Bzzy Little Bee - Crafting Adventures in Southern California by Carmen Flores Tanis

Hop, Jump and Skip

I'm not much for poetry but oh, how I find jump rope songs delightful!  I remember singing about the days of the week, about how high elephants could jump and about how many boyfriends lived in France.  And then there was the sound of the rope hitting the ground, accompanied by the stomp of tennis shoes on concrete and the whish of the rope slicing through the air.  It was like little girl rap!  When my little sister was very little, we'd have fun inventing new songs and here's one that always made us laugh:

A letter from the lady
From the Florida State
Came Monday in the mailbox,
It was three days late.

It asked me for a dollar,
I offered fifty cents.
It was to buy a ballroom
For the ladies and gents.

They sent an alligator,
The reptile of the state,
He was the cash collector
Just sent out to pass the plate.

I opened up the doorway,
He gave my spine a chill.
I ran and didn't wait
For change from my ten dollar bill.

My little sister, who was very little at the time, was learning about Florida in school that week which is how we hit upon the idea for this little  song.  There's something just so perfect about little girls jumping and singing.  Do kids even do that any more?  I sure hope so because the world can always use another song about hot peppers and about my mother, your mother living across the street.

There's Always Room For A Jump Rope Song

Stormy Designs - Featured Etsy Blogger

Etsy: Buy Handmade
stormydesigns.etsy.com

One very cool group that I've joined on Etsy is called the "Etsy Bloggers Street Team" which is made up of Etsy shop owners who also blog.  It's a way to promote each other and one way is through blogging about a different special member each month.  This month's featured Etsy blogger is "Stormy Designs".  Stormy does amazing work with polymer clay and the above pictures are a small sample of her fabulous creations.  That daisy cuff looks so much like ceramics! And that blue vase is to die for!  Check out these links to see more of Stormy's work:

http://StormyDesigns.etsy.com  = Stormy's Etsy shop
http://stormydesigns.blogspot.com  = website
http://StormyDesigns.biz/blog   = blog

Time To Kick The Habit

It's Not You, Babe, It's Me

Say what you will about corporate America, but I love my Starbucks.  When a new one opened down the street a few weeks ago, I was there early the first day to welcome all the barristas to the neighborhood - and to pick up a venti soy chai with a cranberry orange scone while I was at it.  When all the Starbucks closed early a month ago for some kind of hush-hush training / "calibration", I grieved as though it were a national day of mourning.  Whenever we travel, I take great delight in pointing out all the Starbucks along the golden highways.  Can you believe that there's actually a drive-thru Starbucks not far from the legendary Donner Pass?  Just think how the ill-fated Donner party could have avoided all that high protein snacking had they been able to pull their wagons into that Starbucks years ago and order tall Frappucinos hold the whipped cream please.  It boggles the mind.  But alas, as much as it kills me to say, the time has come to bid my beloved Starbucks adieu. 

You see, for the last year I've been a venti soy chai addict.  It started out innocently with maybe having one every three days.  Then it became having one every two days.  Then one every day.  Soy is good for you, right?  So it was OK - expensive but OK.  So why did I lie to my doctor when she asked me if I was still drinking "the Starbucks" every day?  I squeaked "Nooo" and shook my head too vehemently to be convincing. This while I'm standing on a scale. She peered at the unforgiving numbers on the scale, then gave me a look and a "tut-tut" which in doctorese and mom-chat means "You're not fooling anyone, butterball."  At home, I wondered if maybe there might something to my doctor's remonstration. I had packed on a few more pounds this last year.  Huh. Then it came to me: I'd switch to a non-fat chai!   What a great way to save on calories!  Before I went to Starbucks the next day, I practiced my order so that it would roll easily off my tongue "venti non-fat chai, venti non-fat chai."  I could do this.  Natch.  But when I got up to the counter, I freaked.  What if I didn't like it?  My afternoon would be ruined.  Oh, the agony! How about if I ordered a tall non-fat chai and a tall soy chai?  Then I'd have a backup just in case. Hmm, that could work.  I'd only drink the backup soy chai if the non-fat chai tasted bad.  Well, it sounded like a good idea at the time.  Cut to the end of the scene - with me having polished off not only the tall non-fat chai but a venti soy chai as a chaser as well.  As I licked the last bit of foam from inside of the second cup, I came to the conclusion that there was no going back to just one chai at a time.  The line had been crossed. Yet that was an impossible illicit love that could not be. The cost was too high to pay.  In dollars and calories.  So I quit my daily Starbucks cold turkey.  Right then and there.  It's been a week now and it's actually been OK.  I can do this.  Now when I drive by the nearby Starbucks and it winks at me fondly, trying to lure me back, I giggle and wave back but I don't stop.  At least until it gets hot enough to start ordering iced venti soy chais.  Which should be soon.  Damn the torpedoes.

Trying Desparately To Hit All the Hot Trends

Dear God, if blindness is in my future,
now would work for me.

As seen on a recent trip to a famous local amusement park.