I get lost in the greeting card isle every now and then. I go in for 1 card and rarely leave without 4or 5 in my hand. I am glad to live in a time where greeting cards are so fun and diverse. There are e-cards, 3D cards, sparkly cards, sounds cards, plain cards, theme cards, colorful cards. Cards, cards, and more cards. It is a wonder to behold. I would love to write greeting cards. Sadly, I only have bursts of creativity and don’t think I could sustain the needed hilarity necessary to earn a living.
I have received many great cards over the years. I’ve got some friends who are masters of the greeting card find. There is not room to include them all here – but I have included a few that were grand enough to make it to the walls of my cubicle in hopes of brightening an otherwise hopeless canvas wall space.
Inside: Birthday or not, don't go with Paco
Inside: Don't disappoint Paco. Dance! It seems apparent from card 1 and card 2 that card 1 is from Paco after many years on the road. Young Paco just wanted to dance, older Paco ... well remember Elvis? Nuff said.
Inside: I'll see you when I see you I AM COYOTE
I have spent some time trying to figure out which of the heroines I get to be. I was going to go with the one without the cape - because we all know how dangerous those are! Choking Hazard! But both of them have capes. So I think I'm the girl with the full leotard - because really how many women can truly rock the Wonder Woman bathing suit and not be concious of their thighs!
Anthropomorphic: the attribution of a human form, human characteristics, or human behavior to nonhuman things.
I use my cell phone as my alarm clock - and have discovered that the snooze on the phone is 8 minutes long. This morning the clock alarm volume got louder and louder with each additional snooze. I have not noticed that feature before. It was almost like my phone was yelling at me. “Time to get up – THIS IS THE LAST TIME I AM GOING TO TELL YOU!” Alright, alright. Sheesh! I’m up already.
In thinking on why my alarm was so blasted loud this morning I realized … it knows.
I ordered a new cell phone 3 days ago. My current phone is on borrowed time, and it’s grumpy. It will not go quietly into the night.
I like to make things. I like planning how to make things. I am really good at deciding to start projects and I have a clear vision on what the outcome will be. Summary: the beginning and end of my ideas are always the most thought out. I rarely get the middle part right. Sadly, that’s where all the doing takes place. In the middle there are multiple trips back to the store to get items needed to finish the core and get to the end. There have been times when the middle was so frustrating that I never got to the end. It is in the middle that my lack of skill becomes glaringly evident.
In the beginning: I bought a sewing machine.
Preface: When I was young I took a sewing class during summer school. I made a pair of jammers. They were much smaller than planned because I forgot to cut out enough fabric.
In high school I had a home economics class (The class was called something different, though the name escapes me. But it was one of the few classes that would fill a certain graduation requirement). I took the class with a friend of mine. There were sewing projects. We made jammers again. Pretty sure these were acceptable to pass the class. We also made fabric letters that could be stuffed with batting to create a puffy letter statement. All things puffy were very “in” back then (puffy paint, puffy fabric letters, puffy bangs). The puffy letter was cut out and in a burst of team spirit my friend and I decided to work on the project together. She operated the pedal and I was in charge of the fabric. Result: super fast sewing, and a fabric letter that looked like a Barbie doll micro mini dress.
Back to the beginning: I bought a sewing machine. I went to the fabric store and bought sewing tools and fabric that is beyond cute. I bought a specialty blade online for a rotary cutter before I owned a rotary cutter.
The middle: I have been back to the fabric store for more supplies and items that I didn’t even know I needed. Some of my projects have sewed lines that are not straight. How in the world do you make the lines straight? I decide to sew slowly and find that my foot takes over. (p.s. The most comfortable pedal position in my car in 80 mph. I find myself there all the time.) The end: I have a finished product. From a distance it looks pretty impressive. The key is distance, everything looks better farther away. (People, cars, clothes on the rack before you try them on, big screen TVs. Actors were better looking before super high def, big screen TVs) I have more fabric to use and more projects for my sewing machine. I am already thinking about ways to avoid the places in which I stumbled. I am headed towards the no-sew version. Fusible fabric … the answer to all my woe. All I need to do is operate an iron.
I relocated for a new job 5 months ago and in doing so started doing the things you do in a new place. I still need to establish a doctor and a dentist, but I’ve taken care of the important things. I have a library card (one of the first things I did), and I found a place with fantastic curry. I’m well on my way.
I am still experimenting with radio stations. I figured out which station is NPR and have a fairly reliable station I listen to on the way to work. I don’t know what their theme is, or even if they have one. When and why did radio stations start needing a theme? According to my sister themes are important. She informed me many years ago that mixed CDs should NOT, can NOT, mix song genres. But would I let that hold me down for one more day? No, I broke free from the chains. My CDs and playlists are a lovely mishmash of hodgepodge and shenanigans.
I would love a station that played good music and called itself GoodMusic 105.5FM or KickAss 99.1. (or something like that). Then again I am using the “me” definition of good music. I can think of at least 5 people right off that would adamantly disagree with some of my choices.
Tangent: I do not care for music snobs. Definition: Music Snob – person who in determining what music they prefer consequently mock and belittle all other music as subpar. AKA – If I don’t like it; its crap and you are a fool for listening to crap. How to identify a Music Snob: wrinkled nose, look of disgust, and pitying head shake during conversations about the beauty of I Believe in a Thing Called Love.
Back on track: radio stations and music. I like lots of different kinds of music and enjoy chasing the rabbit down the rabbit hole in search of new music finds. I was driving to the previously referenced new job a couple of months ago when the background music registered; I smiled and turned up the volume. I arrived at work and because it was such a happy moment waited my car until the song had finished. The same thing happened today. Different days. Different songs. Same genre.
Those songs were Hotel California and I’ll Never Let You Go.
