Happy Zombie

It seems all I do is paint! But ahh… the fruits of my labor!

The old studio.
The NEW studio… La Petite Mémoire de Sucrerie (The Little Candy Shop).

Or… Check out the flickr badge in the side bar.

What all started out as whim turned into a huge labor, though a labor of love. Truth be told… it all started with my DH. Last fall my DH suggested I move the studio from The Small Room into the Master Bedroom (which was actually two bedrooms before we purchased our house. My dear husband and a sledge hammer… you get the rest) and visa versa. Anyhoo… so out of the blue DH says to me, “You know, we actually spend so little time in here… would you like to swap rooms?”. Hot diggity dog… why sure! So we undertake this crazy Trading Spaces gig and all seems great!

A month or so down the road, I feel the walls closing in on me in The Small Room. With each passing month I SWEAR that room was getting smaller! So last Friday I get a bee in my bonnet and the next thing you know we’re on the road to Home Depot in Longview! My DH is a peach of a guy and he does so much for me (my whims are his labors), but I also know he’d drop everything if I so much as needed a thumb tack from Home Depot. Mind you, Home Depot and Lowe’s are an hour away. Not a problem!

So anyhoo… I’m done with the studio switch, but I still need to tackle the MB now (which is getting a make-over as well). That can wait, hahahahaha.

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I find the Trader Joe’s in Beaverton has better plants and flowers then Trader Joe’s in say, Vancouver. As it turns out, according the the checker… Beaverton gets their deliveries from Calif., and Vancouver get their deliveries from Seattle. I don’t know if it’s true… but I do know the Beaverton TJ’s always has nice treasures waiting for me!

I’m not sure what this flowering plant is, but it’s so cute in my bathroom. It’s in a nice galvanized container and it looks like it came from someone named Aunt Ethel who has a farm, fixes pies and tends to the quiltin’.

I almost missed this plant because it was on the windowsill by the checkout. It’s called a “Pincushion”. That’s fitting! They look like little quilting pins! I just hope they last. I got one for my friend Karen who’s nuts about orange, quilting and what I call “Karen Green”. I can’t wait to give it to her!

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In the same antique shop where I found the Dixie Girl book… I also found this chair. I didn’t really want the chair, but it “had” to be sold with the seat back cover that I wanted. Ok… works for me. I was willing to pay for just the seat back cover as what they were asking for the whole shebang.

Now that I have it in my studio, I’m glad I have the chair. It’s perfect with my German-American 1930’s-Ikea theme, LOL.

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Cluck, cluck, cluck… Our chicken Omlet was clucking up a storm today.

We had no idea why and all that I could think about was she sounded like that darn clucking gumball machine at Bob’s in Longview. DS2 and DH watched her and voila… a fresh warm egg from Omlet’s oven!

I just hope our chickens don’t “sound an alarm” every time they lay an egg. If that’s the case, I’ll be showering my neighbors with the gift of eggs! I just hope she was clucking like that because it was a new experience for her, and it’s not going to be an ongoing thing. I’m sure if I cranked out a watermelon I’d be making a bunch of noise too!

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1. It didn’t get over 80˚ today.
2. Shopping for frozen treats at Safeway and not being able to decide on which ones… and getting them all.
3. Cool water splashing on my flip flop adorned feet while watering my thirsty plants.
4. Getting my BOM pattern done for this month AND next month!
5. Sandwiches and salad for dinner and eating outside.

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At July guild, my secret pal struck again! Again she gave me two beautiful blocks. I’m so curious as to who this mischievously delightfully sweet person is!

At Show & Tell I mentioned I was putting the blocks on my blog, but no one ratted themselves out. Which is good, I want to keep this as a surprise to me.

The thought of someone doing this for me really touches me, and inspires me to pass kindness on. And mischief too!

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The day after the big loss. I’m still in shock and sadness that Germany lost. But… I love the sport so much that I’m happy for Italy and it’s fans… but I’m still soooo sad. What an exciting match that was and I think it will be remembered for decades.

My current observations about The Cup:

I think Germany’s David Odonkor is Tony Parker’s German cousin… Tony Parker is David Odonkor’s French cousin.

Why does 98% of the Brazilian team have only one name? Cafu, Kaká, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo? And then you have the guy with the longest “one” name… Juninho Pernambucano.

Puma… are they on crack? What awful uniforms! They look like they’re the results of “Pimp My Adidas”.

Speaking of Adidas… I can’t get enough of Pedro and Jose (and “The Impossible Team”)! “Jose…LA CASA” really gets stuck in my head and I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Eanie Meanie song by Jim Noir!

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I had an epiphany! I realized why so many American’s would rather follow boring sports like baseball and American football… it’s all about the food. Mind you, I’ve never turned down a meal and I enjoy “sporting foods” as much as the next guy. With football (soccer) you have 90+ minutes of non stop action… leaving no time to run for Garlic Fries. With baseball or American football there’s far more inaction then action… plenty of opportunities to peruse the plethora of epicurean delights in our stadiums and arenas.

I could totally go off on baseball… but I’m trying to be positive. But… when a sport has to be stopped because “oh my gosh, it’s starting to sprinkle”. Quick, cover the field, protect the pitcher’s mound, get the players their jackets so they stay warm… oh paahleeze!

Me… I’ll take The World Cup in a heartbeat. What a beautiful sport and global event! I’ll just stuff my face before and after the game, thank you very much. It truly saddens me that so many American’s are missing the boat on this mega huge world event and beautiful sport.

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I planned my entire week around the first World Cup match this morning (9am PST). My #2 team, Germany… is kicking things off. So anyhoo, like I said… I planned my entire week so I’d be ready to go in front of the tube at 9am. One thing leads to another (as it ALWAYS does) and I’m running late. Last on my week’s to-do list is to be downtown at the printer no later then 8:30. Well… 8:40 is not too bad (I ended up missing the first 6 minutes of the opening game). I do my business and head back to my car. Ahh… I can almost feel the sofa under my ass already!

I pass a few walkerby’s, say “good morning” with a smile… I’m 10 feet from my car… “Good Morning, isn’t it beautiful today!” I hear from a lady behind me. I turn to greet this stranger with a quick hello and attempt to get in the car and haul ass up the hill to the waiting TV. Once I saw the smile on this woman’s face I forgot all about the sofa, the TV, Germany, the World Cup and a fresh cup of coffee. Just to point out… today is overcast and chilly. Next thing I know, I’m in this full on conversation with Happy Lady about the weather and how the weather has been over the last week. How we both like overcast days as much as sunny days! A stranger might have thought we were old friends chatting on the sidewalk.

My life lesson of the day: stop and talk to people who want to listen to you… stop and talk to people who want to be listened to. Thank you Happy Lady.

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I don’t know if there is such a thing as a “flock” of chickens… but it worked for the title of this! Here are the chickens when they are about 3 or 4 weeks old (they were born on March 9, 2006). DS2 is taking them outside for some fresh Oregon air. We kept them in the garage under a heat lamp until they were old enough to be outside 24/7. As of today, they have been outside for about a week now and they love it! Yes… Omelet’s name is misspelled in the photo. Not really misspelled… I changed the name of her spelling since that photo was taken.

Inside the chickies play yard. When we first bought our house there was a tree fort in our side yard. Kind of cool… but it was small and looked like Sergeant Schultz was up there keeping an eye on us. So… DH and DS2 tore down the tree house and built it into one big deck. The underside of the deck became a catchall for all kinds of lumber, the lawn mower, etc. So we had this big idea of enclosing it and making it the play yard for the chickies. Liberty strikes a pose for the camera (er, ah, the phone I guess).

Madison saying hello in her own special way! As the chickens were getting bigger and bigger by the day, we were running out of time to build them a coop. I didn’t just want a box for them… I wanted something that was cute too. After all… it was going to be a part of our landscape. By off chance we had heard that the farm store in Battleground sold coops. Perfect! So on our way to Portland one day, we take a side trip to Battleground and voila… this is our coop! I painted it to match the house. DH and DS2 butted it up to the play yard so the chickens can go in and out as they please (during the day). DS2 rigged the sliding door into a kind of draw bridge (he’s such a McGiver), so it’s easy in… easy out! The coop still needs a little more work, as DS2 is adding shingles to the roof of the coop. I love to reuse and recycle… the shingles were part of a set from the movie “The Ring 2″. Hopefully the coop won’t be haunted.

Omelet and Poppy come to the fence to greet me. I let myself believe it’s because they love me… but it’s really because they hope I have some sort of treat for them. Omelet also likes my wedding ring. Oooh… sparkly… shiny… must peck at it. Omelet is Queen of the Coop. She really runs the show here. The other chickens protest her bossiness, but they always follow her rules in the end. Omelet is also fearless and thinks she’s running the show for the dogs too!

Omelet is not shy either, as she is intrigued by the camera. Poppy and Snowball sit on a perch, way too A-list to have their photos taken. These photos make the play yard appear small… but it’s actually quite a large space for them. I’d say it’s about 10′ x 12′, with a large overhead space so they can fly a little. I have no doubt that in the chicken world, this is a 5 star lodging establishment! Conde Nest??? The play yard is also hilly, with big roots sicking out for perching and climbing, shady areas, sunny areas, nooks and crannies… a real fun place for them!

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