Bubble Gum

Color!

Silent treatment

I have been giving Haven Kimmel the silent treatment. I am so mad at her! I finished reading She Got Up Off the Couch and I felt stranded, left high and dry in the middle of Indiana's nowhere. No homemade bike or Herbal Essences Bug to take me home. How could she do that to me, especially after what Zippy's dad did to me? What about Lindy and her marriage? What about Lindy's babies? How will Zippy come of age as she deals with the challenges in her family life? Worst of all, how could Zippy just leave me like that? We were best friends and now Zippy is gone.

Ms. Kimmel, get off the couch! It has been three years since we last heard from Zippy. I need Zip. Get off the couch and write the next book.

Soda fountain

Look what I found!

They have 72 flavors of ice cream. I had to look at all of them before I could decide on Keebler Grasshopper cookie.

Naughty Rabbit

Dusk

A silhouette, of sorts. 

Retro Metro

Last week I went to the historic district of town and I happened to take a few pictures while I was there. I was supposed to go for real this week, but I had a really-sick-day. Hopefully next week.

Winter moss

A bit of green in the white world. I took this one for my photo class, but I don't know if I'll turn it in.

Overheard

Me: I'm Cranky!

Julie: So that's what this is.

Sleepy cat

There is at least one living being on this planet who is more sleepy than myself.

Zippy continues

I must share some more Zippy.

"My feet were freezing and I cursed myself (curses, curses, I said) for having an eye like a camera. I had just added something to the photo album of Things I Wished I'd Never Seen. This one could be cross-referenced under Not Sure What it Was."

This girl understands me.

Further on:

"So what was really scary? The day my sister got married and left home; that one still stung." [This is where I add: The day my other sister left town and moved to a bankrupt state which happens to be falling off into the ocean. This one still stings, too.]

Quirky dog

You may think she's cute. Or maybe you just aren't into small, white, cuddly dogs who assume everyone is their friend and wants to let you know it. Either way, she has a strange quirk. Snuggles does not like it when I giggle or cry in bed. At first sound, she'll try to dig her way under the pillows. One more peep from me, and its under the bed for her. In both cases, I try to reassure her that she's okay, but she still hides under the bed.

Lately I've been scaring her away more than usual. I can't help it! First there was A Girl Named Zippy, and now there is She Got Up Off the Couch (and other heroic acts from Mooreland, Indiana). I like to read just before I fall asleep, and my current reading makes me giggle out loud. I can't help but chuckle at Haven Kimmel's poignant candor and humor. I guess Snuggles just doesn't understand.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I occasionally cry myself to sleep. Maybe I could stop this habit, but I am learning it sometimes helps to just cry. What do you think Snuggles does? She bails. Under the bed she clandestinely crawls. No moral support from Pup Dog.

Frozen bee

I found this bee, frozen in the snow.

Creative inspiration

Diem Chau sculpts crayons. So cool!

Pictures found here.

Hello, flow chart.

To Do List

with check boxes

in the form of a CONCEPT MAP!

I love it!

You can, too.

Treats from 2009

Thinking about the past year, I have thought of several discoveries, per se, so I thought I would share a few.

iPhone Games: Oregon Trail. Scramble.
Diet Pomegranate 7 Up
Pomegranate Burt's Bees. Too bad this one went through the wash. My clothes, however, smelled very fruity afterward.
Embroidery.
Gardening love.
Netflix. Hulu.
More British films.
More books I love.

What else?

Winter birds

Cedar Wax Wings

I took these pictures from my bedroom window.

Tales from the Thrift . 4

I know of only two uses for wood crates with these dimensions.

1. Shipping a leg lamp. (It's a Major Award!)

2. Used by members of the mafia to dispose of dead bodies.

Buyer beware: I don't think leg lamps are made over six feet tall.

I rest my case.

More Zippy

I have to share.

This time Haven Kimmel writes about a "telepreacher" who shares "the Good News of Jesus Christ with the same energy and enthusiasm that doctors generally reserve for discussion of really bad hemorrhoids."

Later: "I was about to collapse on the couch in helpless surrender to my heathen fate. . ."

(See also "Chicken Love" post)

Chicken Love

I have met someone who understands Chicken Love. Actually, I am reading her memoir, which is almost the same thing as getting to Know someone. Her name is Haven Kimmel and the book is A Girl Named Zippy: Growing up small in Mooreland, Indiana. 


She starts a new section: "When it became completely impossible for me to live without a pet chicken. . ."

She and I would get along.

"Speckles was sitting on my shoulder, and if I made kissing sounds at her she turned and pecked me lightly on the lips. . . . Speckles and I loved each other. Dad never had to tell me to feed her - I couldn't wait to see her every day. In the mornings she hopped out of her box when she heard me coming, and did something like a tail-feather wag as I opened the pen door. . . . Other times she sat down, tucking her legs up underneath her and making little happy chicken sounds, the bird equivalent of a purring cat. "

If you think she and I are both crazy, you don't understand Chicken Love. You need to read her book and then you will begin to understand.

PS: I am a little bit crazy, just not when it comes to Chicken Love.

Birds the second

Christmas Miracle No. 1

Sunday, December 20th. I was getting ready to attend church. I was looking forward to that day's services because it was the Christmas program. The choir is good - as in they sing Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. This was not one to miss.

I happened to be nauseated, which is fairly typical. Then, like a 2 x 4 to the head, I hit the Point of No Return. For those of you who are not connoisseurs of nausea and vomiting, let me explain. The Point of No Return is the transition from nausea to inevitably-going-to-vomit. It is just something you know, and you pray for it to be over sooner than later.

So there I was, leaning over the toilet, ticked off that I would miss Christmas services. Mouth watering out-of-control, abdomen starting the beginnings of heaves, I pray "please no, please no." For some reason, despite my heathen ways, the Lord answered my prayer. I had reached the Point of No Return, yet I didn't puke. I was able to attend services and I considered this a Christmas miracle.

Reasons why my mom is cool

She let us take over her family room to build forts.

We also used to frequently raid the pantry to play "store."

How do you like my ankle socks with ruffles?

Happiness

My friend Becca is a creative genius. Here is her happiness project. (Please note my one second of fame).

happiness project from Becca Foster on Vimeo.

Naughty or Nice?

Santa said I've been nice.

Birds the first

Everything you ever hoped for.