Six Word Story

"For Sale: Baby Shoes. Never used." Ernest Hemingway once wrote that in response to a challenge from a friend to compose a story in just six words. Hemingway said later that he thought it was the best thing that he had ever written.

Wired magazine recently picked this up and made it into an article by asking contemporary authors to give it a try.

Feel free to write your six word stories in the comments.

Here's some I came up with:


Box said blonde. Liars, it's red!

Turned and ran. Bullet was faster.

Good guy. Bad guy. Pretty girl.

Log splitter stopped. Four fingers now.

He liked boys but dated girls.

War didn't end, was only adjourned.

His eyes closed. My eyes opened.

Sunday Art

"Shooting Stars" by Christy Babrick of Michigan
Media: Digital/Photoshop

Welcome to the world baby boy!

After only a few hours of contractions, an 8 lb. 5 oz. Andrew August joined the world this morning! I'm a great aunt for the second time. My niece and baby are healthy and happy and their first born is now a big sister. Only one thing was missing - Dad. My nieces' husband is somewhere between Kuwait and the U.S. on his way stateside after a 6 month tour in Iraq. He wasn't able to communicate while enroute but said he would call when their plane landed on the east coast to refuel. He's due to arrive at the Army base in Colorado Springs on Tuesday morning and then he’ll be able to rejoin his family. Oh, here I go again - have been breaking into happy tears all day!

Inspiration Overload

My friend has a show at her pottery studio every year at this time. It has become an annual event for us to make the tour of sales that run in conjunction with hers. We visited three of them yesterday afternoon.

The first was on a dead end road in this gorgeous hollow. We both commented on how we live in such a beautiful part of the country. Lots of rolling hills and hidden valleys and ridges with views to die for. There was a renovated farmhouse and cute shed that housed the sale. Just walking up the yard was a joy. First thing I saw was a smaller oil can that had been tipped on its side and given a corrugated tin roof was hung from a tree as a bird house. An old metal barn cupola centered in a flower bed which earlier in the year had been surrounded by coneflower blooms. A flickering in a tree ahead proved to be small pieces of mirror glued back to back over a heavy fish line - this was made into a "garland" and hung from tree branches. A closer look revealed there were several of the mirrored garlands adorning the trees. The yard was filled with small touches like this. I immediately started taking mental notes of projects. Inside was a beautifully displayed mixture of old, new, vintage, antique, crafts, fine art, whimsical and classic items. We had to walk through three times before making our purchases - including the glove holding the spider on the left. On the walk back to the car I saw even more wonderful touches to the outdoor space...more mental notetaking.

The next stop was up the road a few miles to a home on the ridge overlooking the river valley. This sale has been an annual event for many years. Again, the sale was held in a specially constructed outbuilding that looked like it had been there for 100 years. Walking up to the building, in the garden before the front porch were some metal sculptures for sale. These were made from found metal items welded together to create the most interesting animals and creatures. My favorite was a big spider about 2 feet tall and 3 feet in diameter. The legs were railroad spikes welded together to create 8 legs holding a center plate above the ground. Upon the center plate was a black bowling ball placed to look like the spiders body and two finger holes looked like eerie eyes. Inside was a more sparse mixture of fine art, dried florals, handmade soaps, fiber arts, canned goods and jewelry. She had a new artist there this year who painted the most beautiful images in watercolor. I looked through every piece and was in awe of her talent. I bought hubby a jar of pickled green beans - he was thrilled!

The third and final stop was up the road a bit further. I love going to this place - it is my dream house. Beside the home is an old barn that has been fixed up using old farm relics and a lot of the original windows, wood and doors. They have a couple of pot bellied stoves billowing heat and a large array of crafts and furniture. The furniture at this sale always gets my imagination rolling. Many of the pieces are made of old doors. Much to my husband's dismay, I collect old doors. They get stacked here and there just waiting for me to do something with them. I even have the door to the farmhouse I grew up in. So when I see this furniture I start planning my dining room with a red hutch and black buffet made of old doors with a harvest table surrounded by mismatched old chairs (another collection) and a bench made of old doors. I can envision it in great detail. Kind of a dining room of misfit furniture. Remember the misfit toys in "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"? I'm running a home for wayward furniture. I didn't buy anything here but resolved that I need to bring hubby here and see if he'll understand the great value of those doors and get inspired too.

Once I got home I had to take notes and make a new "to do" list. I'll set it right next to the notes I took last year that are gathering dust. One of these days...

Stuck In/On My Head...

Head On, apply directly to the head.
Head On, apply directly to the head.
Head On, apply directly to the head.

There. I've passed it on.
You're welcome.
*insert evil laugh here* >:)

And Your Little Dog Too

My three nieces and my great niece are dressing up as "Wizard of Oz" characters for halloween this year. My great niece is almost 2 and is the perfect size to transform into a flying monkey. My nieces are going to be Dorothy, the wicked witch and Glinda, the good witch. I can't wait to see photos as I am wondering how the wicked witch will look being 8+ months pregnant! That's a vision not even I imagined. <|:)

One of the yearly TV programs I looked forward to with excitement and trepidation was the showing of the movie "The Wizard of Oz" every October. I don't know exactly the first time I saw the movie but I must have been very young. That wicked witch scared the bejesus out of me every time. And I, as Dorothy did, hated Miss Gulch when she carried Toto off on her bicycle. I have one recurring dream I can remember having as a child and it involved a wicked witch flying around on a broom in the hayloft of our barn.

I'm not sure if they still show "The Wizard of Oz" in October. I'll have to watch for it. Would be fun to see it again.

That will be $1.75 please.

I live near a small college town in Wisconsin with the best movie house ever. The original owner owned a film distribution firm and bought this theatre in the 70's. He showed new releases for unheard of low ticket prices. He passed away a few years ago and everyone was wondering if the tradition would continue. It did. His daughter took over the theatre and published a book about her father, the theatre and the many, many movie reviews he wrote. It's a fun stroll down movie history lane. She used the proceeds from the sale of this book to refurbish the theatre and it is alive and well.

It's a weekly phone call I make to see what is playing. If it's something I'm slightly interested in, I'll go see the film. Even the ones that you would normally say "I'll wait until the video comes out." See, the ticket prices are only $3.00 for adults, $2.00 for kids. And for a mere $1.75 you can carry in a medium popcorn and a large soda. Dinner and a movie - who can beat those prices?

A friend and I went to see "Little Miss Sunshine" tonight. This is one of the best movies I've seen in a long, long time. It was fun to see the crowd - young, old, men, women and they all enjoyed the movie. Go see it if you get a chance. Or if you can't afford the theatre in your town, wait until the video comes out. ;)

The Waiting Game

In the late 80's, early 90's I used to crochet, cross stitch, embroider, and make wood crafts. The wood crafts were those cute, knick knacky tchotchkes that everyone had in their "country style" decorated homes. Hubby built me a work bench complete with scroll saw and belt sander. Then came the drill press. I'd spend hours cutting, sanding, painting, assembling and even sold some things at craft sales. After about 6 years of that, you could walk into any store and buy those types of things made in China for near to nothing. Why spend the time making the stuff? After an accident with my hand in '94 I gave up the needlework. Not sure why. I'm sure I can do it but haven't picked it up since.

Then came the rubber stamp craze and quickly hopped on that bandwagon. I made cards, cards, cards and more cards and sold these too. From this I moved into the wire people cards. These are little characters formed from of wire, fabric and paper on each hand made card. They looked nice in frames too. These became my passion and the rubber stamps went by the wayside. I made oodles and oodles of these. They were very "artsy" so I sold these at some art fairs. I did OK but spent more time on them than I was getting paid for. About this time I started taking some drawing classes. These went amazingly well and I started drawing and dabbling with water colors, pastels and paints.

Then I started my own business. Since then my creative self has been surpressed. Allbeit as a Graphic Designer creating is my game but I was a designer in the greeting card phase. I miss that creative part of my self. I feel like it's down in my soul somewhere but something is holding it back. Everything is still there just waiting for me. Come out, come out wherever you are! Something will click someday and that door will open up again. I hate the waiting game. Hurry up already!

Rico with Squeaky Toy

OK, another video of Rico and his squeaky toy taken today. He had us laughing so hard we were crying and I was having a hard time holding in my crazy laughter. Again with the digital camera so quality not that great. Time to get the "big boy" bed. He's obviously outgrown the first one.

Dove Evolution

I love Dove's "Campaign for Real Beauty."