Just like yesterday but really almost 20 years later. Happy Birthday Justin!!!

Here we are in what seems like yesterdayland. Left to right-Justin, 18 months; Maya, 5; Lucas, 3 1/2. And still in yesterdayland, Justin, 2 1/2 playing in the backyard "pool" in Texas.

And todayland, reality, 22 years old and too old to spank him for trying to ride his "bike" when Mommy's not comfortable. Good thing he's got a nice car too and I always pray for rain (I like rain anyway but what a plus that he won't ride in it).

Handsome, smart, level-headed, happy/well adjusted (contrary to the middle child syndrome), with a the goldest heart in history. And yes ladies, still available. He's a little shy but loyal as all get-out. Happy Birthday my sweet boy, I love you with all my heart, Mom

Yippie!!! It's Bling Your Birdhouse Day!!!!

Here's the little picture I've had on my blog for a while in anticipation of today for Bling Your Birdhouse sponsored by Karla and Beth so......the deal is to make a birdhouse then post photos of it on one's own blog (which, of course, I'm doing now), then I'll leave a comment on Karla's and Beth's blogs so that everyone can go on there and look at each other's birdhouses. Neat idea, huh?

So here's mine. Sometimes my art is like my story-telling, I can turn a small simple project (or story) into an endless, huge ordeal. And I can't just do what the instruction say, I didn't use a birdhouse, I used a picture frame with three openings so I could add a 3-D collage element to it. THEN I had to go even further by gluing the "birdhouse" to a landscape painting as a background and used a green silk hydrangea flower as a 3-D tree in the in between. The whole thing is just about 12" X 14"-huge.

Then I'm supposed to say what I love best about my birdhouse. So that would be (not necessarily in order) the parts of Hope Wallace Paper Relics cards in the side windows; the wonderful blue bird from Bayberry Cove; and the little nod to Carl Larson in the middle 3-D area...a piece from one of his prints plus a (very expensive) antique miniature mantle clock. I named it "Pia Wee's Birdhouse" because Pia is Pee Wee's wife and I thought this looked like something that Pee and Pia Wee Herman would have. It also makes me think it looks like a moble (mo-beel in Texas) home parked at a really nice KOA in the woods.

Okay, so just when you thought I couldn't possibly drone on any further, WRONG. I have to share that this project is most near and dear to my heart because birdhouses are the first art I started with that had lead me down this crazy artists/shop/shows the last 8 years. Soon after Matt (now 11) was born I bought my first unfinished birdhouse, painted and embellished it. When friends started seeing them they were asking to buy them then ordering them for gifts, etc., then eventually I opened my first little shop which stocked mostly with birdhouses. Above is the first birdhouse lamp I ever made; I made it on commission for a friend for her daughters' bedroom. They outgrew the look and so she gave it back to me recently and I just sold it on Etsy. I went on to make many lamps and even some standing birdhouse lamps. After I unwittingly purchased my first copy of Somerset Studio magazine I quickly moved to collage art and have been doing one form or another of collage ever since. I thought it was great and more than a little coincidental that this birdhouse share was so close to the lamp coming back into and quickly back out of my life. I had so much fun I made another birdhouse that I'll be putting in my shop tomorrow. Thank you so much, Karla and Beth, for putting all this together; for me it pushed me to spread my wings again (puns always intended). P.S. I found these photos of birdhouse lamps from long ago. Seriously, I've been digging for tax info all morning and came across these. The standing one is in what used to be our playroom when Matt was little (just turned 11) and is now (whew) our dining room. The other one was in my first shop, the date on the bottom of the photo says 6/01; my style has really changed over the years. Again, thanks Beth and Karla for the walk back through memory lane and for the re-jump-start back into birdhouses. I went to our local wallpaper store yesterday!

Happy Easter!!!!

All I wanted for Easter was to see these pancakes and/or eat them in person. The Easter Bunny heard my prayers. We went to IHOP after church and Alec ordered these (along with the eggs we made him get to try to balance things out). I ate what was left over which was very little but it was really good. The "syrup" is actually real boysenberry and blueberry sauce and the candy covered chocolates aren't bad either. It looks to me like something that Amy Powers would make on Easter or have for her birthday (btw~Happy Birthday Amy!!!), but I know she's a fabulous and much more sophisticated cook. It does, however, look like something the folks who live in her glitter houses would eat, does it not? This critic says, "go for it!".

Sue me but I'll still be laughing...

I know a person is not supposed to "reproduce" these types of things but I found this while digging to almost the bottom of my 2 year black hole and had to share it. It just cracks me up every time I look at it. Only for me it's now the glasses. You know, that...ummm...certain age (many years ago for me now) when you can see one day and the next day you're a trombone player. It also reminds me of a story from long ago about my sister but I can only share that with certain people and in person. Enjoy!!!

The wheels on the bus go round and round, round...

If this photo piques your interest go to here to read about The Wheels of Justice. It's a great story by my sis, no not Katie Couric, but Valori-so much better. Hear the truth first hand...

I still love mail!

I love mail even when I'm the one who instigates it! I ordered this set of eggs from Beth on Etsy and I opened the box but still haven't "unwrapped" it. She did it up so cute that I love it the way it is with ribbon, umbrellas, and millinery flowers. And look at the cute card she sent with it!

Here are close-ups of the eggs themselves but you can also see that they are set on a beautiful china plate with

yellow grass, shreds, and

little bits of bling. Thanks a ton, Beth. I swear I'll get over there soon to see you!

Next, I received my nest from my swap partner from Sweet Little Nest Swap partner Megan. How sweet is this nest?

From the top angle and, again, check out the beautiful card she sent with it.

There is even a dressed up star fish on the inside lid! It's so beautiful, thanks so much Megan!

Then my Texas friend who lives in Annapolis, Shelley, sent me all these Texas Highway mags 'cause I don't subscribe. Why should I when every few months she sends them to me in an envelope that she has decorated so cool and includes...wait for it...a beautiful card. I put "my man Bobby" on the top so's I could share his photo with everyone. Shelley left a comment on my previous post bragging (well it was cleverly disguised as very blase) about going to Round Top this week! Oh my, where are my pills (Scarlet's voice) and fan? Ashley, won't you take me to Round Top? Ashley? Ashley? Rhett? Tom? Crap, I want to go, I need a pony...

Good Ol Corvallis

Imagine my surprise when I was finally getting to one of my monthly pleasures last night (oh, do whatever you want with that phrase, but...) reading the latest issue of Country Home and I came to this......how proud and surprised I was to see at number one the place where all of my "family of origin" live. Not trying to be p.c. but my children live here, Baltimore, and Texas and my other blood relatives, few as they are anymore, are all over the place, so I was just trying to be...oh heck. Right after my niece and her husband were married in Carmel, Eder received an offer to work for Comcast in Corvallis. He and Maya had lived most of their lives in Monterey, parents and sibs there, life-long friends, etc, so it was a very difficult decision but they moved. Just a couple of months later my dad passed away in Texas where my parents had moved back for the last couple of years of his life, and my mom did not want to stay. So, as she and my dad were not afraid to do, she decided to move to Corvallis also and sight-unseen just like Maya and Eder.

My oldest son, Lucas, lived there with Maya and Eder for half a year or so. My sister, her S.O. Court, and son, Aaron moved there two years ago. Three generations of Eder's family moved there this May and Aaron's dad moved to Eugene in July. Have I qualified as having ties there yet? Although I do wonder about the list. See that Salinas is number 21? Well it's been 11 years since I moved away from the Monterey Peninsula but for many years while there Salinas, although one of the country's largest sources of produce, was also the go-to place to be in a gang or be hit by a random drive-by shooting bullet. Not all of Salinas, not the suburbs, but in town, yes. Also the closest In-n-Out Burger at the time, so you see, still worth the chance bullet to visit when the jonesing for a great burger gets to be too much.

Ok, small CITIES, is right. People talk about small towns like 50,000. Wrong. A good sized small town is under 5000. 1500 tops. Have you read all my droning regarding Stromsburg, Nebraska? "It's perfect in every way.", says the real estate princess (me).

The Northwest is not for me but it is beautiful in its own way (not my favorite but still beautiful), wonderful weather, cool shopping, loads of neat places, Corvallis being one of them. It's a great place to have family and visit, especially if you don't live all the way on the other side of the country on the EAST COAST. But I'm just guessing.

Now here we have at number 5, Casper, Wyoming. I'm sure you can take a look at this list and other than Omaha, Ames, and Cedar Rapids, guess whether or not these are big tourist areas. You know tourist areas? The ones where they are so wonderful people clamor to them whenever they can? I lived the longest year and a half of my life in Casper and I wouldn't recommend packing up your stuff in too much of a hurry to get to any of these other than the previously mentioned above too quickly. Okay, we've seen the movie Fargo. Done. Assume then that you've also seen Bismark and Grand Forks. I can't speak much for Iowa since I've only barely driven through and, of course, I love Nebraska. So that leaves Casper and Cheyenne. I should have just stated from the beginning that I wouldn't advise choosing a place to live based on the wind factor. These places are in the PLAINS which, in case you've never lived anywhere without a bump between you and the nearest rock 300 miles away, means common winds of 40-50 mph. Common. An uncomfortable day might be one the day after a big snow hitting you in the face at 65 mph. Did I mention the drive-through liquor barns? Okay, you get my drift-HA! Having been from Texas and California it was a little too much time inside especially with two little boys. On nice, sunny days I could hear the boys clearly outside with the neighbor kids riding bikes and playing, screaming at the top of their lungs so as to be hear each other over the 55 mph gales. On snowy days it took 2 1/2 hours to dress them, they would play in the back yard for 20 minutes then come in and cry hysterically while I undressed them as fast as I could and they defrosted in front of the fireplace, oh, half hour or so. The Tetons are beautiful but 5 hours away. Go visit Corvallis, you get to play in Portland on your way to and from there!

What's New With Doojies @ The Pink Cabbage?

Oh my, I'm so glad you asked! It seems like I do a lot of small and tiny things so it's fun to have my way with bigger items in between other artistic obsessions. While I was taking Justin to pick his car up (after two weeks and him using my car during that time-whew) over the bridge on the Eastern Shore on Sunday, I went to one of my secret places and found some fun project pieces that I had lots of fun with. Supplemented by PJ's Antiques help, here's what came to be. Above a little vignette already put together for some lucky someone.

I had, and have probably already posted photos of, the desk/table I put together with an antique sewing treadle and window but I just found the perfect chair to pull it together.

Above is a really cool black cabinet. Cool because of the curvy trim at the top and because of the Anthropologie pulls I put on the doors!

This one is hard to put in the shop but it's similar in theme to the one I did for my bedroom (see post from a little while back). I was really lucky to find this fab PINK umbrella (the last one in town, believe me) to top off the whimsy and beauty.

A little lamp I had but morphed with a new shade, cuter than cute.

I just had to "doojie" up the needlepoint pillow. I call it all "work" but we all know better, don't we? Paul keeps waiting for "paycheck" to follow "work". Bueno suerte.

Yesterday, Today, Day Before Yesterday, and I Bet Tomorrow is Just Around The Corner!!!

Here's what seems like yesterday...

...and here's today, or rather, day before yesterday when Matt turned 11. Wow, it goes so fast!

Last year I waited way too late and we had a lame-o party at home so I had to really make up for it this year. Laser tag party, wild and loud, and the kids had a blast.

Here are the cutey kidos...

...and more. His actual birthday was pretty quiet, Pizza Hut, cake at home, and some really cool presents including a pile of goodies from Area 51 from Ms. Julie, a bff fellow Bella, from Roswell. Matt was over the moon.