Treasures

Life is full of them, take for instance this handy dandy little package

Sure to brighten up the day of beach goers or the closet drinker anytime. Light weight and just enough.

Here are some treasures I recently found, they are OPs (other people) cast offs. Most of these was 95 cents, the black twisted vase (don’t ya love it was $9.95 and the bowl was $1.95.

Check out this pin and bracelet. Beloved found the pin $2.95 and I found the bracelet for the same. Now I’m really styling. And you are so jealous aren’t you my dear Internets.

Especially now that you see my Chocolate with Pecans Waffle cup from Cold Stone; Oh did I mention that I had a coupon -buy 2 of the same- and pay only $5.99. Now that was really a sweet deal.

Update on my carpels; passed the Cardiologist testing (photo here if you dare) and am scheduled for October 12th. A kind word up to Father would be nice. Thank you

Oh who won the prize from my little Altered give-a-way? (horns blowing way too loud in my little head)

Quit biting your nails, Shhh everyone, please calm down. I know you expected a winner but I’m afraid when I drew the name from the proverbial hat two stuck together (weird huh?). Will Georganna and Snaggle Tooth please e-mail me, paigevonliber at gmail dot com, with your address so I may get your prize in the mail soon if not sooner.

I know, I know, trust me when I say I wish you all could have won a prize but there were only so many. Hey there is always next time (not a promise) Come on y’all stop it, just stop trying to make me feel guilty, cause I already do. I love you all my dear, dearest Internets.


Happy First Fall Weekend!

Whats wrong with this picture?

We recently bought a new television, for our bedroom, we got one of those flat screens you know like what we have in the studio. Y'all saw it when you were on the Grand Virtual Tour. Remember? Of course you do my dear internets. Anyway the reason we bought it... we really had to buy it... no truly on accounta the remote broke. Hey don't judge us, we are just doing our part and besides this was not the first remote we had for that old television. No my Beloved has gone through at least three remote controls. Well besides the remote being broken the old television had about a half inch, literally, worth of dust on it. Yeah I have bad allergies, for real, so I could not... in no way could I have dusted that old TV. I would still be sneezing...ah … ah … achoo!

It took a few minutes to mount the hardware on the wall, right where that old painting used be. You remember the one, I think, it was in one of those photos that I had taken a while back when I was sick in bed and I was showing you my view. Remember? You know it is the best location for our new TV. It's right there front and center at the foot of our bed just high enough that it can be seen over my belly and just low enough to be below the ceiling fan pull cord.

We got the new TV hung on the wall, cable cord screwed in and the power cord plugged in. The batteries were loaded in the new remote control and we were set. After puffing up our pillows we heaved ourselves up on our tall crazy a$$ bed We made ourselves comfy then my Beloved pushed the "on" button... are you ready for this...


This is what we got!

We were not very happy, no not at all. We fiddled with it for a while, maybe 10 to 15 minutes. Then we decided we would check the other TVs in the house. After all maybe the cable out. And you know what it was.

And that just goes to show you, don't get a bad attitude when your old remote control stops working and you are forced, yes forced I say to buy a new television and then the new one doesn't come on.

By the way we soooooo love the new TV. Y'all should all break your old remotes so you too can rush out and buy something you don't need. Come on my dear Internets... we all need to do our part to kick America’s economy into gear!

Altered

When I posted this Out and About Nothings, Aunt Amelia’s comment said, “Actually, I'd not be a good one to comment on your altered book, anyway. I never got my mind around "the why" of Altered Books.”

So here is my long-winded version of whys and wherefores and a surprise offering.

To alter an existing book is taking something that would be discarded; in this case a book I bought from the Goodwill. But a person can take any notebook to decorate (alter) or even various pages (think scrapbook) and affix them into a book. They can be themed or a hodge podge. Assembling of found or castoff objects into a pleasing and cohesive design adding paint or doodles or just about anything, imagination is the only limit. A lot of time these books have some sort of interaction between the reader/viewer and the pages they can be -pop ups, disc to turn and change a view or give surprise perspective to the page. It is a different type of medium that offers art that can be touched, smelled or whatever. There is a certain 3 dimensional aspect to altered art / altered books.

This is a venue that I am still learning, it is something that cannot be hurried as one must wait for glue or paint to dry. I think my attraction to this form of art is that one takes things that are textural and combines them with visuals to create something emotional. They are great for gifts of the heart because they can be so personalized. Well like … who remembers ‘This is your life’, I don't but I heard it was a TV show about someone’s life, yeah sorta like that, but about the theme or not of your choice.

I could see you, Auntie, taking seed packages of flowers in your husband’s garden, a tiny bottle of it’s soil with perhaps dried petals pasted to pages and some of the lovely words you write about it or some of the letters you get and placing them in an old gardening book. There see Aunt Amelia your very own altered book.
OR
Lets say for instance you like to walk in the woods or on beaches and take photos or make drawings. One could put these in a book along side tree bark, leaves, feathers little rocks (without damaging nature of course). One could mention the way the air felt or how is smelled on that particular day.
OR
Maybe you could to do one of your pregnancy or on the birth of a grandchild. Do a book teaching your little ones numbers, letters, colors and nursery rhymes, where they get to decorate the page. Guys, you don’t have to be left out, there are many “manly” subjects out there, you have the whole array of outdoors activities, sports, cars, outer space, tools, bb que or whatever you men do. The limit is… well there is no limit.

Just curious here, how many of you dabble in art and or crafts? Would any of you care to win a book about beginning Altered Art? I’m just asking cause “indoor” weather will be here before you know it and you may want try out something new to do with the kids and this is so kid friendly. Guys may want to make a special gift for their partner (keep it clean fellas) And maybe I can have a give away, but only if more then… lets say 5 folks were to be interested and if so maybe I will.

You tell me.

Kreative Moi?

Oh my gosh! I am so excited to have received this really koooool award from Linda of Left Brain Write. To have been mentioned in the same post with other bloggers (Greta of for Write or Wrong; Jodi of Fiction Writer; Michael of Not from here, are you? (where I had a piece posted); Angel of A rage of Angel; Melissa of Windspirit Girl; John of The Bathroom Monologues) is pretty neat too. I feel very honored to be considered Kreative, although I will admit I have fantasies about it and my mind usually has a better view than my ability on some fronts. Yeah I could use a boost to my self confidence as I almost always put a disclaimer on my work and opinion…hey I said almost.

I am thrilled to have you, my dear Internets, even read this blog and it is that very reason that I don’t play favorites, I mean that’s like picking a favorite kid or something else just as impossible. So please forgive me for not being able to pick just 7 of y’all to pass this awesome award to. Know that y’all are all Kreative in one form or another, heck I don’t read ya cause you are non-creative ~snort~



But for the 7 mystery writers, let’s see

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Agatha Christie

Ellery Queen

Raymond Chandler

Brad Meltzer

Mary Higgins Clark

Insert your Fav here; as I only have 6


Thanks again Linda for all your kindness towards my crazy a$$.

3 Book and 3 Movie Reviews

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I had heard sometime back that it was a good book but opted not to get it as I was reading “educational” stuff at the time and I wanted to stay focused on that. But because the movie was coming out I bought it to read before I saw the movie. I can see and fully understand why people would have an issue with the book and thereby the movie. The book goes between Clare’s and Henry’s perspective in a time line based on their first meeting in a diary sort of telling. This one contains adult language. The reason, I think, some folks will have issues with the book…well what do you think of a forty-something year old man appearing naked around a little girl, yeah. That said I enjoyed the book and give it 4 thumbs up.

Movie Time Traveler’s Wife: If you have read the book and liked it you may not like the movie, it starts when they meet in “real time.” If you read it and didn’t like the book well I’m sure you won’t be going to the movie. I give the movie 2 thumbs on accounta I wanted to see it, but not real happy because they changed some elements that appeared in book and did not show enough of Clare’s life moving on and the deep love she had for Henry.

The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum. It was the cover followed by the title that caught my eye. The story of a female lawyer, Emily, trying to cope with her past, current life and an aging grandparent. Emily was portrayed well, in fact she could have been a friend. I will not give anything away for this one although there is some, well maybe more then some, adult language in it. I give it 5 thumbs up (only because some adult verbiage was a bit much)

Julie and Julia: What can I say about Meryl other than I love her comedian style. Inspiring movie for some folks I’m sure. My beloved was a little leery of the chick flick status but he laughed just as hard if not harder then I. We both figure that the real Julia Child was a hoot and this move is a definite 6 thumbs up.

The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright. The cover is what first attracted me followed by the title. Jack wrote a letter every Wednesday to his wife Laurel, some were funny recaps of events others were mundane. In my opinion there were not enough letters exposed in the book about this couple’s lifetime of love. I found the beginning filled with too much of an information dump and skimmed over 3 or 4 chapters. For me there were too many characters, as endearing as some were they only cluttered the room. It was predictable and typical… I thought the best character was A and P, the family friend who had a thing for flashlights. I give this book a 1 thumb up for the cover…and that is my fifteen dollar and ninety nine cent opinion.

The Proposal- a cute and yes predictable story line. That Ryan is a real cutie pie, Sandra did a good funny mean lady and Betty White…well if you know anything of Betty and her totally unpredictable characters prepare for rolling laughter during the Indian scene in the woods. Yes this was a 5 thumbs up kinda movie.

There y'all go my summer reading and movie re-viewing

FTC Disclaimer: I was not compensated in any form for any of my opinions in this post

Logic OR Not

You can make logical suggestions, advice if you prefer, to people and they think you are stupid or whatever. For instance a lady at my office said her daughter “still cannot find a teaching job.” Of course if she were willing to teach junior or high school and was bilingual, her odds would be better. So being the smart a$$ that I am I suggested Rosetta Stone because that would enable her some basic communication skills. Most (about ¾) of our hispanic population, in my town, is straight up from Mexico and they speak in dialects not “proper Spanish” like most English speaking folks. So back to my suggestion, the lady at my office said 'no her daughter doesn’t want to do that.' So naturally like you just did, I thought then she doesn’t want to be a teacher or maybe she doesn’t want to have to move out when she gets a job. But knowing her mom like I do, her mom would be hunky doory with daughter living at home forever…heck I have never even heard that the daughter had a boyfriend and she is now 23; I’m just saying

++++++

I must be a foreign life form, cause I just don’t get it. I mean not just the above but all these people that think their children are perfect; never doing any wrong…because if that is the case why are there so many kids committing crimes, skipping school and never leaving home? Some of ‘em were not and have not been held accountable to their own actions, or lack thereof. But I suppose they will all be taken care of anyway by our government. Wonder where that money comes from? You know the money they will spend on the unemployed people and illegal’s health care. Hey I know maybe we all could quit our jobs and be eligible too. Hum communism at its best

We are leading ourselves like lambs to the slaughter and in some cases trying to be the first one in line.