A SWAPPY-DOOOOOOOO!

GUESS WHAT? I've decided to do a swap! Yep! It's been quite some time since I hosted one & I've been WANTING to! I figure lots of folks are doing cool Halloween swaps. And lots will do Christmas swaps. But we often tend to forget the gratitude aspect of Thanksgiving, & focus only on the food. (Tho' THAT part is yumm-o, too! LOL!) With that said, here's the idea for my swap:

GRATITUDE ATTITUDE MATCHBOX SWAP

Sign ups are from today, Friday the 24th, until Friday, October the 8th! Partners will be assigned on the 11th of October. I'll be sending all swappers an email with some questions which I'll pass along to your swap partner. And here are the particulars:

You will decorate a (big) matchbook (not the teeny kind) in a Thanksgiving/Autumny (non-Halloween) style. Inside, using your judgment AND the info from your assigned partner, you will fill the matchbox with small items that represent gratitude, blessings, joy, and all things YOU perceive as thankfulness. You MAY do more than ONE matchbox for your partner OR just add extra (unboxed) things once you fill your box, but it isn't required. Do make sure that what you include is something YOU would want if you were receiving the box. All boxes must be mailed no later than the 29th of October so that they can be enjoyed during the month of November! Before Thanksgiving, I'll post to my blog all photos you swappers send me of what you make!

I am REALLY excited about this swap & hope so much I have a big old sign-up list!

Copy the Gratitude sign to the right of my blog & paste it to YOUR blog if you'd like. I'm grateful for all of YOU, and looking VERY forward to some awesome swappers & a GREAT SWAP!

WOOOOHOOOOO! WE HAVE A WINNER!

WHEW! I'm back (a day early) from visiting my 101-year-0ld great, great aunt in Oklahoma! It was a long & VERY hot trip back (my Aunt N. has no a/c in her car) then another 90 mile bus trip from Huntsville to Houston. THEN a city bus trip from downtown to about 1/2 mile from the house where my housemate picked me up. I'm SO over sitting in any vehicles for awhile! But it was worth it! My great, great aunt is not doing well, but then she IS 101! And while her frail lil' body will soon cross over (she has cancer) her sense of humor is totally intact! She decided against chemo because her cancer was advanced when she was diagnosed. But jokingly, she said, "I didn't want to lose my hair, Ijapuh" (that's me, by the way) because no good looking man will ask me out if I'm bald. Bald eagles? That's GOOD. Bald ME? Not good!" LOL! I'm extremely happy we got to see each other again. When she DOES cross over, I'll remember her laughing! On a different note, I FINALLY did the drawing for my 200th post winner. My housemate, Ray, was kind enough to pull the winning name for me. Here he is, holding the box. (Not many people made comments to that post thus the sparse number of names.)


The name has been pulled ... DRUMROLL ...

And the winner IS ... CHIRP aka Cherie Day! Congratulations, lil' sweety! I'll be mailing you a teeny gifty on this coming Thursday, the 30th!

THANK YOU to every single person who even PEEKS at my nonsense, but especially to those who actually post a comment! I value you! And I send you big ol' virtual hugs!

GOING HOME

I just learned that my great, great aunt in Lawton, Oklahoma (101 years old) is not doing well. It's been about a year since I saw her & I don't want to miss the opportunity to spend time with her at this point. I will be leaving tomorrow morning, and returning Friday the 24th. No computers where I'm going therefore I'll be out of the loop (so to speak) till I return. This will delay both the drawing for my 200th post giveaway and the trip to the post office That means you still have lots of time to leave a comment on the post pertaining to the giveaway. By ALL means, please do get your name in so I can include you in the drawing when I get back! C'mon! You KNOW you wanna! LOL! Have a wonderful next 9 days and just THINK! NO SILLY KAI TO BUG YOU ALL! At least not till around the 25th or 26th. THEN - LOOK OUT!

I'VE WAITED 60 YEARS!

Let me begin by saying that there are very few things I won't jump in and DO for myself if they need doing! Sometimes I may have to improvise, contrive an alternate METHOD of doing it, or just do the best I can. But I rarely depend on anyone else to do something I want done. HOWEVER ... I have made one exception. It's something I've waited for ... well ... my entire life. I could have done it for myself, but I didn't. I kept thinking someone would do it FOR me. I confess, I don't even really too much LIKE the thing I've been waiting on all this time. But I WANTED one. And I never got one. Now WHAT, you ask, is that moron Kai rambling on about? Well, I'll tell you. As of today, I am 60 years old. And I have never had a birthday cake. NEVER. Not ONCE. Not so much as a Hostess cupcake! I went to a lot of birthday parties where the celebrated person was presented with a cake, & I'd watch as he or or she beamed & blew out the candles. I've MADE or BOUGHT (MOSTLY bought 'cause I'm a good cook but not such a great baker) a LOT of birthday cakes in my 60 years. For my daughter (of course) for my housemate, for friends. For my great, great aunt on the rez. I watched her grinning & huffing & puffing to blow out 102 candles! I wanted candles. On a cake. With MY name on it. To celebrate ME. (Are you laughing yet?) I know, I know! It's SOOOOOO STUPID, isn't it? I could have made or bought my own cake. But a person just shouldn't have to do that. Yet I figure I have waited 60 long years & THAT'S ENOUGH, by golly! So, without further ado, I present to all of you, my very first birthday cake!

No, it's NOT 'real'! I made it online. LOL! But it DOES have candles AND my name on it! So I'm satisfied! Not to mention I am NOT going to be ingesting goodness knows how many calories my ample butt doesn't need! I LIKE 'my' cake! (And, hey! You stop that laughing! I see you!)

As for the rest of my birthday, I've already been celebrated & I am so appreciative! My wonderful friend Jan knows my birthday, of course, & also knew my housemate's bd was August 31st. Being the creative genius she IS, she did a MARVELOUS metal-worked piece of Ray & me together! She even made me a CROWN because I've been on that crown-making spree! I LIKE having a crown! I DON'T know why I'm holding hands with Ray 'cause that will happen when pigs fly - LOL! - but I think it was more to accommodate the card size than to insinuate a love interest! BWAHAHAHAHA! So you'll know, Jan does all her amazing art pieces with EXTREMELY compromised vision! Can you BELIEVE that? She rocks! And I love her soooooo much! Thank you, my Jan!
If I weren't so eager for you to see these lovely pieces by my sweet friend, Chirp (Cherie) I would be too embarrassed to tell this. But I seriously doubt you'll be surprised. After all, you KNOW what a noodle-brain I am! I received a package from her Saturday, & she wrote that these may be 'more ornamental' than anything! Well, I DID see the coffee cups on one of them & truly DID think they may be coffee cup sleeves. But THEN I 'decided' they weren't! See, I have a very normal-sized wrist considering how big the REST of me is! A 7 1/2" wrist. HOWEVER, my hands are WIDE! I can never wear bangle or cuff bracelets because they won't slip over these pudgy paws of mine! So I thought, "OH!!! Maybe I MENTIONED that to Chirp one time. Did I???? Could these deliciously beautiful circular artworks be cuff bracelets?" I slipped the first one one & - LOOK! Wow! It IS a bracelet!

HAD to try on the coffee cup one, too! SOOOOOOO PERFECT! Ninety-nine percent of my clothing has at least SOME of these colors! I can wear these with SO MANY THINGS! I wrote immediately to thank that sweet girl & - oooops! - guess what? They ARE meant to be cup sleeves. BWAHAHAHAHA! I won't use them as intended tho'. I mean - do I REALLY want to risk spilling cappuccino foam on these beauties? NO WAY! Or risk getting busy running my big mouth & forget to remove them from the cup, so that I - GASP! - accidentally throw them away? NEVER! Chirp, you are a TREASURE, and I love you!

Yep, today I am 60. I like that! I have incredible, beautiful friends! Some I get to see and others I keep up with via the internet - most especially through blogging! I am not healthy by any means, but I'm HERE. MOST of the time, I'm happy! I'm nowhere NEAR wealthy, but I live just fine. I have a ton of books to read, a bunch of 'stuff' to make my goofy creations, and a hefty coffee supply! LOL! And I have ... I FINALLY have ... a birthday cake! Life's good!

GUESS WHAT?

{NOTE: LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING YOU PROBABLY ALREADY KNOW! I AM AN IDIOT! I WROTE THE POST BELOW YESTERDAY BUT REALIZED IT'S NOT MY 100th POST. IT'S MY 200th POST! What can I say? Sigh ...! ONE LAST THING - I have decided to extend the deadline for my drawing, so if you leave a comment on this post before Sunday the 19th, I will draw a name that afternoon & announce the winner!}

HERE IT IS - MY 100TH POST! And thanks to all of YOU who have continued to visit me through so much silliness! YOU ARE WONDERFUL! I HAD hoped that my blog's BACKGROUND would reappear in time for this post, but it obviously hasn't. A few days ago, it just vanished. POOF! Personally, I think the Blogger Background Elf STOLE it! And though I've tried numerous times to reinstate it or change to a NEW one, it will not work. Luckily, none of my posts or widgets or anything else disappeared! At any rate, in honor of this milestone number of posts, I will be doing a giveaway! If you leave a comment on this particular post between now & Sunday night, I will draw a name & - on the 23rd, send a lil' surprise to the winner! And if you see that doggoned Blogger Background Elf running past with my nice Christmasy background, PLEASE won't you catch him for me? He and I need to TALK! HAPPY UPCOMING WEEKEND, ONE AND ALL! DO SOMETHING FUN!

SOMETIMES CONNECTIONS ARE A GOOOOOOD THING!

My dear friend, Mar, wrote this morning to tell me they are having temps in the lower 70s during the days, and - GASP! - in the lower 40s at night! If it were most ANYONE other than her, I'd be sooooo envious! But, because I know she loathes the heat as much as I do, I'm GLAD for her! Just wish I could be in Washington State WITH her! Sigh. Anyway, it got me thinking. (That should scare EVERYONE! LOL!) Currently, Tropical Storm Hermine (whose 'dirty side' we are on) has brought a LOT of rain to Houston & the surrounding areas. As long as we don't get STORMS, I like the rain! It cools us down some. Instead of the usual mid-upper 90s, over the past 48 hours we've had 80s to even upper 70s as daytime highs! Of course, it's still so sticky-humid you wouldn't believe. Not feeling ANYTHING like Autumn. Well, I got an idea! (Are you scared yet?) I thought, "Now why can someone DO something about this yukky heat? I want - NO, I NEED - cool, crisp breezes, colorful swirling leaves, and brisk, chilly nights! You know - AUTUMN WEATHER! So I called on our illustrious City Council & ask them to DO something. THEY DID! See the newspaper above? How's THAT for quick action? BWAHAHAHAHA! Oh, okay! I can DREAM, can't I? (Hurry Autumn - PLEASE! This humidity is melting my brain!)