Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit

This year, the bunniest of holidays (Easter) falls on the funniest of holidays (April Fool's Day), so first off... "rabbit rabbit rabbit!" Second, all the critters hanging around our place are getting in on the hijinx!


Rabbit Ramon would not stand for the other household t-rex getting all the giggles, so he insisted on his own set of custom bunny ears.

Looky! Dino scales in the ears! And a more color-accurate photo.

Rabbit Mavis is going for redundant ear-age.

I couldn't let it lie, so amped up the ridiculous with a pink nose and front teeth.

Rabbit Dale... er, uh... where did Dale get off to?

After A Long Hiatus...

... MAVIS IS BACK!

How could we have gone since April without sharing Mavis's sweet fashion looks?

These are Mavis's first spectacles and she didn't know to spring for the anti-glare coating.

Oh, it's because she's been wearing repeat outfits, that's why. She's no capitalist diva and doesn't believe in wearing something just once and isn't afraid to be seen in the outfit, because she's not shallow. 

Dale is just starting to explore his style. He wears your grandpa's* tie and he looks fly.

Ramon shares my affinity for plaid culture.

Ramon has been wearing thrift store fashion outfits since before it was cool. This scarf? It was used in a photo shoot for a book by an author that he was into before any of you ever heard of him. They're actual friends.

Wait just a galldurn minute! WHAT'S THAT HANGING IN RAMON'S STAIRWELL?

Funny you should ask; that is another Dr Potter's Medicine Show fan-craft I made! You may recognize it from images of the photo shoot!

I made a 5" tall sign using image editing program software, printed it out, and then used my opaque projector to trace it in pencil onto pre-washed canvas in the darkness of the shop building. Then I mixed a couple colors of craft paint with textile medium and hand painted the traced letters.

I had incorrectly remembered that a standard dowel was 48" long and planned to put one through a rod pocket sewn along the top. But standard dowels are 36" and the pre-shrunk canvas is 38" wide, so I used some PVC pipe we had around and ran the jute rope through it instead of tacking it to the ends of a dowel. I cut the pipe just a bit shorter than the rod pocket, so that it wouldn't show.

After I had that all figured out, I used tea, coffee and an iron acetate stain I made with rusty nails and screws in white vinegar to age and distress the cotton cloth.

*By "your grandpa's," I mean "my dad's." And you bet I "borrowed" it out of his closet and wore it in the early-mid-80s with giant shirts and grandpa sweaters and probably stirrup pants and lots of bracelets and I never very gave it back.

Our Secret Celebration FINALLY Revealed!

THE SET UP

We had a little reason to celebrate awhile back, so I decorated the house real quick while Eric was at work...

Mavis doing a little Carol Channing thing.

The chandelier over the dining table.

Ramon feeling all fiesta!

No better place for this elaborate tissue banner than on a pre-existing nail by the pantry doors.

New head-on-a-wall family member, Dale the Jackalope!

THE REVEAL

A few years ago and after some years, Eric came back to writing, or "typing" as it is called in our house. Then he took the big leap of sending unsolicited manuscripts to literary agents. It was the usual story, until April 2015 when he signed with Jennie Goloboy at Red Sofa Literary. WOO! After some edits and such, Jennie started sending his manuscript out to editors at potential publishers and in December he received word that one of those editors was interested! Then he (we) waited patiently-not-patiently to hear back... and the he did! WOO! Angry Robot offered a two-book deal! Expect to hear a lot more about it as the estimated February and November 2017 release dates get close. Wheeeee!

And then came more waiting for contract negotiations and actual contracts and snail mail - yes, really. Finally in mid-March 2016 the contract arrived, he signed it, and mailed it off - yes, really in the mail.

And then more waiting for the contracts to arrive in England and Angry Robot and Red Sofa to make the official announcements. OMG, THE WAITING!

And now I FINALLY get to post here about it! And blab around to all and sundry! And make a fuss on Facebook! And post pics on my Instagram! And more importantly, point you all towards Eric Scott Fischl, Author's various social media presences and ask that you follow, like, add, and SHARE, pretty, pretty please.

Website: verbadverb.com
Twitter: @eric_fischl
Facebook
Pinterest

He's using his middle name, because of the famous artist Eric Fischl getting all the SEO already. D'oh!

A Tip of the Hat to Dame Mavis

I came upon an inherited fur stole while digging through the costume boxes and bins last month. The obvious next step was putting it on Mavis. The next obvious steps after that are digging up costume jewelry and and pearl encrusted antlers. Mavis dresses for Thanksgiving Dinner, because she's a real class act.

Ramon is a Tyrannosaurus rex which means he's over 65 million years old and while he doesn't care one way or the other about pilgrims of any sort, he does come from a generation that appreciates quality haberdashery. He'd tip his hat to you, but... you know, those short arms.

Funny Valentines

As far as post-worthy things going on here on the side of the mountain, their just hasn't been much.  In one of those household accidents you here about, I ended up breaking my right hand so I am busy recovering from that which includes hand therapy and a splint.  It's a time consuming process both because if I did the exercises as prescribed I'd be looking at 5-6 hours/day of that and because with my right hand limited everything takes longer - including typing*.  All that said, I did manage to dig up most of the Valentine's Day decorations and throw them up!

Mavis is sporting the arrow antlers I made her last year, but has added some bling!  She needed the extra bling, because this year the weather has been decidedly Portland-esque: rainy and overcast (as much as that can be accomplished here).  I bring this up because the dark sky and my skill level with the camera combine to make the shot dark and grainy, but at least that's pretty much what it is like in real life.

Ramon: King of Hearts, Baby!  He gets the overly bright flash treatment.  I really need a reflector for my indoor photo-taking. I say "photo-taking," because "photography" sounds too advanced.

Last year, I received this sparkly piece of awesome in the mail!  This year it hangs in the main floor bath.

I did a Valentine's Swap with some crafty friends last year, too, and got this super-cute mailbox! It's on a shelf in the kitchen this year.

And this adorably charming little nosegay!  Someday I'll find the perfect little sweet thing to put in it for display. Something dogs won't care about.  

 I also received a lovely embroidered tote that I use all year as my reusable shopping bag for the craft store.  SO much love!  I made a Valentine bunting last year, but don't really feel like climbing up the loft ladder with 1.5 hands to retrieve it or on a step stool to hang it.

Despite my limitations, I was able to manage some making for my own Valentine and hopefully I can get some pictures to share that with you after they're received by my Valentine.  For one gift I have assembled the materials, but still haven't attempted the "construction."  This project is uncharted territory, perhaps for anyone. I could not find any information on the interwebz about how to do this with the greatest chance at success.  I hope that means that no one has bothered to try or share, rather than there is little chance at success.

*This entry may be even worse for typos than usual.

Costumes for Everyone!

Trick or treat!  Here's Mavis the Blue Wizard at your door begging for candy.

I picked up this hat in the bins years ago 

And good ol' Ramon, bustin' out his classic Viking disguise.  He'll take mead, thank you.

The Ramon.

For some reason it took me ages to get Mavis out of her clown costume, but I finally did.  Funny how the clown wasn't creepy, but this kitten is totally creepy.

Ramon is also keeping it simple with his Tin Woodman hat/funnel.  This disguise is especially silly, because if there is one thing that we all know it is that Ramon is alllll heart.

Foolin' Around

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!

Pretty much the only non-creepy clown around, Ms. Mavis.  Seriously, she's less creepy in person.

Once I spotted the red clown nose in the 50% off bin at Michael's, I knew Mavis had to have it.  What I couldn't believe was that between the two of us neither Eric or I had a rainbow clown wig!  That's not like us at all. Lucky for me, my friend, Denise, had part of one left over from a project and our mutual friend, Lisa, guilt-ed her into sending it to me!  YEY FRIENDS!  YEY GUILT!  The rest of her outfit was cobbled together with materials at hand, mostly scraps and remainders from other projects.

Something about this great, big , bushy beard makes Ramon look kind of cranky. That's how you know it's an April Fool's joke, because Ramon is the cheeriest guy there is.

We also didn't have a bushy, ginger beard for Ramon, if you can believe that.  I did have orange yarn in my stash, though. YEY STASH!  The hat was picked up from the Goodwill bins a few years ago & has been in the costume box waiting for the right occasion.

Love Is Hung On The walls. Or Love Is In The Air; I've Heard It Both Ways.

After taking down the Christmas decorations in the 3rd week of January, ahem, it was looking pretty plain around here.  That was especially so of Ramon and Mavis and I could not let that stand.  Since moving here, I've become suddenly interested in holiday decorating*, especially decorating the taxidermy.

I don't have much in the way of decorations for anything other than Halloween and Christmas.  After trawling around pinterest I decided Mavis needed Cupid's arrows and made these.  She looked pretty plain after the gloriousness of her Christmas get up, but after I few days her new, sleeker look grew on me.

Ramon and Mavis trade off keeping it classy, but Ramon usually opts to skip his turn. Introducing Ramon: Lounge Lizard & Love Tyrant.

Ladies...

That 70s Dinosaur.

For Ramon I used wigs from the costume box(es), dollar store novelty shades, and a homemade gold chain.  I cut open and re-glue a couple of Mardi Gras bead necklaces to get one long enough to fit over his face and then I added the gold heart which I had purged from the Christmas tree ornament box this year.


*see what I did there?

Oh, They Know It's Christmastime All Right.

Oh, Ramon!  You're such a Christmas Cad!

Santa hat? Check. Santa beard? Check.  A few extra details? You bet!

Mavis decided to go Full Glamour this year. She looks like something from America's Next Top Faux Taxidermy, doesn't she?

Glitter bough antlers, a shiny, jingle bell choker, AND a fluffy, glimmering birdie buddy? Please.

Turkey Season is Open!

This year Mavis has gotten into the spirit of the autumn season and decided to wear Delia's turkey costume.  Now that Delia is well past her second birthday, she does't fit it anymore anyway.

And Ramon is feeling his hunter instincts kick in!  He's a conscientious guy though and made sure to don his flash orange hat. "Safety first!"

Costumes All Around!

Just because the human life forms around this joint don't have a costume event to attend for Halloween, doesn't mean the rest of these yahoos aren't going to don their fancy dress.

Oh, Ramon! You're such a fun guy to have around.

Too bad Cub Scouts don't sell delicious cookies. Ramon likes cookies and is an excellent Salesdino.

When I tossed Eric's old Ziggy Stardust wig on Mavis, I knew she'd have to follow in his footsteps.

If Mavis has a "God-given ass" it's on the other side of that wall, in the pantry. Yuck.

"Huntsters"

Ramon is doing is best hipster imitation, but his cheery demeanor and infectious smile give him away.  Or maybe he's a Florence, Montana Hipster; there's a kid who works at our local grocery who looks like a hipster, but acts like a really nice young man with manners and everything.

Meanwhile, Mavis is trying to infiltrate the hunter crowd.  She's WAY too glamorous to pull if off for long.

The Dread Pirate Ramon

A week or so ago Eric and I finally both got fired up at the same time to do some work organizing the shop (well one side of it).  We got together most of our cardboard moving boxes to recycle or otherwise donate, moved all the holiday decorations (and a dog crate) into the loft on the other side of the shop, organized our other recycling, assembled a couple of shelving units and got most of the remaining boxes stuck onto them.  This liberated the floor for painting the living and dining room curtain rods (post coming soon) and helped us have a better idea of where things in which boxes were located... including the boxes of wigs and costumes!

We can now refer to "going downstairs" as "walking the plank" if we want to and feel like it makes sense.  Total and utter sense.  Please note the eye patch on Ramon's right eye.

I have collected lots of this and that for unspecified costumes from the dollar store and the Goodwill bins over the years.  I've used many of these things, but not all of them.  Until now.  Mwahahahahaaaaa!

Spring is in the air and Mavis is feeling a bit like a flapper with her bobbed hair and sparkly, feathered headband!

On St. Patrick's Day Every Dog is an Irish Wolfhound

All the critters and beasts in our house LOVE dressing up for holidays.

Mavis is a bonny Irish lass.

Watch out!  Ramon is ready to do some pinching.  Don't let the tiny little arms make you complacent, either.

O'Betty the leprchaun!

"Gold" buttons and brass buckles!  O'Betty is so good natured.

Delia is our tomboy and likes to keep the costumes low-key.

NEW DISCOVERY!

In a moment of Photoshop clarity, I discovered the only differences between a leprechaun and Abraham Lincoln are color and height.  I know, your mind is blown.