334/365

TOT - Ten on Tuesday (just stuff in my head)

1. I watched a news segment on seasonal workers... actually the new "migrant workers." Amazon has a camp in Kentucky... Sad story but I kind of think it would be interesting to live in an RV and travel every couple months to go work somewhere else in the country.

2. This photo display is fantastic.

3. And talk about fantastic... the Epic Mickey paint brush nunchuk... so cute! Did anyone else think it was NUMchuck or am I just an idiot?

4. Whenever I try to draw shoes on my girls they end up looking like they have hooves! ;-)

5. I forgot about this guy from Vegas... he was dressed as Shaggy. I don't know if this is the same guy but here is a video.

He SPRAY painted the Bellagio Fountains while we were there. Very neat.

6. I hate being in the game room... I just think about renting movies from West Coast Video and falling asleep on the couch. It's very depressing.

7. Still one of the cutest holiday commercials.

8. Talk about NOT practicing what you preach!

9. That TRON movie looks good.

10. I was looking at some pictures of RoseBud and came across this - just thought it was cute. It reminded me of how she liked to sit in the sun. In honor of all the deer that were killed the past few days - I'll say goodnight with this photo...

333/365

I CARRY YOU IN MY HEART

When RoseBud died we started a journal and wrote down everything we wanted to remember about her... pages and pages of memories. Some may think it was a little much for "just a dog" - but those that knew her knew she was more than just a dog, especially to us. As I've said before - we'll love you and miss you forever, puppy dog! ;-)

She would have been 11 years old today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSEBUD!

♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥

I carry your heart with me, I carry it in my heart, I am never without it.

Anywhere I go, you go, my dear.

And whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling.

I fear no fate, for you are my fate, my sweet.

I want no world, for beautiful you are my world, my true.

Here is the deepest secret no one knows.

Here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud,

And the sky of the sky of a tree called life.

Which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide.

It is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart.

I carry your heart. I carry it in my heart.

~ I Carry Your Heart With Me - E. E. Cummings

RoseBud The Pug

332/365

GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE

This was one of my favorite photos from the grand canyon even though it doesn't show the canyon at all! The tree was old and kind of shedding - it was on the other side of the path way near the rim of the canyon.

Really bad night last night and day yesterday... too much to put in words right now... going to go play frisbee with the Bud and have to get moving today. Try to, at least.

331/365

THE MORNING AFTER

Busy day yesterday full of shopping, food and fun... and yummy spicy mochas.

Started shopping around 7 AM and got home at 10 PM.

Things got depressing for awhile. It started when I saw this pig mortar and pestle...

and full panic set in when I saw these.

It's tough being a homeless person with such great decorating skills. ;-( I mean - come on - could those bowls be any more fabulous???

The trees at Shady Grove cheered me up...

and things got better after awhile... I think the newest Pittsburgh Anthropologie may even be nicer than the Galleria one!

Anthropologie has always been my own little Eat Pray Love without even needing a passport. I'm always visually and texturally and every other way over stimulated and then I regret never going to FIT for a brief second and then I get totally inspired and just want to head to the nearest tag sale or go home and make a garland out of paper clips, jute and tea stained coffee filters or some other random finds...

Can you really change your life with three simple words or by stepping into a store... maybe not - but it's a start. We can all have a study abroad escape or buy whatever we see in there and recreate the little vignettes - I've done an ok job at that... but what happens when you walk out of the store - with or without those cute little shopping bags?

I left the store/my romanticized version of "home" thinking about that. I know... it was black friday, Jeannine, lighten up! I'm totally the "journey not the destination kind of girl" but I couldn't help thinking that at some point you have to arrive at your destination.

Where do you want to go? And What/Where/Who makes you feel most at Home?

Happy Saturday! I'm going to beat the cyber monday (virtual) crowds and order things on Amazon this morning... I like that place too. ;-)

330/365

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR...

1. What's your favorite stocking stuffer? mine are office supplies to receive and lottery scratch tickets to give.

2. Do you go shopping the day after thanksgiving? not usually but I am today.

3. Do you like to theme your tree ornaments or do you like to mix them up? prefer themed (all mickey, all snowman, all pug...) with white lights. If homespun/mixed ornaments - then colored lights.

4. Do you buy presents for your pets and/or from your pets? YES & YES.

5. Do you theme or coordinate your wrapping paper? I have unwrapped a BUNCH of presents because they weren't all in snowmen paper... I also like to do a different wrapping paper per person (within the theme or color.)

6. Do you buy presents all year and save them for Christmas? YES.

7. If you have pets do you include them on your Christmas cards? YES.

8. Do you wrap your presents all at one time or do you wrap as you go along? I wrap as I buy them.

9. Do you shop from a list and check it off and are done or do you just buy whatever you see? Start with a list and then continue buying until I run out of time!

10. Have you ever asked your guests to come over for Christmas in their pajamas? YES! ;-)

HAPPY BLACK FRIDAY.

329/365

GIVE THANKS

I think I gasped out loud when I saw this dog toy at Target - actually, I KNOW I gasped out loud! It could be the cutest little set of tog toys I ever did see. It's their Holiday Dinner Plate toy set. It also came with either a road kill squirrel or a lobster in lieu of turkey for those "vegetarian" dogs. There's a roll, baked potato, corn, asparagus/green bean like thing and a turkey with rope drumsticks. Really... Cutest. Thing. Ever. Lily LOVES it!

We went outside for a FEAST - just like the pilgrims...

Lily couldn't wait to take the lid off her dinner plate.

Give me that corn!

Talking Turkey...

We came back in for some pictures...

Is it time to "eat" yet???

"God is great - God is good - Thank You God - for this food."

Don't stuff yourself!

Wait a minute - where's the cranberry sauce?!?

What are you thankful for today?

Lily hopes everyone has a delicious dinner and wishes all a Happy Thanksgiving!

352/365

TOT - TEN ON TUESDAY (Wednesday edition - I didn't realize yesterday was Tuesday.)

1. Cute tree bed.

Anthropologie style #960042: $5,298.00 - $5598.00

2. "Write it - light it - watch it fly!" Scroll down and look at the video for this thing. It's kind of scary but neat.

3. After this post I remembered about this... and this. Man, you can find anything you want on the computer, can't you???

4. They have big giant Reeses peanut butter cups - they are a 1/2 lb each cup!

5. There was a news story yesterday that made me terribly upset. A group of Amish people were all being driven to a funeral by Louis Sweetapple. He died along with two of the Amish and the other driver in the car that was hit. I don't know if it was the all the cute names that got to me or what but I was very sad about it all day and woke up this morning thinking about it.

6. Just found this picture on my phone - poor lily bud from when she wasn't feeling well the other day. ;-(

7. I wish people would STFU about these damn security procedures at the airport. I don't care if you are 7 months or 70 years old - they should check everyone - twice. And then they should check them again before they step on the actual plane. I was called out for a full body scan and pat down when I last flew. I didn't think it was a big deal because about 20 minutes prior to that I was running through the airport like a lunatic (story here at #7) so I figured they were going to take me in the back for questioning at the very least... Anyway, the woman made me pull down my sleeves so she didn't touch me and told me what she was doing. It wasn't a big deal. All these people that are forcing their kids to yell "stranger danger" or stripping down to their speedos should get a first class ticket OUT of the airport and have to drive wherever they need to go.

8. Looking at that old post I just realized I never got cake on my birthday - my yummy chocolate cake was from the night before. ;-(

9. I used the word yesternight in conversation the other day like I've used it all my life. ;-)

10. If my sweetapple story above wasn't enough - I think I'm officially cracking up now. I made a new chicken casserole for dinner tonight - it was so good I cried. Then I cried for about 20 minutes after the world news because it was all about migrant farm workers and people that go hungry every night. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible.

--------------------

I realized this the other day but keep forgetting to check... I'm WAY off with my numbers, huh? I don't know how that happened... but I think today is actually 328 out of 365 not 352/365! How the heck did that happen??? Now I don't know what to do. Go back and change everything or just start with the correct one tomorrow... decisions, decisions. I guess that's what happens with 2 hours of sleep a night for the last three months!

351/365

BOOBERSNACKS

Do you remember Hills? I loved Hills - and not only because of the snack bar - the hot dogs and the popcorn and the slushies and soft pretzels!!!!

It was an everything store - you could get paper towels and socks and stuff for the car... I sometimes dream about the Christmas decoration aisle there... not sure why.

It was kind of like this place.

I'm not a Wal-Mart girl at all - remember this post? But I do go to Target and every time I go to the one out this way I think about going to Hills. When I was little we went to the Hills in Monroeville more because that one was the one my mother liked. I remember it being just far enough that it was a little trip - not just jump in the car and run up to the shopping center... I feel the same way about going to Target now. It's a little break... kind of fun... absolutely necessary - because everything you get at Target is a necessity, right? You can get dog treats and ice scrapers and napkins or whatever else you want or should I say need.

I went today and instantly gravitated to the "junk" aisle. I always get a Choxie mint chocolate bar (because it's the closest thing to the Fanny Farmer mint chocolate that was my all time favorite) and then I get just about anything else that is on an end cap or is remotely interesting or seasonal. I'm always looking for new snacks... Have you seen the Reeses Chips Ahoy? They are pretty good.

I started laughing in the store because all I could think of on my search through those couple aisles were boobersnacks.

When we were last in Florida, Holden and I were very into drawing... I was teaching him how to draw my girls...

... and he was teaching me how to draw some stuff too.

I was having a little bit of a hard time figuring out some of his creations but he would tell me and I would write them down.

"Boobersnack means your hungry" - (said the) tree that can talk. I'm into trees that can talk so I was totally good with that explanation - though I think I'm going to use that word as a noun from now on. ;-)

I think I will always be haunted by that time and how Mum watched me draw with him - not in a bad way at all - I just think I'll remember that for awhile.

I've been missing her lately - I had a couple questions I thought of and wanted to ask her and then I realized I couldn't. Bad day today for a lot of reasons. ;-(

I think I need a boobersnack!

chickie chickie

349/365

DREAM THE DREAMS DOGGIES DREAM...

I've been thinking about this girl...

...and the song Katherine wrote for her so many years ago.

Goodnight, RoseBud

348/365

REMEMBER THE LOVE

I was thinking about that piano that was in the study lounge that David, Steve and I used to go to when we were in the dorms... Yes, random things just pop in and out of my head for no apparent reason! Anyway, I always wanted to learn how to play piano for three songs... Seasons, Halloween and As.

They are using Seasons of Love for a Macy's jewelry commercial... With my love of Jonathan Larson and RENT, at first I was like - I don't know if I like this or not and then I finally looked up and watched it... and then found it online and watched it again and I found something funny... If you aren't familiar with the song it may not make sense - click on the link to view... They go through the whole song and have little vignettes for each word... daylights, sunsets, midnights and cups of coffee... inches, miles, laugher and ----------- THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO SHOW FOR STRIFE.

Now I guess that wouldn't be very "merry" and not very "holiday gift giving" of them to show a couple having a disagreement yet still wearing some bling... I was trying to think of what they could have done... I thought about a man sitting by his wife's death bed holding her hand showing their wedding bands side by side or an anxious new dad with his wedding band around his premature baby's foot or a woman sitting by her husband while he was getting chemo - with his pocket watch in her hand. That's a kind of strife or struggle, right? I KNOW - that would never happen and way to kill the holiday spirit there, girl. ;-)

It bothered me, though, because I think it kind of dismissed real life - I'm probably the only person in the universe that would even care about this. A couple years ago I made a giant wooden calendar with this song as the focus and I had a ruler for the inches and road for the miles... all the other stuff. I remember thinking hard about what I was going to use and ended up using the comedy and tragedy masks for my "laughter and strife" - I didn't leave the strife off. There IS conflict and disagreement and other bad "stuff" that gets in the way of the sunsets and cups of coffee and all the other great things that go on in life. If not, you wouldn't have any reason to appreciate those great things and all the seasons in your life would just roll into one. I know it was only a 30 second ad I don't mean to bring anyone down but I felt like I had to say that. Just keeping it real. ;-)

347/365

SOCIAL NETWORKING

I'm thinking of deactivating my FACEBOOK account... I can't really come up with a good reason to keep it.

I forgot about RoseBud's MYSPACE page and logged on and had a bunch of doggie "friend requests" or whatever they call them over there. I didn't think people still used that thing.

I found out I have BLOG readers from Russia, Finland, Brazil, Hungary, Poland, Canada, Malta, China, Slovenia, Germany, Indonesia, the Netherlands and Philippines and just this week Tunisia...

I had to get rid of my LinkedIn because some guy hacked into my Ebay and Paypal account.

I always have to look up my TWITTER log in and FLICKR account info and by the time I get around to it I've kind of lost interest in posting anything anyway...

And updating my Etsy and DaWanda and ArtFire now too... it's a little too much.

I think this whole web stuff has made me a little ADD. I can go from one blog to another and completely forget what I was doing in the first place. It's kind of stupid when you think about it.

I'm half tempted to just start liking random stuff before I quit and just go out with like 5000 LIKES. I would start with these:

1. When I'm alone in my house + hear a noise, I presume I'm going to be killed.

2. When I see the other person is typing, I delete everything I was typing.

3. Chilling-out, maxing, relaxing all cool and all shooting some b-ball outside of school.

4. I hate it when I go into the bathroom and Mike Tyson's Tiger is in there.

5. I always say "ow" when I bump into something & it doesn't hurt at all.

6. I hate when you look in your closet for clothes and find Narnia instead.

7. Dora, stop fucking around and get a GPS.

8. Being afraid to let your leg hang off your bed in case it gets eaten.

9. A Lion would never cheat on his wife... but a Tiger would.

10. I hate it when you're with MC Hammer and he doesn't let you touch anything.

346/365

TRANSPARENT

Word to the wise... it may be the time to put the stones down and get some blinds for your glass houses because I can see right in.

345/365

"DARLING, BE A DEAR - HAVEN'T SLEPT IN A YEAR..."

I don't think I've slept since January! I'm pooped... is it ok to go to bed before 6? It's dark out. :-)

I think I know the plight of a lot of SAHMs with sick little kids - worrying what's wrong with them. I was washing blankets at 6AM. Poor little Lily threw up all over my bed! I have absolutely no idea why... she of course was traumatized all morning and afternoon and insisted on being held. We're like velcro - me and this girl.

My buddy and me!

---------

I saw this story a couple times today and just have to say I ♥ this police chief.

344/365

THAT'S THE WAY LOVE GOES

I've been thinking about these guys...

...and how spectacular this was - from the MTV Janet Jackson tribute.

While we're on the subject...the second half of this too.

And one more for good measure - this little clip.

"There is no I in *NSYNC."

343/365

TOT- TEN ON TUESDAY

1. Every time I take the dog out I picture some mass group of people - like vikings or soldiers or the cast of 300 - coming up from the hill. The other night I saw what seemed to be a big light coming from the back of the neighbors yard and heard rustling in the woods. Lily looked at me and we kind of freaked out and I said let's go (in the house) and she made a move like she was and then the little bitch went running toward the fence! She's bold that's for sure. Still don't know what it was but I think the pup is going to have to get on an earlier schedule when the vikings are busy or I'm going to have a heart attack.

2. I think I'm going to give up my PDP and TWS websites I've had for so long... I can't remember how to update them and everything is on the other computer and the music just makes me sad. ;-(

3. Did you know they make a Slanket for two?

4. Another did you know... Did you know that the Mall of America has no heaters??? Even in winter it stays at 72 degrees because half of the heat comes from the body heat of the visitors to the mall and the other is from the skylights... I saw that on Modern Marvels and thought that was interesting.

5. My post yesterday made me think about when we got RoseBud drunk from the sherry in the chicken from The General. ;-)

6. Now I'm thinking of this... Starts with a "Sh" ends with an "....." - hmmmm???

7. "Where are you going?" "Are you going somewhere?" "Will you be right back?" "Can I go with you?"

Seriously, this little puppy is par-a-noid that I'm going to leave her. I have to be in her sight or by her side at all times - she hasn't even been sleeping with the Dad. She sleeps with me the whole night.

8. "...what goes around... goes around... goes around... comes all the way back around..."

9. I hold my breath every time I back into the driveway... especially with the fourteen cars the neighbor has that are always on the top of the hill. I'm either going to get killed or someone is going to run into the car in the winter - god forbid.

10. There's something wrong with this picture. ;-)

342/365

nom...nom...nom...

We made THE BEST General Tso's chicken ever... it was super hot but really, really good. We cheated and bought the chicken eggrolls and fried rice so Lily was excited to get a fortune cookie.

Yes, that's her excited look.

RoseBud was a big fan of the fortune cookie - Lily hasn't really had many but she gave a dew claw up to this one...

Have you ever heard a dog eat a fortune cookie?

crunch... crunch...crunch...

... it's pretty funny and loud.

341/365

TRUTH BE TOLD

We were just passing through House of Blues rushing to get somewhere else... the girls were all ahead of me and I stopped for awhile in front of this guy... I thought about something when I saw him... it was truth. I don't know if it was the EYE around his neck or what but I had a rush of emotions and came to the realization that I want people to see things for what they really are.

I'm not one to air my dirty laundry but there are a lot of things I'm hearing that are simply false and it's time I start telling MY story. I think I'm going to start truth be told thursdays or scatter some TBTs here and there. I haven't figured it out yet so stay tuned.

Remember when I said I could live in Anthropologie? I could live at HOB too. I was mesmerized, as always, by the art and furniture there.

I could have stayed there all day and counted all the bottle caps!