Of This and That ....

I received a chain e-mail this week that actually was very informative. Did you realize that the fiesty, outspoken, blunt old woman that we’ve all come to think of as one of the decades’s greatest sages is actually manipulated by a man? Yes, in essence, Maxine is a Dude!! I don’t believe there’s a woman out there who, at some point, hasn’t read at least one Maxine cartoon and thought something to the effect of “Ain’t that the truth?”

Turns out Maxine was the brainchild (or maybe “brain mother”) of John Wagner, a Hallmark artist, who combined various traits and comments of his mom, grandmother and a couple of spinster aunts to create Maxine back in the late 80’s. She’s become so popular that both John and Maxine receive fan mail and consumers have demonstrated a personal identification with her. John likes to think, “Putting a smile on someone’s face is what it’s all about.” There are many people out there who thinks she’s just like them .. Or Mom … or Grandmom ….or Great Aunt Sadie…etc.

Hallmark and John named this wise old broad Maxine based on a contest among Shoebox Greeting employees. Asked to suggest a name, three out of thirty entries came up with “Maxine” -- and, thus, an old lady was born!!

May she keep on philosophizing for years to come!!!

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My shop, http://www.splashin.etsy.com was mentioned in an article in the online shopping magazine http://www.wickedlychic.com yesterday. They did a short article on ByHand and mentioned of few of the member’s shops. Check out the article when you get a chance.

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For those who have asked, yes, we are still living oven-free. We miss brownies and oven roasted potatoes the most. We’ve made do with items such as bbq chicken on the electric grill, grilled marinated shrimp on the Foreman, a ham slice with brown sugar in the microwave, chili and jambalaya on the stove top, hot sausage sandwiches using the grill again and even “breakfast for dinner” (pancakes and breakfast links) one night. We’re quite tired of microwaved baked potatoes, though.

Only 4 more days until delivery of the new stove!!!

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Some new green leaves are starting to sprout in the front garden - we’re ¾ of an inch closer to Spring and our annual display of jonquils! That's putting me in a Spring-like mood so I've been busy creating some new Spring merchandise. Hopefully, I'll have a few pics for you here in a couple of days.


In the meantime, go forth and be creative!