Helles Belles Misconceptions about life

Wandering and confused

2008-08-27T11:51:00.002-05:00

Well I do believe helle has just frozen over. I will not necessarily stay at this blog, but was feeling froggy and decided to see if this blog would let me post. You could have knocked me over with a feather when it not only let my see my dashboard but let me go right to a new post without any trouble! So I may be here from time to time if Wordpress gives me too much trouble. Just as a little FYI for those of you who think it strange that I show up here all out of the blue and all.

Shameless

2008-05-23T08:53:00.004-05:00

Yeah that was a shameless (Garth Brooks sings in my head as I type) stunt I pulled yesterday, but I really was curious to know who reads this and I appreciate you guys stopping by. More crafty pictures should be arriving soon. I've become a bit lazy about it due to the fact that its a bit more difficult to load pictures on Wordpress than it is on blogger. Major bummer and the only thing I would change but I'm thinking I may get a little ambitious here in a sec and run over to Mozilla and cheat on wordpress. Thank you KathiD for the comment on the new look. I liked the green really well but it cut off more than half of my title and then I found out if you don't have a paid account, you can't put in layouts from other sources and save them. What a stinker. Fortunately wordpress has some very nice free layouts and we all know free is good.

Here for your viewing pleasure ma cheries are some crafty pimpin pictures

This one is a mermaid made for me by my partner, Valorie, in the Mermaid Swap over at Bella Enchanted

It inspired me to make this little girl. She's not topless, her shirt just blends in Really well.

And when I got done, I wanted to make more like her so for the first time in my life I made a pattern! I am thinking this may become some sort of swap.

Thats all for now folks. Hope you enjoyed the show and I will be picking a name tomorrow from the comments on yesterday's post to send something to so think about what you ladies might want.

I'm moving

2008-05-09T08:23:00.001-05:00

I took KathiD's suggestion and am moving to Wordpress. I like it better already as it allows me to use it on Internet Explorer. So on the off chance that you have me in your feeds, I am now available at www.hellebelles86.wordpress.com Come visit me there as I will not be here any longer!

F itty f f f f!!!!!!!!

2008-05-08T19:59:00.003-05:00

I had a nice disturbed post all planned out for you about how I am a yarn addict and how I'm starting to wonder where have all the bloggers gone? ( to the tune of flowers or cowboys your choice) but after spending half an hour to get into blogger I just wanted to yell F*ck! Yeah see I had to quit using blogger on internet explorer after it signed me out randomly because the sign in page hasn't worked on there since I got back from Florida. It spins and spins and finally comes up with a blank white page that says Not Found Error 404. So I got pissed and then I got smart and ran my little fingers over to my Mozilla Firefox which I don't use as much because with the most recent upgrades I like IE better. (NEVER thought I'd be saying that) So anyway it gives me the same error screen but when I go back to my blog I'm all signed in and when it randomly signs me out I can get to the login screen. Weird I know but if it works I'll ride with it. So I have to change from my primary browser every time I want to make a post or change to my blog which is not conducive to good internet and blog usage. So I was kinda wondering if anyone knows about any other good free blog sites that aren't like Myspace? Cuz I can't afford to pay for the silly thing and could hardly justify it with as few readers as I have, but I like getting on here and talking to myself hoping someone else is listening. Its like having a friend who's mute and has temporary amnesia about the sign language they learned. I can talk about myself all I want and no one can stop me. Its not the same as a journal because journals seem so forced to me sometimes and I like how this just flows. I'm having a mostly one sided conversation with the whole world! How cool is that? I have the tendency to ramble so this is good. And when I get a comment I come back to read it over and over because it makes me so happy to know someone else is out there "listening."

Ain't misbehavin

2008-05-07T15:11:00.004-05:00

Well I had said I wasn't going to post pics of the items I'm making for the mermaid swap on here till I knew my partner had received them but I was sorely tested when I got done taking them for my own records and memories. I have resisted the urge however and will instead post some ATC's I made for a swap on Swap-bot. The thing was May things with wings and I think I captured it well. I'm still fairly new to ATC making and have only made about 8 of them but I really enjoy working on something small that allows me to complete it before the muse runs screaming in the other direction.

Fall Dreams (I actually made this one in November of '07)

Night wings

Metamorphosis

I had so much fun with these and the others I'm not showing. The background for Metamorphosis was a bunch of acrylics smashed into ink blot type designs on a piece of paper. The moth wings on Night wings were from a science text book from 1940 that I bought for a dollar at a flea market. Fall dreams features a fairy from a Lunesta ad of all things. I use a large variety for my collages and the ATC's are no exception. I'm curious to see what you guys think about these. I will send a set of 3-5 based on a theme of your choice to the lucky winner so tell people about this. This is the beginning of the promised free stuff. Leave me comments ladies and gents.

April showers.... in May?

2008-05-06T09:42:00.002-05:00

Slowly but surely in this coldest section of Helle the May flowers are springing forth. However we had a doozy of a April (May) shower the other day that quite destroyed the northland. I meant to comment on this the day after but got caught up in Garage Sale and couch cover preparations. It wasn't until I read about it on 2 other blogs that I was reminded. So Friday morning I'm sitting on the couch and my step mom calls. She says "how are you guys doing.?" and I reply "We're fine just getting ready for the sale. Pricing the never-ending piles of stuff. You?" She then went on to tell me how my step sister up in Gladstone had half of her neighborhood destroyed. A house fell on a 70 y/o woman, the neighbors car was under several trees and somehow nobody was hurt. Amazing! My step sister's house came through miraculously unscathed but she thinks that the news helicopter may have caught her on video in her pajamas. Not the worst thing that might have happened I'm thinking. I said we'd had lots of thunder and rain but not much else. When I asked my husband about it I found out I was a little wrong. We live south of tornado alley but I-70 runs right in front of our house and often brings the tornadoes right down it as if it were one of those special markers that the little cars follow where you draw. I guess the shop didn't fare quite as well as our little house down in the hollow. The property we live on used to be the home of a self storage business and one of the storage buildings is still standing complete with individual garage doors. Several of these doors were curled by the wind from straight to nice round little bundles just like a nice roll your own. I was rather amazed to learn this as we were unaffected beyond some of our lawn furniture and out door trashcans moving across the driveway. Nowhere near as bad as the storm that blew our heavy duty dog house over and destroyed the privacy fences at the house I own in Higginsville. Pure insanity that one. I say all this and it sounds so horrendous but I lived in California for a good portion of my life and all I can say is you can see a tornado coming. Earthquakes? not so much. Altho I admit we felt the one they had in Illinois a couple weeks ago its just not the same. Give me a storm watch and a basement any day.

Little to report

2008-05-05T16:36:00.007-05:00

I just wanted to check in to show my invisibles that I haven't disappeared. I was just uber busy this weekend with the not so stellar garage sale. I made $50 but sold almost nothing. I just sold a couple of high ticket items. Go figure right? Anyway my darling dearest has graciously agreed to let me do it another weekend with sign placement of my choosing this time instead of his. I was to busy to do it myself the first time but that will change this week as all the hard stuff has already been done. I already spent most of my gain on oodles of old lace doilies but I have a lot to show for my money spent because I won't buy them unless they're $1 or less or packaged with several of them. I look for slightly damaged ones because it won't affect what I'm going to use them for. I also got some nice vintage fabric scraps and a couple of weird cute things for the mermaid swap I'm in. Last but not least I have some pictures as usual of family and the kitchen. Its hard to describe my decorating style and so I'm just going to show you all instead. I haven't forgotten about that promise of frees stuff either but am not quite ready for it just yet. Keep watching and pass word about. Yes this is a shameless bid for readership and I'm not sorry to admit it ;) Now the pics.

the kitchen

J10 and J11

J14 holding their newest puppy while she sleeps

I've come to love these girls like the sisters I never had. J12 has been out of the picture for a while due to some bad decisions but I am happy to say that yesterday for the first time in probably more than a year she seemed like the girl I used to know and J11 and I were almost tearful to have our girl back. J10 and J11 having just shy of 2 years between them in age have always been very very close and the rift between them the last year has been hard on J11. I'm so happy to have J12 back to her self and I'm proud of her making her way back from the edge. On another celebratory note yesterday was J11's birthday so happy birthday sis.

Don't try this at home

2008-05-02T22:46:00.006-05:00

It all started rather innocently with this
(the man not the peanuts)

and this

and some how turned into this
Allow me to explain. My darling dearest is a full grown man. Now those of you with men of your own know there is NO SUCH THING but we humor them because we're not always so grown up ourselves. Well Jarell has a particular love of all things Spongebob Squarepants and as I've grown to be able to tolerate this character over the years, I take advantage of the fact that this gives me an edge on the present buying situation. I know if its Spongebob he'll like it and find a home or use for it quickly. Well two years ago at Christmas time I thought I'd get ambitious and make him a sheet with some SB fabric I had gotten in a very large amount for a steal at Wal Mart. Alas due to unresolvable issues with my old sewing machine (it only wanted to sew backwards at first and when I told this wouldn't do it walked out on the job) the sheet never got farther than having two lengths of 45" fabric sewn together side by side to make a 90" ish wide single piece. Fast forward two years to the garage sale preparation when I find this wonderful fabric and an old pattern for a sewing for dummies make your own slip cover. I started to get an idea. More just passing random thoughts. And then I put it into words.

Me: Hey honey what would you think if I covered that ugly green couch in your game room with that spongebob fabric.

Jarell: That would be really cool!

Me: I think I should probably have enough and if I don't I can always use coordinating fabrics for some of it like the cushions or something.

Jarell: That thing is really ugly. That would be great.

That was two days ago. So this evening while waiting for him to get home so we could go grocery shopping, I sat down and instead of finishing the garage sale signs I started measuring and pinning and before I knew it I had the fabric all ready for the base and was ready to start sewing it on the machine. I had some great illustrations but Blogger doesn't seem to be in the mood for pictures tonight so I'll have to try again later. Suffice it to say that by the time I finished sewing one arm I asked my husband "Have you told me lately how much you love me?" Of course he didn't see me wrestling with the machine and so all he saw was the rather unimpressive not so finished product. "Uh I don't know should I?"
Oh yes my love you Should. You REALLY should. And then would you please have me committed. A warning to the wise: Do NOT try this at home. Save yourself the heart and back ache and buy it. Or if you're still set on that homemade custom fit, pay someone else dumber than you to do it. This is a job for professionals.

*no couches were harmed in the making of this slip cover

Goodies goodies goodies

2008-04-30T17:55:00.004-05:00

Well I was responsible today and headed outside to do some overdue recipe writing for a quicky swap from swap bot. The idea was to send three of your favorite recipes (hand written) to 2 people for a total of six recipe cards. I chose some real winners and was just kinda lazy about all that handwritten work when the computer is so much easier quicker and neater. It is a gorgeous day today tho and so I decided to get to it since the send by deadline was tomorrow and so I went outside and did my writing. When Jarell came down for lunch he brought the mail and in his arms was a nice big box from my Enchanted swap partner Sherry. I opened it up outside and then I started crowing. Everything is so beautiful and I just smiled and squealed. Jarell looked at me like I'd lost my mind when I came inside to show him all the pretties. Ehh more for me, right? There was chocolate and glitter and cards and a movie (A little Princess) and bubbles (My Bubbles!) and this AWESOME wandy scepter thing. The pictures just don't do these goodies justice.

I also got some great deals at a couple of garage sales today. I got a matching pair of cast iron and ceramic lamps that are about 30 inches tall for .... $3! Yeah no joke.The shades alone sell at Wal Mart for $15. I know because they happen to match a smaller lamp shade that I paid $10 for. I also got some mushroom prints and an old sugar tin and 3 vintage scarves. I spent a whole $4.75
so I'm pretty happy all around. Hope the bargains fly your way! I may be doing a give away soon so pass it around and keep an eye out for free stuff headed your way.

Jumping all over the place (well in my head anyway)

2008-04-29T18:02:00.003-05:00

Today was a good day. I knew that from the moment I woke up without feeling sick to my stomach even a little bit. I was so happy that I felt like doing something ambitious. Well I sort of did. I redid my Myspace profile and looked up and found a couple of old friends from high school which was cool. It was quite a bit more labor intensive than had originally anticipated because I have issues with using the pre-made layouts most of the time and prefer to use pictures and backgrounds of my own choosing. Today I tried a new site and made a not at all sucky picture with this awesome program called GIMP 2 that is a freeware program I found as a substitute for photoshop. Anyway, I got done with all of that (it only took me like 3 hours with the internet connection I have) and then got responsible and showered and decided to wear a spring outfit. Enter the pretty purple peasant skirt from last years Wal-Mart collection and the light teal tank top. Oh so comfy and paired with my pink flip flops very colorful in nice soft tones. J11 told me I looked like spring which is a very nice compliment coming from someone who is very into winter and darkness. In a good way. So we went over to the in-laws house in order for hubby to work on our lawn mower that he took over there to mow with last year and never brought home. I had a really pleasant conversation with my MIL which is always nice because when we get along I really like her. We came home and I hopped on the internet for a minute to see about some emails I was waiting on and there at the top of my inbox was a message from paypal saying payment received followed by an email from Etsy saying someone had purchased something from my store. I was ECSTATIC! to say the least. I grinned and then yelled to my husband to tell him and then ran to grab the ordered item and package it up so I can ship it tomorrow. I was so very happy and I have decided today goes in the Good Day category with a capital G. So I want to pass on best wishes to everyone who reads this and send the Good Day juju on to you all! Au revoir mes chers amies

Just a quick note for now

2008-04-28T09:21:00.002-05:00

I run around on a lot of how to sites and today I thought I'd share a couple of fun project links from one of my favorites.
The website is called Cut Out + Keep
Here are a few ideas that grabbed me.
Rhumba earrings
Felted balls
Necktie Feathers

Try those out and check out the website as well. I may be back later, I may not. I gots a lot to do today what with the sorting of the boxes of junk and all.
Have fun children

So much Junk! err good stuff

2008-04-27T19:40:00.003-05:00

So yesterday Jarell and I decided to start going thru the boxes of stuff I've had stored down there since last year when we got married. It was an interesting task. As I was going thru the stuff to try and get rid of some of it we had the brilliant plan to have a garage sale and suddenly things got easier. I was really into it and I picked up today where I left off yesterday. I found lots of craft goodies that I'd forgotten I even had and all my books that I've kept to re-read and now I can. O happy day. I found a choir trophy, some cool 70's flowery fabric, TONS of pictures and so much more. It was like going through a flea market owned by an alter ego and any urge that may have been slowly creeping up on me to shop with nonexistent money has been put to rest yet again. The only sad thing is I've been using all those boxes as a quick fix whenever I felt the need to accumulate more stash. Instead of going shopping I'd go downstairs and dig through one box and bring a whole armload of stuff back upstairs. Now I don't have that option so much as most of the really good stuff is now where it needs to be put away. On the upside, Jarell said the proceeds of the garage sale are all mine. This makes good sense since all the stuff in it was mine, but at the same time I feel like I should share with him as unselfishly as he shares with me. I'll let you all know how that works out. :) Until then I leave you with this old essay I found by a mysterious unknown author. I apologize in advance.

The Last Night
by Melissa Bacon

The thunder crashes and the winds howl outside, The sky is a mix of colors. Near the top it is a dark purple that slowly fades into pink and finally orange near the horizon. Inside it is cozy and dark. A fire, the only light, crackles cheerfully in the stove and the soft murmur of a single voice blends itself around the storm.
A small dog observes the peaceful scene, her black eyes clouded. Her breathing is labored and rasping. The television box that makes her bed seems to dwarf her shrunken body. Next to the box is a young girl. You hear a soft voice singing an old song. As you listen the voice wavers and pauses. The storm rages outside. Seeming to take courage from the tempest out of doors, the voice continues, stronger and more pure than before. A single tear lands on the faded blue blanket underneat the little dog.
The voice fails again and the girl looks around her. The weary green eyes search for a distraction. They fall on a dulcimer the color of honey. Suddenly the scene is animated. The girl scrambles to her feet and seizes up the instrument. Now the plaintive tones of "Amazing Grace" compete with the storm.
As the song winds to an end, it is followed by a hymn pulled from the depths of the girl's memory. The fingers race along the fret board as if possessed. The little dog, however, appears oblivious. Abruptly the music ceases. The girl grasps a small log and tosses it deftly onto the fire. There is the sound of paper being crumpled and the fire roars to life as it consumes the light material. A soft sigh, followed by several sharp barks startles the girl out of her reverie. Once again the scene changes from a solemn still life to a quick movement. The girl is at the dog's side fumbling for a syringe of water. With compassion she works the syringe into the now frantic dog's mouth. The dog has yet to move, but some remaining reflex causes it to swallow convulsively. Even so, it isn't long before you hear the cries again.
A man appears. He walks into the room and drops down next to the sobbing girl. They pet the small dog. Eventually it is silent, the energy seemingly spent at the moment. Mouth closed, the dog seems to rest. From outside comes a new sound. It is the sound of more dogs and you see headlights. The girl slowly rises and gives the dog one last pat before she heads out into the storm. The little dog gives a few more piercing barks and slowly fades into silence. The once labored breathing falters and finally ceases. The man sighs and closes her now unseeing eyes one last time. Outside the storm rages on.

Another day another.... Oh heck post I guess

2008-04-25T21:51:00.004-05:00

No money made today so I guess you'll just have to be happy with a post from me instead. I was remarkably crafty today. I started a doll last night for the Mermaid Swap and finished her up today. I wish I could show you pictures but I want her to be a surprise for my partner so you'll just have to wait. I enjoyed making her so much that I've decided to make her a couple of sisters and maybe add them to my Etsy shop. I don't know for sure tho. I thought about it a while and realized that part of my lack of creative ability lately stems from the fact that I was trying way to hard to do something for someone else and not thinking about why I make the things I make-- self expression. Well lacking pictures to show you, I can say that Sherry got her package which makes me happy. I really can't say that I have much else to tell you so I won't stay to chat. I grin each time someone leaves me a comment. Thank you Sherry and KathyD you guys are the best.

Further Commentary on Always

2008-04-24T22:27:00.003-05:00

So I was happily reading my new BHG magazine the other day (the first of a three year subscription for $2o Awesome) and all of a sudden I come across an ad for none other than Always new overnight something or others. So of course I look for their slogan and lo and behold it says in plain print-- have a happy period. Now some of you might say these are just well wishes and your periods really aren't that bad or better yet, you don't have to deal with that any more. I have heard often that menopause sucks and believe me I'm totally not ready for it yet, but periods are no cake walk. I have the bad ones where I bleed profusely with no pain and the bad ones where I stay curled in a fetal position with little bleeding. Yes this is TMI but it has a point. I also have the rare just annoying one where I am simply bitchy, bloated, tired, hungry, emotional, and in general a wreck. That was what the most recent one was like when I sent my MIL a how I really feel about her text that still hasn't blown over and for those of you who have used your monthly visitor as an excuse to tell someone what you really truly think of them with no remorse afterwards, that was what I did. So naturally when I saw the ad I laughed out loud and ripped it right out of my brand new magazine. I carried it back to my craft room and left it there to think about what it had done till I was ready to decide what to do with it. I was back there last night at 11:30 ish unable to sleep when I remembered the vintage science book I had dismantled a couple of weeks ago. I dug through the pages a bit and Eureka! There was a diagram for a flower. Flowers over the ages have often been used as a symbol of all things female and this struck me as particularly appropriate. The result?

Why this of course

Have a happy evening folks

Terrorific

2008-04-23T21:53:00.004-05:00

I had thought to terrorize you with photos of family and pets (some are both) but I think I'll leave that job to my flickr account. Instead I will share a couple of pics of some bookmarks I made for another swap I'm in. It is a lyrical bookmark swap and so I tried to tie the lyrics of the song or at least the artist to the decoration I chose. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the bookmarks as a whole per se, but there are parts that I think are awesomeness itself. I know that sounds a little self-centered but gosh darn it once in a while I feel I should be proud of something I've done. The nice thing is knowing that I'm not the only one who feels this way-- guilty about feeling proud of an accomplishment. But I do nevertheless and I wonder why. I excelled at many things in school but always felt the necessity to downplay those things while focusing on my flaws in order to fit in. I'm not sure what the deal was with that except some of my friends weren't as good at some of the things I was good at and that separated us unless I was able to show them I sucked too. Am I being too mememe here? Well thats tough petunias. I am proud of my high school accomplishments and always will be because they're the
high point in the accomplishment category thus far and likely to stay that way. Thats not to say I don't have high hopes for my art endeavors, far from it, but I am a realist. There are many many people out there much more talented than I who I feel I should bow down to and step aside for. They are the shining star of this world of crafts and I am happy to let them be just that. I'm not sure where all this is coming from, but its one of those days I guess. Anyway, without further ado, the pictures in all their glory.

Mexican Christmas

2008-04-22T12:07:00.002-05:00

Not the actual holiday altho thats a very unusual event in and of itself. But it sure felt like Christmas last night when I got to open the bags of our belongings that just came back to us from Mexico. Let me explain to those of you who didn't live through this with me on myspace. Back in the middle of November my darling dearest and I moved to Mexico for his job with his father. It was an open ended trip that may have lasted for years. We came back for a couple of weeks just before Christmas and because it was supposed to be a short trip home, we didn't bring all our stuff home with us. But we never went back (and for that I thank god every day. I still have nightmares where we had to go back down there.) Our stuff however was still there. Mostly clothes, but I needed those clothes especially the shirts. Also some really nice yarn that I bought for a steal down there. And my extra contacts. Well I was ecstatic to find out yesterday that this stuff all came home with my MIL and FIL. How awesome is that? So I happily dug out the clothes from the first suitcase that came upstairs last night and threw them in the washer and this morning they were dry and warm and so happy to be back in the US. They clung to the dryer which doesn't surprise me because we didn't have a dryer down there and everything was line dried. Oh I was so happy that got my spongebob pj's back and my good cute shirts. I was almost crying over the stuff I thought was gone for good. Well enough of all this misplaced emotion. I'm off to dig through another bag of goodies.

Blech

2008-04-21T11:19:00.003-05:00

I don't have much to say today due to a night of intense nausea that has thoughtfully continued into the morning. I gave up on sleep a while ago and have been scrolling around on other people's blogs trying to ignore the sickness feeling. For any of my former Wal Mart compatriots, according to the last test I took, no I'm not pregnant. I have just been having bouts of sick off and on ever since we came home from Mexico. Go to the doctor and have that checked out you say? Well sure why not? Oh wait--- not health insurance Thats why not. Ah well not much to be done then except drink copious amounts of anti-nausea goop. The strangely best tasting medicine I've ever had to take probably because its made with two kinds of sugar. I stumbled across one that has a challenge to lose weight and seeing as how I'm quite a bit fluffier than I was in my glory days of High School, I think I shall have to try it. I totally dig smoothies and if you do too, check out Pancakes and French Fries blog for the recipes and some bonus cute kid pics. Aside from all of this, here's what I stopped by to show you guys. My friend posted this on a myspace bulletin and I couldn't resist snapping it up to share here. I made me laugh a lot until my stomach rebelled at so much shaking and then I had to content myself with grinning some.
Happy reading.

This is an actual letter from an Austin woman sent to American company Proctor and Gamble regarding their feminine products.She really gets rolling after the first paragraph. It's PC Magazine's 2007 editors' choice for best webmail-award-winning letter.Dear Mr.Thatcher,I have been a loyal user of your 'Always' maxi pads for over 20 years and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the LeakGuard Core or Dri-Weave absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or salsa dancing, and I'd certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favorite feature has to be your revolutionary Flexi-Wings.Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic.I can't tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there's a little F-16in my pants.Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from the curse'? I'm guessing you haven't. Well, my time of the month is starting right now.As I type, I can already feel hormonal forces violently surging through my body.Just a few minutes from now, my body will adjust and I'll be transformed into what my husband likes to call'an inbred hillbilly with knife skills.' Isn't the human body amazing? As Brand Manager in the Feminine-Hygiene Division, you've no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customersmonthly visits from 'Aunt Flo'.Therefore, you must know about the bloating, puffiness, and cramping we endure, and about our intense mood swings, crying, jags, and out-of-control behavior. You surely realize it's a tough time for most women.In fact, only last week, my friendJennifer fought the violent urge to shove her boyfriend's testicles into a George Foreman Grill just because he told her he thought Grey's Anatomy was written by a bunch of drunken chimps,Crazy!The point is, sir, you of all people must realize that America is just crawling with homicidal maniacs in Capri pants... Which brings me to the reason for my letter Last month, while in the throes of cramping so painful I wanted to reach inside my body and yank out my uterus, I opened an Always maxi-pad, and there, printed on the adhesive backing,were these words: 'Have a Happy Period.'Are you f**king kidding me? What I mean is, does any part of your tiny middle-manager brain really think happiness - actual smiling, laughing happiness is possible during a menstrual period? Did anything mentioned above sound the least bit pleasurable? Well, did it, James? FYI, unlessyou're some kind of sick S&M freak girl, there will never be anything 'happy' about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin and Kahlua and lock yourself in your house just so you don't march down to the local Walgreen's armed with a hunting rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory.For the love of God, pull your head out, man! If you just have to slap a moronic message on a maxi pad, wouldn't it make more sense to say something that's actually pertinent, like 'Put down the Hammer' or 'Vehicular Manslaughter is Wrong', or are you just picking on us?Sir, please inform your Accounting Department that, effective immediately, there will be an $8 drop in monthly profits, for I have chosen to take my maxi-pad business elsewhere.And though I will certainly miss your Flex-Wings, I will not for one minute miss your brand of condescending bullsh*t. And that's a promise I will keep.Always.Best,Wendi AaronsAustin , TX

The World has truly begun to disgust me

2008-04-19T16:13:00.002-05:00

I am often at odds with my husband over the state of human beings in this world. He sees and attributes the worst possible motives to people whereas I try to see the best. However I have come to a place where no matter how I try all I want to do is see this person punished. This is not art. No matter how you look at it what this woman (I use that word very loosely as she obviously did as well) is sick and demented and I honestly hope she never has children as she has abused the privilege beyond reason. I feel I should comment and clarify something here. There are options besides abortion. I do not feel that it is something people should be able to do because they did something stupid. Adoption is a GOOD Thing. At the same time I feel that there are situations where a child should not be punished by a parent's stupidity. And I'm not saying all abortions are done because a parent is stupid. There are also financial concerns, mental capability et al. But again adoption is a good thing. Basicly my feelings are my body my choice, your body your choice. I choose to not have an abortion ever. You may not choose the same. That is your right just as it is my right to think you may have made a mistake. This is a very controversial subject. Inately I feel abortion is wrong-- it goes against all that I believe in. That said there are reasons why it may be necessary. I can't make a firm stand on this subject. I can firmly state that what this thing did in the name of art was morally reprehensible.

Responsible me

2008-04-18T15:29:00.002-05:00

Woo hoo I got my three finished swaps off in the mail today. I'm proud of myself because I have a tendency to be a bit of a procrastinator sometimes. I just have bookmarks to make now altho I need to do some work on stuff for my etsy account. The puppies are even more beautiful today then they were yesterday and I should have some pictures soon. I took one of Tink all curled up with them yesterday, but with them being all as black as she is (except for Navin) it just came out looking like an oddly disformed dog. Hehehe. I will go for now, but want to remind you all to check out my swap. For obvious reasons, (no one seems interested) I have extended the sign-up date and sent the info over to the swap-dex.
Until next time

Funny Videos

Exhaustion

2008-04-17T08:58:00.000-05:00

When some one or something you love is going through something potentially life threatening, you worry. My little dog had her first litter of puppies last night and I stayed up with her till 1 am. She had 6 puppies in the space of about 2 hours and I knew at least 2 more were left to come, but I couldn't stay on the hard basement floor any longer and I was seeing double. So I went to bed worried but deciding she'd done wonderfully with the first 6, the last two would be fine. I spent about an hour trying to fall asleep and was about to drift off when my phone rang. It was an unknown number so I let the voice mail get it. But now I was awake. Slowly I drifted back to dream land, but rather than sleeping soundly, I was haunted by dreams of dying dogs and puppies. One dream had me putting Tinkerbell and her babies in a little overturned tupperware bowl on the sink counter (these things make sense when you're asleep) and then there was a storm in the bowl so I had to keep the babies from drowning. This kind of madness went on all night interspersed with me half-waking thinking the puppies were hurt or worse that Tinkerbell was. Finally at 8 I gave up and went downstairs to check on her again. She was fine altho she looked exhausted and there snuggled up to her were 8 beautiful little babies. It took a little talent to count them as 7 of them are black as is she. The 8th little guy is blonde. He really sticks out like a sore thumb among his darker brothers and sisters and he was the second born. I have decided to name him Navin after Steve Martin's character in the movie "The Jerk." This means that either we'll have to keep him or he has to go to J14. I can't risk someone renaming him when they don't know that he was meant to be the white boy in a black family. After all of this there ended up being 4 boys and 4 girls. I think Tink had ballroom dance lessons in mind for the future and did this to ensure that none of her children would be wall flowers. It works out rather nicely. I'll keep one girl and J14 can have one boy and we'll have to find homes for the other six but we'll convince everyone that they have to take a matched set. If this is all rather confused and loopy, forgive me. I'm having enough trouble with keeping the typos at bay to worry abou this making sense. I'm half tempted to leave this as is with all the mistakes because man would that be trippy. But my innner english teacher is censoring that sort of stupidity so I'll just lieave you wondering. Yes I saw that. but is not as funny as "forvige" woild would have been.

Awww she brought me a present.....

2008-04-15T12:44:00.006-05:00

I love my dogs. It is well known by family and friends alike that my dogs are my babies and thus far lacking any human children I dote on my wubbies instead. (I am not sure what wubbies means but it is something I repeatedly call my little girls) This post is dedicated to them. Tinkerbell is my little black lab. Jarell brought her home for me the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2006 as an early Christmas present. It was love at first sight. She was 3 months old and floppy with long awkward legs and ears that were much to big for her dainty head. She grew rapidly but not very much. She came from a breeder and is a purebred but to this day she comes to my knees and is a very delicately shaped. An absolutely beautiful little dog her very easily earns her name. Right now she is about to give birth to at least 8 puppies any day. And she looks like a barell on tooth picks or a childrens drawing with no sense of proportion. All the puppy weight has shifted lower to make ready for birth and she's hilarious. She still runs around with all the dignity of her skinnier self and this is especially comical as seen in the following picture. (Warning: for those of you with an aversion to dead animal body parts, don't look.)

She's so generous that she chased me around trying to give me her severed cow leg that she picked up from who knows where. Our neighbor has cows and I'm pretty certain, from the amount of cow legs that our dogs bring over, that he has a bone yard that isn't very well hidden.

Much to little Pepper's dismay, Tinkerbell never shares her bone stash until she's completely done with them. This doesn't get her down for long tho because while Tink is running around proudly showing off her find, Pepper can get all the attention she wants.

Missy has a very laid back approach to life. She's in charge and as long as no one challenges that, everythings good. The exception being when another female is pregnant at which point Missy cedes all claim to being in charge of that particular dog. Temporarily. She's a lovable bouncy 7 y/o who wishes she was a lap dog.

Pictures promised and long overdue

2008-04-14T14:41:00.003-05:00

I found the Camera!!!! So here are some long overdue pics.

This first one is not me, but it is funny and its an interesting use for knitting needles

A quilt square start, or possibly something else pretty. Not sure just yet.
The puzzled doll I keep talking about with her beaded bird
An embroidered dolly without a face or clothes as of yet
I have more but they're secret for now unless you know how to find my flickr. If you do you may see them. I was remarkably responsible today and I cleaned off the built in desk in our kitchen. It looks so very nice now that I'm not sure what to think of myself. I actually only did it because I was looking for the camera (which I found in my craft room under some stuff) but it felt so nice to have a clean space there wher its been a pile for quite some time. Anyway, just thought I'd post these while I was still thinking about it. Now I'm heading over to my Etsy shop to do a couple of very minor updates. Keep watching for more soon tho because I have come up with some brilliant ideas that I can't divulge as of yet. Hasta luego bambinos.

Weekend of Blahness

2008-04-13T21:04:00.002-05:00

Still not finding the Kodak as of earlier when I ransacked my worktable where I was sure it would be. My darling dearest just took the youngers home for the evening after we had them and my baby brother for the weekend. I am a bit drained from all this teenageriness not to mention the semi argument Jarell and I had over the message to my MIL. We're okay now because he said it was one of those days where everything was making him angry and he didn't know why. I personally do. Men PMS too. There I said it and I'm not sorry, because its true. Its either that or he's manic-depressive like the rest of his family only to a lesser extent and that is not something I really want to think about. Has anyone else ever noticed that manic-depressive people seem to be drawn to other MD's? Point in case. My parents and step-mom are all definitely in that group and my dad is finally getting some help for it. My MIL and FIL same boat and they passed it on to several of their kids. I don't know whether I inherited it or not but unfortunately my younger brother definitely did and we're not sure about the youngest. He does exhibit classic signs of it tho, ones that I saw often in my older step-brother who had actually been diagnosed. (he got it from both of His parents) This is all rather irrelevant, but it is my life and again it is my blog. The weekend improved after we got that all sorted out. We saw the new movie Superhero Movie and it wasn't too bad. Nothing to write home about, but.....
In craft related news, I bought a snap squisher thing for applying snaps the easy way instead of painstakingly sewing them on by hand, and also a scissors sharpener which was a Much needed addiction... er addition to my sewing stash. I have really nice Fiskars scissors that got waylaid in my inlaws house for a time a while back and they were used on *gasp* cardboard. Among other things. Needless to say they haven't quite been the same since, but we'll soon fix that. Along with the 5 pairs of cheepo's that I keep as back-ups. You can never have enough scissors I say. And on that note I think I shall say goodnight. I really didn't have much to say anyway so I doubt you'll miss me too much. Au revoir mes amis

Saturdays at home

2008-04-12T14:19:00.002-05:00

It's April 12th everybody and here in Missouri central, it is snowing. It isn't sticking, but it is definitely snowing. I can't say how I feel about this because we were kinda short of snow this year, but I love spring and all the green things too. I worry that it will kill all my bulb plants like it did last year tho and that is not a happy thought. We got our other camera in the mail today which is a good thing because I seem to have lost the good Kodak. Not sure how I managed this but I did. Anyway, getting the camera gives me the opportunity to take some pics of my swap items and my stuff that I have been half heartedly working on for etsy. I have been embroidering a doll all over, but I don't know where I'm going with it. Right now its just a bunch of random swilrs and a flower and spider web looking thingy. Strange, yes? I also have the puzzled doll that never got any further than the beaded bird on her front. I've been sidetracked by so many other things that this is kinda taking a back burner. I think I may try some other things like painting and air dry clay and such. I'm not sure yet. But my dolls haven't really gotten a very strong response as of yet.
Well shoot just turned the camera on and it appears to be shot. What the heck? Its just got a white screen with a black line down the middle. So much for that idea. Off to find the kodak.

one of those days

2008-04-11T10:19:00.002-05:00

Well actually yesterday was one of those days and I just never got around to complaining about it. We did our tax thing with the CPA and for as much as we made together, we came out pretty good for the total due. Missouri is retarded tho because we actually owed more state tax than we did federal tax. Go figure right? If we'd been in California we'd have probably gotten it all back :) Its kinda like the year when I worked all year except December in California and then moved back here and made $400 bucks in Missouri. I then had a $90 dollar refund from CA and owed MO $35. All I could say was WTF and I'm working in acronyms to protect tender sensibilities. I don't use this kind of language usually but taxes and my in-laws bring out the worst and that is the other half of why yesterday sucked. My husband got a call yesterday morning from his wayward mother who is in Texas running around with his dad. She called to yell at him because he wasn't at their house taking care of the 4 youngest kids. Ages 12, two almost 15's and an almost 17. She had also, I found out later, called J11 (the almost 17) and yelled at her for the same reason. When I found all this out yesterday afternoon, I finally told her what I thought of her having the nerve to yell at them when she's the one who keeps running off and leaving them! Since July of last year either I or both my husband and I have watched the kids while his dad traveled for business and his mom tagged along because she couldn't stand to be away from his dad. Nevermind the kids. Gah! So the message I sent her went along the lines of if you want your kids taken care of you need to do it. Grrrrr! And I'm not saying we won't keep an eye on them, but we can't live at their house and it gets a little old having them here ALL the time. I love to death but my darling dearest and I need a break from all the teenagers sometimes. So then he was mad that I sent his mom that message and I felt bad for making him mad, but not for sending it. She'll just ignore it anyway and the kids are better taken care of when his parents are gone than when they're here. So I just needed to vent. It didn't help matters that I have now got a wonderful spring cold to contend with and a full house of ears for the arguments. We shouldn't have to do this all alone because there are 5 other grown children in the area capable of helping out but only one of them does. So this is a very angry post that is also very negative and I'm sorry for that. But today's another day and I'm gonna chill and try to get well.

Oh the horror

2008-04-09T10:14:00.006-05:00

So much rain! So very much. It has temporarily stopped but it isn't fooling me. I know what lingers in those ominous black clouds. Actually I'm totally a rainy day person. I love to snuggle with a good book and be lazy as can be on the days when the heavens really let loose. And today due to crampy painful monthly troubles I am doubly inclined to do just that. I ran around the net last night gathering up pictures from SharonB's stitch dictionary so that I have some picture reference and I plan to try some crazy quilting on a doll skirt gone awry. I would have pictures for you except I can't quite remember where I put the camera. I didn't mention yesterday, but the new pics are thanks to the wonderful world of Ebay where a $40 item is $15 with shipping wonder. I'm so glad to have our Kodak 10 mega pixel camera back in working order. Now if I can just remember where I put it.....

On a funny note I found this cat while strolling around random sites last night and thought I would share it with you. Not for the faint of heart. Until we meet again my friends

the creative phase

2008-04-08T09:00:00.007-05:00

Since I got home from ye olde Florida I've been kinda stuck with regards to craftiness. I would get temporary inspiration only to have it fizzle into nothing. Well that seems to finally have lifted. Last night I was on a roll thanks to this new Enchanted Swap and when I finally went to bed I had visions of different projects flashing every time I closed my eyes. At that point I really shouldn't have stopped but it was Jarell's birthday and I wanted to spend some time with him before he fell asleep. I think I'll be okay this morning tho cuz I'm just itching to get back to work. But first some pictures of various stuff. Some dogs, fabric from the Jo Ann's trip, my space, and a very vintage pin cushion that belonged to my grandmother. Oh and the PITA picture I painted for Jarell's birthday.

Strange Contemplations

2008-04-07T09:17:00.003-05:00

Ok this post may fall a bit under TMI, but for reasons unknown I found myself contemplating the toilet paper this morning and realized that it really has a very pretty butterfly pattern on it. (we use Angel Soft) I had to marvel yet again at a country where even the butt wipes are beautiful. Sorry but I felt I had to share that no matter how risque it may sound.
In other news, I'm getting ready to work some more on my swap item when I get off the computer and I found out who my partner would be today. I'm really looking forward to this whole deal and of course I ran right over to my partner's blog. I smiled when I saw she was the same zodiac year as I am and I really love her items.
Yesterday was gorgeous and we had a barbecue for Jarell's birthday. (He caught up with me today and is now 22) We had a lot of fun and it was a nice $40 get together thanks to stuff we already had on hand. This is a good thing as he spent most of his last paycheck bailing his brother out for the umteen millionth time. Actually our house was bought on one of those bail outs. Somehow J5 seems to get into debt quicker than you can say, "would you like fries with that?" and my darling dearest helps him despite the fact that he is public enemy number one in this household. Sorry if that sounds cranky but I have never genuinely hated anyone. Until I met J5. I am by most accounts a very sweet person. Inside my head I believe differently but I worked as a suprervisor at a small retail store and my cashiers often told me they were amazed at how nice I always was to people when from my point of view I had been the meanest of mean. (go figure-- no one ever takes me serious when I'm mad) I guess this is probably a good thing since I like to be thought of as nice, but its weird to sometimes.

Lazy Saturday mornings

2008-04-05T11:26:00.002-05:00

I'm sitting here fuming at my computer ready to tell microsoft to take window's vista and shove it violently where the sun don't shine. It's screwing with everything and it sucks. But oh well. I'm re-watching Enchanted to reaquaint myself with it for the swap and thoroughly enjoying it. I want the fabric they used for her dress of curtains for my stash and I think a trip to Joanns is in order for today. However I need to go to the store and get my poor baby doggies some food and that most definitely needs to come first.
So I leave you with, "No. I'm looking for a prince actually."

My new swap

2008-04-04T09:56:00.004-05:00

As I mentioned yesterday (or at least I think I did) I'm going to be starting my own swap. So here's the unveiling so to speak. As I mentioned the other day I was absolutely enamored of Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium when I watched it and when I stumbled across Gypsy Mermaid's page yesterday and saw here swap the information culminated in me deciding to do one of my own. Hence the Wonder Emporium Swap. As I was watching the movie I was fascinated by several things. So I have several options for you.

Option 1: There is a boy in the movie who has a huge and diverse collection hats and wears a different one each day. So for your first option you can make a unique hat of any materials you come up with. It can be full sized and wearable, flat and made out of paper or anywhere in between-- your choices are endless and this could be a lot of fun.

Option 2: There is a magic book in the store that when opened to a particular page brings up the toy you are looking for. Your challenge would be to make your own big book to emulate the stores catalog.

Option 3: Mr. Magorium hires an accountant to get his affairs in order before he leaves the store to Mahoney his faithful assistant. However, throughout the movie everyone calls Henry the accountant "The mutant." This was just too cute in my opinion. So the third option is to make your own "mutant." It can be as human or mutated as you want.

If you haven't already seen the movie, now would be a good time to watch it. Its really cute and will give you a better idea of the themes I came up with. I'll be taking entries starting on tax day 4/15/08. You can sign up by sending me an email at littlesongbird17@yahoo.com or leave me a comment here.

Just a quick note

2008-04-03T22:01:00.002-05:00

I just thought I'd make a quick note about a swap I'm going to be doing from Gypsy Mermaid life that is gonna be a whole ton of fun. She's also inspired me to do my own swap but more on that later. I also wanted to alert you to an incredibly, ridiculously talented artist who just happens to also be my little brother. You can check out his art on his myspace and I highly recommend it. The pic this links to happens to be one of my fav's but you can look at them all. He does "grafitti" art and monsters. Apparently he got all the drawing talent from our parents because he can envision AND create. Go figure. Anyway, nuff said fer tonight.
I'm outty

Getting a little fed up

2008-04-03T13:40:00.000-05:00

With blogger deciding that it won't let me in. How silly is that? I just want to ramble on a bit. I know that someone somewhere out there is looking at my page from time to time because once in a while the counter goes up when I've been away from the computer. Suckily enough it also goes up when I go to the home page but oh well-- not much I can do about that I don't think. I was responsible today and got the stinky bag of seashells from outside where I left it after we realized it was responsible for the odor in my backpack. I accidentally brought home some of the live shells along with the dead ones and boy do they smell.... sea-ish. Not exactly the scent I wanted to bring with me but it sure takes you right back to the beach in a hurry. I had fun sorting through them and washing them up. None of them were too brightly colored but they're still beautiful nonetheless. And as ashamed as I am to say it, the ones that were still alive are the coolest because they're so dainty and whole. Can anyone tell me how to add a comments section at the end of my posts? I realized that there were none and I thought maybe I'd get more feedback (duh) if there were. My email is littlesongbird17(at)yahoo.com and if you just put blog or something in the title somewhere I'll figure it out. Thanks so much in advance.

I did it again!

2008-04-02T10:16:00.002-05:00

I made it thru after umpteen tries and here I am to tell you that there is really nothing new to report. I've begun a doll with a puzzle piece shape inspired by a toy shelf in the movie Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. (http://www.magorium.com) She has a Dotee doll face because I've been dying to use one of those, and so far has a beaded bird on her front. I'd gladly post a picture but in the same week I doused my phone in water, killing the camera, and accidentally left our digital camera in Florida. Its return is pending. So no pics for a while. I'm also working on a couple more of those hanging candle holders that I have in my etsy shop but the posting of them will again have to wait till I have a functioning camera. Sucks that we lost the charger for our really awesome Kodak EZ share because I'd be in photo heaven if I had that thing running. But we haven't been able to bring ourselves to spend $4o on a new charger yet. *sigh* On the garden front I planted some tulips, more grape hyacinths, a stargazer lily, some mixed basil seed, and some tomato seed outside yesterday. I've got to get them watered today but its a definite start on the outdoor garden. I've got to wait on my dad to do the big one but I bought a lot of seeds to go in it. I'm going to have a pumpkin and ornamental squash patch along with like three different kinds of zucchini (who doesn't love zucchini, right?) and cantaloupes too. I haven't got any watermelon seed yet but I will before too long. Do I seem a bit obsessed? Well I am. Growing things is like breathing for me-- necessary. In a way its another form of creation with an outdoor twist. I love the feeling of knowing that the things that come out of my garden will feed my family and friends and hopefully cut down on our expenses just a little. I plan to learn to can and I may ask to borrow my dad's dehydrator because I'm expecting a lot from my garden this year. I just hope we don't let each other down. On that note, I'll leave you to contemplate other things, but I hope to be back tomorrow if I can make this machine work.

Stupid Blogger

2008-03-30T11:26:00.002-05:00

I don't know if it was my computer or blogger but it hasn't wanted to let me post in the last several days. I have managed to persevere somedays but others I just decided it wasn't worth it. Today after several tries I got in but I don't have much to say. I spent the day outside yesterday for the most part. I played with our dogs, I'm almost certain Tink is with puppy but I love puppies so I don't mind. My darling dearest had a concert last night at the city park but it was so stinkin cold that things did not really go well. I felt bad for my brother in law because he stayed for the whole thing and it ended up being a 5 and a half hour long affair. Blech. We came home after they played and watched Dan in Real Life. I had seen it in theaters but enjoyed watching it again. The combination of Juliette Binoche who is a beautiful person and Steve Carell, a wonderful comedian and actor, was nice for a quiet evening in. On a disappointing note, my digital camera seems to have gone MIA so I'm going to have to call the hotel where we stayed in Florida to see if they found it.

Sproing!!! Sproing Sproing

2008-03-28T14:24:00.002-05:00

No I'm not completely mental, just a little bit. I'm just happy because spring seems to finally be showing its little head around my house. I went outside today to check on my babies and as they were running and jumping after I let them out of the fence I decided to investigate my bulb plantings. And I am ecstatic to say that many of them are grinning up at me from above the ground. There were hyacinths, lilies, irises, and grape hyacinths along with the ever present wild garlic all topside now. No actual flowers but lots of green that wasn't there two weeks ago and the hyacinth is even going so far as to have buds showing. I'm absolutely in heaven because that is definitely one of my favorite smells in the whole world. Jasmine, roses, wisteria, hyacinths, irises, freesia and gardenias all make me smile for hours. On a stranger note, I'm beginning to be a bit suspicious of Tink's marked weight gain over the last few weeks. I can't say anything for sure but she seems to be getting wider and I'm a bit nervous that the increase may mean puppies. I'd be happy but Jarell maybe probably would not. Little Pepper is getting bigger but I realized the other day that she's the same age now as Tink was when we got her and only about half the size. This may not seem that odd, but Tink only got a little bit bigger and is a very diminuitive Labrabor by most standards. I'm hoping this means that Pepper will be small because big dogs are a little harder to contain. She might be Beagle which Jarell would like. We'll see I guess. But thats enough about flowers and puppy dogs for now. I'm off to do something productive.

Home but good and mad

2008-03-26T23:33:00.002-05:00

Well we're finally home and I'm so happy to be here. I am not however happy with the last movie we watched this evening. We watched "The Mist" and I'm livid over the ending. The movie was mediocre at best throughout the whole thing, but when you get to the end and I'm not going to spoil it for those of you who still want to see it, I was about as pissed off as I can get. There is a character who, fortunately gets whats coming to her, but before hand she goes all hypocritical bible thumper on everyone and even goes so far as to incite a crowd to murder before she's finally shot. But the fact that the movie ended the way it did absolutely disgusted me. I've never been a King fan altho I have enjoyed a few of his movies, but this really upset me. Thats all I have to say for tonight as I am exhausted.

The purse of wonders

2008-03-25T12:25:00.004-05:00

I just felt I needed to document this. My husband called my purse the purse of wonders. Now for some back story. My husbands side-- My MIL, G has a thing for purses. She loves them to be large, leather, and overstuffed. When we flew to Florida she brought 4 and bought one more when we got here. She was dragged almost forcefully from another at Target a few days ago. I really and truly do not understand how she fills them so quickly but I have seen her pull food and drink from her bags on many an occasion and I've also seen her add those things to her bag. Its frightening for me and embarrassing for her children but as she puts it, "I have to have a place to put my medicines." (This is another long enduring argument--- in her mind natural supplements are indispensable and the more she has of each kind the better) Needless to say all these things add up to seriously annoy my husband and its just one of the things that has become a pet peeve of his because of her.

My side of the story--- I had a large purse when I was in high school because when I went on choir and band trips I didn't want to take a whole backpack with me so a large purse carried a book makeup and sometimes even a pair of flip flops for comfy shoes. When I graduated one of the first things I bought was a small purse that couldn't gather too much crap in it. I bought a large one recently for all the traveling I've been doing and when we came down here it came with me. I have been uncomplainingly carrying water bottles, sunscreen, aspirin, pens, cameras and much more for the extent of our stay and today I got my recognition. The delivery guy came to the door and Jarell needed to sign a receipt but neither one had a pen. I told him to bring me my purse and I'd get him one. When handed it to me he said, "We need to get something for this that says 'purse of wonders.'" I had him repeat that as I was amazed and knew I had been paid a very high compliment from my darling dearest. For him to not only be pro purse but to give it a name is a Big Deal. I know this sounds really dorky but sometimes you just have to appreciate those simple things that the people you love do for you. It makes partnerships so much better because you focus on the positive things. I need that sometimes because I have a tendency to take out my anger at the things I can't change on the one person who means the most to me. Sad but true. And I'm not the only person I know who does this. In fact most people do at some point or another. That all said, I will be returning to my little purse when we get home because I tire quickly of being the person who has everything, does anything, and never says no or complains. For non crafters out there, don't buy it cheap because it needs to be sewn unless you can sew it yourself. Just because I can doesn't mean I want to. And if you want a bottle of water, carry it yourself. I don't want to be a human basket. I need to learn to say no, but you need to learn that I'm not here to do everything for you. Well for Jarell the breadwinner, I want to but not his mom, siblings, sibling in laws et cetera.

Almost back home

2008-03-24T10:02:00.003-05:00

Well no not really but we'll be going home the day after tomorrow. We're going to Seaworld today maybe which will be fun but if we don't I'll be okay with that too. I'm happy because yesterday I went to a bead store called Black Market Minerals and got a bunch of beads including some really cool magnetic beads. It'll fun to play with them and I already have a design for a choker planned for some of the shell beads and teardrop pearls. They had sets of 10 magnetic beads for sale as clasps for 4.50 and they had whole strings for sale of the same beads for 4.50 so needless to say I bought the whole string. I'll try to post pictures later but I'm not making promises because I've procrastinated before :) Until later,
Me

I'm such a bum

2008-03-22T22:46:00.002-05:00

I didn't do a single crafty thing today and I'm a bit depressed about it, but to make myself feel a bit better, my husband bought me a couple of delightful books today at the border's outlet next to our hotel. One is on stamping which is something I've always wanted to do and the other is about on candle making another particular interest of mine.For now they are to do projects because it costs quite a bit more than I have to play with to buy the supplies but they're eventually books. I often dream of being set loose in a craft store without a price limit but the odds of that ever happening are slim to none and so I settle for trying to make my addiction pay for itself. I really wish I could get feedback on my projects from strangers because I honestly don't trust my family to tell me straight. My husband comes closest but because he's a guy its still hard to tell. Ah well c'est la vie n'est ce pas. Maintenent je vais a dormir mes chers invisibles. Now I'm going to sleep my dear invisibles.
Au demain

Lazy days

2008-03-21T15:41:00.002-05:00

I spent the day yesterday doing mostly nothing which was absolutely delightful. We did go baby shoppin for a while with my inlaws but that was alright. I enjoyed petting the furry things while the expectiong parents got the remaining necessities. I did stitch a flower patch to add to my jeans pocket. It gives them a bit of color which is nice. I really don't have much else to say tho. We're going to see Cirque Du Soleil this evening which I'm really looking forward to. I'm making both my parents jealous on this trip-- blue man group for my dad and cirque du soleil for my mom ;) I'll have more to tell later I'm sure.

Inspiration

2008-03-19T22:35:00.004-05:00

I asked the other day what inspired you me to do the things that you now love to do and so now I'm going to give my answer to that question. I realized that there were many influences on my artistic side. Musically it was my parents and grandparents. To say they are musical is like saying that fire is hot-- a major understatement. There was always singing and instruments being played. On the art side, I watched my mom draw and my dad create things with his lathe and jig saw. Hanging on my living room wall is a sandblasted plaque that they made together. My maternal grandparents dumpster dived and frequented garage sales, thrift stores and people's large useable "trash." I had a child size antique doll due to a broken arm that my grandpa fixed with a very large bolt. Charlotte may have had a slight resemblence to Frankenstein, but she was beautiful to me at 5 years old. My grampa also made miniature working violins working from pictures in books. My gramma sewed beautiful quilts and dolls and many other things. My paternal grandparents had their own specialties. Gramma Betty crochets and sews dolls clothes and people clothes too. She still makes her own clothing. My grampa makes crazy quilts out of double knit polyester and does woodworking that still amazes me, making puppets and cars that rolled, furniture and so much more. My stepmom finds all sorts of unusual obects that start off separate and plain and somehow turns them into wonderful works of art or toys for her family while still managing to save money. I have taken all of these skills and woven the parts that I am good at into my own particular style. I am constantly seeking out new challenges because of the wonderful people in my life that tought me so much. And this list doesn't even begin to scrape the top of the barrel-- teachers, my brother, aunts and uncles, my husband--- I've watched them all and learned so much from them. They all have talents that I envy and I am so thankful that they have been there in my life. For those of them who read this, thank you all so very much. I would not be able to do the things that I do today without your examples.

Just let him pee on your leg. That always works

2008-03-18T17:57:00.003-05:00

No this is not some kinky porn blog that no one should read. We had a blast today. We drove to Cocoa beach and I was like a kid in a candy store picking up awesome shells all over the place. No stingy Nor Cal beach was this-- lots of whole shells and several of them were rather large. Then J14 and I built some sand tunnels and a large wall and waited for a while to see it fill up with water. While we waited for the tide to get that high, we played in the waves with the wake board and in general had a lot of fun. All of a sudden I saw a jelly fish headed toward J12 and I yelled to him to watch out for it. I walked towards him about 2 steps before feeling an excruciating pain on both my legs-- kinda like getting stung but 20 bees all at once. So I hobbled out of the water after offering up some choice words and whimpering a little but laughing a little too. I had drool and snot running down my face which is as you all know wonderfully attractive. And then my husband says, "I can pee on it for you if you want." No thank you honey. So that pretty much ended our day at the beach but fortunately we'd already been there about 3 hours or so.

Just a quicky today

2008-03-18T10:54:00.002-05:00

I just thought I'd share a couple of sites that I absolutely adore. If you're like me you often have multiple tabs going on the computer (the better to absorb as much information in as short a time as possible, right?) and so I like to keep one to read and one to learn. Here are two of my favorites. www.ithinkwereallbozos.com and http://craftchi.com/blog/?cat=8&paged=2 The first being the laugh and the second something to do. Have fun and explore further from both these pages.

Another long day with lots and lots of pictures and very little craftiness

2008-03-17T10:58:00.003-05:00

Well yesterday we went to the Magic Kingdom-- the sappiest err happiest place on earth. It had some cool stuff but in reality I was more impressed with Epcot. I did enjoy the haunted mansion and the river ride but everything was just too stinking crowded. We did stay to watch the 10 o'clock fireworks and they were beautiful but I really preferred the Epcot show. But thats alright because I got to watch a guy making those awesome blown glass bowls and vases and now I swear I have a new purpose in life-- burning myself on glass :) I was absolutely so fascinated that I forgot to take pictures. My brief moment of crafting was culminated by helping to finish applying the skull and crossbones to J11's hat. I bought a couple of overpriced charms that I may do something with and got a great deal yesterday on a huge pack of scrapbook paper so I should have lots of fun when we get home. Oh how I can't wait to go home. I'm tired of being dragged around amusement parks where I'm bored and not getting to do anything I want to do because its boring. On a high note we may be going somewhere very interesting today but more on that later. So til then I will leave you with a project. Think of something you enjoy doing that is something you've loved your whole life and tell me how you got started on it--specifically who got you started on it. You may be surprised who was inspiring. I know when I thought about it I was. Just post it on your blog and leave me a comment about it.

worn to a shred

2008-03-13T21:26:00.003-05:00

Well we went to Epcot today and it was incredible but my oh my am I dead on my feet. We got there at noon-ish and went thru the whole park and finished in time to watch the closing fireworks. That started at 9:00. 9 hours walking or sometimes riding. One ride called "soarin" takes you on a virtual hang gliding tour of California which was incredible despite the fact that it triggered a small panic attack for me. I cried a little but a big part of it was missing California myself. Its been two years since I was out there last and I haven't seen my mom in all that time. I never realized how much California was home to me until I went so long away from it. I may soon beg my husband to go out there and also to Michigan to see my grandparents as well. But back to Disney. The fireworks were absolutely the MOST incredible I've ever seen. I had goosebumps by the time it ended and the music was the perfect accompaniment. None of this is crafty for which I appologize. I made a patch for my sister-in-laws hat in the shape of a skull and cross bones to cover a goofy marlin that was embroidered on the side. So that was my craftiness. I will try to get some pics posted soon but can't make any promises. Ciao bellas

Off we go into the wilde blue yonder

2008-03-11T10:42:00.003-05:00

Hey all its me again. We're headed off to Florida and I'm sitting in the terminal waiting for our plane. The free wi-fi advertised all over is not functioning on my computer so I'm using my trusty fall back plan of my cell phone. I love being able to take my internet with me and can only hope I get good signal at the hotel down there. We're staying at some Buenavista Resort and Spa-- sounds fancy huh? But the 8 of us will be in a 3 bedroom condo thingy so its gonna be a little cramped. I can't promise anything too crafty while I'm down there but I did pack a very small sewing kit and several different scraps of fabric and if you've seen my babies, you know thats all I really need. They'll be hairless and unstuffed but I can embroider them. Thats my "just in case Melissa goes crazy in Florida" emergency stash and I really plan to just kinda take a break. I will however be keeping an eye out for lots of crafty stuff to bring back with me. I made sure to leave extra room in my bag ;). I don't have much to leave you with but I'll take a quick pic of my current project and post it here later.

Last day in Missouri for a while

2008-03-10T16:54:00.002-05:00

Well my husband and I will be heading down to Florida for an uncertain amount of time starting tomorrow. My brother-in-law and his wife are having their first baby and my MIL is paying for us to go down there with her and the youngers. It'll kind of be a honeymoon for my husband and I and our anniversary is on Friday so that will be nice. I was sitting here reading a weight loss tip that I get as a newsletter every day and today's was about turkey. I read it and I realized that altho the word "gobble" is synonymous with turkeys and eating quickly, that really makes no sense. Turkeys aren't necessarily voracious eaters and so I wondered why the sound they make would become a word used to describe piggy eating. I could understand "grunted" altho saying someone grunted their food down would take some getting used to. I think tho that I'll try it. Now for some on topic info. I finished the baby blanket for my sister-in-law. (the one you didn't know about) And now I'm working on an abstract mother's angel for her. I'll put some pics up on this post when I finish it but as its rather last minute, I should really go for now and work on it.
Arivaderci my invisibles,
Melissa

Devil in Disguise

2008-03-09T14:56:00.004-05:00

I got up this morning and worked on my little demoness that I showed you the other day and boy am I glad I did. Today she finally decided to introduce herself. I had been worried that she might be shy but as it turns out she's just a little stuck up. (In a good way I promise.) Her name is Lolita and she's a regular little siren. She started singing Elvis' "Devil in Disguise" and explained to me that she was the muse behind that song. She was down south and thought she'd play a few pranks since thats what demons do. She really didn't plan to be a muse but word got out about her after that song was written and she went into seclusion for a while forsaking all thing corporeal. Recently she decided that most of the hubbub had died down enough to come back to this world and so she sneaked into my head while I was showering one morning.
She will be for sale in my etsy shop at www.whitecoralbelles.etsy.com. Go check her out.

Mixed Emotions

2008-03-08T22:21:00.003-06:00

I had a very hectic day today. We got up about 10 til 8 which has become a habit for me lately. Got ready for heading to my nieces party. This includes showering, digging through my clothes putting on one dress and doing my hair and makeup and deciding that the dress showed too much cleavage for a niece's party and a memorial service, digging some more, putting on the skirt I wore to our wedding reception, realizing I needed a nice shirt, going to wal*mart, coming back home and deciding on jeans and my new shirt. And that was all before 10. We picked up my stepmom and brother and drove for a very long time. Got to the party local and soon were over run by 10 children, 8 0r 9 of whom were screaming 6 year olds. O mon dieu! We finally achieved quiet after invoking the quiet game while promising ring pops to the winners. From there we returned to my parent's house and then to the memorial service. It was well attended by many of the people who loved Frank. But it was long and now I feel drained. I think my niece liked the doll but its hard to compete with barbies and a nintendo DS. I don't think I'll make something for my older niece because she's gonna be 10 and well.... Anyway I'll probably start something else tomorrow but tonight I'm ready for bed. Maybe my little demoness who now has a face I'm proud to say. Au revoir mes amis.

I am so very happy

2008-03-07T21:33:00.002-06:00

I know I know this is post number three and to answer your question, no I don't have a life and no I don't have anything else better to do. So sue me. I'm just so happy because my etsy shop just had its very first sale today and I'm jumping up and down (inside anyway that would be bad to do while typing) about it!!!! Thank you Faith so very much! Oh and the monkey bread was mmm mmm delicious.

Running with tweezers

2008-03-07T13:17:00.001-06:00

Just thougth I'd share this since I'm getting ready to go make it myself. It looks delicious and my husband has recently become addicted to other forms so I thought I'd try it.

MONKEY BREAD
4 cans refrigerator biscuits (about 40)1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon1/2 cup butter1 cup white sugar1 cup brown sugar, packed1/2 cup pecans, raisins and/or coconut, if desired
Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. Pour sugar and cinnamon into a plastic bag and mix.
Add biscuit pieces, several at a time; shake to coat well.
Place pieces in a buttered tube or Bundt pan until all are used.
Sprinkle layers with nts, raisings or coconut.
Bring brown sugar and butter to a boil in saucepan. Cool 10 minutes, then pou over tp of biscuits.
Bake at 350F for 45 minutes. Allow to cool 15 minutes before removing from pan. Turn upside down to serve.

Early mornings pass so quickly

2008-03-07T11:12:00.002-06:00

I got up this morning about 8 o'clock and went almost immediately to finish the dolly that I showed yesterday. I painted the blonde's face (I don't like that one near as well and unfortunately it showed when I did the face- droopy eyes and a large and ungraceful mouth) and even made a carrying bag for her that snaps shut and resembles a pillow case. I have a feeling that a childs size pillow would fit in it and she could take it all to granny's house. I came out of the back room and checked on the time and lo and behold, it was 11 o'clock! Holy cow where did my morning go? I'm still in my pajamas and sitting in the living room. One of the older J's picked up the younger ones because she and my husband and I switch off watching them. So now I'm left with a nice quiet albeit messy house and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself today. I was ecstatic to see that several of my seeds have little green sprouts now and I went over each egg carton checking to see which plants were up and if any more showed signs of saying hello today. I was not disappointed. I also saw the prettiest cardinal couple out the window of my sewing room and made a mental note to mention them as these are really the first signs of birds we've had. I knew my ant was a sign that spring was on its way. I feel rather brilliant now even tho its supposed to be cold all week.

On a sadder note, I've got a memorial service to go to for a very dear family friend tomorrow night and I'm not sure what to wear. When my grandmother died, I wore jeans and the brightest red sweater because those are happy colors and my gramma wouldn't have recognized me in something else. That was with family who understood my eccentricities tho and I'm not sure Frank's family will feel the same. I met this man when I was 4 or 5 years old tho and he was like an uncle to me. Again, I was always in jeans when he was around. I'm a daddy's girl and a tomboy and when Frank was over I was usually working outside with him and my dad so pretty clothes had no place in my life. I've never been good at this stuff anyway.

Frank was one of the last of a dying breed. He had family connections to the mob and of course that means he was Italian. I remember debating with him over whether or not you could make manicotti with cottage cheese in place of ricotta. I'm anti-ricotta for the most part and to him that was close to sacrilegious. Thats just the kind of guy he was. But always very upbeat and sure of himself and where he stood with life. He smoked who knows how many cigarettes a day but contrary to our expectations that wasn't what got him in the end. I'm really going to miss seeing him around and this is yet another reminder to me that I should stay in touch with the people I care about because you never know when they won't be around any more.

Hello Again

2008-03-06T09:47:00.003-06:00

Hello my darling invisibles its me again. I was up at a (for me anyway) ridiculous hour this morning because I'm so close to finishing my flip flop dolly for my niece whose birthday was yesterday. Fortunately for my inherent procrastinator self the party isn't till Saturday and I did finish the hair yesterday and one of the faces. I just have the blonde to give an identity to now. I must say that as much of a pain as she was to make, ( I hate hate HAtE sewing shirts for dolls because I never can quite get them right) I'm rather pleased with the end result. I've been trying to figure out a way to make a male version of these for my etsy account and it just came to me that I can make trench coats or wizards robes for them! How brilliant. With the world being all about Harry Potter right now and being a huge fan of him myself, it just might work. Not that I care what the world thinks, because they're my art after all aren't they? I will post some quick cell phone pics of miss dolly here because I didn't get any of the apron I made for my dad whose birthday was also yesterday. It was an inspiration if I do say so myself. Darling husband has a thing for guns and growing up with a former military father, I always enjoyed shooting things too. So I made a barbecue apron for my dad and was stumped for what to put on it. I couldn't use spongebob like I did for mine and Jarell's aprons because.... well just because. Then on our way to get groceries I asked Jarell what he thought I should use and he said, "Kill em all and let god sort em out," to which I replied, "not for an apron goofball." Then he thought about it for I swear 2 seconds and replied, "Cook em all and let your guests sort em out. And put the little skull with the cross bones wearing a chef's hat." And I was hooked. I changed the cross bones for crossed spatula's and the rest as they say was history. It was really pretty cute and I'm thinking of making a matching grill tools tote thingy for father's day.

Tiptoe thru the tulips

2008-03-05T16:05:00.004-06:00

Its me again because as I went out for my walk today, (self-enforced exercise regimen that I avoid as much as possible) I was reminded that I meant to talk about my first sighting of the true messengers of spring. I'm not speaking of the bluebird or the robin. I'm talking about the ant. Inside my house in my bathroom on the floor and although he was only a scout I'm sure he's planning on inviting all his family and friends to join him soon. It was a combination of chills and thrills for me because I hate having my house overrun by the six legged kind but knowing that spring is finally almost here is a wonderful relief. I have lots of hopeful egg cartons full of starter mix and herb seeds that I check daily to see if there's a sign of green. In a fit of future ambition I will start some vegetables too. Its my yearly ritual and only once have any of these starts actually made it into the garden so I've got my fingers crossed. I was also ambitious enough to order a bunch of trees from Burgess my favoritest of all times seed and plant catalog so I have my work cut out for me. Just thought I'd share this random info with my invisibles.

I have pictures today

2008-03-05T08:43:00.006-06:00

As promised I have pictures of one of my most recent projects today for all of my invisible readers :) The first one is of a little guy from my new line of hellesbelles (and beaus) and his name is Mickey. Here's his story.

This is Mickey. He who works for a little company you may or may not have heard of called Stryptogram. That’s right, you guessed it, Mickey sings for his supper (literally) while delivering stripping telegrams. Mostly to lonely middle-aged women. Its sad because most of them send the telegrams to themselves and thus have very little to say. However, Mickey’s secret dream is to perform his one man…er…demon act on a real stage instead of someone’s front porch. Ever since he saw the episode of Drew Carey where they did a satire of “The Full Monty,” he’s been hooked. He plans to call his show “The Full Mickey.” Mickey’s not very creative with names. Even so he knows he will get rave reviews and he’ll get to be a huge success just like his idol, Britney Spears……
The End

He's still a work in progress and he's actually a creation of my sister in law J11. (My husband and his siblings all have names that start with J so this is a handy way to keep track of them.) My little girl who may or may not be Mickey's big sister is unnamed as of yet but here she is in all her unfinished glory.

I'm becoming rather fond of these little demons and it won't be long before they'll start hanging out in my etsy shop causing all sorts of trouble. I find that sometimes its easier to wrestle your personal demons when you have something concrete to get your hands on et voila these little fellows were born. Each will have their own story that they tell me as I'm working on them. Mickey told me his when I was working this little lady and he wouldn't even let me leave the room to get paper. He just started dictating while I ran around looking for something to write on and fortunately for me he was willing to start over when I finally found an old sketch book. He swears I got half of it wrong but now that its in print he rather likes it. Ah well such is the nature of demons. Anyways, I must be off now because my stomach says that breakfast should really be soon. Happy crafting!

New to this site

2008-03-04T17:39:00.002-06:00

I'm new to this blog but thought I'd give it a shot since none of my myspace friends seem particularly interested in hearing about me melting plastic bags a la etsylabs or about my little dolls scrapbooking etc. So I will try for a new audience and see what happens. My name is Melissa altho thanks to a clever random comment from my mom I have taken upon myself the moniker of HellesBelles. In other places I am known as littlesongbird17/86 or songbird86 or more recently whitecoralbelles but since there are so many names that amuse me I find it hard to choose just one. Its similar in my real life where as a newly wed of almost a year I'm still receiving items in my maiden name along with things to my married self. Its really quite confusing but c'est la vie, n'est ce pas? I have an etsy account that I'm still a bit uncertain about but its a work in progress. Its located at http://www.whitecoralbelles.etsy.com/ if you should happen to be interested but bear in mind the earlier stated work in progress comment. That said allow me to introduce myselves. I am a young female living in what is possibly one of the most meteorologically diverse states in this nation, Missouri. It was 75 on Sunday followed by a brisk 22 on Tuesday and today I haven't seen the temp but its neither one of those. I have two and a half dogs since a) one is technically not ours she just resides here with a temporary permanancy and/or b) one is a 9 0r 10 week old puppy of unknown origins. They choose to be named Missy, Tinkerbell, and Pepper and are the queens of this 70 acres on which we live. I am as I mentioned earlier a newly wed and in fact our anniversary is on the 14th so we've almost made it through a whole year. Hooray! I have two younger brothers, two step-brothers, one step-sister, and 16 brothers and sisters in law. Yipes! My husband is the middle of 14 children and since his parents are currently in Mexico for their business we are taking care of the younger 4 kids ages 12, 14, 14, and 16. It is I must say a strange feeling being a semi surrogate parent to teenagers having been one myself not so long ago.
Crafts
When it comes to crafting, anything goes. I sew, scrapbook, draw, paint with acrylics on several surfaces, knit, crochet, and do strange things with random bits and ends when I find them. I can never say for sure what will catch my eye next but I often liken myself to a magpie who has tumbled into Aladins cave of wonders--- so many of shiny objects, so little time. I won't post any projects today because the kids are starting to microwave frozen burritos and that does not count as a healthy meal in this house. I must go make my copycat panera bread cheesy brocolli soup. Yum!!