Society of Stampaholics

New Year's Resolutions

Did you people really think you were going to get away without reading a post about New Year's Resolutions?

Anybody remember why I started my blog in the first place? I started it because I needed a place to unburden my guilt about being a supply Hoarder.

In the beginning, I was alone since I hadn't the courage to invite anyone in to see the depths of my crafting depravity. It was just Me sharing my confessions with Myself and I, cheering Myself on, shaming Myself into compliance. (I got plenty of grief from Myself, too.)

But then the good ol' Hero Arts Blog and Flickr Group changed all that. I believe it was Julie who started the thread saying we should all share our blog addresses. So I did, and suddenly Me, Myself and I were not alone anymore! People visited and witnessed my Hoarder's shame! (And a lot of other stuff - remember my craft room's Crest-covered walls? Remember how I totaled my car and walked away uninjured? Remember how I broke my toe the very next day in my living room?)

Good times.

One thing you Common Taters did NOT do, however, was join me in my quest to get that paper-crafting monkey off my back! Nobody accepted my invitation to to abstain from purchasing any more new scrap and stamp supplies during the course of 2008!

And not only did you people NOT help me stay on the Stamp Wagon, you encouraged me to abandon ship! And I suspect one of you actually pushed me off at some point (you bad, baaaaad woman, whose name shall not be revealed)!

I felt your fingers, you know.

I feel the need to chastise all of you... you... enablers for not stopping me from spending an obscene amount of money on New Stuff. It's all your fault!

At least that's what I've been telling Spouse.

So here we are... it's the beginning of 2009... and I thought I might casually drop a hint about joining me in a little resolution-making. I was toying with the idea of trying to show a little more self-restraint in the craft supply department. Nothing too big, mind you. Just a little discipline. I realize now that my goal last year was too big and unrealistic.

Although I DID do a really good job on my paper abstention. Until October, that is. Everything went to Hell in a hand basket - as my mother would say - in October. Did I hear the word "treat" one too many times? Was I resentful of the kiddies and their candy haul? 

I... I don't know. I lost my head. When I finally came back to my senses, I was surrounded by cute little 6" x 6" pads of coordinating paper....

And a heat gun holder.

 (Hey, I NEEDED that heat gun holder!)

But I digress (again).

So who's with me on creating a reasonable group goal? Anybody got any ideas? I was thinking maybe we could limit it to three things we weren't allowed to buy for at least the first quarter of 2008? Suggestions are desired!

Whaddaya think? Shall we join forces and stop this wallowing in the mire of consumerism? Maybe get it down to just a few roll-arounds in the mire of consumerism? Or shall we just continue to lie here, fat and bloated with buttons and ribbons and brads, drowning in an ever-deepening pool of paper and ink?

The first one who asks me to lower down a Diet-Coke is getting a wedgie....   

Lawrence Welk

One of the Common Taters is not familiar with Lawrence Welk! How can this be?!

Actually, it's probably quite common for people to not remember Lawrence Welk as his core audience was the elderly - and that was back in the 1970's when Lawrence wasn't much of a spring chicken himself. (That's not completely fair. He was a Big Deal in the 50's and had quite a career. He was also a financial genius who did very well in music publishing and real estate, making him the second wealthiest entertainer in Hollywood after Bob Hope.)

I remember The Lawrence Welk Show.

As a small child, my parents would drop me off at my maternal grandmother's house so they could get much-needed Time Away From The Child. (I would kill for some of that, by the way.) Grandma had a routine. We would hunker down in front of the TV with Corn Curls (a generic version of Cheetohs -the fluffy kind) and Ginger-ale and commence to watch The Lawrence Welk Show.

Now, what is sad is that I continued to watch this program - on my own - (what a flippin' geek!) as late as high school. To make my geekiness even worse is that I rarely watched television and can honestly claim that I have never even seen some of the most popular and longest running shows of the 1980's. I recognize titles, of course, but that's about it.

Don't ask me why! I don't know! I suspect it's because it was familiar. Although just now, I did a LW search and disovered a whole bunch of clips from the show - which is just crazy.

Lawrence Welk on YouTube? You gotta be kiddin' me.

Anyway, upon watching one of them, I think I understand now exactly where my love of harmony comes from. This show was a singer's platform, and everything was about clear, classic harmony. You can goof on everything else, but the harmony is plentiful and as good as it gets. Check out the Lemmon Sisters at the start of their career (when they were kids). Or as adults.

It wasn't all a bed of roses, though. I never did learn to appreciate Norma Zimmer, the Champaign Lady. (She was an operetically trained soprano with a heinous childhood - I know this because we got Grandma her autobiography for Christmas one year and I read it when she was finished - does the Geekiness never end?!) And I found the accorion music annoying, although Myron Floren was a Nice Guy. His daughter married Bobby Burgess, who ballroom danced with Cissy every week to the band's accompaniment. Bobby, by the way, was a former Mousketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club (the real one, the first one, the one with the Spin and Marty serial, for heaven's sake).

Wanna see Bobby and Cissy perform during Cissy's first performance on the show? Go here.

Go see Gail and Dale singing One Toke Over the Line, a "modern spiritual" as LW calls it. I find this amusing. And it makes me wonder what would happen if you were to drop acid and watch these two, or Guy and Rhonna, or, heck, the 16-member mixed ensemble performing a Beatles medly (which they did). I wonder if you'ld ever get all your wits back, or would it just be too bizarre to handle?

I am a little disturbed that I can remember every stinkin' word from the closing song:

Good night! Good night!
Until we meet again!
Adios, au revoir, auf weidesehn 'til then.

And tho' it's always sweet sorrow to part...
You know you'll always remain in my heart!

Good night! Sleep tight!
And pleasant dreams to you!
Here's a wish and a prayer that every dream comes true.

And now 'til we meet agaiiiiiin....
Adios, au revoir, auf weideseeeeeehn....

GOOD NIGHT!

I just know I'm going to be an old lady on my death bed unable to recognize my own child, but she'll say, "Goodnight, Mama," and I'll respond with this song, letter-perfect.

I better start teaching it to her now so she won't freak.