The Colloquial Times

Dreamy cake stands

2012-01-29T14:27:00.000-08:00

Ask me how much I wanted to steal these from my tenant!!!

One Little Word

2012-01-29T12:55:00.000-08:00

This year is going to be all about improving and learning for me. I am tired of being tired, sad, unmotivated, and hermit-ish. And I know only I can lift myself out of it. What motivates me most? Learning. Gardening. Crafting. Taking photos. So I'm going to learn how to do all of those things better.

And out of the blue (serendipity), a couple of weekends ago, my friend Christy told me about this website: http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/

Classes about scrapbooking, photography, and life. I'm STOKED!!!!!

Christy has taken a bunch of their classes, but she told me about one that particularly peaked my interest. It's called:

This is exactly the class I needed for the beginning of the year. (And yes, I DO believe that people and things are put in your path for a reason.) The 411 on the class is that you think of one word that speaks to what you want to think about and do and be for the next year. You will be with the same word all year. And honestly, coming up with mine was super easy. It came to me while Christy was telling me about the class.

LIFT

It's exactly what I want to do with myself this year. So here's my first completed assignment: to define my word and what my word means to me. The assignments are great, they give you very specific instructions about supplies, what to use, what to put where, etc. Another sign of serendipity? I bought a pack of these divided page protectors last year not having a clue how I would use them, but I just knew I needed them.

I'm really hopeful that this will give me the motivation to get myself to a better place by the end of the year.

Alisa Burke sketch class

2012-01-29T12:13:00.000-08:00

Back in July, my Mom and I enrolled in Alisa Burke's sketchbook delight class for my birthday. It's a self-paced, 6 weeks-ish class, but I'm just now finishing it up. It was GREAT though. Very inspirational. My biggest "art" challenge (I call it "art" because I don't really consider my piddling around with art supplies to be art), is just to get up the courage to start. The class gives specific assignments, so I wasn't just staring at a blank page with infinite possibilities in front of me. That's a little too overwhelming for me.

So the class really helped me get motivated, and I've been doodling a lot more. Alisa talks a lot about creating patterns and finishing pages. I've kept doing these pages. I drew this one last weekend @ my Mom's while we were sitting around talking with the girls. I'm liking the colors a lot.

The little brush in my kit is a KOI water brush. I LOVE this thing. It holds water in the barrel and you just squeeze it out. It is so much less trouble and I can paint anywhere...the beach, on a plane, etc. Easy Cheesy. I got mine at Mo's Art Supply and Framing in Covington, LA during the Three Rivers Arts Festival, but you can order them online too. This is the medium size.

And no, I'm not getting any $ from promoting these products (wouldn't that be nice LOL!), the are just things I love.

http://www.alisaburke.com/onlineworkshops.html (She has a lot of different ones, I will be taking more.)

www.mosartsupply.com

http://www.amazon.com/Koi-Water-Brush-ML-Sakura/dp/B004O45GJI/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1327867748&sr=8-5

Tulip Street

2012-01-29T11:49:00.000-08:00

Jason asked me the other day if I missed Baton Rouge. There are things I miss....my garden friends, my neighbors, my own garden, my credit unions, my coworkers. But a lot of the things I miss most about Baton Rouge aren't there any more. Fiona and Greg, sitting on the porch solving the world's problems and smooching up their babies, Peggy, my partner in crime of many sorts, Mac and Jill and our standing weekly date to watch Lost or a really cheesy movie. There really was nothing like Tulip Street in the early 2000's. I swear one day I will write a book about the fun, hilarious, and heartbreaking incidents of those years.

In the meantime, I am thrilled that the tenants in our house are awesome. Taking extra good care of the house and garden. And the house is still full of the pitter patter of 4 legged babies. Here are my tenants' babies, Lula and Marty. So sweet and cute!

The garden is looking great there. I'm very happy with the way things are growing and maturing, coming back year after year. Most thrilling is the Lisbon Lemon tree, which is LOADED with lemons right now! I picked a few last week when we went to check on the house. These lemons are HUGE and DELICIOUS. Very sweet, just the right amount of tart.

Can you believe this is how it looks in the middle of January? It's crazy! We've had a very mild winter. I'll add a Picasa album link over on the right sidebar so you can see more of it, but I won't be able to until I get home to my personal computer next weekend.

Yes, I'm still here.

2012-01-29T11:27:00.000-08:00

Holidays, work, vacation, depression. I have lots of stuff to share. You may get 10 blog posts one day and none for a few more, so bear with me while I try to count my blessings and wade through the weeds to find the important things. Hope you are still here with me!

K.E.S. - Composition in Z Flat Major

2011-11-25T18:05:00.001-08:00

Baking!

2011-11-23T13:36:00.001-08:00

See, I CAN learn from my mistakes. For example, I checked the expiration date on this baking powder I was about to use.

Three Rivers Arts Festival

2011-11-19T19:53:00.001-08:00

Last Sunday my cousin Holly and I went over to the Three Rivers Arts Festival in Covington, LA. Jason agreed to go too - a great surprise! I always love having him with me, of course, but he usually skips out of this sort of festivity. I can sometimes convince him to go look at art, though. He likes very realistic paintings, and we saw a couple of good ones at Peter Anderson the weekend before.

We didn't see much in the way of realism at Three Rivers, but we did get to see my friend Amy (Andree's sister), who is a fabulous painter. Her paintings are very colorful, sort of stained-glassy looking, fun works of art. Flowers, fruits, and the occasional ballerina...they would brighten any spot! I WILL have one, one of these days. I need to save my $ for it!

Here's the link to the facebook page for her art. https://www.facebook.com/#!/AmyCGlisan?sk=wall

Amy's "Plants of the Bible" series is currently on exhibition at the Bible Museum in Monroe, Louisiana. The Bible Museum is part of Biedenharn Museum & Gardens. The Biedenharn includes the historic home , formal garden, Bible Museum and Coke Museum. Joseph A. Biedenharn was the first bottler of Coca-Cola and he built his home in Monroe in 1914.

Here's an article about the exhibit: http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20111117/ENTERTAINMENT/111170301/History-s-story

I love looking at all the different art. It makes we want to come home and try to create something. Of course doing anything like these artists do is way beyond my talent level, but I like to putter around and try things.

The only thing I bought was an AWESOME little shadow box for Kaylin's room at my house from Fused and Flamework Glass artist Fath Wickey. http://www.faithwickey.com/

I had the HARDEST time deciding which one to buy; she had several that I loved. She even had a couple of little dogs which were darling. She also had really amazing LONG versions of the one I got. They were a way out of my budget, but man-o-man they were BEAUTIFUL. I was happy with the price of my little box - $65. The colors are perfect for Kaylin's room and I love the shapes of each little flower.

After the festival, we stopped in Slidell to visit our Aunt Billie and Uncle Mike. They left later in the week to spend two weeks in Turkey. Thanksgiving in Turkey. They probably won't be having turkey though, I'm sure. It was such a good day, and I'm glad I'm finally climbing out from under all the work/ home/ location adjustments and DOING what I moved here to do - spend more time with my family.

Dear Annie Sloan Chalk Paint,

2011-11-19T19:16:00.001-08:00

Where have you been all my life?

You helped me turn crappy, $2 Goodwill picture frames

Into these picture frames. In minutes!

I want to paint everything in my house now. Come over and visit. I may just paint YOU!

:)

1st Annual Peter Anderson Festival

2011-11-06T20:12:00.000-08:00

Well, 1st one for us anyway. The P.A. Festival is one of the biggest deals on the coast. 300ish local , potters, jewelry makers, painters, woodworkers, etc. set up booths along the two main streets in Ocean Springs. There is festival food (Funnel cakes and fried oreos!), live music, and the people watching is great.

Jason and I live within walking distance of all this fabulosity. It makes me very happy.

As usual, I was out of town all last week. Jason scrubbed and laundered and mowed and edged and fluffed, and then Friday night he made a big batch of his famous White Chicken Chili. All I had to do was come home. He rocks SO HARD.

Mom came and spent the night Friday night. Scot, Alex, and Kaylin came over Saturday morning. Jason offered to run a shuttle service for us since we weren't sure how long Kaylin would make it. He drove us up the street and picked us up, which worked out perfectly.

Kaylin was fun and hilarious, but she did NOT want to sit in her stroller, nor did she want to be held. She was only happy when she could run around on her own. There were WAY too many people for that, plus myriad dogs, security dudes in gold carts, and etc., then she got hungry and had to have a pulled pork sandwich from The Shed. Needless to say, we only got through about 1/3 the booths.

But it was all good, because reinforcements were on the way! Soon after we got back to the house, two of my kids (coworkers of mine) from NOLA arrived to see the new house and go to the festival. Jason went too this time, and we made it through the whole thing. It really was great. So many BEAUTIFUL things.

I bought a great limited-edition print of the coast with the barrier islands.

I love that it has a little Walter Anderson drawing at Horn Island

I also fell in love at first sight with this Starfish platter. I bought the last two the artist had. They were only $35!

UGH I just want to HUG IT.

Sunday, we thought about going back, but opted to veg out and watch a Big Bang marathon. Holly and Chris came to hang out, which made the weekend complete. Awesome weekend, awesome festival. Next year we hope to have even more of you over. Free parking here!

But seriously, can you stand the cuteness?

2011-10-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

My niece in a jumper made by her KK (aka my Mom).

A little fall treat

2011-10-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

My neighbor's confederate rose is blooming. This one was hanging over on my side of the yard, so I had to bring it inside. It was about to rain and it would have been ruined anyway.

What I DID buy.

2011-10-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

I know Jason's next question is going to be "Well what DID you buy?".

So here it is. 2 vintage necklaces (because I don't have enough vintage necklaces that I don't wear), and a fat little bird that I think I will use as my "object" for the art class I'm taking. Total.....$21.

Stuff I didn't buy

2011-10-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

Welcome to a new type of what will become a recurring blog entry......

Stuff in stores that I didn't buy (but totally would have if I:
         a> was a hoarder,
        b> had a resale store and a hunky jack-of-all-trades like The Picker Sisters, or
         c> didn't care that it drives my husband nuts when I come home with "junk". )

So for our first go-round, here are some things Dale and I looked at today in BSL and didn't buy.

A super-cool 50's? 60's? coffee service

A cool (heavy) old flower frog.

A cute glass-covered shadow box

The mid-century end tables which Dale has been coveting and "can't explain why they aren't in my own house yet."

Onion and Garlic? Salt & pepper shakers

Dale and I spent MANY an afternoon in antique/ junk stores while we were at Mississippi State, both of us poor college students, honestly trying not to be any more of a financial burden than we already were to our parents. That was one thing that we had in common - GUILT. We were both RA's, and the little money we made from that job went a long way. I think in all those trips, I only bought a couple of pairs of vintage earrings and the elephant planter that started the collection I still have today. And I'm sure a few other things here and there, but if it was over about $3, it was out of the question. The fun was in finding the treasures and really prioritizing what we could save for. No, folks, we did not have credit cards back then (THANK GOD), and we have been known to put something that cost $17 on lay-away. That was 20 years ago, and we've come a long way, baby. But today felt just like the old days...and I loved every second.

Ugh

2011-10-21T20:54:00.001-07:00

P.S. I need help learning how to get my pictures and stuff organized on the page the way I want them. It aggravates me.

THIS is one of the main reasons I moved to the coast...

2011-10-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

Left work a little early today to get a jumpstart on my weekend @ Mom's. Got to Bay St. Louis (BSL), and it occurred to me that Friday is Dale's day off. (Dale is my BFF from College, for those of you who are new readers.) I have been needing to go to BSL to look in several antique/vintage junk stores AND the Mockingbird Cafe, where both Dale and her 12 year old son have art for sale.

So taking a big chance because Dale always has 1400 things going on for herself, and 210 things going for each of her 4 kids, I called her. And By George!, she answered! AND, she was AT THAT MOMENT standing in one of the very stores I wanted to visit. So I turned off the interstate while she ran to get her girls and we met up at the Mockingbird for some pumpkin spiced lattes and planning.

The #3 painting, entitled SPIN, is mine (well I hope it is shortly. I've requested a payment plan). So back off.

Here is a better picture of one of Aidan's pear paintings

Then I sat down with the girls for our afternoon coffee and a littlest pet shop sorting session. I'm all about sorting (and resorting and resorting and resorting) things. Tlearn Dale's youngest is as sort-happy as I am was fun.

Dale's kids are so beautiful, and so COOL (of course). They are super-neat kids to be around. I'm so glad I'm going to get to know them.

So we finished our coffees, then we took off for an hour or so of junking!

First REAL garden project

2011-10-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

The new house has a built-in smoker area with a cabinet and a tiled countertop area. It is the Bomb. Of course my first thought was not OOH! A SMOKER! Jason and I don't cook. Yeah he can make some AWE.SOME wings on a grill. But other than that we aren't really outdoor-cooking people.

So MY first thought was.....POTTING AREA!!!

This past weekend I got to try it out for the first time. It worked perfectly. Plenty of working space, plenty of finished stuff space, even a little ledge for my coffee and tools. I used the metal surface of the smoker for trash, and then easily separated that into plastic for the trash can and paper for the fire pit.

Really the only thing I brought with me from Tulip Street was my succulent collection. And Boy ohBoy they enjoyed the drought this summer and had TONS of babies. I needed to separate them, repot them, and hopefully they will all root. Then I can give lots of them to my friends, and use them to make new cool combo pots and maybe even a Fairie garden or two.

Here are the finished ones all tucked in for the fall and winter. They should be able to make some good root systems by the spring, and then start making babies all over again. These little plants amaze me. They are just happy to be pretty much anywhere where they can soak up the sunshine and their feet won't stay wet.

We should all try hard to flourish where we are, right?

The rest of the pictures from this potting session are linked to the right ---------> (under links to photo albums).

I'm a Doodler, So Sue Me

2011-10-11T16:37:00.000-07:00

I am a Doodler. I doodle at meetings, in classes, when I'm on the phone, when I'm watching training videos, at the Dr's office waiting room, on airplanes etc. Lucky for me, the head honchos that I deal with for training classes in my own agency and at the FFIEC A> are both well-educated about HOW to train people, GET it, and even ENCOURAGE it (my agency's training lady even puts out pipe cleaners, playdoh, and/or various other things to play with while you are listening in class), and B> know me well enough to know that I am (ALMOST always) fully paying attention.

The other people in classes though.....UGH. You people drive me nuts with your little remarks about the doodling. To me, when you are sitting in a class staring blankly at the front of the room rarely even blinking, it doesn't look like you are listening, it looks like you might be a serial killer.

Research shows that you have to have TWO areas of your learning centers engaged in order to retain information. That means that if I'm listening to you read me a 200 slide powerpoint presentation and I'm not doing anything else.....I'm not hearing you. (People that READ their powerpoint slides to me are a topic of a whole 'nother rant. As is the use of the phrase "a whole 'nother").

Last week I was in a week-long class which included 11 students and 8 trainers. I was expected all kinds of crap for the doodling, but only got a passing comment from 2 of the trainers, and as usual, three of four of the class participants. It usually doesn't bother me in the least, but last week was a little stressful and so it bugged me more than normal.

Just so ya' know, while I'm doodling, I'll retain about 30% more of the information than the guy sitting next to me staring in to space. And that is science.

From a TIME: SCIENCE article:

" Doodling, in contrast, requires very few executive resources but just enough cognitive effort to keep you from daydreaming, which — if unchecked — will jump-start activity in cortical networks that will keep you from remembering what's going on. Doodling forces your brain to expend just enough energy to stop it from daydreaming but not so much that you don't pay attention."

And here's a Ted talk about the subject: http://www.ted.com/talks/sunni_brown.html

There's lots of research to back this up. So hey you doodling naysayers.....BACK OFF.

Just for the record, here are the things I doodled last week in class:

.
I'm going to start carrying the research with me to all my classes. I swear.

A late-night chat with my favorite geek.

2011-10-04T21:19:00.000-07:00

About a week ago, I used a little award I got @ work to purchase a new Keurig machine. We LOVE it. Even Jason, not really a coffee drinker, is all about it and has changed his daily routine to include a cup of coffee on the back porch.

This past weekend I ordered a few boxes of Kcups, but they haven't arrived yet. Jason was worried that he was using all the cups, and thus resulted the following exchange:

Jason Pickens

do they sell K cups in stores locally?

or is it all online?

Sonya Smith Pickens

yes they do! they have them @ Target I know, and probably Wally World

Jason Pickens

k... cuz I feel bad I'm drinking all the ones we have.

at least if we can go get more that will be cool.

Sonya Smith Pickens

yeah and we can even get a carousel

Jason Pickens

like... with ponies?

Sonya Smith Pickens

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?sku=14436073&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=keurig+carousel&utm_campaign=Broad&

yes with ponies. We can put it out in the back 40

Jason Pickens

oooooh purrty

Sonya Smith Pickens

ain't it?

Jason Pickens

seems like... it would just be neater to have a cover or something for whatever box they come in

and you just take them from the bottom of the box

or... whatever.

filling the carousel is like... the antithesis of the k cup philosophy

of coffee for little or no work.

I mean... having to unload the box, then reload them into the carousel is like raising the activation energy needed to attain said cup of coffee

Sonya Smith Pickens

Bwwwahahahahah

"the antithesis of the k cup philosophy"

well maybe we could just get the carousel for the VARIETY coffees, and the teas and donut shop coffee something else

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?sku=18536137&utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=shopping

http://www.chefsresource.com/k-cup-coffee-storage-drawer-54-cups.html

Jason Pickens

ooh I found one!

Sonya Smith Pickens

ok lemme see

Jason Pickens

its awesome

http://www.le-tom.com/glass-bowl-medium

zero entropy to the system.

Sonya Smith Pickens

BWWAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

I love you

We can use my pretty red bowl that the garden district gave me!!

Jason Pickens

ooooh

yea that sounds like an idea

I mean i guess if you like keeping around like 5 or so different types

one of those would be cool

did you take your medicine?

Typical exchange for midnight on a work night. He keeps me real and takes good care of me :)

Loves Books

2011-09-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

Kaylin, much like her Aunt Nonya, loves books. I made her one out of my scrapbooking supplies and pictures of her. Each page says "Kaylin Eve is..." and some emotion or description that matches the picture.

And then I mod-podged the heck out of it because I wanted her to be able to play with it. She loves it! (See video I posted just before this post).

I'm not 100% satisfied with the mechanics of it. Next time I'll use binder rings to give it more structure. But I like my idea for the stars - they flip up to reveal another picture. For example, flip this star up and you see:

So that worked out pretty well, except the stars sort of flop around and get twisted too much. If I do another book, I'll have to figure out a better way to do these extra features.

Joy to the world I can upload videos :)

2011-09-25T17:50:00.001-07:00

A "Jason Pickens" Answer

2011-09-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, at 11:30 pm, as I was packing and getting ready for a flight the next morning, I casually said something like "my sink is still a little slow draining. If we are going to need a plumber, I want us to call one before our home warranty runs out".

And as the words left my mouth, I saw Jason snap into scientist mode. This does not always happen when I ask a question or mention a household issue, but when it does happen, I know to just stand back.

20 minutes later, I was in possession of the following information:

The elbow under my sink is not clogged, and the angle is sufficient to allow for proper water drainage.
The sink in the hall bathroom, whose faucet causes a turbulent flow, can fill a plastic cup from our kitchen in 8 seconds.
My sink, whose faucet causes a laminar flow, can fill the same plastic cup from our kitchen in 3.4 seconds.
Both sinks drain the water from a full plastic cup in 4 seconds.
My sink drainage is perfectly adequate, I'm just turning the faucet on too much.

And now I find myself trying to identify the flow type of any faucet I turn on.

Antique store SCORE!

2011-09-12T22:20:00.000-07:00

I've been looking for my new favorite antique stores since I moved to the coast, and so far I've been disappointed. All the stores I have visited thus far are too small with too little inventory, way too expensive, or both.

Saturday, after leaving the Saefood Festival, I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted to go look at lamps way over in Gulfport, but I headed over there anyway. Then I decided no, I didn't want to go over there, so I turned around to go home down some back roads, and THERE IT WAS. A big fat antique mall.

Now usually I only like antique malls occasionally. They often have too much crafty stuff, new JUNK, etc. But this was featured a big sign on the side that said "BOOKLAND", so I couldn't resist.

JACKPOT. No junk, No crafts, reasonable to cheap prices.

My first score was SIX vintage library books on gardening. OOOOh I'm super excited about these. It's been awhile since I found any good garden books, and these should keep me occupied for quite awhile.

My second score was SIX vintage necklaces and a pendant. I'm forever looking for vintage jewelry and I never find anything I like. Literally, I haven't found a piece in like 20 years. These were fun, cheap, and even CHEAPER because the vendor was there and cut me a deal on every piece.

Total for six hard-back books, six necklaces, and a cool pendant? $48! I'm happy with that!

Inspired

2011-09-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

I have so much I want to blog about, that I'm overwhelmed. It's been a while since I had the motivation to share, but I'm feeling motivated, creative, and glad to be here. So I'm just going to randomly pick stuff from my stash of pictures and start posting them. Here we go!

Picture-hanging pain...

2011-08-26T23:34:00.000-07:00

OMG. Why have I never thought of this?? DUH!!

http://mmscrapshoppe.blogspot.com/2011/07/picture-frame-hanging-tip.html

Speaking of my Daley-Dale....

2011-08-23T21:52:00.000-07:00

Some random shots from her ultra-beachy-cool 100+ year old beach cottage (recently featured on the Bay St. Louis Tour of Homes, thank you very much).

Bird nest salt & pepper in a nest. Painting of sugar thing.

Old Window used as door on cabinet displaying Shearwater Pottery teacups.

Talking about oranges, keeping it beachy by pairing the orange with light, washed out colors.

Bird by Marion

Monster by Aubrey "My monster has wheels but he just sits there"

Water fountain to quench the thrist of the 800 neighborhood kids always running around.

  Stuffed Elephant by Aidan.
                                                                                                  Birds by Sadie.

Painted floor in art studio.

Perfect playhouse.
.

Little mushroom people. The hats are bells and play different notes

She's as elusive as Jason in pictures....but I managed to get a blur of her.

I have needed her back in my life for so long!!

Thanks DALE!

2011-08-23T20:01:00.000-07:00

After running my thoughts and a million orange paint swatches by my own personal artist and color expert, Dale, I came home, mixed up some samples, and NAILED THE COLOR. Now I just have to wait until the Sherwin Williams sale to start on Sunday...

I'm getting a serious talking to.

2011-08-22T08:11:00.000-07:00

Greta complains about her lack of breakfast. Turn your volume up for the full schnauzer experience.

http://www.esnips.com/doc/7fe3c756-18af-4e81-b81c-1e94d2148afb/gg

My own personal nerd

2011-08-20T00:15:00.000-07:00

This is the response I got yesterday when I suggested that Jason start painting the living room, even though I haven't actually picked a color.

Living Room

2011-08-20T00:06:00.000-07:00

The living room in the new house is...interesting. Long, narrow, and dark, dark brown. We have no living room furniture (long story) except the giant armoire and the media console we got with the new bedroom set. We knew this would be the first room we painted, because we don't really love the brown, and because it's really the only room that needs painting. We love the colors in the other rooms.

The first week we were here in the new house, we took several walks down to the beach. And in those first walks we found these amazing shells and Jason suggested immediately that we use the colors in them for the living room.

It's not a perfect picture, you can't really see the greens and blues in the sheen on the shells, but you get the idea. So FINALLY, after (literally) months of looking, we have actually ordered furniture and can stop driving our family and friends nuts about that. But now we are on the hunt for the perfect ORANGE, which is not as easy as it sounds.

Here is what the inside of my brain looks like right now:

I think we've narrowed it down to one of the three big patches below, but of course there's a hitch. I created that middle tone (which is the only one I actually like). It's not a real color from a store and therefore it will be hard to recreate. Well we'll see. Color matching technology is supposed to be Soooooo much better these days...

So anyway here's the final design idea. I took a shot at using photoshop to create a MOOD BOARD for the first time in my life ever. (I know right - a PLAN? ME? WTH? Jason is rubbing off on me maybe.)

I am ready to get the living room painted for sure, but technically I have 6-8 weeks before the furniture gets here. But I sure as hell can't do anything OUT OF DOORS in the 150 degree summer, so I might as well paint.

Orange on the brain

2011-08-19T23:43:00.000-07:00

What am I doing during these dog days of summer (besides working/traveling for work)?

Googling the origin of "dog days"
Listening to books about serial killers and/or mexican poets
Floating in my 10 foot inflatable pool (when I'm ever home)
Trying to see my niece as much as possible before she turns around and asks to borrow my car
Listening to ADELE over and over (And Florence and the Machine, and Simone Dinnerstein)
Obsessing over stuff on Pinterest
Trying to pick furniture and the perfect ORANGE for the new living room
Thinking also about colors for Kaylin's room @ our house, and I'm thinking my studio will need a new color too of course.
Feeling guilty about not gardening. It's too freaking hot, kthanx.
Taking an on-line sketchbook class with my Mom! It's fun, but I'm only through lesson 3. I am supposed to be locating an object to draw a million times in a million different ways, but I can't decide on one.
Have I ever mentioned what a problem I have making decisions about stuff? (mainly stuff I need to buy - like furniture. Or a watch, which I obsessed about for 2 years and had to look at every available watch now being produced or ever having been produced before I decided. Also, I had a $200 limit on that purchase, and I rarely wear it because a> I can look at my phone if I need to know what time it is and b> I clinks on my computer keyboard and that bugs me.)
Hoarding stuff for this blog and then being too lazy to blog it.
Staying up 'til the wee hours and sleeping late.
Experimenting with new sleep meds my new Dr. wants me to try instead of Ambien. So far, it's a BUST and right now (as we speak) I'm about to take 1/2 a xanax at 1:42am in order to have the slightest chance of sleep tonight.

New neighborhood oddness

2011-08-07T20:23:00.000-07:00

One thing I always loved about our old neighborhood was the ever-present touch of eclectic weirdness. I don't think I'm going to miss out on that here. Already, we have Walter Anderson's daughter (in-bizarre-costumes) riding her basketed bike around. And there's the guy who rides his bike pulling a little trailer in which his cat rides. And the roosters.

And at the construction site of the new house on the corner this morning, there was this:

My thoughts are: #1 - how did you get that picture? How do you know it was 200?

#2 - why would somebody do that? and

#3 - Dude. How much did it cost to have that sign made?

I haven't met these neighbors yet. I'm sure there's an interesting story here.

Mississippi Sissy - Keven Sessums

2011-07-31T21:15:00.000-07:00

Read (and blogged) about this book a while ago - but I think it was on a different blog which I have since merged into this one. Anyway, my recent trips to Jackson and tours through Bellhaven (Thanks, Giselle), have made me think about it again.

Here's the original post:
Finished this book - it was really, really good. There are like two explicit scenes, but it's worth it to get to see glimpses of the inner circle of Jackson's most cultured - Eudora Welty for example - and some of the New Stage Theatre crowd. The ending of the book was just....Wow.
Some of my favorite bits:

"They liked jazz too - Miss Welty had done a lot of club-hopping in Harlem - and taught me that bourbon was never to be augmented by anything other than maybe an added ice cube if one simply must when yet another Mississippi August demanded such a dilution, and sipping at a slightly watered-down potation was the only reasonable exertion that such heat and humidity humanly allowed."

"...[My mother] taught me that a companionless soul could comfort itself with the beauty of a well-chosen word, a well-written sentence, a well-parsed phrase. Salvation, she imparted, was offered in a paragraph's perfect form when one was capable of reading it with understanding, empathy, and purpose."

"My imaginary friend, a replacement for Cecil once she had arrived on the scene, was a tiny thing just like Matty May, who was but a bent slip of a woman, a comma typed onto the white world around her." (this made even better knowing that his imaginary friend is called Epiphany).

Updated Top 10 authors

2011-07-31T21:01:00.000-07:00

I first blogged this list here: http://thecolloquialtimes.blogspot.com/2008/06/top-10-authors-yes-i-know-there-only-9.html, but I've read a lot since then and I need to revise.

The problem is I don't really want to bump anybody, but I have to add

#1 David Foster Wallace. I will re-read his books. All of them. Multiple times, and I don't do that. When I re-read a book, I think of all the time I'm wasting when I could be reading something new. I know that if I read DFW's 100 times I'll get something new every time.

He is getting that #10 spot that I couldn't ever 100% decide on.

Jonathon Safran Foer is quickly making his way into the list too. I LOVED Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Everything is Illuminated. I can't read his new one, Eating Animals, because I know it will disturb me to an extent that may result in my commitment to a long-term mental health facility.

Here's the old list:

Neal Stephenson - Cryptonomicon, Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World, Snow Crash, Zodiac, The Big U, The Diamond Age
John Irving - A Prayer for Owen Meany, The World According to Garp
Douglas Adams - Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Long Dark Teatime of the Soul
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey, Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenter and Seymour: an Introduction, Nine Stories, The Catcher in the Rye
Tom Robbins - Still Life with the Woodpecker, Skinny Legs and All, Another Roadside Attraction, Jitterbug Perfume
Terry Pratchett - ALL
Kurt Vonnegut - The Sirens of Titan, Breakfast of Champions, Cat’s Cradle, Slapstick
Sena Jeeter Naslund - Ahab’s Wife, The Four Spirits, Abundance
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Love in the Time of Cholera, One Hundred Years of Solitude

Potential 10's:

Orson Scott Card (Thanks for the suggestion Pat!) - I do love Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind, and The Worthing Saga. In that same sort of vein, I also do love
Frank Herbert - Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune

On love, choices, and having something larger than yourself to stand on

2011-07-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

From Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace (starting page 107)

(Marathe speaking)...'You [Americans] do not seem to believe you may each choose what to die for. Love of a woman, the sexual, it bends back in on the self, makes you narrow. Maybe crazy. Choose with care. Love of your nation, your country and people, it enlarges the heart. Something bigger than the self.'...
'Choose with care. You are what you love, no? You are, completely and only, what you would die for without, as you say, the thinking twice. You, M. Hugh Steeply: you would die without thinking for what?"...
'This, is it not the choice of the most supreme importance? Who teaches your [American] children how to choose their temple? What to love enough not to think two times?...For this choice determines all else. No? All other of our you say free choices follow from this: what is the temple, thus, for [American's]? What is it, when you fear that you must protect them from themselves[?]...

(Steeply speaking)...'What if sometimes there is no choice about that to love? What if the temple comes to Mohammad? What if you just love? without deciding? You just do: you see her and in that instant are lost to sober account-keeping and cannot choose but to love?

(Marathe speaking)...Then in such a case your temple is self and sentiment. Then in such an instance you are a fanatic of desire, a slave to your individual subjective narrow self's sentiments, a citizen of nothing. You become a citizen of nothing. You are by yourself and alone, kneeling to yourself.
'In a case such as this you become the slave who believes he is free. The most pathetic of bondage. Not tragic. No songs. You believe you would die twice for another but in truth would die only for your alone self, its sentiment.'
'You in such a case have nothing. You stand on nothing. Nothing of ground or rock beneath your feet. You fall; you blow here and there. How does one say: "tragically, unvoluntarily, lost."'

@ work in the Brady Bunch dungeon.

2011-07-26T09:18:00.000-07:00

I think they really, really like coffee.

Either that or they are really bad at sharing, and each person has their own coffee pot.

Yes Sandy, we still love you too.

2011-07-17T20:54:00.001-07:00

Best Parents

2011-07-17T20:53:00.000-07:00

My brother and his wife, Alex, are the best parents ever. They have read Good Night NOLA every night now for > 365 nights. Kaylin loves it.

Scot Smith's clone

2011-07-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

Kaylin

Scot

Walkin' around at Kay-Kay's

2011-07-17T20:30:00.001-07:00

Behold the CURLS

2011-07-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

Uncle Wooding

2011-07-17T20:17:00.001-07:00

With his favorite giant schnauzer and giant-schnauzer-ish-type being.

Living in nature is going to take some getting used to

2011-07-17T20:09:00.000-07:00

I have not ONE fig left, I've eaten maybe 1/10 of my own tomatoes, and now the little bastards are getting in the sugar baby watermelons. Rats. Yep. I've seen them in my fig tree and last night I saw one running along the top of my fence. And I think raccoons maybe too, although I have only seen the tail of one so far.

And then there are the foxes. Cavorting in the driveway, playing king of the hill on top of the dirt pile, barking at me through the fence. I'm sure they just want to play, right?

Night views from the 10 ft. inflatable pool

2011-07-17T19:59:00.000-07:00

Reflections on the wall of the studio

Deck and elm tree

Dooda-ish creature that obviously just ate dinner

Merry National Ice Cream Day

2011-07-17T19:54:00.001-07:00

Yums from the deep south!

Reading 2011

2011-07-16T19:40:00.000-07:00

These days I'm getting book ideas from a couple of different sources. Primarily, the long list for the Morning News Tournament of Books: http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/the_rooster/the_2011_tournament_of_books_long_list.php

And from the http://booksonthenightstand.com/ podcasts. Although I'm liking their recommendations only about half the time right now. I'll have to try out a few more recommendations to see if I'm really on the same page with what they like.

I also turn to award lists - Pulitzer, Man Booker, National Book Award, and yeah, I've been known to dip into an Oprah pick every now and again.

I haven't read "real" books as much this year as I usually do (Jason always tells me audible books don't count). I guess the move, getting the house together, getting adjusted to work, etc. But this summer I've been devouring books. Especially now that the pool is operational. I love to float and read.
So as of the halfway mark of 2011, here's what I've gotten through so far (I included audible books - because I think they DO count).

I SHALL WEAR MIDNIGHT - ALL Terry Pratchett is required reading in my universe.
THE BLIND ASSASSIN - Margaret Atwood (non-apocalyptic). Book within a book within a book...awesome.
OLIVE KITTERIDGE - Yet another Pulitzer that I don't get. It did hold my attention way better than The Shipping News. It's well written, but a Pulitzer? Really?
THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER - I needed to see what all the hype is about. It was ok, but I've read better coming-of-age novels.
HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG - I've heard of this one so long, and I thought it was about China or Vietnam for some reason. But ooooh was it ever NOT. This was amazing and sad. It got mixed reviews, but I loved it. It was one of the rare books where I was actually surprised at the events and found myself saying OH NO out loud.
BEAT THE REAPER - This one was fun! Jason and I listened to it together. Someone on Amazon described it as "House" meets "The Sopranos". I get that.
KAFKA ON THE SHORE - Liked this, but yeah, it was weird. I had to let it sink in awhile. But it has stuck with me more than some other things I've read. I keep thinking about parts of it, trying to figure it all out.
SKIPPY DIES - On the long-list for several awards. I think in another year without Freedom (which I think was way over-hyped), and A Visit From the Goon Squad, it would have won more. However, it's described as a "comic" novel, and I don't get that. Maybe there were a few funny lines, but I disagree that makes is a comic novel.
THE HUNGER GAMES/ CATCHING FIRE/ MOCKING JAY - never ending. It could have been 1/2 the length. Other than that, great. I seriously thought I would grow old and die before Mocking Jay ever ended.
QUICKSILVER - Yeah I've already read it, but um...it's NEAL STEPHENSON and this was the UNABRIDGED audible version, so I had to listen now didn't I?
PRACTICAL DEMONKEEPING - Christopher Moore cracks me up. This book made me NOT want to find a Genie in a bottle....
FREEDOM - Runner up in the Morning News Tournament of Books and won a lot of other junk. It's a good story depicting a typical 2000ish American family and blah blah blah. Nothing all that inventive, but well-written.
A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD - Won the Morning News Tournament of Books. Oh yeah and the Pulitzer too (although I put way more faith in the Tournament of Books) and some other prizes. I get it (unlike many Pulitzer winners). It's a little different. Sort of short stories, but interwoven, and just kind of different. There's a kid in it (autistic but brilliant) who is obsesses with the pauses in rock songs and how important they are. Have I mentioned I seem to be drawn to books involving brilliant kids?
GREEN RIVER, RUNNING RED - Non-fiction about the Green River Killer. Y'all knew I used to want to be a psychiatrist who worked with serial killers, right?
THE LONELY POLYGAMIST - ok this was surprisingly funny. I loved it. I recommended it to friends, and I recommend it to you. Also involves a difficult kid. I laughed out loud during parts, and other parts were really hard to read (emotional).
THE THOUSAND AUTUMNS OF JACOB DEZOET - Think Pillars of the Earth, only more action. And set in Japan. But with dutch people.
THE LITTLE STRANGER - I felt like reading something scary, and this book was mentioned on one of the Books on the Nightstand podcasts. I wanted more madness than ghosts, and this was an ok compromise. However, I'm still looking for something more madnessy-scary.
THE FINKLER QUESTION - Oy Vey. Too long. But there were some clever parts and some funny lines that made me chuckle. And it made me think about how wrong we can get our stereotypes sometimes.
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN -Another one about which I wanted to understand the hype. And I get it. Really good for the first half, really dumb the last. If you fall in love in 1 day with a person who is not at all who they portray themselves to be, and then mourn that lost lost the rest of your life, that is not a good thing. Duh.
THE PALE KING - Oh David Foster Wallace, why did you leave us so soon? Only you could make me want to read three pages of nothing but a second by second description of what happens in a silent room full of 100 IRS auditors.

99% of these I've listened to (I use audible.com), but I've got a couple of "real" books going right now. Jason is using the Kindle to read all the Game of Thrones books and I also FINALLY got him to read GONE AWAY WORLD. Which he liked but complained about throughout. And REALLY complained at the end and said he wasn't going to finish because he was mad, but then he totally snuck and finished it.

Gotta go float in the pool and read now.....later.

I love her.

2011-07-13T19:12:00.001-07:00

I thought Jesus was INclusive

2011-07-07T18:15:00.000-07:00

Picture this. Two playgrounds, side by side. One surrounded by a tall chain link fence and lockable gates. The other, open to the public. The public one has nice equipment for a variety of ages. The confined one has a soccer net (one), and a pavillion, and a little one-kid play thing.

And giant signs at each gate:

(The Blue and Yellow equipment is not behind a fence).

It just struck me as weird. I'm no Jesus expert, but I don't think he'd put up a big fence around his playground.

Burying my Head in Books

2011-07-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

I'm realizing how long it's been since I've blogged about what I have read, so here's the list of the rest of 2010. I'm limiting myself to a 1 line comment on each...(yeah, right).
THE ART OF THE STEAL- great fun for people like me who think fraud is fun (finding it - not committing it).
THE HOUR I FIRST BELIEVED - I love Wally Lamb, and I REALLY loved this book. Amazing.
DIRTY JOB - Bwwahahaha! Demons! Reapers! Giant Dogs! What more could one want from a book?
THE GRAVEYARD BOOK - great YA book. Easy read.
FRAGILE THINGS - I only read 1/2. It was 'meh'. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it.
THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH - endless, but ok. Not my favorite but it did hold my attention. I know a lot of people love it dearly, but I'm thinking they have obviously not read THE BAROQUE CYCLE because PILLARS pretty much pales in comparison.
CHE GUEVERA - A REVOLUTIONARY LIFE - Ego-maniac, much? I mean it's one thing to rise to power as a dictator in your own country because you think you know best for your people, but to drift from country to country looking for one that will put you in charge? That's a whole 'nother level of narcissism.
CAN'T WAIT TO GET TO HEAVEN - ugh. Boring. Couldn't finish it.
LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN - This was really good. About how different people of different social classes deal with the same grief.
THE PASSAGE - Jason and I listened to this one together. Vampires and viruses. Fun stuff. Can't wait for the next one in the series.
THE GUERNSEY LITERARY & POTATO PEEL SOCIETY - Not at all what I expected. It did have funny moments, but it was much, much more. I feel like I know what it feels like to be in BFE England during WWII now.
DEADEYE DICK, BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS I was on a Vonnegut kick. Deadeye Dick was new to me, and I can't remember a darn thing about it now. BoC is one of my all-time favorites.
WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES - Sort of makes me want to go check myself in to an alcohol and drug treatment center even though I'm not addicted to alcohol or drugs. But you meet such interesting people.
NATION -"That’s what the gods are! An answer that will do! Because there’s food to be caught and babies to be born and life to be lived and so there is no time for big, complicated, and worrying answers! Please give us a simple answer, so that we don’t have to think, because if we think, we might find answers that don’t fit the way we want the world to be."
THE TRUTH ABOUT THESE STRANGE TIMES - I really liked this. Friendship second-guessed. The pressure of genius. Doing the wrong things for the right reasons. I tend to love books about kids who are brilliant.
BUT THEN AGAIN YOU END UP BECOMING YOURSELF - Transcript of an interview (over multiple days) with David Foster Wallace. If you love him like I do - read this.
THE ISLAND OF THE SEQUINED LOVE NUN - yeah....one of my least favorite Christopher Moore books along with THE LUST LIZARD OF MELANCHOLY COVE.
NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND (and two others in a collection)- Bill Bryson. I only want to live places with functioning plumbing, K thx.
ORYX & CRAKE - excellent. Goes with THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD. I love Margaret Atwood. She makes me wonder...
GONE AWAY WORLD - Fun fun! I loved this! I read the whole thing on my kindle, wrapped in two ziploc bags, while floating in my 10 foot wide inflatable pool. And now every time I get in the pool, I think about this book. I can see myself re-reading it someday. Dystopia. I was on a dystopian kick in 2010.
BAREFOOT IN THE PART - I wanted to know what all the hype was about. It was alright.
YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING - This was a tough one to read for me. About how this woman dealt with the death of her husband. Yeah I know. It's not the same as losing your Dad. But still, losing someone is hard regardless.
THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLES - Weird. But weirdly addicting too. About this weird guy who runs into this weird woman who is a car psychic, and there's this weird 15 year old girl, and she throws him down a well but he's not really in there.....just.....odd. I couldn't stop reading it.
MY MAN JEEVES AND OTHER EARLY JEEVES - Wanted to see what the hype was about. Very..."family affair" meets sherlock holmes.
THE WIND-UP GIRL - Dystopia and robots and can robots become human and what should we do about that.
THE ROBBER BRIDE - oooh drama! Very real-housewives-of-the-OC meets Margaret Atwood meets Ann Rule writing about serial killers. But there are no serial killers.
PARABLE OF THE SOWER - Dystopia. "The Road" meets my favorite book of my teenage years " The Girl Who Owned A City". I could read this again.

ok That's all of 2010 (along with the 1st post about 2010).

My favorites of 2010? hmmm.....CLOUD ATLAS, THE HOUR I FIRST BELIEVED, THE TRUTH ABOUT THESE STRANGE TIMES, PARABLE OF THE SOWER, GONE AWAY WORLD.

Fox Infestation

2011-07-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

So...yeah we have foxes. They walk from the http://www.ltmcp.org/properties/jackson-county/hellmers-lane/ preserve down the street down who knows where - I guess to the harbor - although they are apparently also hunting for grubs in the leaves on the side of my driveway.

It is driving Jasmin INSANE. She sits every night at the front door (which is all glass) on FOX WATCH. We've seen them in the street several times, and last week Jason saw them lolling about in the driveway like....."Oh Hey ! How ya doin'? We's eatin' bugs in your leaves. Your dog has a ca-raaaazzzzy bark! We brought our friendz over to hear it."

And like that.

And my poor Greta, she is losing her hearing. But when Jasmine starts "barking" (I need to come up with a better name for it), Greta will come running. Well, once she wakes up enough to figure out where all the activity is happening. She generally gets up and starts barking at the BACK door before she realizes the action is at the front door.

Managed to snap this classic photo of her running to see the foxes last night:

Look how gray her beard is. She would still kick those foxes' asses if I opened the door for her.

Cuteness

2011-07-03T18:07:00.000-07:00

Kaylin playing with Jason's hat.

Appealing to whom?

2011-07-03T17:45:00.001-07:00

The girl's new glucosamine chews.

Thank you....Thank you very much...

2011-07-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

Jasmin doing what we lovingly refer to as "Elvising"

Thanks for posting this @Pat! I needed it today.

2011-06-23T07:36:00.001-07:00

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and s...weat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Total Blonde Moment

2011-06-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

This is how crazy I am on a normal day. So...I'm at work, reviewing loan files. The files all look like the one in the picture (except they have a real loan note as the outside of the packet instead of a scribbled fake one I made to take this picture (don't want to be giving out confidential info)).

OK so to make sure we are clear: lots of paperwork folded up, placed inside ONE sheet of paper which is folded in half and stapled with one staple at the top to make a sort of packet for each loan. Follow?

So as I'm picking up the 6th loan in my stack it dawns on me....that I can just SLIDE ALL THE PAPERWORK OUT OF THE PACKET (which is, after all, only one sheet of paper, folded in half, with one staple at the top.

Yep. That little stack of staples beside the loan is from the 5 loans I looked at first, from which I carefully removed the staple, unfolded the outside paper, reviewed the paperwork, replaced the paperwork in the outside paper, folded, and restapled the paper back together into the neat little packet.

I know. Scary that they let me out of my cage, right??

My # 1 main squeeze (and own personal nerd)

2011-06-07T20:15:00.000-07:00

I'm in Jackson working this week. BAD weather this afternoon - including hail. Wanting to share my world with my husband, I texted him:

ME: Hhhhaaaaaiiiillllllllll!!!!!!!
HIM: Are you a ninja?
ME: um. no?
ME: That said hail.
ME: Not haiiiiiiii-ya!
HIM: oh. I read the lower case l as a capital I.
HIM: oh and you mean hail like the small domestic meteors of death lobbed from the parapet of a thunderhead, not hail like the convention going, braces wearing geek might use as a salutation to his fellow middle earthians. my bad.

I should leave the cooking to Jason...

2011-06-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

Generally when I actually have a day off when I'm not behind on work, not trying to run 100 errands, and not feeling guilty about not cleaning my house, I tend to wake up thinking I'm Martha Stewart. OCCASIONALLY these days are great and I end up accomplishing something. More often, I end up at least learning lessons, if nothing else. Today was one of those lesson-learning days.

I don't cook. Well, VERY rarely. Today I was determined to make fried okra from the pods God and I grew in my garden. I braved the sweltering sauna outside, grabbed by trusty Felco nippers, and picked every available pod. Also grabbed a couple of banana peppers and some super-sweet cherry tomatoes, two of which didn't make it inside because I had to perform a quality control taste check.

I was feeling very earth-hippy-gardeny in my (very unflattering but awesome) hippy-dippy long flowy cotton dress, so I gathered my harvest in the skirt of the dress ala little house on the prarie. Thus, my first challenge once I got inside was to pick off all the schnauzer hair that stuck to the okra from the fabric of the dress. (me and my "non-shedding" schnauzers...Oy-Vey!)

But I got through that challenge, washed the okra, chopped the okra, learned that I need to cut it from the bush earlier so it doesn't get so tough. Luckily it's spineless, whatever that means, so I didn't have to deal with that. And glory be! I actually had cornmeal in the pantry! Who knew! And look at that! CRISCO! Why do I even have that? Oh well, it's like the pantry fairy was with me when I read those instructions on the interwebs last night and made sure I had the ingredients.

And then I paused.....how does one actually make the cornmeal stick to the okra? Milk? No - that's for chicken in flour I think. I could go look it up on the computer, but that would involve walking ALL THE WAY from the kitchen to my office (about 30 feet). So, I just rewet the okra with water, put the cornmeal on it, and stirred it up.

Melted the crisco in the cast-iron skillet, put the okra in there and.....wait. Where'd the crisco go? It completely disappeared. Interesting. So I put a little more. After awhile, it began to actually LOOK sort-of like fried okra is supposed to look:

And so I made sure one of the little pieces was super crispy and brown to taste. I'm having visions, at this point, of sitting at my mamaw's farmhouse table (which is currently in my dining room) as a little girl, not being able to get enough of her fried okra (which I'm sure was fried in bacon grease) and little biscuits with fig preserves. I'm feeling homey and productive and then I take a taste....

BBBBBBBBBBBLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHH!!!

I then I fell over dead. Something was very, very wrong. Maybe the crisco? Can crisco go bad? It's not animal fat, so surely not, right? Well....

huh! How about that! Who knew? That must be what it was, because SURELY corn meal can't go bad, right? I mean...it's corn meal. It's like...corny styrofoam. Well....

Yeah that's right. It says BEST BY 13 MAY 05. That' PRE-KATRINA. I told y'all I didn't cook very often. On that note, I'm going to make tacos. I hope I can do that without poisoning anybody...

Overheard at Lemuria Bookstore in Jackson, MS

2011-06-03T10:41:00.000-07:00

Scene: Me, sitting on a sofa in the Local Book section at Lemuria, surrounded by stacks of old and new books about the South. A lady and her Southern-Belle-dolled-up-80ish-year-old Mother enter.

The Mother picks up "The Help" from a tall stack.

Daughter: Just put it down, Mother, you won't like it. It dares to imply that there were racial issues in Jackson in the 60s...

The Mother purses her lips, glares at the daughter over her bi-focals, pretends to finish reading the blurb on the back of the book, replaces it on top of the stack, and moves on to something that allows her view of life in the South to remain intact.

I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying I get it. There are a lot of things in I life I prefer to pretend I don't know about. Like chicken farms.

Ode to a Squash Vine Borer

2011-05-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

Oh Melittia Curcubitae,

I dreamed of sunny yellow discs,

Picked fresh in my own backyard,

Lightly Sauteed in a little olive oil.

Alas, Squash Vine Borer,

You have Squashed my summer dreams.

I don't think Greta is happy about me leaving again either...

2011-05-08T20:00:00.001-07:00

April Showers bring May Flowers...

2011-05-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

Struggling with some depression. Too-much-travel-missing-my-husband -insanely? Lack of vitamin D? Needing more time to actually get settled in my new surroundings? Probably a little of all of it. I generally get this way when I travel too much. I've been out of town 4 of the last 5 weeks, and I have at LEAST four more in a row coming up. It always makes me blue. I just have to keep telling myself it's not always like this. It's temporary. And yes, I still believe this move was worth it.

So I've been making sure that I keep my (strained, burning, blurry) eyes open for things that make me happy. Things that make me appreciate the world. Like....

The first pepper in my garden.

Spring eggs..

Perfect little nests.

Hungry little mouths

Plants that = math.

Sinus Schminus

2011-04-23T21:45:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of months I have been feeling non-energetic, achy, and unmotivated. I chalked it up to the move, traveling for work, being overwhelmed at work....blah blah blah. At the same time, a lymph node in my neck kept swelling and waning, swelling and waning. My ears were tingly. My eyes have been killing me. I was sure my eyes were just strained. Thursday I started feeling really bad. Friday a little better until I got home. Then Saturday, BAD.

I'm quite anti-doctor for colds and such. I want my body to fight off whatever it can fight off by itself. I can usually sleep off minor bugs. I am worried about taking antibiotics and contributing to the development of antibiotic resistance illnesses. But I was worried about that lymph node, so I drug myself to urgent care this morning.

The doctor says "raging sinus infection". One ear is super red, the other ear has blood at the base of my ear drum. My eyes look awful. I'll be taking a round of antibiotics and hopefully I'll start feeling better and get motivated to resume my morning walks! In the meantime, here are some pics I took on my walk last Tuesday, to remind me how much I love getting out there and exploring this new place.

More pics: https://picasaweb.google.com/sks84821/April19#

DIRT is not a SNACK!

2011-04-23T17:33:00.000-07:00

Greta continues to find ways to eat dirt out of the garden.

Let's get this garden started!

2011-04-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

Veggies planted (and now schnauzer-proofed - apparently Greta thought the dirt was DELICIOUS).

I could not BE MORE EXCITED about my itty bitty baby figs!!!!!!!

Did lots of stuff in the yard. LOVING IT.

Here's the link to more photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/sks84821/GardenApril2001#

Infinite Jest

2011-04-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

Just came across this and yeah...what she says:
"Comprehension, identification, and projection. Reading IJ is like forging a spiritual connection with a man who expresses my feelings better than I do. As someone who writes, I’ve often felt that language is so poor an instrument for communication or expression. I find it unyieldingly difficult to write an honest sentence. DFW exhibits otherwise. George Saunders, in his remarks at David Foster Wallace’s memorial service, called Wallace “a wake-up artist.” Yes. DFW’s words, beyond creating solid smart sentences and solid smart stories, reach this part of you that you thought no one could reach, saying everything you’ve been wanting to say and hear, everything you’ve been thinking on your own but haven’t been able to share with anyone else. While the whole world lies to you (the media, the politicians, the [insert your own contaminated culprits here]), Wallace tells you the truth. It’s as if he comes out of his book and shakes you until you’re dizzy, yelling at you all the time, “I GET IT. I GET YOU. YOU ARE NOT ALONE HERE.”"

http://therumpus.net/2009/02/a-dozen-of-my-feelings-about-david-foster-wallaces-infinite-jest/

Wildflower Lurve

2011-04-11T18:54:00.000-07:00

I keep having to stop on the side of the road on my way from the Coast to Jackson to take pictures of the wildflowers.

Native Azaleas

2011-04-10T20:47:00.001-07:00

About two weeks ago I discovered that the previous owners of the house left me two beautiful yellow native azaleas in the "woodland garden" area of the yard.

And then THIS weekend I found a FLAME one! STOKED!

In other news, I

bought a Fuji Waterfall Hydrangea, and this CRAZY cool Lime Spirea:

Gardens for Squares

2011-04-10T18:04:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Jason built my 4x4 squares for my square foot gardens! SO excited!! I haven't been able to plant veggies since I had a plot in my old neighborhood's community garden. That's been several years! (My Louisiana yard didn't have enough SUN.) This weekend, bought the plants and seeds, had the dirt delivered, and got the squares all loaded up. Planning to get up early in the morning to get the plants in...we'll see if that actually happens!

carbon-based wood-encased erasable writing utensils

2011-04-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

I don't like them. They scare me. When one is being used near me, all I can think about it how the lead is about to break, leaving jagged splinters of unfinished wood to scrape across the paper. And speaking of paper, I don't like to touch it with dry hands. (dry = no lotion available). The thought of this jaggedy, splintery, unfinished wood scraping across dried, pressed wood pulp gives me the heebies like nobody's business. It's distracting.

So yesterday was the first day of a three day class up in my agency's central office. And as I walk into class, what do I see? A neatly sharpened wooden pencil at every seat. My heebie jeebie level soared to new heights. What's a girl to do? COMPLAIN ON FACEBOOK, OF COURSE! And not even an hour later, a little fairy delivered to me three boxes of carbon-based PLASTIC-based erasable writing utensils. Man o man, it pays to have friends in high places (THANKS POLLY!!)

And then I set about eliminating the scary, potentially deadly weapons from my environment. (Somebody could lose an EYE!!) Of course I did this at break and after lunch. I mean, I needed them gone but I'm not CRAZY or anything.

ONE GIRL would not give up her wood pencil. I offered her TWO mechanical ones in trade, but nope. She wouldn't trade. And so all day today, some little part of my classroom attention was listening for the sound of breaking pencil lead and then....horror of horrors......WOOD SCRAPING ACROSS PAPER. Fortunately it hasn't happened yet, but tomorrow is another day. ONE girl. Probably the same girl who insists on eating a PB&J sitting on a plane next to someone with a peanut allergy.

Just remember, Ms. Girl, karma is a bitch!

And P.S. here's a repost of a list I made in 2008, but my fear of wooden pencils dates to far, far earlier in life. In 7th grade I had a choice to use a pencil, make no mistakes with a pen, or make any mistakes I made with a pen into really cute doodles. (This was for a creative arts class). I chose to make doodles. Which took longer, but I just didn't want to risk the dangers of wood pencils.

More Crazy Stuff I Hear

2011-04-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

"I don't mean to throw a link in your chain" - Paige from Glamour Belles

verbs

2011-04-06T18:15:00.000-07:00

<------likes the verb "decisioning", but "dialog" bothers me. As in "let's dialog about your loan decisioning".

Added link

2011-04-03T10:17:00.000-07:00

to pictures of the new house (over to the right in the OTHER section) but here it is again: https://picasaweb.google.com/TheColloquialTimesPics/NewHouse#

Group Goodbye

2011-04-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

Didn't really talk about it much, TOO SAD!, but my old work Group had a going away lunch for me back in December @ Zea (yum). They gave me this really cool Brighton bracelet with Louisiana doo-dads on it. An "I" for Group I (my old group letter), a fleur de lis heart, a red purse (because I carry one), and a bottle of Louisiana Hot Sauce with a little tobasco pepper. So perfect to remember my Louisiana days!

And yeah, I DO miss them, but thanks to email and facebook, we are still in touch ALMOST as much. (not enough, though!!).

A text from Jason

2011-04-03T09:48:00.000-07:00

Jason says "life as a water schnoodle spaniel doodle is hard".

(yeah.....we really don't know WHAT she is, obviously).

Two Sisters HellstotheYeah!

2011-04-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

Actually really loving working in Jackson the last two weeks. Hanging out with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins....still need to get together with my old friends!

Ate at Two Sisters twice in the last two weeks. Still, however, have not gotten my full greens, butterbeans, okra fix...but I'm working on it.

Ozzie

2011-04-03T09:30:00.001-07:00

Anybody want to take a stab at what had to get together to produce this mohawked cutie?

My friend Lauren's sweet buddy, Ozzie.

" "

2011-04-03T09:19:00.000-07:00

email from work (revised a tad by my coworker, Justin)

2011-04-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

Subject: REVISED Blackberry Replacements
Importance: High

In the past few weeks there have been a number of blackberries that have had to be replaced due to improper care and handling. Item 10 of the Communications MOU (see below) directs all users to use reasonable care in the handling of their blackberry. Such reasonable care includes ensuring it is not used near a water source, traded for crack cocaine, accidently swallowed, used to wedge the short leg of a table, thrown into an infinite abyss, be-dazzled, accidently buried with a recently-deceased relative, blended on You-Tube, frozen with liquid nitrogen and shattered, allowed to become self aware, baked inside of a cake, reconfigured to run on steam power, used to smash walnuts, allowed to be stolen by a curious/ tech savvy raccoon, and ensuring there is no pressure applied to the screen (do not carry in pocket), etc. We suggest that you utilize the carrying case issued with the Blackberry or a similarly protective storage case which you may purchase with your annual supply budget. Devices that are not covered under the ATT Warranty Exchange program are subject to a replacement charge of $425. We understand that accidents can happen, however, reasonable care starts with the users.

Why I love my friends and facebook.

2011-03-26T09:17:00.001-07:00

They are hilarious.

Office of Redundancy Office

2011-03-19T21:07:00.001-07:00

What I love about my new house

2011-01-23T18:32:00.000-08:00

The colors, inside and out.
The big yard, some of which is in the sun, some in the shade, space even for a woodland bit, veggies, herbs, entry, and similar.
The ICEMAKER, the dishwasher, the better washer and dryer.
My master bath.
My closets. Shelving. LIGHTS in the closets. Tons of storage.
The FLOORS (no carpet!!)
The location.
The kitchen island.
Watching my dogs run around the back yard.
The covered, off-street parking.
The light fixtures.
That my piano fits perfectly in a little nook in the sunroom.
The view of the tidal creek that runs behind the house.
The deck.
All the windows and glass doors.

Bubby

2011-01-23T17:58:00.000-08:00

My crazy brother with Kaylin.

Mississippi Resident!!!

2011-01-23T13:51:00.000-08:00

We are officially Mississippi residents! We moved into the new house January 5th. On November 28th, we came over to Ocean Springs to look at places to rent since I hadn't seen anything I was interested in buying. We were also not finding anything in our budget to rent that would allow dogs, and both Jason and I were honestly starting to panic a little.

So in a freezing, drizzly, post-Thanksgiving stupor, we met our realtor to look at rentals. The first two rentals = not. Expensive, not the greatest locations, marginally suited yards. Then the realtor said "while we are over here, I want to run in and look at this house new on the market. The other realtors have seen it already and said it was great, and I need to see it. You may not even want to get out of the car."

Well, we got out of the car, walked through it once, and bought it.

We love it. LOVE it. It's the only house Jason and I have ever looked at that we both loved.

On the way to the realtor's office to write the offer, Jason said "it's like we picked up Tulip Street, upgraded everything, and plopped it down in a yard by the beach." And it IS just like that, only even better. There's more space but it's not TOO much. There is a big yard but not TOO big. It's absolutely perfect for us.

And yep.....it's a triangle house :) See! I KNEW I needed a triangle house!

Part of me is missing.

2011-01-23T13:34:00.000-08:00

Most life-altering, we lost our little buddy, Schaffer. AKA The Bean, Bean-o, Bean-o Supreme-o, the Original D.O.G. I got Schaffer when he was 6 weeks old and fit in the palm of my hand. He was 6 months old when I met Jason. Jason has always said he married me for my dog. In the last year, he had deteriorated but still had happy, spunky moments. He got super sick Wednesday, December 29. His fever stayed above 106, up to 106.8 until around noon on Friday, when after talking to four vets, we made the decision to let him go. That's as much as I'm ready to discuss it right now. I miss him. A lot.

Note I just sent to my boss

2010-12-19T19:02:00.000-08:00

I have to send a list of accomplishments to my boss each year. I sent mine tonight with the following note attached:

"I know it’s late – if you don’t use it that’s ok, but I wanted to try to get something to you in case you need it.

I would like to add that this year I lost my Daddy, I lost my friend Randy (ok that was last year but close enough to this year to count), , my first niece was born and was in the NICU for a month, I lost my boss, I lived through the fear of getting a crappy boss, (I ended up getting a great one ;) ), I decided to move in 2-5 years but was offered a transfer quickly, I found a tenant for my Baton Rouge house, I bought a house in Ocean Springs, I lived through the residential lending process, I almost lost the house and ended up living in my car but the deal went through at the last minute, I had my gall bladder removed, I sprained my ankle, my husband had a mass removed from his neck because 3 doctors couldn’t figure out what it was (it turned out to be nothing bad), I had 2 dogs at the LSU vet school at two different times, (one in ICU)………..and I still only ended up taking about 1.5 xanax altogether.

In retrospect, I think maybe I should have taken MORE."

2010-12-04T18:47:00.001-08:00

Well I mean the whole thing. Loans/rates/fees/insurance/movers/lbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. I just want to sleep until it's all over.

Moving closer to the dream

2010-12-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

House hunting. IS. Insane.

Part The End - Nov. 14

2010-11-14T18:22:00.000-08:00

Lastly, I want to post the introductory comments of one of the organizers of the event last night. I couldn't say anything more perfect:

"There are so many people to thank that it would take the Pike County phonebook and recite it from A-Z because it takes a great community to nourish and cherish a great artist.

McComb, Mississippi is that community and Roger Lawrence is that artist. We are very fortunate to know both and we thank you all.

We honor Roger Lawrence as he has graced us with a spectacular presence in our collective lives and hearts.

Thank You Roger.

Thank you for the rivers on our walls, the pumpkin in our library, the indian, the Topisaw, the waterfall, the still life writ large in watercolor, oil, tempera, chalk, crayon, and dust.

Thank you for the Bouge Chitto halcyon days where our summers are now reflections on water, glen and glade. Where cypress tree cathedrals conspire with kudzu under cobalt skies and golden suns.

Thank you for the back-beat at The Courtyard dances when our 'Generation' was 'New' and all the rage.

Thank you for opening your studio door that opened our hearts, minds and souls with your gentle words and passions that took fire.

Thank you for teaching our children, our mothers, fathers, sisters and sons; that we too are artists when we follow your lead.

Thank you for the stiple brushes you gave, the splatters and splashes you made with color wheels exploding into space.

But most of all thank you for this hour of bringing us together with your friends whom are not divided by time or age.

Thank You Roger Lawrence for making our world your canvas. Because of you our lives are even more beautiful and true.

Thank You Roger."

-Bill Tyler -

Part II - Nov. 14

2010-11-14T17:50:00.001-08:00

So I went to McComb to attend said event (benefit for Roger Lawrence) with my Mom and my Aunt Frances.

It was FUN. Back in my Mom's high school days, Roger was in a band called "New Generation" with Jim Hewitt, who I ended up growing up across the street from. Jim's son, Jamey, is a year younger than me. We grew up together building forts in our backyards.

Last night, Jamey got together with his uncle and 2 other awesome musicians and gave an AWESOME blues concert for us. I knew Jamey played guitar, but WHO KNEW he could sing like that?!!! I had no idea - I was BLOWN AWAY! It was awesome!

Then we got to hear a few songs from Bobby Lounge - blues pianist/ singer/ and all around entertainer - whose song "I remember the night your trailer burned down", about how he and Jimmy were in the livingroom talkin' about a watermelon grow'd as big around as a white wall tire and wasn't studyin' no fire is one of my favs. His songs also discuss a family whose house had fallen off the foundation so they were having to watch TV on a 45 degree angle and feed their mama, who had rolled under the bed and gotten stuck, out of the cat dish.

Ahh......it was good to laugh.

And good to be surrounded by familiar faces, generous friends, and a community that I couldn't wait to get out of but I have grown to appreciate more and more as the years go by.

Part I - Nov. 14

2010-11-14T16:16:00.000-08:00

Roger Lawrence is an artist from my hometown of McComb, Missisippi. No, I don't know him well, but I've known OF him my whole life. He's a fixture in McComb. Graduated high school with my mother. (I found out last night, in fact, that my mother was his 1st grade girlfriend - Scandolous! lol) Taught art to many of my friends and family. Pieces of his art hang in many homes I have visited throughout my life.

Last night, the town in which I grew up came together to celebrate Roger Lawrence and to help out a friend. Roger is sick, can't paint right now, can't talk without the aid of a computer, and is walking with a walker. The link to the whole story is here: http://www.enterprise-journal.com/news/article_2ff38448-e5d0-11df-9202-001cc4c002e0.html

One thing that amazes me about his art is the variety.

Watercolors in bright colors.

Oil landscapes so real you can feel the cool breezes off the river.

Pointillism portraits of familiar faces.

And the list goes on...http://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-Of-Roger-Lawrence/123259717696999#!/album.php?aid=14383&id=123259717696999

I live with a Wookie

2010-11-12T22:09:00.000-08:00

Sharing

2010-11-12T21:56:00.001-08:00

Pros Part II

2010-11-12T10:31:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law's family is huge and fun, welcoming, thoughtful, and they love my brother and my niece.
Udda has a pool! (Thanks for reminding me Kathleen ;) )
They are already settled in Biloxi, so can send us to vets, doctors, hair salons, etc. We won't have to wade through loads of these before we find good ones.
My sister-in-law's grandmother is the oldest practicing attorney in Mississippi. And her brother is a lawyer too. Just in case we get sued for being fabulous.

A new CON also:
The Mississippi Master Gardeners want me to go back through their classes to participate in their volunteer activities, even though I've been a Louisiana Master Gardener for over 5 years. But they only have classes during weekdays. And I work.

I'm super bummed about this. But, maybe it'll be a good break, and I'm sure I'll find other ways to garden and learn and volunteer.

Pros and Cons

2010-11-10T17:49:00.000-08:00

Cons for moving:
I love my house
I love my neighborhood
I love my work group

Pros for moving:
Kaylin
My brother & Alex
Easier for my mother to visit us both in one place
My BFF Dale is there
My BFF Charlotte is there
My BCF Holly is there
Closer to other family too, plus I'll have out of town work in Jackson where the rest of my family is.
May have out of town work in Starkville and McComb
New house, with yard and room to garden, modern amenities, possibly a pool (I can't buy that where I want to live in Baton Rouge)
Comfortable, familiar job but in new surroundings, with new people and fresh challenges
I can go to Kaylin's dance recitals, take her to a random movie on a Thursday afternoon, take her to school occasionally, get to know her friends, help her with homework, but still sleep late most mornings ;)
My bean-o loves the beach
Still close enough to NOLA to go do fun stuff there
My brain feels relaxed when looking at giant expanses of water
Fresh start/ perspective/ challenges/ friends/ surroundings for Jason and me
My realtor is cool

What was I saying?

2010-11-10T17:18:00.000-08:00

Oh right - so......WE ARE MOVING. I'm having daily panic attacks about it, but honestly things could not be falling in to place better. I put a casual word out around April of this year that I wanted to move to the coast, thinking that MAYBE it would happen in 2-5 years.

And then in October I got a call from the Supervisor in Mississippi that he had a spot for me. And the rest is a whirlwind of trying to figure out logistics and finances and omg I don't do CHANGE well.

I mean, I'm excited, don't get me wrong, but I'm so SETTLED here. I have my nest made. I am comfortable.........yeah maybe TOO comfortable.

Jason and I have never moved together, never bought a house together. I bought the house we live in now before I met him. And I love my house. LOVE it. I can't give it up, so we are going to rent it out. I can't let go....plus I think it is a good move financially because we don't owe much on it and it should be easy to rent out.

And that's where we are at this juncture.

anybody know anything about this?

2010-10-09T19:11:00.001-07:00

A most perfect 36ish hours

2010-10-02T17:28:00.000-07:00

Left Baton Rouge early Wednesday morning. Stressed a little about work, but excited to have some Kaylin time.

Met the realtor in Ocean Springs for our first ride-around. I had only met her once in her office. LOVE her! She's awesome. Fun, she seems to "get" me. We had a blast looking at houses. There are two I did not hate. One I think I would seriously consider IF they came down about $80K HA!!!!

It's an "Ishee" house. Ishee being the Frank Lloyd Wright or A Hayes Town of the Gulf Coast. The house is cool. REALLY cool. Lots of character. And has lots of features I DO like, but...3 features that sort of weird me out.

1> It has a loft over the great room that is only accessible by a little attic-style ladder. It seemed sturdy. I went up the ladder. But...how practical would that be?

2> It has a giant tub IN the master bedroom. Which you get into by walking up three CARPETED stairs. ok um......EWWWWWWWWWW. That has to go. #1 - carpet in general creeps me out completely. And #2 - that's too much nakedness and moisture and humidity in my bedroom kthanks.

3> It has a giant unfinished 2 story garage - bigger than the one we remodeled here. And honestly I don't know WHY this garage gives me anxiety, but it does. It's great storage room. It's great potential pool house in the future. But for some reason it causes me significant concern.
So I think I would want this house if that tub was GONE and replaced by a fantastic master closet, that garage was gone or some sage was burned in it or there was an exorcism in it or something, and of course, if the price was WAY less. I'm not saying I don't think it's worth what they want for it, I just don't have that kind of $. PLUS I'd have to put a pool in myself.

I do love how it's very open in the great room but then has lots of little nooks and crannies. There's room for my piano even.

House #2 is even more promising, but it has a super-tiny plunge pool that, at first, I thought was a good feature but now I'm thinking may be a deal breaker. I want a bigger one. Not huge, but I need to be able to swim a lap. Plus, there's really nowhere for me to have a good studio.

So we keep looking. We aren't in a hurry. I haven't had the precognitive dream I usually have about this sort of huge life-change, so I'm not rushing anything. In the meantime, I'm feeling out the area and it's feeling better and better each time.

After looking at houses all day, I got to see that baby!!!! And OMG I ate her alive with just a little salt and pepper.

She is hilarious and I could just sit and watch her and squeeze her all day long. My brother and Alex are the best, funniest parents of all time. It is so amazing to watch them and see how much they enjoy this little girl.

She goes to bed @ 7pm, and Scot and Alex go to bed @ about 7:15 (hehee) so I left and went to Barnes and Noble to meet my Daley-Dale! On the way I texted Holly (my cuz) and she came by too. We hung out there until they closed @ 9pm (LAME), and then Holly went home and Dale and I went to Waffle house, where we sat until 10:45 peeling crayons and explaining to everybody in the Waffle House why we were peeling crayons. (It was for an art project - Dale teaches art at an elementary school).

Then I met Charlotte for breakfast at Denney's Thursday morning. Charlotte!!!! Whom I haven't seen since, oh.....1979 or something crazy like that (well it feels like that long anyway). She and her hubby are moving to the coast and looking for a house right now TOO. SEE!! I seriously feel that all lines are converging and leading me to the Mississippi Coast. But I'm taking it slow.

I have no doubt that things will all fall into place when they are supposed to.

A scrapbook page or 2

2010-09-25T19:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Bean!!

2010-09-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

My buddy turned 14 years old on Thursday. At this point, he's still as spunky as ever, but his GPS system could use updating. He runs into things if something gets moved. He rarely hears us. We have to carry him up and down the stairs to potty. He is working on about a 95% success rate for getting to the door on time.

And I don't care. I'll deal with that as long as I need to. As long as he's still enjoying lying in the sun, sleeping next to us at night, playing with his toys, and getting excited about breakfast and dinner, I'll carry him where ever he wants to go.

Happy Birthday Bean-o! You're my #1 little buddy!!

Pretty Grrrl

2010-09-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

She likes to hang out on the landing between my studio and Jason's computer room. She's got a black spot on the back of her tongue just like Greta! Finally getting a beard!