The Goat: August 2010

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

August 2010 Links

This is the list of all of my blog posts for the month of August 2010.

There once was a hotel in Lansing that was brand new, in a pretty busy location, close to the Oldsmobile Factories and downtown Lansing. It was a Motel 6 in its original form, back in the 80's.

Then it downgraded and became the Deluxe Inn.

Wow.

Deluxe! It was a pretty scary place that was run down and attracted mostly prostitution and drug activity.

The owners of the Deluxe Inn couldn't pay their taxes and last year the property was purchased by The Land Bank, to be torn down and redeveloped.

However, before the building is torn down, graffiti artists were invited to do their thing on the soon to be destroyed building.

My Mom took Zora and Stella to see the building after the graffiti artist weekend. Of course they loved the kitty. Here's Zora imitating the cat and Stella imitating Zora!

REO Town
Graffiti Artists Working Together
There are dozens of photos of the building on this webpage. I can't read half the stuff that's written, but it's very interesting.

There are also a few guidelines in place for the Deluxe project, Manzella said. Most important, you have to have been invited to participate: “We just want to keep it to a dull roar in terms of who’s gonna be there. We don’t want everyone with a spray paint can showing up.”

The public will, however, be welcome to visit the Deluxe for a viewing in August, during which “we’ll be showcasing the art and having conversations about the development of REO Town,” Manzella said.

Shortly afterward, the Deluxe will be turned over to the Fire Department, which will torch parts of the building for training exercises.

The City Pulse

A Lansing photographer took some awesome shots of the former Deluxe Inn. Her name is Melissa Keeley and she's a wedding and portrait photographer who has recently moved to Lansing, MI. I'm so happy that she took some photos of the Graffiti project. Go on over to Telltale photography to take a look. She took some really great shots!

I am pretty sure that the hotel will torn down by the time I get back to Lansing in October, but I'm happy that I got to see it's most recent incarnation through pictures.

Have a great day!
Kristin

POTD - I can't drive 55

I don't think I've ever been able to drive 7 MPH in our community. If I coast the speedometer usually says 10 and if I tap on the gas to get around a corner I'm nearing 15. Try it, see if you can maintain 7 MPH next time you drive somewhere where no one is behind you.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Monday, August 30, 2010

Good News

I've found that the good weeks are really good and the bad weeks can have some good in them. I hurt my thumb about two months ago and I complained that it was still bothering me. One week after I mentioned my thumb I broke my toe. I've decided that I'm not having any more bad days nor hurt body parts :)

It's Good News from now on!

(Well, I'll be realistic - more good news than bad!)

To start my good week off on a much more pleasant note I received some fun stuff in the mail!

I've said again and again that if I enter a giveaway there's an above average chance that I'll win it. On Facebook one of my favorite stationery companies, Fabulous Stationery, had a Friday Grab Bag giveaway, so I entered and I won!

I had no idea what cards I was to receive, but I have to tell you, I got the best grab bag :)

It looks like the grab bag I won was mostly from the same style of cards, but there are so many styles on their website. I've purchased personalized cards, Christmas Cards, Valentines Day cards and other assorted cards from them. I'm clearly a fan of this company! It's cool that I won a giveaway. Thanks Fabulous Stationery.

On Saturday I received another gift in the mail! This wasn't a giveaway that I entered, but rather a gift from a blogging friend, Debby from Just Breathe. She figured out from the not-to-subtle blog posts that I write that I am in love with dishtowels, I collect fortune cookie fortunes and smashed pennies. Debby had just recently gone to Mammoth Lakes, CA and it looks like she found a penny smashing machine!

The dishtowel is one of the larger ones from Crate and Barrel, oh my goodness, I love it. Their dishtowels are so great. The elephant on the coin has his trunk raised up which is supposed to be good luck. I guess it's already working :)

I've been reading the fortunes and she sent some good ones.

I really like "Take the chance while you still have the choice" and I can't wait for "You will be traveling and coming into a fortune." The fortune could be anything, but I could use the kind of fortune that is money :)

Thanks so much Debby for this great little surprise in the mail. I really enjoyed it!!

Have a great week!
Kristin

POTD - Foam

Yes! We sell

FOAM

cut to size

I just never got the feeling that the street corner where I saw this sign was a big FOAM cut to size kind of area. I never did find out what type of store this was, but I'm thinking it was an upholstery shop. I'd go find out, but I can't for the life of me remember where this shop is located. Somewhere in Jacksonville though.

Enjoy!
Kristin

A little looking trip

I went to a consignment shop today just to see what they had. I don't need a thing at all, that's for sure, but it's fun to look sometimes. No shopping for me, just looking.

I haven't seen redwood furniture in ages. It seems like everyone had a set in Michigan when I was growing up. Funny thing is that I really wanted this set as soon as I saw it. No plastic, no glass, it probably wasn't made in China either. It'd look great on my porch right now and it's the perfect size.

$227.50 is probably a pretty good price, but I wasn't shopping today. I'll forget about this set in a few days, but it's just so perfect. I'd love to have it.

Then I saw this mirror. I really liked the round part in the square part, but it was a bit too curlicue for me. It was on it's last discount and it's only about $18, but I'm not sure I can make it mine. I've got such a short memory these days I'll probably forget I saw this :)

This is a nice hutch, beautiful dovetailed drawers and a nice big area underneath. The coolest thing were these ceramic drawers. I just can't believe that none of them had been broken. If I owned this I'd have broken one on day one!

I find it interesting that one of the big drawers is labeled currants. Were currants used that much to have a drawer made for it? I think I've only used currants for Christmas baking and only once or twice.

I adore these. ADORE! They are ethnic, have palm trees growing out of window boxes, show buildings and doorways and arches.

These two pictures I did nearly purchase on the spot, but I'd have to have both and I wasn't willing to pay $36. What a cheapskate!

I just knew though, that if I purchased these pictures, I'd get the redwood furniture, too.

Don't feel bad for me. I have a a garage full of furniture and assorted stuff and I have a storage closet full of paintings and pictures. I'll get over it :)

I hope you have a great week!
Kristin

Sunday, August 29, 2010

POTD - Mr. Taco

This is the sign from a now defunct Mexican fast food restaurant in Lansing, MI. I honestly don't know if I ever ate in this restaurant, but I do know that I really liked the sign. The business closed years ago, but the sign remained. Thankfully I now have a photo of it.

The Goats

Welcome to the Saturday Evening edition of Sundays in my City. I took these photos a few weeks ago when I was in Alabama and wanted to be sure and use them for SIMC.

I saw this interesting little storage shed with a rope swing hanging from the big tree in front of it when I was driving around Foley, Alabama. There was a large circle drive, so it was easy for me to park, too.

Were you ever able to swing on these swings? I never was. I didn't have the upper arm strength to stay upright. I needed to have a tire or a disk or a swing or something. I just couldn't have much fun with the knotted rope.

I realized as I was pulling into the circle drive that there was an animal farm right across the way.

It was a GOAT farm!

and there were baby goats and momma goats!

Of course I spooked them, walking up to the fence.

So I hung back for the remaining photos.

No, no, momma, I won't hurt you or your kids.

It was fun to finally have some goat photos on The Goat!

Please go by Unknown Mami to see more people showcase the towns they live or visit. It's a great group and I'm happy to be a part of it.

Have a great day!
Kristin

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Saturday Sampling

It seems like the days are zooming past faster than I can catch them. For example, how did it get to be the end of August already? Seriously? I think I just finally got used to writing the date as 2010 and it's going to be 2011 in a few short months.

Over at Mrs. 4444's place she has come up with Saturday Sampling where bloggers link up their favorite blog post of the week. The one post that you'd hope that everyone who came to your blog would hope to read.

You can also link up a blog post that someone else wrote if you feel that it's insightful, funny, means something to you, etc. Go on over and take a look. I read every one of the Saturday Samplings last week and it was a great day of blog reading.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Kristin

POTD - Peace

A section of the gate to the Prince of Peach cemetery in Elberta, AL. I like the way peace curves along the archway.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Friday, August 27, 2010

Broken

This is the area over my kitchen sink. I've got my cupboards, my window, clock and a beautiful pottery plate. Oh and the shell display that I made the other day.

I had a valance on a tension rod hanging in the window until just last week. Tom and I were sitting in the livingroom when we heard a crash. The tension rod untentioned I guess and it crashed onto the counter. Thankfully nothing broke.

While I had the valance down, I decided to toss it into the washer.

I read the tag that I had forgotten to cut off and it said to wash on delicate.

I did.

It was destroyed.

End of valance hanging in the window.

I bought this clock years ago, but it looks fabulous (I believe) on the wall with the pottery plate. I've been looking for smaller round items to place on the opposite side of the window, but after 4 years I still haven't found anything. I guess I haven't looked that hard :)

A few days after the valance fell the clock stopped working. I figured it was the battery but when I changed that it still didn't work. Now, that's a head scratcher. WHY?

While the click is just sitting idle, I changed the time to 11:11. It is my favorite time of day afterall.

I'm going to have to take part the clock it seems and change out the whole clock mechinism. It's perfect for this spot so I'm not changing it.

Speaking of broken things...

I got up this morning and as I was shuffling my way to the bathroom I whacked my foot into the side of the door and broke my pinky toe.

I'd never done such a thing before.

OUCH!

It feels like the whole foot is bruised, but the poor pinky is swollen and bluish/black. A friend of mine reminded me of the R.I.C.E. treatment - Rest Ice Compress (if necessisary) Elevate. I didn't need compression, but I've done the other three. Poor piggy toe.

I had to go to the bank today, but I don't own shoes that a broken. swollen toe can fit into. Not a flip flop in sight around here. Thankfully my husband had some slip on sandles that I wore. I had to drive barefoot though, as it would have been too dangerous to have those giant shoes on my feet.

I was going to go buy some flip flops today while I was out, but we had quite a rainstorm as soon as I left the house, so I'll go do that tomorrow.

destroyed valance
stopped clock
broken toe

Not bad for one week!

Have a great weekend.
Kristin

POTD - No Springs

No springs, no glass, no hands. Totally cool.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Friday Fragments

Hello Friday! What a great day!

Thanks to Mrs. 4444 of Half Past Kissing Time for getting so many incredible bloggers together for some fun and interesting fragments. She is just a wonderful host. Thanks so much Mrs. 4444. Thank you!

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I want to say Thank You to everyone who has added me to their Google Reader and the following feature on Blogger. I have almost 100 followers. I sat at about 30 followers for a very long time and within the past month or so that number has shot up to 97 - so almost 100 :) Thank You Thank You Thank You.

I only follow people through Google Reader, so I really haven't pushed getting followers, but now that I have almost 100, I have to tell you, it does feel pretty good :)

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found on Failblog.org

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I thought of something that was a great fragment. I came over to my computer, repeated the funny, interesting, blog worthy tidbit in my mind, opened up my blog to my FF post and now have no idea what it was. I don't know if it was funny, interesting, sad, or what. It has evaporated from my brain. How can information literally evaporate?

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I had that happen to me today. I remembered that I wanted to call someone but they are in a different time zone and I didn't want to forget to call at a better time. So I picked up a post-it to write my reminder and I had no idea what this person's name was. I went through all kinds of names in my head. I remembered her husband's name, finally, but not their last name. In my phone her husband isn't listed so I couldn't search by looking up his name. It was a full 10 minutes before I remembered her name. When I did the floodgates opened and all kinds of information about her came to mind, including her last name.

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I forgot where I found this photo

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I was asked if I could help someone out recently, I said sure and then when we were in the middle of the project I was given a check for $100. Holy Smokes! I tried to refuse, but this person was adamant that I keep it. I decided to accept, smile and thank.

It's really cool to get a check when it's completely unexpected.

Really cool.

Expect a check!

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I watched an Ellen rerun today and she had one of her little Ellen game shows called Know or Go. (Funny game show - love it!) The question was... How many Oceans are in the world? I blurted out 4 and so did the contestant. She was correct according to Ellen. But I had a funny feeling that I wasn't quite right. Turns out that scientists determined in 2000 that we have 5 oceans instead of just 4. The Arctic Ocean is the Northern most ocean and surrounds the North Pole. The brand new Southern Ocean surrounds Antarctica. Then we also have the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.

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In 2008 scientists determined that Pluto is no longer a planet. I still can't get over that one. I can handle having another ocean but I'm having a real tough time with Pluto being booted out of the solar system as a planet.

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I saw Eat, Pray, Love tonight with two people that I had never been out with before. I really enjoyed the movie and I enjoyed the company. I wasn't a fan of the book, but I expect that I will have Eat, Pray, Love as one of my go-to movies on the DVR next year when it finally comes out on cable. But I really like Julia Roberts and she made this movie for me.

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Have a wonderful delightful fabulous weekend!!
Kristin

POTD - Italian trees

Actually, I have no idea if these are Italian trees, but on the bottom of this little piece of decorative pottery it says ITALY 2570. I've seen Italian trees but not all of them, obviously, so I am not exactly sure. The little pottery piece is about three inches high and just about as wide. I have a small collection of these Italian pieces (I think I have six pieces) and this is the only one where the image isn't scratched into the wet clay first, then glazed and painted later. I used to go to antique shops on a fairly regular basis and that's when I picked up all of these pieces. It seems like a lifetime ago.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

My Dad

I've been thinking about my Dad today.

It's not a totally unusual thing, as I do tend to think of him at some point during each day, but today I was really thinking about him.

I have baby pictures of him that I have framed. I may have talked about them before, but I don't recall zooming in on each photo.

Even if I have talked about these photos before it bears repeating. They are just so darned cute.

We've got maybe a dozen photos of my Dad as a kid, of course I'm guessing at the number exactly. I know for sure we have these four photos of him when he's about four years old.

I made copies of them, ordered frames and had a friend of mine get them all perfectly set in the frames. He was a professional and I was having trouble. I've since gotten better, but not much.

I gave one of these to each of my sisters and one to my Dad.

The very best part is this exact look on his face. It's the same one he still gives all of us.

I crack up every time I look at this smirk.

He even has a little sound that goes with this look. It's sort of a laugh, but it's an under his breath kind of I-can't-believe-you-just-said-that kind of laugh.

I wonder if the person taking the photo pulled out a pink bunny or something and my Dad, a farm boy kid, gave this look saying to himself, "There is no way I'm going to smile at that thing!"

The last time I went home my Mom gave me this key hook. I remember it hanging in our little information center when I was growing up, but I didn't remember that it was something that I made.

...and yes, I do realize that it's insanely crude. No paint, no glitter, no nothing. This was before the days of glitter glue!

If you look between my 16 year old self and my boyfriend at the time, you will see some keys hanging. I know that they are hanging on this key holder and it might be obvious now that it's been pointed out that it is the same key holder.

The funniest part of the key is the back.

Happy Fathers Day
To my pretty dad. Awwww.

at the very top it says "form Kristin Corlett" :)

I think I'd better call my Dad tomorrow.

Hope you have a great day!
Kristin

POTD - Mail in Rome

POTD - Mail in Rome

Every day I passed by the mailbox center for the residents in the apartment building where we were staying in Rome. I noticed the mail was just shoved in there any old way and several pieces hung out along the top and one piece out of the back. I'm sure that's due to small size of the mail cubbies. The photo is just a tad out of focus, which gives an interesting feel to the piece.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The Hortons are here!

Shhhh. I don't want anyone to know.

I have favorites.

This family, the Hortons, are just about my favorite family.

They live in California and have had all of the post transplant follow-ups in their home state and not at Mayo like most folks. Ed has his transplant last summer, but they came back to Jacksonville just to see us. Not just Tom and I (pictured above with the Horton family) but the entire transplant community. We were just fortunate enough to be a part of that family.

I saw them today at Mayo. I was with a friend going to an appointment and they were coming to visit with their former coordinators, nurses and doctors. Then we met up again at the Caregiver support group and then again this evening at the dinner we had planned for them. They'll be here through Friday, so this won't be our last time seeing them this trip.

I know it's not right to have favorites, but I can't help it. I love this family. I will be forever grateful that they came into our lives.

Have a wonderful week!
Kristin

POTD - My sea shells

I thought that I had gathered enough of the small shells at the beach the other day to fill this container, but I was a little short. I'll probably rearrange it several times, it's not quite right, but I couldn't wait to photograph it. I doctored up the photo, too, since it didn't turn out like I wanted. I used Photoshop Elements and added the poster filter to the image. That filter added in the black lines, the shaded background and accentuated the screen in the window. I like it.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Monday, August 23, 2010

Full Moon

Photo from Jamie Ridler Studios - Full Moon Dreamboard

Tuesday, August 24th is a full moon.

I love the full moon.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm half werewolf!

I think I have been known to howl once or twice.

The full moon is supposed to have an energy that exists at no other time of the month. I've heard that a full moon Saturday night means a busy night in the Emergency Room, but I bet that a lot of babies are conceived those nights, too! If the moon can affect the tides it has a pull on us mere mortals. Maybe it's just all of the gorgeous light it reflects...well, whatever it is, it's a great thing to have come around each month.

So each month I say "I would like to make a dreamboard this month with Jamie and friends." Each month I realize that it's a full moon, like I did tonight, just seconds before the full moon arrives and my hopes are dashed for another month.

Tuesday is a full day from bumper to bumper and I don't know when I will be able to make the board. Maybe while I'll doing other things, I can at least pull out some inspiration pieces from magazines. I want to be a part of the event for once and maybe the next month I can be all in! I think I need a starter month, but so far I haven't had one.

You know, I really love this quirky side of me. Who would ever know by looking at me that I believe in the law of attraction, I want to make a dreamboard by the light of the full moon and that I'm reading Laura Bush's book on my Kindle. Yet another reason why blogging is so much fun. I get to show off all of my sides.

If you'd like more information on dreamboards, please go to Jamie Ridler's site. She has a great FAQs page (dreamboard FAQ) and she has some links on how to make a dreamboard with online tools. If you live in the Toronto area you can actually go to one of her monthly dreamboard circles. Now that would be cool.

What would you dream about?
Kristin

POTD - Mocha

I like having books on the couch next to me because I like to read them, browse through them when I'm waiting for photos to download, look something up that I remembered, etc. Mocha, however, feels that a book on the couch is her personal sleeping spot. My library book, How to Photograph Absolutely Everything, was by far Mocha's very favorite book of the year. She snuggled with it, pawed at the cover, sniffed it, laid on top of it, curled up around it, rested her head on it and otherwise took over the book. It's due back today. I'm not sure if I've even made a dent in the information contained within the book. I may need to check it out again. Besides, I think Mocha will probably need a nap.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Sunday, August 22, 2010

A little bit of the Irish

Last year I went to Ireland with my family and this year my Aunt and Uncle went to Ireland with their family. In fact, they just got back the other day from their two week trip. I've been anxiously awaiting a story or two, but until then, I went on Etsy and searched for Irish items.

I found hundreds of cool and interesting items so I thought I'd share a few.

The photos are all from the Etsy shop of the seller. The name of the Etsy Shop owner (the artist) is linked to the main page of their Etsy shop and the image name is linked directly to sales page for the image shown.

(Image has been removed)

Cloud Layers in Ireland by arpadlukacs

Blarney Castle, Ireland - card by drawandquartered

County Wicklow Decorative Tile by keystoneclayandbead

Chimneys in Dublin by artquirk

Kilkenny marble earrings by AMOR

Irish Pig Pendant by fantazy007

I want this. I don't think I want a pedant, because I don't wear jewelry, but I really like this coin.

(Image has been removed)

Celtic cross with a heart a flame by lydiasdesigns

I hope you like these Etsy picks. I had fun gathering them together. Maybe I'll create a treasury!

There's a glitch in my Photoshop Elements program and I am unable to edit my personal Ireland photos. It's driving me crazy. At least I think it's my PSE program. So dreaming about Ireland is about as close as I can get right now.

I hope you enjoyed this little departure from my regular posting.

Have a great week!
Kristin