chock-a-blog

I've got a small collection of toy refrigerators and I'm always looking for more. I bought this little set of vintage wooden dollhouse furniture at Savers because it includes not a fridge but an icebox or a piesafe or whatever your little vintage mind wants it to be. I love the detailing on the sink, too, though I didn't get a picture of it in this little montage. I also had to have the furniture because it reminds me of summer trips from AZ to IL to visit Grandma Goldie, where Bin and I played with the old dollhouse furniture and crumbling cement (plaster?) blocks Goldie kept from Mama Dee's childhood. Goldie kept them in an old shoebox and an old coffee can, nestled up on the shelf formed by the top of the wall panels under the eaves of the garage. I hope Goldie still has those and will pass them along to me or Bin. Lots of warm childhood memories wrapped up in play with those blocks and furniture. The mice and cheese are another bit of papercraft (completed while pla...

there's something lacking in the nature of my posts. Something personal is missing. I read some very reflective blogs by writers gifted in expressing themselves and although I consider myself an introspective person that element is missing from my posts. I've always thought myself a writer but for the last 13 years I've had difficulty writing about anything that matters, as if I fear revealing too much, or laying myself too bare, or writing something I can't defend or retract. And there's little use in making a public proclamation here, something along the lines of, "I, shy_smiley, do hereby resolve to write one provocative blog post a day." In the words of YM, my old boss, "It is what it is." One of the Thinking Bloggers I read is kirbanita at Take Joy! She recently posted The Name Game tag and invited anyone interested to play along. I found it difficult to resist. Here are the rules: Go to http://www.google.com/ Click on Google images Type in...

I've decided to "archive" the books I read with collaged luggage tags, ya know, the kind you buy at JoAnn and gussy up with your collage-y stuff. I still only finish about a book a month, and I'm pursuing this artsy urge I've had to collage. So here's the first in a series: a collage tag for Darin Strauss's Chang and Eng. This book is historical fiction, documenting the life of Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker, who began their lives under the protective care of their mother and father, who were Mekong fisherfolk trying to live as normally as they can on a floating hovel. The twins are condemned to death by the King of Siam, but once the King meets them he changes his mind about the "bad omen" they portend, instead choosing to believe that they're a harbinger of good luck to Siam. So the King undertakes to educate the twins, who live under his roof for many years before they hear of their father's death. The King releases them once agai...

so who do you suppose donates a javelina skull at Savers? And who do you suppose buys it, for a whopping $7.99? And do you suppose it's a real javelina skull? Do you suppose it's a javelina skull at all? what else could it be?

Remember when I hung this century plant flower spike up to dry, hoping to use it for decorative purposes in a corner of my dining room? I never expected it might sprout. What do I do now? Can I harvest these little plantlets and grow whole new century plants?

back view front view (if this were a ranch, we might call it the Lazy V)

About a month ago Jack scored a Star Wars Monopoly game for $1.99 at the Goodwill. I didn't want to buy it because I thought he wanted it only for the pewter playing figures, most of which were missing. Those included were Boba Fett, Princess Leia, and the Emperor. Just enough for me, DH, and Jack to play what Jack calls Star Wars Anopoly, with rules modified by Master Jedi Jack Doubleroller. We play every night. The game is pretty much like regular monopoly except we play until all the "pwahpahties" have been purchased after which the game is over and we either begin a new one or put it away so I can work a jigsaw puzzle and have a break from the game. Jack is Boba Fett and DH is the Emperor, and they play on a team, sharing money but moving independently. The first couple of games they totally creamed me, until Leia enlisted her brother Luke to join the team. After that I fared a bit better, except that I don't always pay attention and sometimes Boba Fett or the Emp...