Happy Stuff

Since it’s a rather gloomy day out, and this whole past week has been one I’d rather forget, I thought I’d look through my “Happy” file. I was probably a teen (a true time of hell for me) when I would occasionally just start making a list of stuff that I like or that makes me happy. This list would change over the years, but it did serve the purpose of getting my mind out of the abyss for a short time. When the movie “Sound of Music” came out and the song “My Favorite Things” became popular, I realized I had been doing what Julie Andrews had urged the children to do: focus on the positive. When I started focusing on my altered books as my main outlet for creativity, I started making lists of themes for these books. One list was of “Happy” stuff. I decided to get an alphabetical list together of stuff for this book (yet to be made) and haven’t really looked at the list since. Here are a few from the list with pics I’ve gotten off the Internet, since I don’t have any actual pages yet to show you.

Green Lights – This may be an odd one to most, but if you’re in a hurry or are having a bad day, sometimes a simple green light as you’re approaching the intersection is all it takes to perk you up.

Pretty Paper – As a crafter, paper is fun. Pretty paper is even more fun. I have so much paper of so many designs I should NEVER have to buy any more. Ever. Think that will stop me? HA! I doubt that I will use it all before I die, but sometimes just looking through it gives my heart a little smile.

Purses – I LOVE PURSES! Most of the time my everyday purse is pretty big, because I have so much STUFF that is essential to life packed in there. I also have cute little purses for special times when all I REALLY need is one or two things. Maybe three or four at most. Okay, five things, but THAT’S IT. I have kinda called a halt to my purse buying for the present. Even *I* realize there is a limit.

You may wonder about the things I’ve left out that most people know are high on my list: coffee, chocolate, cats, books, Pierce Brosnan…

I’ve already blogged or posted about these things. This blog is about other things.

So make your own list. Ponder on it. And hey, the sun just now came out! It probably won’t stick around that long, but it sure is nice while it lasts…

No Alphabet Soup For You!! QRS

Just kidding. I’m not the alphabet soup Nazi. Here’s a big helping for those of you who have been starving for my soup these many months.

Q – Quetzalcoatl

This is a pre-Columbian deity. The name means “feathered serpent.” He was god of various aspects of life in the different cultures of the times. Wind, dawn, merchants, arts and crafts, all seemed to be under his control. I highly encourage you to look up the Wikipedia entry. Fascinating stuff. I happen to really like the name. It’s cool.

R – Reticule

This is a woman’s small drawstring handbag. Lots of them in Regency Romances. Of which I am a huge fan – don’t judge. The name comes from the Latin word “reticulum” which means netted or mesh, as the first ones were made from that material. They were later made of all sorts of beautiful materials and heavily adorned. They were pretty small, but a fashionable gal could pack quite a bit of essential stuff in there: hanky, visiting cards, sewing kit, breath mints, smelling salts, small notebook and pencil. Know what’s in MY purse? And how BIG it is? Maybe that will be my next blog. Too much crap in there to list now…

S – Sackbut

No jokes. This is a real instrument. Same era as the Krumhorn, which I talked about for the letter K. It was a Renaissance trombone with a much softer sound. I went on youtube and found some very pretty Baroque music featuring this instrument. I wonder what the movie “The Music Man” would have been like with medieval instruments….