Jellies, Giant. Waterworld 2.

Played with the Jellies from the Art Blog to see what a dark drawing would look like...this is quickly PhotoChopped. I also tried it with a large Sharpie and liked that outcome better...perhaps it was the fumes!

End of the road...

Driving is a time when the drone and monotony of the engine can give way to tears. Maybe it’s just ‘alone time’ when I have my thoughts to myself, or private time when I think too much. I remember my dad and think ‘life isn’t fair’; I think of my mom’s sadness which makes me sadder. If someone passing would see this river of tears, they’d probably call the Sheriff on the crazy lady sniveling down the road. I usually suck it up by the time I get where I’m going and force myself to think of the ‘here and now’.
So, on my way home from Manhattan, drudgerdly-low feelings began to converge…I recalled a year ago this Christmas week…reflecting on the excitement of a certain ‘crush’ and the thrilling feelings when he’d said, “I’ll call you before New Years!” Those simple words made me want to skip about like an enchanted teenager and despite that teeny taunting subconscious (“Yeah, right!”), I cradled that phone day and night. Yes, a delighted daze, you know, when your eyes shine nonstop in a bedazzled smile and joyous butterflies dance on your collarbones! A few days pass, then two more…. and the pleased smile is soon replaced by glitter tears while the butterflies trudge in your gut and low shoulders hunch in that downhill spiral…
Suck it up again…Oh such is life! You’d think one would know better by now!

Google Fishies

Courtesy of Bailey's printed fish I took from the Molokai blog, I created my own version of a "google".

Doll Babies; Yippee!

The computer is working again (thankfully!) and it also has a newer version of PhotoShop, so I had to do a quick experiment today after I broke the frozen clothes off of the clothesline...

So, for fun, here is Bailey and Terry with some filters and eye-emphasis!

If you view the image larger, their eyes are NOT clotted with black mascara...its just the Poster Edges doin' its job...

Bruised Shins, Surreal Men

I always appreciate it when I discover someone has actually LISTENED to me...I have a short-coming with men--it SEEMS like they listen to what you say but I have discovered years ago that they don't really HEAR anything or they hear some of it and prefer to tell themselves, 'f**k her...she's pretty timid...I'll get by with doing anything I want'; which, regardless whether I ever bring up a situation again or not, I can pleasantly (and darkly) hold a HELL OF A GRUDGE. Yes, I won't forget, and that means things that happened 30 years ago.

(It was funny, but at basketball last night, the young ref got off on a tangent about men--she'd had it up to HERE [motioning to her chin] and wasn't going to show interest in THEM again because THEY weren't worth it... I grinned at this--such bitterness in a cute 23 year old!)

Perhaps their heads are wrapped in sheets of imaginary sound-proof bubble-wrap....NO. That's just crap. I won't even try to make up excuses for them.

But my appreciation hasn't been mentioned yet!

Thank you, Google, for posting the birthday of a surreal artist today: Rene Magritte.

I was overjoyed when someone approached me (male, in fact: young enough that the typical errors made by his elderly male influences have yet not marred his tender young soul! ha!) and said, 'Ms. D! Did you see Google? It has that artist....Renny Magrit or however you say it...the one with no faces!" I was delighted that he remembered our discussion of several weeks ago and told him so.

(Although, had it been a little too thought-provoking to explain that the artist was said to 'hide' his painted faces behind painted objects because when he was a young boy he'd seen his mother's wet nightgown wrapped around her head as they pulled her drowned body from the water?? Or was telling this little tidbit of information the soul reason that the artist was vividly remembered??!! Hmmm.)

I made an a$$ of myself this morning by tripping completely over a small space heater--catching my shins hard and bowling (BOWLING-ha-Magritte!) myself over the top, flat as a pancake in the early morning dark after taking a shower and trying to find my glasses. Unfortunately I did not have a towel wrapped around my head as a blind excuse for this amazing gymnastical feat. Here is the asinine part: I did the exact same thing 1 hour later when I rushed back into the house to turn off a light. (sheepish look here)

By the time I got to work a couple minutes later, I could hardly move my head from side to side--so much for weeks of chiro visits; I efft up my shoulder/back good this time and told this little story of the 'stealthy killer spaceheater' to a (supposedly) concerned workmate when he asked me what was wrong...

How nice that someone cared!

Luckily I got a chiro appointment right after work. As I was leaving I was asked 'why I was going and how I'd messed up my neck?' BY THE SAME PERSON MENTIONED in the paragraph right above this one.

See what I mean???

A Small Addiction...

There are many little insignificant things that I find exciting and give me a thrill; things I see and want and need (not really!) ...unusual beads, lovely or dark graphics, bolts of fabric and scraps of material, sunny days, rusty objects, peeling paint, tropical plants.... .... ..... .... ..... .... fonts.
If I find a font site that has great diversity, I can spend HOURS scrolling around and clicking away and more hours unzipping them-- thus when I get ready to actually DESIGN an actual graphic for someone, it takes forever to choose the perfect one suited for a special project.
Dafont.com is one of my hunting grounds... I quickly inverted these and none-too-carefully wanded away any black. Of course I have to put it on some kind of texture... I have this obsession with GRUNGE...

1st Day of November...

Autumn and today you can wear shorts; last night some of the kids trick or treated barefoot! I always like this Fall pic...that night Bailey dressed as a butterfly, Tegan was Indiana Jones, and Brigham was obstinate.
HAPPY FALL!

(I hate fall.)

Bailey and Nate Wedding Pics

Photos out at The Clay's....will PhotoShop some of them soon....!

Music and Marshmallows

Last week, I heard more than once that a variety of people 'read my blog'. Yikes! I immediately thought that perhaps I should straighten up, but then what is the point?! I certainly can't express all this nonsense in public or social situations. This is my blog, so it must reflect some of 'me' or 'I'--'Inappropriate, Immature, and Insecure'!
But I did recall that a lot of the music that I had previously posted was pretty shocking and I really don't have a one-track mind, (although I WAS probably after the shock value), nor am so narrow-minded that I can't listen to other music genres...
As I was house sitting, I made an attempt to dust here and there (yes, it was a pathetic attempt--partly due to the fact that I am not a cleaner, and partly because I was really afraid of breaking anything in the house) and I happened to glance at a music CD. I immediately recognized the person on the cover as someone who was at the recent wedding. Someone's relative? There was more than one of his CD's. A few days later, I was out digging up plants and saw my first vehicle in days...imagine my surprise to discover that it was the same person...so I now have my first bluegrass CD ever, since he just so happened to have an extra in his trunk: Blue Flannel Friday.

Now that I am home again, I have spent the last 2 days making apricot pies (15 so far this year as opposed to 42, and I've given away 7) and was going to listen to music while I rolled out crust. I was rather confused when I couldn't find my CD player--god, I have Alzheimers already!, but Briggs had pilfered it and the UPS loaders have lain claim to it for early morning hours. This irritated me at first, but it probably makes 4:00am go by a little faster so I guess I can spare it.

As I write this, I have set out some marshmallows for the Fugitive. He is here now at 10:25; sometimes he shows up before dark. Paula and Brigham had set up a tent over the weekend and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows in the backyard on top of Brigham's new invention-- a forge. The raccoon camped out too and enjoyed raspberries and marshmallows, so he gets a couple every night for a treat... but if he has a sweet tooth there are plenty of apricots laying out in the yard. Go for it, cause I'm tired of all this fruit!

Dude Looks Like a Lady...

I ran back into Wamego tonight for the annual July 4^th Parade; It used to be at noon, but heat has changed the time to evening. After it was over, I grabbed my cop friend K and we went into Lincoln Street Station for 1 beverage. For some reason, the topic between us was about a somewhat prominent business person and how perhaps he should don rainbow suspenders. Then we decided that perhaps inventing yellow suspenders fashioned as ‘yellow brick roads’ + tiny rainbow appliqué’s should be his mode of dress…

This conversation led to the ‘pooper scoopers’ at the end of the parade, and how I’d come up with a quick costume for one of them: MM. I was asked on Monday to supply a wig and dress for one of my former students; he had to dress as a woman during the parade as part of his community service work! I didn’t ask what his crime had been; I was just tickled that this unobtrusive, quiet cowboy kid had to dress up and wear huge knockers! Tee hee! I just so happened to have a red wig hanging on my clothesline and a leopard print skirt and top with matching jewelry. (Yes, MM did wear this, but I shortened the skirt to make it look funnier.)

As we were making up a crock of crap about ‘rainbows’, a guy came over to our table to shake hands with K. I wasn’t quite sure what his name was (several months ago, he’d left his number at the gas station expecting me to call, which I didn’t cause I think he’s way younger), but I will call him R. Since my life always seems to be a series of coincidences, I thought it incredibly bizarre that the first thing he would say to us was …. ‘Hey, don’t want you two to think I’m gay or something, but I really want to dress up as a woman… ‘ I noticed that R’s hair was full of big bouncy curls now and he said he was growing it out so he could dye it blonder—did we know how he could look like a transvestite? (These are an extreme rarity in Wamego KS!)

K and I are giving each other looks—was this guy drunk or has he lost his mind??! We went along with it… but advised him he’d have to get rid of the facial hair. Turned out that R had no driver’s license anymore and wanted to dress as a woman so that he could drive and wouldn’t get stopped… Ha! Let’s just tell that right to a cop! K went so far as to tell R that he wouldn’t give him another ticket—but only if he’d blow him a kiss!

Still am not really sure whether this guy was pulling our chain or not… What a weird topic of conversation.

Holy Freakin' Cow!

I normally don't watch the 800m but this was the most awesome finish ever for this race; Oregon came up from nowhere and just did a 1,2,3 sweep--chaos!
Yahoo! Brig has had to compete against a guy that runs for Oregon now--Jared Huske from Topeka-- a kick-butt hurdler and extremely nice guy. Now I will have to be an Baylor and Oregon fan. And Wichita!
And one of Tegan's friends always runs the distance races at the Olympic Trials-- Amy Mortimer--her mom was his gifted teacher here in Wamego...
Boo hoo. How I miss this sport. I was supposed to go help in Missouri this summer for Region 8, but that was the wedding weekend...

Gasp,

Oh, Jeremy! Rats...I just broke my scissors clenching them so hard....

Perfect Timing

I've been sitting on the floor listening to the TV as I crochet an old-fashioned rag-rug; I decided to turn the channel finding the Olympic Trials...just in time to watch the 400m-- my favorite race. Sanya Richards just won and I believe she broke 50. But now my HERO is up: Jeremy Wariner! Awesome!
Good luck to Brett tomorrow too-- he throws javelin...and thank you for coming to Bailey's wedding!

A Somewhat Sad Sequence Involving Shears...!

Posters

I have quickly thrown together 9 posters to print today...thought maybe some relatives would enjoy them at the upcoming wedding...no great PhotoShop skills, but I think they'll be cute...SCROLL DOWN LOWER!

Thunderkiss '65

I have always LOVED this song...newest video version won't post though...which I like better...

'Words of Wisdom' I've learned through the years:

Do not mix Chlorox, Comet, and ammonia when cleaning a scrungy bathtub.

Do not swat your child on the fanny with a little stick. By the time they grow up, they'll tell everyone it was a two-by-four.

Double-check the door lock when using a public Johnie-on-the-Job.

Don't paint your child's bedroom pink for a surprise, just because YOU like it.

Never think you can taste ALL the types of premixed drinks from a liquor store in one night.

When writing a check at Walmart, hide the front, so whackos behind don't get your phone #.

If you run around the house in just a bra, make sure the front door is locked.

Don't cast your fishing pole while riding in a boat full of people if you haven't had practice.

When removing pantyhose, don't cry out “Oh no! My skin is coming off!” in front of young children.

Don't let your children walk by a street gutter after watching the movie “It”. And it goes without saying not to raspingly utter: “We ALL Float down Here!”

The none-too-deep thoughts of a Perceived Beotch.

I was riding in my boyfriend's red firebird my jr year when he looked over at me and said that I needed to smile...I must have shown confusion, because he tried to explain: that if I didn't have a smile, I looked like 'a bitch'. He wasn't being mean or anything...but I do remember being caught off guard and wanting further explanation; he proceeded to tell me that, in fact, lots of people that didn't even KNOW me thought I was a bitch if I didn't have the smile! I think I told him it wasn't physically possible to maintain that position 24/7 or something about frozen muscles, but I plastered a fake smile on my face (actually real—for some reason the whole afternoon became funny!) and then every time he looked over, I'd grin in a big cheezy manner! It became a joke, but I never forgot that statement...

Then about 10 yrs ago, a classmate (RC) told me that a work buddy of his (Dave) thought I was a real bitch. I was totally flabbergasted because I had no idea who Dave was. I must get to the bottom of this! RC was to find out why. And it all boiled down to the simple fact that Dave had waved at me and I didn't wave back. I still thought this was bizarre and it turned out that Dave's daughter was in my class, etc. I still couldn't picture Dave in my mind, nor do I hardly ever see anyone wave when I'm on the road. I just don't pay attention, the way I don't pay attention to what type of vehicle people drive. (Stop Meandering!)

BUT! I keep score at wrestling/basketball games and I had the perfect opportunity to discover just who Dave was since his daughter was on the team. There he was with his wife (whom I DID recognize) on the front row across the gym floor from me. There are only 2 of us at the scorers table....when Dave glanced our way, I grinned broadly and waved the BIGGEST WAVE EVER! I have never seen a person turn so ungodly red. (Nor a wife give a husband such a dirty look!) But it set a tone—and we've all been on friendly terms ever since.

I am so lucky that my town is the friendliest ever, having experienced younger days in a neighboring town known as “Gossip City USA”. Here, nearly everyone speaks, (and not for entertainment/backstabbing pleasure). You can't go for a walk without running into runners, walkers, strollers—everyone has to nod, talk, smile, or offer a sentence fragment or two... When I first moved here, I walked about 2 blocks and met such nice people—it has left a lasting impression. My daughter noticed immediately when she moved from KSU to KU—she suffered loneliness; everyone there was so unfriendly/untalkative. She hated the Lawrence community and their snootish atmosphere.

But back to 'smiles'...Just the act of nodding or smiling has promoted too many strange situations for me during the last couple years. I think I even told my cop friend that maybe I SHOULD pretend to be a real bitch. But I was raised to be polite and sometimes it's just second nature to nod or smile, but for Heaven's sake I really need to learn how to judge strangers first...
s'nuther blog topic....

Frown. Where's my truck?

Rats. I could not find a pic of my '64 Chevy. I wanted to look at it without going out in the dark to the garage--is that lazy or what!? And I couldn't find Bailey and Nate's antique red Scout either. I guess with the weather slowly getting warmer, I feel nostalgic about the klunker vehicles and am in the mood to drive--if it's not raining. But here is my '68 Jeepster--it's brown; the aqua is 'ShopChopped. I think I will transfer the battery this weekend and pour a little gas in the carburator--brrrmm brrrrmmm. (Please let it start!) I did find the kids' other vehicle-- the spruce-tip blue 'limousine'--what a ride!
Yeah. Found the truck pic which I will never forget: took 1 photo of Brigg for Christmas and he threw up--migraine.
Oh, I must add more thoughts...that little chicken lived with the kids their first summer in Hawaii. They traveled from beach to beach living in the station wagon--with the pet chicken, which was quite attached and had it's own basket to ride in. A couple months later, they were awakened on the beach by police--They had smelled an odd smell all night. It turned out that someone had been burning a body. They decided it was now time to get an apartment!, whereupon the chicken's new roosting spot became a blender on the kitchen counter.
That sounds pretty disjointed--Bailey, you tell it!

Regional T-Shirt

Gaaaw! Got a call yesterday to create a new t-shirt design quick, so I came up with this last night...so far the kids like it--don't know about the high schoolers. Thought I'd go grungy-retro this year...? I see I must make changes now that it's posted smaller...always amazing how things look from different perspectives.
Oh. That's a footprint, not a grenade!

Fairy Girl or Pretty in Pink

Added some transparent moth wings, colorized, etc...

Brigham...ssshh. Listen...

What do get when you put a Bee in front of an owl?
A BOWL. ha.

Click. Old computer collage of Bailey & Nate.