The Bow Belle

Once upon a time the Sci-Fi Channel ran marathons of The Twilight Zone during Independence Day, and again during the new year.  We don't bother watching much nowadays because big pieces of each episode are cut to cram in more commercials, but for a long time my family did watch and we loved every second of it.  Y'all know where I'm going with this.  The Etsy shop is one of my favorites, DollfaceDesignss . Whaaaaaaat, did y'all think the Doctor was the only sci-fi feller in my life?  Far from it!  Indeed, Rod Serling came first...and for that matter, Ray Bradbury came second.  I like Ray Bradbury.  Anywho, I like The Twilight Zone because it makes one think and can scare the living snot out of a viewer, and it does so with good storylines and decent acting.  No overuse of gore, sex, or dirty words, though admittedly I'm not allergic to a little gore (or dirty words, as y'all have seen).  "The Obsolete Man" is my favorite episode, because it ...

< sings like Mr. Burns >  See my bow, see my bow, decorated with flakes of snow!  LOL, Etsy shop was AdoraBowsStore, one of the last Mama got from there. It hasn't snowed yet, nor do I want it to, but temperatures this week are decidedly more wintery.  Last week I spent every day in short sleeves and light shoes, but today I've got on a sweater and a pair of shoes that cover my feet.  No, it's not THAT cold, but it's cold enuff that my usual attire of a T-shirt and sandals would be uncomfortable.  We've also had some rain (and indeed, some wet snow that didn't stick). As versatile as this bow is, I plan on getting a lot of mileage out of it before springtime comes, snow or no.  So be prepared for a lot of repeats, LOL.  Besides, white goes with everything, fashion rules be damned. Frosty fun, RagingMoon1987

Today is, among other things, Pledge of Allegiance Day.  So I trotted out my favorite patriotic hair bow. <places hand over heart> I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation UNDER GOD, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The Catholic school where Mama worked added "for the born and the unborn" to the end. Interestingly, the Pledge initially included a salute to the flag, one that looked hauntingly like the Nazi salute.  This salute was called the "Bellamy salute," after Francis Bellamy (no relation to handsome Matt Bellamy), who invented both the salute and the Pledge. Needless to say, said salute is not done anymore.  A simple hand over the heart was enforced during WWII, and the Bellamy Salute went the way of the dodo. Today a number of schools add other pledges in addition to (or flat-out in place of) the Pledge of Allegiance.  When I was a grade schooler I had to hold my h...

No, I never will be the biggest advocate of winter, and the mild temperatures from last week have given way to chilly days and downright cold nights. Quick, Clara!  Imagine them melting!  LOL, my Christmas was quiet but much more uplifting than Thanksgiving.  I didn't get the floor lamp I wanted, but I did get a full set of Percy Jackson books and three books about Joplin Missouri and the Butterfly People.  Yes, the Butterfly People.  There were multiple (and I mean MULTIPLE) cases of people, all under the age of twelve, who reported these gloriously beautiful people who protected them at a critical moment during the 2011 tornado.  Being of a religious bent, I'm positive that it was a fleet of angels.  Y'all can do with that what you like. Now the new year awaits!  I like New Year's Eve, but this new year I'm NOT looking forward to. Frosty love, RagingMoon1987 

The other day I discussed corduroy, and today Imma discuss one of my other favorite fabrics. My reasons for loving velvet are the same as my reasons for loving corduroy:  it's soft and shiny and warm, and it can be utilized a lot of different ways.  Two of my favorite dresses growing up were velvet, both handmade by the same wonderful woman.  The first was this knee-length job with a wide lace collar, and the velvet was this beautiful blue shade like the dress Felicity Merriman wore during her Christmas story. Only difference is that Felicity's dress was and is taffeta.  But the color was the same.  I wore that dress to the school's winter concert that year, and as we were all letting out, looking for our parents, I ran into a little kid that was about five (I was eleven).  She had a Dalmatian-spotted coat made of fake fur, and we both stood for a few seconds feeling the softness of each other's clothes.   The other dress was the same color as the...

Yep, it's that time!  Granted, most of the shopping should be winding down since Christmas is literally just around the corner.  This bow is a repeat. I'm now convinced that no subject is too outlandish for a cheer bow.  If It and Doctor Who can be immortalized as cheer bows, I s'pose Amazon can be too. Truth be told, I've never bought from Amazon!  I do love to browse there, but I've never bought...unless the Fidgie Friend I got yesterday came from there.  I bought a couple'a Fidgie Friends off eBay, but Fairie Garden arrived in an Amazon shipper, and her return address was the local Amazon hub so I guess that's where the seller got her.  Oh yes, buying up stock and selling it at a ridiculously jacked-up price!  That's real nice...except I didn't buy Fairie for a ridiculously jacked-up price.  The seller listed the price that Wal-Mart lists, so I dunno. Yeah, I've bought myself Christmas gifts this year.  Not gonna lie.  I got two of '...

The days are short The sun a spark Hung thin between The dark and the dark --John Updike, " January " I know January is still a couple'a weeks away, but with it being the winter solstice I felt it fitting.  To commemorate I present another Frozen bow. As winters go this one has been a mild one so far, but then again it's just getting started!  In December of 2021 it never did get truly cold, and we had hail and tornadoes .  Then last December one of Mama's pipes froze and exploded, so the month truly is a mixed bag for the Bootheel.  Usually it's predictable, but in recent years, not so much.  January is fast becoming much of the same; usually it's windy and cold, but in the past the month has also brought my neck of the woods tornadoes galore.  As much as I hate winter I'd prefer for this part of the year to be more...well, wintry!  March and April can have the tornadoes, thank you! But then again I'd prefer not to have snow up to my neck either...

And my favorite color, LOL.  Etsy shop is SpaceCatSupplyCo . I associate corduroy with comfort, warmth, and childhood.  When I was a little kid we had a brown corduroy recliner, and more often than not that's where Mama and I sat after dinner.  Our bellies would be full and usually I'd be fresh from a bath, I'd have a lapful of kiddie books, and Mama would hold me and read to me.  Our cat would sometimes add to the homey atmosphere by ricocheting off the back of the chair during a spell of zoomies.  One night I counted five times that she did that, LOL.  We were on the couch that night, but when we were sitting in that chair and the cat bounced off it, it sure made a heckuva noise! Some of my kiddie clothes were also made of corduroy.  I had a little vest that was made of the fabric, and it always chagrined me that I could only wear it during winter.  The vest was dark green, much darker than the bow I've got now, and I could zip it up "all by mys...

Today is Holly Day, but I don't have a holly bow so I went with the Nutcracker again, complete with my first initial (and my last, LOL).  I'm not a huge fan of holly anyway, not since our holly bush annihilated my balloons when I was a kid. I don't know the Etsy shop; this one was another gift.  It's already gotten a handful of compliments, though! My memories of holly aren't the greatest, but walnuts (which I presume are what nutcrackers smash) are another story.  My paternal grandmother had a black walnut tree in her backyard, and one of my favorite things to do was take a broom handle and wallop ripe walnuts off the tree.  I never touched them because black walnuts have a rind that both stains clothes and reeks, but I loved smacking them off the tree.  Grandpa would then gather them up in a sack, toss them in the road, and run over the sack with his truck a couple'a times to break up the rind.  I never saw him run over the sack, but I saw him gather them...

Normally I wouldn't be oot and aboot on a Monday, but today is the library's Christmas party and the whole cotton-pickin' county will be gathered together.  This year will be a tough one, because the librarian at Clarkton died last spring.  She as an absolute dear and the whole county loved her, so her presence will be sorely missed.  Anyway, last year I wore one of my prettier Christmas bows (I'll be wearing that one...sometime this week), but this year I've chosen to be somewhat humorous.  Remember when I said that my family loved Christmas Vacation ?  Well, here's the bow to prove it!  Etsy shop is AutumnsUniqueHairBow . This particular line was uttered by Clark Griswold's father after Clark moved Heaven and Earth to get his Christmas lights to light up.  Hilarity quickly follows when Cousin Eddie and his family show up unannounced, but as with Home Alone I'm not going to give too much away.  Christmas Vacation is NOT a flick for kids due to...

Like yesterday's candy cane bow, I found this one waaaaaaay earlier than I should have. I did say at the beginning of fall that I wanted more plaid bows, and now I've got another one!  I also like the insignia in the middle; I'm fond of shaker bows.  I don't have too many, but I like 'em. I must say that like Thanksgiving I am NOT looking forward to this Christmas.  No sister, no brother-in-law, no Uncle From St. Louis, and likely no exciting presents.  Though in response to that last bit, all I want is a new floor lamp.  My old one broke, sad face.  Even the temperature outside doesn't feel like Christmas; yesterday it hit sixty-two degrees.  It's supposed to cool down a bit early next week, but then it'll warm up again and rain like piss out of a boot.  Not very Decemberish, but then I positively hate it when it's cold! I hope y'all are having fun so far!  Likely by now the kiddies are out of school and you're battening down the hatches for...

I found this on September 15th, believe it or not.  It stood out in bold relief against all the black, orange, and purple that was available for Halloween. I don't know about y'all, but when Christmas rolled around we had the tree that we always decorated, and mixed in with the bubble lights, the Kansas City Chiefs ornaments, and the tinsel garlands, there were usually about a dozen candy canes.  I don't care so much for candy canes now, but when you're a little kid any candy is good candy, and those candy canes never made it to December 25th. Oh, decking the halls was one of my favorite things when I was a kid.  Sometimes we started immediately after Thanksgiving, and sometimes we waited until the first weekend in December, but regardless of when we started the routine was the same.  Mama would light sweet-smelling candles, bust out the cookies and the Coca-Cola, and we'd all get to work.  To get us in the spirit Daddy would play appropriate music, and since hi...

If I had enuff bows I'd be sporting Hanukkah-themed stuff during the duration of the holiday, but I don't.  Ergo, this bow. One of my first truly nice bows, this one was given to me by my mother on my thirty-third birthday.  It has my initials on it, but it also has characters from The Nutcracker on it.  Clara/Marie is present, as are the Nutcracker and the Mouse King.  I've heard the lead character called both "Clara" and "Marie" during my life, but "Clara" is the name I hear more often.  Indeed, the only one I've heard using the name "Marie" was Shari Lewis.  But I won't heap too much hate on Shari and Lamb Chop, because they were the ones who taught me about The Nutcracker in the first place.  Yep, my sister and I were Lamb Chop fans growing up!  We had several of the cassette tapes, and one of them discussed  The Nutcracker .  Uncle from St. Louis pointed out that in terms of ventriloquism Shari's technique was one o...

Like yesterday, this bow is from TchotchkesDesigns . The dreidel game is one that I'd have loved as a kid, because I loved (and still love) tops and because in a lot of versions of the game it's a chance to win chocolate!  If you're avoiding candy then raisins or pennies will suffice, but more often than not the gelt I've seen has been chocolate.  Playing dreidel isn't a necessity during Hanukkah like lighting the candles and saying the prayers is, but it's still a fun tradition.  Tradition, tradition... cue the music . Yes, dreidel is a game my family would've liked, though if I know my sister like I do she'd have thrown a fit if she'd had to put one in.  LOL, fittingly, "shin" is one of the characters showing on my bow.  Looks like "gimel" is the other.  I have a hard time telling "gimel" and "nun" apart, but that looks like "gimel." The rules of dreidel are pretty easy.  I think any number of peopl...

I think tonight is...the fifth night of Hanukkah, is it?  I have a couple'a friends who celebrate Hanukkah, so if I see them I'll ask 'em.  The Etsy shop today is TchotchkesDesigns . The fun thing about this one is that it's not reserved solely for Hanukkah like my last bow is.  I can wear this during Passover or anytime I dern well please. Yes, I said above that I have friends who celebrate Hanukkah.  I have a menorah myself, but these folks legit celebrate the holiday.  They're members of a black church here in town, and they prefer Hanukkah to Christmas because of the commercialism that sadly has taken Christmas over.  They still make a big to-do about Jesus's birth, but they celebrate that year-around (as Christians should).  I remember that conversation well, by the way, the one where I learned that one of my closest friends celebrated Hanukkah.  She has a little boy named a variant of "Anniston," and we were discussing a little girl who had ...

Today is Gingerbread Decorating Day, but I don't have a bow with gingerbread men on it!  So I selected something seasonal at random. Ironic, rather, especially since I complain about Christmas being so commercial.  What can I say, I'm a materialistic little dame.  I like stuff.  This Christmas I'm hoping for a new floor lamp since mine died last spring.  I'd also like some socks, since one can never have too many pairs of socks.  I also am not a frequent flyer with Amazon.  I just thought the bow was cute. That's about all I have to say today, since I don't really have anyone to buy for and since I'm not a kid myself. Love, RagingMoon1987

Today is, among other goofy holidays, Pretend to Be a Time Traveller Day, but I think I'll leave the TARDIS bow at home and stick with the season.  Even if it's way warmer than it should be.  Seriously, I'm in short sleeves and flip-flops. Santa Claus!  Or a Santa Claus theme.  This is another one that Mama got for me...gosh, it was clean back in the spring, right at the "clove of the seasons," as I often say on my doll blog.  Y'all probably know that irritating cusp between winter and spring, where it's cold at the beginning of the day and too warm for long sleeves at the end, where the flowers are taking leaf but the ants aren't out yet.  I've learned that when we have a warm snap but the ants don't come out, we're gonna have at least one more cold snap.  Ants are smart like that; they do what God and their puny little brains tell them to, and we don't, and we often pay for it.  ANYWAY, it was a day like that when Mama handed me this ...

Here's where I'm gonna surprise a few people.  I've made my Christianity loud and clear, and I've stated my excitement for Christmas...and yet my hair bow for today is decidedly Jewish.  Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah. Yes, I'm a Christian.  A Christian Zionist, that is.  I back Israel and the Jews wholeheartedly, and I love Jewish holidays.  I even have a menorah of my own, though I've never used it.  Not yet, anyway; I don't have the right candles for it...or a safe place to put it.  Cats, y'know.   With all that's happened this year I predict that Hanukkah will be a melancholy affair for a lot of Jews, especially those that reside in or near Gaza.  A lot of 'em died in that attack in October, the fighting hasn't stopped, and there's always the threat of another late-night visit from Hamas.  Yeah, yeah, I know there's innocents on the Palestinian side too, but a lot of 'em are not shy about supporting Hamas and the horri...

Yep, today's bow pays tribute to one/two of my favorite Christmas movies AND to one of my family's traditions.  First, the bow, another off-beat piece from DollfaceDesigns . Often the first thing my family did when we came home from Thanksgiving dinner was take a long nap, and after that we'd pop in a Christmas movie.  We had quite a few that we would watch yearly, some funny and some serious.  National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is my all-time favorite, but I also loved the first two installments of the Home Alone franchise.  Indeed, I think that of all the movies I've watched, Home Alone and Home Alone 2 take the award for most dysfunctional family.  The families in Christmas Vacation and The Santa Clause are nothing to write home about, but the McCallister family takes the cake.  The kids are all a bunch of brats, the parents spend much of both movies with their heads up their butts, and the extended family (particularly Uncle Frank) is just plai...

Deck the halls with...bubbles and pearls???  Yep!  Mama and I have had this idea percolating since last May.  Instead of your usual frosty glass balls and plastic snowflakes we opted to give our new Christmas tree a beach theme, and I got a clip to match. Etsy shop is MoFunAccessories .  Told y'all I love that shop!  Anything over-the-top is fair game there.  That feller is a real starfish, by the way.  I never would've thought to utilize something like that as a hair clip, but here it is!  Next stop for me will probably be a light bulb, LOL. LOL, decking the halls nowadays isn't as much fun as it was when I was little, but making the library look nice this season has been very rewarding.  I never would've thought to decorate a tree in seashells, but the effect worked out pretty well.  I just hate that it'll all have to come down again in a month. Seashells and gnomes, RagingMoon1987

This one was another of my snap-decision bows, as I couldn't find the one that I was intending to wear.  The theme is the same. This one is a Wal-Mart special, and it lights up. I don't have much to say about this bow, other than it weighs a ton in my hair.  Most of my light-up bows do, but I love the aesthetic! Glow up, RagingMoon1987

Some folks start wearing their Christmas garb before Thanksgiving is even over, but for me the first of December (or close to it) is about right.  This bow fits that bill pretty well. For some reason Mama has developed this fixation with the chubby, big-bearded gnomes that have become popular over the past couple'a years, and since she doesn't wear hair bows herself she projected that bit of herself onto me with this bow.  Not that I mind, because it's a nice, big, comfortable bow with tails that flutter.  I hate it that I can only wear it around Christmas!  That's the worst thing about seasonal clothes and accessories; they're usually cute and/or attractive, but they're intended for wear maybe one month out of the year.  Oh well, I'll get as much mileage out of these Christmas bows as I can. Lighthearted as this whimsy bow is, the message brings back some melancholy memories. The first time I heard "I'll Be Home For Christmas" was the first C...