Girl, You Know It’s True

I just stumbled across a radio station down here who will play Milli Vanilli. That surely is something. I have to say it excited me some.

Though I am way more excited about this weekend! I’m heading off in less than 2 hours to meet up with this great group of gals. Woooooot. It’s been a very hectic and nutty past two weeks here. Lots of cramming and making and sending. I do have fun things to share, but they’ll have to wait for next week.

In the meantime, I urge you to please make a pledge for my buddy Becky, who is a total rockstar and will soon be walking the 3-Day in Tampa.

Have a great weekend!

I think I might be needing a case of “grow up!”

Because, fight as I did last season, I have somehow inadvertently gotten addicted to this. Hello, I’m 30! It’s odd, because I was anti this type of crowd in high school. It absolutely boggled my mind to no end how girls in this crowd at my high school who were friends with one another could just pick up and date one another’s exes. Ick and ick. And now I’m all in the grips of Alex v. Jessica over the turkey Jason. Isn’t that just ill? Also, the crazy insane expectations set by this are frightening. If Monkey and I actually succeed at spawning and the kids come to expect parties like these, we are totally going to be hated by our kids. Because it is so not going to happen. Why can’t these shows show more “real” deals like this great show?

Tagged!

Lisa of Elle B tagged me while I was in Chicago, but I finally got around to doing this today, yay!

10 YEARS AGO TODAY: September 16, 1995
I’m pretty sure I was pulling all-nighters and cramming for exams. It was my junior year in college. 

5 YEARS AGO TODAY: September 16, 2000
I’d just returned from my first trip to the UK with Monkey.

1 YEAR AGO TODAY: September 16, 2005
I was recovering from marathon crafting in preparation for Renegade. Boo, I am not doing Renegade this year. 

YESTERDAY: September 15, 2005
I was really productive. I had shipped off a load of Walrus orders the day before, had a phone conversation with a prospective retailer/distributor, and cleaned the dining room (which I had hijacked and made into a second crafting center) and organized my craft room (which was a total disaster yesterday but is now a lovely exercise in organization galore today). 

TOMORROW: September 17, 2005
Tomorrow is Saturday, which totally rocks my socks off always. Because even though I don’t hold a traditional day job (and hey, I can watch daytime TV while working, which also rocks!), it’s such a treat for me and for Casey to have Monkey home and relaxed for the whole day. Hooray!

5 SNACKS I ENJOY
I am a connoiseur of snacks. So hard to whittle down to 5, but here goes: fruity mochi cakes (is saying “cakes” redundant here, like saying “PIN number” or “ATM machine?” Seriously, I want to know), Salsa Verde Doritos, hummus (extra garlicky) + pita points, mini carrots with ranch dip, and Reese’s Peanut Butter cups.

5 BANDS THAT I KNOW MOST OF THEIR LYRICS
Erhm. I am a lyric slayer…but I mostly know the lyrics for The Killers, The Cure, They Might be Giants, Sarah McLachlan (not a band but a band), and Coldplay.

5 THINGS I’D DO WITH A MILLION $$
Buy a house, buy my family houses nearby, travel, put money into the business, make some fat donations to nonprofits I support.

5 PLACES I’D RUN AWAY TO 
I hear the following places are lovely: Melbourne, Provence, Saigon, Rome, Fiji. 

5 BAD HABITS I HAVE
Procrastinating (I’ve been terrible with replying to emails lately!), making piles of papers and magazines, not eating when I get busy, being terrible at plucking up the chutzpah to pick up the phone and call friends/business (I’m just not a phone person), making the house a wreck while Im’ “creating.”

5 THINGS I LIKE DOING
Making things (simply for the enjoyment of making), reading, cooking, working (I do, I love working – when it’s for my own business!), traveling.

5 THINGS I WOULDN’T WEAR
Tapered pants (even when they’re in vogue–already paid my dues in the 80s), latex “clothing,” mesh anything, fur,  dolman sleeves (again, already paid in the 80s).

5 TV SHOWS I LOVE
I think you know I am a TV fiend. I could go on forever about all the great shows I love. Here are 5 current loves: So You Think You Can Dance, House Hunters, Crafters Coast to Coast, Gene Simmon’s Rock School, Bands Reunited.

I’m in trouble when all the regular series’ fall season begins! Lost, Desperate Housewives, Medium, The Office…we need to get some way to tape all our addictions.

5 MOVIES I LOVE
Amelie, Lost in Translation, The Matchmaker, Alex & Emma, About a Boy.

5 FAMOUS PEOPLE I’D LIKE TO MEET
Eh. I don’t, really. It’d be nice if I came across someone famous, but no one really stands out right now. I’m blah that way.

5 BIGGEST JOYS AT THE MOMENT
My husband, my poochie, crafting, reading, working for myself. 

5 FAVORITE TOYS
My computer, digital camera, Wacom tablet, paints, sewing machine.

5 PEOPLE TO TAG
I’m not going to tag anyone but would love it if you played along and let me know if you do!

Have a great weekend!!

Good Things

So many good things to share…I’ve been hanging onto some of them for a few weeks, since it seemed not quite right for me to be all chirpy over good things when there were so many sad things going on.

But! Good things are good things, and they deserve their day in the sun too. Yay!

• The Queen of Good Things’ new show premiered today. I caught it by happenstance on our local WB affiliate this morning. TLC also airs it in the evening for those of you with day jobs. Marcia Cross (Bree of Desperate Housewives) was one of the guests. Poor thing! It was a bit difficult, because Martha + short attention span = not a good listener. Fine if you’re not doing a talk show format, but…..I’ll prolly keep watching for a bit anyway. I like Martha. She’s kooky in a stiff kind of way.
  
• Big press for The Walrus and for Hope’s Paper Relics on the same page! It was quite exciting to learn that both Hope and I had work featured in the “This We Like column” of the October/November issue of Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion. Neither one of us were subscribers to the magazine, but I want to send a huge thank you to Mary and her awesome Indie Collective, as that was how MEHC found us. Brilliant! And also brilliant were all you great blogworld friends who’d seen the issue and dropped me a note to let me know. Big thanks to Jes, Jess, Kathy, Jenny, and Jennifer for sending a note with big congrats even before I could get my hands on a newsstand copy. You all made my day!!
  
• Super Snail Mail Galore! It was stupendous to return home from my visit in Chicago to a huge stash of fantastic mail. Woo woooot!
  
  
  
  • August snail mail from my Snail Mail swap partner, Michele:

I hit the motherlode of goodies this time. I love all the vintage-inspired papers and ephemera and I LOVE the Altered Books Workshop book. I haven’t altered a book since college, when I took a great course in Bookmaking and Letterpress.

• I got a great surprise in the mail from Joleen: an art challenge! She totally had me smiling when I found this crammed into our little mail box (despite notes not to bend, the postal carrier did bend the package, but all was well):

It’s a goodie bag of crafty bits and bobs from which I’m to create something. I am totally going to do it this week! I hope it turns out well!

• Maria sent me a load of fabulous craft supplies for her fun Craft Challenge as well (I first learned of it through sweet Jes!). I love the little bits she tucked in for me. I could see my theme forming as I picked through all the fun pieces! I also hope to complete this challenge this week!

• I ordered some sweet notecards from Leslie’s shop and got a bonus of a fun little pouch to boot! On another day, she sent some of her cute bookplates and fun socks that mirror a set of stamps I’d ordered from her a while back.  Woot!

 

• I ordered a couple of glass badges from Happy Owl Glassworks to join my other pins of  owl and squirrel: Walrus and a Seahorse. Oh, yeah!

• I ordered these great Gnomic notecards from the Crafters United shop at Etsy. They’re from a company called Young & With It Industries. I got a sweet little matchbook notepad as a bonus with the order! And all the gnomes, oh my!

• Monkey’s birthday was on the 2nd of this month. No, I didn’t forget it. I just didn’t feel right posting about it so close after Katrina. I know I’m weird. Anywhoo, in case you might be needing a gift for your manfriends, the following went over very well:
  
  
  
  • “Tickets to the Gun Show” t-shirt from Urban Outfitters. Monkey’s favorite joke from the American version of The Office. Lizzie spied this gem for me.
    
  • The League of Gentlemen: The Collection. All seasons of this show. Super!
    
  • Garmin ForeRunner 301 Personal GPS. Good because the heart monitor is integrated into this. I also got the bike mount for when Monkey wants to use it for biking instead of running.
    
  • My mix of fun songs to drive to.
    
  • There were a bunch of bits and bobs, not really worth mentioning here, but I like “grab bag” styling of gifts and like to toss in tchotchkes and such. Things like 3-d stickers of dogs in space suits, robot silly putty and the like.
  
  
• We had a nice lunch over at Ron & Amy’s on Labor Day (followed by a session of group-house-stalking!). Amy made a yummy pesto-grilled-chicken-pasta and these fab birthday cupcake cones for Monkey. I love them! The last time I saw cupcake cones, I was probably 8 years old! So fun!

• It was so great visiting with Lizzie (and Brutus!) and helping her set up her own new house. It’s the sweetest little cape cod on a very cute street. More pics here.

• We also squeezed in a few visits with friends while we were back in Chicago. We didn’t get enough time to get around and see everyone (sorry!!), but you all are at the top of our list for the next time! We had a lot of tidying up to do on the house that will not sell, so we were really pressed for time. I was a dolt and didn’t get a snap of Melly (hey Melly!!) because I had my camera but no memory stick when Lizzie and I met up with her, but I did get a few snaps with the old gang and with Judy and Tammy.
  
• I’m going to visit NYC for the first time at the end of this month with a bunch of fabulous ladies {Jes, Hope, Kathleen, Leslie, Yvonne}!! I am so excited. I really should’ve been better with saving money this month…any suggestions for definite must do’s (and good things!) in NYC?
  
• Casey and I send a big thank you to all of you who left us such sweet comments. She is feeling much better and seems to be back to her old self. I am watching her more closely than I had before, though, and I offer her more of my silly songs and cuddles. Thank you and wooof!

Good Vibes to My Casey

Today is Casey’s birthday. I’m a bad mom, because it took a birthday wish email from Dogster to remind me (I really should remember; it’s a week after Monkey’s birthday). My darling little girl is 7 today. It should all be tummy rubs and poochie treats, but we both experienced something so frightening for us today. At first, I thought Casey might be chasing a random fly around the house (she’s been known to catch quite a few, nimble little thing that she is), but after a few minutes of her continued, frenetic running around the apartment, I realized something must be amiss. As I followed her frenzied running, I could see that Casey wasn’t all there. Her legs seemed to have taken on a life of their own, carrying her at rapid, twitchy speeds against her will. It was a seizure.

My little Casey had a seizure today.

It was the first she’d ever had, and the first I’d ever experienced. It scared us both. My skin went cold and my heart started to pound quickly and furiously as the realization finally hit. I sat down next to her, where she finally crashed into a couch and lay on her back, legs still going full-force. I stroked her head and cooed gentle words at her. She seemed to return back to herself after a few moments, panting and very tired. I was about beside myself at this point. I just wanted to make her feel better. She seemed to be back to her normal self after a few more moments of stroking, but I could see her front paw twitching and her eyes picking up a glazed-over look, fully dilated and staring off beyond me again. The second seizure was much milder and shorter in duration, but good God, I was beside myself just trying to soothe her and myself. So far, it’s been just the 2 seizures. Our vet has us on Casey alert to keep an eye out and see how she’s faring and if any other episodes occur. He’s said that it’s not uncommon for most dogs to experience one seizure at some point in their lifetimes. I hope these are the only ones she ever has to endure. I know I’ll be better at commemorating all her future birthdays. 

Eventually

Eventually, I’ll be back to blogging my regular, chirpy stuff. I have lots to report on from the good people of blogworld. But I’ve been at a real loss for happy words of late. The effects of Katrina have been so heartbreakingly mind-boggling that I can’t quite put into words the tremendous weight and sadness this moment in history has unleashed. Nothing quite feels like it’s enough. Monkey and I donated to The Red Cross, and The Walrus donated to the Crafters United shop at Etsy. I’m looking forward to making my first quilt block for Quilts for Katrina…Even still, we still feel we haven’t helped enough. We’re sitting comfy and cozy in our apartment full of stuff, watching tv, cuddling our dog, surfing the internet. The news stories don’t get any easier to stomach. And I can’t stop watching. I feel guilty tip tapping away on my computer. It’s all so ick.

Which isn’t to say that life isn’t still full of wonders and gratitude. It’s sad to say that such awful events have to happen to remind us to be thankful for our little things. For one another. For our good friends. While all this badness and sadness is happening, our world keeps rolling onward, and life and the business of living still keep going, bringing with it every moment new specks of happiness and comfort…we’re still enjoying the fun and happy moments we’ve been blessed enough to have…we’ll be doing more donating…doing what we can to help out. It may be little in the grand scheme of things, but it will help in some small way, eventually.

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Good Places to visit:

• Network for Good
  
• Noah’s Wish
  
• Operation We Got Your Back (thanks to Roz)
  
• Care Packages (thanks to Stef)
  
• Crafters United
  
• The Red Cross