Out of turkey yet?

All that's left in my house is a little darker meat - blecky - and a few smidgen's of this and that. I am still sleepy. Maybe the triptofan (however you spell it) will wear off soon so I can get more done. This is marathon time - decorating, shopping, baking on top of the normal rat race.

Hope you all had a safe and joyous holiday and are looking forward to the next few weeks. December 26 always feels so good - sleep late, stay in jammies, watch movies, and chill out. I love everything up to that, but the rest and time to do it is a good perk at the end.

Messenger Fairy . . .


copyright 11/31/08 by Marsha Jorgensen
3 3/4 x 4 3/4 collage using vintage picure reprinted, trimmed and handcolored along with vintage envelopes scanned, printed and trimmed and colored arranged with wings from Great Musings but altered on a watercolored background.

If I had a magic wand, Christmas list, and hearting people . . .

A slightly more realistic and humble Christmas wish list . . .
(if you don't know what that means, please reference previous Christmas wish list posts below - this one leaves out the airplane window)

Since getting my swanky super big cool computer and printer, I don't expect or want anything more. But, I had already done my research so thought I'd share what I WAS going to ask for . . . (I've had this post in the oven a week or so)

A magic wand . . . now #1 on the list



First, I would really like to finally get a magic wand. If I have the magic wand, I won't need the therapeutic but very cool airplane window which if received would mean redecorating the house. I have needed a magic wand so many times. For example, I wanted one just yesterday when reading Cha Cha's blog. I wanted to wave my magic wand and fix everything. So, what a perfect thing to ask Santa for. I promise not to abuse it as I believe life DOES need the downs to make the ups, ups. Know what I mean? But there are just a few times, now and then, it sure would come in handy. Okay, it may not be realistic but it is a sincere wish.

I used to have several pairs of converse tennis shoes in all different patterns. I wore them to work on casual Fridays - as an elementary librarian and art teacher you can get away with such attire. My daughter, growing into my shoe size a couple of years ago, then confiscated them and subsequently trashed them as a result of being a good kid and doing things all good kids should do (and maybe we adults should do more), running and playing and splashing in puddles. I am down to one pair of patterned and one pristinely white pair. And now, I can wear them everyday as I am only working for myself! Woohoo! That feels good. Here are some I would like to have now . . . (kind of in order and white laces on the last pair - no black laces for me AND women's size 8, honey) (click on the pictures to see detail - like the ones with white trees)




Okay, it's not just about footwear this year, but I would also like these boots for my sea glass hunting trips . . .



I hate wearing sandals cuz you get rocks under your piggies if you're walking in rocks and in the tide and you either have to remove them every few minutes or look for sea glass in severe piggie pain, especially in the winter (the best times to look for glass)

I would also like a fairy chair for my little chair collection and a fairy door (that I'll have to paint to match the human house and with proper fairy furniture for it too) . . .



The last door, the red one, is from Red Shoes, one of my favorite blogs - talk about eye candy. I'll take one of everything in her store.

Lastly, I would like these cool cards, made by the U.S. Playing Card Company to look like vintage 19th century cards, like they were found in some ghost town when they are actually brand new! Cool!



And, I had one more thing on my mind and on my list before signing off today. I just opened my Etsy store last week and was excited a day or two and then a little disappointed. I don't know what I was expecting but I am fighting the insecure thoughts . . . like "no one wants fairies anymore", "I need to do something different", "I haven't found my voice yet", "this isn't the direction I should work in", "I don't have enough goin' on in my work", "it's too simple", "it's not interesting enough", "I need to work harder", etc. Only one piece of art sold and that one to a good blog buddy so I don't know if it counts. All the time my husband reminding me that maybe only 10-12 people in the world know I (or my art) exist at the moment. Then, tonight I found that 10 people have "hearted" me! And, AND, only 3 of them are blog buddies! So, there's a glimmer of hope.

So, the last thing on my wish list is to know what I should do, if I should keep working at this. I asked my husband how long I should keep making things and not selling them (apparently) before I give up and go back to work at a "job" job and he said "never" at first and then realized I was looking for a different "realer" answer and he said "next summer". So, having only spent 2 months up to now venturing down this road, I feel pretty okay that I have a few more months (at least 6) before I have to throw in the towel and possibly realize the dream and the destiny didn't add up. We will see . . .

p.s. my husband just read this and said I sound desperate and impatient. Impatient, yes, I admit it. I am. Desperate, no. I am not looking for answers from readers or soliciting compliments, just being honest about my journey and the roadblocks many of us throw up ourselves. Surely I am not the only artist that started out with a whole boatload of self doubt.

Something different, something not . . .

Ailes transparentes . . .


copyright 11/28/08 by Marsha Jorgensen
3 3/4 x 4 3/4 collage using a vintage postcard, resized and reprinted on transparency film over a watercolor and stamped background with Chinese paper borders and ribbon.

I named the one above Ailes Transparentes because that is French for transparent wings. I chose a French name and Chinese paper because today my husband, mom-in-law, and our good friends went to Chinatown Los Angeles where my mom-in-law was born in a French hospital in 1939. The hospital is still there but it is not French anymore, nor Chinese for that matter.

It was our first time there and we had great fun. I only bought a Chinese calendar and a little Confuscious book. From there we walked into a completely different "world", Olvera Street where everything is Mexican! I took lots of pictures that I'll share another day. Good walking to work off that turkey from yesterday. Of course, we came home and had leftovers. Oh well.

Fairy Fleur . . .


copyright 11/28/08 by Marsha Jorgensen
3 3/4 x 4 3/4 collage

. . . from another recently purchased postcard.

An example of the process . . .

Geisha Fairy is one of my newer pieces. I thought you'd like to see how she started out. She was a postcard I bought for $10. I scanned her at 2400 dpi at 50% output.



I took her into picnik photo editing and adjusted the focus, contrast and exposure and re-saved her. I printed her out on acid free premium card stock. I cut her out - this can take 15-20 minutes or longer depending on the details.

After I finish trimming, I start laying her on backgrounds and looking for wings, trying things out. The backgrounds I paint in batches - maybe 50 in a day and that would take most of a day. I have a process of using water soluable pastels, liquid watercolor and distressable inks and sometimes bleach. I kind of choose a background and wings together - color of the wings vs. color of the background. Some backgrounds may look good with the color of some wings but the wings may not fit the main picture - too big, too small, too much color, not enough color, etc.

I was using Dover clipart for butterfly wings, but I was not happy with the "drawn" quality and just purchased a digital volume of real butterfly wings from Great Musings. Even these wings I felt needed to be adjusted in picnik for sharpness and exposure and a bit of color. I usually print out several pages of wings at a time and spend an afternoon trimming them all out at once. Copyright issues are very important to me. I try very hard to make sure the images I use have no copyright restrictions, I own, or I have permission to use for sellable art. I don't usually print from people's freebies (like flickr for example because I have had some of my images taken and used by someone else and I wouldn't do that to someone else. That stinks.)

After I get a general "feel" of where I want to go, I start hand-coloring the main picture to work with the background and wings. I use a variety of mediums to do this: colored pencil, pastel, markers, etc. This is when I really feel how old my eyes are getting. I am only 42 and when I'm coloring I feel like I need the strongest glasses possible. I color skin, hair, and clothing usually. When that is done, and if I colored in well and didn't go outside the lines, I start more fine tuning. I make sure the trimming is right, no jagged corners, no dark outlines left, etc. Then I very carefully go around all the edges of everything cut and sometimes the background with marker or distressable inks so that you can't see a white edge from the cutting.

Next, it is attaching time. Before I actually stick it down, I lay it out, pick it up, move it, try it, place it, measure it, etc. over and over again, try it with a matte, without the matte until I think I see exactly what I want. This is usually when I decide if I want a crown or hat or other element and prepare it as well. Then I start running things through the xyron machine(s). If all of the pieces make it this far, and sometimes they don't (sometimes get ruined in the coloring process), they may not make it past this part and I have to start all over. Sometimes I attach wings or heads with glue before running a combination of pieces through the xyron. After the xyron it is sometimes tricky to get it in just the right spot, and I often don't, because it is so sticky it cannot touch the background at all until it is in the place it needs to be. I have more than once accidentally let it touch in the wrong place and all bets are off. It either needs to stay where it is or I have to start over.

Geisha Fairy took two attempts. I had her all attached and then decided to color her lips with a darker color and got a little carried away and that was that, started over.

So, this is how Geisha Fairy turned out . . .





Here's another postcard I bought and how I used her in two different pieces. When I scanned the postcard I cut out all of the writing, you can see just a bit in the corner . . .



Probably obviously, for the second piece I colored skin, hair, and dress. For the last piece I just used her head (skin and hair colored by me) and colored hands from another picture to match her face.

New Fairies . . .

I call this one . . .

America's Next Top Fairy . . .


copyright 11/27/08 by Marsha Jorgensen
5 x 7 collage using reprinted vintage photos, trimmed and hand-colored, wings from Great Musings, and an old Wilson's Milk label

I don't know why but it reminds me of an episode of America's Next Top Model - like a photo shoot or something. I like it. I may use more white backgrounds now and then. The funny thing is I was just showing Thrifty Collage Artist's work to my husband and saying I need to add more elements to my pieces, there needs to be more to look at (which I still think is true). But, for some reason the white is kind of powerful with this one.

You'll recognize the same head in the next piece. I just bought this postcard last week and was just likin' her tonight.


Fairy Rose . . .


copyright 11/27/08 by Marsha Jorgensen
3 3/4 x 4 3/4 collage using reprinted vintage postcard picture, reprinted, trimmed, and hand-colored, wings from Great Musings, and a crown made from an old label on a watercolored background

I've been tagged!

My buddy Cha Cha tagged me so I'm "it" again! Last time I had to tell you 6 random things about me. Hmmm . . . I'm not sure I can think of 7 more, but this is fun. I'll think of some things.



Okay, where to start . . . I want to at least TRY to be entertaining. Last time I was tagged I told you of my button phobia, my weird toes in need of transplant surgery (I MUST be #1 on the list - who else wants new toes?), I don't like to eat but do too much of it anyway, I've been making collages since August, what happens when you google me and my hubby, and that I used to play on a championship pool team. So, 7 new ones . . . .

1. When I was born, my tongue was not attached to the bottom of my mouth! Some would say that makes sense now since I seem to speak a bit loosely at times. However, there's no medical findings available that would explain why I repeatedly put my foot in my mouth. My right ear wasn't attached in the back to my head when I was born either. Both were stitched up and I turned out okay, well, in my opinion anyway. My mom says my ear ripped away from my head cuz I weighed 10 lbs and 11 oz when I was born and she was only 5'5". Poor thing.
   
2. Slim Jims (Original) are my favorite comfort snack and indulgence.
3. My husband never actually proposed to me - this is a long running fued in my family, 20+ years now. I'm not sure how we ended up getting married because I didn't ask him either. We knew each other 10 months when we got married in Las Vegas. I met him in a bar where I was bartending just before my senior year in college, the night after I swore off boyfriends in a pact with my roomate to really enjoy our last year of college fun with no boyfriend drama. I ended up having a lot of fun that year.
   
4. I dated a boy for 7 years before dating just a few others and then met my husband. The weird thing is both my hubby and this boy were the oldest of 3 children, one's parents were Roger and Diane, the other parents were Ron and Dianne, and both of their long time home addresses were 1516. This may not be weird to you but it is to me, kinda parallel universe weird, like I came darn close to choosing the wrong one!
5. I was an extra in the movie Disorganized Crime (a pretty bad corny movie - don't know if you can even rent it anymore) in the court room scenes. If you look really closely in the very blurry background, you can see my big hair. I was weiring a dark blue shirt I think. I didn't plan on being in the movie and actually was a bit tipsy that night. My husband was the dolly grip on the movie and the country singer Hoyt Axton had a small part in the movie. His daughter, April, was there visiting the set and we ended up going out while the men worked. When we stopped by to visit on the set, we got pulled on TO the set. I had to go potty really bad and couldn't wait 'til I was done. I think I got paid $20. If you rent the movie Cavegirl, my husband is one of the cavemen - the first movie he ever worked on. If you watch the opening of Hot Shots and watch very closely as they start to play football on the aircraft carrier, there is a very quick close-up of my husband as he throws the football pass (he got pulled on at the last minute - he's not an actor) But, speaking of throwing things, if you watch Forest Gump when Jenny throws rocks at her old house, it is my husband throwing the rocks in the close-ups of the house. And lastly, if you watch Love Field, I think I pretty much painted the inside of every bus, house, telephone booth, and motel room and the outside of the old junky gas station. I didn't get credit for the movie because I quit before it finished filming. I got paid $100 a day way back then! Someday I'll tell you more claims to fame(lessness) I have.
6. I can't snap my fingers with my left hand. They just don't snap no matter how hard I try.
7. I can say the alphabet backwards just as fast as I can say it forwards. Maybe most people can.

Okay, who to tag? Well, I only know a few bloggers and some I am afraid to ask to do this (don't know how they feel about such things) Let me think on this. I'll come up with some.

Edit to post 11/26/08 - don't know what I had to think about. I only have a few somewhat regular visitors. My worry is that some of them may not want to fill up their sites with this as they are much more professional than I am. But, we'll give them a go and see if they bite - at least they get a link to their site for my other 1 or 2 followers! You can ignore this if it just doesn't go with your blog flow . . .
But, we all want to know your weird things, so come on and play - it's free therapy!


Tace of All Kinds of Stuff
Linda Cain (who really doesn't have time for this I know) of Friends in Art
Linda Crispell of Linda Crispell
Suzan (an amazing artist that has my head spinning) of Thrifty Collage Artist
Karen of Amusments
Saucy of Bloggedy, Blog, Blog (whose blog is too pretty for this I think but she is my blog goddess role model of late - man I wish I could do what she does)
and my original muse, Jill of Altered Bits of Elinor's Closet

My Etsy is open!

(part of my vintage ephemera package in my etsy store)


I am still listing items and will be for a few days as I also try to make a few more collages here and there until next week. Then I'll be in full swing. I was up until 3 this morning figuring out how to list and downsizing pictures (and installing more photo editing software!). I thought I was going to sleep in but my husband woke me up at 6 something to tell me I already had a sale! Woohoo! A little non-art sale, but a sale no less!

That made me jump out of bed to go see. Then I felt a little vulnerable with pj's and bed hair like the people were in my store and could see me through the computer somehow. That didn't last long - here I sit, still in pj's, watercolor stained fingers, bed hair, and cold feet cuz I can't seem to tear away and get a pair of socks or slippers! I'm nervous and excited!

Hey, some of you already hearted me! How'd you do that so fast?! Maybe you love me so much you hearted me before I had anything in the store! You all are so sweet to me!

copyright 11/24/08 by Marsha Jorgensen
5 x 7 collage using vintage picture reprinted and hand colored, clipart butterfly by Great Musings, and watercolor



copyright 11/24/08 by Marsha Jorgensen
3 3/4' x 4 3/4" collage using a vintage picture reprinted, butterfly cliparts by Great Musings and Garden of Tomorrow, and watercolor

I don't know what to title this post . . .

Thanks to all of you that leave such lovely comments and stop by to say "howdy" regularly. I read everything and appreciate hearing from you more than you know. I am sorry I have been out of the loop the last few days and haven't gotten back to any of you.I am slow to visit blogs the last few days and haven't been visiting anyone else much. I'm a little off kilter.

Stress comes in threes I've heard (I hope that's all, hope it's not fours and tens or fifties) I was working very hard to get some new pieces made on the new and more frame-able backgrounds before opening my etsy this week - that's been stressful especially cuz I kept finding more and more things wrong with my work as I took care of one thing, it seemed something else was a problem. The new computer and printer have greatly improved things for me - pictures are printing much, much sharper and I am able to go a bit faster. But, have had the new faster computer slow me down a bit too as I have to move files from the old computer to the new one and lost bookmarks and need to learn the new vista stuff, etc. That's a good most excellent stress, but still stress.

But, I found out the same night that I was celebrating my computer that my dad, who recently had some tests done, has an anuerism on his aorta that needs to be taken care of pronto. He is 79 and lives in Missouri, quite a long ways from me. My mom died many years ago and I have one brother who lives in Las Vegas so I am waiting to hear what the heart doc says today about surgery and may have to jump on a plane (and some of you already know I am very afraid of flying and haven't flown since my mom died in 1996). I should hear from Dad today, so keep good thoughts and say prayers if you can for us.

Well, and to top that off, we also found out Saturday via the news that the Screen Actors Guild is calling for a strike. Some of you know my hubby works in the movie industry and we just got sort of lined out after the writer's strike and now, here we go again, same time as last year, right before the holidays and even worse this year with the yucky economy. We will find a way through, but it won't be easy peasy. It scares me more to think how this strike will absolutely devistate tens of thousands of people - not just in the movie industry but in all of the industries movie people spend money in. For those that are not so close to Hollywood, this is not about making rich actors richer - only about 3% of the SAG members make their living from acting. Well, maybe it is about making a very small number of actors richer and they are so rich they don't even care, I don't know. To me, it is about the 35,000 "below the line" workers that may lose their homes because of a macho fight over a contract that can be renegotiated in 3 years anyway (most movie industry union contracts are negotiated every 3 years). I don't want to start a whole slippery discussion about unions. I know how they are viewed by most of the world, but my man is a union man, one that has worked very hard to create and maintain an honest, fair and reasonable union that has managed to take care of its members AND help the other side of the industry at the same time. Well, I should quit before I dig a deeper hole for myself with any possible SAG members out there or union dislikers. In a nutshell, the strike is very bad news for the economy and lots and lots of people and it is shocking that a call for a strike has been made with such short sightedness and arrogance. Needless to say, a stress on more folks than me.

So, I'll get back in the swing soon. I'm waiting to open the etsy store until I find out what's happening with my dad. There is a chance it will be postponed. I'll keep you posted!

Some more etsy peeks . . .

copyright 11/23/08 by Marsha Jorgensen
3 3/4" x 4 3/4" collage using vintage picture reprinted and hand-colored, Dover clipart, old book page, and watercolor



copyright 11/23/08 by Marsha Jorgensen
3 3/4" x 4 3/4" collage using vintage picture reprinted and hand-colored, Dover clipart, old book page, and watercolor



copyright 11/23/08 by Marsha Jorgensen
3 3/4" x 4 3/4" collage using vintage picture reprinted and hand-colored, Dover clipart, rubberstamping, pastel, and watercolor

Holy Moley Cow!

I started to write a long story about this and decided to just come out with it . . .

My amazing mom (technically mom-in-law so as not confuse you) with the assitance of my dear hubby and the sneaky participation of my daughter surprised me with a brand new incredibly fast amazing computer and high quality printer. And I mean surprised me with a capital S. I came home from a movie with my daughter and it was all set up ready to go! I cried like a baby, whimpered even! I've had tears in my eyes this morning.

I had been complaining (I thought with great subtlety) about the slowness of my old computer and just faced the fact that my images simply were not printing out sharply enough. So yesterday morning I was trying to edit pictures and cursing my computer (again, subtely) for taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r to do anything and mentioned that I may need to invest in a new printer too. Never in a million years would I have allowed her to buy me a computer just before the holidays and in this economy so what did she do? She and my dear hubby went and did it without me and without my permission! I am still in a bit of shock and don't know how to work as fast as this computer is allowing me to! I am so touched and grateful, I am struggling to find the words to say what this means to me. She did this so I could work faster and get more art made because she believes in me and that is a feeling hard to describe.

So, here's a cool picture of my cool mom-in-law, the super star that she was and always will be . . .

She is many amazing things to more people than I can tell you. For example, not many people get personal visits from the local fire department unless you actually have an emergency. They stopped by our house recently just to give her hugs because they love her so much. And, she has done many amazing things, mostly for other people without a thought about herself and too many to list, but this picture is one of my favorites. She was once the California State Ladies Roller Skating Champion! How cool is that! And illustrates nicely our six degrees to Bob Eubanks (the former host of The Newlywed Game) - he was her skating partner! She is many amazing things, not just a roller skating champion but a true dream finder!

Lilian . . .


copyright 11/21/08 by Marsha Jorgensen
3 3/4" x 4 3/4" collage using vintage picture reprinted and hand-colored, Dover clipart, rubberstamping, pastel, and watercolor

Three . . .


copyright 11/21/08 by Marsha Jorgensen
3 3/4" x 4 3/4" collage using vintage pictures reprinted and hand-colored, Dover clipart, watercolor

Crazy Fairy . . .


copyright 11/21/08 by Marsha Jorgensen
3 3/4" x 4 3/4" collage using vintage picture reprinted and hand-colored, rubberstamping, pastel and watercolor

This last one is pretty crazy for me. What a hat! I'm not sure if I like it, but I had to try when I ran across it.

Fairy Believers Unite! News story . . .

First, an old and famous photograph of Elsie Wright "photographed" with fairies that lived near her house.



Now a contemporary story from a British newspaper . . .

Fairies stop developers' bulldozers in their tracks

By Will Pavia and Chris Windle

VILLAGERS who protested that a new housing estate would “harm the fairies” living in their midst have forced a property company to scrap its building plans and start again.

Marcus Salter, head of Genesis Properties, estimates that the small colony of fairies believed to live beneath a rock in St Fillans, Perthshire, has cost him £15,000. His first notice of the residential sensibilities of the netherworld came as his diggers moved on to a site on the outskirts of the village, which crowns the easterly shore of Loch Earn.

He said: “A neighbour came over shouting, ‘Don’t move that rock. You’ll kill the fairies’.” The rock protruded from the centre of a gently shelving field, edged by the steep slopes of Dundurn mountain, where in the sixth century the Celtic missionary St Fillan set up camp and attempted to convert the Picts from the pagan darkness of superstition.

“Then we got a series of phone calls, saying we were disturbing the fairies. I thought they were joking. It didn’t go down very well,” Mr Salter said.

In fact, even as his firm attempted to work around the rock, they received complaints that the fairies would be “upset”. Mr Salter still believed he was dealing with a vocal minority, but the gears of Perthshire’s planning process were about to be clogged by something that looked suspiciously like fairy dust.

“I went to a meeting of the community council and the concerns cropped up there,” he said. The council was considering lodging a complaint with the planning authority, likely to be the kiss of death for a housing development in a national park. Jeannie Fox, council chairman, said: “I do believe in fairies but I can’t be sure that they live under that rock. I had been told that the rock had historic importance, that kings were crowned upon it.” Her main objection to moving the rock was based on the fact that it had stood on the hillside for so long: a sort of MacFeng Shui that many in the village subscribe to.

“There are a lot of superstitions going about up here and people do believe that things like standing stones and large rocks should never be moved,” she said.

Half a mile into Loch Earn is Neish Island. From there the Neish clan set forth to plunder the surrounding country, retreating each time to their island. Early in the 17th century, the MacNabs retaliated from the next valley, carrying a boat over the mountains, storming the island and slaughtering most of the Neishes.

This summer Betty Neish McInnes, the last of that line in St Fillans, went to her grave — but not before she had imparted the ancient Pict significance of the rock to many of her neighbours.

“A lot of people think the rock had some Pictish meaning,” Mrs Fox said. “It would be extremely unlucky to move it.”

Mr Salter did not just want to move the rock. He wanted to dig it up, cart it to the roadside and brand it with the name of his new neighbourhood.

The Planning Inspectorate has no specific guidelines on fairies but a spokesman said: “Planning guidance states that local customs and beliefs must be taken into account when a developer applies for planning permission.” Mr Salter said: “We had to redesign the entire thing from scratch.”

The new estate will now centre on a small park, in the middle of which stands a curious rock. Work begins next month, if the fairies allow.

Linda Crispell, Happy Chef, and Coke cans . . .

While waiting for my turn in the shower this morning, I will get a few things off my chest. First, I know I keep singing the praises of Linda and I promise she's not my boss nor do I expect her to buy me my desired PanAm airplane window as a Christmas gift, but she impresses me so. It is nearly impossible for me to post anything without her influence. Everyday, without fail, is another clever and interesting tidbit. I am now convinced not only should she publish a few books but I had the epiphany last night that she should really produce a television show on the most interesting things in life - things you may have not seen before and things you have seen but haven't been reminded of for a long time. What a happy little memory or sweet little daydream she can stir up in her perfect posts - just enough words and great pix. (I obviously haven't figured out the "just enough words" part on my blog for sure) . She has such great collections (which we get glimpses of now and then - I don't know how she keeps them so perfectly displayed (and dusted!), and/or stored when not on display so that she remembers to get them out, where they are, AND has the energy to locate, unpack, and display at just the right time - amazing to me, a goddess), she plans THE best parties, cooks gourmet, makes unique and beautiful artwork, and has a knack I have not seen before to visually collect and then display on her blog the world's coolest things and people.

Speaking of cool people, fictional or not, Linda added a picture of the A&W family to the side of her blog recently. It reminded me of something I had long forgotten, The Happy Chef. I lived near Missouri Valley, IA when I was a little girl and there was such a restaurant there at the time. Outside was a giant Happy Chef - not your ordinary unusually large restaurant fiberglass statue. This one had a button to push so that the Happy Chef spoke to you. How fascinated I was with that! I couldn't wait to finish my dinner so that I could go have a convo with the extraordinarily happy Happy Chef! Though I think now he looks a bit threatening with that big spoon over his head - like he's about to smack you one. I wasn't scared of him, I loved him. I guess there is only one of these left now, in Mankato, MN.



Next rant, I love this time of year when the Coke cans have Santa and sparklies on them. I am not disgusted as I used to be that Christmas decorations and music inundate us before Thanksgiving, Halloween even. This year I embrace it! This year I can't wait for it! The store bought gifts may be less this year, but never have I looked more forward to the lights and trees and ornaments and decorations and TV specials and baking and music and company visiting as I am this year. I love that my coke can brings all those things to mind (how blindly led by advertising I am!)

Well, it is believed by many that Coke-A-Cola invented who we know as Santa. Here is a link to their version of the story http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/heritage/cokelore_santa.html?WT.mc_id=Search_Promo_Santa+-+2008_Overture_coke+christmas&WT.srch=1



My turn for the shower . . .

Christmas wish list continued . . .

Two new additions to the list . . . an egg chair at the very reasonable price of $1600 + the music system package (which, I think, is a must) and a faucet that lights up and tells you via color whether the water is hot or cold. I don't care about the temperature light coordination (I can tell by feel still), I want to turn the lights out and wash dishes in the ambiance of lighted water (course the dishes should be relatively clean before washing them in the dark AND I need the ultimate dish drainer as previously discussed with Tace - wonder if it comes in airplane window blue?) Oh, and also explained to Tace in a comment on the Christmas post below, I am planning my gifts to coordinate with the still #1 item on the list, the airplane window, so that I can revamp the whole house and overhaul the Sanford and Son decor we presently have. So as much as I don't really like blue, that airplane window is my center piece and therefore I must keep it's color in mind as I ponder the rest of my wish list.






Total so far for 4 items - $3240.00

Things I considered but have since decided against . . . my finger print made into a custom bronze sculpture, dancing salt and pepper shakers, private party with hunky The Thunder from Down Under "dance" Troope, the modular indoor grass garden, and the sushi clock.




Still considering, however . . . the London phone booth (which could be painted to match the airplane window - are you picking up on the cocoon thing here - egg chair, phone booth, butterflies in my work, unfolding wings, etc.? I just realized it myself. I must be feelin' vulnerable and long for my safe but sheltered boring life . . . hmmm) . . .