Make Me Laugh Monday!

Did you know that yesterday was Make Me Laugh Monday?? ME NEITHER!!

That is, until you guys made me laugh!!!

I'm going to launch Make Me Laugh Monday and award people the MMLM award based on how hard you make me laugh. Stay tuned at the end of this post for the winner of yesterday's...

But first - CARDZ! and a little sad news.

One of my life heros died on Monday. :( His name was Pete Rodriguez, and you didn't know him. He was my band director at Bryan High. He was probably the most demanding person I've ever worked for, and my most beloved leader. He was little, but FIERCE. When he was mad, you hid. Except you didn't, because he wouldn't let you. He never blamed anyone for a mistake that wasn't theirs, and he never let you not own up to yours. And when we did well, he got all teary eyed. When he hugged us, we felt our ribs crack. He was as politically incorrect as they came, assigning nicknames to us, like "Big Gun" to anyone who was chubby. He loved us fiercely, and when we performed with him, we were much better than the sum total of our talent, because the extra ingredient was his passion - for music, for education, for people, and for flawlessness, or as near as you could get with mortal efforts.

The little twinkle in his eye changed my view of the world, as did the things I did with his help - the awards I won that I never would have had without him, the trips I took where he kept us safe and on track, and the friends I made because of his generous spirit and great example. He had us all to his home one Christmas, which no other teacher before college ever did, and the caroling, and the cookies and the warmth and love from Mr. Rod and his wife feel to me just like they did that night X years ago. (No, I'm not telling you!)

I love you Mr. Rod. You were my hero. I hope you're giving em hell in heaven and teaching people what the heck a straight line and a tempo mean. I'm sure they'd forgotten. You will never be.

This card is for you.
This little fella is from the new release at Starving Artistamps called Super Parents! Check it out, and stand by for more. The background is my beloved, beloved cityscape from Set the Scene.

I colored it with Copics and accented it with a white gel pen and a blue Souffle Pen.

So, I hope I didn't make you sad. If so - please let's go on to Make Me Laugh Monday!!

First, when leaving a comment on the Google Earth Car/Bat/Bird Post on Monday, my buddy Jayne gets "desplunc" as her secret word. If you're new to my blog, we like to entertain ourselves over here by using these words in a sentence. Sometimes I give prizes for especially amusing ones. Well Jayne asked for help with this word, and my favorite shunned one, Lisa Page, offered this:

Jayne- BEAUTIFUL! Spelunking is the act of cave exploring- as in exploring the caves where the bats are in the Central Texas area! Sooooo, here's your def.- "desplunc"-Whenever you back out of a cave. It could be for any reason. Bats that freak you out. Or stalagmites that are going to attack you. I'll use it in a sentence- One day my brother and I went to Innerspace Caves in Georgetown, I had to "desplunc" because my brother had claustrophobia!" love always, rad.shunee

She followed it up with this:

Of course, then there is the "spledesplunking"- when your spleen decides to give out as you are retreating from the cave.

Now Lisa is shunned because she likes rain, and I do not. But apparently, my little rain radical's sense of humor is not affected by the weather, because these about made espresso come out of my nose when I read them.

So congrats to Lisa - the inaugural Make Me Laugh Monday Winner!!! You are welcome to the contents of the post you commented on - either the red or blue bird - lemme know which!

Finally

OMG A GIANT CAT LIVES IN MY HOUSE - LOOK SHE TAKES UP THE WHOLE CHAIR - RRRRUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!!!!!

Oh, well. Maybe she's still little. Maybe I found a teeny leather armchair at Target that I thought would make a hilarious cat chair for my studio!!! Is that not awesome?? It's right next to my desk and she loves to flop down there while I work. I would like to pretend it has nothing to do with my space heater, so I'd appreciate that if you'd stifle an urge to suggest that might be what it is.. :)

Tomorrow I will announce the winner of the Momster contest, and will also publish dates for the next few webinars. I have to scurry now.

LOVEYAMEANITBYE.


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