Please join me....

...for a little change. I have really enjoyed this blog, but as you can see I haven't been very attentive lately. After consideration I think I am ready for a little change in a slightly different direction. Please join me as I start of this new year (today is my birthday) by moving my blogging to here. I'm planning on being more active there and sharing just a little of what I find beautiful, intriguing and sometimes thought provoking and of course the occasional creepy. Thanks everybody for your support while I was searching for a little "serenity now".

Bye Old Cat

This is my cat. Poor old thing got stuck with the name, "Brown Tail". It started when a woman saw him and said, "What's his name? Brown tail?". Too bad really, I always have the best intentions of naming my pets something cool and witty, but that seldom ever happens. And as my granny always said, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

I was delivering flowers at a veterinary office one day 9 years ago, while there I saw this great old white cat with the prettiest blue crossed eyes. They were looking for a home for him, someone had left him for boarding and not returned. He was full grown then and not a young cat at all. Since I've had him, he's been great. Sometimes, a little persistent and annoying, but who calls that a fault? Today we had to have him put to sleep. You know, he was a survivor of this summer's horrible "bobcat virus". I mean he didn't survive it but he was the only cat to avoid it. But as will happen due to his advancing age, his health had been declining. The past few months he'd been living on a diet of cooked ground turkey and chicken livers, something he loved. Anyway, I'm going to miss him.

I'm sleepy, very very sleepy.

I spent last night fighting marauding owls. Guess they've been hunting my chicken yard for a while, but my crime scene forensic skills weren't up to discovering what was really going on. I hear them hooting away every night, but had always assumed they were out making a legitimate living. Not preying on my fat happy hens. But last night I caught one red handed or red 'taloned' if you will. I have some very serious news for this latest varmint. It's a very dire thing indeed to find your self at the top of the list for chicken killers, the list of things keeping me awake at night, and the list of taxidermied (is that a word?) things I'd like to own.

New Year's Resolutions

I thought I would start this decade with a resolution more obtainable. Like learning to drink whiskey. From demon cups. On second thought I don't remember ever having a good experience with whiskey. Maybe I'll just resolve to drink diet rootbeer from demon cups, that I can do. To get Beelzebub, Behemoth, Belphegor,and Asmodeus go to: Drink with the Living Dead.

Once in a Blue Moon

It does seem that I only post on my blog once in a blue moon. But tonight's moon really is a blue moon, that is, the second full moon in a month. And of course a blue moon occurring on New Year's Eve is even more special and rare. So as we stand on the cusp of a New Year under a blue moon, I raise my glass to you all. Let's take this year and enjoy what we love and hold dear and endeavor to cherish each day and each occasion to the very fullest. Chin, chin!

Now, don't I love these...

These amazing pieces and more wonderful art by Nick Bantock can be found at his site.

Sew and Sew

Now this is exciting embroidery! These jewels are the work of Aubrey Longley-Cook , for more of his fancy handiwork check out his etsy shop.

Whoo, whoo, whoo?

As I am sitting here I can hear the wind leaking through the keyholes and many cracks in our old and still poorly insulated house. I also hear the hooting of an owl in the tall oak tree in my front yard. I love hearing him out there. Perfect soundtrack for an October night with Halloween on my mind. So speaking of owls, how great is this one? This is Chillingworth. He is the creation of the wildly talented Ann Wood. Be sure to pay a visit to her site for a real "treat".

Cute little pears!

I love pears and I love baby buddha shaped pears! See more here.

I can't stop myself,

they are like potato chips, really ugly, with tentacles and suckers, potato chips, and you can't have just one.

I've made another one, and I like him pretty well. This one has a light inside it's head so that light filters out from his poppy red eyes. I've really had a lot of fun, figuring out how to make these and actually see them come to fruition. I must quote Adam Wallacavage here again for giving me the inspiration to make something I had seen, that otherwise could never own.

Adam Wallacavage: "I think it was the idea of creating the things I simply wanted. I've spent countless hours in my life scouring through flea markets and antique stores and decorative arts museums and I never had money to buy the things that inspired me. Or I felt this compulsive urge to acquire things that was kinda obsessive and not very good feeling. I basically realized that I had the talents to hand-make the things I wanted to see and it has been such a blessing to have gotten to the point of where I am now, where I feel I can have anything I can imagine, if I can figure out a way to make it."

I haven't decided whether or not to list this one. I really like having these creepy things hanging around my house. I'm sure I probably should not be decorating my house like the set of a spooky movie but it's what I'm feelin' right now and has been loads of fun. BTW I was really honored recently when etsy and Paste Magazine's Assistant Editor, Rachael Maddux chose old Pearl as part of their best animal themed items on etsy. It was HUGE for me, I am so flattered that my item would even be considered. I stay well grounded by the number of 'I can't believe that's so ugly' blogs that my stuff appears on. I kind of understand this as these are not for everyone and yes, creepy and yes, ugly, but that's what I was going for. Really. It is. What I was going for. Really.

What I did on my summer vacation.

Well, I didn't go anywhere for a summer vacation. But here are a couple of pics I found on my camera from summer. The first is my birthday cake. I haven't had a birthday cake since my mama passed away in 2004. She was a real stickler that I always have a cake. She would enlist someone to go get me the very prettiest cake every year. And of course me being me, I LOVED the corner pieces with lots of frosting roses. Guess I must have reminisced about that quite alot. So my darling little girl got me a cake with frosting roses everywhere and in my favorite color! Boy did we enjoy it!

"When I am an old woman I shall wear purple..." and pink skulls on my shoes. Love these comfy shoes. Would have died had my children tried to wear something so fugly. But in my bizarro reality think I may be rockin these. (Which is the exact reason that I fear for my sanity.) One hot July day, I mean really hot July day, (did I say it was a hot July day?) we found this guy. This poor little fella had fallen down into a barrell of feed and could not claw his way up and out. When my husband found him, he thought he was dead as he was totally unresponsive. But after a closer look we could see he was barely breathing, and totally dehydrated. So drop by drop, we gave him water, then pedialyte. When he regained conciousness he moved on to canned cat food. After a few days and an amazing recovery he was ready to rejoin his family. Since then I have seen him several times as we had marked him with a squirt of green livestock marking paint. Guess all's well that ends well. He's not sickly in this photo, but enjoying a scratch on the back from my hubby.

That's about it for the pics in the camera, but I am looking at the calendar hoping to take a summer vacation in the fall. We'll see.

I'm Baaaaack,

and I can't say where I've been. You see it's in the contract that I signed. Noooooooooooo, not really, that's a lie too. I haven't been anywhere and I haven't done anything, at least not blog worthy.

But, you know how you wake up some mornings and try really hard to get a good start, a positive start? I personally use my Stuart Smalley affirmations, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and dog gone it people like me!"

Unfortunately most days I don't even buy that line of crap and for those days there are these cards. Cards that get right down to crux of any situation. Believe me they have a card here for ANY occasion. Just don't expect any Hallmark hoo-haw. You can get yours at the Bluebarnhouse Store.

Babysitter's Club

I've been babysitting for several weeks. A teen-aged friend of mine needed a place to keep his chickens for a while. Actually it was 100+ chickens. The keyword being "was". Due to my swell animal husbandry skills in combination with his "not quite adequate" fence building skills, add to that an attack from a natural born killer, you have a recipe for disaster. There are now about 70 chickens and one very happy, healthy, well-fed skunk. My chicken numbers are dwindling but on the other hand, my skunk is thriving.

I've got places to go, people to see...

and things to carry and now, thanks to Roxanne at Cheetah Velour, I have the cutest aqua bag with the sweetest green lobsters to hold my things! Don't you just love it? Most days are fun but today was really, really, really fun! I love surpises and when I got my mail today here was this waiting for me. Thanks Roxanne for this cute crustacean bag and thanks for making my day special!

Run, don't walk...

right over to the Hollow Happenings blog and see the amazing photos from Heather's trip to the Galapagos. While you are there check out this season's ADORABLE babies!

As summer simmers...

I have found myself to be an infrequent blogger, very blase and uninspired. That is until I came across these images. Once more I am amazed and in awe of the creative genius that some possess.

Just when you think you've seen it all...

A sleeping giant was awakened in Nantes, France, the birthplace of author Jules Verne. This giant puppet was made by theatrical artistes Royale de Luxe. I have no words to describe the awe that I feel when seeing such creative people at work. via socyberty

This group of street artists is also responsible for the Sultan's Elephant shown here.

via Ronnie del Carmen

Congratulations! We have a winner!

Drum roll please......... the winner is.......

everyone who left a comment on this post. Chris, Kimberlee, Jeanne, Roxanne, Auntie J, Karen and SoRelleES, thank you for reading my blog and commenting. I have some of your addresses, but will need a few more. Please email me at cryssun@aol.com with your address so that I can get your owl to you asap.

Thanks again everyone for playing along.

Angry Little Owl Giveaway

I will soon be posting my 200th post. Which is very surprising as I am not usually a person who sticks to anything, unless it's a bad habit or grudge or some equally appalling characteristic. But I must say that I have enjoyed my blog and all of the new friends I've met through it. I have been so lucky to see your blogs and meet so many super talented people. So I'd like to celebrate by giving away one of my angry little owl lamps, I have many colors that you can choose from. Please leave a comment on this post and I will draw the winner's name and announce it on my 200th post.

Our Girl Pearl

Here she is! From the murky depths of my workroom to the cobwebby heights of my dining room. I present to you my latest creation.

Words from

Adam himself:
"Adam Wallacavage: I think it was the idea of creating the things I simply wanted. I've spent countless hours in my life scouring through flea markets and antique stores and decorative arts museums and I never had money to buy the things that inspired me. Or I felt this compulsive urge to acquire things that was kinda obsessive and not very good feeling. I basically realized that I had the talents to hand-make the things I wanted to see and it has been such a blessing to have gotten to the point of where I am now, where I feel I can have anything I can imagine, if I can figure out a way to make it."

Photo above: (Left: Maria Grazia Rosin, Center: Maria Grazia Rosin , Right: Adam Wallacavage)

The Killer Inside Me

No this isn't autobiographical, but instead is a movie that has been filming in Guthrie. Guthrie is the location of our county seat and our nearest real grocery store. It's a very neat old town with beautiful architecture in the downtown buildings and scads of stately victorian homes. The movie is based on a novel by Jim Thompson and will star Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Casey Affleck and my favorite Simon Baker from The Mentalist. They have sets around a really neat old house with cranes and the whole nine yards. Big exciting news from around here. You can read more about it here .