Photo Contest Contestants! (Finally!)

So life kinda got in the way of Puppet Pie & the photo contest (Read that: Burglary (incl. all of our laptops & cameras), a few diagnosis for our son, school IEP stuff, goose bite infection (...yeah), heater/AC replacement, and a hole in our ceiling.) But I'm looking forward to seeing who the winner is & diving into Puppet Pie face first with a fork in my fist & no napkin to clean the mess (I live dangerously like that). So yeah, thanks for your patience, guys!

So anyway, there were 3 entries to the photo contest...which I think should be annual... I mean, that will give you guys a whole lot of time to come up with new, fun, and exciting ways to play with & photograph your puppets, right? RIGHT! Alright, so let's get started.

Entry #1 is Amanda's.

"This guy keeps me company all the time... this is a picture of him snubbing me, but he's normally pretty friendly... I don't know what was up the day I took this..."

Entry #2 is from Naomi

"I loved the idea of one of my puppets attacking one of Stacey's. What better way than with a giant shadow puppet nomming on the finger puppet!"

Entry #3 is from Jamie

"Puppet Western Bar: Back in the old West after a long day on the trail puppets were able to put their felt up at a local boarding house where they could find a room, warm meal, plentiful libations and engaging company. Just don’t pull on the bartenders’ udders."

So there ya have it. Which one is your favorite? Go vote off to the right. Voting will close February 2nd at midnight blogger-time. The winner & their prize will be announced hopefully sometime when I get around to it in February. (2010 taught me to not promise any real kind of dates)

Wheee!

It just occurred to me...

a) Occurred was a vocabulary word in my junior year of High School. I will never forget that.

b) I've done a bucket load's of really rad stuff that I feel compelled to list, but then I feel like that would be bragging, but then I feel like if a blog is for nothing else, it's to feel mildly indulgent, even if it's informative, because really most things people do are indulgent. I really hope I'm spelling Indulgent right....

c) I really like run-on sentences. although that didn't just occur to me. I've known this.

d) I really don't think I'm bragging. I'm just being self-indulgent to see every awesome thing that has happened to me in one place. I'm not looking for a pat on the back, because really all of this stuff is a pat on the back in and of itself (however I won't stop you) And they're not in choronological order. They're reasons I'm proud of myself at 2am.

• Etsy made a video about me. FREAKING WOW!
• I was in a Barenaked Ladies video for which my friend Noah Ginex did all his fancy-pants stuff (but he still credited me as a co-concept, set designer, assistant puppet builder, and puppeteer. I did do those things, and feel as though my roles were very minor, but it's really nice to actually be recognized for what I did do)
• I've taught at-risk youth for 4 years the art of puppetry. That right there is something big because someone trusted me enough to do that. And man, kids are really great at writing scripts.
• I was asked to make some last-minute puppets that were in two Phoenix Coyotes commercials. One with Wayne Gretzky (yeah, take that, Canada! I totally got to them before you did!)
• I was commissioned to make 5 puppets of and for 5 famous people (2 of them are legends...one has her own Webster's Dictionary entry) and they now own those puppets. What a kick-tuchus privilege.
• I've won awards for my film-making & writing with puppetry, and have shared those proudly with my friend Mack.
• I've sustained performing puppet shows for grown-ups in Phoenix for 7 years.
• I've managed to send my puppets to people in more than 10 different countries. (like..they even asked for them)
• I was asked to be an artist for The NewTimes Best of Phoenix edition.
• I've managed to titilate more than 3650 people on Etsy.com enough that they've added my shop as a favorite. (freakin' a!)
• People like what I write. (well, up until now, anyway)
• I'm pursuing something that I've loved since I was a toddler. I feel connected to my grandfather, who--even though he died when I was very young, I admired greatly.
• I was asked to make finger puppet kits for the MakerShed (Craft Magazine's online store) & even saw my finger puppets printed in their magazine in an ad for the store! &
• I was invited to be a demonstrator at the MakerFaire
• I've been to Toronto to "work" with awesome puppeteers
• I've received scholarships to puppetry festivals...People want me to learn, grow, and succeed!

I think of myself as this kid who is still trying to find her place (with her puppets) in the arts world....I forget that I've been recognized. I don't forget that my life is really rad & that really awesome stuff has happened to me (well, I forget some of the things)...but I do forget to see the big picture of it all. So here, now at 2:15am, I can see that I don't need to search for my place. I have my place. I've got this nice little plot of land. Now I get to lay down some irrigation & watch my seedlings grow into something even more amazing. Or are my plants already growing and I just need to sit back & enjoy each step of seeing the fruit form? Or is the fruit already there & all I need to do is harvest and eat it? Either way, something needs to be enjoyed.

Mmmm delicious, delicious puppet pie!

2% Guilt

Good news and bad news on the health-front.

Good news is that I have no gallstones.

Bad news is that I have no gallstones.

I was hoping that would be it so we could get my galbladder out of there & life could go on--without pain. Wouldn't that be nice? It would. Look at that, I didn't even make you think of an answer. I so nice.

It could be a peptic ulcer. I mean, did you see the list of all the stuff I had to get done in 2 days? Yeah, that's ulcersville right there. But again, nobody's ruling out my gallbladder.

So...about the guilt. I've left my shop really unattended all summer long & decided I'd get things back to normal once we were home from vacation & the boy was in school--I wasn't exactly expecting to start working the same day as well. I actually did pretty well when we first got back, but now I'm Mrs. Slacker Von SlackyPants McGee . You can call me Slacky for short, I suppose. Hmm no, on second thought, I want the respect of my full name being used. Mrs. Slacker Von SlackyPants McGee to you, friend.

So, to make up for it, do you think I've made new puppets? Listed new things? Heck no! Instead I've re-arranged my shop & dropped some prices on things and put them into what we like to call a "Sale" category. Yep, Mrs. Slacker von SlackyPants McGee is really putting in the effort, now.....without actually having to put in any effort.

And I'm not writing this to plug anything (this is a lie), I'm writing to inform the people about my slackage. So don't be surprised if you don't see me mention that some puppets have dropped anywhere from $2-4 in price. I know, I know, you'd like me to tell you about the future of this sale section, and how different things will rotate through and how you might find your favorite puppet slapped in there as though I don't even care about the workmanship--but I won't tell you that because I can't see the point in making this blog post about self-promotion. That'd just be selfish. I think we've established pretty well that I'm not selfish, I'm a slacker.

Just in case you missed it: