Do the RITE thing.....

this picture is of a beautiful necklace by Temple St. Clair. I'm posting this picture, because I think it's pretty, and it calms me down to see pretty things......
I just spent an HOUR (yes, an hour....!) on the phone with someone at the RITE AID rebate center. I was on hold for most of it to begin with. When I finally did get through to a representative, she couldn't be more lacking of personality...
When I got nowhere with her, I talked to a supervisor who actually knew the answer to my problem! Rite aid puts things on sale, advertises them as getting 5.00 back with a mail in/online rebate, BUT they don't put the rebates in the rebate circular. To clarify....My rebate offer is #166, but the rebate form only shows 164 offers available for the month of May. So, I'm looking at a similar item where the rebate is only 3.00, not 5.00. The customer rep says to me "I guess you are going to get 3.00 back then" Oh No, I WILL get 5.00 back! See the problem?
Plus, today is the end of the month and the website is already on JUNE rebates, so it won't let me find what I need to find. If it sounds confusing, it is. And they don't really care if you are getting 5 cents or 5 dollars back. They truly don't.
After I chatted with the supervisor, I asked him to please let me talk to the customer rep again.
I apologized for any misunderstandings we had, and told her I really wasn't trying to be a meanie, I was frustrated. She also made peace with me and was nicer after I said what I had to say. I figure, I would want someone to do that to me if I had that job. she probably has people yelling at her all day.
I'm feeling better health-wise today. My voice is slowly coming back and I haven't been coughing today.
I made some yummy chili in the crock pot for supper. It tastes great.
Not sure what the weekend plans are. I think I'm planting flowers and doing laundry.

Tuesday

For some reason, I was thinking about Geoffrey Rush today. I love him in this movie The Banger Sisters. I love complicated characters and people. Plus, I love the fact that he has an American accent in this film. One of my favorite scenes in this movie is when Goldie's character, Suzette, drops Rush's character, Harry off at his hotel after they travel to Phoenix together in a car. He admits he's going to kill his father for all the bad mojo he was given as a child. Suzette sees right through his bull. At one point, she says to him" you couldn't kill a fly". When he gets out of the car he has trouble opening the door so she leans over him to open it. their faces are milimeters away from each other.....She looks him right in the eye, and says "Adios, killer!"

Everytime I see that I just laugh. I love the looks on both their faces. I've also seen Geoffrey Rush in other movies like The Peter Sellers Story, Quills, Le Miserables and of course he's wonderful in Pirates of the Carribean. He has that puppy dog look to his expressions that just gets to me. I feel better today, but I'm still mute from losing my voice. Everything comes out like a whisper. I went to the mall today, just because I wanted to get out and do something different. Tomorrow, I have to go buy hanging plants for the front of the house, and perhaps some herbs for my little planter I put on the deck.

Friday

Today I got up with lots of plans to do my housework, laundry and then go out and do some fun things.....

As usual, I couldn't wait to get out in the sunshine.

I kept thinking about rhubarb and strawberries....So, I decided to go to Abbott's (where Duke and the rest of the fun animals are) to see what fresh produce they had out.

They did have rhubarb, but not a whole lot else. They had plenty of hanging plants and such, but not too much fresh food yet.

I ended up getting a jar of Apple Butter, a jar of Maple Sugar (of course), the rhubarb and a single maple sugar candy. Only one, because I could easily be tempted to eat a lot of that!




On the way back home I decided to stop at the park to walk for 30 minutes, so I wouldn't have to do it later around the block. As you can see, the scenery at the park is far nicer than looking at houses. In the top photo there is a rock that protrudes from the water. When I walked up to the water's edge, there were 2 ducks sitting on that rock and they were putting on a show. I startled them and so off they went...

You can see them swimming away in around the center of the picture.

the second picture shows just how clear that water is today. I could see right down to the bottom.


this next photo shows the old locks that sit in this park. You can walk up one side, cross a bridge, and come back on the other side.

I've lived in this area for nearly 23 years and only within the past 5 or so years have I ventured out and taken advantage of these wonderful destinations! This park is actually the same park where I take Harley, except it is at the other end. You can walk the whole park from end to end and it's like 5-7 miles one way.

Ahhh...and this last picture is of my reward after walking 40 minutes....

My piece of Maple heaven.....

As you can see, I couldn't wait until I got home to consume it. Yep, I ate it right in my car like a true junkie! (hey....even the little celophane baggie it comes in is drug-like!!!!:))

Recent Projects

As you can see...I've been busy beading lately. The top picture is a necklace I made from a pendant I found on clearance at TJMaxx. It looks like carved ivory and the oval stone on the bottom is jade. I matched the colors with green pearls, white freshwater pearls,jade beads and some other jasper beads which pick up the color of the carving. The extender beads and findings are silver.

This second necklace was inspired by a picture I tore out of a magazine many years ago. It was of an Indian man who had this amazing crystal coin pendant on . I recently got a little vice tool that punches holes in coins without a drill. I used a coin I bought at a chinese import store. It has a dragon on one side and an interesting pattern on the back. The beads are real crystal quartz and the findings are sterling. I like it. I had made it longer, but decided I liked it shorter better.

This last piece is a brick stitch cylinder that I strung one bead at a time. It's kind of hard to see the detail from my picture, but there are thousands of beads making this up. It is like 60" long. and made from size 11 seed beads. The beads are the color of Hematite, and the little silver pieces are two bead end caps turned the opposite ways .

I am feeling a bit better today. At least I can breathe through my nose again and my sense of taste is coming back.

Saturday...........

Not too much happening today. My husband passed his travel-upper-respiratory-thing-he-always gets-while-flying.... to me and now I am coughing.

I cannot stand being sick.

I like this picture of Mikhail. he always looks like he is enjoying himself while he's dancing.

Everyone have a good weekend.

Nostalgia

For some reason, I've been on a nostalgia kick recently, as you can probably figure, with all my recent posts....

You know, there are some smells/things from your chilhood that evoke certain memories of,... well,....memories?

Here are two of a few smells I have been longing for. the first is the Coty sweet Earth solid perfume compacts. For those of you who have never experienced these wonderful beauties, I feel sorry for you. I spent my teen years smelling my wrists that were perfumed by such Coty scents as patchouli, hyacinth,grass, and others. these compacts housed three scents that were closely related to each other (ie. Floral, Spicy or Earthy), No self respecting teen would be without one of these in her purse right next to the huge bonne Bell lip smacker.

They do sell these still on the Vermont Country Store website. I will get around to getting one.

heaven is just a click away....LOL!

The second picture is CIE Perfume. Cie and I were quite intimate back in the day.

I remember having HUGE bottles of this stuff (like 8 ounces big!) and dousing myself with this every day before school.I mean, I bathed in it. CIE was in my perfume rotation with Charlie,

Xia Xiang, the oiriginal Calvin Klein, Love's Baby Soft, Love's Lemon and Rain scents,

and Frances Denney Hope. What can I say?, I was and will always be a fragrance slut.

This is one of the many scents I wish I could smell just once more. I am also dying to smell the original Clairol Herbal Essence shampoo. That lush green forest scent that used to be everywhere and now you cannot find it anywhere! I wish someone would get wise and start remaking vintage health and beauty aids from the 60's and 70's. There IS a niche for nostalgia!

I long for the day when I can wake up, wash my hair with Gee, your hair smells terrific! shampoo, slather on CIE, wash my face , dab on Bonne Bell 10-0-6 astringent, dust my face with Indian earth bronzing powder, and also dab it on my lips and finish it off with a glossing of

Lip smacker in a flavor like sugarplum (I also love the watermelon and raspberry ones).

Please bear with me as I travel down memory lane. I've come down with a case of nostalgia! :)

The Mouth of Truth

I LOVE this picture. Roman Holiday is such a wonderful movie. I think Gregory Peck was so handsome in this movie.
There are moments where he has certain looks on his face, or does certain things that are just so subtle and touching. Very, Very romantic.
Audry Hepburn is the perfect foil for him.
My favorite scene is towards the end where he takes her back to the embassy after they had their wonderful adventurous day. They sit in the car and talk, but it's the LOOKING that says more than the mere words could ever say. You can sort of see it in this picture. He is so into her. I love the way his arms wrap around her and he is just clinging to her so she doesn't get away, but it's so tender like he wants to take care of her because she is so delicate. The scene in the car gets to me because when he says goodbye for the last time, he has actual tears in his eyes. He feels it.
In the last scene ofthe movie when she finds out just who Joe Bradley really is, there are looks that pass between them. She nods at one point but it is so subtle she hardly moves her head at all. it's all in their eyes. That gets to me every time. There is a scene at the end of Notting Hill with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts that is very similar to this, but it just doesn't achieve this level.
In the movie Only You with Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey jr. There is a scene that pays homage to the scene depicted in the picture above. The Mouth....Of....Truth.....
JoeBradley/Damon Bradley-Peter Wright stick their hand in the mouth of truth and pull it out pretending it's been bitten off.
I watched the finale of The Hills tonight. Lo's a bitch. Lauren is clueless. Heidi is never going to be free of Spencer. Spencer is a tool. Audrina needs to move out/on. Justin Bobby looks so hot in that hat. Whitney didn't get enough face time. She Pratt has redeemed herself.
The drama will continue in August.......I feel guilty to say I can't wait.

It's Friday....Hip Hip Beret!

Went to Burger King for dinner last night. the Husband was just in the mood for a burger after eating at posh restaurants all week in Orlando, I guess. I did end up getting a veggie burger and a healthy side salad, and made him get an order of onion rings so I could steal two from him.
We don't always have to go to a fancy restaurant. I like simple fare most of the time anyway.
My picture for today is of the Dior beret that I've become infatuated with. I am a beret person.
when I was in high school I started wearing them, and when I was in college, a guy I worked with used to call me Paddington because I always wore a beret. That became my nickname, and I was called that for nearly 5 years on a daily basis.
and I still wear berets.... I kept seeing these pictures of this Dior beret with all the grommets in it and the creative side of me says "you could do that!" and I probably will!
Took the Boy back to school this morning and he loaded me up with plenty of stuff to bring home . One more week for him. I feel bad because he has worked so hard and has been stressed about his classes this semester. He takes it so personally. He's a good Boy.
Traveling to Rochester tomorrow. It's only for a few hours so it won't be too bad.
I'm not a person who loves to mix it up and party with big groups. I've become sort of a defective that way. I'm so used to my solitude, that it is hard for me to break out of it and mingle.

Thursday

Sort of a catch-up day today. had to go pick up the Boy this morning. He is a bit quiet.
The Husband comes home tonight. He called me a litle while ago while on a lay over in
Charlotte NC. He asked me if I wanted to meet him to go out for supper at BURGER KING.
I was like, "whaaaa????" He never asks me to go out for dinner at BK!

I can't wait to see what this is all about!LOL
My picture of the day is Barbara's brand Wheat Free Fig Bars. For some reason I am craving these cookies lately . Our local Wegmans used to sell this brand, but now they don't.
I think that is why I want them , or one ofthe reasons, anyway.

So...What should I have for supper? I'm thinking Veggie burger and onion rings right now, but it will probably change like 4 times before I actually get there.

That movie The Turning Point was on this morning. I watched a bit of it . Ann Bancroft was one stunning woman. I like Shirley Maclaine too. She is so spunky.
Baryshnikov is in that movie too. he looks so young. (but hot)

My Day

So............Today I had a few errands to run. I had to go to the vet and get dog food for Harley. She is on special food now because she had some troubles in January with her kidneys. She will be 10 in less than a month now. I can't believe she is that old! I do notice that in the past few months she has slowed down just a bit at times, but most of the time she is her usual self.
After that, I decided to go to the drug store to get a Mother's Day card. So, I stopped at the post office to mail it. Dunkin donuts is right next door.
I went and got a nice coffee. When I parked I noticed there is a vantage spot right behind the
parking lot. It was so spring-y today I decided to take a moment and my coffee and go look at the canal. I took these snaps to capture the moment. I don't usually go to Baldwinsville unless I have a purpose. Mostly I go there to pick apples, strawberries and blueberries, and Harley's vet is there. On the way back I decided go there and check out more of the town someday. It seems really charming.
I went to Target and found a couple of things on sale. I came home and had lunch with a glass of wine! Now, I don't drink wine with lunch, EVER...
I got this wine that is organic and has honey in it. I must say..... It is fantastic! I was going through the mail, and this month's issue of the DHC catalogue came and there's always a recipe in it. This month's looked so delicious, I ended up making it for supper. It is a twist on those steamed asian meatballs with the garlic and ginger in them. I replaced the pork with chicken and yum yum. The sauce was a soy-brown sugar-garlic-ginger reduction. I served it with my leftover soba noodles.
Tomorrow, the Boy comes home for one day to work and then goes back to school on Friday. I will drive him back so he can load me up with his "stuff" so he doesn't have too much next week when he vacates his dorm for summer vacation. The husband also comes home tomorrow....
He's been in Orlando this week at a Food show/seminar.

I was supposed to go, but I really couldn't take one more trip to Orlando and Disney.

saturday, we are going to Fairport for a family party. One of the husband's cousin's daughters is making her first Communion. I was thinking of making cookies, but we'll just see how far I get with that..... I am so behind in EVERYTHING lately.

I am more than a bit pack-ratty, and my husband always half-threatened to get a big dumpster and start throwing things away. A couple of months ago, I told him I am ready for that. he is getting me a dumpster, and I a going to part ways with a lot of baggage (literally). I am in the mood for a huge change. I don't know why I've put it off for so long. there was that poor lady on Dr. Phil who hoarded things. I'm not THAT bad, but I could see where there would be danger for me if I lived alone or didn't live with a neat freak. I saw that show after I had made up my mind, and it is just one more reason to do it. I don't EVER want to become that woman.....

Well, off to bed I go.

Lots of cleaning and organizing to do tomorrow!LOL

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!

NUFF' SAID.....................................

The Best

For me, the best -ever voice in the whole world belonged to Freddie Mercury. Such a shame, such a waste that he is dead. When I was younger, I "liked" Queen, but didn't really pay much attention to how absolutely WONDERFUL their music is.

For some reason, I started being fascinated by Freddie and his talent after watching a documentary about Queen at Live Aid. It was like really hearing his great voice for the first time. I also have a great respect for Brian May. I think he is a very humble and talented man. I'm not too crazy about Freddie's replacement, Paul Rodgers. he is just not on par with FM. He lacks the showmanship or something....

I saw Robbie Williams sing, and I think he would have been a good addition to Queen.

Anyway....I go through periods where all I want to do is hear Freddie's voice singing. He really touches me.

My female equal to Freddie is also dead. I think Karen Carpenter's voice was so pure. She could sing the phone book and I'd be crying. I'm not a Carpenter's fan, but that voice......

Other voices I love are Elvis Costello(raw punk), Billy Joel(great hummer), Allison Krauss

(amazing) Rick Astley(yes, you read right....LOL), Ashlee Simpson (forgive me if you aren't a fan), Desree'(Love her) and others I'll probably think of after I post this.

The singer MIKA sounds a lot like Freddie.

Freddie may be gone, but he's not forgotten here.

He was the best.

So Sassoon (say that 10 times fast...)

Ahhh....Vidal and Beverly Sassoon..... Back in the 70's I came across a book called A YEAR OF BEAUTY AND HEALTH. It was written by this uber-rich/famous couple.

He was a very famous London hairdresser who basically changed hairstyles forever with his zero haircuts. You just couldn't mess them up they were cut so perfectly... She was his younger trophy bride who seemed so delicate and trendy.

He was a health nut, and she gathered all the finer things life had to offer around her.

The book was written in twelve chapters, each outlining the corresponding month of the year.

Beverly wrote part ofthe chapter which covered beauty tips and how to pamper and organize yourself to be one beautiful goddess. Vidal usually wrote his part on health spas he went to or very spartan regimes he followed to stay fit. Recipes and menus filled up the rest of the chapters.

Vidal and Beverly eventually split up, and She went on to write other books. There was one written after the divorce about how to cope as a woman who is depressed or down after marital upsets. She painted quite a different picture of her mairried life with Vidal in that one!

In the early 80's Beverly dated Erik Estrada for a while. I remember being shocked after seeing them in a picture together. She also wrote a novel, PASSIONS, which I still see for sale on EBay.

Anyways.....I had bought this book NEW and read it all the time. It got lost in other books along the way and I always told my mom to watch out for it if she was going through my sister's many boxes of books which were stored in her cellar. I ended up buying this book again about 15 years later. I found it in a used book store. It was like seeing an old friend again!

Have a good weekend everyone!