Cigar bands

I bought some cigar bands from a fellow Estian and made this pin...I like it! But what was interesting to me was when I got the bag in the mail and opened it up a beautiful whiff of cigars filled the room. That sent me hurteling back in time to being a kid on Sunday nights with my dad and grandpa sitting watching Bonanza, smoking their E.G. Dunns or if they were feeling extra special fancy...White Owls.

Its amazing how smells take up back to places.
First day of school: floor polish
Summer: Off insect repellant and suntan lotion
Pizza Joes: Real pizza crusts and Dr. Pepper
Grandpa Bames: Vicks vapo-rub
Fall: burning leaves
Dundee theater: burned popcorn and scorched paper bags

We all have them...scent memories that linger in the back of our minds only to be dragged up front and center when you catch a wiff of something familar.
Avon Calogne: Dad getting ready to go call Bingo
Moth balls: Mom's cedar chest
Aqu-net: Big sis getting ready for a date
Crayons: rainy days being bored

And you can never know when these scents are going to hit...standing in line at a store, walking in the mall, a subtle breeze in the window. Whenever the neighbors are BBQ'ing I am always transported to family reunions. Amazing.

So I hope we can all find some fond scent memory to transport us back...fabric softener, cologne, cooking...and enjoy a free trip back in time, if only for a moment.

bling, bling

I love that word! I feel kinda stupid saying it, but typing it makes me happy. And that got me thinking about words in general and how they have changed over the years.

I lived in a 3 (and sometimes 4) generation household and could barely understand what was being said half the time. Grandpa could confuse the heck out of me by talking about so and so 'leaving his grip in the beergarden even after I gave him the office'. I'll hold that up to any hip-hop lingo out there. But, that's the kind of 'hairpin' he was...uh...ok

The other day I typed 'holy carp, the snow is over my generic uggs' and realized Grandpa would not have gotten any of that.

I think I am the only person who will still use the word 'groovy' and mean it. Listen, I lived through polyester striped bellbottoms and the Brady Bunch, I deserve it. I also deserve the right to use the words:
'awesome' even if it is a Lionel Richie 80's style throwback
'neeto-gweeto'
'killer'
'dude'
'foxy'
and 'rad' tho honestly I haven't seen too many 'rad' things lately

I will try ever so hard to incorporate some more colorful words into my lifestyle, and not only the four letter ones...but I doubt I will ever pass myself off as a 'hipster'.

There is just something kinda wrong with an AARP refugee trying to sound like an MTV rejected reality show has been...I don't know a snookie from a situation and am pretty content with that.

So I will stick with what I know...and its all good!

courage

Thank You StormOne Originals, http://www.etsy.com/shop/stormone for letting me borrow your avatar for this blog, from the very first time I saw it I knew I had to write about her!

When I think of the term courage so many images come to mind. Usually it will involve something dramatic like the firefighters on 9-11 or Christopher Reeves in his wheelchair; but every once in a while I find an image that strikes the very center of my heart and adds a face to the word 'courage' This is Bessie Coleman.

Bessie's biography is on Wickopedia, and I wont bother to recite it here, because I want to dwell on that quiet determined face that is in the photo. Imagine how many times that woman was told 'NO'...no you cant because you are a woman, no you can't because you are black, young, poor...No No No...

And in her quiet determination she said 'oh yes I will' and went to France to earn her pilots license. In 1921 she became the first woman to hold a commercial pilots license. Think about that...think about the times and the determination it would take to push past all the hatred, the ignorance, and the fear to do something you love. I am humbled in the image.

The look on that face says it all, the quiet determination to follow your heart. The calm demeanor of knowing this is your destiny, good or bad, and following your dream...its all there on her face.

Bessie Colman, you are my hero.

supersized potential

Back in the day when I was in school, no one talked to me about the concept of potential. We were either college bound or not. I was given classes based on my 'potential' thus: the NOT classes. I took basic math, independent reading (twice!) art, choir, and some other essential classes to help me on the production line. No one ever talked to me about college, my parents both quit school to work and my future seemed destined to involve a uniform in some manner.

Not that there is anything wrong with that, this country was built on the backs of people like my parents and grandparents who got up at 4AM and worked the same mind numbing job for 30 years...God Bless every one of them. But that life was not for me.

For the longest time I wanted to be a Veterinarian.
Then a Surgeon
A Mortician
(is there a theme here?)
I finally decided on Commercial art...(interesting leap)
But my 'potential' in art was marginal, and my finances even less...one year later, the money dried up and I had to leave college.

So now, looking back through 35 years of side trips, hijacks, and detours I am still pondering my potential.

Go back to school...????
Not sure I could take being taught by someone 20 years younger than me...I know I would be replaying that scene from "Peggy Sue got married" when she stands up in her Algebra class and says 'I know for a fact I don't need to know this' and leaves. yup, that would be me.

Volunteering...
have you MET me??? If I can't be in charge, aint NOBODY gonna be in charge.

Housewife...
Good googly goo...Listen: I know there are women out there that wake up all excited cuz they are gonna finally clean behind the piano, roast a duck and power wash the house, that aint me! I can bearly muster up enough energy to get dressed.

Start my own business...
Lord help me...what would that be? Here in Michigan, especially where I live. We can't support a Big Lots, our Radio Shack closed years ago, and even the local greasy spoon chucked it in last month. There are people here that advertise to come and pick up your dog poop..."The Doggie Roll Patrol". Yeah, its that bad here.

So here I sit, waiting for inspiration to push me to the next big thing...
Do I start painting and illustrating again? Do I finish that ding-dong book I am trying to write, do I keep making jewelry, start selling vintage, learn tatooing???

AGH! Maybe, just maybe I need to get over myself, put on the polyester golf shirt and learn to say:

'would you like fries with that?'

Leftovers

I love leftovers! They fall in the same category as broken, ugly or unwanted. A lot of the items in my shop are made from leftovers. This bracelet is made from some beads and parts I bought at the Salvation Army...they were on a kids tap dance costume and then sent to get another chance at being 'something'. The necklace, same thing, all leftovers.

I love the idea of giving something another chance, of looking at junk and seeing potential, of having another GO at life. Maybe that's why I am so passionate at making jewelry from found objects. Giving it another chance to fulfill its destiny. Maybe I am hoping to get the same chance someday.

Yeah, I doubt you will see me running through airports trying to make that connection any more, or find me shopping at the Franklin Planner shop, or even dashing through Starbucks on my way to a meeting...those days are long gone. I miss them terribly but life is what you make of it, and this is the hand I have been dealt.

I am a left over...and thanks to the recession, I will be a left over till I am officially retired and become a 'usta-be'. Ironically, I was equip to be a 'usta', but its 10 years to soon, I don't have my condo in Bocca lined up, and I don't play golf, and I live in the frickin' center of abso-flippin-lutely nowhere. The winter brings out the cabin fever, and living in a cabin doesn't help. being a left-over sucks.

I think that's why I enjoy Etsy so much, I can fit in with just about any group, find like minded people who are creative and interesting and I feel less 'leftover'. And if I sell a piece here and there, it validates my existence. Win-win.

So, while I will always ache for the mad dash of corporate life with all its frustrations, I must accept that its over. I'm taking my left over life and making something interesting out of it.

computer ignorant?

There isn't a word strong enough to define how illiterate I am in terms of anything technical...comp-u-tard??? cy-ber-dork??? tech-no-ditz??? nothing exactly can describe how ignorant I am in terms of anything with initials in the name.

Case in point: the MP3 player I am trying to get to work with my ancient and much abused computer. Apparently, in spite of the fact I just took it out of the box, it needs an upgrade to the 'firmware'...wha??? ok. so I upgrade whatever the frick that is...and then spend an hour or two synchronizing my system to Windows (which has no connection with anything remotely window like) only to find out my windows system needs to be upgraded to the next level...meanwhile audio.com want me to uninstall the programs and reinstall them (hoping I don't loose content) and then I get to the place to upgrade the audio.com site I get a screen that says "we've hit a bump". What bump, I didn't feel any bump...headdesk maybe but no bump. Creative support is saying I need to upgrade my entire system, as the MP3 player is not a current model...(just out of the box!) Meanwhile, I got a 3 inch USB plug that will only fit in this system (so what does the U stand for???) so I can't even see what is happening to the player...

ugh!

Yes, it is true I still have a rotary phone...cuz it still works, never ever runs out of batteries, can be found and used when the lights are out and I have never, ever butt dialed anyone from it.

I come from a world that understood when you spend thousands of dollars on an item it should be functioning and supported for more than 3 minutes after you finish paying for it...the concept that any computer system over a few years old is obsolete makes those little bluebirds spin around my head.

And its only going to get worse...My coffee pot needs to be programed...(yeah right)my cell phone has a few bells and whistles that I have never heard, I guess it has a camera but I don't know how to work it, much less retrieve the pictures...I am completely in the dark.

I do get a kick of seeing the neighbor kids come over to 'look at my phone'...its right up there with them coming over to go through my closets for Halloween. But at some point I will no longer be able to play the VHS tapes (who am I kidding, I got 8 tracks in the basement)

I paid a lot of cash to get ramped up for the new millennium...yeah, I am now only 11years behind, but for me that cutting edge! And as soon as I can dig this new MP3 player out of the wall, I will see if the upgrade worked. Crap, I miss the days when technology consisted of taping nickles to the arm of the record player.

ack...where have I been???

Forgive me people for I have not written in so long! I am not a writer and do not get a great deal of fulfillment by typing, retyping misspelling and constantly reviewing every word. I heard J.K. Rawlings say she would die if she didn't write daily...me, I think it would take something a bit more concrete..like, oh...say concrete.

Over the holidays I have increased my frustration load in the form of one: Lily. She is another English Bulldog puppy with all that is included with that. Couple that with having a raging bladder infection over Christmas and you can understand why I haven't exactly been able to write (or cook, clean, sleep, or bathe). She is a handful. Standing out in my PJ's in the middle of the night watching a puppy pee is not the most uplifting experience one can have in the dead of winter. But, I think we have rounded a corner and are on a 2 hour pee schedule...someday I may actually be able to leave the house!

We also have semi-adopted a cat...not that I wanted or needed a cat, we have a cat who is already breaking every house rule, puking on the mail left on the table, sitting on my head while I sleep and knocking my medicine down the drain when not catered to...but Milo came to us one freezing night, and after a call to all the local neighbor kids we found out he belonged (belongs?) to the neighbors who left for Florida round about Thanksgiving...leaving Milo to 'fend for himself'. niiiiiice! So Milo is spending the winter here at the lodge.

Myself...I have been feverishly making (tho not especially selling) jewelry. And after the first full time year I can say that if I need to live on my earnings...I have to move to Asia. Not the cool part of Asia, but more like a back water, dust filled rice paddy place with no running water.

So, there I sit in my room filled to the brim with cat hair and bulldog farts, surrounded with bits and pieces of jewelry that is to be, waiting for inspiration to kick in...

It may be a while...please be patient!