My Mama Told Me I am Not Allowed to Shop Around

A couple of weeks ago Tom and I went to the zoo after a failed attempt at a flea market shopping spree. The gorillas are always the most fun to watch, especially during feeding time. There are two female gorillas with babies - one has twins, and the other has one. The one with twins will not let them go anywhere out of arms reach. When she wants to move from one place to the other, she puts one on her back and then herds the other on the ground. The other gorilla mom has a much more hands off approach. This becomes really obvious at feeding time, when the keepers throw fruit down to the gorillas and they all scramble to get their share (except for of course the silverback, who gets whatever he wants).

During this time, the mom with the one baby lets him/her run around and get what he/she can, and the mom worries about her own snacks. Snack time is THE best time to see the gorillas, but is probably the least fun time for the momma with the twins. They are trying to run and get all the fruit they can, and mom is trying to keep them where they are, which resulted in my favorite zoo visit photo ever:

It was so interesting to see that in the gorilla world, there are very clear differences in parenting styles. The keeper said that even when twin mama had only one baby the last time, she was just as strict. The good news is that when they all go into their holding areas for the night, mom lets the twins go nuts and go where they want, she's just very protective when they are outside.

Screen Sirens Magnet Set

I made this set showing 6 silent film superstars. A little info on each below.

1. Gloria Swanson (top left): March 27, 1899 – April 4, 1983 - A shorty like myself, about 5 feet tall (I've got 2 inches on her). Famous for many silent films, her popularity declined when the talkies took over. She starred in Sunset Boulevard, where she got to utter two of the most famous lines in film: "I am big. It's the pictures that got small" and "All right, Mr DeMille, I'm ready for my close up," which is often misquoted as "I'm ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille."

2. Theda Bara (top right): July 29, 1885 – April 13, 1955 - She was THE Vamp. She starred in over 40 films but only 6 survive, and only 3 of them are complete. The most famous images of her are from the film Cleopatra. There are no known copies of the film.

3. Mary Pickford (middle left): April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979 - Born Gladys Louise Smith in Toronto. She is basically the biggest female movie star ever. She and Charlie Chaplin were it. She was the first actress to get a million dollars a year. She was a founder of United Artists.

4. Lillian Gish (middle right): October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993 - Introduced to D.W. Griffith by Mary Pickford. She starred in many of Griffith's films, including the now controversial "Birth of a Nation."

5. Louise Brooks (lower left): November 14, 1906–August 8, 1985 - Her bob hairstyle launched a thousand bobs. Very much an independent spirit, she shunned Hollywood after initial success, filming several racy-for-the-time films in Germany.

6. Clara Bow (lower right): July 29, 1907 – September 27, 1965 - "The It Girl." She won a Fame and Fortune contest in 1921, winning a part in a movie (she was cut from the film). She starred in "Wings," the first Best Picture winner at the Oscars.

Bird on a Wall Gallery Vol. 2

Alien bird:

Sheriff (one of my faves, Tom's handywork) and some other dude:

Clue Necklace

I like this one. This was fun. I got an old Clue game off of eBay and used the cards to make these image transfer tiles for the necklace.

Magnet Set

I like how these turned out. I'll probably make some more sets like this.

To Be a Bird on the Wall

So we bought this house last September. In order to avoid offending anyone, I won't say the kitchen wall paper is "hideous," or "ugly," I'll just say it's not my taste. And, it wouldn't have been my taste in the 80s when it was probably hung. There's a chair rail in the kitchen and below that is basically wallpaper that looks like denim. I often forget it is there. I must block it from my memory I hate it so much. I mean, I must forget because it is so not my taste.

Since we are not made of time and money, and because even if we were, it wouldn't be a lot because I'm pretty short, we've been updating the house slooowwwly. Thus, the kitchen is still sitting around with wallpaper that looks like this:

I go about my daily life, walking by these birds and their equally large butterfly friends. It is a humble life.

One day I'm on my way to the laundry room and something catches my eye. I look a little closer, and:

Three thoughts cross my mind in the following order:

1. What an odd little touch the wallpaper designer added.

2. Holy shit, the previous owners were more wacky than we even thought, one of those loons drew that.

3. Double holy shit, this is the type of thing people in the movies discover before they are murdered. We have a stalker.

Yes, these things enter my brain as explanations BEFORE the fourth thought: the extremely obvious - Tom drew it because that's exactly the type of thing he would do. What in the hell is wrong with me?

After the first discovery, I found a couple more birds (pics to come) and added some of my own. I highly suggest this as a way to enjoy your time with your crappy wallpaper.

If I Knew You Were Coming I'd of Baked a Cake

We've got visitors. A few weeks ago some wasps decided to take up residence right near our front door. We took care of that but then they discovered that the storm window in our bedroom was open about 2 inches. They have crawled in between the panes and decided that area is home sweet home:

Tom seems to have decided that this is more wonderful science experiment than it is a problem. The phrase "They'll leave on their own eventually" was also thrown around. I'm still leaning towards not wanting wasps in the window, but that's just me.