The Coon Crazies!

I have a disease.

I blame my mom.

When my mother was growing up, she had a pet raccoon. I've heard many stories about this cute little critter, but my favorite tales are the Nilla Wafer stories.

See, raccoons are very fastidious beasts. We will set aside for a moment that they eat out of our trashcans. But they love to wash their food in running water, which is probably the key to their longevity, ability to pick locks and fatness.

My mother's little pet would go street rat crazy at the mere whiff of a Nilla Wafer. But his little furry brain couldn't grasp the temporal nature of a cookie. He would grab the wafer and run to the nearest source of water and scrub the little cookie until it disappeared, leaving a mad, hungry coon. Apparently this was repeated many times, until the little guy overcame his genetic programming and learned to eat unwashed Nilla Wafers.

I believe that my mother somehow had some of this raccoon's DNA accidentally grafted onto hers and then passed it on to me.

I wash my food. I wash all my vegetables with vegetable soap until they squeak. I rinse meat under running water, because research shows most bacteria can be removed from the surface this way. Yes, I have read too many books about E Coli and campylobacter. BUT REALLY IT'S THE RACCOON'S FAULT!

Yesterday, on my walk, I suddenly realized that I never wash frozen vegetables!!OMG. WHY DID I JUST ASSUME FROZEN VEGETABLES ARE CLEAN?? THIS IS HOW RACCOONS GET KILLED, PEOPLE!!!

I'm totally scarred now and afraid to open my freezer. Thank God my stamps aren't in there.

I decided to stamp something CLEAN to get over the shudders.

Aaah - doesn't this make you feel better about your dirty, dirty broccoli? :)

I used the direct to paper technique for the background, with Pear Pizazz, Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango - just scraping the edge of the ink pad along the cardstock.

Then I stamped my gorgeous little birds from Clearly For You and the sentiment from Grateful Greetings in Basic Black and kapow - a clean & striking thank you card.

If you're in Austin, be sure and email me to get added to my invitation list for classes - I have a great class coming up next weekend!

I better go wash some cookies!