beetlegrass

Booty Call

Santa saw fit to pay me another visit this year, even though some would say that I have been Nothing But Naughty.
Fortunately for me, my Santa is fairly lenient with me as regards behavior.
Without further ado, here's the bounty of treasures that was bestowed upon me:

Above: A sock giraffe! Asked my sister what I should name him, and, after a moment's consideration, the answer came back, "Nehi." Heeheehee... I said, "Nehi needs a necktie!", so of course, there needs to be a kids' book entitled, Nehi's Neckties, wouldn't you agree?

Awesome pail, more pix below...
Too-cute Ladybug racers, more pix below...

Wooden zwieback, so funny. Toast seems to be becoming a theme in my work right now. Guess I'll have to ride that wave for awhile.

A Box O Fun! Nehi's maracas are just ONE of the treats (out of 25!) that were inside. I will save the others (each individually wrapped) for dinner parties, etc.

Above: Ladybug races often bring out the worst in their participants.

Above: Zapp welcomes the Robot Pail into the fold. The inside of the pail is cool, too, with stars and a moon and the earth at the bottom.

Above: Robot puzzles (contains 3!) and miniature toys which I can't wait to use in future photos!

Above: Close-up of the miniatures.

Above: Stuff for the home and for the home office... Chopstick holders, Hello Kitty chipboard pieces (for scrap-booking or what-have-you), Lego coasters (perfect colors for my dining room), notebook paper reinforcements in funky colors/patterns, Santa Post-it notes, stickers, and Tiki pencil toppers!

Above: Fun crafty things: stickers & elastic & sequins & ribbon & postage stamps & a funny head pen.
(The Inanimate stickers are to put on items around your home to turn them into 'friends'. I'll follow up with photos on how I use these, don't worry.)

Above: A close-up of the Polish postage stamp featuring finger puppets! So cute. Love the blue hand on the left.

Above: Ways I can entertain myself... a movie, a homemade CD of Christmas music, and a reprint of a 1940s book, called How to Get Along with Boys. It may be too late for this book to have any good effect. Here's an excerpt:

"Dates" rarely happen. You must first meet a man and manage to impress him sufficiently to be asked. Then, if you like, you may affect surprise.

Do not neglect your girl friends; some of them have brothers; or their boyfriends have friends. In the normal social activities of a group, you may meet someone you like.

If you live in a small town where the eligible males are numbered and it is impossible to meet other men, you might prevail upon your family to move to a larger city. It is not advisable to consider moving to improve your marital opportunities unless you have family there or at least obtain your parents' consent and approval.

Also: A lip balm and some ham & egg bandages will see to my health care needs for the next year.

Above: More books to read! Hooray! All comedic memoirs, too, even better...

Above: Chocolates & Gum!
(Notice how I've cropped the cookie box and the blue bag of Kisses... Yeah, they've been opened and are being eaten...)

Above: Close-up of the gum with quite possibly the best. name. ever.
I'm almost afraid to chew it, I mean: look at those sad eyes! How do I dare?!?

Above: 3 tags that were on the gifts -- Santa is a right artsy old elf...

Singing in my Elvis voice: Merry Christmas, Santa, sure did treat me nice...

Click on images to see them larger.

These images are © Megan E. Jeffery, 2007.
The concept/design/image of the robot finger puppet is the property of Megan E. Jeffery.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Children's Books Should Have Editors. No, Really, They Should.

My sister Jane just sent me an e-mail with a link to what she thinks should win the award for "Most Poorly-Named Book of the Year" . I'd have to agree.

Flashback Friday (1980)

"Remembering 1980", written when I was fifteen on the last day of that year. I liked to do that year-end (year-end, not rear end) introspection. I don't think that I could make a list like this nowadays, or, if I did, it would not contain nearly as many boy-centric notations. Sadly.
Click on these lists so you can actually read them.
 

   

Some explanations:

• February 13th - Supper at Ground Round w/ Carol, Rob, Sue, Ken, & Bob: Three couples going out to a local restaurant that served ... ground meat, basically. Carol was dating Rob, Sue- Ken, and I was dating Bob, who was Ken's brother and Rob's best friend. Carol, Sue, and I were all on the field hockey team together, to explain our tenuous relationship. When the two of them asked me what I would be wearing on this 'date', I explained that I'd be wearing this dress/vest combo that I had. UNBEKNOWNST to me, they both had the SAME DRESS, just in different 'color ways', and, without cluing me in (they were better friends and chatted more), they wore these. We looked like a bad evangelical singing group. Another Life Lesson learned this night was: Just because a guy is taking you on a date, doesn't mean that he is PAYING for you. I had three dollars in my wallet. This influenced my meal ordering. Three dollars' worth of your finest ground beef, please, Garcon! (I talk more about how I met Bob here.)
• May 10th & 11th - Cool in the Furnace: This was a church youth group play I was in, about the story of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. My brother Craig played "Dan", and the cast wore either red, orange, or yellow Tshirts. I chewed gum throughout the entire performance, which must have been fairly visible from the audience, as I got lots of "neat comments".
• June 6th - 9th grade dance: I wrote about that event-of-the-season here.
• July 12th - 20th - Cape Cod: Yep, there's a photo here.
• October 11th: I wrote about Jay here.
• October 20th - Jay & I broke up: Not so easy to do when you're not 'officially' going out. He started dating another girl, who I talked about behind her back, who then threatened to beat me up. To my face. She was much more direct than I. I opted for not getting beaten up. She was a jock and would've mopped up the floor with me. A big, wet, bloody mop.
• November - I liked Nick S. this month. This proved futile: And no wonder. At least three other girls were vying for his attention. He went with the Blonde, but I got a couple of rides to and from school outta the deal, so: no harm, no foul.
• December 18th: Rather typical of me at this point in my development. "Oh, someone died. But there's a cute boy..." Pathetic.

Speaking of which, I read a really great book called Mortified, Real Words. Real People. Real Pathetic. by David Nadelberg this past week. It

"takes real childhood journals and documents and edits the entries into captivating, comedic, and cathartic stories, introduced by their now older (and allegedly wiser) authors. From letters begging rescue from a hellish summer camp to catty locker notes about stuck-up classmates to obsessive love that borders on stalking, Mortified gives voice to the real -- and really pathetic -- hopes, fears, desires, and creative urgings that have united adolescents for generations."

It's wipe-your-eyes, gasp-for-breath funny at times, and there is always something reassuring about knowing that everyone goes through the phase of being an overly-self-involved jerk. Highly recommended, and in PAPERBACK!

"It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's a Sketch!"

My library is not the greatest. As I told someone recently, it has three books on heart disease and an entire Barbara Cartland paperback WING, but not a whole lot else.

So most books that I want to read have to be specially-ordered through an inter-library loan thingymabob.

I did that recently with some books that feature the artwork of Tim Sale, who I have it on good authority is the artist behind the artist Isaac on the TV show Heroes.

I retrieved my books yesterday, and told the woman who was checking them out, "A grown woman reading comic books. That's just sad."

She said, "You didn't have to tell me they were for YOU!"

I replied, "I believe in making a full confession."

Anyway, here's a Superman I did last nite while watching Dancing! With! the! Stars!

(Threw on some filters in Photoshop: diffuse glow, poster edges, and just fer kix, finished up with a half-tone color filter to give it that old-timey-comic big dot look.)

The influence was from Superman For All Seasons, by the team of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Sale's Supe looks like David Putty, Elaine's boyfriend on Seinfeld. Wonder if that actor ever got offers to play that role?

(Click on image to see larger in a pop-up window.)

Lists

Recent Google Searches:

• "dogwood blossom"
• "dart board"
• "Gilby Clarke"
• "in the weeds"
• "how to make felted beads"
• "Bella Yarns"
• "Evanescence"

CDs Listening To:

• KT Tunstall's "Eye to the Telescope", love these tracks: Other Side of the World, Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, Silent Sea, Stopping the Love
• Regina Spektor's "Begin to Hope", love these tracks: Fidelity, Better, On The Radio, Hotel Song

Books Read/Reading This Past Week:

• Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (excellent)
• Carnet de Voyage by Craig Thompson
• Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer

Jobs Sent Out Within Last Two Weeks:

• 8-page book for toddlers (excerpt seen at top of page)
• Attendance chart
• 4 pages art, Sunday School take-home papers
• 7 pages art, activity book

Crafts Working On:

• pillows
• tea cozies
• felted beads (** a new craft **, brought on by a dirth of felted beads available from my usual 'source')

Favorite Commercials Currently:

• Geico ones featuring Burt Bacharach & Little Richard
• Gap commericals with limited palette, dancing, & perfect markered, animated graffiti
• Oscar Meyer featuring the new turbo-charged Weiner Mobile

Mail Received This Week:

• Jury Duty Summons
• Mortgage is increasing $53/month