my daily dose of slightly weird

So today I'm standing in line at Joann's
(you know, the fabric/craft store), waiting
to use a 50% off coupon with a jumbo gallon of
gesso. (Actually, I was somewhat pouting that
they still don't carry Shiva Paintsticks, but
that's beside the point.)

As always, I offered my extra coupon to the people
behind me, who happened to be a very nice couple,
and, it turns out, they were from Sedalia (MO),
which is where my best friend from college lives.

She's beautiful and brilliant! Really, just
look at her website. I'm amazed every time.

Then it's checkout time. The checkout lady says--
"What is that?"
And I very briefly explained the basics of gesso.

Then she says, I kid you not:

"I don't know nothin' about no art things."

Really, that struck me as more hilarious than it
probably should have, and I leaned in with a
conspiratorial whisper--"You probably shouldn't
say that too loudly, seeing how you work at
Joann's and all."

It was funny, but maybe you had to be there . . .

Now, just to top the day off right, with an extra
helping of "You gotta be kidding me," my cousin
e-mails me and says her son is (and she is NOT
happy about this, mind you)--

training to be a professional wrestler. As in,
spandex and choke holds and folding-chairs-upside-
the-head wrestler.

Not a joke.

But it sure is funny! (Sorry, cuz!)

If anyone can best that for today, please, by all
means, please enlighten me!

latest project and tag

Working on this for my daughter, not
finished. Still beading a side, so
will have to wait to show
the final results.

I don't know about this tag thing.
I'm such a lurker that people will be
wondering who exactly
this goofball is.

Kris double tagged me, therefore I'm so still tagging her.

Ellie got me first--check out her gorgeous holiday pics, and artwork, too. Her list of 7 things is truly wild!

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here's my seven things.

1. I am not computer literate, and this was especially painful
and difficult for me to do. Oh, wait, no, it helped me stretch
and grow. *snort*

2. When I laugh really hard, I actually do snort in a quite
unladylike fashion.

3. I sniff crayons. That's right, just what it says, I sniff
crayons. Don't judge me.

4. I am a dilettante; Jill of all trades, master of none. *sigh*
Wait a minute: I looked up dilettante, just to make sure I
was spelling it correctly, and it means over-opinionated
AND underqualified. Hey, I freely admit to the underqualified,
so that negates the over-opinionated right off. So much for
that.

5. When my husband opens doors for me, it makes me feel loved
and unworthy at the same time. He's a wonderful person.

6. I am something of a hermit, and like it that way!

7. It may sound strange, but truly, I do like to clean.
It's just there are so many other things I like to do more.



So I'm tagging:
the Collage Contessa
(she's been BUSY--check out her artwork)
Sparklin' Suzy
Lola
ginger at home
Suzy and Lola (Jana) and ginger are such the sewers!
rice (gorgeous fabric postcards!)
Gretchen (Gretchen is a sewer,
too, and you can actually buy her things on Etsy!)
and crafty Joan, who is an art swap queen, and probably doesn't know I stalk her blog.

aprons and bags and baby blankets

First is the frilly spring apron I received from Diane;
it's made so nicely, it inspired me to work on mine
even a little harder than maybe I would have!
So, thank you Diane--it's very pretty, and what's more
"springy" than tulips?? And it looks so lovely on our
dear son . . .

Next is the fabric and trim that I'm going to use in
the spring handbag swap; spring means green, and
all the early flowers like tulips, hyacinth, lilacs.
It's the same fabric I used for my apron-to-send out,
which turned out pretty well, considering there was
no pattern involved. Was originally going to use the
vintage apron pattern from bend the rules sewing,
but decided it needed a bib. Which is the
next pic--the sassy apron which needs to go in the
mail tomorrow.

The last is a baby blanket for little Eva, bright
fun cotton print on one side, so-very-soft flannel
on the other. Quilting hearts all over it. The
shower is Saturday, so really should finish that. . .

And that's what's underhand at our house; what are
YOU working on??

life is ridiculous

Things I Found Whilst Sorting the Dirty Laundry Today:

2 Nerf Darts

pile of three clean, folded towels

silver gel pen

container of dental floss

DC car adaptor ( I don't want to know.)

soft soap dispenser (full of soap)

wire cutters (I really don't want to know.)

Even in the mundane, my life is ridiculous! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not
envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it
is not easily angered, it keeps no record
of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth. It always
protects, always trusts, always hopes,
always perseveres."

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

I have some hearts to mail to:
Mary Timme
rice
Debra Johnson
Jodi Barone
kimmikat (Susie)
Pandora's Artbox

and one for Lisa, because she deserves it for organizing
the One World One Heart event, yes?

So, yes, I'm sending out seven instead of five, as I
kind of went overboard with the whole felting thing
(due to my compulsive need to stab something??)

Will contact all the peoples with my e-mail address,
so you can send me your addresses, on the morrow.

Show some love today! :)

Added note: Debra, I can't figure out any way to
contact you . . . let me know . . .

some more swaps . . .

These magnets went out in the
mail Monday to Nicolle and Bee.
Had intended to do a set of
shrink plastic things, but
couldn't find my plastic. *sigh*

These turned out fun, though--lots of glitter
on the initials, some of that iridescent ice embossing
powder on the rainbow, nice organic shapes to the needle felted things.
(Actually, dear daughter made the flower fairy for Nicolle--thank you!)
All-in-all, very satisfying to make, but I hope the recipients are just
as satisfied with their packages!

The four on the right, in a nice little row, were made by Staci Rose.
They're wonderful, and I was very happy to get them!
Hearts for Staci!

field trip!

Yesterday we made the three hour trip to
Jefferson City for the FHE rally.

Honestly, we probably wouldn't have gone,
but the two youngest are in a homeschool hand chime
choir. They played prior to the rally in the rotunda,
and it sounded just lovely. They went last year, as
well, but had even more fun this year, as their two best
buddies are now in the choir as well.

Came home, dropped off the two, took the fencer
to fencing. Came home, dropped into bed and finished
reading Housekeeping.
(Poetic, but strange.)

Today we're at the shop (baseball cards, memorabilia,
vintage toys), and between packing ebay shipments, I'm
playing computer.

Tonight is church.

The end for today.

alien puppy from outer space

The photographic evidence is in. You be the judge.

We have to take little miss Clementine home today.
We'll miss the furry little Ewok! Almost made me want
a puppy of my own. Almost. Walking her in the snow put
a major damper on that particular desire . . .

15 year old VS college girls . . .

So, here is my story.

As previously stated, 15-year-old son is taking fencing
at the local community college. This is all well and
good, aside from the fact that the college-age girls
are checking him out. He does not appear to be aware
of this (whew!), however, I believe that, at the next
class, he should be required to wear a big sign on his
back.

I AM ONLY 15. MY MOMMY HAD TO DRIVE ME HERE.

And that is my story.

heartfelt & One World-One Heart Giveaway!

Here's what happened. I found a vintage wool coat
that was beyond redemption. So I felted it, intending
to do who-knows-what with it. Then I saw the bin of
needle felting supplies on top of the dryer. Cut out
hearts from coat. Needle felted a heart. Needle
felted another heart. And another . . . let's just
say, I pretty much have my Valentines made!

The hearts are actually brooches; sat for 2 hours
last night at the local community college, waiting
for 15-yr-old son to finish fencing, sewing and
sewing the little pin backs. It was very satisfactory,
to have a pile of finished fuzzy hearts. They're even
warm fuzzy hearts, since they're felt. ;)

That post was yesterday: today I found THIS:

One World-One Heart Giveaway!

So now you (if you're here, and not Suzy, because she
asked first and gets one anyway) can have a heart, too!

Sure, it's kind of late in the game, but you know you
want one . . .
You don't have to have a blog, but be sure to leave me
some way to contact you. You can even tell me your
choice of color combinations, and I'll make one just
for you.

(Now, won't it be funny if no one wants one??!!)

Well, apparently someone wants one, so
I'll be giving away 5, that's right, FIVE. 5. :)

Puppy Day!!!!!

We got a puppy yesterday!
Isn't she adorable??
(She's even cuter without
the green eyes. Sorry I'm
not more skilled.)

Anyway, fine, she's not really
ours, we're puppysitting for
the Collage Contessa. But
that didn't keep us from
skipping around singing, "It's
Puppy Day! It's Puppy Day!!

This little pooch is probably the smallest pet in the
house--I'm pretty sure even the bunny outweighs
her. We resorted to subterfuge to keep her presence
unknown to the big dogs of the household, but in all
honesty, they're not overly observant of in-house
goings-ons. Barth the Behemoth heard her bark
once this morning (which is the first noise I'd heard
out of her), but he chalked it up to the recent
3-squirrel deck incident this morning, and headed
for the back door. Maggie the Cat knows, and is
highly irritated at being displaced from her favorite
bed, but she won't tell.