27 October 2010

And Home Again...

I'm back from my six day jaunt to The Big Apple.  Although to confess?  It seems like I was gone for so much longer than that.  It must be because we packed so many things into the days and nights we were there...

That has to be it.

As it is, our plane was late (by two hours) due to some rerouting over Georgia (something about tornadoes...)  (goodness)  (although I got to see a very cool tower lightening cloud from the window of the plane) So, we got in later than was expected...which made my mind resemble an overripe peach this morning, and by overripe peach I mean that it is all fuzzy and mushy, and here I was completely expecting to sort and edit photos today (if I had the time after playing catch up) and realized I can't do that without my external hard drive...

blah blah blah...

And obviously I forgot all of that because I was standing outside my house this morning desperately trying to hail a cab for a full 15 minutes and not one would stop for me!  Believe it or not...not one came up my road, so I decided I would just have to hop on the subway instead...and then I remembered that I was in a small town in northern Arizona and none of those things were going to happen, so I eased myself in my car and hoped I could remember how to drive myself.

It worked...but only just.

And now you'll have to wait for pictures from the trip...

20 October 2010

Just When You Thought...

I would be posting regularly.

Or maybe that's just what I was thinking...?  Halfheartedly.  Last week?  When I posted more than once.  Honestly...I had great hopes for myself.

Sigh.

I'm stepping off the self-whipping post now.

Honestly, it's the words of life.  They are still escaping me...someone recently told me maybe instead of talking about what is going on in my life, it was more of a feeling thing.

So, scuse me while I feel all over the place.

(that sounds illegal)

Ok...so here's the happs:

*I think I am mostly over my cold/allergy situation.  Just some residual coughing and spluttering here and there.  In fact, I made it to the gym today to walk on the treadmill for almost an hour.  Lifting weights almost made me collapse, and I was only thinking about it...imagine what would have happened if I would have actually done something more?

*Fall has arrived in my little corner of Arizona.  I also decorated my mantle for Halloween...and I know how much you adore seeing those pictures, and I will most certainly post them soon.  I promise.

*At one point not too long ago, I totally ran out of hangers at Snap! Snap!  and shortly thereafter, I ran out of room...and I still had a 4 foot pile of clothing to be priced and put away and more walking through the door every minute.  You'll be happy to know that this pricing/organizing/markingdown/rearranging has happened...and the shop is stocked and fabulous...I have a surplus of everything (which is just fantastic as the weather is about to change and it's time to start thinking of new wardrobe items)

*I have been keeping a secret.

*I know.

*Not fair.

(*It's a biggie too...)

*And, it kind of affects you directly (mostly) (mostly not because I've been so crazy quiet here as of late)

*The blog will be quiet for the rest of the week...because I'm going away.

*Again.

* This is a total spur/surprise trip for me (which means in between having my head in the clouds, I've been packing and repacking the perfect wardrobe...)

*Thursday will find me and two of my loveliest girlie friends boarding a plane to other places. You can follow me on facebook like my Seattle trip if you're so inclined (although, I'm borrowing a point and shoot so there will be scads of pictures and probably words when I get back)

...And here's a bit of a hint as to where I will be landing:


And yes, I am totally delirious.

Totally.

14 October 2010

Achoo.

Is it starve a cold feed a fever, or is it the other way around?

Achoo.

I don't want to jinx myself either way...but after waking up with a telltale sore and dry right nostril last night and the inability to want to crawl out of bed and leap into my day with verve and gusto (it's been like this for a few days...I just thought I was being a space cadet) and after spending more than a few days intermittently sneezing, I have come to the conclusion that I either have a fall weather cold or allergies.

The fall weather cold occurs for me most every year due to the days being very warm and the nights being very cold.  It's been this way since I was a small tyke (according to my mother) and it seems like some years I can sneak into fall without being sniffled...I really should be more preventative, after all these years...but it's almost like I can't wrap my mind around the idea that this could happen.

Again.

(and I'm old)

(I should totally know better)

The allergy theory is coming about because of the rather large plume of billowing smoke that is ascending behind the mountains and settling on the town due to a prescribed burn.

I think they are trying to kill us.

I say this because more than 50% of the people I'm coming into contact with are sniffling, sneezing, and wiping their eyes.  I also totally stopped taking anything for my allergies a couple of months back.  Probably too soon...again in denial that they really aren't serious about their threat to burn the surrounding area for three months.

Three.  Months.

Roll that around on your tongue for a while and tell me how that feels.

It feels like I need to get my tush up to CostCo and invest in more Zyrtec, that's what.

Or soup.

Because I'm not sure which one of these it is:  Cold or allergies.

I shall just take a Zyrtec with a soup chaser.

That should totally help.

I think...

13 October 2010

Mostly Wordless Wednesday...


I left these horrible little white chocolate and raspberry covered cherries I brought back with me from Seattle at my mother's last night accidentally.

Naughty little things...

I do miss their red cheeriness though.

LeSigh.

12 October 2010

Decoupage Art...Sort of.

A while ago (although I think it was only two or three posts ago, because I'm suffering from ICan'tFindTheWordsToWriteButYouCouldProbablyCallMeOnThePhone and have not been very chatty...in the writey form) I mentioned my new little robot piece I had made for Foolsewoode...?  It's so very sweet, so if you'd like to scroll down I'll wait.

OK.

Isn't it just darling?

Well, take my word for it, it is even better in person and sadly, not big enough to take up the entire wall above the mantel, although I'm not sure I'd want a piece quite that large (only I have one, but I can't remember if my father has it, or if I have it...and it needs to be framed.  Anywho...) I decided it was floating around on the wall all sad like, so it needed some kind of art companions.

Now, I happen to live with a lot of art.  I love art...and it mostly loves me back, in the fact that it hangs on the wall and is beautiful just for me.  Well, and my guests.  And my cat.  And my lovely house mate DaNece...you get the picture.  But sadly, none of the art I posses was quite right in that spot.  Either it was the wrong size or the wrong subject matter...so I had to really think about this.

Which led me to finally do something with the stack of windows I have that lean against the wall by the mantle.  They originally came from an estate sale in town and are a light pink with green showing through all the crackled paint.  The have their original green glass knobs, and some 1920's looking hinges.  They used to live outside all individually leaning against the house under the picture window (for lack of a better place to put them) and when I had the house repainted, they clashed and had to find a new place to live.

Which really means that they sat in a stack leaning against the wall...and trapped dust, dirt, and spiders behind them.  Every once in a while I would trip over them and then think they needed to go elsewhere, leave them there, and go on my merry way.

Luckily, along came Robot and Sock Monkey and I was finally forced inspired to do something with these windows, because I couldn't possibly get rid of them, and tripping over them wasn't doing anyone any good!

I took the rather shiny and glaring hinges off of them exposing the dark unpainted wood underneath, and proceeded to clean them up (because I'd just hauled them in out of the elements and commenced to stacking, so they were dirty.  While that made the paint age and crackle even more...it made the glass quite dirty.  Ahem...)  Because the knobs were still on the windows, and they were connected to their original hardware, which basically means there's a hook extending from the windows about an inch...which then basically means to us, that they won't lay flat against the wall when hung...it was off to the hardware to figure out the best way to hang them so they would remain mostly stable.

Since they were being hung by a canvas, I decided to use round hooks (is that fish eye?) and attach some random wire I happened to have in the junk drawer to them and then hang them on picture hangers nailed to the wall.  They are stable, and don't extend any more than the canvas they hang next to, so problem solved!

But now what to do with clean shiny blank windows to make them look like art?

Well...I guess you could run hither and fro and gather all the little pieces of mail, art, cards, prints, fortunes, souvenirs...and all those little sweet things that you can't possibly bring yourself to throw away or get rid of, and use them to create seasonal and sweet little displays (with tape ThankYouVeryMuch) on that clean shiny glass of those beautiful little windows that are finally serving a greater purpose than an obstacle to jump over whenever you walk through the room.

I just adore these little thrown together pieces of art and happy reminders of things I adore, and have absolutely no idea how I did not have them hanging there all along?

Of course, this whole wall art overhaul started with me taking down the three pieces of art that had previously hung on that wall and moving them somewhere else entirely...I will take a few quick snapshots and show you how that all ended up soon...

11 October 2010

It's For the Children...

Last Friday evening found a whole group of us, including people I knew and don't know...which is saying something in this little town, out and about.

On the town.

Having breakfast for dinner at Sue Ann's Apple Pan, a favorite haunt here in town...In our PJs.

It was for a good cause, and we all brought a new pair of PJs for a child in the Foster Care System through Arizona's Childrens Association and Hickmans Eggs, who gave each of us a whole dozen eggs free when we dropped off our PJs.

But, the chance to wear my PJs out and be totally accepted outside was too much of a lure to leave me sitting idly on the couch.  The place was packed the entire time we were there and the PJ collection box was already overflowing by the time we got there...and we were only there an hour after Sue Ann opened for the event!  It was so wonderful to see the outpouring of love in the community...and I hope there were enough PJs collected for the children...not to mention, we got to happily clutch our dozen eggs as we left the table.  Our waitress also informed us she was donating all of her tips to the organization that evening.  Just fantastic.


I have to tell you how thrilling it was to rush home, put on my PJs, brush my hair...readjust my makeup and run out the door again.  I shall note here that I did iron my PJs previously that day (insert eye roll here) and since I was wearing my sock monkey floating in clouds patterned PJs, I decided to don my red striped socks and sock monkey slippers.

Yes, this girl dresses up when she's in her Pjs.

In public that is.

Which I rarely am.

I'm not one to subscribe to the I Like to Wear My PJ pants Outside the House craze...unless I'm not getting out of the car.  Because, while I do love my own PJs, I don't necessarily want to subject the rest of the town to them...

I am also sorely sorry that I did not take a picture of my feet.  Because they were festive.

So...if you didn't happen to get out for the event, I suppose the only way to see me in my PJs would be to sneak over to Foolsewoode and either look through my windows (which I suggest you don't do, because not only would it scare me...but I think that it is illegal) or knock on the door...and see if I answer it.

Of course there's no guarantee that I will be in those particular PJs, but mostly I'm festive when I dress for bed so you're probably pretty safe.


PS.  I stole all these photos from Andrew.  Because I still can. not. find. my. point and shoot.

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