plastered Drama Queen wears plated gold cards

Heh. Now that I have your attention *gigglez*.



I so meant to have this and the next couple entries written on Sunday and scheduled like I'd done the week before. For the life of me I can't remember what side tracked me so badly. Maybe I need to bump the "sorta unplugged" day to Sunday and leave it as the day of rest that it's meant to be. I do know that the Comcast outage on Tuesday (nearly all. damned. day) didn't help matters in getting my blogging done.... nope not at all. Well that and last Friday's side trip which triggered a minor case of depression (where the HELL did all that time go??)....that didn't help matters either.

Monday was my day to purposefully and willfully ignore all things 'net for several hours. It's unbelieveable how long the day seems when one unplugs somewhat and just goes to find other things to do for the day. Below you'll see a pic of some of the pieces I've been working on. I know Jeannie was wanting to see them in their "rough", half-way done state. I took this picture sometime last week. I've since finished these pieces and started a new project. No, I won't be posting a picture of it in any stage until it's finished, shipped and maybe sometime after it's been received. As you can see, they don't exactly look anything like what the finished product will be like. I gotta touch up a couple of the pieces because something got on them when they were outside drying (I spray them with a matte finishing spray when I'm done. It's not enough to protect from the elements if the piece is outside, but it's enough to give the piece that "done" look ).

While we were out at WalMart this last week, I got another nail polish. I haven't decided if I like the color on me yet, but I do LOVE the name of it! Drama Queen, how very appropriate! I'll try it again in a week or so and if I'm still not sure, I can send it to my GaSis. She's living with her sister and mom and the sister LOVES pink. This week's shade that got picked up is Crimson Pearl by CQ. I definitely like it better than the pink. If I think of it, I'll post a picture of the color gracing my nails. It's much nicer than the block of color they have on their site.

While we were out on Saturday, we stopped in the local pawn shop and I saw this beautiful ring. I won't be able to wear it that often because it's not pure gold, but with a little coating of clear nail polish I should be able to get some decent wear out of it. It was sitting in the case with a $49.95 tag on it and I only had $20 with me so I was all set to put it back because I wasn't carrying my bank card that day. When my hubby says that if I want it, I can have it (waits as several of my readers say that I'm extremely spoiled) and he whips out his wallet (yes, I am, but I don't ask for jewelry that often so when I ask, I generally get what I want). So the clerk rings it up and the total with tax comes up as LESS than the display price. Seems that to make the sale, he knocked almost $10 off the price. WHOOT!

Oh! And I think it was Saturday that I got a couple pieces of "good mail". First was a package from Dorkys from over at Dry As Toast. YAY!! It was my goodies from that Pay it Forward type giveaway that she did awhile back (ya know, the same thingy that failed miserably over here with only 2 of my friends participating even though it's a really EASY contest to do...*sighs*). She sent me a hand painted postcard with a lovely note on the back, 3 handmade cards with blank interiors and envelopes to go with them as well as a nice book that I'd won from another give away she'd done. As suggested on her note, I handed the book to hubby and told him it was all for him. *giggles* Now I KNOW that the blank cards are meant to be used, however I think I have something else in mind for them.

The very same day, I had a small envelope show up from Jeannie. *gigglin* Sorry, I just thought of my poor hubby who gives a very valiant attempt at pronouncing her last name. He botches it everytime. Anyhow, the envelope had a lovely, handmade anniversary card in it. Thank you so very much. I do believe I have at least 3 Jeannie originals in my possession now.... no wait, I think there's 4 of them. Yeah, I'm spoiled. Go ahead and say it sweetheart. You know you wanna.

cleaning out, new acquisitions,classy slippers

I saw a few comments about the crafts in the last entry. I didn't bother answering any of them via email because I knew I was covering it in this next entry.

So one day about a week ago or so, I got tired of seeing the over filled baskets in the hall closest. They were put in there to make life easier for us instead of having all this little stuff scattered in there. The system seems to work well, except when we get lazy and just toss stuff in...which is most of the time. *laffz* Anyhow, I got it cleaned up and had to re-adjust what got put with what other items. At one point, my items only took up one basket. Thanks to my mom (and a great sale at Bath and Body Works) my stuff now takes 2+ baskets. Oh my! You see, mom used to work for Gottchalk's and was forever getting samples from the girls at the perfume counters to send off to me. If that wasn't enough, she'd send perfume sets for Christmas. Some of you remember that I'd mentioned getting the same set two years in a row. You can see them in the above photo...one's still in its box. Anyhow, she's telling me that she's looking to get into a different industry and not stay in retail so I'm hoping this is the last of the perfume because as it stands, with as often as I wear it, I have YEARS worth of scents in those baskets! If she ends up in retail again, I may send her the picture and just write "Please, for the love of God, NO MORE!" *laffin* I may do it anyhow just to get a laugh out of her.

This little beauty I found in the local Salvation Army store. If the matching piece had been in better condition, I would have bought it too. I figured it was a great deal at $4.99 as something like that runs nearly $10 or more brand new in the department stores. That piece next to it is a dolly my mom had sent me for Christmas. The kitty will look better with some of the other "girls" but I don't have them unpacked yet. I'm hoping to get a nice lighted case one of these days so I can get them displayed properly. As it stands right now, there isn't enough room for them to come out of their boxes yet. Besides, I don't want to unpack them to simply have to pack them back up in a few months. I reminded hubby about our choices again today regarding the living arrangement we're in but I don't think he was overly receptive to that kind of conversation yet. All I got was an "I know" but no details. Men!


A few weeks back, hubby called me from work and let me know that his friend had just come back from vacation and had very generously bought all his friends a bit of beach front property. Wow. Ok, maybe a time share? That would be cool. Get outta the house for a weekend and put the camera through its paces. Then I noticed a couple days later the item below sitting on the DVD case under the thermostat:
Ok, quit ya groaning. Don't you dare tell me you didn't see THAT one coming from a mile off!

The last picture is for punkn Deanna. These are the leopard "they're classy cuz I say they are" slippers I mentioned in an earlier entry. They're my favs to wear around the house. If I could wear them out to every place else, I would. Could ya see me popping into Olive Garden wearing these?
Had a follow-up appt with the allergy dr today to discuss how the treatment is going. She's said that it seems like those that have the roughest time with the build-up shots (like I've been having) tend to have better results in the long run and the serum helps. That's good to hear. We're hoping to get me off the expensive daily pill and have me down to just the OTC meds and possibly just the one spray during peak season. That would be awesome. Good news though...all this hard work for my weight is paying off. No, I didn't get weighed...but I did have my bp checked. I came in with a beautiful 115/60 (normally I'm a 120/80 or 118/78 or so). Yeah, I'm stoked.

After the appt, we went shopping a bit. Stopped in to Burlington Coat Factory because their window advertised a HUGE clearance sale. Gosh that store's gotten rough looking. I don't remember shopping in one of them before with it looking so rough. Ahh well. Found a nice pair of jeans that fit but would feel nicer with a couple more pounds gone. Definitely NOT "that time" jeans. They don't have the stretch that my usual pairs have but I was pleased to see the 22W fit anyhow (especially after the 24W I tried on before it wouldn't even snap!). God bless the Gloria Vanderbilt lines! Best bet? The original tag price was $21.98 (which makes me suspect it was a first mark down price and they'd been much higher at one point) and the mark down price on the tag now? $9.99. Yep. A bit over $10 and I have a nice pair of jeans. Women's sizes NEVER come that cheap. I may have to pop in again another day and give a proper look around.

Went to AC Moore because I needed to replace some of my brushes. I walked out with only 3 new spotters (brushes are expensive...*sigh*) but that's ok. It'll do. I have a few more items I want to pick up but since they didn't have the canvas sizes I wanted, I didn't bother getting the rest of the supplies for the projects in mind. JoAnn's is less than a half mile from the townhouse and in easy walking distance so I'll just wait until a coupon shows up in the paper and get the stuff later. I'm in no hurry to do those projects yet anyhow. I still have plasters to paint. I have about 10 pieces that I just finished the other day. All that they need is the felt glued to the bottom so I think I'll do that tomorrow. Or maybe Monday.... I really need to consider an internet free day during the week so I can concentrate on my crafting. It might be a Sunday or Monday. I haven't decided yet which day. I do know it needs to be a day when the hubby isn't around to pester me.

Afterwards we went to Best Buy and I drooled over the toy I've been wanting. Some of you might remember that I'd mentioned it sometime before this past Christmas but never got it (if I had you KNOW I would have blogged about it). I just didn't see spending nearly $200 on an item I can get via Amazon for $150 (and if I get it during one of those no shipping costs if you spend x amount...that'd be great!). If I get the smaller one, I can get it for around $85 on Amazon. Not a bad deal, but not something I can justify after spending over $30 on Amazon already this last week.

I met a couple neat bloggers the last couple days or so and would like to welcome them to my corner of the web. Feel free to wander around all the blogs that seldom get maintained. There's plenty for everyone here. While I was checking out their sites, I found a couple that I really like and have added them to my blog roll. There's another game I may just end up playing one of these days ...actually 2 new games. With one of them I'm thinking of adding a twist to it. Maybe adding these games will inspire me to at least post a bit more often.

I think I close this for now. I have one more entry that's in draft form right now (read: the pictures are loaded, I just gotta write about 'em) that I expect to drop either tomorrow or the next day. There's yet another sitting in my email inbox and there are a few more pix in the camera to upload...I got some new nail polishes. You should SEE the shade I'm sporting today (and no it's not Adam Lambert blue!).

pt5: Acknowledging the town in general

The Sunday we were in hub's hometown was a special day. It was gramma's birthday so there was going to be another visit to her place later. The day started like every other day there....another breakfast at Hardee's. Is it any wonder I refuse to eat at that restaurant at any other time? I'd mentioned to hubby a couple times on the trip up that I'd like to take a walk through the town and grab some shots. There were a couple really beautiful stone houses in town that I wanted a better look at and we simply could NOT do that from a vehicle. Top things all off I wanted a shot of the one particular church (it has BEAUTIFUL stonework). So when he and I were done eating, we didn't wait on the parents to finish up. He stood up and announced that he and I were going for a walk (I needed the alone time at this point) and we'd meet them back at the house. It was only a half mile walk and since it wasn't overly hot yet, it seemed like a great idea. The only problem with the walk is that it has 2 rather steep inclines. Ah well. At this point, I'd been off my bike for 3 days and really needed to stretch the legs out some. The first incline was about 10 yards or so. Not bad, but considering that I'm about 100 pounds too heavy still...well I was puffin a bit getting to the top. At the top is the main corner in town. In this first picture on the left, we're looking down Old Knoxville Rd. The stone building on the right is the church and the brown 3 story building to the back and left is the Claiborne County Medical Center. No, this isn't the same building that is shown in some of the other pictures I've taken. We visit this particular building every other trip or so because a couple of the relatives of neighbors he grew up with are living there now. This last trip we didn't visit so I can be sure he'll be making time to stop over the next time. The last time he visited, he went with his dad instead of taking me. I was fine with that because if I say that visits to gramma's are rough...these are much worse.
This picture to the right is looking down Main Street. The Post Office is the brick building on the left and the one on the right just past the speed limit sign is the Claiborne Progress, the local newspaper. The church mentioned in the former paragraph is across the street from the newspaper office and off frame in this shot. Across the street from the P.O. and next to the newspaper office is a memorial area. I'll be talking about it a bit later in the entry. Congratulations, with the last two pictures you've pretty much seen Hubby's Hometown USA. You think I'm kidding? This is a blink and miss it town. There are only few more blocks in either direction that count as the town proper.
Here's a shot of the church that I was talking about. It's located on the corner of Old Knoxville Rd and Main. I love the stone work, it's so beautiful. There are 2 other houses that are made in the same type of stonework, as is the rectory next door to the church. I think the next trip in, I'll see about getting a few more of the exterior shots. I'd really like to see if I can get a few without all the ummm technological advances around it. Pulling up the full sized shot I can see there's some stained glass windows so you know for sure we'll be seeing some shots of that as well as maybe the doorway. I've told hubby that's the goal and with any luck he'll remember. He should, he usually remembers stuff that I don't (like how I really adored this set of porcelain dollies on a swing when we were in a certain shop in Texas and what would come home to me for my birthday but that very set).
This next shot was taken a bit farther in the walk, however since I made two stops at the memorial I'm just going to pair the shots taken there together. This shot is of the marker stone for the James Weir House. A shame that the lot is nothing but weeds at this point. I gather that since it's a location of historical interest, they can't do anything with the plot at this point? It still would be nice if some up keep was done (mowing) at least. Supposedly the house has been restored to its former glory. I'll have to see about making sure it's on the itinerary the next time around. Or at least a drive-by for some exterior shots.

This next set of pictures were taken at the Claiborne County Roll Call of Honor area. There is the requisite listing of military residents that were lost and which war they were lost in. The base of the monument says "May the haunting sound of the bugler's taps echo forever in honor of these. Our heroic dead." Looking at the bigger shots in the Flickr account, I see a name that more than likely is family. I'll have to try and remember to ask about it.

Off to the right side of the memorial area is an armored personnel carrier with a plaque bolted to it that gives the stats of the vehicle. In front of the monument there are 4 cement benches (2 on either side of the walkway leading up to it) that were donated by the local banks. The brick walkway leading to the monument has 3 stone markers that were donated by the various veteran groups in Claiborne County (one being the American Legion). To the left of the monument, in its own little space, is a smaller monument commemorating the residents that were lost in the line of duty on the home-front. Right now the only names on the marble monument are ones from the department of safety (sheriffs, a state trooper and a police lieutenant). Facing the smaller memorial is a matching marble bench. For the life of me, I couldn't get a decent shot of it (aka...a shot without me reflected in it and I tried at TWO different times of the day hoping the difference in lighting would help!). Engraved upon this bench is "To all those who serve and protect us each and every day". I've got a closer shot of the soldier boot, helmet and gun over in the photostream.
The last real stop in our walk was at the marker for the Tazewell Presbyterian Church. Other than the information on the marker, I can't seem to find more than someone else's blog entry about some dealings they had with this location. Anyhow, in the picture you see a strange cement post to the right of the marker. That is all that remains of the church.... an old hitching post. You can see that unlike the plot over near the James Wier House location, this one has been well cared for. Why, you may ask? Well because in the distance there, just before you get to the trees is a landing pad for the Lifestar helicoptor which is used to airlift victims from accidents to the nearby hospitals.

Wrapping up this entry is a view of the house we normally don't see when on foot. A view looking up the hill at the house, from the other side of The Tree. I have a note on the picture in the link to show you were we were approximately. It's a beautiful location, but to be honest...I really miss the internet while I'm there. *winkz*

the trip, pt2

When we pulled in on that Friday night, I saw the most beautiful flowers in mom's "garden". I don't ever recall seeing them before although I'm sure they've been there every time we visit in the warmer months. Anyhow, I suspect that I noticed it now simply because there was a lesson to be learned. What was the lesson? Well, all this time I've been trying to learn the "don't sweat the small stuff" lesson and it was time to add the "pay attention to the little things" part. So the weekend, for the most part, for me was "Pay attention to the little things, just don't sweat them". Because of this lesson (as well as the macro, foliage and zoom settings on my new camera), I got some pix that I normally wouldn't have even tried for (and in one case, normally would have run away from, but that's a story for another day). This particular bloom was on its way out and was quite dead around the edges. You can see another bud that had already gone past expiration. None of the others were bloomed out and it actually made me look forward to waking up the next day there to see if one of the other colors would be opened up for me to capture with my camera.

His mother has this partial rock garden. Actually, I should say that it's a majority rock garden. It's about 85% rocks and some plants. I always thought the purpose of a rock garden was to be all stone? Ah well. There is this interesting corner piece to it, however. I don't know if the tree had originated there and simply been cut down and dug up, or if the wood piece was brought in from elsewhere, but it makes for an interesting shelf for one of the pieces. The guy on the top (as well as a couple of the others) made me think of several of my friends.......
Here's a close-up of the guy up top. Any guesses as to which readers I thought of when I saw him? The monkeys at the base made me think of my GaSis. I had a closer picture of them but it was blurry so I pitched it. I do have other shots of some of the other pieces in my Flickr account. Feel free to pop over and take a look if you care to. I'll be adding more to the TN folder in the next few days. I'm trying to do it a bit at a time so I still have time to do other stuff around here. Well that and the fact I want this to stay fun and not feel like a major chore. While in the pix files, feel free to take your time as I went into details on a few other pictures there.
This guy to the right is a new addition to the family. He's supposed to be the nephew's dog but this guy actually lives at "paw-paw's" house (sissy doesn't want it at her house as she doesn't like dogs and isn't home most of the day anyhow). The pooch's name is Skynyrd, named for that southern rock band. The nephew insists on calling him Snoopy. I found out the dog will answer to pretty much anything so long as it's said with love and results in a good pat on the head. He's 10 months old and is a pretty good size right now. I don't think he'll get too much bigger though.
This is one of the pictures I was mentioning before that will have more details in the Flickr account. Do you recognize the one tree on the left? It's the big one that I clicked back in December. I'm not seeing an entry with the other picture though so I'm not entirely certain I shared it in Blogger or not. I'm not seeing it here but I know for sure I shared it in my Photobucket account. The next tree I don't believe I got a shot of before but I clicked a couple similar trees that trip.
It reminds me a bit of a bonsai tree with the way some of the branches are on it. The only thing it needed is a bit of twisting and contorting. I kinda like the simplicity of this picture. In trying to get the entire height, I couldn't get much more in the frame with it. Maybe it's a good thing, eh? The next day's worth of pictures, I think I got a shot of grandmother's trees while we were out this time too. I'm not certain right now as I'm downstairs on the laptop and the balance of the pictures are on the main computer upstairs right now. It's highly possible it's in the next set of photos. Then again, the next set might be the pix I snapped while we were walking home that one day. Yeah, hubby knew I needed some away time ;).
Anyhow, on this day hubby saw some rather oddly shaped white things in the lawn. There's a distance shot in the Flickr. When he approached, he noticed that they were these HUGE mushrooms (ew). The picture to the left is one next to his foot for a size comparison. They were quite large. *gets up for a sec to check size of hub's slippers* Ok, his slippers are an 11-12 so I'm guessing his shoe is a 10.5 or so. When he realized what it was, he asked to borrow the camera (not "can I have the camera"..."may I borrow" was actually used....Why? Because this camera I bought with MY money so it is definitely MINE. Ok ok...the money was from my account but it was more than likely from funds donated by him. Sheeesh. Picky picky y'all!).
I was so happy to find out, upon rising the next morning, that my hopes that the other blossoms would have bloomed by the next day had, indeed, done just that. The most GORGEOUS reds and yellows ever. Considering that yellows aren't my "thing"....that comment is really kinda telling. This one to the right (again, turned by Blogger against my wishes) is my absolute FAVORITE of the group. Actually, it's my fave of the whole trip I think. It's not a cropping of the other picture of the yellow blooms, this one is SFTC.

dontcha just love the timing of things?

Oh how I love the timing of things. Iggy knows exactly what Im talking about as we've talked about it before via email. How a topic will come up in the Blogs or chat and next thing I know....they show up in a picture or the comics somewhere else on the web within a day or so. The latest one was brought up in Chicagolady's July 22nd entry regarding the bird variety as well as Kaylee’s fish variety . Well today while reading the edjumikashunalz I came across the following :
Girl: So you see Mr Bee, this is Ikebana. The art of Japanese flower arranging.
Bee: Hmmm
Girl: The flowers are arranged in an aesthetic tone, according to which way each flower will seem the most happy. They do seem happy, neh?
Bee: Woof!
Girl: ?
Bee: they may seem happy to you, but to a bee, that's porn.

Now, I've heard of the birds and bees...but the fish? *shakes head*


The Seattle paper I look at daily (for the edjumikashunalz), has links off to the right with pictures attached. Many times it'll be the weeks amazing animals or modeling in Europe or even star sightings. Well the other day, while perusing the day's pictures, I saw one that brought a couple entries to mind. The first being Chicagolady's entry of July 19th and the other being from out of iggy’s blog . What was the picture? Why this of course:


According to Seattlepi.com , they are "Sculptures of people performing Tai Chi are displayed at Peking University in Beijing, China. A total of 600 sculptures have been placed on the campus to usher in the Olympic Games. Peking University Gymnasium is the table tennis venue for the 2008 Beijing Olympics." So long as Angelina Jolie isnt in town doing a Tomb Raider convention, they should be safe.


These are only two of the more recent occurances of this happening to me. There's another story of this happening with my SIL (I swear if that one lady in the comics gets preggers again I'll cry because it means another niece or nephew is coming along). Now I know I cant POSSIBLY be the ONLY one that this has happened to. Feel free to use my comment section to share your experiences with this odd phenomenon. While you're at it answer this, do these events happen due to some really wonky cosmic timing OR is it simply that they were there all along and we've noticed them simply because we've been discussing them (aka: the iggy OCHA effect)?