Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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Stream of Consciousness Because That’s All She’s Got Cap’n

This is a 15-minute free-writing exercise meant to purge words,
not make a point, inspire, or glamorize anyone.
You have been warned.


   What a wonderful holiday we’ve enjoyed. Weeks of scattered time with friends and family, including two sorely missed but deeply loved teenage daughters. Beloved guests at the farm (more to arrive tomorrow). Incredible parades of food. Fun, personal gifts both given and received. Only mild sickness this winter so far.
   Apparently the winter solstice has passed now, meaning that the days are now gradually lengthening toward springtime, exactly the news we like to hear when the sun sets around 5:30 each evening and doesn’t rise until after 7:00 a.m. And since the birds are locked up we hear precious few rooster crows these days. 
   I am not complaining; the winter has been mild and comfortable so far, most days feeling more like springtime than they really should. But every year, some years with more intensity than others, once the Christmas presents have all been open my mind involuntarily shifts into gardening mode.
   What shrubs are not leafless are mostly dormant, but if I look closely enough I do find plenty evidence of green still. The honeysuckle, the roses, the baby trumpet vine, the pansies of course…
   We visited the Oklahoma City Zoo this afternoon and as usual I was as enamored by the landscaping there as most people (like Handsome) are smitten by the animal life. Our OKC Zoo, in case you didn’t know, has a national reputation for awesomeness.
   In years past I tried getting my gardening hands on a byproduct they called, “Zoo Poo” for use in the gardens, but now I suppose we have plenty of my own. 
   We both loved the look and functionality of their raised vegetable beds there, and I have decided to take that plunge this spring. If the winter stays mild, I may be working on those raised beds well before March you guys. This is exciting. So very exciting.
   I’ve been accumulating horse and chicken manure for many months, turning it only occasionally, so by the time I get out there for a solid day of work and examine the stuff I expect to find some nice, hot, fluffy lazy W zoo poo of my own.
   We watched, on consecutive days this past weekend, both the Swedish and the American versions of the film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Incredible. I had thoroughly enjoyed that book and the second in its trilogy (haven’t read the third quite yet), and the movies were both faithful and creative. Loved every minute, especially the opening credits of the American movie. The casting was perfection in that one.
   I need to wash my hair.


word nerd speaks
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Merry Christmas from the Lazy W

Wishing everyone abundant love, joy, and peace as Christmas night winds down. 
May your home be filled with God’s presence. 
May miracles be sparked where they are needed most. 
Much love from the Lazies.
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Etsy Uno: Champagne Week

   Another fabulous gimmick, this time connected to the hand made marketplace Etsy. What fun!! Bitty Bird has invited other bloggers to join her in a Tuesday morning game of Etsy Uno, whereby players explore the luscious handmade wares of cool-chick type artisans there then do a little light-hearted game of relationships.

   A note on Etsy: It’s cool you guys. It’s right up my imagination alley. It’s so great, even if some people say that by now it’s reached the “mainstream” status. I don’t care. I’m not quite hip enough to be deliberately ironic, anyway. I just know what I like. 
   You can find a treasure there no matter what your style or price range. You can also find a thousand years’ worth of crafty inspiration. So if you’re not already a regular haunter of Etsy, please consider scheduling a few vacation days just to look around on there.
   
   Okay.

   This is my first time linking up, so I’ll share her instructions here. Thanks Bitty Bird!

This is how you play:
  1. I give you a prompt. This week, the prompt is CHAMPAGNE.
  2. Pick one item on Etsy that relates to the prompt and add the photo to your blog post. You must give photo credit to the Etsy seller by linking back to the item in their shop. The purpose of this game is to show love to the talented artisans behind the Etsy shop and promote their original handmade products! Never, ever take a photo without giving credit where it is due.
  3. The second item must share something in common with the first one, and subsequent choices must share something in common with the item immediately before it– use your imagination. That’s what makes this like the game “Uno”! List 5-10 items and explain or describe how one relates to the other. You never know where you might end up!
  4. If you want to play, copy and paste these instructions to your blog post, and make sure to grab an Etsy Uno button from www.bittybird.net to promote the game: and tell your friends! Link up your Etsy Uno post at the bottom of my post every Tuesday morning, beginning at 5AM CST.
  5. If you have the time, please take an opportunity to send a note to the Etsy sellers you found in order to let them know their product was recognized on your blog.  Remember, the point is to support and encourage the hardworking artisans that inspire us every day!
 1…2…3… GO!

Champagne beige tutu skirt full length for women.
Tutus Chic Boutique is the artist behind this frothy dream.
I need to own this you guys.
Would you look at it? 

I would totally wear this dress while feeding hay to the big animals, 
while collecting eggs from the chickens (assuming they ever lay eggs again),
and while going on afternoon dog walks, all the time reciting French poetry.

I would wear this vintage-feel skirt to harvest sweet basil, clip roses,
observe Oklahoma sunrises, and sniff the wild honeysuckle vines.
I might even clean up now and then and wear it to dinner with Handsome.

It costs $235 plus shipping and I am positive is worth every penny.
Rustic and Country Chic Vintage Inspired Tulle Rose with Burlap Accent Wedding Decor
   Weekend in the Country is the Texas Etsy shop where I found this charming gem. It is a tulle and burlap rosette listed as a wedding favor, and I think it would be just lovely as such. I can also imagine it being used in almost any kind of home decor, because of its natural colors and two different textures, and it’s only $5!
   I might have enough left over after buying my every day tulle prairie skirt to scoop up the remains of this supply! Really pretty.
Burlap Table Cover
Paula and Erica from New Jersey are offering this simple but sumptuous table skirt.


I also must own this, you guys.
Not maybe, not “wouldn’t that be nice???”
I need this table skirt as soon as possible.

   At $140, this is not unreasonable. And it appears to have a nice deep hem, tight gathers, and is made of a heavy burlap which is not easy to work with at home, so I know they will get many buyers.
Rainbow Party Ruffle table cloth
Oh, I’m sorry, did that surprise your eyes a little bit? 
After all of the soothing earth tones this is a bit much, eh?

The UNO connection, of course, is the fabulous ruffling.
Not just one tightly gathered skirt like in the burlap creation 
but up to S-I-X colorful tiers of the happy stuff.

   Strut Your Stuff is an Etsy shop belonging to a woman named Morgan from Colorado. As if this rainbow ruffled table skirt isn’t enough, she also crafts pieces of “wearable art” for children. Really cute, cheerful little shirts and ruffled pants. If you have a little girl in your life who is fun to dress up, check Morgan’s shop! Her prices are more affordable than most boutiques, too.

I have to insert here that this table skirt is the inspiration 
for an apron I’ll be working on in January.

Ruffle Apron - Vintage Type - Size Adult
More Than a Memory is selling these striking aprons!


She is from Anchorage, Alaska, 
but I have no idea of her opinion on Sarah Palin.

   The ruffles are always cute and I love her fabric combination, but the hip rosette is what makes it extra sweet to my eyes. I also love that she has serged the edges, not hemmed them. 
********************
   So there we have five handmade items from the Etsy corner of the universe, all connected by different threads. Cheers to every artisan who strikes out to make something tangible out of his or her imagination. You make the world more beautiful!
   And thanks, Bitty Bird, for hostessing such a different sort of link up party! It was fun having an excuse to look around Etsy, and I know that my very important mission led me to different shops than I might normally find.
bitty bird.

Quick Post of Jubilation

   I have a lot to celebrate right now 
but only a few minutes to share it.

  • I traded happy texts with my first born today, for about an hour. It’s a really good thing we were texting and not talking on the phone, because I was so happy I couldn’t stop crying. My hands were shaking too, but I could steady them enough to type.
  • I am enjoying a lot of success in the sewing room this week. Feeling very blessed with both intrinsic joy and a steady stream of orders.
  • Our animals are particularly healthy, silly acting, and fully entertaining. I mean, sometimes Pacino is a little too loud when we are trying to have a quiet conversation, but that will never really change. The horses are sweet, fat cuddlers. The buffalo is just the gentlest snorting fluffy head you will ever see. And the geese and chickens are getting along this week. Dog walks have been a daily bright spot, too. xoxo
  • My little sister will be staying at the farm starting Christmas Eve, and I could NOT be happier. She is the shiz-nay. She has taken a little slice of Oklahoma with her to Los Angeles, making it a cool place after all. And I hope she knows I intend to blog lots of details about her visit.
  • After that we are hosting M Half and her Hubs, and that will be wonderful for a thousand reasons! I always enjoy our time together!
  • A much anticipated movie is now in theaters, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I thought it opened Thursday and may or may not have been dropping hints to you-know-who. We just found out it is already open, though, so his romantic opening-night surprise intentions are blasted. I still think we’ll go. I read the books and loved ’em. Can’t wait to see this and then the Swedish film and debate it all. Mostly, though, there’s the small matter of Daniel Craig on the big screen.
  • Our Charlie Brown tree hasn’t fallen down in almost a week.
  • I looked around myself this week and noticed how much romance plays a part in our happiness. Between the two of us here, in so many of our close friends’ relationships, and in a general appetite for living, a way of soaking up the universe, romance is in our daily fabric. And I love it. I feel very lucky to live this way and wish it for so many others, including my two beautiful daughters (but not quite yet, pretty please).
  • The sea monkeys are growing and thriving and in a pretty good mood. They have all been named now, and so a drama series will soon begin.
  • We have a kitchen full of oranges and apples. This is good.
  • I love my new coffee machine,. So much. So very, very much.
  • I have a lunch date on Thursday with two of this world’s sweetest, prettiest, funniest, most talented, most loving girls ever created. 
  • I have a Netflix date with Handsome right now. Gotta scoot.
Siiiimply
Haaaaving
a Wonderful Christmastime!
xoxoxo

Karma Has a Mic and it’s Switched On

   This morning we had a pared down Christmas service at church. Lots of family circumstances are different this year, and not just in our little corner of the world. Seems like every household is enduring something difficult that, collectively, has changed the landscape of our church. Without quite enough people to put on our traditional Nativity production, we gathered today for preaching, cookies and juice, and singing. Lots and lots of singing.
   We sang so many songs.

   At the top o’ the mornin’ my husband was called up to the pulpit to sing some traditional tear-jerkers with his Uncle David, a fellow preacher. This duo was intended to, well, elicit those much anticipated holiday blubberings.  You know, hearing the old songs in reverent, baritone voices,  feeling those decades-old holiday memories swirl around us, and getting all caught up in the salt water magic. Help us purge the pain by candlelight.

   But guess who was not ready to cry Christmas tears? Who was, instead, ready to break it down Elvis style?

   My Handsome. 

   He sauntered up to the microphone and openly referred to his mother, our organist and Pastor’s wife, as “Little Lady.” He shimmied his voice and curled his upper lip at every opportunity. He cheerfully complained about every key in which she played said organ, completely interrupting the flow of the service. But somehow this festive anarchy drummed up smiles instead of sneers. Tendrils of laughter began to smoke up from the congregation, everyone relaxed, and pretty soon my guy was in full on Christmas Elvis mode.
   For the record, lots of people were laughing. 
Let’s establish that early on.

   But an old friend, Beatrice, who was seated with her fiancee behind me was laughing a lot. Way more than me, just so you know, although I was laughing too.

   Eventually we were kind of laughing with inappropriate volume and energy for a church service. A Christmas church service. A Christmas church service that was supposed to be sad, or at least somber. It was wrong, but I could not stop.

   And you know how a good belly laugh takes on a life of its own? Well, that definitely happened, and on top of that, Handsome’s inner comic totally fed off of our unbridled goofiness. My friend Beatrice and I may or may not have crossed the line from “entertained” to just plain “rude,” but let’s not judge.

   The point is that about halfway through the singing, the Little Lady called Beatrice and me up to the microphone.

   To sing.

   Neither of us is a singer by nature, so we froze like startled fainting goats. We even let out those pitiful little terrified moans before our stiff little goat legs sprang up into the air.

   Unwilling to suffer the consequences of not only interrupting service but then rebelling against the sense of singing teamwork, Beatrice and I righted our goat selves from shock and tiptoed reluctantly to the pulpit. 

   Handsome, the guilty instigator but crowd-approved victim of heckling, was way too happy to thrust microphones into our mortified faces. And he was still Elvissing! S-E-R-I-O-U-S-L-Y.


   My giggling came to a screeching halt and my face was hot like lava. Hot like Elvis. Hot like not heaven. We proceeded to fake like we were singing until we realized nobody else was singing with us, just watching. We were busted lip syncing to nothing, relying on the guys to smooth out our nonexistent tones. 


   Let me just say that if I am wrong here 
and Beatrice was in fact singing, 
she was as quiet as a butterfly. 
A scared, mute, sleeping butterfly.

   We were on the hook for way more than one song and the microphones were not leaving, so verse by verse I tried to muster up a Christmas groove. I probably sounded like a donkey going through prepubescent voice changes, but I pressed out every word. Beatrice gradually sang too but physically retreated inch by inch away from the mic.

   Her backwards scooting became so pronounced that eventually Uncle David exclaimed on it loud and clear, “If you push us back anymore we’ll be off the platform!” Laughter exploded at this point, and that might have been the final song. Our punishment was evidently fulfilled.

   I am not sure if there is a clear lesson to be learned here, but the anatomy of karma cannot be overlooked. I will say that the mood was lightened and brightened far past our gloomy expectations for today.

   And for me it was worth it.

Wishing you some MERRY for your Christmas…
And cheers to living with no regrets.
xoxoxo