Watch Your Back, Kitty Wells

Have you heard?
In the last week, I have received not one, but two nominations for the "You Make My Day Award". First came a nod from Mama Brook at Frisk the Frigidaire, and most recently from my ever so thoughtful and generous friend Christie of Serenity Now. Thank you kindly, Dollfaces. Here are five blogs that float my boat:

Serenity Now- Besides being a complete and total Dollface, Christie has such a thought provoking, artistic, creepy cool, consciousness expanding gem of a blog.

Manic Thrift Store Shopper- Brian has a fabulous eye for design and a serious passion for second hand treasures. Makes me wish we were real world friends. Oh the thrifting we'd do!

Yard Sale Bloodbath- Meghan and Jenny take you deep into the treacherous (and often hilarious) thrifting trenches.

Cathy of California- A woman after my own vintage crafty heart.

The Museum of Kitschy Stitches- Be prepared to laugh until you cry at crafts that seemed like such a good idea at the time.

In other blog business, waaaaay back when, Christie also tagged me for a meme. I've read that it rhymes with "dream", but in my head I prefer to pronounce it as two words: "Me, me." As in straining to raise your hand as high as physically possible without your hiney actually leaving your desk, saying, "Ooooh teacher, me, me! Pick me! I want to talk about myself!" So, without further ado, here are seven weird or unusual facts about lil' ol' me.

1. This may come as a shock, but I have an issue with the word "retro", especially when someone uses it to describe my tastes or, god forbid, me. Seriously, the word is like nails on a chalkboard to my ears. For me, the adjective "retro" refers to something modern that imitates something from the past. I guess by my own definition I am, in fact, "retro", but my tastes and my clutter are, say it with me, vintage.
2. I once performed a routine with a show choir wearing a leotard, top hat, and sequined vest with tails. What makes this one of seven weird or unusual facts about me is the part where I tell you this particular show took place on a small stage in the gymnasium of the state mental hospital for a less than receptive, highly medicated audience of about a hundred mentally disturbed inmates. Well, there was the one guy who stood up, removed his shirt and began to whoop and yell loudly when I and my fellow teenage choir members got to the high kick line during "New York, New York". At least someone appreciated our artistry.
3. A few years back, I won a cruise by rapidly reciting a series of tongue twisters in the style of an auctioneer in front of about 500 of my fellow professional beauty product salespeople. I beat about ten other folks for the coveted prize, and then never took the cruise because "free" doesn't actually mean free, as in "costing no money", when it comes to cruises, I discovered.
   
4. I am a prolific, world class lyricist, as long as the song has already been written by someone else, and provided that by "world class" one means "dirty limerick". My cover of the Entertainment Tonight theme song stands as a monument to the beauty of the carefully turned phrase. It goes a little something like this: "Punch my fu-u-unbags, do do do do do, punch my fu-u-unbags, do do doo dee doo, punch my (slowing down now) fu-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-un (whispered sadly) bags..."
5. I eat roughly my own weight in sour cream each calendar year.
   
   
   
6. Once upon a time, when I was about seven or eight, my family went to see a performance by the "Queen of Country Music", Kitty Wells. After the show, we stood in line to meet Miss Kitty and ask her to autograph our programs. Apparently, while waiting for my grandma to wrap up the visit, I got a little too close to the Queen, and her body guard was forced to intervene. The look of death my mother shot him cut short the confrontation. Even back then I rolled hard.
   
   
   
7. "The Kitty Wells Incident", as it's come to be known, was not my first unwelcome brush with a Legend of Country Music. At the tender age of eighteen months, I nearly brought a Hank Thompson concert in the park to a standstill when I decided to throw a fit in front of the stage. Now, I was not in the business of screaming, kicking, or crying when I had a point to make. No, I practiced a stoic, dignified form of civil disobedience where one's disgust with a given situation is expressed by lying silently on the ground while raising one arm and its corresponding leg high into the air in defiance, all "power to the people" style. The resulting cuteness was apparently too much for the audience to bear, and their attention was diverted from ol' Hank for several minutes until my mortified father convinced my mother (who was barely able to walk due to side-splitting laughter) to retrieve me. Let's just say the "King of Western Swing" was not amused. Interesting side note: Thompson's number one hit, "The Wild Side of Life", spawned an answer song, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels", which, when recorded by one Miss Kitty Wells in 1952, propelled her to superstardom. The story of the song, and the resulting controversy, is a fascinating one which you can read here. Looks like Hank and Kitty had more in common than they ever knew...evil lil' ol' me.
   

Happy V-Day

Who's the sweetest little sweetheart in Sweetheartville? You, Dollface.

Testing...testing...is this thing on?

Did ya miss me, Dollfaces? Let's catch up, shall we? Here's a quick recap of the last three months:

• We moved into the house and promptly had a red wasp infestation and plumbing problems, both of which have since been resolved (hopefully). Ah, the joys of an old house that has sat vacant for two years.
  
• In an effort to make all the new ends meet, we denied ourselves cable/internet, which is why Sweetheartville has been deserted for so long.
• Thanksgiving happened without me telling you how grateful I am for all my wonderful friends both online and off.
• I discovered the awesomeness that is Pandora. Go there now and set up your own free customized radio station. Well, finish reading my blog first.
  
• I painted and began to decorate my kitchen, although I still have lots to do in there.
  
  
  
  
• I decided to decorate for Christmas around the stacks of boxes and that awful wallpaper. After all, it was our first Christmas in our very own house (yipeeee!).
  
  
  
  
• Oklahoma, especially our neck of the woods, was hit with the worst ice storm since statehood. Huge limbs and entire trees (and therefore power lines) came crashing down under the immense weight of several inches of ice. We were very fortunate our home and vehicles weren't damaged, as some of our neighbors weren't so lucky. Our entire little town was without electricity and running water for days. Many people, including my folks, were without power for a week, some even longer. Had it not been for my parents' wood burning stove, we would all have been in the Red Cross shelter. How easily we take electricity and water for granted until it's gone. The massive debris cleanup effort is ongoing.
  
  
  
  
• Oh yeah. There was Christmas. After the week lost to the ice storm, and a couple more lost to illness, I was totally unprepared, but we all enjoyed just being together as a family and stuffing our faces full of my Mama's good cookin'.
  
• I turned another year older. The highlight of my birthday was a personal MySpace message from none other than Miss Kim Lenz(!) herself. Let's just say I nearly peed my pants when I read it. What a Dollface!
  
• I got all DIY and tore up the carpet in our bedroom. Gross and exhausting, but satisfying.
  
  
  
  
• We watched every single episode of all three seasons of Lost on borrowed DVDs in time for the January 31st premier of season four. Holy. Crap. That. Show. Is. Awesome. Yes, I'm a late bloomer. I had no idea what I was missing.
• I finally picked up a copy of Blueprint, and boy am I glad I did.
  
• I made a frightened 3:00 am call to 911 after Sugar Pea woke up gasping for air. After the assurance from fire/rescue that she was getting enough oxygen and we could safely make the 25 minute trip to the ER, it turned out to be a severe and sudden case of Croup that was restricting her airflow. She was given a breathing treatment that had an immediate effect. I never want to see my baby struggle for breath like that again. I know how terrifying not being able to breathe can be. So far she seems to have escaped her Daddy's and my asthma (knock on wood). She's right as rain, smart as a whip, and beginning to talk like a little parrot now, not to mention running, climbing, and generally getting into mischief.
• I decorated the whole house over in my head about 7,000 times. I am a very fickle and noncommittal interior designer. After a bad wall color decision which needs to be remedied, I think I've finally settled on a scheme for our bedroom. Here's a sneak peek at my inspiration which I found here:
  
  
  
• I gave Sugar Pea her first haircut---little bangs, which, when combined with pigtails, increase her cuteness (and decrease my ability to reprimand her) exponentially.
• I did lots of thrifting.

That should about catch us up. I've missed you and your blogs and your feedback on mine, Dollfaces. It's good to be back.