2014 Visual/Writing Review ...continued

JULY through DECEMBER and a Post Post Script

JULY ~ Button Sickness...A Real and Present Danger
About my 'Sick Buttons'.  I feel terrible....who knew that a Mason Jar would act as a petri dish when mixing metal and plastic buttons together.  My prized celluloids....by now they surely have a bad case of asthmatic-celluloiditis   All these years they  have been stored in closed glass jars or sealed Ziploc bags when they should have been in an open container so they could breathe.

...unless I can find a cure for 'Asthmatic-Celluloiditis'!

AUGUST ~ Announcing...A Jewelry Affair In August
I'd like you to meet my Jewelry Model...Jewel Modella. She is about as perfect a model as there is.  She has a lovely wrinkle free neck and her posture is perfect.  I'm telling you those shoulders are straight as can be.  I never have to tell her to stand up straight.  She also never complains when I stick her with pins or ask her to turn this way or that way.  Just so you know, she's the one on the right...the one wearing white.  The other model in pink has a long history of not standing up straight...talked about that HERE...and my neck has wrinkles.

SEPTEMBER ~ Ending My Hankering for Hankies
I started collecting hanky's long after they were considered a necessity for moping worker's sweaty brows,  snotty nosed kids and other yuck uses.  Which, by the way, contributed to the demise of the hanky and the invention of disposable tissues.  Queen Elizabeth made the hanky fashionable in court.  When she flicked her hanky over her shoulder, it meant "I'm tired of entertaining you people....you may leave...now."

Why, at one point in hanky history it compared to the 'Smart Phone' of today....no one would think of leaving the house without one.

OCTOBER ~ The Sabbath Shawl  
I will probably go to my grave saying, "Sure, I'll be glad to MAKE that.".  Then get busy getting all the stuff together to MAKE 'that' while I'm standing in line at the Pearly Gates.
"Yes, Saint Peter, I meant to finish this before getting to the front of this line so I wouldn't have to confess at being the 'biggest procrastinator' who ever stood before you."
........."I will not procrastinate, Amen."

NOVEMBER ~Ye Olde Sock Yarn Saga~Entitled Living with SSS
Once upon a time I wanted to knit socks.  A relatively simple thing to want to do for someone who could do the basic knit and purl stitches and a few more exotic stitches like YO, SSK, K2tog,P2sso, and URSo InOverURhead.  Sure enough, I was so in over my head with thinking Sock Knitting was for me.  First of all, I am a 'Once Is Enough' gal.  Yup, that is a real problem when it comes to making TWO things just alike.  I contracted 'SSS'...Second Sock Syndrome.

DECEMBER ~ Christmas Chimes and Oh Come Holy Spit
Christmas Chimes...by Erma Bombeck ...I used to hear chimes.  I heard them the year one of my sons gave me a tattered piece of construction paper on which he had crayoned two hands folded in prayer and a moving message, OH COME HOLY SPIT!
.....Just as I was repeating to myself her last wish about hearing the chimes just one more time.... I DID...hear them...CHIMES!
From my Snow Globe Christmas Gift from HiHoney...husband.  Some things never change.  His thoughtful gift made Christmas 2014 one of ringing chimes again and the return of...

"Oh Come Holy Spit".

 

Post Post Script...Thank-you to everyone who reads CollectInTexas Gal.  I appreciate your visits whether you leave a comment, 'g+1', share on Facebook or pop in from another blog.  Blogland has become an extremely busy and competitive social media entity over the past few years, and that makes your 'Following and Friendship' doubly appreciated.  Thanks again, and Happy New Year!!!

2014 Visual and Creative Writing Favorites

I took a look at my STATS with all the numbers for Posts, Pageviews, Traffic Sources, Audiences and whatever else Blogger keeps track of.  I could not make 'hide nor hair' of it and 'nor do I care' all that much, but it is the end of the year and traditionally some sort of a review is in order.  If nothing else, I am mostly a 'Traditionalist' with a focus on the Visual and Creative Writing...eye roll-sheepish grin.  So, here are my...

Visual and Creative Writing Favorites for JANUARY through JUNE

(To View and Read the complete post...click on the linked Title.)

 

JANUARY ~ Beneath His Wing
I've written about both my Grandmother and Mother many times here on CollectInTexas Gal.  They have been the inspiration and focus for posts about Sewing, Aprons, Cooking, Hankies, Dishes, The 1940's and more. 
I've often blamed given credit to Mother for my being a 'Saver and Collector'.

FEBRUARY ~ Finding My Inner Broachable Self
Who knew that Brooches and Pins were holding together the 'Molecular Strands' of my DNA, and the undeniable draw to jumbles of old jewelry was in my genes.
 I should have guessed it long ago...for you see, as a little girl I was always drawn to the 'Special Things' box and it's contents of 'Four Fifty's Pins'.

MARCH ~ Coveting Thy Neighbors Broach
Whenever I run across a piece of Sarah Coventry jewelry, I think about the word 'covet' and how I do...and how I shouldn't, and how I can't help myself.  
......when I make repairs, it is with the idea that I will sell the piece at less than the price would be if it were in it's original condition, and make note that it has been repaired.  Not so on this piece.  My 'CovetItness' got the best of me and this piece was deemed priceless!

APRIL ~ The Three Yahoos...Who Knew We Stunk
Our Mother LOVED to read, and between work, cooking, cleaning, sewing and gathering eggs...we had chickens, she would make time to read.  That was when she would herd us outside, latch the screen door and say, "You three Yahoos go play."  For years I thought of myself and my siblings as 'Yahoos', and that our mother used it as a term of endearment.

Not so long ago, I was telling my sister about mother calling us a 'Bunch of Yahoos'.  Her response was, "That's terrible, I can't believe she would call us that.  You do know what Yahoos are, right? "

MAY~ RETRO...I Repurpose It Today and Lived It Back Then

I get a kick out of the 1950's being such a popular period for collectors and those who are 'Living/Decorating/Dressing The Retro Rage'. 

 

I grew up in the 50's and 60's and remember times like when my mother came home from the store saying, "If things keep going the way they are, it's going to be impossible to buy a week's worth of groceries for $20."

 

JUNE ~ Buttons Basic To Human Psyche
"The impulse to collect is a basic part of the human psyche."
I can not tell you how LIBERATING that statement is to my psyche.  To know that it is not an addiction, but a normal thing to scrounge through ragbags, to rifle through thrift store clothes racks with snippers and be tempted to snatch and run when spying collectible buttons on strangers shirts.  I have no problem with people I know...I just snip and say..."You will just love the necklace and earrings I'll make from these buttons."

JULY through DECEMBER
Continued Tomorrow...Last Day of 2014 

Genealogy Addiction Break Nearly Over

Sometimes you need a break from Census Records, microfilm, indexes, research books, cemeteries, and dead people.  Sometimes you just need some time in the here and now.  That is where I've been since the last post on Tracks of My Georgia Ancestors which was exactly Seven Months ago. 

You know you need a break when you are naming every ancestor in your Family Tree, but you can't remember what to call your sister.  That happened.   Then every time I thought about reading a newly downloaded novel to my Kindle, a 'Shaky Leaf' on ancestry popped up with a hint that required more Census Record reading. 

My Geneaology Addiction got so bad I began photographing headstones in Old Cemetaries that weren't even my Kin.  And if that wasn't bad enough, I started researching the names on the headstones, writing their stories and adding them to my Family Tree as adoptees.  The final nail in my 'Intervention Coffin' came when I wanted to take our family vacation to Salt Lake City, Utah.  Nobody wanted to tour the libraries of the Family Search Facilities.

If the truth be known, it was fairly easy to be away from Tracks of My Georgia Ancestors.  I mean, really, it's not like any of them were going anywhere.  Besides, I simply traded one addiction for another.  That's right,  I've spent the last seven months obsessing on downsizing my other addictions...vintage jewelry, vintage quilts and linens, and my collection of old dishes and knick knacks.  Thankfully, Christmas intervened!  Now that I have purged all that stuff...I count rearranging and storing...I am ready to get back to my Georgia Ancestors.

 

A bit of reorganizing and adding 'Page Tabs' will help with the chronological order of my Georgia Ancestors.  I do have a plan about how they are to be presented in a book, and hopefully this new posting and Tab Filing System will work.  Afterall, I want to avoid this....

A Genealogist's Nightmare

Once there was a man who at age 23 married a pretty widow who had a grown daughter.  His Father fell in love with her and soon they wed which made the Dad his son-in-law.  His daughter became his mother for she was his Father's wife and to complicate matter the son became the Father of a baby boy who became the brother-in-law to his Dad and so became his uncle.  Sadly, the baby was also the brother to the widow's grown up daughter, who was his step-mother. 

 

His Family Tree became a mangled, twisted trunk all the way to the roots as he realized his wife was now his mother's mother and although she was his wife, she was also his grandmother, too.  He thought, "If my wife is my grandmother then I am her grandchild and every time I think of it, it simply drives me wild...for now I have become the strangest case ever recorded as the husband of my grandmother."  He was his own Grandpa!

 

I hope I haven't given my Great Aunt Savannah the vapors with that run down of what could be ahead in the 'Fourth Generations' Family Tree research.  It could happen with what I already know about her brother, my great grandfather marrying their first cousin.  And there's more...her sister married her brother's wife's brother.

Ooops...there she went...out like a light.  I'd better go and get the smelling salts.  In the meantime, you can browse around Tracks of My Georgia Ancestors.  Just click on the Tabs below the header for the stories of each Generation of Pittmans.  Also there's the stuff on the sidebar. 

Here's the link...Tracks of My Georgia Ancestors...See Ya There.

Married In Mexico...Talk About Planning

Yes, it was TWO days after Christmas. We were home for the Christmas Holidays...college students...separate schools...miles and miles apart.

What were we thinking?

Surely, we had a plan!  That's what organized people do, and even at age 18 we stuck to the traditional 'Plan Your Life Guide'.

So we planned our wedding and ELOPED.

Here are our vows presided over by El Juez

December 27, 1965

Juarez, Mexico

 

Senorita, ¿Toma usted a este hombre para ser su legítimo esposo?

Si

(Sue, do you take this man to be your lawful wedded husband) 

Senor, ¿Toma usted a este hombre para ser su legítimo esposa?

Si

(Wayne,do you........wife)

Yo os declaro marido y mujer.

(I now pronounce you married)

Ole'

 

Down the aisle we walked as the Bells rang and the Mariachis sang. Talk about planning.

The thing was, they were ringing and singing for all the babies that were being 'Christened' that day. Our wedding ceremony was sandwiched in between a line of beaming parents, proud grandparents and crying babies.  Talk about planning.

Upon returning to Texas, we were informed that our Mexico Wedding was not recognized as a legal and binding contract in Texas.  What?  Talk about the lack of planning.

Here we are 49 years later...legally married by registration of our Mexican Certificate at the Ward County Texas Courthouse...or 'Texas Common Law' having lived together for more than five years...'What A Plan'.

What's our plan for celebrating on our 49th Wedding Anniversary? 

Mexican Food and Mariachis!

Christmas Chimes and Oh Come Holy Spit

Reflecting on my 'Blogging Christmas' Past' this month, has been somewhat of an eye opener.  Christmas has changed.  I can't put my finger on the exact reason, but I think the following may shed some light on why I feel this way, and perhaps for you, too.

Christmas Chimes...by Erma Bombeck (here in part)
Everything is in readiness.
The tree is trimmed.  The cards taped to the door frame.  The boxes stacked in glittering disarray under the tree.
Why don't I hear chimes?

Remember the small boy who made the chimes ring in a fictional story years ago? 

As the legend, went, the chimes would not ring unless a gift of love was placed on the altar.  Kings and men of great wealth placed untold jewels there, but year after year the church remained silent.
   Then one Christmas Eve, a small child in a tattered coat made his way down the aisle, and without anyone noticing he took off his coat and placed it on the altar.  The chimes rang out joyously throughout the land to mark the unselfish giving of a small boy.

I used to hear chimes.  I heard them the year one of my sons gave me a tattered piece of construction paper on which he had crayoned two hands folded in prayer and a moving message,
OH COME HOLY SPIT!

They're gone, aren't they?  The years of the lace doilies fashioned into snowflakes...the hands traced in plaster of paris...the Christmas trees of pipe cleaners...the thread spools that held small candles.  They're gone.  The childish decision of when to break the ceramic piggy bank with a hammer to spring the 59 cents is now resolved by a credit card.

It'll be a good Christmas.  We'll eat too much.  Make a mess in the living room.  Throw the warranties into the fire by mistake.  Drive the dog crazy taping bows to his tail.  Return cookies to the plate with a bite out of them.  Listen to Christmas music.

But Lord....what I would give to bend low and receive a gift of toothpicks and library paste

 and hear the chimes just one more time!

Doesn't Erma put her finger right on the reason why Christmas changes from time to time?

Just as I was repeating to myself her last wish about hearing the chimes just one more time.... I DID...hear them...CHIMES!

From my Snow Globe Christmas Gift from HiHoney...husband.  Some things never change.  His thoughtful gift made Christmas 2014 one of ringing chimes again and the return of...

"Oh Come Holy Spit".

Merry Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday...Jackson's Creepy Christmas #2

Jackson:  Nana have you been to the moon?

Nana:  Does a HoneyMoon count?

Jackson:  Did you meet a Moon Guy?

Nana:  Does Papa count?

 

Jackson:  I want an 'Alien Moon Guy' for a friend.

Nana:  I'll see what I can do.

 

Creepy Christmas #1

'Zombie Guy'

2013

Zombie Guy...My Creepy Christmas Spirit

Christmas Cupcake Calorie Counting Guide

1.  If no one sees you eat it...it has no calories...zip, nada, zero.

2.  If you drink a diet soda with a cupcake...they cancel each other out. 

3.  If you eat standing up...it doesn't count.

4.  If you eat a personalized cupcake with someone else's name on it...it doesn't count.

5.  Cupcake crumbs stuck to the cupcake cup wrapper contain no calories...all the calories rise to the top and are absorbed in the icing...sucked up in the sprinkles and shrunk to nothingness...no count.

6.  Chocolate Cupcakes are considered medicinal and have no calories.  Other energy/basic food group ingredients include brandy, cheesecake and Blue Bell Ice Cream.

7.  If you share a Cupcake with someone else, the calories don't count if you both eat the same amount.

8.   If you consume Cupcakes while watching Christmas movies, the calorie count is much lower simply because they are part of the entertainment experience and not part of your 'personal fuel'.  You can apply this theory to 'Movie Theater's New Christmas Releases', too....works for Milk Duds,  buttered popcorn, Junior Mints, Snickers and Gummi Bears.

9.  If you are STRESSED out and need relaxing DESSERTS then a Cupcake is perfect for your Christmas Menu...works for me...I can spell backwards and forwards.

10.  If you don't give a BFCC...Big Fat Calorie Count...then this #10 Cupcake Calorie Counting info is for you:
~ 1 White Cupcake with icing has 178 calories....26% Fat...71% Carbs...3% Protein.
~ 1 Chocolate Cupcake with icing 164 calories....28% Fat...68% Carbs...4% Protein...#6 confirmed.

Second Day of Winter

Yesterday was the First Day of Winter...the calendar said so.  Not that I noticed the calendar yesterday...otherwise I would have done this post yesterday and called it 'First Day of Winter'.  Here's the thing about seasons in Texas...yes, we have four of them...

Almost Sumer...Summer...Still Summer...and...Christmas!

Christmas 2010 Headers...Dishes~Quilts & Happiness

2010 was a year of Tablescaping!

  Dishes and Linens Galore! 
 

Deck The Halls and The Dinner Table. 

Oh My Blue Moon and Stars and Lunar Eclipse

 

2010 was a Christmas Quilt Collection Show year.

 

Christmas Quilt Number 1 ... Christmas Quilt Number 2 ... Number 3~I Cheated Cloth

Number 4~Candle Quilt ... Number 5~Star Poinsettia Quilt 

Number 6~Grandmothers Flower Garden

When we recall Christmas' past, we usually find that the simplest things...

not the great occasions...

give off the greatest glow of Happiness.

~Bob Hope~

Modella's Shoulder To Shoulder Marketing Strategy.

You remember Modella, right? She has appeared here on CollectInTexas Gal a number of times modeling jewelry, scarves, and other items I make.   In the last few months her shoulder has been invaluable to me.  I never realized how many 'Life Issues' one's shoulder shoulders.   For instance...and this is just with Modella's shoulder...she is shouldering the burden of marketing the Sling Purse/Bags'.

I have slung more than 30 bags on her sturdy shoulder and not once has she complained  while I shoot photos of her arm pit or poke pins in her shoulder, neck and boob.  I suspect she would appreciate an out of fashion 'shoulder pad' when it comes to being a substitute for a pin cushion.

In plain English...which with the word shoulder, is often not too plain...shoulder can be a noun or a verb, can be plural, has the presence of being a present or past participle, and has the ability to speak volumes without saying a word.

Just so we are on the same page, I should talk about the anatomy of the shoulder as I am well acquainted with the working of my 'Left Shoulder'...so is my chiropractor.  Your shoulders are between your neck and tops of your arms....unless one is dislocated...then it drops significantly from the top of your arm.  Not a problem for Modella.  She has no arms.

When you talk about someone's problems or responsibilities, you can say that they carry them on their shoulders.  In plain English that is a noun-plural, and I guess it would be the same as carrying TWO InThing Sling bags...one on each shoulder.  Now if you want a Verb Version  it would go something like this...when you shoulder something heavy, you put it across one of your shoulders so that you can carry it more easily.  Not a concern for Modella.  She models empty bags.

Here is where I am attempting to relieve some of the anguish and responsibility from Modella's shoulders for marketing the Sling Bag Collection.  Yes, I know I am shouldering my way into your blog reading time with this strategy in hopes of taking some of the Seasonal Shopping Stress off your shoulders.  Besides, 'Good Blogging Buddies', you stand head and shoulders above the rest of my target market, and have always been there when I needed a shoulder to cry on.

Are you sick of this 'Shoulder Sham' of a post? I will end it soon, I promise, so please bear with me for a bit longer.

  I am not good at the rejection of the wordless shoulder vocabulary...'Cold Shoulder' and 'Shoulder Shrug'.  I guess it's the 'Chip on my Shoulder' that makes me feel that way.

Okay...that was the last one.

Here are the links to view the 'Sling Bag Collection'.

On FACEBOOK....Collect In Texas Blog Shop

On ETSY...OverDoSue Eclections 

By the way...just in case I didn't make myself clear...You carry the Sling Bag on your Shoulder!

We Call Her Mrs. Claus

Have you ever wondered about Mrs. Claus?  Things like what is her first name?  Where and how did she meet Mr. Claus...aka Santa?  Did they have little Clauses?  What color was her hair before it turned white?  You know the usual things people wonder about others.  Oh, you don't do that?  Hmmmm...I guess it's just me! 

Things you might not know about Mrs. Claus:

~First mentioned in a short story "A Christmas Legend", 1849, by James Rees.

~She is best known for making cookies. 

~She is a reindeer veterinarian.

~She is Santa's Bookkeeper.

~Her first name might be Mary, Jessica, Layla, Martha, Gretchen or Santarina.  No one knows for sure.

~Generally depicted as a fairly heavy-set, kindly, white-haired elderly lady.  When not portrayed as elderly and white haired, she is a 'Red Head'.  This is thought to be because red/ginger hair is the color that most commonly fades to white with age.

  

Today Mrs. Claus is commonly seen on greeting cards, in knick-knacks like Christmas tree ornaments, dolls, and salt and pepper shakers....hmmm...that sounds like my collection.  She has appeared in storybooks, in seasonal plays, pagents, parades, and in department store's Santa Lands.

In movies and on television programs and live animated films dealing with Christmas, her personality tends to be fairly consistent as being calm, kind and patient.  This is often in contrast to Santa himself, who can be prone to acting  overly exuberant.

 

I KNEW it!!!  It is NOT just ME!!!  There are others who wonder about such things as "Little Clauses". 

Mr. and Mrs. Claus had a daughter!  At least that is the general consensus of 19th Century story authors, screen play writers, singers and other character developers.

 Her name is Kitty Claus, Holly Claus, Kristin Claus, Rudolfa Claus, Mary, and Annie Claus.  Don't think Santa and the Mrs. escape being parents of a teenager...her name was Jingle Belle.

A number of female singers have appeared in Santa daughter costumes for clips or shows.   Can you picture Mariah Carey and Katy Perry as Santa's Girls?  Other singers have put on the Santa Daughter Suit  to perform 'Jingle Bell Rock' and 'Santa Baby'.

Probably the most definitive and compelling proof of Mrs. Claus' existence comes from It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown.  Charlie Brown's sister Sally writes to Santa and asks, "How is your wife?"   There ya go....Charles Schulz said so.

And if that is not enough...she is listed on Ancestry.com and fits the Profile perfectly.

Best of all...she bakes cookies and brings them to my house year after year!

We call her Mrs. Claus.

We are kind of Christmas Traditionalist that way!

Bringing Christmas Up To Date

It seems my theme for Christmas 2014 has taken flight...as in 'Wings'.  I didn't realize how many angels I had in my collection.  Some of the angels, especially the crochet ones have topped our Christmas Tree for many years, with the smaller ones tucked in the branches with  lights sparkling through their open wings and lacy dresses.

Over the years our Christmas Trees and decorations have changed with not so much 'The Trend' of the seasons, but more in reflection of our family's state of being. 

There were the Christmas' of  just the two of us in apartments with our 'Red Bird Trees'...those were our first ornaments.  They have survived for since 1965.  Next came the Kid Trees with hand painted wooden ornaments of trains, planes, and toys. 

Some of my favorites were the ones our son made at school.  Aren't 'Teachers' amazing to instill the values of Christmas and family in their students?  Those ornaments and paper treasures have been passed on to decorate and save.  Our Grandkids have added their own creations to that collection.  I hope it brings them JOY to look back in the years to come.

For the past ten years or so, the Tree is a collection crochet, glass, baubles and shinny decorations.  It is more of a reflection of me...not that I'm all that shinny or have wings.   No, I have to say that this years 'Wings Theme' is a reflection of my Mother.  She was an Angel here on earth and now in heaven.  Her memory fills me with Joy.

Merry Christmas from My Tree to Yours!