This train was a bit of tricky engineering because all of the boxes needed to fit inside each other. That made it much cheaper to ship the boxes from China. I did this project for 1800Flowers. They liked it well enough that I did a similar train for Mrs. Fields. The two companies were working together, so I wasn’t giving away any state secrets in using the same shaped boxes for both.
I used to go to a meditation group that was near train tracks. This could’ve been seriously distracting, but the woman leading our group gave us the suggestion to put all our troubles on the train and let the train take them away. I think there must be a stockpile of troubles in Pennsylvania somewhere, but I took her suggestion. Whenever I hear a train I think it lessens my load.
Sharon Wagner was kind enough to give me a Liebster Award this week. Yay!!! This is for bloggers with less than 200 followers, which gives me one reason to be happy not to have too many followers. (Though I’d be happy if you wanted to follow J) Visit Sharon’s site for “illustrations, globe trotting, kitchen creativity, and photography”. I like visiting because I never know what she’s going to post.
Okay, receiving awards requires me to give you random facts and answer questions…
Eleven Random Linda Facts:
1) Athos is my favorite Musketeer.
2) Filing papers gives me a sense of satisfaction.
3) I don’t like Mexican food. It’s a messy textural thing.
4) Dolls make me angry.
5) I forget the names of people I know well sometimes.
6) I remember my best friend’s phone number when we were in high school.
7) I like to dance.
8) I write morbid poetry but don’t show it to anybody.
9) I propagate aloe and give it away because I think everyone should have it in case they get burned.
10) My winter and fall coats are red.
11) I sulked when my brother beat me at chess.
Eleven Questions from Sharon:
1) What did you want to be when you grew up? An artist.
2) Who was your celebrity crush as a kid? Rock Hudson
3) Favorite movie? Good Will Hunting
4) Favorite book/author/illustrator? I have too many favorites in this category, but love Mary Stewart, J.K.Rowling, Alexandre Dumas, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Hans Christian Anderson, Robert Lewis Stevenson…
5) Do you believe in ghosts? Why or why not?? Yes. “I see dead people.”
6) What is your stupid human trick? Rolling my tongue.
7) If you could go back in time and tell your teenage self one thing, what would it be? Life will get better.
8) Most embarrassing moment? Right, like I’m going to go there! How about a lesser embarrassment like when I wet myself when the teacher didn’t believe I had to go to the bathroom?
9) What’s the one thing you’d most like to be remembered for when you’re gone (you know, dead…sorry, kind of morbid, but it’s a deep thought kind of question). I want to feel like something I did made someone’s life a better, but I’d also like some of my creative work to survive me.
10) Do you talk to yourself (out loud, when no one else is around)? No, but sometimes I tell my dog things.
11) What is your favorite guilty pleasure? Ice cream.
Now I'm supposed to nominate 5 bloggers with Liebsters of their very own even though this makes me feel like playing favorites and sorry I can’t nominate everybody I enjoy visiting, plus it reminds me that I haven’t been visiting as much as I’d like since I’ve been wasting all my time working lately...
Anita at Beyond the Diapers and Spills
Rand at Rand’s Place
Patti at Patti’s Page
Heiki at federfund illustration the blog
Susan Sorrell Hill (Susan recently relaunched her Etsy site, which isn’t a blog, but still worth visiting)