I did it...

...I finally put something on my etsy site. Here is the link. It was time consuming and stressful not knowing if I was doing it right. .... I'm still not sure I did it right lol... but, in the end I guess it was easier than I feared it would be...... but I'm not listing anymore until I know for sure!

Do you Pin?

Pinterest that is? Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh I fought it for as long as I could but....Seriously, its true! So many things to see that you start getting punching thinking..... I've just one thing to say..... There is no known cure except to just... At least stretch you legs once in awhile, you will be surprised how long you'll be sitting there looking at all the pretties. If your wanting to check it out-- come visit my bulletin boards. If you see something fabulous anywhere online you'd like to save a photo of---- pin it to one of your own bulletin boards. Ohhhhhhhh-m-geeeeeeeee your going to love & hate the hours and hours your going to be on it. Guaranteed! When you try to sign up, they put you on a waiting list of sorts. I know right? I can "friend" you in faster, I'll get you hooked up! *NOTE* I need your email address to invite you. Some of the comments left on my blog have a "no reply return email address-- so make sure I can get a hold of you if your wanting to be included in the fun!

Lazy Sunday # 188: The Last Seats In The Theatre

Have you ever watched the goings on in a dog park?

All the Poodles, Labs and Golden Doodles bouncing around with one another, being nice to the purse dogs, sharing sticks and tennis balls.

Then – the gate opens and in walks a Rottweiler tricked out in a shiny spiked collar or soiled bandana. The mood suddenly changes.

Not among the dogs. Among their owners.

The people present are already stiffening, assessing the animal’s body language and temperament, eyeing whoever’s on the other end of its leash for any obvious signs of anti-social behavior.

More often than not, the dogs give the new kid a sniff and get back to doing what they were doing. Most often the perceived “bad boy” simply joins in the fun.

People, of course, are far more sophisticated. We have a thousand different ways of separating others from our particular herd. We seldom trust those who aren’t like us.

We pre-judge based on how those “others” are dressed, what newspaper they read, what kind of TV they watch, what’s written on the bumper sticker on their car.

And in the process, we wall ourselves off from broadening our horizons, having our beliefs challenged and sharing experiences that might open us to entirely new ways of thinking or living.

Or – maybe just require us to question or justify (just a little) exactly why we think and act the way we do.

Recently, the brewers of Carlsberg beer conducted an experiment involving our preconceptions of others. I think you might find the results both interesting and entertaining…

Enjoy your Sunday.

Sometimes A Great Notion

Often, we get caught up in causes which appear just, seem to support fairness and carry the hope of solving complicated problems.

And then someone speaks with complete clarity on how simple the solution might really be. What follows are words which deserve your consideration…

Treasures

I manged to find some treasures recently. Look at this pirate loot-- 50 silver spoons for .15¢ each. Sa-weeeeeeeeeeet~A lovely house shaped bird house.Linens and a vintage Virgin Mary wall plaque.Small figurines from tea boxes... to add to my collection.Also, a magnifier and one of those old repurposed glued open books (soon to be a halloween spell book)Also, this very heavy wooden antique mirror.... $1.
Lastly, some sewing things. All of this and some lace trim and an old tin for only ONE DOLLAR. *gasp* There are 3 pair of pinking shears and one pair of scalloped scissors---- all sharp as the day they were purchased! A jar full of super thick pins, sewing needles and small screw drivers.... and--- enough sewing needles to last me literally my entire lifetime... and I plan on living to be 100---

ROAD FOOD

I’m amid another of my epic “If it’s Tuesday, this must be Edmonton” road trips. And over the years, I’ve learned that it’s not just armies, but film crews and screenwriters that travel on their stomachs.

But while we live in a nation of plenty with an immense diversity in local produce and culinary selection, our highways seldom lead to anywhere other than tasteless, high-fat, high sodium burgers and dried out chicken fingers.

Oh, you can always find a farmer’s market, a grocery store with a deli section or a diner serving delicious home-cooked meals. But they’re all either far down some side street, plunked on a service road you can’t get to or hidden away in a town you don’t know.

Why is it that every major gas station or highway egress in Canada only hosts a major fast food chain?

Travellers in a hurry to reach their destinations seldom stop more often than they must. And when they do, it’s usually by pulling into a place where they can get gas, relieve bladders and find some sustenance at the same locale.

When I was a kid, that was usually your friendly Esso dealer, which contributed to its “Happy Motoring” motto by offering full service pumps, clean washrooms and a Voyageur restaurant with steeple point roof and Courieres du Bois canoe.

Back then, I stuck to a strict diet of grilled cheese sandwiches and strawberry milkshakes. But I’m told these places featured meals that reflected local delicacies from Alberta Rainbow trout to Quebec Poutine – all lovingly prepared by local chefs.

You can still find a few in towns where the main road used to run. On the current route, however, they’ve been replaced by concourses where you can find magazines, DVDs and sunglasses, but little food-wise beyond a burger and fries.

Now I like digging into a juicy burger as much as the next guy -- maybe more. But when you’re on the road for days at a time, you begin to wonder why this is our only option – especially at the same time our governments have become obsessed with the problems of high salt, high fat diets and Obesity.

Which momentarily brings me back to Edmonton.

A couple of weeks ago, Alberta’s Health Minister announced a $16 Million plan to reduce obesity. It made me wonder why governments just don’t do one thing to address the problem that wouldn’t cost them a dime.

You see, they own all of our roads and (for quite handsome fees) lease the locations where Shell and Esso and Petro-Canada build their franchises, subletting the adjoining space to MacDonald's, Burger King, A&W or Subway.

How hard would it be – instead of spending taxpayer money on new obesity programs – to simply require anybody who wanted to pump gas at the roadside to offer a healthy dietary alternative that might make an even bigger dent in the problem?

Does anybody really think truckers wouldn’t pull in for a nice Pho or mom wouldn’t rather the kids shared a spring roll than a meal that comes with a toy?

I’m not saying you have to kick all those high-school kids flipping burgers at minimum wage to the curb for some guy making bean sprout sandwiches. Just…

Give people the option.

For my sins, I’m a huge fan of The Food Network’s Guy Fieri, especially his current show “Drive-ins, Diners & Dives”.

Now, most of the hash slung on that program wouldn’t fall into any optimum healthy eating category. But a chunk of it does. And it certainly beats chicken fingers in anybody’s taste test. Which brings up something else governments could do for the weary, waistline challenged traveller.

While most of the locations Fieri visits are run by certified Chefs, more than a few are operated by guys with little more going for them than a love of cooking and some of mom’s recipes.

So, If every gas bar along Highway #1 in this country had to offer a burger alternative, can you imagine how many new local businesses might be created?

Businesses which might one day evolve into nation-wide franchises themselves.

And they wouldn’t need much more than the space to park a used shipping container, just like one of the best seafood restaurants on the planet, Victoria BC’s “Red Fish, Blue fish”. 

So, we have proverbial “two birds with one stone” potential here. Increased employment and obesity reduction – without having to build a single additional tier of government spending or a whole new Public bureaucracy in the process.

As a side note -- Fieri owns a few legitimate restaurants. Check out the menu of this place and tell me it wouldn’t have you swerving off the road for a taste.

Which brings to mind another of my Food Network heroes, Jamie Oliver. Oliver has spent the last few years igniting food “Revolutions” on both sides of the Atlantic, changing school menus, steering entire cities toward healthier eating, etc.

Can you imagine how much positive PR some multi-national fossil fuel dispenser could acquire if it simply propped his apple-cheeked visage next to their roadside logo promising a nutritious menu to offset the carbon footprint?

I mean, is there anybody who better embodies that “Think of the Children” mindset?

I realize that most governments have to prove they’re keeping busy by creating programs that throw money at a problem. But this is something we could do with little more than the stroke of a pen.

Decent, tasty food that’s also good for you from coast to coast to coast. More than my own burger clogged arteries would thank those with the foresight to make it happen.

Hello

hello

Drilling dominoes

I used the handy dandy drill press I made, to drill some holes into some dominoes. Who knew it wouldn't be as easy as I thought it would be. *sigh* It did help in keeping the drill straight & steady-- but I did have to apply a lot of pressure to drill the holes into the dominoes. I don't know what made me think it was going to be easy-peasy, wishful thinking I guess! I think I drilled about 30 of these big dominoes--- only 5 didn't come out perfectly--- the holes being offset just a smidge~ Here are some smaller dominoes all finished, you can see the size difference between the two.
I like how they turned out... I need more ;-)

Lazy Sunday # 187: Sam & Ralph

I was doing a couple of location shoots last week and took my sheepdog along for the ride.

Somewhere in the middle of the prairies, she needed a walk and I punched “Rest Area” into the GPS, finding one a couple of clicks up the road.

Like most Prairie roadside stops, it was little more than a grove of trees in the middle of nowhere and as we approached I noticed what looked like a lump of roadkill on the shoulder.

But the pile of fur lifted its head to check us out. It was a coyote.

It’s not unusual for a coyote to bed down near a busy highway. They’re naturally curious animals easily entertained by our coming and goings – and there’s always the chance a passing semi will deliver a free bunny or skunk dinner as it rolls through.

I didn’t give the critter a second thought. What coyote’d be so bored he’d wander a few hundred yards up the road just to see what I was up to.

But I was wrong.

We’d only been out of the car a few minutes when the coyote loped into the rest area, eyeing my dog and, perhaps sensing it was a female, happily wagging his tail.

Now “Dusty” (my pooch) has had a close encounter with coyotes before.

When she was about a year old, we were on a late night walk when the coyotes in the conservation area the house overlooked made a kill, whooping it up like crazy as they celebrated the hot meal to come.

Dusty froze, listened a second and then made a beeline for home, terrified. No sooner were we in the door, then she went to the landing window facing the park and stared out through the glass.

Four hours later, she hadn’t moved a muscle, keeping watch on where the coyotes had been howling. She was still there the next morning.

Back in the rest area, I felt confident that a single coyote wasn’t going to mess with a guy and his dog. But I leashed up my pal to get both of us out of harm’s way all the same.

The dog was trembling, her eyes locked on the coyote as it took a couple of steps forward, still wagging its tail and, for all I know, sending “come hither” vibes.

Dusty wasn’t buying and she suddenly squared herself, digging in her heels. Not running but not attacking either.

Standing her ground, she turned from docile travelling companion to ferocious beast, snarling and barking ominously, daring the coyote to take one more step, her body language threatening deadly consequences if he did.

I looked down at her and could have sworn all of her hair was standing on end, making her look twice her normal size. Somehow I was now leashed to “Cujo” in full menace mode.

600 years of instinct and breeding was kicking in. This was the enemy, the animal she had been bred to keep from sheep and cattle.

And despite the fact that she’s never shown the slightest interest (let alone any affinity) for sheep or cattle, this intruder was getting the message that she was the last creature with whom he wanted to mess.

The coyote stopped wagging his tail, turned and trotted away.

We got back in the car and for the next half hour, Dusty sat in the back, making sure we weren’t being followed.

Back in 1954, Chuck Jones immortalized the conflict between Sheepdog and coyote in a classic cartoon entitled “Sheep Ahoy”. It was a tremendous hit, introducing the Wile E. Coyote character.

In his original incarnation, however, Wile E. was just a slavering, red-eyed villain without a name. But the popularity of the cartoon spawned several sequels featuring a sheepdog named Sam, a coyote named Ralph and the concept that both were just doing the job they’d been hired to do.

Like the generations of instinct and inter-species understanding I witnessed this week, those old Warner Brothers cartoons still pack a comic punch 50 years later.

Sam and Ralph. Enjoy your Sunday.

Faux stone

I've got so many works in progress right now, happily I can say this one is finished. I created some faux stone work for the outside of the barbie house I'm working on. I used cardboard, tissue paper and mod podge to create the look. I cut the cardboard into 1"x1 1/2" pieces and used Elmers glue to hold it in place. Once the glue dried, I painted on some Mod Podge and layered some crumpled tissue paper over the pieces. I kept adding tissue paper until the area was covered. Here it is all painted to look like faux stone on the outside of the Barbie house. The pink window frame will be put on later-- once I've decided what kind of curtains I'm going to use.
Here is the before picture:I did the same treatment for the sides of the house as well.
1.) added cardboard.2.) Added tissue paper...
3.) Painted everything~Next, I'm going to be working on creating a wood floor for the second floor of the house. I was lucky to come across a bag full of thin wood strips that measure 7"x1/4".... immediately I thought of a wood floor for a dollhouse.Stay tuned for that :-)

Faux Bricks

I made some faux bricks for the barbie house I'm working on for my grandaughter Chloe Rose. Since these bricks are going in a Barbie house, they are made bigger than the ones I've previously made for the miniature doll house that I have yet to finish... Firstly, I cut a piece of illustration board to fit completely in the space I was making the bricks for. (You can purchase illustration board at any art supply store-- runs about $6 a sheet) I drew lines every one inch and cut those out using my paper cutter.... then I cut those inch long strips into 1/4 inch length to create the small bricks, again using my paper cutter. So the actual brick size is 1' x 1/4 inch in size. With a large pile of pieces cut to size, I ran several long lines of glue down some paper and glued the "brick" down so that I could easily paint them. Once the glue dried, I used terra cotta, black and white paint which I pounched onto the bricks using a stencil brush. The final step is to seal the newly painted illustration board. You can use a spray gloss or you can paint on a glossy finish. This step is important because when you grout the brick, using real grout, it keeps the cardboard from falling apart.Then I just glued the brick into place on the floor of the barbie house. I haven't grouted the brick into place yet. I am wanting to make some kind of planter for both sides of the door way. So I'm going to wait until I figure it out :-)

Lazy Sunday # 186: Finding The Words

Winston Churchill once said of Americans – “They will always do the right thing -- after exhausting every other possibility”.

Observing the current level of animosity and rancour that exists in American political debate, it’s hard to imagine that Americans will ever again find common ground and be able to treat one another with decency and respect.

And then you have moments like the ones that occurred yesterday in Shanksville, Pennsylvania as past Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton and Vice President Joseph Biden dedicated the Memorial to the passengers of United 93.

Three men representing both ends of the ideological divide, and who have all had occasion to say very unkind things about one another, set that aside to speak from the heart about how what had happened in the skies over Pennsylvania meant to them and to their country.

Each was a magnificently constructed oration. And each gave you the impression that when it really matters, when the moment is right, both sides are capable of doing the right thing.

I’m certain others in New York and Washington will similarly find the right words as the events of September 11, 2001 are remembered.

But these are all well worth recalling.

Enjoy Your Sunday.

Happy Birthday to me....

* sung with extreme enthusiasm and jazz hands.....

Happy birthday to me,
happy birthday to me,
hand me a fork,
pass me my cake,
happy birthday to-to-to-to....
me-me-me-me-me-EEEEEEEEE!

Well, well, well....seems another year has come and gone, where does the time go? I've made some sugar cookies to take with me this evening to our local quilters guild meeting. (recipe can be found here) Since the meeting falls on my birthday (today)--- I just had to do a little sumthin'-sumthin' extra whimsical right? I took the birthday card my parents gave me and cut it out and glued on a frilly tutu....

This lil' monkey will blast out the calories of each cookie you take :-)
At the monthly meeting I attend, every member has to wear a name badge, this is the one I've made to wear this evening.... I'm going to make a different name badge for each meeting. We meet once a month... I can do 12.... I think. Here is last months name badge.
Ahhhhhhhh sugar cookies....
Please feel free to grab yourself a virtual handful.....

The Meanest Man in Hollywood Was A Canadian

OUR HOLLYWOOD HISTORY (10/10)

Lazar Meir never knew precisely where he'd been born. It might've been in Russia or the Ukraine, it might've been on a boat to North America. It might've been in Canada or even the United States. Heck, he didn't even know which year marked his birth, let alone the month or the day. What's more he could never prove his parents' name was actually Meir. There simply was no documentation and neither of his parents seemed able to recall the details either.

However he came into this world, Meir spent the first 19 years of his life in Saint John, New Brunswick and so Canada claims him. And he was content to have us do that -- when it suited his purpose.

He never shone in school. Mostly he skipped, to pull a little wagon through the streets, picking up discarded metal for his father's scrapyard. At fourteen, he left school permanently to become the junior partner in a scrap company that now bore his family's adopted name Mayer and Company. His first name was changed as well -- to Louis.

The business did so well, that in 1904, Louis convinced his father to expand to Boston. Here he met a new girlfriend named Margaret, who introduced him to a wondrous new invention called "the moving pictures". Mayer was immediately smitten, both with Margaret, whom he soon married, but also with the possibilities of the movie business.

Together, they pooled their resources and purchased a theatre in nearby Haverhill, Massachusetts that was so rundown the locals had changed its name from "The Gem" to "The Germ". Working day and night for months, assisted only by a man from the nearby lumberyard, and with everyone else, including the local newspaper editor, claiming they were out of their minds, Margaret and Louis renovated the place into a 1000 seat jewel box theatre they called "The Orpheum".

From its opening night, "The Orpheum" revealed what would become Mayer's trademark flair for showmanship and uncanny ability to sense what the audience wanted.

Unable to avoid musicians, let alone an orchestra, he installed an organ, starting a trend that would continue well into the 1970's. He only booked "wholesome, family entertainment" and promoted it tirelessly. He also brought in the stars of the films he showed to sign autographs and answer questions from the audience. It was the first time anyone, anywhere had conceived of the "personal appearance".

Audiences flocked to the Orpheum and within 4 years Mayer not only owned every other theatre in Haverhill, he owned the newspaper, firing the editor who had said he couldn't succeed. A year later, he owned an entire chain of theatres throughout Massachusetts and realized he had enough clout to form his own Distribution company. So he did that too.

Finally, in 1915, he formed "The Metro Company" to produce his own "wholesome, family entertainment" and in 1917 moved it to Hollywood so he could film all year round.

Once in California, Mayer began developing what became known as "The Star System". Years of watching audiences react to actors making personal appearances had taught him what they wanted in the people they paid to see onscreen. And while the other studios hired actors, Mayer found "interesting people" with "interesting qualities" and groomed them for stardom.

By 1924, Metro was making 4 or 5 features a week, all making profits. Impressed at his achievements, the Loew theatre chain came to Mayer with their production entity, Goldwyn Pictures, which they needed someone to run. Mayer agreed to merge it with Metro and appended his own name at the end. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was born.

It would go on to become the most successful film studio of all time and Mayer would soon be the richest man in Hollywood.

If Mayer had a secret about producing successful films, he didn't try to hide it. In fact, he placed it on the company logo for everyone to see "Ars Gratia Artis" -- Art is beholden to the Artist.

To Mayer's mind, his job was to create a place where artists could do their best work. They were not only his livelihood, they were his family and he his place was to protect them at all costs. Hence the Lion in the logo, whose real life counterpart, Leo, lived on the lot with a large staff and accompanied Mayer to important studio functions.

The philosophy seemed to have merit, for in 1926, the top ten films produced in America were all MGM productions. And all of those films had stars either discovered or polished into stardom by MGM, including Ramon Navarro, Buster Keaton, Greta Garbo and Lon Chaney.

Knowing that his stars and their movies needed as much publicity as possible, Mayer founded the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927 and created separate studio divisions to train and promote his actors.

And over his career, Mayer probably created more movie stars than all the other studios combined. He also had a reputation for giving newcomers a chance. If they proved they had an inner spark and were willing to work hard, he put them under contract and turned them over to coaches and teachers who diligently built them into what he felt the audience wanted to see.

He began attracting the cream of film talent from Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Joan Crawford and Jimmy Stewart. He supported them with the best writers money could buy and the top directors, not to mention lavish productions that packed theatres all through the Depression.

But he also showed loyalty to his past as well. The man from the lumberyard in Haverhill was put in charge of set construction at MGM and a Broadway actor named Walter Pidgeon was offered a long-term contract the minute Mayer learned he was also from Saint John, New Brunswick.

Mayer also did anything he could for the Silent stars who had helped him build his theatre chain and Metro. He kept dozens working into their sunset years with bit parts and supporting roles, still treating them like stars, often sending his own car to pick them up for work or take them home. On those days, Mayer walked to work so no one else need be inconvenienced.

What's more, Mayer had an entire division of the company staffed with ex-cons who had served time for Forgery.  He'd realized that there was no way his stars could sign all the autographs that fans requested, so he brought in forgers who could perfectly mimic their handwriting to personalize each and every fan response. To make sure none of them lent their skills to any other MGM documents, Mayer made sure they only had access to green ink.

If you find a personalized MGM photo on eBay, check the ink. If it's green, the signature is the work of a forger.

But all of Mayer's attention to detail paid off. Audiences felt that they too were part of the MGM family. By the 1940's, the studio boasted without challenge that they were the home to "More Stars Than There Are In Heaven". 

And despite earning more than a Million dollars a year ($20 Million in today's dollars) it was well known that he gave most of that away, to build University theatres and synagogues, to support technical research that benefitted the entire industry, and to fund medical research that helped the entire world.

In 1943, with black soldiers in Europe still relegated to their own units or squadrons, Mayer issued an edict that no one who discriminated against another race would any longer find employment at MGM. Segregation of any kind on the lot was equally forbidden.

So how did a man such as this gain the reputation of being "The Meanest Man In Hollywood"?

It might've been because protecting his family sometimes came at a great cost. Some said all he wanted was an appreciation for the special life he had given his stars. Some said he wanted something more.

Mayer was ruthless with those who sullied the name of MGM or put one of its people in jeopardy. He once not only fired an actor who'd been arrested for urinating off a location balcony and closed down the shoot, but he let other studios know they could never borrow another of his stars if they employed him.

He banished directors who refused to do reshoots or chose their own artistic vision over what Mayer felt was best for the script or the stars involved.

In a once famous contract dispute with Clark Gable, he threatened to introduce the actor's wife to his mistress if he didn't reduce his financial demands. And he led the way in assisting Senator Joe McCarthy's "Witchhunt" to expose Hollywood Communists he felt were undermining the values of the American audience.

He also constantly fought with MGM ownership in New York and his own Producers. Many attributed Irving Thalberg's sudden death at age 37 to stress caused by Mayer's relentless work ethic.

He was ruthless in protecting his "family". Perhaps to the point of covering up a murder.

On September 4, 1932, MGM actress Jean Harlow's new husband, Paul Bern, was found dead in their home of a gunshot wound. According to Mayer, the maid had called him at 10:00 a.m. and he had rushed over, getting her to call the police who arrived at 11:00.

But neighbors insisted they'd seen Mayer and Howard Strickling, MGM's Head of Publicity, ushered into the house by Harlow at 7:30. A short time later, an unidentified man showed up just as a white limo with tinted windows carried someone else away.

When the police arrived, they found Mayer and Strickland and the body. They were told Harlow had spent the night looking after her sick mother at her parent's home. There was also a suicide note at the dead man's side, apologizing to Harlow and stating that "this is the only way".

The studio kept Harlow sequestered "at doctor's orders" for several weeks. And by the time she did meet with detectives, Bern's death had been pretty much accepted as a suicide. The police ignored the statements of the neighbors, going with the more precise times that matched the statements made by Mayer and Strickling.

By then, the maid had left town and nobody involved seemed to have any idea about the limo or the unidentified man.

Had Harlow's husband met his end in any other manner but his own hand?

No one will ever know for sure. Although a reporter, who did some digging 20 years later, discovered two interesting tidbits.

The Maid and her husband were living on a handsome income from some unknown source in a little town back East called Haverhill, Massachusetts.

And the suicide note in Paul Bern's hand -- had been written in Green ink. 

Louis Mayer ran MGM until 1951, and might have done so for longer had he not given his Board of Directors a "Him or Me" ultimatum regarding his company President in New York. Among the last of the projects he put into production was the studio's massive 1952 hit, "Singin' In The Rain", a film which depicted the inner workings of a studio not unlike his own.

Mayer was devastated by his eviction from the family he had so lovingly built and died of Leukemia in 1957, leaving the bulk of his fortune to research on the disease.

Without him to lead it, already eviscerated by anti-Trust suits, the rise of agents who could end-run star contracts and Television, MGM drifted into financial problems and was finally carved up between Ted Turner and the Sony Corporation in 1986.

One of the first things to be removed was the massive steel sign Mayer had erected on its roof in 1926. Perhaps fittingly, it was trucked to a nearby scrapyard.