Lazy River

Okay, ready to be jealous? Here's how I spent yesterday... On the Mississippi, exploring little channels between islands.

Up where I live it isn't gross yet, hasn't gone through any major metropolitan areas, and not that many other rivers have fed into it yet. It's kind of brown from sediment, but pretty clear. We found a nice little spot to pull over for a picnic.

Mostly shady with patches of sun breaking through the tunnel of maples that formed a canopy overhead, perfect.

The water here was only about knee deep so we waded around checking stuff out. The water was warm.

I found all these cool shells, plus an old drowned boom box that looked like it had been there a season or two that was pretty gross. The shells are pretty though huh? I don't know what makes the colors in them, but this is after I scrubbed them clean. Yay free treasure!

Over the years Dan has brought me cool shells he found on trips with "the guys" up north, and driftwood. He knows what I'm into-- not roses! All in all this day produced this face. (Yes, this pic has been cropped to protect your eyes and my dignity.) (But it was a fun day. Good vibes.)

After the river excursion we rode the mountain bike trail and seemed to hit our stride as far as riding together goes. Dan agreed he'd not be pleased if I rode recklessly and crashed left and right so agreed to not take crazy risks. He let me lead through the first two sections where I'm pretty fast now, and I let him take point on the final two, knowing I'd hold him back. He waited up for me every once in a while, and surprisingly wasn't all that far ahead of me most of the time anyway. It was fun for both of us this time-- whew! Good date/play day. Success!

Where it's at for me right now is that it's summer and I'm trying to enjoy this fleeting season as much as I can. Where I live the memories of summer sustain us in Jan and Feb when it's bleak, dimly lit and bitterly cold, so you're a fool if you don't capitalize on June, July, and Aug.

Art-wise-- I'm working like crazy, but kind of blew the season as far as having lots of stuff ready. I totally fried myself back in April and had a real hard time firing up again. This is a luxury people that work for the man don't have I know, but I don't work for the man so that's where it is. All I can do is work hard now to make sure fall is a success.

Writing-wise, I'm into revising my first novel- completely rewriting it actually, and it's way better. I need to carve out more time for it though. Before I had heat/electricity out in the shop I had nothing but time and could write for hours and hours at a time. Now I'm either welding, riding, or paddling it seems. Our "no computers at night" rule (new from the togetherness push) might have to be modified to exclude writing. Dan says he'd be cool with that.

Today is a Grandma day. My folks are out of town so I'll be taking her to run errands and to lunch. Her age (94) makes me hyper-aware of mortality in general. She knows her time is short. When we go grocery shopping I think about how weird that would be, wondering if you should buy the big jar of peanut butter or whatever, or if it would be a waste. I'm glad we get to spend some time together and talk about stuff. It feels like an experience I'm meant to have so I'm trying to absorb, learn, and be there for her.

That's it for today. Sorry this is such a yawn-fest. It is what it is sometimes. :)

What Else...?

Hey people. Sorry-- it just starts playing right away. Couldn't figure out how to fix. Anyway. Yeah, really kind of a no-brainer today vid-wise. Thought I'd share one of my favorites "Leave me alone" with you, and a cool tribute vid I found (fanvid) set to "The way you make me feel." Weird, tragic, but ultra talented guy.

In other SueNews:

The other night when I finished showering, having dabbed my face numerous time over the course of said shower, THIS was on my towel!

That's a quarter folks! That thing was a frigging tarantella! If this was some elaborate ruse on Dan's part to get me to flee the bathroom in terror and leap around naked-- well played my friend. Of course I squealed like a total girl for Dan to rescue me. Later, heart rate still somewhere in the stratosphere, I said, "Sucks to be the guy sometimes huh?" (I made him take it way out into the woods to set it free.) and asked to feel his big muscles. He uttered something manly like, "Twernt nothin' 'm'am."

Seriously, if he hadn't been around I'd have had to seal that room off like some kind of time capsule. It would have been dead to me.

Added the fourth and final section of the mountain bike trail to my routine this week. There is a hill in that section I've always called the giant hill of doom. Pam and I used to exclaim, "Why is there not a giant pile of bodies at the bottom of this?!" Now it doesn't look so scary. I can't handle the log jump at the top of it yet, but ride down the rest of it with a huge grin plastered to my face. I now ride the whole works in about an hour, right in there with the rest of the recreational riders, even if I do still have lots to learn and still walk parts that I'm not yet up to. Thank God Pam thinks this is fun is all I can say because it's way more fun to ride with a pal.

Things are going good on my renewed efforts to be less lame about the ART BLOG. I put up weekly post #2 yesterday and again got tons of hits, a few emails, and within hours sold the latest gate I just finished. Check it out if you're into that kind of thing and subscribe if you want.

If anyone needs any further proof that math is evil, look no further. I had my recurring math nightmare the other night where it's the last day of school and-- hey-- what do you know-- I skipped a whole bunch and don't know eff all about higher math AT ALL and won't be able to graduate. PANIC. In reality I only graduated by the good graces of my math teacher. I really did skip all the time and didn't learn squat about "algebra 2". My mind would just become a giant test pattern once logarithms started. Fortunately my prediction that I'd never be expected to solve for x in real life has played out. But this is something I still feel really stupid about. Dumb stoopid effing math!

Last night I had another dream-- that I got an agent and a publishing contract! Funny thing was, it wasn't AgentCoolAssChicka, but another agent at her agency I'd die to get. Who knows? I'm just going to keep writing until something happens or I'm discovered in a house full of unpublished novels being feasted upon by my hundreds of cats.

OH-- came up with the best ideas for when I do finally die-- you know, somewhere in my 120's. If I get cremated I think having my remains displayed in a vacuum cleaner bag would be a total hoot, but check this out-- I could donate my body to science, but first write overly personal facts about myself all over my body in permanent marker. Stuff like, "Was ticklish here," and "This one got all the attention," and "Got this scar being tumbled through rocky rapids when I was 17." Pam expanded on the idea saying I could pull my super old lady skin apart and write secret stuff inside my wrinkles. They could unfold me and read me like a newspaper. I don't know why I like this idea so much. I guess my last act could be forcing some stranger to form a personal connection to me. Hmm. On the back of me I could write "I'm now haunting you, so don't laugh at my butt. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaa."

Maybe I should have saved that for weird wed. What would you write on yourself?

Weird Wed Grab Bag

Hey people. Welcome to Weird Wed-- The reader submission edition!

First up is everyone's favorite category- creepy dolls. This is a "Leather Face" Texas Chainsaw Massacre doll. Except I believe the grown men that play with such dolls insist they're "action figures." (pushes glasses up bridge of nose) After working in a leather apron and long pants all day yesterday in the heat (105 heat index here) I can tell you I understand what drove poor old Leather Face to such mayhem. There was probably just one too many people pissing him off and the chainsaw was just handy is all.

OK- the next half dozen are from a mother/son slagporter team who made their flea market outing a disturbia sighting expedition. Now see? -- This blog is all about family values people. I keep telling everyone that.

No doubt these shifting weirdovision eyes following
your every move were creepier in RL.

For those of you who scoffed at my warning about
the government's new barcoding program...

I wish someone would make bobbleheads of my family,
based on our most awkward family photo...
Okay, it would still be no contest.

When will people heed the "This is not a toy" warning? When?
Oh- It's just a doll, thank God.
This is the worst marketing campaign on record-
The "Hey Culligan Man" blow-up doll, doll.
Just don't ask people.

If you think these puppets are creepy just wait...
Although I do like the mouse or whatever it is
trying to get our attention in the background.
"Help- We're suffocating!"

You just can't have too many disembodied heads.
This is apparently Paul Newman's love child.

Thanks Kris and Ryan, for those very disturbing images. (scrubs at eyes with borax)

Next up is the creepiest puppet show on the web sent by a slagporter who I'm not sure, may want to remain anonymous, so I'll just say she's one of my favorite Wisconsinites. If she wants to claim credit in the comments-- be my guest Karen-- Oh crap! Well, sorry. Cat's out of the bag now. Anyway, someone is taking portraits of little kids and photoshopping them into puppets so check out that link. Very fembot-esque.

And lastly but certainly not leastly-- a submission from the power pants borrowing photog extraordinaire, Brenda. I haven't been able to quit thinking about this since she sent it to me. It is hilarious as well as disturbing. A MUST watch.



Well freaks, that's it for today. On an unrelated note let me just say deer and horseflies and 95 degree weather, plus cramps are as good an argument against nuclear proliferation as I've ever heard. (All of these plus Sue = BOOM.)
See ya Fri- stay weird people.

Finding the edges

Fri Trusty Pam and I went over to the trail and dispelled the suck of my last ride. I'd actually not ridden for a whole week because of the bad mood it put me in. Dan was all ??? when I told him this. He really didn't get how wrecked that ride was for me-- more about that in a minute.

First, check out the evidence of Pam's- what?-- third trip over her bars? This time she managed to tumble down a hill with her bike toppling over top of her and tore off a brake cable in the process. This pic doesn't do the dirt she was caked in justice, and she always feels I downplay her exploits a bit, but let me just say- this chick takes harder falls than anyone I've ever known!

I have a new theory she's got some kind of extra strong gravitational pull or something. She goes down like a frigging box of rocks! I don't know what it is. Every time my back wheel comes up or whatever I always manage to get foot down. I guess I get more practice, and know Penny's ways pretty well by now.

Way to go on not quitting though TPam! She still, amazingly, thinks this is fun and continues to hang out with me despite all the snot bubbles and scuffs and damage to her person.

Maybe one of these days I'll make it through that trail without anyone in my party "dismounting." It felt really good to get over there with my pal and just ride Friday night though, and yell "Wee!" like dorks and laugh and have fun-- except for Pam's little dive that is. Poor Pam... (makes sad face for her)

Sat Dan and I had a playdate. We have this new togetherness push going on- more working together, but more playing too. So far it's working out pretty good. Some people have commented at being surprised we have to "work" at our relationship because it seems so perfect from the outside. Maybe that's why it looks like that-- because we do.

So anyway, this is how I spent a big block of time Sat. (Doesn't look much like work does it?) This is not my usual mode, but as I explained before, Dan has this weird ability to slow my flywheel down. Sometimes (this is bizarre I know, but like you didn't know I was strange) it literally feels like my sternum is going to crack open or something I feel so wound-up, like my heart is a bird trapped in a greenhouse or something. He can stop it by placing his hand on my chest and just pressing- I call it "the hand hug". There's something soothing about the compressed feeling. Yeah, I know, me = psycho.

We took the kayaks to Wm O'brien State Park on the St. Croix. I'd Highly recommend this to anyone-- they rent canoes and kayaks too. We paddled upstream, pulled off on a sandbar island and had a picnic, paddled up some more, then blew up these floaty things we brought with for lounging around on and tied the whole works together into a big mass and floated down. It was wonderful! The river is so clear there, and there are tons of places the bottom is all sandy and only knee or ankle deep.

Near the end I told him about how last time me and Pam had the yaks out we got into this demo derby with them, so of course we immediately started ramming each other and trying to do pit maneuvers- spinning each other and laughing our heads off.

It was gorgeous there.

I love this picture of Dan. He looks like he has good vibes emanating from him.

Our mountain biking dispute pointed out a basic difference in the wiring between guys and girls. Guys find the wall by lowering their heads and running at it dead on. When they get hurt they go, "Oh, there's the edge I guess." Girls find it mostly by toeing around out front cautiously, and working their way up to it-- or I do anyway. I used to be more reckless. I still love thrills and fun, but now actually care what happens to me and understand how eff'd I'll be if I get hurt really bad.

The other difference friends and I have discovered lately is that as we women get older (the ones I hang out with anyway) our lives tend to expand. With the kids grown and gone it's time for them again and they get out there, trying new things and reassessing their choices. Men's lives tend to shrink. There are exceptions, but guys don't tend to try many brand new things after 40, or make new friends etc.

Lately Dan's been having a bit of a stress-out about me and all my new kicks-- even as he tries to out-darey me himself-- claiming it has nothing to do with me-- he's just trying to find his own edges. I believe him too. But it's been a little wierd.

Dan has never been wild about changes. It took me forever to talk him out of wearing his little short "Magnum PI" style shorts and try the new longer, baggier style. (Happy to report he's now stylin') For a guy that doesn't like change to wind up with a girl with huge boredom issues that manifest in everything from adrenaline fixes to mood hair-- well-- it hasn't always been easy for him. (Back in the eighties he even disliked these super tall boots I got one time because they were "weird". What guy have you ever heard of who doesn't like thigh-high boots?)

The last few years have brought numerous changes, more than in the past. I think I'm getting more proactive about following my interests. Dan's had to roll with me getting heavier into the writing thing, tons more outdoor activities, the whole internet/social networking thing (part of finding a creative peer group and being in the writing world)- all things that take up some of my time and can make me less available to him. This bugs him sometimes, and led to our efforts to make sure our time together gets prioritzed higher.

Somehow between his stabilizing force and my ongoing campaign to bust the sides off the box we make it work. Every once in a while I have to remind him though, I'm always going to be like this, but it doesn't mean I'm trying to leave him behind. I just don't want my life to stop expanding. I don't want to miss anything. I'm trying to hedge my bets against regret. He can come along for whatever parts of the ride he wants-- just don't try to toss a rope over my head.

It's all a process- figuring out our own lives as individuals- in my case wanting mine to keep getting bigger and bigger, encompassing more- and still wanting to somehow keep our relationship central to it all. We'll figure it out eventually.

Brand New Day

Hey people. It's Fav Music Fri again- can you believe it? Wow this week went fast. Summer is slipping through our fingers people. Be sure to grab a few handfuls before it's gone!

Today's pick is one of my all time favorite songs, an anthem really, about starting over. Suddenly many friends seem to find themselves in this position, some just entering new phases, others literally picking up the pieces and starting all over. Happily my life hasn't blown-up, but the words, "No I won't be scared-- I won't be destroyed" are always sort of playing in my background, making me feel like I could face anything if I had to.

Enjoy The Eurythmic's "Brand New Day". Give it a watch, then listen again with your eyes closed. I promise you'll feel like a warrior.


Edit to add: Funny, it's "I won't be SAD" I guess. I like scared better. Whatever resonates for you right?

In other SueNews:

Thanks to all the friends who weighed in on the last post- the part about staying true to your vision even when the market seems to not be responding. Each of you gave me a boost. One smart pal said, "Uh, yeah, follow your heart and all that, yeah yeah yeah, but also-- quit being so lame about your art blog!" She advised me to get out there, let people know what I'm up to, that I'm still over here doing art. So yesterday I put up a NEW POST and within the hour got mega hits and a few good leads. Some people just emailed saying-- "Hey, cool!" which is always, well, cool! So thanks pal. (You know who you are. ;) )

I have a plan in place for getting work over to Door County-- well, as far as my work goes-- what all I'm making etc. Reservations? I'll deal with that when I have a firm date. The welding mojo is working great, and I have tons of ideas. It would be nice if it wasn't so sticky, but, whateves. Get out a fan right?

In the following your heart department-- I have a chance to make a sculpture for the bike trail (they asked). It would be a freebie, but I do love it over there, and it would get seen by a lot of people and hopefully appreciated. Sometimes that can be almost as gratifying as, er... actual money to us art types. Plus-- it would give me a chance to make something completely from my head. You never know. It could wind-up getting me a job or two too. High exposure etc.

Considering the place is basically a thrill ride, a heavily wooded thrill ride through the dirt populated by adrenaline junkies, this is kind of the vibe I'll be going for:



This is an album cover. The actual design is similar in vibe-- it's not this exactly. I'd want it done by the end of July. Wait-- didn't I just get done saying I have tons of stuff to get done for Door County, plus new commissions, and three shows this fall? (Okay technically, no, I didn't actually say all that, but it is true.) Oh well. (shrugs)

Stranger things have happened. I can sometimes do amazing things on a deadline. Stay tuned.

Weird Wed - "My eyes!"

Hey people. This weeks' Weird Wed episode brought to you by the official panel of old white bossy dudes-- okay, not really. But isn't this picture great? "After much deliberation, the board regrets to inform you, you are not approved of." Harrumph harrumph harrumph, or something.

After seeing how Port-Wine-Stain Scarface Doll's face came out, Gingham Dress Doll said, "You know, just leave my face off completely. Faces are way over rated."

The rare Peg Bundy doll, highly sought after by, well, no one really.

OK people. See this bed? Once in my thrilly youth me and a bunch of my delinquent friends found this creepy old huge building out in the woods. It had trees growing up through it and was falling apart, but of course we had to check it out. upstairs there was a room lined with old iron beds like this-- and some had shackles on them! a guy who was from around there told us it used to be an asylum. Creepy huh? It felt mega haunted. (~gets chills~)

Wow, not that there's one thing wrong with that, but, pretty freaky for back in the day huh?

"I'm takin' over this here blue bowl see? And there ain't a man among ya tough enough to stop me see?"

Some weird meat chandelier I guess. Ewe.

Akk! My eyes! They're burning! Make it stop!

Behold the wrong badness people-- just look. It's like Sonny Bono meets Sam Elliott meets, er... a buffalo. It reminds me of the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers when that little dog runs up to them and it has a human head attached to its body.

Look-- they even make its unit denim clad. I don't know who thought this was a good idea, but it was not. I apologise to all buffalo's everywhere for this travesty.

In other SueNews:

Thinking about work this week. You know the saying, "not for love or money"? Working strictly for money doesn't really work for me art-wise. The work comes out best when it's for love. Right now is pretty lean times for everyone. I've been trying to figure out the magic formula, but it seems to be "move to mainland china and make stuff that sells for $20 or less".

I hate thinking about the business end of it. I miss the old days (like, two years ago) when I could make whatever popped into my head and people would just give me money. I think the best thing for me to do is forget about the $ right now, and just follow my heart. At least I'll be happy while I'm working. If I'm going to be poor anyway, might as well be poor and fulfilled right?

This way when and if things pick up again, I'll have cool stuff to sell and won't have degraded my work. Any thoughts?

Floatilla 09, & Inspiration for '10

Hey people. Back in April when winter was still pelting us with snow and refusing to leave I had this idea, a vision really, of me and a bunch of my creative compadres in a floating parade of whackness.

As the date of what I called the Floatilla neared, I didn't know what to expect. I'd encouraged people to really go with it, come up with wild floating contraptions, costumes, whatever. Even I had a hard time figuring out how to weird-out my kayak though, and opted for attending as Madame Soucie- fabulous and mysterious star and socialite.

I had fun paddling by people and saying stuff like, "Hello commoners," and, "Madame Soucie is not accustomed to manual labor. She has people." It was fun and a great excuse to wear my uber hat, but I still wish I would have gone even more over the top, made my kayak into some kind of dais.

But my art pals did not disappoint. We had Red Fish Blue Fish...

This mass of fantasticness is BuddyLinda...

The arty neighbors came up with team pirate...

Designer extraordinaire Jamie floated along like
a gypsy dreaming of Pocahontas...

And TrustyPam and daughter (and photographer) (thanks for the pics toots) Brenda
busted out the Gold Power Pants...

There were many others.
Not everyone went creative, but we were still glad they came.

The day was perfect- sunny and warm and the river was lovely.

An excellent time was had by all. Take that snow in April!
(Go to my facebook page to see tons more photos.)

Jamie sent me a link to these folks though, and the bar for next year, for any year, for any kind of floating anything ever, has been permanently raised. They are a group of artists sailing their fleet of art boats to a festival in Venice RIGHT NOW. You can follow them on Twitter.

Look at these. Just look.

They are like dreams.

Aren't they amazing? I'm completely under their spell.

For Floatilla '10 I'm getting some very big ideas involving crews and creative flotsam.

I can feel my creative energies tugging me to the river today, to the junkyard too, when I really need to weld us up some $, and get busy rewriting my novel. I'm thinking at the end of the day there will be a paddle with TrustyPam, and the whole way down the river I'll be envisioning gauzy masts and jumbled staircases and floating cities of vagabond bohemians.

Jack White has a new ba- BLAM! (head exploded)

Jack White of White Stripes and Raconteurs fame now has a third band called The Dead Weather. They've actually been up and running for a while but their album was released this week so here ya go. Enjoy "Hang You Up From The Heavens."



I am so jealous of Allison Mosshart the lead singer. She's from The Kills. (Look! She has that rockstar coat I wanted last winter!

Jack White is probably my absolute favorite musician. He has very broad taste (word is he's working on an album of Hank Williams music with T-bone Burnett). He is uber talented and follows his creativity wherever it takes him. Working with him must be a dream, but mostly I'm jealous because she gets to be in a band and here's why:

*You get to wear strange clothes yet still be considered "cool"

*You get to collab with other artists

*You get to hang out with a bunch of oddball dudes who treat you like their sister and don't want/expect anything else from you (this is my fantasy, don't wreck it)

*Rocking-out is part of your job

OK. That's enough drooling over rock bands for one post. I know most of you guys aren't big headbangers anyway. (Sighs.)

In other SueNews:

Novel three, which was a sequel to novel two-- the one I'm trying to get published right now- has been temporarily shelved. I'm practically done with it, but have so many changes in mind for the revision it'll be largely rewritten.

This seems to be a pattern with me. I used to hear how it takes most authors a year to write a book and I'd be like, "Why? -- I write pretty fast." Yeah, but I seem to need to write about three times as much as winds-up in the finished product.

Anyway, I started rewriting my first novel and can't stop thinking about that so have to get it out of my system. First novels always suck and mine is no exception, but the story is good, so I'm starting from scratch. I've learned so much about story structure etc in the last five years and my writing is way much better-- er... betterer? -- whatever. (yes, that's a joke) Anyway, I know I can write a better novel this time around.

Artwise I'm working on individual garden gates made out of old screens, and have ideas for a bunch of smaller wall pieces. Also I'm thinking about how to take my sculptures of women to the next level-- better faces completely covered with steel as opposed to the wire covered framework. Ideas are rolling around, even though the market is pretty dang discouraging right now.

Fortunately I can distract myself with MOUNTAIN BIKING!
That's right you lucky people, it's another mountain biking update!

Last week I went on a ride with both Trusty Pam AND Dan and those guys both had incidents. TPam went semi over the bars twice into rocks, the second time doing this to her leg.



Believe it or not, it looked worse the next time I saw her and all the bruises came up. Dan winged a tree and has a scrape on his arm, and caught a stump with his toe (the same one I did once). When the bike stops fast, you don't. Nuff' said. I of course was completely unscathed. I guess I ride more cautiously. I'm getting faster, but only because I'm now comfortable zooming through sections I've slow poked through numerous times. I need to feel how my weight shifts and find my favorite line etc before I start speeding up.

My goal with riding is to #1 have fun, #2 not get hurt, and #3- be still riding trails when I'm in my 80's and 90's. We'll see. I'd love it if people have to eventually stop and rub their eyes when I zoom by-- "Was that an actual old lady?"

Yesterday I got as close to the experience I'm jealous of all the guy riders for as I ever have. When T Pam and I arrived at the trail there was a lone girl in the lot assembling her bike. I cruised right on over to say "Hi" and "Go chick riders". She was actually about our age, waiting for her hubs to show up, and we rode together for a while. It was so fun feeling like a little tribe caravaning through the woods. I really am jealous of the guys, how they automatically get the hang factor.

I really feel like a kid over there. There's something magic about flying over the little humps of dirt on the trail, even with my "Driving Miss Daisy" style of riding. I've gone from being terrified of certain features, like the swoopy bowl, to riding them, to riding them without brakes, to trying to turn sharper and push the front end down into the descents. The giant banked curve which was the sight of my first ever wipe-out took me a while to get up the guts to ride, but now I zoom down hooting and whooping dorkily every time. There is even one spot I can get air if i want without having to master the whole wheelie/timing thing.

The trail we ride is the best in the metro (if not the state). Yeah I said it. Here's CoolTrailBossRich talking about it and showing off some of his suprstar skillz.



That segment of trail shown is an advanced feature I of course never have ridden (and maybe never will). He and the Hillsiders don't follow the official rulebook of trail building (yeah, there really is one I guess) and go off the reservation building more radical jumps than usually allowed and running sections straight down hills that get washed out and gnarly-- more fun to them.

Gee- is it any wonder I'm so drawn to this with a rogue trail and a bunch of rule breakers running the place right in my backyard?

Tonight me and Dan are hitting it again. I'm SO glad Dan is into this too. He approaches everything he does like he's an indestructible fifteen year old kid. (He runs up and down ladders like they're stairs, facing out on the way down, even carrying stuff.) I'm a little worried he'll get broken some way, he is past his warranty, but he's having so much fun. Hopefully he'll stay in one piece. (Crosses fingers) At least I have a couple people now to zoom around with.

Well, this was super long. If you're still reading-- way to hang in there. Look for pics Mon from a floatilla party we're having on the river tomorrow which I will be attending as the fabulous and mysterious Madame Soucie. Hopefully people will get nutty. Have a good weekend. Remember to spread those vibes of awesomeness-- have fun!

EDIT TO ADD:
Dan drove me nuts tonight trying to be a superstar on his third ride EVER, riding the teeter totter, expert loop even though one jump was enough to mellow him out a little there, and going over his bars trying to ride some curved ramp deal. This put me in worrying about him mode instead of just riding and having fun mode, plus the trail lords decided to toughen up a section I had just mastered making it an automatic walk for me. (This is just part of it- riding over there. They want it to be super challenging even for elite riders. I was just already pretty crabby by then.)

Not a good date ride, but, at least after we hashed it out. I go over there to feel like a kid, not a mom. Dan's agreed to reign in the stunt show a little until he learns what he's doing at least, and I'll have to just learn to quit projecting horrific possible injuries on him and relax a little.

Weird Wed- "Has anyone seen Jerry?"

Hey people. Another month, another daring adventure for "Little Mister Sunshine", and more disturbia unearthed in Buffalo by me and BuddyLinda.


I know people. I can hardly believe my eyes either. Rose @ Second Hand Rose has an even bigger grasp of the whole weird and creepy doll thing than I do. The woman is a disturbia virtuoso.

I had to actually wait for some lady to put this down to snap the pic. I'm betting someone bought this.

Ah yes, the ever popular head on a platter. Usually the garnish gets overlooked. Not this time my friend.

Here we have a little safari theme going. I love that someone shoved daisies in the antelope's mouth.

Paris Hilton's baby picture. (This is the vainest baby I've even seen you guys. God, take a picture baby!)

Prom of the living dead drenched girls.

This is kind of gross-- fur and all, but doesn't look all that weird at first glance right?

Take a closer look-- it's made from a horse people! A friend of mine (who will remain nameless, but did once make a guest appearance as a polygamy wife) told me her grandpa had a blanket made of his beloved milk horse Jerry. It became a treasured and cozy family heirloom and every winter they'd look for it asking -- "Hey, who had Jerry last?"

That is so going in a story at some point. Watch what you tell your writer friends people.

Tell me the truth people-- does this purse make my butt look big? (I asked the lady at Costco that about their Attack Of The 50' Woman sized shopping carts but she didn't think it was funny, just looked at me weird. That's ok. Fringe status maintained.)

Ok-- I was pretty excited about this fringe girl sighting. This is a candid shot I took of them as I walked by casually humming. I don't have one of those fancy cell phone cams so this wasn't as easy as one might suspect. My camera is huge and makes this big clicking noise. I was so jealous of their hats! (I like how the photo looks like they just knocked off a bank too. )

I didn't even notice one was wearing a leopard print skirt! They have totally raised the bar for me and Linda now. Next month we're going to have to give some serious thought to our outfits.

That's it for this week's weirdness. More in the bullpen for next week though so stay tuned.