It's close To Midnight and Something Evil's Lurking in The Dark

I found these awesome vintage photos via Sweetney.
Are they wicked cool or what?
Happy Halloween!

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She can take the dark out of the nighttime/And paint the daytime black

Get thee to a screening of this amazing documentary!
WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?





I had the pleasure of attending a a screening for this documentary last night and I left the building feeling as if I could speak louder and I could breath deeper. I felt a part of my artist self climb out of my body and join the other women on the screen and in the room to dance and be joyful in the fact that motherhood and the artist life can coexist.

I let go of what others expect of me for a bit longer than usual last evening and felt a powerful connection to other women/mother/artists who really do get the short end of the stick. Why can't art in general be more sacred and why can't mothers be more than mothers? Why can't it be validated that I want a room of my own and two or three hours a day to be in that space? Why?


All I know is director Pamela T. Bolls has got a gem on her hands, she has got a documentary that speaks to women and all artists and art lovers. She has to get this out there for more folks to see. Go to the website and find a screening or act locally!
Wexner are you listening?

Drexel are you listening?
I will help you organize it with my big mouth!


*** I also has the pleasure of meeting Janis Mars Wunderlich!

She is a fabulous LOCAL artist in the film.
I loved her. Her art is amazing and she has FIVE children. I think she has figured out a lot of the right ways to live the artist life. She choose the right supportive partner, has a strong faith in something, and makes art a daily part of her life! She was so inspiring! Check her out!

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won't you show some class/why ya wanna move so fast

We heard this song today at the pub where we stopped off for some chips after errands. So of course as I drink my soda he is gonna ask me why don't we have to take our clothes off to have a good time? I ignore him and the fact that he will no doubt inform this tidbit of knowledge to his preschool teacher tomorrow and instead think about cherry wine. I have wanted some for years...

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It can creep up inside you/And consume you

Like I was telling my pal Jen on Sunday I sometimes listen to music and go away for a bit. Like while working wood outside on Sunday I had a disco party in the back yard. I was pin thin and in a velvet catsuit in my mind. I shook it for America across the brown leaves. It was awesome.
Then Blaise and me went to a party and it was perfect because I was able to play my secret obsession to him (he’s like me- very eclectic music taste). I love Rihanna. There I said it. I love her voice and her hair and her hot bod. I love her and when I listen to her I go to a club where the circle parts across an ancient parquet floor and I dance with moves that would scare Justin Timberlake.
Seriously.

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Anything goes/but don't blink you might miss it

I have these familiar strangers in my town. I love it. This guy and his giant dog Chaucer. Finn is scared shitless of Chaucer and frankly so am I a little. He has this growly growl that his owner says is friendly. Who knows.
I just love that I rolled up beside them today. I love that the dude was obviously enjoying one of his last convertible rides of the year.
Love it.
I am guest posting over at Petit Elefant this week. Come visit? I am going to talk about parties all week!

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And all the lights that lead us there are blinding

I am thinking about this man today.
I am also thinking about all the beautiful people who have really put their lives on hold to work for the campaign. It can be overwhelming when you think about it all. I am going to thank some of those local people this week.
This is the week to talk.
Keep talking about him.
Focus on Obama.

I have it perfectly visualized in my mind.
I can see my future President and his name is Barack Obama!

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In the blue stained glass church/You gathered up my heart

Paying it forward. One of my fellow Kirtsy editors Sweet Sarah from Yes, Lemon Pie had a little fun thing a bit back about a Pay it Forward gift.
Here is the info from her blog:
...Here's how it works: The exchange focuses on doing an act of kindness without expecting anything in return other than that the recipient will, in their turn, pass the kindness along and pay it forward.
I am going to agree to send something cute, fun and thoughtful to the first 3 people who post a comment on this entry.
In turn, those 3 will post this information and pick 3 people they want to send something to and so on.
The little something that is sent can be something you made, bought, were given or found. Just make sure it's something that will make the person smile!
By doing this, you must promise me that you will then post about this on your blog or send an e-mail and then send something to the first three people who sign up to play along through you. It's a small way to bring a smile to someones face!

I thought it sounded great as I like to make others smile too. So- I was so pleased the other day when I received a gorgeous little package in the mail form Ms. Sarah! My camera is not with me today! Boo Hiss. But, it was adorable! I got a lovely silver and ceramic ornament about creativity! Love it! And she also sent me letterpress from Suann's amazing shop and a bit of wrapping for the next folks gift. How awesome. S0- Who wants to keep it going? This is not about spending a lot or anything. It is about human connection and smiles.

I will send off parcels to the first three who leave a comment with email!


Have a great day!

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Cause yr hot then yr cold/ yr yes then yr no

I found my nose ring.
The ring was in Finnian's bed from one of the many nights I have slept in there this past week. Blaise is in our bed and I cannot sleep with him and Joe very well as Blaise kicks me and hits me and at least once a night punches me in the face.
I find it easy to sleep with Finn though. He wraps his little self around me and holds my face. It is lovely. I love it because we have not been getting along so well lately. He has really been a pill. But, when he sleeps he is perfect. It helps some.

I sent him to Grandma's last night bc I was seriously at my wits end with him and after my bath I went into his quiet room and sat on his bed and missed him. I put my head on his pillow and rested in my towel. I felt something jabbing me. It was my nose ring. I am really am his princess after all. He tells me that you see. How can he be so sweet and so wretched in the same day? Will this last a long time?

print from emmaklingbeil

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And your brothers going to kill me and he's six feet ten

I lost my nose ring. I may have lost it today or three weeks ago. Dunno. This is another glaring indication of the mind-body-disconnection I have going on here. Stress is starting to hug me tighter. I did not notice metal in my flesh until it was gone. I have had it for a very long time, but still. I was always aware. It is kinda like the fact that I failed to realize that I had a long white hair growing from my eyebrow. Like a freaking Father Christmas eyebrow standing out bushy and I never knew.

I guess am off to this place later. The last time I was there was years and years ago and even then I felt like a fraud. I had to tell the serious piercer that indeed I had let a Mykonos jeweler shoot my nose with an old school earring gun while drunk on Ouzo. I could see the disappointment wash right over his complexion. I had not went through the real process. I was not authentically pierced. Tonight might be the night.

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Every single one of us the devil inside

I walk into the bathroom and find lovely blond hair all around my feet and stuck to the glass basin. I see it everywhere. I see my tiny scissors from my grooming kit on the floor.

I walk into his bedroom and hold my breath. O dear God. He is gorgeous still, but bald on top and his bangs are shorter than mine were during my brief but startling Parisian Pageboy year.

At least he didn't shave his eyebrows off like my friend
told me that her kid did before picture day at school.
Swear!
My mom said I cut my own hair too.
Rite of passage I suppose...

You wanna go hat shopping Finn?

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Maybe martians could do/Better than we've done

so it goes., originally uploaded by jenaleigh.

I love Vonnegut
I wish I had guts to get another tattoo
and some of his words would grace my skin
I think my old teacher was in love with him
I think she told me stories about stalking him
I cannot really recall if it is true or I made it up

All my life you're haunting me/I loved you so

Bacon Candy!

Yeah, that's right. Bacon candy!
I mean come on!
Did a tiny bit of drool just mix with repulsion in yr mouth?
Finn and I have been working on recipes from
Kids Cook 1-2-3 by Rozanne Gold
and he has been dying to make bacon candy!

From what I gather this may be a Southern thing, but this Yankee loves it.
I think it would be great with eggs and pancakes or even some meat and beans.
It made the house smell like a Yankee frickin candle and as I type this
I am overcome by the sensations of Autumn and leaves and scarecrows and such.
The spice blend rocks.

You need bacon, confectioner's sugar, and a five spice blend ( clove, ginger, pepper, cinnamon, and coriander)
sprinkle it on bacon- roast about 15 mins/drain fat/roast till crisp.
Eat and feel a bit sick but deliriously happy.

I cannot believe I ate this after going with My friend Michelle to this last night
where I consumed well over 5,000 calories in an hour and a half.
I was so moved last night by the March of Dimes.
I will do the walk next year. I swear.

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where somebody shines the light/I'll be coming on home tonight

Joe has been doing so much. He is pushing up against the verge of too much. We both are really, but he is truly tired lately from his own business and the wood company. I get all guilty about taking a spare few moments for me and then feel like a miserable partner.

I wish we both had a day off from real life to relax. I wish we could run away together from all the grown up realities for just 24 hours. I wish we could be in a darkish old pub in England or the sandy beaches of the Greek Isles or the Westin downtown.
I wish I had a new sheer nightthing and a bottle of Veuve clicquot.
But, I don't. I have a few precious hours in the evening and a heart that beats fast when I look at this man who does it all.
Finn believes his dad has powers and I tell him he does. He really does.

I am trying to think of small things I can do to show him my appreciation.(and remind him that although I may not be very good at showing it that I am the bomb!) I tried to treat him this weekend.
I made him Guinness Stew and it worked. He fell right into that relaxed face and was putty in my hands. This is some good stew folks. I think it may have healing properties. One thing in particular that I like is that it calls for two cups of Guinness and when you purchase a large bottle at the market it leaves plenty to drink while you cook.


I heart the Irish Pub Cookbook by Margaret M. Johnson

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Don't You Know Now Is The Perfect Time

Today has been really productive. I am thinking about holiday gifts and the lack of coin in my handbag. I already signed in blood the handmade oath, but I jut still worry about time and all even though I started way back here. I am making keys and also these and have lots of ideas- I just hope I have the time.

Then I found this sweet sweet shop.
I talked about the smart card PDF first over at Kirtsy.
Then I discovered the calendar PDF!
OMG! What a smart cool perfect gift!

I am smitten with this shop! And she is a doll! Check it out!

So today I sat with my new printer and made cool calendars!
I mean how cool is this? I got this amazing printer to review!
I love you One to One network!
I almost frenched the UPS guy.
I was so excited to try out this top of the line printer.

It was simple to set up and I have to say my calendars look amazing. I love the photos of the boys that I printed out today too. Fast fast fast photo printing!
The coolest thing for me is that my husband and I can share one printer thanks to the built-in wireless and wired networking.
I have owned a bunch of printers and this one seems to be the best with photo printing. I have never used Epson inks before, but there are way more than a black and a color cartridge to install. It is like a spectrum of small ink cartridges designed to give the truest colors. I loved it. I might have to say I am an Epson gal now for photo printing.


I love days when I get stuff done
don't you
happy Sunday
don't you get the Sunday blues

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The sands of time were falling/from yr fingers and yr thumb

How cool is this?
Pop a picture in this and it becomes all old and lovely?

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Shot Through The Heart

I may have the start of a thing for Paul Gross.
It is kinda like when I had a thing for Peter Krause.

Slings and Arrows is like my obsession this week.

Amy over at Angry Chicken talked about it and I got it from the bary and am dying each day-waiting for the clock to run down so Joe and I can throw off our clothes(we like to watch movies in our undies here- don't you?) jump on the sofa with blankies and snackies and dive in!

We are hooked.

Yes, Paul is scrummy. (that would yummy and scrumptious blended)

Seriously. Watch it.

And I said if the answer is no/Can I change your mind

How to have a dollhouse with rowdy boys:

When my friend Dawn gave me this amazing dollhouse I was in heaven.
And I tried very hard to get my boys to play doll house with me.
We took action figures, playmobiles, and small spidermen and tried to play house.
I explained that we would play house and tuck the babies in
and cook a meal and decorate the home.

It has never really worked.
They seem to use it as a jumping off point or fortress for aforementioned plastic figures.
They won't play house with me.
They both have a doll and are very loving, but really want to bash things together instead of decorate tiny kitchens.
UGH.

So- we made a cool bookcase.
We decided to compromise.
I think it looks lovely and is practical.
I still have my dollhouse.

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I'm only happy when its complicated

It taunts me.
It looms above me and shakes it's little fat finger at me.
My novel.
It is all up there
on 18 little pieces of paper and
half of it lives inside my computer and the other
half is drowning...

But, I ignore it more and more as I write for some money and build toys for some money and play with my kids and kiss my husband and try and see family and friends and will I ever write that book?

My friend Michelle sings to me each and every time
we hear the song Galileo from the Indigo Girls
She sings a tiny part from it
She has sang it to me since college

But then again it feels like some sort of inspiration
To let the next life off the hook
But she'll say look what I had to overcome from my last life
I think I'll write a book

and always until lately I looked her right in the eye at a concert or the living room of someone's home drunk on red wine and sang out the lyrics loudly and proudly with her...

but lately and I mean the last several years
I kinda look away or ignore that certain part of the song
I worry that I will be a big disappointment to not only myself
but to those who have always sang to me
sweetly

Writers...Are you there?
Did it take a long time to become you?
I am a little lost today.
Last year in in October I told everyone I was going to write a book in a year.
I have failed.

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And I do appreciate you being round.

I am over at Hair Thursday today.
Can you PLEASE help me decide what to do with my rats nest?
pretty please?
Kisses!

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You’re so pretty the way you are

I have not bought my children clothing all year.
It rocks. I love handmedowns.
I have not bought clothing for myself all year with exception of a couple T's at Target and that cute dress from Nordies that I ended up not even wearing.

I miss shopping so much, but being on a budget does not allow for it just right now.
Joe and I both need new undies though. How does it come to the place where the only decent knickers you have are those uber silly-fancy-pants-get-lucky knickers that you really do not want to wear to a meeting or preschool drop off? I swear. And my bras? Oh mercy. I promise you that I have taken to wearing a particular black bra that is yes, an old nursing bra bc it is much nicer than my daily bras. It is wretched. So we will go get some new undergarments this week and it will feel so liberating to shop!

I pretend shop all the time on my computer. Just this morning at some ungodly hour I was checking out a new blog I like and found these gorgeous dresses. Those who knew me in the day can attest that I would have rocked these frocks. I will never be small, but I do have pretty decent legs when at reasonable weight. I was a school jumper when a jumper wasn't cool. I was a mini in the days of hippie long skirts. I was a black opaque tight girl from birth. Oh I love these dresses.
I pretended that I bought all of them and packed them in my LV Speedy and raced out the door to catch a flight to somewhere fabulous. Then I made coffee and played Thomas the Tank Engine until I wanted to bash my head against the smooth wooden track.

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No one told you when to run/you missed the starting gun

I just reread A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave eggers and fell all over the floor again.Sometimes when you read a book or watch a movie does one sentence or moment stick in yr mind and flap like a flag? And bc I must be tuned into the world and have my pinkie on the pulse of the cool I see that Dave's awesome non profit Valencia store is selling these awesome pirate posters!

I loved the book, I think Eggers is a genius and really liked reading it again...but all I can think of all weekend is one of the sentences that got me...Beth and I take turns driving him to and fro, down the hill and up again and otherwise we lose weeks like buttons, like pencils.

Lose weeks like buttons, like pencils.
Oh I feel that. I feel that so much. This feeling never happened when I worked full time and ran round like a chicken with my head cut off. Shawn talked about how stay at home moms probably have more time to think. Even though I am working some from home, I do think I am thinking more. However, I am not always thinking those gorgeous thoughts that others are. I am reading how perfect the Autumn is all over the web and how crisp Fall days are orgamss and like some sort of methadone for summer. I am a bit cross that fall is here really as I think too much about another winter of owning two homes, not having a car, and how I never lost weight while it was warm and walking was an option.

Losing days and weeks nowadays almost feeds my frenzy.
I have so much to do.
How can I have just realized I have all of this to do?
To do for my life?
How did leaving my career bounce me to a place where time is like this?
I have not finished my novel (so typical) and all of the sudden I made a small company and just this week it seems like I am thinking about the future. I am thinking about how no matter how grumpy I may seem I am aware that life is here right now and you had better take a bite.

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Well I know what I’ve been told/U gotta work to feed the soul

Simple and Easy Halloween Game...The Boo Bag! Finn is asking more and more what certain words "starts" with so we made a sweet little game called the Boo Bag today.

I asked him to name some items that meant Halloween and he came up with witch, pumpkin, leaf, candy, and so on.. I made some quick paper cut outs and added some cards that said BOO and grabbed a bag to put them all.

We took turns grabbing out a paper shape and the object of the game is to be able to name and identify beginning consonants.

Pumpkin! Pumpkin starts with a P
Yeah! You get to keep the card you identify.
The person with the most cards wins.
BUT! If you draw a BOO card you must scream BOO and run around the room like a maniacal Halloween terror!

Seriously, it is fun!

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And show you all the beauty you possess

Thanks for sharing new cool sites with me!
It is kinda like sharing yr favorite little shop or treat and I appreciate it. I hit the jackpot!
Look out Kirtsy- some cool stuff is coming:

The lovely Patois sent me this and this.
The darling ZakkaLife sent me this.
The adorable KellyO sent me this.
The sweet Redheadedlefty sent me this.
The awesome Mary sent me this and this
The divine Susana sent me this.
The cool Kim sent me this.
The amazing Kate sent me this and this.
The charming I love Upstate sent me this and this and this.
and these super chic ladies Mary and Diane and Rachel came by too!
And I think you should check out this and this today!

and I love you all to bits
I hope we all find a little inspiration today
feel free to leave more cool spots anytime! xo
kiss kiss

The photo is from the super talented swooning over Elle Moss.

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