Truth or Consequences color and style :-)

Our bathroom

One of the hot tub rooms

A yummy little diner


Oh yes they did. :-)

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Wiiiiiiiiiii!

This Christmas Eve was, I think, the most laughs ever, despite techno difficulties and colds and just plain tiredness. The posole was excelente and the guests were easy going. Aunt Alice had hugs for all, newcomers and oldtimers alike. And who needs Christmas carols when you have a Wii? The marathon bowling and boxing was hilarious, with toy filled poppers for all participants.

Tia Alicia, Joe, Paul, Uncle Steve, and Junior.

Ibrahim and Paul, after the poppers, and before the crowns disintegrated.

And now we're having a deliriously lazy day-and-night down in T or C. I might even read a book! Pictures to come . . .

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Posole & Cell Phones

My motherboard crashed. So I bought a new tower. My hubbie gave me a cell phone. It doesn't work. I exchanged it and that one doesn't work. Ya think this is a not so subtle hint I might want to let go of the technology for the holiday? :-) My new computer wasn't sposed to be ready until Monday, but they called today to say it was ready and I just wanted to say "Keep it for awhile, ok?" But hubbie was having none of that, so he's racing over there to pick it up.

Meanwhile, the house is filled with the smell of posole and cinnamon (I bought a bag of scented pine cones and I keep moving them around the house cause they're so strong!). At 6:00 the friends and relatives will start coming around and we'll chow down on piles of empanadas, wedding cookies, posole and tamales. Lord, help me get this house ready...

More Ouled Nail Photos

Three more Ouled Nail photos. Click on the images to get to the larger versions.

Ouled Nail Photos

About 12 years ago (which is eons in computer years) I purchased a multi-CD volume of clip art that was so bad I never opened it again, until recently. I finished going through the first volume, which consisted mainly of bad rescans and grainy black and white illustrations.

This morning I started poking around in Vol. 2, and found several photos of what look like the Ouled Nail, an Algerian tribe, probably scans from an old magazine spread? So, for all you belly dance and tribal dance fans, click on the photos below for larger versions...

A bit'o Christmas clipart

My favorite present to myself this year was a discounted "Christmas Crafts Fun Kit" from Dover, and I didn't even notice it included a CD of clipart until the box arrived. Here are a couple of samples -- they look like unaltered scans to me (except I added the blue to the angel below). Doncha love that old fashioned lettering?

Also inside the box were several sticker books, an origami book and two packs of paper, a stained glass coloring book we'll use with the wee ones who stop by on Christmas Eve, and a box of snowflake patterns I'm getting ready to sit down with.

Oh btw, click on the images above to get to a larger, printable version.

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Go Juni and Winter News

Woot! After second place finishes in every tourney he's been in the last year, Junior got his first First Place finish last weekend in Vegas (grappling). Please notice the guy who got second is about a foot taller and probably a couple of years older. Hehe.

So yeah, that's where I've been. That and under the weather with a post-semester cold. Two weeks off for Christmas, can't wait!

Shipped a bunch of Etsy packages today after staying in bed all day with a slight fever. Brushed up on our famous American outlaws on the History channel, but after dozing through parts of the whole marathon, I still couldn't tell ya who shot Billy the Kid or why Wyatt Earp went nuts (personally I think it was his last name...)

Will I ever have time to make jewelry again? I finally conceded that I cannot keep two Etsy shops open this Spring and take two grad classes, so I temporarily closed my jewelry shop, bringing most of my inventory over to OFFCenter to the Christmas show, where sales have been pretty good so head on over if you're looking for great handcrafted holiday gifts at a good price.

Precious Trivia Questions

1. What did Precious's mother called the oldest baby?
2. What does the letter F stand for?
3. What was Lenny Kravitz's first line in the movie?
4. What did Mariah Carey say when Precious asked her what color she was?
5. How did Precious pronounce the word "incest"?

Precious Trivia Quiz

Wow. Last night I saw the best movie I've seen in years. On so many levels. Mulling it over this morning, it's like there are overlapping constellations of perfection -- the dialogue among the girls at the alternative school, the acting by folks we have previously only known as comediennes, the film quality, obviously the story line -- everything from the opening typography to the closing credits was inventive and moving. Swear!

Yes, I can see where the critical reviews are coming from. And I have to admit the movie was so intriguing it drew me in to where I thought I had gotten acclimated to the emotional content, and then it sucker punched me by breaking my heart in one powerful scene by
Gabourey Sidibe. But I vote this best picture of the 21st century. :-) I just wish there was an Academy Awards category for "best cameo" because it would be a toss-up between Mariah Carey and Lennie Kravitz, as well as Sherrie Shepherd. They delivered.

And so, for all you Precious fans or potential fans, here's a Trivia Quiz for ya. I thought I'd start with the Answers first, then post the Questions later... hehe.

1. Mongo
2. Fat
3. Stop screaming.
4. What color do you think I am?
5. Insect

Ok -- so what are the questions???

Big Ole Pile of Earrings

That's right. And if I ever get them put onto cards I'll be selling them up on the gallery wall at OFFCenter's Holiday Gift Show, opening Friday, Dec. 4 (5-8:30 pm). The show will stay up through mid-December.

New styles include decoupaged findings with lightweight lucite baubles, clusters of dangles with vintage flower cabochons, plus several new smaller sized combos; along with the usual suspects -- collaged, resin, ethnic, wire wrapping, vintage rhinestones, smashed penny creations, etc. Not that you can actually see them in this mess.

And now I'm really wondering if I should even post this, LOL! They will look a lot more appealing all organized and on their little hang tags. Oy! (Since I seem to be in confession mode, I'll just go ahead and admit the photo above only shows half the plate and I've got another plateful too...).