Dear One Kings Lane,

I have no words, other than....Do I need a new section of my blog entitled "Very, Very, Poorly Posed Statuary", or perhaps just "What.in.the.holy.hell."?????

NOT.FEELING.THE.LOVE.AT.ALL, NO.NOT.AT.ALL

Yesterday some stuff got moved around in the room where I'm working, and there, on the table, was THE WOODEN PENCIL OF MY NIGHTMARES.  It had a BROKEN POINT with jagged wood shards sticking out at dangerous angles.  It a NO eraser left, which means somebody erased until they rubbed METAL ON PAPER.

I had the major heebs.  MAJOR.  I picked it up from the middle, and hurled in towards the garbage can, but missed.  Not being able to stomach the idea of taking my life into my own hands again to actually put it IN the trashcan, I left it, thinking somebody awesome would save me from it. 

I went to bed last night feeling slightly safer, but still concerned.

This morning I got to work, walked up to my spot at the table, and BAM!!!!!!!  THE DAMN PENCIL WAS AT MY SPOT.  Now I'm not saying I don't perhaps SLIGHTLY deserve this for not making damn sure the thing was disposed of properly, but COME ON. 

I took the pencil and threw it away in another office Fffffffaaaaaaaar fffffffffaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrr away.  Then I told my team that their evaluations on this job would for REAL reflect this injury.  Marquita noted that the people currently in the room were not the people who placed the offending object, and I pointed out that they stood by while evil happened.

Which is just exactly what happened in Nazi Germany.

I can't cotton to the idea of putting an actual picture of the torture device here, but here is a drawing.  Or as my friends in Boston say, a drawering.

Yes. It's not Christmas

But I still haven't put away my Christmas village.  I'm WORKING on it, cut me some slack.  It's colorful and happy and I love it so much.  Every time I look at it, I see something new.  And so I decided that since I am always looking for sketchbook inspiration, that I would take the time to draw each and every one.  I'm crazy like that, but it's letting me focus on and enjoy some of the little details. 


Like for example, the little drawing of Santa and his reindeer under all the snow on the roof of the little blue cottage. 













I was never looking for a Christmas village at all, but when I saw 5 pieces of it at HUDSON'S in McComb years ago, I wigged out, because it has tons of snowmen on it and I was at the height of my snowman collecting phase (From which I have now thankfully recovered).   I immediately made my Mom buy it for me because they didn't take credit cards back then and I NEVER carry cash.  Don't worry, I paid her back.  We keep track of our receipts pretty well. 

A year or two later, I found the matching red Chalet in T.J. Maxx. 

I THINK there is one yellow piece I am missing, but I have never been able to find any information about any of the pieces on-line. And y'all know how I am about not having completed sets of things.  I even emailed the company once (Russ), and their response was "hmm...looks like one of our retired lines". Uh, thanks. That is surprisingly UNHELPFUL.



 

 

This Christmas I was feeling particularly artsy so I bleached, dyed, and decorated a bunch of Christmas trees for the village.  That was SUPER FUN and I'll tell y'all how I did that soon.  I LOVE how they turned out, even though my fingers ended up being blue and green for about a week.

 

So...yeah.  If you know anything about this village or how I can get more info on it, I would LOVE that.  If you want to just go ahead and mail me the yellow one I (may be) missing, feel free :)  In the meantime, I'm having fun sketching them and then packing them away for another year.   

Home Away From Home

My Jackson home away from home. Yeah, i am blessed. The neighborhood has all kinds if nature trails everywhere and is totally landscaped like Disney World. It's pretty awesome.

Look closely!  There's Melody in her garden-surrounded driveway!
 

Need curtains, right?

Box of Dirt

Of all the places I could rest today while Mom sits outside and reads by the imaginary pool, I choose dis here Box of Dirt!