Cool Wolf Puppet

I wound up at Cracker Barrel in Joliet twice right before the holidays, once with Daniel to buy St. Nicholas gifts, and then a few days later with Rebekah to celebrate our mutual feasts.

Near the checkout counter was this cool wolf puppet without a price tag. I "googled" it, decided the list price that I found was out of my price range, and walked away.

The puppet was still sitting on the shelf when I returned with Rebekah. She encouraged me to check on the actual price in the store. So I did. $1.99. Yes, I bought it.

Now about that little pill in front of the wolf. That's one of Faith's steroids. 

She gets one each night for life. I found this one on the floor and set it there to show Rebekah. It's not the first time Faith's spit it out unbeknownst to us. 

I'm surprised she's never had an adrenal crisis. Just saying.

The wolf puppet lives on a small bookcase near my computer (within arm's reach), next to a collection of very cool items, all of them (if you can believe it), were gifts.

The lamp at the far left was one of four that Timothy bought for me room.

Every item on the lamp's shelves were gifts.

The blue cardboard thing with drawers was a gift from Ron more than twenty years ago, which he rescued on its path to the garbage when he worked in maintenance at a school.

The handmade wooden box on top of the shelf on top was a gift from a local artist, more than twenty-five years ago. I keep business cards in it.

The little metal box on top of it has a cat pictured on it. I keep business cards in it. It was a gift from Kristina Skaggs. WriteOn Joliet founder, in 2012.

The little incense holder next to the wolf holds tiny incense sticks. For the record, I don't burn anything on this shelf. And I've never used this particular incense holder. But it has a story behind it, so I've kept it.

The typewriter in front of the box holds Qwerty keyboard coasters.

The Christmas box is filled with miniature chocolates. It's now mid-March. You see how fast I eat candy, LOL.

The angel coaster is a gift from Timothy.

The handmade box next to it is a gift from a local artists, more than twenty-five years ago. I keep manuscript clips in it.

The handmade wooden tray next to the box was also a gift, also more than twenty-give years ago. It holds a couple of cool rocks, including one Timothy painted when he was a child, and a set of keys that go to nothing anymore.

Behind the tray is a fake typewriter, a Christmas gift from a friend nearly ten years ago. It holds my voter registration card and a stapler remover, a gift from Ron more than twenty-five years ago.

Next to it is a framed art piece from Rebekah when she was a little girl.

In front of is a very cool candle holder (a gift from Rebekah) and a flameless candle.

The little green bottle next to it are my afternoon/night medicines. So, technically, not a gift (unless you count staying healthy as a "gift of life").

Timothy bought the coffee mug next to it from the Silver Cross gift shop in 2002 when I was in the hospital and shortly before my pheochromocytoma was officially diagnosed. It holds glass wipes and a brush featuring my favorite color of blue (a gift from Rebekah).

Leaning up against the blue cardboard box is the DVD for when John Schlitt, lead member of the Christian rock band Petra (basically, The Beatles of Christian rock), sang karaoke at our house for the members of the youth group Ron and I led. 

Booking John Schlitt was all Ron's idea and I didn't think we could do it. John came out two weeks before my birthday and sang "Happy Birthday" to me, all Ron's idea (and Ron bought a cake). Truly, one of the best gifts Ron ever gave me besides himself.

In greater context the shelf sits directly under my BryonySeries wall in progress. 

These include all five Before The Blood frontispieces  by Christopher Gleason, Munsonville's Main Street by Jennifer Wainwright (which appears on the landing page for the BryonySeries website), the cover to the special edition holiday Visage, and a print of the first cover to the first book in The Adventures of Cornell Dyer series, cover art by Sue Midlock.

Timothy framed all the pieces.

And I still have more BryonySeries artwork patiently awaiting their frames, currently sitting in a box.

And I have many more gifts all over my room.

So even when I'm alone, I'm not, really.