What is it we know, you may ask yourself? Well we now know exactly how long it is between when I feel good enough to blog and do a few other small things in my life, and when I tackles everything head-on again after a major surgery! *laugh*
As evidenced by my recent disappearance from the blog, I've been exceedingly active as of late. This coming weekend is Barataria Faire, Springfield's very own pirate and fairy festival. I have to finish my costume, I'm impatiently awaiting the delivery of some of my components, I'm trying to get out of sewing as much as I can manage, and since the great data loss a few months ago, I've also been completely reworking my product labels! *pant pant*
But that's not all! Oh no, of course not! I still have to make a new batch of every product I sell, adfter, that is, I say, AFTER! I find my danged recipe book! *pulls out hair*
And I have to get a whole lot more volunteers to paint on before the event so that I can make a paint example book that will be not only worthy of the event, but also worthy of my artistry. These next few days are going to be a TON of fun, let me tell ya!
Actually, they will be. I've been having a blast creating the little finishing touches for our costumes, and I'm planning a sew & show party for Wednesday. I finally found both my canera and the charger for it's battery, so the photos are coming as quickly as I can find models willing to be immortalized in my paint book. Three down, about 40 to go! LOL
And of course, everyone is welcome to attend Barataria Faire The tickets and attractions are inexpensive, and it's going to be a fabulously fun time! Bring yourself, bring the kids, and come frolic with the faeries and pirates in the first Barataria Faire ever, on the square, in Springfield, MO! *grin*
Wish me luck!
Monday, August 02, 2010
And Now We know
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
The Radish Sprouts Anew
Where:
818 College Street
A Couple of blocks west of Grant Street on College
(Look for the familiar Radish sandwich board open sign)
When:
The Radish Infoshop will officially re-open at their new location on April 1st, 2008.
Yes, it's true! A cute little pale-green house on College street is soon to free the best radical lending library in this area from storage, and our big 'ole activist hearts from their slumber.
Everything we loved about the old radish, and nothing we didn't, with lots of new ideas and projects. A place to not only organize, but also to activate, and be active. Improving the community, one yard and one heart at a time, to make a better world, the new Radish currently has the following things in the works;
Provide free food, at least once week, along the lines of Food Not Bombs or the Burrito Project, hopefully in alliance with Project Brown Bag.
Produce organically grown heirloom food, that we have grown ourselves with the most effective methods of limited space urban gardening, and share it with the community.
Provide free clothing and fabric, 24/7, a more efficient Radish Free Store and sewing station for fashion altering and re-creation.
Create a “safe space” for children, so rad families can network, create, learn, and grow as a community with the help of structured (and de-structured) children's activities and family fun time.
Stop by and bring your creativity and willingness to pitch in. There are a lot of opportunities to help, and ideas are always welcome. The plans are evolving as the word is being passed about the reopening, and the art gallery and kids' areas already look fabulous.
Map: Here [where: 818 W College, Springfield MO 65806-1804]
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Fin: Absinthe ~ Transform The Mind ~
Click image to make it huge for better detail viewing.The text says "Transform the mind" in Czech. I chose that language because the absinthe pictured is made from a centuries old Swiss recipe in Czechoslovakia. I think it adds a lovely counterpoint to the image as a whole. (Technically, the translation says "tranform, transmute, change, and several other words that all mean basically the same thing.)
If you want to translate the words yourself from the original Czech, go here. The strange little r with the v on top is located in the drop-down menu that has the o in it.
Although I just found out about it just a couple of days ago, La Boheme UK Ltd. is holding this competition for its third year now. With over 50,000 people visiting OriginalAbsinthe.com and submitting their votes last year, it's popularity is growing rapidly.
I am hoping that the cartoonish style of the art (that is unlike anything anyone else submitted by far), along with the little details (the fairy version of the absinthe girl has less in her glass, some parts of the green fairy are in monochrome, the clear wings, the fact that the center swirl in the background image emminates from the tip of the absinthe bottle, etc) will kick up the opinion a few notches in the minds of the voters so that I can win. *grin*
So go check out the entries in this year's contest, and get your vote on!
The image with the highest percentage of "excellent" votes wins. Regardless of the total number of votes a person has, it is the percentage of top-ranking votes to voter total that makes a winner. One vote per visitor per image only.
The winning image wins a case of fine Czech absinthe, a chromium plated absinthe spoon and two traditional absinthe glasses, while the runner up will receive one 75cl bottle of Absinthe Original, an absinthe spoon and an absinthe T-shirt.
Me wants an absinthe spoon!
I don't know the exact style that will be given away, but every one of these types of specialty slotted spoons I've seen are just gorgeous works of art. The photo only shows four of the hundreds, maybe even thousands of designs that have been created over the centuries.
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Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Digital Imaginings
I am making a digital fairy from scratch to enter in a digital image contest. I have been at it for three days now, and tomorrow at 11:59pm is the entry cut off.
You can see part of the ongoing process to the left.
I love ya, but there's no time to type tonight, I gotta deadline to beat! *wink*
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Happy New Blogs!
In honor of the first day of 2008, I have gone public with two great new blogs for your enjoyment.
Bathroom Ramblings & Stallside Prose is a graffiti blog capturing and sharing the anonymous art and wit expressed in bathrooms around the world. As public project blog, you are invited to snap a photo of your favorite bits of wisdom or silliness with your digital camera or camera phone, and email them to me at the address listed on the blog's sidebar. What great fun we will have together!
Products & Places is a review blog of places and products I've experienced. Guaranteed to be blatantly honest, well balanced, and full of information. I will be accepting products to review, and there will be periodic giveaways. Regardless of the source of the product, I promise to remain loyal to my non-biased form of reporting and reviews. Location reviews are currently restricted to the Springfield, Missouri area, but this will change and grow by far when we finally get rolling in the new RV.
Happy New Year!
Technorati Tags: product reviews, place review, food, shopping bathroom graffiti, bathroom, toilet, graffiti, photo, humor, satire, new blog, blogging, blogger, blog, blogs Del.icio.us Tags: product reviews, place review, food, shopping bathroom graffiti, bathroom, toilet, graffiti, photo, humor, satire, new blog, blogging, blogger, blog, blogs
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Big Fun & Funny Hats
After getting only 4 hours of sleep and not getting an email back from the terribly overworked parade coordinator within the exceedingly short (and did I mention busy?) week before the event, I decided to do what I always do. I packed up my supplies, dropped in at the event when it was first starting, had an impromptu chat with the folks helping to set up the square, and asked if I could donate my time by adding my talent to the festivities.
As it happens most times, I was allowed to set up and start painting. *grin* Life is good.
My mom dropped us off with three of our wheeled carts to get the supplies wherever we may go after it was over. In fear of the coming storm, she was heading over to her mother's and was not going to be able to pick us up from work and take us back to somewhere warm.
There was a clowning troupe, with an adorable clownkid, at the parade there for the first time ever, as well as a balloon twister, and it was just grand to have them to perform with.
Since I was donating my time, I took tips and implemented my new business model of taking photos of nearly all of my paintings to post over on the business face painting blog for all the parents to grab for their memories. See, I decided that since a lot of parents forget their cameras when they head to an event, I aught to add a little value to the face painting experience. Everyone loves having a little something to remember their fun by, and a photo of their paint is the best way I can make that happen.
That paint I tried a while back? I'm really glad I didn't switch, because it rained off and on all day long, and there would have been an awful lot of unhappy kids yesterday if I had. Well, I might not like how that other stuff works, or it's staying power, but I did get one benefit out of trying it. Through learning how to use the other stuff, I learned how to sponge paint and blend with my regular paints. I now have a whole new world of possibilities open to me, and the new designs really show the difference.
I was the best in the area before, and now I've become even better!
Of course, all of the photos I take are copyrighted, and the only people authorized to take them from the site are the parents of the kids. To go see what I've been up to, you can take a trip over there and have a look. *smile*
For a design I've never done before, I get a signed waiver/permission slip from the parents so that I can add the design to my book and website permanently.
The reason I was up so late the night before a big event, you may ask? Last minute prep, like always. *chuckle* No matter how much we get done, there is something more to do, and this year it was finishing up the new themed design book for all winter holiday festivals, and building my hat.
I've started making specialty hats to put my dreads up into for events these days. It adds to the festive atmosphere, makes people smile, and draws a lot of attention to the booth. It started this past Halloween when my fabulous paperboard *CoughTrafficConeCough* designer witchy hat got me on television during the report on the MSU homecoming tailgate party. (I have yet to show you that one, sorry.) It has now become an obsession, and the creative spirit drives me onward to more fun styles. This most recent holiday hat is a Yule tree surrounded with gifts, including not only wrapped packages of various shapes and sizes, but also a teddy bear and a shiny new bicycle with a blue bow. It doubles as home decor when I'm not performing with my brushes.
We stayed late to paint up the last stragglers after the parade ended, as we often do, then packed up everything on the carts to take home. After stopping in at a local coffee shop for a creamy cup of hot cocoa to take the edge off the cold, we rolled our carts to Keeb's mom's place, about 1/2 mile away, through the thick fog.
Yesterday was a lot of fun, but I sure was tired when we arrived at our destination.
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Friday, November 23, 2007
Feeling a Bit of Affluenza
I went against it all, and looked at the Black Friday sales ads for the first time in my life. But I looked online, in order to save both time and paper from the ads I never care to keep, so that makes it better, right? *sheepish grin*
It is amusing to see what folks wake up at 3am for these days, whereas I simply haven't been to bed yet 'cause our visit with friends was so great, we stayed WAY too long. *chuckle* First showing of a new a movie I can understand standing in line for several hours for, but the vague possibility of a random goody at half-off if you are one of the first 100 people at the door? Nah, I can wait for the other loss-leader sales that happen at other times throughout they year.
If I'm desperate for a particular item, I have learned that I can likely buy online, without leaving the house, days before the sales start in the stores, possibly even having it in my grubby little hands with free two-day shipping several days before everyone else has a chance at it. Not that we have the cash to pull that off this year, but still, it's nice to know we could if we wanted to, had the money, and actually needed something that was going to be some sort of amazing, once-in-a-lifetime kind of deal.
Not likely though, everything that goes on sale today is some sort of frivolous non-necessity. I know, I looked. *wink*
There's lots of stuff we'd just love to have, if we suffered from Affluenza, and lived like what seems like 90% of the American public. But throwing ourselves deep into hawk to get pretty little possessions that will just weigh us down so we can look cool and have the neatest new gadgets, isn't how we like to live.
We'll spend this Buy Nothing Day the same way we always do. At home, with family, spending time together; laughing, singing, and eating leftovers. For one day a year, we consume nothing except for utilities and leftover food. "cept this year, I'll also be making phone calls around to apartments, always on the hunt.
May you have a joyous and loving anti-consumerist holiday.
Happy Buy Nothing Day!
I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.
*"Protest Turkey" was completely hand-drawn with a mini optical mouse in Paint Shop Pro 11/06. "Protest Turkey" is about 7x8 inches and took 30 minutes from start to finish.
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Saturday, June 02, 2007
One Two Three Dip
I am seriously burnt out on Gather. My feet and legs are swollen from sitting all day, every day for a week and only getting up to eat and well, you know. *blush* I haven't checked my email in days, and it has only been by sheer force of will that I have managed to blog at all.
See how I love you.
It was a lot of fun, and I managed to gain a lot of valuable points, but I think Gather may have pulled a fast one on us, and not given us triple points after all, because I bet if I posted like that and wrote with such devotion all the time, I'd get 2,000 points or so in a week every week. Maybe that's just me thinking big though. *shrug* Perhaps some other time when I am feeling excessively motivated, I will attempt an experiment to prove or disprove my theory.
I hurt all over. Today was Gather Appreciation Day, and everyone was encouraged to make a star their icon for the day. In response, I made stars for a couple of people and myself and uploaded them before we went shopping.
Today was paycheck day.
I haven't paid any of the bills and already I am exhausted. But I have sandals! And the tools to finish making our swimming pool fully functional, as well as the rest of the ingredients to make the rooftop garden easier to water, more fishlings for the pond, and of course the obligatory purchases that usually happen at the first of each month.
The pond is now completely full with 100% pure rainwater, and the feeder pond (the one that actually catches the rain and waterfalls it into the big catchment pond with the fish in it) will likely be full by morning. The baby bunnies are due any day now, and everything on the homestead seems to be going just fine, with only the sort of glitches that are average for this sort of venture. *smile*
I will try to get a bit of rest this weekend, and after I get my email taken care of, I will likely avoid the computer entirely for most of day for the next few days. Monday shall be busy again completing the first-of-the-month-waltz.
I am waiting on two small gift cards from home depot, as I have another raised bed to build and plant. *grin*
There is always more to be done.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Making Organic Dirt & Natural Gardening Tips
Seems nearly everyone is having a shortage of good, organic dirt these days. I have been hearing from a lot of my gardening friends about how this spring they will be needing to purchase quite a bit of organic dirt, but I have found a solution! You can make your own healthy soil pretty easily by tossing some cardboard in the bottom of a container (or straight on the ground where you plan to plant), Then add manure, top with leaves, then sand or vermiculite, some kitchen waste, straw, more manure, more sand or vermiculite, more leaves, and repeating until full. It takes a bit to get great soil out of it (more of a start-in-the-fall type project), but I've done this with dirt in place of about half the manure & leaves in spring with good results. For regular ground instead of containers, forgoe the cardboard in spring projects and instead opt for two layers of newspaper as the first layer. If you don't have a lot of kitchen scraps (we don't), you can contact your local grocer, and they will likely save their out-of-date produce for you if they know you are going to use it for compost or feeding animals, as it saves them on their trash bill while helping the enviornment. Most stores will jump at the opportunity. Manure can be acheived free at most horse stables and cattle ranches, Leaves are free by the pre-packaged bag-full at area yard waste drop-off facilities, Shredded newspaper or peat moss can be used in place of leaves if necessary, and dirty straw can be found by contacting stables and animal shelters. I still have to buy sand or vermiculite, but that is only because I am in the Ozarks, and there aren't a lot of great resources around here for those. Warning: This soil will be high in nitrogen if created in the spring, and you may need to add some rock-based mineral ammendments to create the precise mix you want and lower the nitrogen content if desired. Then again, you might want some other ammendments anyway, depending on your prefrences. --------- As an added soil bonus, some people like to sprinkle water absorbing polymers to their manure layer to increase water absorptopn and decrease the need for extra wateringin containers and during the hottest months. --------- Newspaper spread over the top of your ground or container dirt after planting acts as a water-preserving mulch and also keeps most weeds from disturbing your gardening joy. --------- Last year's holey hose works great (enlist the kids to poke lots more holes) as a drip irrigation system when strewn around the base of your plants. --------- Get your repellants ready now! Mix baking soda, cornmeal, roughly ground eggshells, and grits in equal parts, and keep it in a dry spot for sprinkling lightly under your plants to deter most fungi, cutworms, slugs, snails, and ants. Should require only 1-3 applications all season. Make a gallon of spray by making a tea of 20 teaspoons ground red pepper and a gallon of water. After straining, add 10 teaspoons of organic natural castille soap and mix thoroughly. Pour your mix into a spray container and mist your plants weekly or after each rain (tomatos may require more frequent spraying). Be sure to get underneath the leaves with each application. The hot pepper repells most plant eating animals and some insects, while the soap eats away the protective oils from other insects like ants & aphids. For extra light in low-light areas and additional bug deterrant under your plant's leaves, place some aluminum foil, shiny side up around the base of the plant. --------- If your neighborhood has a problem with Japanese Beetles, don't buy a trap for your yard, buy one for each of the neighbors down the street on either end from you. The traps send out a pheremone that attracts the beetles from as much as 5 miles away. Wouldn't you rather your neighbor had them going over there instead of coming to your yard? Bonus: The neighbor will think you are awefully nice to buy traps for them to help them fight the battle, and it really does help in controlling the neighborhood population. *grin* --------- Image above is "Totally Impromptu", a painting I created at a local drinking establishment, and my entry for this week's Illustration Friday.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Flamingo, Firebird, Phoenix: A Blended Origin
"Flamingo" measures about 8x10" and was created with Paint Shop Pro 6This past week's Illustration Friday really had me thinking, and I asked myself "How many folks out there know about the link between the fabled firebird and the majestic, but still quite mundane flamingo?". Then, during my Internet search for the story I heard on a nature show on flamingos many years ago, I discovered all sorts of interesting new tidbits to share. Thus, here we are again for another installment of "Random trivia with FrizZ". *chuckle* Enjoy!
Common to tropical or subtropical areas, the flamingo can be found in the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Africa, Europe and Asia, and is said by some to have been the origin of the phoenix myth.
Early tribal peoples watched the life cycle of the flamingo and interpreted it as best they could. The eggs laid on giant mounds of mud hatched to young birds who, several months after fledging, flew off to graze in alkaline lakes and sulfur springs closer to the source (hotter, higher mineral salts content), gaining vital nutrients for the completion of their growth. They would return to the main flock later, fully grown and brightly colored from their rich diet of shrimp and other small plant and animal life.
At heights of up to five feet, with bright red, pink, and black plumage, a wingspan of between 55 to 65 inches in some species, and a lifespan reaching upwards of 50 years, this was truly an awesome creature to behold and was likely considered near "immortal" in the eyes of early human-kind.
Looking at this from a primitive mindset, it is easy to see how a young bird going into the forbidden land of burning death and being seen again only when it has "risen' from the ashes", stronger than before could create the fantastic tale of the firebird.
Even the wisest of ancient cultures held this bird in high regard, as the word flamingo comes from the Latin word for flame, and the Egyptians revered the flamingo as the living embodiment of the sun god Ra. Romans considered flamingo tongue to be a delicacy to be served by the richest to their most important guests at special feasts.
On a more humorous note, Allen Weiss writes in Cabinet Magazine:Ingestion / How to Cook a Phoenix , which of course inspired me to research Roman recipes to create a dish as may have been served at such a dinner.
Baked Phoenix Tongues with Peacock Brain Sauce (Mock)
2 cups whole pine nuts
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup ground walnuts
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
3 teaspoons whole multicolored peppercorns
2lbs boneless skinless chicken breast,
4 eggs, beaten
2x2" piece of ginger, crushed
1 small, diced onion
1/4 cup chopped dried dates
1 tbsp chopped dried dates
1 2oz can flat fillets of anchovies in olive oil and salt
1 tsp black chestnut tea
750ml (0ne bottle) Merlot (spicy red wine)
3 tbsp white flour
Cut chicken breast into fine, thin slivers (tongues) and marinate in Merlot (reserve 1/2 cup for sauce) for 1 hour covered at room temperature. Combine nuts, 1/4 cup dates, white pepper, and eggs into a paste and spread onto the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish.
Strain oil off of anchovies and mash with a fork until they reach a paste-like consistency. Mix 4 teaspoons of the anchovy paste, onion, tea, 1 tbsp dates, and ginger in a small sauce pan with 1/2 cup Merlot (stolen from marinade), 1 cup water, and bring to a slow boil. When onions are translucent, add in flour and whisk continually until the sauce returns to a boil, then remove from heat to thicken, stirring occasionally. (sauce will be thick, and a grayish color, resembling brains)
Layer chicken breast slivers onto nut mixture and cover with sauce, and top with a sprinkling of whole peppercorns.
Bake uncovered at 350f for 55 minutes, remove from heat and let set 10 minutes to cool.
Steamed Roman Asparagus & Artichoke Hearts
2 Roma tomatoes
2 bunches fresh asparagus spears
1 16oz jar artichoke hearts
1 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp powdered milk
1/3 cup water
1 tsp corn starch
Steam asparagus spears until tender. Chop artichoke hearts finely, and dice tomatoes.
Combine olive oil and feta cheese in a small sauce pan and heat to medium, stirring constantly until blended. Add powdered milk, water, and corn starch and whisk constantly until boiling. Remove from heat, add artichoke and tomato, stir to cover, and spoon over asparagus spears.
Both dishes serve 9; the preferred number of attendees for a roman feast, in honor of the 9 muses.
Steamed Roman Asparagus & Artichoke Hearts, Baked Phoenix Tongues with Peacock Brain Sauce, grilled fococcia(sp?), and grape juice or sweet red grape wine combine to make truly exquisite Romanesque culinary experience.
Then again, if you rename the asparagus dish to something like steamed pixie spears & newt hearts with Puffapod petals and roman cheese, it could be rather Potteresque as well. *wink*Tags: fawkes Harry Potter phoenix flamingo fables fable tale story rowlings recipe flamingo tongue recipe roman recipe greek recipe ancient man puffapod potteresque potter recipe harry potter recipe egyptian ancient cultures egypt rome greece firebird fire bird tropical bird digital art photography food art fine dining rowling pine nuts red wine Merlot chicken peacock brain recipe peacock recipe peacock brain recipe asparagus artichoke peppercorn ginger feta chese olive oil date dates onion anchovies anchovy chestnut tea teachef tea chef white pepper almond walnut eggs egg
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Busy Mom's 102 Steps To Writing A Craft How To During the Holidays
"Frazzled" was created with an optical mouse in Paint Shop Pro 1) Set goal to do a tutorial for some craft during the holidays.
2) Decide what that craft is going to be.
3) Foolishly promise your readers said tutorial sometime in the next week.
4) Discover that you are loved beyond all reason as friends and family worldwide descend on your home both in person and via telephone for random visits.
5) Somehow make it out of the house for long enough to buy supplies.
6) Attend several festive events.
7) Acquire and wrap gifts.
8) Watch and record eldest child preforming in the local holiday parade.
9) Loose supplies in the jumble.
10) Rush around like mad looking for supplies.
11) Decorate house.
12) Try to return unwanted gifts to the store to get something the kids can use and enjoy, and fail miserably because some idiot wrote on the toy's box before giving it away.
13) Accidentally adopt a family for the holidays.
14) Take a bunch of pictures.
15) Buy supplies again, hide in a closet where they will be "safe".
16) Develop strong yearning to zap plethora of slow-moving last minute Walmart shoppers with cattle prod.
17) Discover that non-returnable items make great gifts for adopted family.
18) Switch out Camera memory in preparation for an event.
19) Accidentally leave camera at home, not getting any pictures of event.
20) Go to a Freecycle(TM) Free-For-All. Pick up more gifts.
21) Rush around shopping for food and gathering donated goodies for the adopted family.
22) Attend baking party to prepare goodies because broken oven still hasn't been replaced by landlord.
23) Spot someone leaving the scene of a crime and call 911 to report the sighting before the crime has been reported by the victims. (A person running full tilt down a road and looking repeatedly behind their shoulder with a fistful of cash can cause a body to do that, you see.)
24) Pick up and wrap more gifts.
25) Deliver holiday goodies to adopted family, spend 4 hours talking, baking baklava for them, and allowing the kids to learn horrid habits from their children.
26) Ban two exceedingly rude members from an online community group.
27) Eat and/or give away all of the cookies.
28) Frantically search house for "lost" craft things... again.
29) While tearing apart house in search (28), find gifts you hid several months ago. Wrap as quickly as possible.
30) Attend beautiful Solstice ceremony.
31) Have friend drop by for a food basket to tide him & his roommate over until his next paycheck.
32) Have different friend unexpectedly drop by to deliver a gift. Take opportunity to gift them and visit for a bit.
33) Have yet another different friend unexpectedly drop by to give gifts to the children as you are running late to leave the house.
34) Deliver some gifts at the last possible moment.
35) Pick up last minute gifts for kids at a friend's house, stay and talk for an hour.
36) Arrange for guitar lessons for eldest child for after the first of the year.
37) Go buy craft supplies one last time. Arrive at store 15 minutes before closing, walk in right after the paramedics, and get out just in time for the doors to be locked.
38) Get stuck at a friend's house for an hour while the children play.
39) Have panic attack because you need to bake more cookies, none of the crafts are done, dinner needs made before bed, and it's getting late.
40) Go back home just in time to do car repair, take laundry off the line and feed fish.
41) Yell at children to clean their room and get ready for bed the umpteenth time.
42) Give up on getting cutsie picture of kids helping with crafts.
43) Stop youngest child from whining and crying... again.
44) Order eldest child to stop being such a meanie-head to her sister.
45) Ponder making the crafts and waiting 'till next year to make the posts about them.
46) Swear to have all of the time-sensitive or seasonal posts done at LEAST a week in advance (preferably a month or more in advance) in the future.
47) Spend 2 hours trying to write a post summarizing the journey to crafting while being constantly interrupted by overexcited children obsessed with Santa's imminent arrival.
48) Bake more cookies.
49) Take strong headache pills.
50) Get into fight with spouse over who is more stressed.
51) Work long into the night desperately trying to finish the craft.
52) Take pictures as the craft progresses.
53) Set up craft as prettily as possible and photograph finished product.
54) Pass out from sheer exhaustion.
55) Awaken to mother banging on door for scheduled family holiday.
56) Put remaining cookies in oven.
57) Upload pictures to computer.
58) Watch children unload stockings.
59) Remove cookies from oven.
60) Edit pictures.
61) Upload pictures to internet server from computer.
62) Put turkey and duck in oven.
63) Start writing post.
64) Take pictures of children with craft as backdrop.
65) Open presents.
66) Find forgotten stocking stuffers in purse while looking for a marker.
67) Clean up present mess.
68) Give stocking goodies to kids when they aren't looking by tossing them randomly into present heaps to be found later.
69) Wash face, take more headache medicine.
70) Sing strange holiday music with family.
71) Curse Martha for making you think you can do this all by yourself. She has staff and a camera crew!
72) Receive instant message letting you know you are late to a friend's house.
73) Serve dinner to family. Late.
74) Prepare to leave the house in a rush, then realize that you are too late and too exhausted to drive reliably.
75) Cancel visit to friend's house.
76) Send man to buy soda for mixer.
77) Shuttle kids off to bed.
78) Pour a stiff drink and nurse it for an hour.
79) Pass out again, waking well after noon in a panic to try and finish up all of the numerous goals you had set for completion before the end of the year.
80) Spin like a top all day long finishing many things that needed done but were not goals or even near the top of the priority list.
81) Write more on tutorial, feel really bad about tardiness.
82) Get late night notification of family in need, arrange community sponsorship.
83) Spend all day gathering and delivering goodies.
84) Get interviewed on local news.
85) Watch self on news.
86) Have miniature birthday party for youngest child.
87) Visit Incredible Pizza and play games for a few hours.
88) Visit friend , get angry, throw fit, recover, write really flowery post to Internet group.
89) Notice youngest child breaking out in speckled blotches. Give Benadryl, blame MSG in Korean shrimp chips.
90) Discover everything (or most of it anyway) was a big silly miscommunication. Stop being angry.
91) Bake more cookies & baklava.
92) Pack eldest kid to leave town for relative visiting.
93) Prepare & pack baklava, ship kid off to biodad's for visitation.
94) Give up on thing I was angry about & shrug whenever asked about it. Forget to care about the entire situation any more except for random bursts of subtle fuming.
95) Complete another craft.
96) Finally get door completly repaired, get bonus of added deadbolt lock!
97) Have oven/stove removed at 3pm only to find out that the new one will be coming after noon the next day.
98) Take speckled youngest child to hospital to verify allergy rash suspicions. Let doctor prescribe a bunch of carp (spelled wrong on purpose) that you refuse to give to child. Don't say a word to DR. Continue feeding Benadryl.
99) Go shopping at grocery store and meet people who Dh hasn't seen in nearly 3 years. Have embarassing moment when he tells them his late wife passed and introduces you.
100) Take pictures of other craft and spotted child with her favorite birthday gift.
101) Post tutorial with deep apologies for late completion.
102) Completly forget about winter craft tutorials until next fall and repeat process.
Well, I may not have gotten done hardly any of the goals I had set to complete between Thanksgiving and New Year's, but I did get a lot done, and spread some joy around, and that's what really matters, right?. *grin*
Tags: frazzled holiday panic mom busy mom guide tutorial diy how to post blog blog tips advice satire comedy humor christmas yule holiday joy happiness surprise unexpected hives hospital no stove adopt a family help the needy assistance craft art party parties disorganized disorganization organization paint shop pro mouse drawn image digital camera free for all Freecycle(tm) baking party robbery crime theft cookies sibling rivalry homestead hanging laundry exhaustion holiday stress visiting friends resolve resolutions promise self martha stewart Incredible Pizza december birthday
