Monday, October 19, 2009

Counting Down

It is Monday morning, and the big wedding is this Saturday night. Should be simple, right? Just dress up and go have a good time. I guess it would be if there wasn't food involved. I'm not talking about food at the reception--I mean food at my house. With all the time I am involved with food, I should weigh 300 lbs! I am either shopping for it, prepping it, cooking it, or cleaning up and storing it away. I need a break from food. Maybe a month in a third world country where there isn't any. Or a month out in the woods, where you only have what you can carry.

Well, I'll be on a little different schedule today--that would be cleaning instead of cooking. There will be guests staying in my sewing room, and the bed in there is perpetually buried in fabric. Anyone who has been in my sewing room says "What bed? There's a bed?" Oh well. Sadly, after two days work getting the room together, within a week it will have reverted to its present state. It's my work space--what can I say? I have to make another doll as soon as the company leaves, and that means pull everything out again.

I have one recipe to taste test before all of this gets started. I want to make sure we will like it so that I don't end up with several large casseroles that no one will spoon onto their plates. Now that I'm thinking about it--it's spinach--who is going to chomp much of that down? So--one pan it is. Glad we had this little chat!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Look-a-dis!

Yesterday GF and I went to a craft show of sorts--an expo for women's businesses. There are all sorts of things there on display, with some very interesting crafters who make soaps and lotions, publish children's books, sell exotic teas, and of course, the envitable jewelry. But, there were some excellent beaders, a couple of dollmakers (one a friend from Dollinks), and some gorgeous pottery. Love it!


One table got our attention--wonderful bags, most of them made from silk. Not the kind of thing you see normally. The woman brought them in from Thailand, made by women there who have been liberated from the "trafficking trade" and they are paid fair trade wages to make the bags. I had seen items before from Thailand--at that time made by Humong refugees. They do such beautiful work there, and these bags were exceptional. If I was a pocketbook person, I probably would have gone away with a half dozen. But, alas I am a wallet in my jacket pocket type of gal, and even though I love bags, and make them also, I avoid carrying one whenever possible.


So--wedding in two weeks. On the top shelf are evening bags all covered with satin roses. I already have two beaded evening bags, either of which would serve very well, but for heaven's sake--who could resist those roses? I paid for one which would match my dress, and we walked around and looked at the rest of the display. On the second pass, I decided that I just had to exchange the bag for the red one. Why be subtle when you don't have to! This one is going to just call out from across the room, and will probably make it out of the closet many more times than those quiet little beaded ones. You know that old saying--"Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere!" What do you think?

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Caught Up A Little

It's been nice and quiet here for a couple of weeks, and our days fall into a pattern: MyTreasure gets up very early and gets to work on whatever project he has going, and I putter away at not much. I stitched up three pairs of slacks for myself, traced off a doll pattern that I will be working on next, cooked up several eggplant concotions that needed to be done before the eggplant spoiled, had some people in for food. I managed to free up some storage space by giving away the contents of a large drawer in our sideboard, and filling up a bag of cookbooks so that there would be less clutter on the shelf. Notice I did not say "nothing on the shelf". These days I go for "less clutter" and consider it a victory.

One of my peeves about the fall is that you don't know when to put away the summer clothes. My clothes are stored in big plastic bins in the attic, and once the switch is made, they are gone for the season. Spring usually is better defined temperature wise, but when the summer lingers and the temperatures vary from hot to cool, I never seem to have the right combination of clothes. Sure enough, I filled up that tub with my tank tops, and the next day was in the 70's. Then, Garden Fairy decided that we should go together for pedicures and that we should wear shorts, since they message your legs with lovely creams. I fished out the last stray pair from the laundry basket, and away we went. Very excellent! Especially with a friend to chat away the drying time.

Now it turned cool again, and my lovely wine red toenails are hidden away inside wool socks, and my sandals have gone into hibernation. Have to time this better for next year. Farewell, Summer. I confess I am sad to see you go.