Pretty Pretty Bang Bang

In my line of work, it’s not unusual to be asked to create something special for someone. Usually it’s for a birthday or anniversary. Wednesday night I got a call from my best friend, Mary, asking me to create probably the most important piece of jewelry to date: earrings for her mother to be buried in. Sis, Mary’s mom, has been very ill for the past three weeks and is expected to die any day now. I was honored that Mary chose me to create the earrings, but sad at the same time. Sis is going to be buried in a lovely red silk kimono top so I chose a cherry blossom design for the earrings. I finished them today and they are beautiful. I made a pair for Mary as a reminder of her mom. I know she’ll love them. It was one of the hardest jobs I’ve done (emotionally, that is) but one I’ll treasure. Thank you Mary for choosing me for something so important.

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Our friend Carrie can make a pie like nobody’s business. A couple of weeks ago, Steve and I were craving her apple pie and called her. Like the good sport she is, the next night she invited us over to share a fresh apple pie. I’m pretty much a sucker for any apple-based desserts, but pie is one of my faves. Last night, Carrie (who gave up dessert for Lent and is now back on the dessert wagon) called to say she’d made her first cherry pie and would like to share. We welcomed her to our house with open mouths and a pot of decaf.

It was heavenly! Sweet and tart, flakey and creamy. The best of all pie worlds. Today I need to figure up my Weight Watchers points to see how much my piece cost me, but I can tell you it was worth every point. Thanks for sharing, Carrie!

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Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Ether.

Ether who?

Ether Bunny.

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Nutter.

Nutter who?

Nutter ether bunny.

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Stella.

Stella who?

Stella nutter ether bunny.

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Here’s the fun we’re experiencing in Missouri:

That’s our basement floor as of this morning. The water keeps pouring in and the sump pump is draining about every 45 seconds. My studio is flooded. My entire house smells like a basement. As you can see, the cats are devastated: 

I think I’ll take that nervous breakdown now. Can I get fries with that?

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Is there really a good time to have a nervous breakdown or midlife crisis? Just wondering if anyone knew…

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Lately, it seems like everything I love is being discontinued. Ok, maybe not everything but certainly my most beloved products. It all started with a little Lipglass by MAC called Taupe Notch. This lovely frosty beige-nude color was perfect on its own or over my favorite lipsticks. I went through two tubes  before discovering it had been discontinued. The hunt began! Thanks to MAC’s “Gone But Not Forgotten” program I now have three tubes in reserve. Don’t know what I’ll do when I run through them, but I hope they have another color I love equally by then.

Then I went bra shopping. Now, as I am with just about everything in my life, I am very particular about my foundation garments. And, being a, ahem, busty gal, I do like to make sure everything stays up. Bra shopping is a chore because I want the bra to look pretty, be comfortable, not create back fat (I have plenty on my own) and keep the gals supported. I recently found the perfect Wacoal bra at my fave local place, The Lingerie Boutique. They had one in my size. They couldn’t get any more. They were…discontinued. Off I went into the world of eBay where I found two in black, but I was still lacking another one in nude. So I returned to The Lingerie Boutique yesterday to find a substitute. I found one. I love it. It’s also discontinued. Grrr.

Today, I needed some new hair gel so I went to Beauty First so I could use my $10 off coupon. While browsing (’cause I never know what other goodies I’ll find) I discovered my favorite hair spray in the half off bin. Two cans were left and I was thinking I scored a good deal. Then, while I was checking out, the manager informed me that these were the last cans and I should buy them when I see them because the company was, you guessed it, discontinuing the hair spray.

Maybe this is God’s way of telling me I’m in a rut and need to try new things. Or perhaps it’s just that I tend to fall in love with things that are in short supply. Regardless, I’ll be enjoying my items until I get close to running out and then the hunt will begin for the perfect substitutes.

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Anthony and Elizabeth are engaged! For those of you who might not know who I’m talking about, Anthony and Elizabeth are cartoon characters in For Better or For Worse, one of my favorite comic strips. My mom and I talk about them like they are real people we know. The great thing about Lynn Johnson’s strip is that the characters age and develop just like real people. Mom and I have been following Anthony and Elizabeth’s relationship since they first started dating in High School. Mom knew they were destined to be together but Elizabeth had other suitors and I wasn’t exactly sure. In the meantime, Anthony got married, had a child and then became a single parent when his wife divorced him. Elizabeth had her share of boyfriends along the way too. My sister says Anthony carries too much baggage for Elizabeth, but I think they make a good couple.

When mom called me this morning and left an excited voice mail about “something in the paper,” I knew I needed to get home and read FBOFW to find out the status of our two lovebirds. It feels like someone in our own family is engaged. Cheers to Anthony and Elizabeth. May the live happily ever after in the funny papers.

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While we’re not actively looking for a new home, we do keep our eyes open to 1960s ranch homes in original (or close to original) condition. This past weekend, local auctioneer and realtor Billy Long had several open houses for a mega auction event he’s having at the end of this month. Two houses caught my eye enough that I wanted to take a closer look. The first one, while looking good online, needed way too much work and had a funky layout that just didn’t seem to work with our needs. This one was more interesting. It has many of the features I want in my dream home and hadn’t been destroyed by over-updating. Steve was less enthused. He felt that the current work being done on the house was shoddy (I agreed) and he didn’t like the street it was on (I disagreed). All in all, we don’t know if it would be worth the expense and effort to move but it’s always fun to look.

I have an ongoing list of the things I want in my dream house. I realize the chances of my getting all of them are almost none, but I like to think about them anyway. I imagine that someday we’ll just end up building what we really want based on the 60s ranch design. Here are my wishes:

Double front doors, preferably with doorknobs in the middle of the door.

Patchwork marble entryway.

Funky colored tile bathrooms (blue, avocado, pink, etc) with built-in vanity in main bathroom.

Corner bathtub or sunken tub.

Carport or drive-thru garage with glass doors

Sunken living room.

Double fireplace. If not double, then a large stone fireplace both with built-in shelves.

Picture windows.

Kitchen with gas stove. Bonus if it has wall oven and copper vent.

Original light fixtures, knobs, hardware.

Mahogany tiled ceiling (my grandparent’s house had this and it was gorgeous!)

Built-in furniture - such as long benches, desks, shelving, etc.

Finished basement/rec room with laundry room.

Some of these things I can live without while others are very important to me. I know when the time and house is right we’ll know. Ten years ago when we moved into this house I remember taking one step inside the front door and declaring to Steve that this was “the one.” I’m sure I’ll feel that way again when the time’s right.

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Well, the snow is almost gone thanks to two days of 45-50 degree weather. Now we’re left with gray mounds slowly melting in parking lots and lots of water. MSU was cancelled on Tuesday but by 2 p.m. the roads were completely clear. I was laughing as Carrie and I went out to lunch and ran to Target. The snow was pretty, but I’m looking forward to it being gone. Of course, there’s more in tonight’s forecast, but I’m not worried. They’re only calling for about an inch but have already predicted warmer weather just around the corner.

Will spring ever get here and stay?

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As the saying goes, March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb. Well, the lion roared and out came 8 inches of snow. Yesterday the local weather dudes kept going on and on about how we were going to get all this snow. Now, understand these people have a really bad track record so I don’t put much stock in their “winter storm warnings” and all. However, this time they got it right. We’re snowed in and most schools are cancelled. Of course, MSU is only closed until 1 p.m. which means I still have to show up for studio monitoring at 1. Maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll close until 3 or something because I sure don’t want to walk over to school in this crap.

Here’s a little glimpse from our front porch and a picture of my great husband taking care of my walking path needs:

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