happy birthday missy tracy!!

today is my good friend tracy's birthday so i thought i would throw up the birthday greetin i put together for her with her sally jean presents poke right in the middle. if you ever have a chance to get to know this birthday girl, take the time to do so cause she is one very special person...hard for me to imagine a kinder soul or bigger hearted missy around. on top of all that, she's mighty talented too! so here's to you sweet tracy....haphaphappy birthday! i look forward to sharin many more with you in the years to come!

better late than frenzied

i was a lil worried today when mini's daddy said he was disappointed in my recent bloggin...i was afraid he hadn't taken too kindly to me tryin to sell him off. but seems he hadn't visited in the last coupl'a days and was referrin to me neglectin to doin any braggin blog about my fancy mother's day present....so here it is. maybe now when he does see i was tryin to sell him he won't feel so bad.

i guess i didn't brag blog cause i had felt so guilty. see - i thought mother's day was the sunday before and had worked myself up into a frenzy thinkin they had plum forgotten it was the day of the year to shower me with gifts, praise and love for bein so devoted to em both. i must admit i had some unkind thoughts about my family thinkin they were gonna let my special day come and go with nary one pile of gifts bein plopped before my feet. boy did i feel foolish for wastin such a good frenzy when i found out i had jumped the gun! i'm just glad i never admitted to either of em that i had done so...i'm afraid the result might've been me not gettin such good treatment when the day actually arrived!

anyway, here is me and my latest reward for bein such a good mother...okay...maybe a moderately successful mother but aimin all the time for good and just not always hittin the mark exactly as i planned. i'd love to give you a bit of a product review but that'll have to wait cause i'm still tryin to figure out exactly how to work the thing...i can tell you that i had hoped for what my pro-fessional photographer friends said was the best camera i could get...i just never guessed i would also be gifted with the heaviest! but i'm not complainin - my arm muscles can always use a bit o tonin!

sorry to be so late in sendin out the greetin but better late than frenzied.....i hope you all had a wonderful mother's day too...whether you got the day right or not!

hate to disappoint all you jo fans but it's just me - mo. jo is havin her weekly coffee klatch with the neighborhood gardeners. it's usually over by this time o the mornin but today they were gonna do a craft project...i think she decided to show em how to poke a hole in a plastic flamingo so that a potted plant could be crammed in the openin.

i was well into a bit o bloggin about some thoughts i have had lately about mini mo's daddy when i noticed my site was down again.....so i had to stop the bloggin and contact the server people to try to find out what was goin on. for some reason this has been happenin more and more often lately and each time i contact em i am a bit more frustrated.

back when i was in the need of a server the one i ended up with was rated as one of the most reliable. not havin much experience with em at the time - well, actually none whatsoever - i ended up just lettin mini's daddy make the choice for me and for the most part, until the past month or so, i have never had to give them much thought.

but with the recent problems i have been forced to pay a bit more attention. in doin so, i happened to look closer at the original info they sent so long ago and noticed somethin i should have seen before. the first batch o info they sent, tryin to get me to choose them for my servin needs, featured real pretty blonde women with headsets on smilin with big white teeth as they pretended to be servin up the servin service. BUT the pictures that showed up AFTER i signed up and sent in my money were of a completely different sort....all the women were dark haired, dressed in brocade sari type things and a couple of em even had some sort of sequin lookin decoration stuck right smack dab in the middle of the foreheads. hmmmm...maybe this is the reason that almost every time i contact em via their 24 hour round the clock chatty help desk that they are so proud of, to get help, i end up feelin like i am speakin a completely different language than those who are supposed to be able to help me.

since i have now used up all my bloggin time chattin with the almost unchattable and have to leave for my least favorite place in the world - the dentist - but have vowed to do a lil bloggin almost every day, i am forced set aside my previous planned bloggin and blog to you instead with my un-chat with the company i have trusted to make sure moland is always open, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.....

here is how our chat went just a bit ago.....

You are now chatting with 'Saimi Kirani'
Saimi Kirani: Hello, This is Saimi, at your service. How may i help you ?

mo: could you please tell me why the server is down yet again? mojackson.com

Saimi Kirani: please hold on .

Saimi Kirani: Let me check it.

after a reeeeaaallly long time....

mo: yooo hooo....are you there? it is back up now i think...but can you find out for me why this has been happenin so often? i keep asking and am gettin no answers.

Saimi Kirani: Some maintenance work is going on. Sorry, for the inconvenience.

mo: hmmmm...that is always what i am told when we meet this way and have these lil chats...is it typical to have to do maintenance every day, sometimes numerous times a day? is the equipment that rickety and fragile...that a few lil doo dads movin to and fro could create such a need for constant maintainin?

Saimi Kirani: It will be resolved shortly.

mo: well...as i said... i think it is resolved now....this go round.

Saimi Kirani: see....it be resolved shortly.

mo: but why does this happen so often...at least once a day? i really need to know. i filed many a work ticket about this and have gotten no reply.

Saimi Kirani: Our admin guys are working on it to put it in uptime all the days.

mo: what does that mean...uptime all the days? and why do they have to work on it to 'put it in uptime all the days'? shouldn't that be the normal state of things?

Saimi Kirani: They are fixing the problems as soon as possible.

mo: yes...i understand that...but why are there so many problems?

Saimi Kirani: It will be resolved shortly.

mo: you are not answering my question...i want to know why this happens day after day after day.....

Saimi Kirani: If complaint comes, they are immediately looking on it.

mo: are you sayin they only 'looking' on it when there is a complaint? what if i don't complain...does nothin get done then?

Saimi Kirani: ok.

mo:..can you get some answers for me?

Saimi Kirani: maybe place ticket for work

mo: i keep placin work tickets to no avail. what else do i need to do to get some help?

Saimi Kirani: ok.

mo: does that mean...'ok'....do you mean 'yes' - you can help get some answers for me...i do not understand what you mean by 'ok'...i am asking a question that would not be answered by the word 'ok'.

Saimi Kirani: ok.

mo: ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Saimi Kirani: ok.

mo: i get the feelin you can't understand what i am sayin.....

Saimi Kiranin: ok.

mo: please...i am beggin you....stop sayin ok....i need some help - i can't keep my doo dads at a place where they aren't bein taken proper care of.

Saimi Kirani: I will take this issue to our superiors.

mo: and when can i expect someone to get in touch with me with some sort of answer?

Saimi Kirani: ok

mo: in other words....you cannot help me?

Saimi Kirani: ok

mo: well... i must go now....i am wastin the time i should be usin to find a better home for my doo dads cause you aren't doin a very good job of carin for em.

Saimi Kirani: ok

some original art

if you want some really fabulous artwork to hang on your walls, there's no need to go to some fancy smancy gallery or spend doodles of dollars....just keep a stack o six by six squares of bristol board and an bin of art supplies handy and ask everyone who walks in the door to draw a self portrait of themselves. at first they'll say...no i don't have time i am not an artist i can't draw a straight line with a ruler....you know - all those things people say when confronted with the possibility of havin to be creative. but you can talk em into it in a nano second...'specially after you gotcherself about six or so hanging in a lil temporary spot and see how incredible they look when smooshed together. once you get really goin with this lil project you'll be hooked for sure and won't ever take no for an answer!

but let's say you have the snooty sort o friends stoppin by on a daily basis that aren't gonna wanna join in the fun? well...don't fret cause there's lots of other ways to get this art going. like...next time you have a birthday party, have all the invitees draw a self portrait or everybody do up some art of the guest o honor. a couple o years in a row i even had each child at mini's school do a self-portrait and then i scanned em & put em all together in a poster that was sold for one o those fund raisin affairs they seem to be always havin. of course, my all time favorites are the ones mini has drawn depictin her version of me durin her life - these are the ones i used to make the quilt i blogged about just about a year ago.

if you like this idea you're gonna be delighted with all the ways you'll end up wantin to use this original art. i have printed big pieces o fabric with it, repeatin it over and over, as well as printed it out to use as gift wrap paper and envelopes and have even decoupaged bits of em on boxes and furniture. if nothin else, at least get your family members to do one up of themselves and the way they see everyone else in your family about once a year and then just put em away until later. when the day comes that you pull em all out, you're gonna be beside yourself with joy that you took on this assignment. and...it's never too late to start!

some late signs o spring from jo

hi there...it's me again...jo....i can't believe it's the middle of may already. i promised to be back sooner than this, but ever since i was made deputy mayor of moland my life has gotten almost as excitin as mayor mo's! right after mo got back in the saddle i was out in the yard rearranging my garden gnomes & flamingos when dirk showed up, swept me off my feet, and drove me clear to vegas. (i was thinkin all along how i shoulda grabbed my white pumps, just in case he popped the question.) as it turns out, i wouldn't have needed them, and i'm thinkin i'd prefer a nice little low heeled sandal anyway.

dirk drove straight to that fancy tattoo parlor in the casino and had us browsin the samples for matchin tattoos. i didn't have the heart to tell him that i'd already pledged my first tattoo - well, my first in years - to the molandian mostock tattoo, so i had to create a bit of a diversion....it worked cause after security let everyone back in the building, we had to head off for the monster truck and motorcycle show and he forgot all about the matchin tattoo idea. have you ever noticed that if you wanna see a good show, seems you always gotta cross a state line? anyway, it was one fun getaway and i was secretly relieved that he didn't propose as i look much better in white once i get my summer tan and with cleavage.

that reminds me... when i got back i was tryin to do a little spring cleaning in the airstream and you will never guess what i found... my april pages! i know we're almost half way through the year already, but i'm hopin you don't mind me being a bit late with my signs of spring. i've got a lot of decluttering to do, but mo won't let me throw anything out because she gets some of her best inspiration from the stuff that appears outta nowhere here in the airstream. so i'm boxing things up and storin them in her basement. she doesn't usually go down there - the rat and tracy squirrel have made her a bit timid of both the attic and the basement these days - but if she gets desperate enough for some second hand smoke enhanced ephemera, she'll go and root around till she finds it.

i'll try and come back sooner with something a little more current. i grabbed a disposable camera at walgreen's in vegas, so maybe my may layout will be about my trip. there's just so much goin on around here in the spring and early summer that it's hard to get over here to the blog every day....but look for mo to appear shortly and more regularly now that we're thinkin all the recent diseases have come and gone....she has quite a few things stored up to spew forth in her more politically correct way. but if you long to see more o me, leave some more o those comments tellin mo to let me keep the extra set o keys to the blog...she might not always listen to me but she will have to listen to you!

lots o love,
the pretty cousin