Guideposts--Week10

Imagination is everything.  It is the preview of life's coming attractions.

~Albert Einstein

Ordinary Days

I love ordinary!  It's comfortable and familiar and welcome.  It gives me a peaceful feeling of security and stability.

I can tell you right now what today will be like.  A chilly morning walk and talk.  Jeans for Casual Friday.  Children with smiling faces.  Lunch at home with the doggies and a flying trip to the Habitat ReStore.

A date with the laundry pile, my vacuum cleaner and the lambswool duster.  Homemade pizza for a family dinner.  Google Reader and blog friends for dessert.  A mental list of weekend possibilities.

It has all the ingredients for a happy life:  family, friends, furbabies, some exercise, creative/artistic pursuits, a satisfying day at work and a weekend to look forward to. 

What brought this on?  Yesterday The Universe sent me the same message from several different directions--small repeated hints that life is precious, that the future is a gift, that I need to appreciate the simple joys of day-to-day living.  I'm not quite sure what I did to deserve the prod, because I thought I was carping the diem fairly well, but I'm smart enough to take the hint and spend a little energy cherishing the things I have and loving the people around me.

Today I'm sending some love out to all of you, my friends.  Have a simply wonderful ordinary Friday!

Perfect Timing

Some days are better than others.  Some days are worse.

Tuesday was a bad mood day for no good reason that I could think of.  (You don't want to be around me when I'm like that.)  Fortunately, because crafting always helps my mood improve, I needed a birthday present for Wednesday afternoon.  The result:

I love The Graphics Fairy and finally had a reason to use some of her goodies (the endpaper background and the vintage birds' eggs print).  I used Picasa3 to turn the endpaper from the original soft green to sepia.  Then I had fun combing Dafont to find the perfect "J" initial and permitted myself to download the Jane Austen font.  I don't currently have a use for it, but I love it so much that I'll invent a need if necessary. The perfect wooden (unfinished) frame was just sitting in my stash and I just happened to have a whole entire gallon (don't ask) of black eggshell-finish paint on hand.  The end result was even better than I'd hoped.

Cost for materials:  $0.  Cost for a much-improved mood and a happy recipient:  priceless.  Works for me!

Finally! The Cottage Sign Reveal

Here she is!

I'm very happy with the finished product. Now to seal it for exterior use and mount it.

Thanks to everyone who contributed feedback on the font selection--a pat on the back for you all!

Blondes and Beautiful Bloggers

My funny bone is easily tickled.

Two blondes living in Oklahoma were sitting on a bench talking,

and one blonde says to the other, "Which do you think is farther away...Florida or the moon?" 

The other blonde turns and says, "Hellooooo, can you see Florida???"

 I love blonde jokes.

As a highway patrolman pulled alongside a speeding car on the freeway, he was astounded to see that the blonde behind the wheel was knitting! 

 

Realizing that she was oblivious to his flashing lights and siren, the trooper cranked down his window, grabbed his bullhorn and yelled, "PULL OVER!"

"NO! the blonde yelled back, "IT'S A SCARF!"

 I'm just glad I was eating a burrito rather than drinking something near my keyboard when I heard this last joke.  Consider yourself warned!

A blonde pushes her BMW into a gas station and tells the mechanic that it just died abruptly.
After he works on it a few minutes, it is idly smoothly once again.

"What's the story?" she asks him.

He replies, "Just crap in the carburetor."

She asks, "How often do I have to do that?"

Okay, enough silliness. I was awarded

by Nita who said I inspired her. Have you seen her amazing fabulous fireplace? She's the inspiration. And she put me in the same company with Whisperwood Cottage and Funky Junk Donna among others.  Be still my heart!

Thank you so much.  First of all I'd like to thank my mother who never did my homework for me and my husband for his faith and support...

So...I have to post seven things you don't know about me.

1. Until a minute ago, you didn't know I liked blonde jokes.
2. Dark purple flowers are not allowed in my garden.  They look like a black hole in my pastel color scheme.
3. I wear neither purple nor pink, no how, no way. I don't have anything against them, they're just not my colors.
4. I've successfully repaired my washing machine twice.  The second time I stripped it down to a pile of metal on the garage floor. Very cool.
5. I took dance class in kindergarten and desperately wanted to dance in the recital, but the Queen Mother wouldn't buy me a leotard.  My life has been spiraling downhill ever since.
6. My natural hair color.  Actually I don't know what it is either anymore thanks to my long-term relationship with Nice 'n Easy.
7. I remodelled my entire kitchen around a ten dollar set of canisters that I simply adore.
8. Oh wait!  I only had to reveal seven things.

As I've said, I'm inspired regularly by my wonderful readers out there in BlogLand.  And by my daffodils who persist in blooming through snow, rain and freezing nights.  Thank you all!

Who inspires you?  Another blogger?  A co-worker?  A family member? Do tell!

And the Winner Is...

Bright Star.

Like the best Belgian chocolate, it's still evoking delicious flashes a month later.  The only category in which it was nominated was Costume Design (the luscious fabrics and dresses were a character in themselves) and it didn't win.

I thought the costumes were crazy wonderful, the set decoration was unbelievable and the screenplay was brilliant and the film was the most memorable I've seen in a very long time.

Bright Star gets my Best Picture award. 

What was your best film of the year?

Guideposts--Week9

...the King went on, “I shall never, never forget!”  

 “You will, though,” the Queen said, “if you don’t make a memorandum of it.”

--Lewis Carroll