Practical application of transitive equality

I was going to write this post for Tuesday (RTT), but it's way late. 3 days late. But whatever. Last time I checked, there were no rules on the internet.

Early last month Cristy had a birthday and I just am about the world's worst at finding the definitive gift. In most cases, I seem to find a little something that I absolutely adore and then think, "wouldn't so-and-so just LOVE this?" So then I purchase it and the gift recipient is left wondering what motivated me to buy this big chunky bracelet that I'm eagerly hoping to borrow when I should have known the recipient is unlikely to ever wear it.

I don't know why this happens. Projection. Lack of coffee. Who knows.

But maybe, just possibly, on this past birthday, I inched slightly closer to that divine place where I selected a gift meaningful to the recipient.

I ordered these two custom stepping stones from K-Dub Designs. They are adorable and made to order to resemble your own dog or cat. The artist behind K-Dub (Karen) is sweet and creative and so easy to work with.

Cristy LOVES mosaics. And she LOVES her two cute dogs. So, by applying the transitive property of equality in mathematical logic, it stands to reason that Cristy would LOVE the mosaic portraits of her two pups.

I think she might. I hope so, anyway.

Here they are.

A full collection will soon follow. After all, we have a house full of 4-legged companions along with the memories of those recently departed. More on that later.

Homemade

2nd vein.

I’m turning into my mom. Part of me, anyway. Not the casino-slot-machine-diva part. The homemade-buttons-and-bows part. I know I’ve written a couple of blog entries about my foray into homemade things and craft projects. It’s a far cry from the way I would have envisioned spending my time if you had asked me ten years ago. But now it just seems genuine and personal.

Cristy brought home a little pot of daisies from the store last night. It is a welcome gift from a group of colleagues for a coworker returning to work after completing a treatment protocol for breast cancer. Cristy wanted it to be sweet and special, so I offered to make a little bow for the plant and thankfully, she agreed. In five minutes I had made a little bow out of cotton fabric layered alongside a smaller bow of raffia and string with a couple of beads attached to the ends of the string. I tied the bows to a little plastic card holder and anchored it into the soil. It doesn’t look spectacular, but it does look personal. It looks like this woman’s coworkers cared enough about her to make a homemade bow for the pretty potted daisies.

I will probably turn into one of those women who troll the clearance table at JoAnn’s, picking up remnants of lace, ribbon and pretty patterned fabrics to adorn greeting cards, packages and gifts of all sorts. Just a little touch to make them personal. That’s what my mom always did.

A trip to Hobby Lobby may be in order

While I am not terribly creative or crafty (as in homemade, not as in secretively clever), I do appreciate the benefit of investing in homemade projects to supplement home interior decorating. It can offer a completely individual look and save room in the budget for other priorities, such as repairing the garage door. Which we did. Today. With the help of an overhead door service team. Happily, it is now fixed.

But there was also room in the day to begin a few decorating projects. Two items are on the current agenda. Folding origami butterflies and making decorative book jackets. Sounds like a rainy-day project for a 4th grader, I know. The butterflies are pretty and there is a chance that they will fulfill my vision. We’ll see, I’ll need to do a little more folding before I know. In my opinion, origami has a better visual impact in a larger volume. I will need more than 8 or 9 folded butterflies to determine if I have a chance of achieving the look I desire.

But the book jackets have already captured my heart. I was originally inspired by Fullet, a book lover and inspired blogger who found a lovely illustrated paper book jacket for use on a new book. My homemade version features brown shipping paper as the wrapper for my old paperback books with a decorative printed paper stripe along the binding. The task of folding the book jackets, wrapping the books in brown paper, is very reminiscent of 4th grade.

Tomorrow and Monday (a state holiday) the projects will continue.

Rodeo Committee anyone?

Houston celebrates its American West heritage at the end of every winter with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It is an annual extravaganza preceded by a number of historic horseback trail rides from points of origin well outside of Houston, converging in Houston in time for a celebratory parade leading to the Livestock Show and Rodeo grounds. At the rodeo grounds, more celebration ensues: BBQ contests, carnivals, private parties and livestock competition. Then ten days of ticket-holding visitors stream into the grounds to buy belt buckles, beer, get a close look at thousands of cows, and watch professional cowboys vying for prize money. Musical performances by notable celebrities are thrown in for good measure. People watching is also high on the agenda, a veritable red carpet of country-chic couture.

Last year Cristy and I attended together. We arrived early in the day and had plenty of time to scope out our surroundings. Among the assorted array of ordinary people, there were lots of girls wearing little dresses and cowboy boots. There were lots of boys wearing starched oxford cloth shirts, jeans and felt hats. But there was another highly conspicuous group of people at the rodeo: committee members. It seemed like there were thousands of committee members, everywhere you looked. They were easily identifiable because they all wore jeans and a shirt with a rodeo committee vest over their shirt. The committee vest proudly featured the well known Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo emblem and the name of the committee on which they served. The Steer Auction Committee, the Calf Scramble Donors Committee, the Horspitality (yes that is spelled correctly) Committee. Committee members also wore lanyards with an ID badge granting access to private areas of the venue off limits to the general population.

That is what I noticed. Access to private parties. The nerve! Flaunting a private party! In full view of the huddled masses.

It’s not that I want to sneak into a celebrity area or try to scam my way into the calf roping competition. I just want to see if I can get into one of the literally hundreds of parties in “private” areas. Here is the plan. So far, Cristy is not on board, and with rodeo season approaching in a matter of mere months, I need to move this plan from the visionary stage into some sort of active implementation in order to be successful.

I propose that we invent a committee that sounds plausibly legitimate, make some vests proudly proclaiming the name of our personal committee, and wear them to the rodeo on the day that we attend as bonafide ticket holders.

Cristy nailed it today, she said something about Hot Bloggers and I thought – that’s it! Our committee could be the Hot Bloggers. How cool would that be for the rodeo? Smokin!

So, this is how it might unfold. We get there and as we’re walking through the event hall, we stumble upon a private party tent. Actually, there are just rows and rows of these tents, they’re not exactly hidden. Well, we’re cute. Even if we don’t have an authorized ID badge, there is a chance that we could get into a private party or two, just to schmooze with the real committee movers and shakers, right? Maybe a 50-50 chance? It’s not like we’d be trying to crash a state dinner at the White House or anything.

Pic of the day

Diaper "cake" from a baby shower at the office yesterday. A couple of my colleagues MADE this - is it just the most adorable thing ever??!!