storm coming in

taken last night on the way home...

Ernesto seems to be hungry for BBQ
p.s. this is the place my dad wants to cater his funeral

I'm Bert and Ernie's long lost cousin....

evidently....

and what's up with my trememdous forehead?....at least I don't have the dracamoe...I'm thankful for the small things

Rotten Cats

This is Otis (left) and Spencer (right)....2 of the 3 cats currently living in our house....they're 6-ish....we've had them since they were 8 weeks old...they came from the Humane Society in Atlanta....we went to get A kitten and wound up with them both...the family that was fostering the pregnant mother said there was a 3rd kitten, a female, with a spinal cord injury who they didn't have with them or we would have wound up with the whole litter...

These 2 cats are about as rotten as it gets...Otis thinks he's a dog and will come when you call him...he's a terrible cleptomaniac and routinely steals lighters, pens, and paintbrushes....Spencer is extremely needy and would prefer to be held like a baby at all times....

Don't let this picture fool you though, this type of brotherly love usually comes right before a knock-down, drag-out fight that always results in one of their feelings getting hurt....

in my next life or so...I want to come back as a house cat

Illustration Friday - Run

Tex liked a fast little boat and the pink light of the morning sky when he was on the run.....smuggling those fake "Tickle Me Elmos" a few years back at Christmas, had opened doors Tex didn't know existed and now he'd developed a reputation as one of the boldest in the business...

This particular morning a hot shipment of Lego's was due to be dropped and the local 5-0 was waiting on Tex at the Lake George marina....

Luckily Tex had a tank full of gas and the motivation to make it to Ocala....

More Illustration Friday entries for Run - Here

micron pen and colored pencil with some photoshop color added for good measure

I've been practicing my grown-up impersonation

the last few days....working instead of blogging, contemplating a decent car for J, meeting deadlines, helping with the laundry....I knew those antibiotics were a bad idea for lots of reasons...

but there's a long weekend coming up and I every intention of doing nothing for as close to three days as possible...doing nothing and drinking beer of course...

Sunday Southern Gospel and Fair Talk

I've finally given in and signed up for youtube...just what I need another place to surf aimlessly...but look what I found...a great Vestal Goodman clip...the first minute or so is The Martins...a decent, tight-harmonies, kind of traditional gospel group...Vestal comes in at about 1:13 and just knocks out a classic rendition of "Rock of Ages"...since I brought them up last weekend...I thought the visual would be helpful if you weren't familiar and a nice flashback if you are...

now, this is just me babbling and it does sort of fit in directly with the Vestal Goodman stuff above...as for my Fair entries, I am deep into finishing the dragon...once I finish this post I'm going to try and finish painting the interior so I can start the paper mache...there's maybe a few weeks worth of work left on it...I registered a christmas ornament too...I've got a little gourd from last year I'll do something with....but after weeks of debate about entering a fine art category I went ahead and did it a few minutes ago....I have an idea for a drawing that came to me in a vision last night...LOL...I remembered that George Jones will be playing at the Fair this year...and his love and admiration for Vestal is well known...so what better thing to draw than a Vestal scene?....that's when I looked her up on youtube and found that video....somewhere in the last minute or so of that clip is a Fair worthy drawing that will be called "Rock of Ages" because that category requires a title evidently...pay special attention to the hand flap at 1:35...

now hopefully, I can really finish all of this stuff....here's a picture of the dragon yesterday....

SPF - The Annoyed Edition

Another week gone...another SPF...hopefully Kristine is enjoying some peace and quiet now that school has started...

Stuff that Annoys the Living Shit Out of You....oh, there's so much that annoys me...it's hard to pick a favorite...but a reliable standard is the construction that has been going on downtown since we moved here....3 YEARS AGO...I swear each street is systematically being torn up and repaved just for shits and giggles...

YOUR SPACE....I don't have any issues with sharing space at home...the one place that I can say is all mine, is the auction...that's a me and me only space...LOL, J prefers it that way...I'll be in that space tomorrow actually

Something in your life that keeps the makers of Xanax in business....I really don't take Xanax but during the holidays (or any family function) I should...they're loud, there's a bunch of them, and there's NO alcohol...p.s. this is just a few of the herd ;) I love them mostly

Who played? Who's annoyed? Who needs a Xanax?

Sassymonkey's Ghetto Rita's

my good friend sassymonkey posted her recipe for Ghetto Margarita's this week...personally I can't drink tequila or much liquor in general for that matter unless I just want a migraine...but I love saying Ghetto Rita's, in fact I'm trying to say it as much as possible today....to sassymonkey's amusement or irritation - I can't be sure which....

but by all means grab your big gulp cup, some tequila and limeade and take your chances...tomorrow's Friday after all

Pink Motel in October

one more day of lawyers...

I made reservations for a weekend in October at this great 50's hotel in Cherokee, NC yesterday during lunch... and suprised J last night....it's right across the street from this....

an original Big Boy....

today I will be entering the 8th level

of Hell....I get to sit through an entire day of lawyers making presentations...my kharma sucks

Illustration Friday - Match

The Superla-tettes, a little known girl group of the 1960's, perfected the trick of dressing alike....in fact, they were so obsessed with making sure their outfits were an exact match...they missed their biggest and final show at Phil Spector's 1968 pool party due to a disagreement over pink stockings....their best known lyric of the era was....

"...if his clothes don't match...la la la...make him hit the hatch....la la la la....you can always find a new batch - of love...la la la...."

what they lacked in musical ability, they made up for in fashion sense

for anyone interested...this is micron pen, colored in Photoshop...I actually have a hand colored version that may or may not make it here sometime this week

see more Illustrations at Illustration Friday :)

what is this doing in my house monday?

some of you are probably wondering what this is period...which is perfectly understandable...it's

an experiment I conducted yesterday in an attempt to resolve the "what is the inside of the gourd gonna look like" question...I needed to see if in fact paper mache will stick to a gourd and how much weight it will add as it dries...

the significant thing about it being in the house...is that this will be the first time I've used this technique (and I use the word technique very loosely as I typically make this stuff up as I go)....and it's for a gourd I plan to compete with at the State Fair in about 5 weeks - not much time in my world....

the paper mache is a small part of my overall plan for the dragon's insides...a plan that gets more complicated everytime I think about it...why do I always come up with some bizarre, difficult to execute strategies in these situations?....why can't I just make bird feeders out of gourds like everybody else?....yeah, don't answer that last one

some Republican fun...

courtesy of The Unknown...please go visit and leave him some love...his sense of humor makes him my biggest unknown boy blog crush ever...there's so much more over at his place

and just for the Queer Republicans because it's all about inclusion.....a possible mascot for the upcoming elections, courtesy of Lisa who takes great pictures in general

cool, huh?...pink elephants....

Saturday Southern Gospel

Grass is cut, front porch cleaned...all with the sweet sounds of vintage bluegrass and southern gospel music in the background...nothing better

That picture is the Happy Goodmans....truly an all time favorite and it makes me sad that they're dead...regardless of my feelings about Christianity or Baptists this music kinda sums up my childhood and I love it...

now I got to find some trouble to get into since J is at work for another 4 hours

crazy southern women in big, floppy hats...

"Delta Dawn"


She's forty-one and her daddy still calls 'er "baby"
All the folks 'round Brownsville say she's crazy
'cause she walks downtown with her suitcase in her hand
Lookin' for a mysterious dark-haired man

In her younger days they called her Delta Dawn
Prettiest woman you ever laid eyes on
Then a man of low degree stood by her side
Promised her he'd take her for his bride

Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on?
Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?
And did I hear you say he was a-meetin' you here today
To take you to his mansion in the sky-eye?

I heard this on the radio coming home from work yesterday and proceeded to scream sing it until J forbid another note...
now we have to go to Walmart tonite and see real Delta Dawns....

Stuff Portrait Friday

from Kristine this week


1. Your mailbox....the front steps are really messy right now, but I'll be addressing that tomorrow morning...I labeled some of the stuff...we love, love, love some weird/tacky yard things...you should see the 7' tall fiberglass leopard in the backyard...and no, there's not a good reason I have an old minnow bucket...none whatsoever

2. Your bag...same functional lesbian bag from a few months back - I'll use a bag like this until it falls apart or I find something else...since neither of those has happened, this one is still with me...

3. Your supplies....this is the art supply bench...it's actually one of those coaches benches with the hinged seat...works out perfect...cat perch on top place to put paint, brushes, stamps, and stuff underneath...of course that doesn't mean there still aren't 3 or 4 boxes of various pencils, different sized sketch pads, and single bottles of paint all over the house....maybe I'll work on that tomorrow too...

Who played? I intend to goof of as much as possible at work today because I've just about had it with everyone there and plan to look at pictures a great deal.....Happy Friday everybody!

Illustration Friday - Play

Dirk liked to play his bongos at the beach....but ever since that unfortunate surf board incident, the man had restricted his access....but for the love of his music, he'd be home watching Springer on the couch with his faithful cat Sam

just playing with the color, will scan and color correctly tomorrow

More illustrations here....Illustration Friday

color version....done this morning, while I should have been preparing for some marathon meetings this afternoon...

I'm so excited

I have a new, geeky boyfriend...next to big, redneck bubba's (preferably bald)....geeky boys are my favorite...and he's from LA so once he leaves SC....we can have an LDR...isn't that cool?

I can't wait to tell J, it slipped my mind last night since I got home late from the auction...she's gonna be thrilled

***note to self - add this to growing list of why I'm a bad lesbian***

not in the mood

to have any buttons pushed today...

Meet Joe Skeleton

About 2 weeks ago Slimbolala...posted this...an innocent enough question....I answered innocently enough about the weirdest job I've ever had and the weirdest thing that's ever happened on that job....

and then a few days later...Slimbolala introduced us to Joe Skeleton and solicited suggestions about what Joe should spend his doing.....Will (who is unlinkable unfortunately) suggested that Slimbolala incorporate the weirdest thing part of my job answer into Joe's adventures....well, of course I encouraged it...because like I told Slimbo...anything involving him, skeletons and Mr. Penis would be amusing....

Now...Joe isn't all fun and games...he's also had some coffee and a bagel, felt bitter regret and...
made a trip to the hardware store

Personally, I can't wait to see what adventures Joe (and his friends) have next...I bet Slimbolala would love to have more suggestions for future Joe activities...so stop on over and be part of this wacky, interactive, internet thing...it's catching on in some parts I hear

this is what I do when I'm unattended for too long

watch
water
drip....

and then take pictures of it

Foodie Post?

I'm not a foodie....I like to cook, I love kitchen gadgets, I suppose I even enjoy entertaining....but by no means does that make me a foodie....but we've found a couple of things this week that I'm kinda stoked about....

First...we found panko...we saw Martha Stewart make this recipe a while back (yeah, we love Martha, especially after her time in the big house)....and have been trying to find the stuff ever since...amazingly enough BiLo had it when we were shopping last night...we're gonna try it for dinner later (I confess - I do eat fish and shrimp a few times a year...shoot me)

Second...and this is just for me btw because J is a meat eater....veggie meatballs and ribs...too cool, huh?...hopefully they will be as good as the veggie bbq that only comes in little tiny packages...

and I found some iced, peach green tea...I think my green tea obsession may be coming back...

and just to top this off with some extra crunch...we went to the organic grocery store this morning for some bulk granola....smell the patchouli?

edited to add some great foodie blog links b/c I'm stupid and thought I already had...sorry y'all ;)

Retro Food

Sassymonkey Eats

SPF - Titles

Kristine wants titles and that's what she's gonna get....because her mom is the Fonz and has a big gun....

Song....I'm in a Willie Nelson kinda mood and one Willie song is never enough...so we got...Whiskey River and Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys (the cowboy and indian are J's creations :)) p.s. apologies to denise in advance, LOL





Movie....Rocky Horror Picture Show....dammit Janet ;)....just in case some of you aren't familiar with the required stuff needed to see this movie....look here



Book.....Are you my mother?.....classic kid book and one of my favorite pictures of Scout and Tucker



okay, who played?....tell us....we won't bite

Listerine, Tomato Paste and Glue

Folk remedies have fascinated for me a long time...J's mom sent an email with these recently....I'll confess to trying most anything in order to avoid a doctor's visit.....some of these I've heard of and some were new....anybody got any to add to the list or tried any of these? and do they really work or is it that they're so unconventional and odd that we want them to work so they do?

Drinking two glasses of Gatorade can relieve headache pain almost immediately -- without the unpleasant side effects caused by tradition! al "pain relievers."

Colgate toothpaste makes an excellent salve for burns.

Before you head to the drugstore for a high-priced inhaler filled with mysterious chemicals, try chewing on a couple of curiously strong Altoids peppermints. They'll clear up your stuffed nose.

Achy muscles from a bout of the flu? Mix 1 Tablespoon of horseradish in 1 cup of olive oil. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes, then apply it as a massage oil, for instant relief for aching muscles.

Sore throat? Just mix 1/4 cup of vinegar with 1/4 cup of honey and take 1 tablespoon six times a day. The vinegar kills the bacteria.

Cure urinary tract infections with Alka-Seltzer . Just dissolve two tablets in a glass of water and drink it at the onset of the symptoms. Alka-Seltzer begins eliminating urinary tract infections almost instantly -- even though the product was never been advertised for this use. ( Note : Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine is not the same..and contains aspirin, which can cause stomach bleeding if you have ulcers.)

Honey remedy for skin blemishes ... Cover the blemish with a! dab of honey and place a Band-Aid over it. Honey kills the bacteria, keeps the skin sterile, and speeds healing. Works overnight.

Listerine therapy for toenail fungus ... Get rid of unsightly toenail fungus by soaking your toes in Listerine mouthwash. The powerful antiseptic leaves your toenails looking healthy again.

Easy eyeglass protection ... To prevent the screws in eyeglasses from loosening, apply a small drop of Maybelline Crystal Clear nail polish to the threads of the screws before tightening them.

Coca-Cola cure for rust ... Forget those expensive rust removers. Just saturate an abrasive sponge with Coca Cola and scrub the rust stain. The phosphoric acid in the coke is what gets the job done.

Cleaning liquid that doubles as bug killer ... If menacing bees, wasps, hornets, or yellow jackets get in your home and you can't find the insectic! ide, try a spray of Formula 409 . Insects drop to the ground instantly.

Smart splinter remover ...just pour a drop of Elmer's Glue-All over the splinter, let dry, and peel the dried glue off the skin. The splinter sticks to the dried glue.

Hunt's tomato paste boil cure ....cover the boil with Hunt's tomato paste as a compress. The acids from the tomatoes soothe the pain and bring the boil to a head.

Balm for broken blisters ...To disinfect a broken blister, dab on a few drops of Listerine ... a powerful antiseptic.

Heinz vinegar to heal bruises ... Soak a cotton ball in white vinegar and apply it to the bruise for 1 hour. The vinegar reduces the blueness and speeds up the healing process.

Kills fleas instantly . Dawn dish washing liquid does the trick. Add a few drops to your dog's bath and shampoo the animal thoroughly. Rinse well to avoid skin irritations. Goodbye fleas.

Rainy day cure for dog odor ... Next time your dog comes in from the rain, simply wipe down the animal with Bounce or any dryer sheet, instantly making your dog smell springtime fresh.

Eliminate ear mites ... All i! t takes is a few drops of Wesson corn oil in your cat's ear. Massage it in, then clean with a cotton ball. Repeat daily for 3 days. The oil soothes the cat's skin, smothers the mites, and accelerates healing.

Quaker Oats for fast pain relief ....It's not for breakfast anymore! Mix 2 cups of Quaker Oats and 1 cup of water in a bowl and warm in the microwave for 1 minute, cool slightly, and apply the mixture to your hands for soothing relief from arthritis pain.

I think I'd rather swallow the nickel

it's smaller than the antibiotic....and antibiotics make me paranoid anyway....I should have requested the chewable version...sinus infections suck

gourd update August edition

updated with a picture after some color added...I'm using these inks ...odd stuff, never used them before, but I love the effect...J had the BEST IDEA for what goes in the middle...execution is another thing....more pictures of the gourd on flickr if that sort of thing interests anyone :)

so the last time I messed with the dragon gourd, it was here ...that was in May....I finally got another woodburner yesterday (after blowing the first one and not being able to find the one that I know is packed somewhere)...

now, I'm waiting on the tip to cool so I can change it....I really want to figure out how to add something to the open space to make it look like she's wrappd around something...paper mache maybe?....sticks?...I don't know...ideas?

btw, this will most likely be a state fair entry...like last year, I will wait until the last minute to decide what I'm putting in, but as long as this doesn't break....it's a relatively sure bet

general death observations

if you don't like funerals or hearing about death - then don't read this...

my youngest SIL's father passed away unexpectedly and suddenly on Wednesday morning...the visitation was Friday nite, the funeral and graveside were yesterday...I went to the visitation and like all of those types of events - it was weird....and as usual it leaves me with a bunch of related thoughts about the rituals surrounding death...

we stood in line for an hour to actually see the family...

I know how exhausted they were when it was all over...

I'm not quite sure I get or will ever get open caskets...

Wills should be left in visible prominent places...

Santini (my dad) announced in the funeral home that he wants his favorite bbq buffet to cater his death....

Santini evidently made arrangements with the preacher who performed the service to conduct his at the appropriate time...

visitations are huge social events in the South....everyone knew everybody seemingly...except me thank goodness...

cremation really creeps some people out...

burial really creeps some people out....

talking about death and funeral arrangements really creeps some people out...

I am more like my father than he or I will ever admit, LOL

Stuff Portrait Friday - Spicy!

I didn't think I was going to play....but I guess I am....work can wait....I'm fiesty like that....speaking of which Kristine had some interesting topics this week and I'm really anxious to see what everybody's got as the day goes on...so....

Spices.....I love taking these square shots in round containers and I love chili flakes.....here you go....

I also love rosemary...this is growing in our front yard under the bedroom window...hey a hidden message there I think ;)

Salt and Pepper....the color my hair is quickly turning unless I make that date with Miss Clairol soon....and I just got a haircut last weekend, why does it look so long?

Spiced Up Picture....sorta goofy but I've been wanting to merge a sketch and a picture for a while...seemed like a good opportunity....check out my Friday casual uniform shirt....sexy, right?

Who played? Do it, you'll like it!

I want to work THIS auction

40 Years of Star Trek

the damn catalogue is $90.00....I think the estimates are way way low on most of the things shown...I need to remember when this sale is and check for after sale prices....how cool would it be to have a collection of alien pistols or a replica of the captain's chair????

and to think I scored low on the sci-fi geekiness question

what do they know?

it's been a crazy week and I have not had the time to even think about what pictures I would take for Stuff Portrait Friday but I'm really interested to see what everyone comes up....photoshop-ish madness....it should be fun!

p.s. - Happy Birthday Shaun (a little late) :)