Giving Thanks

Well, I think I should just give thanks that I haven't gone and Shot Up the Comcast Cable company with an Uzi. But I have refrained. I'm taking the RARE OPPORTUNITY of being actually ONLINE to update and post a Thanksgiving picture or two and to tell my readers to just Check Back in once in a while and not forget about me! I can't get Comcast to figure out the problem and so I have no reliability on when I will be online.

Rearranging..AGAIN!

I realized yesterday that I didn't want to stare at this wall another minute:

I learned long ago that the best way to cope with a lackadaisical attitude towards deep cleaning is to rearrange often! If I am rearranging the furniture, I am right in there dusting, vacuuming and wiping down surfaces. Otherwise...I'll walk past something for a week thinking, "Ew! That needs to be dusted!" When it gets to the "Ew, this is creeping me out!" stage, I will REARRANGE the entire room, cleaning and dusting as I go. I don't understand it, but it's what I do! So now that wall looks like THIS:

And there isn't a dust mote in sight! (For the moment, tee hee!)

I got a head's up from Amanda of Soule Mama that she was posting the pictures of her adorable little toddler Adelaide in the outfit I made for her! And they are up today! Go Look! I am such a fan of her blog and her philosophies, not to mention her amazing talent, so I am just honored that she liked the outfit! Thanks, Amanda!

While my Guitar Gently Weeps

Or while my Cat gently sleeps....

I have been soooo annoyed with my inernet service provider. I finally got hip to the fact that there is actuallyNo Real Hook-up between the nice telephone help person you tell your troubles to and the actual Repairman who shows up (or does not show up) during the 4 hour time slot allotted to fix your problem.

I pour my heart out to these phone techs: Please send me someone who CARES. Someone who will DO What it Takes. Someone who speaks ENGLISH. I'll take butt crack. I''ll take B.O. I'm not that picky. Just PLEASE send me someone who can actually FIX my internet.

My blog depends upon me. My LIFE depends upon the Internet. If I need a map at the last minute so I can find my way to work...I need the internet. If I need to find out what's really going on with Fed-Ex and that hillbilly Brittany Spears...I need the internet. If I need to find out what is going on with Other People's Blogs...I need the internet. If I need to find out a song lyric before it drives me nuts and get stuck in my head forever...I need the internet. Not to mention it's my long-distance PHONE now that I have Skype, and it's how I keep in touch through email with my many, many relatives. And then, I need an hourly fix of Gnarls Barkley and his entire band dressed like Star Wars characters singing the song CRAZY. Because an R&B band with a Strings Section is my idea of Good fun music! Which is actually what inspired me to diagnose the REAL problem for my high speed internet woes:

Mynoks. Chewing on the Power Cables.

A Comcast tech has been here 3 days this week since Sunday. And I've been scheduled for an appointment EVERY day this week. But when the person doesn't show and I call to find out why, I am told, "YOU rescheduled that, Ma'am." I did? Because I could have sworn that I did NO SUCH THING!!!! Oh, this is turning into a triple chin venting rant session so let me add a little peace...and quiet.

This happy little corner of my bedroom might do the trick.

And yes, it's almost Scarf Weather again! So I got them out from summer storage and they are ready to be draped around my neck very soon!

Hope everyone is having a pleasant November so far, and if you aren't hearing from me, it's because my internet is still not working!

V.I.P.

I never compliment myself or brag, but all my friends will tell you I am a very, VERY important person! I have an amazing array of REALLY important and well-connected friends. Oh, sure, I don't hear from them often and they don't really invite me to their yachts or cocktail parties, but every two years at least they will give me a phone call. Just to check in!

For instance just last night I thought that phone would never leave me alone! Clint Eastwood called first. Why, Hello, Clint! I said! But he was in such a rush to tell me about some woman he is all excited about politically that I couldn't get a word in edgewise with him. But that's just Clint. He's so politically active, you know?

And next it was Arnold. Now, normally, I will sit and listen to Arnold, but last night I was all, "Terminate It, Baby! I'm trying to watch Prison Break! Say hello to Maria for me, and the kids! But I can't talk now!"

Jerry Brown called to chat, but again I just had to cut him off.

This morning, while having a private and low-key breakfast at the Midtown Creperie, which is known for being a 'No-Papparazi Zone" here came Channel 10 and the Bay Area's Channel 11 of NBC, and I was just swamped, I tell you, swamped with cameras in my face. I was really hoping I didn't have pesto in my teeth from my Chicken Pesto Crepe.

But what can I do? I'm a V.I.P! So I just smiled and shook hands all around. Even the nice man running for Lieutenant Governor, Garimandi I think his name is, was inclined to come over and hob nob with me. He had his lovely wife and grandkids with him. Apparently there is some big political event happening today and he wanted to secure my vote. His wife is so very lovely, so classy. I didn't mind at all when she put her arms around me and had our picture taken together. I hope Jerry isn't offended. I think this is the guy that is running against him!

But that's just how it is when you are a V.I.P. Everyone wants to see and be seen with me. I handle it with good Grace, though, because I know I am blessed to be so special.

In the meantime, here is a cozy corner of my home, in it's usual blurry state!

Garden of Hearts

Note to Self: When offered a shift that is all about shopping at the mall and going to movies on Sundays, and it sounds too good to be true: Be sure and ask "What aren't you telling me?"

Because, today, Boys and Girls, was Fraught with exhaustion and makes me wonder why I ever wanted to be a caregiver in the first place. How did sipping tea and offering comfort and companionship to sweet, rascally old ladies morph into carrying around half a dozen Big Gulp Cups so the 400 lb. blind man with the food crud on his shirt can spontaneously upchuck what he just ate for lunch into the plastic tubs. Read the fine print, if there is any. This guy was perfectly sweet but it was not my kind of gig.

So to unwind, de-stress, detox and decompress, I go into my bedroom and lay on the bed facing this quilt on my wall. And I just look at it and look at it until I am all soothed again. You Hippie Chicks can use a Mandala if you wish. I want my Garden of Hearts.

Sweet November

Oh, pouring down rain today and it sure turned WINTER overnight here in California! The time changed and Viola! No more daylight hours, EVER (it gets dark at 3 in the afternoon now. What is up with that?) and it's so cold at night. I wasn't expecting the deluge of rain, that is for sure!

I held off posting these pics of this little outfit I made for the daughter of one of my favorite bloggers. I did it when I was on the purse making frenzy. And I sent it to her for her toddler to wear. If she posts pictures of her wearing this little ensemble, I'll post the link!

It's lined in flannel and is all strips of scrappy vintage fabrics. The buttons are layers and layers of stitched squares set on point so she can pick and pull at them and it won't matter a bit!

It turned out completely differently than I had planned it in my head but that is the creative process! By the way does anyone else but me notice that it does no good to jot down mental notes if you have no way of retrieving them?

I'm sorry! I've lost my mental notes! Ha ha!

Anyway, Happy November everybody.