Today’s topic is leather….premium, supple, soft as an infants’ bum cow hyde…with premium closures!:cheer: Growing up in a fam of handy hands, I became accustomarily giddy at the smell of wood glue, sawdust, kitchen formica and leather goods being created in the science lab otherwise known as our garage.

So imagine my unbridled joy to encouter real live cowboy craftsman, Shawn Bettinger, at the world famous Pike Place Market in the Land of Mt. St. Helens. His tent o’ goodies was filled to the ranchhand hat brim full of eye-popping leather items, from mailbags to a new cow hyde condo for your laptop. Ow-EEE, I was in salivary hog heaven!

The Stickman, as Shawn calls himself, creates his master works with only the finest raw materials including the infatiguable leather used on horse saddles that can take a John Wayne masochists amount of sweat, scratches and unneccesary roughness.

My fingers have touched many a fancy designer bag and the Stickman’s stash outshines and will inevitably outlast them all…and can be purchased on a cowpolk’s budget! Run, don’t walk. To Coach or not to Coach is NOT the question.:pigtails:

Birthday, anniversary, or Trick or Treat Me Day coming up? Screw up so irrevocably that an FTD daisy bouquet just won’t save your hyde? Then don’t pass up the opportunity to have one of these Stickman beauts for yourself or to surpise that pouty loved one. It’s sure to turn that frown upsidedown and leave you without a tinge of buyer’s remorse. I’ve been smiley for weeks! Seek out Shawn and his leather lair at http://www.stickmanleather.com.

In Leather and Lace We Trust,
That Little Red-Headed Girl:redhead:

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We all fantasize about our dream house. For most, it is brand-spanking new in a quiet suburban enclave, fitted with an austentacious three-car garage (Porsche in tow) and a bubble-filled bath-tub jacuzzi that you and your honey use EVERY night. Hey, this is your fantasy!:twisted: Mine on the other hand, looks something like George Bailey’s dusty diamond in the rough in It’s a Wonderful Life. I like dwellings with character, gnarly old vines wrapped tightly around the trellis and whose breathtaking and unparralled beauty, while not immediately obvious, shines brightly through the dust and debris left behind. Unique wisdom and interesting history are to be found everywhere within its walls (as is, unfortunately asbestos). Mainstreet USA would never be its address.

I confess to be an urbanite in a place where crab shacks would sell for more benjamins than your average five bedroom McMansion in Beaver, PA. Sadly, the only possibility I possess of purchasing real estate is on a Monopoly board. Good thing then that I’ve found a home, an intellectual and emotional harbor of sorts in the birthday boy who today celebrates his 32nd. As you party and work your big day away (be assured the naked balloon bouquet is on the way), I wanted you to know what an incredible find you are as a beau, friend and individual and how giddy I am that your mother went through tremendous pain for you to walk this earth. I am a masochist, what can I say?

You are unlike any other person, animal or alien being I have ever encountered on this Earth. Brimming with ideas and facts, passionate, sensitive, loving, dark, hunky and a master craftsman at getting me to put my nagging fears aside whatever they may be. Who else could get me in an old coal mine and “plugged” in at Christmas? And your humor…you make me giggle more than Chris Rock, Lenny Bruce and Margaret Cho combined. I do not truly care for others easily. My heart is more closely guarded than Lenin’s Tomb. But you have stealthily penetrated it, stimulated my mind and provided me with the rare feeling of having an emotional and intellectual home to come to, vines, dust, debris and weed-filled yard included. You are my monkey love partner, a worthy debate adversary and one of my very best friends. While I won’t ever be giving up my mantle of indepedent woman, be assured no matter our path together, you have changed my life and my perspective for all time, as I hope I have impacted yours. Today I celebrate you and all that you are and hope you have the most wonderful of days (2 lbs of pistachios and tasty old scotch included).
An interviewer asked the late Julia Childs why it was that she cared for her husband so intensely and passionately through the years, never waning. She replied simply “I am NEVER bored with him.” My thoughts exactly! Thanks birthday boy for always being Mr. Stimulation.:smile:

Signed,
TLRG

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