Kaleidoscopic Curiosities

Project Runway: wrestling divas (!)

Wow, this episode took me on a roller coaster ride.

At first I thought, "Sheesh, another gimmicky challenge that has nothing to do with fashion," but I must admit that the cheerful charisma of the "divas" won me over, and I swooooon over the winning outfit!

You know me, I'd wear leopard print (and bell sleeves!) every day of the week if I thought I could get away with it, so that woman is living my dream (probably in more ways than one). That is one hot look that Chris put together -- green leopard print, by the way -- it tells her story without being too costumey, and it has some really nice tailoring touches like the surprise sparkly lining. Yay for Chris!

The other outfit I liked was Jillian's blue and white all-American-girl look (except the shoes -- I guess they don't have much wrestling-diva-appropriate footwear at Bluefly.com). Sporty and classic and a little flirty, and it shares with Chris' creation the advantage that the top will probably manage to control enough boobage to keep it safe for prime time (some of the other outfits, not so much).

As for the other designers, Christian's look was hot and worked for that diva's archetype, but I am a little tired of Christian's poofy jackets with skinny legs (I saw it referred to today as the "Puss in Boots look"). Sweet P was saddled with a tacky, tacky client with tacky, tacky taste (remember, ladies -- if you are going to be a sexpot, be "a classy sexpot, not a whore sexpot" -- um, and star-shaped cutouts on your bum are classy??) and she just didn't have enough courage to do her own thing. Ricky is auf, and rightfully so. Am I the only one who saw echoes of the first incarnation of Wendy Pepper's Big Bird Grammy dress? And poor Rami was trying to make spandex do things that spandex just isn't meant to do. Dreadful.

I was a little bummed out by Tim's disparaging remarks about Eva Gabor's wardrobe on Green Acres, since that is my favorite television show of all time. There, I said it. That is my deepest darkest secret, and I just wrote it for the whole world to discover. Good thing nobody reads this blog.

In related news, I spent all day at work stealing furtive glances at the pix from the final PR runway show, which was held in the big tent this morning. All five remaining designers showed, so does that mean one decoy and four finalists, or...? I have a definite favorite but I won't say more until it airs. And I don't think my favorite is the winner, unfortunately, but we shall see. Last year I had a much better understanding of why Jeffrey won when I saw all the collections in motion. If you can't wait and want to see stills from all five shows, go to gettyimages.com and search on "project runway 4".

Narf!!

Happy Year of the Rat! We slept with the lights on last night, to keep the ghosts away, and today I'll be feasting on dumplings (for luck), tangerines (for prosperity) and the longest noodles I can find (for longevity). Normally I'd have a nice bunch of many-petaled chrysanthemums as decorations, too, but since Sandy spent a recent weekend plucking all the leaves off my one remaining houseplant, I think fresh flowers would be way too tempting (and asking for trouble -- I don't want my kittens messing with my longevity!).

Perhaps even more than Mickey, my favorite rodents are Pinky and The Brain. (The series is currently being shown on the Cartoon Disney channel.) During this Year of the Rat, I will take inspiration from Pinky's easygoing optimism as well as Brain's ability to plan (although let's hope I am more successful in carrying plans through to a successful conclusion!).   

While I was searching Google Images for a pretty chrysanthemum photo, I found this cool rock called chrysanthemum stone. The mineral is called celestite and in new age circles it is believed to be a crystal of transformation that encourages spiritual "flowering." I want one!)

a crafty surprise

What's in the cute little packets? Cherry cinnamon teabags and a shower of red photo corners bundled up inside red heart-shaped doilies -- Valentine treats for dear friends, who are joining me at Randi's virtual Valentine's Day party! It's a themed swap in which we each prepared a recipe card, a small gift and some Valentine ATCs for each player. I usually don't swing the ATC way but I did my own thing with quotes and stock photos, and I'll be showing you the results as we get closer to the actual day.

primary day

Well, I sort of voted -- I am a permanent absentee voter because my neighborhood polling place has terrible parking, so I vote in the privacy of my own home (the tradeoff is I don't get the nifty sticker).

I mailed in my ballot last week, but I guess I forgot to request a Democratic primary ballot (I am registered Independent) so I didn't get to weigh in on the presidential candidates, just the ballot measures and propositions. In all honesty, I do not know for whom I would have voted. Both of my preferred candidates have dropped out, my views coincide with the fringiest of the remaining fringe guys, and I see good and bad things in both frontrunners. Meanwhile the whole campaign machine and the vast sums of money that keeps it going make me ill. At least after today we won't be subjected to this barrage of campaign ads and phone calls for a while.

If you are registered to vote in one of the 24 states having primaries today, and you haven't voted already, I sincerely hope you will do so. It's that important.

website update -- at last!

  It's not the long-rumored complete overhaul yet, but the ARTitude Zine website has finally been brought up to date. You can now order Issue #24 (Spring 2007) and Issue #25 (Summer 2007) if you don't already have them, and you can also pre-order the final two issues, #26 and #27, which will both come out during the first half of 2008.

Issue #26 is almost, almost done, I swear! In retrospect, it was a lousy idea to switch to a new printing company and a whole new printing method for the last few issues, because I have had to unlearn everything that worked for the past six years and conform to a whole new set of specs and processes -- which has been a royal pain in my tush. On the other hand, there's no way I could have done these limited-edition issues the old way in small quantities, they just won't print fewer than two thousand copies (or they will but each copy will cost a small fortune). So, I soldier on, I see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I thank you for your patience.

If you aren't sure when your subscription ends (or ended), feel free to ask!

In case you haven't heard: I'm taking a hiatus from printing the zine after Issue #27 so that I can work on other projects and catch up on my sleep. Read more about that decision here. It was a difficult decision but, considering the direction my life has been taking lately, it was the only decision that made any sense.

If you are new to ARTitude Zine, there are still plenty of back issues available so there is a ton of creative goodness to explore.

And if you're a longtime subscriber, I thank you thank you thank you for your participation throughout the years. Your enthusiasm has inspired me so much!

kitchen favorites, day 5

I sort of got distracted from the whole kitchen photolog thing, but I do want to give a shout-out to my favorite new product: Reynolds Slow Cooker Liners. I didn't think these would work but they do, and they make cleanup quick and easy. You just put a bag into the crock pot, plop in your ingredients and proceed as usual. Can't recommend them highly enough! 

Dyed & went to heaven

I dyed all this stuff in Denise Marie Warner's workshop at ArtFiberFest last October, brought it home and promptly forgot all about it until it turned up today while I was looking for something else. Aren't the colors divine? Even after washing the pieces (in Synthrapol) I'm very pleased with the depth of color.

The workshop was the type of day where you listen to the teacher for ten minutes and then just do your own thing all day, experimenting with various color combinations and methods of dye application. This is only, oh, about half of what I dyed that day!

I don't know what I'm going to do with all the lace, but the velvets and seam binding have my head in a whirl now. What a luxury, to be able to take advantage of someone else's dyepots!

Puppy Bowl IV !!

I grew up in Pittsburgh in the 1970s so I went to my fair share of Super Bowl parties as a kid. As a grownup, I'm more interested in going to Disneyland or going shopping during the game, when the rest of the country is glued to the tube.

For the last few years, though, Super Bowl Sunday means one and only one thing to me: Puppy Bowl!

Puppy Bowl is a three or four hour chunk of programming that the Animal Planet channel shows as a continuous loop, pretty much all day this Sunday. Basically they turn loose a couple dozen adorable puppies into a room decorated to look like a stadium, and the little dudes run and play and nap and romp and sniff each others' butts to a jaunty musical accompaniment. Trust me, it is entertainment gold.

My favorite feature is that the water bowls set into the end zones have clear glass bottoms with cameras underneath, so you get a snout-eye-view of puppies drinking water. Too cute.

And if anyone fouls the football field, a guy dressed up like a referee comes out with some paper towels and while he cleans up the business he toots his whistle and intones, "Illegal motion -- Ten yard penalty -- declined!" or something similarly footballish and silly.

My early favorites, based on their photos at the Animal Planet site: Tucker the terrier, Dixie the golden, and the lab named Mrs Roper. Apparently the puppies are pound rescues and they leverage their fifteen minutes of fame into successful adoptions, for themselves and hopefully for lots of other pound puppies out there.

It's totally silly stuff, but it's also interesting to watch how the various puppies' personalities emerge. Some of them really get in there and mix it up. Little guys and big guys rough-house together as equals. Meanwhile, there are frequent cut-aways to other puppies who are tail-gating outside the stadium, eating stuff and watching the action on portable tvs.

And don't miss the spectacular Kittycat Halftime Show! All the puppies go to the locker room, the lights dim, and then a dozen kittens are wheeled into the stadium on a sprawling carpet-covered cat-condo tricked out with tons of fringe and cat toys. Most of the kitties just chase the dots of light caused by the giant disco ball. At the first Kitty Halftime Show a couple years ago, they ended the show with a burst of confetti that scared the beans out of all the kittens. It was hysterical. They shot out of there like watermelon seeds.

Puppy Bowl is fun for all ages and I've heard of dogs that like to watch it too. I know at my house we'll be dining on pupperoni pizza and enjoying the big show.

Thirty one days

I've now blogged every day for thirty one days. I didn't think it was possible (and I am probably the only person in the world for whom it has been an edifying experience) but I did it.

The following statements are also true:

• I haven't had a Diet Coke -- or any soft drink whatsoever -- in 31 days.
• I haven't eaten french fries in 31 days.
• I took 94 items to Goodwill in the last 31 days. I was shooting for 100, but I'm happy with 94.

I hadn't planned for this to amount to a grand exercise of any kind, but in retrospect it seems to be about decluttering my body as well as my home, and therefore my mind. My jeans are a little looser, my kitchen has a little more usable storage space and I sleep better knowing that I made good choices during the day.

It has been a good month. Now let's see if I can keep this momentum for another 29 days...

Thanks for reading!

Dhih beadupudda ist dulishiusth!

That's what "This peanut butter is delicious" sounds like, when your mouth is full of peanut butter. :)

My very dear friend Maria and I used to work together. For over seven years we shared responsibilities and we always joked that we "shared a brain" because one of us was able to pick up where the other left off, and we almost always thought alike. Well, this Christmas was one of those shared-brain moments because we unknowingly gave each other the magical gift of peanut butter.

My gift from Maria took the form of a membership in (I love these words together!) the Peanut Butter of the Month Club, and my first shipment arrived yesterday. Woohoo!

On the right is the white chocolate raspberry flavor of PB Loco (I gave Maria their Mocha Espresso flavor, to which I am seriously addicted). It has teeny tiny morsels of good white chocolate distributed throughout, and each mouthful carries a faint berry hint that you can't see or feel but you definitely taste. I give this peanut butter 4 stars out of 5!

Although they started out in Minnesota, PB Loco now has peanut butter cafes (!!) in several states. Last summer my mom and I dined at the one in Scottsdale, Arizona. She had a sandwich that was basically a BLT with sun dried tomato flavored peanut butter, and I enjoyed a sandwich of cinnamon raisin peanut butter and cream cheese layered with thinly sliced Granny Smith apple. And a big carton of milk!

On the left is Sunland Banana Peanut Butter Spread. Normally I am terrified of anything "banana flavored" because, let's face it, it rarely turns out to have a happy ending (case in point: the Elvis edition Reese's PB Cups!). But this stuff is pretty good. I think it might have actual banana in it. It is, however, a "spread" as opposed to true peanut butter -- it feels too loose or something -- so although it tastes pretty good I must dock it half a star on that technicality, so it gets 3 stars.

Fun Fact: Sunland is the only peanut butter company in the entire state of New Mexico!