PLAYIN' A SAD, SAD SONG TONIGHT

Susan, if you are reading this, I TRIED. I really, really TRIED. But sometimes the party starts even if you don't WANT it to. For those of you who are sure by now that I've lost my mind, I'm talking about PITY PARTIES. It's been one of those days, ya' know? Got a lot on my mind, got some health crud I don't EVEN want to deal with right now, and just about NOTHING has gone well since the day began. Those of you who know me pretty well know I tend to be upbeat 80% of the time. RIDICULOUSLY SILLY 19% of the time. But that 1% does happen now & then. Today it happened. And why, you ask, am I blogging about it? Well, I guess I need some GUESTS at my pity party. Actually, I just need to know there ARE people out there with whom I can share not only my silliness but my sadness. I'll be 'me' again tomorrow. And I'll be totally MORTIFIED that I wrote this. But tonight I'm singing a sad song. Yep. Sure am.

That photo, by the way, was me at about age 19 20. And the hair? A wig. Long story for another time, another party. Now doesn't this pathetic post just make you want to leave me a comment? Hahahahaha ... sigh.

GIVEAWAYS ARE TOOOOOO MUCH FUN!

Looky what I saw on my friend Cindy's blog! Isn't she just the CUTEST thing? Cindy's blog is http://thimbleprimsstudio.blogspot.com/ & she makes some darling creations! Go visit her blog & check out NOT just THIS but two GREAT swaps she's hosting & ALL her pretties. Leave a comment on the post about the giveaway & be entered. FOLLOW her blog & be entered twice more! Do what I'M doing NOW and blog (on your own blog) about it and win a million dollars. Oh - wait. Just teasing. Get TWO MORE ENTRIES! I WANT THIS DOLL! But then, so will everyone ELSE. Sigh. I'll be HAPPY for whoever wins her! (I'll be REALLY happy - ecstatic, actually) if it's ME! BWAHAHAHA! Can you all tell I've had WAY too much coffee today?

OOOOOOOOH! (HEEHEE!)

Here is the other skelly I mentioned in my last post. It's the one for my friend at Barnes & Noble Cafe. I forgot to mention that he has below-the-shoulders length dark blonde hair. It looks NICE tho' - not like the skelly's hair - but I figured it SHOULDN'T look too nice on a skeleton, so that's the reason it's so disheveled. And the green aprons they wear DO read: 'B&N Cafe' with a cup of steaming coffee. Of course, the aprons fit LIVING humans lots better! He's holding his Dutch language book, by the way. Okay! 'Nuff of my nonsense tonight! I'm off to read & TRY to sleep! Nighty-night to everyone!

SOME PEOPLE TAKE THEIR VOWS VEEEEEERY SERIOUSLY!

First of all, I HOPE my best friend, Jan, doesn't read my blog for a few days because this is for HER, & it's in one of 2 boxes I just mailed to her yesterday. Heehee! She and Ted have been married over 55 years (isn't that awesome?) and I decided to amuse myself (and hopefully them as well) with my insane sense of humor. See what happens when I have leftover skellies from the package of 6? BWAHAHAHAHA! I used the first one as my Devil Daddy's 'baby' and one for a birthday gift I will deliver next week. There's a kid who works at the Barnes & Noble where I live - uh - go to drink coffee & buy WAY too many books. He works in the cafe and was the first B&N employee I met when we moved here 6 months ago. SUPER nice. (Cute, too. Too bad I'm oooooold, round, and plain as dirt. Rats! That's okay, tho' - a friend is WAY better to ME!) Anyway, we started talking immediately &, despite a 39 year age difference, found we love the same music, many of the same books, WORDS, and LANGUAGES! Well, yesterday I was in B&N and we were talking about sushi and about speaking Japanese. (I do - he WANTS to.) I told him so far Vietnamese is the ONLY language that's crushed me. He said HE wants to learn Dutch. Hmmmm. I was looking through the store & decided to get him a Dutch language book. Phooey. Not a ONE in all of B&N! On my way out, I said, "Well, I WAS going to give you an early bd present & get you a Dutch language book but they didn't HAVE any." He said, "How'd you KNOW my bd was coming up?" I said, "It IS?" (I'd just been teasing about the bd!) Turns out it's going to be the 5th of October! AH-HA! I came home & looked on the B&N website & ORDERED the darned book! (I'm a VERY stubborn Comanche!) AND I used a skelly to make HIM something. Will show you when the glue dries completely! Anyway, here is my skelly box for Jan! I couldn't resist giving Mr. Skelly a bow tie! And MRS. Skelly? Why, how COULD she be completely put together without lovely blood-red nail polish and lipstick? Isn't life FUN? (From the happy couple's big smiles, I think the AFTERLIFE must not be TOO bad either! Hahahaha!)

BELLA DONNA

Whooooo is this critter and HER critter? Let me introduce you! Meet Bella Donna and her lil' friend, Max. Max insists on walking at least 4 times daily. And he walks rather slowly so Bella must be careful to take him out when traffic is not too heavy. Spiders REALLY don't appreciate being stepped on, you know. As for Bella, she's my insane (and not too well executed) idea of a Goth doll. But I admit, I LIKE her. Mind you, she could really care LESS if I like her or not. She has something of an attitude, this one. But I DO all the same. Ooops. She said for me to hurry it up because Max is waiting for his 3rd walk of the day. Sigh ...

THE DEVIL, YOU SAY!

I am a VERY bad girl! I destroy my toys. LOL! This lil' guy was a humble old run-of-the-mill Bendi when he started out. White with black bead eyes. A plain fellow, but sooooo many possibilities looked back at me from those blank eyes. What, I asked myself, shall I turn it into? A lovely girl? A Raggedy Bendi, perhaps? Then I thought of my favorite color - RED, of course - and it came to me. Beezlebub! What? The DEVIL, you say! YES! Exactly THAT! But I didn't want a caped and fire-instigating devil. Nooooo! I wanted - well - THIS one! This is Devil Daddy holding his not-so-bouncing baby boy - uh - skeleton. And his stool? A rolly-eyed spider.
Here he is from the rear. Yeah, yeah, yeah! I KNOW. I took the picture before the blasted GLUE dried! But it WAS dry. I just had to ADD some 'cause his devil butt wouldn't stay put on that spidey.

The black thing you see wrapped around him is his tail, by the way. It has a pointy lime green glass bead at the end of it. Quite the fashion statement for a devil, wouldn't you say? Not to MENTION the literal statement on his red attire. Well, I'd question paternity TOO if handed THAT baby! I think Devil Daddy needs to insist on a paternity test!

But you know, they DO look content, don't they? Maybe they FEEL the family connection despite the difference in appearance. (Then again, maybe Devil Daddy has just given WAY too many sperm donations!) BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ummmm ... or maybe I shouldn't be ALLOWED to buy Bendi dolls anymore.

ALL BOXED IN!

BOXES, BOXES, BOXES! That is what's living on the floor on every single side of my craft room these days! But they aren't EMPTY boxes! They are GOODY BOXES, packed to be mailed on 4 various dates. These, just below my fabric chest, are for mailing September 25th! They are birthday packages, new baby packages, and swap packages! I've already papered, taped, and addressed 3 of them since I took this photo. On another side of the room are boxes to be mailed the last Friday of October for the November birthdays. On the third side are boxes with things for the December birthdays, and the last side are just BOXES because I suspect I will NEED them for upcoming swaps & definitely for Christmas. I just LOVE getting goodies wrapped up to send people. IT'S FUN! And once I send them on their lil' postal journey, all I have left to worry about is if the recipients will LIKE what's IN them! I SURELY HOPE SO!!!


Anybody ELSE have boxes everywhere?

TWO KINDS OF HELP NEEDED!

Today, I am asking my blogger friends and email friends for assistance in TWO areas. First, many of you (ALL who were on my email contact list) received a blanket email asking that you do not send me anything with jokes either already open or as attachments, cartoons of any kind, Facebook notices, friend requests, etc., Videos from YouTube or anyplace, etc., or excerpts from your blogs. I'm repeating that request HERE in case I missed anyone who emails me. You all know I've been having MAJOR computer woes, and earlier an infected file from a joke a friend sent (it was already open - I NEVER open attachments except for pictures from personal files) and it corrupted my computer again. I THINK I took care of it (AFTER it froze & gave me a gray screen with a message & I had to unplug, reboot, and scan) but I just don't want to keep doing that! So please understand and know I LOVE your emails - just not all the above stuff.
Next, I have a favor concerning the photos below. They are hanging over our fence & it's the same thing my housemate yanked off the neighbor's vine last month! Can anyone identify this, tell me how to know when it's ripe, and clue me in on how it's prepared? THANKS!!! In fact, thank you for any help with the mystery plant AND for understanding re: the email thing! YOU ALL ROCK!!!!

SUNDAY? FUN DAY! MONDAY? UHHHHHH!

Last week? It was ROUGH! But this week has started out AWESOME. Ever had a day that just felt PERFECT? Well, I had one of those yesterday. (Oh, okay. It wasn't PERFECT - but darned near! Perfection would have been a gray, overcast day in the upper 40s turning to a chilly upper 30s at night. But, hey - this is HOUSTON, folks. And we don't generally see THAT in JANUARY, much LESS September!) Still, yesterday - coincidentally my 59th birthday - was very near perfection as far as I was concerned. And a REALLY great way to start a new week! I came out of my room pre-dawn (as always) but THIS time to the sound of my housemate blasting the Beatles' song, "BIRTHDAY" through the house. (I HOPE the sound was contained within these walls because I'm PRETTY certain neighbors would not have appreciated being awakened at 5 on a Sunday.) Then I went toward the kitchen, intending to put the coffee on, but he said, "Nope! I'm taking you OUT for coffee!" COOOOOOL! I got ready in short order & when I was about to leave, saw a beautifully wrapped gift on the table! He'd bought me two HUGE bottles of peppercorns & sea salt AND grinders! I LOVE stuff like that! Started to leave but I was sidetracked by two early phone calls from well-wishers! Finally, we went for coffee & stayed awhile talking. Then I got to go to Target (okay, it's NOT fancy, but I like Target a LOT!) where I browsed to my heart's content, bought a few needed things and - okay - two 'fun' things! (Hats!) THEN I decided to do something extremely spontaneous. Thanks to my dear friend Chirp's hubby who is not only a computer GENIUS but a sweetheart just like SHE is, & who made some suggestions re: fixing my headaches, my badly behaving Compaq WAS being a bit more accommodating. However, I bought myself a gift - an Acer notebook! NOW I have a backup should THIS computer act up again or totally CROAK. I have NO idea how to use it yet, I'm ashamed to say, but I'll learn!

After Target, I went to Michael's (same parking lot as Target) and was PRETTY well-behaved in there. By then it was just after noon & my housemate treated me to lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Granted, there's VERY little I can digest so I mostly nibbled & drank water. But HE ate a bunch and I DIDN'T have to cook yesterday OR today because there was SUCH a lot left and we brought it home! (NOTE: I've been watching my food intake for awhile now & have currently dropped 32 pounds. Not a lot considering I'm the size of King Kong, but still it's a START!) At that point I was already soooooo content, then I heard from my darling grandson in Iraq, my daughter in Wisconsin, and BOTH my granddaughters, one after the other. HEAVEN! People emailed (thank you to ALL who did!) and I was a VERY happy birthday girl! Today has ALSO been good! It is much less humid - always a good thing - and I got a marvelous gift in the mail from my dear friend, Betty Ballentine! LOOK! I will NOW actually be able to SEE my lil' counted cross stitch things! Isn't that neat?

And for the record, I must confess I have been playing today with a new toy. It's really the DUMBEST thing EVER but only 99 cents from Michael's & I SWEAR I couldn't resist. It's called a Noggin Bops. There are lots of them in many forms but this ridiculous female cracked me up. You wind her up & she does a funny, freakish little twist sorta dance. I LOVE IT!

Last but not least, I DID something today! I boxed ALL the things I'll be mailing on the 25th! No big deal, you say? HA! You really should SEE the number & sizes of the boxes. I have October bd gifties, my granddaughter's bd gifts AND the gifts for her soon-to-be-born little boy, swap packages, etc. I suspect my packages alone should keep the USPS operating for the next 2 years. Sheesh. But I LOVE sending things to people! It makes me HAPPY! In fact, right now, just about EVERYTHING makes me happy. Funny, how one truly amazing day can lift a person's spirits so much. Ahhhhhhh!

THE BEST LAID PLANS OF MICE AND MEN ... AND KAI!

CRUD! CRUD! CRUD! I am soooooo frustrated. A bunch of things have happened (nothing major) that have caused me to cancel my getaway plans at a hotel. But I'd already adjusted my mindset and made a DIFFERENT plan. THEN I heard we may get some BAD weather - you guessed it - ON MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY, the day for which I'd set up NEW plans. Sigh. Guess it isn't meant to be, huh? Oh, well. I was even as okay as possible with THAT. I figured, "I can always just chill & create & read & drink lots of coffee. Maybe play on the computer." HA! Is my computer COOPERATING? Noooooooo! It's been a PAIN lately. I get this blue screen all of a sudden telling me to do something with 'bios' whatever that is & disable this & that. Then it goes kind of gray & freezes. My friend Helen (a computer whiz) told me to do a system restore so I did. That SEEMED to help, then after a day or so - BANG! - it happened again. I have everything backed up & I can totally unplug the computer for about 20 minutes & it comes back. But I'm getting super sick of going through that. Yes, I have done virus scans via McAfee! No, I haven't installed ANYTHING new. So who KNOWS what's going on. But I think it's a devious ploy to sabotage my BIRTHDAY. First IKE last year, now all this! Hmmmm ... maybe I'll just stay 58 and not HAVE a darned old birthday. Yeah! That'll fix THAT! And with all THAT silliness out of the way, let me say that in all seriousness, I'm NOT at ALL grumpy! In FACT, I'm HAPPY! I HAVE been creating like CRAZY lately! Just wish I could show you what I've done, but it's all birthday gifties and swap goodies. So it will have to wait. Ahhhh ... now my rant is over & I need TEA! LATER!

BIRTHDAY GIFT TO MYSELF!

WHAT ON EARTH? Is that crazy Kai wishing HERSELF a Happy Birthday? YES SHE IS! And what's CRAZIER is this: her birthday isn't even until the 13th. So what's she THINKING? Well, I'll TELL you what I'm thinking. LOL! (That ALONE should scare you.) I've always felt that birthdays are very special. Your birthday is the ONE day each year that belongs to YOU and celebrates YOUR EXISTENCE. Yeah, well last year I had to share my birthday with someone I REALLY disliked. In fact, the hateful fellow SPOILED my birthday and the entire MONTH of September. And WHO was the intruder? Hurricane Ike. Since then, I have gone through a very serious medical problem, my housemate's retirement, and a move. I'm HAPPY where I am now! I've even (semi) adjusted to my housemate's being right here - underfoot - 24/7. But the truth IS, I crave some time for myself. I ACHE for it. Because of some disabilities, I cannot just take off & walk somewhere to get away for a little while. Even getting TO, then getting ON a bus is out of the question. That means if I want to go someplace I have to depend on my housemate for a ride. (I know - I sound like a mean, ungrateful cow. I'm APPRECIATIVE of the rides - truly. I just miss my independence something terrible.) All I really WANT to do for my one special day is NOT cook, NOT clean, NOT do any editing or bookwork, and NOT be disturbed, but just stay in my lil' craft room & play ALL DAY. Sound simple? HA! If I stay here, I'll end up working. I'll CERTAINLY be disturbed. So I decided to give myself a gift. Next Saturday & Sunday I am going by taxi to a hotel. A NICE hotel. I'm taking my craft stuff, a book, some dvds & my portable dvd player, and some cash. I will have coffee in a nice place Saturday morning, then do a little shopping in the nearby Galleria. (I'll have my wheelchair.) I will then go in my room and pop in a dvd while I create to my heart's content. If I get hungry, I'll order a salad from room service. In the evening I will go to the hotel's restaurant for dinner & then back to my room for a nice bubble bath and some reading. Sunday (my actual bd) I will again go for coffee, then back to my room - maybe on the balcony if it isn't too steamy - and create some more. A late lunch out in the early afternoon & I'll be ready to pack it up & head back here, refreshed. Sound boring to all of you? To ME, it sounds like paradise! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! And I DARE any hurricanes to infringe!