Stinky

I was telling Cris yesterday about the really neat little bug who seems to be happily wintering on the geraniums, a meek and inoffensive sort of fellow, no annoying flying about the head or bumping into the lamps, sort of shield shaped and brown, and she said, "Hmmmmn, that sounds like a stinkbug". I didn't even know there was such a thing as a stinkbug, but that is in fact what it is, and not just any kind of stinkbug but possibly a brown marmorated stinkbug.
Apparently they can do their stinky thing when disturbed or even jostled, but so far it hasn't, and yes, it's alive, it moves it antennae, and has been observed enjoying a change of scenery on the curtains. I am a tiny bit concerned as I don't really want an entire stinky family establishing itself in here, we are plenty stinky enough already. I'll keep you updated.

Stuff of the Day

I saw a flock of wild turkeys in a field today on my way into town. Sadly both cameras were here on my desk.

There are promotional signs at our local mall saying "The Mall...it's where the shopping is!". Now, as an enthusiasm builder, this seems like a non-starter to me. Kind of like "The Lungs...they're where the breathing is!". Thanks for pointing this out. Exciting stuff.
Santa was not yet at the Mall. College students in pajama pants and parkas were at the mall. Kids, this is not a good look.

I had to buy some lampshades at Walmart. I suppose I didn't HAVE to buy them at Walmart, but I needed 6 inexpensive shades for a hanging fixture. The old ones were refusing to stay in place due to the weird plastic Ikea adaptors, which have begun to break into bits, meaning that at any time a lampshade could plop down over a light bulb and a piece of plastic land in your plate. Despite my efforts to repair them, and reinforce them with carefully cut pieces of cream cheese container lids, wait, they're still good, I can fix em again, oh God, I'm turning into my Grandma...the time had come for a nice new set of cheap crappy shades.

So I got my cheap shades and kept a close eye out in case I saw any People of Walmart people but there were only normal people, and 1,247 different kinds of Christmas candy. It was mesmerising, and no, I didn't buy any because I would just eat it! I'll wait until closer to Christmas when we can all snack ourselves into a sugar-and-fat induced coma without feeling guilty.

The shades look great.

Christmas Wish Bottles

Today I spent some time playing with glitter and glue, and made fourteen Christmas Wish bottles. I had been given a box of antique bottles, old patent medicine and other bottles in interesting shapes, dug from the ground, and I've been itching to do something crafty with them. I got out my box of antique postcards, a shaker jar of tarnished silver German glass glitter from an auction sale, old silver lametta tinsel and some Victorian faded red chenille cord. Glazed paper holly leaves and berries, check! Finally some WONDERFUL antique key woodcuts from theporkchopshow on etsy, and some vintage green crystal rosemontes.

What do you put in a Christmas wish bottle? Well, wishes, of course, or letters to Santa? A sprig of pine, a peppermint stick, snow? Icicles! Whatever your heart desires.

Shipping and Handling

I spent the entire day packaging all the lovely linens and laces which sold on Sunday night. I dashed off to the post office and forgot to take a picture of PeeWee full of packages. It was a satisfying sight, everything nicely wrapped.
I shipped to:
Japan
Norway
Canada
USA
Portugal
Italy
UK
New Zealand
Australia
The post office total made the line behind me go "oooooohhh"! But my customers pay for their shipping so it's not really an issue, just momentarily impressive to the folks who are purchasing $5.00 worth of stamps!

Roasted Three Ways

The cold weather makes me want to cook hot tasty dinners that smell deliciously for hours while they simmer away in the oven. Tonight we had a roast of beef, cooked with mushrooms and onions and a bit of stock and white wine. An hour before the beef was done we put in vegetables to roast: carrots with orange juice and zest, fresh ginger and a bit of sugar, and potatoes tossed in olive oil, Dijon mustard and freshly ground black pepper.
Yummy! The house smells wonderful, we are warm and well fed and so very blessed.

Weirdo...

Just caught the cat slurping the leftover Greek salad dressing from my dinner plate. I did not know that she had developed a taste for lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and feta. With a little black pepper.
We'll have to see if she fancies tandoori....

Bonehead!

I got a funky package in the mail, from my dear Sam in San Francisco!

When Sam and I worked at the Store, we had an entire language of silly catchwords and inside jokes and also a sign language-very handy as we could communicate customer related difficulties to each other quite easily. One subtle tap of the forehead with a closed fist meant "Bonehead Alert, please help me, this person is kind of an idiot and I'm getting nowhere!" Once a nice young dad came in with a toddler on his shoulders. The toddler spied the silly Hallowe'en skeleton earrings on display, pointed towards us and piped "Look Daddy, Boneheads!". In our overworked, underpaid, unfed, Hallowe'en-candy-fueled state we thought that was the funniest thing we'd heard in a long time.

I remember the giggles, clearly Sam does too!

I would love to use these sooner than next Hallowe'en but I'll have to tuck them away and enjoy them then.

Diligence

Hello from the Vintage Linen Control Center, where I have been diligently working on the the Vintage Linens. A nice big batch went up on ebay tonight. Practically every piece was carefully laundered, and everything was inspected for flaws, pressed, photographed, measured, weighed and described.

I listed:
25 hankies
209 napkins
37 towels
1 sheet and pillowcase set
20 pillowcases (10 pairs)
29 tablecloths
4 tablecloth sets (with 20 more napkins)
3 lace bedspreads
2 lace doily sets totaling 30 pieces
19 runners
50 doilies and centerpieces
2 washstand covers
5 pillowshams
1 cushion cover
and a crocheted alter cloth.
Oh.
And I guess I should mention that before any of this can happen, I need to go out and find the stuff! I tend to like that part best, which is why I have so much of it.

So if you enjoy antique linens, and are doing a little holiday shopping, just click on my ebay link to the left!

Alive, alive Oh!

Yes, I am alive. Sluggish but alive. don't even know quite where to begin to catch you up, so here is a good picture.