It's Craft-astic

Be there or be square.

:)

P.S. Unless, of course, you don't live anywhere near Athens, Georgia.

Eureka!!

I just had to share my discovery for the week!! If you have an Etsy shop, and you've ever wondered if there was a kinder, gentler way to check your stats and shop "hearts,' then this site is for you--I am not kidding. . . run -- don't walk -- right over to check it out. The site is as easy as pie to navigate, and it provides many of your stats in one nice, easy click or two.



And while you're in the Etsy neighborhood, be sure to check out SpookyTimeJingles new Etsy shop. Lots of Halloween and lots of cool, spooky deals. You might even see this fun little spooky Jack-o-Candy container. :)

I've Been Everywhere, Man. . .

We've had another busy week here in "Nash"ville: school and kids and dogs and mud and husbands and airports and "Fiddler on the Roof"(highschool-style) and papier mache and deadlines and watching 9 minutes of Susan Boyle at least 2 million times. Whew, I've barely had time to breathe!

But I did manage to do a little blog-patrol recently and this post by Pam reminded me of my days living in Tennessee. One of my favorite places to drive through visit there is called Bucksnort. (Unless one blinks and misses it!) No joke, Bucksnort! I'd love to live in Bucksnort, TN--wouldn't that be a hoot on your mail! Another favorite town from "my old stompin' ground" is called Bell Buckle, Tennessee. It sounds like a city from a 60's sitcom. I've also been to Paris (there's no Eiffel tower in this one), Pigeon Forge (appropriately named -- eeeew), LaVergne (there's no city named "Shirley" anywhere nearby), Eagleville (a place to soar), Mt. Juliet (never saw Romeo while I was there, not even once.) And once in highschool we got lost on a roadtrip to a football game -- our caravan ended up in a town called South Pittsburg! Thankfully, we weren't that lost--it's also a town in Tennessee. As is Cleveland, Charleston, Athens, Dayton, Monterrey, Sparta, Troy, Carthage, and Lebanon. You can be a world traveler and never even leave the state!

And there are other fun places I've visited in Tennessee as well. I like Cookeville and Crossville and sweet, sweet little Maryville. Other names are more unique. As if living in this world isn't hard enough, imagine growing up in a town called Defeated--it's where my grandfather was born. Oh, the humiliation the local Little League team must suffer! And then there's Hohenwald, Tennessee. If you say it quickly, it sounds like, "Hole-in-the-wall."

Not that Tennessee has a lock on interesting names. Here in Georgia, we also have some doozies. Apparently many of the founding fathers had food on the brain--there's Coffee County, Bacon County, Baker County, Cook County, and Bibb County. We have places with low self-esteem like Butts County (no comment---they've probably heard it all) as well as Quitman County.

Georgia is the location of towns such as Po Biddy Crossroads, Jay Bird Springs (I'm guessing that clothes may be an option here), Trickum Hills (not to be confused with "Treatum Hills"), Flea Hills (pass the itch meds), and even one called Destitute Acres, Georgia, which is probably the next stop on the train from Defeated, Tennessee or Quitman County, Georgia.

Happy Easter

It's Friday!!

Woot, woot!

The Early Bird

It's spring break for my kids this week, but I was still up before the birds this morning. Lest you think I'm nuts, or superwoman or something, I must confess. . . every ounce of my being begged to stay in dreamland, snuggled in my warm bed. However, getting up before the crack of dawn did give me plenty of time to plan my day, and my week, and it also gave me time to relax and to quietly enjoy copious amounts of strong coffee before any other living being even thought about dragging out of bed. By my third cup of the black stuff, I even had time to ponder deep philosophical issues like, why is it called "climate change" now instead of global warming? And if the world pronounces Barack's last name, "O-bam-a," why don't we pronounce "A-la-bam-a" the same way? I'm just sayin.' And. . . where do all of the socks go?! My laundry basket has 17 different socks and not one matching pair--how is this even possible?

I also pondered the age-old truism about how the early bird always gets the worm. Now, just why is that? I'm quite sure that whoever came up with that piece of advice never had teenagers on spring break, or a nocturnal dog who dropped out of college but still keeps college-kid hours. And for that matter, if being the early-bird is so great and allows for greater opportunity, one might also look at it from the worm's perspective: all that the worm ever got out of getting up early was . . . eaten.

I need a nap.

(P.S. The painting above is one of my watercolors I did several years ago.)

What the Crepe?!

It's my handmade crepe paper, ultra fluffy fringe-- just listed on Etsy!!

More on the way. Check it out here.

Happy Friday!!

Oh Mylanta

I'm not sure what to say about these two advertisements from the olden days. I suppose if one believes the advice of the first ad, the second product was there to keep the consumer fit(?) and trim. (If you're brave, you might need to click the second image to read exactly what's being sold. For the record, I didn't know you could even use the words "sanitized," "jar-packed," and "tapeworm" in the same sentence.)

I'm told these vintage ads are authentic. . . and it makes me shudder. Silly me, to think I was worried about a few bad peanuts and pistachio nuts.