Happy New Year

The Sixth Day of Christmas.

I made a Kokeshi doll today. A few months ago I made three of them. They seem to be really popular. People often want something that's familiar. I just have to buckle down and work on making them faster. They don't have much detail, but I have a bad habit of fiddling with things. My prices have to be competitive to the ones on the market. Maybe I can and maybe I can't. We'll see.
I've gotten several views on my fish piece on Etsy. I looked on the treasuries and didn't see it there. It might be on someone's blog. Good!
Cassidy took Watson away for a slumber party tonight. Two cats and one dog. This will be a nice break. It's freezing outside and he's just a puppy, so he get's restless and crazy.

The Fifth Day of Christmas

I have gotten back to work. I just haven't put my finished work on Etsy. I have my annual post-Christmas-it's freezing outside blues. Everything I make doesn't look good enough. Eventually I'll put them on anyway.
The necklace is an incredibly thoughtful gift given to me by Penny and made by Kathy. I love it.
Tonight Jim and I will go to Bill and Robbie's for an evening of music, dogs and cats. Fun!

On the Second Day of Christmas

Christmas Night

I must be looking in the wrong places but I can't find a Christmas song video that pleases me (that I haven't used). I think there must be a market for more quality Christmas videos.I've never been very fond of Christmas night. Everything is over and it's time to clean up. I've always preferred Christmas Eve,which always felt rather magical.Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I've had one of the best Christmases, ever.
I will recycle this sweet,magical,heartfelt, incredible version of "Over the Rainbow" which I only recently became really aware of, although I've heard it for quite a while.
This song has wings. Part of it is the singer's funeral. Maybe that is part of the reason that it has turned into a great song for a funeral .The word" wistful" comes to mind when I hear it. Judy sang it at both her parents' funeral and we all cried.
Not a Christmas song but a universal song. I love it.

Christmas Eve

I've been busy with Christmas stuff. My computer is down, so I'm using the one in the basement. I can hear Watson upstairs doing something naughty.
Molly loaned me her facebook password so I could write a message to a friend. I took advantage of that to creep around and see old friends. Interesting.
"Bad Santa" is a vulgar,crass, very funny movie. Not for the fainthearted. Good antidote to all the sugar coated stuff trotted out at Christmas.
Well, I can tell that I'm procrastinating.
I used the snowblower on the driveway early this morning. I'll do it again after the second snowplow makes it's large snow dam at the end of our driveway.
White Christmas, indeed!

Brittany as Tai

I just read that Brittany Murphy has died at 32. Awfully young. She made herself look very different than she was in "Clueless". Clueless is my all time favorite teen movie. Funny as all get out. Brittany is the cute redhead in the preview. You could hardly recognize her later on.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

My computer is in the shop so I can't take pictures. I don't see many Christmas song videos that I like on youtube. Here is one I like a lot. It's from"Meet Me in St. Louis".

Santa Baby

Two Santa pictures I came across.When Molly showed me your picture on Facebook,Jamie, I had to look harder because I knew I had this one. The other one is Cassidy who was not happy. About that time there was an event in Orlando that we went to. One of the people had a homemade Big Bird costume. A ratty, creepy , dirty Big Bird costume. Cassidy ran over to him and hugged him. Go figure.

Tuesday

Bad computer.
Bad dog.
Here is a colorized version of the original "Santa Baby". Sweet!

More Snow

Finally got back to work. If I want to leave the house I have to hunt for my other snow boot. Watson has a shoe fetish. At least he doesn't destroy them. He certainly knows how to hide them, though.

Santa Picture

We just got back from the Mall of America where we had Watson's picture taken with Santa. He was just like most babies when Santa holds them for a picture. He was scared.

Snow

Watson is an absolute brat.
Out of nowhere he took my book off the table and ripped it up. I was in the next room. He didn't rip the pages I hadn't read, fortunately. It's called"Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" and I'm enjoying it a lot.
Here's one I can't pass on to you, Jamie.
Trying to work on skeletons since that is what people seem to want.
Also trying to make this puppy into a well mannered dog.
Both projects going s-l-o-w-l-y.

Oh, Deer!

Well, I killed my first deer tonight. I was driving down Galaxie, almost home, when a deer skidded across the hood of my car. I called home and Jim called the police. A guy stopped and we watched the poor thing die. Another guy stopped and said,"You want that? No? Can I have it?" He was thrilled because he's a hunter and he told me it was a ten point buck. He was going to Wisconsin next week to hunt. I asked him if this one counted toward his limit. He said no it didn't, but that he would have to register it .
My hood and one headlight are a mess. The police were very nice. I'm glad the deer didn't come through the windshield. He would have taken me with him.

Tony Shalhoub

Tonight I'll watch the last episode of "Monk". It will show who killed his wife, Trudy. I think Tony Shalhoub's character of Monk is one of the TV greats, along with Barney Fife and Eddie Haskell.
My father-in law, Bill, used to enjoy Monk, too. He's been gone for a few years now and I always felt a link to him when I watched it. Sigh.
I sold my hundredth piece today. It'll go on top of a wedding cake.

Must be Santa

Here's an interesting Christmas video.
I've had some failures sculpting. I'm taking time out to do Christmassy stuff. Decorating will be tough with a puppy. Everything goes in his mouth.

Black Friday

A FedEx truck came by the other day and the logo reminded me of Watson a lot.
I think I'll make a purple monkey dishwasher next. They once mentioned it on the Simpsons.

Happy Thanksgiving

The Beatles

I cooked, baked and peeled today. Later tonight I'll watch the Beatles on the History Channel. What a treat!

Turducken

I'm working on a turducken.
I had to go outside for a while and throw things for Watson to fetch. He started to pull tools from my worktable while I was working. He really lets you know what he wants. He wanted outside at 4am this morning, so we went.
U2 is coming here. Am I the only person who thinks they're whiny?

Saturday Night

I'm working on an angel with a lyre. I wonder if there's a market fora Dia de los
Muertos Santa.

Watson & Frisky

I spent waaay too much time locating the cartoon character who reminded me of Watson. There were three Looney Tunes about Claude and Frisky.I skimmed through several cartoons till I found what I was looking for. It was so long ago that I couldn't type in a name.
I particularly remembered the distinctive barking. Try to look That one up (but I did it)
The only cartoons that came close to Warner Brothers for wit and style were Jay Ward and you just had to forgive their drawing. I love to laugh

Wonky Ears

Watson's ears are migrating. He started out in October with perfect ears. They get crookeder every day. Last week he had one crooked ear and he reminded me of Truman. This week they both flopped down. Good thing he's not a showdog. The black dog is a picture of Indigo Jones, the Kerry Blue dog my dad gave me in the nineties. He was four months old in this picture. Dad glued his ears to the top of his head with eyelash glue. Sometimes that stops the ears from falling. It worked somewhat on Indigo. I'm just going to let Watson's ears fall where they may.
I'm working on a piece called Showdog. It's a soft coated wheaton. Penny wants one.

Later That Day...

Good thing puppies need sleep. I'm almost done with my Santa and kid. I think by the time kids aren't afraid of that stranger dressed in red, they no longer believe in him. I have a picture of an unhappy Cassidy on Santa's lap.

Devil Dog

Okay, so I put the toilet paper roll in a basket set back on the bathroom counter. Watson must have used the step-on trash can as a step to get up that high. This is only some of the paper. The rest is scattered in the bathroom and down the hall. This took five minutes, tops.
Watson's personality is not nearly as mild as Truman's. He's got a lot of learning to do.
I want to make a kid sitting on Santa's lap today.
That reminds me. I'll have to remember to look into the pet/Santa pictures offered at the Mall of America in December. It's only one night. I have some of the kids and Truman. The mall has a great looking Santa.

Monday Angels

I'm working on angels today. I wanted them to look asexual but I've failed. Oh, well. I suppose if I made a dozen of them one of them would look just right.

A New Leaf

Hilarious, wonderful movie. Can't get it on Netflix.

Dogs & Trees

Right now I'm working on a chef and Daphne.
The other day Watson looked at me and he had one ear up and one ear down. I felt a pang of sadness. Truman did that all the time and I really missed him. He was such a good dog.

All Souls Day

I'm working on a statue of a sheep, a bunny and a butterfly.
I also baked biscuits for Watson, which is more than I usually do for my family. Housebreaking is a bitch. I cracked the back door open so Watson could slip out if he needed to. Instead of Watson out, I got a chickadee in. Poor thing. I put on gardening gloves and caught him and let him out. Back to work.

Halloween Art

Hirschfeld, Rockwell, Gorey

Lobsters,Skeletons, Shoes & dogs

Here are some clothes designed by Elsa Schiaparelli with the help of Salvador Dali. That must have been fun. The hat is a shoe and the dark dress has skeleton contours on it.
There is a story in the paper today about a Woodbury man who's face was savaged by his rescue dog. The rescue people had come to his house before they would allow him to buy the dog to see if he was good enough for their dog. Maybe they should have checked the dog's previous home.

Watson can be a pill, but at least he only has puppy history. I've heard stories about some rescue people and I've tried to deal with one. Some of them are crazy and some dogs can't be rehabilitated.

Six Eleven PM

Watson loves everything, including toilet paper. He climbed on the toilet to get this one. Sheesh! What a brat!
I'm working on a man in a hot dog costume. I don't have a name for him yet. Maybe I'll make someone in a banana costume.

Halloween Season

I'm working on Muertos the clown making a balloon animal.
The weather is crummy, but I like the fact that it is pre- Halloween. I may not do much for Halloween anymore but I still like it.
Last night I watched part of "The Haunting"(1963) before I fell asleep. I've seen it lots of times. The whole atmosphere of the movie still is incredibly weird and scary. I have trouble watching it alone. It is probably my favorite horror movie.

Puppies & Bunnies

It's been hard to get sculpting done lately. Watson is a handful. Today he killed my jade plant and destroyed a shark and a dragon(two statues) . Good thing he's so cute.
Finished"The Year of the Flood" which is a sorta sequel to "Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood. She's created the most amazing creepy dystopian future world . I loved them.
There is a partially eaten rabbit in my front yard. I can't blame that one on Watson. I wish that whatever killed it would take the rest home so I don't have to deal with it.

Watson and the Roomba

My floors aren't so clean lately.

Animals

I wonder if it'll ever be light enough today to photograph these pieces. It is seriously dark and drizzly.
I suppose I should put some of my calaveras back on Etsy in the meantime since this is the season.
The dog is Watson and the floor is an approximation of my house. Little stuff all over. He gets into anything he can reach. He got a couple of my statues. Friends are stopping by to see him tonight. This is good. I'll barricade Watson in the bathroom while I vacuum. It's the only sane way to do that.

BBC Animals

The people talking over the animal videos on Americas Funniest Videos always annoy me.I love these. I guess I'm a sucker for a British accent. Also, they're really funny.

Crazy Mama

I'm working on getting this piece on Etsy. I've had a lot of distractions. This is Mr. Bates, Norman's mother from "Psycho". I need to tweak and rephotograph her.
Watson is into everything. He turned the computer off a few minutes ago while I was working on pictures. At first I was afraid he chewed through the cord, but he stepped on the on/off switch. So far he doesn't like cold,snow or rain. This could be a problem.

October Snow

Yes, it's snowing like crazy right now, October 12th. Ahhh, Minnesota!
Watson is asleep right now, allowing me a few minutes to write. I haven't tried to sculpt with him around yet. It will be a challenge.
Cassidy and Emily came by last night to gather some of the things they had stored here while they moved. Emily said that there were cow eyeballs in the bag in my freezer. Her grandfather had butchered a cow and a friend of hers wanted to make jewelry out of the lenses of the eyes. Wow! I couldn't find anything about that on the internet. Who knew you could make jewelry out of such things. Conversation pieces for sure.

My Dear Watson

The puppy arrived yesterday. He's tiny. Right now he's ripping paper he found in the trash can. At least he's not chewing on the computer cords like he was five minutes ago. It's like having a toddler in the house. He's an adorable handful. He already knows his name It is Watson. Oops! Gotta go.

Dogs'n Stuff

Because of Truman Penny sent flowers, Tammy sent a framed poem with Truman pictures and Kathy sent this car charm that she made ( http://www.pangaeadesigns.net/) I have wonderful friends.
I'm finishing a dog in a costume. I didn't like my baby in a costume so I ripped his head off to see if I could do better. I should have done Halloween-type things sooner.