It's my b-day and it's sucky but I expected that.
so, I'm still jazzed.
So, I'm stealing this kitty cake and wishing myself a better year and wishing myself a better future and an easier time of it overall.




Thank you to the people who don't think adult b-days are just to be glossed over. Especially to Chad the guy cheerleader over in
Mixed and Happy on Facebook who said it better than I could dream.

Happy Early Birthday To One Of Our Officers, Sirah Morgan!  ♫•*Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birrrrthday Dearrr Siirrrahhhhhh! Happy Birthday To YOU! ♫•* :-D

I have to say the discussion of who and why and just the overall drama of dating is always an entertaining subject. In honor of meeting new friends here are some links on the subject::

divalion.livejournal.com/163615.html :: Article: No More Mr. Nice Guy

www.thefrisky.com/post/246-mind-of-man-why-you-should-really-date-a-nerd/

"If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?" - W. Somerset Maugham 1874 - 1965

I will have to come back to this later but I really liked seeing it and thinking of the implications. Beliefs are so very easy to change and that it is not something I ever feel I have set in stone... nor do I expect others to form a belief and never change them. I don't know why that seems reassuring to me.

I do know that today was very odd, very depressing and I hope my Grandfather will leave the world peacefully before he must be put in an intensive care home. He just is soo far gone with Alzheimer's and recovering so weakly from pneumonia that we know he won't be here much longer. He may have decided to go since he is just so far gone he can't even be his usual self. He is such a  ladies man that he may be letting himself go since he no longer can chase the ladies! He's no longer my grandfather anymore just a very primitive shell trying to get back to his house and not be told what to do by strangers.

Check in on your elderly family members this month. Don't wait to do it and don't wait to confirm their finances are being dealt with properly. My grandfather was receiving 4 different magazines for things he couldn't even pronounce and had refinanced 3 times by the time we jumped in to take care of things. The house is gone... no one in my family has the right to go there. It is a fixer up for someone else. Don't wait-- do what you need to do to confirm you have healthy family. Or they will not get to die with dignity and they will not get to go home to die. The sad thing is as long as you believe they don't need the help you don't know that it might be different. No one lives forever and few get to believe they are the same they have always been all the way up to the end. The good news is that you CAN take care of this and CAN be there when they need you. You just have to lay the foundation now.

Some of my favorite pieces of junk mail come for a very kind, funny, smart and giving source. If more of my email was as good as her usual messages then I wouldn't have to trash so many. Here's one of her most recent pieces to grace my inbox. If you contact her, tell her I sent you and enjoy a very blessed experience.

The Spirit of Sylvia published a new entry entitled "Life in a Nutshell" on 10/25/2009 2:22:59 PM, written by Sylvia Silk.
Life in a Nutshell

On the first day, God created the dog and said: “Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.” The dog said, “That’s a long time to be barking. How about only 10 years and I’ll give you back the other 10?” So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said: “Entertain people, do tricks and make them laugh. For this, I’ll give you a twenty-year life span.” The monkey said, “Monkey tricks for 20 years? That’s a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the dog did?” So God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said: “You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer’s family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.” The cow said, “That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for 60 years. How about 20 and I’ll give back the other 40?” So God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created humans and said: “Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I’ll give you twenty years.” But the human complained, “Only 20 years? Could you possibly give me my 20, the 40 the cow gave back, the 10 the monkey gave back and the 10 the dog gave back? That would make 80.” “Okay,” God said. “You asked for it.”

That is why for our first 20 years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next 40 years we slave in the sun to support our family, for the next 10 years, we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren, and for the last 10 years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

And that’s how it is. Have a fun filled day! Until you return, fill your days with GIGGLES, JOY, and APPRECIATION!

Sylvia Silk, D.D. Director of the Institute For Balanced Living, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Doctor of Divinity, Spiritual Coach, Reconnective Healing Practitioner, Writer

Permalink: sylviasilk.com/2009/10/25/life-in-a-nutshell.aspx

I promise to post this painting a week ago. I let myself go about it since my toddler was not getting watched if I go outside to take the picture. Then I couldn't get the picture since it was shady, and then after taking the photo today and finding the SD disk/card didn't auto-connect with the computer I asked my Dad (off work today) if he kept the SD card|USB translator in the dying computer's tower. Then actually got it and used it to upload the photo while my mom was out front and watching my son.

I have let too many things go because I made excuses. This painting is the very first thing I did in paint-- it was done on cardboard and the piece of newspaper with Morgan Freeman's face on it covered a badly botched flower. Then, I couldn't paint over Morgan Freeman's face. On a walk to my library, I met a neighbor removing fractured safety glass from his car remodel. I brought a can of that home and used it to cover the uneven painting on both wings of the butterfly I had added to MF's head... then decided that the painting was too foregone to bother painting the leaves in myself. (Having 3D items like the safety glass makes this piece an assemblage NOT a collage-- which I kept calling it.) So, on more walks with my son I took leaves that interested me including those from a dying Silver Dollar tree and the bug nibbled Rose Bush leaves and golden dead tree leaves from my own backyard were gathered and added in place. I also found a white frondish plant in a wild garden on our walk to the park... these became MF's antennae and is the second assemblage piece. At that point, the image had so little to do with my source that I decided it needed some accents and found a bag of mixed flower glitter and added pieces. Some of the glitter IS butterfly stampouts and some flowers in pots and a bunch of flower rounds. I did not even know I had create 8 flowers until my toddler counted them today. Eight is my very favorite number. You can look at a detailed image of Fledgling Floral here- very large!::
/http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd173/Locitoa/Ravelry/102_0981.jpg

Thankfully, I have improved my painting ability until it tend to only be limited by my ability to match paint mixtures. I have a portrait with an interesting map on the face that I am scared to touch as her nose did not show up well enough with the color mixtures I had to work with then (My 2nd painting) but not sure I can match the colors well enough to not need to repaint her entire face with my current colors.




So, the painting awaits your observation and this poem both come to you by the efforts of a member of Ravelry's LSG group.

Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes.

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

LOL, no problem... first thing... don't believe wiki-pedia, Sigh. It's fun, it's easy but ehh... confuses bishop with bell.

Here's verbal description which really does help you pick out the oopsies left over in the rest of visual montages I was able to find via Google.
[http://thevintagedetective.wordpress.com/2008/08/28/bishops-poets-and-legs-of-mutton-know-your-sleeve-types/

But, this came up the other day in Ask.com's results: [http://weddings.weddingchannel.com/wedding-planning-ideas/wedding-fashion/articles/fashion-glossary-sleeve-style.aspx

This I trust as the Balloon and Bishop sleeves are mentioned in that first blog as being worn by Katharine Hepburn are often WRONGLY lumped into the Bell sleeve concept. But the poet mentioned here might also be considered a Balloon sleeve type (and all three remind me of menopausal wedding style-- sorry, I'm brutal). The sleeve on the Wine shrug is actually a mild poet sleeve as (defined historically) it is flared below the elbow but not ruffled which is what severe poet sleeves have.

Most poet sleeves involve a gather in order to create a flared wrist or ruffled wrist-- but people get confused where that ruffle occurs. They can also be tossed out into the lantern sleeve territory (for those who never grew arms!)
http://fashion.about.com/od/latesttrends/ss/sleeves.htm
Just laugh your way through those and then decide for yourself if that bell sleeve is really short or it is a long caftan sleeve. Caftan would be a solid state item and not a seperate stitched on sleeve but the bell does get a seem at the top.

Some of those seem to not have many takers, lol:: [http://tinyurl.com/l3a4pb   AKA HUGE original link and the body of the shirt was nice enough but I could fix those wilted flower sleeves with an extra 2 inches added lengthwise to the upper arm and then making it into a Trumpet sleeve by making the flare asymmetric. That way it doesn't look like the lady was folded in half and put away wet... It gives a much more romantic impression to have the sleeves fall away and reveal the lower arms.
Perfect Bell sleeves in my mind are shaped like this image from a free Yarnmarket printout::



This following wedding link has lovely examples of a mild to medium poet sleeve, a short Bell sleeve and some other fuzzy definition sleeves. (Though I think t-shirt is a cop out on that name it might be a short/mild caftan sleeve - maybe just be prepared to laugh your way through these.)
[http://www.projectwedding.com/wiki/show/wedding-dress-sleeve-types


My next suggestion would be emptying your browsers temp file cache, lol! That was a lot of pictures but you should keep the cookies.

Here's the links::
  [1]: http://thevintagedetective.wordpress.com/2008/08/28/bishops-poets-and-legs-of-mutton-know-your-sleeve-types/
  [2]: http://weddings.weddingchannel.com/wedding-planning-ideas/wedding-fashion/articles/fashion-glossary-sleeve-style.aspx
  [3]: http://fashion.about.com/od/latesttrends/ss/sleeves.htm
  [4]: http://tinyurl.com/l3a4pb
  [5]: http://www.projectwedding.com/wiki/show/wedding-dress-sleeve-types