 Nostalgia, DVDs, old movies, television, OTR, fandom, good news and bad, picks, pans, cute budgie stories, cute terrier stories, and anything else I can think of. Contact me at theyoungfamily (at) earthlink (dot) net . . . . . . . . . .
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» Sunday, November 03, 2024
Changes in Space and Findings Whilst Shopping
 James has finally seen the spinal doctor at Emory!Not that it did him much good. The appointment was wayyyyy over at the old Executive Park complex which used to be a rabbit warren of little buildings, many of them rented by CDC. I had attended meetings and classes at Executive Park; the plus of going there was that it was near a plaza that was filled with restaurants, including a Chinese place we were very fond of going to for Friday lunch. All of the buildings are now gone. In its place are the big Arthur Blank Hospital, part of Children's Hospital of Atlanta, a bunch of construction, and the Emory Muskoskeletal and Spinal Center, which was us. The building is shiny new, with a very nice-smelling cafe at the entrance. They have an interesting system of elevators, too. When you get there you register, and they give you a ticket telling you where to go: Level 4, for example, and then Aisle E. Then you go to the elevator bay which has a central panel. You tell the elevator you're going to Level 4, and it tells you what elevator to take. There are no buttons in the elevator; it's kinda spooky. Anyway, we saw Dr. Hobson, but nothing was done that Thursday; she wanted a battery of tests first: a complete spinal CT scan, a complete MRI of the spine, and a bone density test. She doesn't want to start a treatment for his lower back that will screw up his upper back. She also prescribed a back brace, which we'll get from Hangar Orthotics, and hydrotherapy. When we got home we tried to set up the CT and MRI immediately, but the orders weren't in the system yet; they did not go in until Wednesday and James made appointments on Saturday evening the 9th at Townpark, but he couldn't get the bone scan until the following Tuesday. But it will be done quickly, so we can hopefully get James some pain relief. This wasn't our only appointment this week; we also went to see Dr. Coyle. The fistula still isn't "ripe." You know, we were told, both times, that this thing would be "ripe" in six weeks. Now they tell us six weeks to three months! In happier trips, we drove out to the Costco in Paulding County again. We got supplies, but there was no ScotTissue! We also stopped at the Walmart out there and I was able to find twelve cans of the recently discontinued Harvest Tomato soup, which I use to make chicken cacciatore. I think this is the only big haul I'm going to be able to get. I now have 20 cans, and then we will need to find something else. I'm very sad. James had already filled in his mail-in ballot, and I did mine on Wednesday. When we left dialysis, we drove past the Smyrna community center where they were having early voting. This year they did allow me to deposit James' ballot along with mine; last year they insisted he do it himself. I put up the outside Thanksgiving decorations on Friday only to discover I had no Thanksgiving flag! I ordered one immediately, a very beautiful surround of autumn leaves surrounding the word "thankful." Then I drove out to the Walmart near Roswell Road and Cobb Parkway in hope of finding more Harvest Tomato soup. No luck there, but they did have slip-on canvas shoes that I use for dog-walking at night. And just in time, too, because when I got home and swapped out the inserts in my old dog-walking shoes, I discovered the soles of both shoes were cracked! This Walmart is next to Sam's Club, so I went in for ScotTissue. Thank goodness, they did have some! They also had—oh, my ears and whiskers!—poultry gravy. It has been like pulling teeth to find containers of poultry gravy; you can get brown gravy all the time, but not poultry. I ended up paying something like fifteen dollars to get a canister of McCormick poultry gravy mix from Amazon, and there they were at Sam's Club for $5 each. So I bought three! Uploaded a new fanfic as well: "Haunted." Labels: change, clothing, food, health, shopping, sickness, writing  » Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Winter Hangs On
 After a fitful winter where the temperatures have pretty much not gotten under fifty and have hovered around 70 several times, it's now disconcerting to have nearly a week of highs in the forties and, later in the week, fifties. Sunday and Monday were grey and damp, with a sharp edge to the wind, and it continued today, with the wind's sharpness unchecked; in fact it might have been even colder today, with the occasional snowflake coming out of nowhere and grazing the cheek. Covered in flannelette and layered in flannel, for serious expeditions (like dog-walking) I am bundled in my heaviest jacket with the hood and a lined hat, but I have also dashed outside in the wonderful garment I got at Hallmark last summer, a woolly square which can be a scarf, a shoulder throw, a shawl, and even, unfolded all the way, a light throw. It is surprisingly warm, if not as large as the shawl pictured here.When James got home I ran out to help him with the chair with it in shawl format, half covering my head, feeling like Jo March running out to the post office box between the Marches and the Lawrences to see what treasures there were today. Even Tucker has eschewed his usual begging to go outside or run outside on the deck to lie curled up in a tight ball: this morning I found him in James' computer chair, this morning he was in his "cave" on a chair under the dining room table, and this afternoon he was snuggled up on his fleece in front of the hearth, nose firmly tucked into his flank and tail wrapped around his haunches. He didn't even follow me downstairs when I took the laundry down and discovered the heat was off downstairs; not sure how that happened, but it was 59°F down there! Since it is Daylight Wasting Time I still have ample illumination to stare out the back windows and watch the wind tossing the trees with their brown leaves still attached. It's been a funny spring, with half the trees blooming, budding, or leafing, and the rest still twiggy and bare, showing their skeletons to the world, or holding on to the faded copper remnants of last year's raiment. Looks bleak and sad, but still better than the 78 it's going to be next week (ugh). » Sunday, October 19, 2014
A Great Day for a Festival
I don't get up at seven on a Sunday willingly, but today was different. It was wash, dress, walk the dog (under a beautiful dawn sky, the brightening blue striped liberally with pink clouds from one horizon to the other, with a silver scythe of a moon hanging over the roof of the house), and finally shove the Rollator into the back of my car so we could head up to Ellijay for the Apple Festival. We stopped by Publix for cash and Burger King for breakfast (thank God you can get plain oatmeal now; the first batch I ever got had those fake blueberries in it and was dreadful), and then headed north.It was just a plain wonderful day: Sunny, but only about 50°F when we arrived. I discarded my jacket anyway and just went with my pashmina; it was a bit chilly until we started walking, but I didn't much care as long as I wasn't warm. There was a wonderful breeze, too, that made the pash flap. We had a grand stroll around the Lion's Club fairgrounds, sampled dip and cocoa and jams, checked out the pretty crafts, and enjoyed the nice cool air. James did really well; we didn't stop all that much; our longest break was for lunch in which we had meat "sundaes": I had turkey and James had beef, served over mashed potatoes, with gravy, shredded cheese and a cherry tomato on top. (We both decided it was good, but too much potatoes, and neither of us finished the potatoes. They were real mashed potatoes, though, with chunks of potato in with the mash.) We bought the second and last batch of Ginny's Fudge (they won't be at the Jonquil Festival), some of the lovely soft caramels we got last year at the Jonquil Festival, a half-dozen cider doughnuts because James likes them, peppermint cocoa, and a container of ginger pickles (yah, I though of Beatrix Potter, too). James bought himself a new leather wallet, a grey Stetson sun hat, and an anniversary gift for me, a sweatshirt with a chickadee amongst fall leaves and snowflakes on it. It was just starting to get too warm (high 60s) when we headed back to the car. On the way home we stopped at the edge of Ellijay at Panorama Orchards and bought a peck of Granny Smith apples, a bag of onions, and an apple pie, and each had an apple on the way home, listening to, as we did on the way up, "The Splendid Table." Ran into one mystery jam, but made it home okay, if still feeling a bit sunburnt. For the rest of the afternoon, Tucker played cat and wanted on and off the deck. Snowy sang. I finished some book reviews. James paid some bills. Had pizza for supper, and watched the 25th edition of "Treehouse of Horror" on The Simpsons (the first one with Bart going to Hell was the best, since we all figured he was going to end up there anyway), and then Alaska: the Last Frontier. Labels: clothing, events, food, shopping, television » Saturday, November 03, 2012
Life Is Full of Surprises
It turned out to be an ordinary week back to work: the usual assortment of new orders, modifications to old orders, and learning enough about one order to realize I needed lots, lots more information that had been given to me. It was busy enough that I didn't get to do the usual "Simple Woman's Daybook."A miracle did occur on Tuesday: TruGreen finally showed up to do the aeration and seeding of the lawn that I paid for in early fall 2009. This has been a comedy of errors and annoyances since then. Now, when I talked to the TruGreen guy earlier this year about finally having this done, he told me we were supposed to water the lawn before they showed up. However, since no one called before they showed up today, that didn't get done, so I don't even know if the aeration and seeding will work. How jolly. Not. We also had a rather strange staff meeting. We have a new director who is trying to determine the direction of our upcoming reorganization, and she wants us to define our "vision" for it. My vision doesn't involve reorganization; I don't want to be reorganized. I'm perfectly happy with the people I work with. I just want us to have (1) more help, (2) better equipment (and more supplies, so our clerk doesn't have to dole out three strips of staples instead of a box), and (3) more understanding from the people I do work for (most of them still don't know what it is we have to do to get them the supplies or services they need, and some bitterly resent us "getting in their way"). Those are the biggest problems. Hallowe'en I just came home, shut off all the lights, and elected to hibernate with James. I'm tired of the whole thing. And it was a very relaxing evening, thank you. So James tramped off to work this morning, and I got up in time to go to the Farmer's Market. We badly needed vegetables and I knew James wanted some chicken salad and also boiled peanuts. Managed all this, but struck out on goat cheese—the guy forgot to bring any of the plain cheeses. I came home via Kroger, where I replenished a few things in the larder (like Those Damn Bananas) and found a very pretty artificial pumpkin with a Thanksgiving theme on discount. The Christmas glasses are quite attractive this year—a distressed red, white and green reindeer motif and also one of snowflakes. No goodies on the hot bar yet, however. Also stopped at Publix, which had two essentials on the twofer list: more of my favorite oatmeal, and Campbell's "Naturals" soups. One of the flavors of the "Naturals" is the tomato with basil that we use to make chicken cacciatore. We couldn't find this for a while, so now I'm determined to stock up. It makes the best cacciatore! I bought eight of the "Healthy Heart" version, which has 200g less sodium and more potassium. Brought the loot home and ate my treat for a late breakfast: a Chicago roll from Publix which I spread with mint butter. (Hey! I'm Italian; bread is a treat!) Also had some yogurt and milk. Well, next I faced a very unpleasant task. When last we met on the saga of the wedding clothes (see October 14), I had found a nice top and a decent bra. Now I needed a skirt. I could have sworn there was a Catherine's up at Town Center, so I headed that way. I intended to go there via downtown Marietta, but stupidly headed there through "the ditch," which stuck me on the part of Barrett Parkway that's under construction. Very aggravating. Plus while trying to find the Catherine's, my phone locked up. I had to change batteries in it to get it to go again. And then when it was working again, I discovered all the other Catherine's are on the other side of town. So I plugged "Lane Bryant" into the search and did find them, and ended up...ugh...at the mall. However, I did luck out. I found a nifty skirt. It has an A-line underskirt and then a lighter pleated material on top, so that when I walk it swirls nicely, just like Loretta Young. :-) Well, they had everything in the store on buy-one-get-one, so I was able to get a nice pair of dress pants, too—the saleslady was super-helpful and led me to the pants for short people, so I don't even have to shorten them! I also bought a pair of tights—$17 for tights!—and a large scarf that can be used as a shawl, in whites and silvers. So that being over, I could have a little fun. Went over to Yankee Candle where they were having a Christmas open house, and sniffed all the Christmas scents. I had heard they had icicles you could put on your tree which will make the tree smell of Balsam and Cedar, but they had only the cookie scent, which I find a bit nauseating. I did fall in love with the new scent, Peppermint Bark, and also got a Balsam and Cedar decoration for the car. I was amused to discover they had a line of Sound of Music scents, based on "My Favorite Things": Whiskers on Kittens, Bright Copper Kettles, Warm Woolen Mittens, and Brown Paper Packages Tied Up in String. The scents were rather pleasing, but I wasn't tempted. I also stopped at Barnes & Noble. I didn't expect the Christmas issue of "Victorian Homes" to be out yet, but it was, and I also got a British magazine called simply "The Christmas Magazine." Not only that, but I walked down to CD Warehouse to see what was new in used DVDs. I found a copy of the Christmas drama, The Gathering, on a commercial DVD! I didn't realize one had been released. Long ago there was a commercial VHS, and you can get the movie and its sequel from the Warner Archive "on Demand," but I've only seen bootleg versions of DVDs on places like eBay (where they go for $75-$85!). Apparently this was released last year. Very glad to find it, and it was only $5. Stopped for gasoline on the way home, and know at some point I'm going to have to get something else fixed in the car: we noticed on the way home from Virginia that the air conditioner is not always coming on properly. Today I noticed that if the car was idling at a light, the air coming out of the vents was warm and the car rough idled off and on; it only ran properly if I was actually driving. Finally arrived home, had some lunch, ran the vacuum, and watched a streaming movie on Netflix, the Truman Capote story One Christmas, with Henry Winkler as Buddy's flimflamming dad. (My first reaction: oh, my God, his father was Scott Sherwood....) When James got home, we had supper at Panera and then went to Hobby Lobby. A nice lady gave us coupons she didn't use, and I got the loveliest piece of Zweigart linen for cross-stitching. Also found a new brand of embroidery floss, "Artiste," that had some colors that were like the DMC Color Combinations, but in a couple of combinations DMC didn't use, especially a neat purple mixture. Labels: cars, Christmas, clothing, crafts, food, magazines, movies, shopping, work » Sunday, October 14, 2012
Overbooked
The weekend festivities actually began on Thursday, with our work picnic. This was held once again at Jones Bridge Park in Norcross. (The iron bridge once crossed the Chattahoochee River, which runs parallel to the park grounds, but was closed before World War II; indeed, half of it is gone, having been dismantled for scrap in the war.) It was chilly in the morning; I even had to wear my jacket. Sadly, it was also sunny, so it got very warm by afternoon.It was a swell party. I had the usual complaint about loud music, but it wasn't on too long. Lunch was "burgers and dogs" with fixings, chips, some fruit, ate with Tiffney and Vivian, listening to some others do kareoke. One of my favorite things happens after lunch: I take a walk along the river, then through the woods in back of the picnic area. Parts of the undergrowth are fenced off because of past erosion, so there are several flights of steps down to the river that end at small streatches of rock before dropping off into the water. People like to sit at the foot of the largest flight of steps and feed the ducks and the geese. There were at least five or six dozen of mallards and Canada geese on the river today, ducking underwater for their dinner or preening, or just drifting like little flotillas upon the sun-drenched water. As I descended one of the smaller sets of steps, I spied a squirrel at the edge of the path. As I wondered if I could slip my phone out to get a photo of him, there was a wild scratching from the trash can less than two feet from me. In the opening appeared another squirrel face, looking panicked, then the squirrel scrambled out of the trash can and beat it into the underbrush! How I laughed! The woods path was strewn with dead leaves and had the delightful scent of fall, although the trees are not turned as much as they've been in previous years. There were birdcalls overhead and at one point I saw a wren flirting his tail on the rail of a little bridge that goes over a creek from the river. By midafternoon I was starting to feel uncomfortable with the sun and wary about Thursday traffic—it was already backing up near Roswell Road—so I got on my way. I stopped for a few minutes at "The Forum," a shopping center just down from Jones Bridge Road to check out the Barnes & Noble. I finally did find The Tale of Castle Cottage, which I searched for all last weekend. I also stopped at Publix to buy some bread and some twofers. My first stop Friday was the Cobb County Library book sale. I also went to Wally World for Breathe Right strips and other necessary items. I had perishables, so came directly home. Had things to clean up and got lured into reading the first of the Trixie Belden books I had bought. We had supper at Hibachi Grill and then decided to hit Publix again, then finished up the shopping at Kroger since James had to work on Sunday. We were in bed early because we were up at seven on Saturday to head up to Ellijay to the Apple Festival. This was our first time going on Saturday, so we wanted to get there when they opened. We went by Wendy's for breakfast; their oatmeal isn't as good as Chik-Fil-A, but it was on the way and you can get it plain, unlike the glop at Burger King. Traffic was fine and we saw a few nice-looking autumn trees among otherwise uninspiring pines. They were parking us near the Lions' Club grounds again this year, although we had a good hike to the gate. Most of the usual vendors were there and we had a grand time for over two hours wandering in and out of the booths. We bought a couple of gifts, our last Ginny's Fudge for the year, a few little autumnal decorations—oh, and a new cabinet for the dining room. I've been wanting to get something new to replace the old microwave cart for a while. The gentleman who made our table and chair set and the medicine cabinet that we bought at the Yellow Daisy Festival also sold a lovely little china cabinet, half the size of the one we have, that would have been perfect. But he hasn't shown up at the show since 2002. I've looked online since then, trying to find something comparable. The closest idea I had was to buy a Leksvik buffet from Ikea and then mount shelves on the wall—in fact, James and I were talking about this last week at the Container Store—but I didn't want to mar the walls. This isn't my ideal cabinet. It's plain boards dry brushed with white so it looks "distressed." I'm not fond of the look. But it is nice and sturdy, and has three shelves on top and an enclosed cupboard on the bottom. With some autumnal trim it ought to look fine. Our decorating is nothing but eclectic anyway. :-) By the time we found the pickup spot and got the cabinet loaded, the sun was doing a number on both of us. (We both take medications that say we shouldn't be in the sun too long, and we've lucked out the last two times in that it was cloudy.) At least it was still cool, with a nice breeze. We were happy to thread our way out through a huge car show they were having in the baseball fields next to the Lions' Club grounds. There were some great cars, too: at least a half-dozen blue-and-white 1950s Chevy Bel-Airs, 1930s cars made into roadsters, 1960s muscle cars, old pickup trucks with shiny engine parts, and even a PT Cruiser painted in a flame job. We stopped at Panorama Orchards on the way out, to get our apples and also a fresh apple pie, some sugar-free taffy for James, some goat-milk hand moisturizer for me, and some apricot teriyaki marinade. We stopped at Krystal for a quick lunch and then drove back listening to last week's episode of "The Splendid Table," and arrived at the hobby shop just in time for James' club meeting. I had bought The Doomsday Vault with me and spent the meeting reading. We had soup for supper and spent the evening recovering from the sun. I wasn't sunburnt, but my skin felt hot long into the night. Jen was able to get on chat and, later, Mike and Emma, but I spent most of the evening in a stupor. Went to bed an hour earlier than usual, and ended up stuck in the bathroom at 2:30 in the morning. I guess my popcorn sensitivity is back. Gah. James was off to work before I was even conscious. I got up at nine, conscious that I had a distasteful task to start today. No, not housework: clothes shopping. I need a new outfit for Juanita's wedding in November. The prospect filled me with dread. I've never liked clothes shopping, even when I was at my ideal weight. But this had to be done. First I went to Publix for a newspaper and some bread, then came home and tried to tidy up a bit. I ended up cutting coupons and watching the "Space Jump," Felix Baumgartner trying to set a new record for a free-fall jump from space. Coaching him through the attempt is the previous record-holder, from the 1960s. Sadly, I had to leave before he jumped, but I did record it. To take the onus off the errand, I went back to the book sale for about an hour, details here. And finally I girded my loins and went to Catherine's. The salespeople were incredibly nice. The first thing I needed was a properly fitting brassiere. My current one hurt, made worse by the surgery scars and arthritis. By rummaging around and deciding no underwires, I did find one. Yay. I also found a nice dressy black top, but I wanted a skirt and there were almost all pants there. Look, if I'm going to get dressed, I'm going to get dressed. I did find a skirt I liked, but it was, ironically, too large. I discovered caftans are apparently in again, and when I dropped by Ross Dress for Less, I found out to my horror that so are miniskirts. That's all that was there in a skirt, minis. Ugh. I couldn't even find skirts in Kohl's. Acres and acres of casual tops, dressy tops, casual dressy tops—but no skirts! Fuggedaboutit. I came home and watched the rest of Baumgartner coverage (I peeked on Facebook; he landed okay) until it was just time for him to make the jump itself. It was just time for James to come in, so I paused it. Too cool: he guided the parachute right down to a two-point landing right on his feet from twenty-three miles up! Plus he broke the sound barrier on the way down! Today, incidentally, is the anniversary of Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier in 1947 in the Bell X-1. We had supper; we watched America's Funniest Home Videos, another heartbreaking episode of Call the Midwife, and finally Mythbusters before it was bedtime. Labels: animals, autumn, books, clothing, crafts, food, nature, science, shopping » Sunday, August 05, 2012
Good-bye, Hello, and Good-bye
It was a momentous day in more ways than one.We still had vegetables left over, so we scrapped the Farmer's Market visit and slept late. At least as late as a barking dog would allow, even after James took her out before we went to bed. Had breakfast and puttered about until it was time to start getting dressed for Amy Rutledge's memorial service. The address of the church had sounded familiar and when I looked it up, I knew why: it was the church right near our veterinarian's office. I pressed my clothes, patted a bit of makeup on, and we were off, leaving early so James could drop off two models at the hobby shop before we headed out to Dunwoody. The local IPMS club is taking a "club project" down to the Nationals next weekend in Orlando: a Lego aircraft carrier with its deck covered in little egg planes. These are popular small Japanese model kits that portray aircraft...well, in egg shapes. They're cute and fun. James had done one previously and finished two more for delivery today. We wanted to make sure we arrived at the church on time, especially since the freeway had road construction on it, although at the moment it had to have been stopped because it was raining quite steadily. We stopped on the way at Jersey Mike's for a small sandwich each and shared a bag of kettle chips and a cookie since we didn't know how long the service would be, and went surface roads only and arrived about a half hour early, so we stopped at Kroger and I bought my buns for lunch there. (The buns at the Smyrna Kroger are always covered with bits of cornmeal that keeps the bread from sticking to the baking pans. Ugh.) Then we circled back to the church and drove through the parking lot until we saw familiar faces and parked the truck. As it always is at funerals, we saw folks we hadn't seen in some months, and those we pretty much only talk to online. One by one everyone arrived and we waited under the overhang outside one of the church halls. By the time the service started at two, it was pouring rain. I'd carried my umbrella, but James hadn't, and it turned out the short service was being carried out outside. So James had to run back to the truck for his own brolly. It was a nice service, held in a little outside garden with a statue of the Virgin Mary amongst flowers at one end and a little alcove with a fountain and plinths near which there were small memorial plaques. We were in the rear and the pounding of the rain against the umbrellas made it hard to hear, but we said the Lord's Prayer and did the responses. After the service we repaired to Allison's Restaurant a mile or so away where Amy's husband and her family had planned a small "collation" and we sat and talked. A guest book was passed about and we enjoyed each other's company and some delicious food: salmon and cream cheese on wheat bread with dill, coconut shrimp, chicken fingers, a few other meats, "tea" sandwiches (cucumber, egg salad—thinking of you, George Hall!—shrimp salad), and two desserts, tiramisu and strawberries and cream. We got to see Mike Rogers and John Cochrane and Stephanie Gould, and met some of Amy's friends from dog shows. One of the things James and I were talking to Phyllis about was our need for new dress clothing for Juanita's wedding. I'm going to have to put off that ordeal until after the present ordeal, a.k.a. end of fiscal year., is over. He's going to wear his new kilt, in the U.S. Navy tartan, at the wedding and has all the accessories for it, but needed a new jacket. His old suit goes back to our wedding, almost 22 years ago, and doesn't fit around the shoulders anymore. So since we were right across the parking lot from Jos. A. Banks, the menswear store, after the reception was over, we went there looking for a suit jacket. Wow. They had jackets almost up to $1000. The average price was about $450! We had to wander about for about fifteen minutes just for anyone to talk to us, and then were told they'd have to special order a jacket for him. Well, we were only shopping. On the way home we stopped at Cumberland Mall, or across from Cumberland, anyway, at the Men's Wearhouse. We were greeted promptly here, by a salesman who let James try on three jackets in navy blue, and we found a nice looking one that fit perfectly. Well, they were having a sale, and he was able to get another jacket, a blue-grey in a pale houndstooth pattern, for just a little bit more, and then he bought a white shirt for the wedding and a blue shirt to wear with the houndstooth jacket. It was a lot more than we usually pay for clothes, but if the new clothes last as long as the old ones, it will be a good deal. So now he's kitted out for Juanita's wedding. My mom would be proud! :-) This was a great salesman, by the way...we were only supposed to be looking today. He did look a bit nonplussed when James said he would be wearing it with a kilt! God, I don't want to think about buying a good dress or a blouse and skirt. Half the stuff for women with my tubby figure are big flowered prints. It's bad enough being stout without looking like Hyacinth Bucket! Stopped at Bed, Bath & Beyond for a bottle of syrup for James' Soda Stream, and then finally home. We needed a little amusement after the gravity of today, and had a big marathon of Big Bang Theory episodes this evening, watching the rest of season two (about eight episodes) and the only two episodes of season three we hadn't seen, plus the extras on both DVD sets. At last! Enough blooper scenes to make a gag reel on a DVD set worthwhile; most DVDs that do blooper reels have about two minutes of gags and that's it. And then we got sad news on chat: we'd decided to go to Virginia this year because of Jen being stationed near Norfolk and her ship not scheduled to deploy until next year. Well, wouldn't you know they're going to go on a short mission just when we're due to go on vacation? Typical: Uncle Sam giveth and Uncle Sam taketh away. Phooey!  This is a picture I found of Amy running her basenji, Widget, in an agility trial, on her friend Sharon's Facebook page. Hope Sharon doesn't mind that I have reposted it. We had known Amy for a long time, from when we would drive up to Atlanta from Warner Robins for the Terminus TARDIS meetings at White Hall at Emory University back in the mid-1980s. We danced at her wedding, and she and her husband Charles made it possible for us to have our wedding and reception at the clubhouse at their apartment complex. We watched Amy run her dogs, first Brucie and then Delenn and Vir, and finally Widget, in a couple of agility contests. We hadn't seen much of her of late, but we kept up with her dog show awards on Facebook. We'll miss her. » Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Cool, Cool, O So Joyful Coolness
Day one of Thanksgiving leave from work! I celebrated by sleeping until 8:30, making up for losing sleep the last two nights when it was so warm. My joints ache so much when it gets this humid and warm that I wake up due to my knees hurting and my shoulders stiff.
Next I had breakfast and headed out to do some errands. In the Sunday paper, the Target ad showed wireless mice on sale for $10 and I wanted to see if there were any left. There were; they were smaller than the one from Microcenter, but I bought one anyway for use with the laptop. I made the mistake of wandering into their Christmas aisles and found the cutest little ceramic reindeer salt and pepper shakers; one has a red scarf, the other a green, luckily not expensive. They are a bit cartoony but very cute, with pointed faces, and the pepper one has his eyes closed as if he's just sneezed. I was very taken with their Christmas lights; as much as I don't like the LEDs I did love the sets they had that were all six colors of the rainbow, with the yellow clearly different from the orange. When I see things like that I am tempted to do multicolor on the front porch rather than blue! They also had a nice variety of different figurals I hadn't seen anywhere else, not even at Bronner's: from media like Mickey Mouse, Disney princesses, Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph (Rankin-Bass versions) to lobsters and other animals. Before I stopped at Target I had made a brief stop at Kohl's. I checked out flannel sheets (not a lot of colors, and expensive) and flannel jammies. I also checked out the flannel pajamas at Target; it looks like if I want them they will run about $25. Still not sure I should buy them, as it gets cold enough for them only about two weeks out of the year! From Target I turned up the East-West Connector and went to the Barnes & Noble on Dallas Highway. By then I had my phone plugged in to my car stereo and listened to instrumental Christmas music. It was such a lovely day I wanted to burst with happiness: just cloudy enough to keep the sun out of my eyes, 55 degrees, and the breeze was at a good clip, whirling leaves about. Talk about energizing! The ride through West Sandtown Road is pretty, too, kind of country/suburban, with tree-surrounded yards. So I took a look at the new Nook Tablet. It's really slick and zippy. But...there is that Color I bought all too recently. Goodness! does gadget envy ever end? Strolled around the bargain books and the new ones as well. Very surprised that this year there is not one Christmas book that I want! Stopped at Publix on the way home to get a baguette and picked up a couple of twofers and gave $5 to the Can Bank. I haven't seen any donation barrels this year! That's a shame because I loved walking through the store last year buying staples and then watching the cashiers' faces as I told them it was all for the barrel. At home I had the baguette with some goat cheese and dubbed off two episodes of Castle before I realized I hadn't started the laundry and it was nearly three o'clock. So I stuffed the washer for round one and then tackled a chore downstairs. We have a bookcase in the hallway that we have filled with old APAzines. We don't read them and I really don't like the bookcase anyway. However, we do need an additional place to add food items that we are storing in our pantry closet. So I emptied the zines into Xerox paper boxes, then cleaned off the bookcase and refilled it with light things: granola bars, tea, Sweet'n'Low, cereal, box potatoes, etc. Next time I am at JoAnn I will get a piece of material large enough to cover the front (24"x60"). Maybe in red gingham. It will look cute and be an extra "closet." When James arrived home we had supper and then he started baking the sweet potato "sonker" for Thanksgiving dinner. It has steamed sweet potatoes in it and is basically a pie. He used the leftover bits of crust to make little cinnamon rolls, the bits rolled out, basted with a little butter, and scattered with cinnamon and nutmeg, baking them in the oven. My mom used to do this if she made a pie, knowing I'd rather eat the crust anyway! Made me feel like a little girl again. Labels: Christmas, clothing, electronics, food, shopping, television, weather » Sunday, August 14, 2011
She Scores!
Had a nice long chat last night and a nice long sleep this morning (with the oddest dream: we were helping someone move, someone I don't even know, a single mom with two daughters). After breakfast, we were initially heading for Costco to get more of the jeans I had found there last week. But we had some excellent BJs coupons, including one for Bisquik, which we needed. So I put on "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" and we drove up to Woodstock.
Well, I hit the jackpot: BJs had Gloria Vanderbilt "Amanda" jeans as well, in more colors than Costco had, and they had short lengths, too! Thank you to BJs for remembering that folks who are short like to be able to buy pants without having to go through the annoyance of shortening them every damn time! I bought one of each color, except for the pink, lilac, or yellow, which I didn't want, or the indigo color, which they didn't have in my size. Instead, I got two pairs of the black, plus a "blue jean," a stonewashed blue, beige, and a dark plum color. ("When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple...") I wish they had the pretty chocolate brown like last time, but for brown I will make do with the ones I bought from Costco. They did not have that color at BJs, a greyish-brown "tobacco" color. I just have to roll the bottoms up if I'm not shod, a fact that was brought home at Leigh's yesterday: the pants worked okay as long as I had shoes on, but she asked us to take off our shoes because her new house has white carpeting. I had to giggle, because out of curiosity I looked up when I bought the last set of four jeans; it was the summer my mom died and I found them in BJs off Atwood Avenue in Johnston, RI. In fact, it was six years ago this weekend. I've had to nurse those jeans through the last few years; JoAnn made a fortune on me in iron-on patches! But I hated to give up the jeans, because, except for two spots on each pair, they are still in good shape, except for the black ones, which I completely wore out wearing to work. We also got several other things for which we had coupons, including two new pillows for the spare room, the old ones being definitely tired out. We came home by Kroger for the usual staples before arriving home. We hadn't had any lunch, so James warmed up the chicken wings we'd had a coupon for, while I went to gas up my car. Then we had "lunner" (or is it "dinch"? LOL) while watching Robin Hood: Men in Tights. » Sunday, April 17, 2011
So, Where Was I?
Ah, yesterday. About dinnertime. Now, we were supposed to have a tea, hosted by John, and the person who came in the best steampunk costume would get a prize. Alice had found a brocaded dress in Goodwill that was just perfect as a "steampunky" look. She matched it with a motoring cap and swim goggles and a pair of boots. She was the only one that came in costume and won the prize, a little glass teapot.
The lodge restaurant had prime rib and shrimp in cream sauce on the buffet, so we went there for supper along with the Lawsons. We had a funny waitress who kept joking with Aaron. I discovered after I had helped myself to several slices of the prime rib and a big spoonful of the shrimp that they had chicken rice soup. Had I known I would have taken less beef and no shrimp (I was wary of eating it, as one year it had made me ill). The soup was excellent, and I'd rather eat good chicken rice soup any day over prime rib or shrimp. Back to the commons area; a bunch of folks had gone into Helen to eat, and when they got back and everyone settled down, about nine o'clock four of us—Juanita, Shari, Alice and myself—started a game of "Cutthroat Uno." (In this version, if you pull a Draw Two, if the next person to have a turn has a Draw Two, they can put it down instead of drawing two cards. The Draw Two cards can pile up until the next person who doesn't have a Draw Two has a turn. That person has to then draw as many pairs of cards as there were Draw Two cards. Yowch! Same with the Draw Four card.) After a few games Sue and Caran joined us. We played until after midnight, and it was a barrel of fun! Sometimes we were laughing so hard we were crying, even Juanita and Shari, who had broken ribs and a bad back, respectively (Shari was sitting with a heating pad). Around us, people used laptops or phones, talked, read books, talked more, and the younger members of the gang were in the "ops" room watching videos. Even after the game broke up—we looked around bewilderedly; half of everyone else had gone to bed!—we were still sitting down there talking. Unfortunately James and I had another restless night (bed too small and too soft!), and were woken too early by the sun coming into the skylight. I guess they think people will come here and always get up early. It is full daylight in the room by seven o'clock, and the skylights (well, really upstairs windows) really need curtains. We had breakfast at the lodge and then gathered up all our things and decamped to the common area. Some folks were eating bagels or bread with peanut butter in lieu of breakfast. We cleaned up the common area, disassembled the foodstuffs and the appliances, checked out, and then drove up to Picnic Shelter 6. (Well, all except for Shari, who had to leave early. She's from Birmingham, and had to get past the Talladega Raceway before the morass of Nascar fans emerged after the race.) We have had the gamut of weather this weekend! Friday it was dark and overcast and humid-damp, yesterday it was sunny but windy and cool and absolutely lovely, today it was sunny, starting out cool, but getting very warm by the afternoon. Nevertheless, early in the afternoon was perfect for a picnic, neither too warm or too cold. Ken took over grill duty and produced burgers (beef and turkey) and hot dogs. We ate, talked, walked the several dozen steps down to Smith Creek and took photos or just contemplated the beauty; several of the kids waded in the water (but we are finally past the falling-into-the-water phase) and some folks sat down at the picnic tables closer to the stream. At one point we saw a bright green little inchworm working its way down a cardboard box and I coaxed it onto my finger and showed it around before I placed it on the bark of a nearby tree. It was a nice few hours, but as always it came to an end. We packed up and drove down to Cumming listening to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," stopping at the outlet mall. We went into the Hanes store for a few things for James, and I found great sale prices on sweatpants/shirts: they were already on sale for $6, but were then half price! So I got two pairs of sweatpants and a sweatshirt to wear around the house next winter for $3/each! Also stopped at Yankee Candle for some coffee-scented candles. Then it was off to the vet to pick up the fids—Schuyler had learned to speak a few notes of "hairdo bird" [cockatiel] over the weekend—and come home. No sooner had we brought everything in than we had to run to Publix for the necessities of life (milk) and a few other twofers. When we got home, I stuffed the dirty clothes in the washer before bringing the suitcase upstairs. We didn't take much, so unpacking and putting up was easy, we were soon ready for work, and we sat down to watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition and Holmes Inspection. Another Atomicon is at an end. :-( » Sunday, January 30, 2011
A Middy Life
 I'm not a "clotheshorse," but this site about vintage clothing has some neat sections, including, under "Perfect Pieces," a history of the middy blouse. Hildegard Frey's Camp Fire girls are almost always in middies, so the subject caught my eye.Fuzzylizzie Vintage Clothing Fashion History » Saturday, September 26, 2009
The Saturday Shopper
James was up bright and early—okay, early...LOL—at 6:50 to go to work today. I slept until 8:30, after having a strange dream about not allowing a group of panicky people to use my cell phone. I awoke surprisingly chipper, considering I had a dreaded errand to come.
I decided to go the farmer's market to get a few things. It was overcast and fairly cool, and I bought a little honey, a loaf of French bread, more pimento cheese spread, a surprise for dessert, and some of those nasty boiled peanuts that James likes. I guess boiled peanuts are an acquired taste, and I haven't acquired it. :-) I had planned to head home, but instead went straight on to my errand. The last of my work pants, which I bought years ago and have been nursing with patches, finally gave their all on Tuesday. I'd planned to buy new pants, but was hoping to wait until October. I hate buying clothes. I even hated it when I was two pounds short of my ideal weight. Shoes are even worse. I really don't get the shoe thing with women; shoes are something to put on your feet outside or to keep warm. You have a couple pair for work, a couple pair for weekends, a good pair for funerals and weddings, a ratty pair to work in the yard, and some slippers. What else do you need? Anyway, I decided to go to Acworth. I could hit the SuperTarget, the Kohls, and the WalMart, and still look at Books-a-Million for a copy of Country. Sadly, I didn't find the Country, but did get Just Cross-Stitch's annual Christmas ornament issue and a bargain book. Then it was on to Target. I've had horrible luck searching for clothing at Target and this time was no exception. They don't seem to have any dressy pants at all. I wouldn't wear what passed for pants there at a dogfight. The one near-decent pair I saw had cuffs, which sure wouldn't do since I always have to hem my pants. I hardly ever find pants for people my height. I did get James a couple of Mexican dinners and found quite a pretty little fall vine wreath for only $2.50. There is also a Ross Dress-for-Less in that shopping area, so I tried there. They did have one pair of pants my size! And they weren't too long and fit my waist and hips...but were too tight in the thighs! Weird. So I drove down to Wally World and did find some suitable black pants there. They only had the one color, but I got two pair. I'll put different color buttons on them, or something, to tell them apart. Bonus: also found James' favorite scent of deodorant. The musk Speed Stick is hard to find. Came home down US41 and decided to stop at the Hallmark shop in the shopping center on Jiles Road, next to the Publix. This is the same Hallmark where I bought the cute little "Mary's Moo-Moos" figurines for Christmas:  I checked the case where the little cow figurines usually are kept and not only was there a cute little Christmas figure, but they had this cutie as well:  It's now on the kitchen table, in front of the autumn candle arrangement. I couldn't find a picture online of the other figurine. It is a little bull in overalls sitting next to a 40s-type desk telephone with the receiver up near his ear and four little cardinals all over him, and the title is "Just calling to wish you a moo-ry Christmas." I went home through Pine Mountain Road and spatters of rain, to Barrett Parkway, back to Whitlock Road and then through the battlefield park and Jim Miller Park to home. Had part of my free bowl of soup for lunch along with some of the french bread from this morning. Along about three the weather radio went off with a shriek. I got Willow outside just before it started to rain. After awhile it thundered and we were in Georgia Monsoon Season for a bit. It seems to have passed over now, and James is home and the birds back at the feeder. » Sunday, May 10, 2009
Sun and Shadow
It was sunny but cool when we set upon our errands this morning after having a good sleep in after a late night (stayed up watching the enhanced version of "The Doomsday Machine"), so we could ride with the windows down. We went down Smyrna-Powder Springs Road, which we found out will be closed starting next week for the rest of the summer. We think they're going to fix the little bridge that goes over the creek down there, as bridge repairs seem to be rampant lately.
We went to BJs for Chex mix and some hydrogen peroxide, walked about, and tasted some samples. We weren't in very long, and when we came outside, the sky was completely overcast and the wind was freshening. We stopped at Publix to check out the twofers—some good ones: canned veggies, juice—and then went on to Kroger for James' prescriptions and the usual yogurt (I had a coupon). Duh...I'd forgotten the oatmeal at Publix, so we crossed Macland Road and went back to pick that up. I wouldn't have cared, but I am completely out at work. We left the house late, so by the time we got home it was three o'clock. I cleaned out the shower stall and washed the towels. I also swapped out my shoes. I always wear the same shoes, black leather Reeboks that look a little like Oxfords, and the pairs I was wearing over the weekend were my work shoes until I bought new pairs back in July of 2006. They were pretty work out; the right side of the heels worn down, and the tread on part of the foot worn down, and the bottom of the sole beginning to come detached. The pairs I am wearing to work are still fairly new since I only wear them two days a week, or if I run out to do an errand doing the week. This took longer than it sounds because I keep colored laces on the weekend shoes, so had to take the colored laces off the weekend shoes, then took the laces off the present work shoes and put the colored laces on them. One set of laces went back on the best of the two pair of weekend shoes, to be put aside in case I have a grubby job in the yard or something similar. Then I put the former work shoes, now weekend shoes, in the closet and put the new shoes out of the box where I can get at them tomorrow morning in the dark. See?—simple! (It eventually did rain, but not much.) We had pizza for supper since we hadn't had any for a while and watched "Remembrance of the Daleks." I had forgotten how Sylvester McCoy used to rolllllll his r's with his lovely Scots accent! And of course all the self-referential remarks within the story. I do hate the Daleks, though. Anyone catch "Wallander" (based on books by Henning Mankell) on Masterpiece Mystery tonight? This is the first of three parts of a series made in Great Britain, after it was made as a series in its native country. In the British version the world-weary, almost too empathic detective is played by Kenneth Brannagh, looking his tiredest and most world-weary. The series was filmed on location in Sweden and the cinematography is moody and often abstract. And I thought The Last Detective wandered into melancholia! This is gritty alà Waking the Dead (Wallander is as driven as Peter Boyle.) The mystery aspect was excellent, beginning with a 15-year-old in a rapeseed field who sets herself afire before Wallender's horrified eyes and concerning a killer who is "taking scalps" after murdering several prominent men. A nice plus: David Warner plays Wallender's father, an artist in the early stages of Alzheimers. I hope all the moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day! My "fids" (via James) bought me two stuffed animals: a Jack Russell terrier and a budgie. Labels: clothing, housework, shopping, television, weather » Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Say...What?
I've just finished watching a Nature I had on DVR and Today was still on "real" TV. Came up in the middle of "Today's Style" and they were talking about "affordable sweaters" for these "tough economic times." The first sweater that was modeled was $200! The second was "only" $75, but, to provide the right "look," was paired with an embroidered tank overshirt that was about $250. The other sweater was $99...this is "affordable"???? Holy cats!
Labels: clothing » Wednesday, May 21, 2008
The Unbearable Lightness of Pants
I did errands on my lunch hour today since I am out of AAA batteries for my wireless mouse. Supposedly the batteries are supposed to last about three months. I'm lucky if the ones I've bought last three weeks. I finally got ahold of some Panasonics, which have worked better before. But methinks I need to go for rechargables. I don't like throwing out so many batteries.
I also picked up some vinegar to do the kitchen drain, but my main purchase was a pair of pants. I wanted something easy to pull on to go bike riding and light due to the summer heat. I noticed last time I was in there that they were selling the "scrubs" that employees wear in hospitals for only $8 each, and the pants had elastic waistbands and were very light. So I bought a pair. Very nice and light indeed. I'll have to buy another. » Friday, March 21, 2008
Easter Round the Corner
I had a nice sleep-in this morning, awakened by the fence company calling to arrange for a time to give me a quotation. I was hoping to get home before noon—in hindsight a forlorn hope—and grabbed a Slim Fast meal bar and left. I picked up a cucumber for Easter dinner salad and something else for dessert, among other things, at Kroger, then went on to the other WalMart on the East-West Connector, the one at Powder Springs Road. This one is much nicer, cleaner and has better checkout lines, but sometimes their stock is lacking.
This time I lucked out though, although I didn't find what I went there looking for. For the last few years I have been wearing a large-sized heavy-weight Electrical Eggs man's t-shirt as a sleepshirt (Electrical Eggs does handicapped access at science-fiction conventions); it's so big on me that it goes down to my knees and the short sleeves fall past my elbow. I wanted something a little lighter, so I got two short-sleeved ladies' nightshirts, one aqua-color in a print, the other gas-flame blue with a butterfly on it. I also bought more light bulbs (I've started a stash in anticipation of 2011) and found three little resin crosses for decoration down in the foyer. It's so hard to find Easter decorations that aren't bunnies/chicks/eggs. At BJs I did the big purchase: yow. Of course I bought Easter dinner—we're having more lobster ravioli...yum—and a boneless pork roast that I had cut into 1/2 inch chops, plus other necessities like toilet paper and mandarin orange cups. Mindful of the things in the insulated bags in the trunk of the car, I stopped at Borders on the way home and grabbed a book. When I got home I sat and had the rest of my cashew chicken for lunch and watched the Addie Mills story The Easter Promise. Then a long spate of vacuuming and now I am eating an apple and blogging... Labels: clothing, Easter, shopping, television, videos » Friday, October 19, 2007
Runaround Sue
The cold front's almost here. It's already crossed into the northwestern corner of Georgia, although it's only about three degrees cooler in Chattanooga right now. It continued to bring dark clouds this morning, but these scattered as noon came and passed, leaving the sky a brilliant blue dotted with "mackerel" clouds and cirrus clouds. It's so good to see cirrus clouds again!
I had realized looking at my fall magazine selections that I had not yet found the September/October issue of "Yankee," so I visited three bookstores in search of it, but was ultimately disappointed. I even went to the Books-a-Million in Acworth, since they seem to keep their magazines longer than other stores. This is a both good and bad thing, because often I have been able to grab something I otherwise would have missed there, but their magazine section is a mess. I had looked forward to having a BAM nearby; the closest one before was in Jonesboro, and we have also gone to the ones in Warner Robins and Chattanooga. The coffee shop attached to BAM, J. Muggs, used to have a coffee shop/newsstand in Buckhead that carried all these magazines, but they closed. You can always find unusual or obscure magazines. Frankly, while the staff at BAM in Acworth is great, their care of the magazine stand...sucks. The magazines are always untidy; I know people are inconsiderate and just shove the issues back any old way, but in the other stores there's always someone to neaten what these clods leave behind. This doesn't seem to happen in Acworth. In addition, the other stores always have the latest issues available. The Acworth store is woefully slack about this. I noticed the summer issue of "Vermont Life" still out when the fall issue has been out for almost two months. Their display issue of "TV Guide" is from September 18-23, 2007, with no newer issue available. And that's just what I noticed. Dipped in and out of both Michaels and JoAnn for embroidery thread and glass Christmas suncatchers to paint for the front door. Michaels had a wreath made of peacock feathers that was quite striking. Plus I found a Christmas gift for someone! I also had success finally at finding a flannel sheet set at Linens'n'Things; they hadn't been out before now. I bought a twin set as we don't actually use them on the bed—too warm. James will use the flat sheet as a coverlet for when it is cool and I'll use the fitted sheet on the sofa cushions to protect them from stains. I made a stop at Home Goods since everyone on the "Christmas to the Max" group I am subscribed to has been raving about their holiday things. I saw several items I thought were cute, like a Scotty-dog Christmas teapot, but we really don't have room for it. I did buy a book about collecting Santa Claus figurines which was heavily discounted and a quite striking musical snowglobe. I have never seen one like it. The base is bright silver, like an old-fashioned chrome car bumper, and the Santa inside is of a more modern design, with a gold-rimmed red robe; he is holding a small Christmas tree and a swirling silvery list. His beard is also this silvery white color, and all the colors are quite brilliant with a metallic cast. The one essential stop was at WalMart: we needed whole-wheat low carb tortillas again, and since I was there I also picked up yogurt, lunch meat, pineapple, etc. The big surprise was finding sweatshirts and sweatpants of good quality (Hanes and Fruit of the Loom) at good prices: $7 for the shirts and $5 for the pants. Labels: Christmas, clothing, crafts, decorating, food, magazines, shopping, weather » Thursday, August 16, 2007
Will You Just Shoe?
Meredith Viera on Today is giving us a preview of the new shoe department in Saks Fifth Avenue. One entire floor, the eighth, devoted to 100,000 shoes.
There's a store here in town and presumably elsewhere, called DSW, an entire store the size of Bed, Bath and Beyond, just for shoes. I don't get it. I've never gotten it. I've never figured out Imelda Marcos or these people on Mission: Organization with hundreds of shoes. Shoes are...shoes. You have one pair for best, a pair or two for work, a pair or two for weekends, a couple of pairs of slippers (summer, winter), snow boots, maybe a pair of sandals or two and some flip flops for the beach...but different color shoes for each outfit? In different styles? Why? And what's so pleasurable about shopping for them? To me, shoes are just something that protect your feet and keep them warm in winter. It's never been a pleasure to buy them because I have a small foot (size 6) with a high instep. From what I can see, they have quit making women's small-size shoes in wide styles. Even when the rare pair turns up and they are labeled "Wide" they are still too narrow. I wear black leather Youth-size Reeboks because those are the only ones wide enough for my feet, and they still rub my small toe raw the first couple of weeks. I remember the agony of the first week of school with my school shoes rubbing blisters on my toes and my heels; I usually wore Band-Aids on them the first couple of weeks until the shoes stretched out (thank God Hush Puppies actually stretched). Ugh! shoe shopping! I'd rather clean the bathroom! Last time we went shopping for Reeboks and I found the right size, I bought four pair, so hopefully I don't have to shop for shoes for a long, long time. Labels: clothing |
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