Move over Tofutti Cuties. Skinny Cow is in the house.

I’ve mentioned here before that I like Tofutti Cuties and I do. The truth reaches beyond that, however, in that I like tasty and refreshing ice cream – or in Tofutti Cutie’s case faux ice cream – treats in general.

Enter Skinny Cow.

My Mom picked some of these up the other night while she was grocery shopping and I had one soon after. Think of every decadent word that you can conjure up and that is how I would describe Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches. Creamy and smooth with the best tasting chocolate cookie part and an even better tasting ice cream middle…Mmmmm… I’m in love.

They ARE that good. If you’ve not had one, go forth and buy a case. Trust me… that is how many you will want.

(Disclaimer: I can’t for the life of me see how this is possibly “skinny” but they do claim to be. Go figure.)

In other news, I hit a milestone on Etsy today with my hundredth sale. Hooray! I’m very excited about this and it really gives me motivation to list, list, list. I’ve been doing just that last night and plan to do more tonight as well. (My trick is this: I begin listing in the evening at 5:00 when CSI comes on and I list all through the CSIs that appear on SPIKE each week-night. Lucky for me and my Etsy store, they usually have like six hours of CSI every night. This trick is closely akin to ‘whistling while you work’… Isn’t it?)

In other Zazazu news (I hope that you are all sitting down), I’ve signed up to walk the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk-a-Thon in September. For those of you who know me fairly well, you know that, beyond yoga, I do not exert myself physically. I don’t run unless something chases me. At any rate, I have been needing something to bump me out of my comfort zone and I thought that training for a walk such as this would do just that. Besides, it is on my 101/1001 list so that means that I have to do it.

It is true that this is COMPLETELY out of character for me but I need a goal to work toward and, since my Mother has diabetes and exercise is so important in keeping it under control for her, I thought I would simultaneously do something to help research for her disease and do something to put me on the right path to ward it off. Admittedly, I need a bit more than yoga; I need to get my heart rate up. But don’t worry… I will still be doing PLENTY of yoga, hopefully even more than usual as I’ve been thinking more and more and more about how I’d like to become certified to teach at some point in the not too distant future.

So, I’ve gotten new walking shoes, a pedometer, and I’ve enlisted my sister to do this with me (isn’t that what sisters are for??) Now all I need is a good schedule or outline of how to go from couch potato to Walk-a-Thon walker between now and then. Anyone know of a good site that will provide a bit of guidance?

And, as with all walks of this nature, if you would like to donate a bit of money to research for diabetes through me and my participation, go here or contact me and I will help you. Thanks to everyone for allowing my plug here.

I’d like to apologize to all of my lovelies in BlogLand. I’ve not been the best blogger here lately, since my Vacation I and Vacation II. I’ve been lax in writing entries AND in reading and commenting on your entries so please accept my apology for being a slacko. I hope to get back in the swing of things very soon but I’m trying not to force it. Please bear with me. You all are the best!

I will be posting about Vacation II very soon and will share some of the pictures I took as well. For now, however, I’m off to post some more goodies on Etsy. I hope that each of you are having a super-lovely day!

Namaste.

What makes a house a home?

Leah over at Creative Everyday always has the most wonderful and creative things posted.  Not only does she post her beautiful art pieces, but she also posts the creative processes behind them and general everyday musings which are both inspiring and thought-provoking.

Recently, she posted a question that she ran across on the Decor 8 blog.   The question was:  What makes a house a home?

I love this question because it is not asking about a physical, concrete structure.  It is asking what makes the physical structure into a place where you want to be, a place where you are comfortable and loved, a place where you return again and again, a retreat.

For me, a house becomes a home when it is filled with the things that I love and the memory of people that I love having been there.

It is a home when my cat is there, curled into one of many nooks that she has carved out as “her” spots.

It is a home when there is a bit of clutter, but not too much to overwhelm me.

It is a home when I can smell a juxtaposition of coffee recently brewed and lavandin burning in the oil burner.

It is home when there is jazz music playing lightly in the background, coupled with the dryer running.

It is home when there are bookcases along most of the walls, filled to the brim with books, favorites that have been read over and over and copies that haven’t been opened but that have good intentions.

It is a home when there are pictures of loved ones on the wall, alongside pieces of art that friends have given to me, painted especially for me or the few that were painted by me.

It is home when friends and family know that they can stop by anytime and I will welcome them to have a seat and a cool drink and, on a good day, a little something special to eat.

It is home when I have some project or another spread across the table to be dabbled in from time to time, whenever I get the chance.

It is home when I have herbs and half-dead plants on the front porch, right alongside my wrought iron bistro set.

It is home when flinging the blinds open and pottering around in yoga clothes feels right, like anything else might be a faux pas.

It is home when my yoga mat is ready for me at any moment and yoga DVDs are on the top of the stack of DVDs that I have to watch.

It is home when my collection of antiques is displayed seamlessly with my collection of retro items and my collection of Eiffel Towers and all things French and my collection of whatever else that I happen to collect at any given time.

It is home when things are a bit jumbled and eclectic.

It is home when there are a zillion-and-a-half sticky notes stuck here, yonder and there, reminding me of one thing or another.  (Lord knows I can’t remember otherwise!)

It is home when I feel like me, when I can’t wait to get back there, when friends feel as welcome and comfortable there as I do pottering about in my yoga clothes on a Saturday morning, watering the dead plants.

It might seem that I focus a lot on THINGS to define what makes my house into my home but I believe that things are a catalyst for comfort and I do like to have things that I love around me.  If I were to live in a house that had nothing but stark furniture with no story behind it, no books, no pictures and no knick-knacks, it would not feel like a home.  I can guarantee that with confident certainty.  These things remind me of so much of what has happened in my life, of the people – past and present – in my life and I need that in order to feel at home.  Things do that for me.

Admittedly, I might have too many things but I love them and they tell me stories, in their own ways.  And, even as contradictory as it sounds, I do practice non-attachment to my things.  I love them but, in the right situation, will give most anything I have to another person, should they need it more than I do.

My home is not the building that I’m in.  My home is the memories that I’ve created, the people I’ve loved, the reminders I have of these things, the journeys I’ve been on so far in my life, and the promises of journeys yet to come.

And so I ask… what makes a house a home to you?

“Our religion keeps reminding us that we aren’t just will and thoughts. We’re also sand and wind and thunder. Rain. The seasons. All those things. You learn to respect everything because you are everything. If you respect yourself, you respect all things.”  ~ William Least Heat Moon

The lovely and talented Leah from Creative Everyday tagged me today for a little survey meme. Let’s see how this goes…

INSTRUCTIONS: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so.”

SusieJ
I Still See A Spark In You
Yogaglamgirl
Creative Every Day
Zazazu

Next (the fun part) select five people to tag:

Looking For Me In All the Unlikely Places
StilettoHeights
Practicing Contentment
A Clever Resource
Be Present, Be Here

Now — the questions:

What were you doing 10 years ago?

Ten years is a LONG time to remember back. I can’t even remember what I had for lunch yesterday. Or breakfast this morning. Yikes! Ten years ago, I would have been twenty so I would have been getting ready to finish school at Junior College to go on to Ole Miss for my B.A. degree. I’m sure that I was wildly optimistic about everything then and looking forward to all that living away from home had to offer.

What were you doing 1 year ago?

Again… SO hard to remember! One year ago, I was in the last year of my twenties and I was living in Oxford, working for the Mayor and was pretty darn miserable by that point. I was getting sick of all the calls I got from rich, spoiled, complaining people and I was getting sick of the politics of everything that went on in that office. I was just getting sick, I think. I was trying, at the point of one year ago, to figure out a logical way to get out of there.

Five snacks you enjoy:

1. Iced coffee with vanilla soymilk
2. Blueberry yogurt
3. Cashew Cookie Lara Bars
4. Cap’n Crunch (horrible, I know)
5. Totally Vanilla Tofutti Cuties

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:

1. Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
2. Tell Me What It Takes by Aerosmith
3. Love In An Elevator by Aerosmith
4. Angel by Aerosmith (… see a trend here?)
5. Turn Me On by Norah Jones

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:

1. Give half of it to my Mother and divvy the rest up between my family members.
2. Take my whole family on a nice vacation.
3. Buy a bungalo-style house for myself.
4. Donate to animal shelters and rescue.
5. Go to more yoga classes, retreats, workshops, etc.

Five bad habits:

1. Procrastination.
2. Picking my fingernails down into the quick.
3. Mentally abusing myself.
4. Hoarding.
5. Buying things that I never use.

Five things you like doing:

1. Napping with Delali.
2. Sitting on the porch swing with an iced coffee and a good book.
3. Reading a magazine.
4. Thrift shopping.
5. Getting and sending mail.

Five things you would never wear again:

1. Fur.
2. Stirrup pants.
3. Patterned pants (NO ONE needs a busy pattern across their arse.)
4. Anything with the logo or brand name prominently in view.
5. Anything with fringe.

Five favorite toys:

1. My camera.
2. Colored Sharpies.
3. My journal.
4. Stamps (to mail packages with!)
5. Magazines.

«::::::»«::::::»«::::::»«:::::»«::::::»«::::::»«::::::»«::::::»«:::::»«::::::»

Was that wildly interesting for you all? I hope so.

In other news, I had a delightful mail day today. I got Marie Antoinette in the mail today from my NetFlix queue. I’ve heard a lot of good things about it, particularly from a fashion / costume standpoint, and I’m VERY eager to see it. It will, no doubt, be better than the last selection from my NetFlix queue – Friends With Money. Apologies to anyone who might have enjoyed this film but I hated it. I thought it was substance-less and just plain bad. I wouldn’t watch it again, wouldn’t have watched it the first time if I had known better and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Ugh. What is with Jennifer Anniston and her poor role choices? I don’t know.

I also got this month’s copy of the Hallmark magazine in the mail today. I love this magazine. It is so relaxing and just really downright enjoyable. It is much more chic than Martha Stewart and has a lot of good information in it for many different people. I really like it and devour every single issue. For anyone who might be interested in it, you can get a dirt cheap ($4.69) subscription for it here. (Disclaimer: I know that this program works because it is where I got – and renewed – my subscription for Hallmark and several other good magazines.) I was so excited to see it in my mail bundle and can’t wait to go outside today and read every single page. Yay!

Also, I’ve been meaning to write about the blogger rendezvous that I had the other night. I got to meet Stacie from Nomadic Creations. It was so great and we had a wonderful time! Stacie travels all over with her husband, who does contractual work, and they are in Tupelo, Mississippi for two weeks, which happens to only be an hour’s drive away from me. As it turns out, I was going to be in Tupelo on Thursday anyway so we arranged to meet for coffee at the local Starbucks. We had such a great time! It was so neat that we knew so much about one another yet it was the first time we had ever met in person. We got along like we had known one another for years though and that was really great. Hopefully it was the first of many such blogger rendezvous and many such outings with the wonderful, talented and sweet Stacie!

Here we are – rendezvous-ing…

{ Stacie also brought some of her jewelry for my Aunt to see and – WOW! – she does really amazing work. Be sure to check it out on her blog and in her Etsy store. }

I’ve realized lately that I have an addictive personality. Marianna (a.k.a. Karianne) posted a blog entry that made me ponder and come to this realization. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as I’m not addicted to crack cocaine or anything of that nature. Rather, I find that I easily become addicted to things like holding Downward Facing Dog for five minutes or writing with a green pen, etc. Just quirky little things. Recently, I’ve become fiercely addicted to iced coffee and double-brewed coffee. Mmmmmm…

Sognatrice over at Bleeding Espresso got me started on the iced coffee. I’m not sure whether to send her a thank you for it or whether to silently curse her. (No, Sognatrice, I would never do that!) It is really very easy and oh-so-delightfully delicious! Great for summer! Sognatrice, being in Italy and all, makes hers with espresso. I do not have any sort of apparatus for making espresso so I make very strong black coffee and put it in the fridge to cool. Then I fill a glass about 1/4 full with vanilla soymilk, put in six icecubes and fill the rest with the cooled strong coffee. DELIGHTFUL! This is so good for a hot summer treat! Actually, it is good without the soymilk too, just the coffee over the ice. Super-tasty either way.

As for the double-brewed coffee… well, there is no good story for why I’m loving it right now. I actually heard the term “double-brewed coffee” on a Dunkin’ Donuts commercial and decided that I wanted to try it to see what double-brewed coffee might taste like. Well, the verdict is… it is delicious! It is super-easy too. You make a pot of coffee like normal and then you pour the pot back into the water-reservoir and brew it again, through the same grounds that you used the first time. Some people put new grounds in and brew it through new grounds but this seems a bit wasteful to me. Brewing it back through the same grounds makes it smoother; brewing it a second time through new grounds would make it stronger. I guess it would depend on what result you were wanting. I just like ultra-smooth coffee and this method gives me that. It is DIVINE and SO easy, which works for me!!

So, those are my current addictions. Why, I ask, can’t I become addicted to drinking eight 8-ounce glasses of water each day? Le sigh… Who knows what my next addiction will be. I’m open for suggestions, of course.

Oh, and another addiction – kind of a multi-faceted addiction – are all the wonderful things I got in recent buying trips to the Goodwill in Columbia, Tennessee and to the Salvation Army here in Corinth. I’ve listed several of these delightful finds in my Etsy store and a few on eBay too. Later today, I’ll be listing a fabulous peach-colored vintage slip-dress, an adorable funky vintage apron, a vintage madras bolero jacket and a too-FAB-for-words faux-leather motorcycle bag (all on Etsy). Feel free to check it out!

I :::HEART::: vintage!

Every year, I love to take a picture of the first berries that my blueberry bush produces. I get very excited about this event because I DO NOT have a green thumb and it is a sheer miracle that this bush has been alive for as long as it has and that it still produces berries, even if only a few. I rarely get to eat them either as the birds usually beat me to them but still, it is so nice to see them on there, and turning their beautiful deep blue color. Here are the first ones of 2007:

Isn’t nature grande?

I’ve been updating my 101 / 1,001 list quite regularly and getting things checked off so, if you have time, feel free to check out the progress.

Until next time…

May all your weeds be wildflowers.

“Perhaps love is the process of my leading you gently back to yourself.”
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Ah… where to begin… where to begin…

I’ve been out of the blog loop for more than a week now and I’m finding it VERY hard to get back into it. As most of you have noticed, I’m sure, I have been very slack on posting comments on your blogs and such. I will get there though as I miss you all dearly and miss reading about what you are up to. In the meantime, however, forgive me if it takes a little while to get back into the swing of things.

I did have a very nice time away – away from the computer, away from the TV, away from the scenery that I’m accustomed to, etc. That is nice from time to time and I thoroughly enjoyed it. What is it, however, about being away that makes you really think about things in your life and about the things, specifically, that need changing? Is that just me? Maybe so…

At any rate, we had a mini-family reunion here at my house this past weekend and it was really nice. Some folks from my Mom’s side of the family, who we rarely ever get to see, were in for the weekend and we did little more than sit around, eating and talking. It was delightfully fun and I think that a good time was had by all. They brought me the nicest gift of Ginger & Lime Room Fragrance. It is divine and reminds me of the smell of my Grandmother’s lemon tree when I was growing up. Mmmmmm…

Thankfully, while they were here, the wildlife around our house took a sabbatical. I say that because we have been having a time of it all lately. Firstly, I’ve seen more snakes this summer than I have in YEARS. Of course, it doesn’t help that our cats are “snake cats” and like to pull the snakes from their holes. The largest one was a black racer that was about five-and-a-half feet long and hefty in girth too. No thank you. Pearl, one of our cats, had him cornered. She thinks, I suppose, that she is invincible. And then we have the ever-abundant raccoons. My Mother finally bought herself a trap and was setting it every night for a couple of weeks and catching a ‘coon every time she set it. And, every morning, she’d take the little critter down to Tuscumbia Bottom and release it. I guess we caught about eight in all. They sure are cute but they sure are fierce. And then one night we caught a possum in said trap. Ewwww. We released it too. So, the larger, furrier critters of Martin Hill are being re-located to Tuscumbia Bottom. I’m sure the few-and-far-between residents there love us for it. And then, if snakes, raccoons and possums aren’t enough, I found a lizard IN THE HOUSE yesterday. Yes, you read correctly. It must have been inside for awhile as it was almost dead but still. A LIZARD WAS IN MY HOUSE. I might have to re-locate to Tuscumbia Bottom. Eeeek! Thankfully, my Mother is a trapping-and-releasing guru and was able to apprehend him and turn him loose. Whew. Close call.

So, it is a bonafide zoo – or something – around here. I’m just glad that the lizard in the house stayed hidden whilst our company was here.

And, if one heart attack in a day wasn’t enough, Delali had to take it upon herself to give me another yesterday. I have taken to letting her browse around outside for a bit most days. She loves it and, here in the midst of nowhere, it is safe and good for her. She is so good outside normally, staying on the carport or very close to the house so yesterday, I let her out and then came back inside to do a few things. Shortly thereafter, I went outside to check on her and – you guessed it – she was NOWHERE to be found. I wasted little time in embarking upon my panic. I circled the house, the perimeter of the yard, down to the bus turnaround and then began crying and clutching my throat like I was about to die. (Disclaimer: Nowhere have I ever claimed that I’m NOT a drama queen.) My Mom soon came and began to call for her with me. Then my Dad came out and sat on the swing, to supervise the proceedings, I presume. My Mom, God love her, kept saying that Delali was probably just sleeping off somewhere and would come back up soon. Well, for a Mother who thinks her child has run away, an hour is NOT soon. Yes, Delali took it upon herself to stay concealed for a full hour. During this time, Drama Queen mode set in fully. I cried, I hyperventilated, I yelled, I screamed, I pleaded with her to come back if she could hear me at all. And, the really infuriating thing is that she probably COULD hear me, she could probably see how wrought with angst I was yet… she couldn’t be bothered. She finally ambled back to the carport and I cried some more at the mere beautiful and wonderful sight of her. Did I beat her? No. But, I should have. I did yank her up and kiss her profusely and put her inside where she may not ever leave again. The jury is still out on that. Le sigh…

Upon my return from being away last week, I was so delighted to find wonders and treasures in my mail. Isn’t mail fun, I ask again? Among these delights was a boxful of wonders that my friend Catherine Marissa sent me. She had the wonderful Cottage Garden Therapies send me their Lavender Mint Scrub, Cedarwood Sage Scrub, Tired Old Ass and their Hippie in a Flame candle. All smell positively delightful! Mmmmm… I also had in my magical mailbox a package from the talented CarolLeeDesigns. She worked with me on some notecards that I commissioned her to make and they turned out just wonderfully – I couldn’t ask for them to be anymore perfect! They are Namaste notecards and are now available in her shop. She also included a bonus set of Kindness notecards and a “Be Who You Are” Life’s Little Reminders card. Wonderful! And, if that weren’t enough, I also got the most amazing sewn Owlie from the amazing Desiree of Daisy in La La Land. Sadly, I don’t have a picture of him right now but he is sitting next to my computer and says hello to all of you! He is SO cute! And Desiree sent him completely as a surprise, which is the BEST! Thank you, Desiree!!!

Isn’t fun-mail FUN? Speaking of… I plan to do some sort of swap here on my blog starting on July 1. I hope that all of you will join! If you have any suggestions on a theme for the swap or something you’ve heard of that might be fun, let me know. Of course I’m open to suggestions.

To mention briefly, I’ve not given up on or neglected my 101/1001 Challenge endeavor. I figured that it might get tedious and boring if I were to post an update for each and every thing I do on the list so I mark through them as I do them and will update periodically. I’m happy with my progress so far. Since the last update, I’ve gotten a nice and proper haircut (No. 26 – LOVE IT!), updated Delali on her medications, Frontline, etc. (No. 40 – yes, that was a chore as she isn’t very cooperative!), got new walking shoes (No. 49 – on sale from $85 down to $40 – WAHOO!) and gone to an estate sale (No. 84 – with my sister – it was a blast and I got a bunch of super-neat things at super-great prices!) So, as you can see, the list is coming along nicely. However, as I get further into the list, I can see that some of the items on it will have to be changed. There are a few that simply will not be possible so, as I think of ones to substitute, I will swap them out and put the ones that have been changed in Italics. That seems okay, right? Anyone else doing the 101/1001 Challenge? If so, let me know how you are going with it!

Before I end this epic post, to those of you who wanted to participate in the discussion of Le Petit Prince, I’ve set up a Yahoo group for us to use for the discussion. You can access it here. (It is a private group so you will have to apply for membership. I made it private so that random people wouldn’t join and spam us.) For anyone wondering, I set up the Yahoo group so that the book discussion could be separate from our blogs and so that those who didn’t want to discuss Le Petit Prince wouldn’t have to read around it all. Also, should we decide to read and discuss other books in future, we will have the group set up and ready to go. I hope that this way is okay with everyone interested. Please let me know if it isn’t.

Incidentally, I received Le Petit Prince on CD and plan to listen to it this afternoon. I can’t wait to be enveloped by the story again and in French. Oh la la!

So then, enough from me. Without further ado, I say adieu. Adieu… Adieu adeiu… To yieu and yieu and yieu… Okay, now I’m just being silly. Missed you all! Hope to be back into the swing of things better now! xo…

Okay… ONE picture…

A thought…

Never pride yourself on knowledge. Remember; even a head of iceberg lettuce knows more than you do. It knows whether or not that light really does go out when the refrigerator door shuts.

For those of you who might be wondering, I’m still here… still alive and splashing!  I’ve been out of pocket for the past several days and it has been blissful.  It has been blissful because THIS is what I’ve been up to:

I hope that all of you are doing great and having a wonderful week.  I hope to be back to reading and commenting on your blogs very soon.  In the meantime… I have a pool to go and lounge beside.  Cheers!