Scribble Nation

New New

Captain Neville is just one of many "news" going on in Scribble Nation.  Scott Bobleo recently aquired a new nephew.  Little Lucas was born on January 9th.  Coincidentally, the same birthday that belongs to my good friend Lauren Lapierre, owner of the fabulous jewelry shop Ornametal.  She entered a new decade on the 9th, and Lucas entered a new life!  We got to meet him a few days after he was born.  Boy was he ever cute! I love when babies faces are full of character.   You could pull Lucas out of a baby line up pretty easily. 

Here we are with Lucas and Liz's sister.

Michelle's newest addition, Natalia, is coming along nicely. She has left red wrinkly stage and entered soft big drooly stage. Any time now she'll be heading full steam into cute giggle wiggly stage. (That's my favorite baby stage of all)

Here she is staring all drooly into space.

As for me, I got a new haircut!  I've been in hair depression since my favorite hair stylist, Lauren, moved to Brooklyn.  Heads up Brooklyn ladies - Lauren is the MASTER!!  It's really true that you don't know what you've got till it's gone.  I've tried a few hair dressers since she left. Expensive ones, cheap ones, young ones, and old ones, none hold a candle to Lauren.  She is fantastic at giving haircuts that will flatter you EVERY TIME. Plus, every cut she ever gave me grew out well.  So if I couldn't go see her, my hair would stay cute for months and months.  Plus she knew my style and my taste really well.  I'm considering trekking to Brooklyn for my haircuts once she gets a new gig.  Until then, I'm rocking the mall salon.  An old acquaintance of mine works there. She does a good job, and she's not stuffy. Plus the cut is only 14 bucks. I went for the ever popular Amelie.  The cut came out pretty well, though when I go back I may request some more layering to bring up the back a little.

I also received my NEW business check card in the mail.  It reads "Scribble Nation LLC".  How thrilling is that? I'm in business baby.

Oh! One more thing.   Bobleo got the full time position at Lowes!   AND  the friend we were considering moving to Maine with just found out their pay won't decrease when they transfer.  Bobleo also has managed to befriend a few managers in his store that coincidentally ALL hail from Maine.  Supposedly they know all the folks running the new store in Brewer.  The dream lives on!

O is for OMG!

We are mooooooooooving! It's Official. S. Bobleo and I will be moving out of crap palace and into fancy new digs in nearby, Woodbury, in less than a month! For those of you who don't know about our sad living situation, the house we are in now is so poorly maintained that the windows have actually begun falling out. This is just the icing on a gigantic cake of problems this place has. I won't go on and on, rather I'll just sum it up with a neat bullet list.

• Uninvited creatures of the mammal and insect variety
• Unidentified odors which cannot EVER be eliminated
• An astounding variety of molds and fungi that could no-doubt entertain a science team for decades
• Zero insulation in walls, ceilings or floors
• Lead paint
• Holes in fireplace mortar
• See-through hardwood floors
• Peeling ceilings
• Disturbing crumbling and scurrying noises 
• Shower with an inconvenient habit of pouring water into kitchen ceiling light

In other words, this place sucks!! It seemed like Shangri-freaking-lah to the 21 year old me who took this as her first "on my own" home. Five years later the rustic charm has worn off and I can see that I am living in a crap hole. The trouble is that we haven't been able to find anything cheaper for the past couple of years. The prospect of facing another freezing winter in this shack seemed inescapable. That is, until we found out about what will hopefully be our new home! A friend of Bobleo's owns the duplex and is giving us a deal on rent for the empty side. It has three bedrooms, insulation, new windows and an acre of shared lawn that connects to several hiking trails in the back yard! We're tre tre excited. It's just a matter of working out the logistics and POOF! We're out of here!

So... moving isn't just about packing boxes and lifting furniture. It is also a great excuse to REDECORATE!! I have my eye on the whole place, but I'll introduce them to you all one at a time. My very first project, since it will be the easiest, is addressing the bathroom. Our current bathroom is streamline teal! S. Bobleo did the paint job just a few months ago. Our new bathroom will be lemon chiffon YELLOW. I'm talking walls, tiles, fixtures, EVERYTHING. It is like walking into a sponge cake. Our bathroom currently hosts my collection of cool rubber ducks. (Including two vintage ducks and one over-sized gigantic duck)  As much as I love my little feathered buddies I think that putting them into a yellow bathroom would just be insane. Yellow OVERLOAD. My plan is to use artwork, bath accessories and towels to provide accent colors that will hopefully draw the attention away from ALL THAT YELLOW. Here are the three schemes I've come up with so far. And btw there is a reason I didn't use lilac or purple - that would make me barf.

While I am leaning toward the Motor Home scheme, I have to tell you - our living room will already look a lot like that. Now that I see number two, Country Cottage, I'm inclined to point out that the red and pink would be used very very carefully. They would likely show up in small doses (on prints or something). Green would be the main player there. As far as Bamboo Chic goes, I would plan on scouring Ebay and some local thrift joints to find some 60's oriental kitsch with which to decorate this room. Maybe some bobble headed Siamese cats? Let me know what you think everybody!!

The First Lady of The Natural Look?

How cool is it that Michelle Obama regularly goes makeup free - even on television? I was reading Nichelle's post on 55 Secret Street and was really impressed that a woman in such public view is so comfortable and confident that she can either go with or without makeup. Now there's a first lady that little girls everywhere could learn a thing or two from. Be beautiful, be successful and be yourself. What's more Michelle is an independently successful person having graduated from both Princeton and Harvard. In a recent interview with the AP Mrs. Obama even razzes her husband's domestic habits, showing that she is not the kind of woman who quietly nods at every word that comes from her beloved's lips. If Obama gets elected MIchelle Obama would be make absolutely refreshing role model after all these years with Mrs. Tight Lips McDubbaYou.   

Small Town has Big Idea

The small town of Great Barrington Massachusetts has come up with a brilliant plan to keep locals buying local. They have printed and circulated over $800,000 worth of town currency. The money is used by locals and accepted at local businesses. Some businesses even offer discounts to customers that pay in "Berkshares", encouraging people to keep small businesses alive. What a great way to encourage people to support independant business instead of popping by at Walmart for their everyday needs. Wouldn't it be great if this trend spread? I can see them now - plastered with my face. Scribble Bucks. <sigh>

Will Wonders Never Cease?!

Guess what this is? This, my friends, is MY new JEEP. Oh yeah. 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. Can you say "Hot"? I drove it to the grocery store yesterday and was filled with the deep satisfaction that goes along with knowing that you are no longer driving the crappiest car in Newtown CT. Jeepy here won't have to feel ashamed of herself when I park her next to one of the 55 gabillion Lexus SUV's at the Big Y plaza. She may have 170,000 miles, she may have a dented front end and she may leak oil like its going out of style but I'll tell you one thing - Jeepy's got CLASS. Can't put a price on that, now can ya?

Hold on to your butts people, there's MORE. We had cable installed today!!! We decided to leave TV out of the equation qhen Scott and I first moved in together. We really didn't miss it for the last two years. And there was a good long while we were quite happy to keep our money and watch our 2-3 TV shows a week at Sarah's place or Michelles. I've never been a big fan of sitting on the couch wasting hours away in front of the idiot box so honestly, I could live without TV at home indefinately. Scott, however, is ready to have TV again. It will be fun. We got the DVR since we will probably still not be big channel surfers... We watch more movies than anything else so between on demand and the DVR we should be stocked up. And as an added bonus - I think I made Green Dreams customer out of the cable install guy. I even gave him a promo lip balm to take home. Heh heh.

Oh! And we will have long distance as of Thursday! (we're moving on up over her at casa de McBobleo) Speaking of the Bobleo - have a look at this hilarious pic of my main squeeze. He looks oh so squeezable here, doesn't he? We spent Saturday visiting with his family in New Jersey. His cousin Matthew  has autism and graduated from High School after ten years of work. It was really moving to see how much his family supported him. They through a wonderful party in his honor and had over one hundred friends and family members attend. It was really great.

We car pooled to Jersey with Scott's brother, sister and borther and sister in laws - on the way up I got a chance to finally snap a shot of the custom kitty condo we made for Liz and Chris. Scott and I have pipe dreams of making a little business out of these creations so if you know anyone who would want a custom kitty condo built let us know! We'll give them a great price since we are just getting started. We need to compile a portfolio more than anything else. We've made two so far and learn something new on each project.

Lightning Strikes Twice in Newtown.

Thankfully not three times. I was trying to contain a waterfall that had suddenly appeared in my living room staircase when this happened two houses over!! Did I mention a tornado touched down 5 miles from here last month? Does somebody have it in for Newtown, CT or what?

Ducks N Sofas

There is a rubber duck race in Sandy Hook every year. And for three years in a row I MISSED it. And you all know that is a damn shame because I am a BIG fan of ducks. It seemed I was doomed to miss this event. But not this year baby! I finally made it!. Michelle, Todd, Anne, Sarah and Pooks all came out for a day at the duck races. I've made a snappy slideshow to give you the jist.

And after the duck race we swang back on over to that church's tag sale to pick up my brand new living room! Sarah quick spotted this crazy retro loveseat outside of the church and I was tickled pink by it. Come to find out there was a matching soaf inside! I couldn't believe what great condition they were both in. There are NO stains (with the exception of one piece of bubble gum under one cushion) and almost NO wear and tear (aside from some slight fraying on the bottom). It came with all the legs, all the arm protectors, everything! It's not even faded and all of the cushions are still firm and shapely. It has got to be from somewhere in the 60's or very early 70's. There was a wicked old Sears tag on the bottom of the sofa, but it unfortunately yielded no clues of it's manufacture date.

The kicker is that I got the pair for 75 bucks. Vintage furniture that was taken care of by church ladies for the past 30 - 40 years and it cost less than Salvation Army!!

In celebration of my new furniture I painted an illustration of my new favorite animal, the goldfish. Very under appreciated fish. I painted the illustration board with triple brewed green tea to give it a really neat wash. Then I used a fatty boom batty paint marker to draw on my giant little friends. Klaus seems to like it. :)

I Quit!

Seriously! I put in my notice today at Ye Olde Soap Pusher. I finally made my very tough decision and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders already. It is so hard to leave something behind that you put so much work into. I become very attached to places as it is - when you throw in two bosses that feel more like family than employers it gets even more difficult. The long and the short of it is this: I loved the company, I love the owners, I even love my co-workers BUT the job? It's making me go koo koo. And despite the very best efforts of everyone involved I could feel a very serious need for a change.

So what's next? Well, my immediate plan is to do something comfortable and satisfying. There is nothing moreso to me than working in a restaurant. Restaurant people will know what I mean. Cash, wacky coworkers, fast paced hours that end in every snotty bastard customer going HOME and best of all? At the end of the night you can put it ALL BEHIND YOU and leave. No loose ends, no paperwork.

But not to fear people! I have not given up all ambition for my buck nutty desires to slack. This little derelict has a day plan as well. I will be waking up early with the Bobleo every morning and going straight to work on something creative. 5 DAYS A WEEK. I plan on taking the show on the road to local craft fairs and flea markets just as soon as I get all my licenses etc in order.  If I am lucky enough to rustle up enough capitol over the summer and fall then the sky is the limit for my little artsy endeavors. Step one in the pursuit of my big goal: Making art full time and living off of it. Who could ask for more?

Saw this today on ye olde interweb:

I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are.
-Frances Moore Lappe (Ye Olde Oprah Magazine)

(HEy!! Guess what else? Did you know that "YE" like "Ye Olde..." isn't even a proper word? Heather's BF told me so the other day. So I looked it up and guess what? That little joker must have had his god damn thinking cap on because that shit is 100% TRUE. And I've been Ye-olding things for years!!... Only to find out it's not even really a word! Just goes to show you can't count on NOTHIN... up to and including Ye olde English) 

News!

News News News!! Hot of the press baby. News the first:
For those of you who are familiar with my work life and my daily struggle against my own psycotic sense of "a job well done" you'll be happy to hear that our pre-certification audit is all done!!! Not only were we reccmonded for certification, we were paid an incredible compliement by our auditor. We didn't just pass, we soared. It was an incredible feeling to see the work that my co workers, my bosses and myself have put in over the past 9 months really pay off. I don't think I've ever worked so hard at something as I have at this job. I often feel like my best can't be good enough because it hasn't ever stopped being hard. This put the steam back in my engines I think. Christmas here we come. Phew.

OK, something a little more interesting. :) News the second:
Green Dreams is live!!! I've been bit with the Etsy bug and have decided to throw caution to the wind and begin posting my soaps and cosmetics for sale. I'm starting with the easies (soap, etc) but am working on some REALLY cool stuff. If you feel like buying anything on there just mention that you read me blog and I'll throw in one of my new experiments on the house. Just let me know what you think of it after using it.

Lock up Your Gloves

Willy's on the loose.