Vintage Heart Rabbit: A Doll Story

When my sister and I were small, our grandmother gave "us" a doll. The doll's story went that my aunt had traded a little girl a handful of candy for it. We figure that this took place some time during the Fifties. This aunt was the youngest of my dad's sisters.

Vintage Heart Rabbit: Antique? Painting & Antique? Frame

I will be your night in shining armor, riding across the desert
on a fine Arab charger... (The Rolling Stones "Emotional Rescue")

I'm a collector of things both old and new, from Skylanders and Sailor Moon to paintings and cameras. Some of the things may have value; some of them I just think look pretty neat.

Bunker Tour Post: Hostile Living Room Makeover

August will be my third anniversary living at this place, and I'm just now getting around to making it look like a home. It's difficult to buy big items when you don't have a truck or free labor, but I am figuring out ways around it. Hopefully, once I have everything in its place, I'll have enough white space in my head to start creating again.

The Shelter Chronicles, Part II

What's up? I know it's been a while. I've been deep undercover here at the abode, working from home and thinking it's time to try a work-from-home hair color. 😸 Because it's the first time in my life that I've felt that it's acceptable. Seriously, a couple of decades ago, we were told at work that we were not allowed to have blue hair. I didn't have blue hair, but some did, and it was frowned upon. I will not have blue hair, and it will be much more subtle. Just dipping my toe into the river of unorthodox hair colors.

Gimme Shelter

Hello, Reader.

I had begun to wonder how much the world had changed since I've been in the bunker, and I was curious about venturing out further than the mailbox or the sidewalk to make the no-touch hand-off with the DoorDash or Uber Eats delivery person when I felt like splurging for a tempura bento box or Chili's chicken enchiladas. Gotta keep those restaurants going! We're in this together!

The neighborhood sounds just as busy as it did before and even more so. Even from the first announcement concerning social distancing, people were still out and about walking dogs with a friend or relative. It had stopped raining, and the weather was pleasant. Flowers were blooming in all of the yards. One cheermeister drove around the neighborhood singing, and the next day, she was joined by a small parade of singing, cheering women, all in their own cars, keeping their social distancing.

March Madness: 7 Favorite Middle Grade Books

(Video mashup by Ridiculous Chicken)

In a previous blog post, The Binge Review, Ep. 2: Netflix and Books, I mentioned that I was reading 100 Cupboards for the second time. Interestingly, author Shannon Kaper talked about the same book on her YouTube channel in a vlog about Middle Grade March. I can promise you I was nearly finished with the book when I saw her video because I can't read that fast! 😹

Inspiration, Part II

On a recent YouTube video, self-published author Kristen Martin talked about falling back in love with life (+ writing). Since I had just written my blog post "Time and Inspiration" a couple of days earlier (I'm writing this on February 24, and that blog post is scheduled for February 28, so we're time-traveling here), her video struck a chord in me. In that blog post, I talked about trying to organize my office/studio and placing paintings on my brand new drafting table to inspire me to get back to painting. This blog will be a reflection and response to Kristen's video, as well as a follow-up to my previous blog post.