She made me do it. I had forgotten all about it, and I definitely needed reminding. Now it’s your turn.

‘Tis that time of year, I think. What do you think? Shall I host a Second Annual Intricateart.com Pumpkin Carving Contest?

10 days ’til Halloween, there’s still enough time for everyone to grab a pumpkin and carve it up into an artistic masterpiece to share with the world.

Doesn’t that sound simply

???????????

Over the past week or so, I’ve had over 1,500 hits from folks looking for a contest. Last year’s was so much fun! See the results of the 2005 Pumpkin Carving Contest here. A lot of people submitted photos of their pumpkins – it was so cool to see all the different carvings all lit up!

We picked up our pumpkins lastnight, and we’ll be carving this weekend. We’ve got some super spOoOky things planned for ours this year!

If you’re up for it, leave a comment and I’ll make all the preparations. Maybe this year I’ll include a prize – how ’bout a signed battery operated carver? OooOOoOOoooo….

UPDATE: I’ll launch the 2006 Pumpkin Carving Contest on Monday, October 23. It will run through October 30th, voting will take place on Halloween only (times to be determined). Get carvin’!

Never in a million years did I think that I’d spend 20 minutes looking at Band-Aids, trying to select the perfect band-aid for a certain wound.

It has, indeed, come to that.

I comparison shopped Band-Aids yesterday. How many of you have done this? Debated over flourescents, cushioned – waterproof or flexible fabrics. Sheer or clear? Big or small? Will that little bitty patch of cotton cover the wound? Do you really need 80 of them, or will 15 be enough? If you’re using an antibiotic ointment, is it okay to get the ones with antibiotic in the pad now, or is that overkill? Do you not use the ointment? Is the stuff in the pad as effective? Oh hell, go back to the Disney Band-Aids. Do you need the clear ones, or the neon? Would the girls rather have soft pastels? Do they care? DO I CARE? OMG.

O. M. G.

What have they done to us, these cruel Band-Aid Manufacturers? Look at how bad it is, that a Mom spends 20 minutes staring at hundreds of boxes, just as many selections. For one finger wound. Because we’re almost out. Of course I have to consider all future wounds – or at least 80 of them, otherwise I’m throwing money away. Right? Right. Why buy a box of assorted Band-Aids if the little square one is never going to be used? We do use them, those are our amusement Band-Aids. The ones that show we care about that little freckle you’re calling an owie, and we will cover it up as long as you think it hurts.

It’s just a freakin’ Band-Aid, people. Cover the wound until it heals. Isn’t that the point?

So.

Twenty minutes later, I make a selection. I was so proud of myself, they were even on sale! WoOt!

I get home, and I’m so organized that I went and grabbed the nearly-empty box to transfer it’s remaining contents into the new box.

Guess what.

I bought the same freakin’ kind.

Sigh. Twenty minutes out of my life gone. I can’t get them back, those twenty minutes – and for what?

This is my method of organization. I write stuff on post-its so that I don’t forget. I write lists on post-its. I write keyboard shortcuts on post-its. Birthdays. Website addresses. Cameras I like. Ink cartridges I need. Passwords. Customer numbers. Appointments. Scripts I need to install. Phone numbers. You name it, it’s in that mess-o-post-its right there.

This is …. organized? There’s gotta be a better way. What’s your way? Where do you write the stuff down, and can you beat my pants off if we had a “Whose got more post-its on their desk” contest? Lemme count… right now I have 23 post-its and two clean stacks waiting their turn.

Lord help me, I’m drowning in little sticky pink (and purple) pieces of paper.

It’s probably no surprise that I’ve had a lot on my mind lately. Stuff happens, stuff that hits the core of who I am and what I do. I pull up into myself and that’s just how it is. I wonder sometimes if it’s worth pushing forward, the cost and losses involved along the way are extremely difficult for me to process.

That being said, I’ve still been pouring my heart and fingers into a project – I’ve spent well over 40 hours on it already and have a little ways to go before its done. I’ve been learning so much, teaching myself, picking up tidbits here and there, and I’m anxious to get it further along so I can share it with you. I’m hoping it will just be another day or two, since I do have clients waiting patiently for their projects, too.

I had a chat with my sister yeserday about some of the e-mail forwards that I receive. It’s one thing to get the occasional forward from someone I talk to regularly – but it’s quite another to get forwarded mail from people who only ever send me forwarded mail. I cannot tell you how fast I hit delete. It doesn’t even get a chance open in my preview pane, people.

PUBLIC NOTICE: If you’re going to take the time to select 30 people out of your address book to forward mail to, you could also take the time to copy and paste the thing into a new e-mail, or take off all the prior forwards. I am NOT going to open 20 attached to’s to get to the message in Outlook Express. NOT. If it’s not RIGHT THERE when I open my mail, I delete it. Unless you have a history of poor forwarding etiquette, then I don’t even subjects with a “Fw:” in the subject.

I’ve decided that if this continues on, I’m going to take action over the holidays. Retribution, you might call it. Please, if you’d like a set of these cards, do let me know. Let’s Stop the Fw’in© Madness!

Custom Designed
Stop the Fw’in Madness© Holiday Greetings
by Leanne

Addressing the Envelope:

(Intended Recipient); Bobby Jo; Grandma; Kelly Sue; Tink; Emily; Picknboogers@aol.com

Address

City, State Zip

The Card Front:

A beautiful snowy scene, moonlit glow, sprinkles and glitter, “Holiday Greetings” verbage.

The Card Inside:

Wishing you, and everyone else, a Wonderful Holiday Season.

Please forward this card on to 10 important people in the next 5 1/2 minutes. Just leave it in the original envelope, put it in a bigger one, and send it on.

If you don’t, Santa isn’t going to bring you a dayum thing.

Love, (your name)

There. Now if you happen to see these pop up somewhere this season with someone elses name on the copyright, don’t be alarmed. It’s just my luck.

This requires reader participation! I started this list while I was mowing (read: styling) the front yard this morning. This list – so far – is based on things I find myself doing all the time. Please, feel free to add to it. I’ll add to it, too!

You Know You’re An Artist When…

1. You don’t just mow the yard, you style the yard by mowing in a pretty pattern, and varying it each time you mow.
2. You pick a dog based on how cute his portrait is going to be. (this is partially true!)
3. You are happy to sign your checks, slowly, perfecting the signature, because it is. that. important. That document could be worth millions some day, it can’t be sloppy.
4. You write a list, and when you cross something off the list, it’s a fancy doodle cross off line, not just a straight line.
5. You know that no idea is an original idea, but you hope you’re one of the few that follows through and makes it your own.
6. You have DT’s when you haven’t been creative in the last 12 hours.
7. You have tools to encourage your creativity in every room in your house. Yes, sculpting gel counts.
8. You use your sculpting gel very literally. Apply, sculpt for hours, squash it down, rinse it out … repeat.
9. You don’t just braid your kids hair. You style it into a french braid with twists and put it into a bun of some sort, using as many coordinating ponytail holders as possible.
10. You own more than one very expensive piece of equipment and don’t let anyone else touch them (or have to sit on your hands if they do).
11. You get cranky if you can’t complete your creative endeavor, if something has distracted you from it.
12. You don’t understand why anyone doesn’t “get” that place you go to when you’re there. And feel bad that they’ve never been.
13. You’re creative in your sleep.
14. Few people think that what you do is monetarily worth what you’re asking.
15. You try on several “filters” before you finally decide which one you like.
16. You’re terrified to show anyone your work, but after you get past being terrified, you spread your feathers like a peacock.
17. You’re like that every. single. time.

read more in comments…

Bloggy Gossip is another brainchild of mine that I’ve been working on for quite a while. In my head, mostly. Until last week, when I started finishing up the design and getting the domain all square, getting wordpress all upgraded, installing a boatload of plugins and fun things – and now I’m pushing the boat out into the water and crossing my fingers about the weather! It’s a Gossip Blog, about Bloggers.

MommaK, an expert on Gossip and someone who is always in the know, will be co-authoring with me. She’s the blonde, of course! She’s smart as a whip and always up on the latest celebrations around blogland!

Not to worry, it’s not for icky gossip, it’s just for the good stuff! So, if you have gossip you want to share, please go on over and fill out the little form, and we’ll check out your recommendation. We’ll be blogging daily on several topics, ranging from new bloggers to virtual baby showers, new homes and new blog designs. We’ll cover meme’s and youyou’s and even events and projects that ask for reader participation.

It’s going to take a few days to really get it rolling, but go on over and grab up a button, add it to your feed reader, and tell your friends! It’s going to be a fun place to go to get the good news of the blogosphere!