My favoritest things

For Christmas last year, my mom had gotten me this shadow box. Since I had to fly back to the city, I didn't take it with me because anything glass I take on a plane always ends up broken. This year, since we drove up to Rochester, I was able to bring it back to the city with me. Tonight, I filled it with all of my favorite things from childhood. It made me really miss my mom.

My two favorite books, There's a Monster at the End of This Book and The Velveteen Rabbit. A picture of my mom holding me when I was an infant, a little ceramic mermaid that was hers and she gave to me when I was a kid, and a little wooden elephant, ditto. The centerpiece, however, is a stuffed animal named Pixie. Probably the only thing I have left over from my father (it was his when he was a boy, I'm told), with whom I rarely, if ever, speak, Pixie sat on my shelf until one day, I looked at him, picked him up, and didn't put him down again. He's gone everywhere with me: high school sleepovers, college, the Bronx, and now Manhattan. You can see all the stitching where his fabric wore through and my mom had to sew him back up, and you can see how squashed his nose is from me holding him against me. His bow tie is moments away from disintegrating. He used to be a color, but I cannot for the life of me remember which one. Now, he's in this box with my other favorite things, hanging on my bedroom wall, across from my bed so I can look up at him whenever I want. I might not be able to cuddle him anymore, but I think for his own health, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

After spending so many months making things for other people, it was nice to put something together for myself. It's a nice craft for women to do with their mothers after they've grown and moved away. because even though you're all growed up, you're still your mother's baby.

The deep dark hole into which I've disappeared

Where, oh, where have I been? Well, the holidays (the gift-giving ones, at least) have come and gone, and being the broke lady that I am, decided to make the vast majority of my gifts. This year, that meant embroidering seed beads onto fabric. Hundreds. Thousands. My fingers hurt. I think I have carpel tunnel. But it's done. I thought I might share some of the finished products with you.

(This isn't one of them; it's our tree)

This is a tree of life I embroidered onto some microfibre ultrasuade. I did this for one of my coworkers.

This is a sock monkey ornament I did for my sister. Because I call her Monkey.

This is a monkey I made out of polymer clay for my sister. Also because I call her Monkey. It's about 1.5 inches tall.

This is a Mario ornament. I didn't do it for anyone in particular. I was just testing my embroidery skills out. It was the first time I'd done anything in beads, and didn't want to waste time and energy attempting it if I wasn't any good.

This is an evil eye ornament I did for my step father. Unfortunately, you can't really see how vivid the colors of the beads actually are in this photo.

This is an art deco lady I did for another of my coworkers. It took about 25 hours. After I took this picture, I restretched the fabric so it's not so wrinkly. (you can click on the pic for a closer view)

This is a bird I did for my mom. It was supposed to be an ornament, but turned out too large, so I mounted it in a shadow box. It came out nice.

And finally, this is a bacon ornament. Because I lurve bacon.

So, that's it. Nothing special. Just wanted to share it with you.

Happy Holidays!!!

Oh, bacon...

What do you even say about bacon that's been woven together like a basket, schmeared with cheese and then rolled?

I'm frightened, and horribly intrigued.

This made me smile on my cranky day

23 Flavors of Crazy, #5

Vanessa's Rules for Bosses

Dude, if it's the holidays, and clients or patients send a gift basket to the office labeled "To Boss and STAFF", that does NOT mean to Boss and Boss's Girlfriend, and then to the staff if the boss's girlfriend doesn't find anything in the basket she wants.

That is NOT holiday spirit.

Literature Review

What can I say other than I love this book? I loved it so much. It's about a genius who's got some insight into this massive math problem, who decides to run away from school back to his home in a little hick village to work at his family's morgue/funeral home/furniture store. Although the way the book is written is a bit confusing (going forwards and back in time over and over again), the characters are so frickin' well written, the main character's got flaws, and is real. You think that for someone so smart, he's a fricking idiot, but then you think, yeah, well, he's still a kid.

Anyways, if you're looking for a good read, something not entirely challenging, but definitely satisfying (although the ending left a bit to be desired)...

Yeah, good book, man.