This will only take a minute because I need to get back to my holiday cheer:

My mom and I ventured into The Domain {echo...The Domain} and went into the Shabby Chic store. We found where to go when we need: tiny little crowns, chandeliers, overstuffed, egg shelled colored couches, old looking knick knacks galore, candles, oh yes, beat up tin candle holders and knick knacks, by the bucket full, knick knacks that look all beaten up, scratched and damaged.

Back in the late 80's I used to watch a show called Style with Elsa Klensch, like, religiously. One day it sort of went away and Rachel Ashwell appeared with her decorating show. It looked okay but I didn't have a house, I was in school and I wasn't thinking of nesting so the whole interior decorating thing turned me off, I was 19 or so. Ashwell would go to flea markets with her camera crew and tell you what odd trinket to buy and how to put it to use as a knick knack in your home. I figured it was really brainless, and wondered why my important, thirty minute Style show had been removed.

This Shabby Chic thing never went away. I still don't get it. Why decorate your home in such a way to make you feel like the ceiling is going to cave in on you and the walls purge their paint job. I love vintage but shabby makes me feel crummy. I feel like I need to sand, strip and re-paint. It does not inspire anything remotely relaxing, it makes me feel like I have a ton of work to do and that I've hit rock bottom. I can't stand the peeling, white paint look, the carefully placed clutter or all the baskets where drawers should be. There is a pastel color scheme, like living with Easter eggs. I've never visited a shabbily chiqued out home and I hope I'm not being too offensive, just not for me.

I can't see this sort of thing in a mcmansion. I see this stuff in the old dilapidated shed/garage found behind older homes. But why would anyone want to do that? In an older home this decorating style just seems silly. Seems to me putting old looking, falling apart stuff in an older home makes it look older and showcases the flaws and wear. But, come to think of it, I did live in a rental once: 3707 Red River to be exact. It was practically a shack, and, yes, this sort of stuff would have looked good there. So there you go. I just had a mild epiphany. Still, the place looked like it was about to fall at any moment and surrounding myself with Shabby Chicness would have added to the anxiety but I'm saying I see the venue for such a style.

We went to El Paso Imports to look around and the furniture is from Romania and India (I asked), it's beaten up furniture so they take some funky paint to it, add some funky lil knobs and handles, do that faux antique finish and sell you this piece for a few hundred. After looking at that stuff with bad paint jobs, I thought, if I did this to a bureau I'd throw it out, I wouldn't try to sell it. Yet, they sell tons enough. What do I know? Just think it's all sort of silly but my mom and I had a fun time deconstructing it.

See you next year!

Feliz Navidad!

I'm finally off and able to enjoy baking,making,reading,laughing,sleeping,knitting,lounging,socializing, watching and just relaxing. Today I received a Christmas gift from Mr Gage: To die for vintage Italian made sunglasses from the late 60's. Something he had lying around. Thank you Robert!

Oh please, Mr Snow Miser,

make it freeze up tomorrow morning, ice, sleet, some snow, whatever it takes to stop traffic and to call off work (at least until 3pm) so all of us state workers can stay home and wrap gifts, bake cookies, catch up on the Rankin and Bass and just sleep in. And uh, can all this get started at 4am, that way the 5am and 6am'ers aren't stuck en route to work?

Pass me the eggnog and I'll give you the minutiae

Proud to say that for as much as I adore eggnog and constantly think of it this season, I've still yet to sip any. I was offered some last night and I even replied," YEAH,SURE!!!!!". However, something happened and my aunt completely forgot about it while we watched Christmas in Connecticut and I never received my rumless cup of. I was good, I didn't bring it up again. I'd like to reward myself with a nice 6oz serving of Promiseland eggnog with dark rum topped with a generous tablespoon of nutmeg. Yum!

Wm and I are really on this El Patio dinner/Frisco for breakfast kick. Comfort food, does indeed comfort. What I love about El Patio is how everything tastes like you time traveled back to 1967 and stopped for Mexican food at some cafe along the side of a highway:90, Route 66 maybe... I don't drink coffee but my husband tells me their coffee is great. I dig the pralines and sherbert. We are really loving the new Frisco location. If you want the best service ever for breakfast, park yourself at the bar. Careful though, you can get talked into anything up there.

I've been drinking tons of hot apple cider. The eggnog sub. Found that Archer Farms makes a great organic mulling spice in several flavors. You can have really Christmas tasting, hot, spiced apple cider without spending a lot of time slicing and simmering and it's all natural, like 100%. Plus it makes your whole house smell like the Christmas Song.

We have discovered Beany and Cecil cartoons. Can't get enough of them now.

The VW Vinyl Killer: heard of it? Mine needs a home. Taken out of the box three times, really well cared for. Nice lil novelty item to amuse your friends with at holiday parties. Happy to have found a forever home for the many sealed, blank reel-to-reel tapes I had. Yes, the variety of odds and ends I once possessed is extraordinary. Isn't it always though? Let's dig through your boxes.

No, I cannot be found on any social network sites.

Shhhhhhhhh I found out that for Christmas I will receive the book: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I have been wanting to read this book since I was a kid after hearing Bugs Bunny cartoons refer to it quite a bit, at least twice. At the time I found it too thick of a pictureless book. I forgot all about it until I picked up a 1944 needlework magazine and found a full page ad for it. So I filed it away with the other mental notes. I ran across it at Target of all places. Turns out the novel found new life in 2005. It's about time I read it so I placed it on my Xmas list. Time to clean out the mental note file as well, it's unorganized and spilling over. Nice thing to do in January.

I found some cute vintage Christmas decor. I swore I wasn't going to look for it. I swore if I found it I wouldn't buy it. I swore I had enough. Oh well. This year there seemed to be less of it, like much less of it so I used that excuse to rationalize my newest purchases.

My Christmas cards are all created and awaiting their send off. This year I opted for something rather serious instead of the usual kitschy/ funny photo or the sparkly, die cut, vintage styled ho-ho-ho kind. I made them using cards from the old UT card catalog. I was looking at Christmas cards the other day and though they were all perfectly lovely, none of them fit my mood this holiday season. We had an awesome election,there is no place left to go but up! However, our new president is going to have to clean up a massive mess.
It's all about Peace on Earth.

I'm officially out of stock. Sold just about all my Tiki Monkey items. Time to start again.

Fantasyland

That was the name of Joskes' 4th floor after Thanksgiving until New Years. My brother and I were taken there for Christmas a few times in the 70's. We waited in line to speak to Santa who sat in a castle. The entire floor seemed decked out. I could be wrong, it could have been a small corner of the floor but it made a huge impression. I remember the fake blankets of snow and heavy, red, velvet fabric draping Christmas displays that held giant talking bears and other stuffed animals. There was a train that went around the displays. I also remember once begging to be taken to the 4th floor when it wasn't the Christmas season. It was completely unimpressive. A few shelves of toys, windows, not much. It was not a Fantasyland year round.> Whoever was involved in putting the display together worked hard and magically to turn that room into a Christmas wonderland. It was really something.

Joskes was really something. Every trip to San Antonio was spent with several hours at Joskes. We'd shop and have lunch then shop have a snack and then leave. I remember trying yogurt for the first time at the Fountain Room. It was lemon flavored and served in a waffle cone. Completely new to me. I remember thinking: When I grow up I want to get married in Joskes. There seemed to be so much elegance. I can't remember what was ever bought there and why we were there for so long. I remember mirrors, dressing rooms, being given popcorn in a small bag and told to sit and hold my brother's hand. There seemed to be so many escalators and floors and rooms. There were more people in the windowless, bargain basement filled with big square tables, than anywhere else, or so it seemed.

The 1970's still held bits and pieces of that booming, post-war American culture. Joskes held on to it as long as they could. Whatever was bought at Joskes in the early 70's was boxed in an [almost] Tiffany blue colored box and tied with a string. There was even tissue! My grandmother still has some faded blue Joskes boxes in her closet.

My Favorite Christmas

Albums:
10.Christmas Album by Herp Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
9. The Ventures' Christmas Album
8. Merry Xmas From the Space-Age Bachelor Pad
7. Mambo Santa Mambo: Christmas From the Latin Lounge
6. Christmas With The Rat Pack
5. A Merry Christmas with Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
4. Most Fabulous Christmas Album Ever
3. A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector
2. Elvis Presley, "Elvis' Christmas Album"
1. The Vince Guaraldi Trio, "A Charlie Brown Christmas"

Movies:
1. It's a Wonderful Life tied with A Christmas Story
2. Christmas in Connecticut
3. The Apartment

Songs:
1. The Christmas Waltz
2. Silent Night
3. The Bells of Christmas [ Greensleeves] - Sinatra

Merry Chickmas?

On Fruitcake

For years our Grandpa Randy would give our family a Collin Street Bakery De-Luxe Fruitcake. I loved it. I still do. It's moist, lots of pecans and it's kitschy (per professional bakers who say anything containing glazed cherries is kitschy). Now that Grandpa Randy is gone, the De-Luxe is a big tradition. I look forward to ordering a tin of fruitcake every year. I cut small slices and eat it as a snack after lunch all season. Incidentally, I also have a gym membership. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to devour it as I do. Sharing: no one has ever accepted a serving. Most people just don't like fruitcake. Most have never tried it but base their decision on the old cliche.

I have tried other fruitcakes and found them to be either dry, [more] chemical saturated [than I'm used to]. Some have this...hmm... whatever that currant aftertaste is... or are so sweet they make my teeth ache. I love homemade and my mom did that a few years. But I always go back to the De-Luxe. The minute I put the first slice in my mouth I can see Grandpa Randy sporting his Sunday best standing in the doorway with a bag of gifts in one hand and the fruitcake tin in the other. I can hear The Christmas Waltz by Peggy Lee and smell stuffed mushrooms baking. The house was warm and the as the door closed it sent a puff of cold air felt on my ankles. It's weird how the mind takes a picture, glad that it does. I must have been ten or eleven.

Whether you like fruitcake or not this is a a tres interesting blog to browse at Christmastime if you are in the market for a fruitcake or want to know more about it without actually partaking in more than just a distant, casual interest. To be honest, I love just looking at fruitcakes. They look more like Christmas to me than any other food or dessert out there. They just sparkle. I'm no food snob.

It doesn't matter what you like at Christmas, they have gourmet eggnogs,fruitcakes and stollen made with top shelf , organic ingredients that make you feel good when you gobble it all down. But it really doesn't matter, this is the season of silver garland, kitschy elves and plastic nativity scenes with smudgy faces poorly painted on the Holy Family, it's all good.

Here we goooooooooooooo

Christmas specials on tv, a stack of Christmas CDs in the car, it's hard to stay still, different memories, plans, projects, scenes, recipes,lists pop in and out of my mind all day long. I can take Christmas music all day long. Yes, I am one of THOSE people. While at work I'm plugged into it.
So much to do. Can't wait for the tree to arrive to decorate it! St Nicholas Day is on the 6th! So much to bake.

Loma Alta Tree Farm

We all went to Loma Alta after Thanksgiving. It was a lovely afternoon with family. We did the the hayride and hit the snack bar a few times. Frito pie, yum! We didn't come home with a tree though. I started to get a mild pain between my eyes the longer I frolicked among them. It would quickly disappear once I left the field. Usually we get a live tree from out of town. That way , we "reckon", it has no allergens that will affect us. So far it's worked.

My mom was amazed at how different they all were. I was also surprised. I pictured rows and rows of the same shape or size. Nothing like that. There were stumps left over from seasons before and baby trees. Lots of Charlie Brown looking trees could be found. They were just starting their tree lives. We'd spot a majestic specimen and race to it only to find it was too majestic and towered over us more than we thought. I saw real garland for the first time. The old needles that nestle in the branches. It sounds silly but I didn't know what the silver and gold shiny stuff was supposed to do or where the idea came from. The natural garland was rusty brown and together with the baby pine cones hanging from the tree branches, made the tree look already decorated. I really want one in my backyard now.

The Virginia pine is not a full tree, not at all like a fir. It's sparse with weak branches. Perfect for Victorian paper ornaments, popcorn and some sort of feathered garland. It would also make a great Mexican themed tree: lots of shiny, tin and straw ornaments. Still, we had a great time. Next year I'd love to explore another tree farm and just sort of enjoy the grounds. Loma Alta set the standard pretty high though. I have to admit, after hanging out with the trees for so long and admiring their quirky shapes and awesome sizes, it would have been hard to cut one and then see it die. I love live trees though, the scent, the color and when you have no room to store a big plastic tree every year, it works out. Mail ordering again.

Musical Fruitcake

A delightful discovery just in time for the holidays!
Though not currently active has many posts to enjoy.

Valente Lane Candles

It's always awesome when someone from my hometown creates something really cool.
This Christmas I was given a candle made by Valente Lane Candles. I followed the website and was happily surprised to find that Charlena Cavender and her wonderful handmade candles were based in Del Rio, TX! The scents we received are luscious. They don't overpower the room with a synthetic scent, all natural. Because they are so polite we are able to enjoy them longer than other scented candles we tried in the past. They are tres classy and I highly recommend!

the last lil crumbs of minutiae for 2007

Here are some renditions of Christmas songs not in heavy rotation.

Donde Esta Santa Claus-Augie Rios
Jingle Bell Rock-Herb Alpert & the Tiajuana Brass
Silver Bells-Booker T & the MGs
Frosty the Snowman-The Ventures
We Wish You a Merry Christmas-The Brady Kids
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer-Captain Kangaroo
Auld Lang Syne-Little Bobby Rey

There was a full moon tonight. It was a memorable composition: full moon sitting off to one side of the house. The house was all aglow with the outdoor lights, wreath on door and the tree all lit up blinking in the window. It would have made a nice photo but I wanted to savor the moment rather than run inside for the camera to try and capture it. I was in my car about to run an errand when I spotted this. It has been my experience that a photo doesn't quite capture moments like this as much as you'd like them too. It was more for the mental memory book. Looked like a late 70's Coca-Cola Commercial.

This year I strayed from all obvious Christmas cookie recipes and just went traditional: oatmeal raisin, rangers, peanut butter and sandies.

The one obvious Christmas cookie I made was the spritz. I scored a dead stock Mirro cookie press about a year ago while thrifting. I had a mental block about the spritz. One year my mom made them, big mess. She made them every year and they came out great but I kept remembering that one year and how I didn't want sticky dough all over the place. Well, they came out yummy and it was uber easy and that cookie press is quite nifty. I added peppermint oil to the dough-Peppermint flavored Christmas trees=obvious Christmas cookie.

Olivia made tres yummy Mexican Canela and Anise cookies-OMG! They are the most perfect cookies ever. They look perfect like from a store , you can't even tell what side was on the cookie sheet! Lovely when a pastry chef bakes for the holidays. Yay Olivia!

Christmas eve is tomorrow and wow, everything this past year has just raced by. Last Christmas was still hanging in the air. I found pine needles in August. Only one, really. It was jammed in the floor board. Is this how it's going be as you get older?! Eeps! Slow down. I managed to get everything done at a pleasant pace so I can't complain too much.


Wishing all who happen upon this posts: Health, wealth and happiness in 2008!

Hot Cocoa and The Grinch

It was a busy and festive weekend so it was nice to sip some hot cocoa and relax with some Christmas cartoons this evening. I did make those marshmallows and they are awesome in hot cocoa! They were a lot easier to make than I thought and well worth making.

A Grey Garden's Christmas and other minutiae

I have seen Grey Garden's over and over and over. Imagine my excitement when I discovered my friend had not seen it once! Yay! So I've invited her over for a Grey Garden's Christmas evening. We will watch the Maysles follow the Edies around and snack on crackers with spreads. Thought it would be a nice homage to how Big and Little Edie ate per the doc. No boiled corn but we'll have Christmas cocktail foods made from authentic 70's recipes and I'll take my cocktail in a mason jar.

I've always wanted to have a Grey Garden's party. I'd like it in a half empty, old house (with cats roaming?), boiled corn, pate on crackers, cake, ice cream, cocktails in mason jars and the movie running on a 16 mm projected on a wall. Of course you must dress like an Edie or Maysles brother. Maybe when I turn 40 this will be my over the hill themed party, sans the cats and raccoons. We have four already so that's enough.

TGIF and cloudy, wet and cold!

This year the plan is homemade peppermint cocoa, homemade marshmallows, gingerbread men, gingerbread cake and still sorting out what cookies to bake.... stuffed mushrooms, various, yummy, balled up cocktail foods, teehee (the kitsch factor in that is tremendous and tres nostalgic for me).

Basically the season really kicks off today after work.

Tiki Monkey Christmas!

37th Street RIP

So after the party last night we drove down Guadalupe and I wanted to look down 37th street to see if the lights were up. Last year was so lame and sad. Most of the Christmas light people with the Christmas spirit have moved away. Wm decided to drive down the street and it was nearly empty, not many lights up at all. It was only 8pm so it's not like some could have been turned off. In fact the displays and lights on the houses in my hood are way more impressive and festive this year.

The video for Christmas Lights was done in 2004 and there was quite a bit of foot traffic that night. It was the 14th of December, a Sunday, and the place was packed. I think that was the last year the street was really lit up. Maybe one day, a fun group of people will move in again and turn the place on. Not at all what it used to be.

Thanks Mom!

Every Christmas I must thank my mom for giving me so many wonderful ones. The 18 I had at home and the few that came after I left home have carried me every year. I'm a very Christmasseeeeeeeeeee type of person and it's because of her.

She did so much for us during the season to make it special. She not only made 10 different types of cookies and assorted fruit balls, rum and peanut butter balls,various yummy foods, she made our Christmas dresses and Christmas Eve nightgowns and sat with us through all out Christmas movies and cartoons. She had a day job and us three kids who weren't really much help with the whole set up until we got a bit older. It could not have been easy.

I recently discovered the "radio shows" I'd create on tape with my sibs. I'd play Christmas music in the background and go around asking everyone what they wanted Santa to bring them. Then I'd cut back to some music, have more interviews, personal ponderments (much like what I do on this blog) and of course the follow up interview on Christmas morning: Did everyone get what they wanted? Then we'd hold an after Christmas day parade to showcase our new toys..ran from the bedrooms, through the living room and finished up at the kitchen and that was recorded too.

Part of the show was scripted, I did set up corny scenarios (a la Andy William's and Lawrence Welk Christmas specials-UGH!) and you can hear me whispering lines to sibs. There is an entire cassette tape colection chronicling several years of this. I listened to one the other night and it really brought back how things were as a kid. It left me sort of melancholic and sad the way it just cut off after I chronicled that last Christmas in that way. Awwwwww

It coincided with the year of "the Santa discovery" and it was a sad one. Still, I was able to enjoy the sib's ignorance of it all. I was able to help make things special for my baby sister for a number of years after that. Leaving the house and having to come home for Christmas for the first time was the next milestone Christmas. Then came Christmases without loved and important people in our lives. Then came Christmases that weren't at my mom's home anymore.

Despite the changes and passing of time, my mom has manage to always deliver warm Christmases one way or another, even when it's not even Christmas (some years we get together before or after). She has given us that Christmas feeling that comes every year. Love you, Mom!

Christmas is coming and I'm just sitting here

Time to stop working and prepare for Christmas.
UGH! No dice, not until next week. My last day at the job is 12/18. I say this all the time, I say it every year, I need to save up my time so I can take all of December off. The only Christmas spirit is on the other side of the office. I'm actually on the cusp of it. The side I am on is not at all festive. While everyone else had office tree trimming parties we worked. So, in order to preserve my Christmas spirit on the job, I must take all of December off next year, away from the job. It will happen. Last year I did great, got an entire week off before our generous, official week off. Getting serious though, next year, an entire month!

My favorite radio station started playing Christmas music 24 hours a day. 91.3 FM. Keeps me driving around and sitting in the car until the songs finish.

Off to mail Christmas cards!

These last few days

Sorry, I couldn't hear you because I'm listening to Christmas music.
I will be posting the playlist with MP3's soon: Jimmy McGriff, The Ventures, Tijuana Brass.....Merry Christmas!

I have such an egg nog buzz. Half egg nog and half rum in an 8oz glass...bad idea to try and hang those big, red, glass, Christmas lights over the door in this condition. Too late, sweep later.

Saturday: My new, vintage repro, Noel Candle, outdoor lights arrived!Yay!
Today: BOOOOOOO the bulb in one of my new, vintage repro, Noel Candle, outdoor lights burned a hole right through the plastic flame.

Making snowflakes in the cubicle is a pleasant way to spend my 30 minute break at work but loses all excitement at home.

Is the tree losing too many needles?

It's too hot to think of Christmas. Poop.

It's A Wonderful Life-HeeHaw, Buffalo Girls won't you come out tonight, HOTDOG!

I LOVE this film! I especially love to watch it with others who *heart* it as much as I do.
My sibs and I pretty much know the film word for word and watching it puts me closer to them.
So if you are up to watching it, give me call. No, I don't recite along outloud, teehee.

Of course A Christmas Story is right alongside IAWL. After all those marathons, yep, know every line and used to watching it over and over and over. Really would like to go to Cleveland to see he actual house.

Speaking of Christmas over and over...Rankin and Bass news. I wonder if these were the two that sold on Ebay back in 2005. Thanks to Henry for the update.

Recently my friend Edee has introduced me to other holiday films like Home for the Holidays. My mother and I watched that one together for the first time last year and really liked it. Must watch again this year.

I really can't stop reaching for The Apt, Darling and Lost in Translation between Christmas and New Year's.

Toys

My mother always told us that paint on anything probably had lead (especially if it was painted red) and we shouldn't put it in our mouths, so we didn't. However, there was that one Christmas we hung one of those cheap, red, mesh stockings (still love these) to close to my baby sister's crib and the next morning she had red dye all over her face from putting it in her mouth. My mom freaked out! We got in trouble and heard horrifying stories of what could happen to Andie, brain damage, blindness, allergic reactions and death. YIPES! Nothing happened to her, she's now editing books in NYC. We played with Fisher Price Little People and seems to me they were the perfect size to choke on. We were told never to put them in our mouths or we'd choke and then DIE. I received my first FP Little People set at age two and still have it, little people, furniture and all. Never put them in my mouth. Ever get hit in the head with an old metal Tonka truck? It hurts! Turns into a huge welt and then bruises up, bad. I cried hard, my brother got yelled at, spanked, was told that doing such things could cause severe trauma to the head, coma and death! We grew up learning that you played with toys the way they were meant to be played with. If you didn't you could get hurt, you could sustain a severe injury and die. Our toys were never recalled or banned. We still have those deathtraps too. Our mother was a bit on the dramatic side to drive a point home but it worked.


Remember Super Elastic Bubble Plastic? We were never allowed to play with the stuff but it intrigued me. Most Wham-O stuff did. I only played on a slip and slide once in my life. It was at a slumber party and it wasn't what I had expected. My mother was right, you could fall wrong, break something, like your neck and die. I got a bruised arm and my elbow hit the ground in that funny bone way, OUCH! Not fun. Well, the fun came watching other kids take near fatal falls and laugh at them. I digress. So, my mom thought it was too dangerous to play with the plastic. What if you ingested what was in the straw?! You could die. So I've never done Super Elastic Bubble Plastic. In fact, to this day, I don't think I'd ever play with Super Elastic Bubble Plastic (no chance of something like that being around) because it still seems rather precarious.

Christmas 2007 begins

Our tree arrived from DeLong Farms on Friday!!!!!! Cool to arrive home from work and see this HUGE 7ft box leaning against the door. After we got it cut and situated in the house it spent 24 hours drinking water and falling out and making our home smell all citrus and pine like. Saturday evening was spent ushering in the season with pizza, family, eggnog and too many sweets. This tree seemed a bit fuller. Every year the tree has a different personality that pretty much dictates it's decor. Tonight was spent tidying up, taking out the recipes and hoping it gets tres colder. AWWWWW Christmas tree lights!

Still expecting Vermont Country Store goodies to finish decorating.

Miss you Mom! I loved being to spend time with you.

Today I wish I owned a Christmas Tree farm with chickens. Getting excited about Christmas.... Picked up new Christmas music- Christmas with Jimmy McGriff!

Mele Kalikimaka !
For all friends of Tiki Monkey-It's a Tiki Monkey Christmas! All hail the Tiki Monkey! First Annual Tiki Christmas cocktail party and monkey themed white elephant gift exchange to celebrate the season and the new Tiki Monkey. Bring a monkey gift and take home a monkey gift. Check Etsy.com for great picks!
Save the date: 12/15

Historical Value

The other day I was pondering the historical value of things. People on the Antiques Road Show are always so disappointed that there knick-knack has no historical significance or value. In my collection in my world there are several pieces that are of significant historical value. Shall I list?
Don't be jealous:

1. The mirror from the ladies room in Quack's when it was on the drag. I took it before they closed and turned it into a boutique that has recently closed. It is where my best friend and I saw ourselves being who we always wanted to be for the first time.

2. The mechanical bow making machine from The Guarantee Store. This lil machine made bows for countless wedding, graduation, birthday and Christmas presents at the store in Del Rio. A gift from The Guarantee meant a carefully picked bauble to mark a special milestone. The bows were always so pretty and perfect. When I heard the store was closing I heard that Heywood Wakefield furniture was used to furnish the whole store and was now up for grabs, that there was gorgeous deadstock apparel but I was on pins and needles trying to get the bow making machine, for it's historical value, you know.

3. The punch bowl from Sacred Heart Academy. This punch bowl is old, tres old. It belonged to the nuns at Sacred Heart Academy in Del Rio back when they actually lived at the school and wore habits. After they moved in the mid 70s, they left behind a few sundries in what became the teacher's lounge. The punch bowl with all it's lil cups was left behind and used in classroom parties. I remember this punch bowl at the Valentine's party in the first grade, then at the Christmas party in the second grade, it was at my first dance in the 6th grade... When you are always picked to help do the punch and not pass out the cupcakes, you learn to recognize the same ole punch bowl. A few years ago my mother showed up with it and I was amazed it had lasted so long, but it is most surely the same tired ole punch bowl, the cups are in great condition but you can see over forty years of wear from parties on the bowl when you hold it up to the light. How cool is that?

Plans for the tree

So we were all amped about cutting a tree at Loma Alta but maybe next year. This year the logistics of it all just won't work. Honestly though, the Virginia pine just doesn't click with me. It's pretty, it smells good and looks great outdoors but I don't know.... the shape of it? The length of the needles? Something....
Virginia Pine Balsam Fir

So, we are going with plan B, what we did last year, order a Balsam fir from DeLong Farms in Nova Scotia. I know I haven't shed the small town, Texan in me because the idea of Christmas tree delivery via USPS is fun (just like the first Sea Monkeys I ever ordered, yippee). Not to mention, a Balsam fir seems more on the exotic side, teehee. There will still be tree cutting because two inches of the trunk needs to come off before it gets placed. It is due to arrive by St Nick's day.

Happy Merry Thanxmas?

OMG! So downtown has it's Christmas ornaments up, HEB is selling eggnog with expiration dates set 11/16 and 11/27 and the Optimist Xmas tree place is all set. Isn't it too early? I know they start putting out Christmas in September and October in the stores but it's coming up at a rapid pace allofasudden. Um, am I ready? It was just July.

I have been thinking of Loma Alta and planning for it for weeks now. It's grown to a small caravan but we'll see how it all pans out. I did purchase the eggnog set to expire 11/27...EEK! I love the stuff. I LOVE THE STUFF!

I don't want to rush the season or the holidays or for them to rush me by.

Tripping

Tripping over lil sites like this online can make my day by filling my head with cool ideas:
The Small Object
Rosy Little Things
Creature Comforts
and help me get through my Christmas list. Yeah Christmas, can you believe it! I can't believe Wm and I will have been together four years this December. Sort of flew by.

I also realize I have been like ZERO productive on the crafty tip this year, actually, so far (let's not rush to 2008 just yet). Not for lack of ideas, dear readers, but for lack of time. How I would love to be like these blogs I have listed, filled with creative endeavours and completed projects but....{sigh}, it's just not the on going theme in my life, but this is: “I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to another till i drop. This is the night, what it does to you. I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion.”. Places to go, people to see sort of year have kept me away from my art supplies. I had to start keeping a planner, EEK! I used to just have my day job but recently, just so much more than that on my plate.

Speaking of on my plate, the strawberry and creme icebox pie from The Frisco was damn good. I didn't think so at the time, in fact I was really jealous of the yummy coconut pie Wm got but today I would actually go to The Frisco just for that pie. Go figure. There is a moral in that lil story.

Speaking of eating out, the Dart Bowl restaurant reminded me of any little dive on Freemont Street. Really has an old Vegas vibe to it, all it needs is a Kino board. The BLT on their homemade bread is really delicious guilt with a side of chips. I have also discovered that it's the most entertaining place in town to do eavesdropping.

Is First Texas Honda on Koenig closing or is it just a rumor?

I was all snug like a bug reading Old Witch and the Polka Dot Ribbon (love the illustrations) last night, I forgot about going to the store to buy what I needed for Pan de Muertos and atole for Friday. I haven't felt 100% this week so we'll see. Really, it may just be a huge sugar crash from all the sweets I consumed this week like Pumpkin Cheesecake from Central Market and icebox pies etc... I heard some cool bakeries in town sell the Pan De Muertos but don't know if I can take any more sugar and I hear they make the bread a bit sweeter than it should be. I may end up making it myself.

Minutiae

I have been busy at work on a wholesale order. This weekend some new items will finally get posted if all goes well. I've been busy.

I have a giant corn plant on my desk at my day job and when I returned to work on Monday it looked ill.
OMG! Corn Plant! It was covered with yellow and brown spots. I feared a bug so I called over a co-worker who knows plants. He suggested taking a sample of the damage to a nursery. Another co-worker had a super duper magnifying lens and checked for bugs. I trimmed off the ugly, diseased looking leaves and Corn Plant didn't look so bad.
I took a sample of the "illness" to Shoal Creek nursery and the guy said, over watering with tap water. Tap water?! Corn Plant only gets Sparkletts. He said office plants quite often get those hard water stains or mineral stains because co-workers dump their leftover beverages into plants. He said it could have been coffee even. YUK!
I was relieved to find out it was not a bug or some plant disease. That's the first time I have been so invested in a plant, worried about it, sad that it was ill. But I *heart* Corn Plant. It is started to look much better.

There has been a lot of plant talk these days. The yard needs landscaping so we are doing some Fall work and planning for Spring.
Taking down the nearly dead Cottonwood and putting in two or three oaks instead? I don't know, we want a Magnolia tree but heard those are best left for a back yard. In the back yard: bringing in a Weeping Willow and putting down more grass. Maybe heirloom roses, but...I have no green thumb, so maybe not.

There has been talk of Christmas too.....I guess it is around the corner. I should be thinking more about it since it is my busiest time. I have been so behind this year.

A Year Without Made in China....?

Currently reading the book and taking inventory. So far, I have some shirts made in Mexico, USA and India, not so much China. All my vintage stuff is made in the USA: coffee peculator, a few skirts and coats and jackets, sweaters some old Doc Martins I still wear. Our dinnerware is new and USA made...hmmmmm didn't realize that.

I did become frustrated with the book because Sara Bongiorni totally lacked creativity when trying to procure items NOT made in China. Her coffeemaker broke and she never thought to look for an older USA made peculator with a lot of life left in it on Ebay or Goodwill? The time she spent looking for kids tennis shoes and never five minutes spent checking Ebay for some older Chuck Taylor's that were not used or only slightly used. A lamp? Ummm many an old USA lamp can be found but I got the impression she wants brand spanking new always. Well, I'm of the type who wants clean and works or can clean up anything pretty darn good and so if it works, it's good,it doesn't have to be brand new. By the end of the book I didn't like the author. I found her to be trite and her attempt at this project seemed to be one of the deepest undertakings of her life. Her epiphanies were thin. I didn't like page 128. The more status quo you want to be, chasing the Joneses the more Made in China stickers you will find: cell phones, IPods etc.... I encourage going against the grain, live without a cell phone, people did for years and were fine.She has no email address published for feedback on the book either.

But there are many a practical treasure still around not made in China at thrift stores. I have been successful at purchasing USA at those venues. As for big box, last Christmas I avoided them. I purchased from crafty and d.i.y. sites who may or may not have used supplies from China but there was no big box store revenue coming from me.

We still have a lot of Made in China stickers about the house, but when there is an alternative, we take it. It's easy to do in a place like Austin when you have no children. It's a difficult endeavour otherwise per Bongiorni and I believe that however I also feel she made things a bit harder than they could have been.

Incidentally, I have been using only Lion Brand yarn to make the stuff for my website. It's all Made in the USA and Turkey. Also been using wool yarn from Australia and Norway. My crocheting hooks are from Mexico. I didn't even realize this.

Happy Father's Day

I bought a Fender in 1993 and did little with it until I met Ron, my father-in-law. Ron taught me a few chords: A D E and for Christmas one year set me up with a Pignose, capo, guitar strap and a stand so I could keep the guitar out and have easy access to it for practicing. I have not practiced in a few weeks but it is something I do and enjoy doing when I get a chance too. Being able to finally play something on the guitar in addition to the cool gear was the coolest gift ever!

I have seen the cool, vintage Martin he learned to play on. The guitar is well cared for and breathtaking, I love a vintage Martin. Ron was born and raised in The Magic Circle, taught guitar by Tillman Franks , got to see many perform on the Louisina Hayride, can tell you first hand stories about Webb Pierce. He got to witness rockabilly history in the making and had his own part in it performing on KRUS as part of the Hogback Mountain Boys as a teen. He had fun with music and still does to this day, it's a big part of his life. You should see him play the banjo, yeah, he does that too.

My father-in-law is so cool and I feel uber lucky being able to have him teach me and have his encouragement with learning to play my guitar. His understanding and appreciation for music and the guitar are contagious. It's no wonder Wm is a tres talented guitar player himself. Happy Father's Day Ron!

A Time to Sew

I was remembering how my Mom and I would collaborate on my wardrobe. She would sew just about 75% of it, the remaining being socks, undies and school uniform. When I began high school we were still collaborating and I had cool shirts and skirts. Despite whatever differences we had or whatever inability to communicate, when it came to sewing and making me outfits I designed, she always got it with little or no explanation of the drawing.

I can't believe we didn't hold on to more of those outfits. This one shirt she made was a masterpiece, looked store bought, had top stitching, lots of detail. She kept the baby stuff but neither one of us thought to hold on to the rest. All I have left from that time is a cute three tiered, short skirt with lace on the seams, made to wear with leggings. I think she even got rid of the patterns ages ago and I never held on to the designs in a notebook or something. It did feel like those times would go one forever. For me age 13-18 went on and on and on without an end in sight. I think she feels the same way.

My mother gave me her sewing machine and sewing basket, for this I am tres grateful. It's a good machine. The sewing basket was bought with money my Grandfather would send her every Christmas and that means a lot too. These are valuable things and it's time I start sewing again.

I know you from somewhere

I have lived in Austin long enough to know you if I saw you before when I see you again. I have a good memory for faces but not always good in placing them or their names.
I may not know your name but I used to see you at Emo's in the early 90's. Maybe I saw you at parties when Austin had tons of parties and you could go to seven in one night or you hung with friends of friends or worked at Quacks when it was on Guadalupe or that book store where Denim Edge was or I would see you at the UT gym, hmmm by the way, remember Les Amis and their onion soup and black beans, anyway, or maybe you were part of the University Grotto or maybe you just came into that vintage store I worked at or hung out with those people I ended up not liking too much but hung out with for awhile anyway because they knew my roommate or maybe you came to my big party in 1996 or lived across from my apartment or maybe we had a class together or we could have been in that student film in the mid 90's or hey maybe you were at that audition for Snake Tails, maybe we'd wait at the same bus stop waiting for a shuttle or a bus or you could have been in the group interview to work at Central Market that one time or maybe you worked at that fast food place in the Union and I saw you when I went to see the John Cassavetes movie series and Seymour Cassel was there live and in person or maybe you sat in front of me, next to me or we met while walking out of Husbands or maybe you were at that swimming hole or record store before it went out of business, maybe it was in the bathroom at Liberty Lunch or maybe at Magnolia's after a show or at a Mr Fab show or during one of those first SXSWs when Crust would play at the Ritz or darest I suggest I saw you at a Retarded Elf show or hey you may have come to see a rental I was trying to sublet or maybe I saw a rental you were trying to sublet or maybe it was when I worked at that bookstore or at Ego's or maybe just walking down South Congress before it was SoCo and there wasn't much there so I'd know I seen you or maybe you used to go to that park near Elizabet Ney's or maybe just on campus when I started working there or maybe it was just at Starseeds, Tamale House those few times I went or maybe a hike at the greenbelt or was it Mt Bonnell or maybe it was at Enchanted Rock with a group or once coming out from the backyard of that house on 37th St around Christmas time and you were going in, or at 21st St Co-op or Family Thrift or maybe you were in a line at the Paramount (vague recollection), or was that line at Basics or were you there when that guy was dancing with a lizard crawling all over him to a Depeche Mode song or was it Fiesta at 2am or when I worked for that telemarketer downtown,maybe it was Emo's but I have seen you before and keep running into you from time to time, but I know you, sort of.

Rosca de Reyes

The best place to procure a Rosca de Reyes is at La Mexicana. But sometimes they sell out before I get one. I ended up getting this yeras at Fiesta. I was able to see them making it fresh, taking mine out of the oven and placing it in a pretty box adorned with the Three Kings. The aroma was heavenly!

I would stay away trying to get a Rosca de Reyes at Central Market. They put out a heavy adorned King Cake at Mardi Gras but their Rosca is impish, dry and resembles bad pan de dulce. They sell it in a bag and there is never an aroma and you just feel it's an after thought and some stale, left over Christmas goodie you happened to stumbled upon. Whatever you do, don't ask them if they are going to make Rosca de Reyes, you'll find yourself in the middle of some discussion trying to explain. Don't call it King Cake or you'll confuse them. I find myself at Central Market less and less these days simply because Fiesta carries a lot of what they have but more earnestly and at better prices.

PS: If anyone out there knows where I can get stollen for next Christmas please email me! I have bought this at Central Market in the past and wonder if it is just a dry and impish version compared to the real thing. So please promote your bakery!

The Twelve Days of Christmas and minutiae

Today is the first day of Christmas. The holidays are still not over (not officially) so if you don't want to take the tree down this week read why you don't have too. If you haven't done Christmas cards or forgot a gift and a visit with someone, you still have until the evening of the 5th. Just mention you are following the European tradition of Christmas this year.

My stock has run out so I must begin all over. The winter season has just started so not sure if I should put out Winter items or just begin on Spring like the stores do.
I'll let the first request be my guide.

I made too many cookies this year... Yeah I did. I still have dough in the fridge too.

Going to spend the rest of the week in hibernation reading Amy Sedaris.

Merry Christmas and Thank You!

Thank you all for your patronage this Christmas Season!

Peace on Earth would be awesome this year. If only.

Countdown!

So, tomorrow is my last day at work for the year, yeah deck the halls. I can't wait! Hi MOM! Last year all I could think of was family and baking and music and Christmas specials like this one:


and recipes. I am so proud of myself for setting this goal and meeting it quite well. Falalalala! Some things I want to try to make while away is meatloaf, yeah, I've never made meatloaf but want to try using turkey. I'm also going to try out gingerbread men and I have got to make some cornish game hens, don't want to lose my touch. I would like to try out new recipes so everyone,
SEND ME YOUR BEST/FAVE CHRISTMAS
casserole, baked goodie, main course, veggie dish, salad, beverage so that I can try it out while on holiday.

Note:I eat only fowl and seafood, not beef and I LOVE veggies.

Speaking of fun, it was tres fun doing this Chistmas photo. The actual photo for the card has an altered background. I had to use Paint to do that since I don't have Photoshop. The actual card doesn't have blinds in the background.

Frisco Dinner

Went to Frisco Night Hawk last night and had a feast: buttered veggies, cabbage delight and chicken fried chicken. Even a slice of hot apple pie! WOWSERS! See, we rarely eat this way.

The Frisco may not be around much longer. They want to put a Walgreens where it is. There are 2 CVS' and a Walgreens all within 5 miles of that very spot. 53 years in that location and no one needed a Walgreens in that spot all that time until this year.

They had a cute lil Christmas tree up at Frisco and it was warm, tres Christmassy.

St Nicholas Eve

Christmas for some begins December 6th and goes through January 6th. Tonight is St Nicholas Eve so if you have stockings out and you are six or so, you should get some fruit, candy and a modest toy tomorrow morning.
The Only Thing I Want for Christmas
Drummer Boy

WGN at Christmas

In the early 80's WGN would run the following vintage cartoon every morning. It would get us all excited about Christmas and cold weather:






Austin gets it's first hard freeze this Thursday-Saturday! Precipitation is expected. Oh please,oh please some sleet so we can get a sweet ice day and sip cocoa all morning. Edie understands :>

What I've done, been thinking, been doing

1. This weekend we had great weather (cooler and sunny) so we went on a picnic to the Elizabet Ney Museum grounds. It was quiet, secluded and with a transistor radio softly piping out the Graveside Service Show while we ate yummy sandwiches from Phoenicia, couldn't ask for a better moment in life.

2.I don't do the Black Friday thing, instead I clean and bring out Christmas decor. I detest those awful corporations that want your hard earned cash at Christmastime. NO WAY! Not going to be a part of their numbers and stats and I encourage you not too either this season. In fact...(see below)

3. This year I completed my Christmas shopping online: I'm Smitten, Boy Girl Party, Greater Good, Chia Hats and Etsy! Check out Etsy and find unique gifts and check out the webstores belonging to those who sell on Etsy.

4. I scored cute Christmas decor at thrift stores. I like the vintage look. So this 11/24 I will be sleeping in, setting up the Christmas decor.

5. Been filling my own Christmas orders. Thanks for the business Canada! I am tempted to set up there :> Thank you to those who have placed orders and chose me over the big box stores and corps.

Early Christmas Present! Yep Yep

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy Days are here again,
Let the media spin what they spin
The truth came out and the votes are in
HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!

Missing Ollie

I used to have the best dog in the world. His name was Ollie and he was a black/brown/white spotted Rat Terrier mix. I got him for Christmas when I was 20. I had told my Grandfather that I wanted a dog now that I had an apartment and so we drove through some neighborhoods in Del Rio until he spotted a small herd of Chihuahua-esque dogs. You use to see this a lot in Del Rio, someone would always have a mess of dogs (almost always Chihuahuas) they'd keep around, always looking healthy, always cute.

So we got out of the car and he knocked on the door,the man comes out and my Grandfather asks if he had any pups or dogs for sale. The man took a look around and said that he had been thinking that maybe he had five too many dogs and would sell 1 or 5 of them to my Grandad. He loved them all but felt he could part with the pups and would only sell them to a good home. They were all Rat terrier mixes from the same litter and were now 4 months old. I looked at them and they were all so cute but of course one stood out, the one that came up to me and sat in my lap.

After answering a series a questions and told to bring him right back if it didn't work out, my Grandfather paid the man $50 and I named my dog Ollie. He was already housebroken and fat and healthy and so cute with his huge pointed ears. He looked like he could use them to fly. We took him to the vet that afternoon and he was given a clean bill of health. My Grandfather was afraid he might have worms.

Ollie came back with me to Austin and we had a great life together for only a few years. He was always on a leash, always indoors but by a freak accident caused by my stupid and careless roommate at the time, he was killed. I found him not breathing,gums blue, on the street, picked him up and prayed through loud tears and got in the car to get to the vet though I was sure he was dead. He came back for a moment, eyes alert, gums red and I became hopeful, stopped the car and told him I loved him and glad he was back then he died in my arms in an instant. It may have been seconds or five minutes, I don't know, I lost all track of time and space at that moment but he was so real and alive just before he died. I buried him under an oak in this park near the rental house. I was depressed for a year, an entire year. To this day I still miss Ollie. I dream of him often and feel that he is still around somehow. It's been 14 years since he's been gone.

Lala's Lil Nugget

So we went to the Peacock the other night and it was nice but Lala's rulz. I've been going to Lala's since 1994 or so. Before that it was the Carousel Lounge but that was trendy by 1994, sad because it was a gem. Buddy's Place is still pretty exclusive but it is too far down the road, Lala's in right in the hood.

What makes the place so cool is the year round Christmas decor, paneling and the fact that it looks like a VF hall on the inside and is part of a strip mall on the outside. The only drawback about the place is the smoke that lingers in the air . I don't even think it's recent either. So many people have smoked in that tiny bar that it's soaked into the walls, the floor, the decor and it's thivk. You breathe in smoke from 20 years ago to the present. As a result, I don't linger as long as I used to.

Coffee bar opening on the corner! That would really complete the comfort zone. With Denny's, Lala's, Frisco, Sun Harvest, Terra Toys, Zingers, Elsi's, Oaxacan Tamaleo and Half Price, all needs are met within a 5 mile radius.

I was reminded this week that:

I wanted to be a child star in the 70's. Yeah, I wanted to act alongside Kristy McNichol,Sparky Marcus,Jodie Foster, Tatum O'Neil, The Brady kids(actors), Benji and Muppets. I wanted to be on the Mike Douglas Show. I'd play "talk show" quite often(creepy when you see Rupert Pupkin do it but I was six so...). I started performing in front of the television at two. This is to say I would sing and dance while watching the Dolly Parton Show,Hee Haw,American Bandstand and Lawrence Welk.

I watched a lot of musicals with my mother, was a huge Our Gang and Shirley Temple fan and it all worked to fill my head with the "gumption" to shoot for the stars (hokey musical talk). In my young head Hollywood was like in it's Golden Age...the dream factory in constant search of the new thing. This is because tv ran many old movies in those days. I knew what acting was at a very young age. I did impressions and was pretty entertaining within my family. I begged my mother to put me in show business but she'd always throw Judy Garland at me. She'd say and I can remember verbatim, "There was a really talented girl name Judy Garland who was beautiful and went into show business and it ruined her and killed her. You don't want that, so no." UGH! It would only frustrate me, and I admit, make the whole thing look not so appealing for a few hours.

So I was limited to only dance recitals, Halloween costumes, Christmas pageants and whatever I could do with the sibs and a few neighbor kids. Not much. I didn't pine for the Hollywood dream but every now and then I'd daydream of how awesome I'd be. Seems like I was around a few kids who felt this way about their own oozing-with-talent selves. With Grease, Star Wars and Fame being so huge and having such cool kid stars around at the time, it seemed easy. My school talent shows brought out kids doing scenes from Grease and Cats and really drive home the fact that not everyone was destined. I was part of a dance troupe in the kindergarten talent show that did a number to the song Car Wash.

Once I left home at eighteen I didn't head straight for Broadway (teehee)like I thought I would when i was eight. I went to college to get an art degree. Once I was done with college I played around with the idea of trying acting for a short while. Got roles in student films, auditioned for whatever "big time" stuff came to town and came close once but eh....I figured who needs it all end up like Judy Garland except Hollywood isn't even gothicically fascinating anymore anyway. The moment was gone. I had lost that confidence and naivete, it was a Tom Cruise world. But I had a fun time playing film star as a kid. I am left with funny memories, a cool imagination and what I picked up in ballet lessons, tap lessons, jazz lessons, piano lessons Summer puppet school and high school drama and my soul still intact, Mom!

2006

Who would of though that Indianapolis Colts owner, Jim Irsay, would have been interested in the Kerouac scroll? I have been looking forward to the scroll tour to hit my town. Back in 2002 it was set to arrive at the HRC in 2005 but has been pushed back to 2008! Geeeeeez Grrrrrrr I thought 3 years was long. UGH!
Note to C.B. please go see it more than once 4me. I feel I could just loook at it forever and over and over.

I got a Rusty Warren record for Christmas. That's right-Knockers Up! LOVE her!

I've been on a crochet hiatus due to weather. It's January and in the 80s! UGH! BLEHK! I do not like summer entering the week after Christmas. It sort of zaps the enthusiasm to create scarves and hats from me. What I didn't count on was how is zaps the ideas for other projects as well. A nice, decent winter is only norma, seasons change. So are these the kind of California dreams Phillips-Phillips were having on such a winter day in NYC? I think it was NYC where she was at a bus stop in the cold wishing she was in California. Nope, nuh-uh, not for me. I want the winter's day. I need four seasons not summer 365 days out of the year. What's that? You would enjoy that?! You are nuts! It isn't natural, not to mention bad for business. If it weren't for my East Coast and Mid-West customers, Canadian friends and Portland fans I'd be out of business. Thanks guys!

For some reason I am thinking of Barry McGuire now-ewwwwwwww. I mean I totally loved Eve of Destruction as a kid and his voice painted a picture of someone quite ideal (I'm sharing something quite personal here :> btw so shut up). BUT I saw a few episodes of Hullabaloo! hosted by Barry and gag me. He was pretty full of himself, all teeth, uncool- like squaresville and L7 and all that and hard on the eyes.

Hickory Farms RULZ

Flyers are being circulated around town that say Come Home Patrick and then a photo and number. Poor Patrick, poor parents. Patrick is an Austin teen.

It's because of my MOM that I am so enthused

Finally! My Christmas vacation begins!

Christmas Movies:
The Apartment
It's A Wonderful Life
A Christmas Story
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Crosby Films:Holiday Inn and White Christmas
Various Classics: The Women, The Philadelphia Story etc....
Rankin-Bass Toons, The Grinch!

Christmas Foods:
Tamales
EGGNOG and rum!
Collin Street Bakery-Fruitcake (I swear this stuff isn't nasty)
Green Bean Casserole
Ham
Turkey
Gingerbread and pralines, fudge, divinity and sugar cookies
Cheeseballs and dips


Christmas People:
You all know who you are, you lil devils ;>

Christmas Music: I have an extensive collection of Christmas CDs, jazzy, traditional, lounge, Latin, Rankin-Bass tunes, Sinatra etc...... In fact they make up half of my cd collection. I don't have Jingle Cats though. No Manheim SteamRoller either.


My mother is the one who is responsible for my Christmas cheer. She isnpired my tree decorating habits, Christmas house decorating habits and every year she would bake 7 different types of cookies, 3 different cakes, candies, various appetizers, dips and all sorts of yummy things. She would take care of us and our whining and make new decorations and sew us new dresses or pjs and pageant costumes and do her Christmas shopping , took us to church so we didn't miss Advent, and did all her visiting and soirees all in one month with a full time job and a smile. I can't do all that, but every Christmas I think of Mommy and the fantastic stamina she had for the season and how important it was to her to give us sweet Christmas memories and not have us turn into jaded holiday people. Now she takes her Christmas' on the road making a few of her holiday recipes along the way and still loving the season. Thanks, Mom and Feliz Navidad!

Capra

Yesterday was a perfect day for It's A Wonderful Life. Missed it last year. Thank You Wm for watching it with me :>

People who don't know Capra's film often write them off to sappy, sentimentality only. There is more to his films than just that. That is the Capra cliche and it rings true but it is also superficial. There is more and has influenced the best directors for decades including ,my all time favorite, John Cassavetes. IAWL contains aspects to it's characters not wholly seen in movies of that time. It has a happy ending? It ends with the George character adopting a different perspective on life as he is surrounded by friends and family who love him and help out. The next day George is still at the Baily Bros. Building and Loan, still has a wife and four mouths to feed and has always had that network of friends and family whether he knows it or not so what exactly has changed? Our perspective as well.

In another of Capra's films, and another favorite, Hole in the Head, shows an America in the 50s that was not all easy street and tract housing and social conformity. Not everyone had a home, a wife, a mother or a job. It shows economic dependence on family at a time when it was believed the self made man was the absolute and only accepted way to live. The main character is a loser because he wants to be one, there is no oppressive situation offered as an excuse. It doesn't end with the main character striking it rich or even shaping up but an acceptance of this flawed individual by his family who will support him indefinitely.

John Cassavetes on Ray Carney's American Vision :

"It is such a pleasure to see energy flow in a positive direction. I share [Ray Carney's] love for Capra...in my estimation the greatest of all American directors, a man who was so beautiful, so forgiving, so democratic, so damned talented, so full of life and energy that his films patrol the imagination of America today. He represents a country that perhaps never was. We see his heavies and they are the mighty, the unbeatable, no longer caring until they are made to care by the innocent persistence of the heroes. The villains continue to be greedy until Capra's people make them realize that there's joy to living.... He is the American dream."

Ironically, Cassavetes' true hero among directors was a filmmaker one would hesitate to associate with his raw domestic dramas--Frank Capra, director of such classics as Mr. Smith goes to Washington, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, and It's a Wonderful Life. "Those films showed the beauty of people having some kind of hope and dignity no matter on what strata of society they moved," said Cassavetes. "That quality has been lost in filmmaking--sentimentality, lots of ideals, but that's part of what America is all about. Frank Capra was and still is, in my opinion, the greatest filmmaker that ever lived. Capra created a feeling of belief in a free country and in goodness in bad people, that everyone reaches a limit where they would stop and be sane again, because what they really wanted was to have compassion for other people and live in a spirit of friendliness and brotherhood. Idealism is not sentimental. It validates a hope for the future. Capra gave me hope and in turn I wish to extend a sense of hope to my audiences."

PS
Don't have but 30 seconds to watch a Christmas movie?
http://www.angryalien.com/1204/wonderful_lifebuns.asp
Or If you love Ralphie:
http://www.starz.com/features/christmasstory/

Stuck

and there are 4 days till left till Christmas Eve. UGH! Next year I'm hoarding my vacation time so I can take the week before Christmas off. Actually I did hoard it but due to a car accident I was put behind and missed work etc....I have music I want to listen too, Christmas movies and Rankin-Bass toons to watch, pralines, a spice cake and other stuff I'd like to make, a tree from Vermont to sip tea and look at....Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I'm tres Christmasssssy. Want to go see the lights on 37th street tonight.

Listening to a $2 CD called Christmas Favorites. I also have Elvis Christmas (thanks, Carolina and Vince) and a special mix of Christmas songs (thanks, Wm). I have a fridge housing a cheeseball and brie, golly gee I wish I were home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot express this enough.

I have ideas to sew and crochet and knit. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR I'm so stuck here.

Going to watch It's A Wonderful Life-perfect mood for it.

Southtown, USA

I wish Snow Miser would blow some artic air this way for Christmas because Heatmiser definitely has a stong hold on us. The annoying, little, weathermen all happily announced mid to high 70s for the Christmas weekend. GRRRRRRRR Nothing starts me off worse than hearing nice and warm and sunny in December. I like it BLEAK, dark, ICE COLD! and snow would be nice for Christmas(I know but I can wish can't I?Could happen). What happened to El Nino? I don't hear about that anymore, is it gone?

Started the watching of the Rankin-Bass toons.

Sux that the USA does not partake in the slow, long, relaxing version of Christmas. In other countries like Mexico Christmas begins December 25th and continues for 12 days with parties, visiting friends, giving out gifts and cookies and ending with King cake on the Feast of the Three Kings January 6th. In Germany it's from December 6th to January 6th. I take my decor down on the 7th. Had friends over for eggnog and king cake last year.
In America seems like Christmas begins the week before Thanksgiving and ends the evening of the 25th. Seems to start in September and October in some stores. People rush to picked over shelves and buy more Christmas decor on the 26th then rush home to pack it all away for next November. December 26th brings trees in a dumpster (so sad to see), lights halfway pulled from roof tops and living rooms filled with exercise equipment. I try to stay close to home during that time because these sights ruin my twelve days.

UGHGRRRRRR ugly weatherman! It's normal for temperatures to hit the 30s and highs in the 50s for December!!!!!! Don't smile when you say 70!!!!!!!!!!

xmashappyholidaysmerrychristmasseason'sgreetings it all smells like whiskey, rum and oranges

Very Christmassy today despite the accident that has been working to ruin my holiday season. I still have so much to worry about but putting it aside for this tiny moment.

Sinatra's voice and those carols.....the smell of whiskey, rum and cooking sherry, clementines and of course fir trees. 12/14 is a special day, 12/23 is too.

We would start Christmas off with St Nick's Day on 12/6 when I was a kid then the JC Penney catalogue would be fought over, dog eared, circled in crayon and marker and finally torn up before the 24th. School had that secret Santa thing and art moments would spring up throughout the day with glitter, glue and styrofoam. I'd take that home and make more stuff out of anything, sticks, bits of broken ornaments, wrappping paper etc...

My mom would sew during December making us cute pjs , dresses (when my sister was born) and stockings......

There wasn't a mall in my life until 1979 and I have a great memory so I remember pre mall Christmas days. There was a toy store with nice display windows. JC Penneys downtown had Santa in the center of the store. There was the Christmas photo done of my brother and I every year there in November and mailed out in December to friends and relatives.

My mom would be decorating the house a little more Christmassy every year as things collected. My favorite ornaments were those felty Santa's and elves that go for so much on Ebay. Guess they stand out in everyone's memory.

There was the school party and gift exchange at 2pm before we got off for the holidays. Then there was a mess in a corner of our living room and or dining room where I'd be wrapping gifts. I would go all out with the ribbon, fancy folding tricks and bows and Christmas Seals. I see those go for a bit on Ebay now too. The mess would go on until 12/23 or so. We'd have to help clean the house while my mom made her cookies, cakes, stuffed mushrooms, cheese balls, swedish meat balls, Bisquick sausage balls and gingerbread.

Back to pre-mall days: It was cold, maybe because I was smaller or the global warming hadn't yet taken effect but it was COLD! We'd be going in and out of stores, big old 50's looking dept stores because 70s kids were the tail end of all that. You know, like Joskes in San Antonio where bargain basement prices meant you wander down to a basement and in nice square table like bins were signs with 10 for a $1 and tons of women were down there battling over undies, socks, sweaters. In my town there was Bealls, it was HUGE. Gibson's had the tinsel, Perry's had the felt we'd cut up and turn into weird little ornaments that I can't make out now but my mom still remembers what they were said to be.

They would gift wrap for you until around 1980 or so.....that's when I started after watching all those years.

A few gifts Santa brought: Star Wars, Barbie, Baby Alive, Baby Soft Sounds, Raggedy Anne, Tonka, Tinker Toys, Life, Risk, Casio keyboard, Fisher Price, Mattel, That wonderful plastic smell and tape (yes tape had a scent), sewing machine that worked with a cartridge, dishes, Ernie muppet, Pooh, blocks, Lincoln Logs (smelled good). I believed in Santa a little too long because my parents were good at it with different wrapping paper, not keeping presents in the house, not shopping around us.

One year I asked for Santa's autograph, didn't recognize it as anyone's I knew. To this day no one has taken credit for that.

Minutiae for the ones who love me:

1. Joined Flickr twice. One account for cat photos and another for the rest.

1.5 No, you won't find me on Friendster or MySpace.com

2. Wish Fall would hit Texas. The sun goes down earlier and that's a cool start.

3. The mall can be fun for window shopping on a Sunday evening.

4. Supposedly a barrel of Maker's Mark whisky is being named after me and I'll get a bottle of it when it matures in a few years.

5. I can change chords faster than ever.

6. Time for a Mojito at Brown Bar soon.

7. Can't wait for Halloween cause I have a costume in mind so someone have a party *hint*hint*

8. Love being a new Mommy to Mona and one Monty going on 2 years or so.

9. Can't get over Al Stewart's In Brooklyn. The melody, the lyrics, the structure of the song all seem to work on me. Also gives me ideas. I play it over and over non-stop. If I stop, the ideas and inspirtation for everything from new items for the site to how I want to decorate my dream house to the next writings I'll work on disappear. A long time ago Sounds of Silence had this same effect as did Venus in Furs and Heroin, Walk Away Renee, Art School Babe, Just Like Heaven,Life on Mars, Viva Las Vegas, Better Things,Christmas Lights, and darest I say Aqualung back in 1984. Yes, I know but it is true, got some nice paintings out of it and my mom still has them on her wall. But it's been awhile since I've grown autistic for a song and the more recent ones were:She Belongs to Me last year and The Good Life as sung by Darin. Just songs that for whatever reason I grow insanely attached to for weeks.

10. The Leisureama hat has yet to be developed but Welcome Mat Hat is on it's way and the Fudgcicle and Blinky scarves.

11. Art-o-Mat check it out at Mexic Arte.

brooklyn.mp3

Got it all

June 20, 2005, Lucky Girl! Tres happy. Thoughts du jour: Tres Happy, Wm, 78s, Love and Christmas Lights.