This was the 2nd week of unemployment; I have several resumes sent out, and a placement service sent me to another law firm where I've gone through a couple of interviews and will hopefully hear something on Monday or Tuesday. I know it's funky timing with the holidays coming up, so I'm trying to relax while waiting.
In the meantime, I've actually completed a project: I reupholstered the dining room chairs. It's not a huge deal, because they're rattan and basically consist of a seat cushion and an attached back. Here they were before:
The seat cushions on a couple chairs were really wearing through. Here they are now:
You can't see the fabric well, but it's coffee brown with light green and blue circles. It reminded me of our funky lamp from Pier 1 that DH hardwired into the ceiling (which has a green center, but it looks yellow/orange in the picture).
While we're in the dining room, I'll give you a tour. Here are the souvenir plates recently acquired in estate sales; Darkitysnark motivated me to hang them up where they can look swell:
We have Six Flags Over Texas, Disneyland, Ohio, Hawaii, New Mexico, Hollywood, California, Wyoming, New York City, New Orleans, Victoria BC, Winchester Mystery House, Tennessee and Kentucky. I have an Arkansas one too, I need to get another plate hanger.
Well, that's the tour of the dining room!
I logged on today thinking there would just be a Lunacy blend and that's all, and there were all these others! I already had my order planned, and since I bought a bottle of 13 I was only going to buy 2 bottles, Quincey Morris and Wilhemina Murray. Now I'm pondering changing that
--Bitter Moon -- the ingredients list reminds me of Chrysanthemum Moon, but with extra flowers. I'll pass
--Purple Phoenix -- this one I'm torn about, as some of the ingredients sound great and others (violet, fig, lilac) haven't worked in other blends. But who knows?
What a surprise to see more discontinueds released! I actually squealed a little when I saw Glasya -- this was a frimp in one of my first orders and was discontinued soon after I got into BPAL. It's one of those magical wonders, in that dragon's blood and civet are "yuck" on me, but Glasya is this beautiful dark incense that doesn't morph. I even put some on today to help me decide, and I still can't decide! *grr*
The other DC's were never tried and I'm not jonesing for any particular one, even though Glitter has a loyal following.
Decision time: I'm ordering Quincey Morris and Purple Phoenix. While Mina Murray sounds nice, it's been compared to Alice and Parlement of Foules and I have bottles of those already. I think I'll be happy with my Glasya imp, as I have a bunch of other BPAL-incensey blends that I including Snake Charmer and Mme. Moriarty and Hellion -- those seem to have an extra "oomph" included.
I've felt strange because nothing's been happening with the job situation. Nothing. I'm there through this week, and then I have no idea. I haven't heard back from my previous job, even after leaving a message last week. I'm not in panic mode, because between the bonus, severance and vacation time I have a few months of money, but I'd much rather save than spend. I'm glad I get to vent here.
Of course, that hasn't stopped us from going to estate sales! We haven't bought much -- an old radio cabinet with the radio removed, very art deco '30s that we want to put records in. DH bought a mini-fridge for the garage for $15. I bought a sewing book by Better Homes & Gardens from 1961 for $1.50. I found a 1950s red record tote to carry 45s -- my mom has a couple (pink? blue?) with the same exact graphics, so I was pretty jazzed to find one full of records and in great condition for $12.50.
My sister's husband and his band blew through town on Thursday. We realized between all the CDs we have, we've never seen him play live. He writes his own stuff and arranges other songs in a jazzy lounge vibe. We had a blast going up to Denton to see him and another jazz band play.
--I got my big birthday order yesterday (Saturday 10/21, 5 bottles! Woo!), which was held up for Pumpkin Queen. I the Lab because I think they threw in a couple of extra frimps, probably because the component issue of PQ held up the order. Worth the wait! It really perked up my week. I even got a frimp of Vice, which has been on my wishlist for forever and a day.
--I have my current job for another week, then who knows? No one's given me a definite date. I called my previous job, and the HR staff supervisor said she was "thrilled" that I would return, but she had to "crunch some numbers" to make sure they can fit me in salary-wise. I was happy, then sad. I still have a bunch of friends there and the money was good, so I hope to hear something this week.
--[minor rant]You know what's the worst about losing this job? Losing my laptop! I fell in love with this over the last 16 months -- I can sit wherever I want in the house, I can travel with it, I can stay online as long as I want even if DH wants to be on the main computer. I have the opportunity to buy it back after I leave for a good price, but Boss Lady said I have too much "importance" on it and she needs it after I leave. Nonononono! *hugs laptop in death grip* Hopefully I can get her husband to do a data transfer to her computer (he's the techie of the two) and then I can get Lappy back.
I've been feeling a bit down and out-of-sorts lately with the job situation, so this big update is a nice distraction. I waffled on 13 -- I bought a bottle of the 2005 original and while it was nice, I ended up swapping it away. I think it was the iris at the end that made it not as enjoyable. Anyway, the reformulation was tempting enough so it's been ordered.
I can't believe there are Yule bottles available! I tried Jacob's Ladder at a Meet-n-Sniff and didn't like it as much as I thought I would -- unfortunately I haven't found an amber blend I love yet. Stardust has a great description, but I tried it and it's not something I would ever wear regularly. I already have bottles of Lick It and Midnight Mass. Here are the new ones I'm interested in:
Haloa -- I'm all over any reference to wine, but the "cakey" note hasn't been working on me lately
Jolasveinar -- snow and dirt sound intriguing and different, and with pastries in the background? Weird!
Knecht Ruprecht -- more snow, this time with fruit trees, but if "Black Forest" means pine in any fashion it won't be good for me
Krampus -- this one sounds like a lot of fun, but the black leather scents come out too processed and "city," if that makes any sense. I like the leather of Dead Man's Hand (and Quincey Morris, from the reviews). We'll see
Snow-Flakes -- I'm anxiously awaiting the hopeful return of Snow White, so hopefully this isn't a substitute, but it sounds nice anyway
Sol Invictus -- this sounds a lot like Litha (great!) and Et Lux Fuit (OK), so I'll check the reviews
Yule -- I had a bottle of Yuletide which was good but not great. Too much Krafty Korner craft store smell. This one might be a bit more complex
Phoo, that's a lot. The new GCs I'm interested in are:
Mania -- the musk blends have really been nice lately. Smut totally changed my perspective
Horreur Sympathique -- wow, so many great ingredients, I can't wait to start reading reviews of this one
I was out of town for a week so I couldn't hop on much. But it's the Lunacy and time for another order! White Moon doesn't sound like my cuppa joe, so I placed an order for the Trick or Treat Inquisition! I made a plea to be Tricked and I hope I get either one of those oils, they sound great, and the Treat oils sound a bit too sweet and foody. So we'll see!
The good news was that we had a really fun road trip -- we went to Ohio to see friends and DH's family and drove back to Dallas over a couple of days. On the way back we stayed one night in Memphis, which was a blast! We've driven through the city but never stopped. Beale Street was like Vegas without the casinos -- a ton of bars and restaurants and stores bursting with Elvis stuff and a great voodoo store called Tater Red's Lucky Mojo.
The bad news is I'll probably be out of a job in a month. No big drama, our product line was purchased by a competitor and everyone gets a nice severance payment. I'm a little down, though, because we had a great bunch of people and I really liked this job.
But more good news! I'll probably head back to my old job at the law firm. Today I finally told my good friend who's still there, who said "YAAAAYYYYY!" when I said my job would be ending. Thanks for the support, dude! I liked my old job too and hope that I could come back, but it's still a bummer, you know?
As promised, here's part 2 of DH's experiences, where he lived in what he suspected to be a haunted house.
After he and his brother got out of high school, they rented a house with their girlfriends. This was a narrow, tall house near the University of Cincinnati, 3 stories with a basement and a great view of downtown. Weird stuff started to happen, but DH thought it was his imagination at first and didn’t discuss it with anyone until much later.
The “second” floor (third floor if you counted the basement) was a large den area with an open staircase going up to the bedrooms. If you were sitting watching TV, the windows facing downtown would be on your left, and the stairs would be on your right. DH would see over and over, out of the corner of his eye, two figures running up the stairs. It looked like a woman with long dark hair being chased by a large man that looked Samoan. It would happen day or night, whether you were by yourself or with a bunch of people there. In fact, DH knew it wasn’t his imagination when others brand-new to the house would “see” it and snap their heads towards the staircase.
The den had carpeting on the walls (yes, it needed redecorating, but they were college kids!) and DH had some “flats” which he stapled to the wall way up near the ceiling. Flats are 12x12” prints of record albums that stores would use in their displays. Every so often one of the flats would be lying on the sofa or the floor, but it didn’t fall off – it wouldn’t be torn, the staple holes were intact and the staples would still be attached to the wall. It was like someone took out the staples, took the flat down and put the staples back in the wall. DH said this happened to the Talking Heads the most often.
Other physical things would happen too – this was the late-1980s and DH and his brother had a huge collection of cassette tapes on shelves in the living room. DH said on many occasions he would go to the living room to get a specific tape and it would be gone. After a search of the house he’d give up, only to have it appear later (sometimes hours or days later) in really strange places like the empty dryer or his sock drawer. One missing tape later appeared at the top step to the basement, where DH would have certainly stepped on it while searching.
DH had a boombox in the bedroom with a big dial tuner to change radio stations. Sometimes if he had it on and would leave the room, when he got back it would be changed to some weird talk or religious station. This only happened when he was alone in the house.
I asked him after all these experiences, “Weren’t you freaked out?” He said no, it was more annoying rather than scary, except for the last night (below).
The worst night he experienced was after he and his girlfriend broke up, and everyone else had moved out of the house. He was there by himself for one night, and the next morning he was flying to California to visit his parents (he ended up staying, got a job and met me). He was lying upstairs trying to get some sleep, but the moment he lied down and shut his eyes there was a *sigh* next to him. Then all hell broke loose downstairs – stomping in the kitchen, drawers and cupboards opening and being rifled through and slamming shut. He bolted down the stairs, thinking someone was in the house, but the instant he got to the first floor the noise stopped. After making sure no one was in the house he went back upstairs, but the same thing happened again – breathing next to him, then all sorts of commotion downstairs. Finally he gave up and went out to his car to try to sleep.
Instead of posting a particularly cranky entry, I'll post what I was working on over the weekend in honor of Halloween coming
DH is a mellow, even-keeled guy. He has had a bunch of weird experiences, though, and he doesn’t like to talk about them much. Most happened before he met me and I must be psychically “blocking” him in some way, because I’ve never had anything otherworldly happen to me (even though I love reading about it) and I would probably panic if something actually happened to me personally.
A few things happened after a family member has died. After we started dating, but before we moved into our own place, he and his parents were living at his grandmother’s house (his dad’s mom). Her brother lived in Wyoming and was dying of cancer. One night, not too late, DH was up watching TV after everyone else had gone to bed. There was a loud bang-bang-bang at the front door, and when DH ran to the door there was no one there. DH’s dad, a notoriously heavy sleeper (slept through tornados, earthquakes, etc.), even woke up and asked, “What the hell was that?” They found out the next morning that the uncle had died that night.
Soon after we got our own place, his parents moved back to Ohio (DH has a brother and sister who still live there). His mom had gone through treatment for breast cancer while in California, and though it went into remission it came back after they returned to Ohio. She got sick very quickly and passed away within a couple of months of it recurring. Obviously everyone was devastated, and DH flew back to Ohio for the funeral. He was staying at his sister’s condo and since she had the biggest home it seemed to be the central gathering place for the family. At one point several people were standing in the kitchen talking when suddenly everyone smelled the strong scent of roses, like someone walked into the room with a huge bouquet. There were no flowers in the house, and it was February in the midst of a snowstorm! DH’s sister’s ex-husband was a strange guy, very cerebral and a prickly personality, but the type of guy no one could fool – the guy you’d want with you when you’re buying a car. Even he, a total skeptic, smelled the roses, and was convinced there had to be flowers somewhere; he went through the whole house, opening cabinets and getting frustrated that he couldn’t find the source of the scent. Eventually the scent disappeared suddenly, just as it had appeared.
The closest thing that happened to DH when I was around was when we were apartment-hunting for our own place. We went to a small apartment building that looked like a 1920s Spanish bungalow. The open apartment was in the back, on the second floor with an outside balcony/walkway. We walked through the place for a few minutes, then as we were getting in the car I asked him what he thought. DH said, very seriously, “I wouldn’t spend one night in that place!” I asked him what was wrong and he said there wasn’t anything specific, other than he felt like we were being watched and it wasn’t a nice presence. I didn’t feel anything strange, but again I don’t think I’m as tuned-in as he is. The next day we talked on the phone and he said he slept awful the night before; he kept having nightmares of that apartment. He dreamt, over and over, that a guy had pushed his girlfriend off the balcony/walkway. I asked how DH knew that was the guy’s girlfriend, and he said he just knew from the dreams.
Coming soon: part 2, where DH lives in a haunted house!
She isn't really insane, but sometimes I wonder about how her brain works. She sent e-gift certificates for my birthday (yay Amazon!) but the last time we talked she said she was sending a box too. That came last night, and inside was:
--the new Janet Evanovich book (she's bought me the last several Stephanie Plum books, they're pretty funny)
--a teeny purse with Marilyn pictures on it -- it would probably hold your ID/credit card and a small lipstick, and that's it. I wish it was bigger!
--some L'Oreal tube eyeshadows
--some bath samples (a company called Andrea?) of sugar scrubs, mud masks, etc.
--a hand-crank flashlight (no batteries needed)
--an exfoliating sponge -- am I too flaky?
--a couple of Lustreware salt-pepper sets, one are little birds and the other has a Japanese tree/garden scene painted on each one
I know where I get my pack-rat collecting obsessions from, but she obviously sees random things and thinks, "I need to buy this for ____" and out it goes for a gift. Everything was wrapped individually and it was like this crazy lottery -- what will be next?
She loves doing Christmas stockings too, and it's the same miscellanea; last year one gift was a purse hanger that you take with you to a restaurant, so you can hang your purse off the table instead of setting it on the floor. I didn't even know I needed one of those!
Random linkage: here's someone posting about his mom, who really is insane. Pack Rat Ahead! If I ever get to this point, kill me. This was originally on the forums in Something Awful:
http://www.auctions-registration.com/ebay/?p=1
I held off on ordering from the HUMONGOUS update last week until the Lunacy release. When I heard it was Kindly Moon I figured it may be too twee for me, and sure enough it's sounds like way too much floral so I'll pass.
I was only going to order 2 bottles because I ordered the Schwarzer Mond bottle last week -- trying to keep to 3 bottles/month so we don't go broke. BUT! DH asked me last week what I wanted for my birthday and I said the usual "I don't care," and then it hit me: why can't my gift from him be a few bonus bottles from the Lab? Yes, after 15 years you start running out of "perfect gifts" to get each other.
So I placed my biggest order ever: 5 different bottles! Well, I ordered the Pumpkin Patch last year, but that's different because that was a full set. I'm getting Creepy, Pumpkin Queen and Punkie Night from the Halloweenie scents, and Brides of Dracula and Dr. Seward from the Dracula scents.
Now I'm up to 3 outstanding orders. How'd that happen?
First off, the update last week! I was so surprised to see the Black Moon bottles appear. Nothing like a couple of unexpected LEs to totally throw me off! I went back and forth and decided to get just the Schwarzer Mond with all the smoky resins.
And Halloween! My favorite time of year, and my favorite bunch of BPALs. I already have bottles of Samhain, Dia, Sugar Skull and tried/swapped away Devil's Night. But I'm totally blown away by all the new blends! I'll wait for the next Lunacy to order and am interested in:
--All Souls-- I love the incense blends like Midnight Mass and Pit and the Pendulum, as long as they aren't too woody. Incense + currant sugar cakes sound great
--Creepy-- all the ingredients are favorites: butterscotch, caramel, apples, and coconut rum. This will be the first bottle ordered
--Pumpkin Queen--I liked 3 of the 5 Pumpkin Patch bottles (cider, cocoa and pomegranate) and will want to check out the mandarin/orange peel/ginger version
--Punkie Night--I love cranberries and these don't pop up very often
I fell over and died when I started reading the Order of the Dragon scents. While the original Bram Stoker novel was OK, Coppola's Dracula film is one of my all-time favorites. Swoon! I want to try:
--Brides of Dracula--this sounds like another Smut-O-Rama with the skin musk and honey and Eastern spices
--Dr. John Seward--[tangent] don't even get me started on how great Richard E. Grant was in this role. My favorite scene is when he's dictating the latest diagnosis of Renfield while "self-medicating" and thinking of Lucy *sigh* [end tangent] Ahem. Anyway, another "poppy smoke" blend that sounds dark and brooding and great
--Quincey Morris--hello? Texas guy! This sounds more masculine with the tobacco and leather, but if I end up buying a bottle I can hopefully persuade DH to give it a try
And of course the Arkham bottles becoming GC! How great is that? I want to try:
--Al Azif--another dark incense that many people raved about
--High Priest Not to Be Described--yet another incense, but maybe too masculine with the leather. Great name, though!
--Night Gaunt--lots of fruit with that elusive "snow" quality that's so popular
--Shoggoth--this may be too much floral, but I want to test "green coconut meat"
The past couple of weekends have been great. Last Sunday was a little cottage with a bunch of cowboy art and memorabilia. I got a signed Roy Rogers and Dale Evans postcard -- I talked to the woman running it (her dad's place? not sure) and she got it in a lot from an autograph dealer friend, so as far as she's concerned it's legit. I love it and want a cool cowboy frame for it.
I also got 10 Siesta Ware mugs for $15 -- glass mugs with wooden handles, 1960s and real Western-looking. I've always liked them and would see them pop up in TV shows and on eBay but never bought a set. Now I have 10 in all different colors, and one has a Longhorn steer on it! I also got some free mini-souvenir plates (maybe 3" across instead of 10") for a few places like DC and Chicago. The entire lot was $40. Score!
Yesterday was crazy, we ended up spending at least an hour at one woman's place. She had TONS of stuff crammed into this teeny house, and we met her on the porch (she hired estate sellers to handle the process). Among the huge stacks of books and weird kitchen gadgets, she had hundreds of souvenir plates! They were stacked everywhere. We ended up with 10 for $38.50: California, Hollywood (Grauman's! Movie studios!), New Orleans, Ohio, New Mexico, NYC, Wyoming (where DH's dad is from), Winchester Mystery House, Victoria BC and the kicker: DISNEYLAND! I found one for Walt Disney World and DH ended up finding a Disneyland one in a stack on the floor. That one is my favorite!
So I'm motivated to display them like the Snarks are doing, maybe in the dining area! They'd look fab.
One thing that always amused me while working in the legal field was the potential for argument everywhere -- you could have 2 sides arguing one fact, and one side sees white while the other sees black. I don't think you can put 2 people together most of the time and get them to agree the sky is blue and the grass is green.
So when someone has a differing opinion, you have to take it with a huge grain of salt -- they're coming from a completely different headspace and see things in a completely different light. But how can someone justify the continuing use of names and images when they've been asked by the creator and owner of the property to stop? They've been asked nicely, in fact, instead of via a cease-and-desist letter or a lawsuit. I picture a child tantruming: "You're not the boss of me! I'll do what I want! You don't own the universe!"
This kind of deals with what I posted previously about the pursuit of the LEs: some people think LE = rare = BPAL at its finest, when there are plenty of great catalog blends that don't have the cache associated with a "Limited Edition OMG I NEED THIS LOL!!!" For me personally, I banninated myself from eBay because of the bidding wars and excitement and the focus on "winning" the auction. I haven't "won" anything, I'm paying cash money for it! I simply wanted to pay more than others were willing to.
Anyway, I'm babbling at this point, but maybe if people weren't so focused on the LEs they wouldn't be concerned about the "professional" resellers who want to make a profit off someone else's hard work.
Antimony and darkitysnark have motivated me to post pictures of my favorite plants around the homestead. I take no credit for these, this is all DH's hard work.
Here's the front of the house with a couple of Silverado Sage bushes. This big picture is from last summer; unfortunately we've had a very hot and dry one this year and our grass in front is brown. These bushes are popular here because they're very drought-tolerant:
They seem to love the heat, in fact! This week has been over 100 every day and they're blooming these cute purple flowers like crazy:
My other favorite plant is in the back next to the driveway: a pomegranate tree! It must like the heat too because it has a bunch of small pomegranates:
Here's another good one, it's huge:
--We've continued to go to estate sales every weekend, but I haven't bought much. Last weekend I bought a couple of vintage bandanas for $1, and when we got in the car and I rolled one up and put it on my head, DH made a face and said he was never a fan of the bandana. Yes, they're pretty frumpy-looking, especially because I'm no expert putting them on, but I like the retro-cowgirl-housewife look so I wore one to work last week anyway. Yeehaw!
--We went to a few sales yesterday and DH got a boss pair of binoculars for $15 -- they were in the original '60s or '70s case and he can use them the next time he gets nosebleed Mavericks tickets. The houses were cool though; another was an updated bungalow which was rehabbed and for sale (not a technical Estate Sale, she was a flipper) but she wanted way too much for it, considering it was next to a couple of skeevy-looking duplexes and apartment buildings.
--I went to a BPAL Meet-n-Sniff on Saturday, which was a blast. I posted already in another thread, but it's so great to be able to talk about notes and scents and just how crazy this hobby/obsession can be. I know DH just rolls his eyes at times when I'm babbling about LEs and evil carnivals and monthly orders, but everyone at a Meet-n-Sniff gets all that.
It was 4 of us: one gal brought a whole box of Villainess soaps so she could slice off samples, I brought a bag of frimps I was saving for everyone to paw through and take new things to try, and everyone had new GCs and LEs to sniff and test. This was the 3rd one I've attended and I hope everyone had a good time.
I didn't post after the Carnaval Diabolique update because I wanted to wait for Chrysanthemum Moon to place an order. So now that Chrysanthemum Moon is up: HOLY CRAP! What a great update! I'm truly blown away by the size and scope of CD, and that there are more scents over the next year to look forward to. The art! The descriptions! The potential wonderful smellies!
I didn't think I'd like Chrysanthemum Moon, but sure enough I read the description (linking to CD, natch) and decided to go for it. I also ordered bottles of F5 and Mme. Moriarty. CDs I would like to try in upcoming orders:
Carnaval Diabolique -- what the heck will opium smoke smell like?
Gennivre -- I haven't tried much of the tea blends, and this sounds nice
Midnight on the Midway -- sugared incense?? This I gotta try!
Xanthe -- this might go on the back-burner just because of all the fruit. I love the fruity blends, but more so when they're paired with something dark or boozy (like Perversion or Bordello)
And the GC additions were great! I want to try:
Caliban -- ugh, it's been so hot here and I've really been trying to find a nice summery fun blend to wear, as most of my BPAL bottles are dark and brooding. So salty seas, wine and tropical ferns sound great
Cockaigne -- milk, honey, sweet cakes and wine? Yes please!
Death of the Gravedigger -- snow and soil sound intriguing
Les Bijoux -- skin musk and honey? Yum!
Lyonesse -- so many favorite ingredients, like vanilla and amber and musk, but with sea moss added? Weird and cool!
Port Royal -- see above re: summery scent
We set a record this weekend: we went to four estate sales and didn't buy anything. Which got us debating and deciding what is an estate sale, because 2 of the houses didn't qualify in our opinion. (We pulled these assorted addresses from a list of the local paper's, so estate sales were listed differently than garage sales.)
One house was a young family obviously in the process of moving and had all their crap out in the front yard, and you could go into the living room and see the old-timey piano (which was pretty cool, actually), but you couldn't go anywhere else. That is not an estate sale!
The other one, after we visited we were creating this whole backstory: stylish anorexic bobblehead mom and her bobblehead daughter wanted to sell ex-husband's stuff (because they got the house and some of his stuff in the divorce), but couldn't muster the carbs to lug the furniture out to the driveway, so they called it an "estate sale" so they didn't have to move from the couch after the filling lettuce leaf they had 3 hours before. Yes, we amuse ourselves It was a few pieces of totally overpriced furniture, and when I asked if they were selling the house they said "no." So it wasn't an estate sale or even a moving sale! Rip-off!!
So our new rule is: if there aren't other cars in front, we're not going in. The first place and the last place totally passed that rule; the last place a bunch of cars and had so much stuff, we couldn't even look through it all. Most of it wasn't great, though, and the lady in charge wasn't giving any deals (even thought it was 3:00 on a Sunday) and at one point someone asked about the shoebox full of old postcards and she said they were $1 each! Ripoff!!!
The first place was awesome: a local actress from the 1930s who built this beautiful house on a hill in this cool hidden part of town. We were having total Hollywood Hills flashbacks -- the house was seriously beautiful, gorgeous floors and ceilings and archways and staircases. There was almost nothing left to buy, but I was so jazzed to be able to walk through it, it was this great house and they had pictures up of her in her heyday. I left dreamy-eyed
That's what I like: seeing a cool old house, that people lived and loved there. I like taking a piece of that back with me -- not like a vampire, but an appreciator.
I went to two different sales this weekend, which is unusual. One was on the way home from work on Friday, and there must have been 15 cars parked in front of this house. I thought, "Wow, this sale should be great!" and went in. Unfortunately not a whole lot was there, but I did get for $25:
--a Scooby-Doo lunch box from the '70s (no thermos)
--3 boxes of Japanese coil incense
Then DH and I went to one today that was in one of our favorite neighborhoods, Hollywood Heights -- yes, the houses are all little 1920s bungalows and I wish we could afford to live there. We got for $3:
--a few albums, Mahalia Jackson and a couple of touristy "Songs of Old Mexico" and "Songs of Hawaii" which I picked for the cute front covers
--a handful of old 45s of stuff DH liked, like Roger Miller (King of the Road!) and Allan Sherman (Hello Muddah!)
--a hurricane glass from Pat O'Brien's bar in New Orleans
--a little clay dish with a lid (for salsa or guacamole, I'm thinking ) with Mexican-type designs
--a green 4-dish appetizer set from a pottery co. in California, probably 1940s
So I probably paid too much at the first one, but made up for it at the second
--I know I’m evil, but I laughed out loud at the title of a thread in Get Personal, “Anyone ADD?” by “capricious.” I don’t know this forum member (who hasn’t logged on since March) and it’s nothing personal, but how funny is that? A word that means “impulsive or unpredictable” is starting a thread about Attention Deficit. Hee! I haven’t read it, but I want to hop into the thread and say, “oh yes, me too, I will be doing something and – ooh! Shiny! That reminds me, I need tinfoil from the store. What were we talking about again?” I’m going to hell.
--I’m not an Oprah fan, but now that my work schedule includes working from home, and afternoons are quieter than the mornings, I’ll have it on in the background sometimes. She had a great series last week called the Debt Diet which revealed what I have long suspected: many people are living way beyond their means and using credit to inflate their earnings. They followed 3 families, one of which seemed nice enough (2 schoolteachers), but the other 2 families were flat-out clueless. Seriously, one family ate out for every meal, they never cooked, they didn’t own a toaster or coffeemaker or dishes and ate everything off plastic plates and cups. They had 5 cars for 2 people!
So a big part of the series was not just saying “stop spending money” but asking why. At one point one of the women was saying how she didn’t even think about spending money, she just shopped. She didn’t know how much they owed for the second mortgage or credit cards, she just kept it out of her mind. When she was asked, “Why are you absent from your own life?” it was a lightbulb moment. “Oh, so this is my life? It’s not at the mall? It’s not in InStyle or Lucky? It’s not getting the jeans that Jessica’s wearing, or getting my glowing orange MysticTan?”
Celebrity culture is nothing new – I have a Photoplay from 1926, and in between movie reviews are “the latest fashions from Paris” so you could presumably throw out all your old clothes and run out to buy the new ones. But it’s so pervasive now. How do we know where Britney is shopping for baby clothes? Because the store manager is calling every news outlet to report it. Why should we buy the new $500 Louis Vuitton bag? Because they sent a free one to Lindsay Lohan to be photographed as she’s buying coffee.
So be like Chuck D and don’t believe the hype! Yeah boyeeee!
I emailed a girlfriend in California whom I haven't seen since Christmas. We've been friends since junior high and she doesn't have the highest self-esteem in the world, even though she's smart, pretty and hilarious. So I worry about her, especially in the guy department. The comedian Bill Hicks wrote a song called "Chicks Dig Jerks" ("Hitler had Eva Braun / Manson had Squeaky Fromme / I don't know how the world works / All I know is chicks dig jerks") and she picks these boyfriends (and a couple of husbands) who seem to treat her like crap and she doesn't see a problem.
Anyway, she's in a doozy situation, in that a few years ago her dad and stepmom won the lottery. They bought a huge house where we grew up, but they're barely there as they spend all their time now at their "ranch" in another state. So my friend is staying by herself in this massive house just a few minutes from her job. Sounds great, right?
I'm thinking initially that would be wonderful -- a big house where everything's fancy and new, everything paid for, close to my job so I could cover my own expenses and save huge amounts of money. But then reality would kick in: she can't redecorate anywhere, and the house is currently neo-Miami Vice. She's basically the 24-hour maid, gardener and unarmed guard for free. Nothing "belongs" to her, she's just house-sitting. Plus I'm afraid of her becoming a target, even though the house is all securitied-up, and I don't want anyone (that she knows or doesn't know) taking advantage of her.
So ultimately I would have to decline living in the big house for free. I wouldn't be independent and that's really important to me at this point. I need our own space, as shabby and homely as it is, but it belongs to us.
It's update time! Oh how I love updates, although this one was only for the Lunacy. I did order Harvest Moon -- when I saw the will-call notice and they mentioned Harvest Moon, I first thought I wouldn't want it because I previously had a bottle of HM04 and while it started out nice and autumnal, it ended up a bit too strongly floral for me and I gave the bottle to my mom. So when HM05 came out I didn't order, but the reviews sounded more fruity and I wish I would have tried it. Now this blend sounds totally new and different, so I'm in!
I also ordered bottles of Hellcat and Morocco, another couple of catalog blends that were giving me dirty looks from my "wanted" list. Hellcat is so creamy sweet, some people think it's too foody but I just love it in the imp, it's a perfect fall scent. At a previous Meet-n-Sniff I got an imp of Old Morocco and fell in love -- it's a perfect dark brooding incensey blend. From what I've read it may have to be aged, so we'll see.
I am a bit disappointed that my order from 5/13 is still outstanding -- I know the Lab is catching up, but it would be personally exciting for me to receive an order early (ahead of the pack) instead of late. Hopefully this means I'll get all 3 outstanding orders in July!
ETA: Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit! I came home and there was my 5/13 order with no click-n-ship. Aw yeah
I confess: I love shopping at head shops. I am not a pot-smoker -- I've tried it a few times at parties and I suppose I enjoyed it, but that was years ago and to me all the trouble of buying it on the "black market" (that sounds funny to say) isn't worth the mild buzz it gives. Not that I'm into stronger drugs, I've never tried anything stronger, but I guess the allure of alternate realities isn't tempting enough for me. Give me some friends and some beer or wine and I'm having a great time.
But head shops are so cool, probably because of the whole dorm-room chic -- I love the bamboo curtains and band posters and black lights. Maybe because I never lived in a dorm or an apartment with roommates and didn't have the "real" college experience, because I lived at home the first 3 years of college and then moved out with my then-boyfriend and now-husband. I kinda feel like I missed out on the fun.
We have a great head shop near us, called "Puff 'n' Stuff." Hee! They actually have a decent beer selection (I Boddington's) and wine and cigars, but they also have the crazy pipes and rolling papers and accoutrements of the serious smokers. I love looking at all the stuff in the glass cases -- maybe because it's illicit, but some of these glass pipes are really beautiful. I don't even smoke cigarettes, but it reminds me of opium dens and lounging on pillows and thinking deep thoughts.
We recently spent some money fixing a couple of broken components -- we debated about whether it was worth it, and decided the repairs were cheap enough compared to buying something new. We have to laugh, though, at how we ended up with the latest in 1990s technology, among other decades:
--one repair was the minidisc recorder. Minidiscs were a Sony-only product when CD recorders were still prohibitively expensive. Sony did release albums on minidisc (Simon & Garfunkel, etc.) but these weren't in the US very long, they were more popular in Japan, and it was only Sony/Columbia artists. The best part was recording whatever onto blank minidiscs, like concerts off TV
--the other repair was our combo CD/DVD/Laserdisc player. Laserdiscs started in the early 1980s, the precursor to DVDs except record-size instead of CD-size. We have about 100 laserdiscs and it's nice to have one player hooked up to our big TV that plays laserdiscs and DVDs
--of course we have a couple of record players, with a couple of boxes of records. We have a Victrola from probably the 1940s, it's a record player in a nice wooden case with an AM radio with tubes. It needs a needle though, and I have no idea where to get one
--we have a couple big boxes of cassettes, boxes of videotapes, a wall of CDs (600? I haven't counted recently), the DVDs are overtaking another set of shelves, and don't get me started on the books
What are we supposed to do with all this stuff? It seems passe now to have "hard copies" of things -- you're supposed to buy your iPod and download everything. So are we just dinosaurs for keeping all this?
I splurged and bought a Photoplay from November 1926 that I found in a soon-to-be-closed antique and collectibles store. I love reading the articles and ads, and there was a perfume ad for a company called "Cheramy New York: Perfumes of Youth." They must have spent a pretty penny on the ad, as almost the whole magazine is in black-and-white except for the occasional ad pages in color (the other side of the color page is Palmolive soap). The best part is the breathless prose:
The Last Ecstatic Moment with Lovely April Showers
When you have on a good-looking new frock. when you know that coiffure, make-up, and every detail is just right; when instinct tells you that admiring glances will follow as you pass; then approve the finishing touches before a long mirror and add assurance with springlike April Showers!
For April Showers, the perfume of youth, will lift imagination to heights of ecstacy -- give you joyful thrill of life and youth and conscious power .... It is a breezy fragrance; friendly -- eager -- young! You will love the rare, capricious charm of April Showers in perfumes, powders, rouges, jewel-like little compacts, and other necessary toiletries.
-----
Holy crap, where has this been all my life? I want heights of ecstasy! I need a joyful thrill of life AND youth AND conscious power. I don't even know what exactly that means, but I need it! I too want to be friendly, eager and young -- not surly, tired and old like I am now.
That does it -- I'm going to spray assurance on me and everyone else around, whether they want it sprayed on them or not. Oh, and I'm going to start saying "rouge" too.
Another early posting! It's been fun to hop in and have it be already "live." I ordered Hungry Ghost Moon (ginger candy, sugar cane and rice wine? *falls over dead*) and Et Lux Fuit (amber, vanilla musk and honeycomb? *gets up, then falls over dead again*). Plus a bottle of Madrid, which has been languishing on my big-bottle wishlist for so long that it's starting to sneer and flip me off.
Madrid was a frimp received with my very first order, placed in October 2004. It's not too clove-heavy, it smells more like sitting outside at a cafe drinking red wine and smoking a clove cigarette.
I'm debating on CT3 -- I have a bottle of CT2, and while it's OK-smelling (it started fruity like Mi-Go, then goes cologney like how Wolf Moon ends) the idea of experimentation is more fun. But there are so many other bottles I want, do I want to spend the funds on something I may dislike? Why not order something I know I'll like? Who knows, I'll probably cave by August and buy a bottle anyway
