The Real Calliope

Three More Days

With just three days left in the LRHS logo design contest, Kev has entered for a third time. This entry puts me in a very awkward position, because if I choose it, I know all y'all will say I am playing favorites. But just LOOK at it! It's awesome! It is based on Ralph's sister, Calliope.

(I reminded Kev that the prize is a shirt featuring thewinning design. I just can't see him going around town wearing a t-shirt with a betutued sock monkey on it.)

Anyway, I don't know how I am going to pick a winner. All of the entries have been great, or at least interesting.

So, you have a couple more days if you want to enter again. Then I'll have to choose a winner. Oh dear. I don't know why I get myself into these messes. I may end up having to have a vote.

Blogging Because I Can

I have a few minutes, so I am going to blog. Last night, Kev and I went to Fort Worth to see Madeleine Peyroux at the Bass Hall, so Daphne spent the night in Garland with G-ma and G-pa. It was her first night away from us, or I should say it was our first night away from her. It was hard for me, but she was fine. She was good, and she even slept all night. My little baby doesn't need me anymore. How depressing. Actually, I am glad she did so well. Now I will feel more comfortable leaving her, and maybe Kev and I can actually get away for a whole weekend sometime. I have been itching for a camping trip since the weather has been so nice lately. Anyway, Daphne is on her way home, so I'm using this last bit of free time to blog since there's not really time to start a project. You should see my list of projects! I'll never get it all done.

The show was great last night. If you guys haven't listened to Madeline Peyroux, you should go over to Amazon or something and check her out. Her voice is amazing. And if you haven't been to the Bass Hall, I recommend that too. It is a beautiful big symphony hall, and the acoustics are great. We saw the great Doc Watson there last year, and we found out last night that he's coming back. Gordon Lightfoot is also scheduled, and I think that would be a good show. Especially since the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is a PPHPHB staple during band practice (it is one of the only songs where I can play all the guitar chords...no Fs or Bs!).

The opening act was a guy called "Goat." He has a real name, which I forget, and he is the son of baseball great Al Rosen. He was a really good pianist, sort of Ray Charles-y, but his voice was a little grating, and he kept pronouncing words that begin with "A" using a long "A" sound even when it wasn't necessary. For example, he would say AY-lone instead of UH-lone, and AY-gain, AY-way, AY-go, and so forth. Every time! It was past my bedtime, and I was really sleepy and irritable, so I was having a hard time tolerating Goat and his long "A"s. I was telling Kev this on the way home, and he said, "Boy, you are easily annoyed." And I said, "Don't you mean AY-noyed?" and that was the end of conversation in the car for a while. Sorry I was so cranky, Kev. I'm no good without sleep. But in spite of my crankiness, we had a fun night out, and we got to eat velvety lobster bisque at Daddy Jack's! Thanks to my mom and dad for Peanut-sitting.

This morning, myfirst daffodil bloomed. I'll post a picture later. Kev's mom brought me a butterfly plant all the way from New York. If I don't kill it, it will be a miracle. But I am going to try hard to take care of it, because it is a really pretty plant, and it will bring butterflies to the yard.

The baby will be here soon, so I better go. I can't wait to see her. Have a good weekend everybody!

Video Failure

Apparently nobody has been able to see the YouTube videos on here, so as an experiment, I put one on the Peanut Gallery since that one has not been forced over to the new blogger. I doubt if that makes a difference, but if you have time, please go over there and try to watch it, and let me know if it works. I have not had any trouble seeing them on my computer, so I don't know why it won't work for anyone else. Computers are a drag sometimes.

Field Trip

Yesterday, my mom and I took the Peanut to the playground at the lake. It was hot, which is funny because last week it was freezing. Texas. Anyway, she had a great time swinging and looking at birds like the Double-Crested Cormorant pictured here. You do not want to get pooped on by a double-crested cormorant, by the way. It is nasty stuff.

Last week, Kev's mom and dad came for a visit. We had a fun and action packed weekend. We went to the Fort Worth Stockyards and to the Dallas World Aquarium, and had lots of houseband time. I'll put pictures on next time I have blogging time. And I will tell you about my awesome Valentine's day gift from Kev, and about the jazz singer we saw Sunday night.

Seven days left before the LRHS logo contest deadline, so get those last-minute entries in. I am flabbergasted by the response so far. I didn't think anyone would enter. You are all cool. Or else you are a bunch of people with way too much time on your hands. I have to say, though, I am disappointed in my relatives, none of whom has entered. Dangit.

Triple Shot from Uncle Pat

Here are three from Pat! Click on them to make them bigger.

You are all so cool for being in my contest.

Musical Penguin

Here is Darlene's latest entry. This one may be hard to beat.

Play Group Dilemma...Need Help

Next time we meet for play group, I am in charge of food. Normally, I'd just whip up a batch of good ol' Texas Eggs, easy as pie. But here's the problem: One of the moms has a severely lactose intolerant baby, so she can have NO dairy. So I need some ideas for a recipe that can feed about 10-12 people, and that I can preferably make the day before and just heat up right before playgroup, and has no dairy, and isn't particularly gassy since a lot of the moms are nursing. Whew! The last two times, we've had soup. Any ideas?

Baby You Can Drive My Car

The Peanut got a brand new car for Valentine's Day. It converts to a walker, which terrifies me. But she LOVES it. She's one step closer to the Big Wheel!

Stupid Blogger

Blogger tricked me into switching the the "new" blogger the other night and I hate it. I am having a hard time with the comments (commenting on my own blog, and reading comments/commenting on other blogs of people who have switched over). Is there any way to go back?

Peach Face Lizard Baby

Video Killed the Radio Star

So, if you scroll down, you will see that thanks to the magic of YouTube, I have figured out a way to post videos on my blog. This creates a whole new world of possibilities. I will try not to abuse this new ability. The first two videos are ones of the Peanut (surprise surprise). She started crawling the "real" way this weekend, so we filmed it.

I had a crafty weekend. On Saturday, I went to a sewing class using a gift certificate I got for Christmas. I learned to make a giant box floor pillow, which is being referred to around here as my "tuffet." The most useful thing about the class was learning to sew in a zipper. I can now use that skill for things more practical than tuffets, like skirts and dresses and so forth.

Also, I finished my second knitting project, which is a "yarn hat" commissioned by LarryFeathers.

And I did a little experimenting with making iron-on appliques using scrap fabric and fusible webbing, which is a very cheap, easy, and fun way to embellish your otherwise plain clothes.

All of these are pictured on the Peanut Gallery, along with some pictures of Daphne holding a beer. Oh, the schtick you can do with babies!

Hope you all had a good weekend.

Peanut Crawls

Dragging the Peanut

Kev Enters Again!

Here is Kev's latest logo contest entry. I like it a lot. It looks like a high school mascot t-shirt. And it would be EASY to screen.

Fooie brings up an interesting idea, which is letting you all vote for the winning logo. But I think you would all just vote for yourselves, so it probably wouldn't work.

Speaking of Fooie, you should all go over to http://mindsquirt.blogspot.com/ and read about the bearded soup smeller. It is good stuff.

Contest News

Hi and I am so excited that all of y'all are participating in the LRHS logo contest! Competition is heating up, and there has even been a little trash-talking!

All of your entries are great, with all the birds and penguins and owls and guitars and such. I'm surprised no-one has included any housepants in their designs. Thanks for your entries, and feel free to enter again (and again!) if you want. The DEADLINE is Feb. 28. (Keep in mind that I unfortunately can't screen-print complicated and colorful images onto t-shirts. )

Whitney: I am still hoping for an entry from LarryFeathers. He is out of town until next Thursday, but there's still plenty of time.

And if you are one of those silent readers out there, please feel free to enter too.

Here's One from Julie!

This one's great too! Love the colors.

Another Great Entry!

This one's from Darlene. Very representative of the spirit of the LRHS, and with a Texas twist!

Contest Update

If you have entered the contest, please comment or email me with your t-shirt size and color preference in case you win.

Triple Threat

These three entries are from Marty, who was wondering if iron-on decals would be acceptable since his designs would be difficult if not impossible to screen print. The problem with the iron-on decals is that they don't wash well. They get all cracked. But I did hear about June Tailor's Ink-Jet fabric sheets, which are sheets of fabric you can run through your printer. Then you could use fusible webbing to make an iron-on decal which would probably be more durable and less cracky. These sheets are expensive though. Anyway, I'll probably stick to something that can easily be screen-printed for this project, but I like all of Marty's ideas. I especially like the nod to Napolean Dynamite and to poor old Pancho. Thanks to Marty, and to everyone who has entered so far.

By the way, Whitney's entry was supposed to be in French Script font, but it didn't show up that way because we don't have it.

Fooie's Entry

Very colorful and action-packed! Perhaps just ever so slightly on the violent side, what with the guys labeled "dead" and all. I really like the sun and the birds though!

The Entries Pour In!

Two entries from Kim, complete with songbirds and penguins! Woo-hoo!

The Competition is Heating Up

This is Whitney's entry. Simple, elegant, to the point. Very nice.

Contestant Number One!

This entry was submitted by Kev because he is nice and probably thinks no one is going to enter my contest. I like the incorporation of the Squippie symbol. He just might win!

Play and WIN!

1. A long time ago, I found a cat outside the door to my old apartment. After some long, hard thinking, I decided to keep him. I emailed all the people I knew with the subject line "Please help me name my cat." I received many interesting, and some shocking, responses, and eventually named my cat Archie because it suited him. He is a great fat cat, and currently lives with a very nice lady in Garland because Kev is allergic.

2. Today, Kev's dad sent me an article about "How to make your blog more popular." I am not really trying to revolutionize the blog world, but it did give me an idea.

So,

3. I decided to have a contest. Here are the rules: Design a cool logo for the Lazy Russian Horses Show that I can make into the Official LRHS T-Shirt. It should be simple, yet interesting, and illustrate the general spirit of this blog. If anyone actually participates, I will post their entry so you can all see it, and then I'll choose the best one and make a free shirt for the winner. There might even be bonus prizes. Remember, this is a family friendly blog. Please keep it clean.

Email me your entry!

UPDATE: Enter as often as you like!!!

Deadline is Feb. 28.

First Hat Done

Yesterday, I completed my first knitting project: the little pink hat pictured at left. Not bad for my first try, I guess. But when I look at the sweater also pictured, knit by my friend Anne, I realize I have a lot to learn. That's OK. I've got time.

Thursday's knitting and coffee was great. I was inspired.