every little thing

Almost.....

I can't believe it's just about show time!  Still so much left for me to do, but I had to pop back in and issue Ye Old Craft Show coupon for my sweet and lovely blog pals:

I'm really excited because this may be the first time someone actually REDEEMS one of these coupons from my blog!  I know of at least a half dozen blog pals that may come to the show, so my odds are looking good!  And remember, you don't actually have to print this out and bring it...you can just say, "Hello, I'm so-and-so and I know your blog.  Now give me my gnome."  See?  How easy is that?  And as soon as I get back and list the leftovers on my web shop, I will issue a fun coupon for  everyone else who can't make it to DC this Sunday. 

Back to work.  See you on the other side.

A Slippery Slope

I just noticed that you can see even more slips hanging in the reflection of the tiny mirror!  Scary.  It's scary that my downstairs bathroom looks like Fredrick's of Hollywood.  It's scary that the big show is a week away and I have not screen printed these slips yet.  I do like how the colors turned out.   Very Autumnal.  The problem is, that I have completely changed the course I was taking with artwork for these.  I just could not get my original ideas to pan out.  They weren't jiving.  After a late night freak out, I think I have a new direction that I'm happy with.  My hesitation has cost me some time, and now I will probably not be able to print them until Monday.  Still plenty of time, really *gulp*.  I just hope they turn out as lovely as I hope they will.

At my last count, I had over 75 slips!  I may go back and re-dye the red ones again and see if I can get them a little darker.  (The slips above are a mauve-rose dye.)  I did a lot of rit dye experimentation this time.  Mixing up to 3 colors at a time to get unique hues.  Most of them turned out great.  So many of the dyes have a purple-ish base though.  Black is purple, dark brown is purple, dark blue is purple....I had to do some serious tweaking.  Oh, I really can't wait to print them now!!!!  I'm so nervous.

Oh, and if you were thinking about jumping in the Parade (Handmade Parade, that is) the Norfolk Craft Mafia has extended the application deadline to October 3rd, 2007.  We were completely floored by the response to our call for vendors!  So many talented people!  We are considering expanding to another area of the venue to accommodate even more craftiness!  So exciting, I can hardly wait.   So, one more time, here's the deal:  Handmade Parade is the first of many exciting craft shows sponsored by the Norfolk Craft Mafia.  The show will take place on November 10th, 2007 in Norfolk, Virgina.  We are accepting applications for vendors to peddle all of their fabulous, handmade art and craft items (bath and body, baby items, accessories, fine art, jewelry, tasty treats, photography, and on and on....!)  For even more info, please do hop over to the website:  Norfolk Craft Mafia .

Hope you all have a lovely weekend, as usual! 

Is it butter yet?

I wish that I had some swoony, artistic pictures to share from my canning adventure this week.  (Remember the basket of pears?)  Unfortunately, preserving usually ends up being a late-night project for me, so this creepy, flashed out pic is all I got.  For me preserving is such a fast paced process, that there is little time for picture taking anyway.  You have to keep stirring and stirring, or the pear butter will splatter all over, or burn to the bottom of the pan.  You have to ladle and seal quickly, while everything is piping hot.  And, if you are me, you have to scald your fingers every five minutes and swear like a sailor.  (Luckily, yesterday was national Pirate-Talk day, so I had an excuse!)  My sister kept peeking in the kitchen, tentatively and asking, "Um, are you ok?   But it's all over now, and so worth it.  I had never made pear butter before, and it is so delicious.  Very different from apple butter.  Much more orange-nutmeg flavor, it is very reminiscent of marmalade.  Unfortunately, it's not the prettiest of colors.  Sort of gruel-looking.  Makes me think about all of the things we eat that are amped with color and dye and preservatives just to make them look more appealing.  I should take better pictures of the jars, like these I took of the damson jam last year:

 

Ah, that's better.  I'm quite sad looking at this photo, because the  tree at my grandparent's died last year, so there are no damsons to be had now.  They are my favorite, and I have no idea where else I  could find them, they're kind of an old-world fruit.  Like a small, tart plum....sort of.   It makes the most heavenly jam, and I have one jar left from last year squirlled away, like an apple of gold.  How I treasure it.  Sigh.

Craft pictures, at last!

I'm really excited about the theme that is developing with these projects.  Sort of a Hansel and Gretel, meets Pocahontas, meets a giant mushroom sort of feel.  There are lots of other interesting things in the works as well, as you can see in the following picture.  Can you find   all of the unfinished projects?   Try to circle at least 5!

My sister, Kristina ( aka Kippy)  has  been busy crafting too.  She plans to open an etsy shop and blog  in the near future.   She's also  living with us for a bit now, and I can't even say how awfully nice it is to have her around.  More sisterly fun than you can shake a stick at!  Here's a peek at some of here works in progress.

Details on these, and other exciting adventures, to come later in the week!  Oh, and check out these beauties.

Dust off the ladle and line up the mason jars.  It's canning time!

Shame Spiral

That's right.  I'm a jerk . I was tagged a long time ago by three, very sweet bloggers, and I have YET to fulfill my duties.  Well, better late than never (my motto of the month!)   So here goes.  With my most sincere apologies and regrets (and also some goofy pictures of me to help appease my guilt.) 

1. Jennifer of Infinity More Monkeys tagged me for the Nice Blogger Award......almost a month ago.  Since I am just now acknowledging this, that clearly makes me un-nice so I am revoking the title, returning the crown and hanging my head in shame.

2. Sara Duckett of Sadie Olive was so sweet to nominate me for the Rockin' Blogger award.  Again, I'm super late on this one too, so I do not feel qualified to pass anything along.  Besides, I think you are all rockin' bloggers.  Really.  (and I know it's only rockin' roll....but i like it.)

3.  Sarah of Girl Land tagged me recently for a "share seven things" and I shall complete this one, to the best of my ability.  And be sure to look at her list so you check out the giant  bangs (snort!)  And, I can laugh at this because....I had big bangs too.  And a side pony tail.  And stirrup pants.  *shudder*.

Seven strange, weird or random facts about me:

1.)  I have been known to wear stick-on facial hair.  (See picture above.)  But, I'm of Mediterranean descent, so it's not really that far from the reality. Yes, I am hairy.  At my most sensitive peak, I would bleach my arm hair sometimes, and it hurt so terribly, that I would stand, flapping my white, goo-covered arms like a bird, in total agony waiting for the hair to lighten.  Luckily, age has dulled the hairiness (or maybe just my perception of it) and I could give a hoot anymore.  Though, if I don't tend to my lip every now and then, I will get a "high-school-movie-lunch -lady" look going on.

2.) In high school I was nominated "student of the week" once.  It entailed a big picture and questionnaire being posted in the hall display case for (you guessed it) a months time.  I was a nobody in school, so I thought it would be funny to fill out the questionnaire with a bunch of smart-ass comments (mostly quotes from movie.)  Something interesting about myself?  "I rarely wear underwear, but when I do it's something very unusual."  Bill Murray, Stripes.  Something that people don't know about me?  "I have one glass eye, so nobody know which eye too look into when they are talking to me."  (I actually don't remember where the hell i got that one from, but it must have been a TV show or something.)  The point of this story.  Don't try to be funny in high school, unless you actually ARE funny.  Or you will get people coming up to you for the rest of the year, "Whoa, do you really have a glass eye?  That's awesome...."

3.)  Speaking of eyes, in my brief and fleeting stint at college, I took an art class that had mandatory attendance and I found myself having missed one to many days, and was in deep water.  I have NO idea how or why I came up with this horrible plan, but I came to class then ext day wearing an eye patch (found in my car's first aid kit) and I made up this long story about how my boyfriend was playing with a Pokemon happy meal toy, it slipped from his hand hit me in the eye, scratched the cornea and I had to wear a patch for several days.  (I was going for the "the more crazier the story, the more they will believe it" theory.)  And, it worked, they bought it!  But, In my genius plotting, I forgot that I had my final project to complete in class, and now I had to do it with a patch on my eye and NO DEPTH PERCEPTION.

4.) I spent a whole night (ALL night from dusk to dawn) a few weeks ago watching all of the My So Called Life episodes on TV links.  It took hours.  But it was so awesome.  Anyone else obsessed with this show?  I can't believe we never got to see if Angela ever hooked up with Brian Krakow.  I mean, she got in Jordan Catalano's car at the end of finale, but what about the letter?!?!  The show was canceled after one season.  Too cruel.

5.) Speaking of shows, I think it is time for me to admit.   (*deep breath) I am a big, giant nerdy fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000.  There, I said it.  I just can't help it, ok?!?  They are so funny!!!  I realize that admitting something like this is akin to me confessing that I dress up for medieval gatherings and my wench name is Lady Fratterly (not true, by the way....I'm not that nerdy.)  And, just so you know, I can make fun of other nerds if I want to, it's in the dork-clause:  when you are a nerd, you have the liberty to make fun of other different types of nerd,  as they will in turn, be making fun of you.  It's a self-preservation thing.  Oh, and my favorite episodes are Manos, the Hands of Fate, Danger:Death Ray and Girls Town.)

6.) Wow, these just keep getting worse.  Should I stop now? Nah.  Here's the invitation I made for our Saint Patrick's Day party two years ago.

Once again, I can't stress enough:  do not try to be funny if you AREN''T funny.  I don't think anybody got it.  "Are you really going to have 6 kegs and live music? Whoa!"  It was our first (and last) party.  (We did have one keg, actually.) And, I made this crazy punch out of lime sherbet and lots of alcohol.  It was disgustingly good.  I got the background image for the invitation from a Senior Center's website with pictures form their Saint Patty's party (which was probably cooler than ours.  I love pistachio pudding.)

7.) Am I done yet?  Please?  That's enough torture for one post.  For all of us.

Drop the beat

I can't tell you the song he was listening to because I don't actually know the name of it...and if you knew the lyrics, you would deem me an unfit mother.  Lets just say that daddy is to blame for that one.  When Max and I listed to records, it's Donovan, Mamas and the Papas, The Stones and other harmless, classic rock.   And he likes all of that pretty well, but he doesn't get quite as enthusiastic as when he's jamming to daddy's music.  Hmph.

So Max pretty much rocked Bay Days this year.  It's this big festival- type thing in Downtown Hampton.  Nothing worth writing home about, but Mike is forced to sit there all weekend and man a t-shirt booth for the screen printing company he works  for, so we usually go up to visit him, snag some cotton candy, do some carnie rides.

That's pretty much all I did last weekend, since my "little under the weather" on Friday turned into a sub tropical mucus fest by Saturday.  Not fun.  I even lost my voice for a while too, much to the boy's general amusement.  Missing out on much needed crafting this weekend has made my schedule pretty hectic for this week, but I'm optimistic.  I'm feeling much better today and progress is being made.  I should have some actual CRAFTY photos to share later this week!  I've been all family and miniatures these days!  Oh, and I want to thank everyone for chiming in on the bad-movie post, I also adore all the movies you all brought up....we are all peas in a pod here in blogland!  I didn't get to watch Troop Beverly Hills, since our old copy was VHS and we don't even have a VCR anymore.  I put it in my netflix cue, though.  For when the next cold bug bites. 

It's just after midnight here, and Monday is technically over Woo hoo, we made it!  Happy Tuesday, y'all.   

So I woke up a little under the weather this morning....

...and all I want to do is curl up with a plate of leftover lasagna from last night, and watch this movie.  I must have watched Troop Beverly Hills when I was home sick from school as a kid, because it's really strange how it's the first thing I think of when I I'm coming down with a cold.  If you've never seen it, it's just your typical B movie from the late 80's.   Very silly and pretty pointless, really.  Good, clean fun.  I have a real love/hate thing for Shelly Long.  She annoys he crap put of me, but darn it, I just can't stop watching.  I loved her in Irreconcilable Differences, another classic comfort movie.

I'm actually not a big Drew Barrymore fan, though.  Sorry.  I know most people really love her.  I think she peaked early.  Did you ever see Home Fries?  *shudder*.  And I actually love bad movies, I always have.  But just as there is a formula for what a makes a movie great, there is also criteria for bad movies too.  There is awesomely-bad, and just bad-bad.  And not much room in between.  For example:

  VS .

Now, these are both terrible movies.  No arguing there.  Boring plots, no suspense, bad framing, poor continuity, trite duologue, mediocre acting....and so on.  But there IS a big difference.  I actually totally love Dirty Dancing 2, and it's one f my favorite comfort-bad movies.  My sister and I watch it every now and then, and are always amused by the hilarious voice overs, the mismatched actors and just general goofiness of the movie. It goes beyond stupid and into a new realm of horribleness.  A place that is actually really funny and totally engrossing. The other one, Just My Luck, doesn't have that same power.  It never pushes past the annoying phase and into "strangely endearing."  It's so bad, that you can't even make fun of it.  I guess it's hard to describe how it works, you just have to see for yourself.  I know some of you guys out there know what I'm talking about!  And I want to hear what your favorite "guilty pleasure"-crap movies are!  I have lots...and I'll share more with you later.  Right now, I have a date with a nuked plate of lasagna.

Have a great weekend, guys!

 

The Wild One

Sorry I've been absent again!  I feel a bit like Miss doll-head over here.  Droopy eyed, disheveled and displaced.  I guess September can do that to you. 

Back to school time is always exciting.  Especially if your little angel has been spoiled all summer long, and has an inherent  disregard for authority figures.  He's one of those kids that everyone says has a big "personality", which can really mean many different things: bossy, obstinate, showboat, thug (to name a few.)   I was pretty good this year though, I didn't do any major crying on the first day, after I dropped him off.  I did have to shake of the overwhelming urge to sit on the porch, chain smoke, and worry.  But that's not my fault, that's my Greek ancestry rearing it's ugly head.  You know, the Greeks actually invented the art of chain smoking and worrying......and Democracy.   But anyway, wow, having kids is really fun.  Really.  I mean, where did this kid come from?  I was (am) a quiet, bookish nerd that never spoke up.  How am I supposed to raise this wild animal?  I can barely even relate to him.  Luckily, he is insanely cute and cunning, so with luck he will win over his teachers heart, as he did mine, and all will be well.  (and this is only preschool.  he he.....I'm in trouble.)