Thursday, October 27, 2011

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2006 at a Fall Festival. When Mattie saw the cut out of one of his favorite characters, Bob the Builder, he ran up to it and as you can see he gave Bob a big hug. Mattie had Bob the Builder bed sheets and my friend Mary Ann, gave Mattie a Bob the Builder stuffed toy one year for Christmas. Mattie LOVED that toy, and Bob is still in Mattie's room today. He sits with some of the other Mattie favorites. Mattie gravitated to building, designing, and creating, and therefore Bob the Builder represented everything Mattie wanted to do and be.  

Quote of the day: Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened. ~
Dr. Seuss

My friends Charlie and Mary Ann, both sent me an article today about an 8 foot Lego Man who washed ashore in Florida. Naturally this story caught their attention and they immediately thought of Mattie. It is funny how certain things now remind my readers of Mattie. Legos are definitely one of those objects. Legos will always be near and dear to my heart, because they were our therapeutic tools and really kept us sane while battling cancer and confined within a small hospital room for weeks on end.

The story about this 8 foot giant is fascinating. The message on Lego Man's plastic shirt reads "NO REAL THAN YOU ARE" across the front and the back reads "EGO LEONARD" with the number eight. I included a link to the story and the news video if you are interested in learning more below. But apparently this is NOT the first Lego Man to wash ashore in the world. Holland and England have had the same sightings! But who is placing these Lego Men in the water and why? The mystery continues, a mystery that would have absolutely intrigued Mattie!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/26/giant-lego-man-florida_n_1032597.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec3_lnk1%7C107915


This morning before I left home, I decided to upload some pictures of the Halloween mask I have been working on for Ann's son. This is a mindcraft creeper mask. It was a labor of love. Basically you are looking at a packing box that I transformed. The intensive labor was a result of the 400 colorful squares that I hand cut. Once the squares were cut in one and a half inch pieces, I then had to arrange them in a mosaic fashion on the box. In order to do this logically and methodically, I drew a grid on each of the five sides of the box so I knew exactly where to place each square. Without the grid, this would have looked like a mess!

Here is a front view of Creeper! Or as I have affectionately called him over the past week, Mr. Creepy! Mr. Creepy's nose is actually a cut out in the box, and on the inside I placed a black stocking, so that Ann's son could breathe better while this is on top of his head. This afternoon, I worked on gluing a hat inside the box, so that it is easier to wear and it won't move around so much when on one's head.

This afternoon, I met up with my friend Carolyn. Carolyn's daughter and Mattie were in the same preschool class back in 2005. We have been connected ever since. Carolyn is also our Foundation's raffle chair and has done an amazing job two years in a row. During raffle season she is my comic relief and we have some zany email exchanges! When Mattie was battling cancer, Carolyn would bring us dinners from the Cheesecake Factory. She introduced us to some very tasty items on their menu. So our tradition now is to meet at the Cheesecake Factory and have one of these tasty items. In a way, Mattie is with us in spirit during these lunches.

I spent the rest of the afternoon at Ann's house. I put the finishing touches on Mr. Creepy, and it is my hope that tomorrow everything has glued and set and will be solid enough for Halloween.