She's not trying to be sick. But boy is it hard to keep a level head when you've got a bunch of paper towels in one hand and pet odor remover in the other.

Gross stuff aside, though, I'd like to take a moment to let you all know that Z has struck again, but this time, it's a blurb he wrote about a new book that's coming out! I don't know if this link will work, but if you go here and scroll down to Henry, Himself then you'll see Z's blurb! (I tested the link, so it should work, but that doesn't mean it will).

Today is going to feel pretty long, even though it's already nearly noon, so I hope I can use that virtual in-my-head time to actually get some things done. Like more writing. I'd like to get more writing done, please. I'd also like to maybe make something for Sunday's blog. We'll see how that works. And I need to choose what I'm making for Monday... Busy day today, I guess, heh.

So here's the schedule:

• Wednesday needs some wrestling. I've seen a few things that could be candidates, so we'll see what I talk about!
• Thursday will have me making more art!
• Friday, I'll have to put off my three-in-one review for one more week, but I have a neat little documentary to tell you about. This one doesn't involve the moon, but "it will change your life".
• Saturday is up in the air. I haven't found much that I want to talk about this week, but that's okay. I can always look harder :P
• Sunday... I don't know. Z & I made some interesting, possibly Indonesian, noodles. I might run a thing on those, or I may just stick with whatever I make today (if anything).
• Monday will be the dawn of a new project! I don't know if it's going to be something out of the Antique Pattern Library or something from that book I just got...
• Tuesday will have me back to blab at you!

I'm still not sure what I'm gonna do about Monday's pattern, but I'll do my best!

I should probably get started on the massive tangle of dk-weight blue yarn hanging from my closet door... that stuff needs a home.

Thanks for hanging out on Tuesdays and reading my blather, guys. It really does mean a lot to me!

Here's a picture of the little monster sleeping the sleep of the just.
Just a butt, that is :P

Go Enjoy Something, my friends!

FC

Fiber Monday 213: Kitty Finished!

That's right, folks, we have a 100% completed feline today! And boy was that a journey. Seven weeks from the first stitch to the last snip.

I both am and am not going to miss working on this wall-eyed little guy, since he was one of the most complicated dolls I've ever made, but it was quite the learning experience!

Here's the photos I took while finishing him!

Here, I'm trying to stuff the head one-handed. Don't do this.

Make sure to mush your stuffing in really well, otherwise you'll have a lumpy potato kitty.
Not that there's anything wrong with lumpy potato kitties...

Ugh. The mouth was the hardest part.

See, I thought I could just fill in some of the gaps and then sew it on...

And it almost worked, too, except for one problem...

I realized at this point that I was sewing his mouth to the top of his head!

There we go. It may look torturous, but those extra yarn needles made sure his mouth stayed in the right spot...

More or less.

If you're wondering what kinds of stitches I used to secure the muzzle, it's the same ones I used everywhere else - whatever I could make work and look more or less good. I just ran the yarn needle (I'm using one by Clover that I bought at my local sewing shop) through the pieces until they stuck together alright.

I don't own enough or heavy enough straight pins, so I had to kludge with bulb pins.
2/10 do not recommend for this work.
They don't secure the pieces together enough, since they're prone to wobbling.

I'm trying to show that I've run the needle through the end-stitches on the ears and then into the head.
I don't know how well that comes across, but it looks neat!

When I was done with the sewing on the muzzle & ears,
I just used the needle to pull the tails (which I did tie off)
down through the neck hole...
The overall effect was, frankly, creeptacular.
10/10 would recommend.

Here we see our lumpy milk bottle body.
It's cute. I like the swirls. It's also empty. Let's fix that.

That is a big ol' handful of stuffing. Look how much stuffing is in my hand!
You can't even see my hand!

That's how much of the body that big handful filled. I needed a second one to finish the body!

I totally forgot to show how I stitched the head on.
It's basically me just desperately using the yarn tail from the head and the yarn tail from the body
to hastily, yet securely, fasten the head to the body.

I am going to stress this here: I have 0 formal training on hand sewing. It shows, I know, but if I can randomly jam thread or yarn through a piece of a stuffed animal and make it stay where I want, you can too! There are infinite places on the internet to look for lessons/videos/etc on how to do this properly, and if you are going to make things to sell, then I very much suggest looking those videos up and learning the right way to do things. If you're just doing it for fun (or if you're sewing illiterate like me) then the random approach will work.

At least Yarn needles aren't sharp...

Here we see a lumpy foot. This lumpy foot needs to have just the pink part stuffed.
Why? Because he's a noodly little cat!

I've jammed a good pinch of stuffing into the opening here, but my stubby, chubby fingers won't send it to the toe...

I got some help from my crochet hooks! I used the bottom of a 6.5mm hook here, but I had to switch to a 10mm hook later.
6.5 just wasn't firm enough, I guess. Also, my 10mm hook has a round bottom, but the 6.5 has a pointy one...

You should just be able to see the fluff.

Weighted toes! I also did the same thing to the arms/hands, which means he has long noodle arms with little club paws!

Look how cute!
And yes, I know we didn't stuff the tail.
His tail is a noodle.

I had to remove the bulb pins (note to self: buy more straight pins...)
And then I had to hold the leg carefully in place while I sewed it on.

I'm trying to show you how I send the needle through both layers of the leg and through one stitch on the body.

Another closeup on my sewing attempts.

This is an arm, I believe, which got sewn on the same way as the leg.

By the time I reached his tail, I was through with bulb pins.
They're great for holding things to cloth.
They're awful for tails. I switched to my silvery yarn needle and it went great.

It took a lot of trial and error for sewing on the limbs and tail, since I've never really done this before. I like how it turned out, though:

He's so flippin cute!

Here's where things get weird. I decided to "embroider" (air quotes since I'm sure this will make a person with embroidery experience cringe) a nose & mouth onto our kitty. I did this using some leftover sport-weight yarn and free-handed it onto the face. I don't know how to embroider, so I basically just... put the yarn through the needle, didn't knot it, left a pair of long tails, and free-handed the nose & mouth until they looked good. I'm pretty sure I used a real stitch for the mouth, but I don't know what it's called. Next time, I'd love to film the whole process for you guys. It'd be a long, boring video, but it could be informative and I could get yelled at for my awful technique :P

Brb, squeeing forever!

If you'd like to name this fella, feel free to give suggestions in the comments!

The pattern is here.

Now Go Enjoy Something!!!
FC