It's Not Household Management

On the off chance anyone thinks this blog is devoted to household management, I thought I'd begin with a creation of mine now dismantled since this photograph was taken.

I know. It's a little creepy, isn't it? But, Kenny had brought home this half dress form and the thought occurred to me, "Ooohhh...I can make a 3-D, crazy quilt, sculptural sort of thing from this."

I confess I thought it was very cool at first. It wasn't until I got up in the middle of the night and it half scared me to death that I began rethinking my creativity.

And then, keep with me here, I learned of the "natural look" of the late Victorian era - the craze for decorating women's hats with toads, spiders, water beetles, whole birds and...lizards.

Just a few days later I walked by my 3-D, crazy quilt, sculptural sort of thing and saw what you yourself will see if you look carefully at the top left of the crown. That's right, it's a dead lizard who drew its last breath poised perfectly upon the hat. (Unless you live in Florida, you might not realize how common it is to find a lizard corpse in your house - or in your shoes.)

Now I'm thinking, "What a photo op!" I carefully carried the whole thing outside so I had the best light in which to catch the hollows of the poor thing's eyes.

But, half dress forms, as it turns out, are notoriously unstable in a strong breeze and the thing kept wanting to fall over.

So, picture this - I'm bent over it with my camera as my foot is attempting to keep it upright and I'm wondering how to make the lizard corpse stand out from the hat.

Should I spray shellac him so he looks shinier?

At that, I sat down and starting laughing at the absurd side-track my afternoon had taken.

I carried the thing inside, minus the lizard corpse. I put on the kettle and started dismantling my 3-D, crazy quilt, sculptural sort of thing.

There are no cobwebs here. And not a lot of household management either.