QUACK.

It is cold, windy and raining.......again....... deep in the Heart O' Texas.  I do believe that I am turning into a duck...do they do pedicures on webbed feet? It's the perfect day to stay home and play in the laboooooooratory, but alas, the pesky day job has required my presence...so I swam to work.

 Like a duck.  In a stream of other ducks.  But hey!  I got an umbrella from my Mother!  YAY!  First time in my life I've owned one!  LOL  Sometimes I am a few feathers short of a whole duck.

 

Did you know that a duck's quack really does echo - despite what legend says?

 

And... did you know that a duck has three - count 'em 3 - eyelids?

If it walks like a duck, Quacks like a duck, Looks like a duck...it must be a duck. (Old Chinese Proverb)

A duck walks into a drugstore and says, "I need some chapstick - please just put it on my bill".

Did you know that a duck never gets cold feet? EVER! It's because they don't have any nerves or blood vessels in their feet!

I could be a duck for All Hallows' Eve...I would do that, just for the fun of it...waddle and quack my way 'round the neighborhood - how do you think my resident teenager would react to that?  LOLOL

Speaking of witch...I've been skeert by the most beautiful Junkin YaYa over at YaYa Chique!

The air is cool, the season is fall,

Soon Halloween will come to all.

Ghosts and goblins, spooks galore...

Tricky witches at your door.

The spooks are after things to do,

In fact, a spook brought this "BOO" to you!

The excitement comes when friends like you,

Copy this note and make it two.

We'll all have smiles on our faces,

When we see who Boo'd who's places.

The "BOO" party was started by Toni and here are the rules...

You have 24 hours to work your spell, copy and post the "Boo Poem" with the instructions, Pick 4 blogs you enjoy visiting with a link, Go to the original "BOO" party post at the Tattered Cottage and add your MckLinky! Now...here are my 4!!!  Even if I wasn't scaring these 4, I would tell you to go visit them anyway!  LOL

Karyn

Jill

Marge

Kim

What has webbed feet and fangs?  Why.... Count Quackula!!! Good grief, I just quack myself up...

How's the weather in YOUR neighborhood?

Comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide...hee-hee

;) Robelyn

Stealing my Thoughts...

I'm going to share with you what's been on my mind for a while...literally, stealing my thoughts...

SHOPLIFTERS!!!

I am having a problem with SHOPLIFTERS...in an ANTIQUE MALL of all places!!!  Craziness, right?

I KNOW I approach the world at top speed - and I know that with age comes wisdom and a wee bit of cynicism (supposedly - HA!) - yet STILL I view the world through my rosy naive glasses...I am uncritical, unsuspecting, unwary, idealistic (and perfectly happy to be me!)... annnnnnnnnnnnnnd I'm very trusting.  Perhaps TOO trusting?  Apparently that is the case when it comes to having some space in an antique mall. Not only does the "MIA" bother me for the moral/ethical reasons, but it's starting to effect what I create and what I choose NOT to create!  Anything that snags on the wheels turning in my head REALLY gets me fired up!  Which, yeah....I laugh when I'm mad - but that's a whole different affliction.  LOL

I have found myself setting aside the smaller things that I love to play around with such as journals, jewelry, greeting cards - anything and everything that tickles my creative fancy -  for the simple reason that it could potentially make its way into someone's handbag or pocket...or wherever thief's (yeah, I said it!) squirrel things away. To date: I have had a few brooches taken off of my bags, a few inexpensive (but handcrafted) necklaces and NOW Halloween tags!  Halloween tags!  They were only $1.50 each!!!  And it's not even the monetary value of the tags that bothers me (I love to use my scraps and glitter...glitter is da' bomb!) but the fact that someone would rather risk getting caught for HALLOWEEN TAG THEFT than pay $1.50 each for them!  They had some love and labor into them - so yes, that gets me fairly fired up.  And the brooches?  They are grabbing up my handbags, walking through-out the mall with them and slowly working them off of the bag - then they lay the bag down wherever they happen to be.  Now, it takes just the SLIGHTEST bit of inspiration to get me going on a handbag - most of the time it was because I found the perfect brooch, or buckle, or buttons, or belt, or scrap of fabric, or....well, I did say the SLIGHTEST.  ;-) So in MY red.neck mind they have managed to walk off with the icing on the cake - the centerpiece...the tiara.  Am I supposed to feel HONORED that they find the creations of red.neck Chic worthy of going to jail?  Hmmm....I think I missed THAT message!!!

I believe I have solved the brooch/buckle dilemna by securing them inside the lining - then securing them again, jewelry in the locked glass case (which stinks if you are a tactile person such as myself!)...but the other things?  Such as Halloween tags?  Who'd have thunk that such a small thing was worth such a risk? And who would even look in a glass case for a piece of glittered paper?  That are only $1.50 each!!!  There ARE cameras in the mall...apparantly they are never aimed in the right direction at the right time!

So, my question to you is this.  As a shop owner, a space owner - a seller as well as a customer..  What do I do next?  How do you deal with this in your own world?  Do you have a problem with shoplifting and theft?

This here microwave door (is dumpster diving considered theft?  oops....) is my first installment on my anti-theft crusade.  Perhaps just the SLIGHTEST inkling that they know that I know might slow 'em down a hair....after THIS I'm not responsible for the next thing I come up with.  LOL And really...how can you miss a microwave door in the middle of a very studious antique mall?  Oh wait...I DO have a refrigerator for shelving and cheese graters hanging down the back wall...

Please - could you offer up a plan B?

Comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide...hee-hee
;-) robelyn

P.S.  I have been laughing during this whole post...I am THAT MAD!!!  Seriously.  No, really.  LOLOL
I truly hope you have a wonderful week-end and I appreciate your input!!!  ;-)

Now I'm all locked up...

AND LOVIN' IT!!!

And the answer is... they are going to permanently reside in my under construction bedroom!!!  (If anyone ever goes missing do you think there will be a locker search?)  Why the bedroom you ask?  Well...the rest of every nook and cranny in all other rooms (and storage buildings and girl cave and barn and...) is currently leased out and the bedroom is the only available real-estate.

I'm sew excited - not only did I get some lockers (again - I have been on the prowl for a while!) but I now have the perfect place to store all of the fabric samples that I love and adore - and seem to be unhealthily addicted too...

And yes - it will take three full size lockers to contain my addiction.

 

Better than that?  Well...they are the perfect shade of cream (with some rust - a red.neck can't have NEW looking lockers!!!) so they will match my new wall color choices PURRRRRRRRRRFECTLY!

The whole rest of my house looks like a crayon box exploded (in a truly fun and welcoming way!) so I'm trying the neutrals in my bedroom...is a black wall considered neutral?  Hmmm...
I promise - I'm diligently studyin' up (that means I have my nose buried either on the internet or in a how-to book!) on how to take pictures INSIDE my house so I can start sharing the fun!!!  Any tips for me? I'll take them!!!

For now though I'm going off with paint brush in hand - I have an extra one JUST for you!!!

Comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide...hee-hee
;-) Robelyn

Under lock and key!

I have been on the prowl for lockers and I am SEW happy to report that I have had SUCCESS today in the locker department!  Have I mentioned before that I LOVE CRAIGS LIST?!!?  In just a lil' bit I'm hookin' up the trailer to my good ole duct tape mobile and settin' off to nab 'em before someone else does!!!

When I get home tonight with my much sought-after (in the affordable red.neck price range) set of lockers I have to decide where they are going to find their new home in MY home!

 

 In my living room?

In my sewing room dba my labooooooooooooratory?

In my kitchen?

Dining Room?

Or...in my bedroom? 

Where EVER they go they will be the greatest of greatest fabric holders!!!  What is your favorite organization tool?  Mine could very well be rusty old lockers...

Comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide...hee-hee
;-) Robelyn

photos courtesy of:
http://www.parispar-fait.typepad.com, http://www.flickr.com, http://www.re-nest.com, http://www.katie-d-i-d.blogspot.com

It was Love At First Sight...

I saw him across a crowded room...

My blue eyes met his a-luminous gaze for just a fleeting moment, but that briefest moment is all it took for me to fall for him - madly, deeply ...

He was crowded and packed in, a genuine hoard surrounding him, trapping him...

I knew he was everything I wanted and desired... everything that I had been searching for.  Strong, sturdy legs - His back arched and stout - able to bear all burdens (cat and a teenager...need I elaborate here?)...

I ran to him -  pushed and pulled, lifted and shoved the massive mountain of riffraff out of my way just to reach him...He was mine - I was laying claim to him.  His name is Walker...

Shaw Walker.  He now belongs to me - he will be the one to take up residence at the head of my table, the decision maker on the completion of my kitchen, dining and living area.  He is the one.

I am going to smother him with TLC, design a new suit for him to wear - polish him up and remove some of his battle scars... shower him with my love and affection...

He is mine.

Comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide...hee-hee
;-) Robelyn

P.S. Anyone have any suggestions for me on how to fix the aluminum skirt?  LOL  Brasso is working on everything else, but I am having a heck of a time trying to reverse the signs of age here...

Thank You for any and all suggestions - I'll keep you posted on how my "chair-mance" turns out!!!  ;-)

Just a phone call away...

I am so old-school at heart...TV doesn't get me too excited (unless it's HGTV of course!) - give me a newspaper and a hot cup of coffee over the news any day! I loose my cell phone more than I probably should (someday I'll confess to you how many times I've dropped it, run over it, lost it, lost it again, thrown it away, lost it again...). I learn more and more about the internet with each passing day - please don't ever quiz me on the inner workings of a computer (or how the net works for that matter!) - you would probably be the recipient of a very blank look from me. The microwave baffles me occasionally.  (Are all of those buttons necessary?  I think it's a conspiracy...). Given half a chance I would dress like June Cleaver or Audrey Hepburn every minute of every day (do you think my pettiskirt and frills would get in the way of my dumpster diving excursions? nah...). I would take a shiny black 1937 Buick over any car on the road today - and love every second of it! Big Band, Swing, Jazz and Blues?  YES! Am I in the wrong time at the right place? Perhaps.

 

I am SO old-school I refuse to buckle under techy pressure and buy a PDA - or even a computer program to keep all of my contact information in.  Yeah, okay, I won't buy it because I know I'll loose it (or forget to USE it) - but that's neither here nor there. LOL
So what do I do you ask?  Why - I use a rolodex!  But - because I be who I be - it's not your usual rolodex!  Surely you didn't expect NORMAL from me did you?  I combine my love of books (SERIOUS bookworm you are dealing with here!) with the needed storage space for all business cards and contact info. that comes zooming my way each day!
Such an easy project - do you have a few minutes?  Here's what you do...

Grab an old book (I like mine with notes scribbled in it and a little (lot!) on the worn side - I write mental stories about who I think had it before me) and start folding the pages back on them selves.  I fold 3 pages together, just so that I have feeling left in my fingers when I get done folding.  Fold the pages...

Fold some more pages...and then?  Fold some more.  Eventually you will make it to the end of the book!  What do you end up with?  Why, the perfect accordion file!

I THEN take some index cards, soak them in coffee or tea (whichever I have handy at the moment - WD-40 works too, but gets a lil' smelly), set them out to dry, then trim so they look like a tabbed index card.  Probably would be easier to BUY the tabbed cards - but hello. Look who you're talking to!

  This is where I get a little crafty...some rolodexes that I have made I attached the plastic marquee letters available at the scrap booking store, some I get brave and hand letter, a couple I have hand stamped...this one I just flat out cheated and used the vinyl lettering that I work with each day - but there are SO many choices out there for you! Use your imagination - and please let me know what you come up with...I'm always looking for new ideas and I know you have them!

Here is one of mine with a business card in it, but I have also been known to empty it out and use it to display vintage greeting cards, flash cards, menu's, etc.

 It makes a great display on a shelf, table - a desk perhaps?  ;-)

Now - here is my business card confession...

When my rolodex gets too full I weed out the ones that I don't ever use and take them to my laboooooooooratory.  I then pull out the duct tape and run some across the face of the card - flip it over and stamp "recycled" on the back - flip it BACK over and stick that infamous "red.neck Chic" logo on...

(I'm sitting here with a purely angelic grin on my face - don't you wish you had grin-a-vision?)

And there you have it!  Old school rolodex - with a twist!  Christmas is on it's way - wouldn't this be a fun gift for the bookworm near and dear to you?  Or - just make it for you!  You know what I REALLY like about mine?  It's the only organized ANYTHING on my desk - that alone makes it the best thing ever...HA!

Have a great week-end, Happy Junkin', guard your business cards from your local red.neck and grab up that old book!  Folding is sooooooooooo therapeutic.....

Comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide...hee-hee

;-) Robelyn