EASTER/SPRING INSANITY!

Huevitos. That's what these odd, big-headed creatures are. And they are sitting in Spring cups. Why? Uhhhh. Dunno! Maybe that would officially make them egg cups??? Actually, I saw the pattern for the huevitos (eggs) on Crochet Central, my fave place to get free patterns! They cracked me up! (No pun intended!) So I made a couple.

These are Peeps. They're for my peeps at Barnes & Noble. The cafe crew. I'm getting them some ACTUAL bunny PEEPS and attaching these with a ribbon and the lil' tag. Will they think I'm insane? OF COURSE! They already DO! LOL!
I've been painting stuff today. Making cheese, caramelized onion, and cilantro quesadillas with homemade salsa for my housemate. Exercising. Reading. It's been a GOOD day. Hope YOU are all having a good day, too!

IT'S BEEN YEARS COMING!

This is me! Well, okay! So it REPRESENTS how I feel. Do you ever get to a point where you KNOW you need space & time JUST FOR YOU or you are going to explode like a pressure cooker full of spaghetti sauce? I think we ALL do! As women, we are people pleasers, caretakers, last on our own list. Not ALL the time, mind you, and to different degrees, but it's who we are. This especially applies to MY generation. Hopefully, we are teaching our daughters and granddaughters to be different! At any rate, I have felt tired and overwhelmed by have-to-do stuff for quite a long time. I need a break from - EVERYTHING. At least from anything I really don't feel like doing at any given time. Sooooo ... here's what I decided. Because one of the things I find myself far too attached to is the computer, for awhile, I will blog when I get the urge, and I will READ blogs (but most likely not necessarily comment.) I also realize I owe a million emails. Actually, I owe 28 JUST received YESTERDAY. But the truth is, I am wiping my slate clean and not answering for awhile. That DOESN'T mean I don't love all of you! I DO!!!! I just want to write to you when my mind is adjusted & I am more ME. So forgive me, those of you to whom I owe emails. I hope you won't think I'm a patoot and throw me away. The truth is, I'd honestly want & EXPECT you to do the same if you needed some 'you' time! The reason I'm BLOGGING this is because I figure most people I 'owe' will see it. I also figure most of you will understand! This 'me' thing has been a loooooong time coming. I'm pretty new at it. Well, I'm new at STICKING to it. This time I plan to. Expect emails & blog comments when ... ummm ... I don't know! When you SEE 'em! LOL! In the meantime, sending all of you big hugs! Big LAZY hugs!

CRAZY GOOD FUN!

It's been almost 5 years since I went to a movie! Oh, I WATCH movies - I have enough DVDs to last me a lifetime! But actually take my happy patoot to a theater , buy a ticket, and sit for 2-plus hours? Nope! It's not that I don't LIKE going to the movies! I LOVE it! Used to go ALL the time! But that darling 14-year-old who shattered my kneecap in 2005 changed the way I do EVERYTHING. Combined with the Lupus & Fibromyalgia, both of which are HARD on joints, plus some very serious childhood leg & foot injuries which were left untreated & healed (BADLY) on their own, that shattered kneecap has stopped most of the activities I used to do on a regular basis. Nope, I CAN'T have the leg repaired. A number of VERY excellent surgeons all said the same thing: Even if they were to go in and rebreak every single bone in my legs, replace the kneecap, & fix the bones, there's still less than a 25% chance I'd ever have use of my legs. So I live with it. But sitting ANYWHERE for more than 10 minutes without shuffling and adjusting my position is excruciating. If I DON'T move a lot, within 30 minutes, my leg locks so badly it takes FOREVER and a lot of moaning, crying, and/or - I'm ashamed to admit - bad language to move. THAT'S why no movies IN PUBLIC. But my housemate REALLY wanted to see ALICE. I'm a huge Johnny Depp fan & planned to buy the DVD upon release. But Ray wanted to see it NOW. And he's one of those people who won't go ANYWHERE on his own. Sigh. So I agreed. Reluctantly. Grumpily. Not very graciously. And I went. We got there early. Sat in the empty theater for 40 full minutes because Ray got the time wrong. Sigh. But I have to tell you, I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the movie! If you haven't seen it - especially if you are, as I am, a fan of Tim Burton's off-the-wall productions - you MUST! It's well done, the characters are spot on, and while it's NOT your 'childhood' ALICE IN WONDERLAND, it's (to ME) WAAAAY more wonderful! Johnny Depp was amazing. Just amazing! How on earth can someone that gorgeous make himself look so hideous, yet STILL come off looking beautiful because of his character? He DID it! Helena B. Carter was PERFECT as the Red Queen. PERFECT! And Mia, the young girl they chose to play Alice was a delight! I was in absolute hysterical laughter over the Tweedles & the Cheshire Cat, not to mention half the OTHER characters. But holy cow! Those three - Alice, the Mad Hatter, & the Red Queen - were MORE than worth having to swallow the screams of pain as I stood AFTER the movie. I hope YOU see it! I will still be buying that DVD as soon as it comes out! AWESOME!

MIXED-UP MORPHED CRITTEROOS

I told you all about the egg-cup critters I was going to do for four lil' ladies at Barnes & Noble. Well, here they are! They are EGG-BUNNIES! And, yes! I most DEFINITELY am CRAAAAAAZY! LOL!

But, HEY! I'm nowhere NEAR as crazy as my wonderful best friend, Jan! Check out the lil' fella SHE sent me for Easter! Doesn't he fit in great with the egg-bunnies? He cracks me up!

And the tags for the egg-bunny cups are on the backside, & decorated with little Eastery brads! I'm nothing if not thorough, huh? OH! Guess what I used for the inner ears & noses? DRYER LINT where I washed my brand new pink towel! BWAHAHAHAHA! Waste not, want not!

Am I FINISHED making nutty stuff? Nooooo! Come visit again tomorrow afternoon or Saturday to see the rest of my goofiness! Awwww - c'mon! Ya' KNOW you WANT to!

I'M PROUD TO BE A HOOKER!

My crochets hooks have been seriously in use for WEEKS now! Here are my two latest pieces. The pink & yellow is for a 6-year-old girl my lil' play daughter Courtney told me about. The little girl is going to lose her hair soon, courtesy (if you will) of chemo. She wants to be a princess. That breaks my heart! Court said people are donating girly hats, wigs, and $$ to this family for their beautiful child, and I HAD to make the beret for her. Later, I will make other hats AND a personalized crown. Before I send this beret, I intend to add a detachable crocheted flower! The little girl can wear her beret several ways & it IS sized for a child! I hope she likes it! More than THAT, I hope she gets well FAST. No child deserves something as debilitating and invasive as cancer.

My best friend Jan's darling lil' granddaughter, Kami, saw one of the scarves I'd crocheted & let Aunty Kai know SHE likes scarves in green & yellow, thank you very much! LOL! I ADORE Kami, and went right to work on this long versatile scarf. She can wear it traditionally - just around her neck - covering her head and neck, tied in a bow, etc. Either way she wears it, KAMI will make the scarf look good because she is a DOLL!

Currently, I'm working on the last of 4 bunny eggs to be placed in some pretty lil' egg cups. They are for 4 of THE most precious (very) senior ladies who meet twice weekly at Barnes & Noble's cafe. Over the past year, I've gotten to know them, and I just love 'em to bits! They have such fun, playful spirits, and remind me each time how important it is to STAY YOUNG AT HEART! I'll show the bunny eggs when I finish all 4. I have a list as long as my arm of things I want to crochet. I know it sounds bad, but I'm SO proud to be a hooker! BWAHAHAHAHA!

THE GREAT MOLE MASSACRE

I often make Mexican food for my housemate because - well - he's MEXICAN. LOL! Actually, he's 1/2 Mexican, 1/2 Taos Pueblo Indian. But he LOVES his Mexican food. I'm not talking about tacos & tostadas. Yeah, he eats those, too! But I mean more traditional foods: sopa de albondigas (meatball soup) tamales (homemade) carne picada (a sort of ground meat stew) and, the celebration food - mole. (Sounds like mo' lay.) What, you ask, IS mole? It's a sauce which is made up of ingredients one would not necessarily expect to taste good, but which are AMAZING. Included are such things as dried bread, chocolate, & chilis. Personally, I LOOOOVE the darned stuff, rich tho' it is, and could eat my way through a vat of it if my wonky digestive system allowed me to. Ray's mom - and all the moms of her era - made it from scratch, a long, tedious, involved process. I, however, do it the easy way. I open a JAR, add it to chicken broth, and once it's incorporated into the broth & thickened, I spoon it over chicken or turkey. It's customary to serve it with (homemade) Spanish rice & pintos, plus (homemade) tortillas. (Yep, I make my Spanish rice & tortillas from scratch.) Well, yesterday I made mole with chicken. I'd bought my jar of mole sauce to add to my chicken broth, and was ready to add it.
Please, note the lid on that jar. It must be removed with a bottle opener. Sound easy? Well, think again! First of all, the jar itself is FLIMSY. I've had MORE than one break on me. Then there is the thick layer of red oil atop the hard sauce. I pour OFF the oil because the rest of the jar's contents, once immersed in the broth, contain & release MORE than enough oil. Usually, I put the jar in the sink and remove the lid - just to be on the safe side. Yesterday, my brain was obviously somewhere else because I didn't. Instead, I opened the darned thing on my drainboard. One section of the lid was semi-released, and I turned it slightly to release another section. I'm not really sure if my hand slipped, if I worked that bottle opener a bit too hard, or if I had the most contrary lid ever. But what happened was this: The lid released & went flying into the air. The oil just exploded. Literally. The left sleeve of my favorite red sweatshirt was saturated. Worse, my clean kitchen - including my shiny white cabinets - was covered in oily red mess. Oh, did I say that mole is one of THE hardest things to get out of dishes, clothing, pots, etc.? Well, it IS! Next to palm oil, it is the stain-producing king of foods! And while I now wish I'd thought to take a photo, I was definitely NOT in a picture-taking frame of mind at that moment! My kitchen looked as tho' it had endured the Great Mole Massacre of March 21, 2010. I had to get that cleaned up FAST. If I had let it set, it would NEVER have come out. So, I peeled off the shirt & soaked it in cold water. Filled up a sink with soapy, hot water & sponged down every surface of that kitchen. It took me over 3 HOURS to get it all cleaned. Because I didn't take pictures, I found one on the internet which looks about as bad as my poor kitchen did. Everything is clean now & only my sweatshirt retained remnants of the fiasco. I did NOT eat mole last night. Ray, oblivious to what had happened, tucked in and ate enough for both of us.

As good as it IS, I'm afraid I won't be buying that brand of mole again. Ever. Other brands of mole come already mixed and in a container which is easily opened. They're not quite as delicious, I must admit, but one massacre in a lifetime ... BASTANTE! (Enough!)

IN THE HOOD!

My GOODNESS I'm on a crocheting rampage lately, huh? And with 30 degree temps here, and fierce winds making it feel even colder than it is, working with nice, warm yarn is just the ticket! I made another hooded scarf today while I watched a very old movie I'd recorded on tv. What did I watch? LOL! LITTLE WOMEN - the one where June Allyson played Jo. That's my favorite of all the versions I've ever watched. I used to think I liked the Kate Hepburn version best but - nope! Anyway, in the 2 hours & 18 minutes the movie lasted, I made the entire scarf. This one is for a lady I've come to know at Barnes & Noble - a cashier. She's about my age, I think, and a bit on the hoity-toity side at times, but that's okay. I LIKE her because when she isn't BEING hoity-toity, she's actually fun! And though her birthday was the 13th, she was out of town on vacation so I made her gift to take this coming Thursday when I know she'll be back at work. That's pretty much IT from me for today, but I thought I'd at least show you I AM doing something semi-constructive! What are YOU doing today?

BEWARE OF FOLLOWING: CONTAINS EXTREME GRUMBLING!

And now I'd like to add a P.S. to this post: Lately I have been receiving some VERY unwelcomed comments by people I've either never heard of, or people who do not even bother identifying themselves. (I trash the comments, but I thought I'd let this be known.) To those folks who feel I am too goofy - even bordering on ridiculous - that's cool! Everyone gets to have an opinion! Besides, on that particular point, I happen to agree! BWAHAHAHAHA! To those who feel I am JUDGING my daughter in a bad light because I don't care for camouflage stuff & she does ... UHHH ... NONSENSE! My daughter & I have a running joke about our very dissimilar styles. Besides, if I really disapproved of her wearing camo, I wouldn't have MADE her a camouflage flap-hat! DUH! Most of all, to those folks who feel I need to be 'saved', to join with Allah, to stop being a COMANCHE because it's ungodly (WHAT?) or any OTHER 'helpful' or 'insightful' comments re: my beliefs ... thank you, but as you can see, I do not post your comments nor do I appreciate them. Just call me POPEYE: I yam what I yam & that's ALL what I yam! For the ONE person who has three times commented that I am STUPID and UNEDUCATED, I say to you, "You are welcome to say I am plain or even ugly looking. You can tell me I'm fat. You can say I am silly. But stupid and uneducated? FIGHTING WORDS. And, by the way, you misspelled uneducated. It's NOT spelled uneducaeted." NOTE: This rambling does not apply to you - my wonderful blogging FRIENDS, but ONLY to the anonymous comments. And ooops - my post script has gotten longer than my post. Sorry. Sometimes, though, I need to say what's on my mind! Now I have!

FAMILY: SOMETIMES IT'S A REALLY, REALLY GREAT THING!

Monday my daughter Leah will be - gasp - 38 years old. I haven't seen her in almost 6 years (they live in Wisconsin) but, thanks to email, we are communicating all the time. I MISS her, tho', and can barely wait till June when she, my granddaughters Megan & Jessica, my great grandson Bradley, and my grandson Jake - who will be home from Iraq then - will spend two weeks here. I am seriously hug-deprived & my arms plan to use up every single hug I have IN me! I know I'm always posting photos of my brood to the right of my blog, but I wanted to spotlight them this time. It's kind of my happy-ever-after chapter to some of what I've shared about family in recent posts. So - without further ado (or as Leah misquoted the phrase at age 2, without further doodoo) here are some photos I just received last night.

LEAH AND MEGAN: Leah wanted me to see her newly trimmed & highlighted hair.


The Jake-Man in Iraq, trying his best to look ferocious. He doesn't fool me.

And last, but certainly not least, here's Lil' Man Bradley, showing off two new toothies.

COMFORT CRAFTING

In 1971 I learned to knit. Two years later, I learned to crochet & retired my knitting needles forever. Since then, in these past 39 years, I've tried a LOT of different craft genres. I did macrame in the mid 70s (UGH) followed by counted cross stitch in about '77. Doll making, clay, various drawing/painting techniques (horrors!) and various & sundry other things. Of them ALL, the only two I steadfastly continue doing are crochet & counted cross stitch. I LOVE those because they feel right to my hands AND they are comforting to me. As I recently told my play-daughter Courtney who has just taken up crocheting (and is doing WONDERFULLY) you DO need to exercise caution when crocheting because the movement required is repetitious & can easily cause shoulder and/or wrist pain. I should know! I have to alternate the bouts of crocheting with other things in order to preserve my right shoulder. OUCH if I don't! But I could crochet non-stop otherwise. I DO tend to stay away from larger projects (afghans, for instance) between May and October because it's really too warm here in Texas to be handling heavy pieces. At any rate, currently I'm on a hat-crocheting kick. I showed you the hooded scarf and the camoflauge flap-hat. Last night I crocheted this beret (or tam) for my best friend's daughter. She told her mom to tell me she LIKES crocheted things - especially tams - LOL! It took me under 2 hours (while I watched American Idol) to crochet the entire hat! It's that simple! And it can be worn in a number of ways! So let me stop jabbering & show you the photos of it!

WHO I WAS IS WHO I AM

I thought I'd continue my rambling from last post but do it in a different way. Have any of you been watching NBC's new program, "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" It delves into the ancestry of various celebrities whose genealogical journeys we get to watch unfold. It's been very interesting so far! And it made me think of MY history. Surprisingly (to most folks) my MOTHER'S history - the Comanche side - has ALWAYS been an open book. There were extremely few records in the archives of Native Americans because - quite frankly - the goal seemed to be to eliminate us rather than document us. However, while we were not fond of paper trails (think TREATIES if you didn't get that) we DID have an excellent form of documentation. It was called oral tradition. Much as the African Griot or storyteller related all things from waaaaaaay back, there were designated people in our various tribes who did the same. It was our way of recalling events such as births & deaths, wars, etc. So my grandparents and my Aunt Adeca made certain I knew EXACTLY who I was from early on. I can easily relate my lineage back as far as my great, great, great, great grandparents! Now, THAT didn't suit my mother a bit because she loathed her Comanche blood. And my father - well, I'll postpone THAT story a bit. Yet I held onto myself & all I was as tightly as most little girls held onto a beloved teddy bear. I was a COMANCHE. I BELONGED somewhere. And it's good that I KNEW that because I certainly didn't look Comanche in either coloring or style. My parents SAW to that. I had blond hair - looooong thick hair that was tightly braided. And my eyes are hazel, changing with whatever color I wore on any given day. Those traits - although less dominant than my Comanche folks' darker hair, eyes, & skin - seemed destined to fall into my genes from my father's Dutch/Irish side. However, as I grew older, I realized how much I DO look like my people. I have the same facial bone structure & the same small eyes. My short squatty frame is typical Comanche. And while my parents could control what I wore and what hair style I had, they COULDN'T control how I was built. At age 6, I heard much discussion about making me look 100% NON-Indian before I began school. I had no idea what they would do. Mostly it turned out to be a matter of buying me a few dresses in bright colors that would bring out the blues & greens in my hazel eyes. My hair was beginning to darken somewhat (barely, but I guess ANY was a no-no to my father) & he insisted I have my long blond hair cut off so the curl from his side of the family would show up more. I remember being taken to a beauty shop where my mother said, "Cut off the braid." I wondered why SHE didn't just do it herself! Duh! Don't have a clue what she paid to have that woman saw off my thick braid, but SHE could have done it for nothing. The hairdresser asked my mother if she wanted to keep the braid. Yes. Yes???? It wasn't until this year - 53 years later - that I learned WHY she said yes. My Aunt Adeca made a deal with my mother. She would give my mother $50 - an UNHEARD of sum for 1955 - for my braid. My mother took the deal. And this Christmas, along with the pictures my aunt had saved of me, the braid became a gift. My uncle gave it to me & told me the story behind it. It was tucked in a clean sock all these many years. When my Aunt Adeca crossed over, my uncle - according to her wishes - took possession of all her stuff & he had stored it in his attic crawl space. I suppose he just forgot for a long time that it was there. But I KNOW all things happen for a reason, and I believe this was the year I was meant to have those items. That hair has been through some rough times - LOL! It's not all neatly braided anymore & I don't DARE unbraid & REBRAID it for fear it will come apart & be unsalvagable. So I decided, rather than stuffing it back in that sock, I'd put it in the little shadow box I had here. It's a bit tattered-looking, my hair, and I couldn't straighten it out for lack of space. But I can SEE it. I can hear my uncle telling me its history. I can see my mother, standing with her perpetually frowning face, waiting for the hairdresser to relieve me of that braid with her sharp scissors. And I can see my Aunt Adeca, giving up her $50 for my hair. I may have been a blonde back then. I may have been forced to keep my heritage to myself. But my ancestors who passed down our history through oral tradition, my aunt who loved me enough to sacrifice for my HAIR, and my uncle who gave me back both the braid and my story, contributed to my OWN history - the one I will hold in my head & pass along. I know that regardless of hair color and any other factor, I was always exactly who I am now. And I'm GLAD.

I THINK I NEED AN INTERVENTION!

I grew up in a VERY ... ummm ... lacking home. 'Nuff said. As a result, I have spent a great deal of my almost 60 years looking for something to compensate for the family I so badly wanted. In the beginning, books filled a HUGE space in my heart! I read and reread the Little House on the Prairie series till I knew it by heart. In MY young head, the Ingalls were MY family. Oh, I wasn't a DUMB kid - I knew they weren't REALLY my family. They just gave me that secure feeling I so terribly craved. In years to follow, when Mike Landon brought Little House to life for me on tv, the show became my warm blanket, so to speak. I LOVED it. I still DO. I don't watch it daily anymore. In fact, long periods of time pass when I don't see a single episode. But, despite the unrealistic happy-ever-after plots, I am grateful to Little House for giving me hours of 'tutorials' in how to be a good mommy, what a family means, and - important to me - how to cry. Later, the Waltons gave me a very similar feel-good glow, and I was almost as enamored of THAT as I was of Little House. Then came Dr. Quinn. While I LIKED that show lots, it was WAY over-the-top in lack of realism. So I never was as attached to it as to the others. In the years following, I've realized that each time I love a tv show to a strong degree, it's because, in my needy lil' round head, SOMEONE on the show has become labeled as 'family.' Why am I blabbering about this NOW? Well, I caught myself saying something when this season's SURVIVOR brought back one of my all-time favorite competitors - Rupert Boneham. I said, "My brother Rupert is back!" OMG! I am STILL doing it! But even THAT isn't why I'm telling you this. I am soooooo in love with a tv show, I NEVER missed an episode in the 6 seasons it aired in prime time. Then I watched every syndicated episode DAILY at 6 A.M. on A&E. When the last episode of season 6 finished & A&E started it over, I watched AGAIN. And a THIRD time. Then they took it off. I was DEVASTATED. Those actors were REAL to me. I FELT them. I NEEDED them. So I went to Barnes & Noble and bought Season One - the only season OUT at that time. NOT ENOUGH. I HAD to watch my 'family' - Ty & Sully & Carlos, my brothers - ALL of them. So I did something awful. I bought the entire 6 seasons on the blackmarket. Am I SORRY? No! I've since ALSO bought the 'official' second season, and will still buy seasons 3-6 as they come out. But in the meantime, an hour a day is devoted to THIRD WATCH. I LOVE that show, the actors, and the family they've become to me. I'm absolutely hopeless. I really think I need a SERIOUS intervention, folks!

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE


THE WALTONS

DR. QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN

SURVIVOR (Rupert Boneham 5th from the left on top.)

THE MAIN CAST OF THIRD WATCH

MORE CROCHETING AND OTT

I'm certainly on a crocheting binge lately, aren't I? But I really LOVE crocheting because it's just second nature to me! This is a pattern I've made so many times over the years, I can do it without ever LOOKING at the instructions. I've made lots of variations just by using different weights, colors, and mixtures of yarns. This one is for a truly sweet lady, Laura, who works at the McDonald's near here. We usually stop in on Tuesday mornings to drink a delicious vanilla cappuccino before heading to the grocery store. YUM! Over this past year, I've gotten to know Laura, and I learned she adores the pink & purple combo. So I crocheted this for her upcoming March 28th birthday. Needless to say, in TEXAS there's not much chance she'll need a hooded scarf again until next NOVEMBER. But it's not as tho' the scarf will spoil so I made it. Below is a photo of how it looks in a front-view.And here is a side view!

Something else I want to share is a gift I bought myself last week. It was - by MY standards - a fairly expensive purchase. AND it was on sale so I think it was probably VERY costly at its original price. But for those of you who don't know, I have only one sighted eye. My other - 'good' - eye is worsening. I have tried everything to illuminate paterns and projects. No luck. Regular lighting just tends to blare and offers little if any extra vision. Anyway, I wasn't LOOKING for a lamp in Michael's. I was looking for those iron-on letters. The lamps were on the opposite side of the aisle. Saw the big ones first - the ones that are floor lamps. $269????? No WAY! Then I saw a small one - on SALE for $49. Michael's had several various sizes of the OTT lamps set up & plugged in for testing purposes & I pulled a pattern I was buying from my basket & tested them. O-M-G! I could not believe the difference! So I bought the small tabletop one. I saw that the replacement bulbs are - gasp - $29, but the bulbs are guaranteed to last a minimum of 10,000 hours! Hey! That's a LOT of crocheting, right? I'm so delighted with this lamp! If you have problems seeing in a too-dark creative area, DO check out OTT lamps. I PROMISE you I'm not on Ott's payroll! LOL! Now I'm off to work on a new creative endeavor which has nothing to do with crocheting.

ONE MORE THING! If any of you know Susan Cleveland from Blackberry Creek blog, today is her birthday. DO go over & wish her a good one at www.blackberrycreek.typepad.com/ ! Or if you AREN'T already acquainted with this sweet lady, go and meet her! You'll be glad you did!

Oh! And below is my new lamp!

FLAP, FLAP, FLAP!

My daughter Leah's had a LOT of looks through the years. Some were soft and sweet. Some very pretty and feminine. One or two pretty funny. And a couple (see the one where she decided to bleach her hair and the tough girl one) downright disturbing!

In a recent post, I was complaining about her passion for - ugh - all things camouflage. But her birthday IS almost here, and I DO want to make her smile. So what to do besides crochet her a pink camo flap hat? Sigh. Here's the end result. I hope SHE likes it because I would MUCH rather have made her something PRETTY!

KAI, DON'T YOU HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO WITH YOUR TIME?

I have a million things I want to make! Actually, I have 2 crochet, one clay, one 'artsy', and one felt project in the works. Today, having caught up on my editing, household chores, and all OTHER must-do things, I had some rare time to play. So what did I do? Well, I went to the bathroom. No, no, no! Get that visual right out of your head! LOL! I went IN the bathroom because earlier this week I took all the Autumn/Winter colors out & placed my pinks, whites, and Spring greens in there. And something compelled me to lose my mind (or whatever is LEFT of it) and spend my creating time decorating - sigh - the two baby wipes containers I have on my counter. The one with the green flower holds my baby powder. (WHAT???? I LIKE using baby powder! It's inexpensive, the scent doesn't conflict with my cologne, and I've ALWAYS used it. Heehee!) The one with the pink flower holds - imagine this - BABY WIPES. I have VERY sensitive skin (compliments of Lupus) and I use them to remove makeup. They also come in handy for wiping paint, pen-marks, etc. off my hands. So now I have decorated containers to go with my pink decor. (Quit laughing. I can HEAR you!)
Here's a closer shot of the baby powder one. Are you amazed and enthralled yet? No?

And here are the lovely artificial tulips I couldn't resist as I passed them going INTO Michael's Thursday morning. I'm NOT a fan of Spring at ALL, but - hey! - it's GOING to arrive whether I like it or not, so I figured I'd pay homage to it. Sorta.

Last but not least, here are my new shower curtain, bath mat, and towels! TA-DA!

I'm guessing that by now you're asking, "Doesn't that woman have better things to do with her spare time?" Uh ... NOPE! Tomorrow I just may have to show you the camouflage flap-hat I'm making for my daughter! Now THAT'S exciting! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

IT'S A MATTER OF TASTE

See the camo pants. See me cringe. At LEAST it's a dress!

FEMININE!

My idea of pretty.

Elegant.

I ADORE my daughter, Leah! I mean, you can see from all the photos to the right of my blog, that my daughter, grandchildren, & great-grandson are EXTREMELY special & important to me. But I SWEAR, I cannot figure out how Leah & I got so turned around as far as clothing tastes go. Needless to say, I am a BIG woman. Plain. Old. BIG. My daughter is no longer the size 00 (yes, that's a DOUBLE ZERO) she was just 6 YEARS ago, but she is still wearing a size medium. A MEDIUM. What the heck is THAT? I haven't seen an 'M' on MY clothing since - well - maybe just before I had my daughter! I CAN wear an XL but the truth is, I dislike clothing that is ANYTHING but loose. It bugs me. I tend to wear 3X! Yet, despite the size thing, I love, love, love feminine clothing. I don't MEAN over-the-top stuff, but pretty soft-looking things. You know - GIRLY-GIRL clothes. See the white blouse above? The peasant blouse? And the white ruffle-front dress? I just bought those for myself. Soooooo pretty! Well, my daughter's birthday is the 22nd and I had already bought her a BUNCH of Texas Longhorn shirts, shorts, etc. because she asked for them. Then, I thought I'd get her something PRETTY! So I asked her, "What kind of dresses do you like?" She SNORTED! Yes, she DID. Not just chuckled or laughed, or politely coughed. THE GIRL SNORTED. "DRESSES? Are you SERIOUS, Mom? I don't DO dresses. I like pink as long as it's a tee shirt, but MOSTLY I like camouflage stuff." (CAMOUFLAGE? UGH!) I sent her some pictures, hoping to inspire her. Okay, okay - hoping to change her mind. See the pretty-ish camo dress? She SAID, "NO WAY." Finally, I sent the pants photo. "THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!" she said, all delighted. Good grief. So I'm just wondering. How did a pretty girl end up liking CAMO and her plain-as-dirt, round, OLD mommy end up liking pretty, feminine stuff? I guess it's all a matter of taste, huh? NOTE: My granddaughter Megan just asked me if I could find her a UT swimsuit. I said I'd SEEN one but it's dull grey with the Longhorns logo right on the BEHIND! Her response? COOL! That's exactly what I want. I give up.