february freebie



well, we're now into february.
and that's a good thing because it's technically the last month of winter.
and winter can't end soon enough.
in celebration of winter ending, i would like to give this little vase away.
it's a vase made by yours truly and it's the perfect size for holding little spring flowers.
that will be coming soon.
very soon.

please leave a comment and a random name will be drawn.
drawing will end on february 15th.



how about some blue sky?
and some sunshine?
and how about a light breeze that blows your laundry hanging on the line?
and when you bring them in at the end of the day, they smell so amazing.
like fresh air and open space.
and hopefully a bird hasn't pooped on 'em.
but then you get to wash them again
and hang them out to dry
against a blue sky
and some sunshine.

you are loved



these " i am loved" buttons bring a lot of happiness to the older folks i work with.
I've been giving them out for a few years now.
they have been a service that's been provided by helzberg jewelers since 1967.
they are produced in every language and they are free for the giving.

learn about them here and remind the ones you love that they're loved.

a diagram of mr. ntm's happiness

see my guy?
he's happy.
he's very, very happy.
and why?
because he's in his man cave.
let us take a look at why he's so happy, shall we?



i've taken the liberty to number the happy things to make it easier for you to follow along.
1. the stogie. disgusting. but he loves them. even with all my nagging about throat and mouth cancer, the big guy can't get enough of them. gross.
2. coffee. lots and lots of coffee.
3. even though the dogs have peed on this couch a thousand times, he still adores his couch. and he can watch all kinds of passers by from this perch. another perk.
4. fly fishing bench. next to me, (possibly me anyway), fly fishing is his greatest love.
5. his sauna. he likes to sweat. why? i don't know.
6. a handmade ash tray that the p.b. kid made for him. he adores it.



close ups of the evidence in case you couldn't see them too well.



i love him, but he's not kissing me with those cigar lips.



everyone should have a mermaid brush.
or a hibiscus brush

i like the white mermaid, but i'm not sure about the boob coverage.
they look dirty.
like she rubbed an ashtray all over her chest.
plus it looks totally lacking in the support category.
and i need all the support i can get.

which would you choose?



wonderful LMN honored me with this award and i am so appreciative and thank her from the bottom of my bloggy heart. she is that rare mix of intelligence, sensitivity, artful eye and zest for life. and i promise the next time i am in seattle, we are going to cafe ladro and sitting down for a couple or three hours of non-stop talking and then we are going to walk the city with cameras in hand and we're going to take lots and lots of pictures.
and we're going to laugh.
a lot.
i give her this award as well.


heidi who is so terrific and insightful was already awarded this. can i award her as well?

and i pass this award on to the following who i also adore:

all i ever wanted creative, so very funny, interesting, worldly and wise.

blue hearts so smart and so talented. she amazes me as she weaves a story that is interesting, sophisticated and intelligent.

rambling mommy a wonderful woman doing an amazing job of raising children and staying true to herself.

the one little one she literally leaps off the page with her amazing creative energy and zest for life. so adorable.

random blessings and curses my dear friend tracy who is so very clever and whom i love.

self-portrait tuesday

in
january's challenge is "album covers"




i am woman:

since having my surgery
therefore i am underpaid
on the verge of a nervous breakdown

i couldn't pick just one, so how about you make some suggestions or choose one for me?

when i was a teenager, helen reddy's anthem
was the single most important song for all of us of the female persuasion.
even men wished they were women after hearing that song.
well...maybe some of them anyway.
so hear me roar
in numbers too big to ignore.

grr.

i'm very serious

in




so you see.

so serious that i will look at you with interest.
seriously look at your camera
wondering what it does.
i'll seriously wonder who you are
and why you're interested in me
because i'm just not sure of you.

but one thing is for certain
i'm very serious
so you see.





a couple of years ago, i made one of these for the p.b. kid and i've been wanting one for myself ever since.
i finally got over myself and made one.
it's a quick project and easily made.
i painted this frame with two different acrylic paint colors- sienna and turquoise.
then rubbed a lot of the paint off with a rag to make the paint uneven.
the flowers and letters are just stick ons.
the screen is stapled into the inside of the frame.

now i can actually find my earrings.
it's a miracle.

snow puffs



kind of like cocoa puffs, minus the chocolate.

we actually got a dusting of snow this week.
and the entire town shut down.
it was 2 inches of snow afterall.

that's how we roll down here in the south.
please don't laugh too hard....
we don't have no learning how to drive in snow.
or snow plows.
like we need them....

but we do have much exuberance for this wintery guest.
there's even stupid people like me that go out into it and take pictures of it.

so humor us.

in






cheerful, cheery, delighted, doing handsprings, ecstatic, effervescent, elated, enraptured, expansive, flipping, flying, high, joyous, jubilant, lighthearted, merry, overjoyed, popping, rapturous, satisfied, sunny, transported, upbeat

it's what i need to remember that life is made up of these days.
especially when i have experienced 9 deaths in the last 3 weeks at my workplace.
9 souls gone.

i need some cheerful.



when i walk
i listen more closely
to the earth
because it's when she seems to speak more clearly

when i walk
i listen more closely
to myself
because it's when i seem to hear more clearly



May the Lord bless you
and keep you.
May God's face
shine upon you and
be gracious unto you.

May God give you the grace
never to sell yourself short;
grace to risk something big
for something good;
grace to remember that the
world is now too dangerous
for anything but truth and
too small for anything but love.

So, may God take your minds
and think through them;
may God take your lips
and speak through them;
may God take your hearts
and set them on fire.

Amen.


William Sloane Coffin
adapted by H. Stephen Shoemaker

for us all
on this historic day

and every day.