FROM MY BEST FRIEND & ONE LAST CANDLE

My best friend, Jan Demetralis, KNOWS what this old girl LOVES. THAT'S because we are two of a kind! She is a Gypsy (bonafide) and I am a Comanche from the band known as the 'Wanderers' - or nomads. So we both have Gypsy spirits. I wanted you all to see the very beautiful shawl she sent. (No WAY am I EVER wearing that and risking a tear or spill!! - I plan to hang a long dowel & drape it over that in my room!) She also sent that GLORIOUS ornament, beaded so gorgeously, and her Gypsy horse because we Comanches TREASURE horses. All of those things were totally unexpected and are SO loved & appreciated! Now the red fairy I WAS expecting - she told me it was for me - but I DIDN'T know she was the size she is. See, my Jan tends often to make VERY small figures in great detail. I swear I don't know HOW she does that, but she does. So I assumed the Red Fairy was small. You know the old saying about what we become when we ASSume ANYTHING! LOL! So I was surprised & thrilled to open the box & lift out a fairy so lifelike as well as the size I think a REAL fairy should be! (What??? Of COURSE fairies are REAL! Gracious!) Isn't she AMAZING? I LOVE HER! And I named her Eka Peta - Red (fairy) child in my language! She is so special to me - just as my Jan is! In addition, my wonderful play-niece Kami & play-nephew Kevin sent me yummy tea & a darling Asian ornament! No, I didn't write this post to brag on what I got, but to brag on my best friend because she is soooooo talented! I am really lucky to be close to so many artistic people with such marvelous & varied creative talents! Click on photos of Eka Peta to see details!

These last 2 photos are NOT from my best friend! They are of the third candle I had that needed a bit of adornment. This one I will KEEP because it is really TOO scratched up to give, even WITH the counted cross stitch. But you get what you pay for, and - LOL! - I BELIEVE I paid about $1. So ... Besides I don't MIND that it's scratchy & kinda beat up. Fits ME to a tee!

With that said, I want to wish each & every ONE of you a beautiful, beautiful holiday! If I COULD, I'd wrap a big (red) bow around you ALL and put you right under my TREE because you are my VERY best gifts! MUCH LOVE IN THIS SEASON AND ALWAYS!!!! (And to ALL a good night!)

LIGHTS! ACTION! CANDLES?????

Here's my latest lil' fun. You KNOW I love counted cross stitching because, like crocheting, it relaxes me. Ahhhh! Anyway! I had these two candles I bought SOMEWHERE (darned if I can recall - it's been more than 3 years & my memory only goes back about a week these days!) on a clearance table. THAT I recall because they were scratched up and some of the color was off the candles. But I thought, "No problem! That's what aida cloth and thread are for - covering up scratched candles!" (Oh, HUSH! I KNOW that's NOT what aida & thread are for! Just trying to be silly. You know how difficult that is for serious lil' ol' me. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!) The reason the red candle is turned and not directly showing all the trees is because - yeah, you guessed it - the GLUE is still wet. Well, now I HAD to use glue on them. I couldn't very well STITCH the cloth to the candles! NOTE: For those of you who know me - I mean REALLY know me well - this incredibly STUPID blog post will tell you something about me today. For everyone ELSE, I'll just go right ahead & let you all believe I'm the biggest doofus alive and shouldn't be turned loose to blog things for public viewing! Either way - hope you like my candles! Don't know what the heck I'm going to DO with them, but - HEY! -they're FINISHED!

LOLLIPOP, LOLLIPOP, OH LOLLY, LOLLY, LOLLY ...

See what I've been doing? I've been making - LOLLIPOPS! Twenty-EIGHT of them, to be exact! Oh, I've also been making some other things, but most of those are still WIPs! I just finished the last of the lollies last night! And guess WHAT? Not a single drop of GLUE was harmed in the making of these lil' things! I used - GASP! - ACTUAL needle & thread to do EVERYTHING! Maybe there's hope for me yet, huh?

NAWWWWWWW! We ALL know better than that! LOL!

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I'm in sort of a silly mood tonight so I thought I'd share a few pretty pathetic Christmas one-liners, riddles, etc. They have absolutely NOTHING to do with creativity, but they DO correspond with my blog title, so I guess I can get away with it. LOL! Feel free to grimace - they are absolutely ridiculous, I know!




A 3-year-old gave this reaction to her Christmas dinner:

"I don't like the turkey, but I like the BREAD he ate!"


(Eeeeeeeewwwwww!)

Christmas Riddles
What did the reindeer say before launching into his comedy routine?This will sleigh you.
What do lions sing at Christmas?Jungle bells!
When is a boat like a pile of snow? When it's adrift.
What do you call the fear of getting stuck in a chimney? Santaclaustrophobia
How do snowmen get around? On their icicles.
What does Santa call reindeer that don't work? Dinner.

Some silly jokes.



1)How do you know Santa has to be a man? No woman is going to wear the same outfit year after year.
2) Semi-Annual after-Christmas Sale.
3) I kept Billie home because she had to go Christmas shopping because I don't know what size she wear.
4) Christmas tag-sale. Handmade gifts for that hard-to-find person.
5) Sterling silver Christmas charms to bring you good fortune. Potential choking hazard: do not use with food.
6) Curious Question: Why does rain drop, but snow fall?
7)Good King Wenceslas phoned for a pizza. The salesgirl asked him, 'Do you want your usual? Deep pan, crisp and even?'
8)Maria went to the Post Office to buy stamps for her Christmas cards.' What denomination?' asked the clerk. 'Oh! Good heavens! Have we come to this?' said Maria, 'Well give me 50 Methodist and 50 Church of England ones please.'
9)One Christmas, Joe and Peter built a skating rink in the middle of a field. A shepherd leading his flock decided to take a shortcut across the rink. The sheep, however, were afraid of the ice and wouldn't cross it. Desperate, the shepherd began tugging them to the other side.
'Look at that, 'remarked Peter to Joe, 'That guy is trying to pull the wool over our ice!'

And a few fun food facts.

Christmas Eating Around The World
Henry VIII was the first English king to enjoy turkey, although Edward VII made eating turkey fashionable at Christmas. Indeed turkey was a luxury right up until the 1950's when refrigerators became commonplace. However, traditions for countries around the globe vary enormously, the centrepiece can range from pork chops to curried goat.
Austria: By international standards, an Austrian Christmas is a modest affair, dinner might consist of braised carp served with gingerbread and beer sauce. Like many continentals, Austrians are saving themselves for the New Year celebrations.
Brazil: Christmas meal could be chicken, turkey, ham, rice, salad, pork, fresh and dried fruits, often with beer. Poorer people will just have chicken and rice.
Czech Republic: Tradition dictates that the tree is not lit before Christmas Eve when they have a big dinner of fish soup, salads, eggs and carp. Scarily, the number of people at the table must be even or it is believed the person without a partner will die next year.
France: Traditional Christmas food is a family meal with good meat and the best wine.
Finland: In the evening, a traditional Christmas dinner is probably eaten. The meal will include 'casseroles' containing liver, rutabaga [swede], carrot and potato, with cooked ham or turkey. Some families eat liver pate. Raw pickled slightly salted salmon, herrings and salad called 'rosolli'. Mushroom salad is also common.
Germany: The Germans tend to have a game feast on Christmas day, usually wild boar or venison.
Hungary: The meal could be fresh fish usually with rice or potatoes and homemade pastries as dessert.
Italy:: Italy probably has the longest Christmas lunch, it's not uncommon for the feast to last 5 hours. Most families will have about 8 courses including antipasti, a small portion of pasta, a roast meal, followed by 2 salads and 2 sweet puddings - then cheese fruit, brandy and chocolates.
Jamaica: Christmas dinner usually consists of rice, gungo peas, [pigeon peas] chicken, ox tail and curried goat.
Latvia: The special Latvian Christmas Day meal is cooked brown peas with bacon [pork)] sauce, small pies, cabbage and sausage.
Norway: The big festive feast takes place on Christmas Eve. Most people around the coastal regions eat fish; concoctions of cod and haddock and a variety called lutefisk. Inland they go for pork chops, specially prepared sausages and occasionally lamb.
Poland: The traditional Christmas Eve supper consists of 12 non-meat dishes, representing the months of the year and featuring fish such as pike, herring and carp. Other typical Polish dishes are fish soup, sauerkraut with wild mushrooms or peas and Polish dumplings with various fillings.
Sweden: Traditional Christmas Food is usually a smorgasbord of caviar, shellfish, cooked and raw fish and cheeses.
Ukraine: The people here prepare huge broths brimming with meat for Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day.
Armenia: the traditional Christmas Eve meal consists of fried fish, lettuce, and spinach. The meal is traditionally eaten after the Christmas Eve service.
Portugal: the traditional Christmas meal [consoada] is eaten in the early hours of Christmas Day.

(Remind me to head straight for Italy at holiday time! YUMMMMM! Jamaica would be good, too. I LOVE oxtails & curried goat!)

I'll behave next post - I promise! Just couldn't help my bad self tonight! ... and to all a good night!

TIE DOWN THE PAINT BOTTLES! HIDE THE GLUE! KAI'S MAKING MESSES AGAIN!

It's not MY fault if I like making oddball stuff. I mean, what do you EXPECT from a goof? Besides, it made perfect sense. See, I've been trying to decide what, from my craft area, will & won't go with me to Wisconsin. Most stuff will go, of course. However, there are some things which will NOT be making the move with me - books I bought when I was just SURE I'd eventually be the next great dollmaker (HA!) MAYBE some fabric, those horrid, torturous little implements called 'finger turners' which I say should be billed as nothing less than cruelty to dollmakers, as well as various and sundry other things not necessarily related to dollmaking. But for the MOST part, ALL my creative nonsense will accompany me to Wisconsin. Anyway, I was looking through my shelves of 'stuff' only to come across a bunch of those paper mache mannequins. You know - the lil' headless torsos? I thought, "Hmmmmm, now what could I do with those?" Wasn't THAT a loaded question, though? Out came the paint - mostly metallic but also some regular acrylic. Paint, paint, paint! Then out came the gloss. (Ugh! That stuff STINKS and takes ages to dry. It DOES leave a nice gloss, tho'!) The FUN part came next: EMBELLISHING! I bought some wooden bases yesterday and had to paint & gloss them so they could go under the creations. Can't have my beheaded torsos standing on the ground, now can I? How would THAT look? Goodness! Anyway, there they are, my weirdo-creations. You are allowed to laugh, roll your eyes, shake your head, etc.! Oh, as you can see, I also made a couple of boxes & a HOHOHO hanging banner. Somebody better hide the paint & glue. I'm still looking for things to embellish!

HEY, YOU! That's right - you, reading this post! Wouldn't you like a few embellishments? It won't hurt a BIT. Come on over here ... BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA ...!

A NEW SONG!

This morning I had to do something I hate doing (but I DID it) and when I finished, I figured I should answer some emails before I remembered WHY I hated doing what I had to do this morning. (Yeah, I KNOW that sounds as though I'm making no sense. I AM though - just not to anyone but MYSELF. LOL!) Anyway, I answered one email & hit SEND. ARRRRRGGGHHH! That blasted Yahscrooge! I got a message saying "the USUALLY RELIABLE Yahoo has encountered a problem" or some stupidity like that, and BINGO! My message had been gobbled up like the Thanksgiving 'punky' pie! So I will wait till LATER & hope I still have the stamina to write. A POX upon you, Yahoo! Well, you may be asking, "If you are so peeved, Kai, why are you blogging and more especially, why do you have the TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS picture on your blog?" Ahhhh! Excellent questions! First, I'm not REALLY peeved. My lil' moments of being annoyed last about as long as my diet resolutions. And the picture's here 'cause I thought I would invite you to play a GAME with me! No prizes or anything. Just typical Kai silliness! If you want to play, email me (see my blog's side bar -right at the top - for my addy!) YOUR words to THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS! You can rewrite the entire song, or just a line or two. I will put them together in a couple of weeks & blog the results! Some friends & I did this via snail mail a couple of years ago, & it had us ALL laughing. I'll be playing too, by the way. (WHAT???? You thought I would miss a chance to be goofy? Puleeeeeeze!) Okay! Speaking of GOOFY, I think I'll go see if Yahoo is still on my NAUGHTY list!