A quick & flippin’ awesome reuse of your grandmother’s broken watches! I really lovelovelove this idea.

… Well, maybe not so much this past week. I’ve come down with a bear of a bacterial infection, very crotchety throat, & a case of curmudgeonly bronchitis, so I’ve basically spent the last 4 days in the sack, under the covers, watching flick after flick after flick. Typically I would read, but my head has been so foggy. (Right now I am watching Satisfaction — holy guacamole, I was obsessed with this movie when I was young! I wore that soundtrack cassette OUT 3x over (playing air cowbell)! I, strangely, at the time, identified with Mooch. #pleatherheather) But as much as I have been too drained for anything labor-intensive, I am a horrid sickling — I can’t stand feeling like my body can’t keep up with my mind or agenda. As grim as I feel, I am still fidgety like a caffeinated chihuahua. So I thought…

I could do mindless crafts from the comfort of my down comforter!

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Happy International Women’s Day! I, for one, LOVE being a woman almost as much as I love being celebrated! ::winkwink:: Darling Hotbuns is so good at doing that everyday with messages like this: “This is your reminder that I am madly and deeply in love with you, Angelika Frangelico! [He actually didn’t use my blog alias, by the way.] You are the love of my life and the light of my world. Also, in case you are wondering, even when your body is 70+ years old, I’ll still be chasing after it. Well, maybe hobbling after it.” I get these kind of love notes daily, and every new one makes my heart skip a beat like a pebble on a pond. #pitterpat

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These photos are about all there is to tell. These lovely earrings are made of paper — just like a book — and ACTUALLY have paper pages with Sanskrit printed on them. They are positively divine. They were made in Napal and are authentic. Sure to get people asking questions, and DEFINITELY original. The golden artistic covers/embellishments are simply gorgeous, but how unique when they actually OPEN up like a book and reveal pages with a story in-between? These are really special. They are truly something else — a definite conversation piece!

You can purchase them via the Ravin’ Maven Mall on Etsy. They are only $10 and a real steal! They might be a cool addition to an Easter basket, come to think of it! I have about a dozen new items to add to the store, but in the moving mayhem, my Canon camera chord is in one place and the desktop computer is in another one, not to mention Photoshop is on the wrong computer, period! So, SOON, Mavens — I have some really keen & peachy new items for purchase, just gotta find the time (and proper equipment all in one place hanging out together nicely ::tehee::)
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Artwork by Jessica Grundy – www.solocosmo.etsy.com

I have ALWAYS wanted to learn another language. Unfortunately, in high school when it was required that I take 2 years of foreign language, not only was I in my rebellious, fight the system phase of angsty teen hormones, but I wanted the easiest way out of it and decided to take Spanish. No offense to the Spanish language whatsoever, but it’s never been a very auditorily pleasing language to me. This could be because I grew up in South Florida and spent a LOT of time in Miami where hotdog venders, and shady characters trying to sell me huge speakers out of the back of their vans, would scream at me in high-speed Spanish when I told them I was (then) a vegetarian & strange men who drive creepy vans with blacked out windows give me the willies. So, my heart was just not in it and I learned just enough to pass (and possibly say some flavorful 4-letter words like fart, burp, & poop — yeah, those were the ones!). I can remember protesting that above & beyond Spanish, French, & Latin (unfortunately *not* Pig Latin because I am fluent in that and would’ve gotten an A+ report card), all schools should offer ASL — American Sign Language. Of course, I had a personal reason(ing) behind this, but I will get to that in a few…

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Every book-lover’s dream (or *this* book lover’s, that is): a secret library behind a wall of built-in bookshelves! Ooh la laaa…

Guess what, Ravin’ Mavens? It’s MARCH! Even though we’re expecting some snow & ice tonight, spring is marchin’ in! ::SQUEE:: But guess what ELSE, Ravin’ Mavens? Tomorrow we get the keys to our new headquarters! Hyped does not even describe it! Darling Hotbuns & I halt, in whatever it is we’re doing, just about every hour on the hour and say, “Did you know…… we’re getting a new house tomorrow?!” I foresee very little sleeping going on tonight — it already feels like Christmas Eve and it’s only 2:27 in the afternoon. We’re going to be up giggling & whispering all night long. ::beam::

So, of COURSE I am already daydreaming & scheming about our new place. If you could draw up blueprints *just* for decorating, well, I’ve already done that. However, we just dropped a heap on the house, alone, and all our monthly bills have increased quite substantially, so we’re not going to be furnishing the house overnight. This actually excites me because I LOVELOVELOVE the thrill of a good hunt! I enjoy the quest almost as much as the find, and once I find something, I’m pleased as punch if it then becomes a project. Even as much as the bones of the house have me over the moon like the cow (as the dish & the spoon run away to brand-new cabinets with granite countertops!), I am reeeally — and reeling — looking forward to putting some sweat & sentimental tears into making it warm & wondrous for years & years.

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