Deer, Sweet Sunday....

Got back from Brockport for Thanksgiving. It was nice to see relatives and catch up a bit. We only stayed for a couple of days....Mike and I walked up into town on Friday. Brockport always seems the same, but just a 'little bit changed' whenever we go there. This time, the Burger King has closed and is relocated up further in town. It is kind of sad to see the old building so vacant. I spent a lot of time there! This top picture is of one of those porcelain deer in someone's front yard on Barry street. I got the bigest kick out of seeing this, because it took me by surprise. It really looked like a dead deer! Mike thought I was wierd, I'm sure, taking pictures in someone's yard...

I also thought I's posted about russian candy before. I just ate up the last few pieces I had last night.

If' you've never eaten Russian candy, you should....it is a true experience! It is not good, but it is fun to see what is inside.

I see a few distinct types: grainy caramel/liquor.....Some wierd airy marshmallow stuff....Crunchy wafers layered with cream and nuts......some dry nougat that reminds me of those protein things that the astronauts supposidly took up in space (cannot remember the name of that stuff)......there is one peanut butter one, but I can never figure out which one it is...

some gross milk and assorted hazelnut nougats and a rare raspberry jelly thing.

What I find the most fascinating about these candies is the wrappers. They are so colorful and bizarre. they are like paintings. I have seen everything from creepy babies faces to GUNS,witches, wizards,camels and squirrels, castles and bears.

All the writing is in Russian, so it's a mystery what they are called. I have gone on Russian food sites trying to figure out what is in half of these, and the descriptions are so vague.

I get a bagful everytime I go to the Russian import store. They are not good, but they have grown on me!

There is also a huge selection of slavic medicines there. I think they are antihistamines because they are on cards of like 20. One day when I was there, the woman in line ahead of me was buying about 10 cards of these pills.

I go in there for the kashi. It's cut a bit bigger, and I like that for tabbouleh. I look at the cookies, but they only offer a couple of varieties in many brands. Some tasteless shortbreads that look like those nesting dolls or plain rings. The other variety is wafer cookies with filling.

They have a huge deli there and people are always in there buying sausages and meats which really stink. there are some cakes in a case that are like Dobosh tortes with 10 or more layers.

They always look old.

the last time I was in there, I bought a scarf that was very colorful for like $4.00. I was watching that show on MTV where they send the bratty kids who had huge sweet 16 parties to underdeveloped parts of the world to teach them humility. In the episode where the girl goes to Mongolia, the Mongolian girl is wearing the exact same scarf I bought! Let me say, I was fixated!LOL....

It snowed again today. Not much accumulation, but now it's sleety out.

WTF Tuesday....

Not sure yet if it's true, but supposidly Speidie tied the knot yesterday. I read it may be just a publicity stunt paid for by US magazine (....like 300K!!!) Whatever.... Mr and Mrs Douchebag. It was so uncool that they didn't even tell their families they were doing this.
Spencer is an evil genious! He certainly has some kind of power over both Heidi and the press. (Note to self....Beware of men with flesh-colored peach fuzz.....)

I also wanted to comment on this week's episode of The Hills. Can Audrina get any wackier?

I truly think she has mental problems. The way she was believing that Lauren could ever hook up with Justin. I loved the demented look on her face as she was staring down Lauren in the kitchen. Such craziness!

Also, in defense of Justin....He is becoming more adult. He is a deep thinker! he should have spelled it out for Audrina one more time to make her feel better instead of walking away calmly,

but I give him credit for the way he dealt with her psycho phone messages, etc.

Awwww....Justin Bobby grows up!

Next week I feel that Audrina has some SERIOUS grovelling to do....

It Pays to be Virtuous......

During the past week, I have eaten Steel Cut Oats for breakfast 5 out of 7 days. Guess which days I've felt like crap? Call me crazy, but eating this specific food has made me feel so much better! Even my skin has been acting nicer! The only down side to SCOs is the time it takes to cook them. I've been making up a couple of days worth and just reheating them in the microwave, which sounds gross, but it works with this type of oat. Its texture sort of reminds me of kashi (buckwheat groats) or brown rice, the way it sort of 'pops' when you bite into it (like al dente rice...)
I have also been eating hard boiled eggs with the oats for protein.
I'm not expecting miracles, I just like the way I've felt the past week.
Went to the public market this morning. Not the usual amount of vendors becasue of the cold and snow. Couldn't find any good junk . I did get a 45 record of Dionne Warwick and the Spinners singing "Then Came You" .OMG , I love that song!
I also got a couple of roll-on perfume oils from the guy who's always there. One was a dupe of the men's cologne, Farenheit, and the other didn't have a label, but it smells really nice.
On the way home we stopped and got a bunch of meat from the local bucher.
Rest of the day was quiet.

socks...finished....

I forgot to post this picture of the socks I recently finished. I like the colorway of this yarn.

For some reason, the color is named "Lucky", so I suppose, in theory, these are my lucky socks.

the color combination reminds me more of Provence.

Snowy Saturday....

look at the icicles that have formed on our roof already!

Snow! I just took this picture off the deck a few minutes ago. I FINALLY got my camera from SONY. They are real douches in customer service..... Not consumer-friendly at all...

This was the first picture I took... I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fantastic resoulution. This was taken at night with a flash.

this was my lame attempt at being artsy..... It is icicles forming off the cover on our vent fan on the side of the house.

I cannot take credit for this last picture. It was sent to me by my 'cousin' Don who lives in Digby, Nova Scotia, Canada. They got a lot of snow there, and he sent me a few pictures.
I liked this one with the Bluejay.

Bit of a busy week ahead with Thanksgiving and traveling ...

I have to make desserts to take.

I want to be Napoleon's Friend !!!

I read an article yesterday about how Napoleon gave this ring to men who were loyal to him.

Gold...diamonds.....This ring is awesome!

I love the whole Napoleonic Bee thing, too. Whenever I see printed paper or material with bees on it , I think of Napoleon. I've been facinated by him for a few years now, but all the info on him is military strategy, and all about war. Nothing mainly about his life.

I love that cologne by Guerlain called Imperial. It is one of the best Eau Fraiches ever made.
I read that Napoleon got rub downs with a similar cologne and went through literally gallons of it a month. I suppose it goes along with the old myth about French citizens not bathing but dousing themselves with EDC to control the stench. (nowdays referred to as a "whore's bath")

Truly Madly Deeply

This has to be one of my favorite movies of all time. Something made me think of it Saturday, so I watched it yesterday for like the hundreth time....
first off....Juliet Stevenson is AMAZING. She is like an every-woman, and is so wonderfully real. she is not traditionally beautiful, but she has a certain something that makes her so gorgeous.
She is the perfect partner for Alan Rickman. Ahhh....Alan Rickman.....don't get me started. I love him with my eyes closed.....That voice......I love him with my eyes open.....He is not always handsome, but when he is, he is also AMAZING!
In this movie, both Juliet and Alan are so great TOGETHER....
Juliet plays Nina, a woman who has recently lost the "love of her life" , Jamie (Alan Rickman).
She cannot function. She tries to function. She buys a nasty run-down apartment because she's never had to do anything herself before. She's starting to learn how to be alone. She sees a therapist once a week and just cannot stop crying. She has rats. she's a slob.She's depressed.
Just when she resigns herself to this miserable existence, Jamie returns! However, he is a ghost. She doesn't care.... he's back! She can once again cope with life.
Then she comes to realize that she Has been coping, and it's not really about Jamie or anyone else ....It's about her. It's about LIFE not death. And, all the little inperfections that her relationship with Jamie had start coming to the surface , helping her make a decision.
Love this flick soooo much.

Frustration!

So, today is the 15th of November.......This was supposed to be the day that this camera would be at my house......NOT!
After 6 calls to (over the last 3 weeks...) and one call from, I have yet to see this camera..... No one knows anything, and no one can even guess as to what's happening with this order..
I think my order form is hanging on the bulletin board at the warehouse, and near it there is a sign which says ' this order goes out when Hell gets good and cold'. Good thing they don't have a picture of me, because I'm sure my body parts would randomly feel pain. (as in voodoo doll)
I don't even care anymore if I'm a pest. I'm not. THEY are the ones who tell me to call back in 48 hours if I don't hear anything!
URRRRGH! I'm just frustrated!
Jerry and I went to the Turkey Raffle today. If you don't know what that is, it's a gathering of people (this one sponsored by the Knights of Columbus) They sell tickets for a dollar, and each ticket has 3 numbers on it. they spin a wheel and call off the number. If you win, you get a frozen turkey. they spin again twice for other smaller prizes like gift certificates to local businesses or pies (thanksgiving theme) this happens like 30 times over the course of 3 hours. they serve you hot dogs , pizza, chips and soda or beer for free. (all you want, and they are not stingey...). So you end up spending around 25-30 dollars...all as a donation. Sadly, we did not win a turkey, but we won a pumpkin pie, and a certificate good for 3 months at the local Karate Studio complete with uniform. this prize is worth $500.00!!!
I think we are listing it on Craig's List to get $$$$ because we won't be using that! LOL

Wednesday is Man-Candy Day!

OMG....I was just looking for other things, and up popped this picture of Adam Ant.

What other guy (not counting Johnny Depp....) looks so sexy as a pirate?

I remember being in Toronto, circa 1981 or so and hearing AntMusic BLASTING in every record store on and off the strip on Younge Street. I still listen to my old LPs once in a while.

Stuart L. Goddard used to be on that tv show Northern Exposure. I love hearing him speak and his facial expressions are so cute.

Top chef starts up again tonight. NYC this time.

Another season of vamping Padma Lakshmi. Whenever I see her I think about her in that Mariah Carey movie, Glitter. Padma played the evil chick.

(she's the one in the catsuit on the left.)

She has a wicked scar on her right arm. it's like a foot long. Sometimes I swear they put gold shimmer powder on it to make it more pronounced.

She's been in the news lately because she got divorces from Salman Rushdie, the author who wrote Satanic Verses and went into exile for years because of death threats from Muslim extremists.

Went to the mall today. I started some Christmas shopping yesterday, and wanted to make a first pass at the mall. I didn't really buy any gifts, but I went and saw my "import-store-owner-friend". I have been seeing him for the past 5 years at least! he used to be in another mall, and had a store that just sold chocolate and small gifts from around the world. I used to go in and look for Cadbury Flake and Dagoba bars. He's from Israel and wold go and bring back rosaries and metal pins. I have a cat pin I wear a lot I got there.

last year he moved to Carousel mall and added a bunch of imported giftware and other foods.Now, today, I see he has moved to a huge store that was vacant. His wife told me they had opened another store in Ithaca as well. She was saying how she was ready to divorce him a couple of weeks ago (kidding) it was so stressful.

I found my Flake bar, and he asked me where I've been....It has been a while....

I also spied a cool cobalt blue and silver Evil Eye coil bracelet. I LOVE it! It looks similar to this one

except the beads are all dark blue glass separated by round silver beads and the evil eye beads are only in the center row. ( if that makes sense) in other words, mine's better-looking!

My Head Hurts!

Got up pretty early this morning (7am on a sunday?????) Jerry went to the office, so I decided to start experimenting with the Plastic fusing.....
I started outside on the deck, because i didn't want the fumes from the heated plastic to be in the house, bothering Harley. It was a bit to chilly outside and the air cooled down the plastic too much to fuse right. I had a few different types of bags to try. not too many colors. I decided to go with a patchwork design....just organic, not a planned out intricate thing. I loved sewing with this stuff! ...and I really dislike sewing. I am usually all about the making of the pieces, and the finishing is what makes me insane. I hate all that fiddly stuff. .

What I ended up with is ok for a first attempt. it is big enough to hold a few magazines and bulky enough to hold some heaviness... The texture of some of the squares reminds me of patent leather which is kind of nice.

I will try again sometime. I used every plastic bag I had saved for this.

I do have a headache from the plastic even though I was well ventilated.

Metalworking.....

Finally fastened the grommets to my beret. I had originally planned to do a pattern, but couldn't decide on just what. I just randomly put them on one side section. I like the way it came out! I took another picture of my coin necklace. The gold links in between the coins are just round gold jump rings I strung together and made a chain. It was originally a longer necklace, but I decided I liked it shorter.

I found an article in CRAFT magazine that showed how to fuse plastic shopping bags together using an iron. This intrigues me to no end.... Updates to follow! :)

I'm thinking along the lines of zipper topped makeup bags and purses. they even showed a bucket hat that was made out of the fused plastic material. It was great!

I looked though a couple of books today. Influences: by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. I was expecting to dislike this one. I was pleasantly surprised. It was , at times, a bit fluffy and jaded, but there were a few jewels here. nice pics, too.

Fashion: Inside Out by (Project runway finalist) Daniel Vosovic. This was a book on the creative and business facets of the fashion world. I loved the section on Croquis. I've always wondered how to draw those fashion sketches and make them look decent! I will be practicing now!

Beautiful Thursday...

I love this picture. It's actually a (photo of a)wrapper from an Italian soap. I love the finger-waved hair and I am obsessed with the necklace she's wearing!!!!! I have been collecting little 4-leaf clover charms for years, and I usually hang them all bunched together on one of those charm holder pins. People always ask me about them.

One of the more recent 4-leaf clovers I've gotten is that flat electroplate charm (shown in a recent post). I knew it reminded me of something, and this picture was it!

I am going to try and duplicate this necklace. I found the gold beads yesterday, and I know where I can get ahold ofthe red "corni" horn. the horseshoe, may be a problem, but maybe i can figure out something else.

I had downloaded pictures of a necklace I made yesterday, but I somehow deleted them without saving them, so I will post them another time. I also had cute pictures of harley on the deck in the sun this morning. She had her eyes closed in bliss. It is so warm today. Just beautiful.

Tuesday: Post #2

Just wanted to get these pictures on here since I just downloaded them.

After my friend "bailed"on me today, I ended up going to the Indian Market and getting some more garbanzo beans and also got some rosewater and Madras Curry Powder.

I popped in next door to the thrift shop ( a different one) and found a little creamer (Syracuse China!) to match the Irish tea pot i got at the other thrift store last week. It's not an exact match, but I think they look sweet together.

I also found one of those glass domes that sits on a marble base to store and serve cheese

the item I was the most excited about today was this silk Liberty of London scarf!!!!!

It was one dollar! All told, I spent under 5 dollars.

Again, sorry about the terrible photos. It is 21x21/orange background with navy, celery and white with a machine hemmed edge. the previous owner did not love this scarf. It has some watermarks on it and a few stretched areas (which are small). It had been washed (:() ...WHY????) So, I hand washed it and ht ironed it flat. It looks pretty good now.

I will definitely love it.

I picked up my 5 dollar long wool winter coat at the dry cleaners, and it looks so good. It cost 3x the $$ to clean it, but hey, who cares????

I just re-read this and it sounds like I am a thrift store fanatic, which I'm really not...

I've just been in the mood to look around at old things lately, and I've been getting inspired by some of the things I'm seeing.

VOTE!!!!!

Just got back from voting. Mike and I went to Starbuck's for coffee afterwards. I had planned to go there and get my FREE tall coffee .I got an e-mail from Starbuck's saying they were giving a tall coffee to anyone who voted today. I had heard that California wasn't participating in this promotion as it is against the law to gift people for voting. Mike and I had this discussion and he said he heard that the promotion was called off in all 50 states for this reason.

OK....so, Mike orders a Mocha, I order a venti coffee, and pay.It came to 6.05. I didn't bring change into the store, so I didn't have a nickel. Would have to break a 5, so the guy said don't worry about the nickel.

When I went to the car, I took a nickel back in to the guy(the right thing to do...) and I heard him saying to the woman at the counter that her coffee was free because she voted!

UGH!!!!!I don't listen to that boy again!!!!!:)

going out for an early birthday celebration today with a friend.

I feel like going to the mall this week. Bobbi Brown is calling my name! I want some new makeup.

I've been looking for a good sheer/almost not-there lippie. I got one of those glosses that adapt to your chemistry, but they always turn fuchsia on me. And I want to check out the shimmer bricks. there is a new copper one that looks pretty.

I found really cheap gold tone watch that is a good enough dupe for(for now) the MK gold watch.

My picture taking abilities suck, sorry!It's not as cheap-looking as it appears in this photo.

Lastly, here is a picture of the one sock I just finished. I want to make a few pairs for myself. I love sock yarn and all the self-striping patterned yarns that are out there now. I also saw some really nice charcoal grey heather merino that I'm loving....