It's a Chelsea World
Hello everyone! This week is a chance to get to know (another) oddball of HVRH, Chelsea! I’m only in the clinic part-time, but you may have caught a glimpse of me with my wild hair at one time or another hustling through the clinic. I came to work for Dr. Holland as her receptionist in 2011, and was in that position until 2015 when I left the clinic for about a year. I continued to work for Dr. Holland behind the scenes from home during that time, but in 2016, I returned to the clinic as the front office manager. It’s been so great to be back! So, let’s get into a little more of the nitty-gritty of what makes me tick.
I love animals! I currently have 1 dog, Tomodachi (which means “friend” in Japanese), and 1 cat, Apollo. I “kind of” have 2 more cats, Haggis and Oatcakes. I say “kind of” because they aren’t my cats, but they come into my house and visit almost daily. I’ll explain that in a little bit. I’m trying to convince my husband to get me a Papillion puppy for Christmas (don’t forget Dr. Holland’s blog about gifting animals), but so far, he doesn’t seem to be going for it. He seems content to have only 2 for now, but if I had my way, I’d have a small menagerie of animals. Help me convince him I need a puppy for Christmas? Please? I’d love a little sweet lap dog. Leave a comment below with your thoughts.
So I’m sure now you’d like to know a little bit more about my husband, Caleb. He’s the love of my life and my best friend (gross, right?), which is the only reason he’s been able to keep the number of animals in our household down to 2 (lol). We met in 2009 through a mutual friend, and we got married in 2012. Our wedding was held between two trees on my in-laws’ property out in the country, and we tailored the service to our passions. So, there were a lot of nerdisms to be found throughout the ceremony, including the sound of the treasure chest opening from Ocarina of Time when we placed our rings on each other’s fingers. We walked out to an orchestral version of “Never Gonna Give You Up.” So, yes, we did Rick Roll our attendees! My husband is a web-dev, so he’s very good with computers and tinkering with them. He’s currently working to automate our house into a smart home. It’s so much fun to walk into the house and tell it to turn lights on. Futuristic! His big passion is podcasting, and he and a friend release a new episode weekly. We’ve met some amazing friends through his podcasting.
When I began working from home a couple of years ago, I began coloring my hair crazy colors. I’ve had galaxy hair, mermaid hair, unicorn hair, bright red Ariel hair, and many in-between colors. Currently, I have a more muted purple and silver, but I recently whacked most of my hair off and can be found sporting a deathhawk hairdo or something akin to Kelly Osborne’s ‘do. I guess I’m channeling my inner 80s child right now. But I enjoy playing with my hair. The nice thing about hair is it (usually) always grows back!
I have recently begun playing the MMORPG “World of Warcraft” again. There are 2 factions you can choose from when playing: Alliance and Horde. “For the Horde!” I usually always play Horde races, but it’s been so long that all my remaining friends on the game have all switched to Alliance, so that’s what I’m currently playing. Let me say, when playing one faction becomes so ingrained, it’s incredibly difficult (for me) to change. I feel like a traitor! There are certain quests that pit Alliance versus Horde, and I always have an emotionally difficult time with those quests. Ridiculous, I know, but the game has a lot of memories for me.
My mother-in-law taught me how to knit earlier this year, and I have fallen in love with the art. I’m currently working on 3 sweaters, a cowl, and a hat. I like to switch between the projects as the mood takes me. My best friend, Heather, comes over to knit when her husband comes over to record the podcast with Caleb. We call it a “Knit and Sip” because there is usually wine included in the knitting. Here’s a picture of one of my current projects. It will eventually be a cardigan! Remember when I said my husband is a podcaster? Well, I'm hoping to start a video podcast with Heather about knitting. Wouldn't that be so much fun?!
I’m also, apparently, a yarn snob. I love the hand painted and dyed yarns, and I recently worked with a wool from Uruguay that is hand spun and dyed. It’s knitted up beautifully! But it’s become a bit of a joke between Heather and me. She bought me this hilarious pin as an early Christmas present. Isn’t it great?!
So, speaking of my mother-in-law, I actually live in a house right across the driveway from my in-laws. Yes, thank goodness we get along! Remember those 2 other kitties I said came to visit me? They are actually my father-in-law’s cats, but since we share a driveway, they are over visiting all the time. But the interesting factoid isn’t where I live, it’s what I live in. I live in grain bins! About the time Caleb and I met, he started building the house with his stepfather and youngest brother. The evolution of the house is its own story, so maybe we’ll do that another time. But the house is made from 3 old grain silos connected by 2 brick-and-mortar breezeways. We have a wonderful amount of room in the house. Enough that I have a craft room and office, and my husband has his own recording studio above the kitchen. In our living room, we eventually want to build a gaming table for tabletop gaming so we can have friends over for game night. We may even try to stream our gameplay online! But for now, I’ll have to content myself with the home automation Caleb is doing.
Did you know that when I have done every version of the Harry Potter Sorting Hat and I am fully in Ravenclaw? As a matter of fact, there is a website that has the quiz and will give you a breakdown of percentage of each house you fall into based upon your answers. I’m 77% Ravenclaw, 50% Hufflepuff, and only 22% Griffindor and 16% Slytherin. So, yeah, very much a Ravenclaw. “What is a Ravenclaw?” you might ask. Ravenclaw is one of the four Houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry in the Harry Potter books. “Ravenclaw House prizes learning, wisdom, wit, and intellect in its members. Thus, many Ravenclaws tend to be academically motivated and talented students. They also pride themselves in being original in their ideas and methods. Students in Ravenclaw can also be quirky and possess unusual intellectual interests. Ravenclaws usually accept and celebrate these eccentricities.” While these are traits from a fictional world, they pretty much readily apply to me.
Speaking of possessing unusual intellectual interests, I am also a part of the Oklahoma City Astronomy Club. I have 2 telescopes, a 10” Dobsonian reflector and an 8” Schmidt Cassegrain on a C-GEM. I haven’t been able to go out and do as much star-gazing as I’d like to of late, but back in September Caleb and I spent an entire week out near Black Mesa National Park in the Oklahoma panhandle doing just that. Can you spot me in the picture below? We had some stellar (pun!) nights of viewing with people from all over the world for this event (Okie-Tex Star Party), and I managed to earn a pin and certificate for completing 4 observing lists. Think of earning pins like earning badges in Boys or Girl Scouts. You do the required lists, research, etc., submit your logs, and then you earn pins! So much fun!
We’re now to the wrap up. I could probably go on longer about my interests, but I’m sure this will suffice. If you’re ever in the office and interested in talking about any of these things, just hit me up! I’m always excited to talk about my passions. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!
