Banner Haus News

Oh Dear, I'm Back, Somewhat!

2010-10-12T00:01:00.005-05:00

I just can't keep my olde mouth shut -- yak yak yak, type type type -- fiddling with images and missing my bloggie frens -

My olde Penniwig's blog is back! Click to visit!

With a difference, with a difference...mainly free printables, and JUST MEAN OLDE ME holding forth! My nerves can't take the chitchat at this point...but I do what I can, dearies...

Mayhap see you there?

A Good-Bye, 9-11 and Never Forget

2010-09-10T00:02:00.007-05:00

September 11, 2001

Tomorrow is a sad day to remember, and today is a somewhat sad day for me -- at long last, after many years, many blogs, and many monikers, I am closing down my daily blogging effort.

Sometimes something that has been right changes into something that is no longer optimal.

My motto: Always do your best to move towards health -- mental, physical, spiritual.

A move away from the blog world, away from the Internet, and towards a closer communion with the natural world is the message and vibe I have received. The virtual world is many things to many people, but for me, it began to cast a shadow on my heart and I have to turn away from it now.

But of course I will still be dropping by and visiting and watching others slave over their bloggies.

Something that just hurt my heart with the blog world was to have no way to reach someone except through their blog -- to feel a kinship with them, or concern for them -- and then some crazy technical problem would occur and comments would get lost or be unable to be posted -- it upsets my equilibrium and puts a wobble in the karmic whole -- it seems too shallow a way to communicate, for me -- just not good for my lil' heart; this lil' donkey has trod too rough a path and can't take too many more bumps.

Kindly look for free animations on my snowiecat Photobucket accounts -- Faith had a great idea about making a hurricane lamp animation -- and rescued vintage graphics and original creations as well.

I go down my path, and my wish for you is strength for your path. Wishes for happiness and a merry heart, or strength if your path is full of pitfalls, go with you! As a favorite author, Brenda Ueland, said, "Strength to your sword arm!"

Acorn Smith

2010-09-09T00:01:00.007-05:00

My mother and father grew up in the Great Depression. They were seven years old when the bottom fell out. My mother -- whose family was pretty much unaffected by the Depression -- used to tell of a boy in her hometown who was nicknamed "Acorn." She told it as a funny story, but it always made me so very sad. Most things my mother found funny, I found sad or distressing.

Acorn Smith had gotten his nickname because as the eldest son, he would collect acorns for his mother and younger siblings to eat. Oak tree acorns; very bitter. His mother, a widow, would evidently soak them in lye and change the water again and again -- much as cassava or manioc is prepared in South America. The lye bath leaches most of the bitter tannins out of the acorn meat, which can then be ground into meal and eaten like any nut flour. A mother would have be quite resourceful and equally desperate to use acorn flour to feed her children.

My mother had her own demons, and I think they made her rather mean-spirited. She would tell with delight about her brother shooting Acorn with his BB gun as he would stoop to gather the acorns, and poor Acorn crying "like a baby" and yelping but having to stay and pick enough for their needs.

This graphic is in honor of Acorn Smith and his mother, who quietly went about their way, gleaning what they could from Nature and gratefully eating their daily bread. I don't know what happened to them; I hope better days came and that Acorn made it through WWII and went on to have a bit more of life's bounty than bitter bread and the derision of unfeeling peers. God Bless you, Acorn.

Bragging, and Mallowcremes

2010-09-08T00:01:00.003-05:00

Oh, it's been a long time since I was in a country-fried graphics mood.

Here's the noble mallowcreme, starring in its very own 2010 image.

Right-click to save.

Wanted to mention that my earlier prediction as mentioned in a previous post of a HUGE QUAKE WHERE THERE WAS NO KNOWN FAULT LINE did come true -- the 7.2 in New Zealand, and the creation/discovery of a new fault line. AND my prediction of many quakes in the heartland of the USA and other non-traditional spots -- the Oklahoma quakes. And the Indonesian volcano, though there are worse to come soon, too. Ta-da. Don't fergit my blizzard warning...just received a vibe about a giant WHIRLPOOL in the sea, too...predicted to my family that it will be discovered our planet and solar system "rotates into" both "germs" and WEATHER...then seemingly got the first part of that prediction validated about some sort of space-born lifeforms raining down onto the planet? More to come, if received...

Cruel Rant and For Autumn Birthdays, A Vintage Postcard

2010-09-07T00:02:00.000-05:00

Here is the original and a hue-altered version of a pretty vintage copyright-free postcard design.

Click it to get it to load up a larger version.

I love the unusual colors of autumn mums -- I go for the really weird colors, the russets and such -- well, I "go for them" mentally, it's been years since I could indulge in actually getting a pot of mums, even at Walmart prices.

Oh my dears, the money that once ran though my hands...*sigh* -- well actually ,that ran through various menfolks's hands as I watched admiringly, never clever enough to get any for my dear and most precious self...lol...

Which brings me to a rant -- calling myself Precious a la Gollum in the Lord of the Rings series of books brought it to mind -- *gag*

It's the habit of some bloggers -- even some of my dear bloggie FRENS -- to call themselves or their loved ones by idiotic and frankly stomach-churning names...

For example, they might refer to their sons and grandsons as "Superboy" and "Soccergenius," or "Grander #1" or "Grander #5" or "Bestest Grandboy" or other repulsively indulgent terms...

They hit their stride with their daughters and granddaughters -- witness monikers along the lines of "Prettykins" and "Dear Dolly Dumplin' Daughter" and "Giggle Girl" and "Sweetsieroo" --

But where they become truly nauseating -- making me get out my Sig Sauer and look at it longingly -- is when they discuss their husbands -- you know my temper about husbands --

This is the sort of thing that makes a woman put on a bandolier and run amok, virtually, anyway -- these sorts of flattering nicknames for what is, after all, little better than a danged ol' skunk -- A HUSBAND --

Manly Man

Sir Abs-A-Lot

Mister Muscles

Mister Nibbles

Mister "What Have You, As Long As It Is Dreadfully Twee"

The Man

The Boy-Man

Manboy?

The Him (THIS ONE IS REPULSIVELY POPULAR)

Cuddle-Fish

Cuddler

Lovebot

The Herminator

The Himinator

Love Bucket

Dreamboat

etc etc etc

Excuse me now, I have to go see what Mr. Skunky-Wunky and The Nifty Nerd want for breakfast...

Before and After, and Welcome Sign

2010-09-06T00:01:00.003-05:00

I hope bloggie fren Amrita does not mind my featuring an old snapshot (remember that term?) of her family as shown on her blog, Yesu Garden. You really ought to go visit there, she's very entertaining! Even when crabby, she's very droll. Not that she's ever really crabby!

I'm just showing that sometimes a cherished old photo can be enhanced digitally. I like the old look of vintage things, but sometimes a person wants their family photos to be a bit clearer or less faded. I have "corrected" hundreds of photos for folks on the side, always free of course. There are also those who do this professionally and who likely use their Photoshop program to do so -- at $1400 for the program, I can see why they would charge.

This little sign can be saved by right-clicking. It is a "transparent image," meaning it should appear to "float" on the page.

Every Leaf A Flower

2010-09-05T00:01:00.000-05:00

Someone said that. It isn't original with me. Something about autumn being a second spring, with every leaf a flower.

Poetical!

On the Very Edge of Autumn

2010-09-04T00:01:00.000-05:00

This young witch looks like she is ready to take off and fly like an autumn leaf on the wind.

Altered from a lovely vintage painting that bore the title, "The Witch." The style should be familiar to me, but I don't know who painted it.

Autumn Poem by George Cooper

2010-09-03T00:01:00.003-05:00

I really like many of the old-fashioned poems. Just pretty or lighthearted poems.

This one is called "October's Party," and it is very gladsome. I like the capitalization of the tree names.

But let us not delve into why I am putting up an October poem in September. Let me just say that it is a personal triumph to be able to post anything, and that also my brains are addled by placing thousands of Hallowe'en cards up in stores.

Book Harvest

2010-09-02T00:01:00.000-05:00

I like the Laura Ingalls Wilder books -- the Little House series. I know, many places have them banned. So absurd! But I was delighted to find that for all these years, I had missed reading one of them, and now I have it in my hot lil' hooves. How delightful to sit in a pool of lamplight and cozily read something absorbing!

This harvest picture also struck me as very cozy. It is altered from the original vintage, copyright-free painting. Right-click to save. It gets bigger when regular-clicked, too.

Pumpkinless Pie and Persimmon Rose Calling Card

2010-09-01T00:01:00.001-05:00

September, dearies. This is just a vintage calling card that has been altered to have an autumn hue. Click it to enlarge.

I was itching to go off on a rant about Blog Etiquette According to One Who Knows, but can't get myself ireful enough to tackle it today. Something set me off but unfortunately the hysteria wore off before I could post.

In the meantime, here is that yam pie of which I tweeted. I put this up last year or year before, during the Great Pumpkinless Season, which has morphed into No Pumpkins, The Sequel.

Pumpkinless Pumpkin Pie

Two large or 4 small yams or sweet potatoes. Don't peel them yet.

Cook them in boiling salted water until tender -- for example, when you can stick 'em with a fork. Note: It is normal for them to smell like cat breath/gasoline when boiling. Do not let it alarm you.

If you don't have enough time to cook them all the way, take them out and zap them some.

Peel them and put in big bowl.

Add in one can sweetened condensed milk and an egg.

Beat on it all. Smack it with a potato masher, that's what I do. Whip it A BIT if you have an electric mixer. Pull out any strings of potato because picky people are scared of them.

Add in some spices. I added in pumpkin pie spice and threw in extra cinnamon and ginger, but better TOO BLAND than TOO SPICED because you can always dust it with more cinnamon when done if needed.

Now put it in a pie crust. Put in a 400 oven for 10 minutes and lower the heat to 325 for about 40 more or until done. You can tell it's done when you give the piepan a shake and it doesn't. Put a piece of tinfoil on it if it's getting too brown. Cook it up high in the oven, not on a lower rack.

It will flatten down nicely when cooled. This is a pioneer-style pie.

We'll Have A Cup

2010-08-31T00:01:00.001-05:00

Here is my shortened version of a pretty teatime image from long ago. I like that lil' footstool the girl on the left is using. Only one slice of cake is gone. Someone has willpower.

Right-click to save any image.

A Very Strong Lady

2010-08-30T00:01:00.002-05:00

And what have we here? A woman with extreme strength hidden under that ungainly driving coat.

She is lifting that heavy pumpkin with ease. Mayhap she has a future in a grocery store produce department, or it's a diet pumpkin -- you know, "lite."

Exasperated Angel

2010-08-29T00:01:00.001-05:00

No, not me, dearies. Although the "exasperated" part of the blog title often applies, the other part does not!

This is such a charming vintage picture of a little angel who looks a bit exasperated.

It looks to me that she could be used in many situations!

Mayhap she is dismayed at your blog's lack of comments?

Or that something didn't turn out well?

Or that she has to watch over goof-balls all the time?

Or that the rose seems to be a bit tired?

Whatever it is her expression says to you, she sure is cute!

A Prediction and Time for Autumn Clipart

2010-08-28T00:01:00.002-05:00

A vibe has passed through my noggin.

EARLY DEEP SNOWFALL through much of the country. WAY EARLY. A blizzard. Dipping down, down, down into the continent.

People's eyes will be as big as saucers. People's saucers will be as big as eyes -- no, scratch that last one.

And here we have my version of a prim clock I saw for sale. I must tell ye gals and guys that they are stocking and about to open those seasonal Hallowe'en stores here -- the ones where they go into empty storefronts (and we have plenty of them) and put up tons of costumes and decorative items and party goods. The regular party store is tossing luau items faster than you can say "punkin pie" and filling the shelves with fall items.

Tag Yer It and More Gloomy Blog Talk

2010-08-27T00:01:00.004-05:00

And here we have a small tag welcoming autumn.

Before I slip into my Ol' Gloom and Doom mode, the giveaway winner!!! It's someone very lovely indeed -- CYNDI/Frstyfolk of ByLightOfMoon!

I would like to weigh in on my assertion yesterday that blogging is a form of communication that is on the way out. But I don't wish to hurt feelings, either, and a full expression of my perceptions would likely do that.

I think Anvilcloud is very much onto something with his comment: "Perhaps you're right, but I wonder if with FB etc it's just the purely social aspect that is dwindling. Maybe content-based and/or creative blogs will continue to flourish. Who's to know?" [Apologies to Anvilcloud for any embarrassment associated with being associated with any of my thoughts.]

Yes, I think a few content-based blogs will remain -- as team-based mega-blogs hidden behind a single public persona, like a digital version of Betty Crocker. I write for one, you know. Of course, I know you didn't know. But I ghostwrite quite a bit. For a made-up person. I do his blog posts. It's a bit underhanded of me, yes. Several people are writing for this made-up person.

As for the creative blogs -- I have my doubts as to their longevity. There's only so much poetry and so many artsy photos a person can stand without picking up bad habits, like the Jack Daniels bottle.

And I realize that many bloggers/blog readers are at a very different place than I am, in terms of years spent doing it, and also that others blog for different reasons than I do. This is a wonderful situation where everyone is right, no matter their opinion [crosses fingers under computer desk].

As I have maintained through half a dozen years of running daily blogs under as many personas -- if you are happy with the experience, it is a success, for you.

For me olde self, my path will undoubtedly diverge in the not-too-distant future, or so the vibes say. And you know how trusty my vibes are. I truly live by them. But that's my path, and has no bearing upon any other bloggers' paths.

A Sea-Change and A See, Change!

2010-08-26T00:01:00.003-05:00

DON'T FERGIT THE GIVEAWAY, SEE YESTERDAY'S POST. A comment today also enters you -- okay to "double dip" lol.

All fashions pass, whether they be fashions in literature, dress, decor, food -- what have you.

Choral music, caroling, bowling leagues, badmiton, croquet on summer evenings, galas, clapping chalk erasers, molded gelatin desserts, aluminum Christmas trees, convertibles, pickled pigs' feet, poetry, essays, dial phones, corn-shucking parties, girls in pigtails, African violets on the windowsill, bow ties, big families. All once staples of a middle-class life; now, just memories, in great part.

And, blogs.

I've been blogging many, many years, under many different personas. And every year summers were slow, but the "feel" of the blogging world was different. It was just a temporary slow-down. This past year, I detected a vibe that wasn't there before: Blogs are dying. Considered passe. The worm has turned. It's no one's fault. It just is.

I'm my usual "cheerful" self today, m'dears.

IF the idea of blogs dying out distresses you, consider whether it is just part of the ebb and flow of life. Or, consider taking action to boost bloggies -- interaction is the lifeblood of blogging. But I'm not sure any infusion of energy can help at this point.

I've been lucky, myself. But I feel it all coming to a grinding halt. Just something to ponder.

Giveaway and Your Ticket Fer Fall

2010-08-25T00:01:00.001-05:00

You can't get into autumn unless you have your ticket.

And you can "use" these tickets to enter the giveaway! Just leave any comment, but if you feel like chattin' a bit TELL ME YOUR FAVORITE AUTUMN FOOD! Like candy corn, or punkin pie or cranberry sauce or, in my case, all of it.

Giveaway is a 2010 "Halloween Food, Fun and Crafts" recipe booklet and a package of 8 Hallowe'en cards from last year that I just found stuck way back in the back of a shelf and boss said I could keep -- too late to scan them out fer credit to the company -- "Get rid of 'em," she said...

I don't know when I'll pick the winner -- I pick a name out of the hat -- you can enter on this post every day till I do...the recipes are really amazing in the booklet...

Right-click to save. The tickets are not my original idea. I saw it elsewhere. Ol' copycat.

Autumn Roses Calling Card

2010-08-24T00:01:00.003-05:00

This is just a redo of a Victorian calling card -- now in autumn colors.

I have a giveaway ready but am rushed, rushed, rushed with learning the new job. Not enough paid hours for the actual amount of work, as is typical these days, I'm afraid.

Almost Cider Time

2010-08-23T00:01:00.002-05:00

Actually, dearies, I think it IS cider time, in some locales! I love it any time of year -- but when that chill is in the air and leaves are turning and crows are cawing, that's when it's just extra-delightful to sit with a mug of hot cider!

I make a "Wassail" out of apple cider with a can of jellied cranberries melted in it -- drink it with a clove stuck in yer mouth between cheek and gum, like yer chewing tobaccy -- it's awfully good...

A few years back I got the idea that chewing tobacco must be tasty -- snuck a piece of so-called black cherry and tried it -- four hours later I was still laying on the porch, sicker than a dog. Husband just would come out and look and shake his head. A couple of times he threw some water on me and once I'm pretty sure I heard a laugh but it didn't much help. Sometimes I think I ain't quite right.

Here's a kitty, from an old napkin someone was smart enough to save back in the 50's.

2010-08-22T00:01:00.003-05:00

A Certain Famous Card Company has issued several cards concerning "hard times" and "coping in a tough economy" and "aren't times difficult" and "no one has a job."

Really, is someone going to buy these cards? If you have no job, you don't want to spend money on a card! And if you're the recipient of an "I'm sorry for you" card, flipping it over and seeing that it ran the person $3.50 isn't likely to improve yer mood!

Tee hee.

Here's an apple.

Sidebar Doodad

2010-08-21T00:01:00.001-05:00

I saw a pretty, pastel type of doodad on another bloggie, and created my own (cover yer ears) autumnish version.

Right-click to save. It's a transparent-type image.

Some folks were wondering why I don't just edit the "publish date" when something loads out of order on my bloggie. It always happens that it's something that I probably really shouldn't have been publishing anyway, so I head that karmic hint and just throw it out.

Have a lovely weekend.

Updated to INCLUDE the danged image!!! *laff*

Double Dang It

2010-08-20T00:01:00.008-05:00

I had a heart-wrending post all about my miserable childhood ready for today, and danged if it didn't load out of sequence and have to be deleted. It was a guaranteed sympathy-getter and everything. Poor raggedy me of long ago, getting whipped and wearing one threadbare skirt fer years. Etc etc.

Alas, I not in the mood of rewrite it. So I'll just post the picture that went with it -- a lovely vintage work by a talented artist of the past.

Help Make It An Early Fall

2010-08-19T00:01:00.009-05:00

Honestly, if all of ye would just go outside and bang on a tin pie plate with a bent mixing spoon and holler "Here, fall fall fall! Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere, fall fall fall" maybe the autumn winds would hear you and hurry on down. For best results, use a pie pan that you baked a pumpkin or apple pie in before, allrighty? Honeys, just try it! I'm desperate.

This woman wants autumn, and she wants it now, and she's going to wear fall leaves in her hair in August whether anyone likes it or not. Don't mess with her, she's got that bulldog jaw that means trouble. I would pay good money fer a nose like that, by the way. Trying to tape mine up with that white tape at night is not getting me anywhere. Just making my nose sticky with adhesive residue. My do-it-yourself dermabrasion didn't work too well, either, but at some point I think the skin will start healing.

And here's a nice autumn postcard that was, remarkably, originally a Christmas card. Click it and it will go to postcard size.

Hey Teacher, Leaf Those Kids Alone

2010-08-18T00:01:00.007-05:00

From a vintage postcard entitled "Autumn Leaves Are Falling," an altered version to fit on a website. The original version is also included for those into that scrapbookin' life. Click the lower one to enlarge.

I know ye get sick of my weather-wondering, dearies, but this year is just so strange. I'm uneasy. The morning glories should just be beginning to bloom, but they are already done. The cicadas are singing such mournful dirges that I want to weep -- and they should have been singing a month ago.

Will it be a severe winter? I think so.

By the by, as to my predictions, woke up with a start the other night and felt there was a large earthquake going on somewheres, so quickly grabbed the Blackberry and wrote my thought in the Memo Pad app. And had "proof" to show my husband when he asked the next morning if I had predicted the earthquake that had, indeed, happened during the night. But I'm also predicting a HUGE quake, like an 8.0, and the discovery of a new faultline system. I feel the huge quake may be in the Alaska area.

The Queen of Sheave-ah

2010-08-17T00:01:00.002-05:00

Kindly direct yer attention to the top of both sidebars. Amazing strawberry corn fer sale from a prim bloggie fren and a hollyhock seed giveaway from another bloggie fren. That pup made from crysanthemums is from Japan. I'm going to try it this fall.

From a vintage photographic postcard, a young woman dons a classic robe and strikes a pose while bringing in the sheaves.

Right-click to save.

Real wheat is quite interesting. Where I lived in the Pacific Northwest, bald eagles would walk along behind the threshers and gorge themselves on the lil' mice scampering in panic. A bald eagle is an extremely large bird, larger than you'd think if you hadn't seen 'em up close. With brilliant yellow talons and beaks. Their feet are much larger than a man's hand. And they are almost as tall as a kindergartner.

Gyp Graphic Fer Monday

2010-08-16T00:01:00.001-05:00

Oh, what a gyp.

You clicked all the way over here fer a teeny scarecrow?

Somebody ought to report this to the Blog Police! Except I got my rear-end covered -- I warned ye right there in the title.

Happy Monday, donkey and bloggie frens!

Now who was asking the other day about Ol' Fatty Lumpkin in Lord ofthe Rings? That's the very wise pony that Tom Bombadil lent the hobbits as they walked towards Bree. The human mind is a very strange sieve, catching some things and yet letting important facts slip through.

Pumpkins A La Carte?

2010-08-15T00:01:00.005-05:00

Here we have a lil' gal and a cart full of artificial pumpkins.

Alas, I do believe the porch pumpkin I reported was artifical, because it was on its side today and moving a bit in the breeze. I don't think a real pumpkin would be moving?

However, there were real deceased mice around my porch this morning, likely victims of Potholder Kitty. Or mayhap they expired due to the heat. I felt like laying on the floor meself. Over 100 degrees for weeks, and more to come.

Right-click to save.

Ol' Fatty Lumpkin

2010-08-14T00:01:00.001-05:00

Today we have both a blank version and a "Happy Autumn" version of a vintage postcard.

Regular-click them to enlarge. Or keep them this smaller size. Right-click when ready to save the image on yer own computer.

I'm shocked to report that I have seen a pumpkin appear on a porch already. But I love it. I like to detour out of my way just to drive by it. Wonder where they found it? Mayhap they grew it. I have nicknamed it "Ol' Fatty Pumpkin" in honor of the rotund pony in Lord of the Rings called Fatty Lumpkin.

Indian Corn

2010-08-13T00:01:00.003-05:00

I'm on a jag involving Indian Corn. How I love it.

This weekend, I'm going to be making and putting up an "Indian Corn" necklace fer a giveaway! Just a brass-n-glass interpretation of the real thang. My poor previous giveaway winners are waitin' -- because I'm waitin' on a paycheck so I can mail 'em off.

Been feeling lower than a toad's butt a-settin' in a mud puddle. Sometimes I feel kind of downhearted and foolish in life. I was sad enough to get myself a big bowl of Froot Loops and was eating it while reading the last Harry Potter. And what do you know, but several moths flew out of the cereal. ARGH. I had already eaten quite a bit! But what the hey. I was scared to look too closely at the few Froot Loops left. Scared something might be moving in them or swimming in the milk.

Here's some Indian Corn in an image. I have a very interesting recipe that I'll be posting closer to Hallowe'en and it makes an "Indian Corn" snack. In the meantime, get yerselves a big bag of those M-and-M pretzels and eat them while you wait. They are incredible.

Free Image of Some Sort

2010-08-12T00:01:00.002-05:00

Don't ask me, dearies. I'm bushed. Running all around getting ready fer that rotten job I just got. Running to the notary, running to the fax place, running to the drug-test place, where a desperate-looking young man asked me if I could spare a cup of urine.

Did any of ye happen to see the list of the 12 worst cities in terms of personal income dropping between 2008 and now?

MIDLAND was the very worst of all. Three times as bad as any of the other top eleven! But I knew it, despite the many denials here. The store shelves are getting empty, people aren't buying anyway, and there's a peculiar feeling of gloom. Traffic is lighter. Restaurants closing right and left. National chains pulling out. All the want ads fitting onto 1/4 of a page in the paper, which has gone up to $2. So many being forced into part-time work when even fulltime work isn't paying enough. Hundreds of houses going up for sale while hundreds of apartments are being built and standing empty.

But some wealthy nut is building a gated community with a fake river meandering through it. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Now you see why I jumped at this job, although it's truly a bad job.

Here's an elegant gal. Flapper, by the looks of her.

A Harvest and the Harvest of a Job

2010-08-11T00:01:00.001-05:00

Halloo dearies.

I just got offered a new job -- another merchandising/inventory job, but this one involves a giant territory and lots of driving. Combined with the Hallmark job, it will equal a fulltime job and then some. No benefits, of course. In these troubled times, I took what I could get.

Now I am on the fence as whether or not to carry a gun in the car. My flail, of course, will go with me, but you have to be within flailin' range to knock someone on the head with a large wooden spoon. The spoon/spatula is HUGE. But it's just for close combat. I will be driving long, lonesome roads. I'm back to that argument with myself as to whether it's better to be shot than to shoot. I think I am safe in saying "What a crazy world."

Here we have a harvest depiction from long ago. Wish I could jump into these old images! But I might refuse to come back to the present day.

Right-click to save.

Elegant Autumn Gal

2010-08-10T00:01:00.002-05:00

Oh, here I am in an old illustration.

Tee hee.

This elegant gal strikes a lovely pose near a ripening pumpkin.

Right-click to save. Regular-click to make it enlarge first. From a vintage illustration, altered a bit.

Rushy Rushy Fall

2010-08-09T00:01:00.000-05:00

Ha! I don't care. It's too hot to care. I WANT to rush fall. I want cool air! I want that sparkly feeling!

School Is Just Around the Corner

2010-08-08T00:01:00.004-05:00

It's that time of year. My son registered for fall classes -- they start in two weeks!

I never have remembered whatever it was I forgot yesterday. *sigh* I have made progress, though: It was a two-word item. Whatever it was, it had two words to it.

Right-click to save this vintage image.

"I Can't Remember," Said with a Flourish

2010-08-07T00:01:00.002-05:00

I'm thinking of something. Rather, I'm trying to think of something. I thought of something during the night, right when I was falling asleep. I said it firmly to myself three times. "I will remember now," I said. I can remember that. But now, I can't remember what it was. Something from the past I wanted to mention on the bloggie, and see if anyone else remembered it, too.

Here are two scroll pumpkins. I noticed at the store that a lot of the fall decor features pumpkins with flourishes incised or painted on them.

As I predicted, tons of turquoise-touched punkins on display. And lilac paired with black. My beloved chartreuse is not present this year, but next year, I have no doubt it will burst upon the scene.

Shockingly Adding Ads, and Winners

2010-08-06T00:01:00.006-05:00

Argh! What I just "hate" about giveaways is reaching in the bowl and pulling out just one winner.

It gets me nervous, and it disrupts the karmic flow on the bloggie. So I got my son to pick two winners. It's not great, but it's a bit better! I'd wish I could make everyone a necklace. I got a lot of valuable advice in those comments.

AkasaWolfSong and Miss Peach, send me yer addy and I will send along an Autumn Jumble Necklace to you. My email addy is in my profile.

I have loads of beads coming that I ordered very quickly when a BIG OL' GOOGLE ADSENSE check came my way, and am going to keep ~~forcing~~ offering the Jumbles for giveaways up thru Christmas. World domination through jewelry!

You will notice ads on my bloggie now. Yes, over on the sidebar. Some will remember the big fit I had when Google was sneaking around looking at where visitors went, through the ads somehow. But they have a way to opt out of that now. I have tried to put the "filter" in place so that tacky ads will not be shown, but it's taking awhile to work. My apologies fer sticking ads on here, but Google did change their settings so I can now place them without letting Google "follow" you around like it loves to do. And I cannot resist the money. BEAD MONEY. I am weak, donkey frens. Very weak. BEADS are my weakness.

This is from a vintage card. Right-click to save. Altered a bit. Gets bigger when regular-clicked, or can be placed a sidebar and "shrunk to fit."

Vintage Bookmarks

2010-08-05T00:01:00.002-05:00

This pair of bookmarks were originally issued by a church. I think they'd be pretty printed and cut out. But with printer ink sky-high, you may have to do as I do and simply enjoy them on-screen!

Right-click to save.

Getting Hired Sight Unseen

2010-08-04T00:01:00.008-05:00

Thank'ee, thank'ee all who gave advice about the necklaces! I will tell you, I was a bit down lately, and the nice advice surely helped me perk up!!!

I'll pick the winner tonight -- but will post the name on Friday because all night tonight I am going to be doing a set-up fer a "roadshow" -- $140!!! -- woo hoo, now I can get MORE beads...somebody out of California hired me, and I go set up an elaborate display at a store while it's closed (spooky!), take pictures, and text it to them...in two weeks I go take it down...

The hiring, schematics to follow, chat, etc all took place online. The people in California found my name on the NARMS site and contacted me. This modern world is very strange. One thing good about the rough end of merchandising is that they don't care what you look like. They don't care if yer a gray-haired plump lady. They just want someone reliable to show up and work hard. I am not going to let my back stop me. Money is money and aspirin is cheap.

The lady in this vintage graphic is inspiring me to walk more. Look at that tiny waist.

Giveaway: Jumble Necklace

2010-08-03T00:01:00.011-05:00

I can't stand the thought of missing a day. What I was going to post today, posted yesterday, "on an accident."

The Autumn Jumble is the prize for answering yesterday's question I posed.

So go see yesterday's post! And answer over there.

Here is a pretty autumn path.

New Necklaces - Giveaway - and A Ladybug Photo

2010-08-02T00:01:00.028-05:00

PRETEND THIS IS UP ON TUESDAY, PUT THE WRONG DATE ON IT AND IT LOADED EARLY!!!

Fer those hangin' on to summer (in August! Fer shame!), here's a ladybug who came out to get a drink of water. Scroll down fer it. No, that's not rain. Just me watering these poor thirsty plants.

Fer the giveaway, you are about to find out that there's no free lunch, even on this bloggie. Nope, nothin' free. You have to WORK fer this giveaway.

OPINIONS NEEDED. Prize is the necklace below.

Wondering: It would sure be easier fer me to make a "type" of necklace and just show SAMPLE PICTURES of SEVERAL of them in each color class. It would save me a heap of money and save the buyers a heap of money, too, because if I were free to use this-or-that bead here-or-there, I could quickly and easily make these brass-n-glass Jumble Necklaces. In various colors.

I love making these. I'm addicted to them. Someone bought one RIGHT OFF MY NECK yesterday. It had a lil' Jack O'Lantern bead on it. Tee hee. Rush, rush, come on autumn!!!

I love these necklaces because it's a way to get beads I have hoarded for decades OUT of the beadbox and into the world. I have been keeping beads fer pure greediness on my part and karma-wise, it was no good. The beads were bummed. Now, they're happy.

QUESTION: Do you think it could work to show several examples, and the buyer knows they will get a creation that is VERY VERY SIMILAR to the ones shown, but not one of the exact ones shown?

Kindly give yer opinion to enter. I was going to sell these fer around $20. Each necklace features at least a few spendy beads, some Czech beads, maybe some metalized lucite, a freshwater pearl mayhap, and some vintage beads, too. On some I will make several dollars, but on others I won't make as much, depending on which bead ends up where.

This one is around 27" long and hangs a nice way down but not too far. Autumn colors with a few grape or purple beads fer contrast.

An Early Fall, At Least On the Blog

2010-08-02T00:01:00.000-05:00

I pulled my back out, donkey frens. Pulled it some crazy way, prolly by hauling a box onto the forklift. It's amazing how hard it is to get anything done, with a hurt back.

So I'm late gettin' a giveaway ready. Hopefully, by tomorrow. Somethin' rather interesting, I think, in the offing.

Here's an autumn leaf, to the delight, mayhap, of my season-rushing kindred spirits, and to the disgust of the summer fans.

I have been trying to catch a vibe about whether or not it will be an early fall, and what the winter will be like. I just now had a vision of ice and snow and rock-frozen ground and blizzards. Hmm.

Stamping My Feet For Fall

2010-08-01T00:01:00.001-05:00

August already.

Here's a wee owl on a fake postage stamp. Put a zero after the "5" and you'll have the new cost of mailing a letter soon.

Right-click to save.

Puttin' Up the Harvest

2010-07-31T00:01:00.000-05:00

Yes, three little jars, that's all for today.

Right-click to save. Free, safe clip art!

Candle Glow

2010-07-30T00:01:00.003-05:00

First, a disturbing situation: My hair looks like Justin Bieber's.

Please grow, hair. Please grow quickly.

****
I love candles.

Here is my version of a lil' rustic candle graphic I found several years ago. I turned it into an animation. It's pretty rough-lookin'.

Remember, to have an animation "play" on yer bloggie, it must be "stored" or "hosted" someplace other than Blogger. That's their rule, not mine.

I put mine on Photobucket and call it up by its Photobucket address (URL). You can take this from here and also call it up from the Photobucket addy where I have it, if you don't have an account yerself. The accounts are free. It's such a learning experience, though. Sometimes I get tired of learning all the new stuff and would just like an easy way to do things!

School Daze, School Daze

2010-07-29T00:01:00.001-05:00

Good old Golden Rule days.

Some parts of the country are starting up in about two weeks. Amazing!

Here are some images for both regular school and homeschool.

Bee Glad It's Still Summer?

2010-07-28T00:01:00.000-05:00

I have to rush the seasons. As a child, it was something to look forward to, a hope for a better tomorrow when my days were so sad.

When I employed as an editor, we worked many months in advance.

Moonlighting at a department store meant rushing the seasons, too. The brief amount I taught was always spent keying lessons to the seasons, to make it topical and more interesting to the students.

Now we are stacking boxes of Hallowe'en cards up for work, too.

But those who dwell in the cold climes get a worried shiver when thinking about autumn coming up so soon. It's not enough warm season, for them. So here's a lil' bee that is still enjoying the high temperatures.

Right-click to save. This is a "transparent" image. Meaning, your background will show around it.

Apple Time

2010-07-27T00:01:00.005-05:00

I don't care what the calendar says. I'm ready for autumn. Have started settin' my various fake punkins and gourds out and bowls of real apples. No, no jack o'lanterns out yet -- I have some pride. I can wait until September 1.

Right-click to save or regular-click to get bigger first. One plain, one with wording. From a scrap of material.

Hysterics All Around

2010-07-26T00:01:00.009-05:00

I have been battling a terrible computer virus, but my son stepped in and saved the day, working for hours to fix it, despite my constant meltdowns, screeching spells, and generally horrid behavior.

I got the virus by looking at one of my own creations -- one of the witch silhouettes I drew -- that was placed on a bad site by hackers. When people go to these sites to get "free clip art" their computers are infected. I went out of curiosity as to who was luring people in with a silly little witch. And thus began several days of hysteria, crying, etc.

I really despise hackers and scammers. At one point I was trying to open the bedroom window wide enough to THROW the computer out of it.

But it's really made me think about the whole blogging experience, the whole online experience. I am doing a lot of deep thinking. DEEP THINKING and some of it isn't very pleasant. Someone pass me an aspirin.

Here is a lil' sidebar decoration. I'm looking forward to autumn.

Ladies Getting Along Swimmingly

2010-07-25T00:01:00.001-05:00

It's very hard to prepare a post when "Potholder Cat" keeps sitting on my mouse tablet. Yes, the cat so horrid he must be handled with oven mitts -- the long kind.

Here we have some ladies simply shockingly clad. What is the world coming to? Right-click to save.

Warning: 10X Mirrors Are Evil, and Another Shoe Boat

2010-07-24T00:01:00.010-05:00

I was happier before I bought a super-magnifying mirror.

I didn't know I had a moustache.

I drooped around all morning after making this discovery, then decided to stop being an ingrate about losing my looks. But of course the moustache was removed, with many an "Ow!" and some rather foul language, I'm afraid.

Maybe I'll change my name from Ol' Western Gal to Holly the Fur-Faced Cowgirl.

Here are a couple more shoe-boats. Maybe that was what the original play was supposed to be called: "Shoe Boat." It was about a whole bunch of people living on a giant paddlewheel pump in Victorian times, and having to relace it and polish the leather and stuff. But someone went and messed up the letters and they had to change the play to reflect the misspelling, and "Show Boat" was born.

If the Shoe Floats

2010-07-23T00:01:00.013-05:00

Surprisingly, there are quite a few old images of people floating in shoes.

They are mainly from advertising cards.

I toyed with the idea of having a blog that featured pictures and geographic locations of single, abandoned shoes.

I was so enthusiastic about it. Readers could send in their pictures of shoes. You know, those poor ol' shoes you see just sitting in the middle of the road. I always wonder how and why one shoe ended up in the road. Sometimes the shoe is pretty new. Fer awhile I was convinced that idea of the Abandoned Shoe Blog would generate so many clicks I'd be rich, rich, RICH! Now that I'm back (sort of) in my right mind, I realize, "No." Not a sensible idea at all. I hereby give said idea to anyone crazy enough to tackle it.

This gets huge when clicked. Wish the same would happen when I check my pitiful bank account online. *click* Ooooo, the decimal moved to the right!!! It's usually way over at the left!!!

Pretty Hummingbird

2010-07-22T00:01:00.000-05:00

I've come down with a summer cold.

Here is a pretty hummingbird, from an old advertising card.

Both a blank one and one celebrating summer are below.

Right-click to save.

Precious Bobbing Pumpkins

2010-07-21T00:01:00.002-05:00

I think I probably had these up about 3 years ago, on a previous bloggie. Or maybe it was just a couple of years ago. It all runs together. I've been doing this a long, long time now, measuring in "Internet Years."

Internet years are worse than dog years.

Remember, for these to be animated on your blog, you need to "host" these at some place other than Blogger -- I think. It may be that Blogger has changed. I host my animations on Photobucket.com, which is a free site. You can go there and get the URL or just pick up the URL from here, if you want these. The bottom one isn't original at all. The top one used to be a different color and have no stem. I think the top one is really celebrating that fall is near. The bottom one isn't too sure about things, having heard tales about "carving pumpkins."

Yes, I have autumn on the brain. But certain other bloggers started it!!!

Eye of Newt, Butter of Beer

2010-07-20T00:01:00.014-05:00

Oh, my my. Here we go with some very silly graphics.

Can you tell I have taken a break from my usual readings, and am, ridiculously, rereading the Harry Potter series?

I tell myself that I keep the books around in case I need kindling some winter's day.

Warning: Don't attempt to operate a broomstick after drinking.

Fireflies and Glow-worms

2010-07-19T00:01:00.002-05:00

Here is a little jar with some fireflies.

Over at my snowiecat and snowiecats accounts on Photobucket [those are clickable links], I have some animated firefly jars, too, that I posted before. But they are more for autumn.

Don't fergit you can "pick up' and use anything in any of my albums. I was kind of surprised to see some good stuff in 'em.

Right-click to save. Please remember that to use an ANIMATED IMAGE, you can't just upload it to Blogger. You have to pull it from where it is hosted, such as Photobucket. You can link directly to my Photobucket account and use the URL from there to post the animation on yer own bloggie. I doubt the images will become so popular that I exceed my alloted space.

Flour Sack Finery

2010-07-18T00:01:00.003-05:00

I am determined to make a long, sweeping skirt out of vintage flour sacks, if I can find some that aren't too rotten to hold the stitches. Or maybe just a sleeveless shell to wear.

I doubt I'll ever do it, though! Mayhap I'll try something simpler, such as making some fabric yoyos out of the sacking and sew them on something store-bought. I wish that like in scrapbooking, stores would sell "ready to decorate" dresses and such. Just plain Jane versions of things and then we could put doodads on them.

This is a redo of a previous "transparent" image fer bloggies. This one has different wording than before, and a hen.

Right-click to save, and Happy Sunday.

U-Pick Sign

2010-07-17T00:01:00.000-05:00

I've seen some cute realistic signs on other bloggies by an artist -- a gentleman but the name escapes me.

Here is my lesser version.

Right-click to save. Happy weekend!

"Open" Sign

2010-07-16T00:01:00.002-05:00

Here's a lil' sidebar doodad fer those wishing to encourage comments.

Right-click to save.

Not much planned fer the weekend, mainly cleaning.

Who's got somethin' more interested planned???!!!

Oldies But Moldies

2010-07-15T00:01:00.005-05:00

This lovely gal is holding a whole bouquet of summer loveliness. I cannot recall the artist off the top of my head, but I think it may be a Belgian artist of the 1800s.

Along with the passe foods we were mentioning yesterday...PASSE HOUSEHOLD GOODS...Oh, you can still get these, but they aren't everyday-common like they were before...

Bellows

Garter belts

Detachable collars for men's shirts

Cufflinks

Matchsafes

Kerosene cans

Doorstops

Bug-spray atomizers that were pump-action

Parfum atomizers with the lil' rubber bulb

Greasepots (cooking grease poured into them)

Sawhorses

Hitching posts, of course

Flypaper

Rollers ("Rollers in your hair, shame on you! Rollers everywhere, shame on you!")

Ragbags

Those lil' coin purses you could pinch open -- coin purses in general!

Read This on An Empty Stomach

2010-07-14T00:01:00.015-05:00

I was talking to my husband about things people used to eat, but you rarely hear of anymore.

We have become quite picky. Most of these "strange," abandoned items were protein sources. Once upon a time, it was not as plentiful. And sweets were rarer, too.

Do you remember foods that were once common but are now avoided?

Some things have simply "gone out of fashion," I believe.

I am thinking of:

Liverwurst

Pate [Circa 1960s chic]

Caviar [See above]

Tongue

Brains [I could use some, but no]

Kidneys

Pigs' Feet [Faints]

Aspic

Horehound candy

Candy Sticks

Candied Figs [I love them still but eating the lil' bit of stem is disturbing]

Dates [They look like candied roaches to me]

Souffles [I remember a whipping for letting the front door slam]

Mousses

Poached Eggs [Queasy just thinking of it]
Milktoast
Pickled Eggs [floating eeriely in a giant jar of murky vinegar]

This gal, like me, watches her weight. Watches it go up, that is. Bet I'd lose weight on a diet of pigs' feet and candied dates.

I Spied Her

2010-07-13T00:01:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a trip to San Angelo, Texas, to see if we want to move there. There's two lakes there and a two branches of a very little river; you can live along the river (if you are a millionaire) or one of the lakes (more reasonable). I'm behind in my emails from just one lil' day away from the computer!

On the way, we saw thousands of tarantulas trying to cross the highway. They are on the move all over West Texas. All the rain has brought them out. I feel bad fer the poor things, the victims of the rushing cars. But then, I'm not scared of spiders. Never mind the fact that I showed my slip (and drawers, I'm afraid) to quite a few motorists at a rest stop. I wore a ground-sweeping skirt fer the trip and was trying to catch a lil' tiny toad I saw hoppin' along in the grass and suddenly thought I felt a spider sneaking up my skirt...oh my. A whirling dervish had nothin' on me, dearies, and I definitely gave myself a few bruises in my zeal to remove the [non-existent] spider.

Here is a vintage image of two ladies busy squishing spiders in the old days. Ah, I hope not! Thought it might be cute fer scrapbooking or bloggies. It gets much bigger when regular-clicked. Right-click any size to save.

Santy Flowers

2010-07-12T00:01:00.004-05:00

I have a bid on these vintage cards over on Ebay. Don't know if I'll win, but here are digital versions of them.

I could not resist Santa coming out of a flower, mayhap a mum. And I need to think of Xmas due to the heat. I am baking out here, like the couch potato I am.

Also, fer those of us who like to make things fer Christmas, we have to start soon! This might get us going! Click them to make them larger. Right-click to save them.

More Christian Clip Art

2010-07-11T00:01:00.001-05:00

Here we have a few more of the lil' Bible cards that were part of a lot sold on Ebay.

Tomorrow, Christmas in July begins. Just warnin' ye, donkey frens!

Christian Clip Art and Cut Hours

2010-07-10T00:01:00.018-05:00

Well m'little donkey frens, they done cut my hours by an entire day each and every week until October 1st. Wah! And no word from all the other jobs I've tried for...double wah!

Fer those who were wondering how my present husband puts up with my ex, I'll just say we've all known one another a long, long time now, and that the two of them are united by a love of mathematics and the deeply held belief that I am irritating. Imagine!

Here we have the first of several sets of lil' Bible cards. I was lucky to happen upon these lil' cards! Something fer my Christian frens! These feature bits of Bible sayings and antique graphics. Right-click to save.

Ding Dong the Meanie's Gone, and a Glamorous Sight

2010-07-09T00:01:00.006-05:00

Yesterday late my ex-husband left, hooray!

Here is a glamorous lady, from a vintage advertising card or maybe just a keepsake postcard. The clip art gets much larger if regular-clicked, or use the smaller size fer a sidebar.

Summer Elf Clip Art

2010-07-08T00:01:00.000-05:00

Some bloggie frens are experiencing a frightening heat wave.

I hope those in the unusual heat (as opposed to my area's expected heat) are staying as safe and cool as possible.

This lil' elf is unaffected by temperature extremes. He's dressed as a bee to enjoy summer. From a long-ago illustration.

NO RANT and A "Comment" Graphic

2010-07-07T00:01:00.004-05:00

*sigh*

My frens, I was going to rant about my ex...but it suddenly struck me as wrong. Once upon a time I dearly loved him, more than I can express. Heck, I grew up with him, really -- and he was the one who left.

But I'm unable to blog surf due to him bein' on my computer all the durned time...got to jump on and put this post up, but that's it!

So I'll just put this altered bit of a "fashion plate" up from 1889 I believe it was. SO glad we don't dress like that anymore...I think it gets a bit bigger if you were to click it...made fer sidebars...

You Catch More Flies with Flycatchers Than You Do with Honey

2010-07-06T00:01:00.002-05:00

I think these elegant birds are called flycatchers. I love to see vivid blue in nature, whether on flora or fauna. What looks tacky in a manmade item is never garish when designed and colored by nature!

Right-click to save. It gets bigger.

I am a very long-suffering donkey today. My son's dad is visiting him and sleeping in my computer room and using my computer and pushing my beads aside on the desk and eating up my vittles and criticizing the cats and just generally causing me to have a headache and the desire to throw things at him.

A Fascinating Post

2010-07-05T00:01:00.033-05:00

The Fourth is over. I did get to light the smoke bombs and ran through the smoke.

I say "ran," but I guess hobbled is a more accurate -- but pesky -- term. I imagined I was running. About two years ago I got my son to go with me to help rescue a lil' kitten from a nearby alley. I had been "taming" him and wanted to try to catch him and get him home. So we went, and the kitty came up for the food, and I popped a pillowcase over him and started running for home.

I thought I was running. I kept panting out, "We got to hurry, he's making a hole in the pillowcase!" to my son, then noticed he was jog-walking. Backwards. Slowly jogging backwards, facing me and grinning, while I was running full speed forwards. That's when it really hit me: I'm old. A dead snail can outrun me.

By the way, the title of this post is supposed to be sardonic. No, dearies, that doesn't mean it has something to do with atomic sardines.

Here is a jar full of summer. I picked those polkadots right off the polkadot plant just fer this graphic. Ow! The stickers on that plant! Right-click to save.

Poparooni! It's Here

2010-07-04T00:01:00.000-05:00

Happy Fourth!

Popping in

2010-07-03T00:01:00.037-05:00

Well sweeties, this is another image taken from one of those old iron-on towel transfers, and altered a bit.

Tomorrow I am laying in a small supply of smoke bombs. Since it is raining and will rain through the Fourth, it will be safe for me to light a pack of six in the backyard. What I don't like about the variety packs is that some years the purple-colored one's smoke is really purple, but other years they fool you and the purple one's smoke is merely white.

A Fourth without a smoke bomb is just not a Fourth. Without that smoky gunpowder smell, the year does not seem complete.

One good thing about our fireworks ban on all firecrackers and airborne rockets is that you do not hear "pop-pop-pop" fer weeks before and after the Fourth, as I did in other locales. One of the dogs hates fireworks and is much calmer in Midland than the other places we've lived.

Sassafrassarassa and Other Grumblings

2010-07-02T00:01:00.008-05:00

Hmph! Yesterday I went into work to find fifteen boxes of cards and party products waiting fer me. They had arrived Tuesday -- the day before I was told there was nothing to do and had six hours of work chopped right off my week.

When this recession is over, I think Hallmark is going to find it tough to hire workers willing to put up with their antics.

Here is a graphic of what I felt like doing after wrasslin' all those boxes. You likewise have felt like this, I'm sure! I love redwork and blackwork and this reminds me of it. It gets bigger when clicked.

Work Slowdown and An Old-Fashioned Placard

2010-07-01T00:01:00.003-05:00

I was shocked to be informed that my job just shrank. As I was told after being hired, my hours depend on how much the store sells. When no cards or products are shipped, there is not very much to sell. And I get hours taken away...or days taken away...yesterday I had the entire day taken away.

I apply for other jobs constantly. But, no interviews, even, so far.

I think some parts of the country are faring well, and some not so well. I hear that where I live has "incredibly low" unemployment. That really isn't true. It is true that there are many people working part-time at very low hourly wages. But that isn't secure employment, or even full employment. Even jobs once thought of as secure are disappearing.

I'm back to plotting to move away...somewhere where I can have a much simpler life...dragging my son and husband and ancient dogs and four horrible cats with me, of course. Gosh, it is so hard to keep others afloat when yer skills are as poor as mine are. I can barely keep my own head above water...thinking about trying to live on a houseboat...oh dear, didn't I just say I couldn't keep my head above water? Bad if yer living on a boat, isn't it...since I can't manage The Middle Class Dream, maybe I should try for the Funky Weird Subsistence Dream. Or mayhap I'm just going crazy.

Definite unsettled vibe out there among many lately! I'm not the only one feeling kind of stir-crazy!

Butterfly Fairy

2010-06-30T00:01:00.012-05:00

A butterfly fairy plays two flutes to welcome summer and charm her friends the dragonflies in this copyright-free altered vintage image.

There was another, naked cherub-type creature creeping along the branch, but I Photoshopped it into oblivion. Hmph! He looked like a painted-in afterthought of some sort.

And the winner of the lil' typewriter key scrapbooking item is...baggaraggs! Sorry I took them out of the package to scan, then promptly lost the package...but none are missing...

Right-click to save.

Last of the Typewriter Key Clip Art and Giveaway

2010-06-29T00:01:00.016-05:00

After today's comments I'll draw fer the winner of the lil' typewriter letter glue-ons from today's comments and yesterday's. I don't "pick out" a winner, I just put all names in a bowl and have my son or husband draw. It gets me very nervous to draw the names myself. See yesterday's post fer a picture. Of course, international bloggie frens always welcome to enter.

Here are the virtual versions, T thru Z and an ampersand (&).

Right-click to save.

N thru S Typewriter Initials Clip Art

2010-06-28T00:01:00.001-05:00

Slog slog slog through the alphabet.

Here is what you are trying to win.

Oh, you didn't know it was giveaway? Well, you do now.

Lil' glue-on letters for scrapbooking and notes and such. They look rather suspiciously like my creations, don't you think? It's actually the other way around: I saw these, was transfixed by them, recreated them somewhat using my graphics program, and then ran back to get them fer the giveaway. There are quite a few of each letter in each lil' stack.

Any comment enters yer dear lil' donkey self.

Typewriter Key Clip Art I thru M

2010-06-27T00:01:00.014-05:00

At least we're to the middle of the alphabet. This could drag on considerably if I don't get the lead out.

At the store, watermelons are down to $3.77 fer the lil' round ones. But they were sickly looking thangs, all wrinkled and yellowish.

Right-click to save.

E thru H Typewriter Key Clip Art

2010-06-26T00:01:00.010-05:00

Here are the letters E thru H. See yesterday for the first 4 letters of the alphabet.

DO NOT USE THESE LETTERS TO SPELL BAD WORDS, donkey frens!

Just teasin' you there.

I think we are mighty lucky to have no diacritical marks in English. Those are those lil' symbols settin' atop some of the letters. The French language has that very cute "housetop" one, and German has the darling umlaut, Spanish and Portugese have slanty things going every which way, so forth and so on. It just makes languages so much harder to have them, in my lazy opinion. Fer example, in Spanish, there's papa and there's papá. You have to be careful or you'll write "I love my potato" instead of "I love my dad." In my case, I definitely love potatoes, but you can see how it could get confusing.

Right-click to save.

Typewriter ABCs and Repulsive Cards

2010-06-25T00:02:00.015-05:00

Having slaved over manual and then electric typewriters, I dearly love our modern systems of writing. But I do miss the typewriter keys themselves. I have noticed them being incorporated into necklaces and other jewelry.

I might fly into a rant; the new summer cards by Hallmark are out. MISERABLE graphics, m'dears! Just dreadul. And the sentiments are even worse than the soccer-mom graphics, with the word BOOBIES featured constantly and spoiled-brat offspring's "cute sayings" on every other card. UGH. The punch line of many of the cards seems to be "Dang, girl, your boobs!" DON'T EVEN ASK, frens. DON'T EVEN ASK WHY. It's all I can do not to DROP THE CARDS OH-SO-ACCIDENTALLY and STEP on them.

Free Vintage-Style Typewriter Keys

Here are the first few letters, done typewriter key style. Perhaps in honor of the real keyboard I should have begun with QWER. I saw some similar images in the scrapbooking aisle at Michael's.

Right-click to save.

Meowy Fourth of July

2010-06-24T00:01:00.008-05:00

Well donkey frens, I will share something with you: Don't ever eat a cheese danish that has been settin' in a cold stove fer two days, especially when it's 102 outside. To do so is to invite a long bout of unmentionable problems. On the up-side, it's a way to lose weight and develop a real aversion to anything resembling a pastry.

Here we have a painting of an outing of kitties in a boat, viewing fireworks. Fireworks over water sure are pretty. Regular-click to enlarge, right-click to save on yer own computer.

Lemons and Limes

2010-06-23T00:01:00.001-05:00

Lemonade, lemonade.

Made in the shade

And stirred with a spade.

Good enough for any old maid.

Remember when Amanda Wingfield quotes that in A Glass Menagerie? Of course you do! Such things crowd out useful information, such as phone numbers and HTML commands and how to find the volume of a cylinder. My poor head is stuffed with bits and pieces of books.

The grocery store has had both lemonade and limeade in cartons for sale for 99 cents. This is the real stuff, not the colored water. Usually, it's much spendier. I think they're trying that old trick of gettin' us hooked on it and then hiking the price back sky-high.

I like to put maraschino cherries in mine, despite hearing that such cherries are toxic. I don't care!

Once, in physics class, another student who was long on looks and a bit short on physics (except fer the fact that part of her anatomy seemed quite immune to gravity) brought in some maraschino cherries and showed the class and professor how she could tie a knot in the cherry stem with her tongue. Two people got A's in the class. Foolishly, I studied fer mine. Should have learned the cherry stunt.

You'd think yer about to get a graphic featuring either cherries or lemonade. Well, yer not. Yer gettin' some bathing beauties. The wretches prolly got all A's in their classes, too.

Right-click to save.

More Blog Future Musing and A Froggie Fer the Bloggie

2010-06-22T00:01:00.014-05:00

I was so busy readin' everyone's comments from yesterday's post that I almost fergot to upload today's. A lot of insightful comments were posted, donkey frens.

I would like to clarify my post a bit. I'm not saying blogging ought to end, or that it's not a worthy endeavor, or that anyone is doing it fer anything but their own reasons. I'm saying I feel a vibe that it's changing more into micro-blogging fer most -- Facebook and Twitter. Those who stick with long-form blogging will likely carve a considerable niche fer themselves. But my vibe says, "Most don't care, the wind has changed fer them."

But the most popular folks on FB and Twitter will likely see it lead them back to a blog again. Then blogs will wane again. Round and round and round we go.

I'm just very restless, myself, lately. Sometimes when I think of my bloggie, I just want to spit.

Free Image Fer Blogs

Real frogs don't spit but our horny toads out here do. Spit blood out their eyes. I love 'em.

Here's a free image created from a vintage illustration and colored. Right-click to save.

The Nature and Ultimate Decline of Blogging?

2010-06-21T00:01:00.064-05:00

Hi donkey frens! If you've followed this blog for any length of time, or any of my older blogs, you know I am prone to thinking I can feel various "vibes." This vibe-catching leads me to believe personal blogging as we know it may be in a decline.

I do not have a Facebook account and don't intend to get one. I was using Twitter, and then began to feel uncomfortable with how much time and attention it was taking. This led me to re-examine how I feel about the whole online experience: Is it just (1) frivolous and ultimately empty, (2) a true way to connect, or (3) something in the middle?

Humans are not known for moderation. I think online lives ping-pong back and forth between choices 1 and 2, above. Choice 3 tends to be left out, in part because of the very nature of online interaction. You snooze, you lose. You miss a post, or stop tweeting for a few days, or don't update your status or stop replying on forum threads, and you are quite quickly forgotten.

I am not faulting this behavior: it's a lot like having a neighbor you get along with, but they move...or a roommate who moves...or frens up at your summer vacation area who stop coming to their cabin in the summer...when the commonality is removed, the relationship is discontinued. It cannot stand without the structure that was an intrinsic part of it. It's a "shipboard" friendship. That's neither good nor bad; it just is.

So it may be with the online world and the blogging world. If someone in effect "moves away" by dropping out of view, it guts the connection. It's not like you can just walk next door and see how your neighbor is doing, or give a quick call on the cell, or know that you will run into them at the grocery store at the summer place. They are simply gone from your sphere. And if they return, the feeling of community, of friendship, must be rebuilt. If they repeatedly appear and disappear, self-interest might dictate that it's not all that safe to try to maintain a link with them.

Blogging takes considerable devotion. Some people are happy with using what I regard as shortcuts to a feeling of community -- participating in this or that "theme" or "meme" or other structured posting schedule about a particular subject. But that builds numbers, not community. If someone runs out of vintage redos or new dishes or the like, they don't participate, and they won't be a part of the group any longer, either.

But that might not be as negative as it seems. If someone is looking for a very light way to interact, it would not be upsetting to "drop out" of a loosely knit community. But some folks out in the bloggie world are quite lonely and quite isolated in life, and I do worry about them. People aren't known for altruism. If someone can't "keep up" by offering what others want, they get left behind, many times. They offer up their lil' crumb of interaction, and it isn't even noticed. Sometimes it's even sneered at. Not too many angels in the bloggie world, just as there aren't in the real world. When we happen across one, we are grateful.

My point, long in coming, is that it's easier to feel you are part of a community through these newer means of interaction -- Twitter, Facebook -- than to do so through the blog world. I don't think it's any truer a connection, or less of a connection. It's an easier connection, and people tend to like easy. I think we will see fewer and fewer "personal" blogs -- blogs meant to just be like a coffee klatch sort of thing.

The bar has been set higher and higher and higher in terms of immediacy, too, and blogs lag on that. A post a day isn't immediate enough. It's rush, rush, rush, this is NOW, five seconds ago is passe. The beast must be fed, constantly! Just as people are uninterested in reading news that happened even 3 days ago, they are uninterested in the flotsam and jetsom of previous posts. Some blogs have valuable archives; most don't. It's not their nature. Websites tend to be more "storage" areas for valuable content.

Enter Twitter. One way around it is to put Twitter on yer bloggie, or have a Tumblr blog, which is basically yer Twitter feed in a nice form. But then yer back at the beginning of the puzzle again: Too much time and effort on something ultimately ephemeral?

So here's a Big Hilda - by artist Duane Bryers - fer a cheerful end to an overly long post. Dig her flour sack 2-piece -- I'd pay good money fer one, only I'm not sure flour came in the size of sack I'd need:

Big Hilda Napping -- for Now

2010-06-20T00:01:00.001-05:00

I think I love the Big Hildas best when there's some mischief afoot. Her sidekick is about to be in the doghouse, I do believe.

Hilda is the creation of artist Duane Bryers, also known for his propaganda paintings in WWII. His depictions of the Axis leaders did much to strengthen resolve among the American people. I think his paintings of Big Hilda could have done much to strengthen morale among the troops! Alas, he did not begin the Hildas until after the war. Hilda painted on the nose of a bomber would have been a real sight.

Big Hilda in Tears!

2010-06-19T00:01:00.007-05:00

Now here we have quite a different view of Hilda than Duane Bryer's usual depictions.

It looks to me that she went down Memory Lane and has come across a packet of old love letters tied up with ribbon. Those corn squeezins in the lil' jug to the front prolly ain't helping her mood.

I don't know if I'm glad or sad that I threw all of mine out, once I discovered various men's perfidy.

Right-click to save. Regular-click to get a larger image to load.

When In Doubt, Put Up A Hilda

2010-06-18T00:01:00.004-05:00

I was pleased to find this Big Hilda, having not seen it before.

Found it on a Russian website. Be careful, frens, when going to those sites. Very tricky tricky sites. Have yer sidearm ready and yer firewall in place.

Right-click to save. Regular click to get a larger image to load. Why do the pounds look so nice on Hilda and so very lardy on me? Big Hilda is the creation of artist Duane Bryers.

Vrrrrrptt! Bzzzzz! Bzzzzz! V-V-V-V-Vruuummmpppp

2010-06-17T00:01:00.002-05:00

Banner Haus News and Musings

I know these Americana graphics are pretty boring fer my international bloggie frens...bear with me...it could be worse, I could have vuvuzela horns playing on my blog or something like that...!!! I understand these little plastic horns are horrible?

Hmmm...here we go...a link...GRACIOUS, they are annoying!!! Elephants with stomachaches! Kinda fun, tho...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpXN8BvGp_o&NR=1

Right-click to save...

Spittin' Seeds and Trying to Beat the Heat

2010-06-16T00:01:00.005-05:00

Banner Haus News and Musings

I think quite a few donkey frens are on vacation...busy...working...outside in their gardens...cooling off in the pool, etc.

That gives me enough privacy to eat watermelon the way it ought to be eaten! On the other side of yer monitor, someone is eating a piece of ice-cold watermelon! Finally broke down and got a quarter-melon!

Here's Big Hilda, by artist Duane Bryers, to show how it's done:

Mysterious Squeaks, and Sew Vintage Clipart

2010-06-15T00:01:00.001-05:00

Banner Haus News and Musings

My son called me out onto the back porch last night "to listen to a noise."

It was a very strange squeaking, and seemed to be coming from either the chimney or the attic just above.

"Squeak...squeak...squeeeaaaak...sqk..." very light and sweet, almost like lil' kittens, newborns.

I don't know if we have rat babies, squirrel babies, bat babies, or just what. The cats are mighty interested, but the area is well away from their reach.

Days of Yore Sewing Image

Fer someone who put down the embroidery needle years ago, I sure am posting a lot of sewing-related art. Mayhap the days of needing to sew are coming again?

Not A Fish Tale

2010-06-14T00:01:00.000-05:00

Banner Haus News and Musings

Well, ol' Fatty Catfish did die. He was seven. That's not old for a catfish. I think he might have pined away. I had been meaning to get some more glass shrimp to put in there for company, but didn't get around to it, mainly because our fish store closed down.

The guy who ran the fish store was really something else. When I meet someone who is very passionate about something and very sure of himself, I can't help but be mighty impressed. This guy was very brusque and abrupt, not to mention extremely large (not heavy, but LARGE) with totally wild hair and beard, wearing ancient huraches and dangerously worn cutoffs, but his eyes would light up when talking about the various fish and about the benefits of having mats of green hairy algae in the tanks. He would get so enthused about the benefits of algae (while glaring at the customers) that he'd drool copiously, but he never turned a hair about it. He really, really loved fish and algae mats.

I like to fish, but I fish with no bait, hook, nor string, just a pole. I haven't ever caught anything yet.

Vintage Sewing Clip Art

Here we have a lil' graphic taken from an old pattern.

I like the mustardy color of the background.

My Poor Catfish

2010-06-13T00:01:00.003-05:00

Banner Haus News and Musings

I'm sad because I think I've accidentally killed my pet catfish. I've had him for years.

We had hail yesterday and I thought it would be fun fer the fish if I were to float a few hail balls in the water with him, kind of cool him off since it gets hot in the house and catfish like cool water best.

Well, I put quite a few in there, and next thing I know, he is swimming funny. Then a few hours later he was floating on his side, and didn't eat, and now is about dead, and if I had any guts whatsoever I think I'd put him out of his misery. Instead I keep walking around wringing my hands and feeling awful about it. WHY did I think the hail balls would be good fer him? I think they poisoned him.

Vintage Gal Clipart

Here is a homemade clip art graphic using an image from the 1950s.

A lot of bloggie frens would like more comments on their bloggies. I am divided about comments. On the one hand, I don't like to feel that I exert pressure on people to comment. And I don't like my greediness fer 'em, either. On the other hand, I am insatiably curious and interested in what others have to say.

Do you see the background on the graphic? When I was a child, the kitchen table was that exact pink, with lil' glittery-like designs on it, in white and turquoise, that same exact way, lil' balls and dots and stars.

We felt it was "too old fashioned" at some point and out it went. What I would not give to have that table now! I have been more than my share of foolish in this life.

Commentitis

2010-06-12T00:01:00.004-05:00

Banner Haus News and Musings

Do you have to sleep on yer side or stomach, as I must? If I sleep on my back, it never fails: Sleep paralysis, or a terrible nightmare. My son is the same way.

Sleep paralysis is pretty scary. Yer awake, but can't move. It's a big motivator to remember not to sleep on yer back, but danged if I don't sometimes end up that way anyways and spend about 10 minutes trying to scream or move.

Our old dogs seemingly have nightmares, too. They whimper and even howl and we go nudge 'em to wake 'em up a bit. Then they settle down.

Vintage Unhappy Ladies

Here we have two ladies; a photograph and a painting. Both are distressed, because they don't run their anti-viral software often enough and don't have Malwarebytes downloaded nor CrapCleaner, and people can't easily leave comments on their bloggies. They think it's their bloggie content, but they're wrong. It's a nasty virus. It's the blog equivalent of having yer dress tucked into yer pantyhose in back. No one will tell them outright: YER BLOGGIE HAS A VIRUS. So they just suffer quietly.

These graphics enlarge if you click them. Someone must have been clicking on me lately, because I'm gettin' pretty large meself.

The Sunflower Queen, and Drying Flowers

2010-06-11T00:02:00.006-05:00

Banner Haus News and Musings

Donkey frens, don't fergit, if you want to press the flowers that are beginning to bloom, for cards and suchlike projects, just use an old phone book and put them in there. If you live in a lil' town, you might have to put a dictionary or a brick or somesuch on it. But if you live in a big city, just put the flowers in the second half of it and the weight of the first will dry them fine. Or just use an old book, the musty-smellin' kind that would just end up in the dump otherwise.

Don't fergit to dry a lot of leaves and stems, too. They're really useful when yer arranging a picture. I'm mentioning drying flowers because I picked up an old phone book and a shower of dried petals came sifting out.

Vintage Image of a Sunflower Queen

This gal looks like she spent considerable time making herself a lovely Sunflower Queen outfit. She's copyright-free and free fer the clicking.

I will admit I would dearly love to have a fancy outfit fer parades and things of that nature. But dull ol' Midland doesn't have occasions fer fancy costumes. I wanted to make a hoop-skirted Gingerbread Queen outfit, and a sparkling Ice Lady one, too. I wonder why I am thinking of wintery thangs with it being over a hundred outside.

Lovesick Fairy Clipart

2010-06-10T00:02:00.008-05:00

Banner Haus News and Musings

Too hot to muse about much.

Yesterday I was setting up various flower photographs and carefully posing my model, but she kept flying away home before I could get a good picture of her.

Yes, a ladybug turned out to be camera shy and I didn't want to keep handling her, fearing it would damage or tire Her Polkadot Majesty.

Vintage Image of A Pretty Fairy

Here we have another fairy for anyone collecting them. She doesn't seem interested in poker, but she has been doing the "He loves me, he loves me not" pluck-a-rama on that poor daisy.

Right-click to save. Regular-click to get it to load a larger image first.

Necklace Winner and Mail Karma

2010-06-09T00:01:00.013-05:00

Banner Haus News and Musings

I won't talk about male karma, dearies. That would be too depressing (apologies to all males). But mail karma is another thing entirely.

I knew this would happen. A necklace winner from what is, to me, a foreign country. Of course, to them, it is NOT a foreign country. It is their own country, subject to their own usual karma concerning the mail.

A Canadian won. Yes. Calm yerselves, frens!

It's not the expense of mailing to Canada, mind you. It costs no more than to mail here, due to the lightweight nature of the alleged prize. It's the horror of waiting weeks to see if the prize ever got there. You see, the competition between the U.S. and our Good Neighbor to the North is rarely expressed by the cordial folks on both sides of that border. However, it affects the MAIL, causing mail from either country to ACT OUT THE HIDDEN COMPETITION, and become very sulky and refuse to be sorted in a timely manner.

WORSE, sometimes a letter going to or from Canada will purposefully, out of the billions of letters to pass through a machine that year, will PURPOSEFULLY, I say, jam itself up into an accordion-like piece of Mail Origami and cause all sorts of delays. I know that once, when I was innocently attempting to mail some earbobs to Canada, the letter threw itself into a dark corner of the post office in a futile attempt to stay out of Canada, just out of spite! I spotted it writing "Flammable -Dangerous- Poisonous-Liquid-Fragile-Verboten-Potentially Hazardous" on its dorsal surface with a broken crayon.

Oh, the winner? BERNIE, m'dear, YOU are the Winning Canadian. The necklace will look quite festive during all four days of your Canadian Summer.

Free Vintage Image of Some Sort!

Blogger never picks up my lil' posts anyway, so why be specific?

I thought this image of fairies engaged in some sort of poker game with very disgruntled koalas was downright strange. But it "spoke" to me. Or maybe it "spooked" me. I don't know. It gets bigger when clicked. I love playing poker.

Too Many Identities to Remember and A Sew-Sew Graphic

2010-06-08T00:01:00.070-05:00

Banner Haus News and Musings

Well, I'll choose the necklace winner today and post it tomorrow, drawing from all the comments of today and the past 2 days. I am trying to get earrings and necklaces posted to my new Artfire shoppe BehindTheTimes. I have all of 2 things posted. Wah!

I like Artfire better than Etsy because it doesn't require people to register in order to buy.

I hate registering at site after site after site. I can't keep them straight. I can't remember my usernames, passwords, PINS, or any of it! All the geeks say, "Don't use the same user names!" but that means MORE to remember. Guess I'm spoiled, but can you imagine going into an actual store and they make you register before you can buy something?! Argh! I like to just hit that' ol' PayPal button and be done with it! Of course, the danger with that is that it's TOO easy to buy! My eyes are bigger than my bank account, so to speak.

Vintage Image of Lil' Gals Sewing

It is hard to post with some kind of small gnat walking on my hair. GET OFF, bug!

Here we have the original version and an abbreviated version of some lil' gals busy sewing fer their dollies. I had a restored image of a sad-eyed dog ready to post, but it was just TOO sad, don't want to put a shadow on folks' hearts. We got enough trouble in this ol' world. The lower picture gets considerably bigger when regular-clicked.

Big-Eyed Kitties Say Howdy

2010-06-07T00:01:00.001-05:00

Banner Haus News and Musings

SEE YESTERDAY'S POST ABOUT THE NECKLACE GIVEAWAY; LEAVE ANY COMMENT ON THAT POST OR THIS ONE TO ENTER.

Does anyone remember those paintings of big-eyed dogs, cats, and children that were popular in the 1960s, possibly into the very early 70s? I wanted to get the cat paintings, spending hours actually daydreaming about it, but the closest I got was cutting out the ad in the back of Ladies Home Journal and taping it inside a drawer. I had no idea those paintings were considered hideously kitschy. I found them very elegant.

Free Big-Eyed Kitty Clip Art

These vintage images are clearly the precursors to the those later groovy designs. Since finding this image, I have found two others featuring saucer-eyed felines.

Watermelon Fairy and A Giveaway Necklace

2010-06-06T00:01:00.004-05:00

Banner Haus News and Musings

STILL HOTTER THAN BLAZES!

I was used to this sort of thing in Tucson. But West Texas ought not be as hot.

I'm cheering myself up with a GIVEAWAY. A NECKLACE of sorts, what I call a "jumble" necklace, just one to wear for grins. It's brass with Lucite, Swarovski, and glass beads. Here it is:

It's prettier in person, frens, honest. Those lil' leaves are CHARTREUSE bordering on yeller. Leave ANY comment to enter yerself. The necklace is about 20 inches long. International bloggie frens always welcome to enter.

Free Watermelon Angel

Here we have a Watermelon Angel or Fairy. She is ready for summer, and is just another version of my regular clipart "feedsack angels." Right-click to save.

Pretty Velvet Flowers and Using Blogger in Draft

2010-06-05T00:01:00.002-05:00

Banner Haus News and Musings

Going to be 112 here today, they say. That's absurd! What wretched temperatures. I worry for the wild animals and have made a lot of damp spots in the yard for them, and put a lot of water out for the birdies, with seeds right by it so they don't have to go far to get fed.

I think everyone ought to just lay down with a damp rag on their head. Guess it's time to start pouring cups of water on myself. I'm gettin' too old fer that. Someone might think I've gone loco and am trying to have a "wet girdle" contest or something equally frightening.

Blog Tip

Just reminding you that I think putting together blog posts by using the DRAFT BLOGGER interface is much easier than the usual way. To get to this special beta-based feature, log in via http://draft.blogger.com instead of as usual.

Regardless of which editor you use, don't fergit you can click the lil' Post Options link at the bottom left of yer Composing Pane (the thang you type in). It will allow you to choose the time and date of the post.

Vintage Velvet Millinery Flowers Clipart

Here are some blog doodads, apropros nothing except that I love these old velvety flowers and such that used to trim hats and go on corsages. These aren't the best job, I'll admit. Well, you try to slave over a keyboard in this heat!

Right-click to save.