Retro Prosperity Cartoon

Dirty Boy

HA!

Kat Von D Does a Rockin' Cut Up Tshirt

Have a tat on your back? Kat Von D's tshirts rock it. And she is one cool chick, like a real life Catwoman.

Easy Baked Macaroni and Cheese Casserole - 3 ingredient recipe

This easy baked macaroni and cheese casserole recipe must be at least 60 years old. I learned how to make this by watching my Dad, now in his 70's, and my Grandma used to make it for him. The crispy cheese top adds a tangy cheddar flavor to this retro mac and cheese. It only takes three ingredients to make this but I recommend the can of tomatoes to add after cooking.

You need:
3 cups of dry elbow macaroni
1 can Campbell's Cheddar Cheese Soup
1 to 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese (depending on how cheesy you like it)

Add the macaroni to a large pot of boiling water and cook just until tender. Check the pasta's package instructions for an estimated time. Make sure to stir occasionally so the pasta doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. *Another tip from my Dad; add a teaspoon of butter or margarine to the pot of water to prevent boil overs. Weird, but it seems to work.

Once the pasta is cooked , pour it into a strainer and rinse with cool water. Shake the strainer to get rid of the excess water and transfer to a baking dish. Any size dish will do , but a 9"by12" is recommended for good cheese coverage.

Open the can of cheese soup and scoop onto the macaroni and mix them together. The still warm pasta should melt the soup enough to coat the noodles with it's cheesiness. Now sprinkle grated cheddar on top of the macaroni and put in the oven, uncovered.

Cook at 375* F for 20 minutes or until the cheddar on top starts to bubble and turn brown. While the mac & cheese is in the oven, open the can of tomatoes and heat in a saucepan on the stove at a medium heat.

To serve, dish up a portion of the macaroni, being sure to get some of the tangy cheddar top on each plate. Spoon warm tomatoes over top and dig in!

First Tattoo

I was camping under the pinion pines in New Mexico, south of Santa Fe on Route 66, when I drew up this design for a tattoo. I said to myself, while I was sucking up some nasty java in the middle of the desert on a Sunday morning, "What ever I draw now I am going to have done up as a tat on my leg." After I finished the drawing, I jumped into my Little Red Chili Pepper (my name for my car), and drove into town. By some miracle, the tattoo shop was open. There was one person in the shop, she had come in for an appointment she had that morning. She locked up the shop and did my piece. Unbelievable luck. Part way through her boyfriend came in and waited while she finished up. They were good people and I had a great visit with them. Such a great experience for a Canuck on vacation. The funny thing is, just the other day I got a message on myspace from a gal in Cali that saw the original drawing and wanted to know if she could use it for a leg tattoo. I told her, just send me a picture!

Low Brow, High Brow

Okay, lowbrow art is in my mind one of the sexiest, coolest forms of art out there. What makes it so sexy is what it ain't, highbrow art. Yeah, I know, clear as those globs of paint you smeared with your hands in kindergarten until it turned the color of mud.
Well, let me put it this way, to make those brows raise you have to go to school for a few years and come out saying things like "the dicotomy of the juxtoposition of conflicting iconic elements". To lower those brows you just get busy doing it your way without the education in B.S. A good dose of kustom kulture, hot rod lovin' pin-up tattoo style is good spice to add to the mix. Because lowbrow has become so cool all the system educated artists wanted in on the action so the mutant child of highbrow and lowbrow art was born and it was called Pop Surrealism.

Here's a lowbrow art history lesson.
A pop surrealism gallery.
An excellent link to check out the book Pop Surrealism; The Rise of Underground Art.

Johnny Cash Picked Up My Mom

Every time I turn around this week it's Johnny Cash. I was watching “Walk the Line” for second time the other night. Then today there was a bulletin from the band Townline on myspace asking people to check out their new song about the big JC. When I clicked on another myspace profile picture(attracted by the vintage car) there was a video of this guy singing, he's spanish, living in Spain and HE'S wearing a Cash t-shirt.
My mom went to see Johnny Cash in concert when she was a saddle shoe and rolled up jeans wearing doll. I don't know where or how she managed it, and she's not here anymore to ask, but she fell over the big guy's guitar case. Johnny picked her up and put her back on her feet. She couldn't remember anything he said, she was too nervous, I'm sure.
Anyway, it has always made him more real to me and all of these reminders just take me back to memories of my mom. You don't always need to look to big names to get in touch with the retro rockabilly style. You're likely related to your best resource. Just go dig in your parents or grandparents photo albums.

Pin-up Pup

Who taught her to make those eyes? And those painted nails! Hussy.

In My Bedroom

Here's a peek into my retro kitsch home. Yes, I'm letting you see my unmade bed, with its rumpled leopard print sheets. I love the vintage tiki picture I found in a second hand store for $20. My little Hawaiian Tiki God watches over me when I'm in bed. When you look close you can see all the dark tiki totems lurking in the shadows.

I would like to tell you I bought the sheets at an indie store or on the web, but that just wouldn't be true. I live on a white trash budget (spend it all before the bill collectors call) and have lowbrow tastes, which can be expensive. The sexy chocolate brown bed linen set came from a department store, and was still a bit more than I should have been spending since I had just quit my job. Once I dragged my grumbling guy to the store though, and showed him this great bed set, he just couldn't say no to me (he never does, you gotta love that).

Anyway, I should go make that rumpled bed now, since I'm doing the house frau thing until a temp job comes up.

Serious Business is Serious Fun

Here's a fun group share. At pinuplifestyle.com you can post a pic of yourself following the instructions at the discussion page called PINUPLIFESTYLE, IT'S SERIOUS BUSINESS. Serious fun, I'm sure. Nope, not yet I haven't, but you can bet I will soon. Just click the title of this article to link up and expose yourself.

Make the Jump to Sexy

Let's get this straight (I say that to all the guys), when I say pin-up girl style, I'm talking about livin' it no matter who you are. What size you wear, how old you are or what you think you look like. You are what you believe you are. If you think you're too big, too old, or whatever your favorite poison is, then you'll live that way and reaffirm it. If you want to make the jump to a sexy you then make the commitment and do it. You have to go all the way or it just won't work. When I went from blonde hair to indigo black, I realised it wasn't going to work if I didn't commit to the look. I changed my colors, my clothes, my makeup, the shoes I wore, my whole style.

Not everyone is comfortable with the attention this brings. After a few months in my new look my guys started up their lacrosse season again, the boys play and my husband coaches, and the reactions I got, long after I had gotten comfortable with the new me, were crazy. People I had spent time with at games in previous years didn't recognise me until I talked to them. I had more than one mom say they thought my hubby had traded me in for a new model. And, yes, that is exactly how they put it. It was balanced out by the guys everywhere that were suddenly attentive. Getting looks and attention is a great part of the deal, so don't squirm and don't apologize, when eyes start meandering south. Just hold 'em high and know that some lucky dame is going to get a little more attention from her man that night.

Don't waste your time worrying about whether or not you have what it takes or that you're too this or that. There are too many sexy women out there that don't conform to the old 38-24-36 to hide behind that excuse.

• Zombie Kitten Originals has a sexy larger model, Ili Jean, in the Zombie Army(and some great skirts).
• On the Flash Your Tattoo blog I came across the hot Amina Munster. She is covered with tattoos, including her prosthetic leg.
• Anyone heard of the Glamazons?
• And then there is the unstoppable, Tina Turner. Not strictly pin-up, but wholly crap, what a woman.

Get the idea? I could go on but it would be even better if you would add your favorite examples in the comments.

Okay, the rant is over. Now go get busy and backcomb that hair!

http://www.flashyourtattoo.blogspot.com/

http://www.aminamunster.net/

http://www.zombie-kitten.com/

http://www.glamazongirls.com/

Leopard Print Pictures

A mini ATV in leopard print, I could hardly contain my excitment when I saw it. Some of the coolest stuff comes in leopard print these days and, being a visual person, I want pictures of it on my blog. Too bad I can't find the charger for my camera's battery. But wait! Other people must have pictures they think are cool and would love to send them to me to share right here on The Leopard Print. If you have a pic to share of things in leopard print or just totally cool and retro, email it to me at theleopardprint@gmail.com. I'll credit you if I post it, unless you don't want the notoriety it is sure to bring.

Big Sexy Hair

Big Sexy Hair. That's the name of my hairspray. My daughter, hair pro and queen of the up-do, stuffed my stocking this year with a gold mine of sample products. What a great present. The diamond in the haul was the little can of Big Sexy Hair What a Tease by Sexy Hair Concepts. My hair had grown out of its Audrey Hepburn "Breakfast at Tiffany's" style during the holiday chaos and this little can transformed my look.

This was my chance to change over to a big hair style. The next day I worked I teased my hair high, smoothed it over on top, sprayed it, added a bandanna and shazam! A retro big hair look that rocked! This is a truly old school hairspray, one hair moves and the whole do moves. It dries like a rock, gives good height but I don't choke on the aerosol fumes like in the good old days.

According to http://www.beautydeals.net/ it is a "Backcomb in a Bottle". Well, in a can actually, but I'm just being catty.

Acrylic Nails and Sex in the Workplace

What's a girl to do? Where does a retro chick work without giving up her modern right to be bored by spritzing perfume at zombie shoppers in a department store. Just this week I let my high gloss, extra long, designer acrylic nails be chopped down to a mere 1/4 inch above my finger tips. Only a week ago my guy was telling me how great I looked in our new leopard print sheets as he ran his fingers over the length of my digits. Sigh.

AND, no more designs on them, just plain jane white french tips. "Why did you let this happen?" you gasp in shock. Well, I was applying for a job as an office temp and I felt the push to conform, something I have been able to resist for more decades than I am willing to admit. At least my hair was still in a teased semi-big style.

Does keeping the creditors from filling up my answering machine mean giving up my creativity, my style, my sense of fun? Can being a dame that sits at a desk satisfy my need to express myself? Not likely. Maybe I can look at this as an opportunity to bring a little color and life to the stagnant beige of the office world. Why can't I be valued for my exotic fingernails instead of my w.p.m. without going into illegal trades? Is this a form of sex discrimination? That's it, from here on out my mission is to put sexuality back where it belongs, in the workplace.