Monster Swap

I would like to introduce you to "Frau Honkerbooger" from the land of Athena Workman's mind!!
Athena and I were paired up on Zan Ashas Monster Doll Swap and as usual, we had a blast. You can find more of Athena's work at her blog, which has other information as to where you can find her work, at athenaworkman.blogspot.com. Also, I strongly urge you to go to Zan's blog to see the rest of the wonderful talent that's on parade from the swap...there's some really funny stuff there, wildatheartart.blogspot.com.
Now here was my offering for Athena...pretty messed up, huh??? Well, she was something that scared me as a child and that's what this swap was about...something from your childhood. When I was a kid, I remember going to the theatre downtown with my sister and her friends to see , "Darby O'Gill and the Little People." I recall it had a very young Sean Connery in it, but that wasn't the scary part, there was this banshee who was after people. She would come out in the cold of night and try to swoop down and take as many souls as she could. After that, I could have sworn that banshee lived in my room...ready to get me at night, but as long as I wore my trusty scapula I was free from danger. I used to wake up in the middle of the night with that thing almost choking me, but hey, kept that banshee away, so it was either the scapula or the banshee that would get my young little soul!!!

Here she is in all her glory. Athena has been quite nice to actually display her in her home....I'd hide the damn thing!!! Anyway, thank you Zan for such a fun exchange, and thank you Athena for not thinking I hate you!!! LOL But that banshee scared the crap out of me. From what I hear, the banshee is behaving herself over at Athena's. As for Frau Honkerbooger she will also be displayed in my living room, next to all the other dolls I've either decided to keep for myself and the ones I've purchased from other talents. Peace out.

Here Piggy, Piggy, Piggy!!

That's pretty much how I feel right now...down and just plain tired (excluding the mud, please!). Hep, it's official, I tested positive for the H1N1 virus, better known as the swine flu...bleh! Luckily, I'm not as sick as most. I contracted a close cousin back in 1976, so my immune system has already gone through most of the "been there, done that" list.

For the exception of sore stomach and back muscles, from excessive coughing, wheezing like Linda Blair and fatigue I'm actually doing alright. It's hard to fall asleep listening to your angry bronchials, I decided to give them a name, Earl is the deep popping sound and Yolanda is the loud, shrill weeeee-heeee sound. Poor Earl never gets a chance to give his side of the story and finish a sentence because Yolanda constantly interrupts...crack, cra.....weeee-heeee, weee-heee!! Ok, you're thinking, she's turned into pig brain matter, but it's a way of just trying to fall asleep...give them a personality, name them and forget those sounds are coming from your body!! LOL

Now my sweet man has it and I think it's going to be worse for him...he never had it's close cousin back in '76. He's called his doc and so far no one has called back. I told him she just can't prescribe something over the phone....he has to be tested and the results have to be turned into the local, state and national health depts. I think she's trying to avoid seeing him. Told him to go to my wonderful baby doc...he's so adorable and will take him...no, he's a man, doesn't ask for directions nor does he see the logic in making an appointment with another physician instead of waiting and waiting for his to call...oey vey!!!

Well folks, feeling a bit tired. Just letting you know I'm fine, I'm under house arrest till next Friday when the doc releases me from my piggy constraints and hopefully, can enjoy the Celtic Women concert next Sat. Peace out!

Sicky Poo

Morning Friends. If I don't respond to your blogs, please forgive, I have some kind of grunge and I thought I was going to cough up my spleen last night. I get this every so often this time of year. Don't know if it's the allergies or the crappy inversion layers, but it gets me down. Hopefully, I won't have to visit my M.D. just so I can be exposed to more wonderful things sitting in his office!!! I promise to take care of myself and behave.....oh bother! Have a great week and I promise I shall return!! Peace out.

Ebay

Good Morning All! Hope you all had a great evening. After reading some of the blogs, seems many had lots of Halloween...as a matter of fact, I noticed some the regs haven't posted yet....hmm, could it be a bit too much of the witches brew!! LOL Well, I say let's carry this fun into the next holiday....CHRISTMAS!!!!!! Holy cow, if it's not one thing, it's another!!!

Ok, folks, need some marketing advise....not asking you what your secret selling tactics are, just need some feedback on which venue has worked better for you. I'm contemplating going over to Ebay to sell my work. I'm on Etsy for now, but I haven't been very successful there. I know times are rough and people are holding on to their $$, but the Christmas season doth approacheth very soon!!!

So if you would consider telling me what and why you like a particular venue, I shall be eternally grateful for your advise. Have some great pics of grandchildren in their Halloween costumes, but still haven't posted (oh boy, here she goes with the grandkids again!!). Have a great week and peace out.

Looky, Looky What I've Won & Gratitude

Look at what I won at Pam's blog giveaway... Yoborobo.com. I just love my little Constance Pettigrew ornie...she just brightens up my living room. Pam also sent me one of her adorable prints....again, just too adorable. Thank you Pam for everything...I'm very excited!

Lately, I've had some rather difficult decisions that will eventually be in my very near future and I just want to tell all of you how grateful I am to have such wonderful friends. I wish I could just give you all a great big hug and chocolate chip cookie!!! I've been playing with monster cookies...still have to figure out that high altitude thingy!!!! LOL Anyway, I'm so blessed to have buddies like you all. Life is good and it's been without it's trials and tribulations, but that's the way the cu-cumbers (those of you who remember "Laugh-In will remember Goldie Hawn playing the dumb blond always using one syllable words...like "Well, that's the way the orange!).

Now onto the immediate plans, we'll be watching some spooky flicks this weekend. My sweet man ordered the last installment of "Saw" and Rob Zombie's rendition of the "Halloween" movie...he loves Rob Zombie, I on the other hand, not so much!!! LOL But hey, this guy is taking me to see the Celtic Women next month...got to cut him some slack!! Should be a fun weekend...I loved last years Halloween, we took our little grandson out, wearing his sock monkey costume. People just couldn't get enough of him, including his grandparents!! LOL


Oh going to recommend 2 great movies I saw this past week, "Inherit the Wind," and "Milk." These are wonderful flicks and you should really rent them. "Inherit the Wind" is a movie based on the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trials. This teacher introduced Darwin's teachings into his classroom and the town went nuts. The case was tried by 2 very famous attorneys at the time, Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. Spencer Tracy's character, Henry Drummond, is Darrow and Fredric March played the famous conservative and religious, Matthew Harrison Brady, his Bryan. Much of the trial's dialog was taken from the original court documents, so those scenes are just amazing. I held on to every word said...poetry, prose, critique...it's all there. So go rent it.

The other is "Milk" a more recent movie about Harvey Milk, first gay assemblyman in San Francisco. Sean Penn played Harvey and did a fantastic job. As for Penn, personally I think he's a pseudo-intellectual bully, but he's a great actor. If that movie doesn't move you to go bash a few rednecks, then it's lost on you!!! LOL Only kidding about the rednecks, but it sure got my blood to a boil....great movie, go rent it!!!

Well, my friends, time to close this up and get my butt into the studio. The Chihuahuas are calling...they're cold and we still don't have are heater turned on. Winter introduced it's self to us yesterday and there was even a sprinkle of snow on our mountains...was beautiful, but the sun's out now and it's all gone...oh well, that's the way "squash!" Peace out, buddies.


P.S.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Need Important Advise

Dear Blog Buds,

Something has just recently come up and I need your advise or the advise of friends and/or family who have gone through this. Last night I received a frantic phone call from my youngest, Ian. As I have mentioned, he is a high functioning autistic and has many behavioral and physical problems related to his condition. He begged me to pick him up because he was fighting with his step-mother about breaking a rule. Now, the rule he broke was trying to sneak candy into his room. He's not allowed to eat in his room at all at his father's house. Here it's a different story...he's allowed, but has to pick up the mess, plus, we have tile in his room so the clean up is easier for all of us. I could hear the woman yelling in the background and right then, his father called me on his cell. I told Ian I was not coming to pick him up, but would talk to his father to see what the big deal was. I told him to calm down, go to his room and just take some time to cool down.

His father told me that he does this every time he breaks "her" rules, I told him I was quite aware of Ian's tantrums, duh! Of course I don't criticize the woman since it is her house and Ian has to follow the rules, anywhere! I tell him he's doing wrong by breaking the rules, regardless who's house or rules they are. Well, I did tell his father that I had spoken with my daughter not long ago and she and my older son know they will inherit Ian when their father and I can no longer care for him. I told my ex that they resent the fact that neither of us really ever did anything aggressively to prepare Ian for a job. I had something lined up when he was living with me...training through his school district, but he decided when he turned 18, he wanted to live with his father. I was very reluctant since I knew I was the better parent and my sweet man a better step-parent. But I relinquished him to his father with hopes that his father could help him in a better field since that school district was more active in helping it's special students and their future because they were a wealthier school district and in El Paso, TX, that's not saying a whole hell of a lot.

Ok, here is where I need you advise. He told me today that his father is going to put him in a group home. I don't have a problem with that, but I've heard horror stories about these places, especially the local ones. I had a lit. prof in college who worked in the school districts at different levels of education before shifting to a university setting. When mentioning to her about my son, she said that the homes here are horrific, so I told his father this, but this was about 4 years ago. Since Ian will not leave the city, I need to do some research. I looked up those homes available here and of course they're in a crappy part of town...high crime area. I need to know what I'm looking for in a home, what kind of staff is needed to care for these individuals and how many patients per staff is a good number.

I'm sure there are many more questions I'll need to ask, but right now I'm so overwhelmed by this news, all I've done is cry in my studio...working of course!! LOL I have so much guilt that I didn't do something more for him and I'm sure his dad is feeling the same. He was in a very good program at his school while living with his dad, but the funding stopped and Ian is trained to be an assistant h.s. athletic trainer, but isn't being paid. I know his dad tried, but stuff happens, if you get my drift. Do to all kinds of laws, Ian is limited to what he can do with the athletic teams. He's not allowed to go on away games due to the heavy duty meds. he's on. It's not that he won't take them, the problem of having them around the students and they knowing he's on them could create a very serious delimma. There are other problems, but I won't go into them...not that important. My guilt stems from my gut feeling he would have been better off with me, but my sweet man assures me his dad did the best he could.

I can't help but feel this wife of his is putting the screws to him and forcing him to make some very serious decisions. She knew he had a son with problems and 2 other children when she decided to break up our marriage. I suppose she knew I would never let him go and she would be free to live out her life with his father....I don't know, it's all water under the bridge now and I have no real harsh feeling anymore, but I know she's behind it and who can't blame her. Ian is a handful and has many times behaved violently. When he was little, I could control it, but as he grew up, just his size and weight became an issue. I'm a pretty hefty size lady, but the step-mom isn't so I know she's had some scares. However, the last time he did this, my husband had to step in and hold him back from hurting me...that's been a few years now, thank God, but one just never knows when he'll blow and what will set him off.

Well, now that I have completely exposed myself to you all, if you can help, please do and if you can't, your prayers will do...yes, Anne, I have a box of St. Jude candles, so don't worry!!!! hahahaha!!!! Thanks for reading this long "blah,blah, woe is me" blog....just to knowing there are people out there that are going through this, or have or know other that are, helps. When he was an baby, I felt so alone because I didn't know what what wrong, but time changed that as did the research on his condition and others like him. Thanks and peace out.

Mean Jalapeno

I think Montezuma has forgotten about me, because the other night as I had a plate of delicious homemade nachos, some time during the night this little critter crawled into my dreams, or so I thought. He was ravenous....working his way down the esophagus then into my stomach and sometime yesterday, decided to hang around in my entrails!

Here I thought I was an outstanding Mexican...could handle anything hot. Even though my parents didn't partake in such heated experiences, my grandfather did. He'd even bring his own jalapenos to my mother's when they came over for dinner...since she and my father weren't much into it. When he and my grandmother traveled to Europe on the Queen Elizabeth, back in the 50's he took his hot sauce with him....a French chef apparently got his shorts in a tangle because the waiter reported him to this poo-poo, pinched faced cook! No problem...my grandfather just told him "no speekie Francee" and continued to enjoy his steak. They traveled everywhere and he took his capsicum along with him. When in Yugoslavia, yep it was still Yugoslavia back then, my grandparents and uncle, who was traveling with them, attached themselves (yikes, they sound like parasites) to the Mexican Ambassador to Yugoslavia's diplomatic attache and company. At a reception, Marshall Tito approached my grandfather and welcomed, "Senor Embajador" to Yugoslavia. Well, I'm sure you could hear a pin drop, but my grandfather had to explain that he wasn't the ambassador when the attache quickly took ol' Tito and introduced him to the real McCoy. My grandmother said the Mexican ambassador was this little short Mexican chap with a small waxed moustache...quite insignificant looking, well, according to my grandmother. Anyway, seems Tito liked my grandfather so they hung out for a bit while my grandparents waited for their next destination. My grandfather's the one to the left with the cigarette in his mouth, right is Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia.

So How did I get into this little sidetrack...well, my granddad was one hell of a guy. He passed away in 1972, just 6 months before I was wed. He was a wonderful guy and taught me how to enjoy mangoes, exotic fruits, chiles, Russell Stover candy,( the mint patti), chiclets and told wonderful stories from their days living in Revolutionary Mexico until he and grandmother came to this country. I'm ashamed that one little tiny jalapeno was the culprit in putting down this hu-eg hulk of a woman for 12 hours, and tonight, I will attempt it again, since he never gave up, I won't either...but could someone pass the Pepto!!!! Peace out.