Winter Blahs

Apparently I have a serious case of the winter doldrums.

Starving Artists?

This is one place that I will not be going to on Sunday.

Starving Artist Group

This comes around every now and then...although I think mostly in the spring time.
They show their artwork at local hotels in the area and you can buy "an original" painting for $7-$49. Nothing over $50 is one of their sayings. I am not a fan at all!

This makes me crazy in fact.

I don't know about you, but I am an art collector, and this sort of thing makes me really angry! I know how these paintings are produced, and it is not pretty. The canvas rolls down a factory line. There are multiple artists who paint their little sections on the canvas and it can even be re-rolled so that the artist paints the same tree on the canvas (just in a different place).

This gives 'Starving Artists' a whole new meaning. These artists are getting paid peanuts for their efforts. The final artist down the factory line is instructed to sign the painting with a well known last (western) name, like Smith, or Jones. The people who paint these paintings don't even know the English language. I am sorry, I just saw a commercial for this nonsense and I am riled up by it.

Please don't ever buy any art from a starving artists sale! You are not buying art! You are buying sweatshop forced art.


Vent over.

Winterwonderland

It's been snowing for over 48 hours and now the freezing rain just started.
Damn!

Scott's a superhero!

Trouble

I am having trouble. I think it's time for a new computer.
I have been trying to upload some pictures all night to no avail. Damn! Plus, my computer crashes at will...whether or not I am in the middle of something. It doesn't care anymore. I still care, I am sad.

Time for a Mac maybe?

Tuff Plushie?

This poor little blue and gray long friend is less than 24 hours old.

So what that I paid $15.99 plus sales tax for something I could have gotten cheaper over the internet with free shipping.

We need instant gratification in this house, as you can tell.

If you would like to see what this thing looks like new, and the incredibly bad rating that this 3X stronger than the average plushie toy gets...click here

I should have gotten him the $4.00 bunny, at least it would have lasted longer than 24 hours.

I am all about going GREEN, but....

I just came across this on the worldwide interweb, can you guess what it is?

It's called a Keeper Cup and I just really can't wrap my head around it or any other part of my anatomy. I'm trying, but ...umm....NO.

Discuss.

Idiot Alert!

You've got to be kidding me!



I got behind this thing in the drive-thru at Dunkin Donuts this morning.
I wanted to get out of my car to scold the driver, but I thought better of it.

This is ridiculous

I saw the shortest snippet on the news tonight about these stiletto crib shoes for babies 0-6 months. I had to investigate, and I found the website heelarious, her first high heels . Sure they are funny looking, but *ahem* they are in extremely poor taste in my opinion.

I am not a mother, but if I had a child I would not treat it like a barbie doll.

Who buys these? The child is definitely not begging for them, hell, the child can't even stand let alone speak.

I would love to hear your thoughts, since after seeing these shoes, my mind has completely shut down.

Heatwave!

I am seriously melting here.

It's the third day of 90+ with oppressive humidity and I am ready for autumn. It's not even officially summer yet! I like the heat alone, maybe I should move to the desert.

Yes, I am moving to the desert. I'll send you all a postcard.

I celebrated this official heatwave today with a manicure/pedicure. My hands and feet are happy, if nothing else.

What's wrong with our society?

Today, Scott and I went to do a little shopping.

We went to Kohl's (yes, we are old), got lost from each other and our cell phones didn't work in there. I spent a few minutes really irritated and ready to just check out, while I was waiting in line (with all the people!) Scott poked his head around a bend and I scooted out of line and was happy again. Please don't go shopping on the hottest day of the year, the people are crazy and sit Indian style in the middle of the walkways. We paid for our old folks clothes and headed for the parking lot.

As we crossed the lane into the parking lot, a swerving minivan got our attention. It was Cathy, our old neighbor (oh how I miss them!) with her oldest daughter. We chatted a bit, it was nice to see her.

We headed down to Dedham to DSW. Scott and I both separated again, I looked for sandals, Scott looked for tennis shoes. We caught up when we were ready and headed for the checkout. There were only two checkouts open. We stood in line (not for very long) and a woman just walked up right behind the person in front of me...and me and Scott. I thought she was with the person ahead of me since she stood there with such conviction.

Turned out that she just cut in front of us in line! I really still can't get over that completely blatant disrespecting behavior. Who raised her? Monkeys? I didn't know that she cut in front of us until we were called to a new register that had just opened. She was still doing a transaction and the person who we thought she was with was long gone.

Can you believe the nerve of some people? This was a WOMAN, not a kid. Am I in the last generation to have manners? Really!

I did end up getting a really cute pair of wedge sandals and some flip flops that are so comfortable.

Civil suit. Why you ask?

What happened to Christmas spirit?
This most bejeweled homestead on the Jamaica Way has become somewhat of a nuisance.
As soon as it gets dark enough for the lights to come on, there are traffic jams in front of this house...traffic jams that are causing neighbors to ask that the homeowner request police detail to deal with the traffic.
Gorgeous, and over the top if you ask me.





These are my drive-by pictures. We didn't stop, just slowed down with the rest of the traffic, hence the blurry photos.
Merry Christmas!

The Squeeze is on.

Today, we had a plumber in to look at our bathroom leak that has been a thorn in our side for the past month or so.
Showers recently consisted of Scott preparing the rear end of the fixtures with a 'vitamin water' bottle outfitted with a funnel to catch the drip (inside the wall). The drip was not always a drip, sometimes it was a stream.

After three tub re-caulking jobs dutifully undertaken by Scott, we realized we needed a real plumber to fix this.

Turned out we needed a new valve. The valve in place was horribly corroded, getting worse every day (every shower). Could the financial squeeze get worse after all the money we have already spent to help Perry? Yes, it could, and it did.

$1,084 worse. And a brand new hole in the bathroom wall.



I think I will make all my christmas presents this year.

Suzanne, I am thinking of you all day tomorrow! I love you!

Can't Sleep

I don't know why I can't sleep tonight, but here I am awake and surfing the internet.
I checked all my usual haunts, and my etsy store...I even bought something on etsy tonight.

I bought a watercolor 4x6 card from my good friend Meilan from Vancouver. A card with a thistle painting on it, by Meilan's Mom. Thanks Mei!

If Scott wasn't sleeping right now, I would be hammering something or other. That is what I seem to be doing on my off hours these days. I made a couple of pairs of earrings tonight, but the sun is my best light for pictures, so I will have to photo them when the sun comes up....yeah, I know I won't be seeing the sun come up. It's too late for me. I will make my second attempt at sleeping now.
Thanks for listening.

Semi Truck + Power lines = chaos

I had a most surreal experience on my ride to work today.
I was driving the route I always take, a short boring ride through the neighborhoods of Norwood. As I approached the stop sign next to the post office, I noticed a semi truck one car ahead, slowly driving into the opposite lane to take a huge swing of a right hand turn. I had never seen a Semi on this road, nor do I think I should have. I came to a stop behind the car waiting for the semi to turn.

The semi took the right turn along with the cables that power half of downtown Norwood.

This next part is extremely hard to explain, it was in slow motion, right out of a movie. The power lines that clung to the front of the top of the semi truck began to bungee wildly back and forth, up and down, and a few of them began to snap and spark. My eyes were everywhere, watching the lines all around me, slowly coming towards me and then reversing direction and soaring till they were well beyond where they originated. They went back and forth until the driver ahead of me gunned his car to avoid the lash, and I followed.

I gassed the car so fast, and blew the stop sign, taking a left to avoid the pole just ahead that was swaying back and forth menacingly. I guess I thought getting in a car accident would be less troubling to me than getting lashed with live wires. Thankfully neither happened.

I arrived at work very shaky but safe, and had to calm down a bit before my hands were steady.