Thursday, July 30, 2020

I’m not especially interested in who the hell my nurse is. No kidding.

Hey. It’s me again. I’ve been housebound and bedridden for about five years already, so I have to admit that I don’t have too much to write about if I try to produce a Howdygram post more often than once or twice a week. Sad, isn’t it? I’ve given up on reading the news — local, national, global — so political commentary is pretty much dead in the water. My life has shriveled to an endless string of 18-hour naps, urinary tract spasms and weird meals. I’ll just have to make do with writing whatever I want, whenever I want … and let it go at that. You’ll get used to it, I promise.

At the moment it’s 2:09 a.m. Monday morning. Rise and shine, y’all!


This is not exactly an earth-shaking calendar, but I’m okay with that. I love having uncomplicated and unscheduled free time to write the Howdygram and design adorable products for The Howdygram Store. I created 25 new greeting cards last week! This week I’ll upload the files to Zazzle’s website and then start designing new mugs, new bathroom ceramics with matching bath mats, and another pile of gorgeous new iPhone cases. And luggage tags.

MONDAY, JULY 27. Nada. Bupkiss. Zilch. Nothing.

TUESDAY, JULY 28. Nada. Bupkiss. Zilch. Nothing.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 29. Sam is expecting a visit from the hospice’s chaplain (Bob) at 4 p.m. They’re good buddies, and their time together gives Sam an opportunity to vent some of his frustrations.

THURSDAY, JULY 30. Nada. Bupkiss. Zilch. Nothing.

FRIDAY, JULY 31. Our hospice social worker (Theresa) will be here at 9 a.m. for her monthly visit. She’s a sweetie with an unusually loud speaking voice, but I’m willing to overlook it because she wears an adorable floral print face mask that she bought from The Howdygram Store. Sometime on Friday we’ll also meet our new hospice R.N. after learning last week that Martha has been transferred to Denton County. Actually, I’m not especially interested in who the hell my nurse is, anyway, because I always manage to be unconscious when she drops in for my weekly checkup. And since she usually just wants my “vital statistics,” Sam will take my blood pressure, temperature and oximeter saturation with our own equipment after I wake up and send her the results via text message. My most recent readouts were 90/52 (blood pressure), 62 (heart rate), 97.6° (temperature) and 82% (oxygen saturation). I know all of these are rather low, but I honestly don’t give a crap any more.

Surprise … more free fonts! Here’s a nice little list of interesting typefaces for you, including a couple of pleasing scripts (“Mitha,” “Hedgehock”), hand-lettered fonts (“Paper Works,” “Serif Font”), interesting display fonts (“Sugar Caramel,” “Berly Sign,” “Flat Brush”) and a couple of layered fonts (“Unchained,” “Orange Slices”). You’ll find download links below the graphic.



Here are three new collections from my favorite shops on Etsy.com. Down below I also illustrate how versatile they are if you erase the background color in Photoshop and overlay the transparent file on a background of your choice.




  1. Tiny White Polka Dots on crimson foil.
  2. Medium White Polka Dots on taupe foil.
  3. Warm Red Geometric Cubes on intense pale spring green foil.


Screen legend OLIVIA de HAVILLAND, a two-time Oscar winner and for decades the last surviving star of Gone With the Wind, died on Sunday at the age of 104, her publicist Lisa Goldberg told CNN. The actress died of natural causes at her residence in Paris, where she had lived for more than six decades.

De Havilland emerged as a star during the classic movie era — first as a romantic partner for Errol Flynn in swashbucklers such as Captain Blood and The Adventures of Robin Hood, and then as Melanie Hamilton Wilkes in Gone With the Wind (1939), considered the top moneymaking film of all time when adjusted for inflation.


But her off-screen role in a lawsuit against her employer, Warner Bros., may have been her most notable achievement in Hollywood.

In 1943, de Havilland sued the studio after it attempted to extend her seven-year contract, which was expiring. Under the studio system, actors faced suspension without pay if they turned down roles, and the suspension time was added to their contracts. De Havilland’s eventual court victory helped shift the power from the big studios of that era to the mega-celebrities and powerful talent agencies of today.

“Hollywood actors will be forever in Olivia’s debt,” Bette Davis wrote in her autobiography.

More importantly for de Havilland, she gained far more freedom to pursue better dramatic roles in award-winning films such as To Each His Own (1946), The Snake Pit (1948) and The Heiress (1949). She won Best Actress Oscars for To Each His Own and The Heiress.

Sam and I love Olivia de Havilland’s movies and keep many of them stored on our DVR, including Captain Blood (1935), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), The Heiress (1949), They Died with Their Boots On (1941), Dodge City (1936), Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), and Santa Fe Trail (1940). With the exception of The Heiress, her co-star was Errol Flynn. (We love Errol Flynn, too!)


I just realized that I began this post at 2:09 a.m. FOUR DAYS AGO. This is what happens when a pathetic old person such as yours truly can’t stay awake for more than two hours at a time. I HATE THIS! The only thing I’m doing well is selling lots of merchandise in The Howdygram Store … specifically greeting cards, luggage tags, mugs and iPhone cases.

In case you’re interested, and even if you’re not, I’ve been waiting for Zazzle.com to upgrade my store ranking to the “Bronze Level.” I’ve been ranked as a “Z-PRO” for the last couple of years based on my sales; now it’s time to move up to the next level because I achieved another sales goal about five months ago. I’ll give Zazzle a little time to figure this out; maybe another month. I imagine they may be slightly discombobulated (or short-staffed) with the COVID hoo-hah going on. In the meantime, of course, I continue to design more greeting cards and mugs. There are never enough cards and mugs in this world, and the Coronavirus quarantine has been incredible for my store’s sales. When you can’t go shopping in a retail store, you shop online instead!

In my next post I’ll include photos of a few of my newest products. I’ll bet you can’t wait, right?


It’s presently Thursday morning, 3:35 a.m., and I just placed a grocery order with Amazon Fresh for delivery this morning between 5 and 7 a.m. This is actually a perfect delivery window for us, because Sam goes out for his morning walk in the woods around 4:45 a.m. and gets home by 6 … so everybody here is wide awake and happy to get a food delivery. Today’s order includes: (1) three bags of Nathan’s Batter-Dipped Onion Rings; (2) Luigi’s Lemon Italian Ices; (3) Main Street Bistro Baked Macaroni & Cheese; (4) a pound of deli cole slaw; (5) a Taste of Italy chicken parmesan stromboli; and (6) a bottle of P. F. Chang’s Mongolian Style Barbecue Sauce, which is the incredible smoky/spicy sauce used for Mongolian Beef.

As much as I can’t wait to receive my order, I just placed ANOTHER one with Amazon Fresh, this time for delivery between 7 and 9 a.m. It will include a number of products that were out of stock or unavailable when I placed my earlier order. Weird, right? Here’s what we’re expecting in our second order: (1) two P. F. Chang’s Veggie Shoyu Ramen frozen meals; (2) two P. F. Chang’s Chicken Pad Thai frozen meals; (3) two P. F. Chang’s Kung Pao Tempura-Battered Cauliflower frozen appetizers; and (4) two Simply Asia Spicy Kung Pao Noodle Bowls.

I want to add that P. F. Chang’s Kung Pao Cauliflower is positively incredible. The box contains enough cauliflower to feed four as a generous appetizer OR one hungry bedridden senior citizen who loves veggies as much as she loves spicy Chinese food. I’m going to eat very well today. Woo-hoo!



Thank you for reading this. It’s probably time to fall asleep again!
Posted by Marcy Marks at 6:15:00 AM
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