Glassware 95...

I sometimes hate computers.  I had a nasty little surprise yesterday morning when I sat down at my desk to work - a seriously annoying spyware program called Antivir Solution - which wouldn't let me do anything but buy their anti-spyware software had taken over my PC.  And there was no way I was about to buy anything from anyone who dared invade my computer - so I spent the better part of the day and evening ridding my system of the offending files.  I think the main problem was that when I got rid of the network router and corresponding programs and hardwired my internet connection, I  had no firewall.  After a lot of  swearing, name-calling and general aggravation, I was finally able to get online and download the free anti-virus/anti-spyware software from my internet provider and start scanning my system.  I was still scanning at seven o'clock last night.  So, instead of just sitting and staring at the screen while muttering naughty words under my breath, I got out a box of old photos and fell in.

Which brings me to Glassware 95...

This is my dear old friend, Larry.  I'll have to write a longer story about Larry someday because he was truly an interesting individual.  He passed away a few years ago and I still miss him.  Larry was always good for a laugh and the best part was, Larry could even laugh at himself.  In 1995, Larry was 86, and for a time, he was obsessed with finding out exactly how a computer worked.  I tried to explain it to him, using the analogy of a car and its component parts but the only thing Larry really gleaned from that example was the erroneous belief that Bill Gates had started out as a car mechanic, a story he shared with people quite frequently.  One day he arrived at my office in a complete tizzy.  "I have to ask you something serious," he said as he sat down in his favorite chair with a can of cold Diet Pepsi (much like the photo above).  "What's on your mind?"  I asked, wondering what could possibly be serious at the ripe old age of eighty-six.  He leaned forward and said, "Do you think I need this Glassware 95?"  My mind was a total blank - what could he possibly mean?  Sometimes conversations with Larry started out this way.  "What are you talking about?" I asked, still racking my brain.  "It's all over the TV," he said. "Glassware 95 - get it before it's too late, make a reservation or some damn thing like that.  If you think I need it, tell me and I'll order it today.  The way they're going on about it, it sounds life-threatening if you don't have it."  Then it hit me - Larry meant Windows 95 - the latest and greatest operating system from his good friend and auto mechanic, Bill Gates.  I couldn't help myself - I started to laugh.  It was contagious; Larry started to laugh, too.  When we had calmed down enough to speak, I said, "You mean, Windows 95, Larry."  He looked puzzled.  "Isn't that what I said?"  I shook my head.  "No, honey, you said Glassware 95."  He thought for a moment and then said, "Well, do I need Windows 95?"  I shook my head and replied, "No - it's a computer program and you don't even have a computer."  With that, Larry threw back his head and laughed his signature laugh, normally reserved for only the funniest of punch lines - unbridled mirth with no noise.  And seeing (although not hearing) Larry's joyful laugh, in my book, was funnier than any story he ever told me.

Animal magnetism...

Rags was my first dog - a border terrier.

I was always that kid whose mother was screaming, "Leave that dog alone - he'll bite you."  And I always ignored her, having to pet the dog, hug the dog, kiss the dog - you get the picture.  I've never been bitten.  It must be some sort of animal magnetism because dogs (and cats, for that matter) like me.  All the pets we ever had eventually became my pets - they just sort of gravitated toward me.

Our poodle, Buttons, when he was young.  So were we!

When Rags met his fate in an untimely run-in with a steam roller (and no, he didn't pop back up like in the cartoons), one of my dad's co-workers gave us Buttons the miniature poodle.  He was a great dog - not prissy at all - and he lived to be seventeen.  When my parents left me at college my freshman year, Buttons was so mad he laid in the back seat of the car and ate my mom's sweater.

They gave me the remains of the sweater for Christmas that year.

After Buttons went to his reward, I was dogless for over ten years - and then Tim gave me Aggie for Christmas in 1998.  Aggie is probably the best gift I ever received!

Is she a ham, or what?

When Aggie was about two, Tim decided that she needed a playmate - like all those cats weren't enough - and rescued Monty from a pet store.  My boy was ten when I had to let him go - I still miss him every day.

Monty took great joy in his very existence.

And, I'll admit it, I can't say no to a cute face.  Tim made the mistake of taking me to the mall the day after Thanksgiving in 2005 and I fell in love with Willie.  He's a wheaten cairn - and so much like Aggie!  When I moved from our house to a condo, I could only have two pets - so I had to find a new home for Willie.  He went to live with a retired couple who had recently lost their Gordon setter - and they adore him.  Willie lives in the lap of luxury and even summers at a lake house in Vermont.  Talk about a dog's life!

William Wallace - the Braveheart cairn.

So there you have it - a brief tribute to all of the wonderful dogs in my life.  I've been truly blessed with their love and companionship over the years.

Thought for the day...

God is a big God and He is crazy about me.

Comforting, isn't it?

I just read the Proverbs 31 devotional for today

and I love this thought!

We hold these truths to be self-evident...

A.  Not all movies are created equal.

2.  Just because a movie has John Cusack in it doesn't make it good.

d)  Hollywood loves the F-word and thinks people want to hear it over and over again.

7.  Hot Tub Time Machine is a stinker of epic proportions.

And that is all I have to say about that.

Don't let her kid you, Mom laughed at a few things.

ME Monday...

I was casting about earlier trying to think of something Engelbreit to share and then I opened my desk drawer.  I love ME tins and I use them to organize my stuff - and while they're not on display, I get to see them.  I also love my ME cherry readers and I get lots of comments on them.  Not too long ago, I found a six-pack of 5x7 ME note pads on sale - too cute! 

And amazingly, they fit my little clipboard perfectly!

Be sure to check out Cherry Chick for more ME Monday!

Project completed...

It seems like I've been clipping odd pictures and recipes from magazines for eons - and several years ago, I started putting them into this Mary Engelbreit binder.  I've been calling it my possibilities scrapbook.  After I decimated my collection of ME Home Companion magazines a couple of weeks ago, I had a huge new pile of clippings to trim and add to my book.  Well, it was a great project for a rainy Sunday afternoon.  They're all neatly put away - but in no particular order, which I am sure will shock anyone who truly knows me.  I did that on purpose - the joy of thumbing through the scrapbook is how random it is - and how little things in the photographs catch your eye, especially things you didn't notice the first time through.  Odd how strangely satisfying a really meaningless little project can be, isn't it?

Okay, last bee thing for the week...

Isn't this bee stamp about the cutest thing?  I think next time I have to buy stamps I am going to look into these - I think they're the ones you print yourself.  There are several different designs - they would be so great for my client birthday cards which, of course, have a beehive design.  Oops!  Aggie just woofed, wondering why I am not considering putting her photo on a stamp.  Divas!

I wonder...

if this is how Aggie feels when we go for a ride...

I just know people think...

I'm lying when I say that Aggie and Peter are getting along great.  See, when they come to my house, they only ever see Aggie.  Peter is not a very sociable guy.  Today I finally got photographic proof of the fact the Pete likes Aggie.  Apparently she likes him, too - she rolled around on the floor like a crazy dog when he finished giving her hugs & kisses and went about his business.

Oh, and we made brownies today.

Bee happy!

I finally found a bee background that I liked!  I have been looking forever and all I could find were cartoon looking bees - and then I found the Background Fairy.  I made my own header - and I tell you, centering it is a screaming pain in the bum.  I may do some tweaking of the bee image in the header, but overall I am pretty pleased with the whole effect.  Let me know what you think!

Does anyone else...

have global appeal?  Seriously, I keep getting comments from someone in this part of the world and I have absolutely no idea what they are saying.  They are all from the same person - I need a translator!  Here's the latest one:

耐心是一株很苦的植物，但果實卻很甜美

It could say "I like what you have to say" or

"You write like crap."  It's anybody's guess.

ME Monday...

Two of my prized Mary Engelbreit ceramic photo frames which have survived years of life with cats with no mishaps!

Another ME frame - and I found this funny photo of my boy Monty this weekend to put in it.  This picture really captured his exuberant terrier self.

I tried to get a good photograph of my ME pendant watch, but my camera or the light (or my brain) was not cooperating.  I rediscovered it this weekend when I was finishing up the closet.  Amazingly, I had a new compatible battery in my desk drawer.  I used to wear this alot back when I really cared what time it was.

Be sure to check out the other ME treasures at Cherry Chick!

I didn't make any banana bread...

but I did finally finish tidying up the bedroom!  I hung the last of the artwork on the walls, dressed the bears in new coordinating black neck ribbons and vacuumed the floor.  Of course, you can't see the corner of the room with my antique desk and all of the sewing crap piled on top of it.  That's my next project - I have put most of my sewing supplies into the desk but I still have to find a spot for my books of possibilities clippings and a few more framed prints.  The night is still young!

I also got the rest of the artwork hung on the living room wall - it's sort of linear, but it's just a blank wall and it's not like I had a lot of options.  I'm sure I'll rearrange it before long - I royally screwed up the ME print I framed and now I have to have it matted and framed in a larger frame.  Fortunately I have a larger frame, but I was being cheap  frugal and trying to re-purpose the smaller one to avoid have to have a mat cut.  That's what I get...

And another thing...

I took a walk on the wild side tonight (well, for me anyway) and ordered Mei Fun takeout for dinner.  I know, I know, it looks really tame - but you have to understand that just about the only Chinese takeout I ever get is pork egg foo yung - which is truly weird because I cannot cook myself an egg of any kind and eat it.  The last time I made scrambled eggs I got so grossed out I just put them down the garbage disposal.  But I digress...  When I was a kid, the only oriental food we ever ate was LaChoy chow mein from a can over canned crispy noodles.  And we only ever ate that when my dad was out of town!  At any rate, I first had Chinese food in a restaurant when I was in junior high.  Our class went on a social studies field trip to Sarasota (which seemed like a big adventure at the time) and ate at just about the only oriental restaurant in the area.  We all had wonton soup and sort of a sampler of fried rice, lo mein and egg foo yung.  I was hooked and what I suppose amounts to a Chinese omelet became my go to takeout order for the past thirty-five years or so.  My husband loved to go to the Chinese buffet for crab legs - too much work for not much crabmeat, if you ask me - and I always had the dim sum, stuffed mushrooms, potstickers and fried bananas.  Some combination, huh?  It's just that at those buffets all the dishes start to taste the same since they sit in such close proximity.  Plus, all those people breathing on the food - not a good thing.  You might say I had a tendency to choose the lesser of the evils - there was this one place that had this great peanut butter chicken, but I don't even think that's really Chinese...  Anyhow, the Mei Fun was excellent!  We had the house version with chicken, pork, beef and shrimp with vegetables and these wonderful, thin rice noodles.  Aggie even liked it - she called dibs on the beef.  Pete tried a noodle and walked away.  Next time we're going to try Kung Pao something or maybe Mu Shu.  Those sound exotic.  Or Moo Goo Gai Pan.  I just like saying that one.  Any suggestions?

At long last...

I have finally finished organizing my closet!  I have sorted, debated, pared down and donated until I have crammed every last pair of shoes and handbag into this 216 cubic foot little room.  As you can see, I am not a clothes horse (anymore!) and most everything I own is made of denim.  Or cotton at the very least.  No non-natural fibers here, thank you.  I am now ashamed to admit that I once owned ninety, yes 90, pairs of shoes.  I'm down to under twenty five - and none of them have heels.  In fact, I don't even have to tie most of them.  I know there are lots of handbags in there, but the vast majority of them are years old.  Like old friends, I just can't part with them.

Mostly Vera Bradley, a couple of Brightons, two vintage D&B, three well-worn Coach classics and a few others, which I write about occasionally on my purse blog.  Yes, I'm still looking for the ultimate handbag!  I really feel like I have accomplished something here - and if you had seen the mess I started with, you'd agree.  And it's only taken me a little over a month...

And I helped!

My repair skills...

are nowhere near on par with those of my friends, Allen and Tom, but I did manage to clean up and replace the twill tape on this antique chalkboard today.  I have had this since I was a little girl - I was seven or eight.  We lived in Hyannisport, Massachusetts and one day my dad came home with a bunch of toys from a store his boss had bought out.  I suspect his employers were more interested in the building than the inventory so that's why all of their employees with kids got Christmas in July!  Anyhow, while I was thrilled with this chalkboard, I was even more enamored of the black baby doll I received.  She had a pink dress and pink booties and pink ruffled undies.  Imagine - a potty-trained baby!  I named her Ethel and took that doll everywhere, much to my mother's chagrin.  Now, years later, I cannot remember what became of Ethel, but I still have my chalkboard.  The top section once had a rolling paper primer with alphabets and animals on it, but my sister demolished it sometime in the seventies.  I replaced it with a primitive sampler I cross-stitched on some old linen years later - I think it looks like it belongs.  The frame is solid oak, so you should have seen me trying to drive upholstery tacks into the twill tape under the chalk ledge in the front.  It's slightly messy and there are two tacks in each piece of tape, but fortunately you can't see it.  I gave up on the tacks and tied the twill tape in the back.  At least it won't fall over anymore!  Now I just have to get some chalk so I can write a message on the board.  I haven't quite decided where to put this treasure yet - but it will probably end up in the living room.  It's like having an old friend come to stay.