Joyce Plates

I mentioned in the Sangwich post about the plates my grandmother painted for me, and here is a picture of my favorite ones.

Grandma Joyce held a loose brush and let the brush design the flowers and leaves. She could finish a plate in less than 10 minutes. They are so free and lovely.

A treasure to cherish. Unfortunately they are beginning to chip in places and every time I entertain the idea of storing them for special occasions only, I get sad. That storage place isn't for special occasions, it is for dusting off and reconsidering, and repacking only to re-find years and years later.

And every time I think about boxing them up, I hear Grandma saying, "oh, Nooooo" and making that face she always did when she disagreed.

Grandma Joyce had many health issues at the end of her life and I made the decision to fly from Chicago to Buffalo to visit her in the hospital. She couldn't talk (she may have had a breathing tube, can't remember) and my mom and I were visiting with her telling her about life and the beautiful weather we were having.

In true 'Joyce' form, she wrote down on paper: Go out in sunshine. She never wanted any one to take care of her and certainly didn't want anyone to waste time in a hospital talking at a sick woman.

That was the last I talked with Grandma. She died two days later.

And as the spring comes, along with more sunshine and tiny flower buds and petals, I think of Grandma.

Everyday.

Go out in sunshine.

Wacky Wednesday: Everything Taking Too Long

Everything Taking Too Long

If you don't know The Onion, you need to.

You will laugh out loud, I promise.

Happy Wednesday!

The Almost Perfect Sangwich

Once I started the gluten free diet, sandwiches were no longer on the menu. Gluten Free bread is one of the hardest things to match or be even palatable to the angry, body wrecking gluten bread.

Things have changed. This frozed bread from Glutino is a decent substitute to any bad gluten bread, aside from the 'must toast' rule. Perhaps it is only a good match because gluten bread is so foreign to me I have forgotten what is 'should' taste like.

But this is my gluten free turkey cheddar lettuce tomato on fiber bread sangwich. 'Cause it's only a sangwich when it is this good. (hey, Keith!)

And the plate that you can barely see, hand painted by my dear Grandmother Joyce. I worked at a large craft warehouse type store for a while and I would buy the plates and leave them for my grandma to come in and paint them. These plates were a winner for everyone. I have these amazing plates, she had something to do for free to get out of the house and everyone at the store adored her work and her company (at least they told me they did). I miss you Grandma Joyce!

Signs of Spring

Yeah, every blog is showing their version of first sprouts and signs of spring.

And I am copying them.

Stonecrop above and what I believe to be grape hyacinths or the other little white thingamabob plant I have.

Either way...invigorating, rejuvenating and hopeful.

Momma Bag

Six days.

Six days late.

A new record for me. I am consistently late on completing gifts. I am trying, but still more often late than not. AND I must add, I didn't even start it until after her birthday.

I wanted to make my mom a big bag that she could use on her travels to work to hold her lunch, magazines, etc. I also really wanted to try an Amy Butler bag pattern so picked up the Nappy Bag pattern and edited a bit with shorter pockets on the one inside panel and omitted the bottle pockets (obviously). Which, if any of you have made this pattern, are in a really odd place that almost eliminates the end pockets. Let me know if we measured these totally wrong.

The assembly was fairly quick relative to the time it took to pick out the fabric. After I finally chose the fabric and got to the cutting table, I found this fabric above and totally changed my choices. I'm glad I did.

I love the freshness of the fabric and the weight and feel of the bag.

There are definitely more of these to be made.

Wacky Wednesday: Woman Mistaken for Monkey

Man mistakes woman for a monkey, shoots her
Malaysian police say victim was picking fruit in neighbor's tree

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Police said a man shot his neighbor, mistaking her for a monkey as she was picking sapodilla fruit in his tree.
Yahaya Othman, police chief in eastern Pahang state, said the woman was gathering fruit Thursday when her neighbor shot her.
The man came home and saw rustling in the tree and fired into it, Yahaya said. "Then there was screaming ... and only then did he know it was his neighbor."

Etsy Love: Geek Chic

Yesterday morning I renewed the Rosa Monster purse and got a couple views and some hearts. Then, the views jumped. Then stopped. Then jumped. I wasn't in any treasuries, so I was a bit confused.

Then I started looking in the Gift Guides. This is where Etsy Admin gathers different items into different guides based on Him, Her, Holidays, Circus, Under $20 and it goes on. I tried Her, Travel, Teens, Sculpture (a stretch, I know). I thought I tried them all until I scrolled to the bottom and saw her.

Rosa Monster and the Geeks. Rosa and her robots friends.

This is a tiny window at the upper left of the Etsy home page that changes every 5 minutes or so? Not quite sure the duration.

I am very proud of how far I have come from this time last year, especially considering I have only been crocheting for two years!

On Twitter, there are many Etsy sellers that post "woke up to a sale", which I read as "ha ha I sell things in my sleep I'm so good". But this morning, I woke up to a sale. Rosa Monster N is on her way to Annapolis MD to scare a whole bunch of people.

But, the real issue at hand is: Geek or Chic?

Cupcake

Gluten Free cupcakes for my mom's birthday that didn't quite turn out as pretty in reality as they did in my minds image.

Okay, they technically weren't FOR my mom, they were for me. She made her own cupcakes with coconut on them, that weren't gluten free. It's hard enough to go to a birthday party knowing I won't be able to eat the cake and usually not the ice cream (since the spoon inevitably contacts the cake). I had the party here, so made sure I had treats for myself.

Selfish? Maybe.

Smart? Definitely.

Happy Birthday, Twins

This is one of my favorite photographs. I love how my mom and aunt are sitting with their twin dolls and what I believe is a baby carriage behind my aunt. I love my mom's little crossed feet and their sweet dresses.

But one of my favorite things about this photo is on the back in my grandmother's handwriting, depicting 'Kay - Left, Claire - Right'

I can always tell you apart, Happy Birthday Mom and Aunt Kay.

Sunshine Through My WalMart Curtains

Yes, I shop at WalMart. Go ahead, throw stones. I get all the bad employee benefits and treatment and the selling of items from third world countries where an eight year old works for pennies a week. It happens, I bet that happens in the more expensive stores. Target and WalMart have some of the same merchandise, should I not shop at Target, either?

This is where I draw the line. I often need things, like curtains, underwear and diapers. WalMart has the best prices (at least they used to, I have been shopping around) and WalMart is friendlier to my wallet for those types of items.

But I was just awarded this, so perhaps Kohl's or Macy's is in my future:

THE INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS PROMOTION

DEPARTMENT OF THE BMW AUTOMOBILE COMPANY

41 Wigmore Street London W1U 1PJ

United Kingdom

Draw date:5th/03/2009

WINNING NOTIFICATION:In the final draw of 5th day of March 2009 Your e-mail address attached to Ticket Number: 8603775966738 with the following Winning Numbers:6, 18, 40, 43,47, 49, 32 (bonus no.32) has won you £500,000.00 G.B.P. (Five Hundred thousand Great British Pounds) in the ongoing BMW AUTOMOBILE 2009 awareness program lottery.

WooHoo!

I have never owned a BMW, I have never been to the United Kingdom and I don't play any lotteries with my email address.

Great British Pounds. All mine, for my name, number, name of next of kin, their address and SS#...oh yeah. Are there really people out their that believe this junk?

Wacky Wednesday: He was Thirsty

Love that he has the shopping cart for a stroll through the aisle.

I Got Nothin'

Nothing exciting to say.
Nothing interesting to talk about.
Nothing new.
.
Just a lazy weekend with my cloud fleece pj's a ball of yarn and my hook.
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This photo is a couple weeks old, but the only difference was the yarn color and hook size. This weekend I almost finished up two more ponchos like this one, same color, too, for a friend. I still like this color, even after 8 balls of yarn between the three ponchos.
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Next up...blanquilt.
.
Really, I'm going to do it. Truly.
.
Maybe tomorrow.

Wacky Wednesday: Poor Chuck

There are some truly hilarious stories today (both from Associated Press).

I couldn't decide between this one below and the story about the lady calling 911 because McDonald's ran out of the famous nuggets after she paid and wouldn't refund her money. Her quote: "This is an emergency. If I would have known they didn't have McNuggets, I wouldn’t have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don’t want one. This is an emergency."

Man fined for Chuck E. Cheese mascot assault
Father ripped off head piece thinking mascot had pinned his son

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. - A Massachusetts man has been fined $500 for assaulting a Chuck E. Cheese mouse.
Authorities say 34-year-old Trahan Pires thought the perpetually happy mascot had pinned his 11-year-old son against a video game after the boy said "Chuck" had picked him up by the arms and cornered him by a console.
Pires, of Fairhaven, ripped off the mascot's head piece, pointed a finger at the man inside and yelled at him.
The 19-year-old man in the mouse suit told police he put his arms out to get through a crowd of children trying to knock him over and never grabbed anyone. A witness agreed with that account, adding that the mascot only bumped into the boy accidentally while turning around.
Pires pleaded guilty Monday. A judge fined him after rejecting the prosecution's request for a six-month jail sentence.
Pires' family was at the children's restaurant in Dartmouth in May to celebrate his son's birthday.

Crafty Folks: Spinning Giveaway

Check out this super cool giveaway!