The Bow Belle

As far as I'm concerned it can't go away fast enuff, 'cause it's been a doozy.  To celebrate, I present a bow that has a little bit of everything and a lot of my favorite things. My favorite colors (blue and green), and two of my favorite prints (polka dots and argyle).  This one came out of the Wrong Box and thus was a complete (but welcome) surprise.  Etsy shop is no longer open; it was AdoraBowsStore.  Drat it, that shop had such cute stuff.  Oh well, I'm glad Mama and I took advantage of it while we could. Yeah, I know summer doesn't truly end until...<pauses to look> this year it'll be September 23rd, but according to our local weatherman "meteorological fall" begins tomorrow.  We all know weathermen NEVER are wrong (LOL)!!!  Of course the end of summer doesn't mean I have to dial back the colors completely, but it will mean a change from cooler hues and lightweight fabrics to warm tones and fabrics with more heft.  Y'all will s

My bow today was rage-purchased when the character on it became controversial.  Etsy shop is RnRshairbowsandmore . For the uninitiated, that's Chase from Paw Patrol .  Paw Patrol is a children's program about a little boy and his team of search and rescue dogs.  Fitting considering the mess in Florida and Georgia this morning.  Anyway, each of the dogs has a special job to do and a special appearance to go along with said job.  Chase is second fiddle to the boy and is a police officer.  In recent years backlash against the Fuzz has been strong due to a handful of bad cops doing bad things, and some on the left wanted Chase written out of the show.  That was YEARS ago now, but...well, I've got the bow so why not continue to wear it? Long live Paw Patrol !  They got picked up for another season earlier this year, so it doesn't look like Chase and company are going anywhere. Love, RagingMoon1987 

...be sure to wear some flowers in your hair !  I guess that the proper time to wear a sunflower was last week when it was so cotton-pickin' hot, but...well, summer's not over yet.  Etsy shop is...y'all ready for this???  The shop's name is GnosisCraftsandGifts . I occasionally wore flowers in my hair when I was in high school, but it never became a habit and I dropped the act after getting my hair cut for college.  I still have my high school flowers....somewhere, though.  There was a pink rose, a black rose, and a trippy blue thing made out of denim.  They were all Hot Topic specials, believe it or not.  Hot Topic sells more girly crap now, but once upon a time they were where you went to shop if you were a beginner goth or punk.  My sister and I were the latter. As for sunflowers, I used to marvel at their size and their beauty, as well as their usefulness.  When I was small my paternal grandfather would always grow several, and since I WAS small the sunflowers dwarf

This bow sadly doesn't do much to actually HELP Hawaii, but if any of y'all out there are Hawaiian, just know that the rest of the country is thinking of you and praying for you, just as a lot of y'all probably did when Joplin got hit. The fires on Maui have been on my mind a lot lately for a number of reasons.  Historians are saying that this is the worst fire since 1918, when Cloquet, Minnesota burned to the ground.  453 died in Cloquet, while as of writing 115 are dead on Maui...if the officials are tellin' the truth.  A lot of shady crap has been happening with this fire, so nothing is set in stone.  But 388 are still missing, and if a large percentage of them turn up dead then the Cloquet toll will be topped.  The next stop after Cloquet (God forbid) is Peshtigo .  I pray that most of the 388 are found alive.  I think it's highly unlikely that they're ALL alive, but hopefully most of 'em are. I guess that (for me, at least) the fires on Maui are a remin

My bow today is one of my first ones, given to me on my thirty-second birthday by who else but my mama. It's got a Christian theme, and while I'll never claim to be a good Christian, I'll still claim Christ as my Lord and Savior any day.  And that's all I'm gonna say today. INRI, RagingMoon1987

Yeah, I tend to think of Wonder Bread and its brightly-colored packaging when I look at this bow, but it's another school-themed bow. I love polka dots!  Wonder Bread would've been a cute theme for this bow, but it's got three textbooks on it instead and that's fine too.  As with yesterday's bow, this one came from Etsy, but because it's another gift I don't know where. The subject matter listed on the three books are a mixed bag for me.  I loved art and reading growing up, but I hated math.  I still hate math, for that matter!  I never have understood how numbers could go from something like 2+2 to the Pythagorean theorem.  Art, on the other hand...well, as I discussed back in April , I don't always understand art (or stuff called "art"), but I like it.  Seeing the word in big letters makes me giggle though, because I picture Schroder and Lucy and their discussion about music, art, and money. I can't play music on any instrument, but I ca

More back-to-school stuff.  Hey, the only time I can really wear these is at the beginning of school or the end, so I may as well make 'em count. I wonder where and when it became tradition to give teachers apples?  I know that I gave my teachers apples on more than one occasion (if I wasn't giving them dandelions, LOL), and my mother received apples on several occasions.  Mama never has been a big fan of apples, so usually I'd get to eat them.  I love apples.  Yellow apples and the little striped Fuji apples are my favorites, but I'm not too picky.  My sister, on the other hand...she likes Granny Smith apples, but when she eats them she also cuts a piece of sharp cheddar cheese and eats that with the apple.  She's done that ever since she was a little kid.  I used to think "Ewww, cheese with an apple?" but when I tried the combo myself I realized my sister was onto something.  But I still prefer my apples sweet. Love and apples, RagingMoon1987

Oh, back to school...that was a naughty phrase when I was a little girl.  Mama, my sister, and I all had to go back and it wasn't too much fun, though I will admit that I liked shopping for school supplies (especially when Lisa Frank was big).  But normally Mama didn't want to go back (she was a teacher), my sister and I didn't want to go back, and Daddy didn't want us to go back!  The teachers have ALWAYS had to go back before the kids, and they've always had to leave a few days after us, and I never thought that was fair.  To me it wasn't officially summer until Mama got out for good.  But that's all past us now as my sister and I are out of school and Mama retired several years ago.  But with the new school year looming...well, of course y'all know what I have.  I think the Etsy shop is LittleBelleBowtique . Mama got that for me clean back in March, when the END of school was in sight!  When it comes to clothes and accessories it's always best to

<sings loudly>  We come from the land of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs glow !  Tomorrow is Robert Plant's birthday, and thus fresh from the same shop as the Beatle bow comes a Led Zeppelin bow.  Gee whiz, could the Beatles and Zep be more different???   When it comes to British hard rock I've always been more of a Who fan than a Led Zeppelin fan, but I do love me some Zep...and besides that, I've yet to see a bow honoring the Who.  Zep, the Beatles, and the Stones, yes, but so far I've not seen the Who.  Whatever, I like Led Zeppelin too; my favorite Zep songs are " When the Levee Breaks " and " Over the Hills and Far Away ."  Regarding Robert Plant himself, I've always been fond of his work with Alison Krauss, particularly " Please Read the Letter ."  It always surprised me that Big Bad Robert with a voice like steel could mesh with the gossamer-voiced Krauss, but he did and I loved every second o

I find it interesting that both Clemson University and LSU are tigers, but the colors are drastically different.  Case in point. Okay, I don't know if this bow is specifically designed to be a Clemson bow, but it's got the right colors so I call it my Clemson bow anyway.  My sister considered Clemson for her doctoral studies, by the way, but Vermont gave her the better offer so that's where she ended up.  LOL, that girl's attended school pert near everywhere! Love, RagingMoon1987

My bow today is one of the simpler ones, one that my deceased friend gave me.  I call this one my workhorse, because a simple black bow goes with everything.  I wore this one on July 18th , so it's a repeat. The earrings, however...these came from somewhere on Etsy.  Mama got 'em for me, and as usual I don't know what shop she got them from. I like how these have both black cats and gears.  Kinda gives 'em a steampunk sort of vibe.  And of course I love the black cats.  Currently I own a grand total of nine (yes, NINE) cats, but sadly none of them are black.  Mama has three cats, and two of them are black...take that back.  Edgar had the nerve to escape and never come back, so now she's down to one black cat and one cat that's tabby and white. Black cats have always been both special and elusive to my family up until about ten years ago.  The first black cat that my immediate family owned came along when I was in first grade.  One afternoon a lady Mama knew came

Truth be told, the bow doesn't have anything to do with the gum.  But it's big, it's red, and it's got polka dots! The Etsy shop is SpaceCatSupplyCo .  Like yesterday's bow, this one was inspired by the brief Disney emphasis that was in last year's reading program.  This one was directly inspired by the one and only Minnie Mouse, who always wears a hair bow.  Oops, lemme clarify:  she almost always wears a POLKA DOT hair bow!  Some artwork exists where Minnie is wearing a solid bow, and during the pie-eyed era she wore a hat instead .  In the early short " Plane Crazy " she appears to have worn  no headgear at all , and instead of a full dress she just wore a skirt...and a pair of bloomers that ended up saving her life.  By contrast, Mickey (who apparently is a horrid pilot) has changed very little since the twenties; he's always rocked red shorts and yellow shoes, and nothing else except for special occasions.  Hey, if it ain't broke, don'

So said one of my foreign exchange friends when I admired her polka dot fingernails.  She'd like my bow for today. LOL, y'all can see how thin my hair is getting!  Last summer the library's reading program talked about famous Missourians, and one of the Missourians they talked about was the one and only Walt Disney.  I personally love Disney stuff, liberal or no, and when my boss said we'd be talking about Walt during one of our meetings I got a bow to commemorate.  Of course now I can wear it whenever I want, LOL again. My college friend loved Minnie Mouse, and I...oh gosh, I like Goofy an awful lot.  When I was in high school I used to talk like him to get a rise out of my sister.  I'd even extend it to singing; I'd sing something silly like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in his voice and end it with "Hyuck, gawrsh!"  My mother, who can have a quick temper and who gets very loud when she loses said temper, relates to Donald Duck.  Or rathe

This is a holiday my dad would've been all over like white on rice.  Y'all have seen my University of Alabama bow (which is an elephant), so today's bow is a bit more childlike. I never would've dreamed that pink and gray would look good together, but they do.  And there's polka dots, and there's elephants, so it's all good. Back on April 15th I spoke of my father's fondness for elephants.  I wonder if he knew that there was a day celebrating them?  Given his fondness for his birthday and for National Hot Dog Day (July 19th), he probably would've found a way to celebrate.  As for me, well...I'm not as big on elephants as Daddy was, but I do like them.  Frogs are my animal of choice.  But anyway, remember that collection of elephants that Daddy had?  The one that I had to explain to friends after he died?  My sister and I haven't talked this out yet, but if I get 'em I'll split 'em with her.  There's more than enuff to share.

I can't remember if I've shared this bow here or not, but I like it so here it is again. This is one of my bows that lights up, and the batteries are still going strong because I almost never turn it on.  Because of the lights and the battery mech this is one of my heavier bows, but ATM I have it placed right and it's not pulling my hair. Stars and rainbows, RagingMoon1987

Nothing super-special today, except that the song " Magic Bus " is now fifty-five years old. My mom was never a Who fan, but she reserves a special vitriol for "Magic Bus."  The repeated chorus of "I want it, I want it" drives her nuts.  I'll admit that it's not my favorite Who song either (that title would go...oh gosh, I guess it would go to " Bell Boy "), but it got heavy rotation on my late, great iPod.  But then again, every Who song I put on my late, great iPod got heavy rotation, LOL.  It got to the point where if I shook my device to get a random song it was either " Who Are You " or my favorite Moody Blues song, " Steppin' in a Slide Zone ."  Pretty bad when your iPod knows you that well. Love and music, RagingMoon1987

Today I went with a celestial theme, since it's both Shooting Star Day and Pluto Demotion Day .  The bow is yet another JoJo Bow... ...stars and ice cream!  How's that for a combo? I stole the title of this particular post from a popular lolita brand , one that...probably makes dresses that are WAAAAAAY too small for me.  The clothes are ridiculously expensive even if they DID come in my size; if it's one thing I won't do, it's pay three hundred bucks for a stinkin' dress.  Take that back, my favorite Baby dress is just under FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS, and it's just a simple dress with yellow and white stripes!  They do have some adorable hair bows, though .  But no, if I ever want to do the lolita thing I'd have to make my own stuff...and even then I'd be completely alone.  I don't think anyone in my area does the lolita thing.  Heck, I'm quickly becoming the only one who wears big hair bows!  I had hoped I'd start a trend among my young patr

Why do Daleks have a day of their own???  Indeed, according to my favorite holiday website these inverted trash cans with eyestalks get TWO days, the next one being in December.  Either way, I've got the bow. For the uninitiated, Daleks are the bane of Doctor Who's existence.  They are essentially these slimy looking little beings that live inside the armored trash can pictured on my bow.  They are very dangerous, and since they're based off the Nazis they're also ruthless.  Despite the danger that Daleks present to...well, everything that lives and breathes, the Doctor regards them with contempt rather than fear .  Indeed, the Doctor turned the tables on the Daleks at least once when the Ninth Doctor subjected one Dalek to a nasty torture session...with a smile on his face, no less!  WhoCulture listed that stunt as one of the worst things the Doctor ever did, but considering what the Daleks did to the Doctor's home planet...well, can you blame him for wanting reven

When you're at a loss over what to wear on one particular day, toss in a unicorn bow. That's really all I have to say today.  There's nothing else I can bloviate about...at least, not when it comes to unicorns. Love, RagingMoon1987

My sister actually began her job at University of Arkansas last month, but classes there begin the coming Monday, so... ...a Razorback bow!  My family has never been a group of Razorback fans, but I guess we'll have to change our tune. Sister is excited, because she prefers research to teaching, and at University of Arkansas she'll be able to do research.  I'm not at liberty to say what she's researching, but it's interesting.  Brother-in-Law is happy too, as he's already got a bunch of job offers and they're all decent jobs.  Louise, their cat, is happy...well, as happy as Louise can be.  She's got a 'tude. Louise is a special needs cat, and she only loves Sister and Brother-in-Law (particularly BiL).  Moving houses is hard for any critter, and Louise REALLY hates it (particularly if it's a long ride), but once she's settled in she's a happy puddy tat.  Until Sister starts tickling her, that is; Sister loves animals, but she does like to

It's certainly a fine day for watermelon! This one came out of the Wrong Box, and I'm very glad it did or I wouldn't have had a watermelon bow for today...or at least not one that y'all haven't seen.  That would've been unacceptable since I'm fond of watermelon, especially the little ones with the dark rind, the so-called "black diamonds."  One year some bright yellow ones grew at Grandpa's farm, and those were what we had.  And I mean they were yellow!  On the outside they were normally colored, but once Daddy cut them open they were a lovely golden yellow inside.  That was one of the best watermelons I ever tasted, and the only one that I ever ate straight from the rind.  Y'all know how in cartoons and books people are usually depicted as eating watermelon from the rind ?  We didn't usually do that.  Mama would cut the rind open, chunk up the interior, and serve it to us that way.  The local colony of alley cats got the rind, which th

I was never big on coloring books when I was a little kid, preferring instead to freehand my drawings and let imagination take over.  But for a short while during the height of the JoJo Bow craze there were black and white bows that came with two markers for coloring in, and that's what I've got today. I've got another one like this somewhere with two different markers, so I predict another long weekend coloring in tiny outlines is in my future.  LOL, one weekend last spring Uncle From St. Louis was home for a visit.  It was a lengthy weekend, and I spent most of it guffawing at his stories and coloring in images of unicorns and stars and hearts and bows.  It was...surprisingly relaxing!  I'd put it down thinking that I wanted a break, and then five minutes later I was back to coloring.  The details are small, so my coloring isn't precise, but I did pretty well.  I love the unicorns.  They have such cute faces! I'm not the artist that my sister is, but I do love

Etsy shop is BlushAndBashfulVB . Truth be told, I'm not a huge Grateful Dead fan.  I have nothing against them, but the only song I'm really familiar with is " Touch of Grey ."  My sister, knowing how I love skeletons and the macabre, yelled at me to "Get in here and see this," and I got to know the song through the music video, which depicts the band as skeletons for much of the song.  I loved how the audience just rolls with it.  Hey, Jerry and company are skeletons?  So what?  Then about halfway through the third verse the band comes back to life and the audience cheers even harder.  I love it, all four minutes and fifty-three-or-so seconds of it.  It also didn't hurt that the song is damn catchy.  LOL, I listen to it all the time, video or no. As for my local oldies station...well, as many fans as the Grateful Dead have the only song of theirs that got regular airplay was " Truckin' ," hence the title of this particular post.  Okay, I l