Tattoo link dump

because I'm in a tattoo state of mind...

starting with one of my favorite tattoo artist ever, Madame Vyvyn Lazonga....amazing color and style, I've discovered her work almost 20 years and it still blows me away.....I've linked her page at her site's shop, but check the other artists out too...a new discovery today, who credits Madame Lazonga for her support in the most recent edition of Skin Art magazine, Amanda Wachob...her website here....and my favorite Atlanta artist Dirk Hays...

looking for clothes? - tattoo inspired items on etsy...Sleeves clothing when you want the look but not the ink.....and for the real classic stuff...Sailor Jerry's Original Vintage Tattoo Brand

a couple of tattoo blogs....Needled and Tattoo Blog ....and while not totally tattoo related, check out Zentastic, written by Shannon Larratt of the very cool BMEzine site (if you aren't familiar with what body mods are, this is a great place to start, but be forewarned - there are graphic pics of just that)

feel free to send me other links...I never get tired of the subject...

recycling a drawing from earlier in the year above, apologies if you've seen it

in about 24 hours

all will return to normal in our house - at least as normal as it gets at our place anyway...the extra clutter, the driving around to meetings that are not for us, the open bathroom doors, the shoes in the living room, the cackling, the unauthorized feeding of unapproved snacks to the dogs, the endless processing of our personalities and idiosyncrasies...all of the madness will stop

Here's to an exciting 2007, hope everyone is safe and happy in the coming year!!

dreams DO come true

J found this for me yesterday....if only I could find this service locally

my favorite part of the holidays is

the trash...one year, I'll remember to take my camera the day after Christmas and take pictures of all the gianormous piles in front of everyone's house....it's always interesting to see what boxes are in those piles...

when I was a kid, my grandfather would take the used trees to the lakehouse and throw them off the dock, into the water for the fish to nest in....ours was unceremoniously dumped by the side of the road yesterday to be collected by the City sometime next week....

I am trying to distract myself with these random thoughts and pointless tidbits for the next 36 hours or so when my life will return to it's normal routine...

oh to be alone in our own home again and be able to discuss the time we haven't been

museums

I love museums of all kinds...the fact that as a society we take the time to gather like things together and place them in buildings - or wherever - to enjoy them collectively is an amazing thing...however, I have a huge problem with most museums no touching policy...I understand it really I do and I appreciate the damage that can be done to works of art and historical items from being handled, but it's just such a hard rule to follow....

If I were Frank Lloyd Wright's ghost, I'm sure I would have wanted me to touch those stained glass lamps and windows...in fact I'm sure of it....the museum guards felt differently (no picture unfortunately, b/c the guards also had a problem with pictures in that exhibit)

and this glass chandelier, is just begging to be jostled so I can hear the plink, plink of the glass chain hitting the glass acorns...again, the guards didn't want to play

so when I'm queen of the world and am in charge of all the museums, the first thing on my list is to reevaluate the touching thing

and I did receive a sign on how to handle our house guest, if things get worse

should have bought more of this

because it's good and because our guest is making me crazy...even though the plain ole bourbon is working pretty well too

hope everyone had a great holiday celebration and just in case I flip out completely, keep an eye on the SC papers

green beans

we're cooking LOTS of green beans for Christmas dinner at my familys tomorrow...our house guest is here...steak and shrimp on the grill tonite for dinner...I get to buy fireworks later...so far a pretty good start to the holiday weekend!

I do find it amusing that you can buy explosives, but not alcohol on Sundays in SC

Photo Hunt - Lines

the lines getting into the liquor store were terrible Friday afternoon...holiday spirit is in high demand!

Merry Christmas!

the best Santa hat

Ever...I dare someone to top it

Stuff Portrait Friday - Holiday Edition

Shaun is subbing this week so I'm gonna play fast and loose with the categories...cause who's he gonna tell ?...

1. One Decoration....this is actually one group of decorations...actually ornaments...they all look sort of grotesque and odd in that pile but really they aren't...much

2. One Gift...this is actually a stocking stuffer...I may regret giving this while company is here, but I was provoked



3. Something stuffed in a stocking...this is really stretching it, but I've been looking for a good reason to post a picture of Santa's crotch and it does look stuffed...



So who played?...and who thinks The Shining is one of the best holiday/winter movies ever?

Is it Christmas yet?

my afternoon plans

and unfortunately there's nothing sexual, or kinky, or the least little bit interesting about them...except I can't help but laugh every time the beavers come up...which is a lot...and it's really inappropriate for me to laugh, but come on...

beavers are funny

the internet gods and goddesses are profoundly glad my brief absence is over because of posts like this

sing it with me...

I got the no internet access at work for two days blues...

edited to say...WE HAVE INTERNET!!!!

boys are smelly

we've been wrapping gifts and had picked up something up a few months ago, I'd completely forgotten about...a very special set of bendable, poseable dolls...The Gang

worth a click to make it bigger to read their profiles...Eve L. is my favorite...

the other odd thing about this set of dolls is where we found them...in a weird outlet-discount kind of place that usually has tons of Christian-ish knick-knacks...I don't think we'll be sharing these with the kids on Christmas, I just don't think they'd appreciate them like we do

House Beautiful

while we're on vacation next week and entertaining our friend, I am going to insist we hit the museum for this exhibit...Frank Lloyd Wright is right on up there with Dolly Parton in terms of irrational worship and adoration on my part...

it's good to be the big sister

because that means I can give my baby brothers shit - like the big muscle-bound one above, whose face is cleverly disguised - and they can't say anything about it...because I'm the big sister...

and don't think for a minute that just because he can lift heavy stuff, his tiny little wife can't crack the whip and make him perform like a trick pony when she has to...which was all weekend, installing new flooring in their den....

and understand it's good for me to point that out to him every now and then...because I can... since I'm the big sister - and have pictures of him with a doll baby and sucking his thumb when he was little...

yep, being the oldest has its perks...

there always seems to be

someone at a party that no one is sure who they are, but wished they did...this was that guy at yesterday's work drop-in...too bad I didn't get his cane in the shot...it was a crazy twirly piece of wood that evidently had something to do with the story of Moses striking the rock and his staff turning into a snake....like I said, nobody knew who this dude was but he certainly added something to the event

Stuff Portrait Friday

from Kristine at Random and Odd - hope the broken thing is better and that Santa is bringing lots of Xanax to you and Shaun :)

1. Your Roof - this is the roof of the yard car that I now have less than a week to get out of yard...no yard cars when company gets here...it's a rule



2. Your ‘hood - it's got that Mayberry kind of appeal and you can buy night crawlers and crickets



3. Something you wouldn't want to run into that is in your house - they were much more to my liking tied to the wall in the back room like that....I've managed to not put them in the yard up until now...



who played? who's gonna come over and help finish whipping the house into shape before next Saturday when our friend gets here....for a 10 day visit?

Evil Evel

In the 70's my brother T and I were huge fans of Evel Knievel...we spent a great deal of time with the neighborhood bicycle gang configuring ramps and complex tricks (in our minds anyway) based on his motorcycle jumps...we also spent a proportionate amount of time in the emergency room when those stunts went badly....

Today I read that Evel is suing Kanye West for impersonating him in his recent video "Touch the Sky" because it tarnishes his wholesome daredevil image ...

WTF Evel?
Are you serious?
Wholesome?
Really? Since When?

I think he should probably be thanking Kanye for giving him a nod at all...

no fake joy here

the polar bear truly seems happy to be eating that fish....

I would like to know who thought that design was Christmas-y and what does it say about me that I liked it enough to buy it and display it?

One Punk Under God

I don't want to forget this, so I need to post it now....

Wednesday night is the debut of a series about Jay Bakker's (Jim and Tammy Faye's youngest)...PTL had a huge place in my childhood and I am always fascinated by anything to do with the Bakkers...Jay has an edgy street/urban/alternative ministry in Atlanta...he draws tattoo flash in his spare time and likes Johnny Cash and Social Distortion...

I'm so watching

year in review

I got this from Denise who got it from Nickie and I really liked what DnW did with it so here's my version of the year in review...the first line from the first month of each post with a drawing from each month as well...I should be decorating



January After a perfectly uneventful New Years, we slept late this morning, met Brother T for lunch and went to see Ralph Stanley chronicled on Flickr



February blood and Christians kind of an appropriate mix in my opinion....



March I got to be doughnut bitch for my coworkers this morning (since I am highly skilled at fetching things)...



April Nothing says spring like flowers and birds...



May and we're off or almost at least....



June Friday at last....even though it was a 4 day week, it felt much longer...



July summer holidays are a good time to romanticize family memories...



August searching for direction but who isn't?...



September busy, busy, busy...



October our neighborhood is right in the middle of an old pecan orchard...



November it's official - I've been back in SC too long



December this week has been a blur

Photo Hunt - Red

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

my 5 year old nephew Joey....he got the red hair gene....

I don't know about anybody else, but I could use some warm, hanging in the pool weather...it's cold here :)

furnace installation

I think I can finally bring myself to relive Tuesday and Wednesday's installation

after leaving work early on Tuesday to meet the HVAC guys at the house for what I thought was going to be the only time they needed someone home, I was immediately told that there was an issue with the main power line coming into our house and no installation was going to occur until the electric company had fixed that problem....turns out there was exposed wiring in several places and that we really shouldn't have had power at all to say the very least....by 5 or 6 Tuesday evening that had been resolved (even though I now have a forest of tree and vine trimmings to haul out to the street thanks to the pissed off repairman)....

so Bubba and his helper showed back up at the house early Wednesday morning ready to start putting things together...the dogs were secured in their room, the cats were confined to our bedroom...because there was this big ass hole in the floor they worked through ALL DAY LONG...which is also part of the reason for the fashion statement above due to the fact cold air poured through the hole in the floor ALL DAY LONG



I had every intention of being at work by lunch time....silly me...a few hours passed and I soon realized that was not going to be the case...here I am looking like the Unibomber and contemplating whether or not a crazy fit of rage would speed things along....



I decided against the crazy rage thing and called work to let them know I wouldn't be coming in at all....Bubba assured me that they would be done by 2 - okay, whatever.....a little before 2, there was still this mass of metal, insulation and parts spread across the front yard



J got home about 2:30 and was afraid to come in the house because my truck was still there and she knew I should have been at work by then....I assured her no contractors had cried or left and refused to come back so she should join me in the ice palace...around 3:45 or 4 they flip the new furnace on for the first time and I reach over to see if hot air is coming out of the vent....yes it was, but there was something odd, something that took a few seconds to register....

there were 2 kittens staring back up at me from UNDERNEATH THE VENT COVER...WTF, Bubba? I pull the cover off, which scares the kittens back into the duct work....Bubba says he can't do anything without removing all of the stuff they've just put it, guess what? they wouldn't even consider that...he goes out to consult his helper and they decide we should pull all of the vent covers off to see if they'll come out....Bubba, you're kidding, right? he's not and off they go

while I am having this discussion, J has coaxed one of the kittens within grabbing distance at the vent...she grabs it and the kitten proceeds to wail and screech while she wrestles it out....once it's free of the vent, I take it (stupid move) and immediately it begins to do Linda Blair impersonations from the Exorcist...outside that one goes while we are still trying to figure out where the 2nd one is....

finally, we decide that it's best if we leave for a little while and try to regroup....we went out to dinner and to run a few errands and returned home with a plan that we hoped would work to get the other kitten out....as soon as pull in the driveway, who do we see on the front steps? the missing kitten....I have no idea how the little shit got out and really don't care - I'll deal with that later....all I know is that we HAVE HEAT and we don't have cats in the duct work....life is good, especially since it's supposed to be in the teens for the next few nights....cold weather sucks for us warm blooded southerners

the last little bit of this is that we also got a new digital thermostat, which J has already put sticky note instructions on for me since I had enough trouble with the old one...I should have taken a picture of that, but I would like to maintain a little dignity...very little

bbbbbrrrrrrr.....

when all the colored balls float to the top....it's cold

Where is Bubba?

the Ducks are still busy

back at the first of the year I got involved with a traveling art journal project, 29,000 Floating Ducks....based on this story.....since that time the journal ducks have been all over the world...they started in Australia with Bek - whose idea it was in the first place...they've been to New Jersey, they've been to Japan, they've been here, they've been to Taiwan, they've been to Texas, they've been to Washington, they've been to California and now they're in Italy....hope I didn't forget anyone

and their trip isn't over yet...still quite a few places to see and people to meet...the couple that hung around SC have been busy decorating...this is a peek at a Christmas card I made for my duck buddies....

so many great things happen in December

that's why it's one of my favorite months....like right now, our house feels like that picture...the furnace is dead and is in the process of being replaced...Bubba and his helper went to take a break though so technically no work is being done at this moment so it's a good thing I rushed home from work and took the rest of the day off...all I can say is - Fuck. Me.

shopping on Saturday

was somewhat productive for us - J found her primary Christmas present and I got something I've wanted for a while...not exactly the style I wanted, but it's close enough...I feel almost hip

the note at the bottom is a line from a song that I saw a clip of Nat King Cole and Johnny Mercer performing last night on TV...funny lyrics especially to me....full version here

I am a dorcus