Marzipan Baby (venus in the Half-shell!)

Marzipan Babies

Marzipan Babies

Definition of Marzipan

almond paste: a sweet paste made of ground almonds and sugar, often with egg
whites or yolks, used as a layer in cakes or molded into ornamental shapes.

The size of these little sculptures is what blows me away...

From: ICouldEat (well, actually, an email she sent)

Grey day, grey mood, grey everything

1. Blister (large) on big toe.
2. Miserable weather.
3. Two people who are interesting, but who I don't want to see, invited themselves to SLEEP over at the end of the week.
4. All the wood I bought for my first project not only cost triple what I was expecting, but was warped and cracked. The "Beginner" plans for the potato bin had about 3,000 pieces. So now the wood has to go back, the plans are archived, and at least I didn't take my hand off on the table saw.
5. Management is using a magnifying glass on my timesheet (which deserves a rant of it's own when I think about how much unpaid work gets done)
6. My son made dinner because we were strapped for time between school and evening activities - but he forgot to make any for me.


I feel very very tired of everything and everybody.

Sometimes La La Land is a nicer place to be...or: What's your Disney Alter-Ego?

You scored as Peter Pan. Your alter ego is Peter Pan. You are a child at heart. Anything you believe is possible, and you never want to grow up. Peter Pan 88% Goofy 75% The Beast 69% Donald Duck 63% Ariel 56% Cinderella 56% Sleeping Beauty 50% Pinocchio 31% Cruella De Ville 31% Snow White 19% Which Disney Character is your Alter Ego? created with QuizFarm.com

Hurricane Rita and my beloved Cuba

There are four relatively moderate seasons where I live, with winter providing the more extreme weather (freezing rain isn't any fun). But it's nothing like living in earthquake-prone lands, tornado country, underneath a volcano or the southeast US. I cannot even begin to imagine a hurricane, let alone a whole stream of them over the course of a year. As I watch for news of Rita, my concern is not so much the U.S. - don't get me wrong - I do care, but they're big kids and should be able to look after themselves. I worry more about the Caribbean islands, especially Cuba; as the power systems and the infrastructure are aging. Fortunately, this time, Rita was only a category 2 when she skimmed by Havana, and left only 210 mm of rainfall in a couple of hours. Yeesh!

CNN is covering Galveston, of course. All the best to the folks in the way, may you and your families stay safe and dry.

Still on this Pirate theme (or: I Dream of Johnny)

You are The Cabin Boy/Galley Wench

You, me lad, are an activist! You will not only change the world, you will make a dyed-in-the-wool Pirate dream of you in a sheep costume. You are the embodiment of the love that dare not hoist its sail! Ahoy thar! You could make a two-patch Pirate turn his head - but then he would lose sleep over it and what good would that do anyone? An innovator, you are WAY ahead of your time - and everyone else's. You are sensitive and artsy-fartsy. You say things like, "artsy-fartsy" but there is always a slight giggle in your voice when you say it - like Paul Lynde on Hollywood Squares delivering a staggering punch line. Speaking of "punching" the only "punching" you would do is punching up that outfit with some accessories - say, a little bandana and some glass beads. You're not the Pirate we want in a fight, but we want you there for the crying game that follows! You go, girl.

What's Yer Inner Pirate?
brought to you by The Official Talk Like A Pirate Web Site. Arrrrr!

Today's motivation

Johnny Depp! I wanna be like Johnny Depp

My pirate name is:

Red Anne Flint

Passion is a big part of your life, which makes sense for a pirate. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Found on What I'm Blogging

Pumped!

I am on SUCH a high! Meeting up recently with some photographers and a videographer whose work I very much respect inspired my artwork this week. I have the perfect job for me (I teach art to kids) and it's only part time and I can afford to travel. Had a great summer in California, Nevada and Arisona. And tonight, I just booked myself (tentatively) for a solo exhibit in January, if all goes well.

But I was as silly and as flustered and as blonde tonight as I volunteered at the town's theatre...I got to meet my Improv inspiration Colin Mochrie of Whose Line Is it Anyway; his wife, Debra McGrath and their son Luke. Deb and 4 other brilliant Canadian female comediens - Robin Duke (SNL); Jayne Eastwood, one of the founders of Second City Toronto; Kathy Greenwood, Second City and Whose Line and Teresa Pavlinek - Second City and History Bites. Their show, Women Fully Clothed, hit a very sympathetic chord for MY age group, WITHOUT falling into the Belittling Men trap. Very crisp and very nicely timed and paced. A most genuine standing O.

I was an idiot in front of Colin who smiled warmly with those wonderful crinkles around his eyes. Debra is a tad taller than I am and had a roughish voice tonight (which is a lot like mine all the time) She has an immediate warmth, and seemed as delighted as anything when I used part their "fan sketch" while she signed my playbill. Turns out their son is the same age as my son, and we had a little chat about school and TV and stuff - he seemed kinda bored by it all but was holding up well. I asked him what the wierdest question he'd ever had 'cuz of famous parents (like Cujo's son gets at our school).

When I was just running into the theatre, fashionably late for my volunteer duties, I thought that the person who looked so familiar must have been one of my kids' moms. Twenty minutes later, KA-CHING! She's the reason I volunteered tonight!

I'm glad that I got a chance to laugh with every one of them for as long as it takes to get an autograph - they all seemed to really enjoy my gushing and gooning - but I hope they recognized what great pleasure they have shared. I'm really glad they were all so personable. They donated their flowers to the volunteers and I got to bring home an untouched cheese plate.


I also met the President of Sobeys Ontario, (the guy who provided the cheese plates and the sandwiches in the first place) and said something stupid about shopping at Dominion too.

I'm not done yet.

AND I caught up with girlfriend-aquaintance Mikaleena, who's into vintage clothing and belly dancing. She's back from Japan and a gorgeous, warm, vibrant woman. She's dating a new guy - and yes! I know him too - as a fellow artist!

When I got home, I burst through the door wth excitement - I'd been thing all night how much Jamie would have liked to have been there - to discover our dog has been skunk-sprayed for the second time in a fortnight - the house reeks, but hey! I missed a disaster, didn't I?

Now, I've got artwork to do, and a show to write.....did I mention I got new clothes today too?

Woo-HOO! When things start to go right!

Pumped! Every one of my blogs has an update today: Industrial Art; Diapositive; Little Black Sketchbook; this one and Aunt Alice's Art Room. There's a few opportunities on the horizon; oh boy oh boy - AND the discovery of the day - a contest to find the most incongruous couple to fit this car - and GM will award a 2006 Chevy Malibu. My car is getting old and sick, my husband is 6'5" to my 4'10" and maybe, just maybe.....

The one reason I DON'T miss the Aurora!

Which Happy Bunny are you?

you are the "you suck, and that's sad"
happy bunny. your truthful, but can be a bit
brutal.


which happy bunny are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


Found on Neurotic Me

Trivia: More items of "enduring insignificance"

1. Money isn't made out of paper; it's made out of cotton.

2. The 57 on Heinz ketchup bottle represents the varieties of pickle the
company once had.

3. Your stomach produces a new layer of mucus every two weeks-otherwise
it will digest itself.

4. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper.

5. The dot over the letter 'i' is called a "tittle".

6. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and
down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

7. Susan Lucci is the daughter of Phyllis Diller.

8. A duck's quack doesn't echo ... no one knows why.

9. 40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

10. Every person has a unique tongue print.

11. 315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.

12. The 'spot' on 7 UP comes from its inventor who had red eyes. He was an
albino.

13. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.

14. During the chariot scene in 'Ben Hur' a small red car can be seen in
the distance.

15. Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.

16. Chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system; a few ounces
will kill a small sized dog.

17. Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's
stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.

18. Most lipstick contains fish scales.

19. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear
pants.

20. Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.

21. Upper and lower case letters are named 'upper' and 'lower' because
in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters,
the 'upper case' letters were stored in the case on top of the case that
stored the smaller, 'lower case' letters.

22. Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other
at the same time.

23. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II
were made of wood.

24. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.

25. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan, there was never
a recorded Wendy before!

26. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orange,
purple, and silver!

27. Leonardo da Vinci invented scissors. Also, it took him 10 years to
paint Mona Lisa's lips.

28. A tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion will make it instantly go mad
and sting itself to death.

29. The mask used by Michael Myers in the original "Halloween" was a
Captain Kirk mask painted white.

30. If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have
$1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being
able to make change for a dollar.

31. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can't sink
in quicksand. (And you thought this list was completely useless).

32. The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law,
which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than
your thumb.

33. American Airlines saved $40,000 in '87 by eliminating one olive
from each salad served in first class.

34. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player
for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was
the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.

35. Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece
of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. It's the same with
apples!

36. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!

37. The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

38. Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most
often stolen from Public Libraries.

39. Back in the mid to late 80's, an IBM compatible computer wasn't
considered a hundred percent compatible unless it could run Microsoft's
Flight Simulator game.

40. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space
because passing wind in a space suit damages them.



Thanks to CANADIAN MINING NEWS

Wonky Week

A rather adventurous evening this past Thursday - getting home from work around 8:00 from "Meet the Creature", I decided I wanted a peanut butter cookie. So I made some from the recipe on the back of a Kraft Peanut Butter label.

Then Dad called to let me know he needs open heart surgery. While I'm on the phone, the cookies that were supposed to take 15 minutes are burning after 7 minutes and the dog wants out.

Dog meets skunk, who spills garbage. Cookies burning in the oven and I'm trying to remain calm on the phone. All in the space of 4 minutes.

Groaner du Jour

Back in the days of the Roman Empire, the famous Emperor Nero
instituted a new game. The players would take those little
disks you set your glass on in order to protect the furniture,
and see who could get the most distance rolling them across
the floor.

They were the first roller coasters. Back in those days, the
disks were made of iron, and they would bet on whose disk
would roll the farthest.

They called them ferrous wheels.

How to stay young (and you don't have to pass this on to 5 friends)

This particular recipe works for me....I'm not getting any younger, but those wrinkles around my eyes are laugh lines and not crow's feet.

HOW TO STAY YOUNG



1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That's their job.



2. Keep only cheerful friends.

The grouches pull you down. (keep this in mind if you are one of those grouches)



3. Keep learning:

Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever.

Never let the brain get idle.

An idle mind is the devil's workshop.

And the devil's name is Alzheimer's!



4. Enjoy the simple things.



5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and Lots of time with him or her.



6. Tears happen sometimes:

Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is our self. LIVE while you are alive.



7. Surround yourself with what you love:

Whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.

Your home is your refuge.



8. Cherish your health:

If it is good, preserve it.

If it is unstable, improve it.

If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.





9. Don't take guilt trips.

Take a trip to the mall, to another town, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.



10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity. Don't wait til it's too late.

Aftermath: There's something wrong here.

Reading WorldChanging - one observer remarked that "America is expected to rush to the aid of others world wide when catastrophe hits.....The international community thus far seems to be eerily void of so much as a word of comfort during our suffering... It gives one pause."

Posted by: Sarah Lang at August 31, 2005 12:54 AM

Thoughts (but no answers):

Today's National Post says that gangs are terrorizing the rescue workers.

It also appears that the billions of dollars raised to help the tsunami victims is tied up in various beaurocacies - while many of the victims of that disaster have re-built on their own - without the funding.

So, if you can't trust that your money is going to get to the victims, and your human beings being sent to help are being raped and beaten, this gives one pause as well.