croonin' cocobelle

i've been busy bundlin' up beanies, blossoms 'n bows for bitty babies and somehow i've gotten lost every time i bounded toward blogdom. once the latest batch o' boxes were on their way to bare headed babies everywhere, i dedicated a dozen or so days to uploadin' dozens o' new digital doo dads designed for doo dad devotees and dabblers to download. but today, before i could send the server the store samples, i surmised i'd squinted seriously at my screen for far too long and should shut down my system and switch back to sewin'.

it didn't take me long to decide i'd dedicate the day to designin' darlin' dog dresses in damask, dots and maybe a bit o' ditsy. once done, i'd decorate my darling dog duo - tinkerbell and coco - in the divine duds and get them to pose for a dozen or so delightful digital dog dress demonstratin' photos to display in my shop.

i did my designing and constructing but darn if my dainty dog daughters displayed absolutely no discipline - not a drop. they loved loungin' around in the lovely layers of linen 'n lace i'd stitched and even made me hopeful as they leaped a bit after lappin' up a large lunch of livery lookin' lumps. but while i snapped shot after shot after shot of the well-shod sisters, there wasn't a single sit nor one submissive stay in the whole bunch. they insisted on behavin' like beloved dogs instead of modelin' mutts.

all my shots turned out shoddy so i'm not sure any o' today's tailored togs will ever travel beyond my table. but bad as they are, i love these three shots of cocobelle seriously singing one o' her solos. she sends out series o' serenades several times a day and seems to sense when a tune or two might be needed. i must admit it's difficult to desire discipline when a diminutive dog, decorated with daisies, dandelions and such, successfully delivers melodies meant mainly for liftin' your mood. i feel quite fortunate to have such a musical maltese on this day after marathon monday. i hope the snaps of her singin' (it's probably just as well that you can't also HEAR her) make you smile - if only for a second or two.

the birds

since i felt a wee bit better yesterday i spent some time ponderin' why i was fallin' victim to every nasty germ that attached itself to me durin' my daily doings. my ponderin' led me to decide it might be because i eat too many things that have labels listing sugar as the main ingredient. in fact, i think i remembered puttin' practically nothin' but peppermint patties and peanut butter cups in my person right before becoming so sickly. how dumb i have been for delvin' into such a disgustin' diet. i vowed right then and there to hack my way out o' that horrible habit as hastily as i could and would do so by headin' to whole foods for a heap o' healthy hash 'n such.

i seldom go to the grocery store and when i do i stay for hours - going up and heading down each and every isle, gazin' gleefully at every grocery item that grabs my glance. but i would not give myself that gift on this grocery getaway. i was on a health mission and could not allow myself to be mesmerized - for even a minute - by minty macaroons, midget mud pies or mighty malted milk balls. i would carefully curve my cart to the carrots, cauliflower, cranberries and cantalope then right for the radishes, radicchio and red peppers. only fresh fare would be flung into my fast moving buggy.

when i arrived at whole foods they had a recordin' of birds chirping playing out into the parking lot - not little song birds i decided but maybe blackbirds. big black birds with loud singin' voices. at first i though it was really nice for whole foods to offer up those extra lil' things. once inside i realized i could still hear the birds and decided i would have preferred they pipe in some snappy tunes to shop to. after only a short time o' pushing my buggy up and down the aisles searchin' for somethin' sumptuous to supersede all the sugar i had recently consumed i found the constant bird babble was really beginnin' to bother me .

if you've been a reader o' this blog from way back in the olden days you might remember that i because of my mother's penchant for birds as pets i picked up a perpetual problem with birds (HERE just in case you've forgotten). i'm okay with 'em if they keep their distance - like waaay up in the sky or no closer than where they look like lil' bitty specks...i only like birds as specks. once they start getting close enough that i can tell without a doubt that they are birds and not specks that are possibly birds i can't handle it.

my fear o' birds is not all my mom's fault. mr. hitchcock is equally to blame. one viewin' of his movie 'the birds' thrown into the pot with a mother's passion for perched pets and i had myself a life long bird phobia.

so once the whole food's bird barkin' began to make me want to barf i could no longer focus on my mission. i never even made it to the fresh fruit 'n veggie aisles. before i knew it i had abandoned my buggy and was headed briskly back toward the door. i couldn't wait to be belted in my black car, headed home and away from the blarin' o' those beastly birds.

when i made it out the door it sounded like the recordin' o' the black birds had been turned up REALLY loud. but as i looked up to see where the speakers were blarin' from all i could see was black specks. in fact everywhere i looked there were black specks...big black specks that were movin' hither 'n yon. and then i realized - everywhere as far as i could see there were big black cacklin' birds. the only time i had seen this many birds bandyin' about in a bunch was in that horrid bird movie. i could tell most o' those were fake and just bein' hurled at tippy, who i knew was just pretendin' to be scared...even so, that movie had scarred me for life. and here i was - smack dab in the middle o' the real thing - hoppin' on the ground, the cars, coverin' every tree, every pole. i was surrounded by thousands o' birds and they were all screamin' and flappin' their wings which made me start screamin' and flailin' my arms. i have no idea how i made it to my car but once safely inside the birds began to bash into my windshield leavin' big white blobs as they flew off. i was certain i would die of a heart attack so i snapped a few shots to document what had killed me. i then quickly applied a fresh coat o' lipstick and fluffed up my hair so i'd at least look good when finally found.

the heart attack didn't come and i somehow made it home peerin' through the only poop-less area in the windshield. the bird scare had left me feelin' really hungry but since i had given the dumpster everything decent to digest before departin' i had no choice but to open up one o' the bags of candy santa had planned for mini's stocking. after downin' a roll o' neccos and half a pack o' my favorites - plain m&ms - i came to the conclusion i'd just wait 'til after christmas to start my healthy habits - another few days shouldn't be too bad. but someone else will have to get the groceries 'cause i'm not sure i'll ever wanna go back to whole foods.i do so hope your plans for the holidays are coming together nicely. be sure to have a lil' sugar and think o' me.

christmas doo dads to download

i have been nothing but sick with one ailment after another since i last blogged. while i'm certain it wasn't the bloggin' that sickened me nor was it mini appearin' so slutty or her daddy's attempts to convince me he should have been a comedian, i have no idea what IS causin' this series of maladies to strike me. i swear,if one more round o' coughin', sneezin', scratchin', limpin', nose-blowin', throw-uppin', or etc. etc. attacks me i'm gonna' have a hissy fit...of course that could be the symptom of yet another new flu so i'll just keep hoping this past 24 hours straight o' good heath means i'm on a streak.

i had to pull myself together at least long enough to blog up these delightful digital doo dads designed for december for you, my dear friends, to have delivered via download. i've made some mighty nice wrappin' paper 'n tags from this batch. maybe if i get a bit more energy in me i'll snap some shots of my packaging efforts to show 'n tell.

i wish i had something really powerful to provide during these disturbing days but maybe once you get these doo dads downloaded you'll be distracted for just a bit...even a small byte might help.

you can get 'em here. if you have a problem gettin' 'em let me know. i'm sure hopin' i'll be my zippy self from here on out and therefore here more than not. xoxoxoxoxo

the mini march

as soon as mini's daddy made it through the front door tonight he yelled up to my creative perch askin'... "did you tell mini she could put red streaks in her hair?"

i quickly responded no then had time to think a bit before receiving her father's next batch o' words. those thoughts included me thinking...now that mini had abandoned me - her devoted mother - in an effort to gain more education and with this effort takin' place in a locale far far away from me, she could and probably would do a few things without asking me first and a few of those things might not be to my liking.

mini's daddy interrupted my thinkin' with, "well she did."

i then asked, "how do you know she put red streaks in her hair?"

he answered, gettin' a bit clearer as he climbed the stairs, "she sent me a picture."

i then repeated what he said as a question - "a picture?" - to which he responded "yeah - a picture... that was published."

i asked "published? where?" wonderin' why in the world would a picture of her with red streaks would be published.

"in the paper...maybe on a website."

"what was she doing to get her picture taken?"

yikes - maybe the red streaks were of a really bizarre nature.

"she was protesting.....in a march."

"what was she wearing?"

i wouldn't normally ask about her clothing before other more important queries but mini has always wanted to participate in a march protesting a cause she felt strongly about and has often expressed disappointment that her generation didn't seem much interested in marchin' for things they were for or against. knowing this was a big day for her and it was happening right after i had sent her two boxes of new clothes, i wanted to know if anything i sent had been deemed special enough to wear to her first ever protest.

"a gay pride rainbow sweater."

i knew the exact one - i bought a rainbow striped cropped sweater for her and one for me from the garnet hill catalog when she was in kindergarten, back when she liked for us to match. we wore them over our overalls.

"what was she wearin' under it?"

"nothing....i think she was wearing it with jeans." he had now made it to my studio door and was shufflin' through the day's mail without a care in the world as usual as i pummeled him with quesions.

"nothin'? was her stomach showin?"

"yes....her stomach was indeed showing and she had something painted on it." he was now headin' back downstairs. i may have even heard the beginnin' of a bit o' tune whistling - as if we were done with the topic and he was free to find our herd o' dogs who, unlike me, would welcome him home properly regardless o' the news he carried with him.

"painted on what?"

"painted on her stomach."

"WHAT was painted on her stomach?", i yelled down.

"i think it was the word 'slut' but i couldn't really see all the letters.", he yelled back up.

"SLUT! why would she wear a cropped gay pride lookin' sweater with her stomach showin' and on her showin' stomach paint the word slut ?." i think i may have been screechin' a bit by this point.

"well....i don't know but she looked happy and really pretty...except for those red streaks." and then he disappeared.

with my heart poundin' and havin' held my breath so long i feared i might pass out, i finally located the picture of my only child, my dear daughter, in her first official march - wearing my cropped garnet hill rainbow sweater (she outgrew hers long ago and it's arms are now two lil dog sweaters worn by coco and tink) with the word slut painted on her bare stomach.

the march mini was snapped participatin' in was somethin' called SlutWalk. i looked it up on the worldwide web and discovered it began in canada april of last year and soon became a cause 'round the world to protest anyone explaining or excusing rape by referring to the way a woman was dressed at the time the crime took place. the protests began when a toronto police officer suggested that to remain safe, "women should avoid dressing like sluts." the marchers are typically young women dressed in whatever their version of slutty is.

though i was quite relieved to discover mini's attire, bared body portion and the word it displayed were all quite appropriate for the march she participated in - and glad to see that cropped sweater gettin' a bit more use - i'm not sure i agree with the need to dress slutty for the march. but, even dressed and labeled slutty, mini's daddy was right about her lookin' happy.

but...red streaks? maybe he saw 'em but for the life o' me i can't. which is good 'cause i didnt give her permission to have 'em, slutty or not.

forget-me-not

what better time to finally make it back to the blog after such a very long hiatus than world gratitude day. it's good that i arrived bearin' a special gift i worked up to express that very thing - lotso gratitude to all o' you who have continued to stop on in here, havin' to see the same ol' thing time after time but knowin' i'd return eventually.

i blogged out a long missive o' all the adventures and calamities that have been bestowed upon me - or that i brought upon myself - since i was last here but wouldn't you know - just as i was about to hit the button to push it through the postin' pipeline and out into the worldwidewebisphere, i heard the familiar fanfare that announces my dear cousin jo's return from another evening' out on the town (this time a session stalking' a batch o' TMZ shooters as they steadily stalked stars who stand around nightly on the sidewalks hopin' to be shot then shown on the small screen). it's always the same - the front door slams, then the refrigerator door opens followed by the sound of a pop top pulled...finally there's the stomp up the back stairs in her latest pair of red bottomed shoes (i'm suspicious that many have become red courtesy of red spray paint rather than mr. louboutin). tonight she was sportin'a platform/stiletto combo that added seven additional inches to her god given sixty four. add to that a 10 maybe 12 inch tower o' aquanet powered teased tresses and cousin jo's height for the night topped out around six 'n a half feet. it's always a bit shocking when she arrives so tall but it's somethin' we have always longed to be so it's nice that jo's figured out a way to make it happen whenever she wants if only until her feet start hurting.

anyway, jo showed up and read through the my genuine excuses for remainin' unblogged for such a long stretch and made it quite clear that if i decided to post my prose up as it was you'd think i was either offerin' up a batch o' fictional horror mixed with a tad o' drama and a bit o' comedy or accuse me of asking for a big ol' pity party. since i desire neither i deleted that first attempt and what you are readin' now, still not to jo's likin', is what i ended up with. i'll provide those excuses soon enough but jo's right - doin' so all at one time was a bit much.

besides, jo says things have changed so much since i first started up this window o' words that i should probably not bother unless i'm willin' to do a major overhaul. back in the beginnin' of bloggin' it was much easier - whether you were the writer or the reader. all the blogs looked pretty much the same - you could choose from a handful o' colors and maybe six fonts and get the thing up and runnin'. if you ventured out to do some readin', you could make the rounds and return back to where you started in under an hour. nowadays there's enough reading available - about anything you could think off - to waste away weeks at a time if you were so inclined. and just about every window that appears has things swirling' and blinking' and some stops along the way even provide music to read to.

i'd love to think i could provide some o' that entertainment here but it wont be any time soon..it took me forever just to get a sidebar that stayed in place and buttons that actually took you elsewhere when poked. when the doo dad shop got deleted in the spring i came awful close to lettin' it stay that way. i do hope you noticed i finally got the 'snapshots' up and running. i'll continue to add to it and will get the artwork page going shortly now that i sorta' know what i'm doin'.

thanks again for not given' up me. if you click here you can download that pretty bunch o' forget-me-nots i made for you - a lil token of my appreciation. underneath it i tucked a rare shot o' me - i'm always the snapper and very seldom the snappee. i'm all dressed up 'n doin' one o' the many things i love fillin' my day with - tendin' my garden.

please leave me a few words if you have the time. currently there's a small delay between leaving' a comment and when they appear. those bullies still stop by and rear their ugly heads now and then so for the time bein' i take a look at things first.

it's nice to be back.

yooooo hoooo....

believe it or not...i am workin' on some words to blog on up - bet ya' thought i was long gone. please stop back by and i'll make it worth your time. first i gotta figure out how to get it all back in order here....all my bloggin' neglect created a ol' big mess. can't wait to see you again. xoxoxomo

rizzoli & isles

i live in a neighborhood full o' celebrities. these stars o' the sceens you have to buy a ticket to view as well as those you just plop down in front of aren't of the human nature - though there's plenty o' those poked here 'n there...the fabulously famous i'm talkin' about are the houses that those with the speakin' parts pretend to live in.

right around us are some you might be familiar with....the house behind ours was home to jed clampett 'n granny in the movie version o' the beverly hillbillies...on the other side o' the street from it was where the fresh prince lived when he left philly... down my street a bit is where that handsome guy from madmen pretends to live....not too far from it is my favorite - the house that starred with steve martin - twice - in those father o' the bride movies.

seems not a week goes by that there isn't a slew o' trucks and a swarm o' headset wearin' workers in somebody's driveway. often while takin' the lil white prancin' pups for a parade to be petted by everyone we encounter i'll realize a house on our route is one i have recently seen in a commercial.

personally, i'm not a big fan o' livin' in a neighborhood of homes that have their own agents. luckily, with one exception, our neighborhood consists o' like minded home owners who may allow their residence to do a lil actin' once or twice a year, make a point o' followin' all the strict rules for doin' so and donate a bit o' their earnings to a cause their neighbors support.

that one exception is a couple o' doors down from us...these people use their house as a main source o' income...their downstairs is kept just about empty to accommodate whoever might wanna pay the fee to shoot a commercial there. before mini's daddy started payin' attention to what they were up to they violated just about every rule and paid no attention to the limited number o' days one house is allowed to 'act' in a year.

since our home had a major role in an academy award winnin' movie in the early seventies - a movie on the list of the best 25 ever made - we have gotten requests from location companies since the day we moved in. right away i announced we were NEVER going to let anyone use our home for a shoot. but mini and jo have always wanted to do so....mini's daddy only if it was for whatever his favorite tv show was at the time. finally i told the three of 'em that we could do it once but that only the outside was available...that the inside was off limits. years have passed and there have been many requests but none for just outside.

FINALLY...around the time i tumbled down the back staircase - a request was made to use JUST the pool and back yard. i don't recall anyone askin' OR tellin' me but all three say they did both. the shoot was for a new show called rizzoli & isles with angie harmon. here are a few pictures mini's daddy snapped. as you can see, the rule was bent just a wee bit so that angie could sit inside. we locked jo in her trailer so she could watch from the window but not attempt to be in front o' the camera. she, mini and mini's daddy are still fightin' over who gets the majority o' the ridiculous amount o' money paid for a day's use of a backyard 'n pool. once i found out what the current rate was, i understood a bit more why that family a coupla' doors down was so upset when they found out their house's unlimited actin' days were over.

i do so hope you are enjoyin' your summer. i plan to enjoy every remainin' second....as soon as i finish puttin' all these doo dads away in their new home. i've got one big box o' miscellaneous 'crap' left but it seems to be bottomless. i must admit - the stuff in it is lookin' less 'n less necessary to my existence.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxmo

favor number three

finally....here's party favor number three. i apologize for takin' such a very long time to get it ready for you to download. i do so wish i could say it was delayed due to days doin' nothin' but dippin' doughnuts in dark drinks while daydreamin' 'bout the most desirable designer dresses bein' delivered to my door without me havin' to drive to any department store....with shoes to match 'em all of course. but i wouldn't dare drone on about deeds that i didn't do.

what i have really been doin' while keepin' you waitin' for a new dab o' doo dads was movin' into my new art studio aka doo dad den. i have always done my desiginin' 'n dilly dallyin' upstairs facin' east. i am now downstairs facin' west. my new den has divided digs - a place for doin' digital doo dads and another for whippin' up the real life doo dads. and now that i do what i do downstairs, i can also easily dance outside durin' the day to dabble in the dirt and what sprouts out of it.

the idea o' movin' downstairs to a place done up just for me sounded dreamy when first discussed and is just that now that it's done...but the actual move dared to do me in. if i had known it would take me three damn weeks to move all those doo dads i hold dear down from up i doubt i would have thought the idea was so delightful. to deliver an idea of the trips i traveled up 'n down 'n down 'n up to accomplish the move, on more than one day my dainty pocket pedometer drummed up digits equallin' over five miles - and i had never even left the house!

as anyone who drops by this blog would guess, all that draggin' things from upstairs to down provided the perfect diagram for a deluxe calamity. as the days dragged on i found myself tyin' to quicken the work by takin down more 'n more with each trip - with tinkerbell ridin' on top o' the pile of whatever i was currently cartin'. i coulda' cared less if i lost all feelin' in my limbs as long as i could get finished. so of course in no time durin' a trip down tink 'n i took a dangerous dive. the items i was carryin' (includin' tink) survived the tumble but i was certain i would never be able to get back up. i summoned a pop tart 'n stayed crumpled in the spot i landed for 'bout an hour 'til i was removed from the scene 'n placed flat 'n outta the way until i could once again move. today is the first day all my body parts seem to be almost workin' again.

i'm all moved in now - thanks to a visit from an adorable six pack packed 15 year old nephew 'n a coupla' hours donated by a coupla' jo's beaus - so party favor number four won't take near as long to appear...in the meantime i hope you'll enjoy number three! you can get it by going here.

betty the weird wiener dog

if you've been around a while you might remember me introducin' you to betty jean, mini's wiener dog. she 'n mini have the same birthday and therefore celebrate each year with one big party (i blogged quite a memorable one here).

though she arrived with a pedigree, poor betty has never had great beauty, could never be completely house trained, constantly gets her tricks confused (rolls over when asked for a paw shake 'n sits when a roll-over is requested), has a tail that looks as if it spent time in a faulty pencil sharpener and sprouts fur so crunchy only those of us who love her dare pet or pick her up.

but it's not any o' her sensational short comins' that make betty jean the most unique of all the canine creatures created...no...not a one o' those. the thing that is the most - i should say weird but i'll be kind 'n call it 'special'- so...the thing that is the most special about betty jean is her hobby.

i've tried 'n tried to get a good picture but she seems to only enjoy this hobby when no human is around. this shot mini's daddy snapped with his camera phone is the best that we have...actually it's the only we have so far. you have to look really close at the smallest shot above but once you do you'll see possibly the only rose bush climbin' wiener dog in existence. i could be wrong but i don't think there are too many other unattractive badly coated trick twisted wiener dogs with this same talent. and she doesn't just climb the thorny bushes...once she arrives at the top she gets comfy 'n takes a snooze.

the second fifth birthday party favor

the doo dad shop's fifth birthday celebration continues and here is your second party favor....those semi-tacky sugar letters all of us of a certain age saw sittin' smack dab in the middle o' our birthday cakes. i whipped up some fluffy white frostin' for you too!

if you desire to download the second sensational set o' digital doo dad party favors just head on over to my site and you'll find a link on the news page. if you missed the first party favor just request the link when you purchase your next round o' doo dads!

thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes last week...they were each received with great joy!

xoxoxomo

final bit o' bragging

i got so excited to share my perfect storage solution that i forgot to finish off my braggin'. so....more perfection......

what makes my solution extra special perfect are the wheels i attached to the bottom. in fact i don't think i have ever confessed here in blogdom that i put wheels on EVERYTHING in my work space includin' the shabby couch, shabby chair and coffee table. i can roll everything in the room anywhere at any time. i have tried to convince my family that all furniture in all rooms should have wheels but they are still non-believers. they seem to think this need is because i spent so much time in houses on wheels earlier in my life but they are wrong about that still influencin' my current interior design choices. jo spent more time in trailers than i did n' she is also baffled by my need for furniture to speed across a room. i will convince them all sooner o' later - we are in the plannin' stage of buildin' a house in our lone star homeland and i plan to sneak wheels on everything there. finally they will be forced to accept the ability to roll at will even while sitting.

the other addition i made to what was already perfect...i covered the top of the flat files with insulated batting n' a few yards o' my favorite fabric - bright white cotton muslin. now i can use the perfect travelin' storage solution for ironing too. i love to iron....it is what i do when i am not quite myself. as i mash out the lumps 'n creases in some cotton i feel the ones weighing me down mentally begin to disappear....but i hate the site o' an ironing board (and have never been successful at addin' wheels onto one). now i have oodles o' ironin' surface available at all times that can also be used as work surface. and to make all this perfection almost too much to handle....i attached tape measures neatly all around the top o' the flat files so that i can take care o' that thing i hate to do most - measure.

so as you can see the search really is over. once i had everything set up i only had to make one major adjustment - i had to leave the top drawer unassigned so it can be used as a 'junk' drawer - a lil more influence from my dear mother.

the search is over...

all my decades o' divine livin' i have struggled to develop a way to do up all my art supplies 'n doo dads (the real life doodads as opposed to the digital ones)... a way where they are all divided out by departments, ready for me to dive into dependin' on what i feel like dabblin' in that particular day.

my mother - who handed down to me the genetic desire to create and collect doo dads - spoke o' havin' the same dream but apparently, from what i discovered after she died, just plum gave up 'n let her supplies and delightful doo dads co-mingle in large drawers here 'n there thru out our house. to give you an idea of the magnitude o' minglin'...in one drawer i found dainty antique die-cuts dwellin' deep under a duo o' disney dwarves and in another beautiful bunny buttons beneath fabulous faux flowers made outta feathers. because of this system o' storage, it always took her quite some time to dig out whatever tool or doo dad she deemed desirable for whatever art project she was doin'. at some point i had introduced her to my mason jar set-up and even traveled back to the lone star state to set the whole system up for her...but all it took to destroy the order i had jarred was a neighbor runnin' out o' masons in the middle o' the night while picklin' up a bumper crop o' cucumbers...once again all the doo dads were poured out and blended together. i have come to think my mom preferred her doo dads as well as her art supplies mixed as she got to run her hands through many treasures each time she only needed one.

i think i have tried just about everything for storin' 'n organizin'.....bins, boxes, barrels, buntings...nothin' has been perfect and all now are buried in the basement. all the things i have tried worked fine for fillin' up and holdin' but failed miserably when called into action. a hard workin' artist 'n doo dad collector doesn't need just storage - we also need easy access and even easier clean up. if it doesn't povide both it's just no good.

my search for the perfect solution recently came to a joyful halt when mini's daddy showed me i had the solution right here in the doo dad den for some time but just didn't know it. see, a couple o' years ago i mentioned to him that it might be nice if i had a set o' flat files. while i imagined a nice lil set to store larger printer paper and big photos and art and big things waitin' to be scanned - maybe 11 x 17 would be the largest - a few days later i opened the door to a delivery of what are probably the largest flat files ever made. i'm not sure how big these drawers are....i'll just say they are huge in both width 'n depth. ever since then i have hated them. everything i wanted flat files for could fit on ONE o' the drawers. the rest were just wastin' a large amount o' space i could use for somethin' else. there was no real way to keep things other than paper divided up and i couldn't find any container that would fit and the drawers still close.

then, outta the blue, mini's daddy - who could easily be a professional shopper and feels ill if he doesn't hear the sound o' a cash register at least twice a day, brought home a couple o' sacks from that texas based shop - the container store - filled to the brim with clear plastic bins that fit perfectly in the hated flat files.....and suddenly my lifelong search for the perfect doo dad collecting system was over!

i know the word perfect might sound like an exaggeration....so i will now blog up some snapshots of a few of those big ol' drawers so you can see that no other word but perfect will do.....

the doo dad shop is turnin' five

it's hard to believe that this summer marks the fifth birthday o' the doo dad shop. you might remember that my digital doo dads became homeless due to the brouhaha that developed after i dared to discuss my disappointment - here on my blog for all to see - that so many designers deemed it okay to design their own doo dads by duplicatin' the original ideas o' more dedicated designers.

while my friend inspired amy and i struggled to get the doo dad shop up 'n runnin' that first summer, i gifted orphan doo dads to all who stopped by.

this summer, to celebrate my five years o' deliverin' delightful doo dads to you via download from the doo dad shop - AND show my appreciation to all o' you who have stood by me through the thick as well as the thin - i thought i'd pass out plenty o'party favors.

if you desire to download the first fabulous favor just head on over to my site and you'll find a link on the news page. if you do up somethin' real nice usin' the party favor doo dads please do let me know so i can show your work off here or add a link. this first party favor will be available 'til june 24th, 2010. if you missed it request the link when you purchase your next round o' doo dads!

xoxoxomo

jury duty

i have only heard one person ever say anything good about serving' jury duty. it was hank hill, star o' one o' my favorites - king of the hill. but since he is a cartoon character i guess he doesn't count so therefore i must say i have never heard anybody say anything good about doin' jury duty.

somehow i have lived as long as i have without bein' able to opinionate on this necessity o' citizenship...until recently. it wasn't that i was intentionally left off the guest list and therefore not sent one o' the official red, white 'n black custom invites to partake. in fact a number o' them had been previously delivered into our mailbox. unfortunately each arrived during' times when i was under a great deal o' stress...enough stress to turn me, normally a very good citizen, into a temporarily careless citizen who had no concern for her civic duty. the invites to attend these mandatory gatherings among strangers were barely acknowledged as they were quickly piled in with all other stamped 'n canceled pockets o' parceled papers and forgotten.

when i finally remembered that i had been summoned for these serious soirees whose times had come 'n gone, i was filled with great guilt. when i later learned that the penalty for not paying' attention could mean a chance o' paying a thousand dollar fine and/or a number o' days in a lil caged room in the big house...and after these punishments, STILL owe the time as a juror, i had to add fear to my guilt. but instead of seekin' to fix my sorry self inflicted situation by seekin' assistance in a solution for stashin' away several summons, i just waited to see what would happen next.

while i worried about the time i might have to spend in jail (i have seen all episodes o' oz) i never mentioned my shame about the stashed summons to mini's daddy. i couldn't bear the shock he would show seein' me as the criminal stashin' the summons had turned me into. after all, mini's daddy is a saintly citizen who would never stave off even the lightest summon to show up as a juror or any other need his state - or country - sanctioned him to serve - even those that might not provide snacks.

i was seriously relieved when a new summons arrived but scared when i saw that it was altogether different in appearance than those that had been stashed. this new summons was in all black - no red ink this time - and all the words were in big bold capital letters. the new summons didn't ask any questions or allow spaces for excuses - it just told me when and where to appear to serve and if i didn't, when and where to appear to explain my lack o' doin' so.

when the day arrived to do my duty, i couldn't help but worry that once i arrived i would be made to provide an acceptable excuse for bein' such a sorry citizen and no excuse would be satisfactory and i'd end up in handcuffs once i handed over my thousand buck fine. my family musta' thought the same as mini 'n jo packed me enough snacks for a lengthy stay 'n mini's daddy insisted on dropping' me off - i guess to keep me from runnin' up a big parking' fee while i paid my penalty in the pen. my anxiety grew when he mentioned on the way that it was odd that i was summoned to serve in the middle o' the week - seems serving' usually started on a monday.

once i arrived at the designated den where the duty was to be done, i noticed that all the other citizens that had been summoned to serve were holding' serious summons lackin' red just like mine... i was surrounded by sorry citizens just like myself....hmmm...i wasn't sure if this was a good sign and wondered if it made sense to summon us all on the same day.... maybe they planned to shove us all into the same cell. while i was ponderin' this prospect i realized that all the other strangers summoned to serve along with me were also women. at first i found this quite strange but then felt a lil better 'bout myself knowin' i wasn't the only woman who had come close to bein' a criminal by bein', if only for a lil while, a bad citizen.

much to my surprise there was no suggestion that none of us had shown up for service after several summons. we were safely herded along, signed some signatures and sent into a very pleasant setting with quite plush seating. there was a big screen tv hung high for all the servers to see and lotso sony screens for those who sought to surf the world wide web. i opened up the sack lovingly filled with snacks and set about sharin' with all the strangers then sat, started up my ipad 'n spent the time shoppin' for shoes 'n such. the only unpleasantness was some sexy siren sittin' behind me whose fingers soared sending' silly text messages the entire time and each time she hit a key a sonic sound signaled. this was quite annoying' but everything else was quite satisfying.

after only several hours of sittin', we were sent home. not only was i surprised to have spent such a short time serving' but had become so relaxed shoe shoppin' i coulda' certainly stayed put.

seems so senseless that i had made myself suffer so - after doin' the stashin' o' those summons. now that i know how satisfying' serving' can be i am certainly looking' forward to bein' invited back soon. i may even see if they ever seek out citizens for volunteer service. i'm not sure that every city has the same set-up but i must say, next time you get summons to serve, you might wanna see it as something' to look forward to rather than something' you feel the need to get out of. i wonder what else hank hill has been right about?

recent guests

to avoid the risk o' sharin' a jail cell with lindsay i am off to do my duty as a prospective juror...but thought before i headed out i'd blog up this shot my cousin jo snapped yesterday.

hope you have a wonderful wednesday!

prunin' pleasure

when we moved into this big ol' house on this big ol' piece a land, i was plunged into an immediate interest in gardenin'. in no time at all i was completely addicted and found myself wishin' i had been introduced to the benefits of runnin' my hands through dirt 'n greenery much earlier in my life.

growin' up in that small town in texas, the closest i ever came to gardenin' was usin' a paper towel to pry some o' the dust off the plastic flowers that had been sittin' on the table in the parlor long enough to be covered with dust. there was also the minor knowledge o' flowers i received by way o' the corsages presented to me for homecomin' (white mums on steroids) and the prom (a white orchid if you were really lucky, otherwise pink carnations). and i had taken a peek or two at the vegetable garden our next door neighbor p.t. patton planted each summer but since he only shared his plentiful crop of okra - which i find hairily horrible - it's existence didn't inspire me toward pursuin' plantin' as a pleasure.

over the years a bounty o' beaus would bear before me baskets full o' blooms but i never stopped to appreciate where they were before they were basketed. the only bit o' gardenin' i did before arrivin' at my current locale was when i lived at the beach and decided to decorate my deck with a dozen or so delightful dahlias. i propose declarin' it actual gardenin' is pushin' it 'cause i purchased the plants pre-potted...altho i did provide each pot plenty o' water before some passerby pilfered the plants from their perch. pity - they were really pretty.

so like i said - when we arrived on this acre 'n a half achin' for some able arms with green thumbs attached, i found myself powerless in a predicament that predicted horticulture becoming my primary pastime....whether i was prepared or not.

my first plantin' attempt was a complete failure. i worked all day with spade in hand, pushin' 'n pullin' piles o' dirt in preparation for ploppin' in platters o' pretty pink petunias. after standin' back with pride to admire my professional looking planting i picked up the protracted hose to project water on the plants propped so proudly in their new places. unfortunately it was apparent i needed more plantin' practice 'cause just the slightest bit o' water projected upon the pink plants picked 'em up 'n propelled 'em plum down the paved path. it was a pitiful performance in plantin' but i refused to be perplexed and was determined to persevere.

so practice i did 'n before long my plants not only stayed put but they began to prominently peak. in fact the peakin' became so prominent that in no time all my plantin' called for perpetual prunin'. my to my surprise i found as much pleasure prunin' as i did plantin'. i had no premonition though that prunin' - even done with pleasure - could be so painful. but painful it was....so painful in fact that one full day o' prunin' resulted in me practically paralyzed for the next full day.

the problem o' performining prunin' only part time perpetuated until our gardener - who is prohibited from so much as pinching' a petal - presented me with the best prunin' tools ever produced. and if you too are a pruner of anything from a piddly plot to a prominent property, i suggest you ponder over the oh so practical fiskar pruners.

if you visit the fiskar website you'll see there's plenty to pick from. but the three pictured in today's blog art are my preferred picks. for a hand tool my favorite is the powergear large bypass pruner which has won awards from the arthritis foundation for ease of use. if you are pained by arthritism, rheumatism or carpal tunnel syndrome, wanna try to prevent all of 'em or just wanna a tool that makes cutting plants as easy as cutting' paper - this tool's for you.

now - if your plantin' propels itself toward the sky you're gonna want one o' their prunin' stiks. for years i have only had the 2 pound regular stik and have not only pruned with pleasure 'n no pain but actually look forward to usin' it. it's so easy - you just grab what you wanna pluck 'n pull the strap or handle down and watch whatever you picked to pluck pummel to the ground. the newer telescopin' stik is pretty much just like the regular one but as it's name says, telescopes so you can reach just about as high as anyone could possibly wanna prune. and it's light enough that it won't make you tip over like all those other telescopin' tools you may have tried previously.

i love these three tools so much i keep 'em hidden so that no one else will poach 'em from me - not just cause i don't want 'em damaged but i don't want anyone else to get to the prunin' and leave none for me. only my cousin jo knows where i place 'em and that's cause she uses the smaller prunin' stik to grab things off the top o' the trailer the morning' after one o' her less than polite parties.

i only have two warnins' about these terrific tools....besides the tendency for makin' you wanna prune when maybe you should be doin' other things...first - don't try usin' the bypass pruners in the dark. i did just that pryin' hydrangea blooms loose to push into pretty pots for a plush party the next day and pruned right into my pinky. second warning is - even as light as the telescopin' stik is, if you try prunin' your rose vines away from the neighbors side by standin' on the top step o' your ladder with it telescoped all the way out, you might be overdoin' it all and just fall off the ladder like i did. luckily when this happened to me mini's daddy - who had insisted i didn't need both the stik AND the ladder - had predicted the predicament to come and was prepared to catch me mid-tumble, preventin' me from permanent damage.

all three o' these powerful performers can be located via the fiskar's website or amazon if you can't procure them at your local hardware store. if you place an order soon i suspect any one o' these tools would be just the ticket for a terrific father's day present.

my neighbor james mitchell

when i was makin' mini i had to spend alotta time in bed and often entertained myself watchin' the comins' 'n goins' o' the neighbor residin' directly across the street, a handsome guy named rob lowe. this was before he was a husband, daddy and employer o' big mouth nannies 'n cooks and apparently prior to havin' any knowledge of window coverings.

rob's house was pretty much a fishbowl...from my prone pregnant position i had visual access to almost every room plus the pool 'n the garage....just about everything but the afternoon hot spot for rob's pack - a full sized basketball court in the backyard. and while i couldn't see the action that took place on the court, i did look forward to seeing who would arrive to walk the concrete carpet and was often kept awake by voices familiar via the screen - both large 'n small - and a thumpin' ball long after midnight.

rob was kind enough to stay put until i gave birth to mini but shortly after fell in love and moved away. while i would miss rob and the entertainment he provided, i couldn't wait to see who my next neighbor would be.

as soon as i saw boxes began to arrive i headed over and knocked on the door to introduce myself. i was shocked when i saw who opened the door.

my new neighbor was someone i already knew. he was a mean man...a vindictive man...a man who had been married at lest seven times and spent his life gleefully plottin' 'n plannin' 'n pittin' people against each other. this man, my new neighbor, had already been entertainin' me for decades as i peered into his life every monday through friday. how could i possibly live across the street from this man....this villain...and what did he need rob lowe's discarded house for anyway? he had a perfectly good home some place else...it was located at 25 white oaks drive in pine valley and it even had a name...it was called cortlandt manor.

as my new neighbor introduced himself and his partner to me, his gentle handshake shook me back to reality. the handsome man replacin' the handsome rob was actually james mitchell - who just pretended to be the villain palmer cortlandt each weekday on the long runnin' soap opera "all my children".

in real life james mitchell was nothin' like palmer cortlandt - in fact it was difficult to believe that such a wonderful person could be so convincin' while pretendin' to be so creepy.

since james and his partner, albert wolsky, had the knowledge o' window coverings that rob had lacked, they didn't provide as much visual entertainment and unfortunately, they weren't around that much. james lived in new york during the week and albert, bein' an academy award winning costume designer, was away much of the time. but when they were home they were wonderful neighbors.

as i got to know james i discovered he had spent time as an actor and dancer on broadway and in touring companies and had been in many films. in one he had even danced with cyd charisse. he had taught at drake and yale and had even been awarded an honorary doctorate. durin' his time on "all my children" he was nominated for seven Daytime Emmy Awards.

james died a couple of months ago at cedars-sinai here in los angleles at the age of 89. i'm sorry that he is gone and know that he will be missed by albert and everyone who knew him personally.... and of course by those who only knew him only as the mean ol' self-made millionaire via the television but loved him any way.

a mother's day digital doo dad greeting...

i do so hope you had the happiest o' mother's days! i picked these flowers for you but since they can't exactly be enjoyed the way they should be i made all the doo dad doins' surroundin' the photo into a digital download for you....it might be a nice place to plop your mom's photo or even your own. just click here.
xoxoxoxoxmini's mom

giveaway number six

leave me a comment here on my blog and i'll send you the art to print and the instructions to make these charmin' lil easter egg animals. if you 'n i have never emailed back 'n forth go on and leave a comment then feel free to send me your email address for sendin' you the file...my email is mojackson at mac dot com. no need to do this if you've emailed me in the past.

xoxoxomo

the squirrel part one

stoppin' too long to indulge my desire to tell you all 'bout the mean squirrel would mean children all over the world might be bad mouthin' the easter bunny (aka their mothers leavin' me negative nods via etsy) when their personalized eggs don't arrive in time to make it into their baskets.

...so... i'm just stoppin' long enough to show you this shot o' the evil squirrel and ask you...doesn't it appear that this creepy creature is givin' me the dreaded middle finger gesture? jo swears it has to be some sorta' optical illusion but i am not convinced....if you remember, this is the same squirrel that was somehow able to don an american girl dress and many times has gathered earthly odds 'n ends to accurately hurl at me when i have had the door to the balcony open.

okay - back to the eggs....

xoxoxoxoxmo

p.s....reading the first paragraph back to myself i realize i may be exaggeratin' my worldwide importance in assistin' the bunny just a bit. i actually only have two eggs to send outside these united states...but the directions i was sent for those two eggs is so detailed it has actually given me egg paintin' anxiety and could be the cause o' me inflatin' my role in the upcomin' holiday's success.

first batch o' roses....

...tryin' to finish up all the easter eggs so i can get 'em out 'n maybe be able to still take some orders to mail monday for all the last minute bunny moms...just thought i'd hop on over here to show off a few o'this year's first batch o' roses. these two sorts grow on a fence that extends from the back o' the house all the way back to jo's home on wheels and were planted almost a hundred years ago when the house was built (the one not on wheels).

hope you're all havin' a wonderful week...can't wait to finish these eggs 'n come tell ya'll what that damn squirrel's been up to this week...i'm not much for violence but if i had a bb gun within reach the last few days i may have reached for it 'n thought about pullin' the trigger. he's even got tink 'n coco runnin' every time they hear the slightest noise.

xoxoxomo

rehab by melissa

when we - me 'n my much older sister queenie - experienced any kind o' heartbreak while growin' up - anything from a minor self-infliction to a true life alterin' tragedy - we were allowed one week to wallow in self pity. that's it - no more. durin' that one week my mom would be so sweet and understandin' and wait on us hand and foot. we could whine 'n cry 'n wallow 'n accomplish absolutely nothin' else while we obsessed about how miserable we were.

if, after exactly seven days had come 'n gone, we had not properly recovered or at least come to terms with whatever terrible teen trauma had been thrust upon us, we would be thrown head first into some project with a deadline that HAD to be met. given barely enough time to completely wake up, we'd discover our closet or dresser drawers or the kitchen cupboards had been turned inside out and needed to be put back together or that we'd been donated to one o' the neighbors to paint a room or wash all their windows or maybe babysit for the world's nastiest child. even if the second week after the current catastrophe occurred during the school year, once we arrived home 'n got any REAL assignments completed, there would be a long list o' newly invented chores ready for us to accomplish - enough to keep us huffin' 'n puffin' 'til it was time for our head to hit the pillow.

i normally adored my mother and would never consider her a fan o' cruel 'n unusual punishment...but durin' these times i felt a severe dislikin' for her....so much so that after an hour or so of slave labor negative thoughts o' her would interrupt the precious time i needed to dedicate to feelin' sorry for myself. as her intolerable treatment continued into the next day my head was so filled with 'mean mother' thoughts i had to actually set aside space for bein' sad rather than just mad.

i wasn't about to let her know i resented what she was forcin' me to do and it's hard to wallow when you're throwin' everything you've got into doin' the best job possible and pretendin' to enjoy yourself while at it. by the end o' that second week my mother's terrible torture and my sense o' accomplishment had just about robbed me o' any desire to feel sorry for myself. how could a good mother steal the right o' self-pity from their child and still claim to love them!!

what a waste o' time all this unnecessary hard labor was! when the mornin' finally arrived that my oh so creatively cruel mother had run outta ideas for assignments, with absolutely no help from her i no longer had the need to feel sorry for myself or obsess about whatever had occurred. completely on my own i would have decided that whatever had been so disturbin' wasn't worthy o' my time or i had come to terms with it and developed a plan on how to cope goin' forward. what was really annoyin' is that each time i finished one o' her rigorous rehabs i knew she felt responsible for the return o' my sunny nature. of course i knew better!

when i went 'home' to take care of my mom before she died i discovered an old reel o' tape on the top shelf of my closet. i love discoveries like old tapes 'n negatives 'n undeveloped rolls o' film and while my mom was nappin' - which at this point she did almost around the clock - i ran to borrow a tape recorder from the technology challenged neighbor. i was pretty sure he'd still have one in workin' order as i had heard him brag that he didn't have anything that ran on batteries or electricity that was made after the seventies.

i sat the ancient machine on the kitchen table and turned the volume up all the way so i could hear it as i cleaned the windows. after listenin' to many sessions o' someone failin' all attempts to make music on my flute (i can't for the life o' me remember ever loanin' it to anyone) i was tempted to turn it off. but then the big pay off arrived....out blasted a chorus o' girls singin' a song 'bout their evil mother and how much they hated her. as i listened my dear completely bald shrunken up mother hobbled down the hall toward the kitchen. she appeared to be cryin' but when i reached her i realized she was laughin' so hard big tears were runnin' down her cheeks.

seems the song was written, composed and sung by me durin' one of the rehab sessions my mom had forced upon me. when singin' it at the top o' my lungs failed to get a response outta my mom, i recorded it then sang along with the recorded version into my brother's tape recorder and continued back 'n forth with this process until i had a version that sounded as if MANY MANY girls hated my mother. i then played it as loud as it would play until queenie could stand it no longer 'n snatched the tape from the machine and hurled up on my closet shelf.

though my short recordin' career makes it seems otherwise, not allowin' us to lay around and feel sorry for ourselves was one o' the best gifts my mom gave us. because of all those rehab sessions, whenever i am goin' through a tough time i naturally get up and start doin' somethin' productive. some how continuin' to move helps me figure out a solution or if there is no solution, helps me figure out how to cope with whatever needs to be coped with.

after listenin' 'n laughin' my mom confessed that the real reason she made us work through our pain was because after a week o' doin' everything she could to make us feel better with no success, she would run outta patience. refusin' to have kids who thought feelin' sorry for themselves was acceptable, makin' us get up and work was the only thing she could think of doin'.

workin' through times o' trouble has served me well my whole life and has always gotten me safely to the 'other side'. but recently i've discovered there are some things that no amount o' work will heal completely. since mini's friend lily was murdered in july i have not stopped workin'. once i did everything that needed to be done, i started creatin' new things that i had to do. around the first o' february i felt that seven months o' hard work was possibly beginnin' to ease the pain. while i still thought about lily throughout the day, every day, my thoughts were more about her life instead of her death.

after i last blogged, the preliminary hearin' for lily's murder was held and for the first time, the details of her death were released. the knowledge of how she died made it feel as if it had just happened. since then i have worked 'n worked 'n worked hopin' to feel just a lil bit better. unfortunately, i am still just about back at the startin' point - far enough along to help mini and her father through bad days but still in need o' lots 'n lots o' hard work.

i have had a number o' my world wide web friends ask me if i was givin' up on my digital doo dads in favor o' the real life doo dads i have been creatin' for my etsy shop.the answer is no. i love designin' digital doo dads for delivery via download and will continue to design 'em. i have made more things with a needle 'n thread than with a mouse since lily's death because less pixel placin' has meant that my family is greeted by my face rather than my back at a computer screen when they need me...and we have all really needed each other. also, for some reason makin' real things seems more like real work durin' a time when real work has been needed....lastly, after almost six years o' scannin' my mom's real doo dads to create digital doo dads i had to figure out a way to recycle the huge amount o' 'stuff' i have. what better way than to 'work' it into somethin' new and let it all live on. i figure it's the least i can do for the things my mom loved.

i am gonna try to be back here more regularly....i appreciate all of you who have refused to give up on me durin' the times i am workin' through somethin' rather than blah blah bloggin over the past 5 years. oh...and the next time your child is going through a hard time, give 'em a week or so 'n then if they are still feelin' sorry for themselves, consider givin' 'em a lil melissa rehab - they probably won't sing your praises now but may really appreciate it later.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxmo

somethin' pretty giveaway number five..

and the winner of the pretty pink quilted bag is...tah dah....maija! missy maija - if you'll email me your address i'll ship the pretty pink bag off to you! my email address is mojackson at mac dot com.

number five - as you see above - is an oh so lovely valentine wreath. and since valentine's day is the time to show your love, once the winner is announced, everyone who leaves a comment will receive a link (sent with lotso' love) to download all the art needed to make the same wreath...so even if you don't win, you still kinda do! if you are new to my bloggin' effort don't be shy about throwin' your name in the hat...the more the merrier!

xoxoxoxoxooxmo

no neeked celebrities here...

i have always thought it would be nice if a few manly types desired to dedicate a day or so to designin' a depository o' their near 'n dearest or possibly do some decoratin' with digital doo dads. recently it appeared that that thought o' mine was actually takin' place as a few men came 'round to register for the doo dad shop. when those few quickly multiplied by hundreds i was confounded by so many men's curiosity in my creations.

i didn't have to ponder this odd surge o' manly interest in moland too long....afterall...i still have the good fortune o' cousin jo livin' within' hollarin' distance (in her house on wheels in the backyard) and there's hardly anything she doesn't know (unless it has somethin' to do with the stuff taught in school) and if she doesn't know off the top o' her head she'll get the information needed before you can figure out who to ask next.

sure 'nuf she knew exactly why so many men were attemptin' to get an all access pass to mojackson.com. she had heard all about it from the man she says is the most trusted person in journalism - the one and only harvey levin. jo says if harvey says it then it you must believe it...especially since "he's the only serious journalist who admits if he makes a mistake" - though she says , as far as she knows, he's only made a couple - the most recent bein' that picture o' j.f.k. on a boat with neeked girls.

and neeked girls - or at least one neeked girl - is why, accordin' to harvey, all those men appeared to be interested in dolin' out some dollars for my delightful digital doo dads designed for delivery via download. seems there's another website with the same name yet spelled a bit differently that was offerin' up a neeked snapshot or two o' a celebrity from that high school musical movie and all those men got lost along the way to viewin' her neekedness and instead ended up at my cyber front door. i'm a bit surprised that the headers with me in my fat snowman suit or blue cat eye glasses 'n striped tights didn't give 'em reason to pause before takin' the time to register...but then i've never visited a site with neeked pictures....maybe they use somethin' along the same lines.

i'm still thinkin' the day will come when more men are interested in digital doo dads...of course it may take me doin' up some neeked ones for that to happen.

later today i'll blog up the winner o' pretty thing number four and post up pretty thing number five!

p.s. if you look closely at the above picture o' jo (she made me promise to tell you she's donnin' FAUX fur) you can see harvey on t.v. inside the trailer.

somethin' pretty giveaway number four...

leave a comment for a chance to win this deluxe doo dad bag created outta an old wedding ring patterned quilt...one that was passed down through my family for many o' years. my dear cousin jo will once again pick a name outta one o' my hats to see who the winner is and i'll post their name up here on the blog next week.

xoxoxomo

valentines for haiti

send me proof of your 2010 red cross donation and i'll send you these beeeeautiful digital vintage valentine doo dads. the red cross website is here and they accept online donations. donating to some other organization this year that does similar work to the red cross will also be honored.

sorry i didn't get back here sooner...the month o' december seemed to just swallow me up. i do so hope peggy (scarf winner) 'n christa (stockin' winner) enjoyed their goodies. i just recently found the flower winner's address and she should be surprised with the package in the next few days. i'll tell you who it was once i hear from her.

to make up for givin' away less pretty things than i planned the month o' december i think i better give more away this month...so check back in tomorrow for pretty thing number four...and if possible, throw a few bucks to the red cross and email me at mojackson at mac dot com to get a link for the beeeautiful valentines.

somethin' pretty giveaway number three...

some of aunt laura's famous chenille is now a pretty christmas stockin' for me to giveaway...just leave a comment...and stroll on down and go for the vintage crepe paper flower too!

hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are. i'm on my way to the place i dread the most...the dentist. i sneezed and one of my crowns flew outta my mouth and landed somewhere into the doo dad den closet where EVERYTHING is stored. it took me six hours to find it. so..with it in hand -'n the contents o' the closet everywhere - i am headin' over to get it crammed back on. too bad i then hafta' return to put the closet back together.

thanks for stoppin' by!
xoxoxomo

somethin' pretty giveaway number two...

the first pretty winner...straight from the tips o' jo's bright red acrylic nails... ....drum roll please...missy peggy! i do so hope you'll send a picture of yourself all wrapped up in the pink scarf so i can post it here on the ol' blog.

today's somethin' pretty is an oh so lovely pin made outta vintage crepe paper. i do believe it will look stunning with anything you attach it to...so leave a comment. and since i've been so productive in the makin' department lately, i'm thinkin' i'll keep postin' up pretty things to giveaway over the next coupla' weeks and then have one big drawing then...so you might wanna check in again tomorrow!

thanks so much for helpin' me get back in the swing o' things!

wanna' win something pretty?

i've decided the best way to get bloggin' again and get all my blog visitors to stop back by is to give some pretty things away. so here is the first...a pretty pink vintage chenille scarf. the chenille is from the stash jo 'n i inherited from our aunt laura ( even though we angered her long ago by pickin' much of her chenille collection bald durin' nap times). if you'd like the chance to win this oh so lovely item all you have to do is leave a comment. in about 4 or five days i'll pitch everyone's name in a hat and have jo reach her long pointy nailed fingers in to pull just one out...i'll let you know who won and post up the next pretty thing then! i do so hope lots'o you will participate...i could use a bit o' help to climb outta hiding!
xoxoxomo

lily burk

many o' you have followed lily's story in the news and therefore have seen the same two photos o' her over and over - surrounded by the same words - maybe moved around a bit but still the same sad words tellin' the same horrible story. lily would never want to be remembered as a victim - the final title which was forced upon her. as you can see, she was so very much more.

thank you for the many heartfelt emails and to those of you who have taken the time to leave such kind comments.

mini 'n lily

when mini started kindergarten, she began the search for the girl that would be her best friend. with two classes o' twenty children, half bein' girls, she was certain that one of 'em just had to be 'the one'. but after couple o' years of tryin' out each and every girl available, it was obvious that none of 'em was the best friend she'd been dreamin' of for so long. and it wasn't 'cause she was bein' too picky or had unrealistic expectations...i heard more than one other mother state that it was an odd mix o' girls. while they were all special, they just didn't seem to belong together in the same group. even so, mini never gave up hope that one of 'em might return from summer vacation and fit the bill.

unfortunately mini's optimistic outlook throughout elementary school was in vain. she had lots o' 'good friends'...though no 'best friend'.

but her hopes could once again rise when entering middle school. a whole new crop o' girls would be added and she knew that one of 'em was gonna be the perfect fit....and this time she was right. it took no time at all for her and one o' the new girls, lily burk, to declare that they were the best o' friends.

they did have much in common - both only children of parents almost the same age....both very creative and each with a wicked sense o' humor. they both loved the same music, the same books and together developed a habit o' keepin' dozens o' lil notebooks with them at all times, coverin' each page - front and back - with teeny tiny handwritin' that spelled out ideas and thoughts and goals etc. etc. etc. i find these lil pages everywhere - both mini's and lily's - and have come to the conclusion that they are all written in a language only the two of them can understand.

the first time i met lily i knew mini had made a good choice....the doo dad den was a wreck - worse than it's usual state o' bein'. mini's daddy had taken the girls to concert and they surprised me by returning early. i hated for mini's new friend to see my surroundings at their worst. but lily took one look at my mess and declared it was the most wonderful room she'd ever been in.

when lily entered our lives i had to accept the fact that when mini needed advice, i was no longer the only person she turned to for help. i'm still the first person she asks but once i finish providin' her with my excellent words o' wisdom, she then says 'i have to go call lily now and see what she thinks.'

last thursday night, for some reason neither mini or i could sleep and ended up in her bed together, me tellin' her the same tall tales she has loved all her life. as usually happens, lily became part of our conversation and i asked her what she loved most about their friendship. she said lily was the most clever, most creative person she'd ever met and when they departed, she always felt 'fuller' than before they were together. and then she said, as she always did when talkin' about lily, ' she's really goin' to go places mom'.

friday afternoon lily ran an errand for her mother and never returned. saturday morning she was found dead in her car.

my heart is broken for lily's parents and everyone who loved her - includin' my mini - and that all those places lily was supposed to go will not have the pleasure of seeing her arrive.

my alarm clock...

it's not hard to wake up feelin' loved when this is the alarm clock....a lil floofy alien face without eyes.

meet mini's friends...

when your children are little, you know everything there is to know 'bout their friends. but when they are in high school, it's harder to keep 'em all straight...'specially mini's friends - they seem to have names that are similiar (lilly, lila, lola, lizzy), are all long 'n lean and have the same hair-do. i recently asked her to snap their faces for me so i could keep 'em straight (the bodysnatcher part o' her tends to get annoyed when i mix 'em up as she tells me more about each than any mother wants to know).

this is the batch she returned with. i am not sure whether to be frustrated by her sense o' humor or delighted with her creativity.

flowers to brighten your day

if you're anything like me, i'm sure you could use a break from all the news o' the day...so i went outside a snapped a few pictures o' some pretty things for you. hope they take your mind off it all, if only for a few seconds.

coco 'n tink's new collars

we discovered the place where tink n' coco were bein' groomed spent less time on the groomin' and way too much time keepin' the lil girls in cages. tink would return so mad at me for allowin' someone to treat her in this less than royal way that she wouldn't even look at me for two days. it took us a while to find them a new beauty parlor but finally they have a new hairdresser and standin' appointments so that they remain clean n' fluffy.

the new dog beautifier told me that the reason their floof was always a bit tangled was because their lovely canine couture wasn't lined in satin....that if i'd line up all their doggy duds in the silky stuff they would remain tangle free between appointments. this made perfect sense to me but i have never had the time to tailor their togs to accommodate the detanglin'. in the meantime they have remained neeked and in my opinion, in need of a lil accessorizin'. i have searched for collars that were special enough for them to don to no avail. i even tried puttin' some lil doo dad on their heads but coco immediately removes hers and then rips out tink's.

finally, i figured out the perfect solution....a collar full o' momade blooms, complete with a lil ring on it - to attach a leash! this picture is of tink, modelin' (n' nappin') the first one i made. she 'n coco look so pretty on our walks that everyone we pass has to stop to ask about their collars. i'm thinkin' about not buyin' that satin for now...i may even have to do some up for others who desire fancy tanglefree duds for their dogs.

how to make a t-shirt flower

so many o' you have asked for help in makin' flowers from your own leftover bits 'n pieces that i thought i'd try explainin' the easiest ones ever....the ones i make outta old t-shirts. they're so easy that though i make 'em all the time, i never even considered includin' them in the directions i have been puttin' together. i often forget that sometimes the simplest thing is best to start with - it makes you feel so successful you are more tempted to tackle the more difficult.

all you need for these sweet flowers is any old t-shirt - the softer the better - some scissors, patterns for your circles - or the ability to draw somethin' close to a circle - and a needle and thread.

the flowers can be any size but it's better to start small and then make bigger ones once you have your technique down. just lay your circle pattern on the old t-shirt 'n cut out a circle and then one slightly smaller and then one slightly smaller than that one and keep doing this until you feel you can't go any smaller (if you email me at mojackson at mac dot com i'll send you some circles to get you started).

stack your t-shirt circles in a pile with the largest on the bottom and then stitch a big X smack dab in the middle.

you can stop here if you want but if you want yours to be fluffier, slice into the stitched stack about every half inch or closer. to fluff 'em up, just rub your hand over the top real fast....or if you are real darin', just dampen your bloom slightly and pitch it in the dryer for five minutes or so....when you take it out it will be oh so fluffy and fabulous.

once you are done you can tack on somethin' green as a leaf - some ribbon or any fabric cut in any shape to resemble a leaf. if you so desire, you can stitch a tad o' yellow or a button in the middle.

now...what should you do with your fabulous flowers? hot glue it on a barrette or safety pin....or make a big batch 'n string 'em together for a garland...stitch a few onto your bodysnatchers shirt (if stitched together well they'll look bloomier after each cycle!)...the possiblities for these momade blooms are endless! and be sure to let your little ones make some too...it's a perfect way to introduce the joys o' stitchin' to them.

floods 'n flowers

the day after my last april blog i once again damaged my old broken back. i had the pretty white day bed moved outta mini's 'playroom' and in it's place two floofy poofy white denim shabby chic custom made couches. this was in response to mini's desire to turn the playroom she took over at 16 months old into more of a space for someone her age. i saw it as changin' a charmin' room created for adorable and adored little children to play innocently into a place where body snatchers could study 'n snack and probably sulk 'n sneer and dependin' on who is supervisin', maybe even snuggle 'n smooch.

the next mornin' i went back to admire my redecoratin' only to discover a disaster...there was water everywhere and in the center o' the ceilin', a huge sorta bubble thing - a circle about 6 feet around. i walked over and stood right below it - lookin' up to try and understand what was happenin' and at that very moment - as if it had been carefully planned - that big bubble in the ceilin' burst and anything that hadn't been wet, includin' me, was drenched. along with the water came big chunks o' plaster. since the ceilin' continued to drip from just about every spot, i headed out to find those big rubbermaid bins we use to store stuff in and did my best to position 'em where they'd collect the most o' the drips. i then gathered all the old towels i could find and started soppin' up all the water. before headin' up to the attic to see what was causin' this latest calamity, i plopped down on a couch to rest a spell and then discovered one o' those things that are both good and bad. the good - seems the couches had soaked up most o' the water and this was the reason the damage wasn't much worse....the bad....the couches had soaked up most o' the water and were now just two big soggy not-so-white shabby not-so-chic sponges. it was when i tried to yank myself outta the big ol' shabby sponge that i realized i had hurt my back sometime durin' all my frantic action.

the cause o' the perilous indoor precipitation: seems the guys we have been payin' to come four times a year to maintain the air conditioners weren't doin' what they were supposed to and somethin' they shoulda' been cleanin' out each time appeared to have NEVER cleaned and therefore created the flood.

and this my friends, is the reason for my recent bloggin' hiatus and why i haven't yet fullfilled my promise to blog up some o' the blooms that grew outta my last adventure in puttin' on the rit. but here is a pile o' flowers, created while i once again spent too much time on the mend. i miss the blogdom durin' the times my calamities keep me away and do so appreciate that you never give up on me. i have promised my family i would try to be more careful but i probably won't...just know nothin' can keep me away for too long.

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happy birthday dear michael

yes...it's that time o' year again...june 17th...when i celebrate the birth of my dear brother way back on the same day i turned three. as i have blogged on this day previously, i was told he was my birthday present and i have adored him ever since.

so has everyone else who has ever met him. of course...how can you not fall in love with a blonde curly haired melt your heart toddler who grew into an adventurous boy - some days saddlin' up our horse dixie for his transport to school and other days pilotin' the same route via unicycle - school books tucked under one arm while wavin' at all his drive-by fans with the other...a handsome teenager and breaker of many girl's hearts, the only reprieve from their pain the few hours he played a starrin' role under friday night lights...a hard-workin' young man and then a loving father - early enough to beat everyone else in earnin' the title of grandparent to many lil boys who - like everyone else - adore him.

he and queenie - my much older sister - are in and out of my thoughts throughout each of my days and while i hate bein' so very far away from them, i am always comforted in knowin' that though i drive them crazy, both would fulfill just about any request i made of them.

happy happy birthday michael! it will be a huge sacrifice to my impeccable dietary standards, but in your honor i'm gonna eat a coupla' extra pieces o' my mini-made coconut birthday cake.

result o' the rit...

so here's a bit o' part two o' my recent adventures in puttin' on the rit. now on to part three...equally as fun. i will blog up some o' the finished product shortly!

adventures in dyin'...

i have always loved the idea of bein' able to change the color of material things from one color to another. unfortunately my first forays into the doin' o' dyin' only donated more digits onto that dire list o' momade calamities.

my first dumb dye job was when i was but a teen livin' at home with a mother, who took pride in her crisp white nursin' uniforms and a father who liked his undershirt, boxers 'n socks to also be white (yet not crisp). unfortunately, of the options offered up on the back o' the box o' rit, i chose the washin' machine one to dye a pale pink poncho the most scarlet o' scarlets to wear to a party planned for plottin' the prom. once the old washer had done it's dyin', i threw the newly dyed item in the dryer...then, bein' that the laundry was on my list o' daily assignments, i dumped in the next round o' dirty duds, added a dab o' detergent 'n then danced away, anxious for the dryer to do it's tumblin'. i had been so busy dreamin' up all the creative things rit 'n i could do together, i forgot all about makin' sure the old washer would not pass on any remainin' scarlet to it's next inhabitants.

and pass it on that old washer did indeed do. my mothers caretakin' costumes 'n my dad's undergarments were as pink as my poncho had previously been. the possibilities o' punishments paradin' before me created a panic that made me pained 'n pale....the first penalty bein' that i would not be wearin' my previously pink poncho to the party as planned.

i swore to never dabble in dyin' again after that first most dangerous deed. but years later, as a lowly sorority pledge, i was designated the duty o' dyin' costumes brown for a skit to be performed durin' rush week. havin' learned a hard lesson about machine dyin, i decided i'd do 'em all up in a big ol' pot in the dorm kitchen which was situated on the same floor but on the opposite side o' the buildin'. i drug all the dresses down the long newly carpeted corriders and dutifully stirred the huge pot for the recommended time. once they were all the correct shade o' brown, i rinsed 'n wrung 'em all out in the sink and headed for the laundry room - which was right next to my room. it wasn't 'til i had those dresses in the dryer 'n departed the laundry room that i discovered the dark brown drippin' dye that marked my path from the kitchen to the laundry room.

after two dyin' calamities, i took a lifetime anti-rit oath that i planned to keep. but after a duo o' decades, the desire to dye took hold o' me once again. this time, bein' a homeownin' adult, i reasoned that i had no one to answer to for any damage i could possibly do. bein' frightened o' both the machine 'n the boilin' pot methods, i decided to create a method o' my own. i just line up the gallon mason jars in the old porcelain doo dad den tub, dump in the powdered rit 'n add hot water then do a lil stirrin'. i then deposit the items i desire dyed 'n leave 'em in til they are the dreamed about color, do the wringin' n' rinsin' there on the spot, then hang 'em from the towel rack. i keep the same jars goin' 'til they're just about empty 'n then just replenish 'em. when not in dyin' mode, the tub has always come perfectly clean 'n the only calamity has been a lil white dog gettin' a few purple spots on her head.

so far the rewards o' returnin' to the rit have been worth risk. here's a shot o' my current batch - ribbons 'n bits o' this 'n that determined to become a flurry o' flowers.

mini's chapeau panier de Pâques

i had meant to post up the easter basket i made for mini much sooner...but i have been so tired all i've wanted to do if i had a spare moment is sleep. this is quite unusual for me as i tend to avoid sleepin' as much as possible - it always seems like such a waste o' time. i wish i could be like mini's daddy - at any point he can take a nap for a mere 20 minutes and is completely refreshed and ready to get goin' again. if i ever attempt to nap i wake all discobubilated and feel creepy for the rest o' the day.

enough about the zzzzzzzzs though....here is the shot o' mini's chapeau panier de Pâques......an easter basket made out of a hat.

the hat i used once belonged to her great great - possibly one more great belongs in there - aunt francine. i was even able to dig up a photo of her wearin' the very chapeau!

i chose this exact chapeau as it was the most cloche o' my cloche collection and therefore had the most area to fill. even so, i ended up havin' to set this hat basket in the basket mini has used for the bunny to deposit his goods every year o' her life as i needed a bit more fillin' room.

if you have a pretty hat you wanna turn into an easter basket next year, it is oh so very simple....i just twisted up a length o' muslin and then twirled wire 'round it until it would hold the desired handle shape....then wrapped it with satin ribbon, leavin' a bit extra on each end. i then used my second favorite tool - the hot glue gun - to attach it to the hat and once the glue was no longer hot, used the extra ribbon on both ends to make the points where it was attached nice 'n tidy. i lined my chapeau panier de Pâques with matchin' satin but it would have been fine without it.

hmmmm.....you know....maybe it's all that sugar i ate while tryin' to have just the perfect amount to fill mini's basket - i didn't want any to go to waste - that's makin' me so sleepy. i'll ponder that while i doze off here for a bit.....thanks for stoppin' by!

wisteria hysteria

been busy in the garden 'n snapped a few shots so i could show off my wisteria. it seems to be doin' fine even though i forgot to add it's favorite snack (superbloom) at all this year. i only have two planted - one original to the house (which makes it almost 100 years old) and the other i only planted three years ago. the old one makes it's way down one side o' the property 'n the new one went in a direction completely different than i planned but i'm pleased it did....it jumped a walkway, rode the top o' a brick wall and is now makin' it's way toward the rooftop of the north side o' the house.

now...back out to see if i can get the hydrangeas to join in the bloomin' easter parade. thanks for stoppin' by!

mini's marvelous minty morsels

i love brownies and it may be 'cause i was born in bangor, maine where supposedly the delicious chocolate treat was invented accidently.

my mom told me that a bangor housewife named betina brown baked a chocolate cake for her husband benjamin brown's brother bob's birthday. seems betina botched up somethin' while bakin' and her plans for a beautiful birthday bundt failed. instead she had something much denser 'n flatter than a cake but taller 'n less cripsy than a cookie.

since benjamin would be bringin' the birthday boy, his brother bob, to their abode before she ould bake another bundt, betina decided to go on and ice the flat cake, cut it into squares 'n serve 'em up on a platter with a big candle pokin' out from the one on top.

betina's accident was a huge success with bob 'n bejamin 'n from that point on betina's 'brownie' was what all members o' the brown family requested for their birthday treat. in no time the betina's brownie started appearin' at everything from birthdays to barmitvahs across the country and quickly became a traditional american desired dessert.

though i am not sure who invented them, i also love junior mints ....mostly eaten in the dark o' a movie theatre but mini's daddy always jams a couple o' boxes in my christmas stockin' so i like eatin' 'em surrounded by ripped up wrappin' paper piles too.

always aimin' to bribe me with her bakin' talents n' aware of my love of chocolate brownies 'n junior mints, mini started bakin' me what she called junior mint brownies not long after her bakin' carreer began. she'd stir up a box o' her favorite brownie mix in two pans and once right outta the oven, she'd dumb boxes o' junior mints on top o' one and then place the layer from the other pan on top, wait just a few minutes for a lil meltin' to take place and then put the whole shabang in the fridge. the result was so delicious she was banned from bakin' them too often.

over the years she has perfected her minty brownie recipe and it is too good not to share with you. it's perfect for all celebrations as the minty layer can be made any color with a bit o' food colorin'.

for the brownies:
use your favorite brownie recipe or even bake up a batch from a box. the ones i like best are dense and fudgy. mini uses her cream cheese brownie recipe most often and you can find oodles o' those online. mini lines her brownie pans with foil - one piece arcoss the bottom n' up the sides one way n' another piece the other way. she then pops 'em in a preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until the brownies start to pull away from the sides n' the edges just begin to brown. if you poke a toothpick in the center it will come out just about clean. when all that happens, she takes 'em outta the oven n' puts the pan on a wire rack to cool. they will stay in the pan until they are ready to cut n' serve.

once you've baked the batch o' brownies, it's time to concoct the marvelous minty layer:
you're gonna need....
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup of confectioners (powdered) sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract or 1-2 tablespoons creme de menthe
your choice o' food colorin'

dump everything but the food colorin' of your choice into a bowl....with an electric mixer , beat all the ingredients until smooth. NOW a few drops of food coloring n' swirl around 'til you are happy with the result. if the frosting is too thick, add a little extra cream - it needs to be just thick but thin enough to spread...now spread it evenly over your COOLED brownie layer and put in the refrigerator until firm...this should take about 10 minutes...just enough time for you to make the glaze!

the chocolate glaze:
for the glorious glaze you'll need...
4 oz Semisweet Chocolate
1/4 cup Heavy Cream

this time you'll need a heatproof bowl...dump your chopped chocolate 'n butter in it and melt 'em over pan of simmerin' water n' the whisk until creamy smooth...then spread it over the minty layered brownies and refrigerate for another 30 minutes.

and finally...they are ready to serve!
to remove the brownies from the pan, just lift ends of the foil and transfer the whole shabang to a cutting board. cut into lil squares with your sharpest knife, wipin' the blade with a damp cloth between cuts. if you don't eat them all within the hour, you can store them in the fridge or even freeze 'em. but be aware that freezin' 'em won't keep you from eatin' 'em...i have tried that thinkin' it would make it harder for me to gobble them down...but they are just as easy to eat frozen!

if you bake up a batch o' these delicious desserts, please take a picture n' send it to me along with how long it took for them to disappear! and if you are new to my blog n' like chocolate chip cookies, please give mini's recipe a try....you can find it here!